When is killing justified among the Soldiers of the One?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  3 Marḥeshwan 5771 (Parashath Lekh-Lekha).

Today’s holidays:  Monday of the Twenty-Eighth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St Sid Vicious/St. Nenslo/St. Lt. Colombo (Church of the SubGenius).

Note:  I have finally finished reading The White Goddess by Robert Graves.  I still have such a negative view of it that I intend to title the review “I Spit on Robert Graves”.  However, Graves is not trivially wrong, but rather wrong in a truly ingenious manner.  It will thus take some time to write the review, so please be patient.

Topic 1:  In the interest of catching up, the latest episode of Caprica, “Unvanquished”.



This episode is mostly dedicated to making Sister Clarice (you know, the woman from the monotheistic Soldiers of the One with moral issues) into a psychopath.  The episode begins with a simulation of a bombing of a sports game.  This simulation is presented by Clarice to her superiors as her idea of what they should be doing:  killing people and letting those who are worthy be reborn virtually (incorrectly called “apotheosis”).  Fortunately, Clarice’s superiors do not approve of this plan—after all, murder for the most part is considered an abomination—one of them going so far as to call Clarice’s virtual heaven a “blasphemy”.  She is given no approval to go ahead.  Quite the opposite; despite their being much more tolerant than Clarice, the Blessed Mother of the group is approached, and she reluctantly gives approval to have Clarice killed, they consider her that dangerous.  Lest anyone think they are overreacting, Clarice’s followers murder one of her rivals, and Clarice starts talking to the Blessed Mother to promote her plans.  This episode may be viewed as reflecting Muslim internal politics.

Topic 2:  The daily dose of anti-Semitism (yes, this was coming sooner or later):  “"Squeezing Out Christians and Muslims" - Irish Times Blames Israel” and “MSM, Stone Throwers Collude and Collide In Silwan”.  The former deals with the claim that Jews are to blame for Christian woes in Israel, which can only be accomplished by completely ignoring Muslim persecution of Christians.  The later dissects a recent incident in which photographers collaborated with Muslim stone-throwers to create a photo-op.

Also:  this video makes for dim prospects for peace.



Also:  “The Other Existential Threat” by Daniel Gordis gives an interesting perspective on Iran trying to acquire nuclear weapons.  The jist is that is what is wrong with the situation is not so much that Iran would necessarily use them to wipe out Israel, but rather that Jews would be returned to depending upon the whims of others for their mere survival.  Being dependent on the mercy others just to live was the state Jewry was in before there was a State of Israel.  If anyone needs to be reminded of how well that worked out, see appendix 2 of my “No honesty allowed: a review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”.  The list of anti-Semitic incidents listed there is extensive, and it would have been much longer had I done more research or extended it past the publication of On the Origin of Species.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: ““Letz sharpen clawz”:



Peace.

Aaron

Is Paul the Octopus out to corrupt the West?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  17 ’Av 5770 (Parashath ‘Eqev).

Today’s holidays:  Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Marty Feldman (Church of the SubGenius), Mid-Sha'ban (Islam).

Worthy cause of the day:  “CARE : Defending Dignity - Fighting Poverty :  Let Congress know you want the Haiti assistance bill passed”, “Working Families » Take Action!:  Sign our letter to NY's State Senators”, and “We want the DISCLOSE Act”.

This is a slow religion-news day, and nothing I am working on behind the scenes has come to fruition yet.  (Emphasis on “yet”.  One book I am reading now, The Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai, displays such an amazing determination to commit a type I error (seeing something that is not there) above and beyond the call of duty, despite all the contrary evidence noted therein, that I feel duty bound to write a full-fledged review of it.  But that will not be for a while.)

The alleged spawn of Satan via Wikipedia

In the meantime, at the risk of severely overthinking something, I would like to note the article “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks Octopus Paul”.  Everyone with any sgense knows there is something severely wrong with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Ahmadinejad is not merely a rabid anti-Semite who has advocated genocide.  He is not merely someone who believes that the Mahdi is coming soon and is preparing for it.  He is not even merely someone willing to risk his life and the lives of all Iranians playing a game of nuclear brinkmanship.  This article should give some idea that Ahmadinejad is really crazy:

He claims that the octopus is a symbol of decadence and decay among "his enemies".

Paul, who lives at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre, in Germany, won the hearts of the Spanish by predicting their World Cup victory.

He became an international star after predicting the outcome of all seven German World Cup matches accurately.

However, the Iranian president accused the octopus of spreading "western propaganda and superstition." Paul was mentioned by Mr Ahmadinejad on various occasions during a speech in Tehran at the weekend.

"Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values," he said.

Paul the Octopus’s alleged powers are probably grossly overstated, but clearly not his fault.  Paul, while rather intelligent for an invertebrate, is not a sentient being and almost certainly has no idea what he is allegedly predicting.  Blaming the octopus for something way over his head (or something passing for a head, at any rate) does not make any sense.  Secondly, last your humble blogger heard, there is no world leader expressing serious belief in the powers of Paul the Octopus.  No leader is calling upon Paul for advice or further predictions.  And if Iran is so great when it comes to perfection, why do they have for a leader someone who is probably going to get his country bombed by their archenemy?

Peace to all humans and octopuses.

Aaron

Theological review of Wyrd Sisters (The Discworld Series, book 6)

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 ’Av 5770 (Parasthath Wa’ethḥannan).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Day of Mary Magdalene (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Karl Marx/St. James Whale/ 1/Pi approximation (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of the Scarlet Woman (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “JCRC-NY Write to Rickys”, “ColorOfChange.org:  Put up or shut up:  It's time for prominent Tea Party leaders to step forward and deal with racism within the Tea Party”, “Protect the Future of Fish and Fishing in America - The Petition Site”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: We need Elizabeth Warren at the CFPB!”, and “Forget what Timothy Geithner thinks. We want Elizabeth Warren to police Wall Street.”.

Topic 1:  Wyrd Sisters (The Discworld Series, book 6) by Terry Pratchett.

WARNING:  SPOILERS FOLLOW.  YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP TO TOPIC 2.

This book focuses on parodying the plays of William Shakespeare, particularly Macbeth and Hamlet, not theology.  There are a number of more or less theological ideas dealt with, though.

• Ghosts.  Early in the book King Verence I of Lancre is murdered.  After meeting with Death (apparently a favorite character of Pratchett), Verence remains in his castle as a ghost.  It turns out the castle is filled with the ghosts of royalty—and the kitchen is filled with the spirits of animals eaten by them!  Ghosts interact weakly with material objects and are not visible to anyone except cats, witches, and Death.  Ghosts are also linked to the actual material of the place they died and cannot go far from it.  The only way Verence and a number of other ghosts can leave the castle is to have a brick of it physically carried elsewhere.
• Witches.  Featured in this book is not only Esmerelda “Granny” Weatherwax, but two of her colleagues, Gytha “Nanny” Ogg and Magrat Garlick, as well.  While Nanny Ogg works pretty much along the same lines as Granny Weatherwax (except never having been celebate and dominating a large family), Magrat is a parody of the contemporary “witches” of our world.  E.g., she coerces Granny and Nanny into forming a coven with periodic sabats, she wears tacky silver jewelry, she likes dancing, she believes in “Nature’s wisdom and elves and the healing power of colors and the cycle of the seasons” and pretty much any flaky New Age idea the reader can think of.  There is also the idea that witches are supposed to stay out of political matters; this is not a genuine traditional or New Age concept about witches, but rather an inversion of the behavior of the witches in Macbeth.  Duke Felmet, who murders King Verence I and claims the throne, accuses the witches of interfering in politics, as they make convenient scapegoats.
• Cleanliness = moral purity.  Duke Felmet, like Lady Macbeth, feels guilty over his crime.  In a rather extreme version of the equation, he does extensive damage to his hands trying to rid them of the (real or imagined) blood of his victim.  (I know:  ew!  While much of the book is funny, in this item Pratchett goes into the realm of the cringe-worthy.)
• Granny Weatherwax discovers that the Kingdom of Lancre has what might be described as an “overmind” consisting of the minds of all its inhabitants, including animal inhabitants.  This may be a reflection of ideas that all are part of a greater whole.  This overmind hates Duke Felmet and his wife and want them deposed.
• Destiny.  The witches believe that Tomjon, the son of Verence I, is destined to inherit the throne.  While they do play a part in ensuring his survival and hastening his ascent to the throne, the assumption is that his ascent is inevitable.  Tomjon is indeed recognized as the legitimate heir to the throne, but he does not want the job of king.  The throne is then turned over to the Fool, who is his half-brother.  This is consistent with the handling of fate/destiny previously in the series.
• Belief = reality.  The influence of belief on reality on the Discworld has already repeatedly been discussed.  Wyrd Sisters takes it in a new direction by having Duke Felmet have the Fool commission a play depicting the “official” version of the death of Verence I with the intention of establishing that the Duke is legitimately ascending to the throne.  While the actual performance of the play is accidentally hijacked by the witches, Death, ad Verence I to reveal what really happened, the question of whether the play could have actually changed reality in the Discworld had it been executed successfully is left undecided.

