Taliban Tony quoting Richard Dawkins?!?

[Guest Anonymous]

So Tony's FB page says he married Paulina Dodd on 9 November 2012. Would their quickie faux-jew wedding ever have had any legal status?

ETA: Lina still has her faux-jew wedding photo as her status.

[Sola]

I know he's spouting Dawkins, but has he actualy said he's now an atheist? He's said Humanism appeals to him on FB, but I would not have thought that it was impossible to be a theist and a Humanist. Quakers can be pretty close to that ethos.

[Rachel333]

Well, he recently "liked" "Sexy Atheists": https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sexy-Ath ... 66?sk=info

I missed this, too. I'm very curious how Lina is dealing with it. Even if she eventually goes along with it, there had to be a really tough period for both of them.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Sigh. This is why the worst possible time to get married and have a baby is when you are young, sheltered, passionately committed to an ideology you have recently picked up, and even more recently hooked up with someone who shares your newfound zeal. It's very likely that any ideology you latch onto that hard at 19 years old - religious, political or otherwise - will not have the same hold on you in a few years. Had they not gotten married in the heat of their Yah-love, they would now have to freedom to re-evaluate their relationship, she could go to college, etc....all that will be a lot harder (though obviously not impossible) now that they are married with a baby and very little income, and the job he moved for may very well be gone if he is no longer drinking the Messianic Kool-Aid.

Also interesting that they no longer share an FB page.

How many of us predicted some version of this? :character-oldtimer:

[bea]

How many of us predicted some version of this? :character-oldtimer:

QFT.

So Lina goes faux-Jew, meets the Yah-devotee of her dreams online, marries him in a quickie wedding, gets knocked up almost immediately, la la la pretend-Jew submissive wife headcovering vegan mother of a newborn son...

and BAM

Husband now an atheist.

I'd love to be a fly on that wall.

[Porcelina]

How did I miss this? HOLY SHIT.

Omg me too!!! When did all this go down?! And is she preg again? The pic says November 2012 but seems weird to have a pic up of just the two of them you'd think their son would be there too if it's another pregnancy?

[duplessis3]

sounds like he is just moving to a different know- it- allism. just as long as everyone else is wrong, TT feels fine.

[Guest Anonymous]

Did TT and Lina get remarried? They seem to have two wedding dates (9 November 2012, 20 September 2011).

I did notice the atheism thing the first time around (I made a criminally under-appreciated joke about the French Revolutionary Calendar). This time I can actually see their Facebook pages and it seems like TT still has a couple of faux Jew Internet friends. I still don't understand Facebook, so I'm not sure how much that's a thing.

[JesusFightClub]

sounds like he is just moving to a different know- it- allism. just as long as everyone else is wrong, TT feels fine.

He's actually just like one of my brother's tedious fundie-atheist friends now. Complete with the delusion that they know better than EVERYONE about EVERYTHING and if you disagree you are BLINDED BY THE SHACKLES OF RELIGIOUS THINKING (yes, shackles can blind, who knew.) :doh:

Still it's better than faux-Judaism, because at least he's not messing with people's religion any more. I still think he's a twat, though.

[Effie]

Wow, it's like he is going through a delayed teenage (identity) crisis... or something.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Omg me too!!! When did all this go down?! And is she preg again? The pic says November 2012 but seems weird to have a pic up of just the two of them you'd think their son would be there too if it's another pregnancy?

I was wondering about that too. Seems weird that he would not have put up a picture of his son.

[Ramona]

Is there a blog or another thread with background for whomever this is?

(Also ~ what's a "fake" Jewish person?)

[Guest Anonymous]

A "fake" Jewish person is a Messianic Jew. Essentially, it is someone who takes on some elements of Jewishness (such as wearing a kippah, speaking with liberal sprinklings of Yiddish, using Jewish symbols such as the star of David, etc) but believes that Jesus is the messiah. Such people argue that there is no conflict between being Jewish and believing in Jesus. They'll deny that their belief in Jesus (as the messiah) makes them Christian, instead arguing that what they believe is the complete version of Judaism. Often, this is used as a tool to try to convert actual Jewish people to evangelical Christianity (e.g. Jews for Jesus).

[Seven Severn]

Is there a blog or another thread with background for whomever this is?

(Also ~ what's a "fake" Jewish person?)

Search FJ for Lina or Taliban Tony.

A faux Jew is a Christian who adopts Jewish customs/law/language and thinks that they're Jewish. Search FJ for faux Jew.

ETA: Ack. I overlapped with Sogba whose explanation is much better than mine.

[Ramona]

Okay I do think I've heard of "Messianic Jew" ~ I think I just had it filed away as another kind of Jewish faith or a blended faith or something... thanks

[Annette]

November 9 is the day he joined FB with his new unshared profile and entered the wedding as a life event. Up near the top it shows 9/20/2011 as their wedding date.

[Guest Anonymous]

I am neither surprised nor unsurprised that he has made a change. And most of all, I am no less concerned for Lina. The way he spoke to us on FJ was aggressive/violent to an extreme. He seems like someone who could very easily move to the extreme of any belief system and what matters is that he is right and needs to be obeyed.

[stonefruit]

Man, my "favorite" (read: I so intensely dislike these posers) couple, and I totally missed this update! Sadly, I don't think they're done being fake Jews, although I would love to think this was a step on the road in that direction.

[GeoBQn]

This is like a real-life version of one of my favorite Onion articles, "College Freshman Cycles Rapidly Through Identities," except for the whole "being responsible for a wife and child" part.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/colleg ... ities,991/

[notablesquid]

I am neither surprised nor unsurprised that he has made a change. And most of all, I am no less concerned for Lina. The way he spoke to us on FJ was aggressive/violent to an extreme. He seems like someone who could very easily move to the extreme of any belief system and what matters is that he is right and needs to be obeyed.

I agree with your assessment here - shedding religion does not mean he has changed the triggers within him that issued those gross threats back in the day. Anger issues, controlling tendencies, and hunger for power are not based on one's belief system.

I'd love to be wrong about him, but he raises my hackles in a big way- and that doesn't happen to me often. Though it's likely that if they are living based on secular/humanist values, divorce shouldn't be the stigma it might have been in a religious setting so I hope that if need be, Lina doesn't fear leaving.

[GeoBQn]

TT is now posting links to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, while Lina changed her cover photo three hours ago to a Bible quote. It's hard to imagine their marriage lasting much longer with TT doing a complete 180 in his beliefs. At some point, they will get into an argument over what faith or non-faith to raise the baby in.

[Soldier of the One]

Although large parts of the atheist community are very enlightened on gender stuff, there is also some known and documented mysogyny in that culture. Also, I'd differentiate between atheism and humanism. Humanists can hold various theological beliefs, from secular to deist to pantheist to even theist. I'm afraid that he's launched himself into an equally militant lifestyle (which fits his personality) that may but does not certainly guarantee greater freedom for Lina.

If she's still conventionally religious, it must be so hard for her, especially if she holds onto views of male headship. He's supposed to spiritually lead her. There's tonnes of stuff on the internet on 'Christian wives' unequally yoked to non-believers and the difficulty in that relationship from the Christian perspective.

I wish her the best. I hope this is a period of amazing growth, questioning and freedom for her and for them both. We'll see.

[sea_gale]

TT is now posting links to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, while Lina changed her cover photo three hours ago to a Bible quote. It's hard to imagine their marriage lasting much longer with TT doing a complete 180 in his beliefs. At some point, they will get into an argument over what faith or non-faith to raise the baby in.

Poor Lina. This is something she could never have predicted.

I'm super grossed out by TT liking "Sexy Atheists". For my part, I wouldn't care if my bf liked such a page. But considering Lina's "shomer negiah" phase and modesty obsession, I can't imagine that she wasn't upset by him expressing his atheism and exercising his male gaze so publicly.

I predict a return to blogging after the divorce. She always seemed to have a solid, supportive family behind her, as well as a mile wide stubborn streak, so I have hope that she will thrive. Hopefully her cute bub doesn't need to have too much contact with his creepy daddy.

[Esther]

I agree with some of the above posts - I do not think this will turn TT into a nicer person in any way. That guy doesn't need religion to be a patriarchal, potentially abusive douchebag. It can't be easy for Lina, either - what if she's still drinking the Messianic kool-aid, whereas he's clearly done with it? Does this mean she now has to be a pretend-atheist to "submit" to him? I don't see them as turning into a fabulous, mixed-religion household anytime soon. (Of course the faux-Judaism was stupid, but still, this has to be tough on her.)

That said: YAAAAAAAAY, MY GATEWAY FUNDIES! :D

[Sweetpea1]

I could see Lina deciding to stay in the marriage with the idea of bringing back TT to God. Sigh.

edited for spelling.