So You Think You Can Scandalize? Rightwing Christians Top Each Other With Juicy Stories in September.

Not to be outdone by Christine O'Donnell's little witchcraft escapade, The Vatican and Bishop Eddie Long have chimed in with their own scandals. 

For a change, the Vatican scandal was not about pedophilia, but about money. Specifically money LAUNDERING:

The Catholic Church has suffered yet another blow to their tarnished image, as Italian investigators seized $30 million from a Vatican bank account Tuesday, stating the action was the result of a possible money laundering scheme. The Vatican said they were “perplexed and surprised” by the subsequent investigation and seizure of a small percentage of the Church’s cash assets. Law enforcement authorities in Italy say the seizure was a precaution, as prosecutors investigate the Vatican Bank’s Director and Chairman in connection with violations of Italy’s anti-money laundering laws. While Italian authorities are not accusing the Catholic Church of directly laundering the money seized, questions have been raised as to the origin of the $30 million.

Well, those cute little Prada shoes really do cost a bundle. 

The pontiff might be breathing a sigh of relief that it was only money and not another sexual abuse case, as is the one with self-proclaimed "Bishop" Eddie Long.

Two lawsuits filed late Tuesday in DeKalb County accuse Bishop Long of inappropriate sexual relationships with two young men from his church.

Maurice Robinson and Anthony Flagg, both in their early 20's, claim in their lawsuits that, "Long utilized his spiritual authority to coerce certain young male members and employees of defendant New Birth into engaging in sexual acts and relationships."

The suit claims the congregation is likely unaware of the practices. But it also says church money was used to foster the relationships.

Robinson, in his suit contends Long used, "monetary funds from the accounts of defendant New Birth to entice the (young men) with cars, clothes, jewelry, and electronics.

God, Vetting and Wikipedia

The systemic problem of titles and their automatic reverence is one that is rife in Long's group. Looking back into Long's life takes a suspension of belief: the title of "Bishop" is self-administered since Baptists do not recognize hierarchy in clergy. And while Long's Master of Divinity degree from Interdenominational Theological Center is valid, his PhD in Pastoral Ministry from the International College of Excellence is suspicious: the ICE is accredited by Accrediting Commission Internationalwhich is NOT recognized by the Department of Education.

Long's "prosperity gospel" gave root to an overblown image complete with fancy cars, diamond rings and a luxury estate.

And because of his "Bishop-ness", Long got away with financial scandal:

On August 28, 2005 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution printed a front page spread accusing Long of mishandling funds that were funneled through a charity started by Long. The article reports that from 1997-2000, the non-profit charity, Bishop Eddie Long Ministries Inc., provided him with at least $3.07 million in salary, benefits and the use of property.^[2] Long contended that the charity did not solicit donations from members but instead gained its income from royalties, speaking fees and several large donations.^[3]

 OK, kids, stay tuned!!

Values Voter Summit: O'Donnell, Fischer, and The Usual Panoply of Clowns

"Vetting" Is A Dirty Word

It all started with Sarah Palin, I think. One wonders what the McCain campaign thought of the woman as they asked her questions. Actually, one wonders whether or not they asked her any questions at all.  Of course, desperation grabs at anything that looks good on the surface, and on the surface, Palin looked very good. Besides, the Republican Party had not bothered to groom anyone like Palin and they discovered too late that their base wanted new blood. They also followed one of the primary dictates of the Christian Right: if they say that they're Christian and pro-life, refer to God enough times and hate the Left with a ferver that borders on paranoia, then they're a fit warrior in the culture wars. Palin looked right and sounded right, therefore she was right. 

The problem with those dictates: they're the basis of  good, entertaining comedy. And the thing that a political party has too much of is comedy...and the clowns that perpetuate it.

The Values Voter Summit might be looked upon as an assemblage of clowns trying to look indignant at the way the country is being run. At best, it is a group of our country's highest ranking, most vocal, most self-righteously arrogant dullards. At worst, it is a group that hopes to spread self-righteous tyranny. They have recently taken on the mantle of "Social Conservatives" since the terms "Christian Right" or "Religious Right" have had some negative connotations. But that term, however, has been overshadowed by the efforts of some to declare that the United States is a "Christian Nation" and there have been rumblings from them of a "Christian ONLY Nation". No matter what they call themselves, they are evolving into what Sinclair Lewis warned us about: "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." 

