QuIRP
- Just Say NO to Faith Based Thinking. Garbage in is Garbage out.
Quality Information is Religions' Problem. Unvalidated text is not intrinsically trustworthy. This blog presents real time evidence of outcomes derived from Faith Based Thinking.
[20100131] The blog is still refusing mail from gmail. I've stopped the forwarders. When the mail server stops trying to deliver mail (probably by the 5th). I'll try another strategy.
I'm trying to find the equilibrium between Google News Alerts, Gmail and Blogger to permit automated posting of Google News Alerts to the blog so I can have them for reference and work on other things. My goal is not to focus on one news topic, but to have the varied topics in the news feeds automatically posted in the blog daily or weekly because I can capture more unique data that way.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2009)
When stimulating electrodes were inserted in the hippocampal brain slice the spontaneous activity in the mossy cells remembered which electrode had been activated. The memory in vitro lasted about 10 seconds, about as long as many types of working memories studied in people.
...
"This is the first time anyone has stored information in spontaneously active pieces of mammalian brain tissue. It is probably not a coincidence that we were able to show this memory effect in the hippocampus, the brain region most associated with human memory," said Strowbridge.
...
Strowbridge's group is now looking into how much information they can store in the hippocampus.
... "It took us four years to be able to reproducibly store two bits of information for 10 seconds" says Larimer. "Our findings should progress faster now that we know what to look for and have found the brain circuit that actually holds the memory."
Africa.Com Forms of gender-based violence in Ghana include, but are not limited to, domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment and female genital mutilation among others. Some gender advocates have argued that since the success of any democratic process presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society, it is necessary that women are empowered to see themselves as equal partners in that endeavor. Violence against women who are branded witches is reported from all regions but it is more visible in the northern parts of Ghana. In these parts, old women considered to be witches are often violently driven from their communities and homes and forced to take refuge in "witch camps". They lose their inheritance and their livelihoods as a result and become destitute.
Smithsonian.com
Ah, the homeowners association, which dictates everything from the shape of your shrubs to the color of your house. Such meticulously planned communities are generally thought to be a modern phenomenon, but a recent archaeological excavation near England's Hamme-on-Rye unearthed a 14th-century document that suggests otherwise:
A covenant set to hand this Twelfth Day of June in the year of our Lord 1365 between the Manor by the Meadow Association of Freeholders and the owner in fee symple. Whereas the owner hath entered into this covenant in order to enjoye the especial liffestyle offered by the Manor and to avoid all unnecessary discord, the owner doth hereby acknowledge and acquiesce to certaine rules to ensure the faithful and serene enjoyment of the properties hereby governed, to witte:
... Clinic
Manor doth operate a clinic at the barbershoppe to provide physic and the healing artes to all residents. Bledeing, leeches and the treatment of excess humours are available upon request. Herbes and medicines will be administered to those possessed of the supplementary potion plan. (Please note that neither exorcism nor treatment for curses is available on site.)
Irish Times .Com
There are profound philosophical and practical problems with this version of multiculturalism. Philosophically, it ends up eating its own tail, as respect for one "identity" ends up canceling out another. If female genital mutilation is a protected part of an African identity, what happens to women's rights? If it's okay for imams to preach hatred of homosexuals, is it okay for homosexuals to teach hatred of Muslims? And who gets to define a "tradition" anyway? (Usually, of course, middle-aged or elderly men in dresses.)
Most obviously, of course, the purveyors of this ideology in the religious sphere don't actually believe it themselves. With a very few exceptions, religions are founded on the idea of a unique and superior access to the mind of God. The relativism that they sometimes adopt is merely strategic. If the Catholic bishops actually believed the stuff that they are currently spouting – that everybody's faith or lack of faith has the same status in a lovely world of pluralism or diversity – they would be Bahais or Unitarians.
Physorg.com
The 150 word neatly written fragment - discovered by Dr Renate Smithuis from The University of Manchester - describes a ceremony to dispel the evil spirit of Nissim Ben Bunya from his widow, Qamar Bat Rahma.
Dr Smithuis thinks the Hebrew document was most likely written in the eighteenth century and probably originated from Egypt or Palestine.
The fragment provides what is likely to be unique evidence of the prayer ritual's actual use in a synagogue.
