Judaism Explained before Easter

A recent decision by Orthodox Jews to bar a child of a mother who is a convert to Judaism from attending a Jewish school because the child was insufficiently Jewish explains exactly why Christ had such a problem with Judaism.

Unfortunately, he paid for his audacity with his life. His followers invented the story of his Resurrection and the "theory" of the Holy Trinity to make Christ's ignominious death less upsetting for those disposed to become Christians.

The Koran explicitly acknowledges Christ for extending monotheism to gentiles. Christ's crime, as seen by the Jewish priests, was in wishing to spread the benefits of monotheism to those not members of the Jewish tribes. It was Christ acting to end the Jewish monopoly on monotheism that resulted in his execution.

Muhammad developed on Christ's theme, ie that faith alone - not race - is sufficient to avail oneself of the benefits of monotheism. Christ must have concluded that, in order for a better world to be created, monotheism must not remain the exclusive preserve of the Jewish tribes. The Islamic concept of "ummah" - a community of Muslims united by a common belief that does not exclude anyone on grounds of race - is an excellent expression of this ideal. This is far more powerful, in the opinion of this atheist, than the racial exclusivity of the Jews and the Trinitarian incoherence of the Christians.

It would seem that Christianity and Islam share the same aim, that of making monotheism more accessible to others not born into the faith, while Orthodox Judaism has a tendency to be exclusive and restrictive. While Judaism requires a typical male convert to undergo circumcision - an eye-wateringly painful operation in the apprehension of the average male - Islam does not require this.

It was really all a dispute about intellectual property and copyright, folks!