LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY shapeshft)

A friend sent me an email recently which read:

Subject: The Town of Allopath

It's really difficult to watch but the final message is certainly worth while. Have patience, not patients.

Your friend [deleted] wants you to see this highly entertaining presentation with an important message.

Just click on the link below or copy & paste this web address below into your browser to begin.

Begin the "Welcome to the Town of Allopath" Presentation

www.mercola.com/townofallopath/index.htm

After the video, you're asked to sign up to receive free newsletters from Mercola.com. I've never heard of this company and had no idea what they were selling. Turns out the site is only tenuously connected with the subject of the little video they're using as a "hook". A google search revealed these:
* On its founder
* On a sociopolitical group the founder is closely associated with

The association in particular seems worth mentioning here, as they seem bent on a strictly pro-life, free market Neocon approach which is also apparently tied up with religion.

Does anybody else have info about either the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons or Mercola? Is the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons dominionist or just Neocon and fundamentalist?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY navytron89) Found this on atheism  and decided others needed to see it.




In case it's a bit difficult to read, this is what it says:

Sorry... you're just like the rest of us. The dictionary says "good" is to be "morally excellent". Let's check the standard, the Ten Commandments, to see how far we fall short: Is God first in your life? Do you love Him with "heart, mind, soul and strength?" Have you made a god to suit yourself? Have you used His name in vain? Have you kept the Sabbath day holy? Have you always honoured your parents? Have you hated anyone, and therefore committed murder in your heart? Have you looked with lust and therefore committed adultery in your heart? Have you lied (including "fibs"), stolen (the value is irrelevant, includes downloading movies and burning CDs), or coveted other people's possessions? If you are honest, you know you will be guilty on the Day of Judgement. God, however, doesn't want you to be sent to Hell. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross, so you could go free. That's how much God loves you. We broke God's Law, but Jesus paid our fine. Then He rose from the grave and defeated death. If you repent (be sorry to God that you've violated His Law, and turn away from your sin) and trust in Jesus, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. Read your Bible daily (start with the chapter called John).
www.needgod.com    tract reproduced by wayofthemaster.com.au

Awesome, a litmus test of morals that everyone fails. I'm sure thousands of people converted just because they desperately want that little square to turn green.

From Navytron89: I went to the website and found it was a Dominionist/Evangelistic/Fundies site with a ton of propaganda links, including Evangelical Boot Camps in Australia/NZ. 

Damn, I thought Australia and NZ were free from those wackos. I guess when I visit, I'll have to bring my Clue-by-Four and Boot-to-the-Head shoes to protect myself from those jerks.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Witches Voice essay is interesting for its amazingly accurate portrayal of the "intellectual constipation" and sheer patronizing bloody-mindedness of the True Believer™.

A small taste:

"Have you ever read the Old Testament?"

"Some of it," I say, "and that's all I need. I found it appalling."

He says something else, attempting to make me see... something. I ask him, "So, is this something like, 'do not suffer a Witch to live'?"

He smiles and almost nods... and continues smiling, as though he thinks I've finally seen the light or something. I can't stand it.

I've had enough. I hold up my hand and tell him, as calmly as I may, that I appreciate what he is trying to do for me. No, I'm serious. I can understand where he's coming from... from his point of view, I am going to burn in Hell. He is concerned for my soul's wellbeing. I tell him that I am happy where I am. I have found my path, and everyday I go forth upon this path and search for answers. And I don't want him to continue. Be glad for me, as I am for you, that I have found my path. This is unacceptable to the preacher.

"I have your answers right here," he says. He has one of those small, digital things... an electronic Bible.

"No, thank you. I have trod that path and been left unfulfilled. I found no answers, I got no results. Perhaps I will tread that path again some day, but today is not the day. Thank you for what you are trying to do, but no thank you, just the same. I seek and I learn, and what you have is not for me." He smiles at me... he smiles, and it is condescending, like a parent patiently correcting a wayward child.

"There is doubt in your voice," he says gently, soothingly.

The proverbial snake in my garden.

The whispering in my ear.

There is no doubt in me... though he sought to plant some.

I've had a few encounters like that...

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY lillybeloved)

Considering these people are a "missions church", I think this might be of interest of some people here.

