Religion

ID advocates Tim McGrew and Sal Cordova have accused P.Z. Myers of misrepresenting Jonathan Wells when he pointed out that Wells had selectively edited a quote from a paper by William Ballard in BioScience. McGrew wrote that “Myers is lying through his teeth” about the quotation appearing on p. 35 of Wells’ Politically Incorrect Guide to Intelligent Design. Myers points out that McGrew and Cordova have failed to see what’s right in front of them, and adds some red arrows to a scan of the page to help them see. Will either of them apologize for their IDiocy? UPDATE: They’ve admitted they were wrong about the quotation on p. 35, but argue that the text on the earlier pages is not guilty of the misrepresentation that Myers claimed with regard to the p. 35 quote.

Ted Haggard, head of the New Life megachurch in Colorado Springs, has resigned as leader of the National Association of Evangelicals over accusations that he paid for gay sex and methamphetamines. He denies the allegations, but says he is stepping aside to maintain the integrity of the organization while an investigation occurs. Ross Parsley, the acting senior pastor at New Life Church, says that Haggard has admitted that some of the allegations are true. “I just know that there has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed but there is an admission of some guilt,” Parsley told KKTV-TV of Colorado Springs. Haggard and his church have been outspoken in opposition to gay marriage. As Radley Balko points out, this provides further evidence for the thesis that the loudest of the anti-gay crowd are fighting their own urges. UPDATE: It appears that he has confessed to buying methamphetamine, but not the gay sex. UPDATE (November 3, 2006): The accuser has failed a polygraph test (not that that actually means much more than if he had failed a tea-leaf reading or astrological horoscope). Haggard has admitted to buying, but not using meth. Which raises the question–who was he buying meth for, if not for his own use? UPDATE: Haggard is clearly lying about not using the meth he bought (his voice message says he’s buying more), and his claim that he only bought a massage rather than engaged in sex is implausible based on the ad he answered. He claims he bought the meth for his own use out of curiosity, but threw it away. UPDATE (November 4, 2006): Haggard has been dismissed from his church for “sexual immorality." Looks like either his church’s leaders don’t buy his denials of gay sex or consider a massage to be sexual immorality. UPDATE (November 5, 2006): Haggard has admitted that he’s a liar and a deceiver, though still claims that “not all” of the accusations against him are true, “but enough of them are that I was appropriately removed from [his] church leadership position.” He admitted to being “guilty of sexual immorality." UPDATE (December 28, 2006): Haggard’s dope dealer and masseuse, Mike Jones, has signed a book deal. It will be published by Seven Stories Press.

Creationist huckster Kent Hovind and his wife Jo have been found guilty of tax fraud in Florida, and each face over 200 years in prison. For more reactions to the verdict: Dispatches from the Culture Wars Pharyngula The Panda’s Thumb More on the trial may be found here. Hovind’s appearance on the Ali G Show may be found here.

Former Internet Infidels President Richard Carrier now has a blog.

