“We are fool’s for Christ’s sake.” - 1 Corinthians 4:10
For some reason that verse came to mind as I read the following story:
US Christian Activist Held In North Korea After Illegally Crossing Border (AFP; Dec 27)
SEOUL: A US Christian human-rights activist who illegally entered North Korea on Christmas Day in a bid to promote better rights and conditions there has been detained, his colleague said Sunday.
Robert Park, 28, walked across the frozen Tumen River from China to the communist North on Friday as his fellow activists watched and videotaped his unauthorised entry, according to Park’s colleagues.
A US citizen of Korean ancestry, Park claimed he had seen a vision from God of North Korea’s liberation and redemption, his colleagues said, adding that he crossed the border shouting “I came here to proclaim God’s love”.
Park, from Tucson, Arizona, carried a letter calling for Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-Il to release political prisoners, shut concentration camps and take steps to improve rights and conditions, his colleagues said.
“Robert Park is out of contact now, but we got a tip-off that he is alive and being held by North Korean authorities for questioning,” one of Park’s colleagues told AFP Sunday on condition of anonymity….
Cho Sung-Rae, one of Park’s fellow activists in Seoul, Sunday released e-mail correspondence between Park and his parents in the United States.
“We are acting in faith — and God is leading,” Park wrote in an email to his Arizona-based parents sent shortly before he entered North Korea.
“Let’s honour his pure intention to follow God’s goodwill for His suffering people in North Korea,” Park’s parents wrote in an email to Cho.
Park’s letter, addressed to Kim Jong-Il and posted online on Saturday, called on North Korean leaders to repent and allow care teams to enter “to minister healing to those who have been tortured and traumatized.”…
You can learn more about Park and his gOd-inspired mission here and here.
I wish Park all the best.
Indeed, I wish we lived in a world where one good man armed with a letter could cross a border and bring down a brutal tyrant who’s responsible for the deaths of many thousands if not millions of people.
Alas, that’s not the sort of world we live in.
And – IMHO – it’s a pretty shitty gOd who sits back and does nothing to make it a better world except inspire men like Park to foolishly risk their lives tilting at windmills.
You know the gOd I’m talking about – right?
It’s the one who allegedly said “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” (as I’ve discussed at some length here).
Ring a bell?
That gOd also allegedly promised “those who believe” that they could handle serpents and drink any deadly thing without being harmed (Mark 16:17-18).
Of course I believe that this gOd is nothing more than a delusion in search of a cure but that fact alone apparently can do very little to help Robert Park today.
If Park’s story can serve as a spur to others to recognize and abandon that delusion – or never to embrace it in the first place – well, it’ll still be a sad and unfortunate story, but at least it will have *some* redeeming value.
Which is more than I can say about these other stories that his reminded me of:
Man Attempts To Convert Lion To Christianity (Theist File #21; Nov 5, 2004)
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A man leaped into a lion’s den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday [Nov. 3] to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts.
“Jesus will save you!” the 46-year-old man shouted at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away.
“Come bite me!” he said with both hands raised, television footage showed.
One of the lions, a large male with a shaggy mane, bit the man in his right leg before zoo workers drove it off with water hoses and tranquilizer guns.
Newspapers said that the lions had been fed earlier in the day, otherwise the man might have been more seriously hurt … or worse.
Zoo’s Lion Kills Man Who Invoked God (Theist File #2089; June 14, 2006)
According to Yahoo News and Reuters, “KIEV: A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal’s enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.
“‘The man shouted “God will save me, if he exists”, lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions,’ the official said. ‘A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.’
“The incident, Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an ‘animal island’ protected by thick concrete blocks.”
Let’s hope 2010 has a few fewer fools for Christ and a few more reasonable humanists.
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Just in case the 12 snapshots I shared on Nov 4 have been completely forgotten already….
Deadly Suicide Attack In Pakistan Kills 12 (The BBC; Nov 8)
At least 12 people have been killed and about 35 injured in a suicide bomb attack near the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, police say.
The blast ripped through a busy cattle market on the outskirts of the city.
The Taliban said they carried out the latest attack.
It appeared to target the mayor of Adizai, Abdul Malik, who was a vocal opponent of the militants. His home village is close to tribal areas where militants are active.
He was seriously injured and later died in hospital.
Police officials told the BBC that Mr Malik was on his way to the city when he stopped at the market.
According to the officials, the bomber had been following Mr Malik in a van.
When Mr Malik left the vehicle the man rushed in and blew himself up.
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says the blast was so powerful all those nearby were killed, while several cars were also destroyed….
Deadly Blasts Hits Pakistani Town; 24 Killed (The BBC; Nov 10)
At least 24 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a car bombing in the north-western Pakistani town of Charsadda, police say.
The blast occurred as shoppers thronged the main market in Charsadda, which lies north-east of Peshawar.
The attack is the third in as many days in North West Frontier Province….
Police say around 40kg of explosives had been placed in a car which then exploded outside a busy market….
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says ordinary citizens are increasingly being targeted in bomb attacks. Analysts believe this is because the militants are cornered and under great pressure by the military in South Waziristan.
Eyewitnesses said the explosion was so powerful that surrounding buildings were severely damaged.
Ambulances ferried survivors to hospitals in Charsadda and Peshawar, 40km (25 miles) away.
Eyewitnesses said the vehicle blew up on a road lined with fruit and juice shops, tearing off shop roofs and leaving the ground strewn with slippers, body parts and broken push carts.
“It was a terrible scene. There were injured and wounded everywhere,” one witness told reporters….
Suicide Bombers Hit Pakistan’s Spy Agency, Police Station; 17 Dead (The BBC; Nov 13)
A suicide car bomb attack on Pakistan’s main intelligence agency in the city of Peshawar has killed at least 12 people and injured 40, officials say.
Another five people died in a separate suicide car bomb attack at a police station in the Baka Khel area in the North West Frontier Province.
The Peshawar blast destroyed the three-storey building of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
The city has been frequently targeted by militants in recent weeks.
More than 100 people were killed in a blast at a market in Peshawar two weeks ago.
Attacks across Pakistan have dramatically increased as the army continues its offensive against the Taliban in the South Waziristan region.
“The bomber was asked to stop at a checkpoint next to the ISI offices here at 6.45 am,” a military official told the BBC on the condition of anonymity.
“As he tried to use the car to force his way through, the guards outside opened fire on him.
“He then detonated the explosives.”
Military authorities told the BBC say that over 60 people were injured in the attack. The said that the dead included seven military officials and three civilians.
The BBC’s Abdul Hai Kakar in Peshawar says the explosion was so powerful it was heard by people within a 1km radius. Some thought it was an earthquake….
Suicide Bomber Targets Pak Police; 10 Dead (The BBC; Nov 14)
A suicide car bomber has attacked a police checkpoint in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people, officials say.
More than 25 other people were injured in the attack.
Police say the attacker blew up his explosives-laden car as policemen went to search it in the Pushta Khara area….
20 Killed In Taliban Suicide Attack Outside Pak Court (Emal Khan/The Telegraph; Nov 19)
At least 20 people were killed and 45 injured in a suspected Taliban suicide bombing at a court in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.
According to witnesses the bomber stepped out of a taxi and walked towards a crowd of prople waiting at the entrance to a court building. He detonated his suicide vest as he was being frisked by a police inspector.
Nisar Khan, the city’s police superintendent, said three police officers were among the local people, rickshaw drivers and lawyers killed in the attack – the 11th on the city since the beginning of October….
Islamists Take Credit For Russian Train Bomb That Killed 26 (The BBC; Dec 2)
A North Caucasus Islamist group has claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed 26 people on a Moscow-to-St Petersburg train, a website says.
The website claim on Kavkazcenter.com said last Friday’s attack was carried out by the “Caucasian Mujahadeen” on the orders of its leader, Doku Umarov.