Next up in this series:  Pyramids (The Discworld Series, book 7) by Terry Pratchett.

Topic 2:  A backlog of materials on Islamic misbehavior, including associated anti-Semitism:  “Special Analysis: The Obama-Netanyahu Summit” looks at biased reporting.  In “Tom Friedman’s Soft Spot for Terrorist Fadlallah”, Rav Shmuely Boteach blasts New York Times columnist Tom Friedman for mourning the death of Hezbollah terrorist Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah as if he were a hero.  (Some people do have very strange ideas that murderers can be heroes.  I have no clue why.)  Daniel Pipes in “Turkey in Cyprus vs. Israel in Gaza” notes Turkish hypocrisy over criticism of Israel’s treatment of Gaza, considering how Turkey has treated northern Cyprus since it invaded and occupied it in 1974.  “No. 1 Nation in Sexy Web Searches? Call it Pornistan” notes that Pakistan, an Islamic nation not famous for freedom, is the number-one country in many pornographic searches on Google; I suspected this story was a hoax until I went into Google Trends and checked the claims myself.  “The Muslim Mosque:  A State Within a State” argues that Islam itself qualifies as a state; his might be stretching the meaning of the term somewhat, but lots of citations in basic Islamic literature are brought forward to argue the claim, especially the point that it is a goal of Islam to take over the Earth.  And there is plenty in the way of violence, but I have other things to do today that just blog.

Related to this:  “A political culture gone bad” deals with how not to treat Muslims.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “Bonus Post: The Most Elusive Of Them All”:



Note that this graph is arguably not accurate on Jesus, but some people really do seem to think of him in these terms.

Peace.

Aaron

Beware of comedians mercilessly lampooning anti-Semites

Image via Wikipedia; remove Dome of the Rock and insert Temple here

Greetings.

Jewish date:  Jewish date:  18 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Pineḥas).

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks (Judaism), First Martyrs of the Church of Rome (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. “Papa Doc” Duvalier (Church of the SubGenius).


NOTE:  There was no blogging yesterday due to the Fast of Tammuz, which begins the Three Weeks, a period of mourning for the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other tragedies in Jewish history.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Save dairy farms from big agribusiness”, “Alliance for Justice:  Tell Congress: Repair the Damage Caused by the Corporate Court”, and “Make Sale of Crush Videos Illegal Again!”.

Topic 1:  Today’s daily dose of anti-Semitism updates.  To start off, I will let the comedians at La’ṭmah lampoon current anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism in “The Three Terrors from Iran, Syria and Turkey -full Tribal Update” and “The Muslim War Council”:


Let’s face it:  comedians can say true things with impunity that many other people would hesitate say at all.  The Dry Bones cartoon “Immigrants (1990)” correctly notes the different attitudes of Israel on Jewish immigrants and Islamic countries on “Palestinian” immigrants; the former I, as a future immigrant to Israel, am grateful for, while the latter is beneath contempt and a complete betrayal of the notion that all Muslims are supposed to brothers and sisters.  “Bret Stephens on Shalom TV: Will Israel Survive?” presents a “liberal case” for Israel:

Mr. Stephens correctly notes that the values of Israeli society and government are in close agreement with liberal values, while the values are Islamic countries are contradictory to liberal values; it therefore makes no sense for liberals to back Islamic states.  “Telegraph Caught Recycling Gaza War Photo to Distort Today's Reality” documents using an old photograph as if it were applicable to the current situation, a form of quoting out of context.  Rav Shmuely Boteach presents “Response to Congressman Rothman Calling Pres. Obama the Best Friend Israeli Security has Ever Had” and “The World’s Oldest Hatred”, noting correctly that Obama is no friend of Israel (actually, to be fair, every US president since at least Jimmy Carter, has tried to get Israel to do stupid things in the name of “peace”) and that Israel-bashers tend to be insensitive to things wrong with other countries, such as Israel’s enemies.

On a brighter note:  “Dutch may use 'decoy Jews' to fight racism” discusses a new tactic in fighting anti-Semitic attacks in Holland.  Apparently not everything is looking hopeless.

Also:  Someone please prod me to get back to writing about Jesus for a change and not to concentrate too much on the Arab-Israeli War.  We are most likely going to be dealing with the Arab-Israeli War so long as our planet uses petroleum as fuel, and there is no way one man can comment on everything on this one topic.  Not to mention that there is material in Sanhedhrin 43a that presents a radically un-Christian picture of one “Yeshu hanNoṣri”, and there is some particularly un-Jewish and anti-Semitic material in the Gospel According to John which really needs to be discussed.

