Avoiding Church At All Costs

Some poor 7-year-old had only one wish in the world: to get out of going to church. To realize his dream, he decided to steal a car. Watch the video here.

One Of The More Convincing Jesus Sightings

But still bull, of course:

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A License Plate To Be Proud Of

I saw this on Friendly Atheist today:

It's a safe bet that the plate will cause cases of road rage for some drivers who sport the Jesus Fish.

As a bonus, treat yourself to this visual feast. It's the truck of my dreams.

The Healthcare Debate Is Getting Religulous

Abortion -- and thus religious values -- are proving to be an obstacle in passing healthcare reform:

Some conservative Democrats are threatening to pull their support from the massive healthcare bill unless their concerns over potential federal funding of abortion procedures are met. They fear that the Obama administration will take advantage of an expanded government role in healthcare to increase the availability of abortions nationwide.

The abortion issue has taken a back seat to a protracted dispute between Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats who worry about the bill's price tag and lack of cost controls. That conflict has delayed House Democrats from arriving at a final version of the bill and made it increasingly unlikely that the chamber will vote on the package this week.

Is it just me, or do most government debates end up being debates on abortion?

Prayer Kills

Even after her daughter died from diabetes, a woman insists that her course of treatment--prayer--was the right idea:

The mother of an 11-year-old Wisconsin girl who died of untreated diabetes says sickness is caused by sin and can be cured by God.

Leilani Neumann took the witness stand Tuesday in her husband's trial. Dale Neumann is charged with second-degree reckless homicide for praying instead of rushing his daughter to the doctor.

Leilani Neumann was convicted of the same charge in May. She faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced Oct. 6.

The mother testified that she realized her daughter was seriously ill on March 22, 2008, the day before Madeline died. She says she was worried because the girl was pale and weak. The mother testified she could not remember hearing the girl speak clearly.

She says the family's response to the girl's condition was to pray for her.

I want to know why Ms. Neumann thinks her daughter died. Did she not pray hard enough? Was God punishing her family for some sin? And has it ever crossed her mind that maybe God wanted Ms. Neumann to take her daughter to the hospital?

God Resigns

Sarah Palin officially quit her job as Governor yesterday, and coincidentally, it was the same day that God resigned. His reason:

Generally, I now think I can do more for the planet as just a guy who used to be God instead of the guy who currently is God, you know what I mean by this? Life is too short to compromise time and resources...it may be tempting and more comfortable to keep your God-head down, plod along, and appease those who demand, "Sit down and shut up," but that's the worthless, easy path − that's a quitter's way out. You can't sit down and shut up when you're God, which is why when I'm not God anymore, I can stand up and do other stuff, like not doing stuff, which is also important, yes?

As a side note, I think you can get a good look at the core Palin fans by reading the article on her resignation. Check out how they reacted to a protester:

Larry Landry of Fairbanks was standing next to a friend, holding up a sign that said, “Thanks For The Laughs,” when he was heckled by a passer-by.

“Well, look here it's a couple of gay guys, couple of gay fellas,” remarked the passer-by.

The man holding the sign then held up what he said was his wedding band, hanging around his neck on a leather necklace, and put in the face of the heckler, saying he was married.

But so what if he is married? If he doesn't like Sarah, he almost has to be a homosexual.

Picking A Religion Using Attitudes Towards Sex

If someone wanted to adopt a new religion, the information on this chart would make a great starting point (click to zoom):

What would atheism look like on this chart? I'd say it would score "allowed" or "neutral" in all the categories.

How To Piss Off The Religious Police

In most countries, it would be considered bad taste to brag about your sex life while on TV. In Saudi Arabia, it's more than bad taste; it can be dangerous:

A Saudi Arabian man was arrested after bragging about his sex life on television, local media reported.

Mazen Abdul Jawad appeared last week on a show on Lebanese channel LBC, where he went into "graphic details about his sexual conquests," according to Arab News, an English daily.

A segment of the show "Red Line" posted on YouTube shows the 32-year-old talking about sex and foreplay. He also discusses losing his virginity to a neighbor while he was 14.

. . .

"It is wrong to host people on television to speak publicly about vice and issues against our religion," said Ahmad Qasim Al-Ghamdi, director of Mecca's branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the religious police.

"The program presents anomalies and deviancy in society that are unacceptable and immoral, and should be punished according to Shariah."

