A theological review of The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Jewish date:  19 ’Adhar Ri’shon 5774 (Parashath Wayyaqhel).

Today’s holidays:  Chaoflux (Discordianism), Feast Day of St. Señor Wenches (Church of the SubGenius), Narconon Day (Scientology).

Given how bad The Mummy was—theologically and otherwise—I considered not reviewing its two sequels.  (Seriously.  That movie would have been noticeably more theologically accurate had they had the Egyptian priests pray “Hail to the Sun God! / He really is a fun god! / Ra!  Ra!  Ra! / Ra!  Ra!  Ra!”, which is silly, but at least contains some authentic Egyptian theology.)  I watched them anyway.  The people who made them seem to have tried to make them less obviously stupid and more entertaining in the style of the Indiana Jones movies, but both sequels still have stupidity problems.  

WARNING:  MERCILESS SPOILER ALERT! 

The problem is not merely that people who accidentally revived a mummy and had to deal with killing it again would be well advised to keep away from Egypt and everything even remotely Egyptian for life.  These sequels both share the original’s serious flaw that rising of dead rulers who might bring about the end of the World as we know it could have easily been prevented.

The Mummy Returns makes an attempt at constructing a theology for this series.  Long ago, a defeated warrior, the Scorpion King, pledged his soul to the Egyptian god Anubis in exchange for victory and revenge against his enemies.  Anubis accepted his bargain, and when the Scorpion King was victorious, He took the Scorpion King and his army.  And now the threat is that the a cult led by Meela Nais, the reincarnation of Anck-su-namun (the love interest of the bad guy from the last film), will resurrect Imhotep (the bad guy from the last film), and Imhotep will defeat the awakened Scorpion King and gain the latter’s powers, thus letting him bring about the end of the World as we know it.

Authenticity check:  I am not an expert on ancient Egyptian religion by any means, but this sounded wrong, so I looked up Anubis.  It turns out that Anubis was the god of the afterlife, not the counterpart of Satan.  A Faustian bargain with Anubis makes no sense, as the Scorpion King’s soul was destined to be delivered to the care of Anubis no matter what.  And since all mortals must eventually go to Anubis, unless he turns into a pathological over-worker, He has no real motivation to drum up business by getting more humans killed in the short term.  A better choice for an evil god would have been Set, who, if memory serves correctly, came to be identified as evil.  As for Anubis or any other god making it possible for any mortal to gain end-of-the-World powers of destruction, I cannot recall anything like that happening in the stories of any religion.  (If anyone has an example of this, please let me know.)  Such power belongs to gods and beings operating on the level of gods alone, and for them to make in attainable by mortals is to confer godhood.  As Imhotep and the Scorpion King, unlike the Pharaohs, have no claim to godhood, such power is inappropriate for them.

I would also like to note that reincarnation is not something I have ever heard about the ancient Egyptians believing in.  I am aware they seriously believed in the afterlife and made preparations for it.  If anyone is aware of the ancient Egyptians believing that we come back, please let me know.  The form presented, in which Anck-su-namun somehow requires her original soul being restored to her despite being reincarnated, makes no sense.

In obvious symmetry, it was not just Anck-su-namun who was reincarnated.  Evelyn O’Connell, the female lead, is the reincarnation of Nefertiri, daughter of Seti I, and she spends a nice chunk of the film regaining memories from that previous life.  Anck-sun-namun and Nefertiri did not like each other at all, to the extent that they fought in some sort of combat for entertainment of Seti I’s court (or more likely, given how they were dressed, the entertainment of emotionally immature male viewers) and took what they were doing as something more serious than a friendly match.  Likewise, Meela/Anck-sun-namun and Evelyn fight extremely seriously and try to kill each other.

If the name “Nefertiri” sounds familiar, you probably have seen The Ten Commandments, where she is wife of Pharaoh Raameses II.  Pharaoh Seti I is mentioned by name in The Prince of Egypt, where he is the father of Raameses II.  Nefertari (correct spelling), Raameses II, and Seti I were all real people, though I cannot confirm at this time who Nefertari’s father was.  As the writers of this film show no theological or historical sophistication, Nefertari was most likely co-opted as someone convenient and preexisting to oppose Anck-su-namun rather than for deeper reasons.  There was also a real Imhotep, but he lived much earlier than Seti I and company.

Pretty much everything else religious in The Mummy Returns is minor, such as small prayers asking for protection.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, while retaining many of the same characters as The Mummy Returns, changes the setting to China, thus throwing out alleged theological connections to Egypt.  The only real connections to religion in this film are some Buddha sculptures.  I would like to mention, however, that Shangri-La appears prominently in this film.  From popular culture, one might think that Shangri-La is a place from Buddhism or Chinese traditional religion.  It is not.  Shangri-La is a purely fictional place from James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon, published in 1933.  Shangri-La may be inspired by Shambhala, a place from Tibetan Buddhist tradition, but that is a topic for me to research another time.

