Happy Halloween

"The Saudi authorities, fearing that the hajj could turn their holy city into a petri dish for viral mutations and a hub for spreading a new pandemic wave around the world. . . . have asked some worshipers, including pregnant women and the elderly, not to make the trip" ("Saudis Try to Head Off Swine Flu Fears Before Hajj")

As Edward G. Robinson might growl, "Ehhhh. . . . Where's your Muhammad now?"

Seriously, isn't there something more than a little ironic about the idea of people being exposed to highly infectious diseases through the exercise of their devotion to God?

We're not picking on Muslims, by the way. As you may have ascertained from previous posts, we have issues with pretty much all organized religions, especially when their essential messages of peace and love inevitably get co-opted by their more violent fringe elements. But this latest news from Saudi Arabia gets at the heart of what must be the central question to all religious leaders: Why do bad things happen to good people?

The question of evil is at the heart of many an argument against God. If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent, then why does He allow evil to exist and occasionally triumph. The theological response generally involves some reference to free will. Fair enough, but how does that argument account for devout worshippers falling ill (with a presumably God-created virus) while completing an obligation laid upon them by that same God? Shouldn't He confer upon them some immunity?

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On the lighter side of the news, we were tickled by an article on the attempts by school districts across the country to make Halloween less scary. ("Drop the Halloween Mask! It Might Scare Someone") Basically, at various school districts, Halloween prohibitions have been extended from the perhaps understandable ones against toy guns, knives, or other weaponry, to anything that might be considered "scary," including such time-honored costumes as vampires, zombies, and Smurfs.

OK, we made up the bit about Smurfs, but WE find them scary--or at least downright creepy.

Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

(Image from yourfunplace.com)

And isn't that the problem? Isn't scary subjective? Just as children need to be taught to hate, don't they also need to be taught that a leather-faced, chainsaw-wielding man in a butcher's apron is something to be afraid of? Where adults see Jason Voorhees, might not a child just see a hockey player? Pity the poor tween who simply wants to dress as a goalie: Sorry, kid, you can be a forward or a defenseman, but that's it! And put away that stick!