My previous post on the “In God We Trust” lawsuit inspired the following exchange of views on Twitter (thanks to Twitlonger) between Adam4004 and myself – which is probably fairly representative of the kinds of disagreements that these cases invoke:

Adam4004: So you reject originalism & wish judges to legislate from the bench?

I am not a lawyer but to the extent that one can unambiguously determine original intent I do not believe that we should be absolutely wedded to it. Since circumstances and perceptions change over time the original intent may no longer be completely desirable. Interpretations of the Establishment Clause have been expanded over the years but I do not see that as a detriment to either the Constitution or our society. I prefer a broader meaning to the ‘establishment of religion’ than the original intent because that to me seems to make more sense today.

What is certain, however, is that I am completely and utterly unimpressed by some of the specious arguments propounded to shield such things as the national motto and the Pledge of Allegiance – like the notion that either are not religious or merely ceremonial. If they were either of these things then religious people would presumably not care in the way that they do when these things are challenged. I can see straight through such arguments – so should you.

Adam4004: So then really the Judicial Branch can simply decide as unelected personages to create new laws based on what they feel should be our country’s focus & ideals correct?

Those arguments are irrelevant. They don’t violate the intent of the establishment clause & thus aren’t unconstitutional. If judicial activists want a different meaning we have a process & way to create that which the founders put into place.

Well, no, of course not. The complete opposite extreme does not follow from my comments.

It is not a different meaning. It is an expansion of that meaning. “Establishment of religion” can be read narrowly or broadly.

Adam4004: It can be read to claim atheism is a religion. Anything can be read broadly to mean whatever anyone wants. The problem is that the authors clearly didn’t intend the meaning that is now being shoehorned in under the guise of being broad etc. Here’s the deal. Reading the constitution broadly to say something clearly not the actual intent is legislating from the bench & neither the right or left should be engaging in it.

Heres the problem. The idea that they would have meant this to be applied to something like in god we trust is clearly silly. If this is something we need to add they gave us the procedure to do so. Simply declaring…oh well…times have changed & what those dead guys actually meant really isn’t important or relevant do let’s simply expand it to mean something the constitution actually didn’t mean because a handful of unelected people think it’s time it meant that. Let’s not go through any actual process. Let’s just say this is what it should have meant.

Not at all. See, to go back to your original question, what I do not agree with is an interpretive inflexibility that is too overly strict to not allow any room for expansion or refinement if deemed necessary. Sure, the framers did not want the United States to establish an official state religion akin to what England has. But religion can be “established” in other ways that they may or may not have originally agreed with or even conceived – the fact that those 200+ year dead people did not view the world exactly the way that we do now is not a good argument for narrowly limiting ourselves to their intent. Nothing that I have argued for violates the spirit of that intent to keep the state out of the religion business, so in my opinion you are being completely unreasonable. An atheist motto is no more acceptable to me than a theist one.

I suppose my general point here is that something can be in the spirit of the original intent even if it is not, strictly speaking, the original intent as literally conceived. While this may be a fine line, I believe it is one that is worth treading. The founder’s idea to separate religion and government in the physical sense was a great one – but I also believe that separating religion and government in the symbolic sense is a reasonable application of that great idea.

Adam4004: Also. Those same guys you argue wanted to keep state out of the religion business appointed a chaplain to open each session of congress with prayer among other things. To say they would have intended this is to do damage to any intent.

Except if they had actually intended that they would have actually done that in practice. Clearly they intended that no denomination be established as the state religion. Arguing that the very people that based their argument for freedom on the existence of a creator in a foundational document would be against havig the term God on the money etc is silly.

Yes, I am well aware of that. But the meaning of “establishing religion” today and for us is not the exact meaning of “establishing religion” as it was then. And that is clearly (to me) for the better, not for the worse. Yes, it is completely silly to argue that the founders would have been against putting “In God We Trust” on money. But that is not the argument. I don’t care if they would have objected because that alone does not make it right. The founders are not paragons of virtue. The argument is that we need to and can formulate an arguably superior interpretation of that original meaning that takes into account the interests of a much broader segment of the population that the founders would (presumably) not have cared about. I have no doubt that they did not have in mind the interests of atheists. The principle they established was sound but needs to be applied in a broader way to truly and fairly live up to it. So long as that application remains reasonably within the bounds of the spirit of that intent then I see that as a good development, not a bad one.

Adam4004: Once again. You are admitting that the establishment clause clearly was not meant to be interpreted in the way you want. You are basically saying we create a new meaning by sime declaration. Of course the founders weren’t paragons. That’s why they created the process by which we can change the constitution. Don’t like the 3/5 idea? Change it. Etc. But we are saying we no longer need the ammendment process. Within the existing ones 9 people can create a right not even remotely intended when written by simply reinterpreting…even when everyone knows they most certainly didn’t mean or would have wanted that.

What I concede as historically accurate is that the framers probably did not interpret the clause in as broad of form. However, I disagree with you that that means that it cannot and should not be interpreted in that way.  I agree that the judicial branch should not be engaged in applying the constitution in ways that were “not even remotely intended.” I disagree that what I am arguing for is “not even remotely” related to that original intention. It is not the exact intention, but it is still related to it. As I already argued  it is not only within the spirit of the that intention but a superior application of it that recognizes that today’s society should not confine ourselves to the same prejudices as our forefathers. It is neither an entirely new meaning nor a simple declaration (once you start reading the case law you will realize that it is anything but simple).

