From Conservapedia, via Andrew Sullivan:

Cacti are those succelent plants which belong to the family Cactaceae. Every cactus is a succulent, but not every succulent is a cactus. The secularist view of the Cactaceae is that they are roughly two million years old, and that they have evolved exclusively in the new world. This view fails to explain, however, how it is that the Opuntia genus is native to the island of Opus, near Greece. Cacti are known for their high content of alkaloids, and have often been used in the sacramental rights of the Native Americans. Because of this, the early Catholic missionaries in the west thought the plants to be the work of Satan, and this is perhaps a preferable view to that of materialistic evolution since it is difficult to imagine how something like mescaline could have evolved by natural selection. Besides that, the psychoactive content of many cacti have inspired the writings of such ungodly men as Aldous Huxley and Albert Hoffman.

Several species of cactus are now endangered in the west due to "poaching" by collectors and invasive species. But, since Genesis suggests that man has been given dominion over all of the earth, the environmentalist concerns on this note are entirely inappropriate. It may also be that environmentalists, in addition to flauting the Word of God, are merely concerned about the effects that declining cactus populations will have on their supply of mescaline.

Of course, Conservapedia is undoubtedly a spoof, but it's hilarious all the same.

Posted at 11:04 AM | Permalink

From The Associated Press, hat tip Defcon

The Reverend Jerry Falwell says global warming is "Satan's attempt to redirect the church's primary focus" from evangelism to environmentalism.
Falwell told his Baptist congregation in Lynchburg yesterday that "the jury is still out" on whether humans are causing -- or could stop -- global warming.

But he said some "naive Christian leaders" are being "duped" by arguments like those presented in former Vice President Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth. Falwell says the documentary should have been titled "A Convenient Untruth."

Falwell said the Bible teaches that God will maintain the Earth until Jesus returns, so Christians should be responsible environmentalists, but not what he calls ... quote ... "first-class nuts."

Posted at 09:02 PM | Permalink

Read the latest figures here. Still, leading conservatives and douchebags like Stephen Parsley want your daughter to take their chances on getting cancer. Of course, if HPV lead to prostate cancer, you know these reactionaries wouldn't be making such a stink about the vaccination.

Posted at 06:03 PM | Permalink

from the Daily Mail

Archaeologists and biblical scholars have poured scorn on a Hollywood film director's sensational claim that he has discovered the coffin of Jesus Christ.

Oscar-winning 'Titanic' director James Cameron's assertion that the bones of Jesus and his family were hidden for centuries in a Jerusalem tomb caused an outcry in the Holy Land.

The very fact that Jesus had a grave would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

'The Lost Tomb of Christ', a documentary set to air on Channel Four next month, argues that ten ancient ossuaries, small caskets used to store bones, which were found when bulldozers flattened a Jerusalem suburb in 1980, may have contained the remains of Jesus and his wife and child.

One of the caskets even bears the title, 'Judah, son of Jesus,' which Cameron claims as evidence that Jesus may have had a son. Another coffin was said to hold the bones of Mary Magdalene, also known as 'Mariamne'.

Cameron unveiled two of the small limestone caskets at a press conference in New York, but the director could offer little proof to support his claims, other than the mathematical probability of a tomb containing a set of ossuaries with names linked to Jesus.

Of the ten ossuaries found, six were inscribed with the names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Mary Magdalene, as well as Judah, Son of Jesus, and a Matthew, of which there were many in Mary's family, according to Luke 3:23.

Critics said all the names were commonplace in Biblical times.

Apparently surprised at the hostility over his 'discovery', the director who famously claimed to be 'the king of the world' when he won an Oscar for Titanic, insisted it was not a publicity stunt and said his critics should wait and see the film.

"I'm not a theologist. I'm not an archaeologist. I'm a documentary filmmaker," he said. READ IT ALL

Posted at 09:59 AM | Permalink

Of course, the religious liberties Gonzales is referring to are exclusively Christian. From BPNews:

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales met with Southern Baptist leaders Feb. 20 to unveil a new Department of Justice initiative aimed at educating Americans about their religious liberties and to ask for the Southern Baptist Convention’s help in identifying and reporting abuses of those liberties.

Gonzales, in an address to SBC Executive Committee members during their Tuesday afternoon session, noted that he is charged by the president with “protecting and preserving not only the safety and security of all Americans, but also their rights, liberties and freedoms.”

“One of our most cherished freedoms, one we’ve sacrificed greatly to defend, is our religious liberty,” the attorney general said at the SBC Building in Nashville, Tenn. “Nothing defines us more as a nation and differentiates us more from the extremists who are our enemies than our respect for religious freedom. Our great country was founded on these principles, and many of us today believe it continues to thrive because of, not despite, them.”

The Department of Justice released Feb. 20 a “Report on Enforcement of Laws Protecting Religious Freedom: Fiscal Years 2001-2006,” which describes the importance of religious freedom historically in America and the role assigned to the justice department. The report also summarizes the department’s accomplishments during the Bush administration to protect religious liberty through the enforcement of civil rights laws.

Among the cases included in the report is one defending the right of senior adults to pray, sing religious songs and hold Bible studies at a community senior center. Other areas of enforcement results include education, employment, housing and lending discrimination, public accommodations and public facilities, land use, rights of institutionalized persons, crimes against persons and property based on religion, and religious liberty in the courts of appeals.

“We’ve launched scores of investigations involving religious discrimination in education and housing, a sharp and marked increase in the justice department’s enforcement of these important federal protections,” Gonzales said. “We have fought to maintain and make clear the crucial distinction between improper government speech endorsing religion and constitutionally protected private speech endorsing religion.

