Hasta La Vista, Baby Jesus

This parody actually presents the arguments about Jesus message on violence better than most debates about the subject. And as an added benefit, it's really pretty funny too.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PFrufPxjwX0

Think about it

We DO NOT Torture

If you accepted the "big lie" technique that allowed George Bush to get us into a war in Iraq, this one should be no problem for you. It's obvious that he really thinks that if he just keeps saying, somebody will believe. The sad thing is that he is right. And the worst offenders are those who should be working the hardest at defending the rights of the the poor, the sick, and the prisoners, so-called Bible-believing Christians. I do not understand how people who claim the Bible as their "only" guide for faith and practice, can so totally ignore what it actually says. They work their tight little (or not so little) fannies off to make sure that everyone has a chance to be born, but don't give a damn about what happens to them after that.

--Let's be sure that we don't use a little piece of embryonic tissue that will never be born, to help relieve the suffering of someone who is already born.

--Let's fight as hard as we can to make sure no child of moderately well-off parents gets government paid health care. Forget about the millions of poor children who will suffer because of it.

--Let's support that godly man, George W. Bush no matter how many times he lies and how many people he gets killed because somehow he fits into our poor, befuddled idea of what a Christian is supposed to be.

--Let's fight with all our might to stop campaign finance reform so that we can be sure that no one restricts our right to say what ever we chose in Jesus name.

--Let's kill a commie for Christ (oops, reached a little too far back for that one)

Compassionate???? Conservative????

President Bush vetoed legislation that would expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program complaining that the expansion was too big and would give health insurance benefits to children whose parents might be too far above the poverty line. What a concept: to deny health care to millions of poor children because some children who are not quite as poor might also get health care. Following are just a few of the comments I found from people who are outraged by the president's lack of compassion.

Jesus made healing a principal sign of his ministry and of the presence of the kingdom of God. From a biblical point of view, it is simply wrong when health becomes a commodity and accessibility depends upon wealth. . . . SCHIP is one bill – one program – to help fix the health care problem. No bill is perfect. But a bipartisan group of legislators think it is a good bill in the right direction.

To veto the bill, with no alternative plan instead - to simply abandon millions of poor children, to leave them to a market system that is failing to provide health care to enough people - is simply morally unacceptable.

Mr. President, members of the House and Senate, 9 million American children are without health care coverage this day. . . . When historians reflect back on this era, do we want to be remembered as the people who turned their backs on the uninsured children of this nation?

I think this veto has the potential of being talked about 20 years from now as part of the legacy of this administration, and it is seen as a cruel and cynical response to the needs of poor children.

I disagree with the [White House] legislative staff on all of this. Frankly, I think the president has had pretty poor advice on this. I can answer every objection that they've made, and I'm very favorable to the president. I know he's compassionate. (His words, not mine. I don't think he is concerned) I know he's concerned about these kids, but he's been sold a bill of goods. --Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

From streetprophets.com

When a young couple have a kid with an expensive, long term disease, will they try to take away our right to fire the parents to save money on our employer health insurance costs??????
When a young couple have a kid with an expensive, long term disease, will they try to take away our right, (after the parents lose their jobs and get new ones) to deny coverage to the kid because of a pre-existing condition???????
When a young couple have a kid with an expensive, long term disease, will they try to take away our right, (after the parents lose their jobs and get new ones), (and after their application for SCHIP is denied because the parents make too much money but their kid isn't covered) to run up bills in the parents names into the millions of dollars????????
When a young couple have a kid with an expensive, long term disease, will they try to take away our right, (after the parents lose their jobs and get new ones), (and after their application for SCHIP is denied because the parents make too much money but their kid isn't covered) (and after weve run up bills in the parents names into the millions of dollars) will they demand that we loosen the bankruptcy laws??????????
God in heaven, Jesus would never stand for this lack of personal responsibility on the part of parents! How dare those Liberals!!!!!!
(This happened to a niece and nephew-in-law of mine. They both have decent jobs, health insurance that does not cover their son's hemophelia, and owe millions of dollars in health care debt that they can never repay, and can never get out from under.... Jesus would be proud.)

The words of another prophet come to mind, "Would Jesus wear a Rolex on his television show?"

By Their Fruits . . .

I loved it during the Dems debate the other night when Tim Russert caught nearly all of them off guard by asking them about their favorite Bible verse. All of them seemed a little nervous about the question except Dennis Kucinich, who quickly pulled from his pocket a copy of St. Francis' prayer, ". . . make me an instrument of thy peace . . ." which he keeps right next to the copy of the Constitution that he always carries. While some have criticized him because it was not a "Bible" verse, it certainly is biblical. I am constantly astounded that people who consider themselves to be followers of Jesus and his teachings find so many ways to get around his teachings on peace. I don't think Kucinich has a chance to win, but maybe he can influence the platforms of the front running fence straddlers.

Patreus or Betray Us

Yesterday the right wing pundits were all having a hissy fit because MoveOn.org ran an add which questioned Petraeus credibility. They were crowing about the great success his testimony was for Dubya and his cronies. Following is a critique of his testimony from the MoveOn folks which will convince any thinking person that Patraeus is just another part of the Big Lie that Bush has been trying to sell the country for six years.



Yesterday, General David Petraeus misled the country.

He used faulty statistics and cherry-picked intelligence to argue that American troops should stay in Iraq for the foreseeable future. The general said we're making major progress¹—and we have to stay the course. Sadly, independent assessments show that things in Iraq have gone from bad to worse (see below for more on how Petraeus stretched the truth).

Some of you have emailed to say it reminds you of the day four and a half years ago when President Bush sent General Colin Powell to the U.N. to make a trumped-up case for war.

Powell's WMDs helped justify the invasion of Iraq, and Petraeus' version of "progress"—if it goes unchallenged—will justify keeping troops there for years. Can you take a few minutes to write a letter-to-the editor reminding folks that the "surge" didn't work—and that the responsible thing to do is bring our troops home?

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=84&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=2

Petraeus based much of his assessment on the claim that violence in Iraq is dropping.² That just isn't true:

• Petraeus is using "funny math." According to the Washington Post, Petraeus and the Pentagon are using a bizarre formula for measuring violence in the country. For example, deaths by car bombs don't count.³ And assassinations count only if you're shot in the back of the head—not in the front.⁴
  
• Iraqis believe the surge has failed. According to a massive new ABC/BBC poll, every single Iraqi polled in Baghdad, the primary target of the "surge," said it had made security worse. Iraqis themselves overwhelmingly think the situation in Iraq is deteriorating, in terms of security, political cooperation, the economy, and other measures. Overall, 70% think the escalation worsened rather than improved security conditions. ⁵
• The independent GAO report found that violence is up. A comprehensive Government Accountability Office report ordered by Congress found that "average number of daily attacks against civilians have remained unchanged from February to July 2007."⁶ In August, things got worse, with civilian casualties rising according to the Associated Press⁷ and the Los Angeles Times.⁸
• For our troops, it's the bloodiest summer yet. More U.S. troops died every month this year compared to the same month last year.⁹
  

Petraeus claimed that he compiled his report without conferring with the White House. But the Washington Post recently reported that Petraeus or his staff joined daily conference calls with the White House and former RNC chairman Ed Gillespie this summer to "map out ways of selling the surge." The Post reported that Gillespie's White House political unit was "hard-wired" to Petraeus' military unit.¹⁰

We would all like to see life improving in Iraq. But it's not—it's getting worse. And if US forces stay in Iraq both Americans and Iraqis will pay a terrible price.

Today is the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history. The wounds of 9/11 are still fresh for many of us. After 9/11, President Bush used fear, lies and trumped-up intelligence to stampede us into Iraq. Now, America is bogged down in an unwinnable civil war, and Al Qaeda has regained enough strength to once again menace the United States.¹¹

It would be a tragic irony if, six years later, the administration used skewed intelligence to head off the growing momentum for an exit strategy from Iraq.

Please write a letter reminding America and Congress not to fall, ever again, for White House lies—we need a timeline to bring our troops home.

http://pol.moveon.org/lte?campaign_id=84&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=3

Thanks for all that you do,

–Nita, Karin, Laura, Eli, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

P.S. Yesterday, MoveOn members sponsored an ad in the New York Times debunking Petraeus' claims. Click here to see the ad—and the evidence to back it up:
http://pol.moveon.org/petraeus.html?id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=4

The ad stirred a controversy on Capitol Hill—it accuses Petraeus of "cooking the books." And it charges that Petraeus is betraying the American peoples' trust by spinning the facts to support the White House. Some Democrats were uncomfortable with such strong language, and Republicans attacked MoveOn.

We're sure if we'd run an ad debunking Colin Powell's testimony in 2003, they would have done the same thing—but sometimes it's important to set the facts straight.

SOURCES
1. Washington Post, "Petraeus Backs Initial Pullout," 9/11/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2958&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=5 2. Ibid.
3. New York Times, "Time to Take a Stand," 9/7/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2941&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=6
4. Washington Post, "Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq," 9/6/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2938&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=7
5. ABC News, "Iraqis' Own Surge Assessment," 9/10/07
http://abcnews.go.com/US/Story?id=3571504
6. Washington Post, "Experts Doubt Drop in Violence in Iraq," 9/6/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2938&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=8
7. Associated Press, "1,809 Iraqi civilians killed in August," 9/1/07
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20543737/
8. Los Angeles Times, "Iraqi civilian deaths climb again," 9/1/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2956&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=9
9. http://www.iCasualties.org
10. Washington Post, "Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting," 9/9/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2957&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=10
11. Washington Post, "Scarier than Bin Laden," 9/9/07
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=2959&id=11221-8292763-PChjRg&t=11

Fool Me Once . . .

