Feel the “conservative xian love” in Tennessee. If you disagree, just shoot them damn libruls!
(I wonder if next he will say his imaginary friend told him to do it.)

Police: Man shot churchgoers over liberal views

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Knoxville’s police chief says the man accused of a shooting that killed two people at a Tennessee church targeted the congregation because of its liberal social stance.

For those in fundieland, don’t forget to go out and buy your bullet-proof vests and body armor before election day!

Update: Video…Xians “trying to make sense” of the tragedy. Several people interviewed stated the usual programmed Xian response that they were “praying for the victims”.

Nice one from Crooks and Liars:

In discussion of McCain’s painful fumbling over why health insurance covers Viagra but not birth control, The Situation Room panel…debate the position between a rock and a hard place that McCain finds himself, eager to win over those feminist Clinton supporters but hesitant to speak out against that mainstay of the Republican platform: restricting women’s reproductive freedom. [...]

CAFFERTY: Well, you know, the answer is Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice. And that’s why insurance companies don’t reimburse for it unless pregnancy represents a danger for the woman. And then there’s a gray area where you can do a negotiation.

Excuse me? I know that most men don’t have a huge well of knowledge on the workings of a woman’s body…but I think that in absence of knowledge, it might be smarter to avoid definite declarations like that. Oral contraceptives are absolutely used to treat medical conditions [...] And since when is the life of a woman to be considered a “gray area” for negotiation? But there’s no gray area about a man’s desire to get it up, nor any consideration to the consequences of what happens when he can? Jack, you disappoint me.

But the reply is simply: let’s just say why McCain’s comments are right in line with the ‘publicans: because sex for any reason besides procreation is BAD, and there’s no real reason for a woman to have an orgasm unless she’s also willing to “fully commit” to pregnancy and childbirth.

And we all know where such a line of bullshit comes from…

But, of course, that’s a “religious belief,” so we can’t criticize it…

Registrar Who Won’t Serve Gays Because of Religious Beliefs has Illegitimate Child

Lilian Ladele recently won a suit against Islington Council alleging discrimination after she was punished for refusing to do her job and perform civil partnerships for same-sex couples. A judge ruled that Ladele was within her rights to deny service to homosexuals as a staunch Christian. However, it has now been revealed that Ladele is also a single mother to a child, now 27, born out of wedlock. So Ladele is so firmly Christian that she can’t possibly marry same-sex couples, but not so religious as to remain chaste until married. Presumably God will forgive the sin of extramarital sex but not the “sin” of joining two people together in a loving relationship. The discovery that she has an illegitimate son could cast suspicion on some of the testimony she gave at the discrimination tribunal. The tribunal wrote: “Ms Ladele is a Christian. Her unchallenged evidence was that she holds the orthodox Christian view that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others and that marriage is the God-ordained place for sexual relations.” “She told us that she believed this to be contrary to God’s instructions that sexual relations belong exclusively between a man and a woman within marriage.”

Ah, yes, moral xians…

Todd Bentley - Raging Lunatic!
BAM! I found out this tattooed freak faith healer when reading the Religion News on Yahoo. This looney comes to us from Vancouver, Canada (as if we don’t have enough of our own)!

His name is Todd Bentley, of Fresh Fire Ministries, and someone needs to take him away to somewhere safe and get him on some medication before he kills someone.

Well, it’s been a while, but you’ll all be relieved to know that The American Family Association has found another subject to boycott: McDonald’s. Why? TEH GAYS! Those evil, subversive hummersexuals have infiltrated all that is holy and truly Amurrican-the Big Mac, the Quarter Pounder, the Sausage McMuffin, the Adam’sApple Turnover and anything Supersized! How’d they do it? Brace yourselves, ugly words ahead…tolerance and, dare I say it? Diversity! McDonald’s donated $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Yowsers!

From here, this apparently means that

McDonald’s, as a corporation, [is] refusing to remain neutral in the culture wars. McDonald’s has chosen not to remain neutral but to give the full weight of their corporation to promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage.
Full weight? Does the AFA think that $20,000 check was supersized with a few extra zeroes before the decimal point? Mickey D’s probably throws out $20K worth of grease a day.
AFA is upset at McDonald’s for refusing to condemn Vice President of Communications Richard Ellis’s decision to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). AFA President Donald Wildmon said the situation is “strange” because “it’s the family that McDonald’s appeals to — children’s playland, you know, all the little toys, all of that. And they are promoting a lifestyle that would utterly destroy the traditional family.”

Yeah-destroying the traditional family-one clogged artery at a time!

McDonald’s has come back at the AFA with this statement:

We treat our employees and our customers with respect and dignity, regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or other factors. We support our employees’ personal involvement in organizations of their choice.

In other words, if our customers and employees want to hold the cheese or hold the lettuce, what they want will not upset us. Oh wait, that’s Burger King…Maybe the Burger King and Ronald McDonald are secretly a couple!

I highly recommend a reading of Chris Kelly’s rollicking Huffington Post article McDonald’s Makes Jesus Cry, which is where I first read the news. Hat tip to alexatheist over at NoGodBlog.

Here’s a fun link to read some of the responses to the AFA boycott ad, but I didn’t see any nearly as funny as the ones Chris Kelly mined.

