Articles of Interest

[maenad nuri]

By Deo's suggestion, this is a place where anyone can share a link to an article, pagan-y related, so that everyone can read and discuss them.

Gonna start off withThe Real Prehistoric Religion of Malta

and a quote:

Quote:

The Maltese prehistoric society was a relatively stable, agricultural community, an intense and densely populated island, celebrating cyclical cycles of life, rites of passage, transitions between different stages of life, from separation to reintegration, fertility, ancestors, good spirits welcomed, bad spirits avoided, all in a cosmological context.

 

[maenad nuri]

Another article. I always find these things amusing.

Oh, but we don't want Pagan stuff going home, just the Christian!  

[TeaDidikai]

Nuri

Another article. I always find these things amusing.

Oh, but we don't want Pagan stuff going home, just the Christian!

I think the UU's who did this are as screwed in the head as Jerry himself.

"Let's ignore our fundemental objection to this in favor of being hypocrits."
rolleyes  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

TeaDidikai

I think the UU's who did this are as screwed in the head as Jerry himself.

"Let's ignore our fundemental objection to this in favor of being hypocrits."
rolleyes

Not to give the UU's too much credit, but I can also see this as a "Well, if they're going to get to use this tool, then we'll use it too" situation. Can't say I blame them if that's their motive; especially not with people like that last lady quoted who seemed to have turned a blind eye to the fact that this ebul pegan flier is possible due to the very people who claim to be representing her interests. To the father who claimed that this is a sign that the Christians need to pull out of public school, I partially agree. The families who believe that public school should serve as a vector for indoctrination of their, and only their religion should, indeed get out of the school system rather than continuing to attempt to pollute academia with their hemorrhaging claims of persecution and bias.

Of course, I also reserve the right to travel to the location of any teacher using their position of authority to teach anything other than fact and backhand them until either their face or my hand breaks. This goes for teachers preaching from the blackboard ("The Middle East is doing poorly because Islam teaches hate, as opposed to Christianity...") as well as those who quash religious expression in places where it is reasonably expected ("No, you cannot use your religious background as a foundation for your ethics during the course of this discussion").  

[Tsuzuki]

TeaDidikai

Nuri

Another article. I always find these things amusing.

Oh, but we don't want Pagan stuff going home, just the Christian!

I think the UU's who did this are as screwed in the head as Jerry himself.

"Let's ignore our fundemental objection to this in favor of being hypocrits."
rolleyes

I would have used the opportunity to spread these uncredited.

http://spoogle.us/~tsuzuki/sigils/sigils-leaflet.pdf  

[TeaDidikai]

Henry Dorsett Case

Not to give the UU's too much credit, but I can also see this as a "Well, if they're going to get to use this tool, then we'll use it too" situation.

And I am saying that the guidelines of the UU makes them hypocritical within the premise outlined in the piece.

Tsuzuki

I would have used the opportunity to spread these uncredited.

http://spoogle.us/~tsuzuki/sigils/sigils-leaflet.pdf

wink Ah, but Sigils unto themselves aren't purely theological in nature, ja?  

[Deoridhe]

TeaDidikai

Henry Dorsett Case

Not to give the UU's too much credit, but I can also see this as a "Well, if they're going to get to use this tool, then we'll use it too" situation.

And I am saying that the guidelines of the UU makes them hypocritical within the premise outlined in the piece.

I dunno, I go pragmatic on this one. Separation of Church and State is a hobby horse of mine; sometimes taking advantage of decisions I don't agree with is the best response for my eventual end of making everyone agree with me on this issue. I would have been inclined to put a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Phelps and the Christians who pressured the school board to allow me to advertise to them, though.  

[TeaDidikai]

Deoridhe

I dunno, I go pragmatic on this one. Separation of Church and State is a hobby horse of mine; sometimes taking advantage of decisions I don't agree with is the best response for my eventual end of making everyone agree with me on this issue. I would have been inclined to put a heartfelt thank you to Mr. Phelps and the Christians who pressured the school board to allow me to advertise to them, though.

See now- I wasn't looking at this from the "what I would do" angle.

