Posted on 08/12/2006 1:09:21 PM PDT by GMMAC
Christians are Jews' best friends
Toronto Sun
Sat, August 12, 2006
By MICHAEL COREN
One of the most difficult things about spending time in Israel is returning home, as I did two weeks ago. As dangerous as life might be in the Jewish state at the moment, daily existence is layered in significance. Then it's back to North America, where the trivial is made to seem profound.
I refer to Mel Gibson's drunken stupidity when he made various repugnant comments about Jewish people. As a Roman Catholic with three Jewish grandparents, and someone who worries every day about the Israel I love, this seems so very unimportant. Gibson was, of course, obnoxious and owes the Jewish community an apology.
Which is precisely what he gave within hours of his arrest. A gracious, genuine and heartfelt apology. Contrition, regret, a promise to learn from his mistakes and put matters right.
Good people, Jew and Gentile alike, accepted this and saw it as an opportunity to move forward. Others decided to exploit the situation and use Gibson's lapse to bash him and his religion. This, they claimed, proved that he is an anti-Semite and that his movie, The Passion of the Christ, was anti-Semitic as well.
Not so. The Passion was the story of the death of Yeshua, Son of Miriam. A Jewish man and a Jewish mother. It is anti-Semitic only to those who are anti-Semites themselves or see anti-Semitism everywhere and anywhere.
As for Gibson hating Jews, this is denied by all of those who know him best, including Jewish people. One stupid comment does not make the man anti-Semitic, any more than one comment in support of Jews necessarily makes a person pro-Jewish.
Something needs to be said clearly and loudly. Conservative, faithful Christians, Catholic and evangelical alike, are the best friends Jews and Israel have. Goodness, in some places they are the only friends Jews and Israel have.
If we want to see authentic hatred and bigotry, we only need to read the newspapers and watch television. There, one finds daily venom against Christianity from the mainstream and the most vitriolic contempt from the fringes. Even government gets involved, prosecuting believers for speaking their mind -- or simply having a mind that thinks differently about moral issues than the liberal and aggressively secular establishment.
It's part of the grand double standard that informs our lives. A double standard that was most noticeable in the amount of time and space devoted to Gibson's moments of foolishness versus the media's apparent self-censorship in the case of Naveed Afzal Haq.
Who's he?
Therein lies the point.
This American Muslim is charged in one of the worst racist attacks in recent history. Police allege that he walked into the Jewish Federation office in Seattle on July 28 and shot six women, one of them heavily pregnant. One of the victims died, three are still in critical condition.
The gunman reportedly announced that he was angry at Israel, before opening fire on the 18 Jewish charity workers who were present. Afzal Haq's lawyer has indicated he may have been on medication for bipolar disorder. Police have laid murder charges but are not pursuing the case as a hate crime.
Not only has the case received limited coverage in major newspapers, but even Jewish groups and publications have generally devoted far more time and space to Mel Gibson than to this anti-Semitic slaughter.
One can only wonder what would have happened if the suspect had been a Christian. Our priorities and our judgment today are so slurred and so politically correct that it makes one, well, passionate. Good luck Mel, good luck.
I didn't mean to imply that only Christians have persecuted Jews during the past 2000 years, but the title of the article was "Christains are Jews' best friends".
claudiustg has done a pretty good job of documenting some instances of Jewish persecution throughout history.
As for the Nazis, maybe they wouldn't have been as "successful" in their slaughter of the Jews had our Christian grandparents and great grandparents petitioned the U.S. and Canadian Gov't not to turn back shiploads of Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe - sending them directly back to the death camps.
Being friends when times are good and it doesn't cost you anything is less important than what happens if things were to go south..
E.G. The Great Depression saw a massive increase in anti-semitism in the U.S. - but that could never happen again, eh?
---why not post some data on Jews being disproportionally represented among the perpetrators of the Ukrainian holocaust?---
Well, why don't you?
And rather than repeating your innuendo
---As I stated earlier "... there's definitely blood on both side's hands ..." - why not just leave it at that?---
Why don't you spell it out with links as I have done?
Ogden Nash:
"How odd/of God/to choose/the Jews
"
Someone else:
"But not/as odd/as those who choose/a Jewish God/then spurn the Jews."
Some real Christians get crossthreaded about the Jews and their still-exalted position in Shaddai's Plan.
And some people are phonies.
Really? I didn't know that.
There must be many Jewish people who have converted to Christianity or Judaism over the centuries.
Really? In WWI?
My Grandfather came over in 1905.
---Instead, why not simply contrast our respective posting histories on FR over, say, the past couple of weeks?---
Actually i think I'd like to see your material on " Jews being disproportionally represented among the perpetrators of the Ukrainian holocaust".
and " "... there's definitely blood on both side's hands ..."
You brought it up and now you're trying to change the subject.
And that
"pile of self-indulgent, long-winded 'our shit don't stink but yours sure does' garbage."
was a chronological history of the persecution of the Jews, taken from reputable sources complete with links, brought up in response to a poster's request for examples.
My wife was Organist-Director of Music from 1984-2001 here:
Here's a little background on our association with the Temple;
Back in 1984, when we met & married, she was the Organist/Choir Director at St. Mark's Episcopal, which is a block away from the Temple. Both institutions have enjoyed a long history of fellowship; they were built in the 1880's, and the first organist at St. Mark's, Guy Hackett, was also the Temple's first organist.
Right before we married, the Temple's President, Phil Salkin, wanders into the office and mentions that "their organist just retired, how'd you like another job whose hours won't conflict with the ones here?"
( Phil was an old friend of her family's, and mine, from way back... )
She thought it sounded interesting, accepted, and indeed we cut our honeymoon short so she could return for her debut there.
The next year she convinced her choir ( I was a member, naturally ) that singing for the High Holy Days would be a challenging & interesting thing to do, and the St. Mark's Choir has done so every year since. This will be the first year she misses, I'm not sure what, if anything, the choir will do in her absence.
Her resignation last week was a source of considerable grief; we've enjoyed a long & very congenial relationship with the Temple, indeed last year the Sisterhood inducted her as a member, much to her delight.
The shooter got no attention because, as a Mohammedan, he was expected to do what he did. It is part of his Mohammedan lifestyle and culture and highlighting it or condemning it would be insensitive to another culture.
Really? I didn't know that.
"There must be many Jewish people who have converted to Christianity or Judaism over the centuries."
I would look to the Moors as the largest 'outside' contributors of DNA in the Iberian area.
You seem to be laboring under the misconception that because a person is a member of a particular denomination that makes them a Christian.
Why did she resign?
What the h*** are you talking about? Outside of Israel, the largest population of Jews in the world is found in the USA. Not Canada. The USA. A proudly Christian nation and unashamed to admit it.
Hitler was explicitly Pagan and his movement was pagan. He intended to replace Christianity with traditional Germanic paganism and many Christians died for being Christians.
---Right. The Holocaust was a Christian operation against the Jews. Reverend Adolph led his congregation against the Hebrews.---
I certainly said nothing of the sort. Are you saying that I did? Point to it exactly.
How long do you think Israel will last without us supporting her?
As long as G-d wills.
The subject of this thread is so self-obviously true.
One can only shake one's head and wonder, why Jewish voters tend strongly to, ignoring common sense - support DEMOCRATS.
The mind boggles.
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