This is a document which was posted on Christian Embassy's website. It appears to be an anecdotal description of the concept of "grace", conveyed through a story of an adult belt-whipping a 'rebellious' child.

That anecdote is followed by a Christian Embassy Bible Studies lesson plan, on "Wifely Submission", from the series taught in Bible study classes in Christian Embassy Bible study groups in the Pentagon, Capital Hill, and the White House.

Many American Christians, especially Evangelical Protestants, but also other sects, seem to believe that the basic articles of faith of Christianity are capitalism, conservatism, Nascar, country music, and hatred of abortion, liberalism, and homosexuality. The last element of that creed seems to have been successfully exported to Iraq.

from Schmitz Blitz

Yesterday in the House, Representative Todd Akin (R-MO) introduced H.RES.598, supporting the goals of the Ten Commandments Commission and congratulating the Commission and its supporters for their key role in promoting and ensuring recognition of the Ten Commandments as the cornerstone of Western law. It has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

CHOOSE LIFE

One of the sponsors of the execrable Paul Hill Days stunt taking place this weekend in Milwaukee died last week.

A few weeks after bloggers noted that the UK Silver Ring Thing's media director has links with the far-right, the Daily Mirror has further details:

My past few posts on Talk2Action have been on the subject of religiously motivated child abuse--a subject that is now (thankfully) starting to get a bit more attention.  I've also written on parallels between "deliverance ministry" groups and Scientology, including in the practice of involuntary exorcisms.

A recent case involving the abuse and involuntary exorcism of the daughter of an Edgewater, Florida council member brings this particular disturbing facet of dominionism and religiously motivated child abuse into new light.

Pope Benedict XVI sure seems to be unafraid of making enemies, angering non-Catholics, or trying to turn back the clock.  According to this story, the Pontiff approved "a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation."  

I'm not really sure what Pope Benedict XVI is hoping to prove and/or gain by reinstating the Tridentine Mass but I'm sure that it won't be good for the long term health of the Roman Catholic Church.

I got an e-mail from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice last night asking me to come to Birmingham next week. Six years ago the ask came in snail mail and the request was to go to Wichita. I'm not sure what possessed me to do it, but I went. It was a transformative experience.

While the extreme right wing nuts have done a pretty good job taking over the courts, shutting down comprehensive health services for women, intimidating doctors, nurses and nurse-midwives, there remains a loyal core of committed people who support a woman's right to make her own choices about her reproductive fate. When and whether a woman (or girl) is to have a child should not be decided by any church or any government. But there is quite a cadre of authoritarian soldiers who are intent on foisting their own "moral" strictures on all of the rest of us. And those authoritarian soldiers are being deployed in Birmingham to try to shut down the women's clinics in that city on July 14. They have done this before in other states at other clinics. I was there in 2001 when they tried to shut down Dr. Tiller's clinic in Wichita, again.

Originally posted at dKos.

I am a somewhat religiously observant Jew. I believe in God. I don't work on the Sabbath (though a stringently religious Jew would point out that I do m'lakha). I keep strictly kosher. I don't merely read my sacred texts; I study them in great detail. I celebrate religious holidays. I pray regularly. My Jewish identity and heritage are very important to me.

Like most American Jews, I am a Democrat. I am a liberal. I am a progressive. And I believe it is not only bad government to impose religion or religious ideology on the general public, it's also lousy theology. Below the fold, I explain why in the context of a few key historical documents and the historical context in which the original users of the Bible interpreted it.

This what I posted on my MYSpace Blog: