God’s Almighty Health Care Workers.

pma

You’ve probably heard of the credentials M.D. and R.N., and maybe N.P. The people using those letters are doctors, registered nurses and nurse practitioners. But what about PSC.D or D.PSc? Those letters refer to someone who practices pastoral medicine — or “Bible-based” health care.

It’s a relatively new title being used by some alternative health practitioners. The Texas-based Pastoral Medical Association gives out “pastoral provider licenses” in all 50 states and 30 countries. Some providers call themselves doctors of pastoral medicine. But these licenses are not medical degrees. That has watchdog organizations concerned that some patients may not understand what this certification really means.

Thankfully, I have not run across this, and hadn’t heard of anyone with a PSC.D or D.PSc. They’d need heaven’s help if I ever do run into someone sporting a god badge. Healthcare is difficult enough without this depth of bullshit.

The good folks at the Pastoral Medical Association were too busy doing God’s work to have a deep discussion with those aggressively atheist elitists at NPR, only providing a statement “explaining it was founded by a group of Christians concerned with the increase in chronic illness. The association says it seeks to protect ‘the Almighty’s Health Care workers.'”

Lo, the association’s website (“optimized for Firefox”) is a wonder to behold. It comes complete with a constitution, which begins:

We of this mighty western Republic have to grapple with the dangers that spring from popular self-government tried on a scale incomparably vaster than ever before in the history of mankind, and from an abounding material prosperity greater also than anything which the world has hitherto seen.

[…]

So, how many members does the Pastoral Medical Association have? Screw you, that’s how many. According to the site’s awesome FAQ section, “policy prevents the PMA from releasing exact membership numbers, however we can affirm that the PMA family is many many thousands, growing at an average rate of over 3,000 new members monthly.” At that rate, it’s only a matter of time before we’re all members.

And in case you’re wondering if a PMA license is “recognized,” the answer is a resounding yes. See, “because of the nature of PMA license it has a very solid legal basis in all U.S. states and is also respected in a large number of other countries. The PMA is a well organized private ecclesiastical association operating in according with U.S. Constitutional provisions and overwhelming Supreme Court precedence.”

That’s good enough for us. The next time we feel a cold coming on, or lupus, we’ll eschew science and reach for the PMA directory and our comprehensive wellness quart.

Via Houston Press and NPR.

A Keurig Machine for Weed

Canna

… Will someone invent a goddamned Keurig machine for smoking pot?

Andy Kush at Gawker has something to say about it:

Besides sounding like a pretty boring way to get stoned, a pod-based delivery system for weed would seem to carry all the same problems as a pod-based delivery system for coffee: overpriced product, non-biodegradable materials, tons and tons of extra waste. If the similarities between CannaKorp and Keurig are really all they’re cracked up to be, there will also be the problem of pot that tastes like microwaved cardboard. Stoners’ distrust of corporate powers and embrace of the environment is only matched by our love of convenience. We can only hope the tree-hugger side wins out in the end.

I’ve never thought much of Keurig machines, and I don’t think much of this incarnation, either. I guess you could say I’m old fashioned when it comes to weed. Not that I smoke it or anything, no, not at all. After all, as a pain patient, I’m subjected to drug tests these days.

University of Miami Establishes Chair for Study of Atheism.

Louis Appignani, a retired businessman, endowed a chair “for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics.” Credit Max Reed for The New York Times.

Louis Appignani, a retired businessman, endowed a chair “for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics.” Credit Max Reed for The New York Times.

With an increasing number of Americans leaving religion behind, the University of Miami received a donation in late April from a wealthy atheist to endow what it says is the nation’s first academic chair “for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics.”

The chair has been established after years of discussion with a $2.2 million donation from Louis J. Appignani, a retired businessman and former president and chairman of the modeling school Barbizon International, who has given grants to many humanist and secular causes — though this is his largest so far. The university, which has not yet publicly announced the new chair, will appoint a committee of faculty members to conduct a search for a scholar to fill the position.

