The Hazards of Belief

Dades

Rev Hellfire wrote: »

Don't try this at work

WTF :pac:

sonicthebadger*

Dades wrote: »

WTF :pac:

Ha ha! Awesome! Has this guy ever met a woman? Maybe he works with some serious hotties and he was chancing his arm :pac:

MrPudding

Galvasean wrote: »

I was actually think that myself, surely the JW's denial of blood policy is a form of euthanasia?

More like natural selection...

MrP

robindch

MrPudding wrote: »

More like natural selection...

Unintelligent design, I'd have said.

WeeBushy

Just watched Ross Kemp in the Middle East, where he was in Gaza. At the end he was talking to a suicide bomber, a 24 year old law graduate, who was recording his martyr video.

Scary and disturbing stuff.

Wacker

Okay, this is just f*cking bizarre:

APA-Mogadishu-(Somalia) – Islamist militants of the Hezbal Islam rebel group have killed two football fans and arrested ten others after attacking a house where fans were watching the World Cup game between Argentina and Nigeria in the Huruwaa neighborhood north-east of the capital Mogadishu on Saturday.

Residents say that heavily armed militants stormed a house where football fans were secretly watching the match, which has been prohibited in the Islamist-controlled regions in Somalia.

“Two young men who tried to jump over the wall were shot and killed while ten others including my husband and my teenage son were taken to Islamist custody in the village” Halima Ahmed, a mother of five children said in a telephone interview with APA on Sunday morning.

Islamist militia leader Sheikh Mohamed Abu Abdalla said that those in custody have broken the law and will be dealt with in accordance with Islamic law.

Prior to the World Cup opening, the Islamists in Somalia warned people against watching the matches, saying that it was not compatible with Islamic law and that those founding watching football will be brought before Islamic courts.

“Football descended from the old Christian cultures and our Islamic administration will never allow watching it. We are giving our last warning to the people,” Sheikh Abu Yahya Al Iraqi said, while addressing crowds in the Suqa Holaha village north of Mogadishu, hours before the World Cup kick off on Friday.

http://weaselzippers.us/2010/06/13/two-football-fans-watch-world-cup-matches-somali-islamists-kill-them/

Galvasean

They're just jealous because Somalia have a sh!t football team :mad:

branie

I don't like football myself, but's that's going too far :-(

robindch

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10338900.stm

BBC wrote:

Thousands of Israeli police have been deployed in Jerusalem ahead of planned protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews who are angry about a school segregation row. Some 80 Ashkenazi parents face jail for defying a court ruling that forces them to send their daughters to school with Sephardi girls of Middle East origin.

The Ashkenazi parents, who are of European descent, want segregated classrooms because they say Sephardi families are not religious enough. Two mass rallies are planned for today. Some 10,000 police officers have been mobilised ahead of the demonstrations by supporters of the parents. The families come from a strictly observant sect of Hasidic Jews called Slonim, who have Ashkenazi lineage.

According to organisers of the protests, tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of Jerusalem with the 40 couples, who will hand themselves over to the police in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling. The parents face two weeks in jail for contempt of court. They have pulled their children out of Beit Yaakov girls' school in the West Bank settlement of Immanuel, and set up lessons elsewhere in the settlement. Another protest has been planned in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv.

The Slonim parents say their objections are based on differences in religious observance between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions. Yakov Litzman, an MP from the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) told army radio there was "not a drop of racism" in the parents' decision.

"There is a set of rules (in the ultra-Orthodox community). We don't want televisions in the home, there are rules of modesty, we are against the internet," Mr Litzman was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. "I don't want my daughter to be educated with a girl who has a TV at home." The court had given the parents until Wednesday to send their children back to school. They refused.

"We are against the internet" -- lovely!

sonicthebadger*

robindch wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10338900.stm

"We are against the internet" -- lovely!

I think I can paraphrase his views more succinctly

"I don't want my daughter to be educated ..."

Dades

BBC wrote:

Yakov Litzman, an MP from the ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi party, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) told army radio there was "not a drop of racism" in the parents' decision.

Religion. Justifying racism since, well, forever.

sonicthebadger*

Dades wrote: »

Religion. Justifying racism since, well, forever.

