Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Monday, November 05, 2012
Saturday, May 21, 2011
unraptured
At 5:55pm Evan looked up from his computer and said a volcano had erupted in Iceland, and I have to admit my heart lurched. Then he went to the market downstairs to get a lemon because of course, Rapture or no Rapture, the polenta with clams & white wine and the ribboned asparagus salad with lemon & parmesan has to be ready by the time Friend Jill arrives.
At 6:03 the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down, straight down, at first almost silently and then with the noise of quiet thunder hitting the concrete on the plaza and streets outside.
I called my brother because seriously, if the world's going to come crashing down around your ears, my brother's the guy to call.
Now, at 7:32, the sun is breaking again through the cloud cover to the west, sparkling across the Hudson and straight up 187th Street and into our living room windows. Evan is in the kitchen behind me putting the final touches on dinner. And Jill is circling the neighborhood looking for alternate-side parking.
I guess it's just another day here in New York City after all.
At 6:03 the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down, straight down, at first almost silently and then with the noise of quiet thunder hitting the concrete on the plaza and streets outside.
I called my brother because seriously, if the world's going to come crashing down around your ears, my brother's the guy to call.
Now, at 7:32, the sun is breaking again through the cloud cover to the west, sparkling across the Hudson and straight up 187th Street and into our living room windows. Evan is in the kitchen behind me putting the final touches on dinner. And Jill is circling the neighborhood looking for alternate-side parking.
I guess it's just another day here in New York City after all.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
fragments on christmas and not being religious
My dad was a bad Jew.
He harbored a fantasy of roasting a suckling pig in our back yard up in Lake Mohegan. In a pit, of course. On a spit. With an apple tucked jauntily in its mouth. Skin crackling and dripping fat. Smell wafting mouthwateringly over the neighboring yards and down the street towards the lake and over towards the tiny neighborhood shul and across the water to the larger synagogue.
He loved barbecue too much to ever contemplate a life of keeping kosher. (The stories he would tell from his two weeks of criscrossing the south with one of his best friends in search of all the best barbecue pits left us all with mouths watering.)
Though Jewish by blood (being born to a non-practicing Jewish mother), he was Methodist by background and atheist by choice. My brother and I, though not Jewish by blood (our Jewish heritage being paternal rather than maternal), were in some ways more Jewish by tradition than our father.
He used to joke that his children, by dint of growing up in Westchester County, knew more about Judaism than his mother, part of whose family had fled to Israel after another part had died in the Holocaust. Or so I understand the family history.
I absorbed fragments of Judaism while being a Shabbos goy of sorts for friends down the block and partaking in their Shabbos rituals. I sometimes envied them these religious rituals in the face of having none of my own.
My brother, one Christmas morning sometime in the early '80s, turned to the rest of us and lisped in a voice clotted with the sticky goodness of chocolate-covered marshmallow Santas, "Isn't this supposed to be somebody's birthday?"
My father pulled out the Bible and read us the Nativity story right then and there, all of us gathered in the gray winter light and the warming glow of the Christmas tree. He was always of the opinion that it is good to know the stories of one's enemies, or, less provocatively, the stories behind the rituals in which we sometimes so blindly partake.
He explained that the Christians had borrowed older, deeply ingrained traditions surrounding the winter solstice in order to convert the pagans, and that this was why Christmas is when it is, and that though not necessarily true, it was a good story and worth knowing.
One of my most vivid memories of Christmas is the time our cat, Star, toppled our eight-foot-tall Christmas tree, clinging to the branches and howling as the whole thing came crashing down. After that the trees were firmly anchored to the living room walls with fishing line and bolts.
Also the yearly Christmas tree expedition with the Crows, two cars forming a caravan stuffed to the gills with thermoses of hot chocolate and tins of our mothers' cookies and overly sugared children and hacksaws and huge freshly-felled trees overhanging the edges of our station wagons.
My dad was a bad Jew who loved Christmas and taught his children to love good stories and imagined roasting suckling pigs to antagonize the neighbors because he loved good barbecue more than most anything and hated the notion of tref. And the notion of judging things or people as being unclean. And was prone sometimes to overly self-righteous prickliness and/or contrariness, much like his daughter.
