American Family Association Has Homosexuals On Their Mind

One of my favorite organizations of insane Christian moralists, the American Family Association, got a little carried away with their hatred of gays today. Apparently, their pseudo news outlet OneNewsNow has a policy of automatically changing the word "gay" to "homosexual." I guess they feel the word "gay" doesn't have the negative connotations that "homosexual" does. While this policy would normally just be bigoted and stupid, it became quite hilarious when they did a story on Olympic athlete Tyson Gay.

They eventually figured out their mistake, but not before publishing such gems as:

Wearing a royal blue uniform with red and white diagonal stripes across the front, along with matching shoes, all in a tribute to 1936 Olympic star Jesse Owens, Homosexual dominated the competition. He started well and pulled out to a comfortable lead by the 40-meter mark.

And then there's my favorite part, where Gay's competitor Walter Dix is mentioned:

After the race, Homosexual and Dix looked at each other and slapped palms, then hugged.

Save Will Smith From Himself

Will Smith may not be a full-fledged Scientologist yet, but based on the school he's building, he is definitely flirting with the dark side:

Will Smith's soon-to-open private school in Los Angeles is not a Scientology facility, as some reports have suggested, the academy's director said.

Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have founded the New Village Academy, scheduled to open in September.

The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church.

But the couple say they are not Scientologists, and the academy's director insists the facility has no religious affiliation.

"We are a secular school, and just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children," New Village Academy director Jacqueline Olivier told the Los Angeles Times.

Smith has some explaining to do. The school might not be officially Scientologist, but how many legitimate schools teach Hubbard techniques and have multiple Scientologist teachers? Also, Smith may claim that he's not a Scientologist, but based on the fact that he gave gift cards for a free Scientology personality test to crew members from his new movie Hancock, his claim seems somewhat dubious. By the way, what a shitty present. It's basically a free invitation to join a cult.

As someone who has been a fan of Will Smith since his "Parents Just Don't Understand" days (fortunately, my musical tastes have since improved), it pains me to see someone with his talent and intellect buy into a thetan-tainted religion.

What The Hell?

Poor hell can't get a break, as Americans are losing faith in the land of fire and brimstone:

Last week's release of a sweeping study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life confirmed a long-developing trend in popular cosmology: belief in heaven is outstripping belief in hell.

The Pew survey, significant for the breadth and depth made possible by its unusually large 35,000-person sample, found that 74 percent of Americans say they think there is a heaven, "where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded," while just 59 percent think there is a hell, "where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished."

There are a variety of reasons given that could explain why people are still believing in heaven but less likely to believe in hell:

Since the Enlightenment, a liberalizing trend in religion has favored conceptions of God as benevolent, rather than judgmental. But also, there are peculiarly American characteristics to this emerging hell gap: an insistent optimism, perhaps a kind of cultural self-contentedness, and a tolerance born of diversity that makes damning the other more problematic.

These explanations may very well be true, but I think the number one reason is much more basic. While the concept of heaven is equally ludicrous to the idea of hell, people simply want there to be a heaven, so they believe. No one wants to spend an eternity of pain and suffering, so it's easier for them to dismiss hell than heaven. This thought process may not be rational, but then again, neither is the entire concept of an afterlife, which is an idea that is unprovable and has zero supporting evidence.

Williams Sisters Lack Suffrage

Venus and Serena Williams, the famous female professional tennis players, won't be voting in the next election because of their bizarre religious beliefs:

Serena Williams told reporters at Wimbledon on Wednesday that she's excited about Barack Obama's candidacy but won't vote for him because Jehovah's Witnesses "don't get involved in politics." Her sister Venus—who is also a Jehovah's Witness—wouldn't even comment on the presidential election. Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses vote?

Because of John 17:14 and other passages in the Bible. In that verse, Jesus says of his followers: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." Jehovah's Witnesses have interpreted that statement as a call to remain neutral in all political matters. (In some of the sect's literature, members are described as "representatives of God's heavenly kingdom"; they are thus obligated to stay out of local political affairs in keeping with the behavior of ambassadors.) Witnesses also refrain from serving in the military, running for public office, and pledging allegiance to the flag.

How they interpret the passage as a reason not to vote I'll never know. Actually, voting isn't completely prohibited by Jehovah's Witnesses, but it is discouraged. Indeed, only 13% of the faith report being registered voters.

As seemingly stupid as their refusal to vote is, some aspects of the religion are much dumber. Jehovah's Witnesses generally don't believe in blood transfusions, which is based on another creative Biblical interpretation. This is a belief so illogical that it could conceivably cause suicide by ignorance.

It's Not Easy Being A Gay Mormon

Gay Mormons (yes, they do exist), are disappointed at the lack of acceptance they receive from their church, and are especially disappointed at its movement into politics:

Officially, the Mormon church teaches that homosexual sex is a sin, although celibate gays can remain active in church callings and activities. Since the 1990s the church has been politically active in defeating same-sex marriage initiatives nationwide, including asking its members to vigorously help pass California's Proposition 22 in 2000, which prohibited California from legally recognizing gay marriages performed outside the state.

If homosexuals think they can find inclusion in the Mormon church, they are being naive. Their chances of being accepted are similar to what Sammy Davis Junior's chances of being accepted into a southern Ku Klux Klan chapter were.

Let's Stop Listening To The Grahams Already

John McCain recently met with an ailing Billy Graham and his son and successor, Franklin, at the family's home. It's sounds like McCain continued in his efforts to increase his unholy alliance with the religious right:

After the meeting, Franklin Graham issued a statement praising the Arizona senator's "personal faith and his moral clarity."

"The senator and I both have sons currently serving in the military, and also have a common interest in aviation," Franklin Graham said. "I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today."

If I had to guess, I would say "moral clarity" is code for hating gays, liberals, and quite possibly Mexicans. And no visit with the Graham family would be complete without some blatant lies:

"We had an opportunity to pray for the senator and his family, and for God's will to be done in this upcoming election," Franklin Graham said.

He said he was not endorsing anyone for president, but was urging "men and women of faith everywhere" to vote and be involved in the political process.

"I encourage people to vote for the candidate at every level who best represents their values and convictions, and then to pray for those in authority over us as required in Scripture," Franklin Graham said.

It's hard to imagine that Billy's son actually thinks he's fooling anyone when he says he isn't endorsing anyone, right after he talks about how great McCain is. But he actually goes a step further, and implies that God wants McCain to win the presidency. What a douche bag! As the saying goes, "like father, like son."

Vatican's Pro-Republican Bias

One of my favorite targets, the Catholic church, has given me some fresh ammunition:

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke was named Friday (June 27) to head the Catholic Church's highest court, a move that places an outspoken conservative in an important if not highly visible post.

Burke, 59, will be the first American to serve as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The job usually comes with a cardinal's red hat, which would add another American to the conclaves that elect popes.

Burke has led the charge among a handful of U.S. bishops to discipline Catholic politicians who stray from church teaching. In 2004, he told Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry he could not receive Communion in St. Louis because of his support of abortion rights.

The new post will allow Burke to leave his conservative imprint on the wider church, leading a court that has final say on administrative disputes but also marriage annulments and church closings.

He's already made a name for himself by involving himself in politics whenever possible:

Burke's five-year tenure in St. Louis has been brief but fiery. After publicly rebuking Kerry and other prominent Democrats, last year he said ministers who distribute Communion are "held, under pain of mortal sin, to deny the sacraments to the unworthy."

Earlier this year, he excommunicated three women who were ordained as priests against church rules, and also said he would deny Communion to the basketball coach at St. Louis University for his support of abortion rights and stem cell research.

He also forbade Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., from speaking at her daughter's graduation ceremony at a Catholic high school because of her record on abortion, and resigned from a Catholic children's charity after the group featured singer Sheryl Crow, who supports abortion rights, at a fundraiser.

