There are few things I enjoy eating more than the crispy skin of a freshly roasted pig. Have you tried it?
The occasion was a family baptism. My new niece Lianna was baptized into the Catholic church in a ceremony which included about 20 of her Godparents. What followed was a 10 hour banquet featuring some of the best foods imaginable. I love being part of a Filipino family.
A local pastor was arrested Christmas Eve on gun charges. Johnny Coleman of Alexandria is charged with two counts of carrying a concealed weapon.The incident started with a dispute at the Mister Spotless Car Wash in Cold Spring, when Coleman says he was cut off by another driver. That driver claims he saw Coleman loading a handgun, saying someone could get shot over the situation.
Police found two guns in Coleman's briefcase when he was arrested. Coleman works for Christ Baptist Church in Cold Spring. It was started by former members of First Baptist Church of Cold Spring after suspicions arose that former pastor Larry Davis was improperly using church money.
Coleman was released on his own recognizance.
I can sympathize. I once lost it at a car wash in France when a rude driver cut in line ahead of me. Did I resort to a handgun? No, I used bad french to cuss out a Frenchman who used bad English to respond in kind. I don't remember who won. However, I am sure nobody was killed or arrested.
It's raining here in Southern California. Rain is a good thing I guess. Only, I wish it did not rain on my weekends. No disc golf makes Mojoey a sad man.
Since I'm stuck inside, I figured it was time to update the blogroll. I added another five blogs today, including a new blog called I traded my soul for happiness. The author has been kind enough to provide an introduction.
In her own words:
The goal of my blog is to map my trip from theism to rational thought. I want to be a number, in that I want to add to the number of atheists coming out and telling their story. I hope to change the way theists think about us, especially regarding morals. The more they hear that atheists aren't eating babies, the better. Ultimately I want to speak to myself at the age of seventeen. I want to speak to that brainwashed teenager that's trolling the atheists blogs looking for answers while putting up a fight at the same time. I was looking for atheists to learn about them when I was young, and never found that strong atheist community with the answers I was looking for. I plan to do my best to be that example I was so desperately searching for.
Drop in and say hi.
Falcon Davis used his job as a Youth Pastor to pursue his real passion, 14-year old girls.
Augusta, Ga. -- A youth pastor is arrested on child molestation charges.
Authorities say 36-year-old Falcon Davis, of North Augusta, admitted to having sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl.
Detectives tell WJBF-TV News Channel 6 the alleged victim is a church member and part of a youth group at Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ Apostolic
Source: Augusta Church's Youth Pastor Arrested - News - Augusta, GA
The interesting aspect of this case was no background check, no oversight, and no accountability. In fact, "Bishop" Sylvester Norwood does not see his friends arrest as a problem.
Bishop Sylvester Norwood, Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ Apostolic, “In my mind they're allegations. Whether they're true or not, I don't know.”
Bishop Sylvester Norwood says the arrest of his personal friend, and youth Pastor, Falcon Davis is just that, and nothing more.
Bishop Norwood, "Personally, I don't take them very seriously."
Renita Crawford, "You don't take them seriously?"
Bishop Norwood, "Not at this point, because they're allegations. Until the investigation is over we won't know the whole story.”
Except for the whole "Falcon Davis admitted to the relationship" thing. That would make it a little more serious than an allegation. There is something about an admission of guilt that makes it much more serious.
It is the little things that make me smile. Like a lawyer, politico and a pastor busted for using craigslist to score prostitutes.
Three prominent men caught up in an online prostitution sting in St. Paul have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.
Timothy Droogsma, a former spokesman for Gov. Arne Carlson and U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, pleaded guilty Thursday to engaging in prostitution.
Mark Kevin Johnson, a pastor at the time of his arrest, and Robert Daniel Rasmus, an attorney and former Hennepin County prosecutor, pleaded guilty last year to engaging in prostitution and offering to hire a prostitute, respectively.
When St. Paul police started getting complaints about ads on craigslist, the vice unit began sting operations. Police arrested about 50 people - both prostitutes and johns - between May and the fall.
All three men received similar sentences - fines, community service, an order to go to "John school" - and the charges will be dismissed after one year if they follow the judge's orders and don't get in trouble for similar offenses.
Source: TwinCities.com - Politico, pastor and lawyer plead guilty in craigslist prostitution sting
The Pope dismantles the Vatican Observatory. Read it and weep.
Science is to make way for diplomacy at the Pope's summer residence, with the dismantling of the astronomical observatory that has been part of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, for more than 75 years. The Pope needs more room to receive diplomats so the telescopes have to go.
The eviction of the astronomers and their instruments, reported by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, and their removal to a disused convent a mile away, marks the end of a period of intimacy between popes and priest-astronomers that has lasted well over a century.
This is a bad sign.
An Atheist named Christopher Nolan is suing Wal-Mart. The suit alleges Nolan was fired for refusing to dress as Santa. Nolan was asked to wear the Santa suit to fill in for another employee. He refused, saying he did not believe in Christmas. I do not normally go after Atheists in my nutball posts, but come on! Christmas is real. It happens every year. You cannot "not believe in Christmas". The same goes for Santa, he represents the secular side of of a Christian holiday. I like Santa because he is not Jesus. Santa helps take the religion out of Christmas. That's a good thing.
