Why do they get so mad?

If you don’t know already, May 20th was ‘Draw Mohammad Day‘.  I didn’t participate.  Frankly, I have no desire to draw Mohammad, Jesus Christ or any other deity.  I might write about it, but draw?  It’s just not my thing.

However, courtesy of cognitive dissident, I noticed that Friendly Atheist put on a little art show that entertained and informed.  Well, it entertained me and I didn’t know the Prophet Mohammad had a nine year old wife.  How quaint.

My favorite three are posted below.

Anything with Cartman is just too funny.

This one is a little mean, but then again, the truth can hurt sometimes…

This one is meant to hurt, but then again, maybe it should.

The Societal and Scriptural Fence

I thoroughly enjoy my copy of the Professional Geographer, a journal of the Association of American Geographers.  It never fails to provide some thought provoking material.

This month’s issue didn’t fail to do just that.

An article by Gerald R. Webster, Thomas Chapman, and Jonathan Leib, titled Sustaining the “Societal and Scriptural Fence”: Cultural, Social, and Political Topographies of Same-Sex Marriage highlights some very scary politics within the southern United States.

From the abstract:

Those opposed to same-sex marriage in Alabama made effective use of various social constructions that are deeply embedded within a “moral” geography, situating the state as a fenced-off bastion of “religious traditional values,” a common theme throughout the American South.  In this vein, social boundaries and territory were demarcated as a powerful political act in Alabama, a strategy that situated the state as hetero-normatively “in place,” while deeming sexual minorities as “out of place.”

Wow.  That’s a pretty heavy accusation.  But really, it’s not an accusation but a detailed account of fact.  Christian Alabamans do use politics and an adherence to place to ensure that their way of living is preserved.  That’s the whole point.  The article goes on to illustrate just that.

The authors start out by describing the general malaise of marriage protection laws in America.  This map kind of says it all:

Figure 1

Figure 1 – States that have passed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.  Source: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (scanned from the Professional Geographer).

Webster et.al. describe the scalar politics and religious fundamentalism that has lead to the culture ‘wars’ in the United States as well as Alabama.  Indeed, when we are talking about abuse, murder and the systematic reduction of gay rights in that state, I guess it does amount to a war.  And that’s best described by this statement coming from the former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore:

Homosexual conduct is, and has been considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature’s God upon which this nation and our laws are predicated.  Such conduct violates both the criminal and civil laws of this state and is destructive to a basic building block of society – the family. – 2002

Yikes!

But it gets worse, voting guides distributed by the Christian Coalition of Alabama (2006) listed the consequences if an amendment to ban same-sex marriage wasn’t passed:

Public schools will be forced to embrace homosexuality, Adoption laws will be instantly obsolete, The health care system will stagger and perhaps collapse, and Religious freedom will almost certainly be jeopardized

Holy crap!

When you have someone as fervent as Roy Moore behind a cause and willing to use religion in politics, just how are we to view same-sex marriage objectively, let alone any other issue?  Please, tell me, what does the health care system have to do with same-sex marriage?  And religious freedom?  Do Alabamans really think that if same-sex couples were allowed to marry that that would somehow negate their right to worship their (bigot) god?  Where on earth did they get that notion?

The article goes on to describe the authors’ statistical analysis of race, religion and class within Alabama in regards to the same-sex marriage referendum votes.  They found that:

…there was an interesting turnout pattern with lesser rates of participation in urban areas such as Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Huntsville, and Tuscaloosa, and abnormally high rates of turnout in some lesser populated, rural and overwhelmingly white counties in northern Alabama such as Franklin, Marion, Lamar, and Pickens.

The voting pattern maps are interesting and one of these days I’ll juxtapose them onto some maps produced by Warf and Weinsberg on religious diversity (see my post Geography of No Religion).  I’m sure there is a correlation.

So, just how does the societal and scriptural fence get built?  Why such divisions?  Well, as many of you may notice in your own neighborhoods or out on that ‘innocent’ school playground, humans tend to divide themselves by race, class, and religion.  Alabama is no exception.

