The Hazards of Belief

oldrnwisr

Some good news for once:


Witchcraft murder: Couple guilty of Kristy Bamu killing

A couple have been found guilty of murdering a teenager they had accused of using witchcraft.
Eric Bikubi, 28, and Magalie Bamu, aged 29, from Newham, east London, had denied killing Bamu's 15-year-old brother Kristy.
Kristy drowned in a bath on Christmas Day in 2010, during torture to produce exorcism, an Old Bailey jury heard.
Bikubi had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but the prosecution rejected his plea.
The pair, who were remanded in custody, are due to be sentenced on Monday.

joseph brand

I was going to post these in 'The Funny Side of religion', but they're not funny.

@Mods: Please move if they're in wrong thread. Thanks.

robindch

Church up the Swannee sans paddle, says Martin:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/church-at-breaking-point-says-archbishop-3038487.html

I'd quote the article for the record, but under NoShitSherlock's SOPA, I believe am prohibited from doing so.

Turtwig

Miley Cyrus upsets a few of her fans by quoting Lawrence Krauss.

joseph brand

robindch wrote: »

Church up the Swannee sans paddle, says Martin:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/church-at-breaking-point-says-archbishop-3038487.html

I'd quote the article for the record, but under NoShitSherlock's SOPA, I believe am prohibited from doing so.

I wonder if the Vatican worries about the people of Ireland turning away from the church, since they have so many other customers worldwide? There are bigger markets such as:

(In millions)
Brazil 137
Mexico 95
Philippines 75
N. America 74
Italy 53
France 40
And
Ireland 3.7-ish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country

I doubt the pope is losing sleep but Martin certainly is.

Jimoslimos

Jernal wrote: »

Miley Cyrus upsets a few of her fans by quoting Lawrence Krauss.

Well well, Miley might find herself a candidate for the 'Good looking atheist/agnostic' thread soon. Tis a bit bare in there at the moment!

bnt

From the New York Daily News:

A two-week old boy died at a Brooklyn hospital in September after contracting herpes through a religious circumcision ritual that ignited controversy in 2005 after another infant died, the Daily News has learned. The unidentified infant died Sept. 28, 2011, at Maimonides Hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner, who confirmed the death after a News inquiry.
The cause of death was listed as “disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, complicating ritual circumcision with oral suction.”

Circumcision is harmless, eh? :eek:

recedite

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Well well, Miley might find herself a candidate for the 'Good looking atheist/agnostic' thread soon.

Yeah, she could probably qualify if she combed the hair and touched up those eyebrows a bit.

recedite

bnt wrote: »

From the New York Daily News

That is the most disgusting "religious practice" I have heard of for a long time :mad:

Doc Farrell

recedite wrote: »

That is the most disgusting "religious practice" I have heard of for a long time :mad:

Is this right? The child died along with others because the rabbi sucked blood from his penis skin and the adult was infected with herpes and, it seems, he knew this because other children had died?

Sarky

Hang on... The rabbi stops the bleeding... By putting the child's penis in his mouth? Am I getting this right? Because that sounds a little... Well, rapey.

recedite

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Is this right? The child died along with others because the rabbi sucked blood from his penis skin and the adult was infected with herpes and, it seems, he knew this because other children had died?

That's right. I wonder if they ate the baby afterwards?

Doc Farrell

I'm actually going to look into this further, but thankfully not tonight. This story is off the scale.

bnt

Doc Farrell wrote: »

Is this right? The child died along with others because the rabbi sucked blood from his penis skin and the adult was infected with herpes and, it seems, he knew this because other children had died?

Well, yes. Note that it was apparently oral herpes simplex type 1, the virus that causes cold sores and other minor symptoms in adults, not the STD (type 2). But that doesn't excuse the practice, does it? Some rabbis are strongly against it e.g. this guy.

MrPudding

recedite wrote: »

That is the most disgusting "religious practice" I have heard of for a long time :mad:

I am not even going to read the link... "with oral suction” is quite enough, thanks very much.

MrP

swampgas

Hey, I guess we're supposed to "respect" this traditional religious ritual, right? Because its religious, and that makes it okay .... right?

*suppresses urge to puke*

Sarky

Catholic Church should have taken a leaf out of their book, they could have raped all the kids they wanted.

Calibos

Oi Vey, what are you doing to my little boy fellow goat herder!!

Er, Em, Eh........Oh yes, I was just instructed by Yahwey the lord our God that as an offering to him I must suck your sons penis.

Oh, Yahwey told you to do it. Thats ok then. Please continue. I feel blessed my Son was the first boy chosen for this holy blessed tradition.

Religion. Normalising twisted sh1t for Millenia.

Turtwig

Rush Limbaugh recently landed himself in very hot water over his character assassination of Sandra Fluke. However, it wasn't just Sandra Fluke who suffered as a result of this.


In a nut shell : 16 year old with a medical condition that requires Birth Control medication gets openly torn to shreds at school.

robindch

Jernal wrote: »

Rush Limbaugh [...]

