The Israeli police still suck more than I thought

Jewish date:  10 ’Av 5772 (Parashath Wa’ethḥannan).

Today’s holidays:  The Fast of ’Av (Judaism), Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Brigham Young (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of Paschal Beverly Randolph (Thelema), Stikklestad Day (Germanic Neopaganism).

Short update on the police over here outright violating their job of enforcing freedom of religion and tolerance.  Not only did the police close the Temple Mount to non-Muslims on flimsy excuses about “provocations” (when to Muslims the very presence of Jews can be considered a “provocation”), but the Jewish reaction was refuse to go away and read the Book of Lamentations—the correct ceremony for the Fast of ’Av.  See “Police close Temple Mount to Jews on Tisha Be'av” and “Jews Read Lamentations Outside Temple Mount in Defiance of Ban” for details.  I congratulate the protestors for standing their ground and sending the police the message that “no” has consequences.  May it be the will of YHWH that every such baseless refusal of admission be met with even worse inconveniences.

’Aharon/Aaron

Protest against the police kowtowing to Islamic supremacism

Jewish date:  29 Tammuz 5772 (Parashath Maṭṭoh-Mas‘e).

Today’s holidays:  The Three Weeks (Judaism), Thursday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Dr. Doom/St. Thulsa Doom (Church of the SubGenius), Lucaria (ancient Roman religion), Feast Day of the Magi: Krishna (Thelema).

Greetings.

If I can take a break from my series on Neopaganism—I still have a lot of work to do on my discussion of Gerald Gardner—I would like to talk about a protest I went to yesterday in Yerushalayim near the Prime Minister’s residence.  As regular readers of this blog or my Facebook friends should know, there is a lot of fighting going on over the police being blatantly discriminatory against openly observant Jews and allowing the Waqf (an Islamic trust) to do pretty much anything they want on the Temple Mount, including rampant destruction of any and all Jewish artifacts they can find up there and, most recently, putting scaffolding directly on the Foundation Stone, the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested, while they do repairs on the Dome of the Rock.  It should go without saying this is a gross violation of freedom of religion and Israeli law.  Please see the relevant article “A-G: Israeli law is applicable on Temple Mount” and the article in which the Palestinian Authority gives its response, nothing less than the equivalent of a temper tantrum, “PA Slams A-G for Saying Israeli Law Applies on Temple Mount”.  Also please see “Second Temple-era mikveh discovered under Al-Aqsa mosque”, which goes into the Waqf’s attempts to erase Jewish history from the Temple Mount.

Further relevant articles dug up while writing this post:  “Police Admit Permitting Arab Construction at Temple’s Foundation Stone for Six Years”, “Why the Temple Mount Should Matter - to Everyone”, “'Stop Wakf from destroying Foundation Stone'”, “Is Israel losing Temple Mount war?”, “Chabad Temple Course 'Scares' Muslim Groups”, “Anti-Semitism on the Temple Mount”, “'Israel has no right to interfere on Temple Mount'”, “A Found(dation) Stone Lost”, “Arab Rage: Putin Notes Jerusalem's Jewish Past”.

Back to the protest.  This is the flyer announcing the protest:

Being protested are the banning of Rav Yisra’el ’Ari’el of the Temple Institute and 18 others from the Temple Mount for the horrendous “crime” of opening praying there and the aforementioned desecration of the Foundation Stone.  (See “Likud MK denounces Temple Mount ‘infringement’” and “Astonishing Footage Of Jerusalem Day Prayer, Song And Blessings On The Temple Mount!”.)

This flyer reproduces a letter from Binyamin Nethanyahu to Yehudhah ‘Eṣyon of the Ḥay weQayyam Movement in which he affirms his support for freedom of worship of all on the Temple Mount, regardless of religion.  This is from 1995, 17 years ago.  Some of us expect him to actually keep his word.

Both of these flyers complain of discrimination on the Temple Mount.  The one on the left complains that wearing a kūfiyyah is OK, but a ṭallith is not.  The one on the right complains, “Enough, enough of discrimination, we have a right of prayer.”

This one announces a planned ascent to the Temple Mount this Sunday (July 22, 2012) for the merit of Rav ’Ari’el and those forbidden to visit the Temple Mount.  Not listed is this is planned for 7:45 AM.  I hope to be there, though I probably will not get there in time.

The flyer on the left says, “Enough of coercion, enough of discrimination.  Enough of trampling right of prayer.”  The one on the right has already been discussed.

This flyer complains that bringing a Qur’ān is considered OK, but a copy of Psalms is not.