I would understand Nolan's lawsuit if Wal-Mart had asked that he play the baby Jesus in its nativity display. But playing Santa, it makes no sense.
In his complaint, Nolan said he thought it was a joke when he was asked Dec. 8 to fill in as the store Santa Claus at the Main Street Wal-Mart. He said his co-workers were laughing.
Nolan, who described himself as an atheist who doesn't believe in Christmas, said he laughed as well and then declined. "I said, 'Uh, no way,' " he said in an interview last month.
Nolan said he was surprised when his supervisor called him later to say that Nolan had an hour to change his mind. When Nolan again refused to don the Santa suit, he said, his boss brought him into his office and told him he was fired.
Source: Suit alleges man fired for refusing to dress as Santa
Sorry Christopher, I would have fired you too. Your boss asked you to take one for the team during a peak shopping period. You refused and used some flawed logic in the process to create a frivolous discrimination claim. That makes you a nutball.
I must ask. when working for Wal-Mart, does it really matter if you assemble bikes, ride the cash register, or wear a Santa suit?
The Friendly Atheist has a similar post up.
My Sunday school teacher was like 80 years old and whacked us with a ruler if we did not read our bible stories. Terry Greenwood on the other hand, he just demands oral sex. What a freak.
Members of Chandler's oldest church are leaning on each other for support after a Sunday-school teacher was arrested on suspicion of molesting a 5-year-old girl at the church.
Police say Terry Greenwood, 62, a Chandler United Methodist Church Sunday-school teacher, molested the same girl on two Sundays at the church.
He was indicted Monday, Dec. 31by a grand jury on counts of child molestation, sexual conduct with a minor and indecent exposure.
I'm spreading my net to catch a wider range of Christian hypocrisy in 2008. Terry Greenwood is the first of the new year. Somehow I think he will not be the last.
I don't know what to say. What kind of jerk hits his wife? Do they teach this as a disciplinary method at seminary?
A Daphne pastor was arrested Wednesday after a quarrel at his home, police said.
The Rev. David C. Harrison faces a third-degree domestic violence charge, according to Daphne Police Capt. Daniel Bell.
The 45-year-old pastor of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on Main Street was arrested about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday after his wife suffered an injury to her hand and called police, Bell said.
Repeat after me, innocent until proven guilty, innocent until proven guilty...
I silently rejoice each time I read of a new scientific discovery which adds to our knowledge of evolution. In cases like this, where we find missing links which bolster the Theory of Evolution, well... I feel like shouting the news to a few of my less than enlightened friends. Scientists, and in this case science students, find evidence to support evolution in a continual learning process which cannot be held back by the insipid hovindian masses.
The crystal structure of a molecule from a primitive fungus has served as a time machine to show researchers more about the evolution of life from the simple to the complex.
By studying the three-dimensional version of the fungus protein bound to an RNA molecule, scientists from Purdue University and the University of Texas at Austin have been able to visualize how life progressed from an early self-replicating molecule that also performed chemical reactions to one in which proteins assumed some of the work.
Source: Scientists find missing evolutionary link using tiny fungus crystal
Take that Kent Hovind!
Hell, I don't see the problem here. I hit my sister in the head just because she was my sister.
A Florida man says he hit his sister in the head with an iron so he could release the demons that he said were inside of her.
When Oswald Varemond's 80-year-old mother intervened and tried to stop him, he allegedly bit off her fingertip and started pulling his own teeth out, a police report said.
I normally pick on nutballs here at Deep Thoughts. But it is 2008 now so I thought I would start off with a little humor. Poor Oswald may be suffering from religious delusions, however my money is on mental illness.
The New American Judaism
The Way Forward on Challenging Issues from Intermarriage to Jewish IdentityBy Rabbi Arhur Blecher
Published October 2007
ISBN: 1402977461Buy it here
The good people at Palgrave Macmillian sent me a copy for review. It took me longer than I expected to warm up to the subject. I know little of Judaism besides how the media portrays it. I read it once two months ago and then set it aside to think about it. I read it again a few days ago, this time with an eye towards a review.
When it comes to reading non-fiction I look for one thing - illumination. I read non-fiction to learn. And that is essentially it for me when it comes to reading non-fiction - do I learn anything? If I learn little of value, the book goes in the dustbin. If I learn something new, I include it the religious studies section of my personal library.
The author, Rabbi Athur Blecher, is known as "The Unorthodox Rabbi". He is a traditionally trained Rabbi who left his calling to become a therapist. His critical analysis of American Judaism runs against the grain of traditionalist. I am sure if ruffled a few feathers.
One misconception I have long held was shattered by this book. I thought of rabbis as akin to pastors. In a historical context, I projected this image back to when most Jews lived in Europe prior to the 20th century. Rabbi Bleacher asserts that the power of the rabbi as a central figure in life-cycle ceremonies arouse after the Jews migrated to the Americas. Historically, heads of households filled this role, not rabbis.