Creationist Kent Hovind’s trial for tax evasion is proving to be quite a hoot. Some highlights from the Pensacola News-Journal’s coverage: Hovind attempted to manipulate funds from the start of his ministry, she said. In 1996, he filed for bankruptcy, a move Heldmeyer said Hovind designed to prevent the IRS from collecting taxes. The IRS later determined Hovind filed under an “evil purpose,” Heldmeyer said. She called Hovind a “very loud and vocal tax protester,” recalling a number of lawsuits he filed against the IRS over the past decade. Each was deemed frivolous and was thrown out, she said. And on April 13, 2004, when IRS officials issued a search warrant for Hovind’s property, he resisted.Hovind has some interesting theories about corporate liability and government action: Popp testified that Hovind warned employees not to accept mail addressed to “KENT HOVIND.” He said Hovind told the workers the government created a corporation in his “all-caps name.” Hovind said if he accepted the mail, he would be accepting the responsibilities associated with that corporation, Popp testified.Hovind uses Scientology-style tactics against the IRS (though without their success–apparently 50 separate lawsuits against agents from a large criminal cult has more effect): Hovind tried several bullying tactics against her, Powe testified. A recording that Hovind made of a phone conversation was then played. In the phone conversation, Hovind tried to make an appointment with Powe by 10 a.m. that day. When Powe said she couldn’t meet him because she had a staff meeting, Hovind threatened to sue her, which he did. “Dr. Hovind sued me three times, maybe more,” Powe testified. “It just seemed to be something he did often.” She testified that the cases were dismissed.Blog Coverage: Panda’s Thumb: Dr. Dino in the Dock (October 18) Panda’s Thumb: Workers testify in ‘Dr. Dino’ trial (October 19) Pharyngula: Pensacola Hilarity (October 20) Pharyngula: Hovind saga continues (October 21) Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Trial Begins (October 18) Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Trial, Day 2 (October 20) Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Trial, Day 3 (October 21) Dispatches from the Culture Wars: Hovind Trial, Day 4 (October 23)

Independent filmmaker Brett Hanover made a very nice little one-hour film called “The Bridge," about the Church of Scientology, which he put out on Google Video and YouTube about a month ago. Scientology came after him, and he buckled, withdrawing the film and saying that he no longer supports it. Google and YouTube took it down. But it’s still out there. Watch it, it’s pretty well done.

On Tuesday of this week (October 10), Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert met with evangelist K.A. Paul, without first consulting with his advisors. He now says that he was “duped” into the meeting, in which Paul performed a “laying on of hands” on Hastert and asked him to resign. Paul says Hastert said that he would. Paul is a full-blown kook, whose record includes (according to a June 2006 Houston Press story): - claiming another minister’s leper colony as his own, and videotaping said lepers for a promotional video - transporting children in an airplane one former crew member called a “flying death trap” ...

MSNBC has the story, about David Kuo’s new book, Tempting Faith: More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.The office’s primary mission, providing financial support to charities that serve the poor, never got the presidential support it needed to succeed, according to the book. ...

A very interesting documentary about white Southern Baptists in Texas converting to Islam–apparently because they don’t find Christianity conservative enough. The speculation from Mark Plus in the comments is also interesting–that perhaps the constant propagandizing against radical Islam has caused some to switch allegiances through something like Stockholm Syndrome–but the one subject, Eric, converted 14 years ago.

Skeptic Michael Shermer is speaking about his new book, Why Darwin Matters, at noon on October 12 at the Cato Institute in Washington D.C. The Cato Institute is then showcasing a commentary on Shermer by “Intelligent Design proponent Jonathan Wells,” whose dishonest books Icons of Evolution and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism, have been shredded at The Panda’s Thumb. Wells, a follower of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, entered a Ph.D. program at the behest of Moon. Wells wrote: “Father’s [Moon’s] words, my studies, and my prayers convinced me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism, just as many of my fellow Unificationists had already devoted their lives to destroying Marxism. When Father chose me to enter a PhD program in 1978, I welcomed the opportunity to prepare myself for battle." Rev. Moon, who was crowned in a bizarre ceremony on Capitol Hill thanks to the support of a number of Congressmen, has also been supported by a variety of evangelical Christians who would ordinarily oppose cult groups whose leaders claim to be the second coming of Christ, such as Left Behind co-author Timothy LaHaye, his wife and head of Concerned Women for America Beverly LaHaye, Jerry Falwell, Family Research Council head Gary Bauer, Pat Boone, and Christian Coalition leader and Jack Abramoff pal Ralph Reed. Also involved with Moon have been former president George H.W. Bush and his son and President George W. Bush. (More on Moon and his connections to Christian and Republican leaders here and here.) Why is the Cato Institute giving a forum to a purveyor of pseudoscience and an advocate of Moon’s cult? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Richard W. Rahn, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, is also a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and writes for Moon’s Washington Times?