The Devil and Dan Vojir

The Manhattan Declaration: Hypocrites United

2009-11-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

The Christian Right has arrogantly come up with their own Nicene Creed. However, the Nicene Creed only states a belief of God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost, while the Manhattan Declaration states a whole host of beliefs not the least of which is that the holiest of all actions is hypocrisy. I'm certain that better writers and more intelligent people have attacked it by now as a blathering piece of BFD. So this post is, by its timing, anti-climactic.

But it is this kind of bloviating sanctimoniousness that drives people to respond anyway, because after reading it, one is prompted to react with "Do Something!"

So here is my take, such as it is. Sorry about the length, but when dealing enormous amounts of hot air, it takes an equal length of writing to respond to them.

Preamble

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages [In other words, they don’t intend to address the topic of pedophile priests or ministers], we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues [Like the onslaught of AIDS?], and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. [And for almost 1000 years, kept them all for themselves.] It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. [American Christians, however, were rather split at the time, weren’t they?] Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. [Of course, Christians allowed Europeans a breather after 782 wars in 800 years – all sanctioned by Christians] And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. [And that, my friends, is the last you will read about women's rights in this polemic] The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class. [Take that, Southern Baptists!]

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination. [Their “devotion to human dignity” skipped 1981 to 1999 simply because people with AIDS were anathema. Period.]

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

Declaration

We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We set forth this declaration in light of the truth that is grounded in Holy Scripture, in natural human reason [Quite a jump from Scripture to “natural human reason”] (which is itself, in our view, the gift of a beneficent God), and in the very nature of the human person. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including a special concern for the poor and vulnerable, claims our attention, we are especially troubled that in our nation today the lives of the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly are severely threatened; that the institution of marriage, already buffeted by promiscuity, infidelity and divorce, is in jeopardy of being redefined to accommodate fashionable ideologies: [Well, at least they admit we’re fashionable!] that freedom of religion and the rights of conscience are gravely jeopardized by those who would use the instruments of coercion to compel persons of faith to compromise their deepest convictions.

Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image . [This means freedom to be Christian ONLY.]

We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences. to affirm our right—and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation—to speak and act in defense of these truths. [“ecclesial differences” – Why is it that organized religion only bonds together when hey are AGAINST something? They can agree on base generalities like “peace,” but when dogma – the absolute heart of the church – is necessary, they agree to disagree – and hope that the bottom won’t fall out from underneath their congregation’s base.] We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence. It is our duty to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in its fullness, both in season and out of season. May God help us not to fail in that duty.

****

Life
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

Although public sentiment has moved in a pro-life direction, we note with sadness that pro-abortion ideology prevails today in our government. The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of fetal development, and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense. [Whether or not they like it, people are paying for abortions through their insurance premiums. The “taxpayer expense” is really a singular jab at Planned Parenthood.] Majorities in both houses of Congress hold pro-abortion views. The Supreme Court, whose infamous 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade stripped the unborn of legal protection, continues to treat elective abortion as a fundamental constitutional right, though it has upheld as constitutionally permissible some limited restrictions on abortion. The President says that he wants to reduce the “need” for abortion—a commendable goal. But he has also pledged to make abortion more easily and widely available by eliminating laws prohibiting government funding, requiring waiting periods for women seeking abortions, and parental notification for abortions performed on minors. The elimination of these important and effective pro-life laws cannot reasonably be expected to do other than significantly increase the number of elective abortions by which the lives of countless children are snuffed out prior to birth. [“Pro-life” is a misnomer. It should be “pro-birth.” Would pro-lifers ever put their money where their mouth is and help to SUPPORT those children after birth? There are still a few “maternity hospitals” left (I was born in one), but they are not adequately supported by any faith-based organizations. One solution: provide a box to check on the taxpayer’s 1040 that states: “I stand pro-life. I want my tax return to benefit (fill in blank with name of legitimate social non-profit) so that a child may be fed, sheltered, clothed and educated according to the standards set by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.” ] Our commitment to the sanctity of life is not a matter of partisan loyalty, for we recognize that in the thirty-six years since Roe v. Wade, elected officials and appointees of both major political parties have been complicit in giving legal sanction to what Pope John Paul II described as “the culture of death.” We call on all officials in our country, elected and appointed, to protect and serve every member of our society, including the most marginalized, voiceless, and vulnerable among us.

A culture of death inevitably cheapens life in all its stages and conditions by promoting the belief that lives that are imperfect, immature or inconvenient are discardable.[ No such word, but it has probably been used time and again on “birther”\“teabagger” signs.] As predicted by many prescient persons, the cheapening of life that began with abortion has now metastasized. [Only recently did Christians value the life of a child born out of wedlock: it was until about 1920 that birth certificates of such children were stamped “illegitimate.”] For example, human embryo-destructive research and its public funding are promoted in the name of science and in the cause of developing treatments and cures for diseases and injuries. The President and many in Congress favor the expansion of embryo-research to include the taxpayer funding of so-called “therapeutic cloning.” This would result in the industrial mass production of human embryos to be killed for the purpose of producing genetically customized stem cell lines and tissues. [Now the conspiracy theories start. This statement is wild supposition of the Pat Robertson kind. And science fiction has absolutely no place in a manifesto such as this.] At the other end of life, an increasingly powerful movement to promote assisted suicide and “voluntary” euthanasia threatens the lives of vulnerable elderly and disabled persons. Eugenic notions such as the doctrine of lebensunwertes Leben (“life unworthy of life”) were first advanced in the 1920s by intellectuals in the elite salons of America and Europe. Long buried in ignominy after the horrors of the mid-20th century, they have returned from the grave. [This invites a wild analogy: so many of us have our pets “put to sleep” because we don’t want them to suffer anymore. Yet good “Christians” will force our loved ones to suffer and have no say at all about the continuance of their lives.] The only difference is that now the doctrines of the eugenicists are dressed up in the language of “liberty,” “autonomy,” and “choice.”

We will be united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the license to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion. We will work, as we have always worked, to bring assistance, comfort, and care to pregnant women in need . and to those who have been victimized by abortion, even as we stand resolutely against the corrupt and degrading notion that it can somehow be in the best interests of women to submit to the deliberate killing of their unborn children. [While the incident may have involved another country, I feel I must remind Chuck Colson that the last Magdalene Laundry was closed in the early 1990s. He’s portraying all Christians as self-effacing saints.] Our message is, and ever shall be, that the just, humane, and truly Christian answer to problem pregnancies is for all of us to love and care for mother and child alike.

A truly prophetic Christian witness will insistently call on those who have been entrusted with temporal power to fulfill the first responsibility of government: to protect the weak and vulnerable against violent attack, and to do so with no favoritism, partiality, or discrimination. The Bible enjoins us to defend those who cannot defend themselves, to speak for those who cannot themselves speak. And so we defend and speak for the unborn, the disabled, and the dependent. What the Bible and the light of reason make clear, we must make clear. [Equating the Bible with reason?] We must be willing to defend, even at risk and cost to ourselves and our institutions, the lives of our brothers and sisters at every stage of development and in every condition.

Our concern is not confined to our own nation. Around the globe, we are witnessing cases of genocide and “ethnic cleansing,” the failure to assist those who are suffering as innocent victims of war, the neglect and abuse of children, the exploitation of vulnerable laborers, the sexual trafficking of girls and young women, the abandonment of the aged, racial oppression and discrimination, the persecution of believers of all faiths, and the failure to take steps necessary to halt the spread of preventable diseases like AIDS. [You won’t do it with “abstinence only” programs.] We see these travesties as flowing from the same loss of the sense of the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life that drives the abortion industry and the movements for assisted suicide, euthanasia, and human cloning for biomedical research. And so ours is, as it must be, a truly consistent ethic of love and life for all humans in all circumstances.

Marriage

The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man." For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:23-24

This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Ephesians 5:32-33

In Scripture, the creation of man and woman, and their one-flesh union as husband and wife, is the crowning achievement of God’s creation. In the transmission of life and the nurturing of children, men and women joined as spouses are given the great honor of being partners with God Himself. Marriage then, is the first institution of human society—indeed it is the institution on which all other human institutions have their foundation. In the Christian tradition we refer to marriage as “holy matrimony” to signal the fact that it is an institution ordained by God, and blessed by Christ in his participation at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the Bible, God Himself blesses and holds marriage in the highest esteem. Vast human experience confirms that marriage is the original and most important institution for sustaining the health, education, and welfare of all persons in a society. [Including everyone and every culture is totally false: out of 1300 cultures studied, only about 250 were based on one-man-one-woman marriage. The rest were polygamous. And only in the last 300 years or so has the idea of love as a basis for marriage been recognized. Past cultures almost exclusively supported arranged marriages based on money, property and other assets.] Where marriage is honored, and where there is a flourishing marriage culture, everyone benefits—the spouses themselves, their children, the communities and societies in which they live. Where the marriage culture begins to erode, social pathologies of every sort quickly manifest themselves. Unfortunately, we have witnessed over the course of the past several decades a serious erosion of the marriage culture in our own country. Perhaps the most telling—and alarming—indicator is the out-of-wedlock birth rate. Less than fifty years ago, it was under 5 percent. Today it is over 40 percent. Our society—and particularly its poorest and most vulnerable sectors, where the out-of-wedlock birth rate is much higher even than the national average—is paying a huge price in delinquency, drug abuse, crime, incarceration, hopelessness, and despair. [Personal note: I was born in Chicago at St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum and Maternity Hospital and put up for adoption from birth. I was illegitimate. Ann Coulter(geist) has brazenly (and stupidly) characterized and generalized ALL children born out of wedlock as drug addicts and criminals. I must be the odd one out.] Other indicators are widespread non-marital sexual cohabitation and a devastatingly high rate of divorce.

We confess with sadness that Christians and our institutions have too often scandalously failed to uphold the institution of marriage and to model for the world the true meaning of marriage. Insofar as we have too easily embraced the culture of divorce and remained silent about social practices that undermine the dignity of marriage we repent, and call upon all Christians to do the same. [Too little, too late and too lame.]

To strengthen families, we must stop glamorizing promiscuity and infidelity and restore among our people a sense of the profound beauty, mystery, and holiness of faithful marital love. We must reform ill-advised policies that contribute to the weakening of the institution of marriage, including the discredited idea of unilateral divorce. [Tell that to battered wives. One in particular pleaded with Pastor Rick Warren to counsel her after a brutal beating. His answer: divorce is not an option – after all, “he only hit you once. Only after you can prove that he’s beating you consistently, after counseling, then you should just leave him. But no divorce.”] We must work in the legal, cultural, and religious domains to instill in young people a sound understanding of what marriage is, what it requires, and why it is worth the commitment and sacrifices that faithful spouses make.

The impulse to redefine marriage in order to recognize same-sex and multiple partner relationships is a symptom, rather than the cause, of the erosion of the marriage culture. It reflects a loss of understanding of the meaning of marriage as embodied in our civil and religious law and in the philosophical tradition that contributed to shaping the law. Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life. [There's a contradiction in there somewhere.] In spousal communion and the rearing of children (who, as gifts of God, are the fruit of their parents’ marital love), we discover the profound reasons for and benefits of the marriage covenant.