It is one of the 11,000 manuscript fragments held at The University of Manchester's John Rylands Library - rescued from a 1000-year old storeroom - or Genizah - at the Ben Ezra synagogue in Cairo.
The fragment contains the second part of a prayer ritual in which the husband - or husband-to-be - of a widow recites an exorcism prayer, to which the other men gathered in the synagogue respond with a similar prayer.
It's a ritual that is supposed to imbue the participant with health and luck. The age of the participants is under two years of age, and Indian authorities are looking to shut it down.
Nepali Times
In November Jug Chaudhary, a 30-year-old mother of four children, was beaten up by her family members and paraded naked around a village in Kailali.
They dragged her out from her home, beat her mercilessly and then forced her to eat human excreta. Her mother-in-law's brother had just passed away. She had been accused of putting a spell on him that caused his death. When Chaudhary's husband, a labourer in India, returned the couple went to the police station but could not file a complaint. "They said it was a personal matter, it should be solved in the community." Jug Chaudhary did not receive justice. She is living in the same village, in the same Dalit community as those who accused and assaulted her.
"Please don't throw me in that briar patch!"
I'm going to feature you over in the sidebar. I'm even going to give a label for quick reference.
Please feel free to try your best to bring the blog down. You only make my case for me and drive my ranking up!
You silly person, you'll probably be the only one commenting.
*:O)
GOATS ON FIRE! YEE HAH!
And away we go!
thank you, thank you, thank you!
Philly.Com It's often been said that one should never argue over religion.
Just such an argument led Christian Hernandez to use a sawed-off rifle to fatally shoot another man in the head in May, according to a statement he gave to Philadelphia homicide detectives. Yesterday, Hernandez, 18, was held for trial on first-degree murder by Municipal Judge Patrick F. Dugan.
Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on the Yoruba beliefs and traditions that originated in West Africa, with Roman Catholic elements added.
Believers of Santeria, which grew out of the slave trade in Cuba, seek to build bonds with powerful spirits through the use of drums, dance, song and animal sacrifice while worshiping, according to various sources.
Freethought Nation
Once again, not a good year for women around the world. Several times this year it was reported that female US soldiers had a probability and fear of being raped. Yesterday it was reported in Egypt that Muslim gangs of men were raping Christian minorities. It breaks my heart. I sincerely hope that 2010 will be safer and religious war free for the entire world.
Happy New Year and thank you.
Link
First of all I love my beautiful Philippines. Second, the islands have not developed through recent decades like other Asian countries have. Why? Superstition is rampant in the islands. There are faith healers stealing sick peoples money. The Catholic North will not let the Muslim south govern their own land and people (that is what that war is about) and they are still fighting communism and pirates. Thanks for posting the article, it shows that my people are still steeped in superstition. FYI there is a small atheist community of bloggers and freethinker groups representing, and I do mean small. thanks again.
Here is a problem solving procedure that I've made from a lot of different ones that I've researched over the years. I never found one comprehensive and general enough to use for training new technicians in a wide range of troubleshooting skills so I made this one which I have hanging in my office (in pieces with tape). You can call it a critical thinking guide if you want but I prefer "Analytical Thinking". Try it out, apply it to your religion, but be careful! I did and look what happened! Give me some feedback. You can find another copy of it in the sidebar.
6minutes Former directors of an evangelical Christian charity have admitted to falsely claiming their residential counselling program offered professional support from GPs and other health professionals.
A ruling from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has declared this claim to be a misrepresentation, saying the now-disbanded Mercy Ministries only allowed access to health professionals at the direct request from residents who were being treated for eating disorders, self harm, and the effects of drug, alcohol, physical and sexual abuse.
The 18-month ACCC investigation originated from complaints from former residents that exorcism and prayer were used to treat serious health problems.
Through a range of advertising the organisation also claimed to offer its services for free, however the ACCC found most residents were required to sign over their Centrelink payments for the duration of the treatment.
Mail Online
When I saw the tear-stained face of Hanim Goren, the mother of 15-year-old Muslim schoolgirl Tulay, who was murdered by her own father (I refuse to dignify the crime with the word 'honour'), I'm afraid all politically correct niceties and notions of acceptance, tolerance and inclusion went flying straight out of the window.
Social workers, too, are terrified of upsetting people who are clearly monsters, because of their race and religion. This was obviously the case in the murder of Victoria Climbie when socalled professionals failed to interfere, dazzled by respect for something they mistook as 'culture' there's an overused word if ever there was one) when in fact it was just plain old 'cruelty'.
