Christmas/holiday season satire

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I dedicate this posting to Mom who has been sending me several emails concerning the secularisation of Christmas. Thanks, Mom. My thinking is that as long as our secular Western governments celebrate Christmas Day as an official holiday, governments, organizations and individuals in society should allow without protest the celebration of Christmas as a Christian holiday, and the celebration of Christmas as a secular holiday. If Christmas is deemed as discriminating against other religious or philosophical views by a government, organizations and individuals in a particular political jurisdiction, then a government could, I suppose, consider changing the name of the holiday to something other than Christmas.

However, to me it is unreasonable for an entity or person to legally or otherwise, oppose the Christian aspects of Christmas being celebrated in secular Western society when the holiday is at its roots, Christian, but has also developed into a secular holiday. Let us use common sense. With the way human beings can be, there may be some forces within radical liberal Christianity that want to maintain the religious nature of Christmas, but remove the gospel message from it. Keeping Christmas a Christian and/or religious holiday is not necessarily maintaining it in a traditional Christian sense.

What if my preference is Christmas?

Spending less money and more time with family and friends is a good idea, perhaps.

Some of the 'Banners' need to be banned.

Or the radical liberals can keep baby Jesus and just redefine him for 21st Century consumption.

Or celebrate the birth of the Jesus of choice, if the Biblical one is too exclusive for you.

Do complaints always merit change?



Facebook- I have no idea if this took place during Christmas season, but in warmer climates some people like to play golf during the holidays. This picture is apparently not a fake.

Shoot UK teacher, say protesters (great public relations)

Please see my comments after the BBC article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7121025.stm




Shoot UK teacher, say protesters

Thousands of people have marched in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to call for UK teacher Gillian Gibbons to be shot.
Mrs Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was jailed by a court on Thursday after allowing children in her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

She was sentenced to 15 days for insulting religion, and she will then be deported.

The Foreign Office was in contact with Sudan's government overnight and is due to repeat demands for her release.

'Kill her'

The marchers took to the streets after Friday prayers to denounce the sentence as too lenient.

The protesters gathered in Martyrs Square, outside the presidential palace in the capital, many of them carrying knives and sticks.

Marchers chanted "Shame, shame on the UK", "No tolerance - execution" and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad".

Hundreds of riot police were deployed but they did not break up the demonstration.

The Foreign Office said it was seeking more details about the protest.

'Strongest terms'

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been in touch with Mrs Gibbons' family for a second time, speaking to a close relative of the teacher.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has expressed "in the strongest terms" the UK's concern at her detention.

The Sudanese ambassador, Omer Siddig, was called back to the Foreign Office to explain the decision.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he could not "see any justification" for the sentence, calling it an "absurdly disproportionate response" to a "minor cultural faux pas".

The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis), which represents more than 90,000 Muslim students in the UK and Ireland, said it was "deeply concerned" at what was a "gravely disproportionate" verdict.

The federation's president, Ali Alhadithi, said: "What we have here is a case of cultural misunderstandings, and the delicacies of the matter demonstrate that it was not the intention of Gillian Gibbons to imply any offence against Islam or Muslims.

"We hope that the Sudanese authorities will take immediate action to secure a safe release for Gillian Gibbons."

In September, Mrs Gibbons allowed her class of primary school pupils to name the teddy bear Muhammad as part of a study of animals and their habitats.

The court heard that she was arrested on Sunday after another member of staff at Unity High School complained to the Ministry of Education.

My thoughts:

-There have been many good serious articles written on this story, including one from Zaftig in my links. I thought I would approach this from a satirical perspective.

-A guest satirical writer on BBC 5 Live mentioned today that this incident was 'great public relations' for Islam. Now, it was pointed out on the same radio station earlier that most British Muslims disagreed with the school teacher's sentence. Personally, when I lived in England (99-01) I had positive interaction with Muslims, and would occasionally visit a Muslim acquaintance that owned a burger and chips shop for a meal and talk, which included polite religious dialogue on the differences in religious philosophy between Christianity and Islam. In fact, he gave my friend and I free dinner one night, as we showed him respect unlike many in the community. The interaction with this man was a good learning experience. However, with this type of action by the officials in Sudan it comes across as trying to make an example of an English woman that made a social mistake in ignorance. I do not pretend to know the motives of the authorities, but the episode strikes me as being childish and bitter. Rather than doing the common sense thing and let the teacher away with a warning, the authorities make a big deal about it, and are setting themselves up for public ridicule in the Western world.

