yayyyyyy God

[d_rawk]

truth be told, I'd really want to just get a Rife machine at cost.

IIRC, you are in town on Wednesdays. You are welcome to come by and use mine. It just sits there looking cool and collecting dust. It would probably be happy for the attention.

I'd offer to loan it out to you, but I'm cautious of the gas tubes breaking if moved around too much.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Just discovered this - some fantastic interviews on big religious questions archived here.

Meaning of Life TV

They're cross-organised by both speaker and topic. Here's a great bit from Huston Smith on the capacity of religious traditions to get along (so informed, and so depressing).

[Kanada Kev]

Thanks for the links to that site DEM.

Now, if you are worried about your pets then you MUST sign up for this. I think I want to open up a Canadian branch of this company:

http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html

Read the FAQ ...

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

) ) ) ) ) ) Best idea for a scam that could actually work with some people! (That should elicit a , I suppose....)

[Kanada Kev]

You just gotta KNOW that these guys have actually received some payments for this service from some induhviduals

I love the FAQ and TOS that completely cover their asses and reassure the believers that this is solid.

[Kanada Kev]

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours and from those results I will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets!

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports .

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and of course the power went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming, "It's gone! It's all GONE! I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.

Satan observed this and became irate.

"Wait!' he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said,

"JESUS SAVES."

[Kanada Kev]

As somebody who was given Rick Warren's book to try to convert me, i found this particularly funny:

[Kanada Kev]

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

:laugh: - gold!!

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Not quite sure where to start with this one.

Sedalia School District Recalls Evolution-Themed Shirts

Sedalia — T-shirts promoting the Smith-Cotton High School band’s fall program have been recalled because of concerns about the shirt’s evolution theme.

Assistant superintendent Brad Pollitt said parents complained to him after the band marched in the Missouri State Fair parade. Though the shirts don’t violate the school’s dress code, Pollitt noted that the district is required by law to remain neutral on religion.

“If the shirts had said ‘Brass Resurrections’ and had a picture of Jesus on the cross, we would have done the same thing,†Pollitt said.

Designed with the help of band director Jordan Summers and assistant director Brian Kloppenburg, the light gray shirts feature an image of a monkey progressing through various stages of evolution until eventually becoming a human. Each figure holds a brass instrument that also evolves, illustrating the theme “Brass Evolutions.â€

“I was disappointed with the image on the shirt,†said Sherry Melby, a band parent who teaches in the district. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.â€

But other parents were just as dismayed that the shirts were taken away from students at the Sedalia school.

“Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?†asked Alena Hoeffling, who was furious about the decision. “If I wanted my children to be sheltered, I would have enrolled them in private school.â€

After practice Friday afternoon, band members piled the shirts on a table. Sophomore band member Denyel Luke said the reaction by some to the evolution theme was a little extreme.

“It’s not like we are saying God is bad,†Luke said. “We aren’t promoting evolution.â€

The district will have to absorb the $700 cost of the shirts, which will be replaced as soon as administrators approve a design for the new ones.

Information from: The Sedalia Democrat, http://www.sedaliademocrat.com

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Interesting game show -

Find God, win a trip to Mecca (or Jerusalem, or Tibet)

Turkish gameshow enlists imam, Greek Orthodox priest, rabbi and monk to try to convert atheists, with pilgrimage as reward

Robert Tait in Istanbul

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 July 2009 19.11 BST

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: what do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room?

Viewers of Turkish television will soon get the punchline when a new gameshow begins that offers a prize arguably greater than that offered by Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty on Penitents Compete (Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor in Turkish), to be broadcast by the Kanal T station. Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each programme to their faith.

Those persuaded will be rewarded with a pilgrimage to the spiritual home of their newly chosen creed – Mecca for Muslims, Jerusalem for Christians and Jews, and Tibet for Buddhists.

The programme's makers say they want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim population about other faiths.

"The project aims to turn disbelievers on to God," the station's deputy director, Ahmet Ozdemir, told the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review.