“I’m trying to eliminate discrimination against atheists,” said Mr. Appignani, who is 83 and lives in Florida. “So this is a step in that direction, to make atheism legitimate.”

Religion departments and professors of religious studies are a standard feature at most colleges and universities, many originally founded by ministers and churches. The study of atheism and secularism is only now starting to emerge as an accepted academic field, scholars say, with its own journal, conferences, course offerings and, now, an endowed chair.

The Full Story is Here.

Magnificent Textile Trees

Lesley

© Lesley Richmond.

Absolutely gorgeous textile trees, forests, and leaves by Lesley Richmond, using the Devoré technique. From an interview:

I take photographs of trees, concentrating on their branch structure and transfer these images on to a silk screen. The image is then printed with a heat reactive base on a silk/cotton mix fabric. This is heated and the reactive base expands and becomes dimensional. The cellulose fibers are then eliminated with a mild acid (devore). This leaves just the image and the silk thread background. The structures are then stiffened and painted with pigments and metal patinas.

I work alone in the studio in my house, with occasional assistance from a former student to assemble my large pieces.

More of Lesley’s work can be seen here.

No Religion on the Rise in England and Wales.

A near-empty church. Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy.

A near-empty church. Photograph: Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy.

The number of people who say they have no religion is rapidly escalating and significantly outweighs the Christian population in England and Wales, according to new analysis.

The proportion of the population who identify as having no religion – referred to as “nones” – reached 48.5% in 2014, almost double the figure of 25% in the 2011 census. Those who define themselves as Christian – Anglicans, Catholics and other denominations – made up 43.8% of the population.

“The striking thing is the clear sense of the growth of ‘no religion’ as a proportion of the population,” said Stephen Bullivant, senior lecturer in theology and ethics at St Mary’s Catholic University in Twickenham, who analysed data collected through British Social Attitudes surveys over three decades.

“The main driver is people who were brought up with some religion now saying they have no religion. What we’re seeing is an acceleration in the numbers of people not only not practising their faith on a regular basis, but not even ticking the box. The reason for that is the big question in the sociology of religion.”

[…]

The new analysis will fuel concern among Christian leaders about growing indifference to organised religion. This year the Church of England said it expected attendance to continue to fall for another 30 years as its congregations age and the millennial generation spurns the institutions of faith.

According to Bullivant’s report, Contemporary Catholicism in England and Wales – which will be launched at the House of Commons on Tuesday, both the Anglican and Catholic churches are struggling to retain people brought up as Christians.

Four out 10 adults who were raised as Anglicans define themselves as having no religion, and almost as many “cradle Catholics” have abandoned their family faith to become “nones”.

Neither church is bringing in fresh blood through conversions. Anglicans lose 12 followers for every person they recruit, and Catholics 10.

The vast majority of converts come from other Christian denominations, rather than non-Christians or people with no religion. “There’s a kind of denominational musical chairs,” said Bullivant. “No one is making serious inroads into the non-Christian population.”

[…]

A spokesperson for the Church of England said: “The increase in those identifying as ‘no faith’ reflects a growing plurality in society rather than any increase in secularism or humanism. We do not have an increasingly secular society as much as a more agnostic one.

“In a global context, adherence to religion is growing rather than decreasing. Christianity remains the world’s largest religion with over 2 billion adherents. In the UK the latest census found the overwhelming majority of people to have a faith.”

Full Article, Charts and Graphs Here.

Transilient

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The Story

Basil Soper is a transgender writer, activist, and southerner who is longing to see less representations of trans life depicted by cisgender writers, artists, and photographers. He knows there are many identities and facets to the trans community which are not being represented or if they are it is not in a gentle and loving light.  Predominantly, he struggles with the idea that being trans is inherently always painful. Johanna, is a musician and artist who identifies on the gender spectrum. Being the partner of a trans person, experiencing many people’s stigmas and misconceptions about trans folks and her need to connect humans pushes her to be apart of this project. Especially given the recent spotlight that has been placed on transgender issues Jo wants to help personalize unrepresented trans individuals to the non-trans population in a diverse and approachable light. Basil and Jo want to re-write the narrative around trans lives that the media has given to the general public by capturing authentic trans lives throughout the United States.

