"The Religious Policeman: ?A Saudi man?s diary of life in the ?Magic Kingdom?, where the Religious Police ensure that everything remains as it was in the Middle Ages?"

Grok Headline matches for "The Religious Policeman: ?A Saudi man?s diary of life in the ?Magic Kingdom?, where the Religious Police ensure that everything remains as it was in the Middle Ages?"

The Religious Policeman

The Religious Policeman 04/20/2004 03:19 PM
The Religious Policeman (Saudi!) .. written from inside Saudi Arabia

muttawa.blogspot.com
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Virtually every religious faction is
laying claim to the Bill Murray classic
as a relevant religious allegory

Virtually every religious faction is
laying claim to the Bill Murray classic
as a relevant religious allegory 12/08/2003 09:16 AM
One film unites all religions .. Groundhog Almighty .. New York Times

nytimes.com/2003/12/07/fashion/07HOG.html
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BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran's
sportswomen adapt to religious custom

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran's
sportswomen adapt to religious custom 08/17/2004 09:01 AM
"The result is that women are increasingly turning to sports such as golf and riding where the strict dress code can be adhered to in public." .. only Iranian woman athlete in the 2004 Olympics .. profiles

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3570040.stm
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Life Everlasting-the religious right and
the right to die

Life Everlasting-the religious right and
the right to die 03/29/2005 08:54 AM
Does the right to life trump the right to die? In an increasingly hysterical debate surrounding Terry Schiavo, Garret Keizer provides a thought-provoking analysis of who should decide when and how a person dies: "The alarms raised in America’s ongoing right-to-die debate have always been characterized by a curious selectivity. You will notice, for example, how the fear of playing God operates exclusively on one side of the medical playground. Thus to help a patient end his or her life “prematurely” is playing God, while extending it in ways and under conditions that no God lacking horns and a cloven hoof could ever have intended is the mandate of “our Judeo-Christian heritage” and the Hippocratic oath."

Malaysia reins in religious police
(Reuters)

Malaysia reins in religious police
(Reuters) 03/24/2005 08:52 AM
Reuters - Malaysia has clipped the wings of its religious police, warning that it did not want to be like Afghanistan under Taliban rule, and ordered national police supervision of their controversial raids.

Religious

Religious 04/15/2005 10:02 AM
Translating to English

"No Sex Please, We're Religious "

"No Sex Please, We're Religious " 05/22/2004 03:49 AM

Yet Another Religious War

Yet Another Religious War 04/08/2005 04:59 AM

Cool, yet another Mac-verus-PC religious war is breaking out, this time over the behavior of Finder/Explorer in rep lacing/merging folders.

Religious coverage

Religious coverage 07/17/2004 12:51 PM
Jay Rosen: Puzzling through the convention story, because I'm heading right for it, made me to realize that journalism's contempt for ritual—and if "contempt" is too strong, then the difficulty the press has in understanding the conventions as ritual—was deeply involved here. Ritual is newsless; therefore it must be meaningless. But is that really true? And that's what leads me to the forum now happening at The Revealer ... If a religion writer covered the presidential campaign, would campaign coverage be any different? My reasons for asking this months ago, when we started planning the forum, were vague. Now they're...

Religious Liberty

Religious Liberty 05/13/2004 09:25 PM
The Alliance Defense Fund, which describes itself as a legal alliance of more than 700 attorneys defending religious liberty, announced Thursday it has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose and Mayor Ron Gonzales in an effort to...

The religious right dance in NYC

The religious right dance in NYC 08/31/2004 10:21 PM

UK ban on religious jokes

UK ban on religious jokes 06/22/2005 02:20 AM
Independant: "As MPs vote on whether to go ahead with a Bill that could outlaw religious jokes, we celebrate comedy's...

"American religious experience"

"American religious experience" 12/31/2003 09:35 AM

Avenging angel of the religious right

Avenging angel of the religious right 01/07/2004 05:36 PM
Quirky millionaire Howard Ahmanson Jr. is on a mission from God to stop gay marriage, fight evolution, defeat "liberal" churches -- and reelect George W. Bush.

Novell gets religious about Linux

Novell gets religious about Linux 04/09/2004 04:02 PM
Bob Mims, business writer for the "Salt Lake Tribune," called it "Brother Jack's Operating System Salvation Show," likening this year's BrainShare to an old-time revival tent meeting with Jack Messman calling out the hallelujahs for the Linux operating system and open source software.

Non-religious RE lessons idea

Non-religious RE lessons idea 02/14/2004 08:03 PM
Religious education in England should include discussion of non-religious beliefs, a think tank suggests.

Religious Man Wants to Rename Mt. Diablo
(AP)

Religious Man Wants to Rename Mt. Diablo
(AP) 04/14/2005 03:55 PM
AP - An Oakley man has asked the federal government to rename Mount Diablo, saying the current name, which means devil in Spanish, is offensive to his religious sensibilities.

