... hope they don't consult the Bible next time they catch someone collecting wood on a Saturday (Numbers 15:32-36); uncircumcised (Exodus 4:24; check yourselves guys) or having sex with a menstruating woman (Leviticus 20:18).
Behemot
behemot
JoinedPosts by behemot
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17
Texas execution looms after jury consult Bible
by behemot inhttp://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=2&language_id=1&headline_id=10076.
amnesty international press release.
9 october 2009. .
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Texas execution looms after jury consult Bible
by behemot inhttp://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=2&language_id=1&headline_id=10076.
amnesty international press release.
9 october 2009. .
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behemot
http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=2&language_id=1&headline_id=10076
Amnesty International Press release
9 October 2009
As the international community prepares to mark the World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October, Amnesty International has highlighted two cases of people facing execution - one in the USA, one in Iran.
A Texas man who faces execution after jurors at his trial consulted the Bible when deliberating his fate should have his death sentence commuted, Amnesty International said on Friday.
Khristian Oliver, 32, is set to be killed on 5 November after jurors used Biblical passages supporting the death penalty to help them decide whether he should live or die.
Amnesty International is calling on the Texas authorities to commute Khristian Oliver's death sentence. The organization considers that the jurors' use of the Bible during their sentencing deliberations raises serious questions about their impartiality.
A US federal appeals court acknowledged last year that the jurors' use of the Bible amounted to an "external influence" prohibited under the US Constitution, but nonetheless upheld the death sentence.
Khristian Oliver was sentenced to death in 1999 for a murder committed during a burglary. According to accomplice testimony at the trial, 20-year-old Oliver shot the victim before striking him on the head with a rifle butt.
After the trial, evidence emerged that jurors had consulted the Bible during their sentencing deliberations. At a hearing in June 1999, four of the jurors recalled that several Bibles had been present and highlighted passages had been passed around.
One juror had read aloud from the Bible to a group of fellow jurors, including the passage, "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death".
The judge ruled that the jury had not acted improperly and this was upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
In 2002, a Danish journalist interviewed a fifth juror. The latter said that "about 80 per cent" of the jurors had "brought scripture into the deliberation", and that the jurors had consulted the Bible "long before we ever reached a verdict".
He told the journalist he believed "the Bible is truth from page 1 to the last page", and that if civil law and biblical law were in conflict, the latter should prevail. He said that if he had been told he could not consult the Bible, "I would have left the courtroom". He described himself as a death penalty supporter, saying life imprisonment was a "burden" on the taxpayer.
In 2008, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that the jurors had "crossed an important line" by consulting specific passages in the Bible that described the very facts at issue in the case. This amounted to an "external influence" on the jury prohibited under the US Constitution.
However, it concluded that under the "highly deferential standard" by which federal courts should review state court decisions, Oliver had failed to prove that he had been prejudiced by this unconstitutional juror conduct. In April 2009, the US Supreme Court refused to take the case, despite being urged to take it by nearly 50 former US federal and state prosecutors. -
Wackier than the JWs
by behemot insource: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/us/20shaman.html?em.
since the refugees began arriving 30 years ago, health professionals like marilyn mochel, a registered nurse who helped create the hospitals policy on shamans, have wrestled with how best to resolve immigrants health needs given the hmong belief system, in which surgery, anesthesia, blood transfusions and other common procedures are taboo.
the result has been a high incidence of ruptured appendixes, complications from diabetes, and end-stage cancers, with fears of medical intervention and delays in treatment exacerbated by our inability to explain to patients how physicians make decisions and recommendations, ms. mochel said.
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behemot
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/us/20shaman.html?em
Since the refugees began arriving 30 years ago, health professionals like Marilyn Mochel, a registered nurse who helped create the hospital’s policy on shamans, have wrestled with how best to resolve immigrants’ health needs given the Hmong belief system, in which surgery, anesthesia, blood transfusions and other common procedures are taboo. The result has been a high incidence of ruptured appendixes, complications from diabetes, and end-stage cancers, with fears of medical intervention and delays in treatment exacerbated by “our inability to explain to patients how physicians make decisions and recommendations,” Ms. Mochel said.