The courts have worked this way for a long time. A fact that is often overlooked is that the due process clause in the Fourteenth amendment to the Constitution opened the way for the Bill of Rights to be applied directly to the states. The original intention was that the Bill of Rights applied to the federal government only. Any particular state within the union could, in fact, establish a state religion! The idea that only “Congress can make no law” has been superseded by that very process you cite. Given the broader applicability of the Bill of Rights as interpreted through the Fourteenth amendment, it should then become no surprise that since the 1940s the Establishment Clause has indeed been more broadly applied. Did the founders originally intend for the Constitution to prohibit state legislators from banning the teaching of evolution in public schools for religious reasons? No. But the Supreme Court ruled (1968) that the First and Fourteenth amendments combined now means that it does.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

In retrospect it seems that we are both employing a philosophy of constitutional application that happens to be most beneficial to our desired ends – I don’t know if there is any way past that fundamental point. As an historian, I recognize that meanings change over time and what was sensible for the founding fathers may no longer be strictly desirable in today’s society. After all, we are talking about the Bill of Rights and interpreting the Bill of Rights in a way that expands rights to greater numbers of people (like the non-religious community).

What do you think? How should we handle Establishment Clause cases?

Related posts:

1. God, the State, & the University – As It Was
2. Flabbergasted
3. Genealogies of Ignorance: A Conversation on Childhood Indoctrination

A lawsuit against the the use of the motto “In God We Trust” on United States currency was recently dismissed. The case is Kidd vs. Obama, et. al. filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The decision is very short and you can read it in full here. Basically, the judge took the easy way out and simply cited previous (unfavorable) court decisions concerning the motto as evidence (and precedence) that no First Amendment case was made plain.

Near the end the judge gives the follow quotation as some kind of smoking gun from Aronow vs. United States (9th Circuit, 1970):

It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency ‘In God We Trust’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a government sponsorship of a religious exercise.

It is inconceivable to me how that statement could have been convincing then and still be convincing now. I suspect that this has become a convenient bluff to hide behind to avoid becoming the focus of the wrath of many religious people – which is something that any judge would have to endure who ruled against the motto despite it not (allegedly) having anything to do with religion!

Let’s parse this.

The motto has nothing to do with the establishment of religion.

The motto is clearly a religious statement – an affirmation that we (as a nation) trust in God. Therefore, it is plainly an establishment of religion over non-religion. No non-religious person places his or her trust in God.

The motto’s use is patriotic and ceremonial rather than religious, therefore it does not represent government sponsorship of religion.

How stupid do I look? In the 1950s, when the motto was official adopted and put on all currency as a matter of policy, ‘patriotism’ meant believing in God because not believing in God was associated with communism (or Stalinism). In other words, being patriotic necessarily meant being religious. So you cannot honestly tell me that its patriotic value means that it has no religious value. Of course it has religious use. Affirming one’s trust in a God is a religious exercise, plain and simple. Claiming that it is not a religious exercise is itself a bigger insult to religious believers than it is to atheists.

It’s time to get real here and time for our cowardly judges to cut the bullshit and call a spade a spade.

Related posts:

1. Conversation on Church & State
2. Why I Think that Michael Ruse is a Disaster
3. Comments on Six Reasons to Believe in God

Cat Banned From Visiting Buddhist Bank Robber In Jail (Allan Hall/The Telegraph; Nov 3)

Peter Keonig, 46, is serving five-years for armed robberies in Werl, Germany.

He went to court this week demanding the right for his cat Gisela to be allowed to visit him in jail “because she is my dead mum”.

Buddhists believe that people come back as other animals after death. He said: “I know it is mummy. She looks after me just the way she did. I need to see her like other prisoners see their wives and children.”

But the court turned him down. “While we respect the religious freedom of individuals, the accused has not been able to furnish proof that his deceased mother has been reborn in a cat. Therefore, the request for visiting rights for the feline is rejected.”

The court did say he would be allowed to write to the cat.

Hmmmm, well… maybe if Peter’s mother had been a police dog, he would have turned out better….

Related posts:

1. Buddhist Scandals You May Have Missed
2. A Slight Misunderstanding…
3. Sandra Alfred & Son

Yes – in Iraq of all places.

Although the following article describes the number of atheists there as “insignificant,” it also says that number does seem to be growing.

And nothing in the article suggests that atheists are somehow responsible for the violence that continues to plague the country, day after day, week after week, year after year after year.

So, while some may agree with the author that the growth of atheism is “troubling” news, I see it as a rare glimmer of hope in a land that has been extremely ill-served by theism and religion.

How about you?

Iraqis Shocked As Atheism Creeps In (Afif Sarhan/IslamOnline.net; Oct 11)

BAGHDAD: Although their number remains insignificant and most of them hid their identity, the fact that some people are leaving Islam and becoming atheists is a troubling news in conservative Iraq.

“I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when my son told me that his colleague at college told him that his father had become an atheist,” Sheik Abdul-Rassoul al-Rabia’a, a religion teacher at Baghdad University, told IslamOnline.net.

Not only did the father abandon his Muslim faith, he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.

“I suggested to my son bringing his friend home and talked with him that despite his father’s thinking, he should continue to follow his Muslim heart and never deny his God,” al-Rabia’a said.

Linking that to the non-stop violence plaguing the country since the 2003 US invasion, some Iraqis are becoming atheists.

Most of them have had personal incidents involving either themselves or close relatives.

“Iraq is a land without God or any other kind of major protective superior form,” claims one atheist who declined to be named fearing reprisal.

“We have been forgotten and it is better to think only rationally than emotionally. I left behind my old beliefs because it is the only way to protect my children from any harm that God isn’t being able to do.”

Yasser (not his real name) is grouping up with others who have also renounced their faiths.

“When we first decided to organise ourselves, we were only eight people,” he told IOL.

“And after seven months, our number has reached to 34 but many other groups are being formed countrywide according to my contacts in northern and southern Iraq.

“We believe that today in Iraq, there are at least 220 atheists linked to the groups nationwide.”

Caro (not his real name), 41, also claims their numbers are on the rise.

“Each day we are having more followers and maybe one day we will be able to have our own centre where we will be able to discuss our ideas and nature creation.”

Iraqis say atheism is just so alien to conservative Iraq.

“If a westerner told me that he doesn’t believe in God, I would keep my mouth shut and never discuss it with him,” says Abdul-Rassoul al-Rabia’a.

“But when I hear that a born Muslim adopted atheism, I feel strong enough to help him find the true path.”

