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From: teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Re: A short essay on tolerance
Message-ID: <1127@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Feb-85 15:59:51 EST
Article-I.D.: aecom.1127
Posted: Tue Feb  5 15:59:51 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 9-Feb-85 06:16:08 EST
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Distribution: net
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 51

> 
> In a reply to the posting of an article containing information about
> the orthodox Jews vs the Christian Baptist church in Jerusalem, A.Gross 
> made the following ordering of religious intolerants
> (from least to most) :
>  
> 1 - The ORTHODOX JEWS of Jerusalem
> 2 - The ARABS of the Middle-East (They tried to dismantle Israel)
> 3 - The IRAN and IRAK (they are killing each other's populations)
> 4 - The SYRIAn regime (he destroyed the city of Hamma)
> 5 - The Christian Church over the ages (They burned the unfaithful
>      non-christians)
>  
> He concludes that it's bigotry and prejudice to critisize the Orthodox
> jews'intolerance of the baptist church in Jerusalem.
> NONSENSE !
> 
> Were we to apply the same reasoning to the holocausts in the history
> of mankind, one could well make an ordering based on the number of 
> atrocities commited :
> 
> 1 - The NAZIS of Germany in the 1930's
> 2 - The North-Vietnamese in Asia (South Vietanam and Combodge)
>     in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
> 3 - The destruction of the MAYAS and INCAS in central/south America
>     several centuries ago.
> etc..
> 
> ..and conclude that it's bigotry and prejudice to make a big fuss about
> nazism and the jews!!!
> Well, I do not think that's right!!
> One cannot justify bad by comparing it to worse.
> That's double standard.
> 
    How do you number atrocities? People kkilled? Who is to say one is better
 ( strange way of looking at atrocities ) or worse than the other? Besides,
 I did not get that impression when I read Gross' article. I just saw a list
 of intolerances. I think you are reading too much into the order.

    The point is that we must all learn from these sorry examples in our
 history to be more tolerant of otes, no matter what they believe. The
 question that can be asked is : Is tere a limit to this toleration. When
 a grou knowingly goes against the sensitivities and beliefs of another
 group, must that second group sit back and ignore te perpetrators? Or
 should they react in some way? I don't know. There are no set rules for
 filing a grievance against another group, and besides to whom would one
 go to complain. 

    Again, we must learn to be more sensitive to other people's feelings.

			Eliyahu Teitz.