Solar-Powered Bibles: Misguided Donations To Haiti or Spiritual Shysters?

Stop The Disaster Relief!
Haiti Is Saved!
With Solar-Powered Bibles!?!

I'm not making this stuff up! Our thanks to Dr. Valerie Tarico for letting us know about this latest humanitarian miracle!

From Huffington Post:

Solar Powered Bibles for Haiti:
Why Some Christians Feel Compelled to Exploit Disaster

Physicist Steven Weinberg once said, "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

For solar powered Bibles or church-building to win out over food and medicine requires a religion that values conversion over compassion. But when we see this phenomenon at its worst, it is because someone in the thrall of a viral ideology has figured out some reverse alchemy that turns the precious gold of empathy into the lead of opportunism.

Dr. Tarico must have read my article about Pat Robertson and "God's Ambulance Chasers." Now I have a bona fide reference to turn to when arguing about some Christians' compassion. Even mainstream Christians are having a rough time over the "donations".

From Gizmodo

They claim that “the Proclaimer is self-powered and can play the Bible in the jungle, desert or… even on the moon!” I’m sure that it would be more helpful there than in Haiti. Because, in Haiti, a solar-powered Bible will be as helpful as the Genesis according to Eddie Izzard.

With the exception of some brave local affiliates and The Young Turks this situation has not gotten much coverage. I wonder why. Does the media think it's too lightweight? Or that any coverage would be insulting to Christians overall?

Perhaps it hasn't been covered because it would be an insult to Haitians. When the tsunami devastated southeast Asia years ago, Jerry Falwell dared to send 600,000 scriptural tracts and the response was a cold "thanks, but no thanks" by populations that were mostly Hindus and Muslims.

The maker and marketer of "The Proclaimer," Faith Comes By Hearing insists that relief groups are clamoring for it. The website shows a mass of people reaching for something being given out, but you can rest assured that it isn't an audio bible or that they're even near one.

Faith Comes By Hearing, an international Audio Bible group, is working with Convoy of Hope to provide spiritual relief in Haiti.

Unfortunately, Convoy of Hope would rather have the cash:

MSNBC:

Many agencies try to motivate donors with the mathematics of the situation. Jeff Nene, a spokesman for Convoy of Hope, a Springfield, Mo., agency that feeds 11,000 children a day in Haiti, urges cash donations that allow his group to buy in bulk from large suppliers and retailers.

“When people give $1, it translates into $7 in the field,” he said. “If they spend $5 for bottled water, that’s nice and it makes them feel good, but probably it costs us more than $5 to send it. If they give us $5, we can get $35 worth of water.”

Sending 600 "Proclaimers" to Haiti costs $92,000. I guess Faith Comes By Hearing wasn't motivated enough by the mathematics to just send cash.

Linked to the story of audio Bibles is another possible insult to the people of Haiti: Mars Hill Church ("The Cussing Pastor" Mark Driscoll). The goal of this Seattle megachurch and its crew is not to provide direct aid to the people of Haiti, but to help rebuild the churches as fast as possible. To some, this may be admirable, but to the people who are suffering for lack of food, water and medical treatment, rebuilding ministries and churches may be the furthest things from their minds. Just a guess.

Shysters?

I remember one week ago when George Bush told us to watch out for "shysters" when making donations to Haitian relief.While he certainly didn't mean people to steer clear of faith-based donations to Haiti, his comment could include "misguided" donations. We all have ideas as to what human beings need in situations like Haiti's, but I think that 99% of Americans will say that there's an order to the list: #1. Medical treatment and supplies. #2. Food. #3. Adequate shelter. Substituting any of these with Bibles, places of worship or ministers is not humane. AFTER these first three have been taken care of, yes, BUT NOT BEFORE.

Transporting, feeding, sheltering volunteers from ministries also takes money.

Update: The reaction to the donation (and the request for money to supply 3000 more - rough estimate: $460,000 or enough to feed 3200 people for one month) has been rather violent in tone, with some people sounding off on both sides:

- Maybe they can turn them into hotplates...

- Haitians aren't atheists like one outspoken DR poster. They have lost everything, including their Bibles.

- The inhuman wretches of this "church" should be marooned on an island with nothing but a pint of rum, one of their precious "proclaimers," and a pistol with one shot. The rum and pistol, in case you were curious, demonstrate that I am capable of more compassion than they could ever muster.

A good source to find out exactly what is needed is Good Intentions Are Not Enough.

There were supposed to be three videos accompanying this article, but I pulled on out at the last minute. It's a very sacrilegious take on the donation of solar-powered bibles featuring Hitler. It will probably be pulled from YouTube before long, if Faith Comes By Hearing has anything to say about it.