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untitled
by behemot insource: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/10/its_a_gateway_drug_to_a_lifeti.php.
(the blog of biologist mz myers).
it's a gateway drug to a lifetime of depravity!category: religion.
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behemot
I liked this comment:
Posted by: cpsmith October 12, 2009 11:39 PM
A Jehovah's Witness was visiting me on a regular basis ever since I returned to the city to continue school. When I told her I had just gotten a bachelor's degree in biochemistry she brought me a copy of AWAKE which dealt with the topic of evolution. I don't think it had the effect on me she intended. The only decent argument in the entire magazine was that if evolution is true then the bible makes no sense. That much I could agree with, but unfortunately the rest was an astounding blend of misunderstandings, quote-mining and what had to be deliberate lies. The Jehovah's Witness returned a week after dropping the magazine off and she asked what I thought of it. I told her exactly what I thought of it. She never came back.
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untitled
by behemot insource: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/10/its_a_gateway_drug_to_a_lifeti.php.
(the blog of biologist mz myers).
it's a gateway drug to a lifetime of depravity!category: religion.
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behemot
source: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/10/its_a_gateway_drug_to_a_lifeti.php
(the blog of biologist MZ Myers)
It's a gateway drug to a lifetime of depravity!
Category: Religion
Posted on: October 12, 2009 10:14 PM, by PZ MyersI was sent this scan of a delightful article from Watchtower Magazine — you know, that bizarre piece of pulp from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Look at their list of wicked temptations that might lead a faithful person into a life of sin. Take special note of #2.
"A well-intentioned teacher urges you to pursue higher education at a university." Oooh. Sends a chill down my spine.
I guess I'm even more evil than I, or the Jehovah's Witnesses, can imagine. I've urged many students to go on to graduate school, which as all of you advanced students know, is where all the real licentiousness, wickedness, baby barbecues, and bonobo sex goes on.
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Where does evolution leave God?
by behemot inthe wall street journal recently commissioned karen armstrong and richard dawkins to independently respond to the question "where does evolution leave god?".
their thoughts are here:.
http://online.wsj.com/article/sb10001424052970203440104574405030643556324.html.
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behemot
The Wall Street Journal recently commissioned Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins to independently respond to the question "Where does evolution leave God?". Their thoughts are here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574405030643556324.html
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How to teach a child?
by GapingMouth ini have a daughter who is nearly 16 months old, and it won't be long before she starts understanding more and more of the rubbish at the khs my wife takes her to.
she will be very exposed to a lot of creationist junk and i can just imagine her getting brainwashed just as i was a born-in.
luckily i am in a position to reduce that or perhaps counter it completely.
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behemot
I agree with Black Sheep. We shouldn't teach our children what to think but how to think and how to recognize logical fallacies in reasonings (either religious, political and others).
Some good points here:
http://insidecredulity.blogspot.com/2008/04/richard-dawkins-open-letter-to-his.html
Behe
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IS THERE ANY JUSTIFCATION THAT THE GOD OF THE BIBLE KILLED BABIES .??
by Mr. Majestic in.
assuming the bible true:.
thinking of the story of the way that jehovah, through samuel and saul, dealt with the amalekites; with the discovery of the criminal gene, could this justify the god of the bibles actions against these nations, when he put out the order to not have compassion for them, and the israelites were ordered to put to death, man as well as woman, child as well as suckling...??
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behemot
The "conquest" of Canaan apparently did not happen the way the OT tells us. Those accounts are only a later rationalization/reconstruction of the nation's past, ideologically and religiously overloaded. Many scholars think that what the OT purports as a violents conquest was in reality an almost peaceful, gradual settlement of the Jewish tribes in Canaan (see for instance Karl GNUSE, Israelite Settlement in Canaan: A Peaceful Internal Process, in «Biblical Theology Bulletin» 21 (1991), pp. 56-66, 109-117; GöstaW. ÄHLSTRÖM, Who Were the Israelites? , Winona Lake, Eisenbrauns 1986; Robert B. COOTE, Keith W. WHITELAM, The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective, Sheffield, Almond Press 1987; Albrecht ALT, The Settlement of the Israelites in Palestine, in idem, Essays on Old Testament History and Religion , Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press 1989, pp. 133-169).
