Why, when a person who has X and Y chromosomes self-identifies as a woman, do we take him seriously in spite of the simpler explanation that he is self-deluding not self-identifying, yet, when a terrorist self-identifies as a Muslim, we insist that he is self-deluding not self-identifying, in spite of the simpler explanation that Islam is a fecund breeding ground for terrorists?
What are “spiritual animators”, you may be wondering: Cartooning nuns? Creators of pious zombies? Bishops attempting to resuscitate the Anglican Church of Canada? None of the aforementioned; they are what you are left with when you eradicate Christianity from the schools.
Read it all here:
Catholic and Protestant instruction was removed from Quebec schools more than 15 years ago but nuns and priests are now replaced by “spiritual community animators,” some of whom lead students in meditation and rhythmic breathing sessions.
[….]
QUEBEC “SPIRITUAL LIFE” GUIDELINES (SELECTED)
– To find one’s inner source, the thirst for life
– Situate one’s life in relation to time, space and the absolute
– Become familiar with interiority, silence and meditation
– To be aware of one’s inner life, one’s spiritual dimension– Seek the meaning of life through others … “through nature, science, etc.”
QUEBEC RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY GUILDELINES
– Spiritual animators “serve as a defence against indoctrination and fundamentalist thinking”
– Religious activities are “not organized very often” and only in “exceptional” circumstances”
– Must have “educational usefulness”
– Religious activities can’t “impose ideas and practices” on students
– Can’t present a belief as “superior to another or necessary for self-fulfilment”
– Cannot be a “structured program whose specific goal is to develop a faith”
The deliberate expunging of Christianity from public life in the US has reached the point where the mere presence of Christian pastors in a school is regarded as “pretty dangerous”. I am quite sure that if Richard Dawkins showed up “just there to be there” he would have been welcomed with open arms, in spite of the fact that he doesn’t appear anywhere without intending to proselytise his disbelief in anything that might help people lead decent lives.
When we were in our former location, St. Hilda’s youth pastor used to visit the local high school to chat with the students; the staff were happy to have him there. Canada, it seems, hasn’t yet reached the level of anti-Christian bigotry prevalent in the US.
From here:
Three volunteer Christian youth pastors have been temporarily banned from a Washington state middle school after parents heard from students that the three were proselytizing during lunch.
KIROTV.com reports the Bainbridge Island School District has hired an outside contractor to conduct a “fact-finding” mission into the allegations concerning the three volunteer cafeteria supervisors.
“We can’t ignore this. There are just too many serious issues to consider here,” board president Mike Spence told KomoNews.com. “That’s pretty dangerous. It’s a pretty slippery slope I guess I would say.”
Meanwhile, one of the volunteers denied the allegations.
“The only time church may have come in is when they say, ‘What do you do?’ my response is, ‘I’m a youth pastor.’ Even sometimes say I’m a leader because most of the kids don’t know what a youth pastor is,” said Danny Smith.
“I don’t wanna defend myself, I want to defend my motives. It’s not about me, it’s about why I’m there. It’s not for evangelizing and it’s not for proselytizing or recruiting, but it’s just there to be there.”
From here:
H&M stores across Canada have pulled faux feather headdresses from their shelves after receiving complaints the items are offensive to aboriginals.
Bishops have put in a bid for the entire stock to wear in their mitres at the next Anglican Church of Canada smudging ceremony.
From here:
A construction crew working on the campus of Ohio’s Sinclair Community College was forced to halt work until it removed a “Men Working” sign that was deemed “sexist” by a college administrator. A spokesman for the college told National Review Online that the incident, which occurred on November 21, stemmed from the school’s “deep commitment to diversity,” and that it takes that commitment “very seriously.”
In the wake of the incident, the school acknowledged its request may have been over the top, but stood by its commitment to diversity, saying in a statement that, “while it may not have been necessary to suggest that work be stopped, Sinclair stands by its commitment to providing an environment that is inclusive and non-discriminatory.”
The men had to stop work until the offending sign was removed.
Does that mean that, unlike the more snobbish women bishops-manqué in the Church of England, the educated ladies of Ohio’s Sinclair Community College are determined to see women breaking through the hard-hat barrier in order to fulfil their destiny as menial construction workers? Probably not.
To make everyone feel better about this, I would like to emphasise that no profiling whatsoever – racial, religious, or otherwise – was performed by the airport Stasi in their efforts to purge dangerous Grandmas, 4 year olds and teddy bears from our fragile skies.
As an aside, when I flew to Athens last year, while I was being probed by prurient gloved hands as I struggled to hold my beltless pants up, a 350lb Muslim lass, swathed from head to foot, waddled past me untouched to plant herself resolutely in two seats in the centre of the plane. I’m convinced there was at least one stowaway under her burka.
