A Christmas tradition I can get behind

Or maybe I shouldn't be behind it.

In Catalonia, as well as in the rest of Spain and in most of Italy and Southern France, traditional Christmas decorations consist of a large model of the city of Bethlehem, similar to the Nativity scenes of the English-speaking world but encompassing the entire city rather than just the typical manger scene. The caganer is a particular feature of modern Catalan nativity scenes, and is also found in other parts of Spain and southwestern Europe, including Salamanca, Murcia (cagones), Naples (cacone or pastore che caca) and Portugal (cagöes). Accompanying Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the Shepherds and company, the caganer is often tucked away in a corner of the model, typically nowhere near the manger scene. There is a good reason for his obscure position in the display, for "caganer" translates from Catalan to English as "pooper", and that is exactly what this little statue is doing — defecating.

Insert South Park reference here.

Via Pandagon, who takes glee in the fact that Bill Donohue is apoplectic over these little shitter boys.
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No! Oh good god, no!

My brother and I (whole family, really) are big fans of zoos. In fact, when I was in England, of all the places I could have gone for a day I chose to go to the London Zoo--that didn't pan out, but it was my first choice instead of, say, Buckingham Palace or Big Ben. We've talked about expanding our repertoire of zoos from the local one to others that are... kinda close. Couple hours away. One of them was the Cincinnati Zoo.

That may not happen now.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and the Creation Museum have made a joint marketing agreement and are selling "combo tickets" to get into both attractions for one price.

From the Cincinnati Zoo's website (link available from PZ's article):

This holiday season, save more by visiting two of the areas fantastic attractions. Cincinnati Zoo and the Creation Museum. Ticket is valid for one day regular admission to each attraction plus the holiday events PNC Festival of Lights (Nov. 28-Jan.4) and Bethlehems Blessings featuring a live Nativity scene(Dec 12 Jan. 4)

Save more with our new Combination Attraction Ticket:
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and Creation Museum The Creation Museum, located seven miles west of the Cincinnati Airport, presents a walk through history. Designed by a former Universal Studios exhibit director, this state-of-the-art 70,000 square foot museum brings the pages of the Bible to life.

I am truly distraught.

[Edit] Whew! Looks like that's been scuttled. Now I can go there with a clean conscience.
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Zombie racist of the day

(Well, technically zombie racist of nearly four months ago)

The Virtuous Woman, who informs us that "Slavery Is Not Wrong".

The Bible tells her so, you see:

With the issue of Slavery Christians are often put in a corner because they are trying to defend God and at the same time the bible nowhere directly attacks slavery. The bible does not condemn slavery. So Christians try to act like Job's friends and try to defend God in a rather foolish way by condemning slavery, as if God forgot to do it Himself in the bible. I think this is a very unwise thing for a Christian to do because if slavery was wrong, God would have said so himself. But He doesn't say its wrong.

It's true, the Bible doesn't say slavery is wrong. That should be a good indication that the Bible is an antiquated product of barbarians, and it should be treated as such rather than as the quintessence of morality and virtue. But no, Christians like her start with their conclusions ("the Bible is the word of God, and God is the arbiter of morality"), and try to fit fit everything else into that. Ergo, atrocities like slavery, genocide, and child murder are good because God says so, and God is good. Well, those trying in any way to be consistent say so... the others just ignore all the horrible things God commands in the Bible. Or they don't know about it.

But I wonder if she just lifted her arguments straight from John Fletcher's Studies on Slavery. Compare this:

I understand that there is so much evil in slavery, when masters abuse their slaves. That is wrong. The bible condemns treating others in an evil way. So this is not the issue. But slavery in itself is not wrong. Just as husbands can abuse wives, does it mean marriage is evil? Or parents can abuse their children, does it mean parenting is wrong? Because masters can be evil to their slaves, it doesn't mean that slavery is wrong. Just as wives are to be submissive to their husbands, likewise slaves are to be submissive to their masters.

