Posted on 10/13/2010 9:31:23 AM PDT by citizenredstater9271
Bishops summoned to the Vatican to discuss the flight of Christians from the Middle East have blamed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for spurring much of the exodus and warned that the consequences could be devastating for the birthplace of Christianity.
Some bishops have singled out the emergence of fanatical Islam for the flight. But others have directly or indirectly accused Israel of discriminating against Arab Christians and impeding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In fact, the working document of the two-week synod accused the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories for creating difficulties in everyday life for Palestinian Christians, including their religious life since their access to holy sites is dependent on Israeli military permission.
Pope Benedict XVI called the two-week synod, which continued Wednesday, to try to encourage Christians in the largely Muslim region, where the Catholic Church has long been a minority and is shrinking as a result of war, conflict, discrimination and economic problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
This Jew disagrees with you. There's nothing in the Bible, or in Judaism, that requires a 100% Jewish-only state in the Land of Israel. Many non-Israelites lived in ancient Israel, some having been given special protection by Joshua Ben-Nun (Joshua 6:17-25; 9:6-27).
Even if Israel was a theocratic Jewish state (it's not), Jewish law would require affording non-Jews who aren't idolaters full civil rights and equal protection. (Exodus 22:20 -- "You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt") (Leviticus 19:33-34 -- "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.")
But Jews consider us Christians idolaters b/c they see Jesus as a false god.
This is largely a myth. There were many non-Jews in Israel during Second Temple times, including a very large Greek community, and huge Samaritan community.
Some Jews in ancient Judea certainly converted to Christianity. But the Jewish Church basically got annihilated during the revolts against Rome. Today's Israeli Arab Christian community largely descends from a combination of Greeks, Crusaders, Samaritans, and pious pilgrims throughout the centuries. Jews are likely a pretty small portion of the community's ancestry. If it makes you feel better, Samaritans are largely Israelite (though not Jewish). And those who weren't killed by the Byzantines largely converted to Christianity and, later on, Islam.
Not really true. Most knowledgeable Orthodox Jews do not consider Christianity to be idolatry, though there are a few minority opinions saying otherwise. There are also some Jews that don't think Christianity is idolatry, per se, but do take serious issue with the veneration of statutes and icons in certain Christian denominations.
It should also be pointed out that the entire Jewish community was not immediately exiled from Judea, as apposed to Jerusalem. After the destruction of the Temple their remained a Jewish community in the countryside. This community dwindled for a number of reasons. There had already been a large and voluntary exodus of those who sought a better life in other parts of the empire. Thus there were large Jewish communities in all the major cities of the empire before the rebellion. This would continue as pressures increased after the rebellion. Of those that remained, some would convert to Christianity and others would intermarry with the non Jewish population. All of this happened before the Arab invasion. True, the Christian population was composed of non-Jewish elements as well. The honest answer is that there is no way to know what percentage of the Christian Palestinian population is Jewish but it cannot be denied that it is one element.
In the end, however, I do not think that it is important. As a Christian, I follow St. Paul who said that there is no longer a distinction between Jew and Greek. In Jesus Christ the gentile Christians have been grafted onto the root of Judaism and are joint heirs with them. I do not expect Jews to accept this but at the same time Jews should not expect Christians to believe that Jews continue to have a separate covenant with God that excludes the Christians. As long as we respect on another and treat each other with dignity that is enough.
The Roman Catholic Bishops participating in this are, I am presuming, NOT naive, and therefor I find a grave moral relativism and moral hypocrisy in the particular position noted above. It is morally relativistic and hypocritical because it pretends that there are are not life threatening causes, as opposed to mere “political” intransigence, which justify the security measures that the Israelis MUST make, in their own defense.
If Israel's neighbors were merely a political opposition that was using peaceful political means, in their differences with the Israelis, the conditions the Bishops are complaining about would not be erected by the Israelis. The Bishops are not stupid. They know that to be the case. They know the foundation of the conditions they are complaining about are caused by the violence that Israel MUST protect its citizens against. Knowing that that violence is not going to disappear just because the Israelis drop their guard, while complaining about the conditions that having that guard imposes, makes the Bishops sound NOT like counselors of morals and faith but political counselors on a political agenda.
Why does the Roman Catholic Church keep allowing a voice, and sometimes a megaphone, for European antisemitism from within the ranks of its own leaders?
What is so bad about this policy is that it is foolish. The revolution in Iran had nothing.nada.nichts to do with the situation in the Holy Land. They only care to weaken the power of Israel since it is the only modern state in the Middle East
(yes, this includes Turkey.).
Well, it is does not help that they refuse to accept Christian Jews as citizens under the law of return.
They think that if Israel would go away that the Muslims would treat them more gently. This is foolish give the plain facts of history than whenever Muslim power revives, the lot of Christians gets worse, and the growth of the Church is suppressed.
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