The Landover Baptist Church is a satirical site that pokes fun at Christianity. Actually, it ridicules right wing Christianity and right wing Christians. To be honest, it’s not one of my favorite sites because I find its humor a little coarse but I check back from time to time to see what’s new.
On my last visit I took a quick look at the latest collection of e-mails arriving at the site. Ouch, these people actually figured out how to use a computer? The e-mails are posted with errors in spelling and grammar intact. The result is really scary especially when one considers that most of these folks are part of the electorate. I guarantee that they all vote Republican and that they all voted for Bush the Unhinged.
…Ya'll are bat-shit crazy…I read your beliefs and you guys are freaks!!!! I am a Christian woman and love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…People like you should be sterilized and not able to reproduce.
Ashley
Ashley obviously thinks that opinions and belief are genetic. Of course if that’s so, then one can only blame God for creating lousy opinions or the parents for choosing the wrong mates.
Do you really think this site is in any way is pleasing to god? I am very sadenned that you chose to put such blasphemy out there.
Dianne
At least Dianne is smart enough to figure out that this is a spoof. But it's unclear to me why Dianne considers the site blasphemy. Perhaps Dianne, like many Christians, thinks blasphemy is anything that disagrees with Christian dogma.
You are the devil itself and i hope you have a eternity in hell. you dont deserve to call your self a baptist church.your rules and regulations are bull crap… It doesnt matter what you look like it matters how you serve god, wich you have failed to do. I want you to read this email to your entire congregation so they can see how stupid you all realy are.
Ian
Ian, on the other hand, is not smart enough to figure out that the site is a spoof. Ian probably doesn’t even know what satire is. I do agree with Ian that what you look like, or how you dress, isn’t important, its how you act that’s important. I guess Ian isn’t old enough to remember the denunciations from the pulpit during the 1960’s about how the emerging generation’s hair length and mode of dressing was disgraceful and an affront to God. Ian, the fact that you can dress as you like today is thanks to the Godless Liberals of the 60’s who told the preachers to go pound salt.
You might also want to give some consideration to the doctrine of "Grace" which kind of implies that how you act isn't nearly as important as what you believe. An axe murderer that accepts Jesus will be saved but a righteous and gentle Buddhist Monk is going straight to hell. This is what Christianity calls "justice."
…although i am a christian, i can definatly say with all clarity that you certainly are not christians, just american self-glorified, racist idiots. Who obviously misunderstood what the bible says and the historical significance of having an old and new testament… However based upon your own teaching i would like to say, enjoy the barbecue cos you'll be the ones cooking, and we'll try and enjoy the show from above.
Steve
Racist idiots? Now what do you suppose Steve is thinking? I always love the picture a lot of Christians paint of sitting up in Heaven watching the damned burn in hell as a sort of entertainment. By the way Steve, it’s only an “old” and a “new” testament to Christians. Jews don’t consider the Hebrew Bible an “old testament.”
…you don't even open your bibles to read what the word of God actually says…You hate gays, you objectify and discriminate women… you falsify Jesus' teachings, and you disgrace the name Christian…And having a clothing line of thongs doesn't help your case at all.
Jordan
Another bright light that hasn’t figured out that the site is a spoof. Alas poor Jordan, do you think Christianity loves gays and treats woman equally? Perhaps you need to look around at how some lovable Christians, all of whom claim they’re following the bible, react to gays with signs like “aids cures homosexuality” and “kill all fags” just to name a few. Then you might want to bone up on how Paul says women should keep their mouths shut in church and learn from their husbands at home (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). How’s that for equality?
At far as the thongs are concerned, hey, they need some way to make money to support the site since they don't actually have a congregation to fleece every Sunday.
Your web-site Is the sickest thing I've ever seen. You call yourself good christians and promote the ruthless beating of children in the name of 'GOD'… How dare you post publically how to abuse children and HATE people who don't follow your doctrines! It's organizations like yours that give organized religion a bad name. May YOU burn in hell for YOUR sins against children and the human race.
Jacqueline.
Jacqueline hasn’t caught on that the site is a spoof either nor has she figured out the implications of the exclusivity that most Christian denominations teach. If you follow those teachings to their logical conclusion, they demand that you “HATE people who don’t follow your doctrines” which is of course precisely what Landover is satirizing.
Landover is also satirizing the idiotic notion held by some Conservative Christians that Proverbs 23 calls for the corporal punishment of children. It doesn't, the "rod" that Proverbs 23 says to apply is the rounded end of a shepard's staff that is used to gently prod sheep into not wandering. You don't literally beat the sheep with a rod and you certainly don't literally beat a child. The analogy is obvious, in the same way the shepard uses his rod to guide the sheep, a parent should use discipline to guide a child.
As for the site giving organized religion a bad name, it would be impossible for a silly satirical web site to paint organized religion any blacker than it already is.
And these are some of the more polite e-mails. These are the people that want to dictate “moral values” to me? Excuse me while I run over to a Red State and buy some more 7.62 mm ammo.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Monday, June 26, 2006
First Alitoism to Groan About
The Alito broke a tie in the wrong direction in Kansas vs. Marsh overruling the Kansas Supreme Court which had declared the state's death penalty statute unconstitutional.
Blah, I knew Sir Russell of Feingold should have pressed his attack and skewered the Alito to the heart! Alas that Sir Russell cares even for those that spurn his goodly nature.
Ok, enough of that. The bottom line is that the death penalty has now been re-activated in Kansas. There are 8 men currently on death row in the state and there are a number of pending cases in which the death penalty can now be pursued.
Based upon the law, the ruling was perhaps correct, I don’t know anything about the law, but based upon what is justice, it was wrong.
The Kansas statute instructs that if mitigating circumstances and aggregating factors are balanced, the tie goes to the death penalty. Whatever happened to the death penalty being reserved for the most heinous offenders? Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that the aggregating factors should have to clearly outweigh the mitigating factors? The last time I looked the burden of proof was still on the prosecution, a tie went to the runner, a double catch went to the receiver and life was preferred over death.
I had the same problem with Alito in his Casey decision, there, as here, he ruled with his head and not with his heart. I don’t expect Thomas, Scalia, Kennedy or Roberts to understand the difference but a Jersey boy should know better.
Shame on you Sammy.
Blah, I knew Sir Russell of Feingold should have pressed his attack and skewered the Alito to the heart! Alas that Sir Russell cares even for those that spurn his goodly nature.
Ok, enough of that. The bottom line is that the death penalty has now been re-activated in Kansas. There are 8 men currently on death row in the state and there are a number of pending cases in which the death penalty can now be pursued.
Based upon the law, the ruling was perhaps correct, I don’t know anything about the law, but based upon what is justice, it was wrong.
The Kansas statute instructs that if mitigating circumstances and aggregating factors are balanced, the tie goes to the death penalty. Whatever happened to the death penalty being reserved for the most heinous offenders? Wouldn’t it make more sense to say that the aggregating factors should have to clearly outweigh the mitigating factors? The last time I looked the burden of proof was still on the prosecution, a tie went to the runner, a double catch went to the receiver and life was preferred over death.
I had the same problem with Alito in his Casey decision, there, as here, he ruled with his head and not with his heart. I don’t expect Thomas, Scalia, Kennedy or Roberts to understand the difference but a Jersey boy should know better.
Shame on you Sammy.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Lord, Give me a Sign
Yup, that’s what I said. Allow me to paint the picture. The air conditioning in the gym appeared a little weak. It was hot, I had just finished working out and I was wiping the considerable perspiration from my face. I was also twirling my car keys.
One of the guys looked up at the air conditioning vent and spread his hands about shoulder high to check if the recent call to maintenance was having any effect. He looked so much like a supplicant that I quipped “Lord, give me a sign.” At that instant the RF key went flying off my key chain.
We all looked at the RF key that had just gone flying across the gym floor. Then we looked at each other. Then I walked over, picked up the key, and checked the hoop that secured it to the main hoop of my car keys. Both it and the main hoop looked just fine. I then put the RF key back on the main hoop, which took some effort, and shrugged.
I twirl my car keys all the time and the RF key had never come off before. Given the tightness of the two interconnecting hoops, I doubt it will happen again anytime soon. It was a fluke. Flukes happen, but imagine if I was given to supernatural thinking? I imagine that I might be wondering if I had just gotten what I asked for.
Coincidences, flukes and other strange stuff happen from time to time. Of course far more often they don’t happen. We tend to remember the odd stuff, for the very reason that it is odd, and forget about all the times nothing happened. This has a name. It’s called “Confirmation Bias.” So-called psychics and clairvoyants build their reputation on confirmation bias, on the fact that people, especially people that have a need to believe, will remember the hits and forget the misses.
There’s a story on snopes.com about lightening hitting a church just after the preacher asked God for a sign. Needless to say the faithful went all giddy over this despite the fact that the bolt caused a fire which required a quick evacuation and $20,000 in repairs. Sounds to me that if it was a sign, it was a sign from the Deity to shut up already and leave him (her? it?) alone. A beam of light with accompanying angelic music would have been much more convincing and done much less damage.
Like my RF key coming off, the lightening was simply coincidence. A long shot perhaps, but long shots do happen. If you throw 100 die, some pattern has to come out on the first set of throws. Yet the probability of that pattern appearing is the same as for any other pattern, 1 chance in 6.5x10 raised to the 77th power.
One of the guys looked up at the air conditioning vent and spread his hands about shoulder high to check if the recent call to maintenance was having any effect. He looked so much like a supplicant that I quipped “Lord, give me a sign.” At that instant the RF key went flying off my key chain.
We all looked at the RF key that had just gone flying across the gym floor. Then we looked at each other. Then I walked over, picked up the key, and checked the hoop that secured it to the main hoop of my car keys. Both it and the main hoop looked just fine. I then put the RF key back on the main hoop, which took some effort, and shrugged.
I twirl my car keys all the time and the RF key had never come off before. Given the tightness of the two interconnecting hoops, I doubt it will happen again anytime soon. It was a fluke. Flukes happen, but imagine if I was given to supernatural thinking? I imagine that I might be wondering if I had just gotten what I asked for.
Coincidences, flukes and other strange stuff happen from time to time. Of course far more often they don’t happen. We tend to remember the odd stuff, for the very reason that it is odd, and forget about all the times nothing happened. This has a name. It’s called “Confirmation Bias.” So-called psychics and clairvoyants build their reputation on confirmation bias, on the fact that people, especially people that have a need to believe, will remember the hits and forget the misses.
There’s a story on snopes.com about lightening hitting a church just after the preacher asked God for a sign. Needless to say the faithful went all giddy over this despite the fact that the bolt caused a fire which required a quick evacuation and $20,000 in repairs. Sounds to me that if it was a sign, it was a sign from the Deity to shut up already and leave him (her? it?) alone. A beam of light with accompanying angelic music would have been much more convincing and done much less damage.
Like my RF key coming off, the lightening was simply coincidence. A long shot perhaps, but long shots do happen. If you throw 100 die, some pattern has to come out on the first set of throws. Yet the probability of that pattern appearing is the same as for any other pattern, 1 chance in 6.5x10 raised to the 77th power.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
New York the Most Courteous City?
That’s what Reader’s Digest is saying after conducting, an admittedly unscientific but a practical, test of politeness in 35 cities around the world. Basically a couple of reporters checked whether (1) people would hold the door for you, (2) clerks would say thank you and (3) people would help pick up papers dropped from a folder.
What was the result you ask? New York came out on top with a rating of 80% followed by Zurich at 77% and Toronto at 70%. You can see the whole list at the Reader’s Digest web site.
Does that surprise me? No, not really. People in the Northeast in general and New York in particular are a fairly polite bunch but, and here’s the big but, they don’t suffer fools gladly either. If you do something out of line, they’ll let you know about it. That perhaps accounts for the “in your face” reputation of New Yorkers. More often than not they will let you have it if you do something stupid or inconsiderate. So be on your best behavior in the Big Apple. After all, it’s the most courteous city in the world.
What was the result you ask? New York came out on top with a rating of 80% followed by Zurich at 77% and Toronto at 70%. You can see the whole list at the Reader’s Digest web site.
Does that surprise me? No, not really. People in the Northeast in general and New York in particular are a fairly polite bunch but, and here’s the big but, they don’t suffer fools gladly either. If you do something out of line, they’ll let you know about it. That perhaps accounts for the “in your face” reputation of New Yorkers. More often than not they will let you have it if you do something stupid or inconsiderate. So be on your best behavior in the Big Apple. After all, it’s the most courteous city in the world.
Death Penalty Update
Based upon reports from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), there’s been some good news, some bad news and, unfortunately, a lot more of the usual.
On the plus side of the ledger, Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia stayed the execution of a man whose mental competence is suspect. Predictably this brought outraged howls of “I told you so” from Death Penalty advocates and Republicans because Kaine is a Catholic that personally opposes Capital Punishment and opponents predicted during the election that he wouldn’t enforce the state’s death penalty statute.
The Roanoke Times put it best when it said the “…stay leaves Kaine vulnerable to ‘we told you so’ rants. Those should be ignored by reasonable people who expect Virginia to exhibit competence in lawfully applying the death penalty.”
In other good news, the League of Women voters adopted a resolution calling for the abolishment of the Death Penalty at their 47th biennial conference. Only one question ladies, what took you so long?
On the down side the governors of both South Carolina (35 executions total, none this year so far) and Oklahoma (81 executions total, 2 so far this year) signed bills expanding for what offenses prosecutors could seek the death penalty. Both states will now allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for repeat child molesters. I think that’s letting them off too easy. A nice long prison term sharing a cell with Bubba is what those guys should get.
In the more of the same category, there have been 23 executions this year, 12 of which have been in the state of Texas. That’s slightly behind the pace of 2005 in which there were 28 executions by the end of June. Unfortunately July could be a bad month with 11 executions scheduled.
On the plus side of the ledger, Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia stayed the execution of a man whose mental competence is suspect. Predictably this brought outraged howls of “I told you so” from Death Penalty advocates and Republicans because Kaine is a Catholic that personally opposes Capital Punishment and opponents predicted during the election that he wouldn’t enforce the state’s death penalty statute.
The Roanoke Times put it best when it said the “…stay leaves Kaine vulnerable to ‘we told you so’ rants. Those should be ignored by reasonable people who expect Virginia to exhibit competence in lawfully applying the death penalty.”
In other good news, the League of Women voters adopted a resolution calling for the abolishment of the Death Penalty at their 47th biennial conference. Only one question ladies, what took you so long?
On the down side the governors of both South Carolina (35 executions total, none this year so far) and Oklahoma (81 executions total, 2 so far this year) signed bills expanding for what offenses prosecutors could seek the death penalty. Both states will now allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for repeat child molesters. I think that’s letting them off too easy. A nice long prison term sharing a cell with Bubba is what those guys should get.
In the more of the same category, there have been 23 executions this year, 12 of which have been in the state of Texas. That’s slightly behind the pace of 2005 in which there were 28 executions by the end of June. Unfortunately July could be a bad month with 11 executions scheduled.
A Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
Also known as an MMORPG to us techie types. Go ahead and try to pronounce that fast three times, I dare you. I finally splurged when I saw World of Warcraft (WoW) on sale for $29 and decided to try one of these out.
I’ve been playing it for a week or so and I have to say it has its attractions. First of all it looks absolutely gorgeous and the music is pretty good too. You can get goose bumps when you first enter the city of Stormwind, the music flares up to a crescendo and the bold green words “Stormwind, Alliance Territory” come up on the screen as you’re running across the bridge and passing mammoth statues of the heroes of legend. Peter Jackson would be proud.
There are two sides, the Alliance and the Horde, eight races and a dozen or so classes to pick from so there’s quite a bit of variation and replay ability.
The game is heavily quest oriented so it’s not entirely running around and mindlessly killing stuff although there is plenty of that. So far there’s enough quirkiness and variation to hold my interest but we’ll see how it goes from here. With literally hundreds of players running around it doesn’t have the cozy, close knit community feeling of a Neverwinter Nights server, but it’s ok.
I don’t see the kind of character variation you have in the D&D oriented games, like Neverwinter Nights (maybe I should have waited for D&D Online to go on sale), but it’s passable enough. I started with a Warrior, figuring that would be the easiest to play until I caught on to the controls, but I didn’t really care for it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were lots of controls and options you could exercise during a fight, rather than just watching and praying, but somehow the Warrior character seemed limited. After bringing him up to level 17 I parked him in the inn in Stormwind and generated a Paladin.
Oh that was much better. The Paladin, closer to a D&D Cleric than a D&D Paladin, had lots of fun options you could exercise and I’ve managed to get him up to level 18. I don’t know if it was simply that I knew the game a little better, but the Paladin seemed much more powerful than the Warrior.
