192 Comments

There is no horror that cannot be, and has not been, justified in the name of religion. Few things disgust me more than politicians on a moral crusade. Nothing good ever comes of it. It is NEVER the job of our secular government, at any level, to backstop anyone's religion.

Expand full comment

Kill all males who don't submit to your god?

Tell you what, let's try this on for size: Kill all Christian males. How's that taste, eh?

Expand full comment

Well, it would put a big dent in the overpopulation problem.

Expand full comment

No one, not even the NRA, has enough bullets for that. Unfortunately.

Expand full comment

Here we go again...which god???

Expand full comment

Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances/choices.

Expand full comment

"it isn't political, it's Biblical"

Again with the false dichotomies. It can be both, jackass. The idea that religion is somehow inherently non-political is ludicrous. Although I guess it's not as ludicrous as a lot of the clowns other beliefs, but whatever.

Expand full comment

I have said for a long time that if you want to see what genuine persecution looks like, . . . hand power to the preachers.

Expand full comment

Just look at a history book, how many rulers have used religion to prop up their authority? Most. The answer is most.

Expand full comment

Authoritarian government and conservative religion are natural allies, and always have been. The evangelical preachers loved Donald Trump, and the Catholic Church never met a right-wing dictator they didn't love. It is a symbiotic relationship that has resulted in horrific misery for humanity.

Expand full comment

“So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.”

—Bertrand Russell, English mathematician, philosopher, and peace activist (no relation)

There's also not a whisper of a smidgen of a hint of a suggestion of a good word for democracy.

Expand full comment

Conservative Christians want to be ruled by "the King of Kings". They have no desire for democracy.

Expand full comment

Big fan of Lord Russell.

Expand full comment

Once again, how many ways is this wrong? Hell, let's make it simpler: is there ANY WAY that it's right? I'm afraid I have to be an absolutist about this: There Should Be NO PRAYER In ANY FORM of Government-Sponsored Event. If Sean Feucht wants to pray, he can pray in his church or at the home of one of his congregants. As for Shea, he can join Feucht if he wants at such meetings, but that's IT.

As for Mayor Woodward, she should know better. Might not be the world's worst idea to vote her out of office, next time around.

Expand full comment

It doesn't sound like a government sponsored event; it sounds like a private event put on by the church, to which the Mayor was invited.

But yes, she should know better, and yes, this should cost her votes.

Expand full comment

Noted [I need to learn to READ instead of scan]. Still, Woodward's actions were WAY inappropriate. I have to wonder if she knew who Sean Feucht is or what he is about. Seems to me she has a staff to vet such people and maybe use some judgment.

Because here she sure as hell didn't.

Expand full comment

I have no idea if her office knew/vetted all the "stage presences". For sure, they had to know about Feucht...his church organized it! So that's on her. Shea...well I'm not a local so whether his presence on stage was a "should have been obvious" or a "they snuck him in after I agreed", maybe someone more familiar with the local politics can tell us.

Expand full comment

In what context is it ok to kill all males?

Expand full comment

According to Matthew's gospel, Herod issued an edict to kill all Jewish males 2 years and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. Jesus still got born and survived anyway.

(This is all a myth, of course. Besides the mythical Jesus, there is no record of Herod ever issuing such a decree, And Matthew's account of a "flight to Egypt" is directly contradicted in Luke)

Expand full comment

The contradiction in Luke is even more fundamental. When Luke says Mary pushed out the baby, Herod had been dead at least ten years.

Expand full comment

Joseph and Mary reportedly took Jesus to be presented in the temple according to the Old Law and then went home. No mention of Egypt or a need to go there (and why did they want to go to a place where their ancestors had supposedly been held captive by Pharaoh?).

Expand full comment

He wanted to do like great great great... great grandad did ? Without the being sold in slavery by his own brothers part of course.

Expand full comment

I'm surprised there was an Egypt for them to be enslaved in.

After all, the Egyptians were already ancient by the time of the "great flood." Wouldn't they have been wiped out?

Expand full comment

They are not the original Egyptians, Joseph the first Egyptians were cursed descendants of Noah. Take that Atheist !

How did I do ?

Expand full comment

It was part of the tortured attempt to get the gospels to reconcile the conflicting expectations of the spiritual-savior tradition and the warrior-king tradition for the form that the Hebrew Messiah would take. You can see other examples of it in the conflicting genealogies of Joseph (tho why that should matter if Joseph wasn't Jesus's REAL father is left unexamined) and in the "I come not to bring peace but a sword" guy (Davidic tradition) and the whole prince of peace shtick (spiritual tradition). In the present case, there was the need to reconcile this guy known as "the Nazarene" with the supposed prophecy fulfillment of having been born in "the city of David", Bethlehem, so the movie's director had to set up an establishing shot that kept the principal characters safely offstage while the crew rearranged the set.

