"a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellious children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21" - Republican Charlie Fuqua, from his book God's Law

"I think my views are fairly well-accepted by most people" - Charles Fuqua, as quoted by the Associated Press

It has rapidly migrated from the Arkansas Times - which has broken the story about a controversial book written by Republican candidate for the Arkansas Legislature Charlie Fuqua - to the Huffington Post, but so far media has not identified the most astonishing aspects of Fuqua's suggestion, in his e-book God's Law: The Only Political Solution, that rebellious children should be executed in accordance with Deuteronomy 21:18-21.

If Sheldon Adelson were an ordinary guy, some might say that he is spending like a drunken sailor. But Adelson is no ordinary guy. The billionaire right wing casino magnate who is committed to expending perhaps as much as $100 million on this presidential campaign, is, as he recently described it, merely putting his money where his mouth is.

And both his money and his mouth are writ large over the Republican Party's campaign to win the presidency and grab total control of both houses of Congress.

[note: part one in this series was In '05 and '08, Todd Akin Entered Christian Nationalist History Lies in the Congressional Record]

In honor of Columbus Day, a federal holiday honoring the abundantly mythologized Christopher Columbus, I'm again delving into falsified American history. I knew Former U.S. Congressman Alan Grayson was running for a seat in Florida's newly-created 9th District, but I didn't know a thing about his Republican opponent in the race. However, I've just started a new series about how often, these days, Republicans promote falsified Christian nationalist versions of American history, the sort most notably promoted by discredited author David Barton. I had a hunch that, given the odds, I might find Grayson's opponent, Todd Long, promoting fake history too.

Obviously, my hunch panned out.

"...is it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes. They have found large chambers in certain dinosaur skulls... The large skull chambers could have contained special chemical-producing glands. When the animal forced the chemicals out of its mouth or nose, these substances may have combined and produced fire and smoke... Dinosaurs and humans were definitely on earth at the same time and may have even lived side by side within the past few thousand years" --- from Bob Jones University Press biology textbook Life Science 3rd. Edition (2007). Used widely in Christian schools that would receive dramatically increased funding under Mitt Romney's education plan, BJU's biology, history, English, and religion textbooks have been rejected by the University of California for course credit.

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has declared, "Here we are in the most prosperous nation, but millions of kids are getting a third-world education." As ABC reports, Romney's proposed K-12 education plan for America would redirect $26 billion in federal funding for low income and special needs students, that currently goes to public schools, to pay for students to attend private schools; some of those would be religious schools that use Bob Jones University Press curriculum -- which speculates that humans may have lived with fire-breathing dinosaurs and teaches that Romney's own Mormon Church is a "cult".

If you're a political junkie you might be following a story out of Florida centering on a man named Nathan Sproul. Sproul stands accused of engaging in voter registration fraud.

The other day a reporter from Florida called to ask me some questions about Sproul. I was surprised to hear from her because I didn't think I knew anything about him, other than what I had read in the papers.

"The Bible was foundational to development of our country. The English Puritans came to the New World to follow the Bible according to the convictions of their own consciences. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 24 had what today would be considered Bible college or seminary educations. Only a few years later, in 1782, Congress itself authorized the printing of the Bible." -- Congressional Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, Thursday December 6, 2005, statement to Congress during National Bible Week

While Representative Akin's statement on the Bible and the Puritans was accurate, his claim on the "Bible college" or "seminary" educations of 24 of the signers, which traced to claims advanced by David Barton, was not, and Akin's statement that "Congress itself authorized the printing of the Bible" was also false. Congress did nothing but certify the accuracy of a Bible edition printed by Thomas Aitken, and did so for secular reasons - to promote the struggling American book printing industry, under pressure because of a British blockade. Representative Akin, now running against Democrat Claire McCaskill in the 2012 election, to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, also read the same statement, with the two history lies, in Congress on September 26, 2008, for the occasion of National Bible Week.

In 2005, 2007, and 2010, Invisible Children co-Founder Jason Russell made appearances at the elite neo-fundamentalist funding confab known as The Gathering, which brings together wealthy donors with leaders of evangelical-right social engineering ministry efforts.

Invisible Children bills itself as secular, but in late 2011 Russell characterized the venture, in a speech to Liberty University students, as decidedly evangelical; and during his 2005 appearance at The Gathering (see description, below transcript, on what The Gathering is), at a panel discussion titled "Just Do It: The Next Generation of Missions", Russell described Invisible Children as a "Trojan Horse" that could bring God's message into American schools (see transcript).

Pastor John Hagee, who was deep-sixed from Senator John McCain's campaign in 2008 after a tape was found that had him bellowing about God sending Hitler to hunt the Jews so they would go to Palestine, is creeping back into this election cycle.

In 2008, Pastor John Hagee was a much sought after "get" for Republican Party presidential candidates. After a long courtship, McCain's  campaign team, trying to gain some credibility with Religious Right leaders,  nailed down the pastor's endorsement.

Three months later, disaster struck.

The Christian Right's electoral ground game was one of the defining elements of American politics in the 90s. Many veterans of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition continue to be active in politics, including the founding executive director, Ralph Reed.  Indeed, Reed's new organization, the Faith & Freedom Coalition is, in many respects, picking-up where the Coalition left off.  This has been written about by Adele Stan at AlterNet and recently by The New York Times.  

But there is more

I have put more of the pieces together in a new essay in The Public Eye magazine.  Excerpts, sans numbered end notes) below.

A number of Religious Right groups held a rally in Philadelphia over the weekend to remind everyone that when it comes to religion, they're right and the rest of us can go jump in the lake (of fire).

Headlining the event was TV preacher Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Pat is now 82 but still pours on the crazy on a regular basis on his "700 Club." After I wrote The Most Dangerous Man in America?: Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition in 1996, I considered issuing a type of annual supplement of every intolerance or insane thing Robertson said. I had to abandon the project when I realized I wouldn't have time to do anything else.

Today begins the celebration of the freedom to read called Banned Books Week. The annual event is sponsored by the American Library Association and many other organizations of writers, publishers and booksellers.  I am always glad that my local library displays Banned Books Week posters, and features a pile of banned books.

Every year too, I take the time to write about it, in part because of its intrinsic importance, but also because those behind efforts to remove targeted books from school and public libraries are often part of the Religious Right. There are lots of press reports Banned Books Week related activities around the country now that we are underway, (see, for example, here, here, here and here) so I won't add to my essay, Banning and Burning Books in America except to say that you can watch Bill Moyers, among others, discuss his support at the Banned Books Week's Virtual Read Out You Tube channel.

"Some of the most inspiring and mind-opening words ever written are threatened with removal because they offended a self-deputized vigilante. -- Bill Moyers"

As we all know, there are some people out there who are just so completely obsessed with promoting their "Christian" message that nothing is off limits for them. There are, of course, a lot of these anything-but-Christlike-Christians out there, but one of the worst examples I've ever encountered is Air Force Major Jonathan C. Dowty (a.k.a. the "Christian Fighter Pilot"). Although calling his Christian Fighter Pilot blog his "ministry," Maj. Dowty doesn't actually write much about his religion there. His "ministry" is primarily a forum for his obsessive ranting about certain issues and certain people, and the person he is the most obsessed with by far is Mikey Weinstein, the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).