For instance, here's one word: Disturbing.

More from the description:

The characteristics focused on in this Bible storybook will help your little girl blossom into the princess she was created to be. Virtues to create beauty such as compassion, sharing, and truth are highlighted in fun and engaging ways. The perfect format for girls to learn about their destiny as a daughter of their King.

The princess meme has become so dominant and saturated every aspect of pop culture that it's now being used to teach religion. A gender-neutral bible is not good enough; little girls need a one with pink accents and a tiny tiara. In addition, you can argue that boys "long to be loved and adored" just as much as girls do, only we live in a society that places more emphasis on girls being pretty and popular. (Of course, you can also argue that some girls do not long to be loved and adored, but would prefer to be left alone and not fussed over.) As for giving their hearts to their heroes? That's not something inherent to girls, either. Boys "give their heart" to baseball players, rock stars and other notable figures, it's just not coated with the sugary, dreamy language stereotypically used on girls.

One Amazon.com customer writes, "What little girl doesn't want to be a princess?" The answer: Plenty. Some want to be gymnasts, scientists, actresses, soldiers, librarians. Furthermore, regardless of the religious message, teaching a girl to be a "daughter of a King" is troubling as it means that the little girl's identity is fully linked with that of someone else. In this case, the King is God, but all princesses have this problem: A princess is a daughter, a wife or an heir — not an individual. She defines herself by who she in relation to another. Plus, while a warrior goes out on adventures and experiences the world, a princess usually stays in her castle — a point driven home in the New Super Mario Bros. game for Wii (which we mentioned earlier) in which Princess Peach has been kidnapped and must be rescued. Again.

In contrast, the version of this book for boys, God's Mighty Warrior Devotional Bible, sends a very different message:

Just like God created little girls in a special way, He created little boys to be mighty warriors… even when they feel small. Now with this new devotional Bible in storybook format, boys can learn how to be strong, honorable, courageous and true. Selections of Bible text from the International Children's Bible are combined with delightful articles to help a budding warrior earn his armor.

Do girls not need to learn to be strong, honorable and true? Are a little girls not allowed to be budding warriors? Are there compassion and sharing lessons for boys, or is that just girl stuff?

These books further the notion that girls are delicate, fragile, dreamy creatures in need of protection — or at least Purity Balls. Unlike "warrior" boys, strength and independence are not something for girls to focus on — instead, "beauty" and caring are highlighted.

Luckily, Amazon notes of God's Little Princess Devotional Bible: "This is a bargain book and quantities are limited." Hopefully, most girls out there won't get the message.

I Have No Words And I Must Scream [Shakesville]
The Princess Is In Another Freakin' Castle? [Techland]
God's Little Princess Devotional Bible: Bible Storybook, God's Mighty Warrior Devotional Bible [Amazon]

Related:
Lilly's Kids: What's Christmas Without Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes?
Purity Balls: Ruining Young Girls One White Rose At A Time

Trebay asked himself: "Was that Santa ornament really wearing camouflage, with a shotgun held to his torso and a dead mallard slung from his belt?" Of course he was! The ornaments may bring joy and color to the lives of shoppers, but the folks at Bronner's know that the tacky holiday crap they shill is, in fact, totally useless. "There is not a thing out there that anybody needs," Wayne Bronner, the president of Bronner’s, tells Trebay. But:

Not much on the sales floor at Bronner’s costs more than $10, [Bronner] said. "Even in times of economic turmoil, there comes a moment every fall when people look at the calendar and see that Christmas is still coming and it’s still on Dec. 25," added the company president, who that day had chosen from among his collection of novelty neckties one patterned with Christmas bulbs. "The $10 ornament that’s the perfect gift for Grandpa or Uncle Rob is not going to make or break anybody’s budget," he said.

And yet. The cold, hard truth is: You don't need this stuff. Trebay writes about the "150 different styles of nutcrackers; ornaments that said 'Merry Christmas' in 70 languages; display cases filled with ranks of sinister Hummel kiddies; 1,700 Precious Moments cherubs with woeful teardrop eyes; 500 Nativity sets from 70 nations; and Christmas balls in 6,000 styles" and it seems unjustifiably lavish. Christ himself didn't have a Christmas tree, and didn't he live in poverty? At a time of lay-offs, a weak U.S. dollar and general malaise, does spending hard-earned cash on sparkly do-dads make sense? Can a person — on a budget or with cash to burn — justify a glittery Elvis or Bigfoot ornament when the country is in financial crisis?

Excuse Me, Where’s Thanksgiving? [NY Times]

Earlier: 9 Really Weird Christmas Ornaments From Bronner's
9 More Weird Christmas Ornaments From Bronner's

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?

And pray tell, what does "purity" really mean, anyway? Apparently no one ever says the word "abstinence" at any of these events. But when the girls pray, they say some kind of vow. In her private moment with God, sixteen-year-old Katie Swindler says, "I promise to God and myself and my family that I will stay pure in my thoughts and actions until I marry," according to the Times. What if she has a thought that is purely sexual? What if she purely wants to make out? What if she likes a guy and wants him purely as a fuck buddy? Are these thoughts unpure?

Says one 54-year-old father, Terry Lee: "[The ball] inspires me to be spiritual and moral in turn. If I’m holding them to such high standards, you can be sure I won’t be cheating on their mother." Hmm, so is it for your daughter or for you? Who's the one having "hookup culture" thoughts?

But the girls do get something out of it. "Something I need from dad is affirmation, being told I’m beautiful," says Jordyn Wilson, 19. "If we don’t get it from home, we will go out to the culture and get it from them." And so this is why the fathers pray with their daughters, walk under an arch of swords, and then watch as the girls place a white rose at the foot of a giant cross.

There are many awful things about the concept of purity balls, but here's the worst one: The idea that a little girl is a delicate flower who needs protecting from the big bad world. A girl is a flesh and blood human being, and humans learn by experimentation. Trial and error. You learn to ride a bike by falling and skinning your knee a few times. By knowing that if you get seriously hurt, you can turn to a parent for help. You learn what you want in a relationship by having a couple of shitty boyfriends (and a couple of awesome ones.) You learn how far you want to go, how far you are ready to go — physically, sexually, in a relationship, by trying a little bit at a time (first base, second base, etc). Teenagers have raging hormones that all but prevent "pure" thoughts. If you make a vow to God with your dad that you won't have "unpure" thoughts, aren't you setting yourself up for failure? Won't you be scared to tell your dad if you have any "unpure" thoughts? Or "unpure" actions? Aren't you automatically creating a rift? And what about your mom? Why no vow with her? Because women are weak and delicate, mere prey and playthings for men? Creating an environment in which females are helpless things in need of protection and "rescue" from men is inherently dangerous; what a a girl needs to know in this "hookup culture" is that she can fend for herself. Isn't a girl who has "unpure" thoughts but parents she can talk to — who aren't expecting her to be a white rose but an actual human — more likely to have the confidence, self-worth and wherewithal to only go as far as she's ready to?

(Don't even get me started on the focus of girls as the keepers of some kind of fetish-y object, the so-called holy state of virginity. As though safe sex would somehow ruin them. And again, why are there no boys involved? Are young men mindlessly running rampant through the Evangelical community, penises erect, so that the fathers must shield their daughters from them? And is a man's virginity not a white flower?)

Unfortunately, as the Times reminds us:

"Most teenagers who say they will remain abstinent, like those at the ball, end up having sex before marriage, and they are far less likely to use condoms than their peers."

Dancing the Night Away, With a Higher Purpose, A Purity Ball (slideshow) [NY Times]

Earlier: How Exactly, Is Virginity A Concept?

Men are... immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the soul, and of their common duties to their Creator and to their fellow men. This is, then, the subject on which it is most important for each of us to entertain fixed ideas; and, unhappily, it is also the subject on which it is most difficult for each of us, left to himself, to settle his opinions by the sole force of his reason.

The magazine goes on to interview a Catholic-born Shamanist who also digs Judaism, a Wiccan Buddhist who's reading the Bible, lapsed Baptists who love gays but still do charity, and an "expert" at the University of Notre Dame who wonders if there isn't a downside to all this. "If teens are thinking, evaluating, and searching, that is a good sign. The downside is that if religion turns into a customizable choice, it loses its power," she says. But Tocqueville totes knew you were going to say that! From page 508:

I anticipate the objection, that as all religions have general and eternal truths for their object, they can not thus shape themselves to the shifting spirit of every age without forfeiting their claim to certainty in the eyes of mankind.To this I reply again, that the principal opinions which constitute belief, and which theologians call articles of faith, must be very carefully distinguished from the accessories connected with them.

Shvarts stood by her project, calling the University's statement "ultimately inaccurate."...But Shvarts reiterated Thursday that she repeatedly used a needleless syringe to insert semen into herself. At the end of her menstrual cycle, she took abortifacient herbs to induce bleeding, she said. She said she does not know whether or not she was ever pregnant. "No one can say with 100-percent certainty that anything in the piece did or did not happen," Shvarts said, "because the nature of the piece is that it did not consist of certainties."

University Calls Art Project A Fiction; Shvarts '08 Disputes Yale's Claim [Yale Daily News]

————— Forwarded message ————— From: Blair Johnson Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 12:59 AM Subject: Walter asked me to marry him, and I said yes! To:

(Pictures to come in next e-mail)

Dear Family and Friends,

The subject line says it all: I'm getting married to the man of my dreams!! Last weekend, Walter asked me to marry him, and I said yes! And soon, I will be the future Mrs. Walter R.M. Montgomery!

Many of you know that I spent the month of January at home in FL, recovering from a bad case of mono. Little did I know how the Lord would use that case of mono to bless me for the rest of my life...

THE LEAD UP TO THE QUESTION
Resting at home in FL, I missed Walter so very much. He planned to come down and visit me halfway through my stay there. We had a beautiful time at the beach and around my hometown... but in coming to FL he also got to meet my dad. He had gotten to know my mom a couple times on her visits to VA, but he had never met my father.

