Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Christian extremists disrupt Hindu Senate invocation
Eh. I've got a cold. No, not from the Heinlein Centennial, but from meeting with a client on Tuesday, who informed me after I spent time in a small enclosed room with him going over some 100 year old maps that had it not been for our scheduled meeting, he'd not have come in to work. Charming. Thanks, guy.
Anyway, the other posts I'd been working on about the Centennial are on hold for a bit, until I recover. So, in the interests of keeping things moving without having to do a lot of work, I offer this from dKos / TPM:
Isn't that great? For the first time in history, a Hindu was delivering the invocation in the Senate this morning, only to have the thing disrupted by three Christian protestors who had to assert that Jesus! is the only true god. Let's hear it for that vaunted religious tolerance which we atheists are always told we are lacking. Sheesh.
Jim Downey
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Laws.
"But hey, they're not being inconsistent or anything...I'm sure that there's some obscure 4th century theologian who found a justification for 'interpreting' the Bible in a different way."
Actually, yes. The standard claim is that Christ completed the ceremonial laws - all the ritual and animal-sacrifice stuff. It wasn't exactly repealed, but there is no longer any need to enforce it, because Christ replaced it as the means of salvation.
Conveniently though, nowhere in the bible does it define which laws are ceremonial (And may be ignored) and which are moral (And so must be enforced). This leaves christians to really pick and choose which bits of the old testament they want to follow, by declaring the rest to be ceremonial.
Typically, christians declare the circumcision command, animal sacrifices, and all the dietary laws to be ceremonial. While they decide that the commands against homosexuality must be moral. The commands regarding mixed fibers get classed as ceremonial, while those forbidding idol-worship are classed as moral. There is no grounds for distinction at all there - no meta-law saying which parts are moral and which ceremonial. Its entirely up to the discression of church leaders and individual christians to follow those bits that 'feel right' and dismiss those that feel wrong.
There is some disagreement over the titheing laws... church leaders tend to say that the instruction to pay churches a considerable chunk of income is a moral law that all christians are obliged to follow, while church followers tend to declare it a ceremonial law that no longer needs to be obeyed. Hmm... I wonder why the disagreement? :>
"Misquoting Jesus"
A friend sent me this link to a review at Powell's Books of Bart Ehrman's book Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. I was thinking of doing a post about it, but in doing a little background checking found that the criticism of the book quickly descends into the sort of arcane "real theologians aren't confused by this" argument common when someone points to the problems inherent in Christian history & doctrine. Eh...why bother?
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
This God Guy
Is quite the flip flopper.
Death.
They are doing exactly as their religion demands. First commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Now, if you read on, it also says exactly what to do to all those who disobey. Execute them from their vile abomination idol-worship. The hindu isn't included in that, but those who invited him to pray? Bible is quite clear. They need to be killed.
So go on, interupting christians. Your holy book says what to do, very clearly, and explicitly. Its a direct order from God, and it tells you that those who would call themselves christianb but invite a hindu to pray on their behalf are guilty of a crime so great it demands they pay with their lives.
Its almost a shame that christians are so good at talking their way out of all those laws when it suits them.
Doncha just hate wussy Christians?
Yeah, and they even put up with their kids dissin' them and wearing mixed-fibre clothing, too.
But hey, they're not being inconsistent or anything...I'm sure that there's some obscure 4th century theologian who found a justification for 'interpreting' the Bible in a different way.
Jim Downey
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Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Congressional Prayer
Good. This is the kind of thing that promotes our way of thinking. I doubt the hecklers understand they are playing right into our hands.
In regards to beginning Congress sessions with a prayer each day, we atheists should petition for a moment of silence or the reading of a current scientific breakthrough once in a while, in respect for our views.