- Millions of Christians have been incensed in the last
several days over public burning of New Testaments in Israel. Hundreds
of New Testaments were distributed by Messianic (Christian) Jews in the
predominantly Jewish Orthodox town of Or Yehuda. But the town's mayor,
Uzi Aharon, had Jewish religious students gather the New Testaments and
burn most of them next to a synagogue.
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- Is this an act of isolated bigotry?
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- No. Burning of the New Testament is a religious
duty according to Judaism's highest religious authority, the Babylonian
Talmud. It says "the writings of the minim [Christians] deserve to
be burned, even though the holy name of God occurs therein, for paganism
is less dangerous than minuth [Christianity]." (Shabbethai 116) (See,
http://www.truthtellers.org/alerts/usgovtalmudmocknt.htm
- U.S. Government, Talmud Mock New Testament")
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- The Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem, the official
religious representative of the state of Israel, upholds the Talmudic view.
What about the Israeli government? Will it prosecute Jewish fanatics who
increasingly violate the rights of Christian Jews in Israel? Not likely.
The government of Israel doesn't defend persecuted Messianic Jews, even
though persecution violates their rights as Israeli citizens. The official
attitude is that, as such missionaries have no business proselytizing,
the consequences are left to the discretion of local magistrates and police.
(See, "
- http://www.truthtellers.org/alerts/christiansinisraelrepost.html#part2
- Christians in Israel: An Endangered Species")
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- Medieval Israel?
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- This raises the question of whether Israel
is really the much-touted "democracy" it claims to be. In a democracy,
free exchange of opinions is encouraged; citizens believe that if all viewpoints
are available, rational people can find the truth. In a medieval, religiously
closed society, the ruling elite believe the people cannot be so entrusted.
Attempts to religiously persuade are called "imposing your beliefs
on other people" and "killing people's souls." Such "proselytization"
is considered a coercive reprehensible act, worthy of punishment.
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- Especially since the Protestant Reformation
in the 16th century, the western world has agreed that free exchange of
ideas (religious, political, scientific, artistic, etc.) is the barest
requirement of finding truth. In the feudal age before the Reformation,
the Bible was banned to peoples of western Europe in their own languages,
confined to Latin and chained up inside the church. The gift of the Reformation
was that it helped end restriction of ideas and resultant book-burning.
This led directly to the US Constitution, with its First Amendment and
the Bill of Rights.
- The shame of the "modern" state
of Israel is that it is returning to religious medievalism. It's taking
the world backwards.
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