Where Would Jesus Live? There are too many churches in my town, Texas mayor bemoans

Jesus has long since been co-opted by Christians. The Jews, God's Chosen People, didn't exactly, well, you know... anyway, Jesus certainly wouldn't chose to go back to His roots in Israel to live. Too much missle-launching and rock-throwing.

So where would He live?

I don't know where He would live (maybe in Malibu, near His pal Mel Gibson), but it's a cinch He 1) already has too many homes in Stafford, Texas and 2) would run all His business enterprises in Florida.

In a recent Los Angeles Times story (click quick, they tend to lock their stories away in the vaults pretty fast) Mayor Leonard Scarcella says, "Our city has an excessive number of churches."

Currently there are 51 tax-exempt religious institutions within the city limits, and the mayor doesn't want to see Number 52.

Located near Houston, this town of 19,277 has 51 chuches and religious organizations packed into its seven square miles.

Scarcella is mayor of this Houston-area community, which has 51 churches and other religious institutions packed into its 7 square miles. With only 300 undeveloped acres left in town, the mayor is crying out for businesses — someone to pay taxes — to move into their town.

Stafford is the largest city in Texas that doesn't have a property tax. Its government is run on the proceeds of sales taxes and business fees.

But churches don't pay sales taxes and business fees.

"It's thrown everything out of balance, plus providing zero revenue. Somebody's got to pay for police, fire and schools," City Councilman Cecil Willis said.

Churches are everywhere, in traditional church buildings as well as in strip shopping centers. There are 17 churches within a quarter-mile of the city's center. There's even one tucked in behind a muffler shop. Southern Baptists, Formosan Baptists, Chinese Baptists, Formosan Evangelicals, Buddhists, Muslims, Filipino Baptists, Spanish-speaking Baptists (my, there are a lot of Baptists — but, interestingly, not a single synagogue), and "every other variety of Christian you can imagine," Scarcella said.

An ordinance was eventually passed that required those who wanted to build a church — and other public gathering places, such as bowling alleys and community halls — to undergo a rigorous review process and obtain City Council approval.

Before the ordinance, "you could pretty much come in here and say, 'I want to open up a church,' and I'd say, 'OK,'" said Gene Bane, the city's director of building permits.

"If you can't find religion in Stafford, Texas, you ain't looking hard enough," Bane said.

Very few of the church-goers actually live in or even near Stafford. "As best as we've been able to determine, the overwhelming majority of people who attend here don't even live in Stafford; they're coming from everywhere else," Willis said. Stafford is about 15 miles from both Houston and Sugarland.

"I don't hate God. I'm not against America and apple pie," Willis said. "We just have to protect what's left for commercial development."

Willis said he asked the last six applicants why they wanted to build a church in Stafford. "Every one of them said they prayed about it, and God said to come here," he said. "I can't compete with that, so here we are."

Apparently some business investors have been praying, too, seeking exactly where Jesus wanted them to open Bible-themed enterprises. His Answer: Florida!

Move over, Walt! Move over, Domino's Catholic City! Here's comes Bible Land!

On July 1, 2006, Florida Statute 196.1987 went into effect, granting tax-free status (no sales tax liability or need to pay property tax) to any business run by a church organization that wishes to "exhibit, illustrate, and interpret Biblical manuscripts, codices, stone tablets, and other Biblical archives; provide live and recorded demonstrations, explanations, reenactments, and illustrations of Biblical history and Biblical worship; and exhibit times, places, and events of Biblical history and significance, when such activity is open to the public and is available to the public for no admission charge at least one day each calendar year...."

Wow... one day a year you gotta let a few people in for free, and the rest of the time, make money hand-over-fist (okay, assuming anyone actually wants to visit Bible Land) the other 364 days of the year.

Tax advisor and law professor Linda Beale writes that this law was passed specifically to make life easier for an Orlando-based themepark called the Holy Land Experience. She said Kent Hovind, the creationist who says dinosaurs roamed the earth during Bible times, is trying his Dinoland theme park under this law, too.

(I wonder if the Holy Land Experience themepark has rides where you get to shoot missiles at your neighbors?)

Of course, lawyers and lobbyists for Bhagavad-Gita Playland and Six Flags over Mecca will cry religious discrimination, keeping this tied up in court and in the legislature until Jesus's return finally settles it Once and For All.

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | Churches | Stafford, Texas | Holy Land Experience | Florida | Kent Hovind

"What are you looking at, Sugar Tits?": Mel Gibson's arrest for drunk driving

Actor-director Mel Gibson was arrested for drunk driving in Malibu, California (which he told the arresting officer he owned) on Friday by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept.

Written police reports appear to have been later doctored, ostensibily because someone in the sheriff's department wanted to downplay Gibson's anti-Jewish rant in which he called everyone he saw "f***ing Jews!", saying that the Mideast situation was "way too inflammatory" for the world to hear about Mel's anti-Semite outbursts. Jeez....

As he was being booked, he reported shouted to a female sergeant, "What are you looking at, sugar tits?!"

Sources say that the arresting officer was later told to re-write the police report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. He did so, but some pages from the original report and an audiotape have since been found and made available via the Internet.

I guess we've all wondered, in our meditative moments.... What Would Mel Do?

Well, now we know.

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | Mel Gibson | Passion of the Christ |Drunk Driving | Born Jesus

Bush heals German chancellor by laying on of hands

The George W. Buddha blog reports that our Commander in Chief wasn't actually giving German Chancellor Angela Merkel a shoulder massage at the recent G-8 Summit. Instead, he was laying on his hands to restore her to health after she suffered a cardiac arrest.

"Be still," Bush said. "I command the demon inside of you to be released."

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | George W. Bush | Laying on of Hands | Born Jesus

Southern Baptist Convention passes resolution calling for new alcohol Prohibition; Jesus's wine-drinking would make him unwelcome in Baptist churches

In June, the Southern Baptist Convention met in Greensboro, N.C. They overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for a new government Prohibition of alcohol.

Jesus, ostensibly the whole point of Christianity, shot to fame and A-list celebrity status after performing His first miracle at a wedding in Cana: He turned water into wine (John 2: 1-11). No doubt with a history of promoting alcohol with such reckless abandon, J.C. wouldn't be welcome in any Southern Baptist church today.

