Florida boy says he was barred from speech contest due to critical comments on religion | The Raw Story: A Florida fifth-grader said he was stripped of his blue ribbon and barred from taking part in a speech competition because his essay mentioned harm caused by religion.
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| Little wooden boys love Jesus too |
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| Hair-dos to the Lord |
'So Help Me God' Optional In Air Force Academy Honor Oath: DENVER -- DENVER (AP) — Air Force Academy cadets are no longer required to say "so help me God" at the end of the Honor Oath, school officials said Friday.
The words were made optional after a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, that they violated the constitutional concept of religious freedom.
Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said the change was made to respect cadets' freedom of religion.
Anne's Diary | Clothes Make the Man | unknowncountry: Or that's how the old saying goes, anyway. Pope Benedict appreciated the idea of dressing to fulfill a role--in fact, Esquire magazine put him on its best dressed list, saying that he had a way with accessories and advising their male readers: "It could be a pocket square or a chunky watch or a tie clip, but make it your own." One way Benedict did this was by wearing handmade red leather loafers.
He also brought back the white and red ermine-trimmed capelets, and reintroduced the little red velvet cap trimmed in the same fur. His fondness for ermine angered some Italian animal rights groups. (Anne Strieber)
Self-Professed ‘Bible Scholar’ Makes Explosive Allegation About Jesus That He Believes Could Rock the Christian Faith to Its Core - Yahoo News: A press release announcing the purported new evidence claims that Atwill has discovered "ancient confessions" that purportedly prove that Romans invented Jesus Christ in the first century. He has long argued that the faith system was used as a political tool to control the masses -- something he says is still going on today.
"I present my work with some ambivalence, as I do not want to directly cause Christians any harm, but this is important for our culture," he said of the alleged debunk - one that he believes will eventually be universally accepted.
Storage tanks in a vehicle this size could easily hold thousands of gallons of water. And there may have been other uses the vehicle may have had, such as processing humans. I have been able to confirm that this took place.UFOs are terrorizing us, and we're mere teeny baby turtles in the alien claws of the ET:
"We are as helpless to stop them as a small pet turtle is to a children's hand. The small pet turtle (not a snapping turtle) can do virtually nothing to escape the hand of a little child who wants to pick it up. Surely the turtle would like to think it will be returned to where it was found."
"There is no devil, that's just God when he's drunk." ~ Tom WaitsFound that on Janis Ian's FB page. So good had to steal it.
'Under God' part of Pledge of Allegiance under review in Massachusetts - CNN.com: (CNN) -- The Pledge of Allegiance is recited in classrooms across the country every morning -- and because of the words "under God," it is heard in courtrooms across the country seemingly just as often these days.
Every attempt to eliminate the mention of God has thus far failed, but the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts will hear arguments on Wednesday seeking removal of the two words for a new reason: discrimination.
"This is the first challenge of its kind" said Roy Speckhardt, the executive director of the American Humanist Association, an atheist group arguing for the plaintiffs. "We feel very confident that we have a strong case."
That case, which was brought by an unidentified family of a student at a school in suburban Boston, will be argued on the premise that the pledge violates the Equal Rights Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution. It is the first such case to be tried on the state level: All previous attempts have been argued in federal court on the grounds that 'under God' was an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
Saudi Arabia's War on Witchcraft - Ryan Jacobs - The Atlantic: The Saudi government's obsession with the criminalization of the dark arts reached a new level in 2009, when it created and formalized a special "Anti-Witchcraft Unit" to educate the public about the evils of sorcery, investigate alleged witches, neutralize their cursed paraphernalia, and disarm their spells. Saudi citizens are also urged to use a hotline on the CPVPV website to report any magical misdeeds to local officials, according to the Jerusalem Post.
According to a director of the religious police's witchcraft division in Riyadh, the unit provides confidentiality to informants. "We deal with sorcerers in a special way. No one should think that we mention the name of whomever files a report about sorcery," Sheikh Adel Faqih told the Saudi Gazette. In 2009 alone, at least 118 people were charged with "practicing magic" or "using the book of Allah in a derogatory manner" in the province of Makkah, the country's most populous region.
