The week in fundie . . .
- A court in Cairo has rejected the request of a Christian convert from Islam to have his new religion printed on his ID card. Why? Because “Monotheistic religions were sent by God in chronological order… As a result, it is unusual to go from the latest religion to the one that preceded it.” Without an ID card, you can’t get a job, buy property, open a bank account or send your kids to school in Egypt. Isn’t theocracy wonderful? (Independent Online)
- Speaking of the profound good that can only come from mixing religion and politics, women in Gaza feel under increasing pressure to cover their heads, according to a UN report. Over the wall in Israel, women are not allowed to serve as religious court judges (yes, they have religious courts there), conversion to Judaism is only recognisable by Orthodox rabbis, and if you have no official religion you can be deemed to be “unmarriageable.” (Haaretz)
- Even fundies recognise that “American Judeo-Christian values are not the equivalent of Western values.” As Ronald R. Cherry tells it, “Judaism and Christianity are religions born in the ancient Middle East, and both are rooted in Biblical text and faith. Western values were born primarily in ancient Greece and Rome, and are rooted in reason.” Amen, brother! (Renew America)
- The Archbishop of Canterbury wants to ban Five Public Opinions. (Times Online)
- The A-Word: verboten in Hollywood? (Talk To Action)
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Here’s something you may find interesting, found on Crooked Timber.
A researcher used people’s self-reports of their favourite books (on Facebook), and correlated these with SAT scores.
There are a few surprising results, but people who picked The Bible as their favourite tended to finish pretty low on the SAT scale:
http://booksthatmakeyoudumb.virgil.gr/
Those who favourited the Book of Mormon scored higher than those who picked the Bible!