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A YouGov Omnibus poll asked recently whether respondents would like their own state to declare Christianity as its official state religion. 34% of respondents answered “yes.” Furthermore, 32% said they favored a constitutional amendment to make Christianity the official religion of the United States. I have not yet found an interpretation of the results so I can only guess what people were thinking. But whatever these responders meant, this isn’t good news.

Possibly 32% of the people were thinking that declaring the US a Christian nation would be something like making the eagle our national bird. Perhaps they have no intent of making every other faith a second class citizen, but what else could such a declaration possibly mean? Because Christianity is the dominant religion in our nation, most Christians have no understanding that religious intolerance is already a major problem in the US. Ask 64 year old Margaret Doughty. She is an atheist who stated on her application for citizenship that she was a pacifist and therefore would not take up arms to defend the country. She was told by immigration authorities that she would have to join a church that forbids war, or her application for citizenship would be denied. Where is her religious freedom?

For over a decade, polls have consistently reported that 30-40% of our fellow citizens self-describe themselves as “born again” or “evangelical” and believe that Biblical prophecies accurately predict a detailed sequence of end-times events.  Their leaders control both the vast Christian broadcasting movement and great swaths of the Republican Party at the precinct and state level.  The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life estimates that groups representing these citizens spend about $390 million each year to lobby the Federal government to impose their religion-based agenda on the rest of us.  This demographic also has the highest voting record around — 85% of their eligible voters turn out for elections. They are not disappearing and, despite the recent successes of the marriage equality movement, they continue to win victories in the culture war they have fought for 30 years.” Fred Rich, Author of “Christian Nation”

Having lived in Texas and been apart of the struggle to protect religious minorities, these figures were no surprise to me, but most Americans have no idea how dangerous attempts to impose the Christian religion can be. Every year an avalanche of legislation is proposed that violates the separation of church and state. There are people and organizations who have made a career attempting to tear down the wall of separation of church and state. But fortunately there are also people and organizations who tirelessly standing guard at the wall trying to protect it. Americans United for Separation of Church and State is one such organization. Here in Texas, the Texas Freedom Network is another. There is a small group of faithful Americans who stand between us and theocracy. If we do not add our voice, our efforts, and our votes to the struggle, 32% will be a majority.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-rich/breaking-news-34-of-your-_1_b_3461262.html

Today’s contest is between two pro-life arguments. The question is, which is sillier?

As a pro-choice activist, I have had many debates on the topic of abortion. Most of them have been strange affairs. In my experience, the pro-life position is almost always based on a belief that the soul enters the body at conception, but that being a religious dogma, advocates can never come out and say they want to impose their dogma on the rest of us because that wouldn’t be constitutional. So, instead, they must make other arguments that appear non-religious.  This can make them sound really silly, even when they are actually intelligent people. I have grudging respect for the ways pro-life debaters hide their religious argument in other packages. Our question this week is, which of these is the sillier argument. And judges, it won’t be an easy decision.

The first argument was made by Rep. Marsha Blackburn that removing exceptions against rape would force more women to report the crime and thus get more rapists off the street.

“There is a reporting requirement in the text of the bill. And the hope is that that will help in getting some of these perpetrators out of the population that are committing these crimes against women and against minor females.” -Rep. Blackburn

So, this anti-choice argument is based on the premise that instantly after a woman has survived what may be the worst moment of her life, she should be forced to prosecute the rapist or relinquish control over her reproductive life. The argument claims its purpose is to reduce rape. So, that’s our first pro-life argument.

The second argument is by Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas who observes that a male fetus at 15 weeks can be seen putting his hand between their legs, so he must feel pleasure. It follows with euclidic certainty that if he can feel pleasure, they can experience pain and therefore abortion must be banned after 15 weeks.

There’s no question in my mind…that a baby at 20 weeks after conception can feel pain…I thought the date was far too late…Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful. They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. They feel pleasure. Why is it so hard to think that they could feel pain? -Rep. Burgess

Yikes. This isn’t going to be easy. So which is the dumber argument?

1. Ending the rape exemption will force traumatized women to file charges and thus get rapists off the streets,

or,

2. If male 15 week fetuses put their hand between their legs, they are stimulating themselves and thus feel pleasure, which also means they feel pain, which means abortion should be banned at 15 weeks.

If you need more evidence, here are the links:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/18/1217059/-Non-sequitor-alert-Top-House-Republican-says-GOP-abortion-ban-bill-aimed-at-putting-rapists-in-jail?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/06/republican-congressman-opposes-abortion-masturbating-fetuses

The AP reports that a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange was foiled thanks to the NSA’s program of domestic spying. Stopping a bombing is certainly good news, but at the same time it was reported by numerous whistleblowers in sworn testimony that Bank of America “Systematically lied to home owners, fraudulently denied loan modification, and paid their staff bonuses for deliberately pushing people into foreclosure.” (David Dayen, Salon)

Violence comes in many shapes and forms. Certainly terrorist bombing would be on anyone’s list of violent crime, but stealing someone’s home or pension and plunging them into poverty is a form of endangerment and thus counts as violence as well.  Our nation is rightly vigilant against the first form of violence, but is a willing participant in the second.

