LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thedemonprist)

( In here... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I was looking to see if perhaps the May issue of "Harpers" magazine was up yet- it features two articles of great interest to readers here: "Inside America's Most Powerful Megachurch" by Jeff Sharlet, and "Feeling the Hate with the National Religous Broadcasters" by Chris Hedges. Both of these writers spoke at the Religous Right conference this past weekend.

I did go digging through the archives and found Sharlett's earlier article, Jesus Plus Nothing" about the enigmatic and secretive "The Family". I also found a Nerve article:Sex As A Weapon is Sharlet's examination of the Christian men's movement the Promise Keepers.

I also found The Apocalypse Will Be Televised" and Life Everlasting. All three articles are fascinating and insightful reading. Sharlet edits the online journal The Revealer.

Happy reading!

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

Neal Boortz is a right-wing talk-radio host based here in Atlanta. He is an unmitigated asshole; after all, that's the persona he's going for. He spews vitriol and sometimes tells outright lies because, as he freely admits, that attracts listeners he can "play commercials for." He bashes Democrats at every turn. Same old, same old, mostly.

Nevertheless, I found this in his show notes for April 25:

...the Republicans had a bit of a setback in this particular battle yesterday. I'm referring to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's little satellite broadcast to churches across the nation. The telecast was billed as an event to denounce Democrats as "against people of faith." This "against people of faith" line is a nicer way of saying "anti-Christian."

( There's lots more )

Yes, it's taken out of context, but there you have it. Maybe Boortz can become a force for Good as well as Mammon.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This interesting article talks about the Christian broadcast industry- "How evangelical Christians are creating an alternative universe of faith-based news."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article talks about the desire of the Religious Right to use the judiciary to dissolve the wall between church and state:

Religious right seeks judiciary that dissolves church-state separation

BY DICK POLMAN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - Religious conservatives, emboldened by President Bush's re-election and confident of their political clout, are not interested in merely overhauling the judiciary. Ideally, they are seeking a judiciary that would remove the wall of separation between church and state.

This ambition is stated clearly in numerous legal briefs currently on file at the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with a pending case; they seek removal of "a Berlin wall" that is "out of step with this nation's religious heritage." In fact, their leaders argue in interviews that the church-state barrier is a "myth" invented by the high court in 1947, thanks to a twisted interpretation of our founding documents.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

From Oregon:

Guest Viewpoint: Prayer breakfasts have a history of excluding faiths

By Matthew Dennis
For The Register-Guard

Since the beginning of the republic itself, the role of religion in American life has been controversial - even as the United States supposedly became a more secular society, and even in Oregon, statistically the least churched state in the union.

A case in point is the annual Eugene-Springfield Mayors' Prayer Breakfast, the subject of an April 10 column by Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin. The local event is an example of a larger phenomenon, which includes annual mayors', governors' and even presidential prayer breakfasts. Many occur on the official National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday in May. This year that falls on May 5 and competes with an altogether different occasion, Cinco de Mayo, a celebration of diversity.

Something billed as "The Mayors' Prayer Breakfast" raises questions. Is it a public, official event, sponsored by an elected mayor and, by implication, the city he or she represents? If it features prayer, whose prayers are featured? Is it inclusive, or is it exclusive, both of non-Christian faiths and of nonreligious Americans? Might it violate First Amendment requirements for the separation of church and state? Or is it simply an exercise of religious freedom, guaranteed by that same First Amendment?

The roots of the Mayors' Prayer Breakfast go back to the early 1950s, in the context of the Cold War, when a joint resolution of Congress, signed by President Harry Truman, declared an annual National Day of Prayer. This was the era in which "under God" was spliced into the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower presided over the first National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Soon prayer breakfasts multiplied and became fixtures in state capitals and other communities across the country, sometimes set for the National Day of Prayer and sometimes held on other dates.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY meta4life)

Thought those of you who don't follow BeliefNet.com might want to go check out one of their daily bloggers, Charlotte Hays, a conservative Catholic who publishes their "Loose Canon" blog.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/145/story_14545_1.html

She's just getting "informed" about dominionism (as I was, last week) and has taken what I see as a typically casual approach (for a religious conservative) in her attempts to educate herself.

BeliefNet allows users to comment on these blogs, much like here except you're limited to 1024 characters. It may be worth getting an account so you can join me (alesia1, there) in helping her get educated on those who'd like to hijack her religion altogether.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This article is the Washington Times look at last weekend's conference:

Liberals gather to plumb depths of Christian right
By Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published May 3, 2005

NEW YORK -- The 58-year-old man stepped to the microphone and spoke like a zealous Christian anxious to learn about carrying the Gospel to nonbelievers.

"We're trying to understand these people. How do we reach out to them?" asked Wayne Reagan, 58, a retired Housing Authority official.

But Mr. Reagan was asking how to evangelize believers, specifically Christians, with the gospel of secularism.

Mr. Reagan, who is not religious, attended a conference Friday and Saturday at the City College of New York, called "Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right." The event was sponsored by the New York Open Center, a holistic learning center, and by the People for the American Way Foundation.

Mr. Reagan's question was one example of how liberals are making unprecedented efforts to understand, and even imitate, Christian conservatives. Another conference attendee asked a speaker how to talk to her Christian conservative relatives.( Read more... )