tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post8147381119048015470..comments2024-01-02T09:18:23.893-05:00Comments on Written World: Yeah, off-topic but I've been neglecting this blog.Ragnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00373059673228550524noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-11415020345063524372007-12-30T18:23:00.000-05:002007-12-30T18:23:00.000-05:00A nitpick: homosexuality did indeed exist in the ...A nitpick: homosexuality did indeed exist in the ancient Mediterranean. There's even evidence in the literature that suggests that there was a "homosexual culture", at least insofar as there were certain "codes" and established gathering places.csdentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03084333803908168546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538843.post-22677081285377456762007-12-30T07:44:00.000-05:002007-12-30T07:44:00.000-05:00The thing I always bear in mind, trying to pick ap...The thing I always bear in mind, trying to pick apart religion and slope-browed thinking, is that people will reliably twist religion to justify whatever idiocy they were planning on indulging in anyway. Examples:<BR/><BR/>- Homosexuality and Christianity. You can find a few spotty references to how homosexuality is an "abomination" in the Old Testament, but those are right next to the parts where there are proscriptions against planting two kinds of crops, shaving your beard, and even wearing garments made of two different fabrics. (Careful with those polycotton blends!) To say nothing of kosher laws and other rules that Orthodox Jews hold to because they're in the Old Testament, but your modern Christian feels don't apply to them. Yet they cleave to the homosexuality part because it gives them justification to hate.<BR/><BR/>- Anti-semitism and Christianity. The standard justification for giving Jews the stink-eye is that they killed Jesus. Well you know who else was a Jew? Jesus! This is the part where smoke would come out of the robot's ears and its brain would explode in a shower of sparks, but bigots don't have the same devotion to logic as Norman or Nomad.<BR/><BR/>- To quote Jerry Falwell: "God is pro-war". Also to quote Jerry Falwell: "AIDS is God's punishment". This is a man who clearly has no idea what the hell Jesus was talking about, and if there is a hell, he's roasting in it.<BR/><BR/>- Catholics vs. Christianity. There are plenty of evangelicals who look at the Catholic Church as some sort of pagan cult and I'm convinced it's because evangelicals embrace America as God's Favorite Country Ever. If America is God's favorite, then any sect that is tied to some old European city must be in league with Satan. Also, evangelicals charge that the Catholics don't pay enough attention to the Bible, which is a howler when you remember that the Catholics <I>compiled</I> the Bible in the first place. But hey, don't let actual history get in the way of your nationalism and xenophobia.<BR/><BR/>Related to this: Pope Pius XII gets a bad rap as someone who allegedly didn't do a thing to help the Jews in WWII. Well, except perhaps for the 860000 that Israel credits him for saving. (<A HREF="http://www.catholicleague.org/pius/truth.htm" REL="nofollow">Link</A>. Yes, it's put out by the Catholic League, but all the assertions on the page are readily verifiable, and are more than sufficient to dispell the claim that the Pope didn't do a damn thing to help the Jews during WWII.) I'm all for calling the Catholic Church on its historical and current misdeeds, but when they do the right thing it's only fair to give them proper credit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com