Bunniblog

All material on this webpage is protected by an army of slavering hell bunnies that will bite on command. Ok maybe not, but clearly I have an excess of hostility and am just looking for an excuse to use it.
Give away your books at BookMooch.com

Copyright © 2002-2012.

Vanilla Lovers for Chocolate

When I was in college, my best friend, Starfucker (the gay son of two fundamentalist christians) decided to call Jews for Jesus Vanilla Lovers for Chocolate. I loved the name and so we spun a whole bunch of variants for them (Ocelot Lovers for Lemurs, Peanut Butter Lovers for Jelly). I don't really have a problem with them more than any other religion except they have a ridiculous name. Even Scientology has a more legitimate sounding title.

Or at least that's what I thought.

I was in a bad mood when I got to the subway yesterday. It was raining, I didn't have my umbrella, I was tired and cranky already and thinking about all the reading I have to do and how my students were whining about reading the syllabus, READING THE FREAKIN' SYLLABUS, and about the only good thing was that I managed to find a seat on the train when I was suddenly surrounded by Jew for Jesus. And not just wearing the shirts. They had the shirts, the hats, the bags. One woman had a hat, a bag, AND a fanny pack to boot. They had fist fulls of pamphlets. Ah, religious zealotry just what I need at the end of a long day.

But personally my belief about religion is live and let live. They weren't trying to give me literature or talk to me or anyone else on the train, they were too busy talking amongst themselves about the success of the day, so things seemed alright.

Until

A blonde blue eyed man in a suit who was almost crushed against the door by them and asked innocently "So what is it all about?" And the woman responded "We are Jews who believe in Jesus." Now first of all, as if the shirts didn't make that clear to begin with and second of all there is a word for people like that it's CHRISTIANS damn it. The goy asked for a more detailed explaination and this is where my blood began to rage. The woman who answered him, a nice looking woman in her 50s, made it sound like ALL JEWS BELIEVE IN JESUS.

Now technically as an atheist I really shouldn't care, but I was raised a Jew and there are enough people even in NYC who don't know what Judiasm is without cults spreading misinformation about it. Judiasm has enough problems as it is (you know what with anti-semitism,dwindling memberships, etc.). So I was faced with a dilemma, correct her so that this random idiot won't be misinformed but risk a confrontation or allow her to disseminate her misinformation. Thankfully before I could come to a decision the whole she-bang got off the train, but I was really struck by how angry I got.

I was raised as a reform Jew which basically means I knew where the synagogue was and drove by it and waved on high holy holidays. I barely learned how to read Hebrew, and don't even know all the rules of keeping kosher. (What makes a pickle kosher? I have no idea.) For the love of all things holy my rabbi used to tell us Charlie Brownstein stories at Sabbath services. Any day now I expect my excommunication notice from the Elders of Zion-You're out, Bunni girl, fired as a Jew!

Still as an atheist I'm not sure why I care.

Bad Bunni posted at 7/07/2005 11:31:00 AM |

Comments: Post a Comment