Georgia: Special Session Call to Override Veto

State Sen. Mike Crane is calling on his fellow lawmakers to meet for a special session to override the governor's veto of the antigay "religious liberty" bill.

State Sen. Mike Crane is calling on his fellow lawmakers to meet for a special session to override the governor’s veto of the antigay “religious liberty” bill.

Right-wing Georgia politicians are seeking a special session in an attempt to override Republican Gov. Nathan Deal’s veto of a controversial antigay “religious freedom” bill today.

Only minutes after Deal announced the veto in a press conference, Republican State Sen. Mike Crane called for the special session , reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Crane, currently running for Congress, released a statement on his website,  saying, “Our government needs committed conservatives who never stop fighting to protect the constitution.”

He also made a statement that appeared to refer to business opposition to House Bill 757 and threats from entertainment companies to boycott Georgia if the bill became law. “The announcement by Governor Deal is another example of how the political class is bought and paid for by corporations and lobbyists,” Crane said. [Except for when those corporations and lobbyists are doing something in their favour, then it’s just dandy!]

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But lawmakers who supported the measure are not giving up yet. The Journal-Constitution reports that Sen. Josh McKoon told Boston NPR station WBUR, “The question we have to resolve is whether or not government is going to be used to punish people with a particular point of view [Oh how I wish irony poisoning was a real thing]. … I fully expect we’ll be back next year debating this again.”

Full Story.

What May Be Worst Anti-LGBT Bill Yet

Rev. Chris Donald calls for the Senate to defeat HB 1523 on March 23.

Rev. Chris Donald calls for the Senate to defeat HB 1523 on March 23.

Mississippi is one vote and one signature away from enacting what may be the strictest anti-LGBT law yet.

The state Senate passed House Bill 1523, the so-called Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, Wednesday by a vote of 32-17, The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson reports. Thursday morning the Senate took a second vote, sending the bill on to the House for concurrence, as the version passed by the Senate differs slightly from the one adopted by the House in February, reports BuzzFeed. If the House votes to concur, which is expected next week, the bill will go to Gov. Phil Bryant for his signature.

The act states that the government cannot penalize an individual, organization, or business for acting according to the following “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions”: that “marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman”; that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage”; and that “male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”

The bill would therefore allow businesses to turn away customers or prospective employees by citing such beliefs, without repercussions. It would allow employees of county circuit clerks’ offices, which issue marriage licenses in the state, to refuse service to same-sex couples if they object to the marriage on religious grounds, also without repercussions. It could be used to discriminate against single parents and even conceivably allow employers to fire female workers for wearing pants, as it protects employers’ and schools’ right to maintain “sex-specific standards or policies concerning employee or student dress or grooming.”

Sen. Jenifer Branning, a supporter of the bill, argued to her colleagues Wednesday that the measure was designed to protect providers of wedding goods and services who oppose same-sex marriage, and denied that it had broader implications.

There’s more on this monstrosity of a legislation at Buzzfeed.

Be a thorn in Ken Ham’s side

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Answers in Genesis fought to have its funding reinstated — and won.

In 2015, the Courier-Journal reports that the group appealed the board’s decision through a federal lawsuit. Answers in Genesis argued that Ark Encounters’ tax exemptions were denied based on the theme park’s “religious purpose and message.” U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sided with Ham’s organization, writing in his January ruling that the attraction is “neutral, has a secular purpose, and does not grant preferential treatment to anyone based on religion.”

Groups like Tri-State Freethinkers not only disagree with that ruling, they’re also willing to fight it. The Freethinkers have crowdsourced more than $7,200 to campaign against Ark Encounters. If the group raises $10,000 — their next milestone — that will buy “four billboards at the same time or up to 10 locations spread out over the summer.” Should they raise $150 million, however, they plan to build their own park — one that doesn’t discriminate against gays.

Have a dollar or three? Think about floating them over to the Tri-State Freethinkers, who are doing a good job of being  a thorn in Ken Ham’s side.

Sunday Facepalm

WESLACO – A Weslaco firefighter said an image of Jesus Christ appeared on one of the fire truck’s mats after being cleaned Friday.

“Considering the times that I’ve seen it before on TV or it’s posted because people have come across it, I always thought it was something nice something to believe in. I never imagined Imyself would have come across it and with my additional co-workers here, we honestly feel like its a blessing.”

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Secularity rises, but…

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A research team that included Ryne Sherman from Florida Atlantic University and Julie J. Exline and Joshua B. Grubbs from Case Western Reserve University analyzed data from 58,893 respondents to the General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults administered between 1972 and 2014. Five times as many Americans in 2014 reported that they never prayed as did Americans in the early 1980s, and nearly twice as many said they did not believe in God.

