how the west became christian, not jewish

Accepted by all religions is the fact that the first humans created had no religion, and as such any godly plans for humanity were meant for a unified family, not just limited to a chosen few.

Abraham's revolutionary notion of monotheism, a belief in one God, meant that God was not just a God of the Israelites but of all people. God revealed to Abrahamthat his people were to be messengers chosen to bring universal moral instructions to all humanity, not just the Jews.

The Torah was the revelation and the Mitzvot are the divine commandments defining a godly life, and God chose the landless and powerless Jewsas messengers because humans would be free to accept or reject the message on its merits. It was a message delivered without political and economic coercion.

In return for fulfilling their divine mission, God would make the Jews a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

However, most Talmudic Rabbis do not interpret 'a kingdom of priests' as having universal implications. They believe that the covenant given by God not only provided the core religious content of the message the Jewish people were to convey to humanity but also a separate and distinctcontent designed to force Jews to maintain a separate culture. Being chosen to convey the message implied, to them, a superior position.

By superiority, the Talmudic Rabbis meant that Jews as a separate people were to be a 'light' unto the other nations. In offering the message, they cannot mandate its acceptance. Those who accepted the message choose to become chosen.

The Talmudic Rabbis saw the Jewish mission to convey the message of God, not to convert everyone to Judaism. They did not call for the annihiliation of gentile or non-Jewish religions. They saw salvation as dependent on moral behavior not on accepting Judaism, and accepted that the righteous of all faiths have an equal chance to be saved.

In this sense, the Talmudic Rabbis maintained a separate 'superiority'. They were into delivering the message to all but most certaininly do not believe in wholescale conversions.

However, in the early days of Judaism missionary activity was necessary for the growth of this revolutionary notion of monotheism to take place. In his journey from Haran to Canaan Abraham made many converts. In Deuteronomy 32:10, Abraham is described as so successful a missionary that God became known as King of the earth as well as King of heaven.

However, the word 'convert' is used loosely when referring to Abraham's missionary zeal. The formal notion of religious conversion did not emerge until much later in history. Abraham invited non-Israelites to join the Israelites, as did Isaac and Jacob.

By the time of Moses, the Torah was being expounded in seventy languages, andit provides numerous injunctions to the Jewish people to welcome strangers. It is believed, too, that God exiled Jews from their homeland for only one reason, to increase the number of converts!

Conversions came about through synagogues inviting guests and visitors -- there were thousands of houses of instruction in all towns serving as learning centers for gentiles; Jews were exhorted to personally approach potential converts; gentiles living among Jewish people were invited to assimilate; abandoned gentile children were adopted; and many gentiles converted to Judaism through marriage with a Jew.

The Jewish mission of conversion was also codifed in laws. It is not clear when these legal rules developed, but they most certainly existed after the destruction of the Second Temple when there was a need for clear religious rules to maintain the Jewish identity. So, from 400- 500 AD the existence of these laws indicates that converts were allowed, welcomed and had specific rites to undergo in their conversion.

As expected, conversions were increased during important periods of Jewish history. The Jews grew from 150,000 in 586 BC to more than eight million by the first century of the common era and, in the case of the conversion of the Idumaeans and the Ituraeans, force was uncharacteriscally used.

So widespread was Jewish missionary activty that Greek, Roman, and Christian authors wrote disparagingly about it. In Rome, for example, Tacitus, a rhetorical historian, Cicero, a lawyer, and Juvenal, a satirist, are bitter and serious about denouncing Jewish proselytizing activities, and Horace makes fun of them.

The most famous Christian comment came from Matthew 23:15 in which competition for converts became nasty: "Alas for you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are."

By the onset of the Christian era, 10% of the Roman Empire was Jewish and had the Romans and Jews not fought -- the Romans destroying the Temple in 70 AD, crushing the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD and ultimately expelling the Jews from Jerusalem -- the Jews would have succeeded in winning more converts than the Christians and historywould have followed a different path.

While Jewish conversion efforts continued, the stateless and powerless Jews were restricted by Roman, and later Christian and Muslim laws regarding proselytism. In 131 AD, Hadrian prohibited circumcision and public instruction in the Jewish religion. In 198 and 199 the Emperor Severus passed laws forbiddinggentiles from embracing Judaism, and in 335 Constantine re-enacted Hadrian's law, forbidding Jews to circumcise non-Jewish slaves.

Cumulatively, these restrictions not only reversed the general Jewish attitude toward welcoming converts but also produced deep psychological change in the Jewish psyche. By the time of Constantine, many Jews would have embraced Christianity and those that remained faithful to Judaism became insular and messiahanic -- waiting for a messiahto raise them from a miserable existence made more miserable by the triumphant Christians accusing the Jews of Deicide -- killing Jesus -- and setting them up for mockery and persecution.

Christians took over the Jewish mission to welcome converts and transformed its meaning. Salvation was no longer dependent on moral behavior but on accepting Christ.The faiths of others were belittled, eternal rewards were promised for converting andeternal damnation was threated for refusing to convert. Bribery, threats, and ultimately violence and murder were used to expand the Christian faith. However, Christians did make it easier for pagans to convert by relaxing the Jewish need for male circumcision and the obligation to obey Jewish law.

Persecution and fear led, over time, to the transformation of the Jewish understanding of its mission. Spreading God's word came to be seen as against Jewish law.

(This article first appeared as god's chosen people, the jews and is reprinted with permission.)

how did judaism affect early western civilization?

The converts from Judaism and Paganism to the new religion of Christianity found a new and mostly tolerant home in the big city of Rome where they flocked in their thousands looking for work and a better life.. Most of them were impoverished Greeks and their leaders tended to be relatively wealthy Jews from Judea, one of whom was Peter, a disciple of Jesus, who became the first Bishop of Rome

There is little doubt that the Christians were trouble-makers who were offended by what they saw as the barbaric practices of the Pagans, and when they were all blamed, rightly or wrongly, for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 -- during which Nero allegedly played his fiddle, totally oblivious of the chaos around him -- many innocent Christians lost their lives in the retribution that followed.

In fact, Peter himself, was blamed, and his request to be crucified upside down was granted.

But was the Great Fire of Rome lit by Christians angry at the Pagans, or by Jews angry at the Romans?

Two years later, in 66, the inflamed Jews of Judea revolted against aggressive Roman intrusion into their affairs, causing many to flee from the area -- so the Jews were causing as much trouble for the Romans as the Christians were.

Although we draw distinctions between Jews and Christians today, way back then they were essentially seen by the Romans as the same people with the same religion and the same leaders.

Sixty-five years later, in 131, another Jewish revolt against Roman rule took place in Jerusalem, led by Simon Bar Kokhba. Its brutality resulted in the great Jewish Diaspora of 132 -- moving west to North Africa, east to Syria, north to Greece or south to Arabia -- and most of the displaced Jews would have outwardly converted to the religion of their hosts.

From 193-235 the Roman Empire fell under the rule of fabulously wealthy African and Syrian emperors who brought their extended families, administrative staff and slaves with them. Consequently Rome's ethnic mix changed to reflect these new arrivals (some of whom were undoubtedly the descendants of the Jewish Diaspora, and practising their faith in secret).

By 293 the Empire was so big and so diverse that the Emperor Diocletian divided its rule between an eastern and western emperor and attempted a policy of SOCIAL UNIFORMITY by imposing upon everyone the observance of Roman traditions. 

This policy led to the persecution of the Christians (as well as other religions).

In 330 the Emperor Constantine confounded the native Romans not only by converting to the new religion of Christianity -- which was known as the new Judaism -- but also by establishing Constantinople in the east as the new seat of the empire's power. In doing so, Constantine gave the Bishop of Rome more power in relation to the traditional Pagan Priests and precipitated the decline of Rome's prestige which made it more vulnerable to Germanic invasion.

If you look upon early Christianity as the new Judaism -- with only the hardline Jews refusing to accept Jesus as their Messiah -- then early western civilization was not only founded upon Greek and Syrian ethnicity but also upon the ancient religion of Abraham from Ur in Iraq.

How on earth, then, did western civilization come to represent white Anglo-Saxons of Puritan persuasions?

why was judaism demonized last century?

Down the centuries, the Jews have always been treated with suspicion and sometimes downright bigotry with various pogroms -- far more so by the Christians than the Moslems -- but the real hatred of the Jews only started in the 1900s with the new ideology of communism -- thought up by two German Jewish intellectuals, Marx and Engels -- which envisaged the world as a worker's paradise devoid of opiate religions and decadent aristocrats.

Marx and Engels wanted to end what they considered to be the unholy alliance between the Church and Germanic Royalty that had formed after the death of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in 491 and plunged Europe into the Dark Ages, and in doing so they were attacking what most people considered to be the two pillars of western civilization.

