PZ Myers and wafergate

Anybody who's anybody must have heard about PZ Myers and the communion wafer brouhaha.
Well, I am a moderate Christian, I've been known to pray and read the Bible regularly and attend communion. So how did I feel about this?

Yes, Myers behaved like a jerk. Yes, Myers went overboard. Yes, he disrespected my beliefs. BUT it is his opinion and he is entitled to it. And even I do not believe that the wafer is the actual body of Christ. I do not worship it as such ( wouldn't it be idolatry?) I will still read his blog and love it. That's how much I hate religious fundamentalist shrills. Bill Donahue, you do not speak for me. Go and stand in the corner with Jerry Falwel, Pat Robertson and James Dobson.

Culture Wars - I

Dear readers of the blog, yes both of you, which is worse in your opinion; a transgender wo/man having a baby and garnering false publicity? Or a polygamist community using religion to engage in child abuse?

I say false publicity because the transgender person has female biological organs and so its really not so much a "miracle". It is just something that is unusual but is biologically possible. And people being people are milking it for all the fame & publicity they can.
Here's a site I read often Biblical Womanhood. It is a site promoting a very narrow view of Christianity. I feel that they follow the letter of the Bible without understanding the spirit and complete beauty of the gospel. Well, each one to their own. I am not going to criticise their view, after all, there are many rooms in our father's house. What I do find objectionable are posts like this. There are about 80+ comments on this post. Most of the commenters say almost the same thing over and over again even using the same sentences. But some of them and even the blog author blame feminism (how original!) for this event and that my friends, is a lie. They try to use feminism as a scapegoat for all the ills in this society and it is sad that so many people have been fed that point of view.

And then there is this story . Now, I am a live & let live kind of person. To me polygamy is not inherently bad, if all the people involved are adults and are 100% for it. But forcing 13 y.o into "spiritual marriage" with 50 year olds, that's pedophilia. To make matters worse, they do it in the name of religion.

So conservative women, where is the moral outrage over this story? I mean, how can any sane person think that feminism & other social reforms are worse than "traditional customs" like child marriage & forced pregnancy? I saw angry posts regarding the transgendered wo/man on many conservative blogs but there was absolutely no mention of the real tragedy in their midst.

I am so happy that I live in a day & age where most people are angry about the second story & mostly ambivalent about the first one. But fundamentalists are different in that aspect, they seem to have a distorted sense of morality IMHO, and they do it in the name of Jesus Christ. The irony would be delicious if it weren't so sad.

Expelled!

Expelled

Google Adsense has placed an ad for Ben Stein's Expelled on my blog, probably because of this post . I don't want that ad over here because I am almost sure that the movie is pure nonsense. All the reviews about the movie say that it is very poorly made and has very little substance. Also PZ Myers was asked to get out of the screening of the movie for no apparent reason so I'm not feeling the love.

Maybe I'm biased, I think creationism & ID do not belong in schools or colleges. It should not be taught along with evolution. I guess its because I come from a secular country, I can't imagine creationism being taught in my class where we had Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, Sikhs and everything in between. Science is science and faith is faith. Twisting science to fit faith is dishonest, to say the least.

After coming to the US six months ago, I started hearing more about creationism and that how somehow christians were supposed to believe in it. My faith is perfectly compatible with evolution, thank you very much. The idiots who promote creationism give other Christians a bad name. The Bible uses metaphorical language people.

Now repeat after me.
We don't need to believe the six day creation account for us to be good christians. We don't need to believe that the universe literally revolves around the earth. We don't need to believe that the earth is six thousand years old.

God is bigger than that.

Btw, I know that the link is actually to Expelled Exposed. Orders of PZ Myers :-)

Expelled

A religion rant

One of the blogs I read frequently is written by a Christian young woman. She writes from a fundamentalist point of view. I used to read all her posts including the ones on her view of religion, but after a couple of months, I started skipping over them because I couldn't digest what i thought was mutilation of my religion. As a Christian, I believe in the words of Jesus Christ. I love Him & His teachings. I do not believe that women are secondary beings whose only calling is to marry & serve their husbands. God made me an intelligent woman, I am smart & can keep my head in a crisis. Sometimes, I am more rational & level-headed than my husband. Its absurd to expect one person to lead all the time in a family.

I do NOT believe that the Bible is inerrant & can be used to decide every single thing I do on this earth. If it were so, it would be OK to have slaves. It would be OK for a man to have concubines & many wives. And it would be shameful for a woman to cut her hair!!

IMHO, the Gospel according to Jesus Christ is one of the most radical teachings of all time. He was born as the son of a humble carpenter & ordinary housewife but become THE most influential person in the history of the world. Fundamentalists who demand a return to the olden days would do to remember that our saviour was considered a dangerous radical in his time.