Northman's Fury

After months of legal wrangling and standoffs with Hindu monks, police and a government veterinarian finally seized Shambo the sacred bull on Thursday with plans to kill the TB-infected animal.

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The Hindus running the Skanda Vale temple in southwest Wales revere cattle and have argued that killing Shambo would be a violation of their religious rights. The monks had wanted to keep the animal in a separate, hay-filled shrine.

Two points about this story:

First, as a general rule, I'm of the belief that religious freedoms and practices should be respected unless and until they interfere or endanger the rights, freedoms, or livelihoods of others. In this case, there was a health risk, though it seems that if the monks could have provided an effective quarantine of Shambo, there is an argument to be made for allowing them to keep it.  Bovine TB is occasionally transmittable to humans, so I have no idea how strict such a quarantine would have to be to meet the “not endangering” part of my general rule.

Second, it’s nice to be able to talk about a religious controversy that has absolutely nothing to do with Christians, Muslims, or Jews.

they get things right.

Pope Benedict XVI said the debate raging in some countries — particularly the United States and his native Germany — between creationism and evolution was an “absurdity,” saying that evolution can coexist with faith.

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“They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other,” the pope said. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”

He said evolution did not answer all the questions: “Above all it does not answer the great philosophical question, ‘Where does everything come from?’”

He's right, and I have no problem with this view. Acceptance of the scientific evidence for evolution, with the question of the supernatural left in the realm of philosophy where it belongs. Quite reasonable.