He is described as one of Russia’s most wanted rebels….
Moscow had earlier described the Nevsky Express attack as an act of terrorism.
Doku Umarov, a Chechen, is considered the leader of the Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus. He says he is fighting to expel Russian forces, and to turn the region into an Islamic emirate.
Wednesday’s web statement said Friday’s attack was an “act of sabotage”, and part of a series of operations targeting strategic sites in Russia….
Kavkazcenter.com has carried statements before by North Caucasus groups claiming responsibility for attacks on Russia that have turned out to be correct….
Nearly 100 others were wounded after what police called an “improvised explosive device” derailed the train’s last three carriages near the town of Bologoye, some 400km (250 miles) north-west of Moscow.
A second, less powerful device which went off on Saturday near the site of the first – reportedly triggered by a remote mobile – is said to have injured one of the investigators combing the train’s wreckage….
Suicide Attack On Pak Mosque Kills 35 (The BBC; Dec 4)
Militants are said to have killed at least 35 people, including 17 children, at a mosque near the Pakistani army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi.
At least four attackers opened fire on worshippers during Friday prayers attended by many military staff in the garrison city.
Security forces fought back in an hour-long gun battle before three attackers blew themselves up, reports say.
The Pakistan Taliban later said they had carried out the strike.
Ten adult civilians were also among the dead, as well as military staff, the army said….
One witness told Pakistan’s Dawn TV: “They attacked the mosque from the side … the windows. They took the people, got hold of their hair, shot them.”
The attackers reportedly started hurling grenades around and firing indiscriminately, before two were killed in the battle with security forces and two blew themselves up.
Military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said the latest attack had been co-ordinated. It ended once the military had made sure all the gunmen were dead, AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said explosions from at least one suicide bomber caused the roof of the building to collapse….
Market Bombs Kill Dozens (The BBC; Dec 8)
The death toll in two bomb blasts at a busy market in the centre of Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, has risen to 48, police and medics say.
The attack, which injured over 100 people, sparked a huge blaze at the city’s Moon Market at 2045 (1545 GMT).
The toll has risen with the death of 12 more people overnight, police said.
The blasts came just hours after a suicide bomber on a rickshaw killed at least 10 people in Peshawar when he blew himself up near the courthouse.
One official said the blasts in Lahore happened in quick succession and that dozens were injured when the blast struck the market, crammed with shoppers and traders….
Many of the victims were women and children, the police said….
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the bombs were apparently remote-controlled devices, AP reports….
Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber detonated about 6kg (13lb) of explosives outside a courthouse in the north-western city of Peshawar.
The attack killed 10 people – including a policeman – and wounded 44 others….
Baghdad Car Bombs Kill More Than 125 (The BBC; Dec 8)
A series of car bombings has killed at least 127 people and wounded 448 in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The first blast targeted a police patrol in the Dora district of the city. Four others occurred near official buildings within minutes.
Veteran politician Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, an ex-national security adviser, blamed al-Qaeda militants for the attacks….
Tuesday’s explosions shook houses across the capital.
After the attack in Dora, a bomb blew up in Shourja Market, near the health ministry.
Official buildings located near the other blasts also include the interior ministry, a university and the institute of fine arts.
There were civilian and security force personnel casualties, officials said.
Survivor Ahmed Jabbar, emerging from a damaged ministry building, told the Associated Press news agency: “What crime have we committed? Children and women were buried under debris.”
Rescue workers at the scene have been climbing through twisted steel bars and crushed concrete, and dozens of vehicles were burned, AP reported….
In October… co-ordinated bomb attacks killed at least 155 people and wounded hundreds in Baghdad….
At least eight people – mostly children – died in a school bombing in Baghdad on Monday….
Suicide Bomber Kills 8 In Kabul (The BBC; Dec 15)
At least eight people have been killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, officials say.
The blast happened near a hotel in Wazir Akbar Khan district, home to several aid agencies and embassies.
Two bodyguards of former vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud were among the dead, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said….
Kabul has been hit by a number of explosions in recent months….
Blast Near Pak Mosque Kills 7 (The BBC; Dec 18)
At least seven people have been killed in an explosion near a mosque used by police officers in north-western Pakistan, officials say.
Nearly 30 people were wounded in the explosion in Lower Dir district, said hospital officials….
The local district commissioner, Fazal Kareem Khatok, said the blast took place as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.
Afghan Suicide Bomber Kills 8 (The BBC; Dec 24)
A suicide bomber in a horse-drawn cart has killed eight people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, police say.
Police officers apparently tried to stop the bomber but he was able to detonate his explosives near a hotel and local government office.
Five of the dead were in a nearby car, with three pedestrians also killed. The cart was destroyed, leading police to initially think the bomb was inside it….
Iraq Bomb Explosions Leave 23 Dead (The BBC; Dec 24)
A series of bomb attacks has killed at least 23 people in Iraq.
The latest attacks, which appeared to target Shia Muslims, saw eight people killed in predominately Shia areas of the capital Baghdad.
Earlier, a twin bomb blast in Hilla, 100km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, killed at least 15 people.
Shia pilgrims are celebrating the festival of Ashura, and security has been increased around the country to prevent attacks by Sunni militants.
One of the most important dates in the Shia religious calendar, Ashura is a 40-day mourning period to commemorate the martyrdom in 680 AD of the revered Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. [To learn more about this bizarrely bloody holiday, see Theist Files #3432 and #1612.]
Five people were killed at a Shia funeral in Baghdad when a bomb went off in a tent where mourners were gathered in the suburb of Sadr City, police and hospital officials told the Associated Press.
Three died in a second blast in the eastern district of Zaafaraniya.
Scores wounded
The day’s first blast, in a bus and taxi station in Hilla, reportedly went off as a bomb disposal experts were trying to defuse a roadside bomb….
A local leader was among the dead and scores of others were wounded, Reuters news agency reported….
Kashmir Suicide Bomber Kills 10 (Farhan Bokhari/Financial Times/Reuters; Dec 27)
At least 10 people were killed and 25 injured on Sunday in the capital city of Pakistani controlled Kashmir, as the country remained on high alert for a high-profile religious festival.
A lone suicide bomber involved in the attack blew himself near where members of Pakistan’s minority Shia Muslims had gathered to commemorate the killing of Imam Hussain, grandson of Mohammed the prophet, in Karbala, southern Iraq, almost 1400 years ago….
In the past 30 years, Pakistan has seen scores of attacks by hardline Sunni Muslims, targeting members of the Shia minority.
A blast also occurred at the end of a similar procession in Pakistan’s commercial capital, Karachi, injuring 15 people according to police.
Separately, Pakistani militants blew up a government official’s house in the Kurram region on the Afghan border , killing him and five other people, local government and security officials said. The blast did not appear related to the other sectarian attacks, officials said.
The wave of attacks coincided with the second anniversary of the death of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, who was killed in 2007 after she spoke at a political rally in Rawalpindi, a sprawling city just outside Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital….
Four Killed By Bomb At Shiite Procession In Iraq (MonstersAndCritics/DPA; Dec 27)
BAGHDAD: Four people were killed Sunday morning by a bomb blast targeting a Shiite procession in northern Iraq marking the Ashura day of mourning, police sources said.
The bomb went off in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, some 175 kilometres north of Baghdad. At least 18 people were injured in the blast.
There were also other, smaller explosions and shooting incidents in other areas of Iraq….
Pakistan Appeals For Calm As Blast Toll Hits 43 (MSNBC; Dec 29)
KARACHI – Authorities appealed for calm Tuesday after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession killed 43 in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, setting off riots and igniting fears of sectarian unrest.
Security was tight as thousands of people gathered in central Karachi for funerals of some of those killed in Monday’s bombing of a Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura.
The attack sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores, including the port city’s largest wholesale market. More than 200 firefighters were still battling the flames 24 hours after the attack, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 105 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan’s main commercial hub….
