Those poor Creationists

By Cernig

Those poor Creationists. Someone up there keeps playing practical jokes on them and their young-Earth theories.

Early humans may have roamed Europe as much as 1.2 million years ago, far earlier than previously thought, scientists said on Wednesday, based on fossils they found in northern Spain.

Researchers excavated a jaw bone, teeth and simple tools in a cave near the city of Burgos dated around 400,000 years older than the previously oldest-known remains found at a nearby site 14 years ago, a paper published in the journal Nature said.

The remains are accurately dated and lay to rest doubts about when early humans first lived in Europe, said Andreu Olle, who has worked at the Atapuerca site since 1990.

"These are the oldest human remains in Europe. With this fossil, we can say it (Europe) was populated earlier than was thought," he told Reuters.

The bones are similar to fossils thought to be 800,000 years old found at the same site in 1994, suggesting a continuous human presence in Western Europe.

Maybe God just likes laughing at them as much as the rest of us.

The Deep End Of The Republican Cesspool

By Cernig

Time for a dip in the Republican cesspool, as typified by B-list conservative website MitchNews. There you will find such gems of black helicopter crowd wisdom as this:

At the risk of being labeled a “conspiracy theorist”, it is plausible to me that the NAFTA Superhighway is only one link in the chain to draw Canada, Mexico and the United States together. If that is the intention, imagine what it will mean to have one entity that includes the corruption and poverty of Mexico and the socialist-inclined Canada. If you disagree with this description of Canada, consider that Canada has:

Banned the death penalty,
Imposed draconian restrictions on gun rights,
Adopted a national socialized medicine program,
Received military deserters and provided a safe haven for them, and
Legalized homosexual marriage.

If the Security and Prosperity Partnership program (SPP) and the NAFTA Superhighway come to pass, we will see multi-national corporations with government support seize large portions of American property, adversely affect our national security and damage our environment, all for the purpose of making their businesses more efficient and to enhance profits.

Do you wonder as I do why the president and so many members of congress, the media and business seem to be unconcerned about this unpublicized effort toward harmonization of infrastructure, laws and regulations of Canada, Mexico and the United States? Is the failure to protect our borders by the administration and members of congress a reflection of the expectation that one day we won’t have either borders or “illegal immigration” because anyone crossing our borders will be authorized to do so and borders will become unnecessary?

and this:

Barack Obama wants to be President of the World, starting with Africa, his home territory.

That also is where Kenyan cousin just lost his bid for that nation’s presidency. However, in the process, cousin had Obama’s cheerleading support from America.

That is so even though cousin was promising Kenya the wipe out of Christianity for Islam. It was the strict, legalistic Muslim version abiding by sharia.

Yes, Obama still has a warm spot in his black heart for Africa, then the entire world—poor nations bowing before his throne.

And who will pay The Boy’s bill for aiding the globe’s poor? Why American taxpayers, naturally.

Obama then yearns for his black groupies and white-know-nothing-about-issues whites to vote him to the Big House.

This really is the deep end of the conservative cesspit - the part where folk like Hagee hang out. Hate filled and conspiracy-minded, they're the ultimate representation of the Republican base, the very models of the 20-something-per-centers, the ultimate expression of the conservative id. And John McCain, like other conservative power-seekers before him, is actively courting them. Ugh.

As Apocalypse Tom at Liberal Radio says of this conservative id: "it is damn well not going to skulk in the shadows in this campaign. Make the genie – the fetid rot at the heart of today’s GOP – stand front and center and put on its show."

Mad Mullahs To The Right, Mad Mullahs To The Left

By Cernig

John McCain has a Mad Mullah problem. He's got John "Get the Jews To Israel so we can have Armaggedon" Hagee and now Ohio televangelist Rev. Rod Parsley who McCain has called his "spiritual guide". Parsley thinks Mohammed was a demon and that America was founded to destroy Islam.