The first is a clip from The Young Turks which, in my opinion, is a "fair and balanced" attempt to look at the donation. The second is a gruesome look at the devastation citing a verse from the New Testament about the End Times as prophesied by Christ. It may help you decide whether or not the solar-powered Bibles are actually needed.

Just a thought.

St. Ann Coulter: The Alternate Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes

And what more hopeless a cause than
the image of George W. Bush.

"To force poor ex-President Bush -- like he hasn't suffered enough -- to be hanging around with Bill Clinton, who's leaving his essence on Kleenex in the White House..." she said to a chorus of groans from the rest of the panel.

wikipedia:

Saint Jude's attribute is a CLUB. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. This represents his presence at Pentecost, when he received the Holy Spirit with the other apostles. Occasionally he is represented holding an axe or halberd, as he was brought to death by one of these weapons. In some instances he may be shown with a scroll or a book (the Epistle of Jude) or holding a carpenter's rule.

Dear Saint Ann:

Thank you for the way you came to the defense of our dear, dear former maybe-President George Bush. You answered our prayers so swiftly, too! Why, it was only eight years ago that we saw him suffering the indignities of cartoonists and stand-up comedians around the country who seemed fiendishly to enjoy the hateful things they said about him: "Diplomatic dimwit" "Turd Blossom's boy toy" "Dan Quayle in disguise" We prayed to you for him then with such earnestness! Those of us who rallied around him at the start tried to be as courageous as possible, but some drifted away. Now there are just a few of us stalwarts who believed and still believe his story of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Dear St. Ann, please, please give him the courage and strength to last out his days in peace despite the rancor of nations worldwide! Please let his beautiful legacy come forth in his lifetime!

Your ever obedient and humble petitioner,

Ima Filindiblank

The Dollar-Driven Church: How Will De-regulation Of Campaign Money Affect The Christian Right?

Associated Press:

WASHINGTON – A bitterly divided Supreme Court vastly increased the power of big business and unions to influence government decisions Thursday by freeing them to spend their millions directly to sway elections for president and Congress.

In its sweeping 5-4 ruling, the court set the stage for a wave of likely repercussions — from new pressures on lawmakers to heed special interest demands to increasingly boisterous campaigns featuring highly charged ads that drown out candidate voices.

While the full consequences of the decision were hard to measure, politicians made clear whom they believed benefited. Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, condemned the decision while Republicans cheered it.

Strongly dissenting, Justice John Paul Stevens said, "The court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions around the nation."

The AP article is much like many other articles to come out about the momentous Supreme Court decision to allow big special interests (with big lobbies and big money) to spend how much they want to on campaigns. But none of them mentioned the role organized religion will play in all of this. In the past, the power of The Church (i.e., the Christian Right) lay in using public relations as a sword more than a plowshare: there's not much quid pro quo when it comes to dealing with the local (or national, for that matter) church. Most big businesses shrink at the possibility of a boycott, but beyond that the only thought is staying on the good side of The Church and avoid social issues altogether.

The Supreme Court decision, however, has not shifted the balance of power as much as tossed it in the air and we're now waiting to see who grabs the most of it.

Several scenarios come to mind:

1. The Church will remain neutral, letting capitalism run its "natural" course.

2. A purpose-driven Church will develop a strategy of quid pro quo: giving support to politicians sponsored by corporations in exchange for donations and "in kind" benefits plus an exchange of commercial advertising or, more probable, a melding of agendas given over to the media.

3. The Church will see a schism based upon the rift between labor and management: locals churches might opt for support of unions to keep their small congregations in the black while megachurches (and some denominations) will side with corporate interests to keep their large congregations (as well as tentacled ministries) afloat.

In any case, churches all over the country will be going where the money is, with social issues coming in second. The political candidate will be wise, therefore, to cut a figure similar to that of a (don't laugh) "compassionate conservative" (I told you not to LAUGH!).

In an effort to counteract a merging of big business and big religion, however, some start-up companies have chosen to be aggressive in their progressive stance. For example, the mobile phone company, Credo (subsidiary of Working Assets) wants potential customers to know that they are committed to progressive candidates:

Does your phone company...	AT&T	VERIZON WIRELESS	CREDO
support politicians opposed to real healthcare reform, like a single-payer system or public option?	YES	YES	NO
fund pro-war politicians?	YES	YES	NO
fund anti-environment politicians?	YES	YES	NO
fund politicians who oppose a woman's right to choose?	YES	YES	NO

So with the deregulation of corporate contributions to politicians, which way will America's religious community go?

The Madman and The Little Flower: Glenn Beck Unwittingly Mimics The FATHER OF HATE RADIO!

"I AM NOT A KOOK!"

It's strange that Glen Beck doesn't know anything about the man he's mimicking. It's expected that almost any Christian you meet will not, when questioned, know anything about the history of his own religion, but when a man comes this close to aping a famous personage, you have to wonder whether he's telling the truth or whether he's too stupid to see the resemblance.

