TOPICS   Catholic right Christian right Conventional religion Mormons Scientology   ESSAYS BACK TO TOP WHO OWNS FAITH & VALUES? POCKET PARADIGMS SAM SMITH BACK TO TOP Religion is absolutely fair territory for critics when it leaves in its wake war, a crusade against another religion, ethnic cleansing, the destruction of constitutional government, or the endangerment of domestic tranquility. If Pope Benedict XVI talked about Jews the way he talks about gays or treated blacks the way he treat women, what would we call him? The relationship between the American media and the Catholic Church can fairly be described as necrophiliatic: the only thing that really matters about the church is the Pope and the only really good Pope is a dead one. Once dead, whatever God does with the Pope's body becomes somewhat redundant. The press has already sent him to heaven, giving him credit for things he never did and avoiding some of the things he did that are not sufficiently encomium enabled. We have always had Christian fundamentalists in this country. We just used to call them New Deal Democrats. The ultimate irony of the conservatives is that they pretend to be a bastion of Christian politics when, in fact, they are comprised in no small part of despoilers, usurers, war-mongers, hypocrites, idolaters and groupies of false prophets - all of whom are frowned upon by the book they pretend to follow. And its opponents, who are more faithful to the words the conservatives only quote, are often such good Christians that they never say a mumblin' word about it all. On the one hand, we have those enveloped in a retro version of Christianity devised by some highly successful hustlers and charlatans and, on the other, we have liberals who seem to believe that politics begins and ends with abortion and gay rights - and in a cargo cult that delivers salvation through SUVs, Botox injections, the right wine and Vanity Fair. It is rare anymore to hear liberals speak of things like pensions, health care, or labor issues. Thus they have little to talk about to the fundamentalists save the issues that divide them so sharply. The magnificence of America lies in the opportunity not to have to agree with other Americans. The Christian right has clearly forgotten this, but so have liberals who send all sorts of unconscious signals that they will be no less vigorous in imposing their values should they get the chance. Both these messages, because of their implicit aggression, become extremely threatening to the other side.

Why is Mormon Church still tax exempt? The decline of the evangelical right What's been learned about Scientology The Catholic war on yoga 2014 Vatican doesn't like its progressive nuns Christian heretics at Hobby Lobby want a "Bible" museum in Washington Pope is still anti-woman 2013 How the religious right damaged Christianity Federal judge okays polygamy Word: They aren't the Christian right; they're Christian heretics Pat Robertson says Atkins diet is a violation of God's will 2012 Arizona says Christianity the only religion allowed to be taught: .According to a House summary on the bill, here's what the classes will include: The contents, characters, poetry and narratives that are prerequisites to understanding society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory and public policy. The contents of, history recorded by and literary style and structure of the Old and New Testament. The influence of the Old and New Testament on laws, history, government, literature, art, music, customs, morals, values and culture. 2011 Kidnapped for Christ: Evangelicals sending children off to prison camp 16 year old gets prayer removed from school wall Supreme Court rejects rejects predominantly Christian prayer at government meetings Scientology Book about Scientology inventor finally allowed to be published Scientology tax documents revealed What happens when you quit the Church of Scientology Scientology's French fraud conviction upheld 2013 Scientology's French fraud conviction upheld New book goes inside Scientology Couple sues Scientologists, saying they were duped to give $400k New book goes inside Scientology 2012 Belgium To Prosecute Scientology Church As 'Criminal Organization' The price of messing around with Scientology A scary introduction to Scientology New film about L Ron Hubbard and Scientology. . Death of Scientology president under investigation Growing up in Scientology The strange life and death of the son of Scientology's president FBI investigated Scientology site 2011 Paris branch of Scientology convicted of fraud 2010 Insider's e-mail alleges Scientology misdoings Mormons The Mormon church stands to own nearly 2 percent of Florida by completing a deal to buy most of the real estate of the St. Joe Co. for more than a half-billion dollars. Boy Scouts becoming a quasi-Mormon organization 2012 How the Mormon Church makes a hell of a lot of money The problems with trying to leave the Mormon church Why Romney will go to a better part of heaven than you will Mormons stole Obama's mother's beliefs and baptized her after death as one of them The Morman Candidate: BBC documentary on Romney takes on issue American media won't touch 150 Mormons resign from church together From lying for the Lord to lying for the presidency Latter day