Recently in Religion Category

 

I came across the following article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36449471/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts about a man named Albert Snyder. His 20 year old son was killed in Iraq four years ago and now he is in a legal battle against the Westboro Baptist Church. Church members picketed his son's funeral with signs reading "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "You're Going to Hell". The church, which is mostly comprised of the Phelps family, has targeted several soldier funerals and claim that "military deaths are the work of a wrathful God who punishes the United States for tolerating homosexuality." This is completely perposterous to most people, but the question becomes: When do we draw the line when it comes to freedom of speech? It is illegal for someone to yell "Fire!" in a public place, but it is perfectly legal to express such hatred towards others because of their sexuality, race, ethnicity, and the like. I have a serious problem with this. Next week the U.S. Supreme Court decide whether or not the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church are protected by the first ammendment. What do you guys think? Where do we draw the line in terms of freedom of speech?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MRWqlf_8M8

 

This video comes from a supposed organization/church. Along with this video there are many other videos from the same guy preaching hate against gays. A lot of controversy has risen from the videos, because it is questionable if this is a joke or real. It is hard to say for sure, because the videos contain "humor" like referring to things such as back door or get on your knees, but then there is a full website dedicated to his "organization".

Do you think this is real, or not? I encourage people to look at his website that they show at the beginning of the video. If you think it is real, what are the implications? such as religion and how he is trying to "change" gays to straight. If you think it is fake, how is it that this type of thing is funny? what are the implications of this side?

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57389/bias-incidents-at-u.c.-campuses-raising-alarm-of-bigotry/

I thought this was a fitting article after reading Billig. Do you think the incidents on some of California's campuses could be attributed to pockets of hate or something else (the article mentions media attention and adolescence as a couple)?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-catholics-gay-parents,0,7661246.story

 

This is an article about a preschooler who was not allowed to re-enroll in a Catholic school because of the sexual orientation of his parents. It is hard to believe that something like this happened in such a socially liberal town like Boulder, CO. What do you think of the school's "reasoning" for not allowing this student to come back? There is probably a certain degree of hypocrisy going on here.....if the school were to find out that one of its students or faculty was gay, would they react the same way?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIB6ST9nNG0

This video is based on the actions of war which soldiers endure in the field. How does a man or women dissociate emotions while seeing a fellow solider or a comrade die before them, the reaction of the flight or fight is built in all of us, as a mechanism to protect  us from harm. It maybe graphic for some people to watch live action..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APVa_55Jpgs&feature=channel

this video is something that is not very surprising to me due to the results of war, we maybe fighting the war on terrorism, but in actuality we our also promoting violence in the heart of kid, maybe one of there family member were killed by our US or collation forces. Making children want to did for a cause, or the jihad. I not saying that it is justifiable for the kids to do it, but for the American/collation force soldiers at war, how does it effect them in taking a child's life or murdering a women or a man that have bombs strapped on to there bodies...

What do you think about this? Do you think it is right that I touched on this subject?

I did it for a reason i do have a friend that lost her husband in the War of Afghanistan living his wife to raise three children alone, and the effect it has on soldiers families that people do see.. 

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/804/

This is the link to the episode of South Park that Matt Sienkiewicz referred to multiple times in his talk tonight: "What's Under Kyle's Hat?: South Park, Antisemitism, and the Jew Joke in Multicultural America". See my comment on this under the post for this lecture if you're interested in my take on the subject.

This episode could be very offensive to some people, so just a warning. Are there any aspects of this episode (or South Park in general) that seem to cross the line of what is humor and what is wrong? Or does this type of thing seem to be the norm in popular culture today? Are you for or against some sort of regulation on offensive humor in the media? See my comment post for more discussion questions....