Jerusalem and the sacred sites are symbols to the religions that are practiced there and their followers. It is a place that brings people closer to their spirituality and strengthens their faiths. Because it is a city that is often known as the ‘Holy Land’, it is important to remember the three main religions that reside there: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Throughout history, Jerusalem has been the center of these religions, in which it is the scene in their holy books and the site of the religion’s beginning. Nonetheless, it is the center of religious conflict. This conflict is to determine which religion and people belong there. We picked this topic because of Jerusalem’s role in religions and the power it has regarding these religions. That this city is the home to these sacred sites and is in the middle of an ongoing war among religions. In perspective, we thought that it is interesting that the people of these religions fight for their own individual sacred space, rather than share and inspire their spirituality with others. However, there are other reasons for this conflict, such as the debate of whose homeland it is. With the power of the sites to influence war, they should do the opposite and influence peace and diversity. We believe it is an interesting subject that needs to be illustrated to demonstrate the meaning of these sites for the peoples of these religions.
We thought people would want to hear about our topic because it is a current issue in our lives today. We hear about it on the news and there are organizations in our country trying to help. Also, Jerusalem is an important place to the entire world, not just the Middle East. Jerusalem is a birthplace for certain religions and it produced many human values that we cherish today. Many people in our country and in our class are Jewish, Christian, or Muslim and Jerusalem holds great importance for their religions. Jerusalem is also important from a historical standpoint and although we don’t focus on the history of the city, there are many aspects of our project that will add to our knowledge of the city and its past. We also felt that this topic is relevant to our class because we read Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace Begins Here and watched “To Die in Jerusalem”. The book and movie dealt with the Palestine-Israel conflict and our group decided to go more in depth into the causes and effects of the conflict by looking at the religious/sacred sites in Jerusalem.
For someone looking for an outline of information about the religious sites in Jerusalem, our website is a comprehensive and organized way of looking at the sites through a variety of perspectives. There is everything that someone would need to a basic exploration of the sacred sites. On the main page of the website, you are able to locate twelve pictures that are related to or are directly of the sacred and religious sites of Jerusalem. The pictures are an important aspect of our website because they are the most straightforward way of introducing the viewers to our concept of exploring how people view these sites. The tabs on our website guide the viewer into more in-depth exploration. The tabs include each of our producer journals, recommended books, expert interviews, online commentary, scholarly research, and in-person interviews we have conducted. Each of the items in these tabs have been analyzed by us and evaluated to be useful in one’s search for further information regarding our topic. Each of our eight recommended books has been critiqued and evaluated to be relevant and helpful to those wishing to learn more about the sites and how each religion treats and worships them. The scholarly journals and online commentary have been evaluated with the same to care to ensure that they are constructive in developing knowledge pertaining to the significance of these sites, especially in the conflict in the Middle East. Our interviews tabs, both expert and in-person, are valuable resources for understanding the roles of these sites in the Christianity, Judaism, and Islam faiths. By investigating our website, one would be easily able to understand the basic importance and worth of the sacred sites in Jerusalem and how they relate to people of multiple faiths.
After looking at our website, readers can hope to come away with a clear understanding of why the topic we chose matters. We realized through our research that many people have a vague understanding about not only the conflict over Jerusalem but why Jerusalem is important to so many people and worth various groups fighting over. The site covers a lot of different topics to help people better understand the reason we chose the topic and to gain a clearer picture of the religious sites. People can expect to come away with knowledge about The Garden Tomb, The Wailing Wall, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Dome of the Rock. The sites are important to various religions for different reasons, which our site explains. More importantly, however, it gives context for why this land is so controversial and fought over. When we made this website, we intended on making it a straight-forward source for people looking for answers on the Dome of the Rock, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The Wailing Wall and The Garden Tomb. It became a site that is informative about the topic we chose, and we hope it will contribute to our viewer’s understanding of Jerusalem’s importance.
