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.
The 500 people who live in Awra Amba, Ethiopia, do things a little differently, by design. The village has a mill, where grain is crushed into flour. There is a textile factory, where villagers make clothes for themselves and to sell. You will also find a café, a tourist hostel, and two stores that cater to people from outside the village. With all of these businesses, Awra Amba has managed to pull itself out of poverty. Compared with the rest of the region, the average income here is more than twice as high. Literacy rates are higher than in neighboring villages. Mortality rates are lower. What’s the key difference between this town and others, according to Public Radio International reporter Don Duncan? One reason the people of Awra Amba are able to work so hard is that they do not follow organized religion. In neighboring Christian and Muslim villages, residents respect the Sabbath and holidays. “They have quite frequent religious days, so on those days, they don’t go to [do] farming work,” says sociologist Ashenafi Alemu of Ethiopia’s University of Gondar. “But for Awra Amba, this is not the case. They work every day.” Read more
In his inimitable way, Jon Stewart takes on Fox News’ obsession with keeping Santa and Jesus as white as the driven snow. The best line is by Jessica Williams, the Daily Show’s “Senior Christmas Historical Accuracy Correspondent”: Santa is white. That’s just a fact. It’s Miracle on 34th Street, not Miracle on 134th Street. Can’t argue with that. Merry White Christmas, everyone! Read more
I don’t think Megyn Kelly, on her show yesterday, did Christianity any favors by jumping from the topic of Santa to the subject of Jesus. You have to wonder how that even worked in her mind. “And speaking of feelgood fictional characters, let’s look at Jesus” — something like that? Is she a closet atheist? “Jesus was a white man, too. He was a historical figure. That’s a verifiable fact — as is Santa.” (I think she meant that Santa and Jesus are both white, not that they’re both historical figures. But you never know with Fox News employees.) Watch, starting at 1:45: Read more
What do you think would happen if you were caught adding figurines such as these to a U.S. nativity scene? I believe your gesture would be, um, underappreciated. But one person’s grave insult is another person’s hallowed tradition, and so it is with the caganer, or pooper — a defecating character that the Catalan people of Spain have been adding to their Christmas displays for hundreds of years. Read more
During Monday’s hearing of the Australian commission that investigates child sex abuse, it emerged that Australia’s Catholic Church has paid at least $43,000,000 in hush money to victims of pedophile clergy members. It’s easy to miss the significance. This money wasn’t a settlement. The Church paid it on the express condition that priests’ misdeeds would be kept secret. And not just secret as in “out of the public eye”: In some cases, victims were not even allowed to tell their husbands, wives or children about the secret settlements negotiated through the church’s controversial Towards Healing process. Which doesn’t sound much like “healing” at all. Read more