...If the bible would have condemned slavery then the gospel itself would have been robbed of its meaning on some way. If slavery is wrong, then wives should not submit to their husbands, children should not obey parents, women should became equal to men and preach in churches ( which is forbidden in the bible by the way), and mostly no one should call Jesus their master or submit to the authority of God.

with this:

Or will he venture to extend his argument, and say that the command of marital and filial obedience proves nothing in their favour; since we are commanded to yield a like obedience to the king, although that king be the wicked Phocas? The fact is, the mere character of chief magistrate, of husband, of parent or slaveholder, is quite distinct from the character which their acts may severally heap upon them. It is, therefore, quite possible for us to reverence and obey the king, yet hold in contempt the person who fills the throne.

Civil government, the relations of parent and child, husband and wife, and slavery itself, are all ordinances of Divine wisdom, instituted for the benefit of man, under the condition of his fallen state. But because these relations are in accordance with the ordinances of God, it by no means follows that the abuses of them are so.

Suppose those who wish to abolish the institution of marriage should present the same argument in their behalf which Dr. Wayland has in this case, it will surely be just as legitimate in the one as the other. But will not Dr. Wayland readily say that there is no parallel between the particular relations compared? We doubt not, he would consider it too stupid to even require refutation.

See? Slavery is okay, because if we had to treat all humans equally, that might also apply to women.

Or how about this?

Such men would fashion the traffic to suit themselves, and would, doubtless, make their business an exceedingly wicked one. But none of the enormities named, or that could be named, constituted a necessary part of the institution of slavery, or necessarily emanated from it. What enormities have wicked men sometimes committed in the transportation of emigrants from Germany and Ireland? Wicked men, intrusted with power, have, at least sometimes, been found to abuse it. Is it any argument against the institution of marriage, because some women have made their husbands support and educate children not their own? Or, because some men murder, treat with cruelty, or make their wives totally miserable and wretched? None of these things were any part of the institution of marriage, but the reverse of it.

Christian morality: stuck in the nineteenth century. Or earlier.

Via Pharyngula, via Evolved and Rat/i/onal.

[Edit] I am reminded of something else. The Virtuous Slaveholder says "I have had disagreements with some Christians as they say slavery is wrong, its as if they are implying that God forgot to put that in the bible, but i disagree."

Indeed! Well, let's not leave it at that--what else do people do that suggests God might have made a mistake? Oh, right: they believe in racial equality.

If God Almighty had intended these two races to be equal, He would have so created them. He made the Caucasian of handsome figure, straight hair, regular features, high brow, and superior intellect. He created the negro, giving him a black skin, kinky hair, thick lips, flat nose, low brow, low order of intelligence, and repulsive features. I do not believe that these differences were the result of either accident or mistake on the part of the Creator. I believe He knew what He was doing, and I believe He did just what He wanted to do.

We believe in God, and we are willing to accept His work just as it fell from His hands. But these people who profess to believe that "a white man may be as good as a negro if the white man behaves himself" are not satisfied with God's work in this regard. They are quite sure that they can make a better job of it than did the Creator, hence we find them attempting to remove the black man from the menial sphere for which he was created, and where he may be useful, to a higher circle for which he is entirely unfitted and where he is perfectly useless.

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You wouldn't think this would be constitutional

Oh, Kentucky. What are we to do with you?

Under state law, God is Kentucky's first line of defense against terrorism.

The 2006 law organizing the state Office of Homeland Security lists its initial duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

Specifically, Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God's benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, tucked the God provision into Homeland Security legislation as a floor amendment that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved two years ago.

As amended, Homeland Security's religious duties now come before all else, including its distribution of millions of dollars in federal grants and its analysis of possible threats.

The time and energy spent crediting God are appropriate, said Riner, D-Louisville, in an interview this week.

"This is recognition that government alone cannot guarantee the perfect safety of the people of Kentucky," Riner said. "Government itself, apart from God, cannot close the security gap. The job is too big for government."

So we should hope that God will do it for us? If he wanted to, wouldn't he do it whether or not we passed a law saying he would?

And really, why is protecting our state too big a job for the government? What is included in that duty that is beyond them? Just because you're too incompetent to do your job, and therefore have to leave it to your fairy god father, that doesn't mean that nobody is capable of doing it.

Anywho, I went on to Kentucky's website and did a search for "Almighty God" in the revised statutes, and got these two hits (warning--both PDFs): this appears to be the legislation referred to in the article. Entitled "Kentucky Office of Homeland Security executive director -- Duties -- Delegation of duties -- Notification of disaster or emergency", it states in part that

The executive director shall:

(a) Publicize the findings of the General Assembly stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth by including the provisions of KRS 39A.285(3) in its agency training and educational materials. The executive director shall also be responsible for prominently displaying a permanent plaque at the entrance to the state's Emergency Operations Center stating the text of KRS 39A.285(3)

This is the first duty listed.

