Today is Friday, January 14,2005: the feast day of Servant of God
John the Gardener. From the [Saints of the Day:]
John was born of poor parents in Portugal. Orphaned early in life, he spent some years begging from door to door. After finding work in Spain as a shepherd, he shared the little he earned with those even more needy than himself.
One day two Franciscans encountered him on a journey. Engaging him in conversation, they took a liking to the simple man and invited him to come and work at their friary in Salamanca. He readily accepted and was assigned to the task of assisting the brother with gardening duties. A short time later John himself entered the Franciscan Order and lived a life of prayer and meditation, fasting constantly, spending the nights in prayer, still helping the poor. Because of his work in the garden and the flowers he produced for the altar, he became known as "the gardener."
Today's Categories:
- God-fearing Thugs
- Speaking Out
- Church & State
- This 'n' That
God-fearing Thugs
The RNR staff (me, myself and I) have decided to rename our "Bad Men" category, based on
this item from the
New York Daily News. Pungent-yet-questionable journalism at its finest.
Speaking of God-fearing thugs, check the parenting tips at the bottom of this page.
Slactivist feels the need to remind us of some basic principles:
I would just like to state for the record that I think torture is wrong.
And paramilitary death squads. I'm against them, thank you.
And also cannibalism. And the vivisection of small children. Bad Things, those. Oughtn't to be done. Although, unlike torture and death squads, these latter two are not yet, to my knowledge, being considered/recommended/implemented by my government.
And ... Jesus God! I can't stand this.
How in the name of all that is holy did I end up living in a country where I find myself having to say things like that?
Gaah.
I just ... gaah.
Which reminds us of Mrs. Pastor's favorite "Get Fuzzy" line: "It's not like I never want to bite people...I just know it's wrong." Would that everyone did.
The World Help plan to resettle Muslim orphans in a Christian orphanage near Jakarta is kaput. And just when we were working up some good rant on the subject.
Tyndale Seminary and two others in Texas are fighting a Texas law that says they can't issue degrees without being accredited by the state. Because, you know, being subject to the governing authorities just doesn't work for Christians anymore.
The saga of the Philadelphia 11 5 continues, as do the fundagelical cries of persecution. Tip for y'all: if you're not getting stomped by several burly cops with tasers and nightsticks, a comparison to Rodney King just doesn't work.
The Philly Inquirer (link above) has a picture of Repent America's Michael Marcavage looking pretty normal, but then Pam has this picture of Marcavage with none other than Roy Moore:
What is it with crazy believers and beards without mustaches?
And what is it with crazy believers spouting quotes like this (from the PhillyInq article above)?
"This homofascism has come to our doorstep; it's in America," said Ralph Ovadal, head of Wisconsin Christians United, in a recent radio program. "Christians need to wake up and realize how quickly the walls are closing in on their religious liberties, on their religious duties to preach the gospel."
Speaking Out
A fistful of links today from Christians advocating progressive worldviews: first, there's Progressive Christians Uniting on Social Security and why it should not be raped and pillaged; then there's the ecumenical group pushing the administration to kick-start the peace process. The Friends Service Committee is witnessing against torture, and the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC is suing the state to stop the scheduled execution of a serial killer. (Newsday, please! We're not the Church of Christ! Oh my, no...)
A group of clergy in Arizona marches to stop that state's DOMA; and our personal favorite, a Baptist minister writes on what he's learned about the Bible and Homosexuality. Read it and smile.
Church & State
Some real wins on this front in the past week. Besides the Dover (PA) school board not insisting that its teachers read statements on Intelligent Design in their classes, a federal judge in Atlanta has ordered Cobb County to remove stickers that deemed evolution "not a fact." Damn those liberal justices and their understanding of science!
In another school case, the Frankenmuth, Michigan school board has rejected a Bible-study course as "not academically rigorous."
Another judge has ruled against a faith-based mentoring program in an Arizona prison.
On the other hand, we've heard that Monroe County, NY has its own faith-based initiative coordinator. We weren't aware that counties needed such staff. Oh, you mean they'll help local groups get federal funding? What a surprise...
Plenty of people have commented on this interview, in which President Bush claims a "relationship with the Lord" as a pre-req for the presidency.
That's bad enough, but two other pieces were what really caught our eye. The first is an egregious little piece of propaganda, even for the WaTimes:
The president said there is no reason to fear his conspicuous practice of his Methodist faith or his approval of religious expression in the public square.
Since when does he have a "conspicuous practice"? The man seldom if ever attends church, and Lord knows he routinely ignores the counsels of the Methodist church.
And then there's this bit:
"What we are going to do in the second term is to make sure that the grant money is available for faith communities to bid on, to make sure these faith-based offices are staffed and open," Mr. Bush said. "But the key thing is, is that we do have the capacity to allow faith programs to access enormous sums of social service money, which I think is important."
Wonder if he's been talking to the folks over in Monroe County?
This 'n' That
We mentioned a week or two back that poorer states actually outrank wealthy ones in terms of charitable giving. We were relying on a PBS report at the time, but now we've stumbled across the primary source. You suck, New Hampshire!
Here's some reaction to the ELCA's release of its study on the church and homosexuality. Repulsive toad Albert Mohler has his usual reaction here.
What wonders God hath wrought, and various space agencies hath brought near:
That's purple haze around Titan, y'all. Dude. Purple haze...
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that is possible to be a progressive, growing church. Baptist, yet! On the other hand, preachers might want to be careful what they say about heaven, especially if they've got heart problems.
A follow-up on our story from Monday on a shrimp boil in Monroe, Wisconsin:
You get the craziest stuff on Yahoo or Google news bulletins sometimes. We've learned about manhole piracy in Faith, North Carolina this week, and Lord alone knows how we got this one. However it was, we think it's a good reminder: Montana's too damn cold!
Pam's yukking it up over this story about a guy in Reading, PA who tried to hold an indoor pig roast. You laugh, Pam. You don't have to work up there.
That's okay, though. We'll forgive you. After all, who else would find a story about the Pentagon's attempts to develop a "homo bomb"?
We thought that's what "Queer Eye" was for?