My!

So much to comment on, but as other bloggers have beaten me to the punch, I will keep the editorial short.

Lashing someone not of your religion for allowing your children (presumably of your religion) to violate a religious law by committing the sin of idolatry (naming a teddy bear Muhammad)? Verdict: Bad! Continue to make the rest of the world think you are a bunch of murdering, teacher beating fruitcakes! Hire a PR person!
Can you imagine that interview?

Allah: So, what would you say to the press if one of my worshippers walked into a day care center and blew up thirty children and five teachers because they were infidels?

PR Person: Hm…well, I think we’d have to say that we took a proactive step to remove a threat to our organization, wouldn’t you?

Allah: Hey, that’s kind of catchy! I think I like that a lot better than the other guy’s answer…all he could come up with was “They were Jews or Jesus worshippers, right?” You’ve got the job! Now….here’s your pitchfork and your forked tail. The cloven feet are on backorder, and should be here in about six weeks.

Just Daft.

I love religion, I really do. It used to represent the way to maintain social and moral order (desert law, the Catholic empire, etc)…and as other religions have kind of moved past their barbaric roots, more insular religions seem to stay put. And it’s an interesting way to study what values people have had throughout history. Example: an eye for an eye. Today, if you rob my house, and I go rob yours…we both go to jail. We aren’t smitten dead, nor do your inactions cancel mine. We have this little thing called law…that moderates our behavior, and those laws are based on social mores and a sense of one’s inalienable rights. An eye for an eye…to me, speaks of desert law, at a time when there was no one governing body and it was each man (or woman) for himself. The Old Testament (to me) reads like a survival manual: Chapter Six: How to survive a Great Flood, Chapter Five: How to survive a Plague of Locusts.

Anyhow, rambling, but ALL ABOUT CONTEXT.

Allah doesn’t give a fiddlers duck that a bunch of kids named a bear in his honor. In fact, he’s probably flattered.