The other hit I got was from 2002, and reads in part:

The General Assembly hereby finds that:

...

(3) The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God as set forth in the public speeches and proclamations of American Presidents, including Abraham Lincoln's historic March 30, 1863, Presidential Proclamation urging Americans to pray and fast during one of the most dangerous hours in American history, and the text of President John F. Kennedy's November 22, 1963, national security speech which concluded: "For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' "

I think this is just a feel-good declaration rather than a law, but still--why are Kentucky's legislators so incompetent that they can't even protect their state by themselves?

Maybe because you can't take office in Kentucky if you've fought a duel? They don't have any experience in killing people / defending themselves! Quick, get these legislators a gun! We can let Kathy Stein and Tom Riner duke it out.

Via Pharyngula.
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Yet more evidence that the Bible was written solely by old men

Why else would there be a story whose moral is, "If you make fun of bald men, you will be mauled to death by bears"?

It's true!

They even have woodcuts of it, although those have to be the most poorly-drawn bears I've ever seen outside of an elementary school.
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Just when you thought it was safe to ignore this blog... I post!

Christmas is the one time of year when people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ.

--Bart Simpson, and possibly George W. Bush, too

Today is Jesus Day! So happy Jesus Day, everybody!

What, don't believe me? See for yourself:

Four months ago in Texas, Gov. George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring June 10 to be Jesus Day, and urging all Texans to "follow Christ's example by performing good works in their communities and neighborhoods."

Yeah, that article is back from 2000, so it's not exactly recent. But we shouldn't forget about it. And it really should have given people an idea of what a Bush administration's feelings towards separation of church and state would be.

The proclamation, which Ms. Edwards said was written by the governor's staff, begins: "Throughout the world, people of all religions recognize Jesus Christ as an example of love, compassion, sacrifice and service. Reaching out to the poor, the suffering and the marginalized, he provided moral leadership that continues to inspire countless men, women and children today.

"To honor his life and teachings, Christians of all races and denominations have joined together to designate June 10 as Jesus Day," it reads. "Jesus Day challenges people to follow Christ's example by performing good works in their communities and neighborhoods."

Yes, people of all religions love Jesus. Like the Jews, who killed him--I mean, you always hurt the ones you love, right?

The phrase in the proclamation signed by Governor Bush that "people of all religions recognize Jesus" was proposed by the March for Jesus, said Mr. Pelton, particularly to avoid offense. But it is this assertion that seemed to most outrage observers.

"With the exception of Islam," said Bruce Lincoln, the Caroline E. Haskell Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago Divinity School, "all the major religions emerged before Christianity, so there is no place for Jesus in their original foundations and scriptures.

"They carefully worded this thing to make it look like they've just got a good guy here, and so the state of Texas can have a party for him without running into church-state problems," Mr. Lincoln said. "It's patently fraudulent."

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Probably not an objective article, though

Aquinas College, a Catholic institution in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has cancelled a scheduled speech from John Corvino entitled "What's Morally Wrong With Homosexuality?" I just appreciated this paragraph:

The president of Aquinas says it's not appropriate for an advocate, of gay rights, tolerance and compassion to speak on campus.

Although this article on the same subject also had an interesting paragraph:

He said the Vatican is concerned about the lack of Catholic faculty at Catholic universities and about rampant "moral relativism" -- the belief that there is no objective right or wrong -- on campuses.

Well, there isn't any objective right or wrong--rights, ethics, morality, are all societally defined/created. But if there were objective right or wrong, I'm betting that discriminating against people based on a completely irrelevant facet of their existence, such as their skin color, the hand they prefer, or the sex (or sexes) to which they're attracted, would be in the "objectively wrong" category.

On the other hand, if you're a moral relativist who believes that things are wrong if--and solely because--some ineffable, lunatic deity says so, then it might count as "right".
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That's unthinkable!

