Religion

Predictable consequences

Reportedly as many as 20 U.N. workers were killed today in Afghanistan during a protest turned violent, and at least two of the dead were beheaded. Demonstrators were protesting the March 20 burning of a Koran by controversial Gainesville, Fla., preacher Terry Jones. Jones had threatened to burn Korans last September 11 to mark the … Continue reading »

Let’s hope Rep. King doesn’t channel Joe McCarthy

Many American Muslims are fearful about today’s hearing with Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY) presiding. But New York Times op/ed contributor Akbar Akmed, in “Fair to Muslims?, feels the hearings are a great opportunity to educate Americans about his community’s diversity and faith. We all can hope fervently that Akmed’s vision comes about. But there … Continue reading »

Back off, TSA

In the wake of public outrage over its security measures at US airports, the Transportation Security Administration has come out with all sorts of defensive statements about how thoroughly its screeners are vetted and trained. As if that were the issue. The outrage is over intrusive pat-downs of women’s breasts and everyone’s inner thighs (supposedly … Continue reading »

Atheists beat believers on religion survey

America’s atheists and agnostics scored higher on a religious knowledge survey than evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, and Catholics, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. They scored  highest on questions about religion in public life and what the Constitution says about religion, and second only to Jews on knowledge of the world’s … Continue reading »

Attacking America

In today’s Washington Post, Ted Koppell writes convincingly that it’s time we stop playing into bin Laden’s hands. We have, in so many ways, exceeded what would have been an appropriate response to the 9/11 terror attacks. And nine years later, we continue to do so. A group of terrorists based in Afghanistan managed to … Continue reading »

9/11 happened to all of us

As we pause to remember how our lives were changed 9 years ago, let’s remember that all of us were attacked — not just those who died in New York, DC, and Pennsylvania, but all Americans; parents, siblings, children, loved ones; Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists; native born and immigrant. All of us lost something … Continue reading »

No Koran burning, no mosque at Ground Zero?

Fascinating story breaking right now. The idiot Rev. Terry Jones in Gainesville, Florida, who was determined to conduct a public Koran burning on Saturday, has announced he’s calling it off because, he says, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in New York agreed to move his “mosque at Ground Zero” to another location. I’m full of conflicting … Continue reading »

Common sense increasingly uncommon

Common sense has been mentioned several times in my recent posts and their accompanying comments. And it is mentioned as something that despite the name seems to be increasingly uncommon. Merriam-Webster defines common sense as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts,” which is not quite the same … Continue reading »

More on the mosque

As the media-stoked controversy over the so-called “Mosque at Ground Zero” in New York City rages on, I can’t help thinking about a similar situation: Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, was a Catholic. Yet no one demanded the removal of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, which stands directly across the street … Continue reading »

Focus on the Family ad: Part II

Y’all remember back during the Super Bowl, there was a big flap about the evangelical group Focus on the Family running an ad with Tim Tebow and his mom? Pro choicers like me got really hot about the idea  that an anti-abortion ad would be accepted, much less broadcast, during the Super Bowl. The ad … Continue reading »

It’s just a mosque

New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has voted not to grant protection to an old building in downtown Manhattan, thus clearing the way for construction of a new Muslim mosque and community center — the highly controversial “Mosque at Ground Zero” that will actually be two blocks away. Good. That’s as it should be. This … Continue reading »

Summer news snooze

The Mosque at Ground Zero The “mosque at Ground Zero” isn’t. It isn’t a mosque and it isn’t at Ground Zero. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard. Whether it’s a mosque or a Muslim cultural center or whatever, a map in one report clearly showed the proposed structure is three blocks from Ground Zero. … Continue reading »

Let freedom ring!

It’s ‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’

So did you draw a picture of Muhammad today? When I first heard there was an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” movement afoot, I was amused and secretly jubilant. How dare a radical Muslim blog threaten and intimidate the Comedy Network into changing an episode of “South Park” because it contained a depiction of Muhammad (in … Continue reading »

Finally, a judge speaks for the rest of us

Hallelujah! A federal judge in Wisconsin has ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. It’s about time somebody stood up for non-believers and the separation of church and state. “In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience,” wrote U.S. District Judge Barbara B. … Continue reading »

Today’s oxymoron

Christian militia: As in, “Nine members of a Michigan-based Christian militia group [the Hutaree] have been indicted on sedition and weapons charges in connection with an alleged plot to murder law enforcement officers in hopes of setting off an anti-government uprising.”  — New York Times

Tolerance and love, Catholic style

I’ve always had issues with the Catholic Church. Its actions continually speak more eloquently than anything I could say. For example, did you hear about the children who were kicked out of  Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic school in Boulder, Colorado, last week because their parents are lesbian? I’m still aghast over this. What difference … Continue reading »

God and a good heart are no excuse

I’ve had a very negative reaction to those American missionaries in Haiti who picked up Haitian “orphans” and tried to take them across the border into the Dominican Republic. I’ve not kept up on all the details. Instead, I’ve just been hearing bits of the story: the missionaries lacked only a single document to legally … Continue reading »

Paper prayer rug doesn’t pass muster

There she was again, my dog Annie, across the room hard at work chewing up something I couldn’t readily identify. So I hauled myself off the couch and went over to check it out. Brown paper of some kind. Something printed on it. Something about a “prayer rug.” Huh? Must have been some junk mail … Continue reading »

Yet another terrorist failure

The Nigerian terrorist who set off an incendiary device on a Detroit-bound airliner yesterday was instantly subdued by alert passengers and crew. Had he succeeded in bringing down that plane, with some 300 souls on board, we’d have never heard the end of of the infamous Christmas massacre, the great Muslim terrorist victory on one … Continue reading »