Am I the Only One Who Finds it Ironic that a Guy From a Show Called "Growing Pains" is Railing Against the Theory of Evolution?

Nearly a century and a half after the publication of Charles Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’, the debate over evolution goes on with no end in sight.

Now former Growing Pains star turned ubber evangelical Christian Kirk Cameron is promoting an effort to give away free copies of the book, but with a 50 page introduction that lays out the creationist theory, as well as allegations that Hitler liked Darwin, Darwin was racist, and hated women. Now the video of one Romanian woman is making the rounds as she rebuts Cameron’s claims that American is under assault by atheists.

H/T: Suburban Guerrilla

Eric Cantor (R-VA) Calls for Judeo-Christian Values in the Middle East?

And they wonder why the Muslim world hates us. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) seems to be channeling Rudyard Kipling style jingoism for policy in the Middle East. Insisting that the best way to ease tensions in the Middle East is to make sure that our actions and policies are “firmly grounded in Juedo-Christian principles”. I don’t know which is more reckless and stupid; perhaps forgetting that p every nation with the exception of Israel has a Muslim majority or that he and other neoconservative zealots don’t care.

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told Christian Zionists that U.S. policies in the Middle East must be “firmly grounded” in Judeo-Christian principles.

“Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans that our policies be firmly grounded in the beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition upon which this country was founded,” said Cantor (R-Va.), the House minority whip and the only Jewish Republican in Congress, in a speech to the Christians United For Israel annual conference in Washington.

I have said said it before, if one thinks that a majority white christian country can with a bible in one hand and an M-16 in the other can go to a region of the world that you are culturally and historically unfamiliar with (and whose culture and language you are so dismissive of), whose language you don’t speak, and view it as some opportunity to convert them to Christians and make thier countries into a region in the mold of United States, you are in the minds of many netural parties in the region validating the claims of Al-Queda that Europe, the United States, and Israel are imperialists seeking to desecrate Muslim and Arab culture, as well as sovereignty; thus allowing our enemies to make this an even more nationalistic holy war and rallying more support for the anti-western sentiment.

I just hope that this was merely political pandering to the nut job neocons and not something that Cantor and any serious policy maker believes in. Because we are already fighting an enemy who seeks to spread a perverted and distorted form of a religion with missionary zeal through a-symmetrical millita -style means. The last thing we need is to become a power that with arrogance goes around the globe using the twin elements of fanatic missionary zeal and violence to do the same by using a twisted version of Christianity or Judaism, with our millitary. It would be futile, horrific.

Besides just because our nation is built on a Juedo-Christian philosphy (that at least according to the Treaty of Tripoli of 1796 is questionable in and of itself) doesn’t mean that all nations are too. America is not the world. We have always espoused a principle of self-determination for peoples and lands throughout the globe, and those who actually believe we should exercise in Foreign policy a Judeo-Christian Foreign policy in a Muslim land, are not only ignorant but violate that principle of self-determination.

And another thing, if you want to be a religious evangelist that’s fine. But don’t do so in public office.

Jesus, Teen Idols, and Your Record Player

Some guy makes the case for the Devil being in Rock music, in teen idols, and why Jesus is the true lord and savior. Not quite sure if this guy is an 80s style televangelists or just a bad comedian. You decide.

H/T: Everything is Terrible

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

The more one reads about former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield the more one is astounded by how anyone that shallow,opportunistic, selfish, self-serving, and just plain stupid could come to head the U.S Pentagon.

Aside from his one time protege Dick Cheney nobody could every really mistake the former smart-ass congressman, turned Nixon disciple, turned Gerald Ford Chief of staff and Defense Secretary, turned Saddam hand shaker, turned cantankerous and sardonic Defense Secretary under the Bush/Cheney administration of being likable or pleasant to work with.

First, there came the revelation that neocons in the lower levels of the civilian leadership Defense Department killed overtures made by Sunni insurgent leaders in 2004 Iraq prior to the 2007 “the Sunni awakening”, for reasons of their own Department and ideology that clashed with reality.

