With the recent release of Mel Gibson's \The Passion of Christ,"" some Jews have been worried that it will inspire a new wave of anti-Semitism.
Personally, it doesn't worry me. I'm Jewish, but I don't believe Christians are pliable enough to hate me just because they saw a movie. One of the greatest experiences of Wisconsin for me has been getting to know lots of Christians. And without exception, they've understood that I'm neither handy with a hammer nor 2,000 years old, which makes me a bad person to blame for their savior's murder.
Still, being Jewish in Wisconsin is something that has taken some adjustment since I got here. A couple of friends from in-state have told me that back home, their friends use the word Jew as an insult. And when I first came to Madison, my father pointed to the three enormous crucifixes in the front lawn of the Lutheran church on Gilman Street and jokingly said, ""You'd better behave yourself, Amos. They have three vacancies.""
But my bad encounters with Christianity have all been people who insist on trying to sell me on it. At least twice per year, someone tries to recruit me to the flock as I go about my business. And it never gets any easier to brush it off. Last week, two different missionaries targeted me in the same day and my response wasn't appreciated. Apparently, humor and evangelism don't mix.
The first missionary approached me around dusk on State Street. He stood there with plenty of smiles and pamphlets to go around. He locked eyes with me and forcefully said, ""Good evening, sir. How's your relationship with Jesus?"" I replied, ""Strictly platonic, but thanks for asking,"" then kept walking.
The second missionary was equally intense, but tried to make Christianity hip and accessible. ""Hey there,"" he said. ""Lets talk about J.C.""
""Sure,"" I responded. ""But Justin's way cuter.""
I quickly discovered that missionaries aren't so fast on the uptake when it comes to 'NSync references. When I had to explain my joke, the missionary replied that he doesn't listen to pop music. But that's the essence of what bothers me. Isn't it more reasonable for me to expect a Christian to care about pop culture than it is for him to expect a Jew to care about Christianity?
Don't get me wrong. Jesus and I have plenty in common. Both of us are Jews that haven't been to synagogue lately. Both of us like to fish and neither of us has fulfilled our quantitative reasoning B requirement at UW. It's too bad we don't have a movie out there now to celebrate our shared humanity, instead of one that emphasizes his gruesome death. In a perfect world, Steven Spielberg would make a movie about Jesus. It could end with Jesus on a bicycle, flying past the moon and leaving us all happy.
Instead, I find myself listening to pointless complaints about Gibson, dealing with intrusive missionaries on State Street and, for the second time, having to write about Madison strangers who want to question my personal faith. Christians make up some of my greatest friends, co-workers and professors. I only wish that the people who most zealously claim to follow Jesus' example would follow it in one important way: not pestering me about Christianity.
Amos is in his fourth year of five. He can be reached at amosap@hotmail.com.
