While I was writing my previous post on Obama's oil plans, I ran into this little gem on the BBC website. As it's Easter, it seems appropriate to post on religion.
BBC: 'Sorcerer' faces imminent death in Saudi Arabia
The lawyer for a Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft has appealed for international help to save him.
Ali Sabat was the host of a popular Lebanese TV show in which he predicted the future and gave advice.
He was arrested by religious police on sorcery charges while on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2008.
His lawyer, May el-Khansa, says she has been told Mr Sabat is due to be executed this week.
And people ask us what we have against religion.
Unfortunately, in these times it's necessary to insert a footnote. Yes, we did say religion. I'm absolutely convinced that several Finnish-language blogs, if their authors see this story, will run with it as an example of how barbaric Islam is. Certainly I don't disagree that executing a man for sorcery is appallingly barbaric, but the fact of the matter is that this barbarism is a universal feature of religious thinking.
For instance, it is a living controversy in American Christianity whether or not practising yoga is devil worship. You see, American fundamentalist Christians actually believe the Hindu gods supposedly invoked during yoga are real, so doing yoga is worshipping the devil. That they don't kill people for practicing yoga is due to Western law, not religion. Of course, that doesn't mean they don't kill people.
BBC: Killer of US abortion doctor George Tiller gets life
A US court has sentenced an anti-abortion activist to life in prison for murdering the prominent abortion doctor, George Tiller, last year.
Scott Roeder, 52, said he shot Dr Tiller at a church in Wichita, Kansas, to save the lives of unborn babies.
In my opinion, any kind of religious conviction requires a deliberate blurring of the limits of reality. If you're going to steadfastly maintain that there's a bearded guy sitting on a cloud watching you, or a flying spaghetti monster touching you with his noodly appendage, it seems reasonable that you might get a bit confused about what's real and not in general, too. For instance, Harry Potter. Here's a wonderful quote from a crackpot Christian website:
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, has gone through an awful lot of research. She is very accurate (otherwise we would have witches all over the country and the world saying 'this is not a true representation of our religion'.) This is a true representation of witchcraft, and the black arts, and black magic. And yet we have people that say this is merely fantasy and harmless reading for our children.
A true representation of witchcraft. In case anyone's confused, yes, they're saying witches exist and can do magic. Harry Potter is wrong because you can learn magic from it. Or, from www.chick.com, the guy with the comics:
It is important to understand that each of the above magical artifacts exists in "real world" sorcery and witchcraft. They are just as real as swords, saddles or cross bows. Thus, role-playing in this sort of game prepares the player for thinking like a magician. How seriously they take that preparation is something we need to consider.
D&D teaches you magic. Just reading that page hurts my brain, by the way. Here the author justifies taking on this heinous threat to, well, everything:
"But It's Only a Game!"
Defenders of D&D often complain that it is only a game. Playing chicken with cars is "only a game" until someone gets killed. So is Russian roulette! I am frequently told to "get a life" or write about something more important than D&D, like social justice or world hunger. The devil would sure like that.
It needs to be emphasized that a spiritual deception which draws people away from Jesus Christ is much more dangerous than automotive chicken or people dying of starvation. People who write such things are - in all Christian charity - deceived. Down through the ages, no institution has done more to help the poor, the orphans and the starving than has the church of Jesus Christ. I would just ask them where are the rescue missions and orphanages started by D&D gamers?
Concerning the metaphor about Russian roulette or "chicken," some D&D defenders have said that it is a ridiculous or extreme comparison. But remember what the Lord Jesus said:
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell."-Matt. 10:28.
Yes, the life threatening consequences of chicken or Russian roulette are deadly serious and not to be minimized. But any game which draws people away from a true understanding of Jesus, God, salvation and the cosmos IS soul-destroying in the truest possible sense of the word. That is incalculably worse. We only have our bodies a few scant years before they turn to dust. Our souls we will have forever, and what if they have been destroyed by playing D&D? They may well end up in the fiery blackness of hell.
Remember: he's serious.
But surely all this is just the ravings of individual lunatics? I mean, if you represented a worldwide organization facing a crisis over allegations of systematic abuse of children, not even a religious person would be insane enough to fly off the handle and play the Hitler card?
BBC: Pope's preacher compares abuse row to anti-Semitism
preacher has compared criticism of the pontiff and Church over child abuse to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.
The Rev Raniero Cantalamessa was speaking at Good Friday prayers in St Peter's Basilica, attended by the Pope.
In his sermon, he quoted a Jewish friend as saying the accusations reminded him of the "more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism".
His comments angered Jewish groups and those representing abuse victims.
Father Cantalamessa said Jews throughout history had been the victims of "collective violence" and drew a comparison with recent attacks on the Roman Catholic Church.
There were some good responses.
Peter Isely, spokesman for the US victim support group Snap, said the sermon had been "reckless and irresponsible".
He said: "They're sitting in the papal palace, they're experiencing a little discomfort, and they're going to compare themselves to being rounded up or lined up and sent in cattle cars to Auschwitz?"
"You cannot be serious."
Oh yes he can. Is he comparing uncovering child abuse to genocide, or comparing Jews to pedophiles? I can't figure out which one is worse. But remember: according to the Vatican, turning in a Catholic priest for molesting children is like sending a Jew to the gas chambers.
The difference between Saudi Arabia and the United States is secularism. I happen to think it's a good thing.
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