The UN only values human life when politically convenient

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Devarim).

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks (Judaism), Lailat al Miraj (Islam), Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), St. Ponco Villa (Church of the SubGenius).

Note:  I am not discussing a Gospel-based film today, because I have not yet gotten around to watching The Miracle Maker yet.

Topic 1:  Today’s anti-Semitism update:  “The UN Bias Against Israel and Human Life” is two graphs which shows how much emphasis the United Nations puts on human life with respect to where human lives are lost.  Not only has the UN been outstandingly disproportionately critical of Israel (46,000 dead, almost all due to self-defense, 223 resolutions against; next to lowest death toll listed is Rwanda with 800,000 dead, next to highest most criticized is Yugoslavia with 58 resolutions against), but these graphs make a mockery of the idea that atheism is inherently more moral than more conventional religions.  Four of the countries listed—China, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, North Korea, and Yugoslavia—are all communist countries.  The Soviet Union is responsible for over 5 million deaths, and China for 31.5 million deaths.

Also:  The video “When we die as martyrs - Palestinian Children” gives some idea of why real peace between Israel and its enemies is currently impossible:

Yes, this is a children’s video promoting jihad and historical revisionism—behavior and ideology in blatant contradiction to peace and conciliation.  And if “Without Palestine, what meaning is there to childhood?!”, then childhood has been meaningless to Arabs for a long time.  There never has been a country of Palestine.  Before the State of Israel, the territory was controlled by the British, and before that the Ottoman Empire.  And yet there was no push for a “Palestinian” state until 1967, when “Palestine” became an excuse to wage jihad against Jews.  Also note “Trust the Palestinian Authority?”; the Palestinian Authority is saying one thing in English and another in Arabic again.

Topic 2:  More religious oppression:  “Muslim Mob Kills Wife, Children of Christian in Pakistan”, “Sealed Church in Bogor, Indonesia Appeals to UN”, “Punjab soup kitchen forbidden to Christians”.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “If yu seez dis, iz too”:


Peace.

Aaron

Why is China opposed to “defamation of religion”?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 Nisan 5770 (Parashath Ṣaw).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Feast of Mansur al-Hallaj (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Repower America | We got next”, “Take Action: Send Congress Your State's Invoice for Foodborne Illness.”, and “MoveOn.org Political Action: Republican Leaders: Condemn the hate”.

New cool software:  Ancient Semitic Scripts, which is a collection of fonts for Hebrew and Aramaic based on historic texts.  Mac OS X users can put the font files (things ending with “.ttf”) into the Fonts folder of the Library folder (personal or system).

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism:  “Not the White Response” and “Muslim-Jewish tensions roil a Swedish city”.  The first article deals someone saying something outrageous and then trying to rationalize it, thus metaphorically only stuffing his foot further into his mouth.  The second deals with anti-Semitic hate crimes in Malmo, Sweden, much of them connected with Islam.

Other religious persecution:  “Pakistani Christian couple refuses to convert: husband is burnt alive, wife raped by police”, “Christians Face 1,000 Attacks in 500 Days in Karnataka, India”, “Kidnapping reflects fears of Pakistan minorities”, “Christian Woman Jailed under Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy’ Laws”, “Islamic Extremists in Somalia Kill Church Leader, Torch Home”, “RUSSIA: Lutheran extremists?”, and “RUSSIA: Who initiated anti-Jehovah's Witness and anti-Nursi campaigns?”.

Image of state religions which really ought to include atheism via Wikipedia

Topic 2:  “UN rights council slams 'defamation of religion'”.  This article has me puzzled.  Islamic countries are infamous for promoting prohibiting “defamation of religion”, the intent being to protect Islam from criticism or condemnation, whether it be fair or not.  However, China, of all countries, supported the resolution.  China, you will recall, is an officially atheist country.  The only way I see around the discrepancy is that China wants atheism protected from defamation as a religion, though this may be pushing it.

For the record:  I am opposed to this resolution because it seeks to squelch legitimate debate.  If one cannot make decent replies to criticism but has to squelch it, then one should be questioning whether one is right in the first place.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor, based on the next major Jewish holiday, Pesaḥ (Passover):  “Tough Love” and “All Together”.