Now we learn that Rumsfield, who nobody would really mistake for a strongly religious man, used militaristic old testament language of the Bible on the covers of Intelligence Reports, presumably to influence the thinking of the deeply religious Bush.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld routinely used militaristic passages from the Bible on the cover pages of White House intelligence documents, according to startling new revelations by GQ.

The magazine said he displayed the passages over photographs of US forces in Iraq to curry favor with then president George W. Bush, despite concerns about the incendiary impact on Islamic opinion if they were ever made public.

One of the images was from March 31, 2003, showing a US tank roaring through the desert about 10 days after the United States invaded Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Over the image was printed a verse from Ephesians: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

Luckily the current Pentagon and current administration have ceased the practice.

Regardless, Rumsfield was dressing these reports and dressing Millitary intelligence and objectives in the language of religion, while Al-Queda and militants the U.S is fighting were dressing their military intelligence and objectives in the language of religion. The leaders and proponents of violence against the U.S, continuously stoke fears of the people of the Middle East that the U.S hates Islam and look at Muslims as inferior. Employing this rhetoric and tying it to the overall U.S war efforts no doubt allows the militants to tell those moderates that are weary of but not yet violently hostile of the U.S and her allies, that the things the militants claim may have some credence to them. Thus making the U.S Battle for hearts and minds more arduous and the possibility that many moderate elements will veer towards Al-Queda and a more inflammatory view of America a more likely possibility.

The conflict we are locked in with groups of Al-Queda, has one side justifying their use of violence and build thier movement by distorting the faith of Islam constantly invoking the language of the crusades and the valor of conquest. The last thing we should do is cede the ground of reason and ourselves become enveloped in a haze of religious dogma to justify our military objectives. If we continue to do that, aren’t we just devolving into a state where we are as misguided and illogical as those who subscribe to the rhetoric and violence of Al-Queda?

Also on another note, Rumsfield was willing to use the religion which has guided so many to a better life and enriched so many souls, for something as crass as selling his own political views. Using religion to advertise it, like commercials use sexy women, fast cars, and succulent hamburgers to reach consumers. He used religion to sell war. His actions suggest that he views Christianity as little more then an advertising tool. That is degrading to religion no matter how one feels about a given policy. If I was a devout Christian I would be infuriated by a move that treated my religion with such disdain.

Poll: The More Religious Most Likely to Say Torture is Sometimes Justified

CNN reports on a Pew Poll revealing that the more people go to church the more they support torture.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new analysis.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than 6 in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only 4 in 10 of them did.

The analysis is based on a Pew Research Center survey of 742 American adults conducted April 14-21. It did not include analysis of groups other than white evangelicals, white non-Hispanic Catholics, white mainline Protestants, and the religiously unaffiliated, because the sample size was too small.

In a way this shouldn’t be surprising. The idea of good versus evil is prevalent in all religions, not just Christianity but in all religions. And by nature if one phalanx of religious worshipers or anybody really firmly believes they are the side of the just, the right, and the proverbial “good guys”, then the opponent must be evil. But especially with Catholics, when the Pope strongly has condemned the practice of torture, this all seems hypocritical. After all, would one not be willing to cede that Jesus Christ himself was not a victim of torture? Crucifixion after all is still torture isn’t it ?

Many of these who are both wedded to religion which typically is a vehicle that preaches love and respect, as well as acknowledging at least some of the most rudimentary human rights; yet simultaneously support such hideous practices as waterboarding see themselves and America as inherently good. Most can agree on that, but those who support torture seem to take it to a point where the core of their argument seems to be that the ends justify the means. As long as we are victorious it doesn’t matter what we do to protect ourselves and fight our enemies as long as in the end we are the last ones standing. That it doesn’t matter what we do to protect ourselves, even ceding our constitutional rights or practice tactics that in the past we had condemned when employed by those such as the Chinese military during the Korean war and the reign of Mao, the Imperial Japanese during World War II. But it does matter. It matters whether we are going to continue to stand as an example of moral dignity and human rights on the world stage or if we will surrender that ground in a bout of hysteria and panic. Rather we will be a land that remains as free and vibrant as the promise etched into our constitution and our spirit, or if we will degenerate into an angry people seeking to fortify ourselves against what is best in us shedding liberties one by one , believing that bombs and threats alone can bring us safety or enrichment.

In the end it is just not enough to say you are the “Good Guy” to be seen as having the moral high ground. It is through your actions, the liberties you grant others, the openness to those caught in the crossfire between we and the real extremists we face, and overall our actions that will determine whether we are the “Good Guy” or just a land so enveloped by fear that we start believing that the American idea is our foe.

And after all, how many of these supporters of such torture techniques are willing to say that some these same tactics that defined the horrible regimes of Mao, Imperial Japan, and others were immoral when they utilized such tactics in the name of preserving their way of life, are now okay merely because we are the ones now using them? If virtuous people such as we in the United States use means employed by despots such as Mao and still retain the reputation of good virtue that we have?

Gay Marriage and the Seperation of Church and State

Rod Dreher reacts predictably to the vote by the state legislature in Vermont to legalize same sex marriage.

It is increasingly obvious that the US Supreme Court is going to have to rule on this matter soon. It is an untenable situation for a same-sex couple to be married in Vermont and Massachusetts and Iowa, but not in Texas, Nevada and Montana. I believe SCOTUS will constitutionalize gay marriage, and that being the case, it might be better for my side if it gets done sooner rather than later. If done sooner, there might still be enough backlash left in the American people to get a constitutional amendment passed erecting a high barrier or protection around religious institutions. Thoughts?

Thoughts? Well here Dreher means one of two things. The first could mean that the entire fate of civilization and Christianity itself rests soley on prohibiting two people of the same gender from getting married. The other is Dreher is unconsciously advocating for the separation of church and state without really knowing it.

A barrier of protection around religious institutions? Sounds like the separation of Church and state to me. The concept of the separation of church and state is often forgotten by religious conservatives in that it not only protects the government from the forces of religion but also religion from the excesses and management of religious institutions. Both need to be protected from one another at times. I myself compare it to the relationship between my best friend and my girlfriend. I honor both and want them to be harmonious in their relationship and even craft a friendship of sorts. But I don’t want the two to sleep together. That same co-existence and tolerance, yet distance between the affairs of government and those of state is just as necessary.

Marriage though can be a challenging one, since Marriage for many has both a religious and legal component. When a marriage certificate is sought and given that is the legal function of marriage thus the government. When at a wedding a religious figure such as a priest presides over a ceremony codifying that union in God’s eyes that is the religious function. Gays don’t seem so much as asking for the religious community to perform such marriages (although i would imagine they would like to be accepted or at least tolerated). Rather they seek the legal benefits and protections that come with that marriage certificate.

Holocaust Denying Bishop says He will Look at Evidence

Williamson I guess thinks that this was all one big elaborate act.

How stupid can one be? Pope Benedict who himself was German and alive when the holocaust happens reinstates a Bishop who denies the holocaust? The Holocaust the most well documented atrocity in human history?

But one need not worry, Bishop Richard Williamson, who was excommunicated in the late 1980s for his radical views says he will “review the evidence”. Evidently he thinks this is fake. Disgraceful!

A Roman Catholic bishop, ordered by the Vatican to recant his denial of the Holocaust, says he will re-examine the research upon which he made his conclusion that no Jews were gassed by the Nazi regime, a German magazine reported Saturday.

Bishop Richard Williamson of the ultra-conservative Society of St. Pius X told Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine that based on research he did in the 1980s, he became convinced of his views about the Holocaust, which historians say resulted in the deaths of six million Jews.

