rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Fred Mertz) (02/01/85)
> I fail to see why some of my co-religionists are finding all sorts of > excuses for folks who firebombed a church in Jerusalem. The neighbors > don't like it -- so what? Lots of Cossacks, Poles, Germans, *Arabs*, > etc., haven't liked having Jewish neighbors. Many whites have objected > to blacks moving in next door. It is very difficult to claim the moral > high ground when others discriminate against Jews, but be silent when > Jews are discriminating against Christians (to say nothing of resorting > to violence). I for one will not remain silent; I will condemn such > as often and as loudly as I condemn synagogue bombings, cross burnings, > and other acts of bigotry. --Steve Bellovin The point was that all these religions have been pots calling kettles black. The "I am right, you are wrong, I must show you the way, or you must die" mentality that many people *claim* that they don't have is ingrained into many religious belief systems at the root. Granted, these Jews in Jerusalem *were* abused by the church members. Granted, they did react with excessive violence. Why is it that we all agree "none of it is justified", but some of us feel obliged to add "so don't blame *my* people"? Blame them all, if blaming people is your sort of thing (it's not mine). Or blame the mindset of religious superiority/inferiority that causes it. -- "Right now it's only a notion, but I'm hoping to turn it into an idea, and if I get enough money I can make it into a concept." Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr