What Would Jesus Do? Pray To Himself?

He'd Certainly Pray BY Himself!

Rick Warren is now again in a conundrum - created by his own self. He'll be damned if he does it, or damned if he doesn't: say the name of Jesus Christ. I just LOVE these kind of quandaries presented to hypocritical "men of God." Of course, being a hypocrite, he won't feel a thing either way. He'll perform the invocation in a smug, satisfied sort of way, kind of self-righteous, but not nearly as much as a Franklin Graham or a James Dobson.

"Prayers are not to be sermons, speeches, ion statements nor political posturing. They are humble, personal appeals to God," Warren wrote. His spokesman would not elaborate.

If Warren truly believes what Jesus preached about prayer (to go to a dark spot in your house and talk to God alone), why doesn't he just use that as an excuse not to deliver the invocation? Why should there be, in fact, an invocation at all? Probably because the inauguration is, like everything else the country adores, is high entertainment. The solemnity, the reverence, the sheer awesomeness of the installation of the powerful, the wonderful, the wise President of the United States of America is purely entertainment. Ask yourself this: what is the difference between a U.S. presidential inauguration and a coronation? Look at the two, pare them down to basics: not much difference.

Evangelicals generally expect their clergymen to use Jesus' name whenever and wherever they lead prayer. Many conservative Christians say cultural sensitivity goes way too far if it requires religious leaders to hide their beliefs.

"If Rick Warren does not pray in Jesus' name, some folks are going to be very disappointed," Caldwell said in a recent phone interview. "Since he's evangelical, his own tribe, if you will, will have some angst if he does not do that."

To have angst over ritual is rather insipid, isn't it? Ritual is man-made, regardless of all the particulars of the Bible, the Qur'an and Confucian texts. Ritual is for the entertainment of man because God couldn't care less about the way a ritual is carried out. Honoring God with ritual - any ritual - is the only thing that matters. Whether you handle snakes or fart and put a lampshade on your head is of no consequence. If the intent is to honor God, then the ritual is good.

Just a thought.

The Virginity Pledge Springs A Leak

A study just published by PEDIATRICS puts the screw to virginity pledges and abstinence only programs. The article, BTW, is titled aptly: Patient Teenagers?

Confirming what many have been saying for years, a new survey finds that teenagers who pledge to forgo sexual activity until marriage were just as likely to engage in premarital sex as those who do not. Adolescents who take the pledge are also less likely than their peers to use birth control or condoms when they do have sex, according to the survey results. The study was published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The US government spends more than $200 million annually on abstinence-promotion programs, including virginity pledges.

Remember what happened to the Volstead Act? It proved that when people really really want something, not even an Act of Congress will stand in their way of getting it. And "getting it" is just what every teenager in the world dreams about.

Any color, any gender, any time. Just the thought of being a virgin for any length of time is enough to annihilate puberty. A virginity pledge might as well be: "I pledge not to breath until I find the one person insane enough not to breath as well and until we can both breath with the Blessings of God."

Virginity pledges don't work. Abstinence only education doesn't work. Voids don't work. Pimples rule. The Bush administration has always spent money on things that don't work: Bush racked up the most vacation time of any President in history including vacations during disasters.

Ten Most Stupid People of 2008

I can't help it. Of the ten most stupid people in 2008, five are "men of God" and one is a woman who wants to BE God! It's a no-brainer that they were all Republicans, ah, sorry, I mean "Conservatives". Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly were disqualified because they are PAID to be stupid. They are PROFESSIONAL idiots.

#10 Michelle Bachmann

For her mix-up of Jesus Christ with Nancy Pelosi:

[Pelosi] is committed to her global warming fanaticism to the point where she has said that she's just trying to save the planet. We all know that someone did that over 2,000 years ago, they saved the planet -- we didn't need Nancy Pelosi to do that.

# 9 John McCain
Simply for not knowing who Sarah Palin was.

# 8 John Hagee
From one of his stupid books:

Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.

#7 Pat Robertson
That's not God talking to Robertson. It's senility.

# 6 Rod Parsley
For using fatal military terms in his sermons without a license.

#5 Dick Cheney:
(From Think Progress):

When told that two-thirds of Americans disapproved of the Iraq war, Cheney responded “so?,” adding that he didn’t care what the American people thought.

This statement isn't just snide arrogance, it's very, very stupid: the "Will of the People" doesn't stop after elections. It goes on and it evolves after finding out facts about the performance of the administration they voted into office. Iraq, Abu Ghraib and Katrina proved that people didn't like what they were seeing, but according to Cheney, "who cares? They're stuck with us! Fuck 'em!"

#4. Mike Huckabee
When it came to comments on gay marriage and gay rights, Huckabee scored the most laughter on sound tracks across the country. What do you expect from a guy who, 10 years after research defined HIV transmission, still thought you could get AIDS from a toilet seat?

#3 Sarah Palin
Appearing on Saturday Night Live! does not necessarily mean that you are a good sport about political satire. It merely means you are not able to quell the furor evoked by hilarious take-offs of a TV show easily understood by people with half a brain. Making yourself look ridiculous after others have made you look ridiculous is not necessarily the best political strategy.

#2. Rick Warren
First he hates gays, then he loves them. The backpedaling this "man of God" has performed is astounding, given that he's a Southern Baptist who thinks he can get more people to convert to Christianity by wearing Hawaiian shirts. And building skateboard parks. His "many gay friends" have yet to come forward to say they invited him to dinner just to hear him insult them with verses from the Bible.

#1 George W. B**h

On the bailout plan for the U.S. economy:

If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down!

Enough said.

Top Ten Religious Stories of 2008: How Many of These Guys CRAVED Publicity?

We'll be posting TOP 10 Lists Until January 1st.

WARNING: They will not be reverent. (Did you expect otherwise?)

O.K., The Top 10 Religion Stories of 2008 as selected by 100 religion journalists:

1. Barack Obama's minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Why Wright should be singled out for this dubious honor demonstrates that you can hold all sorts of wild beliefs in this country, just don't say "God Damn America." Pastor John Hagee got an honorable mention as the minister who called Roman Catholicism "The Great Whore." And Rod Parsley also got a nod for using military language and saying the U.S. was created to destroy Islam.

2. The outreach of Democrats to the Christian Right. Dems targeted most of the churches...ah...except...the Snake Handlers of West Virginia.






3. Sarah Palin didn't handle any snakes, but she brought out the venom of born-again trailer people at her rallies.






4. California Supreme Court declares gay marriage legal. Then the Christofascists of the entire country united (for the first time ever) to amend the California Constitution, proving that nothing unites people like a common hatred.






5. Pope Benedict XVI's appearance in the U.S. He danced around the country in his red shoes and told everyone how he loved the U.S. - and its money. He also met with people sexually abused by Catholic Priests. It didn't make them any happier when he said "Hey, wadaya want? Celibacy can cause some really kinky sex. I know!"


6. U.S. conservatives alienated from the Episcopal Church said they will ask Anglican Communion leaders for permission to create the Anglican Church in North America. With their numbers declining, they thought it might be cool to be labled: Anglican Straight.


7. Religious zealotry posed as the cause of the 3-day rioting in Mumbai resulting in the deaths of 200 people. Some people aren't up on turban etiquette.











8. China suppresses Tibetan Buddhists seeking independence just before the Beijing Olympic Games. Some Buddhists still got their licks in - especially when Richard Gere gave his leading lady a full kiss and Hindu clerics heart attacks.




9. A battered economy forces many faith-based initiatives to be cut back. They're going back to their mainstay: bake sales.















10. Sunnis and Shiites continue to fight each other, sometimes targeting Christians during the melee. They both have longer and more vivid memories of the Crusades.

The REAL Miracle of Christmas

O.K., I'm going to bore everyone and ruminate for a while. I can do that. It's MY blog, after all!

Christmas Day is supposed to be a special time for people to reach out to family, friends...and, well... everyone. Right now is where I'm supposed to say that it isn't for all the material things, the presents, the tree, the mistletoe, blah, blah, blah. But I'm going to go a step further: it's not for the Babe in the Manger either.

WHAT?!!!
("Gasp! He must be a friggin' atheist")

No, Christmas is not for the Son of God.

It's for survival.

Survival of the fittest? No, even Darwin would say "definitely not." No, just...survival.

That's it.

Now I'm not going to throw in a remark about living in the nuclear age, or even "saving the planet" (although both would be appropriate). No, the real miracle of Christmas is that it is one day among three hundred and sixty-five which tells us how to survive in the only way possible: by reaching out in compassion to help our fellow human beings ... survive.

