I guess I'm supposed to accept that it is not OK to make fun of anyone's religious icon except Christians.
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An Israeli TV attacks Christianity!
- Thread starter TashaN
- Start date
I guess I'm supposed to accept that it is not OK to make fun of anyone's religious icon except Christians.
News from the Latin Patriarchate
Press Release from the
"Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land"
We, the members of the "Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land" deplore and condemn with utter dismay the repulsive attacks on our Lord Jesus Christ and on His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, carried out on Channel 10 of the Israeli television.
In these days, during a night show on Channel 10, a series of horrible offenses were launched against our faith and consequently against us, Christians. The show directed its attacks to the holiest figures of our Christian belief in an attempt, as the director of the show himself specifically declared, to destroy Christianism. In so doing, Channel 10 was used to desecrate the holiest figures of Christianism offending hundreds of thousands of Christian Israeli citizens and of many millions of Christians all over the world as well.
The Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land consider such programm a symptom of greater problems disturbing the society, such as intolerance, refusal to accept and respect the other and inherent hatred. More important, the Heads of Churches view this recent incident in the larger context of continuous attacks against Christians throughout Israel over the years. Only a few months ago, copies of the New Testament were publicly burnt in the yard of a synagogue in Or Yehuda. Since years, Christianity has been doing a lot to stop some manifestations of anti-semitism, and now Christians in Israel have to find themselves victimised by a low profile manifestation of anti-Christianism?
While condemning this and all other intolerant acts, we call on all concerned parties to investigate the matter and to take the necessary actions in order to put an end to such horrible desecration of our faith. It is unconceivable that such incidents have to occur in Israel which hosts some of the holiest shrines of Christianity and which rely to a great extent on pilgrimage from Christian Countries.
Therefore, we ask the Israeli people and its Authorities to take the appropriate measures against such unacceptable offense and its perpetrators. At the same time, we urge Channel 10 to acknowledge its responsibility and to officially and publicly apologise for this incident and never to allow its repetition.
We want also to express our understanding and appreciation to the deep reaction of our Christian Communities and Institutions as well as to the many reasonable representatives of Moslems and Jews who were themselves shocked and appalled and expressed their dismay and protest at this fact. Actually such programs have nothing to do with freedom of expression, art and entertainment. They can only work against national integration and harmony in our society.
We call on them all to exercise the utmost seriousness and restraint and to follow their Ecclesial Authorities in dealing with this very important and delicate matter.
Jerusalem, February 18, 2009.
His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, Emeritus Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
His Excellency Elias Chacour, Greek Melkite Archbishop of Akka
His Excellency Paul Sayya, Maronite Archbishop of Haifa
His Excellency Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, Latin Patriarchal Vicar / Israel
His Excellency Pierre Melki, Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarch
His Excellency Yousef Jules Zerey, Greek Melkite Patriarchal Exarch
His Excellency Butros Mouallem, Emeritus Greek Melkite Archbishop of Akka
His Excellency Kamal Bathish, Emeritus Auxiliary Bishop of Latin Patriarch
Fr. Pier Battista Pizzaballa, ofm, Custos of the Holy Land
Msgr. Rafael Minassian, Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarch
Fr. Paul Colin, Chaldean Catholic Patriarchal Exarch
Fr. Pietro Felet scj, Secretary General
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I thought this was something new, but it's not, according to the press release above.
Why they are attacking Jesus and Mary?
Is it for religious reasons or others which i'm not aware of?
As she has sown, so now must she reap. Revelation 18: 4-8, in reference to the famous prostitute who sits on seven mountains and claims to have a spiritual rulership over the temporal rulers of the earth.
Come out of her my people, do not share in her sin
You must not share her punishment, for her judgment day has come
Her sins are piled to heaven and God recalls her evil ways
She says I am no widow, and I'll never see the grave
Because of that, in just one day, disease will strike her down
Plagues and famine she'll receive, till finally she'll be burned.
Now you must pay her back two-fold for all that she has done
Fill her cup as she filled yours, but make it twice as strong
For all the glory she has claimed and all her luxury
Must be repaid, this very day, with pain and misery.
It matters not how perfect we become in the maturity of our days, nor how repentent we are for the atrocities of our past. It matters not how many tears we shed in the passion of our dispair: every body, whether the individual, political, religious body, or whatever, must all pay the price for their past sins.