The two created a project that would change this storyline and the lack of representation. Together, they founded Transilient. Transilient is a photo and interview based project, similar to HONY,  that would document transgender people in their day-to-day lived realities while only using their voices.

There’s more about the Transilient Project here. If you can spend a few dollars, great. If you can’t, perhaps you can help spread the word.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Emma Watson as Belle.

Emma Watson as Belle.

Emma Watson will be starring in Disney’s live version of Beauty and the Beast. Oh, baby. Not normally something I’d watch, but along with Ms. Watson, the cast also includes Dan Stevens playing Beast, and Ian McKellen, Ewan McGregor, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, Audra McDonald, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will be featured as the many household items we’ve come to know and love.

Via Pride.

Courting the New Evangelicals.

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked victory for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at 12 on an index where the current top threat is a Chinese economic "hard landing" rated 20 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson).

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked victory for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at 12 on an index where the current top threat is a Chinese economic “hard landing” rated 20 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson).

…Buoyed by his support from deeply religious voters during the Republican primary, the thrice-married Trump has been meeting privately in Manhattan’s Trump Tower with top members of the evangelical community for months, peppering the conversations with fundraising appeals.

At one recent meeting with Trump, evangelical leaders noted how he often flashes a signature hand gesture, with a thumb out and a finger point to the sky, as he enters and exits rallies.

“You see athletes do it all the time and it’s their chance to point to the sky, to thank God for their success,” said Pastor Mark Burns, CEO of a Christian television network based in South Carolina. “Trump does this all of the time, too. He’s giving reverence to the man upstairs.”

“Even with Mr. Trump’s billions of dollars, he too still submits himself to God,” said Burns, who has become a top Trump surrogate and a staple on the campaign trail, frequently introducing the candidate at rallies. “We should all chip in to help him out. You know, even a billionaire needs some cash flow.”

[…]

“Preliminary discussions” are happening within evangelical circles to help Trump raise money—particularly in new age evangelical circles, where many of the leaders have become best-selling authors, top-selling Christian musicians and even minor-celebrities in their own right, Burns said.

And Trump is even beginning to make inroads with more traditional evangelical donors who backed religious conservative candidates who have now dropped out of the presidential race.

Foster Friess, the billionaire who supports Christian conservative causes, told Bloomberg Politics that he predicts conservatives will eventually rally behind Trump.

Full Story Here.

There’s a Little Kid’s Bathroom Now?

I could not manage all four minutes of this douche weasel’s ranting, but I listened to enough to hear him yell about men in dresses / pedophiles being allowed into the little kid’s bathrooms. Little [cisgender] kids have their own public lavs now?

He was ultimately escorted out by police while shouting, “Jesus Christ was not friends with any homos! I’m sorry to tell you guys that!”

I’d use Ken Ham’s gotcha here: “Were you there?”

Full Story Here.

Make Love, Make Art.

Images courtesy Allure Art

Images courtesy Allure Art.

Making art and making love have a lot in common—hard work is vital, for one thing—but Latvian creatives Elina Vaivode and her partner Toms Grinbergs have united the two with a project called the Allure Art Kit. It’s everything you need to make a completely original artwork by banging on top of a canvas while covered in paint.

The Allure Art Kit comes with a cotton canvas, washable and safe paints with your choice of color, a protective plastic floor cover, two pairs of disposable slippers and a shower sponge. That covers everything from setup to wash down. All you have to do is a bit of creative cuddling, a quick rinse, and then some picture frame shopping.

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Via The Creators Project. Allure Abstract Art Kits. Check it out, a fun way to spend an evening. Or morning. Or afternoon.