Investor: I want freedom.
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- Anonymous Shrewd
- Manlobbi
Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 7
Hegseth directs DOD to drop hundreds of faiths from recognized religion list
The Department of Defense moved this week to dramatically reduce the number of recognized religions, faiths and belief systems from more than 200 all the way to 31.
The move was announced to troops in a memo signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, and shared with USA TODAY by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/hegse...Here's the trick, of those 31 "approved" religions, 21 are individual sects of Christianity. Plus LDS, one Islam, one Judaism, one Hindu, one Sikh, one Baha'i, one Buddhist, agnostic, non, and other.
Here's an interesting tidbit, one of the churches excluded is the Unitarian Universalist, even though that church grew out of Christianity. Apparently, Unitarians are not bigoted enough?
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 0
Hegseth directs DOD to drop hundreds of faiths from recognized religion list
Antisemitism.
$300B/day fines plus penalties.
No. of Recommendations: 1
If all the Christian flavors are compressed into one, the list would be much shorter:
Agnostic (AN)
Baha'i faith (BH)
Buddhism (BU)
Christian (CR)
Hindu (HI)
Islam (Muslim) (IS)
Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
No Religion (NR)
Other Religions (OR)
Sikh (SI)
Allowing Christianity to be so finely represented is definitely recognizing it in a way antithetical to the spirit of the first amendment.
Since atheism isn't a religion it makes sense not to include it in a list of "religious affiliation codes". But then, agnostic shouldn't be in there either. Both are technically "No Religion (NR)"
But having "religious identification codes" seems wrong anyway. There should only be "Belief in a deity (BD)" and "No belief in a deity (NBD)".
No. of Recommendations: 9
...If all the Christian flavors are compressed into one, the list would be much shorter:
Since atheism isn't a religion it makes sense not to include it in a list of "religious affiliation codes". But then, agnostic shouldn't be in there either. Both are technically "No Religion (NR)"
Counting 21 different Christian lodges, and counting "none" twice, fluffs up the list to make it *appear* policy is more diverse and tolerant, than it really is. We know there are several branches of Islam and Judaism, but they are not allowed for, so the list is inherently discriminatory for not recognizing those branches, the way it recognizes 21 different branches of Christianity.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 2
We know there are several branches of Islam and Judaism, but they are not allowed for, so the list is inherently discriminatory for not recognizing those branches, the way it recognizes 21 different branches of Christianity.I'd never even heard of the "Baha'i faith (BH)", but it seems respectable as religions go:
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion[a] established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people.[b] It initially developed in Iran and parts of Western Asia, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception.[14] The religion has 7–8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, who are spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories.[c]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%CA%BC%C3%A...I'm surprised Jainism isn't on the list. It's my favorite religion, mainly because of its long and detailed history of inventing systems of HUGE numbers and HUGE time spans. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_cosmologyhttps://googology.fandom.com/wiki/Jaghanya_Par%C4%...There's also a recent book that looks at the Jainian big numbers:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541605926/ Some Jain numbers are not defined directly, but via long-running processes. For instance, one palyopama or ‘pit year’ is characterised as follows: First a cubic pit is dug one yojana wide and the same depth, a yojana being a standard measure of length, often taken to be eight modern miles, although this may have varied. (For convenience we will take a lower figure of ten kilometres, around six miles.) Next, the pit is filled with newborn lambswool, and the clock is started. If one strand of hair is removed every century, then one palyopama is the length of time it takes to completely empty the pit.
How long is this? Leaving the true answer as a mystery, we can cook up a conservative underestimate by assuming that each strand of wool occupies at most one cubic millimetre—surely too generous, especially given the immense pressure at the bottom of the ten-kilometre-deep wool pit. If so, then the number of hairs in the pit exceeds the number of cubic millimetres in a cube ten kilometres wide, which is to say 10,000,0003 or 1021. We then multiply by 100 to account for the century-long breaks, taking us to 1023 or 100 sextillion years.
So much for the palyopama. But cosmic timescales are measured using longer units: the sagaropama (or ‘ocean year’) comprising 100 million palyopamas, which is therefore over 1031 (10 nonillion) solar years.
Now, the period immediately prior to ours (and somewhat happier) was 100 trillion sagaropamas long—in excess of 1041 years. The one before that was 200 trillion sagaropamas, preceded by one of 300 trillion sagaropamas, the whole cycle beginning with a period of 400 trillion sagaropamas.
...
No. of Recommendations: 11
I'd never even heard of the "Baha'i faith (BH)", but it seems respectable as religions go:The Baháʼí Faith has its most prominent temple in the United States located in Wilmette, Illinois.
Drive north from Chicago on Lakeshore Drive and you can’t miss it. It is beautiful. The public is welcome to stroll its grounds and enter the temple.
Its adherents tend to be quiet. You may already know some of them and not be aware they are Baha’i.
Seals and Crofts for instance- their easy rock provided much of the backdrop for the 70’s-early 80’s.
https://youtu.be/Vd6zYQPCgsc?si=rc15wvepAfXSM8XEWhat’s funny about Hegseth’s inclusion of Baha’i is the fact that its origins are in Iran, where it remains a persecuted minority.
