Religious Nuts Want To Kill Us All With Coronavirus

Florida :"pastor" Rodney Howard-Browne was arrested earlier
this month for defying orders to not hold services that
attract crowds.  

Religious wing nuts, the so-called "pro-life" activists, want to kill us.

That's the only conclusion I can reach with these idiots who insisting on opening their churches this pasr Easter Sunday for crowded services, in defiance of local, state and national orders to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Plus, they continue to hold services and are suing to be able to keep doing it.

So much for being "pro-life."  

Oh, sure, they're against abortion, saying it "kills babies," but they are plainly all for making the coronavirus pandemic worse by holding these services despite these crowds being the perfect way to spread Covid-19 exponentially.

More people will die than otherwise would had it not been for these idiots. Many of them will be innocent people who unknowingly make contact with these murderers.  Thou shall not kill?

Even pandering GOP politicians have gotten into this deadly act.

"Most  people want to limit the spread of Covid-19 (but) don't tell is we can't practice our religious freedoms," huffed  Kansas Republican Senate President Susan Wagle according to the Wichita Eagle.  in an article earlier this month. The paper reports that already, at least three clusters of Kansas Covid-19 outbreaks stemmed from religious services.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, sued the state's GOP legislative council over that group's decision to overturn Kelly's order to limit the size of religious meetings and funerals to ten people, as HuffPost reports.

Hours before church services were to start on Easter, the Kansas State Supreme Court backed Kelly, saying she had the right to limit groups, including those in churches, to 10 people or less, reports the Kansas City Star.

This battle, of course continues, needlessly, of course.

There's all kinds of local dramas, mostly in the South, with these "religious" people. The guy who operates the Joe My God blog has brilliantly labeled these types as "Branch Covidians."

One of these idiots is Rodney Howard-Browne of The River At Tampa Bay, who was arrested for opening his church a week or two back.

According to The Daily Beast, Howard-Browne said he "would never back down," but did just that for the silliest attempt at a fig leaf.

He said he didn't want an outsider with coronavirus might go to the church to make the faithful sick, or something like that.

As you can tell, I'm completely fed up with these murderous evangelicals.  They whine constantly about how persecuted they are, and yet they are arguably afforded more rights and benefits than any other group in this nation. Their persecution complex has always been that they are all miffed beyond belief that not everybody thinks and acts the way they do.

Those smug asses think everybody should act in accordance with their "Christian nation" beliefs.

God forbid. No pun intended.

We all know exactly why the scamevangelists are cynically opening churches and risking their flock and fans.  It's all about the collection plate. This stay at home stuff just doesn't fit their business model.  Let's face it, most of these "pastors" are filthy rich and are some of the most common grifters out there.

The famous saying is true: There's a sucker born every minute. There's plenty of gullible people who fall for these religious scams. You can't shake their "faith" that attending church in groups is the only way to salvation. Whatever that is.

They tell us God is all powerful. If that's the case, God can hear our prayers whether we're in a church or alone at home.

Plenty of other religious denominations get it. They've closed their church doors and put their services on YouTube, or Facebook Live, or whatever else helps people get access to the church.  At last check, God has not struck these responsible churches down. No lightning strikes on the shuttered churches in my town, at least.

Besides, if you believe in God, you should know He gave us a brain.  Probably with the assumption we'd use it. Maybe God gave us the power to decide what is right and not right for us and especially for our neighbors. Passing this test is probably more of a mark of decency, religious righteousness and morals than anything else.

The scamevangelicals failed this test, and so did their fans.

I'm sure a lot of these gullible marks have gotten convinced this coronavirus pandemic is some sort of second coming. The End Times. They probably have been so brainwashed by these "pastors" that they'll believe anything. Just as long as the scamevangelicals rake in the dough, right?

In turn, these gullible cultists don't mind killing the rest of us. They know they Way, or so they think.

That persecution complex among these so called religious types is in full force when people try to enforce these big church gatherings.

In Kentucky, about 50 members of the Maryville Baptist Church attended Easter services, in violation of a state order to limit the size of gatherings during this pandemic. Policd took down license plate numbers of these church goers, threatening to quarantine them.

The church is planning a federal lawsuit claiming its constitutional rights were violated. After all, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, right?

However, one can practice their religion and not do it amid a crowd. In his order banning group gatherings, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear banned all large groups, not just religious ones. So no, the governor is not persecuting religious types, despite the whines of the Branch Covidians.

And despite the facts, the Liberty Counsel lawyers who are suing are claiming it was Beshear's intend to focus on churches. Um, yeah. Right.  I thought thou shall not lie was in the 10 Commandments, but what do i know?

As constitutional attornry Mitchell Denham told television stations WAVE, "You cannot place people in harm by exercising your religion."

A similar idiotic lawsuit, by the way, is pending in California.

It would be one thing if these religious nutbags were only putting themselves in harms way. But they're doing it to the rest of us, too.  Remember, as I said, they demand we be just like them.

But that is the worst role modeling anyone can follow.

The "religious" scammers I've just written about is just one of several groups of villians in this coronavirus outbreak. I'll feature more in coming posts.

That sounds negative, I realize, but now's the time to take down names.  When or if this is over, or even doing the evildoers in this pandemic need to be made accountable, just as the many heroes in this episode need to be celebrated forever.

Why I And Many Others Are Disgusted With White Evangelicals, One Of Worst Groups In U.S.

This cartoon pretty much sums up the hypocrisy of white
evangelicals nowadays. 

Liberals and Democrats have in the past several years tried to figure out how to deal with Evangelicals.

Especially white ones.

Is there something Evangelicals have in common with liberals? Is there a moral compass that liberals and evangelicals have in common?  Can these groups work together?

Um, no.

Now that Donald Trump has been president for a year, a lot of white evangelicals have shown their true colors. Gone is the assumption they're a "moral" group, even if a lot of us disagree with their positions on gays, feminists, abortion, marriage and such.

White evangelicals, at least the ones who speak for them, are hypocritical creeps. We are better off totally ignoring them. Or better, relentlessly mocking them.

For one thing, it's clear that probably a majority of white evangelicals are also white supremacists.

I can't state this case any better than John Pavlovitz, who recently penned a real stemwinder of a case against white evangelicals in a scathing open letter to them. It's so worth the read.

This is how he opens his devastating missive:

"I need to tell you something. People have had it with you.

They're done. 

They want nothing to do with you any longer, and here's why; 

They see your hypocrisy, your inconsistency, your incredibly selective mercy, and your thinly veiled supremacy. 

For eight years they watched you relentlessly demonize a black President, a man faithfully married for 26 yers, a doting father and husband without a hint of moral scandal or the slightest whiff of infidelity."

Pavolvitz, along with so many of the rest of us, noticed the black president Obama never got prayers, was never welcomed to their Christian organizations, was never given the benefit of the doubt, never received any kind of affirmation of his humanity, by white evangelicals.

And then there's Trump.

