This extensive article evolved over several years, beginning as an essay to accompany a “virtual tour” of the church. A later version was published in three installments in 2004/2005 in Artifax, a USA-based biblical archaeology digest (www.bibleartifax.com). The version posted here is illustrated with plans and photos. (PDF file)
"Anyone with half a brain and half a heart--unless he or she willfully chooses not to know, not to see--will sooner or later figure out just what has gone on in this country historically, and what continues to go on every day. One need only look at the prevailing paradigm of Power and Control: who has it and how they have used it, who has been aggrandized and who, even now, are being dispossessed. Once decent people begin to understand these things--and it's not that hard--they will not, indeed they cannot, remain silent." -- ANONYMOUS
“Travel makes you speechless, then it turns you into a storyteller.” — 14th century Moroccan traveler IBN BATTUTA
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” — Holocaust survivor & Nobel Laureate ELIE WIESEL
"Once you see behind the veil, you cannot un-see what lies there." --ANONYMOUS
"Whoever sees a wrong and is able to put it right with his hand, let him do so; if he can’t, then with his tongue; if he can’t, then with his heart. That is the bare minimum of faith." -- Attributed to the Prophet MOHAMMED, in one of the hadith.
“If you don’t think too good… don’t think too much.” — (The late, great) TED WILLIAMS
“Everybody talkin’ ’bout heaven ain’t goin’ there…” — African-American spiritual
“Everybody wants to change the world. But nobody wants to start with him- or herself.” –MARO MARKARIAN, Armenian poet
“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: That’s the essence of inhumanity.” — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Tom Powers -- VIEW FROM JERUSALEM