Greetings.
Jewish date: 12 Tishri 5770.
Worthy cause of the day: “Increase Funding to Fight Heart Disease and Stroke” and “Upgrade Aid”.
Unusual personal religious activity: Yesterday I successfully reassembled my sukkah. Today I hope to properly decorate it with plastic fruit and CDs. (The latter have a shiny side and reflect in a variety of colors when light bounces off of them. Old AOL CDs work very nicely for this purpose, with two placed together with their shiny sides outside and their dull sides inside.) I may also hang up some Indian corn as well.
Today’s topic: “Some Holy Books Are More Equal Than Others”. This is a succinct commentary (with links) on how Islam and the Qur’an are often treated in the West with a deference not accorded to other religions or religious texts. This is not due to attacks on other religions not being considered offensive; people do take offense at their religion being treated shabbily. Rather, most people protest in peaceful ways. Muslims, on the other hand, get violent. And that scares others into granting them an unfair amount of deference, such as treating desecration of the Qur’an as a hate crime. While such behavior may not be religiously fallacious for Muslims, it is a double standard for non-Muslims. If your belief system is not Islam, you do not have any reason to treat Muslims as better than anyone else (or if you do, you belief system is pretty weird). The fact that someone may beat you up if offended (an implied appeal to force) does not make that person any more right or anyone else more wrong.
Aaron
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Michael Jackson and Bill Maher
Greetings.
Jewish date: 11 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holiday: Sukkah-Building Day. (The day after Yom Kippur is traditionally considered the best day to start work on one’s sukkah.)
Note: I just mowed the backyard so I can build my sukkah. Someone please send electric grapes.
Worthy cause of the day: “Help Halt Logging in Our Forests”.
Topic 1: “The Destructive Deification of Michael Jackson”—Rav Boteach deals with some unrealistic, anti-empirical of Michael Jackson since the latter’s death. Though people often try to portray the deceased in a favorable ligwishful thinking that they are perfect does not actually work. Physical reality does not care what we want, but instead remains what it is regardless. This is especially true for the deceased, who are no longer capable of changing themselves. Very notable is the notion that a hero is not someone who is perfect, but rather someone who does something great despite his/her imperfection. To that idea I would like to add that no human can never hope to be perfect. An imperfect hero is thus better for us to learn from, seeing that he/she must struggle in the same way that we struggle, and we may realistically achieve the sorts of things he/she achieves.
Topic 2: I have already noted that pseudo-comedian Bill Maher, creator of the irrational, anti-religious pseudo-documentary Religulous, believes in medical pseudoscience. “Bill Maher endorses cancer quackery” deals with Maher’s ignorance and support of quackery in gory detail. Also mentioned is Richard Dawkins’ support for Maher. Note that Dawkins is supposed to be pro-reason, something which I have shown he is not, and his support for Maher only makes his claim to being pro-reason even less tenable.
And yes, I am starting to have fun with Zemata to add images to my blog.
OK, back to working in the backyard. Have an easy time putting up your sukkah.
Aaron
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Jewish date: 11 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holiday: Sukkah-Building Day. (The day after Yom Kippur is traditionally considered the best day to start work on one’s sukkah.)
Note: I just mowed the backyard so I can build my sukkah. Someone please send electric grapes.
Worthy cause of the day: “Help Halt Logging in Our Forests”.
Topic 1: “The Destructive Deification of Michael Jackson”—Rav Boteach deals with some unrealistic, anti-empirical of Michael Jackson since the latter’s death. Though people often try to portray the deceased in a favorable ligwishful thinking that they are perfect does not actually work. Physical reality does not care what we want, but instead remains what it is regardless. This is especially true for the deceased, who are no longer capable of changing themselves. Very notable is the notion that a hero is not someone who is perfect, but rather someone who does something great despite his/her imperfection. To that idea I would like to add that no human can never hope to be perfect. An imperfect hero is thus better for us to learn from, seeing that he/she must struggle in the same way that we struggle, and we may realistically achieve the sorts of things he/she achieves.