The first time I became aware of the comparison of Glen Beck to Father Charles Coughlin was yesterday. Yes, I'll admit that if I had heard Beck more often, the thought would have come sooner, but listening to strange and faulty reasoning makes my head ache. And seeing it on the TV screen accompanied by strange chalkboard charts (and sometimes even stranger guests) makes my stomach gurgle. The eerie comparison was brought about by an article in Crooks and Liars by David Neiwert.

...One of Glenn Beck's favorite claims about the Tea Party movement -- and the surge of right-wing populism that he's leading -- is that it isn't about parties, it's about being American. And being American, of course, means being conservative.

"...you know, we're really at a one-party system at this point. We needed to identify ourselves as one or the other, even though it didn't really make a difference. And that label was much more important than the real label we all should have been wearing, and that is, American.

Progressives have put their agenda now into hyperdrive, and it is so crystal clear that their final goal is anything but American.

Sometime in his broadcasting career, Glen Beck decided that the best way to get people to listen to him was to hammer at the prime concepts: "us vs them" "good vs evil" "traditional values vs progressive change" "blue collar vs white collar" and, of course, "American vs. foreigner" (i.e. illegal immigrant) Also along the way: he decided that there was no direct link between his polemics and the actions of his listeners. He washed his hands of all their transgressions. It's time to look at what Beck is getting himself into: the throes of "righteous assassination": Bill O'Reilly had a sense of it after the murder of Dr. Tiller:

Huffington Post:

"It's a variation of a Twinkie Defense," said legal expert Jonathan Turley. "They will attempt to connect Mr. Roeder's heavy intake of Bill O'Reilly combined with a talk-radio hate-speak rush to prove that Roeder did not have the capacity to make a rational decision when he shot Dr. Tiller. "The deluge of 'Tiller is a Nazi, mass murderer, baby killer' verbiage by Mr. O'Reilly surely can drive one into a state of what we in the legal profession call 'righteous assassination.'"

Those in the psychology community support the defense.

"Just the fact Mr. O'Reilly has an audience at all gives credence to the point that the so-called Folks™ who watch Bill O'Reilly have a decreasing ability to determine the difference between fact and fiction," said Dr. Hal Densky. "It's a brainwashing of sorts, though with O'Reilly it's more of a complete lobotomy."

The hatred fostered by Father Charles Coughlin of Royal Oak, MI in the 30's may have been incendiary to the point of righteous assassination. We may never know. Because a man with a clerical collar would never be linked to a Jew's death, or a Communist's murder no matter how influential and bigoted his broadcasts.

Ah, that was such an innocent, trusting time, wasn't it?

Father Charles Coughlin was a parish priest for the church The Shrine of the Little Flower, titled after St. Theresa of Liseux, a meek, mild, 19th century Carmelite nun.

I was only about ten when, traveling from Chicago to Quebec on vacation, my folks and I stopped at The Shrine of the Little Flower. The only memory I have of it, is that it was a large church that gave me a strange feeling: I'd never seen an altar placed in the middle of an enormous octagon. The church sat over 3,000 and, looking back, was really the country's first megachurch. And had its own radio evangelist, talking not about God, but about politics.

Wikipedia on Father Coughlin:

His office received up to 80,000 letters per week from listeners, and his listening audience was estimated to rise at times to as much as a third of the nation.

On November 20, 1938, two weeks after Kristallnacht, when Jews across Germany were attacked and killed, and Jewish businesses, homes and synagogues burned, Coughlin said "Jewish persecution only followed after Christians first were persecuted."

And:

"There can be no doubt that the Russian Revolution ... was launched and fomented by distinctively Jewish influence."

Coughlin was an isolationist who admired Hitler in his nationalism and hatred of the Jews. His rhetoric prompted Joseph P. Kennedy - as early as 1933 - "to warn Roosevelt that he was an out and out demagogue." His isolationism made him sound a bit like Rush Limbaugh: "Less care for internationalism and more concern for national prosperity." It was even intimated in reports from the FBI that Coughlin received indirect funding from Nazi Germany during the mid 30s. Coughlin published a magazine titled "Social Justice" and started his own political party, the Union Party. What contributed to his downfall, however, was his direct association with a militant hate group called Christian Front:

From Goliath Business News:

In October 1943, the New York newspaper PM declared that bands of Irish Catholic youths, inspired by the Coughlinite Christian Front, had for over a year waged an "organized campaign of terrorism" against Jews in Boston's Dorchester district and in neighboring Roxbury and Mattapan. They had violently assaulted Jews in the streets and parks, often inflicting serious injuries with blackjacks and brass knuckles, and had desecrated synagogues and vandalized Jewish stores and homes.

wikipedia:

Kennedy worked with Roosevelt, Bishop Francis Spellman and Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) in a successful effort to get the Vatican to silence Coughlin in 1936.

