Category: Religion

Yup, Joe Dirt thinks about this from time to time.

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Drag Queens in Chesterfield

Looking at the local news online this morning, this story – of course, from the local FOX news outlet – was leading the pack : ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’ show sparks heated protest in Chesterfield.

I thought for a minute that a tornado must have grabbed the whole town I live in, Chesterfield, Missouri, and dumped it in Oklahoma while I slept.  But no, we’re still here.  I had to remind myself that I live in Missouri and in the particularly onerous 2nd district, the district which has given us such Republican notables as Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin and Ann “What Climate Change” Wagner.

Since the protesters stated that the drag queens were slapping God Continue reading “Drag Queens in Chesterfield”

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Purgatory?

My troubles are many, they’re as deep as a well
I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell
Swear there ain’t no heaven and pray there ain’t no hell,
But I’ll never know by living, only my dying will tell,
Only my dying will tell, yeah, only my dying will tell
And when I die and when I’m gone,
There’ll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on

The above snippet of lyrics is from the Blood, Sweat & Tears song, And When I Die, a song that reached number 2 on the charts in 1968.

For many reasons the line, “I can swear there ain’t no heaven but I pray there ain’t no hell” has stuck Continue reading “Purgatory?”

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Our Father, Which Art at Red Lobster… 

This posting is more this old curmudgeon thinking out loud than anything else… so take it in that spirit.

I am not a fan of religion.  In my calculus the amount of harm that religion has done far outweighs any good that can be attributed to it.  Given that the basis of any religion is essentially unprovable (hence we talk about faith), the amount of prosecution, violence, even killing and wars, suppression of other beliefs and non-believers, etc. done in the name religion, in the name of God, is incredible. The history I am most familiar is of the history of the Catholic Church, not because I am Catholic, but it because it longest and best documented. This history continually makes me cringe the more I learn about it.  Protestants, Muslims, Hindus and probably many others religions do not get a pass on this horrible chronicle either.

In spite of having said the above, I totally understand the impulse to be religious. Hell, at times Continue reading “Our Father, Which Art at Red Lobster… “

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The Book of Genesis: A Promulgator of Misogyny?

This is really just one of my random thoughts… something I have been ruminating on as I  listen to the audio book of The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. This  book is a reexamination of the current narrative of how our civilization, culture, social institutions, etc evolved in the light of new evidence and new interpretations.   In it I came across the following passage:

“Rejecting a Garden of Eden-type narrative for the origins of farming also means rejecting, or at least questioning, the gendered assumptions lurking behind that narrative.  Apart from being a story about the loss of primordial innocence, the Book of Genesis is also one of history’s most enduring charters for the hatred of women, rivaled only (in the Western tradition) by the prejudices of Greek authors like Hesiod, or for that matter Plato.  It is Eve, after all, who proves too weak to resist the exhortations of the crafty serpent and is first to bite the forbidden fruit, because she is the one who desires knowledge and wisdom. Her punishment (and that of all women following her) is to bear children in severe pain and live under the rule of her husband, whose own destiny is to subsist by the sweat of his brow.”

I have no excuse why Continue reading “The Book of Genesis: A Promulgator of Misogyny?”

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The 23rd Psalm: Pan-Religious

Some of my readers might not know that Señora – my principal muse – is not Hispanic. In fact she is Jewish.  Of course, you can be Hispanic and Jewish simultaneously, but not in this case. Why I use Señora is a somewhat convoluted tale for another day. Most folks who are not familiar with Jews tend to think of Jews as they are portrayed in the movies or on television.  Those are frequently Orthodox Jews or perhaps Conservative Jews. I have concluded that there are about as many types of Judaism as there are Protestant branches. Señora attends a Reformed synagogue.

If I were ever to get a wild hair and decided that I needed to join an organized religion again, I would strongly consider Continue reading “The 23rd Psalm: Pan-Religious”

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Veil Replacement

I had to run down to The Hill area close to downtown St. Louis this morning.  On the way back I passed a compact, maybe a subcompact vehicle. I did not notice what brand it was as I was focused on the vanity license plate which read MN’TALA. I was busy trying to decipher what that meant in license-platese. I finally decided it must be a name which piqued my curiosity.

As I passed the vehicle I peeked over from the high peak of my pickup truck to see who was driving the subcompact.  It was a smallish, Arabic looking women dressed Continue reading “Veil Replacement”

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Hey Lauren Boebert, What about MY church?

Just to get everyone on the same page the First Amendment to the US Constitution reads as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Lauren Boebert, the POS Representative from Colorado’s 3rd District , recently made the following statement:

“The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church.”

“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk. This is not in the Constitution, it was in a stinking letter and it means nothing like what they say it does…”   

For one of the many articles Continue reading “Hey Lauren Boebert, What about MY church?”

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,459

yeah I know you did not ask!

I am going to start selling burkas online.  This item of dress is about to become de rigueur in this country.

I read the headline today about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade and I had the same feeling I had seeing the planes crash into the Twin Towers in NYC.  The world has gone absolutely mad and  fanatics are in charge.  I am sick in my stomach and sick in my soul.

IMHO every justice that voted for this should be charged as an accomplice for the death of every woman who dies from a back alley abortion.

I cannot think of time I have been more disgusted by the situation in this country.  The religious zealots, gun nuts and white supremacist have gained control of this country I once loved.

I am absolutely disgusted with the Supreme Court of this country. Between expanding of gun rights, overturning Roe v. Wade and declaring money to be free speech in politics they have sent this country over the cliff. And the saddest part is that they are not “practicing” law but partisan politics.   That is not the function of the Supreme Court.

I going to say it again… please Dear God, save us from the religious.

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The Sin of Simony         

Years ago I read Dante’s Divine Comedy.  I cannot say I got much out of it, but I did get through the poem, mostly  because I can be a little obsessive at times. I had put a task before me, and by George I was going to complete it. Most of what I remember from the poem are some very graphic images from the nine levels of Inferno, and almost nothing of Purgatorio and Paradiso.  I decided somewhat later that I would listen Continue reading “The Sin of Simony         “

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Maus by Art Spiegelman

  Graphic novels are not something I typically read. The closest I have come as an adult would be several books compiling the work of various newspaper cartoonists.  What piqued my curiosity on this book is that a school board in Tennessee banned this book from the eighth grade curriculum. While a graphic novel, honors received include: The Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship and National Book Critics Circle Award. The New Yorker called it “the first masterpiece in comic book history.” The very conservative Wall Street Journal described it as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust.”

This is not an easy book to read due to the theme.  It deals with the treatment of the Jews in Poland by the Germans and Poles at the beginning of the World War II.  The main character and his wife end up at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Partly through ingenuity, but mostly Continue reading “Maus by Art Spiegelman”

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