Topic 2: I have already noted that pseudo-comedian Bill Maher, creator of the irrational, anti-religious pseudo-documentary Religulous, believes in medical pseudoscience. “Bill Maher endorses cancer quackery” deals with Maher’s ignorance and support of quackery in gory detail. Also mentioned is Richard Dawkins’ support for Maher. Note that Dawkins is supposed to be pro-reason, something which I have shown he is not, and his support for Maher only makes his claim to being pro-reason even less tenable.
And yes, I am starting to have fun with Zemata to add images to my blog.
OK, back to working in the backyard. Have an easy time putting up your sukkah.
Aaron
Sunday, September 27, 2009
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.
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.
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
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Friday, September 25, 2009
“The ten worst verses of the Bible”
Greetings.
Jewish date: 7 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holidays: Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Friday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Greater Eleusinian Mysteries (Thelema).
Worthy cause of the day: “Protect Yellowstone/Greater Rockies”, “Repeal telecom immunity and roll back PATRIOT ACT abuses”, “Break Up Insurance Monopolies”, “Divided We Fail: Tell Congress that they can't stop now!”, and “Go to Africa”.
Today’s topic: “The ten worst verses of the Bible”: I have been sitting on this article from Christian site Ship of Fools for a while now. They took a poll and listed the “winners”. However, they gave no defense whatsoever of the verses, which I consider a horrible mistake. I am therefore undertaking to correct this defect here by defending the verses from the Hebrew Bible.
As I have told people many times before, both in the physical world and on the Internet, morality is purely a matter of opinion. As such, any objection based on moral grounds—one of the major possibilities—is liable to be ignored or summarily dismissed due to the objector and the defender having incompatible opinions on morality. E.g., I, an Orthodox Jew, will not accept arguments that eating meat is wrong because my moral system, Judaism, is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, and the Hebrew Bible explicitly permits eating animals.
1) "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." (1 Timothy 2:12)—This is from the New Testament. I am under no obligation to defend it.
2) "This is what the Lord Almighty says... 'Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" (1 Samuel 15:3)—‘Amaleq was the sworn enemy of the Children of Yisra’el. This was war, plain, simple, brutal, and ugly.
3) "Do not allow a sorceress to live." (Exodus 22:18)—Magic, as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, is not benign, harmless, or what David Copperfield does. It is divination, attempting to foretell the future through implausible means. Today we call these people “psychics” and “mediums”, and they are infamous for lying, cheating people out of their money, and ruining people’s lives. Execution (by a court, not vigilantism) is as fitting a punishment as any.
4) "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" (Psalm 137:9)—This is a lament of Jews deported to Babylon. The sentiment is an expression of their emotional pain and not a recommendation for action.
5) "So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go." (Judges 19:25)—This is a horrible incident. The man was desperate and did something panicky and stupid. The rape (which was ultimately fatal) outraged the Children of Yisra’el so much that it caused a war among the tribes. Keep in mind: noting that something happened is not necessarily approval of it. Even those who participate in the war were eventually shocked at what they have done.
6) "In the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error." (Romans 1:27)—New Testament. Not my problem.
7) "And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, 'If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord's, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.'" (Judges 11:30-1)—And to make a long story short, Yiftaḥ, due to not foreseeing that something not acceptable for sacrifice might be the first being to come out to him, is put in the unspeakable position of having to sacrifice his daughter. To be blunt, Yiftaḥ was an idiot and deserves nothing but condemnation for his idiocy, and I have never heard of a contrary opinion.
8) "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." (Genesis 22:2)—It was a test. It was only a test. And the point is that in Judaism morality is top-down, dictated by YHWH and not by humans. The moral opinion of YHWH is the one that counts, not ours. I have also heard the claim that while Yiṣḥaq was not actually slaughtered and burned, he did have something of the status of a sacrifice after this incident, e.g., he was not allowed to leave the Land of Yisra’el, just as a sacrifice may not be taken out of Yisra’el.
