LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

Chaplains Group Opposes Prayer Order
Guarantee on Using Jesus's Name Not Needed, It Says

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY exotic_princess)

Supposedly this is the first challenge of the Texas law mandating a moment of silence... not *strictly* dominionist but worth watching.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/3721919.html

David and Shannon Croft say in the complaint that one of their children was told by an elementary school teacher to keep quiet because the minute is a "time for prayer."

The complaint filed last week names Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, which the Croft's three children attend in the suburbs of Dallas.

David Croft, a 37-year-old computer programmer, said there is no secular reason for a moment of silence.

"This is just a ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school," he said. "Is there any study showing a moment of silence helps education?"

...

State lawmakers were aware of such debate when they wrote the Texas law, said Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a co-sponsor of the law. The measure designated the moment of silence as neutral time, despite arguments from some lawmakers that a verbal prayer should be included, Branch said.

Branch said that letting children pray in school makes them feel the school is not hostile toward their religion.

"I just wanted to create an opportunity for families who want their children to be able to pray at the beginning of the school day toward a higher being to be able to do so," Branch said.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY eiredrake)

Can someone explain the significance of swearing in when testifying before the senate? I realize that doesn't precisely fit into the realm of Dark_christian but this group contains a lot of well educated folks and I figure someone knows. I've been doing net searches but coming up with nothing definitive.

There reason I ask is that the Senate comittee heads that are investigating seem to be tossing that aside quite often lately. For example when the oil execs were hauled before the senate the chairmen refused to swear in the guys.

Are they trying to use this as a tactic to protect them somehow?

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY prismatic_jewel)

This is my first post here. A friend told me to check out this community so I did... and I thought that something I just posted in my lj would do well in this place.


( Rant Here )

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Here's a little story of what happens when a religious majority believes it is above the law, and how it treats minority faiths.

The story begins with an article in the Washington Post. Here's an excerpt:

Judge Upholds Prayer Limits in Ind. State House
Some in Both Parties Vow to Fight Ruling

CHICAGO, Dec. 31 -- In a spirited duel over prayer, members of the Indiana state House are at odds with a federal judge who ruled that the daily invocation appeals too often to Jesus Christ and a Christian god.

The "systematically sectarian" prayers, U.S. District Judge David F. Hamilton concluded, are barred by the Constitution, which forbids the government to show preference for any religious denomination. He ordered the House to avoid mentioning Christ in the formal benedictions.

As the House prepares to open its 2006 session on Wednesday, a number of politicians have vowed to defy Hamilton, whom they accuse of undermining a 188-year Indiana tradition and interfering in legislative branch affairs.

Terry Goodin, a Democrat who rejects Hamilton's order, is among at least two dozen House members who have asked to give Wednesday's prayer. He said he would "absolutely" speak Christ's name if given the chance.

"Really, who do you pray to? If you're offering up a prayer, you're praying to a deity. You don't offer prayers to just an open space," Goodin said. "I will give the same type of prayer that's been given for 100 years. I won't change my words because of someone in the judicial branch who tells me I must."

Hamilton expects House leaders, including Speaker Brian Bosma (R), who is appealing the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, to honor the injunction. If they do not, the judge said, he intends "to take appropriate steps to insure compliance."

So, the State House in Indiana persists on sectrian prayer. What drove the judge to rule like he did?

It was Clarence Brown's energetic rendition of "Just a Little Talk With Jesus" that prompted several legislators to decide enough was enough. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union soon filed suit in the name of four people -- a Quaker, a Methodist and two Catholics -- to stop what critics considered an increasingly sectarian prayer practice.

Brown, 51, is an evangelical Christian layman who works in an auto parts factory 70 miles south of Indianapolis. Invited to give a prayer to open the April 5 House session, Brown said he was thinking about the separation of church and state as he drove to the state Capitol.

He said he talked with God during the ride and decided to speak up for the man he considers his savior. "I wanted to share the word. That's what I'm supposed to do," Brown said. "I have to do what Jesus Christ says for me to do as a witness."

