Jewish congress condemns revival of folk tradition in Poland as anti-Semitic

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS APRIL 22, 2019 / 6:01 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

Jewish congress condemns revival of folk tradition in Poland as anti-Semitic

WARSAW (Reuters) - The World Jewish Congress has condemned as anti-Semitic the revival of a folk tradition of burning an effigy of Judas in the Polish town of Pruchnik.

A video published by local website expressjaroslawski.pl showed several dozen locals watching on as an effigy of the disciple Judas was beaten and burned.

The tradition, first reported in the 18th century, was revived on the Christian holiday of Good Friday in the southeastern town of Pruchnik after several years, expressjaroslawski.pl said. In the past the Catholic church has banned the practice over the aggression involved.

“Jews are deeply disturbed by this ghastly revival of medieval anti-Semitism that led to unimaginable violence and suffering,” Jewish congress CEO Robert Singer said in a statement posted on the organization’s website on Sunday.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-anti-semitism/jewish-congress-condemns-revival-of-folk-tradition-in-poland-as-anti-semitic-idUSKCN1RY0L2

[Cartoonist]

1. Bad Friday

Nothing like religion to bring out those warm fuzzy feelings.

Teach your children well.

[whathehell]

2. Religion BAD..Atheism Good!

such subtlety.

[Act_of_Reparation]

3. So, they think their omnipotent Lord and Savior got himself hoodwinked by some Judean yuppie?

That's interesting.

My point which up to this has been obscured
is that it was the lions who procured
By chewing up blood gristle flesh and bone
The martyrdoms on which the Church has grown.
I only write this poem because I thought it rather looked
As if the part the lions played was being overlooked.
By lions’ jaws great benefits and blessings were begotten
And so our debt to Lionhood must never be forgotten.

- Stevie Smith, "Sunt Leones"

[Igel]

4. No. That's not their claim.

The claim is different: Betrayed. But the victim was in the know and gave Judas enough rope to hang himself. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

The claim is Jesus gave him notice that he knew what Judas was doing--with the clear implication that it was wrong--and was in no way his brother's warden. Jesus didn't, as many Xians do, cite Cain as their behavioral authority.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. "Betrayed"

Betrayed in what way?

Jesus is the Messiah, yes? The purpose of the Messiah is to suffer and die and through blood atone for original sin. Without the crucifixion, there is no salvation. It wasn't betrayal, it was a necessity. And instead of burning Judas in effigy, these clownshoes should be falling on their knees to thank him for doing what the 11 other apostles were apparently too fucking stupid to do themselves.

[uriel1972]

6. Without Judas...

There is no Jesus Christ.

[Lordquinton]

8. Isn't there an alternate gospel

where Jesus didn't tell Judas that he was going to betray him, rather he commanded Judas to turn him over, and Judas couldn't live with it even though it was the plan?

[Mariana]

9. There have been various retcons of the gospel story.

They aren't generally considered canonical.

[Lordquinton]

11. There's retcons

Then there's what they just left out of cannon. There was a gospel of Judas they found or something. I don't remember the circumstances, not a big fan of that lore

[Mariana]

12. One or the other really has to be a retcon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Judas

The Gospels make Judas out to be just a bad guy generally, even before he supposedly betrayed Jesus. They say he was a thief and that he didn't care about the poor, for example. Jesus even says outright that he's a devil. Then, you have this conflicting gospel of Judas. They can't both be true, can they?

Speculation time:

According to the book of Acts, things got ugly fast in the fledgling church. When Ananias and Sapphira sold their land and gave some of the proceeds to the Apostles, Peter demanded to know if they'd handed over all the money from the sale. Rather than telling him to keep his nose out of their business, they lied to Peter, and they were killed for it. After that, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."

If there's any bit of truth to that story, I imagine many didn't much like the direction Peter and the Apostles were taking the church, such as employing violence and threats to keep the congregants in line. It makes sense that some people would break off, and come up with alternate interpretations of the basic gospel story that were wildly different from the Apostles' version.

[MineralMan]

7. A misunderstanding. Judas was an essential player in the Christ myth.

No betrayal, no crucifixion, no resurrection. Judas was the key to Christianity.

[Voltaire2]

10. Life imitates art

Borat opens with a parody of a eastern european folk festival that is so overtly anti-semitic that it is beyond cringe comedy.