Americans in recent years were less likely to engage in a wide variety of religious practices, including attending religious services, describing oneself as a religious person, and believing that the Bible is divinely inspired, with the biggest declines seen among 18- to 29-year-old respondents.

Okay, this is pleasant news, but drowning in the current tide of clowns which is our electoral system at work, and religious belief fueling horrendous acts, killing people, and increasing hate and fear, it’s hard to get excited. There’s also the constant tide of idiocy which rather belies any growing secularism in the States:

BOISE – Legislation saying the use of the Bible as a reference in Idaho’s public schools is “expressly permitted” passed the Idaho House on Monday and headed to the governor’s desk – even though the state attorney general concluded such a law is “specifically prohibited” by the Idaho Constitution.

North Idaho Rep. Sage Dixon, R-Ponderay, the bill’s House sponsor, told the House, “The little Supreme Court in my head says this is OK.”

Dixon and other supporters argued that the Bible is nonsectarian and nondenominational, and that the reason the bill mentions only the Bible and not other religious texts is because the Bible alone is “under attack.” “There are many religions that refer back to the Bible in their tenets,” Dixon said.

Boy, does the “little Supreme Court” in my head ever differ. Full story here.

Guess the Heresy

Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News / Wikicommons

Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News / Wikicommons

Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill denounced as “heresy” those human rights that he said contradicted the Bible, and proclaimed fighting them the goal of his church, the Interfax news agency reported Sunday.

“We are seeing how efforts are being made in many prosperous countries to establish by law the person’s right to any choice, including the most sinful ones, those that contradict god’s word, the concept of holiness, the concept of god,” Patriarch Kirill said after a Sunday service at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral, Interfax reported.

He did not specify which human rights he found offensive, but called for Russian Orthodox believers to “defend” their faith, the report said.

“Today we are [dealing with] a global heresy of worshipping the human, the new idolatry that removes god from human life,” Kirill was quoted as saying. “Nothing like that had even happened on a global scale before. It is specifically at overcoming this present day’s heresy, the consequences of which can become apocalyptic, that the church must aim the force of its protection, its word, its thought.”

I expect we could all easily guess those human rights the Patriach considers heresy. Orthodox or Roman, the Catholic church remains one of the most dangerous forces in the world to humanity in general. [Article.]

All blastocysts go to heaven

Embryos can hug Jesus, yes, they can!

“All children, all babies, all people who are not of the age of accountability,” the pastor insisted. “God don’t lose babies, even aborted babies — if the world don’t accept them, God accepts them and brings them in the very presence of who he is. It’s going to be a wonderful time.”

“Can we touch Jesus? Yes,” he said. “Can we actually go up to him and hug him? Yes! And can we speak to him? Yes! That’s what’s so wonderful about Heaven. We can’t do that now in what I call these Adam-like bodies here, these natural bodies, but you will be able to come up to him and hug him and just bless him.”

I wish I was good at cartooning. I’d love to see an embryo huggin’ Jesus.

Sunday Facepalm

Snail Fossils, excitement!

According to Wayne Propst, he was replacing soil in his aunt Sharon Givan’s yard when he made the amazing discovery of the fossilized snail shells which he believes date back to the time of Noah’s flood.

Seeking to verify the veracity of his claim, Propst contacted self-proclaimed fossil expert Joe Taylor who stated that the fossils indeed are a remnant of the Biblical flood that covered the Earth due to God’s wrath.

It’s nice, seeing someone interested in fossils, but jumping right to OMG NOAH!, and adding a non-professional verification? Oh my. This is more of a confirmation slam than bias.

Although Taylor has yet to study the fossils — or even lay eyes on them in person — he believes that they are a sign of the flood in the dry East Texas town and called the discovery “rare.”

“I’ve never heard of anything about that from over there, I’m surprised he found it there,” Taylor explained.

That is just so sad, such a complete lack of knowledge about natural science, the history of our lovely planet.

“Now all I got to do is go in front of my aunt’s house and pick up something from back when it all began. I don’t even have to search anymore,” said Probst, adding, ” Who else can say they have a front yard full of Noah’s dirt?”

Um…all of us? Except that it has nothing to do with a biblical character.

Propst’s aunt Sharon agreed, saying: “To think that like he says that we have something in our yard that dated back to when God destroyed the earth. I mean, how much better could anything be?”

Oh yeah, the earth being destroyed, that’s fantastic! Maybe he’ll do it again, and we’ll get to see this time! Oh my.