Tag Archives: religion

Poll: God’s Approval Rating Barely Breaks 50 Percent

Now I’ve seen everything…

And there is no doubt now that people will poll anything…

I hope they aren’t expecting a Press Conference for him/her to address the findings…

From TheHuffingtonPost.com

More than half of U.S. voters approve of God’s job performance, according to a new poll, making God more popular than all members of Congress.

The poll — which was conducted by the Democratic research firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) — surveyed 928 people and found that 52 percent of Americans approved of God’s overall dealings, while only 9 percent disapproved.

Questions about God were asked as part of a larger survey assessing American opinions of congressional leaders in the midst of the ongoing debt ceiling debate in Washington.

God’s approval rating exceeded that of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, as well as both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, with each party receiving only a 33 percent approval rating.

God also polled significantly higher than the scandal-ridden media baron Rupert Murdoch: only 12 percent of those polled viewed him favorably, compared to 49 percent who viewed him unfavorably.

“Though not the most popular figure PPP has polled, if God exists, voters are prepared to give it (sic) good marks,” PPP said in a July 21 press release.

The poll also gauged God’s handling of specific “issues.” When asked to rate God on the creation of the universe, 71 percent of voters approved and only 5 percent disapproved. Respondents were also generally appreciative of God’s governance of the “animal kingdom,” with 56 percent approving and 11 percent disapproving.

Younger respondents were more critical of God’s handling of natural disasters, with those ages 18-29 expressing a 26 percent disapproval rating, compared to 12 percent disapproval among those 65 and older.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

via Poll: God’s Approval Rating Barely Breaks 50 Percent.

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Vatican Reverses Stance On Gay Marriage After Meeting Tony And Craig- “The Onion”

From the “if only” file….

Very amusing excerpt from a great satirical article from “The Onion” with a link to the full article below:

In a stunning and unexpected reversal of long-standing doctrine, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the Roman Catholic Church’s unequivocal support for gay marriage Tuesday, just hours after meeting Stonington, CT couple Tony Ruggiero and Craig Housinger.

Tony and Craig, whom Vatican officials called “a truly great match.”

The papal decree—which authorizes priests to administer the sacrament of holy matrimony to same-sex partners and explicitly states that “homosexual relations between two consenting adults is not, and never has been, a sin”—was reportedly a direct result of the pope sharing an afternoon of engaging conversation and hearty laughter with the gay couple.

“Not only are Tony and Craig complete sweethearts, but anyone who spends more than two minutes with them can see they’re clearly perfect for each other,” said Benedict, who in the past has described homosexual behavior as a grave disease that threatens all of humanity. “They’re fun, gracious, and simply wonderful company. And you can tell they have something special just by the way they look at each other.”

“They’re soulmates, really,” added the pope, smiling. “Allowing them to formalize their union in the Church is the least we could do for them.”

Vatican officials said the vacationing couple and the Supreme Pontiff met during a routine papal audience at St. Peter’s Basilica, and “really hit it off” after discovering shared interests in photography, the piano, and Spanish cuisine.

via Vatican Reverses Stance On Gay Marriage After Meeting Tony And Craig | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

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The Road to Gay Marriage in New York

This is a fascinating front page story in today’s New York Times about the behind-the-scenes political machinations that pushed through Gay Marriage in New York.

I encourage those of you who are interested to read the entire article.  It really shows how politics work-when it works-in America.

It’s also interesting in that the Wall Street guys had more clout than the Religious Right.

Money always wins in America….

 

The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed.

But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition.

And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap.

“I can help you,” Mr. Cuomo assured them in dozens of telephone calls and meetings, at times pledging to deploy his record-high popularity across the state to protect them in their districts. “I am more of an asset than the vote will be a liability.”

Over the last several weeks, dozens of lawmakers, strategists and advocates described the closed-door meetings and tactical decisions that led to approval of same-sex marriage in New York, about two years after it was rejected by the Legislature. This account is based on those interviews, most of which were granted on the condition of anonymity to describe conversations that were intended to be confidential.

via The Road to Gay Marriage in New York – NYTimes.com.

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Delta bans U.S. Jews from Flights To Saudi Arabia

I really don’t believe this….

This is a U.S. Airline!!!

Someone at the Delta Airlines and in the U.S. Government needs to step up and speak up about this…all I can think about is Hitler’s special laws for Jews.  This is so wrong I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face.

And I am sick of the U.S. Government and U.S. Businesses cozying up to the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia, in general, because of their oil and money.

I’ll never forget Bush, Jr groveling and practically kissing the ring of the Saudi’s and then strolling around happily, literally, hand-in-hand with them when they came to visit him.

Oil and money really are trumping everything else today.  That’s got to stop.

Apparently standing up against something that is wrong on principle is a long lost American trait.  Now our government and businesses are acting like hookers who’ll lay down and do anything for the right price.

