Rachel Ford is a programmer, and since 8:00 to 5:00 doesn't provide enough opportunity to bask in screen glare, she writes in her spare time. She was raised a very fundamentalist Christian, but eventually "saw the light." Rachel's personal blog is Rachel's Hobbit Hole, where she discusses everything from Tolkien to state politics.
On Wednesday’s Fox and Friends, host Steve Doocy interviewed Concerned Women for America’s CEO Penny Nance. If you’re not familiar with CWFA, it’s an anti-feminist conservative Christian women’s group designed to “protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens.” And in case you weren’t sure what that means, it’s pretty much forcing far-right Christian “values” on everyone — with a special emphasis on going after women’s rights (although LGBT people are popular targets as well). Read more
Last week, Hemant wrote that Jim Parsons (below), best known for his role as Dr. Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, was going to play God in a Broadway adaptation of The Last Testament. He had noted at the time that it probably wouldn’t sit well with Christian conservatives. Michael Cantrell, writer for the website Young Conservatives, seems to be eager to illustrate the truth of that prediction. In a piece entitled “Big Bang Theory Star Just Made A TON Of Christians Very Angry” — that actually only quotes a single angry writer (in addition to Cantrell’s own commentary) — he leaves little doubt of the direness of the situation. Read more
A student from Kermit Elementary school (in Texas) discovered last Friday what we Tolkien nerds have long known: the One Ring to Rule them All is no laughing matter. Unfortunately, nine-year-old Aiden Steward learned it in rather an absurd fashion, after he was suspended for making a “terroristic threat” to make a classmate disappear with his magic ring. Read more
In Northern Ireland, atop Binegenagh Mountain and overlooking Lough Foyle, there sat a statue of the sea god Manannán mac Lir (below). The statue, created by artist John Darren Sutton (some of whose work can also be seen in HBO’s Game of Thrones), was one of several sculptures to be found along the Limavady Sculpture Trail. The trail was designed with visitors in mind, as a way of sharing and commemorating the area’s “most notable myths and legends.” I say the statue of Manannán mac Lir “sat,” in the past tense, because, some time prior to Wednesday morning of last week, it was cut from its base and removed. The BBC quotes Sutton as saying the statue’s removal would have required hours of work even from multiple people: Read more
The American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer has made a career of saying horrible, offensive, and insane things, but this time he’s gone too far. It’s by no means unusual for him to express contempt for atheists and our rights (Fischer has postulated everything from taxes on “atheists who don’t go to church” to barring atheists from the military), nor is it unusual for him to link people and groups to Satan and demons (from the Yazidis to Muslims to LGBT activists). You might think there are no lines left for Fischer to cross, but during Monday’s broadcast of his show, he found, and crossed, one: Read more
