In the Warren forum, Obama reveals the viewpoint that I find perhaps the most dangerous of all among religionists. It provides a thin veil for conservative politics.

“And one of the things that I strongly believe is that we are not going to, as individuals, be able to erase evil from the world. That is God’s task, but we can be soldiers in that process, and we can confront it when we see it.”

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0…

I don’t want our government employees to view themselves as “soldiers” of God against evil.

I don’t want my president defining evil within the framework of his Christian religion.  Read more 

So, first off: Happy Birthday MJS! We miss you! And love you! And your beautiful, gracious, thoughtful wife, who in turn gave me a gift by asking me to give you one. I hope you enjoy your book. Secondly, I’m too heartbroken to explain Tel Asmar; just google “Tel Asmar UChicago dig house” and you’ll understand- it’s gone. My pain is nothing to the families of the dead who have lost infinitely more than that thanks to a reckless war of lies and greed.

Seeing as how Corrente is now a High Literary Society, I thought I should contribute something. The background on this short fiction is this: it’s “historical” in feel and tone, but in no way up to the scholarly standards of my past. I feel badly I’m fuddling some historical and philological fact for the sake of fiction, so to my Assyriology friends: take it easy on a sister, yo? Also, due to a mix-up on the due date, I wrote this in exactly one morning and gave it all of one look-thru before publishing it for MJS’ gift. So forgive the slightly choppy and unfinished element to it, it’s essentially a first-draft. Someday, I may go back and clean it up and turn it into a long book; I’ve been sitting on a larger story of which this is part for some time. Anyway, here you go, Birhtday Boy and Gentle Readers.

“The Ashes of the House of Ur”
I

The tall brute looked and sounded exactly like his name implied; son of the war goddess indeed. Hulking over Ibrahim’s second wagon like a trained ape at the temple fair, he could hardly articulate the goods of passage, let alone write them. Lucky for him, a clever palace scribe was there to cover his ass and get the job done.

“Twelve woven blankets,” the brute slurred.
“Actually, your honor, “ said Ibrahim. “That’s ten. The other two are for the flooring.” He tried his best to look unconcerned, but the high ranking palace scribe’s presence implied that the political scene was as dangerous for him as ever, perhaps more so. “That looks like more than ten to me,” the hulking mass of a beer-guzzling Akkadian said. “Are you saying I can’t count?” His muscular concern mirrored the urgency with which his scribe sought to insert herself into the conversation. Ibrahim took advantage of this.

“Lady Lali,” he said to the skinny scribe and using her nickname, which was known to him because they shared the same blood of the old families. “What say you of these blankets?” His deep, liquid eyes pleaded with her. He knew she knew all he wanted to do was leave; to escape the increasing burdens of all merchants of the Old Blood in a crumbling empire. To take his family, herds and goods to a new land; one long since abandoned by the ancient people of the sea, where the hills where green, and lightly populated by wild flocks or predators. The rumors of the place had spread in the last famine, when the empire had failed to provide for the people. Ibrahim had spoken out against the temples and their increasingly anti-traditionalist leadership then. He had paid for it ever since.

Lali looked at the small herds and poor-quarter quality of Ibrahim’s carts. Another reject of the new order, refugees taking flight, she thought. They were so common these days, what with the empire restricting its support to the “loyal families” and all. Sad, she thought. In the old days, merchant princes like Ibrahim would’ve been invited to compete for choice temple bids, their herds culled for the finest representatives for use at the city festivals and temple competitions. But no longer; the young prince was woefully easy to sway, and mostly a fool. His advisors had convinced him that a “loyalty” purge was long since due, and that the gods demanded it.

“Geb,” she called to her co-worker. “I’ve got to get some beer, and take a piss. It’s too fucking hot for this shit.” It was true, the midday was nigh, and they’d been processing passers at the gate for six hours. Some beer and dates, and an indoor break, were long overdue.  Read more 

I’ve just gotten more detail on the Presbyterian and Unitarian Church endorsements of H.R. 676. It’s noteworthy that besides endorsing the bill the Presbyterians also allocated money for 10 regional seminars on single payer health care.

On the Presbyterians, here’s the report from Hal Sanders, the Pittsburgh activist who pushed for this along with three other local people:  Read more 

CBS has become a pew forum in its own right:

In a single sentence in one story on religion in the United States, CBS Evening News managed to insult the vast majority of the American people. Describing a major new study on Americans’ religious faith from the Pew Forum, CBS’ Wyatt Andrews suggested that atheism in particular and Americans’ widely shared belief in a secular society in general is immoral:

“The unprecedented survey of religion answers many concerns about a secular, morally void America. To the surprise of many experts, Americans are still deeply religious, with 84 percent of adults claiming a religious affiliation.”

(h/t Make Them Accountable)

So we’re asking why some people won’t stop it, and why others who don’t deserve it must suffer. I guess the moon is in that phase, or something, because driving around running errands today, I caught a few minutes of this guy on the radio. Ehrman’s journey is one I can completely understand: from teen evangelical who converted to save himself from “hell,” to ministry student and biblical scholar, and finally to atheist. I guess he’s written some famous books too; they said Misquoting Jesus was a bestseller and that makes me glad. Today, he was talking about the book of Job (among other stories) and although I didn’t catch all the show, I wondered if he considered that part of the story that has always increased my atheism. Specifically, Job’s wife and kids.  Read more 

EJ has a new book out, about religion and politics in America. I was just skimming some info about it, and I came across something so wrong, so wholly illustrative of “the problem” it struck me mute and paralyzed for a moment. I’m hesistant to try to write a response. But it is also so simple! Sometimes I really am impressed with the mastery of Kabuki our Village players demonstrate:

E. J. Dionne is this country’s single most knowledgeable writer on religion and politics. Approaching this subject so central to the American experiment as a person of faith as well as a seasoned political reporter, Dionne brings an understanding and knowledge to the topic unique in the current debate.

Can ya guess who came up with that gem?  Read more 

So I’d prefer to have religion-free policy and politics, but I’m not going to get that in this country. I will never understand why it’s so difficult for people to agree: religion belongs in the home and place of worship, politics in the public square where everyone is afforded an equal say. But if “our” politicians are going to make their deep faith a Big Issue, I have a question for Obama: how often did you go to church when you were a teen, in college, and in law school?  Read more 

Watching a religion-themed movie this morning as I enjoyed some too-strong coffee, I had the thought that I can explain simply why I’m an atheist.  Read more 

And since Il Papa represents the only true Christian Church, I’m really, really sure that Ratzinger’s apology will be forthcoming immediately. “Millstone,” “neck,” “sea” and all that. (Luke 17:2) From The City of Fallen Angels:

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church’s sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday.

The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs — an average of $1.2 million to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said.

Yes, the apostolic succession is really racking up the numbers:  Read more 

Today’s WaPo, Dana Millbank Dept. (with snippage):

Let us pray that, on next year’s National Day of Prayer, there is better attendance at the “Bible Reading Marathon” on the West Front of the Capitol…

Organizers put out 600 folding chairs on the lawn — the spot where presidents are inaugurated — and set up a huge stage with powerful amplifiers. But at 9:30 a.m. yesterday, not one of the 600 seats was occupied. By 11 a.m., as a woman read a passage from Revelations, attendance had grown — to four people. …

Where was everybody?

“This isn’t that kind of event,” explained Jeff Gannon, spokesman for the host, the International Bible Reading Association. Gannon, actually a pseudonym for James Guckert,  Read more 

The Ink-Wire’s headline-writing copy editor Gets It:

Religious Bias Gets OK in State Job Ads

A Christian college in Western Pennsylvania and a faith-based coalition can use a state-sponsored job site specifically to hire Christians, according to the settlement of a religious discrimination suit.
Attorneys for Geneva College in Beaver Falls and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition in Springfield, Va., filed the federal suit over Pennsylvania’s online CareerLink job-listing site in December. The state and federal governments were named as defendants.

The plaintiffs argued they were wrongly denied use of the employment service, which includes an Internet service called CareerLink. The service has a nondiscrimination policy barring job postings that require applicants to have particular religious backgrounds.

Just change every instance of the word “religious” or “faith” to “race”, all instances of “Christian” or “Christianity” to “white,” and “belief” to “color.”.  Read more 

Jesus Christ, Patent Pending

Would it kill you to get me a cup of Italian Roast?

+++

does it ever strike you as funny
in a not so funny way
that those who protest science
believe that magic holds the day?
that somewhere in the distant past
a god who looked like man
made the world and all that’s in it
from one great master plan?  Read more 

Street Prophets has a good post up about authoritarians and how they use religion in the war on undocumented people.

