“James Van Praagh and Allison DuBois have turned the huckster art of ‘cold reading’ into a multi-million-dollar industry.”… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Patriarchy, when it’s done right
Aug 27th, 2011 3:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere was a large and interesting conflict between Doug Phillips of Vision Forum and Boerne Christian Assembly (a small San Antonio church where he was pastor) and a parishioner named Jennifer Epstein, a conflict that was all about submission and asymmetrical rules. The condensed version is that Jennifer Epstein’s husband Mark had problems with anger and Phillips simply kept telling her to be more and more and more submissive; she tried to argue her case, and Phillips ended up throwing both of them and their children out of the church.
Epstein met her husband when both were in the military.
… Read the restShe’d thrived under military discipline, memorizing long lists of rules and regulations, willing to submit to such authority, she says,
Bomb Attack in Nigeria: Islamists Continue to Waste Human Lives
Aug 27th, 2011 | By Leo IgweYesterday, Islamic terrorists struck again. They reportedly exploded a bomb at the UN House in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The blast which shattered some parts of the building killed at least 18 people and injured many others. A local Islamist group, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Boko Haram is said to have links with al Qaeda and Al Shabab in Somalia. It reportedly recruits militants from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and other African countries.
Boko Haram is waging a violent campaign for the strict implementation of sharia. Sharia is already in force in 12 states in Northern Nigeria. In 2000, politicians in Muslim-majority states foisted the Islamic law on citizens in these states in violation of the … Read the rest
“Christians can’t be egalitarians.”
Aug 27th, 2011 11:58 am | By Ophelia BensonIt’s helpful that they come right out and say it.
Narrated by Amy Gunn [wife of Colin, one of the brothers Gunn], Monstrous Regiment argues that “Christians can’t be egalitarians. We believe in hierarchy and inherent authority.”
Oh. Right. Thanks for spelling it out. That’s why we hate and fear you. We think that belief is evil.… Read the rest
The holy cinema
Aug 27th, 2011 11:30 am | By Ophelia BensonMeet the Gunn brothers. They make exciting Christian documentary movies that win awards from organizations that give awards to Christian movies.
They made Shaky Town, which is about the persecution of Christians by the evil gayz in San Francisco.
You’ll hear testimonies from Christian Heroes involved in a front-line battle against immorality in the so-called“tolerant” city. You’ll also see real video footage of Christian churches in San Francisco being attacked by violent groups of homosexuals. So be warned, this movie is not for the faint-hearted!
And they made The Monstrous Regiment of Women, which you can guess what it’s about (hello John Knox!). The page is super super super scary though, so be warned – it includes … Read the rest
Laurent Laveder
Aug 27th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe guy who did those amazing moon photos.… Read the rest
Never heard that before
Aug 27th, 2011 10:29 am | By Ophelia BensonHow exciting: a new fresh original unexpected take on theNewAtheism. (Illustrated, I have to add, by a staggeringly banal sculpture called “the Hand of God” which is…a big hand, with a Man perched on it. Wo!!!!!!! Mind-blowing, huh?)
It’s James Wood who has the excitingly new fresh original unexpected take. He breakes the mold in the very first sentence.
In the last 10 years or so, the rise of American evangelicalism and the menace of Islamist fundamentalism, along with developments in physics and in theories of evolution and cosmogony, have encouraged a certain style of aggressive, often strident atheistic critique.
And everything that follows is equally challenging and paradigm-exploding.
… Read the restI can’t be the only reader who finds himself in
“Housewives, shut up”
Aug 27th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStudy finds boys think talking about problems is unhelpful; media report this as girls talk too much. Brilliant.… Read the rest
James Wood on “the New Atheism”
Aug 27th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAggressive, strident, simplistic, Terry Eagleton, practice, Wittgenstein, literalism, parasitic, militant, warfare, polemic, metaphor.… Read the rest
Hitchens on Libya
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt was particularly satisfying to see the use as real space of areas that had been reserved for that special kind of degradation – the rally for The Leader. … Read the rest
The wit and wisdom of Simon Jenkins
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen protecting civilians from crimes against humanity shades into the issue of removing the regime responsible, it arguably is our business.… Read the rest
Boko Haram says it bombed UN building in Abuja
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe car bomb killed at least 18 people. Boko Haram is fighting for the establishment of Sharia in Nigeria… Read the rest
As a living sacrifice
Aug 26th, 2011 3:25 pm | By Ophelia BensonA wives-submit type explained to Kathryn Joyce.
“Man is ultimately responsible, when he stands up before God in heaven, for how he ran and managed his family. We women are responsible for how we were as helpmeets. We’re not supposed to be wearing the pants to the elbows, like a lot of women do. We’re equally intelligent and capable of doing the things theat men do, but that doesn’t mean we have to or that we should.” This is a common rejoinder of biblical womanhood advocates…they acknowledge women’s equal capacity, but they suggest that women lay their abilities aside with their pride as a living sacrifice fit for their Savior. [Quiverfull p 71]
But why? That’s what I want … Read the rest
Atos explains the threats to CarerWatch
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt was a five-month-old link on the CarerWatch forum.… Read the rest
Christian taqqiya
Aug 26th, 2011 12:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonFrank Schaeffer points out that Michele Bachmann is not telling the truth about whether or not she submits to her husband. He knows what he’s talking about, too: his father was one of the sources of the anti-feminist Dominionist movement.
… Read the restBachmann understands just how extreme her part of the evangelical movement is. She also understands that a certain amount of godly lying will be needed to mask that. She understood that the question she was asked the other day was about a biblical teaching that is misogynistic to the core and advocates total submission of a wife to a husband. It is teaching she’s signed on to long ago.
The people, churches and groups that shaped Bachmann’s thinking are far
Frank Schaeffer on Michele Bachmann
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe knows she signed up to a biblical teaching that is misogynistic to the core, and that she has to hide that fact.… Read the rest
Kathryn Joyce on biblical battered wife syndrome
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAccording to Rick Warren’s Saddleback church, divorce is permitted only in cases of adultery or abandonment, and never for abuse. … Read the rest
Lesbian fired from son’s Boy Scout troop
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe told the scoutmaster her partner was a woman; no problem; but then a Christian zealot found out and pitched a fit.… Read the rest
Norwegian imam: behead those who don’t fast
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonImprison those who don’t pray 5 times a day. This guy wants to open a school.… Read the rest
Shahbaz Taseer kidnapped in Lahore
Aug 26th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHis father, Salman Taseer, was murdered by an Islamist bodyguard last December.… Read the rest