“Why should it be permissible for an employee standing around the water cooler to declare that ‘Tiger Woods is God,’ but a firing offense for him to say ‘Jesus is Lord’?” he said to vocal affirmation from Executive Committee members. “These are the kinds of contradictions we are trying to address.”

Religious freedom is often referred to as the first freedom, Gonzales said, because it is a fundamental part of U.S. history and one of the nation’s core principles.

“In the First Amendment to the Constitution, at the top of the Bill of Rights, the founders declared that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Before free speech, before freedom of the press, before all of these other crucial rights, we put freedom of religion,” the attorney general said.

“This area of law has not always been given sufficient attention by the federal government, but from its earliest days this administration has worked to increase enforcement of religious freedom laws, including those against religious discrimination,” Gonzales added. “I am very proud of the report we’re releasing today, because it describes a legacy of protection unequaled since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

With the unveiling of the “First Freedom Project,” the Department of Justice is creating a department-wide Religious Freedom Task Force, the attorney general told Executive Committee members. Another component is the initiation of a program of public education to ensure that people know their rights. Gonzales said the justice department will hold a series of regional training seminars for leaders interested in religious liberty issues, starting in Kansas City, Mo., March 29.

Also, the department has launched a new website, firstfreedom.gov, with information on the laws they enforce and how to file a complaint. Justice officials will be distributing informational literature to religious organizations, civil rights groups and community leaders on how to file a complaint, Gonzales said.

“I am here to ask the Southern Baptist Convention, and all of you in this room, for your help,” the attorney general said. “The Department of Justice has many tools to protect religious freedoms in this country, and we are using them. But even with all of our passion and our dedication to this cause, we cannot do it alone.... I am so very glad to be here among men and women who understand and share our commitment.”

Before his address to Executive Committee members, Gonzales met personally with Morris H. Chapman, president of the Executive Committee, and several other Southern Baptist leaders including SBC President Frank Page and Richard Land, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, based in Nashville.

During a news conference after his address, Gonzales told reporters his office approached SBC leaders about the possibility of him speaking at their regularly scheduled meeting because he knew he would be speaking to a receptive audience and because Southern Baptists have already been leaders in the quest to protect religious freedom in the United States and throughout the world.

Posted at 03:39 PM | Permalink

Dobson and other conservatives routinely cite flawed report.

From The Associated Press:

A 2002 study that suggested adult stem cells might be as useful as embryonic ones was flawed and its conclusions may be wrong, a scientific panel says -- a finding that raises questions about the promise of a less controversial source for stem cells.

The research by Catherine Verfaillie at the University of Minnesota concluded that adult stem cells taken from the bone marrow of mice could grow into an array of biological tissues, including brain, heart, lung and liver.

So far only embryonic stem cells, which are commonly retrieved by destroying embryos at an early stage of development, are known to hold such regenerative promise. Many scientists believe they might one day be used to treat certain diseases and other conditions.

Opponents of stem cell research seized on the 2002 findings as evidence that stem cell science could move forward without destroying embryos. But Verfaillie has acknowledged flaws in parts of the study after inquiries from the British magazine New Scientist, which first publicized the questions last week.

A panel of experts commissioned by the university concluded that the process used to identify tissue derived from the adult stem cells was "significantly flawed, and that the interpretations based on these data, expressed in the manuscript, are potentially incorrect," according to a portion of the panel's findings released by the university.

The panel concluded that it was not clear whether the flaws mean Verfaillie's conclusions were wrong. It also determined that the flaws were mistakes, not falsifications. READ IT ALL

Posted at 09:45 AM | Permalink

from the AP

A Catholic school principal has organized sensitivity training for students who shouted "We love Jesus" during a basketball game against a school with Jewish students. The word "Jew" also was painted on a gym wall behind the seats of Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School students attending the Feb. 2 game at Norfolk Academy, said Dennis W. Price, principal of the Virginia Beach school.

Price who also watched the game, said the rivals exchanged chants, "Then, at some point, our students were chanting, 'We love Jesus.'"

"It was obviously in reference to the Jewish population of Norfolk Academy; that's the only way you can take that," he added. Price said he sent a letter of apology to Norfolk. Dennis G. Manning, the academy's headmaster, declined to comment. Several Sullivan students met with Norfolk Academy's cultural diversity club Thursday as part of a series of events aimed at promoting tolerance, Price said.

He has arranged for the Virginia Conference for Community and Justice and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater to work with students.

A message left for the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater was not immediately returned Saturday. Price also has consulted the Anti-Defamation League, a national group that fights anti-Semitism.

"It is important that we work harder at having students leaving here who are tolerant and understand how serious these kinds of things are," said Price, who said diversity training will be incorporated permanently at Sullivan.

Posted at 05:05 PM | Permalink

Council for National Policy founder, Tim LaHaye with the antiChrist and Skeletor

The NY Times has an important article about the skull & bones of the Religious Right, the Council for National Policy. This group, founded by Tim LaHaye of Left Behind fame, is arguably the evangelical Right's most powerful group. From our book The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right:

The Council for National Policy is a highly secretive coalition of evangelicals and politicians. The decades old group is like Skull & Bones for people who routinely appear on The 700 Club or Hannity & Colmes. ABC News calls them “The Most Powerful Conservative Group You've Never Heard Of.” And though their membership list is confidential, George Bush, James Dobson, Bill Frist, and almost every other A-List ultraconservative who was Born Again next to the snake cages in the basement of a Baptist church has been reported to be member.

