Category: Religion

What I Did This Weekend, Visiting an Alien Culture

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I went to visit my Mother-in-Law. Her synagogue was honoring her for the volunteer work that she has done, so we went up, along with two of my nephews.

It was a fairly nice affair, but once again, I am reminded just how alien I find Frum* culture.

From sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, you have the entire, no operation of things electrical, so whatever lights are on or off stay on or off (except for a couple on a timer), the stove is left on low with a plate on top of it to serve as a warmer, and light bulbs in the fridge are unscrewed.

I think that Sharon† finds it all rather comforting, as this is what she grew up with, at least in her later teen years‡, but at synagogue, and at social events I feel as if I am from another world.

The award dinner was actually a bit better that most such events. At most orthodox weddings that I’ve been to lately, the seating at the dinner has been sex segregated, but this time, as it was not a religious event per se, we had mixed seating.

We also had the good sense this time to leave our kids with a sitter for the dinner, which had both of our stress levels a lot lower,

The interaction between Charlie’s Asperger’s and significantly sized crowds, there were 70+ people there, is frequently not good. It gets him overstimulated, much in the same way that blood in the water overstimulated.

We went to a couple of museums while were there, most notably Sunnyside, Washington Irving’s house. It’s interesting from an architectural and technological perspective, though I think I enjoyed my visits to Monticello when I was living in Charlottesville, VA more, as it was far more ambitious.

Then again, unlike Jefferson, Irving did not bankrupt himself building out his rather more modest house.

*Very orthodox culture.
†Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
‡As she got older, her parents became rather more observant.

Orwellian Freedom of Religion in the Secular Turkish State

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There is an interesting court case in Turkey.

The background is as follows, in 1980, following a military coup, the Turkish Junta created mandatory religion classes in the schools as a way increasing government control of religious activities.

Additionally, the government either created or gave new powers to (not clear from the article) the directorate of religious affairs in Ankara, a government agency which which appoints imams, pays their wages, and reviews the sermons they give.

You see the Orwellian bit here. The government is micro-managing religion in order to maintain the secular character of the Turkish state.

It turns out that there is a problem though, Turkey is not completely Sunni Moslem, court cases have been filed, including this one by a member of the Alevi religious minority:

A court victory by Alevi mother Hatice Kose has prompted public questions over the government’s commitment to minority religious rights.

In 2004 Kose sparked a long legal battle when she tried to exempt her son from mandatory religious classes in elementary school: these include lessons on praying in a mosque as well fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and the obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca.

“We have our own beliefs and our own culture which is not what is being taught in schools,” said Kose, who says she was ridiculed as a pupil in her religion class as a child because she didn’t know how to pray.

“I can’t accept them trying to impose a foreign religion on us.”

In February Kose won her case in the Turkish Court of Appeals, which would have forced the ministry of education to change the content of the curriculum in religious education classes earlier this month.

But the government has appealed the decision in the Kose case, as it has other cases, saying it does not have the power to alter mandatory religion classes.

“Because religion classes are protected in the constitution there is nothing that can be done right now, it is beyond our authority,” said Mustafa Oymak, a spokesman for the ministry.

There are any number of reasons to support the plaintiffs, both in terms of civil rights, and the basic fact that a wall between the state and religion is a good thing.

What is notable in this case is that the plaintiffs also appear to be admirable in their own right, which is often not the case in civil rights litigation, “Alevism stresses tolerance and respect for all and equality between the sexes.:

Thoughts on Obama and Wright

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Let’s be clear, there are any number of Rabbis whose services I attend, but I’ve yet to see a problem that I really needed to go to them for, because I think that Rabbi Hillel’s distillation of Torah while standing on one foot * pretty much covers the situations that I’ve encountered.

I like most of the Rabbis I’ve met. But I disagree with some of the things that they believe†.

In terms of what Wright’s opinions mean about Barack Obama, the answer is that it means very little. It is only among the Christofascists who expect parishioners to act in lock step with their pastor.

That being said, the assault by the right wing on this is not swift boating. It’s Willie Horton.

Truth be told, swift boating was far more benign than Willie Horton.

The purpose of swift boating was to attack Kerry on his (only) strength as a candidate. The purpose of Willie Horton was to create an association Michael Dukkakis and a violent black criminal. It’s goal was to make him a black rapist.

Obama’s problem as a candidate, largely as a result of his skin color, is that he cannot be an angry candidate, because America fears the “Angry Black Man”, and Wright is an explicit attempt to make him into such.

It’s unfair. It has very little to do with the facts. The only thing that is important is if/how Obama puts this issue to bed.

