Anti-Semitism In France!

[Ron Cusano 0]

Maybe you are right!! But it do kind of think He would rather have us agree with His, don't you??

Ron, I'm not offended by you saying JC is the messiah, and I do not think you are wrong, per se - I believe, and the Rabbis of old teach thatG-d delights in our wrestling with him - and I chalk all this right up there to that.

[TruBlueSue 0]

agreement was NOT part of it - and in Judaism, one is NOT incouraged to have faith without the wrestling - and not everyone has to believe everything to still be considered a good, thinking, striving Jew.

[Ron Cusano 0]

Oh, I agree! In Christianity, I don't think anyone should believe because of blind faith, but should question and investigate to form a belief. Is that waht you mean about "wrestling"!

agreement was NOT part of it - and in Judaism, one is NOT incouraged to have faith without the wrestling - and not everyone has to believe everything to still be considered a good, thinking, striving Jew.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

So if you can mock fundamentalists and compare them to Taliban, is it OK if I were to mock athiests and compare them to Hitler? Is that acceptable to you??

Hitler made many speeches praising Christianity.

[Ron Cusano 0]

And a lot of other people killed a lot of Jews and Arabs in the name of Christianity, but that doesn't make them Christians. I was using an anology to try to point out that she felt comfortable making those remarks about fundamentalists, but would probally be offended if I made simular remarks about athiests.

Hitler made many speeches praising Christianity.

[mfw1941 0]

Hi Ron, Maybe I missed it somewhere in trying to catch up with all of the messages.

When were you banded and how are you doing?

[Ron Cusano 0]

I was banded on 7/19, I am down about 70 lbs. and going for my 3rd fill tomorrow. I also started a local Lap Band Support Group Meeting that meets twice a mon th that has been great support to me antd the other members.

Hi Ron, Maybe I missed it somewhere in trying to catch up with all of the messages.

When were you banded and how are you doing?

[gadgetlady 4]

Hitler was a "professed" Catholic but a practicing occultist.

[Ron Cusano 0]

I was going to say that but I didn't want to start any more controversy!!

Hitler was a "professed" Catholic but a practicing occultist.

[gadgetlady 4]

Oh..confusion abounds. I don't mock CHRISTIANITY!!!! I have Christian friends...even Christian minister friends...I mock FANATIC FUNDAMENTALISTS OF ANY STRIPE, because they are dangerous and stupid.

There is NO difference between the Taliban and the Fanatic Christian Fundamentalists...none. They all deserve my derision.

I rest my case. If anyone thinks there's no mockery going on on this thread, GeezerSue admits to it in this post. She justifies it by saying she's not mocking Christianity, but only fundamentalist Christianity, or fundamentalist Christians. And not only is there mockery, but because I am a fundamentalist Christian she is calling me "dangerous", "stupid", and "deserving of derision".

[Ron Cusano 0]

You forgot being a "Taliban"!!

I rest my case. If anyone thinks there's no mockery going on on this thread, GeezerSue admits to it in this post. She justifies it by saying she's not mocking Christianity, but only fundamentalist Christianity, or fundamentalist Christians. And not only is there mockery, but because I am a fundamentalist Christian she is calling me "dangerous", "stupid", and "deserving of derision".

[leatha_g 4]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

Hitler was a "professed" Catholic but a practicing occultist.

But he praised Christianity. He said it was the foundation of Germany's national morality.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

And a lot of other people killed a lot of Jews and Arabs in the name of Christianity, but that doesn't make them Christians. I was using an anology to try to point out that she felt comfortable making those remarks about fundamentalists, but would probally be offended if I made simular remarks about athiests.

What war has a fundamentist atheist ever caused?:faint:

[green 6]

Then allow me to say this to you and to the board . . .

 

I fully accept the right of anyone here to believe or not believe anything they want. I have said that repeatedly, but no one is hearing it. I believe that what I believe is 100% absolute and correct, but I recognize others here do not believe that. I can accept that.

 

What I can't accept is people making disparing, mocking remarks about my faith, because they don't believe it. I am not imaging this because some have openly admitted doing so. You want names, I can give you names!People can call me anything they want, but when they make a mockery out of my God and my faith, I am going to get in their face about it.

 

If during the course of this long, long exchange, I have become overly aggressive, it is because I was offended for my faith. If some feel that I have offended them, I apolige to the group for that, again. I was wrong about a post I made about the moderators, and I also apoligized about that. When I make mistakes, I am not above owning them.

 

If some want to disagree with me about my beliefs, even argue with me and question me about it, I don't have a problem with that. I will respect your "unbelief", but you also need to respect my "belief" and my right to express it freely. It has to be a two-way street.

I am cool with this, Cusano.

My own history has been fraught. Most of my father's side of the family perished in the Holocaust. My father was sufficiently traumatised by this that he didn't tell me that he was Jewish until I was 21. And though my parents were atheists, as I am myself, I was sent off to a boarding school run by Anglo-Catholic nuns for 8.5 years of my life.

Moreover, I grew up and still live in one of the large cities in Canada, a country that has been carefully trying to remake itself into a multi-cultural haven for some decades now. It had always been my own parents' desire and now it has become the Canadian urban style that everyone should be welcomed and respected into our environment. Much of this nice touchy-feely stuff has actually become enshrined in federal law over the past 25+ years. This is why same sex couples are permitted to engage in civil marriages up here.

But I digress. Most of my father's side of the family did not survive. They were destroyed during the Holocaust. The few who did make it carried grave psychological damage. This would include my father.

I lived in France. I saw evidence of anti-Semitism against both the Jews and the Arabs. From the reports which I have received since then, the situation for all Semites is deteriorating.

As for my own experience as a well educated and affluent downtown urbanite, well, once I switched from working in a well educated white collar university milieu to that of a blue collar unionized environment I was exposed to a lot of naked sexism and anti-Semitism. I could deal with the sexism but the anti-Semitism broke my heart. My father didn't want to tell me that he was Jewish. He was afraid of me being exposed to more of the same (even though I would only be considered Jewish to a racist). The dude was very damaged by his environment.

This is why I will always be anxious for you, Cusano, to have the right to express your love for your beliefs and it is obvious that you are a passionate individual. The deal is that you must give those of us who dissent equal respect and the reasons for this are multifold.

It is always true that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Should you wish to interest us in your passion, hectoring is certainly the wrong approach to take.

You must also understand that quite a few of us are in fact quite well-educated and thoughtful and thus we, too, want to be respected just as you yourself wish to be respected.

I wish to point out to you that you are speaking to a wide audience. You have no idea what the stories are behind our emotional and intellectual backgrounds. I, for instance, have just told you that most of my father's family perished during the Holocaust and that those who did manage to survive have issues of trust.

When you present your religious vision in such an insensitive and aggressive manner this can resurrect a lot of negative views about your religion. This is, in fact, the very thing which is causing a schism between many American Christians today. There are many moderate Christians who are very freaked out by the fundamentalist movement.