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Banning hot cross buns?

Banning hot cross buns?

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What do you get when you pour very hot water down a rabbithole?

Hot cross bun(ny)s!

One a penny two a penny – Hot cross buns!

It’s official – the memes of repression in the name of freedom and diversity have travelled to the U.K. Or have they?

For fear of offending the religious minorities at The Oaks Primary School in Ipswich, headteacher Tina Jackson has asked suppliers to remove the cross from their hot cross buns. .. “The cross is there in recognition of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ but for our students who are Jehovah Witnesses hot cross buns are not part of their beliefs. “We decided to ask to have the cross removed in respect of their beliefs. It was just a currant bun.”

For some reason, they seem worried -only- about Jehovah’s Witnesses. JW’s are not activists for such things – I smell mendacity here.

Evening Star – School decides to ban the bun

Albert Berwick, a minister with the Ipswich Cavendish Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, said the buns would indeed be offensive to members.

He said: “I can understand why the school has done this and I support the decision. Hot cross buns are a pagan symbol of fertility no different to bunnies, eggs and Easter.

The sentence is so typical in its self-confusion and half-understood prohibitions. I notice they didn’t get any offical statement from the Watchtower Society, who would never put it quite this way. Excusing the grammer (or lack thereof) for a moment, I’m simply trying to understand how hot cross buns are a symbol of fertility – you know, exactly. Since when is bread, currents and the shape of a cross made in icing a symbol of fertility? If you want to talk about the “pagan” roots of the resurrected god, that’s one thing, but this? “Hot cross buns” does of course sound a little bit suggestive (or is it just me?), but “hot cross buns” are a very different thing than “hot buns” in general…

The cross, cut into the dough before cooking or added later (as in this case) with icing, was thought to ward off evil spirits. You might not have noticed, but JWs don’t say anything when someone sneezes. The common “God bless you” or “gesundheit” has the same sort of ancient belief attached.

Of course, bunnies and eggs harken to something other than Christianity – but everyone knows that. Are egg hunts “offensive” to the Church of England?

Are the Brits turning into JWs? I’m curious about how exactly this school made the decision, and why they leave it at the feet of JWs. If they wanted to mollify JWs, they would have to end all of the holidays, delete all of the celebrations, get rid of anything that suggested a connection to any of them. Somehow I don’t see that happening.

My recollection is that JWs who are troubled by “pagan” celebrations and symbols simply do not participate, and they do not partake of those foods if they feel they are too closely associated. They simply wouldn’t eat the buns. Or – they could have an alternative, such as regular bread. Or they could simply smear the icing. You can’t spend your life trying to avoid symbols – anything can be a symbol.

An aside – I wish my son had the option of hot cross buns at school – they are delicious.

So is this for real, or are the same folks operating over there as here? Sounds either bogus or extremely silly to me. It’s a Monty Python sketch in the making. I welcome any contact from the school administrators. It would be an interesting conversation. No mention of any other religions…

As a former JW and an American liberal (as well as a scholar of religion, ethics and literature), may I suggest that banning hot cross buns has nothing to do with liberation, affirmation of cultural or religious diversity, or reducing hatred of those different from one’s own comfort group?

Pretending that traditions do not exist is not “politically correct” at all, even if you forget that the designation of “political correctness” is meant as an insult rather than a description. With all my disagreements with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I don’t know a single one who would be “offended” by such a thing as hot cross buns. If there is someone who is in fact offended by hot cross buns, please send contact information and an interview invitation. That would be the story here – someone is offended by hot cross buns! Let them explain.

A better solution might be to include some foods from other cultural and religious traditions. Some of them are downright yummy.

Inclusivity, toleration, respect and dignity for all people regardless of their religious beliefs – these are the deeper issues, and I don’t see how these are served by eroding and erasing one set of beliefs for another. There is no need to become bland in order to have dialogue. This attempt, if it was sincere, only reinforces resentment – the JW is reconfirmed in his own sense of superiority above the “impure” and the “pagan” remnants tied up with Christian tradition (as though there were a “pure” place without such influences), and the traditional Christians feel threatened and upset that even the most innocuous food should(?) be sacrificed (they don’t necessarily know the history of traditions, but why spoil them for everyone?).

If what has come to be called “political correctness” is really about attempting to erase difference in some authoritative way, then it no longer represents a move toward a language of liberation and freedom. As I recall, the main point was to create a language of inclusivity and dialogue so that everyone could speak – not to make every utterance so problematic that people were afraid to speak at all. Those who would make freedom of expression a way to limit expression have profoundly misunderstood. The regulatory function has to do with limiting hate speech, not with erasing one’s own differences from others.

Compare this to the situation of depicting Mohammed in cartoons – misunderstanding all around. The cartoon used the Prophet as a visual shortcut to depict radical Islam as terrorism. It’s sloppy, but no more so than the cartoons of Jesus and God that are seen all over. The main problem is not so much the comment on terrorism as its collapse into Islam generally, which isn’t really fair and, most importantly, it is regarded as blasphemous. There is a prohibition on depicting God (and by extention, perhaps) the Prophet in images. By the way, this prohibition is technically shared with Judaism and I’m not exactly sure how the Christians got around it. It’s a commandment. Here is the wriggle room – how does anyone know that the cartoons depicted the Prophet specifically? Were they actually labelled as such, or could they have been depictions of terrorist leaders? Personally, I was more disturbed by the exaggerated features on the one I saw, which seemed a caricature of race/nation/people more than of religion per se. There is a whole history of such caricatures of the “enemy” (see, for example Faces of the Enemy: Reflections of a Hostile Imagination by Sam Keen).

The culture clashes on religion can be mediated – with difficulty, but it is not impossible. Why just jump in to opposition, hatred, violence – without speaking with one another, without even an attempt at dialogue? Again, the differences are reinscribed as opposing ones and all sides have forgotten to care for one another as all religions of the book agree we ought to do.

The Matriarch King is Dead

The Matriarch King is Dead

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“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”
— Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King is dead.

A woman of grace and strength and courage and dignity is gone.

Equality. Human Rights. Non-violence. Peace.

She worked hard to keep these ideas out front and center as solid goals for our country. She fought alongside many others for a national holiday in honor of her husband’s birthday. She opened the King Center (Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change-the site of his tomb and of good works to support the dream) here in Atlanta. She spoke out on a wide range of issues (every last one of which is completely disregarded if not actively opposed by the current administration). She raised four children, too – and I hope they can learn to resolve their differences about where their parents’ legacy should take them as a family. The Kings belong to us all.

I am stuck here today with no transportation. I feel a deep urge to go to the King Center. I wish that I could. I am sending out my deep support and caring for everyone in America who feels this emptiness like I do today. The Matriarch King Coretta is gone, another good strong voice gone. May her memory inspire others.

On local news, I heard Rev. Joseph Lowery (former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, among other things). He was asked if he thought there were young people rising up to replace the likes of these heroes of our nation.

He said no. Then he explained in a clear, gentle way (that I can’t duplicate) that no-one can replace King, or anyone. It’s not a matter of replacing. They walked in their own shoes, they had their own history, they thought what they thought, they did what they did.

Young people can’t replace anyone.

They can, however, be inspired and motivated by them – to be fully themselves and find their own work.

I watched film footage of the Kings and others, and the tears rolled down my face. What a woman she was.

They call her “the widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.” (note that they don’t use the word “assassinated” much anymore), but she worked strongly for the same goals he did. She didn’t suddenly care about freedom and justice – only just in support of her husband’s memory – but was an strong voice of activism in her own right.

Freedom. Justice.

I don’t remember anytime in my life before when these two words have been so stripped and twisted and misshapen as now. Freedom? Justice? We’ve degraded these words into meaninglessness. I do hope that there are those among the young who will rise up.

I can’t really explain how I felt when I went to CNN and saw the top two headlines:

Coretta Scott King dies
Alito confirmation expected today

The juxtaposition gave me a chill. Today our Senators will show how little they value King’s work – Alito cometh.

I think our dear leader would be wise to keep the hypocrisy to a minimum if he tries to say anything about her death in the State of the Union Speech tonight. His policies haven’t shown much concern for what she stood for and worked for.

I’m going to force myself to watch this speech, although it will be painful. It’s my civic duty.
And I have a feeling about it, which I need to verify or disregard.

Today:
1865: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution passes, abolishing slavery in the United States.

More words from Coretta Scott King:

“If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.”

“My mother always told me that I was going to go to college, even if she didn’t have but one dress to put on.”

“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won you earn it and win it in every generation.”

“Every person is a child of god and every human being is entitled to full human rights.”

