Student holds 'Body of Christ' hostage -- Catholics furious

With all the religious oddities in the world, we never run out of idiotic news stories to mock. I found this one by PZ Myers at Pharyngula about a student who smuggled (out of a church ) a small bread wafer that Catholics believe transforms into the literal body of Christ after saying some magical words and waving some incense around. While we find it rather amusing, Catholics are furious and even though the sacred cracker was returned, some are calling it a hate crime, and some have even made death threats to the student! As PZ says, IT’S A FRACKIN’ CRACKER!

PZ writes:

There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so goddamned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid. And nothing makes them stupider than religion.

Anti-Pope fashion parade in Australia

The Catholic folks in Australia are getting special treatment with laws made just for them against anyone causing “annoyance” to pilgrims attending Catholic World Youth day next week. These laws came just a day after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called on all Australians to show the Pope “respect” during his visit.

Protesters plan an “annoying” anti-pope fashion show which violates the new laws and “could attract a penalty of up to 5,500 dollars, prompting one designer last week to come up with a T-shirt reading “$5,500, a small price to pay for annoying Catholics.”

Anti-Pope fashion parade held ahead of Australian visit

“They are not from Milan,” acknowledged Rachel Evans, spokeswoman of the NoToPope group, as T-shirts featuring slogans such as “The Pope is wrong, put a condom on” were displayed outside the New South Wales state parliament.

Other shirts, which are selling for 20 dollars (19 US), read “Pope go homo”, “There is no God” and “Does the history of your church annoy you?”

Among the most graphic was one featuring Benedict XVI standing with arms outstretched but with pointed, red devil ears and a tail superimposed on the image under the slogan “Chief homophobe”.

NoToPope, a coalition including Christians, atheists and gay groups, was protesting at new regulations giving police power to stop conduct that “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants” in World Youth Day.

Link to full story

World Youth Day

Nothing changed

Noah's flood changed absolutely nothing. It's one of the most pointless stories in the Bible.

God needs lots and lots of money

"My financial records belong to God"

They preach the "Prosperity Doctrine" - that God can make you healthy and wealthy - and they live what they preach.

Every year America's best known TV evangelists bring in hundreds of millions of dollars from donors all over the world. But as BBC's Jonathan Beale reports, some of the evangelists' own lifestyles have begun to ring alarm bells and have prompted a Senate investigation into their activities.

Last fall, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, began probing the finances of six TV evangelists whose lifestyles include mansions, Rolls-Royces, and private jets, all paid for out of church funds. Grassley told BBC, "I would not contribute to an organization that is Christian and evangelical with money being wasted that way."

Four of the ministers have since complied with the probe, but Rev. Kenneth Copeland, whose congregation recently bought him a $20 million private jet to preach the gospel, is holding out against the inquiry, which he claims is "aimed at publicly questioning the religious beliefs of the targeted churches."

"It's not yours, it's God's, and you're not going to get it," Copeland says of his financial records. He has launched a website to publicize his crusade and has received support from several leading conservatives, including Paul Weyrich and Kenneth Blackwell.

This video is from BBC, broadcast July 2, 2008.

Time to replace "gimmicky" pledge?

Click on image to enlarge
Below is a letter to the editor from author Paul M. Howey published in the opinion page of our local newspaper this past week. Few know the story of how the Pledge of Allegiance came to be. The “Pledge” was written as an advertising ploy to sell flags, and was written by a “Baptist socialist”. Taking these things into consideration, and the fact that we may be the only nation to pledge allegiance to a flag, should the pledge be replaced or gotten rid of entirely?

Independence Day--a perfect time for some independent thinking. On this all-American day of apple pie, parades and fireworks, what better time to question why we pledge "allegiance" to a flag.

We say the Pledge of Allegiance a lot, mechanically mouthing the words without truly understanding them or their history. Are we deluding ourselves into believing this somehow renders us more patriotic?

At the risk of sounding like Cliff from "Cheers," here are some little-known facts, Norm.

Conservatives are up in arms about presidential candidates wearing flag pins. I'll bet precious few of them, however, are aware the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a left-winger, a socialist even, and that corporate profits were the sole motivating factor behind it.

Francis Bellamy penned the Pledge in 1892. Bellamy was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and an extreme nationalist whose sermons ("Jesus the Socialist," for one) eventually got him booted from the church.

He then landed a job with Youth's Companion, a magazine that also happened to be in the business of selling American flags. The magazine's owners decided they needed to boost flag sales. They came up with a marketing gimmick.