Oh, I would like to note that ancient booby-trapped tombs, such as those portrayed in this series and the Indiana Jones series, do not exist.  I looked it up.  Over time they would break down and stop working, and the ancients never mentioned creating such things  Instead, ancient Egyptian tombs were frequently broken into soon after they were sealed.  One can argue that booby-trapped tombs make for a good action sequences, which is fine if they are backed up with a story good enough to counterbalance historical inaccuracies—just so long as one does not take such things seriously.

Overall classification:  Action movies with Indiana Jones envy.

Theological rating:  D- for The Mummy Returns (for recognizing that the ancient Egyptians had gods who interacted with humans, but still screwing up massively) and I for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (for lack of theological content and failing to deal with the wretched lack of theology in its predecessors).

A theological review of The Mummy (1999)

Jewish date:  18 ’Adhar Ri’shon 5774 (evening) (Parashath Wayyaqhel).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Day of St. Isaac Asimov (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of Giordano Bruno the Martyr (Thelema), Quirinalia (Celtic Neopaganism).

It has been pointed out to me that I often give negative reviews.  This being Divine Misconceptions, the blog in which I look at religious fallacies and misinformation, that is to be expected regularly.  However, the other day a friend of mine lent me a disk-on-key which had The Mummy Trilogy on it (among other things), and I watched The Mummy this morning, at it is of such quality that I must apologize to the reader (but not the people who made it) for the tone of what I am about to write.

WARNING:  SPOILERS AHEAD.

To put it bluntly, The Mummy is a stupid movie.  Now, there is material which, despite being stupid in some aspect, nevertheless is very enjoyable.  For example, Gilligan’s Island is considered a stupid show, but the humor holds up well enough that it is still enjoyable, especially when humorous.  Or consider Galaxy Quest, which has obvious holes in the plausibility large enough to fly a starship through, but nevertheless is a hilarious parody of Star Trek and related material.  

Unlike such material, The Mummy is stupid to the core, starting with the basic premise.  Yes, it is conceivable that the high priest of Egypt Imhotep might have an affair with the mistress of the Pharaoh Seti I, Anck-su-Namun, but that is dangerously stupid, especially since they do not have the sense to carry on their meetings somewhere no one would see them together.  And it would stupid of them to murder Seti I when he confronts them; that is asking for retribution.  And it would be stupid for Anck-su-Namun to commit suicide, expecting Imhotep to resurrect her, as he might fail.  And it would be stupid for Seti’s guards, once they catch Imhotep and stop him from resurrecting Anck-su-Namun, to put a horrible curse on him which there is even the slightest possibility that he might escape and cause the end of the World as we know it.  And even more stupid, the guards did not even have the sense to destroy the book that could be used to free Imhotep, the key to open the book, and the map to find him.  And because of all this stupidity, Imhotep gets accidentally freed, people get mutilated and killed, and there is the very real threat of disaster.  This is made even worse by the characters sometime in the 1920s, seeking Imhotep’s treasure, also acting stupidly.  Such a huge mass of stupidity, untempered by anything which could mitigate it (such as making it a parody of monster-of-the-week films or imbuing it with dead-on psychological fidelity), utterly wrecks suspension of disbelief and wrecks the entire film.

This weapons-of-mass-destruction-grade stupidity is clearly reflected in The Mummy’s approach to religion:  complete incompetence.  There is no attempt whatsoever at theology or plausible depiction of religion.  Despite Imhotep being a high priest of the ancient Egyptian religion, one would never know it from his speech and behavior.  He does not speak in religious terms, nor does he perform any religious practices; the nearest he comes is to try to resurrect Anck-su-Namun magically.  His priests, who were mummified alive for no apparent reason, act no more religiously; they are just so many extras to be controlled by other mortals.  To be sure, God and Allah are mentioned by other characters, but only in minor prayers wishing others success.  The most religious action in the movie is when Imhotep rises, a total idiot starts praying to the gods of a number of religions (and Buddha, who is not properly a god), hoping that at least one will answer him.  The freeing of Imhotep also unleashes the Ten Plagues; this is a bizarre misreading of Exodus, where they are a punishment on the Egyptians (including their priests) from YHWH, not something unleashed by an Egyptian priest.  The writers are also unaware that the magi are the priests of Zoroastrianism, not a secret society meant to keep Imhotep from being freed.

Your humble blogger would also like to note that whoever wrote this film has no idea what a mummy is.  Real mummies (at least in Egypt) were meant to let the dead have an afterlife.  The internal organs of bodies were removed, and the bodies carefully preserved so that they would not decay.  The souls of the dead could then dwell within their bodies indefinitely.  The dead were thus provided with all the necessities of life (or afterlife), including food.  The Mummy, on the other hand, inverts the original intent and treats mummification as torture.  Hence Imhotep’s priests are mummified (incorrectly) alive and Imhotep is sealed away to be tortured by beetles forever.  If Seti’s guards really wanted to do something horrible to him, they should have killed him and destroyed his body so his soul would have nowhere to go.

Overall classification:  Stupid horror film with weak attempts at humor.

Theological rating:  F (like the rest of the film, stupid).

Ḥanukkah-based advertising, shark attacks, and a music video

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Ṭeveth 5771 (Parashath Vayyiggash).

