Zahav (R) visits scene to “bless the person who set the fire”

A commercial crematorium in Israel has been heavily damaged by fire, hours after its secret location was revealed in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspaper.

The crematorium near Tel Aviv opened two years ago to fierce criticism from Israel’s orthodox community.

Yehud Meshi Zahav told Israeli Army Radio he thought an arson attack on the crematorium would be justified. “It was an illegal activity, a desecration of the dead and I applaud the destruction of this building, which was destined to disappear in flames.”

What is it with religion nutters and their obsession with fire?



  1. flyingelvis says:

    well, if they’re gonna burn something…..

  2. Mike says:

    Give a man fire and he’ll be warm for a day.
    Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.

  3. bobbo says:

    Ahem – – covering the crematorium in a block of ice would be more than difficult. “I bring you fire!”

  4. RBG says:

    There’s a certain irony here, isn’t there? Weren’t they worried about sinfully burning the bodies inside?

    Anyway, perhaps this is a little better than atheist loonies trying to burn living people in churches:

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,242248,00.html

    RBG

  5. grog says:

    “religious loonies” — is that from the department of redundancy department?

  6. RBG says:

    So let me guess why these orthodox disagree with cremation.

    Do I have it right that they expect the Messiah to return to Earth some day and raise the worthy dead who will then rise up to heaven? The obvious question being how can you raise someone who is mostly vapor?

    RBG

  7. RTaylor says:

    It’s orthodox canon. That doesn’t give them the right to destroy private property. Israel is changing. There’s more diversity, and many of the younger generation are questioning the policies of the founders. This isn’t the same Israel of the 6 day war.

  8. Misanthropic Scott says:

    #4 – RBG,

    I’m having trouble finding a reputable news source for that with more detailed coverage. No one seems to be reporting a motive or any indication of Robert Mills’ beliefs.

  9. Billabong says:

    The obsession with fire?Have you ever heard of Hell?

  10. Angel H. Wong says:

    “What is it with religion nutters and their obsession with fire?”

    Fire purifies everything.

  11. RBG says:

    9. Mis Scott. I don’t have much except what it appears to be.

    http://tinyurl.com/2cmabt
    “The man cursed God before he poured liquid onto the altar and set it on fire”
    “Robert Mills, 40, of San Pablo remained in custody Monday on $1,345,000 bail at Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez, booked on suspicion of attempted murder, arson, using an explosive device and a hate crime related to religion, an official at the jail said.”

  12. DaveW says:

    Oh, let’s see:

    #10 Billabong– Jews don’t have the traditional Christian fire and brimstone hell. The mothers in laws are bad enough.

    As for Robert Mills, he actions do not represent the views of most athiests. At least he did his deed right in front of everybody instead of sneaking around in the dark of night. A goodly portion of orthodox Jews feel it is their duty to stamp out such things, much like the fundamentalist Christians who bomb abortion clinics. Single loonies are always preferred to organized loonies.

    finally:

    She’s a witch! Burn her!!!!

    Neh!

  13. god says:

    #13, #12, #9, #4 – Where does it say that Mills was an atheist? Do you think an atheist would “curse God”? How can you curse something you don’t believe in?

    For that matter, how would an atheist believe in curses? You’re stuck with a loony True Believer pissed-off at some other sect.

  14. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    Congratulations, RBG, on your recent graduation from the Mister Mustard College of Trolling and Ideology!!

    You have mastered some of the fine points of distortion and false implications intended to provoke emotional responses. Mr. M himself would be very proud, had he not left the building earlier.

    In your #4, supra, you refer to the one, sole actor in an arson incident as, quote, “atheist loonies.” A fine distortion, that one, since;
    a) one person committed the act, contrary to your assertion of a plurality of actors, and;
    b) no mention of said actor’s religious beliefs or lack of same was mentioned in the story you cite.

    So, we get 2 dishonesties for the price of 1!

    But, with the perseverance your ilk is noted for, you post, at #12, a followup to the original story, which not only also fails to support your accusation of “atheism” against the actor, it actually contradicts it!

    “The man cursed God…”

    Therefore the actor in this incident believes in God.

    So, in complete contradiction to your Johnny-on-the-spot smear of atheists as “loonies”, implying falsely that the behavior of a solitary individual may be extrapolated to the group at large, the dishonest of your post is magnified by the fact that, the actor is in point of actual fact – a religious loony! As usual, I would add, were that not an unchivalrous act of rubbing in the sad fact that irrationality, i.e., ‘looniness’ is a feature of people who believe in irrational things – i.e. religionists. NOT atheists, whose identifying distinction is the categorical REJECTION of those very loony beliefs and behavior that religion is based on!

    A grand attempt at antiatheist, antirationalist propaganda and trolling for someone just out of troll school!

    Maybe your next one will be a little more subtle and less flamingly distorted and untrue…

  15. god says:

    Googling further gets even nuttier.

    Neocon nutcases seem to be the only people who “presumed” Mills must be an atheist. The Catholic Press made no such assumption.