Barrack Obama has a Mad Mullah problem too. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years and someone Obama has described as his "mentor" (in religious terms, that's like a spiritual guide, right?) thinks blacks should sing "God Damn America".

And Hillary Clinton's a member of a secretive Christian group comprising mostly conservative Evangelists who want to bring Jesus back into Washington - which sounds awfully Dominionist to me and accords perfectly with her Republican Christian college days.

You gotta watch those Mad Mullahs. You think it’s a religion of peace and then next thing you know, whoops Apocalypse! (/snark)

From The "Religion Of Peace" Files

By Cernig

Here's one you won't find the Malikinites hyping.

STOCKHOLM - The head of a Swedish newspaper has received death threats after publishing a drawing of the devil defecating on Jesus, he said Tuesday.

"I have been exposed to various threats ... and I have interpreted several of them as death threats," said Ola Sigvardsson, editor in chief for Ostgota Correspondenten daily.

He said one person had left a message saying he wanted to see the editor's throat slit and that "if no one dealt with it, then Jesus would do it".

The drawing, published March 1, was part of a poster for a punk festival in Linkoping in southern Sweden. Shortly before the festival began, municipal employees pulled the poster off the city's information boards.

Sigvardsson decided to publish the drawing because he saw the removal of the poster as an act of "censorship".

"It was our duty to tell what happened, and to do it we had to also show the image," he said.

Sigvardsson has filed a complaint with the police. No special security measures have been put in place for the editor, though police are taking the threats seriously, said police inspector Mats Allard.

I half expect hordes of rightwing trolls in comments telling me why this is any different from religious nuts of an Islamic persuasion sending death-threats to cartoonists who depict Muhammed in unflattering style. But the simple truth is that every religion, and plenty of non-religious ideological positions, attract nutcases who will happily threaten and kill for their own pet cause. It's part of the human condition.

Thoughts on "Jesus Camp"

by shamanic

I watched Jesus Camp for the first time last night, and I've been mulling it over ever since. It was a really strong film, very thought provoking and well crafted. I often take exception to portrayals of people of faith in film, since I usually suspect that the filmmakers were trying to get a certain type crazy and editing with delight and much laughter to arrive at it. This one felt very different, and I got the feeling that the filmmakers were sincere in what they showed and which bits of personal interviews they used.

These are bright kids. Levi, perhaps the film's child protagonist, instantly struck me as a good, articulate, hugely intelligent force. Even today, I keep thinking, "That kid's going to go far," and I want him to. I'm cheering him on. He seemed deeply decent, and to be working daily to live his faith.

The adults in the film present a more complicated portrait. I believe fervently that parents not only should be allowed, but are obligated to teach their children about the world, what is right and what is wrong, and what makes a good person and a good citizen. Children, after all, have their whole adult lives to work out whether their parents were saints or sinners, idiots or geniuses, or the million bits of gray that shade the in-between places where most of us live. And when parents do their jobs right, I think that their adult children generally conclude that their parents weren't perfect but gave them enough to make do in a confusing world.

That being said, the camp director and staff were not presented as people teaching their faith to their children. The camp itself, at least as portrayed in the film, was a center of indoctrination, of challenge (not that kids don't need some of that), where an ethos of spiritual warfare was being taught and enacted. Parts of it absolutely made me think of ancient ecstatic pagan faiths, where the frenzy of the crowd fed on itself and became the proof of the presence of the god being worshiped.

I think one of the questions that the filmmakers wanted the audience to ask itself is whether these kids are being used, and given the language of their elders in reference to them -- that they are the greatest generation of Americans to rise yet, that they are destined to win the country for God -- I think the answer has to be "yes." But aren't kids always used for something? At best, they are used as vessels for the lost dreams of those who came before. At worst, it's much, much worse. This kind of use seems strikes me as idealistic and positive, despite my disagreement on the issues. They are raising these kids up and elevating a form of their higher minds. That's not a bad thing.

