Dear Switzerland

So, for those of you who haven't heard, Switzerland passed a ban on minarets today. Minarets are the towers attached to mosques used to call Muslims to prayer. Oddly enough, these four (yes, four in the whole country) minarets aren't even used for calling people, but for decoration and tradition. There are about 400,000 Muslims in the country, 90% of which are from Turkey or Kosovo - aka they are very liberal on their dress code and do not really wear Muslim specific clothing.

So Switzerland, I have one question for you - why you such a bigot? Why you gotta be a jerk? No real good reason? Oh. Well, you make me sad either way.

New News

Wow, there is a lot going on in the world right now.

The Iranians have accepted Ahmadinejad's nomination for health minister, Ms. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi. Yes, the man nominated Iran's first female minister. Two others were nominated, but turned down. Could it have something to do with trying to please the feminists that came to the forefront of the movement this past summer? Probably.

A young Muslim teen ran away from her home in Ohio to a pastor in Florida after converting to Christianity. The seventeen year old girl feared for her life after her father vowed to kill her because of her conversion. The man denies really being that upset over her change in faith, though he would rather that she practice Islam.

In Britain, two boys (ten and eleven) lured two other boys (nine and ten) to a ravine and began to beat them to the extent that they would've been charged with attempted murder. The charges were dropped, but should they have been?:

The older boy had a sink dropped on his head, one had a noose put around his head and one was burned with a cigarette on his eyelids and ear.

The younger boy had a sharp stick rammed into his arm and cigarettes pushed into the wound.

He also tried to ram a stick down his own throat after he was told to "go away and kill himself" by one of his attackers.

The pair, who were both seriously injured, had bricks thrown at them and were repeatedly stamped on.

The nine-year-old managed to stagger to a nearby house to raise the alarm, covered in blood from wounds to his head and arm.

The 11-year-old boy was later discovered unconscious in the nearby wood.

The brothers have each pleaded guilty to robbing one of the boys of a mobile phone and the other of cash.

They also admitted two counts of intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

The brothers were later charged with attempted grievous bodily harm with intent and making a threat to kill in connection with a separate attack on another 11-year-old boy in Doncaster a week earlier.

Also, where are the parents in all of this?

Ninety-two year old Rochus Misch is the last living person from the Hitler bunker. He was present not too far from the room in which Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. It's an interesting story for sure.

You ever thought your soda tasted funky? I bet you never had anything like this.

Also, if you haven't seen the people of Walmart website, it's been in the news a lot lately in addition to being hilarious.

Forget About Feminism

Some Muslims are moving way past equal rights. There are a handful of Islamic punk bands popping up around the United States. Their music is charged with current events and politics.

This is awesome.

(Also, this is the 250th post!)

Religious Intolerance and Other Nonsense

This article I felt wasn't terrible. When I started scouring the comments, I was very insulted that all these people could be so judgmental of something they hadn't (obviously) really studied. People even went so far as to critique the author for having the name 'Melody' instead of a more 'Islamic' sounding name. Really? Wow.

These people don't really understand the burqa and it's origins either. Ugh. At least there is some intelligent conversation there.

Oh, and BYU students can watch the YouTubes now. Maybe now they can see a little more about what's going on in Iran.

Happy 200th Post!

Obama is set to give a speech in Egypt on Thursday. It should be an interesting show, since he is thought to be focusing more on the Israel/Palestine crisis than addressing the Muslim world.

The president will be walking a fine line between reassuring Israel that America will remain a guarantor of Israeli security and between sounding a warning that he is getting impatient with the slow movement toward Palestinian statehood.

Also, if this is really the deadliest battle between Palestinian Authority forces and Hamas in two years, that's really not that bad.

Religious Education

What do you think of when you see that headline? Do you think about going to a Catholic high school? What about a Muslim elementary school?

I think of learning about and coming to an understanding of the different religions around the world, from the past and the present. In short, the following story is a great example of what I think of.

Boys in grades 6-8 from Trinity Presbyterian Church and Townsend Street School are learning about the different monotheistic traditions that they may come in contact with in order to eliminate stereotypes, fears, and intolerance. Mark Bedford, the minister who began the program, is considering expanding it to include Hindus and Buddhists as well.

Basically, representatives from the different religions come and speak with the children and answer their questions. One of my favorite people, imam Ziad Hamdan from the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, is also taking part in the program.

This is an amazing program and I wish that more people had access to this opportunity. Eliminating stereotypes and other biases against religions early on will have a far better effect than the same programs later on, but it is important for people of all ages to learn about their misconceptions of others.

I hope this program expands exponentially.

Weird News Of The Day

I'm a religious studies and history double major. I can understand how Islamic law dictates that a man may have more than one wife and up to four as long as he can treat them all fairly. I also know the history behind that reasoning and that the Qur'an later says it is impossible to treat more than one wife fairly. But having 86 wives?! That's a little extreme. Especially when you note that he reportedly has cured all the sick in his large family, with the exception of two of his children. His children, I might add, number somewhere in the 170s. Oh, and nobody works in that family either, so it's a mystery how they make money and survive.

