"I can't play with you 'cause you're going to hell."

[AlFrankenFan]

I was on a walk with my mom today when she was telling me one of the most awful things I have heard in a while.

It's never been easy being a Jew in a, say, 80-99% Christian area like where I live in Laguna Niguel, CA. Though we do not attend temple serivices regularly, I feel lucky to be of Jewish heritage, and I've never let anti-Semitism get the best of me.

Apparently, there are a few little Jewish girls in my sister's kindergarten class. One of them is named Dana, an autistic but highly intelligent and social little girl who is a good friend of my sister's.

Dana, being very social, makes a lot of friends, and a week ago she made a new friend, a Christian. Dana asked if she could come over and play at this little girl's house. However, the girl replied, "You're Jewish. I can't play with you 'cause you're going to hell."

When her mother came to pick up the little girl from kindergarten, the little girl came over to Dana's mom and said, "You're the Jewish girl's mom. I can't play with your daughter because you're both going to hell."

Now, the teacher has not done anything about this, but she is very shocked that a child, a six-year old child, would go around saying such anti-Semitic propaganda.

What I don't understand is how a parent can possibly tell their child such a thing. If I were to meet this girl's parents (even though I'm 14 and 5'2") I would go on all offensive. This is absolutely unacceptable. I've always gotten the "wrong impression" of Christians, that they are for the most part immoral and hypocrites, and rarely have I met a nice one. I was actually beginning to think things were getting better in the Christian church/belief system until this happened.

There still is a lot of hate for Jews...unfortunately I now know that it isn't going to go away for a long time.