Religious Literacy: What a week! [KT]

From Robert P. George on a recent WSJ correction:

Ladies and Gentlemen: I give you the case for Biblical literacy

Religious literacy seems to have been an undercurrent this week at AoSHQ and elsewhere. Ace picked up on NPR's embarrassing definition of Easter. Heh. It adds another layer of confusion to the reporting about the Pope's views on hell. Which is already confusing enough.

Meanwhile,CBD highlighted this:

According to one 2004 estimate, since the 1970s Saudi Arabia has spent "north of $75 billion" on dawa - that is, on spreading Wahhabi Islam to non-Muslim societies. Many millions went to American colleges and universities willing to assist the kingdom. That they accepted the money is clearly a conflict of interests. Would they have accepted money from the Vatican to promote Catholicism?

J.J. Sefton has featured some great religious literacy content in his Culture Wars, Hither and Yon segments this week. Might want to save a link to Passover and the American Zion.

Freedom is forever in danger. Moses' instruction to his people as to the manner in which they were to celebrate the Passover indicates his comprehension of liberty as an eternal struggle. The matzah was to be eaten while we are standing with our shoes on our feet, in battle dress (Hebrew: hagor), with staff in hand ready to move as if we were actually participating in the ancient journey ourselves (Exodus 12:11).

Over at Maggie's Farm, there's something quite different, written by Bruce Kesler: Passover Answers Whether Jews Are a People or Just a Religion. You should really read the whole thing if the subject interests you:

The seder culminates with the affirmation, "Next year in Jerusalem," a reminder that the Jewish story that begins in Egypt ends in the land of Israel. A specific people bound to a specific land, for the ultimate sake of all peoples and all lands.

This week, as Jews around the world prepare for Passover, the war against Jewish peoplehood - against Passover itself - took a particularly ugly turn. A UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem denied any Jewish attachment to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall - the Wall was identified with quotation marks, unlike its Muslim term, Al Buraq.

The resolution - supported by, among others, Sweden, France and Spain, whose leaders profess friendship for the Jews - gives tacit legitimacy to the Palestinian terror campaign of recent months. It ignores the fact that Israel bars Jews from praying on the Mount. That Palestinian groups have systematically destroyed ancient Jewish artifacts at the site.

But most of all, the UNESCO resolution erases us from our own story. There were no temples on the Temple Mount, the Mount isn't the holiest site in Judaism, the Wall isn't the heart of Jewish prayer. Of all the attempts to destroy us throughout our history, the campaign against history itself is the most devious. . .

Wow. That is a REAL attempt to stamp out religious -and related historical - literacy.

Yes, this is the Thread before the Gardening Thread. Maybe you have some other topic you would like to discuss.

Have a great weekend.

posted by Open Blogger at 11:14 AM

| Access Comments