Recently, I boarded the HSR on a regular Friday morning, I sat down, called my mom, and braced myself for my daily hour commute.
When the bus gets packed, priority seating is given to parents with strollers, people with disabilities and if your mother taught you as mine did, senior citizens. So, when an elderly woman in a hijab got on with a walker, I offered her my seat and assisted her in moving her walker aside. That was my first mistake.
While still on the phone reassuring my mom that I was okay to take the bus without my brother and that Google maps had my back, I started to feel a nudge against my shoulder from an older woman, yelling back to her friend – Suzy – behind her.
It took me a bit to realize that what sounded like one of the many American rally videos on white supremacy, was actually a reality. “These damn Muslims thinking they can take my seat,” the nudging woman said to her friend, though she was clearly talking about me. She brandished her cane at me and screamed towards her friend: “I’ll whack her head off with my cane if she ever tries to get in my way… this is my country! Send them back to where they came from!” I later learned that this old lady’s name was Adeline from her friend Suzy, who was encouraging her.
At this point, I had gotten off the phone with my mom and stood between these two women. I said nothing. I did nothing. I simply stood there, being nudged.
Though we all reside in Canada, not all of us call this country our home. I do. My siblings do. But this is not the case for everyone, and we must consciously avoid opposing assumptions.
On this extremely packed bus, no one seemed to notice what had just happened until my head hit one of the poles and my bag hit the ground.
The operator abruptly slammed the brakes on the bus and came to intervene. Thankful, I stood and looked at him with hope. The operator rushed to the woman and in an barely audible whisper, he said “You better stop what you’re doing otherwise you’re going to get us both in trouble,” walked the woman back to her seat and went back to the wheel. I stood there in astonishment, silent and invisible.
As a new hijabi who has been a Canadian citizen since I was six years old, and a Hamilton resident since I was two, this experience was a shock to me. Though experiencing discrimination was not something new to me, this experience was the only one to bring me tears. Not because I was aggressively pushed on an operating bus, but because I knew that if it wasn’t me, it might have been the elderly woman with the walker.
Though we all reside in Canada, not all of us call this country our home. I do. My siblings do. But this is not the case for everyone, and we must consciously avoid opposing assumptions.
With over 100 different languages, cultures and faiths shared by over 200,000 Canadian immigrants, culturally identifying an individual can be a challenge.
Canada is reputably a country that takes pride in being progressively multicultural and diverse. As students who attend institutions that welcome students internationally to share in our university experiences, it is important to respect understand the backgrounds we each come from.
We are all immigrants. Whether we were born and raised here, or moved here with our parents, or are on a student visa, we each come from different cultural backgrounds that are attached to cultural stereotypes and generalizations. But just like all diverse groups, whether it be gender, race, religion, ethnicity or culture, we all reserve the right to define ourselves the way we choose to. We should all respect each other’s individual backgrounds, and understand that though someone may look like a foreigner, does not mean that they are.
I am clearly Muslim, but when it comes to my race, culture and ethnicity, some may consciously see my physical identity and subconsciously assume my story. But if I have the right to determine my own gender, I should have the right to tell my own story. I should not be left in silence.
As a visible hijab-wearing Muslim, my identity remains what I choose it to be. I am Canadian, and I am Muslim, not one or the other.
In my “back of the bus” experience, I was invisible. And no one should ever have their individual stories silenced by presumption. After all, you know what they say about those who assume.
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By: Lina Assi & Yara Shoufani
Each year, Israeli Apartheid Week takes place across more than 150 universities and cities. IAW aims to raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies over the Palestinian people.
IAW’s goal is to tell the world of the Palestinian struggle, one which is so often erased in mainstream media. Apartheid is a system of racial segregation. In Israel, this includes military control over the West Bank, two distinct identification systems, separate roads for Israelis and Palestinians and military checkpoints which only Palestinians are subjected to. These restrictions on movement have impeded access to health and education. Palestinian houses are demolished for “Israeli only” settlements, and an apartheid wall — eight times the size of the Berlin Wall — separates Palestinians not only from Israelis, from the world and from one another. Israel’s system of settler-colonialism and apartheid has dismantled Palestine into fragmented pieces of land, destroying the Palestinian economy and social structures.