What stung about the film was the intolerance of the faith being shared. It's one thing for a kid not to understand that each person is playing his or her role, and to lack to the tools to be gentle about all the ways we stray from our callings. It's another thing entirely for non-related adults to endorse the idea that people who are (not all that) different are the enemy. I don't just mean Muslims, or the pro-choice, or gays. I mean other Protestant denominations and other worshipers who are perhaps less prone to the frenzy. There was great judgment in the film, and a heavy handedness about this difficult art of living that ultimately served to remind me to be more gentle: with myself, with the people I love, with strangers I might come across.

That's the only antidote I know for the exclusionary, warfare-oriented faith shown in the film. Be more open, more loving, make more attempts to understand myself and the people I meet, and work harder to live whatever wisdom I've come across in these years so that I can live more truly, and those around me can take whatever works for them and add it to their toolboxes for life. Jesus Camp's depiction of faith is one where God is revered as a counterpoint to evil man, and some elevated among us are locked in an eternal war with the rest of us.

I fall on the side of all these people God created, their daily struggles, and the ways that life can obscure what is true about us. And when I come at things with love and compassion and a gentle hand, I have learned that things become more clear, for me and for them. The Evangelicals can play act their wars against sinful humanity and pray for the end times to twist them loose of this mortal coil. I'm engaged in the renewal of living every day. It's no wonder that I don't know anyone like the people in the film. What would we possibly have to talk about?

Another "Victory" Parade

By Cernig

There's a piece in the NYT today which has the pro-occupation Right yelling "victory" all over again. It recounts some anecdotal tales that indicate a groundswell of younger Iraqis turning their backs on the violent excesses and corruption of fundementalist religion. Over at Commentary, they're leading the victory parade, calling it:

the realization of the most ambitious goal of the Iraq War: the de-radicalization of Muslim citizens. This is, in its way, more important than political reconciliation and even more important than hunting down al Qaeda. This is the long war stuff, the hearts-and-minds stuff.

The goal was to offer freedom as an alternative to extremism; the criticism was that it was a dream; the reality is that it is happening.

And the rest march in lockstep from that lead.

But of course, Commentary isn't saying who the criticism that extremism had a stranglehold on the Middle East came from. It came from that same Islamaphobic yapping conservative pack who are now claiming this as the real mission. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Lefties always knew that religious fundamentalism, given free reign, will alienate the young. We've always known what moderate conservatives also know - that fundamentalism is the enemy of liberty no matter which religious flavor it comes in. Sullivan makes the point well.

Fundamentalism is, of course, based on a ridiculous lie: that God's will in every particular is ever fully knowable by humans. And when fused with politics, its intolerance and fanaticism always expose themselves. That's why the younger generation of Persians is so hostile to Islamism as well. It's why we will win the long war if we do not destroy ourselves in the process and do not unwittingly empower the fundies by our over-reaction.

One huge caveat, of course. Religious fervort comes in waves; anyone who doubts its power in the Arab Muslim world is misreading the place. But the extremes, given enough rope, often hang themselves. Look at Jordan. Now, if only we could persuade the Republicans about this fundamentalism thing ...

What secularists and moderates on both Left and Right have always said was that even so, if it was replaced by extremist nationalism or a zealous tribal ethic then the violence wouldn't stop. And it hasn't - and the newly-secular youth of Iraq are being dragged into that violence in increasing numbers. Here's the bit from the NYT article the occupation cheerleaders are managing to ignore:

The number of Iraqi juveniles in American detention was up more than sevenfold in November from April last year, and Iraq’s main prison for youth, situated in Baghdad, has triple the prewar population.

But while younger people were taking a more active role in the violence, their motivation was less likely than that of the adults to be religion-driven. Of the 900 juvenile detainees in American custody in November, fewer than 10 percent claimed to be fighting a holy war, according to the American military. About one-third of adults said they were.

