world heritage status to Jesus' birthplace - despite US and Israel

It would be interesting to see what kind of response American christians will have to this.

for Christians around the world it would be logical for Bethlehem to be a place of pilgrimmage.

why would the US be opposed to this?

 

The article conveniently leaves out crucial deals, such as WHY the US and Israel are opposed to this.

 

would that be because they want americans to think all palestinians are muslims?

 

Try again. But first, how about doing some reading.

 

sweetie, it might be a good idea for you to start with getting an education. yes there has been terrorism in the area, but Palestinian christians in Bethlehem have also been victimised by the IDF.

And lets face it, until the creation of the state of Israel, Christians, Muslims and Jews were all able to live there in peace for over a millenia.

If you want to understand how people living in that region feel, and what drives their actions, look at it this way ... if mexicans invaded your town and laid seige to your public buildings would you fight back?

but that aside, if world heritage listing attracts investment, makes it more likely to attract tourists, improves the economy and employment opportunities for local people, it would provide angry young men with opportunities that would make them less likely to feel that violence is the only answer.

that is common sense.

 

Which Bethlehem ? There are two of them and historian aren't sure of which one is the right one. The first is near Nazareth and would seem like the right candidate but according to some scripture, the one near Jerusalem is more linked to the traditions and the travel story of the nativity.

And still, there isn't any physical evidence that jesus, Mary and Joseph really existed in the first place. They, just like mahomet, Socrates, Harry potter may just have been literary construct that took life in the imagination of man.

 

doesn't matter.

what matters is that it is regarded as the site of Jesus' birthplace.

There is no evidence that Mary spent her last years near ephesus in Turkey, either - but meryemana is still a tourist attraction - for both muslims and christians, and it brings money and jobs into the local community.

I seriously doubt Our Lady appeared at Lourdes either - but that seems to have benefitted from the belief that she did over many years.

to me, if it has potential to benefit a local community - and create hope for the future - it has got to be a good thing.

I wonder why people would want to prevent that from happening?

 

well im going to give my opinion as an american christian even though i know you were only hoping for our opinions so you could berate us and accuse us of being uneducated in your condescending tone if we didnt share your same opinion.....sweety.

i personally am glad that it has been given status regardless of which countries it might embarrass. the important thing is that it receives the attention and funding it needs as a site of historical importance and the usa/israel can find other venues for trying to make political gains. what shocks me is that the church is in Palestinian territory and hasnt already been bombed into a pile of rocks or destroyed just out of spite. but since it is still standing, then yes im pleased with the status recognition my government/israel be (*)(*)(*)(*)ed.

 

What shocking about that? If Israel performed such an act, then it would have a much more difficult time fooling gullible American Guilt Complex members into believing that such anti-Semitism is justified when done by Israel. Obviously, Israel wants to fool gullible American Guilt Complex members, instead of helping them to see the situation for how it really is.

Thus, as you acknowledge, many Americans are fooled and thus support the wrong cause that they actually oppose.

 

if you call me gullible again, regardless of how subtle you think you are, im going to call you names.

 

I'm a US citizen and I didn't call myself gullible, nor did I say that you are gullible, but this doesn't mean that many Americans are not gullible to Holocaust abuse. Would many gullible Americans still be fooled if Israel destroyed the world heritage in Bethlehem while chanting its favorite Semite-hostile slogans, such as "the hated Semite Palestinian doesn't exist since Israel is heavily anti-Semite"?

 

i guess you missed my tongue in cheek humor. im not offended when someone calls me gullible, my post was light hearted and meant in humor friend. sorry for the misunderstanding.

 

you make a number of assumptions.

Your opinion is that which i would expect from christians who are more interested in preserving their religious sites than letting blind hatred and ignorance allow sites such as this to fall into disrepair.

I am glad there are christians in the US who feel this way. No doubt there are many christians around the world who will be glad to know the site is recognised as being culturally significant, and who would one day like to visit.