As Dubya tried to say one time, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." If there is anyone out there still being fooled about "progress" in Iraq, it is because they want to be fooled. See

http://pol.moveon.org/troopshome/?id=11197-8292763-A7ozWt&t=3

Don't fall for the Whitehouse spin on whatever next weeks report might say. The truth is American troops are their few allies are being killed everyday because Iraqis are fighting Iraqis. They will not take responsibility for their own security as long as we are doing it for them. We need to start bringing the troops home today and not stop until they are all out of harm's way.

Two Down, ? to Go!

Are these two rats leaving a sinking ship?

Who cares, as long as they are leaving.

Two Pictures are worth . . . ?

If a picture is worth a thousand words these two say pretty much all that needs to be said.

I am grateful to the Baptist Blogger for these images.

Going, Going, Goooooon--not quite yet

One has to wonder how much longer a man, who will be universally acknowledged as one of the worst attorneys general of all time, can hang on. As was written in another blog,

Gonzales will go down in history as the attorney general who helped the president: 1) torture, 2) wreak havoc on civil liberties, 3) fire U.S. attorneys who didn't prosecute along preferred political lines, 4) demoralize the Department of Justice, 5) worsen Bush's already dismal relationship with Congress, and 6) relentlessly hector a man in the intensive care unit.

Of course, one also has to wonder why the Shrub cares more about loyalty than he does about justice.

Impeach Now Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy

The title may be a little scary but those are not my words. They belong to an old-time Reagan republican who finally recognizes what some of us "liberals" have been warning you about. Bush is an imperialist and not just internationally. He continues to abuse the power of the executive branch for his personal goals and ambitions. Read the frightening analysis of the latest presidential power grab at Or Face the End of Constitutional Democracy Impeach Now By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS



Roberts says

Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran.

If this column does not make the hairs on the back of your neck stick straight out you have to be counted among those he describes as

"a diehard minority" who still believe "in the honesty and integrity of the Bush-Cheney administration and in the truthfulness of the corporate media."

There is no reason to wait and every reason to fear what Bush and his crew may try to pull off before we can vote someone else into office.

Where are the "Real" Baptists?

. . . every true Baptist understands that any attempt to “baptize” the faith with the imprimatur of the state – whether it’s the Ten Commandments or faith-based initiatives or public prayer in public schools – ultimately diminishes the integrity of the faith. Roger Williams warned us about that nearly four centuries ago. Those warnings were prescient then.

Today, they’re urgent.

That comment in a speech last week By Randall Balmer at The Religious Liberty Council Luncheon in Washington, D.C., addresses the same problem I have been trying to raise at every venue that I have access to. The so-called baptists who are leading the SBC today have not concept of what it has meant historically to be baptist. Their hunger for power and caused them to throw away the one thing that really made baptists distinctive, their absolute commitment to a "Free church in a Free state." I urge you to read the entire address at "In Search of America's Baptists"

George Bush Hates America

I heard on the radio this morning that a critic referred to George Bush as "brain-dead" in response to the Scooter Libby fiasco. Some of those on the panel thought this kind of language was a little too extreme to use for a sitting president. Well, I've gone way past that. I fully believe that George Bush hates the America that most of us love. You don't have to agree with me, but you do have to seriously consider the things he has done to try to undermine the whole system of government. All you really have to consider are his supreme court nominees. Specifically, if he cared about the way the court is supposed to operate why would he have ever considered nominating Harriet Myers. At least in that case there was enough public outcry to make him withdraw the nomination. His nominations for attorney general were, are, and will be a total disgrace. Ashcroft was an absolute failure, but at least he seemed to honest and knew that the wiretaps were illegal. Gonzales is not only a failure, but a liar. How sad it is when the man who is supposed to lead the "Justice" department has no concept of what justice means. His nominee to the UN was designed to undermine the US presence there. The few people of quality that he allowed into his cabinet have resigned in disgust. General after general has resigned from the military so they can openly comment on the fiasco in the defense department. Who can forget, "way to go, Brownie." I could go on but it's too depressing. I hope the country can survive another year and a half in the hands of a man who hates what it stands for.

"Sad But True" or "True but Sad"

The Illegal Alien Is My Neighbor!

The biblical illiteracy of many who claim the Bible as their inerrant, infallible guide is often astonding. Nowhere is this more true than in the issue of Christian response to immigration reform. There are very few issues in the Bible where God's expectations are more clearly spelled out for us. I encourage you to read the article by David Gushee, on Christians and Immigration Reform.

I have extracted some of the key statements:

"As American Christians, are we more Christian or more American? I think that we should be Christians first."

"Biblically, the five most relevant moral principles on this issue are love, justice, hospitality, family and humility."

"Every person is my neighbor, whom I am called to love. The “undocumented worker” or “illegal alien” is my neighbor."

Jeremiah 22: “Do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed violence in this place.”

"Matthew 25, the king says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Illegal immigrants are strangers."

"As Christians, we cannot rest comfortably with raids that leave children in schools and daycare while their parents are deported."

