Category: Religion

Athenae, Faith, Religion, Stupid Republican Tricks10 Comments

Witness for the Persecution

Requiring insurance plans to cover contraception is just like dissolving the Catholic Church in England so Henry VII can marry a harlot: Making the connection to the Fortnight crystal-clear, the archbishop emphasized: “St. Thomas More could be said to represent that conscientious private employer or employee who seeks to avoid doing or facilitating moral evil in course of daily work while striving to live and work in accord with the demands of social justice. He stands for those who go about their daily work in accord with their faith . . . and those who understand how dangerous it is … Continue reading Witness for the Persecution

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion, Stupid Republican Tricks13 Comments

Way to Pick Your Battles, Catholic Church

Allison Hantschel

Continuing their theme of assigning tasks based on angry wingnut e-mail forwards from America’s brothers-in-law, now U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops think the Girl Scouts are leading our young astray: The new inquiry will be conducted by the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. It will look into the Scouts’ “possible problematic relationships with other organizations” and various “problematic” program materials, according to a letter sent by the committee chairman, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne, Ind., to his fellow bishops. The bishops’ conference provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press, but otherwise declined … Continue reading Way to Pick Your Battles, Catholic Church

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion, Stupid Republican Tricks13 Comments

Way to Pick Your Battles, Catholic Church

Continuing their theme of assigning tasks based on angry wingnut e-mail forwards from America’s brothers-in-law, now U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops think the Girl Scouts are leading our young astray: The new inquiry will be conducted by the bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. It will look into the Scouts’ “possible problematic relationships with other organizations” and various “problematic” program materials, according to a letter sent by the committee chairman, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne, Ind., to his fellow bishops. The bishops’ conference provided a copy of the letter to The Associated Press, but otherwise declined … Continue reading Way to Pick Your Battles, Catholic Church

Current Affairs, Do Something, Religion6 Comments

May The Farce Be With You

Sometimes I want to give the internet a hug: Tommy Robinson took a few seconds on Sunday evening to make an observation about Twitter’s homepage. “Welcome to twitter homepage has a picture of a mosque,” he wrote. “What a joke#creepingsharia.” Of course, Robinson isn’t just any old tweeter, but the co-founder of the English Defence League, a far-right protest group. Tweet posted, Robinson no doubt wandered off to do other Sunday evening things; maybe plan a rally or two. […] In less than 24 hours, #creepingsharia was trending, but what could have become a feed for EDL members and sympathisers … Continue reading May The Farce Be With You

Athenae, Faith, Religion6 Comments

What Churches Risk

In the headlong rush into sexual political fights: It’s too bad U.S. bishops are spending so much political and cultural capital on the religious liberty fight which is now becoming bogged down over contraception. Too bad because while they are engaged in what I suspect will be a losing battle in a rhetorical war, the voice they are raising, rare these days in Washington, against a real war is getting lost in the cultural haze. AsU.S. Senators have essentially now begun taking orders directly from AIPAC and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—in a manner that would no doubt generate outrage … Continue reading What Churches Risk

Athenae, Faith, Religion4 Comments

Living for Bread Ain’t Worth Living At All

RMJ on a Lent I could get into: You have heard; you have seen; perhaps today you even bear the ashes on your head; perhaps you didn’t, or you wiped them off at the church door. It doesn’t matter! What matters is what you do, and if you remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return, then you’ll realize that we are all dust! And we are all deserving, we are all going down, in the end, to the same place, and it’s high time we started sharing the joy of the experience rather than fearing we … Continue reading Living for Bread Ain’t Worth Living At All

Adrastos, Film, Religion, Web/Tech4 Comments

Hacked Off Vatican

Peter Adrastos Athas

The Italian branch of Anonymous has put the Vatican web site in limbo or is that purgatory? In short, they’ve gone didatic on the papal ass. What that means beats the hell outta me but it sounds good: In a statement on its Italian-language website, the collective accused the Catholic Church of being responsible for a long list of misdeeds throughout history, including the selling of indulgences in the 16th century and burning heretics during the Inquisition. “Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the doctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic concepts that your … Continue reading Hacked Off Vatican

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion, Stupid Republican Tricks12 Comments

War on the Modern World

Go for it. Just go for it. Burn it all down. Pile everything you’ve ever said was important to you in the street, douse it in gasoline, and let the blaze light up the sky. This puts it all on the table. Republicans and Catholics and Republican Catholics and Republicans who just say they’re Catholic and Catholics who are Republican because abortion seems yucky are now all just going to have to say it now. They would rather lots and lots of women die from preventable conditions, too many unwanted children, and abortions that should never have to happen, than … Continue reading War on the Modern World