Topic 2:  More Islamic misbehavior:  “Pakistan's Karachi wracked by spate of killings” (as if killing those one disagreed with made one right), “Pakistan to monitor Google and Yahoo for 'blasphemy'” (as if censorship worked), “Ad aims to propagate true Islam” (as if positive advertising made up for news reporting all the horrible things done in the name of Islam, especially when they contradict the ads), “Ill. police revoke 1st Muslim chaplain's post” (the guy was linked to terrorists, absolutely the wrong sort of person to be in public service).

Related commentary:  “Jihad Denial Syndrome”.  Wishful thinking will never make Islam a religion of peace.  Only Muslims can actually make that happen.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “Adam and Apple”.  I am not quite sure what, if anything, this cartoon is meant to mean.

Peace.

Aaron

Divine punishment, the pointlessness of the peace process, and the disgraceful Richard Goldstone

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 ’Iyyar 5770 (Parashath ’Emor).

Today’s holidays:  Day 26 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Festival of Ridvan (Bahá’í Faith), Fourth Sunday of Easter (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. T (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of Manes (Thelema), Apostle and Evangelist Mark (Greek Orthodox Christianity).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Reform Immigration For America | Racial profiling? Not in our America!”, “Tell Obama to Further Support Malaria Vaccine Research - Take Action Today @ The Hunger Site”, “Friends of the Earth U.S.:  Tell the Obama Administration to Reject a New Pipeline for the World's Dirtiest Oil”, “CARE:  Child Marriage:  A Promise of Poverty”, “Health Care for America NOW! | Demand Our $$ Spent on Health Care Not Profits”, “Take Action: TrueMajority.org:  WITH WALL STREET OR WITH US?”, “Stop senseless wolf killing in our country! - The Petition Site”, “Take Action | Earth Day Network”, “Take Action: Speak out for Sudan | Save Darfur”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: We need a criminal investigation of Wall Street”, “Tell Big Banks: Party's Over - The Petition Site”, and “Close the Loophole: Help Close the Gun Show Loophole. Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Criminals.”.  (My posting got put off due to working on a review of the Uplift Series, so there is a big backlog.)

Topic 1:  “Iranian cleric blames quakes on promiscuous women”:  Considering that Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi is not a prophet, HOW DOES HE KNOW?  Also to be noted, but which he does not seem to realize, is that it takes two to tango.  Therefore the young men allegedly being tempted into adultery should be held accountable for their failure to resist temptation.

Topic 2:  The periodic anti-Semitism roundup:  “Anti-Israel Programmer Suspended by Montreal Campus Radio” (baseless accusations), “A taboo that harms Arabs too” and “The False Religion of Mideast Peace: And Why I'm No Longer a Believer” (forget the peace process; the way things are now it will not work).  On the bright side (submitted by Harold), “Palestinian Zionist Organization is Founded”.

Topic 3:  “South Africa: Religious Uproar Over Jewish Judge Who Criticized Israel”.  To make a long story short, the man from which the disgraceful Goldstone Report takes its name will not be attending the bar miṣwah ceremony of his grandson, as people really hate his guts and do not wish to be around him.  “This isn’t about Goldstone, it’s about Judaism” and “Condemn His Report, But Welcome Goldstone” argue that despite the fact that Richard Goldstone has committed has done something truly despicable, he should not be barred from attending the bar miṣwah ceremony because that is simply not the way Jews are supposed to behave.

Topic 4:  For today’s religious humor:  “You know your haircut’s bad”:



Peace.

Aaron

The writers of Caprica have the subtlety of hitting someone in the head with a sledgehammer

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Mishpaṭim).

Today’s holiday:  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Time to shame Sen. Shelby”.

Topic 1:  Episode 2 of Caprica: “Rebirth”.  The series finally moves beyond the pilot.  This episode deals largely with (1) Zoe Graystone II trying to hide from everyone except Lacy Rand that she is not an ordinary, insentient Cylon, and (2) many of the other major characters, unsurprisingly, still having severely disturbed behavior and emotions.  Most of what else happens is not especially religious in nature.  However, we do get a peak into the lives of the Soldiers of the One.  Lacy visits Sister Clarice Willow at home to discover that the latter is in a polygamous marriage—and I mean polygamous, not polygynous; there are multiple wives and husbands.  There is also the strong implication that Sister Clarice has had sex with students for (allegedly) therapeutic purposes.  I will take this as a sign that the writers are trying to make the Soldiers of the One unsympathetic.