". . . our true “citizenship” is in the church, and we are there as “resident aliens” hospitably welcomed by our gracious God. In this sense, we too are aliens, immigrants and strangers, and we should identify compassionately with this world’s versions of the same."

Referring specifically to the immigration reform bill, "This is hardly the kingdom of God in action. But it is far better than any alternative, and Christians should support it."

Paige has done it again!

I don't know how I missed this because I try to keep up with the really stupid things Paige Patterson says and does. I guess I was distracted by the end of school activities. According to PP educated women are a serious threat to the family, the country and the world.

At the fourth World Congress of Families in Warsaw, he said, "families need to be concerned that in America, 60% of college students are female." He predicts that in a few years, men will be increasingly underrepresented among "the intelligentsia" and will gradually cede leadership in many areas to women."

As a result women will increasingly forsake their God-ordained place of being barefoot and pregnant, and usurp the authority that God gave to men. (Not his words but definitely his thoughts.)

(What can I say? I know she's not barefoot, but it is Natalie Portman)


I am grateful that after reading the story on a "Christian" news source, several Southern Baptist women responded showing just how myopic this view of the place of women in society is. I have quoted one of the best of the responses.

As a life-long Southern Baptist who is also a single mother and an attorney who has to work in order to support myself and my young daughter, I wish the Southern Baptist Convention would find alternative ways to convey the need to strengthen the family unit without denigrating women who work outside the home or dare to educate themselves. The fact that 60% of college enrollees are women is not a tragedy. Why not focus on the failings of men as the primary cause of the disintegration of the family instead of villifying women (the old Adam and Eve story, with a modern twist). As a Christian and, specifically a Southern Baptist, I often combat negative stereotypes about my religious affiliation. The Southern Baptists lose credibility when they staunchly oppose abortion (as do I) but then saddle single mothers who bravely raise their children alone with guilt because they have to work. If we want to stem the tide of broken families, the Southern Baptists would do well to employ methods other than decrying the education of women and resorting to 1950s imagery about "mom and apple pie."

The Pseudo-Justice Department

The disgrace of the so-called Justice Department just gets worse and worse everytime someone who worked there in the past few years opens his/her mouth. The outright lies that have been revealed in testimony before congress should be stirring the American people to run them out of town on a rail or tar and feather them or some other appropriate actions. But the shrub just keeps saying, they are doing a find job, just like brownie did in NO. The best commentary I have seen on this mess came from none other than John Stewart on The Daily Show last week. When, after showing a series of clips of the AG, AG contradicting himself over and over again, Stewart grabs his head and cries, "They're shitting in my head!"

He nailed it.

Help Stop Censorship at CBS

From the Moveon.org folks,

Remember when shock-jock Don Imus used racist and misogynistic terms to refer to a women's college basketball team? Well, it took CBS two weeks to fire him for that but it only took them TWO DAYS to fire a respected General from Iraq for speaking out against the president on the war.

CBS shouldn't be censoring or firing people for speaking their mind. I signed a petition urging CBS to re-hire General Batiste -- can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/batiste/?r_by=-8292763-amvLeI&rc=paste
There's more information on the firing on that page, too.

Thanks!

She Lifts Her Lamp

She Lifts Her Lamp
by Maurice R. Franks

They took the lamp from out the torch
About the time they slammed the door,
And placed instead a lump of brass -
Fool's gold where flames had shone before.

Refurbished thus, this gift from France
With superficial gleam doth lure
A world naïve, nay, entranced
By ideals once so fresh and pure.

Shine that lamp on those in prison,
On ghetto children in despair.
Show the world our rapes and killings,
How racist thinking took us there.

A culture lost, its values gone,
Used needles shine from sea to sea.
Democracy shall ne'er last long
Too dumb to ask, "Why must this be?"

Truths now lost, truths now languish,
Truths for which our fathers died.
She holds her lamp aloft with anguish.
It's hollow, gnawing from inside.

Copyright © 1998, Maurice R. Franks

The Ongoing Iraq Intel Fraud

After my rant on the lies of George Bush I was directed to this article which lays out the facts of the lies about the Iraq war much more thorougly than I was capable of. If anyone you know still gives the president the benefit of any kind of doubt, refer them to this article.

The Ongoing Iraq Intel Fraud

Why no one in congress is seriously addressing this issue I don't know. The leadership seems to be content to study the issues to death. But as I heard a man say in a different context recently, "When you study something to death, death is not your goal." Unfortunatley while they are studying people keep dying. I don't care what it takes, GET THE TROOPS OUT, BRING THEM HOME.

