Poor Moderate Christians

A screen shot of various Jesus memes captured on a Google search.

A screen shot of various Jesus memes captured on a Google search.

Oh, poor moderate Christians, the right-wing has eaten Christianity, and no one pays attention to the good Christians, oh no.

The Christian right in America has dozens of politicians and mega-pastors broadcasting its beliefs. Meanwhile, more moderate Christians hardly make the media radar.

[…]

Moderate and progressive Christian activism doesn’t make headlines and it’s certainly not clickbait. The basic goodness in my corner of Christianity garners pretty much no mainstream media attention. Crazy gets more clicks, so the extremists get all the airplay. The progressive message needs a signal boost.

Once I started posting Jesus memes, I realized I wasn’t facing anti-Christian bias on the part of my friends, but rather cluelessness. They had formulated their ideas about modern Christianity from what the media was telling them. To them, “Christian” equaled global-warming denier and homophobe. Was I one of those people, they wondered? They needed assurances that I didn’t see faith and science as mutually exclusive, or even faith and common sense. It was up to me to inform them that I was down with Bill Nye, not Lou Sheldon.

Yes, yes, people are just absolutely clueless about Christianity. And of course, all that nasty, judgmental Christianity that gets all the airplay, why it’s not at all real, right? What’s important about those nasty beliefs isn’t that they are being pushed into law everywhere, is that poor, moderate Christians aren’t getting equal time. I’d like to see a moderate Christian think past their own nose, and come to the full realization that they are the foundation upon which nasty, hateful, judgmental Christianity rests. If the poor, downtrodden moderate Christians want to be taken for something other than people who happily spread poison about, perhaps you should stop whining about memes, and do something that matters, like rise up against your brethren. Take a stand. Something relevant, something more than weakly declaring “but I’m a good Christian!” on social media.

The #notallchristians made a show. Not a good one. So, moderate Christians, where are all your grass roots campaigns? Where is the activism to take back Christianity? Where are the ads? Where are the billboards? Where are the protests? Hello? As I pointed out to #notallchristians, Atheists do those things. Satanists do those things. Various Humanist groups do those things. When are all the moderate Christians going to step up? Put those supposed values where your mouth is, please.

Full article here.

Sunday Facepalm: God: An Autobiography

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Author Jerry L. Martin’s book describes his journey from non-believer to believer to translator.

Imagine.

As if riding lightning, a bolt from the blue brings God’s voice to you one day.

Would you listen? Would you believe?

Jerry L. Martin did and does. Furthermore, he said that he collaborated with God on a book, “God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher” (Caladium, $24.95). A former agnostic, Martin journeyed from a status of non-believer to believer to translator within a transformation and result that brands as phenomenal.

“The first time God spoke to me,” Martin writes in the opening of the book, “I didn’t believe He existed.”

Martin was sitting with his future wife, Abigail Rosenthal, on a park bench in Washington, D.C. Suddenly, he heard a voice that she did not hear.

“I said, ‘who is this?’” Martin, a philosopher and former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, said during a recent interview by phone.

The voice replied casually, as if in conversation.

“‘I am God,’” Martin said. “The voice was as real and normal as talking to my wife on the telephone. She was writing in her journal. I told her about it. She didn’t say very much. The voice kept talking to me.”

[…]

Gradually and unsurprisingly, Martin’s life radically changed. Essentially, his professional life shifted from that of a philosopher to an author, a skeptic to a conduit for God.

“God wrote 80 percent of this book,” Martin said. “God said He wanted me to tell His story. God gave me the title.

So…”God”, who apparently is happy with that damn placeholder rather than its proper name, is as good as Leonard da Quirm* when it comes to naming things.

 

*Oddly enough, his creativity seems to stop when needed to give appealing names to his inventions: for example, for his machine capable of travelling submersed in a marine environment he came up with the name of “Going-Under-The-Water-Safely Device”.  Source.

Aaaaaaand, a bonus facepalm:

Tweeting with God Manual.

 

Belief in Evolution Rises

It’s a slight rise, to be sure, but any is better than none.

Gallup

PRINCETON, NJ — Four in 10 Americans, slightly fewer today than in years past, believe God created humans in their present form about 10,000 years ago. Thirty-eight percent believe God guided a process by which humans developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, while 16%, up slightly from years past, believe humans developed over millions of years, without God’s involvement. […] A small minority of Americans hold the “secular evolution” view that humans evolved with no influence from God — but the number has risen from 9% in 1982 to 16% today. At the same time, the 40% of Americans who hold the “creationist” view that God created humans as is 10,000 years ago is the lowest in Gallup’s history of asking this question, and down from a high point of 47% in 1993 and 1999.