Peace and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Islam is not and never has been a religion of peace, and wishful thinking will not change this

Greetings.

Jewish date:  15 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Ki Thissa’).

Today’s holidays:  Purim Shushan (Judaism), Monday of the Second Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Holi (Hinduism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Strip insurers of their antitrust exemption”.

Topic 1:  “Utah to be destroyed by a comet! Or not!” and “BIBLE CODE PREDICTIONS: 2010”.  I have mentioned it before, and today is the day that someone has predicted on the basis of Bible codes that Utah is going to be obliterated by a comet.  If Utah is still standing within the next few hours, tomorrow I gloat.

Topic 2:  “Islam: Verses of Violence”.  This is a list of verses in the Qur’an and Ḥadith calling for intolerance, violence, and jihad (holy war).  (Not only references are given, but links to the relevant material itself, so it is very easy for you to check that what is claimed is true.)  Yes, I know, many people these days have a vision of Islam being or at least becoming a religion of peace—and we all would like it to be so.  But the roots of Islamic intolerance go back to Muḥammad himself.  He himself advocated and practiced intolerance and violence, and no amount of denial is going to change the past or the contents of Muslim traditions.  Since Muḥammad is the model of behavior for Muslims, it is very easy for them to justify behavior no other major religion sanctions.  Some modern applications of Muḥammad’s teachings:  “UN deplores Gaddafi call for anti-Swiss 'jihad'” (Switzerland decides to restrict the building of new minarets, therefore Colonel Mu‘ammar al-Qaḏāfī of Libya calls for a jihad against Switzerland), “Israeli police, Palestinians clash at holy site” (Arabs consider mere unsubstantiated rumors an “attack” and “provocation” and start throwing stones at Israeli police; anyone who considers this harmless is dared to stand still while stones are thrown at him/her), “No models of example” (multiple incidents of Islamic terrorism and how the terrorists were treated by their fellow Muslims; hint:  as heroes, not criminals).  Yes, there are some tolerant and peaceful Muslims out there, but let us not pretend that Islam as a whole, whether in the past or the present, is innocuous.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Your cat goddess”:

Apparently this cat has a Bast complex…

Peace.

Aaron

Your humble blogger insults those who throw the political equivalent of temper tantrums

Image of a Purim gragger (noise-maker) via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  12 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Teṣawweh).

Today’s holidays:  Friday of the First Week of Lent (Roman Catholicism), Ayyam-i-ha (Bahá’í Faith), Mawlid an Nabi (Islam).

NOTE:  Yesterday your humble blogger did not post because it was Ta‘anith ’Esther (the Fast of ’Esther).  There is good chance there will be no post on Sunday, which will be Purim.  For more information on Purim, see the Orthodox Union’s articles on the holiday.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save BioGems: Take Action: Whales in Danger”, “Take Action: Tell Royal Bank of Canada's CEO to Stop Financing the Tar Sands”, and “Take Action: Break Up Insurance Monopolies”.

Topic 1:  Purim was founded in commemoration of the incidents recounted in the Book of Esther, specifically the attempt by Haman to destroy the Jewish people and how Mordekhay and ’Esther foiled his plans.  So if you thought I was going to avoid the much-discussed topic of anti-Semitism, forget it.  “ License Fee Revolt” deals with the refusal of a Jew in England to pay his television license fee in protest of the BBC’s severe anti-Semitic bias in reporting on Israel.  I wholeheartedly approve of such nonviolent protest.  Meanwhile, while the political right in Israel is cheering the government’s recent naming of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Raḥel’s Tomb national heritage sites, in Ḥevron the Arabs reacted by attacking Israeli soldiers.  This sort of “protest” I do not approve of.  It is the political equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum.  Such a quick resort to violence when one does not get one’s own way, in fact when no one is going to die or be hurt in any way if no action were taken, suggests one has no real argument why the other side is wrong.  The correct response to such infantile behavior is the same as for any temper tantrum:  uncompromising refusal to give in, lest one reinforce the big baby’s misbehavior.  The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, also put in his proverbial two cents, essentially pooh-poohing the naming of national heritage sites in territory that Arabs want (but do not have any legitimate claim to), completely ignoring what will happen to these sites if they ever fall under Muslim control.  (Anyone remember what the Arabs did to Yosef’s Tomb?  Hint:  It is not there anymore.)  “Where is Goldstone now?” why accidental casualties in Afghanistan are no big deal when they are in Gaza.  “Israel's Fleet Street enemies” complains about reporters fabricating negative stories about Israel.  And to top it all off:  “Palestinian Authority: Still Stealing "Hundreds of Millions," Hamas Taking Over - Hudson New York”.