It's nice to see that the number one quality for advancement in the Catholic church seems to be a willingness to inject yourself in politics. How does the church expect to be taken seriously when people like Burke, who makes a big issue of exposing the alleged evil of Cheryl Crow, are given great power?

We Don't Need Another Crusade

Even though the U.S. army is officially secular, it's evident that a large section of it sees itself as a Christian force:

A US sniper uses the Qur'an as target practice in Baghdad. A US Marine hands out coins to residents in Fallujah that ask in Arabic on one side: "Where will you spend eternity?" The other side is inscribed with a Biblical verse: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16." An American soldier who performed two tours in Iraq is denied promotion when his superiors learn he is an atheist, after he refuses to pray during Thanksgiving dinner (pdf). An anti-Islamic poster adorns the door of the Military Police office at Fort Riley, Kansas, featuring a quote from conservative pundit Ann Coulter: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." And as the New York Times reported this week, some cadets at West Point and the Naval Academy feel pressured by their schools to adopt a Judeo-Christian worldview.

Some may say these are isolated incidents of religious intolerance, but evidence is mounting that a virulent evangelical Christianity is spreading through the American armed forces, breaking the constitutional barrier between church and state and worse, like our jihadist enemies, presenting the "war on terror" as a clash of civilisations between the Christian west and the global Muslim community.

The process of creating good Christian soldiers starts early, according to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a group fighting to maintain the secularism of the armed forces. At Fort Jackson army base in Columbia, South Carolina, the director of the Christian outreach group Military Ministry, Frank Bussey, tells soldiers that "government authorities, police and the military = God's ministers". Photographs exist of Bussey's student-soldiers posing in their fatigues with rifle in one hand and Bible in the other, an eerily similar pose to jihadist martyrs with their rifles and Qur'ans. His Bible study classes are known as "God's Basic Training", where attending cadets learn "when you join the military, you've really joined the ministry."

Additionally, there's plenty of other cases where military cadets are proselytized as part of their training.

It should be clear to everyone that having a large Christian influence in the army is a bad thing. As former legal counsel to the Reagan administration Mike Weinstein puts it, evangelical influences in the army are "creating a fundamentalist Christian Taliban." Fighting crazy Islamic fundamentalists is already tough, but if their argument that the Americans are fighting Islam and not terror is legitimized, it can create a problem with fatal results. Many of the above examples, like the sniper who shot up the Qur'an, have already caused bloodshed.

Every soldier has the right to their own religious beliefs, whether they're an atheist or a fundamentalist. But if the army adopts an official religion, as it has already somewhat done, it can only further splinter its unity while emboldening the enemy.

If Tony Soprano Was Muslim

In Iraq, you're allowed to not believe in Allah so long as you pay Mafia-like protection money, as this example from the city of Mosul shows:

As priests do everywhere, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, the leader of the Chaldean Catholics in this ancient city, gathered alms at Sunday Mass. But for years the money, a crumpled pile of multicolored Iraqi dinars, went into an envelope and then into the hand of a man who had threatened to kill him and his entire congregation.

What else could he do?” asked Ghazi Rahho, a cousin of the archbishop. “He tried to protect the Christian people.”

But American military officials now say that as security began to improve around Iraq last year, Archbishop Rahho, 65, stopped paying the protection money, one sliver of the frightening larger shadow of violence and persecution that has forced hundreds of thousands of Christians from Iraq. That decision, the officials say, may be why he was kidnapped in February.

Two weeks later, his body was found in a shallow grave outside Mosul, the biblical city of Nineveh.

Evidently, this is part of a proud Islamic tradition:

Since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, Muslims in the Middle East permitted that diversity in part through a special tax on Jews and Christians. The tax was called a jizya — and that is the name with which the insurgents chose to cloak extortion, Mafia-style, from Christians.

Sexual Abuse Justice

Although long overdue, there is some justice in a Episcopalian sexual abuse case:

An Episcopal bishop was found guilty by a church panel of covering up his brother's assaults of a teenage girl in the 1970s.

Charles E. Bennison Jr., 64, was convicted of two counts of engaging in conduct unbecoming of a member of the clergy, according to his attorneys and the church verdict, dated Tuesday and released Thursday. He could be reprimanded, suspended or ousted from the church.

What bothers me the most about this case is the insulting defense that Bennison's lawyer made:

[Bennison's Lawyer] Pabarue has said the young rector handled the situation as best he could with his limited experience and a lack of church guidelines, particularly in an era when views about sexual abuse were not as enlightened as today.

So his best excuse is that in the 1970s sexual abuse was no big deal! Well, maybe I'm being too hard on this guy. I suppose it's very possible that his religious training warped his proper sense of morality.

Extreme Exorcism Ruled Legal

If you ever want to perform an exorcism on someone, Texas may be the best place to do it:

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God's First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion did not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by a "hyper-spiritualistic environment."

Laura Schubert testified in 2002 that she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after the church members' actions in 1996, when she was 17. Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She also said the incident led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric help.

Her psychological problems could very well have come from a traumatic missionary trip to Africa, as the church's lawyers argued. But even so, she was still "pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns." I'm all for freedom of religion, but this seems like plain physical abuse. At least some of the judges agreed with me:

But Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, in a dissenting opinion, stated that the "sweeping immunity" is inconsistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent and extends far beyond the Constitution's protections for religious conduct.

"The First Amendment guards religious liberty; it does not sanction intentional abuse in religion's name," Jefferson wrote.

I wonder, then, if it would be legal to beat someone to death in Texas if it was during an exorcism. Maybe the supreme court will hear this case some day, but hopefully with a Supreme Court that contains some Obama appointed justices.

11-Year-Old Abortion Controversy

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far, and I hope this disturbing story won't ruin it:

Twenty church groups on Thursday urged a government committee not to allow an 11-year-old girl raped by her uncle to travel to Britain for an abortion.

The pro-life Christian Orthodox groups also threatened to press charges if the girl were allowed to have a termination in Romania on exceptional grounds.

Their position was in contrast with the official stand of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which said the decision should be left to the girl's family.

For christsakes, the decision is already hard enough for the family without the church stepping in.

God Media In Review: Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo

I felt like doing something extra lighthearted this week, and considering Christmas is almost exactly a half year away, I though I'd take a look at the South Park episode that introduced the lovable Mr. Hankey to the world. So let's travel back to 1997, when the episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" premiered.

If you aren't familiar with Mr. Hankey, he's an anthropomorphic turd that sings. Like Santa Claus, he appears on Christmas day, but only if you've eaten plenty of fiber on Christmas eve. You can view the entire episode here.



In this South Park episode, the kids are preparing for the school Christmas pageant, which is originally packed with religious imagery in the style of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The mother of the only Jewish kid, Kyle, is offended that the school would perform a Christian play and puts a stop to it. Kyle suggests they do a Mr. Hankey play instead, but no one else believes in his existence, and they think he is a crazy "fecalphiliac."



Kyle is institutionalized for his false diagnosis, and meanwhile a horrible pageant is performed.



Christmas looks to be ruined, but then Mr. Hankey shows everyone that he is indeed real, and saves the day by reminding everyone about the true meaning of Christmas: "singing songs, cookies and goodwill towards men."



Even a heathen like me can agree to this. In recent years, we all have had to suffer through the stupid "war on Christmas" debate, led by the clueless Bill O'Reilly. But O'Reilly and his ilk, by making the argument that retailers need to say "merry Christmas" instead of "happy holidays," is missing the point entirely. In reality, this is an argument against the secularization of the commercialization of Christmas. If he really cared about the religious aspects of the holiday, he should condemn the entire commercialization of it. Mr. O'Reilly could really learn a thing or two from that singing piece of poo.

Mormon Image Problem

With the recent spree of child abusing polygamist cults getting busted, a lot of people are confusing mainstream Mormons with the cultists. In fact, a survey shows that 36 percent thought that the Eldorodo, Texas compound was a part of the Mormon church. A public relations effort is now underway:

Now the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon church, is starting a public relations campaign that seeks a delicate balance: distinguishing itself from a small, separate group that claims some of the same history while not denigrating someone else's beliefs.

