Religion

I just came across this letter from Paul LaClair at the Observer (Kearny’s newspaper) editor’s blog site, which corrects some misconceptions that have occurred in some of the reporting and commentary on this issue, as well as point out some additional details about Paszkiewicz and the school administrators’ response that have not been reported elsewhere, such as: * After receiving a reprimand on September 25 in response to Matthew LaClair’s initial complaint, Paszkiewicz made a statement in class that implied that the student who complained had misrepresented his words. (I.e., he lied.) At this point, Matthew LaClair requested a meeting with administrators and produced the recordings. * Subsequent to this, the LaClairs have asked for further corrective action, but none has been forthcoming. * The school’s attorney has been evasive and even suggested that the LaClair’s go ahead and sue. The letter is well worth reading in its entirety. You can find it here. ...

David Paszkiewicz, the U.S. history teacher at Kearny High School in New Jersey who has been using his classroom to spread his religious views and has been defended by his students and fellow residents of Kearny, has now made the New York Times. The principal is quoted as saying that he is unaware of any previous problems, but there have been comments left at my blog stating that Paszkiewicz has been doing this for many years. The principal also claims that corrective action was taken–a reprimand was supposedly given back on September 25–but Paszkiewicz’s classroom style doesn’t appear to have changed much in later classroom recordings (I have heard some samples from September 26, 27, 29, and October 3 and 4). The New York Times article makes it clear how bad Paszkiewicz has been–even conservative legal groups have no interest in defending him: ...

As I suggested might be a consequence, the DefCon campaign against the “Left Behind” game has generated media attention, which may cause the sale of more copies than would otherwise have occurred. Which is a pity, considering that it is such a bad game on every level. Personally, I don’t see why simulated religious violence is inherently worse than any other kind of simulated violence, and find DefCon’s campaign misguided and not remotely connected to their stated purpose of defending the U.S. Constitution. UPDATE (November 23, 2007): DefCon has announced that its funding has run out, as pointed out by vjack at Atheist Revolution. ...

After a year of careful analysis of Judge Jones’ decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, the Discovery Institute has determined that the Judge made considerable use of the plaintiff’s Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law when writing the section on intelligent design as science in his decision for the plaintiff. Somehow, they think that this common practice of using the Proposed Findings of Fact from the winning side in crafting a decision makes Judge Jones a puppet of the ACLU, even though he’s a conservative justice appointed by George W. Bush. The Discovery Institute has issued a press release touting their findings as though it discredits the decision’s reasoning. This press release demonstrates that they are still smarting over the loss in Dover, still spending their time doing things that have nothing to do with scientific research, and that they have as much credibility on legal matters as they do on scientific matters. More by attorney Timothy Sandefur at the Panda’s Thumb. This press release by the DI was telegraphed by a talk given by Michael Behe earlier this month in Kansas. UPDATE (December 13, 2006): Ed Brayton analyzes the DI report in more detail, including responding to its claims that Judge Jones incorporated “errors” from the ACLU into the decision. UPDATE (December 14, 2006): More responses: Timothy Sandefur, “Is John West Dishonest or Just Ignorant?" and “Casey Luskin–Not Too Bright” at the Panda’s Thumb. UPDATE (December 20, 2006): Wesley Elsberry has looked at how much of the plaintiff’s Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law was actually used in Jones’ decision (and how much of that section of the decision came directly from the plaintiff’s filing). Ed Brayton summarizes at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. Casey Luskin has attempted to respond with a defense, but as Ed Brayton shows, he just keeps digging a deeper hole.

A school in Virginia was threatened with a lawsuit by the Christian legal group Liberty Counsel if they didn’t permit a Baptist church to send home flyers with students. The school permitted this to happen, and in order to comply with the First Amendment, they permitted other religious groups to do the same. Now that a local Unitarian Church has sent home a flyer advertising a look at the history of December traditions (apparently including the contributions of Christianity, Judaism, and pagan religions) and “a Pagan ritual to celebrate Yule,” there is outrage. It’s hypocrisy to suggest that gays who seek to be able to marry and not to be fired because of their sexual orientation are demanding “special rights,” while actually demanding that one religion be given special privileges that others must be denied. That hypocrisy is on display at the WorldNetDaily. There are two reasonable, constitutional policies for the school–permit all religious groups to submit flyers for distribution, or not permit any of them to do so. (In my opinion, schools shouldn’t be sending home anything with students that isn’t from the school itself.) More at Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

(Via Bitchasaurus.)