Major policy decisions often find their inception in the resorts and hotels where the CNP conducts their private meetings. A report by Rolling Stone claims that billions have been given to rightwing Christian causes by the CNP, and that the Clinton impeachment was conceived by them. In 2004, The New York Times printed an excerpt of a secret CNP document which instructed: "The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before or after a meeting." The group’s founders include the father of the Religious Right, Paul Weyrich, and Rapture-crazy author Tim LaHaye. Best known for his role on the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe television series, Skeletor is another, less widely discussed founder.

As the Times reports, the Council for National Policy just held a behind-closed-doors meeting last week to discuss the 2008 elections. From the NY Times:

A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn.

The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign.

But in a stark shift from the group’s influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election.

Many conservatives have already declared their hostility to Senator John McCain of Arizona, despite his efforts to make amends for having once denounced Christian conservative leaders as “agents of intolerance,” and to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, because of his liberal views on abortion and gay rights and his three marriages.

Many were also suspicious of former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts; members have used the council as a conduit to distribute a dossier prepared by a Massachusetts conservative group about liberal elements of his record on abortion, stem cell research and gay rights. (Mr. Romney has worked to convince conservatives that his views have changed.)

And some members of the council have raised doubts about lesser known candidates -- Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Representative Duncan Hunter of California, who were invited to Amelia Island to address an elite audience of about 60 of its members, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who spoke to the full council at its previous meeting, in October in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Although each of the three had supporters, many conservatives expressed concerns about whether any of the candidates could unify their movement or raise enough money to overtake the front-runners, several participants in the meetings said.

Finally, in a measure of their dissatisfaction, a delegation of prominent conservatives at Amelia Island tried to enlist as a candidate Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a guest speaker at the event. A charismatic politician with a clear conservative record, Mr. Sanford is almost unknown outside his home state and has done nothing to prepare for a presidential run. He firmly declined the group’s entreaties, people involved in the recruiting effort said. A spokesman for Mr. Sanford said he would not comment.

“There is great anxiety,” said Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation. “There is no outstanding conservative, and they are all looking for that.”

Mr. Weyrich, a longtime member of the council, declined to discuss the group or its meetings. The council’s bylaws forbid members from publicly disclosing its membership or activities, and participants agreed to discuss the Amelia Island meeting only on the condition of anonymity.

For eight years and four elections, President Bush forged a singular alliance with Christian conservatives — including dispatching administration officials and even cabinet members to address council meetings — that put them at the center of the Republican Party.

But in the aftermath of the stinging defeats in the midterm elections, and with discontent over the Iraq war weighing heavily on the public, some Christian conservatives worry that they may find themselves on the sidelines of the presidential race.

Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney have worked hard to pitch themselves to Christian conservatives — Mr. McCain by delivering speeches at venues like Mr. Falwell’s Liberty University or a recent abstinence-promotion event, Mr. Romney by leading the charge for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. But neither has won over many of the movement’s leaders.

The conservative concern may also be an ominous sign for the Republican Party about the morale of a core element of its political base. Conservatives warn that the 2008 election could shape up like 1996, when conservatives faced a lesser-of-two evils choice between a Republican they distrusted, former Senator Bob Dole, and a Democrat they disdained, President Bill Clinton. Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family later said in a speech to the council that he voted for a conservative third-party candidate that year rather than pull a lever for Mr. Dole.

The Council for National Policy was founded 25 years ago by the Rev. Tim LaHaye as a forum for conservative Christians to strategize about turning the country to the right. Its secrecy was intended to insulate the group from what its members considered the liberal bias of the news media. In recent years the group has brought together a cross-section of the right from Edwin J. Feulner to Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association.

In addition to doubts about their ability to generate enough money and momentum, each candidate who addressed the group also faces initial skepticism from one faction or another on issues like immigration, trade, taxes and foreign affairs.

“Right now there is still a vacuum among conservative Republicans,” said Gary Bauer, a Christian conservative who was a Republican primary candidate in 2000. Conservatives, he said, “want a more provable conservative who also is demonstrating that they can put together the resources necessary to prevail.” He declined to comment on the Amelia Island meeting.

A spokesman for Mr. Brownback said he would not comment on the senator’s presentation to the council, citing its rules about strict confidentiality. Several others who attended his speech said he received heavy applause for his emphasis on restricting abortion and amending the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. But foes of illegal immigration objected to his support for a temporary guest worker program, and some faulted him for touching only briefly on the threat of Islamic terrorists, an increasingly central focus of the council and many social conservative groups since the Sept. 11 attacks.

(People who attended the Amelia Island event said Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, delivered a well-received address to the council about what he called the gathering threat of radical Islam.)

In an interview, Mr. Hunter, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and a supporter of Mr. Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq, said the need for a strong national defense was the centerpiece of his speech. That defense, he argued, should include cracking down on illegal immigration, building a wall along the Mexican border and renegotiating foreign trade deals to protect American manufacturing. “We are losing the arsenal of the democracy,” he said.

But several people at the council meeting said his stance on trade alienated the business wing of the Republican Party, compounding his substantial fund-raising challenges.

Mr. Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister who was the head of the Arkansas Baptist convention before becoming governor, has the advantage of strong personal ties to many council members. Many prominent evangelical Christians consider him a friend, and he has appeared several times as a guest on Dr. Dobson’s popular Christian radio program.

In an interview, Mr. Huckabee said he believed his roots in the evangelical world helped set him apart from his rivals. “I am not going to them,” he said. “I am coming from them.” He said he did not remember speaking about his opposition to abortion or same-sex marriage, “although I am sure that I must have.” He said he emphasized education, among other issues, and talked about a continuing war “with a radical form of Islamic fascism,” which he called “a bastardization of religion.”

