Prometheus 6

Good and evil and Obama
To the Democrat, it's OK to act on a religious conviction if it serves a liberal cause.
Jonah Goldberg
August 19, 2008

So...is it NOT okay to act on a religious conviction if it serves a liberal cause?

For Obama the politician, such scriptural quotations often serve as an all-inclusive writ to impose his religious views on others when it comes to fighting poverty, global warming, racism, etc.

I can't believe someone arguing against reproductive rights would have the balls to make that statement. Though, come to think of it, most folks who actively campaign against reproductive rights are naturally endowed with them.

But when the question turns to abortion, political Obama insists on a policy of moral agnosticism and political laissez faire. Asked directly when life begins as a legal matter, he punted, insisting the answer was "above my pay grade."

I would never have thought to check Snopes for a response to this idiocy

As the ad begins, the words "It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed. They will call him The One" flash across the screen. The Antichrist of the Left Behind books is a charismatic young political leader named Nicolae Carpathia who founds the One World religion (slogan: "We Are God") and promises to heal the world after a time of deep division. One of several Obama clips in the ad features the Senator saying, "A nation healed, a world repaired. We are the ones that we've been waiting for."

Pastor Hagee's Extreme Makeover
By Harry Hanbury on Jul 24, 2008

In late May, after three months of deliberation, John McCain called Pastor John Hagee "crazy" and renounced his endorsement. But Hagee has come back stronger than ever -- thanks to friends like William Kristol, Joe Lieberman . . . and the public relations firm 5W, which also represents Microsoft, Snoop Dogg and Pamela Anderson. This week in Washington, D.C., Hagee's non-profit organization, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), brought together five thousand supporters of the bedeviled pastor, and a new regime of media relations was much in evidence.

Every single political appointee shopuld be identified NOW. Every one should be presumed incompetent, especially "graduates" of Regent Law School, Liberty University or any school affiliated with them. Every one of them should be fired, whether they transferred to a "permanent" slot or not.

Mukasey Asked to Watch for Lingerers
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 25, 2008; A08

Two leading Senate Democrats asked Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey yesterday to "exercise vigilance" and ensure that political appointees do not improperly wheedle their way into permanent slots at the beleaguered Justice Department.

Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) wrote to department leaders seeking "personal assurances" that they would monitor employment decisions at Justice as the Bush administration draws to a close.

"When unqualified political appointees take over jobs better left to skilled candidates, it threatens the agency's professionalism and independence," Schumer said. "We don't need ideological stowaways undermining the work of the next administration."

“Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain.”

Dobson Leans Toward Endorsing McCain
By Kate Phillips

There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it’s one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain’s uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right.

Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain. The religious right’s more favored candidates — from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to even former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson — are no longer options.

Picture this. A guy applies for a job as a loan originator in a commercial bank. He's intelligent, personable, knowledgeable of the industry...all in all a wonderful fit for the job. He starts work, turns in the paperwork for his first loan and his boss notices (right away, too) that the loan charges no interest. When asked what the fuck is his problem he say his religion forbids him to charge interest. You think he'd make it back to his desk before being fired?

If you apply for a job, you must actually be able to do the job, and that goes beyond physical limitations. Choosing not to do the legitimate work of the organization that pays your salary is a firing offense everywhere.

Bush would change that. In a way, no surprise since the people he himself hired have proven to be remarkably inept, their greatest qualification being loyalty to the rhetoric. Makes sense he'd try to get that in place nationwide.

Abortion Proposal Sets Condition on Aid
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to require all recipients of aid under federal health programs to certify that they will not refuse to hire nurses and other providers who object to abortion and even certain types of birth control.

Obama...only supports letting religious institutions hire and fire based on faith in the non-taxpayer funded portions of their activities, said a senior adviser to the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity to more freely describe the new policy.

Look, they're going to do that anyway. But you can't be officially condoning things like that. What are you going to do with the lawsuit that asks why, if churches can discriminate in hiring based on strongly held belief, everyone else is denied that right? What are you going to do with the church that fills their taxpayer-funded positions internally from among people hired for the non-taxpayer funded positions?

Ideology-Based Hiring at Justice Broke Laws, Investigation Finds
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008; A11

Senior Justice Department officials broke civil service laws by rejecting scores of young applicants who had links to Democrats or liberal organizations, according to a biting report issued yesterday.

