The ACLU of Louisiana along with its parent organization is suing the Sabine Parish School District because of its “long history of proselytizing students and promoting religion” and the list of complaints against Negreet High School (in the district) is just stunning: We know about the problems thanks to plaintiffs Scott and Sharon Lane and their five brave children, including sixth grader C.C., a “Buddhist of Thai heritage” who doesn’t believe in God. [C.C.’s] science teacher, Rita Roark, repeatedly taught students that the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago, that evolution is “impossible,” and that the Bible is “100 percent true.” Roark also regularly features religious questions on her tests such as “ISN’T IT AMAZING WHAT THE _____________ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” When C.C. did not write in Roark’s expected answer, “LORD,” she belittled him in front of the rest of the class. While studying other religions, Roark has told students that Buddhism is “stupid.” When Plaintiffs objected, Sabine Parish Superintendent, Sara Ebarb, told them that “this is the Bible belt.” She suggested that C.C. should “change” his faith or transfer to another district school 25 miles away where, in her words, “there are more Asians.” What the hell…?! Read more
Actor and Crocoduck-creating super-Christian Kirk Cameron is promoting a “great article” on his website that offers rather questionable advice for parents: Never explain things to your kids; just teach them to obey: Read more
Canton, Michigan is about to get a “Man Church.” Never heard of it? CBS Detroit explains: Homes without fathers or husbands are on the rise, so much so that some researchers say it’s becoming an epidemic. In response, Connection Church of Canton has created something unique they’re calling “Man Church.” “It’s not a political problem; it’s not a religious problem; it’s not a socioeconomic problem — it’s a man problem,” Mike Bartee, Pastor of Development, told WWJ Newsradio 950′s Brooke Allen. Read more
Witchcraft is prohibited by Islam. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government wants that encoded in law with a clause specifying that the use of black magic to cause “someone’s illness, death, mental or physical suffering” is a crime punishable by five years in jail and a $25,000 fine. Good idea. If it wasn’t for such legislation, presumably everyone would be terrified 24/7 due to witchy things like this event, described in Yudhoyono’s new autobiography. “Suddenly, my wife screamed,” writes Yudhoyono in the 900-page book, “Selalu Ada Pilihan” (There is Always a Choice). “There was this thick dark cloud hovering beneath the ceiling, trying to enter my bedroom. I then asked everybody to pray to seek Allah’s help. I closed the door to my room but left others wide open. The revolving clouds eventually headed out of my house.” Could’ve been a smokey kitchen oven I suppose, or a dream, or a vision brought on by food poisoning or an adverse drug reaction. Read more
Kathleen Tonn, a Republican senatorial candidate from Alaska, recently entered a steam room fully clothed and encountered a perspiring young woman wrapped in a towel. Tonn quickly found out that her captive audience of one, named Suzie, wasn’t an evangelical Christian, so she decided to unleash the power of the Lord to bring Suzie to Christ by singing and speaking at length — in gibberish tongues. How do we know this? Because Ms. Tonn was kind enough to shoot a video of the encounter and upload it to YouTube. The caterwauling starts at 1:09. Suzie makes a brief appearance at 3:17. Read more
Today, the Daily Herald rendered the invaluable public service of introducing us to two Chicagoland GOP candidates for November’s midterm elections. 55-year-old Susanne Atanus, especially, appears to be a real piece of work. Voters in the Republican primary will have two very different candidates to choose from in the 9th Congressional District, as David Earl Williams III and Susanne Atanus vie for the right to face Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the fall. … “I am a conservative Republican and I believe in God first,” Atanus said. She said she believes God controls the weather and has put tornadoes and diseases such as autism and dementia on earth as punishment for gay rights and legalized abortions. Read more
Rushing to the aid of embattled U.K. councilman David Silvester, who recently claimed that being gay was “a ‘spiritual disease’ and that the country had been ‘beset by storms’ since the passing of the gay marriage bill,” British columnist Dean Burnett, tongue planted firmly in cheek, decisively explains the shocking meteorology behind gay couples getting hitched. Logically, same-sex marriage leads to an increase in the number of weddings. Weddings invariably involve a large number of people congregating in one place, which leads to a lot of body heat and warming, and this heat enters the atmosphere, increasing the air temperature and producing more warm fronts. People also cry a lot at weddings. This is likely to be even more pronounced at same-sex weddings, with the added element of recently achieved equality making the events even more poignant. Tears are basically water, which quickly evaporate, thus adding to the water content of the atmosphere. Read more
Among the financial reforms Pope Francis is undertaking within the Church and Vatican Bank, this one may be the most interesting: This week, [Pope Francis] took another, less controversial step in that direction, calling for a “spending review” that includes settling on a cap for expenses tied to the canonization causes of would-be saints. In the past, critics charged that figures backed by well-financed supporters usually became saints more quickly than their more meagerly financed counterparts. Two miracles, my ass. Who knew canonization was like the run-up to the Academy Awards? Turns out your friends just needed to slip a few Euros to the powers that be and voila! Sainthood. Read more
This is almost beautiful in its absolute absurdity. Glenn Beck, apparently from his underground bunker, used his web show to attack supporters of Common Core educational standards, specifically Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and, yes, even Bill Nye, who he compares to “the people” who persecuted Galileo. I can’t seem to remember who those bad people were, though. Anyway. Read more
You know how some anti-LGBT people tend to quote the Bible a whole lot when trying to defend their bigotry? A city councilman in Louisiana pulled that stunt recently when trying to bring down an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policy, but one activist put him — and his Bible-thumping hypocrisy — in his place. Last month, the City Council of Shreveport, Louisiana, passed an ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination in matters of housing and employment. The sole dissenting vote was cast by Councilman Ron Webb, who cited the Bible when explaining his decision: Read more
