Buford O'Neal Furrow. By now, most everyone knows the name, and what he did. After opening fire in a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, he said he wanted the act to be "a wake-up call to America to kill Jews."
And people all over are wondering what possesses a person to do such a heinous thing, just as they wondered the same about the shooters in Littleton, Colorado, and too many other locations to mention.
Many theists claim that it is due to a lack of God in the lives of the shooters. A person actually emailed me months ago, stating that the Littleton shooters were atheists, like myself. Seems he didn't care that the kids went to church regularly. They were still atheists, because only atheists would do something like that. In his warped little mind, anyway.
And here we have Buford. A white supremacist who stated quite plainly that his mission was to kill Jews. So now it's considered a hate crime, and an anti-Semitic act.
Likely as not, many will claim Furrow lacked God in his life. But I guarantee you: that is not the case.
One of these days, perhaps people will open their eyes to the truth about the roots of anti-Semitism. Almost no one really looks at it. Almost no one really cares, unfortunately.
In many cases, it's due to a lack of exposure. In the tiny town in which I grew up, I'd never heard of anti-Semitism. I'm sure there must have been some Jewish people there, but I never knew them as such. Certainly, there were no synagogues in town.
When I was in college, though, I met plenty. Some of my closest friends were Jewish. My first girlfriend was raised Jewish, in fact. And she told me stories of being in elementary school and other kids throwing pennies at her. This is due to the stereotype of Jews being money-grubbing penny-pinchers. But that's not the root of anti-Semitism.
There are three types of anti-Semitism, according to scholars: Classical, Christian, and Modern. Classical anti-Semitism appears to extend as far back as the 5th century B.C.E. The first recorded instance of it seems to be the biblical account of the Purim story in the Book of Esther. It tells of how the Jews were targeted for annihilation because one Jewish official refused to bow to the top aide of the king. They were saved as a result of the intervention of the queen, who happened to be Jewish, who pleaded for the lives of her people. And it appears that all pre-Christian anti-Semitism followed along similar lines to this story. In other words, it's not what people think of as anti-Semitism. It's really much like any group of people being hated for one reason or another, varying according to circumstances.
So-called "Modern" anti-Semitism is based on the idea that Jews comprise an inferior race. It is a completely unfounded principle that asserts that Jews are, literally, genetically inferior than other races. Hardly a "modern" concept, given that science can easily dispel this idiocy.
But the really insidious form of anti-Semitism is the Christian form. In my opinion, this is the one that truly lingers today, not the "modern," genetic-based version, and certainly not the "classical" version, which doesn't even really appear to be anti-Semitism, but mere relationship problems between cultures and countries.
When it comes right down to it, the reason Jews have been reviled through history is because the Jews rejected Jesus as the messiah.
That's it. Nothing more.
The Jews rejected Jesus as the messiah.
It bears repeating because the next question is obvious: Who cares?
And the answer is: Christians care.
Christians accept Jesus as the messiah. They worship Jesus. Jews don't. Oh, the Jewish people respect the man and his teachings. They just don't accept that he was the son of Yahweh. No biggie, right?
Well, yeah. It is a biggie. To Christians, it always has been.
What you've got here is a group of people who were "God's chosen," according to the bible, and they've rejected Jesus as the messiah.
There. I said it again.
Anti-Semitism is a Christian invention, pure and simple. By not accepting Jesus, the Jews effectively denied God. At least, that's how many Christians see it. And that's unforgivable. It makes Jews almost as bad as atheists! But atheists, unlike Jews, don't have certain traits that make them easily identifiable, such as certain surnames, pointy star symbols worn around necks, or funny little caps on the backs of skulls. Jews make much easier targets. And besides, there's more of 'em.
Buford O'Neal Furrow's crime will be infamous, of course. And well it should be. But the roots of his racism will probably never be explored by the media, or by most anyone. He'll be called a white supremacist and that will be that. If anything, he'll be linked to a Nazi group or something, and the blame will ultimately lay on Hitler.
Remember him? The Catholic guy who killed Jews, atheists, homosexuals, etc…? Hitler felt he was doing the Lord's work, and said so several times. Homosexuals were abominations in the eyes of God. Atheists rejected God. And the Jews rejected Jesus as the messiah.
And for that, they all had to die.