Brown's prayer included thanks to God "for our lord and savior Jesus Christ, who died that we might have the right to come together in love." When the prayer was finished, Bosma announced that Brown would "bless us with a song."

As Brown led the rollicking tune, some members and staffers clapped and sang along.

Several others left the chamber.

"It's a bad thing for a number of reasons," said Ken Falk, legal director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. "The simplest reason is this is the body that represents all of Indiana. If you're going to have legislative prayer, it should be inclusive of all, not exclusive."

That was the conclusion reached by Hamilton, an appointee of President Bill Clinton. In a 60-page ruling in November, he cited precedents from the U.S. Supreme Court and several lower courts in ruling that the "clearest command" of the Constitution's establishment clause is that "one religious denomination cannot be officially preferred over another."

Hamilton studied as many invocations as he could find from the 2005 legislative session and concluded that a substantial majority were "explicitly Christian in content." He said they represent "a clear endorsement of Christianity, sending the message to others that they are outsiders and the message to Christians that they are favored insiders."

Of 53 prayers, nine were delivered by lawmakers and 41 by clergy identified with Christian churches. A Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi each gave one prayer. A majority mentioned Christ.

On Feb. 28, for example, the prayer leader read from Paul's letter to the Colossians, saying, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."

Hamilton interpreted a March 28 prayer as a call to worldwide Christian conversion. [emphasis mine]

"We look forward to the day," the speaker said, "when all nations and all people of the earth will have the opportunity to hear and respond to messages of love of the Almighty God who has revealed himself in the saving power of Jesus Christ."

No other specific religious faith was invoked or endorsed by the speakers, Hamilton said. In contrast to the majority of the Christian prayers, Hamilton said, the imam's March 8 words were inclusive and were "not identifiable as distinctly Muslim."

So, the judge was correct in making his ruling. Now, here's the part where the story takes a very sinister and chilling turn. Writer dhonig at My Left Wing posted a story about a meeting with a delegation of Jewish rabbis with the Speaker of the Indiana House, Brian Bosma. Here's what happened:

Last Tuesday, the Indianapolis JCRC’s Jewish Lobby Day was held. Around 40 Jews from around the State of Indiana came to Indianapolis to lobby our state senators and representatives on a number of issues.

The day ended with a private meeting with Speaker of the House Bosma meeting our group in the beautiful House chambers. We asked questions about full day kindergarten, about the clinics, and a young member of the delegation asked about providing sexuality education in public schools that is more than abstinence based. He responded to everything we asked. Sometimes we liked what he said and sometimes we didn’t. Speaker Bosma wondered why we hadn’t discussed the controversy surrounding the issue of prayer in House chambers. He told us his version of what happened and what he believes, and a passionate exchange took place. The end of this exchange left us, the Jewish delegation, in shock. Speaker Bosma, defending the prayer issue, asked, “How many Jews are there in Indiana? About 2%? There are at least 80% Christians in Indiana.” The implication of this statement was that our minority community doesn’t and shouldn’t have any say or any voice. It is about the majority and what the majority wants. The jaws of the delegation dropped to the floor. We were speechless. Everything we believed about this country had just been trampled. Gone was the belief of the constitutional protection of minorities. Gone was not feeling marginalized. Gone was the belief we were not strangers in this country. I am sure that Speaker Bosma is a fine man, but in that moment, for the first time in my life as a citizen of this country, I was scared. It is what I now call the 2% solution (and Jews are much less than 2% of this state) that if you are only 2% don’t even bother to speak up as the “Tyranny of the majority” will prevail.

I am sorry to bring such a depressing message as we prepare for Shabbat, but it needs to be said and addressed. I have been reminded about why we need to be vigilant. So I come to you on this Friday, February 17, 2006, to ask you to use this Shabbat to think about joining me and others at times to raise our voices. We might not agree on all the issues, but we agree that as Jewish residents of this State we should have a voice. 2% or less shouldn’t matter. It is not about the majority. It is about us.

As you light your Shabbat candles this evening, light one for this great nation that has allowed us to grow and prosper and worship as Jews without restrictions. Light the other as beacon to our elected officials who if they follow the light will understand that leadership comes with responsibility to all, to be inclusive of all, and to help those who need the most help.

