VirusHead - Mutating bits of contagious discourse, because language is a virus.

Once again, it’s time for the annual Blog Against Theocracy blogswarm. Thanks to Jolly Roger for reminding me.

BAT logo by Tengrain of Mock, Paper, Scissors, who also points out:
The theme [of the blogswarm], like always, is the Separation of Church and State — we are for it. But the variations on the theme are many…This [...]

It is possible that internal discussion about Watchtower policies has begun, at least among some Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Internal discussion or debate is very rare - those who attempt to initiate such are quickly disfellowshipped so that their “unsheep-like” attitude does not “infect” the congregation. The Watchtower Bible and Tract publishing empire/religious group is totalitarian [...]

We promised Ben we’d go see Spiderman 3. Personally, I was pushing for the latest Shrek movie, especially after getting a tirade about violence and horribleness from another mom whose slightly younger kid wanted to leave Spiderman after about 15 minutes. Of course, they saw the IMAX version, and that’s probably a bit more intense. [...]

I ended up writing such a long reply to a question posed on a previous post that I’m posting it as well.
Vance from Meditations on an Eyeball asked:
Heidi, as a “pragmatic contextual ethicist with a spiritual sensibility” do you think there are situations where it would be wrong for a woman to choose to [...]

What will it take for blue-collar, middle-to-lower suburbia, struggling rural, and working poor to understand that they do not benefit from the policies and aims of this administration? I do not understand how this administration has been able to mislead demographics like NASCAR fans and Southern Baptists into the ranks of the supporters. As interest [...]

Slavoj Žižek makes a very interesting defense of atheism in the editorial “Defenders of the Faith” (New York Times, 3/12/06). Certainly atheism deserves the restoration of the inherent dignity of its position. But his overall argument, at least in the context of our current realities, is flawed. It could be a readerly effect, since the [...]

I’ve been having an extended discussion/argument with a Canadian Jehovah’s Witness in the comments of an old post. Feel free to read the whole thing if you can bear it. Yes. It’s long. I know. There were some resources in my latest reply that I thought might help others - so here’s a piece:
Most of [...]