Sapere Aude!

DC Catholic Church Hates Gays So Much They Are Willing to Harm the Poor

Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum on same-sex marriage issue - washingtonpost.com.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Pathetic, isn't it.  They are so bent out of shape about treating homosexuals equally that they are willing to hurt others if DC is fair to gays.

Don't Just Masturbate, Get a Man

The Duke University Catholic Center is worried about sex toys.

A Duke University study on sex toys has raised the ire of the University’s Catholic Center director. But not because he’s worried about the 18-year-old participants who might be breaking vows of celibacy, and doing it with handcuffs and vibrators. Instead, Father Joe Vetter says he’s concerned that the study will encourage young women to “just sit around and masturbate” instead of hitting up singles night to track down their future husband.

Father Joe shouldn't worry too much, vibrators cannot take out the trash.

Pew Forum: Scientists and Belief

From Pew Forum:

A survey of scientists who are members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press in May and June 2009, finds that members of this group are, on the whole, much less religious than the general public.¹ Indeed, the survey shows that scientists are roughly half as likely as the general public to believe in God or a higher power. According to the poll, just over half of scientists (51%) believe in some form of deity or higher power; specifically, 33% of scientists say they believe in God, while 18% believe in a universal spirit or higher power. By contrast, 95% of Americans believe in some form of deity or higher power, according to a survey of the general public conducted by the Pew Research Center in July 2006. Specifically, more than eight-in-ten Americans (83%) say they believe in God and 12% believe in a universal spirit or higher power. Finally, the poll of scientists finds that four-in-ten scientists (41%) say they do not believe in God or a higher power, while the poll of the public finds that only 4% of Americans share this view.

via www.pewforum.org

What conclusions should we draw from the fact that the more educated you get, the less likely you are to believe in God?  It would be interesting to see how those scientists that do believe performed on tests designed to identify motivated reasoning.

The Daily Show Takes on Prejudice-Based Church Recruitment

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cornel West
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Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

The Catholic Church should probably just go ahead an actively market themselves as the anti-gay, patriarchal, pedophile religion.

Associated Baptist Press - Fear Not: What does virtual rumor-mongering say about Christians?

Associated Baptist Press - Fear Not: What does virtual rumor-mongering say about Christians?. 

Ethicist Tillman called on Christians to examine their biases and prejudices, which he described as “tough exercise,” because it forces Christians to explore the influences that shaped them.

Gullibility may grow out of fear and anxiety, he added. And that directly relates to what people believe.

Especially, for the "God-fearing, Bible-believing" types that I grew up around.

“I suggest to my students, ‘Tell me something about your fears, and I will tell you something of your theology,’” Tillman said. “Dealing with our fears -- an action usually dismissed or ignored -- may be one of the keys to understanding just which e-mails we forward and those we don’t.”

David Gushee, a Baptist ethicist at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, agreed Christians who spread tall tales by e-mail reflect a significant slice of American culture and act out of deep emotion.

“Certainly, many Christians seem attracted to conspiracy theories and urban myths and these mass e-mails that propagate them,” he said. “But I am not sure if that is because they are Christian or because they are just Americans of a certain type -- people who feel angry about the way the world is, who feel alienated from ‘elite culture,’ who feel embattled by cultural trends that they cannot control and do not at all like, and who often feel looked down upon by those with more education or higher social status.”

The key to confronting such bad habits among Christians is proper spiritual formation on the ethics of truth-telling, gossip and rumor-spreading, experts said.

Interesting article.

(Hat tip: Jon Cogburn).

Miscarriages and Religion as a Coping Mechanism

I have a lot of friends that are conservative Christians.  Here's a status update from one of their Facebook profiles.

The doctor explained to us that what has happened is called a "missed miscarriage." There was no indication that anything was wrong, and it wasn't until the sonogram that we knew the baby had died. Jami's body is still producing the necessary environment to keep the baby safe and help it grow. However, as the doctor put it, there was more than likely a chromosome mismatch, and the child stop developing early on. The Doctor is a Christian and said, "When this happens, the Lord says, 'This child would not be perfect on earth, but will be perfect in heaven.'"

That does not seem like something I'd do if I were an all loving God.

Colbert on Religion

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Yahweh or No Way - Legislation Prayers & Fake Shroud of Turin
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Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore

I don't have a problem with people prayer about legislation. But, I would have a problem if they voted on the basis of whatever they thought divine will is rather than the will of the people.

Conservatizing the Bible

This conservatizing the Bible thing has got to be a joke, right?  If it's not then it's really, really sad.  I grew up holding the view that the King James Version of the Bible was a divinely inspired translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts.  I don't those that view anymore.  In fact, I'm more inclined these days to think that something like the conservative Bible project has been instrumental in shaping what we know call the Bible in the sense that people's political, historical, cultural contexts influences how the Bible was put together.  But, if I did still hold that view of the Bible, the Conservative Bible Project would still bother me.

Glenn Beck Blames Minority For Social Ills

Studies keep showing that religious belief is doing pretty well. It seems like increasing secularization of society is more of a myth an a reality.

Joe Wilson (R-SC) is either Ignorant or a Liar

See.  I've read the bill myself and it explicitly prohibits giving credits to or using Federal funds to illegal immigrants.  Just read the bill for yourself, it's unambiguous.  So, either Wilson knows what's in the bill and is lying when he charges the President with being a liar or he's ignorant of what's in the bill.  Either way, Joe Wilson is a jackass!  Keep it up Republicans, drive that party right over the cliff.  They've managed to manufacture opposition to Obama's health care reform agenda not on the basis of principled opposition but by associating it with every divisive issue in their playbook from end-of-life and beginning-of-life issues to immigration.  There will be death panels!  They're going to kill babies and your grandma!  They're going to give care to outsiders!  We're not hearing any principled opposition we're just getting pathetic bullshit from a party that see it in their political interest to scuttle anything remotely positive.