"You openly give a 'mulligan' to a white Republican man so riddled with depravity, so littered with extramarital affairs, so unapologetically vile, with such a vast resume of moral filth - that the mind boggles. And the change in you is unmistakable,. It has been an astonishing conversion to behold: a being born again."

Trump's sin, lack of repentance, and lack of compassion doesn't matter. Which is why they rest of us have had it with white evangelicals. As Pavolvitz says, we recognize the toxic source of your duality.

"They see that pigmentation and party are your sole dieties. They see that you aren't interested in perpetuating the love ofGod or emulating the heart of Jesus.

They see that you aren't burdened to love the least, or to be agents of compassion, or to care for your Muslim, gay, African, femail or poor neighbors as yourself."

No, white evangelicals live smugly, often in their gated communities.

White evangelicals always have felt a sense of persecution. That everybody is out to "get" them. Everybody wants to supposedly squelch their religious freedom.  What they really want is for everybody to be just like them, to do just as they say and do. There is no room for dissent, in their warped minds. Nobody can be who they are, what they are, in white evangelicals' mind. It's their way or the highway.

Screw you on that one.

One of the most despised leaders of all these white evangelicals is Tony Perkins. (To be fair, the white evangelicals love him.)

A former evangelist, Frank Schaeffer, was recently on A.M Joy - Joy Reid hosting -  and described Perkins as follows, and he could also be describing the bulk of these morons:

"Tony Perkins forgot his own theology and replaced it with a theology of revenge on people he disagrees with politically. That's what's going on here. This is the revenge of white evangelical right-wingers. Who they want to punch in the mouth is not just black Americans but, to put it in the words of the President of the United States, those who live in shithole countries. So they're willing to put up with anything when it comes to moral degradation to see those ends achieved."

White evangelicals seem willing to suspend any kind of disbelief to push their racist, pro-Trump narrative.  So they double down on their odd, awful beliefs. Which isn't good for this movement's future, let me tell ya.

Some white evangelicals, to their immense credit, see the rot and hypocrisy and are leaving this group. Five Thirty Eight noted:

"After dominating much of American politics for the past 40 years, white evangelical Protestants are now facing a sharp decline. Nearly one-third of white Americans raised in evangelical Christian households leave their childhood faith. About 60 percent of those who leave end up joining another faith tradition, while 40 percent give up on religion altogether. The rates of disaffiliation are even higher among young adults."

Five Thirty Eight goes on:

"......white evangelical population in the U.S. has fallen over the past decade, dropping from 23 percent in 2006 to 17 percent in 2016." Five Thirty Eight also notes the remaining white evangelicals are aging, with their average age definitely going up.

One more bit of info from Five Thirty Eight:

"Other research also suggests that one of the prime motivators for leaving a religion is belief incompatibility. A 2016 PRRI stuy found that the most common reason people give up on their childhood faith is that they no long believe in its teachings. Twenty-nine percent of Americans who have left their formative religion explictly mention negative teachings about gay and lesbian people as a proximate cause for their disaffiliation."

Things will only get worse for the remaining white evangelicals. People who can think logically are leaving, and the hypocrisy they've shown under Trump will only make the stampede out the door faster.

White evangelicals will alway think the larger society is "out to get them." Unlike the past, it's actually true now. Few, if any people want to force them to give up their beliefs. It's just that not many people want to join their bandwagon. Not many people will be upset if the evangelical movement withers and dies.

Politicians of all stripes quaked in their boots if evangelicals objected to them.  Going forward, political leaders will dismiss them as an unimportant fringe group. As long as Trump remains in office, white evangelicals will have a voice and influence, just like other white supremacists.

After Trump's gone, white evangelicals will be out in the political wilderness. Where they belong.

Texas Judge Is Latest Evangelical To Go Off The Rails

This weird Texas judge tried to overrule a jury by attempting
to get them to declare a defendent innocent because God
supposedly told this judge she was innocent. Riiiiight. 

I'm confused by some very conservative, so called Christian evangelicals who seem to think Donald Trump is some sort of hero.

It's a little hypocritical for them to embrace a guy who among so many other things, seems to have cheated on his wife with a porn star.

But, the more corrupt evangelicals (not most of them, but the ones in power, it seems) love Trump because it looks like he'll let them do anything they want. Or so they think.

The latest person who thinks he can get away with a lot is a Texas judge who recently try to get a jury to find woman accused of trafficking a teen girl for sex innocent. The reason? God told him to intervene, said the judge.

Judge Jack Robison told the jury, "When god tells me I gotta do something, I gotta do it,"

Or not. The jury ignored the judge, thank goodness and went with the evidence instead. The panel convicted Gloria Romero-Perez and she was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. The judge was also forced to recuse himself from the trial's penalty phase.

The jury foreman, Mark House said he and others on the jury either filed or intend to file a complaint with the Texas Judicial Conduct Commission.

Mark A. House, jury foreman in the weeklong trial of Gloria Romero Perez that concluded Jan. 12 has already filed a complaint. His filing states:   "Judge Robison came into the jury room during deliberations two times and informed the jurors that he did not believe the defedent was guilty or should spend 25 years in prison."

Talk about trying to tamper with a jury!

Let me put it as bluntly as possible. When somebody informs you that God told you to do something, that person knows deep inside they shouldn't do it. They try to throw you with the "authority" of God.

The only people who buy that argument are the people saying God made them do it. Right, Roy Moore?

Let's hope sane minds prevail in Texas and they get rid of Judge Robeson once and for all.

Right Wing Wackos Have Interesting Theories On News Events

So here's one from the conspiracy kooks: One wacko
theory says that Ellen Degeneres was somehow involved
in the Las Vegas mass shooting. Um.....

It's been quite a week for extreme right wingers, nationalists, neo-nazis, and all wackos on the far right.

They've spent the week explaining things to us and proposing solutions to problems that are just stunning in their brilliance and creativity.

I'll offer just a few examples

1. ELLEN DEGENERES MASTERMINDED LAS VEGAS SHOOTING

Milo Yiannopoulous, the zany former Breitbart writer who we learned through Buzzfeed that he collaborated with white supremicists, has solved the big Las Vegas mass shooting mystery. The assault, the nation's worst in modern history, left 59 people dead, including the shooter, who committed suicide.

Milo's explanation is brilliant. Of course, he raises more questions than he answers. First, Milo said there is an "extraordinary lack of curiosity in the media" about the shooting because the guy who did it was white.

He also noted the media stopped asking about the security guard who first encountered the shooter in the hotel. He went "missing" and avoided the media until he appeared on Ellen Degeneres' show this week.

Milo noted that the guard was "sweating and panting like he'd been briefed to say certain things and not others" while being interviewed by Ellen. Moreover, Ellen supposedly has a "relationship with the hotel chain," and that, of course, proves that she was in on it, or maybe even masterminded it for all I know, but Milo didn't go quite that far.

Milo didn't offer a motive, but the right wing hates gay people, who they believe all are capable of unspeakable crimes. Ellen is gay. Then again, so is Milo, so this is a bit complicated.

