News of the religiously insane

Notice: This site is not designed for non-christians, It is designed as a recruitment tool to call certain Christians to spiritual warfare, If you are not a Christian and you want to know more about becoming a Christian consider the following Links as resources. While some of them support our efforts, and some may not, it is not about us and it is not about them. It is about Jesus Christ. From the Website of “Repent Amarillo”, a Christian Group that goes out armed with bullhorns and dressed in military fatigues to “persuade” swingers, homosexuals, Breast Cancer activists, Wiccans, Muslims, Buddhists, Unitarians, and “gay friendly churches” to convert.

via Pharyngula

As an unbeliever, I’ve always been intrigued by the notions some evangelical Christians have about how to convert people like me. This website is especially interesting because it reveals not just the bellicose (that is, violent) vision these people have about their mission, but a slightly uncomfortable awareness of how it’s likely to come across to the rest of us.

What they'd really rather we didn't see is just how firm is their conviction that physical intimidation is an acceptable approach to evangelizing their community.

Chris Matthews: Do you think we should outlaw gay behavior?

Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council: Well, uh, I think certainly…

Chris Matthews: The question is, should we outlaw gay behavior?

Peter Sprigg: I think the Supreme Court decision is Lawrence v Texas which overturned the sodomy laws in this country was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.

Chris Matthews: So we should outlaw gay behavior.

Peter Sprigg: Uh, yes.

It’s a pleasure to see someone in the media – at last! – asking the most obvious question. Too bad it wasn’t followed up with the next obvious question. I guess Matthews ran out of time.

The next obvious question, of course, is, what kind of penalties do these people envision homosexuals facing if homosexuality were to be, once again, criminalized?

Maybe something like this?

People like Peter Sprigg hate questions like that, because answering honestly would reveal the nastiness of their agenda. For years, they’ve been given a pass by a media content to politely unfocus its eyes and ignore the implications of equating gays to pedophiles, rapists, etc.

It's time to ask those questions. Actually it was time to ask to those questions twenty years ago.

what I actually suggested is that we impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse, since both pose the same kind of risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. I'd be curious to know what you think should be done with IV drug abusers, because whatever it is, I think the same response should be made to those who engage in homosexual behavior.

If you believe that what drug abusers need is to go into an effective detox program, then we should likewise put active homosexuals through an effective reparative therapy program. Renew America, Bryan Fischer 1/31/10

See, our own right wing religious fanatics don’t want to kill homosexuals.

They want to lock them up and brainwash them.

Of course, nobody familiar with the Religious Right is likely to be surprised by this. Equating homosexuality with pedophilia, drug addiction, insanity, etc. is the norm among members of the far right, Why would such a mindset not lead to treating homosexuals like drug addicts, or child molesters, or the mentally disabled? Arresting them. Locking them up. Submitting them to forced “reparative therapy.”

Yes, folks, here’s more of the right wing’s notion of “less government” – re-education camps for homosexuals.

(Thanx to Crooks and Liars.

Markings on the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, which is standard issue to U.S. special operations forces, include "JN8:12," a reference to John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,'" according to the King James version of the Bible…

"…This situation is not unlike the situation with U.S. currency," said the spokesman, Air Force Maj. John Redfield. "Are we going to stop using money because the bills have 'In God We Trust' on them? As long as the sights meet the combat needs of troops, they'll continue to be used." Washington Post 1/19/10

Actually, it is “unlike the situation with U.S. currency.” As an atheist, I am not a fan of “In God We Trust” being stamped on the money I handle, but at least it does not refer to a specific religion.

Forcing a Jewish American soldier to wield a gun inscribed with quotations from Jesus and Paul, on the other hand…

Bunny: I have taken my Christmas Tree down, I’ve taken my Christmas Wreath off my house, I’ve taken all the lights down, this is supposed to be a nation under God and it isn’t. They absolutely have ruined Christmas…

Reporter: Why are you so opposed to it, Bunny?

Bunny: Because it’s divisive between my son, who is younger, and myself… C-Span 12/24/09

First of all, let me just say that I was relieved to hear that “Bunny’s” son is younger than herself.

My question is “how much younger?” We’ve obviously got some gnarly emotional blackmail going on here, but the picture is incomplete without knowing whether Bunny’s son is a resigned/defiant adult/teen paying the price for disagreeing with Mom’s politics, or a psychically battered third grader, choking back tears and listening to Mommy snarl that it’s all Obama’s fault as she rips ornaments off the tree.