The game has the standard Bank but also an Auction House, where you can post equipment for others to bid on, and a Postal Service that you can use to send notes or even articles of equipment to other characters (including other characters of your own). I sent three care packages to a mage character I fired up just to try out the postal service. The only restriction I’ve found is you can’t send stuff to characters on the other side.
The thing appears HUGE and I suspect that I’ve only seen a tiny part of the game world. You just CANNOT run between places all the time, it’s way too far, so they have a griffin riding service that provides some spectacular views as, for a small fee, you wing your way from place to place.
To be honest my computer is a bit outdated and underpowered for this game. I could use more memory, a better graphics accelerator and maybe a faster main CPU but this only becomes apparent occasionally; 99% of the time the game runs fine and I can pretty much predict when it’s going to start stuttering and even then it’s usually only temporary.
I haven’t really done any partying but there appear to be a number of areas that are almost dedicated to cooperative activity. I have died a few times. Actually, a lot more than a few, the game is pretty tough for a solo player.
The way the XP and quests are set up, you are almost always pushing the edge in the creatures you’re fighting. For example, you get zero XP for monsters more than five levels below you so you can’t level up by killing wimps. I’ve found that I can usually take the current quest monsters one on one, and often even two on one, but if they gang up on you, you’re toast. The way you typically die is you’re fighting one gnoll and two more jump you from behind. Luckily, if you trudge back, as a ghost, from the nearest cemetery, where you’re placed when you have an unfortunate event, to retrieve your body, there’s no penalty (other than the time lost) for doing something fatal.
My one complaint is they just released an upgrade and I had a hell of a time downloading it. Usually this is pretty painless, but for some bizarre reason Blizzard chose a method which required me to modify my firewall settings before it would work.
I find the economics of this whole phenomena interesting as well. It was an EBGames advertisement, offering WoW for $29 that made me decide to try it out but I happened to be in Best Buy first and the game was $49. Now they claim to have sold over 5 million copies of this thing. Yes Virginia, 5 million. Assuming an average retail price of $40, that would be something like $200 million split between the developer/publisher and the retailer. You get one month of play with the purchase and after that it’s $15 a month. It’s unlikely that all 5 million are still subscribing, but there seem to be quite a few servers available so let’s say that one in ten purchasers are still subscribing, that would be 500,000 times $15 = $7.5 million a month or $90 million a year. Not a bad chunk of change and to further milk it, there’s a major expansion planned for sometime later this year which I think is going to sell for $39.
But then again Neverwinter Nights 2 is supposed to be available in September and I sort of promised I would help develop a module for it and host it on my server in place of the current NWN module. Oh well, we’ll see what happens. My scripting and area design skills are rusty anyway.
I’ve been playing it for a week or so and I have to say it has its attractions. First of all it looks absolutely gorgeous and the music is pretty good too. You can get goose bumps when you first enter the city of Stormwind, the music flares up to a crescendo and the bold green words “Stormwind, Alliance Territory” come up on the screen as you’re running across the bridge and passing mammoth statues of the heroes of legend. Peter Jackson would be proud.
There are two sides, the Alliance and the Horde, eight races and a dozen or so classes to pick from so there’s quite a bit of variation and replay ability.
The game is heavily quest oriented so it’s not entirely running around and mindlessly killing stuff although there is plenty of that. So far there’s enough quirkiness and variation to hold my interest but we’ll see how it goes from here. With literally hundreds of players running around it doesn’t have the cozy, close knit community feeling of a Neverwinter Nights server, but it’s ok.
I don’t see the kind of character variation you have in the D&D oriented games, like Neverwinter Nights (maybe I should have waited for D&D Online to go on sale), but it’s passable enough. I started with a Warrior, figuring that would be the easiest to play until I caught on to the controls, but I didn’t really care for it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were lots of controls and options you could exercise during a fight, rather than just watching and praying, but somehow the Warrior character seemed limited. After bringing him up to level 17 I parked him in the inn in Stormwind and generated a Paladin.
Oh that was much better. The Paladin, closer to a D&D Cleric than a D&D Paladin, had lots of fun options you could exercise and I’ve managed to get him up to level 18. I don’t know if it was simply that I knew the game a little better, but the Paladin seemed much more powerful than the Warrior.
The game has the standard Bank but also an Auction House, where you can post equipment for others to bid on, and a Postal Service that you can use to send notes or even articles of equipment to other characters (including other characters of your own). I sent three care packages to a mage character I fired up just to try out the postal service. The only restriction I’ve found is you can’t send stuff to characters on the other side.
The thing appears HUGE and I suspect that I’ve only seen a tiny part of the game world. You just CANNOT run between places all the time, it’s way too far, so they have a griffin riding service that provides some spectacular views as, for a small fee, you wing your way from place to place.
To be honest my computer is a bit outdated and underpowered for this game. I could use more memory, a better graphics accelerator and maybe a faster main CPU but this only becomes apparent occasionally; 99% of the time the game runs fine and I can pretty much predict when it’s going to start stuttering and even then it’s usually only temporary.
I haven’t really done any partying but there appear to be a number of areas that are almost dedicated to cooperative activity. I have died a few times. Actually, a lot more than a few, the game is pretty tough for a solo player.
The way the XP and quests are set up, you are almost always pushing the edge in the creatures you’re fighting. For example, you get zero XP for monsters more than five levels below you so you can’t level up by killing wimps. I’ve found that I can usually take the current quest monsters one on one, and often even two on one, but if they gang up on you, you’re toast. The way you typically die is you’re fighting one gnoll and two more jump you from behind. Luckily, if you trudge back, as a ghost, from the nearest cemetery, where you’re placed when you have an unfortunate event, to retrieve your body, there’s no penalty (other than the time lost) for doing something fatal.
My one complaint is they just released an upgrade and I had a hell of a time downloading it. Usually this is pretty painless, but for some bizarre reason Blizzard chose a method which required me to modify my firewall settings before it would work.
I find the economics of this whole phenomena interesting as well. It was an EBGames advertisement, offering WoW for $29 that made me decide to try it out but I happened to be in Best Buy first and the game was $49. Now they claim to have sold over 5 million copies of this thing. Yes Virginia, 5 million. Assuming an average retail price of $40, that would be something like $200 million split between the developer/publisher and the retailer. You get one month of play with the purchase and after that it’s $15 a month. It’s unlikely that all 5 million are still subscribing, but there seem to be quite a few servers available so let’s say that one in ten purchasers are still subscribing, that would be 500,000 times $15 = $7.5 million a month or $90 million a year. Not a bad chunk of change and to further milk it, there’s a major expansion planned for sometime later this year which I think is going to sell for $39.
But then again Neverwinter Nights 2 is supposed to be available in September and I sort of promised I would help develop a module for it and host it on my server in place of the current NWN module. Oh well, we’ll see what happens. My scripting and area design skills are rusty anyway.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Gays and the Episcopal Church
If for some bizarre, unfathomable reason I ever decided to return to Church, it would probably be to an Episcopal congregation.
I see the Episcopals have elected their first female leader, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. While I still find the idea of female clergy a little strange, this particular bishop appears to have her head screwed on straight about a thing or two.
She doesn’t consider homosexuality a sin and supported the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire, a move that got a considerable negative reaction from other, more conservative, branches of the Episcopal Church.
As a matter of fact the homosexuality issue appears to be causing some significant fractures in the church organization. While I wouldn’t shed a tear if all religion disappeared from the face of the earth, the Episcopals, more often than not, tend to be a voice of reason and when they're weakened other more conservative, and therefore more dangerous, elements benefit and that's not a good thing.
For instance, consider Schori’s attitude toward the bible. "The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today.”
I only have one question for the bishop based upon that quote. Do you really believe that the bible has anything to “teach us about how to live as human beings” that’s unique, that wasn’t said earlier, and perhaps better, by some pagan or secular source?
For instance, many people believe that the moral teachings of Jesus are unique, but that’s not really true.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others." -Confucius (c. 520 BCE)
This is the famous “Golden Rule” which has been expressed by religions and secular philosophers since the dawn of time. You can even get a “Golden Rule” Poster with 13 expressions of the rule from around the world.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“It is impossible for an exceptionally good man to be exceptionally rich.” – Plato (c. 370 BCE)
“Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“It’s never right to do wrong and never right to take revenge; nor is it right to give evil for evil, or in the case of one who has suffered some injury, to attempt to get even." – Socrates (c. 400 BCE)
So while I accept the idea that the bible is AN ethical source, when people start claiming that it is THE ethical source and the only one ratified and approved by the almighty "I'll send you to hell for all eternity if you don't listen to me" Sky Daddy, I start reaching for my AKM.
I see the Episcopals have elected their first female leader, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. While I still find the idea of female clergy a little strange, this particular bishop appears to have her head screwed on straight about a thing or two.
She doesn’t consider homosexuality a sin and supported the ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire, a move that got a considerable negative reaction from other, more conservative, branches of the Episcopal Church.
As a matter of fact the homosexuality issue appears to be causing some significant fractures in the church organization. While I wouldn’t shed a tear if all religion disappeared from the face of the earth, the Episcopals, more often than not, tend to be a voice of reason and when they're weakened other more conservative, and therefore more dangerous, elements benefit and that's not a good thing.
For instance, consider Schori’s attitude toward the bible. "The Bible has a great deal to teach us about how to live as human beings. The Bible does not have so much to teach us about what sorts of food to eat, what sorts of clothes to wear -- there are rules in the Bible about those that we don't observe today.”
I only have one question for the bishop based upon that quote. Do you really believe that the bible has anything to “teach us about how to live as human beings” that’s unique, that wasn’t said earlier, and perhaps better, by some pagan or secular source?
For instance, many people believe that the moral teachings of Jesus are unique, but that’s not really true.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others." -Confucius (c. 520 BCE)
This is the famous “Golden Rule” which has been expressed by religions and secular philosophers since the dawn of time. You can even get a “Golden Rule” Poster with 13 expressions of the rule from around the world.
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“It is impossible for an exceptionally good man to be exceptionally rich.” – Plato (c. 370 BCE)
“Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” – Jesus of Nazareth (c. 30 CE)
“It’s never right to do wrong and never right to take revenge; nor is it right to give evil for evil, or in the case of one who has suffered some injury, to attempt to get even." – Socrates (c. 400 BCE)
So while I accept the idea that the bible is AN ethical source, when people start claiming that it is THE ethical source and the only one ratified and approved by the almighty "I'll send you to hell for all eternity if you don't listen to me" Sky Daddy, I start reaching for my AKM.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
A Little Time out for Ecclesiastes
Regardless of your opinion of religion in general, and Christianity in particular, one ignores the wisdom of the bible at one’s peril. The peril not being some fictitious lake of fire, but simply missing out on something to make you think.
I offer the following quotes from Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 7:5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
This sort of makes Paul’s advice to ignore the wisdom of the world suspect doesn’t it? Then again, I find ALL of Paul’s advice suspect. It was being introduced to the writings of Paul that convinced me Christianity was false.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
This is a recognition that we’re all human and that we will all screw up from time to time. If this was coming direct from God, this would have been a good place to advertise the eventual arrival of salvation through grace wouldn’t it?
Ecclesiastes 7:28 I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
Sort of a standard male lament, you think God doesn’t believe there are any upright women?
Ecclesiastes 8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
Oh well, so much for the occasional prophet and the occasional prophecy not to mention any and all psychics.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.
Get it? Enjoy life as much as you can while you can because tomorrow…
Ecclesiastes 9:4 Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
A classic quote from someone who supposedly knows.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
So where’s the promise of heaven? You figure God only decided to establish the place so his son would have somewhere to hang out with his friends?
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.
In 1 Timothy 6:10 we’re told that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” but in Ecclesiastes "money is the answer for everything” so a love of money would be understandable.
The funny thing is, they’re both right (and no I'm not contradicting myself since most scholars doubt that the pastorals were actually written by Paul).
I offer the following quotes from Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 7:5 It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
This sort of makes Paul’s advice to ignore the wisdom of the world suspect doesn’t it? Then again, I find ALL of Paul’s advice suspect. It was being introduced to the writings of Paul that convinced me Christianity was false.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
This is a recognition that we’re all human and that we will all screw up from time to time. If this was coming direct from God, this would have been a good place to advertise the eventual arrival of salvation through grace wouldn’t it?
Ecclesiastes 7:28 I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
Sort of a standard male lament, you think God doesn’t believe there are any upright women?
Ecclesiastes 8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
Oh well, so much for the occasional prophet and the occasional prophecy not to mention any and all psychics.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.
Get it? Enjoy life as much as you can while you can because tomorrow…
Ecclesiastes 9:4 Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
A classic quote from someone who supposedly knows.
Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.
So where’s the promise of heaven? You figure God only decided to establish the place so his son would have somewhere to hang out with his friends?
Ecclesiastes 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.
In 1 Timothy 6:10 we’re told that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” but in Ecclesiastes "money is the answer for everything” so a love of money would be understandable.
The funny thing is, they’re both right (and no I'm not contradicting myself since most scholars doubt that the pastorals were actually written by Paul).
Monday, June 12, 2006
Court Allows Last Minute Lethal Injection Claims
In what I think is going to have a major impact on the death penalty, the Supreme Court has upheld allowing condemned prisoners to make last minute claims that the chemicals to be used in lethal injection are painful and therefore violate the Eight Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision came in a case from Florida called Hill v. McDonough. The decision is the follow-up to the court staying Hill’s execution in January.
Why do I think it’s going to have a major impact? I think it will because it adds one more hurdle that needs to be cleared. California, Maryland and Missouri have executions suspended due to similar issues surrounding lethal injection and now Florida can be added to that list with undoubtedly more states to follow. If the New Jersey commission studying the death penalty needed any additional ammunition, besides the state’s Attorney General saying the death penalty is unnecessary, to push it toward recommending abolition, it just got it. If New York and Kansas needed any additional incentive to not bother resurrecting their statutes which were declared unconstitutional, they just got it also and Illinois has one more reason to leave its executive moratorium in place.
Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but that’s seven of the thirty-eight states with the death penalty sort of in limbo.
There may be hope for us yet.
The decision came in a case from Florida called Hill v. McDonough. The decision is the follow-up to the court staying Hill’s execution in January.
Why do I think it’s going to have a major impact? I think it will because it adds one more hurdle that needs to be cleared. California, Maryland and Missouri have executions suspended due to similar issues surrounding lethal injection and now Florida can be added to that list with undoubtedly more states to follow. If the New Jersey commission studying the death penalty needed any additional ammunition, besides the state’s Attorney General saying the death penalty is unnecessary, to push it toward recommending abolition, it just got it. If New York and Kansas needed any additional incentive to not bother resurrecting their statutes which were declared unconstitutional, they just got it also and Illinois has one more reason to leave its executive moratorium in place.
Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but that’s seven of the thirty-eight states with the death penalty sort of in limbo.
There may be hope for us yet.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Nominee for Jackass of the Year
Ann Coulter, who else? Her latest Ad Hominid attack was to dub four women from East Brunswick whose husbands were killed in the 9/11 attacks the “Witches of East Brunswick” saying "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much." Coulter was upset because the four (a) headed a campaign that resulted in the creation of the September 11 Commission and (b) took out an advertisement in favor of John Kerry.
Coulter accuses the women of reveling in their “celebrity status” since becoming “millionaires” due to 9/11 settlements and claims they wanted to blame President Bush for not preventing the attacks. Adding insult to insult Coulter added "By the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."
All of this appears in her new book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” Please, we could REALLY use a libel lawsuit here. Somebody find the ladies a good lawyer! I would like nothing better than to see Coulter and her publisher reduced to begging on street corners.
Coulter is also the one that after the 9/11 attacks suggested, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" and in another book wrote “Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."
No Ann you’ve got it wrong, its irresponsible conservative commentators that we hate. Allow me to remind you that your opinions aren’t synonymous with America. Actually, hate is too strong a word, usually we find what you say a priceless source of merriment. However, your tasteless attack on these ladies is beneath contempt.
Keep in mind that these are tirades coming from someone that demonstrates every time she opens her mouth that she doesn’t have the faintest idea what the underlying principles of America are or what the Constitution means.
When asked why she made such nasty personal attacks Coulter replied "I am tired of victims being used as billboards for untenable liberal political beliefs."
In other words, they dared to disagree with her. More than a few folks criticized Coulter for the statements including the two conservative New York papers the Post and the Daily News. I think Frank Lautenberg, Senator from New Jersey, said it best when he described Coulter’s unjustified attack as sparking disgust and saying "Her bookselling antics and accompanying vulgarity deserve our deepest contempt."
So why are people still buying her book and why is she still being paid to dispense her swill on national television? I’m not proposing censorship of her ideas but the manner in which she expresses them. Hey, I admit I’m a godless liberal and proud of it. She can knock me all she wants for my liberal attitude and I’ll gladly return the favor expressing my opinion of her beliefs, including her religious beliefs if she wants to put them on the table as well.
The question however, is whether or not after slamming and ridiculing each others opinions, can we then still have a dialogue to see if there is a middle ground? You attack my opinions and sure, why not? You attack me personally and I’m not so sure. So are we going to have a civil dialogue or should I just go get my AKM now? Its bad enough we have to put up with the likes of Falwell, Perkins, Robertson and Dobson throwing barbs at people who disagree with them, do we have to listen to this bitch as well? A journalist should know better. I’d say she needs to get soundly laid except that would be terribly sexist. Besides, I can’t find anyone who would consider doing it even if they could use Pat Robertson’s amputated pinky sized member.
Oh, those last two sentences were terrible things to say. I’m so ashamed. I think I’ll go back and contemplate the story of Balaam’s Donkey (see Numbers 22:20-35).
Coulter accuses the women of reveling in their “celebrity status” since becoming “millionaires” due to 9/11 settlements and claims they wanted to blame President Bush for not preventing the attacks. Adding insult to insult Coulter added "By the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."
All of this appears in her new book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” Please, we could REALLY use a libel lawsuit here. Somebody find the ladies a good lawyer! I would like nothing better than to see Coulter and her publisher reduced to begging on street corners.
Coulter is also the one that after the 9/11 attacks suggested, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" and in another book wrote “Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."
No Ann you’ve got it wrong, its irresponsible conservative commentators that we hate. Allow me to remind you that your opinions aren’t synonymous with America. Actually, hate is too strong a word, usually we find what you say a priceless source of merriment. However, your tasteless attack on these ladies is beneath contempt.
Keep in mind that these are tirades coming from someone that demonstrates every time she opens her mouth that she doesn’t have the faintest idea what the underlying principles of America are or what the Constitution means.
When asked why she made such nasty personal attacks Coulter replied "I am tired of victims being used as billboards for untenable liberal political beliefs."
In other words, they dared to disagree with her. More than a few folks criticized Coulter for the statements including the two conservative New York papers the Post and the Daily News. I think Frank Lautenberg, Senator from New Jersey, said it best when he described Coulter’s unjustified attack as sparking disgust and saying "Her bookselling antics and accompanying vulgarity deserve our deepest contempt."
So why are people still buying her book and why is she still being paid to dispense her swill on national television? I’m not proposing censorship of her ideas but the manner in which she expresses them. Hey, I admit I’m a godless liberal and proud of it. She can knock me all she wants for my liberal attitude and I’ll gladly return the favor expressing my opinion of her beliefs, including her religious beliefs if she wants to put them on the table as well.
The question however, is whether or not after slamming and ridiculing each others opinions, can we then still have a dialogue to see if there is a middle ground? You attack my opinions and sure, why not? You attack me personally and I’m not so sure. So are we going to have a civil dialogue or should I just go get my AKM now? Its bad enough we have to put up with the likes of Falwell, Perkins, Robertson and Dobson throwing barbs at people who disagree with them, do we have to listen to this bitch as well? A journalist should know better. I’d say she needs to get soundly laid except that would be terribly sexist. Besides, I can’t find anyone who would consider doing it even if they could use Pat Robertson’s amputated pinky sized member.
Oh, those last two sentences were terrible things to say. I’m so ashamed. I think I’ll go back and contemplate the story of Balaam’s Donkey (see Numbers 22:20-35).
Thursday, June 08, 2006
A Primary Day Thought or Two
Kind of a mixed bag on 666, ex-judge Roy Moore took a pounding in the Alabama gubernatorial primary but not by as large a margin as it appeared he would. When last I looked the numbers were 64%-36% in favor of Governor Riley. That 36% of the Alabama electorate could vote for Moore is really scary. Even scarier is that a ban on Gay Marriage passed in the state by a 4-1 margin. I’d really like to have a conversation with people that vote for things like that and ask them what their concern is.
Elsewhere, Democrats narrowly missed taking away a House seat in a traditionally strong Republican district in California. I’m not sure what to make of that one. In New Jersey it looks like a horse race between acting Senator Robert Menendez and Tom Keane Jr. the son of the popular ex-governor of New Jersey Thomas Keane.
Tom Keane is republican by traditional and liberal by the grace of God. Calling himself a Republican is virtually meaningless so he has a reasonable shot at election. Keane would be a moderate voice in a Republican party that is increasingly extreme in its views. It’s Republicans like Keane that need to rally together and figure out how to take back the GOP from the radical right wing elements that have it captured.
Nevertheless, I’m still voting for Menendez unless something changes significantly between now and November.
Keane broke with conservatives of the Bergen County Republican Organization over Gay Marriage and Abortion pointing out that it is virtually impossible for a candidate who is anti-choice and anti-gay marriage to win a statewide election in New Jersey. Unfortunately, as shown by Representative Scott Garret, it is possible for an anti-choice, anti-gay marriage candidate to win a local election in Bergen County where I have the misfortune of living, and in Garret’s district no less. Oh the injustice of it all!
Elsewhere, Democrats narrowly missed taking away a House seat in a traditionally strong Republican district in California. I’m not sure what to make of that one. In New Jersey it looks like a horse race between acting Senator Robert Menendez and Tom Keane Jr. the son of the popular ex-governor of New Jersey Thomas Keane.
Tom Keane is republican by traditional and liberal by the grace of God. Calling himself a Republican is virtually meaningless so he has a reasonable shot at election. Keane would be a moderate voice in a Republican party that is increasingly extreme in its views. It’s Republicans like Keane that need to rally together and figure out how to take back the GOP from the radical right wing elements that have it captured.
Nevertheless, I’m still voting for Menendez unless something changes significantly between now and November.
Keane broke with conservatives of the Bergen County Republican Organization over Gay Marriage and Abortion pointing out that it is virtually impossible for a candidate who is anti-choice and anti-gay marriage to win a statewide election in New Jersey. Unfortunately, as shown by Representative Scott Garret, it is possible for an anti-choice, anti-gay marriage candidate to win a local election in Bergen County where I have the misfortune of living, and in Garret’s district no less. Oh the injustice of it all!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Spike in Gay Marriage Opposition Disappears
In what was a classic political hornswaggle the Republican Party managed to leverage the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision legalizing Gay Marriage in that state into a burning national issue in 2004. It’s quite possible that this is what cost John Kerry the election and it has certainly led to the current misery under Bush the Unhinged.
Now of course, under the influence of Right Wing Christian Conservatives, the Republicans are trying it again. But perhaps things are a little different in 2006. We’ve had three years of an unjustified war in Iraq. We’ve had an unbroken stream of lies and deception from the administration on issues as diverse as weapons of mass destruction and the NSA eves dropping on American’s telephone calls. Finally, last, but certainly not least, Gay Marriage has been legal in Massachusetts for two years and the state has managed to survive pretty much intact. Lightening bolts from Sky Daddy haven’t incinerated anyone and there’s no noticeable indication that group marriage or polygamy (despite HBO's series Big Love) are on the horizon.
A March poll, by the Pew Research Group, indicates that the spike of opposition to Gay Marriage the Republicans and conservative organizations managed to whip up in 2004 has disappeared and attitudes appear to be more in line with the trend since the early 1990s of a slow, but steady, acceptance of homosexuality.
In February of 2004 fully 63% of Americans opposed Gay Marriage. This number in March of 2006 was 51% which is much more in line with the July of 2003 and July of 2005 numbers of 53%. The number of Americans in favor of Gay Marriage has increased from 30% in 2004, to 36% in 2005, and now stands at 39% in 2006.
Gay Adoption, another issue the Republicans were hoping to stir up some fuss on, came out almost a dead heat with 48% opposing and 46% in favor. You can adopt kids you just can’t get married? That makes a whole lot of sense doesn’t it?
In other issues addressed in the poll Americans oppose a national version of the South Dakota abortion ban by a whopping 58%-34% so don’t expect the Republicans to start pushing on the Abortion Amendment again anytime soon.
Some details from the Pew Report just sort of enforce the feeling that there are two different countries here. The Northeast and West form one country and the South and Midwest form the other (although the Midwest kind of leans toward neutral). Similarly we have the educated and the less educated.
Opinion on Gay Adoption broke down as follows by region.
Northeast - Favor = 57%, Opposed = 35%
West - Favor = 53%, Opposed = 38%
Midwest - Favor = 44%, Opposed = 51%
South - Favor = 35%, Opposed = 60%
Opinion on Gay Adoption broke down as follows by education.
College Degree – Favor = 55%, Opposed = 37%
Some College – Favor = 49%, Opposed = 45%
HS Grad or Less – Favor = 38%, Opposed = 56%
Then again, perhaps we are all pulling in the same direction but some of us get there first is all. Opinion on the South Dakota Abortion Ban as a national law broke down as follows by region.
Northeast – Favor = 29%, Opposed = 63%
West – Favor = 30%, Opposed = 60%
Midwest - Favor = 40%, Opposed = 54%
South - Favor = 37%, Opposed = 56%
Opinion on the South Dakota Abortion Ban as a national law broke down as follows by education.
College Degree - Favor = 24%, Opposed = 70%
Some College - Favor = 35%, Opposed = 57%
HS Grad or Less - Favor = 40%, Opposed = 51%
Isn’t it interesting that the Northeast and West tend to line up more with the educated segments of the population? The same thing was true in a poll about evolution vs. creationism. I wonder why that is? Trust me on this one, people are no smarter nor much better educated in the Northeast and West than in the Midwest. The South of course consists solely of uneducated rednecks that sleep with their sisters.
Nah, only kidding. I wonder if there is such an organization as "South Bashers Anonymous" to cure me of this tendency to constantly identify the shortcomings of the southern region of this country?
Actually, it's more likely the difference is because Evangelical Christianity is weakest in the Northeast and West. In this survey Evangelical Christians opposed Gay adoption by a margin of 75%-22% and favored the South Dakota Abortion Ban by a margin of 59%-36% demonstrating again how they are out of tune with American Democracy yet they want to enforce their “moral values” on the rest of us. It is times like this that make me sorry I decided to never use a certain word in this blog since I’d really like to tell them what to do to themselves.
In contrast, folks who described themselves as "Secular" favored Gay Adoption by a margin of 66%-28% and opposed the South Dakota Abortion Ban by an incredible 82%-16%. Yes my children the Culture War is alive and well.
Now of course, under the influence of Right Wing Christian Conservatives, the Republicans are trying it again. But perhaps things are a little different in 2006. We’ve had three years of an unjustified war in Iraq. We’ve had an unbroken stream of lies and deception from the administration on issues as diverse as weapons of mass destruction and the NSA eves dropping on American’s telephone calls. Finally, last, but certainly not least, Gay Marriage has been legal in Massachusetts for two years and the state has managed to survive pretty much intact. Lightening bolts from Sky Daddy haven’t incinerated anyone and there’s no noticeable indication that group marriage or polygamy (despite HBO's series Big Love) are on the horizon.
A March poll, by the Pew Research Group, indicates that the spike of opposition to Gay Marriage the Republicans and conservative organizations managed to whip up in 2004 has disappeared and attitudes appear to be more in line with the trend since the early 1990s of a slow, but steady, acceptance of homosexuality.
In February of 2004 fully 63% of Americans opposed Gay Marriage. This number in March of 2006 was 51% which is much more in line with the July of 2003 and July of 2005 numbers of 53%. The number of Americans in favor of Gay Marriage has increased from 30% in 2004, to 36% in 2005, and now stands at 39% in 2006.
Gay Adoption, another issue the Republicans were hoping to stir up some fuss on, came out almost a dead heat with 48% opposing and 46% in favor. You can adopt kids you just can’t get married? That makes a whole lot of sense doesn’t it?
In other issues addressed in the poll Americans oppose a national version of the South Dakota abortion ban by a whopping 58%-34% so don’t expect the Republicans to start pushing on the Abortion Amendment again anytime soon.
Some details from the Pew Report just sort of enforce the feeling that there are two different countries here. The Northeast and West form one country and the South and Midwest form the other (although the Midwest kind of leans toward neutral). Similarly we have the educated and the less educated.
Opinion on Gay Adoption broke down as follows by region.
Northeast - Favor = 57%, Opposed = 35%
West - Favor = 53%, Opposed = 38%
Midwest - Favor = 44%, Opposed = 51%
South - Favor = 35%, Opposed = 60%
Opinion on Gay Adoption broke down as follows by education.
College Degree – Favor = 55%, Opposed = 37%
Some College – Favor = 49%, Opposed = 45%
HS Grad or Less – Favor = 38%, Opposed = 56%
Then again, perhaps we are all pulling in the same direction but some of us get there first is all. Opinion on the South Dakota Abortion Ban as a national law broke down as follows by region.
Northeast – Favor = 29%, Opposed = 63%
West – Favor = 30%, Opposed = 60%
Midwest - Favor = 40%, Opposed = 54%
South - Favor = 37%, Opposed = 56%
Opinion on the South Dakota Abortion Ban as a national law broke down as follows by education.
College Degree - Favor = 24%, Opposed = 70%
Some College - Favor = 35%, Opposed = 57%
HS Grad or Less - Favor = 40%, Opposed = 51%
Isn’t it interesting that the Northeast and West tend to line up more with the educated segments of the population? The same thing was true in a poll about evolution vs. creationism. I wonder why that is? Trust me on this one, people are no smarter nor much better educated in the Northeast and West than in the Midwest. The South of course consists solely of uneducated rednecks that sleep with their sisters.
Nah, only kidding. I wonder if there is such an organization as "South Bashers Anonymous" to cure me of this tendency to constantly identify the shortcomings of the southern region of this country?
Actually, it's more likely the difference is because Evangelical Christianity is weakest in the Northeast and West. In this survey Evangelical Christians opposed Gay adoption by a margin of 75%-22% and favored the South Dakota Abortion Ban by a margin of 59%-36% demonstrating again how they are out of tune with American Democracy yet they want to enforce their “moral values” on the rest of us. It is times like this that make me sorry I decided to never use a certain word in this blog since I’d really like to tell them what to do to themselves.
In contrast, folks who described themselves as "Secular" favored Gay Adoption by a margin of 66%-28% and opposed the South Dakota Abortion Ban by an incredible 82%-16%. Yes my children the Culture War is alive and well.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Never Test God
It’s really bad idea. In Deuteronomy 6:16 Moses warns against testing God and Jesus points this out to Satan in Matthew 4:7. That being the case, one has to wonder what the idiot in Kiev that Reuters reports entered a lion enclosure shouting “God will save me, if he exists” was thinking?
Was this an attempt to get God to prove he exists and did the guy want the question answered for himself or was he looking to demonstrate to the world what he was already certain of?
We’ll never know because a lioness improved the human gene pool by whacking him with her claw and severing his carotid artery. This is definitely a candidate for a Darwin Award.
Was this an attempt to get God to prove he exists and did the guy want the question answered for himself or was he looking to demonstrate to the world what he was already certain of?
We’ll never know because a lioness improved the human gene pool by whacking him with her claw and severing his carotid artery. This is definitely a candidate for a Darwin Award.
The Gay Marriage Amendment
It’s June, right about time for the Republicans to start squawking about garbage “moral values” issues in order to stir up the religious fruitcakes of the Christian Right.
Bush the Unhinged, may fleas nest in his private parts, is again pushing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Why he’s not embarrassed about supporting the codification of bigotry and intolerance into the constitution is beyond me. I won’t even mention the hypocrisy of spinning 180 degrees from the usual conservative chant about the federal government dictating on questions that should be left to the states.
The amendment has about zero chance of even getting through congress never mind being ratified by the states so this is simply an attempt to gets folks out for the primaries tomorrow and, more importantly, we’re seeing the opening salvos for November.
There’s nothing like homosexuality to get the Christian Right all stirred up and marching to the polls to vote Republican. One wonders if these people ever really think about what they do. I’m still waiting for someone to give me a rational reason why gay marriage is a bad idea.
To even consider putting an amendment into the constitution which says its ok to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation is absolutely disgraceful. This is just more evidence that religion is incompatible with western democratic principles.
Bush the Unhinged, may fleas nest in his private parts, is again pushing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Why he’s not embarrassed about supporting the codification of bigotry and intolerance into the constitution is beyond me. I won’t even mention the hypocrisy of spinning 180 degrees from the usual conservative chant about the federal government dictating on questions that should be left to the states.
The amendment has about zero chance of even getting through congress never mind being ratified by the states so this is simply an attempt to gets folks out for the primaries tomorrow and, more importantly, we’re seeing the opening salvos for November.
There’s nothing like homosexuality to get the Christian Right all stirred up and marching to the polls to vote Republican. One wonders if these people ever really think about what they do. I’m still waiting for someone to give me a rational reason why gay marriage is a bad idea.