Williamson is quoted by Der Spiegel as saying he would re-examine “everything again and look at the evidence.” However, he said he won’t be visiting the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“Since I see that there are many honest and intelligent people who think differently, I must look again at the historical evidence,” the British bishop was quoted as saying.

Pat Robertson’s Annual Look into the Future

Christian Broadcast Network Founder, “700 Club” host, former Presidential Candidate, and the Lady Cleo of the Christian right, Pat Robertson following a New Years conference has shared his annual prophecies with we the regular human beings again. It is a tradition that happens around New Years, where according to Robertson the Lord tells him things every year to inform the rest of us of with mixed success at best.

Yes, the guy who endorsed Rudy Gulliani for President because he believed he was the one most likely to win the Republican nomination, believes he can predict the future.

But to ensure that Robertson does not discredit the heavenly father, he gives this disclaimer:

“I say with humility, I hope I’ve heard the Lord. I spend time praying and asking him for wisdom and if there’s a mistake, it’s not his fault, it’s mine,” Robertson said.

Among this years predictions Obama will bring socialism to America under the guise of a new New Deal.

Boston Herald:

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. _ Citing information he says is from God, Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said Friday that America is headed for veritable socialism as well as an economic rebound under President-elect Barack Obama in 2009.

“What the Lord was saying, the people are willing to accept socialism to alleviate their pain,” Robertson said on a broadcast of “The 700 Club.” Robertson hosts the program, which is aired from the Christian Broadcasting Network studios in Virginia Beach.

Robertson said the economy, particularly the stock market, could start rebounding by the second quarter.

“Cast off the gloom and the doom because things are getting ready to turn around,” he said. “I’m flying in the face of all of the experts or most of the experts who say, ’Oh no, no, no, it’s going to get worse,’ but I don’t think so.”

So the people will accept socialism, what is said to be a disastrous economic and political structure by many including Robertson himself, but nevertheless the economy will rebound? The often off-beat and controversial Robertson Friday is also said to have branded Islam a “Religion of Hate” and has said that it is “losing its grip” (kind of like Pat Robertson himself).

On Friday, Robertson said God told him Islam was losing its grip on Muslims repelled by the violence and bloodshed of a “religion of hate.”

He also said Russia would create a multinational coalition to gain control of Middle Eastern oil supplies.

Now if God was really sending messages to someone, one would think that by now he would choose someone with a little bit more credibility. You know someone who doesn’t make such a fool of himself?

Obama Draws Fire For Inviting Rick Warren to Do Invocation

There is little need for me to inform you over the blitzkrieg of criticism President-Elect Obama has encured from many gay rights activists, liberals, bloggers, and Democrats over his choice of Pastor and best selling author Rick Warren as his choice to deliver the traditional invocation at his approaching inauguration in January.

Critics of that decision are infuriated pointing to his fervent opposition to abortion, his efforts backing Proposition 8 in California which barred Gay Marriage, and his agreement that would should assassinate foreign leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Amadenijad.

Sarah Posner has a piece in the Nation stating that Rick Warren is basically James Dobson or Pat Robertson with facial hair, Hawaiian shirts, and what Warren himself says is a difference in tone, with those titular heads of the Christian Right.

There was no doubt that Obama, like every president before him, would pick a Christian minister to perform this sacred duty. But Obama had thousands of clergy to choose from, and the choice of Warren is not only a slap in the face to progressive ministers toiling on the front lines of advocacy and service but a bow to the continuing influence of the religious right in American politics. Warren vocally opposes gay marriage, does not believe in evolution, has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Warren has done a masterful job at marketing himself as a “new” kind of evangelical with a “broader agenda” than just fighting abortion rights and gay marriage. He dispatches members of his congregation to Africa to perform AIDS relief and has positioned himself as a great crusader for bringing his “purpose-driven” pabulum to the world.

Faith in Public Life, a nonprofit cultivated by the Center for American Progress, was so wowed by Warren that it co-sponsored a presidential forum in August at Warren’s Saddleback Church. There, his “broader agenda” included asking Obama whether he believed that life began at conception (which Warren believes, he says, based on the Bible, not science) and to ruminate on the nature of evil. (As for Pastor Rick, he believes the Bible dictates that the US government “punish evildoers,” as in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.)