Today’s holidays:  Day 8 of Ḥanukkah (Judaism), Bl. Juan Diego (Roman Catholicism), The Martyrdom of St. Kenny (Church of the Subgenius).

Topic 1:  I have had more opportunities to go out searching for Ḥanukkah-based advertising.  Given enough looking, I did find some vendors on ’Aḥuzah Street in Ra‘ananah, Israel, trying to get into the Ḥanukkah spirit.  First, the previously mentioned Megamind poster:

Note the complete lack of Ḥanukkah imagery.  The only connection to Ḥanukkah is that is when it is in theaters.  The blue guy clearly has nothing on the Grinch.

There were also a few restaurants where menoroth were lit.

The complete lack of any Ḥanukkah theme in either restaurant gave the impression that these menoroth were lit in fulfillment of the commandment of lighting the menorah, not as an advertising ploy.

There were some menoroth placed in windows that did look more like advertising ploys.

What makes me think these menoroth are advertising ploys is that they were never lit and thus did not fulfill the actual purpose of the menorah.  The first three are clearly meant to be artistic, the first residing in an art shop and the next two in a flower shop.  (And no, I have no idea what the Seven Dwarves are doing there.)  The last menorah resides in a hair-styling shop.  In no case was there any attempt at a general Ḥanukkah theme or anything over the top.

This is the biggest, boldest advertising I found for any Ḥanukkah events, and only the bottom two occur on Ḥanukkah.  Unless you read Hebrew, you would never know this.  Note the complete lack of sparkle and flair.

Conclusion:  Commercialization of Ḥanukkah has not occurred here in Ra‘ananah.  Let’s pray it stays that way.

Also:  The point of the menorah is to spread the message of the victory of the Maccabees and the triumph of Judaism over the ancient Greek religion.  Thus I must note this menorah put up by Ḥabbadh/the Lubavitchers:

Yes, that is on the top of a multistory building.  And big enough to be seen easily from the ground.  (Though not the easiest menorah to photograph.)  Now that’s publicity.

Topic 2:  “Egyptian Shark Attack: Jews Not Jaws?”.  This report deals with probably the silliest anti-Semitism in a long time:  the claim that Mosadh is behind recent shark attacks in the Red Sea.  And, no, I cannot make up something like this.  And I would like to note that if Israel had the technology to control the behavior of sharks, they probably would not waste it on causing shark attacks on random swimmers, but use it to cause animal attacks on terrorists instead.

Topic 3:  To conclude, I would like to note this virally spreading Ḥanukkah video by Yeshiva University’s Maccabeats: “Candlelight”:



(Thank you, Mom, for noting this one.)  The emphasis in this song is excellent.  This is not a song about dancing and food.  And it is not about the miracle of the oil; this miracle is really minor, for if it had not occurred, Ḥanukkah would still be worth celebrating.  The emphasis is on the victory and Torah study, right where the emphasis of the holiday belongs.

Peace and happy Ḥanukkah.

Aaron

Israel is a real place

Greetings.

Jewish date:  26 ’Elul 5770 (Parashath Ha’azinu).

Today’s holidays:  Ramadan (Islam), Laylat-al-Qadr (Lailat ul Qadr, Lailat-ul Qadr, Night of Power) (Islam), Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Henry Louis Mencken (Church of the SubGenius).

Topic 1:  A big backlog on anti-Semitism and the Arab-Israeli War:  “Selective Outrage: Israeli Facebook Photos Spark Media Circus”, “Action Alert: CBC Drags a False Equivalence”, “EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Dramatic Reunion Ten Years After The Photo That Started It All”, “Iranian youth athlete withdraws from fight with Israel competitor” (translation:  Iran would rather force its taekwondo fighters to chicken out like wimps rather than let them lose with honor), “Lancet Editor "Responds" to HR Critique”, “Ha'aretz Journalist's Speaking Tour: Sponsored by Anti-Zionists”, “BBC Panorama Shocker: Balanced Review of Gaza Flotilla Incident”, “Incitement is not one-sided”, “Dead Jews and living trees” (some people have completely missed what the Holocaust is supposed to teach us), “The Root of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Classic Islamic View of Jews”, “The Despair of Zion” by Walter Reich, and “Egyptian minister calls on Muslims to flood J’lem” (completely forgetting that any Islamic identity of Yerushalayim is completely forged and that Muslim pilgrims there will be giving money to Jews, directly or indirectly, if they want to eat, sleep, or travel).

Topic 2:  I need to start writing about my pilot trip to Israel, my future home, and I still do not know where to start.  So let us start with something basic which at first sounds ridiculously obvious:  Israel is a real place.  Rationality requires us to try to recognize things as they are, for what they are.  The Israel I visited is not a religious fantasy of a Jewish or ecumenical utopia.  Neither is it a successor to Nazi Germany, as anti-Semites would have us believe.  In many respects, Israel is a lot like the United States, being a fully modern, Western country.  This includes the general rule of law and familiar products and technologies.