So today I went to Antioch Community Church with iremembernot and white_lily0584.
For anyone not from Waco:
Antioch Community Church is a VERY pentecostal/charismatic church that is most probably Domionist and maybe a cult.
The lifegroups (smallgroups put on by the church) definetly have DANGER plastered all over them.
But today was the first time I went to the actual service.
It was packed. And that is not a small church. It was formally a strip mall that was gutted and changed into a large auditorium.
We sung a lot. Some of the songs I couldn't tell if they were about God or some lover I should have hidden in my bed. The people around us had lots of hands in the air, random talking "Amen!" "YES YES YES" or walking over to someone and telling them the Holy Spirit wanted them to do something, and lots of REALLY RANDOM clapping. It was EMOTIONALLY PACKED. The songs were also, as a tell tale sign, repetitious. Things were said three or four times in order to get louder and stronger as they were chanted.
Then they took the offering. and more singing.

Finally, a man I think named Vincent (this would be easier if Antioch put STAFF on their website, but no...) came up to introduce everything. And there was clapping.
And then the baptism. A Baylor gal was getting baptized, and... four people from her lifegroup were baptizing her. They couldn't be over 20. Anyway, they shared things that the lifegroup saw in her "the childlike way she said the word Jesus", "her humility", a few really sweet things. And baptised her in the name of Jesus. yes. Just the name of Jesus.
So the lights all go dark. Very VERY Dramatic.
At first they are reading from Acts 3, and dramatically re-inacting it. Once it gets to the actual speaking part of the lame begger, a few liberties are taken with speach, and he's up and leaping (well, to be fair, the bible has him jumping) and all is well. My eye, I hate to say it, found it interesting that the man was of a darker skin tone than the predominately white church. Reminds me of the Truth Ministry advertisment.
Probably another repetive song. This really makes me lose track of what happens in what place. really frustrating.
Skip forward to when Jimmy finally begins to speak. There is prayer for some missionaries that are about to go back to Lebanon. Yay for missionaries. yay for lucky Lebanon. Yay because in these end times we really need missionaries. (yes, the words "end times" were used) Lets pray these missionaries are better than Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, other ACC missionaries. A bunch of people bound up to the front to lay hands on them and pray. Everyone NOT bounding up puts their hands out towards them and starts praying aloud at the same time. Reminds me of the buzz you hear at the movie theater before the lights go dark.
And Jimmy starts on about Acts. Well, about God. Well, about his missionary work. Well, about everything and their cousin Igor. The topic for the day is physical healing. And like Salvation and Justification, God promises Physical Healing. (yes. in that order. Salvation, Justification, Healing). People randomly yell "AMEN!" of "YES!", even when Jimmy is not pausing.
He starts with the story of what happened in this weeks lifegroups, which I already got by email.

( The text of my email )

So, we heard the story of Autum, a few details left out, a few added (she went bowling Thursday night). I assume she lives in a D-House run by the church.

Another story, which had the congration laughing and white_lily0584 furious, was shared.

Jimmy was for some reason in northern russia and it was cold so he was in a train station with a lot of other people. Someone pointed out to him that one of the men sitting in a seat was dead. And yep, he slides off the chair and is dead as dead gets. So Jimmy goes to the wall and starts praying. And he wants to know what to say, "Be Healed" or "Rise" or "Get Up!" or whatever. So he goes over to dead-man-on-ground-in-crowded-area and starts to say pray these things. None work. So they keep praying, and finally Jimmy notices that there are a lot of people looking around him. So he leaps up and says in a LOUD BIG STREETCORNER EVANGELICAL VOICE "THIS MAN IS DEAD! DO YOU WANT TO DIE AND LOSE YOUR SOUL? TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND YOU WILL NOT DIE AND GO TO HELL! WHO WANTS TO BE SAVED??"
And a bunch of people respond to said thing and raise hand. So Jimmy's evangelical team save tons of people by using dead man's body as an example. And he says it again- pointing to THIS DEAD BODY ON THE FLOOR AND USING IT AS FEAR TACTIC to have people come to Christ. And so he's the hero, right, because he totally came up with a way to USE the body of this man to further his church planting in northern Russia.
So much for sanctity of human life. So much for a burial. Using him as an unfortunate example of what you don't want happening to you makes so much more sense.
But. of course it doesn't stop there. So then Jimmy shouts out "IF YOU HAVE A PHYSICAL HURT, PUT YOUR HAND OVER IT AND ASK GOD TO HEAL IT AND HE WILL!" And tada! Mass healing in Northern Russian train station that totally never got in the news.

