Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Yep, its that time of year again folks …
Once upon a time long long ago … there existed a magical garden that had been created by a supernatural entity, and into this garden it put the first man and first woman that ever lived. Sadly the woman was tricked by a talking snake into eating some fruit, and so the magical super-entity became angry and tossed the pair out.
[roll forward in time to about 2,000 years ago]
Now here is a news story that illustrates just how truly insanely stupid an irrational belief can make you. When faced with a choice between an irrational belief, or a life saving operation, I’m sure your previous experience with these Jehovah’s Witness kooks will allow you to guess the choice made.
Its all concerns a lady called Mary Stinemetz, 64, who needed a liver transplant, one that would be paid for by Medicaid, at the University of Kansas Hospital. The problem (for her) was that she would be forced to compromise her Jehovah’s Witness delusions, because she would also need to receive a blood transfusion as part of this operation, something she believes violates the fictional laws of a mythological supernatural entity (to whom she has given a pet name of “God”)
Now this little post is to simply amuse you, and is not designed to actually inform, except to perhaps enable you to laugh and my foolish attempts to engage with an utterly irrational believer on a rational basis.
The context here is that I’ve been attempting to explain to him the historical facts regarding the four gospels and that the only actual claim that jesus = god emerges in the Gospel of John (written about 95 CE). I’ve also explained that the phrase “son-of-God” does not in any way imply that Jesus = God, but rather that it is a Jewish belief that an individual is simply claiming to have been adopted by God as a son (like King David was).
However, what truly astonished me is that the sticking point was his claim that Jesus was Worshiped, hence he was God.
The news is that a Jordanian court will begin this month the trial of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard over a controversial caricature of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. The press reports …
Zakarya Sheikh, spokesman for a group of local media outlets that sued Westergaard in 2008 for depicting Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, said on Thursday the artist and others have been summoned by a magistrates’ court in Amman to stand trial on April 25.”
A copy of the subpoena obtained by AFP says Westergaard “is accused of the crime of blasphemy.”
You can read more here .
The Burka is quite frankly bizarre, but we all know that. The very concept of wrapping yourself from head to foot in a bag and glancing out at the world through a slit is even at the best of times utterly eccentric, but beyond that it is also very offensive and is more or less declaring that half the human population should be kept hidden because the other half cannot be trusted. The French response to this has been a complete ban, but is this the best response? I’d like to argue that its not.
Paula Kirby has written an article you should read, its important. I point you towards it, not just to marvel at how well it is written (it is), and to skim it for all of thirty seconds, then promptly wipe it from memory, but instead suggest you seriously digest it and give it some thought.
It very much relates to half the human population on this planet being deemed to be inferior.
“The discrimination against women on a global basis is very often attributable to the declaration by religious leaders in Christianity, Islam, and other religions that women are inferior in the eyes of God,” former President Jimmy Carter said last week. Many traditions teach that while both men and women are equal in value, God has ordained specific roles for men and women. Those distinct duties often keep women out of leadership positions in their religious communities. What is religion’s role in gender discrimination?