The Hazards of Belief

Mickeroo

recedite wrote: »

Catholic Bananas!!! WTF

Indeed, along with the Courgette and Cucumber I didn't think you could get a more uncatholic fruit.

Penn

Mickeroo wrote: »

Indeed, along with the Courgette and Cucumber I didn't think you could get a more uncatholic fruit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z-OLG0KyR4

Mickeroo

Penn wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z-OLG0KyR4

Jebus, I thought the only thing that could convince me would be the discovery of the Babel Fish but that's actually done it. Praise the Lord.

Penn

Mickeroo wrote: »

Jebus, I thought the only thing that could convince me would be the discovery of the Babel Fish but that's actually done it. Praise the Lord.

I'm still waiting for their follow-up videos where they'll explain the pineapple. Maybe that'll convince me.

joseph brand

Muslims in Belgium.

What I have learned is that Islam is not a religion like any other. Let me explain: Most religions and most cultures are compatible with Belgian culture and law, and just fit in. Islam however, is not just a religion as how we here define "religion". Islam is a whole package. Islam contains a political system, economic system, justice, education, culture and religion.

Then there is education. We have Belgian laws which guarantee a minimum level of education. It's a book full of facts that must be taught in every school, they are called the "end terms". One of those subjects is evolution. The theory of evolution must be taught in both science class and history class. Creationism is not allowed. If a teacher teaches his pupils the theory of creationism instead of evolution, then this is against the end terms.

muppeteer

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2012/09/16/pakistani-protester-burns-american-flag-and-dies-from-smoke/

Pakistani Protester Burns American Flag and Dies From Smoke

One of the more offbeat deaths from the current hysteria.

Banbh

Clearly the Americans are impregnating their flags with toxic gases.

Calibos

Banbh wrote: »

Clearly the Americans are impregnating their flags with toxic gases.

I guess we know what 'Run to da hills' next thread will be about then.

Links234

Oklahoma Judge denies name-change to transgender women, citing the bible as reason:

https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/16/1132646/-Oklahoma-Judge-invokes-God-as-science

To grant a name change in this case would be to assist that which is fraudulent. It is notable that Genesis 1:27-28 states: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth ...' The DNA code shows God meant for them to stay male and female.

-- in Re: Harvey

:rolleyes:

Galvasean

Oh, so NOW Bible thumpers believe in DNA :rolleyes:

Galvasean

muppeteer wrote: »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregorymcneal/2012/09/16/pakistani-protester-burns-american-flag-and-dies-from-smoke/


One of the more offbeat deaths from the current hysteria.

The Bible: beating Watson and Crick to the discovery of DNA by some 2,500 years.

ShooterSF

So in a country thats quite open on gun ownership laws a judge wouldn't allow for a name change in case it led to the person committing a crime (in this case, fraudulent same-sex marriage)? Buh?

The Mad Hatter

Galvasean wrote: »

Banbh

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4283746,00.html

An Iranian woman puts a nosy interfering mullah in hospital after he told her to cover herself. If only there were more like her - a million more.

seamus

Banbh wrote: »

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4283746,00.html

An Iranian woman puts a nosy interfering mullah in hospital after he told her to cover herself. If only there were more like her - a million more.

The woman, who was walking down the street in the town of Shahmirzad, east of Tehran, was asked by the cleric to cover herself up. In response, the woman told him, "you cover your eyes," and when the cleric repeated his warning, she pushed him to the floor.

More of this sort of thing.

seamus

seamus wrote: »

More of this sort of thing.

Yes indeed, good on her

Dades

I'm disappointed the beating wasn't a bit more of a can o' whup-ass, than a push to the floor.

Other than that, you go girl!

Dades

Dades wrote: »

I'm disappointed the beating wasn't a bit more of a can o' whup-ass, than a push to the floor.

Other than that, you go girl!

He ended up in hospital... what exactly do you think is whup-ass? :eek::pac:

Dades

bluewolf wrote: »

He ended up in hospital... what exactly do you think is whup-ass? :eek::pac:

He was pushed over by a girl.

Nodin

Did she pluck at his beard?

I hope she did. Not often you get to pluck at somebodys beard in this day and age.

joseph brand

Banbh wrote: »

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4283746,00.html

An Iranian woman puts a nosy interfering mullah in hospital after he told her to cover herself. If only there were more like her - a million more.

A link from that same page.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4281828,00.html

The haredi woman touches one of her bare arms. The woman turns around and the haredi woman immediately snaps at her, pointing at her bare arms: "Next time don't come to the market like this. Next time you'll come with sleeves."

A spinning roundhouse to the face is in order.

Ever since I started school I've hated interfering busy bodies. Those idiots with their noses in everyone's business. Religion suits them. They deserve it.

Banbh

That Jewish god has suspiciously similar attitudes to women as the Muslim one.

