The idea that people had to have an intact penis just to enter the church. Amazing. I didn't remember hearing about that one. It wouldn't be quite so bad if every church had a disclaimer that much of the Bible is a bunch of nonsense that the current church no longer believes. Unfortunately that is not the case. I love the lego illustrations. It makes it more real. LOL. :)

Reclaiming What Makes Us Human By Barbara Ehrenreich Through the ages, the killjoys of governing elites have been threatened by public expressions of collective joy... Philosophically, too, elites cringe from the spectacle of disorderly public joy. Hierarchy, by its nature, establishes boundaries between people--who can go where, who can approach whom, who is welcome, and who is not. Festivity breaks the boundaries down. While hierarchy is about exclusion, festivity generates inclusiveness. ...

A film. The film illustrates how the pornographic worldview is a generally accepted discourse, a habitual mode of thinking and acting that underpins not only sexism, but also racism, militarism, physical abuse and torture, and the pillaging of the environment. As such, pornography appears not only in overt, "hard-core" forms, but also in virtually every aspect of everyday life. As the film illuminates, even though pornography is generally thought to be the opposite of religion, it actual...

How do people think that change will take place if they don't want the government requiring it and they don't want to take the initiative on their own? It could be different people. One - the nanny-state whiners - who don't want anything imposed on them in the form of restrictive laws. The other - those who are offended if people suggest that we the people can make a difference by turning down the thermostat/consuming less energy and not eating meat/which is equivalent of giving up a car - and ...

This fits my understanding of the word: The term racism is usually applied to the dominant group in a society, because it is that group that has the means to oppress others. The thing is that white men have the history of power in this country and of making the argument that their race is superior. See what the Supreme Court Chief Justice wrote - if you forgot: (Link) (DOCID+@lit(llst022div3)) (you may have to paste in the end of the link) This was the law of the land. Things have been g...

I think this ongoing debate that has been going on to demonize either atheists or religion based on wars/murder is ridiculous. There are plenty of examples on both sides - and doesn't make either side look any better to say - your side did blah, blah, blah while ignoring everything that ones own side did. Any atheist can say - that Stalin has nothing to do with them - just as any religious person can say that Hitler has nothing to do with them. And they would both be right. So it comes down ...

150 years ago - all of the voters were white men. Now white men comprise app. 37% of the population. (If you want to give a different response - post it below.)

Do you think it's offensive to say that 43 white men as President and how ever many white men as VPs are enough? Well - >:nopity: I've been reading the Dred Scott decision - and while I admit - it's been around awhile 1856 (so this is nothing new) - it's a damning indictment against white men - the only people who had true citizen status - the right to vote and the right to sue. I keep reading it (I'm app. half way through) and I am amazed at how outrageous the arguments are. Until peopl...

in the South Pacific. Sold to salmon farms and such. (Link) And also there has been less Krill in the northern Pacific - resulting in dieoffs of sea gulls and other animals: (Link) _________________ It sounds to me that less krill could result in higher global temperatures - according to what you posted. It seems like it would be a good idea to stop the vacuums. More about the vacuums/impacts: Krill's behavior has always made them easy to catch in large numbers. Swimming near the ocean's...

is that there is some truth to it. People here have excused people's involvement in the military "because the people have no choice" (because of education, circumstance, etc). I think that everyone does have a choice - and it's hard for me to figure out why anyone would think that the military is the best choice anyway. One reason - though - is that if people think that the military gives people status. So that is what I think this comes down to. Should people (including politicians who are ...

Even with testable things - like global warming - not everyone knows the same things. Nobody has the same body of knowledge as anyone else. As much as people try to avoid - people believe some things that someone said that was exaggerated, for instance - in other areas human knowledge is simply incomplete. Perceptions of reality vary - based on what people know - and various opinions about that knowledge. There are graphs and various things that scientists have put together - and part of what g...

This could be titled "Why People Need the Goddess" - but at any rate - it's worth thinking about. I am not about to start "believing" that there actually is a Goddess - but as the article mentions - it's the symbolism that counts. And we are affected by the symbolism of the male God whether we "think" about it (consciously) or not. A lot of people deny it and say that God is a neutral term. I don't buy it. Just like the evangelical who made it very clear to his congregation that he was endorsin...

Over at Reclusive Leftist (Link) is a post, "Who hates who?" She starts out with a most disturbing misogynist diatribe some man wrote to a feminist. Violet Socks writes: Misogyny. It’s thousands of years old. Men are human, women are sub-human chattel. Beasts of burden. “Women are our natural slaves,” said Napoleon. “God gave them to us to serve us.” Women denied citizenship, denied humanity. Denied souls. Women mutilated. Women raped, then buried in sand up to their waists and stoned to de...

I was reading this page on "Truth" ( (Link) ) and it got me to thinking that what I like about liberally religious people & philosophical atheists is that they are all (mostly) looking for truth. Some how or another. I think that the Fundamentalists think that they know the truth - and are often trying to use their religion (or philosophy) to try to justify immoral beliefs/abuse of power, etc. But there is a difference in being open-minded to the idea that you don't know the "truth" and being c...

(Esp. for anyone living in da Nile.) The murder of the Amish schoolgirls is not the first time, by any means, that women or girls have been singled out for death. In 1989, when misogynist Marc Lepine stormed into a college in Montreal, Canada, and shot 14 young women dead, feminists began to demand that police categorise such killings as "femicide", for the same reason that racially motivated murders are named as such. Since then, hundreds of thousands more women and girls have been murdered by...

This whole FOX/Clinton thing bugs me - even before this -> (Link) "Former President Bill Clinton, never one to let truth stand in the way of a good line, has decided to reincarnate himself as our tough, anti-terror president...." (Link) ....because I see it as just a big "frame the debate" thing. It's a win/win for FOX - if the goal is for people to think that the most important thing is for the US to be "strong on the 'War on Terror'". If Clinton argues that the Democrats are the tou...

"liberalism has grown dangerously out of touch with the realities of our world" "On questions of national security, I am now as wary of my fellow liberals as I am of the religious demagogues on the Christian right." "This may seem like frank acquiescence to the charge that "liberals are soft on terrorism." It is, and they are." " liberals continue to imagine that Muslim terrorism springs from economic despair, lack of education and American militarism. " "Such an astonishing eruption of maso...

We recently had this thread: McMansions and Resource Allocation (Link) Today I was noticing this UK site Climate Care. (Link) It is the idea that people should consider their CO2 emissions - from planes, homes, cars, businesses - and then fund sustainable energy projects in proportion. I think it's an interesting idea. I've heard about it for businesses - but not seen this site for individuals. I think it would be best if people used less. But for the things that people feel like they h...

TEL AVIV, Israel (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz Thursday instructed the army to prepare a quick occupation of all of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, and to 'paralyze' areas where Hezbollah has been firing rockets into northern Israel, objectives that could lay the groundwork for a U.N. peacekeeping force. The order came at the end of another day of intensive fighting that included an Israeli push across the border and Hezbollah guerrillas firing at least 160 rockets, whi...

A Primeval Tide of Toxins Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people. By Kenneth R. Weiss, Times Staff Writer July 30, 2006 <snip> Scientist Judith O'Neil put a tiny sample under a microscope and peered at the long black filaments. Consulting a botanical reference, she identified the weed as a strain of cyanobacteria, an ancestor of modern-day bacteria and alg...

that they plan to remake the Middle East to be how they want it to be. Her words may be less violent sounding than what comes out of that Iranian guy's mouth - but to the people of the Middle East - with Israel demolishing Lebanon, the US demolishing Iraq - I expect it sounds to them like the US/Israel plans to wipe them off the map - and replace them with something else. If they talk tough - I don't blame them. If they support the resistance of Hezbolla - I don't blame them. Look who actual...

to think of countries or even groups within countries as immature/more mature. The Literalist/Fundamentalist/Republicans (LFRs) think that they are being MORE mature - because they expect everyone to be responsible for themselves - and not expect anything from that gov't. They think that liberals are being less mature because liberals argue for social programs to help people. I think that the liberal position is more mature because Adults would be more likely to be concerned for others - not j...

What's the difference? Let's look at the diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the following: (1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest (2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for pers...

It seems like a contradictory thing - you might think those who operate from the head would NOT be operating out of emotions and reactions. Of course THAT is what the head would say :) . I think that is part of what I have been wrestling with. It is one thing to intellectually reject god/desses - if one wants to be logical and all. It's another thing to reject all that seems illogical - such as one's heart, one's intuition, the insights you get from meditation. Even Sam Harris (the big ant...

By the Romans/Pagans way back when - because they did not believe in the gods as the state defined the gods. The Roman occupiers allowed the Jews to believe what they did - they respected their traditions. The Christians were not allowed their religion - as it was too confrontational against the state power. According to Tertullian (Apology, app. 200 C.E.) - Pagans of the day said, "a Christian is a man of every crime, an enemy of the gods, of the emperor, of the law, of good morals, of all ...

(Image) (Link) Chill With a Jellyfish, Rent a Pup: Japanese Pay Big for Stress Relief By Anthony Faiola Washington Post Foreign Service?Monday, June 5, 2006; Page A01 ENOSHIMA, Japan -- As dusk draped this seaside town in darkness, Ikiko and Kuniyo Hirutani prepared themselves for the unknown. Tonight, they would sleep with the fishes, and both had come prepared -- with sleeping bags and pillows. The sisters were there with 30 other stressed-out women, ages 28 to 57, seeking inner peace th...

how different ideas about God/dess seem like they would affect someone's point of view. For instance. One atheist spoke about how he liked to consider the "Point of view of the universe". It seems to me the "Point of view of the universe" could be a pretty good God/dess concept. To consider that if the universe had a point of view - what would it be? (Of course it doesn't really mean that the universe has a point of view.) Esp. when you contrast that with thinking that God/dess IS the univers...

I love this. And by a physicist who is also an artist. How perfect. What banged? Why did it bang? And what was going on before it banged? Linde's theory, called "chaotic inflation," explained the shape of space and how galaxies were formed. It also predicted the exact pattern of background radiation from the Big Bang that was observed by the COBE satellite in the 1990s. Linde has been amply honored for his achievement, most recently by being awarded the 2004 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber ...