[1] [2]

I grew up in a family obsessed with religion. My mom and dad practiced everything : catholicism, santeria, espiritismo. Yet they made sure we went to a catholic school with strong theology and catechism curricula and, if possible, went once a week to church.

Twelve years of that my friends; which is why I am now an atheist --and I don't digress.

You see, conservative catholic Puerto Rican culture primes its 'devotees' into being blindingly anti-semitic.

Jews killed Jesus after all.

And the more connected that culture is to the "madre patria" or Spain, the more ... let's say ... ahem ... obliviously hateful it is.

For example, when I was a kid I was called la judía because I liked to hoard my allowance and be the bank when playing Monopoly. Yes people, having a fascination with finances made me a Jew.

Judy Farber has a fantastic list of assumptions about Jews that she's come across all her life. She is so dead on it's scary [3]. I too believed Jews only did it through a sheet or that Jews made for better hagglers ... 'cause, you know, that money thing.

Which is why, when I came here to the United States in 1986, I did not have an easy transition into American culture.

It's not that there were no Jews in Puerto Rico. It's just that judaism is not a conscious part of the culture; the way it is here in the United States.

Jews were invisible in Puerto Rico (even though we have one of the oldest synagogues in the Caribbean), and when present it was more around the imagery of Holy Week. You know, the Jews were the Pharisees and that sell-out Judas; who even had a name that sounded like the Spanish word for jewish man, judío.

So when I came here I got a huge jolt to my system when I was forced by NYU Student Residence to live with an orthodox and fiercely kosher jewish girl from Pennsylvania. It was a shock because I honestly had no idea what the hey it meant for a morcilla and bolognese lover to live with a kosher gal. You don't know all the plates and utensils I ended up replacing because my plates accidentally touched hers in he sink.

Sigh.

Oh, and notwithstanding my ocassionally slutting about, I still went to church. Just because. I stopped because Mass here has none of the pomp and circumstance of mass in Puerto Rico. Oh, and there's no drama and needless to say, no public self-flagellation of penitents during Holy Week.

To this day, the one thing I miss about being a catholic is the drama of Holy Week.

Looking back, I think I even got fired from a job for a comment I made pertaining my family's judía moniker. Honestly, I had not a clue how what I told one of my employers could be construed as utterly offensive and anti-semitic --but it was.

Part of the reason why I've decided to not follow the catholic church and to question the existence of any deity is because I've met too many awesome people who happen to have been born under the star of Israel. I have a really hard time believing that notwithstanding their awesomeness, they'll end up roasted in hell. Any religion that sells the pain and suffering of others as a way to validate their relevance or importance is a religion I want nothing with.

I became an atheist because I realized anti-semitism was intrinsic not only to my religion but to the cultures where it's taken hold, like the culture of Puerto Rico and many other catholic countries.

Remember, Hitler was a catholic.

Which takes me to Mel's brand of Catholicism. I'm too lazy to look for the name of the sect but it's basically to the extreme right of Opus Dei; seeking to overturn the theology of the Vatican II Conference and go back to masses in Latin, the reintroduction of limbo, excommunication for anybody divorced and complete denial of free will, reproductive autonomy and sexual preference.

I mean, c'mon. It's like Judy says : it would be shocking if he were not an anti-semite. Which is why I think it's awesome this has happened : Here's a guy who claims to be the poster child for the path to salvation as a true christian.

Well ... there you have it.

Do be a christian you have to deny the validity of Judaism. To mny it means : Hate the jews. Mel Gibson included.