But many conservatives, including several participants in the Amelia Island meeting, said Mr. Huckabee faced resistance from the limited-government, antitax wing of their movement. Some antitax activists fault Mr. Huckabee for presiding over tax and spending increases. (He says the only tax increase resulted from a public referendum.)

In the interview, though, Mr. Huckabee said he was now leaning toward signing a pledge not to raise income taxes that is presented to all the candidates by Mr. Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.

Mr. Norquist said he remained open to any of the three candidates who spoke to the council or to Mr. Romney. He argued that with the right promises, any of the four could redeem themselves in the eyes of the conservative movement despite their past records, just as some high school students take abstinence pledges even after having had sex.

“It’s called secondary virginity,” Mr. Norquist said. “It is a big movement in high school and also available for politicians.”

Posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink

From the AP

Annie Laurie Gaylor speaks with a soft voice, but her message catches attention: Keep God out of government.

Gaylor has helped transform the Freedom From Religion Foundation from obscurity into the nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics, with a fast-rising membership and increasing legal clout.

Next week, the group started by Gaylor and her mother in the 1970s to take on the religious right will fight its most high-profile battle when the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on its lawsuit against President Bush's faith-based initiative.

The court will decide whether taxpayers can sue over federal funding that the foundation believes promotes religion. It could be a major ruling for groups that fight to keep church and state separate.

"What's at stake is the right to challenge the establishment of religion by the government," Gaylor said.

The 51-year-old once donned a nun's habit as a college student in 1977 to protest a judge who blamed rape on women who wear provocative clothing.

She uses different tactics these days, though her activism remains strong.

Among its victories, the group has stopped funding for a Milwaukee charity that Bush visited during the 2000 campaign and an Arizona group that preached to children of prisoners.

The case in front of the high court claims White House conferences to promote the faith-based initiative turn into unconstitutional pep rallies for religion.

The initiative helps religious organizations get government funding to provide social services.

George Washington University law professor Ira Lupu called the Madison-based foundation "by far the most aggressive litigating entity against the faith-based initiative."

"When they can prove there's religious content in those programs, they've been quite successful and they've won a few cases," Lupu said. "When they've tried to go after the initiative as a whole, they've been less successful."

Critics say the group imposes such an extreme view of the First Amendment that religious groups can't receive tax dollars for even laudable purposes.

"They are successful in the sense that they have disrupted government funding for faith-based initiatives," said Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, which defends religion in the public arena. "But real people with real problems are no longer getting help because of some of their lawsuits."

The group has grown as its legal challenges mount. It claims 8,500 members in 50 states, with the most coming from California, after adding a record 400 in December.

Members consider themselves freethinkers who form opinions based on reason, not faith.

Gaylor is hoping an advertising campaign on progressive talk radio, the Internet and in liberal magazines helps the group reach 10,000 members this year.

She and husband Dan Barker, a former fundamentalist minister who turned against religion, are co-presidents. Her mother, Anne Nicol Gaylor, founded the group in 1978 to counter religious influence in government after clashing with religious leaders over abortion.

Its leaders say the surge in membership reflects a U.S. population that is becoming less religious and growing liberal alarm since Bush's re-election.

"There was a feeling that there was almost a near religious-right takeover of our government and that we better speak up now," Gaylor said.

The American Religious Identification Survey in 2001 estimated that 29 million Americans had no religion, double the number from 1990. The survey, which was conducted by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, estimated that 1.9 million identified themselves as atheist or agnostic.

Before its battle against the faith-based initiative, the group stopped prayers during the University of Wisconsin's commencement and overturned Good Friday as a state holiday in Wisconsin.

"We've applied some very needed pressure through going to court on keeping state and church separate," said the elder Gaylor, 80. "We hope we've done some educating that will be lasting."

Posted at 09:56 AM | Permalink

Debbie Vasquez was molested by a Baptist minister

From the AP

The victims' advocates who dogged the Roman Catholic Church over sex abuse by its clergy have now turned their attention to the Southern Baptists, accusing America's largest Protestant denomination of also failing to root out molesters.

The Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has started a campaign to call attention to alleged sex abuse committed by Southern Baptist ministers and concealed by churches.

SNAP presented a letter Monday to Southern Baptist Convention executive committee members in Nashville, asking the group to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on sex abuse and to create an independent review board to investigate molestation reports.

Church leaders concede there have been some incidents of abuse in Southern Baptist congregations, but say their hands are tied when it comes to investigating complaints across the denomination.
40 cases of alleged abuse

Unlike the Catholic Church, with its rigid hierarchy, Baptist churches are independent. They make their own decisions about hiring ministers and conducting investigations, Baptist leaders say.

"They don't want to see this problem," said Christa Brown, a SNAP member from Austin, Texas, who says she was sexually abused as a child by a Southern Baptist minister. "That's tragic because they're imitating the same mistakes made by Catholic bishops."

In the past six months SNAP has received reports of about 40 cases of sexual abuse by Southern Baptist ministers -- with some of the incidents dating back many years, Brown said.

SNAP leaders hold that abuse is typically underreported because being molested is such a painful experience that victims often wait years before stepping forward.

Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page said the denomination plans to teach its churches how to conduct background checks, and to require letters of recommendation for job candidates.

But he said the Southern Baptist Convention does not have the legal authority to create an independent board to investigate abuse complaints.

"As much as possible within our structure, we're going to assist churches," Page said. "We're deeply concerned about this. We believe children are the most precious gifts from God."

Southern Baptists passed a resolution in 2002 urging its churches to discipline ministers guilty of sexual abuse and to cooperate with authorities in their prosecution.
Pregnant with her minister's baby

But Brown said that's not enough.

She says the Southern Baptists need an independent review board precisely because there's no clear chain of command among Baptist churches. The SBC also does not keep a list of ministers who have been accused of abuse. Advocates say this means molesters could move from church to church.

"I believe kids are not safe in Southern Baptist churches," said Brown, who runs a Web site called the Voice to Stop Baptist Predators.

One SNAP member, Debbie Vasquez, said she was raped by a Southern Baptist minister in Texas when she was 15 years old.

Now 48, Vasquez filed a lawsuit last year against the pastor, the Rev. Dale "Dickie" Amyx and his current church, Bolivar Baptist in Sanger, Texas, about 45 miles north of Dallas. She claims the church knew, or should have known, about Amyx's past.

Vasquez says she was raped when Amyx was a minister at the now-defunct Calvary Baptist Church in Lewisville, another town north of Dallas.

When she became pregnant with Amyx's child at age 18, church leaders forced her to go before the congregation and ask forgiveness as an unwed mother. But the congregation was never told it was Amyx's baby.

The lawsuit claims Calvary Baptist helped Amyx get another job at a church in Arizona.

Amyx acknowledged in court documents that he had a sexual relationship with Vasquez and was the father of her child. Texas court records also show that Amyx was convicted in 1967 for giving beer to a minor.

When reached at home Wednesday, Amyx said he couldn't comment on the case and referred all questions to his lawyer, James A. Harrison. The attorney did not return multiple phone calls.

Vasquez said she filed the suit because she fears Amyx could be abusing other girls and she wants to see him removed from his position.

"In any denomination where you have these men with this power that's not questioned and you have these people who are vulnerable ... you're going to have a problem," Vasquez said.
Cover-up accusations

Philip Jenkins, a professor of religious studies and history at Pennsylvania State University and author of the book "Pedophiles and Priests," said it's harder to track child sexual abuse in Protestant denominations.

"Southern Baptists are massively decentralized compared to the Catholic Church," he said. "They're independent. It's very difficult to gauge how many abuses might be occurring within the Southern Baptist Convention."

Several child sex abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches have surfaced recently.

Bellevue Baptist, a megachurch near Memphis, fired a longtime minister, the Rev. Paul Williams, last month after he acknowledged sexually abusing his son 17 years ago.

The church's internal investigation found that church leaders, including current pastor, the Rev. Steve Gaines, knew about the abuse last year, but did not act immediately.

The investigation began in December only after the prodding of Williams' son, who asked Gaines why his father was allowed to continue as a minister even after leaders had found out about the abuse.

"I accept full responsibility and could have handled this in a more appropriate way," Gaines told the congregation last month.

In another case, Shawn Davies, a former music and youth minister at the First Baptist Church of Greenwood, Missouri, pleaded guilty last month to molesting boys ages 12 to 16.

Vasquez says she's seeking damages for medical costs and mental and physical injury as well as punitive damages.

"They're allowing these men to go from church to church," she said. "They're not protecting the victims. They're protecting themselves."

Posted at 10:13 AM | Permalink

The plot keeps thickening. Turns out, Pastor Ted embraced his "dark side" on many occassions, perhaps with members of his own staff: from Capitol Hill Blue

“Numerous individuals” -- some of them later described as young male staffers -- have outlined what church leaders call a pattern of improper and even “sordid” behavior by the founder and former chief pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“We have verified the reality of (Haggard’s) struggle through numerous individuals who reported to us firsthand knowledge of everything from sordid conversation to overt suggestions to improper activities to improper relationships,” the Rev. Larry Stockstill told the congregation.

In other Haggard news, Rev. Tim Ralph says he was misquoted as saying Haggard is now “completely heterosexual.” from Capitol Hill Blue:

He said he meant to say that therapy “gave Ted the tools to help to embrace his heterosexual side.”

Related: Haggard Had Other "Improper Relationships"

Posted at 10:09 AM | Permalink

From the AP

Numerous individuals reported knowledge of New Life Church founder Ted Haggard's struggle with a "dark side," leading to his departure from the mega-church, a member of the church's board of overseers told parishioners Sunday.

Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals in November after former male escort Mike Jones alleged Haggard paid him for sex and sometimes snorted methamphetamine. Haggard was removed as senior pastor at New Life and admitted to "sexual immorality" in a letter to the church.

"Concerning Ted and his family, we have done extensive fact-finding into his lifelong battle with a 'dark side' which he said in his confession letter has been a struggle for years," Pastor Larry Stockstill, part of the church's board of overseers, told the 14,000-member congregation Sunday.

"We have verified the reality of that struggle through numerous individuals who reported to us firsthand knowledge of everything from sordid conversation to overt suggestions to improper activities to improper relationships. These findings established a pattern of behavior that culminated in the final relationship in which Ted was, as a matter of grace, caught," he said.

Stockstill did not elaborate. Church leaders had billed Sunday as a "day of hope" to discuss claims against Haggard and to bring closure to church members.

The Haggards have agreed to move from Colorado Springs, Stockstill said. The family was considering the Minneapolis and Phoenix areas, and communities in Missouri and Iowa.

The church will provide the Haggards with financial support over the next year, roughly equivalent to the $130,000 salary Haggard received as pastor, Associate Pastor Rob Brendle told The Colorado Springs Gazette.

Posted at 09:48 AM | Permalink

From the AP via HuffPost

Republican presidential candidate John McCain looking to improve his standing with the party's conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

"I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned," the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

McCain also vowed that if elected, he would appoint judges who "strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench." READ IT ALL

Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Rep. Ben Bridges

From the AP

A Jewish organization is demanding an apology from a Georgia legislator for a memo that says the teaching of evolution should be banned because it is a myth propagated by an ancient Jewish sect. State Rep. Ben Bridges denies writing the memo, which attributes the Big Bang theory to Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.

