The Jews.

A couple of years ago a Jewish man in Melbourne took legal action in an attempt to completely illegalise the celebration of Christmas in Oz. He claimed it was discriminatory. Try to imagine a Christian doing the same thing against Jewish celebrations in Israel. That episode above all else does not endear me much to that religion.

So one wacko turns you off an entire religion Wilso? Seems a bit harsh. Even after 9/11, I don't see terrorists in every Muslim face.

Wilso


I am sure the legal action went no where. There are people who take legal action for all sorts of reasons some valid and others off the wall. I am surprised that you would judge a religion by the actions of one individual. As for your question regarding what would happen in Israel. I would venture to say the same thing. The legal action would be brought and would go nowhere.

Nor I, Cav. I was perplexed about the Ten Commandments ruckus in Alabama, however. The ACLU abandoned its suit. I tried to explain to my students that prayer in the schools did not mean simply Christian prayer. It took a bit for that to sink in. That is one major reason that I think separation of church and state should be maintained.

I do wish I could remember the details of Gentleman's Agreement, but I did read the book Black Like Me. Both gave me insight into the bias of peoples at large. Last evening, I watched a movie called Far From Heaven. It presented the ramifications of being "different" in an era when all Americans were cut and pasted into little robots.

It's not easy being green, Letty, just ask Kermit. I haven't seen Far from Heaven, but it's on the list. :cool:

Craven
Duly noted.

Just for interest's sake, while on the subject of Saul/Paul of Tarsus:

http://www.dimensional.com/~randl/tarsus.htm

The author does include a proviso that this is simply an opinion piece, btw.

Islamic Anti-Semitism


Published: October 18, 2003
It is hard to know what is more alarming — a toxic statement of hatred of Jews by the Malaysian prime minister at an Islamic summit meeting this week or the unanimous applause it engendered from the kings, presidents and emirs in the audience. The words uttered by the prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, in a speech to the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on Thursday were sadly familiar: Jews, he asserted, may be few in number, but they seek to run the world.
"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy," he said. "They get others to fight and die for them." Muslims are "up against a people who think," he said, adding that the Jews "invented socialism, communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."
When Israeli officials noted that such talk brought Hitler to mind, the assembled leaders were mystified. Yemen's foreign minister said he agreed entirely with his Malaysian colleague, adding, "Israelis and Jews control most of the economy and the media in the world." The Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Maher, called the speech "a very, very wise assessment." Even the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, said the speech was "very correct."
Perhaps the saddest element is just how impotent the representatives of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims feel. When Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia's foreign minister, sought to contain the controversy, he explained that because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Muslims feel "sidelined or marginalized," so please understand why they complain about the power of a tiny competing group like the Jews.
Sympathy for the Muslims' plight must not be confused with the acceptance of racism. Most Muslims have indeed been shoddily treated — by their own leaders, who gather at feckless summit meetings instead of offering their people what they most need: human rights, education and democracy.
The European Union was asked to include a condemnation of Mr. Mahathir's speech in its statement yesterday ending its own summit. It chose not to, adding a worry that displays of anti-Semitism are being met with inexcusable nonchalance.

au, You beat me to it. I read the same article in today's San Jose Mercury News, and came to the same conclusion. It's very worrisome when a leader spews hatred, but for the audiance to acknoledge the hatred is more disturbing, because it shows concensus amongst a larger population. It kind of reminded me of Hitler's speeches where the crowd followed like sheep.

C.I.
Straight out of the protocols of zion. Is there any doubt that for the Moslems this is a holy war. I doubt that the Moslems in that part of the world ever came into contact with a Jew.

Right, C.I. Christians have had a tough time in the Philippines, too. The surgeon who removed my gall bladder, the non invasive approach, said that he was in jeopardy as a Christian. I think that's why he came to America.

Would you believe that the first time that I heard the word, Jewish, was when I was eleven years old? Someone whispered to me, "Don't you realize that they don't believe in Jesus?" I then became quite curious about these people. Later, when I was in college, my Western Civ prof was a Rabbi. He was excellent, kind, and always willing to discuss my concerns. I kept thinking in my private discourses with him. Wow! He's a better "Christian" than my minister.

I am grateful to my parents for never having clouded my childish thinking with bias. My father use to laugh about my Mom being the first one in church and the last one out. Well, we do morph throughout our lives, do we not?

Which Muslims? Certainly not all Muslims, no?

Monger
Which Muslims? Certainly not all Muslims, no?

IMO The Muslim world against the Jews the Americans and the entire Judeo Christian concept.. Our enemy is not a particular nation or nations but a religion. That war is being fought by acts of terrorism in many areas of the world.

what you just said is no better than what the malaysian prime minister said. perhaps even worse since you mention war against the muslims. comments like that don't exactly help to quell anti-semitism.

which is the bigger threat today? anti-semitism or extreme zionism?

First of all a huge number of Muslims would never support any terrorism. Second, of those who do support such methods, contrary to what you said I think the majority direct their hatred towards the US, Israel, and non-Muslims who they see as a threat to their predominantly Islamic countries -- not the entire Judeo-Christian world at large. There are of course fringe idiot fundamentalists who this doesn't apply to, and I'd agree if you said some Muslim nations have high proportions of fundamentalists, but keep in mind that the Qur'an calls on Muslims to respect Christians & Jews. In more than one Qur'anic passage they're specifically mentioned as having god's favor:

Be they Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Sabaeans, those who believe in God and the Last Day and who do well have their reward with their Lord.
They have nothing to fear, and they will not sorrow.
(Qur'an: 2:62 and 5:69)

Quick, somebody get us back on topic before Sofia gets in

the philippines has the largest christian population in asia both in terms of numbers and percentage.

ye110man
I said they the Muslims are at war and they are fighting it through terrorism. The statement by the Maylasian Prime Minister which was endorsed by many if not all the leaders of Islam bears me out. My statements, which IMO are true will neither enhance or retract from anti-Semitism. It will be alive and kicking no matter what is said.
I do not know what extreme Zionism is and I suspect neither do you. But no matter what it is, anti-Semitism is to me a far greater threat.

I suppose Zionism is a catch word similar to liberal or leftist.

Hmm... isn't this the dude who commercialized automobiles?

http://www.noontidepress.com/books/ford/ij51.html