The influence of political affiliation is also noted:

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The significantly higher percentage of Republicans who choose a creationist view of human origins reflects in part the strong relationship between religion and politics in contemporary America. Republicans are significantly more likely to attend church weekly than are others, and, as noted, Americans who attend church weekly are most likely to select the creationist alternative for the origin of humans.

Full Article is Here.

Sweet Jesus!

The stories of Jesus like you’ve never seen them before.

 

Borys Tarasenko is the Edmonton artist behind a new exhibit at the Bleeding Heart Art Space. (Dave von Beiker)

Borys Tarasenko is the Edmonton artist behind a new exhibit at the Bleeding Heart Art Space. (Dave von Beiker)

The son of a parish priest, Borys Tarasenko has drawn plenty of inspiration from the Bible.

But he’s far from a typical believer.

Tarasenko is the Edmonton artist behind the Sweet Jesus exhibit at the Bleeding Heart Art Space on 118th Avenue.

His handmade drawings, outlined in rudimentary black paint, depict a series of strangely reimagined Bible stories.

In one, an apron-clad Jesus is shown barbecuing, extending his holy hand to offer his disciples a slice of grilled hot dog. A rotund bear in priestly robes stands with jaws agape waiting for the grilled godly offering.

Tarasenko says his work was inspired by the iconography of the Ukrainian Catholic church. (Dave von Beiker)

Tarasenko says his work was inspired by the iconography of the Ukrainian Catholic church. (Dave von Beiker)

Tarasenko, 27, grew up surrounded by religion and the images of Ukrainian iconography. But as he got older,  his dogma changed, and departed from Catholicism.

Now he doesn’t believe in any higher power. But religion is still a big part of his life, and he faithfully attends St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in Edmonton at least once a week.

“As this was happening I came to enjoy going to church more because I could appreciate it for what it was,” he said. “And I really loved going, because it was just culturally beautiful. So much a part of me growing up that I loved going back there.”

[…]

The exhibit includes an open invitation to colour its walls, even supplying the felt pens.

Much like the pages of a colouring book, what was once stark in black and white has gone technicolour, and the already bizarre images have become even more outlandish.

“It’s crazy. It’s bonkers,” Tarasenko said an interview with CBC Edmonton’s Radio Active. “People have been adding things I couldn’t have imagined. Speech bubbles, fish, what looks like a hot air balloon, wings on characters. Such a different way than I expected. Every time I come in it’s like opening a present.

“I wanted people to be able to add themselves to the work.”

Once black and white, the artist's images have gone technicolor as visitors to the gallery make their own additions to the work. (Dave von Beiker)

Once black and white, the artist’s images have gone technicolor as visitors to the gallery make their own additions to the work. (Dave von Beiker)

Being Persecuted By LBGTQ Mafia

In a previous campaign ad, GOP Congressional hopeful Kay Daly threatened to shoot her opponent.

In a previous campaign ad, GOP Congressional hopeful Kay Daly threatened to shoot her opponent.

North Carolina GOP Congressional candidate Kay Daly claimed that she’s being targeted by LGBT rights activists in a recent message posted to her Facebook account.

Referring to equality groups as the “P.C. GAYSTAPO” and the “LGBTQ Mafia,” Daly wrote, “The homosexual extremists and their lavender lobby are coming after me again.” The Republican hopeful, who is currently running in the state primary race for a seat in the Senate, further alleged that LGBT groups are “outraged that I proudly support the North Carolina law that says grown men can’t use the girls’ restrooms in government facilities.” Daly, however, offers no proof to substantiate her claims.

The post links to a fundraising email in which Daly further argues that transgender people are  “perverts and deviants.” She said, “It is God who selects your gender, not you.”

[…]

In a recent endorsement posted to Facebook, James Dobson, founder of the right-wing anti-LGBT group Focus on the Family, described Daly as a “faithful warrior in the fight for the traditional values and religious liberties.” “Kay is one of us,” he said. “She has proven it over and over in word and deed, often when others with less courage have sounded the retreat.”

Full Story Here.