2. JOURNALISTS SHOULD BE SHOT IF THEY ASK QUESTIONS/DO THEIR JOB

In May,  then Montana Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs because Jacobs was aggressively asking him questions, which reporters are supposed to do.

Gianforte won the election anyway, and ended up being convicted of misdemeanor assault. Gianforte apologized to Jacobs, and donated $50,000 to a press freedom group. It all ended well, right?

Well, Karen Marshall doesn't think so. She's with the Gallatin County, Montana Republican Women, and she said had Jacobs questioned her like he did Gianforte, she would have shot him.

Get that? If a journalist asks obnoxious questions, they deserve to be murdered. Why should the public, via the media, know what an elected official does or thinks? It's none of our business, right? Democracy, is stupid, Marshall seems to think.

So yeah, Marshall is creepy and someone to definitely stay away from.

3. ROY MOORE SAYS GAY MARRIAGE WORSE THAN SLAVERY

I learned this week I've been committing a crime against humanity since 2012. That's when I married Jeff, my same sex husband. We're happy, but Roy Moore came into the picture to set things straight.

We learned from Moore that gay marriage is worse than slavery. 

First, some background. Moore just won the Alabama Republican primary for U.S Senate to fill the now empty seat of Jeff Sessions, who is now the very odious U.S. Attorney General. Moore won fame for, among many things, being kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court for defying federal court orders to remove a 10 Commandments statue and for telling state judges to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell ruling legalizing gay marriage.

Moore is still very, very bitter about gay marriage.  This statement by Moore came out last November, but there's no evidence that he's changed his mind.

"In 1857, the United States Supreme Court did rule that black people were property. Of course that contradicted the Constitution, and it took a civil war to overturn it. But this ruling in Obergefell is even worse in a sense because it forces not only people to recognize marriage other than the institution ordained by God and recognized by nearly every state in the union, it says that you now must do away with the definition of marriage and make it between two person of the same gender or leading on, as one of the dissenting justices said, to polygamy, to multi-partner marriages."

Of course, if you don't want to be gay married, and don't want such ceremonies in your church, you're free to avoid that. And since when did Obergefell legalize polygamy?

And two guys or gals marrying each other is worse than holding someone captive for a lifetime and forcing him to work endlessly for no pay?

Oh, well.

WACKIEST OF ALL: HOLLYWOOD FULL OF DEVIL WORSHIPPING CANNABALS

There's a so-called pastor names Rodney Howard-Browne who took part in a "laying of hands" prayer on Donald Trump in the Oval Office last summer. He's got some interesting ideas on what really goes on in Hollywood.

And he says it's much worse than the extremely icky revelations about Harvey Weinstein.

Howard-Browne informs us that Hollywood is rife with devil worshippers who conduct human sacrifices and drink the blood of children.

And I just thought most Hollywood actors were sort of narcisstic hedonists, but otherwise pretty harmless.

The Gays Did It

This wacko says Texas was devastated by
Hurricane Harvey because The Gays Did It.

I notice this repeatedly with every disaster.

The religious nutjobs all blame The Gays whenever there's a calamity. It's like clockwork.

It's as much of a cliche as TV reporters getting blown away while yelling into a camera on a hurricane-blasted beach.

We saw "The Gays Did It" with Hurricane Harvey and we'll surely see it if Hurricane Irma turns out as bad as feared.

Here's an account from Right Wing Watch:

"Extremist anti-LGBTQ pastor Kevin Swanson is joining other radical religious right activists in declaring that Hurricane Harvey is God's judgment on Houston and other cities the refuse to repent for their embrace of 'sexual perversion.'.....

"....Swanson said it is no coincidence that Houston was hit by this storm because 'it was persecutiving pastors and churches' and recently had a 'very, very aggressively pro-homosexual mayor. On top of that, the Texas legislature recently failed ot pass a bill 'that would have prevented cross-dressing men from using the women's restrooms' because 'they wanted to encourage the abomination of men attempting to dress lie women and women to dress like men.'"

Phew! That's a lot to unpack.

I'm sure Swanson and his ilk are too snowflakey and just plain flakey to sit down with someone to see if we can pick apart their logic.

But I would love to get in the same room with him and force him to answer these questions:

If God hated the former lesbian mayor of Houston, why now with the flood? She's not the mayor anymore.

Surely, some of Harvey's victims did not vote for that former mayor and some probably supported the failed "bathroom bill" in Texas in which transgendered people would have been prevented from using restrooms that go along with their current gender.

So why were your allies victimized by Harvey and by extension God, Mr. Swanson?

The Harvey flooding and devastation was, if anything, even worse in Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas. Those cities are pretty conservative and I think neither ever had a gay mayor (but I could be mistaken)

So why the suffering in Port Arthur and Beaumont?

Why is it always The Gays that prompt God to unleash disasters on unsuspecting cities? Why doesn't God also smite cities that have adulterers, liars, sinners, etc. Only the Gays. Makes me suspect you think God might be a self-loathing closeted gay person. Is that what you think?

Today, Right Wing Watch told us about another loathesome "preacher," Jim Bakker, who used Houston to say The Gays Did It and to hawk his line of survivalist products.

Hey, nothing like making a buck off of God's imagined wrath, right?

All this is meant to get the general public to hate gays, because The Gays seem to be causing one cataclysm after another. I can't believe that these purveyers of The Gays Did It don't realize that nobody is buying it, and everybody is laughing at them.

Probably even God is laughing at them at this point.

Even people who don't really believe The Gays Did It rejoice in bringing it up. The odious Ann Coulter got a lot of heat after Harvey when she Tweeted:

"I don't believe Hurricane Harvey is God's punishment for Houston electing a lesbian mayor. But that's more credible than 'climate change.'

Okey dokey.

The former Houston mayor, Annise Parker responded via Twitter: "Darn it, I thought no one knew I had super power over weather."

As a gay guy, I wish I did have such power.  I want to be one of the gays among those Gays Who Did It. Of course I would never want to unleash a disaster on anyone, including these weird "religious" nutcases. Nice weather for everyone, but with enough well-timed rain to prevent droughts.

I'd make exceptions, though. For the Gays Did It preachers and hucksters and swindlers, I would impose on them a lifetime of  low, dark overcast, fog and freezing drizzle. And nothing else.

There's plenty of real-life blame to go around for weather disaster. It's legitimate to blame the randomness of nature, bad luck, poor planning and development decisions, recklessness, even global warming.

We all know that most of us wouldn't want to make deadly disasters worse than they already are. Most of us have an impulse to help, which explains the many millions of dollars from so many Americans that are pouring into Texas for hurricane relief.

A few people like to make things worse, though. Or at least more bizarre. Like The Gays Did It crowd.

They're their own weird little disaster.

Bah-Humbug! Lots Of Reasons To Hate Christmas

You're supposed to be exceedingly cheerful at Christmas.  That's the demand.

I'm going to break the rules here.  Christmas is not all it's cracked up to be.

Don't get me wrong, if Christmas makes you happy, then great! I'd never want to take away your joy.

I'm just saying that if there are aspects of the holiday you don't like, it's time to rebel against the Christmas dictators who demand, demand, demand that the holiday be just one great big orgy of joy, no matter how you really feel.

BE HAPPY

I'll start with that Christmas rule: Always be insanely cheerful.

Now, there's nothing at all wrong with being happy. Who doesn't want to be happy?

The problem is the Christmas Powers That Be demand that you be happy. You don't get to choose your emotions. Or feel how you really feel.

If you're starring in that proverbial country song, the one where your wife left you, the dog died, the truck won't start, you got evicted from your house and you're out of beer, too bad! Smile! Ho, ho ho!

Forget decking the halls. If I were in that situation I'd want to deck whoever was demanding that I be happy because it's Christmas.

BE PERFECT

The other demand at Christmas is that everything has to be perfect. You need to decorate the house just so; you, your relatives and friends must all behave perfectly at all times and complete the humanly impossible task of never making a mistake.

Again, it's all good to try to be nice, try to do your decorating nicely, have nice holiday gatherings, but why the pressure to make things perfect. One of the things I like most about my friends and family is that they're terrific, but not perfect. I'm certainly not perfect, either.

Why can't we all just let people be who they are at Christmas? It's against the rules, apparently

TORTURING THE MENTALLY ILL

Speaking of perfect, some people are simply mentally incapable of making everything just right. Take me: I have ADHD. I don't use that as an excuse for my mistakes, because I try to compensate for my short attention span and frustrations by working at my strengthts, learning from my mistakes, and doing any mental trick I can to focus.

At Christmas, though, that's not good enough. In the pursuit of perfection, you have to juggle thousands of details to get things just right. Because Christmas demands that you be perfect, dammit! And wipe that frown from your face! We already went over being insanely happy!!

Lose track of one thing, forget one detail, and you've ruined everything, according to the Christmas rules. You can imagine the pressure that bears on people with ADHD.

My ADHD is a minor issue. What about people who have serious mental issues?

It turns out that the idea that there are more suicides around Christmas is a total myth. However, people prone to stress, who already have enough pressures in their life, tend to go off at Christmas, at least from my observations.

That's part of the reason why you have those fatal stampedes on Black Friday as people scramble to get that perfect gift that's almost sold out. (See, there's that damn word "perfect" again!)

I work in customer service. The vast majority of customers I work with are really nice. But a few just go off like CRAZY if we've sold out of something or something has gone wrong with a delivery. Is it really a national tragedy that we've run out of white amaryllis plants but still have plenty of red ones?

To a few people, the answer is yes.

HOLIDAY MUSIC IS HORRIBLE

Speaking of torture, holiday music is what sends me off the deep end. It's either so saccharine that I go into a diabetic coma, or it's so maudlin I want to strangle someone. Or the holiday music is off-the-charts stupid.

C'mon. Barking dogs singing "Jingle Bells?"  The song "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" is one of the most popular Christmas songs ever. Really?

Then there are those icky sad songs, because, here we go again, the songwriter is upset that they violated the "Happy, Perfect" rule of Christmas. So we get obnoxious sad sacks crying, "I'll be home for Christmas, but only in my dreams."

Dude, just book a flight home during your next vacation! It doesn't have to be at Christmas, despite what the Christmas fascists tell you.

Then there's, "I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas," which brings me to my next issue:

DOES IT HAVE TO SNOW?

What's with the obsession with snow at Christmas? It's not Christmas, apparently, unless it's snowing, or at least there's snow on the ground.

I almost never see Christmas images without snow. It must make the people who live in places like Florida feel terrible. (Even though they're not supposed to feel terrible because it's Christmas!)

Frankly, Christmas snow often just gets in the way. The snow grounds that flight that would have taken you to Grandma's house for the holidays. Then again, the trip would have probably been wasted, since old Grandma got run over by that stupid reindeer.

This Christmas, the snow epicenter of the United States appears to be North Dakota, where a holiday blizzard is forecast. Would you really want to get in your car to see family only to die in a frigid whiteout on a North Dakota highway?

DIdn't think so.

Yes, the snow can be pretty and clean and white, but who wants to shovel a foot of pretty and clean and white from the driveway, you know, to make everything perfect?

OFFENDING PEOPLE

Then there's the stupid "War on Christmas"  Despite the fact we don't like being told to be happy and cheerful and kind, we try to do it anyway. Can't hurt to make an effort, right?

Well, yes it does! If you wish someone a "Merry Christmas," chances are they're not religious and they yell at you for shoving Christianity into their faces.

So, when the next person comes along, you just wish them "Happy Holidays." Big mistake. Why are taking Christ out of Christmas, they demand. You hate God, they say.

You just can't win.

I feel better after this rant, thank you. Merry Christmas. Or Happy Holidays. Or just leave me alone until Boxing Day, OK?

Now, The Anti-Santa; The Bible Wackjob At The Mall

So called Pastor David Grisham, straight from Mount
Crumpit, yells at kids at a Texas mall that Santa doesn't exist
Parent intervened and shut the idiot up.  

Earlier, I wrote about a real life Santa Claus,  who lovingly guided a dying child on his way to the Promised Land in the ultimate display of class and compassion.

As noted in that post, there's always the opposite, the people who, rather than trying to warm hearts, try to turn them stone cold, to match their own.

I don't like to dwell on people like this, but it's always important to feature them. Exposing and mocking them is a good antiseptic, and these rubes need it.

So let me introduce you to one "Pastor" (and I use that term loosely)  David Grisham, who inexplicably decided it would be fun to travel down to Alaska and annoy and dismay children waiting in line to meet Santa at a Texas shopping mall.

As you'll see in the video at the bottom of this Grisham that filmed of his exploits, parents weren't exactly thrilled by this moron, either.

In the video, we hear this idiot bellowing to the confused and frightened children and their eye-rolling parents, "I want to tell you today there is no such thing as Santa Claus! Santa Clause does not exist! The Christmas season is about Jesus. Jesus was born 2,016 years ago. He was born in a small town  called Bethlehem. That is the truth about Christmas."

Well, I think the fine Texas families in line to see Santa already get it that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and that's why so many Christians celebrate Christmas. I'm willing to bet Santa's reindeer that most of the families there are good Christians anyway. This is Texas, after all.

Grisham then went on to yell unsolicited parenting advice, telling them they were wrong to lie to their children and tell them Santa doesn't exist.

You don't mess with Texas. Especially Texas dads who are trying to treat their kids to a nice Christmas excursion.

You see some dads demanding, rather intimidatingly, that Grisham scram.  You hear one of the delightfully menacing dads mention that he doesn't appreciate being told what to say to his kids, particularly when it's coming from an especially strange stranger.

I noticed some of the older kids in the background in the video looked pretty tough too, which is a nice touch.

The dads seem to restrain themselves enough to ward off the temptation to punch Grisham in the face. I'm not sure I'd be that self-controlled.

I'm sure Grisham skulked away eventually, back to the frigid hole he came from in Alaska.