Pat Robertson on Islam:

I want to say it again, and again, and again: Islam is not a religion, it is a political system meant on -- bent on world domination, not a religion. It masquerades as a religion, but the religion covers a worldwide attempt to exercise power and to subjugate the world to their way of thinking.

Gee. No-one like that in Christianity, is there?

"Our aim," according to Pat Robertson at a banquet in 1984, "is to gain dominion over society." The path to dominion was made clear when Robertson told the Denver Post in 1992 that his goal was to "take working control of the Republican Party."

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Some Feministing posts of interest

I don't have much commentary (as usual), I just wanted to link to these posts.

There's this post about how Albany legislators hired their interns. Let's just say it had nothing to do with their resumes.

And this post is a tale of two football players. Both assaulted their girlfriends, but only one was kicked off the team. The other was kept on because he beat up his girlfriend for the right reasons--he wanted to baptize their son, and she didn't want to.

Splendid.
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Spiffy

I like this passage:

Good Friday, meanwhile, like many of the other most important Christian holidays, is a set number of days before Easter. The only problem is that the date of Easter is probably the most complicated celebratory calculation this side of Hinduism, which has a number of competing religious calendars. The standard rule is "the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox." But in fact, the actual divination of the date is so involved that it has its own offical name: "computus." And so challenging that Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of history's greatest mathematicians, devoted the time to create an algorithm for it. It goes on for many lines. You can look it up. And, of course, it doesn't work for Eastern Orthodox Easter (about one month later than the Western Christian one this year, on April 27).

Unfortunately, "computus" isn't in Dictionary.com, but it is in Wikipedia.
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I think this guy needs to attend a few seders

This isn't really racist enough to be a Dead Racist blogging post, but I found it amusing enough that I wanted to share it:

And where this amalgamation cannot be effected--as in the case of the Israelites--who are too homogeneous for commixture or even communion with other people,--the slave, in the progress of events, acquires the knowledge of the master. When Moses could emulate the Egyptian priesthood, he was able to embody and to represent his people, and to lead them forth from bondage; for then they had acquired all the knowledge which was possessed by the Egyptian; and as they could derive nothing further from the instruction of their masters, the period had naturally arrived for their emancipation. Upon this susceptibility of acquisition, on the part of the slave, depends the whole secret of his release from bondage. It is his mental and moral inferiority which has enslaved, or subjected him to a superior. It is his rise, morally and intellectually, into the same form with his master, which alone can emancipate him.

Y'know, it's been a while since my last seder, but I don't recall any natural emancipation that happened because the Israelites were so much more learned than when they entered Egypt. I'm pretty sure there were some miracles, some divine intervention that got them out of there--the very quintessence of supernatural occurrences. It's not like they were kept as slaves because they kept failing a written test, and were just allowed to leave once they learned enough to pass it, or they one day realized that the Egyptians didn't actually lock their pens.
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Woo-hoo!

The Senate investigation of "prosperity gospel" churches has gotten an influential ally:

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has thrown his support behind an investigation of allegations of lavish spending and lax oversight at a half-dozen "prosperity gospel" Christian ministries.

The investigation into the ministries' private planes, oceanside mansions, board oversight and involvement in for-profit businesses has divided the broader evangelical community, with some worrying about the potential for stricter regulations on all religious nonprofits. Others praise it as an overdue check on a corner of the movement that preys on the vulnerable and thrives despite years of negative publicity.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana joined with Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley in urging cooperation from four ministries. According to a statement from Grassley's office Wednesday, the four ministries have not responded to questions he posed in early November.

...

While Grassley has emphasized he is not interested in theology, [Kenneth] Copeland and [Creflo] Dollar in particular have questioned whether he is targeting the ministries' shared prosperity theology. That teaching says that God wants people to flourish financially and spiritually.

Funny how god wants people to flourish financially, but the only ones who he seems to reward with riches are the pastors of these churches and not their members....
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Can we quit it with the "religion makes people moral" crap?

And, for that matter, the "religion is a safety blanket for adults"?

A man who was found with a woman's body packed in dry ice in his hotel room told a newspaper that her death may have been in some way connected to religion.

"Everything that happened was for religious reasons," Stephen David Royds told The Orange County Register on Sunday.

Royds spoke to the newspaper in a brief interview from jail. He repeated the statement four times but did not elaborate.