Paul Barnes, founding paster of Grace Chapel in Denver, resigned on Sunday in a videotaped confession shown to members of the church. Grace Chapel has about 2,100 members. (Hat tip to Talking Points Memo.)

The “Campaign to Defend the Constitution,” or “DefCon,” describes itself as “an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right. We will fight for the separation of church and state, individual freedom, scientific progress, pluralism, and tolerance while respecting people of faith and their right to express their beliefs." They just sent out a mailing calling for people to ask Wal-Mart to stop selling the game “Left Behind: Eternal Forces." What Wal-Mart sells in its stores is irrelevant to defending the U.S. Constitution. The fact is, this is a crappy game that won’t sell well, despite some initial media attention due to its absurd premise. As GameSpot reviewer Brett Todd observes (in a review that rates the game 3.4–bad–on a scale of 10), “Don’t mock Left Behind: Eternal Forces because it’s a Christian game. Mock it because it’s a very bad game." Let the market handle this one, DefCon, and stick to issues that actually have relevance to your mission. Giving it more attention and treating it as a threat is likely only to sell more copies. UPDATE (December 13, 2006): DefCon’s campaign has successfully created more media coverage for this game. UPDATE (March 21, 2007): Looks like the market has spoken. Left Behind Games’ stock peaked at $7.44 in November and closed today at $0.31 (up from $0.18 yesterday). Their financial auditors’ 2006 report questioned their “ability to continue as a going concern." UPDATE (October 9, 2007): Left Behind Games is now sending out cease and desist letters to bloggers who have given the game negative reviews. (And their stock closed today at $0.11.) ...

Mike Newdow, the atheist doctor/lawyer who has been working a new case regarding the Pledge of Allegiance up to the Supreme Court since the Court sidestepped the key issue in the case last time around, has put together a song and video about the presidential oath of office and “so help me God” being appended to the end of it. He’s also recently had an article printed at WorldNetDaily responding to former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore about whether “In God We Trust” on money violates the First Amendment (hat tip to Ed Brayton). Here’s the video:

The San Francisco-based Landmark Education, an offshoot of Werner Erhard’s est, has been misusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to threaten online video providers and cause the removal of material critical of the organization. They’ve specifically targeted a film that was broadcast on French television titled “Voyage to the Land of the New Gurus” (“Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous”) which was posted on Google Video, YouTube, and the Internet Archive. This film included footage shot undercover at Landmark events. In addition to demanding removal of the film under the DMCA on the bogus ground that their copyright in the “Landmark forum leaders manual” is being infringed, they have issued subpoenas to try to identify the individuals who have uploaded the video. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has acted to support the Internet Archive and Google in actions to fight the subpoenas; YouTube has notified its user and given them an opportunity to quash the subpoena. The EFF’s website documents their activities and the status of the case. These three videos include part of the content that Landmark Education is trying to suppress. The first begins with some references to Scientology and a quote from Christian anti-cultist Walter Martin (the late “Bible Answer Man,” whose successor was discredited creationist Hank Hanegraaf), followed by video footage of Anthony Rapp from “Rent” talking about Landmark Education. It then goes into “Voyage Au Pays Des Nouveaux Gourous” beginning at about 3 minutes in, which is French with English subtitles. Unfortunately, this is not the complete show, though it does show some interesting undercover footage of Alain Roth of Landmark Education verbally abusing a woman at a Landmark seminar. Landmark Education Part 1 Landmark Education Part 2 Landmark Education Part 3 UPDATE (December 10, 2006): Landmark Forum has withdrawn its subpoena of Google. ...