My dad was a bad Jew who ate (though never roasted) suckling pig and I am a woman who is sometimes quick to judge people by the verses they quote in public ("You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination") instead of the way they may speak to the people they hold dear ("You are loved, by me, in all the myriad ways that you are...").
He harbored a fantasy of roasting a suckling pig in our back yard up in Lake Mohegan. In a pit, of course. On a spit. With an apple tucked jauntily in its mouth. Skin crackling and dripping fat. Smell wafting mouthwateringly over the neighboring yards and down the street towards the lake and over towards the tiny neighborhood shul and across the water to the larger synagogue.
He loved barbecue too much to ever contemplate a life of keeping kosher. (The stories he would tell from his two weeks of criscrossing the south with one of his best friends in search of all the best barbecue pits left us all with mouths watering.)
Though Jewish by blood (being born to a non-practicing Jewish mother), he was Methodist by background and atheist by choice. My brother and I, though not Jewish by blood (our Jewish heritage being paternal rather than maternal), were in some ways more Jewish by tradition than our father.
He used to joke that his children, by dint of growing up in Westchester County, knew more about Judaism than his mother, part of whose family had fled to Israel after another part had died in the Holocaust. Or so I understand the family history.
I absorbed fragments of Judaism while being a Shabbos goy of sorts for friends down the block and partaking in their Shabbos rituals. I sometimes envied them these religious rituals in the face of having none of my own.
My brother, one Christmas morning sometime in the early '80s, turned to the rest of us and lisped in a voice clotted with the sticky goodness of chocolate-covered marshmallow Santas, "Isn't this supposed to be somebody's birthday?"
My father pulled out the Bible and read us the Nativity story right then and there, all of us gathered in the gray winter light and the warming glow of the Christmas tree. He was always of the opinion that it is good to know the stories of one's enemies, or, less provocatively, the stories behind the rituals in which we sometimes so blindly partake.
He explained that the Christians had borrowed older, deeply ingrained traditions surrounding the winter solstice in order to convert the pagans, and that this was why Christmas is when it is, and that though not necessarily true, it was a good story and worth knowing.
One of my most vivid memories of Christmas is the time our cat, Star, toppled our eight-foot-tall Christmas tree, clinging to the branches and howling as the whole thing came crashing down. After that the trees were firmly anchored to the living room walls with fishing line and bolts.
Also the yearly Christmas tree expedition with the Crows, two cars forming a caravan stuffed to the gills with thermoses of hot chocolate and tins of our mothers' cookies and overly sugared children and hacksaws and huge freshly-felled trees overhanging the edges of our station wagons.
My dad was a bad Jew who loved Christmas and taught his children to love good stories and imagined roasting suckling pigs to antagonize the neighbors because he loved good barbecue more than most anything and hated the notion of tref. And the notion of judging things or people as being unclean. And was prone sometimes to overly self-righteous prickliness and/or contrariness, much like his daughter.
My dad was a bad Jew who ate (though never roasted) suckling pig and I am a woman who is sometimes quick to judge people by the verses they quote in public ("You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination") instead of the way they may speak to the people they hold dear ("You are loved, by me, in all the myriad ways that you are...").
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
pondering gender & the church
I haven't been able to get this Nicholas Kristof piece out of my head. It tells the story of a young woman, 27 years old and the mother of four, 11 weeks pregnant and suffering from the potentially life-threatening condition of pulmonary hypertension. But really it tells the story of Sister Margaret McBride, who sat on the ethics committee of the Catholic hospital in Phoenix to which this young mother went, and who approved an emergency abortion in order to alleviate the risk to the mother's health and life, and who as a result was ex-communicated by her Bishop, one Thomas Olmsted.
There are so many things wrong with this story.
How is it that the Church demonstrates such quick and decisive action when it comes to punishing the women who serve it (and who work so hard to serve the communities in which they live) but demonstrates such foot-dragging and lack of conviction when it comes to protecting children from abusive Catholic priests?
How is it that this Bishop can claim that "the mother’s life cannot be preferred over the child’s,” thus implying that the child's life should be preferred over the mother's (not to mention over the welfare of her four young children and her husband and everyone who loves her)?