Shabbat Shalom

It might be time to remind folks reading this that the Christocrats are less than 2% of the total Christian population, but they have managed to infiltrate the seats of power in the various levels of government, and Bosma speaks and believes as they all do. This tiny minority of Christianity can be shown the door and run out of power if we choose to do so. It isn't only the Jewish writer who should be afraid of this arrogant attitude of the Christocrats- we should all be afraid. They will make us all strangers if they succeed in their coup. It won't just be the Jews, but Pagans, Muslims, and non-conforming Christians who will suffer at their hands. We must use our anger and fear to spark a wave of outrage and desire to throw these people out of their offices when election day comes. We should remind them that it is they who are the minority, and that the gloves are off, and we know what their game is.

Feel free to repost this far and wide. This needs to be a rallying cry for the sake of our country. The Jewish people are being the canaries, along with the gay community. When they fall silent, who will be next?

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 squidflakes)



Apparently there is some vast coinspiracy to oppress and persucute Christians all across America. That would definately explain all the churches that have been raided by the police, all the anti-Christian laws that have been passed lately, and the President himself getting on TV and proclaiming that Christians are somehow less than people.. under men is specifically what he said.

Oh, wait, I'm sorry, none of that is happening. Christian Underground, however, seems to be living in some strange alternate timeline where their religion is under attack.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY whumpdotcom)

Recently spammed by an outfit calling themselves “Safe Ministries,” advertising materials based on “Scripture saturation.”

No idea what that is, but it fired off a whole bank of alarms.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY evil_genius)

Answer a call to personally fast once a month for President Bush.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

The burrows go on forever! Just when you think you have a connection clarified, on it goes. I don't know where this tunnel will end, but I will post things as I uncover them.

My starting plan was to help dogemperor with the Big NOLA list. I was suspicious of a local national/international relief organization - Northwest Medical Teams.
I became suspicious when they attended a Full Gospel Business Men "Mayors Prayer Breakfast" AFTER they had been informed that FGBMFI went ON THE RECORD last year not allowing a Muslim Iman to lead a prayer. FGBMFI "interfaith cover" was blown.
I was suprised when NW Medical Teams attended the event even with the knowledge, so I made a note to dig deeper.

Stories about the Prayer Breakfast

http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/chuck_currie/2004/04/prayer_breakfas.html
http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2005/09/bigots-at-it-again-with-exclusionary.html

When digging stuff up a number of names surfaced. For those of you who are bona fide researchers I am sure bells will ring: Greg Feste, Malachai Foundation, Council on National Policy, Morning Star International, Champions for Christ, Every Nation. Ultimately...that history was way too convoluted for me to follow and I decided it was not relevant to NW Med Teams per se. I just wanted folks to know as you dig, things come up.

ENTER: Pastors Resource Council, stated to be organized by Tony Perkins of the Louisiana Family Foundation. Names: Lee Dominique and Tony Perkins
http://www.bethany.com/katrina-relief.php

The Pastors Resource Council has a Compassion Fund, on the bottom of their page, they are copyrighted by Chest of Joash.
http://www.prccompassion.org/aboutus/default.aspx

Chest of Joash is registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State:
http://www.sec.state.la.us/cgibin?rqstyp=crpdtl&rqsdta=36011304X
Names associated with Chest of Joash:
Riley Hagen, S.Chris Herndon, W.Lee Dominique (oh, snap!)
PLUS its mailing address is SUGAR LAND TEXAS.