They engineered a deal with the National Education Association to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus landing in the New World. By agreement, all the schools in the country were to have flag ceremonies, and naturally they would all need to have flags. To cement the deal, they had Bellamy write the following pledge that youngsters all over the country would be required to say:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

"One nation indivisible" was a phrase Bellamy used to drive home the fact that states had no inherent right of secession. The Civil War was still fresh on the minds of Americans, and the Northerners wanted to be sure the Southerners understood the new rules.

Socialist that he was, Francis had wanted to include "equality for all" in his Pledge, but he knew the states' superintendents of education--who generally did not support equality for women or for African-Americans -- would object. That could hurt flag sales (the Pledge was, after all, just an advertising ploy meant to peddle more flags), and so he dropped the idea.

The last change to the Pledge came in 1954. In response to the "Red Scare" of the McCarthy era, the words "under God" were added, supposedly to show that we rejected the godless precepts of Communism. Otherwise patriotic atheists and agnostics were not consulted.

Sadly, the Pledge of Allegiance was but an ad campaign created to bolster a corporation's bottom line. Perhaps worse, it was worded to be politically expedient rather than politically correct.

We're about the only nation to "pledge allegiance" to a flag, and we do it without even understanding why we do so. Perhaps it's time to consider retiring this anachronistic practice, or at least finding a meaningful replacement.

Paul M. Howey is an author and photographer, and lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

"School of Life"

This video is titled "School of Life" but IMO should be titled "Lame Teachers who Do Nothing." This scene is too typical of what goes on in classrooms every day. Instead of doing something about the bully problem, teachers tell the ones who are being bullied and who want to learn to suck it up and accept the attitude, "oh well, that's life." I was hoping the boy would walk right out the doors and off to find the friend who wanted him to come along with him at the beginning of the film.

What is Patriotism to you?

Barack Obama and John McCain have shared their thoughts on patriotism:

* Barack Obama: Faith In One Another As Americans
* John McCain: Putting The Country First

Many liberals are labeled unpatriotic or told that we “hate America” because we are against the war in Iraq, or if we point out serious flaws in our government that need to be corrected. I thought this would be a good time to state just what patriotism means to each of us or what our vision of patriotism happens to be.

Happy 4th everyone!

World's happiest country is . . .

Certainly not us. . . we are 16th

Link: World's happiest country is Denmark

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Denmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, is the happiest country in the world, researchers said on Monday. imbabwe, torn by political and social strife, is the least happy, while the world's richest nation, the United States, ranks 16th.

Overall, the world is getting happier, according to the U.S. government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists.

It found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analyzed.

"I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, who directed the study.

And, said Ingelhart, there is a strong correlation between happiness and democracy.

"Denmark is the happiest country in the world in our ratings," Inglehart said in an audio statement released by the National Science Foundation, which paid for the analysis.

"Denmark is prosperous -- not the richest country in the world but it is prosperous."

Puerto Rico and Colombia also rank highly, along with Northern Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden.

"Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the United States looks pretty good," Inglehart said. "The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom."

The survey, first done in 1981, has kept to two simple questions:

"Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" And, "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"

Writing in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Ingelhart's team said they have surveyed 350,000 people.

"Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives," Inglehart said.

Expanding Bush's faith-based programs? Eeeghads!

This pisses me off. I thought we would see LESS of this crap in government if the Dems regain control, and NEVER expected to see more of this bullcrap from a liberal Democrat.

I am disappointed and disillusioned.

Link: Obama to expand Bush’s faith based programs

ZANESVILLE, Ohio - Reaching out to religious voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for expanding President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — supported some ability to hire and fire based on faith

I am a registered Independent, have been since I first registered more than three decades ago. This term, I am writing in my vote for someone.

I would LOVE to be able to vote for the Democratic candidate, but am not going to do so simply for the sake of the party…a party that has been so wishy-washy and wimpy and cannot even stand up to the Bush administration. I will not vote for McCain who is just as wishy-washy and flip-floppin' as Obama. Who the hell are these candidates? Really?

And voting for someone else is not throwing my vote away. I will be voting my conscience.

More marketing to Christians - Virtue® perfume

All this expense and effort to maintain God belief. It’s such a struggle.

