Category: church-state separation

Is the devil in Lebanon, Missouri?

June 10, 2014 • 5:07 am

Here’s an update on the poll taken by the Lebanon Daily Record on Principal Lower’s graduation prayer.  As you may recall, the paper polled readers about whether Lower’s prayer was appropriate for graduation.   You can see the results by going to the Lowery-loving column by Katie Hilton, “Hats off for Lowery!“, and then clicking back to “home” at the upper left to see the poll’s results at the bottom of the front page.

A reader informed me of the results, sending a screenshot a few minutes ago.  Curiously enough, they were firmly against Lowery’s behavior.

But what is really funny is one datum: the percentage of respondents saying that Lowery’s remarks weren’t appropriate. Here’s a screenshot I just took:

Picture 1

 

66.6%: The mark of the Beast!

Coincidence? Or is Basement Cat in Lebanon? You be the judge. I would, however, urge the residents of the town to think about the meaning of this omen.

I should also note that Lebanon is famous for having been a stop on the old transcontinental highway, Route 66.

From the Route 66 Museum and Research Center http://lebanon-laclede.lib.mo.us/Museum.html
From the Route 66 Museum and Research Center (http://lebanon-laclede.lib.mo.us/Museum.html). Not MY town!

“We Christians out number you”: more venom from Lebanon

June 9, 2014 • 8:03 am

UPDATE: I’m adding one comment I found on Facebook’s “Standing strong with Kevin Lowery” page:

Screen shot 2014-06-09 at 11.06.21 AM

It’s unbelievable: these people feel uncomfortable UNLESS God is mentioned constantly—and, in this case, illegally.  Sometimes I feel I’m living on a different planet from these people.

*****

Here are a couple of comments from the Fox News story on Lebanon, Missouri’s praying-principal issue, “Missouri principal wows crowd, angers atheists with guarded ‘God’ references“.

Screen shot 2014-06-09 at 7.49.41 AM

I love the last comment, with “god” in lower case. But there’s a reason why people like Davidd1975 are sometimes called “the Christian Taliban.” Imagine if they ran the country! Could we still drink and dance?

Refreshingly, though, there’s a lot of pro-secularism comments on that thread, which surprised me.

In the meantime, a few more students and residents of Lebanon have overcome their fears and written to me in support of the First Amendment and against the relentless proselytizing of Lebanon High School, its principal, and its supporters. I hope to publish the thoughts of these dissenters later today. But in the meantime, what started as a simple criticism of a legal violation has become, for me, a fascinating glimpse into a part of American society that is widespread, but one that I don’t often hear from. Fascinating, but scary.

Religion poisons everything, including eagles

August 31, 2013 • 6:26 am

For crying out loud, what kind of morons would release a bald eagle in a chapel? The morons at Oral Roberts University, that’s who. ORU is a Pentecostal Christian University in Tulsa, Oklahoma founded by one of America’s most annoying and fraudulent preachers.

According to BuzzFeed, the eagle (named Louis) was released into the university chapel as part of a “spirit rally” to mark the beginning of the school year. As the bird flew around, the students chanted “USA! USA!”.  And then the eagle flew into a window.  The school reports that the bird wasn’t hurt, but what a stupid stunt!

Here’s the worst of America on display! NOTE: The video shows the eagle hitting the window, so don’t watch if that will disturb you.

Charge this man with animal cruelty!:

Picture 1

Why couldn’t God have directed its flight away from the window?  If he sees every sparrow fall, surely he sees every eagle fly.

h/t: Amy

David Cameron osculates the rump of faith

March 22, 2013 • 9:30 am

After Tony Blair, I thought that government osculation of religious rumps would cease, but prime minister David Cameron, it seems is up to the same old tricks.  According to Britain’s National Secular Society, he’s bending over backwards to praise Christianity:

Prime Minister David Cameron held yet another reception at Downing Street for religious leaders this week.

In an effort to build bridges after the controversy over his proposals to introduce same-sex marriage, Cameron said he was “looking forward to the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury”. He said the inauguration of the new pope had been “a great week for Christians”.

He told the religious big-wigs: “This government does care about faith. It does care about the institutions of faith, and it does want you to stand up and oppose aggressive secularisation.”

But does it care about non-faith? Apparently not, since it opposes “aggressive secularization,” whatever that is.

But Cameron seems to privilege one faith over others:

The prime minister reminded his audience that in a “difficult budget” today, the government had reaffirmed its commitment to increasing overseas aid. He said he’d raised religious freedom on visits to Egypt and Pakistan. “Wherever we go, we stand up for the right of Christians to practice their faith,” he said. . . .

The prime minister said he viewed Easter as the most important Christian festival.

“It’s all about, for me, the triumph of life over death,” he said. “Which in politics is always useful.”

Ba-BOOM! He’ll be here all year folks (which is unfortunate).

h/t: Gattina