Sunday morning I chatted with members of the congregation who recently made a trip to Israel. It was a deeply meaningful faith experience, both in insights into the past, and a deepened awareness of the present. They had the opportunity to meet an Arab Christian leader who helped them understand the plight of Christians in Israel. I too have talked with resident Christians while in Israel and heard their frustration over the "tarred with the same brush" approach of the government to their situation. While Arab Christians have no history of violence or sedition their lives are severely restricted, as though they were Islamist insurgents. Many live behind the security wall which has choked their livelihoods.
The Christian population in Israel has been shrinking for decades as people leave out of frustration and a sense of discrimination. As readers will know, I strongly support the existence of the state of Israel. I don't support injustice toward minorities, particularly the Christian minority. It is ironic that in Bethlehem, the place of Christ's birth, his modern-day followers feel so beleaguered and are disappearing. The official stance is that it is Muslim militants who are causing this, but Christian leaders deny it.
Some of you may have seen the
60 Minutes segment on Sunday night which shows the enormous pressure exerted by both the American and Israeli governments on the media not to report this situation. Even the powerful 60 Minutes has felt the weight of censure for a feature that hadn't even been aired. Take a look and offer your thoughts.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417408/christians-of-the-holy-land/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel
2 comments:
Interesting stuff, and it certainly flies in the face of what I thought I knew about the situation (especially from the American angle)
Those are great, but your mentioning about last week's service and "children's time" reminds me how hard I was laughing at some of the answers they gave.
When you were asking the children what they thought certain items were, their answers were priceless. A rhino's ear! I can't remember all of them, but I do know I almost fell out of my pew from laughing so hard.
I hate to say this, David, but I am always hoping the children come up with these funny and unpredictable answers during children's time. You are always up to the challenge though!
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