His voice continued to be heard through his publication, Social Justice. It was finally on May 1, 1942...

...the Archbishop of Detroit, Most Rev. Edward Mooney, ordered Coughlin to stop his political activities and confine himself to his duties as a parish priest, warning that he would be defrocked if he refused. Coughlin complied and remained the pastor of the Shrine of the Little Flower until retiring in 1966.

In the response Glen Beck gives to being compared to Coughlin, Beck challenges his listeners if they actually know who Coughlin was, states that he is different because Coughlin was a "kook" while he, Beck, is a reasoning person. And that even though he admits to be an off-the-wall entertainer, he's not crazy.

Many people would beg to differ on that point. Also, if Coughlin did indeed have the ear of a full one-third of the populace, don't you think it odd that Beck would not have ever heard of Father Charles Coughlin,"The Father of Hate Radio."

Beck has neither listened to nor read a truly nuanced account of his bloviating, his distortions, his lies and his attacks on just about everyone who's not Glen Beck. His vanity prohibits the possibility that he can be compared to a priest who should have learned to keep his mouth shut. His whole rant against the comparison to Coughlin can be (and should be) listened to because he doesn't see how he could possibly be compared to the Father of Hate Radio, Father Charles Coughlin.

It's interesting to not that even the "kookiest" of the "kooks" looks upon him as anything but a greedy misanthrope who has no idea of the ramifications of his rhetoric.

Just the other day, "Dr." James David Manning, (he of the "Long-legged-MacDaddy-Barak Hussein-Obama" diatribe) said that "housewives fall for Glen Beck the same way they do for Oprah Winfrey" and that Saturday's event in Westbury, NY - a dual book signing with Bill O'Reilly ("all that stinkin' group") - is an attempt to profit "from the ignorance of the American people." He goes on to say that because billionaire Al-Walid Bin Talal is now the largest single shareholder of Rupert Murdoch's corporate Fox News, both Beck and O'Reilly are now "on the Islamic payroll."

When someone who's considered the most outlandish clown of the Christian Right dishes him as an outlandish, but greedy, clown it's about time that Glen Beck should look at himself in the mirror and ask "Where am I going.?"

But he won't.

The Senility Defense: Pat Robertson Goes To Trial In The Court Of Public Opinion.

When Christofascists start to bash their own, it's a truly wonderful sight: they turn away from hating everyone else and jockey for a slug at the worst of them just so they can look good in comparison. It's so deliciously rare that many of us ordinary people forget our struggles and stare in amazement ... and amusement. And when the MSM delves into past unpleasantness involving the said Christofascist, a pattern of vile un-compassionateChristofascists then turn on the person with lightning speed. While they do not devour him (although they want to), they make it known to everyone that such behavior is beneath them.

Now here's the official backpeddling from Robertson's PR team:

His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This famous history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed.

Some of the highlighted words are buzz-words added to the context to make it seem as if Pat Robertson didn't just pick his vast knowledge on the subject out of a hat. Of course, when you view the entire footage of The 700 Club segment you realize that Robertson knows nothing about Haiti's history:

From wikipedia (under Boukman Dutty)

On 22 August 1791, Boukman presided in the role of houngan (priest) together with an African-born priestess and conducted a ceremony at the Bois Caïman and prophesied that the slaves Jean François, Biassou spiritual power of the forest and the ancestors, was sacrificed, an oath was taken, and , and Jeannot would be leaders of a slave revolt that would free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. A pig, which symbolized the wild, free, and untamableBoukman and the priestess exhorted the listeners to fight bravely against their oppressors. Days later the Haitian Revolution began.

Soon after the uprising began, French authorities captured Boukman and executed him by beheading. The French then publicly displayed Boukman's head in an attempt to dispel the aura of invincibility that Boukman had cultivated. However it remained strong, and their attempt failed.

And ever up-to-date wikipedia:

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the ceremony over which Boukman presided was called a "pact with the devil," responsible for a "curse" on the country, by Pat Robertson, host of The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Various prominent, mainline Christian voices have criticized Robertson's remarks on the Haiti crisis as untimely, insensitive, and not representative of Christian thought on the issue.

"It is absolute arrogance to try to interpret any of God's actions as a judgment against this person or that person. & Our duty as Christians is to try to help these people pray for these people and to help them."

- Dr. Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas

"He must have misspoken."But we need to get on the path of helping people right now. God loves the people of Haiti. He hasn't turned his back on Haiti."

- Franklin Graham

These were, of course, shining examples of pots calling the kettle black. Suffice it to say, however, that Robertson's little anecdote was received by other professionals as being in poor taste. Some even think that he's possessed by Satan:

It appears that televangelist Pat Robertson is in the thrall of Satan, according to spiritual warriors, Drs. Valerie Tarico and Marlene Winell. “It’s the only possible explanation,” said Tarico. “How else can we make sense of his repeated attempts to humiliate both God and Christianity in the wake of recent natural disasters.”

