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.
The Press Tribune newspaper was supposed to be a voice for liberal Pakistanis who’d had it with their country’s Islamist thugs. A partner of the New York Times, the Tribune launched four years ago, covering topics that most of the country’s conservative-leaning press wouldn’t touch. It was a brave initiative, and eventually, the Pakistani Taliban responded the only way it knows how. With bullets. Six weeks ago, three employees of the media group that owns the Press Tribune were shot to death. Not surprisingly, The attack was later claimed by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a large coalition of militant groups, which accused the media group of disseminating anti-Taliban propaganda. No arrests were made, which was par for the course. The police hadn’t nabbed any perpetrators in earlier attacks against the newspaper either: Read more
If you’re a man and you want to get married in the Santa Cruz Basilica (pictured below) at Fort Kochi, India, Catholic vicar Francis Fernandez would like to make sure you can produce sperm. So says this article from the New India Express. The vicar requires that you undergo a “potency test,” which I infer means the proven ability to ejaculate, as one quoted expert questions the efficacy of such tests by saying “Some can’t stimulate themselves under artificial circumstances.” Read more
When a man of God meets a mentally challenged young woman who has the brain capacity of a seven-year-old, what ensues? It doesn’t appear to have been Christian love in the case of Baton Rouge pastor David “Scott” Lemley. Lemley allegedly decided to rape her on several occasions because his own wife had been sick and sexually unavailable. Can it get worse? Yes: The victim’s own father offered her to Lemley, police say. Read more
From the Onion the Courier-Journal: In an effort its spokesman has described as “outreach to rednecks,” the Kentucky Baptist Convention is leading “Second Amendment Celebrations,” where churches around the state give away guns as door prizes to lure in nonbelievers in hopes of converting them to Christ. As many as 1,000 people are expected at the next one, on Thursday at Lone Oak Baptist Church in Paducah, where they will be given a free steak dinner and the chance to win one of 25 handguns, long guns and shotguns. Read more
Half a year ago, the vestry of Grace Episcopal Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas adopted a lovely, heartwarming Statement of Inclusivity. It was belatedly posted on the church’s Facebook page last Saturday. The statement reads, in part: “We extend a special welcome … to those who are single, married, divorced, partnered, LGBT, filthy rich, dirt poor, or struggle to speak English.” Days later, Grace Episcopal Church’s pastor, Greg Fry, was fired … for being transgender. Maybe we didn’t read the statement correctly? Let’s enlarge and make sure. Yeah, there’s definitely a T there. Read more