The really bizarre part is this:

An autopsy of Trepp was inconclusive but her death did not appear to be a homicide. Authorities were awaiting a toxicology report to determine the cause of death.

Not a homicide? Then what, did she stuff herself into tupperware as part of her religious ceremony?

Via Atrios.
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Hagee gets it wrong, again

Glenn Beck asks John Hagee if Obama is the Anti-Christ:

BECK: There are people -- and they said this about Bill Clinton -- that actually believe he might be the Antichrist. Odds that Barack Obama is the Antichrist?

HAGEE: No chance.

The fools! He's gotten to them, too!

Of course, this means that he's not really Muslim, but Jewish.

'In accordance with their false messianic vocation of Jewish world-domination, the Jews are preparing the Anti-Christ's throne in Jerusalem.'

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Hinn the Hack

I was expecting a bit more from this article--when it discusses infiltrating a Benny Hinn show with plans to pop embarrassing questions ("Pastor Benny, is it true that the US Senate is investigating your finances?") to him during his "faith healing" routine, I was expecting something spectacular like James Randi's exposé of Peter Popoff. Well, they didn't actually get to embarrass Hinn with the question, but the article is still a good inside look at the methods Hinn uses to swindle gullible people and create the impression that he has divine powers.

There is nothing mysterious about how you earn $US200 million ($215 million) a year promising people prosperity, healing and eternal salvation. No one knows how to do it better than Pastor Benny Hinn. I was at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre last month and saw the Hinn machine in action - healing and sucking in the money.

I went with my friend Greg Toohey, who was in a wheelchair. There is nothing wrong with him - he wanted to get on the stage in front of 8000 people and pretend he was healed. The idea was to put a question to Hinn at the moment Toohey was meant to collapse under Hinn's touch, "slain in the spirit". This was the question: "Pastor Benny, is it true that the US Senate is investigating your finances?"

...

We arrived at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre two hours early. Already a press of people was streaming out of the car parks, many like Toohey in wheelchairs. The air buzzed with expectancy. Some walked past offering encouragements. An elderly woman put her hand on Toohey's shoulder and said: "I have faith that the Lord will be here for you tonight. Do you?" Toohey replied: "Yes I do."

We followed the signs to the "wheelchair entrance", which took us directly to the floor of the centre and our place with the sick, behind 15 rows for VIPs. Next to us was a young man with his profoundly retarded son of three or four years. His boy showed no reaction to the world around him. With infinite and loving patience this young father tended his son, rarely taking his eyes off him, adjusting his bed in the stroller, lifting and cuddling him, putting in a dummy, offering a bottle of juice. This was a life without respite for him.

Behind us a man struggled to assemble a camp bed. Since 2.30 that afternoon he had been working to get his friend to the centre. It was a painful sight. His friend in a wheelchair was desperately sick. He was dishevelled and dirty. He had on wide-legged shorts displaying pathetically thin legs. A colostomy bag balanced on his lap. An inflatable mattress was produced and after an agonising effort it was in place. He was laid on it and his friend tenderly put a pillow under his head and laid a coat over him. Within minutes he was asleep and didn't wake until it was time to go home.

Hinn brings a large group of operators with him, veterans of a hundred events like this. A Brisbane crowd of 8000 is small stuff. They have meetings of more than a million in Kenya, Latin America and Indonesia. A couple of men I recognised from Hinn's TV show cruised the rows of the sick like sharks, looking for prospects for healing. They were not interested in the profoundly ill. The man and his boy, the poor fellow asleep on his bed, were of no use to Pastor Benny.

...

Toohey struggled out of the chair and unsteadily took the handles at the back and began to move forward. I whispered: "We've got to get down the side to the front."

We found ourselves in a strange melee of people, a sad crowd urging towards the stage. If you made it, Hinn would slay you in the spirit: the final confirmation of divine intervention.

Toohey and I were stopped by a large Pacific Islander, who said kindly: "You need to stay back there." He was pointing to white tape on the floor. Why were we stopped when others were moving over? Then I overheard one of the Hinn veterans speak to another volunteer: "I told you. No one over here who is not 100 per cent healed. Don't just point … move them out."

I whispered to Toohey: "We've got to lose the chair." In a couple of minutes we were in with the 100 per centers.