That mission is attested to in the programme's advertising slogans, which include "We give you the biggest prize ever: we represent the belief in God" and "You will find serenity in this competition".

Only true non-believers need apply. An eight-strong commission of theologians will assess the atheist credentials of would-be contestants before deciding who should take part.

Converts will be monitored to ensure their religious transformation is genuine and not simply a ruse to gain a free foreign trip. "They can't see this trip as a getaway, but as a religious experience," Ozdemir said.

The programme, which is scheduled to air in September, has been criticised by commentators and religious figures for trivialising God and faith.

Mustafa Cagrici, provincial head of the state-run religious affairs directorate for Istanbul, said: "I don't find it right to discuss religion in such environments."

Others may see the show as fuelling a widespread intolerance of atheism in Turkey, where a large majority profess a deep religious belief despite the state's officially secular character.

[SaggyBalls]

I wonder if they take agnostics or just atheists...

Just cause somebody doesn't believe in organized religion doesn't mean that person doesn't believe in or experience the divine.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I'm inclined to think that agnostics are their real target audience, and they're hoping to get at least a couple dyed-in-the-wool atheists to keep things interesting - or in other words, there just might not be enough curiosity in the militant atheists to justify their getting on the show.

I'd love to have a peek at the producers' methodology. It might also be that they don't really have a clear sense of what they're doing.

[bradm]

Students must learn about other religions: judge

What parents were demanding was the right to ignorance, the right to protect their children from being exposed to the existence of other religions. This right to ignorance is certainly not protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Freedom of religion does not protect the right not to know what is going on in our universe.

Aloha,

Brad

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

That's fantastic! I wish there were something like that going on in Ontario (i.e., such a mandatory course).

And if the parents' ability to articulate their own tradition for their children is so fragile, then maybe that's a good goad to get them to sort things through better for themselves, and maybe to understand that truth can operate on all sorts of levels (historical/sociological/etc. vs. confessional).

[Kanada Kev]

I wish this was happening in Ontario schools too. The ignorance that abounds (read the comments on that article in the Nat'l Post) is exactly what a little exposure/education will help to diminish. Why do so many see a program with such noble intentions as some sort of radical Islamofacist tool for taking over the world??? Get a fucking grip.

What I also love about this in Quebec is this:

The course's introduction was the final step in the secularization of Quebec schooling that began with a 1997 constitutional amendment replacing denominational school boards with linguistic ones.

I wish we could rid this province of its two "public" school systems into ONE.

[SaggyBalls]

Why not find ways to adequately homeschool? The province doesn't like to circulate details about how parents can get their child's alotted grant money to help parents afford homeschooling their children so they can actually LEARN something, and have that something be useful and worthwhile.

How hard would it really be to find a small group of parents to share teaching duties and make field trips easy to pull off?

Guest lectures, community events, crafts, creative approaches to science experiemnts, art projects, libraries, museums, parks...all of these things are incredibly informative, and without a ministry-imposed class schedule, homeschool teachers can actually follow-up on outings and remind the kids how their trip was relevant and not just a vacation.

Sure my trips to Upper Canada Village as a kid were filled with tangible examples of how the world was harder and what pioneers went through, but I remember other things a lot more than what I was there to learn.

With the right approach, homeshooling has the potential to be FAR superior to our public school system, especially when one takes into account the learning styles of their children and the poor parenting skills of many parents that rub off on their little fucktard kids.

yeah they're little miracles...but a lot of them are just as cunty (or moreso) as everyone you've ever wanted to throttle or stab.

I'd want those assholes kept away from any kids I'd have but we can't really ensure that happens at school.

Maybe from one persoective it seems like that's a great way to 'shelter' kids, but considering that I have a few friends whose children have been emotionally scarred or imprinted by a bunch of kids that - though they 'don't know better' (when they really do know better(or else they're sociopaths, since people really know right from wrong from very early on)) - are at fault for the ensuing poor behaviour that a parent has to get their kid to 'unlearn', finding ways to properly homeshool kids would have been a great way to both avoid that and provide a child with the right educational enrichment.