It's just so much fun to see idiots like Grisham make a fool of himself, and pretend he doesn't the universal condemnation and mocking around him.

So, I present you with Grisham's video. Feel free to mock him any way you like, because 'tis the season.

Weird Pastor Sprays Insecticide Into Congregants' Faces Because Jesus

A South African "pastor" says God told him to spray
insecticide into the faces of congregants to cure their ills. 

I'm sure Doom Super Multi Insect Killer is a fine product if you want to get rid of ants, wasps, flies, or whatever.  

However, Lethebo Rabalago says he's found a better use for Doom: He's the pastor of a South African church, and sprays it into his congregants' faces because he insists it cures their ailments, says CNN.

Plus, he said, God told him to use Doom Super Multi Insect Killer on his congregants, and are you really going to argue with God?

For the record, Tiger Brands, the makers of Doom Super Multi Insect Killer say spraying it into someone's face is a terrible idea.

Tiger Brands says it finds the pastor's insecticide use "alarming and extremely concerning." They note it is "unsafe to spray Doom Super Multi Insect Killer ....into people's faces. Anyone who gets sprayed should wash their faces and eyes immediately, and don't inhale the fumes.

However Rabalago and his followers say Doom Super Multi Insect Killer is a miracle brought to them by God's blessing.

According to CNN, Rabalago has posted photographs of him spraying congregants with Doom, and testimonials from said congregants like this: "I came here with a pain on my back and stomach. Now after the propet sprayed me with Doom I am healed. My nose was blocked since last week, but after the prophet sprayed me with Doom I feel coming out of my nose."

Sorry, congregant: You're so high on Doom Super Multi Insect Killer fumes that you no longer feel the pain in your back and stomach. Plus those fumes would probably clear hardened cement from your nose, never mind plugged up snot.

Take my advice: If your church uses Doom Super Multi Insect Killer on your fellow parishoners, instead of say, Communion wafers, it's time to find another church.

Weird Couple Tells Waitress She Should Be Home Taking Care Of Her Nonexistent Husband

A South Carolina Cracker Barrel waitress recently
received a "tip" to stay home and be a housewife
because Jesus. 

It seems there's a certain segment of the population that gets off on telling wait staff in restaurants what to do with their personal lives.

Don't be gay, don't be fat, whatever.

A waitress at a South Carolina Crackle Barrel was recently told that she shouldn't be working, that her job is to stay home and take care of her husband and kids

Never mind said waitress has neither a husband, nor kids, notes television station WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Instead of leaving a monetary tip, the couple left a "tip" in the form a handwritten message on a napkin.

I'll leave the grammatical mistakes intact in the note, as that's not exactly the biggest problem. Here's what the note said:

"The womans place is in the home You're place is in the home. It even says so in the Bible. You may think that your  contributing to your household by coming into work, but yournot.

While your in here 'working' this is the reason your husband must see another women on his way home from a long day at his work. Because you shoudl be home taking care of the household duties. You may think what you are doing 'working' is right, it is really essentially a disgrace to his manhood and to the American family.

So instead of coming to your 'job' and ooking for hand out's to feed your family hows about going home and cleaning your house and cooking a hot meal for your husband and children, the way you're husband and God intended, and help make America great again. Praying for families and our nation.

Love,
The Watley's."

As you can imagine, I don't know where to begin with the Watleys'  note. How many households can even affort to have someone stay home to be a housewife?

I'm being Captain Obvious here, but if a guy's wife is working and is so distraught by that he has to go find another woman to screw around with, isn't that the guy's fault and problem, and not the wife's?

Do the Watleys believe men have absolutely no self control?

If we took all the women out of the workforce so they can play wifey homemaker at home, wouldn't that screw things up. And the Watleys must be completely freaking out that a woman is poised to become the U.S. President instead of staying home and feather dusting the furniture at home to make Bill happy.

For the record, WBTV says the waitress who got the note does have a boyfriend who she says it's quite supportive of her going to work. Especially since she's using some of the income to further her education. To you know, find a more rewarding job where she doesn't have to put up the the Watleys' nonsense.

Wacko Who Said Floods Are God's Punishment For Gays Is Flooded Out Of His House. TG

Tony Perkins took this photo of his badly flooded
Louisiana home as he and his family escaped.
In the past, Perkins has agreed with those who said big
floods were God's wrath because gay people exist. 

I found it odd that, unlike in every previous horrible weather disaster, I didn't hear from the extreme religious wackos that the huge Louisiana flood happened because God is annoyed gay people exist.

One possible explanation for the lack of damnation talk with the flood is that one of many people whose houses was trashed by the Louisiana flood is a guy named Tony Perkins,

Perkins is President of the Family Research Council, a notoriously anti-gay conservative activist group.

While Perkins has never been the leading voice of the "God created this disaster because he hates gays" he at least agrees with the sentiment. According to Snopes, he was interviewing Paster Jonathan Cahn last October after a storm caused terrible flooding in South Carolina.

Cahn said the flood was God's anger that the United States legalized gay marriage, and Perkins agreed that God was trying to send a message.

(What was left unexplained that if God hated gay marriage so much, why did He unleash the flood on South Carolina, one of the most conservative places in the nation.)

I confess I'm a bit guilty of schadenfreude, though I really am not that pleased that Perkins' house was wrecked. Like all flood victims in Louisiana, he needs our support.

Still, I find it interesting that Perkins didn't say anything about God's anger. He called the disaster a flood of near biblical proportions, which is true, and said this was an opportunity for Christians to help others in need, which of course is a refreshingly good thing for Perkins to say.

I also noticed the home page of the Family Research Council web site has a large block asking people to donate toward Louisiana flood relief.

Perkins, his wife and five children escaped from their flooded house via a large canoe. An RV on their property was undamaged, so they will stay in that until their home is repaired.

And no, I definitely don't think God is punishming Perkins for being so virulently homophobic.

Gays And Lesbians Should Not Have Birthdays, Ohio Baker Decrees

Wedding cakes have become the odd cliche and the meme in the ongoing battle between members of the LGBT community and so called religious bakers who don't want to make wedding cakes for said couples, lest that be conscrued as endorsing gay marriage.

The law generally comes down on the side of "bake the damn cake,"  because bakeries are public businesses and accommodations.

Generally speaking, you can't refuse to bake a cake because the couple is black, so by extension, you can't deny the gay couple.

Of course, if I were to re-do my wedding day, I wouldn't want someone who hates me and my marriage to bake the cake. (Luckily, my 2012 wedding ceremony to Jeff was perfect, and so there's no need for a do-over.)

Still, the law isn't completely settled and the War Of The Gay Wedding Cakes drags on.

An Ohio baker has managed to take this one step further and decided not to bake a birthday cake for a lesbian because of her sexual orientation. Her "religious" objections to baking the cake were downright creepy.

We're talking a simple birthday cake here, not a wedding cake.

Candace Lowe of the Toledo, Ohio area is a newlywed whose new wife had a birthday just two weeks after their lovely wedding.  She decided to surprise her wife with a nice treat from Take The Cake bakery in Toledo, says television station WTVG in Toledo.

