[Dan And Jennifer]

Oh no, he's not kidding. And that's the truly mind boggling thing. In the year 2008 (A.D. for anyone not paying attention) - some people are still living in the dark ages.

But there is hope - you'll note he says that killing her for her sin is extreme, and really not a good idea. To me that's in a way like a serial killer having a fleeting thought of "hmmm... maybe I shouldn't do this." At least there's hope.

That's the danger with fundamentalism of any sort, grounded in any religion. Most religions are based (originally) in love and acceptance, but have been so perverted by people and institutions in power over the centuries that more people have been killed "in the name of God" than for probably any cause in human history.

But as I look around our world today, I see hope. I have hope for our generation Ed, for the younger generations who don't have our parents' baggage.

It's astounding to thing that even in the western world, a mere 60 years ago women were finally able to start voting. And watch Swingtown now and then for an appreciation of how unequal women were treated just 30 years ago. And what, 200 years ago they were still trying to see if a woman was a witch by the impeccable and incredibly insightful "float" test - where you're "innocent" if you drown?

And look at animals... in this modern world of the U.S. today, literally millions of healthy dogs are killed annually because dog shelters need to "make room for more". Dog may be man's best friend - and they are - but man has been an incredibly shitty best friend. That's one reason we're staring the "Help Doggies" foundation, because so many good people are simply unaware of what's happening.

A quote from Gandhi worth sharing here (roughly accurate):
"The moral progress of a society can be judged by how it treats its animals".

Can you imagine a more advanced race looking down on us and wondering why we keep blowing ourselves up, terrorizing one another (in a general sense), exterminating our fellow animals for sport, and being just generally destructive?

Seriously. As a race we're barely toddlers trying to figure out a bouncy ball - when you look at our actions (not the fancy gizmos), we're barely out of the stone age. But there is hope... one day at a time.

Dan