    Right-Wing types not only presumed (a) he must be an atheist and therefore (b) be will be defended by the ACLU – but, one wingy-dingy – who picked up reference to the incident from Michelle Malkin – assayed that Mills must have been motivated by articles in the NY TIMES. http://www.penraker.com/archives/006911.html

    Phew! There is no limit to the stretches used to rationalize this crap. Yehud Zahav fits right in.

  16. Lauren the Ghoti says:

    Oh, and RBG? Sorry to have missed the third distortion you offered –

    “…atheist loonies trying to burn living people in churches

    Gee, that’s nice to know he was trying to burn living people!

    So how come he actually “poured liquid onto the altar and set it on fire”?? Maybe he needs glasses? Maybe the altar is made of living people??

    Or maybe you’re truly full of shit?

  17. bobbo says:

    17–Lauren, its worse than that. The very short article says: “Mills told everyone to leave but blocked the doorway until he began showering the sanctuary with the liquid, giving choir members a chance to escape.”

    The man is a nutter, but respected life.

  18. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #18 – The man is a nutter, but respected life.

    Respected life? Maybe he was an atheist…

  19. hhopper says:

    Ahhhhhh. Religion rears it’s ugly head once more.

  20. GigG says:

    #13 The percentage of atheists that burn churches is probably no greater than the percentage of Christians the blow up abortion clinics.

  21. god says:

    Well, so far, Giggly, no one here’s actually come up with atheists burning churches in the US. Xhristians advocate murder and do it all the time.

    Why not just go back to defending the burning of buildings that offend fundieroonies?

  22. Jägermeister says:

    Religious fanatics… they come in many flavors…

  23. ECA says:

    23,
    AND how many Fanatics have you tasted??

    Sorry, HAD to say it.

  24. hhopper says:

    ECA – HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  25. OhForTheLoveOf says:

    #21 – The percentage of atheists that burn churches is probably no greater than the percentage of Christians the blow up abortion clinics.

    Comment by GigG — 8/23/2007 @ 10:22 am

    No greater? Since the percentage of atheists who burn churches is most likely to be 0% then yes, it is no greater than the number of Xian terrorists who attack and kill abortion doctors, bomb clinics, and try to bar access to women who try obtain this important medical service.

  26. RBG says:

    14. god. Where does it say he’s not an atheist? So what religion would you peg him in: Islam? Or more Seventh Day Adventist? Would you say his actions were more pro-God or anti-God? In any case, I leave room for doubt by noting “what it appears to be” (12). On the other hand, you and LTG don’t find an ounce of irony in that you can so “accurately” characterize his religious persuasions without fear of accuracy or criticism? Was that some sort of supernatural feat?

    He seems to have been speaking to himself, not God, by one account below. And how can you curse something you don’t believe in? Easy, check out this blog for plenty of examples.

    15. LTG a. The atheist loonies I refer to include a long and illustrious membership led by folks such as Mao and Stalin in would-be perfect atheist societies.
    b. Agreed. That is why I can only go by what it looks like from the information given and the actions taken and then say as much.
    c. 17. Yes burning living people. As opposed to burning dead people, which is the original subject of this thread. The opposite to “I see dead people.”

    Judging by the eye-witnesses and the police charges, maybe you might want to revise your opinion of such a caring individual.

    Seven members of the choir, including a 10-year-old boy, were singing the gospel song “Jardinero” in Spanish when a man entered the church who seemed to be speaking to himself, then announced, “Do you want to leave or do you want to stay? Because I’m burning this f— place down,” said choir member Veronica Monroy, 32, of Albany.

    The district attorney may also consider charges of false imprisonment because the church was occupied at the time of the fire, said Johnson.

    http://tinyurl.com/35js7o

    “Mills told everyone to leave but blocked the doorway…”
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,242248,00.html

    No, please don’t sell me short when it comes to trolling. If such was the case, I’d certainly want to consider the angry people from the atheistic societies that created the killing fields I referred to in China and Russia and then wonder… who might those types of people be in our society?

    RBG

  27. Jägermeister says:

    #24 – ECA

    None… They all stink…

  28. doug says:

    #27. Actually, if he cursed god, maybe he was a satanist.

    And societies with high levels of non-belief tend to be healthier, overall.

    http://www.gadling.com/2007/08/23/least-religious-countries/

    I mean, really – where would you rather live: Sweden or Saudi Arabia? Japan or India?

    so you can trot out Mao and ex-seminarian Stalin all you want, but truth is that in actuality, religious societies tend to be worse off than secular ones.

    maybe because their various gods have cursed them.

  29. Mister Mustard says:

    >>And societies with high levels of non-belief tend to be healthier, overall.

    Unfortunately, the article you cite conflates those without belief (agnostics, “non-believers”) with those who DO have a belief (Atheists).

    I’ll bet if they sub-setted out the countries by “we just don’t give a fuck” and “we REALLY give a fuck, and anyone who believes in God is an asshole”, the results would have been quite different.


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