[lit-ideas] Re: Oh, Take me to JesusLand!

From: "Veronica Caley" <vcaley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 14:24:49 -0500
<Several mainline Protestant churches are considering pulling their money
out
of the stocks of companies that sell military equipment to Israel in a
protest against Israel's dealing with the Palestinian intifada.> 

The hypocrisy of this is stunning.  Mainline Protestants object to
companies selling military equipment to a country whose civilian population
is almost daily subjected to suicide bombers.  In the meantime, they
support their own government daily killing of civilians in a country they
invaded for no really good reason.  Amazing.  In response to the bombing of
two embassies and two attacks on the world trade center, we have launched a
war in two countries with no end in sight.  One of these countries had
nothing to do with any of this.

Having said this, I have to fess up.  I supported the attack in Afghanistan
to get rid of the Taliban and the training ground for terrorists.  And I
still think that was the right thing to do any president would have done it.

I didn't know whether to support the war in Iraq.  I assumed that no
president would send American troops to die for self aggrandizement.  It's
amazing how one can get so old and so unwise.  I also didn't know my
capacity for hate, until I heard my president by appointment call a triple
amputee in Vietnam a traitor.  It all makes me very sad.

Veronica

Veronica


> [Original Message]
> From: Andreas Ramos <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 11/10/2005 5:54:14 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Oh, Take me to JesusLand!
>
> A THEME PARK FOR THE HOLY LAND?
> AMERICAN EVANGELICALS AND ISRAELI OFFICIALS PLAN TO UNVEIL THIS MONTH A
$60
> MILLION PARK WHERE JESUS WALKED.
> By Ilene R. Prusher
> Christian Science Monitor
> November 10, 2005
>
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1110/p06s01-wome.html
>
> JERUSALEM - Officials in Israel say that out of about 2 million people who
> will realize their dream of visiting the Holy Land this year, more than
half
> will be Christian. And among those, more than half will be Evangelical.
>
> With that in mind, the Israeli ministry of tourism has gone public with a
> plan to build -- in partnership primarily with American Evangelical
churches
> -- a sprawling Holy Land Christian Center on the northern shores of the
Sea
> of Galilee, home to some of the most notable chapters in Jesus' ministry.
> The center, to be built on approximately 125 acres that the Israeli
> government is offering free of cost, would be a Christian theme park and
> visitors' center, one that would be particularly attractive to
Evangelicals
> and other Christians who want to spend more time in the places where Jesus
> walked.
>
> Highlights may include a Holy Bible Garden, full of plants and trees
> mentioned in the New Testament, and equipped with quiet sites for
reflection
> and prayer. A Sea of Galilee Amphitheater will overlook the mouth of the
> Jordan River and hold 1,500-2,000 worshippers. And the park will have a
> Christian Experience Auditorium and a Multimedia Center. The center would
> also feature an online broadcast center, which would give religious
leaders
> an opportunity to address their followers back home, live, near the
tranquil
> blue waters of the Sea of Galilee (which today is considered a lake).
>
> "It will focus on the real places where Jesus walked," says Ido Hartuv, a
> spokesman for the tourism ministry. "It's a place where pilgrims can touch
> the experience -- they can touch the Bible."
>
> Israeli officials say they are in advanced discussions with several
> prominent churches that will serve as investors and builders of the $60
> million center. Tourism Minister Abraham Hirschson told the Haaretz
> newspaper that he hoped the first of several agreements would be signed
this
> month, and that one of the key figures at the heart of the project would
be
> Pat Robertson, the prominent televangelist and founder of The 700 Club.
>
> "It thrills me to think that there will be a place in the Galilee where
> Evangelical Christians from all over the world can come to celebrate the
> actual place where Jesus Christ lived and taught. It will be our pleasure
to
> fully cooperate with this initiative of the Israeli Government," says Mr.
> Robertson.
>
> The plans to build the center -- and to turn a large swath of the pastoral
> waterside territory, from Magdala to Bethsaida, into a Galilee World
> Heritage Park, complete with hiking trails along paths Jesus would have
> walked -- come at a time of seesawing in relations between Israel and
> various US churches.
>
> Several mainline Protestant churches are considering pulling their money
out
> of the stocks of companies that sell military equipment to Israel in a
> protest against Israel's dealing with the Palestinian intifada. Churches
> considering an economic boycott point to the building of the West Bank
> barrier as well as an expansion of Israeli settlements over the Green
Line,
> Israel's pre-1967 boundaries. In August, the Presbyterian Church passed a
> resolution to explore divestment, but no final decision will be taken
before
> the church's next convention in the summer of 2006.
>
> Ever since Benjamin Netanyahu -- Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999
> -- cultivated ties with US Evangelicals and other Christians during his
> tenure, Israeli governments have sought to strengthen relations with the
> sector of the Christian world which, for religious reasons, tends to take
a
> pro-Israeli view of the Arab-Jewish conflict. On Mr. Robertson's website,
he
> says that God gave this land "to the descendants of Israel," not to
> "so-called Palestinians." Older churches, such as Orthodox and Catholic
> denominations, have more local Palestinian followers and tend to support
> that side of the conflict.
>
> But Uri Dagul, the head of the Israel Youth Hostels Association and the
> creative force behind the project, says it is more focused on tourism than
> politics. The idea, he says, reflects an improvement in Jewish-Christian
> relations, underscored by the visit of Pope John Paul II here in 2000. Mr.
> Dagul says the project should be a nondenominational Christian center, not
> an explicitly Evangelical one.
>
> Some of the existing churches and monasteries the shores of the Sea of
> Galilee -- such as in Tabgha and Capernaum, where Jesus lived for a time,
> were built as recently as the early 1900s by prominent churches in the
Holy
> Land: the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics, represented by the
> Franciscans. But the area has not, more recently, been developed for
> visitors, says Dagul, and so the busloads of tourists who come to the
coast
> north of Tiberius find it difficult to secure a place to pray and reflect,
> much less find a rest-stop equipped to accept hundreds of pilgrims.
>
> "Jerusalem comes only later in the story, but most of Jesus' history is in
> the northern part of the Sea of Galilee," says Dagul. "We can give people
> the opportunity to experience it, to pray here, to broadcast to their home
> congregations, to walk on Jesus' trails. People go to churches all over
the
> world, but this is the place where it happened."
>
> A spokesman at the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ),
> which represents Christian Zionists from around the world, views the
center
> as an important step towards developing sites for Evangelicals, whom he
says
> make up the fastest-growing segment of Christians.
>
> "The Protestant world in general got a late start on the Bible-sites
> business. While the Greek Orthodox -- as the successor to the Byzantine
> empire -- and the Roman Catholics have been involved in identifying
> Christian sites and maintaining them for pilgrims for centuries," says
David
> Parsons of the ICEJ. "It's very astute of the Israeli government to do
this,
> with all the support of the Evangelical world out there," he adds. "We
have
> a stake in the tourism industry here, and this gives us a place to call
our
> own."
>
> Whether the development will resemble a study center more than a theme
park
> is unclear. The developers say they plan to check kitsch and commercialism
> at the door. "No way will it be a Disneyland. We have to keep the spirit
of
> the place," Dagul says. "You can see the movie about Jesus' life, then see
> the mountain," he says, referring to the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus
> gave his Sermon on the Mount, containing some of his essential teachings.
> "But if we lose this spirit, with too many lights and projectors, it will
be
> a catastrophe."
>
> And bowing to protests from Orthodox Jewish groups, the Christian partners
> will have to agree not to go out and proselytize to local Jewish Israelis.
>
>
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[lit-ideas] Re: Oh, Take me to JesusLand!

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