Terry Firma, though born and Journalism-school-educated in Europe, has lived in the U.S. for the past 20-odd years. Stateside, his feature articles have been published in the New York Times, Reason, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Wired. Terry was the founder and Main Mischief Maker of Moral Compass, a now-dormant site that pokes fun at the delusional claim by people of faith that a belief in God equips them with superior moral standards. He was the Editor-in-Chief of two Manhattan-based magazines until he decided to give up commercial publishing for professional photography... with a lot of blogging on the side. These days, he lives in an old seaside farmhouse in Maine with his wife, three kids, and two big dogs.
It would be folly to overlook or minimize the contributions of the Rev. Martin Luther King to racial equality in America. Forty-six years after he was assassinated, this country still owes the towering civil-rights leader an undiminished debt of gratitude. So it’s not that I can’t stand the guy. Hell, I admire him (mostly). It’s the saintifying and pussyfooting and whitewashing I’m allergic to. King is in the news again after the unredacted version of a contemptible letter from the mid-sixties surfaced that was sent to him anonymously by men in the employ of infamous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The typed screed is full of over-the-top, God-infused condemnations of King’s outsized sexual appetites, and ends with a strong hint that the reverend should commit suicide to prevent evidence of his extramarital affairs and orgies from being made public. You can read the letter in its entirety here. The fact that a so-called law-enforcement agency sent it should shock the conscience of every American who places (too much) trust in the government. So what about his exploits with women? To be honest, I don’t care who Martin Luther King consensually bedded, and how, and how often, and who else participated. That was all between him, his partners, his wife Coretta, and their God. But I will note that his bedroom behavior was wildly at odds with the Bible and what he claimed as God’s truth. Read more
Just so you know: Some Muslims who believe Kassig had converted are upset by the report of his beheading. Of course, plenty of Muslims are appalled by ISIS’s brutal tactics and don’t back the militant group in any way, shape or form. But even for some Muslims who might be inclined to support ISIS’ broader goal — establishing a caliphate in the Middle East — killing a person who has converted to Islam is a bridge too far. They believe Kassig’s beheading goes against Muslim values. The debate started after the Islamic State released a video yesterday that showed the severed head of a young man believed to be Peter Kassig, a humanitarian aid worker from Indiana who had found his calling helping refugees and other victim groups in Syria. In captivity, Kassig changed his first name to Abdul Rahman, and his religion to Islam. Read more
When Christine Weick found out that there was going to be an interfaith service in Washington DC’s National Cathedral, she knew she had to do something against the intolerable spectacle of Christians and Muslims getting prayerful together. How did she know? The usual: “This is what God has put in my bones to do,” she explained to a few confidants. In an interview with World Net Daily, Christine Weick, 50, said she read about the event on Drudge and became enraged, saying, “My blood began to boil as I read the comments of how this is to be such a wonderful event and how religious tolerance can, for the first time, be shown in our nation’s capital.” Coincidentally, we’ve featured Christine Weick on this blog before. In May of this year, she was on the receiving end of a Slushie when she protested against equal rights for gay people. In any case, Friday’s prayer service was just beginning when Weick stood up and began walking towards the front of the cathedral shouting. “Jesus Christ died on that cross. He is the reason we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior,” she said. “We have built … allowed you your mosques in this country. Why don’t you worship in your mosques and leave our churches alone? We are a country founded on Christian principles.” Watch: Read more
A taste for religious retribution and a desire to punish evil led three people to kill female victims and use their flesh in pastries, a Brazilian court heard. So on Friday, A jury in northeastern Brazil … delivered sentences of 20-23 years in prison for three people convicted of killing two women, eating parts of their bodies and using some of their flesh to make and sell stuffed pastries. Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira was sentenced to 23 years in prison while his wife, Isabel Cristina Pires, and his mistress Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva received 20-year sentences. Police said the three lured women to their house by promising them a job as a nanny. Read more
Stripped of Biblical bromides and circumspect syllogisms, but infused with glorious sarcasm, here is the core belief of conservative Christians when they assail the Brittany Maynards of this world. No One Should Have The Right To Die Until God Is Done Toying With Them Who are we to say that our suffering has become too unbearable to go on living when God — who’s just looking for a little amusement — has weeks, months, or even years of agony lined up for us? Seriously, what kind of person ends his life before God’s batted him around a bit? He made us. He deserves a little fun. Read more