He believes the trend is becoming common in many regions in Iraq.

“No one is guiltier than the Americans who brought such ideas to Iraqis.”

Sara Waleed, 36, religion teacher at a primary school in Baghdad, says sometimes children ask her about atheism and say they heard the word from someone in the family who had become an atheist.

“Our kids today are different from before. They are aware of everything and are growing fast,” she told IOL.

“When I hear this I try to give a lesson that reinforces Islam so that the kids would not forget their origin.”

Yasser recognizes that what he and his friends are doing is alien to the conservative Iraqi society.

“It might be stranger for many people that a man who was raised in a very close Muslim tradition goes against his family and personal beliefs and create a group that doesn’t believe in a major creator.”

He blamed this on the war and its repercussions.

“Violence, religious differences, deaths, hunger, displacement and many other issues made me ask myself where God is,” he said.

Iraq fell into a bloody cycle of violence following the 2003 US invasion, leaving hundreds of thousands killed and maimed.

“I tried to find God during the last years,” says Yasser.

“I realised that he isn’t looking after us and instead we are moving ourselves according to the human nature and not an abstract force.”

But Waleed, the teacher, insists this is no reason to abandon one’s religion.

“I lost two brothers during the war and didn’t stop believing but instead my faith became stronger,” she said.

“I turned to Islam for my personal spiritual comfort.”

Related posts:

1. Atheism is intellectual emptiness
2. Atheism vs. Religion
3. Atheism not officially recognized in India

… all from just the last month:

1) Suicide Bomber Kills 5 At UN Food Office In Pakistan (Salman Masood/The New York Times; Oct 5)

ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber dressed in the uniform of one of Pakistan’s security forces struck the United Nations World Food Program offices in Islamabad on Monday, killing five people in what the police said was a serious breach in a building tightly guarded by private security officers.

The interior minister, A. Rehman Malik, said that the bomber asked for permission to use the bathroom, entered the building and detonated about 16 pounds of explosives in the lobby just after noon, when the compound was filled with people….

A prominent international presence here, the World Food Program provides food aid to as many as 10 million people across Pakistan….

2) Suicide Car Bomber Kills 49 At Pakistan Market (Alex Rodriguez/The Los Angeles Times; Oct 10)

ISLAMABAD: A suicide car bomb tore through a bustling market in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least 49 people in what appeared to be the Pakistani Taliban’s latest broadside against a government that says it is preparing a significant military offensive against the militants.

The explosion, which also injured more than 100 people, occurred at the Khyber Bazaar in the capital of Pakistan’s violence-racked North-West Frontier Province.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, Pakistani officials said they believed it was the work of the Pakistani Taliban. The militant group has vowed to ratchet up suicide attacks in response to the Pakistani government’s preparations for an all-out offensive in South Waziristan, a primary base of operations for the Taliban and Al Qaeda….

The attacker Friday hit a crowded market. The assailant drove his car through the bazaar and set off about 110 pounds of explosives, said Shafqat Malik, a police bomb squad specialist.

The blast ripped through market stalls and nearby buildings, scorching and flipping over a passing minibus filled with people. Many of the dead were found in the charred vehicle frame.

Pools of blood dotted the area, littered with pieces from destroyed vehicles….

The attack at Khyber Bazaar comes nearly two weeks after a suicide car bombing near a state-owned bank in Peshawar killed 12 people and wounded 91.

That same day, a suicide attacker in a pickup truck rammed a barricade outside a police station in the town of Bannu, about 100 miles southwest of Peshawar. That explosion killed 15 people and injured 60….

3) Pakistan Violence Continues As Car Bomb Kills 41 (PBS NewsHour; Oct 12)

A deadly blast ripped through a market in the restive Swat Valley on Monday, continuing a wave of attacks over the past week across Pakistan.

The car bomb detonated in the Alpuri market in the northwest Shangla district of Swat Valley, a region that was declared clear of militants by the Pakistani military after a summer offensive.

“Such attacks cannot deter us from the offensive against the militants,” said provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain, according to the Associated Press. “We will continue our fight till the death of the last terrorist.”

Police say the target was a military convoy. No one immediately claimed responsibility.

Forty one people were killed, including six security officers. Another 45 people were wounded. The attack is the fourth in just over a week in Pakistan. Last week a suicide bomber blew himself up in Islamabad and another car bomb exploded in Peshawar that killed 53 people.

Over the weekend, Taliban militants disguised as soldiers infiltrated the Pakistan army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi and took 42 hostages, resulting in a 22-hour standoff that ended with commandos storming the building.

Nine gunmen, 11 soldiers and three of the hostages were killed. The attack was planned in South Waziristan, a stronghold for Pakistan’s Taliban, the army said. The Taliban, however, said the strike originated in a Punjabi faction, indicating that the Taliban’s reach has extended beyond its base in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan near the Afghan border….

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed responsibility for the raid and said it was to avenge the killing of leader Baitullah Mehsud who was killed in August by an American missile strike.

“We will take revenge for our martyrs and will carry out more attacks, whether it’s the GHQ or something bigger,” Tariq told Reuters by phone.

4) Iraqi Town Hit By Suicide Blast (The BBC; Oct 13)

At least eight people have been killed and ten wounded in a suicide bombing in north-eastern Iraq, medical and security officials say.

The attack was in the town of Buhriz, which lies to the south of Baquba.

According to reports, the bomber detonated an explosive vest at a tea shop near the market.

The target appeared to have been the leader of one of the Sunni Arab militia groups which had switched support from al-Qaeda to US forces.

Laith Misha’an, the local leader of the pro-government Sunni militia known as The Awakening Council, was killed in the attack.

The violence comes a day after an attack in the same village killed two sons of the local mayor.

According to the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse, in Baghdad, prominent members of The Awakening Council have been increasingly targeted in the past few months.

5) Dozens Killed In Coordinated Attacks In Pakistan (Sally Sara/Australia’s ABC News; Oct 15)

ISLAMABAD: Up to 30 people have been killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Pakistan, in a sign militants are warning the military to abort its planned offensive on the border with Afghanistan.

