Tuesday, September 22, 2009
This is just a quick link to follow -- an "aside." These are links to interesting things that, for one reason or another, I didn't place into a full posting. Click the link to visit the full article. Go to the blog index for a regular listing of posts.
Analyst raps Protestants for condemning Israel - 'A pro-Israel media monitor charged that condemnation of Israel by some mainstream Protestant denominations amounts to a "third Intifada." Broadcast around the world by various human rights groups, agencies, and Muslim extremist groups, allegations by the Christians have contributed to what Dexter Van Zile called "a third Intifada" that "seeks to demonize Israel and the Jewish people throughout the world."...' [It's Dexter! Heya Dexter!]
Zionism has such a rich language. If you're opposed to Israeli actions and you're Jewish, you're "self hating." If you are secular or Muslim, you're "anti-Semitic." If you are an otherwise friendly Protestant and criticize Israel, you're a "third intifada." If you're an Israeli Arab, you're a "fifth column." If you're a right-wing neoconservative, there is no such thing as criticism of Israel. Not even a word in the dictionary.
But there's a religious word for the elevation of the Israeli state above all else, even religious principles. It's called "idolatry."
No, it's called "survival."
David:
When otherwise friendly Protestants detail Muslim and Arab failings to the extent that they document and condemn Israeli and Jewish failings, then maybe you're point would have some weight.
In reality, the "otherwise friendly Protestants" of which you speak, subject Israeli policies and Jewish identity to intense scrutiny while giving very light treatment to the sins of Israel's adversaries, or to the ideology and theology that motivates these sins.
Take a look at what the mainline churches have said about the Arab/Israeli conflict. Document the criticism/demands they level at Israel. And then document the criticism and demands they level at Hamas and Hezbollah.
And then get back to me.
Is that crickets I hear? Yes, crickets!
David:
I missed it.
Your own post accuses Israelis of "idolatry."
Ah, such theologically loaded language!
Now lets see you use that same ... what is it ... hermeneutic on the sins of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Theology for Jews and their homeland, sociology for Palestinians.
Double-standard much?