Traditionalist authoritarians don’t see themselves as having much in common with immigrants (or gays and lesbians, or residents of New Orleans’ Ninth Ward), because they don’t perceive themselves as playing by the same set of rules. They (the authoritarians) work hard, raise their kids right, and obey the law. Illegal immigrants cheat their way into the system, break laws to keep themselves here, refuse to contribute to the good of the country, take jobs from Americans, and when they’re all done, go home leaving Mom apple pie and America in sorrier shape than when they arrived. It’s going to be difficult to bring Christian traditionalists around on this issue, and you can forget the true authoritarians. They don’t give a crap about Mexicans because they don’t think Mexicans play by the rules, and they’re never going to think Mexicans play by the rules. The limit to the use of the common good ideal as an outreach strategy is precisely where it buts up against racism, tacit or overt , because racism is incapable of accepting The Other as neighbor.  Read more 

I am. Come over and join us. Religion is the topic tonight.
Update: Xan is right, i should post the whole mess here. Enjoy, loyal readers. You are the audience I want to engage.  Read more 

Shave and a Haircut One Hundred… I don’t think so:

“The government is unable to protect us so we will abide by what the Taliban tells us to do and stop shaving beards,” said Niamat, a barber in Khar, the headquarters of the Bajaur tribal agency along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

And the Taliban mean business, On Sunday night, bombs destroyed two barber shops and three others suffered partial damage after the owners refused to follow the orders.  Read more 

Garbage. I’ll make three points: Once again, the Times “selects” from a group of people who already agree with this theory, and fails to ask actual evolutionary scientists who are critical of it what they think. Gotta love the “balance.” Also, this piece mostly fails to apply the “logic” of the theory to non-monotheistic religions, implying that monotheistic belief is what is being “proven” here. Finally, group selection is bunk. Quoth Dawkins in this piece (and I suppose I should be grateful it got included) “sheer, wanton, head-in-bag perversity.” That’s rather established in evolutionary biology, and it’s irresponsible for the Times to treat it as accepted, peer-endorsed, current theory.  Read more 

Oh, my sweet risen Christ. This is going to be soooo much fun. Who do you think should play the Jesus wealthy enough to afford a family crypt? McGirk is right, that’s a little pricey for a peacenik son of a carpenter who never really held a real job. And Mary- well, she has to be played by a hottie; who else could tempt the son of god down off the cross? No, I won’t make a bunch of jokes in poor taste. I’ll leave that to the fundies, whom I’m sure will be out in force if this actually makes it to the big screen. Heh. Mel doesn’t know what kind of tomb of worms he’s opened up, since making it OK to profit from your own personal interpretation of the Nazarene.

The Crack Den is about all I have time to read right now, as I’m putting in a floor, starting with the joists and working my way up. It’s tiring as well as time consuming, so this will be shorter than I’d normally do otherwise. Like Atrios, I’m not going to get that phone call from NPR. But I agree with him that we in the blogosphere of unbelievers need to talk more about our non-religion.  Read more 

Our Lord of the Gray Reaches reminds us of the old canard, and I am glad he refuses to be silent on the issue, no matter how it disqualifies him for a position in a campaign. Worse than saying “fuck,” is to deny the religionists their claim upon all that is right and good; our culture recognises no greater crime than atheism. I would only add one thing, as I lick my own wounds from hidden battles among the lambs and take time to contemplate my role in the blogosphere. The time is ripe, indeed, rotten like a piece of fruit left too long in the sun, for those of us who deny the primacy of mythology and challenge the believers. Their time is ending, they know it, and they fear what will happen, as humanism and technology gentle their ancient habits of pogrom, inquisition and crusade.  Read more 

You’ve probably never heard of the people in this post. But you should read it anyway. Shockingly, one needn’t go to Cambridge or speak Latin to argue about matters religious and philosophical with the best of them. A sample (Baker is the white guy):

 Read more 

I only do that because it’s big and fluffy. Yack:

Most of the work presiding over chamber debate in the House and Senate is decidedly dull, following procedure and managing time on the floor, but every gaffe, cough and parliamentary ruling is caught live by the cameras of C-SPAN.  Read more 

Confession time…

In 2006, I ran for the US House against an unholy a far-right DINO and lost in the Primary. I drop the phrase, "I placed second in a three-way race", to either joke-it or to save face—it could be either. In reality, the incumbent got 86.2%, I got 10.0% and Mr.Last Place got 3.8%.  Read more 

One of the guilty pleasures of WaPo’s new column on religious beliefs is watching Christianist shills get chewed on by the reality-based community. Read the comments section; it’s delicious. Take Cal Thomas—please:

[I]f God is not the Author of life, then we are evolutionary accidents who may treat each other as we please.

Nonsense. Human capacities for good and evil both evolved in nature because they both had survival value.  Read more 

This little piece from the Department of Extremely Obvious Things causes me to want to ask a question. I know we’ve got the occasional Christian and Christianist reader here (although, one less, it seems) and here’s what I want you to tell me: upon what does your belief that Jesus Christ was a real person rest? I’m not trying to be snarky here, I’m curious.  Read more