Posted on April 15th, 2008 in LOL, religion | Comments Off
To me, the ongoing protests between the internet community and the Church of Scientology is not getting nearly enough media attention. I suspect this might be due to the fact that anonymous web sites lack media coordinators and have difficulty putting out press releases.
At any rate, this coverage in the Baltimore City Paper is the best coverage I have seen anywhere. It is truly excellent journalism and is just another example of the great feature writing work that so called “alternative” weeklies are doing.
Instead of excerpting it, I’ll just quote the anonymous manifesto announcement:
Hello, Leaders of Scientology. We are Anonymous.
Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation; your suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you as their leaders, has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good of mankind, and for our own enjoyment, we shall proceed to expel you from the Internet and systematically dismantle the Church of Scientology in its present form. We recognize you as serious opponents, and do not expect our campaign to be completed in a short time. However, you will not prevail forever against the angry masses of the body politic. Your choice of methods, your hypocrisy, and the general artlessness of your organization have sounded its death knell.
We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.
From Wikipedia, a page devoted entirely to “Lamest Edit Wars” on Wikipedia:
Was Eris named after the Greek goddess Eris or the Greek and Discordian goddess Eris? Does it matter that the IAU and discoverer Michael E. Brown referenced only the Greek aspect, even though the referenced mythological event was identical with The Original Snub? Is mentioning Discordianism POV because it gives the religion undue weight? Edit war results in loss of good article status and temporary article locking. War finally resolved by not actually mentioning what type of goddess Eris is. See also: Pluto.
Morgan writes:
Dr. Albert Molher, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary here in Louisville, stated, “By any estimation, the Pill, in all of its forms, has led to a radical transformation of America’s moral landscape. It has facilitated extramarital and premarital sex on a scale unprecedented in human history.”
Artificial contraception leads people to view their body as mere instruments. I believe that to sever the act of reproduction from sex altogether is profoundly anti-humanistic. This is a mentality we must change.
Not to be an uppity feminist here, but what the heck is wrong with me thinking of my body as an instrument? Separating the act of sex from reproduction has some pretty obvious benefits for everyone involved, the most important of which is liberating women from the risk of an unwanted pregnancy.
The pill has given women unprecedented control over their own lives. It’s no coincidence that female participation in the workforce rises dramatically with use of oral contraception.
I’d love to agree with Al Mohler on something … anything, really. I just can’t see how he can believe that giving a woman greater control over her own bells and whistles really amounts to nothing more than a radical, presumably negative, “transformation of the moral landscape.”
The fact that the pill has facilitated better family planning and fewer unwanted pregnancies, I hope, isn’t a trifle for people like Mohler or our own Morgan. Personal liberty implies allowing free people to use new technologies however they wish, as painful as that might be to our delicate sensibilities.
… are definitely not these. Nonetheless, the American Family Association of Kentucky recommends that Governor Fletcher (amid weakening prospects for re-election) issue an Executive Order to achieve the following:
1) Place our national motto, “In God We Trust” over the doors of the Governor’s Office.
2) Implement Senate Joint Resolution 57, adopted by the 2000 General Assembly, which specifically mandates the words of the resolution be erected on a plaque in the area of the floral clock on capitol grounds. This documents what American Presidents have said about the influence of the Bible on American Institutions.
3) Resolve the issue of Domestic Partner Benefits at State Universities.
4) Display the Ten Commandments in a Historical Display in the Capitol or on Capitol Grounds.