Terrorists attacked the headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and two police training centres in Lahore.

The assault at the FIA is now over, but gunfire and grenade blasts continue at two other police training centres.

Commandos have surrounded the police academy at Bedian, on the outskirts of the city, and police believe up to 10 terrorists may be inside.

There are fears for the families of police recruits living in the compound….

Several senior police were killed or injured in the attacks, particularly at the FIA site.

The attacks were launched almost simultaneously. Some of the witnesses say three of the attackers at one of the police training centres were female.

There was heavy gunfire, grenades were thrown and several of the attackers were reportedly wearing suicide vests.

In a separate attack, a suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the front of a police station in the north-western district of Kohat.

Several children were among the dead and injured….

6) At Least 11 Dead In Pakistan Suicide Bombing (Sally Sara/Australia’s ABC News; Oct 16)

ISLAMABAD: At least 11 people have been killed and several injured in a suicide car bombing in Pakistan.

The blast has severely damaged a mosque in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Police say the suicide bomber drove a car packed with up to 70 kilograms of explosives into the cantonment neighbourhood of the city.

It is unclear whether the target was a nearby mosque or police station.

The blast was so powerful it destroyed one of the walls of the mosque and left a large crater.

Several police were injured but most of the victims were civilians, including women and children.

Police also say a female bomber blew herself up on a motorcycle outside a police building in Peshawar….

7) Iraq Suicide Bomber Kills 12 At Mosque (CBC News; Oct 16)

A suicide bomber opened fire on worshippers on Friday at a mosque in northern Iraq and then blew himself up, killing 12 people and injuring 65, officials said.

The attack occurred in the city of Tal Afar, about 60 kilometres northwest of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, the site of a number of attacks in the last year by Sunni-backed insurgents.

A local police official said the attacker entered the mosque as the imam was beginning his sermon, fired shots from an AK-47 rifle and then detonated his explosives belt when he ran out of ammunition. An official with the Tal Afar hospital confirmed the casualty count.

The imam, Abdul-Satar Hassan, a member of Iraq’s largest Sunni political party, was also killed in the attack, the police official said.

It’s not clear if the imam was the target of the attack, but a number of Sunni clerics have been targeted in the last month.

Last week a Sunni cleric driving home after delivering a sermon in Saqlawiyah, 75 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, was killed by a bomb attached to his car. A Sunni cleric in Mosul was also killed by a car bomb in September. Earlier this week a cleric who leads the largest Sunni mosque in Baghdad was wounded in a similar attack.

Tal Afar and the area around Mosul is considered one of the last strongholds of the Sunni-backed insurgency and has been the site of a number of horrific bombings recently.

In July two suicide bombers launched a co-ordinated attack that killed 38 people and injured 66 there, and in March a suicide blast at a market killed a policeman and injured eight people.

One of the worst weeks of violence in the city occurred in March 2007, when two truck bombs exploded in markets, killing at least 63 and wounding 150. The following day off-duty Shia police officers seeking revenge in Sunni neighbourhoods killed at least 45 people….

8) Iran Suicide Blast Toll Mounts To 49 (Pakistan Times; Oct 19)

TEHRAN: The death toll in a suicide bomb attack in Sistan area in Iran has risen to 49.

Earlier 35 people were killed by a suicide bomber including seven senior Revolutionary Guards commanders and other notable people in one of the deadliest attacks on Iran’s elite military institution.

The attack occurred early on Sunday in the Pishin district of Sistan province in the country’s southeast near the border with Pakistan and injured several dozen as officers were preparing to stage a meeting.

Two high-ranking commanders among those dead included the deputy head of the Guards’ ground forces, General Nourali Shoushtari, and the Guards’ commander in the Sistan-Baluchistan province, General Rajabali Mohammadzadeh….

According to Ynetnews.com and other sources, a local Sunni group has claimed responsibility.

9) Five Killed In Suicide Bomb Attacks At Pakistan University (Alex Rodriquez/The Los Angeles Times; Oct 20)

ISLAMABAD: After unleashing a vicious wave of attacks on high-profile security buildings and crowded marketplaces in Pakistan this month, militants set their sights Tuesday on one of the capital’s schools. Two near-simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on an Islamic university killed five people and wounded 22.

The assault on an academic building and a women’s cafeteria came on the fourth day of a long-awaited military offensive to uproot the Taliban and Al Qaeda from their stronghold in South Waziristan, a rugged and largely ungoverned region along the Afghan border….

Authorities had received threats that schools in Islamabad and its twin city, Rawalpindi, might be targeted for attacks….

The first blast occurred at a two-story, red-brick building that houses the women’s cafeteria. Witnesses said as many as 70 female students were inside when the bomber detonated the explosives at the main entrance.

“It felt like the earth shook, and then there was fire, smoke and broken glass everywhere,” said Nida Sana, 23, an economics student who was seated with five friends at the back of the cafeteria. “I never saw the bomber, but after the blast I saw dead bodies of girls, badly mutilated.”…

Witnesses said that about 30 seconds after the blast at the cafeteria, a second explosion tore through a second-floor hallway at an Islamic studies building housing classrooms and faculty offices….

The blast tore a 4-foot-wide hole in the hallway wall. Broken glass and smoldering wood littered the bloodstained floor….

10) Bombings Kill 24 In Three Militant Attacks In Pakistan (The Age; Oct 25)

ISLAMABAD: Three bombings have killed 24 people in north-west Pakistan, as the army pushes a week-long offensive deeper into al-Qaeda and Taliban territory near the Afghan border.

In one blast, a suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked a Pakistani air base, killing seven – the latest attempt by militants to strike at the heart of this nuclear-armed nation’s security forces.

An explosion that struck a bus travelling in the Mohmand tribal region killed 17, including women and children. Also on Friday, a car bomb near a restaurant and a marriage hall in Peshawar wounded 15.

