Dark Christianity

I wonder if this kind of post will be accepted...

2009-04-03T19:10:05Z

Presuming this kind of post is on-topic, I thought it would do some good to shine some light into the dark corners of the time in which the Dommies began to emerge. It's always critical to keep in mind the founder effect, which has to do with the character of a movement's founders later having an effect on the future of it.

For the purpose of my little ~~twaddle~~-I mean essay, I shall note what I'm defining Dominionism as: the political form of Christianity that first began to arise in the 1920s. Its precursors in the 19th Century Great Awakenings are not considered here, and I already know that Pentecostalism was the bastard grandchild of Anglicanism. Thank you.

Let's take the 1920s in the US at a glance, shall we? There was a car bombing in New York, near Wall Street. The Ku Klux Klan was in full flower, in both South and North. Indians had gained legal citizenship which was in some ways a dubious blessing, as is nearly every "gift" to the Natives. The Nadir of Race Relations was ongoing, Jim Crow was in its high point, the Flappers and other wealthy middle-class phenomena were scandalizing the rich, Prohibition had created a culture rife with crime and violence, and there was a general phobia of Catholics and Jews in the US.

It was in this context that the idea of higher criticism produced a backlash, with the publication of http://www.eaec.org/bookstore/the_fundamentals.htm. (May be triggering in some ways, and is a link to an Evangelical website. I sincerely apologize, I could not find a secular link. If one can be found, please edit my post and put it in, I don't want to be responsible for triggering someone). This, not the Pentecostal Revival of 1900, is the true start of Dominionism, when the ideas that led to Fundamentalism (a term that meant defender of the Fundamentals, which were a boiled-down version of Protestant theology, Catholics and Orthodox need not apply) and the concept of political religion was born. The Fundies opposed eugenics and other such concepts, and had their high water mark with the Scopes Trial. Now, let's put this in perspective, shall we? In the midst of the post World War I period, when a bunch of corrupt do-nothings were the national leaders and when eugenics, Jim Crow, and Sundown Towns and race riots and all that were together, come the Fundamentals.

I suppose a question for discussion is whether or not the Dommies ever really believed in their ideals, or whether or not they started out from the very beginning as a bunch of crooks and charlatans?

If this post isn't proper or needs editing, please let me know. Thanks.

A quick look into the Quiverful movement.

2009-04-01T21:22:49Z

If you were wondering if the Quiverful movement is inherently abusive to men and women?

Yes, it is.

It's a little blog by two walkaways who write about their experiences and the "realities" of the world as seen from inside the Quiverful bubble.

Well worth a look.

Palin

2009-03-31T22:41:43Z

Messin' with Alaska via her state Attorney General pick, since she can't mess with the whole country.
Palin's AG Pick Called Gays "Degenerates"

"Other interesting facts about Wayne Anthony Ross, known as WAR, the initials on his vanity plate:

- He was a founder of Alaska Right to Life and represented, without fee, anti-abortion protesters charged with trespassing. 'I feel I have a good relationship with the good Lord (but) if I could overturn Roe vs. Wade, I figure I got my ticket,' he told a reporter.

- He wrote for the Anchorage Times and the conservative Voice of the Times, and titles like "KKK 'Art' Project Gets 'A' For Courage" are listed on the publications page of his Ross & Miner law office."

(The list goes on. See link for all details.)

Computer Virus Alert: Please Read & Pass Along

2009-03-31T20:19:12Z

I posted this in my own journal, but I thought I'd put it up in some of the communities I frequent. I know it's off topic, but there may be people who have not heard about this.

This is NOT an April Fool’s Day Joke.

A huge computer virus may hit tomorrow.

The link is to a post on the Americablog feed; there is a vid from CNet explaining the virus and links to things you can do to protect your computer. It sounds pretty serious and I think it’s probably a good idea to take the precautions listed.

