21 September 2003
"Shouldn't you feed the lepers, Supply Side Jesus?"
"No, Thomas. That would just make them lazy."
You might enjoy Al Franken & Don Simpson's "Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus" today at Buzzflash.
And as long as we're showing you things to make you laugh & think, by way of the brilliant Whitehouse.org I happened to come across the exceedingly pious Landover Baptist Church. Have a gander.
On religious subjects that should be jokes but are all too real, I happened to find this information on Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments-statue-worshipping judge from Alabama who wasted state time and money (in a time when Alabama is facing a record budget crisis) simply to increase his political profile for what most assume is to be a future run for elected office. Seems he's quite consistently the theocrat.
In 2002-FEB, Moore wrote a separate concurring opinion in a case before the Alabama Supreme Court in which he blasted homosexuality on religious as well as legal grounds. The case involved a lesbian who sought custody of her three minor children. The court unanimously rejected her case. Moore wrote that homosexuality is "a sin [that] violates both natural and revealed law." He cited verses from the books of Genesis and Leviticus in the Bible. He called homosexuality "an evil disfavored under the law," "an inherent evil," a "detestable and an abominable sin," and "an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it." He suggested that the death penalty is an appropriate response to homosexual behavior. He wrote: "The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle." Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, responded: "It appears that Justice Moore is once again making his decisions on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, not the commands of the law,. Justice Moore would make a great official of the Inquisition, but he doesn’t belong on a state supreme court. I don’t know what to expect next from Moore. Perhaps a witch burning?"
This is a growing trend in this country. The Landover site, behind the satire, has it correct when they say a split is occurring in this country that will have devastating future consequences. The split is not Democratic vs. Republican or Conservative vs. Liberal, though. It's between those who think our society should follow secular law, i.e. the Constitution, and those who think we should follow whatever vague idea they think they can justify in the Bible.
Incidentally, from the Landover site, within a parody sermon is slipped a quite factually-true passage that is a rebuke to the idea we were founded on Biblical principles(the passage is, satirically of course, supposed to be written by a pastor glorying in the anti-Constitutional theocracy to come, which is the reason for the "Dead and Gone To Hell" part):
The Founding Fathers had little respect for state-sponsored religious indoctrination. President John Adams (Dead And Gone To Hell) signed the Treaty of Tripoli, stating that “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” In a 1756 letter, he wrote: “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” Thomas Jefferson (DAGTH) said, “Our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions, any more than our opinion in physics and geometry.” James Madison (DAGTH) claimed: “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise…the legal establishment of Christianity [results in] superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” Thomas Paine (DAGTH) rejected all denominations of Judeo-Christian faith, saying, “I disbelieve them all.” Ben Franklin (DAGTH) and Ethan Allen (DAGTH) were deists, believing the universe functions independently of any god, with Allen writing: “I am not Christian.”
And what do you know! A weak job market has driven armed forces recruitment up! How very convenient.
"No, Thomas. That would just make them lazy."
You might enjoy Al Franken & Don Simpson's "Gospel of Supply-Side Jesus" today at Buzzflash.
And as long as we're showing you things to make you laugh & think, by way of the brilliant Whitehouse.org I happened to come across the exceedingly pious Landover Baptist Church. Have a gander.
On religious subjects that should be jokes but are all too real, I happened to find this information on Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments-statue-worshipping judge from Alabama who wasted state time and money (in a time when Alabama is facing a record budget crisis) simply to increase his political profile for what most assume is to be a future run for elected office. Seems he's quite consistently the theocrat.
In 2002-FEB, Moore wrote a separate concurring opinion in a case before the Alabama Supreme Court in which he blasted homosexuality on religious as well as legal grounds. The case involved a lesbian who sought custody of her three minor children. The court unanimously rejected her case. Moore wrote that homosexuality is "a sin [that] violates both natural and revealed law." He cited verses from the books of Genesis and Leviticus in the Bible. He called homosexuality "an evil disfavored under the law," "an inherent evil," a "detestable and an abominable sin," and "an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it." He suggested that the death penalty is an appropriate response to homosexual behavior. He wrote: "The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle." Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, responded: "It appears that Justice Moore is once again making his decisions on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, not the commands of the law,. Justice Moore would make a great official of the Inquisition, but he doesn’t belong on a state supreme court. I don’t know what to expect next from Moore. Perhaps a witch burning?"
This is a growing trend in this country. The Landover site, behind the satire, has it correct when they say a split is occurring in this country that will have devastating future consequences. The split is not Democratic vs. Republican or Conservative vs. Liberal, though. It's between those who think our society should follow secular law, i.e. the Constitution, and those who think we should follow whatever vague idea they think they can justify in the Bible.
Incidentally, from the Landover site, within a parody sermon is slipped a quite factually-true passage that is a rebuke to the idea we were founded on Biblical principles(the passage is, satirically of course, supposed to be written by a pastor glorying in the anti-Constitutional theocracy to come, which is the reason for the "Dead and Gone To Hell" part):
The Founding Fathers had little respect for state-sponsored religious indoctrination. President John Adams (Dead And Gone To Hell) signed the Treaty of Tripoli, stating that “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” In a 1756 letter, he wrote: “This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.” Thomas Jefferson (DAGTH) said, “Our civil rights have no dependence on religious opinions, any more than our opinion in physics and geometry.” James Madison (DAGTH) claimed: “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise…the legal establishment of Christianity [results in] superstition, bigotry, and persecution.” Thomas Paine (DAGTH) rejected all denominations of Judeo-Christian faith, saying, “I disbelieve them all.” Ben Franklin (DAGTH) and Ethan Allen (DAGTH) were deists, believing the universe functions independently of any god, with Allen writing: “I am not Christian.”
And what do you know! A weak job market has driven armed forces recruitment up! How very convenient.
Labels: hate war, politics, religion, right wing
¶ September 21, 2003
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