About 100 people have filed a complaint against Abdul Jawad, alleging among other things, that he violated a principle of Shariah law by "publicizing his sinful behavior," the daily said.

It is unclear what punishment, if any, Abdul Jawad faces.

It's unfair that he was arrested, but sadly, the moral values of American society aren't all that more enlightened that that of the Saudis. Just think of the overreaction to the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl. Some uptight conservatives acted like this was the event that was going to end civilization.

Not A Good Change

It looks like the one constant in the White House is an abundance of prayer:

President Barack Obama says he's gone from praying nightly before going to bed to praying all the time because he has a "lot of stuff" on his plate and needs "guidance all the time."

Obama made the comments in an interview to air Thursday on ABC's "Nightline."

Obama says he thinks every president has been humbled by the number of issues they have had to deal with. He says he thinks they are quickly cured of the illusion that one person can solve all those problems.

At least Obama hasn't pulled a George W. Bush and said Jesus is his favorite philosopher, but then again, there's still time.

One Heck Of A Deal

The Church of England isn't pleased that more and more couples are going unmarried, and worse yet, they are still having children. So the Church is hoping to win these people back by offering a hot two-for-one promotion:

The Church of England is offering couples a two-for-one service — marriage for them and baptisms for their children.

The church is recognizing the changing reality of British families, it said Thursday. Statistics show that 44 percent of children in Britain are born to unmarried women, and the church's own research found that one in five couples seeking a church wedding already had children either together or from a previous relationship.

New guidelines sent to the Church of England's 16,000 parish churches encourage services that combine a wedding with a christening or a service of thanksgiving for the birth of a child.

Not everyone in the Church thinks it's a great idea, however:

John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, told The Times newspaper that the move was an unfortunate attempt to be trendy.

"It is a pity they have not put in a funeral for grandma as well," he said.

Now that would be a great deal.

Bibles For 5th Graders

An appeals court has ruled that Bibles can't be given to 5th graders in rural Missouri. However, this is mixed news:

But both sides saw the ruling as a victory. An attorney representing the South Iron School District in Annapolis said the decision allows a new policy to finally be implemented, one that allows any group to hand out literature at the rural district, including information on how kids can obtain Bibles.

For more than three decades, the district about 120 miles southwest of St. Louis allowed representatives from Gideons International to give away Bibles in fifth-grade classrooms. Concerns were raised in 2005 by former Superintendent Homer Lewis, but the school board voted 4-3 to continue the practice.

Lewis resigned and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of four sets of parents. Last year, a federal judge in St. Louis granted a permanent injunction against the Bible giveaways. The 8th Circuit ruling upheld that injunction.

If this is the case, I hope some Muslim groups can take advantage of the rules and give out information on how kids can get their very own Koran. In that part of the country, it would definitely blow some minds.

The Prayer App

A lot of iPhone applications really bother me. Many don't serve any useful function, yet some undeserving person gets to make money off of them. Such is the case of this prayer one:

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Billboards Fight The Separation Of Church & State "Lie"

The Community Issues Council, a Christian group opposed to the separation of Church and State, has gotten into the billboard business. They'll soon have 10 up across Florida, including this one below:

There are a couple of problems with these billboards. Not only will it be tough to comprehend a long, complicated sentence for anyone speeding down the highway, but also, some of them will have fictitious quotes. Even the group's local chapter president, Terry Kemple, admits to this:

The billboards showcase quotes from early American leaders like John Adams, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin. Most of the quotes portray a national need for Christian governance.

Others carry the same message but with fictional attribution, as with one billboard citing George Washington for the quote, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

"I don't believe there's a document in Washington's handwriting that has those words in that specific form," Kemple said. "However, if you look at Washington's quotes, including his farewell address, about the place of religion in the political sphere, there's no question he could have said those exact words."

Whether the quotes are made up or not don't seem to matter to Kemple and billboard financier Gregg Smith, since, as they assert, they are doing God's work:

More recently, Christian separation critics have scoffed at President Barack Obama's assertion in April that Americans "do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation."

At the time, Kemple and Smith were beginning to plan for the billboards.

"I don't think it's coincidental," Kemple said. "I think God had his hand in it."

More information about the billboard campaign can be found on the propaganda site www.NoSeparation.org.