There was more oxygen then…

Stan the T. Rex at the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum (Facebook.com)

Stan the T. Rex at the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum (Facebook.com)

The Bible is a literal, factual history of the world, including Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood. Dinosaurs rode the ark with Noah. People lived 10 times longer in Biblical times because the Earth’s atmosphere had more oxygen then.

These are just a few of the wrong-headed “facts” on display at The Glendive Dinosaur & Fossil Museum in Glendive, Montana, according to the Great Falls Tribune, which published an exposé on the creationist museum this week.

[…]

“Turtles can live 150 years. Take times 10. You have a 1,500-year-old turtle. All these things are going to be amazing when things live 10 times longer,” he said. […]

The museum’s star attraction is its skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, nicknamed Stan.

“Evolutionists look at Stan and say he’s 45 years old (when he died),” Kline said. “I look at Stan and say maybe 450 years old. That could account for the size of Stan.”

Their longer lifespans and increased oxygen intake, Kline maintains, allowed people and animals to grow to immense size.

[…]

“We’re cutting edge here,” Canen insisted. Scientists and academics who don’t believe the Bible, he said, are lazy thinkers who can’t let go of their old ideas.

“They hold onto (the idea) so long they don’t allow anything to question it,” he said. “If you can trust any historical document, you can trust the Bible.”

There isn’t enough facepalm. People who don’t believe the bible are lazy thinkers who can’t let go of old ideas? <much sputtering> How, just how can anyone say that with a straight face and mean it? That just takes willful ignorance to a new level.

This does remind me of my favourite Kent Hovind quote, because dinosaurs being vegetarian is brought up in these articles as well:

In spite of their ferocious look, many people would probably argue the T-Rex was a vegetarian. The ferocious teeth would have been great for, you know, crushing stuffed pumpkins or something, you know. I don’t know if it has ever been proven they were meat eaters. There is plenty of evidence from cracks in the enamel with chlorophyll stains in them indicating they were certainly eating plants.

Great Falls Tribune Story.  Raw Story Article.

Dartboard Jesus Update

Rutgers

Remember Dartboard Jesus? Well those wailing “persecution!” won, naturally. Does it ever go any differently? The reasoning for removing it are transparently specious, to say the least.

The artwork was removed from the library on April 21 by campus officials following the slew of complaints.

“The artwork in question was removed from the exhibit because it did not meet Rutgers University Libraries policy, which requires art exhibitions and their pieces to be based on university events, curricular offerings and topics of interest to the university community,” Jessica Pellien, director of communications at Rutgers University Libraries, told NJ.com.

The dartboard was not the only questionable piece of art up for display in the Rutgers Art Library.

Other pieces included a condom-covered stack of coins and a milk carton featuring Anne Frank titled “Cute Kids Make Good Advertising,” NJ.com reported.

No names are attached to the art pieces and University officials did not out the artist.

So, no one is going to feel persecuted over the tower of babel? (That’s the title of the condom covered stack of coins.) For as much as the grotesque imagery of a [temporarily] dead guy onna stick looms large in all things Catholic, you’d think a dead guy on a dartboard wouldn’t be so bothersome. It’s still their dead guy, right? How easily is faith shaken. Tsk.

The full article is here.

Of course, an idiot from Fox just had to spill with pompous persecution puffery:

I’ve often wondered why the artistic class seems compelled to denigrate and desecrate the Sacred.

Remember the exhibit that featured the Mother Mary smeared in elephant dung? Or what about the crucifix submerged in a bottle of urine?

And yet, the God of the Islamic Radicals is off limits. It’s as if there is some sort of unwritten rule – thou shalt not profane the prophet.

I suspect the fear of a fatwa plays a significant role in their editorial process. And I can understand that.

Nobody wants to be blown to smithereens – event an idealistic, starving artist.

But I have another theory.

Maybe, just maybe American artists give the God of the Islamic Radicals a pass out of mutual respect. The enemy of my enemy…

One wages jihad with a sword. The other wages jihad with a paint brush.

A person gets the idea that Todd Starnes doesn’t pay much attention to what artists do at all. In fairness, paying attention to what artists (and people in general) do, including all the artistic commentary on Mohammed would be work. And it would require a working brain. The brainless commentary is here. Now I feel like I should dip my computer in bleach.

If there’s demonic activity…

Mercy

…

According to Slate, this gap in American health care has created an opportunity for unregulated religious facilities posing as mental health clinics to take a dangerous role. Slate’s Jennifer Miller interviewed 14 former staffers, ex-clients and families for Nashville-based Mercy Ministries — recently renamed Mercy Multiplied.

