There has been a significant and interesting shift on Facebook.
The number one interacted Facebook page this past week – which has pushed the ever popular Justin Bieber into second place – is The Bible, with a staggering 6,707,820 fans and 905,125 interactions this week.
Additionally, the Facbook pages: Jesus Christ and Jesus Daily, are in positions 8 & 9 respectively.
The rise in engagement rates with certain religious pages on Facebook is thought to reflect the time of year, namely, the approach of Easter and Passover.
According to MSN Lifestyle John Calvin is the 52nd – of 75 – best dressed man of all time. They note of his dress sense:
Because the most famous minimalist in world history knew a man didn’t need expensive clothes or bright colors to convey authority. Black and white, worn with the requisite gravity, can be powerful and intimidating. Just look at the Secret Service. Or the Reservoir Dogs.
The Pew Research Center have just announced that mainstream media coverage of religion-related issues and events doubled from 2009 to 2010, accounting for 2% of news.
The Daily Texan has an article entitled: “Conservative Christians divorce more, study says” which has been picked up by many other ‘news’ agencies.
This is bunkum.
Here’s a quote from the article:
University of Iowa sociology professor Jennifer Glass presented her study on skyrocketing divorce rates in regions highly populated with conservative Christians to an overflowing crowd in Burdine Hall on Friday.
“Politically and religiously conservative states, especially in the Deep South, exhibit higher divorce rates than politically and religiously liberal states in the Northeast and Midwest,” Glass wrote in her study.
The average divorce rate in the United States is 47.9 percent, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
You cannot simply extrapolate State-wide statistics and infer them on a particular sub-group without specific evidence, even if that State is predominantly politically and religiously conservative.
Put another way, just because divorce rates are high in regions highly populated with conservative Christians, this does not automatically equate to high divorce rates within conservative Christians themselves.
Muslim religious authorities are concluding a clandestine eight-month dig on the Temple Mount that is intended to erase traces of the Jewish Temple’s Altar, Temple activists charge.
The digs have been taking place under the Dome of the Chain, believed to have been built over 1300 years ago. For eight months, the dome – which has a diameter of 14 meters – has been surrounded by a metal fence and black cloth, which hide whatever activity has been going on there from outside inspection. The Muslim Waqf religious authority has claimed the activity is simply a refurbishing of the structure, but refuses adamantly to let Jews or tourists near.
Jewish activists made various attempts to enter the Dome, but met with no success. In the end, the Our Temple Mount news outlet found an Arab who was willing to take photos inside the compound in return for a handsome fee (see below). The man said that it appears the Waqf has already completed its digs and is now covering the dig with dirt.
Our Temple Mount notes that according to Jewish tradition, the place where the Dome of the Chain is located is the spot upon which the sacrificial Altar stood in Temple times. Temple activists said that the Muslim digs are intended to erase the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
Back in 2005, Arianna Huffington and her partners created Huffington Post, an independent media source with a progressive worldview. Over the last 6 years, it has grown into one of the most popular sites on the internet.
Today, the “independent” label can be removed.
It was announced that AOL has agreed to purchase Huffington for $315 million dollars, of which $300 million is cash.
HuffPo now joins the ranks of the corporate media and, well, their registered users aren’t happy at all. In fact, neither am I.
Some will take that comment to mean that I’m against people making money. I’m not….and the insinuation is lame.
What disappoints me is that yet another independent media source with a progressive viewpoint (please…spare me the “librul media” nonsense) has gone corporate.
Millions of Super Bowl viewers got a dose of Scripture Sunday night when a Christian group’s John 3:16 commercial was unexpectedly aired.
Just before the fourth quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Green Bay Packers game, the 30-second biblical spot popped up to the surprise of football fans.
In that hour, the Look Up 316 website that the commercial advertised drew so much traffic that it was difficult to load the web page.
“The LookUp316.com website hit totals are soaring …,” Larry Taunton, executive director of Fixed Point Foundation, the group behind the ad, tweeted.
The commercial was originally rejected by Fox Sports for containing too much “religious doctrine” and for being too offensive.
Notably, the commercial features no preaching but simply encourages curious viewers to look up John 3:16.
An advert designed as a 30-second Super Bowl commercial has been banned by Fox for being too offensive and a form of religious indoctrination.
Bloggers are hitting back by featuring the advert and I’m joining in:
Millions of dollars are made every year off the sale of 30-second Super Bowl commercial slots. These ads are frequently out-of-the-ordinary, hilarious, controversial or even downright depraved. This year, however, Fox Sports has labeled one seemingly innocuous Super Bowl ad as “religious doctrine” and much too offensive to be aired.
What indoctrinating language or insulting image could be depicted in this ad? None. This ad is banned simply because the commonly repeated Bible verse, John 3:16, is its premise. There are no preachers or ministers in the ad, no church or even a cross. The 30-second spot shows sports fans wondering aloud what the phrase “John 3:16″ painted on a football player’s eye black could mean, followed by a simple response: look it up. The viewer is then shown the Web address www.lookup316.com.
Many football players have written notes on the black smudges under their eyes, originally meant to block the glare of sunlight off of sweaty faces. Sometimes the eye blacks bear team logos, short notes to loved ones or, in the most recognizable case of University of Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, Bible verses.
John 3:16 contains the core of Christian faith: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible verse may not even understand the reference. Those that are familiar with it may or may not choose to visit the website, but no one is informed of its meaning during the commercial. However, Fox Sports has decided that the mere existence of this phrase is enough to warrant banning the ad from the Super Bowl.
The John 3:16 commercial was produced by Fixed Point, a religious advocacy group based in Birmingham, Alabama. The group was set to pay about $3 million to have the ad aired on Fox Sports during the Super Bowl this Sunday, which will reach over 100 million viewers.
Religious leaders have expressed disappointment and confusion, especially since Fox commercials tend to be riddled with profanity and offensive images. Ads in the past have shown men kissing each other and scantily-clad women, among other sexually suggestive imagery.
However, the message of John 3:16 will get to the public regardless of Fox’s views. Since the ban, Fixed Point has purchased local TV commercial spots in Alabama. The commercial will not air in other states, but is circulating quickly over the internet.
For a company that bills itself as “fair and balanced,” Fox’s actions seem to tip the scale in one definitive direction.
First Principles
Describes the basic rational foundation to all knowledge that cannot be reduced by logical methodology but are presupposed in order to form any conclusion. These are often referred to as universal axioms because knowledge of them is universal and because of their assumed validity. Among the first principles of logic are the law of non-contradiction [...] continue reading
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