Obviously, I’d prefer to imagine the son as an adult rather than some poor kid now saddled with a Christmas memory he and his future therapist will never forget. She doesn’t sound especially elderly, but her son could be in his thirties. Maybe he lives several states away because, hey, he’s got a wife and children and a life of his own and it’s bad enough he had to go through that crap, no way his own kids will be exposed to it. Or (and this is the scenario I’ve settled on) he lives in the same town because the siblings got together, decided someone needed to keep an eye on her and as an unmarried schlub he drew the short straw. Whatever the situation, he made the mistake of mentioning in her hearing that he supports the healthcare bill, and boy, has she shown him!.

I picture him showing up first thing in the morning on Christmas Eve, a quiet, prematurely middle-aged man with thinning hair, sad eyes and rounded shoulders. The Christmas dinner he promised to attend doesn’t start until 5:30 pm, but, as usual, she wants him to do some work before the Larson’s arrive – the driveway really should be shoveled, and he wants to check the outlet in the kitchen, and she’ll probably send him out to get an ingredient she forgot. As he pulls his Tercel into the driveway he notices something, and that familiar sinking feeling settles in. The Christmas lights – the ones she insisted he put December 1st, are all gone, as is the wreath on the door. Christ, they were up yesterday. When did she do this? How did she do this? He can see one torn strand of the lights dangling from the roof gutter, as if she’d just yanked them down.

As he climbs out of his car, the front door opens and, yes, she’s got that expression on her face, the one he remembers from when he was in high school, the time he came home from Jimmy Burke’s the day before Thanksgiving in ‘93 to find the half frozen turkey squashed flat in the middle of the road. She was mad about Clinton being elected. Dad left not long after that.

“Happy now?” she asks, as he trudges through the snow towards the front door. She stands framed in the doorway, her graying hair slightly mussed, a parka around her shoulders and he notices that she’s in her boots and her pants look damp from the knees down. He stops at the foot of the front steps and looks up at her.

“What’s going on, Ma?”

“The bill passed the Senate. Happy now?”

For a moment they look at each other. He remembers something, and he turns slightly and looks over his shoulder towards the road. Yes, there’s a white mound at the edge of the lawn, he can make out a little tinsel under the snow that covers it, and now that he’s looking, he can see a sort of shallow trough in the snow, leading from where he’s standing to that shape near the road. It looks, he thinks dully, as though someone dragged a dead body out there.

He turns back to her. “Ma, the vote was at – Jesus Christ, are you telling me you were running around the house at that hour, dragging the lights off the roof, taking out the tree – it was snowing!”

“What does Christmas mean anymore? Nothing! Not with that bill passing. This is supposed to be a nation under God, and….”

“Stop it,” he says. “Just stop it.” Something inside him has shifted. He looks closely at her, notes how tired she seems to be. She’s shivering slightly, even as she pulls the parka more tightly around her shoulders. Funny. He’s not really angry at all. He thought when he reached this point he’d be angry, but he just feels tenderness towards her. “Go back inside, Ma,” he says. “Lie down.” I’ll shovel out the driveway and put a little salt down before I go. If there’s more snow today, I’ll come back so the Larson’s can get in.”

“The Larson’s aren’t coming. I called them and cancelled just after I saw the vote on C-Span.”

Well, that takes care of that twenty-five year old friendship.

Without a word, he turns back towards the car. She’s saying something now about genocide and hospices, but he isn’t listening. He’ll shovel out her driveway and front walk and steps and get the Hell out. The guys at the office said their invitation to the get together tonight at Pookie’s Bar would stay open if he changed his mind. They said Lisa from reception would be there too. Well, he’ll be there with his cell turned off. Better call Sis in Kansas City and give her a heads up that he’s not babysitting Mom tonight. She’ll understand once he explains.

His mother watches him, disappointed, as he opens his trunk to haul out the shovel. He doesn’t seem to care at all.

She goes back inside, suddenly feeling restless again. It won’t do any good to call Martha, because she always takes her brother’s side, and Bob and Meg and the kids are skiing in Taos. They won’t be picking up until tomorrow.

The TV is still on. C-Span is talking about the health bill –

To the telephone!