The report by the Justice Department inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility concluded that a pair of high-ranking political appointees who are no longer with the department had violated department policy and the Civil Service Reform Act by using ideological reasons to scuttle the candidacy of lawyers who applied to the elite honors and summer intern programs.

In one instance, steering committee member Esther Slater McDonald deemed "unacceptable" an applicant who professed admiration for the environmental group Greenaction and passed over another with ties to the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, the report said.

Back to when this partisanship was discovered...not by looking at this trainee program but actual hires for powerful slots. Folks like Monica Goodling, who worked with Gonzales of the stuff he resigned over. Just as she resigned. After taking the fifth, which is why I can only talk about 'stuff'.

Monica graduated...I guess you can say that...from Regent Law School. Which sucks .

"It used to be that high-level DOJ jobs were generally reserved for the best of the legal profession," wrote a contributor to The New Republic website . ". . . That a recent graduate of one of the very worst (and sketchiest) law schools with virtually no relevant experience could ascend to this position is a sure sign that there is something seriously wrong at the DOJ."

And she's not the only one.

The Regent law school was founded in 1986, when Oral Roberts University shut down its ailing law school and sent its library to Robertson's Bible-based college in Virginia. It was initially called "CBN University School of Law" after the televangelist's Christian Broadcasting Network, whose studios share the campus and which provided much of the funding for the law school. (The Coors Foundation is also a donor to the university.) The American Bar Association accredited Regent's law school in 1996.

Not long ago, it was rare for Regent graduates to join the federal government. But in 2001, the Bush administration picked the dean of Regent's government school, Kay Coles James , to be the director of the Office of Personnel Management -- essentially the head of human resources for the executive branch. The doors of opportunity for government jobs were thrown open to Regent alumni.

"We've had great placement," said Jay Sekulow , who heads a non profit law firm based at Regent that files lawsuits aimed at lowering barriers between church and state. "We've had a lot of people in key positions."

Many of those who have Regent law degrees, including Goodling, joined the Department of Justice. Their path to employment was further eased in late 2002, when John Ashcroft , then attorney general, changed longstanding rules for hiring lawyers to fill vacancies in the career ranks.

Previously, veteran civil servants screened applicants and recommended whom to hire, usually picking top students from elite schools.

In a recent Regent law school newsletter, a 2004 graduate described being interviewed for a job as a trial attorney at the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in October 2003. Asked to name the Supreme Court decision from the past 20 years with which he most disagreed, he cited Lawrence v. Texas, the ruling striking down a law against sodomy because it violated gay people's civil rights.

"When one of the interviewers agreed and said that decision in Lawrence was 'maddening,' I knew I correctly answered the question," wrote the Regent graduate . The administration hired him for the Civil Rights Division's housing section -- the only employment offer he received after graduation, he said.

We need to de-Regentize our government.

Report Says Partisanship Reigned in Justice Department Hiring Program
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 24, 2008; A07

High-ranking political appointees at the Justice Department labored to stock a prestigious hiring program with young conservatives in a five-year-long attempt to reshape the department's ranks, according to an inspector general's report to be released today.

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via Republic of T

Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah
Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: May 29, 2008 07:07:49 AM

FALLUJAH, Iraq — At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

"He wants us to support him, but as soon as his back was against the wall, he overreacted. He is now less likely to get the evangelical vote and will have a difficult time getting strong endorsements from other ministers," said Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, an evangelical group that advises ministers on political and policy issues....

Like Hagee, Parsley is a leader in a nondenominational movement within evangelical Christian churches, called "Word of Faith," that subscribes to a "prosperity gospel." It teaches that followers not only save their souls when they accept Jesus but also gain power to claim personal wealth and physical health through prayer and the spoken word....

Parsley tells people that he lives his own message. He and his family reside in a 7,462-square-foot house, valued at more than $1 million, on a 24-acre gated property.

At age 51, he is more than two decades younger than Pat Robertson, the 78-year-old chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and is considered to be among the next generation of leaders who will be major political players. Last year, the Religion News Service called Parsley one of the nation's top 10 influential "kingmakers."

Using his mega-church, his television and radio shows, and two best-selling books. Parsley elevated his status among the political elite. In 2004, he campaigned for President Bush in Ohio, where he won a narrow victory.