Richard Dawkins speech under investigation

2009-03-24T14:00:36Z

I hadn't seen this posted here yet. The basic story is that biologist Richard Dawkins was scheduled to give a speech at the University of Oklahoma recently. Legislators in the state wanted to ban Prof. Dawkins on the basis that he was an atheist and his speech was regarding evolution and did not represent the majority views of Oklahoma residents. The resolution didn't pass, and he gave his speech (waiving any fees or payments, BTW). Now, an investigation is underway regarding this speech, how funds were allocated, etc. Is this going to set a precedent that any scientist who comes into the state (or other states that start following suit) cannot participate in activities at state facilities that are funded with public money? I should say, any scientist that has views that the legislators do not agree with?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-lukianoff/oklahoma-legislature-inve_b_177473.html

Some excerpts:

"Well, it's official: Oklahoma's state legislature is investigating the University of Oklahoma for hosting a speech by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.

As I noted in a post over the weekend at Dawkins' website, the legislature first considered two resolutions condemning both Dawkins and the theory of evolution as "an unproven and unpopular theory." (I highly recommend reading both of the proposed resolutions.) Despite their efforts, the legislature failed to prevent Dawkins from speaking on March 6 to an audience of thousands at the University of Oklahoma."

"Sure enough, I just received confirmation today in a letter from the Open Records Office at the University of Oklahoma. The letter confirms that on the day of Dawkins' speech, Oklahoma State Representative Rebecca Hamilton requested substantial information relating to the speech from Vice President for Governmental Relations Danny Hilliard. Representative Hamilton's exhaustive request included demands for all e-mails and correspondence relating to the speech; a list of all money paid to Dawkins and the entities, public or private, responsible for this funding; and the total cost to the university, including, among other things, security fees, advertising, and even "faculty time spent promoting this event."

Healing Grace Ministries?

2009-03-22T13:24:09Z

My nephew's mother is a Dominionist. I say this due to the many arguments we've had over various social and political issue; that my nephew hasn't turned out to be a junior version of Jerry Falwell is probably due to my and my brother's "bad" influences. Still, when my nephew spoke to his dad (who's living with me until the situation in California improves or our economy implodes completely, whichever comes first), he mentioned that his mom now has him read a magazine titled "The Trumpet."

I looked up "The Trumpet" and found the following website: The Trumpet, A Christian Magazine for God's People. (Please don't click if it might trigger.) This rang quite a few alarm bells, especially when I saw the button marked "Opposing Viewpoints" on the left-hand side. It may or may not be deliberate, but when you click on it, it takes you to a 404 page.

My brother's worried that my nephew's being fed more fundamentalist group-think. I'd say it's apparent, but if anyone has any more information about Healing Grace Ministries, which publishes "The Trumpet," I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

son of YWAM director fakes infanticide video

2009-03-21T18:14:25Z

A video made with the help of U.S. missionaries and depicting Amazon Indians burying children alive is "faked" and inciting racial hatred, a group campaigning for tribal rights said on Thursday.

The short video, "Hakani," has been watched more than 350,000 times on the YouTube video-sharing website. It depicts scenes of Indians in an isolated forest village digging graves and burying several live children in them. The "Hakani" campaign also has a website and a group on networking site Facebook with more than 13,000 members.

also:

The video was made by the son of the founder of an American missionary organization called Youth with a Mission, which has a branch in Brazil known as Jocum.

and:

Neither the video, the "Hakani" campaign website nor the Facebook group include any mention of the missionary group or any contact details. Corry said the group was trying to play down its role in the film.

x-posted to my journal

The coming evangelical collapse

2009-03-20T17:33:06Z

This Christian Science Monitor article talks about a major change that will overtake the evangelical movement.

While I doubt that his prediction of overt anti-Christian behavior will become reality (most secular people have better manners), it is clear that the tolerance for intolerance- particularly the sort practiced by some evangelical sects- will end. Here are some of his pertinent thoughts [my comments are in brackets --ed]:

Why is this going to happen?

1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

[Not only cultural progress, but also public safety, if what I've heard here and there is anywhere near true. --ed]

The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can't articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

[When what you are against defines you more than what you are for it's time to retool. --ed]

2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

[They're also clueless about history, too- especially religious history. Sad, really. --ed]

4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

[When what you are teaching your kids is less than educationally, socially, or intellectually rigorous, you're going to find that secular schools of higher education won't take your students. That's literally a no-brainer. --ed]

5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to "do good" is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.

[This ties in to point one- when you are defined by what you hate more than what you care about, no one is going to take anything you do- even truly benevolent things- seriously. The soup is spoiled. --ed]

7. The money will dry up.

[And that is the Achilles Heel- and the big deal. No money, no ministry. It's time to be truly Christ-like, and make do with pretty much nothing but genuine compassion and his commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. --ed]

I really hope that he is wrong about the ascendancy of the 'Charismatic Pentecostal' sects- these are actually some of the worst behaved of the various sects of Christianity, and it is their intolerant behavior that has really done the entire faith a bad turn. I'd like to see the rise and return of the mainline sects, and moderate or even liberal threads of Christian belief. Conservative and fundementalist sects have held sway for far too long, and their bad behavior has done a lot to tarnish the Christian image.

This is an interesting article.

Warning for those who live in or near Boston

2009-03-14T16:36:24Z

Vision Forum plans a big "event" this July.

Question on a relevant article with a catch.

2009-03-14T03:19:00Z

EDIT: So, this was approved as a post, so I guess I have permission. Here is the link;

http://incredibleicarus.blogspot.com/2009/03/last-defense-against-end-of-world.html

Below the cut is the post;

THE LAST DEFENSE AGAINST THE END OF THE WORLD?

This is worth reading;

http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/mar/09/00020/

American Conservative is a magazine that is both dubious and indispensable, as they are often some of the best, sharpest critics of modern day "movement conservatism" while they also flirt with some very troubling material and ideologies. I can separate the two when needed, and they sometimes have articles worth reading, and this is one of them. It's about a peculiar phenomenon that has emerged in the past five years or so, in which the state of Israel has, in the minds of some, gone from being an ally to the U.S. to the last bulwark we have against some kind of world wide enslavement at the hands of....well.....it's not really clear. "Barbarism" is the most frequently used term, it seems, and it's clear that most proponents of this idea think Israel is guarding us against some kind of Mulsim take-over or something along those lines, but one of the hallmarks of this whole notion is that the threat Israel guards us against tends to be incredibly murky and ill-defined.

I can't give you a real good set of pull quotes because there are too many for those familiar with this, and for those unfamiliar they will need to read the entire article to really put this in context.

I first encountered this unusual Israeldolatry, to coin a term, sometime in 2006 or 07, shortly after the row over the Muhammed drawings in that Danish newspaper. That event scared a handful of people on the left in to the solidly pro-Israel camp, and it was then that I think this whole thing started getting more mainstream attention, or at least attention beyond the select right wing magazines and blogs that had been flirting with these ideas for a while.

The peculiar thing, as the AMCON article points out, is that the conflicts between Israel and it's neighbors has gone, in the minds of some, from being local conflicts based on land, religion, wealth, and the usual things nations fight over, to being some kind of epic, cosmic battle of good vs. evil, with Israel as absolute good and the anti-Israel forces, who are broadly defined but include anything from Iran and Hamas to Andrew Sullivan and Noam Chomsky, as the darkest evil mankind has ever confronted.

When I first encountered this line of thinking, I believe I did something of a double take; no one can really believe THAT? And it's not hard to see why someone might have that reaction. In a purely rationalistic, logical sense, it's difficult to see how the fall of Israel, whatever exactly that would constitute, would lead to some kind of totalitarian apocalypse.

The article sums up this problem nicely;

This is a worrying development. It distorts the truth about the conflict in the Middle East. The Israel-as-Enlightenment lobby vastly exaggerates the threat posed by Israel’s enemies, which are not capable of destroying Israel, much less the “foundation stones” of Western civilization. It also exaggerates the coherence and vision of the Israeli state. Far from being an outpost for civilizational values, Israel is, in the words of one Israeli commentator, a collection of “frightened people, wishing for someone strong and forceful, who will miraculously fend off the people’s enemies, real and imaginary.”

