From the mail bag:
Dear Jay---
As a long time fan I must say you have really surprised me. I have never written
a letter of this type before but I am really saddened. Your hostility towards
people of the Christian faith, especially if they do not fit your idea of what
that should look like has really surprised me. This does not just apply to the
on-going debate over the Passion---but also your derogatory and stereotypical
characterizations of Christians---especially very devout Christians as either
crazy or unsophisticated rubes. I heard your sarcastic comments to the woman who
expressed concerns over the Harry Potter series---and your backwater southern
drawl when talking about other Christians--- First of all a little background---
I am one of your peers I will be 50 in a little more then a week--- so I have
always identified with much of what you share on the radio. I was a convert to
Judaism when I was in my mid twenties. I chose to do it because I married a
Jewish man and because of his family I fell
in love with the Jewish religion and culture. Both my children were born Jews.
They have a identifiably Jewish surname. Despite the failure of my first
marriage I still maintain close ties to my ex's family and I have many Jewish
friends, in fact I have lived most of my adult life in the north shore suburbs
surrounded by those of the Jewish faith. About 8 years ago I had a profound
experience with Christ and returned to the faith I was born into--- which was
Catholicism. Both my children, now adults, have also converted of their own
desire--- but they are extremely connected to and proud of their Jewish
heritage--- I encourage this. I can also say that my faith in Christ was made
more real and more meaningful by my years as a Jew. I will be forever grateful
for that experience. With this said I will move on to the point of my email.
Today I listened to a guest on your show say that my religion is based on a lie
and because he believes it is a lie it should be censored--- or at least
interpreted according to Jewish "sensibilites". He stated the facts revealed in
Christian Scriptures should be considered unreliable because and in and of
themselves (he cited "political" influences--- like the Jews of the time didn't
have any???) they are anti-semitic. I would like to suggest to you that the
problem is not with me--- or other Christians like me --- the problem is your
own prejudice. For almost a year now I have listened to certain Jews say in no
uncertain terms that belief in the Gospels is defacto evidence of
anti-semitism--- I saw a noted rabbi on the Bill O'Reilly show say the
following We have a responsibility as Jews, as thinking Jews, as
people of theology, to respond to our Christian brothers and to engage them, be
it Protestants, be it Catholics, and say, look, this is not your history, t
his is not your theology, this does not represent what you believe
in."
What arrogance! Today I listened to your guest impune the reliabilty of the
Gospel accounts because they were written down, in some estimates, 60 years or
so after Christ's death and resurrection--- yet the Old Testament, the Torah,
was passed on by oral tradition for hundreds of years before being written
down--- Would a faithful Jew feel these testimonies were likewise unreliable? I
doubt it. What hypocrisy---wouldn't you agree?
In light of this I found your rant about the woman that called your religion
"incomplete" totally disingenuous and self serving. For a year now I have been
listening to some of your fellow Jews call me and other Christians anti-semites
when the truth be told nowhere in the world have Jews enjoyed the friendship,
support and freedom as they have here in this country which is founded on
Christian principles and remains according to recent polls (85%) self identified
as Christian. Evangelical Christians are Israel's staunchest allies.
It is interesting to note that of all those who see the movie it is only Jews
that see Jews as responsible---every Christian I have heard has stated (as I
also felt after seeing the movie) it was their own sinfulness that put Christ to
death--- Why is there such a dichotomy between how Jews and Christians see this?
This is what I said in review--- Was it anti-Semitic? Absolutely not!
Did I feel some resentment for the high priests that collaborated with the
Romans--- I sure did--- did I despise the Roman soldiers for their cruelty--
yup--- I did--- but after a few moments I realized how self serving those
feelings were because while those people were the instruments of God's plan for
our salvation---- it was me and my sins that were the REASON for His death. This
movie is not about blaming anyone--- it is about the enormity of God's love for
the human race---- a love that is so big that He chose to become one of us, to
suffer and die with us so that then we could b
e with Him forever. Why do you think only the Jews see Jews as responsible while Christians see
themselves as responsible--- did it ever occur to you that the reason just might
be your own prejudice against Christians?
I understand and I DO appreciate the very real issue of anti-semitism. My
children have Jewish blood--- I too am concerned about it ---but what you fail
to realize is that as horrendous as the holocaust was, as wrong as it was---it
was not just the Jews who were persecuted. It is true that the Jews were the
largest single group at six million but there were by conservative estimates
over12 million non-Jewish
Slavs, Pols, Russian POW's, Roma and other dissidents most of whom were
Christian who were also murdered. Let's not forget about Stalin and the dozens
of millions of Christians murdered there--- or China, India, Pakistan, Africa,
North Korea, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Burma, Macedonia, to name a few where
Christians, millions of them have been murdered over the years and are still to
this day being persecuted and murdered Persecution.org. Don't you think rather
then stirring up rese
ntment among your fellow Christian brothers and sisters by these remarks we
should be working together while RESPECTING one another's faith? Please Jay---
less hypocrisy---- it is NOT Christians that you have to fear today----
shouldn't we be facing our common enemies shoulder to shoulder rather then at
each other's throats---who does that serve? Thank you Jay for reading this and
may our G-d bless you.
Susan XXXXX
12:46:22 PM 
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