What Is Best In Life? To See Your Women Driving Before You, and Hear the Lamentation of the Men

Any Schwarzenegger fans out there will hopefully by chuckling right now.

Anyway,
As discussed in this article, there is a ban in Saudi Arabia prohibiting the women from driving/operating a motor vehicle. Failure to observe this can lead to arrest, and in some cases, public whipping. Pretty rough. The logic is that giving women the freedom to drive would give them greater freedom outside the home, and could very likely lead to them engaging in unladylike behavior.
However, it has also been argued that preventing women from driving would force them to rely on a male driver, anyway. Which somewhat nullifies the point of trying to keep them from socializing too much with other men outside the home.
A report prepared by "A well known conservative academic" has been prepared for the Saudi Shura Council, stating that if women are allowed to drive, then it will be the end of virgins in Saudi Arabia. This information is given in spite of the fact that Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world in which women are not allowed to operate cars, but not the only one in the world with virgins.
Shocking, no?
In protest of this law, many Saudi women have recorded video footage of themselves driving, in an effort to spur others to resist the rule. And King Abdullah has stated that the ban could perhaps be re-examined.

Until then...

Nice Going, Hertz.

Well, Hertz has gone and blown it, firing *twenty-six* Muslim employees for not clocking out during their daily breaks for prayer. Even firing a single employee would have been pretty gauche of them as a business, but when you get anywhere past, say, three or four, then words like "discrimination" and "Religious Tolerance" start to get thrown around.
Not to mention "Lawsuit".

Muslim Youth Win AK-47s, Hand Grenades in Qu'Ran Recital

So, I am having some difficulty believing this is true. It seems too perfect an example of the kind of stereotypes that our Western culture has adopted about Islam, the epitome of yellow journalism.
And yet, there is more.
The New York Times? Really? Wow.
Honestly, this really makes me a little unsure of how I should feel. The label of the extremist, AK-47-touting, turban-wearing Muslim is an image that is all too subtly present in our pop culture, (and probably just as present in our social subconscious). I would be more comfortable with the assurance that the above article is a fabrication, something that WE have invented to justify our own misconceptions, rather than proof of its accuracy. The fact that the contest was orchestrated by the Shabab - a group that has been linked with Al-Quaeda, is even more uncomfortable news.
So what are we to do with this information? Well,
In the same way that within Christianity, you have the Westboro Baptist Church and the Salvation Army, it is important to remember that militant religious groups are in no way representative of the religion as a whole. Extremists will exist in all fields, and where there is extremism and the possibility of disagreement, so also is there the possibility for violence.
For now, I'm hoping that none of those AKs will be put to use.

SCANDAL.

There are NO HATS in the Bible. Seriously. Not one hat, nor even a single mention of hats.
Don't believe me? Go to biblegateway.com and check it out.

No.
Hats.
At all.

What can the Christian community really make of this? If God never intended us to cover our heads, (as evidenced by the profound lack of hats or headgear in the bible), then is it not a a terrible act to wear anything upon your noggin?


The Face of Sin

In fact, it is probably just as bad to be anything but bald, as hair would cover your head in much the same way as a hat. In FACT, Leviticus 13:40 states, "A man who has lost his hair and is bald is clean."
Q.E.D.
I'll go get my razor.

Today Cathedrals, Tomorrow Street Corners

So, coming out of class a few days ago, I saw this.



If you can't read that, it says 'Discover forgiveness for all your sin, and eternal life in the living Jesus, not church".
I sat and watched people walk by this man for several minutes. Every few seconds, he would shout something like "we are not robots - open your eyes," and, "It's not about church, it's about God." To is right, a woman was handing out pamphlets and CDs. Most people either ignored them both, or politely turned her down. One young student shouted "Yeah!" as he walked past.
I grabbed a CD and a pamphlet, and returned to watching. Gradually, the flow of students trickled down as the next wave of classes started, and that left him standing alone.
I approached him.



His name was Micheal.
We chatted for some time about his message and the idea of God as a whole. His basic message seemed to be that proof of God was all around us, in the beauty and complexity of creation. "Chaos begets chaos" was his argument. "There is no way this Earth could come from something like that."
He mentioned the human eye, I mentioned the Giraffe's Cochleal nerve. He pointed out my analytic way of approaching the world, I addressed his incomplete proof of God's existence.
"It's not about churches or organization," he told me. "It's a personal journey. Each person has to find god for himself."
I didn't bother pointing out that he was here *telling* people to "find God for themselves". Ultimately, Michael was an open-minded and moderate Christian, for someone preaching on a college campus. He said that he respected my views, though he also insisted that I would only truly experience God if I abandoned them, and gave in to faith.

I've always thought that it's important to listen to people who believe something strongly enough to forcibly press their ideas on other people. Hopefully, it is these people who have the best-formed arguments for their own opinions, which lets you examine a viewpoint at its utmost.
The CD turned out to be music that Michael wrote and produced, and surprisingly enough, falls somewhere in the "House" genre of techno. Some of it wasn't half bad. Had I not known the context of its distribution, I might not have even guessed it had any Christian associations.

Just goes to show that prophets come in all shapes and sizes.

And He Struck Down Upon The Sinners With His Holy Bat'Leth

So, you believe in the Jedi Church, eh? Perhaps midichlorians flow in your blood? Have you found a life within the balance of the Force?
Well, nuts to that. You should join a *true* religion, a properly monotheistic faith, like Judaism or Islam.
Or Klingon Christianity.
Oh yes.
It's a thing.