The charity serves as an in-patient setting for exclusively female clients, aged 13 to 28. An insight into the philosophy behind the program can perhaps be gleaned from a speech by its founder, Nancy Alcorn, who in 2008 said,

“If there’s demonic activity, like if somebody has opened themselves up to the spirit of lust or pornography or lots of promiscuous sexual activity, then we’ve opened the door for demonic powers. And secular psychiatrists want to medicate things like that, but Jesus did not say to medicate a demon. He said to cast them out. And that’s supposed to be a part of normal Christianity.”

One former patient, Hayley Baker, suffered from a plethora of diagnoses, including major depression and an eating disorder. She also suffered a history of child abuse when she entered a Mercy facility in 2009.

Baker says she was denied prescription Xanax by staffers while suffering nighttime panic attacks, and instead given a sheet of paper saying, “Peaceful Sleep,” bearing a line from the book of Psalms: “He grants sleep to those he loves.”

Baker, like other patients, was told prayer could cure her problems. In fact, staffers approached all problems with this one-size-fits-all religious approach. When one facility experienced an outbreak of mononucleosis, residents were made to walk through the halls and call for banishing of the evil spirits that were causing it.

Baker, who was molested as a little girl, said part of the treatment she was expected to perform was to imagine Jesus being present during a traumatic event in her past and absolving her of guilt associated with it.

“I couldn’t make up Jesus saying something to me,” Hayley told Slate. “I didn’t blame myself for the abuse.”

I’ve had mono. By the time I was diagnosed, I’d had it for some time, and my spleen was enlarged, a common situation with mono. You need to have care, so you don’t rupture your spleen, which is a life threatening situation. “Banishing evil spirits causing mono”. What in the effety eff do you say about that? What happens when the “evil spirits” result in a spleen rupture? This is willful stupidity. It’s dangerous stupidity. It’s devastating to think of all the women who are being so maltreated, especially when they have troubles enough weighing them down.

Their rating at Charity Navigator is 85.97. The recent name change to Mercy Multiplied reflects on how much this fake clinic is branching out. They have even set up in Canada. There’s some very good insight into this travesty of so-called mental health help here. A lot of women end up at MM because there’s simply no other option – they don’t have the money for proper care. There’s more information here and here. There’s also Mercy Survivors.

Slate in depth story.  Full Raw Story.

Evolution: not a religion

SAB

So sayeth the court.

A federal court rejected the argument from a Christian group in Kansas which said that evolution was religious “indoctrination” and should not be taught in schools.

[…]

In a statement, Americans United for Separation of Church and State said that COPE feared that scientific facts would cause “Kansas schoolchildren will be subtly manipulated into rejecting their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

“It’s a nonsensical argument, which is why courts have unanimously rejected it,” Americans United said. “COPE, it seems, isn’t interested in promoting facts; it’s interested in forcing public schools to conduct far-right religious and political indoctrination.”

Full Story Here.

#Boycott Target

Boycott

…As a result of Target’s transgender bathroom policy, the retail chain has now become the target of a boycott. Though not as substantial as the boycott which has sighted North Carolina in its crosshairs (costing the state PayPal, a plethora of performing artists, and even the business of multiple municipalities), the newly implemented Target boycott could end up costing the company’s bottom line.

Apparently, to some, it’s legitimate for states to try to promote “bathroom bills” and other anti-LGBT legislation, but it’s crossing a line for a corporation to take as stand against discrimination. Target, as the first national retailer to publicly weigh in on the LGBT subject publicly, is bearing the brunt of conservative anti-LGBT activism.

[…]

Now, The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of Target, and has gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures of those who intend to boycott the retail giant. Target is also dealing with backlash pertaining to its transgender bathroom policy on social media.

[…]

On Saturday, April 22, Breitbart reported that over 250,000 people had already signed the boycott petition circulated by the American Family Association. According to the American Family Association’s Director of Government Affairs, Sandy Rios, Target “jumped into” the transgender bathroom debate, effectively saying that “men who claim to be women may use whatever bathroom or changing room they choose.”

According to Rios, a “gender neutral” bathroom would be enough to satisfy herself and her organization, although she doubts that such a compromise would “satisfy the left.”