So how does Israel differ from the United States?  The most obvious (and relevant to this blog) is that while most of the West is predominantly Christian, Israel is predominantly Jewish.  There is a sizeable Muslim minority, and there are Christians, Bahá’ís, and members of other religions as well; but I stayed within areas with Jewish majorities, and this was reflected even within the secular culture.  (I do plan to go into this further as I discuss my trip.)  And while in the United States people are often not so visibly demonstrative of their religion, people who look religious are everywhere in Israel.  Even in Tel ’Aviv, the great bastion of Israeli secularism, there were some people who were visibly observant Jews, including one woman I talked with at a company at which I interviewed.  To be sure, there are enclaves, and whole neighborhoods are set up with particular religious groups in mind.  But in many places, people of different religious strains mix freely and without incident.  This includes on buses; despite what you may have heard about Ḥaredhim (sometimes derisively called “ultra-Orthodox”) holding by segregated buses, I saw plenty riding ordinary, mixed buses.

Israel is also a visibly multilingual society.  In the United States, government-issue signs (such as for traffic and street names) are usually only in English.  In Israel, they are typically in Hebrew, the international language English, and Arabic.  And while the most common language spoken on the street and found in non-governmental signs is indeed Hebrew, I also encountered a fair share of English, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, French, Yiddish, and what was probably Amharic.  One may also easily end up talking to people in languages other than Hebrew.  Someone at one synagogue did try speaking to me in Yiddish, which I do not know.  (I got a C in Yiddish in college and have made no attempts to study it since.)  Several people, upon hearing my American accent even when speaking Hebrew, switched to addressing me in English.  (I myself must admit guilt at switching too frequently from Hebrew to English when I had trouble making myself understood in Hebrew.  Hebrew is not my native language, and it requires more mental effort for me to speak or understand.  And I am under the impression that my accent is not the easiest for Israelis to understand either.)

I need to move on to other things today.  I hope to write about the Old City of Yerushalayim tomorrow.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “The transition”:

And again, if anyone knows anything about where this notion of black cats being evil comes from, please let me know.

Peace.

Aaron

We must stop the enemy from cutting down trees in their own territory!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  Jewish date:  24 ’Av 5770 (Parashath Re’eh).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Day of John Vianney (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Charles Addams (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell Mott's: get the scabs out of your applesauce!”.

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism:  Lebanon’s unprovoked attack on Israel yesterday is covered in “Special Alert: Media Collusion in Lebanon Ambush” and “Border Clash: Confirmations on the Day After”.  One would think that the Lebanese could come up with a better excuse to attack Israeli soldiers and get five people killed than the Israelis doing border maintenance by cutting down a tree in Israeli territory.  “Shimon Peres versus the Brits” deals with just how long and how deep British anti-Semitism towards Mandatory Palestine and Israel has been; apparently the British have been stabbing Israel in the back at least far back as 1921 by violating their commitments in Mandatory Palestine by giving all of it east of the Jordan River to the emir of Mecca.  “Demonizing Israel is bad for the Palestinians” argues that media focus on alleged atrocities against stateless Arabs in Israel keeps the focus off real atrocities against “Palestinians“ in Arab countries.

Topic 2:  Also about Muslim misbehavior:  “How a Tolerant Country Can Avoid Being a Doormat for Intolerant Countries” suggests that freedom of religion should not be unconditional but should instead be conditioned on respect for the freedom of religion of others.  “Treat others as they treat you” or “tit for tat” may sound downright selfish (and like something right out of LaVeyan Satanism), but Muslims abusing freedom of religion in the West is well-documented, and self-defense is a commonly recognized moral behavior.  (Exception:  Jesus in Matthew 5:38-42 and Luke 6:27-31, the whole business of “turning the other cheek”, which at least on the surface seems to value not resisting one’s enemies, which Jesus is reported as doing to the point of allowing himself to be crucified when he easily could have escaped.)  Do note that if we are tolerant of intolerance, then the intolerant win and there is no longer any tolerance.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “We guard the gates of HELL!”:


Peace.

Aaron

Louis Farrakhan is no scholar

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Pineḥas).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Phil Spector (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Stop Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms”.

Topic 1:  The daily dose of anti-Semitism gets weirder.  “Louis Farrakhan calls Jews the “worst enemy” of African Americans” and “Farrakhan charges Jews with 'anti-black' behavior” report that Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, infamous for a long history of inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric, recently sent a letter to many major American Jewish groups, assailing Jews for alleged anti-black behavior above and beyond anything else anyone else has done, with tones of a conspiracy “theory”.  Bizarrely, the letter also asks for opening dialog.  (The rhetorical faux pas should be obvious even to people who are not particularly bright.)  The response of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is described in “ADL Slams Farrakhan For Blaming Jews For Financial Ruin Of Blacks”.  The most worthwhile thing your humble blogger managed to dig up in looking into this story is the ADL’s “Jew-Hatred as History”, which analyzes what Farrakhan tries to pass off as scholarship; he is apparently fond of overgeneralization, quoting out of context, blaming groups for the sins of individuals, historical revisionism, racism, blaming children for their parents’ crimes, and stereotyping.  This is definitely worth reading to learn how not to do scholarship.

More on anti-Semitism:  “Tom Friedman Slanders Israel” (dealing with double standards) and “Camp David ( 2000 )”.

