Original writing by Trevor Blake...

• Animal Sacrifice, Texas Style: "It appears that animal sacrifice is acceptable in Texas, but only if it is the correct religion."
• Coffee and Orange: "Through a long series of strange and wonderful turns of fate, I live in Portland Oregon USA yet I can buy coffee and oranges any time of the year."
• Suffrage: "In the United States, is there a relation between when a group of people gains suffrage and the percentage of that group that is registered to vote?"
  

... as well as references to...

• Cinnamon Stillwell: Honor killings
• Sara Corbett: A Cutting Tradition
• Richard Owen: Pope calls for continuous prayer to rid priesthood of paedophilia
• AP and Susan Harding: Mayor's racy photos become the talk of the town
• Christine Clarridge: Phony psychic sentenced for bilking woman of savings
• Shawn F. Peters: Abusing Children in the Name of God
• Jo-Ann Goodwin and David Jones: The unspeakable practice of female circumcision that's destroying young women's lives in Britain
• Maged Thabet Al-Kholidy: There must be violence against women

... see also twenty-one years worth of zines (going back to the days of photocopies and post office boxes), original art and more.

Labels: Art, sex, theocracy, zines

The "Qatif girl" won a reprieve last week. On Dec. 17, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah pardoned the young woman, who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison after she pressed charges against seven men who had raped her and a male acquaintance in 2006. Two weeks earlier, Sudan's president extended a similar reprieve to Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher convicted of insulting Islam because her 7-year-old students named a teddy bear Muhammad. Gibbons had been sentenced to prison, but government-organized street demonstrators were loudly demanding her execution. [...]

No international furor saved Aqsa Parvez, a Toronto teenager, whose father was charged on Dec. 11 with strangling her to death because she refused to wear a hijab. "She just wanted to look like everyone else," one of Aqsa's friends told the National Post, "and I guess her dad had a problem with that." No reprieve came for Banaz Mahmod, either. She was 20, a Kurdish immigrant to Britain, whose father and uncle had her killed last year after she left an abusive arranged marriage and fell in love with a man not from the family's village in Kurdistan. Banaz was choked to death with a bootlace, stuffed into a suitcase, and buried in a garden 70 miles away. More than 25 such "honor killings" have been confirmed in Britain's Muslim community in recent years. Many more are suspected. [...]

By Western standards, the subjugation of women by Muslim fanatics, and the sometimes pathological Islamist obsession with female sexuality, are unthinkable. Time and again they lead to shocking acts of violence and depravity: [...] In San Francisco, a young Muslim woman was shot dead after she uncovered her hair and put on makeup in order to be a maid of honor at a friend's wedding. [...]

All these are only examples - the tip of a dreadful iceberg that will never be demolished until Muslims by the millions rise up against it. As for the rest of us, we too have an obligation to raise our voices. It took a worldwide outcry to spare "Qatif girl" and Nazanin. But there are countless others like them, and our silence may seal their fate.

[Article continues at link. The West is largely a Christian culture, but a secular Christian culture. Christianity is still tied to the Bible and all its support for slavery, all its oppression of women, all its scientific nonsense. But secular Christianity can simply ignore these cruel and foolish practices, picking out the good stuff from the Bible and getting on with things. The Muslim world has so far rejected the secular and has no intention of getting rid of its support for slavery, all its oppression of women, all its scientific nonsense. I hope the Muslim world can get its act together, keep the good stuff and join the rest of us in the 21st Century (even joining the 19th would be an improvement), but there isn't much the West can peacefully do to make that happen. But we can do something about honor killings in the West. Prosecute the murderers and their murderous support system. Use the same techniques that were successful against the Ku Klux Klan and the Mafia - crushing taxation, relentless arrests and incarceration, and inescapable social opprobrium. No honor for honor killers, not one second of respect for their sacred traditions and ancient culture. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

All this and more was published in OVO blog during the past month:

• What Can God Do with 32 Virgins? "Numbers 31:40 states that God wanted thirty-two of the virgins reserved for Himself. What can God do with thirty-two virgins?"
• Where are you NOW? NOW and Sharia: "Does the National Organization of Women refrain from commenting when women are sentenced to lashings? If so, this is a change from 2001 when they spoke out against it. Does NOW refrain from commenting about Muslim law (also known as sharia law)? If so, this is a change from 2002 when they spoke out against it. In the past NOW has spoken out against lashings and against Muslim law."
• Mamie Manneh: "Mamie Manneh is an attempted murderer who illegally imported the remains of endangered species into the USA for the purpose of eating them. Handling and consuming this animal can lead to some of the most nightmarish diseases known to humanity. Only spongiform encephalopathy and religion can soften the mind enough to cause a person to hold Mamie's 'culture' or 'sincere beliefs' worthy of consideration in this regard."
• The Get Out of Your Mind Free Card: "When is a movie theater not a movie theater?"
• CAIR: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations has called for an end to rights violations against women and volunteered support for House Resolution 32."
• Ulam's Spiral: "It was an act of idleness, not labor, that brought this curiosity forth. I place this discovery in the realm of dreams and not wakefulness."
• Ten Thousand: "Ten thousand people have been killed by Muslims in the past six years. These men, women and children were not killed in self-defence, nor were they killed in the heat of the moment, nor were they killed for money, nor were they killed in war. Ten thousand people have been killed by Muslims in the past six years as human sacrifices, as part of the religion of Islam, as Muslims submitting to the invisible monster that lives in the sky."
• Theo-genital Mutilation, Two Versions: "Perhaps tax dollars could be used for something more pressing than the unnecessary mutilation of men and women's genitals."
• The War on (T)Error: "Two members of the religion of peace who bombed London on July 7, 2005 were able to do so only because the US government let them walk."
• Sen. Charles Grassley: "Superstitious non-profit agencies are also tax exempt, but they are not accountable for how much money they take in nor are they accountable for what they spend the money on. Some superstitious non-profit agencies must surely do good work with every penny they can find. But others surely do not."
• What Prevents Sexual Predation? "If there are two claimed ways to reduce sexual predation, one that seems to work and one that seems to not work, we can at least do some good with that real world information."

