religion

According to a CNN report, the esteemed Rev. Fred Phelps and his flock of easily deluded, religious simpletons are convinced that U.S. deaths in Iraq are due entirely to our tolerance of the homosexual lifestyle.

Members of this Topeka, Kansas "church" routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

I recently saw the summer blockbuster, Zeitgeist, The Movie. It's a harrowing thriller about a secret cabal of elite power brokers who allegedly orchestrated the World Wars (while funding both sides of the conflicts to reap obscene profits) in an effort to form a single global government; a New World Order.

Barring an elaborate hoax, this could be one of the biggest fish stories of recent memory. From the NYTimes:
Scientists have discovered fossils of a 375 million-year-old fish, a large scaly creature not seen before, that they say is a long-sought "missing link" in the evolution of some fishes from water to a life walking on four limbs on land. You have GOT to see the photo. Wacky.

My friend Mathew is a part-time photographer in the UK who wants to license his images of the Temple Church (mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code"—soon to be a major motion picture). If you want to read about it, check out his article Temple Church London and The Da Vinci Code. But even if you don't read his article, its ranking on Google will be higher just because I linked to it. No thanks are necessary. I'm just happy to help.

Oh, Tom. How did I not know you were a religious zealot? Now I can never again order one of your delicious, sugar-laden pizzas. No, seriously. I can't. Why? Because I don't knowingly support fanatically religious business owners of any faith. (That goes for you, too, Pete Coors.)

It has come to my attention that Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, is funding a Catholic community in Naples, Florida called "Ave Maria." The purpose of this hamlet is—as he puts it—to "Get more people into heaven." A nice sentiment, except that he means Catholic heaven. (You know, the only real heaven.)

Tom-town will have its own radio station, law center, and even a dating service to make sure its citizens are never accidentally exposed to other ways of thinking, or alternative (and potentially contradictory) points of view. The law center will be dedicated to helping make sure people outside of "Vatican South" also enjoy the benefits of submitting to an unquestionable theocratic authority and the joy of no longer thinking for themselves— whether they want it or not.

Honestly, if you want to live in a world isolated from the ugly realities around you, that's fine—after all, that's why I live in Northern California. But forcing your unproven beliefs on others is crossing a line in this country. The line between the religious freedom and religious fanaticism.

The good news: In Pennsylvania, "voters came down hard Tuesday on school board members who backed a statement on intelligent design..." Thank god.

The bad news: "Yesterday the Kansas Board of Education voted 6-to-4 to allow anti-Evolution statements to be provided to students...In a stunning move, the board literally redefined science to include...the metaphysical." Adaption like that sorta proves evolution, doesn't it?

And the wholly unexpected: Cardinal Paul Poupard from the Vatican said, "The faithful have the obligation to listen to that which secular modern science has to offer..." Wow. It's almost enough to reinstill my faith. Almost.

Found a great article over at Harpers.org, about "Christianity" in America, which points out that "Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves." That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea...which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. (Ed: It can actually be traced back even farther to Greek Mythology.) The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor."

And that: "Despite the Sixth Commandment, we are, of course, the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers."

Or that: "Despite Jesus' strong declarations against divorce, our marriages break up at a rate—just over half—that compares poorly...with, say, that of the godless Dutch, whose divorce rate is just over 37 percent."

Could it be that America's "Christian" identity is nothing more than lip service? Saints preserve us!