Ever since I saw the first pictures of the horrible bombing in Oslo, I’ve been glued to Twitter trying to make sense of everything.
The Atlantic has this terrorist all figured out
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Waiting for facts in Norway bloodshed (updated)
The story of the day, of course, is the massacre in Norway. Thus, let’s start with a note from a GetReligion reader in Norway, which was attached to a URL for the main story in the New York Times:
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About the burning of a holy book
Let’s say that some journalists hear about cases of Marines who are being abused, tormented and bullied. We’re talking crude stuff — sticking a soldier’s head in a toilet and hitting the flush lever over and over — as well as brutal beatings.
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Ghost in suburban charter schools war?
Now here is a totally fascinating New York Times story about charter schools. I am not sure whether or not it has a hidden religion angle in it and, as always, this is my point.
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Sacred collanders and religious freedom
Many of my libertarian friends are part of the Pastafarian movement. And they really think it’s funny. And I have to admit that I’ve never quite gotten its appeal. It all sprang from some Oregonian dude’s attempt to mock intelligent design and became a huge worldwide sensation among atheists. The Flying Spaghetti Monster Church has a made-up deity and holy days and religious gear and silly formal beliefs and all that — all to show the stupidity of religious belief. Get it?
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Got News? Iran Persecutes Christian Convert
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Giant ghost in South Sudan (updated)
Anyone who has been near a news rack knows that one of the major stories in the world today is the birth of South Sudan as a nation, rising out of an ocean of bloodshed and oppression over the past few decades.
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Testing death before it comes
Some friends of ours recently told of us of their marital disagreement over what happens to them when they die: cremation or burial. It might seem strange for a pair in their late 20s to have this discussion, but posing the possibility might come sooner for some rather than later. Their discussion included theological questions over whether God intends to raise physical bodies from the grave or whether it doesn’t matter and cremation is more environmentally friendly. Average date night conversation, you know?
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About that Delta and the Jews story ...
I wanted to follow up on two recent GetReligion posts where I cast doubt on media reports. The first was a widely transmitted report about a Jewish court in Israel condemning a dog to death by stoning. I have a pretty good bovine excrement detector and something just smelled with the story. Of course, even people who are much less skeptical and cynical than I am probably could have figured out something was weird about the story. But you never know — crazy things happen all the time that I can’t believe. I’ve lost many a wager with my own husband about whether something actually happened (Reports of Mel Gibson’s initial rant against a police officer is one such example.).
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