Which Is More Offensive: Tim Minchin's "Pope Song" or Pope Benedict's Cover-Up and Enabling of Sexual Abuse by Priests?

Hypocrisy Poll

     Which Is More Offensive? 

• Tim Minchin's "Pope Song," which you can see by clicking here.

     OR

• Pope Benedict's Cover-Up and Enabling of Sexual Abuse by Priests, which you can see by opening any non right-wing Catholic-run newspaper in the world.

     Vote in the left hand column of the Holy Blog.

      WARNING: voting against Tim's video without viewing it first may implicate you as total hypocrite.

Supreme Court Denies Boy Scouts Appeal Upholding Separation of Church and State

     There was some surprising good news in the battle to ensure the separation of church and state.  The Supreme Court ruled in the ongoing saga of the Boy Scouts of America, their religious oaths, their discrimination against gays, and their use of your tax funded public park lands.

     The Associated Press reports:

     The Supreme Court on Monday decided to let stand a ruling saying the Boy Scouts cannot lease city-owned parkland in San Diego because the group is a religious organization.

     The high court refused to hear an appeal from San Diego-area Boy Scouts who have traditionally leased Balboa Park camp space.  U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. ruled in 2003 that San Diego acted improperly when it leased 18 acres of camp space to the Scouts because the group is a religious organization. The judge said the lease violated federal law that prohibits the government promotion of religion.

     The Boys Scouts have been the target of preferential treatment lawsuits since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2000 that the group has a constitutional right to exclude openly gay men from serving as troop leaders and because it compels members to swear an oath of duty to God [sic].

     The group had received support from the Bush administration, which in March 2004 filed a friend of the court brief arguing that even though the organization believes in God [sic] and members take an oath to do their duty to God [sic], it is not a religious organization.

     Not a religious organization but it requires its members to take an oath of duty to a god?  Whose god?  What's an atheist or agnostic to do?  Swear a false oath?  Now that's teaching them some good values, W. 

Doesn't anyone teach those scouts to shake a hand like a straight man?

Image Credits:

George W. Bush Awarding a Very Gay Looking Trophy to a Boy Scout: Life

George W. Bush Weak Handshake Badge Ceremony: Express India

Lou Engle's Uganda Gay Death Penalty Hypocrisy

     "Pastor" Lou Engle of TheCall took to the stage Sunday afternoon in Uganda and, in an act of blatant hypocrisy, contradicted a statement he made last week, when he said he didn't support Uganda's gay death penalty bill.

     Sharing his stage with speakers who support the bill and lead the 1,300 present in prayer for its passage, homosexuality was mentioned repeatedly in a list of "sins" including witchcraft, child sacrifice, corruption and terrorism.

     Before the "prayer" rally on Sunday at Makerere University in Kampala, Engle released this statement to the U.S. press:

  TheCall had no knowledge at the time, of the Uganda homosexual bill and the controversy surrounding it...TheCall has been wrongfully marked and vilified as an organization promoting hatred and violence against homosexuals and as one that supports the Uganda bill as currently written...We do not see the character of Christ reflected in some key aspects of the language of the current bill.

     After Engle arrived in Uganda far away from the U.S. press (but not quite far enough), he contradicted himself as all good hypocrites do.  The New York Times reports:

     Before arriving here last week, Mr. Engle came out with a statement condemning the harsh penalties proposed in the bill, and said that his ministry could not support it. But when he took the stage late on Sunday afternoon, with Ugandan politicians and pastors looking on, he praised the country’s “courage” and “righteousness” in promoting the bill.

     “NGOs, the U.N., Unicef, they are all coming in here and promoting an agenda,” Mr. Engle said, referring to nongovernmental organizations. “Today, America is losing its religious freedom. We are trying to restrain an agenda that is sweeping through the education system. Uganda has become ground zero.”

     Politicians here have said no amount of aid cuts or foreign pressure would dissuade them from passing the bill, but the legislation has been stuck in a parliamentary committee since the beginning of the year.

     Moments after Mr. Engle and his entourage filed off of the athletic grounds, Uganda’s minister of ethics, James Buturo, another of the bill’s supporters, came on stage and told those assembled: “These are desperate times, but we will not accept intimidation. It is our business to do what God [sic] wants. Pray for Bahati, and pray for the bill.” 

     Yes, your god wants you to kill the gays.  How loving and Christian is your Gospel According to Hate.

     Religion Dispatches reports:

     “We must tell the whole world that Uganda will not accept that nonsense that says homosexuality is a human right,” Buturo added to the crowd of several hundred people. “It is an abomination.”

     Bigots of a feather, pray together.

     For the first two hours of TheCall, homosexuality was mentioned frequently, but in passing, often in a list of sins (including witchcraft, child sacrifice, corruption, and terrorism) that worshipers should pray for or confess to. Shortly after 4 p.m., however, prayers began for Bahati’s bill to be passed. 

     When Engle himself finally took the microphone at about 5 p.m., he dug almost immediately into the controversy, saying he hadn’t known about the bill and nearly canceled his trip over questions raised by his presence. But at no point did he contest Oyet’s support for the bill.  “We know that Uganda has been under tremendous pressure—the church. We felt that same pressure. But I felt like TheCall was to come and join with the church of Uganda to encourage you that in the nation who are showing courage to take a stand for righteousness in the earth,” Engle said.

     Righteousness?  Yes, killing people you disagree with is so very biblical.

    Image Credits:

Lou Engle's Big Mouth, The Bilerico Project
Lou Engle with Christian and Pro-Ugandan Gay Death Penalty Supporters, Religion Dispatches