Yesterday I was over my neighbour's house just chatting when she pulled out an issue of Watch Tower. It was a long article about discussing religion. That is one subject I never really like to talk about with her because I am always having to defend myself and my faith. There is an another reason that discussing religion is always something I do not except with fellow Jews or people who ask questions about Juadaism. I don't like losing my temper or losing myself emotionally, yet it seems today that people find ways of drawing me into the subject whether I like it or not.
Recently I was asked how I felt about Sarah Palin, the Republican party and the Tea Party. I replied that it seemed to me that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party people were trying to force "That Old Time Religion" of traditional Victorian Purtian Christianity back into the mainstream.
It is not that I am against Christians or Christianity itself,but I am against any group trying to force their ways on others. Jehovah's Witnesses are just one extreme group that keeps on trying to get others to see their "truth" as they see it,but there are others too but not so overtly so.
While my neighbour talked, I nodded politely and longed to get off the subject as soon as I could.
Why is it that every Christian like her brings up "Jews killed Christ" when we did nothing of the sort? I tried to explain in my self defensive mode that we did not kill him, the rabbis would not have been meeting to conduct any business during Passover week, That handing a Jew over to anyone if we Knew that there was a possibility of the person being put to death or tortured was against Jewish law? That we Jews did not have any power of life or death in those times but the Romans who put King Herod I and King Herod II on the thrones as puppet kings did?
I don't think she heard a word,because she kept right on her chat as if I had not said a word.
Years ago after one of my friends had died of AIDS, I had to give a speech on AIDs in a Medical Terminology class at MidLand's Techincal College. This was way back in the 1980's, when AIDs was somewhat a scary new disease that almost everyone liked to pretend did not exist.
I think this was when I really learned to fear public speaking and extreme religious persons.
All during my speech which was a very informative one and a fine one, a black classmate kept raising her hand and tried to interupt my speech , finally I stopped ignoring her as I had ended my speech. She looked at me as if she wanted to bite or hit me.
"Was he Gay?" She asked me in a knowing tone.
"I don't think it is anyone's business if my friend was gay or not." I snapped back.
"Oh but it is. Was he gay?" She demanded.
"What does that matter?" I snarled.
"Gays are being punished for being gay by G_d" She replied.
"How dare you! How dare you say that or even think that! Who died and made you judge and jury over anyone? AIDS is a disease just like the Plauge or the chicken pox is,nothing more or less." I thundered back. It was then that I lost it...I started crying. Tears are very ineffective when you are trying to defend a friend or a group of people that you are not a part of,yet you know what they're going through and you want to help in some way.
I sat down and she glared at me through the rest of the class. I did not feel threatened...not then.
The next day,my Aunt Gracie had dropped me off early for the class and I was sitting outside the classroom when my torrmentor from the day before showed up and the hatered in her eyes was wild. She threatened to kill me and the teacher. She said that I deserved to die because I had made a fool out of her the previous day. I should have replied that I did not make a fool out of her, that she did that all by herself, but I did not. Instead, I was too stunned and scared to speak at all because she had slapped my face.
I recall running down the hall and trying to find the maintaince man or someone, when other students arrivied and the classroom door was unlocked. I sprinted inside and told every one what was going on because MJ was still yelling at the top of her lungs. Our teacher arrivied, the Police were called, and we spent most of the morning not doing lessons but worrying about MJ.
People who are frieghtened naturally have to talk, and that we did. I learned from others in the
classroom that MJ was a religious nutcase who often made life miserable for everyone. After breaktime, MJ was allowed to be in the classroom, but I was assurred that she was not going to
remain in the classroom afterwards. A curious thing happend on the way out of the classroom that afternoon,my classmates formed a kind of a guard around my teacher and I. For her actions, MJ was supposed to stay off the campus for the semester, but she did try a few times to run me down or pretend to after the class was over when I was crossing the street from one part of the campus to the other. After that semester, I never saw her again, but I had learned to be
wary of persons that are kind of overzealous where and when religion is concerned.
Mind you, I am not against discussing religion, but I think it ought to be a open exchange, not someone trying to ram their ideas down everyone's else's throarts. Isn't that the reason why America exists--so all people can be free to be as they want to be, Pray as they want to pray and think as they want to think? Have we become hostage to the religious right again???
I still do not know how to handle my next door neighbour--in spite of her religious talks, she is a very nice woman and a kind hearted neighbour. I just don't know how to walk away from the religious discussions that she sneaks in our chats without being rude.