saints; present day politician Mormons spent $30 million to block California gay marriages From lying for the Lord to lying for the presidency Latter day saints; present day politician Catholic rightwing 2013 Top British Catholic accused of misconduct Italian newspaper links Pope's resignation to blackmail of Vatican gays Pope picker pays plump penalty for pedophile pandering Good riddance, Benedict 2012 Another Catholic bigot bishop rails against abortions and bay marriage Why the Catholic Church was worse than the Boy Scouts Catholic theologian wants to unseat the Pope Catholic bishop warns Democratic voters that they're going to hell Pope names San Francisco archbishop key in killing gay marriage in California American Catholic theologians defend nun under attack by Vatican Vatican blames lack of priests on us American Catholic theologians defend nun under attack by Vatican Nuns fight back against anti-Christian Vatican attacks Before Vatican condemned nun's book on sexuality, it was 142,982 on Amazon bestseller list. Today it's 19 Head of Conference of Bishops accused of pedophile payoffs Vatican investigating Girl Scouts for promoting safe sex Stupid Catholic cardinal tricks The Pope's anti-Christian war against nuns Monks who would have found Rick Santorum pretty boring Pope suppressing progressive American nuns Pope's anti-woman bigotry in full swing Catholic lawers demand all files of group representing those abused by priests 2011 Maine Catholic bishop likes gays as long as they don't have sex Criminal complaint against Pope filed at the Hague over sex abuse Files on 8,000 sex abuse cases allegedly hidden in Catholic bankruptcy trial 98% of Catholics use birth control Catholic archbishop says abortion a bigger problem than the economy Catholic policy advisers says gays are made by the devil Catholic church blames Sixties for priests' sex abuse Catholic and evangelical women like contraception just like others 2010 WHY POPE BENEDICT IS CRIMINALLY LIABLE 40 ITALIAN MISTRESSES OF PRIESTS ASK POPE TO END CELEBACY VATICAN TRIES ABE FOXMAN COVER, BUT IS A LITTLE PITCHY POPE CALLS CRITICISM 'PETTY GOSSIP' CHIEF CATHOLIC EXORCIST SAYS DEVIL IS IN VATICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH TAKES CHARGE OF CHRISTIAN RIGHT THEN AND NOW: THE TWO POPE BENEDICTS 2005 POPE ESCAPES CRIMINAL SEX ABUSE COVER-UP CHARGES THANKS TO HEAD OF STATE IMMUNITY RATZINGER'S PAST TIMES UK - Unknown to many members of the church, Ratzinger's past includes brief membership of the Hitler Youth movement and wartime service with a German army anti- aircraft unit. Although there is no suggestion that he was involved in any atrocities, his service may be contrasted by opponents with the attitude of John Paul II, who took part in anti-Nazi theatre performances in his native Poland and in 1986 became the first pope to visit Rome's synagogue. . . The son of a rural Bavarian police officer, Ratzinger was six when Hitler came to power in 1933. His father, also called Joseph, was an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in Hitler's Brown Shirts forced the family to move home several times. In 1937 Ratzinger's father retired and the family moved to Traunstein, a staunchly Catholic town in Bavaria close to the Führer's mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941. He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. "Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one," concluded John Allen, his biographer. Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp. Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot - adding that his gun was not even loaded - because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp. Christian rightwing Jerry Falwell's killers for Christ 2013 Great thoughts of Pat Robertson Pat Robertson says Atkins diet is a violation of God's will 2012 Pat Robertson accepts scientific view of earth's age How school vouchers are used to push rightwing evangelism Mormons decide not to baptize dead Holocaust victims Mitt Romney's church will baptize you whether you want it or not How religious bullies infiltrate public schools 2011 American founders the GOP would never support because they weren't good Christians Why does the media call Rick Santorum a Christian when he's really a blasphemous bigot? Today's theological question Evangelicals losing the young Great thoughts of Pat Roberston Right Wing Watch - On the same "700 Club" program today in which Pat Robertson said that Jews must convert to Christianity in order to enter Heaven, he also took on a question from a woman who was friends with a man whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and has begun to date another woman and wanted to know what to do. Robertson's advice was to encourage the husband to divorce his wife with Alzheimer's because she was, for all intents and purposes, already dead. Co-host Terry Meeuwsen understandably wondered if that would not violate the "til death do you part" provision of the wedding vow, which Robertson just pretty much dismissed, saying "he certainly wouldn't put a guilt trip" on anyone who decided that divorce was the answer. Only 21% of Americans believe fully in evolution Christian extremists forcing women to give birth to children they can’t care for Sons of Perdition. Three young men escape