New Christian weight loss program

Have you guys heard the story about closet Muslims secretly sacrificing turkeys to Allah? Yeah, apparently if you’re a good, faithful Christian and you want to avoid “creeping Sharia,” you need to boycott most major brands of turkey this Thanksgiving.

Well, seems to me that this could be the basis for a great weight-loss program. I hereby bless all the food in all the stores, markets, restaurant, and refrigerators in America, in the name of Allah, Bismallah-ulRahman wal Rahim.

There, now all true believers can boycott eating entirely. Take that, demon Gluttony.

(Say, “creeping Shariah”—didn’t I used to go to school with her?)

 

Christian Nation: A Hindu perspective

Here’s a point of view that doesn’t get much press.

The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) sought clarification and an apology from Kentucky Senator David Williams (R-KY) in a telephone conversation yesterday, after his latest remarks about Governor Beshear’s “participation” in a Hindu ground-breaking ceremony. Williams, the GOP Nominee for Governor, initially made waves on Tuesday for criticizing Beshear and expressing his hope that Hindus accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. His comments were met with disappointment and shock from the Hindu American community and were strongly condemned by HAF.

It’s not just atheists who see major problems with fundamentalists in government. And the problem isn’t just people being religious. It’s people in power using their religion to marginalize and exclude minorities.

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The devil did NOT make them do it

Remember Daniel Avila, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops staffer who published a column blaming homosexuality on demonic activity in the womb? He screwed up.

Daniel Avila, an attorney who serves as policy advisor for the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has retracted a Boston archdiocesan newspaper column linking Satan with the origins of same-sex attractions.

Sadly, though, this withdrawal does not indicate any actual change in opinion. He merely failed to follow the proper technical procedure.

Statements made in my column, ‘Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction’ of October 28, do not represent the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the column was not authorized for publication as is required policy for staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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Divine no-show leaves Camping “humbled”

It looks like Harold Camping has raised his head for a rather confused look at the world he did not expect to still be here.

In the five-minute statement, Camping called on his followers not to feel abandoned by God and said whiffing on both the Oct. 21 date and an earlier prediction of May 21 had left him humbled…

In his recording, Camping also apologized to non-saved Christians for suggesting they would be left behind during the rapture. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he said.

You’d almost think there was a lesson there for poor Dr. Camping. But if there was, he missed it.

He also said that his reading of the Bible, and deciphering its true meaning, was far from finished.

“I have been checking my own notes more carefully than ever,” Camping said. “And I do find that there is other language in the Bible that we still have to look at very carefully.”

Either that, or maybe he’s just reading it with the wrong assumptions. Ya think?

 

What’s this?

Looks like there’s some kind of Facebook feud going on between the Secular Student Alliance and Campus Crusade for Christ.

Currently the Secular Students are running at about 14K “likes” versus Campus Crusade at a little over 4x that number. That’s actually not too shabby for a secular organization. I’m sure we can do better than that, though. Can’t we?

Better yet, if you’re not an FB fan (and I can certainly understand if you’re not), you can help the SSA directly by going to this link:

https://www.secularstudents.org/20kmatch

I’ll just pass on what the sponsor says: “Details: becoming an annual member of the SSA ($35 for adults, $10 for students) counts as a donation.  We’re trying to ride the more than double popularity we’ve achieved in the last 10 hours and hope to fill this match within the week.”

A suggestion for Dr. Dawkins

If you’ve seen Richard Dawkins’ response to William Lane Craig, you know that he really does not need my help. I can’t resist making one suggestion, though. If Craig goes through with his intended stunt, and puts an empty chair on the stage at Oxford to represent Dr. Dawkins’ non-appearance, Dawkins should respond in kind. But he shouldn’t waste his time on the small fry. Dr. Dawkins should challenge God to a debate. There should be an empty chair on a stage somewhere, and Dawkins should stand up beside it and say, “Well then, I believe that according to William Lane Craig’s rules of engagement, I am now entitled to declare that God is afraid to face me because He knows He’s wrong.”

Not only would God’s failure to show up make great blog material, but the Christians would fall all over themselves explaining why a refusal to show up does not mean you’re running away scared.

Godless govt. prevents Biblical justice

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the Dallas First Baptist Church, turns to the Bible for advice in how to deal with Harold Camping and his failed end-times prophecies.

Jeffress confirmed with The Christian Post on Thursday that he is still condemning Camping.

“The Bible says that if someone makes a prophecy that doesn’t come true he is to be considered a false prophet and stoned to death,” he told CP. “Harold Camping has made at least three false prophecies about the day of the Rapture. And so, if he’s not going to be stoned to death, he at least needs to be muzzled.”

Yeah, it must be really frustrating for a Bible-believing Christian to live in a godless nation that won’t even let you carry out Biblical commandments on how to treat your fellow Christians.

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Shooting your own horse

There seems to be a new debating tactic among adversaries of the New Atheists, and one Colin Tudge gives us a good example.

Richard Dawkins has no sense of irony. He rails endlessly against fundamentalists yet he defends old-fashioned, Thomas Gradgrind-style materialism as zealously as the Mid-West Creationists defend the literal truth of Genesis. He accuses others of misrepresentation yet he seriously misrepresents religion. Also, which is irony writ large, he misrepresents science, in whose name he is assumed to speak. He condemns the Catholics for filling the heads of children with a particular view of life before they have had a chance to think for themselves – and now, in The Magic of Reality, written for readers as young as nine, he has done precisely that. As somebody said of Miss Jean Brodie, it’s time he was put a stop to.

Sounds like a pretty spirited opposition, right? Full frontal assault, reinforced by famous people (or famous names at least) like Spinoza and Schrödinger, and appeals to both modern science and modern theology. And then there’s this.

Religions do not depend upon their myths and miracles. They are there as illustrations.

Bam.  You’re coming around the first turn, the crowd is cheering, you’re ready to make your big move to overtake the leader, and you pull out a large revolver and shoot your own horse dead. True religion, you see, is religion without the supernatural. All those myths and miracles and such are merely illustrations, not meant to be taken literally. To understand why Dawkins is wrong, you have to understand Christmas without the Virgin Birth and the Nativity story, Easter without the Resurrection, Christianity without Christ. Then you’ll see why Dawkins’ criticisms are off base.

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