Bridges has long opposed the teaching of evolution in Georgia classrooms and has introduced legislation requiring only that "scientific fact" be taught.

Marshall Hall, president of the Fair Education Foundation, says the Republican lawmaker gave him approval to write the memo, which has been distributed to legislators in several states, including California and Texas.

The memo asks readers to challenge the "evolution monopoly in the schools" by logging onto Hall's anti-evolution Web site, http://www.fixedearth.com .

"Indisputable evidence — long hidden but now available to everyone — demonstrates conclusively that so-called 'secular evolution science' is the Big Bang, 15-billion-year, alternate 'creation scenario' of the Pharisee Religion," says the memo, which has Bridges' name on it. "This scenario is derived concept-for-concept from Rabbinic writings in the mystic 'holy book' Kabbala dating back at least two millennia."

The Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Bridges on Thursday chastising him for the memo and demanding him to apologize.

"Your memo conjures up repugnant images of Judaism used for thousands of years to smear the Jewish people as cult-like and manipulative," wrote Bill Nigut, the league's Southeast regional director.

The league sent a similar letter to a Texas lawmaker who circulated the memo to members of the Texas Legislature's budget-writing committee.

State Rep. Warren Chisum told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday editions he was trying to do a "Good Samaritan" deed for Bridges. "If that's a sin, well, shoot me," he told the newspaper.

But in a letter to Mark Brisman, director of the league's North Texas/Oklahoma chapter, he wrote, "I sincerely regret that I did not take the time to carefully review these materials and recognize that I may have hurt or offended some groups including some of my dear friends," according to The New York Times.

Hall, a 76-year-old retired high school teacher who said his wife ran Bridges' election campaign, said neither the memo nor his Web site is anti-Semitic. "I think they tar people with that brush a little too readily," he said.

Posted at 10:08 AM | Permalink

From KGET via DarkChristianity

A family is turned away by a local pediatrician, they say because of the way they look. The doctor said he is just following his beliefs, creating a Christian atmosphere for his patients. Tasha Childress said it’s discrimination.

She said Dr. Gary Merrill wouldn’t treat her daughter for an ear infection because Tasha, the mother, has tattoos.

The writing is on the wall--literally: “This is a private office. Appearance and behavior standards apply.”

For Dr. Gary Merrill of Christian Medical Services, that means no tattoos, body piercings, and a host of other requirements--all standards Merrill has set based upon his Christian faith.

“She had to go that entire night with her ear infection with no medicine because he has his policy,” Tasha Childress said.

Merrill won’t speak on camera, but said based on his values and beliefs, he has standards that he expects in his office. He does that, he said, to ensure the patients he does accept have a more comfortable atmosphere.

According to the American Medical Association and other doctors, he reserves that right.

“In the same sense that any other business person has the opportunity to decline service, be it a restaurant if they’re not dressed properly, be it any other type of business,” said Dr. Ronald Morton, Kern County Medical Society.

Morton said certain ethics apply if a person’s life is in danger, but besides that, there is no requirement to serve anyone they don’t approve of.

“I felt totally discriminated against, like I wasn’t good enough to talk to,” Tasha Childress said, “like he didn’t have to give me any reason for not wanting to see my daughter because I have tattoos and piercings.”

17 News found other patients who had a different experience with Merrill.

“I have tattoos, actually, and no, nothing’s ever been said about it,” Brandi Stanley said, Merrill’s patient.

Childress’ insurance company, Health Net of California, who referred her to Merrill, said in a statement: “We provide our customers with a wide breadth of doctors that meet certain medical quality standards … If a customer doesn’t feel comfortable with a particular physician, it is our responsibility to provide that customer with access to another doctor who does meet their needs.”

But that’s not enough for Childress who wants the policy changed immediately and an apology from the doctor for making her feel like an outsider.

“Really, it didn’t matter what he didn’t want to see us for. It isn’t right,” she said.

Merrill said he will continue to enforce the rules he has in place, which even include no chewing gum in his office.

He said if they don’t like his beliefs, they can find another doctor.

Posted at 09:55 AM | Permalink

Stephen Parsley [sparsley@cavalierdaily.com]

From some college-aged retard at UVA, "Taking a shot of corruption:"

IT'S PROBABLY a safe bet that in the minds of most people, sex education for middle school girls does not include supporting promiscuity. This certainly would not be the expectation for a conservative state like Texas. To the shock of many, though, Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) did exactly that on February 2nd, with an executive order requiring all girls entering sixth grade at public schools to have received the Gardasil vaccine. Gardasil immunizes recipients against some forms of HPV (Human Papillomavirus), a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer. Perry and other advocates of mandating the vaccine focus on the serious effects of cervical cancer. But they ignore the fact that HPV is transmitted exclusively through sexual contact, and end up imposing an unnecessary burden on families that does nothing to protect their daughters' well-being...

Because of their invasive nature, vaccinations are procedures that the government should require only in very serious cases. Mandatory immunization makes sense for dangerous diseases that can be spread easily, such as through liquid, air or direct contact. A mandatory HPV vaccine would make sense in a setting where sexual activity is expected, such as, for example, government-run brothels. But these are not prostitutes; these are eleven and twelve-year-old children. There is something very wrong when our political leaders expect middle-school girls to be sexually active.

News Flash: young adults actually are having sex these days. Wake up and smell the decade, dipshit. Sadly, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and many other conservative groups are doing their best to block HPV vaccinations as well. Leaving the possibility of getting cancer on the table as a deterrent to sex is more important to them than protecting human life.