Israeli Apartheid Week brings the occupation onto campus, so to speak. It aims to show students that there is no Israeli-Palestinian “conflict” because the word implies that the two sides are equal. There is instead an occupied and an occupier; an illegal, inhumane, brutal, military occupation.
There is no Israeli-Palestinian “conflict” because the word implies that the two sides are equal.
On March 15 at 6:30 p.m. we are hosting Eran Efrati and Maya Wind for a free lecture. Eran is an ex-Israeli soldier, and Maya is an Israeli peace activist whose refusal to join the military led to her imprisonment in Israel. We hope the stories of Eran and Maya will show McMaster students that Israel’s occupation is not only being resisted against by Palestinians, but by small groups within Israeli society as well.
We will also be recreating apartheid on the BSB lawn through displays of the apartheid wall, settlements, roads, prisons and even the blockaded Gaza Strip. We hope this display will show students that there is no such thing as neutrality in the face of injustice.
Both Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice will be tabling in MUSC to talk to students about Israel and Palestinian resistance movements, such as Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. This educational week is one that is endorsed by many Hamilton movements and student clubs, including Independent Jewish Voices, McMaster Muslim Students Association, McMaster Womanists, McMaster Indigenous Student Community Alliance, United in Colour, Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, CUPE 3906, Young Communist League and McMaster Middle Eastern Student Society.
The diversity of these clubs reminds us that Israeli Apartheid Week is about more than the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s part of a movement of students who stand for peace and justice, and against colonization, occupation, racism and violence.
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By: Mindy Chapman
I believe that the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination. I also believe that the Jewish people have the right to self-determination. As a Jewish woman living in diaspora, I feel a deep connection to my historic homeland, Israel. During my one visit there, I experienced the magic of Jerusalem and of praying in the same places my people have been praying for thousands of years. I experienced the intense feelings of belonging, homecoming and spiritual and religious freedom. During my lifetime in Canada, I’ve experienced the yearning and longing, not just for the people of Israel, but for the physical land, soil and trees as well. These powerful feelings affirm not only my own connection to the land, but my understanding of the connection that Palestinian people feel to the land as well. I recognize the existence of another group of people that might feel the exact same way that I do.
Sustainable, long lasting peace is an attainable goal. However, it will only be achieved through coexistence, mutual respect and shared understanding. Learning to love one another as human beings, and to understand and respect one another’s stories and perspectives, is the first step to living side by side and amongst one another in peace.
I have often been told that it is wrong to divide the world into simplified categories like “us” and “them.” I’ve learned that there is an “us” and “them.” There are Jews and Muslims, Arabs and Israelis, who seek to further the divide between us, and there are those who strive to build a better future for the children of Israel and Palestine.
In Israel, efforts that strive to create a shared society from the top down, as well as the bottom up, are well underway. Government initiatives that require the teaching of Arabic in Jewish schools are helping create broad societal changes by providing Israeli children with the tools to communicate effectively with their Palestinian counterparts. Organizations such as Hand in Hand and PeacePlayers are making real changes on the community level. Both organizations run programming that connect Israeli and Palestinian youth through a shared experience. Hand in Hand does this through multicultural schooling and PeacePlayers through after school recreation activities.
There is an “us” and “them.” There are Jews and Muslims, Arabs and Israelis, who seek to further the divide between us, and there are those who strive to build a better future.
In order to promote these incredible initiatives and advocate for the building of a shared community, Israel on Campus is running our first Coexistence Week. By bringing attention to the organizations that are creating positive change in Israeli society, we hope to encourage the innovation and support for similar initiatives. We can no longer allow hateful rhetoric and closed-mindedness to further the divide between us. It is time to work together, learn from one another and build the shared society we want to live in: founded on diversity and coexistence, abounding with peace.
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If you aren’t Jewish you may have missed an exciting development in the world of McMaster Jewish cuisine last semester: sandwiches.
Now, for around three dollars, you too can own a certified Kosher sandwich from La Piazza. McMaster’s Jewish community posted “sandwich selfies” in celebration – mind you, as a group of people that have holidays in the name of dairy products, trees, and the arrival of Friday, it is safe to say we are generally willing to celebrate most things. Yet, as I told people of the incredible bracha (blessing) that was kosher cream cheese and salmon on white, I was met with considerable confusion from my non-Jewish friends. The most disturbing question I received was “why would you condone the Kosher butchering of animals when the methods are so cruel?”