So bow down dear woman to the earth, in pain bring forth your Son, this birth, my God declared would be, a long and painful one. The process of evolution is eternal; God is the only constant in that he is in the constant process of change, no other thing lasts forever, except, He the Master, as spoken of by the wonderful Omar Khayyam:
The Master, whose secrect presence, through creation veins
Running quick-silver like eludes your pains
Taking on all shapes from moon to cow
which shapes change and perish all, while He remains....Omar Khayyam.
We are all the clay vessels of the one potter who uses his vessels for whatever purpose he chooses, do not blame the obedient vessel dear woman, blame the Potter, who even moulded Hitler and raised him up as his Rod of chatisement against his son Israel, and who will put it into the hearts of the kings of the earth to carry out his purpose, to take away everything she has and leave her naked, and to eat the flesh of the famous prostitute and to burn her with fire, see Revelation 17: 16-18.
Jesus once said of the people of his day who believed that to break one letter of the written law was to sin, that they were wrong about sin. Sin, and death, the penality of sin, was in the world long befor the law was introduced, for sin is the disobedience of our Father who knows the end result to which he is working, and how can the architect complete his project, if his workers are forever accusing his directions as being destructive?
It is for this reason that the spiritual head or husband of the bride of the anti-Christ, who stands before God night and day accusing his brothers, must be removed and cast into the pit for the period of the Sabbath of one thousand years: that seventh period of the one thousand years from the day in which Adam disobeyed His Father and died on that day at the age of 930. Her Lord must be removed in order that the war which rages within the body of mankind might cease for the period of the Lord's day and mankind might know a period of internal rest and peace.
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Father Heathen
Veteran Member
Who's saying this?
Comicaze247
See the previous line
That's a damn advanced TV! Is Christianity alright?
YmirGF
Bodhisattva in Recovery
No doubt Catholics will soon be burning effigies in the streets, ransacking embassies and screaming, "Death to Judaism". Isn't that the thing to do when ones religion is defamed?
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
When people literalize theology, its the duty of the entertainment industry to use that as raw material, the really bad thing is not that some religious fundies will be offended, but that children will be indoctrinated to believe in superstitions.
I think that many religious beliefs are more than a fair game, and it doesnt matter if the religion is Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism.. although in certain cases its socially wise to be considerate of a minority, especially if they need to lighten up and your embassies are in danger of getting a molotov shower.
now after saying that, I think the interesting thing here is that there wasnt even an attack on Christianity here, Mary has been the target of jokes through out the world, every day, just by the very essence of the myth around this figure, this isnt about Christians or Christianity, its about material for comedy and an audience, trust me the intended audience is not [fundamental] Christians, and trust me on another thing, never before have I seen an Israeli comedian use a Christian belief for a comedy sketch.
round up the sacred cows!
I think that many religious beliefs are more than a fair game, and it doesnt matter if the religion is Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism.. although in certain cases its socially wise to be considerate of a minority, especially if they need to lighten up and your embassies are in danger of getting a molotov shower.
now after saying that, I think the interesting thing here is that there wasnt even an attack on Christianity here, Mary has been the target of jokes through out the world, every day, just by the very essence of the myth around this figure, this isnt about Christians or Christianity, its about material for comedy and an audience, trust me the intended audience is not [fundamental] Christians, and trust me on another thing, never before have I seen an Israeli comedian use a Christian belief for a comedy sketch.
round up the sacred cows!
Elessar
Well-Known Member
This, psht. Comedy sketch. I don't expect comedians to show any respect for religion, and sometimes it actually is funny, even if they go after one's own beliefs. Comedians are harmless, and they can say what they want.
What I find more disturbing is when the State of Israel and the various localities ignore outright attacks on Liberal Religious Jews (Conservative, Reform, Reconstruction) as well as Messianic Jews, even of the Orthodox variety, from Haredi and Hasidi attackers, who have bombed synagogues, "confiscated" sifrei Torah, stormed private homes seizing "non-Orthodox" siddurim, and so on.
Television shows and comedy sketches are meaningless when a huge segment of the Jewish People around the world find themselves unwelcome in Medinat Yisrael.
