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Talk2Action talks back

Oct 9th, 2011 6:10 pm | By

More on Jim Wallis and Mark Pinsky, at Talk2Action, which was the object of much of their criticism/bullying.

It was bad enough when Mark I. Pinsky recently took to the op-ed page of USA Today to smear four Jewish writers who have had the temerity to write critically and well about dominionism and related matters — comparingtheir work to historic anti-Semitic smears including the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  Then Jim Wallis chimed in last week, accusing unnamed liberal writers of engaging in thought crimes against evangelicals.  His charges were as unsubstantiated as Pinsky’s, whose essay he praised and linked to.

Some of us who figured to be among the unnamed decided it was time to speak,

… Read the rest

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Opening the door

Oct 9th, 2011 11:35 am | By

It’s starting already.

Hundreds of people are expected to gather tonight on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard to declare themselves “without religion.” The move follows the recent District Court ruling granting author Yoram Kaniuk recognition as “without religion” by the Interior Ministry.

The meeting, to be held in the abandoned building on Rothschild Boulevard which has become an ad-hoc community center for protesters, is being organized on Facebook by Tel Aviv poet Oded Carmeli. So far, about 600 people have confirmed they will be attending.

Participants will be signing affidavits in the presence of attorneys, informing the Interior Ministry of their change of status to “without religion.”

Mazel tov!

 … Read the rest

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There’s probably no bus

Oct 9th, 2011 10:47 am | By

Oxford Christians tell Dawkins where to get off.

In 2009, atheists in London paid for 200 adverts on the city’s buses, declaring: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

Now Premier Christian Radio has paid for its own version on Oxford buses, after the distinguished evolutionary biologist turned down the chance to debate with Christian philosopher William Lane  Craig when he visits the city later in the month.

The new advert reads: “There’s probably no Dawkins. Now stop worrying and enjoy Oct 25th at the Sheldonian Theatre.”

The trouble with that as a witticism is that it isn’t true. It’s as if X taunts Y by saying “You flunked out of high school!” and Y … Read the rest

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Christian bus ad: “There’s probably no Dawkins” *

Oct 9th, 2011 | Filed by

Sophisticated.… Read the rest

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Message before suicide attack: forget secular education *

Oct 9th, 2011 | Filed by

The suicide bomber who killed more than 100 people near Somalia’s education ministry was a school dropout who said young people should wage jihad instead.… Read the rest

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Hundreds of Israelis to declare themselves ‘without religion’ *

Oct 9th, 2011 | Filed by

The move follows the recent District Court ruling granting author Yoram Kaniuk recognition as “without religion” by the Interior Ministry.… Read the rest

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Hitchens at Texas Freethought Convention *

Oct 9th, 2011 | Filed by

He was emphatic that though his “time” is rapidly approaching, he wouldn’t stop doing his best to shed light on the fraudulent claims made by religion.… Read the rest

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Seen today in Trafalgar Square

Oct 8th, 2011 5:27 pm | By

Terry Glavin reports that Peter Tatchell went to a stoppers’ rally in Trafalgar Square today.

Attaboy Peter.… Read the rest

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Libbruls unfair to evangelicals

Oct 8th, 2011 4:06 pm | By

Richard Bartholomew signs an open letter to Jim Wallis from writers about US religion and politics. The letter says

Dear Jim Wallis,

We are writing in response to your e-mail to the Sojourners list on September 29th, and your similar piece on The Huffington Post, in which you claim that “some liberal writers” — whom you do not name — are broad brushing evangelical Christians as “intellectually-flawed right-wing crazies with dangerous plans for the country.” You characterize unnamed writers — writers like us — as people who are “all too eager to discredit religion as part of their perennial habit and practice.” This charge is as unfair as it is unsubstantiated.

…

we are concerned that you have endorsed

… Read the rest

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Ratzinger at home

Oct 8th, 2011 9:45 am | By

The pope talked to the Bundestag a couple of weeks ago, and according to the Iona Institute, his remarks went down a treat. The II says they gave him a two-minute standing ovation, as if he’d sung an aria or acted Hamlet.

(Why, one wonders? German boy made good? Big famous holy guy in gleaming white outfit? Name recognition? Why?)

