LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jehovahsfitness)

"Christians" refuse to give drinking water to Wilma victims

(x-posted to religious_left)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

Sorry, I made a post earlier. Who knows where it ended up! It was in response to dogemperors question about the types of psych/behavioral problems my husband (Dev. Ped) is seeing in kids from dominionist families. I'll try to recreate it here.

First: He, suspects but does not know for sure, they are DF (dominion families)His suspicions are related to extreme resistance on the part of the parent or care giver to accept any treatment plan that may involve an alteration of the families behavior towards the child. (types of things like "you may consider not making your teenager go to this event..." advice.

He feels this has something to do with the family outlook. The children are frequently objects, their identities are related only to the problem that needs "fixing", and this lends itself to naming the child the problem. For instance Johnny isn't experiencing a sexual identity problem, he is a "homo who could change if he wanted."

He would like to ask advice, if anyone has specific questions he could ask in a subtle way that could help him determine if this is a DF without his scaring away the families.

Second: (This surprised me) Drug addition, particularly meth. (Self-medicating for severe problems is suspected here) Nearly every type of depression. But I caution here - he only suspects at this point and needs KEY questions to ask that would help him gain an understanding of the family dynamic.

Nearly to a letter the families he suspects are entirely resistant to treating depression as anything other than the child/teens choice. (pretty scientology-like)

The DF are not a particularily large component of his practice, but they are striking in that they are characterized by a complete abdication of parental or family life responsibility for the behavioral or psychological damage their children suffer from. They are almost entirely resistant to any solution other than the child changing to fit their needs. (which are probably the needs of the church? that is my suspicion after reading you folks)

I got interested in this (dominionist) subject about six months ago after a year or so looking at the religious right in America. It just seemed to me the term RR really doesn't describe what I was seeing. It makes a group sound like it is a religious movement. Then when I stumbled into dominionism...it made what I was seeing make sense: we are looking at a political movement. Of course with my big mouth, my husband got interested ...light bulb...

Funny thing about this (dominionist)political movement, it explains what you are seeing in your community, in your examining room, in the grocery store, in the SUV that blows by you at 10x lightspeed over the posted limit with the 1man+1woman=marriage bumpersticker and a "quiverfull" of kids.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY loquaciousnut)

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/religious-storm-over-aussie-thunder-stops-the-show/2005/10/29/1130400400085.html

Religious storm over Aussie thunder stops the show
October 30, 2005
The Sun-Herald

Religious leaders in the mid-west American state of North Dakota have forced the cancellation of a show by Australia's Thunder from Down Under male dancers.

Jamestown Mayor Charlie Kourajian and councillors Dwaine Heinrich and John Grabinger voted on Friday to terminate the contract with the group. Two other councillors voted against the move.

The show had been scheduled for Thursday at the Jamestown Civic Centre and was booked about three months ago.

Thunder from Down Under spokeswoman Penny Levin said the decision was a shocking form of censorship, and the show was tasteful adult entertainment, tailored for various audiences.

"We're not a bunch of heathens roaming through," she said.

"No one is being forced to buy a ticket or see the show, but now people are being forced to not see the show."

Mr Grabinger said allowing the show to proceed would have upset the commercial sponsors of the venue where it was to be held.

"I talked to advertisers [who] made it clear that this was going to cost us more than if we cancel the contract," he said.

The Jamestown Ministerial Association petitioned the Civic Centre and Promotions Committee in protest against what pastors called a strip show.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY polypolyglot)

Years ago, when I was at least a nominal Christian*, my former minister told me of a mission that was traveling to Dehra Dun, India. One was an accredited professor at a (Christian) college, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, so the Indian government couldn't very well deny him a visa, but the others were travelling allegedly as teachers (perhaps the difference is that one had a Ph.D., the others didn't?). The minister politely refused any offers of financial help (boy, was I naive!) on the ground that he was uncertain as to my affiliation. Perhaps he was more afraid that I would "out" the missionaries to the Indian government if I knew them by name.

*And before I knew of the term "Dominionism" and realized all of its agenda

What legal means are there to combat Dominionist missionaries who travel to other countries under false pretenses?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY deridetenebras)

The president of a Christian activist organization is among a growing number of citizens who are saying it is about time for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to stop trying to put criminals' rights above the rights of American citizens.

( Read more... )

(link)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here we go...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility News Release (www.peer.org)

For Immediate Release: October 13, 2005
Contact: Chas Offutt (202) 265-7337

POLITICAL SCREENING FOR ALL PARK SERVICE MANAGERS — Mid-Level Managers Picked for Fealty to “the President’s Management Agenda”

Washington, DC — The National Park Service has started using a political loyalty test for picking all its top civil service positions, according to an agency directive released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Under the new order, all mid-level managers and above must also be approved by a Bush administration political appointee.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY hummingwolf)

Tucked deep inside a massive bill designed to track sex offenders and prevent children from being victimized by sex crimes...

The provision added to the Children's Safety Act of 2005 would require any film, TV show or digital image that contains a sex scene to come under the same government filing requirements that adult films must meet.

Currently, any filmed sexual activity requires an affidavit that lists the names and ages of the actors who engage in the act. The film is required to have a video label that claims compliance with the law and lists where the custodian of the records can be found. The record-keeping requirement is known as Section 2257, for its citation in federal law. Violators could spend five years in jail.

Under the provision inserted into the Children's Safety Act, the definition of sexual activity is expanded to include simulated sex acts like those that appear in many movies and TV shows.

As has been pointed out, child pornography is already illegal, and California already has stringent laws protecting children (including child actors) from harm. What the modifications to this bill seem likely to do is to enable the federal government to crack down on any sexual scene dating back to 1995--including those between clothed actors on prime-time TV--if filmmakers haven't kept records which conform to today's law.

In other words, while there is nothing in the article which specifically mentions the Religious Right, you can bet they'll be goading officials to take full advantage of this provision if the thing gets passed. Similar provisions have been ruled unconstitutional in the past; here's hoping people come to their senses this time around as well.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ns_kumiho)

Intresting article from The Guardian:

Robert Winston: Why do we believe in God?

Many years ago, a team of researchers at the department of anthropology at the University of Minnesota decided to put this association to the test. They studied certain fringe religious groups, such as fundamentalist Baptists, Pentecostalists and the snake-handlers of West Virginia, to see if they showed the particular type of psychopathology associated with mental illness. Members of mainstream Protestant churches from a similar social and financial background provided a good control group for comparison. Some of the wilder fundamentalists prayed with what can only be described as great and transcendental ecstasy, but there was no obvious sign of any particular psychopathology among most of the people studied. After further analysis, however, there appeared a tendency to what can only be described as mental instability in one particular group. The study was blinded, so that most of the research team involved with questionnaires did not have access to the final data. When they were asked which group they thought would show the most disturbed psychopathology, the whole team identified the snake-handlers. But when the data were revealed, the reverse was true: there was more mental illness among the conventional Protestant churchgoers - the "extrinsically" religious - than among the fervently committed.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'"They are joiners," said William Strauss, co-author of the book "Millennials Rising."

'"They are prepared to listen to leaders -- whether from the pulpit or the White House -- in ways that their parents, the boomers, did not, and that is a very new phenomenon. They believe in security rather than radicalism, political order rather than social emancipation, collective responsibility rather than personal expression."'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY neadods)

From today's Washington Post: "In 2004, the last year for which statistics are available, the [Library] associations received 547 challenges -- formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content. (A year earlier, 458 formal challenges were made.)"

Reasons for listing the top 10 challenged lists come right out of the neocon/evangelical playlist: homosexuality, religious viewpoint (put "not our" in front of that), political viewpoint (ditto), and modeling bad behavior.

( Full text under cut )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Why am I not surprised?

From Bartholomew's Notes:

Evangelist Targets Asian Buddhists post-Katrina

As Franklin Graham plans “spiritual rebirth” in New Orleans, Charisma reports on the progress of one evangelist in the afflicted Gulf of Mexico (link added):


Evangelist Johnny Jernigan has been neck-deep in storm recovery since Hurricane Katrina smashed the Gulf Coast more than a month ago. But besides delivering food to needy families and helping evacuees reclaim their damaged homes, he has been leading hundreds of people to Christ—people who weren’t open to the gospel before the disaster. ( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jarandhel)

It starts out with saying how Ronald Reagan once said he wanted to invite an atheist to a delicious banquet, and when it was done ask him if he believed there was a cook. Then it asks you to imagine eating such a meal and being told there was no cook. Then it says this is happening every day in our schools, children being taught that all life and the universe came from nothing. Then it closes with "Evolution is a lie. Don't buy it. Read the Bible." I believe printed below that was "Genesis 1:1", but it flashed by too fast for me to catch it and I was pretty astounded to see such an ad at all, let alone on the SCI FI channel.

The Dominionists are apparently buying ad time for their ideologies on Cable TV now. I never would have expected to see something like that there, especially not during the Dungeons and Dragons 2 movie.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY seshen)

Evangelist Franklin Graham said Tuesday that Hurricane Katrina could lead to a spiritual rebirth of a sinful New Orleans. Graham, the son and designated successor of the Rev. Billy Graham, said he doesn't believe the devastating storm was a punishment from God for what he sees as the city's ties to satanic worship and sexual perversion.

"I'm not saying that God used this storm as a judgment," Graham said. But he said the city's Mardi Gras revelry and ties to voodoo were adverse to Christian beliefs.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I swear, these fulminating god-botherers seem to blossom worse than mold after a flood...

Katrina was God's wrath on sinful area says Alabama senator

02:54 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Associated Press

A state senator in Alabama says Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on a sinful part of America.

State Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, wrote in a weekly column for news outlets: "New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."

Erwin, a former conservative talk-radio host and now a media consultant, wrote the column after a tour of hurricane-wrecked Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., and Bayou La Batre on the Alabama coast.( Read more... )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY gothic_oreo)

A state senator in Alabama says Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment on a sinful part of America.

State Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, wrote in a weekly column for news outlets: "New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ccroft)

I think it's just so wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita that the fundamentalists have lined up to label the devastation as God's vengence, I mean...

... oh wait, it hasn't happened yet? But we know it will. The way I see it, if a precedent can be set by fundies for "Divine Retribution" in advance of an event - The NOLA devastation supposedly punishment for the upcoming Southern Decadence which hadn't taken place yet - we have the right to condemn their fearful stupidity in advance of them opening their callous mouths. ;p

So yes, maybe we should start taking bets on the order in which the attributions of God's Wrath will come. Phelps was beaten to the punch by Falwell... perhaps he'll be spoiling to take the first crack this time?

In all, this post is more about my frustration at the mainstream media giving these crackpots coverage, when it just isn't news anymore - only inevitable. I'd like to call on TV networks and the Press alike to quit giving them even more reason to say such hateful things, by giving them the spotlight. It just isn't right.

Finally, best wishes to all in Rita's path; the administration won't afford itself another disaster like last time, but that doesn't mean it'll still be dangerous for anyone left behind.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY britzkrieg)

These are some of the headlines from solarbird's latest cultural warfare update:

* Don Feder, mid-level fundamentalist leader, tosses in his two cents: Katrina was God's Punishment for evacuations of Jewish settlements in Gaza, queers, and a few other things
* National Review argues that John Roberts is setting up to rule against Roe v. Wade
* Kennedy rails against Federal relief funds going to religious schools
* National Center for Health Statistics showing more youth engaging in "alternative" sex (FotF's word) - teenage women in particular. FotF wonk claims that the study is being released to discredit abstinence-only education.
* FotF applauds major new Justice Department push against "obscenity"
* FotF pleased at outcome of UN goals -- "sexual and reproductive rights" removed from final language
* FotF ACTION ITEM to exempt religious Head Start money receivers from anti-discrimination law in hiring. They want religious receivers of federal money to be able to be able to engage in currently-illegal religious hiring discrimination.
* FotF encourages fundamentalists to use the Human Rights Campaign's list of GBLT-friendly businesses to form a personal boycott list
* FotF ACTION ITEM to continue pressuring Governor Schwarzenegger to veto the California marriage rights bill while simultaneously complaining about about pressure from GBLT groups to not veto it
* Puerto Rico may pass bill allowing same-sex marriages performed in other states to be recognised there, while not allowing them locally. FotF urges against, of course.
* One of two CWA "take that, fags" articles about NY Central Park Zoo's gay penguin couple breaking up. Also plugs the "March of the Penguins" documentary movie as evidence of creationism.
* Georgia legislator trying to make it harder for Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to get members.
* Traditional Values Coalition scare story about QUEERS CONTROLLING THE MEDIA.
* Washington State's Faith and Freedom network: education is useless without the Bible, must be based on it in all areas.

Details behind the above link.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY metaphorge)

Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically, fundamentalism--biblical literalism--is a road to nowhere, because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not true. But religious enthusiasm is not all bad. Like love or political activism, it can help troubled souls transform their lives. And if what we're looking at is an America with an ever-larger and boxed-in working class and tighter competition for high-paying jobs among the elite, fundamentalism is exactly the thing to manage decline: It schools the downwardly mobile in making the best of their lot while teaching them to be grateful for the food pantry and daycare over at the church. At the same time, taking advantage of existing currents of anti-intellectualism and school-tax resistance, it removes from the pool of potential scientists and other creative professionals vast numbers of students, who will have had their minds befuddled with creationism and its smooth-talking cousin, intelligent design. Already, according to a study by University of Minnesota biology professor Randy Moore, 40 percent of high school biology teachers don't teach evolution, either because it's socially unacceptable in their communities or because they themselves don't believe in it.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY jalendavi_lady)

Hi, first time poster here. I'm currently a member of a fairly fundie church (as in, the SBC just loves us all over), but can't stand half of what I hear there. At least things have gotten better since the temp. pastor left and took his severe misinterpretations with him (You don't tell a church where half the needs list is job-searching by devoted supporters of the church, with the vast majority of the church's jobless too believing in self-sufficiency to put themselves on the list, that those not currently walking on sunshine and swimming in money are unsaved and going to Hell. You just don't).

A friend just gave me the heads-up on an article that appeared in the UGA student newspaper today: Preachers' Message Isn't Christ's.

It appears it is not only now okay to bother everyone in the vicinity with bullhorn-aided yelling, but to offer more personal attention to those you think are "Hellbound" than to those appearing to seek not being "Hellbound".

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

The latter part of this Petty-Larseny [sic] blog goes into some interesting observations of Bush's faith-based behavior:

All of this, though, leaves us with the question of why does Bush now, after Sept. 11, after Katrina, after Michael Brown, still feel comfortable relying on trickle-down cronyism to fill spots of vital national security?

Oddly, John Kerry unknowingly provided the key to understanding this pivotal part of Bush's personality. In a debate discussion utterly unrelated to this one, he said: "The president and I have a difference of opinion about how we live out our sense of our faith. I talked about it earlier when I talked about the works and faith without works being dead."

Pres. Bush is a faith-based president. More importantly, he's a faith-based person. He's a new breed of Christian; seeing the world and everyone in it solely through the lens of personal salvation. I don't mean he literally has a religious litmus test. I mean that he's embraced a viral, mutant strain of Christianity that pays no heed to the teachings or works of Jesus, but focuses exclusively on a new, ephemeral, poorly defined notion of faith: Personal acceptance of (something you call) Christ as (something you perceive as) your savior. That's it. That's how you get to heaven. You don't even have to accept the biblically defined Jesus, you just have to think you do.( Read more... )