Anyone who can visit the Temple Mount on Sunday—or any other day—please do so.  The police need the message that we will not bow to intimidation and will demand our rights.  Do not be quick to accept “no” for an answer, and please hang around as long as possible if you do get “no” for an answer.  You are not obligated to make the lives of those who enforce discrimination easy.  Feel free to write up your experiences visiting or trying to visit the Temple Mount; I will be happy to publish them—and you may tell that to the police.

Also, please sign this petition:  “Petition Stop the Desecration of the Temple Mount”.

Thank you.

Peace.

’Aharon/Aaron

Homosexual marriage, the Mayan calendar, and an Israeli spy bee-eater

Jewish date:  23 ’Iyyar 5772 (Parashath Behar).

Today’s holidays:  Day 38 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Feast Day of Isidore (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Jagger (Church of the SubGenius), Nakba Day (anti-Semitism).

Greetings.

I have completed reading my collection of LaVeyan Satanism books.  Now I have to get around to working a review…

In the meantime, I would like to note a few items.

1) “Same-sex unions and intermarriage: Against as a Jew, for as a citizen”:  Elli Fischer correctly recognizes that there is a difference between what is morally or theologically correct and political rights.  Governments are not good institutions for determining the truth, and so as a matter of practical policy we aim to keep them religion-neutral, just as we aim to keep the government from interfering with people’s business in general when they are not doing anything to hurt other people.  This is the difference between not approving what one’s neighbor is doing that does not hurt other people and having the government stop him/her from doing it.  Fischer also notes that religion and politics being too closely intertwined can lead to politicization of religion.  For comparison, see Rav Shmuley Boteach’s “Obsession Over Social Sexual Issues Is Destroying America” and “Why American Religion Isn't Refining American Values”, which complain about the politicization of religion objections to homosexual marriages and abortion in the United States; Rav Boteach claims a corresponding lack of emphasis on other moral issues.

2) “Nevermind the Apocalypse: Earliest Mayan Calendar Found”:  And, just as everyone with enough sense has been saying all along, the Mayans did not claim that the World ends on December 21, 2012.

3) I know at times that I have noted religious humor, but the Turks have made an anti-Semitic claim which is probably unintentionally funny:  “Turkey suspects bird of being Israeli spy”.  I suppose it is possible (or will be possible) to cyborgize a bee-eater and use it as a spy drone, but no claims of having pulled any electronics out of the bird are mentioned, and it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through, and a human spy is arguably more practical and useful.  Also:  if one is going to make a ridiculous claim, at least one should try to make it awesome.  The Egyptians at least had the sense to make the claim that Israel was using sharks, which are 39 times cooler than bee-eaters.

Peace.

’Aharon/Aaron

Ḥanukkah, “Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad”, and “Uh Oh! The Dirty Truth About Santa's Carbon Footprint”

Jewish date:  29 Kislew 5772 (Parashath Wayyiggash).

Today’s holidays:  Ḥanukkah (Judaism), Christmas (Christianity), Feast of Robert “Bob” Leroy Ripley/Festival of Fish-Fighting, Fisting and Felching (Church of the SubGenius), Feast of the Greater Mysteries (Thelema).

Greetings.

I have gotten very bad about posting regularly.  I still have not finished reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, which at 1,080 pages, much of it lengthy monologues and lectures, takes quite a while to get through, though I am getting close to the end.  Due to the philosophical nature of the work—reportedly it is not a mere work of fiction, but something of a lengthy morality play—I may go on to read her (much shorter) The Virtue of Selfishness as well to get a more solid idea of what her philosophy really is before writing a review.  So please bear with me on this.  Like it or not, a number of Republican politicians—who seem intent on having a big effect on the United States and by extension the rest of the planet—are reportedly Ayn Rand fans, and as Rand’s philosophy falls into the category of “religious fallacies and misinformation”, this is something I have to tackle.  (I am thinking about going back and reading about LaVeyan Satanism, which reportedly is derived from Ayn Rand’s moral code, afterwards.  This should take less time to produce a review, as I have an unpublished review of some of the books already written and Anton Szandor LaVey is a much more fun writer once one realizes how much he is writing really is projecting an image.)

In the meantime, you are getting miscellany.

1) This is Ḥanukkah, and so I present a number of relevant articles:  “The Triumph of Chanukah”, “Hanukka, extremism and religious freedom”, Hanukkah and How War Should Be Celebrated”, “Chanukah: The Fight for What’s Right!”, and for a bit of irony, “Hanukkia lit in spot Hitler decreed Final Solution”.

2) “Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad”, submitted by Barry.

Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad from DC Pierson      

This is totally fair and gets what Jesus claims in the Gospels right.

3) And something more or less in the way of religious humor, but with a serious point, for our Christian friends:  “Uh Oh! The Dirty Truth About Santa's Carbon Footprint”.

Peace, happy Ḥannukah, merry Christmas, and happy whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.

