Why not just blind them?

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:29
From BBC News:
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear [...]

Cruising

It’s tough being young and repressed. A NYT article talks about the lengths young men in sex-segragated Saudi Arabia will go to meet young women. One of the most popular ways is “numbering,” trying to exchange phone numbers with women they pass in cars.
A phone number written out on a piece of cardboard [...]

One room, non-smoking, ocean view

Want a luxurious afterlife without the pesky details of good works and attending services**? Nate Davis and Edgar Kim can hook you up. One visit to Reserve A Spot In Heaven and $15.95 (plus $2 shipping) will get you instant access to paradise. To make the process even easier for you, they [...]

The Life of the Buddha

The 50 minute documentary. Everything you ever wanted to know.

Going the extra miles

I have Muslim friends who, five times a day, practice the commandment to “Turn then thy face towards the Sacred Mosque: wherever ye are, turn your faces towards it …. ” (The Quran, Al-Baqarah, 2:149) when they pray. Now, during the holy month of Ramadan, it’s more important than ever.
But what would they do [...]

It’s all a (Protestant?) plot

The Catholic Church considers the use of any birth control, including condoms, to be a sin, whether to prevent pregnancy or a deadly disease. But that wasn’t enough for an archbishop from Mozambique. When threat of Hell doesn’t work, go with the conspiracy theory.
From the BBC:
Archbishop (Francisco) Chimoio told our reporter that abstention, [...]

African crucible

Msaba Zungu and Thabitha Thusi were tortured to death in South African Sunday, doused with gasoline and set ablaze. Their crime? Witchcraft.
From BBC News:
Police captain Jabulani Mdletshe told the BBC News website: “On 17 August, the students at the mixed high school began to cry randomly and they did not know why.
“The students [...]

Not the GOP’s Southern Baptists

From the Washington Post:
Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort to forge dozens of small and medium-size, black and white Baptist organizations into a robust coalition that would serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention.
The giant SBC, with more than 16 million members, has long dominated the political, [...]

You’d better not pout, you’d better not cry

From the Scotsman:
Pat Robertson, an American Conservative Christian broadcaster says God told him a terrorist attack will result in “mass killing” in the United States in the second half of 2007.
“I’m not saying necessarily nuclear, the Lord didn’t say nuclear,” Mr Robertson said on his television show The 700 Club. “It’ll be mass killing, possibly [...]

Why didn’t I think of that?

North Carolina congressman Robin Hayes has the answer to the Iraq quagmire. Just convert ‘em.
From the Charlotte Observer:
A weekly newspaper in Concord, Hayes’ hometown, quoted the congressman this week as saying that stability in Iraq ultimately depends on “spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men.” [...]

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