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Israel Dubs Swine Flu “Mexican Flu”

7:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Religion| israel| language| mexico · 4 Comments

28 Apr 2009

yaakov-litzman_1 There has been one reported case of the swine flu in Israel so far, but Israeli officials aren’t calling it that. Ultra-orthodox Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman says that calling the disease by its name is “religiously sensitive”:

“We will call it Mexican flu. We won’t call it swine flu,” said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party.

Pigs are considered unclean under Jewish dietary laws. Muslims also do not eat pork for similar reasons.

That’s all well and good, but calling it Mexican is no good either. The BBC reports that scientists in Israel are concerned that the term will “stigmatize Mexico”.

Via / BBC News

Latino Pastors to Immigrants: Steer Clear of the Census

23 Apr 2009

latino_family A group of Latino pastors is asking immigrants to “boycott” the U.S. Census unless Congress passes comprehensive immigration reform:

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders says illegal immigrants should not agree to be counted unless Congress first passes immigration reform. The group is planning a rally this week in Newark, N.J.

It says census numbers have been used to target and repress the undocumented. They say the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal immigrants need a path to legalization before they agree to have their numbers count toward state funding and congressional seats.

The organization, CONLAMIC, says that data on Latinos is being used to build up police forces and fund programs which will ultimately lead to arrests, raids and deportations.

Latino organization NALEO (The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials) is criticizing CONLAMIC’s efforts, stating:

“To do this boycott to pressure comprehensive immigration reform is like cutting off your nose to spite your face,” Vargas said. “There is no connection between the census and immigration reform; it’s undermining the community by encouraging an undercount; and it’s misguided and irresponsible.

What do you think about CONLAMIC’s campaign? Will this ultimately help the immigrant community or will it not make a difference?

Via / CONLAMIC and AP

Feliz Easter Links

6:59 am By Maegan La Mala · Funny| Religion| crime| mexico · Comments Off

12 Apr 2009

Yes, my preteen made Easter eggs with Twilight themed writing. Help me.

Whether you celebrate the officially sanctioned Catholic Church Jesus has risen holiday or the church of azucar, bunnies or painted eggs of the goddess here are some links in la mañana for today:

The Washington Post has a Peep Show

Do NYC Gangs Go People Hunting on Easter? (Hmm what would a holiday be without some messed up racial profiling).

Yesterday In Mexico they Judas got his.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Jesus Loves You (and Condoms)

11:56 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Funny| Health| Religion| sex · 1 Comment

10 Apr 2009

Remember the Pope’s statements about how condoms are bad? How they are only making the AIDS epidemic worse? Well his C-level supervisor doesn’t agree. Jesus Christ shows the Pope who’s boss in this hilarious video which answers the question “what would Jesus do?”

Happy Good Friday!

Via / Huffington Post

Happy Passover and Holy Thursday

7:03 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Religion · 2 Comments

9 Apr 2009

2009_04_matzo Passover started yesterday at sundown and marks the start many holy high holidays in at least two faiths. Passover remembers the escape of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Yesterday afternoon I asked a child I work with what Passover was, her four year old response was: “When Jewish people eat crackers”. I’m assuming she meant matzos aka unleavened bread symbolizing the haste in which the Jewish people had to leave.

Today is also Holy Thursday, marking Jesus’s Last Supper, which was actually a seder because yes, Jesus was Jewish.

I have been searching for stories about Latino seders or Latino synagogues in the U.S. so please if you are a Jewish Latino share your a pedacito of your vida with us. In the meantime, I’ve actually been going to church lately (God help us all, really) and am really interested in seeing how the church in my hood does Holy Week.

One Catholic Cardinal Gets it Right, Asking Obama to Stop Immigration Raids

11:55 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Immigration| Religion| chicago · 1 Comment

23 Mar 2009

So the institution of the Catholic Church hasn’t been winning points with people, well with me anyway. I mean really? Thankfully Cardinal Francis George has given me a little hope that not all is lost. He told a crowd of hundreds in Our Lady of Mercy Church in Albany Park, Chicago, that Obama should stop the immigration raids to show that the new administration really is about change.

George sought to cast the issue in moral terms, calling it “a matter of conscience” and an important step to creating a more peaceful society.

