Archive for November, 2023

What’s Anti-Semitic and What’s Not

Posted: November 15, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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Ok let me start this post by noting two things up front:

  1. I am an unabashed supporter of Israel’s response to what Hamas has done and am horrified that anyone believes that
    • Hamas’ attack on Oct 7th can be justified
    • That Oct 7th was a false flag (yes there are some of those)
  2. Looking back at History over the last 75 years I conclude that other than the Jews there are no people the Arab/Muslim world hates more than the Palestinians. Consider:
    • They have been used and exploited by the Arabs since the first day Israel existed
    • They have been used as a wedge both by the eastern bloc during the cold war by Arab states against the Jews ever since.
    • Their own leadership (and others) have used them as a cash cow to wealth & power while letting them stay poor.
    • Countries like Iran have used them as expendable in order to advance their agenda
    • In every Arab country they have settled in they are treated at best as 2nd class citizens at least when they’re not being slaughtered
    • Any one of them who would actually be willing to make peace would have the life expectancy of a Jew in Gaza with no IDF.

Frankly if I was raised a Palestinian I’d be damn angry too.

Ok so let’s cut to the chase of this post. The word “anti-Semitic” has been out there a lot lately and if people want it to avoid it becoming as meaningless as the left has made the word “racism” it’s important to use it correctly and acknowledge that there is a difference between something or someone being “anti-Semitic’ and something or someone being “wrong” about something.

To this end I have made a small but likely not complete list:

  • It is a legitimate opinion that Israel’s response to Hamas’ Oct 7th attack is the wrong one. Holding that opinion doesn’t make one either a Jew hater or anti-Semitic. Now I myself think such an opinion is about as idiotic as the no cash bail business in US cities which reward bad behavior and create more of it, but that doesn’t make one anti-Semitic, it makes one, in my opinion a fool, but not anti-Semitic.
  • It is a legitimate thing to hold a march in favor of the Palestinians and rallies in support of same with speeches and signs both on campus and in large cities provided said marchers:
    • Obey local laws
    • Do not commit vandalism
    • Do not commit violence
    • Do not call for the extermination of Jews or the destruction of Israel

(If anyone sees the supports of the Palestinians manage these four things please let me know as that would be breaking news).

  • It is a perfectly legitimate opinion to argue that the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 was either a bad idea or caused more problems for the world then it solved. To argue that the Jews had no more right to a Jewish state in the land they were practically erased from 2000 years ago then the Aztecs have a claim to Mexico city because they had an empire there till the 1500’s is not anti-Semitic.

I don’t hold that opinion and one can no more predict an alternate past then one can predict the future. I can only note that for the Jewish people having a homeland in their ancestral lands has been a plus in terms of racial and cultural identity and given the horrors of the holocaust it has given them the power to ensure their survival as a race. That seems like a pretty strong case for the state of Israel, particularly when you consider how Arab Israeli’s have done, seemingly a lot better than those around them (at least those who don’t have oil).

That opinion btw crosses the line into antisemitism when it becomes an excuse to attempt to wipe out a firmly established internationally recognized state and slaughter the people in it.

  • It is not anti-Semitic to argue that the Arabs who have been in the land that is now Israel were there for hundreds or even thousands of years and while there have been multiple empires ruling over them from the Romans to the Byzantines to the Ottomans to the Brits to even the Crusaders for a time that their attachment to the land is just as legitimate as anyone else.

This frankly is the strongest point in favor of the Palestinians and one that I believe is not resolvable without their consent because they can argue that the UN mandate was carried out without their consent. It’s basically an eminent domain case.

  • It is not anti-Semitic to note that because the Muslim Arabs in the middle east have a different culture than the west it is perfectly legitimate for them to look Israel in general and all of these thing in particular in a different light than a person with a western culture and a part of western civilization does. That in itself is no more anti-Semitic or evil then a Hindu in India circa 1845 looking at the British rule differently than the west did.

Now once that cultural difference becomes an excuse to slaughter Jews in their sleep or murder them with impunity then I would argue that not only does it become anti-Semitic but both the west in General and Israel in particular have the right, indeed the obligation to treat such actions in the same way that Sir Charles James Napier treated the practitioners of Suttee in India.