This is something I've said of terrorism in general; they can't destroy our way of life, only we can do that. They can kill and harm us, sure, but there is really no single force on Earth that could actually invade and conquer the United States and hold it, it's just too difficult logistically to even consider, and all the talk of fifth columnists and Sharia law being implemented by liberals is, quite frankly, a bunch of paranoid nonsense.

But still, the premise of the Israel as Civilization lobby is indeed absurd, and it's hard to see why anyone would subscribe to this notion.

Or is it?

This is where the article falls short, because this explanation is very apparent to anyone who studies hate groups, politics, and/or religion. But why not comment on the obvious answer? Here's why;

American Conservative is a magazine that comes from a religious conservative traditionalist perspective. They're more or less on the same page with the rest of the religious right, but the AMCON crowd are currently pariahs for some other reasons which aren't really that relevant here.

Anyone who knows anything about Dominionism, Reconstructionism, and fundamentalist christian "end-time" prophecy should see right away how this mindset makes sense.

Now, for Jews who defend Israel, this could be nothing more than well meaning overzealous behavior to get people on their side, but it's not just Jews, as there are large numbers of Christians on the right who have embraced this idea. Actually, they've embraced it for a long time, but never framed it quite like this.

What is important to know is that Israel plays a LARGE part in fundamentalist christian end-times prophecy, and though the book of revelations may be notoriously unclear in what it's supposed to be saying, among the fundies there is a more or less even consensus on certain matters, and to them one of the central events of the "end times" is mass hostility towards Israel, culminating in an attack on the nation by the armies of the antichrist, or some such. The exact form of these events is debated to some degree among dominionists, and christian fundamentalists of other stripes, but there is essentially universal agreement that Israel will face some kind of external threat of elimination at the end of the world.

A good run down on this topic in general can be found here;

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_isra.htm

There is much more to it than what is found at the link, but it's a good primer, and gets to the heart of the matter; in the mind of Dominionists, Israel must exist for the events of Revelations to occur, and in the minds of many of them, one of the major events and signs will be threats to the nation of Israel and it's citizens. Knowing this, it's easy to see the appeal to the whole "Israel is the last bulwark of civilization" argument to many on the right.

More can be found here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Zionism

As stated by both articles, this belief system is known as Christian Zionism, and tends to be controversial among the Christian world and between religions in general. It's something of a strange belief in a way, since it leads to this concern for the state of Israel and the Jews, because they must survive in order to die at the end of the world. That's a rudimentary take but it's essentially true. Obviously, this leads some Jews to view it as an anti-semitic belief, but none of that is entirely related to this post. My point is, that this current trend of seeing Israel in such cosmic, good vs evil terms is NOT the result of Jewish intellectuals on the right and the Israeli government spreading propaganda, but is because many people on the right already held similar beliefs, albeit presented a bit differently.

Of course, American Conservative magazine probably doesn't want to go there. It comes from a religious conservative perspective, and this would be sensitive ground likely to offend many of their readers and get them in trouble. So the article just kind of leaves you hanging in regards to WHY people are suddenly believing such peculiar things about Israel.

One would also be justified in wondering; why would these people side with Israel and support it if they think it has to be destroyed for their end of the world prophecy to come true? Well, that' a tough one, but the fact is, that is the state of affairs, and many Dominionists and others who subscribe to these apocalyptic beliefs do hold these contradictory positions on the matter.

Such is humans, however, as out species if no stranger to hypocrisy or inconsistency.

I would appreciate any comments from you guys that know more about this so I can add it to my original blog post and make it more informative, especially about how this mindset leads to this weird Israel worship that's described here, as Israel looms so large in "prophecy" of Dominionist types.

Quiverfull not so fulfilling

2009-03-14T03:02:06Z

.
From Salon.com:

All God's Children - The Quiverfull movement saddles women with a life of submission and near-constant pregnancies. One mother explains how she embraced the extreme Christian lifestyle -- and why she left.

Very interesting article, in which a woman who kind of stumbled into the Quiverfull movement talks about the frustration, exhaustion, and isolation that led her to finally quit the whole thing and reclaim her uterus.

Good for her!

Pwning Phelps

2009-03-12T03:36:32Z

Rarely do I find myself Happy whenever Westboro Baptist Church pops up in the news. Today, however, is one of those rare times.

Phelps and crew decided to stage a protest at the University of Chicago, because the University had the audacity to employ Barack Obama when he was a teacher.

Unfortunately, they chose to stage their protest beside a frat house. Hilarity ensued:

The party included a s’mores roasting station, hot chocolate, a dance performance by Rhythmic Bodies in Motion, and musical performances by individual students and the a capella group Men in Drag. There were also petitions to be signed in support of overturning Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative making gay marriage unconstitutional, which was passed in November and is now being debated in the California Supreme Court.

Large banners with slogans such as “Many Identities, One Community” were available for students to sign. Klein said the banners were there so that people could express “more positive messages about who we are. We are a diverse campus and we love us.”

The party also raised over $500 for the Broadway Youth Center, which provides health services for the LGBTQ community.

Important Mod Post - Please Read

2009-03-05T18:04:06Z

Via a mod in another community I follow:

There is some malware going around LJ hacking accounts for mods in large communities, that posts an announcement with links that says they are zapping the community. Then proceeding to do so.

So, if any of you see an announcement purporting to be from our mods that we're shutting down:

1) DO NOT CLICK THE LINKS - THEY ARE MALWARE
2) REPORT THE POST TO LJ ABUSE WITH THE FLAG BUTTON
3) LET US KNOW ASAP BY EMAIL, IM, PHONE, CARRIER PIGEON, ANY WAY YOU CAN FIND US
4) DID I SAY DON'T CLICK LINKS? DON'T CLICK THE LINKS!!

More, with screenshot, here SAFE LINK

If you see it in any other community - please report it and let those mods know.

How to spot a hidden religious agenda

2009-03-02T15:34:57Z

SOURCE
AS A book reviews editor at New Scientist, I often come across so-called science books which after a few pages reveal themselves to be harbouring ulterior motives. I have learned to recognise clues that the author is pushing a religious agenda. As creationists in the US continue to lose court battles over attempts to have intelligent design taught as science in federally funded schools, their strategy has been forced to... well, evolve. That means ensuring that references to pseudoscientific concepts like ID are more heavily veiled. So I thought I'd share a few tips for spotting what may be religion in science's clothing.

Red flag number one: the term "scientific materialism". "Materialism" is most often used in contrast to something else - something non-material, or supernatural. Proponents of ID frequently lament the scientific claim that humans are the product of purely material forces. At the same time, they never define how non-material forces might work. I have yet to find a definition that characterises non-materialism by what it is, rather than by what it is not.

The invocation of Cartesian dualism - where the brain and mind are viewed as two distinct entities, one material and the other immaterial - is also a red flag. And if an author describes the mind, or any biological system for that matter, as "irreducibly complex", let the alarm bells ring.

Misguided interpretations of quantum physics are a classic hallmark of pseudoscience, usually of the New Age variety, but some religious groups are now appealing to aspects of quantum weirdness to account for free will. Beware: this is nonsense.

When you come across the terms "Darwinism" or "Darwinists", take heed. True scientists rarely use these terms, and instead opt for "evolution" and "biologists", respectively. When evolution is described as a "blind, random, undirected process", be warned. While genetic mutations may be random, natural selection is not. When cells are described as "astonishingly complex molecular machines", it is generally by breathless supporters of ID who take the metaphor literally and assume that such a "machine" requires an "engineer". If an author wishes for "academic freedom", it is usually ID code for "the acceptance of creationism".

If an author wishes for 'academic freedom', it is usually code for 'the acceptance of creationism'

Some general sentiments are also red flags. Authors with religious motives make shameless appeals to common sense, from the staid - "There is nothing we can be more certain of than the reality of our sense of self" (James Le Fanu in Why Us?) - to the silly - "Yer granny was an ape!" (creationist blogger Denyse O'Leary). If common sense were a reliable guide, we wouldn't need science in the first place.

Religiously motivated authors also have a bad habit of linking the cultural implications of a theory to the truth-value of that theory. The ID crowd, for instance, loves to draw a line from Darwin to the Holocaust, as they did in the "documentary" film Expelled: No intelligence allowed. Even if such an absurd link were justified, it would have zero relevance to the question of whether or not the theory of evolution is correct. Similarly, when Le Fanu writes that Darwin's On the Origin of Species "articulated the desire of many scientists for an exclusively materialist explanation of natural history that would liberate it from the sticky fingers of the theological inference that the beauty and wonder of the natural world was direct evidence for 'A Designer'", his statement has no bearing on the scientific merits of evolution.

It is crucial to the public's intellectual health to know when science really is science. Those with a religious agenda will continue to disguise their true views in their effort to win supporters, so please read between the lines.

Amanda Gefter is an editor for the Opinion section of New Scientist
28 February 2009 by Amanda Gefter
Magazine issue 2697.

Cross posted from sceptics

Spring Housekeeping

2009-03-01T17:55:29Z

Hello, readers-

I've done a bit of spring cleaning on the Links column, deleting closed sites. If you have some good live sites that have to do with the subjects this community discusses, please let me know, and I'll post them on the sidebar.

dark_christian @ 2009-02-28T15:06:00

2009-02-28T20:11:39Z

Last night, the Rachel Maddow Show dedicated a segment to the Left Behind Authors, Obama, and the coming of the Apocalypse.

The segment discusses how the claim that "Obama is a socialist" has a theological grounding; the Left Behind authors believe that Socialism is the first stage in the End Times because it sets the ground work for unifying the world and presenting a framework for the Anti-Christ to take over. Thus, Socialism is an affront against the world because it's ushering in the End Times.

While I found it intriguing, it also confused the hell out of me.

There are several Dominionist activist groups who support the US backing of Israel, because they believe that Israel is the key to ushering in the End Times. They want the Rapture to come.

If that's so, then shouldn't those same groups be the biggest socialist proponents ever? Why would they push, push, push one side of the Apocalypse Pre-Game Show, and fight like mad to prevent the other?

Angels in Waiting:

2009-02-27T23:14:03Z

What do we know about a group of 'volunteer nurses' called Angels in Waiting? It seems like they made the offer to house and care for Nadya Suleman's octuplets and her other children but she declined the offer.

Via the LA Times:
Octuplets' mom Nadya Suleman has turned down an offer of a home and 24-hour pediatric nursing care, attorney Gloria Allred said this morning during an appearance on CBS' "The Early Show."

The nonprofit Angels in Waiting volunteer nurses "would have provided 24/7 care along with developmental specialists, early intervention professionals, wraparound services for -- and individualized care for -- all these babies," Allred said on the show.

"And I have to say that she did not accept our offer. And a home would have been provided. All 14 could have been kept together, the siblings as well. There would have been no burden on the taxpayers. Instead, now, it may be that the taxpayers are going to have to foot the bill for all of this."[/quote]

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-octuplets-mom28-2009feb28,0,7542371.story

Gloria Allred's now filing some kind of complaint against her to California's DCFS, on account of this rejection.

Now, the only info I could find on any group like that stated its mission to "to move medically fragile foster care infants and young children into private residences under the care of Registered and Licensed Vocational nurses as their foster parents."

Is this some sketchy 'faith based' group trying to remove these children and ship them out to nice 'Christian' families? It sounds pretty suspicious to me.

Good news?

2009-02-27T14:53:13Z

Obama Administration May Rescind 'Conscience Rule'
Officials say the move seeks to clarify rules for health care workers
by Noam N. Levey

Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration Friday will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows health-care workers to deny abortion counseling or other family-planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials.

[...] Officials stressed Thursday that the administration is looking for input from people across the ideological spectrum before it finalizes the rollback after the standard 30-day comment period.

(Read more through link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/27-3

Very brief question

2009-02-25T20:37:51Z

Whose brilliant idea was it to pick Bobby Jindal for the Republican response to Obama's address to Congress?

Seeking advice

2009-02-23T06:28:38Z

A dilemma has come up in my family and I'm interested in hearing what y'all think of it.