Visit OVO blog today!

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) has asked six non-profit agencies to account for their earnings. These six agencies are led by Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Sen. Grassley has no legal means to compel these six to account for their earnings. That is because these agencies serve an invisible monster that lives in the sky.

Secular non-profit agencies are accountable for how much money they take in and what they used that money for. By providing social services in the private sector they lessen the burden of the government to provide those services. By reducing the burden of the government to provide those services they reduce the amount of tax the government can justify taking in. By reducing the amount of tax the government can justify taking in the secular non-profit agencies are awarded with tax exempt status. Secular non-profit agencies are accountable for how much money they take in (to determine how much tax they can be exempt from) and what they used that money for (to demonstrate they relieved the burden of the state).

Superstitious non-profit agencies are also tax exempt, but they are not accountable for how much money they take in nor are they accountable for what they spend the money on. Some superstitious non-profit agencies must surely do good work with every penny they can find. But others surely do not.

The ideal and simple solution would be to get the government out of the superstition business (as suggested by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America). Hold superstitious non-profit agencies accountable to the same standards as secular non-profit agencies. Require superstitious non-profit agencies to account for how much money they take in and what they spend it on. Where they do good work, let them be rewarded. Leave magic spells offered to an invisible monster that lives in the sky up to individuals and families.

I welcome Sen. Grassley's inquiry. He and those like him might benefit from my January 2006 essay The Case Against Tax Exemption for Religious Organizations in Oregon in OVO 16 Anti-Christ. "At every turn in its thought, society will find us - waiting."

Labels: superstition, theocracy

A sample of the original content that appeared in OVO blog this month:

• Christ @ Work. The Bible does contain some fine moral advice in it. It also contains some inhumanly evil moral advice. It also contains some foolish nonsense that dresses itself up as moral advice. That doesn't make it much different from any number of other books, ancient and modern.
• Extremophiles. What might humanity be able to engineer for ourselves to become extremophiles? What dangers do exremophiles present to humanity?
• Interfaith Dialog. In some places, disagreements are resolved by discussion. In other places, disagreements are resolved by flogging.
• Islam is Peace. Islam, like Christianity and all religions, is a collection of mean-spirited superstitions invented by illiterate pre-scientific nobodies that we have no reason to heed.
• Krankheit. Sometimes sickness is a benefit.
• The Latter-Day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America. Maybe it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if the Mormons got out of the Scouting business.
• More Sperm. February 2005 saw the return of OVO after 13 years of hibernation. The theme for that issue was 'sperm.' Sperm remains in the news, and here are some of the top sperm stories from the past two years.
• Peaceable Protests After Amsterdam Attacks. Police in the Dutch city of Amsterdam say several peaceful protests were held in the sixth night of memorials after officers shot a Moroccan man dead.
• Priorities. It seems that other people being free to celebrate or have their own superstitions is intolerable to Muslims, while public whippings and stoning are just fine as long as they occur in-house.
• Publius Enigma. It has something to do with Pink Floyd and the Internet and a treasure hunt.
• Saturn Return. Saturn Return is when Universe picks you up from under the Christmas tree and shakes you to see if it can figure out what you are.
• SB777. SB777 protects religious belief against discrimination. It also protects discrimination in religious belief. Only religion can distort the rule of law to this degree.
• Sharia in the United States of America. It is illegal to non-surgically amputate people's hands as a punishment for a crime. Illegal under United States law, but legal under sharia law.
• Superstitious Exemption from the Rule of Law. For better and for worse, it is not the case that we can all happily get along. But where there is the rule of law and not force, fiat or superstition we can at least get along peaceably.
• Two Articles from All Africa. Replacing witch doctors with Christians is not going to help the situation.
• Two Links via God is for Suckers. All money spent on religion is money wasted, wasted more thoroughly than money spent on weapons or torture. At least when someone is killed or tortured, something happened.
• Workplace Religious Freedom Act (S. 893). If this bill becomes law, then religious employees will have rights and privileges that no atheist employee can have.

Many other essays and links appeared with original commentary. Fine photographs by Trevor Blake were also to be found. Visit OVO blog today.

Labels: atheism, superstition, theocracy, zines

The most notorious hijacking of all, of course, may not be the ones Muhammad Atta and Co. pulled off on 9/11, but the hijacking of Islam itself, the Religion of Peace, that the mainstream media, Left and Right, takes for granted as having happened.

And here, in his recent message to the people of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is at it again, offering copious Qur'an quotes -- as if challenging peaceful Muslims to demonstrate that he is misusing the Islamic book. Why don't they take up the challenge? This is the way Osama and his counterparts make recruits among Muslims. This is what peaceful Muslims need to counter. But instead, they call people who point out that the jihadists do this "Islamophobes," and that is that.

[Article continues at link. Left or right, it's time we burn up the weed of religion root and branch. Lives depend on it. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: theocracy

Kerry Howley on Hit and Run:

Ian Buruma has a Sunday L.A. Times piece boldly asserting that while religious devotion can sometimes provoke violence, it can also "be a force for good." Exhibit A is the Burmese monk protest. I'm not going to quibble with the sentiment, but using Burmese monks as proof of religion's awesome power to do good is really, really weird.

The State Peace and Development Council derives its legitimacy from public support for Buddhism, and in recent years has leaned even more heavily on approving pronouncements from prominent religious officials. Theravada Buddhism is the establishment religion under a repressive military regime. No actual Burma scholars dispute this, as far as I know. Anyone with doubts should check out the military’s propaganda paper, which is a dual attempt to showcase the devotion of military officials and advocate peaceful, Buddhist complacency on the part of the Burmese. It adopts the tone of an authoritarian yoga instructor for a reason.

