The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #84415   Message #1563835
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
14-Sep-05 - 06:43 PM
Thread Name: BS: Anti-Christian Pogrom in the West Bank
Subject: RE: BS: Anti-Christian Pogrom in the West Bank
We aren't responsible for the people who come in on our side - fortunately sometimes. And it's important to remember that the same applies to the people we are arguing with. Discussions shouldn't be seen as wars in which the only thing that matters is which side people are on and who wins, they are about exploring a topic and trying to arrive at a common understanding.
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It wasn't a question of blaming Bush as such, Wolfgang. There's a potential for anti-Christian prejudice within the Muslim tradition, in the same way that there is a potential for anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic prejudice within the Christian tradition. Sometimes things can happen that help activate that potential.

The close association between a particular kind of vocal Christianity and hostility towards Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere is one of those things. I could think of a number of analogous things in relation to anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic prejudice. Generally it is the case that prejudice serves to encourage countervailing prejudice, which will be directed towards people who have no responsibility for the initial prejudice.

The relationship between Christians and Muslims in Palestine have generally been pretty good in the past. It's worth remembering that Yassir Arafat married a Christian.