It's a sensitive issue for the Mormon church, which was persecuted in its early years. The initiative begun Thursday also details how it considers its 19th century practice of polygamy different from present-day practitioners like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It's not going to be an easy battle for them, especially when you have church officials saying stuff like this:

"We don't know if there's abuse of children," [church apostle] Cook said in an interview. "We would condemn that ... We don't know all the facts."

Pretty much everyone else is convinced that there was child abuse, and by not condemning it they give the appearance of being sympathetic. The Angel Moroni must be ashamed.

Evolution In Action

New Scientist has observed some of the strongest evidence for evolution to date:

A couple of weeks ago we reported on the work of Richard Lenski, who has spent much of the last 20 years maintaining cultures of E. coli to see how they evolve. His paper describes how one of his populations evolved the ability to metabolise citrate, something E. coli cannot do by definition.

It's one of the most dramatic examples of evolution in action ever seen, and because Lenski freezes samples of the population every 500 generations, it is possible to go back and track how the ability developed. Lenski and his team are now doing so, and hope to have a detailed history of the ability developing, mutation by mutation.

We all know that no amount of proof would ever cause a creationist to change their mind. Their beliefs have never been shaped by reality, so why would they care about evidence? It can get funny, though, when some of these idiots try to twist the proof of evolution in their favor:

First up was Michael Behe, the intelligent design proponent and biochemist, who argued in his Amazon blog that Lenski's work was in fact excellent evidence for intelligent design. His argument is a variant on the usual "it's just so improbable" line: the ability to metabolise citrate required several different mutations (true), which each have a low chance of happening in a given time (true), and it may even have been necessary for them to happen in a particular order (true), therefore Darwinian evolution can't explain it. Er, no, it just means it would take evolution a little while to manage it. 20 years, as it turned out.

These guys are humorous alright, though a little scary because so many share their anti-scientific dogma.

McCain's Hardcore Pandering

John McCain, in an effort to win more votes, looks to have sold his soul to the Christian right:

Sen. John McCain, who has struggled to win the trust of evangelical voters, met privately Thursday in Ohio with several influential social conservatives who have been critical of him -- and impressed them, while telling them only some of what they wanted to hear.

McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the small assembly that he was open to learning more about their opposition to embryonic stem cell research despite his past disagreements with them on the issue.

And, according to participants, he indicated that he would take seriously their requests that he choose an anti-abortion running mate and would talk more openly about his opposition to gay marriage -- a pledge he carried out later in the day by endorsing a ballot measure in California to ban gay marriage."

It was obvious there were a lot of changed hearts in the room," said Phil Burress, who led Ohio's anti-gay-marriage ballot measure in 2004. "We realized that he's with us on the majority of the issues we care about."

This pandering seems unlikely to win him the presidency. McCain's whole appeal is that he is supposedly a moderate, or a maverick politician. Here, he seems to be openly intimidated by the Christer base of his party. The Senator even seems to be considering fulfilling their fantasy of opposing stem cell research, which would be political suicide. Not only is stem cell research well supported, but if he changed his mind on the issue, he would forever be termed a "flip-flopper" who is afraid to speak his own mind.

Goddess Girls

13-year-old Chanira Bajracharya of Nepal is no ordinary girl:

Chanira is one of three main kumaris, or "living goddesses," here in the fabled Kathmandu Valley. The practice of worshiping young girls – and then casting them aside once they reach puberty – is unique to this Himalayan nation.


Indeed, kumaris – Buddhists that are worshiped by both Buddhists and Hindus – symbolize "an amazing political accommodation" here where Asia meets the Indian subcontinent, says Nick Gier, former professor of philosophy and Eastern religions at the University of Idaho. "I stand in awe of how the Nepali have put religion and politics together creatively to get the Buddhists and Hindus to live peacefully together."

If you have ever wondered what the favorite hobbies of a goddess are, they include watching HBO and playing with Barbies. But how do you become a goddess?

When the current kumari starts menstruating, young girls from a specific caste of goldsmith families are brought to the king's priest. Whoever fits a list of 32 physical "perfections" – including having the voice of a duck and the body of a Banyan tree – becomes accepted as the reincarnation of the Hindu Goddess Taleju.

I guess the monotheistic religions could be a lot crazier. For example, Catholicism has some odd traditions, but there's no rules about having to sound like a duck to reach sainthood.

Bush's Misguided Faith

With a recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll showing President Bush with 23% approval, the incompetent nepotist felt the need to pat himself on the back about his questionable religious-based initiatives:

President Bush on Thursday (June 26) touted the successes of his initiative to partner faith-based and community organizations with government funds, calling it a key part of his presidency.

"I truly believe the faith-based initiative is one of the most important initiatives of this administration," Bush said in a keynote speech to some 1,100 clergy, government staffers and nonprofit leaders attending a national conference sponsored by the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

Even if these "faith-based" initiatives were obviously a complete failure, I can't imagine Bush would ever admit to it. He has so much faith in the concept that he's forever blind to the truth. Thankfully, even some religious figures dislike religious-based initiatives:

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the initiative should be "shut down, not celebrated."

As you may have guessed, what bothers me more than anything is the substitution of the word "religion" for the euphemistic "faith." It's possible that focus groups have decided that faith is less likely to be objected to than religion, but not with me. Faith, after all, is the unquestioned belief in something while ignoring any evidence. Bush is obviously a big believer in faith, which is surely a big factor in his disastrous presidency.

Papal Fashion Misstatement

The Pope is remarkable for his ability to make bold fashion statements without wearing designer clothes, which he is sometimes rumored to do:

According to the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the bright red loafers that Pope Benedict XVI wears are not designed by the Milanese fashion house, as has long been rumored.

As you can see in the clip below, Benedict XVI shows that papal infallibility doesn't apply to fashion.



Is he trying to legitimize Santa Claus as part of Christian theology with that hat? And maybe he thinks those red shoes are Wizard of Oz chic, but they would be better suited for Bozo the Clown.

Daily Show: Is God A Swing Vote?

John Stewart examines the question while showing the hypocrisy of James Dobson:

Rise Of The Pagans

Who could have guessed one of the fastest growing religions is Neopaganism?

The number of Neopagans roughly doubles about every 18 months in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.

Neopaganism, whether a careful reconstruction of ancient practice or a completely modern interpretation of ancient lore, is among the country's fastest-growing religions.

People, especially teens, are rejecting what they see as the "autocracy, paternalism, sexism, homophobia and insensitivity to the environment" of more traditional religions, the Ontario Consultants conclude.

These pagans come in many forms, but Wicca is the most popular:

The Wiccans, one variety of witch and the largest single group of Neopagans, took flight in the 1950s when the religion and craft were popularized by Englishman Gerald Gardner. The number of U.S. practitioners grew from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by City University of New York.

The Ontario group and other researchers now estimate American Wiccan numbers between 750,000 to 1 million.

. . .

Inmate Neopagans include Wiccans, Druids and the Asatru, who worship Odin and other Norse gods. In prisons especially, the Asatru can be identified with Nazis, skinheads, patriarchy and racism, yet there are pure forms, [Wiccan minister] Brennan said, which focus on positives, self-empowerment and tribal loyalty, rather than white supremacy.

It's kind of frustrating to see Neopaganism grow. The people who practice it realize something about Christianity or one of the other major religions doesn't make sense, and reject it. But they aren't rationalists; if they were, they would become atheists or agnostics. Instead, they adopt beliefs that are probably crazier than monotheism, where they go around casting spells and presumably wearing black and looking pale. Or maybe some are just sexually confused teens who take the goth subculture to seriously, perhaps after watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show one too many times.

Anglicans Stay Together, For Now

It was widely predicted that the Anglican church was headed for a schism after the more conservative leaders were angry that the church didn't hate gays enough. But it looks like they won't be breaking apart just yet:

The would-be Anglican rebels gathered with storm clouds brewing around them. But now, even though the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFcon) has not concluded its meeting in Jerusalem, the secession it threatened to bring to the 78 million-member Anglican Communion looks like a confused bust.

