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Archive for May 15th, 2011

From God’s lips to a child’s ear?

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

[ by Charles Cameron — religion, Taliban, suicide bombers, child soldiers ]

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It’s already a problem that the sacred texts of the world’s religions so frequently include passages that can be used to confer divine sanction on acts of needless, appalling violence – but apparently there’s no depth to which the interpretations offered by religious authorities cannot descend…

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Does anyone truly think “all the people around us would die, but we would stay alive” is what God intended to whisper in that nine-year-old child’s ear?

Luke 11.11: If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?

Duelling buses

Sunday, May 15th, 2011

[ by Charles Cameron — a contribution to media studies ]

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Feeling more than usually (ir)religious?  Wanna have an argument?

Advertise on (or in) a bus!

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That’s how the British do it.

American humanists weren’t far behind their British cousins, either…

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The bus proclaiming the late Lubavitcher rebbe as King Moshiach goes with the motto: “Just add in goodness and kindness” — not so far from the humanists’ “just be good for goodness’ sake”…

Ah, but what of Islam?

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This business of religious argument appears to be a never-ending story…

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Those buses will catch you coming or going, inside or out…

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But you know, from a theological point of view, I think I’ll let the Metro bus company in that second Judgment Day image have the final word, commenting on the advertisement’s proclamation of May 21st — less than a week away as we speak — with its own small midrash in lights:

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