Fred Phelps has been leading teams of protesters across the country to demonstrate outside churches where the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq are being held. Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church claim that the war is "a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality."

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."

The family of one soldier fought back, suing the WBC, Phelps, and his two daughters for invasion of privacy. Yesterday the jury returned with its verdict.

Today there is an article in the Lakeland Ledger that is of interest in the battle for teaching truth in the public schools.  Florida's Department of Education is finally considering adding evolution to the science curriculum for public school students (likely to be added in January).

My wife says that they taught evolution when she was young, but based upon the sorts of statements made by the students I've helped teach, many have not heard of evolution or have received the standard dominionist propaganda.  Some of the students have expressed anger over the deception that had been done to them, and others have expressed a sense of relief when told that one can be Christian and accept evolution as fact.  Clearly, there has been a major "hole" in the science teaching done in this state- based upon the sorts of comments made by students.

I'm aware that some public school teachers have said that they are afraid to teach evolution (at present "Change over time" is what is generally taught and that is even considered risky) because of the threats of lawsuits and harassment from fundamentalists.  Others have been known to dismiss it as "just a theory", if they mention it at all.

The local dominionists are already raising a fuss over this decision.

(Mirrored on Daily Kos and Dark Christianity)

In yesterday's post on Talk to Action, I noted how the group "Watchmen on the Walls"--a neopentecostal dominionist group promoted in ex-USSR countries that promotes literal Holocaust revisionism and has become infamous for such acts as literally throwing feces at protesters and kicking a gay Fijian national to death--is in fact essentially an especially violent "Joel's Army" group, spawned from the Assemblies of God's first attempt at "steeplejacking" of a church.

Today, we don our Internet hip-waders as we explore the actual website of "Watchers On The Walls"--with the help of a bit of the modern miracle that is Google Language Tools--and also go in-depth into supporters of "Watchmen On The Walls" who will be attending a conference in Lynnwood, WA less than a day from this posting.  Some of the supporters include the Assemblies on an official level...and, disturbingly, possibly elements of the Bush administration as well.

(Mirrored on Daily Kos and Dark Christianity)

I have touched before on the major role that Russia and Iran play in "Joel's Army" end-time theology--and whilst this is very important, I'm actually going to focus on a rather different way "Joel's Army" has targeted the former USSR...and the bloody fruit it is bearing in the US as well as in many of the countries formerly part of the USSR.

Namely, it seems neopentecostal dominionism--of a particular Russian and Latvian variety that was the fruit of the world's first steeplejack and which has been lovingly fed by the most extreme anti-LGBT troopers of "Joel's Army"--is a major motivating force behind a wave of hate crimes targeting LGBT people both here and abroad.

It was Jesus himself who noted "By their fruits ye shall know them"...and in this post, I document how an "orchard" was planted by American dominionist groups to produce bitter fruit indeed, both here in the US and abroad.

Talk to Action has been one of the big forces in exposing the "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" game--in fact, we have an entire section of our website focusing on the game and its content, including one of the initial exposes of the barely-fictionalised "Joel's Army" theology promoted.

As a recent post by our own Fred Clarkson has noted, the game is apparently not selling as well as was hoped--and now it's taking a classic page from groups like Scientology in trying to protect its frontline.

Namely, it's now trying to SLAPP all blogsites that have reported negatively on the game.

From Schmitz Blitz

The pandering to the religious right never seems to end for McCain.  Beliefnet has just posted an interview on religion and politics. Some of the gems from the interview:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other colleges were founded in the 17th and early 18th centuries, when America was a bunch of British Colonies and before Church and State were separated, with explicitly orthodox Christian "missions." Most realize that something changed along the way, but few understand when and how it happened. The institutional changes occurred primarily during the 19th Century. After all, during the founding era, Timothy Dwight -- a fire and brimstone fundamentalist preacher -- was President of Yale. Yet, it was during this time -- early to mid 18th Century -- that such colleges became hotbeds of infidelity, in other words, when the seeds of change were planted. And Harvard, institutionally, officially became "infidel" around the turn of the 19th Century.

From Schmitz Blitz: schmitzblitz.wordpress.com

Cory Tucholski from Josiah Concept Ministries has challenged my interpretation of the book of Ruth. My response is as follows:

From Schmitz Blitz: schmitzblitz.wordpress.com

It seems now that since the nexus of Christianity is shifting from the global north  to the south, we're getting more church leaders saying outrageously extreme things.  I've written before about the down right hateful comments made by Bishop Issaac Orama (which are under dispute).

Now there's Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Mozambique, who is now resorting to scare tactics in order to push the Catholic church's position on abstinence only for AIDS prevention. He said:

from Schmitz Blitz

According to the NYT, Richard Dawkins was misled into giving an interview for the new documentary on the oppressive close mindedness of those who think lessons on creationism don't belong in the science classroom. The documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," is hosted by Ben Stein, and from the looks of the trailer, it Michael Moore-esque.

Some may read the title of this diary and think, "Unsubstantiated speculation."  Others may think, "Duh."

Either way, it is clear that the GOP's largest constituency, evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, are dissatisfied with this cycle's crop of presidential candidates, particularly the frontrunners.  In spite of a year filled with scandal and death for many of the Christian right's prominent leaders, James Dobson is still perhaps the most influential (partly because it's true, and mostly because the media says it's true).

Most Christian right activists are hostile to McCain (who they don't like), Guiliani (who they don't agree with), and Romney (who they don't trust).  Huckabee and Brownback speak their language, but can't break into even the second tier.  They staked their hopes on Fred Thompson, who is bombing out day by day.

What's a Christian right kingpin to do?  Dobson flirted with Newt Gingrich, then snubbed Fred Thompson as other conservatives touted him as their savior, and is apparently on fire for Gingrich again.

Noah Webster is one of the "Christian Nation" crowd's favorite founders to quote, because in the 19th Century, many of his words seem to support their ideal. Yet, as Tom Peters noted on this page, almost all of those quotations come from after 1808 when "Webster underwent a profound religious conversion that changed both his politics and his religious outlook." He "bec[a]me[] skeptical of democracy, distrustful of government, and far more sympathetic to an alliance between church and state."

Before that time, most importantly when the US Constitution was being framed and ratified, he supported separation of church and state along the lines of Madison's and Jefferson's understanding of the concept.

I've never studied Webster's religious beliefs in detail. I know that in the 1800s when he was saying the things that David Barton et al. like to quote, he was a devout orthodox Christian. Perhaps his political change of mind was precipitated by a bona fide religious change of mind and before that he was, like America's key founders, a theistic rationalist.