Christa Resurrected.

The artist Edwina Sandys with her sculpture “Christa,” the centerpiece of an exhibition of more than 50 contemporary works that interpret the symbolism associated with the image of Jesus. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times.

The artist Edwina Sandys with her sculpture “Christa,” the centerpiece of an exhibition of more than 50 contemporary works that interpret the symbolism associated with the image of Jesus. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times.

Edwina Sandys had seen this before: the 250-pound bronze statue of a bare-breasted woman on a translucent acrylic cross being installed in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.

This time around, however, she does not expect to see something else she had seen before: the statue being packed up after a call from a ranking church official telling her it had to go.

That happened the first time “Christa,” Ms. Sandys’s sculpture of a crucified woman, was shown at the cathedral in Manhattan during Holy Week in 1984.

A controversy erupted, complete with hate mail attacking it as blasphemous. Overruling the dean of the cathedral at the time, the suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York called the statue “theologically and historically indefensible” and ordered Ms. Sandys to take it away.

This time, it is being installed on the altar in the Chapel of St. Saviour as the centerpiece of “The Christa Project: Manifesting Divine Bodies,” an exhibition of more than 50 contemporary works that interpret — or reinterpret — the symbolism associated with the image of Jesus.

[…]

She came to know the Very Rev. James Park Morton, the dean of the cathedral for 25 years until 1996. “I said, ‘How brave are you?’” in 1984, she recalled. “He may not have said ‘try me,’ but words to that effect. I said, ‘How would you like to exhibit “Christa,” the female Christ?’ He said, ‘I’d be delighted.’ I took a deep breath, and that was that.”

Except with that, as Ms. Sandys put it, “all hell broke loose.” Angry letters arrived (the cathedral preserved them in its archives) and, according to Ms. Sandys, the suffragan bishop, Walter Dennis, “said he didn’t want it, and I had to come and get ‘Christa.’”

The full story of Christa is here.

That Damn Gay Agenda!

Muay Thai fighting champion Fatima Pinto appears in an ad for H&M (Screen cap).

Muay Thai fighting champion Fatima Pinto appears in an ad for H&M (Screen cap).

Puritanical Christian group One Million Moms has launched a boycott of H&M after mistaking a Muay Thai fighting champ for a transgender woman.

The right-wing pressure group, renowned for its ridiculous string of anti-LGBT boycotts, threatened the fashion chain in a release this week over latest fashion ad ‘She’s a Lady’.

The Christian group fumed: “1MM is not sure of H&M clothing company’s thought process behind their new television ad, but if they are attempting to offend customers and families, they have succeeded.

“H&M’s newest ‘She’s A Lady’ commercial includes what appears to be a man dressed as a woman in one segment, another woman wearing skimpy lingerie, and ends with two teenage girls kissing while underwater.

“Parents find this type of advertising inappropriate and unnecessary especially since H&M’s target market is teens.

“H&M Marketing Team may have thought this type of advertising was politically correct, but not only is it disgusting and confusing for children, it is pushing the LBGT agenda.

“Let H&M know their new ad is irresponsible.”

The group encouraged its supporters to send a pre-written email complaining about the “disgusting commercial” that should be pulled “for our children’s best interest”.

The problem? The so-called “man dressed as a woman” in the ad is actually female Champion Muay Thai Boxer Fatima Pinto, who is not transgender. She does have some world class muscles, to be sure. I rather expect that would be needed if you’re a champion Muay Thai boxer.

Ironically, the ad does also fleetingly feature H&M model Hari Nef, who is transgender, but 1MM apparently didn’t notice.

Via Pink News.

A Look at the U.S. Claim to Oceti Sakowin.

inyanwoslata

© Marty Two Bulls.

Steven Newcomb has an excellent column up at ICTMN, examining the claim to Očeti Sakowiŋ.