Lowe ordered the cake from the bakery without mentioning her sexual orientation. Why would she?  Pretty much nobody announces such personal information when they stop by a store to purchase something.

Most shopkeepers figure a customer has come into the shop and wants to give him money, so what the hell, treat the guy or gal nicely.

The owner of Take The Cake bakery then did something strange once Lowe left the store. She looked up Lowe on Facebook.

Now, that's weird. Why would a store owner  take the time to stalk somebody on Facebook? You'd think she would just get busy baking the cake or helping other customers.

So we've come to this. Some people object to background checks on people wanting to buy guns. Here we have a background check on somebody wanting to buy a birthday cake.

Weird.

Anyway, lo and behold on Facebook, there was Lowe, smiling in photographs of her recent wedding to her wife.

Uh-Oh.

The bakery owner send Lowe a text, in a very cutesy childlike font that said: "I'm sorry. I just realized your (sic) in a same-sex relationship and we do not do cakes for same-sex weddings or parties.... I'm so sorry I just wasn't aware of this exactly until I saw your page. Take care:)"

Yes, the baker put a smiley face emoticon at the end of her bizarre, hateful text message.  That'll make everything OK, right?

Uh, no.

Lowe, undestandably upset, posted the message from the bakery on her Facebook page. It went viral, naturally. WTVG picked up the story and people around the world saw the weird story of the baker who wouldn't make a birthday cake for a lesbian.

Dan Savage, the writer, sex advisor and gay activist, had this good nugget to say about so called Christians who would agree with our Toledo baker:

"But it's not just our weddings they object to - it's our existence. Refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding says, 'I don't think you people should be able to celebrate or solemnize your relationship because same-sex marriage is a sin.'

Refusing to bake a birthcake for a lesbian says 'I don't think your birth is something to celebrate because the world would be better off if you didn't exist.'"

This whole mess in Toledo will play out just like all the other disputes over gay wedding cakes and gay marriage licenses vs. evangelicals play out.

The owner of Take the Cake will get death threats. I never understand why people do that. Like sending a death threat will actually help the situation. Others will boycott the bakery, which is certainly a more understandable reaction.

Religious conservatives will howl in protest, saying we're taking away Christians' right to be Christian. (I guess refusing to bake a cake is a very Christian thing to do, and never mind nobody is taking away anybody's right to think gay people are awful.)

The religious right will probably launch a GoFundMe campaign to keep the bakery afloat, since so many people aren't shopping there anymore

The bakery's Facebook page is already chock full of people objecting to the owner's bigotry.

Then the whole thing will fade away and this little kerfuffle will be forgotten.

It probably should be forgotten eventually. But it's still a nice illustration of the bizarre lengths some people in society will go to practice their bigoted lifestyles and mindsets.

Restaurant Patrons Who Think They Are Christians Insult Waiter In Un-Christian Way

Click to make it bigger
and see how some
so called "religious"
people insulted a
waitress at a North
Carolina restaurant. 

Alexandra Judd is a waitress in a Charlotte, North Carolina restaurant and a recent experience she had proves that there definitely are bigots in that state.

North Carolina is in the news spotlight over the so-called "bathroom bill" that in some cases would force transgendered people to use public restrooms that don't correspond with their gender. It also effectively endorses the "right" of some people to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Judd, who is a lesbian, said a group of patrons left without leaving a tip.

Yeah, that happens sometimes. People don't leave tips and that screws over the waitstaff.

But that wasn't what bothered Judd.

The group left a hateful message on the bill, and pointed Judd to that ever popular Bible verse, Leviticus 20:13 that bigots use to shroud their homophobia in "religion," says television station WBTV in Charlotte. 

"If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both them have committed an abomination....They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them," reads the Old Testament Bible verse.

So there you have it. This group of so-called Christians thought the Christian, holy thing to do is insult somebody.

If these "Christians" don't like gay people, fine. Going out of their way to insult people?

If that's what their religion says to do, I'm staying away from it as far as possible.

This post isn't a swipe at all Christians. It's a swipe at the small minority of them who are actually confused over who is holier than thou.

Certainly not the idiots that visited the restaurant where Judd works.

The people who left this "tip" for Judd also wrote "praying for you."

Yeah, right. Praying that the only see and hear from people exactly like them, is more like it.

Anyway, Judd was of course infuriated and hurt by this, but she's not going to let it get her down. Why should she? Why should she waste her time thinking about morons who are nothings anyway?

She wrote this message to the morons on Facebook: "Don't pray for me, darling. I have everything I could possibly want and need in my life."

Which is certainly more than the people who left the "tip" have. It must be awful to have so empty a life that they have to go around insulting random people in the name of "religion."

Pathetic.

Mississippi Latest State To Screw Itself Over Because Jesus

The Mississippi billboard says it all...A 

It seems to be a required ritual of Republican state legislatures across the United States.

Prove to their voters they are Christians by passing odious and usually unconstitutional laws "legalizing" discrimination against gays, and transgender people and anybody else they deem as not going to be Saved.

The latest is Mississippi, and as is that state's style, basically every business, every service provider, every government agency and every church can now refuse service to gay people, and anybody else they deem immoral, like people who have sex outside of marriage, whether straight or gay, divorcees, you name it.

The only protected people in Mississippi are monogamous, straight married couples. Presumably only ones that are Christian.

I don't know how you determine whether somebody who walks into your store is following these rules without interrogating them, but I'll let Mississippi figure that out.

That state sure does have a lot to figure out, especially this: Why does the Mississippi legislature and governor do something like this, knowing that there will be an outcry that will hurt its already meager and sad economy, budget and everything else?

I don't have a good answer, and they probably don't, either.

I know these weird "religious liberty" bills are coming fast and furious nationwide from wackos who want us to turn into a theocracy.

It's everywhere, it seems, not just Mississippi. Tennessee. Idaho.

The governor of Idaho just had to veto a bill that would have said schools can use the Bible in public school instruction. The gov, and his attorney general, wisely said this would have been unconstitutional.

Tennessee State Senate, not to be outdone, approved a bill designating the Bible as the official state book. The state's attorney general, along with every other legal eagle, says the measure violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

One Tennessee senator, according to Slate, said "the very founding of our nation, the very form of government we have to today" is based on the Holy Scripture.

Um, no. They created a secular government in which the freedom of religion was bestowed on the citzenry. Quite a different thing.

 The Tennessee legislature, in its "wisdom" also passed a bill that would allow mental health couselors to not help someone if doing so would conflict with their "sincerely held religious beliefs."

As the website thenewcivilrightsmovement.com put it:

"The ACLU of Tennessee warns the bill, should it become law, would allow counselors to 'refuse to see clients for almost unlimited reasons. For instance, a counselor could refuse to see a lesbian simply because of her sexual orientation, or see a couple involved in an interfaith relationship A counselor who is an atheist could refuse to see a Catholic client - and the list goes on.'"

That last sentence is important, and could really screw the right wing evangelists who are trying to create this evangelical Christian theocracy.

