It's really hard for me to feel sorry for industrial meatpackers. Really hard. So I won't! This couldn't be happening to a more deserving bunch of robber barons...

American chicken could soon be making plenty of round-trip visits to China.

(link) [CNN.com]

Fri, 19 May 2006 21:15 /Agriculture | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Gosh, where have I head of the Legionaries of Christ before?

The Vatican said Friday it had disciplined the Mexican founder of an influential Catholic religious order who has been accused of sexual abuse, instructing him to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence."

(link) [CNN.com]

Fri, 19 May 2006 17:49 /Asatru | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Voluntary slavery? Basing a religion on the 'Chronicles of Gor'? I daresay that theology had little to do with this: these guys just wanted to play some S&M games and get laid...but even if the tale is a no more titillating than that, it made for a great headline, eh?

A sex slavery cult based on a 1960s science fiction novel is uncovered by police in Darlington.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

Fri, 19 May 2006 17:45 /Humor | 0 writebacks | permanent link

Overall, with some notable exceptions, Christian reaction to this movie has been far better than Muslim reaction to the Danish cartoons. They're all racing to disprove the veracity of the film, of course, and have convinced Indian censors to give it an "adult" rating and demand disclaimers be inserted before the opening title and in the credits that the movie is fiction. But no bomb belts or attacks on embassies...

So why are Christians all worked up over this? What's so wrong with Jesus having a wife and kids? I mean, I can see where the Catholics would be a trifle miffed, given that they've followed a policy of priestly celibacy for the last thousand years or so. But what is so objectionable to Christians about the very idea of their messiah having a family? After all, isn't Christianity all about "family values"?

Uh, no. And that's the rub. Despite the rhetoric about the sanctity of families coming from diehard Bible thumpers, it's pretty apparent to me that they've not bothered to read the book they're thumping. Christianity is intentionally and deliberately constructed in such a way as to destroy families - and it says so, right in the "good" book. Just take a look at Matthew, chapter 10:

35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Here Jesus apparently thinks it's OK to follow the commandment "honor thy father and thy mother", as long as you don't honor them more than you do him. This is entirely theologically consistent - if there is One True God, the Creator of all, then families are certainly less worthy of honor than he, eh?

Think this is just an aberration? Perhaps contextually it makes more sense? (Read it for yourself and discover). I'd say it's not, and to prove my point, I offer more, this from Mark, also chapter 10:

29. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
30. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

This is Jesus himself urging potential followers to abandon their families (presumably the wife and kids could get on AFDC) and follow his teachings!

In fact, this is the whole point of Christianity: abandon all and follow the god. Wives, families, fathers, mothers, ancestors - it doesn't matter. God's number one, your "brothers and sisters in Christ" are number two and well, family? you can fit that in somewhere down the line.

Even in the "Holy Family", Dad wasn't (it was God hisself), and Jesus disclaimed mother and any siblings (in Matthew, chapter 12):

47. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

By contrast, Heathenry has a strong component of ancestor veneration: we understand who we are by understanding those who came before us. Family truly is the most important heathen value.

There's a tale oft told around heathen campfires: Radbod, the king of Frisia, had agreed to accept Christianity at the urging of missionary monks. The people had assembled to witness his baptism, but when the king was about to enter the water, he turned to a monk and asked about the fate of his famed ancestors, who had died without recourse to Christ. The monks reply was emphatic; all heathens were burning in Hellish agony - it was the will of God.

The king then withdrew from the baptismal waters and responded "Then I would rather be in torment with them than in heaven with a pack of beggars such as you!" Thanks to his courage and his honor, Frisia remained free for many years to come.

Reuters - America's evangelical Christians who see "The Da Vinci Code" as Bible bashing at its worst are taking a cue from Hollywood to attack the story as well as capitalize on the hit novel's impending movie version.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

Fri, 19 May 2006 00:03 /Asatru | 5 writebacks | permanent link