We are able to think back to a time when our ancestors were living entirely free from and independent of ideas developed across the Atlantic Ocean in a place called Christendom. We know that our Native ancestors were in no way subject to Christian ideas before the Christians sailed across that ocean to our part of the world, which many of us know as Turtle Island. Because the Christian Europeans were not physically here on Turtle Island, their concepts, ideas, and arguments were not here either. This leaves us with a mystery. On what basis did the invading colonizers first assume that our free nations and our ancestors were subject to the ideas and arguments of the Christian world? To what extent are those ideas still being used today centuries later by the United States?

In his Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, published in 1833, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story asked a related question. He asked how the British Colonies got title to the soil of the North American continent. His question not only assumed that the British colonies had title to the soil of the continent, it also assumed, as Story said, that the colonizing powers obtained a “title” by their own “assertion” that they had a “complete title” to and “absolute dominion” over the soil of what from our ancestors’ perspective was the soil of our national territories. Story traced those ideas back to a papal bull of the fifteenth century and to royal charters of England and Great Britain.

Most people fail to realize that men such as Joseph Story and John Marshall spent a great deal of their time thinking about such matters. They did so because they had to develop a rationale for asserting that the Christian colonizers from Europe had a right to the soil of the continent that was superior to whatever right our original nations and our ancestors thought they had. Men of ideas such as Story and Marshall, whose job it was to persuade, undoubtedly knew there was a slight chance that someday in the distant future, we, the descendants of our Native ancestors, might try to go back through the record of the ideas of the colonizers and trace their mental “steps.”

A few of us have been working for decades on that retrospective with the goal in mind of not only understanding but of also now at long last directly challenging the ideas and arguments that were “laid down” by the ancestors of the colonizing society who sailed to Turtle Island from Western Christendom.

Based on decades of intensive and diligent research, we now know that the Christian European thinkers dreamed up out of their heads the idea that the representatives of Christendom could enter someone else’s country and mentally, verbally, and ceremonially make the assertion that the monarch they represented had an “absolute dominion” over the country they had located by ship. They further assumed that their mental, verbal, and ceremonial assertion would become “true” because the Christian thinkers dreamed it up in their minds and treated it as “true” thereby sustaining it over time.

The idea that they as colonizers had a complete title to and absolute dominion over the soil of the territories of our Original Nations, a point that Story, Marshall, and other white men claimed on behalf of the United States, became “true” and a “reality” for the colonizers and for the United States simply because those ideas were collectively treated as “true” and as a “reality.” Since this was all happening in the colonizers’ own language at the time, when such assertions were initially made, our ancestors had no understanding of the specific nature of the colonizers’ bizarre views. Some of our ancestors such as Tecumseh did try to challenge the colonizers’ thinking based on the original free existence of our nations.

The recent controversy over the Dakota Access Pipeline traces back to that process of reality-construction and the ability of the United States government to simply declare a given reality into existence. But there is something rather surprising in the historical record that most people know nothing about. It is surprising because it is language that still ought to be benefiting Native nations. …

The full column is here, and it’s excellent reading.

Trump: Oh, Poor Churches, So Mistreated!

Cult-of-Trump-4Well, Trump continues to find ways to dig even deeper into the very worst things that could possibly happen to the States. Separation of church and state? Nonsense! It’s beyond fucking irritating how much these clowns hold up the constitution as if it were holy writ, then turn right around and plan to gut it at their convenience.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested on Monday that he would end the IRS prohibition on churches participating in partisan political campaigns.

While speaking to veterans in Herndon, Virginia, an attendee complained that military officials had been banned from evangelizing Christianity.

“The Obama administration had deliberately set out to take the Christian religion out of the military,” the man told Trump. “How will you and your administration combat these attacks on military religious freedom of expression?”

Agreeing with the questioner, Trump expanded his answer to include the so-called “Johnson Amendment,” a law which prevents churches with tax-exempt status from promoting partisan political agendas.

The candidate griped that the law prevented a group of 50 conservative pastors from endorsing him from the pulpit.

“We’re going to get rid of the Johnson Amendment,” Trump promised. “Because they are stopping you and our great people from talking.”

Event moderator Tony Perkins noted that he recently sent one of his political sermons to the IRS “because it would be good for them to hear the gospel.”

“That is a terrible situation,” Trump replied. “They can say, ‘We don’t like the way you’re speaking about Christianity or about God. We don’t like what you just said and we’re going to take away your tax-exempt status.’”

“It’s a very sad thing,” he concluded.

I think Trump and Christian assholes who have a driving need to control everyone else are sad. Pathetic. And I seriously wish they would all retire to their gilded rooms and mind their own damn business.

Via Raw Story.

Sunday Facepalm: Piss Christ, Still Pissing Off Priests.

Immersion, Andres Serrano.

Immersion, Andres Serrano.

“Christ immersed in urine”  “To depict Christ in a bucket of urine”

Before we get anywhere at all here, I just need to yell a bit about the above idiocy. That’s manufacturing hysterical drama. No one went back in time, found out whether or not Christ actually existed, then kidnapped him, dunked him in a person sized bucket of urine, took his photo, then sailed back to the current time. It’s a cheap plastic crucifix in a glass of urine. Encouraging cheaper and cheaper versions of religious icons wasn’t Serrano’s idea, that belongs to the church. It’s also on the church that it was some sort of good idea for people to carry and wear a miniature execution device. Dunking a bit of plastic gimcrack into a glass of piss is not at all the same thing as dunking an actual person or god (if you can find one) into a bucket of piss without their consent. Okay, on to the outrage:

Now the American’s most infamous image – P*** Christ [sic] – will be shown at a politically-charged exhibition called Torture at the Void Gallery on October 8.

The exhibition also features images depicting the Hooded Men – a group of 14 men arrested at the height of the Troubles and, according to the European Court of Human Rights, subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. In 1987, Serrano received international attention for P*** Christ, igniting heated debate on the freedom of artistic expression and the public financing of controversial artworks. The image will go on show in Derry along with a second piece from the Immersion series, Black Supper, a dark re-imagining of da Vinci’s Last Supper.

A photo from the exhibition entitled 'Torture' by Andres Serrano.

A photo from the exhibition entitled ‘Torture’ by Andres Serrano.

Rev Roger Higginson of Coleraine Free Presbyterian Church said the artist’s desire to shock could be his way of hiding a lack of talent.

Oh lord. Here we go.

He added: “Men like these artists are actually quite cowardly because they make a mockery of Christ in a way that they wouldn’t if it was Mohammed or the Muslim faith because that would put them in danger.

Oh for fuck’s sake, not this bullshit again. Is this idiocy never going to die? As for Immersion (Piss Christ) being a mockery, it wasn’t intended that way by the artist, it actually had to do with the cheapening of religious icons. A great many people didn’t perceive of it as mockery, either. If the Muslim faith encouraged followers to festoon themselves with a cheap plastic instrument of execution, with someone hanging on it, I’d be happy to dunk it in some piss and photograph it. We’re once again faced with the particular idiocy of pretending that we’re talking about a different religious belief, too. Same basic story, same basic beliefs, same god, so please, shut up.

“It is easy for people like him to take a cheap shot and mock Christ, mock Christian people and mock the Bible.

Really? Like you’re making it easy? People who actually take the time to mock Christianity often find themselves in danger, subjected to death threats and massive harassment from the so-called faithful flock. You don’t even need to indulge in actual mockery. Just saying something Christians don’t like is often sufficient. It’s ridiculous to pretend otherwise.

“His depiction of the Lord is offensive, not just to me as a man but it offends me greatly because this is how he portrays the Lord who gave up his life for all of us and this artist has thrown that sacrifice back.

Sigh. The sacrifice was thrown back. I’ve heard that before. How? Exactly how does it do that? It sounds suitably dramatic, but I suspect it doesn’t actually mean one damn thing. It’s true enough that El Shaddai is a nasty, mean, petty minded asshole of a god, but y’know, his kid is supposed to be a tad better on that stuff. So maybe Jesus wouldn’t be all that concerned. Also, this sort of isht coming from a religion which openly states someone who did truly horrible things would get the standard “get out of hell free” card makes this outrage as sturdy as wet paper.

