Always happy to see this formerly recurring thread come out of hiatus ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 1.13.18
01/13/18 08:16 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the White House evangelical advisory council, whose members have remained steadfast in their support for Donald Trump, and whether the controversy surrounding his “shithole countries” comments has shaken his standing among these ardent faith-based backers.

Evidently not. The Washington Post reported:


As best as I can tell, much of Trump’s evangelical council had no interest in commenting at all, which is itself problematic. That said, Robert Jeffress, a controversial far-right mega-church leader in Texas who enjoys close White House ties, went quite a bit further, endorsing Trump’s racially inflammatory sentiment. “I support his views 100 percent, even though as a pastor I can’t use that language,” Jeffress told the Post.

This isn’t altogether surprising. After Trump was heard bragging about sexually assaulting women on the “Access Hollywood” tape, his most prominent evangelical advisers stood by him. After Trump defended racist activists in Charlottesville last summer, only one member of the White House’s evangelical advisory council resigned, no longer willing to be associated with this president.

As of last night, no current members have resigned in response to the president’s racist rhetoric this week.

“Trump has courted evangelicals, some of whom have had access to him and his administration,” Wheaton College’s Ed Stetzer wrote yesterday. “I hope those evangelical leaders will speak clearly, reminding Trump that all people are worthy of dignity and respect because they are made in the image of God.”

So far, many of these evangelical voices have been reluctant to say anything of the sort.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* The latest controversy involving sex and a megachurch pastor erupted this week in Memphis: “A pastor at a Tennessee megachurch received a standing ovation after admitting to a ‘sexual incident’ with a high school student 20 years ago – days after a woman came forward to accuse him of sexual assault.”

* This sounds like an issue to be resolved in the courts: “Houses of worship damaged during natural disasters will be able to rebuild using federal funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Trump administration has announced, a shift traditional faith groups have been requesting from presidents for decades without success. FEMA will accept disaster aid applications from houses of worship – along with other damaged non-profits – until Feb. 4. the agency announced this week.”

* Quite a story out of Arkansas: “An Arkansas mosque has paid off the remaining court fines of a man who helped vandalize their sacred space – doing its part to make sure he doesn’t have to serve any more jail time for the crime. Hisham Yasin, social director of the Masjid Al Salam in Fort Smith, told HuffPost on Tuesday that his congregation had forgiven the convicted vandal, Abraham Davis, long ago. Paying the more than $1,700 in fines Davis still owed was a way to put that forgiveness into action.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-11318#break

Other non-profits aside, a natural disaster (according to faith groups and some insurance coverage) is an "act of god", therefore let the fuckers go to god for his help. Sorry, but this burns my ass. They pay NO taxes, but want taxpayer funds? Just no.

a look at the White House evangelical advisory council, whose members have remained steadfast in their support for Donald Trump, and whether the controversy surrounding his “shithole countries” comments has shaken his standing among these ardent faith-based backers.

After watching several programs and reading numerous stories about his followers there's no question in my mind that Grabem was absolutely right when he said he could shoot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue and people would still vote for him. Just yesterday they were interviewing some of his die hards in Wisconsin who said something ;ike "yeah he crass and an asshole but I'd still vote for him." What concerns me is that, without some serious blowback from some of his more ridiculous actions, even more Americans than before are gooing to say "well, the economy is good" and will vote for him. Americans don't care one whit what the rest of the world thinks of them or how powerless it becomes internationally as long as the dollars flow.

The thing is time is growing short especially for the 2018 mid-terms and even for the 2020 big one. There's no question that the tax cut and his trade positions, if they come to fruition, will be disastrous for the U.S. and will either drive the deficit through the roof or leave what are already meagre social programs devastated. The thing is those downsides take time to manifest themselves and three years may not be long enough. Like Bush Jr., by 2024 Grabem is likely to leave an economy in total shambles for his successor to clean-up.

Here is this week's truth-telling on the "religious right" edition ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 1.27.18
01/27/18 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the religious right movement and its reaction to reports that Donald Trump allegedly had an extramarital affair with a porn star, to whom he apparently paid $130,000 in hush money shortly before getting elected.

In theory, evangelical Christians should find allegations such as these scandalous, evidence of widespread cultural decay, and the kind of failure of moral standards that fuels the religious right movement itself. And yet, consider what happened when Family Research Council President Tony Perkins sat down with Politico this week.


Perkins added that evangelicals “were tired of being kicked around by Barack Obama and his leftists. And I think they are finally glad that there’s somebody on the playground that is willing to punch the bully.”

Let’s put aside for now the oddity of this up-is-down worldview. While we’re at it, let’s also look past the fact that Trump is an admitted adulterer and Daniels was not his first alleged mistress (how many “mulligans” Christian conservatives are prepared to extend to Republican politicians is unclear).

Let’s instead pause to appreciate the gravity of the religious right movement embracing that which its leaders once ferociously condemned: moral relativism.

Trump has high-profile allies in this movement – Perkins, Jerry Falwell Jr., Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, et al – who’ve effectively made a moral calculus, borne of political objectives. So long as their partisan ally in the White House delivers on social conservatives’ goals, the religious right is prepared to lower the bar on their stated principles.

The movement, or at least the 2018 version of it, has its priorities, and championing the highest moral standards isn’t necessarily one of them. As the Washington Post’s Michael Gerson put it, “The level of cynicism here is startling. Some Christian leaders are surrendering the idea that character matters in public life in direct exchange for political benefits to Christians themselves. It is a political maneuver indistinguishable from those performed by business or union lobbyists every day. Only seedier. You scratch my back, I’ll wink at dehumanization and Stormy Daniels. The gag reflex is entirely gone.”

Following his “mulligan” comments, Perkins was rather explicit in endorsing the virtues of the religious right’s dubious deal. “This isn’t blind allegiance [to the president] on the part of evangelicals,” Perkins said on Thursday. “This is reasoned support for a political leader who has made and kept his campaign promises.”

But that only reinforces the underlying point. Moral assessments, in this case, are conditional. So long as politically conservative evangelicals are satisfied with Trump’s politics, those Christians are prepared to turn a blind eye to Trump’s morals. His failings are, in a purely practical sense, less relevant than the religious right’s broader wish-list.

What’s less clear is whether evangelical Christianity in the United States will ever be the same.

Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman, shared his personal message to the religious right on MSNBC’s “Hardball” this week: “Just shut the hell up and don’t ever preach to me about anything ever again. I don’t want to hear it…. After telling me how to live my life, who to love, what to believe, what not to believe, what to do and what not to do and now you sit back and the prostitutes don’t matter? The grabbing the you-know-what doesn’t matter? The outright behavior and lies don’t matter? Just shut up.”

Also from the God Machine this week:

* While peddling a strange anti-FBI conspiracy theory, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tried to draw a comparison to the Immaculate Conception, which he didn’t understand. “If you’re going to make an analogy at least know what you’re talking about,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo told the confused congressman.

* Vice President Mike Pence recently attended a church service with a pastor who wasn’t pleased with Trump’s “shithole countries” comments.

* Mormons have a new institutional leader: “Russell M. Nelson, the new leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, isn’t expected to move the church in major new directions, church members and activists said Tuesday.”

* And in Missouri, the Satanic Temple is helping a woman who believes the state’s anti-abortion “informed consent” law is a violation of her religious beliefs. It’s a case worth watching.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-12718#break

Which promises would those be? I swear the right religious loonies are blind, deaf and dumb. (imo religious zeal is already proof of that) Anything other than a woman or "that black man" is acceptable to them.

The main one is to appoint judges (including Supreme Court Justices) who are as far right as possible. Judges who will do everything in their power to ban (or at least limit) abortions and to eliminate (or at least restrict) LGBT rights (starting with same-sex marriage). Judges who will elevate religion (more accurately their religion) above the Constitution.

But that's so... Iranian.

Here is this week's edition, which "outs" a deeper "look at faith-based developments" and continues the truth-telling on the "religious right" ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 2.3.18
02/03/18 08:27 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at faith-based developments in the Trump administration, which are the basis for culture-war controversies happening largely outside of public view.

When we think about the Department of Health and Human Services in the Trump era, we tend to think of the administration’s efforts to deliberately undermine the Affordable Care Act. Politico published a report recently, however, pointing at a very different kind of effort underway at HHS.


It would appear some career officials at HHS aren’t altogether pleased – since Politico talked to “more than a dozen” current and former staffers at the cabinet agency about Trump’s political appointees and their religio-political agenda.

And what an agenda it is. The article added that in October, Shannon Royce, one of HHS’s devout Christian leaders who heads the agency’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, launched a “vast outreach initiative to religious groups … asking how to serve them better.”

The result, Politico added, is an initiative that began “a rulemaking process that could culminate in a rollback of Obama-era protections for transgender patients and allowing health providers more protections to deny procedures like abortion.”

Royce reportedly neglected to mention the outreach initiative to others at HHS, including members of her own staff. Royce “put it together with Roger Severino and jammed it out the door,” one staffer told Politico, who noted that the center had never issued a request for information before.

This dovetails a bit with last week’s installment of This Week in God: why is the religious right prepared to look the other way when the president is accused of, among other things, paying hush-money to a porn star he allegedly with whom he allegedly had an affair? Because for politically conservative evangelical Christians, policy advances like the ones they’re seeing at HHS make the trade-off worth it.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* Sam Brownback stepped down as Kansas’ governor this week in order to join the Trump administration. Before departing, the Republican asked his constituents statewide “to fast and pray on his last full day in office.”

