Happy palm sunday!

Looking for a good samaritan

With a U.S. address. I’m going to bid for an item in eBay, but the seller would only ship to a US address. If I win the auction, I will use your address to send the item. Once you receive it, you will then send it to my address in the Philippines. I will reimburse the shipping cost through PayPal. Any takers? Post a comment below or email me (see right).

Catholic Church vs. condoms, again

Catholic bishops in the Philippines are furious that the new Health Secretary is promoting condom use to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. They have issued a debate challenge wherein they would make the claim that condoms are “porous”. Secretary Cabral shot back, accepting the challenge but only if it stays clear of religious arguments. Good for her not backing down.

It saddens me that the Catholic Church still uses this old and discredited claim. Their concern against condoms isn’t about its efficacy per se, but for moral issues. If what they say is true, that current condoms in the market have holes that allow HIV to pass through, and manufacturers make new condoms that are totally sealed and incapable of rupturing, would the Church advocate its use? Of course not.

Let the Church educate its laity on the morality of condom use. If they succeed in inculcating an awareness of the Church’s position on Natural Law and morality, then no one would use condoms even if it were freely available.

But please, let’s stop the lies.

Christian atheism?

The way I see it, Christian Atheism is an entirely valid position. I don't believe in any gods, and I don't believe that Jesus the Nazarene was even that special. He is, however, the focus of a rather remarkable phenomenon that crystallised out of the supersaturated religious solution of the Roman Empire. Now, whether we accept that the "Impostle Paul" (Saul of Tarsus) made the most of this up or not, we are left with this concept of a "Christ" which has become attached to the story of a Galilean teacher in 1st Century CE Palestine. Jesus, in many ways, can be viewed as a retrospective Christ, not crowned by God, but by us. (source)

An interesting position. Though I would speak less of Christ and more about Jesus of Nazareth.

Biblical studies carnival

The latest carnival is now available at Anumma. And it’s a “Blogroll Amnesty Edition”, which means the host made it a point to link to smaller blogs (like mine, which he generously linked a few times). I also applaud the host for linking through the massive debate about Jesus Mythicism, giving a voice both to scholars who affirm a historical Jesus, and an outspoken mythicist.

All in all, a lot of good articles. Much thanks and kudos to Brooke!