This all comes as a bit of surprise to the press, which — with ample encouragement from the Church's right — had been framing GAFcon as a decisive step toward schism in the Anglican Communion, the third biggest global religious fellowship. GAFcon seems to be falling apart on several fronts. First came the venue problems: the conference ping-ponged embarrassingly at the last minute from Jerusalem to Jordan and back to Jerusalem.

So maybe the split was never that likely, and the mainstream media was just buying into right-wing Anglican propaganda.

Should Sex Offenders Be Volunteers?

Georgia has some of the toughest sex crime laws in the country, including a controversial one that bars sex offenders from volunteering at churches:

A Georgia law banning sex offenders from volunteer work at churches should be struck down because it "criminalizes fundamental religious activities," a court motion filed Tuesday says.

The motion is the latest legal assault on the controversial state sex-offender registry law, one of the toughest in the nation. A new provision says no registered sex offender shall be employed by or volunteer at a church.

This makes it a crime for sex offenders to sing in adult choirs, prepare for revivals or cook meals in a church kitchen, said the motion, which seeks a court order halting enforcement of the provision before it becomes law July 1. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta as part of ongoing litigation that seeks to declare the law unconstitutional.

The legislation is supposed to help keep the sex offenders stay away from children. Besides the obvious problem that the law can hinder religious freedom, it has also been criticized for not differentiating between the severity of the sex crime committed. I imagine any legal challenge will be closely watched by Catholic priests.

Jesus Is A What?

A 16-year old was arrested for wearing a t-shirt, pictured below, from the English extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. The police are now looking to pull remaining ones off the shelf.

Some people are arguing that the police are restricting freedom of speech, but even I have to mostly disagree. After all, the "C word" is the most offensive word around these days. However, stopping the sale of the shirts seems wrong.

The band has a funny take on the whole situation:

In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth bizarrely suggested God was working through the band.

"Defaming organised religion openly in public is now a crime? What is wrong with England? Still, the litter problem on our city streets should improve dramatically if they keep handing out 80-odd hour community punishment orders willy-nilly," he said.

"The country will be spotless in no time, a sure sign that God works in mysterious ways, even through us!"

Godspell Is Fun For Everyone

Thanks to commenter DrUnscrupulous for suggesting the 1973 movie Godspell, which like Jesus Christ Superstar, is based on a Broadway show. As the doctor accurately points out, "it really is like someone stuffed JC, Hair, and evangelical Christianity in a blender!"

The entire movie can be found on YouTube, so you can check it out here, or check out some of it below.



I'm only through the first third so far, but it's oddly enjoyable. Astoundingly, I'm almost tempted to convert to Christianity.

One final observation, which I made through the Wikipedia entry, is that four of the actors died relatively young. Perhaps God isn't a fan of the movie.

Religious Activity Influences Politics

Here's another tidbit from the recent Pew Forum study on religion, which basically confirms the obvious:

The more religiously active an American is, the more likely he is to vote Republican--unless he's black. That fact emerged in the second part of a Pew Forum study on the landscape of religious life in the United States, released this June.

Blacks, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic, tend to be the most religiously active ethnic group in the United States, possibly due to the large role the church had in the post Civil War era and the civil rights movement. A similar level of religious activity is found among white Mormons (is there any other kind?) and evangelicals, who vote overwhelmingly Republican. So it's no surprise that the nutty Romney and Huckabee wing of the Republican party remain influential, even if they lost out this time around.

American Knights Templar

Cadets at West Point and the Naval Academy aren't just getting a military education, they're getting a forced Christian military education:

In interviews at West Point, seven cadets, two officers and a former chaplain said that religion, especially evangelical Christianity, was a constant at the academy. They said that until recently, cadets who did not attend religious services during basic training were sometimes referred to as “heathens.” They said mandatory banquets begin with prayer, including a reading from the Bible at a recent gala.

But most of their complaints center on Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, until recently the academy’s top military leader and, since early May, the commander of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. The cadets and staff said General Caslen, as commandant of cadets at West Point, routinely brought up God in speeches at events cadets were required to attend.

In his farewell speech to the cadet corps this spring, General Caslen told them: “Draw your strength in the days ahead from your faith in God. Let it be the moral compass that guides you in the decisions you make.”

The groups of cadets and midshipmen, who do not know each other, echo the same view: that the military, regardless of its official policies, by emphasizing religion, especially Christianity, at events that students are required to attend sends the message that to be considered successful officers they have to believe in God.

Luckily, this whole situation is starting to come under scrutiny, and the A.C.L.U. is mobilizing. Hopefully they can turn things around quickly, because the track record for Christian armies invading the Middle East isn't all that good.

Is The Pope A Magnum Man?

The Australian World Youth Day celebration could get interesting this year:

Condoms will be handed out to pilgrims en route to a papal Mass at Randwick Racecourse on World Youth Day as part of a protest against the Catholic Church's attitude to homosexuality, contraception and abortion.

A coalition of religious, atheist, gay and lesbian groups will stage the rally in Taylor Square from midday on Saturday July 19 before marching to the main event of the week-long World Youth Day celebrations.

Rachel Evans, the protest organizer, estimates between 1000 and 5000 protesters for the event. She also has some extremely harsh criticism for the Pope, saying that "He is clearly a bigot . . . many in the Catholic Church are also raising these issues, condemning the Pope for his hateful ideas."

How funny would it be if they got the Pope to take a condom?

Progressive Islam In China

Disgracefully, women are put in a subservient role in most Islamic countries. Strangely enough, Muslims in China are surprisingly progressive in regards to women's rights:

At a tiny courtyard mosque in China's most populous Muslim region, Jin Meihua leads other women in prayer and chants.

Every day, the 44-year-old dons a black robe and violet scarf and preaches to dozens of women at the Little White Mosque in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous region, where most of the country's Islam-faith Hui ethnic minority live.

Jin has a routine life. "Except attending funerals, I always stay in the mosque, teaching the female Muslims Islamic scriptures."

She is a female imam or "ahong," pronounced ah-hung, from the Persian word "akhund" for "the learned." In China, a female imam is an innovation, despite being rare in Arabic countries.

Even though the female imams aren't considered the full equal of their male peers, it's a big step up from places like Saudi Arabia. Who would have though the Arab world could have so much to learn from China?

Barack Bashes Dobson

As I mentioned yesterday, Jasmes Dobson attacked Barack Obama's interpretation of the Bible on his radio show. I confess I didn't listen to it; there was no way in hell I would subject myself to that shit, but it appears that Obama struck back hard:

Barack Obama said Tuesday evangelical leader James Dobson was "making stuff up" when he accused the presumed Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible.

Dobson used his Focus on the Family radio program to highlight excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

Speaking to reporters on his campaign plane before landing in Los Angeles, Obama said the speech made the argument that people of faith, like himself, "try to translate some of our concerns in a universal language so that we can have an open and vigorous debate rather than having religion divide us."

Obama added, "I think you'll see that he was just making stuff up, maybe for his own purposes."

It looks like it's on now.

Aborting Abstinence Education

You know that abstinence only education has completely failed when states are actually turning down federal funding for it:

Skeptical states are shoving aside millions of federal dollars for abstinence education, walking away from the program the Bush administration touts for slowing teen sexual activity. Barely half the states are still in, and two more say they are leaving.

Some $50 million has been budgeted for this year, and financially strapped states might be expected to want their share. But many have doubts that the program does much, if any good, and they're frustrated by chronic uncertainty that it will even be kept in existence. They also have to chip in state money in order to receive the federal grants.

Abstinence only education perfectly exemplifies the misguided morality of religion. Not only has it been proven not to stop teenage sex, but it also increases unwanted teen pregnancy, because it makes the kids less likely to use birth control. Nice to see that it's on the decline.

