Falwell Dead? [Update: Yes]

Ken AshfordBreaking News, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Breaking news Obviously, I’m no fan, but it’s always momentous when an influential man passes.  His zenith was in the Reagan era, when he set this country on a path which dictates much of the social and political landscape today. UPDATE:  Retrospective from the Carpetbagger. Also, the GOP ’08ers are having a debate tonight.  Look for lots of lavish praise … Read More

Kirk Cameron Should Return To Acting

Ken AshfordEducation, Godstuff

Bad as he was, at least he was a better actor than he is a logician. Here’s Kirk’s powerful scientific argument to prove the existence of God: “Darwin said in order to prove evolution, which is the #1 alternative to God, you’ve gotta be able to prove transitional forms. One animal transitioning into another. And all through the fossil record … Read More

Enough Already!

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family Values3 Comments

The Dugger family of Arkansas is expecting their seventeenth child.  (They only had 14 when the above picture was taken). For those who haven’t heard about them, the Duggars believe in a christian fundamentalist movement called Quiverfull, which means that the only birth control they believe in is the discretion of the invisible magical mystery man in the sky: Quiverfull … Read More

Evangelist And His Bad Actor Sidekick To Prove Existance Of God — WITHOUT The Bible

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Sign me up: A prominent Christian best-selling author is asserting that he can prove the existence of God without using the Bible, and has challenged two atheists to a debate. Ray Comfort, author of God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists, alongside fellow Christian and actor Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains) will butt heads with two ardent nonbelievers using only scientific fact in … Read More

Tragedy Whores

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church people are planning to protest at the funerals of the Virginia Tech dead. These people have no shame. For those that don’t know, Phelps & Co. are the "religious" people who show up at funerals for falled Iraqi war soldiers with loud signs and shouting that "God hates fags" and "God hates America" … Read More

Chocolate Jesus Smackdown

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Catholic League prez William Donahue and the "Chocolate Jesus" artist Cosmo Cavallaro go mana-a-mana.  Crooks & Liars has the video and transcript. I like the take of David Kuo, former head of Bush’s faith-based office: Jesus’ story isn’t nice, it isn’t neat, it isn’t comfortable. It is the opposite of all of those things. In so many ways those of … Read More

Chocolate Jesus Angers Religious Right

Ken AshfordGodstuff1 Comment

Can’t say I’m surprised.  Background on the giant chocolate Jesus in my earlier post from yesterday. The Catholic League is upset, not only because Jesus is chocolate, but also because he has chocolate genetalia.  From their press release: NAKED JESUS—GENITALS EXPOSED—CRUCIFIED From April 1 to April 7, the Roger Smith Lab Gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel in New York … Read More

My Sweet Lord

Ken AshfordGodstuff11 Comments

Actually, it makes more sense than chocolate easter bunnies: Man cannot live on bread alone, but if he were to consume Cosimo Cavallaro’s newest creation he could live off of Jesus — for approximately eight months. An oddball artist known for his "eclectic" forms of expression, Cavallaro’s latest contribution to culture is a six-foot tall, anatomically-correct milk-chocolate sculpture of Jesus … Read More

“Feminism Destroying America”

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy, Women's Issues1 Comment

So says Chuck Baldwin, Founder-Pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida and vice presidential nominee for the Constitution Party in 2004: When one searches to find the causes for America’s rapid deterioration, there is no shortage of suspects. However, my thirty-plus years experience as a pastor, counselor, and researcher has convinced me that there is no greater threat to … Read More

America: “Religious” Or “Religiously Ignorant”?

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

I had a girlfriend once who (after that was over) became born again.  And we were still in contact, and she tried, in subtle and non-subtle ways, to "bring me into the light" or "save me" or whatever you want to call it. Her initial assumption was that, because I don’t regularly attend church or read the Bible, I must … Read More

The Evangelical Crackup

Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & Energy, Godstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Time was where "evangelical" evoked names like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell and, by necessary extension, the conservative GOP agenda. But Kevin Drum points to a considerable crack-up within the evangelical movement, which casts "old guard" evangelicals (Dobson et al.) on the outside of the National Association of Evangelicals (now headed by Richard Cizik), looking in with noses pressed to … Read More

Fox News Now Hyping A “War On Easter”

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Oh, brother. The hyper of this non-story is Fox’s John Gibson, and the main evidence in his accusation is that certain communities have things like "Spring Egg Hunts" and "Spring Bunnies" and so on. Somebody needs to sit Gibson down and explain to him the Christian doctrine which he thinks he’s defending.  He might be surprised to learn that bunnies … Read More

Finding Jesus

Ken AshfordGodstuff, History2 Comments

People talk about "finding Jesus", but this time, he may have really been found.  I mean, really: New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world’s foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family. According to … Read More