art, politics, religion: discuss
I threw this video footage together of my visit to Wat Phnom, the temple on the hill in downtown Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.
Being in countries that were religiously contrary to ours was a thrill. The people, the sounds, the smells, these things made our trip to Asia incredible. I can’t wait to go back.
Luke over at Common Sense Atheism posted an interesting blog about how he live blogged his deconversion. He kept a blog when he was a believer and he was able to capture his thoughts as they moved toward non-belief. His blog now details his thoughts as a non-believer.
I’ve said it before, Luke is one of the smartest guys in the room. Although the amount of research I’ve about religion might impress an average person, his research makes me look like a punk kid.
Regardless, his post is too good not to read, for believers and non. So go read it (link). You won’t regret it.
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Image from Common Sense Atheism
In context, Hemant Mehta posted this over the weekend:
Take note of Wiley Miller‘s comic strip Non Sequitur in your newspaper this weekend if it regularly appears there.
Several newspapers are rejecting this Sunday’s strip in advance.
What’s so offensive about it?
[It] depicts a lazy, sunny park scene with the caption, “Picture book title voted least likely to ever find a publisher… ‘Where’s Muhammad?’” Characters in the park are buying ice cream, fishing, roller skating, etc. No character is depicted as even Middle Eastern.
So that’s where we’re at now. Some papers are scared shitless because someone is simply implying the existence of a drawing of Muhammad.
Here’s the comic for you to view for yourself.
I see the stand that people close to me take on this issue, and it bewilders me. It seems that people take the stand based on political influence rather than mindful self-awareness.
Former Illinois governor Jim Edgar and Merchandise Mart Properties president Christopher Kennedy spoke in support of ICIRR’s ongoing work with the immigrant community.
I stand by what John Fogelsang says around minute 0:50, the most important part is toward the end of the statement. He says (emphasis mine):
Christine doesn’t think she’s better than you. Christine thinks God thinks she’s better than you … it’s very common and she’s a one woman atheist factory. When people say they can’t stand Christians, they don’t mean the nice, good people out there doing the work of Christ; they’re talking about the fundamentalist hypocrites like Christine O’Donnell.
The other statement that Fogelsang says, which I completely agree with because it’s the Yeshua I was taught to love — but most Christians I know don’t know this Yeshua — is when Fogelsang says:
When Pope Mohammed squats to pick up change, he noses his crotch odor and thinks to himself,”I took a bath a month ago. Surely I can wait another month before bathing again.”
Later Pope Mohammed will laugh because he remembers how he convinces half the people he knows to take financial advice from grossly rich television personalities. On those TV stations, he advertises a bracelet he invented that gives its wearers more energy. “It’s a good thing these people don’t really know Yeshua,” he says to himself. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t watch this station and they wouldn’t buy my bracelets.”
Le Café Wittypoots 