Secularity rises, but…

SAB

A research team that included Ryne Sherman from Florida Atlantic University and Julie J. Exline and Joshua B. Grubbs from Case Western Reserve University analyzed data from 58,893 respondents to the General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults administered between 1972 and 2014. Five times as many Americans in 2014 reported that they never prayed as did Americans in the early 1980s, and nearly twice as many said they did not believe in God.

Americans in recent years were less likely to engage in a wide variety of religious practices, including attending religious services, describing oneself as a religious person, and believing that the Bible is divinely inspired, with the biggest declines seen among 18- to 29-year-old respondents.

Okay, this is pleasant news, but drowning in the current tide of clowns which is our electoral system at work, and religious belief fueling horrendous acts, killing people, and increasing hate and fear, it’s hard to get excited. There’s also the constant tide of idiocy which rather belies any growing secularism in the States:

BOISE – Legislation saying the use of the Bible as a reference in Idaho’s public schools is “expressly permitted” passed the Idaho House on Monday and headed to the governor’s desk – even though the state attorney general concluded such a law is “specifically prohibited” by the Idaho Constitution.

North Idaho Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, the bill’s House sponsor, told the House, “The little Supreme Court in my head says this is OK.”

Dixon and other supporters argued that the Bible is nonsectarian and nondenominational, and that the reason the bill mentions only the Bible and not other religious texts is because the Bible alone is “under attack.” “There are many religions that refer back to the Bible in their tenets,” Dixon said.

Boy, does the “little Supreme Court” in my head ever differ. Full story here.

TNET

TeaNet

Hi, and welcome to TNET. The Prime Directive applies, even more so here: don’t be an asshole. Peas are optional. This is a place which is safe. You can be serious, silly, supportive and all things in between. You can argue too, but keep arguments about the subject, not those arguing. If there’s a problem, holler in thread or email me (there’s a link on the sidebar.) Have fun. The tentacles in a tea cup design is available at Urban Threads.

Guess the Heresy

Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News / Wikicommons

Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News / Wikicommons

Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill denounced as “heresy” those human rights that he said contradicted the Bible, and proclaimed fighting them the goal of his church, the Interfax news agency reported Sunday.

“We are seeing how efforts are being made in many prosperous countries to establish by law the person’s right to any choice, including the most sinful ones, those that contradict god’s word, the concept of holiness, the concept of god,” Patriarch Kirill said after a Sunday service at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, Interfax reported.

He did not specify which human rights he found offensive, but called for Russian Orthodox believers to “defend” their faith, the report said.

“Today we are [dealing with] a global heresy of worshipping the human, the new idolatry that removes god from human life,” Kirill was quoted as saying. “Nothing like that had even happened on a global scale before. It is specifically at overcoming this present day’s heresy, the consequences of which can become apocalyptic, that the church must aim the force of its protection, its word, its thought.”

I expect we could all easily guess those human rights the Patriach considers heresy. Orthodox or Roman, the Catholic church remains one of the most dangerous forces in the world to humanity in general. [Article.]

All blastocysts go to heaven

Embryos can hug Jesus, yes, they can!

“All children, all babies, all people who are not of the age of accountability,” the pastor insisted. “God don’t lose babies, even aborted babies — if the world don’t accept them, God accepts them and brings them in the very presence of who he is. It’s going to be a wonderful time.”

“Can we touch Jesus? Yes,” he said. “Can we actually go up to him and hug him? Yes! And can we speak to him? Yes! That’s what’s so wonderful about Heaven. We can’t do that now in what I call these Adam-like bodies here, these natural bodies, but you will be able to come up to him and hug him and just bless him.”

I wish I was good at cartooning. I’d love to see an embryo huggin’ Jesus.

Sunday Facepalm

Snail Fossils, excitement!

According to Wayne Propst, he was replacing soil in his aunt Sharon Givan’s yard when he made the amazing discovery of the fossilized snail shells which he believes date back to the time of Noah’s flood.

Seeking to verify the veracity of his claim, Propst contacted self-proclaimed fossil expert Joe Taylor who stated that the fossils indeed are a remnant of the Biblical flood that covered the Earth due to God’s wrath.

It’s nice, seeing someone interested in fossils, but jumping right to OMG NOAH!, and adding a non-professional verification? Oh my. This is more of a confirmation slam than bias.

Although Taylor has yet to study the fossils — or even lay eyes on them in person — he believes that they are a sign of the flood in the dry East Texas town and called the discovery “rare.”

“I’ve never heard of anything about that from over there, I’m surprised he found it there,” Taylor explained.

