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Having lived in Israel, this is certainly no ruder than the sorts of things that happen between secular and religious Jews in Israel. And a lot less rude than most of what comes out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth when he's on his annual "War On Christmas" binge.
Yeah, from our point of view it would be nice if the police weren't involved. But that's for the Palestinian authorities to decide.
Kind of a non-story.
"If another country builds a better car, we buy it. If they make a better wine, we drink it. If they have better healthcare . . . what's our problem? "
by mbayrob on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 05:54:16 PM PDT
doesn't mean we can't call 'em insane assholes for their stupid decisions, though.
by burrow owl on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 05:59:23 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
Being Jewish, I try to stay out of other folks religious dustups.
Being Jewish keeps me busy enough those of me and my own :-)
by mbayrob on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 06:17:37 PM PDT
trying to say you are slightly better than bill oreilly is not a winning proposition in my book.
In your world having armed men walk around with arm bands saying "morality police" is a non story? wow.
by onemadson on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 06:09:47 PM PDT
My personal strategy is live and let live.
I also don't make it a practice to get into other people's faces about their religious customs. And I am watching with some concern how the rights of Palestinians not to practice religion or a religion different than Sunni Islam. It's especially vital for the minority of Palestinians who practice Christianity of various kinds.
That said, the Palestinians will work out their own ideas as to whether they want to "establish" Islam as the state's religion. If they do as has traditionally been done, this will not affect Christians much; it will only affect the right of people of Moslem birth to be free of religious interference.
I don't see this as much different from "blue laws" of some towns in the US (i.e., where you're forced to close your business on Sunday) or similar regulations in Israel. I dislike them, but don't think they are out of bounds of what a government might decide.
by mbayrob on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 06:33:47 PM PDT
I also don't make it a practice to get into other people's faces about their religious customs.
Me neither. You want to believe in any of the thousands of various gods humans believe in, you go ahead. Worship as much as you want. You want to walk around with a gun and tell me that I need to also do as your god of choice says, we got a problem.
You believe people shouldn't get in other people's faces about their religious customs and yet you think the "morality police" are ok? Sorry if I see a bit of a contradiction there.
by onemadson on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 06:56:51 PM PDT
but I know enough about the history of these sorts of things to understand what pressures Mahmud Abbas and others are under.
Fatah, the party that rules outside of Gaza, is a secular party that had Christian support from its inception. And Christian Palestinians have pushed for a single political movement for Palestinians irrespective of religion. This goes back to the first conceptions of modern Arab nationalism, which if anything had stronger Christian support than Moslem support in its early years.
But right now, with the competition between Fatah and the political Islam of Hamas, a big piece of the struggle is to figure out a balance between traditional (and secular) Palestinian nationalism and political Islam. It's a hard political problem for Fatah, and I don't presume to know how best to make that judgment.
So I wish them well, and stay the hell out of the way.
by mbayrob on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 07:14:32 PM PDT
doesn't arrest you or shut don't your restaurant. In fact, I don't watch his show and just pretend he doesn't exist.
IIAH4U&M, IAWI
by HenryVane on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 09:15:54 PM PDT
by HenryVane on Thu Oct 11, 2007 at 09:16:48 PM PDT
wide narrow
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