Here is the most important thing you need to know: food is personal. Last year, the Danish government banned Kosher and Halal slaughter. European law states that animals must be stunned before slaughter, but grants exemptions based on religious grounds. Jewish and Muslim laws have strict regulations surrounding Kosher and Halal slaughter that does not allow for the stunning of animals.
Your first thought might be that not stunning an animal is inhumane and must be outlawed, but to single out Kosher and Halal slaughter for cruelty in the world of meat production is foolish. Firstly, methods of stunning are not necessarily painless. They can include electric shocks, gassing, or a bolt to the skull. Occasionally the animal is not properly stunned (the bolt misses the brain, the voltage is not high enough), and is in pain until it dies. Jewish law very strictly prohibits causing unnecessary suffering to animals, with the exemption of the slaughter itself, which must be done as swiftly as possible and render the animal unconscious almost immediately.
This is not to say that the killing of animals for food — kosher, halal, or otherwise — is painless and without its faults. However, if you honestly care for the welfare of the animals that end up on your dinner plate, then you would care about their holistic quality of life, not just the moment before their death. You would campaign for better living conditions and feed in factory farms. You would care for different animals equally; as much for the chicken that makes Friday’s mazo ball soup, as you would the giraffe that a Danish zoo fed to a Lion — for entertainment purposes — the same year they banned kosher slaughter.
To single out Kosher and Halal slaughter for cruelty in the world of meat production is foolish
Despite that one Jewish friend you know who loves their bacon, for many Jews keeping kosher is not optional. The same goes for Halal. To label Halal slaughter as inhumane reflects the Islamophobic belief that Islam cares less about the sanctity of life. To restrict Kosher food is to isolate and drive away Jewish families from their communities. In attacking our food supply, you are saying to us “we do not want you to live here.” It is not a campaign for animal rights; it is thinly veiled anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
So what does the supply of sandwiches at McMaster have to do with it? The short answer is: keep ‘em coming. Our university has done some amazing things to accommodate Jewish and Muslim students. I know that if I face discrimination on campus that I can go to HRES (Human Rights and Equity Services) for help, or that if I need a quiet place to pray I can go to the basement of Thode. I feel safe openly identifying as Jewish both in the community and the classroom, which is no mean feat. To make students feel welcome, food should be right alongside institutional policy. To give us as many meal options on campus sends the message that the University wants us to feel comfortable living and studying here. I’m loving the sandwiches and can’t wait to see what comes next. Who knew egg salad could taste so good?
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I have completely different feelings towards the holidays than my father. It has never bothered him when someone wishes him a Merry Christmas. “I’m not offended if someone wishes me happy birthday when it isn’t my birthday,” he used to tell me, “What harm can extra good will do?”
I, on the other hand, despise December. Every sprig of mistletoe, every nativity scene and every adorned tree drives me up the wall. As one of the few Jewish students at my high school I ran a campaign to get music other than Christmas carols played over the PA system in the mornings. When someone asks me what I’m doing for Christmas I will reply — at times, coldly — that I do not celebrate. Although on principle I haven’t seen any movies starring the Grinch, I’ve been told that my attitude is comparable.
I fully recognize that I am biased, but you should understand that my resentment is not unfounded. While other kids my age associated Christmas with gift from Santa, I was left wondering why he hadn’t also visited my house. As a child of European and Israeli parents, the promised eight days of gifts for Jewish children was not a reality for me. This isn’t to say that I now feel hard done by it; I had more than enough toys to keep me busy growing up, but it meant that I wondered what I had done wrong to receive the proverbial lump of coal. Presuming that it was a lack of chimney, my mother explained the truth to me when she found me trying to make a tree out of cardboard and a green magic marker. Finding out that I was different from other kids in something that is often portrayed as a ubiquitous experience hit hard.
I relate to, and feel sorry for, the fictional Anthony Goldstein, the only Jewish character in the Harry Potter books, who would have most likely felt as alienated as I did when watching all the witches and wizards around him celebrate a holiday that easily took up one or two whole chapters of each book. I feel even sorrier for all of the Jewish kids, myself included, who weren’t able to picture themselves at Hogwarts as a result. I can suspend disbelief in allowing for charms and hippogriffs, but being Jewish is such a large part of my identity that I can’t envision my magical self as being anything but.