The monks, known as the sangha, regularly accept extravagant and highly publicized gifts from well placed military officials; this is a desperately poor country filled with gilded gold pagodas. The rebuilding of Buddhist shrines can be a public project, with villagers force to participate. Monks have in the past refused to perform ceremonies for NLD members. It's difficult to define complicity when everyone may be acting out of fear, but you can't call a religion that confers legitimacy on a bunch of thugs (and advocates passivism in response) entirely helpful.
Yes, the Burmese monks have a history of peaceful protest, as in 1990 and 1962. But you wouldn't want to define the monks by these protests any more than you would a pope by his opposition to communism. It's rather more complicated than that.

I support the Burmese people's struggle against the military junta. Let us just hope they are able to replace their government with something other than a theocracy.

More on Buddhism and tyranny:

Zen at War.

Friendly Feudalism.

In the Shadow of the Dalai Lama.

Labels: theocracy

Robert, September 11, The date which will live in infamy:
Now it has been six years. The global jihad proceeds apace, with well over 9,000 deadly attacks carried out in the course of those six years by believers in the proposition that "Islam must dominate, and not be dominated." Yet we are no closer as a society to recognizing how exactly to combat this foe, and our responses flail wildly -- witness this report that prisons have removed Jewish and Christian books from their libraries so as to allow them, within today's suffocating multiculturalist ethos, to remove also books advocating jihad violence and Islamic supremacism. [...]Six years after 9/11, the jihad proceeds apace, and the UN investigates...Islamophobia.

Want to end Islamophobia? End violent attacks committed by Muslims in the name of Islam. I guarantee that Islamophobia will then vanish utterly.

Adrian Morgan, Six Years After The Wake-Up Call:
It is now exactly six years to the day that the world woke up to the true horror and the evil of Islamism. [...] Since that time, some people seem to have forgotten what created that day of slaughter and the loss of innocence. Conspiracy theorists, taking denial to the furthest degree, still try to capitalize on those tragic and gut-wrenching acts of Muslim terrorism to blame the CIA, the US government, anything to suggest that followers of a barbaric, bloodthirsty, punitive religion invented by a genocidal 7th century caravan-raider could never have committed such a dastardly plan. The wake-up call was made, but too many people prefer to forget, or to minimize the reality. Islamists try to rule through fear. They violently silence a few brave people and the rest of us hide in the shadows, fearful that if we too speak out, or if we are identified as enemies of Islamism, that we too will be silenced by violence.

David Charter, Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith:
A group of young Muslim apostates launches a campaign today, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, to make it easier to renounce Islam. The provocative move reflects a growing rift between traditionalists and a younger generation raised on a diet of Dutch tolerance. The Committee for Ex-Muslims promises to campaign for freedom of religion but has already upset the Islamic and political Establishments for stirring tensions among the million-strong Muslim community in the Netherlands.

Ehsan Jami, the committee’s founder, who rejected Islam after the attack on the twin towers in 2001, has become the most talked-about public figure in the Netherlands. He has been forced into hiding after a series of death threats and a recent attack.

[Originally appearing at OVO blog. Let every day be one day closer to the withering away of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and all religions. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

A new [Canadian] federal law, which received royal assent in June of this year, will require Canadians to prove their identity before casting a ballot. Voters will be asked for government issued photo-id before being allowed to vote. Those without the required id can provide two other pieces of acceptable identification or have another voter in the district vouch for them.

While Muslim women will be asked for photo-id such as a driver’s license, they will not be required to remove their veil. A spokesman for Elections Canada tells CJAD that women may choose to remove the veil but if they opt not to, they can simply provide a second piece of identification in addition to the driver’s license. Women who choose not to unveil will also be given the opportunity to swear an oath and have another voter vouch for them, but Elections Canada says two veiled individuals will not be allowed to vouch for each other.

[Article continues at link. What is being protected by this law, and what is being lost?]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

At a hearing earlier this month, Chief Judge Raymond Dearie of U.S. District Court in Brooklyn ruled that Mamie Manneh, 39, of Staten Island, has legal standing to argue that her religious beliefs should exempt her from criminal prosecution for smuggling the contraband bushmeat. [...] Manneh, who is also known as Mamie Jefferson, was charged in January 2006 with smuggling 65 pieces of bushmeat into America from the West African nation of Guinea in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Government agents seized "skulls, limbs and torsos" of primates, including green monkeys and hamadryas baboons, according to court papers. The meat had been smoked.

The U.S. Supreme Court may have bolstered Manneh's prospect of winning last year, when it ruled 8 to 0 in favor of exempting a small group in New Mexico from prosecution for using a hallucinogenic plant to make tea. The court in that case, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao De Vegetal, found that practice by followers of a Brazilian religion was protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law passed by Congress that protects groups who use illegal substances for religious purposes. But bushmeat brings new issues into play, including conservation of protected species and public health threats that experts say can stem from eating primates. Diseases linked to primates include HIV, SARS, Ebola, Monkeypox, and Lassa Fever, the federal government says in its complaint in the case, signed by a special agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Philip Alegranti. [...]

Manneh took the stand for the first time this month, where she testified that she was baptized as a Christian, but that she eats the monkey meat at religious ceremonies like Easter "because monkey from the wildlife is a very smart animal," according to a court transcript. Her testimony suggests that she practices a hybridized religion that borrows both from Christian concepts and indigenous African religious beliefs. Seventeen congregants of Manneh's church in Staten Island, the First Christian Church at 54 Thompson St., filed an affidavit in July testifying to the importance of bushmeat for their religious beliefs. "This is something our forefathers did, it is something we learned as children, and it is a part of our treasured relationship with God as African Christians," the congregants wrote. "We eat bushmeat for our souls," they said.

[Article continues at link.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Labels: superstition, theocracy

What should Christian clergy do if the United States government declares martial law? Why, they should follow Romans 13:1, which reads: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." And so the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is training clergy to help their flock accept reductions in civil rights.

Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever Declared
Secret FEMA Plan To Use Pastors as Pacifiers in Preparation For Martial Law
Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent" During Martial Law
Why is FEMA recruiting CLERGY to preach government propaganda? [more links inside]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion? The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too. [...]

For now, about 100 students in the Arabic language program at Carver Elementary School are finishing their first year under a daily schedule that gives them a 15-minute recess period in the afternoon, about an hour after lunch. Many of the students are Muslim and transferred from an Arabic-language charter school that folded. Carver Elementary revised its schedule so the students would have the option to pray at the specific times ordained by their religion, says attorney Brent North, who represents the school district. A teacher is present to watch the praying children but cannot lead or take part in the observance.

[Article continues at link. Since the First Amendment insures that no religion will be favored over any other by the State, I look forward to seperate rooms for Muslim boys and Muslim girls to pray in at public schools. Then rooms for Christians, because it wouldn't be right to favor Muslims over Christians. Then a room for Protestants and a room for Catholics. Then a room for each denomination of Protestants and each denomination of Catholic. Then Hindu, then all the Native American religions. Then all the dead religions, just in case those Gods are real and someone wants to worship them. Don't forget the Jews, and all the denominations of Judaism. Shinto, yes, Shinto. Seperate rooms for all, and time out of the school day for all - that's what equal representation is all about. Or maybe what the First Amendment means is that the State should stay out of the superstition business altogether, and that tax dollars should go to secular public schools not religious schools. There are religious schools, and parents are free to send their kids there. There is home schooling, and parents are free to home school their kids. Options exist outside of introducing superstition play time into the public school day.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

The High Weirdness Project: "As of July 6th, 2007, custody of Reverend Magdalen's son has been awarded to the boy's father. Magdalen is conferring with her lawyer and preparing a statement."

Rachel Bevilacqua's Blog: Bevilacqua, who performs under the name “Rev. Magdalen,” was stripped of the custody of her 10-year-old son because of pictures found on the Internet of her performances with the satirical comedy group The SubGenius Foundation, Inc. The images were from a members-only yearly SubGenius convention in upstate New York.

The Wild Hunt: Rachel Bevilacqua (an active SubGenius known as "Rev. Magdalen") had her son, Kohl removed from her custody and was barred from even writing to her child due to her bawdy and satirically blasphemous participation in Subgenius festivals (at which the son was never present). Not only was the son never present at these adult-oriented festivals, but she has been barred since 2000 from "exposing" her son to any information or activities related to the Church of the SubGenius.

[You are next.]

Labels: theocracy

The 2008 presidential election is probably the first in American history that has spawned a veritable faith and politics industry. Entire non-profit organizations, university departments, think tanks, polling operations, and web divisions at prestigious East coast newspapers, have marshaled their resources in an attempt to make sense of the role that religion will play in the run for the White House. The industry is immense. Its wares displayed on every boulevard, sidewalk and back alley of the mass media. Its potential for influencing public opinion is considerable.

The faith and politics industry also has a variety of “applied” or “hands-on” subsidiaries. There are the lobbyists who work for religious special interest groups. There are demographers who conduct surveys for any client willing to cough up the fee. There is the very lucrative traffic in what I call “religious imaging.” By this I refer to the work of political consultants--an astonishing percentage of whom are graduates of theological seminaries--who advise and often rehabilitate candidates who have somehow drifted off (religious) message.

And did I mention that the industry is completely deregulated? That is to say, there are no standards for entrance, let alone excellence. No one seems to be interested in the identity of the employees or employers in the industry. It doesn’t hold annual conventions in a big, deep carpet-y Hotel where everyone gets to expense their meals back to Headquarters. In fact, no one seems to have much to say about the industry as a whole. It floats under the radar. Which is strange because as regards religion and politics the Industry is the radar.

[Article continues at link.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

2000: Asked by an interviewer [...] whether she could forgive her husband if she learned he’d had an extramarital affair, as Hillary Clinton and Bob Livingston’s wife had done, Wendy Vitter told the Times-Picayune: “I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary. If he does something like that, I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”

2004: Vitter Statement on Protecting the Sanctity of Marriage. “This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history, and our two U.S. Senators won’t do anything about it. We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts’s values. I am the only Senate Candidate to coauthor the Federal Marriage Amendment; the only one fighting for its passage. I am the only candidate proposing changes to the senate rules to stop liberal obstructionists from preventing an up or down vote on issues like this, judges, energy, and on and on.” stated David Vitter.

2004: On WSMB radio last Saturday, a caller who identified himself as Elwood asked Vitter about charges, made by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee in the Weekly that the then-State Representative, had had an affair with a known prosition in the French Quarter. Elwood continued, “Would you be willing to sign an affidavit that you have ever known, met or had relations with one Wendy Cortez.” Vitter responded, “I think you know that that alligation is abosultely and completely untrue…I have said that on numerous occassions…I’ll say that in any forum…Unfortuanately, that’s just crass Louisiana politics, now that I am running for the Senate. I have made that clear that it is alll completely untrue…And, it’s obviously politically motivated.”

June 25, 2007: U.S. Sen. David Vitter last week authored a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee expressing support for reauthorization of the Title V Abstinence Education Program of the Social Security Act. Twelve senators joined Vitter in writing in support of the program. “This a valuable program with proven results, but it is nearing its expiration. We must reauthorize this program so we can continue the incredible strides we have made in teaching teens about both risk avoidance and protecting themselves from potential abuse,” Vitter said.

July 9, 2007: Sen. David Vitter, R-La., apologized Monday night for "a very serious sin in my past" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service operated by the so-called "D.C. Madam.'' Vitter's spokesman, Joel Digrado, confirmed the statement in an email sent to The Associated Press. "This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter said in the statement. "Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counselling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there – with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.''

Deuteronomy 23:1 "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD."