“If you consider artists like Leonardo da Vinci or Rembrandt, they didn’t set out to shock people or be controversial because they had real talent and their work spoke for itself. Perhaps if, as an artist you need to shock and cause offence and outrage to get your work noticed, it may be because of a lack of real talent.”

Hahahahahaha. Oh my. Someone doesn’t know a gosh darn thing about art or artists. If we must talk about a lack of talent, the priesthood seems to be a profession for people remarkably lacking in any meaningful talent. How about we have that chat? There’s a good deal more outrage and asterisked spelling here, I’ve had my fill. The exhibition launches on October 8 at 7.30pm and runs until December 17, at Void Gallery in Derry.

A Black Moon Comin’, It’s the End of the World. Again.

moon

On Sept. 30, Friday night, the sky will turn dark, setting the scene for a black moon phenomenon for those in the Western Hemisphere. It will be a second new moon experience for the month of September.

Precisely, the black moon will happen at 8:11 p.m. Eastern Time with the Pacific Time equivalent being 5:11 p.m. The Western Hemisphere covers the Americas, and certain parts of Africa and Europe.

Unlike other new moons, black moons will be invisible. As the moon becomes super dark there is no better time for stargazing on that eventful Friday night of Sept. 30.

For the counterparts in the Eastern Hemisphere, a similar event might be happening in October and will clash with the Halloween season.

For the Western Hemisphere, the black moon will be a double treat as it follows September’s first new moon with a ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse delivered to them. That was unique as the first new moon passed directly between Earth and the Sun.

In simple terms, black moon is explained off as a second new moon that comes in a calendar month. Technically, it happens when the illuminated side of the moon comes under the shadow of the Earth, making it hard to see.

It is said that black moon occurs once in every 19 years, when February skips a full moon. A second full moon in a single calendar month is sometimes called a blue moon.

A black moon is at best the flip side of a blue moon. For those in the Western Hemisphere, Friday night will be like shutting out the moon as it goes off in the night sky.

Astronomers also noted that it was in March 2014 that two new moons fell in the same month.

Meanwhile, the news of upcoming black moon has evoked fears of ill omen and some have taken the matter to social media laced with grim prophecies. The dark moon, coming after a “ring of fire” was witnessed on Sept. 1, has set many tongues wagging over God’s wrath.

They have Bible’s numerous references to bank upon. Luke 21:25-26 says “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” that will set “men’s hearts failing them for fear.”
A Facebook post even said these are signs of Jesus coming soon.

“We are approaching the end of our world and the end of life on Earth for all human beings,” the FB enthusiast said.

The usual contingent of religious conspiracy theorists are happily wallowing in visions of a wrathful god, and terrible things happening to all us non-believers. Unfortunately for them, that won’t happen, but if you love star watching, or just want to gaze at the awesome of the universe, you won’t find a better night.

Via Tech Times.

We the People…

wethepeopletrans_gkw2gr

The people of Florida murder 72,000 babies every year while the “pro life” politicians we’ve elected to protect them attempt to regulate the practice of child sacrifice as if it were healthcare, instead of addressing it as murder. The governing authorities of our state possess the moral, legal, and constitutional duty to establish justice for all human beings within their jurisdiction, including the pre-born fatherless by prohibiting the slaughter of children in the womb. Contrary to widespread misinformation, the right to murder humans is not protected by the Constitution and our legislature is not bound by any law or duty to aid or abet the Supreme Court in their attempted perversion of it. On the contrary, they are duty bound by their oaths to support, obey, and defend the United States Constitution and oppose such perversions and abuses of it. We demand that our legislators stop passing laws to regulate abortion. We demand the total and immediate abolition of human abortion.

Some evangelical Christians in Florida are already making plans for the 2018 ballot, and they want heads to roll. Specifically, they want abortion declared a capital crime, premeditated murder, so that any person who seeks and obtains an abortion, as well as any doctor who perform the procedure, to be arrested and tried, while eligible for the death penalty. Why that’s just so stunningly pro-life, it’s smacked my gob.