A worker in the American detention system said that by her estimate, only about a third of the adult detainee population, which is overwhelmingly Sunni, prayed.

“As a group, they are not religious,” said Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone, the head of detainee operations for the American military. “When we ask if they are doing it for jihad, the answer is no.”

In many cases, they're doing it for money - because the disaster that is Iraq post-occupation doesn't led them make ends meet any other way. What a heckuvva job! What a victory!

The larger point on Hagee

by shamanic

Okay, what's crazy isn't that anti-Semite, anti-Catholic John Hagee has endorsed John McCain (what, was he going to endorse Obama?). What's crazy is that a mainstream candidate for President of the United States would stand beside a person like John Hagee as that endorsement is issued.

What's crazy is that a guy like John Hagee is someone who warrants a candidate's visit. What's crazy is that a guy like John Hagee is a person of some importance in America.

Let's be clear about this: What's crazy is that John Hagee isn't living in a trailer in West Virginia, alone and unshaven. What's crazy is that a guy like John Hagee is anyone at all.

Thanks, Religious Right.

Turkey Launches Islamic Reformation

By Cernig

A report from the BBC today should get far more coverage than it has been given so far - the Turkish government is trying to hurry through a radical re-interpretation of some Islamic core texts in an effort to refrom Islam:

The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad. As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernise, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.

The ambitious project, based out of Ankara University's School of Theology, aims to provide an interpretation of the Hadith free of later revisions by mainly conservative groupings - revisions aimed at bolstering their own social control of their populace. The project aims to "sweep away" those accretions.

Prof Mehmet Gormez, a senior official in the Department of Religious Affairs and an expert on the Hadith, gives a telling example.

"There are some messages that ban women from travelling for three days or more without their husband's permission and they are genuine.

"But this isn't a religious ban. It came about because in the Prophet's time it simply wasn't safe for a woman to travel alone like that. But as time has passed, people have made permanent what was only supposed to be a temporary ban for safety reasons."

The project justifies such bold interference in the 1,400-year-old content of the Hadith by rigorous academic research.

Prof Gormez points out that in another speech, the Prophet said "he longed for the day when a woman might travel long distances alone".

So, he argues, it is clear what the Prophet's goal was.

Significantly, one of the main thrusts of Turkey's new project is the empowering of women as theologians. (I've long argued that the Islamic Enlightenment would have breasts - and maybe a burkha or two.)

As part of its aggressive programme of renewal, Turkey has given theological training to 450 women, and appointed them as senior imams called "vaizes".

They have been given the task of explaining the original spirit of Islam to remote communities in Turkey's vast interior.

One of the women, Hulya Koc, looked out over a sea of headscarves at a town meeting in central Turkey and told the women of the equality, justice and human rights guaranteed by an accurate interpretation of the Koran - one guided and confirmed by the revised Hadith.

The end result?

According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey from Chatham House in London, Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy.

He says that to achieve it, the state is fashioning a new Islam.

"This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation," he says.

"Not exactly the same, but if you think, it's changing the theological foundations of [the] religion. "

Fadi Hakura believes that until now secularist Turkey has been intent on creating a new politics for Islam.

Now, he says, "they are trying to fashion a new Islam."

..."You have to see them as a whole," says Fadi Hakura.

"You can't say, for example, that the verses of violence override the verses of peace. This is used a lot in the Middle East, this kind of ideology.

"I cannot impress enough how fundamental [this change] is."

I fully expect that this Turkish project will grow and spread over time. I recall that the Christian reformation wasn't exactly a painless affair and isn't even over as yet - as certain religious Right haters continue to prove - but there's no doubt it had a long-term positive effect and this new Islamic reformation will have too. Reports of a clash of civilisations appear to have been vastly over-rated.

Stand Up Christian Pretend-Terrorists

By Cernig

The New York Times has an article today alleging that three speakers to an Air Force Academy conference on terrorism to tell cadets about how they used to be Islamist terrorists have turned out to be evangelist Christians lying about their pasts.

