LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY nebris)

( The former New York Times Mideast Bureau chief warns that the radical Christian right is coming dangerously close to its goal of co-opting the country’s military and law enforcement. )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY fannyfae)

One of my fellow temple members showed me a website that took me a little aback. Most everywhere you h ear about Christianity's railing against porn. However, now, in typical "if you can't beat 'em, join em'" fashion, there are actually sites that extol the 'virtues' of Christian pornography.

Far from being diametrically opposed to the standard fare found in most erotic literature and film, they have set down not only the ground rules, but have cited Biblical principles in order to make it all o.k. Subjects such "BDSM and God's Will", "Oral Sex and God's Will", etc. are just some of the topics that will find on this website.

I wonder if more Dominionists knew about sites such as this, and how it is really ok for them to have healthy sex lives, and watch porn (if done in the proper context, of course) if we wouldn't have fewer scandals in the media. ;-)

Probably not something you want your boss or IT department to see you reading about at work.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Salon interview is an excellent balance of intelligence and religious understanding.

Despite massive scientific corroboration for evolution, roughly half of all Americans believe that God created humans within the past 10,000 years. Many others believe the "irreducible complexity" argument of the intelligent design movement -- a position that, while somewhat more flexible, still rankles most scientists. This widespread refusal to accept evolution can drive scientists into a fury. I've heard biologists call anti-evolutionists "idiots," "lunatics" ... and worse. But the question remains: How do we explain the stubborn resistance to Darwinism?

University of Wisconsin historian Ronald Numbers is in a unique position to offer some answers. His 1992 book "The Creationists," which Harvard University Press has just reissued in an expanded edition, is probably the most definitive history of anti-evolutionism. Numbers is an eminent figure in the history of science and religion -- a past president of both the History of Science Society and the American Society of Church History. But what's most refreshing about Numbers is the remarkable personal history he brings to this subject. He grew up in a family of Seventh-day Adventists and, until graduate school, was a dyed-in-the-wool creationist. When he lost his religious faith, he wrote a book questioning the foundations of Adventism, which created a huge rift in his family. Perhaps because of his background, Numbers is one of the few scholars in the battle over evolution who remain widely respected by both evolutionists and creationists. In fact, he was once recruited by both sides to serve as an expert witness in a Louisiana trial on evolution. (He went with the ACLU.)

Numbers says much of what we think about anti-evolutionism is wrong. For one thing, it's hardly a monolithic movement. There are, in fact, fierce battles between creationists of different stripes. And the "creation scientists" who believe in a literal reading of the Bible have, in turn, little in common with the leaders of intelligent design. Numbers also dismisses the whole idea of warfare between science and religion going back to the scientific revolution. He argues this is a modern myth that serves both Christian fundamentalists and secular scientists.

This interview should serve to remind us that neither science nor religion is clear cut or black and white. It's worth the day pass to read it.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jamie_miller)

How does this buffoon keep getting into the news? As of 10:30 PM EST Tuesday, this is a top story on CNN.com. Why? And of course it feeds right into dominionist fantasies about Armageddon.

*headdesk*