His talk was the usual bullshit – the Catholic church had a great deal to do with the wonderful flawless perfect morality we have today, even though the morality we have today is quite different from the morality we had when the Catholic church had real power and didn’t hesitate to use it, and even though the pope spends … Read the rest

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Funeral of Wangari Maathai in Uhuru National Park *

Oct 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Thousands of mourners lined the route.… Read the rest

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Kerala: Christian churches reward big families *

Oct 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Several Christian parishes in the Indian state of Kerala have begun offering incentives to couples who produce more children, officials say.… Read the rest

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Dawkins suggests schools should not teach nonsense *

Oct 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Such as “the world is 6,000 years old.” Just a thought.… Read the rest

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BMJ exchange on homeopathy *

Oct 8th, 2011 | Filed by

Sikorski v Ernst, the Nightingale Collaboration v Sikorski, Sikorski v Sense About Science, and much more.… Read the rest

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No bouquets are handed out to women alas

Oct 7th, 2011 6:24 pm | By

I learned of True Woman and Nancy Leigh DeMoss from Frank Schaeffer’s AlterNet article on Bachmann.

The irony was that Pride preached a dogmatic, stay-at-home, follow-your-man philosophy for other women while turning her lucrative homeschooling empire into a one-woman industry. So Pride may be added to the list of powerful women — like Michele Bachmann — who just love those “traditional roles” for other women. And Pride’s successor in the patriarchy movement, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, was also one of those do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do best-selling career women doing high-paid speaking gigs while encouraging other women to stay home and submit to their men.

Here is DeMoss at True Woman with a call to Biblical Womanhood. 

Due to the modern feminist revolution,

… Read the rest

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Beautiful Girlhood v. Courageous Boyhood *

Oct 7th, 2011 | Filed by

Boys are to remain “steadfast in their conviction” while girls are to guard against “anything that would rob them of purity.”… Read the rest

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An inspiration

Oct 7th, 2011 12:01 pm | By

Via Libby Anne -

Couple pleads not guilty in homicide of adopted daughter

According to court documents, the couple’s adopted daughter, Hana Williams, 13, was systematically starved, beaten, forced to use an outdoor toilet and
sometimes locked in a dark closet for days by the Williams.

Hana Williams was found dead in May – naked, face-down in the mud in her own backyard – after she had spent much of a cold, rainy day outside as a punishment, according to court documents.

Although she died of hypothermia, there were other contributing causes to her death, including severe malnutrition and chronic gastritis, doctors said.

The Williams had adopted Hana from Ethiopia in 2008 as a diseased little girl to begin a

… Read the rest

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Adopted child, 8, dies of exposure and malnutrition *

Oct 7th, 2011 | Filed by

A witness told investigators that the Williams got their ideas for the disciplinary measures from a book, “How to Train Up Your Child,” by Michael Pearl.… Read the rest

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We demonstrate a noble submission to authority

Oct 7th, 2011 11:30 am | By

Here’s a fun new thing to explore: True Woman.

It haz a manifesto.

We believe that the creation of humanity as male and female was a purposeful and magnificent part of God’s wise plan, and that men and women were designed to reflect the image of God in complementary and distinct ways.

…

We realize that we live in a culture that does not recognize God’s right to rule, does not accept Scripture as the pattern for life, and is experiencing the consequences of abandoning God’s design for men and women.

…

Scripture is God’s authoritative means of instructing us in His ways and it reveals His holy pattern for our womanhood, our character, our priorities, and our

… Read the rest

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Bishops running wild

Oct 6th, 2011 5:34 pm | By

The Iona Institute tells us that the US  Conference of Catholic Bishops has set up a Committee for Religious Liberty. That’s very funny, in a sick kind of way. Here’s why: Catholic bishops don’t really give two shits about religious liberty as such; they care only about religious liberty for them.

The Catholic church is not a Millian kind of organization. It’s not a liberal organization. It’s not dedicated to or interested in liberty. It’s a ferociously authoritarian hierarchical organization with a body of “teachings” that it does its best to impose on as many people as it can reach.

The Catholic church has nothing to do with ideas about liberty and freedom, autonomy and independence, self-fashioning and … Read the rest

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