Archive for September, 2007

Dismayed by what they see as the likelihood that pro-choice Rudy Giuliani might have the GOP presidential nomination in the bag, this New York Times article hints that such prominent Christian conservative leaders as James Dobson and Tony Perkins might consider running a third party candidate. Which would rock, because while their candidate would never have any appeal on his own to reach beyond the wingnut base whose ideas about being a “values voter” stop at gay marriage and abortion, it might still be enough to split the conservative vote and get the Repugs out of the White House next November. Not that I have huge love for Hillary, but Christ, a dead wombat with a popsicle stick up its ass would be better in the Oval Office than Bush, and despite the fact all the Republican candidates are distancing themselves from him, I doubt that another GOP president would do much to steer our nation away from the course of folly this administration has led us down. So I say “Bring it!” I can’t wait to see exactly who Dobson and Co. think is ideal presidential material. Hey, I heard that madman Alan Keyes has thrown his propeller beanie into the ring! Maybe Dobson ought to look him up.

A Load of Bright is hosting the latest installment of the Carnival of the Godless, and Tobe38 has made my takedown of John Terry the headliner, calling it an “absolute tour de force.” I blush humbly. Many thanks to Tobe, and for the rest of you, getcher asses over there for some great godless reading. I’ll be busy much of today doing same.

The Northwest Arkansas News site has published one good letter to the editor excoriating John Terry for his vituperative anti-atheist rant posted last Saturday. (And to date, none supporting him.) We’ll see if Terry has the stones to respond. I suspect that, like most fundie bigot morons, he’ll respond to being called out on the carpet by hiding under his pulpit and babbling prayers for protection to his magic sky fairy. Scanning some earlier op-eds from Terry, it comes as no surprise that the cretin is also a global-warming denier. In a piece posted July 28, which begins, amusingly enough, with, “I am not a scientist. In fact, the science courses I had to take in my general education bloc as an undergraduate were taken under duress…. I just never knew what it was all about,” (well, knock me over with a feather!), Terry still feels confident enough to conclude: …I firmly believe that Almighty God is in charge of the universe, and that He will not let man destroy it…. It is wrong for a man like Al Gore, a pseudo-scientist at best, to fool the world into believing that man is on track to destroy what God made — and he is making millions doing it. It is hoped that he will be understood by thinking people before he begins to destroy our economy. Well, Gore is understood by thinking people — among whose ranks Terry can only dream of inclusion — and they’ve decided he’s right. As Terry already admits he’s a non-scientist who floundered cluelessly through every science course he was forced to take in school, what, other than his 2000-year old book of bedtime stories, does he imagine qualifies him to judge anyone as a “pseudo-scientist”? In point of fact, scientific consensus is firmly behind the facts Gore revealed in his film. So, given that the linked report was in all likelihood put together by people who, unlike Terry, did not stumble like a musk ox with Downs Syndrome through...
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Via Debunking Christianity, I read of the latest poll by Christian research organization The Barna Group, which shows that American youth in the 16-29 age bracket currently have the lowest opinion of Christianity than that group has ever had in previous generations. The study shows that 16- to 29-year-olds exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade, many of the Barna measures of the Christian image have shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people. For instance, a decade ago the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society. Currently, however, just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a “good impression” of Christianity. Rock on! Now we just need to get those kids their copies of Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, and George H. Smith. Can it get any better? It can. One of the groups hit hardest by the criticism is evangelicals. Such believers have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture. However, those negative views are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians. The new study shows that only 3% of 16 – to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals…. 91% of the nation’s evangelicals believe that “Americans are becoming more hostile and negative toward Christianity.” Among senior pastors, half contend that “ministry is more difficult than ever before because people are increasingly hostile and negative toward Christianity.” I guess that, to a well-educated and intellectually curious young population, ancient superstitions that express hostility to science and promote hatred of “undesirables” like gays, and back their demands for compliance...
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I’m a big fan of Ruben Bolling’s comic, Tom the Dancing Bug. Periodically he’ll do an episode of “God-Man,” in which The Almighty is portrayed as a comic book hero. This one was an especially good shot. (Click on the image for the original location; you may have to view a short ad first.)