Gaffer Tape said:
Geez, come on. I'm on your side here! I could have simply said Christian because both the artifacts have meaning to Christians, but since both religions have their roots in the exact same place, I used the blanket term Judeo-Christian to cover them both. But, really, covenant of God, cup of Christ... we're not exactly moving too far away, are we? And again, I love Last Crusade, but the setup, the motivation, and the artifacts are very similar in both Crusade and Raiders. It doesn't bother me, but it's the truth.

And I appreciate you being on my side. :) Sorry if I bothered you. You're one of the nicer people on this forum, so I meant no offense to you. Your general decency has been appreciated. :)

But Judaism and Christianity are two different religions. Very different. The tendency some people have to constantly refer to things as "Judeo-Christian" tends to push ignoring the differences and is insulting to Judaism, because it plays down how it has a separate identity from the the larger religion.

Also, the two artifacts don't really have their origins in the same place. The ark comes from the Old Testament and thus is Middle Eastern, but the grail legend is European in origin. The ark has been adopted by Christianity, but it is totally Jewish in origin. While the grail is a totally Christian invention, possibly inspired by pagan European folklore. Jewish and Christian -two different religions entirely. The ark is the product of a Middle Eastern culture. The grail is the product of a European culture. So when you move from the ark to the grail you are indeed moving a far distance.

And the person who came up with the ark as the mcguffin for Raiders was Philip Kaufman, who I believe is Jewish. Plus the director of the film was Jewish and we know from Schindler's List that his Jewish identity matters to him. So the ark was there as the Jewish artifact it is in origin, not just as a Christian artifact. Lucas, who was raised as Christian, brought the grail into the 3rd film.