LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

"Evangelical youth leader Ron Luce thinks the secular media is demonically-inspired, and he’s fighting fire with fire. Religion writer Jeff Sharlet describes BattleCry, Luce’s angry attempt to infiltrate enemy bastions like MTV and Hollywood."

You can listen now at the link above. Transcripts will be available Monday afternoon (in some U.S. time zone, presumably).

I've posted quite a bit on how dominionist groups--in particular the Assemblies and its own front the FGBMFI--like to set up "Business ministries" and front companies specifically for purposes of "bait and switch" evangelism, not to mention setting up "parallel economy" alternatives for dominionists. The Assemblies in particular also has a habit of partnering with known dominionist-friendly corporations.

One of the more interesting players in this is News Media Corporation, which is a company that owns approximately 71 newspapers in nine states; they've become a bit infamous in newspaper circles for buying up community tabloid newspapers with some skull-and-dagger tactics.

The CEO, John Hopkins, runs not only News Media Corporation, but also the Rochelle News-Leader (in Illinois) and a string-music publisher.

One of the things News Media Corporation is *very* careful not to mention on its website is the fact that it's being used as a front for "bait and switch evangelism" and support of dominionism--for *that*, you have to go to a little magazine called Today's Pentecostal Evangel which is published by none other than the Assemblies of God, aka the world's first dominionist denomination...

( News Media Corp's founder happily reveals his dominionist plans to fellow dominionists when they think the rest of us aren't watching )

Mind you, this is by *far* not the only piece of work like that in the pages of that magazine--the right-hand bar actually has something like eight years of archives where the actual face of Assemblies-style dominionism is brought to the world to see via interviews with folks in the dominionist movement. It gives you all too much of an insight on just *how* dominionists plan to take over the country...a terrifying, frightening glimpse.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jenk)

David Kuo (the deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2001 to 2003, and the author of “Tempting Faith”) has an op-ed in today's New York Times. He quotes John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute:

Modern Christianity, having lost sight of Christ’s teachings, has been co-opted by legalism, materialism and politics. Simply put, it has lost its spirituality. [...] Whereas Christianity was once synonymous with charity, compassion and love for one’s neighbor, today it is more often equated with partisan politics, anti-homosexual rhetoric and affluent mega-churches.

Evangelicals are beginning to see the effect of their political involvement on those with whom they hope to share Jesus’ eternal message: non-evangelicals. Tellingly, Beliefnet’s poll showed that nearly 60 percent of non-evangelicals have a more negative view of Jesus because of Christian political involvement; almost 40 percent believe that George W. Bush’s faith has had a negative impact on his presidency.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Chris Hedges on Olbermann's Countdown

Sept. 28: Chris Hedges, author of "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," discusses the growing influence of church on state. (Countdown)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

--Republican candidate for a Florida U.S. Senate seat, Katherine Harris, a divisive figure in the 2000 presidential election, responding to questions posed in an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness regarding her views on religion in politics.( Excerpt )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

Of likely interest to those of you in the Houston area:
Former War Correspondent and Author Chris Hedges to speak at The Rothko Chapel

Renowned war correspondent and author, Chris Hedges, will speak on the topic of his upcoming book American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America on September 25, 2006 at 7:30 pm at The Rothko Chapel.

The spark that could set it ablaze may be lying in the hands of an Islamic terrorist cell, in the hands of the ideological twins of the Christian Right. Another catastrophic terrorist attack could be our Reichstag fire, the excuse used to begin the accelerated dismantling of our open society. The ideology of the Christian Right is not one of love and compassion, the central theme of Christ's message, but of violence and hatred. It has a strong appeal to many in our society, but it is also aided by our complacency. Let us not stand at the open city gates waiting passively and meekly for the barbarians. They are coming. They are slouching rudely towards Bethlehem. Let us, if nothing else, begin to call them by their name.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY wyldraven)

House OKs bill guarding Pledge from courts

The House, citing the nation's religious origins, voted Wednesday to protect the Pledge of Allegiance from federal judges who might try to stop schoolchildren and others from reciting it because of the phrase "under God."