Obama's Muslim Problem

Here's more evidence that Barack Obama's efforts to distance himself from Islam could have a negative effect:

As Senator Barack Obama courted voters in Iowa last December, Representative Keith Ellison, the country’s first Muslim congressman, stepped forward eagerly to help.

Mr. Ellison believed that Mr. Obama’s message of unity resonated deeply with American Muslims. He volunteered to speak on Mr. Obama’s behalf at a mosque in Cedar Rapids, one of the nation’s oldest Muslim enclaves. But before the rally could take place, aides to Mr. Obama asked Mr. Ellison to cancel the trip because it might stir controversy. Another aide appeared at Mr. Ellison’s Washington office to explain.

“I will never forget the quote,” Mr. Ellison said, leaning forward in his chair as he recalled the aide’s words. “He said, ‘We have a very tightly wrapped message.’ ”

. . .

While the senator has visited churches and synagogues, he has yet to appear at a single mosque. Muslim and Arab-American organizations have tried repeatedly to arrange meetings with Mr. Obama, but officials with those groups say their invitations — unlike those of their Jewish and Christian counterparts — have been ignored. Last week, two Muslim women wearing head scarves were barred by campaign volunteers from appearing behind Mr. Obama at a rally in Detroit.

Like I've been saying, it's still important for American politicians to pander to Christianity, and to some extent Judaism. With Islam, it's probably smart to distance yourself from an electability standpoint, but going to far and pissing off Muslims could have a big downside. According to the last census, there are now 2.3 million Muslims in the country, and their vote was pretty evenly split between Kerry and Bush. I wouldn't be surprised if we also see a little bit of Muslim pandering before November.

Pimp My Buggy

All Amish teens have a tough decision to make. They can choose to stay true to their faith, or they can be stray into a land of iPods and cell phones, as this video shows.

It seems like an easy choice to me, but then again, it wouldn't take much to get me to reject the Amish lifestyles. Forget iPods; I'd only need an 8-track or a Game Boy.

Made In China

Is nothing sacred anymore? Even The Good Book is now produced in bulk quantities inside godless Red China:

Chairman Mao might have said, "Our God is none other than the masses of the Chinese people," but here at Nanjing Amity Printing Co., China's only state-sanctioned Bible printer, little time is wasted pondering the contradictions of a metaphysical mismatch.

"We are printers," said Li Chunnong, the general manager of the plant, which has about 500 employees. "As long as somebody legitimate sends us an order, we will print them."

This pragmatic mind-set has contributed to the company's staggering growth. Since its first Bible rolled off the presses two decades ago, Amity has printed more than 50 million copies in 75 languages and exported to more than 60 countries. With the help of a new hangar-sized facility, the company could well be the biggest Bible factory in the world, cranking out 12 million copies a year.

Actually, many of the Bibles made in China are for domestic sale, as Christianity is starting to become widely practiced there. That is, at least to the limited extend that the government allows.

Religion Survey Results

Yesterday, Part II of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey was released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, and it provides several intriguing insights. Let's start with the encouraging news:

-More than half of evangelical respondents said that many religions can lead to eternal life, despite the central evangelical tenet that Jesus is the sole path to eternity with God.

-Beyond religious practices and beliefs, the survey delved into political views and how they are influenced by religion. Researchers found that about one in four evangelicals, and less than one-tenth of Catholics, said religious beliefs most influence their political thinking.

-. . . Just 51 percent said they were both absolutely certain about that belief and view God as a person (not some kind of impersonal force) with whom they can have a relationship.

Not all the results, however, are as good to hear. The surveys calculates that 92 percent of Americans still believe in God, so non-believers are still a very small minority. Additionally, there are some comically depressing results, for example:

-12 percent of Orthodox Christians, who are known for their by-the-book liturgical worship, reported speaking or praying in tongues at least once a week -- a practice most commonly associated with Pentecostal traditions.

And then you have these knuckleheads:

-One in five self-described atheists, whose main tenet is to reject belief in God, say they believe in God or a universal spirit.

Well, at least I've never claimed being an atheist automatically makes you a rational person.

Two Month Anniversary

Today, The IPU turns two months old. Even to me, this isn't particularly interesting, but it gives me a chance to highlight this site's greatest accomplishment: as of the moment I'm writing this, it's one of the top results in Google for "mermaid hooker!" Go ahead and check it out if you don't believe me.

UPDATE: Damn, looks like it got demoted. It was one hell of a ride while it lasted.

James Dobson To Target Obama

Barack Obama is attempting to increase his appeal to evangelicals, but Family Research Council founder James Dobson is trying to put a stop to it:

As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement's biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization's headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

Some of the controversial comments made by Obama that Dobson will highlight include Obama saying Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is "a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application," and "Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?" Ouch, I guess it's already personal.

Dobson will have some extremely harsh words for Obama on his Tuesday radio show, and will accuse the Senator of "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology." Additionally, he will take a swipe at Obama's support for abortion rights by stating he takes "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

To me, it seems pretty juvenile that a presidential candidate has to take part in debate with a kook like Dobson. But it's American politics, where the wacky religious right still have way too much sway.

Berlusconi Calls Out The Pope

Italian Prime Minister and billionaire media baron Silvio Berlusconi sure has a huge ego. His latest goal is to change Catholic policy by influencing the Pope:

Berlusconi approached a bishop after Mass at a church near his Sardinian villa Saturday about the possibility of the Vatican's easing its rule against Communion for Catholics who divorce and then remarry, Italian news reports said.

"Go tell that to someone higher than me," Sardinian Bishop Sebastiano Sanguinetti replied, according to Il Giornale. There was no answer Sunday afternoon at the office of the bishop or local diocese.

That "higher" someone, Pope Benedict XVI, made clear early in his papacy that the ban was staying.

As you may have guessed, the current restriction applies to Berlusconi. Indeed, the rule isn't popular among most Italians, as they realize it's completely outdated. With unpopular, repressive rules like this, it's no wonder Catholicism and religion in general are fading throughout Europe.

How Churches Raise The Price Of Gas

Add urban sprawl to the list of reasons on why religion is harmful:

Fast-growing churches, frustrated with the slow pace of municipal planning, often find themselves pushed into setting up shop in rural areas on the edge of town, where they end up contributing to suburban sprawl, a Ryerson University study has found.

"They rapidly gobble up prime agricultural land, adding to the sprawl and causing burden on the city's infrastructure," says the study by Sandeep Kumar Agrawal, an associate professor of urban planning.

Urban sprawl is responsible for many blights on society. It forces people to be more dependent on their cars, so traffic and pollution increase. The consumption of fuel also rises, which leads to higher gas prices. I'll admit that among the many explanations on why gas is so expensive, churches are hardly towards the top, but if they really do contribute to sprawl, it's very possible that they are among the reasons.

Russia Is Finding Religion

The image of the Godless Soviet Union is a thing of the past, as modern day Russia is now teaching immigrant children about Russian Orthodox Christianity. Here's a look:

Today they would learn about drawing, Russian Orthodox saints and God. The 7-year-olds sat straight at their desks, sun pouring through lace curtains and cherry trees blooming in the fields beyond. The teacher set a birch branch before the children and told them it was fragile and unique, just like their souls.

"If you think you can't draw properly, who will help you?" she asked.

"God will help us," a boy called out.

"Yes, God will guide your hand, so be confident, have faith."

This is Tuesday, one of the two days a week dedicated to Orthodox education at this sleepy public school in the lush forests outside Moscow. All the girls and women have forgone pants in favor of skirts, and every student is learning Christian catechism along with reading, writing and arithmetic.

Strangely, the immigrant kids come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. But this is just another sign of how the church and state gap is shrinking in Russia. Considering that former president/dictator for life Vladimir Putin is said to be deeply religious, none of this should come as a surprise.