Topic 2: “American foreign policy's God gap”.  To make a long article short:  The United States government has long ignored religion as something important in foreign policy.  Only recently have they begun to realize this is a mistake.  Considering how widespread religion is in human culture and how tangled it is with politics, this was obvious to a lot of people decades ago.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  One of the practices of Purim is humor.  (Religion in general is a serious business, so this is a deviation from the norm.)  Since I may well not post on Purim, I present “UK Warrant for Queen Esther's Arrest”, “Rebranding and Renaming iSrael”, “Top 5 Israel Groups On Facebook”, a sizable list of spoofs by The Jewish Week News, and this video summarizing the Book of Esther, which is read on Purim:


If I post on Purim, expect more.  And, no, I have not seen any Purim-themed LOLcats.  Peace, Shabbath shalom, and happy Purim.

Aaron

“Intelligent design” is worse than merely being wrong

Greetings.

Jewish date:  3 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Terumah).

Today’s holidays:  Ash Wednesday (day 1 of Lent; Roman Catholicism), Feast of Giordano Bruno the Martyr (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.”

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism (yes, that issue is not going away anytime soon, unfortunately):  “UN's Double Standard for Arab Refugees” (according to the definition for refugees used anywhere besides Israel, extremely few of the stateless Arabs, whether in Israel or claiming connection with it, qualify as refugees), “'EU aid funds PA incitement'” (bad idea if they really want peace), and the Dry Bones cartoon “And Then? (2004)” (everyone who does not think that Israel will have to bomb Iran’s nuclear program back to square one because no other country will be willing to do the job, despite international criticism, stand on your heads).

Topic 2:  “The End of Intelligent Design?”:  This article deals with what is wrong with the so-called “intelligent design” (ID) movement, not merely as “intelligent design” being a euphemism for creationism.  Correctly noted is that as science ID is a total failure, having produced zero results, all the while in effect claiming that science is incompetent to explain our world.  This is a very dangerous thing to do, as science has been very successful at understanding how our universe works; naturally, real scientists are strongly opposed to ID.  Another consequence of ID is to pit religion and science against each other.  This makes it easier for anti-religious atheists to pretend that science actually supports their beliefs, causes a ton of needless enmity, and anyone who is both pro-science and pro-religion is likely to get caught in the crossfire.  In short, ID is worse than merely being wrong.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “after a long and tiring day of soulsnatching”:


Peace.

Aaron

The patheticness of jihad by law abuse and “Sixteen Tons”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Mishpaṭim).

Today’s holidays:  Feasts of Jerome Emiliani and Josephine Bakhita (Roman Catholicism).

Topic 1:  More contemporary anti-Semitism:  “BMJ's Selective Editing” and “UN likely to refer Goldstone findings to The Hague”.  The first article things going wrong in medical journals in the UK.  The second deals with a pathetic attempt at jihad by proxy.  Islam does not have a good track record of tolerance (and I mean tolerance in the sense of treating non-Muslims as equals rather than second-class citizens and scapegoats), and there have been regular Muslim attacks on Jews in Israel (even before the current state) since at least the 1920s.  Having utterly failed militarily, the current tactic has shifted to other means, including abuse of legal systems.  And now to heap the abuse on this and all other tactics they have used that they truly deserve, please note that there are over a billion Muslims on Earth, but only about 13 million Jews.  If they really wanted to, Muslims could easily summon the manpower, funding, and supplies necessary to accomplish their stated goal of killing or at least forcing all Jews into dhimmitude; when you outnumber your enemy 77 to 1, this is not hard.  That they have failed to do so multiple times is a display of complete, utter military incompetence and total unmanliness.  The very fact that Muslims have resorted to jihad by PR and abuse of the law only underscores how pathetic they truly are; unable to do the job themselves and putting their military incompetence on display for the whole planet, they try to convince others to do the dirty job for them.  Listen up, jihadists:  you suck.  Be real men, stop wasting your lives on fighting a war you have effectively admitted you cannot win, and do something more worthwhile.

