Dan Savage and Keith Olbermann Get to the Heart of the Hatred Involved in Religious Homophobia

     In the video below, Dan Savage and Keith Olbermann get to the heart of how religion conditions gay persons to hate themselves.  So much of what Savage says speaks true to my past experience of being trained to hate myself as "God created me." 

     An example of this is in an Advocate article by John Becker, a married gay man, who went undercover and experienced the "ex-gay therapy" offered at Michelle Bachmann's husband's "clinic."  So much of what they told Becker is what I was told in Catholic seminary "formation."  I'm so grateful that I escaped.

     Back to Savage and Olbermann.  Savage is brilliant at turning homophobic arguments on their heads.  (The first half of the interview is about the Tony-winning The Book Mormon and marriage equality in New York.)  Start the video at minute 11:00 to get the point about the homophobia preached by many religions, Christianity in particular.

Here's a little bonus video: "I Believe" from The Book of Mormon.

For Harold Camping...

Postscript:

     The world didn't end and guess who's millions of tax-exempt dollars richer? 

     CNN reports:

     At the center of it all, Camping's organization, Family Radio, is perfectly happy to take your money -- and in fact, received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009. Camping founded Family Radio, a nonprofit Christian radio network based in Oakland, Calif. with about 65 stations across the country, in 1958.

U.S. Soldiers Punished for Not Attending Christian Rock Concert

     How's this for separation of church and state?  The Associated Press reports:

     The Army said Friday it was investigating a claim that dozens of soldiers who refused to attend a Christian band's concert at a Virginia military base were banished to their barracks and told to clean them up.

     Fort Eustis spokesman Rick Haverinen told The Associated Press he couldn't comment on the specifics of the investigation. At the Pentagon, Army spokesman Col. Thomas Collins said the military shouldn't impose religious views on soldiers.  "If something like that were to have happened, it would be contrary to Army policy," Collins said.

     Pvt. Anthony Smith said he and other soldiers felt pressured to attend the May concert while stationed at the Newport News base, home of the Army's Transportation Corps.  "My whole issue was I don't need to be preached at," Smith said in a phone interview from Phoenix, where he is stationed with the National Guard. "That's not what I signed up for."

     Smith, 21, was stationed in Virginia for nearly seven months for helicopter electrician training when the Christian rock group BarlowGirl played as part of the "Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts."

     Smith said a staff sergeant told 200 men in their barracks they could either attend or remain in their barracks. Eighty to 100 decided not to attend, he said.  "Instead of being released to our personal time, we were locked down," Smith said. "It seemed very much like a punishment."

Photo via SayNow BLOG 

     According to BarlowGirl's website:

     BarlowGirl has always represented an interesting dichotomy; tender-hearted, beautiful young women who aren’t afraid to take an aggressive, almost warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God. That fiery obedience reverberates throughout their latest release, Love & War.  “There’s just an urgency to this album,” says Alyssa Barlow. “We’ve always wanted to raise the banner and to really let people know who God is, what He’s doing and how He’s moving.

     In spite of their "warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel," BarlowGirl disagreed with the army commander's freedom of religion violation.  Here's the holy hair band's response, as reported by Truth-Out:

     Barlow Girl band member Lauren Barlow said if she and the other members of the group knew soldiers were being forced to attend the concert and were then punished for refusing to attend "we would have said something."

     "That's horrible," Barlow tweeted in response to the revelations first published Thursday by MRFF's head researcher, Chris Rodda. "We never knew that. We thought they had a choice. If we would have known we would have said something."

     A number of the soldiers, who refused to follow orders and attend the Christian rock concert, were Muslims.  There is no word on whether they were required to attend a protest at the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" with their militant Christian superiors the next day.

Lightning Destroys Big Butter Jesus in Monroe, Ohio

     Sick and tired of bad religious art, the Christian god, who controls volcanoes and earthquakes, sent a lighting bolt into the heart of a touchdown Jesus, destroying the statue which is also known as "Big Butter Jesus."

     The Dayton Daily News reports:

     Charred remnants remained this morning, June 15, of the large Jesus statue iconic to Interstate 75 that was destroyed following an apparent lightning strike during a thunderstorm late Monday night.  The Lawrence Bishop Music Theater at Solid Rock Church on Union Road endured smoke damage, according to officials.

     Damages to the King of Kings statue and the theater were estimated to be around $700,000, said Monroe Fire Chief Mark Neu.  No one was injured in the blaze.

     $700,000 to rebuild a wood, Styrofoam, and fiberglass Jesus?

     I wonder how many of Ohio's homeless, orphaned, and uninsured could use $700,000.

  

News coverage of Butter Jesus' demise.

     Heywood Banks' musical tribute to the statue.

Image credits: 

Unburned Jesus and Scorched Jesus by Towleroad

Fireball Jesus by Dayton Daily News/Tiffani West-May

god Will F You Up

Here's something light for a change, a little more religious art, so bad that it's good.

John Butler's "Song Hand of the Almighty" set to some old PD footage of biblical scenes.

*Republican Jesus from Rabbit Starvation

For All the Stans

     Anyone who has ever had close friends and colleagues stand idly and hypocritically by as the powers-that-be destroyed them will be able to relate to "The Ascent of Stan" by Ben Folds, about the textbook hippie man, who went to the dark side and never returned.

     "How's it feel to be the man?"


Grains of Time covers the Ben Fold's "The Ascent of Stan" A Capella.

4th Hate of Christmas: Bad Holiday Music

"Let There Be Peace on Earth"


"Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy" & "Mary Had a Baby"


"Carol of the Bells"


"Do They Know It's Christmas Time?" with it's patronizing line: "tonight thank God [sic] it's them instead of you."