[For more really really smart columns by Stephen Parsley, click here. We especially enjoy this one where evangelical wonder boy Parsely claims that "resolve" is even more important than strategy when it comes to winning in Iraq... incidentally, even Stephen Parsley's classmates think he's a douche.]

Related:
-- HPV vaccine Cervarix in clinical trials have been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection
-- Evangelicals And Some Creepy Guy Named Doctor Finger Try To Stifle Cancer Vaccine

Posted at 10:44 AM | Permalink

From CNN via HuffPost

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will deliver a commencement address at Regent University this May, the Christian school founded by prominent Christian broadcaster and one-time presidential candidate Pat Robertson.

According to Regent spokeswoman Sherri Stocks, Robertson made the decision after Romney met with him at the University last December.

"The meeting went very well and the decision was made to invite him back and speak to our students," Stocks told CNN.

However Robertson has not endorsed Romney for president, Stocks said.

Stocks did not know if any other presidential candidates were considered for the address.

Sen. John McCain, one of Romney's chief rivals for the nomination, delivered the commencement address last May at the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.

Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 1988.

Posted at 09:46 PM | Permalink

From Reuters

The Kansas Board of Education on Tuesday threw out science standards deemed hostile to evolution, undoing the work of Christian conservatives in the ongoing battle over what to teach U.S. public school students about the origins of life.

The board in the central U.S. state voted 6-4 to replace them with teaching standards that mirror the mainstream in science education and eliminate criticisms of evolutionary theory. "I'm glad we've taken this step. If we are going to have a well-educated populace, this is important," said board member Sue Gamble.

Similar efforts to weaken the teaching of evolution in public schools have occurred throughout the United States including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky and Georgia.

But Kansas has been in the forefront of the debate since 1999, when the board voted to sharply reduce the emphasis of evolution in science instruction. A public backlash ultimately led to a reversal of that revision.

The new standards, set to take effect immediately, replace those put in place in 2005 by a conservative majority of the board who challenged the validity of evolution and called it incompatible with religious doctrine.

It is the fourth time in eight years that science standards have been rewritten in Kansas. READ IT ALL

Posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink

From NPR

A new survey finds that a significant number of doctors feel they can withhold information from patients when it conflicts with the doctor's moral beliefs. That includes information about abortion, birth control and some end-of-life treatments. Dr. Farr Curlin, the lead author of the study, talks with Madeleine Brand. LISTEN HERE

Posted at 10:04 AM | Permalink

From Media Matters

On the February 7 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, host Pat Robertson said that people who have received too much plastic surgery "got the eyes like they're Oriental" while he put his fingers up to the side of his face.

Robertson and CBN special features producer Kristi Watts were talking about Fox News host Greta Van Susteren's plastic surgery. Robertson said that Van Susteren "looks great." Watts then asked whether Robertson had "seen someone who got [plastic surgery] too much." Robertson replied, "Yeah, they got the eyes like they're Oriental, and, you know, it's all pulled." READ IT ALL

In other Pat news, did he threaten to kill a man?

Posted at 10:13 AM | Permalink

We love WFMU. If you've never visited their blog, WFMU's Beware of the Blog, do yourself a favor and pay them a visit. Their article on Christian Stand-Up is a great place to start:

Mike Warnke is one of the most famous figures in American Christianity. However, unless you're a Christian, a Satanist, a scandal fiend, obsessive internet troll, or a vinyl collector, there is still a good chance you don't know his tale. Mike Warnke is a stand-up comedian. A Christian stand-up comedian. And despite a scandal-ridden career that would put Jim Bakker to shame, Warnke alone is responsible for what has turned into an enormous multi-million dollar industry - Christian stand-up comedy. Kinda nutty, ain't it?

In reality the Mike Warnke story has been recounted several times over the past decade and, yes, we're about to go through it again. This piece is more than that, however. It is a history of Christian stand-up comedy, from its roots in ventriloquism to its modern day standing as perhaps the wealthiest of all weirdo subcultures. READ IT ALL

This video linked to by WFMU is pretty bizarre too:

Posted at 12:15 PM | Permalink

From MSNBC

The calendar boasts plenty of religious holidays, but how many scientific holidays can you name? One of the red-letter days is coming up on Monday, when more than 850 events around the globe will mark Darwin Day, the 198th anniversary of the evolutionary theorist's birth. You can hear about Charles Darwin and the revolution he sparked from hundreds of church pulpits this weekend, as part of a program called Evolution Sunday.

Are those godless secularists trying to take on the trappings of religion? Not at all, says Robert Stephens, one of the organizers behind Darwin Day. "We're not trying to make a saint out of Darwin," he said. "We're just using him as a symbol." Stephens and his colleagues say this long holiday weekend is as good a time as any to turn science into a cause for celebration. READ IT ALL

Posted at 12:34 AM | Permalink

From HuffPost

Inside the Edwards campaign, there was what politicians like to refer to as a healthy debate over whether or not to fire two bloggers who had written about Catholics in ways that the candidate said "personally offended me."

One of the bloggers, Amanda Marcotte, wrote on the blog Pandagon on Dec. 26, "The Catholic Church is not about to let something like compassion for girls get in the way of using the state as an instrument to force women to bear more tithing Catholics."

In the end, Edwards decided to keep Marcotte and Melissa McKwen on staff. But "it was a tough decision," a campaign adviser said in an interview today, "and there was a lot of back and forth. It was certainly tough balancing what they've said in their private lives with how we want the campaign to be represented."

It wasn't that it was so hard standing up to the demands for their firing from Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, whose main constituency seems to be TV bookers.