*You can see the story here. The end state is that Hillel said, “”You want to learn a great deal quickly, don’t you? Very well, I shall teach you the Torah while you stand on one foot. This is our Holy Torah: ‘What is hateful to you, do not do unto others.'”
†They have almost all been way too hawkish on Israel, even though I consider myself an Israel hawk.

Too Batsh&# Insane for the Constitution Party

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Yes, even that merry band of Christofascists have that Alan Keyes just isn’t their type, so instead, they nominated wingnut talk show host Chuck Baldwin for president.

When the Talibaptists eschew the most priminent right wing nut-job in the United States, he disowned his daughter for being gay, you it means that you are either too crazy, or too black for them.

For Mr. Keyes, it’s probably both.

Ranks of Southern Baptists Are Shrinking

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We now learn that both baptism and total membership in the Southern Baptists appear to be on the decline. It appears that not just Jimmy Carter is disenchanted with their increasingly strident stands of secular political issues.

While it is clear that the founding fathers demanded a separation of Church and State because they thought that organized religion was toxic to good governance*, there is also the issue of blowback when an a religion spot welds itself to a political party that is in the descendance.

In a very real way, they have been done in by the same thing that crippled them after the Civil War, when their origin as a sect was driven by their support of slavery.

It could be argued that the negative consequences of the circumstances of their founding led to the sect, and its worshipers, being held in some distrust until the 1960s or 1970s, with the best guess as to the definitive end of this status being Carter’s election as president in 1976.

The lesson to be learned is the lesson that Molière so eloquently demonstrated in 1664, that religion can often be a convenient refuge for scoundrels.

*Ask the brave anti-Mullah activists in Iran. They would agree too. Organized religionis completely toxic to good governance,

Passover Finally Over

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After 8 days, I’m seriously jonesing for some Chametz (leavened bread products).

Additionally, with my Orthodox Mother in Law here, we were in full no light switches, etc. mode for 4 of the 8 days of Pesach (actually 5 of 9, when one considers that Shabbat immediately preceded Pesach).

It’s a relief to be able to eat normal food again, though I feel kind of guilty at being relieved.

Years in the desert vs. a few days of eating bad food, I feel kind of wimpy complaining about it.

Off till Monday Evening

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Shabbos is coming up, followed by the two Yom Tovim for the first two days of Pesach, and since my Orthodox mother-in-law is here for the holidays, no use of computers…or cars…or light switches for the duration.

That being said, let me give both of my readers a piece of advice. If you take it, you will never regret it.

Buy kosher for Passover Coca Cola!

You can identify it by looking at the lid. They are typically yellow, though not always, but the non KFP stuff will simply have an OU on the lid (A U inside the O, a symbol of the Orthodox Union kosher cert), while the KFP stuff will have an OU-P on the lid (-P for Passover).

It is 100% cane sugar, none of that Corn Syrup crap.

OK, I’m Beginning to Like This Guy

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About three weeks ago, I expressed admiration for Pope Benedict XVI for bitch slapping Condi Rice by refusing an audience, and now he’s bitch slapping George W. Bush and ODL by refusing to attend a dinner in his honor at the White House.

I think that there are a number of things involved here:

  • He is justifiably upset about the gross disrespect shown John Paul II on his statements on the Iraq war.
  • He feels that Bush and His Evil Minions™ consistently ignored his concerns regarding the violence directed towards Christians in Iraq.
  • He is far savvier on American politics than was JP II, and realizes that Bush is completely toxic, and that any action that might be considered an endorsement of Bush or his Republican party is simply not in the best interest of the church.
  • He realizes that the Republican party is driven largely by right wing Evangelical Christians who at best consider Catholics only marginally Christians.
  • He also realizes that the future of the Catholic Church in the US is Hispanics, and that Bush and/or his allies are implacably hostile towards Hispanic immigration.

I think that he’s much savvier in the ways of the world than his predecessor.

My Son is Very Jewish

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So my son, Charlie, age 8, and I are watching Keith Olbermann, and we get to his favorite bit, Worst Persons in the World, and this time, it’s Joe Lieberman who wins the gold, for accusing the Ned Lamont campaign of hacking their website in 2006, when it was discovered well before election day that the problem was a poorly configured and overloaded web server, so it was Lieberman who hacked Lieberman’s web site.

My son knows that Lieberman is someone I detest, but there are a lot of those, so he asks, “Is he the one who hates blacks Jews and women?

Realizing just who he was thinking of I reply, no, the one who hates blacks, Jews, and women is Pat Buchanan.

He nods sagely, and says, “OK.”

And then I say, “Joe Lieberman is Jewish”.

And he smacks himself on his head, and says, “That is so embarrassing”.

I’m not sure that Non-Jews get the cultural overtone, but this is a perfectly Jewish moment.