* Vice President Mike Pence published a tweet on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, though it was not without controversy.

* Something to keep in mind for those watching the game tomorrow: “As the Super Bowl nears and football fans head to Minneapolis, dozens of homeless people who usually spend the night at a church across the street from the stadium will sleep under a different roof for a few days. Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregants are preparing meals for shelter residents. And a multicultural array of Minnesotans are raising money for emergency rent assistance to help prevent others from joining their ranks.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-2318

Another installment of "life in the dark ages" ~ ~ "live links" in the original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 2.10.18
02/10/18 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a stunning comment from an evangelical minister who apparently believes Christianity immunizes people from the flu. Politico reported this week:


Right off the bat, let’s note that public-health officials would probably discourage people from relying on supernatural treatments in response to virus outbreaks, and that Copeland’s comments during an especially brutal flu season were irresponsible.

Making matters slightly worse, Right Wing Watch explained that Copeland’s Texas megachurch was at the center of a measles outbreak in 2013 “that was attributed to the church’s belief that congregants can forego vaccines because Jesus will protect them from illness.” In other words, Copeland probably ought to know better.

But perhaps most striking from a political perspective is that Copeland isn’t just some fringe figure with no influence among those in power. On the contrary, Copeland and her husband, Kenneth Copeland, both served as members of Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory panel in 2016, alongside the likes of Michele Bachmann, Ralph Reed, James Dobson, Robert Jeffress, and Jerry Falwell, Jr.

For the record, it’s not too late to get a flu shot if you haven’t already had one.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* Donald Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast this week that faith “is central to American life,” which probably came as something of a surprise to the millions of Americans who self-identify as atheists or agnostics,

* On a related note, New York’s Ed Kilgore read The Faith of Donald J. Trump: A Spiritual Biography so I don’t have to.

* And in case Notre Dame’s position on birth-control coverage wasn’t quite confusing enough, the university has apparently altered its policy once again.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-21018#break

Here is this week's installment ~ personally, I'm furious that Billy Graham [a virulent anti-Semite] is going to "Lie in Honor" in the US Capitol ~ ~ "live links in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 2.24.18
02/24/18 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at some provocative comments from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who turned to Scripture to help justify his regressive policy agenda.

Pruitt, to be sure, is no stranger to controversy. The far-right Oklahoma Republican, a longtime opponent of his agency’s mission, has made headlines of late, for example, for his controversial, taxpayer-financed travel habits. But Pruitt’s most serious misdeeds are his official acts on environmental policy, ignoring and neglecting safeguards, while prioritizing corporate interests.

As Vox explained yesterday, Pruitt believes the Bible justifies his approach to environmental protections.


This wasn’t necessarily the first time we’ve heard Pruitt reference the Bible to advance his plans. As Mother Jones reported in the fall, the EPA chief cited the Book of Joshua to defend his conservative approach to reorganizing the agency’s science boards.

But his comments this week to TV preacher Pat Robertson’s cable network were qualitatively more serious, suggesting Donald Trump’s EPA director isn’t just hostile toward environmental protections, he’s also driven by a philosophy that says humanity has been granted divine dominion over the planet’s resources, so we should necessarily assume that there are no limits as to how we use (or abuse) those resources.

Tara Isabella Burton’s Vox piece added that for many evangelicals, “this idea of ‘dominion’ is about mastery: Human beings have the right to take what they want from the earth, in terms of natural resources, without regards to how it might affect other species.”

Such thinking is common among much of the religious right movement. Evidently, it’s also now found in the top office of Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* He was the first evangelist with a global reach: “Billy Graham, the charismatic North Carolina pastor who took his evangelizing crusades around the country and the globe, died on Wednesday morning, according to officials of his organization. He was 99.”

* Good idea: “A small group of evangelical Christian leaders is hoping to promote stricter gun legislation by injecting a key element of conservative Christian theology into the conversation ― the principle of protecting life at all stages. In the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last week that left 17 people dead, the group has put forward a petition that uses the language of the anti-abortion movement to encourage fellow Christians to fight for gun reform.”

* This seems like a stretch: “Focus on the Family, the behemoth Religious Right organization founded by James Dobson, has declared itself to be a church, thereby avoiding a requirement that it file public tax documents, according to IRS records and a document available on the organization’s website.”

* An awkward moment for Cardinal Joseph Tobin: “A New Jersey archbishop raised a few eyebrows when he tweeted ‘Nighty-night, baby. I love you,’ but his spokesman says it was an errant message intended for his sister.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-22418#break

Looks like their "God" can't even protect children from being slaughtered.