The much-trumpeted Summit is sponsored by Tony Perkins and his Family Research Council. It serves as the pinacle of his career as a lobbyist for the Christian Right. And since his only boss is the venerable James Dobson, Perkins takes it upon himself to rally his culture war troops once a year to spout anger and revenge against liberals, moderates, atheists, homosexuals, unions, illegal immigrants, progressive churches and non-Christians.  Put another way: "social justice" is not on the program. 

This last Summit (Sept. 16-19 in D.C.) was, (as usual) entertaining, regaling the rest of the country with its bloviators, tiresome buzz-words, demonizations and pronouncements which eluded critical thinking. The speakers and awardees were carbon copies of last year's Summit with the exceptions that Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell substituted for Carrie Prejean and Bryan Fischer substituted for just about every hate group in the country. And among the likes of Mike Huckabee, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Gary Bauer was Prof. Dr. Ergun Caner, the Muslim-turned-Christian impersonator, which proves that the Summit coordinators believed in forgiveness, if not sagacity. 

And the stars, Fischer and O'Donnell,  proved that the dictates of the Christian Right were strongly adhered to (esp. in the case of O'Donnell, but more about that later). 

Bryan Fischer exuded confidence - slightly subdued - while he quoted scripture, compared  the Biblical Joshua to George Washington, said that Christians who don't vote would be giving the country over to pagans and atheists, condemned politicians who supported same-sex marriages, civil unions or even domestic partnerships as evil and posited "the involuntary transfer of resources" (taxing the rich) as "theft." Everything to Fischer was (and always is, in his radiocasts) black and white, good or bad. Nothing was nuanced. Nuance takes a commitment to reason. And if there's anything Fischer is not committed to, it's reason. But while hardcore conservatives questioned the wisdom of putting Fischer on the stage,  he nonetheless elicited applause with his hatred cloaked as bona fide fact and his eschatology as that put forth by the finest Biblical scholar.

Christine O'Donnell's speech was not nuanced either. Oh, it contained the rather pointless "This is OUR country" phrase that will doubtless go down in the annals of the Summit as a "turning point" (whatever that might be). Her pre-witchcraft moments were about as pithy as a sledge hammer while she tried to convince people that she was serious about God, love of country and anything else that could rally them. 

If the choice of Sarah Palin by Republicans was the first instance of bad Republican vetting, and Carrie Prejean was the mistake of the Christian Right, then O'Donnell is certainly the "oh, sh*t!" of the Tea Party movement. A former campaign manager called her a "fraud," and now she is being charged by an ethics watchdog group of embezzling $20,000 in campaign funds. What's more shocking, however, is the numbers of people in Delaware who voted for her without knowing some of her "principles":

Christine O’Donnell led a campaign against masturbation, claiming it is a form of adultery.

and...

... warned coed dorm rooms would lead to ‘orgy rooms.’

... wanted to stop the ‘whole country from having sex.’

... believed that spouses who have been cheated on possess compromised ‘purity.’  

... believed contraception is ‘anti-human.’  

... claimed abstinence-only education has been an ‘incredible success.’  

... excused gay bashing as ‘kids being kids.’

... warned about mice with ‘fully functioning human brains.’ 

... warned that former President Clinton hosting a TV show would be a ‘threat to our national security.’  

All of these last-minute in sights to O'Donnell beg the question: should the people who voted for Christine O'Donnell be voting at all? Voting is not just a right, but an act of responsibility. Casting a ballot for someone you do not know about is irresponsible. In addition, putting up a front (in this case, exposure at the Values Voter Summit) for a candidate simply because she said "God" so many times before, is not only irresponsible, but downright deceptive.