American religious experience

American religious experience 12/30/2003 02:57 PM
What the hell happened .. "The National Creed." .. David Brooks notes .. op-ed page

nytimes.com/2003/12/30/opinion/30BROO.html
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Airborne Religious Experience

Airborne Religious Experience 03/06/2004 01:55 AM
James Derk writes in the Evansville Courier & Press, �I travel a lot and I have to say that an iPod full of tunes and Bose Quiet Comfort 2 noise-canceling headphones on my head is as close to a religious experience I have ever had in an aircraft.� [Mar 1]

Sharon looks to religious parties

Sharon looks to religious parties 07/13/2004 08:50 AM
Israeli PM Ariel Sharon reportedly asks two religious parties to discuss joining his coalition.

New religious hate laws planned

New religious hate laws planned 07/07/2004 12:55 AM
The government is due to announce another attempt at introducing a new law against inciting religious hatred.

Nigeria religious strife kills 67

Nigeria religious strife kills 67 05/03/2004 03:04 PM
At least 67 bodies have been recovered after clashes between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, police say.

Kitschy religious items for Xmas

Kitschy religious items for Xmas 12/07/2003 06:05 AM
The 12 Days of Kitschmas is a gallery of twelve utterly tasteless (and apparently sincere and unironic) items of religious paraphenalia. Don't miss the five-inch-nail-Xmas-ornament, a $8.99 remembrance of the crucifiction for your tree. Link (via Making Light)

Religious Americans look on the Internet
for answers

Religious Americans look on the Internet
for answers 05/25/2004 02:49 PM
Chicago Tribune May 25 2004 7:21PM GMT

Religious hate law revolt fails

Religious hate law revolt fails 06/22/2005 01:59 AM
The government survives a backbench revolt over plans for a law to ban the incitement to religious hatred.

Stand collapses at religious show

Stand collapses at religious show 08/29/2004 04:28 PM
Three people trapped after seating collapsed at a Christian festival near Lincoln are freed by rescuers.

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter 06/24/2005 04:02 PM

Over a ball-breaking glass of Fantome Brise-Bonbons at Blind Tiger last night, I made a stunning revelation: I'm totally entranced by this Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes experiment. It has everything I could ever want from a news story: Potential brainwashing, aliens, ninjas (well, Tom was a samurai once, which is like a ninja with a bamboo fetish), and gadgets. One in particular: the 'e-meter,' or 'Electro-psychometer,' a "pastoral counseling device" used by the Church of Scientology to detect, among other things, the emotional state and thoughts of those attached to the device.

The original device was developed by Volney Mathison, a chiropractor, as an aid to psychotherapy, ironic considering the vehemence held by Scientologists against conventional psychiatric therapy. At heart, the e-Meters are based on the simple circuitry of the Wh eatstone Bridge, which measures resistance to current passed through a human body (or anything else that can be connected to the 'can' electrode probes, including vegetables). Scientology founder and principal prophet L. Ron Hubbard introduced the original e-meter in the '50s [pictured above], leading up to the 'Mark V,' which was the e-Meter of choice for the religion until the 'Mark VI' was released in the 80s, powered by an Intel 8051 microprocessor.

Find out more about the only electronic gadget that is also an official 'rel igious artifact' after the jump.

The Mark V was not the very first e-Meter, but certainly enjoyed a long period of use. These models may still be found and purchased for a relatively inexpensive $200 or so, although to be used in official Church procedures, must undergo a yearly $150 certification process. E-Meters previous to the Mark V had been seized by the FDA.

Developed in 1979, the Mark VI was the first major upgrade since the Mark V and was in use heavily, despite occasional technical inadequacies that caused some machines to break down. This e-Meter has a built-in clock.

The Super VII, developed in the late 80s, was reported to be much more reliable than the Mark VII, and featured the 'technical' precision to perform 'upper level auditing.' These units are no longer produced by Hubbard's Church, but can be found occasionally on eBay for between $300 and $900. Like all in-service e-meters, the Super VII must be sent in for an annual certification.

The Cadillac of current official offerings, the Quantum Super VII is the ultimate in e-meter artifacts, priced at over $4,500 new. From e-meter.org.uk's Quantum Super VII page, which may or may not be an official outlet of the Church: "Using the meter, the auditor ensures the process covers the correct area in order to discharge the harmful energy connected with that portion of the preclear’s reactive mind. When charge lessens, the person heightens his ability to think clearly in the area being addressed and his survival potential increases proportionately. As a result, the preclear discovers things about himself and his life – new realizations about existence, the milestones that mark his gains."

