While those of us who believe that equality it an important American value were celebrating the district court ruling against Proposition 8, the forces of Christian extremism were spewing all manner of idiocy. This week's idiot is California pastor Jim Garlow, one of the organizers of the ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 campaign. Here is Garlow's analysis of the recent ruling in which Proposition 8 was determined to be unconstitutional:

The next court case could conceivably say that if three people wanted to marry or four people or five people or if someone wanted to marry their dog or their horse, they have a right to that because no longer do we have a right to ‘discriminate' based on equal protection.

Bringing up bestiality may indeed make Rick Santorum proud, but this line of argument is pure idiocy.

H/T to Liberaland
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It is unfortunate that we humans have a tendency to seek out information that confirms our views. In this digital age where it is easy to customize the sort of information we receive with a few mouse clicks, it is tempting to construct virtual cocoons to isolate us from dissenting perspectives. This may be comfortable, but it is comfort that comes at a price. Too much of this self-imposed isolation leaves us ill equipped to function in the world as it actually exists.

I have been guilty of this very thing more than I would like to admit. While I do make an effort to seek out and consume information that comes from outside the traditional channels, I can do better. I read a handful of Christian blogs, but I could read more. I read a handful of blogs written by conservative atheists, but I know there are more out there. My RSS aggregator contains feeds from right-wing and centrist sources, but it still leans heavily to the left.

As you know, a federal judge ruled yesterday that California's ban on same-sex marriage (Proposition 8) is unconstitutional. This is a win for all of us who value equality under the law and a loss for those still clinging to religiously-motivated bigotry. Although I'm not sure anybody believes this ruling settles the matter, it is worth pausing to celebrate the victory.

The complete ruling can be found here.

Many people worked hard to stop this attempt by the Christian right to legislate their particular values, imposing them on a large segment of the population who wanted nothing to do with them. In doing so, the opponents of Proposition 8 stood up for their rights and the rights of all minorities. I am sure some were afraid at times, but they did not let this get in their way. They faced down the bigots who sponsored this offensive legislation, and they won.

Here's how the Human Rights Campaigned summed up the decision:

After hearing extensive evidence in support of marriage equality, and essentially no defense of the discrimination wrought by Prop 8, Judge Walker reached the same conclusion we have always known to be true -- the Constitution's protections are for all Americans, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

How obvious and important at the same time! The Constitution applies to all Americans, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals. Maybe it even applies to atheists.

Same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. It is also a church-state issue. As we atheists work to advance atheist civil rights, there is much we can learn from the LGBT community. We need to study Proposition 8 closely, paying attention to how it came to be, who paid for it, how it was defeated, and what it means for modern American religion.

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I suspect that most atheist bloggers receive death threats from time to time. It seems to come with the territory. Here in the U.S., dealing with them is usually as simple as notifying law enforcement and not giving the matter much more thought. Sadly, things can be considerably more complicated in Muslim nations.

According to the Committee to Protect Bloggers, Fariborz Shamshiri, an Iranian atheist blogger, has been receiving death threats. Something tells me that this is far more serious in Iran where one can be imprisoned just for criticizing religious leaders. Can you imagine the courage it would take to write not one but several outspoken atheist blogs in a country like Iran?

You can see some of Shamshiri's work at Rotten Gods.

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Have you ever been to a church carnival? No, I don't mean a church service with a carnival atmosphere. I mean an actual carnival put on by a church as a fundraiser. Sounds like it could be a fun, family-oriented way for a church to raise money. Or it could simply be an exercise in far-right hatred.

A Catholic church in Roseto, PA, is in the news because of game at their carnival in which attendees were encouraged to shoot darts at the image of an African American man holding a health care bill and wearing the presidential seal. Of course, the owner of the company responsible for providing the games now claims that it was not meant to depict President Obama. Sure it wasn't.

The real story, as far as I'm concerned, is how Rev. Jim Prior responded when attendees complained.

“We’re used to this kind of bigotry and prejudice, and we abhor it but it’s the way of the world,” Prior said. “Even the Divine Father himself is vilified in today’s culture.”

Sigh.

H/T to The Maddow Blog

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This crime called blasphemy was invented by priests for the purpose of defending doctrines not able to take care of themselves.

Robert Green Ingersoll

People are always asking me how I am planning to celebrate some obscure occasion or another, and I often find myself saying I would have if I had heard anything about it until it was far too late to do anything about it. I accept some of the responsibility for this - I'm chronically disorganized and not always very observant. But I think it is equally true that some of these occasions are publicized quite poorly (if at all). I think that International Blasphemy Day should be an exception. It is too important.

I really enjoyed the following clip from CNN. Man, they really have become an embarrassing self-parody by airing this sort of garbage! I never would have guessed that anyone could make the guy planning to burn Qurans on 9/11 seem almost rational, but CNN's Rick Sanchez managed to do just that. I have not spent enough time watching him to realize what a colossal moron he is, and I must admit that I'm impressed.



This Christian church in Florida has the right to burn whatever they want as long as it is theirs to burn. Let them burn the Quran. It is just a book. And let Muslims burn the Christian bible if they want. It too is just a book.

Assuming that Rick Sanchez is interested in not sounding like such a moron in the future, here are some points from the video he should review:

• It doesn't matter how many Muslims there are in the world. This is not relevant to this argument at all. Numbers do not bring with them a right not to be offended.
• The Quran is not sacred; it is a book. The Christian bible is not sacred; it is a book. Burning a book one owns is about as far from burning someone else's house as possible.
• This church is burning the Quran to make a statement. Why is this so difficult to comprehend?
• Islam is a violent religion. How is this even in dispute. Christianity is also a violent religion.
• Why do we defend oppression, Rick? That was a good question, and you dodged it completely.
• How does this guy "do Christians a disservice" in any way? He is saying what many of them believe.

Yeah, I get it. This Florida pastor is more than a little cooky if he thinks his preferred religion is superior to the other guy's. I'm not defending anything about what he believes. However, I will certainly defend his right to burn any "holy" book he chooses. If Rick has such a problem with what he's doing, maybe he shouldn't have given him a national platform.

H/T to Atheist Media Blog

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It probably goes without saying that I am going to be opposed to anything supported by the Christian extremist American Family Association. But there is a bit of legislation they have been pushing in Congress that I'd like to bring to your attention because it seems to be gaining support. H.Con.Res. 274 would not only reaffirm "In God We Trust" as the official motto of the United States, but it would encourage public display of this motto in all public buildings, including public schools.

This resolution, sponsored by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA), has picked up 73 co-sponsors already, including some Democrats. The American Family Association has been sending out action alerts stating,

We all recognize the need to return God to His proper place in our public life and especially in our system of public education. You can help return this nation to God by contacting your representative today!

So much for this national motto not being inherently religious.

It is good to see the American Humanist Association out in front on this one, but I worry that this is the sort of resolution that may pass if we cannot bring additional pressure on our elected representatives.

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Until now, I haven't addressed the controversy over the proposal by the Cordoba Initiative to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero. Initially, I did not have particularly strong feelings either way. I understood why many of the families of 9/11 victims would object and why some would consider it insensitive. I also found the bitterness of the right-wing pundits and Christian extremists who opposed the proposal to be quite interesting for what it revealed about them. I was also fairly certain that much of what I had heard about the center was inaccurate. Before sounding off, I thought it would be reasonable to wait until I knew something about the real issues (imagine that).