  • It is certainly not anti-semitic to call for a Palestinian state not named “Jordan” which was to be the original Arab state established by the UN mandate. In fact given the way the Palestinians have been treated by all the Arabs in the area a state separate from both Israel and the Arab states that surround it might be the only solution for them to get a fair shake, provided those in charge of such a state are not either kleptocrats who rob their own people blind or killers who want to use such a state as a staging ground for attempt to destroy Israel or both

If you can explain any way to avoid having such people in charge let me know.

  • Finally it is not anti-Semitic to deny the existence of the God of the Jews or consider the Jewish religion as bunk. In fact there are plenty of Jews who think this is the case (the old Joke goes “Jews are a people who believe in one God or less”) Now as a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular I say such a denial is not only bunk but a great danger to the soul but having that opinion is no more anti-Semitic then saying that Mohammad is no more a prophet of God than my older brothers are is anti Arab.

Well this is my list, if you want an easier guide to if someone is anti-Semitic or someone just holds a different opinion I have a really simple rule of thumb.

If someone is lying to your face about things like:

  • Jews are colonizers and were never in Israel
  • there was never a Jewish temple in the holy land
  • There are no hostages being held by Hamas
  • The Jews are committing genocide against the Palestinians

Odds are you won’t go too wrong thinking “anti-Semite” although given what I’ve seen of students today if you want to go with “ignorance” you likely aren’t doing bad either.

Finally the discloser bit. I’m not a Jew, I’ve never considered becoming Jewish and my only connections to Judaism are:

  • 1/8th of my nieces and nephews both from blood and marriage are married to Jews (both nephews who married Jewish women).
  • My Catholic faith is completely derivative of Judaism. My God is the Jewish God and I state that his son is the Messiah of the Jews. Or as I like to joke: The difference between Christians & Jews is:
    • Jews think we’ve jumped the gun
    • We think they’ve missed the boat.

So if you are Jewish and think I’m wrong about these evaluations of what is anti-Semitic and what isn’t feel free to leave your opinion in comments or write a post rebutting me at your site.

A Point Concerning Christianity, Truth and Culture (with an assist by Chesterton)

Posted: November 14, 2023 by datechguy in culture
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Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.

Matthew 7:13-14

One of the things we have noticed from the left in general and from both the Biden administration and the pro-terror folks in media, academia and among the mob is that they are not on speaking terms with the truth.

Part of this, at least for the Arab mobs is understandable as they would have been indoctrinated their entire lives and you might even suggest that this would be the case for those in academic setting except for the fact that this would be a tiny part of their lives.

For a Christian this should not be a surprise, because as we are taught the devil, the father of lives is in fact the prince of this world and once people move away from the Judeo-Christian standard of false witness being sinful and wrong then words simply become another means to an end.

One of the things about living in Western Civilization particularly during the golden age of American power at it’s height as a Christian Nation a lot of people were convinced that Judeo-Christian values were the norm. If however you look at both history and the current age and of course scripture the church’s warnings about “the world” one must conclude that the values of Judeo-Christianity are completely contrary to human nature and that while in the long run these values used as a standard to live by, even if people fail lead to the kind of culture worth living in.

The irony of course is that that so many in the west reject these values not realizing that they are the bedrock on which their free and prosperous society is built while in the world who rush to migrate to the west in order live reject the values that make that society they are fleeing to possible.

Chesterton absolutely nailed it:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.

Pope Francis divides the Catholic Church

Posted: November 14, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

From endorsing a policy that transgender people can participate in church sacraments to a worldwide meeting that may allow gay and women priests, Pope Francis has divided the Catholic Church so much that it is unlikely to recover for decades.

After three decades of leadership by popes who generally affirmed American conservative priorities, “Francis has been a complete shock to the system,” said John McGreevy, a historian at the University of Notre Dame. “It just has been tough for a big chunk of the American church, who thought these questions were settled and now seem unsettled.”

Others think the pope is out of touch with U.S. Catholics, who make up 20 percent of American adults. “The pope has only spent six days in the U.S. in the last 10 years, so it’s difficult to understand how he really understands Catholics in the U.S.,” said C. Preston Noell III, a spokesman for the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. This Catholic organization describes itself as “on the front lines of the culture war.”

