Tag: Jesusland

Harris View of the World Pisses Off Jews, Other Non-Christians, Christians, Democrats, Republicans, Gays, Straights, and Model Airplane Enthusiasts

Trish

Florida Jews and other non-Chrisitians are expressing outrage at U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, who recently stated that only the twice-born are fit to hold office.

Since He chooses our rulers, He chose Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton as surely as He chose Katherine herself. God sounds a little conflicted.

As PR Editor Buck noted, statements by Harris published in the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist Convention surpassed even her own unmatched record of looniness. Others are starting to agree.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she was “disgusted” by the comments “and deeply disappointed in Rep. Harris personally.”Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, “clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a Representative . . .”

State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, demanded an apology, saying the statements were “outrageous, even by her standards.

“What is going through this woman’s mind?” said Slosberg. “We do not live in a theocracy.”

…Ahmed Bedier, the Central Florida Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said he was “appalled that a person who’s been in politics this long would hold such extreme views.”

Bedier said most Christians would find such comments “shameful.”

…The criticism was not limited to Democrats.

Ruby Brooks, a veteran Tampa Bay Republican activist, said Harris’ remarks “were offensive to me as a Christian and a Republican.”

“To me, it’s the height of hubris,” said Brooks, a former Largo Republican Club president and former member of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee.

And Jillian Hasner, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said: “I don’t think it’s representative of the Republican Party at all. Our party is much bigger and better than Katherine Harris is trying to make it.”

What did Harris say to get everyone so upset? It’s best to read it for yourself. […]

If Harris is Elected, We Can Blame God

Buck Banks

Jesus is my campaign manager: Just when you thought that Katherine Harris’ campaign couldn’t get any weirder, she comes out of the closet as a Christian crusader with some real zingers. If she’s trying to distinguish herself from the other candidates, she’s succeeding — they appear to be sane.

From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

In an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention, Harris described her faith, saying it animates “everything I do,” including her votes in Congress.

“If you are not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you’re not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin,” she told interviewers, citing abortion and gay marriage as two examples of that sin.

‘God is the one who chooses our rulers.’
— Katherine Harris

Doing so, she said, “will take western civilization, indeed other nations because people look to our country as one nation as under God and whenever we legislate sin and we say abortion is permissible and we say gay unions are permissible, then average citizens who are not Christians, because they don’t know better, we are leading them astray and it’s wrong …”

Separating religion and politics is “so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers,” Harris said. “And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women,” then “we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our founding fathers intended and that’s (sic) certainly isn’t what God intended.”

Is Collapse of Christian Coalition a Sign That America Rejects Mainstreaming of Hate Groups?

Jon Ponder
“In our prime, we were rated the seventh-most powerful lobbying organization in the country. Now, there’s not even any blip on the radar screen.”
— Alabama coalition leader

The Christian Coalition has to be one of the most cynical organizations in our political history. Formed in the 1980s as a conservative political fundraising and organizing organization, its overarching mission was to fight liberalism with a mutation of Christianity that focused on the Bible’s most hateful and regressive precepts.

Its practical purpose, however, was to get out the votes of unsmart Americans who bought into the paranoid view of society propounded by coalition leaders like its founder, the diamond-mine owner Pat Robertson and its first leader, the corrupt GOP political operative Ralph Reed.

Robertson and Reed have moved on, and the Christian Coalition has gradually lost its resonance. Now there is new evidence of its decline:

Three disgruntled state affiliates have severed ties with the Christian Coalition of America, one of the nation’s most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s but now buffeted by complaints over finances, leadership and its plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas.

“It’s a very sad day for our people, but a liberating day,” said John Giles, president of the coalition’s Alabama chapter, which announced Wednesday that it was renaming itself and splitting from the national organization. The Iowa and Ohio chapters took similar steps this year.

Giles said he and his Alabama colleagues have “a dozen hard reasons” for the action but would elaborate on only one — a perception that the coalition’s leadership was diverting itself from traditional concerns such as abortion and same-sex marriage to address other issues ranging from the environment to Internet access.

Giles predicted further defections and said the coalition was now left with only a half-dozen strong state chapters and a weak presence in Washington.

“In our prime, we were rated the seventh-most powerful lobbying organization in the country,” he said. “Now, there’s not even any blip on the radar screen.”

At its peak, the coalition had a presence in every state, but in some cases a modest one.

The coalition’s president, Roberta Combs, insisted her organization — which is $1 million in debt — would survive the defections, and was unapologetic about her interest in new directions.

“We’re going to have a new mission, a new vision — much more broad-focused,” she said. “They don’t like some of the comments I’ve made about the environment and some of these other issues.”

The coalition, which claims more than 2 million members, was founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and became politically powerful under Executive Director Ralph Reed before he left in 1997. Robertson, who turned over the presidency to Combs in 2002, has been criticized for provocative public statements, while Reed lost an election in Georgia last month after being linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Indian Union: CIA is Converting Hindus to Christianity

Buck Banks

Conspiracy theology: According to WorldWide Religious News, the leader of a growing Hindu nationalist group is accusing the United States of mounting an effort to convert Indians to the Christian faith.

The U.S. government allocated $20 billion for the NGOs to work and convert people to Christianity.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [or RSS] chief K. S. Sudarshan yesterday alleged that the CIA of U.S.A. with the help of NGOs was indulging in religious conversions in India.

Delivering the special address at a symposium on “Empowerment of Hindu Intelligentsia,”… he claimed that the U.S. government had allocated $20 billion for the NGOs to work and convert people to Christianity.

“The CIA planned to establish one church in every post office area. The churches would be established walking distance and voice distance away,” he said.

He said the NGOs planned to set up schools, hospitals, etc., to veer the rural people away from their Hindu moorings.

He alleged that the missionaries were also misleading the tribals, with whom they worked, by saying that Aryans had invaded their land.

But wait, there’s more! Sudarshan also accused Muslims of trying to spread their religion by migrating to new areas, infiltration and jihad, and claimed Pakistan is building mosques and madrasas along the border with India to convert Hindus to Islam. Hmmm, wonder why he didn’t accuse the Jews of anything ….

Rapture Index Gauges Nearness of End of the World

Buck Banks

Signs of the end times: It’s a high-tech version of the cliche cartoon character — the zealot in long beard and robe holding the sign that predicts the end of the world. It’s the Rapture Index, a kind of gauge of how close we are to Jesus’ return to the earth, the Rapture and the Apocalypse as predicted in the Book of Revelations and various Old Testament visions.

The world has always been going to hell in a handbasket, and the prophets of doom have always been among us

This week’s rating is 160, based on measures of 45 different components that ostensibly portend the end of the world. A rating under 60 represents a period of slow prophetic activity, whereas anything over 145 is considered a pretty good indicator that there is going to be a lot of driverless vehicles on the interstate very soon. The 45 components are ranked on a scale of one to five, with five being high prophetic activity. This week low unemployment, lack of supernatural activity and the peace process (as represented by the cease-fire in Lebanon) all get a one ranking. Good signs of the rapture include high oil/gas prices, poor political leadership, developments in Israel, Gog (Russia) and Persia; and droughts, floods, wild weather and volcanoes all rate a five.

Reading the Rapture Index’s analysis is kind of like getting those annoying cryptic readings from a palmist:

  • Supernatural: Satanism is reported to be flourishing in Russia
  • Leadership: During the past few weeks, several end-time categories have become locked in a holding pattern.
  • Ecumenism: World religions have been at odds with each other.
  • Gog: Events in the Middle East are moving closer to the Ezk 38 & 39 prophecy.
  • Mark of the Beast: The U.S. Patriot Act has failed to get enough votes for extension.
  • Date Settings: Several organizations have been talking about Iran launching an attack against Israel on 22 Aug. The claim is based on the doomsday beliefs of Iran’s President.

Instead of the Dow Jones of the Apocalypse, the Rapture Index prefers to see itself as a kind of prophetic speedometer — the higher the number, the faster we are hurtling toward the end.

It’s an interesting attempt to quantify biblical prophesies as they are supposedly manifested in the news. But it’s a load of hooey. The world has always been going to hell in a handbasket, and the prophets of doom have always been among us, waving their signs and exhorting us to repent, the end is nigh. This is just a more entertaining poster for the end of the world.

Lord, Call Him Home

Buck Banks

Ascension time: Spokesman for Jesus Jerry Falwell turns 73 today. We believe that’s a pretty good run and pray that the Omnipotent One will consider calling Falwell home to the bosom of Jesus so he’ll stop making mischief here on earth. Lord knows, he’s done enough.

While we’re on the subject, we fervently pray there’s a Katusha rocket out there with Pat Robertson’s name on it. He’s currently over in Israel checking on his investments and seeking signs of the Apocalypse — and giving interviews on Fox News. Lord, let Hezbollah be the instrument of Your Will and send Pat wherever he belongs for eternity.