That is just so sad, such a complete lack of knowledge about natural science, the history of our lovely planet.

“Now all I got to do is go in front of my aunt’s house and pick up something from back when it all began. I don’t even have to search anymore,” said Probst, adding, ” Who else can say they have a front yard full of Noah’s dirt?”

Um…all of us? Except that it has nothing to do with a biblical character.

Propst’s aunt Sharon agreed, saying: “To think that like he says that we have something in our yard that dated back to when God destroyed the earth. I mean, how much better could anything be?”

Oh yeah, the earth being destroyed, that’s fantastic! Maybe he’ll do it again, and we’ll get to see this time! Oh my.

Quotation Challenge

There’s a quotation group on Moblog, and it’s a lot of fun. You choose a quotation, then illustrate it photographically. Some quotations can be a real challenge. I’d like to do that here, but with a bit of a twist. Leave quotations you’d like to see illustrated here, and anyone can choose one, and illustrate it any way you like, with a photo, drawing, or other art form, then send it to [email protected].  Here’s an old one I did for the Moblog group, way back when, titled Perhaps:

perhaps

“Perhaps the most lasting pleasure in life is the pleasure of not going to church.” – William Inge

SIGNAL BOOST: Counter the Horror

marquez-tolbert-hat-650

Marquez Tolbert, photo from Project Q

I’m sitting, typing, with tears flowing. A woman’s boyfriend, not in his own home, decided to pour boiling water over the woman’s son and his boyfriend, because he just didn’t like all that gay. Christ. That anyone could do such a thing, to deliberately cause such traumatic injury…this shit has to stop. We must be better than this. The story is here, and it’s graphic and beyond heart wrenching. Both of these young men have Go Fund Me accounts set up, to help counter the medical cost. Please, even if it’s just a dollar or the equivalent, please, help. If nothing else, it shows these young men that there are people who care, who accept them unreservedly. Anthony’s Burn Medical Fund and Marquez’s Burn Recovery Fund. There are graphic images of their injuries at the sites.

Thank you, Rats

File this one under: FFS. My apologies to PZ, for pestering him unnecessarily. I’ve had to change things in my studio lately, to accommodate all the ratlets, and didn’t realize the rats could get up on the computer station. Even more stupidly, I left an admin page open, and left my keyboard on. In their usual mysterious way, they hit a perfect storm of keys, and borked everything here. It’s all fixed up now, so all you wonderful people who commented today, you’ll have to do it again, I can’t figure out how to move comments (if it’s even possible – the rats could probably do it.) For your trouble, here’s Ville, one of Violette’s boys, named after Ville Valo, because of the wicked cute.

Ville

Ville1

Dreaming of Dandelions

Bee3

It’s too early here yet, but every year, I eagerly await the first appearance of the dandelions. I love dandelions, and I loathe this odd mania so many people have for golf course lawns, bland, boring, non-nutritious, and toxic. Dandelions are not only a boon to all pollen gatherers, they are beautiful flowers, attractive, the clocks are fun for everyone (make a wish!), and they are a great food source for us human types. The flower heads can be dipped in batter, fried, done up sweet or savory. Then there are fritters. The dandelion bud omelet, of course, which has been a favoured Spring food for ages. Getting outside to go gathering dandelion bits is a nice way to spend part of a day, too. You can get your exercise without even noticing.  The young Spring leaves are best, the older leaves become bitter, but there are ways around that if it’s all you have. The roasted roots make a good substitute for coffee, and there’s an adventurous recipe out there for roasted dandelion root ice cream. (I don’t make ice cream, but I’d like to taste that). There have been many additions to the store of dandelion recipes over the years, and I’m looking forward to trying out many of them.

I’m definitely going to give the Dandelion Flower Burgers a try, they sound fun in a messy sort of way:

Dandelion Burgers from Forage Ahead

1 cup packed dandelion petals (no greens)

1 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp each basil and oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

Mix all ingredients together. The batter will be goopy. Form into patties and pan fry in oil or butter, turning until crisp on both sides. Makes 4-5 very nutritious vegetable burgers. No, they don’t taste like hamburger, but they ain’t bad.

The old bud omelet will be first, though:

Gather one cup dandelion buds before flower color shows. Fry buds in dab of butter until they ‘pop’.
Add 4 eggs, salt and pepper.
Top with raw (young) dandelion leaves, finely cut before serving.

Dandelion recipes are all over the ‘net, and easy to find. Here are two sources to get you started: http://naturesnurtureblog.com/dandelions-friend-or-foe-with-recipes/ and http://www.eattheweeds.com/dandelions-hear-them-roar/