We acknowledge that there are those who are disposed towards homosexual and polyamorous conduct and relationships, just as there are those who are disposed towards other forms of immoral conduct. We have compassion for those so disposed; we respect them as human beings possessing profound, inherent, and equal dignity; [In a struggle to see their POV, I have come up numerous times frustrated and empty-handed as far as any kind of believability: their past behavior towards gays and lesbians shows them to have no respect and certainly no compassion. The Age of AIDS (1982-2002 – approx.) proved what harm hypocritical self-righteousness can do. True compassion existed only in pockets of the country and AIDS agencies were all (gasp!) secular.] and we pay tribute to the men and women who strive, often with little assistance, to resist the temptation to yield to desires that they, no less than we, regard as wayward. We stand with them, even when they falter. We, no less than they, are sinners who have fallen short of God’s intention for our lives. We, no less than they, are in constant need of God’s patience, love and forgiveness. We call on the entire Christian community to resist sexual immorality, and at the same time refrain from disdainful condemnation of those who yield to it. Our rejection of sin, though resolute, must never become the rejection of sinners. [This is, at best, disingenuous. The most radical idea Christ espoused was to love your enemies. He knew that this went against human nature. Most Christian preachers know that this sentiment will never be taken to heart, but they spout it occasionally to look benevolent.] For every sinner, regardless of the sin, is loved by God, who seeks not our destruction but rather the conversion of our hearts. Jesus calls all who wander from the path of virtue to “a more excellent way.” As his disciples we will reach out in love to assist all who hear the call and wish to answer it.

We further acknowledge that there are sincere people who disagree with us, and with the teaching of the Bible and Christian tradition, on questions of sexual morality and the nature of marriage. Some who enter into same-sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multi-level sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit. This is because the body is no mere extrinsic instrument of the human person, but truly part of the personal reality of the human being. Human beings are not merely centers of consciousness or emotion, or minds, or spirits, inhabiting non-personal bodies. The human person is a dynamic unity of body, mind, and spirit. Marriage is what one man and one woman establish when, forsaking all others and pledging lifelong commitment, they found a sharing of life at every level of being—the biological, the emotional, the dispositional, the rational, the spiritual—on a commitment that is sealed, completed and actualized by loving sexual intercourse in which the spouses become one flesh, not in some merely metaphorical sense, but by fulfilling together the behavioral conditions of procreation. That is why in the Christian tradition, and historically in Western law, consummated marriages are not dissoluble or annullable on the ground of infertility, even though the nature of the marital relationship is shaped and structured by its intrinsic orientation to the great good of procreation. [This is a grand attempt to make the institution of marriage holy, untouchable and mystical beyond which we mortals can comprehend. The union of two people in love and who fervently attempt to sustain that union with physical and emotional gestures are totally discounted because in the mind of a “true believer” the two people MUST be of the opposite sex and have the intention at all times of procreation. Anyone who thinks otherwise is also a sinner.]

We understand that many of our fellow citizens, including some Christians, believe that the historic definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a denial of equality or civil rights. They wonder what to say in reply to the argument that asserts that no harm would be done to them or to anyone if the law of the community were to confer upon two men or two women who are living together in a sexual partnership the status of being “married.” It would not, after all, affect their own marriages, would it? On inspection, however, the argument that laws governing one kind of marriage will not affect another cannot stand. Were it to prove anything, it would prove far too much: the assumption that the legal status of one set of marriage relationships affects no other would not only argue for same sex partnerships; it could be asserted with equal validity for polyamorous partnerships, polygamous households, even adult brothers, sisters, or brothers and sisters living in incestuous relationships. Should these, as a matter of equality or civil rights, be recognized as lawful marriages, and would they have no effects on other relationships? No. The truth is that marriage is not something abstract or neutral that the law may legitimately define and re-define to please those who are powerful and influential. [To insinuate that a minority such a gays is “powerful and influential” is absurd: can societal outcasts – deemed outcasts because they are sinners – be “powerful and influential? And to infer that same-sex marriage is a slippery slope to polygamy and incest is sanctimonious demonizing.] No one has a civil right to have a non-marital relationship treated as a marriage. Marriage is an objective reality—a covenantal union of husband and wife—that it is the duty of the law to recognize and support for the sake of justice and the common good. If it fails to do so, genuine social harms follow. First, the religious liberty of those for whom this is a matter of conscience is jeopardized. [Religious liberty is never compromised if that liberty does not demand that everyone else must have the same frame of mind.] Second, the rights of parents are abused as family life and sex education programs in schools are used to teach children that an enlightened understanding recognizes as “marriages” sexual partnerships that many parents believe are intrinsically non-marital and immoral. [Which rights would he rather abuse, the parent or child? Children have an intrinsic right to know that other philosophies and cultures exist and exactly what they are. If they are not given the entire spectrum of beliefs, they unnecessarily doomed to become bigots.] Third, the common good of civil society is damaged when the law itself, in its critical pedagogical function, becomes a tool for eroding a sound understanding of marriage on which the flourishing of the marriage culture in any society vitally depends. Sadly, we are today far from having a thriving marriage culture. But if we are to begin the critically important process of reforming our laws and mores to rebuild such a culture, the last thing we can afford to do is to re-define marriage in such a way as to embody in our laws a false proclamation about what marriage is.

And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”) that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture. [Mr. Colson assumes to speak for the rest of Christendom and that is a grave mistake. He is authorized to speak only for the ones who have signed the Declaration.] How could we, as Christians, do otherwise? The Bible teaches us that marriage is a central part of God’s creation covenant. Indeed, the union of husband and wife mirrors the bond between Christ and his church. And so just as Christ was willing, out of love, to give Himself up for the church in a complete sacrifice, we are willing, lovingly, to make whatever sacrifices are required of us for the sake of the inestimable treasure that is marriage.

Religious Liberty

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. Isaiah 61:1

Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Matthew 22:21

The struggle for religious liberty across the centuries has been long and arduous, but it is not a novel idea or recent development. The nature of religious liberty is grounded in the character of God Himself, the God who is most fully known in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Determined to follow Jesus faithfully in life and death, the early Christians appealed to the manner in which the Incarnation had taken place: “Did God send Christ, as some suppose, as a tyrant brandishing fear and terror? Not so, but in gentleness and meekness..., for compulsion is no attribute of God” (Epistle to Diognetus 7.3-4). Thus the right to religious freedom has its foundation in the example of Christ Himself and in the very dignity of the human person created in the image of God—a dignity, as our founders proclaimed, inherent in every human, and knowable by all in the exercise of right reason.

Christians confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Immunity from religious coercion is the cornerstone of an unconstrained conscience. No one should be compelled to embrace any religion against his will, nor should persons of faith be forbidden to worship God according to the dictates of conscience or to express freely and publicly their deeply held religious convictions. What is true for individuals applies to religious communities as well. [Yet we are compelled to embrace Christianity every day in every way: “Our forefathers were Christian.” “America is a Christian nation!” “Secularists are atheists!” The Christian religion is the ONLY worthwhile religion” “I knew my God was better than his god.” “Keep the Christ in Christmas"]

It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard [ “Persecution!!”] of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.

We see this, for example, in the effort to weaken or eliminate conscience clauses, and therefore to compel pro-life institutions (including religiously affiliated hospitals and clinics), and pro-life physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other health care professionals, to refer for abortions and, in certain cases, even to perform or participate in abortions. We see it in the use of anti-discrimination statutes to force religious institutions, businesses, and service providers of various sorts to comply with activities they judge to be deeply immoral or go out of business. [Maybe the government has to dictate morality because “righteous” people WOULD discriminate, fire and ruin the lives of people in the name of “conscience.”] After the judicial imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts, for example, Catholic Charities chose with great reluctance to end its century-long work of helping to place orphaned children in good homes rather than comply with a legal mandate that it place children in same-sex households in violation of Catholic moral teaching. In New Jersey, after the establishment of a quasi-marital “civil unions” scheme, a Methodist institution was stripped of its tax exempt status when it declined, as a matter of religious conscience, to permit a facility it owned and operated to be used for ceremonies blessing homosexual unions. In Canada and some European nations, Christian clergy have been prosecuted for preaching Biblical norms against the practice of homosexuality. New hate-crime laws in America raise the specter of the same practice here. [Do Biblical “norms” include the insulting and incendiary speeches of Fred Phelps?]

In recent decades a growing body of case law has paralleled the decline in respect for religious values in the media, the academy and political leadership, resulting in restrictions on the free exercise of religion. We view this as an ominous development, not only because of its threat to the individual liberty guaranteed to every person, regardless of his or her faith, but because the trend also threatens the common welfare and the culture of freedom on which our system of republican government is founded. Restrictions on the freedom of conscience or the ability to hire people of one’s own faith or conscientious moral convictions for religious institutions, for example, undermines the viability of the intermediate structures of society, the essential buffer against the overweening authority of the state, resulting in the soft despotism Tocqueville so prophetically warned of. Disintegration of civil society is a prelude to tyranny. [This assumes that Christians are always “civil”]

As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. [That is why Christian clergy are calling for the death of the President.] We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it.

Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. [One could create a wild “slippery slope” from this: not biding by the law of non-discrimination against gays could eventually lead to “Kill a Queer for Christ.” Seriously, this manifesto could validate “birthers” and “teabaggers.”] There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. [Proselytizing your version of the truth is one thing, while pummeling people with the Bible, cherry-picked verse by cherry-picked verse is another.] We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.

Thus this “Declaration” ends leading us towards a puzzling but crucial question:

Who gets to decide what is Caesar’s and what is God’s?

Manning and Drake: Taking Back Stupidity...

2009-11-24T01:02:00.000-08:00

Only Leads To More Stupidity

Oh! the Christian Charity! Oh! the magnanimous gesture! Oh! the publicity!

Staying in the eye of the media can sometimes cost you a few marbles. Or I.Q. points. Take the cases of Rev. Wiley Drake and Rev. James David Manning. Both have taken upon themselves the odious task of pleading for the death of President Obama. With Drake, it was "imprecatory prayer" (the first time in centuries since those words were ever used, sending millions of people to their dictionaries), asking God to smite Obama when He got the chance. But Manning was more poetic (I think) in telling his faithful that "If Obama lives, America dies." Many people (including Homeland Security) took that sentiment to be a flagrant request for someone, anyone, to kill the President. Of course, neither was as blatantly obtuse as Steven Anderson who said Obama should be killed like a snail - sending some people out to buy huge bags of salt.

BTW: where do these people come from?

So now we have two ministers who have tried to backtrack into less treasonous territory.

From Right Wing Watch:

A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who made headlines in June when he said on national radio that he was praying for Barack Obama to die now says he wants to see the president live long enough to stand trial for treason.

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., issued a press release Nov. 19 calling for an end to "imprecatory prayer" -- words of judgment from the Book of Psalms prayed back to God, directed toward Obama. Drake attributed his change of heart to "spiritual counsel" of James David Manning, pastor at ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York, contained in a 16 1/2-minute video recorded Nov. 18.