Topic 2:  More religious persecution:  “48 Va. inmates isolated because of hair” (Rastafarians are supposed to wear long hair) and “After Failed Attempt of Forced Islamization Egyptian Christian Family Under Siege” (and this is happening in a country which is supposed to be an ally of the United States and receiving US aid).

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “MANTISYAHU”:


Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Humanism is now officially a religion!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  19 Siwan 5770 (Parashath Shelaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Day of Justin (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Daniel Boone (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Too extreme even for FOX.”, “Take Action: Take action for human rights!”, “Demand transparency in Wall Street reform negotiations.”, “Working Families » Take Action!”, “PETITION TO CONGRESS: Save Net Neutrality! | Progressive Change Campaign Committee”, “Repower America | Tell BP: Spill the Truth!”, and “Tell EPA: Take away BP's billions in federal contracts”.

Pardon me if this seems abbreviated, but Blogger malfunctioned, and I had to redo a lot of this.

Topic 1:  “Humanists join Hertfordshire Police chaplaincy team”.  Humanism is now effectively a religion, at least in the United Kingdom.  Non-religions do not have chaplains.

Topic 2:  More religious persecution:  “Egyptian Convert Endures Life at a Standstill – on the Run”, “Muslim Youths in Nigeria Destroy Church Buildings, Pastor’s Home”, “Second Wave of Deportations Hits Foreign Christians in Morocco”, and “Nigeria: 6 dead in religion-fueled violence in Jos”.  So much for Islam being the “religion of peace”.

Topic 3:  “How Islamists Came to Dominate European Islam” discusses how Europe and the USA got into the habit of trying to ally themselves to Islamists.  Needless to say, this approach has never worked.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor: “DEMON KITTEN FOUNDZ GAITWAY 2 NETHERWURLDZ”:

I had no idea the netherworld could be reached through a hole in a dashboard…

Peace.

Aaron

On a masterpiece of failing to connect the dots

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 ’Iyyar 5770 (Parashath Behar-Beḥuqqothay).

Today’s holidays:  Day 25 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Rodney Allen Rippey (Church of the SubGenius), Beltaine (Wicca).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save BioGems: Take Action: Put an End to Commercial Whaling”.

Topic 1:  “Corrections, Clarifications, and Outright Obfuscations”.  More anti-Semitic, bungled reporting of the news, including blaming Israel for the death of an Arab kid who was really quite alive and well and in Egyptian custody for illegally crossing the border.  (Oops.)  You would think reporters would do a little fact-checking.

Topic 2:  “Religion’s Summer of Discontent”.  Rav Shmuley Boteach discusses current public perception of religion, noting its perceived “uselessness” and “irrelevancy” to many due to scandals and focusing tightly on one or a few issues to the exclusion of other, often more pressing concerns.  His solution is concentrate more on those pressing concerns, such as through his initiative “ Turn Friday Night Into Family Night”.  Definitely notable is his asking Pope Benedict XVI to work with him.

Topic 3:  “Some profit from wives despite French polygamy ban”.  There was no way your humble blogger was going to not mention this article.  Here is a little exercise for the reader.  This article deals with the problem of polygamy—or to be more specific, polygyny, marriage of one man to more than one woman simultaneously—among immigrants in France, which is subject to abuses, both of the women involved and the welfare system.  (This sort of thing should be offensive even to those who see nothing wrong with polygyny itself; plural marriage does not justify lying, cheating, stealing, and treating one’s wives and children badly.)  Now, this article goes into great detail of what is wrong (practically) with polygyny.  It even says a little what countries the abusers are from.  But what religion do they belong to?  Take a few minutes, look over the article, and see what it says.

Have you found the answer?

The answer is:  the article never says.  It starts off mentioning the issue of Muslim immigrants wearing burqas, but the subject of religion is quickly dropped and not addressed at all regarding polygyny.  Which is notable since there are only two major religions in the West which are problem-children when it comes to polygyny.  The first is Mormonism, primarily in its non-mainstream varieties.  Mormonism, while having spread beyond the United States, is barely ever mentioned as having a presence in Europe; your humble blogger has never heard of the pro-polygyny variants as having reached Europe at all.  The other major problem-child religion when it comes to polygyny is Islam.  Unlike mainstream Mormonism, which repudiated polygyny, Islam still allows men to have up to four wives.  The spread of Islam in Europe and the difficulties in integrating Muslims into general European culture are also major worries over there.  The perpetrators of polygyny mentioned in this article are almost certainly Muslims, yet the author of the article completely fails to acknowledge any connection.  Yes, blaming Muslims for problems which are created by Muslims but not members of other religious groups (including agnostics and atheists) might be considered politically incorrect, but failing to recognize something clearly relevant to the problem is not going to do anything to fix it.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor: “Honey, call the exorcist.”׃


Peace.

Aaron

Near-death experiences are not proof of an afterlife

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Shemini).

Today’s holidays:  Day 9 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Birthday of the Buddha (Buddhism), Thursday in the Octave of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast for the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema), Feast of St. Geronimo (Church of the Subgenius).

Worthy causes of the day:  “ColorOfChange.org:  Keep the Internet open” and “Save the Critically Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves - The Petition Site”.