Mike Stark: …there’s legislation before their parliament that would criminalize homosexuality...um…it started out…the penalty was up to and including the death penalty. Do you think it’s appropriate to criminalize homosexual conduct anymore?

Senator Brownback: I can’t…I don’t know the specifics of the bill. I’ve learned you need to know…

Mike Stark: Well, just in general terms…

Senator Brownback: I’m not going to comment on that aspect. From starkreports.com 12/12/09

“It says here where he shot a five-year-old boy right through the neck. Bullet went in one side and out the other. I think that’s terrible, don’t you?”

Well, I didn’t know the gunman. For all I know he might have had a pretty good reason to do what he did… From “Don’s Story,” by David Sedaris

After being contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, Senator Sam Brownback's office declared, through his chief of staff that, "He [Brownback] clearly doesn't condone the death penalty or criminalization for LGBT people.”

“Clearly?” No. See, that’s the problem. The conversation with Mike Stark left the impression that Brownback thinks there’s some context in which criminalizing homosexuality, even making it a capital crime, might be either reasonable or moral.

You can almost hear him say that, well, Uganda might have “a pretty good reason” for imprisoning and/or executing people for being homosexual.

Bothwell can't be forced out of office over his atheist views because the North Carolina provision is unenforceable, according to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. Six other states, Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, have similar provisions barring atheist officeholders.

In 1961, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that federal law prohibits states from requiring any kind of religious test to serve in office when it ruled in favor of a Maryland atheist seeking appointment as a notary public.

But the federal protections don't necessarily spare atheist public officials from spending years defending themselves in court. Avowed atheist Herb Silverman won an eight-year court battle in 1997 when South Carolina's highest court granted him the right to be appointed as a notary despite the state's law. From Raw Story

I can't think of a better working demonstration of just how far the Religious Right would like to go.

This is also a nice little glimpse of what "states rights" actually can mean. It means the "right" of states to discriminate against unpopular minorities.

“I'm not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he's an atheist, he's not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” H.K. Edgerton, quoted in the Asheville Citizen-Times, 12/8/09.

Almost a year ago, I wrote a piece about the shock in some quarters over President Obama actually acknowledging atheists as Americans in his inauguration speech. I included in it a list of laws aimed at atheists – some of them still on the books, some not .

Today I’ve learned of the case of Cecil Bothwell, who was recently elected to the city council in Asheville North Carolina. Opponents are now citing a passage in the North Carolina State Constitution: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of almighty God....” as a bar to Bothwell holding office.

This is not the only case where a blatantly unconstitutional religious test for office has remained on the books. In Arkansas, for instance, an atheist would not only be barred from holding public office, but would be barred from testifying in a court of law. In Maryland, according to article 36 of the state constitution, atheists could be barred from serving, not only as witnesses in court, but as jurors.

Atheism has lately become an increasingly visible bugaboo among the Tea Party set, perhaps because atheists are becoming more outspoken about being atheists. An interesting fight may be boiling up as more and more right wingers discover these archaic laws.

"The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations." On Meet the Press this morning, he reiterated this neutral stance in a different context: "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides." Pastor Rick Warren, refusing to condemn Ugandan legislation which would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment and possibly even execution. Newsweek

This is why I never trust those smiley evangelists.

Ideology always gets put before their humanity.

"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." Gary Cass quoted on WorldNet Daily

.
The law that Gary Cass, of the Christian Anti-Defamation League is planning to “defy” and “challenge” is the Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate-crime legislation to include attacks on homosexuals. In order to Mr. Cass or anybody else to “defy” and “challenge” this law, they will, at the least have to have deliberately incited a physical attack on a gay person.

It looks as though Mr. Cass is aware of this, because the actual website announcing the event says something rather different;

Ministers from various denominations will preach from the Bible, especially those parts that speak to the sin of homosexuality. This will serve to reassure ministers and Christians that they are free to do the same. [emphasis added]

In other words, Mr. Cass knows perfectly well that this hate-crime legislation does not criminalize anti-homosexual sermons. He knows perfectly well that neither Eric Holder nor anyone else is going to march over and arrest a preacher simply for preaching against homosexuality.

Inciting a riot, of course, is another matter entirely.