’Aharon/Aaron

Freedom of religion is not freedom from offense

Greetings.

Jewish date:  27 Tishri 5771 (Parashath Noaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Tuesday of the Twenty-Seventh Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Pope Benedict IX (Church of the SubGenius).

Topic 1:  “Are war crimes caused by bad apples or bad barrels?”.  This article deals with the causes of war crimes, specifically whether there is specifically something wrong with the people who commit them (such as psychopathy) or whether the situation of being in a war leads to war crimes.  People often like to trace problems to a single cause (e.g., “Money is the root of all evil”), but guess what:  there is evidence that war crimes are caused by “bad apples” and “bad barrels”.  Humans are frightfully complex beings; there is no reason to assume our behavior is necessarily simple.  This should be kept in mind with dealing with the causes of evil in general:  people do things we consider wrong for all sorts of reasons, ranging from immediate gratification to greed to indifference to curiosity to zeal to jealousy to the noblest intentions.  (That last one is due to not everyone agreeing on what is evil.  What one person considers wickedness, another person may consider completely righteous.)

Image of Jim DeMint via Wikipedia

Topic 2:  “DeMint: Sexually Active Unmarried Women And Gay Teachers Should Be Barred From 
Classrooms”.  I heard about this one indirectly due to Josh.  Let me quote the start of the article:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says that even though "no one" came to his defense in 2004 after he said that gay people and unwed mothers should be banned from teaching, "everyone" quietly told him that he shouldn't back down from his position.

He also implied that not banning gay people and women who have sex before marriage from teaching would be an attack on Christians, and defended his position on banning gay teachers because he holds the same position on women who have sex outside of marriage.

"[When I said those things,] no one came to my defense," he said, the Spartanberg Herald-Journal reported. "But everyone would come to me and whisper that I shouldn't back down. They don't want government purging their rights and their freedom to religion."

Exactly what legal right or aspect of freedom of religion would be violated by being taught by a homosexual or a woman who has non-marital sex?  I freely acknowledge that Christianity (at least certain branches) is fond of neither.  And I can easily understand that a Christian (at least of the DeMintian variety) might consider such a teacher a poor role model for his/her students and thus be offended.  But permitting such people to teach is not an attack on Christianity per se; not all Christians are so opposed to homosexuals or fornicators as DeMint.  Furthermore, while there is a constitutional right in the United States to practice one’s religion, there is no right to impose one’s religion on others.  In fact, since belief in one religion frequently requires belief that something certain other people believe or do is offensive, freedom of religion effectively requires that people be allowed to do things which offend other people.  And freedom of speech, also a constitutional right, includes being able to say and do things which other people do not approve of.  So DeMint does not approve of homosexuals and fornicators teaching others?  That is his prerogative.  But freedom of religion is not a case for a ban on homosexuals and fornicators from teaching.

Topic 3:  Update on yesterday’s post “It was not just the Temple Mount which the Muslims stole”:  “India less tense after court verdict on holy site”.  The court divided the land between the Hindus and the Muslims.  The Muslims get ⅓ of the Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Mosque site, while the Hindus get ⅔ of the site, including the place where the mosque—and previously a Hindu temple—once stood.  I call this a triumph against Islamic supremacism.  Now we get to wait to see what happens next.

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

Learn how to mow down the enemy with machine guns at Ḥamas summer camp!

Greetings.

Jewish date:  22 ’Av 5770 (Parashath Re’eh).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Days of Eusebius of Vercelli and Peter Julian Eymard (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Robert Goddard (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Ask Your Reps to Support the National Alzheimer's Project Act - The Petition Site”, “Support Clean Energy Jobs - Take Action Today @ The Rainforest Site”, and “Tell the FDA to Come Clean About Gulf Seafood - The Petition Site”.  Also along the lines of something worthy to do:  Save the oak trees.

Note:  I have finished reading The Hebrew Goddess by Raphael Patai and have written a draft review of it.  I hope to present the finished review tomorrow.

Topic 1:  More anti-Semitism (as if you did not know that was coming):  “Israel "Ethnically Cleansing" Bedouin Arabs?” and “Gaza Missile Hits, UK Press Misses” both deal with biased reporting.  The Dry Bones cartoon “No Big Deal”, only less politely.  “Hamas summer camp: Weapons training for leaders' kids” has a title which shows just what is considered important in Gaza.  “From Gibson to Ahmadinejad” notes that anti-Semitism may often be ignored or explained away when other forms of irrational bias are not.

Topic 2:  I cannot make this up:  “Sharia in New Jersey: Muslim husband rapes wife, judge sees no sexual assault because Islam forbids wives to refuse sex”.  The title summarizes it well, though do note the decision was overturned.  References in the Islamic literature permitting marital rape are provided.  Though I cannot say that the Muslim husband did anything wrong according to Islam, I am under the impression that freedom of religion stops when it tramples on the legal rights of other human beings.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “Teh Ten Commanments of Ceiling Cat”:


Peace.

