The Ju Ju of War

[Rank amateur]

Not according to the OT. This misguided theology that Jesus is (was) this noviolent pacifist is wrong.

IMO, don't resist those who crucify you and you'll be reborn doesn't leave a lot of room for different interpretations, but I guess I'm probably wrong because there does appear to be many different interpretations.

[skiguy]

IMO, don't resist those who crucify you and you'll be reborn doesn't leave a lot of room for different interpretations.

You have to put that in context with the whole Bible. And does "love your enemy" mean blowing kisses at a suicide bomber as he's driving into the village where I'm working? I don't think so. My intent to want to shoot him is not hatred or murder, it's to protect myself and/or others. This is my problem with the no-kill-under-any-circunstances organizations like CPT. They "get in the way" of the American troop who is trying to stop the VIEB. I don't understand that type of thinking. To me it's immoral. Yet they say the troop is immoral for killing him. And I'm serious, they really do and think that. I've argued with a few of them about this. Welcome to la-la land.

[Rank amateur]

You have to put that in context with the whole Bible.

There's a reason they put a cross at the front of every church and good Friday is a holiday.

[Ken White]

seven churches -- I looked, only two had crosses visible.

Good Friday may be a holy day but I've never known it to be a holiday...

[marct]

One of the things I find so fascinating about Canada, and Ontario in particular (because I know it best), is how differently we handle the issue of religion from the US. First off, unlike he US, there is no central group/organization that recognizes religions. "Recognition" is handled in a very weird way via individual recognition by varying levels of government departments. The key ones are Corrections (both Provincial and Federal), marriage licensing (Provincial), and the Canada Revenue Agency (definer of non-profit status). It is actually quite possible that a religion is "recognized" in one province, unrecognized in another, and illegal in a third (it's happened ). BTW, only about 50% of Canadians self identify as "Christian" (loosely construed).

Holidays, at least in Ontario, are based on the Christian religious calender, but provisions are also made, and required by law, for holidays from any religion so long as the practitioner identifies them to the concerned party - say employer or university prof (e.g. I cannot schedule exams for a religious holiday if one of my students self declares as being a part of that religion).

This has created a very interesting cultural atmosphere surrounding "religion" in Canada; one that I suspect goes back to a) our frontier society roots and b) our extremely cold winters (before global warming ). On the whole, I would say that most Canadians are more likely to agree to compromise on symbol systems in any secular ritual (e.g. the opening of Parliament), to shy away from most confrontationalist types of public rituals and to have more ecumenical (very broadly defined) public rituals.

This has led to some very "odd" public rituals. I remember one from about 20 years ago, an Earth Day public ritual, that had components from every major Christian denomination, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Wicca, Ba'Hai, Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism - quite the event!