Someone pointed out in the comments section of the piece that Judaism treats such situations very differently than Catholicism. Apparently in Judaic custom, a woman's life is actually worth more than a fetus's life, and if a pregnancy is causing health problems the woman is encouraged to terminate it. This came as a shock to me: this notion that an entire religion might treat women as somehow equal or more valuable to the world than a fetus. And the shock of it struck me as being innately sad.
The commenter goes on to say that perhaps this is due to the fact that rabbis can marry and raise families. It is perhaps easy for the men who rule from on high in the Catholic Church to decree that a woman's life cannot be preferred over a fetus's life -- they have no wives, no daughters, no grand-daughters. This is purely a question of ethics to them, morality in a vacuum, and has little bearing on their real lives.
I've been thinking about this ever since, and it's not that individual priests are necessarily misogynistic, or that unmarried men are inherently misogynistic, or anything that extreme. But there are two pieces to this that have created a male-dominated echo-chamber within the Church: women themselves are fundamentally excluded from the highest levels of power, and the men with the power have fundamentally isolated themselves from women.
Can an organization that so clearly sees women as "other" be expected to treat women fairly? And should we allow such an organization to be in such a position of power over women?
I am half joking when I say this, but I think every bishop, every cardinal, every pope should have a daughter. And then, and only then, should these men even be able to make the argument that an 11-week-old fetus is more valuable to them and to the world than that daughter.
Until then, let the women speak. Oh, and un-ex-communicate Sister Margaret. Or may she find happiness in a faith that doesn't devalue women quite so much.
There are so many things wrong with this story.
How is it that the Church demonstrates such quick and decisive action when it comes to punishing the women who serve it (and who work so hard to serve the communities in which they live) but demonstrates such foot-dragging and lack of conviction when it comes to protecting children from abusive Catholic priests?
How is it that this Bishop can claim that "the mother’s life cannot be preferred over the child’s,” thus implying that the child's life should be preferred over the mother's (not to mention over the welfare of her four young children and her husband and everyone who loves her)?
Someone pointed out in the comments section of the piece that Judaism treats such situations very differently than Catholicism. Apparently in Judaic custom, a woman's life is actually worth more than a fetus's life, and if a pregnancy is causing health problems the woman is encouraged to terminate it. This came as a shock to me: this notion that an entire religion might treat women as somehow equal or more valuable to the world than a fetus. And the shock of it struck me as being innately sad.
The commenter goes on to say that perhaps this is due to the fact that rabbis can marry and raise families. It is perhaps easy for the men who rule from on high in the Catholic Church to decree that a woman's life cannot be preferred over a fetus's life -- they have no wives, no daughters, no grand-daughters. This is purely a question of ethics to them, morality in a vacuum, and has little bearing on their real lives.
I've been thinking about this ever since, and it's not that individual priests are necessarily misogynistic, or that unmarried men are inherently misogynistic, or anything that extreme. But there are two pieces to this that have created a male-dominated echo-chamber within the Church: women themselves are fundamentally excluded from the highest levels of power, and the men with the power have fundamentally isolated themselves from women.
Can an organization that so clearly sees women as "other" be expected to treat women fairly? And should we allow such an organization to be in such a position of power over women?
I am half joking when I say this, but I think every bishop, every cardinal, every pope should have a daughter. And then, and only then, should these men even be able to make the argument that an 11-week-old fetus is more valuable to them and to the world than that daughter.
Until then, let the women speak. Oh, and un-ex-communicate Sister Margaret. Or may she find happiness in a faith that doesn't devalue women quite so much.
Friday, February 20, 2009
quote of the day
Everyone's favorite ignoramus, Rick Santorum, had this to say at a recent lecture on Islam at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln:
"A democracy could not exist because Mohammad already made the perfect law. The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that's why it is only written in Islamic."
Islamic? And is the New Testament only written in Christian?
"A democracy could not exist because Mohammad already made the perfect law. The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that's why it is only written in Islamic."
Islamic? And is the New Testament only written in Christian?
Monday, October 13, 2008
quote of the day, or, 'my god is bigger than your god' and the embarrassment of playground politics
"I'd also add, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are billions of people around this world praying to their god, whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah, that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're gonna think that their god is bigger than you if that happens. And so I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day."