... The policing of crimes that are 'alien' to our culture (there is also the nasty practice of female genital mutilation) needs to be far tougher, if the training video shown to officers who deal with such matters is anything to go by.
I wish, when I was stopped for speeding, that I had been treated with such care for my feelings.
The Star
Prosperidad, Philippines - Tribal gunmen refused to hand over 47 hostages on Sunday as a four-day kidnap drama in the southern Philippine jungle took a bizarre twist with demands for animal sacrifices.
"The negotiations are in stand-off," said Alfredo Plaza, a government spokesman for the negotiating team.
AFP
LUSAKA — A former Zambian archbishop Saturday said he wanted the Roman Catholic Church to pay him pension for the 23 years he worked in Italy, after he was defrocked for consecrating married men as bishops. Emmanuel Milingo, 79, who has practised exorcism and advocates optional celibacy for priests, told the private Radio Phoenix station he was still a fully ordained Catholic cleric.
Daily Nation
Unscrupulous non-governmental organisations have flocked to the Kerio Valley area and are soliciting cash from donors on the pretext of fighting female genital mutilation (FGM).
More than 300 girls have undergone the dangerous rite of passage in the region this year despite intensified anti-FGM campaigns by the government and religious groups.
At the same time, more than 100 girls rescued from forceful circumcision in Marakwet District have undergone an alternative rite of passage.
Express buzz
BALANGIR: Acting Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court Justice I M Quddusi today issued show-cause notice to the Home Secretary, the Endowments Secretary, the Balangir Collector, the Sub-Collector, the SP and the DSP regarding animal sacrifice at Sulia festival at Khairguda this year.
Hearing a petition filed by Sulia Sanskar Manch (SSM) joint convener Debashis Biswal, Justice Quddusi directed the officials concerned to explain how they had allowed the tribals to observe the festival by sacrificing 10,000 animals.
Kurt Westergaard sheltered in a safe room with his grandchild as the attacker raged outside. Photograph: Preben Hupfeld/EPA A Somali man has been charged with trying to murder a Danish artist whose cartoons of the prophet Muhammad sparked a storm of ...
IPS KATHMANDU, Dec 23 (IPS) - Just 40 kms away from the capital Kathmandu, in Thasingtole, Lalitpur District, Kalli Kumari B.K., 46, a local Dalit woman, was mercilessly beaten up. She was accused of being a 'witch', imprisoned in a shed and forced to eat her own excreta
The headmistress of a local school along with a local shaman accused her of practicing witchcraft and tortured her for two days.
"They kept hitting my head and my bruises. They fed human excreta and then they took a blade out and started cutting my skin. I couldn't bear it anymore and was forced to admit that that I am a witch so they would stop giving me so much pain," said B.K. in a public forum here in Kathmandu
Coastweek.com NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Since Kenya outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM) in 2001, the vice, however, still goes on almost unabated.
And much more so despite the various campaigns that have been fronted by the government, organizations and individuals to eradicate this human rights violation against women and girls. It is estimated that more than one third of the women in the world are circumcised and in some ethnic communities, almost each and every young woman is subjected to the cut.
But what is even more worrying is that what was once practiced traditionally by ethnic groups is taking a new turn and now parents and health experts are collaborating in this cruel act on their girls and women.
Expressbuzz
BALANGIR: In a major setback to anti-sacrifice campaign, animals in droves faced the axe during the annual Sulia festival at Khairguda in Balangir district today. Cocking a snook at the district administration, the tribals went on butchering animals much to the disappointment of Sulia Samskar Manch (SSM), an outfit spearheading a campaign for curbing animal sacrifice at Sulia.
This year the tribals sacrificed animals at three main seats of Sulia Pitha. Earlier, owing to some reform measures taken up by SSM there was no sacrifice of animals at least at the main site.
This is a response I made to a Christian on the "Problem of Suffering".
The problem of suffering is really a problem of victimization, where gods 'gift' of free will enables the stronger to victimize the weak, with god allowing it in some of the most horrible ways imaginable, and Christians blame humans for it. Effectively blaming the victim. One persons free will impedes another. Obviously a SUBOPTIMAL design.