To even consider putting an amendment into the constitution which says its ok to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation is absolutely disgraceful. This is just more evidence that religion is incompatible with western democratic principles.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Human Sacrifice in Ancient Canaan
There is little doubt that many ancient Canaanite religions called for child sacrifice. The rites of both Chemosh of the Moabites and Molech of the Ammonites appear to have called for sacrifices by “passing through the fire.” This is generally understood to mean sacrifice by burning the victim to death.
Pretty gruesome and often offered by Apologists as a justification for the genocide the early Israelites were instructed by God to carry out on the Canaanite tribes. The more secular idea of refugees from civilized Egypt entering Canaan and being horrified by the practice works as an explanation too.
There’s only one problem. If the kingdoms of Israel and Judah actually emerged from the indigenous nomads of the highlands as Finkelstein and others propose, then there was no exodus from Egypt and there is no reason to assume the early Hebrew religious practices would be all that distinct from the surrounding cultures. One would expect to find that the early Israelites practiced child sacrifice as well as their neighbors. The question is whether, as we are led to believe by most interpretations, this was the result of the Israelites becoming enamored of foreign gods and adopting their rites or it was the result of internal priestly disagreements related to the proper worship of the Hebrew God himself. In other words, did early Israelites perform child sacrifices to YHWH as their neighbors did to Chemosh and Molech?
Exodus hints at the practice by talking about “redeeming” each first born male. In Kings, the Kings of Israel are repeatedly condemned for performing child sacrifice.
Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.
Rather a suggestive paragraph wouldn’t you say?
Exodus 13:13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
I guess one could “redeem” a child the same way a donkey is redeemed, with a substitute lamb, but it’s interesting that it doesn’t specifically say that isn’t it? Then again, according to Numbers, it simply costs 5 shekels to redeem each firstborn son.
Exodus 13:14 In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'
Most Apologists would point out that either these paragraphs simply refer to dedicating the first born male to the service of God or that they refer to redeeming the first born with lamb’s blood as was done on the first Passover.
I don’t find the first explanation terribly compelling. Dedicated to God’s service in order to do what? The Levites were the priestly class weren’t they? If this was simply a call to dedicate the first born male to the service of God, then how come the practice isn’t referred to and expanded upon elsewhere?
The second explanation sounds much more likely and first born children would be redeemed with a substitute animal sacrifice. I wonder what happened if the family didn’t have an animal to substitute?
2 Kings 16:3 He (Ahaz) walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
2 Kings 17:17 They (the Israelites) sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire.
The kings of Judah come in for similar criticism in this regard including Solomon.
1 Kings 11: 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
King Hezekiah and then Josiah, the guy with the white hat according to the Deuteronomistic History, take serious steps to put a stop to this practice. Unfortunately, their actions appear to get undone by the kings that follow them.
2 Kings 23:10 He (King Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
Josiah was not a man to trifle with. Undoubtedly cheered on by Jeremiah, he ripped down all the altars dedicated by past kings to foreign gods.
2 Kings 23:12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon.
It sounds like the priests came off even worse than the altars.
2 Kings 23:20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places.
Josiah re-organizes how the Passover is celebrated.
2 Kings 23:21 The king gave this order to all the people: "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
And what is this “Book of the Covenant?” Why it’s the book of laws fortuitously located by the High Priest Hilkiah in the Temple at Jerusalem. I say fortuitously because the book:
- Explained what the Israelites had been doing wrong and that got God all ticked off at them.
- Explained how to improve the situation.
- Established Judah’s ancient claim to the lands of the defunct northern kingdom of Israel
The book is of course Deuteronomy and the following historical books or at least the initial version of the histories. I find it a little strange that Josiah and company felt compelled to specify the Passover celebration.
Deuteronomy 16:2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
The place is Jerusalem which pretty much puts the Kingdom of Judah, and Josiah himself, in the driver’s seat. It also guarantees that the Levite priests of Jerusalem would be the beneficiaries of the sacrifices.
Deuteronomy 6:20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”
Note the absence of any references to sacrificing the first male offspring, redeeming the first male or any references to the death of the first born of Egypt here as opposed to Exodus 13.
Josiah, Deuteronomy and the supporting histories make it pretty darn clear that human sacrifice will not be tolerated nor will any other rites associated with foreign gods. If Josiah was the driving force behind Deuteronomy, or even if he simply acquiesced to something being touted by Hilkiah and his son Jeremiah, the legal and religious reform that he brought about deserves to be considered one of the greatest influences on the western world and King Josiah deserves to be considered one of history’s greatest law givers up there with Hammurabi, Moses, and Solon.
Unfortunately, Josiah makes the mistake of stepping in front of an Egyptian arrow and it’s unlikely that he managed to fully root out the practice since both Jeremiah and Ezekiel have a few words to say about the topic as well.
Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
I find it interesting that God has to specifically state that child sacrifice was “something I did not command” as late as the time of Jeremiah in the 7th century BCE.
Ezekiel 20:25 I also gave them (the Israelites) over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; 26 I let them become defiled through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn —that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD.'
This is another one of those “suggestive passages.” One can spin it a number of ways but one has to wonder about paragraph 26 and exactly what is implied by God letting them become defiled through the sacrifice of every firstborn and why this would fill them with horror?
Ezekiel 20:31 When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your sons in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day.
This sort of implies that the practice was still going on around the time of the exile.
What I have never been able to understand is why so many of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah, at least according to the prevailing Biblical interpretation, fell into the habit of worshipping foreign gods. It seems like a pretty dumb thing to do. The cycle is obvious. The people fall into idolatry, God beats them over the head because of it, the people repent, God forgives them and restores their blessings and then the idiots immediately fall back into idolatry.
One has to suspect that this is the result of the cycle of success and failure that all nations and cultures experience. However, it usually takes something pretty major to turn a people away from their god. The first reaction is usually that the god is angry for some reason and needs to be appeased. This leads either directly to increased sacrifices or, if there is an ongoing debate between factions of the priesthood, a swing in which faction has the upper hand.
There certainly appears to have historically been some friction between the northern priesthood centered at Shiloh and the southern priesthood centered at Jerusalem. Allow me to speculate that the northern faction, in a more hospitable and more densely populated environment with more aggressive local neighbors, held to what they believed were the “old ways” which included the same child sacrifice as the other tribal religions, while the southern faction, in a much more sparsely populated environment, held the opinion that such rites were a perversion of the true worship of YHWH.
Since the north was the more powerful of the two kingdoms, its influence would tend to prevail and its theology would tend to dominate. After the fall of the northern kingdom, that influence would begin to wane but it would take a good while for it to disappear completely. If for no other reason than the strength of tradition, it might still hold sway unless strong liberal kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, were on the throne of Judah.
I find it suggestive that the first great reform, that of Hezekiah, occurs right about the time of the fall of the northern kingdom. I also find it interesting that both reforms occurred during the period of influence of a great prophet. Isaiah was a contemporary of Hezekiah and Jeremiah was a contemporary of Josiah.
Upon the death of Hezekiah, Manasseh ascends to the throne of Judah. It’s a dangerous time. The northern kingdom has fallen and the king of Assyria is applying considerable pressure on Judah having even besieged Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign. Perhaps looking for a reversal of fortune, Manasseh undoes the reforms of Hezekiah.
2 Chronicle 33:2 He (Manasseh) did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished.
2 Chronicles 33:6 He (Manasseh) sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
As noted above, rather than appease God, Manasseh ticked him off to no end. To teach Manasseh a lesson, God let the Assyrians clean his clock.
2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
Not exactly what the Prophet Isaiah had in mind when he prophesized:
Isaiah 30:31 The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down. 32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm. 33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
So Isaiah envisions that the King of Assyria will be burned in the pit of Topheth just as all the child sacrifices to false gods? Then why is the fire in the pit started by “the breath of the LORD?”
At least according to Chronicles, Manasseh sees the light and turns back to God. Strangely, Kings is silent about this change of heart.
2 Chronicles 33:15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
Let’s consider paragraph 17. “The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.”
What the hell does this mean? The “high places” were the places where child sacrifice to the foreign gods took place. This passage can easily be interpreted to mean that while the sacrifices remained the same, they were now only directed toward the god of Israel while in the past they had been directed toward multiple deities including the god of Israel (note that I use a small “g” because I can’t possibly be talking about God here).
I might even argue that is the simplest interpretation. Any other interpretation requires reading into the passage a change in the manner of sacrifice as well.
As for Isaiah, Jewish tradition has it that he was executed by Manasseh by being cut in half with a wooden saw. I guess Manasseh was unamused that he got a hook through his nose rather than the Assyrian monarch getting fried in a fiery pit. Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years! His successor, Amon, was assassinated after only two years.
2 Chronicles 33:22 He (Amon) did what was evil in the LORD's sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. He worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his father had made. 23 But unlike his father, he did not humble himself before the LORD. Instead, Amon sinned even more.
Very strange isn’t it? Manasseh sees the light after getting a hook shoved into his nose but Amon doesn’t learn anything from that. I might also point out that the passage sort of implies that sacrificing to idols is ok as long as you humble yourself before the LORD.
2 Chronicle 33:24 At last Amon's own officials plotted against him and assassinated him in his palace. 25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah the next king.
This sure sounds like another event in an ongoing internecine struggle. This time it’s a failed palace coup.
Josiah ascends the throne next at the tender age of eight and doesn’t begin his reforms until twelve years later. Coincidentally, Jeremiah gets his first person to person call from God in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
The untimely death of Josiah and Judah getting caught between the millstones of Egypt and Babylon sort of pushes the theological struggle into the background but it’s the Babylonian exile which finally appears to settle the question.
Historically child sacrifice in Canaan seems to have continued in some places until the Romans took measures to stamp it out once and for all in the 1st century CE! It took the empire to succeed despite the fact that both the Greeks and the Jews, after the Babylonian exile, abhorred the practice.
The traditional understanding is that the people were constantly being seduced into worshipping false gods and performing their abominable acts. I suspect that it was a little more complicated than that. I suspect that early on there was some disagreement over whether the God of Israel required such sacrifices as well.
I suspect that the priestly faction of the northern kingdom insisted that such sacrifices were right and proper and based this argument upon a distorted interpretation of the book of Exodus. If you learn nothing else young Padawan learn this, NEVER entrust a priest, or anyone else that calls himself a “man of God,” with the authority to make decisions related to law or justice. Feel free to use them as moral advisors if you must, but leave the authority, in the hands of secular leaders.
Not until the fall of the northern kingdom does a minority southern viewpoint, which holds child sacrifice an abomination of false gods, begin to replace the distorted northern view. Not until Josiah produces the Book of Deuteronomy, which clearly refutes child sacrifice by providing an alternate set of rules, is there a book of Moses that supports the southern viewpoint, but, as indicated by Ezekiel, it still takes a hundred years or so for the conflict to finally be resolved. Perhaps the practice was finally abandoned at the insistence of the Babylonians who, despite the sexual myths recorded by Herodotus, seem to have practiced a reasonably high morality as free of human sacrifice as the Egyptians.
Yes, yes, it’s all speculation and undoubtedly being driven by my ignorance and lack of understanding. Actually it’s being driven by my philosophy of “accept nothing without questioning everything.”
Clearly my suspicions and ramblings are totally meaningless since there is no way to verify them one way or the other. This is merely an exercise in cherry picking passages and twisting the interpretation to fit some pre-defined conclusion. But isn’t this basically what all biblical interpretation consists of?
I find amusing the position that the Bible is simple to understand except when it appears to say something uncomfortable. Then one needs years of training in biblical interpretation and exegesis in order to understand what it REALLY means.
I’m certainly not saying that I believe child sacrifice was a part of the early worship of the Israelite God. I’m well enough trained to be able to consider an idea that I don’t accept. There are a few that do accept it however starting with the anthropologist Patrick Tierney.
I find it interesting that I only encountered Tierney AFTER I wrote the first drafts of the above speculation. While I thought Isaiah would have been supporting Hezekiah’s initial attempt at reform, Tierney believes the passages from Isaiah 30:31-33 are an acceptance of the sacrificial practices. I’m not so sure. I think Isaiah was speaking metaphorically and cheered on Hezekiah all the way. Perhaps that was another reason Manasseh decided to shorten his existence.
I’ve found some Apologetics on this topic but not much. No one tries to refute the idea since the overwhelmingly majority interpretation of the scriptures is that they are referring to the repeated descent into idolatry and the worship of false gods. Doesn’t God, when he stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, make it clear that he abhors human sacrifice?
Well, not really. You could interpret it that way, and lots of folks do, but God never actually says that. Well then surely when God stopped Jephthah from sacrificing his daughter he makes it clear then. Oh wait, God didn’t stop Jephthah did he? Nope, not one word of protest. As a matter of fact, if you think about it, Jephthah’s oath in Judges 11:31 “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering” sort of has built into it the possibility that it could be a person. Jephthah couldn’t have been so stupid that he didn’t realize that could he?
Christianity has the problem that Jesus is fundamentally being pushed as a human sacrifice for the atonement of man’s sins. Most folks don’t raise this point since it tends to be viewed as a terribly offensive suggestion. I did find one Apologetic refutation of the idea though, which went through great pains, primarily by playing fast and loose with some Hebrew bible translations, to establish that it’s only child sacrifice that the bible condemns! And he was quite content that he had addressed the issue. What an idiot.
Josiah’s Deuteronomy clearly declares human sacrifice an absolute no-no along with a number of other abhorrent practices.
Deuteronomy 18:9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.
This means that all the phony mediums and psychics fleecing people by claiming to speak to the dead are performing actions that are “detestable to the LORD.”
As for Jesus as human sacrifice, these laws are given to men. It’s God’s sandbox so I guess he’s not necessarily bound by them. Besides, dying is only a temporary, although awfully painful, inconvenience for a god-man isn’t it?
Pretty gruesome and often offered by Apologists as a justification for the genocide the early Israelites were instructed by God to carry out on the Canaanite tribes. The more secular idea of refugees from civilized Egypt entering Canaan and being horrified by the practice works as an explanation too.
There’s only one problem. If the kingdoms of Israel and Judah actually emerged from the indigenous nomads of the highlands as Finkelstein and others propose, then there was no exodus from Egypt and there is no reason to assume the early Hebrew religious practices would be all that distinct from the surrounding cultures. One would expect to find that the early Israelites practiced child sacrifice as well as their neighbors. The question is whether, as we are led to believe by most interpretations, this was the result of the Israelites becoming enamored of foreign gods and adopting their rites or it was the result of internal priestly disagreements related to the proper worship of the Hebrew God himself. In other words, did early Israelites perform child sacrifices to YHWH as their neighbors did to Chemosh and Molech?
Exodus hints at the practice by talking about “redeeming” each first born male. In Kings, the Kings of Israel are repeatedly condemned for performing child sacrifice.
Exodus 13:2 Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.
Rather a suggestive paragraph wouldn’t you say?
Exodus 13:13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
I guess one could “redeem” a child the same way a donkey is redeemed, with a substitute lamb, but it’s interesting that it doesn’t specifically say that isn’t it? Then again, according to Numbers, it simply costs 5 shekels to redeem each firstborn son.
Exodus 13:14 In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'
Most Apologists would point out that either these paragraphs simply refer to dedicating the first born male to the service of God or that they refer to redeeming the first born with lamb’s blood as was done on the first Passover.
I don’t find the first explanation terribly compelling. Dedicated to God’s service in order to do what? The Levites were the priestly class weren’t they? If this was simply a call to dedicate the first born male to the service of God, then how come the practice isn’t referred to and expanded upon elsewhere?
The second explanation sounds much more likely and first born children would be redeemed with a substitute animal sacrifice. I wonder what happened if the family didn’t have an animal to substitute?
2 Kings 16:3 He (Ahaz) walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
2 Kings 17:17 They (the Israelites) sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire.
The kings of Judah come in for similar criticism in this regard including Solomon.
1 Kings 11: 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.
King Hezekiah and then Josiah, the guy with the white hat according to the Deuteronomistic History, take serious steps to put a stop to this practice. Unfortunately, their actions appear to get undone by the kings that follow them.
2 Kings 23:10 He (King Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
Josiah was not a man to trifle with. Undoubtedly cheered on by Jeremiah, he ripped down all the altars dedicated by past kings to foreign gods.
2 Kings 23:12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the LORD. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon.
It sounds like the priests came off even worse than the altars.
2 Kings 23:20 Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places.
Josiah re-organizes how the Passover is celebrated.
2 Kings 23:21 The king gave this order to all the people: "Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant."
And what is this “Book of the Covenant?” Why it’s the book of laws fortuitously located by the High Priest Hilkiah in the Temple at Jerusalem. I say fortuitously because the book:
- Explained what the Israelites had been doing wrong and that got God all ticked off at them.
