OVO

Tom Breen: Pagan Holidays Added to Excused Absences [LINK-ZUM]

When George Fain visits a grave to mark a pagan holiday, she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classes at Marshall University. That's because her absence Thursday on the Samhain holiday has been approved by the Huntington school, which for the first time is recognizing pagan students' desire to be excused from class for religious holidays and festivals. [...] "I think we may have opened a door," she said. "Now that we know we can be protected, that the government will stand behind us and we feel safe, it's going to be more prevalent."

[Article continues at link. A door has indeed been opened. There's no way to shut that door if Fain later switches to another superstition, such as Christianity. Fain gets Samhain off as a pagan and would have every right to expect Christmas off as a Christian. Or Ramadan off as a Muslim, or Passover off as a Jew. Huntington school must soon initiate a policy of not allowing people to change superstitions if it wants to keep students in class at all. Between all the superstitions I'm sure that most if not every day is some sort of Holy Day. That door just opens more and more wide once it gets started. Except there doesn't seem to be a provision for atheists. Could I get a day off from Huntington school because I sincerely don't believe in God? That door doesn't open much, if at all. A more reasonable policy might be for schools and employers to offer a set number of 'no questions asked' days off. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: atheist, christianity, education, islam, magick

Trevor Blake: Priorities [LINK-ZUM]

ADNKronos: A court in the Iran's second largest city, Mashad, has sentenced to death by stoning a mother-of-three for having an extra-marital affair, an Iranian newspaper reported Friday. The daily Quds said the married woman's lover had confessed to having had sex with her and that the court sentenced him to 100 lashes. There are currently eight women in Iranian prisons waiting to be executed by stoning, a practice usually reserved for those found guilty of adultery according to the Islamic republic's laws.

Chicago Sun-Times: So long, Halloween parade. Farewell, Santa's gift shop. The holiday traditions are facing elimination in some Oak Lawn schools this year after complaints that the activities are offensive, particularly to Muslim students.

[Articles continue at links. It seems that other people being free to celebrate or have their own superstitions is intolerable to Muslims, while public whippings and stoning are just fine as long as they occur in-house. The Muslim world has managed to roust thousands of people around the world to protest cartoons. Why can't it manage to raise a feeble finger to stop its brothers and sisters from killing each other? Islam does not deserve consideration as a moral agent. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: education, islam, sex, theocracy

them tags [LINK-ZUM]

biographic communication deaf education extremophiles futurism interpreting news nsk parasites reference

Labels: biographic, communication, deaf, education, extremophiles, futurism, interpreting, news, nsk, parasites, reference

ovoyeur

rss

archives
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008