My first day here in Jerusalem has flown by. It feels so strange being in a city where Jesus has pretty much walked the very same streets. Jerusalem is indeed an intriguing city. It is interesting to see how all these religions co-exist
in such a small city (that does not mean they are happy about the fact). But to see Jews (both orthodox and non), Christians (again all manner of i.e orthodox, Greeks, Armenians, Catholic, Protestant...), Muslims (it is Ramadan at the moment) for the most part, claiming all these sites for themselves and tolerating each other is interesting.
Another interesting thing today has been how hard the young generation of Israelis try to distance themselves from the image they think the world has of them. I have spoken to a number of young Israelis and they all keep telling me things like, "We don't all dress like this" (see photo below) and "We are not religious...". It would seem that for many young people growing up surrounded by all these ( as they would say " fanatical") religions has pushed them to a place of disillusionment.
I must say I don't blame them...I can understand how religion leads to disillusion. True joy is in RELATIONSHIP not religion.
Perhaps that is why I really struggled to "connect" with any of these religious sites I went to today. Don't get me wrong it was great going to them (from an historic perspective) but they are so commercialized that I almost found it off putting. Religion needs these sites Relationship don't, we'll that's what I think anyway.
Location:ג'ורג' וושינגטון,Jerusalem,Israel
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