Links234

I don't even know what to say...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206008/Probe-launched-Polish-priest-gets-young-children-lick-whipped-cream-knee-creepy-school-initiation.html

At least he's not gay?

EclipsiumRasa

Banbh wrote: »

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4283746,00.html

An Iranian woman puts a nosy interfering mullah in hospital after he told her to cover herself. If only there were more like her - a million more.

What, nobody else thought of this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ

The Mad Hatter

Links234 wrote: »

I don't even know what to say...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206008/Probe-launched-Polish-priest-gets-young-children-lick-whipped-cream-knee-creepy-school-initiation.html

I don't click Daily Mail links on principle. And also partly on the belief that a lot of their claims are just made up.

robindch

^^^ Same story, different outlets, same photos:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/20/schoolchildren-licked-cream-legs-polish-initiation_n_1899602.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/polish-police-a-lather-creepy-initiation-photos-showing-teens-licking-whipped-cream-priest-knees-article-1.1163828
http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/112670,High-school-priests-whipped-cream-initiation-ceremony-inappropriate-says-NGO

Eek.

kylith

Well that's a bit.... weird.

The Mad Hatter

…

…

*shudder*

Nodin

Deleted User wrote: »

At least he's not gay?

...he has the lads and girls in seperate groups....for moral reasons, presumably....

Nodin

Beard wearers may sleep safely once more....

Sixteen Amish men and women in Ohio face lengthy prison terms after being convicted of hate crimes including forcibly cutting off fellow sect members' beards and hair.
The defendants, with about 50 children between them and including six couples, were convicted on Thursday after four days of deliberations.
The defendants had rejected plea deals, and some could now get sentences of 20 years or more. Sentencing was scheduled for January. Members of the defence team said appeals were likely.
All the defendants are members of a settlement in eastern Ohio. Rhonda Kotnik, representing one of the defendants, Kathryn Miller, said the verdicts would destroy the community of about 25 families. "The community is going to be ripped apart. I don't know what's going to happen to all their children," she said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/21/amish-convicted-hair-attacks-ohio

recedite

^ You would have to experience the comfort of sleeping on a genuine Amish hand-made beardhair mattress, to understand why they did what they did.

Banbh

Twenty years for cutting off someone's hair - the US is one very scary country.

recedite

women surrounded their mother-in-law and cut off two feet of her hair, taking it down to the scalp in some places.

Apparently God has instructed this Mr. Mullet guy to give them a new haircut; skint at the sides and long at the back...

robindch

Unless a believer opts out, the German state taxes people and hands the money over to whatever church the believer is connected with. Country-wide, that produces an annual income for the church of something like ten billion euro. However, all is not well and the church has decided to clamp down on non-payers and will refuse to bury them, allow them to marry catholics without "permission", be godparents, work for any church-sponsored organization, etc, etc:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/21/us-germany-catholic-churchtax-idUSBRE88K0LX20120921

Reuters wrote:

PARIS (Reuters)- Germany's Roman Catholic bishops have decreed that people who opt out of a "church tax" should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay.

Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such defection "a serious lapse" and listed a wide range of church activities from which they must be excluded.

Germans officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax of 8 or 9 percent of their annual tax bill. They can avoid this by declaring to their local tax office that they are leaving their faith community.

The annual total of church leavers, usually around 120,000, rocketed to 181,193 two years ago as revelations about decades of sexual abuse of children by priests shamed the hierarchy and prompted an apology from German-born Pope Benedict.

"This decree makes clear that one cannot partly leave the Church," a statement from the bishops conference said. "It is not possible to separate the spiritual community of the Church from the institutional Church."

Church taxes brought in about 5 billion euros ($6.5 billion) for the Roman Catholic Church and 4.3 billion euros for the Protestant churches in 2010, according to official statistics.

NO RELIGIOUS BURIAL

The bishops said the consequences of leaving the church had not been clearly spelled out in the past. Some Catholics have tried to remain active in their parish or have a religious burial despite leaving the church to avoid paying the tax.

The Vatican gave its approval for the decree before it was issued, the statement said.

Catholics who leave can no longer receive sacraments, except for a special blessing before death, the decree states.

They cannot work in the church or its institutions, such as schools and hospitals, or be active in church-sponsored associations such as charity groups or choirs.

They cannot be godparents for Catholic children and must get a bishop's permission to marry a Catholic in a church ceremony. "If the person who left the Church shows no sign of repentance before death, a religious burial can be refused," it added.

The bishops conference said local pastors would invite all leavers to meet to discuss their reasons for quitting, explain the consequences and offer a chance to rejoin the church.

PROTESTANT EXODUS

Germany's Protestant churches have also seen a steady exodus in recent decades as members - who become registered at baptism - leave because they no longer believe, disagree with some policy or want to save several hundred euros in church tax.

A major departure wave from both Catholic and Protestant churches occurred in the early 1990s, when the government raised taxes to finance ex-communist eastern Germany.

