Christians in Jerusalem

Yeah it’s pretty appalling that Christian’s are increasingly being targeted, I really feel for them. I think generally there is a lot of intolerance towards minority groups in the middle east. I lived there for a bit and I remember the hyperventilating over the sale of xmas items in a gulf country. Like the whole of Islam would unravel if someone bought a sparkly ball (they especially got het up about muslims who happened to quite like a xmas tree and put one up to cheer the place up a bit) I imagine those extremists in Jerusalem are equally rabid. There are religious fantics all over the middle east, it’s a depressing reality. But there are also good decent kind people who are horrified when people are persecuted.

Honestly OP, I agree that it’s important to talk about the persecution of minority groups but I think theres nothing wrong with recognition of the wider picture. It’s like if people wanted to talk about the uighers and people went shut up we are only talking about rohyinga we don’t want to talk about the uighers can you stop talking about oppression of muslims in any other country than the one I want to talk about. If you are genuinely concerned about Christians you would feel for all of them, not just a select few. I actually don’t think we talk about the persecution of Christians enough so I’m glad you brought it up (I’m not a Christian btw)

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/02/persecution-driving-christians-out-of-middle-east-report

Christian holy sites in Lebanon

"There are several Christian holy sites in Lebanon, including churches and shrines:

Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, Beirut
The first Christian temple in Beirut's old city, dating back to the early fourth century AC. "

It's not only in Jerusalem that Christians have holy sites 😳

The minority of extremists are causing more alarm on mn than the larger number of extremists in other countries. They don't seem worthy of merit

@Auvergne63 Ok, I did ask you to expand on the subject of Christians in Jerusalem but this is all you've got?

present troubles for Christians in Jerusalem would be coming from a minority of more extremist Israelis, rather than Israelis in general.

Yes this was explicit in the report.

I only dislike terrorists of all religions or none. Peaceful people of all religions or none are ok.

I dislike bashing all of Israel and ignoring other countries though which happens repeatedly. I dislike extreme settlers too. Its not religious based but actions based.

In case anyone would like to read this too, it is on the topic of Christians in Jerusalem, by a US scholar. It is dated 2009 unfortunately so there will be no comment on the present predicament of Christians there, but it does seem to give a comprehensive over view and is certainly very interesting.

It includes Hebrew Christians and Armenians too.

Apparently Christians have a lower birthrate than the mainly religious Jews who live there and lower than the Palestinian Muslims too. The demographics must have changed considerably.

It does seem likely from what us said about Christian/ Israeli relations in this piece dated 2009, that the present troubles for Christians in Jerusalem would be coming from a minority of more extremist Israelis, rather than Israelis in general.

classic.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Cohen%2020090511.pdf

Christianity in Jerusalem Today
Raymond Cohen
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Boston College
Paper presented to the conference on
―Christianity and the East: Fostering Understanding‖
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, May 14-16, 2009

RAYMOND COHEN
Raymond Cohen is a graduate of Oxford University and received his Ph.D. from the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he has been on the department's faculty since
1976.

(Biography: Dr. Cohen has been a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia and
Georgetown University and a research fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the
Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Dr. Cohen’s fields of
interest are cross-cultural communication, diplomacy in ancient times, conflict resolution and the Christian holy places.)

Christian holy site in Iran.....

"Armenian Monastery of Saint Taddeus, West Azerbaijan, Iran. Believed by some to have been first built in 66 AD by Saint Jude. Local Armenians believe that he and Simon were both buried here. In 1329, the church was reconstructed after an earthquake destroyed the structure in 1319."

Not relevant though.

It's not relevant it's not Israel. No matter how bad its irrelevant. Now that's tragic 😥

No, Iran is not Christianity's holy land, but Christianity goes back to biblical times there. If long historical association is the criteria for us to talk about it then Iran fits the bill, and given the extreme treatment of Christians I'd say its pretty distressing for christians.

Whether by Muslims or Jewish people, Christians have been treated badly in the middle east. Tragic isn't it.

Tragic in many countries but who cares unless it affords an opportunity to bash Israel 😥 you know its true. Hand on heart you do.

How can we hide what is happening in Israel? People can read the report you posted. Its all there.

And?

How is it bingo? Literally noone said that, did they? We have acknowledged that christians have seen increased harassment in Jerusalem. Its there in the report posted up thread & the link I posted. What do you want?

That's because it is plain to see. This thread is only about how awful Jewish people are to Christians. However, we must ignore worst treatment of Christians by other countries since not relevant.... interesting 🙄

I watch many christian tele evangelists going to Israel all the time. Israel keeps all Christian sites as sacred and safe as they can and all the artifacts are under their government national treasures scheme. All the Roman catholic and Orthodox churches built around Jesus life events-places also do well and are open all year round to Christians

Noone says it makes it better (how would it?)

I didn't say the mistreatment in Israel was ok.

I do however realise that mistreatment is rife in the middle east in general and in some middle east countries its appallingly bad.

It's all worthy of discussion unless you only wish to highlight bad Israel and ignore the rest and many worse. Why would you ignore much worse. Is it because the focus must be bad Israel

Bingo!

So, say something about the treatment of christians in east jerusalem, rather than criticising posters on this thread.

The Pope deemed the murders of the two women in a church " an act of terror". if I remember correctly.