"I do not want to see anyone attempt, dream about, think about or ever discuss assassinating you," Manning continued. "It is most important to you and to my savior Jesus that you live, and that you live a long life, but that you live that we might be able to bring you to trial.

So Manning has backtracked from his convoluted "mack daddy" speeches to wish Obama a long life (notice he didn't say "healthy") in order to bring him to trial. A visit from Homeland Security to Manning's church/seminary/school/broadcast center could have had something to do with his change of heart, although he also recorded a "fine, take me!" video.

I know, too many people are asking "Are these wackos news?" Unfortunately they are: remember what we've always said about religion and entertainment: in America, you can't tell them apart.

The Manhattan Declaration: The Christian Right Declares Global Warfare, Giving Africa The Gift Of ...Fear

2009-11-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

The Christofascist Manifesto!
plus - As Part Of A Double Feature -
Homophobia Is Alive And Thriving In Africa

Christofascists might have a reason to celebrate the holidays very, shall we say, enthusiastically this Christmas: the anti-homosexuality bill of Uganda is still on the table before the Ugandan parliament and, despite strong opposition from human rights groups and progressive churches, looks as if it might pass. If it does, you will hear choruses of "Hallelujah" coming from strongholds of homophobia like the Southern Baptist Convention and Family Research Council, because, after all, they encouraged the bill from its very beginning.

Of course, the climate in Uganda is so thick with fear and loathing of anyone gay that whole communities are already going door-to-door to "root out" homosexuals and turn them in to authorities. Passage of the bill would create a gay genocide unparalleled in history.

From Queerty.com

U.S. conservatives have successfully recruited a significant number of prominent African religious leaders to a campaign seeking to restrict the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The flagship issue … is the ordination of LGBT clergy by mainline Protestant denominations– particularly the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches– in the United States….

As a direct result of this campaign, homophobia is on the rise in Africa– from increased incidents of violence to antigay legislation that carries the death penalty….

Right Wing Watch:

"We need to stand up against the U.S. Christian Right peddling homophobia in Africa," said Kaoma, who in recent weeks asked U.S. evangelist Rick Warren to denounce the bill and distance himself from its supporters.

“Africa’s antigay campaigns are to a substantial degree made in the U.S.A.”

A progressive think tank - Political Research Associates - just declared this week in the report "Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches and Homophobia" by Rev. Kapya Kaoma, a scholar This short report is MUST READING for those who wish to keep informed about the ugly, steadfast goals of the Christian Right in Africa, especially demonizing and criminalizing homoseuality.

“Rick Warren shows one face in the United States where he says he loves gays, and another face in Africa, which is on the verge of pogroms against this community,” said Reverend Kaoma. “We need to hear his voice loud and clear on this issue that gays and lesbians are entitled to full human rights.”

Rick has souls to win and money to make (in order to win those souls). He's not going to collar Uganda, Rwanda and every other African nation to preach to them what they don't want to hear. Even though he professes "love" for everyone, that love extends just so far - as far as the grasp for a nation's wallet and as far as the clutch of a significant number of souls.

From Christianity Today

Christian leaders reaffirmed their conservative stances on abortion, same-sex marriage, and religious liberty with a 4,700-word declaration released Friday. Signed initially by 125 evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox leaders, the Manhattan Declaration calls Christians to adhere to three primary convictions, even if this requires civil disobedience. Charles Colson, who helped draft the declaration, said the statement brings Christian leaders together on the issues of abortion, marriage, and religious freedom in the face of growing pressure.

From The Manhattan Declaration:

Because the sanctity of human life, the dignity of marriage as a union of husband and wife, and the freedom of conscience and religion are foundational principles of justice and the common good, we are compelled by our Christian faith to speak and act in their defense. In this declaration we affirm: 1) the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life; 2) marriage as a conjugal union of man and woman, ordained by God from the creation, and historically understood by believers and non-believers alike, to be the most basic institution in society and; 3) religious liberty, which is grounded in the character of God, the example of Christ, and the inherent freedom and dignity of human beings created in the divine image.

Notice:

1. "equal dignity and life" do NOT include homosexuals, women, pro-choice people, leftists (commie-pinko's), socialists, or anyone the church sees fit to make an outcast.

2.) marriage as a societal institution has not been around in the same form as it exists now. This section leaves out the possibility of arranged marriages.

3. If religious liberty is "grounded in the character of God," then it is only CHRISTIAN liberty which is espoused. And that brings up the question as to WHO has signed the manifesto? Were Hindus, Muslims, Rastafarians, Shinto, Buddhists, Mormons, Jews, Zoroastrians invited to sign?

A hypocrisy creeps into the Manhattan Declaration fairly early on:

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

It is only at this juncture that the "Declaration" mentions AIDS and pointedly makes it a scourge of Africa. It conveniently jumps over the lack of compassion and dehumanization of homosexuals in regards to AIDS. That may be because, with the help of Rick Warren, they may be able to claim more converts while imprisoning more homosexuals in The Dark Continent.

The most hypocritical gag-me-with-a-spoon comment slips in later (but we all knew it was coming, didn't we?)

And so it is out of love (not “animus”) and prudent concern for the common good (not “prejudice”), that we pledge to labor ceaselessly to preserve the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and to rebuild the marriage culture.

OK, let's face it: this declaration is a shout against the winds of change. And it is also a threat:

"We will stand here and make your lives as miserable as possible if everyone doesn't kneel down to us and convert RIGHT NOW!" (It says, with the stamp of a patent leather shod foot)

or...

"Don't make us call our friends in Africa to deal with you."

Will James David Manning Be Tried As A Martyr ... Or As An Idiot?

2009-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

We have finally been given the most incredibly powerful example of blind faith ever seen in this country: James David Manning, "Ph.D." and his ATLAH Worldwide Ministries.

Yes, blind faith: as in willing to believe anything, as in naive, as in ignorant of the facts. I've long said that there are people who are willing to believe anyone who says the magic words: "God" "Bible" "Man of God" "Savior" "Holy" "Sacred." And if someone says those words to them loud enough, with enough emotion, long enough and clutching "Scripture" he or she can also add "send money" and then ...OMG! It's a miracle! People will actually send money!

Yep, that's blind faith. "Blind" being the operative word in this case.

James David Manning has been operating and bloviating about his ATLAH Worldwide "ministries" for over 25 years in Harlem (which he calls ATLAH - All The Land Anointed Holy).

Wikipedia:

Manning is fiercely opposed to the gentrification of Harlemand calls for its residents to boycott its shops, restaurants, doctors, banks and churches. That action, combined with a general rent strike, would force all property owners out of Harlem, he said, leaving the neighborhood to its rightful inheritors: black people. Manning calls his plan "No Dew, Nor Rain," after Elijah's warning to Ahab, king of Israel, of a coming drought. "When there's no dew, no rain, there's a drought - there's all kinds of suffering," said Manning. The whole of Harlem, he said, is to be a "drought zone."

Manning, on his radio show, The Manning Report, has been Obama's most virulent critic, even before the Presidential campaign, calling him a pimp ("Mac Daddy") and has called not only for his removal from office, but his death.

Viewing his "Reports" is like watching a passionate eighth grader read his notes about his love of all the Star Wars episodes (yes, even Jar Jar Binks!). He contradicts himself in statement after statement and doesn't seem to know he's doing it. His reasoning is so faulty that you wonder how he ever made it through high school, much less Union Theological Seminary. His assault never seems to come up for air, droning on and on about how EVERYONE in politics, Republicans, Democrats, Independents have tried to lead America down into the lowest caverns of hell.

And he does more than imply that people will have to perform acts of violence and give of themselves to the point of becoming martyrs. If a suicide bomber were to have pastor Manning's words on his lips before the explosion, Manning would simply say that there are casualties in every war. His war, however, seems to be with reason itself, but to call him insane would be useless: he and his small congregation (400?) have heard all the arguments against his sanity and they expect them. Calling him for what he is, however - a puffed up, fraudulent idiot - would make them stone you. To his congregation, Manning is a "man of God" who offers stern, spiritual guidance, even as he leads them into a separatist, illusary world where they are the only ones battling the forces of darkness.

There are different reasons why people come under the spell of such a "Man of God": some are terrified of spirituality, some are woefully ignorant, some are spiritually "lazy," wanting an authority figure to think things out for them, and then some are simply - stupid. His thoughtless polemics are treated as manna from heaven by his people. They don't know him as a man who's spun a cacoon of fraudulent claims and fraudulent hope. We should feel sorry for them.

But not for him.

With as much theatricality as he could muster, his latest video depicts him as a martyr for the cause of freedom, martyred by Obama and his corrupt administration.

It's hilarious.

It's assinine.

It's horrific in its stupidity.

Pray for this man's congregation. But in the meanwhile, pray for him to be tried as an idiot. That, my friends, would be true justice.

The Bestseller That Isn't: Going Rogue Hits Bestsellerdom With A Wimper!

2009-11-15T00:20:00.000-08:00

Will New Book Help Her Run For Office?
Or Run FROM Office?

In 1936, when Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind was published, the population of the country was approx, 128 million people (about 42% of what it is now) and the "average Joe" (to use the sexist terminology of the times) put out a whopping $3.00 (roughly 15% of his weekly salary) to read about the exploits of Scarlett O'Hara. Whole city blocks would chip in between five and ten cents a neighbor to have a turn at reading it. It came out in May 30th with a print run of 5,000 and then a rushed print run in June of 50,000 copies. By Christmas, one million copies were in print.

There was no New York Times Bestseller List at the time, but the nation viewed it as #1 for a over 2 years. That, however, was a time when books were popular because their authors were, at the very least, captivating. In 1984, for example, Erma Bombeck's Motherhood, The Second Oldest Profession was on the top of the charts for several months. People read it for its wit, humor and professionalism.

Times have changed, haven't they?

What constitutes a bestseller these days? The number of copies sold is still the criteria, but there is something else, or rather, there are things which don't "pal around with" good writing. Notoriety of the author or subject sells. Even negative publicity sells. Booksellers are still banking on brisk sales for Carrie Prejean's book Still Standing, but perhaps that's because people sometimes buy books for "camp" value. One truly funny "five star" review:

Although the writing in Miss Prejean's book caused me to throw up a little in my mouth, the spirit moves me to give it five stars. I know some might find that a little strange, but a book is more than simply words, sentences, and chapters; it's also cover art, spine glue, and the little blurbs the publisher commands its other authors to write. In sum, all these pieces must come together to make a book. If I love the smell of the book's spine glue, shouldn't I be allowed to reward the publisher with a few extra stars? I certainly think so.

Now the erstwhile Governor-of-Alaska-for-eighteen-months has penned an autobiography of sorts: Going Rogue will sell in the millions, to be sure, and will (briefly) be on the New York Times bestseller list simply because it had so many pre-orders. And die-hard Sarah Palin fans will brace themselves for a culture war skermish against any liberal MSM onslaught.

Harper Collins' description of the book:

Going Rogue traces one ordinary citizen's extraordinary journey and imparts Palin's vision of a way forward for America and her unfailing hope in the greatest nation on earth.