Not even gonna get into the whole thing about Caesar Augustus's Great Census that had every solider in the far-flung Roman empire required to return home to have his nose enumerated, but that too was part of the effort to reconcile the dichotomous traditions of saviorness.

Expand full comment

I've told Christians that the Jewish concept of "the Messiah" is very different from the Christian version. I tend to leave them scratching their heads.

If only they would truly read their bible and understand its contents.

Expand full comment

Hence, hark the Herod angel sings. : )

Expand full comment

I thought his name was Harold.

Expand full comment

Quoth my sister:

While shepherds washed their socks by night

All seated 'round the tub

The angels of the Lord came down

And they began to scrub

Expand full comment

Rub a dub dub, the Wise Men in a tub?

Expand full comment

A edict like that definitely would have been recorded, by his enemies, even if he managed to seize all the records from his own domain.

Expand full comment

It's not clear why such an edict would not have been recorded by Herod himself. In the Roman mediterranean circa that period, it's not like the occasional genocide was considered bad leaderhip.

Expand full comment

"A edict like that definitely would have been recorded..."

I have to laugh when Christians refer to the bible as "history." History as written by the Dave Bartons of the time.

Expand full comment

Not quite. The OT was probably written by the Dave Bartons of 800 years after events, while the NT was written by the Dave Bartons of 100-300 years after events.

If Barton writes (god forbid) a 'history of the civil war, taken directly from eyewitnesses accounts I've heard,' the NT would be like that. And they'd both be equally accurate.

Expand full comment

In the book of Numbers, God commands to kill all the men and women who have known a man then take all the girls who have not known a man and give them to his soldiers. ("known a man" means had sex). This happened multiple times in that book so not only do you have God advocating genocide but mass child rape as well.

Expand full comment

The context of talking about asian carp in the great lakes. :)

Expand full comment

My favorite part is how he said the “kill all males” line was “taken out of context”, when the context was in fact waging a no compromise religious war

Expand full comment

I wonder if they've considered the possibility that the males they want to kill MIGHT JUST KILL THEM FIRST. Or haven't they considered the wisdom of that old phrase:

Forewarned is forearmed.

Expand full comment

TBF, he left out the part about raping all the women.

Expand full comment

Domestic terrorist Matt Shea and his Ukrainian wife have also been (allegedly) engaged in trafficking Ukrainian orphans in Poland and delivering them to Christian Nationalist "adoption agencies" in the U.S.

Shea also has connections to the Christian Nationalist boot camp, Team Rugged, that forces militarized "patriotic and biblical training" on troubled teens, training them in the use of knives and guns in preparation for a Holy War.

Expand full comment

A 'camp' for troubled teens. Yeah that sends up a red flag you can see from the ISS to me, no matter what its stated goals or methodologies.

Expand full comment

Very few camps for troubled teens don’t have instances of abuse against those troubled teens. They seem to be predatory from the get go.

Expand full comment

It's almost a guarantee by the very nature of the thing. They're gathering a group of minors in a remote location, who have already been deemed untrustworthy by their own parents, under an authoritarian power structure with a mandate to make them obedient and docile. You couldn't possibly make the concept more fertile ground for abuse without getting the Catholic Church involved.

Expand full comment

If I could I’d give you more upvotes. This is exactly what I’m saying.

Expand full comment

Not only that, but unleashing a horde of troubled teens who are used to using knives and guns is as terrible an idea as any I can think of. Especially if they've been abused and are looking to vent their anger and frustration on someone, anyone.

Expand full comment

... and this one, botj places about 1-2 hours away from me: Inside the Christian Reform School From Hell

At Missouri’s Agapé school, a devout Baptist boarding facility for boys, students say they were subjected to isolation, restraints, and treatment that bordered on torture

BY ADAM PIORE

JANUARY 5, 2023 9:58AM EST...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/troubled-teen-industry-abuse-agape-school-1234645835/amp/

Expand full comment

Any program that doesn't use professional and licensed counselors is suspect. And the satisfaction rates seem unbelievable and Stockholm-esque

Expand full comment

"that forces militarized "patriotic and biblical training" on troubled teens, training them in the use of knives and guns in preparation for a Holy War."

Gee, what could possibly go wrong with that?

Expand full comment

Ask Savonarola.

Expand full comment

This "father god" shit is something new that I am hearing a lot. I only had ONE father and he was a good father-as good as he knew how to be. I don't need a new one. Also-did you all read about that turd in CA who shot to death a mother of 9? She owned a clothing store and had hung a LGBTQ flag and this bastard took offense at that. He ranted at her about how she "Needed God in her head " Not LGBTQ. Sick bastard.

Expand full comment

"Our Father, who art in heaven..."

Expand full comment

Art or aren't?

Expand full comment

Art is the name he uses when he goes in disguise among the commoners.

Expand full comment

I don't call ANYBODY father, sister, brother, etc. Those are respectful terms intended ONLY for those actual people.