- Explained how to improve the situation.
- Established Judah’s ancient claim to the lands of the defunct northern kingdom of Israel
The book is of course Deuteronomy and the following historical books or at least the initial version of the histories. I find it a little strange that Josiah and company felt compelled to specify the Passover celebration.
Deuteronomy 16:2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the LORD your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for his Name.
The place is Jerusalem which pretty much puts the Kingdom of Judah, and Josiah himself, in the driver’s seat. It also guarantees that the Levite priests of Jerusalem would be the beneficiaries of the sacrifices.
Deuteronomy 6:20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?" 21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.”
Note the absence of any references to sacrificing the first male offspring, redeeming the first male or any references to the death of the first born of Egypt here as opposed to Exodus 13.
Josiah, Deuteronomy and the supporting histories make it pretty darn clear that human sacrifice will not be tolerated nor will any other rites associated with foreign gods. If Josiah was the driving force behind Deuteronomy, or even if he simply acquiesced to something being touted by Hilkiah and his son Jeremiah, the legal and religious reform that he brought about deserves to be considered one of the greatest influences on the western world and King Josiah deserves to be considered one of history’s greatest law givers up there with Hammurabi, Moses, and Solon.
Unfortunately, Josiah makes the mistake of stepping in front of an Egyptian arrow and it’s unlikely that he managed to fully root out the practice since both Jeremiah and Ezekiel have a few words to say about the topic as well.
Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
I find it interesting that God has to specifically state that child sacrifice was “something I did not command” as late as the time of Jeremiah in the 7th century BCE.
Ezekiel 20:25 I also gave them (the Israelites) over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by; 26 I let them become defiled through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn —that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the LORD.'
This is another one of those “suggestive passages.” One can spin it a number of ways but one has to wonder about paragraph 26 and exactly what is implied by God letting them become defiled through the sacrifice of every firstborn and why this would fill them with horror?
Ezekiel 20:31 When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your sons in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day.
This sort of implies that the practice was still going on around the time of the exile.
What I have never been able to understand is why so many of the kings of ancient Israel and Judah, at least according to the prevailing Biblical interpretation, fell into the habit of worshipping foreign gods. It seems like a pretty dumb thing to do. The cycle is obvious. The people fall into idolatry, God beats them over the head because of it, the people repent, God forgives them and restores their blessings and then the idiots immediately fall back into idolatry.
One has to suspect that this is the result of the cycle of success and failure that all nations and cultures experience. However, it usually takes something pretty major to turn a people away from their god. The first reaction is usually that the god is angry for some reason and needs to be appeased. This leads either directly to increased sacrifices or, if there is an ongoing debate between factions of the priesthood, a swing in which faction has the upper hand.
There certainly appears to have historically been some friction between the northern priesthood centered at Shiloh and the southern priesthood centered at Jerusalem. Allow me to speculate that the northern faction, in a more hospitable and more densely populated environment with more aggressive local neighbors, held to what they believed were the “old ways” which included the same child sacrifice as the other tribal religions, while the southern faction, in a much more sparsely populated environment, held the opinion that such rites were a perversion of the true worship of YHWH.
Since the north was the more powerful of the two kingdoms, its influence would tend to prevail and its theology would tend to dominate. After the fall of the northern kingdom, that influence would begin to wane but it would take a good while for it to disappear completely. If for no other reason than the strength of tradition, it might still hold sway unless strong liberal kings, like Hezekiah and Josiah, were on the throne of Judah.
I find it suggestive that the first great reform, that of Hezekiah, occurs right about the time of the fall of the northern kingdom. I also find it interesting that both reforms occurred during the period of influence of a great prophet. Isaiah was a contemporary of Hezekiah and Jeremiah was a contemporary of Josiah.
Upon the death of Hezekiah, Manasseh ascends to the throne of Judah. It’s a dangerous time. The northern kingdom has fallen and the king of Assyria is applying considerable pressure on Judah having even besieged Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign. Perhaps looking for a reversal of fortune, Manasseh undoes the reforms of Hezekiah.
2 Chronicle 33:2 He (Manasseh) did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished.
2 Chronicles 33:6 He (Manasseh) sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
As noted above, rather than appease God, Manasseh ticked him off to no end. To teach Manasseh a lesson, God let the Assyrians clean his clock.
2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the army commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. 12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
Not exactly what the Prophet Isaiah had in mind when he prophesized:
Isaiah 30:31 The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down. 32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm. 33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
So Isaiah envisions that the King of Assyria will be burned in the pit of Topheth just as all the child sacrifices to false gods? Then why is the fire in the pit started by “the breath of the LORD?”
At least according to Chronicles, Manasseh sees the light and turns back to God. Strangely, Kings is silent about this change of heart.
2 Chronicles 33:15 He got rid of the foreign gods and removed the image from the temple of the LORD, as well as all the altars he had built on the temple hill and in Jerusalem; and he threw them out of the city. 16 Then he restored the altar of the LORD and sacrificed fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it, and told Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel. 17 The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.
Let’s consider paragraph 17. “The people, however, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the LORD their God.”
What the hell does this mean? The “high places” were the places where child sacrifice to the foreign gods took place. This passage can easily be interpreted to mean that while the sacrifices remained the same, they were now only directed toward the god of Israel while in the past they had been directed toward multiple deities including the god of Israel (note that I use a small “g” because I can’t possibly be talking about God here).
I might even argue that is the simplest interpretation. Any other interpretation requires reading into the passage a change in the manner of sacrifice as well.
As for Isaiah, Jewish tradition has it that he was executed by Manasseh by being cut in half with a wooden saw. I guess Manasseh was unamused that he got a hook through his nose rather than the Assyrian monarch getting fried in a fiery pit. Manasseh reigned for fifty-five years! His successor, Amon, was assassinated after only two years.
2 Chronicles 33:22 He (Amon) did what was evil in the LORD's sight, just as his father Manasseh had done. He worshiped and sacrificed to all the idols his father had made. 23 But unlike his father, he did not humble himself before the LORD. Instead, Amon sinned even more.
Very strange isn’t it? Manasseh sees the light after getting a hook shoved into his nose but Amon doesn’t learn anything from that. I might also point out that the passage sort of implies that sacrificing to idols is ok as long as you humble yourself before the LORD.
2 Chronicle 33:24 At last Amon's own officials plotted against him and assassinated him in his palace. 25 But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah the next king.
This sure sounds like another event in an ongoing internecine struggle. This time it’s a failed palace coup.
Josiah ascends the throne next at the tender age of eight and doesn’t begin his reforms until twelve years later. Coincidentally, Jeremiah gets his first person to person call from God in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign.
The untimely death of Josiah and Judah getting caught between the millstones of Egypt and Babylon sort of pushes the theological struggle into the background but it’s the Babylonian exile which finally appears to settle the question.
Historically child sacrifice in Canaan seems to have continued in some places until the Romans took measures to stamp it out once and for all in the 1st century CE! It took the empire to succeed despite the fact that both the Greeks and the Jews, after the Babylonian exile, abhorred the practice.
The traditional understanding is that the people were constantly being seduced into worshipping false gods and performing their abominable acts. I suspect that it was a little more complicated than that. I suspect that early on there was some disagreement over whether the God of Israel required such sacrifices as well.
I suspect that the priestly faction of the northern kingdom insisted that such sacrifices were right and proper and based this argument upon a distorted interpretation of the book of Exodus. If you learn nothing else young Padawan learn this, NEVER entrust a priest, or anyone else that calls himself a “man of God,” with the authority to make decisions related to law or justice. Feel free to use them as moral advisors if you must, but leave the authority, in the hands of secular leaders.
Not until the fall of the northern kingdom does a minority southern viewpoint, which holds child sacrifice an abomination of false gods, begin to replace the distorted northern view. Not until Josiah produces the Book of Deuteronomy, which clearly refutes child sacrifice by providing an alternate set of rules, is there a book of Moses that supports the southern viewpoint, but, as indicated by Ezekiel, it still takes a hundred years or so for the conflict to finally be resolved. Perhaps the practice was finally abandoned at the insistence of the Babylonians who, despite the sexual myths recorded by Herodotus, seem to have practiced a reasonably high morality as free of human sacrifice as the Egyptians.
Yes, yes, it’s all speculation and undoubtedly being driven by my ignorance and lack of understanding. Actually it’s being driven by my philosophy of “accept nothing without questioning everything.”
Clearly my suspicions and ramblings are totally meaningless since there is no way to verify them one way or the other. This is merely an exercise in cherry picking passages and twisting the interpretation to fit some pre-defined conclusion. But isn’t this basically what all biblical interpretation consists of?
I find amusing the position that the Bible is simple to understand except when it appears to say something uncomfortable. Then one needs years of training in biblical interpretation and exegesis in order to understand what it REALLY means.
I’m certainly not saying that I believe child sacrifice was a part of the early worship of the Israelite God. I’m well enough trained to be able to consider an idea that I don’t accept. There are a few that do accept it however starting with the anthropologist Patrick Tierney.
I find it interesting that I only encountered Tierney AFTER I wrote the first drafts of the above speculation. While I thought Isaiah would have been supporting Hezekiah’s initial attempt at reform, Tierney believes the passages from Isaiah 30:31-33 are an acceptance of the sacrificial practices. I’m not so sure. I think Isaiah was speaking metaphorically and cheered on Hezekiah all the way. Perhaps that was another reason Manasseh decided to shorten his existence.
I’ve found some Apologetics on this topic but not much. No one tries to refute the idea since the overwhelmingly majority interpretation of the scriptures is that they are referring to the repeated descent into idolatry and the worship of false gods. Doesn’t God, when he stops Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, make it clear that he abhors human sacrifice?
Well, not really. You could interpret it that way, and lots of folks do, but God never actually says that. Well then surely when God stopped Jephthah from sacrificing his daughter he makes it clear then. Oh wait, God didn’t stop Jephthah did he? Nope, not one word of protest. As a matter of fact, if you think about it, Jephthah’s oath in Judges 11:31 “whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering” sort of has built into it the possibility that it could be a person. Jephthah couldn’t have been so stupid that he didn’t realize that could he?
Christianity has the problem that Jesus is fundamentally being pushed as a human sacrifice for the atonement of man’s sins. Most folks don’t raise this point since it tends to be viewed as a terribly offensive suggestion. I did find one Apologetic refutation of the idea though, which went through great pains, primarily by playing fast and loose with some Hebrew bible translations, to establish that it’s only child sacrifice that the bible condemns! And he was quite content that he had addressed the issue. What an idiot.
Josiah’s Deuteronomy clearly declares human sacrifice an absolute no-no along with a number of other abhorrent practices.
Deuteronomy 18:9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.
This means that all the phony mediums and psychics fleecing people by claiming to speak to the dead are performing actions that are “detestable to the LORD.”
As for Jesus as human sacrifice, these laws are given to men. It’s God’s sandbox so I guess he’s not necessarily bound by them. Besides, dying is only a temporary, although awfully painful, inconvenience for a god-man isn’t it?
The National Spelling Bee
ABC televised the final round last night as a 13 year old girl from New Jersey took home the top prize. I didn’t watch it. I couldn’t care less and besides, I’m a lousy speller. If it weren’t for Spell Check features I’d appear even more illiterate than I do from my rotten grammar and inability to write a coherent sentence.
This is the whole point behind this blog. Aside from the fact that it’s kind of fun, it’s practice. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? You practice, my friend, you practice.
So, should I be impressed? Yeah, I should be impressed. While I don’t consider spelling much of a of intellectual indicator, putting in what I’m sure was hundreds of hours practicing and learning how to spell obscure words and then managing the pressure of the finals took a lot of dedication and guts. That kind of perseverance and courage deserves recognition and praise especially in a world where simple competence seems to be in short supply. So hats off to Katharine Close, the Jersey Girl and top speller for 2006.
This is the whole point behind this blog. Aside from the fact that it’s kind of fun, it’s practice. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? You practice, my friend, you practice.
So, should I be impressed? Yeah, I should be impressed. While I don’t consider spelling much of a of intellectual indicator, putting in what I’m sure was hundreds of hours practicing and learning how to spell obscure words and then managing the pressure of the finals took a lot of dedication and guts. That kind of perseverance and courage deserves recognition and praise especially in a world where simple competence seems to be in short supply. So hats off to Katharine Close, the Jersey Girl and top speller for 2006.
Monday, May 29, 2006
My Take on the Da Vinci Code
I caught the Sunday Matinee yesterday and I thought it was pretty good. I’m not sure what the critics are complaining about. Just because there wasn’t an explosion per minute, the murder and mayhem were limited and Tautou and Hanks weren’t jumping each other’s bones every ten minutes doesn’t make it a bad movie.
As far as the underlying history, I had the same basic left eyebrow arched reaction that I had when I read the book. There is just enough history and plausibility mixed in with the rampant speculation to make you go “Huh?” Then you think about it for a minute or two and realize that it’s the speculation holding the whole thing together. Once you loosen that, it falls apart.
Here’s a review of the points made in the movie in support of the theory.
Constantine – Presented pretty accurately. After securing the throne in a civil war, the Emperor needed peace and quiet to solidify his position and religious strife was definitely one of the things he wanted to get under control especially the squabbling between the various Christian sects. The Council of Nicea was organized to establish the definition of Christian Orthodoxy. Constantine himself remained a pagan until being baptized on his deathbed. The Roman senate even deified him after his death.
The Council of Nicea – The primary focus of the council was the definition of Christian Orthodoxy and, in particular, the problem of Arianism, a position being taught by Arius, a priest in Alexandria. Arianism held that the Son was distinct from the Father, of different substance from the Father and created by the Father. Orthodox Christianity holds that the Son is consubstantial, of one and the same substance or being, and coeternal with the Father. Arianism was condemned at the council, some say after Constantine indicated that he favored the opposing view, and Arius excommunicated. Arianism had a revival a while later and Arius was reinstated. It's rumored that an Arian Bishop baptized Constantine just befre he died. Constantius, Constantine's son, was a supporter of Arianism and the position prospered while he was on the throne, but with his death, Arianism fractured and ultimately was decreed again to be heretical.
So, the claim that Constantine decreed the divinity of Jesus isn't quite true. He merely sided with the faction that held that the Son was as divine as the Father. One wonders however what Christianity would look like today if Constantine had supported Arius' view?
The Gospel of Philip – One of the Nag Hammadi documents and pretty much as quoted in the movie. Mary Magdalene is described as the “companion” of Jesus, someone Jesus loved more than all the other disciples and it’s said that he “used to kiss her often on her mouth.”
The Paintings of Da Vinci – Da Vinci was a strange duck and I wouldn’t put anything past him. He was probably the single most intelligent and talented human being ever to walk the planet. He was a true genetic fluke, comparable to Michelangelo in art, and Einstein in scientific intelligence. But as for a secret message in his painting "The Last Supper," two points. First, the reclining female like figure is almost universally considered to be John, the youngest of the apostles, who is often represented by a feminine looking long haired individual. Second, if Da Vinci was the keeper of such a secret, it would have been pretty stupid of him to risk that someone might figure it out from the clues in the painting and Da Vince was far from stupid.
The Priory of Scion – There was such an order in the Middle Ages, but it was short lived, a fairly typical Monk’s order and not at all related to the Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail – Traditionally the cup used by Jesus at the last supper and the objective of the Knights of King Arthur. Galahad, Percival and Bors are the Grail Knights who are ultimately allowed to view the grail after which Galahad, the perfect knight, requests death and the request is granted. The Avatar in the upper right hand corner of this web page is Galahad.
The bottom line is that despite what Dan Brown and the authors of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” might say, there is no credible evidence for the underlying plot of the movie. Is it possible that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were husband and wife and had a child? Yes it’s possible. Is there any evidence to that effect? Nope, not one iota, but it’s a good movie, and an even better book. They're not high philosophy nor rocket science, but entertaining enough and I highly recommend both.
As far as the underlying history, I had the same basic left eyebrow arched reaction that I had when I read the book. There is just enough history and plausibility mixed in with the rampant speculation to make you go “Huh?” Then you think about it for a minute or two and realize that it’s the speculation holding the whole thing together. Once you loosen that, it falls apart.
Here’s a review of the points made in the movie in support of the theory.
Constantine – Presented pretty accurately. After securing the throne in a civil war, the Emperor needed peace and quiet to solidify his position and religious strife was definitely one of the things he wanted to get under control especially the squabbling between the various Christian sects. The Council of Nicea was organized to establish the definition of Christian Orthodoxy. Constantine himself remained a pagan until being baptized on his deathbed. The Roman senate even deified him after his death.
