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
Earlier this week, the Shreveport City Council (Louisiana) passed something called the “Be Fair Shreveport” Ordinance, protecting those who are LGBT from workplace discrimination. Sounds like a very logical thing to do, right? As usual, churches and religious non-profit groups were given special exemptions from the new law so they could continue being bigots within their own walls. The Ordinance passed 6-1. Everyone wins! Right?! Almost. The one holdout vote came from council member Ron Webb. You know where this is going: He’s going to say he loves gay people but this Ordinance somehow takes away someone’s religious rights, blah blah blah. Oh, we went much further than that: Read more
The video below, part of The Atheist Voice series, explains why there’s no War on Christmas (no matter what Bill O’Reilly wants you to believe): We’d love to hear your thoughts on the project — more videos will be posted soon — and we’d also appreciate your suggestions as to which questions we ought to tackle next! Read more
As I mentioned earlier today, the Morton Grove Public Library board of trustees held its monthly board meeting last night and voted 5-2 to reject our donation of over $3,000. Well, it turns out they videotape their monthly meetings and put them up on YouTube… So we can see for ourselves how the discussion went down. I just watched it and, um, wow. You gotta see this. The relevant portion begins at the 32:15 mark: Read more
Jerry Coyne put it this way: “New York Times officially opposes stupid rules of Catholic hospitals.” He’s referencing a recent editorial entitled “When Bishops Direct Medical Care,” in which the editorial board takes on the case of Tamesha Means, on whose behalf the ACLU is filing suit against the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the party they hold “ultimately responsible for the unnecessary trauma and harm” she suffered as a patient in a Michigan hospital. Read more
The United Methodist Church proved once and for all this week that its values are completely out of line when they defrocked a pastor for performing his son’s wedding years ago. Rev. Frank Schaefer came under fire earlier this year for officiating his son’s Massachusetts wedding back in 2007 (when same-sex marriages were already legal there). A not-so-kindhearted church member filed a complaint with the church in Pennsylvania, and last month a church jury suspended him for 30 days. He was told to use the time to reflect on whether he could “uphold the church’s Book of Discipline,” which doesn’t condone homosexuality or same-sex marriage. If he wasn’t up to the task, he’d have to resign. The choice was clear for Schaefer; he said his belief in equal rights did not justify his resignation from his position. In exchange, he’s been defrocked, depriving him of any ecclesiastical status within the church. Read more
The Reverend Zachery Tims was a troubled young man before he was “miraculously saved, instantly delivered from drug addiction, and called into ministry,” according to his megachurch, New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida. When Tims was fourteen, the young hoodlum was convicted of attempted murder and went to juvie for two years. After finding God, though, he eventually came to be idolized by a congregation of more than 7,000 — and by a broadcast audience of millions via “the largest African-American religious network in the world.” Read more
