Ugh. So much to discuss: (1) White House egg-on-the-face: After months of beating the war drums to invade Iraq, it turns out that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear bomb program after all. As Matt says: "Meanwhile, how outrageous is it that the best twelve months of alarmism from Bush & Cheney have come in the context of an environment where … Read More
Distressing News
America Family Association informs us that — and I quote — "Kohl’s has banned Christmas". I wasn’t aware that Kohl’s had that kind of authority, but apparently they do.
The Good Book?
What happens when a man takes his family away from civilization in order to raise his children strictly by the words of the Bible? Well, this: A man who called himself "Papa Pilgrim" and took his family far from civilization to raise them according to his interpretation of the Bible was sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting … Read More
Another Megachurch Sex Scandal
It’s becoming an everyday thing now: The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother’s wife and fathered a child by her. Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk’s family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a … Read More
Dispatch From The Front Lines Of The War On Christmas
Well, the wingers were all pissed at Lowe’s Hardware this week. Apparently, the Lowes catalogue features "family trees" instead of "Christmas trees" in their latest catalogue. Now, I was going to knock off a couple of points against Lowe’s here. On its face, this was clearly a rather stupid decision. I’d like to have a drink with the PR guy … Read More
Million March For God
It’s scheduled for October 11, 2008, in Washington, DC (really, would you hold a "million march" anywhere else?) so mark your calandars. It looks like it’s the pipe dream of two guys who don’t have much experience in this kind of thing. One of them, Joel Cody, has "been involved" with organizations such as the Pan-African Society and Guardian Angels. … Read More
Not All Catholic Leaders Are Gay Pedophile Priests
And shame on you for buying in to that stereotype. For one thing, you’re forgetting about the absolutely heterosexual pedophile nuns.
The Creation Museum
A review: Imagine, if you will, a load of horseshit. And we’re not talking just your average load of horseshit; no, we’re talking colossal load of horsehit. An epic load of horseshit. The kind of load of horseshit that has accreted over decades and has developed its own sort of ecosystem, from the flyblown chunks at the perimeter, down into … Read More
Jury Verdict Against Phelps’ Church
Finally. This guy is a creep: A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 million in damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq after church members cheered his death at his funeral. Church members said Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder’s death was God’s punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality, and they attended … Read More
How to Ruin Halloween
Joel Stein (shorter): Why can’t Halloween be all about demons and Satan, rather than about scantily-dressed nurses and pirates? Actually (and predictably), there is a Christian right backlash against the whole demonic thing as well. Over at Pat Robertson’s CBN you’ll find an entire page dealing with Halloween, complete with godly advice guaranteed to ruin the holiday for the kids: … Read More
It’s Not Even Thanksgiving Yet…
Is it me, or is the (fake) "War On Christmas" starting earlier this year? It’s coming! You know it’s coming. Like clockwork, the American Civil Liberties Union grinches will be out in force punishing those erecting Nativity displays, extending Christmas greetings and otherwise exercising their God-given, First Amendment-protected rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But now you … Read More
Decline In Christianity
Andrew Sullivan points to a new study which shows that Christianity is losing the younger generation. The reason, according to the study? When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments … Read More
Setting McCain Straight
Just yesterday, I wrote about how Christian conservatives were toying with the notion of supporting a third party candidate for President in ’08, having failed to find a righteous enough Republican candidate. But that was before McCain’s now-infamous interview with BeliefNet, in which the senator said, “I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States … Read More
Christian Conservatives Have The Right To Hate
Convicted Watergate felon-cum-evangelist Chuck Colson has a few thoughts about ENDA: Imagine you own a small business—let’s say a donut shop—and you have an employee who is late for work everyday and is rude to customers. When you fire him, he claims it is really because he is gay—and sues. Well, if you fired him because he is late and … Read More
Religious Right To Consider Supporting Third Party Candidate
And with that, we can officially write off the religious right as a viable political movement in this country. Finally. Steven Thomma lays out the current landscape: Today, their nearly three-decade-long ascendance in the Republican Party is over. Their loyalties and priorities are in flux, the organizations that gave them political muscle are in disarray, the high-profile preachers who led … Read More