About 200 people have been killed this month in a string of militant attacks on military, police and civilian targets.

11) Twin Suicide Car Bombs In Baghdad Kill 147 (CTV News; Oct 25)

Iraqi officials say at least 147 people have been killed by two powerful suicide car bombs, in the country’s deadliest attack in more than two years.

At least 721 people were injured in Sunday’s blasts in downtown Baghdad, only a few hundred metres from the heavily fortified Green Zone. Three of the injured are American contractors, a spokesperson from the U.S. embassy said.

The car bombs went off outside the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad Provincial Council. So far, 60 government workers have been reported dead. Thirty-five were from the Ministry of Justice and 25 were from the Baghdad Provincial Council, police and medical officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The streets where the bombs went off were just reopened a few months ago, when blast walls were repositioned to allow traffic to flow closer to government buildings….

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but car bombs have often been used by Sunni insurgents in an attempt to destabilize the country’s Shiite-dominated government….

Mark Plotkin, a political analyst with Washington-based radio station WTOP-FM, told CTV News Channel on Sunday that the violent bombing may come as a surprise to many Americans.

“I think that they feel ‘alright, all the concentration is now on Afghanistan — the war in Iraq is over,’” he said. “People have to face up to the reality that that war is not over, is not complete, and incidents like this will occur whether we’re there or not.”…

12) 36 Killed In Twin Suicide Attacks In Pakistan (TwoCircles.net/The Indo-Asian News Service; Nov 3)

ISLAMABAD: The bloody wave of terror strikes continued in Pakistan as two separate suicide attacks hit the country, in Rawalpindi and Lahore, killing at least 36 people and injuring 39 Monday….

The first suicide attack was in Rawalpindi, close to a luxury hotel and a bank. At least 34 people were killed and 32 injured in the attack. The second attack took place on the outskirts of Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, killing the bomber and his accomplice and injuring seven others.

The Rawalpindi blast occurred barely 500 metres from the Pakistani Army Headquarters, which had come under Taliban attack Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to it and killed at least 19 people, including nine raiders, in the 22-hour standoff.

The massive explosion took place on a day when the Pakistan government offered a reward of $5 million for information on the country’s Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and 18 of his associates.

The blast occurred at 10.40 a.m. when people had queued up at the bank to collect their salaries….

The government released an advertisement Monday offering cash reward totalling $5 million for concrete information on the whereabouts of Mehsud and his associates, who have stepped up terror strikes across Pakistan.

The advertisement says: “Anyone who captures these people dead or alive or provides concrete information, the government will award them a cash reward.”

“The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) terrorists are daily involved in deadly activities and because of their activities innocent Muslims are going to the valley of death,” it added….

If atheism has inspired a single atheist to commit an atrocity in the last ten years that’s at all comparable to even one of these 12 examples from just the last month, my many news sources seem to have completely missed it. (If YOU know of one, please share.)

As things stand, it’s hard to understand how so many theists from the pope on down can continue to blame atheists and humanists for the world’s problems while turning a blind eye to the many evils that seem intimately connected to the religious beliefs of a wide range of people….

For many more examples of the kinds of behavior that Islam (the so-called “Religion of Peace”) has been helping to inspire in some of the most religious areas on earth, see the entries I posted on Feb 17; Jan 26; Oct 21, 2008; Aug 20, 2008; Jan 19, 2008; and Jan 16, 2008 (among numerous others I could have provided links to).

(If you happen to be a theist yourself, you might want to bookmark this page and come back to it whenever you’re feeling angry at atheists or humanists for daring to put up a sign.)

Related posts:

1. Religion & Violence: The Murder Of Sarfraz Naeemi
2. Religion & Intolerance (2)
3. Religion & Women: The Latest Insults

2-Minute Bio: Accused Jewish Terrorist Jack Teitel (Randy James/Time; Nov 3)

An American living in Israel has been arrested and charged with a string of terror attacks over more than a decade against Arab, gay and leftist targets. Israeli police describe Yaakov (Jack) Teitel as a Jewish extremist and say he is responsible for the murder of two Palestinians in 1997 and a pair of bombings that left a professor and a 15-year-old boy wounded, among other crimes. Teitel’s Oct. 7 arrest was made public on Nov. 1; police say they found a weapons laboratory at his West Bank home and a weapons cache nearby. His attorney says the 37-year-old father of four is mentally unstable.

Fast Facts:

• Born in November 1972 to Orthodox Jewish parents in Florida. His father was a military dentist and his mother a medical secretary. His family later moved to Norfolk, Virginia.

• Began traveling back and forth to Israel in the 1990s on tourist visas. Emigrated permanently in 2000.

• Worked as a self-employed computer technician and website designer. Lived with his wife Rivka, whom he met and married in Israel, and four children in the West Bank settlement of Shvut Rachel until his arrest.

• Has allegedly confessed to the 1997 shooting deaths of two Palestinians, a cab driver in Jerusalem and a shepherd near the city of Hebron, in retaliation for suicide bombings targeting Jews. Was detained by Israeli police in 2000 on suspicion of the killings, but was released due to insufficient evidence.

• Perhaps most notoriously, Teitel is accused of sending a booby-trapped gift basket in March 2008 to the home of an American family in Israel who belonged to a messianic Jewish sect. The homemade bomb seriously wounded a 15-year-old boy, Ami Ortiz, severing two of his toes, damaging his hearing and threatening his promising basketball career.

• Accused of detonating a pipe bomb in 2008 at the home of Israeli professor Zeev Sternhell, a critic of the country’s far right and the Jewish settler movement. Sternhell suffered minor injuries. Other alleged attacks include stabbing and wounding an Arab whom he believed was making sexual advances in a Jerusalem park in 1997, and attacking a police station in 2006 to distract police officers from a nearby gay-pride parade.

• Arrested Oct. 7 in Jerusalem while distributing leaflets that praised an August shooting at a gay community center in Tel Aviv that killed two young people. He was armed with a loaded handgun when he was arrested. He confessed to the killings, though police say they’re certain he wasn’t involved.