Two buildings with dozens of shops and offices have already collapsed and two more were in danger of falling, said the Karachi fire chief, Ehteshamul Haq….
Bomb disposal squad official Munir Sheikh said some 35 pounds of high explosive were used in the bombing. He said the intact head and torso of the suspected suicide bomber was found on the third floor of a nearby office building, where it had crashed through a window.
Residents in apartments near the blast site tossed down body parts that had been cast into their homes from the explosion, while birds dove down to pick at the flesh amid damaged vehicles and motorbikes.
Senior health official Hashim Raza said the death toll increased to 43 on Tuesday. Many among the dozens wounded were critically hurt, and several died overnight and on Tuesday morning….
Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government in a joint effort to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country’s northwest….
Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars….
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Pastor Shoots 21-Year-Old Son To Death During Christmas Dispute (The Los Angeles Times/The Associated Press; Dec 26)
DARBY, Pennsylvania: A pastor fatally shot one of his eight children on Christmas Day during a dispute at the family home, where more than a dozen relatives had gathered to celebrate the holiday, police said.
Kirk Caldwell killed 21-year-old Jordan Caldwell after intervening in a violent confrontation between the son and a woman at around 2 p.m. at their home in suburban Philadelphia, Darby Borough police said Friday.
Kirk Caldwell fired a single shot, striking his son in the chest, police Chief Robert Smythe said. Jordan Caldwell died at a hospital shortly afterward, police said.
Smythe, who noted he had met Caldwell a couple of times, called the pastor a “very good man” and said he was “quite surprised.”
“I find this is not something I would expect this guy to do,” Smythe said.
As a pastor at End Times Harvest Mission for Christ in Philadelphia, Kirk Caldwell had spoken against violence at a vigil for a slain teen in Darby last summer.
“Retaliation is never the answer. Retaliation is only going to make it worse,” Caldwell said, according to the Daily Times of Delaware County.
Donald Mosby, 81, who has lived next door to Caldwell for a couple of years, said the pastor also worked as a plumber and seemed “like a moderate man.”
He said Caldwell used to shuttle parishioners to and from church in his vans.
The 44-year-old Caldwell had not been charged as of Friday evening. The gun was legally registered to him, Smythe said….
There’s a bumper sticker out there that says “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven.”
I really hope Christians will devote at least a few minutes in the new year to trying to prove the second part of that and a whole lot less time to proving the first part over and over and over again….
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I have been reading the blog of the Christian professor of historical theology, Randal Rauser, for some time now. Recently, the question of the evidence for atheism has arisen – perhaps expectedly within the context of my own observation that Randal has not done a terrific job presenting a compelling case for theism (let alone Christianity). Maybe he is not aiming quite that high when writing. Nevertheless, attempts were made – attempts that were a bit revealing in my own eyes. Randal has summarized our exchange in a blog post, but I will present my own here.
It began with this:
Randal: I have discussed innumerable grounds for the existence of God in the last several months, everything from the information in DNA to Kevin’s experiences.
Well, with one exception, so far as I can recall, those are the only grounds for the existence of God in the last several months (I started reading back in July) that Randal has discussed. The one exception was a re-hashing of the classic ontological argument for the existence of God – an argument that attempts to prove God’s existence by definition. I will go out on a limb and declare that nobody has ever come to believe in the existence of God because of the ontological proof. And if you actually believe that God exists merely because you can come up with a definition of God that seems to require its existence – then you can go right ahead and click that big ‘X’ in the top right hand corner of your screen and save me the trouble.
Ontological proofs aside, the evidence with which I am left from this professional theologian is the mysteries of the chemical evolution of DNA and a few cases of an answered prayer or knowledge seemingly gained through no other source than God (Kevin’s experiences). I responded with a what amounted to a yawn:
Me: Yeah, too bad these evidences were all so problematic or weak. Maybe I was expecting too much
These weaknesses should be evident. The mysteries of the chemical evolution of DNA is not evidence that God must have intervened and invisibly tinkered with chemical compounds just at those moments that we do not currently fully comprehend and then let the process carry on naturally when we do comprehend them. There remains quite a large bridge to build if you want to persuasively connect human scientific uncertainty with scientific impossibility. As for the other cases – besides being anecdotal and not subject to statistical confirmation of any correlations – they are inherently plagued by questions involving random chance, self-deception, confirmation bias, self-reporting bias, et cetera. Not only that, but why is it that the alleged knowledge gained only through divine means seems to always be knowledge that could have otherwise been known, guessed, or simply cannot ever be confirmed? How useful is that?
So, rather than going back and evaluating my charge Randal made a turn around move that is so often invoked when one wants to sidestep the issues in ones own arguments:
Randal: What evidences have you or the other atheist/skeptical visitors to this blog ever presented [for atheism] which were of persuasive force? I must have overlooked them.
None, in fact. After some back and forth over what I was actually claiming, I wrote:
Me: I am not making a knowledge claim (at least not in these comments), rather, I am making a statement about what I do or do not believe. Perhaps you are asking whether or not my skepticism is justified? I have read all of the posts you referenced below and have explained why they do not compel me to believe in a god. I stopped believing in a god a decade ago because I had no compelling reasons to continue. Do I think that there are persausive arguments to be made about the non-existence of god? Sure. But for the purposes of these comments those do not particularly matter. What matters to me, and why I continue to visit the blog, is what kind of a case believers can actually present for their own belief in god. If there is no case to be made, then there is no belief to be had.
In his blog post recounting this exchange, Randal concludes by selectively quoting from my above comment by leaving out the last two sentences and instead focuses on my remark about there (possibly) being persuasive arguments for the non-existence of god:
Randal: Here, finally, is what [AnAtheist.Net] said:
“I stopped believing in a god a decade ago because I had no compelling reasons to continue. Do I think that there are persausive arguments to be made about the non-existence of god? Sure. But for the purposes of these comments those do not particularly matter.”
In other words, I have some arguments for atheism but I’m not going to share them even though you’ve repeatedly asked me to do so.
Okay AnAtheist.net, I give up.
More demands for my arguments! But here is the deal. I do not need to demonstrate anything. If no atheist has, ever had, or ever will have good arguments for atheism that still would not make belief in god any more plausible or probable. If there is no case to be made, then there is no belief to be had. It is as simple as that.
Would Randal pay much attention if an astrologer came to his blog and wrote the following? “What evidences have you or the other non-astrologists/skeptics ever presented for non-astrology which were of persuasive force?” Probably not. Why not? Because if astrology is to compel belief in its truth it must do so on its own merits – not on the perceived or actual inability for non-astrologers to demonstrate its non-sense. The same is true for a belief in God – which Randal undoubtedly professes. The inability (whether real or not) of non-theists to demonstrate its non-sense is neither here nor there (however interesting). If the most compelling reasons that Randal has for believing in a God are the DNA code and some interesting, albeit unremarkable, anecdotes about ill-defined divine forces then I will not be joining him in that belief but will remain content in my skepticism.
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Ok, so a friend tells you that someone tried to blow-up an airliner in flight on December 25.
Do you immediately assume that the person responsible is
A) A militant atheist involved in the War on Christmas
B) A former Soviet atheist still bitter over the fact that his country lost the Cold War
C) A gOd-hating Chinese Communist attempting to disrupt the Judeo-Christian capitalist economy
D) A troubled youth whose mind has been hopelessly warped by the books of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens
E) A religious fanatic from a religious family who was operating with the full support of others who share his love of gOd
If you answered A, B, C, or D – sorry, you assumed the wrong thing.
Gee, what are the odds?
Bomb Suspect From Elite Family, Schools (CBS News/The Associated Press; Dec 27)
Former Associates Describe Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as Being So Pious, He Was Called “The Pope”….
