A cargo cult vs christianity
The description of the John Frum cargo cult was taken from this BBC News article, Cargo cult lives on in South Pacific.
| John Frum cargo cult | Christianity |
|---|---|
| Believers are convinced that John Frum was an American. | Believers are convinced that Jesus was a dying/rising man-god. |
| Devotees say that the ghost of a mystical white man first appeared before tribal elders in the 1930s. | Devotees say that the resurrected form of their dying/rising man-god first appeared before followers shortly after his supposed death, circa 33 CE. |
| It urged them to rebel against the aggressive teachings of Christian missionaries and the influence of Vanuatu’s British and French colonial masters. | It urged them to rebel against the aggressive teachings of Judaism and the influence of Roman colonial masters. |
| The apparition told villagers to do all they could to retain their own traditions. | The apparition told villagers to do all they could to spread a variation of Judaism. |
| World War II and the arrival of US troops on Vanuatu was a defining time for the movement. They had a name for their spiritual deity. He was John Frum. | The death and resurrection of the man-god was a defining time for the movement. They had a name for their spiritual deity. He was Jesus. |
| Villagers believe that their messiah was responsible for delivering to them the munificence of the US military. | Villagers believe that their messiah was responsible for delivering to them the problems inherited from the first man and woman on the planet because they ate a fruit. |
| They were awestruck by the army’s cargo of tanks, weapons, refrigerators, food and medicine. | They were awestruck by the man-god’s supplying of bread and fish. And turning water into wine. |
| John Frum day is held annually on 15 February. This year’s celebration marks the 50th anniversary of the sect’s formal establishment. | Jesus day is held annually on 25 December. This year’s celebration marks the 2008th anniversary of the sect’s man-god’s birth. |
| It also recognises the day when villagers raised the US flag for the first time. | It also recognises the day when the man-god died for the first time. |
| Through this homage to the US, disciples hope their ethereal saviour can be encouraged to return. | Through varied and contradictory forms of homage to the man-god, disciples hope their ethereal saviour can be encouraged to return. |
| Many followers of John Frum believe his spirit lives deep within the volcano. | Many followers of Jesus believe he actually lives in a place they call “Heaven”. |
| About 20% of Tanna’s population of 30,000 follow the teachings of one of the world’s last remaining cargo cults. | About 20-25% of the world’s population kind-of follow the teachings of one of the world’s largest cults. |
The money quote:
“A Christian youth worker told me how he thought the cult was childish. “It’s like a baby playing games,” he insisted. “Those people are holding on to a dream that will never come true,” he said.
BBC: Jerry Spring blasphemy case dismissed, again
Christian Voice’s civil blasphemy case appeal against the BBC over it’s screening of Jerry Springer:The Opera has, thankfully, been once again dismissed by the UK courts.
It’s not all good news though. The BBC reports:
However, the two senior judges at the High Court said the 1968 Theatres Act prevented any prosecution for blasphemy in relation to public performances of plays.
The 1990 Broadcasting Act, they continued, prevented any prosecution in relation to broadcasts.
They said it was reasonable to conclude Jerry Springer - The Opera “in context” could not be considered as blasphemous, as it was not aimed at Christianity, but was a parody of the chat show genre.
Unfortunately, as was pointed out to me when I was alerted to the news article, the blasphemy case wasn’t — as it should have been — rejected because it’s ridiculous, but because there are two other laws that supersede it.
The BBC’s statement after the ruling read:
“We believe the work, taken in its proper context, satirises and attacks exploitative chat shows and not the Christian religion,” it said. “The court’s judgement today vindicates that decision in full.
“Today’s decision addresses the way the law of blasphemy applies to broadcasters, and the Court has found that criminal prosecutions for blasphemy should not be permitted in relation to broadcasts.
“This is an important decision in the defence of free speech. We, of course, believe that broadcasters should continue to exercise great care and sensitivity when dealing with potential religious offence, and that has not changed.”
What the BBC seems to fail to recognise is that, although broadcasters are exempt from “blasphemy” (whatever that actually is) the greater general public are still subject to a law that puts the “right” of non-offence to a singular superstitious cult over the free-speech rights of the British public.
This is not on.
I can’t see this as a victory for free-speech, I can only see it as a victory for broadcasters.
We should, as I will maintain until they’re removed from the statute, repeal these retrograde, unprovable, anachronistic, discriminatory, thought-control laws now.
Sign the petition to have the UK’s blasphemy laws revoked.
Read the full article over at the BBC.
BBC: Teddy Bear Teacher “pardoned”
The BBC has just reported that the British teacher at the centre of the Mohammed-named-teddy stupidity, Gillian Gibbons, has been pardoned by the Sudanese president al-Bashir after a meeting with two British muslim peers.
While I’m sure this will be seen in some circles (e.g. those of an islamic and/or political bent) as the Sudanese government being magnanimous, we shouldn’t forget that there wasn’t any crime in the first place.
Just because some muslims are so hyper-sensitive and thin-skinned — so much so that I’m surprised that their internal organs don’t spill onto the floor — that they take offence at the drop of a kufie, it doesn’t mean that us non-muslims should censor ourselves to pander to their insecurities, respect their beliefs or treat their fairy-tales as a reflection of reality. And the same goes for all other unproven myth-believers.
Gibbons has been pardoned, but she shouldn’t have been arrested and, most certainly not convicted, at all.
Now, al-Bashir, sort out the rest of that fucking mess of a country of yours, especially Darfur.
Teacher found guilty in Sudan
BBC News 24 has just reported that Gillian Gibbons, the teacher at the centre of the Sudanese Mohammed Teddy stupidity, has been found guilty of “insulting religion”, and sentenced to 15 days in prison and is then to be deported, hopefully, for her sake, to a country not run by those who cling to their backwards bronze age mythologies.
The bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, calls it a “deep disappointment”, which sounds like a rather weak sentiment, but one needs to consider that he’s of the same bent, just of a different flavour.
He also calls the crime “a mistake” although, oddly enough, he has exactly the same law on the UK’s statute “protecting” his god-belief.
Fucking morons, the lot of them.
Does Islam have a sense of humour?
Apparently it does, according to this magazine article over on the BBC.
Let’s see if this is true:
I’d like to see some muslim opinion on whether this doctored image could be considered amusing.
Christian Voice launches new bid for blasphemy ruling
Stephen “Dogshit” Green of Christian Voice is launching a private prosecution in the High Court in an attempt to sue the BBC for blasphemy for it’s screening of Jerry Springer: The Opera.
Green first launched his legal application for special treatment for supposed offence caused in 2005, but it was turned down at the time by City of Westminster magistrates court. Now Green seeks to have this ruling overturned.
The BBC reports:
Michael Gledhill QC, appearing for Mr Green, argued the district judge had made a mistake in refusing to issue the summonses as the show had clearly “crossed the blasphemy threshold”.
He said the show was “an offensive, spiteful, systematic mockery and wilful denigration of Christian belief”, and one that would never have been staged or aired in Britain had it been a satire about Islam, not Christianity.
No theatre would have produced it. Neither would the BBC have broadcast it,” he said.
As I’ve mentioned before, it seems that christians are not averse to riding on the coat-tails of islamists who might actually make good on their threats of violence. It seems that they’re content to equate the consequences of insulting christianity with those of insulting islam, yet they’re not so keen as to actually make any overt threats of violence, and even less keen to carry out those that they do make.
Instead, they make shallow comparisons and appeal to completely backwards and anachronistic laws that have no place in any modern society that values rationality, evidence and reality.
It seems to me that now is as good a time as any to promote the petition to get the UK’s blasphemy laws put onto the dog-pile of history where it belongs.
Full article over at on BBC News.
BBC: Scientist/priest says teachers are scared to teach evolution
Professor Michael Reiss, scientist, priest and head of science at London’s Institute of Education, has written a new book aimed at encouraging teachers, who it seems are avoiding the teaching of evolution in schools for fear of the “controversy” and not wanting to dismiss creationist pupils’ beliefs out of hand.
This could leave pupils with gaps in their scientific knowledge, he says.
Prof Reiss says the rise of creationism is partly down to the large increase in Muslim pupils in UK schools.
He said: “The number of Muslim students has grown considerably in the last 10 to 20 years and a higher proportion of Muslim families do not accept evolutionary theory compared with Christian families.
“That’s one reason why it’s more of an issue in schools.”
The days have long gone when science teachers could ignore creationism when teaching about origins
said Reiss.
Reiss’s book, Teaching About Scientific Origins: Taking Account of Creationism, argues that there is an educational value in comparing creationist ideas with scientific theories like Darwin’s theory of evolution because they demonstrate how science, unlike religious beliefs, can be tested.
(BBC)
While I admire Reiss’s efforts to help get science where it belongs, I wonder if he also thinks that these other ideas should be considered in science lessons, so that they can be summarily dismissed also:
- the “stork” hypothesis of reproduction
- the “intelligent falling” hypothesis of gravity
- the “to test our faith” hypothesis of palaeontology
- the “pirates” hypothesis of global climate change
There’s just as much evidence for these as there are for creationism (i.e. none whatsoever).
Read the full article over at the BBC.
Belief-based politics (UK edition)
I was just watching the BBC News 24’s morning report on the Conservative party conference before I headed off for work, and what do I spy on the little graphical ticket at the foot of the tv screen?
[David] Cameron wants “politics based on belief”.
No. Nonono.
NONONONONONO.
We want politics based on reality, but let’s assume for a second that the quote has a wider context.
After a brief perusal of the BBC News web site:
“It wasn’t just that we have heard it all before - literally heard it all before - simplistic short-term pledges rehashed and reannounced, with absolutely no indication of how they would be delivered.
“It wasn’t just the cynicism of announcing things that Gordon Brown himself must know he can’t deliver.
“It was the carefully calculated pitch to the 4% of voters in the middle who might switch this way or that.”
He will say the Conservatives “had to do better than that” and reach out to disaffected ex-voters who “don’t believe a word of it any more”.
“We have to inspire them. We have to change from the old politics of easy promises and disappointment to politics you can believe in.
“That means politics based on belief.”
Politics you can believe in = politics based on belief?
NO!
I hope that this was just an equivocal faux pas from Cameron, but the fact that it can be so obviously soundbited (soundbitten?) makes me wonder if the statement wasn’t a deliberate non sequitur which he can, at some later point, use to appease either faithful voters, or turn it around and be equivocal for those of us who think he’s being an asshat.
Coming from an avowed highly political active christian, this concerns me mightily.
Either way, it was either a very clever, or very stupid, thing to say. I sincerely hope it was the latter.
BBC: Headscarves and toothache
A muslim dentist has been admonished by a disciplinary committee of the General Dental Council for demanding that a female (non-practicing) muslim patient wear a headscarf before receiving treatment, in a case dating back to April 2005.
Dr Omer Butt was found guilty of discriminating against the woman, known as Ms A, by a disciplinary panel of the General Dental Council (GDC).
The patient said she was “humiliated and upset” after the encounter at the surgery in Bury, Greater Manchester.
Dr Butt received an admonition at the end of the three-day GDC hearing.
Stewart Goulding, chairman of the GDC professional conduct committee, told Dr Butt that his conduct had fallen short of the standard expected.
But he said the committee had noted testimonials from other patients in reaching their conclusion.
He said: “The committee is satisfied that the appropriate decision is to conclude the case today with this admonition.
Butt claimed that it was unlawful
(according to his own interpretation of sharia) to look at the patient, because she was a muslim woman and not covered. It is also recorded that Butt later quoted sharia dogma on how men and women should comport themselves.
A dental nurse at Butt’s surgery is reported to have told the patient inside the surgery it’s Dr Butt’s world and his rules apply
.
Complete article over at the BBC
BBC: Condoms the cause of AIDS - catholic bishop
It’s amazing the lengths that some will go to to promote their own agenda, particularly when that agenda is a religious one, and especially when the claim made is so egregious and outrageous a lie.
I’m talking about archbishop Francisco Chimoio, head of the catholic church in Mozambique, who has claimed that some European-made condoms have been deliberately infected with the AIDS virus in order to finish quickly the African people
.
It’s difficult enough for African HIV/AIDS campaigners to attempt to fight the catholics in educating people to use condoms normally, without this sort of loathsome and abhorrent fiction to further confuse those who most desperately need help.
I have no idea as to what this imbecile’s motive was for making such a retarded claim. Perhaps this is now the official line from the Vatican, or perhaps it’s just a really stupid idea of his own making. Whatever the motivation, the world of sexual health professionals should be jumping down the throat, wearing rather large hobnail boots, of those that champion stupidity of this magnitude.
Needless to say, I’m sure this cretin has absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back up this idiocy, just like he has none to back up his god-claims.
Complete article over at the BBC
BBC: Mormon cultist guilty
Warren Jeffs, head of the fundie mormons, has been found guilty of complicity in the rape of a 14-year-old girl forced to marry her cousin.
A court in Utah found Warren Jeffs, a self-proclaimed Mormon prophet, guilty of two counts of encouraging the young girl to have sex against her will.
The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) could face life in prison.
This paragraph is particularly telling of a certain kind of theistic mindset:
After deliberating for 16 hours, the jury in St George found Mr Jeffs had orchestrated the marriage of the girl to her 19-year-old cousin and encouraged her to have sex by telling her she would go to hell if she did not.
Anglicans repent for slavery
At the moment London is playing host to a march to apologise for the anglican church’s role in the slave trade, which was abolished in the UK two hundred years ago on Sunday. The march is being led by Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, and John Sentamu, the archbishop of York.
Last year, the church issued an apology for its part in enabling and perpetuating slavery in its plantations in the West Indies and elsewhere. Williams is quoted as saying that it was a way in which anglicans could try to heal historic injustices inflicted in the name of the Church
. Although, it wasn’t in the name of the church, it was by the church: a subtly worded but very distinct difference.
I find it astonishing that, not only has the church taken 200 years to make this apology after having been a major contributor to slavery for a period of around 100 years, but that it feels that it has to apologise when it is written within the pages of its own scripture that slavery is justified.
1) the bible says slavery is ok
2) christians say the bible is true
3) christians say the bible is moral
4) christians say slavery is immoral
I find this whole contradiction and how they can rationalise it completely baffling. And I also find the church’s publicity stunt of wearing their heart on their sleeves quite nauseating.
BBC news article and history, The Church: Enslaver or Liberator?
A couple from the Labour Humanists
The Labour Humanists have a couple of post that may be of interest to the secular humanists in the UK.
First, the tale of a couple who, from an unfortunate circumstance combined with an ancient (and frankly ridiculous) law have to fork out £200,000 to pay for repairs to a CofE church, which currently has assets worth in the region of £5bn.
Sneaky CofE (5bn assets) uses ancient laws to get ordinary citizens to pay for their churches.
Next up is no less disturbing: apparently (according to the BBC) there there are now conservative christian creationists poking out their noses to lend credence, afforded them by their position as members of parliament, to the creationist agenda.
Creationist Conservative MPs coming out of the woodwork?.
BBC: Teacher sacked over telling the truth
Actually, the title of the BBC news article is “Teacher sacked over religion row“, but that’s not strictly accurate, is it?
A supply teacher has been sacked from a secondary school following complaints from Muslim pupils.
Andrew McLuskey was sacked from Bayliss (sic) Court Secondary School in Slough after a Religious Education lesson discussing the pros and cons of religion.
Pupils at the predominantly Muslim school claimed Mr McLuskey said most suicide bombers were Muslim.
To say that most suicide bombers were Muslim
is not comparable to saying “most muslims are suicide bombers”, in which case they could have rightly said that this was unfair and discriminatory. But I would point out that walking — while wearing a vest covered in, or driving a truck full of, nail-engorged-plastique — into a crowded place before pushing a button to blow yourself and any other hapless bystanders to smithereens has pretty much been something that muslims have a near monopoly on in recent times. I’d be happy to be proven wrong on this count.
Either way, I’d opine that such actions should be considered a “con” in terms of religion, regardless of the flavour of the believer in question.
I don’t know the circumstances of what prompted McLuskey to say what he said in the first place, and I won’t comment on the appropriateness of the comment considering that he had muslim students in his class, but it doesn’t take a degree in journalism to comprehend that what he said and reality aren’t strangers to each other.
CofE sides with catholic bigots over adoption
Further to yesterday’s comment, it’s today been revealed that the Church of England, headed by the unfeasably eyebrowed Rowan Williams (with his gobby side-kick John Sentamu) are lending their support of the bigotted catholics in their attempt to be exempt from anti-discrimination law.
It’s also been reported in The Independent that the pressure on Tony Blair has come from his catholic wife, Cherie Booth, rather than from Opus Dei member Ruth Kelly, who is apparently concerned that she has been blamed in the media for the pressure.
Not that blame for this shit is unwarranted, if Kelly insists that catholics should be allowed to discriminate.
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