Topic 2:  More religious intolerance (and, no, this recurring topic is not going away anytime soon):  “Constitutional Court Taking Up Indonesia's Thorny Religious Row”, “Pakistan double bombing kills Shia Muslims”, “Anti-Semitic attacks against Jews 'rise in the UK'”, “Attacks on Christians in India’s Karnataka Frequent, Furious”, and “Arrested Evangelists in Tanzania Say Muslims Colluded with Police”.  Meanwhile, Ṣippi Livni, Israel’s opposition leader, is planning to visit the UK in a direct challenge to laws there allowing for the arrest under universal jurisdiction of anyone who has allegedly committed war crimes.  There has been a threat of abuse of such laws by anti-Semites against Israelis.  I have to admire her attitude.  There is some effort at changing the law in the UK, but we yet have to see if anything substantial comes of it.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Well, this is going back”:


Peace.

Aaron

Blessing portable electronics and the Iranian government’s insultingly bad lies

Greetings.

Jewish date:  28 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wa’era’).

Today’s holidays:  Thursday of the First Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of the Magi: To Mega Theron (Thelema), Makara Sankranti/Pongal (Hinduism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Help Protect Wilderness!”.

Topic 1:  “Blessed be the mobile phone users and those called the children of iPod”:  An Anglican church in London had a blessing of cell phones and portable computers.  This may sound bizarre, but it is precendented.   The article notes that in the old days they had Plow Monday, a day on which people brought their plows to church to be blessed.  I am also personally aware of someone whose car was blessed by a Greek Orthodox priest.

Topic 2:  More religious persecution:  “Tehran puts 7 Bahais on trial for spying”.  Is there anyone besides the government of Iran who thinks these Bahá’ís are actually spies?  Is there anyone who actually thinks that the cliché Islamic practice of blaming non-Muslims or heretical Muslims (the Bahá’í Faith is an offshoot of Shia, so arguably it is a Muslim heresy) for anything and everything wrong is anything but an attempt to distract people away from the real causes of problems?  Also:  Notice that the Iranian government claims the Bahá’ís were spying for Israel, which clichéd Muslim loudmouths blame for practically everything wrong with the planet.  This reflects the cliché of thinking of “good” and “evil” as two teams fighting only each other, when in reality one’s enemies are sometimes each other’s enemies, too.  Shame on the Iranian government for this pathetic propaganda!  If they are going to lie to us, they should at least come up with something credible or at least creative.  A bad liar is doubly bad, first for committing the moral offense of lying, and second for insulting his/her audience’s intelligence.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “BUT you said I could”:

Somebody please bug me to get my hands on a copy of The Seventh Seal, the movie which created the current image of the Grim Reaper…

Peace.

Aaron

Is your government secretly plotting to prevent the coming of the Mahdi?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  22 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeshev).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Friends of the Earth U.S.:  Breaking from Copenhagen: U.S. colludes in plot to shunt poor country demands”, “AARP - Health Action Now!:  Tell the Senate- Close the Doughnut Hole!”, “Enact Health Care Reform Based on These 7 Guiding Principles - The Petition Site”,  and “Tell the Senate Democratic Caucus: Don't give up on the public option,”

Topic 1: “Ahmadinejad Reportedly Claims U.S. is Blocking Return of Mankind's Savior”:  I cannot make something like this up.  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that the United States is working to prevent the coming of the Mahdi and that he has documented proof.  What the proof is and how the United States is supposed to preventing the coming of the Mahdi is not stated.  This probable paranoia presumes that the US government believes that Islam is true but, rather than embracing it, choses to do something which risks the severe displeasure of Allah instead.  This requires at least a few hundred people conspiring to do something which would probably land them in the Islamic version of Hell.  Major rule:  if you are going to tell a lie, at least tell one which is credible.  No one respects a bad liar.

Topic 2: “Exposing Excellence: Global National Profiles Israeli Victim of Terror”:  More anti-Semitism in the press, including trying to pass off anti-Semitism as legitimate criticism of Israel.

Topic 3:  Today’s daily dose of religious humor:  “Dear”.

Ceiling Cat is the LOLcat equivalent of God, just as Basement Cat is the LOLcat equivalent of Satan.  This cat is praying a variant on the Lord’s Prayer.  Come to think of it, the Lord’s Prayer is ascribed to Jesus.  Now I am wondering about a LOLcat version of Jesus...

Peace.

Aaron