On the PRCCompassion site, there is a list of their "Partners"
On this list is the "Northwest Medical Teams, President Bas Vanderzalm"
http://www.prcompassion.org/partners/default.aspx

Information on Bas Vanderzalm, from NW Medical Leadership page
Teamshttp://www.nwmedicalteams.org/who_we_are/our_leadership.html

Note: Previous Jobs of Bas Vanderzalm:
Salvation Army Harbor Light Center Boston AND World Relief
(Both of which are on Dogemperor's Big NOLA list as Bad Guys)

Other Information:
http://www.aerdo.org/members/organizations/northwest_medical_teams.html

SO, I leave this in your able hands. Where does NW Medical Teams fit on the NOLA list? This rabbit hole goes deeper...more to come

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Half the fun of reading diaries in "Daily Kos" is reading the replies to them. In the diary I posted below, there were some very interesting replies. One of them quoted an unnamed retired Ohio Evangelical pastor, who did not mince words about the real intent of the "Political Christians" (dominionists). Here's what he had to say:

"God's plan [trying to win peoples' minds and hearts through love, respect, prayer, moral suasion, etc.] may appear to be weak and ineffectual to the 'movers and shakers' among this generation of church leaders. Things aren't moving fast enough for them.

"And so they take power into their own hands. They think it is God's power, but it turns out to be Satan's power. They don't remember when the Political Christians did gain enough power a century ago to pass an amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. This is an example of the tyranny of the majority. Did it work?

[Not only did it not work, but Prohibition created the means for many gangsters and other outlaws to flourish and thrive. The government had to repeal Prohibition in order to regain control over the revenue they were losing! -ed]

"Worldly politics, as it is practiced by the Republican and Democratic Parties, is always in Satan's realm. The political parties are completely without morals. Their only goal is winning the election. They will tell lies in order to win an election...One would hope that when a group of Christians joins forces with a political party, that the Christians would have a wholesome moral influence upon politics.

"What happened? The Religious Right produced some of the most scurrilous campaign literature I have ever seen [against John Kerry]. Rather than raising the level of moral discourse, these Christians willingly dragged themselves down below the level of respectability. Non-political Christians are appalled at how low the Political Christians stooped in order to 'win' the election. Winning is the goal, not kindness, respect for the opponent, or other Christian and democratic virtues. Win the election but lose your soul.

"Christians who enter the realm of partisan politics (even in sending emails) ought to know that they are entering Satan's realm. They need to be wary, lest the lust for power ovewhelms them. We Christians need to make our voice heard and realize at the same time that that voice will be compromised. There is no possibility of a pure Christian party or voice. Our only hope is that somehow God can use our voice and our moral actions to bend the society in constructive directions. At best we are a respected voice within society. We will never be the voice which controls society. Christian control of the government is not God's plan."

I hope to find out the name of this pastor and the source of his quote. It was not indicated in the original post. If any here know where this came from, I'd be happy to find out.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY thornewilder)

In the continuing research into potentially dominionist groups...The restoration movement (Stone Campbell) pops into view.

Neophyte Question of the Day:
In reading about this group, specifically in association to the Church of Christ, which I have heard has strong dominionist leanings, I wonder how does this fit - or does it - into the continuum that includes AoG and pente?
Also I have seen a distinction between pente and penta - costal in relation to the trinity. Was this a dream? (lately I've been having horrific dreams)

From Wikipedia:

Original Doctrinal beliefs of Stone-Campbell Movement

"Christianity should not be divided, Christ intended the creation of one church.
Creeds divide, but Christians should be able to find agreement by standing on the Bible itself (from which all creeds are human expansions or constrictions) instead of on the opinions of men about the Bible.
Ecclesiastical traditions divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by following the practice (as best as it can be determined) of the early church.
Names of human origin divide, but Christians should be able to find common ground by using biblical names for the church (i.e., "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ" as opposed to "Methodist" or "Lutheran", etc.). It is in this vein that conservative members of the Churches of Christ object to the phrase "Stone-Campbell Movement"..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Restoration_Movement
then it moves on to the bell and whistle section

"Another schism which ultimately split the Churches of Christ again, was the Crossroads Movement which started in the 1960s and 1970s. The Crossroads Movement initially started as a somewhat radical, although largely accepted, movement within some institutional churches. Under the Crossroads Movement, each church was divided into "Prayer Cells". Each Cell had a "Prayer Brother" who was assigned newer members in the church. Within each prayer cell the members would confess their sins, in "Soul Talks", and offer support. Each cell's brother would then form Prayer Cells with other Prayer Brothers in a pyramid organization. The Crossroads Movement started at the 14th Street Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, which became known as "Crossroads Church of Christ", an incubator for the future International Churches of Christ. The Crossroads Movement spread across Churches of Christ as a means to revitalize smaller churches and evangelize college campuses. This movement appears to be directly related to the Shepherding Movement that was gaining influence in the wider Evangelical world at the time..."