“We cannot strengthen families when people live in fear from day to day,” he said.

“May this be the year that raids and separation of families stop,” George said. “May this be the year that our legislators pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Can I get an Amen?

Via / The Chicago Tribune

Pope: Condoms Make AIDS Worse

18 Mar 2009

How many of you — regardless of religious beliefs — can really call this statement valid?

The Pope has really outdone himself this time. Going a step beyond John Paul the II’s assertion that abstinence is preferable to condoms — which in itself is ridiculous — Benedict has clearly gone off the deep end. Condoms worsen the problem? That’s just crazy talk. AIDS experts in South Africa agree:

Rebecca Hodes, head of policy for the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa’s city of Capetown, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday they were “extremely angered and saddened by this ill-considered response from the pope”.

“We know, based on over the 10-year experience of preventing and treating HIV in South Africa, that condoms are one of the only evidence-based means of preventing HIV available to us in Africa,” she said.

“There is very little evidence to support abstinence-only education campaigns as a means of preventing HIV. Condoms work in preventing HIV.”

Via / Al Jazeera

Catholic Church Stands Behind Brazilian Abortion Excommunication

9:46 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Health| Religion| Women| children · 3 Comments

10 Mar 2009

Last week the horrific news of a 9 year old girl being raped by her stepfather and subsequently having a life saving abortion put the Catholic Church in the spotlight after the local church excommunicated the girl’s mother. Responses here included people disturbed not just by what happened to the girl initially but also the second victimization of the girl and her family, and people stating that cases such as this were one of the reasons so many were leaving the Catholic Church. One person was who commented was willing to sacrifice the life and mental well being of the child so that she could carry and give birth to twins. Even President Lula of Brazil commented on the case, taking sides against the church.

The Vatican made an official statement on the case and not surprisingly supported the decision of the local Brazilian Church to excommunicate the mother and the doctors who performed the abortion. The church then went even further and attacked the girl as being more sinful than the step-father who raped her.

From the Latin Americanist:

“It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re to a local daily. Re- who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for Bishops- acknowledged that “life must always be protected” yet did not say anything over the girl’s life being in danger by her pregnancy.

Aside from excommunicating the girl’s mother, Sobrinho also had the gall to disparage the raped child:

The stepfather was not excommunicated because the church said that his action, although deplorable, was not as bad as ending the life of an unborn child.

“It is clear that he committed a very serious sin, but worse than this is the abortion,” Sobrinho said.

That’s right mujeres, abortion, even to save the life of a nine year girl is worse than child rape according the the Roman Catholic Church.

Excommunicate my ass now.

If Jesus is Love, Where’s the Amor for 9 Year Old Brazilian Rape Victim

2:04 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Brazil| Health| Religion| children · 7 Comments

6 Mar 2009

It’s so horrific that it physically hurts me to think about: a 9 year old child (allegedly) raped by her stepfather and then she becomes pregnant.

A nine-year-old Brazilian girl who was impregnated after being allegedly raped by her stepfather underwent an abortion yesterday.

The child- who’s identity is being kept private- would’ve had her life in danger had she allowed the pregnancy to continue according to doctors. (At the time of the abortion the eighty-pound girl was in her fifteenth week of pregnancy). “She is very small. Her uterus doesn’t have the ability to hold one, let alone two children,” said Fatima Maia- the director of the hospital where the abortion was performed.

And instead of the faith community offering compassion and comfort to a child, the Roman Catholic Church has come down on the girl’ mother and doctors for saving her physical life.

A Roman Catholic archbishop says the abortion of twins carried by a 9-year-old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather means excommunication for the girl’s mother and her doctors.

Despite the nature of the case, the church had to hold its line against abortion, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said in an interview aired Thursday by Globo television.

“The law of God is higher than any human laws,” he said. “When a human law — that is, a law enacted by human legislators — is against the law of God, that law has no value. The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication.”

I worry about the girl’s emotional life, her soul and not in the sense of if she will go to heaven because she had an abortion. I wonder about how this child can comprehend all that she has had to face and will continue to face.

I also wonder what the hell the Catholic Church is thinking when they lack the basic compassion and love that Jesus preached.

Via / The Latin Americanist

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