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.
Imagine you are convicted of multiple fraud-related felonies involving the theft of a six-figure sum of money. You’re looking at a maximum sentence of 30 years. If the prosecution asked for a ten-year sentence with five years suspended, you’d probably breathe a sigh of relief, even though you’d still expect to spend considerable time behind bars. A couple of years at least, right? Montana pastor and one-time novelist Harris Himes, however, bagged himself a Christmas miracle of sorts when he got a judge to sentence him to roughly 65 days. Read more
Watch and shudder: What these men do — buying underage girls for sex — is neither prostitution nor in any way illegal under the Shiite interpretation of Islam. It’s a religious practice called nikah mut’ah, a convenience marriage that can last anywhere from minutes to months, with a divorce included in the agreement. Money changes hands — perhaps a few thousand dollars — and the rich buyer goes off (and gets off) with his newly-acquired sex slave, until he tires of her. Read more
If Theo Zurenuoc gets his way, his government will soon install … a National Unity Pole, which will contain a Bible, a copy of the constitution and an everlasting flame to represent God’s word. Presumably, the Unity Pole will be ready for prime time soon after Mr. Zurenuoc is done destroying national historical artifacts that do not conform to his brand of Christianity. Read more
An Alabama sex offender who raped an underage girl more than one hundred times, and who served five years behind bars, is unhappy that he’s being held to the terms of his probation. Anthony Lawrence Ferrari says he shouldn’t have to take counseling classes and undergo the sex offender treatment that was a condition of his plea agreement. The reason: These days, he’s head over heels in love with Jesus, and loves going to church. Read more