The Council of Nicea – The primary focus of the council was the definition of Christian Orthodoxy and, in particular, the problem of Arianism, a position being taught by Arius, a priest in Alexandria. Arianism held that the Son was distinct from the Father, of different substance from the Father and created by the Father. Orthodox Christianity holds that the Son is consubstantial, of one and the same substance or being, and coeternal with the Father. Arianism was condemned at the council, some say after Constantine indicated that he favored the opposing view, and Arius excommunicated. Arianism had a revival a while later and Arius was reinstated. It's rumored that an Arian Bishop baptized Constantine just befre he died. Constantius, Constantine's son, was a supporter of Arianism and the position prospered while he was on the throne, but with his death, Arianism fractured and ultimately was decreed again to be heretical.
So, the claim that Constantine decreed the divinity of Jesus isn't quite true. He merely sided with the faction that held that the Son was as divine as the Father. One wonders however what Christianity would look like today if Constantine had supported Arius' view?
The Gospel of Philip – One of the Nag Hammadi documents and pretty much as quoted in the movie. Mary Magdalene is described as the “companion” of Jesus, someone Jesus loved more than all the other disciples and it’s said that he “used to kiss her often on her mouth.”
The Paintings of Da Vinci – Da Vinci was a strange duck and I wouldn’t put anything past him. He was probably the single most intelligent and talented human being ever to walk the planet. He was a true genetic fluke, comparable to Michelangelo in art, and Einstein in scientific intelligence. But as for a secret message in his painting "The Last Supper," two points. First, the reclining female like figure is almost universally considered to be John, the youngest of the apostles, who is often represented by a feminine looking long haired individual. Second, if Da Vinci was the keeper of such a secret, it would have been pretty stupid of him to risk that someone might figure it out from the clues in the painting and Da Vince was far from stupid.
The Priory of Scion – There was such an order in the Middle Ages, but it was short lived, a fairly typical Monk’s order and not at all related to the Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail – Traditionally the cup used by Jesus at the last supper and the objective of the Knights of King Arthur. Galahad, Percival and Bors are the Grail Knights who are ultimately allowed to view the grail after which Galahad, the perfect knight, requests death and the request is granted. The Avatar in the upper right hand corner of this web page is Galahad.
The bottom line is that despite what Dan Brown and the authors of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” might say, there is no credible evidence for the underlying plot of the movie. Is it possible that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were husband and wife and had a child? Yes it’s possible. Is there any evidence to that effect? Nope, not one iota, but it’s a good movie, and an even better book. They're not high philosophy nor rocket science, but entertaining enough and I highly recommend both.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Judge Roy Moore Trails
Thank God is all I can say about that! Actually he’s not a judge anymore so he doesn’t really deserve the title. Roy Moore is the wacko who, as Alabama Chief Justice, erected a 5,300 pound monument of the 10 Commandments inside Alabama’s judicial building and then refused to remove it when a Federal Court ordered him to do so. That led to his removal as Chief Justice so Moore decided to run for Governor.
Moore believes that God is the sovereign source of America’s laws and government and, after his defiance of the Federal Court Order, became even more a darling of the Christian Right than George Bush. However, his bid to unseat Republican Governor Bob Riley appears to have run into some problems. MSNBC reports the latest poll taken by the Mobile Press-Register shows the ex-judge trailing by a whopping 69-20. Moore is unfazed and claims that his true support doesn’t show up in polls.
Well here’s hoping the Press-Register is right and Moore is wrong. Alabama may not be the center of sophistication for the western world but I find it hard to believe that a majority of people there are stupid enough to elect this fool governor. Then again, there are the new “Educational Standards” in Kansas that say supernatural explanations are “science,” so I guess you never know.
Moore believes that God is the sovereign source of America’s laws and government and, after his defiance of the Federal Court Order, became even more a darling of the Christian Right than George Bush. However, his bid to unseat Republican Governor Bob Riley appears to have run into some problems. MSNBC reports the latest poll taken by the Mobile Press-Register shows the ex-judge trailing by a whopping 69-20. Moore is unfazed and claims that his true support doesn’t show up in polls.
Well here’s hoping the Press-Register is right and Moore is wrong. Alabama may not be the center of sophistication for the western world but I find it hard to believe that a majority of people there are stupid enough to elect this fool governor. Then again, there are the new “Educational Standards” in Kansas that say supernatural explanations are “science,” so I guess you never know.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Texas and the Death Penalty
Of the 1,023 executions that have occurred in the U.S. since Capital Punishment resumed in 1976, 364, 35% of the total, have been in the state of Texas. Texas has executed more than twice as many people as the next two states, Virginia with 95 and Oklahoma with 80, combined!
To further put things in perspective, Texas has executed FIFTEEN TIMES as many people as California (13), Illinois (12) and New York (0) combined! That being the case, one would hope that Texas could at least say it has the most reliable and fail safe justice system in the country.
Yet stories continue to come out of Texas indicating that not only is the justice system there bordering upon totally incompetent, but it’s corrupt as well. The latest nightmares come from two stories reported by the Death Penalty Information Center. The first relates to the infamous Houston Crime Lab in the capital murder case of Derrick Lee Jackson as highlighted in a report issued by independent investigator Michael Bromwich.
“The report states that initial DNA testing in Jackson's case was performed by DNA lab chief James Bolding, who found the evidence was ‘inconclusive.’ When Jackson became a suspect, Bolding's interpretation of the evidence changed. ‘Without performing any additional testing, Mr. Bolding altered his worksheets . . . and issued a new report stating that (blood evidence) consistent with Mr. Jackson's (blood) type was found in two blood stain samples recovered from the crime scene.’”
Good God is that possible? You change your mind based upon what? Nothing other than the police think he might have done it? But wait, the next one is worse. Here at least it’s just Bromwich’s interpretation. He could be wrong, but in the next one we have a Federal Court decision reported by the DPIC!
“U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt overturned the capital conviction of Carl Wayne Buntion, noting that the Texas trial judge who sentenced him to death had a ‘deep-seated and vocal bias’ against Buntion.”
The judge for crying out loud! The neutral party and guardian of the law!
“Hoyt stated that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his constitutional right to a fair trial by bullying his attorneys, meeting privately with prosecutors and deferring to their wishes, and making remarks in court such as he was ‘doing God's work’ by seeing that Buntion was executed.”
Another religious fruitcake that can’t tell the difference between his own prejudices and God’s will. I can see God now, leaning back with a cold compress on his head and moaning, “where did I go wrong?”
I read somewhere that one time Hillel and Shammai argued long into the night about the law, morality and God. As dawn appeared the two sages ended their discussions and wearily headed for their waiting bed chambers. One of Hillel’s students asked the great sage whether the two elders had come to any conclusion. Hillel shook his head sadly and replied “Yes, we have concluded that it would have been better if God had never created man.”
“Hoyt also found that Harmon had placed a Judge Roy Bean postcard on his bench during jury selection for the trial, an act that gave the impression that he was a ‘hangin' judge.’”
This would be comical if it wasn't so pathetic.
I’m flabbergasted. Every time I think Texas has done something that can’t be topped in terms of incompetence or corruption, it surprises me again! What I don’t understand is how a state with such nice people can have such a screwed up justice system?
To further put things in perspective, Texas has executed FIFTEEN TIMES as many people as California (13), Illinois (12) and New York (0) combined! That being the case, one would hope that Texas could at least say it has the most reliable and fail safe justice system in the country.
Yet stories continue to come out of Texas indicating that not only is the justice system there bordering upon totally incompetent, but it’s corrupt as well. The latest nightmares come from two stories reported by the Death Penalty Information Center. The first relates to the infamous Houston Crime Lab in the capital murder case of Derrick Lee Jackson as highlighted in a report issued by independent investigator Michael Bromwich.
“The report states that initial DNA testing in Jackson's case was performed by DNA lab chief James Bolding, who found the evidence was ‘inconclusive.’ When Jackson became a suspect, Bolding's interpretation of the evidence changed. ‘Without performing any additional testing, Mr. Bolding altered his worksheets . . . and issued a new report stating that (blood evidence) consistent with Mr. Jackson's (blood) type was found in two blood stain samples recovered from the crime scene.’”
Good God is that possible? You change your mind based upon what? Nothing other than the police think he might have done it? But wait, the next one is worse. Here at least it’s just Bromwich’s interpretation. He could be wrong, but in the next one we have a Federal Court decision reported by the DPIC!
“U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt overturned the capital conviction of Carl Wayne Buntion, noting that the Texas trial judge who sentenced him to death had a ‘deep-seated and vocal bias’ against Buntion.”
The judge for crying out loud! The neutral party and guardian of the law!
“Hoyt stated that state District Judge Bill Harmon deprived Buntion of his constitutional right to a fair trial by bullying his attorneys, meeting privately with prosecutors and deferring to their wishes, and making remarks in court such as he was ‘doing God's work’ by seeing that Buntion was executed.”
Another religious fruitcake that can’t tell the difference between his own prejudices and God’s will. I can see God now, leaning back with a cold compress on his head and moaning, “where did I go wrong?”
I read somewhere that one time Hillel and Shammai argued long into the night about the law, morality and God. As dawn appeared the two sages ended their discussions and wearily headed for their waiting bed chambers. One of Hillel’s students asked the great sage whether the two elders had come to any conclusion. Hillel shook his head sadly and replied “Yes, we have concluded that it would have been better if God had never created man.”
“Hoyt also found that Harmon had placed a Judge Roy Bean postcard on his bench during jury selection for the trial, an act that gave the impression that he was a ‘hangin' judge.’”
This would be comical if it wasn't so pathetic.
I’m flabbergasted. Every time I think Texas has done something that can’t be topped in terms of incompetence or corruption, it surprises me again! What I don’t understand is how a state with such nice people can have such a screwed up justice system?
Friday, May 19, 2006
Deal, or No Deal
Ok, ok, I really like this show. Twenty-six cases with dollar amounts between $.01 and $1,000,000. The contestant picks one and then begins a process of elimination by opening up the non-selected cases in groups of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and then 1. Clearly what is opened in the non-selected cases cannot be in the selected case. As each amount is revealed, the potential value of the selected case changes, going up when low values are revealed, and down when high values are revealed. After each group is opened, a shadowy figure in a skybox, called the banker, telephones down an offer to buy the selected case. The name of the show comes from the question asked the contestant after each offer. Deal, take the money, or No Deal, open the next group of cases.
That’s the basics, but it’s the surrounding atmosphere that whips things into a frenzy. There is the company of 26 young ladies in matching (usually short and low cut) dresses that possess the cases, open the cases and then leave the stage after their case is opened. The show wouldn’t be the same without them. Not only are they very easy on the eyes, but they add a human touch, being happy when the contestant opens a small number and sympathetic when a big number is revealed.
The contestant gets to bring moral support. Usually the support consists of three family members or friends that hang out in a separate area of the stage and give advice as to whether or not the deal should be accepted. One lady brought an opera singer friend that sang to the banker and another a dozen or so kids from her class that the show decked out in "Deal, or No Deal" tee shirts.
The show throws in a twist occasionally just to keep you off balance. On one show, rather than offering money, the contestant, an unrepentant Cowboy fan, was offered a Cowboy season ticket dream package complete with limousine service to and from the game. On another show the marching band of the contestant’s Alma Mater showed up to give support, on another, one deal included a pony for the contestant's little girl and on another, one of the models holding the cases was actually the contestant’s sister which neither the contestant, nor her mother in the support section, noticed despite blatant hints.
Then there’s the audience, a collection of pit vipers in stadium seating that remind me of the spectators at a gladiatorial contest! Talk about wanting blood! No deal is ever good enough for them!
Keeping this circus under control is Howie Mandel as the MC and Howie does a masterful job. For the rest of his life Howie will be hearing “Deal, or No Deal.” Mandel’s timing has never been better. He even uses the commercial breaks to crank up the tension by delaying opening a case, or letting the contestant in on the size of the latest offer, until “right after this.” Mandel also does a pretty good “keep your chin up” job when things go wrong such as telling one guy “hey, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity so don’t feel bad about taking your shot.”
As for the offers, I don’t think there’s a precise formula. The banker seems to have some leeway but in general the offers seem to be a percentage of the mean value of the board with the percentage growing the deeper into the game things are. For example, after the first round, the offers seem to be about 10% to 15% of the mean. Later in the game, the offers approach the mean.
I doubt that anyone will ever win the $1,000,000. That would take picking the right case, a 1 in 26 chance, and then either taking an enormous risk late in the game or managing to keep several of the big numbers in play in order to keep the risk under control late in the game. Still, we’re talking serious money here and serious risk. The other night a young woman had a four case board with $300,000 the high value and the next highest value down around $300. Despite EVERYONE (except the vipers in the audience of course) telling her to take the deal of $71,000 (which was pretty darn close to the mean of about $75,000) she turned it down. She opened the case with $300,000 and eventually left with only $50.
The board starts with a mean of around $131,000. The largest amount I’ve seen won was $340,000 and the smallest the $50 from the example above. I’ve heard that the record is over $400,000 on the high end and $5 on the low end. People do get greedy. Another woman managed to go from $299,000, to about $140,000, to about $60,000 to $25,000 by opening up the three largest remaining values in a row.
I’m seen some people bemoan the premise of the show because it requires no knowledge or talent to participate and win. That’s what I like most about the show. It’s totally random. EVERYBODY is equal. Who could ask for a more democratic environment? In the world of Deal or No Deal, the klutz is equal to the world class athlete and the high school dropout equal to the guy with multiple PhDs. One lady, who claimed to have an advantage because she was psychic, walked away with a lot less than the initial mean of $131,000 so, technically, she lost. So much for her advantage (although I think she managed about $91,000 which ain’t bad).
I probably could be doing much more important things than watching this show, but I wouldn’t be having as much fun.
That’s the basics, but it’s the surrounding atmosphere that whips things into a frenzy. There is the company of 26 young ladies in matching (usually short and low cut) dresses that possess the cases, open the cases and then leave the stage after their case is opened. The show wouldn’t be the same without them. Not only are they very easy on the eyes, but they add a human touch, being happy when the contestant opens a small number and sympathetic when a big number is revealed.
The contestant gets to bring moral support. Usually the support consists of three family members or friends that hang out in a separate area of the stage and give advice as to whether or not the deal should be accepted. One lady brought an opera singer friend that sang to the banker and another a dozen or so kids from her class that the show decked out in "Deal, or No Deal" tee shirts.
The show throws in a twist occasionally just to keep you off balance. On one show, rather than offering money, the contestant, an unrepentant Cowboy fan, was offered a Cowboy season ticket dream package complete with limousine service to and from the game. On another show the marching band of the contestant’s Alma Mater showed up to give support, on another, one deal included a pony for the contestant's little girl and on another, one of the models holding the cases was actually the contestant’s sister which neither the contestant, nor her mother in the support section, noticed despite blatant hints.
Then there’s the audience, a collection of pit vipers in stadium seating that remind me of the spectators at a gladiatorial contest! Talk about wanting blood! No deal is ever good enough for them!
Keeping this circus under control is Howie Mandel as the MC and Howie does a masterful job. For the rest of his life Howie will be hearing “Deal, or No Deal.” Mandel’s timing has never been better. He even uses the commercial breaks to crank up the tension by delaying opening a case, or letting the contestant in on the size of the latest offer, until “right after this.” Mandel also does a pretty good “keep your chin up” job when things go wrong such as telling one guy “hey, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity so don’t feel bad about taking your shot.”
As for the offers, I don’t think there’s a precise formula. The banker seems to have some leeway but in general the offers seem to be a percentage of the mean value of the board with the percentage growing the deeper into the game things are. For example, after the first round, the offers seem to be about 10% to 15% of the mean. Later in the game, the offers approach the mean.
I doubt that anyone will ever win the $1,000,000. That would take picking the right case, a 1 in 26 chance, and then either taking an enormous risk late in the game or managing to keep several of the big numbers in play in order to keep the risk under control late in the game. Still, we’re talking serious money here and serious risk. The other night a young woman had a four case board with $300,000 the high value and the next highest value down around $300. Despite EVERYONE (except the vipers in the audience of course) telling her to take the deal of $71,000 (which was pretty darn close to the mean of about $75,000) she turned it down. She opened the case with $300,000 and eventually left with only $50.
The board starts with a mean of around $131,000. The largest amount I’ve seen won was $340,000 and the smallest the $50 from the example above. I’ve heard that the record is over $400,000 on the high end and $5 on the low end. People do get greedy. Another woman managed to go from $299,000, to about $140,000, to about $60,000 to $25,000 by opening up the three largest remaining values in a row.