All this anti-gay, right wing evangelical Christian faux lawmaking is being done in large part to distract from the real problems facing their constituents that the legislatures are too stupid, or too in the pocket of wealthy campaign donors to tackle.

Let's not deal with an iffy economy, creating jobs, paying for schools and infrastructure, all that stuff is too hard!

So the resort to the tried and true "the gays did it" or "the atheists did it" or whatever to redirect voters' ire. That way, when the economy, the state, the schools, the roads and everything else is a mess, they can just blame it all on the gays and the ungodly, and pretend it's not their fault.

OK, then, Christianity is saved from the heathens! Our laws work!

Or not.

What happens if some smart aleck gay person, atheists, activist or prankster tries to take advantage of these new rules and laws to turn them on their heads?

The unconstitional lawmaking is designed to "protect Christians" from the "attack" their under from society as a whole, not to mention the big bad heathen U.S. Supreme Court.

You saw the example above of the atheist counselor not treating a Catholic client. You know somebody is going to refuse to serve somebody in Mississippi or North Carolina because that would-be client is an evangelical Christian.

"It's against my closely held religous belief to serve a Christian, so I'm not going to do it."

Will these upstanding Christians cling to their weird theocratic laws then? It will be fun to watch.

Meanwhile, the economies in the states with the bigoted legislatures are going to suffer because of their actions. (But as noted, it's the gays fault! And the atheists!)

We know North Carolina is losing lots of investment and business from people repelled by their bad anti-LGBT law. North Carolina has potentially a lot to lose: Its business sector is pretty vibrant.

You'd think the Mississippi legislature and its governor would work on fixing the state's really big problems. And they're YUUGGEE! as Donald Trump might say.

As ThinkProgress notes, Mississippi's economy is ranked worst of all the 50 states. It has the highest unemployment rate, the lowest gross domestic product per capita, the lowest averge money spent on personal consumption and the lowest average annual wages.

Mississippi also ranks lowest on its innovation and technology efforts, its educational attainment and health.

The state sounds like a helluva fun place, huh?

Their legislature and governor are only making things worse in Mississippi.

What happens when Mississippi gets too poor to even maintain its Christian churches?

Easter Horrors Continue: "Pagan" Easter Bunny Verbally Abused In Church Parking Lot

Our hero, Christine Weick, angrily confronts the
pagan Easter Bunny at a Tennessee church.  

Easter was a couple weeks ago now, but we're still getting reports of the trauma the holiday caused this year.

First, we had the Great Easter Egg Hunt Riots of '16 in Connecticut and Vermont.

Then we had the crime-fighting Easter egg hunters who saved the day in Britain.

Now we have reports of a woman named Christine Weick doing battle with a giant Easter bunny in a Tennessee church parking lot.

Actually, it was a person dressed as the Easter Bunny, but whatever.

The video of the Christine/Easter Bunny battle is at the bottom of this post, by the way. Totally worth the watch.

Apparently, a "pagan" Easter bunny has no business being in a church parking lot, let me tell ya, and Christine let him have it!

"You call yourself a Christian in a pagan custume!" Christine yells at the hapless Easter bunny.

You get 'em girl.

The poor guy standing next to the Easter bunny can only say, "Y'all have a nice day."

Not with Christine around, we won't.

Christine really works hard to preserve the sanctity of Easter. She also yelled and screamed at the ungodly people enjoying an Easter egg hunt in Tennesee this year, too.

(H/T to BoingBoing for this Tennessee Easter News.)

By the way, if the name Christine Weick is vaguely familiar, it's because she's the nutjob who confronted Katy Perry's father in Phoenix last year because he's not controlling and shutting up his superstar singer daughter, who is leading millions of people, including Christine's son, into wicked ways and hell.

Or something like that.

The Christine Vs. Katy Perry's dad confrontation is something to watch, too.

Kudos to Katy's dad, who is a Christian pastor, for keeping his cool. If the glory of God is anywhere, it was with Katy's dad, not Christine.

But what do I know?

I have no idea what other Easter horrors I've yet to inform you about, but I'll keep searching and let you know!

Here's the Christine Vs. Easter Bunny video:

Quote, Unquote "Religious" Shyster Bilks People Out Of Millions, Must Repay

Benjamin Rogovy is the latest shyster to prey on
people's religious beliefs to bilk them.  

Benjamin Rogovy didn't have a prayer defending his fraudulent prayer business.

And thus falls another crook using religion to rip off gullible believers.

Rogovy bilked about 125,000 people across the nation out of more than $7 million, says Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

According to Raw Story:

"Rogovy's  websites, christianprayercenter.com and oracioncristiana.org offered to pray for desperate English and Spanish speakers if they paid between $9 and $35 for the service.

The testimonials were glowing. Pastor John Carlson prayed for them and God delivered on their prayers. A healthy baby. A negative HIV test. A winning lottery ticket. The senior pastor at the Christian Prayer Center (CPC) saved homes from foreclosure and put cancer into remission.

Except of course they didn't."

Well, duh!

"I believe in the power of prayer........What I do not believe in and what I will not tolerate is unlawful businesses that prey upon people - taking advantage of their faith or their need for help - in order to make a quick buck," said Ferguson, the state's attorney, according to Raw Story.

It's good that Rogovy is getting the book thrown at him. He's been ordered to repay his victims, and attorney costs and $1 million in civil penalties if he doesn't comply with the order to pay up.

I doubt anyone will see the money. My guess is Rogovy spent the cash. But at least he's been exposed, at least for now.

The track record of other "religious" scammers, though, is he'll be back to bilk the gullible and the desperate.

After all, we have these so-called prosperty pastors who get people to believe that they should give these pastors lots of money, and in turn God will rain cash down on these scam victims. People fall for this, and these scammers know it.

The prosperity pastors get in trouble some time, but they always eventually come back for more. 

In Rogovy's case, he set up a couple of websites in which people paid repeatedly to have fake pastors say prayers for them. Because I'm sure God will bestow blessings on suffering people if only they pay for them through the web site. (Order today!!)

Rogovy, along with the rest of the religion scammers, will get a special place in hell for their misdeeds.   They just don't know it yet.











 .

 . 

We'll Let Jesus Be The Spokesman For Republican Candidates

"Jesus" quotes presidential candidates on
Jimmy Kimmel Live, and the results are jarring. 

The other night, Jimmy Kimmel noted the obvious: That a lot of presidential candidates are invoking their religious beliefs and using that to justify their poltical positions.

Since the candidates seem to be doing the WWJD -- What Would Jesus Do -- Kimmel decided to dress up an actor like Jesus and have him quote what the candidates are saying.

It's quite jarring and sadly funny. Here's the clip:

Toledo, Ohio Mysteriously Intact After A Mayoral Defeat, But Dumbledore Will Bring Us Wrath Of God

Opal Covey says God is about to destroy Toledo,
Ohio because she lost the mayoral election there.  