“We have got to stand firm for a more compassionate health care system, which leaves no person behind — a system that takes responsibility to insure that no citizen be denied medical care because they lack adequate insurance. There is something wrong with a system that requires telethons for sick people, but always has a blank check ready for the Pentagon. The Cold War is over, but we still have a Cold War military budget, which is draining needed financial and human resources that should be invested in the health security of the American people. ”

“The gay bashers and homophobic people are the best allies AIDS could have. By preaching hatred and fear of gay people, they are creating a climate that discourages openness and education about AIDS which can help prevent its spread. They spread shame and guilt where their should be compassion and healing.”

“Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder.”

“The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the world house, a world whose people and nations had triumphed over poverty, racism, war and violence. The holiday celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to building the beloved community.”

“Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group.”

“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”

“I think that nonviolence allows you and empowers you to do what is necessary, because what you do is build coalitions. You can’t do all of it by yourself, but you can put together a coalition and get other people involved, or join organizations that are already involved and continue to work to eradicate poverty, of course, since poverty is still with us, very much so. My husband — it was one of the triple evils that he talked about — poverty, racism and war. And of course, they all are forms of violence, and we have to continue to work to make sure that people everywhere have a decent livelihood, that they have jobs, they have housing, they have health care, they have quality education. All of these areas that we still have to work on and to improve, so that the quality of life for all people is improved, and we can achieve indeed the “beloved community” that Martin talked about, that I believe in.”

Way Beyond “Republican”…

Way Beyond “Republican”…

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Some people want to argue with me about the effects of this administration on this country. I say words are cheap, propaganda is more effective than it should be, and I judge by actions and evidence. What we are seeing is not a Republican agenda, but a wholesale reorganization of what America is all about. A must-read is Howard Zinn’s article in the Guardian, “It is not only Iraq that is occupied. America is too.”

I wake up thinking: the US is in the grip of a president surrounded by thugs in suits who care nothing about human life abroad or here, who care nothing about freedom abroad or here, who care nothing about what happens to the earth, the water or the air, or what kind of world will be inherited by our children and grandchildren.

More Americans are beginning to feel, like the soldiers in Iraq, that something is terribly wrong.

Starting a new category today called Alien-nation (from “American Idiot” by Green Day). If I have some extra time, I’ll go back and add the category to some archived posts. Meanwhile, here are the Alien-nation examples for today.

Depleted uranium – a weapon of mass destruction for all.

The KBR division of Halliburton, which is responsible for carrying out the no-bid Pentagon contracts, experienced a 284 percent increase in operating profits during the second quarter of this year, including $70 million in “award” fees. Although government auditors have repeatedly cited the company for apparent fraud, improper billing, bribery, and gross overcharging for services there, the administration (and our representatives) have ignored even the auditors’ requests to withhold a portion of payments to the company.

The Christian right was saved from dying out with the Bush administration’s tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to their grassroots organizations – while they starved out family planning and AIDS-related organizations. So much for separation of church and state.

From the Progress Report

D’OH FOR JOHN DOE: ” …playing to the interests of John Doe — belies a reality that Treasury Secretary John Snow recently acknowledged, “the fruits of strong economic growth are not spreading equally to less educated Americans.” A notable characteristic of  the recent economic growth is the “unusually uneven“ economic gains distribution: ”exceptionally fast growth in corporate profits [has been] coupled with exceptionally slow growth in wages and salaries.” In what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan referred to as “a very disturbing trend,” the income gap has widened to a chasm that “by some measures is the biggest in the United States since the Roaring ’20s.” Though infamous for his belief in the free-market, Greenspan testified to Congress that “a free market, democratic society is ill-served by an economy in which the rewards are distributed in a way” that excludes the majority. How much of the majority? According to the Labor Department, “the nearly 80 percent of Americans who rely mostly on hourly wages [have] barely maintained their purchasing power.” Unfortunately, President Bush continues to champion his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, despite the fact that they “were too slanted toward upper earners to be particularly effective economic medicine.”

4th of July is Independence Day

4th of July is Independence Day

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Not hearing “Independence Day” much this year, so let me say it loud:

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!

It’s about a revolution against the tyrannies of old King George.

How could so much of our hard-won independence for our freedom and democracy been so senselessly squandered?

How could Independence Day be represented the way I’m seeing it this year? I want to see more patriots and less nationalists!

Give me liberty or give me death – it’s on the license plates still in New Hampshire, isn’t it? Say it is. I’m from Massachusetts, and the history of that great struggle is a matter of pride there. In Georgia…. well.

We’ll still go see the fireworks – just not at Stone Mountain.

Protesting Iraq – Anti-War Photos

Protesting Iraq – Anti-War Photos

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indymedia.us :: International Day of Protest on the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq

Some photos from all over the USA, and all over the World.

From signs:

Support the troops – bring them home
Dissent Protects Democracy
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
War is Terror
Drop Bush Not Bombs
It’s about Lives for Oil and Nothing about Freedom
Students Not Soliders
No To Imperialism Militarism and Bush
Iraq War is Anti-Christian
Making a Killing with Your Money
No War but Class War
Who Dies for Bush Lies?
Warning – You are Buying War, Poverty, Greed, and Fear
Third World Within (on a map of a bleeding USA)
9/11 Unanswered Questions: Why did FBI HQ block investigations in NY, Minneapolis, and Phoenix?
Iraquis aren’t Cheerleaders (with a photo from Abu Ghraib)
Jail Time for War Crimes
Destroy the War Machine
College Not Combat
War Loves to Prey on the Young
When Christ Disarmed Peter, he Disarmed Every Soldier
Dumbo – “Bring Them On”
Violence Breeds Violence
Books Not Bombs
Stop the Poverty Draft
Stop the War Junkies
Where are the WMDs?
Not Our President
Not in Our Name
War is Not the Answer
80% Unemployment in Harlem
Every Day a Soldier Dies for Cheney’s Oil and Bush’s Lies
Anything War can Do, Peace Can Do Better
Give Peace a Chance
Death is Forever
US Troops Out of the Middle East
Another Woman for Peace
Osama Toppled 2 Buildings, Bush Toppled Peace, Freedom and Democracy
21st Cent. terrorist murders -Bin Laden 3,000, Bush 15,000
Lee Harvey, where are you?
Bush Quit Your Vile War, Deal with WHY They Hate Us
Viva La Paz
End Occupation Corporate Exploitation Iraq to Haiti
Stop Imperialism
Why Aren’t You Outraged?
Uncle Sam Iraq will be your Vietnam
Anti-Bush – Pro-Schools
No War for Oil
US Out of the Middle East
History Will Condemn Us
Vietnam Mistake Iraq Bigger Mistake
A US Occupation is Still an Occupation
Use Law Not War
Liars
Military Families Say Bring Them Home Now
Bring Them Home
Money for Jobs and Education Not War
Don’t Send Our Troops to Commit Your War Crimes
Stop the Back Door Draft
Fight Corporate End Racist War
Separation Corporations and State
Silence is Acceptance
No War Between Nations, No Peace Between Classes
No More
Stop the War

And from Protests Outside the US:

Only Democracies May Commit Mass Murder According to the American Empire
One Million Children
Another World is Possible
End the Occupation of Iraq and Palestine
No More War
Is This Your Peace Fu…ng Capitalists?
Global No
Troops Out Now
No to American Terrorism, No to Islamic Terrorism
Violence Leads to Violence
Bush (with a swastika for the S)
Latin Amerika Rebelde y Anti-Kapitali$ta
Bush the Tiny Tyrant
Put Bush, the war criminal, on trial
Support the Right to Resistance in Iraq and Palestine
No More Bush Wars
Bliar Bliar Iraq’s on Fire
No Nukes
Bush terrorist number one of the world
No to War Profiteering
“2-4-6-8, F..k The Police State
Oil War
All Out Iraq Now
Occupation is Not Freedom

“War is everywhere: a global war against humanity in which our bodies, the air we breathe, the water that we drink, what we are taught, the stories we tell and are told … become commodities bought and sold in an open market. Whether in the Iraqi killing fields or a prepaid drought in Phiri, Soweto, the logic is the same: the rule of money and the market over all of life – the logic of neoliberalism.” –South Africa IndyMedia

Abuse of Patriot Act Again

Abuse of Patriot Act Again

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Abuse of the Patriot Act – Professor Tariq Ramadan

I am a member of the American Academy of Religion, and have been since at least 1990 (maybe earlier). The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the major scholarly society and professional association of scholars and teachers in religion. With 10,000 members, the Academy fosters excellence in research and teaching in the field and contributes to the broad public understanding of religion and religions. The AAR publishes the flagship scholarly journal in religion and books in five series through Oxford University Press. I used to be the editor of their Religious Studies News, and I often attend the annual and regional meetings. My former advisor Professor Robert Detweiler had been President of the AAR. So it is with an especially deep sorrow that I read about the news of this year’s keynote speaker for the annual meeting. It was bad enough that a local journalist was visited by the FBI after reading an article called “Weapons of Mass Stupidity” and being reported for it (at a local Starbuck’s no less). However, this situation is much much more serious.

