I had a religious buddy ask if I felt anything when visiting there. He hasn't been there. I said, "Are you kidding me?". I proceeded to school him on what the old Jeruselam is really like. How its divided up into little sections, and each group would like nothing better than to kill each other. But they can't, because there's a bunch of bad-ass Israel soldiers with machine guns keeping order. At least, for now. I asked him how it felt to have the only real god in the world, when everyone else claims there's is real, as well. Yeah, I didn't feel anything, either.
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Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins
Yeah - "The Holy Land". Hopefully without bumping this to PARF, I guess I didn't know what I was expecting on that front, either. As a former Catholic (raised that way), then a former Lutheran (married that way), and now a "recovering Christian" who has less than no use for any kind of church or organized religion, I guess maybe I was expecting to "feel" something. At least have it be a little moving or something. Maybe if I just touch the Wailing Wall...
Nope. Nothing. The most "moving" part of the whole experience was seeing the armed guards sitting up above around the perimeter, and that goofy back pack exploding container. I was moved to disgust and anger that they still have to maintain that level of security, because a small minority of zealots (on all sides) are so willing to kill - and to die - for what they believe it all represents.
I'm sure no place on Earth elicits such strong emotions from such a broad variety of ethnic backgrounds. And they all want to kill one another over it. Yet I was there - went to all of the holiest of holy places - and felt nothing beyond the normal historic/cultural curiosity I feel anywhere else I go.
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