I’m seen some people bemoan the premise of the show because it requires no knowledge or talent to participate and win. That’s what I like most about the show. It’s totally random. EVERYBODY is equal. Who could ask for a more democratic environment? In the world of Deal or No Deal, the klutz is equal to the world class athlete and the high school dropout equal to the guy with multiple PhDs. One lady, who claimed to have an advantage because she was psychic, walked away with a lot less than the initial mean of $131,000 so, technically, she lost. So much for her advantage (although I think she managed about $91,000 which ain’t bad).
I probably could be doing much more important things than watching this show, but I wouldn’t be having as much fun.
The Da Vinci Code is Here!
And it sounds like it's a whopping dud. The critics seem to be averaging giving it about two stars. Not a complete bomb, but something of a clunker. That's a disappointment. I figured with Tom Hanks and Ron Howard it was a sure thing.
Ahh well, no great rush to see it then.
Ahh well, no great rush to see it then.
Monday, May 15, 2006
122 Officers Down
According to the FBI 122 Police Officers were killed in the line of duty last year. 67 of the deaths were accidental and 55 the results of hostile criminal action.
Of the 55 intentional killings, 10 were in the West, 10 in the Midwest, 5 in the Northeast and 28 in the South! Yes that’s right, 28 of the 55 police officers killed in the line of duty last year through hostile action were killed in the South! Two officers were killed in Puerto Rico.
So much for “Moral Values” and “Loving Christians.” The South, with only 36% of the population accounts for 42% of the violent crime, 43% of the murders and 51% of the murdered police officers in this country.
Not only are they fat (the South has, by far, the highest obesity rate) and dumb (the South is the only region of the country where a majority of people reject evolution for creationism) down there but violent too! Explain to me again, since 50 of theses deaths were from guns, WHY tougher gun laws aren’t a good idea?
Of the 55 intentional killings, 10 were in the West, 10 in the Midwest, 5 in the Northeast and 28 in the South! Yes that’s right, 28 of the 55 police officers killed in the line of duty last year through hostile action were killed in the South! Two officers were killed in Puerto Rico.
So much for “Moral Values” and “Loving Christians.” The South, with only 36% of the population accounts for 42% of the violent crime, 43% of the murders and 51% of the murdered police officers in this country.
Not only are they fat (the South has, by far, the highest obesity rate) and dumb (the South is the only region of the country where a majority of people reject evolution for creationism) down there but violent too! Explain to me again, since 50 of theses deaths were from guns, WHY tougher gun laws aren’t a good idea?
And the Da Vinci Code Gets Closer
Several articles and op-eds, with a fairly wide range of opinion, have popped up around the country now that the premiere of the movie is looming on the horizon this Friday
Amy Welbor, the author of “De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legends and Lies” and “De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code,” writing in USA Today wants to know where’s the concern for biblical accuracy that accompanied Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and says that “The book is bothersome because it not only doesn't tell the truth about Jesus, it also doesn't tell the truth about what Christians say about Jesus.”
I’m not all that sure the concern was for biblical accuracy as much as it was a concern about throwing fuel on the always smoldering fire of anti-Semitism by highlighting Matthew’s unfortunate quote in Matthew 27:25, “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”
If the media got into general accuracy, it was as a side issue.
As for not telling the truth about what Christians say about Jesus, I guess I missed that one and Ms. Welbor doesn’t explain how the book doesn't tell the truth about what Christians say about Jesus. You know what's bothersome to me? Editorial writers that don't justify their allegations. Besides, since when have Christians themselves agreed about what to say about Jesus?
Welbor goes on to lament that some folks are being misled.
“Sure, there's a slight difference in genre, but the fact is, The Da Vinci Code presents its theories authoritatively, and a startling number of readers embrace them as such.
Does this not bother anyone who cares about an intelligent approach to art and history?”
Sure, in the same way it bothers me that children are being misled when they’re taught that evolution is just a theory. I do think the media has the obligation to make it clear that the ideas presented in “The Da Vinci Code” are not accepted by the overwhelming majority of credible scholars just as it has the obligation to inform the public that evolution IS accepted by the overwhelming majority of credible scholars.
One has to wonder however if Ms. Welbor would also support the media making it clear to the public what the consensus among scholars is relating to the Documentary Hypothesis, the historical accuracy of Genesis, the authorship of the gospels and the authenticity of the Pauline Epistles.
Dennis P. McCann, Professor of Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College, also writing in USA Today, is concerned about what he calls the spiritual decadence underlying the acceptance of the Da Vinci code fantasy.
“Digging for stubborn facts, apprehending the truth about them and acting accordingly are inconvenient, but the failure to do so has resulted in the whirlwind we are reaping. Though our private fascination with all-too-easy fantasies such as those Brown offered is only one symptom of our spiritual disarray, it has the potential to corrupt all aspects of American life. “
LOL!! Whoa professor, you do realize that all of religion is predicated upon the fact that most people are too lazy to dig for the facts and are attracted to easy, comforting fantasies don’t you? You’re just asking them to exchange one fantasy for another. Rather than accept the fantasy of “The Da Vinci Code,” they should accept the fantasy of Christianity? I suspect that “The Da Vinci Code” fantasy would do less harm. At least Dan Brown isn’t likely to burn anyone at the stake for not agreeing with him.
In the meantime many evangelicals are using this as an opportunity to present what the bible really says to a mostly biblically illiterate society. Or at least, to be more accurate, what they claim the bible means when it says what it says. You can be sure that this will be rather selective and have the right “feel good” twist. In other words, another collection of fantasies that Christianity hopes people will accept without getting into stubborn or embarrassing facts.
Amy Welbor, the author of “De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legends and Lies” and “De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Da Vinci Code,” writing in USA Today wants to know where’s the concern for biblical accuracy that accompanied Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and says that “The book is bothersome because it not only doesn't tell the truth about Jesus, it also doesn't tell the truth about what Christians say about Jesus.”
I’m not all that sure the concern was for biblical accuracy as much as it was a concern about throwing fuel on the always smoldering fire of anti-Semitism by highlighting Matthew’s unfortunate quote in Matthew 27:25, “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”
If the media got into general accuracy, it was as a side issue.
As for not telling the truth about what Christians say about Jesus, I guess I missed that one and Ms. Welbor doesn’t explain how the book doesn't tell the truth about what Christians say about Jesus. You know what's bothersome to me? Editorial writers that don't justify their allegations. Besides, since when have Christians themselves agreed about what to say about Jesus?
Welbor goes on to lament that some folks are being misled.
“Sure, there's a slight difference in genre, but the fact is, The Da Vinci Code presents its theories authoritatively, and a startling number of readers embrace them as such.
Does this not bother anyone who cares about an intelligent approach to art and history?”
Sure, in the same way it bothers me that children are being misled when they’re taught that evolution is just a theory. I do think the media has the obligation to make it clear that the ideas presented in “The Da Vinci Code” are not accepted by the overwhelming majority of credible scholars just as it has the obligation to inform the public that evolution IS accepted by the overwhelming majority of credible scholars.
One has to wonder however if Ms. Welbor would also support the media making it clear to the public what the consensus among scholars is relating to the Documentary Hypothesis, the historical accuracy of Genesis, the authorship of the gospels and the authenticity of the Pauline Epistles.
Dennis P. McCann, Professor of Bible and Religion at Agnes Scott College, also writing in USA Today, is concerned about what he calls the spiritual decadence underlying the acceptance of the Da Vinci code fantasy.
“Digging for stubborn facts, apprehending the truth about them and acting accordingly are inconvenient, but the failure to do so has resulted in the whirlwind we are reaping. Though our private fascination with all-too-easy fantasies such as those Brown offered is only one symptom of our spiritual disarray, it has the potential to corrupt all aspects of American life. “
LOL!! Whoa professor, you do realize that all of religion is predicated upon the fact that most people are too lazy to dig for the facts and are attracted to easy, comforting fantasies don’t you? You’re just asking them to exchange one fantasy for another. Rather than accept the fantasy of “The Da Vinci Code,” they should accept the fantasy of Christianity? I suspect that “The Da Vinci Code” fantasy would do less harm. At least Dan Brown isn’t likely to burn anyone at the stake for not agreeing with him.
In the meantime many evangelicals are using this as an opportunity to present what the bible really says to a mostly biblically illiterate society. Or at least, to be more accurate, what they claim the bible means when it says what it says. You can be sure that this will be rather selective and have the right “feel good” twist. In other words, another collection of fantasies that Christianity hopes people will accept without getting into stubborn or embarrassing facts.
Friday, May 12, 2006
The NSA and my Telephone
Now USA Today is reporting about another lie from the Bush administration! When the call monitoring program at the NSA was revealed last December, Bush the Unhinged swore up and down that it only involved calls made overseas. Now we find out that was a lot of bull and calls within the U.S. were being monitored as well.
To be quite honest with you, I could care less if the NSA wants to monitor, or even listen in on, my phone calls. I have nothing to hide and I’m smart enough not to talk about anything I might want to hide on the phone. Listening to my calls would probably just put people to sleep. However, I have a big problem with being lied to again, and again, and again, by the current occupant of the White House. Didn’t we blacken the reputation of Tricky Dick for lying? When are the American people going to get fed up with the bald faced lies?
On a different note, how freaking incompetent is the NSA that IT GOT CAUGHT??? Hats off to Qwest Communications, apparently the only telephone company that told the NSA to pound salt and refused to participate.
To be quite honest with you, I could care less if the NSA wants to monitor, or even listen in on, my phone calls. I have nothing to hide and I’m smart enough not to talk about anything I might want to hide on the phone. Listening to my calls would probably just put people to sleep. However, I have a big problem with being lied to again, and again, and again, by the current occupant of the White House. Didn’t we blacken the reputation of Tricky Dick for lying? When are the American people going to get fed up with the bald faced lies?
On a different note, how freaking incompetent is the NSA that IT GOT CAUGHT??? Hats off to Qwest Communications, apparently the only telephone company that told the NSA to pound salt and refused to participate.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
More Flap over the DaVinci Code
Now, according to Reuters, an Archbishop and an executive secretary to the president in the Philippines have expressed the opinion that the movie should be banned in that country.
Once again the religious among us demonstrate the intolerance of religion for anything which might cause any members of the oft fleeced flock to reconsider. I guess I’m not really certain what the problem is nor why some folks are calling the film blasphemous.
Let’s think about this for a second. The Christian pitch is that Jesus of Nazareth was both God and man right? Well, I can’t say much about being God as it’s beyond my experience, but I do know something about being a man. Jesus was supposedly in his early thirties when he was crucified which means he was, and had been for about 18 years or so, a sexually mature male. That means that either (a) he engaged in sexual relations, (b) he masturbated or (c) he experienced wet dreams on a regular basis or else he would have been in such agony he wouldn’t have been able to walk. If somehow suppressing his sexuality was part of his being God, then I contend that he wasn’t truly man, and therefore the Christian claim is false by definition.
It also would have been highly unusual, possible, but highly unusual, for a Jewish male in his thirties in 1st century Palestine to be unmarried. Marrying, and fathering children, was considered something of a religious obligation.
Wouldn't it be a hoot if Jesus was sexually active and all those priests, through all those centuries, had to be celibate? Or at least claim to be celibate. I think that would be the greatest joke of all time.
What would be the big deal if Jesus was married and did father children? I can understand the evangelists not bothering to mention this in the gospels. I mean, I’m sure some of the disciples were married, but I don’t recall seeing any mention of that either. I’m going to use one of the Christian Apologists favorite arguments, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. All of the canonical gospels, with the interesting exception of John, make it plain that there were women in Jesus’ entourage that had come with him from Galilee (Mark 15:40-41, Matthew 27:55 and Luke 23:49). Some of these were probably wives or girlfriends yet Mark, Matthew and Luke are all silent about any such relationships. Just because wives aren’t identified, doesn’t mean they weren’t traveling around with Jesus and the disciples.
I am surprised that it’s the Catholic Church making all the noise and not the fundamentalist fruitcakes. I’m also surprised that all the complaints have come from someplace other than the U.S. Then again, I guess it’s still early. As for me, now I’m counting the days until this movie is out. I may go see it the first weekend.
Once again the religious among us demonstrate the intolerance of religion for anything which might cause any members of the oft fleeced flock to reconsider. I guess I’m not really certain what the problem is nor why some folks are calling the film blasphemous.
Let’s think about this for a second. The Christian pitch is that Jesus of Nazareth was both God and man right? Well, I can’t say much about being God as it’s beyond my experience, but I do know something about being a man. Jesus was supposedly in his early thirties when he was crucified which means he was, and had been for about 18 years or so, a sexually mature male. That means that either (a) he engaged in sexual relations, (b) he masturbated or (c) he experienced wet dreams on a regular basis or else he would have been in such agony he wouldn’t have been able to walk. If somehow suppressing his sexuality was part of his being God, then I contend that he wasn’t truly man, and therefore the Christian claim is false by definition.
It also would have been highly unusual, possible, but highly unusual, for a Jewish male in his thirties in 1st century Palestine to be unmarried. Marrying, and fathering children, was considered something of a religious obligation.
Wouldn't it be a hoot if Jesus was sexually active and all those priests, through all those centuries, had to be celibate? Or at least claim to be celibate. I think that would be the greatest joke of all time.
What would be the big deal if Jesus was married and did father children? I can understand the evangelists not bothering to mention this in the gospels. I mean, I’m sure some of the disciples were married, but I don’t recall seeing any mention of that either. I’m going to use one of the Christian Apologists favorite arguments, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. All of the canonical gospels, with the interesting exception of John, make it plain that there were women in Jesus’ entourage that had come with him from Galilee (Mark 15:40-41, Matthew 27:55 and Luke 23:49). Some of these were probably wives or girlfriends yet Mark, Matthew and Luke are all silent about any such relationships. Just because wives aren’t identified, doesn’t mean they weren’t traveling around with Jesus and the disciples.
I am surprised that it’s the Catholic Church making all the noise and not the fundamentalist fruitcakes. I’m also surprised that all the complaints have come from someplace other than the U.S. Then again, I guess it’s still early. As for me, now I’m counting the days until this movie is out. I may go see it the first weekend.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Texas, Voodoo Science and Darlie Routier
The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) reports that a group of five of the nation’s leading arson experts have dismissed the “evidence” which sent a Texas man to the execution gurney in 2004 as little more than folk lore which has been scientifically disproved.
The group, which reviewed the evidence pro bono at the request of the New York Innocence Project, stated that "Each and every one of the indicators,” listed as evidence of arson “means absolutely nothing" and was consistent with indicators "routinely created by accidental fires."
The report also indicated that many arson investigators are self-taught and "inept," and pointed out that there "is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can be sent to death row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who received all of his training on the job."
Well that really sucks doesn’t it? If you had ANY doubt that wrongly convicted people get executed in this country, listen very carefully. This poor bastard was convicted of murdering his three children, through arson, with evidence that was meaningless voodoo science. Yet, I guarantee you, that if you went back to the Deputy Fire Marshal that declared it to be arson in the first place, he’d still insist he was right. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for that though. How could he face himself once he accepted that he sent a man off to die based upon nonsense that he accepted as true? That would take a degree of courage beyond that possessed by most men.
If that report doesn’t put all of those Fire Marshals out of business, or at least send them off to be retrained, there ain’t no justice in Texas. Ok, ok, so the term “Texas Justice” is a Texas sized oxymoron so I shouldn’t really be surprised. Sort of reminds you of all those witch hunting priests who burned innocents based upon superstitious nonsense don’t it?
Which brings us to an update on Darlie Routier who I reported on last January (Alencon’s Place – The Case of Darlie Routier). I'm not certain that Darlie would agee with the arson experts that only due to arson can someone be sent to death row based upon the unsupported opinion of someone who learned his trade on the job. Darlie also appears to have been convicted by voodoo science and the so-called “expert opinion” of crime scene investigators along with the support of a little touch of character assassination by the prosecution.
Darlie is still waiting on DNA testing from the crime scene and the web site pushing her innocence wants to know what the state of Texas is so worried about? That’s a damn good question. The prosecution is supposed to see that justice is done and not simply to win convictions, so why not test the DNA? Is the entire justice system in the state of Texas as “inept” as its fire marshals? Well yeah, of course it is, I mean, it’s Texas, Incompetence Capital of the World!
Here’s hoping this report on voodoo science and “inept” opinion leading to an unjustified execution leads someone in Texas to look into other cases, like Darlie’s, where the conviction is also based more upon so-called expert opinion than hard forensic evidence. I honestly don’t know if Darlie is innocent as a lot of folks seem to think, but I think there are more than enough open holes in the case to warrant a new trial not the least of which is one lady from the jury saying that no one proved she was innocent! They DO understand in Texas that the burden of proof is on the prosecution don’t they?
The group, which reviewed the evidence pro bono at the request of the New York Innocence Project, stated that "Each and every one of the indicators,” listed as evidence of arson “means absolutely nothing" and was consistent with indicators "routinely created by accidental fires."