Certainly the making of a literary megastar! Not! Harper Collins may be trumpeting the pre-publishing sales, but in the end, it's the bookseller who knows what's happening to the book.

At Amazon the list price of $28.99 has been marked down to --$9.oo! That's a 60% markdown! In other words, damn the pre-pub sales - let's remainder it before we get stuck with it!

A tongue-in-cheek five star review:

All I know is this means she wont be running for President in 2012...she will make so much money from her book deal that she can shop at Wal-Mart for 1,212 days spending $3,000 each day. This will take her way past electioneering season.

Under "Tags Customers Associate with This Product" the tag with the most customers is Keeping America Stupid. The book is also paired in sales with a right wing polemical book about the Obama administration with the prescient title: Catastrophy!

I've been in books and publishing long enough to know that a book ala Ann Coulter is only read because of who the author is trashing no matter whether it's truth or "fibrication." Of course, even Ann Coulter can lie more convincely than Sarah Palin, but that won't stop some people from determining the book as the gospel truth. And Going Rogue: An American Life will proudly rest in their bookcases along with the conspiracy theories of Pat Robertson (A New World Order) and My Pet Goat.

And yet another commenter put the relationship between writer and reader beautifully:

When you understand that nobody wants to read your shit, your mind becomes powerfully concentrated. You begin to understand that writing/reading is, above all, a transaction. The reader donates his time and attention, which are supremely valuable commodities. In return, you the writer, must give him something worthy of his gift to you.

*The other two titles are Marvel Comic Books - not really that much of a stretch when you come to think of it. But their cover art has hoisted their prices (collector items) to $45 each making them better investments.

Islamophobia: An Irrational Rage Among People Who Can Barely Spell Islamophobia

2009-11-12T00:20:00.000-08:00

From Islamophobia Watch:

Muslims know what materials are being taught in their mosques and they know many of the materials instruct young Muslims to kill innocent people who do not adhere to Sharia law. If Muslims do not want a backlash, then I would recommend a 'house cleaning'. Stack every Saudi, al Qaeda, Pakistani, Taliban, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood piece of material from their mosque and have a bonfire. Tell the American, Jewish, and Muslim community this hatred will no longer be allowed in their mosques."

- Dave Gaubatz, author of Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America,

All of this might be dismissed as the ranting of a fringe lunatic, but for the fact that Gaubatz's work has been circulated and endorsed by prominent Republican officials.

From Christian Newswire, Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, Elijah Ministries,:

Islam is God's reality check for America. Can we continue to survive rejecting God and our Christian heritage for a "bowl of humanistic pottage?" We are selling our birthright as Americans so we can be just as sophisticated and enlightened as the Socialistic European nations that are in the midst of being conquered by Islam. Is this the heritage we desire to leave our children and grandchildren? I pray not in Jesus' name!

The website for Elijah ministries is Christofascist beyond belief and complete with flames and military metaphors.

From Right Wing Watch:
The American Family Association's Bryan Fischer:

The problem is that the more devout a Muslim is, the greater a threat he represents to our national security. And until we have a way of identifying which Muslims are the ones we have to worry about, we just cannot afford to take the chance.

Of course there's our friend "Rev." James David Manning (video below) who says that President Obama will, in exchange for Osama Bin Laden, turn over Israel to Islam. You thought that Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons were incendiary. Manning beats him by a mile. The jury is still out when it comes to investigating Manning and his intentions: maybe he's just a bumbling idiot who took advantage of Harlem's poor schools and huge drop-out rate to hammer hatred and ignorance into its residents.

Here is a prime example of Islamophobia as a result of some preachers' ignorant rants:

Alexios Marakis, a Greek Orthodox priest visiting the U.S., got lost in Tampa and tried to stop and ask directions from Marine reservist Jasen D. Bruce. But instead of offering help, “Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron.” The reservist believed Marakis, who spoke limited English, was an Arab terrorist. Bruce chased the priest for three blocks, “and even called 911 to say that an Arabic man tried to rob him.”

Last but certainly not least, Pat Robertson has chimed in with his opinion of the Fort Hood shooting, Islam and Muslims: "Islam is not a religion" but "a violent political system" created for world domination. The problem with Robertson is that he also eyes world domination by making Christianity the ONLY religion and the base for a one-world theocracy ala R.J. Rushdooney and Reconstructionism.

The argument against hate crimes legislation is that these people are not responsible for any violence that occurs beyond their church.

Bullsh*t.

Someone is going to get killed.

Boehner's Bonafide Blooper

2009-11-11T00:20:00.000-08:00

Thomas Jefferson Could Have Authored
The Entire Constitution - But He Didn't

From Crooks and Liars

How is that the House Minority Leader can mix up the U.S. Constitution with the Declaration of Independence in front of a Tea Party crowd at the Capitol? Who knows..but he did it, pulling out his pocket copy of the Constitution he's pledged to uphold, today pledging to "stand here with our Founding Fathers, who wrote in the preamble: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident ..."

Supposedly Representatives Michele Bachmann and Virginia Foxx were behind Boehner at the time looking, as usual, totally clueless.

Stupidity in the Republican Party does not discriminate: from junior reps to senior senators and beyond pundits, it hits them all. And when it hits, it hits BIG.

Laura Ingraham (not only stupid, but tacky):

Nancy Pelosi basically did everything except sell her own body to get this bill passed. OK. [laughter] She did everything!

Ann Coulter:

If we're so cruel to minorities, why do they keep coming here? Why aren't they sneaking across the Mexican border to make their way to the Taliban?

Michele Bachmann:

I find it interesting that it was back in the 1970s that the swine flu broke out then under another Democrat president Jimmy Carter. And I'm not blaming this on President Obama, I just think it's an interesting coincidence.

And the always astute Eric Cantor:

When Violent People Come Out Of The Woodwork

2009-11-10T00:20:00.000-08:00

“If we’re going to ask why did he do it, knowing full well that he’s in the same mosque in 2001 with the radical preacher going nuts, we’re going to also [laughter] have to believe that the guy was just like Obama, and didn’t hear Rev. Wright’s words when he was in his church.”

-Rush Limbaugh on the shooting at Fort Hood

Inflammatory rhetoric is bad even in the best of times. But when let loose on the general populace during a time of religious and racial tension, it can be catastrophic.

From The Daily Beast

A year after President Obama's election, hate groups are feeling bolder than they have in over a decade, and their usually insular anger is beginning to spill into the public realm. This weekend, the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi organization, held rallies in Arizona and Minnesota. Those demonstrations came on the heels of similar actions in Southern California, where epithet-spewing white supremacists were forced to disband by rock-throwing counter-protesters.

So, who fuels the hate groups? Rush Limbaugh certainly. Glenn Beck definitely. Christofascists? No brainer. Yesterday, I mentioned the event to take place in Washington led by "Pastor" Gary Cass:

Right Wing Watch

The legislation explicitly protects religious freedom and freedom of speech, but "does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to commit, or committing an act of violence." So if they intend to preach that homosexuality is sinful, that is not much of a challenge, as that sort of speech is clearly protected.

But since they obviously intend for this protest to be a direct challenge to hate crimes protections, that really only leaves them one option: demanding death for gays.

Of course, there's "Rev." "Dr." James David Manning, whose tirades of late smack of outright treason. No matter that he has fewer people in his congregation than he can promote without embarrassment, but he's hoping that more than several of them pull the trigger on Obama. "If Obama lives, America dies." Yes, an outrageous and stupid statement for a pastor to make, then again, it's no less stupid than some of his "seminary" courses (the one on Aliens, I hear, is the most hysterical)

Our dear, dear conspiracy theorist, Pat Robertson, recently stated:

You know, there’s a law – what about a law that says it’s a federal crime to attack somebody because of his religious beliefs? Not a chance!

Robertson's senility is REALLY out of control:

“IN GENERAL.—Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person—

From The Rally For Religious Freedom:

A letter from Matt Staver of Liberty Council will be presented to Attorney General Eric Holder that expresses our concerns about the many unconstitutional aspects of the hate crime bill. Specific legal challenges also may be announced then.

Remember Mat Staver? He's the one who came up with a looooong list of fantasies about the Healthcare Bill.

And with what happened in Fort Hood, Muslims will become the "sinners du jour"
So what can we deduce from all of this? People who want to inflict harm on other people will be multiplying and gathering steam, like the villagers in Frankenstein, goaded by the likes of Manning, Robertson, Staver, Beck, Cass and Limbaugh. Gary Cass better make sure that not too many swastikas are photographed behind him when he calls for blood.

James David Manning's Sermons Are Growing More Violent By The Minute

2009-11-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

"Allah Ain't Akbar, But Jesus Is"

Listen/watch the rants of "Rev." James David Manning and you'll realize that the Matthew Shepard Act (hate crimes legislation) was passed none too soon. Watch his video and decide if this is intended to incite violence. I wish I could have posted it, but Manning and ATLAH have been banned from YouTube (I wonder why?)

Since my last article on Manning, I have attempted to contact Manning via email provided on his website. I have even subscribed to an email newsletter. To reiterate, I have asked him:

Please provide the following documents:

Certificate of Graduation from The New Rochelle College
Award Certificate for Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary
Letters from probation officers in the State of New York and the State of Florida stating dates of incarceration and the crimes for which both stays were meted out
Proof of employment from Proctor and Gamble
Proof of employment from Ford Motor Company
Passport with dated stamp showing entry into the United Kingdom for the year 2004

So in the comment box for this video I wrote:

These comments are astounding proof of Pastor Manning's influence. So many of them are filled with such hatred (most of which is unfounded) not only for Obama, but for humanity itself. The latest video practically tells everyone to go out and kill Muslims and as many as possible. For example:

November 8, 2009 at 2:38 pm

Right on, Dr. Manning! All Muslims should immediately be kicked out of the armed forces, especially the ones “in the rear with the gear,” like that fake psychiatrist who killed 13 at Ford Hood. And all GAYS should be kicked out too!*

What's with the "fake psychiatrist"?? Does this commentor have knowledge that no one else has? Nidal Malik Hasan was a licensed psychiatrist who dealt with some very serious issues in dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Sydrome of all the men stationed at Fort Hood:
Colorado Springs Gazette:

Hasan, it appears, was dealing with a number of stressful issues. For one, he counseled soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, one of the most challenging and emotionally draining tasks for a mental health care provider.

I posted a counter argument concerning the latest video:

Getting to the subject of "fake", however, I am now going to unleash a torrent of bad language, faulty reasoning, hatred, and all around foul feelings directed primarily at me. But here goes anyway: Has anyone actually checked the documents of "Rev." Manning? Just because he has that "Rev." in front of his name, because he's on cable TV, just because he says "God," "Bible" "Jesus" so many times does not mean he is who he claims to be. Oh yes, you've heard about his life of crime before and that he found Jesus while serving time. That shouldn't bother anyone. It is very commendable that he deals so honestly (up to a point) with his congregation. But the various biographies don't add up.

