“I think it would be a mistake for people to theorize [he did this] because he is an adherent of this or that religious faith,” said Dinwiddie, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “The mental illness comes first, then flowing from that is the adoption of perhaps, unusual, religious beliefs.”

Afkhami also wondered if the public will place too much emphasis on Hasan’s religion. Based on Afkhami’s experience lecturing and working with the military, and plain common sense, it follows that few, if any, of those who oppose the war have turned to radical acts such as a shooting rampage.

“We’re missing a core underlying issue, there are tons of religious folks who are morally opposed to the war on some level who are still serving in the military and get things done,” said Afkhami.

Rather, Afkhami is convinced that a combination of stressors in Hasan’s life — especially in his role as a military psychiatrist — could have led him to a breakdown.

In this story, and in many things posted on this blog, we can see how religion and insanity (or even just power – take George W. Bush and his conversations with god for example) mix with dangerous results. If someone is feeling persecuted, and their religion says they’re on the side of god while others are evildoers, the stage is set for god-sanctioned retribution.

“By his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family,” Low said. “This was an attempt at an honor killing.”

Family members had told police that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he believed she had become too Westernized and was not living according to his traditional Iraqi values.

He ran her and her boyfriend’s mom down with his car. Almaleki, 20, died after being in a coma for two weeks and undergoing spinal surgery. It seems the other woman, Amal Khalaf, will survive.

• Scientology Revelations: ‘Presentation Drills,’ Beatdown Offerings, and Tom Cruise’s Audit Sessions
• Tom Cruise Controls Books and Bottles with His Mind
• Tom Cruise’s Wedding Cook Exposes Scientology’s Scary Retention Practices

Interestingly, Gibson suggests Haggis could improve rather than reject Scientology:

One mark of a “real” religion is its ability to reform or adapt. Some religions could be said to begin as cults and over time transform into religions. Similarly, religious traditions, or parts of them, can also degenerate into cults. But cults generally don’t last long because they are so obsessive and rigid that they cannot change in the face of challenges. Perhaps Haggis needs to start his own branch of Scientology. It’s a model that has worked before.

Judging by the inability of many “real” religions to, say, grant women and queer folks and people in other religions equal consideration and respect, I’m not sure that such a reform movement would do much to improve upon Scientology. Wouldn’t its transition from a questionably-culty new religion to a bonafide 100% legitimate religion just give them more power to control people?

Read Scientology: Ecclesiastical justice, Part 3 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology, for a glimpse into the controlling world of this belief system.

Previously:
Links roundup: What’s up, religion?

She said, “I didn’t want to be married at 14. [Sect members] honestly believe, and I did and so did my mother, that God sent down inspiration from heaven, like a strike of lightning, down to the prophet. This was God’s word. And we were to follow it, obediently and happily.”

How can a 14-year-old girl raised in this kind of environment be expected to resist her oppression, or even to know she has a right to live her own life? And how can we prevent similar abuses in other situations where humans say they’re carrying out god’s will?

Maybe the most important question is, how can any of us argue with someone’s faith? Can one have a rational discussion with someone who says their actions are justified by an all-powerful metaphysical being that they really, really believe in? If a society believes that religion is an acceptable defense for some oppressions (denying the morning-after pill to desperate teens, denying abortions to women, denying marriage to queer folks, and so on), isn’t that a slippery slope we’re on? How can we give institutional support to some practices, and decry others as immoral, if we’re all using “god’s word” as a justification for our actions?