Tibetans Vs. Chinese Muslims

The people of Tibet are often thought to be the blameless victims of China, but perhaps they aren't as peaceful as they are usually depicted:

Among China's dozens of minorities, few get along as badly as Tibetans and Muslims. Animosities have played a major -- and largely unreported -- role in the clashes that have taken place since mid-March. During the March 14 riots in the Tibetan region's capital, Lhasa, many of the shops and restaurants attacked were Muslim-owned. A mob tried to storm the city's main mosque and succeeded in setting fire to the front gate. Shops and restaurants in the Muslim quarter were destroyed.

Over the last five years, there have been dozens of clashes between Tibetans and Muslims in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, as well as in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Most of the incidents go unreported. The state-controlled news media are not eager to publicize anything that belies Communist Party claims that minorities live together in a "harmonious society."

Andrew M. Fischer, a London-based Tibet scholar who is one of the few who has written on the subject, said the Tibetan exile community also was reluctant to publicize incidents that might harm the international image of Tibetans."

It is the dark side of Tibetan nationalism," Fischer said. "It is almost as though the Tibetans are diverting their anger over their own situation towards another vulnerable minority."

To make matters worse, there is an ongoing paranoia that has often reached ridiculous proportions:

In the mid-1990s, Tibetans started boycotting Muslim restaurants in Lhasa after it was claimed that somebody had found a finger in a bowl of soup, setting off a rumor that Muslims were cannibals. Another rumor had it that Muslim cooks were urinating on food or adding their bathwater to soup, which, it was said, would function as a charm to make Tibetans convert to Islam.

Still, these restaurants sound more appealing than my last trip to Denny's.

George Carlin

I'm very sad to see that comedian and "devout atheist" George Carlin has died. A number of years back, I saw a broadcast of his old "Seven Dirty Words" bit, and became a big fan ever since. I encourage everyone to look up some of his old acts, but for now, enjoy this more recent clip on why Carlin thought religion was bullshit:

Wishful Thinking

According to a new poll, lots of British people think Christianity will soon be extinct in their country:

More than half of Britons think Christianity is likely to have disappeared from the country within a century, according to a survey.

Research by the Orthodox Jewish organisation Aish found that just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years' time.

I think this is impossible. Even ancient religions that are mostly irrelevant, like Greek polytheism and Zoroastrianism, haven't completely disappeared, and maybe they never will. Sure, Christianity and Judaism will likely lose most of their influence, but they'll be around. Meanwhile, the number of practicing Muslims in Britain is expected to climb dramatically.

Ted Haggard Comes Home

Ted Haggard has left the "spiritual restoration program" that he had been attending, and has moved back to his old home in Colorado Springs. The male escort and meth enthusiast left well ahead of the scheduled five plus years that the program of counseling and prayer was supposed to last. It's yet to be proven if Haggard has cured his case of "the gays."

So what will the disgraced mega pastor do now that he has cut ties with his old New Life Church? He says he will seek "secular employment" in the private sector. I bet the phones won't be ringing off the hook with offers.

Anti Gay-Rights Group Fails

In Maine, a religious group's effort to eliminate gay-rights legislation fizzled:

The Christian Civic League of Maine has abandoned its campaign to repeal the state's gay-rights law, saying in an e-mail to supporters that it lacks money and volunteers to pursue a referendum in November 2009.

Wednesday's decision, which was made public Thursday, came about two months after the league announced that it hoped to collect 55,087 voters' signatures to place its proposal on the ballot, and less than one month after the state issued petitions to the league.

. . .

The 2005 gay-rights law that the league had hoped to repeal added "sexual orientation" to the Maine Human Rights Act, which also prohibits discrimination based on age, race, religion and other factors.

The organization's administrator even admitted they have "neither enough funds nor enough volunteer support to continue the effort." Based on this story, the influence of conservative Christians in Maine must be fading. When even their bread and butter issue - hating homosexuals - isn't firing people up, you know their days are numbered.

Religion Or Mind Control?

Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, MSNBC will take a look at everyone's favorite polygamous cult, the Fundamentalist Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Judging from the preview, it looks like it will be eerie as hell.

Bizarre Scientology Protests

A new group of Scientology protesters are making their presence felt:

Then, earlier this year, something odd happened. Simultaneously and apparently without warning, in London, Toronto, Sydney, New York and other cities worldwide, young men and women began protesting en masse. They wore strange clothes, spoke their own dialect, distributed cake and operated under the name of Anonymous. They returned the next month - and the month after.


Who were these people? To the police, watching last Saturday's London protest, they are a quirky bunch of middle-class kids. “These are the nicest protesters I have ever had the privilege of policing,” one said. “They even bring lunch.” Sure enough, behind the barricades, there is a large table of crisps and soft drinks. Demonstrators offer biscuits to passers-by. One of their placards reads: “We have cake, they have lies.” The police description is broadly accurate - most Anonymous members are indeed middle-class teenagers. They see themselves as guardians of free speech, fighting a malign organisation that bases its ideology on stories about aliens. They cover their faces because they are scared of reprisals. But also because anonymity is, well, what they do.

While it's always nice to see Scientology come under attack, I really have mixed feelings about these geeks. For starters, I don't know if they really care about the harm Scientology does, or if they are just hobby protesting. But what really bothers me is their annoying, ultra-nerdy mannerisms. They're into something called "l33t-speak," which is like text messaging on crack. It's a kind of running joke to them, where they say shit like "n00bz" and "ZOMG," and their favorite, "lulz." Unlike most running jokes, however, it's not the least bit amusing.

So here's my message to Anonymous: keep going after Scientology, but STFU already!

Louisiana Regressing

This New York Times editorial criticizes a "Trojan horse" Louisiana bill that will damage the ability for schools to teach evolution. As they point out, only a veto from Governor Jindal can put a halt to it, but that doesn't seem to likely:

As a biology major at Brown University, Mr. Jindal must know that evolution is the unchallenged central organizing principle for modern biology. As a rising star on the conservative right, mentioned as a possible running mate for John McCain, Mr. Jindal may have more than science on his mind. In a television interview, he seemed to say that local school boards should decide what is taught and that it would be wrong to teach only evolution or only intelligent design.

If Mr. Jindal has the interests of students at heart, the sensible thing is to veto this Trojan horse legislation.

I'm not sure I agree with the assertion that Jindal actually considers evolution "the unchallenged central organizing principle for modern biology," unless they're being sarcastic. Remember, this is a guy who believes in exorcism.

Jews For Jesus Get No Love

In Israel, a small minority of people are Messianic Jews, who "consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers." These beliefs, combined with a campaign of proselytizing, make for a dangerous situation:

Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.

Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.

The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.

. . .

Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a country whose population consists of a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.

The police have been accused of doing little to stop the violent attacks. As much as I hate missionary work, killing them is a tad extreme in my view.

Teacher Of The Year Nominee

A Jesus-freak science teacher took a break from teaching creationism and arguing against carbon dating to brand crosses into his students with something called a high-frequency generator:

The school board of a small central Ohio community voted unanimously Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and using a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.

School board members voted 5-0 to fire Mount Vernon Middle School science teacher John Freshwater. Board attorney David Millstone said Freshwater is entitled to a hearing to challenge the dismissal.

Freshwater denies wrongdoing and will request such a hearing, the teacher's attorney, Kelly Hamilton, told the Mount Vernon News.

School board members met a day after the consulting firm H.R. On Call Inc. released its report on the teacher's case.

The report came a week after a family filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Columbus against Freshwater and the school district, saying Freshwater burned a cross on a child's arm that remained for three or four weeks.

Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.

"With the exception of the cross-burning episode. ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.

Pennsylvania Governor Disses Representative

Pennsylvania state Rep. Darryl Metcalfe, who said earlier this week that he was voting against a resolution recognizing a Muslim group because "The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God," is already facing a heavy backlash. Governor Rendell, in particular, is quite pissed off at him:

When told what Metcalfe said, Rendell, who is Jewish, responded: "I don't think I have agreed with anything Rep. Metcalfe said in the last three or four years and that statement doesn't change anything."

