Religion

It looks like ex-Congressman Foley has been a Scientology-friendly U.S. Representative, attending Scientology events at Scientology’s Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater and having Clearwater Scientologists raise funds for him. Wonkette asks whether there are any non-Scientology-run rehabilitation centers in Clearwater, Florida, which appears to be where Foley is getting treatment. Clearwater is the home of Narconon, Scientology’s pseudo-scientific drug treatment program. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Foley is a Scientologist or has taken any Scientology courses, but it does demonstrate that he’s shown poor judgment in multiple areas of his life. I’ve previously reported on a number of Arizona state legislators who have likewise shown poor judgment in accepting gifts from and sponsoring legislation from Scientology’s Citizens Commission on Human Rights. ...

The stuff you’re looking for is here (though looks like the Clearwater searcher, who may or may not be a Scientologist but certainly lives among them, found it already). Scientology visits: Domain Name (Unknown) IP Address 205.227.165.# (Church of Scientology International) ISP Level 3 Communications Location Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : California City : Los Angeles Lat/Long : 34.1281, -118.2893 (Map) Distance : 363 miles Language English en Operating System Microsoft WinXP Browser Opera 9.01 Opera/9.01 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Javascript version 1.4 Monitor Resolution : 1024 x 768 Color Depth : 32 bits Time of Visit Sep 21 2006 3:49:33 pm Last Page View Sep 21 2006 3:49:33 pm Visit Length 0 seconds Page Views 1 Referring URL http://www.google.co...d&btnG=Google Search Search Engine google.com Search Words jim lippard Visit Entry Page http://lippard.blogspot.com/ Visit Exit Page http://lippard.blogspot.com/ Out Click Time Zone UTC-8:00 Visitor’s Time Sep 21 2006 2:49:33 pm Visit Number 32,144 Domain Name rr.com ? (Commercial) IP Address 68.200.46.# (Road Runner) ISP ROADRUNNER-SOUTHWEST Location Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : Florida City : Clearwater Lat/Long : 27.9617, -82.7368 (Map) Distance : 1,773 miles Language English en Operating System Macintosh MacOSX Browser Safari 1.3 Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/418.8 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/312 Javascript version 1.5 Monitor Resolution : 1440 x 900 Color Depth : 32 bits Time of Visit Sep 21 2006 1:39:58 pm Last Page View Sep 21 2006 1:39:58 pm Visit Length 0 seconds Page Views 1 Referring URL http://www.google.co...gy&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 Search Engine google.com Search Words blog, scientology Visit Entry Page http://lippard.blogs...ntology-sampler.html Visit Exit Page http://lippard.blogs...ntology-sampler.html Out Click Time Zone UTC-5:00 Visitor’s Time Sep 21 2006 3:39:58 pm Visit Number 32,125

A Len Munsil-critical website has appeared. It states that it is “paid for by the Arizona Conservative Trust” and has received funding from the Arizona Values Coalition. They’ve gone back to some of Munsil’s State Press editorials to find Munsil railing against student protests against apartheid in South Africa, calling it a “madness … afflicting college students around the nation." So far, they are missing Munsil’s position opposing the decriminalization of cohabitation and oral sex in Arizona. UPDATE: Munsil has complained about the “Arizona Conservative Trust” to the Clean Elections Commission, and his campaign is questioning who the donors are supporting it. An Arizona Republic article quotes Republican sleazebag and Munsil campaign consultant Nathan Sproul saying, “Who are the donors who are funding this thing? … They are engaging in a pretty offensive money-laundering operation." Sproul, former head of the Arizona Republican Party and the Arizona Christian Coalition, runs Sproul & Associates, which engaged in voter registration scams in multiple states prior to the 2004 election. Sproul set up groups that would represent themselves as nonpartisan “get out the vote” organizations in order to get Republicans registered to vote and discard or deter Democratic voter registrations. In addition to supporting Munsil, he also has worked on campaigns for U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, a former Arizona legislator who was a single-issue (anti-abortion) candidate. Sproul has received significant funding from the Republican National Committee to engage in dirty tricks. I agree with the Munsil campaign’s statement that the name “Arizona Conservative Trust” is misleading and deceptive, especially if (as seems likely) there are Democratic Party members behind the effort. I also condemn the prerecord telemarketing pseudo-surveys that have been done (“push polls”) regarding Munsil–it’s a sleazy tactic.