Past experience shows that our top regulatory and law enforcement officials are primarily interested in covering for Wall Street’s crimes. These well-sourced allegations amount to an accusation of Bank of America stealing thousands of homes, and lying to the government about it. Homeowners who did everything asked of them were nevertheless pushed into foreclosure, all to fortify profits on Wall Street. There’s a clear path to punish Bank of America for this conduct. If it doesn’t result in prosecutions, it will once again confirm the sorry excuse for justice we have in America. (David Daylen, Salon)

I’m glad our government was able to stop a bombing attempt against America’s rich. Our nation does a very good job of protecting the wealthy from the crimes of the poor, but will there ever come a day when it will also protect the poor from the everyday crimes of the rich? Now that NSA has saved Wall Street from a bomber, who will protect our nation’s poor from Wall Street?

More on NSA story:

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=byipLNu4

More on banking scandal:

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/bank_of_america_whistleblowers_bombshell_we_were_told_to_lie/

Texas Buddha was harvesting honey when Rev. Clovis Jones pulled up in his old red pickup. Wending his way through swirling bees, Clovis sat at a safe distance preparing for his bible class until TB was finished.

Looking up the Reverend asked, “Is it true bees dance?”

“Yes, it is.” said TB, “Bees have much to teach us about religion. When they find something amazing they return to the hive and do an excited dance that communicates the direction and distance of their find. The dance is an allegory of life’s journey just as religion should be.”

“If you think bees are so religious, maybe you should come to my Bible class.” Clovis asked, already knowing the answer.

“No thanks. The religion of bees leads them into life. Most human religion leads us out of it. Instead of teaching us how to digest whatever happens to us in life and to bring it back as a sweet gift to the hive, most human religion makes up a surrogate honey. In this country, we make our own personal dance an end it itself. I’ll stick with the bees. Bees don’t try to find the map to life. There is no such thing. In your Bible study you will claim that the Bible is an objective map to life. For humans, as for bees, there is no objective place to stand to understand our world as if we were not an intimate part of it.  Embedded in life, we can only understand our world in allegory. But there is a web that ties us all together and a communal dance that helps us share our lives. If you turn your bible class into dance lessons you can sign me up.”

“What are you,” Clovis laughed, “Billy Graham for the bees?”

“Nope,” TB smiled, “But, bees come into this world understanding that we find our compass in life by sharing an allegorical kind of figure 8 dance. They never get lost in escapism or literalism for a second. That’s why I say, bees have much to teach us about religion.”

The Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting came together to give us a stunning report of America’s worst charities. For example, Kid’s Wish Network brought in 127.8 million dollars and gave out 109.8 million to solicitors. Only 2.5% of the money raised went to actual direct cash aid. Other charities on the list gave out less than 1% of the money they raised as direct cash aid.

As much as some people like to bash government attempts to regulate charities, such democratic oversite is the only way to make charities accountable to the people. If we took our common life seriously, we could monitor and shut down these kinds of scam artists before they fleeced good hearted people of millions of dollars.

http://www.tampabay.com/americas-worst-charities/

We should have known when President Obama made his statement that if Syria used chemical weapons it would be a “red line.” As we have inched toward this day of sending weapons to Syrian Rebels, experts said they have yet to see conclusive signs that sarin gas has been used.

“It’s not unlike Sherlock Holmes and the dog that didn’t bark. It’s not just that we can’t prove a sarin attack, it’s that we’re not seeing what we would expect to see from a sarin attack.

“In a world where even the secret execution of Saddam Hussein was taped by someone, it doesn’t make sense that we don’t see videos, that we don’t see photos, showing bodies of the dead, and the reddened faces and the bluish extremities of the affected.” -Jean Pascal Zanders, former senior research fellow at the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies.