The Hinn man grabbed Toohey and pulled him into the open. He put his arm behind him and pushed: "Come on brother, praise the Lord, come on." Toohey responded until he was almost running. The man stopped and put him at the front of the line. He directed a volunteer to get the wheelchair and park it at the bottom of the stage.

...

Over the next 15 minutes people struggled over the 100 per cent line and joined us along the wall. Suddenly, a huge black security guard came over and said: "You're up first." He looked at me: "You can go up with him."

We were herded to the stairs and started up. I looked at Toohey and something worried me. I grabbed him hard on the arm and whispered: "Don't you bloody fall over, Toohey."

We burst into the dazzling light and there was Pastor Benny. Up close he looked soft, almost feminine. His skin is smooth but flabby. His hands were small and the nails were highly manicured and polished. He walked towards Toohey and asked: "What has the Lord done for you?" Toohey began muttering about falling off a mountain again. Hinn looked annoyed: "What has happened?"

Toohey returned to his story about the mountain. I was muttering to myself: "The question, the bloody question." Hinn reached out and with thumb and first finger pushed on Toohey's neck. The minders behind him reached forward and pulled him back, and Toohey collapsed. Hinn moved up stage to reveal a more obvious miracle of healing. Toohey was dragged to his feet and we left the stage, collected the chair and returned silently to our seat.

So what happened? Hinn and his handlers are seasoned professionals at the miracle game. Toohey was too contained. They needed the trembling ecstasy of a person overwhelmed by spiritual power. So in a second they had him on his back.

In short, Hinn's faith healing is completely staged to provide the illusion of miracles. The people who are seriously ill are not picked at all. I would bet that when Hinn's handler asked Toohey "Do you feel anything?", that was the second stage in their selection. First was visual: determine who was clearly incapable of being part of their ruse, beyond Hinn's "miraculous powers", and pass them by. The people left, who looked like likely possibilities, were interviewed personally and tested to see if they already believed in Hinn's powers and were thus open to suggestion, and whether they could move under their own power already (even if only in a limited fashion) or not. Of course, I don't know that's how it works--it would've been nice if the author had noticed whether all the other people in wheelchairs were similarly approached by Hinn's helpers.

Finally, only the people who were "100 per cent healed" were allowed onto the carefully-arranged stage. Once there, instead of being knocked down by Hinn's magic powers, they were pulled down by the staffers behind him.

Praise the lord!
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Why don't they just stop all the bull and go straight for the constitutional amendment declaring the U.S. a Christian nation?

Well, this is disheartening. Congressman Randy Forbes has submitted a bill, H.R. 888, that basically is an attempt to codify right-wing historical revisions into law. It has a list of 75 "Whereas" statements, nearly every one of which is a falsehood, a misrepresentation, a twisting of reality, or a blatant lie--all designed with the intent to change reality and proclaim that America is, historically has been, and was originally intended to be, a Christian nation. Here are the actual resolutions of the bill:

Resolved, That the United States House of Representatives----

(1) affirms the rich spiritual and diverse religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, including up to the current day;

Well, it says "diverse religious history", but in reality it only means Christianity. They don't even try to hide it in the clauses leading up to this, trying to claim how important the Bible was in the founding of the country (it wasn't), talking about supposed government funding of churches or missions (lies), and so on. Here's one of the "whereas" clauses that demonstrate clearly what they really intend by this bill:

Whereas the United States Supreme Court has declared throughout the course of our Nation's history that the United States is 'a Christian country', 'a Christian nation', 'a Christian people', 'a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being', and that 'we cannot read into the Bill of Rights a philosophy of hostility to religion'

And back to the actual resolutions....

(2) recognizes that the religious foundations of faith on which America was built are critical underpinnings of our Nation's most valuable institutions and form the inseparable foundation for America's representative processes, legal systems, and societal structures;

Mmm... nope. Religion and faith have absolutely nothing to do with our "representative processes [or] legal systems." Remember Article 6 of the Constitution says explicitly "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." How much more plain can they make it? Elections, division of powers (the three branches of government), the entire concept of representative government--none of that has any basis in the Bible or in religion.

And our legal system? This is probably more of the typical dreck that our laws are based on the 10 Commandments--which is patently absurd. Most of them wouldn't even be Constitutional, so how could our legal system possibly be based on them? Even if he didn't mean the ten commandments specifically, I think a similar point would still apply to near any list of biblical injunctions you would care to name.