DUBYA sings U2

Bush has Lied, is Lying, and Will Continue to Lie as long as people continue to listen

It's here folks. It's time to stand up and recognize that you cannot believe anything that comes out of the Whitehouse. If there is anyone out there who has not acknowledged the lies that have come out of his mouth and the mouths of all of his subordinates. If you cannot see it you need to pull your head out of your a$$ and pay attention. He has been lying for years. He lied in his Texas campaigns. He lied about his service in the national guard. He lied about WMDs. He lied about Iraq's nuclear capability. He lied about Saddam and Al Qaeda. He lied about wiretaps. He lied about firing US attorneys. He is lying today about the so-called surge and its effects on the stability of Iraq. He lies
readily, easily, and convincingly. And yet somehow 30% of the people in this country still say that they believe him. I really don't think they do. I think they are lying about it because they cannot admit to themselves or to us that they could have been so wrong. I posted the impeach banner a few days ago more as a symbol or protest than anything else, but I am beginning to believe that we cannot afford another year and a half of his lies.

ABP compares faith-based positions of top-tier presidential hopefuls

Associated Baptist Press (ABP), which is an alternative news source to be distinguished from the Baptist Press (BP), the mouth-organ of the SBC, has published a summary of the basic faith position of the currently front-running candidates from both parties. The summary includes: Faith background, Relationship with Religious Right, On abortion, On gay rights, On Iraq, and On the relationship between church and state. If you are looking for a good summary, this is the place for it. You can find the article at ABP compares faith-based positions of top-tier presidential hopefuls

So long, Kurt Vonnegut

The death of Kurt Vonnegut saddens me. I did not know him, neither was he one of my favorite authors. Other than Slaughterhouse Five, I read his other books primarily because I thought a well-read person was supposed to have read them. I put Slaughterhouse Five in a different category because it had a profound impact on me. I chose to read it in the first place because I was a science fiction freak and it was advertised as a science fiction book. As it turns out it was much more than just another good sci-fi yarn. It was the first anti-war book that I recognized for what it was. Not that it was the first I read, but I had always been able to dismiss the anti-war arguments as not be relevant or applicable to me. At the time that the travails of Billy Pilgrim affected me, I was serving in the army in Germany and soon to be deployed to Vietnam. I won't go into all of the details of my conversion from hawk to dove but give Kurt Vonnegut credit for being very significant in that process. He will be missed.

The destruction of Dresden can be seen in the picture below. While the bombing of Dresden was not charged as a war-crime, it is a clear example of the horrors of modern warfare with the use of weapons of mass destruction. Destruction like this is one of the main reasons I am firmly convinced that the concept of "just war" is no longer valid.

Happy Birthday Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born 264 years ago today and yet is no less a controversial figure today than he was when he was living. In addition to the Declaration of Indepedance he left us with a strong legacy of keeping the government out of the churches business and of keeping the church as an institution out of the governments business. However, there are many who claim the mantle of speaking for Christianity who deliberately misrepresent his views on this important view. I find it tragic that many baptists are so ignorant of their own heritage that now that time and circumstance has brought to them a measure of political power they are trying to use it to gain an advantage in society that baptists of previous generations fought against. The so-called "obscure letter" that he wrote to the baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, stated in unequivocal terms that government and religion should remain separate as long as the country remained. The "wall of sepration" statement is clear in the excerpt printed below.

Blogswarm Promotes Support For Church-State Separation And Religious Liberty

I find it very informative that the adages about power corrupting are proved true over and over again through history. Contemporary baptists are one of the more recent examples. Demonstrating a deplorable ignorance of their own roots, many current baptist leaders, having gained access to the seats of power, now want to use that power to promote their spiritual values. Forgotten are leaders of previous generatons who fought and died for religious liberty. Here is a quick survey--

James Dunn, 1996
“Daunting is the challenge to conserve and defend the distinctive marking on the beast called Baptist that insists upon separation of church and state.”

Hobbs Lecture, Oklahoma Baptist University, 1980
“We're free. Please, please, don't ever let anyone take your Baptist freedoms away from you.”

George W. Truett, pastor FBC Dallas 1897-1944
“Never, anywhere, in any clime has a true Baptist been willing, for one minute, for the union of church and state.” May 16, 1920

John Leland Baptist Preacher Virginia 1754-1841
“If a man merits the confidence of his neighbors in Virginia—let him worship one God, twenty Gods, or no God—be he Jew, Turk, Pagan, or Infidel, he is eligible to any office in the State.”

“If government can answer for individuals at the day of judgment, let men be controlled by it in religious matters; otherwise let men be free.”

Thomas Jefferson used the phrase "Wall of Separation between church and state" in his letter to the Baptists of Danbury, CT in 1801. But the first record of the concept in the new world came from Baptist forefather, Roger Williams, who in 1631 advocated a “hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.”

But the earliest baptist proponent of religious liberty was Thomas Helwys, credited with being one of the founders of the modern English baptist movement, who sent a treatise on religous liberty to King James I around 1612 with the following inscription.