Ah no, it's not racism cause they're actually the same race, this is segregating children based on the totally unfounded beliefs of the families they've been born into. Surely it's just a legitimate attempt to preserve the ideals of the culture at the expense of the individual human beings living within it. Totally legitimate, not racism, no... Something else entirely. Something only marginally less sinister than racism, some way to invent new ways for people to feel seperate from each other and discrminate against each other, but not racism... So that makes it all ok.

Galvasean

Another case of religion versus football...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5297052/ce/us/south-african-man-killed-wife-kids-changing-tv-germany-australia-game&cc=5739?ver=global

JOHANNESBURG -- Police say a South African man who wanted to watch a World Cup match instead of a religious program was beaten to death by his family in the northeastern part of the country.

David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from the small village of Makweya, Limpopo province, fought with his wife and two children for the remote control on Sunday because he wanted to watch Germany play Australia in the World Cup. The others, however, wanted to watch a gospel show.

"He said, 'No, I want to watch soccer,'" police spokesman Mothemane Malefo said Thursday. "That is when the argument came about.

"In that argument, they started assaulting him."

Malefo said Makoeya got up to change the channel by hand after being refused the remote control and was attacked by his 68-year-old wife Francina and two children, 36-year-old son Collin and 23-year-old daughter Lebogang.

Malefo said he was not sure what the family used to kill Makoeya.

"It appears they banged his head against the wall," Malefo said. "They phoned the police only after he was badly injured, but by the time the police arrived the man was already dead."

All three were arrested Sunday night, but Lebogang was released on $200 bail Tuesday, Malefo said. The other two are still being held in custody.

Malefo said the mother and son will reappear in the local Seshego Magistrates Court on July 27.

"He was always a happy man, never violent," Makoeya's nieces, Miriam and Anna, told the Daily Sun newspaper. "On Saturday, we saw him the last time at a funeral."

The World Cup, being played in Africa for the first time, started Friday and runs through July 11.

ColmDawson

Galvasean wrote: »

Another case of religion versus football...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5297052/ce/us/south-african-man-killed-wife-kids-changing-tv-germany-australia-game&cc=5739?ver=global

FFFFFFFUUUUUUU

cavedave

There is a problem with the oil well. Lets have a bit of a pray
From Twitter

SarahPalinUSA

Gulf disaster needs divine intervention as man's efforts have been futile. Gulf lawmakers designate today Day of Prayer for solution/miracle

Dades

cavedave wrote: »

There is a problem with the oil well. Lets have a bit of a pray

Holy crap - this is the actual resolution (PDF link).

Separation of Church and State my ass.

cavedave

This reminds me of the Father Ted episode where they have to find away to help Dougal who is in a terrible situation. There is a bomb on his milk float so they decide to have a mass for him. video here

d0nutz

growler wrote: »

Wouldn't that be better suited to the Christianity / Islam forums though ?

One has to admire his decision to test his faith in a lion's den, very biblical of him.

He wasn't testing his faith, he was testing God. Our lord said, never put the lord our God to the test. And nobody is truly destroyed until their soul is lost. Maybe God did save him after all?

Professor Plumb

5uspect wrote: »

I got a magazine from this crowd through the letter box:
http://www.4you.ie/

Offering a free Bible etc. There was an application form attached with details for availing of this wonderful offer and a subtle reminder that "WE ARE NOT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES". Somehow that makes a difference.

It tries to be appear as a hip and colourful magazine that almost tries to hide the fact that it's just another religious pamphlet. They've a great section quote mining Dawkins followed by devastating bible quotes.

How did they mine Dawkins and what were the devastating bible quotes?

Are you a member of their Church?

Somebody told me that you can't advertise churches or God on the Atheists Forum.

Dades

Professor Plumb wrote: »

Are you a member of their Church?

Somebody told me that you can't advertise churches or God on the Atheists Forum.

5uspect certainly isn't a member of any church I know of.

Also, you'll see after point 5 in the charter we don't disallow that sort of thing out of interest's sake.

Professor Plumb

Dades wrote: »

5uspect certainly isn't a member of any church I know of.

Also, you'll see after point 5 in the charter we don't disallow that sort of thing out of interest's sake.

