From: hasn@midway.uchicago.edu 
Subject: Intolerance (was SCJ HAS BEEN DECONTAMINATED!
Organization: University of Chicago
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:32:56 GMT

In article <davidh.724518925@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu>, davidh@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (David Klein) writes:
> 
> bc744@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark Ira Kaufman) writes:
> 
> 
> >   While there may have been a spate of Christian propaganda here
> >in scj, there response to it was swift, intense, non-stop, angry,
> >educated, and sincere.  Most of you who responded to the preacher
> >infestation have knowledge of Judaism that is way beyond mine.  I
> >know that your knowledge is what drove these nuisances off.  As a
> >Jew who has no interest in, or patience for, Christianity in this
> >group, I would like to thank all of you who aided, by virtue of a
> >sound knowledge of Judaism, in getting rid of these preachers.  
> >   It has been proved once again that Jewish education is the one
> >and only way of dealing with these people.
> >   Over the years, I have encountered many JFJ's.  But I have not
> >ever met one who, if he was REALLY Jewish, had been given much of
> >a Jewish education.  I qualified my statement, because I have met
> >several "Jews" for Jesus who were NEVER Jewish!  These phony Jews
> >seem to think that by posing as Jews, they can attract uneducated
> >Jews, who simply don't know any better.  The JFJ's who really ARE
> >born Jewish don't know much of anything about Judaism.
> >   I am sure that we have not seen the last of these folks.  They
> >seem to be like cockroaches in an NYC flat.  You can't get rid of
> >ALL of them, but it is possible to keep them under control.  
> >   To all of you who helped..., WELL DONE!  And Thank you.
> 
> >                             -Mark
> 
>   I find that this article is very upsetting because the intolerance
> Mark casts of other people is very poor. I can understand your
> resentment and anger towards those who would disrespect our culture,
> but does holding a similar attitude towards them do anything but give
> you a cultural ego boost. Life is not a game of "we are better than
> you". I some how get this expression from you when you state, "You
> can't get rid of ALL of them, but it is possible to keep them under
> control." Intolerance of any form is unacceptable. While we might be
> upset at the intolerance these people express towards us, it is not
> acceptable for us to be equally intolerant. Education is the only way
> to truly remove ignorance. 
> 
> If everybody believes in an eye for an eye,
> doesn't that leave the world blind?
> 
>   Mark, I have felt anger and frustration towards these "superior"
> moralists. I agree with you that their message is very painful, and
> should not be accepted, but that means destruction of their ignorance,
> not the idea that they are people. I grew up in Houston, TX, and out
> of necessity my mother moved to Wichita, Ks. My best friend and I went
> to the abortion lines to prevent the "moralists" from spreading their
> hatred, and imposing it on other people. We did not go there to pick a
> fight with them or to,"put them in their place". I find their views to
> be very sad. I pity the children who grow up in these environments
> because they are doomed to live in the same closed minded world that
> their parents teach them to live in. If in that situation I had acted
> in a similar manner that they acted in and picked a fight with them,
> what would their children think (remember they brought their children
> with them to stand in the lines)? By rising above intolerance,
> hopefully this will lead the children to think that there might be
> something different, something that is not as full of hatred as their
> parents are. 
> 
> It truly makes me sad to see the spread of intolerance and hatred
> regardless of which culture it springs from. It makes me even sadder
> to see it come from our own culture. 

I couldn't agree with you more.  Intolerance, within all of our cultures
is definitely a negative.  I am muslim by birth but not by practice.  Yet
I feel that I am still a "real" muslim regardless of my degree of following.
The final result of "judging and condemning" is indeed a depressing prospect.
I have been approached by both Christian and Jewish missions on the street
and have also been visited at home.  If I choose not to listen, it is not because
I condemn what they do or stand for, it is because I am comfortable with my
beliefs.  I suppose that is one of the major problems with religion in general.
They serve to create a "culture" that is not.  Hey, I have seen a multitude of
Islamic and Christian "cultures (and I dont include Jewish because I was
born and raised until 18 or so not having met even one.  So my knowledge
is relatively limited of the aparent "Jewish culture")."   However, being
interested in issues of "nation/state" and "culture" I was curious as to
how Jews feel about such issues.  Also I will add that I walked in late 
to a lecture being given by an anthropologist studying Israeli "cultures"
versus Jewish "cultures."  The half hour I saw was fantastic.  However,
it gave me an impression that Israeli "cultures of Jewishness" differ
so greatly from American "cultures of Jewishness" that the issue of 
"One Culture" becomes fluid and hazy.  In any case, please be easy on
me since I am merely a muslim who celebrates christmas (hey, contrary 
to popular beliefs, muslims love gifts!).
Party on.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish