Spreading The Love In Latin America

Fernando Lugo has got quite the resume: Roman Catholic archbishop, president of Paraguay AND mack daddy. The Washington Post reports:

The clamor over Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo's behavior is getting louder, one crying baby at a time.

For the third time in less than a month, a woman came forward yesterday saying that Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, is the father of her child.

***

The scandal broke this month when lawyers for Viviana Carrillo, 26, said they were bringing a paternity suit against Lugo, claiming that he had fathered her child, Guillermo Armindo Carrillo Cañete, who will turn 2 next month. Carrillo said she was 16 when their relationship began.

Lugo shocked the country by publicly admitting that he was the boy's father and saying that he would "assume all responsibilities."

"I recognize that I fathered the child," he said at a news conference in the capital, Asuncion.

Lugo, 57 and single, became a bishop in 1994 but resigned a decade later from the diocese in San Pedro, a province in central Paraguay. In December 2006, he said he was renouncing his bishop status to run for president, but Pope Benedict XVI did not accept his resignation until last July -- before he took office as president.

***
On Monday, the second woman to speak out, Benigna Leguizamón, said that she began working at the San Pedro diocese in 2000 when she was 17 and that her son with Lugo was born in September 2002.

***

The woman who came forward yesterday, Damiana Morán, a 39-year-old divorcee, said in interviews with the Paraguayan media that she had only compliments for Lugo, whom she met in 2006, after he left the diocese. Morán, a social activist and director of a childcare center, called him "phenomenal" and said their relationship "was driven by a great love." She said that her son, Juan Pablo, is 16 months old but that she, unlike the other women, does not plan to file suit against Lugo.

***

Morán said at a news conference yesterday that she was forming a team to deal with these paternity cases. She said she has information that Lugo could have as many as six children.

(The photo above is of Paraguayan Olympic javelin thrower Leryn Franco, who unfortunately is not involved in the scandal - as far as I know - but may very well be the hottest thing to ever come out of Paraguay.)

Orthodox Jew Of The Day

If the stores won't be kosher then as far as Arieh Yerushalmi is concerned there is only one way to respond to this blasphemy against G_d: get buck-nekkid:

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A man stripped down to nothing but a strategically placed sock at a Tel Aviv supermarket in protest at its decision to sell bread over Passover in violation of Jewish religious laws, Ynet News reported on Monday.

Police led away Arieh Yerushalmi, 28, after he shed his clothing in the store on Sunday -- one year after he staged a similar protest at another supermarket.

Yerushalmi wanted to protest against the store's decision to continue selling bread and other leavened products during the Passover week that begins on Wednesday. Jewish law forbids the use of such products during the holiday.

The sock does raise the obvious question: How do we know he was really Jewish himself?

An Armed Society Is A Spiritual Society

This does bring to mind the obvious question: What Would Jesus pack?

LITTLE ROCK — A bill to allow concealed weapons permit holders to carry handguns into churches headed to the House floor Tuesday with a committee’s endorsement.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 1237 by Rep. Beverly Pyle, R-Cedarville, on a voice vote.

“Outside of six hours of worship a week, our church is a workplace. But the law forbidding concealed carry in churches is in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said pastor Nathan Petty of the Beech Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Fordyce, testifying for the measure.

Petty told the committee he recently heard a gunshot from an armed robbery in the area. The pastor said he has a concealed carry permit but does not take a gun into church because of a moral obligation to follow the law of the land — until and unless the law conflicts with his religious beliefs.

He also said a parishioner who cleans the church late at night is alone there. She has a permit but does not carry her gun for the same reason, he said.
***
The 1995 concealed carry permit law specifically prohibits concealed weapons in places of worship. HB 1237 would allow them but also would allow a congregation to ban guns from the church. If the church prohibits carrying, it would have to display a sign at its entrance saying so under the provisions of the bill.

Speaking for the bill, Grant Exton, executive director for the Arkansas Concealed Carry Association, said all but two states allow concealed carry weapons into churches. Of those, 42 allow churches the option of banning the weapons on their premises, he said.

One Way Or Another He Was Determined To Get People To Shout "Oh, God!"

Here's one for the you-cannot-make-this-shit-up file: The ex-director of Ohio's Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives has been arrested on charges he was running a prostitution ring. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

COLUMBUS -- A man once hired by Gov. Ted Strickland to head a state office because of his ties to Ohio's religious community stands accused of being involved in an online prostitution ring.

Robert Eric McFadden, former director of Strickland's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, was arrested Wednesday morning in the Columbus suburb of Dublin. He has been charged with seven felonies, including pandering obscenities involving a minor, promoting prostitution and compelling prostitution, according to a Columbus Police Department spokesman.

Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Weiner confirmed that the 46-year-old is the same person who worked for Strickland.

McFadden headed the faith-based office for nine months before taking a demotion and a pay cut for a short-lived job as an administrative assistant with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Police believe that McFadden was the man they have been looking for in connection with a prostitution ring that was run from Craig's List, according to a report on the Web site of Columbus television station WCMH. Police cracked the ring when men involved in a Web site that posts reviews of prostitutes held a raffle for sex at a brothel near downtown Columbus.

TtP noted that bust at the time, calling it the "cutting edge of pimping". We had no idea. Again from the Plain Dealer:

For years, police have noticed a man involved in prostitute discussion boards under the names of Sullivant Guy, Broad Street Guy and Toby, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch. They now apparently believe that man is McFadden.

An academic adviser at Ohio State University and a sex-abuse caseworker at Franklin County Children Services recently were arrested in connection with the ring.

McFadden was hired by the Strickland administration in February 2007 and paid an annual salary of $75,000. Strickland knew McFadden before he was elected governor in November 2006.

"He is someone that had been engaged in work in the faith community for a long time and was someone very known by people in the faith community, and that led to his hire," said Keith Dailey, Strickland's spokesman. Dailey called McFadden "well-regarded."

A local TV station adds a bit of color to this story:

[Police] said he was one of the main organizers and the “guru” of Columbus prostitution, writing reviews of their services and advising Johns on how not to get caught.

***

Police also said McFadden was the go-to guy in Columbus when it came to prostitution.

Headline of the Day

Mormons Make Missionary Position Clear

THE creator of a calendar featuring buff Mormon missionaries has been excommunicated as punishment by local church leaders.

Chad Hardy said he bore no ill will toward the council of elders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over his punishment.

"I felt like I spoke my truth,'' the 31-year-old entertainment entrepreneur said after the disciplinary meeting in Las Vegas.

"Bottom-line, they still felt the calendar is inappropriate and not the image that the church wants to have,'' the Associated Press reported.

The rest of the story is here. The offensive-to-Mormons-but-extremely-SFW-calendar can be found here.

Barack Obama: Agnostic?

Sean Higgins has a piece worth reading up at the American Spectator questioning Obama's religious convictions.

I'd agree with most of Sean's piece only adding on a semi-related note that as a whole Obama strikes me as a guy who is just generally unsure about a lot of things, not just questions about where your soul is, or if dead people go to heaven. It's the biggest joke of his whole "I'm not your typical Washington politician" shtick -- He is, only he looks a bit different than your usual Washington politician. For example: I don't think that Obama is a secret Black Nationalist, or that he agrees with much that Rev Wright had, or currently has to say. I'd be willing to bet he joined Wright's church in the first place only because that's what he thought he was supposed to be doing as a hopeful black politician in Chicago, or even more simply -- as a black man in Chicago.

What's so scary about Obama is that so many people buy into his shtick. Where's the healthy skepticism -- and I'm calling out Obama friendly libertarians here -- about Barack's version of Hope and Change? It appears to be woefully missing in the conversation...

Someone Actually Has A Worse Understanding Of Justice Than The US Drug Czar

Relative to the worldwide condemnation of Geert Wilders' film, "Fitna," these remarks by a British Imam and "lawyer" will probably go mostly unnoticed and unpublicized. But this analysis of innocence and guilt is not something I'd want to see applied by any government or justice system:

"You are innocent if you are a Muslim," Choudary tells the BBC. "Then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are not a Muslim, then you are guilty of not believing in God."

Choudary said he would not condemn a Muslim for any action.

"As a Muslim, I must support my Muslim brothers and sisters," Choudary said. "I must have hatred to everything that is not Muslim."

And the Archbishop of Canterbury commented just two months ago that some aspects of Sharia law seem "unavoidable" in Britain.

If only I could remember why I decided to stay away from that whole religion thing...

So Let Me Get This Straight...

If you get busted for pot, you could possibly go to jail, have some of your money or assets seized, lose student aid, lose voting rights, or even lose custody of your children.

So what happens to people like these parents?":

WESTON, Wis. — An 11-year-old girl died after her parents prayed for healing rather than seek medical help for a treatable form of diabetes, police said Tuesday. [...]

Vergin said an autopsy determined the girl died from diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body, and she had probably been ill for about 30 days, suffering symptoms like nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness.

The girl's parents, Dale and Leilani Neumann, attributed the death to "apparently they didn't have enough faith," the police chief said. [...]

The mother believes the girl could still be resurrected, the police chief said. [all emphasis mine]

This death clearly didn't need to happen. The article refers to the girl's condition as "a treatable form of diabetes." So while most people could go get some insulin treatment and live on, this girl had to suffer for a month and eventually die because of an ideology forced upon her by her parents.

So what of the parents who let this happen?

The girl has three siblings, ranging in age from 13 to 16, the police chief said.

"They are still in the home," he said. "There is no reason to remove them. There is no abuse or signs of abuse that we can see."

Well, look closer, chief. I know religion is a touchy subject and all, but now might be a good time to voice some criticism. I also understand the problems and complexities that come with government judging parents fit or unfit and the adverse effects on children or teens who are taken forcefully from their parents. But in this case - although a lose/lose situation - I can't imagine that the siblings could be any worse off in state custody than they would be with parents whose idea of treatment is prayer and/or subsequent resurrection.

It's stories like these that make me hope that I'm wrong, and that there really is a hell for such people.


UPDATE: FoxNews, where I originally found this article, now has a new version of the article posted. It's almost exactly the same. However, the new version does not include the mother's statement about resurrection and does not include the police chief's statement that the siblings are still in the home. Both versions are attributed to the AP. I don't know the reason for the revision, but it's interesting.

UPDATE 2: Both versions of the story are actually listed in the "Most Read" column of the FoxNews.com site.

Wear A Condom, Go To Hell

I'm a bit late (ok, two weeks late) in addressing this, but I've been recovering from a flu that I caught while recovering from tonsillitis.

Anyway, the Vatican decided that only seven deadly sins just didn't cut it anymore in this modern world, so they added some more. A taste of the new sins:

Drug pushers, the obscenely rich, environmental polluters and “manipulative” genetic scientists beware – you may be in danger of losing your mortal soul unless you repent.

Subjective as hell, no doubt about it. And this is only the first paragraph of the article. Is the doctor who recently sold me pain killers a "drug pusher?" Are you "obscenely rich" if you own a building like this? Do all cows necessarily go to hell?

However, these first few paragraphs are really just textual masturbation (and don't even get the Vatican started on that), because I'm yet to even mention that part that pisses me off the most:

[The Catholic Church] holds mortal sins to be “grave violations of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes”, including murder, contraception, abortion, perjury, adultery and lust.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell”.

Murder, adultery, lust... same ol' shit... already covered by the commandments. Perjury... yeah, ok, if you insist. There are plenty of situations in which abortion is perfectly justified, but I will admit I'm personally uncomfortable morally with terminating a pregnancy for a parent's
convenience only, even though I think it's none of the government's or the Vatican's business.

But, contraception? No shit???

First of all, if the Vatican wants to take such an absolute stance against abortion under any circumstances, isn't it just plain counterproductive to oppose slipping on a condom? If abortion is murder unconditionally, wouldn't it make sense to encourage taking a daily pill to prevent an unwanted pregnancy that might otherwise lead to abortion? If you're going to insist that terminating a fetus or a zygote is the equivalent of slaying a human being, wouldn't you prefer letting some sperm cells die instead?

And while the Vatican is addressing the subject of new-age sins, what do they think of encouraging the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases? An organization that considers itself an authority on morality should definitely support the efforts consenting adults, or even consenting minors, in preventing diseases, neglected babies and, yes, unnecessary abortions.

I guess the rationale of the Catholic Church is similar to that of the Bush administration: your options are abstinence or abstinence. But it simply doesn't work that way, and both the Church and the administration should know better.

I guess the Catholic Church, in which I was raised, will just have to deal with my soul being eternally damned. If everyone who puts on a condom or takes a birth control pill is going to hell, I will have good company down there. For you other contraception users out there, call my hell-cell and we'll meet up for a few drinks or lines.

The Wa Post's Misguided "Faith" Page

After the 2004 elections in which Evangelicals were widely viewed to be the "swing" vote, the Wa Post started a regular religion feature in its Metro section, devoting an entire page to "Faith" concerns.

[BTW when did religion become faith? I object to the latter term, as it connotes that those who are not religious are lacking something.]

Today's WP "faith" page is typical of the quality of its writing as it ponders the question of whether or not Obama is the Messiah.

Is Obama the Messiah? People are asking these days and it's not so hard to understand why: the desperate throngs, the tears, the great awakening of a slumbering demographic. All that larger symbolism.

The emotional landscape of many American voters is calamitous of late -- frightened by our Babylonian war, unhappy with our President and depressed by the cleansing crush of the credit crunch -- so it's not surprising that the coming presidential election would take on a certain biblical coloring.

The Messiah question is a loud one coming from all corners. Even a blogger for Mother Jones, the hot heart of the far left, worries that the Obama-passion will be used for nefarious purposes by right-wingers, he himself writes "Barack Obama has a messiah complex and no one will convince me otherwise."

Don Graham, would your mother ever have approved of publishing something like that?

Pussycat Preachers Pounce on Prostitutes

Jesus would be proud:

RIVERSIDE, Calif., Feb. 11 /Christian Newswire/ -- When young pastor Matt Brown announced he was supporting a ministry for women in the sex industry led by an x-stripper, he was expecting applause. Instead, he got cold stares and an e-mail inbox filled with angry letters. At issue was Heather Veitch, an x-stripper turned evangelist.

Expecting applause? How do not love this guy? Basically he said, "I want to work with a blond stripper with big tits. I'm going to give her $50,000 and follow her into strip clubs and porno sets. Appluad me, bitches." Seriously, I want to marry Pastor Brown. What balls.

More on that $50,000:

Instead of backing away from Heather, Pastor Brown put up $50,000 of church money to support the ministry. But in no time at all, a rumor got started that the $50,000 was being used by Brown to buy lap dances for himself. Brown suddenly found himself on the verge of losing his church facility housed on the campus of Southern California Baptist University.

A rumor..Gee, how do you think that rumor got started? Could it have something to do with giving $50,000 to a stripper? Even better, it was church money. Maybe I should get to know Jesus. I pay for my sexual addictions with my own hard-earned money. And sanity. And emotional stability. Oh, and physical well-being. You get the point. No one is helping me out.

The ex-stripper evangelist on her record:

For her part, Heather Veitch claims she is winning souls and that is what matters. For evidence, she has the documentary which shows a number of strippers making their first venture into church. "Now comes the hard part," Heather smiles.

I need names of churches please. Addresses would be nice also.

The documentary's web site, The Pussycat Preacher here. Article here. Heather's website here, where you can check out her blog, a gallery of pictures, and get booking information for private parties. Uh sorry, I mean "speaking engagements".

Thanks to Sean Higgins for the tip, who last I saw him was heading off to strip clubs with bible in hand 20 WWJD bracelets on his arm.

Huckabee: the GOP Frankenstein

Mike Huckabee has become the Frankenstein in the GOP. The party's pandering to evangelicals helped them win elections. Now that wing is taking over the party and they created a monster that they can no longer control.

George Will writes against Huckabee here , Krauthammer here, Novak here, Rich Lowry of National Review here.

Rich Lowry richly calls it "Huckacide." From his article:

The GOP’s social conservatism inarguably has been an enormous benefit to the party throughout the past 30 years, winning over conservative Democrats and lower-income voters who otherwise might not find the Republican limited-government message appealing. That said, nominating a Southern Baptist pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it. Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message, but it can’t be the message in its entirety.

Lowry's own words summarize the problem that the GOP has created for itself. Arguing that social conservatism "has to be a part of the Republican message" while also acknowledging that social conservatives "might not find the Republican limited-government message appealing" is a tacit acknowledgement, and approval, of the GOP abandoning Goldwater-style libertarianism to elect more Republicans to office. But what is the point of electing people to office when they do not adhere to your principles? We saw the result of this strategy of electing Republicans at all costs with the GOP-led Congress that pushed through the Medicare drug benefit while intervening in the Terry Schiavo case. Tom DeLay is, thankfully, out to pasture but...

Enter Mike Huckabee, who is the next natural step in this evolution, even if he does not believe in evolution. And if he wins the primary then there really will be a Huckacide by the GOP.

Andrew Sullivan Endorses Ron Paul

It is great to see someone who is gay abandon the Dems and endorse a libertarian. The Dems, with their traditional embrace of government power over the individual and their main candidates' scary declarations of Christianity and "faith" based values, are just as much a threat to freedom as are the Huckabees of this world. Here are Sullivan's reasons why he went for Ron Paul:

The great forgotten principles of the current Republican party are freedom and toleration. Paul's federalism, his deep suspicion of Washington power, his resistance to government spending, debt and inflation, his ability to grasp that not all human problems are soluble, least of all by government: these are principles that made me a conservative in the first place. No one in the current field articulates them as clearly and understands them as deeply as Paul. He is a man of faith who nonetheless sees a clear line between religion and politics. More than all this, he has somehow ignited a new movement of those who love freedom and want to rescue it from the do-gooding bromides of the left and the Christianist meddling of the right. The Paulites' enthusiasm for liberty, their unapologetic defense of core conservative principles, their awareness that in the new millennium, these principles of small government, self-reliance, cultural pluralism, and a humble foreign policy are more necessary than ever - no lover of liberty can stand by and not join them.

The Huckabee Ad

The TV spot that has everyone talking.

I gotta say that I agree with what appears to be the conventional wisdom. A very smart piece of work. Disgusting, yes -- just like everything about the man -- but you can take nothing away from Huckabee the politician and preacher. I think that's what makes him such a scary figure...He's very good at what he does.

Oh, This Is Going To Be Fun

Huckabee asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" No joke. More below:

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Can you beat this primary season? Wide open on the GOP side and 3-5 guys just mud wrestling for the nomination. Other than having a candidate or two that I'd like to vote for, I couldn't imagine a better Presidential primary.

Romney, You are No Jack Kennedy

Is our country regressing toward a religious litmus test? The founding fathers, in the first amendment decided that

there would be no religious test, oath or other requirement for any federal elected office.

Mitt Romney yesterday gave a most religious speech to try to win over religious voters. It was billed as a parallel to the speech that JFK gave to quell concerns that he would not answer to the Pope. But the speeches could not have been more different.

JFK's words:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute--where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote--where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference--and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the President who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

In complete and utter contrast, Romney assured, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind."

God Hates the World

Westboro Baptist Church civil trial began yeaterday at the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. No word yet if protestors have shown up with "God May Hate Fags, But He Hates You More" signs.

Westboro's music video sensation, "God Hates the World" here.

Hitchens vs McGrath

Over the weekend, Georgetown hosted a theological debate of sorts between well-known atheist and current book peddler, Hitchens; and a professor of Theology at Oxford, Alister McGrath. Video of the event here. Washington Post write-up here.

I Was Only Jokin'

The excuse that probably won't fly:

Vatican official says he only pretended to be gay
VATICAN CITY - A Vatican official suspended after being caught on a hidden camera making advances to a young man says he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.

In an interview published yesterday, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico told the daily La Repubblica he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about "those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity."

Yes....And I'd like to take this opportunity to tell everyone who saw me in the alley last night, next to the dumpster with what may or may not have been an obese tranny that I was only pretending. Pretending to be enjoying my time with the tranny hooker as part of my work. What -- please don't tell me you thought all these tranny jokes were pulled out of a "101 Tranny Jokes"...It's a good bathroom read, but the jokes...eh, a little stale.

Full article here.

Godblogging Part 2

Fox News's religion correspondent, Lauren Green, is not happy about Kathy Griffin's comments in her acceptance speech for her Emmy Award.

When she accepted her long-awaited award, she said: "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus."

Now I could have been mildly insulted at that and turned the other cheek, as the founder of Christianity taught. But then she went on to say "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my God now."

So what does Lauren Green think of this?

I don't know what went through her mind and why she would think that was cutting edge or even funny. But first, I want to actually show you that, in fact, Kathy Griffin is wrong. Jesus had everything to do with her winning that award. And here's the reasoning.

Jesus died on a cross 2,000 years ago. His dying words were, "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do." He died and they buried him in a rock cut tomb. Three days later, as the Bible says, he rose from the dead. That day is what Christians celebrate as Easter.

Green goes on preaching for one more long paragraph, followed by the sentence that pretty much sums up my problem with the entire article:

The freedoms we enjoy in this country to speak freely and to live freely are directly related to that man who died on a cross 2,000 years ago.

Well, not exactly. The American liberal ideals came from human beings who got fed up with an increasingly totalitarian kingship and just wanted to go somewhere where they were free to pursue their own interests in peace.

It's not my business whether Lauren Green believes she will go to heaven for being a good person in this life or not. But what disturbs me about many religious people is how willing they are to take give credit to the supernatural what was actually designed by human intuition.

Again, I really have no problem with religion on a personal, non-coercive level. But isn't it also a huge oversight to ignore human abilities and accomplishments and attribute everything good about humanity to the supernatural?

Update: About 3 seconds after I clicked "Publish" for this post, Kathy Griffin appeared on my TV on Larry King Live (obviously because Jesus willed it). As annoying as Griffin is, her comments on the controversy over her speech are pretty much spot on. It's worth a watch, if you get a chance.

Seperation of Church and State

Teaching creationism in government-run schools is at the top of a slippery slope. Here is what's at the bottom:

Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday.

Couldn't happen in America? Think again.

In late June, Gov. Bob Riley issued a proclamation urging Alabamians to embark on a seven-day, intense prayer campaign for rain. During that week, portions of the state got some of the heaviest rains they'd seen in months.

While in Huntsville Thursday, Riley was asked if he plans to initiate a prayer crusade again.

"I think most people who walk outside see the necessity of prayer," said Riley, who added that Huntsville felt 10 degrees hotter than Montgomery. "I don't think they have to be reminded."

When asked if he was offering daily prayers for rain on his state, he said, absolutely."

Last Time I Read My Bible, Jesus was All Over the Wine

Not too long ago for a New Testament textual criticism class, I wrote a paper advancing the image of Jesus as a well-known boozer and late-night reveler. This isn't a new idea among New Testament scholars, (of which I'm not one) but it's one that doesn't make it out to the general, God-fearing public too often. I like to go a step further and claim that his drinking and socializing were big parts of his revolutionary style and charm -- That same revolutionary style and charm that scared the religious establishment at the time and led to his execution. Not only did this behavior lead to his death, it also led to the cult like following he had. A catch-22. He wasn't the first guy to announce himself as the Son of God, but he was the first one that scared the bejeebus out of the Jewish high priests, and garnered the kind of following that he had. I contend alcohol and his social networking, were two of the more important variables that allowed the narrative to work out like it did and create a major religion that has lasted some 2000 years. I'm not saying I'm right, but I don't think I'm totally wrong, and it's a fun case to make with your typical Evangelical crowd.[Which, if you study the New Testament in the south, you will spend a lot of discussion time in class with them.]

Anyways, whenever I make this case I'm accused of twisting the facts in order to justify my own behavior or attitudes towards drugs or alcohol. Or, as I'm accused of quite often, making an argument only for the sake of shock value. Hardly the case. My standard answer is always the same. Pick up the Book that you profess to base your entire life on and actually read it. It helps in understanding what you believe in. Me? I just find it interesting reading...

These are folks that got me thinking on this:

ATHENS, Ala. - Voters have a chance on Tuesday to return this northern Alabama city to the days of Prohibition.

A measure to end the sale of alcohol in Athens is up for a citywide vote, a rare instance where voters could overturn a previous vote to allow sales.

[...]

Christians who oppose drinking on moral grounds believe they have a chance to win, however small.

"If it can be voted out anywhere, it will be here because so many Christians are against it," said Teresa Thomas, who works in a Christian book store.

Full article here.

Bush the Evangelical

There are many reasons to hate W, but my favorite is his "faith," which used to be called religion. "His faith is very strong," said Michael Novak, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in a very non-market pandering to religion. Here goes the American Enterprise Institute's defense of W, quoted by Novak,

"Faith is not enough by itself because there are a lot of people who have faith but weak hearts. But his faith is very strong. He seeks guidance, like every other president does, in prayer. And that means trying to be sure he's doing the right thing. And if you've got that set, all the criticism, it doesn't faze you very much. You're answering to God."

I want a president who answers to citizens, not God. I want someone who responds to 30% approval ratings and doesn't look relaxed because he is answering to God. For fuck's sake, if we have a president who is answering to God then what is the difference between us and a jihadi state?

Monday Morning Reading

At first glance, it could be a typical silly news story about kids skipping school. But the Rocky Mountain News buries the real lede 11 paragraphs deep.

Overall average attendance in DPS increased slightly this past school year, to 89.2 percent from 88.8 percent, the report found.

But it said that was largely because more students were faithfully showing up in charter schools.

Traditional DPS schools saw a slight attendance drop, according to the analysis.

Charter schools typically have a special emphasis and are run by independent groups of parents or others under school board contract.

Leave it to the Episcopal clergy to be the first to give this a go..

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she's Christian and Muslim.

Good-bye zero tolerance in schools? Probably not, but I guess a correction is due. And what was this kid thinking? Whatever happened to baseball?

Sam Brownback Explains Why He Hates Science

Sen. Brownback in the NYT, explaining why he raised his hand during the debate when asked who didn't believe in evolution. But he didn't answer the most important question...Was the Earth made 6,000 years ago, or no?

Update: John Derbyshire thoroughly destroys Brownback's op-ed. Gotta love this line:

Here is Sam Brownback talking about evolutionary biology. That's a bit like saying: "Here's Paris Hilton talking about partial differential equations"... from which you can deduce that I don't feel much inclined to offer a detailed critique of Brownback's position.

Best Five Minutes of My Week

The controversial anti-homosexual Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, which plans to protest the funeral of Reverend "charlatan, bully and fraud" Jerry Falwell for preaching that god loves everyone (I shit you not), put out a video last month entitled "God Hates the World." Sung to the tune of "We Are the World," the song changes the chorus to: "God hates the world and all her people, you, every one, face a fiery day for your proud sinning. It’s too late to change His mind, you lived out your vain lives, storing up God’s wrath for all eternity." Awesome. Watch it here.

Romney Criticizes Singles at Monica Goodling's College

The first time I heard the family card played was during Al Gore's 2000 speech at the Democratic National Convention. He spoke about how he would defend the rights of "working families," and despite the fact that I was at that point working my tail off and part of a family, as every human being is, I knew that he was not talking about me.

Enter Mitt Romney, the guy who should be president if we care about competence but just can't stop pandering to the Christian Right and making himself detestable. At a speech at Monica Goodling's Christian college he took the working family uber alles theme further:

"There is no work more important to America's future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home," Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life.

Nevermind that many single people would love to be married but just haven't found the right person (can we have some mercy, Mitt?) and that they pay way more in taxes than do people with children who claim zillions of deductions.

Chris Farley Reincarnated as Evangelist

Thanks to tent pitcher Sean for the tip.

José Luis De Jesús Miranda is Latest Son of God

If you took some selected quotes from Pat Robertson, Jim Jones, Aerosmith, and Adam Ant and threw them in a blender, the result would come pretty close to pastor José Luis De Jesús Miranda's philosopy.

Pastors usually don't travel in armored vehicles, preach on a stage flanked by undercover guards, and spend $350,000 a year on security.

But José Luis De Jesús Miranda isn't just a pastor: He says he's Jesus Christ incarnate.

A round-faced, affable and youthful-looking 61-year-old from Puerto Rico, De Jesús has emerged as a powerful and deeply polarizing figure in a religious landscape dominated by charismatic televangelists and politically savvy megachurch pastors.

De Jesús is neither of those. He doesn't preach about helping the poor or aligning society with Christian values. Rather, he teaches that sin and the devil don't exist, and that his followers already are spiritually perfect.

'I don't deal with the flesh, I don't deal with `walk this way, dress this way, don't drink, don't smoke,' '' he said in an interview. ``Christianity doesn't prohibit anything.''

His congregants call him Apostle, Daddy, God, the Man Christ Jesus and, most recently, ''Antichrist,'' a title that De Jesús says he adopted to signify that he has replaced Jesus of Nazareth. Opponents call him an opportunist, a charlatan, a false prophet and even "the beast.''

Despite growing criticism from mainstream churches, De Jesús -- a one-time teenage heroin addict who claims thousands of followers in the United States and Latin America -- hasn't backed down from his quest to form ''God's government on Earth,'' one that would install him as universal head of state.

[Ellipsis]

De Jesús and his followers see such criticism as fulfillment of a biblical prophecy that the world would reject the second coming of Christ. They've responded with increasingly bellicose rhetoric. For example, De Jesús predicts natural disasters will strike countries that ban him.

President Bush, no doubt, is already trying to get Iran and North Korea to ban De Jesús. More here.

Pot Not Parve for Passover

I give up religion each year during Lent -- and stay away from it until the following Lent, when I renew my disassociation with it -- but this struck me as worth reporting.

In bad news for its religious Jewish supporters, an Israeli pro-marijuana party announced Tuesday that pot is forbidden on Passover.

Cannabis is among the substances Jews are forbidden to consume during the week-long festival, which begins Monday, said Michelle Levine, a spokeswoman for the Green Leaf party.

Biblical laws prohibit eating leavened foods during Passover, replacing bread with flat crackers called matza. Later injunctions by European rabbis extended those rules to forbid other foods like beans and corn, and more recent rulings have further expanded the ban to include hemp seeds, which today are found in some health oils — and in marijuana.

Green Leaf is such a perfect name for an Israeli pot party: mixing a Jewish surname with pot imagery. If I was a practicing Jew (which I'm not) and I wanted to have kids (which I don't), there's no way I wouldn't name my kid something like "Jacob Greenleaf Linnekin".

More here. What's Kosher for Passover (and not) here.

Thanks to Saul Higgins for the tip.

Fundamentalists Ponder the Morals of Aborting Gay Fetuses

A leading Southern Baptist reverend has caused a stir by a writing a blog post with the title: "Is Your Baby Gay? What if You Could Know? What if You Could Do Something About It?" While the prospect of homosexuality going the way of Down's Syndrome is horrifying, there are good aspects of this fundamentalist navel gazing.

First, fundamentalists hate gays so much that they might drop their obsessive crusade to ban abortion so that they could abort their gay fetuses.

Second, by contemplating that homosexuality is genetically predetermined and not a lifestyle choice, Reverend Mohler essentially makes a case for gay rights.

The fundies are up in arms over these two points. One commented,

"this is such a delicate and risky conversation to have for a number or reasons . . . We're going to have to be extremely prayerful and careful about making any decision to tinker with a child's genetic or biochemical construction. We may be awfully close to violating the sanctity of that child's life and their integrity as a person."

Another warned,

"What he said lends credence to the fact that it's God's creation. His brothers in faith would be more surprised than liberals with his comments."

To view Mohler's blog, which also has a great post decrying the fact that America now has a Congressman who is "an admitted atheist," go here.

Is Jesus "Appalled" by John Edwards?

John Edwards recently said that Jesus

would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site [beliefnet.com]. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

According to this line of thought, Jesus would likely be appalled by Edwards, who, story here,

succeeded last month in selling his imposing Georgetown mansion for $5.2 million

Edwards then went on to build a $5.4 million mansion in North Carolina!

What would Jesus say? Unlike Edwards, I don't proport to know (or care) what the divine ramifications are but the hypocrisy is obvious. Perhaps Jesus would say that Edwards could live in, say, a $1 million home and donate the other $4.4 million to charity, or to the federal treasury next time he files taxes, as he thinks that raising taxes is paramount to curing what ails the US. Go for it John! You have much more money than the rest of us do so please lead us by example before you ask us to cough up more.

Abstaining from Facebook, Beats Feeding Homeless People

The Baltimore Sun. Losing readership, firing reporters; the only major newspaper covering a city with record violence and abysmal public schools, yet still manages to find time to cover the important things. Newsworthy items like unbearable, cunty undergrads giving up Facebook for Lent. This is not a wire story, not even a column, but an actual news story involving a paid reporter. I won't take this opportunity to go on a rant against the Sun, because this story is light (I think and hope it is), well written and hilarious, but believe me when I say the Sun does a less than admirable job of covering Charm City.

Back to the story itself, where thank god, we are blessed enough to be able to listen to our aforementioned cunty co-eds go on about their sacrifice in way that makes you wish you had their addresses to pass along to Mike Tyson, or maybe a hippopotamus.

Some penitents are relying on will power alone, but others have let roommates change their passwords so they can no longer access their own accounts. A few have deleted their profiles.

"The second day, I almost went on," says Analiza Saraza, a 19-year-old international business major at Mount St. Mary's. "It was like, 'www.F-A-C ... .'" At the same time, she had to stop herself from checking Instant Messenger, which she also renounced this year.

[ellipsis]

"I think it's been like six days, but I can see it being quite difficult in the future," says Tommy Laughlin, a Loyola material engineering major who erased his whole profile.

My good-natured ribbing aside (I gave up mean-spiritness for Lent myself. The jokes and insults are only in good fun for the next 30 days folks.) I do cringe if this is what passes as religious piety in our society today; if you want to take your faith seriously, by all means do so. Sacrifice your time to perform community service; like walking sheltered dogs, or performing oral treats on that slightly weird, hairy introvert, that lives down the street from you and might also blog for a libertarian site in his spare time. But be serious, and then maybe I might take you and your faith serious too.

Full article here.

Progressives, Only Slightly Softer and Gentler Than Islamo-Fascists

Given that progressives have turned many American cities into Soviet-style informant states where the government diverts resources from investigating crimes to investigating whether or not bars are allowing smoking and citizens are encouraged to report their fellow citizens to the authorities, it's hard for me to criticize Malaysia for doing the same thing except substituting unmarried sex for smoking. There I said it, the U.S. is not that much different from Malaysia.

A Malaysian state plans to recruit "spies" from the public to snoop on unmarried lovers and report them to Islamic religious authorities, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The Terengganu state government plans to enlist the part-time spies to look out for un-Islamic behavior, such as unmarried couples kissing or holding hands, the Star daily said.

"Some of these 'spies' could be waitresses or even janitors at hotels acting as auxiliary undercover agents for our religious department," the head of the state government's Islamic and welfare committee, Rosol Wahid, was quoted as saying.

"Accurate details are required for the enforcement officers to act, otherwise they could be pouncing on married couples."

Last October, religious police in another part of this mainly Muslim country caused an outcry when they mistakenly raided the rented holiday apartment of a Christian American couple on suspicion that they were unmarried Muslims in "close proximity."

Maryland Legislator Seeks to Amend Judaism

Are you a Catholic priest who wants to marry? A Seventh-Day Adventist who's sick of that weekly, um, adventing. How about a Muslim who wants to feel good about eating pork? An agnostic seeking a definitive pre-death "yea" or "nay" on that whole afterlife thing? Don't prefer some other facets of your religion? No worries. Maryland legislators can try to change it so it's more to your liking.

Some Maryland legislators have revived the fight for a bill that would place Orthodox Jewish women on an equal footing with their husbands in divorce proceedings.

Under Jewish law, a man must grant his wife a divorce degree, or get, to end a marriage. Without it, a Jewish woman is unable to remarry within the faith, and she becomes known as an agunah, or "chained woman."

Advocates of the bill say husbands use this power to demand favorable custody or visitation schedules - or money from their wife's family - during divorce negotiations.

"We have to persuade people that the rabbis cannot address this problem on their own, that they cannot undo what the Torah commands," said Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat and the main sponsor of the House version of the bill.

[Ellipsis]

Maryland's attorney general's office issued an opinion in January that "although the proposed legislation presents a substantial issue under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment," the law would likely be upheld if challenged in court.

But Marc D. Stern, general counsel of the American Jewish Congress, an advocacy group, said the bill breaks down the separation of church and state.

"The problem is a real one and needs to be addressed within the Orthodox community urgently," Stern said. However, "they've chosen a means that's fundamentally inconsistent with our constitutional system."

You'd think (or maybe not) that the bill's sponsor, a lawyer, might be able to figure this out.

Full story here in the Baltimore Sun.

And You Will Know My Name is the Lord When I Lay My Vengeance Upon Thee

TtP reader and SDD fan Jenny has a friend who takes Family Circle cartoons and replaces the text with outrageous Bible verses. I'm going to start posting them here.

It Ain't Nothing 'Bout Hounddog, It's 'Won't You Be My Ted Baehr?'

State Sen. Phil Berger, North Carolina's "common sense conservative voice" doesn't want his state to give a tax break to a film depicting Dakota Fanning's rape, as this Charlotte Observer op-ed details. I'm fine with that. But he's apparently in favor of using state funds to get films made in the state when he approves of their content.

Why should any state funds go to any filmmakers? If Berger thinks he's a filmmaker, maybe he should find a new line of work.

Regardless of that inconsistency, the real story in the op-ed is the sickening loon Dr. Ted Baehr, and Fanning's reply to all the hullabaloo.

Some critics say putting a 12-year-old in such a role amounts to child abuse. Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, wrote, "The sexualization of young children like Dakota is part of the sick ideology of Freudian Marxists, radical feminists, homosexual activists, and perverts who believe ... that all children are born with an innate lust for sexual fulfillment."

[Ellipsis]

The precocious Ms. Fanning reacted to the furor with professional matter-of-factness: "It's a movie," she said, "and it's called acting."

Baehr, who's a toupee away from Michael Medved, runs Movieguide.com, "a ministry dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media according to biblical principles, by influencing entertainment industry executives..."

Nothing but a link to Hounddog here. We'd previously touched on Ms. Fanning's rape scene here.

The only redeeming (pun intended) thing I found at Baehr's website -- and I can't stress just how redeeming this is -- was a link from ye olde online shoppe to the Christian website of Ted DiBiasi, best known to wrestling fans as The Million Dollar Man. Via (what else?) YouTube, DiBiase against S.D. Jones here, and earlier footage against all-time great The Junkyard Dog here.

Intelligent Design Caught on Tape; Taping Banned

Anyone who says you don't learn your most important lessons in school obviously never attended Kearny High School in New Jersey.

Secret recording of teachers has been banned in Kearny after a controversy that began when a student taped his history teacher preaching to the class.

In addition, all district teachers will get mandatory training on separation of church and state. District officials don't want teachers to present their personal views, according to published reports.

The issue arose after Kearny High School junior Matthew LaClair secretly made recordings of the teacher, David Paszkiewicz, telling students they belonged in hell if they rejected Jesus.

Paszkiewicz also told students that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs and that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang were not scientific.

LaClair, 16, said he started taping in September because he was afraid officials would not believe him when he complained.

Paszkiewicz, for his part, is still with the school. More here. Do the dinosaur here.

Drugless Friday Link

Christopher Hitchens is as good as he gets in his recent Vanity Fair column tackling the humor gap between Men and Women. Money shot

I am certain that this is also partly why, in all cultures, it is females who are the rank-and-file mainstay of religion, which in turn is the official enemy of all humor. One tiny snuffle that turns into a wheeze, one little cut that goes septic, one pathetically small coffin, and the woman's universe is left in ashes and ruin. Try being funny about that, if you like. Oscar Wilde was the only person ever to make a decent joke about the death of an infant, and that infant was fictional, and Wilde was (although twice a father) a queer.

Extra points for bringing up dead babies. Always a tough subject to deliver the funny on. I learned my lesson when telling a co-worker on a Friday, after she discovered she had a miscarriage, that "there are worse ways to start a weekend." It went over about as well as it did when you just read it.

Religion Gets Big Tax and Regulatory Breaks

The most pernicious characteristic of the US tax code is how it is used as a tool by Congress to favor some groups over others. Almost all of the great social conflicts today, from gay marriage to retirees versus families with children to renters versus owners, are products of a tax system that picks winners and losers.

Tax breaks, in essence, are tax subsidies. And boy do we subsidize religion and exempt it from regulations to boot.

From an NY Times article today:

In recent years, many politicians and commentators have cited what they consider a nationwide “war on religion” that exposes religious organizations to hostility and discrimination. But such organizations — from mainline Presbyterian and Methodist churches to mosques to synagogues to Hindu temples — enjoy an abundance of exemptions from regulations and taxes. And the number is multiplying rapidly.

An analysis by The New York Times of laws passed since 1989 shows that more than 200 special arrangements, protections or exemptions for religious groups or their adherents were tucked into Congressional legislation, covering topics ranging from pensions to immigration to land use. New breaks have also been provided by a host of pivotal court decisions at the state and federal level, and by numerous rule changes in almost every department and agency of the executive branch.

The special breaks amount to “a sort of religious affirmative action program,” said John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University law school.

Professor Witte added: “Separation of church and state was certainly part of American law when many of today’s public opinion makers were in school. But separation of church and state is no longer the law of the land.”

Were I to run for president, my platform would include abolishing section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, for as long as there are taxes then every entity should have to pay them. And don't get me going on exempting religious groups from regulations. Exempt us all!

Londonistan

Multiculturalism sounds good. It is about being accepting of other cultures and views and being inclusive. That is all good. But multiculturalism falls on its face when confronted with radical Islam, which advocates Sharia law and the suppression of individual liberty.

While libertarians accept the right of every individual to lead the life that he or she chooses, we do not accept any right to oppress others. I don't care what anyone else does, but I would rather die than have to wear a burkha, and the Taliban would probably quickly ensure that fate by taking me to a soccer stadium and shooting me in the head, as they did the woman in the above pic.

England is multicultural, and not libertarian. Commentary Magazine has a great review of the book Londonistan by Melanie Phillips that exposes the flaws in multiculturalism and the dangers that it poses to the UK and around the globe.

Phillips’s deeper concern is to show how her country reached this pass in its attitudes toward Islamic extremism. The culprit, she believes, is the ideological constellation consisting of multiculturalism, moral and epistemological relativism, and a perverted notion of human rights—all of which have served to “hollow out” traditional British culture.

Muslims in Canada are allowed to practice Sharia law in that country.

While no one here expects the increasing use of sharia to lead to some of the more radical rulings associated with Islamic law - stonings or amputations - critics worry that the rights of women are being sacrificed for the sake of multiculturalism.

In an insane display of multiculturalism, CBC News in Canada has this on their web site:

Why have Shariah law in Canada?
Many Muslims believe that because Canada is a secular country, its secular legal system makes it difficult for them to govern themselves by the personal laws of their own religion. For instance, Canada's marriage and divorce laws differ from Muslim law.

It can be important for a Muslim to be granted a divorce under Muslim law, especially if he or she intends to move to a Muslim country in the future and remarry.

.

Wacky Kitty Wants a Theocracy

Rep. Katherine Harris of Florida has gone off the deep end, declaring that the separation of Church and State should be done away with. The Post reports today,

Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" to keep religious people out of politics.

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris told interviewers from the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention.

Never one to quit while she is behind, Harris continues,

"we have to have the faithful in government" because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said.

"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women," then "we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our Founding Fathers intended, and that certainly isn't what God intended."

Scientology is One Kick Ass Religion

Tom "Placenta" Cruise has set off what will soon become a national uproar by telling Katie Holmes, who just had their baby two weeks ago, that she has to get her fat ass into the gym right away so she's not a porker by their wedding. Sue Fleming, the owner of - I shit you not - 'Buff Brides', which specializes in fitness programs for future brides, had this to say

"Katie can and will do it. She has great motivation. She loves her fiance and was proud that Tom oversaw this programme...He told her he wanted her to be the most beautiful bride ever. She was in tears when he said that."

Ahhhhh. What a charmer. Talk about a match made in Heaven. Or Mars. Or wherever it is that Scientologists think you go when you die.

and then there is this bit of religious garbage

Tom Cruise is reportedly so worried about people sifting through his trash to get his personal details, that he has appointed a guard to keep security of his trash. A source revealed that the actor not only had his Scientology bodyguard take out the trash, but also made sure that the guard remained next to it till the garbage truck came around to collect it.

You Christians, Muslims and Jews don't have your own individual mystical bodyguard/garbageman do you, bitches? Didn't think so. God, your religions suck.

and, finally, these profound words from a man who is really just like you and me

Actor Tom Cruise says he has found a perfect way to unwind - flying around in his personal jet. Cruise is not too interested in yoga or a glass of wine when he wants to relax. He prefers to fly in his jet, Contacmusic reported. He says, "I am not all work, work, work. I do duck out and fly my plane to de-stress. Everyone says, 'Where is Tom?' as I scream past, shattering the windows."

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God

For a religion founded by a man who liked to turn water into wine and party, Christianity has become stale, preachy and, well, puritanical. Fortunately, what can only be a higher power has intervened. A former stripper is going to strip clubs in southern California to preach the gospel.

The married 31-year-old mother of two, co-founded the ministry J.C.'s Girls Girls Girls, and even pays for the lap dances so that she can preach the word of God to the strippers...The three pass out Bibles folded up in T-shirts saying "Holy Hottie" at porn conventions, and their Web site shows glamour shots of them taken by a porno director.

Meanwhile a Diocese in Arlington, Virginia gives sermons at bars where people can drink and pray.

The event is "Theology on Tap," a program launched in Northern Virginia six years ago to reach out to young Catholics, especially those who might not attend Mass regularly. Church leaders say the "six-pack seminars" -- each seminar consists of six weekly sessions -- are not intended to replace worship services. Instead, they are a way of integrating religion into parishioners' daily lives, while building and sustaining church membership. Each seminar consists of six weekly sessions.

The money quote:

"I always have to check my heart before I go," said [one church-bar attendee], who lives in Arlington. "I have to make sure I have a word with the Lord and say, 'Yeah, there are going to be some single ladies here, and it would be great to meet someone, Lord, but I want to make sure my focus is on you, and I'm going to learn something about living my life better.' If the resulting effect is meeting ladies, so be it."

In Defense of Offending Muslims

The controversy over European newspapers printing political cartoons that many Muslims find offensive continues to boil, with the U.S. government joining militant Muslims in denouncing the cartoons (I guess religious fundamentalism makes for strange bedfellows). I have yet to see copies, but from their descriptions the cartoons do sound offensive. Of course, political cartoons are supposed to be offensive, and cry babies shouldn't read editorial pages. Whatever sympathy I had for offended Muslims was lost, however, when I read the following:

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.

In mosques throughout Palestinian cities, clerics condemned the cartoons. An imam at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City told 9,000 worshippers that those behind the drawings should have their heads cut off.

"If they want a war of religions, we are ready," Hassan Sharaf, an imam in Nablus, said in his sermon.

About 10,000 demonstrators, including gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas firing in the air, marched through Gaza City to the Palestinian legislature, where they climbed on the roof, waving green Hamas banners.

"We are ready to redeem you with our souls and our blood our beloved prophet," they chanted. "Down, Down Denmark."

Thousands of protesters in the center of Nablus burned at least 10 Danish flags. In Jenin, about 1,500 people demonstrated, burning Danish dairy products. Hundreds protested in Jericho, and protests were held in towns throughout Gaza.

With Muslims attitudes like this, is it really that off-base to draw a cartoon of "the Muslim prophet wearing a turban fashioned into a bomb"? Yes, yes, most Muslims are non-violent and Islam is a peaceful religion, if you read the scriptures the right way. But, what's wrong with pointing out that Muslim theology is driving hate and violence around the world? I was raised Christian, but certainly didn't feel like blowing up things after reading this.

Organized religion has been associated with hate and violence for thousands of year. It shouldn't be a crime to point this out. And people who choose to be a part of something associated with hate and violence for thousands of years should either develop a thick skin or quit their association.

You can sign a petition to the Danish government in support of free speech here.

UPDATE: WWMD? (What Would Mohammed Do?) Probably not this.

Iraqi Cleric Sistani Tolerates Anal

You read right:

There is much disagreement on Islamic websites about anal sex between men and women. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the highest-ranking Shia cleric in Iraq, says it is "strongly undesirable", but permissible if the wife agrees.

The quote comes from an absolutely fascinating article in the Guardian on a debate taking place among some leading Muslims about which sexual practices are permitted and which are prohibited by the religion.

So this Sistani guy... This is the backwards cleric many Americans are afraid might be the de facto ruler of Iraq? The guy who says, essentially, consensual anal sex is permissable if the husband and wife are both so willing?

I should add I'm no fan of clerics of any stripe, and I'm pretty sure Sistani would probably be in favor of some harsh punishment for umarried or same-sex couples who act out their own Howard Stern fantasy and take a drive up the Hershey highway. But even this seemingly small concession is* worlds better than anything I've ever seen uttered by an American cleric or official elected to high office. (If I've ever seen anything like it at all in this country.)

Finally, I'm the first to admit I don't know a damn thing about any religion. I don't want to, either. But, just the same, don't try telling me these Muslim clerics are simply having some conversation about issues Christians or Jews settled 500 years ago. Because I'm pretty damn sure it's not true. Which means Muslim religious scholars are having a relatively public and pretty open socio-cultural debate on a host of topics that a significant number of so-called Judeo-Christian leaders still consider taboo.

*This statement may depend on what the definition of the word is is.

Jesus Christ, That's a Lawsuit

U.S. press is starting to pick up on the lawsuit I blogged about last week. From today's Washington Times:

An Italian court is considering whether the Roman Catholic Church is breaking the law by teaching that Jesus Christ walked the earth 2,000 years ago....The plaintiff, Luigi Cascioli, became a vocal atheist who, after years of legal wrangling, is slated to get his day in court later this month. "I started this lawsuit because I wanted to deal the final blow against the church, the bearer of obscurantism and regression," Mr.
Cascioli said.

Mr. Cascioli says Father Righi, and by extension the Roman church, broke two Italian laws. The first is "Abuso di Credulita Popolare" ("Abuse of Popular Belief"), meant to protect citizens against being swindled or conned. The second crime, he says, is "Sostituzione di Persona," or impersonation. "The church constructed
Christ upon the personality of John of Gamala," Mr. Cascioli said, referring to the
first-century Jew who fought the Roman army.

If you're like me, you're only religious during sex. But, I have mixed feelings about this lawsuit. On the one hand, I don't see why religious leaders should be exempt from laws against deception and fraud that the rest of us are bound to. On the other hand, the premise underlining most religions is that you should accept them as true on faith. This means you should accept them as true, even if there is no proof of them being true. It's hard then to say that religious leaders are committing fraud when they openly say that what they're teaching must be accepted on faith instead of reason. Of course, they also say that if you don't accept on faith you could end up spending all of eternity being burned alive. That could constitute extortion, especially when conducted by organized religious groups that raise money from "believers". On the other hand, there's no direct threat (like "give us money or we will fuck you up"), which I think is necessary to prove extortion. Religion could be considered a service. Give us money and we will protect you from someone who wants to burn you alive. As long as religious groups are not working with god, this would not constitute some sort of Mafia-like protection racket.

I'm willing to let TtP readers decide what my position should be on this lawsuit.

Taking Jesus to Court

Sure I've thought about how fun it would be to sue religious leaders for fraud and deception, but I would never do it. Apparently it's possible to do that in Italy though, and now a Catholic priest has to prove in a court of law that Jesus existed. This should be interesting given the lack of real proof of Christ's existence as even a man, not alone a supernatural magician who could turn water into wine (a trick I tried on New Year's Eve with little success - I was, however, able to turn five bourbon and cokes, three beers, and several campari and sodas into a headache) and pull-off the even more amazing trick of getting prostitutes to love him (a trick I also tried on New Year's Eve with little success).

In related news, the Dover Area School Board (PA) has unanimously rescinded its "intelligent design" policy, which sought to treat religion as science. I must admit I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, intelligent design is clearly not science. On the other hand, I think introducing intelligent design into schools is a first step to getting the Flying Spaghetti Monster taught in schools. And that would be cool.

Addendum: Bobby Henderson, the prophet who has revealed the gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to us, is the coolest person to ever be interviewed in Wired magazine as far as I'm concerned. Not only is he taking on the intelligent design folks, he received an $80,000 advance to write his "bible" and is using the proceeds from the book to build a bad-ass pirate ship. Must-read interview here.

Christmas War Update and Other "Sacred News"

I heard it said the other day that Time magazine's bestselling issues of the year are usually those featuring diets and those featuring religion. Jesus is a supremely effective marketing tool, especially after Thanksgiving.

'Tis the season to be angry and sanctimonious! Bill O'Reilly is in his annual "Christmas Under Siege" mode, which is at once supremely entertaining and utterly disturbing. Of course, his devotion to Christmas includes a big push for people to buy "Factor gear" from his website at the end of each program. His fellow FoxNews cohort John Gibson even has a new book on the Christmas culture wars. But as Stephen Nissenbaum has shown, the "battle for Christmas" is a time-honored tradition.

Christmas controversies are all but entirely manufactured by journalists looking for a hook to engage readers and viewers, as well as interest groups looking for money and publicity (chief among them Jerry Falwell, a worldly empire unto himself). But the underlying tension between those who are religious and those who are not are thrust into the cacophony of messages that deluge anyone who avails themselves of the popular media.

Indeed, the Christmas War is a microcosm of the larger "culture war," which itself is a creation of the authoritarian Right -- which increasingly fails to recognize the importance a private sphere of thought and action, relatively immune from statist caprices, in the preservation of individual liberty and limited, constitutional government.

One of the best books I read this year was Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism. In a nutshell, it detailed the persistent struggle in this country between those who would seek to make this country more explicitly "Christian" (as they see it) in all aspects of life -- including government -- and those who recognize the importance of a non-religious public sphere. Even though the Founders were men of varying degrees of Christian faith, they saw to it that the Constitution made no express reference to God, much less Jesus Christ.

America is a Christian nation insofar as most of its citizens are Christians, though in a much more quiet and unassuming fashion than most of those who forward themselves as Christians extraordinaire. These persons include politicians, some of whom aggressively flaunt their purported religious bona fides and court so-called religious leaders for their blessing.

Whenever government seeks to imbue itself with the ostensibly divine, I consider it to be a desperate exercise in the profane in search of the sacred. How I wish that more persons of faith would speak out against the grotesque politicization of religion.

To demonstrate just how manic things have become, even President Bush is receiving flack. Merry Christmas was absent from this year's White House Christmas card, which is printed and distributed at the expense of the Republican National Committee. It did have a quote from Psalms, though. (I received a copy.) Next year, look for a Nativity scene and quote from Revelations.

In other religious news, a Kansas University professor was attacked -- apparently for his work criticizing creationism and intelligent design. I'm sure that there are many Old Testament verses that can be invoked to defend the assailants in court, if those God-fearing thugs are ever found.

On a much lighter note, Christian youth in Germany have hit pay dirt with a calendar depicting erotic scenes from the Bible -- including Delilah cutting Samson's hair. Who knew that barbering could be so hot? Here is their website (with a clumsily translated English version as well).

Unfortunately, the first printing has already sold out. And they are not mailing it to the United States. Which Christian youth group in this country will step up to the plate, I wonder?

Kiss Me I'm...

What do you call a religion where an early custom was for men and women to kiss each other -- and, if I'm reading it right, members of their own gender -- on the lips, often in their house of worship? Some sort of long-dead cult? Not exactly.

I'll let the name of a new scholarly book on the subject answer the question: Kissing Christians: Ritual and Community in the Late Ancient Church.

Godless Is Good

Journal of Religion and Society, a US academic journal, has published a study claiming that religious devotion in the US may actually contribute to its social ills. The author compared the rates of murder, abortion, suicide and teenage pregnancy in the US versus more secular western democracies.

“In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.

“The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.”

More here.

Something Else

That WorldNetDaily is quite a site (and sight)! These two other articles were filled with great commentary about the role of religion amongst our government's efforts and what women are allegedly being asked to do to get a helping hand. This sort of exploitation I hadn't heard was going on with the rescue efforts in New Orleans. Though I have heard about such tactics in other extreme situations like when police have responded to domestic violence and sexual assault calls. Sick.

I just noticed that Star Parker writes for this WorldNetDaily site...I saw her on a panel discussion at Cato last year and wow is she a show-stopper! The book that she was promoting at the time Uncle Sam's Plantation seemed like it would have been quite a read in terms of thought-provoking ideas about the government programs that seem to "enslave" the people they try to "help". However her heavy religious hand smacked me too hard in the head to want to read it in earnest.

Blanco Don't Preach

I'm just going to come out and say it: Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco's call for a "day of prayer" is as patently ridiculous as it is unconstitutional. It's illegal for government officials to use their office to promote religion in any way, and it's utterly pointless to encourage people to ask for the help of a divine being who does not exist. (Even if that being did exist, we might ask them why they've wrought this horror on innocent people, rather than asking for the deity's support and comfort.)

Also mighty wrong about prayer:

Joe Cook, the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, issued an apology for remarks he made last week comparing the motives of Tangipahoa Parish school officials who support school prayer to "the people who flew the airplanes into the buildings in this country."

Blanco's call for prayer here; Cook's idiocy explored here.