Communism spread in popularity among the terribly oppressed people of Russia and China who overthrew their ruling dynasties and started an internationalist movement that became so threatening to both the Protestant and Catholic states that they finally stopped fighting each other and joined forces, expending a whole century in an effort to defeat it, bringing incredible prestige to the Roman Pope and terrible retribution upon the Jews who, rightly or wrongly, were blamed for supporting communism against Christianity.

Christian churches distanced themselves from their Jewish roots; generations of western children were raised in the 20th century without knowing that Jesus himself was Jewish; Jews were portrayed as ugly, twisted, black and venal people; Jesus became a blue-eyed blond; and communism was reviled as being a Jewish plot when, in fact, it was a means by which ordinary people could unshackle themselves from their religious oppressors and slave-driving masters.

Hatred of the Jews in Hitler's Germany was particularly inflamed by the Catholic Church, and it was accompanied by blatant promotion of white supremacy. Western civilization had now become not only European and Christian, but also white and capitalist!

Because few Christian nations would accept the Jews fleeing from persecution in Germany, Poland and Italy -- even the USA turned their refugee ships away -- they were eventually given part of the British Protectorate of Palestine that they claimed as their traditional homeland, but trouble immediately erupted with the native Moslems. The Palestinian objection was not so much because the new arrivals were Jewish -- as a Jewish enclave had always lived around Jerusalem -- but because they were mostly white Europeans bringing an alien European culture into their midst and, by virtue of their close ties to Europe, the possibility of foreign rule. How right they were!

By the time communism had fizzled out in Europe, the Christians reconciled with the Jews and western civilization once again embraced its Judaic ancestry -- this time going all the way back to Abraham of Ur in Iraq where the oil fields reside -- and with this reconciliation the Moslems became the group to be demonized.

will islam or judaic-christianity prevail?

If history is to repeat itself, then one religion will prevail in the West and it will not be the Judaic-Christian faiths. Jihadist Islam, like early Christianity, will sweep through Europe and the western nations and will be enforced by new leaders who have seen the 'light' of Islam.

Sounds far-fetched? Well, the Romans and their Emperors probably thought the same thing 2,000 years ago when the Jewish Peter, the disciple of Jesus, arrived in Rome and started preaching the virtues of his Abrahamic God in relation to the the depravities of the Roman Gods.

It took about 300 years and much pain and anger on both sides to convert an Emperor -- Constantine -- but once that momentous event had been accomplished the whole of the Roman Empire would later fall into line with the new religion of Christianity.

This time around, the conversion will not be so profound because, after all, Islam believes in the same Abrahamic God as the Christians and the Jews. It was for worse for the Romans in 330 because they had many Gods -- Jupiter, Zeus and Venus being the most well known -- and they worshipped at many temples dedicated to each God.

This time around, too, the conversion may not take as long as 300 years but assuming it does, the following is the likely scenario for how it will happen.

The Christians caused the Great Fire of Rome in 64 and the Islamists caused 9/11 in 2001. Like the Christians in Rome supported the uprising of their Judaen brothers against Roman rule two years later in 66, so the Moslems of Europe supported the uprising of their Moslem brothers against the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Sixty-five years later, in 2068, another Moslem revolt against the West will take place in the Middle East, possibly Jerusalem, led by a Moslem similar in character to Simon Bar Kokhba who led the second Jewish revolt against the Romans in 131. Its brutality will result in a great Moslem Diaspora in 2069 and a long period of persecution of both moderate and extremist Moslems during which the ideology becomes even more entrenched.

By 2230 the west will be so big and diverse and strife ridden that a leader like the Emperor Diocletian will divide his rule between an eastern and western emperor and attempt a policy of SOCIAL UNIFORMITY by imposing upon everyone -- Jews, Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists alike -- the observance of Christian traditions. His attempt fails. The Moslems revolt.

In 2267 a western leader like the Emperor Constantine will confound all by not only converting to Islam but also establishing a new state of power in Iran -- far away from Europe and the western nations. In doing so, this leader, like Constantine, will give the Islamic Mullahs more power in relation to the existing Christian Priests and precipitate the decline of the West's prestige which will make it more vulnerable to Russian invasion.

The old Christian West's neighbors, the atheist Russians, had always been troublesome -- just like the Pagan Germanic tribes had been troublesome for the Romans. Once the seat of the new Islamic Empire's power moves to Iran, a new threat emerges -- China -- just like the Pathans became a threat for Constantinople in Turkey. The Islamic Empire comes to rely more and more on Russian soldiers to fight its wars against the Chinese, and inevitably the Russian generals gain so much military power that they usurp the emperorship for themselves -- just like the Germanic generals gained control of Rome.

