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Sunday, September 12, 2010

and what of Christians?

I was raised in a Christian family. It didn't take. I'm an atheist who sees no reason why human beings cannot have a system of morality based on the simple fact that you can feel pain, I can feel pain and we should both minimize, if not eliminate, any pain experienced by others as we would want them to do the same with us.

So, I don't look upon Christianity as superior to any other religion. In fact, I am disappointed when I see those calling themselves Christian acting in a way counter to anything I ever learned about the teachings of Jesus. To my mind, the best Christian is the one concerned with practicing his/her beliefs rather than boasting to others of his/her Christianity and pointing out the many sins of others.

The ultimate in Christian hypocrisy were the "Christian" militias in the Lebanese civil war. In America, a good example of being far from Christianity though professing it, are those elated at the thought of Judgement Day, primarily because they believe they will see those with whom they do not agree punished. A good example of this is John Hagee.

Hagee is known for his fierce defense of Israel. In the settlement of Ariel there is a John Hagee Center, built with some of the money he has raised and sent to Israel. There is little evidence that he gives a hoot about the Jews or knows much about them as this video documents. I doubt he knows a thing about the Palestinians that his money helps oppress.

On the bright side, there are some Christians who are behaving exactly as I would expect of those who practice what Jesus taught. Take a look at CPT - Christian Peacemaker Teams They have a great motto - "Getting in the way" wearing red hats as they stand their ground non-violently against force employed by the IDF against peaceful protesters. You will see two of them appear in this video at about 5:30 in, as they protest the restriction of Shuhada Street in Hebron to Jews only.

2 comments:

  1. Do you have background on the event of the Hebron video?

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  2. capsule summary:

    The violent and unprovoked arrests of 5 international and Israeli activists on Friday 14 of August represented a step up in the brutal Israeli suppression of creative non-violent political protest in Hebron.

    In defiance of Military Order 101 which outlaws any political protest involving more than 10 people, international and Palestinian activists have been gathering every Saturday
    to protest the Israeli closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinians, and the presence of illegal settlements and outposts throughout the area and also in the very heart of the the Old City itself.

    For a look at the history of the Hebron settlement situation see
    http://www.btselem.org/English/Hebron/

    Here is an excellent short video that presents the sitution in Hebron:
    http://www.btselem.org/English/Video/200705_Hebron_Introduction.asp

    Here is a map of the area, showing Shuhada Street:
    http://www.btselem.org/Download/200705_Hebron_Center_Map_Eng.pdf

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