Since the design of the e-meter itself is relatively simple from an electronic standpoint, many third-party manufacturers have built generic models, including models that connect to PCs or PDAs for statistics monitoring and tracking. If you'd like to get more details about the variety of e-meters and e-meter clones available, check out Clearbird's fantasticly comprehensive All Meters: The E-Meter Supersite. For more information about the e-Meter's history and use, the Secrets of Scientology page by David S. Touretzky is equally thorough. The Church's official site is here.

And yes, this is probably the last 'Religious Gadget Thursday,' since, well, that's it.

Religious pray for quake victims

Religious pray for quake victims 01/02/2005 06:13 AM
Scotland's faith communities will gather to pray for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom 01/03/2004 07:20 PM

I finally got around to reading Cory Doctorow's novella, "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." It's quite good, and he's got it posted for free on his Web site (in no less than 17 different formats). You may know Doctorow know from Boing Boing fame.

If you've been to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, the book will mean more to you because it revolves around the park. It's set in a future where bodies are cloned and if you die, you just restore a clone from backup. Consequently, you lose everything since your last backup. I have to admit that I'll never look at backups quite the same way again.

Another central concept (borrowed from blogrolls, perhaps), is "Whuffie." There is no money in this world, everything is bought by reputation. The more people like you, the more Whuffie you have, the more power you have. When you meet someone new, you "ping their Whuffie," to see if they're worth your time.

The actual plot revolves around The Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom and the "ad hoc" political groups that have formed to manage them like little countries. The group managing the Hall of Presidents has designs on taking over The Haunted Mansion. Intrigue ensues.

It's short — you can put it away in a couple of hours. It's winning some great sci-fi awards as well. Worth checking out.

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India bans religious riot movie

India bans religious riot movie 08/06/2004 01:23 PM
India bans documentary film Final Solution, which examines violence between Hindus and Muslims in 2002.

Book describing US teen religious
beliefs

Book describing US teen religious
beliefs 04/05/2005 03:05 PM
"Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" documents the findings and authors' conclusions from interviews conducted across 45 states.
A major theory in this study is called Moral Therapeutic Deism, a rather simplified belief system in which:
"God wants little more for us than to be good, happy capitalists...and to be good, happy capitalists, we should be good, unless if being good prevents us being happy." via via

devolve family law to sectarian
religious courts

devolve family law to sectarian
religious courts 01/16/2004 01:04 PM
this article from the Financial Times .. with this story .. decision .. FT

news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullSto ry&c=StoryFT&cid=1073281040335
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French Ban on Religious Items Passes
Test (AP)

French Ban on Religious Items Passes
Test (AP) 02/10/2004 12:00 PM
AP - France's lower house of parliament on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel in public schools.

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter :
Gizmodo

Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter :
Gizmodo 06/24/2005 06:16 PM
Religious Gadget Thursday: The E-Meter .. (Gizmodo-1pg)

gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/medical/religious-gadget-t hursday-the-emeter-109772.php
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Religious artifacts at the Scientology
museum... [Flickr]

Religious artifacts at the Scientology
museum... [Flickr] 03/22/2005 04:38 PM

Networks Placing Faith in Religious
Shows (AP)

Networks Placing Faith in Religious
Shows (AP) 04/04/2005 11:17 PM
AP - The Gospel according to Mel, as the TV industry views it, is that religion sells. With Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" ranked among the 10 highest-grossing movies ever and with glowing visions of "The Da Vinci Code" profits before them, TV networks are embracing a newfound faith.

7,000 Years of Religious Ritual Is
Traced in Mexico

7,000 Years of Religious Ritual Is
Traced in Mexico 12/22/2004 01:56 AM
The new findings are the fruit of 15 years of excavations in the Oaxaca Valley of southern Mexico that have brought to light a remarkably complete series of structures used for religious purposes.

CATHOLIC LEAGUE for Religious and Civil
Rights

CATHOLIC LEAGUE for Religious and Civil
Rights 08/12/2004 09:25 AM
they're also crazy to boot .. BUSH IS THE ANTI-CHRIST .. The League proclaims

catholicleague.org/04press_releases/quarter3/040811_madsde n.htm
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French President Suggests Banning
Religious Symbols

French President Suggests Banning
Religious Symbols 12/17/2003 02:24 PM
French President Suggests Banning Religious Symbols From the Washington Post: "French President Jacques Chirac asked parliament on Wednesday for a law banning Islamic head scarves and other religious insignia in public schools ... 'Secularism is one of the great successes of the Republic,' Chirac said in an address to the nation. 'It is a crucial element of social peace and national cohesion. We cannot let it weaken.' Chirac said he would push for a law to be enacted in time for the school year that begins next autumn. Islamic head scarves, Jewish skullcaps and large crucifixes would fall under the ban.

Man, just when I thought we could start referring to "freed om fries" as "french fries" again.
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