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The Hazards of Belief

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Comments

  • #9062
    pauldla
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,247 ✭✭✭pauldla


    From The Independent:

    Praying in the wrong direction for four decades. Thankfully, it seems Allah has not been too angered by this, but one would wonder why it took Him so long to find a way to inform the faithful.

    Imam discovers everyone in mosque 'had been praying in wrong direction' for 37 years


  • #9063
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    ..a key flaw in its construction that meant faithful Muslims – who are instructed to kneel in the direction of Mecca during prayers – had misaligned themselves by as much as 33 degrees..
    Assuming each degree of inaccuracy reduces prayer effectiveness by 1%, then that's 33% less prayer value over all those years.
    I reckon they should sue the original architects.
    So many prayers and wishes gone to waste :mad:


  • #9064
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,902 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    recedite wrote: »
    Assuming each degree of inaccuracy reduces prayer effectiveness by 1%, then that's 33% less prayer value over all those years.
    I reckon they should sue the original architects.
    So many prayers and wishes gone to waste :mad:

    Makes you wonder is there some lesser known demigod off to one side who's been sucking up all those misdirected prayers :)


  • #9065
    silverharp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,854 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    I thought most Muslin prayons were directed harmlessly into space, the earth being curved and all?

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • #9066
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,902 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    silverharp wrote: »
    I thought most Muslin prayons were directed harmlessly into space, the earth being curved and all?

    What, the prayons get filtered through the muslin on their way to outer space in the same way muons don't get filtered by anything much when coming the other way? I demand a hard border for all these freaky particles :p


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  • #9067
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Actually, its not as bad as I first thought. Each degree off-target is equivalent to only 0.55% lost prayer value. That's based on the fact that any prayers directed in the totally opposite direction are off-target by 180 degrees. These prayers would be an insult to Allah.

    So in fact, using the refined methodology, the worshippers have only been losing 18.2% of their prayers (at 33 degrees misdirection)


    Now I'm wondering what would happen if you prayed to the anti-allah instead, but at 180 degrees misdirection.... would you be creating a force for good, a double negative?
    I'll leave that one for the theologians.


    Recedite The Beneficent


  • #9068
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,178 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    What they need to do is cover the inside of a mosque with mirrors, forming a resonant cavity.

    The worshippers are then 'pumped' into a higher energy state by a series of chanting pulses.

    Stimulated emission of prayons then occurs, forming a coherent non-diverging highly powerful prayon beam aimed straight at Mecca.

    It is called.. the Plaser. (or Prayser??)

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,

    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



  • #9069
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,458 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    silverharp wrote: »
    I thought most Muslin prayons were directed harmlessly into space, the earth being curved and all?
    When I worked in Saudi some years back, I heard a story - allegedly true - in which a foreign construction firm had designed and built some buildings with a number of toilets oriented in some consistent compass direction. The finished building then went for approval and it was found that the toilets required that anybody defecating would be doing so in the direction of Mecca. Some needlessly suspicious people suggesting that an insufficient number of palms had been greased during the project. In any case, horror was expressed all 'round, but after some chin-scratching, the company argued that the curvature of the earth meant that the faeces were being launched into air in a direction well over Mecca and after a short delay, one assumes in order for a check to clear, the explanation was accepted and the building approved by the sharia compliance officer.


  • #9070
    silverharp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,854 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    robindch wrote: »
    When I worked in Saudi some years back, I heard a story - allegedly true - in which a foreign construction firm had designed and built some buildings with a number of toilets oriented in some consistent compass direction. The finished building then went for approval and it was found that the toilets required that anybody defecating would be doing so in the direction of Mecca. Some needlessly suspicious people suggesting that an insufficient number of palms had been greased during the project. In any case, horror was expressed all 'round, but after some chin-scratching, the company argued that the curvature of the earth meant that the faeces were being launched into air in a direction well over Mecca and after a short delay, one assumes in order for a check to clear, the explanation was accepted and the building approved by the sharia compliance officer.

    the compartmentalised mind :pac:

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • #9071
    Odhinn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,458 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    robindch wrote: »
    When I worked in Saudi some years back, I heard a story - allegedly true - in which a foreign construction firm had designed and built some buildings with a number of toilets oriented in some consistent compass direction. The finished building then went for approval and it was found that the toilets required that anybody defecating would be doing so in the direction of Mecca. Some needlessly suspicious people suggesting that an insufficient number of palms had been greased during the project. In any case, horror was expressed all 'round, but after some chin-scratching, the company argued that the curvature of the earth meant that the faeces were being launched into air in a direction well over Mecca and after a short delay, one assumes in order for a check to clear, the explanation was accepted and the building approved by the sharia compliance officer.


    Muslim feng shui.


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  • #9072
    pauldla
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,247 ✭✭✭pauldla


    Well there's a turnip for the books.

    They paid millions? I must away with some parchment and cold tea...

    World famous Dead Sea Scrolls at Museum of the Bible 'are fake'

    (From The Independent)


  • #9073
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Though we had hoped the testing would render different results
    Understatement of the year :D


  • #9074
    NIMAN
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,592 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    pauldla wrote: »
    From The Independent:

    Praying in the wrong direction for four decades. Thankfully, it seems Allah has not been too angered by this, but one would wonder why it took Him so long to find a way to inform the faithful.

    Imam discovers everyone in mosque 'had been praying in wrong direction' for 37 years

    Probably facing towards US.....any wonder Trump doing so well.


  • #9075
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,458 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    pauldla wrote: »
    They paid millions?
    Not, of course, the first time that Mr Green has run into trouble pretending to be Indiana Jones:

    https://www.vox.com/2018/5/2/17310444/hobby-lobby-bible-museum-antiquities-iraq-smuggling-illegal-artifacts-doj
    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/3800-artifacts-once-bought-by-hobby-lobby-were-just-returned-to-iraq


  • #9076
    silverharp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,854 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    certainly an axis of stupid going on here

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/withoutacrystalball/2018/10/religious-vegan-parents-convicted-in-starvation-death-of-son/

    Nearly five years after religious parents starved their toddler to death, a jury found Jennifer and Jeromie Clark guilty of criminal negligence causing death. The jury in Calgary, Canada also convicted the parents with failing to provide the necessities of life-related to the child’s death. At the time of death, the child suffered from a rash, gangrene, hypothermia, and a staph infection. Jennifer and Jeromie Clark, Seventh Day Adventists, had never taken the child to see a doctor. They only brought 14-month-old John to the hospital the day before he died. The parents starved the child to death with a strict vegan diet.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • #9077
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,458 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Sinead O'Connor renounces her priesthood and announces her conversion to Islam as "the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian's journey":

    Unexpectedly, Mr Waters has not yet commented.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45987127


  • #9078
    mikhail
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,862 ✭✭✭mikhail


    I can't help but suspect it's just attention seeking.

    I'm generally suspicious of people who change religion. Lose it or keep it, I understand. Decide these holy books are a load of codswallop, but these holy books are right on... I don't get it.


  • #9079
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,178 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    I've long thought that any Western woman converting to islam needs her head examined. Sadly, Sinead's needed her head examined for a long time now.

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,

    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



  • #9080
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,178 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    smacl wrote: »
    One we went to must've missed that memo. We went for Ramones, Frank Zappa and Fatboy Slim when we tied the knot. The registrar loved the playlist we'd put together and asked to keep the CD.

    Meant to ask, what FZ song was it?

    Bobby Brown Goes Down? :)
    Broken Hearts Are For Assholes? :pac:

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,

    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



  • #9081
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,902 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    Meant to ask, what FZ song was it?

    Bobby Brown Goes Down? :)
    Broken Hearts Are For Assholes? :pac:

    Well, while she was a Catholic girl at one point, and quite a stormy wench too, this was the tune on the day.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xeBsnrFvzc


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  • #9082
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,458 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    mikhail wrote: »
    I can't help but suspect it's just attention seeking.
    Probably not unrelated to what one might call ongoing mental health issues.


  • #9083
    Odhinn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,458 ✭✭✭Odhinn


    mikhail wrote: »
    I can't help but suspect it's just attention seeking.

    I'm generally suspicious of people who change religion. Lose it or keep it, I understand. Decide these holy books are a load of codswallop, but these holy books are right on... I don't get it.


    No, it's unfortunately part of her mental illness. Huge highs that register as a religous, transcendent experience and massive paranoid lows. I've known one or two with the same sort of condition.


  • #9084
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,178 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    It's exploitative to say the least to accept a religious convert who is going through a manic phase or similar.


    Anyway. I hope yizzer have all voted :)

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,

    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



  • #9085
    robindch
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 24,458 Mod ✭✭✭✭robindch


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    It's exploitative to say the least to accept a religious convert who is going through a manic phase or similar.
    There are a few religious outlets who seem to be run by people with ongoing mental health issues - very hard to judge who's leading whom in that case, or where lies the best course of action, or responsibility.

    Not sure that it's entirely fair either to refer to her as Grenade O'Connor.
    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    Anyway. I hope yizzer have all voted :)
    Bit late for an online poll at this point, I'd say?


  • #9086
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,430 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    It's exploitative to say the least to accept a religious convert who is going through a manic phase or similar.
    While I think you have a good point here in general, in the case of Islam there isn't any question of anybody "accepting" converts. Anyone can become a Muslim, and you don't require permission/approval/acceptance/reception/etc by any authority figure. You just make the shahada - the declaration of faith - with understanding, sincere belief and conviction. You don't have to make it to anybody; other people don't even have to know about it, unless you choose to tell them. You are discouraged from doing this lightly and, in practice, discouraged from from doing it on your own but, as you don't need anybody's permission to do it, nobody can stop you from doing it.

    Sinead has expressed her thanks to "“all my Muslim brothers and sisters who have been so kind as to welcome me to Ummah”, which suggests that she hasn't taken this step entirely on her own; she's had some support. But we have no idea who has supported her, or how representative of Islam at large they may be.


  • #9087
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    robindch wrote: »
    Unexpectedly, Mr Waters has not yet commented.
    He may be still frozen to his newspaper, 12 hours later still locked into an icy stare.
    robindch wrote: »
    Not sure that it's entirely fair either to refer to her as Grenade O'Connor.Bit late for an online poll at this point, I'd say?
    The name she chose "Shuhada" apparently means "martyr". If she starts loading up a van with bags of fertiliser down at the Glanbia shop, its time to worry.

    Especially for John.



    Recedite, The Infuser of Faith


  • #9088
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 52,199 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    TFW when you invite a representative from the wrong religion to give a eulogy to slain worshippers:

    http://www.eclectablog.com/2018/10/mike-pence-invites-christian-rabbi-formerly-of-jews-for-jesus-to-give-the-invocation-during-michigan-campaign-stop.html


  • #9089
    Hector Savage
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,809 ✭✭✭Hector Savage


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46040515

    Good that she has been cleared, but has lost 8 years.
    The landmark ruling has already set off violent protests by hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws.

    Demonstrations against the verdict are being held in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Multan. Clashes with police have been reported.

    And this is thousands of people demonstrating ? - imagine the mind of someone who wants this person to be killed for a heated "blasphemous" remark ?


  • #9090
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,178 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    Hopefully she can hightail it out of the country before she gets murdered.

    I'm partial to your abracadabra,

    I'm raptured by the joy of it all.



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  • #9091
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    Hopefully she can hightail it out of the country before she gets murdered.
    Nope, the lawyer has done a deal with "officials" that keeps her there, while he skips the country himself.
    It's for her own good of course, because he can't defend her properly if he is worrying about his own safety (so he says anyway).
    Meanwhile the lynch mob mans the checkpoints.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46082324

    Its hard to believe that this all started when she took a drink of water out of a container or a well that was reserved for muslims, thereby rendering the water supply "unclean". Unfettered sharia has created a really crazy and bigoted society there.


    Recedite, The All-Seeing


This discussion has been closed.
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