Conclusion: The Summit As Laugh Fest

Well-entertained audiences will tell you that frightened clowns are the funniest: we are delighted when one clown is running for fear of being sprayed by seltzer water or being hit by a pie in the face. And so it was at the Summit: Fischer, Perkins, O'Donnell, Bauer, Schlafly all regaled us with their fears, even in the Summit's "serious" panels, e.g. HOW TO REACH THE ONLINE GENERATION (WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL) or SOCIAL JUSTICE: AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? and the most fearful of all:  THE REAL COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.

The Summit so entertained the rest of the country, that it had us clamoring for more, we want more Fischers, O'Donnells, Angles, Bachmanns and Palins. What matters that they make any headway into our secular system, eventually we will be laughing too hard to vote for them.

One comment about the Summit, the Republican party and the Tea Party that was particularly apt: 

"...if you won’t vet your candidates, send them to Jerry Springer so that the audience can vet them, and the others, send them to rehab and a priest."

 

America As A Hostage To Stupidity

                          

If one thing came out of the Quran-burning threat of "Pastor" Terry Jones, it's that America looked the fool for kowtowing to the machinations of an ignorant snake oil salesman. Some people might say that the media is to blame, but in this case, demonizing the messenger comes a little too late: the warning was announced months ago and very few paid attention. It was General Petraeus' outspoken concern that made the eyes of America focus on Jones. Then Terry Jones made his mark, not caring about American troops in Afghanistan, nor condemnation by his "peers" nor even about any spiritual message he so disingenuously (and quite ineptly) conveyed. By Sept. 7th, it was all done. He was in the history books; and since thousands of people had actually given their support, (in the form of  Qurans to burn) he knew he'd garnered more followers than he'd ever dreamed of. Terry Jones realized power, the kind of power he'd craved all his life. The entire United States of America was BEGGING him not to do something, and he so kindly acquiesced to its entreaties, but only after it acquiesced to his demands. For several days, he had soldiers' lives in his hands. The power boggles the mind.

Perhaps it's the combination of media and "God God God" "Bible Bible Bible" "Send Money" that is irresistible to American Christians. Perhaps it's the "Rev." or "Dr." that Jones put in front of his name (the latter just now being investigated both here and abroad). Maybe it was Jones' charisma (albeit a bit dull to those having an I.Q. above that of a dead flashlight battery) Or maybe, just maybe, it's that Jones had provided a form of entertainment to his little "flock" and to the rest of the nation. After all, America's foremost God-given birthright is ... to be entertained. Jones' escapade gave the public the same kind of thrill as would the latest Armageddon flick. He had all of us looking at our calendars and ticking off the hours.

Yet Terry Jones must have done something right. After all, his mentor, Fred Phelps, has been apoplectic ever since his acolyte received the kind of attention deemed only for his holiness, the God-Hates-Fags Phenomenon. You could say that to cause riots in the streets of foreign countries takes a certain savoir faire. And if Fred Phelps lacks anything, it's savoir faire. By playing for time, Jones had accomplished some bloodshed BEFORE he made his off-again-on-again pronouncements: dozens of people had been hurt in the ensuing riots. Of course, he prayed for them all to be healed, such is the way of the charismatic form of religion.

As anti-heroes go, Jones will fare better than Phelps because, in the end, he seemed to be reasonable and his (steadily increasing) flock will point him out as a stalwart, rather than just a wart on the face of today's Christianity.

But for all of it's looking the fool, we have to fear for an America where the Phelps' and the Jones' have any followers at all: does anyone want to actually MEET any of their followers? Only the bravest journalist would actually venture into their territories, intellectual black holes sucking out their entire I.Q. and journalistic integrity in an instant.*

And beyond the Phelpses and the Joneses, we have Inerrantists (the Bible is totally iwithout error), Fundamentalists (Bible "inspired"or maybe just faxed by God),  Geocentrists (the Church was right and Galileo was wrong), Christian Reconstructionists (government by the the Bible, for the Bible, and with the Bible), Dominionists (Christians Rule), Young Earthers (Creationism-to-the-max), Premillenialists (the Rapture is coming soon), snake handlers, Lou Engle, Sharron Angle, Rod Parsley, Pat Robertson, David Barton, Glenn Beck, Bryan Fischer, and Michele Bachmann, to name but a very few. 