I then reiterated everything I stated in the previous article and added this:

Why am I being such a jerk about all this? Spirituality in any form is a wonderful, personal and deeply complex thing. Every being on earth has a right to it. Spirituality is an essence within us. (And yes, even atheists can be spiritual in their own way). There are, however, so many people to whom spirituality is too complex, too frightful (because they've been led to fear the unknown) they naturally turn to others for help. Ministers, preachers, priests, imams, rabbis, monks, holy men are supposed to help them. And some do. While some have their agenda for power.

One of the gravest sins a human being can perform is the sin of fraud to a community of believers. They have questions and concerns and he tells them that he has the answers - through God, of course.

I think "Rev." Manning may be a fraud. He certainly owes his congregation explanations as to why there are discrepancies in his biographies. If he is not a fraud, he will be perfectly willing to come up with the above documents. Enquiring minds want to know. Thank you. And God bless you.

Manning and his ATLAH are on Facebook and Twitter. The tweets he posts are a tribute to birther zealotry. ATLAH has been banned from YouTube.

Today is DAY 3 of challenging Manning. No response yet. Neither have I been shot at or struck by lightning.
We'll see.

* It seems this guy is an aficionado of haters because here was his response on Facebook:

Dr. Manning, you and Michael Savage are the two greatest living entities on the face of the Earth and should both be added to Mount Rushmore. When you and Savage are gone this country is doomed. Live long and prosper. God bless you and here's to hoping you have lots of security nearby to keep you safe and sound.

Pastor Gary Cass: Let's Get Together For A Good Ole Christian Hatefest!

2009-11-08T01:44:00.000-08:00

Cause Every Pastor Has The Right To Say
"Kill A Queer For Christ!"

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. – Matthew 15:19 (NIV)

Yes, as Jesus opined, murder comes from the heart. And we could say that hatred and hypocrisy also evolve from the heart, taking a horrible toll on innocent people. Foul deeds - like bashing gays - emanate from people with evil hearts and feeble minds.

Possibly the worst (and most idiotic) way to bash gays is to announce that you're going to intentionally incite people to...bash gays. Being stupid, however, never stopped Pastor Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission from taking his views to the streets.

From Pam's House Blend:

Cass and crew are headed to DC on November 16th to protest the Hate Crimes Act in front of the Department of Justice. Their tactic?

...The "Rally for Religious Freedom" in front of the Department of Justice in Washington is intended to force Attorney General Eric Holder either to address the issues or be put in a position of ignoring those who say they are violating the provisions of the federal law, Cass said. "We're basically going to defy the law, and challenge it," Cass told WND. "We're going to declare the whole counsel of God, including those parts that some may consider 'inciting a hate crime' to see if the attorney general is going to come down and arrest a group of peaceful clergy exercising their First Amendment rights

And if you think that's scary, here's what Cass had to say in promoting guns to be carried in church:

(Right Wing Watch)

Self-defense is not just a right, but a Christian duty. Jesus told his followers, “If you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Jesus did not send his disciples out unprotected into a hostile world. In a world filled with gun violence, Christians must be prepared to respond with appropriate force to defend their family, neighbors and themselves.

But Cass neglects the rest of the passage:

"Lord, here are two swords!"

"That is enough, Jesus replied."

Of course, if Pastor Cass is in any way like Pastor Rick Warren, he could quote another version to suit his ideology: "Enough of that!"

BTW, Luke 22 comes 12 verses after Mathew's and John's admonition: "Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword." Another instance of a pastor's intuition: people who don't really READ the Bible will prefer him to do the reading for them.

Kill A Queer For Christ is not new.

And if you think that Cass's form of evangelism is new in its violence, here's a TIME magazine article about the Anita Bryant fracas in Florida, 1977:

In the heat of the campaign, emotions have got out of hand. A gay worker was hospitalized after a beating; others have received crank calls. Urges a bumper sticker: KILL A QUEER FOR CHRIST. After receiving many telephone threats, Jack Campbell, a gay-rights leader, has installed guards around his house. Bryant has also hired security men because of phone warnings.

So, when Cass marches with his fellow "Religious Freedom Fighters", think of these words truncated from the bones of A Thanksgiving Prayer by William S. Burroughs:

Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify
until the bare lies shine through.
Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.
For decent church-goin' women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.
Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind the own business.
Thanks for a nation of finks.
Yes, thanks for all the memories--
all right let's see your arms!
You always were a headache
and you always were a bore.
Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of
the last and greatest of human dreams.

-William Burroughs

Actual results of KILL A QUEER FOR CHRIST on Facebook:

Load your shotgun !...I'd kill a queer for even less...f*ck fags god hates em and so do i...GOD HATES US ALL, deal with it...kill a queer for sport

And some people have been carrying that kind of hatred around for over 30 years.

Pray For Carrie Prejean!!

2009-11-05T00:33:00.000-08:00

I mean it! Pray for the girl!

Whether Carrie Prejean made a sex tape or not should not be public anti-Christian fodder. She did what she did, presented herself as a more virtuous woman, scored some publicity and even scored a book deal based on one slip of righteous arrogance.

BFD.

The problem with the Prejean story is that she was immediately lassoed by a bunch of stalwart Christofascists and made into a cause celebre that should never have been let loose in the first place. Once she was corralled, groomed and prepped for publicity, she was too dazzled by the attention to come clean about her past. Her book, Still Standing, is a monument to martyrdom which never mentions the video tape. It was obviously cobbled together post haste (who amongst us could write an autobiography while juggling appearances at conventions, and "summits," while giving radio, TV and print interviews?) and it's doubtful that she even read the final galleys for approval.

From the inside flap:

Here at last is Carrie’s own story—the full story—about what actually happened. In Still Standing, you’ll learn:
The behind-the-scenes truth of how and why Carrie’s own pageant directors joined forces with the vicious smear campaign against her
The intimidation that kept many of Carrie’s supporters quiet
How Donald Trump defended her—only to back down under pressure from the pageant directors
Why liberals target conservative women for special persecution
How political correctness is becoming a clear and present danger to free speech
Carrie Prejean endured the hellish nightmare that the liberal media can inflict on anyone who disagrees with their agenda, but her faith, courage, and conviction have made her a role model for how we can stare down the bullies of political correctness and reclaim our God-given rights to freedom of speech, thought, and conscience.

And the book most often requested with the advance purchase of Still Standing? You guessed it: Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. And since Carrie's book is (technically) not out until four days from today, well, let's just say that Amazon better start discounting it - and FAST! Wonder what Sarah Palin's response will be to the whole thing?

It was the AOL celebrity website TMZ that supplied the scandalous tape. It had been in possession of it for months, but...

From TMZ:

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let's just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We're told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist -- a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.

The Pageant originally asked for all book royalties as well, but they wouldn't have gotten much from a book that went immediately into the bargain book bin. So in the end of this pitiful saga, everybody loses: the Miss USA Pageant, Prejean and her publisher, the right wing Regnery Publishing. But the Christofascist wingnuts will come out unscathed (at least in their own minds) while Prejean's defenders (whoever is left) will rasp a weak cry of "vicious liberal media attacking a poor, vulnerable young woman who just wanted to be popular."

Some articles in the following weeks may tell us the impression of the public, but they may not point out the true villain of the piece: the Christian Right who coddled and prepped her, wooed and trained her. Prejean's saintly posturing was a fraud created by them. One wonders how she managed to say what she said to the Take Back America crowd with a straight face: "I knew that although I lost the crown, God had a bigger crown for me in heaven."

Somehow, Prejean's plight reminded me of the scheming but clueless Lena Lamont character portrayed so brilliantly by Jean Hagen in the movie, Singing In The Rain: think of Carrie Prejean as Lena Lamont and her diction coach as Phyllis Schlafly.

Sorry, Carrie, but you may not be Still Standing after this is all over. In fact, all that will be left: the laughter.

I'll pray for you.

Challenge To Birther, Obama Hater And Alleged "Reverend" James David Manning: Show Us YOUR Documents!

2009-11-04T00:20:00.000-08:00

Or At Least Tell Us Why You Think Al Sharpton And T.D. Jakes Are Witch Doctors

I was going to include this with a piece on right wingnut stupidity, but the subject is too serious: it reeks of mindless hatred hiding behind Scripture.

It also smells suspiciously of fraud.

A minister who preaches the reclamation of property and heritage to African Americans, while hiding behind Scripture and possibly bogus credentials could be considered lower than the President he bloviates about.

On Oct. 26, “Rev.” James David Manning delivered a speech posted on You Tube that was one of the most flagrant “kill Obama” harangues to come out of a “pulpit” since Barack Obama came on the political scene. “If Obama lives, America dies” has now hit the Internet with gale force winds while the MSM ignores it as just another right wingnut screaming rude and unintelligible rants. His interview on FOX's Hannity and Colmes in March of last year was so riddled with faulty reasoning that even Sean Hannity dismissed him as simply someone who had no tact (nor decency) when it came to attacking the would-be candidate and his family. (Watch the video below)

Manning's bio on his website reads, in part, like a wikipedia article. Word for word. With some deletions and additions both minor and major. A mistake on the part of the website's webmaster, but a major blunder on the part of Manning since the article begs questions and the ATLAH website gives conflicting material in other places.

And the wikipedia article is none too flattering:

Manning also holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from his own ATLAH Theological Seminary, an unaccredited educational institution.

The website deletes the words "his own". It should also have deleted "an unaccredited educational institution." In the eyes of most Americans, this means no institution at all. What if one of the "Seminary" graduates decides to apply for ministerial duties at another church: not a ghost of a chance - especially when you take a look at the courses.

So Manning gave himself his own Ph.D. and its probably worthless. Another faux pas: the ATLAH website states "Attended Oxford Round Table at St. Antony’s College in the University of Oxford ,16 August 2004" while the wikipedia article states "According to Manning, he attended the Oxford Round Table ..." Click on the link and you'll find the Oxford Round Table is NOT affiliated with the University of Oxford. It is a California-based company currently involved in litigation over misrepresentation. Additionally, it looks as if someone from ATLAH had a hand in the wikipedia article.

Manning's time in prison for armed robbery in two states (New York and Florida) also throws his bio off in several ways, but for some inexplicable reason, simple arithmetic elludes right wingnuts. If (as his own website parroting wikipedia says) he became a Christian while in prison "before his release in 1978" how could he have gotten his Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary while founding ATLAH in 1981? A Master of Divinity usually takes six years to complete.

BTW: Those six years include New Testament Greek, church history, canon law, Hebrew and Christian education - none of which "Rev." Manning seems to know anything about.

But the most egregious discrepency in the ATLAH website:

James David Manning is the energetic and visionary pastor of the ATLAH World Missionary Church located in ATLAH, New York. He has founded three schools and developed a national church ministry. He holds a PhD in philosophy, the author of The Oblation Hour book, a former Marketing Executive with Proctor and Gamble and the Ford Motor Company.

HUH?!

Apparently it's been a very difficult task for "Dr." Manning to keep his bios straight: his "official" bio on the website mentions nothing about being an executive for two Fortune 500 companies and neither does the wikipedia article! So, let's challenge the dear "Dr./Rev." for some documents just as he's been asking for the birth certificate of President Obama.