Their resolution to the Florida legislature can be read here. Be warned, it’s done in very bad ‘colonial constitution’ style, a la the header above, with each clause beginning with a flourished “Whereas”.

Their constitutional amendment petition is a tad more on the modern side:

Given that our state legislature has thoroughly failed to establish justice for the pre-born, Abolitionists in Florida have taken it upon themselves to attempt to put such a measure before the people and make way for the abolition of abortion.

Unlike our Resolution, this is an official constitutional amendment initiative petition. When enough signatures are collected, it may become a state question on the ballot for a vote. With enough votes, it will become law in Florida. Please sign and collect signatures (instructions below).

BALLOT TITLE: ABOLISH ABORTION

BALLOT SUMMARY: Abortion deprives an innocent human being of the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Any person who performs or procures an abortion shall be guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree, and any person who attempts to perform or procure an abortion shall be guilty of felony attempted murder. This provision shall prevail over any other conflicting provisions.

ARTICLE AND SECTION BEING CREATED OR AMENDED: Amends Article I to create a new Section 28.

FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: Article 1, Section 28. Abortion is Murder – Inasmuch as abortion deprives an innocent human being of the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, any person who performs or procures an abortion shall be guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree, and any person who attempts to perform or procure an abortion shall be guilty of felony attempted murder. This provision shall prevail over any other conflicting provision(s). “Abortion” means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug, or any other substance or device, to intentionally kill an unborn human being. “Unborn human being” means the offspring of human beings, from the moment of fertilization of the ovum of a female individual by the sperm of a male individual until either live birth or natural death, whether conceived and/or located inside or outside the body of a human female.

Daz was nice enough to render the resolution into text, so here it is:

We are calling on the legislature to do its job and protect the innocent.

WHEREAS all human beings are created in the image of God, and are thus endowed by their Creator with an inalienable right to life—

WHEREAS governments are instituted by God among men, being charged with the duty to secure this right and establish justice for all—

WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land throughout all the states and territories of our nation—

WHEREAS the Constitution of the United Slates mandates that no state shall deprive any human being of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any human being within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws—

WHEREAS the Constitution of the United States in no way, shape, or form gives the Supreme Court the right to pervert the meaning of the Constitution and impose this perversion upon the other branches and/or states with the legal force of the Constitution itself—

WHEREAS the policy of following judicial precedent (stare decisis) is merely a judicial policy and not a rule of law mandated by the Constitution—

WHEREAS our state legislators, judges, and executive officers have sworn a solemn oath to support, obey, and defend the Constitution of the United States—

WHEREAS murder deprives an innocent human being of life—

WHEREAS abortion is murder—the murder of the weakest and most innocent human beings within our midst—

WHEREAS any government that allows murder to go unpunished has abandoned its most basic moral duties and obligations—

THEREFORE,
We the people of the State of Florida are:

Resolved. That by allowing the murder of innocent children to go unpunished, the government of the State of Florida has abandoned its most basic moral duties and obligations—

Resolved. That by falsely claiming that the “right” to murder one’s child is a right mandated by the Constitution of the United Stales, the Supreme Court has perverted the meaning of the Constitution—

Resolved. That our state legislators, judges, and executive officers are bound by neither law nor moral duty to accept or enforce this perversion of the Constitution—

Resolved. That our state legislators, judges, and executive officers are bound by solemn oath and moral duty to oppose this perversion of the Constitution within our state—

Resolved. That our state legislators, judges, and executive officers are bound by solemn oath and moral duty to provide the equal protection of the laws to all human beings in our state.

BEING SO RESOLVED,
we hereby respectfully demand that our state government stop protecting the murder of children by abortion within its jurisdiction and establish justice for all pre-born human beings in our state. We demand that our legislators stop passing laws to regulate abortion, and instead outlaw all abortion as murder. We demand that our judges fulfill [sic] their oaths of office and stop rubber-stamping the Supreme Court’s perversion of the U.S. Constitution in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. We demand that these changes be made now—not five, ten, or fifteen years down the road. In short, we the people of the State of Florida demand the total and immediate abolition of human abortion as the legal, Constitutional. and moral duty of our elected and appointed officials.

Via AAFL.

The Illusion of Racism and The Intellect of God.

dvs140

Ginni Thomas, tea partier and wife of Clarence Thomas, recently hosted noted conservative bigot Jesse Lee Peterson, where they had a lovely chat about how evil Black Lives Matter is, and that race is just an illusion. Imagine that! I had no idea.

“Who are the race hustlers?” Thomas asked. “Who’s in the business of keeping blacks angry?”

“The race hustlers,” Peterson replied, “are people like Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, Louis Farrakhan—the so-called civil rights leaders—many of the black preachers, Barack Obama, they’re all into keeping black Americans angry and demoralized for power and wealth for themselves. And you have to demoralize a person or a people in order to control them, you cannot control a moral people so they keep them in a state of anger and confusion so that they can use them for their personal gain.”

Peterson then told Thomas about his theory that he explains in a recent book positing that because President Obama “grew up without a father in the home,” he only feels “anger” and not “love,” and that’s why he’s sympathetic to Black Lives Matter.

“Those people are evil, they’re wicked, they’re an agitating group, they’re worse than the KKK,” he said. “If Black Lives Matter was a white organization and doing exactly what they’re doing now, America would not accept them, they would not. But because they are black and white people are afraid, and then they have the support of the president, they’re allowed to bring on destruction in this country.”

Erm, white organizations do exist, Rev., and they are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want to do, including the KKK and other white supremacist organizations hosting counter protests which are full of truly abominable sentiments which are racist in nature. Some people, like yourself, are all upsetty because for once, black people are standing up for themselves, and sending the classic message of we’re angry as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. I’m all the way behind that, my people are doing a similar thing right now, because they face great discrimination, oppression, and marginalization too. We’ve all had generation after generation after generation who has remained trodden down, told over and over to assimilate, to be the best white person you can be, be polite, smile, be submissive. In this so called land of the free, a court has ruled that it is perfectly okay for people to discriminate against and not hire anyone who dares to have natural hair, or a specifically cultural hair style. Fuck that, and fuck you, Reverend.

Claiming that Obama sees the killing of police officers as “no big deal,” Peterson went on to repeat his exhortation to white people to “stand up for themselves” against the Black Lives Matter movement.

“There’s no such thing as racism,” he concluded. “It doesn’t exist. It’s an illusion. It has been made up by the race hustlers in order to intimidate and control to get that power.”

Okay, I would really like to know just when it was that black people had control and power in this country. Anyone know? I’m pretty sure that black people aren’t looking to lord it over the precious white people, Rev. They would like it if they were treated as people, y’know, human beings, with the full rights thereof. They would like some respect. They’d like it if they could go one day without being under constant suspicion of something or other. They would like it if they could live without a constant fear of white people. They would like it if cops would stop murdering black people with impunity. The list goes on. My people (Lakota) have a similar list. So do all other indigenous peoples. I’m pretty sure Hispanic and Latino peoples also have a similar list. Well, pretty much everyone who isn’t white.  Going by the Reverend’s logic, slavery was the apex of black people in America.

After that lovely little chat neatly disposing of racism, the Reverend went on to rail and moan about intellectuals and drag queens in foxholes.

Right-wing activist Jesse Lee Peterson recently delivered a sermon in which he warned his congregation not to become intellectuals because intellectualism is responsible for foisting things like gay marriage upon America.

“I notice that the people who are really into the intellect are nutcases,” Peterson said. “Absolute nutcases. Because of this intellectual thing taking over and the people rule us, we now have so-called same-sex marriage. That wouldn’t happen if we weren’t into the intellect. Common sense would dictate that is not going to happen and common sense wouldn’t care what you thought about it because we would know that that’s wrong.”

Intellectuals are also responsible for the fact that “we now have drag queens running around in the military,” Peterson added.