A lot of the 'sins' are committed because they are LIKED or are PLEASURABLE for people. This is a reaction that is built into people, conversely like the nausea reaction people get around vomit. If God had built the urge to vomit into people when they think of having sex with children the there wouldn't be so many church authorities wanting to molest children.
Guardian Fifa was silent yesterday about a proposal to slaughter a cow at every 2010 World Cup venue in a blessing ritual. The Makhonya Royal Trust, a body to promote traditional South African cultures, has called on World Cup organisers to permit his organisation to "slaughter a beast" at a cultural ceremony in each of the stadiums ahead of the tournament
This Project has been moved here, please follow the link and resume at the new location.
This is a long term project intended as a collaboration with theists using shared documents with diagrams to Analyze the Concept of the Atonement as much as possible to assess its coherence.
[The questionnaire in the lower part of the article was an attempt to define some terms. Feel free to try your hand at filling in the questionnaire in the bottom portion and join the discussion. I'd like to get feedback from Adherents to other religions, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, etc] So now I ask you, how can God show any mercy at all if he is required by his own perfect state to be 100% just?
One of the theist commenters said The atonement gives God the ability to have justice completely fulfilled while allowing him to be merciful. If we repent of our sins, the justice has already been fulfilled by Christ so God can fully forgive the transgression without the need for added punishment. You don't have to use the atonement, free agency, but it is available for all. Without the atonement it is impossible to have a perfect God.
so then Harlan Quinn said...
I'm trying to understand your answer to your question, so below I've tried to "unpack" it for closer inspection.
would you mind correcting and filling in the missing pieces please?
=====
God shows mercy
and is 100% just
because he is required by, or is a consequence of his perfect state
Gods perfect state depends on the atonement.
* The atonement is defined as _________________
* Mercy is defined as _________________
* The atonement is merciful because _____________
* The atonement is 100% Just because ____________
* Justice is defined as ____________________
if we repent of our sins
AND
the atonement has been done
There is no need for added punishment
* Normally there is a need for punishment because _________________
* Normally punishment for our sins is ___________________
* Our sins are described as _________________
* Repenting of our sins is not sufficient to fulfill the criteria for punishment because _________________
A Toronto woman accused of posing as a witch in order to defraud a lawyer of tens of thousands of dollars has made her first appearance in court.
Vishwantee Persaud appeared through a video link for a brief preliminary hearing at a Toronto courtroom on Thursday morning.
She has yet to retain a lawyer, so her case was adjourned until Jan. 12. She remains in custody.
None of Persaud's family members was in the courtroom. Neither was the man she is alleged to have defrauded, Noel Daley, a veteran criminal lawyer.
Persaud was arrested earlier this month for allegedly defrauding Daley of more than $100,000. Police said Persaud told Daley that she came from a long line of witches and could do tarot-card readings.
The Independent Hundreds of British schoolgirls are facing the terrifying prospect of female genital mutilation (FGM) over the Christmas holidays as experts warn the practice continues to flourish across the country. Parents typically take their daughters back to their country of origin for FGM during school holidays, but The Independent on Sunday has been told that "cutters" are being flown to the UK to carry out the mutilation at "parties" involving up to 20 girls to save money. The police face growing criticism for failing to prosecute a single person for carrying out FGM in 25 years; new legislation from 2003 which prohibits taking a girl overseas for FGM has also failed to secure a conviction.
The New York Times
The U.N. report, based on 687 interviews conducted by investigators in Conakry and elsewhere in late November and early December, corroborated witness reports that more than 150 people were killed or went missing during a rally.
At least 109 girls and women were subjected to rape, genital mutilation or kidnapping, with hundreds more subjected to torture and abuse, the report said.
Asked by a legislator what France, the former colonial ruler of Guinea, was doing to ensure that these findings resulted in prosecutions, Kouchner said that the International Criminal Court had taken on the issue of its own accord.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — Scientists once thought of tool use as a defining feature of humans. That's until examples of tool use came in from other primates, along with birds and an array of other mammals. Now, a report in the December 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, adds an octopus to the growing list of tool users.
... "There is a fundamental difference between picking up a nearby object and putting it over your head as protection versus collecting, arranging, transporting (awkwardly), and assembling portable armor as required," said Mark Norman of the Museum Victoria in Australia.
Huffington Post The election battle leading up to Saturday's balloting was marked by fierce campaigning and anti-gay rhetoric. Parker is a lesbian who has never made a secret or issue of her sexual orientation. If she wins, Houston will become the largest U.S. city to ever have an openly gay mayor.