* Good idea: “A small group of evangelical Christian leaders is hoping to promote stricter gun legislation by injecting a key element of conservative Christian theology into the conversation ― the principle of protecting life at all stages. In the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, last week that left 17 people dead, the group has put forward a petition that uses the language of the anti-abortion movement to encourage fellow Christians to fight for gun reform.”

My God! They can't do that! If they start to show concern for the born it could lead to all sorts of sordid things like childrens health care, improved welfare, education, child care - things that might reach into the Christian's pockets and affect them personally. They just want to make sure the baby is born. What happens to it after that is it's problem.

Here is this week's installment ~ the lead story is ... mind-warping! ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 3.3.18
03/03/18 07:38 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a report on a Pennsylvania church with services that are far from traditional.


The Associated Press’ report added that this Pennsylvania church’s congregation is “a breakaway faction of the Unification Church, which often is described as a cult.” If the Unification Church, which didn’t condone this week’s event, sounds familiar, it’s because it was led by a controversial Korean religious figure named Sun Myung Moon, who died in 2012, and whose movement has long been aligned with Republican politics in the United States.

The Rev. Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon, who leads the Pennsylvania church, is one of Sun Myung Moon’s sons.

A separate Associated Press report added that the event did, in fact, happen on Wednesday – it featured “crown-wearing worshippers clutching AR-15 rifles” who “drank holy wine and exchanged or renewed wedding vows” – and while there were no incidents, the nearby school canceled its classes for the day.

As for the broader context, Vox had a piece this week noting that the Moon business empire is now known as the Tongil Group, “a multibillion-dollar conglomerate that supports Unification Church goals.” The piece added that the Moon family has, in recent years, “made pro-gun rhetoric a major part of their religious and financial activities. Among the Tongil Group’s holdings is Kahr Arms: a small-arms company founded by another of Moon’s sons, Justin Moon. The company has long received attention from politically connected public figures. In 2016, Eric Trump attended the opening of one Tongil-affiliated gun store.”

Also from the God Machine this week:

* Idaho’s Republican-led legislature is moving forward with an anti-Sharia measure, which intends to “prohibit the application of foreign laws in Idaho courts.” Since Idaho courts are not applying foreign laws, the proposal appears to be addressing a problem that doesn’t exist.

* This conflict in Israel was resolved fairly quickly: “Christian leaders say they will reopen the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after Israeli authorities suspended a plan to impose taxes on church properties in the holy city. Major denominations, including the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, said the church would reopen early Wednesday after it was shut for three days to protest the Israeli tax plan.”

* And an interesting Roman Catholic controversy is brewing: “The Catholic church risks damaging its moral authority and plunging its followers into confusion if the Vatican presses ahead with an imminent deal with the Chinese government, a group of influential Catholics has warned.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-3318

Here is this week's installment ~ the evangelicals have mastered the "art" of hypocrisy ~ ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 3.10.18
03/10/18 07:30 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at the kind of defense Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian allies are offering in the wake of the president’s Stormy Daniels scandal.

Helping lead the defense is far-right megachurch leader Robert Jeffress – a familiar name to regular readers – who first rose to national political prominence during the 2012 presidential campaign, when he partnered with then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) candidacy and attacked Mitt Romney as “a member of a cult.”

Much of the country soon became acquainted with the Texan’s record of over-the-top extremism, including his description of Roman Catholicism as a “cult-like pagan religion,” which represents “the genius of Satan.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said to associate with Robert Jeffress was “beneath the office of president of the United States.”

Donald Trump, however, has embraced Jeffress as a close ally, and the megachurch pastor has returned the favor.


Let’s pause to note that anytime a prominent Christian evangelist begins an argument by saying, “Evangelicals still believe in the commandment: Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star. However…” the sentence probably won’t end well.

Nevertheless, in the same interview, Jeffress emphasized his bond with his ally in the White House. “I’m his friend,” he said. “I will never walk away.”

This is not an uncommon sentiment among Christian conservatives. In January, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the religious right and the movement’s adherents agree that Trump should “get a mulligan” when it comes to his personal misdeeds.

Part of the challenge here is the transparent hypocrisy. A decade ago, as Right Wing Watch noted this week, Jeffress specifically condemned any effort to put aside religious principles for the sake of political convenience.

“Christians need to remember that the kingdom of God is not going to come riding in on Air Force One,” Jeffress said. “The danger in all of this discussion is that Christians sometimes are willing to sacrifice the temporal for the eternal, that in order to get their candidate elected, to enact those laws that they feel are crucial, somehow we fool ourselves into thinking we are going to bring about the kingdom of God here on Earth. We are not going to do that. I’m not willing to trade people’s eternal destiny for some temporary change in the law.”