In this Sunday morning's news, I'm pleased to report that the fair city of Toledo, Ohio remains standing and functioning just fine despite what seemed would be an inevitable destruction by an angry God.

The bad news is God is about to smite the entire United States because Dumbledore from "Harry Potter" is gay.

We learned these two bits of news from incredibly reliable sources. Toledo's imminent destruction is foretold by one Opal Covey, a defeated mayoral candidate in Toledo.

Covey came in dead last among five candidates for mayor of Toledo this past Tuesday. She said she really won, but all the votes were stolen from her through massive fraud.

She knows this, she says, because she talks directly to God and he told her. God is apparently so pissed that he's going to destroy Toledo. (God and Covey have been having long conversations about this while both are speaking in tongues, apparently.) And Covey is so miffed that she will stand by and just let him do this.

It's now five days after Toledo's mayoral election. and the Ohio city does seem to be doing just fine so far. I checked the web page for the city's newspaper, The Toledo Blade, Sunday morning and the main headline on the homepage was "Popularity of App-based Rid Sharing Services Surges."

Unless the ride sharing is to get out of town before God's wrath,  I don't see signs of a Toledo apocalypse in the local media.

Pastor Kevin Swanson tells us God will smite
America because this guy, Dumbledore, is gay. 

But we shouldn't relax. As I noted Dumbledore is gay!

And God is going to wipe the United States off the face of the Earth because of it. Yes, yes, I know Dumbledore is a fictional character created by a British author, but you can't be too careful about trying not to annoy God!

We learned about God and Dumbledore just NOT getting along from Kevin Swanson, a decidedly anti-gay pastor who put on something called the National Religious Liberties Conference over the past few days.

We should trust Swanson, because intelligensia such as Presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal attended the conference in which Dumbledore was brought up.

OK, not everyone agrees Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal are all that smart, but you get the picture. Side note: I wonder if these three candidates agree with Swanson about Dumbledore. Please, ask, national media!

Even if we escape the wrath of God over Dumbledore there are other major risks, Swanson tells us. The animated films "How To Train Your Dragon" and the super popular Disney production "Frozen" are satanic and will also earn us the wrath of God.

Swanson is best known as calling for the execution of all gay people (including me!) However, he tells us that we could still be saved if we repent.

Kevin Swanson pictured here, says he'd cover himself
in cow manure if he learned his son is gay.
I SO hope is son is gay.  

I'm not sure how to do that, though. I'm thoroughly sick and tired of the song "Let It Go" from "Frozen," is that enough repenting?

Although I like the Harry Potter series and Dumbledore, I'm not a rabid fan. Is that good enough? I'll have to ask Swanson about this.

Swanson has one idea. He did say that if his son turned out to be gay and married another guy, he'd cover himself in cow manure. He really did say this.

I'm not sure if that's the right way to go with repentence.

 I'm not a big fan of cow manure. Eventually, it decomposes and would be a nice compost for my garden, but I'm not ready to use it as an ingredient for repentence.

So I'll just take my chances and skip the repentence.  Just to be safe, though, I'll stay out of Toledo for the next few days.

Evangelicals Say We're Persecuting Them, But Is It Other Way Around?

The Blount County Tennesee Commission, led
by member Karen Miller, is begging Got not to
smite them because of all those icky gays out there.  

Some Evangelical Christians are famous lately for giving us the persecution complex: You know, there's a war on Christians, they're going to be put in jail for their beliefs, the godless government is after them, yada yada yada.

Is it really the other way around, though? The most famous example is of course Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who is shoving her religious beliefs down everybody's throats.

She fought and fought the idea of giving marriage licenses to those icky gay couples because of her religious beliefs.

Of course, that hypocrite has been married three times and doesn't appear to hold to the other tenets of Leviticus, which these religious types always cite, so I don't know about her.

There's been a number of other interesting cases of evangelicals imposing their religious views on the rest of us, two of which I found recently that are interesting. One of the cases is harmless, if both comical and obnoxious. The other did real harm to at least one person.

I'll get into the comical one first, I guess. Hat tip to Ring of Fire and Raw Story for this one.

It involves the Blount County, Tennessee Commission, which is normally in charge of things like setting budgets and municipal employee salaries and otherwise administering county public business.

Oh, but the Blount County Commission is much more than that, nowadays, yessirree!

The commission has written a resolution begging God for mercy and asking God not to smite their community (and presumably smite others instead) because the U.S. Supreme Court authorized gay marriages earlier this year.

Here's part of the resolution. It helps to read it aloud like one of those over emotional southern-fried corrupt televangelists:

"We adopt this resolution before God that HE pas us by in His Coming Wrath and not destroy our County as He did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighborhing cities. As the Passover Lamb was a means of salvation to the ancient Children of Israel, so we stand upon the safety of the Lamb of God to save us.

We adopt this Resolution begging His favor in light of the fact that we have been forced to comply and recognize that the State of Tennessee, like so may other God-fearning State, MAY have fallen prey to a lawless judiciary in legalizing what God and the Bible expressly forbids."

Well, then.

Of course, not all the fine citizens of Blount County, Tennessee are behind this.

According to The Daily Times newspaper in Maryville, Tennessee, Ginny West Case, a retired Christian educator at a local United Methodist Church, says "I'm tired of God being used as a battering ram. The Bible, over and over tells us God is the God of love and grace and mercy."

Amen, sister.

Meanwhile, in Alburquerque, New Mexico, Holly Salzman had some coparenting issues with her ex-husband that had to be resolved in family court.

The judge in the case ordered Salzman to attend 10 sessions with a counselor named Mary Pepper.

So far, so good. Counseling is often ordered in messy family court cases. Can't hurt, right?

Well, it can. Especially since Pepper turned out to be one of those obnoxious evangelical proselytizers.

This New Mexico mom temporarily lost custody of
her kids because she objected to being forced to
attend religious counseling.  

When Salzman went to the first session, Pepper started blabbing on about God, reports television station KRQE in Alburquerque.

Salzman, who doesn't go for that kind of old time religion, asked the court to let her see another counselor. The court never responded.

She stopped going to Pepper because the prayers continued. She went to court again, told them about the problems, but the court said they hadn't had any problems with Pepper and to keep going.

Among the tasks Salzman had to complete were homework assignments such as, "What Is God To Me?"

But Salzman stopped, and temporarily lost all custody of her kids.

She finally returned to the sessions and endured all the God stuff just to get her kids back. But should the government be telling a non-believer to attend what amounts to church just to retain custody of her kids?

Since when do you have to be Christian to be a parent in the United States?

I'm all for Christian counseling, but only for people who want to go, and are not forced to by the government.

By the way, KRQE says Pepper held counseling sessions in municipal libraries, even though you're not allowed to conduct business there.

And Saltzman, along with many other of Pepper's clients, had to pay Pepper in cash, apparently in part because you're not supposed to do business in the library.

Hmmm. So Pepper might be deceitful, too? How Christian!!

So which is it?  Is the nation becoming anti-Christian? Or is it the other way around. I think it's time some of the most offending evangelicals ought to put a sock in it.