“Can you imagine jumping down in a foxhole, running from bin Laden, and there is a man in there with a dress and lipstick on? It would shock you. You would rather be out with bin Laden,” Peterson stated, apparently so dedicated to being anti-intellectual that he’s totally unaware that Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.

People simply need to rely “on the intellect of God,” he recommended, because human intellect is a tool of the devil, which is why “all intellectual people are insecure people … because their father is weak, their father Satan is a deceiver.”

Y’know, if you’re going to buy into that whole creationism business, and that we’re created in El Shaddai’s image and all that, fine, but what does that say about your god? That he’s an idiot? Or just his standard sociopathic sadism at work, giving people a brain to use, in order to punish us for using it. That’s probably about right. Oh, yes, and I almost forgot, that evil intellect stuff is Eve’s fault, ennit? Right, so once again it’s the evil of women at fault.

As for dresses and lipstick in foxholes, I’m not sure how you missed this one, Rev, but the military provides uniforms, and people are expected to wear them. Personally, if I found myself in the middle of a war zone, trying not to piss myself in a foxhole, I wouldn’t care if a whole regiment of drag queens showed up, as long as they got me out alive, and they’d have my undying thanks.

Via Right Wing Watch, here and here.

Sunday Facepalm.

The facepalm is not the billboard, that’s all too standard fare. The facepalm is here:

We found out that no public money was used for that religious message. The money came from a local business owner, who’s now taking the billboard down.

She said even though she had permission from the mayor to use his name, she felt pressure from the city manager.

“I got a call from the city manager that said he had some calls and there were some issues with some people. They didn’t want it up, and something called separation of church and state,” said business owner Victoria Hightower.

Emphasis mine. “Something called separation of church and state.” Given the near constant moaning of religious conservatives over their rights, is it really too much to expect Americans to be aware of the separation of church and state? Plenty of them are aware enough of it to twist about all over the place. This level of ignorance is…well, deplorable.

Via KRMG.

Trump’s Satanic Panic.

Donald Trump in Cleveland prayer huddle -- (YouTube screen grab)

Donald Trump in Cleveland prayer huddle — (YouTube screen grab)

Right Wing Watch reports that there was an evangelical huddle yesterday, with laying on of hands and praying to block out a satanic attack on Trump. A concentrated one. Is that the same thing as concentrated juice? Lucifer gets such a bad rap. (See Drunk With Blood: God’s Killings in the Bible by Steve Wells.) It’s that nasty Jehovah you need to worry about, well, if they were real.

Today, Donald Trump attended the Midwest Vision and Values Pastors Leadership Conference in Cleveland alongside his vice presidential running mate Mike Pence and campaign surrogates Ben Carson, Michael Cohen and Omarosa Manigault. The event was hosted by pro-Trump pastor Darrell Scott and co-hosted by Trump’s “liaison for Christian policy” Frank Amedia. Boxing promoter Don King introduced Trump at the gathering.

Scott, who hosted the event at his New Spirit Revival Center, told the audience that a “nationally known” preacher warned Trump before he launched his campaign “that if you choose to run for president, there’s going to be a concentrated Satanic attack against you.”

“He said there’s going to be a demon, principalities and powers, that are going to war against you on a level that you’ve never seen before and I’m watching it every day,” Scott said.

Later, Scott’s wife, Belinda Scott, prayed over Trump: “God we ask you right now that Your choice is this choice.”

“God, I ask that you would touch this man, Donald J. Trump,” she continued, “give him the anointing to lead this nation.”

I’m pretty sure Trump is touched already. I’m not sure with what, but it’s not good. Via RWW.

Criminality…

Pastor Robert Wyatt (Screen cap via KDVR).

Pastor Robert Wyatt (Screen cap via KDVR).

Harking back to the latest study, where it states:

The new study also attempts to find out why atheists are so reviled by what its authors call “dominant group members” — aka religious Americans. The findings pinpoint three things: Religious Americans associate atheists with “criminality,” materialism and “a lack of accountability.”