Another misconception dealt with the permanence and historical anchoring of Judaism. Of course, as a young Christian in the 70s my understanding of Jewish history was shaped by the biblical interpretation my pastors. I learned about the gradual change from private worship to state sponsored worship lead by an elite priesthood in the first temple era. with the fall of the temple, the practice worship moved back towards private rituals that could be performed in the home.
The New American Judaism is written from the view point of a conservative Rabbi who has left the fold in order to speak from a position that is contrary to most of his contemporaries. American Judaism is ascending rather than on the decline. And, American Judaism is a modern creation with few links back to the long history of biblical Judaism.
Rabbi Blecher's writing are meant for two audiences. There is the obvious secular audience and then the not so obvious religious seeker, or person looking to learn more of their heritage. I fall into the secular audience, but never felt over my head. Rabbi Blecher took amble care to write his book with an understanding that some readers may not understand his faith.
Chapter 7 - Rabbis, Knowledge and Self-Reliance provides a glimpse at the transformation of Judaism from a monarchy and a religion of priests, to a religion of the mind and the People of the Book. Further, this chapter describes how rabbis adapted when they migrated to America in the 1900s. Where they once held absolute power over matters of Jewish law, in America they shifted to leading ceremonies, like weddings and funerals, while at the same time moving to become the governing body of Judaism in America. The motivation for this transformation was the fear that Judaism would fade to obscurity. What follows is the development of a modern Jewish identity and practice similar in many respects to American Protestants.
I read Chapter 8 with interest. Community, Intermarriage and Optimism is where Rabbi Bleacher shines as the Unorthodox voice of Judaism. He challenges the mainstream positions of his peers. Are Jews on the road to extinction? No - year after year the Jewish presence in America grows. What about intermarriage?
The Jewish community has come to believe that intermarriage violates ancient Jewish tradition, that it weakens Judaism today and that it threatens the future of the Jewish people. None of these beliefs has any basis either in present-day or in Jewish history, yet now is questioned. instead, American Jewish leaders view the current high rate of Jewish-gentile marriage in America as a kind of systemic disorder- and a potentially fatal one at that.
Suffice it to say that Rabbi Blecher supplies evidence to support his position that intermarriage healthy. For example, Blecher explains that intermarriage became a problem during the rabbinic period when marriages where seen as legal contracts. Since gentiles were not subject to Jewish law, intermarriage became forbidden. Over the centuries, this law became part cultural identity and part legend (at least in the eyes of popular media).
I recommend this book to readers interested in learning about other cultures (and religions). I found it easy to read and insightful. Plus it satisfied more core requirement of teaching me something new about a culture I know little about. Thank you Rabbi Blecher, you wrote a fine book.
The UN General Assembly of the United Nations approved a resolution called "Combating Defamation of Religions" shortly before the end of the 2007. The resolution was backed by most Islamic nations. The only religion named in the resolution is Islam.
It expresses alarm about "discrimination" and "laws that stigmatize groups of people belonging to certain religions and faiths under a variety of pretexts relating to security and illegal immigration."
Muslim minorities are subjected to "ethnic and religious profiling ... in the aftermath of the tragic events of 11 September 2001," it says.
The resolution decries "the negative projection of Islam in the media" and voices "deep concern that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism."
I am thankful that the UN has no power to enforce this nonsense. However it does set the dangerous precedent of limiting freedom of speech.
Damian Thompson of the Telegraph points out the obvious in Don't criticise Islam, says UN.
Wrongly associated? As of today, terrorists have carried out 10,277 separate attacks since September 11, 2001. They all belong to the same religion, and it ain’t Methodism.
Follow the 10,277 link. It is a running list of Islamic terrorism.
I have no doubt there are other religions who engage in Terrorism. The Army of God is a good example. But the scale tips in the direction of Islam. The UN resolution is a farce.
I have a new years tradition of reading the Pope's New Years prayer. I started doing so in 1984. I always felt John Paul was a man of tolerance and peace. I found his New Years prayers to give hope. Pope Benedicts follows a different path. His 2008 New Years prayer equated gay marriage with war.
He said the traditional family led by a husband and wife instilled values that promote peace, and added it was an "irreplaceable" institution.
"Those who are hostile, even unknowingly, to the institution of the family ... make peace fragile for the entire national and international community," the Pope told crowds gathered in a sunny St. Peter's Square.
Following his logic, gay marriage leads to violence and war. What kind of screwed up logic is this? Note to Pope Benedict - Intolerance is the road to war. Pope John Paul II knew this, how is it that you have forgotten?
Happy New Year to my fellow Atheists, Agnostics and Free Thinkers. I am proud to report that the Atheist Blogroll has Grown to 550 blogs. Our latest inductee is a new blog named Beyond Belief.
In his own words:
I'm an atheist, but I blog about other things as well, like philosophy, my own life experiences, and music for example. I usually make several blog entries per month, and I try to make them as interesting as I can. Usually when I do blog about other things, I try to relate them to my atheist worldview, so that any readers who are curious can learn a little bit more about what atheists are like.
Welcome to the team Beyond Belief.
