?

This is one of mine - The pirate's gospel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDb7jVpe_tk

A few months ago, there was a proposed law in Afghanistan for the Shia minority that would have forced Afghani women to have sex with their husbands.

Not only did the law pass, but Human Rights Watch discovered that a revised version of the Shiite Personal Status Law had been quietly put into effect at the end of July — meaning that Shiite men in Afghanistan now have the legal right to starve their wives if their sexual demands are not met and that Shiite women must obtain permission from their husbands to even leave their houses, “except in extreme circumstances.”

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/14/afghanistan-...

Religion can be the justification of the unjustifiable.

and then dismissed as there is no evidence to back it up?

7-YEAR-OLD BOY STARTS CAR CHASE TO AVOID CHURCH

A 7-year-old boy in Utah was so desperate to avoid church that he ended up leading police officers on a car chase after driving off in his father’s car.Police dispatchers received reports of a child driving recklessly in a Dodge Intrepid on Sunday morning, with one witness saying the boy had driven through a stop sign.

Anderson says two deputies caught up with the boy and tried unsuccessfully to stop the vehicle, in Plain City, to the north of Salt Lake City. The car reached speeds of 40 mph before the boy stopped in a driveway and ran inside a home.

A police spokesman said that when the boy’s father later confronted him, the kid’s explanation said he didn’t want to go to church. As the child is too young to prosecute no further action was taken – although police did urge the father to make his car keys more inaccessible to children.

http://derrenbrownart.com/blog/2009/07/7yearold-bo...

A bishop has advised that holy water be removed from churches in a bid to halt the spread of swine flu.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Right Reverend John Gladwin, said at some churches people were invited make a sign of the cross using holy water.

“The water in stoups can easily become a source of infection and a means of rapidly spreading the virus,” he said.

The Bishop also issued advice about taking holy communion warning if anyone had flu-like symptoms not to “drink wine from the chalice”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8151427.s...

A piece falls off a boat and floats downstream. The boat owner replaces the bit that falls off with a new bit. Its an old boat and another bit falls off and floats down stream, which he replaces. This keeps on happening until all of the boat has been replaced.

Meanwhile down the river, someone has been finding these bits and collected them all. He has built his own boat out of all the original bits.

Which one is the original boat? Why? If it changed, when?

Numbers 31:2

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites"

After his soldiers had killed all of the men among the Midianites, Moses ordered his army officers to kill all of the male children, kill all of the nonvirgin females but to save alive all of the virgin girls for his troops.

Numbers 31:15-18

And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

- born of a virgin

- born on December 25th

- died for man’s sins, but came back to life on the following Sunday

- had twelve disciples, with whom they shared a last meal

- called The Light of the World

- born (in some accounts) in a manger, attended by shepherds

- had devotees who symbolically consumed his flesh and blood

- a saviour, through whom it was possible for mortals to be reborn into immortal life.

- followers gave each other gifts on December 25th.

- the leader of the religion was called a “papa,” or pope; his headquarters on Vatican Hill in Rome.

There are a number of parasites that cause creatures to ‘commit suicide‘.

Dicrocoelium dendriticum for example lives in a grazing animals digestive system. When its eggs exit they are picked up by snails, who protect themselves by coating the eggs with mucus. When they exit the snail, the mucus makes them irresistible to ants, who ingest them. The following day the ants head off to work, but in the evening when it gets cooler the infected ants don't go back to the colony as the parasite has taken control of it, they now climb as high as they can get on a blade of grass and then clamp their mandibles permanently to the top of the grass. They have lost their 'minds' by now and will end their lives in this position waiting to be eaten by a cow or other grazing animal.

If God created all living things, why would he create a creature that causes suicide in others or painful deaths?

In the future we may be able to create artificial intelligence on a computer that thinks it is real and inhabits a real world, even a real universe. It would believe "I think, therefore I am", it would also believe its body is solid, etc.

If we can do this then so can God. We could just be in God imagination as it serves no purpose for us to real - as God is all knowing and all powerful of course. So are we just a thought in the mind of God, or are we solid?

Is there a 'rational' answer as to why God created Neanderthals? They were very similar in appearance to man and formed an intelligent, tool using society; so why did God create them before man? Did he make a test run or a mistake or for some other reason?

This is supposed to be a serious question as I have wondered about how it can be justified. Best answer goes to best justification.

We are all related somewhere down the line so are we all one family?

You could say that a churches business is to convert more people so they receive more money - a percentage of which will go to the clergy as a wage, their housing and other 'expenses' as well as marketing/advertising the business. Many religious groups have a large portfolio of investments ranging from property and art to stocks and shares.

If the directors etc of a 'charity' are taking a large paycheck and other benefits such as being able to live in opulence, should this void the charitable status as they are funding their own lifestyle through donations?

Would you think they were:

A) Well informed

B) Delusional

C) Ignorant

D) Stupid

E) A product of their upbringing

Can you justify your choice?