9) "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22)—More New Testament.
10) "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel." (1 Peter 2:18)—Also more New Testament.
Shabbath shalom.
Aaron
Jewish date: 7 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holidays: Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Friday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Greater Eleusinian Mysteries (Thelema).
Worthy cause of the day: “Protect Yellowstone/Greater Rockies”, “Repeal telecom immunity and roll back PATRIOT ACT abuses”, “Break Up Insurance Monopolies”, “Divided We Fail: Tell Congress that they can't stop now!”, and “Go to Africa”.
Today’s topic: “The ten worst verses of the Bible”: I have been sitting on this article from Christian site Ship of Fools for a while now. They took a poll and listed the “winners”. However, they gave no defense whatsoever of the verses, which I consider a horrible mistake. I am therefore undertaking to correct this defect here by defending the verses from the Hebrew Bible.
As I have told people many times before, both in the physical world and on the Internet, morality is purely a matter of opinion. As such, any objection based on moral grounds—one of the major possibilities—is liable to be ignored or summarily dismissed due to the objector and the defender having incompatible opinions on morality. E.g., I, an Orthodox Jew, will not accept arguments that eating meat is wrong because my moral system, Judaism, is rooted in the Hebrew Bible, and the Hebrew Bible explicitly permits eating animals.
1) "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." (1 Timothy 2:12)—This is from the New Testament. I am under no obligation to defend it.
2) "This is what the Lord Almighty says... 'Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" (1 Samuel 15:3)—‘Amaleq was the sworn enemy of the Children of Yisra’el. This was war, plain, simple, brutal, and ugly.
3) "Do not allow a sorceress to live." (Exodus 22:18)—Magic, as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, is not benign, harmless, or what David Copperfield does. It is divination, attempting to foretell the future through implausible means. Today we call these people “psychics” and “mediums”, and they are infamous for lying, cheating people out of their money, and ruining people’s lives. Execution (by a court, not vigilantism) is as fitting a punishment as any.
4) "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" (Psalm 137:9)—This is a lament of Jews deported to Babylon. The sentiment is an expression of their emotional pain and not a recommendation for action.
5) "So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go." (Judges 19:25)—This is a horrible incident. The man was desperate and did something panicky and stupid. The rape (which was ultimately fatal) outraged the Children of Yisra’el so much that it caused a war among the tribes. Keep in mind: noting that something happened is not necessarily approval of it. Even those who participate in the war were eventually shocked at what they have done.
6) "In the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error." (Romans 1:27)—New Testament. Not my problem.
7) "And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, 'If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord's, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.'" (Judges 11:30-1)—And to make a long story short, Yiftaḥ, due to not foreseeing that something not acceptable for sacrifice might be the first being to come out to him, is put in the unspeakable position of having to sacrifice his daughter. To be blunt, Yiftaḥ was an idiot and deserves nothing but condemnation for his idiocy, and I have never heard of a contrary opinion.
8) "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." (Genesis 22:2)—It was a test. It was only a test. And the point is that in Judaism morality is top-down, dictated by YHWH and not by humans. The moral opinion of YHWH is the one that counts, not ours. I have also heard the claim that while Yiṣḥaq was not actually slaughtered and burned, he did have something of the status of a sacrifice after this incident, e.g., he was not allowed to leave the Land of Yisra’el, just as a sacrifice may not be taken out of Yisra’el.
9) "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord." (Ephesians 5:22)—More New Testament.
10) "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel." (1 Peter 2:18)—Also more New Testament.
Shabbath shalom.
Aaron
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Darwin, Ali, and Satan
Greetings.
Jewish date: 4 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holidays: Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Tuesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Mabon (Wicca).
Worthy cause of the day: Urge your Senators to Protect the EPA’s Ability to Curb Global Warming Pollution.
Topic 1: “Who Cares About Darwin?”: This article deals with a creationist tactic of claiming that Charles Darwin is a horrible person who is responsible for Hitler, the Nazis, the Holocaust, and anything else awful one can imagine. I have already dealt with why this is completely unfounded this to some degree in my review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, largely that anti-Semitism, including violent anti-Semitism, existed long before Hitler and that Hitler fails completely to reference Darwin or evolution in Mein Kampf. This article goes into other aspects of why this guilt by association fails: that we do not believe in evolution because of the authority of Darwin, Darwin’s life is irrelevant to whether evolution in true, and how evolution works (really or allegedly) is a matter of physical fact and not moral prescription.
Topic 2: “Store Honors Islamic Martyr”: This article is a warning to make sure one is interpreting something correctly. This article deals with a sign saying a store would be closed on September 11 to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Ali. Someone mistook this for a celebration of one of the 9/11 terrorists. However, Imam Ali was really Muḥammad’s son-in-law and cousin.
Topic 3: “Why do I”:
This is yet another LOLcat picture featuring Basement Cat, and like all good religious humor, it is founded on something actually part of religion. Basement Cat is the LOLcat equivalent of Christianity’s Satan, who in Matthew 4:1-11 attempts to tempt Jesus. This picture reflects an interpretation of evil as something external to and separate from us. While not the only explanation given for the origin of evil, it is one with an inherent danger when taken literally: since ultimately Satan is the author of evil, not us, arguably it is Satan who is responsible. “Satan made me do it” is thus an easy way of shirking moral responsibility. Such a conclusion is a position neither the Hebrew Bible nor the New Testament take; “Satan made me do it” is never used as a defense by anyone therein, and similar defenses (e.g., ’Adham blaming Ḥawwah and Ḥawwah blaming the Serpent) do not past muster either.
Somebody bug me to blog about what I believe to be the real origin of evil at some point when I have more time...
Aaron
Jewish date: 4 Tishri 5770.
Today’s holidays: Ten Days of Repentance (Judaism), Tuesday of the Twenty-Fifth Week of Ordinary Time (Roman Catholicism), Mabon (Wicca).
Worthy cause of the day: Urge your Senators to Protect the EPA’s Ability to Curb Global Warming Pollution.
Topic 1: “Who Cares About Darwin?”: This article deals with a creationist tactic of claiming that Charles Darwin is a horrible person who is responsible for Hitler, the Nazis, the Holocaust, and anything else awful one can imagine. I have already dealt with why this is completely unfounded this to some degree in my review of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, largely that anti-Semitism, including violent anti-Semitism, existed long before Hitler and that Hitler fails completely to reference Darwin or evolution in Mein Kampf. This article goes into other aspects of why this guilt by association fails: that we do not believe in evolution because of the authority of Darwin, Darwin’s life is irrelevant to whether evolution in true, and how evolution works (really or allegedly) is a matter of physical fact and not moral prescription.
Topic 2: “Store Honors Islamic Martyr”: This article is a warning to make sure one is interpreting something correctly. This article deals with a sign saying a store would be closed on September 11 to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Ali. Someone mistook this for a celebration of one of the 9/11 terrorists. However, Imam Ali was really Muḥammad’s son-in-law and cousin.
Topic 3: “Why do I”:
This is yet another LOLcat picture featuring Basement Cat, and like all good religious humor, it is founded on something actually part of religion. Basement Cat is the LOLcat equivalent of Christianity’s Satan, who in Matthew 4:1-11 attempts to tempt Jesus. This picture reflects an interpretation of evil as something external to and separate from us. While not the only explanation given for the origin of evil, it is one with an inherent danger when taken literally: since ultimately Satan is the author of evil, not us, arguably it is Satan who is responsible. “Satan made me do it” is thus an easy way of shirking moral responsibility. Such a conclusion is a position neither the Hebrew Bible nor the New Testament take; “Satan made me do it” is never used as a defense by anyone therein, and similar defenses (e.g., ’Adham blaming Ḥawwah and Ḥawwah blaming the Serpent) do not past muster either.
Somebody bug me to blog about what I believe to be the real origin of evil at some point when I have more time...
Aaron
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