It's also a great way to find time to take little trips with one's family that would otherwise be skipped...

...like to all the churches, mosques, and temples to get a sense of other peoples' experiences rather than sharing the impersonal ones that come with fluorescently-lit classrooms and flu-seasons filled with snot-nosed brats that whine about how your salmon sandwich reeks.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I think I hear what you're saying, but the problem is that since the nineteenth century we've been set up with a system of public education that has been gearing itself ever since to deal with the complexities of modern society in ways that (overbusy/employed/etc.) parents can't. And I can still take my kids to different places of worship when I have the free time and carry on that dialogue with them, while letting them be enriched by the teachers who have specialised in disciplines that make me run screaming (calculus, eventually, e.g. ).

[SaggyBalls]

Aah yes, our Prussian Education.

Perhaps it's been gearing us up for modernity, but it was invented for societal control.

It's really not an option for most people to homeschool as owning a home requires massive debt and usually 2 incomes...but I can still be a dreamer about it...precisely the reason I mention the tax money alotted for each child.

Sad though how our system of compulsory education is so often lacking.

It would be great if kids had a chance to actually broaden their horizons from an early age and not just if they continue learning past highschool.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

What social institution exists for any purpose other than control? There are obviously bad sides to this, but there is also good there, too - depends what's done with it, of course.

Modernity, anyway, is all about control - ratcheting it up to the next level. I find it interesting how secularisation has typically been part of the package (at least as far as modernity had involved challenges to authority).

[Kanada Kev]

[SaggyBalls]

I hear that, Dr. Mouse.

It's less-than-ideal when teachers and administration don't approach running the system to move us all collectively forward, but it's not really like anyone could be CULPABLE.

Really, approaching teaching/learning as such is next to impossible for most of the professionals involved unless those involved work together to make something bigger than education...

...which has taken me a few days to be able to really put my finger on, as it's so easy to read around and see what's less than jake instead of ramping up examples of how people are using the system...which aren't as easy to find when I need them.

the 'something more' theme is pretty thread-appropriate.

I find it wholly unfortunate that my experiences with school have left a fairly sour almost bitter taste in my mouth.

[Kanada Kev]

original - 20"x24" In 1673, Jesus Christ supposedly appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. To her, he revealed his sacred heart, and explained to her Gods love and mercy for each individual. When I picture Jesus, I picture the image I have seen time and time again. He has long brown hair, with a slight wave to it. His face is sweet, and he wears a long ivory colored robe, and sandals made of rope. He speaks of love and peace, and has a calm, yet powerful way about him. Then I picture him coming back today, to save those who have claimed him as their savior. What would that Jesus have to be like, to want to save people like us? He would have to be a fan of consumption. He would constantly have jingles and advertisements running through his mind, and would be moving too busily and too quickly to stop and take a breath. When thirsty, this Jesus would want to grab a cold one. The King of Kings and the King of Beers are together at last. NASCAR Jesus.

[SaggyBalls]

Dude, Kid Rock is not Jesus.

But how neat would that be. For awhile his Mary Magdalen was Pam Anderson. Nice.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Kirk Camerons "Origins of Species" Plan: Ex-Actor To Distribute 50,000 Altered Darwin Books

Kirk Cameron, best known for his role in the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains, now spends much of his time advocating for far-right Christian evangelical causes.

In a video posted recently to YouTube, Cameron lays out a plan to subvert 'Darwin Day' on November 22, 2009 -- a date marking the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species." Cameron says that he and like-minded activists plan to deliver 50,000 copies of an altered version of Darwin's book to students at dozens of U.S. universities.

Cameron explains that this "very special" edition of the "Origin of Species" will include an introduction explaining "Adolf Hitler's undeniable connection" to the theory of evolution, and highlighting "Darwin's racism" and "his disdain for women." Cameron's edition also exposes the "many hoaxes" of evolutionary theory, while presenting a "balanced view of Creationism."

The point-by-point rebuttal posted on Huffpost is kind of funny.

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