[Marxism] Three cheers for Abe Foxman!

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[I imagine when this -- the ADL inspired trashing of the Passiions film and
Mel-- is done is over with, the percentage of practicising Catholics in the
world will have quadrupled. ]

It's all about hating Catholics
Posted: February 23, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
I am furious! No, I'm livid! I've had it and I'm finally going to vent!
It's a good thing I was alone when I read the latest Catholic insult by Abe
Foxman.
The steam from my ears and the sparks from my eyes would have been
shocking! It's a good thing Abe wasn't there or more than his ears would
have burned from my wrath.
Abe is Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Nice title. Nice perks. It gets him nice headlines and fawning media
attention.
He shows up for interviews with a serious demeanor, wearing his yarmulke,
and pretends to be concerned and thoughtful, fair and wise.
The truth is, he's engaged in nothing more than dirty, street fighting. It's an
insult to his targets and to good Jews who allow him to speak for them!
In his role as "defender" of all things Jewish, Foxman gets warm media
reception even though his words and actions lately have not only been out
of order, they've been mightily insulting to another religion and one
particular member of that group.
The religion is Roman Catholicism and the man is producer-writer-actor Mel
Gibson. Gibson has a new movie set to open on Feb. 25, Ash Wednesday,
one of the holiest days of the year for Catholics.
The film is "The Passion of the Christ," a graphic and explicit portrayal of
the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, the last 12 hours of His
life, from His trial to His death. In Catholicism, that period of time is called
the "Passion" and it refers to Christ's suffering.
Gibson bases the film on the four Gospels in the Bible, using the words in
the original Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles. It's not a sanitized
version. It's graphic and bloody, based on what is known of that form of
capital punishment. Mel Gibson admits it's brutal and says that if people
don't want to see violence, don't see the movie.
Foxman's problem is that he thinks the movie will incite anti-Semitism. He
objects that the words of the Bible are spoken in the film. He says it
appears that Jews encouraged the killing of Jesus.
Many in the secular media voice the same accusations, most often without
having seen the film. I doubt they've read the Bible. But they don't let the
absence of facts keep them from attempting to destroy something they
despise. Abe Foxman's in that group
Ultimately, what they despise isn't necessarily Mel Gibson or his film. They
hate his religion, the Bible, the story it relates and, they especially hate the
Catholic Church because it's founded on intrinsic right and wrong, good and
evil.
Foxman not only rails against the film, he actually met with Vatican officials
this week, urging them to challenge Gibson and tell him that the film
contradicts Catholic teaching. Can you imagine? He thinks he knows more
about Catholicism than the Vatican! How contemptible.
Talk about chutzpah! He has it in spades. He ought to be ashamed and
Catholics should be angry. I'm afraid, though, they've been so busy turning
the other, but wrong, cheek that they're getting kicked in the rear again and
don't even know it.
Interesting, isn't it? Foxman and others who are so concerned with
protecting the opinion of moviegoers about Jews, are consistently silent
when Catholics, their rituals or their beliefs are ridiculed and demeaned.
Where were they when a crucifix submerged in urine was called art? A
picture of the Virgin, smeared with elephant dung was also called art.
Where were the demands for script changes in movies portraying Jesus as
homosexual, or married, or promiscuous? How about books or theatricals
depicting priests or nuns in the most insulting and fabricated situations that
pretend to reality?
Where was their outrage in artistic desecrations of the Sacrament of
Communion, the invasion of Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral by condom-
tossing "gay" activists, the radio stunt of a couple having sex in that same
Cathedral during mass.
I'm also fed up with denigration of Catholics who are shocked and offended
by the excesses of Vatican 2 and prefer the traditional Latin Mass. Mel
Gibson is one of them, and he practices those traditions. That's his choice
and his prerogative.
To hear the critics, you'd think that was heresy. It isn't, and Gibson isn't
alone. There are thousands of Catholics like him, furious at the changes in
their Church over which they have no apparent control.
They hate the revised rituals of Catholicism that have nothing to do with the
religion. The so-called reforms reflect a zealot clergy anxious to force on
everyone 'Catholic-Lite' and create 'Cafeteria Catholics.'
The recent scandals, diminishing vocations and smaller congregations are
visible results of this attack on the Church from within, spurred on by
hateful non-Catholics and fallen-away Catholics who delight in dragging
down what they once believed.
It disgusts me. I'm tired of it being socially acceptable to dump on
Catholics and blatantly suggest how the religion should be changed. It's
done without compunction yet if the same were done to Jews or Muslims or
any eastern religion, it would be denounced.
How about a movie joke about Islam or one with a Muslim murderer? I dare
you to produce a movie about an adulterous rabbi or a slapstick Torah.
Anyone for criticizing Orthodox Jews for discriminating because men and
women worship separately? How about suggesting a revision of Islam
because of its treatment of women, to say nothing of "non-believers," the
infamous infidels.
It wouldn't happen ? and we all know why. Catholics, indeed Christians, are
fair game. At the least, it's discriminatory. But, in and of itself, it's a sin.


{HYPERLINK "mailto:bsimpson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"}Barbara Simpson, "The Babe in 
the Bunker" as she's known to her {HYPERLINK "http://www.ksfo.com/"}KSFO
560 radio talk-show audience in San Francisco, has a 20-year radio,
television and newspaper career in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. 



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism