J-to-the-HOVAH

Yesterday I was at a laundromat reading My Name is Red (great book, go read it), when a man who was a bit overdressed for a laundromat walked in and said good morning to me. I said a cheerful good morning back, and then he offered me "something to read" that "might be interesting." I almost reached for it, but when I saw that it was a Watchtower, I recoiled in horror.

Another day, I might have politely accepted the proffered proselytization and then promptly thrown it away, but yesterday morning I decided I wasn't going to take it lying down, so to speak, and protested proudly, "No, Thank You."

He looked at me suddenly, surprised and slightly offended. "Well, thank you," he replied with a curious amount of emphasis on the last word. I think "thank" might have been a euphemism here. After that, he left.

Oddly enough, it was my first encounter with a Jehovah's Witness not in my family (afaik). Do you all have any interesting proselyte stories? Any opinions about the best response to these people and their gods?

EDIT: OMG I just spent about an hour tracking down a video. All I could remember is that I had seen a scene somewhere of two cops harassing Jehovah's Witnesses, and I couldn't even remember which sketch comedy show it was. Turned out to be Reno 911. I can't find an embeddable link. Season 1, Episode 2 for anyone who wants to look for it.

some days i hate the world more than i love it

This has me in a bit of despair. Sometimes it's truly difficult not to give in to nihilism. A news story like this solidifies my conviction, but I don't want to make this man a martyr. I don't know anything about him other than his profession, and probably neither did whoever killed him.

I don't watch television, including the news anymore, but nearly every blog post in my google reader today was about that. So I'll assume you've already heard about it. I simply don't have anyone else to rant about it to. :-/

Something else was in my google reader today, too, and it's important.

Abortion is universally illegal in Chile, with no exceptions. We should learn from others' mistakes. from here.

"So what do women in Chile do in these circumstances? If they have money, they go to private clinics or doctors who practice abortions in safe, sanitized conditions. Or they may even pay for an air fare to the United States or a country where abortion is legal. Most, however, resort to unsafe clandestine abortions performed by people claiming to be midwives or doctors, paying anywhere between $500 and $1,000. And then there are those who concoct homemade solutions, using celery sticks, clothes hangers or knitting needles to provoke the loss of the fetus.

Of course, many of the women end up in the hospital. And that’s when doctors are faced with a dilemma: Should they preserve their patient’s confidentiality and privacy, or turn them over to the police as they are legally bound? Few call the police. Nonetheless, about 200 women have been arrested for having abortions in the past few years and are now on parole. A dozen are imprisoned."

Do these people have any idea what they are advocating for? Have I been taking crazy pills?

alhamdulillah

thank allah i wasn't born in afghanistan.

Gay Marriage and Religion

This is a great little discussion of the legal issues involved with the intersection of religion and gay marriage. I'm fascinated by this sort of thing, but I understand if you're not.

It brings up a couple of really good points, though. The institution of marriage is both religious and secular. The religious folk are free to put whatever restrictions upon marriage they would like--there is no guarantee of equal opportunity in religion, and there never has been. And probably never will be. They are allowed specific first-amendment protection against being forced to do things they don't want to do. Catholicism is free to keep women and married men out of the priesthood, for example.

I personally have never heard the argument that if GLBT folks are afforded the right to marry then churches will be forced to marry them against their beliefs. I agree with the response that it would never happen. But it's a great argument if you want to get even socially moderate religious people to vote against allowing that to happen.

Secular institutions (like the courts and the law) have an obligation to serve all people equally. When it comes to the law, people should be equal. And I think someday they will.

Perhaps it is a slow week for news...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081210/sc_nm/us_religion_perfume_2

Summary:

Some archaeologists found some perfume from the time of Christ, in his old neighborhood. There's this book about him that says he got his feet washed by a lady of sketchy reputation from the other side of the tracks? Therefore, this ancient perfume might be sort of like the kind that that person or another person of the same time period may or may not have used to possibly wash feet that were maybe his. Sooo...yeah.

As an afterthought, finding nearly 2000-year-old perfume is kinda cool by itself. I guess. I wonder what it smells like.

I would like to point out that this article is filed under (and made of) SCIENCE.

Somebody seriously needs to market a "Christ's Feet" scent for perfumes. And candles. CHA CHING

An Excellent Punch at Religion