Saturday, September 2, 2006

In the Religion Section Today

The usual, annoying free registration is required for the complete stories from the Dallas Morning News.

Satan: Father's Little Helper?
"Christian tradition has laid a lot of blame on Satan for things they're causing themselves," said Dr. Kelly, 72, a former Jesuit exorcist and now a medieval scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of three books about the devil. "I am pessimistic about human nature. I think we are totally capable of doing what we have done. You can blame it on psychosis if you want."

But you can't blame it on Satan, he said.
Ummm, yes. Yes, I can. No amount of spin is going to change the facts. There is an Evil One. Not that we don't create plenty of our own problems on our own. We definitely do. But let's not leave out that other component.

Turkish Kid Books Get Added Character: Allah
Book publishers in Turkey have reprinted several children's classics with Islamic elements inserted into the storylines. The move came in reaction to controversy over including such titles in the government's recommended reading list for students.

In "Pinocchio," when the wooden puppet arrives at the end of his quest, he exclaims to his maker, Geppetto, "Thanks be to Allah, I am a real boy!" Earlier in the book he says, "If Allah wills it, please give me some bread."
Read the Three Musketeers example. What adds to that revision is the knowledge that Aramis was in the company of religious men because he had decided to become a priest. Luckily, the Turkish Minister of Education feels about this the same way that I do. "'If you like Heidi, then write your own 'Heidi,' he said in the Turkish newspaper Radikal." (Scroll down in Briefs for this story which has other examples of changed books.)

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