Since the levy was almost the same as the church tax - whose origins date back to the 19th century - Germans could neutralize the tax boost by quitting their church.

Catholics and Protestants are almost equally distributed in Germany, with each at about 24 million, or 30 percent of the 82 million population. There are about 4 million Muslims and 120,000 Jews in Germany which has a total population of almost 82 million.

fitz0

If they did that here, there'd be a lot less Census Catholics!

mikhail

Banbh wrote: »

Twenty years for cutting off someone's hair - the US is one very scary country.

I doubt they'll get the full 20. And "cutting off someone's hair" is making light of assault and the continuing public humiliation of their victims. This certainly deserves punishment.

TylerIE

fitz0 wrote: »

If they did that here, there'd be a lot less Census Catholics!

Bring it on

Delirium

Faith leaders across England in 'HIV healing' claims

Dangerous cases of faith leaders who tell people with HIV to stop taking their life-saving drugs have been identified by African-led community groups in a number of locations across England.

Seven groups said there were instances of people being told by faith leaders they had been "healed" through prayer - and then pressured to stop taking antiretroviral medication, according to the charity African Health Policy Network (AHPN).

Cases were reported to have taken place in Finsbury Park, Tottenham, and Woolwich, in London, as well as in Manchester, Leeds and at a number of churches across the North West.

:mad::mad:

FouxDaFaFa

^^

That boils my blood.

It's fascinating (and horrifying) to think that this is happening in such a highly-populated place. You could understand if it was an area in the middle of nowhere with little education and no-one else to believe but the priest, but this is London.

News came late last week that Iran, apparently frightened over its female citizens’ growing independence, will begin restricting women’s access to a wide range of educational opportunities. Although Iran was one of the first nations in the Middle East to permit women to study at universities, the BBC reports that over 30 universities have agreed to ban women from about 80 different degrees such as engineering, business, nuclear physics, and computer science (you know, the ones that can potentially steer women toward power and financial freedom). While the government has not released any official reason for this change, Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi told the BBC that the restrictions have to do with the government’s aim to “restrict women’s access to education, to stop them being active in society, and to return them to the home.”

Link to the article on Slate.

A pity. Iran has a hell of a lot wrong with it, but I was always impressed — well, as impressed as one could be by an Islamist state — by its education standards, and the love the country's youth seems to have for education and learning, especially in metropolitan areas. What little good the State had in that regard is now seemingly going to change.

PopePalpatine

Mahmoud Armoured-dinner-jacket states that "homosexuality is for capitalists".

seamus

I've suspected for a long time that Mackmood is in the closet himself. It's often the case with those who insist homosexuality is a choice, because they believe they "chose" to not be homosexual.

kylith

gvn wrote: »

Link to the article on Slate.

A pity. Iran has a hell of a lot wrong with it, but I was always impressed — well, as impressed as one could be by an Islamist state — by its education standards, and the love the country's youth seems to have for education and learning, especially in metropolitan areas. What little good the State had in that regard is now seemingly going to change.

C'mon Iranian women! Don't take this lying down!

FouxDaFaFa

gvn wrote: »

Link to the article on Slate.

A pity. Iran has a hell of a lot wrong with it, but I was always impressed — well, as impressed as one could be by an Islamist state — by its education standards, and the love the country's youth seems to have for education and learning, especially in metropolitan areas. What little good the State had in that regard is now seemingly going to change.

This is very telling. Educated women leads to a rise in feminism and equal rights and a general modernisation of society. They're obviously terrified the status quo is about to be rocked. I hope the women of Iran protest against this.

robindch

27-year-old Greek guy arrested for insulting a monk. The charge was "blasphemy" and was apparently initiated by the extreme-right Golden Dawn outfit.

http://www.businessinsider.com/geron-pastitsios-2012-9

Business Insider wrote:

Evidently in Greece, blaspheming a monk on Facebook is an arrestable offense. Via @lolgreece and Peter Dimitrakos, here's the Google Translated version of the arrest announcement for a 27-year old who blasphemed a famous Greek monk (Elder Paisios) using the mocking name Geron Pastitsios. Pastitsios is a Greek pasta dish (hence the picture from the Facebook page showing the monk with a big plate of pasta)

Unconfirmed, but according to twittererers, his arrest was agitated by Golden Dawn nationalist types, and the government apparently complied. The hashtag #FreeGeronPastitsios is going bananas in the Greek twittersphere. [...]

FouxDaFaFa

Golden Dawn are genuinely terrifying.

Fortyniner

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/priest-bans-yoga-from-church-hall-because-its-not-compatible-with-catholic-faith-8179826.html

pauldla

^^^

In a further statement the diocese said: "The Catholic Church cannot permit activities which have their origins in non-Christian religions to take place on Church premises.

So that's Christmas and Easter out the window too, then?