By 2327, the new Russian leader of the Islamic Empire, like the Germanic Emperor Theodosius, converts to Islam under the influence of the Mulla of Rome -- someone like Ambrose -- and attempts a new policy of SOCIAL UNIFORMITY by imposing upon everyone the observance of Moslem faith and traditions. The Christians revolt.

By 2347, an atheist Russian leader like King Alaric of the Goths sacks Europe and both the Christians and Moslems are terrified.

By 2428, with the death of the Islamic Mullah of Iran, the Islamic Empire ceases to exist, just like the Christian Roman Empire ceased to exist after the death of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in 491.

With the complete economic and social breakdown of the West under Moslem rule, the atheist Russian conquerors make a deal with the European Mullahs. In return for agreeing to the conversion of all Europe and Russia to Islam, the Mullahs would keep the natives pacified and give temporal control to the Russian conquerors. The deal also included mutually beneficial ways in which the spiritual and temporal rulers would enrich each other.

Just like Christianity was spread and enforced throughout Europe by an alliance between the Roman Pope and the Pagan Germanic conquerors (the current European kings and queens), the Mullah of Rome will succeed in spreading Islam via Russian conquest and rule -- and a similar Dark Age will befall Europe for the next 1,000 years.

why is judaism less popular than christianity and islam?

Unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism never developed into a proselytizing religion. Formed from the 12 tribes of Israel, Judaism is a 'family' religion. It does not urge its 'family' members to reach out to the far corners of the Earth and convert non-believers to its creed, and indeed even the early followers of Christ were only interested in converting Jews.

Jesus believed he was the son of God and the rightful heir to the Kingdom of Judah - for which he was sentenced to death by crucifixion by his own people - but even his own family did not believe in him, thinking him crazy, during his lifetime. It was only after his death that his family, seeing a multitude of people mourning him, that his family - particularly his brother James - took up his cause, appealing to the tribes of Israel to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah.

For this, James, too, was sentenced to death. He was stoned to death by the Jewish Sanhedrin in c 60AD - making Jews less likely than ever to accept Jesus as their Messiah. Faced with this fact, the early Christians eventually decided, with much heartache, to break with the Jews and win, instead, the hearts and the minds of the pagans that they had previously despised as being 'unclean'.

If Christianity and Islam are more popular today than Judaism then it has a lot to do with the aggressive way both of these religions developed into organizations bent upon mass conversion of non-believers, but there is another 'popular' force within these religions that differs markedly from Judaism and makes conversions palatable.

Basically, both Christianity and Islam promise a 'paradise' after death that Judaism has no need to dwell upon. To be the Chosen People of God is 'enough' for the Jews. Their religion does not need a 'carrot' in the form of: behave well in this life and you will be rewarded in heaven (with young virgins, or whatever).

Judaism is a 'here and now' religion. God takes care of His Chosen People - the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Isreal) - by ensuring their prosperity on Earth, and the Jews take care of God by following the Covenants. When awful calamities befall the Jews - and there have been many calamities throughout history that have directly affected them - there is an acceptance that God has punished His Chosen People for a good reason.

Christianity and Islam are not exactly 'here and now' religions. Because both rely heavily on the pleasures of paradise after death, they are extremely attractive religions to the multitudes of poor and afflicted people whose lives on Earth are hellish.

Simply put, whereas a wayward Jew may be chastised by a threat that 'God will strike you, make your business go bankrupt or deprive you of children', a wayward Christian or Moslem is more likely to be chastised by a threat that 'God will send you to Hell when you die'. Also, whereas a Christian or Moslem visiting an African refugee camp is likely to hand out bibles or religious tracts, a Jew is more likely to hand out contraceptives (to prevent more Africans from being born into misery.)

It can be surmised by this that those in control of both the Christian and Moslem religions - who have traditionally lived in luxury in Rome or Mecca - have a vested interest in both maintaining the hellish lives of their flocks on Earth and creating more hell on Earth in order to 'save' the new generation of converts. Hence, the Dark Ages, marked by deliberate withholding of knowledge from ordinary people by religious leaders; promotion of endless wars creating endless misery; the practice of tithing of earnings by which poor families were further impoverished; and strict religious laws promoting the creation of far more children than any poor family can sustain.

Being popular religions, therefore, does not necessarily make Christianity and Islam better or more truer than Judaism or any other religion.

When the popularity of any religion in the world - assessed by census statistics - can be directly correlated with the incidence of poverty and affliction, it is more an indictment against that religion than an accolade.