The Hazards of Belief

Nodin

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

We now return to your regular scheduled lunacy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28464009

"The MP for Bosworth, a member of the health committee and the science and technology committee, said he was not afraid of ridicule or abuse."

That's going to be a 'godsend' for him now.

Dublin Red Devil

Astrology and Religion are very similar.

They are both massive scams on a global scale. They both take advantage of vulnerable, ignorant people, They both exploit those people, take their money and fill their heads with a bunch of ridiculous nonsense and false hope.

They convince people that they have no control over their own life, That they are powerless and that some entity in the sky is in control of what they do.

Sulla Felix

Knex. wrote: »

Can't quite put into words how badly this sits with me. Sad and disturbing, are among a few thoughts.

Two More New York Infants Given Herpes in Jewish Mouth-to-Penis Ritual

It's ok because it helps lower transmission rates of herp and hpv. :rolleyes:

robindch

American couples are abandoning the idea of catholic marriage - between 2000 and 2012, church-controlled weddings dropped by 40 percent:

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/07/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-church-wedding/374767/

robindch

The Rise Of Europe’s Religious Right

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/the-rise-of-europes-religious-right

Nodin

Hopefully this turns out to be false....

"One of the most senior members of the Turkish government sparked an outcry on Tuesday, after declaring that women should not laugh loudly in public.
The deputy prime minister, Bülent Arinc, one of the co-founders of the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP), made the comment while lamenting the moral decline of modern society.
"A man should be moral but women should be moral as well, they should know what is decent and what is not decent," Arinc said in a speech on Monday, in the western Bursa region for the Bayram holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
"She should not laugh loudly in front of all the world and should preserve her decency at all times," he added"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/turkish-minister-women-laugh-loud-bulent-arinc?CMP=fb_gu

robindch

Hungary's Fidesz party and its PM, Viktor Orban, have been pushing the country to the right for many years and in the last week, visited Romania and speechified to the ethinic hungarians who live there, saying that he wishes to build "an illiberal new state based on national values" and has suggested that his listernship might want to be part of Hungary, and not Romania.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/29/dispatches-end-liberal-democracy-hungary

Anyhow, there does seem to be a general lurch to the right in world politics at the moment and it's not something I can see ending all that happily.

robindch

This one could go into the Gaza/Israel thread or this one. Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat, aka Umm Nidal had six sons. Three of them died in various terrorist/reprisal-related attacks, "martyrdoms" for which she was thrilled.

It takes religion to delude people to this degree of insanity.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/the-worlds-most-deluded-woman-umm-nidal-mother-of-martyrs/

Nodin

robindch wrote: »

This one could go into the Gaza/Israel thread or this one. Maryam Mohammad Yousif Farhat, aka Umm Nidal had six sons. Three of them died in various terrorist/reprisal-related attacks, "martyrdoms" for which she was thrilled.

It takes religion to delude people to this degree of insanity.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/the-worlds-most-deluded-woman-umm-nidal-mother-of-martyrs/

I seem to remember a poem from years ago in which a poet mourned for his son who had drowned, the point of mourning being that he died that way rather than for Irish freedom....

Nodin

"Tens of thousands of members of one of Iraq's oldest minorities have been stranded on a mountain in the country's north-west, facing slaughter at the hands of jihadists surrounding them below if they flee, or death by dehydration if they stay.
UN groups say at least 40,000 members of the Yazidi sect, many of them women and children, have taken refuge in nine locations on Mount Sinjar, a craggy, mile-high ridge identified in local legend as the final resting place of Noah's ark."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqis-stranded-mountain-isis-death-threat

More sectarian chaos from the lads in IS (formerly ISIS, more commonly 'those gobshites')

robindch

Nodin wrote: »

I seem to remember a poem from years ago in which a poet mourned for his son who had drowned, the point of mourning being that he died that way rather than for Irish freedom....

Perhaps that's what Frank McCourt had in the back of his mind when he wrote in Angela's Ashes that his school wanted him to die for Ireland, his church wanted him to die for Jesus and he wondered if anybody wanted him alive.

robindch

Isis suicide bombing instructor blows up his own class by accident

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/isis-suicide-bombing-instructor-blows-up-his-own-class-by-accident-30498668.html

Belfast Telegraph wrote:

An Isis commander at a terrorist training camp north of Baghdad accidentally detonated a belt packed with explosives during a demonstration in front of a group militants on Monday, killing himself and 21 nearby trainees. The accident was a source of dark humour for locals, with suicide attacks in public spaces having become an almost daily occurrence in Iraq.

