1. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #198740 by Celandine on June 24, 2008 at 12:18 pm

TeraBrat,

Way back when when human life expectancy was much much lower and most people did not get an education it made sense for them to get married and start having children as early as possible from a reproductive AND evolutionary point of view. The longer you waited the less chance you had to pass on your genes. I'm quite sure most people married at adolescence in those days.

There's no point in having sex with a girl before she's begun having menstrual periods - no reproduction possible. And age of menarche was significantly higher 1500 years ago, due largely to nutritional deficiencies. Age of marriage has also varied quite a lot in different societies; I do not know what the average age was in Arabian societies in Muhammad's lifetime, but for instance in much of medieval Europe marriage did not occur until well into the 20s for both men and women - hardly adolescence. All of which is as much to say that any justification of such an early marriage age is hogwash.

2. Teen's death blamed on faith healing

Comment #196354 by Celandine on June 19, 2008 at 6:53 pm

If he had repeated blockages earlier in life that went untreated, thus leading to his death now, it seems as if that would constitute a criminal failure to get him treated back then, for which his parents should be prosecutable.

3. Non-religious summer camps develop niche

Comment #182456 by Celandine on May 20, 2008 at 7:19 am

There's obviously some teaching going on, there's some philosophy there. It's not completely neutral.

And why shouldn't they teach about logical fallacies? What a ridiculous objection.

4. Judge orders La. school district to stop Bible giveaways

Comment #166680 by Celandine on April 23, 2008 at 11:30 am

Azven,

That is correct. I attended public schools in two different states (plus two years of a church school in between) and in the public schools we were never taught about religion as a subject. I learned some about mythology, primarily Greek and Roman mythology; in my high school English class one year we read some extracts from the Bible as literature; and there was mention in passing of other non-Christian religions in some social studies classes like history or world cultures, but that was it.

5. Apologetic billboard replaces atheistic sign

Comment #123112 by Celandine on February 6, 2008 at 1:18 pm

I really don't understand how the sponsor could have been deceptive, given that the name of the group is the Freedom From Religion Foundation and that name appeared on the sign itself. My guess would be that Chilcote didn't pay attention (or perhaps didn't care) at the time and is playing the CYA game now.

6. Banned From Church

Comment #115228 by Celandine on January 23, 2008 at 7:02 pm

He did say that while the church does not "blacklist" anyone, a strict reading of the Bible requires pastors to punish disobedient members.

If this minister refused to appoint deacons, as the church's constitution requires, isn't he the disobedient one, not Caskey?

7. Gay Jesus play blasted by bishop

Comment #114047 by Celandine on January 21, 2008 at 9:18 am

The ideas are offensive and really border on blasphemous.

If one doesn't subscribe to the belief, though, how can it be blasphemous? Someone who does not consider Jesus of Nazareth divine is hardly speaking profanely of a god, no matter what they might say about him.

8. Boy dies of leukemia after refusing treatment for religious reasons

Comment #92069 by Celandine on November 29, 2007 at 8:23 pm

One might cynically say that natural selection will come into play here, as the boy will now have no progeny to indoctrinate into similarly foolish and self-destructive behavior.

9. Doctors' beliefs can hinder patient care

Comment #51398 by Celandine on June 22, 2007 at 4:00 pm

Absolutely appalling.

If a doctor -- or anyone, for that matter -- has a conscience that won't permit him or her to carry out the requirements of the profession, then that person should resign. Plain and simple.

And as has been noted already, if this weren't about denying care to WOMEN, but to e.g. blacks, or Muslims, or what have you, you can bet that this sort of behavior would be smacked down immediately as illegal.

10. Teaching assistant quit in protest at Harry Potter

Comment #48693 by Celandine on June 8, 2007 at 5:56 pm

It's pathetic that a grown woman can't distinguish between fiction and reality. Of course if she's a born-again Christian (and a Bible literalist perhaps?), then I suppose it's not surprising that that is the case. Presumably she also considers the Bible to be non-fiction, when that's demonstrably untrue.

11. God is not responsible for war and suffering

Comment #48120 by Celandine on June 6, 2007 at 5:22 pm

God is not responsible for war and suffering

Of course not. A non-existent being can't be responsible for anything.

12. Scene Caused by Christian Group at NYC Stage Show

Comment #35898 by Celandine on April 29, 2007 at 8:26 am

Philos:

The group was aware in advance that the show had adult content and strong language -- that is made clear in the second article. If the content was deemed to be a problem, they should not have attended to begin with. Disrupting the show, and more importantly destroying Daisey's work, is not an acceptable response.

13. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #32321 by Celandine on April 16, 2007 at 9:15 pm

Funny, I've never seen any of these footprints he claims are so evident.

14. The Most Hated Family in America

Comment #29614 by Celandine on April 3, 2007 at 3:39 pm

Sadly, they're very real. Shirley Phelps spoke at my university last autumn; I was unable to attend the debate due to another commitment, unfortunately. Or perhaps fortunately as it would have been difficult to remain polite in the face of such bigotry.

15. Questionable Mission

Comment #16611 by Celandine on January 7, 2007 at 3:05 pm

my first priority is my faith in God, then my family and then country

Having someone in the military who places duty to country in third place is rather frightening. It is equally worrisome that so many people are apparently using their positions of authority -- the salaries of which are paid for by public taxation -- to proselytize for their faith.