Here’s a screen-grab from Left Behind II: Tribulation Force that needs to be highlighted on its own: What we have here is a failure to translate. Or even to transliterate. As Jeff W. and Makabit noted in comments to the previous Left Behind post, the filmmakers didn’t translate the English into Hebrew for this sign, they roughly tried to reproduce the English in the Hebrew alphabet. Backwards. I have to think this is related to the movie’s portrayal of Tsion... Read more
“No woman deserves to be disrespected in this manner. This language is an attack on all women, and has been used throughout history to silence our voices.” “She was respectful, sincere, and spoke with conviction. She provided a model of civil discourse. … And yet, some of those who disagreed with her position – including Rush Limbaugh and commentators throughout the blogosphere and in various other media channels – responded with behavior that can only be described as misogynistic, vitriolic,... Read more
Charles Colson is lying. Again. Still. It’s what he does. Colson is a very strange man. His habitual lying isn’t strange. Nor is the fact that he’s using these lies to boost his fundraising. Lying for money isn’t strange at all, unfortunately. But the particular lie Colson is repeating, over and over, is a strange lie: Secretary of State Clinton … and other officials repeatedly use the term “freedom of worship” (a private act) versus “freedom of religion,” (which the... Read more
Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, Part 8 Donald W. Thompson gave me nightmares. I grew up in the American evangelical Christian subculture in the 1970s and 1980s, so it’s impossible for me to watch a movie like Left Behind II: Tribulation Force without thinking of Thompson’s earlier End Times movies. Those movies scared the Hell out of me, which is exactly the effect Thompson wanted. If you’ve ever seen A Thief in the Night or its sequels, then you know... Read more
So, OK, this post will be about a story from the Bible, but it’s not really about religion or theology or biblical studies. It’s about stories. There’s a really good story in 1 Kings 22. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, wants to go to war against the Arameans, so he tries to enlist the help of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. Jehoshaphat, not being a wicked king,... Read more
Father Marcel Guarnizo is kind of a jerk. And Guarnizo’s jerkitude is compounded by the example and the instruction of the bishops whose lead he is following. When someone who’s prone to being a jerk is commissioned to serve as a local pastor and takes his orders from a band of bishops who have made pompous culture-war grandstanding their primary concern, then bad things are bound to happen. A bad thing happened. Taking his cue from the battling bishops and... Read more
Libby Anne: “Who Are the Real Babies? House-Proofing and Modesty“ When you’re raised in the movement, even the smallest children are taught to have self control and to not touch what is right in front of their eyes. In fact, it’s considered quite the accomplishment to be able to leave an expensive vase or dish of candy on a coffee table and know that even the child just learning to pull herself to standing won’t touch them. It’s a way... Read more
Jessica Ahlquist was right. The sectarian banner that hung at Cranston West High School in Cranston, Rhode Island, should not have been there. Its presence there was both unjust and illegal. And, being unjust, it was also a sin. The First Amendment is very clear. It defends the free exercise of religion and, therefore, also forbids the establishment of religion. To establish any particular sect — to privilege it with official state sanction — is unfair to everyone who is... Read more
Cora Currier: “Banks Colluding with Insurers to Rip Off Homeowners, Lawsuit Alleges“ A federal judge in Miami on Tuesday opened the door to a class action against Wells Fargo. More than 20,000 Florida homeowners can now sue Wells Fargo and an insurance company, QBE, for allegedly overcharging for insurance. More than $50 million in insurance premiums are at issue, according to American Banker. The suit itself, filed last year, is sealed, but the judge, Robert Scola, laid out the allegations... Read more
If I wanted to pass a law explicitly for the purpose of denying civil rights to one specific minority group, would that be constitutional? No. No it would not. Thus though the Defense of Marriage Act is still the law of the land, it’s an illegal law. Two federal judges have now said so, as Andrew Rosenthal reports, “Blatantly Unconstitutional Law Ruled Unconstitutional“: [Bush appointee U.S. District Judge Jeffrey] White is the second federal judge to find that Section 3... Read more
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