19 Nov 2004
14 year old boy dies after receiving 85 lashes for breaking his Ramadan fast

Heathenry has no concept of the fast, or any sort of ritualized denial. Why would the gods want us to impose hardships on ourselves? Life is hard enough without trying to do ourselves in. We don't make the connection that "suffering = holy". It's pretty incomprehensible to us.

Unfortunately, in most fo the rest of the world, and especially in the Muslim world, these common sense notions are roundly ignored and denied. Their divine powers want you to suffer, and if you don't impose enough suffering on yourself, the religious authorities are always glad to give god a helping hand. And you get tragedy as a result.

They say that Allah is "The Compassionate, The Merciful". I say "Not!" And this pretty much bolsters my case.

A 14 year old boy died on Thursday, November 11th, after having received 85 lashes; according to the ruling of the Mullah judge of the public circuit court in the town of Sanandadj he was guilty of breaking his fast during the month of Ramadan.

(link) [Iran Press News]

via Tacitus

00:00 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link

Happiness

There's a great post this morning over at Laudator Temporis Acti, relating a tale from the classical author Valerius Maximus about the visit of a king to the oracle at Delphi.

Gyges was puffed up in spirit because his kingdom of Lydia abounded in military might and riches. He went to ask Pythian Apollo if any mortal was happier than he. The god, in an utterance sent forth from his shrine's hidden cave, pronounced Aglaus of Psophis happier. Aglaus was the poorest of the Arcadians. Now rather old, he had never left the boundaries of his little farm, satisfied with the produce of his small country spot. But in fact Apollo through the wisdom of his oracle covered the goal of a happy life in clear outline. Wherefore in answer to one who was arrogantly bragging about the splendor of his own good fortune, the god replied that he preferred a cottage cheerful in safety to a court sad with cares and worries, a few clods of earth without anxiety to Lydia's fertile fields full of fear, a yoke or two of oxen easy to maintain to an army and weapons and a cavalry burdensome with boundless expenses, a tiny barn sufficient for one's needs but not excessively envied by anyone to treasure chests exposed to the ambushes and desires of all. Thus Gyges, while he wanted to have the god as a supporter of his own empty opinion, learned where well-founded and genuine happiness was to be found.

(link) [Laudator Temporis Acti]

00:00 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

The Horn of the Hunter

There's an old English folk song with the same title as this post that seems especially appropriate today...

For forty long years have we known him,
Cumberland yeoman of old,
And twice forty years shall have perished,
Ere the fame of his deeds shall grow cold.
No broadcloth of scarlet adorned him
No buckskin as white as the snow.
Of plain Skiddaw gray was his garment,
And he wore it for work, not for show.

Chorus:
Now the horn of the hunter is silent,
On the banks of the Ellen no more,
No more will we hear its wild echo,
Clear sound o'er the dark Caldews roar.

When dark draws her mantle around us,
And cold by the fire bids us steal,
Our children will say, "Father tell us
Some tales of the famous John Peel."
And we'll tell them of Ranter and Royal,
Of Britain and Melody too,
how they rattled a fox round the Carrock
And drove him from scent into view.

How often from Brathwait to Skiddaw,
Through Isel, Bewaldeth, Whitefield,
We galloped like madmen together,
To follow the hounds of John Peel.
And though we may hunt with another,
Til the hand of old age bids us yield,
We will think on that sportsman and brother,
And remember the hounds of John Peel.

Hunt ban forced through Commons

Commons Speaker Michael Martin has invoked the Parliament Act meaning a ban on fox hunting will be in place by February 2005.

(link) [BBC]

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