Jerusalem: Holy Site or Battleground?

https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/AWSS35953_35953_31694196;prevRouteTS=1648314202014

This past week in class we gave our impressions of Jerusalem so far. I have not been able to stop wondering what my impression was. At first, I believed that Jerusalem was a sort of magical place. Three of the now major religions in the world all found something in Jerusalem that applied to their faith and would go into conflict to protect those beliefs. I found that to be very powerful to me. One small area in a place that wasn’t the best for habitation was a home for many people.

As we moved further into the course, my opinions on this subject changed. Learning about all the bloodshed and fights over the land made me wary of the power that Jerusalem has on its people. Does Jerusalem being a holy site make it okay that people kill each other over it? That is a question I’m not so sure of.

The crusades in particular make me question my original thought the most. So much darkness and death rose over the land during these times. During the first crusade, the plan was to just kill everyone and it turned out to be very gory and gruesome. Although I feel like the Christian community contributed the most to the violence of the time period. This is probably due to the religion being in turmoil during this time with them not relating to other religions or even their own people like we spoke about in class.

That kind of violence is what makes me not so sure of Jerusalem’s power. But also, the power it holds is what the people give it. So maybe the inhabitants at the time were the ones that made Jerusalem less of a holy site and more of a battleground. The term religious competition was brought up in class the other day, and that made a lot of sense to me. I think the different religions wanting to have control over the land, and not wanting to share it added to the turmoil in Jerusalem.

With all of this in mind, my opinion on Jerusalem stays the same for the most part. The land holds power that drew three different religions together, which I still think to be magical. Although, the people that claim the land are the ones that made the holy site turn less holy in some people’s eyes.