What, you thought all those klingon weddings took place without His holy presence? Pfft.

First Gay Presbyterian Minister Ordained

Which is awesome. And more importantly, this is not necessarily a isolated event. Now that the ban on homosexual ministers has been lifted completely, there could be any number of homosexual ministers in the future. I'm not Presbyterian, but that's very cool.

Here's a Picture of Obama Participating in the Passover Seder

Explore the Lost Tomb of Jesus Christ

Do it here.

To Answer All Your Worldly Questions

Jewgle.

Oi Vey

Here's another good example of the clash of Judaism with modern culture.
It's a webcomic about a rabbi talking to a Jewish robot called "ShaBot 600". Most of the jokes are puns, and puns that require a basic knowledge of Judaism, too.



Yeah, they're all pretty much like that. And so far, there are 174 of them.
WHICH IS TERRIFYING.

And While We're Talking About Things That Are Borderline Offensive...

Here
is a link that discusses the use of caffeine suppositories during Yom Kippur, which involves a 25-hour fast. Apparently, a suppository does not break the fast, but will still keep you energized and alert during your prayer.
...
What.
This seems like a pretty solid example of what happens when ancient religion clashes with modern-day standards and technology. As the article states, "These guys love a good loophole."

EDIT:
Oh my goodness, it's everywhere.

Yamulcops!

Stumbled across this interesting little tidbit the other day. For those of you too lazy to click the link, the Mayor of Amsterdam is considering using "Decoy Jews" (or policemen posing as Jews) to draw out potentially anti-semetic offenders. There has evidently been some anti-Jewish violence recently, and this was one of the techniques that might be used to approach it.

And yes, that's a picture taken from "The Hebrew Hammer" as a thumbnail for the article.

I'm glad that Amsterdam is taking anti-Semitic violence seriously, but does this seem borderline offensive to anyone else?

Well, *I* Think So

I Was Touched By His Noodly Appendage

There were some pirates around campus today, proselytizing the faith of Pastafarianism. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, here is the link to their website.

On that note - it has always frustrated me how aggressive some of the more secular groups can be. One of the things that people stereotypically dislike about the devoutly religious is their tendency to present their own beliefs as superior or enlightened, or their attempts at converting random strangers.

Well, to the smug aggressive Atheists of the world, I say "cut it out, guys." There's no sense in mimicking the very behavior that you so smugly condemn. And the only difference between a missionary and an Atheist with a t-shirt like this one is that the missionary is more likely to be pleasant when he talks to you about his faith. Both individuals are trying to sell something to you, and both are doing it in a sneering way.

But, there's no need for me to do any ranting myself, here. That'd just be hypocritical.
I will say, however, that given how similarly most religions are based in things like love, peace, and goodwill, taking a hostile and superior stance towards religion as a whole isn't just excessive, - it's ignorant. And moreover, most atheists reject religion on the basis that it is frequently the cause of strife, violence, and conflict. Ultimately, both sides are interested in the same thing - peace.
The only time religion, or a lack of it, will lead to hostility is when neither side has taken the time to understand the opposing stance. So whether you're an atheist or a zealot, take the time to educate yourself.

That said, Pastafarianism is a hilarious bit of satire, with zero hostility. It's mostly just about things like stripper factories.

All The People in History Who Have Ever Claimed to be Jesus Christ

I'll just leave this here.

Bananas: The Scourge of Athiesm Everywhere

This is a video by evangelist preacher Ray Comfort (which MUST be his real name) that uses the existence of bananas as clear proof that there must be a God of some kind, since there could be no fruit more perfectly designed for human consumption than the banana. Go ahead and watch it, it's pretty amusing.

The argument, on the surface, makes sense. If God didn't create the Earth and all its inhabitants, then why do things like bananas, which are incredibly convenient to eat and grow, exist in the first place? Why isn't the world covered in spiky death-fruit?

Well, Ray, I've got news for you.



This seedy sunovabitch is a wild banana. Friendly to humans, they are not.
And the reason that the bananas found in the wild look like that while the banana that Ray so lovingly cradles looks like a zippered pocket of fruity deliciousness is because humankind has gradually bred bananas into docile perfection over many, many generations.
So, who made the banana perfect for human consumption? We did. Ba-BOW!
This is also why pineapples are so easy to cut open and eat, by the way. Wild pineapples are basically just spiky little balls of stubbornness.



So, this hardly closes the book on Creationism and the arguments that can be made for it, but as far as fruit goes - we didn't get any help from God on that one.

The Other Bible

I have to admit, while I do find the stories contained within the Bible to be interesting, even MORE interesting to me is the history of the book and its contents. After all, someone had to physically sit down and write the pentateuch, and regardless of whether or not you believe that there were multiple authors, there had to be influences of some kind on the way those stories were recorded.

Here's a site that takes an in-depth look at the possible influences and histories behind the Bible.

It's pretty neat.

Scripture for the Critical Reader

The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (found here) is available online in all books of both the Old and New Testament, along with highlights and citations that note all the contradictions, absurdities, or other significant points within the scripture. Whether you're interested in reading the Bible critically, or just want to investigate some of its vaguer passages, it's probably worth a glance.

Well, this is rather neat.

Secrets of the Buried Bible investigated some of the history of the Bible's creation and popularization, but here is an additional viewpoint regarding its possible link to Chinese culture.

Here's the link.