Scrabble Day Day 104 of 2008 262 days left in this year

PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Tumbuna: Ancestors
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY

 WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK — Draft of Maui County General Plan
WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK — JibJab.com
PODCAST OF THE WEEK — The Ethicist, NYT
 BLOG OF THE WEEK —  TheRoot.com

Now, to be accurate, this Bishop is an Episcopalian Bishop, not Catholic, but he has written a new book which is shaking up religious studies considerably, and in Europe, has caused quite a sensation among Catholics. The book is called, Jesus for the Non-Religious. To summarize the book would do injustice to the Bishop’s wonderfully clear writing, and dull the personal and emotional energy he gives his words.

But, to give you a sense of just what the Bishop has said, given his 45 years of work in Christianity, here’s a few points:

• The majority of the Bible is bunk, and the good parts are primarily fiction.
• The parents of Jesus - Mary and Joseph - are myth, created for a story.
• No, of course Jesus didn’t bodily resurrect.
• Earth really is almost 5 billion years old - get over it.
• Absolutely not, Jesus didn’t “do” any miracles, how naive do you think we are?

What makes these revelations so powerful - they’ve been made before in other contexts - is not only is a well-respected Bishop saying them, he is using the Bible and original-language study to make his points, and only rarely does he throw in science and other topics.

Christianity is the largest religious sect in the world, and Catholics are the largest group with in that sect. Like all sects, Christianity has enormous problems of logic, common sense, and decency. Anyone who has not swallowed the propaganda their parents fed them as children, anyone who has learned to exercise good judgment and clear thinking, can see their way through the lies. Yet still, it is rare that this happens and even rarer that someone in power within the sect shows such intellect and strength of character.

It is this ability to allow and even survive such strong criticism within itself that makes Christianity as powerful as it is today. After all, there are no Muslims out there within the power base criticizing  the Koran and its major interpreters. Hell, Muslims don’t even have the courage to criticize the murderers in their own sect. (They are cowards, and this makes them the most dangerous sect in the world today.)

The pity is that this pope has not only NOT recognized this strength within his own religion, he has worked all his life to defeat it.

That he is meeting a man claiming to be president of the United States, who is unthinking and uncaring, is, to be sure, a meeting of common minds.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — April 13th

• 1861: After 34 hours of bombardment, Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces 
• 1865: Sherman’s march through Georgia begins 
• 1883: Alfred Packer is convicted of cannibalism and receives the death sentence
• 1902: JC Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer Wyoming 
• 1933: The first flight is made over Mount Everest (Lord Clydesdale) 
• 1986: Pope John Paul II meets Rome’s Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff at a Rome synagogue 
• 1997: Tiger Woods, 21, becomes the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament and the first person of African heritage to claim a major golf title.
• 1999: Jack Kervorkian is sentenced in Pontiac Michigan to 10 to 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder 

BORN ON THIS DAY — April 13th

•  1519: Catherine de Medicis, Queen consort of Henry II of France
•  1743: Thomas Jefferson, (D-R), 3rd U.S. president
• 1852: Frank W Woolworth, 5 & 10 King
• 1906: Samuel Beckett, French playwright
• 1907: Harold Stassen, (Gov-R-Minn) perennial pres candidate 
• 1909: Eudora Welty, U.S. novelist  
• 1939: Barbara-Rose Collins, (Rep-D-Michigan) 
• 1944: Jack Casady, bassist 
• 1946: Al Green, singer
• 1950: Riff West, rocker
• 1950: Ron Perlman,  actor
• 1964: Page Hannah, actress
• 1969: Harold Pruett, rocker
• 1970: Rick Schroder, actor