According to Webster et al., the majority of votes in the Alabama supporting the same-sex ban came from counties with overwhelming white and overwhelming Christian conservative populations.  They noted that in counties with a diverse population (Madison County) and in counties that had a large African American population less than 75 percent voted for the ban.  The authors go on to find a statistical spatial correlation between the anti-gay rights agenda and the socio-demographic variables (percent Black, percent religious conservative, percent urban, percent with a college degree, median household income, percent between the age of 18 and 34, and percent creative class).

A few of these correlated statistics are presented in the article in map form, but I’m just gonna show one:

Figure 4

Figure 4 -  Factor II: Race and religion factor scores by county.  Source: Webster et al. (scanned from the Professional Geographer).

Webster et.al. conclude:

Those most opposed to same-sex marriage in Alabama have made effective use of these socio-geographic constructions to control the landscape in their moral terms, a powerful political act.  Religious fundamentalism played a central role in the spatial outcome of the Alabama vote, situating the state as a fenced-off bastion of “religious traditional values,”…

Lord help us…

Spanish Inquisition (4)

With all the other stuff running around in my head, I completely forgot about updating you all on my Spanish history research.  Let me make it up to you.

Spain is a unique country.  Located at the southern edge of the European continent, jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, mere miles from North Africa, and cut off from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees, the country has evolved a cultural and social mix like no other.  A real-life clash of the the titans sort of place.

In order to understand the events that led to the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 1400s and 1500s, one must look to the scarred past of the Iberian people.  Once you understand the long history of conflicting ideas in the region, one can easily see why neighbor pitted against neighbor and why family members condemned family members.

Allow me to take you on a little Spanish history tour…

Humans have been on the Iberian Peninsula since about forever (well, forever for our puny life spans, since about 32,000 years ago) and wars have been fought over this strategic mountainous region since then.  Prior to Roman conquest, the area supported a mix of Celts to the north, Iberians from the northeast to the southwest, Basques in the steep, eastern Pyrenees, and a hodgepodge of ethnic groups to the south.

The Roman Empire engulfed the peninsula in about 210BC to 205BC, renaming the region Hispania.  Roman rule lasted for over 500 years and brought to the country Christianity, a system of roads and irrigation, and a governance system that would become the basis of much of Spain’s laws for a thousand years and more.

Things started to get interesting when in 409AD, the Vandals and Alans took over, eventually giving way to Visigothic rule.  This time in Spanish history is filled with war and woe.  One would think that not much else could be heaped upon the area until the Moors decided to show up during the expansion of the Umayyad Islamic Empire.

During this time, Christianity has remained the predominant religion (along with all the incorporated pagan rituals), however, it is interesting to note that Jewish settlement in the southern part of the peninsula occurred during this time as well.  When the Islamic Moors conquered the region at the beginning of the 8th century, they did something unique.  The Moor leaders allowed freedom of religion.  It wasn’t without it’s costs, though.  Christians and Jews were second class citizens under Moorish rule and converting was the most sensible way to make life a little easier.

The mix of  race (and by implication religion) is best described by Crow (1985) in this passage:

The Celts left a strong physical imprint on the population of northern Spain.  In the Cantabrian and Pyrenean areas there is still today a high percentage of light-colored eyes (blue and hazel) and fair skin and hair.  Galicia and Asturias are noted for their blood types, and in the Basque provinces the proportion is nearly 40 per cent.  In the territory of Aragon approximately 35 per cent of the population falls into the fair -skinned, light-eyed group.  As one proceeds southward both the shading of the skin and coloration of the eyes darken.  The typical Andalusian is a dark-skinned, dark-eyed type reflecting the strong Moorish admixture in this area, but blonds do exist today in Andalusia as they also do among the Arabic-speaking population of northern Africa.

It is precisely because of this mix (and forced conversions) that made Spain into a power house in the last millennium and became, ultimately, its downfall.

The fall of Muslim rule started around the 11th century with the Reconquesta (Reconquest).  This effort was centuries long with Christians gaining power over a sub-region to lose it again and again to the Moors until finally winning out in the end.  A seemingly endless tug of war was played out throughout the country as Moors battled for control of the rich lands of the Iberian peninsula.  The final stronghold of Muslim rule in Granada usurped by the combined power of the Christian Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon through the marriage of Isabella I (Castile) and Ferdinand II (Aragon) in 1492 sent the Moors back to North Africa.