-A BBC 5 Live reporter suggested today that the protesting crowd may have been somewhat staged. So, the crowd calling for the teacher's execution may have been influenced by the government to protest in public. One wonders why the economy of countries like the Sudan are not world class! Good idea, let's have adult men take part of the day off work to protest a 54 year old British school teacher and a teddy bear. Perhaps a compromise can be made and the teddy bear can be executed. If the teddy bear is publicly burned at the stake, or beheaded some of the officials and protesters will feel better, and can put in a full days work on Monday. It is good see that the authorities have a fantastic grasp on what is important in reality.

-Revelation 13:15 comes to mind. It comments that the second beast gives the breath of life to the image of the first beast, that it may speak and cause as many that do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Mounce writes that the second beast is given the power to animate the first beast. Mounce (1990: 261). The second beast enforces worship of the first beast. Mounce (1990: 261). Biblically and theologically, it is possible...just possible, that the animated beast could be a teddy bear?

MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1990) The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Evolution: 21st Century style

Within my latest article on thekingpin68, I briefly discuss science and naturalism, and so I thought I would 'sort of' stay with a similar theme with this article.;) No, I do not eat a lot of burgers, or look like the last guy in the first drawing.

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2007/11/empirical-theology-and-methodology.html

Gossip

Los Angeles

I present this post, and publish the short article below for two notable reasons, and the ordering does not necessarily reflect importance. I shall leave the importance judgement up to the reader.

One, Fabio is somewhat of an amusing satirical figure, and this is a satirical site.

Two, this type of article is an example of the gossip/news/garbage that has been dominating the press in much of the English speaking, Western world the last several years. What does the Bible state about gossip?

According to the Nelson's Three-In-One Bible Reference. Here is a definition.

Gossip-idle talk or rumours about others.

Selected verses that I examined from the New American Standard Bible that were listed in the Nelson text.

Leviticus 19:16 warns against slandering others, and that one is not to act against the life of a neighbour.

Proverbs 20:19 explains that a person that slanders gives away secrets, and therefore one should not associate with a gossip.

Romans 1:29 lists gossips as among those with a depraved mind (1:28).

2 Corinthians 12:20 lists gossip as something that Paul does not want to find when he visits Corinth.

Nelson's Three-In-One Bible Reference, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers.

My thoughts are that this type of journalism below will continue within the entertainment news sections, and will carry over at times into the main news presentation, as has been the case with Hilton, Spears and others. I am not against entertainment taking its place beside news, sports, and weather in the overall news presentation, but I would like to see gossip terminated and more time put towards presenting intellectual reviews and discussions of films, television series and so on.

Would Fabio beat Clooney with his hair?

Comments?

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212113796.shtml

Tittle-Tattle Too™
you do it, we tell, too bad

Published: Nov 8, 2007 Email This Print Share Related Send A Tip

George Clooney, Fabio Face-Off Over Face-Shots
by Staff

George Clooney and romance icon Fabio stunned diners at Hollywood's swanky Madeo restaurant on Friday (02Nov07), when they exchanged fighting words over a photo session.

Actor Fabio was dining with friends when one stood to take photos close to a table Clooney was sharing with his girlfriend Sarah Larson.

According to America's In Touch Weekly magazine, Clooney thought the photographer was trying to take shots of him and asked her to stop - a request which annoyed his fellow diner.

The magazine reports Fabio went over to Clooney's table to explain, but the conversation became heated, and the long-haired actor was overheard telling the Ocean's Eleven star, "I thought you were a nice guy. Stop being a diva!"

The encounter prompted angry Clooney to stand up and approach Fabio. An eyewitness tells In Touch, "The waiters broke it up before it got out of hand.

"George looked annoyed... George was drinking but he wasn't drunk."

Clooney reportedly skipped the rest of his meal, asked for his bill and left. Fabio's manager has refused to comment about the incident, but says, "George is lucky he didn't end up in the Er (emergency room)."

Fabio and Clooney weren't the only celebrities dining at the restaurant on the night of the scuffle - Dame Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci were also guests of Madeo. (c) WENN