Warren Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A remarkable look at some of the reall effects of religious extremism. Not yet on Netflix but you can put it on Save Stupid Christian hustler tricks Ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to get weird on this so please take it for what it's worth. But it seems to me the Washington Monument is a symbol of America's power, it has been the symbol of our great nation, we look at that monument and say this is one nation under God. Now there's a crack in it, there's a crack in it and it's closed up. Is that a sign from the Lord? Is that something that has significance or is it just result of an earthquake? You judge, but I just want to bring that to your attention. It seems to me symbolic. When Jesus was crucified and when he died the curtain in the Temple was rent from top to bottom and there was a tear and it was extremely symbolic, is this symbolic? You judge. - Pat Robertson Perry and Bachmann seek heretical Christian domination of society Kentucky gives Bible themed amusement park big tax discount for 75 years Bachmann starred in film that linked public education to Holocaust Some of the heretical Christians behind Governor Perry's day of prayer The Warren Jeffs trial: God is a pedophile Jerry Falwell's university gets big federal bucks Why evangelicals hate what Jesus believed THE PROBLEM WITH CONSERVATIVES IS THAT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE SEX IN THE BIBLE 2010 HOW RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS AFFECT PUBLIC LAWS CONT'D 2005 WHAT EVANGELICAL HISTORY READS LIKE [From United States History for Christian Schools written by Timothy Keesee and Mark Sidwell] American believers can appreciate Jefferson's rich contribution to the development of their nation, but they must beware of his view of Christ as a good teacher but not the incarnate son of God. As the Apostle John said, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (I John 2:22). On the whole, [the progressives] believed that man is basically good and that human nature might be improved. . . Such a belief, of course, ignored the biblical teaching that man is sinful by nature (Ephesians 2:1-3). Progressives therefore also ignored the fact that the fallible men who built the corrupt institutions that they attacked were the same in nature as those who filled the political offices and staffed the regulatory agencies that were supposed to control the corruption. [From "Elements of Literature for Christian Schools," by Ronald Horton, Donalynn Hess and Steven Skeggs (Bob Jones University, 20010] Twain's outlook was both self-centered and ultimately hopeless. Denying that he was created in the image of God, Twain was able to rid himself of feeling any responsibility to his Creator. At the same time, however, he defiantly cut himself off from God's love. Twain's skepticism was clearly not the honest questioning of a seeker of truth but the deliberate defiance of a confessed rebel. [Emily] Dickinson's year at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary further shaped her "religious" views. During her stay at the school, she learned of Christ but wrote of her inability to make a decision for Him. She could not settle "the one thing needful." A thorough study of Dickinson's works indicates that she never did make that needful decision. Several of her poems show a presumptuous attitude concerning her eternal destiny and a veiled disrespect for authority in general. Throughout her life she viewed salvation as a gamble, not a certainty. Although she did view the Bible as a source of poetic inspiration, she never accepted it as an inerrant guide to life. [From "Physics for Christian Schools," by R. Terrance Egolf and Linda Shumate (Bob Jones University, 2004)] Some people have developed the idea that higher mathematics and science have little to do with the Bible or Christian life. They think that because physics deals with scientific facts, or because it is not pervaded with evolutionary ideas, there is no need to study it from a Christian perspective. This kind of thinking ignores a number of important facts to the Christian: First, all secular science is pervaded by mechanistic, naturalistic and evolutionistic philosophy. Learning that the laws of mechanics as they pertain to a baseball in flight are just the natural consequences of the way matter came together denies the wisdom and power of our Creator God. . . Second, physics as taught in the schools of the world contradicts the processes that shaped the world we see today. Trying to believe both secular physics and the Bible leaves you in a state of confusion that will weaken your faith in God's Word. You are about to embark on an adventure. The study of physics reveals the wonderful orderliness of God's creation - so orderly that it can be comprehended in terms of relatively simple principles (mathematical formulas). ... Physics is important because through it mankind learns how creation actually works. It satisfies our God-given curiosity about nature. Seeing that God does "great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number" (Job 5:9), men have dedicated their lives to unraveling the rich mysteries of creation. NY TIMES 2010 Only 28% of high school biology teachers dare to stick with evolution