"Bottoms" Out

Not that I think France is a place where fundamentalist Christians dream about moving to but the country is taking even greater strides to keep those of a conservative nation (religiously speaking) at bay. According to Reuters via MSNBC, the Council of State (a French high court) has put the kibosh on a Moroccan woman's attempt to gain French citizenship. The grounds for rejection were due to their take on the 32-year old woman's adherence to the orthodox Muslim religious practice of wearing a burqa and living in submission to her husband and male relatives. Per the court:

"She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes," said a ruling by the Council of State handed down last month and sent to Reuters on Friday to confirm a report in Le Monde.

[snip]

"She has no idea about the secular state or the right to vote. She lives in total submission to her male relatives. She seems to find this normal and the idea of challenging it has never crossed her mind," Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave wrote.

My guess is that the fundies here and abroad will find this ruling as a reason to praise the French (they are, after all, standing up to the European version of the brown menace) and even suggest the US take the same sort of stance in a similar situation. The richness of a Christian fundamentalist argument against the religious orthodoxy of another religion/denomination is how they miss the obvious similarities with their own beliefs.


Tags: religion Christian France Islam freedom of religion

South Carolina's limited beliefs

So, South Carolina is still moving ahead with their government supported (initial fee paid for by the Lt Gov, no less) Christian license plates. I'm sure you've all heard about this little state sponsored jem and how the poor, disenfranchised Christians must have these plates available since there is no other way to use their motor vehicle to testify to what good Christians they are. Any one protesting their plate is prejudiced against Christians to the point they are trying to impede spreading the "good news" and message of Christianity. According to SC Lt Gov Andre Bauer this is a free speech issue and it is absolutely necessary that the plate be supported because the overtly Christian plate "allows people of faith to profess that they believe in a higher calling, they believe in God". In addition to Brauer's willingness to front the initial fee (only for the Christian plate, of course) there are a few other little tidbits that haven't been broadly discussed in most coverage of the story is those related to the state's restrictions on any specialty plate that would compete with the Christian one courtesy of CNN:

While individuals can ask the DMV to print plates for other faiths -- for a $4,000 fee -- the request would be subject to significant limits and rules not imposed for the Christian plate. Other tags could feature a religious symbol -- such as the Star of David -- but no words would be allowed.

It's such a shame that nobody has invented anything else that could be used to make a statement using a car. . .

tags: religion hypocrisy government freedom of religion free speech conservatism

The REAL reason marriage is bewteen a man & a woman

As we all recall, back in the day women were chattle. Today, CNN's Mental Floss, reminds us of this:

All of our society's gender issues stem from the fact that fathers once used their daughters as currency to a) pay off a debt to a wealthier land owner, b) symbolize a sacrificial, monetary peace offering to an opposing tribe or c) buy their way into a higher social strata.

So next time you tear up watching a beaming father walk his little girl down the aisle, remember that it's just a tiny, barbaric little hold over from the days when daughters were nothing but dollar signs to daddy dearest

"Traditional" marriage was dealt a bit of a blow centuries later when radical heterosexuals insisted that marriage be turned on it's ear to allow people to choose their own spouse based on love. Then, things went further awry, and women were debased even further, due to radicals insisting on turning coverture laws in the late 1800's. So, the next time some asshat brings up a need for secular law to protect "traditional marriage" let's make sure they insist on going back to the real origins of marriage to codify that law. A few of the religious wingnuts and garden variety misogynists will gleefully vote for such a law/amendment, but I bet that most conservatives will shudder at how that stance will be used against them.

tags: marriage hypocrisy feminism romance religion tradition conservatism

For whom the ringtone tolls

Teruo and Miyoko Oba have found a whole new use of their "friends and family" minutes that is most definitely not for the squeamish

The family plot in Kofu, a rural city near the Japanese Alps, boasts a high-tech, "QR" black-and-white square, linking the Oba's pictures and history to phone-carrying visitors who can enter virtually to pay their respects.

Tombstone maker Ishinokoe says the QR codes, which users scan to link with everything in Japan from buses to restaurant reservations, are a new way to visit its "memorial service window" grave sites that contain more than the cremated ashes of the deceased. [MSNBC]

Wow, and I always thought I was supposed to turn my phone off at funerals. . .

Tags: funeral technology death weird

One potent PSA

From Canada, a Public Service Announcement that puts domestic violence in perspective:



Tags: domestic abuse violence

You want a lap dance to go with that TV?

This one is for those that think Christianity is the basis of morality and the waning influence of Christianity is the source of moral decay:

Police say a pastor who was reported missing from his home in western New York has been found at an Ohio strip club. [MSNBC]

Craig Rhodenizer, the above referenced missing Pastor "disappeared" last Wednesday after telling his wife he was going to BestBuy to get his computer fixed. Thus far there's ben no word on whether the good Pastor did actually drop off his computer to get fixed on route to the strip club, but if I were his wife, I'd have the hard drive checked just to see what unChristian immorality it bears witness to.


Tags: Christianity immorality hypocrisy

Common Sense Prevails in the Midwest

YAY! The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled to uphold a lower court ruling that permitted the WI state Pharmacy Examining Board to sanction Neil Noesen who, in his capacity as a pharmacist, refused not only to dispense a lawful prescription for birth control pills but also refused to transfer the prescription to a pharmacy that would fill the prescription."

"Noesen abandoned even the steps necessary to perform in a minimally competent manner under any standard of care," the three-judge panel said. The decision upheld a ruling by Barron County Circuit Judge James Babler.

[snip]

Noesen testified he advised the woman of his objection to the use of contraception and refused to fill the prescription or tell her how or where she could get it refilled.

[Raw Story]

Noesen's attorney, indicated he's not sure whether there will be an appeal but expressed concern that the ruling would prevent pharmacists and other Health Care Providers from imposing their religious views on and, in some cases, interfering with medical care of (or refuse to provide standard medical care to) unwitting patients.



Tags: first amendment medicine health care reproductive rights religion civil rightsfundamentalism