Category: Religion

The CS Monitor has a piece out today about the role of religion in Europe vis a vis its role in America. Most of what’s said isn’t really news if you’ve been paying attention, but it’s still worth a read. Here’s a tidbit:

Luis Lopez Guerra, the Spanish government’s point man in its campaign to wrest from Catholic influence social legislation on questions such as abortion, divorce, and gay marriage, sees things differently.

He wonders why, in a country where less than half the population ever goes to church, he should have found a Bible and a crucifix on his desk, along with the Constitution, when he was sworn in as undersecretary at the Ministry of Justice a year ago.

The Spanish government’s plans to legalize gay marriage this spring, to liberalize divorce and abortion laws, and to permit stem-cell research, do not represent an attempt to impose an atheist state religion, he insists. Rather, he says, they “extend civil rights and make the law independent of Catholic dogma.”

*sigh* I really wish I had been more interested in learning to speak, rather than to sing, a second language when I was younger. Europe’s looking better and better as the years go by.

Per Yahoo News:

A group of nationalist Russian lawmakers called Monday for a sweeping investigation aimed at outlawing all Jewish organizations and punishing officials who support them, accusing Jews of fomenting ethnic hatred and saying they provoke anti-Semitism.

In a letter dated Jan. 13, about 20 members of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, asked Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov to investigate their claims and to launch proceedings “on the prohibition in our country of all religious and ethnic Jewish organizations as extremist.”

Just because a handful of legislators proposes something doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, of course, but still, quite disturbing to see.

The “about the author” bit at the end of this column describes Burt Prelutsky as a humorist, so it’s possible this is intended to be funny. Frankly, it left me feeling more than a little queasy:

Although it seems a long time ago, it really wasn’t, that people who came here from other places made every attempt to fit in. [snip]

That has changed, you may have noticed. And I blame my fellow Jews. When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists, and the American Civil Liberties Union, at the forefront.

My queasiness is not eased by the fact that the man writing this identifies as a Jew. As the old saying goes, with friends like these, who needs enemies?

Hat tip – No More Mr Nice Blog for the link.

Digby points the way to an amazing article by Davidson Loehr which looks at fundamentalism and draws some fascinating conclusions.

From 1988 to 1993, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sponsored an interdisciplinary study known as The Fundamentalism Project, the largest such study ever done. More than 100 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture.

They identified five characteristics shared by virtually all fundamentalisms.

Paraphrased from the original, these characteristics are:

1) Rules must be made to apply to all people, and to all areas of life. There can be no separation of church and state, or of public and private areas of life. The rigid rules of God

Why is it that the airwaves, even in prime time, can be filled with smirky commercials for male sexual enhancement drugs, but advertising for a church is too controversial? UPN, CBS and NBC are being buttheads.

The commercial in question:

The debut 30-second commercial features two muscle-bound “bouncers” standing guard outside a symbolic, picturesque church and selecting which persons are permitted to attend Sunday services. Written text interrupts the scene, announcing, “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.” A narrator then proclaims the United Church of Christ’s commitment to Jesus’ extravagant welcome: “No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.”

Doesn’t sound that objectionable to me, although I’m not exactly their target market. But no.

“Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations,” reads an explanation from CBS, “and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks.”

Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot “too controversial.”

“It’s ironic that after a political season awash in commercials based on fear and deception by both parties seen on all the major networks, an ad with a message of welcome and inclusion would be deemed too controversial,” says the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC’s general minister and president. “What’s going on here?”

The ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, among others.