LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY amethyst_hunter)

A long post, but late-night/early-early morning surfing brings these bits of interest:

( Jim Wallis: Era of the Religious Right Over? )

( The New Grassroots Abortion Fields (long article but relevant because it deals with potentially misleading pregnancy crisis centers, which I believe has been mentioned here as one of the recruiting tools used by RRers) )

( YouTube: A new spiritual battlefield? )

( U.S. Beliefs in Pseudoscience Cause for Worry )

( Poll shows interesting findings about people's beliefs in the future of the secular world's and the Islamic world's ties )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY dkmnow)

Don't miss this one, folks. Best interview I've heard in a long time. They discuss Hedges' new book a bit, but within the context of Dominionism and fascism, they manage to touch on virtually every major issue that we are currently facing.

Both audio and video versions are available on demand. This interview begins after the headlines, about ten minutes into the program.

Democracy Now!, Monday, February 19th, 2007

Chris Hedges on “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America”

The blurb:

A new book by Chris Hedges called “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America” investigates the highly organized and well-funded "dominionist movement." The book investigates their agenda, examines the movement's origins and motivations and uncovers its ideological underpinnings. “American Fascists” argues that dominionism seeks absolute power in a Christian state. According to Hedges, the movement bears a strong resemblance to the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s.

Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times for many years where he won a Pulitzer Prize. He is also the author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" and "Losing Moses on the Freeway." Chris has a master's degree in theology from Harvard University and is the son of a Presbyterian minister. He is currently a senior fellow at the Nation Institute - and he is here with me now in the studio.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY docjeff)


A bill to provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception

Sometimes I wonder if the Dominionists are all that's hard at work subverting this country...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's a very interesting Flickr photoset on evolution outreach.

Evolution Outreach

The battle is on between the teaching of science and the assault of religious pseudoscience. These pictures can be used in pro-science talks. As the author says, do it for the children!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kynn)

Not sure if this got mentioned here yet, but Christianity Today ran an article on the problems in Calvary Chapel, one of the most influential groups of conservative evangelical churches.

Some of you may remember my report of a court case involving coercive "deliverance ministry" group Remnant Fellowship involving yet another sad case of "death by chastening rod"--religiously motivated child abuse that ends in the death or maiming of children (both physically and emotionally) and which is all too common and all too much of a dirty secret in the dominionist community.

And as of the 16th, Josef Smith's ghost may have finally found justice, as the courts ruled his parents guilty of murder.

( To quote 'Big O', 'In the name of God, ye be guilty' )

This actually sets a very powerful precedent--to my knowledge, this is the first time a parent has actually been convicted of murder for religiously motivated child abuse (typically, if these cases make it to trial at all, the parents are simply convicted of child abuse or involuntary manslaughter).

At least one group of walkaways and survivors of Remnant Fellowship are stating this should be a lesson that religiously motivated child abuse is not acceptable, per the Tennessean newspaper:
( Walkaways speak out )

Hopefully little Josef Smith will not be the first to see justice--hopefully one day *everyone* who has been the victim of religiously-motivated child abuse will someday see justice. (In that light, I strongly encourage each and every reader of this community to please support the work of the Safe Passage Foundation, which to my knowledge is the ONLY group that is specifically working to prevent religiously-motivated child abuse and support the rights of child walkaways from coercive religious groups--including coercive dominionist churches.)