• An arms cache discovered near his home reportedly included nine different automatic weapons, sniper rifles and pistols that Teitel said he’d smuggled from the U.S.

• Reportedly told investigators he dreamed that God had instructed him to carry out his attacks and he would die if he did not obey. Also said he acted alone and not in connection with extremist groups.

• Described as a loner who generally kept his family indoors. Neighbors and even relatives say they did not know Teitel well, in part because he did not speak fluent Hebrew.

Quotes About:

“He is like a serial killer. This guy was a Jewish terrorist who targeted different types of people.” — Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. (AP, Nov. 1, 2009)

“What should be clear to any person is that my client is, in the best case, mentally unstable, and believes he has been sent by God. He saw signs, he had dreams, and became motivated to act … He has many strange theories that were interlinked. It all seemed logical to him.” — Adi Keidar, Teitel’s attorney. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 1, 2009)

“We are horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs.” — Leah Ortiz, mother of Ami Ortiz, 15, who was badly hurt by an explosive allegedly planted by Teitel. (New York Times, Nov. 2, 2009)

“He is a quiet man. Introverted, doesn’t get involved much in society, Even with us — even though we are family, we didn’t really speak to him much.” — Sarah Avitan, Teitel’s sister-in-law. (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 2, 2009)

“I have always known him to be a nice guy, someone who gave me rides, with a sweet wife. I was floored when I heard this.” — Batya Medad, a resident of a nearby settlement who knew Teitel. (New York Times, Nov. 2, 2009)

To learn a bit more about how religion is driving some Jewish people to embrace violence, see the entry I posted on Sept 29, 2008.

Related posts:

1. Ultra-Orthodox Riot In Support Of Abusive Mom
2. Jerusalem Update
3. The Jewish View Of Jesus

Man Sentenced In Child Circumcision Case (WTOL/WBTV; Sept 29)

LENOIR, North Carolina: A father who admitted to circumcising his infant sons earlier this week was sentenced in Caldwell County court Friday afternoon.

John Marlowe was accused of two felony counts of abuse in the case and the jury convicted him Thursday on one count of misdemeanor child abuse. They jury was deadlocked in reaching a verdict in the other count and because of this, Judge Robert Ervin declared a mistrial.

On Friday, the court gave Marlowe the maximum sentence of 150 days which must be served after a 12-to-15 year sentence he received for an assault charge in which he was convicted of earlier this year.

Prior to the sentencing on Friday, Marlowe’s ex-wife, Amber, pleaded with the court to keep Marlowe in jail as long as possible. She told the court that he once threatened that he would kill her if she ever told police about the circumcisions or testified against him in court. She told the court she is terrified that some day he’s going to come after her.

As the defendant left the courthouse Friday afternoon, WBTV reporter Steve Ohnesorge asked Marlowe if he still thought what he did was right. Marlowe responded, “Yes.”

When asked if he would ever circumcise any more children in which he might have in the future, Marlowe said, “Yes.”

After he was sentenced, Marlowe told the court he would appeal.

During the proceedings earlier this week, Marlowe said he circumcised his boys for religious reasons, but he never specifically said which faith he followed.

He was convicted back in May of several assault charges with his ex-wife and children as the victims. Sentencing in that case was delayed until the trial this week.

On Wednesday, Marlowe admitted he circumcised two of his children without any anesthetic. He said God told him to perform the circumcisions.

“The main reason I did it was, the Holy Spirit pressed me to do it,” he said.

Marlowe learned how to do the circumcisions, he said, by reading books and the internet. He used his shirt to demonstrate to the courtroom his surgical method.

“(I) pulled the skin over the tip and cut it off,” he said.

He also revealed that he has circumcised a total of three children: one in Mecklenburg County and two in Caldwell County. At this time, he has not been charged in connection with the alleged incident in Mecklenburg County.

Marlowe says the pain couldn’t have been that bad for the infants. He says he knows because he performed a circumcision on himself a few years ago when he was 30.

“The pain did not overwhelm me or stop me,” he said. “Within an hour or so, (I) was able to put in 13 stitches.”

He claims he did the right thing with his children and that putting him in jail for it sets a bad precedent.

On Tuesday, Marlowe confronted his accusers — his ex-wife and a second woman he claimed he was married to at the time.

Marlowe said this is all about religious freedom and his right to circumcise his children.

“It hasn’t been illegal till now, why should it be illegal?” Marlowe said.

Marlowe kept reminding witnesses and the court that this was a landmark case.

“Do you understand what the outcome of the case will do to the state and this country?” he asked.

However, prosecutors say this is not about religious freedom, but instead is about what one man did to his children.

Marlowe’s ex-wife, Amber Marlowe, said he used a box knife to circumcise her son.

Sara Fleming, who also lived with John Marlowe, described how he circumcised her child.

“He held the foreskin out, took the box cutter, and made an incision,” Fleming she said.

Marlowe didn’t deny doing that or how the infants reacted.

Both women said they couldn’t stop John Marlowe from performing the procedure because they were fearful for their lives. Fleming described her escape months later.

“It was necessary for me to leave out a back window with just the clothes I had on,” she said, “(I was) running for my life.”

Amber Marlowe says she’s testifying now because she finally feels safe.

“I’m no longer under your power, I no longer have nightmares of you coming and killing me, I know you are safe behind bars where you can’t reach me,” she said.

As for the Caldwell County victims who were just a few days old when the circumcisions occurred, one is still in the custody of Department of Social Services. The second child is with his mother, Sara Fleming. A doctor told us the children are well and should not have any long lasting physical effects.