[Articles continue at links. Thanks to Metafilter for the heavy lifting. Unlike Sen. Vitter, I consider consenting sexual relations to be a private affair among adults and not something the government should regulate. I also support sex education, unlike Sen. Vitter. Sen. Vitter hides behind the Bible both in his lies and in his laws. I, an atheist, have never had an affair (unlike Sen. Vitter, I'm not lying when I say that). I wish Sen. Vitter and his family the best in what I'm sure will be hard times ahead. But I hope that they re-consider the virtues of a religion that neither prevents nor heals wounds such as this. I also hope his voters won't be so easily tricked next time someone waves a cross at them come election time.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

[Transcript of video...]

But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected President, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured–perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again–not what kind of church I believe in, for that should be important only to me–but what kind of America I believe in.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute–where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote–where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference–and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish–where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source–where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials–and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew–or a Quaker–or a Unitarian–or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim–but tomorrow it may be you–until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end–where all men and all churches are treated as equal–where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice–where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind–and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.

That is the kind of America in which I believe. And it represents the kind of Presidency in which I believe–a great office that must neither be humbled by making it the instrument of any one religious group nor tarnished by arbitrarily withholding its occupancy from the members of any one religious group. I believe in a President whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.

- John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960, address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. By way of God is for Suckers.

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Today (June 28) is the anniversary (1969) of the Stonewall Riots in New York City. Wikipedia states: Details about how the riot started vary from story to story. According to one account, a transgender woman named Sylvia Rivera threw a bottle at a police officer after being prodded by his nightstick. Another account states that a lesbian being brought to a patrol car through the crowd put up a struggle that encouraged the crowd to do the same . Whatever the case may be, mêlée broke out across the crowd—which quickly overtook the police. Stunned, the police retreated into the bar. [...] Throughout the night the police singled out many transgender people and gender nonconformists, including butch women and effeminate men, among others, often beating them. On the first night alone 13 people were arrested and four police officers, as well as an undetermined number of protesters, were injured. It is known, however, that at least two rioters were severely beaten by the police. Bottles and stones were thrown by protesters who chanted “Gay Power!” The crowd, estimated at over 2000, fought with over 400 police officers. The police sent additional forces in the form of the Tactical Patrol Force, a riot-control squad originally trained to counter Vietnam War protesters. The tactical patrol force arrived to disperse the crowd. However, they failed to break up the crowd, who sprayed them with rocks and other projectiles. [...] Eventually the scene quieted, but the crowd returned again the next night. While less violent than the first night, the crowd had the same energy as it had on the previous night. Skirmishes between the rioters and the police ensued until approximately 4:00 a.m.. The third day of rioting fell five days after the raid on the Stonewall Inn. On that Wednesday, 1,000 people congregated at the bar and again caused extensive property damage. [...] The forces that were simmering before the riots were now no longer beneath the surface. The community created by the homophile organizations of the previous two decades had created the perfect environment for the creation of the Gay Liberation Movement. By the end of July the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in New York and by the end of the year the GLF could be seen in cities and universities around the country. Similar organizations were soon created around the world [...]. The following year, in commemoration of the Stonewall Riots, the GLF organized a march from Greenwich Village to Central Park. Between 5,000 and 10,000 men and women attended the march. Many gay pride celebrations choose the month of June to hold their parades and events to celebrate “The Hairpin Drop Heard Round the World."

Thank you to all those who have come before us who made the world a better place. More specifically, thank you to those who have moved homosexuality from 'sin' to 'mental illness' to 'lifestyle' to whatever it may be today and tomorrow. Some of those who came before us worked quietly, some publicly; some worked civilly, and some used physical force. I think some of each ended up having their place in making the world as it is today. And I think our work is not yet done.

Where work is needed most is not same-sex marriage, nor renters rights, nor lessening job discrimination, or passing 'hate speech' laws. These just aren't the most important or terrible things happening to homosexuals right now. The most important and terrible thing happening right now is that homosexual men (and sometimes women) are being put to death in Islamic countries. Being stoned to death really and truly is worse than being called a faggot, no matter what cultural relativists may have to say on the subject. All things are related but all things are not equally related. Efforts to make this a better world should continue in many areas, but "people being killed to appease an invisible monster that lives in the sky" trumps what I think much of the West pays attention to on Pride day. That noise about respecting diversity and honoring ancient traditions and the hands-off policy religion gets? That's all over now. When people stop dying, we can play nice-nice with theists again.

And so on this Pride day for 2007, I will do two things. I will give thanks where thanks is due. And I will suggest that more efforts need to be made toward saving homosexuals in Islamic counties. Homosexuality is still at the 'sin' stage in Islamic countries. Not in the all-but secular way the West talks about sin, but in the way religions have talked about sin throughout history: as a kind of germ that physically exists and must be physically destroyed.

Amnesty International has done some work on this topic. The International Society for Islamic Secularization has done some work on this topic as well. Jack Malebranche's book Androphilia isn't specifically on this topic, but is in agreement on this topic. What work will you do today?

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to limit government action affecting religious practice has won support from some religious leaders [...] The Democratic governor said his bill would ensure that state and local laws and regulations, "wherever possible and consistent with the state's important interests, accommodate religious beliefs and practices."

[...] The New York State Catholic Conference wants the legislation to go further and include exemptions for people of faith to follow their conscience. "The bill also needs to ensure protecting Catholic service providers, such as Catholic hospitals, from having to perform abortions or Catholic institutions from having to give contraceptives to employees," said Dennis Poust, director of communication for the conference.

[Article continues at link. I am very much in favor of Catholic service providers, such as Catholic hospitals, to not be forced to perform abortions or give contraceptives to employees. They are private, voluntary organizations and should be free to do as they please. But to be private enough to do as they please and to simultaneously public enough to demand non-profit tax-free status is unacceptable. You get one or the other, not both.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Gov. Mitt Romney said Monday he's trying to find a way to exempt Catholic social services agencies from a law requiring them to consider gays as adoptive parents. Romney said he doesn't have the power to unilaterally exempt Catholic Charities from the state's anti-discrimination laws. But he said he wants to let Catholic agencies continue placing children with adoptive parents without violating the teachings of their faith.