The report also indicated that many arson investigators are self-taught and "inept," and pointed out that there "is no crime other than homicide by arson for which a person can be sent to death row based on the unsupported opinion of someone who received all of his training on the job."
Well that really sucks doesn’t it? If you had ANY doubt that wrongly convicted people get executed in this country, listen very carefully. This poor bastard was convicted of murdering his three children, through arson, with evidence that was meaningless voodoo science. Yet, I guarantee you, that if you went back to the Deputy Fire Marshal that declared it to be arson in the first place, he’d still insist he was right. Well, I guess I can’t blame him for that though. How could he face himself once he accepted that he sent a man off to die based upon nonsense that he accepted as true? That would take a degree of courage beyond that possessed by most men.
If that report doesn’t put all of those Fire Marshals out of business, or at least send them off to be retrained, there ain’t no justice in Texas. Ok, ok, so the term “Texas Justice” is a Texas sized oxymoron so I shouldn’t really be surprised. Sort of reminds you of all those witch hunting priests who burned innocents based upon superstitious nonsense don’t it?
Which brings us to an update on Darlie Routier who I reported on last January (Alencon’s Place – The Case of Darlie Routier). I'm not certain that Darlie would agee with the arson experts that only due to arson can someone be sent to death row based upon the unsupported opinion of someone who learned his trade on the job. Darlie also appears to have been convicted by voodoo science and the so-called “expert opinion” of crime scene investigators along with the support of a little touch of character assassination by the prosecution.
Darlie is still waiting on DNA testing from the crime scene and the web site pushing her innocence wants to know what the state of Texas is so worried about? That’s a damn good question. The prosecution is supposed to see that justice is done and not simply to win convictions, so why not test the DNA? Is the entire justice system in the state of Texas as “inept” as its fire marshals? Well yeah, of course it is, I mean, it’s Texas, Incompetence Capital of the World!
Here’s hoping this report on voodoo science and “inept” opinion leading to an unjustified execution leads someone in Texas to look into other cases, like Darlie’s, where the conviction is also based more upon so-called expert opinion than hard forensic evidence. I honestly don’t know if Darlie is innocent as a lot of folks seem to think, but I think there are more than enough open holes in the case to warrant a new trial not the least of which is one lady from the jury saying that no one proved she was innocent! They DO understand in Texas that the burden of proof is on the prosecution don’t they?
Last American Titanic Survivor Passes Away
According to the AP, the last American survivor of the Titanic, Ms. Lillian Gertrud Asplund, passed away last Saturday, in Worcester Massachusetts, at the age of 99. Ms. Asplund was also the last survivor, at five years old, that was old enough at the time of the disaster to have any memories of the event. Two other survivors in the U.K. were, at 10 months and 2 months old, too young at the time.
Titanic just before her Maiden Voyage in 1912
Ms. Asplund lost her father and three brothers, including a twin brother, in the disaster. Her mother and one younger brother survived with her. The family was traveling as third class passengers on their way back from Sweden to Worcester.
Hmmm, that’s kind of interesting. For a while I was a Titanic buff and read everything that I could find on the subject. I’m a great fan of the movie made from Jack Lord’s book “A Night to Remember,” but only a lukewarm fan of Carpenter’s "Titanic."
The Titanic is the ultimate “hubris” story even though the White Star Line never actually said the ship was unsinkable. The Titanic was designed to survive the worst catastrophe that anyone could conceive of, a collision near the bow which flooded any three forward compartments. I’m sure if Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic and her sister ships the Olympic and the Britannic, had conceived of a collision which ruptured five compartments as actually occurred, he would have tried to take that situation into account.
There are a lot of myths surrounding the Titanic, starting with the myth that if there had been enough lifeboats, things would have been different. I doubt it. The ship sank about two hours after impact and they barely had enough time to get the boats they had off the ship. They never did manage to get the collapsible lifeboats to the davits and had to try and float them off. A second myth relates to the idea that they were trying to establish some sort of speed record on the maiden voyage. Not terribly likely. Speed was the selling point of the Cunard Line with the fast Lusitania and Mauritania to back it up. The White Star Line pitched luxury and was happy with ships that could go at a modest 21 or 22 knots as opposed to the 25 or 26 knot pace of the Cunard steamers.
The Britannic as a hospital ship in 1915
Of the three sisters, Olympic, Titanic and Britannic (nee Gigantic) only the Olympic ever completed a transatlantic voyage. The Britannic was impounded by the British government prior to her maiden voyage and commissioned as a hospital ship during WW I. After serving less than a year, she struck a mine in the Aegean Sea and went down.
The Olympic decked out in "dazzle paint" camouflage in 1918
The Olympic, the oldest of the three, had a speckled career that started with a collision with the British warship the HMS Hawke in 1911. She served as a troop transport during WW I and earned the nickname "Old Reliable" from the American troops that she ferried to and from the war in Europe. On May 12, 1918, she rammed, and sank, the German U-Boat U-110. This is the only known sinking of a U-Boat by a merchant ship, and a passenger liner no less. After the war, the Olympic returned to the transatlantic service and in 1934 had another collision, this time with the Nantucket Lightship, killing seven of the lightship’s crew. She remained active as a passenger liner until 1935 when she was sold for scrap.
As a very weird side story, Ms. Violet Jessop survived the Titanic sinking and then was assigned as a nurse to the Britannic. Boarding Titanic’s sister ship must have given the lady shivers. Then imagine how she felt when the Britannic went down with her on board! Yup, this poor lady was a survivor of both the Ttitanic and the Britannic disasters.
Tsunami on May 25?
That’s the prediction by one Eric Julien. Apparently Eric, through a fortuitous combination of a deep understanding of extraterrestrials, crop circle interpretation and comet fragment tracking, has determined that a large chuck of the comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann is going to crash into the Atlantic Ocean on May 25th, 2006, with rather unfortunate consequences for the east coast of North America and the west coast of Europe.
Supposedly this is a pre-emptive strike by some unfriendly extraterrestrials (are there any other kind?) to insure that Bush the Unhinged doesn’t use nukes on Iran. Not that the ETs care about Iran, they don’t, but apparently the use of nuclear weapons on our planet would somehow endanger our extraterrestrial neighbors and THAT they care about.
One wonders how reducing the earth to radioactive ash would inconvenience anyone (or anything) across the vastness of interstellar space?
Most likely he’s a nut, but just in case he’s right, I think I’ll postpone my next dental appointment from May 22nd to May 26th. I mean, why suffer through a thorough under the gums cleaning if I’m going to be vaporized three days later?
Supposedly this is a pre-emptive strike by some unfriendly extraterrestrials (are there any other kind?) to insure that Bush the Unhinged doesn’t use nukes on Iran. Not that the ETs care about Iran, they don’t, but apparently the use of nuclear weapons on our planet would somehow endanger our extraterrestrial neighbors and THAT they care about.
One wonders how reducing the earth to radioactive ash would inconvenience anyone (or anything) across the vastness of interstellar space?
Most likely he’s a nut, but just in case he’s right, I think I’ll postpone my next dental appointment from May 22nd to May 26th. I mean, why suffer through a thorough under the gums cleaning if I’m going to be vaporized three days later?
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
A New Lay's Potato Chip
USA Today reports that Frito-Lay will be releasing its new potato chips in the Northeast next week. The new chips are baked in sunflower oil rather than cottenseed oil and are expected to drop the amount of saturated fat in one serving (but who can eat just one?) by two thirds from 3 gm. to 1 gm. Not only that, but sunflower oil is a source of so-called “good fats,” the mono- and polyunsaturated kinds, which are supposed to help reduce that bad LDL cholesterol.
My question is what the heck took so long? I mean if it was that easy? Oh never mind. I give Frito-Lay credit for doing something good. I tend to eat lots of sunflower seeds in salads. My only problem with this is does it mean the end of Lay’s Baked Potato Chips? I was a big fan of their sour cream and onion baked chips which seem to have disappeared off of the shelves.
Luckily I have neither a cholesterol problem nor a weight problem and while, like everyone, I give in to a snack craving from time to time, this change probably isn’t going to affect me much. Still, I can only see positive things coming out of this. Anything that reduces the saturated fat consumption of the country by 60 million pounds a year can’t be bad.
I’m no health food nut but I haven’t eaten in McDonald’s or Burger King since seeing Morgan Spurlock’s film “Super Size Me.” I do admit that I enjoy a Wendy’s chicken sandwich, with no mayo, from time to time, and I think I ate in Pizza Hut once last year. I’m also proud to say that I have never super sized anything, anywhere, at any time.
Some of the stuff being offered out there for actual consumption by human beings is scary. I think Burger King is trying to establish itself as the fat person’s breakfast place. Its new “Enormous Omelet Sandwich” with one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon on a long roll delivers a whopping 730 calories and 47 grams of fat! Then there’s its “French Toast Sandwich” which features two slices of cinnamon and maple-flavored French toast bread, one folded omelet egg, melted American cheese and a choice of ham, sausage or bacon. Burger King doesn’t seem to have released any nutrition information for this puppy yet but I think my arteries just narrowed simply from writing the description!
Still, even Burger King can’t top the one I saw about a cheeseburger sandwich served between the halves of a sliced Crispy Crème donut. I get nauseous just thinking about that one!
Indulging yourself once in a while is ok but looking around tells me that a lot of folks are indulging themselves a lot more than that and I live in a relatively thin part of the country according to the Trust for American Health (see map).
Apparently Mississippi is the fattest state with an obesity rate of 28.1% and Colorado is the thinnest with a rate of 16.4% (which still ain’t that great). I live in New Jersey which ranked 40th at 20.1%.
What is with the South? Not only does it have the highest crime rate, the highest murder rate, the highest execution rate and is the only region of the country where a majority of people believe in Creationism and reject Evolution, it's also the fattest part of the country. Explain to me again WHY we didn't just let them secede?
Ok, enough South bashing for today, it's some brownie points for Frito-Lay and a big razzberry for Burger King.
My question is what the heck took so long? I mean if it was that easy? Oh never mind. I give Frito-Lay credit for doing something good. I tend to eat lots of sunflower seeds in salads. My only problem with this is does it mean the end of Lay’s Baked Potato Chips? I was a big fan of their sour cream and onion baked chips which seem to have disappeared off of the shelves.
Luckily I have neither a cholesterol problem nor a weight problem and while, like everyone, I give in to a snack craving from time to time, this change probably isn’t going to affect me much. Still, I can only see positive things coming out of this. Anything that reduces the saturated fat consumption of the country by 60 million pounds a year can’t be bad.
I’m no health food nut but I haven’t eaten in McDonald’s or Burger King since seeing Morgan Spurlock’s film “Super Size Me.” I do admit that I enjoy a Wendy’s chicken sandwich, with no mayo, from time to time, and I think I ate in Pizza Hut once last year. I’m also proud to say that I have never super sized anything, anywhere, at any time.
Some of the stuff being offered out there for actual consumption by human beings is scary. I think Burger King is trying to establish itself as the fat person’s breakfast place. Its new “Enormous Omelet Sandwich” with one sausage patty, two eggs, two American cheese slices and three strips of bacon on a long roll delivers a whopping 730 calories and 47 grams of fat! Then there’s its “French Toast Sandwich” which features two slices of cinnamon and maple-flavored French toast bread, one folded omelet egg, melted American cheese and a choice of ham, sausage or bacon. Burger King doesn’t seem to have released any nutrition information for this puppy yet but I think my arteries just narrowed simply from writing the description!
Still, even Burger King can’t top the one I saw about a cheeseburger sandwich served between the halves of a sliced Crispy Crème donut. I get nauseous just thinking about that one!
Indulging yourself once in a while is ok but looking around tells me that a lot of folks are indulging themselves a lot more than that and I live in a relatively thin part of the country according to the Trust for American Health (see map).
Apparently Mississippi is the fattest state with an obesity rate of 28.1% and Colorado is the thinnest with a rate of 16.4% (which still ain’t that great). I live in New Jersey which ranked 40th at 20.1%.
What is with the South? Not only does it have the highest crime rate, the highest murder rate, the highest execution rate and is the only region of the country where a majority of people believe in Creationism and reject Evolution, it's also the fattest part of the country. Explain to me again WHY we didn't just let them secede?
Ok, enough South bashing for today, it's some brownie points for Frito-Lay and a big razzberry for Burger King.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Klitschko vs. Byrd
The fight was actually a week or two ago but I missed it. Ah, the miracle of not reading any news about it and having HBO on Demand is that yesterday the fight showed up on the sports list and, since I had no idea of the outcome, it was like having a championship fight staged at my convenience. So, rather than watching the Big Love episode I didn’t watch Sunday, I curled up yesterday evening with a heavyweight fight from Mannheim Germany.
Unfortunately I got sidetracked by what the heck Byrd had written on the back of his trunk waistband. Given that Chris Byrd seems to be a demonstrably religious Christian, I figured it was a biblical reference. After a round or two I finally figured out it was “Phil 4:13” which, I assume, stands for Philippians 4:13.
In the KJV Philippians 4:13 is translated as:
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Which is, to say the least, a bit of an awkward sentence. Assuming “strengtheneth” means the same thing as “strengthens,” the sentence actually says that it’s doing “all things through Christ” which strengthens. The NKJV changes it to:
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now it becomes not doing “all things,” but Christ who does the strengthening which seems to make a bit more sense. The NIV offers:
Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Now any mention of Cristos disappears. Clearly one of those passages that are slightly different in different manuscripts and that give translators fits. On the positive side, at least Philippians is generally agreed to be an epistle actually written by Paul as opposed to Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians and the Pastorals which are generally accepted by scholars not to have been written by Paul. Apparently pseudononimous writings, in which a famous person’s name is attached as author in order to give the writing acceptability, weren’t that unusual back in the 1st and 2nd century. Let’s see now, what would we call that today? Oh yeah, that’s right, we’d call it lying.
Considering that Wladimir cleaned Byrd’s clock and put him out in round 7, I guess it’s all sort of academic. Maybe you could try praying harder next time Chris? It won’t help, but you could try.
Unfortunately I got sidetracked by what the heck Byrd had written on the back of his trunk waistband. Given that Chris Byrd seems to be a demonstrably religious Christian, I figured it was a biblical reference. After a round or two I finally figured out it was “Phil 4:13” which, I assume, stands for Philippians 4:13.
In the KJV Philippians 4:13 is translated as:
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Which is, to say the least, a bit of an awkward sentence. Assuming “strengtheneth” means the same thing as “strengthens,” the sentence actually says that it’s doing “all things through Christ” which strengthens. The NKJV changes it to:
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Now it becomes not doing “all things,” but Christ who does the strengthening which seems to make a bit more sense. The NIV offers:
Phil 4:13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Now any mention of Cristos disappears. Clearly one of those passages that are slightly different in different manuscripts and that give translators fits. On the positive side, at least Philippians is generally agreed to be an epistle actually written by Paul as opposed to Ephesians, 2 Thessalonians and the Pastorals which are generally accepted by scholars not to have been written by Paul. Apparently pseudononimous writings, in which a famous person’s name is attached as author in order to give the writing acceptability, weren’t that unusual back in the 1st and 2nd century. Let’s see now, what would we call that today? Oh yeah, that’s right, we’d call it lying.
Considering that Wladimir cleaned Byrd’s clock and put him out in round 7, I guess it’s all sort of academic. Maybe you could try praying harder next time Chris? It won’t help, but you could try.
An (Illegal) Immigrant Protest
Just when I begin to figure the country has gone completely to the dogs, something like yesterday's immigrant demonstration occurs to remind what a strange, and often wonderful, country this is to live in.
Let's understand this, we had hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, many of which were in this country ILLEGALLY, demonstrating for immigration reform and to show how important they are to the economy. So, were there massive roundups of these folks who were admittedly breaking the law? Nope, local police just helped keep things peaceful and directed traffic.
And I would say they made their point. I seriously doubt it would be very pleasant if all of the "illegals" packed up one day and went home. That doesn't mean I necessarilly buy Dubyah's "guest worker" approach. The idea of "guest workers" leaves me cold; it smacks of elitism and a statically tiered society without the potential for class mobility that has always been such a critical part of the American spectrum.
Let's understand this, we had hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, many of which were in this country ILLEGALLY, demonstrating for immigration reform and to show how important they are to the economy. So, were there massive roundups of these folks who were admittedly breaking the law? Nope, local police just helped keep things peaceful and directed traffic.
And I would say they made their point. I seriously doubt it would be very pleasant if all of the "illegals" packed up one day and went home. That doesn't mean I necessarilly buy Dubyah's "guest worker" approach. The idea of "guest workers" leaves me cold; it smacks of elitism and a statically tiered society without the potential for class mobility that has always been such a critical part of the American spectrum.
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