This story reminded me of this one that I posted back on Jan 2, 2005:

Father sentenced to three years for attempted circumcision (Columbian.com) – “Ridgefield father Edwin B. Baxter asked God for mercy and a judge for understanding Wednesday as he faced sentencing for an attempted circumcision on his 8-year-old. Baxter said he was inspired to cut his son after reading Scripture and first consulted his wife. ‘It never has been my desire or intent to violate any laws,’ Baxter, 33, told Superior Court Judge James Rulli. ‘I pray God will have mercy on me,’ Baxter said, choked up. He then put his head down on the table where he sat with his attorney…. Baxter likely will appeal on the grounds that Rulli did not let him use his Christian fundamentalist faith as a defense, but Rulli cast doubt that argument will fly. ‘The court has steadfastly held that you can’t jeopardize the health and safety of your family because of your religious beliefs,’ Rulli said…. On Sept. 3, Baxter called his son into the bathroom and had him lay in what witnesses described as a dirty bathtub. Baxter used a hunting knife to slice into his son’s foreskin. He called 911 when his son began bleeding profusely. Rulli said Baxter inflicted not only physical damage to his son, who received stitches, but probably also psychological damage. On Dec. 7, a jury convicted Baxter of assault of a child in the second degree.”…

It also reminded me of the rabbi whose circumcisional ways may have killed a child; the divorced parents who fought over their son’s penis (Theist File 4125); and the way the Bible’s Simeon and Levi went unpunished by gOd despite using the holy rite of circumcision to trick (and eventually rob and murder) their enemies (as detailed here and here).

And of course it also brought to mind the whole issue of so-called “female circumcision”….

Can we all agree that although adult human beings have the right to embrace any sort of religious beliefs they want (however absurd they may be), they do NOT have the right to grab a box cutter and impose those beliefs on their minor children’s genitalia even if gOd himself allegedly demands it?

Related posts:

1. Jury gets it right in Neumann case
2. Two More Good Reasons Not To Listen To God
3. Harmit Bhangu

How do you make a movie about the Prophet Mohammed without the Prophet Mohammed? Just wondering.

Qatari firm in talks to make Prophet Mohammad film

A film about the Prophet Mohammad backed by the producer of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Matrix” is under discussion, a Qatar media firm said Sunday, with the aim of creating an English-language blockbuster for the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.

Filming of the $150 million movie is set to start in 2011, with Barrie Osborne as its producer, Almoor Holdings said. Almoor said the film – in which the Prophet would not be depicted, in accordance with Islamic strictures – was in development and talks were being held with studios, talent agencies and distributors in the United States and Britain.

Alnoor said it aimed to attract the “best international talent” to star in the motion picture.

Related posts:

1. An Imam Explains It All
2. How Sad Is This?

… Kut being a religious ritual practiced by many Koreans.

(But you knew that because you’ve already read some version of the following recent news story – right?)

Virginia Teen May Have Died In Korean Exorcism, Police Say (Tom Jackman/The Washington Post; Oct 22)

Someone pummeled and smothered 18-year-old Rayoung Kim in a bedroom of her home in a new suburban subdivision in Fairfax County. She fell unconscious and later died.

Fairfax police think the fatal injuries occurred in July 2008 during a Korean exorcism, in which a spiritual shaman and family members try to force evil spirits to leave a possessed person.

That account is in a police affidavit filed recently in Fairfax Circuit Court, which quotes Kim’s brother as saying his sister was involved in a religious ritual in the moments before she passed out. The court filing also quotes the medical examiner’s report, saying Kim died from “blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.”

After investigating the case for more than a year, Fairfax homicide detectives recently obtained search warrants to take DNA samples from Kim’s mother and brother, whom they suspect might have participated in the ancient Korean rite of kut, in which a shaman communicates with spirits.

It is extremely rare for murder or manslaughter charges to be filed in relation to religious rituals. In the past 10 to 15 years, only a few cases have been prosecuted in the United States. But the search warrant filed in Fairfax Circuit Court in the Kim case provides a window into the sometimes dangerous practice.

Kim’s father, Kyung T. Kim, said police officers had their facts wrong but declined to comment further. No one has been charged in the case.

Exorcisms have a long history in Korean theology, experts said. Missionaries introduced various forms of Christianity in Korea beginning in the late 18th century, but the kut ritual long predates that, experts said.

“Historically, the Korean culture has been very deeply shaped by shamanism,” said Peter Cha, a professor of pastoral theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Ill. In Korean shamanism, a woman is typically the shaman, or mudang, and communicates with gods or spirits not only to drive out evil but also to resolve financial problems or improve a person’s health.

Cha said some Koreans “believe in multiple spirits that are active and present. Whether an illness is physical or emotional, it is evil done by these spirits.”

The family of Seung Hui Cho, the Korean-born man who killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech in 2007, considered using members of a Woodbridge church to treat their emotionally disturbed son in 2006 but ultimately did not, the pastor said. The Rev. Dong Cheol Lee of One Mind Presbyterian Church said that Cho was afflicted by “demonic power” and that his mother had approached several congregations seeking help.

“His problem needed to be solved by spiritual power,” Lee said in 2007. “That’s why she came to our church, because we were helping several people like him.”

Rayoung Kim was a student at Centreville High School and might have had mental health issues, said law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation. But rather than explore psychotherapy or medication, the Kims brought in a shaman trained in the elaborate rituals of kut, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. A kut can last hours or days and involves chanting, dancing, candles, incense, offerings of food and money to the spirits — and sometimes physical force.

Leaders in Northern Virginia’s Korean community said exorcisms are unusual in the area. “This is not common,” said Michael Kwon of the Korean-American Association of Northern Virginia. “I’ve been very involved in the Korean American community for many years, and I don’t know of anybody using mudangs,” he said, although he said he was familiar with the practice in Korea.

John Goulde, director of the Asian studies program at Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Va., said he had watched a number of kuts in South Korea. He said they involve holding the person down while the evil spirits are pushed out of the stomach and forced out through the throat. In a 1996 case in California, a woman who died during a Korean exorcism had suffered 16 broken ribs and a crushed heart.

The mudang typically enters an altered state of consciousness in which spirits enter her body during the ceremony and can transmit positive power, withhold their harmful presence or communicate important messages, author John A. Grim wrote in the book “Asian Folklore Studies.” Money is usually involved as payment to the spirits, and spirit power must be “correctly solicited and purchased,” Grim wrote.

