Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Thou shall sweep away all that oppose you!!



Only in the ME could you find 3 groups of priests from basically the same religion get into a broom fight over cleaning a church! Seems 100 Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic priests had a turf war on who gets to clean which part of the Church of Nativity they get to clean. Although it seems their religious zeal is a double edge sword as the state of repair of the church is quite bad, as seen in this wiki quote:


The present state of the church is worrying. Many roof timbers are rotting, and have not been replaced since the 19th century. The rainwater that seeps into the building not only accelerates the rotting of the wood and damages the structural integrity of the building, but also damages the 12th-century wall mosaics and paintings. The influx of water also means that there is an ever-present chance of an electrical fire. If another earthquake were to occur on the scale of the one of 1834, the result would most likely be catastrophic. ... It is hoped that the listing will encourage its preservation, including getting the three custodians of the church - the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Orthodox Church, and the Franciscan order - to work together, which has not happened for hundreds of years. The Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority would also have to work together to protect it.[2][3]


In 2010, the Palestinian Authority announced that a multi-million dollar restoration program was imminent.[4][5]



It's pretty sad when the Israelis and Palestinians have to tell you to get along......

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