Consequently, Walter called prior to his coming, if he could spend some one-on-one time with my dad. So the two shared breakfast one morning. When I asked how it went, Walter told me they had a great time talking about hunting, trucks, etc. What Walter didn't tell me was that he also asked my father for his blessing to marry me...

One week later, Walter explained to me over the phone that his parents wanted to get all his siblings together in Louisville, KY (his hometown) to celebrate some birthdays, and while he felt he should be there (his brother and sister were flying in from out-of-town too), he didn't want to spend another weekend without me... would I please go with him? I was so excited to visit his family again, (having spent Thanksgiving with them in the Fall) they are wonderfully warm and kind people, I was thrilled at the chance! So, one week after that, I returned to VA on a Thursday, only to leave the very next day on Friday. While we did enjoy a birthday dinner and light candles on the cake that night, I was soon to find out that everyone had come into town for a different celebration...

At the end of the family gathering that night, Walter nonchalantly asked his older brother Titus if he could borrow his truck the next morning. Walter wanted to take me out to his Grandpa's farm where he and his 4 brothers and sister had grown up over the years. Throughout our 7 months of dating, I have heard countless stories of Montgomery adventures on that farm - stories of planting fields and hunting deer, quail, doves, turkeys - anything that moves. I was so excited and eager to see the farm; I knew how important that land was to him since he told me that's where he learned many of life's important lessons and enjoyed God's blessings. And soon, I was to learn too.

THE PROPOSAL
February 16, 2008 (Best day of my life until our wedding day!)
Saturday, February 16th, Walter and I drove to the farm. Once we were inside the farm gate, he pulled out a rolled up piece of aged brown paper, tied with a piece of leather string. He told me open it. What I found was an intricate map of the farm, detailing every field, creek, and pond... but it was in the appearance of an old Spanish explorer's map. I noticed an "X" by the Duck Pond, and I looked at him, asking, "X marks the spot?" And he said, "That's right, babe. We're going on a treasure hunt!" While I have hoped for a long time that Walter would one day propose to me, I didn't expect it then because I thought our trip to the farm was a last minute thought... and I thought wrong!

With him as the off-roading driver and me as the navigator, we set out to follow the map's trails to the "X." We got out of the truck and wandered a little ways through the forest, until we got to a small clearing in the woods. It was a beautiful spot overlooking the frozen Duck Pond, the sun shining down on us through the trees. And truly, the Lord's light was shining down on us.

THE QUESTION THAT CHANGED MY LIFE, AND THE
ANSWER THAT CHANGED HIS

Suddenly, Walter stopped telling me tales of the farm. He took me in his arms, and staring into my eyes, he said words that took my breath away.

"Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."

These words were the first words Adam said to Eve (Genesis 2:23). The first words spoken from a man to his wife. Essentially saying, God has made you to be a part of me and me to be a part of you.

Walter continued...

"Blair, I have loved you. I love you. And I will love you the rest of my life."

Tears welled in my eyes, as I watched Walter get down on one knee. It was as if time stood still when I heard his next words:

"Blair Ann Johnson, Will you marry me?"

I threw my arms around his neck in such joy,but I couldn't believe he was proposing to me! The moment for which I had waited since I was a little girl and for which I had prayed since I was 14 years old... was actually happening! I was breathing so hard!

Finally, I found the words, "Yes, Walter! Oh yes, thank you Lord, yes!" And he kissed me, and our lives were changed for the rest of our time on this earth.
And in the joy of knowing that I would be his wife and he my husband, I forgot about...

THE RING!!
As he rose from the ground, he slipped onto my left ring finger, the most beautiful, exquisite engagement ring I could ever desire - a solitaire diamond, tiffany setting, in platinum (see pictures attached).

But the true beauty of the ring comes not from how it sparkles in the light, but its symbolism shows his heart for me.

The diamond is his great grandmother's diamond, the one she wore to his parents wedding, and I will now where to ours. What an incredibly special way to be invited into his family: on the farm of his mother's family with a ring from his father's family.

Beneath the diamond there are two small white diamonds. Walter later told me that he searched hundreds of rings of several jewelers before he found this ring (a treasure hunt, indeed!). He searched so diligently because, after asking God to show him what kind of ring to give me, he was deeply impressed with the need to find one with two smaller diamonds. The two small diamonds and one large diamond represent the following truth that will guide our marriage:

Apart from each other, we, like the two small white diamonds, are just two small creatures here on this earth.

Yet, in Christ's love, the two of us become one. As one, we shine His light, His love in a greater, more powerful way than any individual ever could alone. Our love is neither of ourselves, nor is it found on this earth. Rather, our love is a love from Heaven, created and sustained by God to demonstrate His character of goodness, righteousness, redemption, and truth. Truly, our love is a miracle, and we give God the glory for it. It is only because Jesus loves us, and we love Him, that we can
love each other.
And love each other, we do!!
A Montgomery WELCOME
After a few quiet, tender moments, we hopped into the truck and headed

—- end of quote —-