When they are in PR mode

Sep 13th, 2011 12:37 pm | By

I no sooner say that thing about the pretty picture out front and the kicks and blows behind the curtain when I read another example via Ed Brayton. The Reconstructionists are saying why the Dominionists are so scary while they (the Recons) are thoroughly reassuring.

There is no doubt, however, that the 7MDs do have a goal of top-down control of society. This is explicit in their literature in many places. The exception to this is when they are in PR mode: then they downplay and even completely deny that they believe in dominion….

Riiiiight – as so many control freaks do when they are in PR mode. The pope do, theocracies that sign up to CEDAW do, Michele … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Do the right thing, Tunisia

Sep 13th, 2011 12:14 pm | By

A bit of good news, potentially (though it could be just window dressing, or good intentions, or doomed): Tunisia “has become the first country in the region to withdraw all its specific reservations regarding Cedaw – the international convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.”

This is an important step, Brian Whitaker continues.

It reverses a long-standing abuse of human rights treaties – especially in the Middle East – where repressive regimes sign up to these treaties for purposes of international respectability but then excuse themselves from some or all of their obligations.

Saudi Arabia, for example, operates the world’s most blatant and institutionalised system of discrimination against women – and yet, along with 17

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Iran: women’s rights activist badly beaten by cops *

Sep 13th, 2011 | Filed by

Her charges were announced as “Insulting the Supreme Leader”, “Propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime”, and “Acting against national security”.… Read the rest



Nothing paranormal about near-death experiences *

Sep 13th, 2011 | Filed by

How neuroscience can explain seeing bright lights, meeting the dead, or being convinced you are one of them.… Read the rest



Near-death experiences found to have naturalistic causes *

Sep 13th, 2011 | Filed by

Research is now revealing scientific explanations for virtually all of their common features.… Read the rest



Abuse survivors will try to take pope to court *

Sep 13th, 2011 | Filed by

Rape and other forms of sexual violence are specifically included in the definition of crimes against humanity that are under the jurisdiction of the ICC.… Read the rest



Pope accused of crimes against humanity *

Sep 13th, 2011 | Filed by

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have accused the pope, the Vatican secretary of state and two other officials in a formal complaint to the ICC.… Read the rest



Forgive but prosecute

Sep 12th, 2011 5:40 pm | By

From Janet Heimlich’s Religious Child Maltreatment website, a post about the abuse of forgiveness.

But the practice of forgiveness can be abused, and nowhere is this more apparent than in cases of religious child maltreatment. All too often, pious adults who learn that a child has been abused fail to do the right thing. That is, instead of reporting the incident or getting the victim counseling, they urge the child to forgive the perpetrator.

I did a post on this subject more than six years ago, about the Amish, via this article.

It is sinful for the Amish to withhold forgiveness—so sinful that anyone who refers to a past misdeed after the Amish penalty for it

Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Picky picky

Sep 12th, 2011 4:52 pm | By

From Rethinking Vision Forum - a look at Vision Forum’s recklessness with data when it comes to women’s survival. They  recommend refusal of surgery for women with ectopic pregnancies and they use bad stats to do it.

I was ASSURED informally and emphatically that National Right to Life In NO WAY supports the Vision Forum position on withholding treatment in the case of tubal pregnancy.

So Vision Forum, like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, thinks women should die along with their fetuses rather than terminating the pregnancy.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Bangladesh ties up some loose ends

Sep 12th, 2011 11:08 am | By

Bangladesh has a new broadcasting law, which will make things tidier there. The basic idea is to forbid just about everything.

[3] National ideology or characters cannot be criticized,

[4] The father of the nation [Sheikh Mujibur Rahman] cannot be criticized in any of the programs.

[5] No individual can be criticized in the programs.

[6] No criticism will be allowed on national ideologies and goals.

[8] No program can be aired which would provoke deterioration of law and order situation.

[10] Programs related to trafficking in women, forced prostitution, rape etc will be barred from broadcast under the new law. This law will also stop broadcasting investigative reports on such issues.

