Stupidity is dangerous. Willful ignorance is even more dangerous, in fact, it is deadly. Like many people, I am appalled that any so-called news station would have given air time to a person who could think of nothing more than spouting out anti-Semitic garbage. It is little more than our national obsession with celebrity stardom enabling blithering idiots to think their comments have some merit.
Anti-Semitism is a blight on our national soul, reaching a new high in 2021 with at least 2700 reported incidents. But it is important not to conflate anti-Semitism which has a long distasteful history with legitimate criticism of Israeli policies towards Palestinians. Comments by certain politicians have not helped in this regard.
The view that certain people are less than human because of religious differences often spills over into classifying people based on religious or ethnic differences. We cannot live as a society based on ancient and primitive views of human beings. As Christians we need to broaden our understanding of others, not narrow it.
Prayer for the Day
Our faith tells us that you are a God without boundaries,
But we still create them among ourselves;
Our faith tells us that all peoples are your children,
But we often exclude those we do not understand.
Expand our vision of your creation, O Holy One,
And help us to work for a more inclusive world.
In the name of the One who welcomes all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?
- Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 1, William Shakespeare
Caution in handling generally accepted opinions that claim to explain whole trends of history is especially important for the historian of modern times, because the last century has produced an abundance of ideologies that pretend to be keys to history but are actually nothing but desperate efforts to escape responsibility.
- Hannah Arendt, from The Origins of Totalitarianism (1906-1975)
But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
Job 28: 20