I guess you could also say that it's a miracle we have one day with such frequency, given the state of open hostility we have for each other. It's the one day we have to let down our guard of self-preservation and try to reach out to a hand that needs us.

Now here's the part where I'm supposed to go all KUM-BI-YAH on you, but I won't. The way we've been acting, we don't deserve that one special day out of the year. Christmas Day literally forces some people to be nice to each other. It has to pummel them with the shock and awe of miracles just to make us help others ... survive.

It's sad that there must to be one day out of the year that tells us, like a mother to her children, "play nice."

So perhaps the real miracle of Christmas is that we have Christmas at all.

We must learn from it.

Else we will not survive.

Just a thought.

Someone PLEASE Give These People A History Lesson!

You certainly Won't Get It From Family Research Council!

Literalists. Inerrantists. Fundamentalists. NONE of them take the Bible seriously.

And by "seriously" I mean serious enough to study it in the world of real history, to study it in context, to compare all translations and be able to answer the most glaring contradictions. But they won't. Never have and never will. Because to them, all of that is quite unnecessary. They want the lowest common denominator, the least amount of work, the words that come closest to their own opinions and attitudes.

They really are a lazy bunch of people. Spiritually lazy, anyway. Looking at the Bible from EVERY angle leads to questions and questions lead to more questions. It's almost never ending! Easier to have it spoon-fed to them.

Family Research Council's Tony Perkins proselytizes by using scripture without any historical or scholarly references.

Check this out:

Rome needed increased revenues, and Caesar knew how to get it. He first ordered that a census be conducted. He wanted a head count in order to apportion the amounts of money each provincial governor-like Cyrenius, governor of Syria-would be required to raise.

Then...

All this ordering and obeying, this saluting and receiving of salutes, this "hail caesaring" was necessary to bring millions of people together in their ancestral villages. And so Joseph, who was of the House and Lineage of David, also complied with Caesar's decree.

...Thus were Joseph and Mary brought into Bethlehem.

Read the whole conceptual mess here. The Census of Quirinius, as it was called, has been debated (and in some cases, debunked):

"The only enrollment arranged by Quirinius took place in 6 C.E., ten years after Herod the Great died. This census, made to gather taxes from Roman citizens, caused revolt in Judea but did not involve the population of Galilee, where Joseph and Mary lived..." (Ken Davis, Don't Know Much About The Bible, 1998)

In one day, people will bow down to images made of marble, plaster, concrete, plastic or inflatable poly-styrene depicting a baby in a tiny hay feeder and surrounded by his adoring (literally) mother, father, three men with crowns on their heads holding various gilt boxes, shepherds, sheep, an occasional donkey or cow, and an angel spreading a banner above the scene. This scene's authenticity is never questioned by the people who are bowing their heads.

It's a pastiche of "Christ's Mass" cobbled from two Gospels (not all four), but try telling that to the bow-headed people. It's Tony Perkins' duty to keep these people in check, so he gives out simple, but erroneous information with a backdrop of some historical artifacts. He also counts on people not reading the Bible or certainly not questioning it enough. One inkling of doubt will lead to another and another and another, ad infinitum. And with doubt, Perkins and his ilk lose power. Scholarship is their enemy.

One wonders if the Tony Perkinses, James Dobsons, Rick Warrens and Pat Robertsons have plans to lock up all the actual Biblical scholars, historians, archeologists and anthropologists. Is there a "reality" version of the Bible? If there is, I'm sure its well hidden.

Just a thought.

Warren: You Can Go To Our Church, Even If You Are Filthy Rotten Sinners!

But We Still Love You!

Rick Warren doesn't have the courage of his convictions. Stupidity is not courage. The website for his church stated this until Friday:

Because membership in a church is an outgrowth of accepting the Lordship and leadership of Jesus in one’s life, someone unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted at a member at Saddleback Church. That does not mean they cannot attend church – we hope they do! God’s Word has the power to change our lives.

This statement has been pulled. Of course, "at a member at Saddleback Church" is a grammatical error (Warren hasn't fully mastered the English language yet take a look at the rest of the site here), but you can rest assured it wasn't pulled because of that.

The brouhaha over Barack Obama's invitation to Rick Warren to deliver the invocation for the Presidential Inauguration has caused Warren to be on the defensive. Within the space of hours, we've heard Warren say (on what seems like twenty talk shows) that he has "many gay friends". How much of this BS can we stand? Who in his/her right mind would have the Warrens over for dinner knowing what they think of gays? Or do the Warrens accept invitations from gays to make them ex-gays?