"I don't agree with the statement . . . and I don't think many people take much of what Rep. Metcalfe says seriously," Rendell added.

The staunchly Christian Metcalfe is refusing to apologize, but unconvincingly claiming that his remarks were taken out of context. Seeing that Metcalfe was originally elected in 1998 and must have won multiple reelections, I'm guessing his constituents are as assertively bigoted as he is.

God Media In Review: Jesus Christ Superstar (Film)

It's hard to imagine that a rock opera about the final days of Jesus Christ could ever be successful, but the 1973 film adaptation of the Broadway hit Jesus Christ Superstar proves otherwise. The movie was moderately well received in its time, and is still fondly remembered today.

As you would imagine, Jesus Christ Superstar came with some level of controversy. Some Christian groups were offended by the flamboyant nature of the movie, while others didn't think it was biblically accurate. Also, many Jewish people felt that it was anti-Semitic, à la Mel Gibson's The Passions of the Christ. Then there were those who didn't like the idea of Judas being played by Carl Anderson, a black man.

Applying my Godless viewpoint to this movie, I certainly don't find it personally offensive. Instead, I find it incredibly campy, often to the point of uncontrollable laughter. The best known song from the score, "Superstar," isn't the corniest of all the songs, but the 1970s blaxploitation element has an overwhelming influence:


One of the most over the top songs, in my opinion, is the following "King Herod's Song." King Herod is played by Jonah Hill lookalike Josh Mostel, but will heavy homosexual overtones:


Watching Jesus Chris Superstar gave me an idea for a future remake. It would combine the flamboyant and lighthearted nature of the 1973 version with the intense violence and brutality of The Passions of the Christ. I dare you to tell me you wouldn't want to see that movie.

South Carlina License Plate Controversy Update

Remember those South Carolina "I Believe" license plates? They're already being challenged in court:

A group that advocates separation of church and state filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to prevent South Carolina from becoming the first state to create "I Believe" license plates.

The group contends that South Carolina's government is endorsing Christianity by allowing the plates, which would include a cross superimposed on a stained glass window.

The lawsuit even has a few religious allies:

But a Methodist pastor who joined the lawsuit, the retired Rev. Thomas Summers of Columbia, said the plate provokes discrimination.

"I think this license plate really is divisive and creates the type of religious discord I've devoted my life to healing," he said.

Another of the ministers, the Rev. Robert Knight of Charleston, said the plates cheapen the Christian message.

"As an evangelical Christian, I don't think civil religion enhances the Christian religion. It compromises it," Knight said. "That's the fundamental irony. It's very shallow from a Christian standpoint."

It's always nice to see government hard at work debating asinine laws.

What Does The Bible Really Say About Homosexuality?

Now that California has legalized gay marriages, the Bible is being scrutinized more than ever in an attempt to figure out if these marriages really go against religion. Since this is the Bible we are talking about, we have to work through the many contradictions:

"Everybody without exception reads the Bible selectively," said Jay Johnson, a theology professor at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. "The question is, how do we decide that one portion is critical to our lives while others are not?

There are some parts that seem to clearly say homosexuality is wrong:

Theologians and biblical scholars trace the origins of the dispute to a handful of passages in the Torah, New Testament and Koran.

Perhaps the most frequently cited is Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman: It is an abomination."

The passage from the Torah is repeated, with slight variations, in Christian scripture, which, like the Jewish text, orders death for violators. The Koran also denounces homosexuality, in Chapter 7, Verse 81: "For you practice your lust on men in preference to women: You are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."

But it may not be so simple:

Nonsense, says the Rev. Mel White, a former Fuller professor and evangelical author who married his partner of 27 years in a ceremony Wednesday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena.

White calls the Bible a living document that must be understood in its historical context -- a view shared by reform-minded clergy and theologians from other faiths.

Early Jews and Christians, White said, defended a heterosexual ethic to ensure the continuity of tenuous tribal communities. These religious pioneers, he added, had no way of foreseeing modern advances in psychology and other fields that would reveal homosexuality as an orientation rather than a choice."

The Bible says as much about sexual orientation as it does about toasters or nuclear reactors," White said. "We have to grow with the times."

There is no conclusion in sight for this debate. This doesn't bother me, as I prefer my own method for considering if something is moral or not. It may seem crazy, but instead of worrying what the archaic Bible says, I prefer to apply reason to settle disputes.

The Gay Imam

Here's a Muslim imam who doesn't come close to fitting the stereotype:

Imam Daayiee Abdullah has a dream that in the next year or so he will have a mosque of his own to gather people for prayer.

The openly gay Muslim man has given considerable thought to how he would accommodate Muslim men and women of all walks of life, praying together in his mosque.

"I would have a mosque that would be without barriers and without putting women in the back," says the 54-year-old, who was born a southern Baptist in the U.S. and has had a same-sex partner for more than 10 years. "I have talked to an architect about how such a space would work. And prayer could be lead by male or female."

Abdullah is one of only two openly gay imams in the world. When asked where he would build his mosque, Abdullah says it would probably be his home base of Washington, D.C., or maybe Toronto.

It's nice to see a liberal version of Islam thriving, but if this guy went to many Muslim countries, I doubt he would even make it out alive.

Muslim Creationist Author Waiting For Jesus

Adnan Oktar had a problem. Using the pseudonym Harun Yahya, he had written a 768-page "Atlas of Creation," which attacked evolution through the eyes of Islam, but at $99 a piece, they weren't easy to sell. But he had a solution, which was to simply give them away. Several academics have received the book in the mail, completely unsolicited and unappreciated, as the text has been universally deemed to be nothing more than creationist propaganda.

It's unknown exactly how Yahya had the resources to pull this expensive plan off, but there are many rumors circulating. One of the more popular theories is that the book was funded by U.S. creationist groups. While this is probably false, it's not as far fetched as it seems. Yahya actually has a lot of beliefs in common with American evangelicals, such as the idea that Jesus will soon be returning:

Oktar said Koran verses and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed about the end of the world revealed Jesus would return soon as a Muslim to help Islam's savior, the Mahdi, defeat the Dajjal or Islamic Anti-Christ and establish Islam around the world.

"Our biggest project right now is to lay the grounds for the coming of Jesus Christ," he said. "We understand this is going to be in the next 20 to 25 years."

Interesting, I didn't know Jesus converted to Islam.

Even if his "Atlas of Creation" hasn't been well received, it's not deterring Yahya from writing more tomes. He says that he is "preparing a book about skulls. I show skull fossils as evidence that there was no evolution." I can't wait!

Suicide Bombing For National Security

A Hindu nutcase in India wants to fight Islamic terrorists with an army of Hindu terrorists:

Bal Thackeray, a Hindu extremist linked to past waves of mob violence in the western state of Maharashtra, has long advocated attacks against Muslims. He said suicide bombers, along with bombs planted in Muslim neighborhoods, were needed "to protect the nation and all Hindus."

"Islamic terrorism is on the rise. To combat this, Hindu terrorism must be created of similar strength," Thackeray wrote in an editorial published Wednesday in Saamna, the newspaper of his Shiv Sena party. The editorial was unsigned, but his party said Thackerary wrote it.

My favorite quote from Thackeray is that "Hindu suicide squads must be built. Only then will Hindus survive." So using his logic, survival depends on suicide?

"I Think He Might Be A Muslim"

Barack Obama has had to fight off moronic rumors that he is secretly a Muslim. Now, he may have to fight off rumors that he is anti-Islamic:

A young Muslim woman said she and another woman were refused seats directly behind Barack Obama — and in front of TV cameras — at a Detroit rally because they wear head scarfs.

Hebba Aref said Wednesday that she and Shimaa Abdelfadeel were among 20,000 supporters who gathered to see Obama on Monday at the Joe Louis Arena when the groups they were with were separately invited by Obama campaign volunteers to sit behind the podium. But Aref said the volunteers told members of both parties in separate discussions that women wearing hijabs, the traditional Muslim head scarves, weren't included in the invitation and couldn't sit behind the podium.

