Screw 'em
I've seen a lot of religious monuments and holy sites in Israel so far. I think the only major ones I'm missing are sites in Nazareth, the Church of the Ascension, and of course the grand-daddy of them all, the Temple Mount.
I really, really, really want to see it. Really. I mean, I can go out to the Hecht Synagogue on campus with a good pair of binoculars and practically spy on the people walking around in there, but it's not quite the same. Big problem: It's controlled by a waqf which is, not without reason I admit, touchy about the place. Many see Sharon's visit to the place in 2001 as the spark that precipitated the last intifada.
When Nari's boyfriend came to visit in September, they tried to visit, and got continually harassed by the Muslims there who take care of the place. They're Christian and they were dressed very modestly.
I've done some research since then which made me mad, mostly because the articles talk in terms of letting "Christians and Jews" back on the Mount. Being here, I've found that I often don't think in terms of my being atheist, and so far I haven't really gotten pissed off about any religious issue, but for some reason this wording got to me.
I'm not Jewish, not Christian, and not Muslim. On the scale of Likely To Be True, I place all three religions at about the same level of "Not Very." I don't really believe anything miraculous ever happened on the Temple Mount, and I don't view it as the former site of God's Temple. I do view it as an extremely interesting and beautiful example of architecture and engineering, and fascinating in that it has served as a focal point of so much history, controversy, and emotion. And heck, when you see a picture of Jerusalem, what's the one thing that catches your eye? The big, huge golden dome in the middle of a big, huge platform. I was really looking forward to standing in the middle of that thing and just contemplating the vastness of it. I realize that this site is holy to a lot of people, and it's within reason to demand a certain amount of decorum and modesty there, but what's up with the harassment? How is that holy?
It's not like I want to take a nap in Al-Aqsa. I swear, I just want to walk around. I think I've taken a very zen approach to most of the inter-religious fighting and weirdness that sometimes goes on here, even when it inconveniences me, but for some reason this one really bothers me.
I really, really, really want to see it. Really. I mean, I can go out to the Hecht Synagogue on campus with a good pair of binoculars and practically spy on the people walking around in there, but it's not quite the same. Big problem: It's controlled by a waqf which is, not without reason I admit, touchy about the place. Many see Sharon's visit to the place in 2001 as the spark that precipitated the last intifada.
When Nari's boyfriend came to visit in September, they tried to visit, and got continually harassed by the Muslims there who take care of the place. They're Christian and they were dressed very modestly.
I've done some research since then which made me mad, mostly because the articles talk in terms of letting "Christians and Jews" back on the Mount. Being here, I've found that I often don't think in terms of my being atheist, and so far I haven't really gotten pissed off about any religious issue, but for some reason this wording got to me.
I'm not Jewish, not Christian, and not Muslim. On the scale of Likely To Be True, I place all three religions at about the same level of "Not Very." I don't really believe anything miraculous ever happened on the Temple Mount, and I don't view it as the former site of God's Temple. I do view it as an extremely interesting and beautiful example of architecture and engineering, and fascinating in that it has served as a focal point of so much history, controversy, and emotion. And heck, when you see a picture of Jerusalem, what's the one thing that catches your eye? The big, huge golden dome in the middle of a big, huge platform. I was really looking forward to standing in the middle of that thing and just contemplating the vastness of it. I realize that this site is holy to a lot of people, and it's within reason to demand a certain amount of decorum and modesty there, but what's up with the harassment? How is that holy?
It's not like I want to take a nap in Al-Aqsa. I swear, I just want to walk around. I think I've taken a very zen approach to most of the inter-religious fighting and weirdness that sometimes goes on here, even when it inconveniences me, but for some reason this one really bothers me.
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