Southern Baptist Convention Resolution on Alcohol

WHEREAS, Years of research confirm biblical warnings that alcohol use leads to physical, mental, and emotional damage (e.g. Proverbs 23:29-35); and

WHEREAS, Alcohol use has led to countless injuries and deaths on our nation’s highways; and

WHEREAS, The breakup of families and homes can be directly and indirectly attributed to alcohol use by one or more members of a family;

And
WHEREAS, The use of alcohol as a recreational beverage has been shown to lead individuals down a path of addiction to alcohol and toward the use of other kinds of drugs, both legal and illegal; and

WHEREAS, There are some religious leaders who are now advocating the consumption of alcoholic beverages based on a misinterpretation of the doctrine of “our freedom in Christ”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 13-14, 2006, express our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing, and consuming of alcoholic beverages; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Southern Baptists to take an active role in supporting legislation that is intended to curb alcohol use in our communities and nation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Southern Baptist to be actively involved in educating students and adults concerning the destructive nature of alcoholic beverages; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we commend organizations and ministries that treat alcohol-related problems from a biblical perspective and promote abstinence and encourage local churches to begin and/or support such biblically-based ministries.

Image: "Marriage at Cana," painted 1376-78 by Giusto de'Menabuoi, as a fresco in the baptistry of a cathedral in Padua

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | Alcohol | Prohibition | Born Jesus

Vatican says Da Vinci Code controversy was "gigantic marketing strategy"

Reprinted with permission from SacredFems.com

In an amazing display of hypocrisy, the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, mouthpiece for the Catholic Church, writes that the furor over the release of the film The Da Vinci Code was "much ado about nothing" and that the controversy surrounding the film was instigated by the producers of the film, not by the Church, AP reports.

Two months ago Catholics and Protestants and even Muslims were urging massive boycotts of the film. Protesters were marching outside theatres, carrying signs and passing out literature. Theatres were torched. Muslim countries banned the movie. Nuns and priests and even cheesy evangelical preachers were making public statements denouncing Satan for spreading Lies and Deceptions. People were writing nasty blogs about the "blasphemy" to their precious Lord and Savior. One fundamentalist pastor even re-wrote the ending of the book to have Robert Langdon repent of his sins and become a Christian.

Now that the movie has proven to be less than a cinematic success, the Church is saying, "Oh, pshaw! We never were worried about that."

I gotta call "bullsh*t!" You guys were about to wet your pants, you were so distraught.

The Vatican newspaper called the uproar leading up to the movie "probably the most gigantic marketing strategy of a book and a film seen in the last few decades."

Search this blog for "Da Vinci Code" and you'll find quite a few stories about the Church's fears about this movie, including:

• Da Vinci Code blamed for Welsh monk's suicide
• Catholics demand Da Vinci Code be labeled as fiction
• War on The Da Vinci Code
• This Week in God: The Da Vinci Code Edition
• The Da Vinci Code already sold out in Mexico, Italy and Spain
• Tom Hanks blasts Da Vinci Code critics
• Simply blasphemous! — Cathlic priests urge protests of The Da Vinci Code

...and many more.

Da Vinci Code | Catholic Church | Movie Reviews | Born Jesus | SacredFems.com

Top ten signs you're a fundamentalist Christian

10 — You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 — You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 — You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 — Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in Exodus and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in Joshua including women, children, and trees!

6 — You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 — You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 — You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects — will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 — While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor "speaking in tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 — You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 — You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history — but still call yourself a Christian.

— Reprinted with permission from EvilBible.com.

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | Atheism | Fundamentalist Christianity | Born Jesus

Why are there no dinosaurs in the Bible?

Georgia-born comedian Bill Hicks (1961-1994) on fundamentalist Christianity and dinosaurs:

Fundamentalist Christianity. Fascinating. These people actually believe the world is 12 thousand years old. Swear to God! Based on what? I asked them. "Well, we looked at all the people in the Bible, and we added them up all the way back to Adam and Eve, their ages — 12 thousand years." Well, how f***ing scientific! Okay. I didn't know that you'd gone to so much trouble there. That's good.

You believe the world's 12 thousand years old? "That's right." Okay, I got one word to ask you. A one-word question. Ready? "Uh-uh." Dinosaurs.

You know, the world's 12 thousand years old and dinosaurs existed, and they existed in that time... you'd think it would have been mentioned in the f***ing Bible at some point. "And lo, Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus... with a splinter in his paw. And O, the disciples did run a-shrieking: "What a big f***ing lizard, Lord!" But Jesus was unafraid, and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw, and the big lizard became his friend. And Jesus sent him to Scotland where he lived in a loch for O, so many years, inviting thousands of American tourists to bring their fat f***ing families and their fat dollar bills. And O, Scotland did praise the Lord: "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord."

You ever notice how people who believe in creationism look really unevolved?

Religion | Comedy | Fundamentalist Christianity | Bill Hicks | Dinosaurs | Born Jesus

Hallucinogenic research finds magic mushrooms enhance spirituality

I thought it was settled in the 1960s, when millions of hippies and shamans and college students went self-exploring, that magic mushrooms would help you "see God," but I guess it takes a scientist to makes things official.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that an active agent contained in "sacred mushrooms" can induce strikingly similar mystical experiences in different subjects; and the experiences seem to be descriptively identical to spontaneous epiphanies that people have reported for centuries. Preempting accusations of pseudoscience due to the nature and subject matter under investigation, the researchers emphasized that their experiments followed a strict and meticulous scientific methodology. Interestingly, the researchers observed that exposure to the hallucinogen had a residual effect on subjects, with reported positive changes in behavior often lasting for several months.

Read more....

Image: "Transfiguration," a painting by Alex Grey.

Hallucinogen | Spirituality | Magic Mushrooms | Psilocybin | Born Jesus

Jesus Christ conquers the Martians

Sometimes people you meet when you're young go on to great things when they get older. Or maybe I'm just impressed 'cause I can't draw very well. At any rate, someone I met a few times nearly 20 years ago has gone Hollywood, and here's some of his handiwork.