Nicole Bell at Crooks and Liars writes:

This story just reeks of propaganda and a sneaky agenda. The article mentions that these consultants were paid in part from private donations, and it would be interesting to know just who that is, because I have a feeling that would make clear the agenda working here.

Meanwhile, Steve Emerson, head of The Investigative Project on Terrorism and self-proclaimed expert, has a long and rambling diatribe about the allegations at National Review today, in which he repeatedly calls CAIR out for alleged ties to funders and supporters of terrorism but doesn't say dick about the truth or falsity of the NYT's allegations themselves. Methinks he doth protest too much.

Sharia Fearmongering

By Cernig

There's been a lot of Islamophobic mouthbreathing over the Archbishop of Canterbury's comment yesterday that Sharia Law in the UK is "unavoidable". British politicians and pundits on both sides of the pond have picked up on the bare bones of the story and fallen over each other to demand the Archbishop's resignation or to complain that this would be the "thin edge of the wedge".

But all he actually said (see the BBC's original story) was that Muslims should have the same option to choose a private court (using Sharia Law) for civil disputes as Jewish Brits do. Indeed, Williams said he was fully aware of how draconian full Sharia Law can be:

He stresses that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".

...Dr Williams noted that Orthodox Jewish courts already operated, and that the law accommodated the anti-abortion views of some Christians.

"The whole idea that there are perfectly proper ways the law of the land pays respect to custom and community, that's already there," he said.

People may legally devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process.

Muslim Sharia courts and the Jewish Beth Din which already exist in the UK come into this category.

The country's main Beth Din at Finchley in north London oversees a wide range of cases including divorce settlements, contractual rows between traders and tenancy disputes.

So why the outcry over a reasonable call for parity? Well, mostly it seems to me because Islamophobia is the new anti-Semitism and politicians are appeasing such "Protocols of the Elders of Islam" rightwing conspiracy theorists as long as their Blimpoid bigotry goosesteps to a nationalistic beat.

Meanwhile, over at Pajamas Media, Roger Kimball is using King Henry II's words which were interpreted as a command to assassinate a previous Archbishop of Canterbury as a headline, then with weasel words hidden in the article takes them back - sort off:

I certainly would not wish to have the question “Who will rid us of this troublesome priest?” answered as Henry’s question was answered. But where Becket faithfully served his church and was savagely punished for it, Rowan Williams loses no opportunity to besmirch his Church and is lavishly praised for his perfidy.

There will continue to be more outrage directed at Archbishop Williams for suggesting parity of rights for Jews and Muslims than there will be at the US art critic and ideologue for sailing so close to a call for the assassination of the clerical head of the Church of England. That's your appeasement right there.

Oh, Those Fine Christian Values

By Cernig

Southern fried values - extra crispy: an Atlanta Archbishop finally admits he fathered his nephew and did have sex with those eight women.

ATLANTA (AP) - Court officials say the 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge he lied under oath. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Frank Cox said Archbishop Earl Paulk of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church was sentenced to 10 years probation and a $1,000 fine for the felony charge.

Paulk turned himself in to authorities Tuesday night after a warrant was issued for his arrest the previous day. The charges stem from a deposition Paulk gave as part of a civil lawsuit against him, his brother Don and the church by a former church employee who says she was coerced into an affair.

In a 2006 deposition for the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was former church worker Mona Brewer.

But the results of a court-ordered paternity test revealed in October that Paulk is the biological father of his brother's son, D.E. Paulk, who is now head pastor at the church. As part of Brewer's lawsuit, eight women have given sworn depositions that they were coerced into sexual relationships with Earl Paulk.

You couldn't write this as fiction.

Much Ado About Bigotry

By Cernig

Over on the Right today, much ado is being made about an op-ed by the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, in that last bastion of colonialist Blimpism, the UK's Daily Telegraph.

