Persecuting Jews in America?
From the Jerusalem Post comes (this) article where Judy Maltz complains of persecution of Jews in America's Public schools.
I tried to post a response on the JPost's talkback section under the article. However since I have not had much luck getting the JPost to publish comments from me, I decided I would take up the issue here.
A few years back, when I lived in a different neighborhood here in my city, I regularly commuted past one of my city's parks. This park has one of the few hills in town, and up on this hill, over the holiday season, they would put up displays for the public enjoyment. From a "Christian" perspective were secular displays like Santa and holiday lights (even atheists put Santa in their yard and a Christmas tree up in their homes) and from a Jewish perspective was a huge Menorah.
What I found interesting about this display, is that while a Christian religious display like a nativity scene would never be allowed, a Jewish religious symbol like a Menorah was tolerated. I guess no one complained, and I was not offended myself. After all, there really is no such thing as a Hanukkah Bush.
I am not certain if this display continues today, as it would not surprise me if someone eventually complained. What intrigued me is that this display was even allowed to occur at all. You see, I live in Virginia Beach, which is home to Pat Robertson (go google him if you unfamiliar with him). I found it interesting that in this city overtly Jewish religious displays were tolerated even while overtly Christian displays were denied the Christian majority.
Perhaps in some sections of America Jews really are persecuted. However in my corner of the USA people seem to be willing to bend over backwards to be tolerant.
Are some Christian preachers intolerant of Jews? Yeah. But then these kind are also rather intolerant of fellow Christians and will preach from their pulpits against Catholics, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists and any other denomination that disagrees with them.
I would imagine there are entire communities that Jews would not feel comfortable, but that goes for the rest of us Americans as well. For example, most Americans do not have any problem with someone cracking open a Budweiser now and again, but down south there are entire counties that are "dry" and where it is illegal to sell alcohol. Those of us who do not want to deal with this inconvenience just do not move into these counties.
By the way, I have noted that while several new comments were included under the JPost talkback, my comments still were not included. Do I detect some intolerance?
I tried to post a response on the JPost's talkback section under the article. However since I have not had much luck getting the JPost to publish comments from me, I decided I would take up the issue here.
A few years back, when I lived in a different neighborhood here in my city, I regularly commuted past one of my city's parks. This park has one of the few hills in town, and up on this hill, over the holiday season, they would put up displays for the public enjoyment. From a "Christian" perspective were secular displays like Santa and holiday lights (even atheists put Santa in their yard and a Christmas tree up in their homes) and from a Jewish perspective was a huge Menorah.
What I found interesting about this display, is that while a Christian religious display like a nativity scene would never be allowed, a Jewish religious symbol like a Menorah was tolerated. I guess no one complained, and I was not offended myself. After all, there really is no such thing as a Hanukkah Bush.
I am not certain if this display continues today, as it would not surprise me if someone eventually complained. What intrigued me is that this display was even allowed to occur at all. You see, I live in Virginia Beach, which is home to Pat Robertson (go google him if you unfamiliar with him). I found it interesting that in this city overtly Jewish religious displays were tolerated even while overtly Christian displays were denied the Christian majority.
Perhaps in some sections of America Jews really are persecuted. However in my corner of the USA people seem to be willing to bend over backwards to be tolerant.
Are some Christian preachers intolerant of Jews? Yeah. But then these kind are also rather intolerant of fellow Christians and will preach from their pulpits against Catholics, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists and any other denomination that disagrees with them.
I would imagine there are entire communities that Jews would not feel comfortable, but that goes for the rest of us Americans as well. For example, most Americans do not have any problem with someone cracking open a Budweiser now and again, but down south there are entire counties that are "dry" and where it is illegal to sell alcohol. Those of us who do not want to deal with this inconvenience just do not move into these counties.
By the way, I have noted that while several new comments were included under the JPost talkback, my comments still were not included. Do I detect some intolerance?
posted by Little David at 12/25/2005 07:42:00 AM
3 Comments:
Update.
My comments were included in the JPost talkback.
Frankly, it does somewhat annoys me that some people take their religion so damn seriously.
I'm an atheist, and I generally have no problems with Christmas carols. If anything, it's my way of "getting back at Christians", secularising an otherwise religious song. Surely a multicultural society like the US (and certainly in Australia) can comprehend the subtlety of appreciating a cultural holiday song (with some degree of religiosity) for its value as art and music? I don't accept the religious messages in carols either, but I certainly don't mind listening to them once a year.
I wonder if the Jewish family described in that article would "cringe" at visiting the Louvre museum in Paris and complain if they saw paintings from the classical masters with non-Jewish religious allegories?
I would not have thought that being "Jewish" would prelude them from learning about other religions. Having a tolerant multicultural society is first about learning and understanding other cultures, not expecting having everyone to bow down and tolerate yours. If you do the first, the second comes naturally.
Regards,
Michael Tam
@ boy from the bronx: Growing up as a Chinese boy in the outer suburbs (i.e., predominantly Anglo-Saxon) of Sydney, I am no stranger to racism, both hidden and overt.
IMHO, it is futile, if not counter-productive to be antagonistic to those otherwise kind and genuine people who are "unwittingly" racist.
I agree with you: I do not believe that religious songs and symbols for the purposes of worship have any place within the public education system.
However, context, as always, is important. I do not believe that the school (or principle) thought that their actions were offensive to some. Arrogance perhaps? Yes, but non-intentional.
Was any attempt made perhaps to agree to Christmas songs of a more secular nature, or at least those without overt religiosity? Or perhaps, arrange the program so that more "Christian" elements were in an optional latter half of the program?
One can be overly dogmatic about these matters as well. Religion is a part of society and culture and I do not think that it is appropriate to "sanitise" schools from all aspects of religion. Religious education, religious bias and religious promotion is certainly out of bounds. However, there should be some tolerance of religion (any religion) within bounds of culture at schools.
For example, I would think that learning about the major world religions and their impact on current world and social affairs (again, in a non-biased and non-promotional manner) in school as part of social studies/science would do much to promote religious understanding and tolerance in Western countries.
Let me remind you that I am an affirmed atheist.
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