And where I wrote of being staggered at the association of atheists with criminality because of that actual association religious people have, and here’s a fine example of  it. I hope with all my heart the young woman receives the support and help she deserves, and those of you sensitive to abuse details might want to avoid the link to the local news article.

Local news station KDVR reports that Pastor Robert Wyatt repeatedly had sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl who was parishioner at the Agape Bible Church in Thornton. What’s even more disturbing about this case, however, is the fact that court documents show church officials knew about Wyatt’s sexual abuse and did nothing.

According to an arrest affidavit for Wyatt, both head pastor Darrell Ferguson and the 12-year-old girl’s adoptive parents agreed that it would be best to not go to the police because they were concerned about what would happen to Wyatt.

Instead, the affidavit claims, the church and the parents agreed that “biblical counseling they would receive through the church was sufficient” to fixing the problem.

The officer who interviewed the girl’s adoptive father said that the man “made it clear his interest was in protecting the church and its reputation more than protecting his daughter.”

Police only learned about the pastor’s abuse because another parishioner told them about it after being disgusted by the church’s inaction.

I don’t think I need to say anymore about the religious link to criminal and immoral acts. What makes it all the more disgusting are the excuses on the part of those who are supposed to love that child and protect her.

Via Raw Story.

“I was picked out to be picked on in the name of Jesus.”

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Florida Highway Patrol wrote Judy Jones a ticket for having vinyl lettering on her truck’s windshield. However, she claims the trooper did it because of her faith.

“First thing he said to me, he said, ‘I want you to know that you are breaking the law.’ And I said, ‘How am I breaking the law, sir?’ He said, ‘With that sign up there, that Jesus thing up there,’” she said.

Jones got a $100 ticket and is fighting her case.

“I’m going to court for Jesus,” said Jones.

Florida law says no one can drive a car that has any signage or material on a windshield that is not transparent. Jones claims her decals are legal.

“It is not obstructing any, my sight at all,” Jones said. “I was picked out to be picked on in the name of Jesus.”

Florida Highway Patrol says that in no way did the officer write Jones the ticket because of its content. They say it was simply in violation of state law.

Okay, I know this is all rather silly, and while driving a Jesus testament truck wouldn’t be my thing, I do question the law here. I’m not in Florida, but I see all manner of vehicles here with sports teams names spelled out, and front and back windows littered with such stuff. I doubt that’s terribly legal here, either, but no one seems to care much. I can’t see how the lettering on Ms. Jones’s truck would obscure her vision any, and I do wonder if the truck was minus the Jesus stuff, and the lettering was sports related, whether she would have been targeted in the first place. A hundred dollars is a hefty ticket, I wouldn’t be happy about having to pay that for not actually doing anything dangerous or wrong. I do wish Ms. Jones good luck in court.

Story and video here.

I do believe I’ll be rude.

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Siobhan at Against the Grain has a post up about the latest anti-transgender peoples campaign of yet another conservative, bigoted, paranoid Christian group. They are all ‘family’ something or other, this one is Family Policy Alliance. I’ll just go with Fapa. Fapa apparently thinks they are oh-so-brilliant, with their latest attempt to spread bigotry, hate, and fear: they want people to ask them for permission to pee, or whatever else they plan to do in the lav. They have a website, full of women boo-hooing over the possibility that male genitals might be lurking behind a closed door. Well, maybe full isn’t the right word. They are soliciting stories, though! I’m rude enough to suggest that all manner of people send stories in – there really isn’t a rule the story has to be a hateful piece of bigotry, it’s just an expectation. They have a hashtag on twitter, which isn’t going that well for them. I think the Fapa should be completely drowned out. I can think of all kinds of things I’d apply #AskMeFirst to in the case of conservative, hateful, immoral Christians. I bet everyone else can, too.

Personally, I think it would be grand if every person of this particular persuasion had to #AskMeFirst if it was alright for them to continually try to legislate hate. Naturally, once they got their no, it would expected of them to take that answer gracefully and respectfully.

Ah, that was a nice fantasy, wasn’t it?

I think it’s time for people to get quite rude, in the nicest way possible, of course.

Via Against the Grain.