If these are the conditions of doing business with Saudi Arabia, then Delta should be forced to just say no….

Jews and Israelis, or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith, will not be able to fly code-share flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under Delta Air Line’s new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to begin in 2012.

Although Delta announced in January that the Saudi airline would join its SkyTeam network next year, the implications of the deal only came to light recently, according to people who have scrutinized the details.

Saudi Arabia, which is governed by strict Islamic law, requires citizens of almost every country to obtain a visa. People who wish to enter the country must have a sponsor; women, who must be dressed according to Saudi standards of modesty, must be met at the Saudi airport by a man who will act as a chaperone.

Saudi Arabia bans anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport from entering the country, even in transit. Many Jews believe the kingdom has also withheld visas from travelers with Jewish-sounding names.

Religious items such as Bibles that are not related to Islam may be confiscated at the airport.

Colby M. May, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, said his office is trying to determine if the agreement runs afoul of U.S. law.

“The very idea that there is a common carrier airline service that would deny an American citizen in America access to their services because they are Jewish or have religious items such as a yarmulke, a cross or a priestly collar, is deeply disturbing,” May said.

May said he is “trying to get answers” from Delta.

“They have not responded in a way that answers the question,” he said. “Hopefully they’ll do so.”

In a statement to Religion News Service on Thursday (June 23), Delta said it “does not discriminate, nor do we condone discrimination against any protected class of passenger in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender.”

The airline, which did not deny the new policy, insisted that it has no control over who may fly to Saudi Arabia.

via U.S. Jews Not Able To Fly On Delta Flights To Saudi Arabia.

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Michele Bachmann’s Irrational Fears: Lesbians, Her Constituents, Former Nuns and, Perhaps, Her Sister…

I really hope people realize this woman is a nut case….

But I don’t take anything for granted anymore.

I seriously have to question her mental stability if she behaves like this with her constituents…

Can you imagine if, horror of horrors, she actually was President and had to deal with difficult or complex matters on the World Stage?

In comparison, she almost makes Sarah Palin look sane.

Almost….

Sarah Palin may be a tacky, money-mad, egomaniacal opportunist, but she’s merely ignorant and power crazy, not certifiably crazy…

What is the world coming to when I have to consider the faint possibility that either of these two might be the nominee of a major political party for the job of President of the United States?

Or,  god forbid, President…

I’m glad I started drinking again….

From Michelle Goldberg at TheDailyBeast.com:

In April 2005, Pamela Arnold wanted to talk to her state senator, Michele Bachmann, who was then running for Congress. A 46-year-old who worked at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Arnold lived with her partner, the famed Arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, on a farm in Scandia, Minnesota. Bachmann was then leading the fight against gay marriage in the state. She’d recently been in the news for hiding in the bushes to observe a gay-rights rally at the Capitol. So when members of the Scandia gay community decided to attend one of Bachmann’s constituent forums, Arnold, wanting to make herself visible to her representative, joined them.

A few dozen people showed up at the town hall for the April 9 event, and Bachmann greeted them warmly. But when, during the question and answer session, the topic turned to same-sex marriage, Bachmann ended the meeting 20 minutes early and rushed to the bathroom. Hoping to speak to her, Arnold and another middle-aged woman, a former nun, followed her. As Bachmann washed her hands and Arnold looked on, the ex-nun tried to talk to her about theology. Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. “Help!” she screamed. “Help! I’m being held against my will!”

Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Then she called the police, saying, according to the police report, that she was “absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her.” The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, “It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann.”

Lots of politicians talk about a sinister homosexual agenda. Bachmann, who has made opposition to gay rights a cornerstone of her career, seems genuinely to believe in one. Her conviction trumps even her once close relationship with her lesbian stepsister. “What an amazing imagination,” marvels Arnold. “Her ideology is so powerful that she can construct a reality just on a moment’s notice.”

via Michele Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism: Gay Rights to Religion – The Daily Beast.

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Congressman To Introduce Bill To Protect Male Circumcision Rights

Today’s Penis Post…

Can’t go a week without Congress worrying about them….

These guys just can’t seem to leave them alone…

Don’t get me wrong, I support the Religious reasons for circumcision and think San Francisco should have stayed out of this…

I just don’t think this is a subject for legislation on either side of the issue….

Surely, they have other things to do?

If not, I can make a few suggestions….

From HuffingtonPost.com:

A new bill aims to cut short a proposed ban on circumcision in San Francisco.

US. Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) will introduce the Religious and Parental Rights Defense Act of 2011 to prevent S.F. and other municipalities from banning male circumcision, which is religious obligation for Jewish males and is a common Muslim and Christian practice.

Sherman, who is Jewish, currently has one co-sponsor on the bill, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress, JTA reports.

“The Religious and Parental Rights Defense Act of 2011 ensures that Jewish and Muslim families will continue to be able to enjoy the free exercise of their religious beliefs,” Sherman said in a statement, adding that proponents of a ban have an obligation to provide compelling medical evidence against male circumcision. In fact, he said, the medical literature shows the opposite.

