France: Ban on Wearing Veils

France's ban on wearing veils in public went into effect today (read more here or here).  I think it's disturbing.  

The French have said that the veils are a "sign of enslavement" and therefore, aren't welcome.  I would think that the government telling you if you can practice your religious beliefs is more of an example of "enslavement" than covering one's face.  

I understand that there are probably women who do not want to cover their faces.  However, I also understand that there are a lot of these women who would be mortified to have to show their faces in public.  

It's outright religious persecution.  It's absolutely unacceptable.

What if it was turned around and suddenly it was Christianity being persecuted?  What if suddenly the government decided that people couldn't wear cross/crucifix necklaces because they could be used as a weapon?  It's ridiculous, I know.  But, so is forcing women to show their faces when it goes against their religious beliefs.  

I am not a Muslim, but if I were in France right now, I'd be right there with those ladies wearing a burqa in protest.  

We Can Know ... ?

With all of the natural disasters and the radiation leaks from Japan, I find myself wondering about the end of the world.  I know I'm not the only one.  

I don't spend every waking moment thinking about it.  It's just when I hear of something else terrible, like another earthquake or Japan dumping radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.  

Did you know that there have been 107 earthquakes since January 1, 2011 with a magnitude 6.0 or greater (you can do a search of all earthquakes here)?  There were only 60 earthquakes 6.0 magnitude or greater in the same time period in 2010.  In fact, there were only 173 total in 2010.  Going back further, there were only THIRTY-FOUR earthquakes above 6.0 in 2009 in the same time period.  And only 161 in the entire year.  This intrigued me, so I kept thinking about it.  

I went back a few years and this is what I found:

It certainly looks like we've had a lot of strong earthquakes this year.  Many, many more than in this time period in years past.   The average for the past 10 years (in this time period) is 0.462 earthquakes of 6.0 magnitude or greater per day, or one earthquake every 2.29 days.  For this year, there are 1.138 earthquakes of 6.0 magnitude or greater per day, or one earthquake every 0.879 days.  

Scary, right?  I really shouldn't think about it as much as I do.  It just intrigues me, and then I have to do some research!

Anyway, I'm not the only person "researching" about possibilities for the end of the world.  I keep seeing these "We can know" billboards all over Denver:

Basically, these people think that they can predict the rapture.  The rapture will begin on May 21, 2011 (the actual end of days will be October 21, 2011).  Do I believe them?  No.  But, funny thing, they think that the rapture will begin with a giant earthquake.  ;)

They claim that the Bible has shown them the date.  I think it's a load of crap.  But, I'm sure there are plenty of people who believe.  Otherwise, how could they afford all of the billboards?!  ;)

Anyway, I often wonder about groups like these.  I mean, this isn't the first group who have "predicted" the end of times at a specific date.  Obviously, all of the previous groups have been wrong.  So, what happens to the group?  Do they come up with some kind of excuse and continue or do they accept failure and disband?  What happens to the members?  Do they lose faith after God broke God's supposed "promise" to destroy the earth on X date?  Or do they join the next end of days prediction group?  

I don't know.  I imagine that it could be quite disappointing for members.  But, since I'm enjoying my time here on earth, I'm going to go ahead and hope that they are disappointed.  ;)

My Views: Religion

Recently, I have been asked quite often what exactly I believe when it comes to religion. My views are simple but complex. And, what I mean by that is, I am still not solidly sure as to exactly what I believe. So, technically I guess you would define me as agnostic.

I believe in a higher being. I choose to call that higher being God. I used to be Christian. However, I could not believe in many tenants of the religion. The biggest thing being the resurrection. Even after I accepted that I was a heretic (at the very least), I still held out hope that I could be a Christian. There is a lot of pressure in our country for people to be Christian. Others are different and looked down upon. Besides that, I was comfortable with that title. It's what I had always been. It was scary to think about being something other than Christian.

Peer pressure and comfort weren't the only reasons I stayed. I love Jesus. I believe that Jesus existed; I know that he was a real person. And, I think that the teachings of Jesus were wonderful and amazing. He showed real love towards his fellow humans. He was compassionate and understanding and forgiving. He was a truly good person. I just couldn't believe that he was anything more than human.

So, I clung to that title of Christian. It was only just recently that I accepted that I am not really Christian. I accept that I am agnostic. On a good day, I consider myself a pluralist. I take the ideas that I like from all sorts of religions and use them to make sense of the higher being that I believe in. There are ideas that I believe in from Christianity to Buddhism to Islam to Hinduism to Judaism and many other religions.

I am (and always have been) fascinated by religion (probably why I ended up being a Religion & Philosophy major in college). Lately I have not spent as much time pondering religion. I think that it is out of business and fear. First, I've got a lot going on, so there isn't as much time for pondering. Second, I've become fearful that if I look closely, I may come too close to the line between atheism and agnosticism. I don't want to lose my belief in a higher being. But, as of late, I've been less and less able to come up with reasons why I still believe.

I guess I am just going on faith. So, for the time being, I believe in a higher being. I don't really know much beyond that. I try to be as good of a human being as I can be (despite the fact that I don't believe in heaven or hell -- I don't think that a good and loving God would send anyone to hell and I just can't fathom a heaven after life).

I am currently content to exist as agnostic. I am living my life without knowing... but, in reality, who can really KNOW.