• I am shocked — shocked! — that good white evangelical Christians would straight-up lie about abortion. Don’t Mat Staver and Matt Barber know that lying has been linked to prostate cancer?
• “Israel arrests Texas man planning terrorist attacks on Muslim holy sites.” We live in interesting times. Juan Cole has more.
• Occam’s Razor: The simplest, clearest explanation that accounts for all of the facts is to conclude that Benny Hinn is an evil, manipulative and deliberate swindler.
Any other explanation requires far too many complicated, unlikely and contradictory claims. The fact that Hinn (mis)quotes the Bible and talks about (some entity he refers to as) Jesus doesn’t mean he’s entitled to some benefit of the doubt as a “brother in Christ.” His religious language makes his crimes more egregious, not less.
“Hinn is taking advantage of hurting people — and using Jesus to do so, no less.” Yep.
• So the anti-gay group PFOX has taken out billboards declaring that no one is born gay and, thus, anyone can repent and change and become an “ex-gay” — which is what the “X” in PFOX stands for, because PFOE would spell out a bit too clearly that these folks are the enemies of LGBT people.
PFOX bases this claim on identical-twin studies — or, rather, on their “belief” in what such studies show. “Identical Twins: One Gay. One Not,” the billboard reads, accompanying pictures it implies are of these twins. The model whose picture this is, though, does not have a twin. He is gay, however, and happily so, but miffed to learn his photo has been used dishonestly to promote a smear against people like him in support of a harmful, cruel and always futile practice.
For my part, I’m still laughing at that slogan: “Identical Twins: One Gay. One Not.” I can’t decide whether it sounds more like a pitch for a wacky sitcom — “Paul Rudnick presents ‘Brothers,’ starring Sean Hayes and … Sean Hayes. Coming soon to NBC!” Or if it sounds more like the description of a new niche in boutique porno.
• The (relatively) good news: Unlike in New York and Missouri, South Carolina prosecutors insist on going to trial when their police kill unarmed black men. The bad news: South Carolina police still kill a lot of unarmed black men.
• “Americolatry also entails the practice of religious devotion to America by inextricably linking Christian devotion to patriotism. In other words, to be a devoted Christian equals the uncritical acceptance of America as superior and morally regenerate.”
• “Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.” — Francis Bacon
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