Anthony, much like myself, would have had a lot of experience being looked to as the token representative of Hanukah, or as it has often been described to me, “Jewish Christmas.” Every time a Hanukah song was played at an assembly — inevitable the hateful and nonsensical “dreidel dreidel” — people would look to me as if to say “is this what your religion looks like? Have we made you feel included yet?” The truth is that I feel no connection to the Hanukah songs often played by Gentiles. To start, none of my holiday tunes growing up were in English, and if you made a dreidel out of clay, I guarantee you that it would break. If you are going to include a token Jewish song, please at least just do it justice. This type of clumsy attempt at inclusion tends to just make me feel worse.
Perhaps even more upsetting to me than hearing “Jewish” songs I don’t know is knowing the Christmas ones a little too well. You can only live in Canada for so long before you absorb Christmas knowledge, and for me growing up, that was carols. It never ceases to disturb me that I know more tunes about the birth of Jesus than I do about the victory of the Maccabees. I feel extreme guilt over being more assimilated than not, but there is little that I can do about it. Every time I get “Silent Night” or “Deck the Halls” stuck in my head it is a reminder that this holiday does not belong to me, but that I can’t help but be involved in it whether I want to be or not.
Thus this December I have a simple request: please stop assuming that Christmas is a universal experience. Any holiday with “Christ” in its name is nowhere near secular enough for the entire population to be celebrating. Please stop tokenizing our holiday in half-hearted attempts at inclusion, because as the kids who know the truth about Santa long before you do, we hold more power than you’d like to believe.
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By: Lina Assi
Boycotts Divestment and Sanctions was introduced to our campus last March at the General Assembly, and has been a contentious topic on campus. This debate has led to several misconceptions amongst the McMaster student body. One of the main criticisms has been that BDS targets our fellow Jewish students, and it has been mislabeled as anti-Semitic. This begs the question, if a movement that promotes ethical purchasing is unjust, aggressive and bigoted, how was it adopted in a vote that included more than 600 McMaster students at last year’s General Assembly?
In short, the BDS movement is not a discriminatory policy. It does not target McMaster students of Jewish faith, nor does the BDS movement seek to dismantle the state of Israel. The main objective of the BDS movement is to hold Israel accountable for its infringement of international law that seeks to provide indigenous Palestinian communities with their basic human rights. The lack of knowledge regarding the BDS movement has led to the derailment of tackling the main issue of illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories.
BDS was supported by many student groups and non-government organizations, including the Hamilton Chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace. Last year, students in support of Palestinian human rights organized initiatives on campus that involved Jewish and Israeli speakers that addressed the infringement of human rights by Israel.
One of the main catchphrases of the student groups promoting Palestinian rights on campus is “we don’t want your anti-Semitism!” An organization of students on campus that seek to bring justice to one ethnic group and injustice to another would be counterintuitive and quite frankly, hypocritical. Students that support BDS legislation on our campus did so to speak out against injustice to the indigenous Palestinian population and, I assure you, would do so again for any injustice we witness today. The BDS legislation on our campus strictly addresses corporations that are profiting from the illegal settlements in the Palestinian Territories, settlements that have displaced thousands of people and caused harm to the Palestinian communities on several levels.
As a McMaster student, I invite you to take it upon yourself to pass judgment on this movement only once you have done your research about what BDS legislation on our campus means. It is an initiative that seeks to promote justice in accordance with our values at McMaster. To pass a snap judgement does not do justice to any party involved in this complex issue.
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The other day I came to your store to buy a seven-dollar venti low fat extra whip salted caramel mocha with coconut milk, and the biggest outrage wasn’t the price or your misspelling of my name again, but rather the fact that your cup was just plain red. I couldn’t believe it. #RedCupGate is real.
I mean, I forgot what your cups looked like in past years (I’m pretty sure Jesus on the cross was on the cup last year?), but this is definitely an outrage. I can’t believe that you are against Christmas. What did Santa ever do to you? By the way, you sure as hell ain’t getting a gift from him this year (just like every past year, but that’s cause you’ve always been a bad boy).
These plain red cups are so offensive. Look at it. It’s just red. The colour of blood. It doesn’t matter that you have gift cards that say “Merry Christmas,” Christmas tree ornaments, Christmas CDs, a Christmas blend, and snowman cookies. How dare you say “Happy Holidays” to me? You must say “Merry Christmas.” I don’t care about other holidays. The Jews can get in line. Hanukkah can wait, because Christmas was here first.
