Ironic nativity
When all else fails, use the Force
Great Britain's fourth largest religion wants official recognition from the United Nations. But even with strength of number, it's hard for a Jedi to get some respect. (Perhaps if their light-sabers took more than two AA batteries?)
Evil
A Sikh teen in Scotland was the victim of other teens, who attacked him in a public park and forcibly cut his hair.
Holy Water?
A Canadian Church tackles an oft-ignored moral issue- reliance of wasteful bottled water.
The Sydney Morning Herald visits the magical Well of Madron.
Pravda recycles the annual miracle-water claims, while another brand of miracle water carries some health risks.
Groaners
Links
Weird: When Witch-Wars Go Bad
Interesting: Chasidic rap explosion
Comments
That Half-year in Hell story isn’t an isolated case, either. I teach high school, and last year there were 2 Polish exchange students. One of them was so disgusted with her host family and their religious zealotry that she ended her visit to the US after only 1 semester. The second student spent most of her first semester sitting in my classroom crying because she couldn’t take their constant attempts at religious indoctrination.
This second student’s situation was very disturbing. She was not permitted to read any books other than the bible and textbooks. Only religious programming and videos were permitted. Trips to places of entertainment - bowling alleys, movie theaters, and school dances were prohibited. She was required to attend church at least 3 times per week.
She managed to gain some leniency from the parents after the regional director of exchange programs was contacted, but the 5 months leading up to that were hell for her.
From what I can tell, these people consider their hosting a foreign child a form of missionary work. Their intent is not to allow a child to have a complete experience in the US, but rather to “win a soul for Jesus”.
It’s deceptively disgusting.
I’m sorry to hear that. Sadly, some people think that ‘winning’ a soul is more important than any other consideration- even if it requires deception on their part.
And then there’s the non-water drawbacks to bottled water. How many trucks per year cart bottled water? At a metric tonne per 42 cases that’s a lot of gas burned to carry that cargo (not to mention the truck itself). And the recycling trucks, and the energy used in the recycling process, and the run-off from the recycling plant, and the energy from the bottling plant, driving to the store to get the water, refrigeration…