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Wren's Nest article talks about a creepy practice of some "See You At The Flagpole" Christians:

United by their love for Christ and their concern for a spiritually broken world, students Wednesday met at local schools for the annual "See You at the Pole" event.

Nearly 150 students gathered early in the morning at the Edmond North High School yard where they prayed for their school, for their community, for President Bush and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

They also prayed for non-Christian students in their school and wrote their names down on paper.

In a solemn, symbolic offering, they nailed the pieces of paper to a wooden cross, set up beside the flag pole.

But this isn't the only type of negaitve prayer magic (and yes, it is a form of harmful, binding magic) that these True Believers ™ are encouraged to practice. On this SYATP site, believers are encouraged to pray over photographs in their yearbook:

Yearbook praying:

This is a great strategy for getting your church involved in praying for Christian and non-Christian students at your school. See if you can purchase an extra yearbook from last year or plan ahead and by an extra one this year. Cut the pictures out in rows that include five to seven students and have them ready for people at your church to pick up. Ask them to pick up a strip of pictures and commit to pray for each student once a week. They don’t even have to know the student to pray for them. The key is to have them pray that if the student is a Christian, that God would use them to make an impact on their campus that day. That if they are not a Christian, that they would give their hearts to Christ. Can you imagine the impact that would happen if every student on your campus were prayed for once a week for the entire year? Another option, in case you can’t get a yearbook is to use a school directory or a list of students at your school. This should be a public list that’s available to anyone so you won’t be invading anybody’s privacy. If your school is big, involve other churches in this prayer effort and watch what God can do when His people pray.

This is not benevolent prayer- not by a long shot. The impact and intent of these bindings and prayers is to forcibly convert people to their flavor of faith by the application of binding or image magic- either by 'nailing' them, or by 'breaking' them. Both are extremely negative practices (not to mention being prohibited in their very own Scriptures), and should be 'outed' for the genuine 'black' kind of magic (harming others through applied prayer) that is truly is. Were Pagans or other faiths permitted to practice such things on school grounds, I can guarantee you that the Powers That Be would not see them as beneficial at all. Sauce for the goose. This practice needs to be outed for the hypocracy it truly is.

Another link: Should I 'See you at the pole?'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

'An issue raised by the Feds that Kenyon found distasteful: an instruction that chaplains bless recovered bodies. A company source said the Feds are insisting on this, and the first chaplains are supposed to go out this week. Asked if that was mixing church and state, a FEMA spokeswoman responded: "A prayer is not necessarily religious. Everybody prays."'

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Religious Right Watch reports on exclusivist prayer at public committee meetings:

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is running a story concerning an American Civil Liberties Union suit in filed in federal court in Atlanta, Thursday that--according to the article--seeks to "end prayer that references one religion over another during Cobb [County] commission and planning commission meetings."

The prayers are said by the commissioners themselves, invoke Jesus, and are voluntary.

This is a tricky issue insofar as the debate about sectarian prayer in civic contexts is not necessarily a debate about the Christian Right or dominionism. Issues of local culture and simple tradition are involved often, and individuals uttering such prayers are not always Christians with effectively Christian supremacist or dominionist worldviews, goals, or intentions.

Nonetheless, the dominionism and public prayer debates are never mutually exclusive, either. Once a governmental proceeding includes public prayer, voluntary or not, and especially if the prayer is sectarian--that is, aligned with a specific religion--then religion and the state have become mixed, and a host of questions arise: should we allow prayers from other religions? if so, which ones--Islam, Wicca, Mormon, Jewish? if not, then are we being discriminatory? what if no one's complained yet? what if someone does later? what about a moment of silence? what about a prayer that strives (though it will fail in this goal) to be applicable to all religions? what about a deistic prayer (besides, no Hindus live in the area...right?), etc., etc., etc.