Northern Territory government to repeal centuries-old witchcraft, tarot card law - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): A recent review of the Territory's Summary Offences Act found a centuries-old law citing anyone caught conjuring spells or predicting the future could face one year in prison.
The Witchcraft Act of 1735 has been inherited from Britain and has since been repealed in most other parts of the Western world.
But Northern Territory Attorney-General John Elferink says a legal quirk meant it stayed on the Territory's statute books.
He says a year in prison is a pretty stiff punishment for a tarot card reader and has promised to finally repeal the legislation.
"This legislation was enacted because it was there essentially as a form of consumer protection," he said.
Tenn. judge changes infant's name from 'Messiah' - Yahoo! News: NEWPORT, Tenn. (AP) — A judge in Tennessee changed a 7-month-old boy's name to Martin from Messiah, saying the religious name was earned by one person and "that one person is Jesus Christ."
The riddle of the 'angel priest': Holy man appeared from nowhere to pray with trapped girl and rescuers in traffic accident, told them she would be OK and then vanished | Mail Online: Pinned inside her mangled Mercedes, seriously injured and fading fast, Katie Lentz turned to her rescuers on the lonely open stretch of Missouri highway and asked them to pray.
Struck head-on by a drunk driver on Sunday morning, emergency workers had been battling for an hour and a half to free Lentz, but to no avail.
But as they joined hands a Catholic priest appeared, even though there were no bystanders and the road was blocked, who offered a prayer and an instruction to the rescuers that they would now be able to free her.
Suddenly, heavy equipment needed to cut through the metal arrived from a nearby town and Lentz was pulled from the wreck in time to be saved - but when they turned to thank the priest, he was gone.
Alabama state champion coach and AD fired for being a member of the wrong church | Prep Rally - Yahoo! Sports: While Phillips had never been forced to attend the school’s affiliated church when he was only a coach, that changed when he became the school’s athletic director. As confirmed by the Advertiser, East Memorial Christian Academy’s athletic director was expected to attend the East Memorial Baptist Church, even though there was allegedly not an official clause in the contract requiring such attendance.
Ultraculture | Tools for a Better Future: he censoring of “esoteric material,” in particular, has pagan groups up in arms. (Presumably Ultraculture will be blocked from warping impressionable young British minds into lives stained with pernicious sins like thinking for themselves, questioning mainstream values and caring about the environment?) Pagan community discussions are being conducted at Wild Hunt and LAShTAL. Meanwhile, a new service called Immunicity has appeared which circumvents the firewall—better get hold of it before Cameron starts blocking access to ways to get around the firewall. Nikki Wyrd has another good examination of the issue at the UK-based chaos magick site Blog of Baphomet.
"There are conflicting interpretations of the Koran, but without a clear narrative, with one consensus of purpose, followers who do violence in the name of Islam can legitimately claim they are acting within the parameters of their faith."
Reza Aslan Misrepresents His Scholarly Credentials First Thoughts | A First Things Blog: Later he complains that they are “debating the right of the scholar to write” the book rather than discussing the book. But the conversation took that turn thanks to Aslan, not Green!
5 Reasons There Aren’t More Women in Atheism | Alternet: n a Salon piece last week called, “ Where are the women of new atheism?”, Katie Englehardt described what looks like diminishing participation of women in atheist life. She also encouraged atheist women to more openly embrace their beliefs.
But atheist women are very active. These women aren’t visible — and there aren’t more like them — for at least five reasons.
, why he wrote the book since he's a Muslim. Aslan certainly holds his own, very politely and articulately, but Lauren Green, anchor, either will not, does not, or can not, get it. "Watch This Religious Scholar Own Bigoted Fox Host in First 2 Minutes of Interview - Americans Against the Tea Party: At the onset of the interview Fox host Lauren Green asked incredulously, “You’re a Muslim, so why did you write a book about the founder of Christianity?”