(Convocation at McCain rally)
(Convocation at McCain rally)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
quote of the day
"[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she’s just trying to save the planet. … We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet — we didn’t need Nancy Pelosi to do that."
-Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
-Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN)
Thursday, January 24, 2008
sex & the Catholic Anchor
The Catholic Anchor is running an editorial in its current issue that boggles the mind. You'll have to scroll down towards the bottom of the page, just before the Questioning the Pope section.*
According to this editorial, Alaskan youth are in serious trouble, for various reasons including but not limited to marijuana use, alcohol use, and sex. But the most troubling statistic of all, and this I can't really argue with, is that more than 1 in 10 teenagers said that they'd attempted suicide sometime within the last year.
The problem is that the Anchor goes on to blame the suicide rate on human sexuality. Any human sexuality that is not within the confines of marriage and for the purpose of procreation is, according to the Anchor, the cancer that is destroying an entire society. And furthermore, the government wastes money applying band-aids (drug awareness campaigns, crisis counseling, sex education, etc.) to cancer when what it should really be doing is weeding out the cancer. Meaning, I guess, human sexuality.
But you can't just assume that there is a correlation between high suicide rates and the fact that almost half of the teenagers had recently had sex. You can't just lump together all the myriad forms of human sexuality into one big nasty monster and say that this is the root cause of suicidal behavior.
The Anchor elaborates, "In the case of our hurting youth, their problems can often be traced back to their home life. Ultimately, many of these problems come back to the misuse of sex."
Alaska has the highest rate of rape in the United States, 2.4 times higher than any other state, and sexual assault on children is 6 times higher than any other state. One can only imagine that victims of rape are not limited to the 20 and over set, and one can only imagine that victims of rape and sexual assault (everything else being equal) might tend to attempt suicide at higher rates than those lucky enough to have never been raped or sexually assaulted. I don't have numbers on this, but still, it stands to reason.
But this is not the kind of sex that the 45% of kids who'd recently had sex are referring to, presumably. Are they really arguing that sex between a pair of sixteen year olds is the same thing as being molested by an uncle or older brother or any number of possibilities? This is just ludicrous.
Our brilliant editorialist goes on to explain that "once sex is unhinged from the context of a marriage between a man and a woman, it begins to wreck havoc human lives." I'm not quite sure what the point is here, but the writer seems a bit unhinged himself, and intent on blaming teen suicide rates on all forms of sexuality, both youth and adult.
I don't know that much about this stuff, but I've read that Alaska has among the highest domestic violence, poverty, depression, and substance abuse rates in the country, as well as rape and sexual assault rates. Isn't it possible that these other issues just might contribute more heavily to teen suicide than good, old-fashioned pre-marital sex?
*Which in and of itself annoyed me. I mean, doesn't "questioning" generally mean "calling into question" or doubting or otherwise wondering if something is right or wrong, good or bad? These questions are totally inane, not to mention somewhat nonsensical. I'm sorry, Mr. Ward, but you can not say, "What do you think is the greatest issue for American (Catholics) today?" You can say, "What is the greatest issue for (American) Catholics today?" but not the other way around.
According to this editorial, Alaskan youth are in serious trouble, for various reasons including but not limited to marijuana use, alcohol use, and sex. But the most troubling statistic of all, and this I can't really argue with, is that more than 1 in 10 teenagers said that they'd attempted suicide sometime within the last year.
The problem is that the Anchor goes on to blame the suicide rate on human sexuality. Any human sexuality that is not within the confines of marriage and for the purpose of procreation is, according to the Anchor, the cancer that is destroying an entire society. And furthermore, the government wastes money applying band-aids (drug awareness campaigns, crisis counseling, sex education, etc.) to cancer when what it should really be doing is weeding out the cancer. Meaning, I guess, human sexuality.
But you can't just assume that there is a correlation between high suicide rates and the fact that almost half of the teenagers had recently had sex. You can't just lump together all the myriad forms of human sexuality into one big nasty monster and say that this is the root cause of suicidal behavior.
The Anchor elaborates, "In the case of our hurting youth, their problems can often be traced back to their home life. Ultimately, many of these problems come back to the misuse of sex."
