You no doubt heard: Katharine Hepburn died yesterday. Not only a great actress (and the protoype of the sexy woman who could kick your ass, in my opinion), but one of us: “I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.” (From her autobiography, “Me”.)

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he supports a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages. Check out one of his justifications:

“I very much feel that marriage is a sacrament, and that sacrament should extend and can extend to that legal entity of a union between, what is traditionally in our Western values has been defined, as between a man and a woman,” said Frist, of Tennessee. “So I would support the amendment.”

Yea, let’s declare in the U.S. Constitution that marriage is a sacrament. Why not just erase the First Amendment when we add this one?
“Top Senator Backs Amendment Banning Gay Marriage”

Haven’t you heard?: Jesus On the Job

Accu-Fab of Raleigh, N.C., is among a growing number of businesses that are incorporating religion into the workplace. Accu-Fab’s president, Gregory W. Page, and his business partner, Dennis Zullig, are evangelical Christians who have placed faith at the heart of their business. The company’s mission statement calls for sharing God’s message of salvation through Jesus Christ and for ministering to employees’ spiritual needs. A likeness of Jesus talking to an executive hangs in the lobby. Books by leading evangelical authors are carefully arranged on a coffee table.

And now we have the domino effect in New Jersey: Ten Commandments Plaque to Stay in Place:

Freedberg’s announcement Friday was spurred by a federal appellate court decision Thursday allowing the display of a similar plaque on the Chester County Courthouse.

What I’m wondering is: what exactly makes something “historic”? How long can something hang somewhere before we can’t touch it? These rulings essentially say, “Hey, it’s been here for this long, might as well leave it here.” Nice legal approach, Sparky…

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that a “Ten Commandments plaque that has hung for 83 years on the facade of a suburban courthouse does not constitute an official endorsement of religion, and may remain there for the sake of historical preservation”. Like the Confederate flag in Dixie, I guess. “It’s not racism/religion/sexism/etc., it’s just the (racist/theocratic/sexist/etc.) history.” Court Lets Pa. Commandments Plaque Stay

Re: “Brights” — Nah, any label that reminds me of a floor wax really doesn’t do it for me. Something else is needed…

Re “brights”: Yeah, I like the idea real well, but I agree the name is wussie. Any suggestions for replacements, folks?

Hey, the Supremes get one right: Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Law Banning Sodomy.

OK, so it’s not explicitly about religion — but we all know it is down deep. You gotta search far and wide to find gay-bashers who don’t think their hatred is justified by the wishes of their loving but vengeful deity. As the Texas AG’s case claimed, homosexuality “has nothing to do with marriage or conception or parenthood and it is not on a par with these sacred choices.” [My emphasis]

Unsurprisingly, Just-Ass Scalia, the court’s most pro-theocratic member, railed against the decision, writing that the court has now “largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda” and “has taken sides in the culture war”.

But it’s OK, because he also added that he has “nothing against homosexuals.”