LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

The new evangelical film about missionaries, End of the Spear, stars Chad Allen, an openly gay actor who has been an advocate for equal marriage. And of course evangelicals are having a hissy fit...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/national/02spear.html?ex=1139547600&en=7cc29e24f5b09d1a&ei=5059&partner=AOL

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Having trouble sleeping at night? Plagued by nightmares, illness, bad luck? Chances are that someone is praying against you. And if you are one of the four remaining moderate Supreme Court Justices, there are people actively praying for your demise.

Think I'm joking? Read on.

Here's my prayer list: Ginsburg – gone! Stevens, Souter, and Kennedy – gone! Installed in their place: God-fearing, Constitution-loving justices flanking Roberts on both right and left! There are four remaining liberal judges on the nation's high court. That equates to four justices who are anti-life (in the name of choice), pro-perversion (in the name of privacy) and anti-American (in the name of progress). May God banish them from the court.

Let's not be deceived. In Alito, we've wrested away the swing-vote, but apart from radical judicial change, the slaughter of unborn millions and the protection of vice and perversion will continue indefinitely. We need a complete reversal in the court's balance of power, not a mere shift from the left.

This person is praying for the downfall of the United States. It is as simple as that. This person wants a theocracy. If they want a theocratic government so badly, maybe they should move to an Islamic country like Saudi Arabia.

Here's the toxic prayer:

God, in Jesus Name, destroy the hold which dark powers have had over much of our nation's leaders. Bring down Your divine gavel upon those judges who have used their position of authority to exalt their will against You and against Your word.

Forgive us Lord, for the sanctioned slaughter of multiplied millions of innocent lives, and for the protection we've afforded perversity and ungodliness. Remove from power, oh Lord, those who hate You and have used their power to abolish Your name from the ears, minds and hearts of our nation's children.

God, give us more justices who fear You and respect Your law. In Jesus' name, Amen.

EDIT: OK, out with the counterprayer. If God has a sense of humor, (and I expect that Sie does) Sie'll give them a divine wedgie and give us a good laugh when Sie decides to do something.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Could it be that the forces of common sense are stirring awake and to action? Consider Evolution Sunday, and the declaration by several thousand clergy and churches that science and religious beliefs can peacefully coexist:

We the undersigned, Christian clergy from many different traditions, believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests. To reject this truth or to treat it as “one theory among others” is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children. We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator. To argue that God’s loving plan of salvation for humanity precludes the full employment of the God-given faculty of reason is to attempt to limit God, an act of hubris. We urge school board members to preserve the integrity of the science curriculum by affirming the teaching of the theory of evolution as a core component of human knowledge. We ask that science remain science and that religion remain religion, two very different, but complementary, forms of truth.

So much for the 'wedge'. This is very encouraging. It's February 12th, by the way.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY cheap_laugh)

An Abramoff/Dobson connection?
Excerpt:

Gambling might not rank as high as homosexuality or abortion on the list of social evils monitored by Focus on the Family found er James Dobson, but its growth has provided many occasions for his jeremiads. The indictment of Indian casino lobbyist and influential GOP activist Jack Abramoff was one such occasion. In a January 6 press release issued three days after Abramoff's indictment, Dobson declared, "If the nation's politicians don't fix this national disaster, then the oceans of gambling money with which Jack Abramoff tried to buy influence on Capitol Hill will only be the beginning of the corruption we'll see." He concluded with a denunciation of vice: "Gambling--all types of gambling--is driven by greed and subsists on greed."

What Dobson neglected to mention--and has yet to discuss publicly--is his own pivotal role in one of Abramoff's schemes. In 2002 Dobson joined a coterie of Christian-right activists, including Tony Perkins, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, to spearhead Abramoff's campaigns against the establishment of several Louisiana casinos that infringed on the turf of Abramoff's tribal clients. Dobson and his allies recorded messages for phone banking, lobbied high-level Bush Administration officials and took to the airwaves. Whether they knew it or not, these Christian soldiers' crusade to protect families in the "Sportsmen's Paradise" from the side effects of chronic slot-pulling and dice-rolling was funded by the gambling industry and planned by the lobbyist known even to his friends as "Casino Jack."

Will we see Dobosn, Perkins, Falwell and Robertson indicted? one can only hope....

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This taskforce has undertaken a study of "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-affirming religious organizations". Naturally, they've discovered that there are a whole lot of conservative religious organizations lined up against them.

Read the report.

In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have faced unprecedented attacks from a highly organized religious right. David v. Goliath outlines the "parallel" progressive faith movement that welcomes LGBT people, and has grown simultaneously with the secular rights movement. It reveals the intense opposition to these progressive faith groups and the huge forces waged against them by the anti-LGBT industry, which has unabashedly and effectively rallied conservative people of faith to its cause.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

According to NBC's initial synopsis of the [Will & Grace] episode, Jack's fictional TV network, Out TV, is taken over by a Christian broadcaster, leading [Britney] Spears' character to do a cooking segment on his show called "Cruci-fixin's."

The American Family Association immediately raised objections to the planned episode, saying it "mocks the crucifixion of Christ" and will "further denigrate Christianity" by airing the night before Good Friday.

On its Web site, the Mississippi-based advocacy group called on its supporters to urge network affiliates to refuse to run the episode and to write letters of protest to NBC.

NBC countered that the dispute stems from an inaccurate press release that went out without being properly vetted.

Full Story

Christian satire used to be so much sharper than this. Life of Brian, for instance. *sigh*

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY polypolyglot)

was scheduled to be a guest on Good Morning America today. Did anyone catch it? What did he talk about?