I know we’re only a few posts in and I’ve already stooped to reposting something from ebaumsworld, but seriously, this is magic.
Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost on Vimeo.
Max Blumenthal at the Huffington Post chronicles the mysterious removal of incriminating videos of Pastor John Hagee from Youtube, many of which surely encouraged McCain to reject Hagee’s recent endorsement.
It should raise a red flag when an evangelical leader not only attempts to silence his enemies, but his own sermons. Just what is he ashamed of?
Blumenthal’s Rapture Ready mini-doc (seen above) was pulled from Youtube, but is still up at Vimeo.
This isn’t news, but the LA Times has just run a piece on the Jefferson Bible, the deist Founding Father’s attempt to distill the scriptures, including only the elements crucial to his faith. He removed all miracles and dubbed his 46-page booklet, “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.”
Does this imply that he thought the rest of the Bible was worthless, or was this simply an effort to highlight the most important bits? I’m thinking the former, considering that his book ends with Christ’s death, omitting the annunciation, communion, and resurrection; the three most pivotal events in the Bible and the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. He also declared the book of Revelation to be “merely the ravings of a maniac.”
I tried to find a religious right response to this, but came up dry.
In other news, Bush got back at Jefferson on his 4th of July speech at Monticello omitting parts of his writing. So there, jerk off!
The Senate is investigating televangelists such as Kenneth Copeland, who used his Church’s jet for a vacation, and Creflo Dollar (!), whose church bought him a Rolls Royce. The government questions whether these ministers abused their tax-exempt status. Copeland is fighting the Senate investigation, and none of the pastors under investigation would talk to the BBC.
More links at Metafilter, where the largely godless community is gleeful over the hypocrisy.
At Christian elementary school, I knew a kid who used to do this all the time! Perhaps the most surprising thing about this song is that Lunie 3:80’s rhymes and charisma are at least equal to those of Hurricane Chris, though that probably says more about the quality of today’s southern hip hop than of Lunie’s flow. Dude’s even got Scarface clips and T-pain auto-tune background vocals.
J-J-J-J-Jesus uNIT!
Every day, dozens of believers gather water from a stream beneath the statue of the Virgin Mary at St. Lucy’s Roman Catholic Church. They take baths in it, they drink it, they clean their houses and cars with it. Folks are now crying out for lower gas and food prices, instead of the usual prayers for healing.
The coveted water once came from a natural spring, church leaders say, but the spring dried up long ago, forcing them to switch to city water blessed by priests. Although church leaders say it’s not holy water, people still believe it performs miracles, and their faith is enough to keep them coming.
City water blessed by priests. May also contain Diazepam, Carbamazepine, estrogen and a host of other pharmaceudicals, pesticides and industrial waste.
You might want to pack some extra garlic if you’re going vampire hunting though, city water just ain’t as potent. Unless, of course, you’re after Blacula, the urban vampire. In that case this is probably even better.
(via LA Times)
World reports that Family Force Five (groan) is the newest Christian “crunk” band.
It only takes one listen to this hyper-catchy, addictive record to understand why Family Force 5’s lighthearted heavy music rules the underground.
There’s no such thing as a crunk band. It is synthesizor-based dance music performed by an MC. Think Lil’ Jon or Ying Yang Twins. It is defined by its club-ready lyrics about booze and booty. This has more in common with 2nd tier nu-metal acts like Saliva or Disturbed. Check out the zany video:
Youtube commenter hawknelsonfan22 sez:
Wow, you are dumb. This is a Christian band, I saw them at creation festival. a CHRISTIAN music festival and soul glow said “we’re a band who loves to party for jesus” and “oh yeah its better than drugs in fact its SENT FROM ABOVE”
Well duh.
Heidi Montag “has always felt this crazy connection to God” and is prepping a new Christian rock album. No, really. The press is giving her a hard time because she allegedly told everyone about a fellow celeb’s sex tape. Don’t worry Heidi, “blessed are those…”
Lyrics from her last album!
But you got me feelin’ so naughty
Make me wanna show you my body
Make you wanna take it all off me
I can’t wait no more
Hurry up now baby come find me
Don’t you know that I’m goin’ crazy
You’re the only one who can save me
What you waitin’ for?
Hot! Maybe she should get some advice from CCM crossover and pastor’s kid Katy “I Kissed a Girl” Perry. For your pleasure, lyrics from Katy’s single, “UR So Gay”:
I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf
While jacking off listening to Mozart
You bitch and moan about LA
Wishing you were in the rain reading HemingwayYou’re so gay and you don’t even like penis
In what has to be the biggest interview of Relevant’s life, Barack Obama sat down with Editor in Chief Cameron Strang. They discussed faith based initiatives, abortion, and his personal faith. This is amazing. Would Kerry, Gore, or Clinton have done this? Would McCain do this?
He uses phrases like “the sacredness of sexual behavior”. He “sounds” like an evangelical. Because the right has proven impotent in overturning Roe v. Wade over the last eight years, young evangelicals can easily see through McCain’s insincerity, Obama is primed to win this demographic with just a little clever positioning, as we see here. He’s makes it look easy.
Conversely, Dobson and co. just sounds shrill. McCain talking about his faith sounding like a teeth-gritting Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood. The religious right is over.
Whoa. Larry Norman, the “Father of Christian Rock” who died a few months ago, probably fathered an illegitimate child named Daniel.
Norman’s May 17, 2006, email also contains a tacit admission of guilt. “I fell in love with your mother,” he wrote. “I didn’t want to have sex with her in the first place. I told her we should wait until we were married but she kept pushing . . . and I finally gave in because I was the weaker person in the relationship.” Norman blamed his weakness on the lingering effects of head injuries he had suffered in an airplane accident in 1978. “I had brain damage,” he wrote, “and I couldn’t find the words to argue with her about it.”
Ouch. Larry’s brother is denying these allegations, but has agreed to sponsor a DNA test.