[Article continues at link. Governor Romney, let me make a suggestion to you. Let any social service agency make its choice to be a secular social service or a religious social service. Secular social services (even ones that call themselves 'Catholic') have to follow federal and state laws regarding discrimination. Religious ones don't. The Salvation Army has often opted to go secular, the Boy Scouts of America have often opted to not go secular, so there's a precident for success either way. Or we could take the route you're favoring and install a theocracy. Makes sense from a fund raising point of view. Estimated donations to just Protestant churches in the USA is $93 billion (that's $93,000,000,000.00) every year. Poor little pornography only makes $8 billion a year.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

We live in a time when blowing children to bits is an increasingly popular form of worship, the most powerful man on earth thinks he's got a hotline to God, and much of the electorate who gave that man his power would never consider replacing him with someone who does not believe the son of a carpenter who died 2,000 years ago sits in heaven advising presidents, fixing football games, and waiting for the day he will return to the Earth to brutally murder all unbelievers and erect a worldwide dictatorship. [...] Don't you know Stalin was an atheist? That's the way it goes. First you read Richard Dawkins. Then you have an abortion. Then you're putting a fresh coat of paint on the Gulag. [...]

It should also be obvious [...] that the supposed link between Dawkinsian atheism and Stalinist butchery is pure nonsense. Yes, Stalin did not believe in God. But he believed in History, Marxism, Leninism and all sorts of Hegelian mumbo-jumbo for which he had not the slightest evidence. He was not a religious man, but he most certainly was a man of faith.

Labels: theocracy

Ryan J. Foley: School to fund religious group. The state has agreed to pay $20,000 in legal fees to lawyers for an evangelical group that the University of Wisconsin-Superior refused to recognize because it requires its leaders to be Christians.

AP: Ohio Judge Frees Man After Bible Quiz. A man arrested on Wednesday for allegedly trying to use a stolen credit card at a drugstore got a break from a judge after passing a sort of Bible quiz.

W. Gardner Selby: Governor supports bill to allow religious expression in school. GOP Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday endorsed a proposal potentially hastening prayer in public schools, though advocates stressed that Texas students simply need legal armor to air their beliefs.

[Articles continues at links. There are a couple great things about theocracy. First, we are all religious and pretty much have the same religion. So if tax dollars are used for religion, that's more or less the same as using tax dollars for highways or even socialized medicine. We're all going to want what we get and benefit from it. It's a necessity public good like water and sanitation! Second, when a person is religious they only do good things. So enfranchising religion into law means that no one will ever force anyone else to do anything other than the right thing. If they do, well, they weren't really religious. All swans are black, and if you see something that looks like a black swan it isn't really black. Or it isn't really a swan. Or SHUT UP!]

Labels: theocracy

BBC: Pope envoy ends Holocaust protest. The Vatican's envoy to Israel has attended the annual Holocaust remembrance event in Jerusalem after earlier threatening not to be present. Archbishop Antonio Franco was angered by a caption in the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum describing the actions of wartime Pope Pius XII.

Allison Hoffman: Judge Orders External Audit for Church. A federal bankruptcy judge Wednesday ordered an external audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego amid accusations church leaders are trying to hide assets to avoid payment to sex abuse victims. Judge Louise DeCarl Adler had earlier threatened the diocese with contempt for misrepresenting facts and possibly violating bankruptcy laws. She criticized church attorneys for failing to include 770 parish accounts in bankruptcy documents.

[Articles continue at link. Backstory.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Can a cashier or clerk wish a customer "Merry Christmas"? Must a pharmacist dispense birth control devices if his faith forbids it? Can a Muslim clerk refuse to touch a whisky or beer bottle, or a pork chop? [...] Religious discrimination complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have been rising over the past 10 years. Last year, the EEOC received 2,541 complaints, up 48 percent from 1,709 in 1997. The commission has found that about 60 percent of the cases have "no reasonable cause" and about 4 percent to 10 percent do have a reasonable cause.

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Sarasota Easter parade canceled: Newtown will not hold its annual Easter Parade this year, but leaders in the community hope to have a similar celebration next year. After about an hourlong meeting last week, citizens at the NAACP-hosted forum decided that a parade would be in conflict with the religious holiday. [...] "I've seen young girls shaking and dancing," Valerie Buchand said. "It hurt me to see that." [...] "We want to create something for the young people, so they can be young people again," said Mayor Fredd "Glossie" Atkins.

Prayer gatherings scrutinized: In early March, third-grade teacher Mary Cropsey was about to lose her job, couldn't get another interview and felt like an outcast because she didn't fit in with a group of Christian teachers and administrators at work. Two days after she complained, Cropsey was accused of helping a student cheat on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. She is now suspended, and the case could lead to misdemeanor charges and 30 days in jail. Cropsey's lawyers say the timing and the accusations are questionable.

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Islamic Countries Can Suck Jesus's Chocolate Covered Cock: Islamic countries want to ban speech that offends religious sensibilities. You want to know why? Because their religion sucks and they can't defend it. So instead of engaging others in the marketplace of ideas they try to prohibit speech that they can't counter. They pushed through a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council that prohibits any speech that offends Islam. [...] It's like getting mad at me for offending Zeus and Artemis. I don't care. They don't exist. Considering their feelings is beyond preposterous. I will not live in your fantasy world. [...] Even though I think your ideas have led to the senseless deaths of millions upon millions, I still wouldn't prohibit them. I don't need to. They're asinine and will ultimately be defeated. I believe in the power of reason in the long run. Ironically, the devout don't have faith in their faith. That's why they have to quash dissent. That's what they've been doing for centuries now. Both Muslims and Christians have been killing people that challenged their orthodoxy for the last two thousand years.

