The Rise of the Religious Left?

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Let’s hope so.  From the Northeast Mississippt Daily Journal: This past week, leaders of five mainstream Protestant denominations came together to speak in one voice. Standing shoulder to shoulder, leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church together condemned the 2006 Federal budget proposed by President … Read More

Gods and Democrats

Ken AshfordDemocrats, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Reprinted from The American Street (PZ Myers): Amy Sullivan has a pet peeve: “the seemingly reckless way in which terms like ‘values’ and ‘religion’ and ‘morals’ are being tossed about in the press.” She’s an outspoken liberal Christian, and I’m an outspoken liberal atheist, and I have to say that I agree completely. I also somewhat agree with this comment, … Read More

The Ten Commandments Case

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

It’s been a long while since I got legal on yo’ ass, but I’m a lawyer and a Constitutional afficando, so it is high time I write something of substance on constitutional law. For a background on the Ten Commandments case being argued in the Supreme Court, read here.  The case (at least the "Kentucky" part of it) involves the … Read More

Ned Flanders Rainy Day Fun

Ken AshfordGodstuff1 Comment

"It may seem a tad odd making Jesus out of a toilet paper roll, but I think the end result is quite nice," says this Christian site. Yes, it is quite nice. Still, it still is frightfully odd. But NOT as odd as this recipe from the same Christian website, which I reprint in full: This is really easy. No … Read More

Bush To Churches and the Poor: Fuck You!

Ken AshfordBush & Co., GodstuffLeave a Comment

Remember all those times when Bush was eager to show what a compassionate conservative he was? You know, with all his faith-based initiatives to help churches and others assist the poor and needy? Turns out it was . . . (imagine my surprise) . . . a bunch of PR bullshit. In fact, one guy says that the Bush White … Read More

Everybody’s Getting Religion

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

The United Church of Christ gets it.  Kudos to them. And Billie Miller, a woman in Ridgecrest, California , lost her religion a couple of weeks ago: I can’t believe the vicious slander of some people who have the nerve to portray or suggest Jesus behaved as a Liberal. Jesus makes his position very clear. The wisdom of an "eye … Read More

“What the . . . (trailing off)?!?”

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Popular Culture, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Plugged In is a magazine and website that reviews movies, television and music from a Christian perspective. It’s a James Dobson venture, and has been popularized recently when it reviewed the Spongebob Squarepants movie and suggested that Spongebob was gay. On a curious lark, I wondered what Plugged In thought about the movie "Kinsey". Now, I haven’t seen this movie, … Read More

Bush’s Daughters Are Whores

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Godstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

So says the stick-up-the-butt Christian group known as the Coalition for Passing Judgment on Others Traditional Values in this open letter to George Bush, which I will publish here below the fold. (The reason I refer to Jenna and NotJenna as "whores" is because according to Ezekial 23:5, Oholah was a prostitute — although this largely depends on the version … Read More

iRod

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

I would love to have the time to read more magazines.  I just don’t.  If I want information, I usually go on-line.  Which is a bit of a shame.  Magazines are fun — you can take them to bed, or sprawl out on the couch, and just flip through them.  And when they come in the mail, it is like … Read More

Victory in Georgia

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

From the Associated Press: ATLANTA – A federal judge Thursday ordered a suburban Atlanta school system to remove stickers in its high school biology textbooks that call evolution "a theory, not a fact," saying the disclaimers were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. "By denigrating evolution, the school board appears to be endorsing the well-known prevailing alternative theory, creationism or variations … Read More

God Sent Mixed Messages

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Godstuff, IraqLeave a Comment

We all know He speaks to Bush, and we all know He speaks to Pat Robertson. So why was He telling Bush one thing about the War in Iraq, and telling Pat Robertson something else: "I mean, the Lord told me it was going to be A, a disaster, and B, messy," Robertson said. "I warned [President Bush] about casualties." … Read More

SCOTUS Punts The Pledge Issue

Ken AshfordConstitution, Godstuff, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

Court dismisses Pledge of Allegiance suitJustices sidestep church-state issue in tossing atheist’s case Read more here. The opinion is not available yet, but it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the justices said about the merits of Newdow’s case. Apparently, Rehnquist wrote about it, but his views were already pretty well-known.

Bush Campaign Enlisting Help Of Churches

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Election 2004, GodstuffLeave a Comment

As reported here: The Bush campaign is seeking to enlist thousands of religious congregations around the country in distributing campaign information and registering voters, according to an e-mail message sent to many members of the clergy and others in Pennsylvania. Liberal groups charged that the effort invited violations of the separation of church and state and jeopardized the tax-exempt status … Read More

I Belong To A Cult

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Yes, it came as a surprise to me, too, but here it is in black-and-white (bullsh*t registration required) in the Dallas Star-Telegram: According to the office of Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a Denison Unitarian church isn’t really a religious organization — at least for tax purposes. Its reasoning: the organization "does not have one system of belief." Never before … Read More