Attacking Atheism

Writing in Slate, Professor of Religion Byron R. McCane -- bias alert! -- celebrates what he sees as the failure of the "new atheism" movement. I'll take a crack at countering his trinity of main arguments:

First, they dramatically overestimated the number of unbelievers. According to the American Religious Identification Survey, 15 percent of Americans are not currently members of any religious organization. This finding led to the claim that one in six Americans is now an unbeliever. But the data actually show that three quarters of the people in that 15 percent are “in between” religious commitments.

Previous studies by Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University have shown that America today is a nation of “religious migrants.” Most of us go through a series of religious commitments over the course of our lives, drawing upon various religious institutions as “resource centers” along the way. We are, Wuthnow concluded, a country of “spiritual seekers.” At any given moment, 15 percent of us may be unaffiliated, but most of those are believers. In a recent Pew Forum survey, in fact, only 1.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as atheists.

For starters, I never heard any credible person claim to believe that 15% of Americans were atheists. Next, in the Pew Forum survey he refers to, an additional 2.4% say they are agnostic, and another 12.1% are "nothing in particular." Even assuming many of these people do believe in a higher power, this still leaves millions of non-believing Americans.

So yes, the number of atheists is certainly under 15%, but that doesn't mean they aren't a growing, emboldened minority. And as the Professor admits, much of the population is flexible enough to change their beliefs many times throughout their lives. Some of them might even be open minded enough to not believe in God someday.

Moving on:

Second, the new atheists thought that books about science and logic would convince Americans to stop believing in God. They tried to use evidence and reason to change American hearts. But in the Pew survey, only 2 percent of respondents said that science and logic play any role their religious choices.

Instead, the data show that Americans are highly pragmatic about religion: We opt for religious affiliations that help us with our personal spiritual quests. When one stops working, we begin looking for another. And today, there are so many groups to choose from that Wade Clark Roof of the University of California-Santa Barbara has dubbed it the “spiritual marketplace.” Science and logic, it seems, have a very small market share.

First of all, isn't it bad that only 2% use logic in determining their life-guiding beliefs? And if people are switching faiths at the drop of a hat, isn't that demeaning to the entire concept of religion?

But once again, I think the Professor is making a claim -- that atheists thought books would make people stop believing in God -- that no credible person made. With the exception of a few people on the fence, I don't think anyone was buying these books because they were considering abandoning religion. Rather, I think they appealed to people who were already non-believers, and who wanted to see their points of view well articulated.

And finally, his last argument:

Yet the new atheists’ biggest mistake, by far, was to be openly intolerant of religion. They mocked, derided and made fun of it. But Americans today are overwhelmingly committed to religious tolerance. In the Pew Forum survey, in fact, a whopping 70 percent of religiously affiliated people agreed that many religions can lead to eternal life. Precisely because we are “spiritual migrants,” we Americans instinctively respect the rights of others to choose their own way, too. Some of us do not believe in God, but virtually all of us agree that personal religious choices should be respected. The angry hostility of the new atheists struck exactly the wrong note.

I admit that I'm guilty of mocking religion (or as I consider it, speaking my mind), but I only do it among a like-minded audience. When I'm around my religious friends, I don't attack their beliefs. However, when I'm around other atheists, we might crack a joke or two about religion. Similarly, this blog is directed at people who aren't into religion, and it's not meant to convince anyone to think like me. I realize it's nearly impossible to deprogram religion out of someone, and I never even try.

At the same time, I have to say that on multiple occasions, someone has tried to recruit me to their religion, and they're often total strangers to boot. If you want to talk about being disrespectful, Professor, try starting here.

Sanford's God-Filled Apology

South Carolina Governor Sanford wrote a newspaper column today outlining his plan to be forgiven for his intercontinental affair. It involves a lot of mentions of God and the Bible, as this excerpt shows:

It's in the spirit of making good from bad that I am committing to you and the larger family of South Carolinians to use this experience to both trust God in his larger work of changing me, and from my end, to work to becoming a better and more effective leader.

In this regard I think all that has transpired will be particularly relevant in the way I deal with the legislative body and other state leaders going forward. Micah 6:8 asks us to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly, and as I begin these steps into the last 18 months of this administration, it will indeed be with a more contrite and humble spirit.

I've realized that as much as I have and will continue to advocate for things ranging from restructuring to responsible spending to school choice, my approach needs to be less about my will and more about looking for ways to more humbly present the greater principles and ideas at play. It needs to be less strident and more about finding ways to work with legislative leaders to advance the ideas so many of us believe in. It means less time fighting the tide — and a greater awareness of the fact that God controls it. In working with a few alterations to my approach, I think this could be a far more productive last session than the one that would have been had the tragedy that has unfolded not occurred, and in turn, people's lives can be made better.

Maybe he believes what he's saying, though it sure seems like a clear case of a politician playing "the God card." However, his only other course of action was resigning, and Sanford likes being in power too much to do that. I wonder if he'll stay humble enough to not run for another political office in a few years.

Should The Burka Be Banned?

France is getting serious about banning burkas:

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Like President Sarkozy, I don't like the burka either, but a ban would have some potentially catastrophic consequences. If they're going to make them illegal, they may as well write a letter to Al-Qaeda requesting a string of terrorist attacks.

Also, this wouldn't be friendly towards freedom of religion. Being an atheist, I know what it's like to be outside the religious majority, so I always hate to see minority groups get targeted by the law.

Christian Lit Goes Amish

The new trends in the world of Christian literature are -- get this -- Amish and vampire fiction:

Even as Christian publishing suffers during the recession — one study found net sales for Christian retailers were down almost 11 percent in 2008 — several publishing houses are adding or expanding their fiction lines with both the tame (Amish heroines) and boundary-pushing (Christian vampire lit).

The undisputed industry leader is so-called Amish fiction — typically, romances and family sagas set in contemporary Amish communities. They're a surprise hit with evangelical women attracted by a simpler time, curiosity about cloistered communities and admiration for the strong, traditional faith of the Amish.

The success of the genre has spawned not just new Amish fiction authors but spinoff series about other cloistered communities. If you want to sell it, as one literary agent put it, put a bonnet on it.

Unless you get excited about churning butter and raising barns, you'll probably find Amish books boring. But that's not to say they don't come in a more risque variety:

Mindy Starns Clark, an author of gothic mysteries scrubbed clean of foul language and premarital sex for a Christian audience, set her latest novel, "Shadows of Lancaster County," in Amish country.

"It's got a buggy on the cover," said Clark, who emphasized that she picked the setting before Amish books became a Christian publishing sensation. "But it's also got genetic engineering. It's definitely not your grandmother's Amish novel."

Wow, that book has everything: buggies, genetic engineering, and the Amish!

"Family Guy": Blasphemous & Emmy Nominated

Hell must have frozen over -- how else can you explain Family Guy getting an Emmy nomination for best comedy? The show, in addition to being widely despised by critics, brings toilet humor to new lows and is often downright stupid.

However, anyone who likes offensive comedy (such as me) knows Family Guy can be very funny. Also, regular viewers have noticed that Family Guy might be the most anti-religious show ever to be put on network television. Creator Seth MacFarlane, an atheist, never misses a chance to take a swing at the proud ignorance that's inherent to religious faith.

In fact, I've talked about many Family Guy episodes on this blog before: the one where Brian the dog is demonized for his atheism, the one where Peter and a far-from-perfect Jesus develop a friendship, and the one that featured Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. Plus, I had the pleasure of mentioning when the American Family Association filed a complaint with the FCC against the Emmy nominated series.

Maybe Family Guy isn't the highest quality comedy series out there, but it's probably the most anti-religious. And that's reason enough to root for it to get its first Emmy.

Alamo's Last Stand

It looks like former minster/cult leader Tony Alamo will be going away to prison for a long, long time. This is a relief, because his trial is exposing some very disturbing facts, like how he designated a time for pedophilia with one of his teenage brides:

The 15-year-old bride was on Alamo's "schedule" of whom he would have sex with, the Texas woman said. The Florida woman had said Wednesday that Alamo had so many partners that he had to schedule whom he would have sexual relations with.

Thursday's first witness said Alamo canceled biology classes for children inside the compound after discovering that topics would include sexual reproduction. The Florida woman had said that children at the compound were separated by gender by the time she reached the fifth grade because Alamo didn't want "any hanky-panky between boys and girls."

The Texas woman said that Alamo ran her husband out of the church and took her as another of his brides. She told jurors that, while sexually assaulting her the night of their marriage, Alamo screamed out: "The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is against you, Satan." She was 17 then, Alamo was age 59.

It gets even worse:

The witness Wednesday said she was a third-generation Alamo follower into adulthood — until the Arkansas-based pastor took an 8-year-old as his latest bride. At one point, the woman said, she objected when Alamo graphically described how he fondled the girl as she held a stuffed animal.

"He told me to shut up and that I shouldn't question what 'the Lord told me to do,'" the woman said.

Prosecutors spent much of Wednesday going through a series of photographs of Alamo with women from his compounds. At one point, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyra Jenner asked the witness, "Who is the girl on the right wearing the Barbie shirt?"

The witness said it was the 8-year-old that Alamo had taken "as his wife."

If convicted, Alamo faces 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. He is being held without bond.

I wonder if Alamo believed the religious nonsense he spewed, or if he knew he was making it all up. Either way, he belongs in jail.

Looking At The New Supreme Court Justice

Unless Sonia Sotomayor makes some sort of epic gaffe in her confirmation hearing, she's going to become the next Supreme Court Justice. While her presence on the court should be positive, it's hard to know exactly how she'll rule on some issues. For instance, it's hard to guess what all of her stances will be regarding church-state cases:

Church-state legal groups, including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Baptist Joint Committee, have issued legal analyses of Sotomayor's lower court decisions as they seek clues to how she might rule if confirmed to the nation's highest court.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said Sotomayor seems to seriously consider the First Amendment's protections for the "free exercise" of religion, along with other legal principles.

"Certainly on the free exercise side she is nuanced," he said. "She does clearly believe that claims of religious freedom are to be taken seriously, but that doesn't always mean that the religious person making the claim wins."

Other church-state experts found evidence of Sotomayor's sensitivity to religious minorities in prison cases. K. Hollyn Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee, pointed to Sotomayor's decision in a case involving two New York inmates who wanted to wear beads related to their Santeria faith, which combines Catholic and traditional African practices.

"She recognized explicitly that the plaintiffs' beliefs, even if unfamiliar, deserve First Amendment protection from overly broad rules that burden the practice of non-mainstream religion," Hollman wrote in her analysis.

In addition to prisoner cases, Sotomayor joined colleagues on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2002 ruling supporting New York's Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, which fought the city for the right of homeless people to sleep on its steps.

"She was essentially vindicating the church's ability ... to enact its ministry," said Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

It sounds like she could be a swing vote. It could be worse; at least she'll be better than Scalia.

Episcopalians Getting Gay

Congratulations to the Episcopalians for deciding to allow gays and lesbians to join their ministry. It's a gusty move, considering it's likely to fragment their religion:

The church is the U.S. branch of the world Anglican Communion. The global fellowship is on the brink of splitting apart over ordaining gays and other issues.

Bishops at the Episcopal General Convention in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, voted 99-45 with two abstentions for a statement declaring "God has called and may call" to ministry gays in committed lifelong relationships.
. . .

Leaders of the Anglican Communion have been pushing Episcopalians to roll back their support for gays and lesbians since 2003, when the U.S. denomination consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. Anglican body.

Robinson's election brought the 77 million-member Anglican fellowship to the brink of schism. Last month, breakaway Episcopal conservatives and other like-minded traditionalists formed a rival national province called the Anglican Church in North America.

Women Can't Wear Pants

The Sudanese religious police have strange and cruel priorities:

Sudanese police arrested 13 women in a raid on a cafe and flogged 10 of them in public for wearing trousers in violation of the country's strict Islamic law, one of those arrested said Monday.

The 13 women were at a cafe in the capital, Khartoum, when they were detained Friday by officers from the public order police, which enforces the implementation of Sharia law in public places.

The force, which is similar to the Saudi religious police, randomly enforces an alcohol ban and often scolds young men and women mingling in public.

Anything to please Allah, right?

Christian Coalition 2.0

Ralph Reed is hoping to launch an unlikely comeback:

One of the most controversial and successful figures of late 20th century politics wants to expand his brand to the 21st.

Ralph Reed believes conservative voters of faith need a Christian Coalition 2.0.

And the man once dubbed the “right hand of God” by Time magazine is returning to the arena where he had his greatest success to try and make it so.

“This is not going to be your daddy’s Christian Coalition,” Reed said in an interview to describe his new venture, the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “It has to be younger, hipper, less strident, more inclusive and it has to harness the 21st century that will enable us to win in the future.”