Antioch has gotten in trouble with this before, as their problems in Sri Lanka are mentioned. A few times, actually.

And then there were two more cases. First comes the wheelchair example. Jimmy was in south america for some reason. probably planting another church on a short term trip. So he sees a man in a wheelchair, and prays to God and asks how to heal him. God says "15", so Jimmy asks the guy "did anything happen 15 years ago to make you like this?" and the guy goes "no". So Jimmy keeps praying and hears "unforgiveness" and asks the guy if there is anyone he hasn't forgiven in his life. The man says yes, his sister, for the last 15 years. So Jimmy says "to be healed and walk, you need to forgive your sister. God won't heal you until you forgive your sister." So man forgives his sister, and God heals him! yay!
This irks me because it can possibly mean 1) God is dependent on what people DO in order to heal them, or 2) God is punishing the man for not forgiving his sister. There are other possiblities, but I'm fairly certain the second is the one Jimmy was hoping the people thought of.

The next is the story of someone's cousin Igor in the country side. I have no idea where Jimmy is this time. But Igor has gangrene and will have his leg chopped off. So they go to Igor's and walk into his smelly room, and he is bandaged. and they pray, and decide to remove Igor's bandage and put their hands on the open wound. Apparently, it is green and really smelly. That's how descriptive it gets. So Jimmy puts his hand on open wound and they begin to pray. And YAY! The wound, IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES, begins to heal. But it stops in the middle of healing. And Igor wants the rest to be healed! And so Jimmy his team pray. And they tell Igor that God will heal the rest of the wound once Igor becomes a follower of Christ. So Igor becomes a Christian and wakes up the next morning and all is healed. Yay Igor!

...I don't even want to go into what's wrong with that.

saying that. Here is the pamplet from today's services.
( yay folded paper )

The scariest thing about this entire church is that I'm sure Jimmy could tell them ANYTHING, and 90% would believe it as gospel truth without a second doubt or scripture to back it up.

x-posted to my personal journal

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ellid)

Note that the Jehovah's Witnesses wasted no time in adding their crappy publications to the tons of garbage cluttering New Orleans right now....


http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050904143609990007

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY firepie)

In the front office at my agency (which one has to have a key to get into because of patient and client files), thumb-tacked to the wall above the sign in sheet, was a hand-written poster which reads (complete with typos):

GOD HIT LIST
ARE YOU + YOUR FAMILY ON IT. READ ROMANS 10.9 (HOLY BIBLE) TO GET TO HEAVEN [SMILEY FACE].
P.S. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT GO TO CHURCH.

1. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT FEAR GOD.
2. PEOPLE WHO HAVE SEX AND NOR MARRIED, WHOREMONGERS, MURDERERS
3. MEN HAVING SEX WITH MEN
4. WOMAN HAVING SEX WITH WOMAN
5. DEVIL WORSHIPER (IF YOU ARE NOT GOD CHILD YOU ARE THE DEVIL’S CHILD)
6. NOT GIVING YOUR LIFE TO HIS SON JESUS CHRIST (ROMANS 10:0)
7. YOUR & YOUR FAMILY ARE CURSED AND GO THE THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER WITH THE DEVIL [FROWNEY FACE]

Needless to say, I filed a formal complaint. The even more fucked-up thing is that when the supervisor on staff started questioning staff, she found out that everyone claims that it was there over the weekend. We are having an audit, so they were all here. They all report that they saw it, but not a single fucking person took it upon themselves to take it down.

I don’t know if they intended their "spreading of the good news" to be taken as a threat, but it was. I mean, is there any other way to read that? And the fact that it’s (obviously) a co-worker (there are only a dozen of us at this site) is really disconcerting. Everyone here knows that I’m gay, that my partner is transgender… We have gay and transgender clients here – what sort of services are they getting? (We provide mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment, as well as HIV case management).

When does preaching the gospel become a form of hate speech? Where is the dividing line?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thedemonprist)

( Read more ) Comments, suggestions, etc. are welcome. Should I include links to websites like Theocracy Watch? I had thought about doing so but wasn't sure. (they do have internet access; the church has an email address)

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

thedemonprist had a very intersting idea- writing a letter to her pastor warning about the Dominionist threat. I am very interested to see what she comes up with, to be honest. My question to all of you is, how would you tell your pastor or family/friends/colleagues about the Dominionists?