What I find more disturbing is when the State of Israel and the various localities ignore outright attacks on Liberal Religious Jews (Conservative, Reform, Reconstruction) as well as Messianic Jews, even of the Orthodox variety, from Haredi and Hasidi attackers, who have bombed synagogues, "confiscated" sifrei Torah, stormed private homes seizing "non-Orthodox" siddurim, and so on.
Television shows and comedy sketches are meaningless when a huge segment of the Jewish People around the world find themselves unwelcome in Medinat Yisrael.
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
That is not accurate, you dont have to be a Messianic Jew in order go get on the wrong side of an overly zealous person. thugs who happen to be 'ultra haredi' (a minority within a minority) can just as easily target a secular person.
You might have a point with the fact that Messianic Jews are a tiny minority in Israel, and so deserve a sensitive empathy when it comes to cases of abuse.
Elessar
Well-Known Member
Oh, of course not. Anyone can, secular Jews, liberal Jews, and Messianic Jews can all easily get on the wrong side of the ultra-Orthodox. But what I find lacking is protection of the latter two groups, both of which are rather small minorities, forthcoming from the police and military. I know people personally whose synagogues have been bombed by the Haredim. One Messianic Synagogue was invaded and people attacked and their sefer Torah robbed in the middle of the service because "they celebrate the gentile Christmas" (they were not celebrating Christmas; they were in synagogue on Christmas because Christmas happened to be on sabbath).
Sorry, I'm getting well off-topic. It's just that this issue is really critical to me, since I have both Messianic friends and Liberal relatives in Israel.
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
Im not sure I follow you, protection of which rather small minorities?
gnomon
Well-Known Member
Of course not.
There will never be the equivalence between our superficial differences based on nuances of our birth and that of the world of make believe.
No, I will never defend the rights of people to not have their religion mocked.
I will criticize those who mocked the religion for not doing it very well.
jacobweymouth
Active Member
I really don't care. Being it's Israel, a non-Christian country, I don't think it's all that unusual. It was actually in response to the Vatican lifting the excommunication of the holocaust denier.
The way I see it is; if Jesus and Mary actually existed, then they're historical figures, i.e., they belong to history, i.e. they belong to all of us and therefore they're fair game.
If they're not historical figures, i.e., if they only exist in Christian tradition then yes, they are the sole property of Christianity, but that interpretation kind of nullifies the whole religion, doesn't it?
If they're not historical figures, i.e., if they only exist in Christian tradition then yes, they are the sole property of Christianity, but that interpretation kind of nullifies the whole religion, doesn't it?
Poisonshady313
Well-Known Member
It's not an attack. It's a satire regarding the recent news about the bishop that is a holocaust denier... basically saying "This is the same sort of insensitivity shown to Jews by holocaust deniers"
It would be like if MadTV had a skit where Obama was blasting hip hop and eating nothing but fried chicken and watermelon in the white house. If you saw it, without context, you'd figure it was horribly racist... but if you had an ounce of understanding, you'd realize that it's a satire of people who believe that Obama will be a stereotype... and that's a way of throwing it in their face by showing how ridiculous it is.
It's a shame when people have a severely underdeveloped sense of humor.
It would be like if MadTV had a skit where Obama was blasting hip hop and eating nothing but fried chicken and watermelon in the white house. If you saw it, without context, you'd figure it was horribly racist... but if you had an ounce of understanding, you'd realize that it's a satire of people who believe that Obama will be a stereotype... and that's a way of throwing it in their face by showing how ridiculous it is.
It's a shame when people have a severely underdeveloped sense of humor.
Poisonshady313
Well-Known Member
Can someone find a video with english subtitles? Or perhaps provide an english transcript?
Poisonshady313
Well-Known Member
Poisonshady313
Well-Known Member
Something I'd like to point out... Television shows and comedy sketches are meaningless when a huge segment of religious Jews don't even own a TV, and the majority of the rest of the Jewish population isn't bothered enough by Christianity to spend time even talking about it, let alone doing comedy sketches about it.
Sure, there are Jews out there who spend time learning about Christianity for anti-missionary purposes... but I'm fairly certain that makes up a great minority of the Jewish population.
jacobweymouth
Active Member
As I said, I really don't care. I simply wouldn't watch the program. I've stopped watching certain TV shows because they're blasphemous. However, I wonder if you're taking such a cavalier attitude because they're central to a religious tradition.