Just a little experiment to see if I can increase my thread's popularity all by meself.
Nhdr
Nhdr
Yeah, on my end, I made a quick post this morning as a test. Now when I go to find what I wrote, I can't even scroll through all the icons to find mine. when I click >> at the right of where all the replies are listed all I get is some thread that I didn't want instead of a scroll. There's no way for me to find what I…
Seeing the commenting disabled on Jezebel yesterday gave me that sinking feeling. I've seen what has happened to Gawker comments since the switch and it's just not as intelligent or readable. I understand that the starred commenter system was a hierarchy. But starred commenters (I wasn't one of them) did actually…
One convincing refutation for the problem of evil. It's called mysticism, I just named it, but I can't explain it to you in a comment. Sorry :)
Yeah, good point. A lot of people on this site are happy to just assume that religious = asshole. I would say, that no! Humanity is a little more unpredictable and creative than that.
What I should have said is that my fear of dogmatic religious government is actually very intense. I see a dogmatic religion (in this context, as separate from government) as relatively benign and anecdotal. Can we be friends now?
I was referring to the world bank imposing free market capitalism onto developing countries under the false pretenses that that is how rich nations grew to be rich nations when instead they used high tarrifs and built up their technology. That's what I described in my initial reply and really paraphrased it to the…
The poster didn't mean that gay marriage is a problem, No H8, please, don't look for enemies!
I don't think there are religious arguments to support corn subsidies, free market capitalism or pot persecution but if you have reasons i'd definitely be interested.
I'm not quoting a source although I wouldn't be surprised that there is a mystical source for what I said. Ultra orthodox tend to be Chassidic, and if you've ever delved into Baal Shem Tov or rebbe stories in general, they are extremely superstitious, most of the superstition has to do with keeping the family safe.…
You're on to something there, I studied went to YU and took a great class with a prof. who was into the newfangled style of talmud study of looking deeply at historical/societal context. We learned that the extra 7 days was added on as a way of "keeping up with the Zoroastrians" in the Babylonian exile. The…
I listed a bunch of things there! You latched onto the one that has religious connection. I totally get your point there, but I didn't just list one thing. I listed a hell of a lot of things there, so why argue when you're addressing a fraction of what I said?
They don't believe that the soul that they bring in the world will be better off for going against the torah.
I wanted to add, that the reason the women supposedly did petition their men to increase the "clean days" was because of spotting and because some women might have a longer period... I would suggest that adding 7 clean days might have been in their interest as well in terms of giving them 7 more days where thy aren't…
I am not meaning to be argumentative, but for most charedim/ultra orthodox, they don't choose it, they're born into it and married off at 19yo. So for them to unchoose it they have to be very quick, strong and lucky. Granted, it's possible to leave (see: Deborah Feldman) but then you get attacked and risk losing your…
Ok, so the interesting thing is that the 7 clean days was supposedly due to the pushing of Jewish women during the Babylonian era, (in an attempt to match their neighbors the Zoroastrians who were far more obsessed with purity laws than the Jews had been until that time) So the problem now (as in so many problems)…
I'm in all the circles, and none of them, I'm a traveler. You will find me at cholent when it moves back to Manhattan. ETA I know that sounds a little goofy, but it's true, and it's a little sad. I had a group of like mindeds in NYC for a little while but people grew up and/or moved away.
If you google "nationalism as religion" you'll get much reading material on the subject. In any event, I agree with you, that any source of systemic oppression needs dismantling.
Nationalism can be considered a religion from a sociological perspective. I am far more troubled by the attacks against women coming from government.