Ben commented "I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians."
As I see it intolerant people push Jews, Christians, and Muslims around for the same reason. That reason has nothing to do with believing in God. It has everything to do with the associated dogma-driven bigotry derived from ancient writings loaded with errors. Jews, Christians, and Muslims shove the dogma, derived from their "Holy" scriptures, down the throats of their children, scaring them half to death in the process, and giving them a HORRID concept of God as a result.
Judaism Jews don't proselytize much outside their families. They act as though they don't want non-Jews in their religion. THAT attitude alienates many non-Jews, and it raises a sticking point about Judaism: what does "Jew" mean?
Does "Jew" mean "born to a Jewish mother?" Or does it mean "believes Jewish religious philosophy and the practices of Judaism? Or both? The fact that no clear meaning exists causes much confusion and resentment in the minds of non-Jews.
Christians and Muslims want to convert the whole world to embrace of their dogmas. That causes resentment in people of intelligence who find serious fault with their religious texts.
Americanist bible scholar Thomas Paine documented a vast array of inconsistencies and inaccuracies of the Pentateuch (the base religious text of Judaism) and Bible (the base religious text of Christians) in his three-part book Age of Reason over 200 years ago. And modern science has utterly disproven the Creation myth that Christians and Jews insist their children believe in defiance of common sense.
Christians also believe the pagan-origin religious philosophy of the so-called apostle Paul. He pronounced that God ordered the human-sacrifice death of his only-begotten son Jesus of Nazareth to atone for the sins of God's other children, and that whoever did not believe it would burn in hell for eternity. He maintained the people who did not accept the notion of Jesus' sacrificial death could not have relationship with God, in spite of the fact that Jesus openly encouraged his followers to pray directly to God.
Logical, thinking truth-seekers find the human-sacrifice concept abhorrent and inconsistent with the nature of a wise and loving Heavenly Father which Jesus of Nazareth taught about throughout his public ministry.
But the absurdities of similar beliefs within the dogmas of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity so alienate many intelligent people that they turn away from religion altogether in favor of hard core agnosticism or atheism, or they gravitate toward Buddhism which does not endorse a concept of a single personalized God.
Such is the damage human-origin religious dogmas have done to the spread of the God concept on our planet. Yes, the world has a billion Muslims, two billion Christians, and a billion or more polytheists because people naturally crave to know God and become like him. But the dogmas of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have actually driven away many of the more intelligent and logical in utter and unsalvable frustration.
Why unsalvable? Because NO religion exists on planet Earth that will satisfy their craving for logic and common sense. So they have dispensed with it altogether in their lives. And many Christians have abandoned their faith for similar reasons of gross dissatisfaction with logically untenable doctrines.
I can think of only one other reason that people would want to "Push others around for being Jews": the traditional iconic avarice and arrogance of Jews toward non-Jews. Possibly this derives in part from the high average intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews coupled with their clannish endogamy intended to preserve that intelligence. Most people know of the one parable of Jesus that highlighted this tendency toward an attitude of racial superiority - the Good Samaritan story.
The temple rulers and Hebrew clerics interpreted the word "neighbor" as "fellow Jew" so as to exclude gentiles from the embrace of these scripture about God's greatest commandments:
- Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
- Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
In Luke 10:25 et seq., a Sanhedrin lawyer intended to trick Jesus into blaspheming against the official Jewish interpretation of the word "neighbor" in the above scripture to mean "fellow Jew." He knew Jesus had taught that we should love all people as brothers and sisters, and Jesus asserted that was the proper meaning of "neighbor."
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Jews had traditionally hated Samaritans for 400 years for giving quarter to the army of Alexander the Great during its march through the area. Jesus used this for dramatic effect in answering the lawyer with the Good Samaritan story.
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain [man] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded [him], and departed, leaving [him] half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked [on him], and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion [on him], 34 And went to [him], and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave [them] to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
In this way Jesus belittled the Jewish hypocritical sense of racial superiority - loathing Gentiles for non-Jew status - demonstrated in the tradition of wantonly, willfully, whimsically cheating Gentiles in business. His Good Samaritan story encouraged showing love to others regardless of race. It denigrated the practice of misinterpreting scripture to justify racial and religious bigotry.
Perhaps many Gentiles believe the Jewish practice of racial and religious bigotry has endured down into modern times, and many feel critical against all Jews for it. That just might prompted widespread Gentile loathing and distrust of Jews as bigots. That bigotry might constitute the primary source of sentiment that results in "Getting pushed around for being Jews."
And Jewish racial bigotry might constitute the primary reason so many sensible Jews have abandoned Judaism to become intractably secular, agnostic, or atheistic, or have converted to a different religion.
What do you think?
Just wondering...
[Note: the author believes the answer and solution to all religious bigotry lies in The Urantia Book. Read it. Then decide whether it provides worthy guidance for your life.]
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