When I have writer’s block I can always count on visiting some Xian blogs to find something to bizarre to write about eventually. I ran across this and read thoroughly to make sure that it wasn’t some kind of parody or spoof. Nope…it’s the real thing. You can order your own bottle right here at http://virtueperfume.com

“We created Virtue perfume as a tool to assist people to accelerate their identification with the still, silent part of ourselves, and to assist those who have trouble holding in their awareness, this conscious connection to the formlessness of BEing Still. When we say it’s to remind you of God, we mean it helps a person refer their attention in any given moment, to the ‘Stillness and Presence’ of what we call God”

Testimonials

“I recently received a bottle of Virtue® from a friend. It was given to me in the midst of an inspiring and prayerful conversation. Virtue® has become part of a morning ritual for me, as I get ready to start my day. When I use Virtue® I associate the scent with my peaceful morning prayers that I walk in Faith and know I am in God’s hands. Throughout the day, the scent reminds me of those prayers and helps sustain me.”

Sincerely, Jill M.

“The concept is such a good idea, and I look forward to gradually associating that smell with my ‘Spiritual State,’ so that each time I get a whiff of it during the day, I’ll instantly feel that refreshment and reverence.”

Stephanie S.

“I wear VIRTUE® because of what it symbolizes in purity of intention, thought and deed. It is a beautiful fragrance with a higher meaning that I believe most human beings aspire to.

I have given it to my loved ones and strangers who have asked “What is that beautiful fragrance you are wearing?” The 6 years of biblical research to birth this fragrance is not only fascinating, but also an opportunity to share testimony with others.

The best use so far has been spraying it in my home, my children’s room or on their pillow before they sleep. To all of my sisters in Christ I say: A mother’s heart is like a deep well that bursts forth in tears when her children are in pain, who prays endlessly for love to guide them to a righteous path and blesses the broken road because their journey will end in strength, faith and a victorious life.

Ultimately, it is my desire to be a pleasing fragrance to God and that is why I wear VIRTUE® and have shared my testimony.”

Joanne A.

What it all really comes down to is money and marketing. Virtue® perfume is not very affordably-priced. It’s $80.00 for 1.7 fl. oz. in a bottle with 24 KT Gold Raised Lettering!
$42.00 for Virtue® Body Lotion w/Pomegranate & Resurrection Plant. ($99.00 when you buy both together.) Why waste money on feeding the poor or helping the homeless when there always will be poor and homeless and you can spend the money on yourself so you can keep yourself brainwashed while you are away from the rest of the "flock".

(There are no Virtue® products for men that I could see.)

In the Center of the Trifid Nebula

Credit & Copyright: Daniel Lopez (Observatorio del Teide )

Explanation: Clouds of glowing gas mingle with dust lanes in the Trifid Nebula, a star forming region toward the constellation of Sagittarius. In the center, the three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear on the right, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, also known as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulae known. The nebula lies about 9,000 light years away and the part pictured here spans about 10 light years. This image was created with the 0.8-meter IAC80 telescope on the Canary Islands of Spain.

"By the power vested in me by the state of . . . "

In his recent post titled Marriage, American Style: Is It Past Time For Church And State To Get A Divorce?AU writer Joseph L Conn proposes that we apply separation of church and state principle to marriage.

Conn quotes Washington correspondent Rob Marus as saying:

“In all of America’s brouhaha over whether legalizing same-sex marriage will sully the institution’s sanctity,” Marus notes, “very few Christians are asking one important question: When – and why – did the government get into the sanctification business?

“When the preacher, at the end of a marriage ceremony, says, ‘By the power vested in me by the state of (fill-in-the-blank), I pronounce you husband and wife,’ is he or she acting as a minister of the gospel or a magistrate of the government – or both? How does that happen in a society with a First Amendment designed to guarantee functional separation between religion and government?”

In answer to that question, Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn argues that the relationship between religion, marriage and government is rooted in history but has become quite problematic today. Lynn, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, says he has to apply for a license and become an officer of the court in Virginia to serve as an officiant at marriages there.

Lynn said it probably would be a good idea to separate religious marriages from the civil marriages (or civil unions) recognized by the state.

But then those religious folks are still not happy because it would be taking their personal beliefs out of government. Seems some even would love to force others to abide by their own individual traditions and beliefs.

Anti-gay crusader Maggie Gallagher whines:

“I’m not especially in favor of it,” she told ABP.

“A real alternative would be for government to recognize and enforce religiously distinctive marriage contracts so long as they serve the government’s interest – say, permanent ones for Catholics,”

PERMANENT for Catholics? Eeeghads! What about other denominations’ beliefs about marriage and divorce? How would government accommodate them all? And what is this “so long as they serve the government’s interest”???

Gallagher continues:

“But what people who talk about ‘separating marriage and state’ really propose to do is simply to refuse to recognize religious marriage contracts at all. This is not neutrality; it is a powerful intervention by the government into the lives of religious people.”

In response to Gallagher’s proposal, Conn writes:

It sounds like Gallagher would make a bad situation worse. Is she really saying that the government should forbid Catholics to get a divorce in keeping with the tenets of her Catholic faith?

That just illustrates why America might want to consider moving in the other direction. Gallagher and her Religious Right cronies want American civil law to reflect religious doctrine. In a nation that respects freedom of conscience, it should not.

The whole issue of marriage wasn’t so complicated until gays stood up and demanded their right to same-sex marriage and the religious folks have a problem with that.

A person in a comment thread at another blog offers this to think about to make the point that marriage is a legal joining by the STATE. God and ones personal beliefs are in addition to that. Think about what is involved to end a marriage...legally . . .

to end one,
you have to go,
not to the church,
not to the minister for your money back,
but to the secular legal system,
churches have no role in the marriage of two individuals

Bill Maher's Religulous

I can't wait for this one to come out on October 3rd, 2008. Religulous is a documentary that is being directed by Larry Charles and stars Bill Maher. The word "religulous" (if you haven't guessed) is derived from the words religious and ridiculous implying the satirical nature of the documentary that is meant to mock the concept of religion and the problems it brings about. From Wikipedia:

Known for his stance against religion, Bill Maher's views on the various world religions are explored as he travels to numerous religious destinations, such as Jerusalem, the Vatican, and Salt Lake City, interviewing believers from a variety of backgrounds and groups, including Jews for Jesus, Muslims, polygamists, Satanists, Hasidic scholars and even Rael of the Raelian Movement. In the trailer and documentary Maher also interviews research neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, MD, (author of Why We Believe What We Believe) who brain-scans people at the University of Pennyslvania as they pray, meditate and speak in tongues. The documentary was produced by Thousand Words and is being distributed by Lionsgate. Originally slated for intentional release date coinciding with the religious Easter holiday 2008, post-production delays resulting from a screenwriters guild strike pushed the release date back to July 11, 2008. Release has now been pushed back to October 3, 2008.

Annoying and ever-present FLIP-FLOP

North Pole Could be Ice-Free This Summer

Arctic sea ice could break apart completely at the North Pole this year, allowing ships to sail over the normally frozen top of the world.

From LiveScience.com

The potential landmark thaw - the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free - is a stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web site of the The Independent, a London newspaper.

"Symbolically it is hugely important," said Mark Serreze of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. "There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water."

Last year, the fabled Northwest Passage opened as Arctic ice retreated more than ever before.

There is no land at the North Pole, but as long as anyone has looked, it has remained a giant block of ice year-round. Scientists have been watching Arctic sea ice melt more and more each year. But each summer in recent years, the amount of ice has gotten thinner and thinner. Each winter's freeze, therefore, results in a thinner pack that, this summer, could melt altogether.

"The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice," Serreze is quoted by The Independent. "I'd say it's even-odds whether the North Pole melts out."

Russia and other countries, meanwhile, have been arguing over who has rights to the region's resources, including potential oil reserves.

More oil to fight over...great.

Link to full story

AND

The melting Arctic

Mayor Daley outraged at court's ruling in handgun ban

Video link: Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Gun Rights

Link: Gun ban ruling has Chicago thinking it's next


Chicago Mayor Richard Daley reacts to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to lift a ban on handguns in Washington D.C. With youth killing other youths, children shooting themselves, people shooting each other in a violent rage, guns to use in muggings, robberies...this decision is appalling.

This Supreme Court ruling is just going to make it that much more difficult, if not nearly impossible to control violence in our big cities. Further debate is coming over the meaning and interpretation of our second amendment rights.

It's easy to vote for a ruling like this when you are sitting in your upper-class home full of security devices and alarms, protected by police who will come to your aid in an instant.

Handguns are meant for one thing...killing people.

Stupid fundie signs perpetuating ignorance

On the way home from work today, my husband saw a sign outside of a Baptist church that made him groan loudly as he was talking to me on his cell phone...it said

"Come see the magical world of science."


He is going to try to get a picture for me to post tomorrow.