And along with these people we have institutions like the Creation Museum.

From The Creation Museum:

The themes of the exhibits resound in the theater presentations: Men in White, Six Days of Creation, The Last Adam, and Dinosaurs and Dragons. Our Special Effects Theater, complete with rumbling seats and rising mists, takes visitors on a fantastic quest to find the real purpose and meaning of life.

Each seat is a rocket launching pad in our Stargazers Planetarium. Prepare for lift-off. The digital projector showcases a spectacular gravity-defying spaceflight, a thrilling ride billions of light years away to the vast outer regions of our universe.

The contradiction is lost on those who have given up reason for belief: how can an enterprise such as the Creation Museum expect you to believe in a 6000 year-old earth and talk about "billions of light years" using the same science it rebukes?

The willingness of some Americans to accept such folly as the Creation Museum overshadows a deeper strain of stupidity if you will: the Christian Right school board. Texas school boards, in particular, have not only maximized Creationism, but they have insisted on revisionist history books and banned books they consider too radical or "activist" to even Laura Bush's consternation. Political pundits like Glenn Beck and politicians like Sharron Angle have pushed for the elimination of the federal government's Department of Education, ostensibly to save money. The possibility exists, however, that Christian Right pundits, politicians, and clergy might just feel the need to control future generations by keeping them stupid: feed them lots of religion, whitewashed history, and extreme competition, while starving them of sociology, science, the arts, and any ability to be individual or creative. Even if a place like the Creation Museum closes its doors, more dinosaurs might wind up sporting saddles in the future. 

This last "conspiracy," if you will, is not as far fetched as it seems on the surface: inroads into Africa (particularly Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe) have shown us what they can do to a poverty-stricken and backward area of the globe. Sending zealots like Lou Engle to prophesy and announce the coming of anointed ones like Scott Lively to "pagan" countries is working: if they can get heads of state and their legislatures to heed their proselytizing and "advice," the spread of the Christian Right's politicized religion will be much easier than it has been here in the U.S. Yet the audacity of the Christian Right passing off people as "experts (like George Rekers, David Barton and Scott Lively) and by allowing their own fringe to go on uncensored proves that they still believe a viable portion of America is susceptible to anything they proffer as truth and authority. They are still making inroads. And as with Terry Jones' power, it boggles the mind.

                            

* The stalwart rightwing John Stossel interviewed the Phelps clan once, and even he had to conclude that they were stupifyingly dogmatic, and bemoaned the fact that their children were being taught to hate just about everyone outside of the family. 

Rules From The Manual of Phelpsian Publicity Followed By Reverend Terry Jones

He Got What He Wanted From Taking 

The Fabulous Fred Phelps Course

In Demagoguery And Publicity

UPDATE (2:15PM - PDT) The Reverend Terry Jones has just called off his "International Burn A Koran Day". Millions of people are relieved. Now, of course, pundits and preachers will keep him in the news for at least the next several days. Until he comes up with another "stunt" (as the President called it). 

UPDATE (7:15pm - PDT) The "stunt" might be on again, so Jones is  saying that it has been "suspended." It seems that he assumed he would be flown over to New York for a confab with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. He assumed wrong.

The analysis of this "stunt" should begin with comparisons to that master of insult and public outrage, Fed Phelps. And the parallels of Rev. Terry Jones To Fred Phelps are, well, scary: it's already been documented that Jones is, in a way, a student of Phelps. And now that his exploits in Germany have become national news fodder, Jones has the same international cache of a religious martinet and demigod that Phelps has cultivated all these years. And some say the pupil might have outdistanced his trainer:

The Pitch:

Civil War-mustachioed Florida preacher man Terry Jones backed off his plans to burn the Islamic religious text on Saturday. So, after calling out Jones for stealing their church's 2008 attention-grabbing ploy, Phelps-Roper and her kin are picking up where Jones left off.



"The false prophet Terry Jones caved--like all false prophets do, and like we told you he would," Phelps-Roper bragged.