[Dr. Winell] “Demons need a host, and they can jump from one person to another,” she explained. “We know this because Jesus cast demons out of a possessed man and into a herd of pigs. The pigs drowned themselves, the same kind of self-destructive behavior we are seeing in Mr. Robertson. It is possible that he was infected at or around the funeral of Dr. Jerry Falwell. In hindsight we can see that Dr. Falwell was possessed by a similar—possibly the same-- demon.”

- Huffington Post

And to give Rev./Dr./Broadcaster Robertson his due, there were some supporters:

"What the Robertson bashers left out is that finally, and with great compassion and concern in his voice, Pat said, "They need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God and out of this tragedy I am optimistic that some good thing may come, but right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable."

- Gary Cass, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission

Does God hate Haiti? God hates sin, and will punish both individual sinners and nations ... The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God ... In other words, the earthquake reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real message of hope.

- Albert Mohler, the Southern Baptist Convention

Now several questions come into play: will Robertson himself issue some defense for his righteous intolerance and the denegration of an entire country? Probably not: his "apologies" for condemnation have, in the past, been choreographed rather sloppily giving the impression that he doesn't really care what people think.

Another question lies in the context of which his "philanthropy" is placed: is he really just a benevolent but senile old man? This is getting to be his milieu-du jour. He may not like it, but the public is becoming increasingly annoyed at his utterings and mutterings. When you mention his name, eyes roll and people get that What-the-hell-is-that-old-coot-up-to-now? look. "Did he leg press an elephant this time?" "Which town is going to get a fearsome meteor shower because someone hung a gay rainbow flag in front of their home?" "What did God tell him this time? Any good bets on the fifth at the racetrack?" And at the end of each instance, Robertson seems oblivious to the contempt at which he is held. Senility can create an alternate reality for some people.

In the past, Robertson has hidden behind God and His Bible to cover embarrassments. Will he hide behind Scripture ... or a diminished mental capacity? If he does either, he's a coward of the first order. The man is not senile. He is not frail. He is not a "religious fanatic." He shouldn't be hiding behind a dogma so righteous and rigid it would deflect the slings and arrows of the strongest detractors merely by being Holy Scripture. The man is guilty of arrogance, maliciousness and, most of all, stupidity. But not senility.

Pat Robertson listens to no one. The voices of Haiti's dead should be ringing in his ears right now because he has slandered them in a cavalier fashion and he will react to a catastrophe thinking himself to be The Good Samaritan. But his contempt for humanity shines through his veneer.

It always has.

It's amazing that people are just realizing it.

Below is a segment of The 700 Club in which Pat Robertson tells viewers that 40,000 college professors are "communists" some of them are "murderers". He thinks they "beat up" students while brainwashing them.

The Last of God's Ambulance Chasers: Pat Robertson Delights in Haiti's Hell!

Proof! Haitian People Swore a
Pact With The Devil!*

Well, it's happened again: one of God's "elect" has responded to a natural disaster with food, medicines and whole lot of righteousness and vitriol for the victims. And it happened at a propitious time: the 50th anniversary of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Pat Robertson's (almost to the day) descent into the nether world of Christofascism.

As of this writing, it is estimated that up to 100,000 people are dead. The world mourns the loss of so many people. The United Nations, the U.S., European countries are sending aid as fast as possible. And Pat Robertson's own Operation Blessing will be in Haiti just as they were in Katrina. Of course, Operation Blessing was followed by Pat Robertson's own special gift of approx. 40,000 bibles. While this didn't compare to the late Jerry Falwell's gift of 600,000 New Testament tracts to Muslim and Hindu survivors of the eastern tsunami, Robertson's effort was noted - as a rather insulting gesture by people who needed food for their stomachs even more than food for their souls.

I used to call Falwell and Robertson God's Ambulance Chasers: they seemed to relish disasters. They discovered during the Age of AIDS that capitalizing on "God's curses" was good business. People flocked to help their church save them from the onslaught of the twentieth century's Black Death. They righteously evicted sick and dying people from their homes and their lives. After 9/11, they pointed fingers at their chosen outcasts and told their flocks who the "real" culprits were.

Jerry Falwell would be proud of Robertson keeping up the tradition of bigotry with blame, followed by a condescending compassion.

During all the chaos that has followed the Haitian crisis, has anyone thought to point out to Robertson that his knowledge of history is seriously flawed? The revolution against the French took place well before Napoleon III. In fact, it happened before Napolean I. And it was primarily a slave rebellion:

wikipedia:

The native leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines, long an ally of Toussaint L'ouverture, defeated the French troops led by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau at the Battle of Vertières. At the end of the double battle for emancipation and independence, former slaves proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue on 1 January 1804, declaring the new nation as Haiti, honoring one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island. It is the only nation born of a slave revolt.

Reach back into Pat Robertson's own history and you'll find perhaps another reason Pat Robertson hates Haiti: his father, Senator Absolom Willis Robertson was a reknowned Dixiecrat (Virginia) who switched parties when Democrats were voting for civil rights legislation. And Pat's own CBN was involved in a law suit involving accusations of blatant racism against its African-American employees.

Pam's House Blend:

Michael B. Keegan, president of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:

"Pat Robertson's comments about the victims of this earthquake are reprehensible. Unfortunately, they fit right in with his history of mean spirited attacks accusing his opponents of causing natural disasters and terrorism. To blame the victims of this disaster for what they've been through is appalling. Regrettably, Pat Robertson can't be written off as an eccentric aberration of the right-wing-he's still a leading figure in the conservative movement.

"At a time when our attention should be focused on helping the victims of this disaster, Robertson's comments are beyond the pale."

So whither will Pat Robertson go to in the next couple of days? Apology? I think not. There will be backpedaling done to be sure, along with a note of good ole Christian persecution thrown in, but that's to be expected. There will be a loud chorus of Christians shouting: "Pat Robertson doesn't speak for us!" but Robertson will pay no heed. He'll ride it out the same way he did when he said Cesar Chavez should be assassinated, Ariel Sharon's stroke was a sign of God's displeasure, Orlando would be hit by a meteor for Disney World's hosting of Gay Day and other inanities.

After all, you can't argue with a man who speaks to God.

* The Haitian Bizango societies are based on a military structure. Their members reveal themselves to fight and wage war. These figures represent the power of the Bizango fighters. Their terrifying appearance preserves the memory of the insurgency of the slaves in the period in which these societies were first formed. Some bear the scars of wounds. The heads are modelled on real human skulls. Ropes and chains keep the powers they possess in check. Fragments of mirrors in their eyes and on their clothes refer to the spirit world, and protect against evil. Despite their static pose, the past blood and fire in which they are drenched is tangible. (Flickr: Jeremy Bergin)

American Putz: Is FOX Going To Hell Riding A Very Happy Horse?

"It's Like Getting Hate Mail From Hitler"

I was scared. All forty of us were. We went from the showers through the foot disinfectant and into the cold, subterranean vault of tile walls and floor. There were no windows, which was just as well because we were all naked. I was fourteen and, with the exception of my father, I had never seen naked men. Or naked boys called “men.”

No, this was not Auschwitz. Instead, it was the first day of swimming class in my Catholic college prep school. It was then that I sadly realized: all men are not created equal. And that keeping this knowledge from young "men" (like me, at least) was criminal.

Likewise for getting a hissy-fit over a male mammal function.

Last Sunday, FOX aired its episode of American Dad, titled Never Look a Smith Horse In The Mouth. The animated program is definitely adult in content in that it has scenes and references that children would not comprehend: its send off of "The Rapture", Jesus meeting Sam in a bar to tell him that the Anti-Christ has taken Francine and an episode titled "Fake Jesus." One of the most notable was when Roger the alien talks about Christianity:

Roger: Oh, I love your religion ... for the crazy! Virgin birth. Water into wine. It's like Harry Potter, but it causes genocide and bad folk music.

But this time, the program really pushed the envelope with a scene implying the masturbation of a horse! The Parent's Television Council is `now starting to get American Dad punished by the FCC since it thinks the episode "depicted scenes of a man masturbating a horse. " Explicit bestiality!! So how does the creator of American Dad and Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, take all the criticism?

"That’s like getting hate mail from Hitler. They’re literally terrible human beings. I've read their newsletter, I've visited their website, and they're just rotten to the core. For an organization that prides itself on Christian values—I mean, I'm an atheist, so what do I know ?—they spend their entire day hating people."

BTW, a poll was taken and 40% of those polled thought the scene was harmless and very funny.

Now here's the primary attack: From PTC:

A broadcast television network aired an animated program on a Sunday evening when children were in the audience, and the program featured a man masturbating a horse," said Tim Winter, president of the PTC. "Up until now, I never imagined that those exact words could ever be spoken in that particular order. But sadly, here we are.

Fox declined to comment on the backlash.

I wish I had a copy of the aforementioned scene, but the only one you can view is on the PTC's site HERE. Do you see Stan actually touch the horse's penis and stroke it? No. Is masturbation implied? Yes. Implied. And to the people of the PTC, implying masturbation is just as bad as the act itself. Imagining sex is just as bad as the act itself. And with all that imagining and implying going on, the PTC exploits people's assumptions that something wrong happened.