By this time, though a fervor of Christian rule gripped the country, there are significant populations of Jews and Muslims within the country that have been living in Spain for centuries.  The Iberian peninsula has become their homeland.  A perfect set up for religious and racial hatred.

With the massacre of the Jews during the 13th century and Jewish/Islamic to Christian forced conversions still in the collective memory, the renewed Spanish Inquisition of 1492 came along to finish a religious cleansing that would attempt to rid the country of both Jews and Muslims, cinching Christian rule.

Whew!  This was supposed to be brief, but we are talking about the history of a nation here.  Anyway, that’s it for now.  More specifics on the events leading up to the 1492 expulsion order coming soon!

Specific references can be found in this wiki-article and I’ve flavored my post with excerpts from these books: Islamic Spain 1250 to 1500 by L.P. Harvey, Iberia by James A. Michener, Spain, the Root and the Flower by John A. Crow, Dogs of God by James Reston, Jr., and The Spanish Inquisition by Joseph Perez (all excellent books, my favorite being the Dogs of God).

Map of the Week (17)

Oooooh – I found a pretty T-O map over on Ancient World Maps.  If you don’t know what a T-O map is, I posted about ‘em here, here, and here.  I think I’ve posted about these things more often than anything else. 

I don’t know why they intrigue me.  They just do. :shrugs:

Basically, T-O maps are representations of the world with a ‘T’ encircled within an ‘O’.  The O represents divinity and the T the continents as they were known in medieval Europe.  This one below was produced sometime in the mid-1400s and is just a nice, colorful version.

T-O Mappa Mundi

Hope you like.

Oh, dear me, and it’s all MY fault?

Caught wind of this over on the SFFWorld.com forum (bunch of foreigners…):

A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear revealing clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.  ~ Guardian UK

Ah, but, of course we are.  We make the world tremble, the skies to break open, and the seas to boil.  We…are…Goddess!

When, oh when, will people realize that the earth functions, like, well, a planet?  And not like some medieval playground for all our warped dreams? (deep sigh)

Please do try and enjoy the rest of your day.

God is angry (again)

So…remember when the big tsunami hit Indonesian, and obliterated cities and towns?  And remember what many religious leaders had to say about the whole thing?

As you all know, natural phenomena like earthquakes and volcanoes are manifestations of God’s wrath (yeah, right).  So, God must be angry, again.  Only this time, his anger is directed towards Northern Californians.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake rocked the Northern California city of Eureka on Saturday, snapping power lines, toppling chimneys, knocking down traffic signals, shattering windows and prompting the evacuation of at least one apartment building.

There were no reports of major injuries, but the temblor, which struck at 4:27 p.m. about 33 miles southwest of the coastal city of 26,000, was powerful enough to send people running into the streets, some fearing a tsunami.

But why Northern California?  Surely, the Almighty would provide a sign as to why he is punishing those of us in Northern California.  Right?

This morning, I found the cause:

The New York Times released a report about the link between three anti-gay American evangelicals — two of whom live in Northern California — and a bill in Uganda that would make homosexuality punishable by death.

Yes, God is angry.  Angry at those two vile, Northern California evangelicals that are condoning death as a ‘solution’ to the homosexual ‘probelm’ in Uganda.

You know what?  I’m angry too.  Angry at the institution and people who continue to use religion as a vehicle to supress others.  Who am I to question God’s wisdom in sending earthquakes to Northern California to warn those crazy fundamentalist?  More power to ya, God.

tmso

Religion done wrong, all over again

I have been following the story about the Irish blasphemy law.  This morning, in the San Francisco Chronicle, there was a very short story on the subject.  It’s just a summary of what Atheists in that country (God bless ‘em) are doing to protest Ireland’s new blasphemy law.

Under the law, which went into effect Friday, a person can be found guilty of blasphemy if “he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”

Those brave, atheist souls in Ireland posted famous/historic quotes on their website that would be considered blasphemous under the new law.  Good for them.  I hope their efforts to show how stupid that law is are successful.

But that’s not what I wanted to post about.  If you read the physical San Francisco Chronicle (you know, the paper?), the story above is on page A2.  Opposite that story on page A3 is this story.  Another short piece, but this one is about three American (ugly, vile) Christians that went to Uganda to spread the word about the evils of homosexuality.  And now that country has a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

So…it’s okay for Christians to spread hate and mis-information about homosexuals, but it’s not okay to question ideas held scared by any religion.  Surely, people and leaders in Ireland, you see how stupid and dangerous your blasphemy law is?

Street lamps built by monkeys

I went and visited One Minion’s Opinion blog today.  I really enjoy her cheeky posts.  This morning she had up a video of a portion of a Terry Pratchett interview in which he spouts a bit on religion after being asked by an audience member what he thought about god or gods.

He waxes on about this and that, trying desperately to be polite about the whole thing.  While watching (go watch!), I kept thinking the guy was just beating around the bush, and that he wouldn’t come down definitely on one side or the other.  But he surprised me.

The main idea he was trying to get across was that the story of evolution is far more interesting than the stories in the Bible.  I think that can be argued, but he convinced me when he said this:

…street lamps built by monkeys…

Think about that.  We are the product of a long evolutionary line of…monkeys…that somehow not only built street lamps found no where else in the universe (as far as we know), but also built a rocket ship.  That’s pretty darn interesting.

tmso

Map of the Week (12)

Did you think just because I was gone there would be no posts?  Heck no!  With our nifty modern technology, I can schedule posts in advance.  This is actually a cool way to post, come to think of it.  As I do not post things that are time sensitive, like breaking news, it might be easier to post well thought out essays ahead of time and then interject my randomness as it occurs to me.  Hmmm…I’ll have to think about that one for the future.

For today, I have another map (as the title suggests).  This is another T-O map.  In the comments section of the last map I posted (a simpler T-O map), I mentioned that I would scan a more elaborate version from The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester.

Psalter Map (1265) - scanned from The Fourth Part of the World

This map is called the Psalter Map.  It shows Christ hovering over the earth.  He is holding a T-O globe in his left hand, and extending two fingers on his right.  Does anyone know the significance of this pose? Lester, in the Fourth Part of the World, does not explain it.  Regardless, east is at the top, where Adam and Eve are located just below the rising sun.  This is where geography and history begins.  Both end in the west (at the bottom), where the sun sets.  At the center is Jerusalem.  The monstrous races are shown in the south (far right) under Africa.  The entire map is supposed to represent all of space and time.

On the eve of Christmas, I thought this would be an interesting map to discuss as it captures the essense of a Christian worldview in 1265.  How might the current Christian worldview change in the future?

Map of the Week (11)

Okay, as some of you may know, I’m reading The Fourth Part of the World by Toby Lester right now so I’m really into historic maps at the moment.  Though I make maps for a living (along with a bunch of other stuff), I do not have a cartographic background.  Especially not a historic cartographic background.  So, I’m learning quite a bit.

In Toby Lester’s quest to derive the origins of the fourth part of the world, he explores how much of the European medieval world thought that the world was not only flat, but consisted of only three parts.  These three parts were often linked to the Holy Trinity.   Scholars, mostly monks, represented the world with T-O maps (a T within an O).  Here’s an example of one:

T-O Map

The cardinal directions start from the top, East.  The right is the South, the bottom represents the West, and the left, the North.  The whole ‘map’ is surrounded by God “enthroned above the circle of the earth”, or in latter maps also represents Jesus Christ.  The top represents the large land mass of Asia.  The bottom two divisions represent Europe and Africa.

The central cross represents the oceans, but as it symbolized the cross rather nicely, Christian mapmakers used it to represent the cross that Christ died on as well.  This particular example doesn’t show it, but a lot of these T-O maps also showed Jerusalem at the center of the cross, thus the center of the world as was fitting to their Christian world view.

I never knew about T-O maps, and I find the whole concept intriguing.  I hope you did too.

Cheers,

tmso:)