Judeo-Christian hold'em poker

Hard to believe that a major metropolitan newspaper would publish Dennis Prager's "Why God hates terrorists more than gamblers" -- yet the Sunday LA Times did. At least the headline must have provided some reassurance to those heading to or returning from the Las Vegas gaming tables. And it most certainly must have got a thumbs up from the Las Vegas Tourist Board.

The recent bombings in London once again raise an ancient question: What is the greatest sin? One common response is that all sins are equally bad in God's eyes. But this makes little sense.

Do Catholics who believe it is a sin to masturbate believe that God considers masturbation as wrong as murder? Do Jews who believe it is a sin to eat non-kosher food equate doing so with a Jew committing rape? Do Protestants who believe it is a sin to gamble believe that God views a night at the blackjack table as sinful as abusing a child?

I don't know for sure, but I for sure know that if they do I'm not going to their church or synagogue jumble sales and tricky tray events anymore.

So in Judeo-Christian hold'em poker: murder beats rape beats child abuse beats masturbation beats consuming non-kosher food (and, previously, eating meat on Fridays).

In an uncanny echo of Stephen Colbert's "Week in God" routines, Prager declares:

God did not destroy Noah's generation because it masturbated, ate forbidden foods or took home cheap objects from the workplace. He did so because it was violently evil.

Okay, now I'm just snickering.

So the river card is this: Doing bad things, especially killing, in the name of God is the greatest sin. "Bad religious people are far more destructive to the cause of religion than are atheists." Hey, the atheists finally win a hand.

Apparently fear or ethnic and religious solidarity prevents many religious Muslim leaders from confronting the damage Muslim terrorists are doing to Islam's name, Allah's name and God-based morality generally. But for those of us who take God and goodness seriously, the world is witnessing the greatest sin on a scale unknown since the early Middle Ages.

The early Middle Ages. Now, what happened in the early Middle Ages? And why won't Prager just say it? Say it, Prager. Go ahead. Say it, say it, say it….