The PTC is trying to penalize Fox and MacFarlane due to implications and not actual fact. They are also arguing that since American Dad airs at 9:30PM, it violates the law that says more adult content must be shown after 10:00PM.

A question: just where does bestiality come in on all of this? The horse may have ended the episode very happy, but did Stan get pleasure out of it? Obviously not. And if Stan didn't derive any pleasure, is there, in fact, any bestiality going on at all?

There wasn't. The PTC wants you to think that. They also do not want you to see a mammalian appendage ever again, unless you have to.

Like when you're in swimming class.

Whipped With A Wet Noodle: The Top Ten HORROR Stories From The Christian Right's Persecution Complex

I have a black t-shirt with bright white lettering that fits my mood these days: So Many Right Wing Christians - So Few Lions. Obviously, I can't wear it everywhere. Certainly not where the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission congregates. I'd be instantly labeled "anti-Christian" even though the shirt qualifies it's remarks with "Right Wing Christians" whose actual Christianity is questionable.

I'd also be labeled a "homosexual activist" because as everyone knows, gays want to destroy Christianity - it's all part of the "gay agenda." So it was really no surprise to me to find out about the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission's "Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009." It should be called "The Top Ten Non-Anti-Christian Attacks We Can Blame On Our Enemies, Especially Gays." It should also substitute "attacks" with something more suitable, like "Totally Unrelated Incidents and Fabrications." Stretching some of these "attacks" into anti-Christian violence makes for interesting, novel (as in fiction) reading. So to set matters straight (ugh!), I've listed the "Top Ten" with some minor addenda.

Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009

Contact: Dr. Gary Cass, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, 760-630-2232, 954-551-9770 VISTA, Calif., Jan. 4 /Christian Newswire/ --

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) has released its list of the top ten incidents of anti-Christian defamation, bigotry and discrimination in the US from last year. The list was selected by the subscribers to CADC's e-mail list and was selected from a list of twenty of CADC's top stories from 2009.

"It is arguable that anti-Christian hatred has spilled over into material forms of persecution in 2009," said Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. "Christians were killed and bullied for their witness, ministers and churches threatened with violence and vandalized for standing for marriage, and Christians were fired for not compromising their faith. If these are not bona fide examples of persecution, than I wonder what more it might take?"

A helluva lot more, it seems. "Bona fide examples of persecution" would include violence against people for being Christian, just like violence against people for being gay. But the following examples don't prove anything of the sort.

10. Pro-life Pastor Reverend Walter Hoye of Oakland, CA was jailed for exercising peaceful, pro-life speech. Evidently, not that peaceful. And he wasn't jailed for his speech:

SFGate.com: Walter Hoye, 52, of Union City was the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic.

9. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois.

CBS Series, Guns In America: The man suspected of fatally shooting an Illinois pastor during Sunday services suffered from mental illness stemming from a tick bite, the suspect's family told a newspaper in an interview last August. [Lime Disease].

So who should be jailed - the suspect, or the one who gave him the gun? Absolutely no mention of any form of anti-Christian motive.

8. HBO's program "Curb Your Enthusiasm" aired an episode where the main actor urinates on painting of Jesus. When confronted HBO would not apologize.

New York Daily News: In a statement titled "Urinating on Jesus," Catholic League president Bill Donahue says, "At one point in the show, David goes to the bathroom in a Catholic home and splatters urine ["accidently"] on a picture of Jesus; he doesn't clean it off. Then a Catholic woman goes to the bathroom, sees the picture and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her equally stupid mother and the two of them fall to their knees in prayer."

A Daily News poll: 40% thought it was OK - and funny.

7. The overt homosexual participation in Obama's presidential inaugural events by "Bishop" Vickie Eugene Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington D. C., and a homosexual marching band.

Eugene Robinson is indeed an Episcopal bishop who riled the Christian Right by saying "We worship a living God, not one locked up in the Scripture of 2,000 years ago." The presence of Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus and the marching band were supposedly meant to be somehow anti-Christian. Reasoning: Gay=anti-Christian. Or maybe it should be Gay=anti-"Christian."

6. Police called to East Jessamine Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky to stop 8th graders from praying during their lunch break for a student whose mother was tragically killed.

From Isitluck: Cops weren’t called. The kids were not targeted for praying, but for stretching their prayer time past the end of the lunch period, skipping class en masse.

Isitluck is a blog: it brought out the fact that the incident was not in any media whatsoever, not even CBN. Nothing.

5. Pro-life activist Jim Pullion was murdered in front of his granddaughter's high school for showing the truth about abortion. Reports showed that the suspect was mentally unstable, and targeted Pullion and another man for displaying pictures of aborted fetuses near the hgh school.

4. An activist judge ordered a home school mom in New Hampshire to stop home schooling her daughter because the little girl "reflected too strongly" her mother's Christian faith.

