Quote of the day Saturday 21st April 2018

“The appearance of Anti-Semitism is always an early warning sign of a dangerous dysfunction within a culture, because the hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.

“At the end of his life, Moses told the Israelites: don't hate an Egyptian because you were strangers in his land. It's an odd sentence. The Egyptians had oppressed and enslaved the Israelites. So why did Moses say, don't hate?

“Because if the people continued to hate, Moses would have taken the Israelites out of Egypt, but failed to take Egypt out of the Israelites. They would still be slaves, not physically but mentally. Moses knew that to be free you have to let go of hate. Wherever there is hate, freedom dies. Which is why we, especially leaders, have to take a stand against the corrosive power of hate.


“All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing. Today I see too many good people doing nothing and I am ashamed.”


(Lord Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the UK, speaking on BBC Radio 4's "Thought for the day" programme yesterday)

Comments

Jim said…
Many people really do need to think on that, good people doing nothing.

I can tell you for a simple fact the people making life difficult right now are not jews, not any major government either.

Hell this week i actually had 2 Jehovah's witnesses engaged in conversation, though they left I am sure with their own convictions, but they agreed that "be excellent to each other" is a far better way to live than many religious people do.

Mind you that is the point isnt it, I have no connection to the Jehovah witness thing, and nor do I think Jesus is resurected and son of god. I have no religious belief of any kind, but I am always ready to hear and listen to the points they were making, and discuss it with them

thats all it is, lets talk.
Chris Whiteside said…
I think that sort of tolerance - be willing to listen to the views of others and respect them even if you do not share them - is the point.

And try to avoid blaming every single member of any group of possibly millions of people for what you perceive to be the errors of some members of that group.

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