Judaism

[Craig Clark]

Don Larsson writes: 

> Craig notes:
> "many of the Jews of Europe murdered by the Nazis were          
> descended from people born in central Europe who had been converted to
> Judaism, . . . "  [NB: Craig is citing an anti-Semitic looney]

If you mean Paul Johnson (my source for this), then it's the first 
time I've heard him described as an anti-Semite (I'd describe Johnson 
as many other things, few of them favourable, but an anti-Semite is 
not one of them). The point he was making (and that I was trying to 
convey) is that many of the Jews of Europe were descended from 
converts. This does not in and of itself substantiate any 
anti-Semitic posturings as I understand it, though again I stand to 
be corrected. This brings me to Don's next point:

> This, as far as I know (and I have some reason to know), is pure bull.
> For one thing, unlike most other major religions, there has never been
> a proslytizing (sp?) ethic in Judaism.  If one wishes to convert, that's
> fine, but no one is about to go out and evangelize (with the exception
> of a minor modern fringe group or two).  For another, what's the percentage?
> Judaism has almost always been been a marginal (in all senses of the term)
> group in Western culture.

I don't have the percentages, but as I recall (it's years since I read Johnson on the
subject) Johnson was referring to the century or so before Christ, during which time 
he claims there was a substantial growth in Judaism throughout the entire Roman 
Empire. When Christianity came along, it spread rapidly through the 
Jewish converts (thereby again presumably marginalising those converts to 
Judaism who did not become Christian).

>    This particular bit of mythology still has adherents in various forms and
> sects, in the US as well as Britain.  The myth has it that the Celtic
> peoples are actually the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel--so the "real" Jews
> are Welsh, Scots, etc!  A variant on this is that Joseph of Arimethea 
> and Jewish-Christian fellow travellers came to settle in England with
> the Grail in their possession.
>   Some groups, like the Armstrongs' World Wide Church of God, still embrace
> these myths.

These are the _Plain Truth_ guys, right? I'd no idea they clung to 
this particular bit of silliness (and nastiness).



Craig Clark

"Living inside the system is like driving across
 the countryside in a bus driven by a maniac bent
 on suicide."
   - Thomas Pynchon, "Gravity's Rainbow"