LifesiteNews.com: [The "activist judge"] proposed that the Christian girl be ordered into a government-run school after considering "the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others." The court approved the order.

This incident was more about the pending legislation in New Hampshire that would place new restrictions on homeschooling.

3. The Federal Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate" that labeled conservative Christians extremists and potential terrorists.

Check out the actual report HERE. It's a report on hate groups of the militia/"I-wanna-kill-me-some-queers-and-n*****s" kind. Oddly enough, the only mention of "Christian" is in a passing reference to the hate/militia group Christian Identity, a violent group whose history goes back to Father Charles Coughlin the virulent anti-Semite, often called "The Father of Hate Radio." The CDRC is banking on the fact that their readership can't, well, uh, read. Or are afraid of death-by-boredom-and-confusion by reading a government document.

2. President Obama's appointment of radical anti-Christians like homosexual activist Kevin Jennings as the "safe school czar;" pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Seblius made Secretary of Human and Health Services, and Chai Feldblum, pro-homosexual and anti-religious liberty judge nominated for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

This "incident" is so anti-gay that it defeats own purpose. Instead, it highlights its own bigotry and discrimination.

1. The Federal Hate Crimes Bill that attacks religious liberty and freedom of speech. For the first time in our history ministers are vulnerable to investigation and prosecution for telling the truth about homosexuality.

The position of this "incident" as #1 shows the chief intention of the list is to slam anything to do with protection of the LGBT community from gay-bashing. The law clearly states that religious institutions and ministers are protected by freedom of speech.

***

OK, there you have it. The Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks of 2009. I'll bet that the Top Ten list for 2010 includes throwing away an old DVD of "Going My Way."

Rick Warren's Front Man: Saddleback Is Exactly Like A Seinfeld Episode!

Huh?!?

There's something amiss when a publicist defends a noted minister's actions in the Op Ed section of a major newspaper. Especially when the minister is Rick Warren and the publicist is - his own, A. Larry Ross:

While experiencing banner ministry impact, including monthly food assistance to 2,000 local families, the Southern California mega-church had been essentially on budget for the first half of its fiscal year, until this past week. But despite 10 overflow Christmas Eve services, the seasonal offering benefiting many of the church's benevolence outreaches was down significantly; and the timing of Christmas on Friday affected attendance and giving on the final weekend of the year.

This piece, btw, was titled Rick Warren: Soup Nazi or soup, grazie? Ross does a barely creditable job at tying Rick Warren to a Seinfeld character:

This past week, Rick Warren, renowned pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., faced a similar dilemma of having to turn away people in the community in need of assistance - not because of any capricious regimen, but due to limited resources at the close of the last decade.

I hope Rachel Maddow covers this in her inimitable style:

So Rick Warren - the great pastor who delivers august sermons at inaugurations - was surprised. At a downturn in donations. During a time of severe economic recession. And he uses a publicist who doesn't know an adjective from a noun ("benevolence outreaches"). The same publicist who, two weeks after Warren's "noteworthy" speech to Muslim-Americans on July 4th, sends a misspelled, ungrammatical and error-ridden transcript. And to only one - rather obscure - Muslim-American website.

From the website of A. Larry Ross Communications:

A. Larry Ross Communications (ALRC) is a full-service media and public relations agency founded in 1994 to “restore faith in media,” provide “value-added P.R. that defines values” and give Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media.

More from the Op Ed in the WashingtonPost:

Warren challenged the congregation to help offset a $900,000 shortfall from the final week offerings that help fund year-end benevolence ministry prior to the start of 2010, which would allow Saddleback to continue to minister and meet the needs of not just Orange County, but Southern California, the nation - and the world, through the PEACE Plan.

Today Orange County, tomorrow the WORLD!! Uh, gee, I didn't know $900,000 could stretch that far! I didn't know Warren's ministries were that GLOBAL! That STUPENDOUS! But, ah, if they're that global, $900k seems like a drop on the proverbial ministry bucket.
From The Orange County Register

The church does not make its financial information public, so it’s impossible to tell just how big of a hole in the boat this $900,000 represents. A spokeswoman for Warren said the church does not release detail on its finances, so it’s hard to put the shortfall in context. (Suffice to say it may not represent a terribly significant portion of Saddleback’s annual budget, and that his personal appeal may well close the hole, and then some.)

So, transparency is not in Saddleback's financial lexicon. Only Ross' ill-treatment of buzz-words. And fuzzy math. Also vagaries. Oops, almost forgot an important word: hyperbole. Which comes before another word in the dictionary: hypocrisy (our personal favorite, although Ross doesn't use it very much).

Well, enough of channeling Rachel. Suffice it to say that there are actually those who believe Ross' press releases/op-eds.

Holy Minestrone!

We're doomed.