Irish Times .Com
There are profound philosophical and practical problems with this version of multiculturalism. Philosophically, it ends up eating its own tail, as respect for one “identity” ends up cancelling out another. If female genital mutilation is a protected part of an African identity, what happens to women’s rights? If it’s okay for imams to preach hatred of homosexuals, is it okay for homosexuals to teach hatred of Muslims? And who gets to define a “tradition” anyway? (Usually, of course, middle-aged or elderly men in dresses.) Most obviously, of course, the purveyors of this ideology in the religious sphere don’t actually believe it themselves. With a very few exceptions, religions are founded on the idea of a unique and superior access to the mind of God. The relativism that they sometimes adopt is merely strategic. If the Catholic bishops actually believed the stuff that they are currently spouting – that everybody’s faith or lack of faith has the same status in a lovely world of pluralism or diversity – they would be Bahais or Unitarians.
"There has long been interest in the use of newborn neurobehavior to forecast the future development of children," said Dr. Lester. "Many babies are considered 'at risk' for having behavioral, emotional or cognitive problems, especially as they reach school age, because of prenatal factors such as prematurity or substance exposure and postnatal factors like poverty or violence."
The Oregonian
The Beagleys belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies solely on spiritual healing and rejects doctors and medicine. The hearing today in Clackamas County Circuit Court will preview some of the prosecution and defense arguments but won't delve into medical evidence.
Attorneys also will revisit issues that arose during the Carl and Raylene Worthington case. The Worthingtons, also Followers of Christ, were accused of manslaughter in the death of their 15-month-old daughter, Ava.
... Both cases involve questions about the rights of parents to treat their children with faith healing and allegations that church members are targeted for prosecution because of their beliefs.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2009) — The conversations neurons have as they form and recall memories have been decoded by Medical College of Georgia scientists.
The breakthrough in recognizing in real time the formation and recollection of a memory opens the door to objective, thorough memory studies and eventually better therapies, said Dr. Joe Tsien, neuroscientist and co-director of MCG's Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute. He is corresponding author on the study published Dec. 16 in PLoS ONE.
CBS Magalhaes told detectives the woman would enter into trances and give him commands to insert the needles, police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said. The stepfather told police the rituals happened every few days for a full month, with him inserting several needles during each session.
The lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, paid to have the needles blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, Santana said.
Authorities initially estimated the boy had as many as 50 needles were inside the boy. After batteries of tests were performed, doctors now believe there are closer to 30 needles inside, but they don't know for sure.
theage.com.au IT IS because the Catholic Church opposes embryonic stem cell research that xenotransplantation remains the only option for many researchers and sufferers of serious diseases (Letters, 12/12).
Such research offers the potential to one day be able to grow tissue to replace diseased organs, hence curing many of these diseases and significantly reducing the number of animals killed for medical research.
We can only hope that eventually religious organisations will stop using their interpretations of ancient texts to hold back new forms of scientific research. In the meantime, the suffering of human and animals continues unabated.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2009) — Individuals taking a medication to treat depression may experience changes in their personality separate from the alleviation of depressive symptoms, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Two personality traits, neuroticism and extraversion, have been related to depression risk, according to background information in the article. Individuals who are neurotic tend to experience negative emotions and emotional instability, whereas extraversion refers not only to socially outgoing behavior but also to dominance and a tendency to experience positive emotions. Both traits have been linked to the brain's serotonin system, which is also targeted by the class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
BBC
A man who encouraged his teenage son to marry and rape his 12-year-old cousin has been jailed.
The 54-year-old organised a sham Muslim ceremony between his son, then 16, and the girl at his home in Woolwich, south-east London, in March last year.
...
Scotland Yard child abuse detectives then discovered several relatives of the boy had urged him to rape his cousin.
Guardian.co.tt
The bill lists the following as tax-exempt: 1. land used exclusively as churches/cemeteries;
2. school buildings, offices, playgrounds, UWI, COSTATT, UTT, state land; 3. Land used for educational, philantrophic/religious purposes, or owned/occupied by charitable institutions;
4. land used for public hospitals and relief of the poor, whether publicly/privately-owned;
5. land owned/occupied by a foreign government/international organisation of which T&T is a member.