If You're a Christian, Muslim or Jew - You are Wrong: We live in a twisted world, where right is wrong and wrong reigns supreme. It is a chilling fact that most of the world's leaders believe in nonsensical fairytales about the nature of reality. They believe in Gods that do not exist, and religions that could not possibly be true. We are driven to war after war, violence on top of violence to appease madmen who believe in gory mythologies. These men are called Christians, Muslims and Jews. [...] There are a lot of people I love dearly and respect wholeheartedly who believe in religion. I hate to do this to them. But we have killed far too many people, wasted far too much time on this nonsense for us to keep going in this direction for fear of offense. Jesus was a lunatic. God is not coming to your rescue. He hasn't come to anyone's rescue in thousands of years, including Jesus. Mohammed was a power hungry, scam artist and ruthless conqueror. Moses and Abraham were figments of the imagination of some long dead rabbi. He would probably laugh his ass off at all of you who still believe the fairytales he made up thousands of years ago. He probably wouldn't even believe it if you told him. [...] How long are we going to dance around the 800-pound gorilla in the room? The world is run by madmen. It's not just Bush and bin Laden. It is the leader of all of the countries in the Middle East, almost all of the Americas and most of the rest of the world. Have I offended you? That's too bad. Stop killing each other in the name of false and ridiculous Gods and I will stop ridiculing you. Trust me, your offense is much worse than mine.

Labels: superstition, theocracy

The Council expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations; notes with deep concern the intensification of the campaign of defamation of religions, and the ethnic and religious profiling of Muslim minorities, in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September 2001; urges States to take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination including through political institutions and organizations of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement to racial and religious hatred, hostility or violence; also urges States to provide adequate protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions, to take all possible measures to promote tolerance and respect for all religions and their value systems and to complement legal systems with intellectual and moral strategies to combat religious hatred and intolerance; further urges all States to ensure that all public officials, including members of law enforcement bodies, the military, civil servants and educators, in the course of their official duties, respect different religions and beliefs and do not discriminate against persons on the grounds of their religion or belief, and that any necessary and appropriate education or training is provided; invites the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to regularly report on all manifestations of defamation of religions and in particular on the serious implications of Islamophobia on the enjoyment of all rights; and requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to report to the Human Rights Council on the implementation of this resolution at its sixth session.

[Too many words? Here are some pictures (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) of some kind of religious discrimination. But strangely, they aren't pictures of Muslims getting made fun of. They are pictures of Muslims killing women. Who needs protection: Islam or the rest of the world?]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

When you’re a pirate, some dangers just come with the territory: scurvy, grog hangovers, a walk down the plank at sword point. But being kicked out of school for a day? Bryan Killian doesn’t think that’s a fair reaction to his decision to come to North Buncombe High School wearing an eye patch and an inflatable cutlass. [...]

“I feel like my First Amendment was violated,” Killian, 16, said. “Freedom of religion and freedom of expression. That’s what I tried to do, and I got shot down.”

Freedom of religion? Yes, Killian says, his “pirate regalia” is part of his faith — the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The parody religion, whose “Pastafarian” members worship a sentient, airborne clump of noodles and meatballs, originated in a letter to the Kansas school board urging it to add the religion to its plans to teach evolution and intelligent design side by side. It became an Internet phenomenon, spawning a belief system that holds pirates to be divine beings and blames global warming on the disappearance of the buccaneers.

Satirical though it may be, Killian isn’t laughing. “If this is what I believe in, no matter how stupid it might sound, I should be able to express myself however I want to,” he said. An eye patch is no more disruptive than a Christian cross around one’s neck, he said. His teachers saw it the same way, he said, but Assistant Principal Sarah Cooley didn’t. She assigned him two days of in-school suspension before calling his home to add out-of-school suspension.

[Article continues at link. The impossibility of deliniating which superstition is to be honored and which superstition is disruptive is why the seperation between state and superstition was instituted. Either you welcome every expression of every superstition in every tax-funded event or you disallow superstition in tax-funded events.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

The Bush-Cheney regime is America's first neoconservative regime. In a few short years, the regime has destroyed the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers, the Geneva Conventions, and the remains of America's moral reputation along with the infrastructures of two Muslim countries and countless thousands of Islamic civilians. Plans have been prepared, and forces moved into place, for an attack on a third Islamic country, Iran, and perhaps Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon as well. [...] Like their forebears among the Jacobins of the French Revolution, the Bolsheviks of the communist revolution, and the National Socialists of Hitler's revolution, neoconservatives believe that they have a monopoly on virtue and the right to impose hegemony on the rest of the world. [...] The neoconservatives have had enormous help from the corporate media, from Christian evangelicals, particularly from the "Rapture Evangelicals," from flag-waving superpatriots, and from the military-industrial complex whose profits have prospered.

[Complete article at link. Notice how you can find the article at the far right, at the far left and right in the middle. Notice how the turd in the punchbowl, religion, isn't listed as a central problem.]

Labels: fascism, theocracy

What if you could know that your unborn baby boy is likely to be sexually attracted to other boys? Beyond that, what if hormonal treatments could change the baby's orientation to heterosexual? Would you do it? Some scientists believe that such developments are just around the corner. [...] If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin.

[Let's consider Dr. Mohler's claims. He claims Hinuism, Buddhism and Marxism are satanic (Catholics, too), and he claims that atheism is a religion. He claims "intelligent design" is a scientific theory. Dr. Mohler claims the North won the US Civil War because they were Christians (but, uh, weren't the South Christians too? And isn't the Bible just queer for slavery?) He is also way against torture except sometimes. So for sure and for real this guy has the high ground when it comes to morals and facts, and oh thank heaven he and his kind have the ear of the Bush administration.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Thanks to amberglow of Metafilter for doing much of the heavy lifting on this story.

• Attorney General Launches Initiative to Protect Religious Freedom. Initiation of a series of regional seminars to be held around the country to educate religious, civil rights, and community leaders, attorneys, government officials, and other interested citizens about the laws protecting religious freedom enforced by the Department of Justice and how to file complaints.
  
