Chatted with this guy about all sorts of things - as you do - while I ate lunch at a cafe. We talked about mixed heritage - he was African Carribean and Carribean British. He made lots of assumptions about the ethnic mix of Australians but I understood why he would assume most Australians have English heritage. If you watch Neighbours or most other Australian soaps, that's the impression you'd get.
We got onto religion and there was something about how he was talking that made me think he might believe in the literal truth of the Bible. So I decided to honour that view and said, well some people believe in the truth of the Bible and others believe in evolution...
He surprised me by saying that ne couldn't believe anyone believes in the Bible. I said, well all people on earth have stories about their origins and how to live. He then said that the Bible wasn't like that. It was about how Jews are the best people and that wasn't true.
I didn't know what to say to that. I read the Torah, the Old Testament, as a text about myth of origins, but what if you're Christian - what is it all about then? He was so angry at Jews. I didn't tell him I was one. What can you say to the whole Chosen People thing? It is so problematic. I can't say to him that most Jews don't understand 'chosen-ness' to mean that they are better or 'chosen' in some special way - but I definitely know Jewish people who do think that. So how do I explain it to other people?