1. The Jewish group isn't alone.
Long story short: Mormons are giving long-dead (Jewish) Holocaust victims baptisms-by-proxy.
In an example of breathtaking hypocrisy, a Mormon Elder said:
We don't think any faith group has the right to ask another to change its doctrines[.]
This was said in defense of this particular Mormon group's practice of proxy Baptism -- anyone stopping them would be asking the Mormons to change their doctrines. Forced, post-mortem conversion, however imaginary...sorry, "by proxy," isn't perhaps a little bit similar to "[asking] another to change [his/her] doctrines"?
2. For some reason this looks really delicious. I think I skipped dinner....
3. Any theories on what exactly this lobster does with its weird-ass claw during "skirmishes with other crustaceans"? It doesn't look like it, or its little teeth, could withstand much force or pressure.
4. Found a review and photos from the Sigur Ros concert in Portland last month.
During one of the quieter, more introspective songs (yeah, I know...which one), they had just two or three of these giant Chinese-type lanterns illuminated -- the ones in the back and to one side. It was an incredibly simple but evocative effect. The perfect amount of pretension. I mean that in an entirely positive way. I fucking love this band.
After the Great Fog Machine Debacle of October 2008, this picture just makes me nervous....
The confetti! I didn't notice the rainbow lights at the time. Suppose I was too busy running to the front of the aisle.
So far no recordings have surfaced of this particular night. Oh well. Next time.
5. I read the paper on secularism and its correlation with societal "health." It's a good, mercifully short read. I know correlation doesn't prove causation, but it soundly disproves the idea that secularism => the decline/collapse of civilization. Some highlights:
In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies[.]
No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction.
There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms[.]
And be sure to check out Figures 2 (homicide rate), 5 (life expectancy), 8 (teen abortion rate), and 9 (teen pregnancy rate).
Long story short: Mormons are giving long-dead (Jewish) Holocaust victims baptisms-by-proxy.
In an example of breathtaking hypocrisy, a Mormon Elder said:
We don't think any faith group has the right to ask another to change its doctrines[.]
This was said in defense of this particular Mormon group's practice of proxy Baptism -- anyone stopping them would be asking the Mormons to change their doctrines. Forced, post-mortem conversion, however imaginary...sorry, "by proxy," isn't perhaps a little bit similar to "[asking] another to change [his/her] doctrines"?
2. For some reason this looks really delicious. I think I skipped dinner....
3. Any theories on what exactly this lobster does with its weird-ass claw during "skirmishes with other crustaceans"? It doesn't look like it, or its little teeth, could withstand much force or pressure.
4. Found a review and photos from the Sigur Ros concert in Portland last month.
During one of the quieter, more introspective songs (yeah, I know...which one), they had just two or three of these giant Chinese-type lanterns illuminated -- the ones in the back and to one side. It was an incredibly simple but evocative effect. The perfect amount of pretension. I mean that in an entirely positive way. I fucking love this band.
After the Great Fog Machine Debacle of October 2008, this picture just makes me nervous....
The confetti! I didn't notice the rainbow lights at the time. Suppose I was too busy running to the front of the aisle.
So far no recordings have surfaced of this particular night. Oh well. Next time.
5. I read the paper on secularism and its correlation with societal "health." It's a good, mercifully short read. I know correlation doesn't prove causation, but it soundly disproves the idea that secularism => the decline/collapse of civilization. Some highlights:
In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies[.]
No democracy is known to have combined strong religiosity and popular denial of evolution with high rates of societal health. Higher rates of non-theism and acceptance of human evolution usually correlate with lower rates of dysfunction, and the least theistic nations are usually the least dysfunctional. None of the strongly secularized, pro-evolution democracies is experiencing high levels of measurable dysfunction.
There is evidence that within the U.S. strong disparities in religious belief versus acceptance of evolution are correlated with similarly varying rates of societal dysfunction, the strongly theistic, anti-evolution south and mid-west having markedly worse homicide, mortality, STD, youth pregnancy, marital and related problems than the northeast where societal conditions, secularization, and acceptance of evolution approach European norms[.]
And be sure to check out Figures 2 (homicide rate), 5 (life expectancy), 8 (teen abortion rate), and 9 (teen pregnancy rate).
Labels: animals, atheism, fundamentalism, music, Sigur Ros
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