There are problems in the world that cannot be solved by violence, but that is a lesson few empires learn until it is too late. Assad is a beast, but then so are most of the rebels.  At a time when war is about the only tie that can bind our polarized nation, it probably doesn’t matter what did or didn’t happen. Even if we find evidence of chemical weapons, there may be no way of knowing which side used them. The powerful speak of “red lines” or say things like “bring it on,” but they never pay the cost of such tough talk. In the olden days, lying presidents could lead a nation to war by first sending weapons, then noncombat advisors, and as soon as we lost some advisors, they put boots on the ground. Now war is much more abstract. Missles and drones can do the dirty work that was once done by the poor. You can almost forget there are real people in those nations who must live and die in what is for us little more than an expensive video game.

http://m.mcclatchydc.com/dc/db_112234/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=0WUoi6fb

Poor us. We Christians only control all three branches of government. What are we going to do about those Muslims, Jews and Atheists who keep wanting us to share the public sphere with them? And what about foreign aid given to nations that hate us and burn our flag? We would never have such hatred against another nation who’s only mistake was to bomb us, and place puppet dictators to rule over us.

Anyone fooled by the libertarian rhetoric of Sen. Rand Paul will have to go deeper into denial after Paul spoke at a conference this weekend hosted by Ralph Reed. You remember Ralph Reed, creator of the stealth campaign and master of the smear tactic? Ralph Reed worked with Pat Robinson to create the Christian Coalition hoping to bring about a Christian theocracy by convincing conservative believers that they are being victimized by the forces of modernity and pluralism.  Eventually Reed was caught up in the Abramoff scandal; but, fortunately for him, most Americans have a short attention span.

At the conference Paul said.:

“There is a war on Christianity, Not just from liberal elites here at home, but worldwide. And your government, or more correctly, you, the taxpayer, are funding it. You are being taxed to send money to countries that are not only intolerant of Christians, but openly hostile. Christians are imprisoned and threatened with death for their beliefs.

“I say not one penny more to countries that burn the American flag. While they burn the American flag and mobs chant ‘Death to America,’ more of your money is sent to these haters of Christianity.”

Sen. Paul somehow forgot to mention what countries he was talking about, or what aid had been given; but you get the point- we Christians are the victim when others resist us no matter what we have done to them first.

I heard last night that Johnny Depp (Tonto) and Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger) will star in a remake of the Lone Ranger. With all due respect, Senator Elizabeth Warren has earned the part. She has stood like a singular Mt. Rushmore against Wall Street, the Big Banks, and now government secrecy.

In a nation that seems to have given up on any hope of dignity at home or abroad Senator Warren stands at her station demanding something more of us.

In the last decade, foreign trade agreements have been the dirty clothes hamper for dirty questionable deals. The Obama administration has been negotiating for a NAFTA like deal being called “the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As in earlier Trojan horse treaties, the details of the treaty are being held back from the American people. Senator Warren is demanding that the Obama administration show some of the transparency he promised when he ran for presidency.

Sen Warren is assuming the American people will object when they discover that the treaty may seek to grant corporations exemptions from safety and environmental regulations of the host country.

The TPP could have a profound impact on our lives.  Trade agreements affect everything from the food we eat, to the price of medicine, to the availability of the jobs. Americans do not want these agreements negotiated in secret, where only corporate interests are represented.  Senator Elizabeth Warren has proven once again, she’s not only tough when it comes to bank regulation.  She will fight to protect consumers where ever and how ever it matters. -Thom Hartmann

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2013/06/senator-elizabeth-warren-stands-us-again

I haven’t heard how Friday’s vote at the school board turned out, but I have heard from parents in my church who are concerned that a nearby high school would raffle guns to students. The actual raffle will be for vouchers to the guns so that background checks can be performed, which of course will do nothing to prevent accidental shootings or people with undiagnosed mental illness to obtain the guns. 52 fire arms will be raffled off. My understanding that at least one assault rifle will be included. Whatever one thinks about gun rights, I cannot imagine following the string of school shooting that any sane person would think it a good idea to raise money for the football team by selling firearms at a school.

http://www.kvue.com/news/Georgetown-booster-club-raffles-guns-to-raise-money-for-football-team-211083281.html

Being born into a white, male, Christian and heterosexual lifestyle, I have never been a cultural target for simply saying who I am. But I know courage when I see it, so here’s to the Belton High School Salutatorian Mitch Anderson who came out so powerfully at his graduation speech. And thanks to Pam Wagner for passing it on.

“Learning how to love and celebrate yourself is one of the most crucial and difficult aspects of life. To know who you truly are is the first step to enlightenment, to happiness. It sounds so facile, yet discovering and accepting who you are meant to be requires introspection and a willingness to submerge yourself into darkness. And that is what makes the task so daunting, so terrifying, if approached with complete authenticity. For the longest time, I was forced to live fractured, refusing to look at who I thought I was and then refusing to accept who I thought I might be. The journey into the soul is not for the faint of heart. Fear will naturally creep in, but those who use the fear to force themselves onward will succeed. After much dread and countless hours devoted to soul searching, for the first time, you will be able to love who you are.”

http://myktem.com/read-the-full-speech-from-the-belton-texas-high-school-student-who-came-out-at-his-graduation/?trackback=fbshare