Shockingly often what is lost in all of those questions is the simple fact that all potential substantive controversy could be done away with if the prayer simply didn't occur.

No state prayer; no problems. Period. It's that simple.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY kalibex)

"Aiona: God's love can transform Hawai'i"

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

I suppose that I should insert a bit of clarity here for our many new readers. I think that the 'no Bush bashing' rule has become a bit of a stumbling block and perhaps the source of some misunderstandings. Let's correct our course a bit, shall we?

It is impossible to discuss Christian extremists (or what Fredrick Clarkson has called 'religious supermacists') without politics (and Bush) leaching into the discussion. In fact, if it weren't for the marriage between the Religious Right and the Republican Party, I seriously doubt that this community would have much to discuss. It is clear that the purpose of this collision between religion and politics is to chip away at the foundation of our government- like termites chewing away at a wooden house, until it collapses from being gutted from within.

Things like chipping away at the Establishment Clause (separation of church and state) by creating Faith Based initiatives, attacking 'activist judges', that do not kowtow to the desires of the Dominionists to have Biblical based laws, the slow corrosion of our educational systems with the one-two punch of No Child Left Behind and the ID versus Actual Science debate, and the attacks on our social security, environment, and even our pocketbooks with the tax cuts for the rich being shifted to a bigger burden for the vanishing middle class to pay... it all ties together. Every one of these, and many more seeming unrelated little things are termites eating away at this country and our constitution.

The destruction of our country is being guided by End-times-addled people who want to dominate, and then destroy our world to hasten Christ's return. They have said this themselves, if you follow the links to the various sites we have listed.

Where does Bush stand in all this? He is the figurehead of the religious supermacists, as well as the 'divinely ordained and guided' director of all this slow destruction. That "Bush Fish" is just a blatant example of what has been brewing for years under the surface- within the ranks of the Religious right- and out of the media mainstream: that the religious supermacists truly believe that the President is merely one step away from being a divinely ordained 'king' of some new Crusade- once they get those messy judges and the Constitution out of the way. They truly believe this. Heck, they even have "Presidential Prayer Team" that devotes itself full time to praying for the President. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it is the first time that such a thing has been so blatantly public or so blatantly one-sided.

Yes, I know that sometimes this sounds like foil-hattery. I wish it was. It isn't. People are blind to all the little holes being chewed in our country's carefully crafted foundation, and they poo-poo the folks like me who have been following this stuff for decades, seeing the patterns and the grass roots and the monies being built up, looking at their parallel universe which has been, until recently, well hidden from the mainstream.

It is OK to criticize this administration. It is still legal (barely) to do so. But we must also avoid stepping over the line from criticism to outright bashing. The line can sometimes be difficult to see, but like someone said about obscenity, we know it when we see it. This community has grown exponentially in the last few months, and we are fine tuning our moderation guidelines. So, please bear with us. We'll find a proper and steady course, and go from there.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This sounds like some sort of hoax, but it's for real.

Yesterday, on the National Day of Prayer, we learned that the East Waynesville Baptist Church in North Carolina essentially kicked out its Democratic members. Nine members were "excommunicated" and 40 other members of the 405 member church resigned in protest.

Lots of interesting action items, dialogue, and the original post with lots(!) of interesting comments, too.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Jeff Sharlet, who spoke at the Religious Right conference this past weekend, and who wrote "Soldiers of Christ, Inside America's Most Powerful Megachurch" in the May issue (on the stands now!) of Harper's Magazine, is interviewed by Kathleen Dunn on Wisconsin Public Radio. It's the 5/5 interview, and you'll need Real Player to listen to it.

Definitely worth your time. If you purchase the magazine, it has pictures of the fantastic paintings at the World Prayer Center that Sharlett describes, including the one with the two sexy angels pouring honey all over this guy, and the fierce warrior angel.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

This Catholic prayer is one that I believe reflects the Beatudes of Christ. I see it as a counterpoint to all the fear and hate being sown by the Dominionists.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.