holy sepulchre
Update: It was mostly peaceful this last week in Israel and the West Bank (well, except for an internal-Christian smackdown in that church in Jerusalem)
We're forced to report periodically on the brawls inside the massive Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was built on the ground where Jesus was supposedly crucified and where six Christian denominations share worship space while they each continually dream of the day when the other five will just go away. Two major problems between the sects: (1) The centuries-old series of edifices almost never get upgraded, and rarely repaired, because every part of the infrastructure seems to run through multiple sects' sectors, and there's little cooperation. (One decrepit wooden ladder attached to a ledge above the entrance has been there since the 1800s.) (2) The denominations celebrate different holy days differently, so you get lots of Egyptian coptics, say, herding through the place while Armenian monks, say, aren't celebrating anything in particular, and then the complaints start about how unruly one group is compared to another, nyah nyah nuh nyah-nyah. (Bonus, of course: When they brawl, it's Muslim Jerusalem police officers who have to come in and calm down the Christians.) BBC News /// BBC News [an October skirmish] /// NOTW M061 (6-8-2008) /// NOTW M042 (1-27-2008) [almost precisely the same problem, occurring at the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem]
We're forced to report periodically on the brawls inside the massive Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was built on the ground where Jesus was supposedly crucified and where six Christian denominations share worship space while they each continually dream of the day when the other five will just go away. Two major problems between the sects: (1) The centuries-old series of edifices almost never get upgraded, and rarely repaired, because every part of the infrastructure seems to run through multiple sects' sectors, and there's little cooperation. (One decrepit wooden ladder attached to a ledge above the entrance has been there since the 1800s.) (2) The denominations celebrate different holy days differently, so you get lots of Egyptian coptics, say, herding through the place while Armenian monks, say, aren't celebrating anything in particular, and then the complaints start about how unruly one group is compared to another, nyah nyah nuh nyah-nyah. (Bonus, of course: When they brawl, it's Muslim Jerusalem police officers who have to come in and calm down the Christians.) BBC News /// BBC News [an October skirmish] /// NOTW M061 (6-8-2008) /// NOTW M042 (1-27-2008) [almost precisely the same problem, occurring at the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem]
Comments
Crazy crazy religous people *skakes head*
Posted by Jules in Connecticut on 11/11/08 at 08:49 AM
Gee, Christians fighting in Jerusalem. Who EVER heard of such a thing!
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/11/08 at 09:11 AM
I say we just let them fight to the death. Then the world will know which one was the one true religion and we'll have a lot less fanatics to deal with.
Posted by Madd Maxx on 11/11/08 at 09:18 AM
These clowns have had head-up-the-assitis for about a thousand years now, Wenthral so I'd not hold my breath waiting for it.
There are only two solutions to the Jerusalem situation:
1) Nuke the place down to the molecular level.
2) Build a wall around it, put a bubble over it, and keep all the clerics out.
And I'm not sure either would do much good.
There are only two solutions to the Jerusalem situation:
1) Nuke the place down to the molecular level.
2) Build a wall around it, put a bubble over it, and keep all the clerics out.
And I'm not sure either would do much good.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 11/11/08 at 11:35 AM
It's held by the Greek Orthodox Church, so they're not gonna get kicked out for fighting. None of the christian groups hold the door, though; one neighboring Muslim family controls the door and their neighbors control the key, so no one gets in unless both familys are kept happy.
Another weird thing: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church missed the meeting where the other churches divided access & responsibilities and ended up being stuck with the roof, which they have to keep occupied or the Coptic Church'll grab it away from them (11 were injured in a fight over where the Coptic Monk watching the Ethiopians put his chair back in 2002).
Another weird thing: the Ethiopian Orthodox Church missed the meeting where the other churches divided access & responsibilities and ended up being stuck with the roof, which they have to keep occupied or the Coptic Church'll grab it away from them (11 were injured in a fight over where the Coptic Monk watching the Ethiopians put his chair back in 2002).
Posted by Freddie Freelance on 11/17/08 at 05:08 PM
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