As a member of an uppercrust Nigerian family, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab received the best schooling, from the elite British International School in West Africa to the vaunted University College London.
But the education he sought was of a different sort: Nigerian officials say his interest in extremist Islam prompted his father, the former CEO of one of Nigeria’s largest banks, to warn U.S. authorities. As Abdulmutallab was being escorted in handcuffs off the Detroit-bound airliner he attempted to blow up on Christmas Day, he told U.S. officials that he had sought extremist education at an Islamist hotbed in Yemen.
A portrait emerged Sunday of a serious young man who led a privileged life as the son of a prominent banker, but became estranged from his family as an adult. Devoutly religious, he was nicknamed “The Pope” for his saintly aura and gave few clues in his youth that he would turn radical, friends and family said….
Abdulmutallab would seem to be the latest in a growing list of well educated, and well-to-do young men who have turned to radical Islam and then terrorism, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar….
Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to destroy a Northwest flight on Christmas Day with 278 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The detonator on his explosive apparently malfunctioned and he was subdued by other passengers.
Ken Wainstein, who became the first Assistant Attorney General for Homeland Security in 2006, told CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller that Abdulmutallab represents the kind of operative who could be “a goldmine” for al Qaeda.
Wainstein points out that Abdulmutallab speaks English, is Westernized, has multiple entry visa to the U.S. and can “fly under the radar.”…
His family home sits in the city of Funtua, in the heart of Nigeria’s Islamic culture. Religion figured into the family’s life: His father, Alhaji Umar Mutallab, who had a successful career in commercial banking, also joined the board of an Islamic bank – one that avoids the kind of interest payments banned by the Quran.
The large house, surrounded by a wall and a metal fence just off the main road running through the city, stood empty, a common occurrence for a jet-set family that sought an education abroad for Abdulmutallab….
The elder Mutallab was “a responsible and respected Nigerian, with a true Nigerian spirit,” she said. He had been estranged from his son for several months and alerted U.S. officials last month about the youth’s growing hard-line Islamic religious beliefs….
[Michael] Rimmer, a teacher at his high school in West Africa, said Abdulmutallab had been well-respected.
“At one stage, his nickname was ‘The Pope,”‘ Rimmer said from London in a telephone interview. “In one way it’s totally unsuitable because he’s Muslim, but he did have this saintly aura.”
But Abdulmutallab also showed signs of inflexibility, Rimmer said.
In a discussion in 2001, Abdulmutallab was the only one to defend the actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Rimmer said. At the time, Rimmer thought the boy was just playing the devil’s advocate.
He also noted that during a school trip to London, Abdulmutallab became upset when the teacher took students to a pub and said it wasn’t right to be in a place where alcohol was served.
Rimmer also remembered the youngster choosing to give 50 pounds to an orphanage rather than spend it on souvenirs in London….
Abdulmutallab went on to study engineering and business finance at the University College London, where he graduated last year, the college confirmed.
Students at his prestigious university in London, where Abdulmutallab lived in a smart white stone apartment block in an exclusive area of central London, said Abdulmutallab showed no signs of radicalization and painted him as a lax student with deep religious views.
“We worked on projects together,” Fabrizio Cavallo Marincola, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student at University College, told The Independent newspaper. “He always did the bare minimum of work and would just show up to classes. When we were studying, he always would go off to pray….”
Note that this article also discredits the assumption that the real motivation in cases like this is poverty rather than religious dogma and fervor.
To learn more about the many problems with that assumption, see the entry I posted on March 28, 2007.
To learn more about the all-too-real relationship between religion and violence, see the entries I posted on March 26, 2004; April 9, 2004; April 20, 2004; March 27, 2007; Oct 27, 2007; Feb 8, 2008; and Feb 20, 2009.
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Wait.
“False prophet” is redundant, isn’t it?
Please accept my apologies for being needlessly wordy….
Doomsday Sect’s Future In Doubt (Matthew Brown/The Associated Press; Nov 6)
BOZEMAN, Montana: It wasn’t long ago that thousands of members of the Church Universal and Triumphant followed their leader’s call to donate their life savings to build underground shelters against a coming nuclear apocalypse.
Yet Armageddon never came, and after a decade-long decline caused by Alzheimer’s disease, Elizabeth Clare Prophet — “Mother” to her followers — died last month at age 70.
In the waning days of Prophet’s reign as the church’s divinely chosen messenger, its focus shifted from civilization’s end to the development of a New Age publishing juggernaut, producing hundreds of books and recordings drawn from Prophet’s mystical declarations.
The church still keeps its 750-person shelters stocked with food — “insurance,” its leaders say, against possible dark days ahead. Yet with Prophet’s death, it’s uncertain the spiritual movement she embodied will prove as lasting as all the concrete and steel hidden beneath a Montana mountainside north of Yellowstone National Park.
“You had a clear figurehead that became the focus of the organization, the object of adoration. When that’s suddenly removed, it throws people into a tailspin,” said Robert Balch, a University of Montana sociologist specializing in cults and unconventional religions.
He said Prophet’s death sparks a “crisis of succession” over who will take her place.
As her followers convene at the church’s sprawling Corwin Springs compound this weekend for a three-day memorial gathering, the struggle to lay claim to Prophet’s legacy already has begun.
Within days of her death, former church member David Lewis claimed to channel Prophet’s spirit.
Lewis said this week he wants to “carry Elizabeth’s message forward” and is inviting church members to “make a fresh start” with a spinoff group he started several years ago, the Hearts Center.
Like Prophet, he claims the ability to channel the words of Jesus, Buddha and more obscure spiritual figures such as St. Germain and El Morya.
Church leaders have denounced Lewis and said it’s too soon to say if another messenger will step forward.
Prophet led the church since the 1973 death of her second husband, Mark Prophet, who founded the church’s parent organization, The Summit Lighthouse, in 1958.
The couple preached that one’s soul progresses through a series of earthly incarnations. His past lives were said to have included Aesop, Lancelot and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Hers included Nefertiti, Queen Guinevere of Camelot and Marie Antoinette.
Soon after her husband died and became an “ascended master,” Elizabeth Prophet began to channel his holy dictations. Over the next two decades she attracted an estimated 50,000 followers around the world.
Melding mysticism, Christianity and Eastern religions with strong doses of patriotism and self-sufficiency, she promised adherents a newfound path toward personal enlightenment.
Yet long before Elizabeth Prophet’s death, Balch and others who tracked her career saw her power base beginning to crumble.
The grip she held over her followers first began to loosen after her doomsday predictions went unrealized in 1990.
As the church’s membership dwindled, she cut back its staff from an estimated 700 workers to fewer than 100. Thousands of acres of church property in Montana’s Paradise Valley were sold to bring in extra income.
Prophet’s oldest daughter, Erin, said her mother’s power and influence peaked in the late 1980s during the “shelter cycle,” when preparations for the coming Armageddon were at their height.
Members of the church today appear chagrined by those events, which sparked a federal investigation into weapons amassed by Prophet’s followers. They now contend Prophet’s warnings never carried a fixed date.
However, her children said Prophet singled out April 1990 as the time when nuclear missiles from the former Soviet Union would be launched.
To learn more about the many, MANY apocalyptic predictions theists and religious people have made over the centuries, check out the Monday School lessons I posted on the subject back in 2004.
If that only whets your appetite for more, be sure to check out the entries I posted on March 21, 2003 and Nov 14, 2007 as well.
(If you insist you need still more after that, I’m sorry – the skeptic in me is going to insist on a polygraph test.)
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Because sometimes gOd’s divine plan for us all needs a little nudge that goes beyond what’s legal, I guess….
Bus Driver Forces Passengers To Pray (WSBTV.com; Nov 6)
ATLANTA: A MARTA bus driver is on suspension following allegations that he forced passengers to pray before allowing them to exit the bus.
Christopher James was one of those passengers. James said, initially, he thought something was wrong when he rang the bell to get off the bus and the door didn’t open.
James said the bus driver asked him and three other passengers to join hands in prayer. James said the driver prayed with the group for about four minutes.
“He got up out of the driver’s seat,” said James.
James, who isn’t against prayer, said he felt compelled to join in although the request confused him.
James’ cousin, who arrived at the bus stop to meet him, said she saw the men standing inside the bus, but didn’t realize they were praying.
“I was like, ‘Why were y’all praying on the bus? He said the man would not let them off the bus,’” said Thembi Cresser.
A MARTA representative told Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones that the transit agency suspended the bus driver, identified as Leroy Matthews, for five days and told him not to proselytize to passengers. Matthews has been with MARTA for six years.
James said Matthews returned to his normal duties after the prayer.
“I don’t want to pray to get off MARTA, you know,” said James.
Drinking, Evangelism Preceded Shooting (The Daily News; Nov 30)
Authorities say a Cathlamet [Washington] man wanted to spread religion in a Skamokawa tavern’s parking lot but ended up shooting a man in the stomach instead.
A Wahkiakum County Superior Court judge ordered last week that Jack Sebade, 73, undergo a mental health evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial for second-degree assault in the Oct. 24 shooting of 34-year-old Darren Hall of Longview.
Hall, who was shot in the stomach, underwent surgery at St. John Medical Center, then left the hospital against doctor’s orders later that morning, according to a Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Office report.
Sebade told deputies he had been drinking at the tavern around 1 a.m. when he decided to give a religious pamphlet discussing a “plan of salvation” to a woman in the parking lot, the report said. Sebade said he went to his Volkswagen van and tucked the pamphlet as well as a .22 Magnum revolver into his pocket.
Shortly after he began talking to the woman, Sebade said, another woman angrily confronted him, putting her face near his. A man told him to get back into his van and leave, Sebade said.
Sebade took the gun out of his pocket and told the man that he is a “sovereign citizen,” according to the police report. He was struck on the side of his head and fell to the ground. Sebade said he was climbing back to his feet when he fired his weapon at the man.
Deputies said they found Sebade sitting in his van, still in the Duck Inn parking lot, with the engine running and the cocked revolver resting on the passenger seat. Sebade, who had an abrasion on the right side of his head and smelled strongly of alcohol, surrendered peacefully, the report said.
The victim, Hall, rode the 33 miles to St. John Medical Center in Longview with several female passengers, the report said. Hall told deputies he was sleeping in a car next to Sebade’s van when he heard a commotion involving his female friends. He said he confronted Sebade and Sebade shot him in the stomach.
Other witnesses said Hall was in the tavern drinking, not sleeping in the car, when the incident first erupted.
Wahkiakum County sheriff’s spokeswoman Raedyn Grasseth said it is unclear whether Sebade identifies with a particular religion. He is on probation until next year for driving under the influence, authorities said….
Hindu Extremists Set Fire To Church In India (Nirmala Carvalho/AsiaNews; Dec 11)
HYDERABAD, India: Hindu extremists have set fire to an Evangelical church in the village of Metpally, Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) reported. The attack took place in the early hours of last Tuesday.
Local sources said a group of militants from the Hindu nationalist movement Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to the Jesus Lights Manna Church in Metpally around 2 am. After pouring petrol on the building, they set it on fire.
Most of the structure was damaged. A preliminary report said that the building’s main entrance door, the altar, window panels, church amplifier, service books and Bibles were burnt to ashes.
After being informed around 4 am by some witnesses of what had happened, the church’s pastor, Rev Mengu Elia, filed a first information report or FIR against Hindu radicals. Within 24 hours, the local BJP leader, Gangaram, was arrested along with other individuals involved in the fire….
Sajan K George, national president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), said that his organisation “has documented 21 cases of anti-Christian attacks in the State of Andhra Pradesh.”
Many are against house churches used by non-denominational Christian pastors with a large following among Dalits [i.e., "untouchables"].
These buildings “are routinely torched…. believers thrashed and often detained for hours in the police station, while outside the fundamentalists shout Hindu devotional slogans.”…
Father Jailed For Life For Daughter’s “Honor Killing” (Mark Hughes/The Independent; Dec 17)
A father who murdered his15-year-old daughter because of her “Romeo and Juliet” romance with a man from a different branch of Islam was today found guilty of her ‘honour killing’.
More than a decade after Tulay Goren disappeared from the family home in Woodford Green, London her father Mehmet was convicted following his wife’s dramatic evidence against him in court.
But police were criticised for their early handling of the case when it emerged that officers missed several warning signs that could have prevented the teenager’s death.
The Goren family was spoken to by the police at least six times about violence in the household – including when Tulay told officers she had been assaulted by her father over the relationship, but no-one envisaged that she would be murdered.
Officers insist they were operating in an environment and at a time when the codes and customs of honour-killing were little-known in the UK. Judged by the standards of the day, the original investigation team did all they could, senior detectives say. But standards are different now. It is suggested that about a dozen women are the victims of honour killings in the UK every year.
Tulay, whose body has never been found, was murdered in January 1999 because her father, a part time fish and chip worker, was angry at her choice of boyfriend.
Halil Unal, a 30-year-old Turkish man was not only twice his daughter’s age, he was also a Sunni Muslim. While the Goren’s were also Muslims, and also Turkish, they followed the Alevi sect of the religion and a relationship between Sunnis and Alevis was considered unacceptable.
Tulay had run away to live with him in December 1998 but was dragged back home by her father on January 6, where he beat her and tied her up.
Later that night she tried to escape by jumping out of the bathroom window but she was later made to drink coffee laced with sleeping tablets. The next day Mehmet Goren sent his wife and three other children away from the house. Goren told his eight-year-old son Tuncay to kiss Tulay goodbye as he would never see his sister again.
Jailing him, Mr Justice Bean, said Goren’s attempts to appear a “thoroughly modern and enlightened family man” failed to deceive the jury.
“The reality is that your enigmatic smile conceals a violent and dominating personality,” he said.
“Your wife Hanim has finally had the courage to break free of the domination and reveal what she knew of what you did in January 1999.”
He said Goren planned the murder of his daughter with “considerable care”, even forcing her to write a letter relating a false account of what had happened to her to try to throw police off the scent.
“You did all this simply because you regarded it as unacceptable that she, rather than you, should choose the man she wanted to marry. The term ‘honour killing’ is a convenient shorthand, but it is a grotesque distortion of language. There is nothing honourable about such a hideous practice or the people who carry it out.”
The judge made clear Goren would not be eligible for parole until 2030, when he will be nearly 70….
Rabbis Say Soldiers’ Loyalty To God Trumps Army Orders (Joshua Mitnick/The Christian Science Monitor; Dec 18)
TEL AVIV: In Israel, a standoff is escalating between the Israeli defense establishment and religious nationalists over the possible evacuation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. On Thursday, a group of rabbis published a letter saying a soldiers’ loyalty to the divine takes precedence over their commanders.
The declaration was signed by dozens of teachers in government-affiliated religious seminaries – known as “hesder” yeshivas – after Defense Minister Ehud Barak took the unprecedented step earlier this week of cutting ties with a hesder yeshiva because its dean, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, openly advocates refusing of orders in case of an evacuation.
One of the signatories, hesder yeshiva Rabbi Ariel Bareli, told Israel Radio that faith trumps implementing democratic adopted government policy in the event of a clash.
“You must understand, that the desire of the nation isn’t meaningful for someone who believes in the creator,” he said.
As pressure increases on the government to curtail and eventually remove many West Bank settlements, the dispute highlights the growing political and spiritual dilemma of a split allegiance on the part of religious nationalists, the spearhead of the settlement movement.
Though they have always hewed to a strict interpretation of Jewish religious law, the national religious rabbis taught loyalty to Israel’s secular state because it is considered a precursor of religious redemption.