Some might argue that Jones still has a way to go in emulating Phelps, but let's face it: Jones definitely got what he wanted - PUBLICITY. For better or worse, his number of followers has grown exponentially and some are even calling him a "hero." He's solidified his base. 

He'll probably get a book deal.

So what are some of the rules/advisories that Jones cadged from Phelps? I've laid out the obvious ones.

From The Manual Of Phelpsian Publicity:

1. Plan an outrageously insulting event, like book burning or protesting at military funerals.

2. Make people angry enough for them to do most of the publicity work for you. Having religious leaders scorn you is OK, but get some celebrities, too. Angelina Jolie, for example.

3. Site all sorts of insane reasons for your actions, but always end up blaming God. That's easily done by putting words in God's mouth, like "God hates fags."

4. Be consistent. When you've got a good thing going, keep doing it the same way all the time. It's called "branding."

5. Make sure those apostate relatives don't get to the media before you do, if at all. They tend to spoil things. If they say that you beat them when they were kids, tell the media that they're lying, shake your head and tell them how sad you are that your children have been led astray.

6. Memorize no more than a dozen passages of scripture that support you and your actions. Anything more is unnecessary. If you get hit with a difficult question, just make something up and cite an obscure book of the Bible like Hosea. Who reads the Bible anyway?

7. Be proud of your ignorance. When asked a complicated question, hold your head up high and tell them that the Lord hasn't given you an answer to that one...yet.

8. Use your family at all times, except, of course, the ones who've run away.

9. Maintain your core group in a compound. And since America always strains to believe the little guy, it's OK if the compound is made up of small houses or trailers. Million-dollar estates tend to put people off.

10. Have a phobia, any kind of phobia. America's full of phobias. Find one and stick with it.

11. Get ostracized  by another country. This is always good publicity - it shows that people think you have influence.

And last: 

12. Keep repeating all of the above until you reach the Supreme Court.

America's Got Hypocrisy: Who's The Best At Screaming TOLERANCE! Loud Enough?

In a way, Terry Jones, the Florida Pastor of a pitiful 50-member congregation, has done a big favor to progressives everywhere: his Quran-burning pledge has rooted out the hypocrites and reinforced our views of the hardcore bigots. Many of the people who have made a cottage industry out of demonizing Muslims and Islam are competing with each other to see who can shout "tolerance" "brotherly love" "American values" and "Christian" while vilifying Jones as "un-Christian" "contemptible" "disgusting" and "bainless."

It should come as no surprise that the loudest voices come from the most bloviating bunch of bigots, the Southern Baptist Convention. Leading the pack to give the affair a slight down-home ambience was Greg Magruder, senior pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Gainesville. He set the tone for the rest in giving the most whitewashed (pun intended) portrait of Southern Baptists:

Magruder, whose church is aligned with both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Southern Baptist Convention, said Baptists have historically stood for religious freedom for everyone.

"Therefore, I stand with my Muslim, Jewish and Christian friends here today and plead on the basis of all our sacred texts that the Gainesville community commit to love God, love your neighbor and promote religious liberty for all," Magruder said at the Sept. 2 press conference. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." 

Have you stopped laughing yet? Who can forget the famous statement made by then-president Bailey Smith: "God Almighty Does Not Hear The Prayers Of A Jew"!! And the anti-Muslim statements made by some of your top 10 favorites make any statement of brotherly love look as if it must be coming from Mars:

Jerry Falwell on 60 Minutes:  “I think Muhammad was a terrorist."

Pat Robertson: "Islam wants to take over the world and is not a religion of peace."

Franklin Graham: "an evil and wicked religion." 

And let's not forget Rod Parsley's famous statement that America was created "to destroy Islam.

Of course, that was then and this is now:

Chuck Colson: "I find Jones’s plan to burn the Koran foolish and contemptible,"

Rev. Richard Cizik of New Evangelical Partnership: "I say, 'Shame on you,'"

John Hagee:  in a letter to Jones dated Sept. 7, : "What you propose to do is an absolute violation of to the Bible." 

Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission: "I think it is appalling, disgusting, and brainless."

Pat Robertson: "This guy is looking for attention. He's looking for publicity. … I think it's horrible what this guy is doing."