(We are trying really hard not to get completely sidetracked here, but we just have to mention writer's rant about poetic license after somehow having deputized himself as the Literature Police. Basically, he thinks poetic license is perfectly alright unless it offends him. This sort o social justice warrior whining is now creeping into our Fortean world and we don't like it. Is there an exorcist for THAT? )
“The Conjuring”: Right-wing, woman-hating and really scary - Salon.com: “The Conjuring” is one of the cleverest and most effective right-wing Christian films of recent years. It’s a movie about America’s obsession with evil, and how easily that gets pointed in the wrong directions. It’s a movie based on the reassuring premise that when something is wrong in your family, your community or your country, you don’t have to worry about the priests, the cops, the dads or the other male authority figures. They’re the good guys. Blame the women."Haven't seen the movie, will probably wait for it to come to cable.
Pope Criminalizes the Reporting of Sex Crimes - Newslo: VATICAN CITY — Few eyebrows were raised last week when Pope Francis brought the Vatican’s legal system up to date by criminalizing leaks of official information and formalizing laws against sex crimes. But now that the laws have been made public, a closer look revealed that the pope has made it illegal to report sex crimes against children.
According to the new laws, revealing or receiving confidential Vatican information is now punishable by up to two years in prison, while newly defined sex crimes against children carry a sentence of up to twelve years. Because all sex crimes are kept confidential, there is no longer a legal way for Vatican officials to report sex crimes.
"One hell of a deal: Pope Francis offers reduced time in Purgatory for Catholics that follow him on Twitter - Europe - World - The Independent: Salvation – or at least a shorter stay in Purgatory – might now be only a tweet away with news that Pope Francis is to offer “indulgences” – remissions for temporary punishment – to the faithful who follow him on the social media site."
Student ordered to remove cross necklace at Sonoma State University - Yahoo! News: An official at Sonoma State University ordered a student working at a freshman orientation fair to remove or hide a cross necklace on two separate occasions. The unnamed official feared that other students could be offended by the two-inch-long symbol of Christianity.Fortunately, the law is on the student's side, and the University is falling all over itself apologizing for its lone official who went over the edge with the sensitive authority thing.
Rand Paul Operative Wants to Lead Dominionist Revolt Against the US | Crooks and Liars: The name and face may not be familiar to you, but David Lane is very influential amongst the Christian Right politicos. He's advised Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. Currently, he's helping Rand Paul lay the groundwork for his 2016 presidential run, complete with the mandatory pandering trip to Israel.
David Lane is also flat out treasonous.
Because what David Lane wants even more than Rand Paul in the White House is for Christians to rise up against this country and 'return' it to the values he holds dear:
Vatican official arrested in corruption plot - Yahoo! News: VATICAN CITY (AP) — A Vatican official has been arrested by Italian police for allegedly trying to illegally bring 20 million euros ($26 million) in cash into the country from Switzerland with a private jet.
Prosecutor Nello Rossi says Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is accused of corruption and slander stemming from the plot and was being held at a Rome prison.
Gohmert: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” | admala.org: By W.H. Gavescon, Friday, June 21, 2013
WASHINGTON—“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” proclaimed Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R) at a rally sponsored by the Republican Study Committee (RSC), Thursday. Unusually forceful in his language, Rep. Gohmert was wrapping up a speech advocating a bill that called for stricter regulation of witches’ covens and other occult related organizations in several states along the Mississippi River Basin. Supported by 17 members of the House Tea Party Caucus (as well as 3 House Democrats), the bill is set to go to committee next week but is already receiving harsh criticism over First Amendment and other concerns. One of its authors, Rep. Gohmert maintains that, building on provisions of the NDAA, the bill enhances the ability of the NSA and the FBI to monitor witches and would put into place “reasonable and common sense” provisions for cracking down on some of the Mississippi Delta’s more notorious covens. (Gohmert likens these provisions to anti-gang legislation. He also claims they have precedence in the anti-sorcery statutes of Arkansas and Alabama.)