His self-written bio says:

David Merrill was born in Georgia sometime in the 20th century. He's been cartooning since he was 6 and has self-published dozens of comics, zines, flyers, and libelous agitprop. Since 1995 he's been chairman of Anime Weekend Atlanta, the southeast's prominent Japanese cartoon festival. He created the "Anime Hell" event now seen at conventions and gatherings nationwide. His work has appeared in the anthologies DRUNK TANK and JUKU, as well as the annual publication for the FLUKE minicomics festival. David Merrill received a BFA in Illustration from Georgia State University.

Dave Merrill is pretty good with pen and ink and swear words. Enjoy.

Jesus Christ | Christian | Martian | Anti-Christ | Anime | Comics | Born Jesus

Christian sex toys: What would Jesus do?

Joy Wilson sells sex toys online, but only to Christians.

Not willing to give business to sex shops that also sell pornography, the 35-year-old mother of two started an online business with the help of a Texas pastor and his wife to sell "marital aids," according to the Toronto Star.

Her company is called Book22, after the 22nd book of the Bible, "The Song of Solomon," a love poem between Solomon and one of his wives, or harem girls, or something. Or between Jesus and his bride the Church, if you believe certain fundamentalists.

Condoms. Lube. Vibrating panties. Her best-selling item is the jelly egg, a wear-it-all-day insertable vibrator. But you can't stick it in unless you're married and a Christian!

Jesus Christ | Christian | Christianity | Sex | Christian Sex Toys | Born Jesus

Intruder repents after being told he needs God, not money

A man burst into an elderly couple's home in Alabama this week, slugging the husband and then demanding money from his wife.

Margaret Molnar told the intruder he didn't need money, he needed God. According to the woman, the man then lifted his shirt to show a tattoo of Jesus on one pec and a tattoo of a cross on the other. He then knelt down and asked forgiveness before fleeing without taking anything, according to the woman.

Click here to watch a television station's report on this strange story.

Jesus Christ | Home Invasion | Repentance | Forgiveness | Born Jesus

Allah lays an egg

Just as we were tiring of seeing the Virgin Mary and Jesus in sheet metal, plates of spaghetti, and rocks, along comes the egg layed with "Allah" inscribed on its shell.

"Our mosque confirmed that it says 'Allah' in Arabic," Bites Amantayeva, a farmer from the village of Stepnoi in eastern Kazakhstan, told state news agency Kazinform. "We'll keep this egg and we don't think it'll go bad."

Reuters said the egg was laid just after a powerful hail storm hit the village.

Kazakhstan is a large, thinly populated Central Asian state where Sunni Islam is a dominant religion.

Easter will never be the same.

Actually, though the press is making a big deal of this, the phenomena is probably as commonplace as the Jesus and Mary sitings mentioned above.

A website called Miracles of Allah Almighty has pictures of a cow inscribed with the word Allah, a piece of watermelon inscribed with the word Allah, a bean inscribed with the word Allah, a tomato inscribed with the word Allah, and even another egg inscribed with the word Allah (see photo above), a cat inscribed with the word Allah, fish inscribed with the word Allah. There is a photo of trees bent into the shape of the word Allah, branches shaped like the word Allah, even clouds proclaiming the Name. According to the site, even the Moon is inscribed with the word Allah.

The power of the human imagination is wondrous and mighty indeed.

Jesus Christ | Virgin Mary | Allah | God Sightings | Born Jesus

Groups sue to have Jesus picture removed from high school hallway

Two civil liberties groups sued in federal court Wednesday to remove a picture of Jesus that has hung in Bridgeport High School for over 30 years.

Even a Christian minister says this improperly sends the message that the school endorses Christianity as its official religion.

"I frankly cannot understand why this school insists that it is doing nothing wrong," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. "This is pretty clear constitutional law. Public schools cannot promote specific religious ideas."

The Harrison County school board's vote on removing the painting ended in a tie.

"At this point, it's a matter that's pretty much going to be up to the board," Superintendent Carl Friebel Jr. said. "It's just going to be very interesting for me to see what the board wants us to do with it."

Superintendent Friebel has the easy job, doesn't he? Sort of like Pilate, he gets to wash his hands of the affair and leave it up to someone else.

Jesus Christ | Americans United for the Separation of Church and State | Christianity | Bridgeport High School | Born Jesus

Christian Skate Night called discriminatory

A skating rink in upstate New York got a visit from state officials after the rink began advertising their "Christian Skate Night" on Sundays. The state warned the owner that he was violating anti-discrimination laws.

I read about this at a television station's website, which ran a poll alongside the story asking readers if they agreed that the skating rink was practicing discrimination. At the time of this writing, the respondents to the poll overwhelmingly say no, it is not discrimination, by 91% to 9%, with about 16,000 people answering the poll.

What do you think?

Do opinions of what is and what is not discrimination change when the respondent is a member of a group that is supposedly discriminating? I'm assuming — rightly or wrongly — that most of the respondents are Christians. If the skating rink had advertised Muslim Skate Night or Satanists Skate Night or Gay Skate Night and then been called on the carpet by the state's Division of Human Rights, would the opinions of those 16,000 have been the same, that is, that the rink was not discriminating?

The owner of the rink, Len Bernardo, has renamed Sunday "Spiritual Skate Day."

A blog called Badlands has gotten itself pretty upset over this, ranting and railing against Jews for creating a climate of hate against Jesus Christ, saying Lester Maddox was supporting the Christian faith by chasing blacks with pickaxes and guns, and repeatedly referring to Martin Luther King as Marren Loofer Keen. He calls newspapers "Jewspapers." It must really suck to be that filled with hatred and still think you're a Christian.

Even funnier, or sicker, are comments left on his blog by a visitor saying that the skating rink owner should be arrested for opening his skating rink on Sunday! Yeah... that's what we need in this country, a return to Blue Laws. Jeez.

Meanwhile, the Traditional Values Coalition has fired off a letter to New York Gov. George Pataki asking him to "rein in this illegal attempt to manipulate the law to accomplish a violation of basic civil rights."

A quick look at the Traditional Values Coalition finds they hate gays, hate "radical feminists," support right-wing activist judges, and want the Pledge Protection Act to pass the Senate. This bill, S.1046/H.R. 2389, sponsored by Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Representative Todd Akin (R-MO), would take away the Federal court system's ability to rule on certain issues, namely, any case involving the Pledge of Allegiance.

The chairman of this group, Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, says, "The 9th Circuit Court in California and other federal courts have shown that they are incapable of issuing fair rulings on the Pledge of Allegiance and the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge. We must remove power from these federal courts to tamper with the Pledge — by prohibiting them from ruling on the Pledge in the future."

Jesus Christ | Roller Skating | Christianity | Discrimination | Born Jesus

Jesus may be dallying, but Superman returns next week!

Is Superman a Christ figure? Well, duh!

An Associated Press story today asks that question.

Director Bryan Singer, who is Jewish, said the notion of Superman as a Christ figure is simply another case of contemporary storytelling borrowing from ancient motifs.

In other words, it's just as Joseph Campbell said: It's all One Story, that of The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

In the newest version of the Superman saga, Superman Returns, which opens next week, Kal-El (the born-name of Superman, and hey, "El" is a name of God in the Old Testament) hears his father tell him he has been sent to Earth because humans "lack the light to show the way. For this reason I have sent them you, my only son."

Before being kidnapped by villain Lex Luthor, Lois Lane assures Superman, "The world doesn't need a savior, and neither do I."

Luthor — a Loki/Lucifer-like character if ever I saw one — said, "Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind."

Kal-El is truly a "Born Jesus"!

Jesus Christ | Superman Returns | Christianity | Movies | Born Jesus

Passion 2: The Resurrection, coming Easter 2007

So far it's just a rumor — nothing yet on the Internet Movie Database — but all the cool blogs like Celebrity Religion, WhizBangPop, and Sacred Fems are reporting it, so we're jumping on the bandwagon, too.

Sony Pictures is planning an Easter 2007 release for a feature tentatively titled The Resurrection, which will tell the story of Jesus Christ beginning with the day he died. As such, some liken it to a "follow-up" to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. "The Passion ends with [SPOILER ALERT!] Jesus being taken from the cross, and The Resurrection opens with an empty cross," a source familiar with the script tells Reuters, adding, "This is a serious attempt to understand the Roman world in which Christ moved and the Christian era was born."

Jesus Christ | Passion of the Christ | Christianity | Movies | SacredFems.com

Jesus loves a machine gun

Excerpt from San Francisco Chronicle, June 7, 2006, by Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist, reprinted from The Burning Taper.

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission — both a religious mission and a military mission — to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state — especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice.

Ah yes, the neo-Christian ideal. The ultimate dominionist police state, a smoking, reeking, post-apocalyptic vision of New York, a world teeming with nonbelievers just waiting to be either converted or massacred by nothing less than a Christianized American Taliban, a world of righteousness and judgment and death, all in the name of one very nasty and bloodthirsty God. It's "Grand Theft Auto" for the Rick Santorum set. It's "Resident Evil 4" for American Family Association types who eat too much BGH meat and never have sex.

It's the new "Left Behind" video game, due out by Christmas.

Oh but wait. There's a lovely kicker: When you get bored with the sanctimonious drabness of fighting on the side of a hateful Christ (which, invariably, you most certainly will), the game apparently allows you to switch modes and fight for the army of the Antichrist, unleashing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on the flesh of the righteous as you blow away Bible-thumping soldiers who, just before they die, secretly confess their intense gay love for their platoon commanders. Isn't that thoughtful?

It's also a bit of genius marketing. After all, aren't the villains always far cooler and sexier than the self-righteous and the holy? The devil always has better vodka than God. Who wants to run around shooting Buddhists and praying, when you can don the armor of hell itself and drink and have dirtyfun sex and get tattoos and listen to Metallica and wear low-slung jeans and laugh easily? No one, that's who.

Which is why the game could become the sleeper hit of the year. Sure, brainwashed fundamentalist kids will love playing on the side of God. For a while. But then the dark side will beckon. The irresistible scent of rebellion will hit their noses like hot porn pizza. They will fall into the clutches of a crazy self-defined happiness, they will squirm and giggle and feel anarchic and seditious and free, running clean in a place where the beer is cold and the dancing is hot and no one is telling them they have to kill someone because that person dared to believe that God isn't, well, a misanthropic, murderous jackass.

Now that's heaven.

Read the whole enchalada....

Jesus Christ | Left Behind | Christianity | Video Game | BornJesus.blogspot.com

Lightning strikes praying woman

Clara Jean Brown's prayers may have been heard, but she may not be too sure by Whom.

While the Alabama woman stood in her kitchen praying for the safety of her family during a strong thunderstorm on Memorial Day, lightning exploded through the room, blowing a whole in the linoleum and blackening the concrete underneath. She dazed by the blast, but unharmed.

But while she prayed, lightning suddenly exploded, blowing through the linoleum and leaving a blackened area on the concrete. Brown and her 14-year-old granddaughter fell to the the floor as the lightning whizzed by them, dazed and disoriented by the blast, but otherwise uninjured.

Lightning | Prayer | Alabama

Iran tells Bush to practice the Christianity he preaches

Ya gotta love it when the president of a fundamentalist Muslim country like Iran tells the President of the U.S. to practice the Christianity that he preaches.

Read about it here.

Religion Schmeligion: Pizza for Passover

Catholic guy: "Aren't you going to eat some pizza?"

Jewish Guy: "No, it's Passover, we can only eat certain foods, but not pizza."

CG: "You're jewish?"

JG: "Yes, and I've told you this like a thousand times before."

CG: "Aren't Jews the ones that dress up like Ninjas and pray?"

JG: "No, I think you're thinking of Muslims, but they're not really Ninjas..."

CG: (interupting) "Aren't all Jews Muslims?"

JG: "Um... you couldn't be more wrong."

CG: "But tell me this. Jews and Muslims: they're all still Christians, right?"

JG: "I don't even know how to answer that."

—Submitted by Mike Routier, 2006-04-24 12:50:29 Syndicated from Religion Shmeligion, on Overheard in Chicago

Catholics | Jews | Muslims | Ninjas | Overheard In

Jehovah's Witnesses called "hate group"; raided in Russia

A Jehovah's Witnesses prayer meeting of 200 worshippers was raided and broken up by Moscow, Russia, police officers on Thursday.

In June 2004, the Moscow City Court barred the denomination from engaging in religious activities, citing a law that bans religious groups deemed to incite hatred or intolerance.

Read more....

"Jesus Loves Porn Stars"

The L.A. Times and other outlets are reporting that a Bible publisher has refused to print XXXchurch.com's "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" logo on 10,000 Bibles the ministry has paid for. The Bibles were intended to be given out to adult film festival antendees.

Pastors Mike Foster and Craig Gross say they typically give away 1,000 copies of the New Testament at each weekend festival they attend.

The American Bible Society rejected the pastors request to print the words on the cover of the 10,000 copies they had already printed. Barbara Bernstengel, the executive in charge of standards at the nonprofit Bible publishing company, wrote in a letter to the ministry that "the wording is misleading and inappropriate for a New Testament."

The guys at xxxchurch.com are also sponsoring Porn Sunday in churches all over America. Look for it at a church near you.

The company reported made other suggestions for the cover imprint, but the ministers remained steadfast.

Gross said that the imprint would not be misleading: Jesus does love porn stars, as well as every one else, he said. The words do not indicate that Jesus likes pornography.

"But that's why we're putting the Bible in [the porn stars'] hands — Jesus is not OK with it," he said. "The publisher is hindering the Gospel going forth."

Maybe the guys should get JC's Girls founder Heather Veitch to ask the folks at American Bible Society to re-think their position. I think most men who do just about anything she might ask of them.

Jesus Christ | Jesus Love Porn Stars | XXXChurch | Bible | Sex | Mike Foster | Craig Gross | Heather Veitch

The Jesus Flickfest

If you happen to be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on April 14 and 15, be sure to head over to the Knox Centre and enjoy the Jesus Flickfest.

You can see two full days of Jesus movies of all genres, from 1905's silent La vie et la passion de Jesus Christ to the musicals Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar to Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ to Monty Python's Life of Brian, plus 14 more. Makes me wish I was Canadian, ay?

Details...

Jesus Christ | Easter | Canada | Winnipeg | Jesus Flickfest | La vie et la passion de Jesus Christ | From the Manger to the Cross | Il Vangelo secondo Matteo |Parable | Jesus de Montreal | Black Jesus | The Gosepl Road | The Miracle Maker | The Passion of Christ according to Saint Matthew | The Passion of the Christ | Godspell | Jesus Christ Superstar | The Cotton Patch Gospel | Hill Number One | The Last Temptation of Christ | Life of Brian | The King of Kings | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | The Newfoundland Passion | Jesus

Jesus Christ, the Musical

Sometimes you just gotta kick back and laugh. Enjoy the movie.




Jesus Christ | Jesus Christ the Musical | I Will Survive | Video

The Dalai Lama interview

The exiled Dalai Lama, who was the first Dalai Lama to visit the West, recently gave an interview to the London Daily Times.

Of fundamentalists he said: "Fundamentalism is terrifying because it is based purely on emotion, rather than intelligence. It prevents followers from thinking as individuals and about the good of the world."

He was speaking of Muslim fundamentalist terrorists, but his words would apply to any other religious fundamentalists, too.

Of Westerners he said: "It is fascinating. In the West, you have bigger homes, yet smaller families; you have endless conveniences — yet you never seem to have any time. You can travel anywhere in the world, yet you don't bother to cross the road to meet your neighbours.

"I don't think people have become more selfish, but their lives have become easier and that has spoilt them. They have less resilience, they expect more, they constantly compare themselves to others and they have too much choice — which brings no real freedom."

Buddha | Buddhism | Dalai Lama | Tibet

God or the Girl?

Now "reality TV" brings us God or the Girl.

Four young men ponder entering Catholic priesthood... or should they keep their secular lives...?

To help them think it over, one young man "goes on a pilgrimage with no money or food, relying completely on the kindness of strangers to help him get to his destination — a religious center in Niagara Falls."

Another one builds an 80-pound cross and carries it 22 miles. One runs off to help the poor and needy in Guatamala, and the fourth moves to a convent to live with nuns.

Or maybe they should just stay with their girlfriends?

All four major networks turned down the offer to air this show, as did the WB. It debuts on the A&E Network on April 16, Easter Sunday.

Read more, if you care....

Photo: Mike Lechniak reads the Bible while he ponders his future.

Catholic Church | Priests | Reality TV | Jesus Christ | Easter | God | Television | God or the Girl

God's Five Steps to Peace

Here's an excerpt from a recent article at The Burning Taper, which quotes God as he appears in Neale Donald Walsch's "The New Revelations: A Conversation with God," about the Five Steps to Peace:

God doesn't just speak through ancient texts. If He was real then, and was "inspiring" mere mortals to write down His Words, then chances are, He's still doing it.

Neale Donald Walsch has presented the world with a series of books called Conversations with God. In 2002's The New Revelations: A Conversation with God, we are told by God that all our problems, both personal and planetwide, are not political or economic or military in nature, but are spiritual.

He tells us that none of our spiritual or religious beliefs are necessarily wrong, that we should not necessarily discard them, but that to solve our problems we should transcend them!

God says:

Transcending means to go beyond, to move past. It does not mean to completely reject or totally destroy. You do not have to destroy a thing in order to move past it....

"Transcending" does not mean always being "other than," it means always being "larger than." Your new, larger belief system will no doubt retain some of the old — that part of the old belief system that you experience as still serving you — and so it will be a combination of the new and the old, not a rejection of the old from top to bottom.

Can you see the difference?

God continues:

...Stop your resistance.

Rejecting completely your present beliefs would be to discredit so much of what has been taught, so much of what has been understood, so much of what has been done — and so much of what has been good.

It would make too much of the world feel "wrong." It would make ancestors "wrong," it would make entire scriptures "wrong," it would make present-day lives "wrong." People would have to admit that all of the spiritual aspects of the human experience have been a mistake, a misunderstanding.

This is more that most people can acknowledge. It is more than they should acknowledge, because it is not true.

In fact, you don't have to declare that you were "wrong" about anything, because you weren't. You simply didn't have a complete understanding. You needed more information.