Alaska has the highest rate of rape in the United States, 2.4 times higher than any other state, and sexual assault on children is 6 times higher than any other state. One can only imagine that victims of rape are not limited to the 20 and over set, and one can only imagine that victims of rape and sexual assault (everything else being equal) might tend to attempt suicide at higher rates than those lucky enough to have never been raped or sexually assaulted. I don't have numbers on this, but still, it stands to reason.
But this is not the kind of sex that the 45% of kids who'd recently had sex are referring to, presumably. Are they really arguing that sex between a pair of sixteen year olds is the same thing as being molested by an uncle or older brother or any number of possibilities? This is just ludicrous.
Our brilliant editorialist goes on to explain that "once sex is unhinged from the context of a marriage between a man and a woman, it begins to wreck havoc human lives." I'm not quite sure what the point is here, but the writer seems a bit unhinged himself, and intent on blaming teen suicide rates on all forms of sexuality, both youth and adult.
I don't know that much about this stuff, but I've read that Alaska has among the highest domestic violence, poverty, depression, and substance abuse rates in the country, as well as rape and sexual assault rates. Isn't it possible that these other issues just might contribute more heavily to teen suicide than good, old-fashioned pre-marital sex?
*Which in and of itself annoyed me. I mean, doesn't "questioning" generally mean "calling into question" or doubting or otherwise wondering if something is right or wrong, good or bad? These questions are totally inane, not to mention somewhat nonsensical. I'm sorry, Mr. Ward, but you can not say, "What do you think is the greatest issue for American (Catholics) today?" You can say, "What is the greatest issue for (American) Catholics today?" but not the other way around.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
in his own words, or, when crackpots go to washington
“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
Mike Huckabee, on the failures of the Constitution. Because the Constitution should be God's Word. Because what we really want ruling our society, and the myriad religions and cultures and ethnicities and beliefs that make up our society, is Biblical law. Because we should offer to sacrifice our daughters in order to placate angry hordes, reinstate slavery and polygamy, execute any and all adulterers, and so on and so forth.
Willie Geist of MSNBC explained (pre-Michigan) that if the average American made such inane comments about the Constitution, "he’d be dismissed as a crackpot, but he’s Mike Huckabee and he’s basically the front-runner.”
The incomparable Steve Benen's take on this? "Maybe, but I’m still pretty comfortable calling Huckabee a crackpot anyway."
For more Bible fun, take a look at The Brick Testament, my new go-to site for all things holy. Well, that and The Skeptic's Annotated Bible.
Mike Huckabee, on the failures of the Constitution. Because the Constitution should be God's Word. Because what we really want ruling our society, and the myriad religions and cultures and ethnicities and beliefs that make up our society, is Biblical law. Because we should offer to sacrifice our daughters in order to placate angry hordes, reinstate slavery and polygamy, execute any and all adulterers, and so on and so forth.
Willie Geist of MSNBC explained (pre-Michigan) that if the average American made such inane comments about the Constitution, "he’d be dismissed as a crackpot, but he’s Mike Huckabee and he’s basically the front-runner.”
The incomparable Steve Benen's take on this? "Maybe, but I’m still pretty comfortable calling Huckabee a crackpot anyway."
For more Bible fun, take a look at The Brick Testament, my new go-to site for all things holy. Well, that and The Skeptic's Annotated Bible.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
texas gets even weirder
As if it wasn't frightening enough that Christine Castillo Comer, the director of science for the Texas Education Agency, was forced to resign earlier this month for allegedly "bashing" people's faith (she forwarded an email announcement about an upcoming lecture advocating evolution - oh the horror!). Now, a Texas panel on higher education is recommending that the state allow the Institute for Creation Research to offer online master's degrees in science education.
In other news, Hilary's been feeling the heat from Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, and Co., the men out in force, cackling over a woman of a certain age's crows' feet and laugh lines. And of course our dear Maureen Dowd had to get in on it this morning too, snidely arguing that it's "pretty pathetic" that at this point in her career, Clinton continues to have to try to prove she's "warm-blooded." The thing about this is, I think it's pathetic too, but not exactly in the way Dowd means. It's pathetic that we judge a presidential candidate on being "warm-blooded" at all, and I think it's ridiculous that Clinton has to try to soften her image. I want a strategist in the White House, a tough-as-nails fighter who's endured as much as Clinton has and come out on the other side. Even if Hilary doesn't win the nomination or the presidency, this remains a ground-breaking moment in American history, a woman playing the political game, and playing it well, at this level. Yet it seems that, embarrassingly for the rest of us, her wrinkles and lack of an all-consuming desire to bake cookies continue to be a detriment to her campaign.