There are just a few of us on the #MerryChristmasStarbucks bandwagon right now, so my hope is that this letter will go viral and all the Christians around the land will rally to the cause started by Joshua Feuerstein (praise be). Most of them right now are being good Christians, spreading their faith, and being nice contributing members of society. But it’d be better if they all just dropped what they’re doing and boycott a cup. Thankfully, a lot of people out there are extrapolating the beliefs of my small dissenting group of extreme fanatics to be representative of all Christians, which makes things easier for us.
Christians, if you’re reading this, the plan is to go to Starbucks, pay them money so you can get a drink that says Merry Christmas on it, and then post it on social media so that everyone can see it. We need everyone to be thinking of Starbucks and joining us in buying more drinks from this hellhole. Only then will they learn their lesson.
Alternatively, we can do what Donald Trump said, and boycott Starbucks. Then we can take all the money saved from not buying your drinks to build a wall to push back those dirty Mexicans.
Taking a page from Joshua, I’m also going to exercise the second amendment and bring my gun to Starbucks the next time I come. In fact, I’m heading to Wal-Mart right after this. Wait. We’re in Canada. Damn it. Screw this place and its polar bears.
This isn’t over you Satan worshipping bastards.
Praise God,
The Best Christians
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Wade Genders
The Silhouette
I used to be a Mac engineering undergraduate and I'm currently an engineering graduate student. In light of the recent events involving the Redsuits, I've felt compelled to write this letter as I feel my faculty's representatives have been unfairly disciplined. I must admit, during my undergraduate time I was never a Redsuit and I even found them somewhat annoying and obnoxious. It seems a hint of sweet irony to me that I now write in their defense, but I feel the University has acted swiftly without being consistent in their judgment of student groups at McMaster. If McMaster is legitimately concerned with eliminating ideals which stand in opposition to education, sexism, violence and discrimination, then it must judge all student groups the same.
My concern is do we judge all student organizations by any material with apparent ties to the organization in question, regardless of the strength of the evidence with regards to wrong action being committed? I do not dismiss the concerns of individuals who consider the material in this document to be offensive or indecent, but I see this application of academic discipline as reflexive and biased towards the Redsuits. McMaster University has many student groups which promote a variety of causes; sports, technology and various cultures. If the Redsuits are being suspended for these materials alleged (I use the word alleged as there is no evidence that these songs were ever sung on campus) as their property, then I can easily point to other student groups who explicitly promote documents much more abhorrent who do not face such scrutiny or discipline. Two student groups in particular, McMaster Catholic Student Association (MACSA) & McMaster Muslim Student Association (MACMSA), both promote literature with language and ideas which are vile in message and incompatible with a 21st academic environment. Does McMaster University hold MACSA and MACMSA accountable for the ideas found in their respective holy books? How should any member of McMaster's LGBTQ community feel to know that MACSA and MACMSA are able to promote books, the Bible and the Qur'an respectively, which explicitly label homosexuals abominations and prescribe death for their homosexuals acts (Bible : Leviticus 18:22 /20:13/Qur'an: 7:80-81 / 27:54-55 )? Or how should the women of McMaster feel to know that both of these organizations can promote misogyny and the inequality of the genders; that women can be beaten (Qur'an 4:34), they are less than men (Qur'an 2:228b, 2:282), and should be stoned to death for pre-marital sex (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)?
The Redsuits were basically suspended because of a document on the Internet; both MACSA and MACMSA can promote their causes which are intrinsically tied to their holy scriptures and contain the repulsive and barbaric writings which stand in direct opposition to the values that McMaster supposedly holds and is using to justify the punishment of the Redsuits. How the university can allow religious student groups to promote theirs causes, which unquestionably include the barbarity I've outlined by the sheer virtue that they exist in their scriptures, and yet punish another group for a document which isn't even officially endorsed by said group?
An inquisitive reader might respond, but the MACMSA & MACSA don't promote the specific values and thoughts I've outlined, they don't promote that specific part of the Bible or the Qur'an. It may be true that neither the MACMSA nor MACSA have posters or booths on campus promoting these specific tenants of their scripture, but by the logic expressed in the recent disciplinary actions of the University, you can't have a Catholic or Muslim student group without endorsing the Bible or the Qur'an. The MACMSA and MACSA are allowed to promote their causes freely on campus, including their literature, yet another non-religious student group has some unofficial document tied to them on the Internet and they are suspended without hesitation.
