Editorial: So, You Want a Theocracy Now?

Jane Smiley
Posted April 29, 2008 | 02:55 PM (EST)
Wright's expressed reason for speaking out (and possibly wrecking Obama's presidential bid) is that he feels he must defend the Black church from criticism. Right here is the trouble with churches -- they don't like to be criticized, and they don't think they should be criticized. If you criticize them, they tell you you are being disrespectful and sacreligious. It is not that the Pastor disagrees with you, it is that God disagrees with you and therefore you must be punished. Somehow, people are always more offended when they are told that God Himself is not on their side. Full editorial HERE.

India warns cricket cheerleaders

BBC Monday, 28 April 2008 12:20 UK

Indian police say the organisers of the new tournament transforming world cricket could be fined if cheerleaders are deemed to be dressed indecently. The cheerleaders have been introduced into the Indian Premier League as part of moves to add glamour and entertainment to the game.

Some politicians say the cheerleaders are "vulgar and obscene". Mumbai police say they will be checking that the cheerleaders' performances do not violate entertainment licences.

"It is difficult to enforce moral policing, we cannot define vulgarity always. It is difficult to ascertain what is vulgar and obscene," said Ram Rao Vagh, the police commissioner for New Mumbai. Full story HERE.

Saudi governor orders haircuts for men who hit on women

Tue Apr 29, 9:01 AM ET

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A governor in northern Saudi Arabia has ordered authorities to punish men who flirt with women in public places by cutting their hair, local media said Tuesday.

Prince Fahd bin Badr, governor of the northern al-Jof region, ordered police to carry out the punishment after seeing a group of men with long hair pestering female students as they left school in the northern al-Qurayat province, Al-Hayat newspaper said.

It said the prince told a gathering at his palace in the northern town of Skaka on Sunday he has instructed police to apply the punishment to all youths guilty of flirting, including "the sons of senior military and civil officials." Full story HERE.

Religion a figment of human imagination

00:01 28 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Andy Coghlan

Humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved imagination. That's the argument of anthropologist Maurice Bloch of the London School of Economics. Bloch challenges the popular notion that religion evolved and spread because it promoted social bonding, as has been argued by some anthropologists.

Instead, he argues that first, we had to evolve the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, and the possibility that people somehow live on after they've died.

Once we'd done that, we had access to a form of social interaction unavailable to any other creatures on the planet. Uniquely, humans could use what Bloch calls the "transcendental social" to unify with groups, such as nations and clans, or even with imaginary groups such as the dead. The transcendental social also allows humans to follow the idealised codes of conduct associated with religion. Full story HERE.

Iranian official warns against importing Barbie dolls

TEHRAN, Iran - A top Iranian judiciary official has warned against the "destructive" cultural and social consequences of importing Barbie dolls and other Western toys.

Prosecutor General Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi said in an official letter to Vice President Parviz Davoudi that the Western toys was a "danger" that needed to be stopped.

Iranian markets have been inundated with smuggled Western toys in recent years partly due to a dramatic rise in purchasing power as a result of huge increase in oil revenues.

In Monday's letter, Najafabadi called for a crackdown on the smuggling of these toys which threatened Iranian culture.

Acquitted cops thank the lord

Watch as acquitted police officers Gescard F. Isnora and Marc Cooper make a point of thanking "the lord." Video is HERE.

Fort Riley Atheist soldier speaks out on lawsuit

Sat Apr 26, 6:22 AM ET
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. - Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging he's been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn't believe in God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"I'm not in it for cash," Hall said. "I want no one else to go what I went through." Full story HERE.

More details can be found HERE.

'Wizards' arrested for 'penis theft'

Wed 23 Apr 2008, 2:57 GMT

KINSHASA, April 22 (Reuters Life!) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur. Full story HERE.

'Mediums' protest new EU directive

Today, representatives of British mediums will march up Downing Street to deliver a petition containing some 10,000 signatories demanding that the Government change its decision to repeal the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act in favour of a new EU directive.

While the move has prompted a flurry of "they should have seen it coming" gags from detrac-tors, spiritualists are anything but amused about the new laws.

"What we have here is a fundamental attack on our right to practise our religion. We want to stop the charlatans but the existing Act gives us reassurances which the Government seems unable to do under this new legislation. They tell us we will probably be all right but we fear this will end up with one of us in court in front of a judge," said David McEntee-Taylor, head of the Spiritual Workers Association (SWA), that organised the protest. Full story HERE.

Clackamas child died for lack of treatment, medical examiner says

by The Oregonian
Friday March 21, 2008, 11:00 AM
A 16-month-old child who died at home this month in Clackamas County could easily have been saved by basic medical treatment, according to the state medical examiner's office. Dr. Christopher Young, a deputy state medical examiner, said today that Ava Worthington died from bacterial bronchial pneumonia and sepsis, both easily treatable with antibiotics. According to Young, the child's parents are members of Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that practices spiritual healing rather than seeking medical treatment, even when children become gravely ill. Full story HERE.

The Followers of Christ have had this problem for many years. HERE is an example.

Experts say sex abstinence program doesn't work

WASHINGTON, Apr. 23, 2008 (Reuters) — Programs teaching U.S. schoolchildren to abstain from sex have not cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins, health groups told Congress on Wednesday.

The Bush administration, however, voiced continuing support for such programs during a hearing before a House of Representatives panel even as many Democrats called for cutting off federal money for so-called abstinence-only instruction.

Full story HERE.

xenutv's YouTube account suspended... again

The popular and valuable xenutv channel on YouTube has met with Scientologist hostility again. Read the FULL STORY HERE.

Meanwhile, the full JASON BEGHE interview is HERE. The following is an embedded link to Part 1...

Scientology: Jason Beghe Interview Pt.1 from Mark Bunker on Vimeo.

Protesting the Pope in Austin, TX

As a nod to the previous entry about violence in the church, here is a clip of Joe Zamecki's anti-Pope protest in Austin, TX. The event was small and quiet, until, in the last minute of the video, some unexpected violence...

Fistfight erupts at Jesus' tomb on Palm Sunday

Sun Apr 20, 3:49 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows at one of Christianity's holiest shrines on Orthodox Palm Sunday, and used palm fronds to pummel police who tried to break up the brawl. The fight came amid growing rivalry over religious rights at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site in Jerusalem where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected. Read the full story HERE.

Judge dissolves 8-year-old girl's forced marriage

Wed Apr 16, 8:51 PM ET

SAN'A, Yemen - A Yemeni judge dissolved the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a man nearly four times her age, and the girl's lawyer said Wednesday that the court also ordered the youngster removed from the control of the father who forced her into the wedding. The lawyer, Shatha Ali Nasser, said the girl is just one of thousands of underaged girls who have been forced into marriages in this poor tribal country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The girl's story has drawn headlines in Yemen because she took the unusual step of seeking out a judge on her own to file for divorce. Read the full story HERE.

Kudos to this brave girl! The story mentions the Yemeni laws which allowed the marriage to happen, but it conspicuously makes no mention of the religious traditions which no doubt lay behind the law.

Wafa Sultan Speaks Out

Whether or not you agree with everything she says, this woman is saying things you wouldn't expect on Muslim TV. A search for Sultan's name on YouTube will yield much more.

The opposition's response can be seen HERE. It is not very coherent, but it is worth seeing.

Polygamist Kids to Stay in Custody, Paternity Tests

Speaking of polygamy, Tim Hartford has written an interesting satire on the subject.

Pope Meets with Victims of Pedophile Priests

In a series of remarkable videos from CNN, Campbell Brown interviews three American victims of pedophile priests, after they were granted open visits with the Pope. At one point, Brown asks Bernie McDaid if he had "mixed feelings" about the meeting, to which McDaid says he doesn't understand the question. This is probably the most telling moment of the interview from an Atheist (or even a non-Catholic) perspective. Brown was obviously thinking, but unable to bring herself to say out loud, "Why are you still Catholic?"

The victims' stories are tragic, and they have been quite brave in speaking out, we all appreciate and support that. But we can't help wondering why they continue to regard this man as an authority figure, especially considering that Ratzinger has been instrumental in the worldwide sheltering of criminal priests. Brown herself, like the rest of the media, feeds this irrational reverence by asking questions like, "What was it like being in HIS presence?"

More to follow about the Pope (of course).

Actor Leaves Scientology

An amazing preview of Jason Beghe's interview about his leaving scientology. He was apparently second only to Tom Cruise in the organization's celebrity division. Keep your eyes open for more. The creator of the interview has some interesting things to say about it HERE.

Ben Stein explains Darwinism

In this painfully difficult to watch clip, Ben Stein explains to Pat Robertson how "Darwinism caused the holocaust," the main proposition of his new pro-ID movie "Expelled." Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers have an interesting response to their attendance of a screening. There is also a fun response from Thunderf00t. Finally, give a visit to the site Expelled Exposed. Doing an online search for the words "expelled, Dawkins and Stein" will result in a flood of info.

EDIT: Amanda Gefter has written a very interesting editorial about her own experience at a preview of this movie.

"No Right To Be Here"

On April 3rd, Rep. Monique D. Davis, Dem0crat, of Illinois, interrupted Atheist activist Rob Sherman with some serious religious bigotry. Give the video a look, then check out some of the video responses. Rob Sherman has some interesting things to say about the events, and Davis' apology, on his web site. In an ironic twist, Keith Olbermann, who named Davis his World's Worst Person for April 8th, turned around and did the same to Sherman on the 14th. Sherman also responds to that on his site.

Hello Angry Christians

Can't think of a more appropriate first post than Pat Condell's "Hello Angry Christians."