Wax your surfboard and plug your nose. It’s Friday–and you know what that means. Another Friday Review! (Just like the old Friday Reviews, except…well, new.)
* The Exclusive Brethren (think radically conservative Christian sect that makes the FLDS look liberal) is in a bit of hot water, mostly because a private investigator admits being hired by them to “dig up dirt” on New Zealand government figures.
Idour, who would not give specific examples, said he had been subcontracted by a colleague, who he now understood had been hired by a member of the Exclusive Brethren.
He said the pair snooped on Labour MPs. The information had then been passed to sect members, who decided on how to reveal it to the media.
But he also claimed to have reliable information that Labour supporters had hired their own private eyes to tail National leader Don Brash and to go through his rubbish and that of his finance spokesman John Key.
Personality politics reached new lows in New Zealand this week, with Clark saying she’d been told the Exclusive Brethren religious sect had hired a private detective to follow the couple in an effort to dig up personal dirt.
She also linked the sect to false rumours being spread about the sexuality of her husband.
Clark has been forced to defend Davis against claims he’s gay, after some media outlets published a photo of him being hugged and apparently kissed by the couple’s close friend Ian Scott.
The picture was not new and was taken out of context from election night coverage. (TheAge.com)
Wow. Guess we know where Rove got his favorite plays from. Oh, wait–dirty politics has been around since before the death of the Gracchi brothers.
* Channel 4 is going to air the crucifixion of a corpse, just to show what a nasty horrid death crucifixion is. Christians, predictably, are very outraged.
But Christian groups accused the 90-minute Channel 4 show of exploiting one of their faith’s most sacred cornerstones. Church of England spokesman Steve Jenkins said: “This will upset and offend lots of Christians as it seems he’s using the crucifixion simply to grab attention.”
Christian Voice, which tried to axe Jerry Springer The Opera, threatened to sue. Director Stephen Green said: “This sounds gratuitously offensive and blasphemous.
“It could well be we’d want to take action.” Mr von Hagens preserves corpses by plastination, in which body fat and fluids are replaced by plastic. In 2002 he performed the UK’s first public autopsy in 170 years, broadcast on Channel 4.
Its digital station More4 will air his new show, Crucifixion, at a date yet to be fixed. Producers Firefly called it “a 90-minute film in which Gunther plastinates ‘Jesus’.”
However, Channel 4 last night tried to play down the storm. A spokeswoman claimed: “This is a science and history documentary on the anatomy after crucifixion. It will not be a specific representation of Christ.” Mirror.co.uk
Question: isn’t “using the crucifixion merely to grab attention” one of Christianity’s biggest proselytizing tools?
* The furor over Pope Benedict’s slamming of Islam continues apace.
The Pope has said he is “deeply sorry” that his words, quoting a 14th Century Christian emperor, had upset Muslims.
But his apology was rejected by the Muslims meeting in Lahore, Pakistan.
“The Pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet [Muhammad]. If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences,” said the joint statement.
The group behind the meeting, Jamaat al-Dawat, has been listed by the US government as a “terrorist” group for its alleged links with Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba.
“The Pope’s statement against Prophet Muhammad was not unintentional,” said Sajid Mir, a religious scholar and MP who took part in the meeting.
“He has opened a new and an organised front against Islam and Muslims should prepare themselves for jihad because the Pope’s insulting remarks against Islam follow President George W Bush’s statement on crusades,” he said. (BBC)
Plenty of people are saying, “Look, the dude apologized, and Muslims bombing and screaming isn’t making you look good.” Plenty of other people are saying, “What kind of apology is it when dude doesn’t take responsibility for slamming another faith, just says he’s sorry for ‘the reaction’ it caused?” Yours truly saw a video of Irshad Manji telling Muslims to get over it and leave the frickin’ Pope alone.
We already know my opinion. This probably isn’t over yet, by a long shot.
* Torture in Iraq is worse than ever. Go figure.
* The WildHunt Blog’s weekly roundup of news is particularly juicy this week, especially when dude remarks about white-lighters “spouting about “infinite” this and “embodying” that.” Plus there’s Fidel Castro being called a Druid and a bit about Banned Books Week.
Man, WildHunt’s hot.
* The Gods Are Bored had a visit from Mr. Applegate this week.
* I’ll be interested to see how Isaac Bonewits’s spell to give journalists some testacos pans out. Since Yours Truly is also in the middle of reading Chomsky’s Necessary Illusions this is particularly apt.
* And not quite about religion but still thought provoking: two different posts about race, racism, publishing, and the Universe. Enjoy, discuss, and think.
Go forth and be pluralistic, brethren and sistern.