Virginia Women Ordained As Catholic Priests Against The Will Of The Church: When your religion says you cannot do something because of your gender, do it anyway.
At least that is what five Catholic women in Falls Church, Va. did on Saturday when they were ordained as priests and deacons -- against the rules of the Roman Catholic church that sees ordaining women as heresy -- according to WJLA.
"In the theologically grounded tradition the priesthood passes through man. The woman has another function in Christianity," Pope Francis wrote in his first book, "On Heaven and Earth." But that didn't stop women like Joleane Presley of Manassas from joining fellow female Catholics at the First Christian Church to be ordained, just like men.
Pussy Riot: "People fear us because we're feminists": Pussy Riot aren't just on tour. They're on the run.
When we meet in a secret location in central London, they make it clear that this interview is on condition of anonymity. The Russian punk-feminist protest group, two of whose members are currently travelling the world, talking to activists and journalists and raising support for their band-mates in prison, are wanted by their government, who have branded them extremists for their stand against religious patriarchy and the Putin regime. It will be illegal to read or share this article in Russia.
“There’s a media war in our country,” says the one who, today, is calling herself 'Serafima', whispering painfully through a sore throat. Since three members of the group, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, were tried and sent to labour camps last year, Pussy Riot has been attacked in almost every press outlet in Russia.
By Greg Horton
Religion News Service
(RNS) A Methodist pastor of a suburban Oklahama City church is suing the state, claiming its license plate image of a Native American shooting an arrow into the sky violates his religious liberty.
Last week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled his suit can proceed.
The pastor, Keith Cressman of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Bethany, Okla., contends the image of the Native American compels him to be a “mobile billboard” for a pagan religion.
'Rain God' Oklahoma License Plate: Pastor Keith Cressman Lawsuit Approved By 10th Circuit Court Of Appeals
"I know you're confused with all the the feminism, lesbianism and vegetarianism in our culture."
""... do three things: obey men, have babies and cook meat."
Daily Kos: Woman Being Denied Citizenship Because Her Morality Doesn’t Come From Religion: Despite being an atheist, Ms. Doughty was told that any conscientious objection must be based on religious grounds, not simply moral objections.So as someone who was not religious, and didn’t believe in a god, she had no basis for objecting. Her statement has been denied and she has been informed that to move forward in the process she must submit a letter from the elders of her church to prove her conscientious objections are religiously based.
The USCIS has told her,
“Please submit a letter on official church stationery, attesting to the fact that you are a member in good standing and the church’s official position on the bearing of arms.”
She has been given until June 21st to show that her objection is religiously-based, or her application will be denied.
ShukerNature: CRYPTOZOOLOGY IN THE VATICAN: A few years ago, a friend bought me a wonderful little book entitled And To Every Beast..., one in a series of beautifully-illustrated thematic mini-volumes collectively entitled Treasures of the Vatican Library. All of them combine biblical quotations with illustrations selected from various tomes or manuscripts held in the vast collection of the Vatican's library (which contains over one million printed books, as well as 150,000 manuscripts and some 100,000 prints).
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| Images from Doreen Virtue Mary Queen of Angles oracle |
.Tonya Hurley: Santa Muerte: My Search for the Bony Lady (PHOTOS): While in Mexico recently for a book tour, I visited a market in Guadalajara where I encountered a skeletal figure, robed, with long black hair holding a scythe and globe standing in a shop window. A Grim Reapress of sorts, standing shoulder to shoulder with statues of Jesus, St. Jude and The Virgin of Guadalupe. I'd been doing research into the lives of the saints and martyrs for my new young adult book trilogy, "The Blessed," but here was one I'd never come across. Many revered as saints and martyrs were regarded as misfits and people that actively sought death, however, none actually embodied death as far as I'd ever heard.