So all that bloodshed probably never took place (thank God).
At any rate, given that things went as the Bible relates, the practice of herem (OT "holy war", the "devoting to distruction" of the NWT) was not peculiar to the Jews: "holy" wars, "commanded" by tribal gods, and extermination of entire populations in honor of those gods were commonplace in Ancient Near Eastern civilizations (see for instance Sa-Moon KANG, Divine War in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East, in Hayim TADMOR, Moshe WEINFELD (eds.), History, Historiography and Interpretation, Jerusalem, Magnes Press 1983, pp. 121-147; Sa-Moon KANG, Divine War in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East, BZAW 177, Berlin / New York, de Gruyter 1989; Bustenay ODED, “The Command of the God” as a Reason for Going to War in the Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, in Mordechai COGAN, Israel EPH’AL (eds.), Ah, Assyria .... Studies in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Hayim Tadmor , Scripta Hierosolymitana 33, Jerusalem, Magnes Press 1991, pp. 223-230).
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MY FIRST DOUBT
by goldensky indear all,.
i posted my first thread a few days ago and some of you asked me questions i'm more than willing to answer.
but there is so much i want to say to you there's no way i can convey all the information at one sitting, so i've decided to tackle one subject at a time, both for the sake of not boring you and because i'd love to know how you feel about each individual topic.
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behemot
Goldensky, on many the inconsistencies of the JWs ransom doctrine you can read this interesting essay written by Alan Feuerbacher, a former JW:
http://corior.blogspot.com/2006/02/gods-justice-sin-imperfection-and.html
As to animal sacrifices, they are very ancient rituals that turned up in almost all cultures and predate the Hebrews: in fact, you'll find them throughout early Ancient Near Eastern civilizations and they were already practiced in Canaan before the Jews "conquest", so much so that certain scholars think the liturgy and the sacrifice system set out in the Law is a "yahwization" (an adaptation to the cult of Jahweh) of a pre-existent Caananite ritual (see for instance René DUSSAUD, Les Origines cananeennes du sacrifice israélite, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France 1941).
As a matter of fact, almost all the types of sacrifices prescribed and described in the Law ( zebah , zebah hayyamîm, šelamîm, neder, minhah, kalîl , tenuwphah ) have been found in Canaanite texts (especially from Ugarit, XIV sec. b.C.E.): see, for instance, the discussion in Patrick D. MILLER, Prayer and Sacrifice in Ugarit and Israel, in idem,Israelite Religion and Biblical Theology. Collected Essays , Sheffield, Continuum International Publishing Group 2000, pp. 84-100.
Behemot
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Opening Pandora's Box - By Barbara Anderson
by flipper inbarbara wanted me to ost this information about her discussion at a seminar which was held in europe first, then chicago just a week or two ago.
you'll find this link interesting.
all comments welcome.
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behemot
Don’t get me wrong.
I do very much appreciate what Barbara Anderson is doing to expose the harmful JWs policy about abuse, blood, shunning etc.. I applaud at her participating at the annual conference of the International Cultic Studies Association in Geneva. But what about giving a lecture in the Vatican? and in a Catholic church? organized by GRIS, the Italian Catholic anti-cult (mostly anti JWs actually) association? I understand Barbara takes advantage of all possible ways to go public with these very important issues, but while I’m sure of her sincerity, allow me to doubt the sincerity of the Catholic Church in hosting her lectures. Do you really think they are concerned about the welfare of people who join the JWs? Concerned about the way JWs handle the abuse? Their record is not clean.
(see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/24/children.childprotection )
I think they view JWs just as competitors on the religious “market” and thus they welcome whatever discredits them. And I’m afraid they just “used” Barbara and her commendable efforts to further their own agenda.