* Obama’s mention of “non-believers” draws wide discussion, including Steve Chapman (who also lets Rick Warren have it), Katherine Mangu-Ward, and a New York Times blog thread with 275 comments;
* The right to criticize religion: “Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders will face prosecution for anti-Islam film and comments” [Western Standard, Canada]
* Unclear on the concept? “She wasn’t driving like a Christian,” says driver who rammed car at high speed [San Antonio Express-News via Lowering the Bar]
* Making the rounds: “In the mind of the anti-free-marketeer, the government occupies the same kind of intellectual territory as the divine designer in the mind of an anti-Darwinian.” – Brian Micklethwait, Samizdata
* Not entirely clear what system of religious belief is going on here, but it doesn’t sound sweetly harmonious: “Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child ‘witches’.” [BBC]
* The right to criticize religion: “Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders will face prosecution for anti-Islam film and comments” [Western Standard, Canada]
This is sad, but predictable. When the Europeans decided (for good reasons or not) that it was acceptable to limit certain kinds of speech, this result would surely come.
* Making the rounds: “In the mind of the anti-free-marketeer, the government occupies the same kind of intellectual territory as the divine designer in the mind of an anti-Darwinian.” – Brian Micklethwait, Samizdata
Well, this is just stupid on many levels.
That’s a pity about Wilders. But the Dutch, like the French, appear to be terrified of their Muslim populations, and I suppose feel that placating them is the only course open to them.
Not entirely clear what system of religious belief is going on here, but it doesn’t sound sweetly harmonious: “Police in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child ‘witches’.”
An African mutation of evangelical Christianity.
“An African mutation of evangelical Christianity.”
Depends on what you mean by “mutation.” Given the comand not to suffer a witch to live, it sounds to me that they are just following their bibles in a way the West doesn’t. Anymore, at least.
Depends on what you mean by “mutation.”
A deviation from what they’ve received from European and American missionaries.
“A deviation from what they’ve received from European and American missionaries.”
Fair enough. They probably believe that they are practicing the true faith; that the European and American missionaries are unwilling to do the work of witch-killing that God clearly commands.
Christianity has often deviated when introduced to new regions. Off-hand the Japanese Christians went into a millenarian not intended by their RC missionaries, for example. That wound up getting them into hot water with the daimyos.