NY Times Visits the Old City, Grants Islam More Deference Than Christianity, Judaism

New York Times Patrick Kingsley reported from the Old City of Jerusalem on Monday on the rare conflation of holy days of the three major monotheistic religions: “Rare Overlap of Holy Days Shows Jerusalem’s Promise and Problems.”  

A closer look reveals that Islam is given more respect than Christianity and Judaism. Why is this? Islamic beliefs were stated directly, and not hedged as hypotheticals by Kingsley, while those of Christians and Jews usually were, with some formulation along the lines of “Christians believe” or “Jews believe.”

It’s neither our place or the Times’ place to judge the validity of a particular faith’s truth claims. But Islam appears to be able to take advantage of this totally secular newspaper’s outsized deference.

On Friday morning, as clashes flared at the Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem, Muslims inside and outside the mosque were fasting for the 14th day of Ramadan.

A few kilometers away, Jews were still burning leavened loaf, an ancient ceremony which takes place right before Passover. It officially started Friday evening.

Just a few minutes further north Christians began a procession through Old City holding up wooden crosses. They will retrace the path that Jesus Christ followed before his death.

Passover and Easter were set to take place simultaneously, marking a new era in the religiosity and tensions that have been defining Jerusalem’s history for millennia.

For some, this overlap represented the miracle of Jerusalem and the coexistence of its peoples.

Note that Jews “believe God’s presence dwelled” at a particular spot, but for Muslims, the Prophet Muhammad simply “rose to heaven” from a place, no hedging needed:

For Jews, Jerusalem is their ancient capital, the seat of King David and the site of two ancient Jewish temples where they believe God’s presence dwelled. Muslims consider it the same place where the Prophet Muhammad rose from the grave and built the Aqsa Mosque compound. This is the third-most sacred Islamic site.It is where Jesus Christ was crucified, ascended to heaven and was born.

Christians, like Ms. Bathish, were traveling along the Old City’s narrow roads to get to their service near the Garden of Gethsemane. The olive grove is full of Wizened Trees.According to tradition, Jesus was taken into custody the night before his Crucifixion.….

….

It is an honor to be able to commemorate Easter exactly where it began, according Ms. Bathish. and live only a few meters from the spot where Christians believe Christ has died.

In the meantime, Islamic belief and tradition were made factual

….to Muslims, this is the Aqsa Mosque compound, a 36-acre esplanade that includes the golden Dome of the Rock, a shrine marking the Prophet Muhammad’s ascent.

Just a few minutes ago, an imam read a portion of Quran concerning the Prophet Musa. Also known as Moshe for Jews and Moses for Christians, and would shortly begin a chapter on Muhammad’s journey to Jerusalem.

NewsBusters found that Christian beliefs were mentioned four times and Jewish beliefs three. They were also stated plainly once each. By contrast, not once did Kingsley suggest Muslims merely “believe” this or that, but three times the reporter relayed Islamic beliefs in straightforward fashion. This admittedly tiny sample fits a hypocritical pattern at the Times of performative respect for a single religion, Islam, while the paper remains free to disrespect Christianity and Judaism.