But there was a balancing act the Edwards aide did not want to discuss -- the choice between the passionate primary-season kingmakers in the blogosphere and the moderate religious voters any Democratic nominee will need to win a general election -- and the campaign chose the former.

So, there will be other purity tests for the candidate to fail in the blogosphere. But did Edwards just lose the Catholic vote? The aide sighed. "I think people will see the statements and know where John is coming from; people know those aren't John's views."

Comments in the blogosphere today overwhelmingly cast the issue as a no-brainer: Are you with us or against us? For many, it was a simple matter of whether Edwards would stand up -- for progressives, under pressure, and to the opposition.

Yet as the blogosphere gains clout, it will increasingly be held to the same standard as other political players, whose impolitic comments generally do result in termination.

And even among Catholic liberals, Marcotte's comments were widely seen as hurtful. READ IT ALL

Posted at 10:16 AM | Permalink

From ABP News

On Feb. 4, St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., became the second church in a week to decide to break ties with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina over its new anti-gay policy.

Four days earlier, members of Park Road Baptist Church, also in Charlotte, voted likewise to sever ties with the group.

The decisions came as a result of the convention's move in 2006 to cut ties with congregations that affirm homosexuality or that are aligned with organizations that convention officials view as affirming homosexuality.

The November vote changed the convention's bylaws, which had initially required member churches only to support the entity through partnerships and financial donations. But under the new policy, churches that "knowingly act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior" will lose membership.

All told, 11 moderate and progressive churches have publicly pulled out of the convention in the last four years, citing its rightward drift. Members of the disgruntled congregations say increasingly conservative policies embraced by convention leaders have harmed their ministry.

Two other churches have left the convention for the opposite reason: A perception that it has become too liberal.

Nineteen Baptist churches in North Carolina, including St. John's and Park Road, are affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists. The Washington-based group is comprised mainly of the most progressive of the churches that began to split from the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s.

As a group, the Alliance is officially welcoming and affirming of gays and advocates the legalization of same-sex civil marriage. However, not all of its partner congregations have made that move on the local level.

The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists -- the nation's largest pro-gay Baptist group -- only lists six North Carolina congregations on its website. At least two of those had already been ejected from the state convention for affirming gays, in the early 1990s.

However, North Carolina convention leaders have said they may interpret the new policy to encompass any church that supports an officially pro-gay group, such as the Alliance.

The 84-year-old St. John's congregation has 600 members and has given up to $50,000 to the state convention in prior years, pastor Richard Kremer told the Charlotte Observer.

Stephen Shoemaker, pastor of Myers Park Baptist Church, also in Charlotte, said his deacons decided to take a "proactive stance" and challenge the convention to expel it. The 1,941-member church has publicly invited convention leaders to visit before deciding to eject the congregation. Myers Park is one of the largest churches affiliated with the Alliance and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.

Milton Hollifield Jr., the convention's executive director, has said he always "feels a sense of loss" when a church decides to leave, but he recognized their right to do so. That autonomy is inherent in every Baptist body, he said in a statement about the previous departures.

The convention already had an anti-gay policy on the books. But Stan Welch, the group's president, told reporters when the new policy was passed that the old one "did not have teeth."

Messengers have never voted to include the policy in the convention's written articles of incorporation, and it didn't include a structure to allow the convention to investigate churches suspected of being gay-friendly.

Baptist state conventions in Georgia and Florida also require churches to oppose homosexuality.

The North Carolina convention is the second-largest Baptist state convention in the country. It includes 1.2 million members and 4,080 churches.

Posted at 10:13 AM | Permalink

Even though Ted Haggard is now "completely heterosexual", his former church wants nothing to do with him. A new agreement signed by Haggard and the leaders of New Life Church has disowned the disgraced pastor from his evangelical family. Didn't Jesus teach his followers to forgive? From 9Wants to Know:

9Wants to Know has learned the New Life Church in Colorado Springs has reached an agreement on the conditions of Pastor Ted Haggard's relationship with the church.

New Life Church co-pastor Rob Brendle talked candidly with investigative reporter Paula Woodward Wednesday afternoon about an agreement signed by both Ted Haggard and church representatives.

“We think it’s a win-win” said Brendle during an interview with 9NEWS on Wednesday....

The agreement calls for Haggard, the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor at the New Life Church, to not rejoin the ministry at New Life, for him and his family to relocate from Colorado Springs and requires Haggard to refrain from speaking publicly about the scandal.

"The Haggards will always be part of the New Life Family," said Brendle. "We love them and we are committed to helping them through this difficult process together."

The agreement also includes a financial settlement, but as part of the deal, the church and Haggard cannot disclose how much was included.

Watch the video here [annoyingly requires Internet Explorer}

Posted at 10:37 AM | Permalink

From Talk2Action

In 1869, the 20-member Territorial Legislature of Wyoming issued this revolutionary statement: "That every woman of the age of twenty-one years, residing in this Territory, may at every election to be holden under the law thereof, cast her vote." The women of that territory were the first in the United States to gain a voice in their own destiny.

And in the Wyoming Legislature of 2007 -- despite the anti-choice feminism insisting that pregnancy renders a woman mentally incompetent -- a woman's voice still counts for something.

Last week, two women legislators from opposite sides of the aisle united to help defeat Rep. Bob Brechtel's "Woman's Right to Know" bill, one of many assaults upon reproductive freedom already introduced in statehouses across the country. This bill attempted to impose upon the women of Wyoming the state-directed "counseling" and waiting periods that already hinder women's access to abortion care in a majority of states [pdf link].

Given that national trend, some expected the bill to pass with little real opposition. But that was before the women of the Wyoming House stood up to be counted.