The legislation, a priority of social conservatives, passed 260-167. It now goes to the Senate where its future is uncertain.

"We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage," said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. "It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

For those of you who don't keep up with Slacktivist's blog (and why don't you? You can even add slacktivist to your LJ friends list), here are pointers to the latest relevant posts. First off, there's one about Teen Mania's "Battle Cry for a Generation", a gathering of evangelical youth in San Francisco. Nice Culture Wars stuff here

From the bogus "War on Christmas" to the fetishistic devotion to Ten Commandments markers, this territory-marking has become an obsession for many of the alleged followers of Christ. "They'll know we are Christians by our love" apparently proved too difficult, so instead we've settled for "They'll know we are Christians by our bullying dominance of the public square."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

... but still no mention that she had a C-section!
http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060328/114359178000.html


EDIT: And finally, this...
Probably not worksafe, likely to offend pro-lifers and He-Man fandom.

(X-posted to my journal)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY luxetumbra)

(Apologies if this has been posted before - scanned the comm, but didn't see it.)

THE CHRISTIANIZING OF AMERICA A review of Catholic Matters: Confusion, Controversy, and the Splendor of Truth by Richard John Neuhaus (Use Bugmenot to read it if you can't see the whole thing.)

( An extended quote )

A long article, but worth the read. Here's another good article about Neuhaus and his history, if you're curious. (He was also a domestic policy adviser to Bush on stem-cell policy and gay rights).

--------
BTW, anyone know when Damon Linker became a liberal? (or more liberal-ish - just like Kevin Phillips, I'm not sure how to describe him now.) He used to be the assistant editor of the more-Catholic-than-thou First Things, but I haven't seen any articles about there being a falling out between him and Neuhaus, the chief editor of that magazine. Linker has a book coming out in September with more about Neuhaus and Co., Theocons: Secular America Under Siege. I think I'll be picking it up.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

X-posted to my journal.

So nude pictures are bad and sinful - unless they're selling the pro-life agenda.

(Link to not-safe-for-work pics of the statue. Actually, it's pretty cute... and it's *art* so that's OK.)

' A nude Britney Spears on a bearskin rug while giving birth to her firstborn marks a ‘first’ for Pro-Life. Pop-star Britney Spears is the “ideal” model for Pro-Life and the subject of a dedication at Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg gallery district, in what is proclaimed the first Pro-Life monument to birth, in April.

Dedication of the life-sized statue celebrates the recent birth of Spears’ baby boy, Sean, and applauds her decision of placing family before career. “A superstar at Britney’s young age having a child is rare in today’s celebrity culture. This dedication honors Britney for the rarity of her choice and bravery of her decision,” said gallery co-director, Lincoln Capla. The dedication includes materials provided by Manhattan Right To Life Committee.

“Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,” believed Pro-Life’s first monument to the ‘act of giving birth,’ is purportedly an idealized depiction of Britney in delivery. Natural aspects of Spears’ pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean’s head.

The monument also acknowledges the pop-diva’s pin-up past by showing Spears seductively posed on all fours atop a bearskin rug with back arched, pelvis thrust upward, as she clutches the bear’s ears with ‘water-retentive’ hands.

“Britney provides inspiration for those struggling with the ‘right choice’,” said artist Daniel Edwards, recipient of a 2005 Bartlebooth award from London’s The Art Newspaper. “She was number one with Google last year, with good reason --- people are inspired by the beauty of a pregnant woman,” said Edwards. '

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

So...Grease, about high school students whose worst crime is drinking beer and smoking, is Evil. And so, presumably, is Shakespeare. I'm sure the local pastor must have just about ruptured himself at the thought of The Crucible, which is about censorship and religious fanaticism run amok.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5694843,00.html

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY eiredrake)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/media/16fine.html

Censorship is a pet peeve of mine. Especially when:

The orders are in response to more than 300,000 consumer complaints about programming that viewers found indecent, profane or obscene. Many complaints are lodged in large numbers by organized groups and not by independent viewers.

Basically, it's yet another political maneuver by our right wing Masters.

Sign on San Diego TV Ratings Guide says that Without a Trace gets a viewership of 20.1 million people. 20.1 MILLION. Yet 300,000 people, an apparently small but vocal minority can decide what the remaining 19,800,000 are permitted to watch? Yes, 300,000 is a lot of people and yes there needs to be some sort of standard for regular broadcast Tv. But this whole batch of nonsense is to protect kids and protect uppity sensibilities in adults. It would be more effective if these people claiming to be protecting their kids would actually be PARENTS and keep track of what Junior is watching instead of forcibly limiting other people's choices.

Personally I find shows like Fear Factor to be utterly repugnant and vile ( especially when they start eating roaches ). But just because I don't like it doesn't mean someone else shouldn't be able to watch it.

I hate to use the phrase 'vast Right wing conpiracy' ( since the vast left wing conspiracy is a favorite Republican/Conservative buzzword ) but this censorship nonsense is one facet of that very thing. Not necessarilly dark Christians ( though I'm willing to bet it's primarilly them ) but definately the type of right-wingers that want to live everyones lives for them. Changing how people express themselves isn't easy. But if you limit what they get to see and hear... and limit their avenues of expression you can affect their minds, behavior and so forth. 1984, anyone?

I wonder if we could possibly cost guys like Pat Robertson money if we all started writing into the FCC about how his comments and hypocrisy are morally indecent and should be stricken from the air. Naturally it'll never happen, since he's a core dominionist type but it'd be interesting to see what might happen. Anyone up for a letter writing campaign?


Not directly relevant to my proposal and argument but this ticked me off anyways...
"We absolutely are elated by the rulings handed down by the F.C.C.," Mr. Winter said. "Where they could fine a broadcaster for breaking the law, they did so. We think this sends a very powerful signal that those who violate the law will be punished."

Yeah... unless of course you're President.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kiji_kat)

I had to share this with you guys. It's some hilariously cracked-out article that sounds like a bad D&D plotline dreamed up by a youth leader who is trying desperately to integrate himself with those "outsider" kids so he can save them from the evils of 20-sided dice. Yes kids, it's like an RPG, and the evil villain in this plotline is none other than one of the Seven Deadlies, LUST!

( In which I pose some serious questions )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

When Would Jesus Bolt?

Long, but interesting article.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY mad_mediocrity)

I was browsing through and old Newsweek (from February of this year), and came across a scary article. You can find it online here. (I browsed through the dark_christian archives and couldn't find it, but I apologize if this is a repeat.)

( And a cut to be nice ... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kiji_kat)

School distances itself from Brokeback actress.

“Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. We would not approve of her movies and TV shows (including the teen drama “Dawson's Creek”). We'd not like to be tied to 'Brokeback Mountain.'

“I hope we offered her something in life. But she made the kinds of choices of which we wouldn't approve. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote. It's not the word of God.”

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY mizliz)

I woke up early with something on my mind, and this seems the right place to bring it.

There is an older woman that I work with, a lovely, kind, nurturing, accepting woman. She mothers me, brings me little treats, and gives me hugs when I'm having a bad day. I've known her and her family for 6 years now. She has two great adult kids and a husband who is one of the sweetest men I know.

Here's the thing: she is a fundamentalist Christian. I mean fundy hardcore. She loves Bush like nuns love the Pope, she supports the war, she's really happy about the abortion bill in South Dakota. She believes the Republican party is the party of God. She acknowledges that Bush isn't so very clever, but doesn't think it matters as long as God is working through him. Her beliefs are everything we fear and oppose.

Except when they're not. Here's the problem. Everything I said about her is true. She is one of the kindest people I've ever met. She has no racial bigotry at all, since she believes we are all God's children. She believes she is called to do justice and walk humbly, and mostly she succeeds. She is the farthest thing from cruel or vengeful imaginable. She is poor as a church mouse but I've seen her take her last dollars out of her pocket and give them to students in need. She sort of knows we're not on the same page religiously, but doesn't push or harangue me about it. She acknowledges that there are people of faith who are Democrats or progressives and who feel just as strongly about war as she does about abortion, and she doesn't think they're wrong. She's not tremendously bright or insightful, which puts her on par with most of the human race. She's a kind, decent person, which on many levels trumps it anyway.