6. Landowners have 21 days in which to file objections to taxed amounts.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 10, 2009)
"We were able to show that children who are exposed to tobacco smoke prenatally and during the first years of life have a higher risk of developing abnormal behavioral symptoms when they are of school age," said Dr. Joachim Heinrich of the Institute of Epidemiology at Helmholtz Zentrum München. "Moreover, it makes a difference whether the child was exposed to tobacco smoke first after birth or was already confronted with it during prenatal development."
This year, crime has manifested in a number of ways, the most prominent of which is human sacrifice. In September, the anti-sacrifice trafficking taskforce chief, Moses Binoga, said out of the 21 people murdered between January and August, 13 were juveniles.
Binoga, who was issuing guidelines to the public to curb ritual murders, said the Police had arrested 91 suspects since January, 32 of whom had been taken to court.
He said most of the victims of child sacrifice have not been under the care of their biological parents and that the killers take advantage of the laxity of the caretakers. Among these cases is that of a prominent city tycoon, Kato Kajubi, who is facing trial in Masaka High Court over child sacrifice.
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN)
Two Shiite pilgrims were killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Saturday afternoon, the latest strike targeting people marking Ashura, one of the most important annual holy periods for Shiite Muslims across the globe.
Eight other people were wounded in the strike, which occurred in the New Baghdad district of southeastern Baghdad, Interior Ministry officials said.
The incident comes amid a large troop presence...to protect Shiite pilgrims from attacks. Hundreds of thousands of the pilgrims are expected in Baghdad and Karbala for the commemoration, which reaches its peak over the next 24 hours.
The period commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed who was killed in battle in Karbala in 680, one of the events that helped create the schism between Sunnis and Shiites, the two main Muslim religious movements.
From Saturday evening until Sunday in Karbala and Baghdad, Shiite pilgrims will be chanting, beating their breasts in penance, cutting themselves with daggers or swords and whipping themselves in synchronized moves until next morning.
Thisdayonline.com
The young man, who yesterday night attempted to ignite an explosive device aboard a North-West Airlines flight going from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan in the United States has been identified as Abdul Farouk Umar Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former First Bank chairman, who just retired from the bank's board a fortnight ago. The older Mutallab... was said to have noticed the extreme nature of the boy's religious belief and has taken several measures to tame him. The suspect, Abdulfarouk Muttalab who is an engineering student at the University College, London had been noted for his extreme views on religion since his secondary school days at the British International School, Lome, Togo.
At the secondary school, he was known for preaching about Islam to his school mates and he qwas popularly called ëAlfaà , a local coinage for Islamic scholar. After his secondary school, the young man, family sources said, once relocated to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from where he declared to his family members that he did not want to have anything to do with any of them again.
While I'm glad nothing happened to the Pope on a personal level, logically, they should get rid of security and let faith handle it. It would be like putting his money where his mouth is. If God wants a Pope, he'll provide one, right?
LAtimes.com
Father Federico Lombardi, the pope's spokesman, said it's not realistic to think the Vatican can ensure 100% security for the pontiff because he is regularly surrounded by tens of thousands of people for his weekly audiences, services, papal greetings and other events.
"It seems that they intervened at the earliest possible moment in a situation in which 'zero risk' cannot be achieved," he said of Vatican security officials. They will nonetheless review the episode and "try to learn from experience," Lombardi said.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2009) — Evidence of sophisticated, human behavior has been discovered by Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers as early as 750,000 years ago -- some half a million years earlier than has previously been estimated by archaeologists.
The sacrifices of the Bible were offered not only to atone for sins but also as free will offerings to celebrate some joyous event, and as holiday offerings for the three biblical pilgrim festivals of Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost) and Sukkot (Tabernacles). Each of these three holidays was called, in Hebrew, a hag. The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca called the Haj takes it name from this word.
..
Some theologians consider such animal sacrifices spiritually primitive and in general, I, along with every single animal, agree with them. Although animal sacrifice is arguably the oldest religious ritual on earth, it's based upon a very dubious belief--that the death of an animal can correct your own moral failings.
... The rabbis introduced a daring change in Jewish worship - replacing every sacrifice with a prayer from a newly created prayer book. The prayer times were the same times as the sacrifice times, but no blood was spilled.
...
