Would Jesus love a gay person?

Well, this is a whole other argument, but I do wonder if "preserving identity" has done them any favours.

 

Minutes after our exchange, I serindipitously(or by divine guidance?) turned to an article by atheist Christopher Hitchens in Free Inquiry in which he writes:"Judaism teaches itelf in direct opposition to Hellinism and rationalism (its word for 'heretic' being 'apikoros', or follower of Epicurus...'":cheers2:

 

I hope what I said there doesn't sound arseholish. It just reminded me of a documentary on BBC (called, imaginatively enough, "Jews"), and a woman talking about how, as a Jew, she feels so disconnected, like she doesn't belong to any place and so on...

I mean, I can't claim to know how she feels, but it did seem to me like she wasn't much different from anyone else in that respect, but that she'd been taught to blame it on being a Jew, rather than just a human being. This idea that everyone else feels connected to a homeland and is very aware of it all the time and loves it so much, but they don't, just seems unhealthy.

 

Well, they have their homeland now,but not securely. I guess my point is that as a result of an historic feeling that their identity as a people is under constant assault and challenge has made them try all the harder to differentiate themselves from the outsiders--which paradoxically may trigger negative reactions against them, etc., etc.

 

See, I was thinking more that people who do have a homeland probably don't gain some massive sense of connection and fulfillment from it. I don't think I do, anyway. Like I said, I can't know how empty and horrible it feels, but I feel like they're being sold an idea that having a homeland will solve all their problems, even the ones that everyone has.

But yeah, protecting your identity... I dunno, I feel like assimilation, integration etc. can be the lesser of two evils. When you hang onto your culture through thick and thin, it preserves, gets trapped in amber almost. When you're not under threat, your culture changes, is influenced, etc. People here bemoan the loss of British culture - mostly because they're petty xenophobes looking an excuse to hate foreigners who for the most part don't give them a reason to - but don't see what has grown naturally, evolving throughout history. They don't see the culture that generations have built up; all they see is that, oh noes, we don't Morris Dance as much as we used to.

Rambling a lot here but I think my point is that traditions tend to be hung onto in times of strife, but in times of peace, prosperity etc., people don't feel the need for them anywhere near as much.