What can make three of the world's major religious rivals unite? Why, gays of course...

The major leaders of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are united to stop the WorldPride festival and parade in Jerusalem, scheduled for this August. International gay leaders say that they want to hold the festival in the Holy City, home to three great religious traditions, in order make a statement about tolerance and diversity. But religion is not about tolerance and diversity! Is it? I don't recall...

"That is something new I've never witnessed before, such an attempt to globalization bigotry," said Hagai El-Ad, the executive director of Jerusalem Open House, a gay and lesbian group that is the host for the festival. "It's quite sad and ironic that these religious figures are coming together around such a negative message."

All is not lost, however. "Organizers of the gay pride event, Jerusalem WorldPride 2005, said that 75 non-Orthodox rabbis had signed a statement of support for the event, and that Christian and Muslim leaders as well as Israeli politicians were expected to announce their support soon. They said they were dismayed to see that what united their opponents was their objection to homosexuality." Full story here.