The Threat of Literalism - Catonsville, MD Patch: James Hollis, Jungian analyst and writer, suggests that literalism is actually a form of religious blasphemy because it seeks to concretize (nail down, define) and absolutize the core experience of the Holy, of God – a God, if God, who cannot be controlled or defined; a God, as theologian Karl Barth (1886-1968) insisted, who was Wholly Other, a God who remains ultimately a mystery. And a mystery is not the same thing as a puzzle (which can be solved); a mystery is always enigmatic and is therefore inherently unknowable.
Hollis, whose writings I admire and enormously respect, even argues that literalism is a kind of psychopathology in need of deep healing (redemption?). From his many years as a psychotherapist he has come to see that a way to gauge mental health and emotional maturity is the degree to which one is able to tolerate what he calls the triple A’s – ambiguity, ambivalence, and anxiety. The ability to hold these in tension – and not escape into literalism and fundamentalism, into strategies of avoidance – is a way to test our psychic strength. I can certainly resonate with this. The literalists (of all varieties) I have known and know (and love) have difficulty tolerating ambiguity, ambivalence, and anxiety. They use their faith or their political ideology to bolster themselves against, hide themselves from the triple A’s that define the human condition.
NC woman accused of beating woman with Bible | MyFOX8.com: KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — Authorities said a North Carolina woman was arrested and charged with beating another woman with a Bible.
The Shelby Star reported that Evelyn Mills Moore, 57, of Kings Mountain, was arrested Saturday on a charge of assault inflicting serious injury.
Pope Francis Names 800 New Saints In One Go - Yahoo! News: Pope Francis's first canonization ceremony was a record-breaking one. The new pontiff named over 800 new saints on Sunday. That's already almost double the number of saints declared by Pope John Paul II, whose 480-odd canonizations were, at the time, more than those of all of his predecessors since 1588, combined. But the latest canonization bonanza is notable for another reason: most of the 800 new saints are 15th-century martyrs, who were approved as a group for sainthood by Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Given Pope Francis's previous public commitment to improving the Catholic church's relationship with Muslim communities worldwide, Benedict XVI's unfinished business put the new pontiff in a delicate position. The 813 "Martyrs of Otranto" were beheaded by Ottoman soldiers for refusing to convert to Islam.
The pope also canonized two women from Latin America, which seems to be a more fitting way for the first pope from the continent to kick off his tenure. Those two new saints are Laura of St. Catherine of Siena Montoya y Upegui (also the first saint from Columbia) and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala of Mexico.
Digitizing history: 82,000-manuscript collection Vatican Library goes online | Toronto Star: Little things slow down the process of putting 40 million pages of ancient manuscripts in the Vatican Library online: gold or silver in the illuminations, bindings that disintegrate if you open them, getting the synergy right.
“It is important to realize if there is gold or silver in a manuscript. That requires a very particular process because the light will be different,” said Luciano Ammenti, who is in charge of IT at the Vatican and the project to digitize the storied library’s 82,000 manuscripts.
The project, finally up and running a year after its announcement, uses an armada of equipment to capture the vast range of pages amassed by the Vatican over five or six centuries into one of the world’s most valuable collection of books and manuscripts.
Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church - Yahoo! News: By Mary Wisniewski
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority.
Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations.
In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church - the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.
"It has no sting for me," said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. "It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives."
Russian court denies punk band convict Tolokonnikova parole - Yahoo! News: MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court refused to release from prison one of two jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk band so that she can look after her young daughter.
The court on Friday rejected Nadezhda Tolokonnikova's appeal for parole eight months after she was handed a two-year prison sentence for the band's performance of a "punk prayer" in Moscow's main Russian Orthodox cathedral.
Tolokonnikova, 23, has been serving her sentence for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in a prison colony in central Russia, about 550 km (350 miles) southeast of Moscow.
"I've spent enough time in the prison colony. I've had enough of studying it. Half a year is long enough," Tolokonnikova, a philosophy student, told the judge at the parole hearing, the RAPSI legal news agency reported.
She complained of having frequent headaches in jail in Mordovia, a region that has a large number of prisons.