In other news, Hilary's been feeling the heat from Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, and Co., the men out in force, cackling over a woman of a certain age's crows' feet and laugh lines. And of course our dear Maureen Dowd had to get in on it this morning too, snidely arguing that it's "pretty pathetic" that at this point in her career, Clinton continues to have to try to prove she's "warm-blooded." The thing about this is, I think it's pathetic too, but not exactly in the way Dowd means. It's pathetic that we judge a presidential candidate on being "warm-blooded" at all, and I think it's ridiculous that Clinton has to try to soften her image. I want a strategist in the White House, a tough-as-nails fighter who's endured as much as Clinton has and come out on the other side. Even if Hilary doesn't win the nomination or the presidency, this remains a ground-breaking moment in American history, a woman playing the political game, and playing it well, at this level. Yet it seems that, embarrassingly for the rest of us, her wrinkles and lack of an all-consuming desire to bake cookies continue to be a detriment to her campaign.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
quote of the day
"My faith is my life -- it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them ... I don't separate my faith from my personal and professional lives."
-GOP candidate Mike Huckabee (A brief aside on Huckabee's issues: Why would someone so focused on the Sanctity of Life make it a point, in his notes on the 2nd Amendment, to explain that he never supported the ban on assault weapons? Even weirder, he seems to be advocating the potential use of assault weapons against our own government. And even creepier, he wears as a badge of honor the fact that he is the first governor ever to have a concealed weapon license. I find myself wondering what Jesus would do. Carry an assault weapon and reject all policies that promote or tolerate amnesty? Somehow I don't think so.)
I don't think this is what Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had in mind when they wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom back in 1779, so I'd like to conclude this bit with a better quote:
"We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
Also in the news recently:
Crisis of Faith, an excellent editorial on Romney's faith speech
Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight (damn straight! no pun intended)
The Episcopal split here in the good old U.S. of A. continues, with yet another diocese deciding that disliking homosexuals outweighs human rights, preferring to align itself with the infamous gay-baiting Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola rather than with the U.S. church. Oh wait, I stand corrected. This particular diocese has not gone over to Akinola because of the gays. Instead it's joined a conservative South American denomination because it disapproves of Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori. Not only is she relatively liberal, but this California diocese is one of the last to refuse to ordain women at all, let alone allow a woman to head the entire U.S. Episcopal denomination.
-GOP candidate Mike Huckabee (A brief aside on Huckabee's issues: Why would someone so focused on the Sanctity of Life make it a point, in his notes on the 2nd Amendment, to explain that he never supported the ban on assault weapons? Even weirder, he seems to be advocating the potential use of assault weapons against our own government. And even creepier, he wears as a badge of honor the fact that he is the first governor ever to have a concealed weapon license. I find myself wondering what Jesus would do. Carry an assault weapon and reject all policies that promote or tolerate amnesty? Somehow I don't think so.)
I don't think this is what Thomas Jefferson and James Madison had in mind when they wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom back in 1779, so I'd like to conclude this bit with a better quote:
"We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
Also in the news recently:
Crisis of Faith, an excellent editorial on Romney's faith speech
Boy Scouts Lose Philadelphia Lease in Gay-Rights Fight (damn straight! no pun intended)
The Episcopal split here in the good old U.S. of A. continues, with yet another diocese deciding that disliking homosexuals outweighs human rights, preferring to align itself with the infamous gay-baiting Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola rather than with the U.S. church. Oh wait, I stand corrected. This particular diocese has not gone over to Akinola because of the gays. Instead it's joined a conservative South American denomination because it disapproves of Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori. Not only is she relatively liberal, but this California diocese is one of the last to refuse to ordain women at all, let alone allow a woman to head the entire U.S. Episcopal denomination.
Friday, November 30, 2007
in the news
I always knew there was a reason to not use cellphones.