Topic 2:  Recently I watched Joe Verus the Volcano while donating platelets.  The movie opens with a depiction of horrific working conditions, and the song played very appropriately during this is the famous “Sixteen Tons”.  It has occurred to me that there is a bit of the Faust legend in “Sixteen Tons”.  The singer says, er, sings in the refrain “Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go / I owe my soul to the company store”, putting the company metaphorically in the place of Satan.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “basement cat wanted to have ceelin cats power so he hid at the stairs and attacked ceelin cat ceelin cat ceelin cat got up and scratched him by libertymize”:


Peace.

Aaron

Yes, there is such a thing as a gay Orthodox rabbi

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Yithro).

Today’s holidays:  Thursday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Imbolc (Wicca).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Take Action | Oceana North America:  Tell President Obama: No More Offshore Oil Drilling!”, “Save BioGems: Take Action: Protect Grizzly Bears”, “Include Children in HIV Vaccine Research - The Petition Site”, and “Take Action: TrueMajority.org:  Fix the Budget, Fix America”.

Topic 1:  More updates on anti-Semitism:  “NPR's Self-Examination” and “Israel Releases Goldstone Response”.

Topic 2:  This ought to shock some people:  “Gay orthodox rabbi nudging Judaism”.  This article is a bit misleading.  First of all, rabbinical ordination can and has been revoked.  When I was an Yeshiva University, they taught that rabbis who took positions at “Conservative” congregations and did not turn them around or leave in a specific period of time would have their ordinations revoked.  Ordination is certification that the bearer knows what he/she is talking about and is competent; those who prove otherwise can be decertified.  Secondly, no one, including the man under discussion, Rav Steven Greenberg, is endorsing homosexual activity; such is quite unjustifiable within the boundaries of Orthodox Judaism.  Last I heard, no one really knows how anyone ends up with their sexual orientation and there is no reliable way to change it.  As such, Rav Greenberg, struggling with and exploring his situation, promotes tolerance and understanding.  This is entirely appropriate and justified; all of us are subject to temptations and desires not of our conscious choice, and it is senseless to condemn anyone simply because of what they feel.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “the battle of good and evil gose on...... by winrar333”:


Peace.

Aaron

Jordan is a sore loser, and something fishy happened in the trial of Paul Shanley

Greetings.

Jewish date:  3 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Bo’).

Today’s holiday:  Monday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Require Comprehensive Background Checks for All Paid Child Care Providers”.

Topic 1:  “Anything but Jewish”:  This post does a good job covering the recent claim made by Jordan that it owns the Dead Sea Scrolls and severely criticizes an article by Daoud Kuttab rationalizing that the Scrolls are Jordanian/“Palestinian” and as much Christian and Islamic as Jewish.  Who wrote the Scrolls?  Jews.  Were there Christians, Muslims, Jordanians, and “Palestinians” alive when the Scrolls were written?  No.  Where were the Scrolls found?  Qumran, in what is now Israeli territory.  How attached have Muslims and Christians been to the Scrolls?  They wanted to make them into sandals and sold them for profit.  Not to mention there is the persistent issue which Muslim countries always gloss over:  if you attack another country without provocation (and merely existing is not a provocation) and you lose anything, it is no longer yours.  That is the way war works.  The Scrolls are Jewish and in Israeli hands, and if the Jordanians do not like it, then it is their problem.