Here's what the Bishop actually wrote:

there has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism. One of the results of this has been to further alienate the young from the nation in which they were growing up and also to turn already separate communities into "no-go" areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability.

Those of a different faith or race may find it difficult to live or work there because of hostility to them. In many ways, this is but the other side of the coin to far-Right intimidation. Attempts have been made to impose an "Islamic" character on certain areas, for example, by insisting on artificial amplification for the Adhan, the call to prayer.

But the Telegraph turns what is difficult into what is violently opposed in it's own version of the Bishop's words.

Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.

There are and have been veritable no-go areas in Britain. Brixton, Toxteth, Riddrie and Easterhouse all spring to mind. None are Moslem ghettos - they are ghettos of poverty, both white and black and mostly Christian. I've felt more secure in the affluent predominantly-Muslim Pollockshields area of Glasgow than I ever felt in Ibrox or Parkhead. But these are not what the Bishop is talking about - and he doesn't seem to be talking about violent Muslim no-go areas in his op-ed either.

The Bishop - who as a Catholic who converted to Anglican still finds himself on the conservative end of the spectrum and opposes ordination of gays or women while apparently being fine with already-ordained same-sex paedophiles continuing to be members of the clergy - is actually upset at the idea that the Anglican Church might be disestablished rather than at any supposed violence.

Not only locally, but at the national level also the establishment of the Church of England is being eroded. My fear is, in the end, nothing will be left but the smile of the Cheshire Cat.

Which would be the separation of Church and State widely recognised as one of the great innovatory benefits of the American constitution. But on this, the Right remains silent, preferring lurid Telegraph second hand reporting which supports their own bigoted wishes that Europe have a problem, and that that problem be a Muslim one.

Rafsanromney v. Huckadinejad

By Cernig

Things that make you go Hmmmm...

"But there are no Christian parties in America"

by shamanic

Peter Wehner is an idiot.

Quote: "We believe people of all faiths have every right to be active in politics -- but there are no Christian or Hindu parties in America."

Bio: Peter Wehner, a deputy assistant to President Bush from 2001 to 2007, is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Note to Peter Wehner: the GOP is the Christian party in America. You guys have worked for decades to make it so. Congrats. It's all yours. Enjoy.

Four Horsemen Outrage

By Cernig

Recall when I posted a link to videos of the "Four Horsemen" - the four most talked-about proponents of atheism today - that I said Republican heads would explode?

Oh what fun it is to watch it happening in comments at Michelle Malkin's Hot Air, after her colleague Allahpundit posted clips.

Merry Christmas or other appropriate religiously-based holiday to all who wish one, from a pagan who had a Cool Yule and who has more than a sneaking sympathy for atheists who are the latest causus belli de jour for the rabid religious Right.

And The Problem Is...

By Cernig

Hats off to PZ Myers of Pharyngula for one of the most succinct and to the point rants of 2007. A must-read.

Leaders Who Believe

By Cernig

Matthew Parris of the London Times, voted ConservativeHome readers' favourite columnist in 2006, has some news for you - only two of the UK's leaders in the last two centuries have been strong Christians.

Churchill wasn't one of them. Neither was that other idol of U.S. Republican hawks Maggie T.

So what's with the obvious claptrap that freedom and religion go hand in gland?

I-35: Highway To...Heaven?

By Cernig

There are no fundie crazies who are crazier than Texas fundie crazies. That's why commuters in the Dallas area were recently treated to the spectacle of a bunch of them blessing I-35.

the small contingent of churchgoers believe that Interstate 35, a sprawling highway running from Texas to Minnesota, is specifically mentioned in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 35.

"A highway shall be there, and a road," reads a portion of the chapter's verse eight, "and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it..."

But if I-35 is indeed the place, some Christians believe there's a lot of work to be done before the road can fulfill it's saintly destiny, according to CNN's Gary Tuchman, who was on the scene in Texas as believers launched an effort to pray for the road.