His perspective, evidently, has changed.

But it’s the result of the change that’s worth appreciating. As we discussed after Perkins’ “mulligan” comments, many Christian conservatives appear to have discovered the virtues of moral relativism.

Trump has high-profile allies in the religious right who’ve effectively made a moral calculus, borne of political objectives: so long as their partisan ally in the White House delivers on social conservatives’ goals, the religious right is prepared to lower the bar on their stated principles.

The movement, or at least the 2018 version of it, has its priorities, and championing the highest moral standards isn’t necessarily one of them. As the Washington Post’s Michael Gerson put it a while back, “The level of cynicism here is startling. Some Christian leaders are surrendering the idea that character matters in public life in direct exchange for political benefits to Christians themselves. It is a political maneuver indistinguishable from those performed by business or union lobbyists every day. Only seedier. You scratch my back, I’ll wink at dehumanization and Stormy Daniels. The gag reflex is entirely gone.”

Following his “mulligan” comments, Perkins was rather explicit in endorsing the virtues of the religious right’s dubious deal. “This isn’t blind allegiance [to the president] on the part of evangelicals,” Perkins said. “This is reasoned support for a political leader who has made and kept his campaign promises.”

But as we talked about at the time, that only reinforces the underlying point. Moral assessments, in this case, are conditional. So long as politically conservative evangelicals are satisfied with Trump’s politics, his allied Christians are prepared to turn a blind eye to Trump’s morals. His failings are, in a purely practical sense, less relevant than the religious right’s broader wish-list.

What’s less clear is whether evangelical Christianity in the United States will ever be the same.

Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman, shared his personal message to the religious right on MSNBC’s “Hardball” in January: “Just shut the hell up and don’t ever preach to me about anything ever again. I don’t want to hear it…. After telling me how to live my life, who to love, what to believe, what not to believe, what to do and what not to do and now you sit back and the prostitutes don’t matter? The grabbing the you-know-what doesn’t matter? The outright behavior and lies don’t matter? Just shut up.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-31018

Always pleased with, and annoyed by, a new installment ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 4.7.18
04/07/18 07:36 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at a political event evangelical leaders are organizing, which theoretically could cause some discomfort for Donald Trump. NPR had this report yesterday.


Organizers are reportedly coordinating the schedule for the event with the White House, with the expectation that invitations will then go out to “hundreds of conservative Christian pastors and political leaders in the coming days.” The president would, according to the plan, not only attend the gathering but also field questions from evangelical leaders in attendance for roughly 90 minutes.

One of NPR’s sources said, “It is a concern of ours that 2018 could be very detrimental to some of the other issues that we hold dear.”

What’s surprising to me is the fact that some politically active conservative evangelicals would consider such a meeting necessary. A month ago, for example, far-right megachurch leader Robert Jeffress, cognizant of the Stormy Daniels scandal, effectively gave his presidential ally as a pass.

“Evangelicals still believe in the commandment: Thou shalt not have sex with a porn star,” Jeffress said in early March. “However, whether this president violated that commandment or not is totally irrelevant to our support of him…. Evangelicals knew they weren’t voting for an altar boy when they voted for Donald Trump.”

So which is it? It apparently depends which politically active conservative evangelicals you ask. NPR spoke to a “very concerned” leader of a faith-based ministry, but as Right Wing Watch noted yesterday, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins, who’s reportedly helping organize the June gathering, appeared on a conservative radio talk show and questioned the premise of NPR’s report.

“At no point in the conversations that we’ve had organizing this … [was there any] discussion at all about doing this to have a confrontational meeting with the president,” Perkins said. “It is not going to be a confrontational meeting with the president. That is just absolutely not true because that’s not what we are hearing. It might be what the media wants to take place, but it’s not going to happen.”

Of course, if Trump has any reason to believe this might become “a confrontational meeting,” organizers should consider the possibility that he won’t show up.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* Some notable developments at the Holy See: “The Vatican communications department has been working overtime the past few weeks. First, its chief communications secretary, Dario Vigano, resigned under pressure after the Vatican admitted to doctoring a photo of a letter from Pope Benedict XVI to bolster Francis’s conservative credentials. Now, they’re scrambling to contextualize a remark attributed to Pope Francis by an Italian journalist at the newspaper La Repubblica that hell does not exist.”

* A shocking story out of Louisiana: “A Navy chaplain was fired last month from his post at a Marine Corps command after he was caught on video having sex with a woman at a pub in New Orleans, USA TODAY has learned.”

* And speaking of unfortunate stories out of Louisiana: “A Houston megachurch pastor and longtime spiritual adviser to President George W. Bush was indicted in federal court Thursday on claims that he sold more than $1 million in worthless Chinese bonds to vulnerable and elderly investors, some of whom lost their life savings to the alleged scheme. A federal grand jury in Shreveport, La., returned a 13-count indictment accusing the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell and financial planner Gregory Alan Smith of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, prosecutors said in a news release.”