And what does SpongeBob have to do with Gitmo? Well, a NY man is using him as a poster boy (sponge?) for water boarding. He's created a ride that shows people what water boarding is like - but don't worry, you won't get harmed in the ride. The victim isn't living, nor is it SpongeBob, but instead a robot. It is supposed to help us all learn about why human rights groups see this method of 'interrogation' as torture.

In other funky news, people who love Bollywood movies will be excited (maybe?) to know that Snoop Dogg is going to be in Akshay Kumar's latest film singing/rapping a mixture of Hindi, Punjabi, and English. Apparently Kumar approached Snoop. I guess the song has already been released and is topping the Indian charts. For the video, go here. The song is kinda catchy, even if it's a weird mix.

Oh, and for everyone that was worried that Morgan Freeman (who is doing well btw) was getting divorced because of the lady in the car accident with him, you can chill. He and his wife have been separated since December '07. And did anyone else know he used to be a mechanic in the Air Force?

What is the World Coming to?

It seems like all we're hearing about lately, with exception of the occasional heroism, is bad news.
Gas keeps going up. The national average has gone up more than thirty cents in the past month, and yet many companies including ExxonMobil are reporting record profits. This company in particular has also refused to explore alternative fuels, which is getting them sued by late founder John D. Rockefeller's heirs. Hopefully some good comes of it. Because of gas though, many people are trying to sell family heirlooms that are priceless to these families, but aren't fetching high prices online. We all need the extra money for gas. Whenever most people get their stimulus check, it should be a little better, but in the meantime, our economy sucks.

And then there's the Syncrude Canada Ltd. company, whose dumping of toxic waste is killing off poor duckies. Not only was it caused by the company dumping toxic waste into the pond nearby and not attempting to keep ducks away from it, but the company didn't report it at all. Only five out of 500 of the ducks survived, when normally only about two dozen die.

There have been like 344 earthquakes in Reno in the past WEEK?!?!? Most of them are small aftershocks, but the most recent quake was a 4.7, which wasn't strong enough to demolish houses, but definitely enough to shake everything up a lot. Store owners had to clean up hundreds of bottles of wine and other groceries.

And apparently Japan has one of the highest suicide rates? I guess there has been a surge in suicide websites, with people posting - similar to craigslist personals - "Let's die together," "Anyone else ready to die?" and the ever so popular "Email me if serious." The latest craze is to mix laundry detergent and cleaning solutions, creating hydrogen sulfide gas. Being a former chem major, I can tell you first hand that this stuff smells about ten times worse than running over a skunk. Why in the world anyone would want to smell that during their last precious moments on Earth, even if they are trying to kill themselves, is completely beyond me. On top of that, many of these people live in apartment buildings. These people want to die 'honorably' but they're taking out their neighbors too, or at least causing terrible brain damage due to suffocation and the chemicals themselves. Seriously, there are much better and 'honorable' ways to get rid of yourself, so maybe invest in those? Kthxbai.

Josef Fritzl just scares the crap out of me. How can someone keep their own daughter locked in the cellar and rape her repeatedly for 24 years and father seven children with her? And how in the hell did the mother NOT know this was going on? What, she didn't go down in to the cellar for 24 years? Are you shitting me? I don't go into my basement all that much, but seriously, 24 years? I'd want to know what was down there, especially since it seems like he spent most of his time down there anyhow. I don't care if my husband told me I wasn't allowed to go down there. Actually, that would probably make me want to look more. And she just believed that her crazy 'deadbeat' daughter would come back and drop these three kids on their doorstep? And none of them knew where their family was? I'm thinking that there's more to be said about this family than meets the eye. I think it's interesting to note though that one of the children died - probably because s/he needed medical attention - but when 19 year old Kerstin starts having convulsions, Fritzl decides she should go to the hospital.

Seriously, what is the world coming to? Is the capitalist mindset so embedded into our souls that we can't even be human anymore? Do we even remember how to help people out? I know I'm a liberal free-spirited hippie chick, but really people, get on the ball.

If you're Buddhist, there are a myriad of great quotes from all of the wonderful teachers we've had in the past, especially Siddartha Gautama: "The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.” Don't we all know that we must help others? "Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.” "Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.” We have been charged to help others, and it happened around 2500 years ago. This is not a new concept at all.

I don't believe in God, but if you do, you should probably pay more attention to this section.

I apologize if you're Jewish, because I haven't studied the Torah or the Tanakh very closely, so I hope you don't feel too left out.

If you're Christian, you know about Jesus and all the things that he said to do, like "love thy neighbor" and "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.” Oh and surely every kid who went to Kindergarten knows the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

If you're Muslim, you know about similar quotes from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Not only do you agree with most of Jesus' sayings, but you have some parallel sayings of your own: "Do not say, that if the people do good to us, we will do good to them; and if the people oppress us, we will oppress them; but determine that if people do you good, you will do good to them; and if they oppress you, you will not oppress them," and one of my favorites to compare, "Do you love your creator? Love your fellow-beings first.” Or one especially nice for today's world to see - "Especially if you are well-to-do, see that no one goes hungry or naked.” And just one more for good measure: "Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.”

So why not live like the good [insert your religion here] and help other people out? A smile counts, because that becomes infectious.