Transcending current beliefs is not an outright rejection of them; it is an "adding to" them.

Now that you have more information that you can add to what you presently believe, you can enlarge your beliefs — not completely reject them, enlarge them — and move on with your lives in a new way.

A way that works.

Stay with Him, folks. God has more to say. Why didn't He speak this clearly 2,500 years ago when Isaiah and Jeremiah were proclaiming His words?

You are facing now a new and startling danger — a danger posed to your entire species. A threat to your very survival posed by the combination of a split in ideology and an advance in technology, which makes it possible for you to seek to resolve your differences with tools of human destruction unlike anything you may have heretofore dreamed of in your worst nightmare.

There are five things you can choose now if changing your world, and the self-destructive direction in which it is moving, is what you wish to achieve.

1. You can choose to acknowledge that some of your old beliefs about God and about Life are no longer working.
2. You can choose to acknowledge that there is something you do not understand about God and about Life, the understanding of which will change everything.
3. You can choose to be willing for a new understanding of God and Life to now be brought forth, an understanding that could produce a new way of life on your planet.
4. You can choose to be courageous enough to explore and examine this new understanding, and, if it aligns with your inner truth and knowing, to enlarge your belief system to include it.
5. You can choose to live your lives as demonstrations of your highest and grandest beliefs, rather than as denials of them.

These are the Five Steps to Peace, and if you take them, you can shift everything on your planet.

Behavior cannot be changed, unless there is a change in beliefs, "because beliefs create behaviors."

Artwork: "The Birth of Peace," an oil painting by John WorldPeace.

God's Words quoted from "The New Revelations: A Conversation with God," by Neil Donald Walsch.

God | Neale Donald Walsch | Conversations with God | The New Revelations: A Conversation with God | Five Steps to Peace

Religion in the News

Random recent tidbits of religious interest:

• A Rastafarian has filed a religious discrimination suit against UPS, saying the delivery company refused to let him be a driver because his Rasta-beard didn't meet appearance guidelines.
• Intercessary prayer for heart-surgery patients by strangers does no good, according to a recent study. The authors of the study admit, though, that other studies have indicated that prayer by family members and friends does lessen post-surgical complications.
• According to a recent press release from the Center for Reason, Christians have just as many abortions as non-Christians, and Catholics lead the way, with abortion rates among Cathlolics above the national average.
• Apparently Baptists and fundamentalists are feeling poorly treated these days, whining that they've found themselves on the losing side in a War Against Christians. But even some evangelicals have told the cry-babies to stow it, and focus on issues that Jesus would care about, like poverty and hunger.
• Catholics are more likely that other people, religious or non-religious, to support the use of torture, according to a recent survey. Does that surprise anyone, given that the former head of the Catholic Inquisition (the Prefrect of the Congregation for the Doctrine and Faith) is now the Pope of the Holy Roman Catholic Church? Fifty-six percent of Catholics surveyed said they support torturing terrorists "often" or "sometimes," while 49% of white Protestants and 49% of white Evangelicals both said they support it often or sometimes. Only 35% of those who claimed to be non-religious supported torture often or sometimes. Twenty-six percent of Catholics said torture should never be used, compared to 31% each for white Protestants and white Evangelicals, and 41% of non-religious people.

Jigging for Jesus

Wearing a kilt emblazoned with the Star of David, wearing what looks like a Girl Scout beret and vest, and carrying a sign that reads, "The end is coming, Christ is near," Irish ex-priest Cornelius "Neil" Horan dances a jig for Jesus in this video from YouTube.

In August, 2004 Horam was given a 12-month suspended sentence for ambushing the front-runner in the mens' marathon in Athens, Greece, during the Olympics, according to the BBC. He also has disrupted the Grand Prix and other sporting events with his "end of the world" publicity stunts. He even has his own Wikipedia entry.

"Forget The Da Vinci Code! THIS is the real thing!"

"Forget The Da Vinci Code! This is the real deal," says arts and antiquities dealer Michel Van Rijn of the revelation two weeks from now that he believes will alter the world's thinking and undermine 2,000 years of Christian teaching.

Found in the 1970s in a tomb in Egypt, and later acquired by a Swiss foundation, The Gospel of Judas is set to be published in the April issue of National Geographic magazine, reports the Guardian Unlimited.

History tells us that a Gospel of Judas was denounced by a bishop in the second century. Presumably, this is the same text.

The text, reports say, presents Judas not as the vilest of traitors, but rather as a hero, doing what he did at Jesus's request. Indeed, it is supposed, that without the "betrayal," there would have been no martyrdom; Christ's destiny could not have been fulfilled.

Not everyone, of course, is as excited or worried about this bit of historical revisionism as is Van Rijn. The world will keep on turning, the Pope will still do what the Pope does, the Baptists will still do Baptists do, and this blog will publish yet another article. The masses won't even notice.

But slowly, surely, another brick in the wall of modern Christianity will be eroded, another "eternal verity" will be dispensed with. I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing.

Reprinted from SacredFems.com

Christianity | Jesus Christ
Judas Iscariot | Gospel of Judas
Heresy | National Geographic | Egypt | Antiquities

Body-slammin' for the Lord!

Are you ready to rummmm-ble?

What do you get when you put a Christian evangelist in tights and bad make-up, call him by a Biblical name, and throw him into a ring? A body-slammer for Jesus!

Christian "rock" music wasn't bad enough. Holy Hotties buying lap dances for Jesus got my attention 'cause, well, they're hotties. But Wrestling for the J-man? Jeez....

Chase "Darkness" Cliett is strapped to a wooden cross while the Bad Guys beat the hell out of him, before he is saved by his angelic Good Guys. A red-suited horned guy finally gets knocked out, to the joyous shrieks of the crowd.

At the official website WrestlingforJesus.org, you can see their line-up of wrestlers, buy their cheesy t-shirts, and have your ears blasted by loud heavy metal music.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Christianity today. Someone should just throw these people to the lions!

Source: "Christian wrestlers body slam for God"

Photo is of "Darkness." Scary, huh?

Pro Wrestling | Jesus Christ
Wrestling for Jesus

Celebrating the Vernal Equinox

Happy Vernal Equinox! Today in the Northern Hemisphere, it's the first day of Spring, when the sun crosses the Celestial Equator and enters the sign of Aries.

It's a day for mourning the Goddess's consort, the Dying God, who has co-ruled with the Goddess during the autumn and winter months.

It is the first day of the year in the Zoroastrian calendar. It is the feast day of the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Easter, known to the Mesopatamians as Ishtar.

The Dying God is celebrated by an inscription in the Vatican, which says, "He who will not eat of my body, nor drink of my blood, so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved." No, that's not Jesus talking, but the God-Man Mithras, upon whose Temple ruins the Vatican was built. Mithras was a solar deity known as The Redeemer. His worship was before and concurrent with that of Jesus, but eventually faded away.

Mithras was Known as the "Good Shepherd" and the "Light of the World," just as was Jesus. Mithras's followers shared ritual communion meals of bread and wine. Mithras was born in a cave, of a virgin, on December 25th. Shepherds attended at his birth.

As the Burning Taper discussed some time ago, many God-Men were born on the Winter Solstice, and many died on the Vernal Solstice. Attis's mother was Cybele, a virgin, known as Queen of Heaven. Further back, we find the Babylonian Goddess Ishtar and her dying/resurrected son/lover Tammuz, born/resurrected at the Winter Solstice, dying at the Spring Equinox.

Even the name Easter comes from the word Ishtar.

The cross is an ancient symbol, pre-dating Christianity, often used to represent a solar deity. Inside a circle, the cross represents the Earth and her four seasons.

From "The Temple of Love: The History of the Temple of Ishtar":

In Her Temples in many lands from Egypt to Assyria to Babylon to Crete to India, in Rome and Greece and many Celtic lands, Her Temples had Sacred Priestesses who were also called Prostitutes by those of body denial religions. Her worship was in the arms of the Priestess who embodied and represented The Goddess(s). These worshipers are sometimes known as pagans.

A fundamental difference in the concept of worship is important to note: In the Temples of the old ways people would go to the temple TO BE WORSHIPPED not to worship. Women would go to the temple to serve the Goddess to embody Her, to represent Her, to be worshipped as Her. Women would spend a day, or a week, or a year serving at the Temple as a priestess, as a sacred Prostitute, as a whore in service to the Goddess. There they would be worshipped as the incarnation of the Goddess, as The Goddess Herself.

Men would come to Her Temple TO BE WORSHIPPED. Men would be welcomed and served by the Priestesses and men would represent the divine male principal, the Horned One, the Sacred Bull, The God. Men would come to the temple to give their love and passion to The Goddess, and would receive the passion, love, and affection of The Goddess.

But some three millennia ago there came monotheists who refused Her Worship preferring instead to be diminished in body and spirit. They called Her, "The Whore of Babylon, who leads men into fornication." They called our sacred sexuality "sin," and cast shame on Her sacred Priestesses. They held up a "virgin" as the ideal that women should imitate instead of the sacred Goddess that they had always held as the most sacred image of Woman. This is essentially the state of things in the modern world.

The two principal deities of ancient Babylon were Baal and Ishtar. Baal was the god of war and the elements and Ishtar the goddess of fertility - both human and agricultural. These two deities have roots going back before Babylon to Nimrod at Babel and to Assyria. Through the ages they were imported into other nations and under different names but always retaining the same basic characteristics. Baal was also called Bel, Baalat, Molech, Merodach, Mars and Jupiter, and was frequently represented as a bull. Ishtar was also called Aphrodite, Astarte, Ashtoreth, Cybele or Sybil, Diana, Europa, Isis, Semiramis and Venus. The two main elements in the worship of Baal were fire and human sacrifice, usually children.

Happy Spring!

Sources:
Altreligion.About.Com
The Temple of Love: The History of the Temple of Ishtar
The Burning Taper: Let There Be Light
Born Jesus: Mother, behold thy Son! Son, behold thy Mother!

This article is reprinted from SacredFems.com.

Astrotheology | Ishtar | Baal | Cybele
Attis | Tammuz | Jesus | Virgin Mary

Jesus was a radical: No dogma, no creed, no ritual

Spartacus opens our eyes by pointing out Jesus was not perfect by 21st century standards. He was a racist, He was disrespectful to His mother and relatives, He advocated violence, and He was a Sage.

Swami Abhedananda, a Hindu Sage, said: "The religion of Christ or true Christianity had no dogma, no creed, no system, and no theology. It was a religion of the heart, a religion without any ceremonial, without ritual, without priest-craft. It was not based upon any book, but upon the feelings of the heart, upon direct communion of the individual soul with the heavenly Father. On the contrary, the religion of the church is based upon a book, believes in dogmas, professes a creed, has an organized system for preaching it, is backed up by theologies, performs rituals, practises ceremonials, and obeys the commands of a host of priests."

Read more...

Jesus Christ | Theology | Catholicism
Christianity | Hindu | Swami Abhedananda

We're all Jesus's children

Is there a bloodline from Jesus to the present day? Yes! And we're all part of it. That is, if Jesus had children.

We tend to think we can trace our roots back to a specific individual, but we also tend to forget the other people who donated their genetics to us. At 20 generations back, most of us have between 600,000 and 1,000,000 ancestors; at 40 generations, the number is phenomenal. At 120 generations, the whole world was our mommy and daddy.

Read more....

Thanks to Spartacus for clueing us into this article.

Jesus | Bloodline | Da Vinci Code | Ancestry
Geneology | Genetics | Dan Brown

Mother, behold thy son! Son, behold thy mother!

This statue and shrine is part of a small chapel near a cemetary at the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama. On the grounds of a Cathlolic church and prepatory school, the grotto also houses an incredible display of "little Jerusalem," dozens of miniature representations of Bible-era Jerusalem, European cathedrals, scenes from the Bible, patriotic themes, and much more, all built by hand by a monk who was denied the privilege of becoming a priest because an accident at the monastery left him a hunchback. Fascinating.

Most people see here a statue of a weeping Mary holding her dead son Jesus, with a crucifix overhead and above that, a round stained glass window. The border of the stained glass window says, "Mother, behold thy son. Son, behold thy mother."

