A City of Three Religions: The Myth of Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capitol of the nation of Israel - and what a splendid controversy this has led to.

Every school child knows, since it is taught to them as early as the first grade, that Jerusalem is the major center of "three great religions", and that the conflicts that come about due so because those three religions all believe that the basis of their religions are formed in this city. They cite that the Jews controlled the city when the Canaanite tribe of Jebusites were defeated by King David, it is maintained that Jesus Christ died to the Romans here, and finally that it has importance to Islam (it's hard to get your teachers to actually explain why, you just have to take their words for it).

In Old Jerusalem are a plethora of ancient sites, ranging from the Pool of Bethesda, to the sacred Wailing Wall, on to the Temple Mount - literally to walk through the streets of this city is to step through history itself. This history is well documented, and is very rarely contested - the Israelites entered Canaan, the city of Jebus fell to King David, it was renamed Jerusalem, Solomon built the Temple here, the Ark of the Covenant was used as the divine walkie-talkie between the Levites and God, the Temple was later destroyed by two world dominating empires, and the Jews were driven out in what is referred to as the Diaspora - and is believed by some to have been the wrath of God driving the Jews from Jerusalem.

For Christians, the city is the site of their salvation. Here Jesus entered into and gave his famous speeches, and was later arrested by the Pharisees and given a mock trial, before being paraded in front of Pontius Pilate whom was pressured into executing the man he believed to be innocent under threat of rebellion, and he was carried out to be executed above an old quarry on the Calvary Hill. Three days later, according to Christianity, he was resurrected, and in turn brought salvation of sins onto the world and acted as the pathway into Heaven.

The al-Aqsa Mosque.

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