What the fuck is this dumbass war on science and the inability for some god believers to reconcile their god beliefs and science???

More “faith-based” initiative crap

Another typical stunt pulled by the Bush administration, once again subverting the taxpayers’ money to religious groups who have no business getting any tax money to support their blatant prosyletization efforts. Bush and his regime is going to push this faith-based bullcrap agenda as one commenter put it right “down to the wire, to the very last day and hour of being in power.”

Juvenile Injustice: DOJ ‘Faith-Based’ Grants Were Steered To Bush Allies, Says ABC

Thanks to a strong push by the Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded part of a $1.2 million grant to an evangelical Christian organization, Victory Outreach, whose mission is to carry “the hope and message of Jesus Christ to the four corners of the earth,” ABC News has reported.

The other part of the $1.2 million was awarded to a consulting firm run by Lisa Trevino Cummins, who previously headed Hispanic outreach efforts for the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

According to ABC, “The grant was awarded over the strong objections of career DOJ staff who did not believe that Victory Outreach was qualified for the grant and that too great an amount of the funds was going to Cummins’ consulting company instead of being spent on services for children.”

In the end, the network reported, Victory Outreach rejected the grant because it was too large and the group did not believe it was qualified to carry it out.

A former DOJ official who spent 10 years awarding juvenile crime grants told ABC News earlier this month that “the agenda for children is not always a priority” in awarding the grants since J. Robert Flores took over as administrator of the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

ABC News reported that Flores has consistently ignored recommendations from DOJ staff, and instead has awarded grants to organizations that have “political, social or religious connections to the Bush administration.” He is now under investigation by the DOJ’s Inspector General.

There’s more:

The DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which exists to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization, is supposed to award grants to organizations performing services that will help meet this goal. It turns out it has become yet another chance for Bush to get his faith-based agenda some play.

In addition to Victory Outreach, $1.1 million went to an organization called “Best Friends,” which has a fundraising gala every year for a program that promotes teenage abstinence. “Best Friends” is run by the wife of former Republican Cabinet member William Bennett.

ABC News also reported that Flores turned down money to the program ranked highest in merit by DOJ staff because it provided sex education and condoms to at-risk teenagers in San Diego.

The report noted that in the six years Flores has been in charge, he has never approved grant money for programs that work with gay and lesbian teens, a group with a high risk for suicide.

But what Flores, and apparently Bush, believe will really help save the children is the half million dollars that went to the World Golf Foundation. Not shockingly, the group’s honorary chairman happens to be former president George H.W. Bush.

President Bush’s “faith-based” initiative has been a fiasco, and the examples now being reported are just the latest bits of evidence. The initiative has been riddled with partisan politics and favoritism toward political and religious cronies, and it has undercut civil rights and civil liberties.

Bush is reportedly scheduled to speak at a faith-based conference tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be great if he announced that the initiative has all been a horrible mistake and he’s shutting it down?

Shutting it down? Nice fantasy, but GW will never do that. Not in a million years. Hopefully the next president will do the job for him?

What is Hanny's Voorwerp?

Credit: Galaxy Zoo Project, ING

Explanation: What is that green thing? A volunteer sky enthusiast surfing through online Galaxy Zoo images has discovered something really strange. The mystery object is unusually green, not of any clear galaxy type, and situated below relatively normal looking spiral galaxy IC 2497. Dutch schoolteacher Hanny van Arkel, discovered the strange green "voorwerp" (Dutch for "object") last year. The Galaxy Zoo project encourages sky enthusiasts to browse through SDSS images and classify galaxy types. Now known popularly as Hanny's Voorwerp, subsequent observations have shown that the mysterious green blob has the same distance as neighboring galaxy IC 2497. Research is ongoing, but one leading hypothesis holds that Hanny's Voorwerp is a small galaxy that acts like a large reflection nebula, showing the reflected light of a bright quasar event that happened in the center of IC 2497 about 100,000 years ago. Pictured above, Hanny's Voorwerp was imaged recently by the 4.2-meter William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands by Matt Jarvis, Kevin Schawinski, and William Keel.

Dobson accuses Obama of `distorting’ Bible

Here they go again, those fundies making excuses when the reality of what the Bible (particularly the OT) says is brought up. Bible believers will say “it’s not what the Bible means”, or “that was meant for the people at the time it was written and times have changed” (except for those things they still choose to cling to that suits their own purposes and supports their own bigotry against other human beings, selfish imagined heavenly rewards, afterlife delusion, etc.).

(First, I want to make it clear before being accused of being a flip-flopper, I still retain my extreme skepticism of Obama and his promised "change" and that I feel those who consider him some sort of savior are going to be greatly disappointed. )

Obama makes nearly the same point we atheists have been making forever — Christians cherry-pick out of a book they most likely have never read. It will be interesting to hear what Obama has to say about Dobson's Focus on the Family broadcast criticizing him for "diminishing the idea that people of Christian faith have anything to say." That's just a bunch of bullcrap brought on my the Christian persecution complex kicking in after someone points out that their worldview isn't the only worldview. When fundies can't have it all their way, they start boo-hooing. Will Obama stand up to Dobson, or get all wishy-washy like most politicians do when doing anything to win an election?

James Dobson accuses Obama of `distorting’ Bible

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement’s biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution.

The criticism, to be aired Tuesday on Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program, comes shortly after an Obama aide suggested a meeting at the organization’s headquarters here, said Tom Minnery, senior vice president for government and public policy at Focus on the Family.

The conservative Christian group provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of the pre-taped radio segment, which runs 18 minutes and highlights excerpts of a speech Obama gave in June 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal. Obama mentions Dobson in the speech.

“Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?” Obama said. “Would we go with James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?” referring to the civil rights leader.

Dobson took aim at examples Obama cited in asking which Biblical passages should guide public policy — chapters like Leviticus, which Obama said suggests slavery is OK and eating shellfish is an abomination, or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”

“Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles,” Obama said.

Then typical responses we have heard all too often. Christians totally deny the book of Leviticus:

Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of wrongly equating Old Testament texts and dietary codes that no longer apply to Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament.

“I think he’s deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own worldview, his own confused theology,” Dobson said.

Umm, excuse me Mr. Dobson, but that is exactly what Christians do, picking and choosing and putting together a nice little interpretation for themselves according to what suits their own purposes. You’re theology, your Bible is what is confused and distorted, Mr Dobson! So much so that Christians cannot even agree amongst yourselves on what that “traditional understanding” is.

“… He is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.”

Which is exactly where your evil Bible belongs.

Americans more tolerant of other religions . . .

. . . as long as they involve some sort of afterlife delusion.

America remains a nation of believers, but a new survey finds most Americans don’t feel their religion is the only way to eternal life.

57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.

In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion.

“The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep,” said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion.

“There’s a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences,” he said.

Illustrates my point that they make their religion to whatever they want it to be.

The report argues that while relatively few people — 14 percent — cite religious beliefs as the main influence on their political thinking, religion still plays a powerful indirect role.

Which, in a country of mostly Xians makes this following report a bit worrisome:

Americans believe in miracles, heaven, power of prayer: report

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Around three-quarters of Americans believe in miracles, more Americans believe in heaven than in hell, and nearly six in 10 pray every day, a report based on a survey of 35,000 US adults showed Monday.

Of those who pray regularly, around a third — 31 percent — say God answers their prayers at least once a month, and one in five Americans said they receive direct answers to prayer requests at least once a week, the report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said.

Seventy-four percent of those surveyed for the report, called the US Religious Landscape Survey, said they believed in heaven as a place where people who have led good lives are rewarded, while only around six in 10 believed in hell, where unrepentant evil-doers languish in eternal punishment.

*snip*

Nearly eight in 10 American adults (79 percent) believe that miracles occur, the survey, conducted between May and August last year, showed.

But perhaps most striking in the report was the near unanimous belief in God, held by more than nine out of 10 Americans.

*snip*

“Six in 10 adults believe God is a person with whom people can have a relationship, but one in four, including about half of Jews and Hindus, see God as an impersonal force,” he said.

And this part below puzzles me. Who the fuck were they interviewing? From the answers, it couldn’t be any atheists I know. Could be that the ones doing the survey believe what they want to believe, they hear what they want to hear.

Oddly, one in five of those who identified themselves as atheists in the survey said they believe in God.

“It may very well be that they don’t really know what atheist means. It sounds good so they answered it; we call that measurement error,” Greene said.

“But this also shows us the complicated way that people think about their faith. Many people who identify as atheists may not be telling us they don’t believe in God, but that they don’t like organized religion,” he said.

“In addition to having atheists who say they believe in God, we have people who say they are very committed to a religious tradition but don’t believe in God,” he added.

Someone should inform these morons that atheist means NO BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE OF ANY GOD OR GODS. None, nada.