But there's one major problem with Reed's plan: it's relying on him, and he's not young, hip, or inclusive. In addition, he carries more than his share of baggage:

Ultimately, he tried to cross the divide between strategist and candidate. He was in the middle of the 2006 Republican primary campaign for lieutenant governor when his longtime friend Jack Abramoff was convicted in a massive lobbying scandal. As Abramoff’s career circled the drain, Reed was linked to a plot to defraud Indian tribes fighting over casino rights.

Reed’s firm received more than $4 million to rally Christian voters against a casino that competed with Abramoff’s Indian clients. Reed has said Abramoff deceived him. He was hired, Reed said, to mobilize opposition to casino expansion and was assured his payments would not come from gambling revenue.

Abramoff ended up in prison. Reed was never accused of wrongdoing, and wasn’t even subpoenaed by the Senate committee investigating Abramoff. Still, the fallout wounded his campaign for lieutenant governor and damaged his reputation.

This incident also made for a classic Christopher Hitchens moment.

American Catholics Don't Care About The Pope

Just before Obama met with the Pope, Newsweek asked the question "Is Obama More Catholic Than the Pope?" Their answers is yes, at least among American Catholics:

In truth, though, Obama's pragmatic approach to divisive policy (his notion that we should acknowledge the good faith underlying opposing viewpoints) and his social-justice agenda reflect the views of American Catholic laity much more closely than those vocal bishops and pro-life activists. When Obama meets the pope tomorrow, they'll politely disagree about reproductive freedoms and homosexuality, but Catholics back home won't care, because they know Obama's on their side. In fact, Obama's agenda is closer to their views than even the pope's.

It can't be good news for the Pope when Catholics like a non-Catholic politician more than His Holiness.

Meeting With The Pope

When Obama met with Pope Benedict yesterday, the Pope seemed hopeful that he could change influence the President into changing American policies:

Pope Benedict XVI stressed the church's opposition to abortion and stem cell research in his first meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday, pressing the Vatican's case with the U.S. leader who is already under fire on those issues from some conservative Catholics and bishops back home.

. . .

"In the course of their cordial exchanges, the conversation turned first of all to questions which are in the interest of all and which constitute a great challenge ... such as the defense and promotion of life and the right to abide by one's conscience," the statement said.

Even in his gift to the U.S. leader, the pope sought to underscore his beliefs. Benedict gave Obama a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics that hardened the church's opposition to using embryos for stem cell research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization. Obama supports stem cell research.

"Yes, this is what we had talked about," Obama said, telling the pope he would read it on the flight to his next stop, Ghana.

Benedict's Vatican documents remind me of all the crazy literature people hand me on the street. I act like I might read it, but as soon as I'm out of eyeshot, in the trash it goes. Let's hope Obama finds the proper place to file his new documents: the garbage.

The Evolution Gap Continues

A new Pew Research Center survey is comparing all sorts of views between scientists and the general public. As expected, there is a large evolution gap:

•Evolution. 32% of the public and 87% of scientists agree that people have evolved.

Talk about depressing: less than a third of the public believes one of the most important and best proven scientific theories. But also, why do 13% of scientists not believe in evolution? My only guess is that professionals in the field of "creationism science" were surveyed as scientists.

Jesus Trucks

A California man is on a personal quest to pimp out semis with "Jesus Christ" advertisements, and more importantly, tell everyone how evil Hollywood is:

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I wonder how he'd react if someone made an atheist truck. I don't know if we'll ever find out, because for whatever reason, truckers are one of the more Jesus-loving occupations.

God Bless Yankee Stadium

Justice has been done at Yankee Stadium:

New York City will pay $10,001 to settle a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Queens man who was ejected from the old Yankee Stadium last August after trying to use the bathroom during the playing of “God Bless America.” In addition, the team has publicly declared that it has no policy prohibiting fans from moving about during the playing of the patriotic song, which the team began playing during games after 9/11.

The New York Civil Liberties Union had filed a federal lawsuit in April on behalf of the man, Bradford Campeau-Laurion, of Astoria, Queens, saying he was the victim of religious and political discrimination. The suit said he was forcibly restrained and ejected from the stadium in the Bronx on Aug. 26, after trying to walk past a police officer as the song was played.

Not only did Yankee Stadium's old policy violate the First Amendment, but it was incredibly stupid to boot. What if someone had a bathroom emergency, or worse yet, a medical condition that required immediate attention? I think some of the stadium employees would have made them wait until "God Bless America" finished.

Archbishop Calls For Gays To Repent

An Archbishop says he would be happy if homosexuals joined his church, but first they must repent:

A senior Church of England bishop has angered gay-rights campaigners by saying homosexuals should repent.

Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the Bible defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He said the church welcomed gay people, "but we want them to repent and be changed."

Nazir-Ali is a leading member of the conservative wing of the global Anglican Communion, which is riven by divisions over homosexuality and the ordination of women.

Mr. Nazir-Ali also implied that "real Christians" can't be accepting of homosexuality:

He was quoted as saying that people who depart from traditional Biblical teaching "don't share the same faith."

"We want to hold on to the traditional teaching of the church," he told the newspaper. "We don't want to be rolled over by culture and trends in the church."

With guys like this calling the shots, it's no wonder that the Anglican church is undergoing a schism.

Who's Bailin'? Palin!

I always try to think logically, so when I heard Sarah Palin was resigning as governor of Alaska, I figured she had a good reason for stepping down. Sure, she claimed it was part of her strategy to achieve a "higher calling," but I couldn't buy that; going from a Governor to a citizen isn't a good strategy to achieve power. I figured this was all bull, and there would be an upcoming scandal.

But as the days go by, it looks like she has no good reason for quitting. So I guess I erred by thinking Ms. Palin would act rationally. Then again, she has always been a bit nutty, and thus I should know by now that she does crazy shit for no good reason. Think about it: this is a woman with all sorts of insane religious beliefs. For christsake, she has associations with a church that speaks in tongues, which is not an activity that sane people typically perform.

So it shouldn't be the least bit surprising when someone with such a loose grip on reality does something that makes so little sense. Still, it's also the best decision she ever made. Palin wrote on the Twitter that her resignation would be "in Alaska's best interest," and for maybe the first time ever, I agree with her.

Appearing On The Next Episode Of "Cops"

Even some Christians will admit that church is usually boring. Maybe that was on this Texas pastor's mind when he got in an entertaining feud with the police:

Police used a Taser on a pastor and pepper spray to disperse his congregants Wednesday after the pastor allegedly interfered with a traffic stop in the church parking lot.

Congregants say they were in the Iglesia Profetica Peniel church for an early morning prayer when pastor Jose Elias Moran went to assist the stopped driver, a church member, by asking the police what had happened.

An incident report on the Webster police department's Web site said Officer Raymond Berryman tried to calm Moran and arrest him. But police say he pushed the officer, went inside the church and returned with 40 other congregants.

The congregants say Moran fled into the church when the officer grew angry and began to yell, and Moran's family disputes that the pastor touched the officer.

Thou Shalt Eat Inhumanely Slaughtered Animals

In addition to depriving themselves of lobster, people who eat a kosher diet are also but contributing to animal cruelty, according to a British report:

Religious slaughter techniques practised by Jews and Muslims are cruel and should be ended, says a scientific assessment from the Government's animal welfare advisers.

The Farm Animal Welfare Council says that slitting the throats of the animals most commonly used for meat, chickens, without stunning, results in "significant pain and distress". The committee, which includes scientific, agricultural and veterinary experts, is calling for the Government to launch a debate with Muslim and Jewish communities to end the practice.

So people who stay kosher presumably believe God commands them to eat inhumanely slaughtered animals. That makes a whole lot of sense.

Get Your War On

Happy 4th of July, my fellow Americans! Unfortunately, the holiday is in jeopardy this year. As Stephen Colbert explains, a War on Independence Day is being waged by a Jesus-hating environmentalist:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
4th of July Under Attack
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Jeff Goldblum

I never knew Jesus was a Founding Father; surely my secular public education is to blame.

Sarah's Messiah Complex

Todd S. Purdum's new Vanity Fair piece on Sarah Palin is well worth checking up. Needless to say, it is less than complimentary. Take a look at this, for instance:

More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly. When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

It's frightening to think that she and McCain were leading in the polls for a short while.

Another thing I noticed is that the Palin defenders don't know how to handle this article. They can't rebut what it says, so they are lamely playing the "liberal bias" card.

Unicorn Tattoos!

I thought I'd get back to this blog's roots by displaying some unicorn tats from this list of "30 Awesomely Bad Unicorn Tattoos." Here are a few that could be interpreted as being very disturbing versions of the Invisible Pink Unicorn herself:



I'd love to meet sort of persons who asks themselves "What sort of tattoo should I get? A unicorn banging a dolphin doggy style, or a rainbow-decked, neo-Nazi unicorn?"

These two below don't look like the IPU, but they're kick ass all the same:


Who knew unicorns could be so disturbing?

That Wacky Creationism Museum

The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, is truly a haven of learning. It teaches such facts that the Universe is just over 6,000 years old and that dinosaurs lived side-by-side with humans a la The Flintstones. Basically, it's one of the most anti-scientific -- or maybe pro-pseudo scientific -- places in the country. So when a group of paleontologists visited, wackiness was bound to ensue:

The worlds of academic paleontology and creationism rarely collide, but the former paid a visit to the latter last Wednesday. The University of Cincinnati was hosting the North American Paleontological Convention, where scientists presented their latest research at the frontiers of the ancient past. In a break from the lectures, about 70 of the attendees boarded school buses for a field trip to the Creation Museum, on the other side of the Ohio River.

. . .

Terry Mortenson, a lecturer and researcher for Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built and runs the Creation Museum, said he did not expect the visit to change many minds. “I’m sure for the most part they’ll be of a different view from what’s presented here,” Dr. Mortenson said. “We’ll just give the freedom to see what they want to see.”

Near the entrance to the exhibits is an animatronic display that includes a girl feeding a carrot to a squirrel as two dinosaurs stand nearby, a stark departure from natural history museums that say the first humans lived 65 million years after the last dinosaurs.

“I’m speechless,” said Derek E.G. Briggs, director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, who walked around with crossed arms and a grimace. “It’s rather scary.”

Dr. Mortenson and others at the museum say they look at the same rocks and fossils as the visiting scientists, but because of different starting assumptions they arrive at different answers. For example, they say the biblical flood set off huge turmoil inside the Earth that broke apart the continents and pushed them to their current locations, not that the continents have moved over a few billion years.

“Everyone has presuppositions what they will consider, what questions they will ask,” said Dr. Mortenson, who holds a doctorate in the history of geology from Coventry University in England. “The very first two rooms of our museum talk about this issue of starting points and assumptions. We will very strongly contest an evolutionist position that they are letting facts speak for themselves.”

And sadly, there are lots of people who agree with Dr. Mortenson:

The museum’s presentation appeals to visitors like Steven Leinberger and his wife, Deborah, who came with a group from the Church of the Lutheran Confession in Eau Claire, Wis. “This is what should be taught even in science,” Mr. Leinberger said.

But the scientists make a rather odd observation: the Creation Museum actually admits that evolution is real!

Dr. Bengtson noted that to explain how the few species aboard the ark could have diversified to the multitude of animals alive today in only a few thousand years, the museum said simply, “God provided organisms with special tools to change rapidly.”

“Thus in one sentence they admit that evolution is real,” Dr. Bengtson said, “and that they have to invoke magic to explain how it works.”

I'm fully with Hemant on Friendly Atheist, who says "Either the Creation Museum supports evolution… or they don’t understand their own beliefs."

Why Religions Cooperate

Christians seem to be getting along better with Muslims these days. For instance, Rick Warren is buddying up to them at an Islamic convention:

Sayyid Syeed remembers an interfaith event several years ago when a Jewish leader went to embrace him, saw someone snapping a photo, then suddenly pulled back.

"He said to the man, `Stop,'" Syeed recalled, "`I'll lose my job.'"

Times have changed for the Islamic Society of North America and for Syeed, who leads the group's interfaith outreach. In a sign of growing acceptance of U.S. Muslims, one of the most prominent religious leaders in the country, evangelical pastor Rick Warren, will speak at the Islamic Society's annual convention this weekend. Representatives from the two largest streams of American Judaism, the Reform and Conservative movements, will also be there to highlight their recently formed partnerships with the Muslim group.

"The landscape of religion in America is changing," Syeed said. "America itself has reached a certain level of fulfillment in terms of diversity of faith."

I agree that these are more tolerant times, but I think the increased cooperation between these religions has as much to do with the rise of secularism. Not so long ago, Christians were so dominant that they could afford to look down at Islam or Judaism. But now the younger generations aren't so eager to adopt the religious beliefs of their parents, and suddenly, Christians are willing to ally with Allah to fight their own irrelevance.

Sanford Is King David

I hope I never get sick of my new hobby of watching Mark Sanford get bashed. And it's so easy to make fun of him, especially when he starts comparing himself to the Biblical King David:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Mark Sanford Consults the Old Testament
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran