tagged w/ Humanism
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OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County jury sent a clear signal Tuesday that parents who rely solely on faith healing to treat their children face prison if a child dies.
Jeffrey and Marci Beagley were found guilty Tuesday of criminally negligent homicide in the death of their 16-year-old son, Neil. The boy died in June 2008 of complications from an undiagnosed congenital urinary blockage after his parents attempted to heal him with prayer, anointing with oil and laying on of hands.
They are the first members of Oregon City's Followers of Christ church convicted of homicide in the congregation's long history of children dying from from treatable medical conditions.
"This is a signal to the religious community that they should be on notice that their activities will be scrutinized," said Steven K. Green, director of Willamette University's Center for Religion and Democracy. Other prosecutors may be emboldened to take similar cases to court, the law professor said.
Prosecutor Greg Horner asked that the Beagleys immediately be taken in to custody. Clackamas County Presiding Judge Steven L. Maurer denied the request, saying the Beagleys were not a flight risk or threat to the community.
Friends and family reacted to the 10-2 verdicts with stunned silence. Marci Beagley hugged her mother in the courthouse lobby as both women wept. Other family members quietly stood by.
The Beagleys will be sentenced Feb. 18. The maximum penalty for criminally negligent homicide is 10 years, but the Beagleys likely will receive no more than 18 months in prison and could be sentenced to probation.OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County jury sent a clear signal Tuesday that parents who... more
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Benedict XVI says legislation safeguarding rights of same-sex couples violates 'natural law'
Pope Benedict XVI has condemned British equality legislation for running contrary to "natural law" as he confirmed his first visit to the UK later this year.
In a letter addressed to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, the pope praised Britain's "firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all".
However, he criticised UK legislation for creating "limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs". It is thought his comments relate to laws that came in last year preventing adoption agencies from discriminating against gay couples and also Harriet Harman's equality bill, currently going through parliament.
The pope, whose visit is expected in September, made the comments after hearing representations from English and Welsh bishops on their concerns about the place of religion in an increasingly secular society.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/01/pope-condemns-british-equality-billBenedict XVI says legislation safeguarding rights of same-sex couples violates... more
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utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pressenza%2FQrjW+%28News+from+Pressenza+IPA+in+english%29utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pressenza%2FQrjW+%2... more
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The study results demonstrated that halting breast-feeding before the child was aged at least 18 months was associated with a significant increase in child mortality, with increases remaining even after mothers underwent intensive nutritional and counseling interventions.
The researchers recommended continuing breastfeeding for at least 18 months and added that the findings contradict some previous research that indicated that earlier weaning of breast-feeding may help to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The researchers said breast-feeding may help to stave off potentially fatal infectious diseases among the infants. But they warned that mothers with HIV should be treated with antiretroviral therapy to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.The study results demonstrated that halting breast-feeding before the child was aged... more
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A new law says Texas health care providers must test a pregnant woman for the virus that causes AIDS during the last three trimester unless she objects. Allison Lowery with the Department of State Health Services says the law, which took effect this month, is meant to save children's lives.A new law says Texas health care providers must test a pregnant woman for the virus... more
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jubal
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Jack up the price of Stephen's original interview table since all proceeds will go to Haiti Disaster Relief. AT&T will also match the final price.
7 Days left.Jack up the price of Stephen's original interview table since all proceeds will... more
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Though many say ninja monk flick Book of Eli is about Christianity, it's actually about rebooting the old church for a new world. Like many SF stories about the emergence of a new faith, Eli questions religion while defending it.
In the pantheon of science fiction tales, Book of Eli is just one of many that imagines future, mutated versions of contemporary religion. Like Margaret Atwood's recent novel The Year of the Flood or the classic Dune, Book of Eli makes just a few telling tweaks in familiar forms of faith. These stories suggest something that many would consider blasphemous: Religion is a product of history, and it changes with the times.