Call me cynical, but considering how dirty campaigns are, if Obama's campaign intentionally did this it might be a shrewd political move. It's a far smaller liability, or even an asset, for a politician to be anti-Muslim as opposed to Muslim-friendly.

Ryan Seacrest Not Welcome In Kuwait

The newly elected Kuwaiti legislature is considering a ban on just about anything not directly related to Islam:

Since winning control of the legislature in the May 17 polls, not only has the conservative bloc begun pushing proposals calling for the banning of reality TV and private parties in hotels, but they have also created a parliamentary committee mandated to "study the negative effects of foreign phenomena" in Kuwait.

Islamist member of parliament (MP) Waleed al-Tabtabae, known for his opposition to female sports teams whose athletes would wear shorts, slammed the popular reality music show "Star Academy" (the region's version of "American Idol") when its recruiters came to Kuwait looking for contestants.

"The recruitment of youth for a program that destroys morals and fights our [Islamic] values is no less bad and dangerous than recruiting them for terrorism or for peddling drugs," said the fiery parliamentarian in a statement to the press in late May.

Wow, I finally found someone who hates American Idol more than I do. Still, I have to part with him about it being worse than terrorism.

Crazy Politician Watch

A Pennsylvania state Representative needs to learn that there is no official religion in America:

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from Butler County, north of Pittsburgh, said he opposed the House's formal recognition of this weekend's 60th annual convention in Harrisburg of the U.S. chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

"The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God and I will be voting negative," he said on the House floor.

The two-page resolution, sponsored by Speaker Dennis O'Brien, a Republican from Philadelphia, noted that the convention's mission was to "increase faith and harmony and introduce various humanitarian, social and religious services."

R. Kelly, Jesus, & Water Sports

As most of you already know, R&B star R. Kelly was recently acquitted on child pornography charges. The lawsuit revolved around a 10 year video that allegedly featured Kelly, a then 13-year-old girl, and a shower of the golden variety.

Although I'm not sure whether he was guilty or innocent, there seemed to be a lot of evidence against Kelly, yet his celebrity status and high priced attorneys basically guaranteed he would be found not guilty. Kelly is no doubt thankful of his legal team, but as this news clip shows, he gave most of the credit for the verdict to Jesus, who he repeatedly thanked as the trial concluded.

If Jesus was able to use his divine powers to intervene in the trial, couldn't he have prevented the illegal sex act from occurring in the first place? If so, then Jesus must be one messed up guy.

Truck Stop Preachers

A growing trend in the United States are truck stop and rest area chapels. Some people have even dedicated their lives to these makeshift churches:

More than six million souls pass through this quarter-mile strip of all-night waffle houses and gas stations each year. The Rev. Shannon Rust hopes to save at least a few of them.

For nearly two decades, he has pulled the chapel inside his 18-wheel tractor-trailer twice a week to this bustling truck stop where the Pennsylvania Turnpike meets Interstate 70.

. . .

“They all have auto insurance,” he said. “I’m trying to tell them about soul insurance.”

According to the Reverend, business is booming these days due to the slow economy and rising gas prices, which causes increased anxiety and desperation. He's even been able to give away twice as many Bibles this years, and prayer requests have risen dramatically.

Is Darwin Overrated?

Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist, examines the question as the massive festivities for the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth are about to begin:

But hold on. Does he deserve all this? He wasn’t, after all, the first person to suggest that evolution happens. For example, his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, speculated about it towards the end of the 18th century; at the beginning of the 19th, the great French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck made a strong case for it. Lamarck, however, failed to be generally persuasive because he didn’t have a plausible mechanism — he could see that evolution takes place, but he didn’t know how. That had to wait until the discovery of natural selection.

Natural selection is what we normally think of as Darwin’s big idea. Yet he wasn’t the first to discover that, either. At least two others — a doctor called William Wells, and a writer called Patrick Matthew — discovered it years before Darwin did. Wells described it (admittedly briefly) in 1818, when Darwin was just 9; Matthew did so in 1831, the year that Darwin set off on board HMS Beagle for what became a five-year voyage around the world.

Despite all this, Johnson reasons, Darwin was still able to deliver what his competition could not:

The reason the “Origin” was so powerful, compelling and persuasive, the reason Darwin succeeded while his predecessors failed, is that in it he does not just describe how evolution by natural selection works. He presents an enormous body of evidence culled from every field of biology then known. He discusses subjects as diverse as pigeon breeding in Ancient Egypt, the rudimentary eyes of cave fish, the nest-building instincts of honeybees, the evolving size of gooseberries (they’ve been getting bigger), wingless beetles on the island of Madeira and algae in New Zealand. One moment, he’s considering fossil animals like brachiopods (which had hinged shells like clams, but with a different axis of symmetry); the next, he’s discussing the accessibility of nectar in clover flowers to different species of bee.

Of course, regardless of whether or not Darwin deserves all the credit he gets, he'll always be one of the most influential thinkers of the 19th century.

God's New Environmental Coalition

More and more, religions are going green:

According to an Environment Agency wishlist of actions to save the planet, published last year, an ecological coalition of faith leaders was deemed more effective than a new Kyoto protocol-style agreement to regulate emissions. Indeed, the agency placed such faith on a holy alliance that it ranked the idea number two in its list of 50 things that would save the planet - above more conventional ideas such as flying less, an expansion of solar and renewable power, and the introduction of green taxes.

Many important leaders, like the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and the Archbishop of Canterbury are all among the ranks of the environmentally friendly holy men. This is good to see, especially considering the all too prevalent attitude that God will destroy the Earth sooner than later, so we might as well use all of our resources up. Luckily, this seems to be a dieing point of view.

Interracial Judaism

If you think the only black Jew of all time was Sammy Davis Jr., then this will surprise you:

At the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Dunwoody, roughly 20 percent of the nearly two dozen people enrolled in Steven Chervin's introduction to Judaism classes are black.

Although there are no sound statistics on the subject, anecdotal evidence suggests that, in the past 15 years, increasing numbers of black Americans are exploring Judaism, said Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research in San Francisco.

"Ten years ago, it was almost unheard of that a black person would come in and want to convert," said Rabbi Ilan Feldman, who is working with the Harrises and two other black people pursuing conversion.

Same-Sex Union Paranoia Hits The South

Although gay marriages are now legal in California, they seem unlikely to spread throughout much of the country in the near future, especially to places like the South. That doesn't mean, though, that southerners can't develop a paranoia about the "threat" of gay unions. This is definitely true in Virginia, where people like Republicans Herb Lux and Donna Moore are even fearful of the California same-sex wedding footage shown on Fox News :

"You watch this celebration and I honestly worry about indoctrination," Lux said.

"It's like the frog-in-the-water syndrome," Moore added in agreement. "You know, the frog doesn't realize the water around it is heating up until it's boiled. I worry that Americans will get used to these images and they'll throw up their hands and say, 'Who cares?' "

Plenty of Virginians don't oppose same-sex marriages for explicitly religious reasons, but their reasoning is still less than impressive:

Several miles away, in Spotsylvania County's Central Park shopping mall, Virginians filing in and out of a local Wal-Mart voiced much the same sense of unease with California's legalization.

But unlike Moore and fellow activists, whose opposition to same-sex unions stems from their staunchly held conservative religious beliefs, the morning shoppers said they were simply put off by gay unions.

Sharon Bailey, 50, a cafeteria worker, shook her head as she spoke. "It's wrong, wrong, wrong. Especially when they bring children into it," she said. Bailey said she parts ways with social conservatives on many issues, and had been a Hillary Rodham Clinton backer in recent months, "but on this one, honestly, I think it's just gross."

Buck Fones, 59, a retired body shop worker about to visit his daughter inside the store, shrugged and sighed:

"It ain't right, that's all. I'm not big on religion but when you see 'em kissing, well, I just turn the tube off."

Being "gross" has never been a sufficient reason to make something illegal.