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Megapastor Rick Warren is always preaching loudly about some crusade or another, but it looks like this time he picked the wrong issue to take a stand on. He's come out swinging against Obama's contraception mandate, even though it offers exemptions for religious institutions. The only problem? His church, which is based in California, has been following the same mandate on a state level for some time. So he's about 13 years late to the outrage game. More »
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If you thought that God had never really given much thought to teacher's salaries, you'd be wrong. At least according to Shadrack McGill, a Republican state senator from Alabama. He spoke at a prayer breakfast recently where he passed along some very interesting wisdom from God regarding what teachers should be paid. He began this ridiculous conversation by speaking about politician's salaries, which, you might be surprised to learn, he thinks should be quite high. The reason—besides the fact that he is one? To prevent them from taking bribes. Well, it's nice to see that McGill has such a high opinion of his colleagues. He then leapt to talk about why he doesn't support a bill to increase teachers' wages: More »
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Have you ever thought about whether God thinks you're fat? Well, maybe you should start. At least that's what Pastor Rick Warren — bestselling author and pastor at one of the largest megachurches in the nation — thinks. He's got a new diet plan that he's pulled from scripture, and he's poised to lead his whole congregation to the promised land where everyone has a healthy body mass index and no one eats too many carbs. You know, just like in the Bible. More »
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A Santorum campaign staffer who wrote that he believes that children would be harmed if a woman became the leader of the State and thus The Lord in his Almighty Electoral Wisdom would never allow a woman to rise to the office of President has refused to recant or apologize for his antiquated views, saying it was a personal reflection on his faith. Surprise, surprise. The Glass Ceiling in the Republican party is now made out of God. More »
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In a statement that reads like parody but is apparently real, a Christian group claims that UK supermarket chain Tesco's recent sales slump is actually the Almighty's answer to their prayers. More »
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Women wear heels for many reasons — to look long-legged, to stand at eye level with taller men, because they have Barbie feet. I, for one, wear heels so that if I'm attacked while walking to or from the train, my footwear can double as a weapon, plus, "My goodness gracious, how do you not break your neck?" is a great conversation starter with strangers concerned about the well being of my skeleton. One blogger, however sees things a little differently. More »
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Religion is one of the three things you're not supposed to talk about at the dinner table (along with politics and The Great Pumpkin). And yet it's pretty important to a lot of people. Here's how to discuss God stuff without getting into a shouting match. More »
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If you're reading this, chances are you're not in church. And you're not alone. According to a recent survey that measured Christian churchgoing behavior among America's women over the last 20 years, we're all getting decidedly less godly. More »
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An evangelical church in New York is trying to lure new members with a six-week weight loss course called "BOD4GOD." But does God really care what size you are? More »
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In 2005, Zondervan released an edition of the New International Version of the Bible that included language acknowledging the existence of women. Disgraceful! Evangelicals got mad and condemned the book, so Zondervan's put the "men" and "mankind" back in. More »
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The Scottish Episcopal Church's new order of service removes all masculine references to God, including "he," "him," and "Lord." "God's above and beyond human gender," says one reverend. "We are not saying God is not masculine. God is also feminine." More »
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while accepting an award at the Gracies (which honor women in radio and TV) on Tuesday. Also, she was "called to the ministry" at church camp when she was 13, telling her parents: "I can change the world. Somehow." [Us] More »
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11:32am, ABC. More »
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When researchers told subjects "that psychological testing showed their social outlook to be bleak," they "were more likely to describe God as a friend and attribute human qualities like thoughtfulness to their pets." A new market for this service? [LiveScience] More »
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Fred Phelps, the hate-happy pastor of Wesboro Baptist Church, has, rather belatedly, discovered Lady Gaga- and now is calling for a boycott of the hussy's "pretentious prancing." If this weren't so crazy, it would be a masterpiece of absurdist prose: More »
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The description for God's Little Princess Devotional Bible reads: "Girls long to be loved and adored, and give their heart to their hero." CaitieCat of Shakesville replies: "I have no words and I must scream." Well, I have words: More »
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• John McCain has decided that since everyone is annoyed at him for lying and being a dick when he's called out on it, he's going to say Obama is lying and being a dick when he's called out on it. That's still lying, John, you're missing the point here. [Gawker]
• He was then promptly called out for lying again, not that he cares. [Swampland]
• And for being all for anti-abortion terrorists and their rights to harass and commit acts of violence against women and reproductive health care providers. Even better? Nancy PfotenhauerPfuckingsucks set him up for it by mistake. [Think Progress]
• He's probably still wondering why Obama is ahead in the national polls, though. [CNN]

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God, the VMAs were beyond boring this year. Even the people in the live audience didn't want to be there. You know it's bad when Jamie Foxx has to come out on stage and literally tell people to wake up. I think the show's producers were hoping they'd be credited for introducing Russell Brand to America, hoping he'd be the new Borat. Except, he sucked, so he's actually the new Yahoo Serious. Nice knowin' ya, Russell! And you know, not that I really care about how the award winners are determined, or that I even give any credence to the legitimacy of these things, but how fucking bullshit was it that Britney walked away with all three awards that she was nominated for, just so that MTV could get her to show up? Anyway, above you'll find the awards boiled down to the only 70 seconds worth seeing. More »
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The Republican National Convention hasn't even officially started and already it's being scaled back due to Republicans not wanting to look like insensitive assholes (again) when a hurricane hits the Gulf Coast. In the absence of hangovers, parties or Madonna concerts to discuss this week, Kay Steiger of Campus Progress (still Conventionally blogging at Pushback and RH Reality Check) and I discuss hurricanes, Sarah Palin, polar bears, drilling for oil, Carly Fiorina, how we won't be voting with our vaginas and the most desperate need of our time — that Kevin Costner never star in another science fiction movie. More »
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Thai officals approve a "human zoo" with the famed long-necked women, many of whom are refugees from Myanmar. • Indian sex workers can now get life insurance, but their profession remains illegal. • Snickers, Doritos, and Peanut M&Ms are the most popular vending machine snacks. • A child who formed in her mother's liver turned 5 today! • A new prayer book for Reform Judaism makes God gender-neutral. • Teens aren't giving oral to "preserve" their virginity mostly because they are just having intercourse instead. • Plans for a Sound of Music hotel sparks fierce protest from Austrian fussbudgets. • Same sex couples are common in wild animals because, duh, sex is fun! • Adelaide "Sun-Lin" Young, a female explorer of China in the 1930s, died at 96. • Oh great! Recent female college grads make $2.92 less than their male counterparts. • Social and religious reasons are behind the lack of female directors in the boardrooms of Arab corporations. • However! There are more women in the boardroom in Kuwait and Oman than Italy and Japan. • Peeping Tom cases in public places are getting thrown out due to "unreasonable expectation of privacy" by the peeped. • Carme Chacon, Spain's first female defense minister, gave birth to a boy today. • 3 in 10 men experience domestic violence with an intimate partner, although it goes largely unreported. More »
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Even the most open-minded person can see some other culture's ritual and think to herself, "Well that is just weird. And creepy. And weird." Which is how you may feel if you read the story in the New York Times about purity balls. And yes, there is a freakshow slideshow. Here's the gist of it: Grade school- to college-aged girls get all dolled up and attend this dance with their fathers, step-fathers or fathers-in-law. They talk, they eat, and then the men read a covenant "before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity." Randy Wilson organizes this Colorado Springs event. He tells the men: "Fathers, our daughters are waiting for us. They are desperately waiting for us in a culture that lures them into the murky waters of exploitation. They need to be rescued by you, their dad." God (heh) knows we're living in a "hookup culture," as the paper puts it. But why do little girls need to be rescued? Why are there no mothers or sons involved? More »
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Not that I ever smoked, but I guess I'd start, too, if my house looked like that. But there are disasters all over the place today, from Hillary's wonderful comments on race to the innocent guy we held in Gitmo who decided that the terrorists were right about us to the Myanmar cyclone pictured. It's disaster day on Crappy Hour, as Moe takes a much-needed break and I take a moment away from Glamocracy to talk Texas, Hillary, terrorists, fascists and God with the Washington Independent's Attackerman, Spencer Ackerman. More »
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Writer Anne Lamott — whose 1994 book Bird by Bird is well-known and much-loved by millions of frustrated, (mostly female?) writers — appeared in all her dreadlocked-glory on last night's Colbert Report to plug her new book Grace, Eventually, and talk politics, Sunday school, Jeremiah Wright and the fact that God is a female. Strangely, she seemed to back away from that assertion after Colbert called her out on it, but she did get in a good dig at Dick Cheney and his ascension into Heaven. Clip above. More »
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Did you know that the oldest Western religions had "mother" goddesses and not a male god, and that Christianity was similar in its early days? "Late medieval and Renaissance art often features the Virgin Mary, one breast exposed, nursing the baby Jesus," reports Utne. "The mother's breast is a symbol of God's love; her milk represents salvation." Then, after about 1750, naked breasts were either medical or erotic. Author Margaret R. Miles suggest we bring back the breast as it was: "In societies in which violence is rampant on the street and in the media, the nursing Virgin can perhaps communicate God's love to people in a way that a violent image, the image of one more sacrificial victim, cannot." Oh, and a footnote! The Vatican recently clarified that all Catholics baptized in the name of the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier—a popular gender-neutral alternative to father, son, and holy spirit—should be re-baptized using the proper male names for God. [Utne] More »
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What are morals? And why does generation after generation insist on infusing certain behaviors, whether they be eating pork or eating meat, cloning cows or cloning zygotes, driving pickups or buying Barbies at Wal-Mart, drinking or smoking, with the radioactive taint that is MORALITY? Why do the universal biological instincts we call "conscience" impel toddlers to offer you their drool-stained teddy bears when they see you cry, and yet adults, in the name of the universal moral order their consciences supposedly constructed, see fit to publicly flog other adults who allow said children to name their teddy bears "Mohammed"? What was up with Will Smith telling that newspaper he didn't think Hitler thought of himself as a terrible guy? And why the fuck are people so quick to misinterpret every goddamn thing someone says, as if they've been standing in the shadows for years, waiting for that deep-rooted innermost hatefulness to reveal itself? Why does righteousness so easily slide into immorality? And why does every experiment testing the universality of "morals" involve runaway tolleys? Is what we call "morality" just another example of of evolutionary biology, which is the new "socialization"? Can we blame Darwin for Bratz dolls, AND our moral opposition to the existence of Bratz dolls in our Wal-Mart stores? More »
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