Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

My daughter and I were having a conversation yesterday about life after death. (I'm not sure how we got on the subject but it had something to do with the movie we were watching: Centurion.)

It went something like this:
Assuming that there is a life after death (not something either of us believe) and your spouse dies and goes to heaven. You remarry and then you die and go to heaven and are reunited with your first spouse. What happens when your second spouse dies and goes to heaven? 

It could either be a little awkward or a celestial ménage à trois. What do you think?

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No! 

Related articles

• Is There Such a Thing as Life After Death? (time.com)

Christian School Clothing

Apparently, not just the Catholic and other parochial students get to wear Christian clothing to school. 

Kerusso makes Christian themed t-shirts, hats and accessories that any kid could wear to public school. While I could not find any specific example of a public school student being asked to remove their Kerusso t-shirt, a Kerusso press release seems to encourage confrontaion:

"Kerusso Challenges Students to Share Their Faith on Campus! ... Students have First Amendment rights on a public school campus that cannot be denied without reason. Among their rights regarding religion on campus is the free distribution of Christian literature when class is not in session. In addition, students have the freedom to communicate Christian messages through apparel and/or school supplies and the freedom of voicing to others their beliefs as long as it does not interfere with class time. ... "

I certainly wouldn't expect a school to arbitrarily ask a student to remove a Christian themed t-shirt any more than I would an atheist themed t-shirt. However, many schools have policies prohibiting sayings on t-shirts. I think I see an issue coming.

The company markets primarily to teens and their designs are pretty cool. However, I am a little confused about the marketing of this item to teens:

3 Blade Pocket Knife # KNIF102
This high-quality Pocket Knife is a gift that he will treasure and use for years to come.

Kerusso claims that it is a secular company and that it's employees so not have to believe in Christ. However, it should be noted that "kerusso" is the Greek word for "preach."

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Christmas Miracles

Just in time for the holidays we have some "genuine" Christmas miracles.

Our first miracle comes from Decatur, AL:

Family bible remains unharmed in Decatur church fire

DECATUR, AL (WAFF) - An equipment failure is suspected in a church fire in Decatur but investigators are working to pinpoint the exact cause.

Fire investigators said the fire at the Fairview Baptist Church appears to have started in a mechanical room on the third floor.

Insurance agents spent the morning Friday looking over the fire scene which destroyed the sanctuary on Decatur's Magnolia Street.

The Church Pastor said a large family Bible placed on a communion table survived Wednesday's fire.

In fact, the Bible was found still opened to Luke Chapter 2 and the story of Jesus' birth.

The congregation at Fairview will hold their services Sunday afternoon at Faith Baptist Church on Beltline Road at 1:30 p.m.

Church leaders hope to be able to clean up the church's fellowship hall enough to be able to begin holding services there by Christmas weekend.

©2010 WAFF. All rights reserved.

Then we have the miracle from Toledo, OH:

Toledo man sees Christ, Virgin Mary in Christmas candy

TOLEDO, Ohio (WUPW) - It seems to happen every few months: someone sees an image of Christ -- in everything from French toast to a grilled-cheese sandwich.

Now just a few days before Christmas, a West Toledo semi-retired man thinks he's found the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus in a piece of hard holiday candy.

The piece of hard tack nearly gave James Burrows a heart attack. The 63-year old immediately saw the image of Christ in the Christmas candy, along with the Virgin Mary.

"I looked at it and it just struck me," Burrows said. "This time of year. for this to come up-- it was just kind of unusual, really: a great experience."

Burrows found the sweet scene while buying a container of candy at Fresh Market, where he also works part-time. He advised skeptics take another look at the Christ candy next to a more traditional image of the pair and let their imagination go.

So how sure is he of the resemblance?

"I'd say somewhere between 80- to 85-percent," he estimated. "I've showed it to several people even without the postage stamps to compare it to and they couldn't believe the similarity. It's uncanny."

So is Burrows worried about criticism from skeptics who don't see baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary the way he does?

"No, not at all, not at all. It's a piece of candy," he said with a grin. "If you see beauty in something, then you should enjoy it - and if you can't, you should move on."

The Vietnam vet isn't sure what to do with the Christ candy, but said he'll listen to offers. If Burrows does sell it, he wants to donate the proceeds to veteran's charities and his church.

After all, as Burrows points out, He is the reason for the season.

There are pictures at Fox Toledo's web site but I'm just not seeing it.

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Go Irish!

Image via Wikipedia

Not the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame but the Irish themselves.

Wikileak cables show Ireland irked Vatican on sovereignty. Apparently, the Vatican was dissed by Ireland over their investigation of church sex abuse.

FRANCES D'EMILIO

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Newly released U.S. diplomatic cables indicate that the Vatican felt "offended" that Ireland failed to respect Holy See "sovereignty" by asking high-ranking churchmen to answer questions from an Irish commission probing decades of sex abuse of minors by clergy.
That the Holy See used its diplomatic-immunity status as a tiny city-state to try to thwart the Irish fact-finding probe has long been known. But the WikiLeaks cables, published by Britain's The Guardian newspaper on Saturday, contain delicate, behind-the-scenes diplomatic assessments of the highly charged situation.

Read the entire article here:
http://m.apnews.mobi/ap/db_36972/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=SLN2Z0n8

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Sarah Palin: International Embarassment

Image via Wikipedia

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey writes in Pravda:

“By attacking the democratically elected President of the United States of America at a sensitive time in her country’s history, she shows the tact of a boorish drunkard bawling obscenities at a funeral….

And now she turns not only against the fibre and backbone of her country, but against its democratically elected President, accusing him of being incompetent for not stopping Wikileaks. Where was she and where was her GOP before and during the 9/11 attacks? She accuses President Obama of not taking “steps” to assure the leaks were not published. What “steps”?……

If anything is a threat to the national security of the United States of America, it is this screaming, unrefined oaf with as much class as a searing release of flatulence followed by hysterical giggling at a state banquet. Is this what the people of the USA deserve?

To attack the President of the country at a time when the USA needs to close ranks and stand together to consolidate the enormous strides his (President Obama’s) intelligent and respectful approach has achieved in building bridges, when her party’s period in government bombed them, Spankin’ Sarah Palin comes across as a pitifully inadequate anachronism from the times of the Far West.”

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!

Related articles

• Sarah Palin is So Stupid! (socyberty.com)
• Sarah Palin 'Target WikiLeaks Like Taliban' (news.slashdot.org)
• Sarah Palin's Ratings Rise (perezhilton.com)

Religion or Culture?

“All progressive schools worth their label will, these days, boast of their efforts to teach children about each other's 'cultures'. In fact, they lie. What they are teaching is each other's religions. If they really meant culture, it would involve song, dance, art, literature, dress, drink and food; all we actually get, in most cases, are religious festivals.”

Carol Sarler 

Another Fine Post from: No 2 Religion - Just Say No!