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Tuesday, October 15 Holy War
Holy War Holy …. War… It’s a bit of an absurd statement when you think about it. I remember, as a child, learning about the Christian Crusades; entire cultures, whole populations, destroyed or assimilated in the name of Christ. As an adult I read about the plight of the Jews during the Spanish Inquisition. They were tortured into confessing that they were not true Christians. Once they confessed, they were executed. If they didn’t confess, they were simply tortured until they died and then declared “a true Christian after-all.” Hurray. As a Jew, I don’t believe Jesus was more than a man, albeit a truly spiritual one. But I’ve always thought that if he is what so many millions tout him to be; imagine the torment he endures, having seen all that cruelty in his name. I don’t know much about Jesus, but I do know that he must have been a man of true peace and kindness, not of mass execution and torture. I feel sorry for him. And no; I don’t think the past of my people, the Hebrews was blood-less. One has only to peruse the bible, (in this case, the old testament) to read of the count-less glorious wars in the name of the almighty. How many of those wars were really so glorious? We’ll never know, but I suspect way more than a few innocents were slain along the way. But these are modern times. Jews and Christians have long since learned to get along, (gasp). For many of us, the words “Holy War” had become something reserved for history books, religious study or the “Super Bowl.” Now it’s making a comeback. Jihad…Holy War. We hear it on the news. We see it in the NYC skyline, or lack of… It’s blowing up in Indonesia. It’s taped to the bodies of suicide bombers in Israel. It’s littered in the ruins of far too many lives. We’ll never bring back those beautiful ancient Buddahs. HOLY WAR Holy war? Sometimes war is necessary. It’s often in evitable. But, trust me on this, war is never holy.
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