* An important LDS update: “The Mormon church announced Monday it was making significant policy changes after numerous women said they were encouraged by their church leaders to stay in physically or sexually abusive relationships.”

* A surprisingly interesting theological examination: “The Jedi religion – inspired by the Star Wars franchise – has already earned tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service. But can it prove its spiritual legitimacy to a skeptical public?”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-4718#break

Repeating myself: "Always pleased with, and annoyed by, a new installment" ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 4.21.18
04/21/18 07:57 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a look at Donald Trump’s relationship with politically conservative evangelical Christians, which actually appears to be strengthening, despite controversies that would seem to push in the opposite direction.

To be sure, as Trump rose to prominence in Republican politics, he and the religious right movement made an odd pairing. He is, after all, a secular, thrice-married casino owner with a lengthy history of “character” issues, while Christian conservatives generally have little use for these kinds of politicians.

But what’s especially interesting about this awkward marriage is that Trump’s support among evangelicals is going up, even as the public is confronted with new scandals about the president, adult-film entertainers, and hush-money payments. Vox noted yesterday:


That last number may be the most important. A variety of evangelical leaders have already made the case publicly that they’re comfortable with a marriage of convenience with the president: so long as he keeps delivering on the religious right’s priorities, the argument goes, the religious right will embrace moral relativism and look the other way on Trump’s personal failings.

But if 69% of these voters prefer Trump to a different Republican – which is to say, someone else who would presumably be just as eager to deliver on conservative Christians’ political goals – it suggests the movement is taking this relationship beyond convenience and actually investing in Trump personally. The polling results suggest they like him, not just what he’s doing for them.

In January, as the Stormy Daniels controversy was first reaching the public, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said the religious right and the movement’s adherents agreed that Trump should “get a mulligan” when it came to reports about his personal misdeeds. But “mulligan” suggests evangelicals may be less forgiving if, say, Trump were caught up in new scandals that cast his character in a negative light.

Given the available data, it’s starting to look like Trump may have a limitless supply of “mulligans” when it comes to politically conservative evangelical Christians.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* How is it that Focus on the Family is now considered a church by the Internal Revenue Service? Right Wing Watch had an interesting report on this the other day.

* It’s been an unusually brutal year for megachurch pastors: “Prominent pastor Bill Hybels announced Tuesday he is stepping down from his Chicago-area megachurch Willow Creek, just weeks after the Chicago Tribune published allegations of misconduct from several women. Hybels, who with his wife co-founded one of the nation’s largest churches in 1975, was a spiritual adviser to President Bill Clinton around the time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.”

* On a related note: “Frank S. Page has resigned as president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, effective [March 27], over what is described as ‘a morally inappropriate relationship in the recent past.’”

* There’s no shortage of faith-based programming in the United States, but this is a new one: “Scientology TV, a network dedicated to the religion, officially launched [on March 12] at 5 p.m. PT with a message from Church leader David Miscavige, making a rare on-camera appearance.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-42118#break

Given that 81 percent of white evangelical voters voted for Trump, these latest findings suggest that the well-document[ed] turmoil of Trump’s presidency has done little to dissuade his core supporters. Nor are his supporters necessarily banking on the only Republican option out there: According to the poll, 69 percent of white evangelicals would prefer Trump, rather than another Republican candidate, as the 2020 presidential nominee.

These evangelicals need to read what their own bumpf about the anti-Christ says. The evil one appearing to serve the people, etc. Of course they may be torn in two directions - the joy at being a part of the end of days on one hand and being the devil's hand maidens on the other. Five will get you ten they'd just give the anti-Christ a mulligan.

It’s not odd the Fundamentalist awe drawn to Trump

They’re very comfortable with the idea of Supreme Authority. Think Jesus,the Pope, James Dobson, et al.

They’re used to religious authorities having sex scandals
They love the idea of forgiving sinners, and have had a lot of experience at it.

King Solomon is rumored to have had 144 wives (a gross exaggeration), and they have forgiven him. Trump’s a piker by comparison.

King David happened to catch a glimpse of his neighbor’s wife as she was bathing, and he promptly had her soldier husband sent to the the front where he died, and then conveniently provided his services as her new husband. Fundamentalists think none the worse of him for it.

They love the idea of God and Satan fighting over Trump’s soul, and are confident that God will win. This is high drama.

And if he turns out to be the AntiChrist, it just means the rapture is nearer. It’s a win-win.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story ... cbn-218008

Here is an article in Politico that talks about Trump's presence in evangelical TV and on the CBN.