So are you all interested in going to Churches then?

bnt

Surprised I haven't seen this here yet:

'Harry Potter' actress Afshan Azad's father and brother have been charged with attempting to kill her in their Manchester home, according to the BBC. Afshan, 22, plays Padma Patil, a classmate to Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the 'Harry Potter' films. Her father, Abdul Azad, 54, and brother Ashraf, 28, appeared in court Tuesday for threatening to kill her. Ashraf is also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his sister. The case was adjourned until July 12.
According to People, the attack was perhaps motivated because "her family, who are Muslim, did not approve of her relationship with a Hindu man."

This kind of thing happens far too often - but since it's the Huffington Post, the commenters are fighting over who can be the most Politically Correct. Perhaps, since it's happened to a celebrity of sorts, it'll garner more media outrage than it typically does. :mad:

magicbastarder

the huffington post also seems to have turned a threat into an attempt.

J C

robindch wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10338900.stm

"We are against the internet" -- lovely!

This raises all kinds of very interesting questions. The Ashkenazim and the Sephardic Jews do seem to have very different worldviews.
This raises a somewhat familiar question as to the rights of orthodox religious parents to impart their religious outlook to their children.
I understand that the Ashkenazim are Jews of European descent, many of whom have relatives who died in the Holocaust.

5uspect

Professor Plumb wrote: »

How did they mine Dawkins and what were the devastating bible quotes?

Oh, the usual bull****. The magazine has long since found a new home with Mr. Binman. This article is similar to it.

Are you a member of their Church?

Certainly not, I posted the link in a point at the poor deluded fools and snigger sort of way. I am an arrogant atheist after all.

Dades wrote: »

5uspect certainly isn't a member of any church I know of.

I think I'm still technically a Catholic, tho I did sign up to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

J C

sonicthebadger* wrote: »

I think I can paraphrase his views more succinctly

"I don't want my daughter to be educated ..."

I don't think that he said that ... do you have proof that he did?

Stercus Accidit

sonicthebadger* wrote: »

I think I can paraphrase his views more succinctly

"I don't want my daughter to be educated ..."

J C wrote: »

I don't think that he said that ... do you have proof that he did?

see bold

J C

sonicthebadger wrote:

I think I can paraphrase his views more succinctly

"I don't want my daughter to be educated ..."

... do you have the statement in which he said that he didn't want his daughter educated ... that you paraphrased?

Stercus Accidit

J C wrote: »

... do you have the statement in which he said that he didn't want his daughter educated ... that you paraphrased?

What? Wasn't me.

J C

Stercus Accidit wrote: »

What? Wasn't me.

My apologies - I have adjusted the post.

nozzferrahhtoo

.... win the first ever Atheist Ireland "The really, truly True Believer™ of the Month Award June 2010"

http://www.atheist.ie/2010/07/the-really-truly-true-believer%e2%84%a2-of-the-month-award-june-2010/

Mark Hamill

Ok, while technically nothing bad has happened yet, I am putting this article here in Hazards, because I expect this sort of thing to come back and bite someone in the ass (so to speak):
'Virginity test' helps free 3 in Vietnam rape case :

HANOI, Vietnam — An acupuncturist who claims she can detect a man's virginity based on a small dot on the ear has become a minor celebrity in Vietnam, where she is credited with helping to free three convicted rapists from prison.

Pygmalion

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Ok, while technically nothing bad has happened yet

Unless those three men were guilty of rape.

Byron85

I'm watching The Frontline at the moment and one of the Fianna Fail ministers, who is obviously against the Civil Partnership Bill, said that the country is under attack from "aggressive secularists". :rolleyes:

Pygmalion

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I'm watching The Frontline at the moment and one of the Fianna Fail ministers, who is obviously against the Civil Partnership Bill, said that the country is under attack from "aggressive secularists". :rolleyes:

Best thing that could happen to secularists IMO.

I think a lot of "middle-of-the-road" people seem to see secularists as intolerant of religious beliefs (I'm not saying this isn't the case a lot of the time) and see that as a bad thing.
Now that secularists are in the spotlight for supporting gay rights, and are under attack for it, these people might just begin to see why it's not that simple.

The Mad Hatter

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I'm watching The Frontline at the moment and one of the Fianna Fail ministers, who is obviously against the Civil Partnership Bill, said that the country is under attack from "aggressive secularists". :rolleyes:

Yes, and Iona Institute guy kept going on about "traditional morality." That was a bloody terrible debate. Bacik did horribly.