"Churchgoers in all six states recently finished 35 days of praying alongside Interstate 35, but the prayers are still continuing," reports Tuchman. "Some of the faithful believe that in order to fulfill the prophecy of I-35 being the 'holy' highway, it needs some intensive prayer first. So we watched as about 25 fervent and enthusiastic Christians prayed on the the interstate's shoulder in Dallas."

Their prayers go out for safer neighborhoods, "more godliness" and also in hopes that businesses lining the highway, including strip clubs and other "unclean" establishments, might clean up their act.

Tuchman says the faithful also point to "a link between the area near this highway and tragedies that have happened in history, such as the bridge collapse on I-35 in Minneapolis last August and the assassination of JFK 44 years ago near I-35 in Dallas."

"We just want to say 'wow, why would this happen on one highway,'" one of the prayer campaign's organizers, Cindy Jacobs, told CNN. "Let's pray that there be safety for everyone on these highways."

Cindy Jacobs and her husband Mike run Generals International, a prophetic group of evangelistas based in Red Oak, Texas. Their website decsribes Cindy as:

a respected prophet who travels the world ministering not only to crowds of people, but to heads of nations. Perhaps her greatest ministry is to world influencers who seek her prophetic advice.

Her first calling is, and always will be, prophetic intercession. Ever since the Lord called her with the scripture, “Ask of me the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the world for your possession,” she has taken that calling seriously.

Cindy has forseen revival coming to the Latter-day Saints Temple in Salt Lake City and to Freemasons within the Southern Baptist Convention. Her husband is a "former business analyst...commissioned by God to bring unity and order to the body of Christ" who "carries an anointing to impart the power of the Holy Spirit." They are, of course, fierce believers in Chuck Pierce's "Glory of Zion" apocalyptic vision of mid-East war.

Cindy and Mike believe that the Summer's bad weather across the Midwest is God's work.

It is pouring rain in Texas, Oklahoma and across portions of the Midwest. CNN reports, “Storms dumped up to 18 inches of rain on parts of central Texas, flooding several towns and stranding dozens of people on rooftops, cars and in trees.”

The Holy Spirit has spoken through His prophets, and He is releasing a new cleansing move of holiness across the face of the earth. Last June, through two prophesies given in Washington DC, the word came that God is "Washing Washington". This is now extending all along the I-35 corridor.

If these people were pagan or new-agers, talking about triple Goddesses or chakras, no-one would take them the least bit seriously. But, because they're evangelistas in Texas, they get endorsed by Pat Robertson; are members of the Charismatic Leadership Council of influential evangelist leaders; get slots on religious TV channels broadcasting to just about every nation on Earth and even get time on CNN. They're actually influential, not ridiculed.

Anyone want to bet against them being Huckabee backers?

The Four Horsemen On Video

By Cernig

Imagine that the four authors who have received most media attention for their writings against religion - Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens - produced a 2-hour video of them discussing "the tough questions about religion that face to world today" and proposing "new strategies for going forward".

Now suppose that prceeed from the sale of this video will go to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust.

Now imagine conservofundie heads exploding as they try to decide whether to hate the atheism or love the donations to their favorite anti-Islamic European.

Luvverly.

The best sanctuary I know

Shamanic in comments to Cernig's post about the change in the Vatican nativity scene which will now include a representation of a small pub:

A pub? Really? That's so awesome! They're finally reaching out to alcoholics who may have wandered away from the church.

Shamanic really needs to come up to Pittsburgh someday to see the logical end of that quote at the Church Brew Works ---



One of the better local microbreweries in the area is a converted and desanctified Catholic Church. As an extremely lapsed Catholic/practicing agonistic, the time at theChurch has been about the only non-wedding/non-graduation/non-funeral church time I have had in the past ten years. Always a pleasant way to tweak some friends when I announce that I want to go to the church on a Saturday night... and then the brunch is a good way to begin penance on a Sunday afternoon for a fun Saturday night.