Image of a ketamine molecule via Wikipedia

Topic 1:  “The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience: A Central Role for the NMDA Receptor”. This may go over the heads of many readers.  The gist is that the author, Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen, claims that near-death experiences (NDEs)—the whole light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel business—can be reproduced by use of the drug ketamine.  That is not why I am noting this paper.  Instead, I would like to note this fragment:

Unfortunately, some scientists have been deterred from conducting research upon the NDE by claims that NDE's are evidence for life after death, and sensationalist media reports which impart the air of a pseudoscience to NDE studies. Irrespective of religous beliefs, NDE's are not evidence for life after death on simple logical grounds: death is defined as the final, irreversible end. Anyone who 'returned' did not, by definition, die - although their mind, brain and body may have been in a very unusual state.

One might quibble with Dr. Jansen on the definition of death; clinical death, in which the heart stops beating and the lungs stop breathing occasionally is reversible.  But, yes, a near-death experience is an experience which one may have near death.  Proof of an afterlife would require communication from someone who is actually dead.

Note:  I do believe in an afterlife, but only because I believe in a religion which holds by the existence of an afterlife—not due to any evidence which demonstrates that an afterlife exists.

Topic 2:  More on current anti-Semitism:  “Return of the Living Dead” and “FT: Promoting Demonization & Boycotts”.  The first article deals with the recent claim that the Gazan boy Muhammad Zen Ismail Al-Farmawi was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces.  Reports of his demise were premature, as he was found to be in Egyptian custody after illegally crossing the border.  This is only the latest in a series of events reported by “Palestinians” which turned out to be wildly inaccurate and biased to make Israel look bad.  The second deals with abuse of the term “apartheid” to make it apply to Israel.  (Shades of Nineteen Eighty-Four.)

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “I think I’ll pass, but thanks!”  (And I very much doubt that is what was intended when they made that movie.)

Peace.

Aaron

Anti-Semitism and misapplied technology

Greetings.

Jewish date:  10 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Beshallaḥ.)

Today’s holidays:  Conversion of St. Paul (Roman Catholicism); Feast of Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople (Greek Orthodox Christianity); Feast of Saint Margarita (Greek Orthodox Christianity).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Demand Quality Pre-K Educators - The Petition Site”, “Keep Health Insurance Accessible for Americans Aged 50 and Higher - The Petition Site”, and “action.firedoglake.com | Tell House Progressives: Stand Up for Real Reform, Vote Down the Senate Bill”.

Topic 1:  More on contemporary anti-Semitism:  “Protesting Anti-Semitism is "Hardline"?” and “Middle East Pride”.  The latter references some particularly improbable accusations.

Topic 2:  Two misapplications of technology:  “Solar-powered Bibles sent to Haiti” and “Egypt mufti wants to put prayer ringtone on silent”.  The former, which are machines which can read the Christian Bible to 300 people at a time, are a waste, since we have a technology going back hundreds of years called “paper” which requires no power whatsoever.  For the price of one machine, one can buy many paper Bibles and thus reach more people, especially if these people share their Bibles, read them out-loud to the illiterate, and discuss their contents with each other.  Not to mention that humans are better suited to teach the illiterate to read than mere machines.  The later article discusses Muslim sacred music being used to tell when someone is calling; understandably, the grand mufti of Egypt considers this inappropriate and potentially confusing.

Image of non-dangerous tefillin via Wikipedia

Topic 3:  The patent absurdity of in-flight panic over tefillin still has the attention of Jewish humorists.  Thus today’s religious humor is “Top 10 Signs that the Guy Putting on Teffilin Next to you on your Flight is Really a Terrorist”.

Peace.

Aaron

Never blindly trust a translation II

Greetings.

Jewish date:  5 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Bo’).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Days of Fabian and Sebastian (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: General Mills Palm Oil Causes Rainforest Destruction”.

Topic 1:  Recently I complained about the inherent flaws of translations.  I gave two examples then showing that a bad translation can give impressions which are wrong.  And now I give another one.  In my reading of the New Testament in Koinē Greek, I am working on the first chapter of Luke, and it so happens that in Luke 1:26 describes Mary as enmnēsteumenēn.  The parallel passage in Mark, verse 1:18, describes her as mnēsteutheisēs.  These words—the same word, expressed a bit differently—is conventionally translated in English as “betrothed”—and this translation is wrong.  From the way the same word is used in the Septuagint versions of Exodus 22:15, Deuteronomy 20:7, Deuteronomy 22:23, Deuteronomy 22:25, Deuteronomy 22:27-28, and Hosea 2:21-22, it clearly means something significantly different.  Judaism recognizes two stages to marriage, ’erusin and nissu’in.  ’Erusin, which is usually contracted by by the groom giving the bride a ring, is not betrothal.  (There is not even a real concept of betrothal in Judaism.)  After ’erusin, the bride is considered a married woman, and if she sleeps with any man other than her husband, she commits adultery.  It is with nissu’in, however, that the husband brings his wife into his domain (symbolically), and the marriage can be consummated.  (It should go without saying that Judaism forbids premarital sex.)  Mary, at the time discussed by these verses, is a me’oreseth and thus already Joseph’s wife, but without the marriage being consummated.  It is for this reason that Joseph in Matthew 1:19 plans to divorce Mary:  she has presumably committed adultery, for which Jewish law requires divorce.  If they had not been actually, then she would not have been forbidden to him, even what she had presumably done is prohibited.  Thus by mistranslation of a single term, the whole incident is given an incorrect interpretation.