LOVE the idea and will be following the new "Congressional Freethought Caucus" which intends "... to promote policies based ... on reason and science"!!! ~ ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 5.5.18
05/05/18 07:40 AM—Updated 05/05/18 07:41 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a new faith group on Capitol Hill that, for the first time in history, exists for members of Congress who aren’t religious.

There are literally hundreds of caucuses on Capitol Hill, including caucuses for various faith traditions, but as Vox noted this week, the Congressional Freethought Caucus is new and emblematic of changing attitudes toward non-theists.


For now, those four founding members are the caucus’ only members. But given the traditional expectations that politicians must be religious to get elected to pubic office in the United States, the fact that four federal lawmakers would choose to create a Freethought Caucus at all is a … well, “miracle” is probably the wrong word in this context, but it’s pretty extraordinary.

Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, added, “The very existence of this congressional caucus for freethinkers and humanists is a marker of how far the movement for secular and nontheist equality has come. This significant step is also a new beginning for our country as both religious and nonreligious leaders work to better the nation.”

The Pew Research Center has reported that religious “nones” – a shorthand used to refer to people who self-identify as atheists or agnostics, as well as those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” – now make up roughly 23% of the U.S. adult population, a number that’s risen quickly in recent years.

In fact, it’s even reached the point at which a Congressional Freethought Caucus can exist.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* The resolution of a story I’ve noted in previous installments: “The Republic of Iraq has finally taken possession of thousands of ancient artifacts illegally shipped to the U.S. by Hobby Lobby in an international smuggling operation more befitting an Indiana Jones villain than America’s favorite arts-and-crafts retailer.”

* For those who follow religious news closely, the recent dramatic developments at the Religion News Service are a big story.

* Australian Cardinal George Pell “was ordered by an Australian magistrate to face trial over sexual abuse allegations, a decision that may make him the most senior Roman Catholic prelate to be forced to defend himself in court over a scandal that has swept through Catholic communities around the world.”

* The New Jersey Supreme Court recently issued a unanimous ruling blocking public funding of 12 churches that received aid in the form of historic preservation grants. The decision “could reverberate beyond New Jersey and reignite a national debate over the separation of church and state.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-5518#break

Here's another installment ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 5.12.18
05/12/18 07:15 AM—Updated 05/12/18 07:20 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a prominent religious leader who appears to have competing moral standards for presidents, depending on which party they belong to.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, a prominent Donald Trump supporter, told the Associated Press this week that he’s aware of the scandals surrounding the president, including the Stormy Daniels story, but he’s unconcerned.


The references to the Clinton impeachment scandal was of particular interest, because Graham’s current belief that the campaign to tear him down “was a great mistake that should never have happened” appears to be a recent revelation.

In fact, in August 1998, Graham wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in which he presented a very different message. Rather than dismissing the personal allegations as something “for him and his wife to deal with,” Graham argued at the time that allegations such as these were very much the public’s business. “[T]he God of the Bible says that what one does in private does matter,” he wrote.

Graham added, in reference to the then-Democratic president, “If he will lie to or mislead his wife and daughter, those with whom he is most intimate, what will prevent him from doing the same to the American public?”

And yet, here we are, nearly 20 years later, watching Graham’s ally in the Oval Office confront a sex scandal, and wouldn’t you know it, he appears to have had a change of heart. Now, evidently, the “thing with Stormy Daniels and so forth is nobody’s business.”

In the Associated Press interview, Graham added, “This isn’t behavior that has taken place since he’s been president. These things happened long before he became president. That doesn’t make it right. And I don’t defend those kinds of relationships he had. But the country knew the kind of person he was back then, and they still made the decision to make him the president of the United States.”

And that’s likely what much of the religious right and other socially conservative evangelicals tell themselves: Americans knew all about Trump’s lax standards, and so long as one overlooks the fact that he received fewer votes and relied on the intervention of a foreign adversary, Trump nevertheless became president. And so, bygones.

The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne had a column this week exploring whether hypocrisy from conservative elites is driving the public away from religious institutions. I’m left to wonder whether Franklin Graham read it.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* This seems like an area that will generate some new litigation: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a lifelong advocate of Christian education, moved on Wednesday to loosen federal regulations on religious colleges and universities, after a Supreme Court decision that restricted states from denying some kinds of aid to religious institutions.”

* After over a century, the Mormon church is ending its relationship with the Boy Scouts: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and BSA announced their intention to part ways on Dec. 31, 2019, in a joint statement released Tuesday night. The LDS Church said it has grown from a ‘U.S.-centered institution’ to an international organization whose members mostly live outside of America’s borders. Therefore, it said it needs to start its own youth program that ‘serves its members globally.’”