Her lawyer, Irina Khrunova, said Tolokonnikova's five-year-old daughter Gera needed her mother.
The judge said Tolokonnikova's parental status had been taken into account when she was sentenced - prosecutors had asked for three years - and pointed to two reprimands she has received as evidence her conduct has not been sufficiently "corrected", RAPSI reported.
Parasociology: Marian Apparitions at El-Zeitoun and Social Psi (part 5): In such an atmosphere, which mixes religious devotion and amazement, the probabilities that many people projected their belief into what they saw seem quite high. Non-believers like Nelson, as already noted, did saw an intense light, but could not translate what they saw into the “Virgin Mary”. Yet, the original witnessed were Muslim workers, and they thought that a woman was about to commit suicide by jumping from the Church’s roof.
A combination of factors can be invoked to reinforce what was discussed on this blog in previous posts about “prior plausibility structure”. Zeitoun is known in the Coptic tradition as a place where the Virgin rested during the escape to Egypt, and there is an old tree associated with this tradition in Zeitoun. Then, the apparitions were centered on a Church, dedicated to Saint Mary. There were “miracles” seen by witnesses, and there is no doubt that the word about such event spread very quickly. The main colors were blue and white, and sometimes red, the traditional colors associated with the Marian iconography. Finally, the shape of the apparition was construed even by no believers as the one of a woman.
"Looking out west window. From behind cloud, came flying towards my building direction, very low, continued over my building. Wide and long to tips,chevron/boomerang shape. Ghostly-transparent at first like a creature, no flapping of wings,then more mechanical/metallic as it flew past my window looking up. View was head on, underside possibly flaling material at the tail end, like kite material. Whitish/gray color was more vibrant than adjacent city-reflecting clouds.In fear, I grabbed my Holy Bible next to alarm clock, and noted time of observation."
An Oregon City pastor announced Friday he plans to run for governor next year.If there's any doubt, here you go:
Aaron Auer, the founder of Reviving Oregon’s Amazing Roots Ministries in Umpqua, said he’s in the early stages of his campaign and kept tight-lipped about what political party he was seeking a nomination from.
“I am campaigning as a modern day circuit riding preacher,” said Auer, a son of dairy farmers in Douglas County.
“I had a dream. I saw governor and the Lord spoke to me and told me you would be the governor of Oregon,” she later told her husband.
Pope Francis supports crackdown on US nuns - Yahoo! News: VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis supports the Holy See's crackdown on the largest umbrella group of U.S. nuns, dimming hopes that a Jesuit pope whose emphasis on the poor mirrored the nuns' own social outreach would take a different approach than his predecessor.The Vatican has been going after so-called renegade nuns; Ope Francis is just following the Vatican's line. See related posts Vatican's War on Women: this time it's nuns, and Vatican Weighs in on Cult Like Group.
The Vatican last year imposed an overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious after determining the sisters took positions that undermined Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith." Investigators praised the nuns' humanitarian work, but accused them of ignoring critical issues, including fighting abortion.
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| The BVM Visits Holy Girl Scouts |
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| Jesus Feeds Himself to the Children |
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| Follow the Rules! |
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| Pink Angel Watches Over Spot and the Kids as Dad Backs Out |
Google takes Easter heat over Cesar Chavez doodle - CSMonitor.com: Today, the middle letter is a round portrait of the late migrant farm labor union leader Cesar Chavez.
Like many such doodles, it comes on the birthday of the subject. Mr. Chavez was born March 31, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona.
But appearing on Easter – one of the holiest days for hundreds of millions of Christians around the world – the Chavez Google doodle has set off a mini-storm of protest, including (inevitably) in the twitterverse.
“Unbelievable! Their true colors are showing! Yahoo here I come!”I wonder what the outcry would have been if Google had done a Passover graphic, or better yet, something like this:
“Damn Google…. No Easter wishes from those Atheists.”
“Better a dead lefty, them a risen Lord.”
