Yes, at work. In the Pentagon. Spreading their particular brand of evangelical hellfire. As if the separation of church and state was just a convenient fict–oh, wait.

Growing up as an Air Force brat, Yours Truly witnessed firsthand the hand-holding between the military and evangelical Christianity. The psychological mechanism seems the same in both camps–willful denial of reality and unbending hatred of any dissenting viewpoint. It’s hard to be trained to slaughter in the name of God or Country unless one can believe in a Higher Cause, a Just Reason to bomb the shite out of someone else. The Christian Embassy might be another “invisible” infiltration of the armed forces, but that doesn’t mean its particular brand of zealotry isn’t falling into richly-prepared and congenial soil. And the iron fist of control necessary for military discipline lends itself to unthinking fanaticism very easily, does it not? It’s only following orders, after all.

Yeah. How many times have we heard that one?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying every man or woman in uniform is an unthinking neocon fundie. I’m just saying that the atmosphere of the armed forces lends itself very, very easily to such black-and-white, Good-vs.-Evil, with-us-or-against-us fascism. No wonder recruitment is falling off (despite Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.) I mean, only an idiot would want to get brainwashed and sent over to a death-trap without even any proper armor or a Commander in Chief with a hold on reality.

Right?

Right?

Anne: And your verdict on Apocalypto?

Chac: Inaccurate in all but the smallest details. Insulting. Especially coming from a person whose praise and worship team has done its share of torturing, maiming, mass executions, and psychological damage.

Anne: Yes. Well. One would like to see Mr. Gibson tackle a bloody topic like the suppression of the Cathars or the Knights Templar by the Catholic Church. If he wants to wade knee-deep through blood he need look no further than Jacques de Molay.

Chac: Thank you for making that point. My sentiments exactly.

Anne: How did you like the part where the good Catholic missionaries came riding in to save the day … like, 400 years early or something?

Chac: I tossed my ayahuasca.

Anne: I daresay. (The Gods Are Bored)

Friends and neighbors, let me tell you, The Gods Are Bored is always a good way to get a chuckle into your day. Whoever the Merlin is, she is now my personal goddess. I’ll be getting together a P & W team for her very shortly.

Earlier this week, he was released on probation from a three-year sentence imposed in Austria for a speech in 1989 in which he denied the Holocaust.

He served 13 months of the sentence and has now been banned from Austria.

The 68-year-old said he would urge an academic boycott of historians from Germany and Austria until the nations stopped jailing historians.

Mr Irving’s case sparked international debate about the limits of freedom of speech.

In his speech in Austria 17 years ago, he denied the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz, though he later said he was “mistaken”. (BBC News)

Irving has declared that a “secret society” of judges in Britain is seeking to destroy him, claiming they have tried to hound him and his “partner” from the country. (I just wonder how this guy got anyone to date him.) As if a persecution complex and complete divorce from reality isn’t enough, he’s also comparing himself to another martyr for anti-Semitism.

The British historian David Irving, who spent 13 months in an Austrian jail for denying the Holocaust in 1989, arrived in London on an Austrian Airlines flight and said he would hold a news conference today on what he called “these absurd laws.” In a telephone interview before he left prison on early release, he made clear his disgust with Austria, which has now banned him from ever returning. “I have no interest in coming back,” he said. He termed his imprisonment an affront to free speech and said that it was dangerous for him to discuss his views before he left Austria but that “I think Mel Gibson was right.”

If only Irving would change his delusions to something gentler–like being the Emperor of San Francisco–he might have a better time of it.

The Smalkowski family lives in a small Oklahoma town called Hardesty. They are atheists. The oldest daughter in the family played basketball at the public school in town. She refused to participate in pre-game prayers. Because of this, her teammates tormented her, with the encouragement of the coach, sometimes hiding her sneakers so she couldn’t play, sometimes just being verbally abusive. Mr. Smalkowski went to complain to the principal and wound up being charged with a felony after an altercation took place. Mr. Smalkowski did nothing wrong, but he was tried as a dangerous criminal, largely because he is Godless. The following is Mr. Smalkowski’s account of the day the verdict was read.

Mr. Smalkowski’s description of the courtroom scene leading up to the verdict is a must-read. In this age of increasing fanaticism, sometimes folks do the right thing.

D.

With just weeks to go before what promised to be highly competitive congressional elections, Republicans can ill afford to lose the support of their evangelical Christian base. These are people who are friends of many of us in the White House - you don’t talk about friends that way

So the allegations made in David Kuo’s book have set alarm bells ringing in the White House.

The former official alleges senior aides to the president described the evangelical leaders in private as “nuts” and “goofy”, while acknowledging their political use in securing election wins. (BBC)

Considering Bush’s use of holy war and holy antiabortion (as well as the erosion of women’s rights, civil liberties, and just plain pluralism) in favor of the hellfire-and-brimstone theocrat crowd, it’s amazing that he would allow this type of talk. But with the Mephistophelean Karl Rove running the show, the duplicity should surprise no-one.

It remains to be seen whether evangelical Christians and their leaders believe in Mr. Bush’s sincerity, or whether this will be the straw that breaks the back of their support. One thing’s for sure–Kuo is in for the usual treatment meted out to those who break ranks in the royal court the White House has become.

Joseph D’Souza, the president of the Dalit Freedom Network and a Christian convert, described the conversions as a “celebratory occasion”.

“I think it’s important to understand that this is a cry for human dignity, it’s a cry for human worth,” he told the BBC.

He said that Dalits could seek dignity by converting to Christianity, Jainism or Sikhism as well as Buddhism.

Buddhist convert Dhammachari Manidhamma told the BBC that social equality was impossible within Hinduism.

“Buddha’s teaching was for the humanity, and Buddha believed in equality.

“And Hindu religion, Hindu teaching is nothing but inequality.” (BBC)

Knowing human nature, this won’t stop discrimination. But still, we can hope.

Heathrow check-in worker Nadia Eweida is on unpaid leave after refusing to cover up her cross necklace.

“I believe that it is a very important issue on the matter of expressing Christianity and employees having their say in the way they express their faith,” she said.

British Airways says all jewellery and religious symbols on chains must be worn under the uniform.

But it makes an exception for Sikh turbans and Muslim hijabs because they cannot be covered up. (BBC)

There’s a few things rolled up into this issue, only one of which is the Muslin head-scarf thing. Now, technically speaking, it’s orthodox according to the Apostle Paul and also to Jewish religious law (i.e., the Old Testament, where did you think it came from?) for women to cover their hair in church/all the time. If one is truly Christian, what’s to say one shouldn’t cover one’s sinful female head-growth? I’m just asking.

The real issue here is a bit deeper. If, say, a Wiccan wanted to wear a pentacle to work, how much media splash would there be? Who would be on this hypothetical Wiccan’s side? If Christians end up being able to wear crosses outside their uniforms (advertising/flaunting their religious beliefs) what’s to stop the rest of us from doing the same?

If Christians are not allowed to do so, what does this mean for other religions’ outward marks of faith–like the Sikh turban or the hijab?

I applaud British Airlines for being willing to draw the line. Christians have rammed their beliefs down other peoples’ throats so mercilessly for so long, the uproar over this simple request is both disproportionate and idiotic. It is the tantrum of a three-year old, especially since Ms. Eweida is looking to sue. (What happened to the love of money being the root of all evil? An inconvenient and oft-forgotten Christian principle, that.) And her coreligionists hardly sound more mature.

David Cannings, chairman of Christians in Politics, which encourages people in public office to make their faith part of their work, said religious imagery was becoming marginalised.

“We think such ostentatious expressions of faith are starting to be pushed into the background in an attempt to treat people equally and I think there’s a danger that faith will be pushed into the background at the same time.” (BBC)

Heaven forbid that the single factor–religious “faith”–in more killings, wars, and brutalisations should be pushed into the background. Heaven forbid that insulting ostentatious displays of fanaticism should be pushed into the background.

Sheesh.

But the man is a bishop taking on the Vatican. You’ve got to give him props for that.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who was excommunicated Tuesday, said he does not accept his excommunication and will continue his campaign to persuade the Vatican to allow married priests. The 76-year-old archbishop married a Korean acupuncturist in 2001.

“We do not accept this excommunication and lovingly return it to His Holiness, our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, to . . . withdraw it and join us in recalling married priests to service once again,” said excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo in a written statement read for him at a news conference at Imani Temple in Northeast Washington. (Indian Catholic)

Milingo has committed the grave sin of asking the Church to allow priests to marry (so they’re not tempted to pork young boys) and calling the Pope out on several other issues. Pope Benedict, as a former leader of the Inquisition (oh, I’m sorry, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), is not disposed to take this lyin’ down. So he’s pulled out the worst weapon of the Church–

No, not child abuse. Excommunication.

And Milingo is still sticking to his guns, throwing the excommunication back at the Pope politely but firmly.

Priests had been permitted to marry during the First Millennium, but marriage was condemned by the Church at the Second Lateran Council in 1139.

Milingo said the Vatican’s stand had led to crisis in the church, with the average age of priests at about 74 years.

“In 20 years there will be few priests left,” he said in a statement. “Who is going to provide the sacraments and the Eucharist to the people?”

He said many priests forced to leave the priesthood because

they married would be willing to return to the ministry.

“There is a desperate need for priests now and in the future, but we have almost 25,000 married priests in the United States and almost 150,000 worldwide who are not being called to service because of a Medieval, church-imposed regulation that priests be celibate,” Milingo said. (Washington Post)

My God, look at that. It was actual common sense, and it probably whooshed in one Vatican ear and out the other. Poor Benedict. First he has to deal with uppity Muslims taking offense when he denigrates their religion, and now this. I wonder if he prays for a time machine to take him back to the 1400s.