 

Hey, the fun's just starting and the bandwagon is immense. 

But the show might have a few laggards and "no-shows." Some truly hardcore Muslim-haters are having a hard time making up their minds on how to approach this situation: as of this writing there is no word from Rod Parsley, Franklin Graham, Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, and Ken Copeland to name a few. That arbiter of everything moral (therefore chief Muslim-hater) Bryan Fischer, has chimed-in in his usual backhanded way:

But the response to Rev. Jones' plan proves something we have been saying from the beginning: Islam is a religion of violence, not a religion of peace.

There is irony in that perhaps the best, most heartfelt and genuine contribution to the criticism of  Jones and the affair comes from Richard Eubank, leader of the VFW:

 The Raw Story:

"There is nothing to be gained and everything to lose from this selfish act. Our war is against a small number of religious extremists who kill indiscriminately and without remorse. Let's not allow an equally small number of religious extremists in America to widen the war." 

While I'm sure Mr. Eubank defines Terry Jones and his "flock" of sheep-like bigots as a "small number" we should perhaps include in that group the hyper-hypocrites who have demonized Islam while extolling the virtues of having freedom of religion.

UPDATE: Pastor Jones has a lot more in common with Fred Phelps than when people first started to compare the two. So stay tuned - there's a lot more to this show!

Have aProblem? Burn A Book! Some Thoughts on The Flames Of Control

Burning books is an act of desperation and a lesson in futility. And a method of control. Forget the images of Fahrenheit 451 where books were kept from a hedonistic society by  the government. Censorship and distrust of literacy have almost always been in the provenance of religion - at least in Western Civilization. And it should come as no big surprise that the first major book burning in recorded history was caused by righteous zealots:

The Western world's great storehouse of knowledge was in Alexandria, a cosmopolitan Mediterranean seaport in Rome's Egyptian province, where the wisdom of the ancient world was supposedly kept on scrolls. That centuries-old knowledge was preserved until 391 CE, when Emperor Theodosius, a Christian convert, ordered all non-Christian works eliminated. The Library at Alexandria, storehouse of the world's knowledge, was burned, the first of many book-burnings "inspired" by Christianity.

                                           - from Don't Know Much About The Bible by Kenneth C. Davis

In other words, Rome had seen the light, became a "Christian Only" empire, and could no longer tolerate any form of non-Christian thought. Historians have opined for years that the reasons for stashing away the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gnostic Gospels were primarily because of the Emperor's edict. In fact, after 391 CE, books were basically outlawed for several centuries, and the Gnostic Gospels were written in Coptic before the 5th century. During Nero's day, Rome boasted 29 public libraries. By the 5th century, there were none.

“There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.”

                                       - Ruth Hurmence Green, Freedom From Religion Foundation

With the Roman Rule of Religion came the closing of Plato's Academy and all other "secular" schools. When good Saint Augustine came along and invented Original Sin (as we know it) only the rich could afford to have their children tutored by the religious authorities (Augustine himself studied under Bishop Ambrose of Milan). Scribes of the Bible were encouraged in literacy only insomuch as it would help them make copies of the Bible. Then after the fall of Rome, monasteries gained control of much of Europe's land. Monks, priests and (some) nuns were highly literate, but they kept literacy to a minimum outside the walls of churches, monasteries and abbeys to a point where kings could not sign their own names to documents. Charlemagne was basically illiterate.

When the printed word started to become common, it was forbidden for Bibles to be written in the vernacular. In 1380, John Wycliffe produced on of the first English Bible translations... 

[Ken Davis] ... The authorities were not amused. Denounced as a heretic after his death, Wycliffe couldn't be executed. Church officials did the next best thing: they exhumed his corpse and burned it.

And as for the Quran or any other books written and read by Muslims, Queen Isabella's Spain trumped our own Rev.Terry Jones by 500 years and a few more books:

Thus on December 18, 1499, three thousand Muslims were baptized by force. These Moors had been told to bring all their books with them so they could watch them burn on the Plaza de Vivarrambla in Grenada. 

                                                                             - Lucien Polastron, Books On Fire

The blaze was so spectacular that the estimate of burned volumes numbered about one million. 