In a statement released last week, the Vatican outlined a policy that transgender people can be baptized, serve as godparents, and be witnesses at church weddings. 

Last spring, the American bishops’ conference issued its own doctrinal document stating that chemical and surgical interventions for gender transitions were “not morally justified” and instructed Catholic hospitals not to perform them. The conference has commented on the policy change.

Also, the pope has asked a Texas bishop to resign his post because of his opposition. Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, has accused the pope of undermining the Catholic faith and that other Vatican officials have veered so far from church teaching that they are no longer Catholic. He has warned that a landmark global gathering that concluded recently at the Vatican could threaten “basic truths” of Catholic doctrine.

“I cannot resign as Bishop of Tyler because that would be me abandoning the flock that I was given charge of by Pope Benedict XVI,” he wrote in an open letter to Catholics in his diocese in September.

That meeting last month considered a variety of issues opposed by many in the church:

  • The end of priestly celibacy
  • The inclusion of married men in the priesthood
  • The blessing of gay couples
  • The extension of sacraments to the divorced and remarried
  • The ordination of female deacons

It is unclear what the group will recommend to the pope and what he will do.

Whatever the case, the divisions within the church are likely to outlive Pope Francis. During his decade as the leader of the Catholic Church, he has worked to cement his legacy by replenishing the College of Cardinals, who will choose the next pope, with men who share his priorities.

The Catholic Church and I have had our ups and downs over the years, but this pope has been the worst in my lifetime. Fortunately, my local parish remains a friendly and valuable enclave for my faith.

Walking Before You Run Christianity , Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Rosalind Picard, Sc.D

Posted: November 13, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Screwtape: Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours— and the more “religious” (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here

C. S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters # VII

At Instapundit there were two different stories of promanent athiests becoming Christian. The first was Ayaan Hirsi Ali who said this:

But we can’t fight off these formidable forces unless we can answer the question: what is it that unites us? The response that “God is dead!” seems insufficient. So, too, does the attempt to find solace in “the rules-based liberal international order”. The only credible answer, I believe, lies in our desire to uphold the legacy of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

This is the first reason she give noting that all the secular freedoms that are enjoyed by Western Civilization come from Christianity but that’s not enough. She notes the unifying effect of a belief in God in her closing here:

The lesson I learned from my years with the Muslim Brotherhood was the power of a unifying story, embedded in the foundational texts of Islam, to attract, engage and mobilise the Muslim masses. Unless we offer something as meaningful, I fear the erosion of our civilisation will continue. And fortunately, there is no need to look for some new-age concoction of medication and mindfulness. Christianity has it all.

That is why I no longer consider myself a Muslim apostate, but a lapsed atheist. Of course, I still have a great deal to learn about Christianity. I discover a little more at church each Sunday. But I have recognised, in my own long journey through a wilderness of fear and self-doubt, that there is a better way to manage the challenges of existence than either Islam or unbelief had to offer.

The discovering a little more each Sunday is a start and people have to walk before they run but let me point out that as a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular let me unequally state the following:

There is only one reason to be a Christian, not for the history of civilization , not to defend the west, not to oppose radical Islam. None of these reasons are a reason to be a Christian.

The only reason to be a Christian in general and a Catholic in particular is Because it is True

If it is true we are obliged to do our best to combat our fallen human nature to follow Christ. To go to Mass and to spread the good news by deed, word and example.

If it is not true then on Sunday you’re basically going to an elk’s club meeting.

Now there is nothing wrong with an elks club but one should not base their worldview upon it.

As she notes she is learning, I find that the best thing to do is pray for people and let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting here. In the end I’m not going to devote my life to one.

Now note the contrast with Professor Picard as an engineer her journey was more about facts and evidence:

Note how she approached this on the evidence. She went from Athiest, to Agnostic, to Theist, to Christian. It’s as if she read Mere Christianity and applied Lewis’ argument.

Now for me it doesn’t matter in the end how someone finds Christ as long as they do so and even for screwtape notes that the primary goal is to get the person moving in the right (in his case the wrong) direction and different people move on that path at different speeds. But the big thing to remember is this: Never think for one moment that God can be used as an means to an end rather than an end itself.

That’s the danger. Remember it and avoid it.

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