Also, an article by Columbia's own Ray Fisman (I think...) explains why Hillary's screwed even if she does win next November.
Two more reasons to cry over religion:
Boy who refused treatment on religious grounds dies
Calls in Sudan for teacher's execution
I was going to include here a Pope quote explaining that atheism "has led to some of the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in human history, but then I actually went and read this article about it, and it sounds worse taken out of context. I still find it pretty remarkable, though, that people would argue that atheism, despite the Stalins of the world, is more cruel than religion. I mean, we've got people all gung-ho about comparing Ahmadinejad (a devout Muslim) to Hitler (raised a Catholic, later used Christian arguments to justify his rabid anti-Semitism), and then we've got the Pope, leader of the church of the Crusades and the Inquisition, saying that lack of religion is the root of all evil.
So here, instead is my quote of the day, Bush waxing poetic about his role in the Mid-East peace talks taking place this week in Maryland:
"I work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of things."
After all, he is the great decider.
Also, an article by Columbia's own Ray Fisman (I think...) explains why Hillary's screwed even if she does win next November.
Two more reasons to cry over religion:
Boy who refused treatment on religious grounds dies
Calls in Sudan for teacher's execution
I was going to include here a Pope quote explaining that atheism "has led to some of the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" in human history, but then I actually went and read this article about it, and it sounds worse taken out of context. I still find it pretty remarkable, though, that people would argue that atheism, despite the Stalins of the world, is more cruel than religion. I mean, we've got people all gung-ho about comparing Ahmadinejad (a devout Muslim) to Hitler (raised a Catholic, later used Christian arguments to justify his rabid anti-Semitism), and then we've got the Pope, leader of the church of the Crusades and the Inquisition, saying that lack of religion is the root of all evil.
So here, instead is my quote of the day, Bush waxing poetic about his role in the Mid-East peace talks taking place this week in Maryland:
"I work the phones, I listen, I encourage, I have meetings. I do a lot of things."
After all, he is the great decider.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
the horror the horror
I am watching Jesus Camp this evening, and needed to take a break to get my thoughts together. It ranks right up there with some of the scariest things I've ever seen, and I still have half an hour more to go before the end. It's almost unbearable, and difficult to believe that people like this exist in the same nation as my beloved New York City. Exhorting children at the Kids on Fire Summer School and Ministry in Devil's Lake (really!), North Dakota to be willing to die in the name of Jesus seems not so far removed from brainwashing teenagers in Saudi Arabia into sacrificing their lives in the name of Allah.
"The Devil goes after the young. That's why we're trying to help you. We're trying to warn you. And while I'm on the subject, let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God! And I don't care what kind of hero they are, they're an enemy of God. And had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death!"
-Becky Fischer, pastor, Kids in Ministry International
Oh, and also, they pray for the devil to not mess with the microphones during worship meetings. Really.
So I had to go look up some MC Solaar videos on YouTube, just to recover from the scary evangelical stuff.
Also, here's Bill Maher & Co. on Jesus Camp.
And Australia's take on the horror show that is the Westboro Baptist Church.
And in honor of the WBC and the Bush-loving folk of Jesus Camp, an oldie but a goodie.
"The Devil goes after the young. That's why we're trying to help you. We're trying to warn you. And while I'm on the subject, let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God! And I don't care what kind of hero they are, they're an enemy of God. And had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death!"
-Becky Fischer, pastor, Kids in Ministry International
Oh, and also, they pray for the devil to not mess with the microphones during worship meetings. Really.
So I had to go look up some MC Solaar videos on YouTube, just to recover from the scary evangelical stuff.
Also, here's Bill Maher & Co. on Jesus Camp.
And Australia's take on the horror show that is the Westboro Baptist Church.
And in honor of the WBC and the Bush-loving folk of Jesus Camp, an oldie but a goodie.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
infuriating
In the realm of the ridiculous is the Long Island school district that decided not to change the name of its winter concert. The winter concert has historically been called the Christmas Concert. But the population of this area has changed drastically in the last decade, and more than a third of the children are of Indian or Chinese descent. One can only imagine there is a sizable Jewish population, and indeed the Christmas Concert has often contained a Hanukkah song or two, which makes you wonder at the misleading nature of the name already. And somehow it seems even more offensive to include songs from another holiday or another religion and yet still insist on calling it a Christmas celebration. It kind of reminds me of a friend's mother-in-law finally sending her a Hanukkah card a couple Decembers ago, but then writing Merry Christmas inside. Good try, but still a swing and a miss.