Topic 2:  More reports of current anti-Semitism:  “Global National Issues On-Air Clarification After HRC Complaint (January 19, 2010)” and “BBC: Denying Jewish Jerusalem”.  For a twist, “Israel: Bringing Hope Amidst Haiti's Rubble” reports on positive reporting about Israel for a change.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “LOLcat bible book uv Fluffeh, ch 7 v 10 by wonphatcat”:

(Hint:  Matthew 4:18 and Mark 1:17.)

Peace.

Aaron

Bizarre conspiracies and psychologically unrealistic behavior in the Gospels

Greetings.

Jewish date:  2 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Bo’).

Today’s holidays:  Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast of St. Anthony the Great (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Joshmas (Discordianism).

Topic 1:  More religious oppression:  “Two Christians Critically Wounded at Wedding in Pakistan”, “UZBEKISTAN: Illegal Christmas as unregistered religious activity punished”, “Dutch lawmaker fails to avoid hate speech charges” (freedom of speech includes being able to say things others find offensive), and “Copts protest Christmas killings at Cairo cathedral” (they are sick of being treated as second-class citizens).  Meanwhile, Vietnamese Catholics have taken to protesting in a novel way:  “Dong Chiem is becoming a "Mount of Crosses"”

Topic 2:  The more you read something carefully, the more the details stand out.  One of the most controversial questions in the Gospels is who is responsible for the death of Jesus.  The Gospels agree that the Romans did the actual killing, but they shy away from blaming them for it.  If you look in chapters 26-27 of Matthew and chapters 14-15 of Mark, it is the “chief priests” (Sadducees) and “Elders” (= the Sanhedhrin, consisting of Pharisees) who push Pilate to execute Jesus and convince a (presumably Jewish) crowd to cry for the release of the murderous rebel Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus.  This is an unnatural conspiracy.  Under the Roman occupation, the High Priest was a priest (kohen) who got the position by bribing the Romans.  The “chief priests” therefore had every reason to not act against the Romans by pushing for the release of the last person the Romans would have wanted free, Barabbas; if they were ever found out, they would be replaced—if they were very, very lucky.  Furthermore, because the High Priest was corrupt at the time, he and the Sanhedhrin were not on good terms.  They had no reason to cooperate.  Also unnatural is the crowd being so quickly convinced to call for the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus.  Jesus previously is reported as being fawned over by crowds, yet in Matthew 27:25 they take responsibility for the death of Jesus not only on themselves, but for their children as well!  Does any of this seem psychologically credible?  Does any of this not smack of anti-Semitic historical revisionism?

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Apparently, Basement cat felt that 4”:

Hint for the uninitiated:  Revelation 6.

Peace.

Aaron

A backlog of misbehavior: Muslims, Belarus, and PETA—oh my!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wa’erah).

Today’s holidays:  Baptism of the Lord (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save Canada's Woodland Caribou - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  I have a backlog of material on Islamic misbehavior.  (Let’s face it:  no matter how much anyone tries to whitewash Islam, it is still the planet’s most pro-terrorism religion and has practically nothing to do with real peace.)  “America's Terrorism Amnesia” deals with the tendency in the United States (at least in the government) to treat every single incident of Islamic terrorism as if it were an isolated incident and without precedent when in reality the West has been under continuous assault from Islamists hoping to extend Dar al-Islam for decades.  Also noted is that the jihad agains the West is not a conventional war and there is no realistic way of ending it quickly.  On the Arab-Israeli War we have “FAQ: The Peace process with the Palestinians - Dec 2009”, “The Deadly Price of Pursuing Peace”, “The "Mandate for Palestine" is the Best Reply to "Occupation"”, “Israel's Right in the 'Disputed' Territories”, and “Shhh…Mubarak is building a wall”.  And just in case you thought that business in Malaysia complaining about Christians using the term “Allah” to refer to the God of Christianity was over, see “Malaysia appeals 'Allah' for Christians ruling” and “Four Malaysian churches attacked with firebombs in 'Allah' dispute”.  (It is not just in and around Israel that Muslims are sore losers.)

Topic 2:  And, no, it is not just Muslims who misbehave:  “N. Korea, Iran top list of persecutors of Christians”, “BELARUS: "We don't have such persecution here. We're absolutely democratic"” (WRONG), and “BELARUS: Two Catholic parish priests banned from religious activity”.  And on top of all this, even the quasi-religious People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is being bad by using Michelle Obama’s image for one of their advertisements:  “Fur flies over picture of Michelle Obama in ad”.  I think I will stop here before Blogger tells me I have passed the 200-character limit on labels...

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Wen Basement Cat refused to move…”.


Peace.

Aaron

Hate crimes, anti-Semitic libel, and demonic possession

Greetings.

Jewish date:  17 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyishlaḥ).