This change was made necessary by historical events but had enormous impact on Judaism and the newly emerging religion of Christianity. Surrogate atonement through animal sacrifice was basically abandoned in favor of the direct and ethically superior command of confession and personal apology to anyone you had hurt. Sins were human acts that needed to be fixed by human actions, inspired, of course, by God's commands to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Inter religious marriages are very common among the people, and these relationships work very well. The country's constitution is monogamous although polygamy is acceptable here. Female genital mutilation is being practiced equally by Moslems and Christians alike. Traditional beliefs go side by side with religion, even among Christians. Tribalism/ racism are on the rise but the nation unites as one people to protect their country. Guineans are known to segregate the 'slaves'/ griot (praise singers) from the upper class. No matter one’s status in life, the cast system affects a lot of people. But most people do get along. I have made Guinea my home for the past 12 years. I’ve witnessed many internal problems escalate, only to dissipate quietly. It's a blessing.
“Those underimmunized popu- lations are the ones that get diseases,” said Dr. Peter Boehm, a pediatrician at Mosaic Medical Bend.
“Overall, community protection is going up among the young ones,” Young said. “Religious exemption data doesn't tell us specifically which shots (are not given), so we don't know where the vulnerabilities are.”
www.newswithviews.com, Rev. Ted Pike
"He enthusiastically agrees with my explanation of why Christian America is losing our God-given freedoms and what can be done to redeem them.
...
In my discussion with Coach Daubenmire, we arrive at new, workable, and biblically sound answers and solutions. But they are definitely not what you will hear in the mainstream of either left or right. Nevertheless, now more than ever, telling the whole, undiminished truth and acting upon it is the only effective way to take back America.
...
In the same way, we can see the insanity of attempting to hold back an extremely complicated social and geopolitical conspiracy by only providing half the truth. No wonder we are losing!"
“More than 1,000 have been arrested since 2008. These include witchdoctors, businessmen and women, hired killers, members of the clergy, some police officers (released on bail), parents and relatives of the victims. Hitherto, only seven have been convicted and sentenced to death by hanging [including three] for the killing of a 14-year-old boy. This has not yet been implemented, as President Jakaya Kikwete has yet to sign the execution orders,” Ntetema told ISN Security Watch.
Volunteer!
If you'd like to help out with news stories, the method we use here is very easy and takes about 10 minutes or less per news story. The stories are found automatically and sent to us, then we format them using a template and then email them to the blog.
The blog treats sacred text as data in a database. It cross-checks sacred text against principles and data from the following fields of study listed below.
I will write at least one researched "Featured" article a month. When I do that, I'll put it and related content in the months Featured Presentations group on the right. News articles are added to the main page daily.
Structure
I will be changing some of the sidebar elements to become 'drop-down'. Obviously this takes time away from content, but it will make the appearance less cluttered.
Notes
Why the pseudonym?
I use a pseudonym, which I change from time to time, to try to avoid the stalker problem that seems to result from reasoned criticism of Religion. My new pseudonym better represents my personality; Knowledgeable and light hearted.
Do some articles look familiar?
This blog has been constructed from material that I've contributed to other blogs over the years.
Why link to Wikipedia?
I link to Wikipedia liberally not because it's authoritative, but because it's a good place to start research and its mostly accurate. I occasionally edit Wikipedia.
Why Link to ScienceDaily.com?
I link to ScienceDaily.com because it demonstrates in real time the superiority of the scientific method in acquiring Quality Information and Knowledge. Science isn't about debunking religions, its about improving our quality of life using the resources at hand. If religions can't keep up, then they need a better strategy.
Why All the News Posts?
I track and post news articles to sample and display in real time the effect that religious and faith based decision making has on the world.
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Prayer Free Problem Solving Procedure
Over the years I've collected problem solving strategies and blended them to make this one which I have hanging in my office (in pieces with tape). Printable version
Define:
If you can't explain it clearly, you don't understand it yourself. Talk about it with other people. Engaging your speech in your thinking will help you understand it better.
* Describe specifically what we are trying to solve.
* How many are affected?
* How should we expect it to work?
|_Why should we expect it to work like that?
* Do I have all the information?
* How can I restate the problem?
* Restate the problem as a question.
* What does everything have in common?
* What are the differences?
* What is the most important thing?
* Where does it come from?
* Where does it go to?
Brainstorm:
Write things down, make lists, draw pictures. This "extends" your brain and lets other people read your mind.
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