Warren is going from Elmer Gantry to Elmer Fudd again.

He may have expunged the comment about homosexuals and acceptance at Saddleback from his website, but the nitwit still left in a LOT of things to cause animosity. Like Fudd would say, "wook cwoswy vewy vewy cwoswy": this is what Saddleback has to say about the possibility of homosexuality being innate or genetic:

...even if some physical difference were discovered, it would be no excuse for sin.

In fact, there are a great many discrepancies and oddities strewn about the site. Warren's blind belief in the Bible is really ludicrous:

The Bible is God´s word to all men. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5)

Spoken like a true Christofascist: "it is truth without any mixture of error" MIXTURE?? Now that's a bit confusing. Sounds nice, but what the hell does it mean? Is the Bible like some cocktail? Whatever mixture it is will still be liquor? BTW, ANYTHING that's written by human authors is bound to be screwed up sooner or later. Take a look at this translation:

"Homosexuality is absolutely forbidden, for it is an enormous sin." (Lev. 18:22 TLB).

The term "homosexuality" was definitely NOT in the lexicon of the Hebrews who were in exile in Babylon at the time Leviticus was written. And "enormous sin" is not quite the same as all of the "abominations" we've been hearing about for the last fifty years!

And the ultimate of "Pick and Choose" rests in the fact that to put forth his talking points, Warren's minion, Tom Holladay (who looks vaguely like John Waters) uses THREE DIFFERENT TRANSLATIONS for quotes! TLB, NIV, NLT (and possibly BLT - the famous MacDonald's translation).

The moral of this post: if you're going to be a bigoted Christofascist, don't be a stupid Christofascist.

Just a thought.

Intense Irrationalism: The Power Of The Christofascists

O.K., here I go again, describing Christofascism for the umpteenth time! But the new PEW report shows us some alarming evidence. What the Christofascists tell people about our "Christian Nation" and about our "Faith" is not quite true.

Where's the 90% we've been hearing about?

It's somewhere in the attic of the Christofascist mind along with "marriage has been defined as one man, one woman for five thousand years!" Again, the Christofascist is defined in two groups: Elmer Gantrys and Elmer Fudds. The Gantrys are the ones with the slickest, loudest, Bible-tinged rhetoric. The Fudds are "vewy, vewy quiet" but carry guns. The PEW report, however, shows us just how misrepresented the country is when it comes to "Faith."

The Breakdown:

American Public:

Protestant – 51.3%
Catholic – 23.9%
Jewish – 1.7%
Mormon – 1.7%
Other Faiths – 4.5%
Unafilliated – 16.1% Unspecified - .8%

Congress:

Protestant – 54.7%
Catholic – 30.1%
Jewish – 8.4%
Mormon – 2.6%
Other Faiths – 3.3%
Unafilliated – 0
Unspecified - .9%

Where did that 16% go to?

It's very clear that no member of Congress will state that he/she is "unaffiliated." That's the first indication of Christofascism at work. It is also indicated in the fact that Jewish representation is four times higher than its population. In reality, the country identifies itself as only 75% Christian. And if you break down denominations, the Warrens, Wrights, Parsleys, Robertsons, Hagees, Osteens, Kopelands, Dobsons are in a very small minority. So why do these Gantrys and Fudds, who probably number about 15% of the country seem to control at least 55%? (we're not counting Pope Ratzinger).

Again, they are the most political, they shout the loudest and longest (through the media) and they depend upon the public's fear of religion (God). They use that fear to create group that feeds on hatred of "the other." They also confuse obedience to God with patriotism.

Of course, there's truth in the old axiom: "God does not love a flag. He loves us all!" but the Christofascists will never use it: nationalism is a chief factor in all fascism and Christofascists will always use it and isolationism to sustain their "flocks".

Just a thought.

The Freudian Slip Of Politico.com: What Most Of Us REALLY Feel

It's not just wishful thinking anymore!

I did the same thing in my last post, but this one was unintentional:
(Politico.com - Breaking News)

Saturday - 2:38 PM

President Obama has now upped his goal to creating nearly 3 million jobs over the next two years, up from 2.5 million just a month ago, Democratic officials said Saturday.

