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.
What happens when church politics intersects with actual politics? One Albuquerque, New Mexico church may soon find out. Parishioners of Legacy Church recently went public with sample ballots given to them by the church — ballots that included a handful of highlighted names. As KAOT News reports, … marking a sample ballot is legal, [but] federal officials said a nonprofit is not supposed to take sides in a political election. Read more
David Shiffman, a University of Miami Ph.D. Student, has an article up on Slate about the “I’m not a scientist” line, and it’s very much worth reading. As you’re most likely aware, “I’m not a scientist” is something politicians often say when they’re asked for their positions on topics like climate change, evolution, etc. They use the line so frequently, it’s practically become a punchline: Calling it a “dangerous cop-out,” Shiffman makes the case that it is simply a “cowardly” and “exasperating evasion” from the very people who devote their lives to attaining positions that enable them to address such pressing matters. Read more
Baton Rouge police officers made a curious discovery Thursday morning. It started with a routine stop of a commercial bus for a traffic violation. A K-9 unit was called in, because, officers told WAFB News, it is common to find contraband smuggled in this type of vehicle. So what did officers discover? … [A] suitcase that contained 48 candles of methamphetamine mixed in wax, disguised as candles. Those candles weighed 72 pounds. They also found four larger candles, weighing 41 pounds, containing meth in the wax. And those candles all looked like this: Read more
Conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke (below), Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, recently spoke with anti-abortion website LifeSiteNews. While LSN focuses largely on attacking abortion rights, it devotes a fair amount of time to disparaging the LGBT community and their rights as well. Cardinal Burke’s interview was an exclusive conversation about a presentation given during the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, in which … the Priolas [the presenters] asked and answered a question about what parents should do in the case where their son wants to bring his homosexual partner to a Christmas dinner where their grandchildren will be present. The Pirolas’ response, which they held up as a model for the manner in which the Catholic Church should deal with same-sex relationships, was that parents should accept the participation of the son and his homosexual partner knowing “their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and his partner into the family.” While many of the bishops and cardinals in attendance approved of the presentation, it didn’t sit well with the shun-and-shame crowd. LSN interviewers asked Cardinal Burke how he would deal with that “difficult situation,” particularly with the potential for — brace yourself — children to witness the existence of gay couples: Read more