(3) rejects, in the strongest possible terms, any effort to remove, obscure, or purposely omit such history from our Nation's public buildings and educational resources; and

Except that "such history" as was described in the 75 "whereas" clauses is completely and utterly false (be sure to go read that page; Chris Rodda specializes in debunking the lies of Christian historical revisionists). We should do everything we can to avoid having these shameless lies anywhere near our schools, not codify into law that they have to be there.

(4) expresses support for designation of a 'American Religious History Week' every year for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.

What, National Bible Week isn't enough for you twits? Although I find it cute that you're continuing the pretense that you have any desire to give equal time to other religions aside from your own.

The shame of it all is that this bill currently has 31 cosponsors. Hopefully it will die, but who knows anymore?
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At least he didn't have a black baby

Looks like someone in South Carolina doesn't like Mitt Romney:

Many South Carolina Republicans got a bogus holiday greeting card this week, purported to be from White House hopeful Mitt Romney, that cites some controversial passages of the Book of Mormon.

"We wish you and your family a happy holiday season and a joyful New Year. The Romney family," the card says.

The last page features a photograph of a temple above a box that says "Paid For By The Boston Massachusetts Temple."

"What's so bad about that?" you might ask. I was wondering that myself while reading through the article--given that the Romney campaign and the Temple both adamantly deny any knowledge of these cards, there must be something negative about them.

And here it is:

The card contains passages that underscore some differences between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and those of denominations that are prevalent in South Carolina.

"We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first born, and another being upon the earth by whom he begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world," reads one passage from Orson Pratt, cited on the card as an "original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles."

The card also cites a passage on Mary's virgin birth that underscores her race. "And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white." On the card, "fair and white" are in a bolder, larger font and on a separate line.

Although frankly, I suspect that numerous people in South Carolina would have no problem with believing that Mary was white. Hell, they believe Jesus was white, don't they?
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"Christians don't carry out such wicked acts - they're not aloud to"

Christians are never bad people. Just ask--they'll tell you so themselves. And, since they're not bad people, they wouldn't lie, so you know you can trust them when they say so.

So when Christians commit acts of terror, it's obvious why it wouldn't be called "terrorism"--because they didn't do it. Because they're such good people.
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Let's put Mithras back into Christmas!

Remember about a month ago, when scholars found the place they believe Romulus and Remus were nursed? Well, Andrea Carandini believe that a church was built nearby to co-opt this site of pagan worship for Christian purposes, such as Christmas:

A few feet from the grotto, or "Lupercale," the Emperor Constantine built the Basilica of St. Anastasia, where some believe Christmas was first celebrated on Dec. 25.

Constantine ended the frequent waves of anti-Christian persecutions in the Roman empire by making Christianity a lawful religion in 313. He played a key role in unifying the beliefs and practices of the early followers of Jesus.

In 325, he convened the Council of Nicaea, which fixed the dates of important Christian festivals. It opted to mark Christmas, then celebrated at varying dates, on Dec. 25 to coincide with the Roman festival celebrating the birth of the sun god, Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University, told reporters Friday.

The Basilica of St. Anastasia was built as soon as a year after the Nicaean Council. It probably was where Christmas was first marked on Dec. 25, part of broader efforts to link pagan practices to Christian celebrations in the early days of the new religion, Carandini said.

"The church was built to Christianize these pagan places of worship," he said. "It was normal to put a church near these places to try to 'save' them."

Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

And here's the Wikipedia page on Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, the Roman festival stolen by Christians.
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Man, God's pop quizzes are murder

The pastor at the Colorado megachurch that was the locale of a recent shooting has declared it was all a test:

"Last weekend was a test ... but we are passing the test," said the Rev. Brady Boyd, New Life Church senior pastor, on a bright, sunny day when snow-capped Pikes Peak could be seen from the church grounds.

Really? What exactly is being tested? The cliché boilerplate is that such crises are tests of "faith", as though faith somehow acts as a bulletproof vest.

So the church is passing the test. The two teenage girls who were murdered, though, apparently failed. Probably their fault; they didn't have enough faith.

And this is somehow supposed to be a sign that God loves these people.
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