• Attorney General Gonzales Deputizes the Southern Baptist Convention in New Initiative. "[M]ake no mistake, I am here to ask the Southern Baptist Convention, and all of you in this room, for your help." [full text.]
  
• New U.S. religious liberties project launched, U.S. Attorney General announces to Southern Baptists. "Why was just one particular religious community there?" [Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the Tennessee branch of the American Civil Liberties Union] said. "Religious freedom is a right all of us hold dear...You'd think you'd want the rainbow of religious beliefs represented." Gonzalez told reporters that he chose a meeting of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination because, “this is a group that’s very interested in religious freedom." The gathering is a “receptive audience that would appreciate,” his message, he said.
  
• Americans United Slams Justice Department 'First Freedom Project' For Hypocrisy. "Expecting the Bush administration to defend religious liberty is a little like asking Col. Sanders to babysit your pet chicken," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. "This administration has repeatedly worked to destroy true religious freedom by merging church and state." [see also.]

Oh those poor Christians. Their God is so weak that He needs the State to defend Him. People who deny Him should be expelled from college, and if you don't worship Him in exactly the right way on your own time you should be fired from your secular job. Unless Christians can say and do anything they want, any time, any place, they are oppressed! God is on our money, in our Pledge of Allegiance, on our civic buildings, getting tax breaks for His followers, in our schools, in our military, in our drug stores, in our police departments... clearly God is in trouble and has nobody on His side.

But please, don't mention how few atheists there are in prison. And don't mention that atheists have lower divorce rates than theists. And don't mention that atheists have a higher IQ than theists. Don't mention these things because to do so only emboldens God's enemies [1] [2] [3].

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Last Friday, a letter in The Gleaner suggested Christians "stood back and allowed one woman ... to remove prayer from our schools ... Christians sat back and let it happen without a fight." Christians didn't stand by while organized prayer was taken out of public schools. They fought it all the way to the Supreme Court and lost. They lost because it is a violation of religious freedom to use taxpayer-funded schools to indoctrinate children into one particular faith. Public schools belong to everyone, not just Christians. Just to set the record straight, though, kids still have the right to pray in schools. They can pray to Jesus, Allah, Shivah, Odin or anything. They aren't allowed to use our public schools as churches, or to disrupt the learning of other kids while they pray.

Teachers, being public servants, are not allowed to lead or initiate prayer, but kids can pray silently whenever they want. No one can stop them. So, when Christians complain about the lack of prayer in public schools, what they really mean is they would like NON-Christians to pray to Jesus. In order to believe bringing Christianity back into public schools would increase the morality of kids, you have to believe two equally false things: First, that being Christian makes someone moral, and secondly, that non-Christians are inherently immoral. We often find examples of Christians doing immoral things and of non-Christians leading exemplary lives. Faith is not a cure-all for social ills, and the premise is shaky at best.

I'm always amazed at the Christian sense of persecution when they are required to follow the same rules as non-Christians. Christians are not being persecuted. The idea is laughable.

[Continues at link. Here's some Christian morality for ya. Here's what some Christians do when they get caught trying to have it both ways. Here's what others do. What they don't do much of is this.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

It's not surprising that the earth doesn't move for Warren Chisum, and maybe it's not surprising that he blames a Jewish conspiracy for it.

Still, it's enough to set the world a-spinning that the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the most powerful committee in the House, distributed to legislators a memo pitching crazed wingers who believe the earth stands still -- doesn't spin on its axis or revolve around the Sun -- that Copernicus was part of a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the Old Testament. That would be the same Old Testament that was written by the folks Chisum's friends say are conspiring to undermine it.

Labels: theocracy

In an experiment that's opening a new front in the culture wars, a growing number of states are paying anti-abortion activists to counsel women with unplanned pregnancies. At least eight states -- including Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania -- use public funds to subsidize crisis pregnancy centers, Christian homes for unwed mothers and other programs explicitly designed to steer women away from abortion. As a condition of the grants, counselors are often barred from referring women to any clinic that provides abortions; in some cases, they may not discuss contraception either.

[Article continues at link. Tax dollars funding Christian homes. Does that sound right to you?]

Labels: theocracy

A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday. The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place. [...] The religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in personal lives, enjoys wide powers. Its officers roam malls, markets, universities and other public places looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling, men skipping Islam's five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.

[Article continues at link. Does the US government have any interest in finding out if some of these unidentified foreigners are US citizens? How about having a third-level assistant to an intern write a non-binding resolution to suggest setting up a committee to investigate the potential for expressing moderate disapproval of this event? Because we have to respect religion, always. Hands off religion. Especially the hands-off religion.]

Labels: superstition, theocracy

Don't stone women to death, burn them or circumcise them, immigrants wishing to live in the town of Herouxville in Quebec, Canada, have been told. The rules come in a new town council declaration on culture that Muslims have branded shocking and insulting.

[Article continues at link. Of course this is persecution of a religious minority, since there is no connection between Islam and stoning women to death, burning people alive or involuntary genital mutilation.]

Labels: theocracy

TAMPA - A 21-year-old woman told police Saturday that a man grabbed her off Howard Avenue and raped her behind a building during the Gasparilla festivities. But officers investigating the case arrested her after learning she had an outstanding warrant from her teenage years for failure to pay restitution. She spent the next two nights in jail. [...] The woman's family is outraged. "We're incensed. Everyone is just beside themselves," her mother, 47, said at 5:20 p.m. Monday, moments before escorting her daughter from Orient Road Jail. [...] Adding to the mother's ire is her claim that a jail nurse prevented her daughter from taking a second dose of emergency contraception prescribed by a nurse at a clinic as part of a rape examination. The jail nurse, said the mother and the victim's attorney, denied the medication for religious reasons.

[Article continues at link. What part of 'denied the medication for religious reasons' belongs in the 21st Century? France is set to outlaw religious practice in jails. I don't think that's the solution, because you can't legislate stupidity, cruelty and superstition out of people. I think reason-based criticism (spiced with merciless ridicule) of religion is the solution.]

Labels: theocracy