Topic 2:  I am very confused by this article:  “Mass. court denies ex-priest's bid for new trial”.  The Catholic ex-priest in question, Paul Shanley, was convicted on the basis of “repressed memories” claiming abuse 20 years ago.  This is very disturbing because repressed memory therapy does not actually recover memories not conscious remembered; it creates memories of things that did not happen by building upon or altering existing memories or fabricating them from scratch.  Because “repressed memories” are false, people believing they are true can hurt individuals, families, and communities by making damaging accusations.  Families have been destroyed and innocent people thrown in jail because of “repressed memories”.  I therefore assumed that Shanley is totally innocent of the charges.  But then I noticed this paragraph near the end:

Shanley, now 78, was known in the 1960s and 1970s as a "street priest" who reached out to Boston's troubled youth. Internal records showed that church officials were aware of sexual abuse complaints against him as early as 1967.

More digging turned up this paragraph (including a reference) in the Wikipedia article on him:

According to Leon Podles in his book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, "In late 1993, Shanley was sent to the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut, for evaluation. The Boston archdiocese has refused to release this evaluation, but other released files show that Shanley admitted to nine sexual encounters, of which four involved boys, and that he was diagnosed as 'narcissistic' and 'histrionic'. Shanley admitted that he was 'attracted to adolescents' and on the basis of this confession, the Boston archdiocese secretly settled several lawsuits against Shanley. The archdiocese of Boston in 1993 had to admit to the diocese of San Bernardino part of the truth about Shanley, and the bishop of San Bernardino immediately dismissed him."

So…  If this information is correct, then Shanley is an admitted pedophile.  Presumably there is something more than hearsay and mere accusation going on here since he admitted something happened.  Even if he lied and did not do the crimes (which, strangely enough, people occasionally do), something must have happened to make him do so.  If one is going to convict someone of a crime, one wants to do it on the strongest possible evidence.  So why was Shanley convicted on completely invalid evidence when presumably there is something more substantial out there?  Something fishy is going on here; that’s for sure.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Basement cat pozing fur movie posterz”:


Peace.

Aaron

There is more to Christmas than presents

Image of Charlie Brown via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayyeshev).

Today’s holiday:  Thursday of the Second Week of Advent (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “MoveOn.org Political Action: Reform MUST include a public option”, “Petition: We Need Progressive Senators To Fight | Progressive Change Campaign Committee”, and “The failure to establish a public option is President Obama's failure alone.  Sign our petition to President Obama fight for what he said he believed in.”

Topic 1:  More current anti-Semitism:  “Guardian's Dodgy Death Toll” and “UNRWA: Perpetuating the Misery”, which deal with baseless statistics and the United Nations and Arab states doing what they can to keep the so-called “Palestinians” living in misery so they have an excuse to blame Israel.

Topic 2:  My favorite Christmas special, which the other day showed up on Hulu:  A Charlie Brown Christmas.

It is admittedly strange for an Orthodox Jew to have a favorite Christmas special, but it makes sense in the context of this blog.  A typical Christmas special deals with one of more characters doing something to get into the spirit of giving or things going wrong with Santa Claus’s gift-giving duties.  A Charlie Brown Christmas, possibly uniquely, actually mentions with what Christmas is supposed to be about:  the birth of Jesus.  Linus quotes the Gospels on this point, and the plot centers around the characters preparing for a Nativity play.  Also, rather than gifts, love is emphasized.  The difference is subtle.  While giving gifts may be an act of love, there are other expressions of love.  Charlie Brown shows love for a tiny nebbish of a Christmas tree, accepting it despite its shortcomings when no one else wants it.  He brings it to his friends to get the troupe in the proper Christmas spirit, and though they reject it, he still loves it.  When he thinks he has killed it when he tries to decorate it, his friends realize their error and decorate it themselves.  They realize that Charlie Brown was right and accept him.  Rather than emphasizing the presents and Santa Claus, the theology and morality of holiday is emphasized.

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

Yom Kippur, Goldstone, the Temple Mount, and a panacea

Greetings.

Jewish date:  9 Tishri 5769.

Today’s holidays:  ‘Erev Yom Kippur (Judaism), Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast of Cosmus & Damianus (Thelema), Greater Eleusinian Mysteries (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  Give blood.  I cannot say this enough.  Just do not do on a day when you are fasting or the day before, which is just asking for trouble.  Also:  “Sierra Club:  Help Us Reach Our Goal of 100,000 Champions for National Parks by October 4th!”