Aaron

Ignorant politicians whom everyone should vote against

Greetings.

Jewish date:  28 ’Iyyar 5770 (Parashath BeMidhbar).

Today’s holidays:  Day 43 of the ‘Omer (Judaism), Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) (Judaism), Feast Day of Nereus and Achilleus (Roman Catholicism), Feast Day of St. Hugh Hefner (Church of the SubGenius).

Worthy causes of the day:  “ONE | Fix This Budget”, “Heart Disease and Stroke. You’re the Cure.:  Tell our Senators to get moving on Child Nutrition”, “Congress is 0 for 9 - The Petition Site”, “Take Action: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing | Save Darfur” and “Save BioGems: Take Action: Save Yellowstone/Greater Rockies”.

Topic 1:  “Hezbollah-Iran-Syria Axis-Supporting Arab/Muslim Knesset Member, Ganaim, calls for Islamic caliphate in Israel”.  This article deals with Arab Keneseth member Masud Ganaim, who presents what are arguably treasonous political views which make sense from an Islamic point of view.  He wants the restoration of an Islamic caliphate, with Israel included  as part of it.  Two quotes are of especial interest:

We are not necessarily talking about Israel here, but I believe an Islamic caliphate would be in the interest of the Jews themselves, since their golden era was under this caliphate.

We are not against the Jews, but against the Zionist movement and its racist ideology. We have no objection to the Jews managing their own matters themselves.

These quotes would only make sense from an Islamic point of view.  Islam has the notion that Muslims should be in charge and that everyone else should be subservient.  This is only in the interest of Jews in so far as being second-class citizens (dhimmis), they would be under constant pressure to convert to Islam—the goal that Muslims want, not necessarily what Jews would consider to their benefit.  While Jews had their moments under Muslim rule, it was never because of Muslim rule but rather despite it.  Considering that Israel is a scientific and technological powerhouse and its Jews have high levels of voluntary religious observance (even among self-proclaimed secularists), the idea that Jews need Muslim rule to prosper is untenable.  Furthermore, the Qur’an is littered with anti-Semitism, so the claim of being not against Jews but only against Zionism is also untenable.  At best it can be interpreted only as “We are not against Jews when they are subservient to us”.  That Ganaim knows nothing about the ideology of Zionism should be obvious; Jews are not a racial group, as they have always accepted converts without regard for ancestry.  I am seriously considering moving to Israel, and if I do so (YHWH willing), I intend to vote against obvious ignoramuses like this.

Topic 2:  “Sarah Palin: American Law Should Be 'Based On The God Of The Bible And The Ten Commandments'”.  Competing with Mr. Ganaim for sheer historical ignorance is Sarah Palin.  Palin is completely unaware that the United States is a Christian nation only in the sense of having a Christian majority.  Little does she know that the Founding Fathers were not so unanimously Christian (e.g., Thomas Jefferson was a known deist), and the Constitution neither invokes the Christian Trinity nor promotes Christianity.  On the other hand, we have a legal separation of church and state, and the government is supposed to be religion-neutral.  This is why Palin is completely getting wrong the notion of a National Day of Prayer.  No one (trying to work within our legal system) is arguing that Americans should not pray or discuss religion publicly; such a restriction would be a violation of freedom of religion and free speech.  Rather, it is simply not the business of the government to encourage or discourage prayer.  If I remain in the United States, this is the sort of obvious ignoramus I will continue to vote against.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor: “The Kitty’s Journey: Joseph Campbell and Friskies”:  This article argues that a cat food commercial fits the pattern of religious stories which Joseph Campbell laid out in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  I think I will let this absurdity speak for itself.

Peace.

Aaron

Make those who wage lawfare pay dearly and bulldoze the Dome of the Rock

Greetings.

Jewish date:  7 ’Adhar 5770 (Parashath Teṣawweh).

Today’s holidays:  Anniversary of the death of Mosheh Rabbenu (Judaism), First Sunday of Lent (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy cause of the day:

Topic 1:  “The chilling effect of 'lawfare' litigation” by Alan Dershowitz and Elizabeth Samson.  This article deals with abuse of the law by Muslims to silence critics of Islam (“lawfare”).  The idea is not to win cases per se; rather, the point is to force critics to pay so much in court costs that effectively criticizing Islam is too costly for them to afford.  [Enter justified insult mode now.]  This is a technique of people who do not wish to play fair.  Rather than trying to prove to anyone else that their ideas are true, they try to silence the competition.  In effect, the would-be silencers admit that their ideas are without merit, because if they had any good defense to the criticisms, they would use that rather than the dishonorable technique of frivolous lawsuits.  I can only wish that the dishonorable children of camels who resort to lawfare be forced to pay the court costs of their opponents, plus pain, suffering, and damages.  [Exit justified insult mode now.]