The Democracy Of Heaven
Book of Eli is, as its title suggests, a movie that tells the story of a new chapter in the Christian Bible. But it's also a reboot of the New Testament, retelling the origin story of Christianity. Our knife-wielding badass Eli, who risks everything to walk across the country and deliver his Bible to the only printing press in all the land, could be viewed as a Christ figure of the future. He spreads the word of old-school Christianity, but he's remaking the religion as he goes, incorporating printing presses, Johnny Cash, and ninja skills into traditional lore.
But the tweak here goes beyond suggesting that Johnny Cash could become part of tomorrow's hymnals. Book of Eli transforms the origin story of European and American Christianity, converting the chalk-white faces of Jesus and his apostles into the battle-scarred face of a powerful black man. The figure of Eli is a far cry from the classic imagery of the manger that many Americans grew up with. And in the end, Eli leaves behind a powerful female apostle to spread his word. With those changes - a holy book now starring a black man, who chooses a white woman as his apprentice - contemporary Christianity gets a makeover.
More at the link . . .
http://io9.com/5451262/why-does-science-fiction-invent-new-religionsThough many say ninja monk flick Book of Eli is about Christianity, it's actually... more
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December 25:
1914 : The Christmas Truce
Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable.
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December 25:
1914 : The... more
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After reading the responses of Currenteers on the recent post - 'Gay Marriage Goes on Trial in US Federal Court', I became discouraged once again to see that there are some who still use carefully selected passages of the bible to justify their homophobia.
Why is that?
Why is it that a book (written by man) so long ago is seen as a final authority on how we shall live when so many of its 'truths' have been found to be false? Why is it that people who tout passages, in an effort to justify their warped world view, conveniently forget that there is also scripture that justifies slavery, murder, and rape? Are they correct as well? I mean, they're said to be correct in the bible, no? Why is it that we as human beings can't use our own reason in logic to determine what is moral?
Please, let's use our brains, not some antiquated book written before the Dark Ages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSXJzybEeJM
Preach it, POTUS!After reading the responses of Currenteers on the recent post - 'Gay Marriage... more
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The immigration debate these days looks more like a balance sheet than a political conversation. Reflecting the economic anxieties besieging politicians and voters, two competing views of immigrants emerge: as a vital contributor to the economy or a burden on public resources—as an indispensable cheap labor source or a parasitic scourge. The polemics increasingly revolve around how immigrants can be used, not how they deserve to be treated.
Without a human rights-based counterpoint to the demand-supply rhetoric, lawmakers would be all too willing to cede immigration policy to the corporate gatekeepers of the private sector, while preserving a the structure of inequity.
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Immigrants can be assessed in terms of GDP. But the labor movement is founded on the idea that workers must be recognized as more than just units of production. Two-dimensional views of immigrant “contributions” crystallize the assumption that certain neighbors are less deserving of the full breadth of humanity. Is that a privilege to be earned, or an inalienable right?
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5251/immigration_reform_whats_it_worth/The immigration debate these days looks more like a balance sheet than a political... more
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Work on deciphering a complex set of symbols sent to them is underway, scientists from the country's Space Research Institute said.
They claim aliens are currently answering 30 questions posed to them.
Lachezar Filipov, deputy director of the Space Research Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, confirmed the research.
He said the centre's researchers were analysing 150 crop circles from around the world, which they believe answer the questions.
"Aliens are currently all around us, and are watching us all the time," Mr Filipov told Bulgarian media.
"They are not hostile towards us, rather, they want to help us but we have not grown enough in order to establish direct contact with them."
He said humans were not going to be able to establish contact with the extraterrestrials through radio waves but through the power of thought.
"The human race was certainly going to have direct contact with the aliens in the next 10 to 15 years," he said.
"Extraterrestrials are critical of the people's amoral behavior referring to the humans' interference in nature's processes."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/bulgaria/6650677/Aliens-already-exist-on-earth-Bulgarian-scientists-claim.htmlWork on deciphering a complex set of symbols sent to them is underway, scientists from... more
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A Lovejoy father will serve 12 years in prison for nearly starving his twin sons to death. James McCart pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he starved his 13-month-old twins to the point they could barely move, Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson said. Superior Court Judge Deborah Benefield sentenced McCart to 15 years. He must serve 12 years before being eligible for parole.
“Once his head cleared and he realized what he had done, he made a commitment to do the right thing and assist in the prosecution and the truth-finding process,” said Steve Frey, McCart’s lawyer.
McCart pleaded guilty to two counts of cruelty to children, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two counts of second-degree forgery.
Prosecutors offered McCart a plea deal last year, Frey said.
Last month, a jury found the babies’ mother, Tessa Zelek, guilty in the same case. Zelek, who refused a plea deal, is now serving a 70-year sentence. A judge ordered her to serve 75 percent of her sentence.
McCart testified against Zelek during the trial. He told jurors that he and Zelek went days without feeding the children.
“I don’t know how many days went by that the kids weren’t fed. I thought like two, but I’m not sure,” he told jurors.
Prosecutors said Ashton and Avery McCart were so malnourished that their eyes were sunken in and their clothes hung off their tiny limbs.
McCart told the jury that the couple was often too high on drugs to care for the babies.
The couple was taking about 20 Methadone tablets a day, along with Xanax, Oxycontin and alcohol, he testified. They obtained the drugs after making prescriptions in their home and forging doctors' signatures, he said.
“At some point we started getting pretty sick [because of the Methadone]. We were both throwing up and we stayed in bed,” McCart testified. “We just ignored the baby monitor. We turned it down.”
Doctors say the boys would have died if their relatives hadn’t intervened.
The boys are staying with McCart’s mother.
The boys are a bit behind other children in their age group and a little smaller because they suffered brain damage from the malnourishment, doctors said.
The boys' maternal grandmother, Christiann Zelek -- a former Henry County schools special education official -- is charged with not reporting the child abuse to police. Her trial is scheduled for January.A Lovejoy father will serve 12 years in prison for nearly starving his twin sons to... more
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"It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison, and yet not free — to be under no physical constraint and yet to be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national state, or of some private interest within the nation, wants him to think, feel and act. The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the impression that they are acting on their own initiative. The victim of mind-manipulation does not know that he is a victim. To him the walls of his prison are invisible, and he believes himself to be free. That he is not free is apparent only to other people. His servitude is strictly objective."
Aldous Huxley via dmitridb:
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent. But if we can come to terms with this indifference, then our existence as a species can have genuine meaning. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
Stanley Kubrick via Athila
THERE IS MUCH HERE-"It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison, and yet not free —... more
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As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of negativity that, in my perception, we often put forward to the rest of the world. It’s a concern I much share with Paul Kurtz, a secularist hero and my former boss at the Center for Inquiry in Buffalo, NY, who has long been worried about ensuring that humanists have positive, constructive messages to offer about the virtues of a life of unbelief.
So how fortunate to have just learned of the release of the Harvard humanist chaplain Greg Epstein’s new book Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe. The book description suggests that it is exactly what I, and Kurtz, are looking for:
With the current state of the economy, the ongoing wars that rage across the globe, and the unsettling changes to the earth’s climate, questions about the role of God and religion in world affairs have never been more relevant or felt more powerfully. Many of us are searching for a place where we can find not only facts and scientific reason but also hope and the moral courage needed to overcome such challenges. For some, answers to the most challenging questions are found in the divine. For others, including the New Atheists, religion has no place in the world and is, in fact, an “enemy.”
But in Good Without God, Greg Epstein presents another, more balanced and inclusive response: Humanism. With a focus on the positive, he highlights humanity’s potential for goodness and the ways in which Humanists lead lives of purpose and compassion. Humanism can offer the sense of community we want and often need in good times and bad, as we celebrate marriages and the birth of our children, and as we care for those who are elderly or sick. In short, Humanism teaches us that we can lead good and moral lives without supernaturalism, without higher powers . . . without God.
In this constructive response not only to his fellow atheists Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris but also to contemporary religious leaders such as Rick Warren and Jim Wallis, Epstein makes a bold claim for what nonbelievers do share and believe. At a time when the debate about morality rages more fiercely than ever—and when millions are searching for something they can put their faith in—Humanism offers a comfort and hope that affirms our ability to live ethical lives of personal fulfillment, aspiring together for the greater good of all.As an atheist and a secularist, one of my greatest concerns has long been the tone of... more
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Forget God, let's talk about arrogance.
That's not exactly the way Rice University humanities professor Anthony Pinn, in an article for the online magazine Religion Dispatches, describes the monotone of mockery at the Atheist Alliance International convention, but it gets you to Pinn's key points pretty quickly.
The convention, starring the atheist band's Mick Jagger, Richard Dawkins, promoting his book on evolution, The Greatest Show on Earth, and some backup singers like TV host Bill Maher, was held in Burbank, Calif., earlier this month.
Pinn found the main idea at the event, is that religion is
... the single most dangerous human creation.
The welfare of humanity, it was argued, depends on the dismantling of religion and all of its delusions. The possibility of collaboration, of compromise, of any shared ethical commitments between theists and non-theists, was not on the table.
Pinn, who calls himself a humanist, zeroes in on the common trait that atheists share with fundamentalists of any religion -- "their inability for critical self-reflection and critique."
They have formed, in effect, the religion of "not," defined by what they refuse and rebuke.
Consider Christopher Hitchens, the Keith Richards of the band (OK, enough Stones), who is on the road right now promoting his new documentary, Collision, in which he debates Rev. Douglas Wilson. Hitchens, who has no new intellectual songs to sing here but he does have nice manners, sort of. He writes in Slate
I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe.
Pinn, however, is more focused on substance. He proposes atheists and humanists construct
... (A) system of ethics meant to enhance quality of life, both through scientific advancement and rigorous struggle against irrational modes of destruction such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. What is necessary is the application of practices that speak clearly to atheism's concern for life within the context of a fragile environment.
After all, Pinn observes, while religious rituals doctrines shift with time and culture, religion is never going away. It offers it's own set of answers for core questions:
... Theism, at its core, is about the making of meaning and the establishment of stories and practices related to how and why we occupy time and space.
Pinn would like to see atheists, humanists and believers, retaining their distinctions, focus on shared ethical commitments. What are the chances?Forget God, let's talk about arrogance.
That's not exactly the way Rice... more
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NAIROBI, Kenya, Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week shot and killed a Somali Christian who declined to wear a veil as prescribed by Muslim custom, according to a Christian source in Somalia.
Members of the comparatively “moderate” Suna Waljameca group killed Amina Muse Ali, 45, on Oct. 19 at 9:30 p.m. in her home in Galkayo, in Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region, said the source who requested anonymity for security reasons.
Ali had told Christian leaders that she had received several threats from members of Suna Waljameca for not wearing a veil, symbolic of adherence to Islam. She had said members of the group had long monitored her movements because they suspected she was a Christian.
The source said Ali had called him on Oct. 4 saying, “My life is in danger. I am warned of dire consequences if I continue to live without putting on the veil. I need prayers from the fellowship.”
“I was shocked beyond words when I received the news that she had been shot dead,” the source in Somalia told Compass by telephone. “I wished I could have recalled her to my location. We have lost a long-serving Christian.”
Ali had come to Galkayo from Jilib, 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Kismayo, in 2007. She arrived in Puntland at the invitation of a close friend, Saynab Warsame of the Darod clan, when the Islamic extremist group al Shabaab invaded Kismayo, the source said. Warsame was born in Kismayo and had lived in Jilib but moved to Puntland when war broke out in 1991.
The source said it is not known if even Warsame knew of Ali’s conversion from Islam to Christianity.
“She might not have known, because Warsame is not a Christian,” he said.
In 1997 Ali, an orphan and unmarried, joined the Somali Christian Brothers’ Organization, a movement commonly known as the Somali Community-Based Organization. As such she had been an active member of the underground church in the Lower Juba region.
Muslim extremists have targeted the movement, killing some of its leaders after finding them in possession of Bibles. The organization was started in 1996 by Bishop Abdi Gure Hayo.NAIROBI, Kenya, Three masked members of a militant Islamist group in Somalia last week... more
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Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system. We'll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to health insurance, if we ain't broke, why fix it?Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO... more
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