The hesder yeshiva system harnessed that loyalty by allowing nationalist religious youths to split time between spiritual study and military service. The system has become an important channel for funneling highly motivated soldiers into the military.
But that loyalty to the secular state is being tested by the likelihood that religious soldiers might be forced to violate what they consider a divine prohibition against ceding parts of the biblical land of Israel.
“For decades the national religious never saw a contradiction between the policy of the state and the halacha (Jewish law). The (goals) were identical,” says Yair Ettinger, a reporter for the Haaretz newspaper who covered Israel’s evacuation of Gaza settlements in 2005. “It’s become much harder for the rabbis to square between the state and the (Jewish law). This is a very sensitive moment.”
“Thou Shalt Shoplift” Says Priest (The BBC; Dec 21)
A priest from North Yorkshire has advised his congregation to shoplift if they find themselves in hard times.
The Reverend Tim Jones, the parish priest of St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, said people should steal from big chains rather than small businesses.
He said society’s attitude to those in need “leaves some people little option but crime”.
However the Archdeacon of York said: “The Church of England does not advise anyone to shoplift”.
North Yorkshire Police described the sermon as “highly irresponsible”.
A force spokesman said despite people getting in difficult situations “shoplifting or committing other crimes should never be the solution”.
“To do this would make the downward spiral even more rapid, both on an individual basis and on society as a whole,” he said.
Speaking to his congregation on Sunday, Father Jones said: “My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift. I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither. I would ask that they do not steal from small, family businesses, but from national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime.”
Speaking later on BBC Radio York, Father Jones said his intention had not been to rally people to shoplifting, but to encourage people to give more to charity to avoid those in need from becoming so desperate.
“If one has exhausted every legal opportunity to get money and you’re still in a desperate situation it is a better moral thing to do to take absolutely no more than you need for no longer than you need,” he said.
However the Archdeacon of York, the Venerable Richard Seed, said: “Father Tim Jones is raising important issues about the difficulties people face when benefits are not forthcoming, but shoplifting is not the way to overcome these difficulties.”
Father Jones made the news in May 2008 when he made a protest about Playboy branded stationery being aimed at children. He went into a local stationers and threw the Playboy merchandise on the floor.
Illinois Police Protect Atheist Sign From Conservative Candidate (UPI; Dec 24)
SPRINGFIELD: A conservative candidate for Illinois comptroller was ordered out of the state Capitol for trying to remove a sign placed by an atheist group, officials said.
William J. Kelly calls the sign, placed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, “hate speech,” saying it mocks the views of believers, CBS2Chicago.com reported. He announced Tuesday he was going to try to remove it and made his attempt Wednesday, only to be detained by police.
“I don’t think the State of Illinois has any business denigrating or mocking any religion, and I think that’s what the verbiage on the sign was doing,” Kelly said.
The foundation has placed similar signs in several state capitol buildings. It was on display in the Illinois Capitol last year.
The group’s message reads: “At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is just myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”
The Illinois holiday display includes a Christmas tree and nativity scene and a message from the American Civil Liberties Union that it supports freedom of religion. A Jewish menorah was removed at the end of the Hanukkah festival.
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I’ve been saving it up – just for YOU!
Atheist Student Groups Flower On Campus (Eric Gorski/The Associated Press/The Sioux City Journal; Nov 21)
AMES, Iowa: The sign sits propped on a wooden chair, inviting all comers: “Ask an Atheist.”
Whenever a student gets within a few feet, Anastasia Bodnar waves and smiles, trying to make a good first impression before eyes drift down to a word many Americans rank down there with “socialist.”
Bodnar is the happy face of atheism at Iowa State University. Once a week at this booth at a campus community center, the PhD student who spends most of her time researching the nutritional traits of corn takes questions and occasional abuse while trying to raise the profile of religious skepticism.
“A lot of people on campus either don’t know we exist or are afraid of us or hate us,” says Bodnar, president of the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society. “People assume we’re rabble-rousing, when we’re one of the gentlest groups on campus.”
As the stigma of atheism has diminished, campus atheists and agnostics are coming out of the closet, fueling a sharp rise in the number of clubs like the 10-year-old group at Iowa State.
Campus affiliates of the Secular Student Alliance, a sort of Godless Campus Crusade for Christ, have multiplied from 80 in 2007 to 100 in 2008 and 174 this fall, providing the atheist movement new training grounds for future leaders. In another sign of growing acceptance, at least three universities, including Harvard, now have humanist chaplains meeting the needs of the not-so-spiritual….
As teenagers move into young adulthood, some leave God behind. But not in huge numbers.
More than three-quarters of young adults taking part in the National Study of Youth and Religion profess a belief in God. But almost 7 percent fewer believe in God as young adults (ages 18 to 23) than did as teenagers, according to the study, which is tracking the same group of young people as they mature.
What young adults are less likely to believe in is religion. The number of those who describe themselves as “not religious” nearly doubled, to 27 percent, in young adulthood.
Growing hostility toward religion was found, too. About 1 in 10 young adults are “irreligious” — or actively against religion — after virtually none of them fit that description as teenagers.
At Iowa State, most of the club’s roughly 30 members are “former” somethings, mostly Christians. Many stress that their lives are guided not by anti-religiousness, but belief in science, logic and reason.
“The goal,” said Andrew Severin, a post-doctoral researcher in bioinformatics, “should a PhD student in biophysics, “should be to obtain inner peace for yourself and do random acts of kindness for strangers.”
Severin calls himself a “spiritual atheist.” He doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural but thinks experiences like meditation or brushes with nature can produce biochemical reactions that feel spiritual.
When the ISU club began in 1999, it was mostly a discussion group. But it soon became clear that young people who leave organized religion miss something: a sense of community. So the group added movie and board-game nights and, more recently, twice-monthly Sunday brunches to the calendar.
“It’s nice to be around people who aren’t going to bash me for believing in nothing,” said Bricelyn Rector, a freshman from Sioux City who, like others, described community as the club’s greatest asset.
Members also seek to engage their peers at Iowa State, a 28,000-student science and technology school where the student body leans conservative. There’s a “Brews and Views” night at a local coffee house and talks by visiting speakers common to any college campus.
“This is not a group of angry atheists. It’s a group of very exuberant atheists,” said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos, a secular humanist and well-known Biblical scholar who used to be a Pentecostal preacher. “Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It’s more live and let live.”…
On most college campuses, secular groups take shape when non-believing students arrive and find a couple-dozen Christian groups but no home for them. It isn’t that atheism is necessarily growing among students — surveys show no uptick in the number of atheist and agnostic young adults over the last 20 years.
But the greater willingness to speak out, paired with the diversity within the movement, has resulted is a patchwork of clubs across the country united in disbelief but different in mission.
At Texas State University in San Marcos, a group of freethinkers led by a former Lutheran organizes rock-climbing outings and has co-sponsored a debate with a campus Christian group.
The University of South Florida is home to two active clubs: a freethinkers group that held a back-to-school barbecue and an atheist group that protested an anti-abortion group’s campus visit.
Still other clubs embrace rituals. At the University of Southern Maine, a secular humanist organization has celebrated HumanLight, a secular alternative to Christmas and Hanukkah.
Just in the past year, the Iowa State club has evolved in new directions. Some are things churches have traditionally done — like the club’s first foray into volunteerism, sleeping outside in cardboard boxes to raise money for homeless youth….
Judge OKs Winter Solstice Display At Arkansas Capitol (Jill Zeman Bleed/The Associated Press; Dec 14)
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas: A secular display celebrating the winter solstice and “freethinkers” such as Albert Einstein and Bill Gates can be placed at the state Capitol alongside a traditional Christian nativity scene, a federal judge said Monday.
The Arkansas Society of Freethinkers sued last week after Secretary of State Charlie Daniels rejected its proposal, saying it wasn’t consistent with the Capitol’s other decorations and displays. The group asked for a quick hearing before the winter solstice, which is Dec. 21.
U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright granted an injunction Monday allowing the display to go up.
The group never wanted to remove the nativity display, said Tod Billings, president of the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers. Billings said he hoped the display would go up Wednesday and that it would remain until the nativity scene came down after the holidays.
“We just wanted the freedom to be included in the holiday celebrations publicly, just like anybody else can do if they fill out the appropriate paperwork,” Billings said.
Natasha Naragon, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said that they respected the judge’s decision and that they’ll work with the group to erect the display.
The society proposed building an 8-foot-tall, 4-foot-high plywood display that would detail the solstice’s history. It would also include photos of people it considers “freethinkers,” such as Einstein, Gates and Eleanor Roosevelt.
“As the old year passes and a new year is born, we reflect on that which has passed and hope for a better tomorrow,” the proposed display reads. “May the light of reason be a beacon to a brighter future for us all.”
The nativity scene, which includes wooden carvings inside a wood structure south of the Capitol’s entrance, is maintained and displayed by a nonprofit group based in Little Rock. It has been on display on the Capitol grounds for more than half a century.
Faith-Based Prison Rehab Case Reversed (Catherine Whittenburg/TampaBayOnline; Dec 16)
TALLAHASSEE, Florida: Advocates for the separation of church and state scored a victory Tuesday when the 1st District Court of Appeal reversed the dismissal of their claim that state-funded, “faith-based” rehabilitation of ex-prisoners is unconstitutional.
The Council for Secular Humanism, a New York-based organization with membership in Florida, had appealed a Leon County Circuit Court judge’s 2008 dismissal of the group’s complaint that the state’s contract with Prisoners of Christ and Lamb of God Ministries is unconstitutional.
Specifically, the appellant complained that the contracts violate the “no-aid” provision of the Florida Constitution, which bars the state from spending taxpayer money “directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.”
Lamb of God Ministries is located in Okeechobee and has facilities in Pompano Beach; Prisoners of Christ is based in Jacksonville. Their state contracts derive from a law passed in 2001 authorizing the Department of Corrections to hire faith-based service providers to operate substance abuse transitional housing programs for people recently released from state prison.
The organizations clothe, feed, house and provide religiously based substance abuse rehabilitation and other services.
The 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision remands the case back to the lower court for trial.
The state contracts with about 25 faith-based providers to operate the program.
In its opinion, the panel of three judges found that Judge John Cooper erred by not applying the appellate court’s prior ruling in another church-and-state case: Bush v. Holmes. That 2006 case went to the state Supreme Court and ultimately struck down a school voucher program that spent state dollars on private schools, some of them sectarian.
Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Council for Secular Humanism, said he is convinced his side will prevail at trial. “By bringing this case, we are protecting religious liberty for both religious and secular individuals. No one should be compelled to subsidize any religion with their tax dollars.”
Mike Lewandowski, pastor, CEO and founder of Lamb of God Ministries, said he was disappointed by the ruling but had no qualms about facing trial in the case. On the bright side, he said, the publicity surrounding the case highlights the services his organization provides.
Ten Commandments Removed From Ohio Village Hall Grounds (Quan Truong/The Cincinnati Enquirer; Dec 17)
LOCKLAND, Ohio: Lockland officials have quietly taken down a Ten Commandments sign that has been displayed outside village hall for several years.
A recent lawsuit claims the sign is unconstitutional – a conclusion the village’s own lawyers reached as well. Still, village officials said, it was hard to part with the sign.
Former Mayor Jim Brown, who spent $1,000 of his own money for the plastic display, called it a disappointment, although acknowledging the village had no choice but to “bow to the powers that be.”
Resident Christopher Knecht filed a civil suit against Lockland in late September, claiming the “theological display” on public property violates constitutional rights.
After being served with legal papers, current Mayor Ron Johnson and council members met with attorneys and was told it was a battle they would not win. In previous cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that government entities cannot endorse one religion over another, unless the display is there for historical purposes.
Johnson ordered the sign removed on Monday. There was no vote among council but all agreed with the decision, Johnson said.
“The village of Lockland is no different than other places and we need to obey the law,” he said….
While there is widespread support from the community, it was clear the sign had to go, Johnson said.
“You can’t just put village citizens’ taxpayer money in a lawsuit that we cannot win,” he said. “I think it’s only just that we try to get the lawsuit behind us and do what’s right by the Supreme Court and follow the law.”
Meanwhile, Knecht said he was glad the administration “stepped into the 21st century with the rest of us. That’s a start that they recognize this is the law of the land and that religion is secondary to that.”…
Violent Crime & Property Crime Down In US (AFP; Dec 22)
WASHINGTON: Violent crime fell in the United States during the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, preliminary data released Monday by the FBI showed.
“Murder declined 10 percent, robbery fell 6.5 percent, forcible rape decreased 3.3 percent and aggravated assault declined 3.2 percent,” between January and June, the FBI said.
The fall in violent crime was greater in cities compared to rural areas, falling seven percent in urban areas with populations of one million or more and by 3.8 percent in non-metropolitan counties.
Small cities, with populations of 10,000 to 24,999, were the exception to the decline, reporting a 1.7 percent increase in violent crime.
But property crime, which includes burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, was also down nationwide, the report showed.
Motor vehicle theft dropped 18.7 percent, larceny decreased 5.3 percent, and burglary declined 2.5 percent for the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2008.
Again, large cities saw the biggest fall in the number of property crimes. They fell by 7.7 percent in cities with populations of one million or more, the report said.
The full report on US crime statistics is due to be released next year.
Another big blow to the idea that things are just getting worse and worse in the US as the country becomes less Christian, more diverse, and more secular.
Another blow, too, to the idea that small towns and rural areas (which are typically more religious) are more likely to have crime under control than large urban areas.
The version of this story that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch included the statement that “much of the national decline in property crime has resulted from dramatic declines in vehicle thefts, resulting from improved security features on cars and trucks.” Got that? “Improved security features” – NOT divine intervention, NOT prayer, and NOT any surge in church attendance.
*Passing around a fresh tray of cookies to celebrate*
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I hope you’re having a GREAT Newtonmas!
Here’s a bit of recent good news that I hope makes your holiday even better:
Military Advance: Religious Tolerance On The Upswing At The Air Force Academy (Rob Boston/Americans United For Separation Of Church And State; Dec 18)
Four years ago, the situation regarding religious freedom at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs could only be described as grim.
An air of evangelical Christianity permeated the facility. Cadets were encouraged to see films like “The Passion of the Christ.” During a training session for cadets, an Academy chaplain urged evangelicals to convert their classmates to their brand of Christianity. He told cadets that those not “born again will burn in the fires of hell.” Non-Christian cadets complained of harassment and intolerance.
Calls and e-mails started pouring into Americans United. AU Assistant Legal Director Richard B. Katskee spearheaded an investigation. Katskee interviewed more than 20 cadets, former cadets, faculty and staff and reviewed other documents and information. Afterwards, Katskee and Americans United Legal Director Ayesha N. Khan prepared a 14-page report detailing incidents of religious intolerance and bias by evangelical Christians at the Academy.
Four days after the AU report was delivered, Defense Department officials announced the creation of a task force to examine the religious climate at the Academy. An Air Force press release stated, “(L)ingering allegations from sources such as Americans United for Separation of Church and State are being taken very seriously by the Air Force.”
More than four years have passed. How are things at the Academy now?
We’re pleased to say they’re much better. As the Associated Press reported recently, the Academy’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Michael Gould, spearheaded the launch of a campaign to promote religious tolerance and acceptance of people of many different faiths and none.
The new attitude has made a real difference.