The AFA would be satisfied with a “gender neutral” lav? Somehow I don’t think so. I think they want nothing to do with unisex lavs. What I think they do want is for Target to install a brand new lav labeled “freaks”.

The American Family Association president had some words to share about the Target transgender bathroom policy himself. As Yahoo! News reports, Tim Wildmon posted an open letter to the public regarding his thoughts on the Target bathroom policy. Not surprisingly, he wasn’t impressed.

“Target’s policy is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims. This means a man can simply say he ‘feels like a woman today’ and enter the women’s restroom… even if young girls or women are already in there.”

Wildmon must be absolutely thrilled that’s he found a way back into the limelight. Please, Tim, do us a favour and crawl back into your cave.

Full article here.

Sunday Facepalm

220px-Representative_David_Brumbaugh

Rep. David Brumbaugh. Wikimedia.

Oh hey, God will pick up the tab, no worry.

An Oklahoma lawmaker pushing a bill that would more-or-less ban abortion in the state dismissed concerns that the legislation would drag the cash-strapped state into a costly legal battle by suggesting God would take care of the state’s financial issues.

“Everybody talks about this $1.3 billion deficit,” state Rep. David Brumbaugh (R) said during Thursday evening’s deliberations of the bill, before invoking a saying he said a friend told him.

“If we take care of the morality, God will take care of the economy,” he said.

I guess ‘God’ only cares about economy of Oklahoma, and will only care if good ol’ Dave there legislates all those potential sluts into order. Perhaps the pile drive of the patriarchal thumb is what will fix economies all over. That’s a theory of economics, ennit?

Abortion rights groups warned that the legislation is unconstitutional and that it could invite a legal challenge if signed into law. A 2011 Oklahoma law that essentially banned drug-induced abortion was ruled unconstitutional by the state’s Supreme Court.

“I’ve heard almost every argument today about judicial challenge to this legislation and after much prayer and study, I ask myself this question,” Brumbaugh said. “Do we make laws because they’re moral and right, or do we make them based on what an unelected judicial occupant might question or overturn?”

Supposedly, laws are made to ensure freedoms, rights, justice, (yeah, I know) and to protect people. Those pesky freedoms and rights have been dismissed, there’s no concern for justice, certainly no empathy or mercy to be found, so who is it you’re trying to protect? Oh, clumps of cells. Forgot about those blobs for a moment, what with them not being people or anything.

He compared passing the abortion legislation in the face of a possible legal challenge to the abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights Act and the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

“Don’t let people tell you, ‘Unconstitutional arguments, Roe v. Wade,’ all this,” Brumbaugh said, referencing the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

I swear, one of these days I will actually drop dead from irony poisoning. Oh well, Dave’s bottom line message? Ignore the law until I make up one I like!

Sounds So Horrible It’s Wonderful.

It’s pretty bad. It’s still not as bad as Pat Boone. Way to go protesters! If you’re in the area, think about making a horrible noise at another Pat.

‘Can You Hear Us Now, Pat?’: Awesome ‘Air Horn Orchestra’ Actually HB2 Protest At Governor’s Mansion.

Ripe for Mockery

gI_92391_gI_105172_Abraham Father of Atheism

Abraham Father of Atheism: The logical course of action smart atheists should take is now in a book. There’s a video at that link, but I don’t recommend watching it as it’s very poorly done and simply self serving. On to the website!

…but unfortunately, given the fact that scientists are only 99 percent sure that there is no Creator, shutting believers up with such an answer doesn’t seem to be an effective solution to me. At the end of the day, you are a one percent gambler….

…I agree with you that Muslims, Christians, and Jews should not be considered, by any means, to be useful people, because the world would simply be better without them. However, there is a story about a person called Abraham in their scriptures. His story, believe it or not, is of great significance to you as a non-believer because it can still provide you with the opportunity to justify your disbelief. Consequently the one percent probability is realized and the so-called Big Boss does exist, you will still be a winner.

I admire you; and highly appreciate your disbelief, but you should improve how you justify it in order to free yourself from the jaws of the pliers. In this book, I will teach you how to do that in a way that doesn’t result jeopardizing any afterlife, just in case the so-called Creator does exist.

There’s a wealth of material at the site, and from what I’ve skimmed, I’d be willing to bet this person wants to be the next Chopra. As for me, I can only take so much before the 3rd cup of tea. All I have to say right now is:

BOLLOCKS!

BOLLOCKS!