Malaysia Teapot Cult Attacked

No, really, there is a group in Malaysia that built a giant teapot "to symbolise its belief in the healing purity of water," and apparently they were attacked by a group of about 30 men throwing molotov coctails, according to the BBC on Monday.

Besides being really funny, (relax mother, nobody was hurt) it reminds us of one of the many great things about America. According to the BBC report,

Earlier this month, the group was raided by police, and 21 followers were arrested for possessing documents contrary to Islam.

That's what our establishment clause is about. For those of you who aren't political junkies or constitutional scholars, (I am both, as well as an expert in the use of parentheses) the establishment clause is in the first amendment to the constitution, it is probably the wisest 16 words ever writen into law, and it reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Meaning no matter how much Rod Parsley wants to, nobody can tell you how or whether you worship in America. I pick on 'Pastor Rod' because he is infamous here in Columbus, but its true for all of us. We all think we know the answer don't we? Even those of us who say we don't know the answer, we look at those who say they do know and we say they must have it wrong!

The establisment clause gives us the freedom to follow our own concience, even if we are in the minority. If you want to worship a magic teapot in America, that's ok.

What a country!

On a sadder note, it seems we have news coming from all over the world every day about religious intolerance. Hindus bomb Muslims who bomb Christians who bomb Jews, not always in that exact sequence, but you get the idea. I know that it's nothing new, but it seems global in scope now, perhaps it always was and we just didn't always have Google News.

Whether or not it's worse than it was 100 years ago, it is terribly sad that humanity as a whole seems destined to pervert even our highest aspirations into senseless violence.