Chris Hallquist has written a nice summary and evaluation of the theism-naturalism debate between Jeff Lowder of the Internet Infidels and Phil Fernandes, which is now available on Google Video. He agrees with the consensus that it’s a very strong win for Lowder, while also offering some specific criticisms.

The caption on this U.S. Air Force photo: “The United States Air Force C-17 Globemaster III Military Transport with the 14th Airlift Squadron located at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina has flown away after releasing flares over the Atlantic Ocean. Smoke from the flare salvo reveals a crisp, dramatic, startling, and beautiful visual of the turbulent air – including two vortices each with an “eye” – created by the C-17 Globemaster III as it flies through the air. May 16, 2006, Over the Atlantic Ocean Near Charleston, State of South Carolina, USA." (Hat tip: Jerry Goodenough on the SKEPTIC mailing list.)

John McCain continues his pandering to the religious right by endorsing Republican candidate for Governor of Arizona, Len Munsil. Munsil, who attended Arizona State University at the same time I did, was editor of the ASU newspaper, the State Press. Now he runs an extremist religious right policy organization, the Center for Arizona Policy, which opposed the removal of Arizona’s laws banning cohabitation and oral sex. (They were removed anyway, by a moderate female Republican Governor, Jane Dee Hull.) Munsil drafted Arizona’s law on marriage (which defines marriage to preclude gay marriage) and is behind Proposition 107, the Protect Marriage Arizona Amendment, which amends the Arizona Constitution to prohibit the creation of civil unions or the granting of any legal status for unmarried persons that is similar to marriage. I’ve previously written about Munsil here, where I describe how he refused to print a letter to the editor I wrote criticizing factual errors in an editorial he wrote in the State Press. You can find out more about Munsil and his supporters and detractors at this Arizona Republic blog entry, “Munsil: I’m a Reagan, Kyl-style Republican." I’ve left a number of comments there. ...

There’s a website, www.jesusisaliberal.org, which suggests that Jesus was a liberal. (I’d go further and suggest that Jesus offered some views which were close to communism.) This site has provoked some interesting hate mail which seems somewhat at odds with what Jesus would do. Historical Comments JesusLiberalPaul (2006-12-09): Thanks for noticing our site. I also like to ask what I call Jesus Koans: "Who would Jesus Bomb?" and "Who would Jesus Torture?" and "What animals would Jesus exterminate and make extinct?" and "What kind of Automatic Weapon would Jesus own?" and "Would Jesus Kill first and let his Father sort them out?"The reactions can be fairly amazing. We've also had death threats - some implied, some very direct. It is stunning how much hate is espoused in the name of Jesus, Mohammed, etc.Dave, the t-shirts only came after we had enough requests for put in an order. In the past 2 years we've sold only about 475. The bumper stickers are far, far more popular. Bottom line, it's all about re-framing Jesus in His original light and intention. Spread the word. Thanks for visiting. Peace.PaulJesus Is A Liberal.org ...

An entertaining YouTube video, I’ve embedded it in a posting at The Secular Web.

This is a very funny video of Siskel and Ebert shooting promos for their movie review show (“Siskel and Ebert and the Movies”) in 1987, between which they good naturedly diss each other and then go after Protestants, who “don’t get enough shit.” They start ripping on each other at about 5:36, and on Protestants at about 9:00. (Hat tip to Dave Palmer on the SKEPTIC mailing list.) ...

Pharyngula points out David Byrne’s review of a documentary film called “Jesus Camp” and contrasts it with Camp Quest. First, Byrne on “Jesus Camp”: Saw a screening of a documentary called Jesus Camp. It focuses on a woman preacher (Becky Fischer) who indoctrinates children in a summer camp in North Dakota. Right wing political agendas and slogans are mixed with born again rituals that end with most of the kids in tears. Tears of release and joy, they would claim — the children are not physically abused. The kids are around 9 or 10 years old, recruited from various churches, and are pliant willing receptacles. They are instructed that evolution is being forced upon us by evil Godless secular humanists, that abortion must be stopped at all costs, that we must form an “army” to defeat the Godless influences, that we must band together to insure that the right judges and politicians get into the courts and office and that global warming is a lie. (This last one is a puzzle — how did accepting the evidence for climate change and global warming become anti-Jesus? Did someone simply conflate all corporate agendas with Jesus and God and these folks accept that? Would Jesus drive an SUV? Is every conclusion responsible scientists make now suspect?)And Pharyngula on Camp Quest: ...