Today in Iraq

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It now appears that, as expected religious leaders in Iraq have told Sadr that he does not have to disband the Mahdi militia.

This is not a surprising outcome. Any “disbanding” would only eliminate the already tenuous chain of command, and you would end up with dozens of smaller groups.

Meanwhile, the The Grauniad* appears to have gotten its hands on the status of forces agreement between Bush and Iraq.

It’s technically “temporary”, though it has no expiration date (kind of like the Billion Year Sea Org contracts), and it, “contains no limits on numbers of US forces, the weapons they are able to deploy, their legal status or powers over Iraqi citizens, going far beyond long-term US security agreements with other countries.”

*According to the Wiki, The Guardian, formerly the Manchester Guardian in the UK. It’s nicknamed the Grauniad because of its penchant for typographical errors, “The nickname The Grauniad for the paper originated with the satirical magazine Private Eye. It came about because of its reputation for frequent and sometimes unintentionally amusing typographical errors, hence the popular myth that the paper once misspelled its own name on the page one masthead as The Gaurdian, though many recall the more inventive The Grauniad.”

This is UnAmerican and Repulsive Behavior

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Democratic Illinois State Representative Monique Davis is cancer on the body politic, and next primary season, she needs to be excised:

Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy — it’s tragic — when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.

I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?

I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—

Davis: You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.

While context is frequently important, in this case it’s minor. There was some sort of political payoff to a Baptist Church going through the legislature, and Mr. Sherman, and atheist activist, was opposed.

But in this case, the the context does not matter. This person should be be permanently removed from the public sphere, whether that be through the primary process, or by convincing Mayor Daley (the younger) to pull his support.

I have not heard this vile outburst of bigotry since I was an adult.

The Illinois primary is over, but there is 2010.

In Which I Declare Myself the Spiritual Leader of the Church of the Holy Ronald Reagan

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In the spirit of L. Ron Hubbard, who once declared, “I’d like to start a religion. That’s where the money is!*, I hereby declare myself the first Senior Ecclesiastic Authority of The Church of Ronald Reagan. I declare myself to be the supreme confessor and Pontifex Maximus.†

My inspiration is the inimitable Digby, who notes that when the Republicans discovered that Ronald Reagan was rated by historians as mediocre, “They put millions in to the project and succeeded in changing the names of airports, schools and highways all across the country. They have plan to put Ronnie on Rushmore and the ten dollar bill. Over time I would expect that someone will come up with the idea to declare Reaganism a religion.”

You know, designing and analyzing useful things, much like Hubbard’s few pennies a word, are not a great way to make a lot of money, but as Pontifax Maximus, the revenue possibilities border on endless.

Just think of that lucrative “selling tortillas with Reagan’s visage on eBay” market.

I would be set for life.

*Full disclosure, I have met editor Sam Moskowitz, one of the sources of the quote, though I don’t recall talking with him, I think that I was just in the audience at an SF con.
†This is a reference to the Roman Emperor’s role as head of the state Church, not the Pope. Both terms derive from the word for “bridge”.

The Pope Bitch Slaps Condi Rice

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OK, my opinion of Benedict has improved a bit, though he is still a reactionary idiot.

The title is not mine though, I whole heatedly approve the hed, and will defend it, but that bon mot is not mine, so I cannot take credit for it.

It appears that Pope Benedict XVI has refused an audience for Condolleza Rice.

She had requested an audience in August (you know, in order to play politics with the conventions and the November election).

The pope has denied this request, ostensibly since it was his August holiday, but really for two reasons:

  • Bush and His Evil Minions™ in general, and Condoleeza Rice in particular, were hostile and rude to John Paul II when he sent emissaries out to attempt to prevent the war.
  • Because the US has steadfastly rebuffed requests from the “Holy See” to prevent the ethnic cleansing to of the Christian minority in Iraq.

Condoleeza Rice should not be too upset by this, “Instead of meeting the Pope, Ms Rice had to make do with a telephone conversation with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was visiting the US during August on other business.”

So, he won’t talk to her, but his number two will talk to her on the phone.

Girlfriend, maybe he just ain’t into you…You know.

Mike Huckabee Defends Obama and Wright

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Huckabee seems to be rather more complex than his “Gomer Pyle” stereotype:

And one other thing I think we’ve got to remember: As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had a more, more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

My guess would be is that if he were still in the race, he would not be so benevolent, but it still a remarkably kind and thoughtful thing to say.

Cramming for My Drug Test

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Well, Purim starts Thursday night, and so Sharon*, got us our favorite hamentashen†.

Mine is mohn, a sweet poppy-seed filling, so I were I to have to pee in a cup in the next couple of days, I’m sure that I’d show metabolites of opiates right now.