A bomber struck a falafel shop near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad last week, and when told of the bungled training demonstration by the New York Times, Raad Hashim, who works at a liquor store near the site of the bombing, burst out laughing. "This is so funny," he said. "It shows how stupid they are, those dogs and sons of dogs."

On a more serious note, he added: "It also gives me pain, as I remember all the innocent people that were killed here.” "This is God showing justice. This is God sending a message to the bad people and the criminals in the world, to tell them to stop the injustice and to bring peace. Evil will not win in the end. It’s always life that wins over death.

Another local told the newspaper: "I heard this today when my friend rang me in the afternoon to tell me about it. He was so happy as if he was getting married, which made me happy as well. "I hope that their graves burn and all the rest of them burn as well. I was not happy with the number killed, though: I wanted more of them to die, as I remember my friend who was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007."

A further 15 people were wounded in the explosion, according to police and army officials, which took place at a compound situated in the northeastern Salahuddin Province. The instructor was not named, but was described to the NYT by an Iraqi Army officer as a prolific recruiter who was "able to kill the bad guys for once."

Mr_A

Fantastic. Not the first time that has happened, although presumably not the same guy involved.

robindch

Instructor: "Ok, I'm going to show you how to do this only once..."

Mr_A

It's the poor fecker who has to fill in the health and safety incident report form that I feel sorry for.

SebBerkovich

Well thats how they weed out the bad instructors i guess...

robindch

Jihadis are thrilled that Robin Williams died

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jaimieetkin/jihadis-are-tweeting-that-they-hate-robin-williams

Here's the sketch that got their backs up:

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

Mr_A

Waterford Whispers reports on the incompetent suicide bomber issue: http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2014/08/12/isis-suicide-bombers-go-on-strike-amid-safety-fears/

robindch

Dramatic Nornirn preacher in minimal remix. Seems like he can't stop talking about the ghey. Can't help but wonder why.

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

Thargor

Anybody see George Galloway giving it to the BBC NI newsreader last night about him^ when she asked him if he was spreading hatred coming to NI? He turned it around on her saying it was the DUP spreading hate by backing the likes of the pastor, it was really well done.

Pawwed Rig

robindch wrote: »

Dramatic Nornirn preacher in minimal remix. Seems like he can't stop talking about the ghey. Can't help but wonder why.

To be fair to the pastor he is just speaking the bible which is very explicit on its thoughts towards homosexuality. That many Christans can ignore this part of the belief is hypocritical but shows that most can be humane in spite of what they say they believe.

Vivisectus

What are the pastors views on polyester clothing and shellfish, I wonder?

robindch

Vivisectus wrote: »

What are the pastors views on polyester clothing and shellfish, I wonder?

Conflicted.

robindch

Why I left the ultra-orthodox Jewish community: 'as kids we were told that the outside world hated us'

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/why-i-left-the-ultraorthodox-jewish-community-as-kids-we-were-told-that-the-outside-world-hated-us-9668865.html

Independent wrote:

Moishy*, 27, is a good-looking young man. Dressed in unremarkable jeans and a hoodie, he blends in easily: he’s just another ordinary Londoner. For Moishy, that’s a compliment. Having finally escaped one of the city’s most secretive religious communities, Moishy has achieved a dream he’s held for years: to live an everyday, secular life.

Moishy grew up in the ultra-orthodox (‘charedi’) Jewish community in Stamford Hill, which he describes as “like living in a different world – it’s like the Middle Ages – totally secluded.” There were no jeans there: Moishy adhered to a strict uniform of a black suit, a hat, curls in his hair and a beard trimmed to exactly the right length. Women wear long skirts, long sleeves and wigs once they are married to protect their modesty.

Contact between Charedim and the rest of the world is mainly non-existent, with children taught to fear the non-Charedi world. Moishy remembers: “As kids we were told that the outside world hated us, so we were suspicious and afraid of them. We were taught that non-Jews had no soul and that our duty in life was not to fall into the trap of going into their world.” That suspicion even extended to non-Charedi Jews like me – Moishy points to me and says: “They wouldn’t regard you as Jewish. We weren’t taught that there are lots of different types of Judaism.”

With Yiddish as their language, most children are not taught to speak English. Jewish studies replace the secular curriculum. Moishy explains: “Children don’t need to learn anything. They grow up controlled and put into arranged marriages. The only thing you aspire to is to become a rabbi. If you’re not academic enough for that you’re found a low-paid job within the community. The Government know about the lack of education in the community, but they don't do anything about it.” Although girls receive a little more education to help them raise children – “they learn enough to go to the doctors” – Moishy says it’s nowhere near enough: “Girls are treated like nothing. They’re not taught anything. If they knew more they’d know that they wouldn’t have to marry these boys who don’t know anything either.”

According to Moishy, TV and secular newspapers are banned. He says that rabbis monitor their congregants’ marital relations to ensure that couples adhere to the rules of ‘family purity’ – not making love whilst a woman is menstruating. Moishy also says that community members can’t have a computer or a mobile phone until they get married (typically around the age of 18) and even then they must have software fitted into their gadgets so that the rabbis can check that their devotees aren’t surfing the web or using social media. This, says Moishy, is to stop Charedim learning about the outside world and getting any ideas about leaving the community.

It didn’t work with Moishy. Due to his family circumstances, he’d had some contact with non-Jews. “They showed me kindness. I’d been told that that would never happen. I knew what I was being taught was wrong.” Aged 14, he began to talk about leaving the community. They responded by bombarding him with bribery and propoganda. Moishy recalls: “Rabbis came to see me and warned me about a ‘world full of sin’. They said only dropouts and lowlifes wanted to leave. They offered me money, new friends and a new home. They transformed my circumstances. They said that the only way to get a girl was to stay in the community.”

With success measured in marriage and having multiple children, it was that that finally persuaded Moishy to stay. Just four years later, he found himself married to a woman he’d known for an hour. “The rabbi researched her. I didn’t like her but I didn’t have a choice. It was all done in a day.”

But Moishy’s desire to escape just intensified. He got a computer, furtively taught himself English, and managed to find other escapees. His wife complained to the rabbi about the computer, but Moishy wasn’t scared. “I didn’t like my life. By being part of the community I felt as though I was supporting it, when I didn’t.” Nearly ten years after his first attempt to leave, Moishy made the break. He ignored the bribery and the threats, cut off his curls, walked out and slept in his car before eventually securing somewhere to live.

He’s now studying and planning for the future alone, as his family have cut him off. “If you leave, you lose your family. I knew that would happen, so I resolved that I would make a new family for myself when I left.” However, his father speaks to him occasionally “to keep things open in case I want to go back.” That, Moishy says emphatically, will never happen. He says: “The community way takes away your choices – what you eat, what you learn, who you marry. That’s why I want to tell my story. There are so many other young boys in the community with so much potential. I hope this message will go out to them: so many things you’re being told aren’t true. Life can be different.” And with that, he puts on his hoodie, gives a shy smile and shuffles anonymously out into the street. Just like any other young man his age.

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

Why I left the ultra-orthodox Jewish community: 'as kids we were told that the outside world hated us'

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/why-i-left-the-ultraorthodox-jewish-community-as-kids-we-were-told-that-the-outside-world-hated-us-9668865.html

Don't the authorities have a duty to ensure the welfare and education of these children? FFS :mad:

obplayer

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Don't the authorities have a duty to ensure the welfare and education of these children? FFS :mad:

Yes but as always religion gets a free pas.

MrPudding

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Don't the authorities have a duty to ensure the welfare and education of these children? FFS :mad:

I think it was dispatches that did a story on the illegals schools used to teach these kids. Crazy stuff and not enough being done to combat it.

MrP

Cabaal

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28831106

The world's most pierced man, Rolf Buchholz, has been denied entry into Dubai after he was due to make an appearance at a hotel nightclub.

Mr Buchholz told the BBC that airport staff said they feared he may be practising "black magic".

marienbad

Cabaal wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28831106

It would have taken days to get him through the x-ray machine anyway

robindch

Without any sense of over-egging his omelette, the archbishop of Chicago explains that he expects to die in his bed, that his successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/16/travelodge-have-made-a-decision-to-remove-bibles-that-could-really-upset-christians_n_5684258.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

Meanwhile, persecution of christians in the UK reaches a new, hysterical height when Travelodge announces that bibles have been removed from bedrooms and are now available from checkin:

Fun fact - Travelodge started this policy seven years ago but as they held off announcing it until now, nobody noticed.