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| Venus of Willendor, Europe, approximately 25,1000 B.C.E. |
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| Apparently, NOT so. . . |
Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that, yes, Ishtar was associated with fertility and sex. However, her symbols were the lion, the gate and the eight-pointed star; I can’t find any evidence of eggs or rabbits symbolically belonging to her. And Easter has nothing to do with her.Article has good points and in the specific case of Ishtar/Easter, okay then. But on the other hand, seems like missing the point, a lot of energy nitpicking the obvious.
I was nine, probably ten. In my thin green Girl Scout
uniform, badge filled sash, heavy white oxfords, little white socks. I
knew that there was some mix-up somehow, some weird thing but no proof
or even evidence. Gut feelings from a ten year old didn’t count for
much. So my grandmother dropped me off at the Parish Hall, where our
Girl Scout meetings were held, and drove off. I knew something was wrong
when I noticed ... nothing. No other cars, people, little Brownies or
my sisters in green. The heavy dark brown doors of the hall were shut,
locked. So there I was. Alone in the quiet Saturday schoolyard.
Everything shut up; school, hall, even the church. So I waited, trying
not to be scared, knowing that eventually my grandmother would return to
pick me up. In the meantime, I waited. A Staten Island resident stunned the host of New York 1 program "The Call" by suggesting that gays should be beheaded in accordance with Sharia law.
Identifying himself as Chris from Willowbrook, N.Y., the caller noted, "I'm Muslim and I believe 110 percent in Sharia law. Sharia law needs to be implemented in the United States because that's the only way this deviant lifestyle will be corrected."
"In his most significant break with tradition yet, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of two young women at a juvenile detention center — a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.
No pope has ever washed the feet of a woman before, and Francis' gesture sparked a debate among some conservatives and liturgical purists, who lamented he had set a "questionable example." Liberals welcomed the move as a sign of greater inclusiveness in the church."
Apartheid? Anne Bayefsky notes that “there were once an estimated 900,000 Jews” in the Muslim world, “but today there are less than a few thousand. They were given a choice: Die, convert or flee.” That’s apartheid. The slaughter of gays across the Muslim world: that’s apartheid. The persecution of Christians across the Muslim world: that’s apartheid. The prohibition of non-Muslims from even entering Mecca: that’s apartheid. Muslims are freer in Israel than in any Muslim country.
Religious Trauma Syndrome: How Some Organized Religion Leads to Mental Health Problems:
Dr. Marlene Winell is a human development consultant in the San Francisco Area. She is also the daughter of Pentecostal missionaries. This combination has given her work an unusual focus. For the past twenty years she has counseled men and women in recovery from various forms of fundamentalist religion including the Assemblies of God denomination in which she was raised. Winell is the author of Leaving the Fold - A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving their Religion, written during her years of private practice in psychology.Link found at Truthout.
The Right Revd Katharine Jefferts Schori has compounded the offence of being the highest-ranking woman in the Anglican church by saying, in her first sermon since her election as 26th presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, that "Mother Jesus gives birth to a new creation - and you and I are his children."
"Conservative anger was fuelled [by this] yesterday," reported the Telegraph gleefully, but in fact, notes Revd Dr Liz Carmichael, fellow and tutor in theology at St John's College, Oxford, they'd have really to be quite conservative to get so vexed: "There is a strong, accepted tradition of feminist thinking in the mainstream church."
The point, she says, is "that in orthodox Christianity you don't assign gender to God. 'Father' is simply a metaphor for a figure of authority" - which doesn't make God a man, but makes it more important that His feminine qualities - gentleness and nurturing - be emphasised. The same goes for Jesus: regardless of his actual sex, "son of God" is a metaphor for an all-encompassing filial relationship.
China Bans Reincarnation Without Government Permission | Transmissions: n one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.” But beyond the irony lies China’s true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region’s Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country.
Magdi Allam, Muslim Convert, Leaves Catholic Church, Says It's Too Weak Against Islam: Allam, who has called Islam an "intrinsically violent ideology," said his main reason for leaving the church was its perceived "religious relativism, in particular the legitimization of Islam as a true religion."