Words fail.

Links234

robindch

Jernal wrote: »

Rush Limbaugh recently landed himself in very hot water over his character assassination of Sandra Fluke. However, it wasn't just Sandra Fluke who suffered as a result of this.

Looks like that fat cretin went chin-to-chin with the wrong mom:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17263546
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/05/438178/10th-advertiser-bonobos-drops-limbaugh/

Yesterday's update from beantown mom here.

seamus

Very dismayed to hear someone on the radio this morning say that contraception was actually an election issue for the US presidential race. What is this, the 1940's?

A clear indicator that the US education system is failing when religiousity is increasing. Or maybe it's religion going extreme in its death throes.

robindch

seamus wrote: »

A clear indicator that the US education system is failing when religiousity is increasing. Or maybe it's religion going extreme in its death throes.

I believe it's the latter: as the unengaged middle desert religion, the floor is left open to the nutters at the extreme.

Look at publications like Alive and what's pumped out by organizations like EWTN -- I suspect they're now perceived by many as the voice of the religion, and what sane person would want to be associated with them? In a strange way, easy access to mass-media, and the ham-fisted, supremacist way in which it's used, may well be causing people to leave the church in droves.

To quote Frank Herbert:

Here lies a toppled god
His fall was not a small one.
We did but build his pedestal,
A narrow and a tall one.

kylith

seamus wrote: »

Very dismayed to hear someone on the radio this morning say that contraception was actually an election issue for the US presidential race. What is this, the 1940's?

A clear indicator that the US education system is failing when religiousity is increasing. Or maybe it's religion going extreme in its death throes.

It is truely terrifying to see such an advanced country is becoming so backward.

I think that the Americans let Al Quaeda beat them: the attacks on the WTC lit a touch paper that has sparked an 'us Vs them' mentality, and now America is tearing itself apart from the inside.

joseph brand

Delirium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda[1]) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.[1] The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[4]

Galvasean

Man sues his church for supposedly stopping him from becoming the next Man United superstar (of course he was a mediocre footballer anyway who had yet to progress beyond the Portugese third division by the age of 25):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10790160

dmw07

Galvasean wrote: »

Man sues his church for supposedly stopping him from becoming the next Man United superstar (of course he was a mediocre footballer anyway who had yet to progress beyond the Portugese third division by the age of 25):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10790160

This chap seems to have learnt a trick or two also. He has a book, in which he backs up his "facts" with personal evidence.

Wonder where he got the idea to back up his claims with a book he wrote, from :pac:

magicbastarder

koth wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda[1]) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.[1] The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[4]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-news-blog/2012/mar/07/kony-2012-video-viral-invisible-children?INTCMP=SRCH

Doc Farrell

koth wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda[1]) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.[1] The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[4]

This is grown up politics and well worth a view. This is the new politics. Nice one koth.

Delirium

make sure to read the link magicbastarder provided, as there is a lot of bad press flying around about the group behind the video.

While it's good to draw attention to the situation, it's also good to know a bit about the group that started the hype with the video. So thanks again for the link, magicbastarder:)

Galvasean

It is an excellent campaign, but not in the way many people think. Invisible Children appear to be a sock puppet of the Ugandan government trying to eliminate a rival. The Ugandan government aren't exactly good guys either. Uganda is considered one of the most corrupt nations in the world with a truly appalling human rights record (for example it is illegal to be gay there and such is punishable under death).
In essence the (good intentioned) people helping make Kony 'famous' by helping the Invisible Children video go viral are little more than unwitting pawns in a power struggle between two corrupt powers.

joseph brand

(small print)

Doc Farrell

Holy chicken baps! This is for real! I thought it was a clever parody. They reserve the right to discuss my previous sexual history! To serve fries? Southern baptists, God bless'em!

joseph brand

A few more from this 'genius'. :rolleyes:

If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it.

One miracle is just as easy to believe as another.

The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith in God and send them back to their homes skeptical, or infidels, or agnostics, or atheists.

Turtwig

joseph brand wrote: »

A few more from this 'genius'. :rolleyes:

If the Bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it.

One miracle is just as easy to believe as another.

The parents have a right to say that no teacher paid by their money shall rob their children of faith in God and send them back to their homes skeptical, or infidels, or agnostics, or atheists.

William Jennings Bryan wrote:

Destiny is not a matter of chance; but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, It is a thing to be acheived.

Or
---NASA's Space Shuttle Program.

I rather like the quote too. It's not really fair to be sarcastic about him, he like many others was under the illusion that evolution meant no human morality. When people believe things like that then they're obviously going to be biased.

robindch

Jernal wrote: »

It's not really fair to be sarcastic about him [...]

I'm not so sure about that -- Bryan was an agrarian cretin who beat whatever populist drum was nearest and loudest. A man who ran, if memory serves, for president three times on behalf of the Democratic party, but who did so without the benefit of an education, or much obvious honesty.