Look, a village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot. It‘s as simple as that. And we have to understand, we have a village idiot in this country, it‘s called “Fundamentalist Christianity.” Frank Schaeffer, on the Rachel Maddow Show 9/16/09

And to illustrate this point:

"…most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches." Kimberly Daniels, on the dangers of Halloween at Charismamag.com This article was also posted to Pat Robertson’s CBN Website, but has since been removed.

Please pray daily for the liberal(s) of your choice, so each can become a good influence on our Nation's culture. Prayer is powerful! It allows God to change the minds of those for whom we are praying. In fact, we fully expect that many of our adoptees will "graduate" from this prayer program with vivid testimonies of God having changed their lives and worldviews!

So the Liberty Counsel has inaugurated an “Adopt a Liberal” program, where one chooses a prominent liberal from an offered list that includes President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, etc. There’s also the option of choosing an “Unknown Liberal,” where the participant can select his or her “own unique liberal” for prayer-bombing, perhaps even emailing their name for listing on the website.

If it makes them feel better, fine, though I do have reservations about this “unknown liberal” feature. I hope it does not include posting the name and picture of someone’s cousin who moved to Chicago and admits to voting for Obama, or of that girl from one’s old high school who came out her freshman year in college and now runs a woman’s bookstore in Berkeley.

Publicizing what amounts to an Enemies List of public figures for supernatural concern trolling is creepy enough, thank you, without expanding it to include private citizens.

Crist said he isn't trying to take credit, but he told a group of real estate agents Friday that he's had prayer notes placed in the Western Wall in Jerusalem each year and no major storms have hit Florida.

Crist noted that just before his election in 2006, Florida had been affected by a total of eight hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. AP 8/21/09

I mean, he’s just sayin’! It’s not like Charlie Crist is taking credit or anything. He’s just kinda randomly juxtaposing these two facts – Florida hasn’t had a hurricane since he was elected governor, and he’s been leaving little memos to the Almighty on the Western Wall in Jerusalem every year.

The problem with this, of course, is that “God” has not simply evaporated hurricanes. In fact, He’s currently aiming an “extremely life-threatening and dangerous” hurricane at Canada’s Maritime provinces, where, one presumes, nobody has been asking God nicely not to do it.

Or maybe God only listens if it’s a governor doing the asking, and can only access the request if it’s left in Jerusalem.

This business of taking credit for hurricane diversion is nothing new. Back in 1985, evangelist Pat Robertson claimed that his prayers had diverted a hurricane from Virginia Beach. Ten years later, he did it again, blushingly admitting that his very own prayers had caused Hurricane Felix to veer off from the East Coast and peter harmlessly out over the ocean. Unfortunately, just a couple of months later, as Robert Boston notes in his book, The Most Dangerous Man in America? :

Hurricane Opal slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, killing fifteen and doing millions of dollars in property damage. One must wonder why Robertson did not also turn back this hurricane and thus prevent the appalling loss of life and property destruction. If he does indeed have this gift, why does he selfishly limit it to Viriginia Beach? It’s also worth noting that in 1985, after Robertson sent Hurricane Gloria away from Viriginia Beach, it veered north and devastated Long Island, New York.

Even further back, in 1981, as noted in Jerry Falwell: An Unauthorized Profile. (Dr. William R. Goodman Jr., and Dr. James, J.H. Price), Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell had a habit of remarking on God’s weather-related favoritism when it came to Falwell’s very own church. “God won’t let it rain on Homecoming,” Falwell boasted. “He hasn’t let it rain for sixteen years on Homecoming.” “We have spent $125,000 on this one meeting, and God won’t waste the money," he added, in a fascinating conflation of the words “God” and “we.” And in 1979, “Jerry Falwell spoke of how God stopped the rain in time for his rally on the steps of the Capitol in Washington D.C…”

It wasn’t raining then, it was obvious to all that God had moved in (Amen) All three of the networks were there…and for them to see what was happening. And they – it was nothing short of supernatural because it could not have occurred if God had not intervened, stopped the rain, brought he sun out. It just couldn’t have happened. And it sure stilled the voices of the critics. (Amen) It reminded me, as we walked out on the platform, it just surely as I walked out with the Senators and Congressman, just that quickly was when the sun broke out.

The comment Goodman and Price add at the end of this anecdote is simple and to the point and sums up the problem with any claim of being able to control either life threatening storms or rain-showers that might get your expensive suit all spotty:

“The farmers in Fauquier County were furious.”