(Politico.com - Breaking News)

Saturday - 2:47 PM

CORRECTED: President-elect Obama has now upped his goal to creating nearly 3 million jobs over the next two years, from 2.5 million just a month ago, Democratic officials said Saturday.

This shows how people are chomping at the bit for January 20. How will we ever survive the next 30 days? Will B**h up the number of deregulations up to 300? This is stupid and vengeful! It would have been easier if he'd staged a coup d'etat and declared himself either king or Dictator for Life!

How George Pictured Himself.
By the Grace of God, of Course

One Presidency: $200 million, A Shoe Thrown At The President: $34, Discribing Bush in One Word: Priceless

"The Good Old Days"

NOW We Can Talk Approval Ratings?

Pew Research is always pretty accurate. We have a daily feed to our home page that gives us the latest on Politics and Religion. We've used them before, and the numbers have been real eye-openers!

But when it comes to the last eight years and George W. B**h, the numbers vindicate our resentment, while - frankly- making us laugh at the same time! I wish there were a way for Pew Research representatives to follow around Rove and B**h in his "Legacy Tour" with placards of ratings.

When I saw the below stastics, it made me howl! From "Christian" to "Idiot" (sort of redundant) see what the country REALLY thinks of our diplomatic dimwit. The numbers are NOT percentages, but how many people out of 1000 responded with these words when asked for a one-word description both in 2004 and 1008

Describing Bush in One Word:
	'04	'08	Change
Incompetent	21	56	35
Idiot	12	27	15
Ignorant	2	14	12
Honorable	5	16	11
Selfish	5	13	8
Stupid	12	16	4
Ass	6	9	3
Dedicated	7	8	1
OK	5	5	0
Patriot/Patriotic	6	5	-1
Sincere	5	4	-1
Arrogant	25	23	-2
Determined	10	7	-3
Great	7	3	-4
Confident	7	3	-4
Honest	35	31	-4
Good	26	20	-6
Integrity	16	9	-7
Dishonest	9	1	-8
Excellent	11	0	-14
Fair	18	5	-13
Christian	14	0	-14
Liar	18	4	-14
Strong	18	4	-14
Leader	30	8	-22

Now Let's Talk LEGACIES!!: (This one in %)


NOW Let's See Percentage Comparisons: Clinton, Jan. 01 Bush, Dec. 08 Accomplishments 60% 24% Failures 27% 64%
These figures are almost completely reversed!

In other words, The feelings about Clinton's failures in 2001 were the same as Bush's accomplishments in 2008! And Republicans castigated Clinton while everyone thought of him as a successful President and backed Bush when everyone thought of him as incompetent!

So it's in black and white: people think Bush is an ass who has ruined the country and the Republican Party.

Just a thought!

"And We Bessech Thee, Oh Lord, To Give This President The Courage to Kill Muslims And Gays For They Are Evildoers. Amen!"

Oh, But Lord, I Personally Am
NOT A Hater Of Muslims Or Gays!
(No one could EVER pin those stupid phobia names on ME!)

I realize that Obama is trying desperately to reach out to everyone in the country. Unfortunately, that includes Christofascists. And the emerging Christofascist of the day is none other than Rick Warren.

(From Box Turtle Bulletin)

The New York Times’ Katharine Seelye is reporting that Rick Warren, the pastor at Saddleback Church, has been chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to deliver the invocation at the inaugural ceremony.

This is the same Rick Warren who recently said that the relationships of his “many gay friends” are no different from child rape, incest or polygamy. He also jumped on the paranoia bandwagon surrounding same-sex marriage by falsely claiming that Prop 8’s failure somehow would have overturned the Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and religion. (It can’t. No law or state constitution can.).

Warren on gays:

… Most people, you know… I have many gay friends, I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes, no church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church. Kay and I have given millions of dollars out of “A Purpose-Driven Life” helping people who got AIDS through gay relationships. So they can’t accuse me of homophobia. I just don’t believe in the re-definition of marriage.

Hmmm. I think he's lying.

"Shock! Shock! Shock! You just called the country's most influential 'Man of God' a Liar!"

Yeah, so?

Let's look at the statements a little bit closer: "I have many gay friends." After he compares you to a child rapist would YOU be friends with Rick Warren? "...no church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church." It's a pity all the people who can attest to that live in Africa. "...people who got AIDS through gay relationships." Meaning: "gay relationships cause AIDS."

Like the true Christofascist he is, Warren lies like a pro.

Just a thought.