Jeb Keeps Picking Loser Christians

Trish

Jeb Bush might be wondering how the godly could get him in so much trouble. First he had to call for the resignation of his appointee as secretary of the Department of Corrections after a string of scandals that make former FEMA head Michael Brown look like he really DID a heck of a job.

“I need political influence in order to obtain the things that I think that I need to obtain for the Lord, Jesus Christ”

Under James Crosby’s DOC, Floridians have watched steroid abuse among prison guards while they lived in state housing and pilfered state supplies and vehicles; rapes of female inmates; fatal beatings of a prisoner in 1999 and a teenage boot camper this year; kickbacks from privatized prison vendors; and an investigation by the FBI.

But Jeb said when he explained to Crosby earlier this year that things must calm down soon or else he would need his resignation, the man was downright pious.

“If you’ve done something wrong, tell me now and I’ll ask for your resignation,” Bush recounted his talk with Crosby. “Lead or get out of the way. This is an important department.”

Crosby said he wanted to pray about it and discuss it with his family.

Aw, isn’t that nice? What a guy. Crosby surrendered yesterday in Jacksonville, citing alcohol abuse as the reason for his rotten-to-the-core leadership. He faces eight years in prison and the loss of his state pension.

But that’s not the only area where things have gone south for Jeb and the lordly. We recently reported that the Rev. O’Neal Dozier, Jeb’s man in the black Republican community, was in trouble for making slurs about Islam on the radio. Now the gov has asked for his resignation from his Jeb-appointed post on the judicial nominating committee of Broward County.

[Dozier’s] views, criticized by Muslims, will mean his political involvement may be less influential, which he sees as a regrettable consequence to his primary mission.

“I need political influence in order to obtain the things that I think that I need to obtain for the Lord, Jesus Christ,” he said Tuesday, two days after turning in his resignation…

“If you look at the Quran, all the way from the beginning to the end it speaks of evil and violence,” Dozier said.

And so, you see, in that respect it differs starkly from the Bible, which does not have a blood sacrifice, war, stoning, salt-turning, plague, crucifixion, or four riders of the apocalypse on every other page. But there’s a bigger lesson for Dozier, according to Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“He might take a look at his Bible again and see what Jesus what would do in these circumstances,” Hooper said. “I doubt that Jesus, peace be upon him, would seek to increase divisions and hostilities in the society in which he lived. Jesus preached love and respect, not hatred and mistrust.”

Jeb Tries to Disown Nutjob Crony After Islam Slurs

Trish

Momma always said to watch who you hang around with: Jeb Bush is recoiling like a man who discovered a snake under a rock after anti-Muslim comments on a Florida radio show from his faithful Repug beard in the black community.

Jeb wasted no time yelling, “Ho-lee shee-it!”

The always-good-for-a-shocker Rev. O’Neal Dozier is at it again, this time venting his spleen not on gay people but on Muslims.

God’s man in South Florida says he doesn’t want a mosque in his neighborhood, because Those People are terrorists and their religion is a cult. But you, not being a Man or Woman of God, couldn’t be expected to know that.

”I don’t look for everyone to believe what I believe, because everyone is not as astute about religion as I am,” said Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. ”That’s my life.”

Right ho. Still, some people feel the good rev should have devoted a little more study to the matter.

…Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida Chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, said he has tried unsuccessfully to meet with Dozier.

”I want a chance to respond and refute these accusations,” Ali said Friday. ”It appears that he doesn’t have that much knowledge about Islam.”

Jeb, who appointed Dozier to the powerful Broward County Judicial Nominating Commission to help select county and circuit court judges, wasted no time yelling, “Ho-lee shee-it!”

On Friday, Gov. Bush’s office issued a statement distancing him from Dozier.

”Gov. Bush in no way shares Rev. Dozier’s views on Islam,” said Alia Faraj, Bush’s spokeswoman.

Of course, it suited Jeb fine until now for Dozier to be a nutcase in other areas.

In the past, Dozier has asked Gov. Bush’s appointments to the Broward circuit and county courts if they were ”God-fearing,” and inquired about their parenting abilities.

Poll: Sorry Muslims, Only Jews or Christians Need Apply for Prez

Buck Banks

God is my running mate: According to National Journal’s PollTrack, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows that both parties have work to do to secure the “religious vote,” whatever that is. Apparently a majority of Americans allow their superstitious reliance on an omnipotent imaginary friend to cloud their political affiliations.

And if your imaginary friend’s name is Allah, you can forget becoming the most powerful public servant on the planet.

