BREAKING NEWS

by Sharon Udasin And Stewart Ain
Staff Writers

POSTED WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4,  6:00 p.m.

An Evangelical leader who believes Jews can accept Jesus without giving up their Jewish identity will be the keynote speaker in two weeks at an event for Birthright Israel alumni, sponsored by Birthright NEXT and the Jewish Enrichment Center.

“You can still be Jewish and believe in Jesus as the messiah,” the invited speaker, Gordon Robertson, said on a July 2008 program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, of which he is the CEO.

The network was founded by his father, the Rev. Pat Robertson, a former presidential candidate, who once blamed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s severe stroke on his willingness to “divide the land” of Israel.

A Birthright NEXT official said the group is aware of Gordon Robertson’s beliefs that a Jew can believe in Jesus, but maintains that his theological views have no impact on his suitability has a speaker.

“We’re not asking him to come and talk about Christianity or Jews trying to get Jews to believe in Christianity. It’s not the topic,” said Rebecca Sugar, the New York director of Birthright Israel NEXT NY alumni programming.  Continue reading…

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Update on 11/12/09: Also appears in this week’s paper, here.