Why am I relating all this? Because the lines we're looking at aren't anywhere near as clear as we would like to think. And we need to know that. For every bitter walking swamp of hatred like Tim LaHaye, there's a woman like this woman. And there's the problem, the challenge, and the possibility as well. Knowing her doesn't change a thing about how I feel or what I believe to be true, but it has taught me that it's not as simple as "us" and "them". And it also makes me angry, with a deep, cold fury, because Bush is using both the Tim LaHayes and the people like her. He's been able to cast an enormous, simplistic net, and by god, it's worked. He and his ilk are cynically using people's faith --- and I've known that for a long time, of course. He's turned this kindly woman into a supporter of death,mayhem, torture, and cruelties beyond imagining, and she doesn't see it or can't see it. All he had to do was link it to abortion, and she was on board, because abortion really bothers her and she's a single-issue voter. She's been duped. Her faith has been hijacked. We know that. But she doesn't. She's not intellectual enough to be swayed by argument and reason. She worries about me because she thinks I chew over things too much, which can jeopardize faith, in her mind. And of course, it does in my case, but I don't go too much into it with her. It wouldn't do any good and she would be scared and upset for me, because she loves me, and I love her.

So there it is. That's a more dimensional view of what the real challenge is - that many, many, many of these people would never hurt a fly, would never attack or abuse anyone, would never choose to torture a prisoner or add to a young girl's misfortune and pain. But they are doing it, everyday, because the powers that be have duped them and lied to them and scared them and gotten their vote on single issues and blown smoke in their eyes on everything else. There's a glimmer of hope in this, though. We'll never change the minds of the Pat Robertsons and the LaHayes and such. But folks like these, we might. If we can show them where their faith is served through progressive politics - and get them to see that war is a bigger social issue for a Christian than abortion or homosexuality, then there's a chance. But how to break the hypnosis? How to get the basically decent people -- albeit with views we oppose -- to see that?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kiji_kat)

The Toms River, NJ, school board took a stand against bigotry by refusing to fire a transgendered teacher at the request of a fundamentalist parent.

You can thank the board for their efforts and decision here: trboe@trschools.com

x-posted to kiji_kat

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sesby)

A class at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Florida embraces an alternate history that advocates the United States as a nation by Christians for Christians.

The curriculum:

- Our Godly Heritage

- Our Founding Fathers and Original Intent

- Educational Revisionism

- Christian's Responsibility to Culture

- Understanding the Homosexual Lifestyle and Agenda, Part I

- Understanding the Homosexual Lifestyle and Agenda, Part II

- Protecting Traditional Family Values

- Anti-Christian Bigotry

- Sanctity of Life

- The Religious and Political Origins of Thanksgiving

- "What Is Rama-hanu-kwanz-mas?" Keeping Christ in Christmas


More, from the story in the St. Petersbug Times:

"John Stemberger (a guest speaker) is a lawyer from Orlando. His spare time goes toward Florida Family Action, a conservative lobbying group. Stemberger's topic tonight is homosexuals and their agenda.

"We find ourselves living in an age where there's no truth at all, according to secularists," Stemberger tells the class.

No one, he says, is saying that homosexuals shouldn't have a right to vote, a right to sell property. "This is about special rights."

Namely, marriage. Once gays can marry, he said, they will want to adopt, too.

"Now the picture is not two guys in holy matrimony, in bed together, so to speak. Now the picture is three little children sandwiched in between them."

"What are two lesbian moms going to teach a little girl about how to love a man?" Stemberger asks.

"Nothing," someone calls out.

"They have nothing to offer these children," Stemberger says.

Then he says, "Can we just pray for a second?"

"Father," he begins as the students bow their heads, "We want to be clothed with grace. We want to be clothed with humility. . . . There is nothing in us that should be self-righteous, that should be judgmental."

Read the whole story at http://sptimes.com/2006/02/24/Brandontimes/In_God_they_trust.shtml