The importance of blasphemy

Peter Fosl writes in a not-so-new article in The Philosophers Magazine ("Open Debate: The Righteousness of Blasphemy") about the importance of blasphemy:

Blasphemy deflates some of the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, I'm-absolutely-right attitudes of the religious. It makes religion safer. It does so by knocking religious authorities off their pedestals, by reminding us that their views (protestations to the contrary) are just those of silly humans, that they're just like the rest of us—that they and their views are equals with us and ours, that they are not our superiors.
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It's easy to see why ideas related to the ‘sacred' and the ‘blasphemous' are so attractive and so fiercely defended. With them one can tell people what to think and how to live with the greatest authority while simultaneously establishing immunity from criticism.

US Supreme Court Rules: Religious Group Can’t Demand Funding while Violating Non-Discrimination Policies

The case concerns a student chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), which sued the school after being denied official recognition and funding because the student group violated the school's non-discrimination policy. That policy requires that student groups must be open to all students in order to receive funding and official recognition. The federal appellate court below ruled unanimously against CLS because the school's policy prohibited every student group, whether religious or secular, from excluding students that disagree with the group's mission. For example, if the school's Democratic club cannot access school funding while excluding Republicans from its membership, a conservative Christian group cannot demand funds while excluding gay, non-Christian, or non-conservative Christian students. CLS appealed, claiming that it had a constitutional right - not enjoyed by any secular organizations - to receive state funding while discriminating against students on the basis of religion and sexual orientation.

Israel: Fundamentalist Judaism's Culture War

Yossi Sarid / The great Haredi rebellion is raging on several fronts (Haaretz, 17 June 2010)

For many years the culture war has hung over us like a dark cloud... Now it is happening; the war has erupted. The great Haredi [ultra-orthodox] rebellion has begun and is raging on several fronts... and no place is safe. The ultra-Orthodox public, which has always been cutting down our trees, is now uprooting them. It will destroy basic values, without which a democratic, developed state cannot exist. It will be lost unless it fights back.
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The Haredim have declared a rebellion now for an obvious reason. ... In every other country they obey the state authorities. Only here, in the state they made no effort to establish and make no effort to maintain, are they a law unto themselves.
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We have brought this calamity upon ourselves with our own hands, with our weakness and concessions. While every country worthy of the name makes efforts to separate state from religion, here they are mixed together, wallowing in the same mud, both getting soiled.
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Only in Israel are they such heroes. Everywhere else they are submissive and docile. It wouldn't occur to them to curse judges in America or attack policemen in Europe.
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This is a war that has been forced upon us, a war we cannot afford to lose. The rebellious Haredim must be put in their place, so that we, too, have a place in which to live.

In origin:

שנים רבות היתה מלחמת התרבויות תלוייה מעלינו כחשרת עננים, כאיום. עכשיו הוא מתממש; המלחמה פרצה. מרד החרדים הגדול התחיל, והוא מתחולל בחזיתות רבות: בירושלים, באשקלון, ביפו, בעמנואל, בבאר שבע, אין מקום בטוח. הציבור החרדי, שמאז ומתמיד קיצץ בנטיעות שלנו, עכשיו הוא עוקר אותן משורש. הוא ישמיד ויאבד ערכים בסיסיים, שבלעדיהם אין למדינה מפותחת ודמוקרטית תקומה; היא אבודה, אם לא תשיב מלחמה שערה.
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רדים הכריזו על מרד עכשיו מסיבה ברורה: הם יודעים שיש להם סיכויים טובים לנצח... בכל מדינה אחרת הם מצייתים בהרכנת ראש לשלטונות, כי דינא דמלכותא דינא. רק כאן, במדינה שלא טרחו בהקמתה, ואינם עמלים על קיומה, רק בישראל דינא לא דינא, והם עושים דין לעצמם.
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רק בישראל מותר להם להשתגע, כי מתירים להם. הנה, רק לפני כשנה אסר בית משפט בלונדון על בית ספר חרדי פרטי לבדוק בציציות יהדותם של מועמדים לקבלה. וראה זה פלא - לא פרץ ולא צווחה. שלומי-אמוני נשקו על פיו של השופט, ואולי גם באברי גוף אחרים.
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את הפורענות הזאת הבאנו על עצמנו במו ידינו, בקוצר ידינו; הרווחנו אותה בהפסדים חוזרים ובוויתורים נשנים. אם בכל מדינה ראוייה לשמה עושים ככל שניתן כדי להפריד בין פוליטיקה לדת, אצלנו הן משמשות בערבוביה, משתמשות בכתר אחד, משתכשכות באותו בוץ, ושתיהן מתלכלכות.
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המלחמה הזאת, שלא ביקשנו ונכפתה עלינו, אסור להפסיד. את החרדים, במריים, חייבים להעמיד במקומם, כדי שגם לנו יהיה מקום לחיות.

What is Islamophobia?

Ibn Warraq has just published an in interesting post on the question What is Islamophobia? While the views expressed are not new to Ibn Warraq, an ex-Moslem who lives in constant fear from religious fundamentalists, this will surely will fuel a debate on the line between legitimate criticism and bigotry.

A sober look at Hanukkah

Those who underwent Jewish upbringing may have received the religious rationalization for Hanukkah: a standard take on the few vs. many/David and Goliath fable. A legend that contained the right mixture of miracles, self sacrifice, and reckless acts of "heroism", it mainly served in the propaganda of the religious right and settler terrorists, who are perhaps the only ones in Israel to commemorate it with fanfare.

But what has traditionally been a very minor Jewish holiday has become in the diaspora synonymous with "the Jewish Christmas" for no reason other than because Jewish parents in the complacent post-Christian West felt the pressure to compete with the popular ritual of shopping orgy and excess taking place every Christmas. Only naturally, the politically correct were quick to embrace the Hanukkah token as a rhetorical nod to the false god of tolerance (using the word 'Hanukkah' proves that I'm enlightened and open minded).

To those of us who were blissfully ignorant of it, David Brooks of the NY Times offers a synopsis of the religious and the secular versions of the Hanukkah story:

The Maccabees are best understood as moderate fanatics. They were not in total revolt against Greek culture. They used Greek constitutional language to explain themselves. They created a festival to commemorate their triumph (which is part of Greek, not Jewish, culture). Before long, they were electing their priests.

On the other hand, they were fighting heroically for their traditions and the survival of their faith. If they found uncircumcised Jews, they performed forced circumcisions. They had no interest in religious liberty within the Jewish community and believed religion was a collective regimen, not an individual choice.

They were not the last bunch of angry, bearded religious guys to win an insurgency campaign against a great power in the Middle East, but they may have been among the first. They retook Jerusalem in 164 B.C. and rededicated the temple. Their regime quickly became corrupt, brutal and reactionary. The concept of reform had been discredited by the Hellenizing extremists. Practice stagnated. Scholarship withered. The Maccabees became religious oppressors themselves, fatefully inviting the Romans into Jerusalem.

To summarize, looking at the picture as a whole, Hanukkah is pretty much the same three-G combination (God, Gore, and Greed) you see in the story behind every other religious holiday. Keep it in mind when you decorate your Hanukkah bush.

Jolly holiday and a happy new year!