Frank Schaeffer Responds to Psalms 109 Threat

Frank Schaeffer responds to the bat-shit crazy religious right’s fucking ludicrous crack pot threats. Schaeffer was born into this movement and has thankfully overcome the brain washing and is now speaking against it.

Using the Bible to Threaten Obama’s Life

The Cleveland Leader has an article about this lovely T-shirt.

Not that it needs to be said again, but Christians really are terrible people. This time they are attempting to be cute by referencing a Bible verse that says:

“Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” (Psalm 109:8)

Nice. And, of course, we’re never quite sure if Christians ever bother reading the rest of any of their Bible quotes, but the very next verse says:

“May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.” (Psalm 109:9)

I really can’t imagine anyone that isn’t crimminally insane printing up and selling t-shirts like this, but that’s a self righteous religious dick for you. I have as of yet to hear what the hell the religious right’s problem with Obama is. Why weren’t there these death threats with other Democratic Presidents? Well, there is the “he’s black” thing. People love to deny it, but, for the life of me I can’t see what else there is. Differences on how to fix health care isn’t enough to threaten to kill anyone. Abortion has been federally legal since 1973, and there isn’t really anything the President can do about that anyway. The bailout was started by the Bush camp. I’m sorry, but the race issue seems to be it. These people are racist assholes.

Threatening the President, even as a joke, is, of course, a crime. Will hiding behind the Bible protect these dicks?

Signed Blasphemy

Take advantage of this deal: Earl Doherty has expanded his Christ Myth classic “The Jesus Puzzle“, re-titling it “Jesus: Neither Man Nor God”. It doesn’t  look like it’s available on Amazon yet, but, if you order i t from his web page, he will send a signed copy. Sweet. I accidentally started an autographed book collection when I found a signed copy of The Essential Harlan Ellison on and I’ve been slowly picking them up here and there.

For those not familiar, the Christ Myth theory postulates that the character we know as Jesus began, as most gods do, as a mythical character and that was later historicized. The mythical Christ is the Jesus that the apostle Paul knew, that the story was embellished by the author of the Gospel of Mark for the purpose of composing an edifying narrative. This original gospel, along with the Q document, were then used as sources to write Mathew and Luke. The gospels of Mark and Mathew do read as rather mythical and it appears to have been primarily Luke that attempted to make the character historical in nature. It is a surprisingly solid theory that has won me over and I think The Jesus Puzzle has been the best work on the subject. His web page is full of supplemental articles that are well worth reading, as well as a free down loadable novel that show cases his theory.

God of the Week: Ba’al (Hadad)

God of the Week 11/16/09: Ba’al

Hadad, often referred to simply as Ba’al, is a Semetic god of the sky and rain. His presence fertilized the ground and his absence made it barren. Much that is known about him is from the Ugaritic texts, only recently discovered in 1929, from a long form narrative known as the Ba’al Cycle.

In it, Ba’al is depicted as being a member of El’s court, who betrays him and takes over the leadership role. This betrayal is avenged by the god Mot, who kills Ba’al. Anath, Ba’al’s consort and goddess of war, kills Mot, scatters his remains across the land, and revives Ba’al  who regains his rule as a born again god. This epic was relived in a 7 year cycle.

The god Ba’al is often referred to in the Hebrew Torah or Christian Old Testament, though the term Ba’al is actually a generic term for lord (much like modern Christians referring to Yahweh or Jesus of Nazareth as simply “God”), so the context of the passage needs to be used to determine the actual deity being referred to.

God of the Week: The Spectre

God of the Week 11/09/09: The Spectre

The Spectre is a modern god and superhero in the DC Comics canon. He was created by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) and Bernard Baily, and made his first appearance in More Fun Comics #51.

In early appearances, The Spectre was depicted as the spirit of a deceased cop that was on a mission to fight crime on earth. Like many popular comic book characters, the decline in popularity of the comic genre lead to a hiatus in the 1950’s. Once the comic business picked up again in the mid 1960’s, many of the popular comic characters, including The Spectre, were revived and often re-invented. The Spectre became a much more power avenging spirit with near omnipotence, only to be greatly decreased in power in the 1980’s, leaving him as little more than a ghostly detective.

In the latest incarnation, The Spectre was syncretized with the Christian mythos, making him “God’s instrument of divine justice” which, for some reason, probably one that could only be understood by those with theology degrees, seems to entail nothing more than murdering evil doers in ironic ways.

Got to Get Me a Piece of This Racket

This sounds like a guaranteed money making racket business!

Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.

Prayer … as a medical expense! Expense, as in cost or charge. Yep, wave your hands around, get paid. By health insurance, no less.

The measure would put Christian Science prayer treatments — which substitute for or supplement medical treatments — on the same footing as clinical medicine. While not mentioning the church by name, it would prohibit discrimination against “religious and spiritual healthcare.”

It would have a minor effect on the overall cost of the bill — Christian Science is a small church, and the prayer treatments can cost as little as $20 a day. But it has nevertheless stirred an intense controversy over the constitutional separation of church and state, and the possibility that other churches might seek reimbursements for so-called spiritual healing.

Other churches might seek reimbursement! Of course they will. They would be stupid not to. Wave a magic wand over someone’s head and ask for $20. I didn’t know people payed for shit like this. As long as they don’t stick them in a home made sweat lodge covered in plastic to keep in all the toxic fumes in, they’re set. If anyone claims they’re quacks, they’ll just have to shout “God”!

God of the Week: Asherah

God of the Week 11/02/09: Asherah

Asherah is an ancient Levantine mother goddess that was worshiped at least as early as 12oo BCE. She has been depicted as the wife of Elohim/Yahweh.

The worship of Asherah proved to be very popular, which is why it, as well as other local religions, met with strong resistance during the religious revival in the 8th century BCE. The Old Testament book of 2 Kings, records King Hezekiah as having “removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah” (2 Kings 18:4)

“We do not know for sure what the belief in the god Yahweh meant for the average Israelite. Although the biblical text tells us that most Israelites worshipped Yahweh alone, we know that this is not true… The discoveries of the last fifteen years have given us a great deal of information about the worship of the ancient Israelites. It seems that we have to take the worship of the goddess Asherah more seriously than ever before.” – William Dever

an 8th century inscription reads, “I have blessed you by YHVH of Samaria and His Asherah”

Nova: Did God Have a Wife?:

Halloween Aversion

Halloween is undoubtedly my favorite holiday. It just has an attitude about it that other holidays could only hope to have. For many Fundamentalist Christians, however, Halloween is seen as an unholy celebration of all that is evil. This fear of Halloween is known as Samhainophobia, and it isn’t just a trivial matter to them; it is deeply rooted in the core belief of their faith.

Halloween is a Christian holiday. Or, more precisely, a Christian adoption of an ancient pagan holiday, very much like Christmas. It is the evening before All Saints Day and there is even an “Eve of All Saints Prayer” in the Book of Occasional Services. It began at least 2,500 years ago as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, a celebration of summer’s end and a remembrance of the dead. When the Roman Empire conquered Western Europe, a Roman-Celtic syncretism occurred that mixed language and culture. Samhain proved to be popular and, in 835 CE, Pope Gregory IV moved the Catholic holiday of “All Hallow’s Eve”, which served much the same purpose as Samhain, to November 1^st to coincide with it.

As mundane as any of that sounds, fundamentalist Christian sects often see Halloween as a dangerous holiday that could literally damage their souls. Examples of Christian commentary on Halloween can be found on many places on the Internet: On isawthelightministries.com, a Halloween page says that parents should, “refuse to allow your kid to take part in this evil holiday of satan.” Demonbuster.com warns the faithful: “Don’t even open your doors to pass out “tracts.” If you do, then you are celebrating this unholy day.” Sabbatarian.com also has a page dedicated to the fear of Halloween, but it was so incoherent that I found it difficult to find a quote.

