Who Speaks for Judaism and Christianity?
"Christians in order to understand themselves, cannot fail to refer to their Jewish roots."
Pope Francis
"You [Jews] are our dearly beloved brothers. And, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers."
Pope John Paul II
"To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site [east Jerusalem's Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary]."
"When these divisions carry over into UNESCO, an organization dedicated to dialogue and peace, they prevent us from carrying out our mission."
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova
When Pope Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict, as an academic quoting an ancient predecessor of his own who expressed his belief that Islam was no religion of peace by restating: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached", he was vilified and threatened by Islamic scholars and clerics.
Yet, throughout the centuries of the youngest monotheistic religion's existence as a latecomer to the so-called Abrahamic tradition, this is precisely what has occurred; Islam demands of its faithful that word of its singular divine exceptionality be spread by jihad; persuasion as long as it worked, and violence when all else fails. And, of course, sheer numbers through 'natural' reproduction of the faithful who are obliged to replicate themselves through childbearing.
Since the 7th Century and the Prophet Mohammad's excursion into divine myth-making and the bonding of war-mongering desert Bedouins to Islam, its conquest has been an ongoing affair. And since Islam recognizes no competition having any legitimacy since Mohammad attested that Allah informed him the previous iterations were but practise runs, Jews and Christians have been held in contempt, tormented and slaughtered by Muslims.
In recent years with the growing popularity of Islamism, an uptick in religious persecution by Muslims of Christians has resulted. And from the leaders among the Christian community the response has been sadly tepid.
Part of that reason is that Europe and North America, largely Christian, and from whom that response might be expected, have experienced a mass migration of Muslims into nations formerly wholly or in large part Christian, and latterly much diluted by the presence of Muslims from the Middle East, from southeast Asia, and from Africa. That growing demographic has become increasingly vocal and demanding and threatening. Governments and religious figures are intimidated, with no wish to excite the beast.
Little wonder then, that when UNESCO, influenced by a declaration brought forward on behalf of the Palestinians by Algeria, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, to declare the most sacred sites in Judaism, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, remnants of the ancient Temples of Solomon, an heritage Arab Muslim site, nations that should surely know their history voted to support the declaration, to their everlasting shame.
And the leaders of the Christian church who must understand that if Judaism and Israel are so viciously delegitimized by these means of intimidation leading to the revision of historical reality, it also affects the history and legitimization of Christianity. To do nothing, say nothing, remain unmoved and seemingly disinterested, they are lending themselves to the corruption and sham of yet another United Nations arm, left debased and in ruins to satisfy a destructive ideology.
Worse, they are guilty of absenting themselves entirely from the defense of their Christian brethren who flee violence and death at the hands of Islamists who believe as they are instructed, that Jews and Christians are deserving of oppression, contempt and death.
Labels: Christianity, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Temple Mount, UNESCO
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, October 20, 2016
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