Majorities of both Democratic (56 percent) and Republican (61 percent) respondents said they couldn’t vote for a Muslim for president, while a slight plurality (45 percent) of independents said they could.

Sixty-six percent of respondents indicated they’d have no problem voting for an evangelical Christian

The Mormon religion fared a bit better in the poll: A slim 51 percent majority said they could support a Mormon for president. That’s good news to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who is considering a presidential run; 61 percent of Republicans said they could vote for a Mormon. Democrats were evenly split, with 43 percent saying they could and 42 percent saying they couldn’t.

Sixty-six percent of respondents indicated they’d have no problem voting for an evangelical Christian, including 53 percent of Democrats, 69 percent of independents and 81 percent of Republicans. Of course, we’ve already had an evangelical Christian president in Jimmy Carter.

However, respondents were most receptive to voting for Jewish or Catholic candidates for president. Overall, 76 percent said they could support a Jewish candidate, but along party lines support was strongest among GOP respondents at 83 percent compared with 72 percent of Democrats. (Good news for Joe Lieberman — a Jewish senator from Connecticut — but bad news for the Democratic Party, unless he runs as an independent, then it’s bad news for everybody.)

Eighty-three percent of respondents said they could vote for a Catholic candidate, the highest of the five religions tested in the poll. But Catholicism already passed the test when John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960. Another Catholic senator from Massachusetts — John Kerry (D) — failed most recently in his 2004 attempt, but we all know that wasn’t because of his religion. It was because of his wife. And his flip-flop on the Iraq War. And his inept campaigning. Etc.

Maybe Kerry should consider converting to Judaism ….

Poll: We’re Slouching Toward Theocracy

Buck Banks

Bible babble: George Barna, the Pollster of the Lord, has just come out with another survey purporting to assess the spiritual state of the nation. Somehow, Barna always seems to find what he’s looking for in his nationwide telephone surveys.

His latest poll supposedly confirms Americans’ “reputation as a highly religious people” because “half of all American adults said that their life has been ‘greatly transformed’ by their religious faith.”

People who are usually conservative on political matters were almost twice as likely as those who are generally liberal to cite great personal transformation as a result of their faith.

Overall, 51 percent of the survey respondents said they have been greatly transformed by their faith, about one-fourth (28 percent) said their faith has been helpful but has not produced significant transformation, and nearly one out of five (17 percent) claimed their faith has not made much of a difference in their life.

Women were more likely than men to claim their faith has had a great impact (56 percent vs. 45 percent). Residents of the South were the most likely to cite such an effect (63 percent), while folks in the Midwest were about average (50 percent), and adults in the West (44 percent) and Northeast (39 percent) were much less inclined to attribute such influence to faith. Nearly two-thirds of African-Americans (62 percent) assigned great impact to their faith, compared to half of whites (50 percent) and Hispanics (49 percent), and barely one-quarter of Asians (27 percent). People who are usually conservative on political matters were almost twice as likely as those who are generally liberal to cite great personal transformation as a result of their faith (64 percent versus 35 percent).

Now there’s the chicken-and-egg question: Are we liberals godless because we’re liberal or liberal because we’re godless?

Barna honed in on the pesky 17 percent who said their faith has made no difference in their life. Want to know who they are?

  • Men (21 percent of the 17 percent) were 62 percent more likely than women to say faith meant little in their lives
  • People under 25 (35 percent) — more than twice the proportion among older adults
  • Asians (48 percent) were three times as likely as all other ethnic groups to be faith-free
  • Liberals (28 percent) were three times more likely than conservatives to say faith has made no difference for them
  • Lutherans (16 percent) and Methodists (14 percent) — twice the proportion among other Protestants
  • Atheists and agnostics (64 percent)

Whoa, athiests and agnostics I expected to shun the Lord, but Lutherans and Methodists? What is this world coming to? Barna knows:

“The current political clash between conservatives and liberals over the role of religion and faith in the public square is partially attributable to the fact that so few liberals have had a life-changing experience driven by their faith,” Barna commented. “Conservatives are nearly twice as likely to say that their faith has transformed who they are and how they live. It is only natural that they would therefore want others to have similar breakthroughs, while those who have never had such experiences are more likely to feel threatened by policies designed to foster a faith-oriented renaissance. The absence of a life-changing spiritually-driven experience may also explain why liberals are less likely to believe in God, to attend church, to read the Bible, to donate to religious institutions, and to portray themselves as being spiritually inclined.”

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