And another funny item I came across when doing some searching on this post: apparently the AFAOneNewsNow site has a filter which auto replaces the word”gay” with the word “homosexual”. And it ends up with some unfortunate results, such as sprinter Tyson Gay being renamed Tyson Homosexual. See here.

Now, I don’t really eat at Mickey D’s all that much, but I think I’m Lovin’ It tonight! How about you?

Isn’t it great when you see signs of assholery tolerated under the guise of either procedure or evangelism?

Rapture-Ready Evangelicals Impersonate Army Officers

What I found is that the [United States Service Command] was a private “disaster relief” organization with no official military affiliation. USSC no longer seems to be an active organization, but appears to have recently been replaced by something called the United States Operational Support Command (USOSC), another private organization with a deceptively official sounding name [...] What’s different about the USOSC, and formerly the USSC, is that their members wear military uniforms and rank. This is not only deceptive. IT’S ILLEGAL! Title 10 of the U.S. Code strictly prohibits any person who isn’t a member of the armed forces from wearing “the uniform, or a distinctive part of the uniform, of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps” or “a uniform any part of which is similar to a distinctive part of the uniform of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps.” There are some exceptions to this law, but none of them would apply to the USSC or USOSC. Even the members of these organizations who are former or retired military, and permitted under certain circumstances to wear the uniform of their former service, are breaking the law. Those who qualify under these exceptions can only wear the uniform of the branch they served in, and cannot, of course, wear the insignia of a higher rank than they held in the military. The USSC and USOSC use the same rank structure as the U.S. Army, but have their own commissioning and promotion qualifications under which most enlisted members seem to hold the rank of sergeant major, and colonels and generals abound. When in their Class “A” and Class “B” uniforms, those USOSC members who did serve in the military wear all the genuine military ribbons and medals they earned during their service; they get more ribbons from the USOSC; and former USSC members add their USSC ribbons. The result is a chest full of ribbons like you’d see on a real general. [...] New recruits passing through a MEPS, unfamiliar with various military uniforms and insignia, would have no idea that “Major” Sherman is not an Army officer, and would probably think he outranked the first sergeant and other enlisted personnel who work there.

And, in other news…

Impotent paraplegic told: no church wedding

An Italian bishop has reportedly told a young paraplegic he cannot have a church wedding because he is impotent, despite his fiancee being aware of the problem. Salvatore de Ciuco, spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo in central Italy, told SkyTG24 television: “No bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of admitted impotence as it is a motive for annulment” of the marriage. The 26-year-old groom, who took part in a civil marriage ceremony on Saturday in Viterbo, has been paraplegic since he was involved in a car accident. The curate of the parish who was banned from marrying the couple was present at the ceremony.

When are lies, crimes, and assholes not really lies, crimes, and assholes? When it’s done in the name of Jesus, of course!

Praise Be! Glory!

Jeez, all this hostility on this blog. Why are atheists so angry?…

McCain’s Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

The leader of a 12,000-member congregation, Parsley has written several books outlining his fundamentalist religious outlook, including the 2005 Silent No More. In this work, Parsley decries the “spiritual desperation” of the United States, and he blasts away at the usual suspects: activist judges, civil libertarians who advocate the separation of church and state, the homosexual “culture” (”homosexuals are anything but happy and carefree”), the “abortion industry,” and the crass and profane entertainment industry. And Parsley targets another profound threat to the United States: the religion of Islam. In a chapter titled “Islam: The Deception of Allah,” Parsley warns there is a “war between Islam and Christian civilization.” He continues: I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.[...] Parsley claims that Islam is an “anti-Christ religion” predicated on “deception.” The Muslim prophet Muhammad, he writes, “received revelations from demons and not from the true God.” And he emphasizes this point: “Allah was a demon spirit.” [...] At the end of his chapter on Islam, Parsley asks, “Are we a Christian nation? I say yes.” Without specifying what actions should be taken to eradicate the religion, he essentially calls for a new crusade. Parsley, who refers to himself as a “Christocrat,” is no stranger to controversy. In 2007, the grassroots organization he founded, the Center for Moral Clarity, called for prosecuting people who commit adultery. In January, he compared Planned Parenthood to Nazis. In the past Parsley’s church has been accused of engaging in pro-Republican partisan activities in violation of its tax-exempt status.

I don’t know about all you non-believers. You’re all way too hostile, and you just don’t understand the right path.

For those who might not have known…

A beautiful response…

It’s time to raise our voice in prayer,
And pray to–well, there’s no one there.
No god to urge to do our bidding;
Go on and pray–just know you’re kidding.

It’s time to all sit on our asses,
And pray forgiveness for trespasses
(Or is that to forgive our debtor?
Who cares, as long as we feel better.)

It’s time we all embrace god fully,
Feel all righteous, good, and holy–
Or be some atheistic jerk,
Roll up your god-damned sleeves, and work!

It’s time to say “I do not care
To join you in this day of prayer.”
Sure, a day off looks like fun,
But there is work that must be done.

Our problems will not fix themselves
There is no god to send in elves
To do the work of human ranks
So… join, today, in prayer? No thanks.

And another good response…