It starts early, with most Jewish children educated in religious schools that scorn a modern curriculum. Instead, they drill into pupils literal interpretations of the Bible that encourage Jewish chauvinism.
Israel's program of Holocaust education rejects universal lessons, preferring to nurture a sense of Jews as history's eternal victims. Many Israelis believe they should be constantly on guard, and armed, against a world of antisemitic gentiles.
Hardline Orthodox rabbis, given control over large areas of Israeli life, have become sole arbiters of moral values for many Israelis. The government's latest effort to pass legislation affirming Israel as the "nation-state of the Jewish people" is designed to prevent any hope of a multicultural future.
And finally, decades of rule over Palestinians have been exploited by Israel to invest ever-greater Jewish religious symbolism in contested or shared holy places, most notably the Al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. Slowly, a territorial conflict is gaining the attributes of a religious war.
Local church leaders understand this well. In the run-up to the pope's visit, Patriarch Twal asked pointedly: "What effect is created by official discourse on Israel being a state for one group only?"
The pope noted in Jordan on Saturday that religious freedom was a "fundamental human right." That is certainly a message Israel's leadership needs to hear stressed when Francis meets them on Monday.
A visit that eschewed politics to focus only on religion -- elevating holy sites above the people who live next to them -- would betray a Christian community that needs all the help it can get as it fights for its continuing place in the holy land.
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