Recently several parents in the district suggested to the Board of Education that the name be changed to a more inclusive Winter Concert, or even Holiday Concert. There was such a burst of outrage at the very suggestion that the Board of Education decided to leave the name as is. But even after the decision had been made, more than 200 outraged parents showed up at the school board meeting earlier this month to protest the idea of having anything but a Christmas Concert.
According to the New York Times article, "One woman said she could not understand how anyone could object to Christmas, 'which is about tolerance, love for your fellow man. Who would be against that?'" This, apparently, with no irony what so ever.
Even creepier, a lawyer made the pseudo-intelligent-sounding but totally insane comment that changing the concert's name from Christmas to Winter or Holiday is "a form of religious discrimination at best, religious bigotry at worst."
I'm not sure that the parents of any Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist children would agree. And I'm not sure how his argument falls into that whole concept of separation of church and state.
What I do know is that these people who wrote all the nasty letters to the local newspaper denouncing those who wanted to change the name (one letter-writer condemned the school officials for their efforts to "execute Baby Jesus in the arena of political correctness") were bad enough. But even worse were those who saw fit to stand up in a roomful of people and continue to so forcefully demonstrate their narrow-mindedness when they had already won. Being a sore loser is sometimes understandable, however annoying it might be; but there is no excuse whatsoever for being a sore winner.
Recently several parents in the district suggested to the Board of Education that the name be changed to a more inclusive Winter Concert, or even Holiday Concert. There was such a burst of outrage at the very suggestion that the Board of Education decided to leave the name as is. But even after the decision had been made, more than 200 outraged parents showed up at the school board meeting earlier this month to protest the idea of having anything but a Christmas Concert.
According to the New York Times article, "One woman said she could not understand how anyone could object to Christmas, 'which is about tolerance, love for your fellow man. Who would be against that?'" This, apparently, with no irony what so ever.
Even creepier, a lawyer made the pseudo-intelligent-sounding but totally insane comment that changing the concert's name from Christmas to Winter or Holiday is "a form of religious discrimination at best, religious bigotry at worst."
I'm not sure that the parents of any Jewish, Hindi, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist children would agree. And I'm not sure how his argument falls into that whole concept of separation of church and state.
What I do know is that these people who wrote all the nasty letters to the local newspaper denouncing those who wanted to change the name (one letter-writer condemned the school officials for their efforts to "execute Baby Jesus in the arena of political correctness") were bad enough. But even worse were those who saw fit to stand up in a roomful of people and continue to so forcefully demonstrate their narrow-mindedness when they had already won. Being a sore loser is sometimes understandable, however annoying it might be; but there is no excuse whatsoever for being a sore winner.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
jerry falwell, my heart bleeds for you
Jerry Falwell died this morning, apparently of cardiac arrythmia. You might have guessed I've never been a particularly big fan of sweet ol' Jerry & his Moral Majority. A few excerpts from his vast well of wisdom:
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
"The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."
"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."
"I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status."
"The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior."
“I believe that the people of Israel are the chosen people of God.”
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
"The whole global warming thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability."
"It appears that America's anti-Biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."
"I do not believe the homosexual community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status."
"The Jews are returning to their land of unbelief. They are spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior."
“I believe that the people of Israel are the chosen people of God.”
"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'" (9/14/2001)
"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals... These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men; that's their problem."
"I listen to feminists and all these radical gals... These women just need a man in the house. That's all they need. Most of the feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it is and to lead them home. And they blew it and they're mad at all men. Feminists hate men. They're sexist. They hate men; that's their problem."
Sunday, May 06, 2007
words of wisdom
"I do not know how to avoid the conclusion that a man who is capable of taking the illusions of religion so literally and is so sure of a special personal intimacy with the Almighty is unfitted for relations with ordinary children of men."
-Sigmund Freud, on Woodrow Wilson
-Sigmund Freud, on Woodrow Wilson
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