The Hazards of Belief

Hotblack Desiato

That sort of stuff probably started out a lot less extreme but got greatly embellished over time and re-telling.

Like the gospels

smacl

Interesting take on celibacy and homosexuality in the Catholic church :pac:

Reuters wrote:

MANILA (Reuters) - President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday denounced bishops in the Catholic-majority country as “sons of bitches”, renewing his attacks on the church that has criticized him over his bloody war on drugs.

“Only I can say bishops are sons of bitches, damn you. That is true,” Duterte said in a speech during a groundbreaking ceremony for a school north of the capital, Manila.

Duterte did not mention any particular reason for his criticism of the church on Thursday, which included a suggestion that most bishops are homosexual.

“Most of them are gay,” he said. “They should come out in the open, cancel celibacy and allow them to have boyfriends.”

Source

Odhinn

The hazards being chiefly dysentery and the jaysus knows what else



https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46860409

robindch

Apparently Israeli McJesus is real - though the two articles quote a different image:

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Deputy-AG-defends-McJesus-in-Haifa-art-controversy-577513
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-15/ronald-mcdonald-mcjesus-statue-sparks-protests-in-israel/10715544

Odhinn

One of the less mentioned hazards of belief - certain 'schools'/forms of traditional chinese medicine eg


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46925699


https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino-info/threats/poaching-rhino-horn/

Hotblack Desiato

Got this weird spam email:

Hi,

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SECRET FACTS ABOUT VIRGIN MARY THE ROSARY ETERNAL LIFE

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As you go through this, please feel free to ask questions on anything you desire to know more about. The author would be too glad to respond and give you very satisfactory explanations and answers:-

After God had created everything in this world, He later in heaven decided to create the ROSARY and handed it over to the Blessed Virgin Mary and told Her to bring it down to the world for our use. Why did He take this decision? You will soon find out. And so it happened that on the 16th of July, 1208 AD, Mary descended from heaven with this First Rosary and handed it over to a Rev.Father living in France, by name Dominic, now a Saint; as she was directed to do. Why choose Dominic and not any other person? You will soon find out.

Again on the 13th of Oct, 1917 in the city of Fatima, Portugal, the Mother of Jesus appeared for the sixth time to three innocent children, holding in her hand, a very beautiful Rosary of golden colour, also created in heaven; an event that was widely reported by the media including the O’Seculo and O’dia newspapers of Portugal. At this event, the Sun miraculously left the sky and started rushing down on the huge crowd which had gathered, dancing about in a zig-zag manner and throwing colourful beams of light on the crowd as it grew bigger than a football field.

This is one apparition which the then Presidents of America, Russia and UK:, Kennedy, Khrushchev and Macmillan so much believed in that they had to obey the message given to them which led to their meeting in Moscow on the 6th of Aug 1963 to sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). Commenting on this, a German newspaper-Neues Europa, in its Monday 15th Oct, 1963 edition wrote: “This was in fact the first time in recent history of mankind that when concluding a political agreement of world importance, essential factors arising from religious matters were taken into account”.

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All these and more are contained in this Book titled- SECRET FACTS About Virgin Mary... by Dennis Mary Chikata; with Nihil Obstat of Rev. Msgr.(Dr.) Anthony Njoku.

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And you will know from the Bible the secret causes of Suffering, and the blessings that it often attracts; as well as how the dead see ,hear, feel and eat.

Here are the Links to buy the book:[snip]

Pherekydes

Why was it sent to you and not any other person?














You will soon find out. :pac:

Hotblack Desiato

I got one a few years back inviting me to convert to islam, that didn't work either! (I think I mentioned it in here before - the idea AFAIK is that if you have never heard of islam and don't worship allah you won't go to hell - if you have heard of islam and don't convert you will go to hell, so they're not so much trying to win souls as condemn infidels to eternal torment by removing the 'never heard of that guy' defence.)

And those lonely ladies who are very horny and can't wait to meet me have turned out to be rather a disappointment

The buke is on Amazon if anybody is actually arsed.

They're about ten years out on the signing of the SALT treaty, and I'm pretty sure that Kruschev and Macmillan were not catholics (and Kennedy didn't let his catholicism get in the way of having women '3 ways') - that's what did it for me, I was sooo convinced until that bit

Michael OBrien

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

the idea AFAIK is that if you have never heard of islam and don't worship allah you won't go to hell - if you have heard of islam and don't convert you will go to hell, so they're not so much trying to win souls as condemn infidels to eternal torment by removing the 'never heard of that guy' defence.)

To be fair, that is not the reason for attempting to convert you. Islam is a deed based sin/caste system of sorts. Basically every deed has a particular value that deducts or adds to the total sin a person has, so converting someone is a way of absolving themselves of their sins somewhat. This is why you have a high turnover where muslims have a VERY low bar for conversion and a super high bar for criticism. Ultimately they get the credit for conversion but don't care what happens after that because if you leave its your fault, and that means you earned the consequences (often death or imprisonment if possible). Even if a muslim is deemed to live a 'good' life they can also get closer to their god by doing more 'good' deeds as there is a system of snobbery in heaven apparently where 'location, location, location' is important even there. The closer you are to where allah sits, the better.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asia-pacific/india-launches-elaborate-campaign-to-construct-cow-sanctuaries-1.3757895

India launches elaborate campaign to construct cow sanctuaries

Preserving cows under BJP rule has resulted in 65 people being lynched, beaten to death


Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party has launched an elaborate campaign to further protect cows, which are considered sacred by the country’s majority Hindu community.

Earlier this week, Yogi Adityanath, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minister of India’s largest Uttar Pradesh state north of New Delhi, announced the levy of a “cow welfare cess” to fund the construction and maintenance of elaborate shelters for millions of cattle.

He aims to fund these cow sanctuaries through a raft of taxes imposed on consumer items like alcohol, government-operated toll-ways, various public sector corporations and assorted government-run rural and agricultural organisations.

...

The annual cost of maintaining some 1.1 million unproductive cattle in Uttar Pradesh is estimated at about €515 million. Nationally, the cost of sustaining more than 5.3 million cows is about €1.4 billion per year.

The average lifespan of a cow is 20 years, about half of which is productive.

...

Similar cow-protective measures are in place in all 10 of India’s 29 states ruled directly by the BJP, and in another five where the Hindu nationalists are in power in coalition governments.

In Modi’s western home state of Gujarat and northern Haryana state, for instance, both of which are ruled by the BJP, cow slaughter is punishable with imprisonment of up to 14 years, or a fine, or both.

Citing ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, the judges threatened prosecution for anyone abandoning or maltreating their cattle and ordered the appointment of mobile infirmaries within three weeks to minister to their welfare.

Additionally, special squads headed by a senior police officer and a vet were instructed by the court to patrol the countryside once every 24 hours to further ensure cow protection in a region that remains woefully short of hospitals and offers dismal healthcare.

Preserving cows across India under BJP rule has resulted in at least 65 people being lynched or beaten to death by Hindu mobs on suspicion that they had either abandoned the animals or sold them for slaughter.

A country with nuclear weapons, a space programme, and now cow sanctuaries, but it can't provide clean water, air and food for a huge chunk of its human population.

Peregrinus

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

. . . A country with nuclear weapons, a space programme, and now cow sanctuaries, but it can't provide clean water, air and food for a huge chunk of its human population.

But for the cow sanctuaries, you could be describing quite a lot of countries there.

And somehow I don't think the problem in general is cow sanctuaries.

oscarBravo

Peregrinus wrote: »

But for the cow sanctuaries, you could be describing quite a lot of countries there.

And somehow I don't think the problem in general is cow sanctuaries.

True. But as an avatar for hella misplaced priorities, it's pretty compelling.

Hotblack Desiato

I doubt their nuclear weapons or space programmes were inspired by religion.

Cow sanctuaries though. Didn't think I'd have to explain that one :rolleyes:

mikhail

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

I doubt their nuclear weapons or space programmes were inspired by religion.

Given the nuclear program was largely about escalating tensions with neighbouring Pakistan, which was created over a religious divide within British India, you could make the argument. On the other hand, people being people, they'd probably have found some other excuse for hostilities.

Peregrinus

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

I doubt their nuclear weapons or space programmes were inspired by religion.

Cow sanctuaries though. Didn't think I'd have to explain that one :rolleyes:

We're in the "hazards of belief" thread. Religion inspires cow sanctuaries, and as you admit yourself something that's not religion inspires a nuclear weapons programme, and you're fretting about the hazards of cow sanctuaries?

I mean. you're they guy who chose to bracket the cow sanctuaries with the nuclear weapons programme. Might want to rethink that; religion is looking pretty benign there.

smacl

Peregrinus wrote: »

I mean. you're they guy who chose to bracket the cow sanctuaries with the nuclear weapons programme. Might want to rethink that; religion is looking pretty benign there.

Yes and no. Historically. religion has been (manipulated to be) one of the major fault lines that polarised societies into opposing groups which fought one another. Arguably it still is to some extent, and opposing factions are simply gearing up with the nastiest and most destructive weapons that they can lay their hands on. I'd also consider proselytising a form of aggression in this regard as have those on the receiving end in the past, e.g. first people to be slaughtered in the boxer rebellion were the missionaries.

ohnonotgmail

Peregrinus wrote: »

We're in the "hazards of belief" thread. Religion inspires cow sanctuaries, and as you admit yourself something that's not religion inspires a nuclear weapons programme, and you're fretting about the hazards of cow sanctuaries?

I mean. you're they guy who chose to bracket the cow sanctuaries with the nuclear weapons programme. Might want to rethink that; religion is looking pretty benign there.

Well spending money on cow sanctuaries for religious reasons instead of basic sanitation isn't totally benign

Hotblack Desiato

Peregrinus wrote: »

I mean. you're they guy who chose to bracket the cow sanctuaries with the nuclear weapons programme.

whooooooooooosh

The thing they have in common is that they're both a massive waste of money for what is still a developing country.

Did you read the article? Poor farmers (even if they were Hindu) used to be able to make money selling old dry cows for beef, now they're prevented from doing so and the beef is not even allowed to be eaten in an under-nourished country.

All because of religion.

Peregrinus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Well spending money on cow sanctuaries for religious reasons instead of basic sanitation isn't totally benign

It's a lot more benign that spending rather more money on a nuclear weapons programme for entirely non-religious reasons, is my point. For the purposes of this thread, this was perhaps not the happiest combination.

ohnonotgmail

Peregrinus wrote: »

It's a lot more benign that spending rather more money on a nuclear weapons programme for entirely non-religious reasons, is my point. For the purposes of this thread, this was perhaps not the happiest combination.

if by more benign you mean not as absolutely terrible then you may have a point.

mikhail

Peregrinus wrote: »

It's a lot more benign that spending rather more money on a nuclear weapons programme for entirely non-religious reasons, is my point. For the purposes of this thread, this was perhaps not the happiest combination.

Entirely?

mikhail wrote: »

Given the nuclear program was largely about escalating tensions with neighbouring Pakistan, which was created over a religious divide within British India, you could make the argument. On the other hand, people being people, they'd probably have found some other excuse for hostilities.

Odhinn

"Iran's capital city has banned the public from walking pet dogs, as part of a long-standing official campaign to discourage dog-ownership.
Tehran Police Chief Hossein Rahimi said "we have received permission from the Tehran Prosecutor's Office, and will take measures against people walking dogs in public spaces, such as parks"."


"As if this were not draconian enough, Brigadier-General Rahimi added that driving with a dog in your car was also banned.
"It is forbidden to drive dogs around in cars and, if this is observed, serious police action will be taken against the car-owners in question," he told the agency, which was set up by Iran's state broadcaster to train young journalists"

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-47041611


Eejits.

Hotblack Desiato

Apparently yesterday was World Hijab Day.


#they tried to make me wear a hijab, I said no, no no#

Hotblack Desiato

Aldi are getting into the woo business:


https://www.aldi.ie/hinkler-the-power-of-crystals-kit/p/087812243080000


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:rolleyes:

Peregrinus

You can't argue with the market, Hotblack.

Hotblack Desiato

Pretty dubious to be making what amount to bogus medical claims. Even if there is a sucker born every minute.

Odhinn

“20 years, 700 victims”
So reads part of the headline of a sweeping investigation that has found years of sexual abuse perpetrated by hundreds of Southern Baptist church leaders against an even larger number of victims.
The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reported that nearly 400 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced sexual misconduct allegations in the past two decades. As many as 700 victims — some as young as 3 — were sexually abused, some raped and molested repeatedly, according to the report.


But instead of ensuring that sexual predators were kept at bay, the Southern Baptist Convention resisted policy changes, the newspapers found. Victims accused church leaders of mishandling their complaints, even hiding them from the public. While the majority of abusers have been convicted of sex crimes and are registered sex offenders, the investigation found that at least three dozen pastors, employees and volunteers who showed predatory behavior still worked at churches."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/02/10/pure-evil-southern-baptist-leaders-condemn-decades-sexual-abuse-revealed-investigation/?utm_term=.eef50d31e8ee

Hector Savage

Surprised this hasn't appeared here - wait of course I'm not surprised ...



http://iqna.ir/en/news/3467897/cleric-slams-heinous-killing-of-6-year-old-boy-in-saudi-arabia

Cleric Slams Heinous Killing of 6-Year-Old Boy in Saudi Arabia

In a statement on Sunday, Grand Ayatollah Ali Safi Golpayegani expressed condolences over the martyrdom of the little boy to his family, who are Shia Muslims, and prayed that God give his family patience to bear his loss

He also called on international bodies to react to the atrocious crime and slammed the silence of Muslim countries’ rulers, especially those in Riyadh for the silence on the tragic incident.

The killing of the boy in broad daylight in Saudi Arabia has generated a wave of shock and revulsion and drawn attention to the brutal nature of Wahhabi school of thought which governs the kingdom.

ohnonotgmail

Hector Savage wrote: »

Surprised this hasn't appeared here - wait of course I'm not surprised ...



http://iqna.ir/en/news/3467897/cleric-slams-heinous-killing-of-6-year-old-boy-in-saudi-arabia

what is your point?

Hector Savage

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

what is your point?

What's your point ? you don't think it's a hazard of belief ?