Control. Religious control. Of nations. Of denominations. Even the King James Bible itself came under fire when, in 1844, Catholics protested against it being read aloud in public schools.

In 1844, over the course of several days, nativists in Philadelphia claiming that Catholics wanted the Bible out of the schools killed thirteen people and burned a Catholic Church to the ground...Rioting in dozens of cities in the 1840s and '50s could be connected to the fight over the Bible in the schools.

                                                                                        - Noah Feldman, Divided by God

Control. I won't bother to talk about Germany's conflagration in 1933. It was about control. I wonder where Hitler got the idea?

"Knowledge Is Power" And whoever controls knowledge has the ultimate power. 

When Is Uganda hosting a bonfire? Ask Lou Engle, he'll know.

In Flagrante Delicto: Dangerously Stupid Bigotry In Action From Gainseville, Florida

"But in America, there is the freedom to be ignorant"

Today I looked up the definition of inflagrante delicto: it comes from Latin - "in a blazing offence" - from which we get the term "caught red-handed." So it may be it ironic that the act of burning a religious holy book has brought out the Christian Right's Islamophobia: it's been there all along, but this time it was caught in the act just as its homophobia was caught in the act with Fred Phelps' antics at Matthew Shepard's funeral. 

And while we might argue that anything associated with  Westboro Baptist Church would be discounted as in bad taste, an ally of the church - the Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville, Fla, however, is trying to prove that bad taste can be deadly. In a news item that summarily falls into the WTF? category:

(CNN) -- The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration "could cause significant problems" for American troops overseas.

"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan," Gen. David Petraeus said in a statement issued Monday.

And to further solidify the proof of his idiocy, Pastor Jones of Dove World Outreach Center

...insists the event is "neither an act of love nor of hate," but a warning against what it calls the threats posed by Islam.

The website of Dove World Outreach Center (activew membership - 50) is a chilling affair, primatily because he so purposely demonizes Islam and the Christian Right's usual targets (the LGBT community and Obama, e.g.) referring to them all as "evil." The undertone of "destroy them before they destroy us"  is so prevalent that it renders his "neither an act of love nor hate" statement totally meaningless. He expounds on the "unbelivable cruelty" of radical Islam while negating the fact that his rhetoric will cause harm to Muslims in this country because, of course, there are no Muslims in America who are not part of radical Islam.

BTW: Jones boasts that he has never read the Quran.

There is, of course, a plethora of Christian leaders calling the proposed September 11th International Burn A Koran Day an abomination. The most insightful and glaring protests, however have come from the Gainesville, FL communities. One of them has a website to which people can affix their name to a petition.

From Please Don't Burn The Koran:

We the people of the City of Gainesville Florida, and others everywhere who support freedom of religion, sincerely request that the Dove World Outreach Center Church not proceed with their plans to burn the Koran on 9/11 or at any other time. Freedom of religion is a founding principle of our Constitution and the burning of any people's sacred texts is in direct opposition to this principle. If you proceed with your plans to burn the Koran, please understand that this act will not serve to lessen our respect for the Muslim faith, but will only serve to lessen our respect for you and what you are preaching.

This petition is now closed.

Please take action on these important issues below.

, this petition is now closed.

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Jones has refused all demands to stop the book burning.

CNN:

Jones canceled a planned appearance on CNN's "Rick's List" to discuss the controversy Monday afternoon. Plemon el-Amin, the imam of an Atlanta, Georgia, mosque, said that Jones' criticism of Islam is "really quite uninformed."

"But in America, there is the freedom to be ignorant," el-Amin said. "The only problem is in the world, many people don't understand that particular freedom. So what he is doing is like shouting fire in a theater, in a world theater, and people are upset."

Afghans burn an effigy of Dove World Outreach Center's pastor Terry Jones during a demonstration against the United States in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 6, 2010. Hundreds of Afghans railed against the U.S. and called for President Barack Obama's death at a rally in the capital Monday to denounce the American church's plans to burn the Islamic holy book on 9/11.

