The Things People Believe

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A couple of news items:

In May, Mr. Oran Ambus was locked in a standoff with the St. Louis dog pound, which was holding his 9-month-old rottweiler. Ambus could pick up the dog any time he wanted, reported KSDK radio, provided he would neuter him, but he refused, citing the Book of Leviticus, which he believes permits animals in heaven only if they are unaltered. (Thus was Ambus' dilemma: Get his dog back unholy or, given the pound's put-to-sleep policy, allow its imminent, but holy, demise.) [KSDK-AM (St. Louis), 5-20-05]

The San Diego Union Tribune reported in April that Los Angeles Angels' first baseman Darin Erstad was wearing a leather-pouched "balance necklace" of minerals that (according to the manufacturer) will "achieve alignment of body, mind and spirit" and "address the electro-pollution, toxic vapors, scars, surgeries and traumas to the skin by organizing the quantum nature of man," which are things important to Erstad to avoid the kinds of injuries he had experienced in previous seasons. Erstad said that since he has been injury-free so far in 2005, "it must be working," but the player who recommended the necklace, teammate Steve Finley, is substantially underperforming so far this season. [San Diego Union Tribune, 4-17-05]

Thanks to newsoftheweird.com

[ghoulslime]

That reminds me of an experience I had in Northern Idaho years back. I was taking a vacation from Korea. I spent two weeks riding my CR500 around the mountains.

I stopped to visit an old high school acquaintance. He wasn’t home. His young daughter and wife were however, and the daughter was crying bitterly. I asked her why she was crying. She explained that her dog had been hit by a car and killed that morning. She was waiting for her dad to come home and help her to bury it. I told her I would help her. So we got a shovel, found a nice spot along the fence, buried the dog, and put a rock on the grave for a marker. She picked some flowers and put them on it.

The daughter seemed somewhat consoled. We walked back and sat on the porch, where she started to ask me a few more questions about why we have to die and so on. I did my best to answer her questions without offending her very fanatic Baptist mother, who was sitting on the end of the porch listening.

The girl started to cry again and I hugged her and said, “Don’t cry, you’ll get to see your dog in heaven. He’ll be waiting for you when you get there.”

Her mother corrected me with fiery vehemence, “No she won’t! Dogs don’t go to heaven! They don’t have souls!”

Christian love.

http://ravingatheist.com/forum/img/uploads/burn2.jpg

[Rhinoqulous]

If I'm thinking of the right player, I believe Erstad is from North Dakota, which would explain at least some of the idiocy of this story.