Homey don’t do that stuff no more, though as to the use of legal intoxicants, such as that marvelous output of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I’ll be doing some of that.

The rabbinic ruling on Purim is that one should drink enough that they confuse Hamen (the villain of the story) and Mordehai (the hero of the story), though I won’t be taking it that far.

In any case, my Sharon* will most certainly be driving.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.
†A three sided stuffed pastry eaten as a part of the celebration.

Will the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago Please STFU??

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Yes, Obama’s church has Just put out a press release (below), condemning the contraversy regarding Reverend Wright as an “an attack on the legacy of the African American Church”.

This is ill conceived for a number of reasons:

  • It serves to keep Rev. Wright’s statements alive.
  • It is a “crying racism”. The statements made by Dr. Wright are clearly not acceptable under normative standards of political discourse.
  • It undermines the message of the church, and its most prominent member.

So, please, follow the advice of Abraham Lincoln, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Statement from Trinity United Church of Christ

“AN ATTACK ON OUR SENIOR PASTOR AND THE HISTORY OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CHURCH”

Chicago, Ill. (March 15, 2008) — Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.

“Dr. Wright has preached 207,792 minutes on Sunday for the past 36 years at Trinity United Church of Christ. This does not include weekday worship services, revivals and preaching engagements across America and around the globe, to ecumenical and interfaith communities. It is an indictment on Dr. Wright’s ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite,” said the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.

During the 36-year pastorate of Dr. Wright, Trinity United Church of Christ has grown from 87 to 8,000 members. It is the largest congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination.

“It saddens me to see news stories reporting such a caricature of a congregation that has been such a blessing to the UCC’s Wider Church mission,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC general minister and president, in a released statement. “ … It’s time for us to say ‘No’ to these attacks and declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends.”

Trinity United Church of Christ’s ministry is inclusive and global. The following ministries have been developed under Dr. Wright’s ministerial tutelage for social justice: assisted living facilities for senior citizens, day care for children, pastoral care and counseling, health care, ministries for persons living with HIV/AIDS, hospice training, prison ministry, scholarships for thousands of students to attend historically black colleges, youth ministries, tutorial and computer programs, a church library, domestic violence programs and scholarships and fellowships for women and men attending seminary.

Moss added, “The African American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery and the legacy of prophetic African American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken marginalized victims of social and economic injustices. This is an attack on the legacy of the African American Church which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached the Christian tenet, “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Before Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, he preached, “The 11 o’clock hour is the most segregated hour in America.” Forty years later, the African American Church community continues to face bomb threats, death threats, and their ministers’ characters are assassinated because they teach and preach prophetic social concerns for social justice. Sunday is still the most segregated hour in America.

H/T, TPM.

I Hope That Obama is Handling this Problem the Wright Way

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Obama has has disavowed incindiary statements made by his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and he has been removed from his campaign’s African American Religious Leadership Committee.

I’ve not been a fan of Obama, but this should be enough. For all intents and purposes, except for literal genetics, this guy is his family. He was married by him, his daughters were baptized by him.

His statement about him sometimes being like an uncle who makes statements that you disagree with is in my assessment 100% true.

In any sane world, this should close the matter. In fact, it should also remove the whole “Obama as Muslim” slime too.

He’s not a Muslim, and he has a nutty pastor to prove it.

Of course, the world of a presidential campaign is not “sane” by any measure.

This sucks.

The only bright spot is that I think that he has handled it well, which bodes well for him if he gets the nomination.

Senator Looking at Lavish Lifestyles of Televangelists

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The thing that the media will cover, of course, is the expensive cars, private jets, and so on that many of these “prosperity preachers” have.

There is actually a very real issue here. Churches, unlike every other 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, is not required to file a publicly accessible 990 form.

I incorporated a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and chase the paperwork through the IRS in 1990 as a non-lawyer, Arisia.

When I was involved in running it, gross revenues were less than $50,000/year, and now it’s probably less than $200K/year.

For any church, considering building, maintenance, salaries and benefits for, preacher, secretary, education director, and janitor, you are well above $500K on anything but the tiniest church.

It’s too expensive for them, but it’s not too expensive for us.

They object to form 990s because they do not want their parishioners to know that they are wasting their money on their own inflated lifestyles.

Check out the Trinity Foundation a Christian reform organization that has been talking about this for years.

McCain’s Other Pet Bigot

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It’s not just Hagee.

Even closer to McCain is Televangelist Rod Parsley, who believes that America was founded with the purpose of destroying Islam.

It appears he knows nothing of the Treaty of Tripoli.

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

But bigots tend to believe whatever they want to believe.

Bigotry is, after all the Republican party has these days.