Protesting

What? God hates ponies?

...
Note: Headline links to source. Clicking on image will enlarge it (usually).

If "God Has a Plan For Sex," Does Obama Have a Plan for Monitoring Programs Overseas?

A billboard promoting abstinence for HIV prevention in Tamale, Ghana

Think of this as the missionary position [ed- intended] of the US government. The question is whether they hand out Watchtower.

On Saturday, the White House faith advisory council task force released recommendations for government agencies that do business with faith-based social service groups. These recommendations touch on several issues related to a recently filed lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. In that case, the ACLU asked a court to order the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to release documents related to its funding of religious abstinence-only-until-marriage programs overseas, which will likely uncover violations of the constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state.

Interestingly, the faith advisory recommendations say that USAID is better suited than the Department of Defense for development work. Though perhaps correct, the shift of additional work to USAID only increases the need for additional oversight of its faith-based work given that USAID has a history of violating the Constitution. Indeed, the ACLU's investigation was trigged in July 2009, when the Inspector General of USAID released a report (PDF) after auditing USAID's faith-based grantees. The report came to startling conclusions about the misuse of government funds. For example, the Inspector General noted several instances of biblical references in government-funded curricula, and USAID itself admitted that some of the abstinence-only-until-marriage programs it funds "reflect a religious perspective and include religiously infused materials and religious references." One of the curricula includes an optional biblical verse for "reflection or memorization," the purpose of which is to show students that "God has a plan for sex and this plan will help you and protect you from harm."

Did you pay for that sign?

...
Note: Headline links to source. Clicking on image will enlarge it (usually).

The Pledge of Allegiance

The birth of the Pledge of Allegiance, via Ted Compton.

I have NEVER said those words when making the Pledge of Allegiance. It was an affront to Americans and a slap in the face to the founding fathers.

Were I ever elected to Congress or the Presidency (capitalized because I respect the office if not the current holder of same).

Sorry, just went on a laughing jag I thought I might not recover from.

To pick up the thread...to Congress or the Presidency... I would immediately begin a campaign to eliminate "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and remove any mention of any deity from US currency.

BTW: There are many examples of "In God We Trust" on US currency.

Stop theocracy

We got a blog swarm here, folks. Go there.

Unless ya wanna see this.

A great quote

The first in my series of great (IMHO) quotes.

"If your prayers were always answered, you'd have reason to doubt the wisdom of God."

-- author unknown

God’s Numbers

Image found with
Google™ image search
for "atheist blogger"

From Newsweek we learn 91 percent of American adults surveyed believe in God. And only 3 percent claim to be atheists.

A belief in God and an identification with an organized religion are widespread throughout the country, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Nine in 10 (91 percent) of American adults say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. Christians far outnumber members of any other faith in the country, with 82 percent of the poll’s respondents identifying themselves as such. Another 5 percent say they follow a non-Christian faith, such as Judaism or Islam. Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Seventy-three percent of Evangelical Protestants say they believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years; 39 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of Catholics agree with that view.

...

Although one in ten (10 percent) of Americans identify themselves as having "no religion," only six percent said they don’t believe in a God at all. Just 3 percent of the public self-identifies as atheist, suggesting that the term may carry some stigma. Still, the poll suggests that the public’s tolerance of this small minority has increased in recent years. Nearly half (47 percent) of the respondents felt the country is more accepting of atheists today that it used to be and slightly more (49 percent) reported personally knowing an atheist.

What I don't understand is why they didn't take the poll a little further. I'm sure they would have found among the 3 percent who say they are atheists , 99 percent have a blog.

(read more)