Why do some fundamentalists consider Halloween “Evil”? The aversion to Halloween seems to be an extension of an extreme xenophobic fear of other religions. Strict fundamentalist thought holds that all things outside of Christianity, outside of their Christianity, are the work of devils and demons and are designed for the sole purpose of tricking the unwary into eternal damnation. If they take part in Halloween, in any way, they will be inadvertently celebrating a pagan holiday and thereby worshiping Satan. One minute they’ll be walking down the street in a Batman mask, the next, BAM, they’re possessed. Nothing they can do about it.

In their world, devils and demons actually exist. They are not symbols, signs, or personifications of more abstract threats. They are real supernatural beings looking for any chance they can get to cast magic spells on the unsuspecting. And any non-pious act can invite them in.

Unfortunately, more liberal churches that do not hold such superstitious beliefs, often give credence to the fears of the fundamentalists by shunning the holiday and holding church sponsored harvest or fall festivals on October 31^st as an alternative for Halloween. This makes it appear that Halloween is a holiday to be avoided.

On Halloween night, as the faithful are cowering inside, painting crosses on their doors to keep the specter of death out, I’m going to be hauling out the buckets of (fake) blood for my homemade skull fountain and scaring the few children that will be allowed to take candy from strangers. Halloween is one of the few holidays that actually encourages people to go outside and stop by their neighbor’s house, if even for a piece of candy. I’m going to enjoy it.

“I think we ought to close Halloween down. Do you want your children to dress up as witches? The Druids used to dress up like this when they were doing human sacrifice…[The children] are acting out Satanic rituals and participating in it, and don’t even realize it.”–Pat Robertson

 

Bible Teacher Seduces Teenage Girls

Robert Louis Rosseau, a Bible teacher at Christian Academy in San Antonio has used the ol’, “Come Join My Secret Society That Helps Mankind, But First You Need To Sleep With Me So I Know I Can Trust You” routine on a couple of teenage girls. Oldest trick in the (Good) Book. Where do you think they Bible came from? Nerds needed to get girls somehow before guitars were invented.

A 37-year-old teacher accused of creating a “secret society” to lure teenage girls into having sex with him was arrested Monday evening after a girl he allegedly wanted to recruit into the group complained to police, authorities said.

Robert Louis Rosseau taught Bible classes — among other subjects — to eighth-graders at Christian Academy of San Antonio.

The affidavit states Rosseau would read Bible passages to the two girls “to legitimize his believed ability” to have sex with them.

Personally, I think he was going to way too much trouble. These girls sound pretty gullible, I think they would have slept with him for a hand full of gummy bears.

That teen told authorities that the two girls who were members of the society, which they referred to as an “order,” attempted to recruit her into the group on two weekends in September. To become a member, the two girls told the teen, she had to be “intimate” with Rosseau to establish trust, according to an arrest affidavit.

That teen told authorities she was persuaded into joining the order after being told it was “geared to help mankind,” the affidavit states.

I going to be a bit skeptical on this one and say that I don’t think he ever really intended to help mankind. Not one bit.

Top Scientologist Refuses to Answer Xenu Question

A short video outlining the bizarre Xenu story attributed to the Church of Scientology.

This story is very popular on the internet and has been featured on South Park. Is this true? Is the Xenu story a tenet of Scientology? I, for one, would love to know. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just ask a Scientologist? Unfortunately, this Scientologist (Tommy Davis, head of the Celebrity Centre) refuses to answer the question and he leaves the interview in a huff (saying yes or no apparently not being an option). (at the 3:40 mark)

My guess is that he is legally unable to answer the question. After all, if they genuinely found the Xenu meme to be that insulting, then it wouldn’t be one of their beliefs and he would just deny it, would he? I know good and well that Evangelical Christians don’t find evolution feasible, but I accept it and I don’t shy away from saying that I do.

Personally, I think they should play up the Xenu aspect. People love shit like that. The “oh yeah, you can’t prove it’s not true” method of argumentation seems to work pretty well for most religions, I don’t see why Scientologists would feel the need for secrecy. While they’re at it, they should throw Bigfoot in the mix, too. People love Bigfoot.