I have a teeny, tiny, nearly-insignificant bit of new confidence that humanity might be worth saving.

I heard about the violence in Egypt as Muslims killed the Christians there in bombings.  What I did not hear on the news is how other Muslims came to the aid of those same Christians, even acting as human shields to protect them against more ( Read more... )

Whether the occasion of life is heaven or hell for you probably depends on which social strata you inhabit. Not to fret, though, because you always have God on your side to help you in your struggle (to climb up, or to keep others down).

As it turns out, God likes and dislikes the same people that you do. Interesting coincidence, eh? Researchers ( Read more... )

The internet connects society, and it permits the collection of huge amounts of data about people. You can be sure that companies are mining that data. I know only three cases where the results are shared back directly with the population base that contributes the raw data.

Today's example comes from a social dating website called OKcupid.com. ( Read more... )

I have a few female readers at this blog, and I wanted to make sure they all knew about this opportunity to display the supernatural power of their cleavage.  No, seriously.

We already know that the homosexuals are responsible for God allowing Americans to die at the hands of terrorists.  As it turns out, low necklines (and short shorts) are ( Read more... )

As it turns out, foeclan had a copy of "The End of Faith" in his room.  He's loaned it to me, and I've been reading it today.

How utterly depressing.  I thought I was already upset about Jesusites and other religious terrorists, but it gets worse when someone views it more objectively than I did and writes rebukes more succinctly than I did.  *sigh*  I ( Read more... )

I have inconsistencies of thought on the matter, so obviously I need to spend more time pondering the subject.  By my definition, a warrior is someone willing to die, not someone willing to kill.  I respect the warriors of peace.  What, though, do I call those who do both?  I think, in particular, of the Sacred Band of Thebes... the famous warrior ( Read more... )

I hope, when the time comes, that I have the presence of mind to escape. Failing that... I hope, when the time comes, that I have the bravery to die rather than kill. I'm not certain of my own pacifist leanings, but I can at least hope to be a better example of a thoughtful person than my attackers.

Some 15 years ago, my boss (on the political ( Read more... )

Monotheism is once again scaring me.

I'd heard about "The Family" recently, but kauko reminds me about it today.  They're a Christian group that teaches things like "Morality is for the little people" (rules of decency do not apply to those in power), "Jesus plus nothing" (meaning essentially the totalitarianism of Jesus-ites), and "Be more like Hitler ( Read more... )

My thanks to snousle for pointing out this quote in furrbear's thread:"As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion..."
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tripoli
Two-thirds of America's (then, only 32) senators were present for the vote on this 1797 treaty, and it passed unanimously.

( Read more... )

I've tried to keep up with reading LiveJournal during this last week, but I've been lax about writing either new material here or replies to other people. Mental distractions abound. I mentioned earlier that I might post some "iffy" material here, and... well, here's one of the topics now. I think that I have the right words and references to ( Read more... )