My two young children, aged four and six, were particularly excited their Grandmother was catching the same flight out of Wichita. Since she lives in California, and we live in Montana, they’ve never had a chance to fly with her. Tired and eager to return home, we began passing through security. My children and I went through without an incident. My Mother, however, had triggered the alarm. She was asked to go through the scanners again, and when the source of the alarm could not be identified she was told to sit aside and await a pat-down. All of this was perfectly routine.
When my Four-year-old daughter noticed her Grandmother, she excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do. They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds. The Transportation Security Officers (TSO) who were present responded to this very simple action in the worst way imaginable.
First, a TSO began yelling at my child, and demanded she too must sit down and await a full body pat-down. I was prevented from coming any closer, explaining the situation to her, or consoling her in any way. My daughter, who was dressed in tight leggings, a short sleeve shirt and mary jane shoes, had no pockets, no jacket and nothing in her hands. The TSO refused to let my daughter pass through the scanners once more, to see if she too would set off the alarm. It was implied, several times, that my Mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter.
My child, who was obviously terrified, had no idea what was going on, and the TSOs involved still made no attempt to explain it to her. When they spoke to her, it was devoid of any sort of compassion, kindness or respect. They told her she had to come to them, alone, and spread her arms and legs. She screamed, “No! I don’t want to!” then did what any frightened young child might, she ran the opposite direction.
That is when a TSO told me they would shut down the entire airport, cancel all flights, if my daughter was not restrained. It was then they declared my daughter a “high-security-threat”.
From here:
A photo of a Muslim woman wearing full Islamic dress and holding up a bra as she sorts laundry is stirring controversy in Kamloops, B.C., and the Saudi Arabian Embassy is now involved.
The photo, taken by Thompson Rivers University fine arts student Sooraya Graham, features one of Graham’s friends wearing a niqab, a veil covering the face, and an abaya, a full-body cloak.
The picture was a class assignment and was originally displayed with other student photos in mid-March, until some students complained and a staff member tore it down a week later.
[….]
But the Saudi Education Centre in Kamloops, which is funded by the Saudi Arabian government and provides support to Saudi students and their families, is taking issue with the photo.
“The artist didn’t approach the artwork let’s say in a very professional way that can state and can clarify the information and clarify the idea behind the picture,” said centre president Trad Bahabri.
It goes without saying that anything that upsets the Saudi embassy must have something good about it. The photographer wants us to interpret the photograph for ourselves, so here goes: judging by the bemused way the young lady is staring at the bra, it is apparent that she has never seen one before and doesn’t know what to do with it. In the same way a Scotsmen wearing a kilt stares at underpants.
From here:
Alaska Airlines is ending a decades-long tradition of handing out prayer cards with their in-flight meals because an increasing number of passengers were offended by them.
Offended because the inflight meals were so bad that one had to pray in order to digest them? Offended by the implication that the aeroplane needed prayer in order to land safely?
Of course not: offended because the cards contained a Christian message, Christianity makes some exclusive claims on truth and, today, there is nothing quite so offensive as announcing that everyone can’t be right.
It seems that in the UK even pumpkins have to be treated with the respect they deserve. You can read all about this latest troubling outbreak of pumpkinophobia here:
A Baptist mayor who refused to judge a pumpkin-carving competition because it ‘glorified Satan’s angels’ has been found guilty of breaching equality rules.
Tom Wilson and his councillor wife Sonja turned down an invitation to judge the event in Nuneaton, Warwickshire because of their religious beliefs.
Councillor Wilson, who stepped down as mayor last May, said at the time that he did not think young people should take part in Halloween because it glamourises evil.
[….]
His comments sparked outrage from pagan groups who complained to the council that his comments were ‘inaccurate and likely to cause distress.’
Now, Cllr Wilson, who is in his 60s, has been found guilty of three breaches of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council’s conduct for members.
From here:
Kids at a school in Traverse, Mich., are once again singing “Don we now our gay apparel” after a teacher made national headlines trying to take the line out of the traditional Christmas carol “Deck the Halls.”
Students at Cherry Knoll couldn’t make it through the line without giggling, the teacher said, so she substituted the word “bright” for “gay.”
“There had been students that had been snickering at the lyrics in ‘Deck the Halls’ and she had attempted to get them back on track quite a few times,” Principal Chris Parker told UpNorthLive.
This is interesting from at least two perspectives. First, it goes to show that hijacking a word that belongs to someone else can backfire and second, no matter how much you invest in social engineering, homosexuality will still be seen as an aberration whose mechanics are intrinsically comical. Except in the Anglican Church of Canada, of course, where homosexuality is the norm, heterosexuality the aberration and the church itself the archetype of high farce.