The interests of these religious groups are much more self-serving than the Redsuits. Redsuits ultimately exist to promote engineering, and this is a university after all, we teach facts about science, mathematics, engineering, social sciences, medicine, literature and the arts. Yet McMaster University seems willing to afford more protection to religious groups who promote literature full of intolerance and violence than they will to their own faculties. The arguably tenuous link between this songbook and the Redsuits is enough to get an entire student group of hundreds of engineers suspended, while these religious students preach with impunity. This action is heavy handed and is punishing the majority for something a small minority of the group did.
Given the events that took place recently at other Canadian universities, it is easy to understand that McMaster University wants to avoid being associated with any behaviour considered intolerant. However, if McMaster truly wants to cultivate an environment which is free of intolerance, if must apply its judgment in an impartial manner. It can't be denied that the Redsuits have contributed greatly to McMaster University, raising money for venerable causes via the Bus Pull (cystic fibrosis) and Santa Hog (Interval House Hamilton). Until it can be shown with evidence that the Redsuits in any official capacity distributed this document or promoted these songs on campus, it is hypocritical for them to be punished and yet allow student groups such as MACSA & MACMSA to continue operating. McMaster administration is cutting down the whole tree because of a few bad apples, bad apples that haven't even been proven to have come from the tree in question. McMaster needs to provide better evidence as to why the Redsuits are being disciplined or commit to applying this same scrutiny to all student groups, not just the ones who make a lot of noise.
“We are the engineers, so pity us."
Sarah O’Connor
Staff Reporter
I have always been a lover of mythology; it is a small hobby that began when I was little, collecting and reading books about Greek and Roman mythology.
Since then my interest has grown, and along with Greek and Roman I have begun reading more on Celtic, Norse and Native American mythologies. A few years ago I purchased a book that contained Greek, Norse, Celtic, as well as Egypt and West Asian mythology.
Skimming through the section I recognized familiar names: Adam, Eve, Abraham. At that time I foolishly thought that perhaps in the past these Biblical characters would simply be stories to some people.
But then I learned about the God Graveyard.
The God Graveyard was set up first by students of the University of North Georgia Skeptics Society and then by the group Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin. The second featured over 200 graves dedicated to once believed in gods who have since “died” and been forgotten. Such gods mentioned are Pluto, Anubis, Zhurong, Loki, as well as a number of others.
I wasn’t horrified by the God Graveyard like many people were. I was interested and I began to think about what linked mythology and Catholicism. I began to find many comparisons between the two in the stories they tell.
Both have creation stories: in Norse mythology the story is of when Odin and his brothers killed the first giant Ymir and constructed the world from his corpse. In the Bible there is the book of Genesis that explains how God created the world in seven days.
Both contain examples of divine intervention, especially with women, who give birth to children. A popular motif in many mythology stories, the best known is probably Greek mythology with Zeus and his many interactions with mortal women. Some of the children produced from these relationships were Hercules and Helen of Troy. In the Christian religion this is shown through Mary’s Immaculate Conception with Jesus Christ.
Both contain stories have significant animals: Celtic mythology have a number of symbolic animals that portray both good and bad such as the hound, deer/stag, boar and many other animals. Similarly the Bible has, to name a few, the dove, serpent, fish and lamb.
These three examples are only some of many comparisons that can be found between the two which leads to the question: how long can a religion survive? And what is it that kills a god?
Is it lack of follows or is it peer pressure? Or perhaps is it a combination of the two?
Christianity has been around for thousands of years and in the past and present has attempted to convert people away from their religion. My father has told me that growing up in the 60’s his teachers would tell students that if they did not convert one person to Christianity they would not get into Heaven.
If someone were to say they were followers of Zeus or Odin nowadays society would mock and shun them. But just because Greek, Norse and other religions have been term “mythologies” today does that make them any less valid than Christianity?
So what is the life span of a religion? Looking at the pictures of the many “dead” gods, I can’t help but wonder if one day soon the figures of Christianity will one day lay among Athena and Freya, a myth that we foolish people of the past believed in.