My apologies to those who have received an earlier version of this post.  Blogger did something really stupid and published prematurely.

Topic 1:  “Israel TV Laughs at Goldstone”.  This is a comic look at the perverse morality of the anti-Semitic Goldstone Report.  Anything I can say pales in comparison with what comedians can get away with.

Topic 2:  Tonight starts Yom Kippur (the Jewish Day of Atonement).  Two articles on practical questions about Yom Kippur:  A) “'Doctor, should I fast?'”, which deals with the medical issue of when someone ill should fast, which is not a trivial question.  B) “Halachic arbiter: No Crocs on Yom Kippur”, which deals with the less-famous issue of what footwear is appropriate for Yom Kippur.  Wearing leather shoes, which are traditionally associated with comfort, is prohibited on Yom Kippur.  Currently, people tend to wear relatively casual shoes on Yom Kippur, such as sneakers, and thus Crocs are a question.  It sounds a bit odd, but in any living religion strange practical questions are bound to be asked.

Image via Wikipedia

Topic 3:  A case of religious discrimination in Israel:  “Intolerance on the Temple Mount”.  The discrimination is against Jews, who are prohibited from praying on the Temple Mount.  The point of this is an attempt at appeasing Muslims, who can do pretty much whatever they want up there.  This appeasement, it is correctly noted, has done nothing to curb Islamic intolerance, destruction of Jewish archaeological remains, and terrorism.  (See “Two policemen injured in riots on the Temple Mount”.)  And this has been going on for decades.  Behavioral psychologists should see this as rewarding bad behavior, an extremely bad idea since it only makes further bad behavior more likely.  This is why I believe, if only for the sake of peace, that Israel should take the politically counterintuitive step of knocking down the Muslim structures on the Temple Mount, banning Muslims from setting foot in the 500 × 500 cubit area which has the status of the Temple Mount in Jewish law, and rebuilding the Temple.  If the Muslims actually can see that they have something to lose by failing to behave properly, that there are negative consequences to intolerance and terrorism, they will actually have a reason to learn to get along with other people.

Topic 4:  “Where Tutu (and Gandhi) went wrong”:  More dissection of poorly though-out anti-Semetic thinking on the part of Desmond Tutu and Mohandas Gandhi.  (Actually, is there such a thing as well thought-out anti-Semitic thinking?)  Notable is the idea that nonviolence is always better than violence.  While nonviolence indeed is probably likely to have better results that violence when one’s enemies have no interest in violence, nonviolence is likely to result in pointless slaughter against murderous enemies.

Topic 5:  “Yom Kippur 2009”:  The latest Dry Bones cartoon.

May all of you who are fasting have an easy and meaningful fast, and may you all be sealed in the book of life for a good year.

Aaron

Anti-Semitism and Eastwick

Greetings.

Jewish date:  6 Tishri 5770.

Today’s holidays:  Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Thursday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Greater Eleusinian Mysteries (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Save Orphan Bears: End Cruel Den Hunts” and “Sierra Club:  Add Your Voice and Help Us Reach Our Goal by October 4th!”  Also:  “Video: Will Ferrell stands up for the real health care victims”.

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism using Orwellian language documented:  “New Statesman: Propaganda for Terrorists”.  Commentary on anti-Semitism in the United Nations:  “the Goldstone UN Gaza Report”.

Topic 2:  Last night was the pilot episode of the new TV series Eastwick, based on John Updike’s novel The Witches of Eastwick.  The vibes I got from the promo suggested it would be bad or at least go into territory better left unexplored on TV, but a check on Wikipedia suggested that one of the characters, at least in the original novel or movie versions thereof, might be the Devil.  Dreading what the result would be (especially since I have not read the novel or seen the movie versions), I watched it, hoping it would be irrelevant to my project and I could ignore it afterwards.  Unfortunately, it turned out relevant, and so you all have to suffer along with me.  (Where is another season of Kings or even Reaper when you need it?)