To "Rev." James David Manning:

Please provide the following documents:

Certificate of Graduation from The New Rochelle College
Award Certificate for Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary
Letters from probation officers in the State of New York and the State of Florida stating dates of incarceration and the crimes for which both stays were meted out
Proof of employment from Proctor and Gamble
Proof of employment from Ford Motor Company
Passport with dated stamp showing entry into the United Kingdom for the year 2004

You do NOT need to provide an award certificate for your alleged Ph.D. since we need to save paper. And even if you can't produce these documents, please clarify:

Why you think that Al Sharpton is a witchdoctor.
Why your studies courses are still available only on cassette (especially How To Become A Prophet)
Why a course on "Aliens" is included in your ATLAH Theological Seminary courses. (And by "aliens" do you mean illegal immigrants or the beings with super-large brains as in Mars Attacks!?)

To the earnest and worthwhile residents of Harlem: if you haven't already, please start delving into the "credentials" of this man and other "men of God" in your community. Words from Scripture coupled with words of abject hatred could be a clue that the man you trust isn't preaching on your behalf.

Resumes aren't always truthful. Neither are bogus "ministers."

Just a thought.

HEAL HITLER!

2009-11-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

The Christofascists Want In On Healthcare!

LA Times

Reporting from Washington - Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.

The measure would put Christian Science prayer treatments -- which substitute for or supplement medical treatments -- on the same footing as clinical medicine. While not mentioning the church by name, it would prohibit discrimination against "religious and spiritual healthcare."

Sometimes progressives are TOO openminded. Wanting to appease everyone, Senators John Kerry (D - MA) and (the late) Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) attached a small phrase to the healthcare reform bill that may become a BIG bone of contention and a BIG BOON to Benny Hinn.

OK, so Christian Science has not acted in Christofascist fashion in many years, but think of the opportunities for "healers" like Benny Hinn and even Pat Robertson.

Huh? Medical doctors and psychologists agree that a good spiritual attitude has a positive effect on one's health both physically and psychologically. At least that's what aggressive (and smart) religious leaders will say. Right Wingnuts should be coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of this loophole.

So if you touch your TV screen during The 700 Club to cure that brain tumor, don't be surprised if Pat Robertson finds out and sends the "medical" bill to Medicare!

Just imagine the number of "Healing Power of Prayer" centers that will crop up (attached, of course, to your less respectable local church).

All this is wild, hypothetical assumption, of course, but have Christofascists ever shied away from the outrageous? If you've got "pastors" famous for inciting racial tension, preaching that the President must die, and telling congregations that Halloween candy is cursed by demons...yes, anything's possible.

Ed. Note: The above theory is only a theory and slightly hyperbolic and satirical (sort of)

Kimberly Daniels: The Ghost Behind Robertson's Rant About Demonic Halloween Candy!

2009-10-31T01:15:00.000-07:00

Pat Robertson has given us a glimpse of his long-surmised senility: he said that Halloween candy was "prayed over" by witches! Of course, he did it on his website under the auspices of a guest writer: Kimberly Daniels.

The website has since taken down the article, but you can view it HERE. The following is an excerpt from the article. It falls into the category of "You can't make this sh*t up!":

During this period demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.

I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.

Like she knows any.

Unfortunately, this woman is scarier than most of the demons she warns against. Her website for KDMI (Kimberly Daniels Ministries International) is filled with militarism like you wouldn 't believe. And she's very vocal about her dislike for Barack Obama:

He claims to be a Christian, but in his book The Audacity of Hope he calls the first chapter of Romans an "obscure" passage of Scripture. God's admonition about the sin of homosexuality is hardly obscure. It is very clear!

Jesus is the only way to God, and God will surely send homosexuals to hell if they do not turn from their ways and accept Christ—just as He will do for all other sinners who do not trust Jesus.

So, for trying to achieve equal right for gays and lesbians, Obama is not "Christian." Kimberly Daniels, on the other hand, considers herself VERY Christian albeit VERY homophobic.

She also hates CNN and The View (?!):

…We welcome homosexuals, devil worshippers, New Agers, those who believe in the ministry of inclusion and any other beliefs or religions to the war. Room. Just know where you are going…into the midst of a community of believers that are radical of Jesus Christ. We welcome your comments and concerns but please know that if they do not line up…we will tear them down! Just as antichrist spirits rule in their arenas with programs such as the View and CNN News, we will rule in the dominion Christ has called us to reign in. People calls these news liberal…we call them antichrist.

So Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Anderson Cooper are anti-Christs? Oh, and don't forget Shirley MacLaine. Of course, Robertson is proud of her!

Again, this one is very scary. She's right about the pitfalls of Halloween candy, though. Would you want any of your kids trick or treating at HER house?

That Was The Week That Was: A Warren-Uganda-Guam-Palin-Bennny Kind Of Week

2009-10-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

Playing Catch-up Is Confusing!

If you're like me, you get frustrated when there's just so much going on that you can't absorb it all. Last week was like that:

Rick Warren condones executing gays -- Uganda's death penalty for gays with HIV -- Ratzinger wants the British monarchy's money -- Guam's archbishop thinks that Iran has the right solution for homosexuality (hanging) -- and -- Palin goes crony before she goes ballistic about polar bears!

The thing about the five topics is that four of them are connected like ideological cars of a train, except for Palin who "goes rogue" and, as a caboose, typically derails.

Rick Warren, he of the Purpose-Driven-Publicity-Seeking-I-Really-Love-Everyone-Life, is (hopefully) having a pang of conscience over Uganda. In Dec. 2008:

Americablog.com

A Kampala newspaper report on Warren's support of the Lambeth boycott included this paragraph:

Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. "We shall not tolerate this aspect at all," Dr Warren said.

So far, the erstwhile Pastor of Saddleback Church has made no comment about the legislative proposal in Ugnada. He may never make one.

Back in Uganda: the committee is still out about the forementioned legislation:

The bill is aimed at increasing and expanding penalties for 'homosexual acts' and for all institutions (including NGOs, donors and private companies) who defend the rights of people who engage in sexual relations with people of the same gender. The bill also calls for Uganda to withdraw from all international treaties and conventions which support the rights of lesbians, gays and bisexuals, introduces extradition arrangements for Ugandan citizens who perform 'homosexual acts' abroad, and includes legal penalties for people who fail to report alleged homosexual acts or individuals and institutions that promote homosexuality or same-sex marriage to the authorities.

The death penalty is mandated for HIV-positive people who engage in sex with people of the same gender. The tabling of the bill has been accompanied by threats against any Ugandan media organisation that allows LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Ugandans to air their views or publish press statements.

In other words: they believe in gay genocide.

Now if you think that someone as learned and wise as the pope would never be connected to Uganda, well guess again. The pontiff has made a oddly cryptic move to invite disenchanted Anglicans to seek shelter under the wings of the Catholic Church. He'll even let married priests stay married! So how does that work? Never mind. The big question is: why? Is it an historic outreach from Catholic to Protestant? Is the pope getting senile?

Maybe - just maybe - it's the money. There are over 70 million Anglicans in the world and the British Anglicans have the most power. They also control most of the assets which are, in part, ladled out by the monarchy since Queen Elizabeth II is the titular head of the Church of England. Maybe the pope's bucking for a lordship or two.

Trying to emulate the pope, Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of Guam came out with the most shocking "pastoral letter" the other day and basically condoned Iran and Iraq's execution of gays since it was necessary to save Western Civilization from "imploding' (one of his favorite words). Guam has had an identity crisis for the last hundred years and now has a new image: homophobic center of the Pacific Islanders.

And finally: the week wouldn't have been complete if Sarah Palin wouldn't crop up with not one but two instances involving her persona: 1. she created another PAC:

Sarah Palin fans can expect to see a new Palin political organization surface as her memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” hits the shelves next month. “There will be an announcement about it coming up,” Palin associate Tim Crawford said Wednesday.

Oh joy! More Sarah Palin! When she goes on the talk show circuit, perhaps she'll tell us why she hates polar bears so much!

Yep, it was an incredible week. I can't wait for another one to top it!

Ratzinger Smells Money AND He Wants To Be Queen!

2009-10-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

He also wants to get a ride on Uganda's anti-homosexuality bandwagon -
(courtesy of Rick Warren)

So now Pope Benedict XVI wants to welcome disgruntled Anglicans into the Roman Catholic fold. Why? Is it a blatant act of bigotry? Or does he simply want to act the part of a Samaritan to arch conservatives?

Neither.

It's money.

And the British Monarchy

Let's conjecture here: could Benedict be taking his cues from the one and only Rick Warren? It's possible:

Minority groups in Western provinces have stated their opposition to what they consider unscriptural actions by the Churches of England, Canada, Australia, and the ECUSA, and in the United States, some (such as the Anglican Mission in the Americas and the Convocation of Anglicans in North America) have withdrawn their affiliation with the ECUSA and realigned themselves with African provinces such as the Churches of Uganda and Rwanda.

Since Rick Warren has Uganda snuggled nestled in his back pocket (let's just hope he doesn't sit down!), Benedict might have seen the efficacy of letting the Anglicans enter the Church of Rome through the back door while allowing Anglican priests to keep their wives. Although Uganda's clerics have a slightly more paranoid fear of homosexuals:

On July 9, 2008, The New Vision Newspaper reported that Archbishop Orombi had addressed the West Ankole diocese alleging a threatening atmosphere or conspiracy by homosexuals to cause him harm, saying, "Nowadays, I don’t wear my collar when I am in countries which have supporters of homosexuals. I am forced to dress like a civilian because those people are dangerous. They can harm anybody who is against them. Some of them are killers. They want to close the mouth of anybody who is against them."

Warren. Orombi. Benedict. Looks like Uganda's gays don't have a chance of survival against Christofascists. The closets of Uganda will be overflowing.

Chewing Guam: How An Archbishop Terrorizes The Gay Community - Then Spits Out An Apology!

2009-10-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

Poor Guam. During most of WWII, it was brutally occupied by the Japanese. After WWII it was derisively called "The parking lot of the Pacific. It's natural beauty has been glossed over in favor of jokes like "chewing Guam." It's a frustrated piece of America's tiny strongholds in the Pacific. It is the furthest American outpost (6500 miles from the west coast). It has no voting power in the U.S. legislature. It has only 175,000 people. And it's GDP is based on tourism.

Now it's only slightly more notable because its Roman Catholic Archbishop, Anthony Sablan Apuron, wrote a "pastoral letter" to the Catholics of Guam telling them that Western Civilization was going to crumble because of gay marriage and that if Bill 185 passed (accepting all civil unions equally, but not defining marriage as between a man and a woman) Guam would be steeped in debauchery and crime in no time. It's the type of letter cobbled together with faulty reasoning that you expect a Christofascist to write. In fact, it's almost text book Christofascist.

But this passage rankled:

"Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice."

Read the entire annotated text HERE in another post.

Within 24 hours, the letter created a firestorm of reactions from as far away as New York and Washington to Andrew Sullivan's column. The archbishop cobbled together one of the most amazingly disingenuous responses every written:

"I (want) to make it clear that persons with same-sex attraction were not the target of my pastoral letter, nor was it meant to condemn anyone in any way. If I have hurt anyone, please forgive me."

That requires a response of a large, no, MASSIVE WTF!!??

The letter is such a damning polemic against to homosexuality that anyone taking it seriously would be prompted to bash or kill the first gay they see (or think they see) so that they could get rid of something impeding God's plan for the human race.

From The Sheffield Forum (UK)

It's also rather telling that whilst he might step back from endorsing suicide bombing as a means of furthering the Vatican's dark age social agenda he doesn't distance himself from Fundamentalists executing homosexuals.

I can see this putting those on the board of the far right persuasion in something of a quandary as whilst this guy might be speaking with admiration of Islamic Fundamentalists on the other he really really hates gays...

And from the blog StarDestroyer.net:

The archbishop of Guam has a major case of fatwa envy.

This man should be called out, replaced, and suffer the consequences of a disgraced prelate. But Pope Benedict will probably show support in a less public way: beckon him to Rome and have him assume a Vatican post. The irony in that will be that Benedict will act in a way to a homophibic Archbishop the way his dioceses have dealt with pedophile priests: smile and sweep them under the rug by shipping them off to another diocese.

Just a thought.

Sarah Palin Hates Polar Bears - Again!

2009-10-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

Attention! Polar Bears!

Former Alaska Governor and would-be vice-president/president/whatever Sarah Palin is coming after you in a big way! This isn't the first time, of course, because she even told George W. Bush to shove you off of the endangered species list. And even though your habitat is 93% ice floe way off the shores of Alaska, she's going to argue that you're not living on melting ice floes! And while she's plugging her new book on Rush Limbaugh, and every FOX news program, she'll be telling people that you're really not cute and cuddly, that you're vicious beasts, but that your meat tastes better than regular bear meat because you're white!

Probably one of the biggest slaps-in-the face the current administration has given to Sarah Palin:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development, but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity.

However, if the polar bear became extinct...

Sarah Palin and her associate, Gov. Sean Parnell have said that the Endangered Species Act was "...being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast." And Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

So, we'll be seeing a LOT more of Sarah Palin as she sidles next to the cover of her book as well as photo of a vicious lone polar bear eating as cute baby seal while standing on the shores of Juneau.

Genocide Looming In Uganda! Whither Warren?

2009-10-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

It's Time For SUPERCHRISTIAN To The Rescue!
(Don't Bet On It)

Like the earlier draft, the current bill reiterates a lifetime imprisonment on conviction of homosexuality, and defines a new category called “aggravated homosexuality” with provisions for the death penalty upon conviction. Among the factors which can lead to “aggravated homosexuality” is if one partner is HIV-positive. This bill would mandate HIV testing to determine eligibility for “aggravated homosexuality.”

From Truth Wins Out - Wayne Besen:

Uganda already punished gay intimacy with life in prison. But, apparently that was not harsh enough, with this bill penalizing anyone who “attempts to commit the offence” with up to seven years in jail. Additionally, a person charged will be forced to undergo an invasive medical examination to determine their HIV status. If the detainees are found to be HIV+, they may be executed.

My mistrust of Rick Warren runs deep: he has been purposely vague about his connections with the gay community and AIDS groups. He brags about his work with AIDS in Africa in rather vague terms. His last speech to Muslims was a rambling catastrophe meant to show how wonderful his Purpose Driven nations and P.E.A.C.E. plan are and how much he "loves" Muslims as brothers. You can also read about the communication between myself and Kay Warren's right hand, Elizabeth Styffe. That communication led to questions that have never been answered, like which faith-based AIDS organizations does Saddleback Church operate in the U.S. that include gays and lesbians?

Warren is definitely a shady character protecting himself with a barrier of Purpose-Driven flunkies who can't be bothered to use spell-check for their press releases. Even the people of his own Saddleback Church can't touch him. He also uses up to five different versions of the Bible to make a point, hoping that no one will notice the change in language, tone, or style.

OK, I'll stop the rant. But one last question: with Uganda in his back pocket, why doesn't he come forth and tell President Museveni and Christian leader Rev. Ssempe that criminalizing homosexuality to the point of extinction is wrong? And why doesn't he stand up to the likes of Exodus International and The Family? Although Wayne Besen is referring to Museveni, the same could be said about Warren:

Let the record show that their “key man” controlled Uganda when a religious terror campaign was waged against an innocent minority – and these good Christians stood by and did not lift a finger to stop the horror.

The now infamous anti-gay Kampala conference hosted by Uganda is a study in horrenduous hatred and homophobia. Rick Warren, at the time, was elsewhere, but his influence showed: his insistance on "abstinence only" programs has become systemic as well as toxic. Go to yesterday's Box Turtle Bulletin to find out about the serious threat of a gay genocide.

"Did not lift a finger to stop the horror."

Deja vu.

These same "Christians" stood by in the 80s and 90s and watched AIDS ravage hundreds of thousands of gays. Warren is (officially) a Southern Baptist and Saddleback is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC has never supported a faith-based AIDS related entity. It DOES support many such agencies in Africa where heterosexual people are suffering on a scale much larger than the LGBT community. Southern Baptists along with Rick Warren are hoping to "wipe out" homosexuality by criminalizing it and making gays the target of the most vicious homophobic attacks the world has ever seen.

Rick Warren, are you reading this? I hope so.

Truly Scary, Part I: Through A Halloween Hell House - Via Child Abuse, Forced Conversion, Sarah Palin, ObamaCare And Religious Intolerance.

2009-10-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

Each short skit at a Hell House is equal to a mini snuff movie.

- Secular Parent Magazine

Those of us who hail from the Stone Age (aka The Fabulous Fifties) remember Halloween as a time of fun (but serious) costumes and as much candy as you could puke.

It was fun until someone put a razor blade in some poor kid's apple. After that, there was nothing left for Halloween to become but religiously political (or vice versa).

And that's when the concept of Hell Houses began. I've written about them before - those places that try to bring fear to minds and souls via religious bigotry. A bigotry that is actually franchised by one Keenan Roberts, an Assemblies of God pastor in Colorado who originally hailed from Roswell, New Mexico (yes, THAT Roswell, of alien sightings fame and legend). BTW: the Assemblies of God Church in Wasilla, AK is the church where Sarah Palin was prayed upon by witch hunter Thomas Muthee.

OMG! Roberts - Assemblies of God - Roswell - Sarah Palin - Thomas Muthee - witches - Halloween! Okay, that's the totally disjointed reasoning of a Hell House producer, which, by the way, number in the thousands across the country. Last year's sale of Hell House kits topped 3000.

The best article written to date on Hell Houses is one by a OpEdNews writer, Theresa "Darklady" Reed and aptly titled

Halloween "Hell Houses" Act Out Depraved Christian Wet Dreams

According to ReligiousTolerance.org, a typical Hell House experience includes graphic and factually inaccurate re-enactments of such things as the murder of Columbine High School student Cassie Bernall's by a fellow student who allegedly killed her for her faith. Joining this scene are those depicting innocents being sacrificed by Wiccans during Satanic rituals, demon possession brought on by exploring the occult, witches forcing teens to commit murder, and drunk drivers slaughtering their passengers. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 have provided modern Hell House organizers with new scenarios to present, as well.

Shouldn't Hell Houses be known more commonly as Hate Houses? Are they effective in promoting hatred? After you read this post, check out the next installment on this series.

From ReligiousTolerance.org:

The Rev. Ballard's "Hell House" in Warren County OH was criticized by Doreen Cudnik, executive director of Stonewall Cincinnati. She said that the display "is out of touch with AIDS in the year 2000. To say gay equals AIDS equals burning in hell has the dangerous potential to lead to hate crimes against the gay community."
A Christian radio station in Fairfield, OH terminated ads which promoted Kings Point Church of God's Hell House because the ads invited listeners to "come see the funeral of a homosexual AIDS patient." The Cincinnati Enquirer said that the ads were "blatant gay bashing."

As with anything extreme, Hell Houses open themselves for over-the-top parody. The internet's Landover Baptitst Church has been lampooning Hell Houses for years (they never actually have a Hell House, but describe their's on the website. Last year's Landover Baptist Hell House proffered

"Real Corpses from Turkey's Earthquake that would have been wasted in mass graves, will (sic) frozen and delivered to Landover Baptist Church, to be used in the Godly purpose of winning souls!

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theresa-darklady-reed/halloween-hell-houses-act_b_139825.html

This year, however, Landover Baptist goes straight to the jugular of Christofascists by presenting not a Hell HOUSE, but an Obama Care Hell HOSPITAL!

Visitors will line up and be seated inside Hell Hospital's filthy waiting room, which is the size of nearly two football fields. "This is REAL TERROR," says Pastor. "Visitors will wait for hours -- sometimes days! -- just like they'll wait in one of Obama's hospitals just to get a used Band-Aid. Lead paint will be peeling off the walls, cathode ray televisions will be spooling hours of PBS specials on the Obama family's clothing and eating habits, all while hundreds of Baptist University students painted to look like Mexicans wearing little pink ears and snouts mingle with the crowd, dancing around sombreros and coughing into the faces of white children, passing on swine flu and Chlamydia," Pastor continued. "It is a real rip-roaring production!"

And...

The large community pool previously used to clean retards and now posing as a mandatory water abortion clinic will also double as baptismal pool.

A signed medical waiver is supposedly required before entering the Landover Baptist Hell House, which, among other things, hopes to bring salvation to "teenagers influenced by the poison of negro music."

This is not only satire, but BRILLIANT satire because it skewers Christofascists and politics at the same time.

Of course, no one could deliver sharp objections to Hell Houses like atheist Richard Dawkins. The video below demonstrates that Pastor Keenan Roberts can't really answer most of the questions with anything else but "That's what I believe." Roberts comes off as the typically unyeilding preacher who (secretly) revels in producing such gruesome scenes.

Perhaps Hell Houses really do act out the dark side of the Christofascist psyche. Then again, if there is another side other than the dark one, we've never seen it.

Just a thought.

Truly Scary, Part II: Religious Violence Predicted

2009-10-15T09:50:00.003-07:00

When a blogger like me warns of Christofascist violence, people think I'm just a leftist crackpot. However, when a former VIP (and son of a founder) to Christofascists warns people...

From The Raw Story:

"The bestselling status of the Left Behind novels proves that, not unlike Islamist terrorists who behead their enemies, many evangelical/fundamentalist readers relish the prospect of God doing lots of messy killing for them as they watch in comfort from on high," he added. "They want revenge on all people not like them -- forever."

"The scary thing is that there are a number of pastors on record as saying they are praying for the President’s death. Can you imagine what some gun-toting paranoid who hears that in a sermon is thinking and might do? And to them the fact that 'the world' likes this black man is reason enough to hate him. You wait. The reaction to Obama winning the Nobel Prize will be entirely negative from the far Religious Right. 'See the world, all those socialists like him that just proves he’s a -- fill in the blank -- communist, secret Muslim, the Antichrist, whatever.'"

Frank Schaeffer was the son of Francis Schaeffer, one of THE men who helped shape The Moral Majority and The Christian Coalition. Thanks to Francis (and Frank, to a certain extent) we've got people like Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Rick Warren, Ralph Reed, Ken Copeland, James Hagee and Rod Parsley trying to gain the political upper hand in America. The title of Frank Schaeffer's first book says quite a lot:

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back

On Obama's controversial Chicago Pastor:

"[W]hen my late father -- Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer -- denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr."

To Senator McCain during the '08 Presidential race:

"If you do not stand up for all that is good in America and declare that Senator Obama is a patriot, fit for office, and denounce your hate-filled supporters ... history will hold you responsible for all that follows."

Violence is almost never attributed to the church. Christendom has never had to atone for the (approximately) 140,000,000 deaths committed by "Good Christians." It was, in fact, Mark Twain who pointed out that "Christians are the most efficient killers in the history of the world. (The Mysterious Stranger.)" In microcosm: it has never atoned for the miserable lives it took advantage of in the Magdalene Laundries* nor the children kept as science experiments in the Canadian orphanages (now termed The Duplessis Orphans).*

Yes, the Duplessis example was a more direct in its intolerance for life. Frank Schaffer gives us indirect, cause and effect violence. So what would be worse: if a minister told his flock that there were "evil doers out there" who should be punished and one (or several) person went out and shot someone, or if a minister takes it upon himself to shoot people "in the name of God"?

Three years ago, in the wake of Katrina, I wrote a piece called "God's Ambulence Chasers." It dealt with people like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who seemed to relish disasters and plagues so that they could rain Bibles down on people. And indeed, with these disasters Christofascists get two benefits: a) they can point out their enemies as the cause and b) they can take advantage of a dire situation to proselytize to huge captive audiences consisting of the most desperate people imaginable.

Guns, bigotry, manipulation, rhetoric, proselytizing, paranoia, revenge.

There are all sorts of ways to kill people and the Christofascist Right knows them all. They are armed and dangerous.

*The Magdalene Laundries
*The Duplessis Orphans

Both of the above institutions were among the world's worst child abuse cases involving tens of thousands of children and young adults. Both were built by the Catholic Church to shelter or "reform" children.

Truly Scary, Part III: Leviticus and Sad Puppy Dog Eyes

2009-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

When You Use The Bible As A Weapon - Someone's Gonna Get Hurt,
And It Won't Be The Pulpit Pimp!

Michael Jones, GayRights.change.org:

Last weekend, two men beat up Jack Price in his neighborhood of Queens, NY. They crushed his lungs, broke his ribs and his jaw and lacerated his spleen. After he was rushed to the hospital, he was put into a medically induced coma in order to treat him. Jack Price is gay.

So, BFD. Happens all the time. But this time was made different by his assailants' adherence to the Bible's Book Of Leviticus. It was a hate crime spurred on by the admonitions of "The Good Book." In an interview at the scene:

"I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either. I mean things happen," said Marcel Gelmi, a friend of one of the attackers. "I've been beat up like that too, but you don't see me on the news and my family crying and this and that. Wounds heal."

After that statement, Glemi showed the reporters the tattoo he had on his arm:
"Leviticus. You should not lay with a man as one does with a woman. It's an abomination."

A tattoo. Not of a flag, not of a snake, not of any emblem, but a specific passage from scripture enlisted by homophobes everywhere. So how extreme in your homophobia do you have to be to wear it proudly on your arm? Are there Christfascist gangs out there?

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown summed up this beating pretty damn well: "This is probably the most vicious and brutal incident that I've seen, captured as it was on videotape."

Truly Scary, Part IV: When Christofascists Turn On Themselves

2009-10-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

It's A Study In Mind-Boggling Bigotry And Idiocy!

Most of my readers know how I feel about book burning. The first massive, intentional book burning occurred in 391 at the Great Library of Alexandria (housed in The Serapeum - a former temple) when close to 400,000 scrolls went up in flames. The Christian Emperor Theodocius decreed that all pagan temples were to be destroyed and possession of pagan literature a criminal offense. Ceasing upon this decree, a mob burned The Serapeum and the books/scrolls in it. Later, owning anything considered "heretical" was also made a criminal offense. One speculation about why the Gnostic Gospels were hidden in a large jar stationed in a remote cave was that the nearby monastery knew that it was illegal to possess of such material and instead of burning the books, chose to hide them.

Some old habits, however, die hard: we've seen and heard of book burnings within the last century. The most famous book burning took place in Nazi Germany where thousands of books were consigned to flames. The latest one, however, is notable for its truly audacious stupidity:

Right Wing Watch

Celebrate Halloween With A Good Old Fashioned Book Burning

Submitted by Kyle on October 14, 2009 - 2:45pm

Via Raw Story we see that the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina church will be "hosting a 'Halloween book burning' to purge the area of 'Satan's' works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music."

What is especially exciting about this particular book burning is the list of authors who will see their books being burned includes Rick Warren, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye, Chuck Colson, Mother Teresa, and even The Pope:

Come to our Halloween book burning. We are burning Satan's bibles like the NIV, RSV, NKJV, TLB, NASB, NEV, NRSV, ASV, NWT, Good News for Modern Man, The Evidence Bible, The Message Bible, The Green Bible, ect. These are perversions of God's Word the King James Bible.

We will also be burning Satan's music such as country , rap , rock , pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel , contempory [sic] Christian , jazz, soul, oldies but goldies, etc.

We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Westcott & Hort , Bruce Metzger, Billy Graham , Rick Warren , Bill Hybels , John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll , John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham , Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn , Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa , The Pope , Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning, William Young, etc.

The video below is almost cartoonish in the presentation of the church pastor, bib overhauls and all, and the news station gets in a jibe with the "14 members but growing" statement. (Think of it - if, in one year they grow to 28 members they'll be able to say that they have had a growth rate of 100%). But make no mistake about it: these people are serious in their inanity.

And serious in their hatred. After all of the derogatory coverage, you have to wonder, is there anything besides the KJV Bible the good pastor doesn't hate? Does he know what kind of impression he's giving to the camera, to the country, to the world? Does he know what a biblical scholar is?

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church Website statement of beliefs mirrors its abject ignorance.

Obama: Lost With Chicago, But Won With Oslo

2009-10-09T02:41:00.000-07:00

Now Come The Sneers And The Jeers

It's 6:00AM EST and the announcement has hit AP fifteen minutes ago: President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," [as well as his] outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation. (AP)

So guess who won't be able to stomach their breakfasts: Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, Perkins, Ingraham, Dobbs, Malkin and just about every other rightwing pundit.

Their laptops will also suffer from the furious typing (and the awful grammar) of their emails to friends, associates and Townhall.com. Won't it be fun to watch them cover the news with sour faces? Will they insult the Nobel committee as a group of dunderheads? Will they proffer the possibility of a "conspiracy?" Will they hint at some kind of political bribery? Or will they just dismiss the prize as a meaningless symbol of milquetoast diplomacy? After all, they rode on the winds of Bush's hardlined cowboy diplomacy: pre-emptive strikes, torture, and laughable last minute attempts at securing a "legacy." They saw history's greatest diplomatic dimwit act tough and folksy. He had diplomats putting their best foot forward - landing in cow patties in lustrous and sophisticated Crawford, Texas.

The rightwing pundits must say SOMETHING derogatory about this event. They're MANDATED to deride the President.

The sneering face of Greta Van Sustern will be frozen and placed atop the FOX News headlines for days, weeks maybe. Ann Coulter will be repeating the name "Hussein" until she has to have her jaw wired shut (again!). And Glenn Beck will make a bizarre connection from Alfred Nobel to Chairman Mao.

It's now 6:46 AM EST. I'm in San Francisco. I'm going to bed.

Let the circus begin begin without me. I've seen it before.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

Townhall.com and the Militia Movement: The Guns Are Free, But What About The Bullets?

2009-10-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Town Hall's Advertising Expertise

I've let this post simmer for about 48 hours because I wanted to gather more facts. I've read other articles before on "The Millionaire Patriot" Dr. Ignatius Piazza, but the above popped into my email and I decided to investigate it:

Can you believe this hypocrisy? Premiere Radio Network, makes a fortune off millions of listeners who believe the hosts they are listening to don't just "talk the talk" of conservative values but also "walk the walk" and yet when I place the word "Gun" in an ad with a proven track record of delivering over 3,000 courses and guns to responsible American citizens across this country, Premiere Radio Network refuses it!

That's incredible! Do Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck know about this blasphemy?

OK, so maybe the brouhaha has not been covered much by the MSM, but the fact remains that a gun training promotion was denied by a network that is a subsidiary of Clearchannel which has a close corporate "relationship" with Rupert Murdoch-owned FOX News. Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and practically every microphone-slinging, right-wing air wave pundit owe's his substantial income to Clearchannel. And what about those pundits who include "screeding?"* Townhall.com (Townhall Daily) carries the likes of Ann Coulter(geist), Michelle Malkin, John Stossel, Chuck Norris, and Bill O'Reilly (who was awarded the "Courageous Broadcaster of the year" award at the Values Voter Summit).

It's an irony (not lost by "Dr." Piazza, to be sure) that Premiere Radio Network seems to bite the hand that feeds it. Is it so afraid of a liberal backlash? I doubt it. It seems to be some mid-level executive's lame attempt to present Premiere as a peaceful, non-violent advertising venue. But the more interesting thing about this affair is how Townhall.com has handled it: relaying "Dr." Piazza's message through its email list of subscribers. Almost secretly: you'll have a hard time finding the rant in Townhall's Oct. 4th issue. Is Townhall afraid of backlash as well? I'm not so sure. Publishing right-wing writings is its bread and butter. Then again, becoming involved in a gun control law suit could be a bit prickly, even to Townhall's tough hide.

Firearms Training Institute is definitely "militia lite": training programs cost from $1200 to $50,000 (lifetime memnbership). Taking cost into consideration, the "gift" of a gun is more like finding the plastic toy inside a box of Cracker Jack. However, Piazza has stepped up his promotion by offering to train teachers and pupils where crimes with firearms have been perpetrated.

wikipedia:

In 2007, University of Utah lifted the ban on students carrying concealed weapons. In support of this, Piazza announced that a free 5-day course on carrying and using a concealed handgun would be offered to every student there.

Then there's Piazza's own persona: he's been allied with Scientology, has been sued more than several times and made undisclosed settlements.

Check out some recommendations of Front Sight Firearms Training Institute by teenagers HERE. They're about as silly as you can get.

One former Front Site customer:

"I was flipping through the channels one evening and happened to catch a news segment about a place out in Nevada that was offering a free one day Uzi submachine gun class. I thought that sounded like a lot of fun."

Q: After you've finished a course on shooting with an Uzi, how do you put your knowledge to good use? A: Move to Alaska and show Sarah Palin what you can do to a moose.

And, of course, the high priest of right wing net media, Joseph Farah, endorses Piazza's promotion:

*My own word for writing in a thoroughly biased and bombastic style. Sort of like "bloviating" for writers.