The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great light, the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.
“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

Via Ocellated.com >

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. That people can still deny this easily understood and intuitive scientific fact by relying on their holy text should give us pause considering some of the other, less benign, things that are written in it. For instance, things about the roles of women, the value of certain races, and the end of the world

“No, not by radical Muslims but by our own military. This email was forwarded to me from a soldier in Iraq whose friend is being harassed at another base for organizing a meeting of atheists on the base. The email was originally sent to Kathleen Johnson, the military director for American Atheists, who is currently serving in Iraq herself. The full email is below the fold:

Kathleen Johnson:
Thought you’d be interested in this report of the first-ever meeting of Atheist service-members in Iraq under the umbrella of the MAAF-Iraq chapter of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. This meeting was put together by the same young MAAF member who recently had his second letter published in the Stars and Stripes.

One of our members, a young Atheist enlisted soldier, thought he would like to see if he could generate some interest in MAAF meetings at his Forward Operating Base (FOB) here in Iraq (not the base I’m at, by the way). He got things coordinated and started hanging flyers, and after weeks of having to re-hang his flyers almost daily because some vandal kept tearing them down, he finally succeeded in having a small MAAF meeting.”… (cont’d)

Read the rest here.

It’s sad that religion can even break down the ties and sense of “being-on-the-same-team” that exist between a tight knit, fraternal group like the military.

“In scenes reminiscent of medieval witchhunts, Catholic pilgrims in Glastonbury have attacked pagans and threatened to “cleanse” them from the town.

Local pagans were pelted with salt and branded witches who “would burn in hell” during a procession organised by Youth 2000, a conservative Catholic lay group. The Magick Box, a pagan shop on the route of the march, was also singled out and attacked.

Maya Pinder, the owner of the shop, said: “We’ve had to hear comments such as ‘burn the witches’, we’ve had salt thrown in our faces and at our shop, people were openly saying they were ‘cleansing Glastonbury of paganism’.”

“”It was as if we had returned to the dark ages. This is hugely damaging to Glastonbury … it is hard enough to trade in Glastonbury as it is, if you were to take away the pagan element it would be a dead town.” The Somerset town is known for having a large population of resident and visiting pagans.”

From The Guardian >

This isn’t a current news story (it’s actually from November of 2006) but I couldn’t resist posting it simply because it is stupefyingly medieval what happened here. We really haven’t progressed much intellectually as a species over the last thousand thousand years if people can still say things like “burn the witches” and not be laughed at as they are hauled away to the mental hospital.

“Cairo - Fifty years ago, no Egyptian would have believed that a fight between two children - a Muslim and a Christian - could ignite violence requiring the presence of truckloads of heavily-armed riot police to contain it.

But this happened last month in the once cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Alexandria, albeit in one of the city’s poorer districts. There, a fist fight between two boys in front of a church turned into a full-blown sectarian clash between Muslims and Christians.

As religious zealots and angry mobs fanned the flames, the incident could have escalated had it not been for police which arrived quickly on the scene and contained the clash.

‘This situation is not unique to Alexandria. The tension is everywhere,’ says Father Yohanna Naseef, a Christian Coptic priest and an Alexandrine.”

“Claims of discrimination and even religious persecution against Copts are on the rise. Egyptian authorities claim radical Coptic communities resident abroad, especially in the United States, are fanning the flames, and asking foreign powers to intervene to empower Egypt’s Christian minority.”

From Monsters and Critics >

“LYNCHBURG, Va. – A Liberty University student who told a family member he had made bombs and planned to attend the funeral of the Rev. Jerry Falwell was apparently upset about an anti-gay fringe group that protested at the funeral, authorities said.

Officials were still trying to figure out what Mark David Uhl planned to do with the bombs. Police do not believe he intended to disrupt the funeral Tuesday or harm the Falwell family, Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy said.

Uhl, 19, was being held without bond in the Campbell County Adult Detention Center on charges of manufacturing an explosive device. It was not known if he had a lawyer, and messages seeking comment left at numbers believed to belong to his family were not returned.

Uhl, of Amissville, was arrested Monday night after a family member contacted authorities, who found homemade bombs in the trunk of Uhl’s car, Major Steve Hutcherson said.

Gaddy described the five bombs as “sort of like napalm” and about the size of soda cans.”

Read more @ The Star >

In this case, Mr. Uhl is clearly the perpetrator of violence and he is wrong. I’m posting this story because his actions were in response to hate messages founded on religious beliefs.

“GALVESTON, Texas — A baby girl was released from a hospital 11 days after police say she was burned in a motel microwave oven.
The infant’s mother blamed the devil for what happened, saying Satan compelled her husband to put the baby in the microwave. The devil “saw my husband as a threat” because of his efforts to become a preacher, Eva Marie Mauldin, 20, told Houston television station KHOU.

“He would never do anything to hurt her,” she said. “Satan was working through his weaknesses.”

Mauldin said her husband had a mental disability and her efforts to get him help have failed.

Doctors at the Shriners Burn Hospital performed at least two skin grafts on two-month-old Ana Marie Mauldin, who suffered burns on her face and hand May 10. She was released Monday and placed in foster care, and a custody hearing was scheduled later this week.

The baby’s father, Joshua Mauldin, 19, was charged with felony injury to a child and was jailed on US$250,000 bond.

If found guilty, he could face up to 99 years in prison.

Mauldin, of Warren, Ark., came to Galveston with his family earlier this month to be a preacher, authorities said.

When he first called 911, he said the baby had been burned when he tripped while carrying a pot of hot water in their motel room, police said.

He later told police he put his daughter in the microwave because he was under stress.

Police said the infant was in the oven for 10 to 20 seconds while her mother and grandmother were away.”

Read more @ The Edmonton Sun >

Just to be clear, I’m not posting this because it is a problem caused by religion - obviously this fellow has a mental illness that needs treatment. Rather, I’m posting it because it is an example of people blaming the influence of the devil; a particularly archaic and medieval point of view that needs to be left in the past.

The idea that there is an invisible being influencing our thoughts and actions is beyond ignorant and uneducated… its stupid.

“ONE in four young American Muslims thinks suicide bombing of civilians is justified to defend their religion, at least sometimes, according to a new report.

The survey by the authoritative Pew Research Centre finds that American Muslims are generally middle class and mostly mainstream, but Muslims under 30 are more prone to radical ideas.

The survey, one of the most exhaustive of American Muslims, found that only 25 per cent thought the US war on terrorism sincere, and only 40 per cent believed that Arabs carried out the September 11 attacks.

American attitudes are relevant because the Muslim communities there are the most similar to Australia.”

Read more @ the Age >

“WASHINGTON — A hate-crimes bill passed Thursday by the House, extending coverage to people victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability, is attracting opposition from an unusual coalition of Christian leaders.”

“But some Christians are depicting it as a “thought-crimes” bill attacking 1st Amendment freedoms of speech and religion. A coalition of evangelical, fundamentalist and black religious leaders is mounting a furious assault on the bill, airing television ads and mobilizing members to stop its progress. And President Bush has said he may veto the measure.

If the bill, approved 237-180, were to become law, opponents say, a pastor could be held liable for giving a sermon against homosexuality if a listener later attacked a gay individual.

“This legislation strikes at the heart of free speech and freedom of religious expression,” said Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition. “Statements critical of sexual orientation or gender identity can be prosecuted if those statements were part of the motivation of a person committing a crime against a homosexual or cross-dresser. … Pastors’ sermons can be considered hate speech under this bill.”

The bill’s supporters say this is nonsense, and that a sermon could never be considered an inducement to violence unless it explicitly advocated it.

“The only people who ought to fear this bill are people who would say to another human being, `You ought to do violence against someone else,’.” said Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who earlier added an amendment to the bill reaffirming the principles of the 1st Amendment. “I don’t know of any man of God who would take to any pulpit and advocate that.”"

From the Chicago Tribune >

The idea that opponents to this bill put forward as their reason for not wanting it to pass is ludicrous. The rights of a group of people to be protected from violence and hate speech should never kowtow to religious doctrine. To say that this bill might somehow lead to injustice is just about as backward as it gets.

“Secondary school pupils in north-eastern Nigeria have killed a teacher after apparently accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police say.

The teacher, a Christian, was attacked after supervising an exam in Gombe city. It is not clear what she had done to anger the students.

The authorities, concerned that communal unrest could break out, have ordered all the city’s schools to shut.

Similar accusations sparked riots in neighbouring Bauchi State last year.

At least 15,000 people have been killed in religious, communal or political violence since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.”

From BBC >

“Jakarta, 4 May (AKI) - A top official from Indonesia’s highest Muslim authority, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI), says he hopes that some 60 Christians being sought in connection with the production of a video allegedly containing anti-Islamic sentiments should be brought to justice. “We don’t want revenge but only justice,” [said] Muhammad Nidzom Hidayatullah[.]”

“41 people have already been arrested over the video which was reportedly shot last December at a religious gathering held by members of a Christian students organisation, the Lembaga Pelayanan Mahasiswa Indonesia (LPMI).

Those arrested face blasphemy charges and if convicted they could be imprisoned for up to five years. ”

More info here http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Religion&loid=8.0.411019766&par=0 >

If these Christians were caught and jailed for producing an anti-Islam video (or vice versa)… would it really be appropriate to call it “justice?”