PLemon el-Amin was being kind  when he used the word "uninformed." Jones' foolhardy attempt at "evangelism" eerily conjures up the Christian Right's desperate attempt to gain control in a "Christian Only" nation and in doing so, magnifies its unreasonable and rather brainless world view. For example, the website for Dove World Outreach Center lists TEN REASONS TO BURN A KORAN. With it, Jones ticks off a litany that is so parallel to extreme/radical Reconstructionist thought  that it seems to simply switch the words Islam with Right Wingnut Religion. 

 - The Koran teaches that Jesus Christ, the Crucified, Risen Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords was NOT the Son of God, nor was he crucified (a well documented historical fact that ONLY Islam denies). Parenthetical expressions can effectively point out ingnorance: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and dozens of other faiths do not recognize Christ. The Koran, however, is an Abrahamic faith which does recognize Christ as a prophet. Also, Christ's crucifixion is only documented in one source outside the Bible. 

- The Koran does not have an eternal origin. It is not recorded in heaven. The Almighty God, Creator of the World, is NOT it's source. It is not holy. It's writings are human in origin, a concoction of old and new teachings. Hmmm...a lot of people say that about the Bible. Some reknowned Bible scholars are probably weeping at this statement.

- The Koran's teaching includes Arabian idolatry, paganism, rites and rituals. I wonder what he thinks about Catholicism and its Mariolitry or Eastern Orthodox and its reverence for icons?

- The earliest writings that are known to exist about the Prophet Mohammad were recorded 120 years after his death. ... Maybe Mohammad never existed. The earliest known writing about Christ (besides Paul's which did not chronicle Christ's life) were written over 50 years after the crucifxion in a language Christ did not speak. Some people doubt he existed.

 - Mohammad's life and message cannot be respected. And, of course, no one has ever attempted to arrange Christ's life and words to suit their own agenda.

- Islamic Law is totalitarian in nature. There is no separation of church and state. It is irrational. It is supposedly immutable and cannot be changed. The outcry of  "No separation of Church and State" by the Christian Right has totally obliterated Jones' reasoning here and he looks the fool for even mentioning it.

 - Islam is not compatible with democracy and human rights. The notion of a moral individual capable of making decisions and taking responsibility for them does not exist in Islam. The attitude towards women in Islam as inferior possessions of men has led to countless cases of mistreatment and abuse... Jones has never been to a battered women's shelter. The abuse continues. The irony that Fundamentalists have a higher divorce rate than the rest of the country is apparently lost on him. The Southern Baptist Convention still struggles with the definition of a wife being subservient to her husband.

 - A Muslim does not have the right to change his religion. Apostasy is punishable by death. It's a good thing Roger Williams didn't die after being ostracized by the Puritans. Anyway,  I supposed Jones' point could be well taken in that today's non-Christian only faces  extreme discrimination. The Christian Right is, however, making headway in Africa/Uganda.

 - Deep in the Islamic teaching and culture is the irrational fear and loathing of the West. Deep in the Christian Right teaching and culture is the irrational fear and loathing of the Middle East.

- Islam is a weapon of Arab imperialism and Islamic colonialism. Wherever Islam has or gains political power, Christians, Jews and all non-Moslems receive persecution, discrimination, are forced to convert. History will always come back to haunt us: Native Americans were forced into slavery (by the good Franciscan priests of the California Missions) and Puritans killed off whole tribes because they wouldn't convert. 

The next days will be frought with tension as to who will side with whom or who will start distancing themselves from Rev. Jones and his little band of bigots.  We've been hearing from organizations like Family Research Council about "protecting" our troops from "homosexuality" but will they be silent about protecting our troops from one of their own? 


At least American Family Association's Bryan Fischer has the courage of his own stupidity: he defends Jones in a way that only a hardline anti-everyone Rightwingnut can.

When atheists and secularists like the minions of the ACLU, get the Bible banned from schools what do Christians do? They make phone calls, send emails, and go to court. What do Muslims do under similar circumstances? They start shooting and throwing bombs.

So now the Christian Right has been caught in flagrante dilecto in its fight for a "Christian Only Nation." 

Too bad that lives will be lost.