h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Cassockstan.

Surplicity.

<>

"Cassockstan" - ...I´d venture "Absurdistan", but that is copyrighted for my country since we have Chancelorette (imagine German Pom Poms waving here) Merkel.

Hypocritia

Biblobeltograd?

T'other day I came across this comment on the Irish Blasphemy Law:

"They create a crime where one of the basic elements of the crime is subjective outrage of particular people. So there's really no objective measure, and this can cause a disruption in the modern understanding of the relationship between religion and the public space of a liberal democracy."

--Lorraine Weinrib, a law professor at the University of Toronto

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/07/20/f-ireland-blasphemy-law.html

'subjective outrage'

"A leading Church of England Bishop has warned that Britain has become a ‘cold place’ for Christians because of the increasing number of controversial ‘equality’ laws."

http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=800

Note: "controversial ‘equality’ laws." only controversial if it stops you descriminating against certain sectors of society when you think you have a god-given right to descriminate against people.


"‘Britain can benefit from the manifestation of Christian belief just as much today as it did in 1834 when the slaves were liberated, but our laws must be fit for purpose."

Seems like they are saying: we freed the blacks so let us carry on victimising the gays...

Gosh, this site IS going to be fun!!!!

http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=798

"Pagan police officers who practise witchcraft have been allowed by the Home Office to establish the Pagan Police Association and given the right to take eight days off work a year to celebrate their ‘religious holidays’ including Halloween and the summer solstice."

"Mark Mullins, on behalf of CCFON, comments:

‘We are seeing the result of a society that has lost its cohesion once provided by the Christian faith. It is worrying that PC Pardy is willing to use spells presumably against other officers to gain promotion."

Presumably, he doesn't find it worrying when he prays to his god to get the upper hand on someone or something?

The regular statement by sports people thanking god for helping them win etc. I think anyone who says that should have the medal taken away as they are admitting they didn't do it by themeselves.

Yeah, I hate it when people use contraversy as a smoke screen to hide the nastiness or more likely absence of thaought that is at the heart of their argument. That equality laws have a "controversy" drummed up aorund them has shag all to do with anything. Seatbelt laws were crontraversial as were decimalisaton and equal pay acts but that oesnt make them bad things.

Right, bb. "A citizen has the right to exit his car via the windshield whenever he wants to." "Drugs are harmless - I´ve taken everything and the little green men still visit regularly" Et al.

CCFON is a weird place. I didn't think such people existed in Britain.

TRiG.

For the 'religion flies you into buildings' file:

'A Bolivian religious fanatic hijacked a passenger jet from the resort city of Cancun after receiving a divine revelation, selecting the date 9-9-09 because it is the satanic number 666 turned upside down, Mexico's security secretary said Wednesday.'

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,548540,00.html




somehow it's sort of amusing and surreal to see this on Fox News, the mouthpiece of radical, fundamentalist, apocalyptic, rapture-ready, 'persecuted' Christians of America.

Wonder who were briefly detained as the police attempted to arrest the loony's three accomplices...

Taliesin, no banter here - better to immobilize a few too many and say you´re sorry later, than risk to explain why somebody left free shot innocent bystanders. Sorry if I sound very nonPC, but I have been around policemen and MP people, and I would not have their job for all the tea in China.

Hi Pit

no banter, no problem. I imagine the police followed SOP and detained everyone until they'd sorted things out

I've worked in the justice system as a prison guard, and as a court officer, so have had a good deal of experience with criminals, crazies and law enforcement. I wouldn't want to be a cop, either.

~~~~

Meanwhile, for the 'everybody must get stoned' file:

Indonesia's province of Aceh has passed a new law making adultery punishable by stoning to death

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8254631.stm

Sounds like a really fun place

Taliesin,

>I imagine the police followed SOP and detained everyone until they'd sorted things out<

In other places this might start a flame war. Hootoo, however, seems to have a higher than average percentage of members who have experience in dealing with real people - be it as soldiers, police, wardens, ER doctors, whatever (croupier in my case)

Get the situation under control. You can, later on, to the survivors, so make sure there are as many as possible.

, Warden.

One of the reasons I hate religion:

"We feel we can't pray directly to God but we use the saints as intermediaries on our behalf to ask our favours. That's why we pray a lot to saints.

"It's using them to speak to God on our behalf because we don't feel worthy enough to speak to him directly."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8307697.stm

I'm not clear on what your issue with this is, Taliesin. Would you mind explaining?

It surprises me the way the saints were treated while they were alive and then after they are dead they make them holy.Just look at the cases of Saint Bernadette and Saint Joan to name but two.If their lives were so divine why were they treated so badly.

There's a great deal to take issue with, if one ponders the implications. But I'm irritated in particular by this:

'.. we don't feel worthy enough...'

It's another example of how religious belief tends to devalue individuality, and thus humanity.

Self-doubt, guilt and fear lie at the root of religion, but are not, imo, desireable foundations for a healthy society

~~~


It's also blindingly stupid to believe in a deity who, with malice aforethought, perversely creates beings so worthless; and so foolish they attempt to petition him