I appreciate how everyone heeded our attempts to steer things back on track, that sort of cooperation makes moderating easier for the over-worked.

According to this site, rates of atheism in the United States are highest in California and in the Pacific Northwest. These are also the regions with the highest per capita number of health food stores. These regions also have the highest relative concentration of scientists in the country, thanks to the IT industry- which is home to anyone from biophysicists to computer scientists to engineers. It is entirely possible that health food aficionados and scientists are more likely to not believe in God after indulging in their respective pursuits rather than before (search me on this one), but the correlation is there, yeah?

Anyway, I was just at the Temple las’ night where 500 people were fireworkless because the government wouldn’t give them a freakin’ permit, so the children spent their time chasing around the place with candles.. back on topic now? I hope so.

babies also don’t “unconsent” it. in fact they probably don’t even know what the F is going on.

I think initiation is a better word, but if Sikhs can learn about other religions and call their rites by their proper names,

It’s the benefit of being a majority in power, you can tell the minority (in essence) to go fuck off and not have your life change in any reasonable way.

i don’t think baptism has the connation of being a strictly christian act and i do not see it as a conflation of terms.

Baptism is something that can be done against the will of the baptized (babies don’t consent to their baptism). Baptism is necessary to be “saved.” You don’t have to take amrit to achieve mokhsha in Sikhi. As I stated earlier, you don’t even have to be a Sikh to be “saved,” according to Sikhi.

Just because it’s a rite involving water does not make it analogous to baptism. I think initiation is a better word, but if Sikhs can learn about other religions and call their rites by their proper names, I don’t see why non-Sikhs can’t return the courtesy.

Leave Cousin Chuckles out of this. This isn’t about him. Or that hilarious helmet he has to wear.

If this was a similar incident involving an Islamic ‘article of faith’ I’m sure they’re would have been more ‘media empathy’.

I know you just lamented, like others before you, that this post straying off topic (I fully realize that my above comment isn’t helping at all), but with your frivolous reference to Islam and insinuation that the media is unfairly sympathetic to them, you’re not contributing much to the dialog either, chief.

RANT OVER.

BTW this is the first time I’ve stumbled across this blog… its great, another procrastination tool!

DR

Wow. Tone it down with the assumptions, will you?