Expand full comment

I am an only child with a sister, she earned this title around 2009.

Expand full comment

You netter watch your back, brother. Some vindictive nun is going to fix your clock, but good. And that's a threat to be seriously concerned about. Sister Mary Felix, one of the fiends in my grade school, used to go bear hunting with a hickory switch.

Expand full comment

"...Please stay there and stop fucking with people."

Expand full comment

I suspect that Woodward, at best, thought there would be no harm in attending the event. Perhaps she thought it would gain her favor among Christian Nationalists. At worst, I suspect that Woodward is herself a closeted Christian Nationalist.

Expand full comment

She didn't realize she'd get pushback- that's all. She knew exactly what she was doing.

Expand full comment

Well good gracious me, how could anyone expect pushback from an event that was all about cute, cuddly-wuddly widdle Baby Jesus?

Expand full comment

This is the ongoing problem: thinking that religion in general and Christianity in particular are positive aspects of our culture, with no downside or negative issues. Such thought is obviously naive, especially to anyone who has dug into religion the way we have. I've cited the following multiple times, but it needs to be referred to until the message sinks in:

𝐼𝑓 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑣𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑒—𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑—𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠: 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠.

-- Christopher Hitchens

Expand full comment

"...a willingness to follow, with credulity, people who are in the highest degree unscrupulous."

Sounds like the GOP and Trump.

Expand full comment

"The credulity of the American people, whether in peace or war, has always been grossly underestimated even by those who charge it against them."

— H.L. Mencken

Expand full comment

That's only because it describes them to a T!

Expand full comment

Politicians gonna politic. They're going to show up at constituent events in order to win over those votes. And it's kinda their job to go out and listen to what various voter groups have to say about what they want, even if it's some group we (or even the politician) doesn't like.

But we can certainly call them out when they go from the professional "I hear you" to either "I agree with you" or "I'm one of you." They should know by now that, with national cameras rolling, any "I'm one of you" message is going to be heard, understood, and noted by all the constituents that are not one of that group.

Expand full comment

Didn't know the bible says no communism.

Expand full comment

Musta come as quite a surprise to all of Jesus's disciples, who held all their possessions in common, ate common meals, and traveled everywhere together, living off the charity of the common people they were staying with.

Expand full comment

That’s not what communism means!!1!! Communism is when a fascist dictator forces you to stop being Christian!!111!!!

Expand full comment

I think it's well past time that we, the people, display our disapproval of this christian terrorist bullshit with our votes. Let candidates know, up with this we shall not put!

Expand full comment

"...prophetic history like Spokane."

Name one.

Expand full comment

Sablé-sur-Sarthe.

Expand full comment

How is Sablé-sur-Sarthe a prophecy?

Expand full comment

Forget it, Jake. It's BHm. ;)

Expand full comment

:9-----

Expand full comment

Isn't a prayer event a ginormous violation of Matthew 6:5-6?

Are Christians incapable of doing what their messiah told his followers to do and pray in secret, out of the public eye?

Expand full comment

Hey, Jesus himself may have violated Matthew, so why shouldn't we?

Expand full comment

What Jesus and Matthew did in private is none of your business.

Expand full comment

I paid to watch them on onlyfans, dammit.

Expand full comment

That's your mistake, Pornhub is (mostly) free.

Expand full comment

There's a number of free porn sites online. Or so I've heard. 😉

Expand full comment

Like the one whose name is a rodent ? 😏

Expand full comment

"Porn? What's porn?" - Raj Koothrappali

I tried to search for the clip, but got lots of other stuff.

Expand full comment

I've heard you shave your palms daily.

Expand full comment

Wonder what happened in those 18 years that are oh-so-mysteriously missing from Jesus' 'biography.'

Something tells me he was a hellion.

Expand full comment

Were the Radical Faeries a thing back then?

Expand full comment

Hot damn, that's a name I haven't heard in ages. Feel so old.

Expand full comment

The fires are right outside my mother in law’s home, she said on the other side of the lake. So far she is safe, but we all know that can change in an instant.

The last thing anyone needs right now is prayer. They need decisive actions, they need support of shelter, food, necessities, and money. Spokane’s mayor should be far too busy at this time to waste praying in a big ole rally. Plus, that large space should be taken up with evacuees or getting ready for more. If all you got for your citizens is having a big party to mumble at the sky, you are not qualified for the job of mayor, to say the least.

I also had a friend who ran against a fer right wing candidate who was either Shea or a Shea sycophant. Unfortunately she lost, even though she was running on the blue side of the state. Spokane is the population hub of the very deep blood red side of the state. MIL lives outside of Spokane city limits, she did not get to vote for mayor in Spokane.

Expand full comment

"Kill all males"? Out of context? I have to ask again, in what context is that OK?

Expand full comment

“Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women!”

Expand full comment

The context probably makes it worse.

Expand full comment

Bug infestation?

Expand full comment