Athenae, Faith, Immoral Values, Religion8 Comments

Intrinsic Evil

Allison Hantschel

Illinois bishop Thomas Paprocki, formerly an auxiliary bishop of Chicago and generally somebody I would not have expected to be this obtuse: There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils. My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding “political” and didn’t say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to … Continue reading Intrinsic Evil

Immoral Values, Law/Justice, Religion, VirgoTex5 Comments

The long arm of the law, in your uterus

I feel more empowered already. “Today’s ruling is a victory for all who stand in defense of life. Every life lost to abortion is a tragedy, and this important sonogram legislation ensures that every Texas woman seeking an abortion has all the facts about the life she is carrying, and understands the devastating impact of such a life-ending decision.We will continue to fight any attempt to limit our state’s laws that value and protect the unborn.” We will, however, continue to dismantle and destroy those laws and systems that value and protect living children.Once they’re born, those little suckers are … Continue reading The long arm of the law, in your uterus

Congress, Current Affairs, Immoral Values, Political Crack, Pony, Bitches!, Propaganda, Religion, Stupid Republican Tricks, Television, Tommy T5 Comments

Jindal blows a gaping hole in Perry’s waterline even wider

All right – excuse me for getting out of my box, but I don’t see thisanywhere else on the interwebz. It made me choke on my ham, onion, and jalapeno omelette. The MTP bobbleheads had the surrogates for Romney and Perry on this morning, and the subject turned to the M-word: (Gregory) There’s this issue of”Governor Romney is a Mormon”, this has become an issue in the campaign, pastor Robery Jeffress introduced Rick Perry and said the following: (clip runs) (Jefferson) “So we want a candidate who s a good, moral person? Or do we want a candidate who is … Continue reading Jindal blows a gaping hole in Perry’s waterline even wider

Adrastos, Political Crack, Religion1 Comment

Quote of the day

Peter Adrastos Athas

It comes from a post by the Guardian’s Andrew Brown about Mitt Haircut’s Mormonism: Modern public Mormons are almost parodically conformist and technocratic.The public image of Mitt Romney is not of a man who holds strange beliefs that he will act on if elected, but the opposite – a man who has no principles whatsoever, and almost no personality. Abstinent, frugal, hard-working and rich, the Mormons have moved from the fringe of American life to its centre – not least because their religion is so intensely American. Whether or not it’s crazy, it has worked. Continue reading Quote of the day

Adrastos, Current Affairs, Religion

NOLA Potpourri for $200, Alex

Peter Adrastos Athas

October is my favorite month of the year in New Orleans. The heat finally breaks and the chances of a tropical system starts to diminish. It’s also been a very newsy few weeks here so I thought I’d share. The big story right now is the passing offormer Archbishop Philip Hannan at the advanced age of 98. Hannan was a larger than life figure. He was a chaplain with the 82nd Airborne in World War II and jumped with his flock thereby earning a series of nicknames, my favorite being the Parachuting Padre. Holy Father Mulcahy, Batman. Hannan hasn’t been … Continue reading NOLA Potpourri for $200, Alex

Adrastos, Immoral Values, Malakatude, Religion17 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Metropolitan Seraphim Of Piraeus

Peter Adrastos Athas

This week’s malaka with other bearded dudes. He’s the one who talks loudly *and* carries a big stick. I like naming a malaka of the week who knows from malakatude. This week’s “honoree” is, in fact, a Greek Orthodox Bishop who is a real Greek and a bona fide bearded malaka, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus.I was raised in the American Greek Orthodox Church and the Priests I knew as a kid were mostly bleeding hearts who marched with Dr. King and against the Vietnam War. The Greek Greek Church is a different kettle of fish altogether. Exhibit A is Metropolitan … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Metropolitan Seraphim Of Piraeus

Adrastos, Film, Immoral Values, Malakatude, Religion, War in Afghanistan9 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Bryan Fischer

Peter Adrastos Athas

I didn’t write a malaka of the week post last week but the malakatude kept rolling. This week’s winner is some hairbag I’d never heard of before but Bryan Fischer is a class-A malaka and worthy of this “honor.” This douchebag is the “issues” director of the American Family Association and he’s also a guy who puts the ass in association. While the rest of America celebrated theheroism and humility of Medal of Honor winner Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, Mr. Fischer slammed the selection in apost at his AFA blog: We have feminized the Medal of Honor. According to Bill McGurn … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Bryan Fischer

Adrastos, Music, Religion5 Comments

Come Together Goes To Church?