The show is set it the fictional New England town of Eastwick, which has the stereotypical Pilgrim heritage, including hints of past burning of witches.  Three women who live in this town, Roxanne Torcoletti, Joanna Frankel, and Kat Gardener, find mysterious coins which they throw into a fountain, wishing for better lives.  Soon afterwards, a rich, charismatic, and mysterious stranger with an aura of evil and the too-obvious name Darryl Van Horne arrives in town and starts acquiring real estate and businesses.  He hits on all three of the aforementioned women (unsurprisingly, with a name like that) and reveals to them that they have magic powers, which can be evoked by wishing, wittingly or unwittingly.  Roxanne, hired by Darryl to make a sculpture of him, has highly detailed predictive dreams.  Joanna learns she has hypnotic powers she can use to control people—and has to wrestle with the morality of using them.  Kat’s power seems to be calling down lightning to strike her good-for-nothing husband.  There are also allegations that Van Horne has been in Eastwick previously, with hints of an unnaturally long lifespan.  This episode comes off as working towards the paranoid Christian fantasy of witches making deals with the Devil, including having sexual intercourse with him—though this being just the pilot, nothing near this far has happened yet.

What I want to see, in order to prevent this series turning into a total theological train wreck:  above anything else, a justification for the behavior of the Christian Satan.  One possibility is that he is fantastically stupid; angels are far less powerful than deities, so Satan is arguably being an idiot for rebelling against God.  He is also arguably a highly stubborn idiot, since thousands (or billions) of years is a long time to be holding a grudge which one can never truly satisfy.  The best he can hope for is to carry on a petty vendetta until he finally gets squished like the (relative) bug he is.  However, an idiot Satan is an ineffective Satan, so this is unlikely to be invoked.  More workable would be to give Satan a different value system than God or even to be working for God in quality assurance.  Another plausible route would be to make Darryl something other than the Devil, though this route requires more creativity.

OK, on to other things I need to do today...

Aaron

Anti-Semitism

Greetings.

Jewish date:  5 Tishri 5770.

Today’s holidays:  Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Conception of the Forerunner (Greek Orthodox Christianity), Feast Day of Paracelsus (Thelema).

Worthy cause of the day:  THAT Big Book Sale 2009 (a book sale of the Charleston County Public Library System; the need volunteers), “American Jaguars Need Your Help to Survive”, and “Health Care for America NOW!”

Today’s topic:  “Demonization From Down Under” and “Respectable Anti Semites”:  Anti-Semitism, like paranoia in general, involves sloppy thinking.  These articles document uncritical acceptance of common false assumptions, omitting context, loaded language, weasel words, double-standards, hatred of one’s own people, one-sidedness, and the madness of expecting something to work which has repeatedly failed to work.  And the cartoon cited in the second article does a good job of demonstrating some of this.

Aaron

Adoption of Muslim practices and terminology by non-Muslims and the Goldstone Report

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 ’Elul 5769.

Today’s holidays:  ’Erev Ro’sh hashShanah.

Worthy cause of the day:  “AmericaCantWait.com” and “Take Action: Colorado's pristine forests need your help today!”

Topic 1:  “Non-Muslims Join the Ramadan Fast”:  This article details adoption of Islamic practices and terminology by Christians in the United States and the United Kingdom.  Considering that Paul tended to make himself appear like the people he was preaching to, there is some sense in this.  However, no mention is made of trying to preach the Gospel to Muslims.  The reasons given are in terms of understanding Islam and Muslims.  I can appreciate trying to understand one’s neighbors, though there is the risk of going over the line and practicing a religion one does not believe in.  Using Muslim terminology also invites redefining one’s religion in Islamic terms.  (This is a very real worry.  That is why I try to avoid using “God” and instead use “YHWH” and “HashShem”:  my god is not the Christian Trinity, and “God” is a term with a lot of Christian baggage.)  Very inappropriate is for government officials to promote adoption of Islamic practices; this is a blatant violation of separation of church and state.

Topic 2:  “The Goldstone Report: Rewarding Palestinian Terror”:  The Goldstone Report, along with anti-Semitic rhetoric in general, seems to be gross insensitivity to facts.  Please note that physical reality is highly insensitive to what people want it to be and stubbornly remains what it is.

Shabbath shalom, and may you be written and sealed for a good year.

Aaron