NewsUpper SchoolStudent LifeService
Rabbi Talks of Religious Respect
Feb 17, 2001 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
Rabbi Steve Lebow, spiritual leader for Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta, Ga. since 1986, was the guest speaker at Chapel where he spoke about the importance of religious respect, Wednesday, Jan. 24. “I know it’s not fashionable or politically correct to say this, but I believe that you and I are very different and distinct branches even though we come from the same spiritual source,” Lebow said in explaining the differences between Jews and Christians. “We have very different theologies. I’m not you and you’re not me.”
He shared some statistics with those attending the service, noting that the largest religious group in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church followed by the Southern Baptist Association. The number of Jews in the United States is less than 2 percent and there are only about 16 million Jews in the entire world because 60 years ago one-third of all Jews were killed in the Holocaust and the current birth rate among Jews is not high enough to make up that loss. The fastest growing religious group is the Mormon Church because it is very intent on proselytizing.
Lebow explained the differences between the three major faiths, Muslim, Christian, and Jew, using one sentence for each:
Muslim: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.
Christian: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jew: Hear, O Israel, listen; the Lord is our God.
“Religious tolerance is a strange expression because it insinuates that I am simply tolerating your beliefs. We should really talk about respect because each religion draws its essence from the love of God,” Lebow said. “We’re different but as people, whether black or white, Jew or Christian, gay or straight, we were each made by God.”
In 1990, Lebow was among a group that helped found Atlanta’s first Reform Jewish Day School, the Davis Academy, serving on the first interim board. Because of his advocacy for abused children, Lebow was selected clergyman of the year in 1993 by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1994 he organized and was the keynote speaker at a mass rally in protest of an anti-gay resolution passed by the Cobb County Council. He was also instrumental in the erection of a plaque to mark the spot, here in Cobb County, where Leo Frank was lynched by a mob after having been falsely accused and convicted of murder. For his human rights activities, the Rabbi has received awards, citations and honors from the Cobb Citizens Coalition, the Clergy and Laity Concerned, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
He shared some statistics with those attending the service, noting that the largest religious group in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church followed by the Southern Baptist Association. The number of Jews in the United States is less than 2 percent and there are only about 16 million Jews in the entire world because 60 years ago one-third of all Jews were killed in the Holocaust and the current birth rate among Jews is not high enough to make up that loss. The fastest growing religious group is the Mormon Church because it is very intent on proselytizing.
Lebow explained the differences between the three major faiths, Muslim, Christian, and Jew, using one sentence for each:
Muslim: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.
Christian: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jew: Hear, O Israel, listen; the Lord is our God.
“Religious tolerance is a strange expression because it insinuates that I am simply tolerating your beliefs. We should really talk about respect because each religion draws its essence from the love of God,” Lebow said. “We’re different but as people, whether black or white, Jew or Christian, gay or straight, we were each made by God.”
In 1990, Lebow was among a group that helped found Atlanta’s first Reform Jewish Day School, the Davis Academy, serving on the first interim board. Because of his advocacy for abused children, Lebow was selected clergyman of the year in 1993 by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. In 1994 he organized and was the keynote speaker at a mass rally in protest of an anti-gay resolution passed by the Cobb County Council. He was also instrumental in the erection of a plaque to mark the spot, here in Cobb County, where Leo Frank was lynched by a mob after having been falsely accused and convicted of murder. For his human rights activities, the Rabbi has received awards, citations and honors from the Cobb Citizens Coalition, the Clergy and Laity Concerned, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
