No Wonder They Hate Science

Is it any wonder the Catholic Church hates science? Damn scientists keep using logic and reason to undermine their dogma. First it's evolution. Now it's the Shroud of Turin. This must be stopped.

Carter Leaves Southern Baptists

Former President Jimmy Carter has left the Southern Baptist Convention because of growing frustration over the denomination's "unbending sexism towards women and girls..."

About time, Jimmy.

Nothing Fails Like Prayer...Part Umpteen and a Half

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/25/tunisian-plane-crash-pilot-prayed

A pilot accused of praying when he should have been taking emergency measures to avoid a crash in which 16 people died has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court.

Captain Chafik Gharby was at the controls of a plane belonging to the Tunisian charter airline Tuninter that crashed in the sea off the coast of Sicily four years ago. The 23 survivors were left swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that stayed afloat after the turbo-prop aircraft broke up on impact.

Gharby was at first hailed as a hero for having saved the lives of most of the passengers. But after an investigation, he, his co-pilot, and several Tuninter executives and technicians were charged with a range of offences including manslaughter.

Maybe emergency procedures are a bit more important than praying. Then again, the funcamentalist Christians will say he was praying to the wrong God™

Religion's Influence on the Wane

67% of Americans believe that religion is losing influence in America. That's a good thing, if it's true. There's nothing like massive unemployment and the worst economic environment in 3 generations to make people in the madrasas throw down their prayer books, notice the pangs of hunger and the lack of a roof over their heads, and cast superstition to the wind. Now if we can just get them to take the next logical step...rioting in the streets...

Blood Orgies in the Park

The First Ammendment to the Constitution reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Pretty clear, huh? That means permanent religious displays should be verbotten on public property. That's simple, and easy to understand...even to judicial conservatives who claim to stick to the framers' original intent. So why is the Supreme Court taking a case involving duelling religious displays in a public park?

The Aphorisms are the guiding principles of Summum, a religious organization that operates from a pyramid in Salt Lake City and practices mummification. They are so important to Summum that the group's founder, Summum "Corky" Ra, asked that they be displayed in a public park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, near a Ten Commandments monument.

Summum wants a religious display in a public park...a park where there's already the Ten Commandments display. To anyone with any sense, the answer is clear: the Constitution prohibits any religious display on public property. To allow any religious display is to respect the establishment of a religion. Why does it matter whether Summum should be allowed to engage in free speech? Free speech would involve Summum people standing in the park holding signs...a permanent display is different. The Constitutional answer is unambiguous: remove all the religious displays from the park. Let's see whether the Bush Supreme Court, and its recently-installed evangelicals and idealogues respect the framers' intent or twist logic to suit their ends.