I’ve known a few Iranian Baha’i. They fled Iran in 79 and have now become part of the beautiful cultural tapestry of America.
No. of Recommendations: 1
The Baháʼí Faith has its most prominent temple in the United States located in Wilmette, Illinois.
I've only seen pictures of it (multiple), but yes, it is quite beautiful. It has a Taj Mahal-ish vibe to it, which is a good thing.
Pete
No. of Recommendations: 4
I've only seen pictures of it (multiple), but yes, it is quite beautiful. It has a Taj Mahal-ish vibe to it, which is a good thing.
The temple has multiple main entrances. Over each archway is inscribed the name of one of the world’s great religions.
The symbolism is fairly obvious. The paths to God are many, but in the end, true seekers find God, and each other.
No. of Recommendations: 0
No. of Recommendations: 1
wzambon: The Baháʼí Faith has its most prominent temple in the United States located in Wilmette, Illinois.
Been there. Our daughter's undergraduate school had religious study requirements and I went with her there a few times. Lovely building on lovely grounds and, incidentally, in one of the wealthier and more exclusive (Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Winnetka) areas on the North Shore. Average home prices are about $1.3 million in Wilmette, $2 million in Kenilworth.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Lovely building on lovely grounds and, incidentally, in one of the wealthier and more exclusive (Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Winnetka) areas on the North Shore. Average home prices are about $1.3 million in Wilmette, $2 million in Kenilworth.
Yup. That’s the place. Unfortunately, soft music, beautiful architecture and the message of “peace and love” doesn’t play well in Rogers Park or Ravenswood.
They’re too busy just trying to keep their heads above water.
Interesting sidenote: During seminary, I spent a year working with high school youth in Winnetka- one of the posh suburbs you mentioned above.
I spent an interesting afternoon talking to a social worker who worked with the Winnetka Police Department.
He told me they routinely see some of the same problems most often associated with the ghetto- absent fathers (out of town on business, or working 8-6 in the Loop and taking the IC back home late at night).
You don’t have to skip town to be an absent father. All you have to do is be emotionally unavailable to your children.
No. of Recommendations: 0
wzambon: Unfortunately, soft music, beautiful architecture and the message of “peace and love” doesn’t play well in Rogers Park or Ravenswood.
Guess that was a while ago. Rogers Park and Ravenswood have changed a whole lot. I think Rahm Emanuel has/had a house in Ravenswood. Four bedroom houses rent for $4,500-$8,000 in Ravenswood and sell for $600,000+. Even in Rogers Park houses average $250,000 - $300,000 and up. I worked on Howard Street in Rogers Park once upon a time, a few feet from the 'L' line that's now called The Purple Line. Back then it was called the Evanston Line. A bit rougher neighborhood back then. The poor live elsewhere now. I was at a concert last night, John Moreland, in Old Town, and back in the day it was all run down Head Shops and some record stores. Ain't like that anymore.
No. of Recommendations: 0
working 8-6 in the Loop and taking the IC back home
What's the IC?
No. of Recommendations: 1
What's the IC? "Illinois Central" rail
No. of Recommendations: 0
What's the IC? "Illinois Central" rail
Thanks. Never would have figured that out!
No. of Recommendations: 2
Guess that was a while ago. Rogers Park and Ravenswood have changed a whole lot. I think Rahm Emanuel has/had a house in Ravenswood. Four bedroom houses rent for $4,500-$8,000 in Ravenswood and sell for $600,000+. Even in Rogers Park houses average $250,000 - $300,000 and up. I worked on Howard Street in Rogers Park once upon a time, a few feet from the 'L' line that's now called The Purple Line. Back then it was called the Evanston Line. A bit rougher neighborhood back then. The poor live elsewhere now. I was at a concert last night, John Moreland, in Old Town, and back in the day it was all run down Head Shops and some record stores. Ain't like that anymore.</i
My, my…. You brought be on a magical memory tour….
The year after I worked with youth in Winnetka, I worked with youth in Ravenswood. That would have been 1977.
The Latin Kings owned the streets of Ravenswood, or at least tried to enforce the perception that they did. My youth group was a mix of Anglo, South American, Philippino and one Japanese American.
So Ravenswood has been gentrified. In some ways, that doesn’t surprise me now, though at the time, I couldn’t have foreseen that outcome.
There was good music going on in Old Town even then. Ive been back for visits several times since . Once in 91 a few of us hit some music venues (bars) on Lincoln Avenue. Started at Lincoln/Halsted/Fullerton and moved south. Some great blues by artists I’d never heard of.
No. of Recommendations: 1
What's the IC?
It was (may still be- dunno) the commuter train that ran from Chicago to the burbs.
No. of Recommendations: 0
It was (may still be- dunno) the commuter train that ran from Chicago to the burbs.
I thought that was the "Cheap and Nothing Wasted", aka "Chicago and North Western"
Steve
