Civil marriage is a civil right over which the Catholic church has no jurisdiction. The Catholic sacrament of marriage is a religious rite over which civil authorities have no jurisdiction. This is why the Catholic church is free to deny marriage to people who are legally divorced, and why such people may still be legally married in a civil ceremony or in another denomination. If you understand that much, you're way ahead of N.J. Archbishop John Myers. Read more
The credit-rating business model is based on your score being both inaccurate and inadequate -- deliberately so, or else the protection racket they're running wouldn't work. And yet the credit-rating agencies are largely unchecked and unrestrained in their ability to restrict your freedom and the freedom of every other American. Mitt Romney -- who once owned Experian -- aims to keep things that way. Read more
At Scholars & Rogues, Brian Moritz shares his story of "Why I left newspapers." Moritz used to be a beat reporter. I used to be a print and online copyeditor. At this point that's about like saying he used to be a blacksmith and I used to be an elevator operator. At one point we both loved those jobs, and then, gradually, they became a lot harder to love. Read more
X < (X + Audrey Hepburn). Always. ... Connecticut hasn't had a problem with vampires in almost 160 years. ... Why blasphemy is a fundamental human right. ... Donald Trump advises Liberty University students on marriage. ... "My name is Joe Biden, and I'll be your server." ... Plus how gays will save weddings and how Chicago saved the world. Read more
Richard Beck tackles one of the stranger sections of the Bible -- the deliriously weird passage in Genesis 6 about "the Nephilim." I've never figured out what to make of this odd passage, which reads like a fragment from the Silmarillion. It's one of the big flashing signals that these early chapters of Genesis do not invite or allow a “literal” reading in the style of modern-day American fundies. Read more
Matt Barber of the anti-gay religious right group Liberty Counsel says the 2012 presidential election is about "light vs. darkness; good vs. evil." (The "evil" candidate, just to be clear, is the one who is, you know, "dark.") ... Apocalyptic "Bible prophecy" scholar John Hagee changes his mind and decides his grandchildren may grow up without getting raptured ... Ralph Reed wants to know if you think Obama is as bad as Hitler, or as bad as Stalin, or if he's as bad as both combined. Read more
Mark Keuther on why religious freedom requires marriage equality; Natalie Burris on Al Mohler's fear of women in leadership; Gregg Davidson & Ken Wolgemuth on the "Biblical and Scientific Shortcomings of Flood Geology;" and John Shore on why the survivors who have escaped Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches should be proud of themselves. Read more
“Stop hitting your sister” is an inadequate statement in that it’s not a comprehensive argument for or against anything larger, yet nonetheless it sometimes needs to be said. Beliefs and character shape behavior, and in the big picture those are what matter most and thus what most need to be addressed. But in the short term, it is often necessary just to call out the bad behavior. Read more
Young-earth creationism is no different than any other form of contemptuous gossip. Some play an active role — inventing the gossip, fabricating false witness against others, propagating those lies and aggressively seeking to deceive. But these active bearers of false witness are powerless without an audience. They cannot commit their sin unless they have the support of others who agree to listen — to accept such gossip without question and without challenge. Without such a receptive audience, malicious gossip cannot function. Read more
When undeniable facts “conflict with your beliefs,” then you have only two options. You can, as Bill Nye said, “question your beliefs,” to see if they can be reconciled with the undeniable facts. Or you can reject the facts, shut your eyes and your ears to the world, and cling white-knuckled to beliefs that you’ve already seen are false, fortifying them with whatever urban legends and outright fabrications you find useful. Read more
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