• Teen May Have Died By Religious Ritual (Shamanistic, Korean ritual, performed in Virginia; the girl died of blunt force trauma and asphyxiation)
• Texas Polygamist Women Called “Pimps” (polygamist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints community allegedly sanctions marriages between young girls and grown men who already have multiple wives, and who are also accused of sexual assault and child abuse)
• Scientologists convicted of fraud in France: “The Paris case followed a complaint by two women, one of whom says she was manipulated into handing over 20,000 euros in 1998 for Scientology products including an ‘electrometer’ to measure mental energy.”
• Woman Threatened With Lashes for Wearing Pants (journalist and UN employee fights Muslim sharia law in Sudan)
• Taliban Video Shows Teen Girl Beaten for ‘Adultery’ (Muslim sharia law in Pakistan gives girl “lenient” whipping instead of stoning her to death, due to rumors she had hosted a man in her house)
• Afghan Human Rights Activists Angry at U.S. Indifference (Shiite Family Law justifies marital rape and says wives have to obey their husbands and get their permission to leave the house)
• Rekha Kalindi, Child Bride Who Defied Parents Inspires India (starved by her family for two weeks when she chose school over marriage at age twelve)
• ‘Crash’ director Paul Haggis renounces Scientology over gay rights: “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these [Proposition 8] bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent… I refuse to consent… I’ve never been good at following orders, especially when I find them morally reprehensible.” (Thank you, Paul!)

“We cannot afford to make enemies of all the churches around here,” [Sam Itauma of the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network] said. “But we know the vast majority of them are involved in the abuse even if their headquarters aren’t aware.”

Once a church has declared them to be witches, the children are exorcised by family, neighbors, and church officials, a process which could involve beatings, starvation, being buried alive or tortured with acid or nails, being set on fire… the list goes on. Many children lose their lives. Read more.

Kara Neumann, 11, died in March 2008 surrounded by a prayer group at her family’s home in rural Weston in central Wisconsin. It was later determined she had an undiagnosed, but treatable, form of diabetes. Her parents said at their trials that they believed healing came from God, and that they never expected Kara to die.

But prosecutors countered that the Neumanns recklessly killed their youngest of four children by ignoring obvious symptoms of severe illness as she became too weak to speak, eat, drink or walk. They said the couple had a legal duty to take their daughter to a doctor but relied totally on prayer for healing.

In handing down the sentence, Marathon county circuit court Judge Vincent Howard told the Neumanns they were “very good people, raising their family, who made a bad decision, a reckless decision. God probably works through other people,” he told the parents, “some of them doctors.”

Read the full article here.

Previously: Wis. jury: Father guilty in prayer death case (August 1, 2009)

When Vandy Beth Glenn, formerly Glenn Morrison, was summoned to her boss’s office Oct. 16, 2007, she was not prepared for the exchange that followed.

“He asked me if what he had heard was true: did I really intend to come to work as a woman? I told him yes, it was true.”

Glenn, a transgender woman preparing for a sex-change procedure at the time, told ABCNews.com she expected her boss would “do the right thing.”

Instead, Sewell Brumby, legislative counsel for the Georgia General Assembly allegedly told Glenn she was no longer suitable for her job.

“Mr. Brumby told me that people would think I was immoral. He told me I would make other people uncomfortable, just by being myself. He told me that my transition was unacceptable. And over and over, he told me it was inappropriate.”

Then, Brumby fired Glenn.
…
The proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, H.R. 3017, is similar to federal sex and disability discrimination laws already on the books. It also includes an exemption for faith-based employers.
…
Some lawmakers question the extensiveness of exemptions for religious schools and other faith-based employers and wonder whether the law, as written, is too nebulous to be enforced.

Read the rest of the story.

Lo and behold, the Bible has gotten too liberal, according to a group of conservatives. And it needs a little editing.

That’s the inspiration behind the Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to take the text back to its supposed right-wing roots.
…
So how can the Bible be conservatized? The group has proposed a Wikipedia-like group editing project. Some of the ideas would only bring the translation closer to the original. But others would fundamentally change the text.
…
Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop; defective translations use the word “comrade” three times as often as “volunteer”; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as “word”, “peace”, and “miracle”.

I wonder what they think “peace” means now? Is it something you have to buy from Halliburton? Read the rest of the article. (Huffington Post)