fundamentalism

I have been discussing for more than a year now how Bush's horrible foreign policy is enabling the rise of a Fundamentalist Islamic Caliphate, uniting fundamentalist Sunnis against us world wide.

I discussed this regarding Somalia and its neighbors (which got me invited onto BBC Radio twice, though I only went on once,

I discussed this regarding Pakistan, our supposed ally which Barack Obama is right not to trust (remember, the elite forces of the Pakistani army put the Taliban in place in Afghanistan and are probably sheltering them now),

And even regarding such normally stable nations like Morocco, Bahrain, and

Fellow Culture Kitchen writer, Leo Igwe, from Nigeria, recently wrote about a murder in Nigeria where a mob tore a teacher apart because she was perceived as "defaming the Koran." He uses this incident to discuss the hypocrisy of religious fundamentalism where pieces of paper are considered sacred, but human life expendable.

Today Salon.com has another story of Fanatics Gone Wild, this time in Iraq. It seems that the traditional practice of honor killings is alive and well in post-Saddam Iraq.

Several readers have brought to our attention a truly horrible story: last month, Du'a Khalil Aswad, a 17-year-old Kurdish girl in Iraq, was stoned to death as an "honor killing" for presumably having a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy. (She was a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi.) Unfortunately, the fact that a girl was murdered for "honor" isn't the news here. The story has recently garnered attention because cell phone videos have surfaced of the killing itself.

...here is a description from The Assyrian National News Agency:

"In a short mobile video clip which appears to have been taken by locals at [the scene] of the murder, the girl is seen being ambushed on her way home by a group of up to 1000 men who were waiting for her to return; the men killed her in the most brutal way possible, by throwing large stones on her head. The following clips show that while she is alive and crying for help she is taunted and kicked in her stomach until someone finishes her off by throwing a large stone on her face. From the clips it appears that the girl was first stripped naked to symbolize that she had dishonored her family and her Yezidi religion. She is lying on the road naked while her smashed face is covered with blood and still breathing."

My campus is sponsoring a national contest. Here are the details.

Fundamentally Speaking

A Contest

What are the fundamentals?

This academic year, speakers have come to the Cortland campus to talk about religion, politics, science, literature, and teaching. They have or will address the issue of “fundamentals” as anything from intractable law to literal truth to cold, hard facts.

But what is a fundamental(ist)(ism)?

We invite college students to explore the issue of fundamentalism in creative form, and offer prizes of $250 for each of three categories:

PROSE: Essays may be fiction or non-fiction. 2000-word maximum.

ART: Photography, painting, digital images, drawing, collage, cartoons. All “still” art media welcome. Please submit artwork on cd or as image file.

VIDEO AND ANIMATION: Original work only (no montages of copyrighted images). All moving art pieces welcome—Flash, Video, etc.

DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2007

SUBMIT ENTRIES TO: neovox.submissions@gmail.com

Additional details available at Neo Vox

This contest is sponsored by ) NeoVox, the student online magazine and the SUNY Cortland Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee.

Any college student is welcome to submit.

Another awe-inspiring fuckwaddery as uttered by the Concerned Women for America. But, in reading it, I was reminded that there is a huge difference between evangelical Christians and fundamentalist Christians. And while I am neither, I happen to think that the evangelicals may at least have the advantage of conscious thought on their side.

CWA President Wendy Wright said, "It is hard to believe that a foundation that gives millions to Planned Parenthood, International Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would give money to a group and not expect to see the results it wants. The ECI signers are linked to an initiative funded by a group utterly opposed to the basic Christian principle of life. While it is absolutely necessary that Christians be good stewards of the Earth, there is no Biblical basis for elevating the Earth above human beings in priority. We care for Nature so it can sustain God's crowning creation - the only thing made in His image - mankind. When the mission comes in conflict with the Biblical, pro-life stance that evangelicals live by, it negates itself."

What’s got their grandma-pant knickers in a twist? The fact that the Evangelical Climate Initiative, a group of evangelicals who think it’s time to deal with the impending disaster that is global warming, accepted a chunk of change from Hewlett Packard. It turns out, according to Ms. Wright, that HP wants to kill all the unborn babies in the world and convert them into silica. Okay. Not really. But the woman’s so bat-shit crazy, I would not be surprised if she argues such a thing.

Let's go back to the passage I’ve highlighted: Um. Does that register as cognitive dissonance to you?