Saint Boniface, the "Apostle to the Germans" whether they wanted him or not, cutting down the sacred tree of Thor. It is unlikely people were standing around watching him doing it. We know that he was eventually killed by the Frisians.
Hezekiah did what the LORD said was right, just as David his ancestor had done. Hezekiah destroyed the high places. He broke the memorial stones and cut down the Asherah poles. At that time the Israelites burned incense to the bronze snake made by Moses. This bronze snake was called “Nehushtan.” Hezekiah broke this bronze snake into pieces. Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah before him or after him. He was very faithful to the LORD and did not stop following him. He obeyed the commands that the and did not stop following him. He obeyed the commands that the LORD had given to Moses. The LORD was with Hezekiah, so he was successful in everything he did...
In the ancient world, while one might destroy the city of an enemy people, destroying their holy sites was nearly unthinkable. Even if a temple was burned, it was done after the sacred things were removed from it. In the eight century BC the people of Judah set a precedent we have never recovered from and filled examples of righteous destruction of holy places in their books. Destruction of holy places in the name of God becomes the mark of holiness in the Bible from Jacob destroying his wives' images, to Moses destroying the Golden Calf and making the Hebrews drink its dust mixed with water. Such rage comes home to roost. In reality the Babylonians burnt down the temple of Jerusalem and this destruction was repeated five hundred years later, and that temple was never allowed to rise again.
The Ruins of the Temple of Allat, Palmyra Syria
The poison of sacred destruction, the belief that only you could be right and other ways of worship must be punished, bloomed in Christianity and Islam, the religions which succeeded Judaism and had the numbers and power to do what Jewish prophets only dreamed of. The great temples of Bel and Allat in Palmyra were destroyed by Christians when, after years of being persecuted, they became the chief and persecuting religion. The very image of Allat had her face smashed in. Allat was also worshiped in Mecca, but three hundred years later, the first Muslims would destroy her holy places there too. While Christians were busy defacing each others churches and fighting over if images were holy or not and which Christian was right or wrong, Muslims would make it to India. Being people of the Book they could not attack churches or synagogues, but because Hindus did not belong to that pack, the Muslims felt free to loot, pillage and burn the temples of India, and they did.
This sick circle would spiral to the 1500s where Europeans would loot the world, revile the native religions of the people they found and deface their holy places all while Protestants and England burnt Catholic churches, urinated in baptismals before smashing them and destroyed holy images of saints and the Virgin Mary herself.
The madness still goes on. In the same Syria where Christians began the destruction of Allat and Bel's temples fifteen centuries ago, ISIS completed the job and then blew up several ancient Christian monasteries that were unifying places of community for Christians as well as Muslims who lived around them. Meanwhile, a President is building a wall and putting up pipelines through land sacred to the indigenous people of the United States, and in Brazil, which could use all the prayer it can get, right wing Catholics are talking about destroying the sacred places of others. This Friday let's come together and work to begin reversing the blasphemy. Remember the holy places destroyed. Work for their revival and remember those in danger.
The Monastery of Mar Elian before its destruction in 2015. Mar Elian, a Christian saint, was revered as a sheikh by Muslims and Christian even allowed them to drape green satin, the sign of a Muslim holy man, over his tomb. This was the site of community festivals where people of all religions would gather to celebrate each other and God for centuries.
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