Thursday, February 08, 2007
THE WASHINGTON POST IS COVERING THE ARIEL TOAFF STORY
as well. You can read the article here, including this passage which I'm in full agreement with:
What seems to have been forgotten in the shuffle though is that Toaff is describing a "deviant sect" of fanatics some 500 years ago -- a time when all types of brutal behavior (NAFW) took place. And even if there is some truth to his claims, to consider them indicative of an entire religion would be like believing the Branch Davidians are representative of all Christians. Admitting that these events may have taken place and examining the evidence empirically is not anti-Semitic; however, believing they provide justification for centuries of genocide is.
It is just as illogical to claim that all Jews are good just because they are Jews as it is illogical to claim that all Catholics are good just because they are Catholic. We've been given adequate demonstration of the evil that some Catholics are capable of over the last few years. It is not unreasonable to think that some Jews may have done something equally evil. Nothing can be accomplished by refusing to look at the truth, no matter where it leads. Some of it is not going to be pretty. Not on either side of this long-standing divide.
