Christians and divorce

Divorce—The grave sin of divorce condemns those who divorce and remarry (Matthew 5:32) and those who divorce in the civil sense (except by grave dispensation). Hence divorce between two baptized Christians is a mortal sin. Yet, many Christians get divorced. 

Barna report: Variation in divorce rates among Christian faith groups: 

Denomination (in order of decreasing divorce rate) 
% who have been divorced 

Non-denominational **34% 
Baptists29% 
Mainline Protestants25% 
Mormons24% 
Catholics21% 
Lutherans21% 
** Barna uses the term "non-denominational" to refer to Evangelical Christian congregations that are not affiliated with a specific denomination. The vast majority are fundamentalist in their theological beliefs. More info. 

So, Christians rail against all sorts of evils because they are sins according to their belief system. Yet divorce is also a sin according to their belief system. Yet, they are willing to get divorced in large numbers. Why the hypocrisy?

Sam Harris videos

Game, set, match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6iHe0ra_UM&feature=related

Sam Harris simply destroys Catholicism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=AcO4TnrskE0

Sam Harris destroys theistic arguments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=i9GZOrxypTc

Sam Harris CRUSHES Christian Dogma

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCw5NO75VbQ&feature=related

How many people would it take to create a healthy community?

Biologists striving to save threatened animal species from extinction have developed some rules of thumb for estimating population sizes to overcome genetic problems:

• A size of 500 to 5000 individuals may ensure overall genetic diversity (Frankham). 
• Another figure (based on work by Soulé and Foose in 1986) states a founding population of 20 to 30 individuals that are unrelated and non-inbred would preserve 90% of the original genetic diversity for 200 years.
• An initial population size (the founders) of 50 (Frankham and Franklin) avoids inbreeding problems. 

Rules of thumb, however, rest on theoretical modeling, without much experimental evidence to support the predictions.  Unfortunately, this is especially true of projecting populations needed to colonize space.  So, let's consider a bit of history.  What worked on Earth?

A case study

Starting in 1816, fifteen British immigrants settled the most remote island on our planet, Tristan de Cunha ― located almost half way between Cape Town, Africa and Buenos Aires, South America in the Atlantic Ocean.  We know much about the islanders' founders and their lonely struggle for survival.  Colonizing a remote island is similar to colonizing a remote planet. 

It all started with Napoleon, imprisoned on St Helena, about 2,430 kilometers (1,510 mi) to the north.  The Brits had exiled Napoleon to this tiny windswept island in 1815. But now, rumors of rescue plans reached the halls of Parliament.  What if the French launched a rescue of Napoleon from Tristan? In August 1816, Britain annexed Tristan de Cunha to thwart the possibility.

The Royal Army sent five officers and 36 soldiers from South Africa to take possession of Tristan da Cunha in 1816. Corporal William Glass from Kelso in Scotland, with his South African wife and two children, asked to stay when the troops withdrew a year later. 

Glass and his family became the first settlers of Tristan.  In all, just 15 people (seven founders and eight men) founded the colony, says geneticist Himla Soodyall from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.  They arrived at various times between 1816 and 1908.  Colonizing over the decades undoubtedly increased the colony's genetic diversity and helped them survive. 

We have traced the mitochondrial DNA of the present approximately 300 people back to just five female ancestors, including one pair of sisters, says Soodyall.  The population grew and fell with the flow of immigrants and disasters:

• By 1827, shipwrecked sailors, brides from St. Helena and South African settlers boosted the total from 15 to 24 (7 men, 6 women and 11 children)
• 1832:  population of 34 with 6 couples and 22 children
• 1852: 85 people
• 1856:  population reached 96, then fell to 71 when 25 left for Massachusetts after Glass' death
• 1857: population crashed to 28 (only four families) because 46 left on the rescue frigate HMS Geyser, to avoid starving to death.
• 1887 started off well with a population of 107, but then 15 out of the island's19 adult men died at sea trying to intercept the ship, West Riding, and barter for food. Their potato crop had failed, so, despite poor weather, the men launched their longboat and were never seen again.  This left only 92 people (4 elderly men and 88 women and children)
• 1890:  34 emigrated to South Africa, leaving 58 on the island.
• 1987: population of 296.  [Data from Steve Mack and Arnaldo Faustini.]

Only seven family names are in use now, corresponding to the original eight male founders (minus one).  Any pair of the 300 islanders is as closely related as first cousins.  But it's a healthy human population since it survived.  The people (taken as a group) were able to cope with the hardships they encountered, and the few inheritable diseases were not life-threatening. 

By and large, this is an impressively successful (and lucky) colonization still viable almost 200 years later.

http://www.wonderquest.com/space-colonization.htm

The biblical god kills people for absurd reasons

Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to another man, "Strike me!"  But the man refused to strike the prophet.  Then the prophet told him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will kill you as soon as you leave me."  And sure enough, when he had gone, a lion attacked and killed him.  (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)


And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, `and' fifty thousand men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter.  And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?   (1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV)


 From there Elisha went up to Bethel.  While he was on his way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him.  "Go up baldhead," they shouted, "go up baldhead!"  The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed them in the name of the Lord.  Then two shebears came out of the woods and tore forty two of the children to pieces.  (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)

The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house of Abinadab on the hill.  Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab guided the cart, with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the Israelites made merry before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God to steady it, for the oxen were making it tip.  But the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died there before God.  (2 Samuel 6:3-7 NAB)

Top Marine says service is embracing the gay ban repeal

Since the lifting two months ago of a longstanding U.S. ban on gays serving openly in the military, U.S. Marines across the globe have adapted smoothly and embraced the change, says their top officer, Gen. James F. Amos, who previously had argued against repealing the ban during wartime. "I'm very pleased with how it has gone," Amos said in an Associated Press interview during a week-long trip that included four days in Afghanistan, where he held more than a dozen town hall-style meetings with Marines of virtually every rank.

Our men and women in uniform are some of the bravest, strongest, most selfless people on the planet. I had no doubt that they would handle this change with dignity. What did surprise me was the number of people (many who count themselves as strong supporters of the military) who did doubt that our armed forces could or would adapt. These people put their lives on the line every day and they already serve with (and know of) gay soldiers - they weren't going to fall apart just because those gay soldiers are finally allowed to come out of the closet.

As always, my hat is off to the men and women serving this country. Thank you.

Christianity and Poor Countries

There is a popular notion among Christian missionaries that Christianity is a panacea for all the ills of the world, that it alone held the solution to all human problems, and therefore all should get converted to Christianity.  

Here are some examples that will help explode this notion:

Ethiopia, the world's oldest Christian country, adhering to Christianity for more than a thousand years, is also the poorest country in the world. More than a thousand years of Christianity did not mitigate the awful poverty of its people and religion did not help raise their standard of living. Just a decade ago millions perished due to famine. The citizens of Ethiopia continue to remain ill-fed, ill-clothed and illiterate, steeped in poverty and disease. War and poverty still remain the dominant realities in Africa.

In South America - Brazil is said to be the largest Roman Catholic country in the world. In 1996 about 76 percent of the population, or about 122 million people, declared Roman Catholicism as their religion. A third of Brazilians live on $1. One-third of Brazil's population, or some 58 million people, live on less than a dollar a day, a report says. The "Map of Hunger" report, by the local Getulio Vargas Foundation, says poverty has increased greatly in cities over the past decade.

Christianity is the dominant religion of Peru. Roman Catholics are the major tradition, with 88.8% of the population . Currently 54% of Peruvian citizens live below the poverty line.

The Philippines, is perhaps the most staunch Christian ( today 83% of Philippinos are Christians) nation of Asia, remains among the most backward. Conversion to Christianity did not raise the country economically. Religion was imposed on the people by the Conquistadors who imposed the Catholic faith against the will of the Ilocanos in the pretext to grab their land and gold. The cross came in the form of sword.

Iowa caucus results: Mitt Romney beats Rick Santorum by 8 votes

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney eked out a narrow victory over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, winning the first contest for the Republican presidential nomination, the Hawkeye state's Republican party chairman Matt Strawn said early Wednesday morning after a long night with the two candidates in a dead heat.

Santorum pulled off a stunning come from behind performance in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, garnering just eight fewer votes than a much better funded and better organized Romney in the closest Iowa contest since the modern caucuses were formed in 1976.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57351741-503544/iowa-caucus-results-mitt-romney-beats-rick-santorum-by-8-votes/

Results for Iowa Republican Caucus (U.S. Presidential Primary)

Jan 03, 2012 (100% of precincts reporting)

Mitt Romney	30,015	24.6%
Rick Santorum	30,007	24.5%
Ron Paul	26,219	21.4%
Newt Gingrich	16,251	13.3%
Rick Perry	12,604	10.3%