Edit: I am glad the FF Senator got laughed at when he mentioned those aggressive secularists, though.

Ghost Buster

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

I'm watching The Frontline at the moment and one of the Fianna Fail ministers, who is obviously against the Civil Partnership Bill, said that the country is under attack from "aggressive secularists". :rolleyes:

Yup. I saw that and he was referring to a softly spoken and articulate retired judge who had just spoken her views on the matter. Aggressive Jim but not as we know it!

Byron85

Ghost Buster wrote: »

Yup. I saw that and he was referring to a softly spoken and articulate retired judge who had just spoken her views on the matter. Aggressive Jim but not as we know it!

The supreme court judge was fantastic. She was everything that the Fianna Fail and Iona Institute representatives weren't; intelligent.

The Iona Institute bug me quite a lot. They are rather active on campus in UCC and I think that they get funding from the college.

Edit: On that last part about the Iona Institute; the Chaplaincy in UCC, along with the Iona Institute, get €30.29 of the registration fees that every student pays. That amounts to €580,000.

Dades

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Yes, and Iona Institute guy kept going on about "traditional morality." That was a bloody terrible debate. Bacik did horribly.

Indeed. That FF Senator just came across as the spokesperson for an outgoing, but stubborn generation.

robindch

T.W.H Byron wrote: »

the Chaplaincy in UCC, along with the Iona Institute, get €30.29 of the registration fees that every student pays. That amounts to €580,000.

Where's this documented, and can individual students opt out of paying the 30 euro?

magicbastarder

i imagine not; their response would probably be that your fees pay for lots of other services you may not use.

Byron85

robindch wrote: »

Where's this documented, and can individual students opt out of paying the 30 euro?

Registration:

Students' Union €54.42
Clubs Executive €46.75
Societies Guild €37.40
Students' Centre Operational €41.14
Students' Centre Capital €117.06
Careers Service and Appointments Office €68.07
Accomodations Office €23.56
Chaplaincy €30.29
Disability Services €63.02
PE and Sports Facilities €94.43
Student Health and Counselling €118.18
Examination Expenses and Exams Office €142.59
Fees Office €31.04
Admissions Office €64.42
Student Records Office €39.55
Other - Space Costs associated with Student Services €152.40
HEA increases corresponding with net decrease in funding from the exchequer €373.99
TOTAL: €1,500.00

Capitation:

Mardyke Arena Operational (Membership Fee) €100
Mardyke Arena Capital €40
USI Contribution €5
Publications Contribution €2
Students' Union Common Room Contribution €3
TOTAL: €150.00

Eliot Rosewater

In fairness, the Chaplaincy in UCC is open to all sorts of folks. I doubt you have to be even religious.

But I can't say I'd be pleased if they're using my money to fund some religious campaign.

Ah well, nothing I can do about it.

Byron85

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

In fairness, the Chaplaincy in UCC is open to all sorts of folks. I doubt you have to be even religious.

But I can't say I'd be pleased if they're using my money to fund some religious campaign.

Ah well, nothing I can do about it.

The chaplaincy and the Iona Institute are one and the same on campus as far as I know. I have a major problem with that. Well, as you know from other posts of mine, I have a major problem with the S.U getting money as it is. I'm a cheapskate.

rainbow kirby

Delusion and cognitive dissonance are eventually going to kill this guy. Just look at his face and eyes when he starts talking about his wife (near the end).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWaN0xnzYDw

Ickle Magoo

Oh dear, who are you trying to convince, us or yourself.

Paul the octopus predicts "ex-gay found with rent-boy" follow-up YouTube posting in the near future... :pac:

robindch

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Just look at his face and eyes when he starts talking about his wife

On his wedding night, he starts shouting a man's name at the crucial moment?

Hmmm...

Byron85

I must say, that scarf of his IS FABULOUS!!

amacachi

At first I thought 2.00 was the funniest bit, but then he started going on about about how dirty and disgusting it was and he just had to collect himself. :pac:

Galvasean

rainbow kirby wrote: »

Delusion and cognitive dissonance are eventually going to kill this guy. Just look at his face and eyes when he starts talking about his wife (near the end).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWaN0xnzYDw

Really? Based on the still he looks like he has something up his bum! :eek:

edit: Did he just list Special K as a drug?



Well, I'll be damned..