Pastor Lonny Lee Remmers, 54, has been charged with felony assault and inflicting injury on a 13-year-old child with pliers and directing two church members to discipline the youth. He is the pastor of the Heart of Worship Community Church in Corona. After his arrest, many parishioners learned that Remmers has previously served time for fraud. Two other church members — Nicholas Craig, 22, and Darryl Duane Jeter Jr., 28 — have also been charged. Craig is Remmers’ stepson.
Category: Religion
We have for years been following the rising number of blasphemy prosecutions not only in the Muslim world but, even more worrisome, in the West. Now, an Egyptian court has added a new outrage in sentencing a 17-year-old Christian boy to three years in jail for publishing cartoons on Facebook deemed mocking of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. It is the latest example of the abuses of Sharia law and the danger of intermingling religion and government.
One could honestly wonder whose side Sen. John McCain is on this election. Yesterday, McCain gave Mitt Romney a bit of unsolicited (and unhinged) advice on how to beat Barack Obama: do what I did in 2008. McCain went on CBS This Morning and said that the best thing Romney could do it to pick Sarah Palin as a running mate. He appears to be making a joke but one wonders what is more interesting: the fact that McCain might suggest it or that his prior running mate is now an obvious joke as a disastrous choice for a candidate.
Continue reading “Should Romney Pick Palin As Running Mate?”
Over the years, I have not hidden my opposition to Sharia-based legal systems and the types of grotesque forms of justice that they mete out to their citizens. There is little good news from this area of the world as revolutions in Libya and Egypt go careening toward Islamic states. However, this week we have a modicum of good news. Tunisia’s governing Islamist party has decided to oppose a move to make sharia law the main source of legislation in a new constitution. They appear to be doing better than our allies in Iraq and Afghanistan who are increasingly applying harsh Islamic principles.
Continue reading “Tunisia Rejects Sharia As Basis For New Constitution”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
One common tactic in the creationist’s war against evolution is to falsify evolution by demonstrating a counterexample. If such a counterexample existed, it would indeed spell the demise of evolution. The Precambrian Rabbit would be such a counterexample. After failing to find even one counterexample, some creationists have given up trying to falsify evolution and now seek to disabuse evolution by claiming it is not falsifiable. Other creationists, unable to falsify evolution, get all metaphysical and point out that the principle of falsifiability is not falsifiable. Continue reading “The Evolutionary Gorilla In The Room”
This story is so bizarre that I had to check it twice to make sure it was not an early April Fool’s joke. The New York City Department of Education has barred the use of “Dinosaur” on tests to avoid upsetting people who believe creationism. Putting aside the fact that creationists do not deny that dinosaurs existed, the decision is to bar the use of a reference to an entire species because a fact might insult religious sensibilities.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
In a recent op-ed, entitled The Elephant in the Room, Rick Santorum, Republican candidate for President, decided to take on evolution and claimed that “the scientific consensus becomes an ideology that trumps the pursuit of truth.” According to Santorum, the “High Priests of Darwinism” challenged his amendment that suggested there is controversy surrounding evolution
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Stony Brook University (SBU), in an effort to “maximum instruction for students in the most efficient and effective manner,” will no longer cancel classes on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and will not include Good Friday and Passover in their spring break. The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has sent a letter to Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., President of SBU, threatening noting that ACLJ attorneys have argued before the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Stony Brook Calendar Changes Trample On Religious Privilege”
A court in Moscow has upheld a lower court decision declaring books on Scientology to be extremist literature and banning publication or distribution of such books. This decision follows moves by other countries against Scientology as a criminal or fraudulent enterprise as well as testimony against the church by former high-ranking church members.
Continue reading “Russian Court Bans Scientology Books As “Extremist””
We have previously discussed Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated inclinations toward the Taliban and harsh treatment of women. Then there was Karzai’s recent position that women are worth less than men — presumably even those American women keeping Karzai and his corrupt family and friends in power. This week Karzai has added that Americans are “demons” and no better than the Taliban. Karzai then called for divine intervention to defeat the Americans and the Taliban — a dangerous call in a nation known for religious fanaticism: “Let’s pray for God to rescue us from these two demons. There are two demons in our country now.”
There is a horrific Dutch story out this week. In the 1950s, a boy named Henk Heithuis came forward to allege abuse by priests. He was interviewed, put into a Catholic psychiatric facility, and then castrated to cure him of his homosexual tendencies.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of the leprechauns of the blog from the Turley Clan.
Continue reading “HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!!!”
There is an interesting controversy in New York where The New York Times ran an ad calling on Catholics to leave their church, but refused to run a similar ad targeting Muslims. Conservatives have jumped on what they say is a double standard. They may have a point.
Rick Santorum is continuing his faith-based campaign with a pledge to wipe out pornography in his Administration. The problem is that pornography is lawful and now a multi-billion dollar industry. It is obscenity that can be criminalized, but what is obscene remains exceptionally vague and ill-defined. Indeed, many may find parts of this presidential campaign to border on the obscene.
This is a video from this week in the Brazilian Congress. This is reported to be a congresswoman who has an extraordinary voice. As much as I loved the performance, it is worth noting that this is a religious song where members express their faith — a practice that raised concerns with those in Brazil who believe strongly in the separation of church and state.
Continue reading “The Opening Legislative Prayer — Brazilian-Style”