The Ferociously Fanatic
There is a vast difference, needless to say between the ferociously fanatic jihadism of Islam and the fiercely fanatic views of Jewish exceptionalism. One is expressed in violence and mayhem, murder and mass bloodshed. The other in nasty expressions of uncivil behaviour.Where the followers of Islam have been enjoined to prove their extreme loyalty to the religious ideology of forced conversions in a perceived need to turn the world toward Islam, violence ensues. Where the instrument of enticement becomes mass murder to terrorize populations into meek acceptance. As opposed to the fervid fanaticism of ultra-Orthodox Jews who teach their children to despise those who are not Jews.
It is particularly repugnant for these religious bigots who go out of their way to convey their message of contempt for those who practise other divine beliefs than strict Judaic religious conviction. Made all the more so because of the history of religious persecution of Jews and their Jewish faith. The kind of intolerance that leads these ultra-Orthodox Jews to spit their contempt of Christians that has become common on the streets of Jerusalem is shocking.
For officials at the Vatican, the blame game that has for so long identified classic Church defamations against Jews and Judaism has been turned on its head. Church representatives point to a religious culture that appears to have institutionalized a particularly nasty type of bigotry against the Catholic Church in Israel, where all religions are in theory given equal standing and respect. But where, it appears, children attending ultra-Orthodox schools see a curriculum that teaches as a doctrinal obligation the acceptability of abuse by them on encountering those who are of the Holy Orders in a public venue.
This truly despicable situation has the attention of the safety and security authorities, yet Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land, in view of ultra-Orthodox children spitting on Christian religious whom they see passing in the street, and graffiti assaults on churches, labels authorities as being insufficiently concerned. Pro-settler extremists are accused of having attacked a Trappist monastery in a "price tag" attack.
As the Government of Israel instructs the Israel Defence Forces to forcibly, if necessary, remove illegal settlements in the West Bank, such 'activists' promise to mount "price tag" attacks. The attack on the monastery was one such attack targeting the symbol of another religion because the settlers being removed represent the ultra-Orthodox branch of Judaism. Police, the charges go, have failed to identify those involved in these acts of desecration.
"What is happening in Israeli society to the point that Christians are the sacrificial lambs of such violence? Those who left their hate-filled graffiti expressed outrage at the eviction of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. But why are they taking it out on Christians and their places of worship? Sadly, what happened in Latroun is only another in a long series of attacks against Christians and their places of worship.
"What kind of 'teaching of contempt' for Christians is being communicated in their schools and in their homes?" Fr. Pizzaballa
Fr. Pizzaballa may not be aware, but these same ultra-Orthodox avengers do not regard secular Jews with anything but utter contempt. Viewing them as pseudo-Jewish, if at all. Every religion, just like his own, has its share of contemptible exclusionists who view those outside their immediate close circle of communion as inferior - with their very own god as paramount, all others being crass pretenders for whom they express vicious animus.
Labels: Christianity, Heritage, Human Fallibility, Human Relations, Human Rights, Israel, Judaism, Middle East, Prejudices, Societal Failures
posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 10, 2012
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