"Hear, O King, and despise not the counsel of the poor, and let their complaints come before thee.
The king is a mortal man and not God: therefore he hath no power over the immortal souls of his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them, and to set spiritual Lords over them.
If the king have authority to make spiritual laws and Lords, then he is an immortal God and not a mortal man.
O King, be not seduced by deceivers to sin against God Whom thou oughtest to obey, nor against thy poor subjects who ought and will obey thee in all things with body, life and goods, or else let their lives be taken from the earth.
God save the King.
Spittlefield, near London. Tho. Helwys

Shortly afterward, Helwys was imprisoned and probably died in prison.

Compare that with contemporary leaders like Jerry Falwell who, in 2003 said, "the hypothetical separation of church and state - the ominous phrase lifted from an obscure letter written by Thomas Jefferson that has been manipulated, exaggerated and embellished by those who wish to exterminate religious expression from the American public square.”

As long as I remain a Baptist, I will do what I can to call Baptists back to their roots.

Did the SBC end the boycott too soon?

Remember the SBC boycott of Disney that only the diehard SBs payed any attention to. For those who don't remember, it was because Disney allowed Gay/Lesbian Days in Disney World/Land etc. The SBC called it off in 2005 figuring that they had punished Disney enough. Well it looks like they ended it too soon. Accord an AP report, "Same-sex couples who want to exchange vows in front of Cinderella's Castle now have the chance." The article, Disney Opens Weddings to Gay Couples.

A Disney spokesperson said, "We believe this change is consistent with Disney's long-standing policy of welcoming every guest in an inclusive environment. "We want everyone who comes to celebrate a special occasion at Disney to feel welcome and respected."

"Welcome," "inclusive," "respected." That sounds almost Christian. But take heart SBCers, it's not too late to get resolution submitted in time for the annual convention in SA.

LATEST OUTRAGE FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS ;)

LATEST OUTRAGE FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A hostage drill at New Jersey school features phony "Christian terrorists." Full story and reaction here.

The religious right is horrified that a school would conduct a terrorist drill using mock gunmen, described as "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in the separation of church and state." How soon we forget. Doesn't anyone remember that the second largest terrorist attack in the US occurred April 19, 1995 in Oklahoma City and that the terrorists had connections to "right-wing fundamentalist groups" and publically stated that their motive for the bombing was to avenge what the government had done at Waco and Ruby Ridge (more right-wing fundamentalists). In the wake of 9/11 have we forgotten that not all terrorists are from the Middle East? Sadly, the impulse that drives people to commit terrorist acts is not limited to any ethnic, geographic, or religious group. And historically some of the worst terrorists have called themselves Christian. At least the students at one NJ school have a chance to remember that you cannot tell a terrorist by the color of his skin or the direction he prays.

The kicker in this is that the call David Barton a "Historian and constitutional expert." The same David Barton that made up quotations from the founding fathers to support his attacks on religious freedom in this country. Why do Christians still consider him an authority on anything but making money for David Barton?

Land Watch

Bruce Prescott has given us additional insight into the ethics?/theology? of Richard Land at
Richard Land -- Court Priest for a War Denomination
He cites an article at EthicsDaily.com, "Southern Baptist Leader Terms Premature Troop Withdrawal Immoral", which reports Land's statements on a PBS broadcast. As he has done in the past, Land twists Just War theory to make it fit his ideas. If you read the article and wonder about Robert Parham's statement, "Having demanded a wedding ring from the Republican Party, Richard is now so wed to the president's failed war than he is a court priest for a pro-war denomination." He is referring to the following statement Land made in 1999 when meeting with a group of conservative religious leaders about their strategy for the up-coming election. He said, “The go-along, get-along strategy is dead. No more engagement. We want a wedding ring, we want a ceremony, we want a consummation of the marriage.”

True Lies Redux

It seems that the producers of the Jesus Tomb left out one little step in their research process, peer review. Of course all scholars know that if they want to get published they have to submit to peer review, or submitting their work to experts in the field for their evaluation. If that had been done then they might have avoided the embarrassment of having a scholar blow them out of the water. See Stephen J. Pfann's article MARY MAGDALENE IS NOW MISSING: A CORRECTED READING OF RAHMANI OSSUARY 701. Pfann's analysis is so detailed that no one should ever again think that Mary Magdalene is buried in that tomb. Which obviously destroys the very thesis that the production was based on.

As Pfann said in an AP article, "James Cameron is a great guru of science fiction, and he's taking it to a new level with Simcha Jacobovici. You take a little bit of science, spin a good yarn out of it and you get another 'Terminator' or 'Life of Brian.'"

Unfortunately, I don't think Cameron and Jacobovici will take the advice of another blogger in his 12 Lessons from the Jesus Tomb Saga, when he said

5. Don’t be tempted to “follow the money”; follow the evidence instead. Be on a quest for truth, not fame or fortune.

Are you crazy, this is show business.

The Wrong Richard--"he regularly speaks without authorization"

While scanning an article from ABP, the following statement caught my attention.

"While many of us consider Richard to be a friend, he regularly speaks without authorization for the entire organization and puts forward his own political opinions as scientific fact,"

My first thought was why are they talking about Richard Land in this article. Then I realized that they were talking about Richard Cizik, NAE's vice president for governmental affairs. He is in trouble with some of the high-powered fundies for talking too much about global warming. And while I really can't understand the fundies objections to global warming initiatives (unless they are so closely tied to conservative politics that they have lost all discernment), that is not my main concern here.

It seems to me that the "he regularly speaks without authorization for the entire organization" statement is applicable to Richard Land. I realize that he is the head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and as such is tasked to educate and to provide resources to SBC churches and agencies on moral and ethical issues. As such the head of this commission will obviously make some public statements, but did anyone in the SBC vote to make him "spokesman on Capitol Hill for the largest non-Catholic denomination in the country" or ask him to represent "Southern Baptists’ interests in the halls of Congress, before U.S. Presidents, and in the major media"? He has turned his position into the cult of Richard Land. Look at the general publications of the ERLC, the most prominent thing in them is Richard Land. Look at the ERLC website, the first item on the menu is Richard Land. I searched the site using their own search engine with the following results:

Ethics 1730 hits
Religious Liberty 1840 hits
Abortion 1080 hits
Richard Land 2408 hits

And the winner is . . .!!!

I don't know about you but I am a member of a southern baptist church and he does not now nor ever has been a spokesman for me.

Thoughts on not having more than one wife

I'm going to have to find something more productive to do besides sitting through the Sunday sermons at my church. I still attend this particular church for several reasons, some probably more valid than others. Some of them are, in no particular order,

Tradition--I have attended here off and on for more than 40 years. My wife's parents helped start the church. We were married here. Some of our children were baptized here and married here (not that we are in any way sacremental).

Fellowship--I have Christian friends here. Some of my closest friends have left and I have trouble finding new ones that I can talk seriously with.

Ministry--while it is definitely a minority of the members who are involved, the church does sponsor an active ministry to meeting the basic human needs of the poor and gives me opportunities to be a doer of the word.

But the Sunday morning sermons are just bad. Yesterday he was talking about God's plan for the family (no not submission but he did throw in an anti-gay marriage comment) and he at least acknowledged that there were some in the OT who did not live up to God's plan for the family. Some of them had more than one wife and some had concubines. He then gave us examples to show us why this is not a good idea.

The examples he used:

Abraham, of course only had one wife, and his wife was the one who had him sleep with Hagar and if only he hadn't done that we would not have an Arab/Israeli problem today.

Lot--as far as we know only had one wife, but have she turned into salt, his daughters got him drunk, had sex with him, and became the mothers of the Moabites and the Ammonites. Then he gave us serveral examples of how that was a bad think for Israel, especially the Moabites. The OT is just full of examples of how they did the Isrealites wrong. So Lot could have avoided all that if he had just kept it in his pants.

David--He really didn't talk about David or his wives just the trouble that came up between the half-brothers and half-sisters.

Solomon--No real discussion was needed here, because everyone knows that the wisest man in history allowed his foreign wives to lead him astray. What I really wanted to know was how Solomon managed to make it with all those wives and concubines. How did he even keep track of who he had slept with and who he hadn't without a computer.

So in light of those stories having more than one wife if not a good idea. But then he really muddied the waters by telling us about Ruth and Boaz (not because of polygamy, he had moved on to another point in his outline). Just after I had written a note to my wife that Ruth was a Moabitess, he said she was a Moabitess but never dealt with the obvious problem that raises. If Lot had not had sex with his daughter resulting in the birth of Moab, then Ruth would never have been born and since she was the grandmother of David, does that mean David would not have been born and since Jesus had to be of the house of David, then Jesus would not have been born and God's plan would have been all messed up. So obviously it was God's will for Lot to drunk and have sex with his daughter.

Oh well, back to reading the Apocrypha.

It's such a myth . . .

"It's such a myth that somehow Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell represent religious Americans. Most religious Americans care about poverty, about health care, about fighting global AIDS." Mara Vanderslice of Common Good Strategies made this comment to Stephen Colbert.

Situation Ethics at the ERLC

I seldom give Richard Land credit for anything, but I will give him credit for consistency in his condemnation of Rudolph Giuliani. Of course, I do wonder if he would be quite as concerned about the divorces if Giuliani were more conservative politically. Especially, in light of his comment, "I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."

Oops

I spoke to soon. Read the rest of the statement. Although McCain has been married twice, Land said, the senator's other credentials and history of conservatism earn him more respect than Giuliani. Land said. "When you're a war hero [like McCain], you have less to prove on the character front."

So being a war hero excuses you from the moral absolutes that Land and his ilk are so fond of slapping us in the face with. I really do find it interesting that a man who claims to be a spokesperson for a large group that follow the "Prince of Peace" sees being a warrior as somehow justifying other moral failures.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing either McCain or Giuliani for their divorces, I'm just trying to figure out what kind of situation ethicist Richard Land is.

...not about charity, it's about justice....

I am grateful to Christopher at Dance with God for this video.

Are You Going To Be Next?

