Those Middle Easterners...

[Julie Marie]

There is an article in today's news

CAIRO — Muslim-Christian clashes in the Egyptian capital Cairo have killed 11 people and wounded more than 90, security and hospital officials said on Wednesday.

The clashes broke out Tuesday night when a Muslim mob attacked thousands of Christians protesting against the burning of a Cairo church last week. Muslims torched the church amid an escalation of tensions between the two religious groups over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple's families. Link

I'm doing some research for a book I'm working on that deals with ancient times.  Part of my research took me back to the burning of the Library at Alexandria around 2000 years ago.

Alexandria had long been known for its violent and volatile politics. Christians, Jews and Pagans all lived together in the city. One ancient writer claimed that there was no people who loved a fight more than those of Alexandria. Immediately after the death of Hierax a group of Jews who had helped instigate his killing lured more Christians into the street at night by proclaiming that the Church was on fire. When the Christians rushed out the largely Jewish mob slew many of them. After this there was mass havoc as Christians retaliated against both the Jews and the Pagans - one of which was Hypatia. The story varies slightly depending upon who tells it but she was taken by the Christians, dragged through the streets and murdered. Link

I thought religion taught love and peace. Maybe we just need another 2000 years.

[tekla]

dragged through the streets and murdered.

It wasn't quite as big a deal then as it seems to be now. 

[lisagurl]

Following beliefs blindly will always create pain. Unless people come out of the cave and explore the real world we will have violent population control.

[gennee]

Sounds interesting, Julie. Tell us what you discover. I'm doing my own research about trans people during that time period.


Gennee