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To: American in Israel
Not bad for a people with a history of having their great great grandmas burned at the stake for remaining Jews rather than convert to Catholics.

Read some history. The Inquisition, if that is what you are referring to, was not used to force conversion upon the Jews. Indeed, Jews, as Jews, did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The only Jews that would fall under its jurisdiction were those professed Christians charged by the Spanish Inquisition with false conversion. And here the concern was more with Jews pretending to be Christians in order to undermine the Christian state, not as a means to convert them. Not that they enjoy equal rights under Catholic Spain but until their expulsion by Queen Isabella professed Jews were exempt from the Inquisition and were not threatened with "convert or die."

20 posted on 11/04/2011 9:23:59 PM PDT by Petrosius
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To: Petrosius
Jews were exempt from the Inquisition and were not threatened with "convert or die."

What a horrible misunderstanding! So many Sephardi Jews thought they were being threatened - and all of this time, the torture, murder, and seizure of property was an effort to show Jews how much Catholics love "Christ's brothers" (in Petosius' revisionism, "Christ killlers" was really "Christ's brothers" a term of endearment).

BTW, this is a non-story. Anyone who knows Jerusalem can tell you there are many favors of "ultra Orthodox" and only a small percentage do such things - and their usual target is NOT Christians, but Jews who drive on Shabbat. The obvious purpose of this non-story is to incite. Nothing new in that... People have been doing that for thousands of years. Rest assured though, Am Yisrael Chai!
34 posted on 11/05/2011 5:53:07 AM PDT by Tzfat
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To: Petrosius
Have read history, not just one version of it either. Quite a few jews were burned at the stake for not converting. And not just one time, there was two other great pograms, one in Poland and then of course Hitler.

Did you know that the Nazi guards wore belt buckles with in god we trust on them? Sang Christmas carols outside the gas chambers as they gassed jews and threw christmas wreaths on the piles of the dead? Yeah it was a ploy to build a divide between the Jews and Christians by the enemy, and it worked.

You also should understand the difference between Eastern and Western Christianity. The Orthodox sects such as Syrian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and the Lebanese Marointes tend to be very anti-semetic and pro-palestinian. It is only the recent years when the Jews experienced a new flavor of Christianity that actually loves them via tourism, that some of their eyes were opened to the fact that not all Christians are alike.

But then, on the Christian side, the same thing is true. Christians tend to think of Jews as this homogeneous group of people, when, just like Christianity they come in all flavors. The ultra-orthodox flavor tends to be a sour one. But on the other hand, the Sheersonite sect of Hasidim happen to be, well, pretty darn cool. They, to the untrained eye, are identical on the street. The spitters and the lovers. It is their actions that set them apart rather than the title "Ultra-Orthodox".

I had a conversation one day on Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem, where the Jewish guy I was chatting with and I discovered this difference between us, and he said to me that if I would promise to not think of all Jews as alike, he would promise to not think of all Christians as Catholics. We both made a friend that day.

Jews tend to be pragmatic, comes from 2000 years of persecution. Your actions speak louder than your words to them. So when you say you are a Christian and make rude comments like "Read some history." for openers, you lost your credibility right there.

You know, the old, “they shall know you by your love line”? Its true! They shall also know you by your lack thereof naturally.

38 posted on 11/05/2011 9:08:24 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: Petrosius
Read some history. The Inquisition, if that is what you are referring to, was not used to force conversion upon the Jews. Indeed, Jews, as Jews, did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. The only Jews that would fall under its jurisdiction were those professed Christians charged by the Spanish Inquisition with false conversion. And here the concern was more with Jews pretending to be Christians in order to undermine the Christian state, not as a means to convert them. Not that they enjoy equal rights under Catholic Spain but until their expulsion by Queen Isabella professed Jews were exempt from the Inquisition and were not threatened with "convert or die."

Yes, but you are being deliberately misleading by omission. The forced conversions (convert or die) happened before the Inquisition, beginning in the late-14th century. And in 1492, the remaining Jewish population was given the "choice" of conversion or having their property seized and being exiled from their country. Many "chose" to convert rather than being forced to flee the land of their birth in abject poverty. These weren't believing Christians who converted voluntarily. They were Jews who wanted to stay Jews but didn't want to be killed or exiled. Then the Inquisition came after them when, surprise, their forced conversions weren't genuine.

73 posted on 11/06/2011 9:43:32 AM PST by ChicagoHebrew (.)
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