First, they went after the moderates. Then they went after the non-signers of BFM2000. Then they went after the tongue-speakers. Then they went after the scripturally baptized. Then they went after the women. Now they are going after the Blacks (see the Dallas Morning News article). Are you going to be next?

More True Lies

I was actually amazed out how appropriate the "True Lies" label was for the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" pseudo-documentary. I will not try to do a point by point analysis of the film, if you want that go to Jay Cost's article, "Examining the Jesus' Tomb Evidence." I tried to call into NPR this morning when they had author/director Simcha Jacobovici on with two archeologists, but couldn't get through. I wanted to ask him what he considers himself to be because both in the film and in the followup discussions he says of himself, "I am not a scientist or theologian or bible scholar." But does claim to be a journalist, an investigative reporter, and a film-maker. That he is a film-maker is self-evident, that he did some investigation I will acknowledge, but his claims of being a journalist are questionable. He reminds me a lot of the whole Fox News enterprise, "We report, you decide." Which we all know really means, "We decide, we report, you accept." While he continually insists that he is just reporting the facts, the film is filled from beginning to end with a few facts wrapped around a multitude of theories, suppositions, speculations, etc.

Every one of the experts he used, except the guy from NC, has objected to the way he used their opinions. I thought the best comment about the film came from one of the archeologists who was on afterward with Ted Koppel. Using a links of a chain analogy, he suggested that when true academic investigation was applied to the theories the links would all be weak. In other words if a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Jacobovici's chain is made up of only weak links. He did not make a determinative argument for any factor, he merely left them hanging unresolved and moved on to the next link. I did think the "archeoporn" comment was kind of a low blow, funny yes, but still a low blow.

True Lies

I find it ironically appropriate that James Cameron, famous as the producer of Titanic, but also holding credits for such well-known documentaries as The Terminator (1&2) and True Lies, is the producer of a new film on some old digs.

The new documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries — small caskets used to store bones — discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family.

This is not a new discovery, just a new way to make money off of an old discovery. As one archeologist said, "They just want to get money for it." That statement comes from Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, which he discovered more than 20 years ago. He also said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but makes for profitable television.

An AP article quotes Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land as saying the film's hypothesis holds little weight.
Pfann said, "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 — 10 being completely possible — it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."
Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it's more likely the name "Hanun." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.
Kloner also said the filmmakers' assertions are false.
"It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave," Kloner said. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time."

Pfann's view that there is about a 15% chance of it actually being the bones of Jesus' family contradicts Cameron's claim that a statistician told him it was a million to one in favor of it being them.

One of the clearest statements comes from Simcha Jacobovici, who wrote a companion book, The Jesus Family Tomb. “They are common names, these were archaeologists. They never went to statisticians. We're just reporting the news. We're not statisticians. We're not theologians . . . ." "We're just trying to make some money." The last statement is my paraphrase of Jacobovici's claim.

George Bush Told the Nation

I went to a Tom Paxton concert not too long ago. I was amazed that a 70 year old man could stand for almost 2 hours with nothing but his guitar (and a guy even older than he was playing rhythm guitar) and keep the audience spellbound. No fireworks, no lasers, no theatrics, just him and his music.

He didn't take requests, but he didn't need to for me. I was going to ask him to do an updated version of "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" but he did it without me even having to ask. For those who don't remember it I have posted the lyrics at the end, but the most significant part is

Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more,
To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese."

The updated version went something like this

George W. told the nation,
"This is not an escalation.
This is just a surge toward victory.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending twnety thousand more,
To help save Iraq from Iraqese."

As someone else said (I would give them credit if I remembered who said it) "I thought a surge was something bad. Why else would we have surge protectors?"

********************************************************************************
Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation
Words and Music by Tom Paxton
I got a letter from L. B. J.
It said this is your lucky day.
It's time to put your khaki trousers on.
Though it may seem very queer
We've got no jobs to give you here
So we are sending you to Viet Nam
[Cho:]
Lyndon Johnson told the nation,
"Have no fear of escalation.
I am trying everyone to please.
Though it isn't really war,
We're sending fifty thousand more,
To help save Viet nam from Viet Namese."

I jumped off the old troop ship,
And sank in mud up to my hips.
I cussed until the captain called me down.
Never mind how hard it's raining,
Think of all the ground we're gaining,
Just don't take one step outside of town.
[Cho:]

Every night the local gentry,
Sneak out past the sleeping sentry.
They go to join the old VC.
In their nightly little dramas,
They put on their black pajamas,
And come lobbing mortar shells at me.
[Cho:]

We go round in helicopters,
Like a bunch of big grasshoppers,
Searching for the Viet Cong in vain.
They left a note that they had gone.
They had to get down to Saigon,
Their government positions to maintain.
[Cho:]

Well here I sit in this rice paddy,
Wondering about Big Daddy,
And I know that Lyndon loves me so.
Yet how sadly I remember,Way back yonder in November,
When he said I'd never have to go.
[Cho:]