Happy Whelpday

Happy Whelpday to torrle!

Religion American Style

Maha has up the latest installment of The Wisdom of Doubt (the whole series can be read here, and it's well worth reading).

You may remember the Georgia congressman who sponsored a bill providing that the Ten Commandments would be displayed in Congress and in federal courthouses. Then when he was interviewed by Stephen Colbert, he could name only four of the Commandments, barely. I assume this wasn’t just an act. [...]

The statistics [only 40% of Americans can do better than Congressman Westmoreland] suggest that more people "believe in" the Ten Commandments than actually know what the Ten Commandments say. And I don’t care what religious tradition you call your own; just "believing in" something that you don't practice or understand or follow is crap. [...]

I think many Americans regard the Ten Commandments as something like a tribal totem. They want it placed in institutions of power, like schools and courthouses, as a symbol of their tribal dominance. Think of it as territorial marking. And this is just as true of the hard core fundamentalist as it is for the "cultural" Christian who has read most of the Left Behind books but doesn't know the Beatitudes from spinach.

Wrap Jesus in the Flag

Original quote is from here, via Mike the Mad Biologist (who rants rather more than I care for; I catch him through science blogs).

Sometime after Operation Iraqi Freedom began, I made a remarkable discovery. I had gone to one of my local Christian bookstores to find a Bible for my goddaughter. On a whim, I also decided to look for a Holy Spirit lapel pin, in the symbolic shape of a dove, the kind that had always been easy to find in the display case in the front. Many people in my church and in the places where I traveled had been wearing the American flag on their lapel for months now. It seemed like a pretty good time for Christians to put the Spirit back on.

But the doves were nowhere in sight. In the place near the front where I once would have found them, I was greeted instead by a full assortment of patriotic accessories -- red-white-and-blue ties, bandanas, buttons, handkerchiefs, "I support our troops" ribbons, "God Bless America" gear, and an extraordinary cross and flag button with the two images interlocked. I felt slightly panicked by the new arrangement. I asked the clerk behind the counter where the doves had gone. The man's response was jarring, although the remark might well be remembered as an apt theological summation of our present religious age. "They're in the back with the other discounted items," he said, nodding in that direction.

When I was growing up, the decending dove was second only to the cross as a symbol of faith. While my beliefs have changed over the years, I'm still saddened to see the dove marginalized in preference for red, white & blue.

Terrorism, Texas Style

Three Men in Jail Over Bomb at Church

Three Burleson [Texas] men who belong to a "radical Christian activist group" were in the Johnson County Jail on Friday night after a church deacon caught two of them attempting to ignite an explosive device on Independence Day at a church under construction ... the suspects boasted about belonging to a leaderless group of 10 or 15 who share a belief that society has become too focused on self-improvement and self-gratification and has lost focus on the glorification of God.

"They admit to being Christian and being brought up Christian, but they believe there should be one denomination and one church, not multiple denominations," Havens [the Police Department spokesman] said.

The suspects said the group has three levels of involvement: Bible study, consensual fighting and destructive acts.

"We put them in the category of a domestic terrorist group," Havens said. "We hope to discover the names of other individuals involved and if other devices have been prepared along with any plans they may be talking about to further their cause."

There's a good discussion over on Orcinus.