"He started appearing on 'Larry King Live.' He wrote books that many people were reading. He became a force among politicians,'' Lee said. "McCain had to take him seriously."

In Rebuking Minister, McCain May Have Alienated Evangelicals
By Kimberly Kindy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 29, 2008; A08

The Rev. Rod Parsley paces the stage, wiping his forehead and shouting to his congregation in a taped sermon that marriage is under attack by "tortured and angry homosexuals."

During another of his nationally broadcast television shows, he compares Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that its goal is to "eliminate" blacks. And at another service at his 12,000-member World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, he punches the air and calls Islam a "false religion" that God has told America to destroy.

"We were built for battle! We were created for conflict! We get off on warfare!" he adds.

You think I'm joking? Ask him yourself.

That whole death and rebirth thing wasn't enough for Donohue, I guess. 

In his book “Jerusalem Countdown,” Mr. Hagee accused the Vatican of collaborating with Hitler in the Holocaust. In addition, some critics have interpreted Mr. Hagee’s references to “the great whore” prophesied in the Book of Revelation as a slur on the Roman Catholic Church....

Mr. McCain said two weeks ago that he was “glad to have his endorsement,”

I think it's pretty significant that it took weeks of negotiation to get this little concession.

McCain Backer Regrets Comments on Catholics
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

The Rev. John C. Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a controversy when Senator John McCain received his endorsement for the Republican presidential nomination with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for “any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”

The letter was issued after weeks of conversations between Mr. Hagee and Roman Catholic Republicans about repairing the damage to Mr. McCain’s campaign and the alliance built over many years between conservative Catholics and evangelicals.

Oliver Willis pointed this out.

Magic trick costs teacher job
By: Janie Porter

Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.

Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.

The charge from the school district — Wizardry!

"You are talking about combining the great American traditions of religion and consumption.''

''You drink it, and you just feel like you are in church''

sigh

Maybe I should give up. 

Holy water aims to quench thirst of body and soul
By AUDRA D.S. BURCH

The instructions are simple: Read the Prayer . . / Drink the Water . . . / Believe in God! / Believe in Yourself!

Spiritual Water, the faith-inspired venture of two Sunrise businessmen, offers its drinkers clearer focus, positive thinking and connection to a higher power.

The 11 bottles in the company's collection bear prayers and impressively detailed images of Jesus Christ, St. Michael and the Virgin Mary. Spiritual Water joins a broad slice of feel-good products -- Testamint, Bible Gum and other bottled holy waters -- emerging at the intersection of religion and commerce, entrepreneurship and pop culture.

Jesus Made Me Puke
Matt Taibbi Undercover with the Christian Right
MATT TAIBBI Posted May 01, 2008 12:00 AM

I had been attending the Cornerstone Church for weeks, but this was really my first day of school. I had joined Cornerstone — a megachurch in the Texas Hill Country — to get a look inside the evangelical mind-set that gave the country eight years of George W. Bush. The church's pastor, John Hagee, is one of the most influential evangelical preachers in the country — not because his ministry is so very large (although he claims up to 4.5 million viewers a week for his Sunday sermons) but because of his near-absolute conquest of a very trendy niche in the market: Christian Zionism.

To Catholics like me who oppose liberal abortion laws but also think that other issues -- war or peace, health care, just wages, immigration, affordable housing, torture -- actually matter, the idea that abortion trumps everything, all the time, no matter what, is both bad religion and bad civics. It's not, for God's sake, as though we're in Nazi Germany and supporting Hitler.

Or is it? Amazingly, at least one influential bishop has made just that comparison publicly, and it's a good bet that many others believe it privately.

"In our country we have, for the most part, allowed the party of death and the court system it has produced to eliminate, since 1973, upwards of 40 million of our fellow citizens without allowing them to see the light of day," wrote Rockford, Ill., Bishop Thomas Doran in 2006. "No doubt, we shall soon outstrip the Nazis in doing human beings to death." He continued, "We know . . . that adherents of one political party would place us squarely on the road to suicide as a people."

That Doran forgets his history (five of the seven justices who supported Roe v. Wade were actually appointed by Republican presidents) doesn't obscure his point. He is not alone among Catholic bishops in his attempt to anathematize the Democrats, to make the party and its candidates illegitimate in the mind of the electorate.

