Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

Between 1968 and 1973, somebody hijacked a commercial airliner nearly every week.

Queens of the Stone Age want your number, but it's not what you think — it's even creepier.

Stay gone, Snowden! Because despite what dumb people think, there is "no public interest exception to the Espionage Act".

The Race to Save Mali's Artifacts

“The Myth of Persecution”: Early Christians weren’t persecuted, says a historian of the early church.

Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

So this week, I'm thinking of Christianity and feminism and the Bible. But first! A story. A long time ago, my friend Amanda and I were at work and she was freaking out because she'd been asked to teach Sunday school the next morning on an emergency basis and didn't know any Bible stories, aside from the one with the Disney movie. She asked me if I knew any Bible stories and I said that I did, after which I told her a few, including the zombies and stuff that a seriously-but-rightfully pissed-off God sent between the crucifixion of His kid and the rise of Jesus, also a zombie, three days later and the least gory of which was the one with Elisha and the Good News Bears, in which some kids made fun of His prophet's bald head, after which He sends forty-two bears to rend those children into bits. She told me I was never allowed to tell her children Bible stories, haha.


This first link tries to explain away and justify the story of Elisha, but no.

Yo. The Bible has mixed messages on sexuality, but none of them says that homosexuality is a sin. Surprise!

"I don't hate gay people! But I am a good Christian!": Why You Are Wrong

What I Learned About the Gospel from Drag Queens

Jesus was a feminist and so am I.

Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

So this week, I'm thinking of Christianity and feminism and the Bible. But first! A story. A long time ago, my friend Amanda and I were at work and she was freaking out because she'd been asked to teach Sunday school the next morning on an emergency basis and didn't know any Bible stories, aside from the one with the Disney movie. She asked me if I knew any Bible stories and I said that I did, after which I told her a few, including the zombies and stuff that a seriously-but-rightfully pissed-off God sent between the crucifixion of His kid and the rise of Jesus, also a zombie, three days later and the least gory of which was the one with Elisha and the Good News Bears, in which some kids made fun of His prophet's bald head, after which He sends forty-two bears to rend those children into bits. She told me I was never allowed to tell her children Bible stories, haha.


This first link tries to explain away and justify the story of Elisha, but no.

Yo. The Bible has mixed messages on sexuality, but none of them says that homosexuality is a sin. Surprise!

"I don't hate gay people! But I am a good Christian!": Why You Are Wrong

What I Learned About the Gospel from Drag Queens

Jesus was a feminist and so am I.

"Vell, Mitt's just zis guy, you know?"*

Dressage. Really. Although I have friends whom are avid riders, I had to search to see for the definition of 'dressage'. Apparently, it's horse ballet**, and is also known as the highest expression of horse training. Regular folks - folks who work and pay taxes and worry about a mortgage - don't own dressage horses. We also don't declare a tax loss of $77,000 for the care and feeding of a dressage horse that qualifies for the next Olympics. An interesting parallel is that in 2010, the same year in which they declared that loss, the mean yearly per capita income was less than $28,000.

But, hey, he totally represents me as a citizen!***

*Zaphod is equally well-suited to be our President, and for exactly the same reasons.

**I'm not being sarcastic. That's really what it's called!

***I am totally being sarcastic.

On Abortion

So here's the deal. Thousands of children die each year because they can't find organ donors. You can donate lobes of your liver with almost no problems. Kidneys are a little more problematic, but neither even comes close to having a child, much less raising one. So, if you haven't signed up to donate one, the other or both, then you have no business voting for a law that would force someone else to donate their organs to a child without consent. This seems like simple logic to me. Again, to recap:

If you think that unborn children have a right to my organs, then actual, live children surely have a right to your organs. So put up or shut up.

Yo, Christians.

Malachi.

“Is there not one Father of us all? Did not one God create us? Why, then, does each one of us despise his brother, violating the covenant of our fathers?” -Malachi 2:10

Why do so many modern Christians despise gay people, people of color, poor people, etc.? Love them. Feed them. Heal them. LOVE THEM.

A timely reminder...

A timely reminder about the importance of separating your religion from your government:

"I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him.

Random Thoughts

"The Fukushima situation has exposed a grave danger to our world. But the danger isn't radiation, it's the poor state of science education."

and

An Austrian atheist will be allowed to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo after successfully arguing that it counts as "religious headgear" for Pastafarians.

As a contrast, more people are upset about the Austrian atheist than the sad state of American education.

Good for a giggle.

I was reading curriculum reviews today, and came across a very unfavorable review for a particular company's science course. As a Christian creationist, the parent was upset that this company's science course was about... Science.