Intolerance, Ignorance, or Cultural Idiocy?

Here are two odd things that happened lately, and they got me a-thinkin'...

My neighbor on the OTHER side (not Ms. Lowe's), I'll call her MS. WISP because she's extremely tall and skinny, was talking to me about Veggie Tales Movies and how great they are. She has 3 kids and apparently, these movies have been very popular. (For those of you not in the know about Veggie Tales, they are DVD Bible stories starring animated vegetables.) I'm not a big fan of substandard animation, but I was listening politely to her enthusiastic review of these movies. Having worked as a children's librarian, I know how popular these movies are, I've seen bits of them and read reviews--so I knew what she was talking about.

All of a sudden, I hear her say, "... and they promote honesty and truth. Good, Christian values." At that point, I had to bite my lip from saying, "Aren't these values found in most cultures or religions where human life is valued?" I remembered that Ms. Wisp is a staunch Baptist, and probably wouldn't appreciate my questioning her word-placement. I did make me wonder about how some religions act as if every good value or quality in human existence is due solely to THEIR RELIGION. Like, if you're not a Baptist (for example), then you're substandard on the honesty, integrity and personality scale. Oh, yes, and you're probably going to hell, too, but that's another story.

I also wondered if Ms. Wisp knew that my husband, USMCMan, is Jewish... I think not. I may enjoy dropping THAT little tidbit of information at a later date. When it can have a conversation-stopping effect. That brings me to the next odd event.

USMCMan was standing in a group of Marines. One Marine, I'll call him DOLT, was complaining about how a third (not present) Marine was not paying up to have a wet-down. (A wet-down is a party to celebrate a military promotion.) DOLT kept looking around for the absent Marine and saying, "Where is that Heeb? Where is he? That Heeb isn't getting out of having a wet-down on MY watch!"

USMCMan kept trying to figure out what the word 'Heeb' was standing for and then he realized... DOLT was actually saying 'Heeb' as in 'Hebrew'! In effect, he was insinuating that the absent Marine was CHEAP for not spending money, and thus was a HEBREW/HEEB -- a reference to the insulting habit of calling someone who was frugal a 'Heeb'. (Perhaps based on Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice' and Shylock the Jewish moneylender? I'm sure DOLT had not read the play lately, though.)

Needless to say, USMCMan was shocked. In this day and age? In a group of "educated" peers? Using a term that is equiv. to 'nigger' or 'dago'?

DOLT didn't know USMCman was Jewish, why would he? However, it begs the question that was brought up by Ms. Wisp's comment: Is religious intolerence the result of ignorance or just the way one is raised? Both? Is it a conscious decision? Ms. Wisp's comment assumed everyone is Christian and that the only values worth noting were Christian. DOLT's comment assumed that nobody else was Jewish or at least that nobody thought twice about insulting Jews and that the concept of cheapness was limited only to Jews.

Is it just me? Is religion basically an "US VS. THEM" type of deal these days? Muslims vs. Non-Muslims, Christians vs. Non-Christians, etc.? What ever happened to Love Thy Neighbor? Now, it's just Degrade Thy Neighbor.