Topic 2:  “Warning: Imminent Murder”.  Israel is supposed to be a country with freedom of religion, but on the Temple Mount Jews are blatantly discriminated against.  This article deals with recent attacks on Jews on the Temple Mount by Muslims with a warning that these are merely presage worse attacks yet to come.  The way things have worked is that Muslims do whatever they can to lord it over Jews and Israel to the extent that they are allowed.  According to Islam, Muslims are supposed to better than everyone else.  Jews have been forbidden to pray on the Temple Mount, and the Waqf has been systematically destroying everything Jewish on the Temple Mount—both in violation of Israeli law and only reinforcing the idea that Muslims are better than Jews.  If Muslims are allowed to get away with even minor attacks on Jews, this reinforces the idea that attacking Jews is OK, thus leading to worse attacks and even murder later on.  This is not acceptable behavior.  As such, I believe that under no circumstances should Muslims be allowed to treat any non-Muslims, be they Jews or non-Jews, as inferiors.  Furthermore, in order to make it sink in that Muslims have abused Israeli generosity to let them have a presence on the Temple Mount (which is Israeli territory), all Muslim structures up there should be unceremoniously demolished and sent straight to the filthiest garbage dump in the country; the Temple should then be rebuilt and sacrifices resumed as soon as possible.  Yes, I know, this is highly politically incorrect and contrary to the idea of not disturbing the status quo.  But trying to make peace with Islam by making concessions has been a dismal failure.  What the Islamic world needs to know is that there are serious consequences to their failure to live peacefully with others.  Thus rather than feeding their delusion than they are better than everyone else, we should be giving them the message that they are not.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Wear iz we goin…”.

Anyone who knows where the expression “going to Hell in a hand-basket” comes from, please let me know.

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

Orthodox Jewish introspection, religious oppression

Greetings.

Jewish date:  13 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath BeShallaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Feast Day of Thomas Aquinas (Roman Catholicism and Thelema(!)), Feast Day of Carolus Magnus (Thelema).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Stop the corporate takeover of our government”, “Take Action | Oceana North America:  Tell Your Senators to Vote NO on the Dirty Air Act”, “Find a Lasting Solution to Medicare Doctor Payments: No More Cuts! - The Petition Site”, “Libel reform campaign petition statement”, and “Free Press: media reform through education, organizing and advocacy:”.

Topic 1:  I am always appreciative of anyone being introspective of their own religion, including when that religion happens to be my own, Judaism; we only can do repentance when we face up to what we are doing wrong.  In that spirit, I recommend “Reversed Wisdom: Daas Torah vs. Daas Baalei Batim” and “Daas Torah Vs. Daas Baalei Batim, Redux”, which tackle several shameful problems in modern Orthodox Jewish society.  People who are not Orthodox Jews may want to ask themselves if their own religious communities have the same or akin problems—and many of the problems are not limited to one religion by any means—and also think about what to do to counteract them.

Topic 2:  More religious oppression (and, no, these are not going to go away any time soon):  “Nigeria: Chilling messages sent before killings”, “Pope decries 'aversion' to Christians”, and “Rights group: Russian religious freedom in danger”.

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “Concerns of Dyslexic Evangelicals”:


Peace.

Aaron

Banning the veil and the impossibility of peace in our time

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 Shevaṭ 5770 (Parashath Bo’).

Today’s holidays:  Tuesday of the Second Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism).

Topic 1:  “Sarkozy party chief: France must ban full Muslim veil”:  France is considering yet another law interfering with freedom of religion.  Just like the religious clothing ban in French public schools, banning the veil for anyone wishing to become a French citizen attacks a symbol, not what the symbol stands for.  And not necessarily what the symbol stands for to the person who wears it, but rather what Sarkozy and company interpret it to mean.  Better that France outright not allow Islamists and anyone else intent on forcing others to conform to their religion to become citizens than to play such games.

Topic 2:  More articles on the Arab-Israeli War:  “Peace blocked by pro-Hamas media and Gaza activists” (by a “Palestinian”!), “Palestinians Need a Generation or Two” (on why a real peace is currently impossible), and “Pilar Rahola is a Spanish politician, journalist and activist” (on European hypocrisy on the Arab-Israeli War).

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor:  “kitekat died 4 ur sins - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats”:


Peace.

Aaron

“Chicago: Supremacist Group Conspires Against Rights”

Greetings.

Jewish date:  5 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wayyiggash).

Today’s holiday:  Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Advent (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Alliance for Climate Protection | Hold big polluters accountable” and “Cut Global Warming Pollution from Big Emitters - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  “Chicago: Supremacist Group Conspires Against Rights”.  This article deals with a conflict of freedom of religion with the limits of freedom of speech.  The Islamist group Ḥizb ut-Taḥrir America has been preaching that any Muslim who leaves Islam should be killed.  And the article notes that Muslims in the United States have actually put this into practice multiple times.  The author of the article is, naturally, outraged, complaining of the failure of the government to do anything about it.  Whether the views Ḥizb ut-Taḥrir America are valid in Islam is a matter for Muslim scholars to decide, but the author of the article does make a valid point about freedom of religion, that Ḥizb ut-Taḥrir America is crossing a line.  We live in a society which has collectively decided to give everyone freedom of religion.  This includes the freedom to believe and practice something other people do not approve of.  This has nothing to do with acceptance or everyone being equally right.  The government is not in the business of being the ultimate arbiter of truth, and we prefer keeping it that way.  As such, we have learned to at least barely tolerate each other and thus make each others’ lives a bit easier.  Ḥizb ut-Taḥrir America is trying to live by an incompatible set of rules, working to impose Islam on everyone, whether they want to live under planetary Islamic dominion or not, and promoting killing people who decided they did not want to be Muslims.  The contradiction is real, and the author of the article is right that the US government should intervene if they want to guarantee freedom of religion.

Topic 2:  For today’s religious humor:  “Hark da”:

Apparently these cats are having a little trouble with the lyrics...

Peace.

Aaron

The relationship between religion and science, religious oppression, and torturing cats

Greetings.

Jewish date:  4 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath Wayyiggash).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Day of Peter Canisius (Roman Catholicism), Winter Solstice/Yule (various).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Put Wall Street to Work Rebuilding Main Street! - The Petition Site”.

Topic 1:  “Creation, Evolution, and Christian Laypeople”.  This article deals with perceived conflicts between Christianity and science.  Notable is the debunking of the notion that if humans are hardwired for religion, this would prove all religions are wrong; for all we know, a creator deity could have bred this into humanity deliberately.  Much of this article deals with the question of how to interpret the early chapters of Genesis, Romans 5, and 1 Corinthians 15.  The early parts of Genesis are hard enough for Jews to interpret.  For Christians it is worse since the New Testament, which has the notion of Original Sin, seems to take the position that ’Adham and Ḥawwah (Adam and Eve) were historical figures.  The attempt is interesting, even if one does not agree.

Topic 2:  More religious oppression:  “Plot Targeting Turkey’s Religious Minorities Allegedly Discovered” (and the plot does not even make sense), “Turks Threaten to Kill Priest over Swiss Minaret Decision” (misplaced and inappropriate rage), “Minister says burqa-style veils impede citizenship” (focus on symbols rather than substance), and “KYRGYZSTAN: Religious freedom survey, December 2009”.

Topic 3:  For some more or less religious humor:  “Dress ur cat in gay apparel”.


Peace, and please, do not torture your cat.

Aaron

Religious oppression and extreme idealism

Greetings.

Jewish date:  1 Ṭeveth 5770 (Parashath MiqQeṣ).

Today’s holidays:  Day 7 of Ḥanukkah (Judaism), Ro’sh Ḥodhesh (Judaism), Friday of the Third Week of Advent (Roman Catholicism), Islamic New Year (Islam).

Worthy cause of the day:  “Take Action: Protect Utah's Red Rock Country”.

Topic 1:  “Study: Religion repressed in third of all nations”.  This is a serious, serious problem, especially when most of the planet at least pays lip service towards freedom of religion.  Pointing a gun at someone’s head (literal or metaphorical) may make him/her claim what you want, but it will never make him/her believe what you want.  Shame on all those repressive governments and the people who support them!  And shame on the US government for being friendly with some of these repressive governments!

Topic 2:  “Indian sect members vow to marry sex workers”.  This idea of Dera Sacha Sauda, a group known mostly for annoying Sikhs, is that men should marry prostitutes in order to get them out of prostitution and associated exploitation as well as reducing the transmission of HIV.  (Having fewer sexual partners means having few people one can catch HIV from or pass it on to.)  I am not sure whether to consider this one of the most idealistic things I have ever heard of or one of the craziest.  The crazy part is that a lot of these women have HIV and probably other sexually transmitted diseases, so there is a lot of risk to the men who volunteer for this project.  I hope there is some medical screening and treatment being performed...

Topic 3:  For today’s religious humor, I present (darkly) “Annoying” and (more silly) “Basement Kitteh…”

This is sort of confusing.  Basement Cat is the LOLcat version of the Devil.  The Devil is not known for eating brains, which is more of a zombie thing.

Peace, happy Ḥanukkah, happy new month, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Magic, minarets, and solar retinopathy

Greetings.

Jewish date:  16 Kislew 5770 (Parashath Wayishlaḥ).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Day of Frances Xavier (Roman Catholicism), Feast of the Annihilation of the Prophet (Thelema).

So much going on religiously…  So little time to blog about it if I want to apply for jobs today…  Anyone who knows of someone who would pay me to blog about religion, please let me know.

Topic 1:  Eastwick, episode 9:  “Tasers and Mind Erasers”.  The writers have clearly come out on the side of making Darryl Van Horne not the Devil.  Yes, he is a manipulative, self-centered pleasure-seeker, but in this episode he is at his most vulnerable.  Jamie has attempted to poison Darryl, but he accidentally poisoned art critic Greta Noa instead.  Greta is in critical condition, and Daryl spends much of this episode begging Kat to use her healing powers to save Greta.  Whatever Darryl is, he still has human feelings and is not completely evil.  Either that or he is doing an excellent job of hiding his lack of caring and has a powerful motive for pretending to care for Greta and coercing Kat into healing her.

Also in this episode:  More use of magic and preminitions by Roxie, Kat, and Joanna, with Roxie adding mind-reading to her repertoire.  More plotting by Bun and Eleanor to kill Darryl, including informing Jamie that he is Darryl’s son(!) and nudging Jamie towards killing Roxie, as he has already been predicted to at least try to do.

Topic 2:  “Switzerland votes to prohibit the building of mosque minarets”.  Almost everyone has probably heard about this by now, and there is a definite issue of freedom of religion.  Keep in mind that freedom of religion exists only when it applies as broadly as possible—and that includes the freedom to believe and practice religions others find repulsive and loathsome.  While many may not like seeing minarets, do keep in mind that a minaret does not, in and of itself, harm anyone.  At best, minarets are symbols of something else truly offensive.  If so, why are they not going after what is truly offensive in the first place?

Also:  “Can we blame the Swiss?” by Tawfik Hamid.  This article gives an introspective Muslim perspective on what happened.  Rather than attack Swiss Christians for being a bunch of rotten people, he looks at how Muslims behave, both in Europe and in Muslim countries, and asks what Christians are supposed to think about them.  Do Swiss Christians really want their country Islamized?  Should anyone expect them to feel unboundedly tolerant Muslims in Europe when Christians in Muslim countries are treated so shabbily?  These questions at the very least give some context to why the minaret ban passed in the first place.

Topic 3:  “Hospital sees increase in eye condition after Knock 'visions'” by Pamela Duncan.  This article deals with people staring at the Sun at a Roman Catholic shrine in Ireland and unsurprisingly hurting their eyes.  I have said it before, and I will say it again, only this time in uppercase for emphasis:  WHATEVER GOD EXISTS OR KARMA DOES NOT RELIABLY PROTECT PEOPLE FROM STUPIDITY, NO MATTER HOW ALLEGEDLY PIOUS IT IS!!!  I know it sounds judgmental, but that is the way our universe works, like it or not.  There is an entire Web-site, What's The Harm?, dedicated to showing the harm done by falsehood and stupidity, including stupidity in the name of religion.  Keep in mind:  if YHWH did not want us to think, He would not have given us huge brains.  If being stupid were pious, wisdom literature (Ecclesiastes and Proverbs) would never have made it into the Hebrew Bible!

Peace.

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

Lyra Silvertongue is going to Hell

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 Marḥeshwan 5770 (Parashath Ḥayye-Sarah).

Today’s holidays:  Saint Day of Leo the Great (Roman Catholicism).

Worthy causes of the day:  “IBR Message Center | UANI:  Send a United Message:  Sign the petition and urge these companies to stop doing business with the Iranian regime by sending them a message today” and “Take Action | UANI:  Message to the Los Angeles MTA on Light Rail Contract”.

Topic 1:  Chapters 14-19 of The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3) by Philip Pullman.  The theology and story get more and more bizarre.  It is revealed that Lord Asriel does not plan on invading Heaven; he is amassing a great army and supplies and waiting for Heaven to attack him at his fortress.  This plan has the fatal flaw that if the Authority never attacks, Lord Asriel can never win.  Presumably the Authority is not a moron—he has been smart enough to be able to retain power for thousands of years—so Lord Asriel had better have a plan B in just in case his plan A would result in him dying of old age before the Authority attacks.


Meanwhile, Mary Malone, ex-nun and physicist, has found herself in another world populated by wheeled creatures known as the mulefa (singular:  zanif, and please, do not ask me why, because I have no clue).  The thing about the mulefa having wheels is plausible because the wheels are not actually parts of their bodies but rather rather seedpods of a tree they have a symbiotic relationship with; use of seedpods as wheels, mounted on the mulefa’s horny axles, is aided by an oil exuded by the seedpods.  Where Pullman gets flaky about the mulefa is that seedpod oil enables the mulefa to see Dust.  The mulefa even have a metaphorical story about a snake introducing the mulefa to the use of seedpods as wheels, which considering that seedpods are fruit should be ringing a few bells about now.  Why oil, which does not have unusual properties with regard to interacting with anything, should be useful for seeing Dust, is not explained, though considering the physics (and theology) of this trilogy is half-baked from the start, I should not be surprised at all.  Mary manages to use seedpod oil to make an optical device that lets her see Dust herself.


There is no way I can omit mentioning what happens to Lyra and Will, the heroes of the story.  They decide to take a trip to the land of the dead.  So far they have only reached the waiting area where the living who accidentally reach that world must wait to die, but what Pullman comes up with so far makes even the bureaucratic afterlife of Beetle Juice seem like sheer ecstasy.  The land of the dead is a dark, dreary place.  The dead must cross a river to the afterlife.  (Shades of Charon and the river Styx).  The living who make it to the land of the dead must wait until they die.  They are neither allowed to return to the world they came from nor provided for, so the waiting area is a squalid refugee camp where the living can remain for decades.  It is also revealed that everyone has a death, a being which follows him/her around and eventually takes him/her across the river to the afterlife.  (Shades of Hermes or the Grim Reaper, only personalized.)  Deaths usually remain out of one’s sight, but in the waiting area some people are on good terms with their deaths and see them constantly.  At the end of chapter 19, Lyra convinces her death to take her and her companions over the river while still alive.  You will have to wait till I read further to find out what happens next, though given Pullman’s attitudes, the afterlife being anything other than hellish would be shocking.  However, this particular journey has a rather mythological feel to it.  I might argue for connections with the journeys of Heracles (Hercules) and Orpheus into the realm of Hades, though considering Pullman’s hatred of Christianity, Lyra may be reflecting Jesus.  Lyra is supposed to be the new Ḥawwah (Eve); this may reflect a title given to Jesus in the New Testament:  “the new Adam”.  Like Jesus, Lyra is supposed to be a figure of salvation, the subject of prophecy, and someone dangerous to the establishment.  Just as Jesus was the product of adultery (Mary was married to Joseph, not the Holy Spirit), so too Lyra is the product of adultery.  And now, just as Jesus died and purportedly rose from the dead, Lyra has gone to the land of the dead and probably will return.  We will see how far the parallels play out.


Topic 2:  “The British Dare to Determine Who is a Jew”.  This article by Rav Shmuely Boteach complains about a recent court ruling in the UK which tries to dictate to a Jewish day school who is a Jew.  Do note that religions frequently have membership criteria, and among them one will never find the opinion of a government.  Considering the source of authority for religious membership criteria are not subject to government regulation, e.g., they are dictated by a deity beyond the reach of human jurisdiction, no government can reasonably expect a government ruling on religious membership criteria to ever be followed.  This is nothing less than a violation of freedom of religion.  The claim that Jewish membership criteria are racist is particularly ill-founded.  One is Jewish if one’s mother was Jewish at the time of one’s birth or if one converts.  Racial background is irrelevant to these criteria, as humans of any race may convert, and the maternal line descendants of said people are considered Jewish in perpetuity.


Topic 3:  “Start Worrying (1994)”:  This Dry Bones cartoon is prescient to the recent Fort Hood attack by a Muslim in the name of Islam in the United States.  


Peace.

Aaron

Lack of freedom of religion

Greetings.

Jewish date:  18 Tishri 5770.

Today’s holidays:  Ḥol hamMo‘edh Sukkoth (Judaism), Samhain (Wicca).

Topic 1:  Unfortunately, there is a lot of religious intolerance by many of the governments of the former Soviet Union:  “AZERBAIJAN: Police chief deports local-born Baptist – with no documentation”, “RUSSIA: 'You have the law, we have orders'”, “KAZAKHSTAN: Officials who raid religious communities 'merely fulfilling their duty'”, “TAJIKISTAN: 'It seems that reading the Bible together is now a criminal offence'”.  Vietnam and Turkey also have problems along these lines:  “Buddhist sect decries lack of religious freedom in communist Vietnam” and “Overlooking religious minorities”.  The folly of a government trying to dictate truth should be obvious; reality really does not care what people or groups thereof (such as governments) think, but it is whatever it is nevertheless.  It must also be noted that this is illegal under international law.

Topic 2 will be in a separate post because Blogger is giving me some nonsense about posts being limited to at most ten labels, and I have another topic to write about.

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