Typical Catholic stuff, you say. Yep, I say.

But I see so much more.

I see the Queen of the Heavens — the female representation of the Mother / Sky / Heaven / the Universe/ the Moon — holding the dying and soon to be resurrected Sun / Son / God of this World. Since the dawn of Man, the Sky and the ancient planets (which included the Sun and the Moon) have been held in awe... have been worshipped and adored and sometimes feared.

Above the two figures, we see the Cross, the Crucifix, the actual emblem of the dead and resurrected God / Man / Sun. The Cross as a religious symbol predates Christianity. The Cross represents the Earth, and four quadrants the Seasons. More than that, it represents Life itself. And yes, the Cross represents Death itself, or rather, the constant renewal, the constant regeneration, the constant interplay between Birth and Death. The cross also represents the Male and the Female, both necessary to bring forth new life. The vertical shaft of the Cross is driven into/through the horizontal beam of the Cross, representing the physical requirement of Man entering Woman in order to perpetuate the Life cycle.

Male and female... mother and son... behold, Life!

The circular stained glass also represents the spherical Sun... and the Moon.

And taken as a unit, the circle atop the cross is the symbol for the heavenly Venus, Aphrodite, Hera, Juno, Ishtar, Astarte, Esther, Isis, and of course, Mary, the Queen of the Heavens.

Not to mention, the universal symbol for Female.

Astrotheology | Heaven | Catholicism | Ave Maria Grotto
Jesus | Solar Worship | Astrology Symbolism | Mythology
Virgin Mary | Mother Mary | Mother and Son

Falwell: "No Jews in Heaven!"

Jerry Falwell claims that he loves Jews so much that he "seriously believe[s] that few Americans have invested more time and resources in the defense of Israel in this generation" than he has.

But, so sorry, Jewish people: He says you're still going to hell. "...[It] is categorically untrue... that I have recently stated that Jews can go to heaven without being converted to Jesus Christ."

Source: "A Gracious Correction of the Jerusalem Post," written by Jerry Fallwell, March 2, 2006

Jerry Falwell | Jerusalem | Judaism | Jews
Hell | John Hagee | Dual Covenant

Thetans vs South Park: The Million Year War

Isaac Hayes quit the show South Park recently, complaining that the show that had returned him to stardom "disrespected" religion. Apparently Hayes didn't mind disrespecting Baptists, Mormons, Catholics and Jews. It was when they got around to disrespecting Scientologists that his morals and compassion kicked in.

On Wednesday, Comedy Central abruptly pulled the scheduled South Park episode about Scientology, called "Trapped in the Closet," and aired instead an episode featuring Hayes called "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls."

While the South Park creators didn't directly comment on Comedy Central's decision to pull the episode, they issued an unusual statement to Daily Variety indicating the battle is not over.

"So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The duo signed the statement "Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu."

South Park | Chef | Xenu | Isaac Hayes
Scientology | Trey Parker | Matt Stone

Saving the Nazi Church

In 1932 Nazis began joining local parishes in a clandestine effort to undermine the Church's power to resist Hitler's rise to power. By 1935, two-thirds of the membership of the Martin Luther Memorial Church were members of the Nazi party.

The church building was built in 1929, designed in the Bauhaus style. The inside was modifed by the Nazi members in the 1930s.

“There was a bust of Adolf Hitler in the nave,” Isolde Boehm, dean of the church, said, the Times of London reports. “A carved face of Hitler has been replaced by one of Martin Luther. There is even a rumour that the church was supposed to be called the Adolf Hitler Church.”

The image of a Nazi storm trooper side by side with Jesus Christ has been carved into the pulpit. An Iron Cross-shaped chandelier illuminates the entrance

Bare patches in the walls marks where swastikas have been ripped out.

Two Protestant priests — Frau Boehm and the Reverend Malte Jungnickel — want to have the church declared a listed building. They are asking the German government to fund restoration of the church, expected to cost €3 million (£2 million or $3.6 million US).

"Look at the face of Christ on the cross," Herr Jungnickel said. "It is the face of a victorious Aryan, with a bodybuilder’s frame, not the suffering Jesus."

"So far, thank God, the neo-Nazis have not discovered the church as a place of pilgrimage," Frau Boehm said. [Neo-Nazis apparently don't have the Internet, and will never read this. — Ed.]

German art critics find themselves in an ethical dilemma: How much Nazi iconography should be saved?

The Nazi church is something of an embarassment; it reminds people of how clearly the Protestant Church aligned itself to Hitler.

Bells embosssed with the swastika rang at the church until 1942, when they were melted down for use in war munitions.

Not all the church members during the Second World War were Nazis or Nazi sympathizers, however. Max Kurzreiter, the local priest in the 1930s, gave shelter to members of the dissident anti-Nazi Confessional Church.

And prominent anti-Nazi and writer Jochen Klepper married a Jewish convert at the church in 1938. "That required a great deal of courage from the priest," Herr Jungnickel said.

Klepper, his wife and one of his daughters killed themselves in December 1942. "The problem we will always have with this unique church is that whenever we stand in the pulpit and say something, we have to preach against our surroundings; that’s incredibly hard," Frau Boehm said.

"Somehow we have to find a way of preserving the building, keeping its interior as a warning, but also supplement it with a documentation centre explaining the complicated history of the church in the Third Reich."

Nazi | Hitler | Third Reich
Christianity | Protestant | Martin Luther Memorial Church

Chef quits South Park; says show disrespects religion

Isaac Hayes says he has had it with South Park.

Since 1997, he has voiced the character of Chef, the ladies' man/school cook that the kids look up to on the animated Comedy Central satire.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

Hayes, a Scientologist, did not specifically cite in his complaint the 2005 "Trapped in the Closet" episode, which goofed on Scientology with visits from Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

"There is a place in this world for satire,” Hayes said, “but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins."

South Park co-creator Matt Stone told the AP: "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians."

The AP report continues:

Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.

Stone told the AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."

Links:
Watch the episode about Scientology
South Park Studios homepage

South Park | Chef | Isaac Hayes
Scientology | Tom Cruise | John Travolta

Marriage

On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.

At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

The room erupted into applause.