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Christians are ‘Jerks,’ The New Scopes Trial, Pastafarians’ Rights

By Michael J. Altman

…just don’t like the use of “fornication” in public. A church billboard in Texas admits that Christians are “jerks.” A church in Charlotte, North Carolina won’t allow a Mormon couple to serve as leaders in their Cub Scout troop because they don’t consider them “real Christians.” A giant statue of Jesus is being built in a small town in Poland. At over 50 meters tall, it will be the largest statue of the Nazarene in the world. Florida’s Qur’an (not…

MRI Jesus, Bush’s Reading List, Ahmadinejad & the Pope…

By Michael J. Altman

…udents to “counter the promotion of homosexual behavior.” As of Wednesday, Focus on the Family was standing by the event. As the Major League playoffs get started, Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton relies on his evangelical Christianity to stave off his past addictions….

4 (More) Nails in Discovery Institute’s Coffin

By Lauri Lebo

…be terrific if someone sent a link to Don McLeroy to read. Last year, the Texas Board of Education member and ardent young earth creationist successfully led efforts to insert language into his state’s science curriculum that question evolution as it relates to the Cambrian Explosion. Still, after looking over all this, I do have one question. If the DI folk argue that evolution can’t account for the living diversity of the 60 million year time…

The Real Context Of The “Taliban Dan” Ad

By Julie Ingersoll

…er, as Lauri Lebo has documented at RD, the fundamentalist revision of the Texas public school curriculum, and Barton’s role in that.) They believe in an entirely second-class status for women (some believe women shouldn’t vote). They are virulently hostile to gays and lesbians. They believe that any social safety net should be eliminated and replaced by church programs—available only to believers. (And they succeeded in getting an exemption from…

Bullies Flourishing with Christian Support

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…dle School in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston Texas. Brown, his family said, was “bullied to death” – picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said. • Billy (William) Lucas, 15, a student at Greensburg Community High School…

TLC Premieres Polygamy Reality Show Sister Wives

By Joanna Brooks

…say “we’re not child-marriage-arranging-lost-boy-exiling-prairie-dress-wearing people-who-allegedly-deserve-to have-their-children-taken-from-them-by-the-state-of-Texas.” That’s what Sister Wives and its ad-salesman-protagonist are trying to sell: utter normalcy….

Did We Drink the Kool-Aid in “Suicide Cult” Disappearance?

By Julie Ingersoll

…poorly understood religious groups. Wessinger compared the stories of two Texas religious communities: Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) at the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch in El Dorado that was raided by authorities who took the community’s children into custody, and the Branch Davidians in Waco whose community was also raided, leading to a lengthy standoff and ultimately the death of 76 people—including more than 20 children. She wrote a…

From Here to Eternity: Of Mormons and Celestial Marriage

By Holly Welker

…rch previously practice plural marriage (polygamy)?” Heather Olson Beal of Texas provides this answer in her profile: “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s something that I used to really struggle to understand, but have decided not to worry about because it has no impact on the way I experience Mormonism in my life.” Mormons frequently decide “not to worry about” many aspects of their doctrine, but homosexuality is currently one topic where ignoring the…

Leaked ‘Freedom Convoy’ Donor Comments Clearly Demonstrate Christian Nationalist Presence

By Thomas Lecaque

…c spin. She isn’t the only commenter to believe this—a donor from Lubbock, Texas, tried to coordinate apocalyptic ideas via the donor comments, writing: “someone mentioned that the Truckers’ horns sounds like the shofar. Tell truckers to coordinate by CB radio to blast Teruah all at the same time. The sounds of the shofar: Tekiah, a long blast. Shevarim, three long sounds. Teruah, nine staccato blasts. The shofar blower must [blow] three sets, thr…

Sister Wives Stars File Suit to Legalize Polygamy

By Joanna Brooks

…ected to argue for the decriminalization of polygamy by citing Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 US Supreme Court decision that decriminalized sodomy on the grounds that states should not interfere with the intimate behavior of consenting adults. The ultimate aim of the suit? Overturning the infamous Reynolds decision of 1878 which decried polygamy as a “despotic” “Oriental” practice unsuitable for American society. Tens of thousands of Utahns today co…