Announcement of the bill comes as the San Francisco “intactivist” effort heats up. Voters won’t be able to weigh in until November, but the anti-circumcision movement is already gaining support.

Matt Hess, president of San Diego-based group MGM Bill (MGM stands for “Male Genital Mutilation”), recently raised claims of anti-Semitism after the release of a second issue of his comic, “Foreskin Man,” which featured a sinister Orthodox Jewish villain by the name of Monster Mohel.

The San Francisco effort would ban circumcision for males under the age of 18, carrying a fine of $1,000 and up to one year in prison.

via Congressman To Introduce Bill To Protect Male Circumcision Rights.

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The Penis Patrol

Okay….if you are tired of hearing about Anthony’s Weiner, but want to continue to grow your knowledge in this general area, here is someone who has done much more research on the subject of penises in public life than anyone could ever possibly care to know.  He seems to see them everywhere….

I can’t quite believe this is real, but it is…

Anderson Cooper covered it, so it must be….

This continues to raise the question that has puzzled me for years:  Why are so-called “Straight Christian Men” so obsessed with Penises?

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Doomsday Preacher Wrong in More Ways Than One – Leonard Pitts Jr.

Beautiful column from Leonard Pitts…

He points some of the things I don’t understand about these people focusing on the End of Times…

I still say we should all embrace this life- and not just focus on what happens next….

We’ll find out that answer eventually.

But the tendency to focus on the end is like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. It suggests mortality is a thing to be feared. Granted, one would never think this, much less say it when death breaks hearts and overflows eyes, when it strikes without warning or lingers above a sickbed, when it takes away the very young or the very loved, but a case can be made that mortality is really a gift of sorts.

The understanding that life is finite lends a bittersweet urgency to this business of living. Seasons change, years pile upon years, hair turns to silver and then to memory and in all of it, there is an undercurrent: get done what you came here to do, give the gifts you meant to give, do the good you’re able to do, say what you need to say, now, today, because everything you see is temporary, the clock is ticking and the alarm could go off any second.

Camping had it wrong in more ways than one. He told people to get ready for the end. Better they should live ready for the end.

The key word there being, live.

via Doomsday preacher wrong in more ways than one – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

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King James Bible Beats Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga

Interesting article…

Evangelical Christians always seem to think they are being victimized by popular culture.

Well, FaceBook is popular culture and this seems to indicate Christianity is doing just fine…

The Bible beat out Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga for the second week in a row to remain the most-visited page on Facebook. Pretty impressive for a book that is often maligned as a stodgy, outdated rulebook.

Facebook users are flocking to Facebook.com/TheBible to show their love of Scripture, posting messages like “we know stars like Bieber and Gaga…but talk about someone who created the solar system…GOD.”

The timing for the popularity of the Bible’s Facebook page is particularly appropriate. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the most-published book in history, the King James Bible. While usage of the King James Bible has certainly waxed and waned during the past 400 years, its influence has reverberated across the English-speaking world and has permeated nearly every corner of culture. From literature to law, praise to politics, the King James Bible has shaped the way the world speaks and writes.

via Bible Beats Bieber 42911.

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I Was a Right-Wing Evangelical Pastor — Until I Saw the Light

Wonderful article from Jason Childs in Church and State Magazine reprinted at Alternet…

This has always been my position:  People need to break out of their bubbles if they want to recognize bullshit and lies when they see it and hear it…

Once you get out and about in the world, you find people have much more in common than they have in differences…

I was a Liberty University-trained evangelical pastor. I was sure that I was right and that every other person not of my faith was going to burn in hell forever. I was taught that we as Christians should take this nation back, only to find out later that we never had it to begin with.

After five years of teaching this homophobic, divisive message that has hurt so many millions of people in our world, I went through a divorce. The Southern Baptist Convention will not let you remain in the ministry after a divorce, so I had to think of something else to do with my life. After several years of selling cars, I decided to become a truck driver –; you know, see America and all that jazz.

Well, I did see America, and the country I saw was very different from the one I was taught about by Jerry Falwell and my mentors at Florida Bible College. What I found was that this nation is filled with people from all walks of life, and from every different culture. I met thousands of people, from the beautiful forests of Washington state to the bayous of Louisiana. I found that these folks are not the wicked sinners I was taught about. They are just good-hearted Americans from all faiths and cultural backgrounds, trying to pay their bills, care for their families and have a few good times with their friends and lovers.

I began to notice a change in me as well. I started reading a lot of books that were not on the seminary reading list and listening to NPR as I was driving 10 hours a day. It was a great second education. I decided to return to Alabama and work to help all of the people of my great state, and to protect them from the oppression I was once a part of propagating.

More:   I Was a Right-Wing Evangelical Pastor — Until I Saw the Light | Civil Liberties | AlterNet.

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