[12] No program or content on mutiny

Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Bangladesh enacts new broadcast law *

Sep 12th, 2011 | Filed by

National ideology or characters cannot be criticized. The father of the nation cannot be criticized. Actually pretty much nothing can be criticized.… Read the rest



Saudis deport radical Islamist to Norway *

Sep 12th, 2011 | Filed by

Wait…what?… Read the rest



Pres Jonathan orders military to end unrest in Jos *

Sep 12th, 2011 | Filed by

More than 100 people have been killed in Plateau state in the past two weeks in
conflict between Muslims and Christians from rival ethnic groups.… Read the rest



His brazen feminist mother-in-law attacked him with vegetables

Sep 11th, 2011 3:56 pm | By

Digging.

No Longer Quivering has a section for nlq stories. There are a lot of stories. I’m reading chapter 2 of one story, by Tess Willoughby.

It was the year when we went to a conference and met a pastor who advocated corporal punishment for wives, and Nate took to his teachings like a duck to water…

Nate and I were part of the Christian separatist movement of the late ’80s and early ’90s, rooted in the belief that liberals and “secular humanists” would destroy the moral fiber of America. Christian separatists— right-wing religious splinter groups including white supremacists, Y2K survivalists, secessionists, reconstructionists, and so on—believed that the upstanding patriotic Christian Americans needed to separate themselves and create

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



How to mess with children’s heads

Sep 11th, 2011 3:03 pm | By

Raise them on a book called I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. Libby Anne explains.

As a girl, I was told not to “give away pieces of my heart.” That meant that I was to make sure not to fall in love, because if I fell in love with someone I would give him a piece of my heart, a piece of heart that I would now no longer be able to give to my future husband. I would essentially be emotionally cheating on my future husband. In order to keep myself pure, I had to guard my heart and my emotions carefully.

Practically, what this meant was that ever time I had a crush on a guy

Read the rest

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The very very Baptists

Sep 11th, 2011 1:26 pm | By

The Facebook group Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) Cult Survivors (and their Supporters) is interesting.

You know what I’m talking about. You went to an IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) church three times a week. The Christian school you attended was connected to your church/cult, or you were home-schooled. Your church was committed to the “Doctrine of Separation” and strong discipline. You believed Billy Graham was the “bad guy” and that all other churches and religious organizations were/are disobedient and in “sin” (i.e. you were taught even the Southern Baptists were/are “compromising liberals”). Your church also controlled nearly every aspect of your life. Your family may have even needed to get permission from the pastor before going on vacation (if you dared

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(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)



Numerous holes in the oversight of scientific publishing *

Sep 11th, 2011 | Filed by

A committee has been trying to find out what was happening at Duke that allowed the problems to continue undetected for so long.… Read the rest



“Shaman” jailed for supplying psychedelic “cancer drug” *

Sep 11th, 2011 | Filed by

“If this drug had been given to someone who was weakened through cancer it could
have made them seriously ill.”… Read the rest



Vyckie Garrison on the new style of quiverfull courtship *

Sep 10th, 2011 | Filed by

As Quiverfull Believers search for the truly “biblical model” for godly marriage, ideas about courtship and “betrothal” are becoming increasingly savage and brutish.… Read the rest



I do like a nice mission statement

Sep 10th, 2011 4:22 pm | By

Cool; Vision Forum “Ministries” has a mission statement. Its title is

Preserving Our Covenant with God through Biblical Patriarchy and Multi-Generational Faithfulness

What covenant? They think they have a covenant? How can you have a covenant with someone you’ve never met or had any kind of bilateral communication with? And how can you sign multi generations up to anything? Why do future generations have to be “faithful” to something you’ve agreed to?

Item 6: Reinforcing Godly Masculinity and Femininity

Meaning, masculinity and femininity as seen in High Noon. All men are to be like Gary Cooper and all women are to be like Grace Kelly. Simple.

Item 7: Understanding Family Culture as Religion Externalized

With Daddy as God. … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)