Another community on Yahoo, no_dominion, has come up with a similar idea- the creation of warning tracts or flyers about Dominionists. The discussion begins here, and has some interesting viewpoints. I caution on a post that we must be precise as to how we define Dominionists- so to avoid tarring non-dominionist Evangelicals and Fundementalist (and moderate) Christians with the same brush. Another writer steps in with this thought:

A year ago I posted an summary with excerpts from Katherine Yurica's site. [Link pending]

One of the immediate responses reflects, I believe, the sense of doubt and denial that most mainline conservative Christians feel or express when confronted with the realities of dominionism.

It would appear to me that each and every one of the issues involved in the article are contrived. Almost every conservative congregation would have members who believe differently on those issues even if the leadership or majority felt their rightness. I don't concede that there is such a movement. There are conspiracy theories about all powerful movements. The article itself is weighted down with almost no reliable sources of recent worth. In the example of the Pro-Israel issue, support for that country does not villify Americans. Americans and Israelis have almost always been on the same side of the political
fence. The entire article is mudslinging from a religious point of view. It seeks to paint all or most conservative churches into the same mold, and that is rediculous thinking. The thread should be
retitled to say, 'My agenda to sling more mud than is really needed on the American conservative church.'

So it seems that we must have care to consider the fact that the Christian community will be just as skeptical and resistant to this idea as the Pagan community has been (and currently is). The news is percolating into the mainstream, but it hasn't yet been repeated in enough places enough times to start working through the shells of indifference of the masses.

However, in noting the growth of both this community (and that of the Yahoo group, which I was a founding member but do not own), it seems that this thought and its accompanying ideas are starting to penetrate the mainstream.

In the meantime, I would like to call upon the brainpower here to come up with an idea for a possible tract or flyer. How would you do it? How would you present it? If you had the Mailing List of the Gods and a proper budget, what would you say to people about the 'theocorporates', 'christocrats', or Dominionists? I look forward to your replies.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Media Matters talks about a new free tabloid in the DC area which was bankrolled by a mysterious and very conservative right wing billionaire:

On February 1, a free daily tabloid arrived on newsstands and in mailboxes in the Washington, DC area: the Washington Examiner. The new paper is owned by Denver billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, an Evangelical Presbyterian who has bankrolled numerous ultra-conservative causes and has donated at least half a million dollars to Republican committees and political candidates. The Examiner's first three editorials all took hardline conservative positions.

***

Anschutz has a history of supporting socially conservative causes. According to a recent Post article, Anschutz's family foundation gave James Dobson, the founder of the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family, an award for his "contributions to the American Family." The Post noted that according to the foundation's website, Focus on the Family works to "counter the media-saturating message that homosexuality is inborn and unchangeable" and that one of the group's policy experts referred to abortion as an example of when "Satan temporarily succeeds in destroying God's creation." Further, as the Post mentioned, Anschutz contributed $10,000 in 1992 to Colorado Family Values in support of the group's efforts to pass a state constitutional amendment to invalidate state and local laws that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. (The referendum passed, but the United States Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional.) According to the Post, "Anschutz's money helped pay for an ad campaign that said such anti-bias laws gave gays and lesbians 'special rights.'"

In May 2003, the Orange County Weekly reported that other Anschutz Foundation beneficiaries include the Institute for American Values, which according to the Weekly "campaigns against single parenting," and Enough is Enough, which "promotes Internet censorship." The San Francisco Chronicle noted on February 20, 2004, that Anschutz also funds Morality in Media. As Media Matters previously noted, the Institute for American Values also receives funding from the conservative Bradley and Scaife foundations, as well as grants from the John M. Olin Foundation, another major financer of conservative organizations. Enough is Enough and Morality in Media have also received funding from the conservative Castle Rock Foundation.

Anschutz has also made significant financial contributions to Republicans. The Washington Post described Anschutz as "an active Republican donor" stating that "he, his companies and members of his family have given more than $500,000 in campaign contributions to GOP candidates and committees" since 1996. Variety noted in its October 4, 2004, edition that Anschutz has supported "a number of Republican political candidates, including John Ashcroft and Peter Coors."

Read the entire article. It's a taste of things to come.