Posted on 06/12/2012 9:46:10 PM PDT by massmike
Children show their creative imaginations in some intriguing ways. The artwork and storytelling they engage in often illustrates the ideas that are bopping around inside of their heads. Take, for instance, a student-drawn picture at Hamilton Elementary School in Fresno, California. The image, which has become intensely controversial, portrays Jesus Christ, with a caption that reads, ”I want you to kill all infidels.”
Under this shocking line are two others: “meet me in Jerusalem” and “get a free ticket to heaven.” Obviously, the picture, which is hanging prominently in the school’s lobby along with others, is causing a stir. While some claim it‘s merely a creative work spawned by a child’s imagination, others see anti-Christian sentiment at play. A 7th-grade student, who has not been named in media, created the drawing as part of a history assignment.
Hamilton elementary has been quiet in terms of handing the criticism. A spokesperson for the Fresno Unified School District issued a statement to ABC30, telling the outlet the following about the picture’s creation:
“Students at Hamilton were assigned to create a help wanted poster for soldiers needed to fight in the crusades and write a poem about Joan of arc, the Black Death, or the Magna Carta and create a visual background for it. This was one of several posters displayed.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
“The boy who drew the poster seems to have grasped the concepts involved and has illustrated them in a thought provoking manner.”
The “justification” for the Crusades was not Christianity, but the bad behavior of the mooselimbs.
I don’t see the poster as thought provoking, but as puerile and perverse, especially in that the highest commandments of Christianity are “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
It is inconceivable that Jesus Christ would regard non-Christians as “infidels” or that he would order their killing.
“this is what real art is, it evokes controversy”
You should read what Barzun had to say about that in “From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present.”
While the Church leaders may not have had this as their intended goal, it most certainly was not an uncommon idea among their soldiers.
Huge numbers of Jews were killed in Germany and elsewhere by Crusaders on their way to the East. The not illogical idea being, "Why travel all the way to Jerusalem when we can kill the enemies of God here?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jews_in_the_First_Crusade
One: There is a relatively large Muslim presence in and around Fresno; at least 3 masjids are located at Fresno.
Two: There was—may still be—a radical Muslim community in the foothills just outside Fresno: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/566591/posts
Three: This IS the Islamic JESUS (Issa), as portrayed in Islamic eschatology: he returns to earth and leads the fight to kill all the Jews & Christians who still fail to see the light and become Muslims; and leads the final assault on Jerusalem. Any Muslim killed in this automatically (like any Muslim killed in jihad) achieves Paradise.
This 7th grader has used the assignment to produce a poster promoting mainstream Islamic end-times belief, disguised as a dig against the Crusades and Christians.
Oh, the irony. But that's what the whole story of Christ is about, isn't it? It never changes.
Certainly plausible on the face of it. ... What is M M I J at the bottom of the picture?
Pulled this from the story: “The image, which has become intensely controversial, portrays Jesus Christ, with a caption that reads, ”I want you to kill all infidels.” Under this shocking line are two others: “meet me in Jerusalem” and “get a free ticket to heaven.””
This brilliantly points out the fact that CHRIST is clearly NOT of the same Spirit as is Mohammed; and also the double standard that exists between Moslems and Christians.
(As long as it’s Muslims, they can do as they please. Christian expression, no.) Freedom of expression for Christians or about Christ is nil. It will be taken down.
The Crusades happened 300 years AFTER the Moslems had punched first -- conquering the Christian lands of Egypt, Syria, Israel etc.
What triggered off the first crusade was the Caliph Muawiyah attacking and torturing Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and destroying the Church of the Sepulchre (the church built over where Christ was crucified)
the "marketing" was not "Kill the infidels" but "defend the pilgrims and Christianity"
The Crusades were defensive -- and note that when they ended, Europe was hit twice by Mohammedans -- first when they conquered constantinople and then when they reached the gates of Vienna
Don't forget that there was also a crusades in Spain and that succeeded
But their mission was not “kill the infidel”. The Knights Hospitallers were initially medics looking after pilgrims, but then had to fight to defend pilgrims from Moslems
Yet remember that the killing of infidels was not the objective. it was not to “kill God’s enemies” that they went, but to defend pilgrims, first and foremost.
You will agree, I assume, that different Crusaders may have had different objectives.
For any human endeavor and particularly any war, motives are never pure or unmixed.
a student-drawn picture at Hamilton Elementary School in Fresno, California.
You OBVIOUSLY know as much about the Crusades as you do Christ and Christianity, which is to say, Zip, Zero, Nada, or you wouldn't be making such stoooopid assertions.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"
That was never the stated aim and not even in the list of aims. The aim of the Crusades -- especially the first -- was to free Christian lands. And Jerusalem etc. WERE still Christian, heavily.
If it was "kill the infidel", the Crusaders would have aimed for Mecca after conquering Jerusalem.
it's a pity they didn't
Wait, a student can’t draw a gun or aim his finger at someone because that is dangerous and harmful, but he can post pictures calling for genocide of apostates.
Yep, liberals are completely mentally diseased. Liberals have never seen an anti-Christian picture they didn’t like.
Jerusalem was the goal of the Crusades, the Popes promised instant entrance to heaven for any crusader killed, & the popes, God's (Christ's) representatives on Earth, sanctioned the Crusades, giving indulgences to kill muslims. That's what the picture implies, & it is accurate, if, somewhat one-sided. But “I want you” posters are inherently one-sided. WWII recruitment posters were no less brutal or direct.
Regardless of which side you favor, those are the facts. Whether the Crusades were Right or Wrong doesn't change those facts.
You need to remove those ideological glasses sometimes. Maybe you will see more clearly & not be so ugly to reasonable people.
If you have a complaint, take it up with the teacher.
It would be interesting to know to what extent the kid was using irony.
Jerusalem had been ruled by Muslims for over 450 years. It was primarily inhabited by Muslims at this point.
I agree that the Crusades were at base a long-delayed counterattack, but it is just silly to claim they were intended to rescue the Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Here’s an account of the capture of the city, as written by one of the Crusaders. This particular guy does seem to think killing infidels is a great thing.
The pillage of Jerusalem
Now that our men had possession of the walls and towers, wonderful sights were to be seen. Some of our men (and this was merciful) cut off the heads of their enemies; others shot them with arrows, so that they fell from the towers; others tortured them longer by casting them into the flames. Piles of heads, hands and feet were to be seen in the streets of the city. It was necessary to pick one’s way over the bodies of men and horses. But these were small matters compared with what happened in the Temple of Solomon, a place where religious services are normally chanted. What happened there? If I tell the truth, you would not believe it. Suffice to say that, in the Temple and Porch of Solomon, men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies. The city was filled with corpses and blood.
From Raymond d’Aguilers, Historia francorum qui ceprint Jerusalem
Yes, I know all of that. Still, this is recently a major talking point of the “angry atheist” crowd, which is why I suspect the kid did not draw this conclusion on his own. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised if the lefties had managed to get the textbooks to put this spin on the coverage of the Crusades in the textbooks.
Don’t need to. I have been an artist for 30 years.
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