Because of this crappy economy, and because his current company is laying him off this spring, my brother is seriously considering joining the Air Force for lack of any other job opportunities. This bothers me on several levels, not least of which because I fear him getting shipped over to someplace like Iraq (though granted, he's aiming for a mechanic-type position and not an actual combat enlistment, but still...), but also because of the disturbing things I've heard about the dominionist infiltration of the military (including the Air Force).

I realize this isn't my decision to make. But I also don't want my brother getting blindsided by something he knows nothing about (re: the dominionist threat), and if nothing else, I'd like to give him some cautionary advice concerning dominionism in the military. So I'd like to ask those of you who have extensive knowledge and/or experience in this particular area (I'm thinking sunfell and dogemperor in particular) if you would be willing to sum up in layman's terms the situation he could face, and/or permit email contact, since I think it would be better coming from someone who knows their stuff, whereas I'm not liable to be taken seriously on account of I have no familiarity with the subject (that, plus my brother leans strong conservative while I'm more socially liberal and we have serious differences on certain topics).

I appreciate any help you can give.

Quiverfull:Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement

2009-02-23T01:59:05Z

Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement

Fundamentalist Christianity may lose some access to power in the next election, but it has long-term plans. In this fascinating look at the new generation of fundamentalist Christian women, journalist Kathryn Joyce introduces us to the world of the patriarchy movement and Quiverfull families. Here, in direct and conscious opposition to feminist calls for marital equity, women live within stringently enforced doctrines of wifely submission and male headship. Instead of raising independent daughters, these Christians advocate a return to keeping daughters at home—and out of college—until their marriage to a suitor approved by Dad. To counter reproductive rights, they eschew all contraception in favor of the Quiverfull philosophy of letting God give them as many children as possible—families of twelve and more children that will, they hope, enable them to win the religious and culture wars through demographic means.

This looks like it might be a worthwhile read. It's coming out next month.

While we weren't looking

2009-02-23T01:53:28Z

Two articles that will get your attention:

What in the Name of the Crusades are Tennessee Evangelicals Doing in Kurdish Iraq?

In an exclusive interview, investigative reporter Mike Reynolds uncovers the special relationship between Iraqi Kurds and a group of American evangelicals that practices “spiritual warfare,” harbors a deep animosity toward Islam, and views the region as the evangelistic final frontier.

Missionaries Face Death, Criticism to Preach

These two guys 'embedded' with the US Army- and the Army has lost the documentation of their visit.

When ABC News contacted the Army in Afghanistan, it said it no longer have the records of the evangelicals' embed, which took place more than four years ago. The missionaries said they weren't accompanied by soldiers when they handed out Bibles, but Decker and Scott said the military was aware of the purpose of their trip.

"It wasn't like we were hiding in the back saying we're going to preach," Scott said. "They knew what we were doing. We told them that we were born again Christians, we're here doing ministry, we shoot for this TV station and we want to embed and see what it was like.

"We were interviewing the chaplains and we talked to them. We spoke at the services and things like that. So we did do our mission being over there as far as being able to document what the soldiers go through, what it's like in Afghanistan," he said. "So I could say that we were on a secular mission as well as far as documenting. I would say we were news reporters as well, we were delivering news of what was actually happening there, but we were also there to document the Christian side."

More Info on the Phelps

2009-02-20T02:28:46Z

The UK has banned the Phelps from entering the UK

As a UK spokesman said, "...[T]hese individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities."

ETA: Looks like someone else got to it right before I did. This article is slightly different than the afore posted one, so if there are no objections, I'll leave this post up.

Well, at least some people have a brain/heart

2009-02-20T02:18:56Z

Britian has decided that Fred Phelps is not welcome there, nor are any of his ~~joyous~~ annoying followers.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23282/fred-phelps-shirley-phelps-roper-banned-england

Wish we could shut them out here. Sigh.

oh look, it's the rabid Phelpses again

2009-02-19T22:17:16Z

Seems the horrific bushfires in Victoria have come to the attention of our old 'friends', Westboro Baptist Church.

It's God's judgment, apparently - presumably for all the hommersexshuls - and they were rejoicing about it. Meh. That's their schtick.

However ...

According to a news report, they are planning to picket the national day of mourning on February 22.

Anyone up for an angel action?