"Europe will end up being subjugated to Islam," he warned in Il Giornale, unless it "finds the courage to denounce Islam as incompatible with our civilization and fundamental human rights," and to "banish the Quran for inciting hatred, violence and death towards non-Muslims." Europeans also need to "condemn Sharia as a crime against humanity" and to "stop the spread of mosques."
Jesus the Magician - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Jesus the Magician: Charlatan or Son of God? is a 1978 book by Morton Smith arguing that the historical Jesus was a magician who "sprang from a Galilean strain of Semitic paganism" (p. 68).h/t to Professor Hex for link.
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| source: Wikipedia nun, Ireland, 1964 |
One of my recurring dreamscapes. This one is what is labeled "downtown" or "East L.A." in my dream, but it isn't really. It's my own dreamscape; a large boulevard, busy with traffic, pedestrians, lots of theaters and shops and restaurants. It's considered the "poor" section and sort of the "end" of town/dream place, but it doesn't seem that way. I'm a little nervous every time I'm here; I'm in the minority for one thing. A woman, white, alone. But no one really cares. It's slightly hilly here, and while the boulevard is very big and bright and busy, just across the way are residential streets; lots of homes. Hills in the distance.
So I'm roaming around here, a little lost, as I always am when in this place. Not too familiar with the location. This time, I'm a nun. Completely outfitted in a black and white habit. I know I'm a nun, but I also seem to have some kind of amnesia. I don't know where I "work" or what my name is. I don't know why I'm a nun, or how it all works. I just know I am. I'm okay with being a nun and feel sure of what that's all about, even though I don't know the name of my order, or even if I belong to one.
I'm aware of the looks I'm getting; people are fine with me being a nun but they assume I won't "get" things. That I won't enjoy the Klezmer musicians and their fantastic music as I walk by them playing in a storefront. That I won't think the slightly off color jokes passengers tell on the bus are funny. Etc.
I'm on this bus, and a little worried, because really, I have no idea where I'm supposed to go, let alone know how to get there. Hell, let alone know who I am!
But while I'm lost and am not sure of who I am, I seem to be all right, considering. I am very sure of my "nun-ness" even though I'm not sure if my idea is what other nuns might think. I assume there are other nuns -- as I say, I just find myself here and without an order, without a name for that order, or even if there is an order. I'm a sort of lone nun.
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Half of girls in South Sudan forced to marry - Yahoo! News:
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The 17-year-old beaten to death for refusing to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. The teen dragged by her family to be raped to force her into marrying an elderly man. They are among 39,000 girls forced into marriage every day around the world, sold like cattle to enrich their families.More than one-third of all girls are married in 42 countries, according to the U.N. Population Fund, referring to females under the age of 18. The highest number of cases occurs in some of the poorest countries, the agency figures show, with the West African nation of Niger at the bottom of the list with 75 percent of girls married before they turn 18. In Bangladesh the figure is 66 percent and in Central African Republic and Chad it is 68 percent.
Whats the difference between Hoodoo and Voodoo? - Yahoo! Answers
"Hoodoo and Voodoo are both practiced in Louisiana and have many things in common. However, there are differences between the two. Voodoo is a religion and Hoodoo is an African American system of folk magickal practice that has typically been handed down from generation to generation. Many Hoodoo practitioners in Louisiana are Roman Catholic and also practice some form Spiritualism or Spiritism. They do not typically invoke the loas (African deities) as in Voodoo, and instead use Catholic Saints that represent the loas. This Catholic shroud is the result of a historical atmosphere wherein the only legal religion permitted in the state of Louisiana from the 1600s to 1812 was Roman Catholicism. There is no conflict between those who practice Voodoo and those who practice Hoodoo in Louisiana and they are perfectly complementary. "
Underworld saint becoming more popular in US - Yahoo! News: Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others — many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.
Clad in a black nun's robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.
