Chicago - (Blasphemous Mess): The Chief Rabbi of Illinois has said the Archbishop of Chicago has pleaded with him to ask fellow Jews to "stop calling Jesus a bastard".
The tit-for-tat move would result in a watering down of official Jews-For-Jesus prayers beseeching The Almighty for more conversions to Christianity.
"Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago called me last week," the Chief Rabbi told reporters today.
"He said 'Isn't it about time you accepted The Pope as the only True Living God on Earth?'
"I said 'Get away with you, Frankie!' or words to that effect.
"He then said: 'Moshe, when will you tell your flock to stop slagging off Jesus as a bastard?'
"I said to him: 'Simple, Frankie, it'll be the day you stop telling kids the jews murdered Jesus!'
"That sure shut him up for a minute and a half."
Some scholars believe that the exchange focuses on Talmudic prayers which repeatedly mention Jesus' illegitimacy.
But other have pointed out that the two centuries-long slanging match is enshrined in both religions' liturgies.
"It's just a recruitment tool, that's all," Professor V Smart of the Humanist University of Nova Scotia said today.
"They really need each other's insults to keep up a momentum."
