LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

Rick Santorum, Dominionist, anti-gay activist, and all-around fun guy, is not only one of the most conservative men in Congress. It turns out he has an openly gay man on his staff. Behold:

http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn_429/topsantorumaide.html



"They are like unto whited sepulchres, which are beautiful without and full of dead bones and uncleanness within...."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I've noticed that our subscriber population is over 360 people- welcome aboard! Since the post below mentioned folks from the Southern Hemisphere, I thought that it might be time to poll the population to see how we are spread out. The list is general, if you wish to get specific, you may do so in the comments.

Enjoy!

[Error: Invalid poll ID 549122]

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ccroft)

Hi all,

It caught my attention this week that the latest issue of TIME magazine is featured around what it calls 'Evolution Wars' - meaning the ongoing debate about Intelligent Design, and whether it should be inserted into the US school curriculum. At the online site you can access a few tidbits that are featured in the magazine, such as this interesting graphic and a little box which outlines in layman's terms the views held by Darwinians vs. Anti-Darwinians. Probably of the most interest is their 'forum' article Can You Believe In God and Evolution?, but as always, the main 'cover story' article remains only for paid subscribers. It's probably just a précis of what we know's going on about intelligent design in the US already.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

A NYT article about Christian pressure on North Korea:

Christian Groups Press Bush About North Korea
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

MIDLAND, Tex., Aug. 8 - Tens of thousands of fans of all ages gathered over the weekend for the annual three-day Rock the Desert Christian music festival screamed for hit bands like Mercy Me and Pillar and kicked Hacky Sacks by a creek renamed the Jordan River and a small pond called the Dead Sea.

Between the Prayer Tent and an abstinence-promotion booth, however, worshipful revelers also stumbled into a more sobering pavilion, the North Korea Genocide Exhibit.

Inside, Kang Chol Hwan, a North Korean defector recently summoned to meet President Bush, signed copies of his memoir of 10 years in a prison camp. Drawings by defectors depicted the torture of North Korean Christians. A video, available free on DVD, showed shaky, grainy footage of two public executions.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Looks like dogemperor's in-depth research is getting attention in other similar communities: Religious Right Watch mentioned her by name in a recent post about dominionist influence in the FCC.

Good work, dogemperor!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY mysticknyght)

Via Sadly No!, here's some words of wisdom from extremist cleric James Dobson:

Is My Child Becoming Homosexual?

Evidences of gender confusion or doubt in boys ages 5 to 11 may include:

1. A strong feeling that they are “different” from other boys.

2. A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy.

3. A persistent preference to play female roles in make-believe play.

4. A strong preference to spend time in the company of girls and participate in their games and other pastimes.

5. A susceptibility to be bullied by other boys, who may tease them unmercifully and call them “queer,” “fag” and “gay.”

6. A tendency to walk, talk, dress and even “think” effeminately.

7. A repeatedly stated desire to be — or insistence that he is — a girl.

What's interesting is that this series is entitled " Helping Boys Become Men, and Girls Become Women ," but I see no warning signs of lesbianism.  This is male homophobia, pure and simple.

I think my favorite is #2, A tendency to cry easily, be less athletic, and dislike the roughhousing that other boys enjoy..  As a four-year letterman on the Brother Martin High School Debate Team, I find this to be highly objectionable.  Telling fathers that emotions and non-athleticism in a boy is bad is an invitation for many of them to engage in behavior towards their sons that is both physically and emotionally abusive.

Then there's #5, A susceptibility to be bullied by other boys, who may tease them unmercifully and call them “queer,” “fag” and “gay.” The kids who get bullied are often the overweight/underweight ones, or the "smart" kids, or the loners.  Bullying doesn't make them "become gay," but it can lead to them wanting to shoot up their high schools.

Now, I'll buy #7 as a problem.  If a boy consistently insisted that he/she was a girl, I'd look into counseling, not because I was worried that he was gay, but that he has some serious issues in general.

This is the sort of stuff about Extermist Cleric Dobson that everyone needs to know.  There are all too many people who listen to his radio spots and think that FotF does good work.  The radio spots are a bait-and-switch, to get you on their mailing list and to get you to go to their website, where you read crap like this.


[YatPundit]
YatPundit entry)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From AlterNet:

Widespread Ignorance
By Sam Harris, HuffingtonPost.com
Printed on August 10, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/23964/

President Bush has endorsed the pseudo-scientific notion of "intelligent design" (ID) and declared it to be a legitimate alternative to the theory of evolution. This is not surprising, as he has always maintained that "the jury is still out" on the question of evolution.

But the jury is not out -- indeed it was well in before President Bush was even born -- and anyone familiar with modern biology knows that ID is nothing more than a program of political and religious advocacy masquerading as science.

It is for this reason that the scientific community has been divided on just how (or whether) to dignify the spurious claims of ID "theorists" with a response. While understandable, I believe that such scruples are now misplaced. The Trojan Horse has passed the innermost gates of the city, and scary religious imbeciles are now spilling out.( Read more... )

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14447.html

Very interesting story regarding Randall Terry's son, who is gay and estranged from his father (for obvious reasons).

Interestingly, this isn't the only case of the walkaway children of dominionists speaking out: some of the best info we have on the workings of the Westboro Baptist familial cult are from the three members of the household who have walked away (one of which, sadly, still has issues in society--likely because of having to resocialise one's self; I myself have dealt with this and might well have been in the same situation were it not for a supportive network of friends).

CNP info (for those who aren't aware, the CNP is a very secretive group that essentially coordinates dominionist policy and acts as a "master think tank" for many, many dominionist groups; it is supposedly invite-only, though in past (the late) Institute for First Amendment Studies and People for the American Way have successfully gotten membership lists):

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/9308

Of interest in this article:

Shrub has given invitation-only speeches to CNP and may himself be a member.

Apparently the CNP has a website (http://policycounsel.org) that they have taken care to "poison" search engines so that a search for "coalition for national policy" or its leaders will not find it in a Google search.

Oh, and they've also apparently been investigated for tax fraud...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY juno_domina)

I found this site after reading Sunfell's livejournal, and even though I'm living in Australia I can easily see the relevance to our own country, both as part of the 'Coalition of the Willing' and as a country which is clearly following in America's footsteps in terms of seeing a resurgence in the religous Right.

Originally we had one key party that was involved in politics and was extremely blatant about its ties (the CDP- Christian Democratic Party- famous for declaring that Muslim women shouldn't wear chadors as they could be 'carrying weapons of mass destruction under them'), however they represented a very small portion of the vote. Recently we have seen Family First gain a seat in our Senate which has secured the balance of power for our Liberal givernment. This is frightening in many ways, as it means that they can pass whatever legislation they please with no effective check (unless Senators cross the floor). They don't run on an explicitly 'Christian' platform, however when you explore their documents and speeches it becomes frighteningly clear where they are headed. Two of the most famous incidents include a member stating 'lesbians are witches and should be burned at the stake' and one of their actual politicians proclaiming that Asylum Seekers held in detention should be released so long as they converted into Christianity (because, one assumes, they won't be terrorists anymore after that).

Given the close ties between America and Australia, and also my increasing exposure to this kind of politics, I'm really interested in learning more about what's going on and seeing the connections.

Juno

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY fannyfae)

(from today's Wall Street Journal Opinion Page)


Dobson's Choice

By DAVID GELERNTER
August 10, 2005; Page A10

Last week, James Dobson of Focus on the Family proved that he lacks sufficient control to be pitching in the major leagues of public discussion and ought to be sent back to the minors. He compared embryonic stem cell research to Nazi death-camp experiments. I too (and millions of others) oppose broadened federal funding for stem-cell research, but Dr. Dobson has damaged rather than helped this cause. He has made conservatives look bad by suggesting that some are just as incapable of moral distinctions as the Howard Dean left -- and just as unable to treat their opponents like human beings and not wicked moral dwarfs.

( Read more... )