Terry Firma, though born and Journalism-school-educated in Europe, has lived in the U.S. for the past 20-odd years. Stateside, his feature articles have been published in the New York Times, Reason, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Wired. Terry was the founder and Main Mischief Maker of Moral Compass, a now-dormant site that pokes fun at the delusional claim by people of faith that a belief in God equips them with superior moral standards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of two Manhattan-based magazines until he decided to give up commercial publishing for professional photography... with a lot of blogging on the side. These days, he lives in an old seaside farmhouse in Maine with his wife, three kids, and two big dogs.
Would you, by any chance, be interested in a story about … “religious murder, deception, corruption, superstition, genocide, and a mysterious stranger who leads a lad away from it all to start a life of secular compassion”? If so, try to catch Mysterious 44, a modern opera based on Mark Twain’s unfinished novel The Mysterious Stranger. Inspired by the writings of Darwin, Twain’s story is set in 1490, a few decades after the invention of Gutenberg’s press and the start of the Renaissance. Three boys are approached by a mysterious stranger who calls himself “44” after a wrongly-accused woman is stoned to death. Like the monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey”, the stranger sparks self-realization, and one boy steps forward to question superstition and religion. The brand new opera, based on Twain’s incomplete book, was written by Dr. Kevin Sorbo Malone, a University of Manchester lecturer in composition. One of the stage personalities will be none other than Richard Dawkins, and we’re told that he has a singing (or speaking?) part. Read more
God knows best. Who are we to second-guess Him? That mindset, taken to its extreme, destroys lives. Here’s a horrifying example. As with almost all personal pseudonymous accounts on Reddit, this one isn’t verifiable. It’s worth calling attention to regardless, because the religious reasoning here is, in its own hermetic, insane way, so simple and straightforward. And certainly, millions of people think very much like this. To a true-blue believer of the Bible, of course an almighty interventionist God will, well, intervene to prevent evil — if He wills it. If not, we’ll have to grit our teeth and tough it out. God will not be questioned. Remember — mysterious ways, and all that. Read more
A couple of months ago, NPR broadcast a good piece titled “How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change the Conversation About Gays.” It said: Perhaps the biggest cultural shock that resulted from [her] very famous and public coming out was that it did not ruin DeGeneres’ career. Ellen didn’t last too much longer, nor did her follow-up sitcom, The Ellen Show, but DeGeneres’ career took off and mainstream America followed. One person who didn’t get the memo is the principal of St. Andrew Elementary School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. The other day, Nancy Matteo (below), a decorated educator, “unthinkingly” used a photo of Ellen DeGeneres on an invitation to an Oscars-themed graduation dance. Parents soon began complaining to the school and to the Archdiocese and got satisfaction from both. Read more
Should the red dragon on the flag of Wales be replaced by the cross of St. David? Minister George Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party, insists on it. The Welsh Christian Party says having a red dragon — an animal it believes symbolizes the devil — on the national flag is at odds with Wales’ position as a Christian nation. Read more
Toni Braxton, who just saw her autobiography published, thinks that God may have punished her for having an abortion. The punishment, the singer suspects, was the autistic son she gave birth to years later. Braxton said the abortion has haunted her through the years and caused her to wonder if her second son’s autism diagnosis was her punishment for the procedure. More than anything, Toni says, she is ashamed of herself for going through with the procedure. Maybe she can’t help it: Read more