“There’s been a huge shift,” Major Joshua Narrowe, an Academy chaplain, said. “Previously, if somebody wanted to have special (religious) needs taken care of … that cadet had to petition. That was often denied. The default answer now is, ‘Yes, go ahead.’”
When a group of cadets who practice a nature-based religion sought a place to worship, they were granted permission to erect a stone circle. A new Interfaith Council meets once a month to discuss issues.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has been a tough critic of the Academy. But even he says the changes are meaningful.
“This is the first time we feel positive about things there,” Weinstein said, adding that his group is receiving far fewer complaints from the Academy these days.
Weinstein lauds Gould’s leadership, saying, “So far, he’s fixed everything. I really believe he gets it.”
AU worked alongside Weinstein to raise awareness about the problems at the Academy. We continue to monitor the situation there and in other military contexts. We know that even though things are looking up at the Academy, other problems remain. (Just today AU attorneys wrote to the Department of Defense about an ongoing problem at Fort Wood in Missouri.)
The military is charged with defending the American way of life, our values and our traditions. Among the most important of those values is our nation’s commitment to religious freedom.
It is ironic that for a period of time, one of our premier military institutions failed to live up to that promise. We’re pleased that the Academy is back on track. No other solution was acceptable.
For more background and context, see the entry I posted on July 2.
For a tongue-pleasing treat, please take a cookie from the tray I’m passing around. (Yes, I made them myself – and yes, they really ARE in the shape of Isaac Newton’s head. You might want to take only half a cookie – they’re life size!)
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Ok, so it’s actually more like a few isolated incidents than an actual war. That still seems to make it more of a genuine conflict than anything associated with the so-called War on Christmas….
Officials Say Priest Attacked Menorah In Moldova (YnetNews.com/The Associated Press; Dec 14)
Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said.
The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.
Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.
The national government said in a statement that “hatred, intolerance and xenophobia” are unacceptable.
Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest’s actions.
The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many immigrated to Israel.
Moldovan Orthodox Church Says Jews To Blame For Menorah Incident (Naama Lanir/YnetNews.com; Dec 23)
The Moldovan Orthodox Church on Wednesday blamed the local Jewish community for the recent rally in which a public menorah was torn down and a cross was put in its place.
During the December 13th incident, dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah….
According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, “We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust.”
The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects “the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side,” according to the report.
“At the same time,” the statement continued, “we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a ‘holiday of blessing’ that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews.”…
An anti-Semitic incident was also reported in Buenos Aires during Hanukkah. Rabbi Shlomo Kiesel of the Chabad house in the Argentine capital told Ynet that one of the city’s public menorahs was desecrated and the words “Argentina is Catholic” were spray-painted near its base.…
Pastor Donates Nativity Scene To Library; Protesters Upset Menorah Only Religious Symbol On Display (WPBF.com; Dec 17)
BOCA RATON, Florida: A Boca Raton library that had a menorah on display but no nativity scene now has one, complements of a local pastor.
The Rev. Mark Boykin and a group of protesters gathered outside the library Thursday morning, singing songs, reciting scripture and holding signs to uphold their faith.
They were upset that the public facility had a menorah, which is a Jewish symbol, but no nativity scene.
“It’s a public forum and, you know, all the people that do come into the places, you know, they’re seeing a menorah only, and there’s more to this holiday season,” said Pompano Beach resident Roxanne Carter, who held a “Freedom of Speech” sign and wore a button proclaiming her love for Christ. “Everything has gone to politically correct so that no one is offended, and we need to bring Christ back into it.”
Although there is a Christmas tree in the library’s lobby, Boykin and the others said it is a secular symbol and not a religious symbol.
Boykin brought a crèche to donate to the library, but a librarian would not accept it, so Boykin placed it under the Christmas tree.
Apparently this war – I mean, these incidents have been breaking out for quite some time and I just failed to pick up on them:
The War On Hanukkah (Jared Goldberg/The Michigan Daily; Jan 11, 2007)
While Bill O’Reilly, John Gibson and everyone else on the Fox News Channel may be up in arms over the so-called “war on Christmas,” they conveniently forget about the war on Hanukkah. The war on Christmas may have been epitomized with greetings of “Happy Holidays” in place of “Merry Christmas,” but the war on Hanukkah is marked with actual violence.
Over the Hanukkah holiday, last month, menorahs in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Calif. were vandalized. A menorah, for those unaware of Jewish practices, is a candelabrum that serves as the symbol of the Jewish people. It usually has seven branches, but a nine-branch version is used for Hanukkah. The Sunnyvale menorah, placed in front of a Jewish center, was bent in half and its candles were stolen. The Mountain View menorah, an electronic version placed in front of a civic center, had its lights removed and wires ripped out.
Two more incidents were recorded in Texas. Near Houston, a Jewish resident videotaped a man drive by his house, exit his vehicle and destroy a Hanukkah bear on his property. In Fort Bend County, a menorah was completely destroyed while a nativity scene nearby was left completely unharmed.
The desecrations were reported on the East Coast as well. Two menorahs were obliterated in Massachusetts, along with three in New York and one in Pennsylvania.
Largely ignored by the national media and only covered by local press, these attacks demonstrate the undeniable: anti-Semitism is alive and well. There are two opposing popular myths regarding anti-Semitism. One is that it’s dead, while the other suggests there is a “new” version rampant among the extremist critics of Israel.
It should be obvious, however, that the old anti-Semitism, exemplified by cultural stereotypes, has not disappeared at all. While it may be taboo to call Jewish people cheap, evil and money-grubbing in public, negative stereotypes persist in private. Who on this campus hasn’t referred to or at least heard of the reference of the Jewish American Princess? Whitney Dibo explored the topic (That girl is such a JAP, 10/28/2005) when she noticed that in private lives, this ethnic and sexist slur against Jewish people continues. “The term is used so liberally it has lost the harshness of an ethnic slur,” she opined. As time has gone on, instead of disappearing, anti-Semitism has become more commonplace and accepted.
Anti-Semitism has simply gone below the surface. All it takes for it to bubble up again is a little agitation. While evangelicals like Pat Robertson and Billy Graham may be “great” friends of Israel, their true attitudes toward Jews are revealing. In the early 1970s, Graham was recorded in conversations with President Nixon at the White House saying that he believed Nixon needed to break the Jewish “stranglehold” on the media.
Let’s not forget Mel Gibson’s anti-semitic tirade when, after being arrested for drunk driving in July of last year, he proclaimed, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” We cannot make judgments on a new anti-Semitism if the old anti-Semitism is alive and well, as shown by recent vandalism of Jewish symbols and decorations.
While the neoconservatives love to use the term “Judeo-Christian” when they want to find someone to share blame for their disastrous policies, the truth is that there is nothing “Judeo” about the culture they claim to respect. Some of the neocons in the Bush Administration may be Jewish, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves – it’s the Christian Right that calls the shots. They may believe supporting the policies of Israel will expedite the second coming of Jesus, but when it comes to the Jews as a people, they either need to convert to Christianity or submit to the Christian Right’s will.
Jews are still the victims of an overwhelming number of hate crimes in this country. According to 2005 FBI hate crime statistics, of the 1,405 victims of a religion-based hate crime, 69.5 percent were Jews. Although they’re not in the same danger as in 1938, the simple fact remains that Jews are still seen as outsiders, criminals, usurpers and people to laugh at.
The “war on Christmas” may be nothing more than the demented fiction of Fox News pundits, but the war on Hanukkah – the result of a deeply ingrained anti-Semitism – is as real as the ruined menorahs left in its wake.
Dear Santa: Please don’t bring me anything this year. Really. Instead, I ask only that you take all the religious fanatics back with you to the North Pole and keep them there in complete isolation until they can politely settle all their differences. Thank you! (You can half a cookie now and the other half upon the completion of your mission. And please tell Rudolph there’s a BIG bonus waiting for him if he can light the way through THIS fog.)
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