Although I am not a christian and I have referred to the economic and community development benefits to the local community, I too love to visit christian holy sites, and I believe that this site would be interesting to visit as are many other churches I have visited over the years.

re why the church isn't bombed - I doubt the Israelis would bomb a church out of spite - and if you were referring to Muslims bombing it ... most likely the bithplace of Issa (Jesus) has special significance for them too. If you don't know that there is a good chance you don't know much about muslims.

 

im sorry but i dont have a hard time thinking someone that would strap explosives to their chest and run into a crowded market while pushing the detonator would have any difficulty blowing up a site that was important to them if they thought it would (*)(*)(*)(*) off israel. i figured you would find a coy way to accuse me of not knowing something even if i agreed with your opinion on the article. thanks for not disappointing me.

 

thanks for not disappointing me.

 

the US aint opposed to it. Joe Lieberman might be.


Do you remember the threads when i suggested making the dome of the rock a global heritage site?

i guess, if this little one could get thru, then the dome would be the best thing that could happen to middle east


cool news

 

Unfortunately Islamists have scant regard for international cultural heritage and giving such sites a special status may actually backfire: Timbuktu shrines damaged by Mali Ansar Dine Islamists. One remembers the infamous destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. The Taliban started by asking money from the UN ostensibly for maintainance. Obviously sites of this nature can be seen in different ways as a source of income and that in itself can endanger them. Many friends of yours here believe the Palestinians have the right to do whatever they deem fit in their fight against Israel, if that goes for you too then then the dangers to the site should be obvious.

 

of course.

I forgot.

all muslims are extremists according to the forums regular islamophobes.

 

No, but most (virtually all) terrorists are muslims and most cultural/heritage/historic sites are nowadays destroyed by Islamic extremists.

 

But she is right, to even suggest Muslims would destroy the birthplace of Jesus (pbuh) shows your lack of understanding of Islam. Which hold Jesus (pbuh) very highly, recognizes the virgin birth and sees Mary (pbuh) as one of the greatest women to ever live.

And why would bombing it (*)(*)(*)(*) off "Israel"? Last I checked, Jews do not believe in Jesus (pbuh) or his virgin birth. So if anybody would attack the birthplace of Jesus (pbuh), surely it would be Zionist settlers/terrorists rather than Muslims.

 

Don't forget CIA, Mossad, M15, NATO, IDF/IOF, Zionist settlers. Indian army, US Army. Etc etc.

 

Because they both bitterly oppose Christianity?

 

I like how some people try convincing themselves Muslims would do something like this. It's as uf you want it to happen? I dunno.

But unlike the Buddha statues which the Taliban destroyed (and I do not condone, support or excuse what they did) the birthplace of Jesus (pbuh) is very significant in Islam. So even our rednecks would not be stupid enough to touch it.

However the Church of Nativity has been attacked by the IDF before. Shot at it, started a fire on one of it's floors. All to kill some militants.

 

Armies are armies, intelligence agencies are intelligence agencies, terrorists are terrorists, they have nothing in common with each other. We were talking about the fact that almost all terrorists are muslims.

 

Depends what you consider extreme, I'd say you show signs of extremism in this post and you and anyone else not considering the Palestinian society in the West Bank as not extremist are themselves extremists. Just one example the case of Walid Husayin a blogger inprisoned without charges for his religious beliefs, ostensibly for his own safety, illustrates the level of extremism. I can easily envisage an Islamist regime coming to power in the West Bank and directly threatening heritage sites in the same way that the Taliban did. However less can also be the case. In Egypt the MB has come to power and I can quite easily see that this only increases the threat to especially Christian heritage sites through for example severe restrictions on necessary maintainance work. As an extremist you can call me an Islamophobe for stating what I believe all you like as thankfully there's no chance at all of my non extremist society throwing me in prison so I end as the Islamophobe Walid Husayin.