Religion

Disturbing footage of an exorcism went viral this weekend showing what appears to be a woman possessed by Islamic spirits known as Jinn.  The video was uploaded to YouTube entitled, “It’s time for the truth”, with its uploader explaining that Jinn are “spiritual beings that can attack humans by order of Shaitan or Iblis, the equivalent of satan in Christianity”. Mirror.co.uk reports: It goes onto say that “a demonic possession and an exorcism or deliverance exercise of a woman victim of one of these evil spiritual beings is shown”.

Princeton Professor Harry Frankfurt provides a succinct primer on why truth needs to prevail over bullshit - something that could be helpful for many.

"People should care about the truth, because the truth is the truth about how things are and it's important us to recognize how things are, not to pretend that it's something else. If you have the truth you know what reality is like, if you don't you're ignorant of reality"

"We are living in an age in which there's another alternative to the truth, and that's bullshit"

A new decree has been introduced in one of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods which forbids all girls over the age of five from riding bicycles. An Ultra-Orthodox Israeli rabbi claims the activity is “provocative” and could “cause serious damage to their modesty.” RT reports: The rabbi is from Jerusalem’s Nahloat district and part of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi branch of Judaism that rejects modern secular culture. His ruling was distributed to a number of synagogues.

If you read nothing else this weekend, make it this comment from a previous thread, by Edward Hamilton, who teaches at a small conservative Christian college in Texas:

“Technology has consequences for epistemology.”

Why do I bother? Because I’m a masochist. Shaun Kenney at Ethika Politika today:

This is my problem with the Benedict Option in a nutshell:

The Benedict Option is about forming communities that teach us and help us to live in such a way that our entire lives are witnesses to the transforming power of the Gospel.

This statement is totally meaningless. The Church does this. Why do we need a Benedict Option?