They will know you are my disciples by . . .

. . . your mean right hook?

Seems to me that isnt' quite what Jesus said to his followers. Nevertheless it seems to be the mantra of the religous sects occupying the holiest place in Christendom, the Church of the Holy Seplechure.

Maybe you caught the news story if not you can read it here.

Short version of the story is the Armenian Monks and the Greek Monks got into a brawl over who was allowed in whose area or something. Punches were thrown. Arrests were made. The Israeli police had to be called in to break up the fight.

Anyway, six different Christian sects lay claim to various portions of the church. They don't get along. They're all to busy fighting over their little piece of the pie. This quote from the article proves the point:

The Israeli governement has long wanted to build a fire exit in the church, which regularly fills with thousands of pilgrims and has only one main door, but the plan is on hold because the sects cannot agree where the exit will be built. In another example, a ladder placed on a ledge over the entrance sometime in the 19th century has remained there ever since because of a dispute over who has the authority to take it down. More recently, a spat between Ethiopian and Coptic Christians is delaying badly needed renovations to a rooftop monastery that engineers say could collapse.

I'm sure that Jesus is not pleased. This does not seem to reflect the Man I read about in the Bible, it doesn't seem to be in line with his teaching. I'm sure it's incidents like this that helped contribute to Dan Merchant writing his book: Lord Save Us From Your Followers.

I'd be doubled over laughing over the situation if it wasnt' so sad.