Come to think of that, maybe we’d all be better off if one showed up. But that’s just humble opinion.

It’s a good try, but considering that the only witnesses we have are the Gospels (the Gnostic Gospels and Josephus notwithstanding), which not only have a collective reason to attack the legality of any trial involving Christ but also don’t agree with each other on basic facts, I wonder if any such reconstruction is valid.

It’s just a thought.

* The Exclusive Brethren (think radically conservative Christian sect that makes the FLDS look liberal) is in a bit of hot water, mostly because a private investigator admits being hired by them to “dig up dirt” on New Zealand government figures.

Idour, who would not give specific examples, said he had been subcontracted by a colleague, who he now understood had been hired by a member of the Exclusive Brethren.

He said the pair snooped on Labour MPs. The information had then been passed to sect members, who decided on how to reveal it to the media.

But he also claimed to have reliable information that Labour supporters had hired their own private eyes to tail National leader Don Brash and to go through his rubbish and that of his finance spokesman John Key.

Personality politics reached new lows in New Zealand this week, with Clark saying she’d been told the Exclusive Brethren religious sect had hired a private detective to follow the couple in an effort to dig up personal dirt.

She also linked the sect to false rumours being spread about the sexuality of her husband.

Clark has been forced to defend Davis against claims he’s gay, after some media outlets published a photo of him being hugged and apparently kissed by the couple’s close friend Ian Scott.

The picture was not new and was taken out of context from election night coverage. (TheAge.com)

Wow. Guess we know where Rove got his favorite plays from. Oh, wait–dirty politics has been around since before the death of the Gracchi brothers.

* Channel 4 is going to air the crucifixion of a corpse, just to show what a nasty horrid death crucifixion is. Christians, predictably, are very outraged.

But Christian groups accused the 90-minute Channel 4 show of exploiting one of their faith’s most sacred cornerstones. Church of England spokesman Steve Jenkins said: “This will upset and offend lots of Christians as it seems he’s using the crucifixion simply to grab attention.”

Christian Voice, which tried to axe Jerry Springer The Opera, threatened to sue. Director Stephen Green said: “This sounds gratuitously offensive and blasphemous.

“It could well be we’d want to take action.” Mr von Hagens preserves corpses by plastination, in which body fat and fluids are replaced by plastic. In 2002 he performed the UK’s first public autopsy in 170 years, broadcast on Channel 4.

Its digital station More4 will air his new show, Crucifixion, at a date yet to be fixed. Producers Firefly called it “a 90-minute film in which Gunther plastinates ‘Jesus’.”

However, Channel 4 last night tried to play down the storm. A spokeswoman claimed: “This is a science and history documentary on the anatomy after crucifixion. It will not be a specific representation of Christ.” Mirror.co.uk

Question: isn’t “using the crucifixion merely to grab attention” one of Christianity’s biggest proselytizing tools?

* The furor over Pope Benedict’s slamming of Islam continues apace.

The Pope has said he is “deeply sorry” that his words, quoting a 14th Century Christian emperor, had upset Muslims.

But his apology was rejected by the Muslims meeting in Lahore, Pakistan.

“The Pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet [Muhammad]. If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences,” said the joint statement.

The group behind the meeting, Jamaat al-Dawat, has been listed by the US government as a “terrorist” group for its alleged links with Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

“The Pope’s statement against Prophet Muhammad was not unintentional,” said Sajid Mir, a religious scholar and MP who took part in the meeting.

“He has opened a new and an organised front against Islam and Muslims should prepare themselves for jihad because the Pope’s insulting remarks against Islam follow President George W Bush’s statement on crusades,” he said. (BBC)

Plenty of people are saying, “Look, the dude apologized, and Muslims bombing and screaming isn’t making you look good.” Plenty of other people are saying, “What kind of apology is it when dude doesn’t take responsibility for slamming another faith, just says he’s sorry for ‘the reaction’ it caused?” Yours truly saw a video of Irshad Manji telling Muslims to get over it and leave the frickin’ Pope alone.

We already know my opinion. This probably isn’t over yet, by a long shot.

* Torture in Iraq is worse than ever. Go figure.

* The WildHunt Blog’s weekly roundup of news is particularly juicy this week, especially when dude remarks about white-lighters “spouting about “infinite” this and “embodying” that.” Plus there’s Fidel Castro being called a Druid and a bit about Banned Books Week.

Man, WildHunt’s hot.

* The Gods Are Bored had a visit from Mr. Applegate this week.

* I’ll be interested to see how Isaac Bonewits’s spell to give journalists some testacos pans out. Since Yours Truly is also in the middle of reading Chomsky’s Necessary Illusions this is particularly apt.

* And not quite about religion but still thought provoking: two different posts about race, racism, publishing, and the Universe. Enjoy, discuss, and think.

Go forth and be pluralistic, brethren and sistern.