Peter Adrastos Athas

Here’s a clip that’s floating around the interweb of a preacher performing John Lennon’s nonsense dadalike tune, Come Together, at somemega-church in Plymouth, Michigan. Hey maybe that’s it: when I think Plymouth I think of the rock and the Beatles were rockers. Hallelujah. Wait a darn minute, I’m still confused: http://www.piratechristianradio.com/mediaplayer-licensed-viral/player-licensed-viral.swf WTF are they on about? The lyrics are highfalutin gibberish a la Jabberwocky. Praise be to Brothers John, George, Ringo and Macca. Woo. Via Bill Corbett of MST3K and Rifftrax’s twitter feed. This weird use of a Beatle song and all the Jesus posts here yesterday, implanted an earworm … Continue reading Come Together Goes To Church?

Current Affairs, Jude, Religion7 Comments

Jesus With Boobs? Seriously?

That’s Jesus with boobs. Folks, it only goes downhill from here. So I’m sure all of you good people read our Lord and Savior Athenae’spost below; if you haven’t, shame on you. Also say 20 Hail Lombardis, and think about what you haven’t done. It turns out that some religious dopes you’ll never meet are outraged that some art gallery you’ve never heard of in a town you’ll never visit is daring–daring!–to show something that might not validate all of their stupid religious beliefs. For the life of me, I don’t know how a crowd of these god-botherers isn’t following … Continue reading Jesus With Boobs? Seriously?

Current Affairs, Jude, Religion16 Comments

More Evidence That Derpity Derp Derp

Om mani padme durr. Greetings, everyone. First, I begin with a story. Is it a story of awesomeness? Naturally. I work for the state, in the unemployment program. So, as I’ve noted, these days I’m busier than a three-legged cat trying to cover up a turd on a frozen pond. That aside, the unemployment law in Wisconsin is some complicated shit. There are entire categories of employment that, should you get laid off, aren’t covered by the unemployment system; that is, if you work as, say, a caddy on a golf course, and you find yourself out of that job … Continue reading More Evidence That Derpity Derp Derp

Adrastos, Current Affairs, Religion4 Comments

Maybe she should adopt the Quran burning preacher

Peter Adrastos Athas

That asshole cracker preacher in Florida isgetting a lot of attentionfor his threat to burn the Quran on the 9th anniversary of 9/11. Attention and face time on the tube is precisely what this douchebag wants. A handful of theso-called respectable neo-con Islamophobes are running away from Pastor Terry Jones BUT continue to whip up hate against Allah the Sky God whilst championing Jehovah the Sky God. Angelina Jolie has now entered the fray. She’s on an humanitarian mission in Pakistan and has quite correctly denounced Pastor Terry Jones’ plan to burn the other team’s holy book. I’m not much … Continue reading Maybe she should adopt the Quran burning preacher

Adrastos, Law/Justice, Malakatude, Religion13 Comments

Malakas Of The Week: The Louisiana Coffin Cartel

Peter Adrastos Athas

The Gret Stet of Louisiana has all sorts of weird boards and such, which ostensibly regulate commerce but are just as often set up to protect special interests and fatten someone’s wallet. That, in turn, leads to malakatude as you’re about to see.The latest story involves a dispute between the Benedictine Monks and the Louisiana Board Of Embalmers and Funeral Directors over coffins: When St. Joseph Abbey decided to open a woodshop on All Saints Day 2007 to sell handcrafted caskets to the public, the hope was that the sales would pay for the medical and educational needs of 36 … Continue reading Malakas Of The Week: The Louisiana Coffin Cartel

Jude, Religion, Science10 Comments

Religious Nuts: They’re All Cut From The Same Cloth

Learn some goddamned geometry! So. Apparently, a bunch of fanatics in Saudi Arabia have decided thatGMT needs to be superceded by Arabia Standard Time. And what passes for logic with these guys is really, really appalling. Really, check this out. As Mohammed al-Arkubi, manager of one of the hotels in the complex, put it: “Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal.” According to Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian cleric known around the Muslim world for his popular television show “Sharia and Life”, Mecca has a greater claim to being the prime meridian because it … Continue reading Religious Nuts: They’re All Cut From The Same Cloth

Adrastos, Current Affairs, Religion5 Comments

The Anti-What League?

Peter Adrastos Athas

I was horrified and saddened the other day when the Anti-Defamation League joined the hateful mob rabble rousing against the Mosque near Ground Zero. I had planned writing a post about it but Peter Beinart nailed it at the Daily Beast so I’ll quote his powerful closing paragraphs instead: For a long time now, the ADL seems to have assumed that it could exempt Israel from the principles in its charter and yet remain just as faithful to that charter inside the United States. But now the chickens are coming back home to America to roost. The ADL’s rationale for … Continue reading The Anti-What League?