I Voted for Obama. Will I Go Straight to. . . ?
By Joe Feuerherd
Sunday, February 24, 2008; B05

Like most Maryland Democrats, I voted for Sen. Barack Obama in the recent Potomac Primary. By doing so, according to the leaders of my church, I put my soul at risk. That's right, says the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops -- tap the touch screen for a pro-abortion-rights candidate, and you're probably punching your ticket to Hell.

Religion Joins Custody Cases, to Judges’ Unease
By NEELA BANERJEE

MADISON, Ala. — On a January night nine years ago, Laura Snider was saved.

A 27-year-old single mother at the time, Mrs. Snider felt she had ruined her life through a disastrous marriage and divorce. But in her kitchen that night, after reading pamphlets and Bible passages that her boss had pointed her to, she realized she was a sinner, she said, she prayed for forgiveness, and put her trust in Christ.

Four years later, the conservative brand of Christianity Mrs. Snider embraced became the source of a bitter, continuing custody battle over her only child, Libby Mashburn.

In an effort to evangelize among the nation's elite, evangelicals have launched hundreds of invitation-only programs and organizations. Business leaders in Manhattan conduct Bible studies that meet in private clubs. Fellowship groups in Washington are reserved for diplomats and members of Congress. The CEO Forum, an invitation-only group for CEOs of large corporations, has been extremely important to the religious formation of many business executives. And, ironically, meetings designed to spur Christian philanthropy are held at fancy hotels and resorts. Indeed, the evangelical advance into the nation's higher circles has entailed an extension of, instead of a departure from, the privileged and powerful worlds these leaders regularly inhabit. Yet how does an exclusive religious fellowship square with Christian teaching?

A gated community in the evangelical world
Many of the nation’s most powerful believers — presidents, CEOs, entertainers and athletes — won’t be found in the pews on Sundays, thus creating a growing gap between them and ‘the people.’ It’s a trend that is having a profound effect on this faith movement.
By D. Michael Lindsay

President Bush is Public Evangelical No. 1. His presidency is the capstone of evangelicals' 30-year rise from the margins of society to the halls of power. But while the president has gone to great lengths to testify publicly to his faith, he often doesn't do the one thing that defines most evangelicals — go to church. He attends chapel at Camp David and other special services, but the president rarely can be found in a congregation on Sunday morning. (In contrast, Presidents Carter and Clinton both attended services in Washington during their tenures.)

Surprised? When most of us think of devout evangelicals, we think of people who attend church regularly and are active in their local congregations. Yet many of the most prominent evangelicals do neither. They regularly attend Bible studies and religious gatherings, including last week's National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, but many can't be found in the pews on Sunday.

May Florida come to be seen as the leading edge of a trend in this regard. 

Step one: arrest the pastor

step two: tie the pastor to the pol

7 murders, including three doctors, two clinic employees, a security guard, and an escort
17 attempted murders
383 death threats
153 incidents of assault and battery
3 kidnappings
41 bombings
173 arsons
91 attempted bombings or arsons
619 bomb threats
655 bioterror attacks (all hoaxes), 554 of which were committed by one man
1630 incidents of trespassing
1264 incidents of vandalism
100 attacks with butyric acid stink bombs

100 Greatest Quotes from fundamentalist christian chat rooms

The gospel of money
Megachurch pastors and broadcast ministries are drawing renewed scrutiny for living lavishly off the faithful’s funds. Fortunately, a divide is emerging in the world of evangelicals: the ‘haves’ and the ‘will have none of it.’
By Mark I. Pinsky

"The love of money," the New Testament teaches in I Timothy 6:10, "is the root of all evil." But what about some televangelists' fondness for major bling — such as multiple, multimillion dollar estates, luxury cars, vacation homes, exotic trips and private jets? Does that make them, in the words of one author, "pimps in the pulpit?"

Many outside the evangelical movement are puzzled by the apparent lack of outrage following reports of high-living, tax-exempt religious broadcasters. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has been looking into six megachurch pastors and broadcast ministries, requesting financial records. Richard Roberts has stepped down as president of Oral Roberts University following charges that he used the school's resources for family perks, such as a trip to the Bahamas for his daughter.

These charges come as no surprise to those within the evangelical world. Such tales of excess and profligacy have been an open secret for years.