If I had a child in the school district, I would use it to distribute copies of the Gnostic Gospels, the Poetic Edda, a handful of Gitas, the Satanic Bible, Liber Chaos and likely The Queen Jane's Bible- on GP. ~insert Angelic Halo here~

However, the Guidelines that the UU has laid out means that these people are violating the basic precepts of their religion. I consider their actions on an intellectual level to be equal to Christians who violate the Law of Agape because "God Hates Gays" or any other form of bigotry.  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

TeaDidikai

However, the Guidelines that the UU has laid out means that these people are violating the basic precepts of their religion.

Which precept are they violating by sending out said flier?  

[TeaDidikai]

Henry Dorsett Case

TeaDidikai

However, the Guidelines that the UU has laid out means that these people are violating the basic precepts of their religion.

Which precept are they violating by sending out said flier?

"The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;" - UU Bylaws

They freely addressed that this violated the seperation of Church and State within the piece. They did it anyway, to prove a point.

On a more basic level, hypocrisy is irresponsable and goes against the direction for responsable search for meaning by creating a hostil enviroment for the children as the actions by said parents undermines the dignity of those in their fellowship and advocates "unjust" actions.  

[Henry Dorsett Case]

TeaDidikai

"The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;" - UU Bylaws

I don't see how this act really violated that principle. The school board revised their policy to allow religious mailings and the UUs took advantage of it. Then again, I think there is nothing as conscientious and democratic as taking full use of an open forum until such time as it is closed, in order to remind those who wished for its creation that an open forum must be truly open or else we lose the democratic process.

Quote:

They freely addressed that this violated the seperation of Church and State within the piece. They did it anyway, to prove a point.

They also freely addressed that the same members who saw the violation of the Establishment Clause also did not want this newly-opened forum to be only allowed to Christian groups. I don't see this as hypocrisy, more as a fine-tuned act of cognitive dissonance pivoting around a survival instinct. "Those who wish to see us removed from the map have a powerful communication tool; while we disagree with its existence we will need to use it in order to make our own voices heard until the tool is destroyed".

Quote:

On a more basic level, hypocrisy is irresponsable and goes against the direction for responsable search for meaning by creating a hostil enviroment for the children as the actions by said parents undermines the dignity of those in their fellowship and advocates "unjust" actions.

See, I'd say that not using the backpack mail system and allowing Falwell's group to have the sole voice would violate

• The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
  
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I'd say that this use of the backpack mail system, if properly looked into by the very parents who are against it because the UUs are using it, might serve as a wake-up call that their attempts for hegemony may actually be the very thing that's harming their children. I consider this act from the UUs to be the tactical equivalent of slapping a hysterical person.  

[TeaDidikai]

Henry Dorsett Case

I don't see how this act really violated that principle. The school board revised their policy to allow religious mailings and the UUs took advantage of it. Then again, I think there is nothing as conscientious and democratic as taking full use of an open forum until such time as it is closed, in order to remind those who wished for its creation that an open forum must be truly open or else we lose the democratic process.

As it has been pointed out time and again, this isn't M&R, so I am going to give an analogy that sums up my opinion of the bolded section above.

Myself- even if rape was made legal- I wouldn't engage in it as a form of protest.

Quote:

They also freely addressed that the same members who saw the violation of the Establishment Clause also did not want this newly-opened forum to be only allowed to Christian groups. I don't see this as hypocrisy, more as a fine-tuned act of cognitive dissonance pivoting around a survival instinct. "Those who wish to see us removed from the map have a powerful communication tool; while we disagree with its existence we will need to use it in order to make our own voices heard until the tool is destroyed".

Hypocrisy in this case is outlined by the fact that they knew it was wrong and they did it anyway.

Quote:

See, I'd say that not using the backpack mail system and allowing Falwell's group to have the sole voice would violate

• The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
  
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

And I say that if they admit that it does actually violate their own sense of Justice- that to do so makes them the worst kind of hypocrit.

It sickens me really. It's like watching the Catholic and Protestant Parents force their children to walk through routes where they were exposed to glass bottles being thrown at them.

Putting children in the middle of such a thing is immoral and very much takes away their peace.

This kind of action isn't about Peace. It was about making a big ******** YOU to the Christians. Not something a UU should be doing- especially if they claim to be following the precepts of their theology.

Quote:

I'd say that this use of the backpack mail system, if properly looked into by the very parents who are against it because the UUs are using it, might serve as a wake-up call that their attempts for hegemony may actually be the very thing that's harming their children.

And I say treating your child like a tool to get back at a group you disagree with is horrific.