Beneath the sheep’s clothing lurks a culture warrior wolf. After the Saddleback forum, he told the Wall Street Journal that the only difference between him and James Dobson was that of “tone.” After insisting that his agenda was “broad,” and holding himself out as an impartial arbiter of the forum, he declared that voting for a “Holocaust denier” (i.e., someone who is pro-choice) is a “deal-breaker” for many evangelicals. Obama was pressured to talk about “abortion reduction,” but Warren likens such rhetoric likening it to Schindler’s List: an attempt to save some lives but not end a “holocaust.”

In the world of the “broader agenda” evangelicals, when liberals advocate for gay marriage, they’re stoking the culture wars; when a “broader agenda” evangelical crusades against it, he’s merely upholding biblical standards. In that tradition, Warren in October implored his followers to vote for Proposition 8 because “there are about 2 percent of Americans are homosexual, gay, lesbian people. We should not let 2 percent of the population…change a definition of marriage that has been supported by every single culture and every single religion for 5,000 years.” Warren called opposition to gay marriage a “humanitarian issue” because “God created marriage for the purpose of family, love and procreation.”

President-elect Obama in response insists that he has always been a stalwart advocate for Gay Rights and that he is merely trying to be inclusive.

To some degree Warren defenders are right. He has taken actions to reduce HIV/AIDS and combat poverty. And unlike many in the Pat Robertson mold he has given at least lip service to fighting global climate change, being bi-partisan, and expressed at least token opposition to the use of torture or as it is called by its critics “harsh interrogation techniques”.

Myself, I am conflicted about this. On one hand some of Warren’s views I don’t just disagree with but think of as backwards such as Gay Marriage, comparing abortion to the holocaust. Even his opposition to torture while he should get credit for breaking with the Bush loyal Christian right, he has failed to do much to speak out about it, while investing much of his energy in opposing the twin evils of many cultural temporants, two gays who love each other getting married and a woman making reproductive health decisions.

But the number of Ministers in America who support Choice and/or gay rights is sparse in number. My feeling I guess is somewhat of a compromise on the issue. Warren should at least be invited to the inauguration maybe even allowed to speak as other ministers will. But another figure less vocal and less politicized should take the reigns and give the invocation. I don’t know like I said I am still a bit conflicted on this one.

Focus on the Family uses" Obama is Hitler" Line as Fundraiser

Just in case anyone thought that the vitrol on the far right would cease with the end of the Presidential election earlier this week, you would be wrong.

According to unbossed.com, the group of social theocons and “pro-family” advocates that calls themselves “Focus on the Family” sent out a fundraising letter. Here is some of what it said. According to the latest from Dr Dobson’s land of make believe and swindel, he is Winston Churchill, his funders are the British underattack by nazis, and Obama is suprise….. Hitler! And you to can evidently be saved too, ifone sends a few dollars to this guy who cares supposedly all about human life, as long as its a fetus that is.

You may recall that in the most desperate days of World War II – when Great Britain was being pounded daily by Hitler’s Luftwaffe – that Winston Churchill called on his countrymen not to despair from danger but to rise to the challenge.

“Do not speak of darker days,” he said. “Let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days — the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we shall all thank God that we have been allowed, each one of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable. …”

As our incredible team of staff members watched the election results pour in on Election Night, an amazing thing happened that Churchill might have recognized. Despite some sobering disappointments, there was no mood of despair and no “bunker mentality.” Instead, a firm sense of resolve began to permeate our team — a spirited and determined recognition that now, more than ever, we must prayerfully and boldly shine the light of truth in the public arena and defend what is right.

Sometimes its hard to tell if people like Dobson are worshipping Jesus or think they are Jesus. Because of course Jesus said not “love thy enemy” but compare him to Hitler.