so many things to say....
...so little time to say them. two weekends ago, I attended the Sabeel Conference in denver. there are several sabeel conferences held around the nation, all about engaging israelis and palestinians in a dialogue about the difficulties inherent in their political and religious struggles. it was very educational, in part because of a man who spoke about "christian zionism" I don't know if you've encountered this, but I have. when I worked the election booths last spring, I was paired with a woman who was eager to tell me about a book she was reading that said (paraphrasing) that christians needed to help jews "get rid of" all the palestinians, because only when the jews had total control of that region would jesus come back. I, of course, thought she was nuts. but at the sabeel conference I learned that, actually, there is an entire strain of thought along these lines. scary, huh?
there's more to tell, including what to say to someone who espouses this crap-o-la, but I have to get to class....
posted by tigger grrl @ 7:46 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I do believe what you thought you heard at the Sabeel Conference in Denver was helpful in resolving the conflict. But the evidence is that Sabeel has no intention of making peace with the Jewish state and in fact deals in shameful antisemitism.
Thankfully this was picked up by the Religion and Philosophy faculty at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where Sabeel held a conference just prior to coming to Denver.
The letter issued by Coe included the following:
"The Dept. of Philosophy and Religion at Coe is aware that some anti-Semitic remarks were made at the recent Sabeel Conference held on our campus and which our department sponsored. We are also aware that here were other breaches of civility during the conference."
I hope you might take this into consideration. Thank you.
oh yeah, I didn't get a chance to write that the ONLY folks who don't like what the Sabeel conferences are all about are ZIONISTS. the conference was picketed by about 10 folks who carried Israeli flags side-by-side with American flags. every U.S. citizen should be concerned about the message these people were sending -- that the U.S. is snuggling up to Israel. why the hell should we be picking sides?
anyone else find it interesting that this comment as "anonymous"? if you are afraid to be open about your views, are you afraid that you are wrong?
sorry "anonopuss" but your spam rants are not welcome here. if you can't put your name on it, then you don't really mean it, and it will be deleted. that's not censorship, it's logic. if you can't stand behind what you write, then you have no integrity. end of story. thanks for spamming.
spam spam spam spam SPAM (love python (monty)) :~)
A Christian zionist is a Christian who believes that Jews have the right to their own state in their historic homeland -- nothing more, nothing less. this has nothing to do with "getting rid of Palestinians so that Jesus can return".
The Christian zionists I know (including myself) do not believe that we will somehow hasten the lord's coming by supporting Israel. in fact this is a specifically unbiblical idea, (see Mark 13:32). We just believe that, given the sorry history of Christian treatment of our Jewish brothers and sisters over the years, we have a duty to support Israel's right to live in peace and with secure borders.
Sabeel is a wolf in sheep's clothing. read this:
http://www.sabeel.org/old/reports/easter01.htm
and tell me if this is a person speaking in goodwill. Criticize Israel if you will, but dont be taken in by antisemitism disguised as a pious search for "peace and justice" Sabeel in interested in neither.
Zionism is a 19th century secular philosophy that calls for Jewish people to flee persecution around the world for their "historic homeland" in Palestine. Jews from around the world flocked to Palestine under its banner starting in the late 19th century. Modern Israel is not a continuation or restarting of the ancient kingdom of Isreal. Israel is therefore the final expression of western imperialism and completely unjust. That being said, the only thing to do now is accept the existence of Isreal AND a Palestinian state. Debate will continue but I propose that Jerusalem should be an international city like the Vatican. Christian zionists of all persuasions are pretty scary because ignorance is scary, especially religious ignorance. And now these people are on national TV every sunday morning begging money to fund further settlements in the West Bank. These are very scary times. This message is marked anonymous because I'm not on blogger.com. So let me just sign my name here.
Lelyn R. Masters
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