Goulde said some highly educated people use mudangs rather than more modern approaches. The shaman can sometimes be connected to a Pentecostal or charismatic church, and “it’s a highly emotion-packed form of religion,” Goulde said. “It’s very cathartic. It makes them feel good and generates support.”

Fairfax police wouldn’t discuss the specifics of what happened to Rayoung Kim last year. A search warrant affidavit written by homicide Detective Robert A. Bond that was recently filed in Circuit Court quotes the medical examiner’s report, saying that “unidentified DNA” was found at Kim’s house on Old Mill Road, just off Route 28 in Centreville.

When Bond interviewed Kim’s mother, she said she had been speaking with her daughter when she collapsed. The mother later made a second statement, saying that she found her daughter in her room, unresponsive. The mother denied having a role in her daughter’s death, Bond wrote.

Kim’s teenage brother told police that he, his mother and two other people “were performing a religious ritual on the victim prior to her becoming unresponsive,” the affidavit says.

On July 26, 2008, someone in the house summoned an ambulance for the unconscious girl. She was taken to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, then to the intensive care unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Police dominated the quiet street for hours, neighbors said. But virtually none of the neighbors had any relationship with the Kims, and no one knew what might have been going on in their house. Some said they didn’t even know a teenage girl lived there.

Kim died July 30, 2008. Officer Don Gotthardt, a Fairfax police spokesman, said the investigation was continuing. “Homicide detectives are still waiting for some forensic results, and it’s still an active, ongoing investigation.”

To learn more about the way belief in demons and exorcism continues to play havoc with people’s lives, see the entries I posted on July 15, July 3, and June 20 as well as the many related links I’ve provided.

Related posts:

1. Exorcism Down Under
2. Sandra Alfred & Son
3. A Policeman’s Lot Is Not A Happy One

Steeple Falls As Tornadoes Hit Lousiana, Arkansas (The Associated Press; Oct 30)

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana: One man is dead and a landmark church steeple toppled onto a car in Louisiana after a line of thunderstorms spawned several tornadoes there and in neighboring Arkansas.

Authorities said an unnamed 20-year-old driver died when his car hit a tree felled by the storms Thursday near Shreveport.

At least three tornadoes touched down in northwest Louisiana.

The storms blew the signature steeple off a church in downtown Shreveport. The falling tower hit a car and the 57-year-old driver, Michael Williams, had to be pulled out by rescuers. He suffered broken bones.

The storms brought heavy rain and at least two tornadoes in Arkansas, but there were no reports of injuries in that state. Roads were flooded in parts of southwest Arkansas.

Update: Man Injured By Steeple Local Artist (The Shreveport Times; Oct 29)

The driver pried from a car crushed by the falling steeple of First United Methodist Church in downtown Shreveport today is Michael Williams, local artist and husband of advertising executive Judy O. Williams of Williams Public Relations. He suffered moderate injuries that are not life-threatening, police say.

Williams, 57 and of the 800 block of Oneonta, suffered numerous broken bones but overall is “one very lucky guy,” Shreveport police spokesman Sgt. Jim Taliaferro said. [NOTE: If you have any spare luck like this, please keep it to yourself! For some reason, I prefer the luck of the 200,000+ Shreveport residents who did NOT have a steeple fall on top of them.]

The remnants of the steeple, which was erected in late 2000 after an Easter tornado damaged its predecessor, still blocked Common Street as darkness fell….

So, it was actually the second time in just the last decade that Zeus has sent a warning to this particular church, eh? Certainly the congregation will heed this one lest a third come in the form of total destruction – right?

Artist Hurt By Felled Steeple Recovering From Surgery (John Andrew Prime/The Shreveport Times; Oct 31)

Local graphic artist Michael Williams continues to mend after surviving having a massive church steeple crush his brand-new Lexus as he was stopped at a red light on Common Street near First United Methodist Church in Shreveport on Thursday afternoon.

He underwent surgery Friday at LSU Hospital in Shreveport for a broken and dislocated wrist and has pain blocks in both hands, said his wife, local advertising executive Judy Williams.

The injuries occurred when the steeple of First United Methodist Church landed square on his vehicle when a tornado ripped through the downtown area in the middle of a powerful storm.

“I think he is still running on adrenalin,” Judy Williams said of her husband after an exhausted day and night spent at his side after she rushed back to Shreveport from New Orleans.

“He’s in a body brace for his back, and it may be three to four months that he’ll have to wear that. He’s doing as well as can be expected. He’s still stable, still very lucid, which just amazes me.”…

After being trapped in the car almost an hour, Williams was freed by Shreveport Fire Department emergency personnel and rushed to LSU Hospital….

The steeple, meanwhile, has been removed from Common Street and moved in pieces to a parking lot. It, and Williams’ miraculous near-brush with death, will be a prominent part of the Rev. Pat Day’s sermon Sunday at First United Methodist.

“It’s a miracle, it truly is,” Judy Williams said….

A miracle? Really? Hmmmmm….

*Wondering if pastors and others would put such a positive spin on things if a tornado hit an abortion clinic that rented out space in its basement to a local Wiccan group*

(Greg Pearson/The Shreveport Times/The Associated Press; Oct 29)

For many other examples of Zeus’s warnings to Christians, see the entry I posted on July 18 as well as the related links.

(Or are Christians and their churches merely the random victims of natural events unfolding in a gOdless universe just like the rest of us? Well, yes, I suppose that makes the most sense – but I have yet to encounter a single Christian willing to admit as much. Apparently they all prefer to believe in and worship a gOd and a Jesus who are unable or unwilling to protect them from nature. It’s like continuing to bow down and pay protection money to the Mafia even after the Mafia fails to protect you, isn’t it? Or am I missing something?)

Related posts:

1. Zeus Awakes!
2. Zeus Vs. Jesus
3. Wrath of Zeus?