For choosing to defend at the Scopes Money Trial of 1925, Bryan was pwned thusly, and permanently, by HL Mencken:

http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck01.htm
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck02.htm
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck03.htm
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck04.htm
http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/menck05.htm

IMHO, Mencken's pungent and unforgiving prose describes creationism, and William Jennings Bryan, flawlessly. Even 90 years later, it's still funny

Turtwig

I think you kind of missed my point Rob. I'm not saying he didn't hold idiotic beliefs, I'm saying that he held such views because he felt evolution implied no morality and to people like that they'll take any alternative. Not wanting reality to be a certain way can cause anyone to be become a prime nutter.

robindch

Jernal wrote: »

I'm saying that he held such views because he felt evolution implied no morality and to people like that they'll take any alternative.

Yes, that's right But the reason he thought that way was because he believed the normative fallacy, something that no enlightened adult should. Especially in somebody who put themselves forward three times as candidate for president of the USA. But Bryan didn't care, and instead, used other people's acceptance of the normative fallacy -- same as creationists do today -- to stir up fear and hatred amongst similarly unenlightened twits for electoral advantage.

It explains why he had the views he had, but it doesn't excuse them.

BTW, have a read of the Mencken -- it really is great

muppeteer

Here's what Christopher Hitchens had to say about Kony back in 2006.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/01/hitchens200601?new

For 19 years, Joseph Kony has been enslaving, torturing, raping, and murdering Ugandan children, many of whom have become soldiers for his "Lord's Resistance Army," going on to torture, rape, and kill other children. The author exposes the vicious insanity—and cynical politics—behind one of Africa's greatest nightmares.

Galvasean

Hitchens hated Kony before it was cool. I liked Hitchens before he died (and therefore became cool).
Does that make me very cool?

Sonics2k

Galvasean wrote: »

Hitchens hated Kony before it was cool. I liked Hitchens before he died (and therefore became cool).
Does that make me very cool?

*glances at the forums Galv mods*

Probably not :pac:

Galvasean

Sonics2k wrote: »

*glances at the forums Galv mods*

Probably not :pac:

WHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?????????????????????????


I'll have you know I get more ass than a toilet seat

that is located in an abandoned factory

muppeteer

Not strictly a hazard of belief hazard, but these kind of things get discussed often enough here it's worth posting. Article deals with US state laws criminalising pregnant women who attempt suicide.
http://www.thenation.com/article/166664/protect-pregnant-women-free-bei-bei-shuai

On March 14, Bei Bei Shuai will have spent one full year in jail in Marion County, Indiana. Her crime? The prosecutor calls it attempted feticide and murder. What it really is: attempting suicide while pregnant.
 

Sonics2k

Galvasean wrote: »

WHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?????????????????????????


I'll have you know I get more ass than a toilet seat

that is located in an abandoned factory

Completely off-topic, but I recently watched the original animated movie from decades ago.

It was awful, and I loved every moment of it!

joseph brand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKd6UJPghUs

Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.

Because god! (puts fingers in ears) "La la la la la la can't hear you". What a skidmark this f*cktard is!

Turtwig

joseph brand wrote: »

<yt>EKd6UJPghUs<yt>

Inhofe: Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ my point is, God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.

Because god! (puts fingers in ears) "La la la la la la can't hear you". What a skidmark this f*cktard is!

I'm literally........stuck for words.:eek:

joseph brand

Jernal wrote: »

I'm literally........stuck for words.:eek:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/james-inhofe-says-bible-refutes-climate-change?rss

It gets worse:

Inhofe: There’s another piece of Scripture I’ll mention which I should’ve mentioned, no one seems to remember this, the smartest thing the activists did in trying to put their program through is try to get the evangelicals on their side, so they hired a guy named Cizik, and he had his picture in front of Vanity magazine dressed like Jesus walking on water. He has been exposed since then to be the liberal that he is. I would say that the other Scripture that I use quite frequently on this subject is Romans 1:25, ‘They give up the truth about God for a lie and they worship God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever.’ In other words, they are trying to say we should worship the creation. We were reminded back in Romans that this was going to happen and sure enough it’s happening.

What have Liberals got to do with anything?

Oh look. Those silly people are trying to look after their home planet.

This guy is probably being rewarded handsomely to downplay the issue of Global Warming. It's all about the Benjamins ($$$$$$).

biko

Stoned to death for being an emo: NINETY Iraqi students killed for having 'strange hair and tight clothes'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2112960/90-students-Iraq-stoned-death-having-Emo-hair-tight-clothes.html

Al-Bayaty said the killings appear to have been carried out by extremist Shia militias in mostly poor Shia neighborhoods and said she suspected 'there's complicity of the Ministry of Interior in the killings.'
A group of armed men dressed in civilian clothing led dozens of teenagers to secluded areas a few days ago, stoned them to death, and then disposed their bodies in garbage dumpsters across the capital, according to activists, activists told the Cairo-based al-Akhbar website.
The armed men are said to belong to 'one of the most extremist religious groups' in Iraq.