* An interesting new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News: “The nation’s religious makeup has shifted dramatically in the past 15 years, with a sharp drop in the number of Americans who say they’re members of a Protestant denomination – still the nation’s most prevalent religious group – and a rise in the number who profess no religion.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-51218

Here is this week's installment ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 5.19.18
05/19/18 07:18 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a bold claim from Vice President Mike Pence about the role of faith in modern American life.

In general, when White House figures make claims about Donald Trump’s societal impacts, they stick to generalities or boasts that are difficult to check, such as the president’s insistence that he personally has created a cultural surge in Americans wishing each other a “Merry Christmas.”

Pence, however, delivered a commencement address last weekend at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan of notable significance in Republican politics, and he was far more specific. Faith in America, the vice president said, is “rising again” because of Trump and his administration.

Pence added, “We live in a time when traditional values, even religious conviction, are increasingly marginalized by a secular popular culture – a time when it’s become acceptable, even fashionable, to malign religious belief. I still believe with all my heart that faith in America is rising…. Religion in America isn’t receding – just the opposite. Faith is gaining new life with every passing day.”

He went on to say that even though the American population has grown considerably over the decades, American religiousity “has remained remarkably consistent.”

Putting aside the irony of the Indiana Republican’s cultural complaints – the only prominent political figure I can think who’s maligned others’ religious beliefs is Donald Trump – the Washington Post noted that there’s a fair amount of evidence to suggest the vice president’s claims are mistaken.


What’s more, the latest survey from the Washington Post and ABC News highlighted the fact that there’s been a noticeable “rise in the number who profess no religion” over the last 15 years.

It’d be a mistake to attribute these developments to Trump, just as it was a mistake for Pence to argue that the president and his administration is responsible for religion “rising again.”

But whatever the cause for the societal shifts, the vice president’s assertions don’t stand up well to scrutiny.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* If there’s a sensible defense for this, I can’t think of it: “One of the most prominent anti-LGBTQ leaders in the country is now a federal appointee shaping U.S. policy on religious freedom, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council – which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group – announced Wednesday that McConnell appointed him to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.”

* This move came following an emergency summit with Pope Francis: “Every Chilean bishop offered to resign Friday over a sex abuse and cover-up scandal, in the biggest shakeup ever in the Catholic Church’s long-running abuse saga.”

* And Tennessee’s state Constitution, like the U.S. Constitution, is a secular document. That may soon change: state lawmakers are advancing a measure that would add one line to the Tennessee Constitution: “that liberties do not come from government, but from Almighty God.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-51918#break

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council – which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers a hate group – announced Wednesday that McConnell appointed him to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.”

This is just one of those "let's bash Muslims" groups Americans love to spawn.

Here is this week's installment ~ "live links" in original ~ Sooz

This Week in God, 5.26.18
05/26/18 07:55 AM
By Steve Benen

First up from the God Machine this week is a burgeoning fight in Arizona over a culture-war fight that should’ve disappeared many years ago.

A team of nearly three dozen Arizona educators worked on new science standards for the state – the first update in almost 15 years – which were presented to the Arizona Board of Education. But when their draft was released in March, the teachers were not pleased to see the words “evolution” and “evolve” crossed out.

KVOA, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, reported on the state official who was apparently responsible.


The report noted an event in the fall in which the Republican state school superintendent said she “absolutely” supports public schools teaching a form of creationism “along with the theory of evolution.” According to the recording obtained KVOA, Douglas added at the time, “I had a discussion with my staff, because we’re currently working on science standards, to make sure this issue was addressed in the standards we’re working on.”

The state Board of Education will reportedly vote on the proposed science standards next month. Local officials should probably realize that related efforts in other states have always been tested in the courts – and have always been defeated.

Also from the God Machine this week:

* Striking new research from the Pew Research Center: “No group agrees less with the idea that the United States has a responsibility to accept refugees than white evangelical Protestants. Only 25 percent of evangelicals told Pew that they believed the United States has such a responsibility, half the percentage of Catholics who said the same thing and substantially lower than the religiously unaffiliated. In statistical terms, the percentage of evangelicals holding that view was about equal to the percentage of Republicans, 26 percent, given margins of error.”

* It’d be nice if the pope endorsed the sentiment publicly: “A Chilean survivor of clerical sex abuse has said that Pope Francis told him in a private meeting this month that God had made him gay and that both God and the pontiff loved him that way, a remarkable expression of inclusion for the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.”

* The Southern Baptists make a bold move: “Prominent Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson has been removed from his job as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid an evangelical #MeToo moment: a massive backlash from women upset over comments he made in the past that are newly perceived as sexist and demeaning.”

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-52618#break

Well, since Arizona is Navajo country I guess this is the creation story they should go with:

http://www.navajolegends.org/navajo-creation-story/