Dr. Tariq Ramadan is prevented from presenting his plenary address at the November Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion because of a controversial decision by the U.S. Homeland Security to revoke his visa to the United States under the Patriot Act. AAR responded to this decision in a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security.

Please visit the AAR site to read all about it.

Dr. Ramadan was supposed to have started a position in the religion department of the University of Notre Dame. As Professor of Islamic Studies (and as a prestigious Luce Professor) he was to direct the “Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding” program. After going through the rigorous visa process, he had received his visa in April 2004, only to have it rescinded, without explanation, in early August. The Department of State’s decision was reportedly taken on the basis of information provided by the Department of Homeland Security. Neither department has made public any reason for the decision. After accepting the offer and resigning his position at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland, registering his children in a public school in Indiana, and shipping his furniture and belongings, Prof. Ramadan was informed by the US embassy in Switzerland, a few days before his departure, that his visa had been revoked. He is now stuck, bewildered, with his family, in an empty apartment in Switzerland.

Scholars and reputable universities have testified to his academic credentials and his character as a researcher and teacher. The American Association of University Professors, based in Washington, has strongly criticized the decision made by the Homeland Security Department with respect to T. Ramadan, stating that “foreign university professors to whom are offered the possibility of coming to work in an American institution of higher education should not be impeded by our government from entering the United States because of their political convictions, their associations, or their writings.” We need the help of people like him.

Prof. Ramadan is one of the best-known and most popular Islamic scholars and leaders on the planet today. Few other leaders connect to the disaffected Muslim youth of America, Europe and the Middle East like he does. He offers hope and a vision for living as Muslims in the 21st century, for being true to Islamic heritage, culture, and faith while embracing modern, progressive, and democratic values and ideals.

The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy describes him “as a moderate and reform-minded Muslim scholar” and goes on to say:

“He has written over 20 books and 800 articles, including “To Be a European Muslim” and “Western Muslims and the Future of Islam”. He was described by Time magazine as one of the “100 most likely innovators of the 21st century.”

“Revoking Dr. Ramadan’s visa will not only deprive Notre Dame students of a great educational opportunity, it will also deny the American people and institutions a much needed opportunity to engage the Muslim world in a real and serious dialogue. In addition to his teaching commitments, Dr. Ramadan was invited to participate in a number of high profile conferences including the France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, at Stanford University, a meeting with former President Bill Clinton, and another in Florida with former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen. Although Dr. Ramadan has voiced criticism of some U.S. and Israeli policies in Palestine, the war in Iraq, and U.S. support for authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, such opinions constitute no reason to deny him a visa.”

The American Academy of Religion argues that “to win the war on terror, the US needs the support of the majority of the 1.4 Billion Muslims around the globe. It must convince them that it holds neither ill feelings nor designs towards Islam or Muslims. Doing so requires:

reaching out to moderate Muslim leaders everywhere, establishing trust, engaging them in a dialogue, and understanding their issues and concerns,

supporting moderate Muslim leaders (both religious and secular) who are calling for a modern, tolerant, peaceful, and democratic interpretation of Islam,

exerting political, diplomatic, and economic pressure on current regimes in the Arab and Muslim world to establish a truly democratic form of government, thus giving millions of people hope for a better future,

Showing the United States as a bastion of freedom, tolerance, and democracy where people of all faiths, including and especially Muslims, can live and thrive in peace, respect, and harmony within a multi-religious, multi-ethnic society.”

For us to win the post-9/11 ideological struggle within Islam and bridge the gulf between the West and much of the Muslim Ummah (community), we desperately need the help of people like Professor Ramadan.

Read the signed statement of American and European Scholars.

“The university professors who have signed this statement are particularly committed to the fundamental freedoms and the policies that welcome foreign scientists and university professors. This permitted, in the past, many European intellectuals, persecuted for their political, religious or philosophical beliefs, to find “asylum” in American universities and to pursue in security their scientific activities.”

This is another example of The Patriot Act being used to control information, quash dissent and even open discussion. The American values of free exchange of ideas and freedom of expression have not been honored here. Welcome to the machine.