Today’s holiday:  Saint Day of John Damascene (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Petition For Jewish Rights In Jerusalem And Judea & Samaria” and “MoveOn.org Political Action: Senator Reid: We're Counting on You”.

Topic 1:  “EXCLUSIVE Analysis: Sorry, Islamophobia Pimps – 67% of US Hate Crimes Against Jews”.  This is genuinely surprising, since anti-Semitic hate crimes in the US do not get a lot of press, but this is FBI data being discussed here.  Considering there are a few million Jews in the US, the chances that any Jew being the victim of a hate crime in any given year is going to be on the order of 0.1% (back-of-the-envelope calculation), which would explain why it is easy to forget about the problem:  most Jews in the US are never going to suffer from it.  On the very bright side, religion-based hate crimes in the US are sufficiently rare (measured in per million), that few of any of us, even groups which complain about bias, ever become victims.  This is a nation which early on decided that religious tolerance was a value, and while there are always jerks out there unwilling to tolerate someone who believes differently, the vast majority of us are successful.

Topic 2:  “Stop the Spread of the Swedish Blood Libel”.  I cannot make up the atrocious quality of reporting documented in this article.  The repeated use of falsehoods frequently presented as truth (“factoids”) is a form of argument from repetition and is fallacious.

Topic 3:  Just to end on a lighter topic, some religious humor:  “MOM!! Call the priest!”:



I have no idea where this business of anyone being possessed levitating comes from, and any information on the topic would be appreciated.  I do know that demonic possession, on the other hand, is mentioned a lot in the Gospels, where the possessed manifest mental illness.

Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Non-believers, religious persecution, and a mindbogglingly immoral law

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Toledhoth).

Today’s holiday:  Saint Day of Margaret of Scotland (Roman Catholicism).

Topic 1:  “Non Believers”:  This Dry Bones cartoon deals with how wishful thinking about Islamists never, ever works.  Come to think of it wishful thinking never, ever works, and physical reality never conforms itself to what we want it to be.  Human beings are also pretty stubborn in that way, too.  Sometimes even people recognize the truth they may want to cover it up anyway, e.g., “Memorial to Conn. 9/11 victim halted as town refuses to make reference to 'Muslim terrorists'”.

Topic 2:  More religious persecution:  “Egypt's Copts facing persecution”, “BELARUS: "We have Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims – all the others are sects"”, “”KYRGYZSTAN: Why is new Religious Education Law being hurried?”, “KAZAKHSTAN: "They can meet and pray to God, but the Law says they have to register"”.  Governments trying to dictate or censor the truth does not work either.

Topic 3:  “Phoenix Methodist church loses appeal; can no longer offer meals to the needy”:  I cannot make something like this up.  It makes no sense to me.  A church was feeding the homeless, and for some reason this is considered illegal in a residential zone.  This is a disgraceful violation of freedom of religion—yes, helping the needy is a religious duty—and senselessly antisocial.  May the legislators of Arizona change the law soon, and may everyone break it if they do not.

Peace.

Aaron

The Goldstone Report, appeal to force, and The Golden Compass

Greetings.

Jewish date:  1 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Ro’sh Ḥodhesh (Judaism), Bhai Duj (Diwali, Day 5; Hinduism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Enforce Lower CO2 Emissions to Stop Ocean Acidification”.

Topic 1:  “Exposed: Goldstone & the UN Farce”.  This article on the continuing scandal of the Goldstone Report.  Even Goldstone himself admits that the quality of information in the report leaves much to be desired, e.g., uncritical acceptance of the claims of terrorists, and this information would not be accepted in court.  As such acting upon the Goldstone Report is not justified.

Topic 2:  “Forced Islamization of Christian Conscripts in the Egyptian Army”.  Major rule:  One cannot force people to believe anything, no matter how much one threatens them (appeal to force).  Beating up and killing those who refuse to believe does nothing to prove one’s beliefs are correct.  Lying about what happened afterwards does not help either.

Topic 3:  I have completed chapter 11 of The Golden Compass (Book 1 of His Dark Materials).  Seriously emphasized is this trilogy’s depiction of souls.  I have mentioned before that every human in this world is accompanied by a “dæmon” in animal form, which is some sort of manifestation of the human’s soul.  The form of the dæmon reflects the nature of the human.  Children’s dæmons regularly change shape at will.  Adults, who are more set in their ways, have dæmons limited to a single form.  Usually dæmons are of the sex opposite that of their humans.  (Intuition suggests this may be a veiled reference to sexual preference.)  Dæmons can never get more than a few yards away from their humans, though there is an exception to this rule:  the dæmons of witches can get arbitrarily far away from them.  This may reflect the mystical/occult notion of astral projection, in which the soul is said to separate from the body.  Another species is also depicted as having souls:  polar bears.  For these the soul manifests as thick metallic armor.  Why Philp Pullman chose to have humans and polar bears have physically manifested souls, I have no idea; I am not aware of any religion which holds by such dramatic conceptions of the soul.  Increasingly this book seems less and less to be discussing any real religion and more and more diving into fantastic conceptions.

Peace, and have a happy new month.

Aaron