Knuckleheads of the world, unite!

Above: Blue Ridge Christian Academy.

My grandfather, the Christian Scientist, frequently used that expression when confronted with anti-science dolts. I immediately knew it had to be the title of this piece.

I can do no better than to simply quote my local newspaper, the Greenville News, about this latest horror.

And to the rest of Blogdonia, Tumblr, all points of the internet and beyond, let me underscore it: SEE WHAT WE PUT UP WITH AROUND HERE? This is why I often do not take your intramural lefty-theoretical squabbles seriously. In these parts, we are still dealing with the freaking Scopes trial.

The title of the Greenville News account is Blue Ridge quiz ignites firestorm, accompanied by the coy subtitle, Furor brings attention, but possibly salvation. This is a cute example of how the Greenville News always tries to have it both ways. As is evident in the article below, this phrase could refer to 'salvation of the school itself'--which was ready to go belly-up financially... OR it could mean, literally, the way to Salvation with a capital S. (article is credited to Lyn Riddle, staff writer)

Which meaning is intended? You decide:

It was labeled “4th grade science quiz. Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel.”

Eighteen questions. The first four were true or false.

The earth is billions of years old. A lopsided pencil mark circled false.

Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, another circle: false.

It went on from there, testing students on the beginning of the world according to creationism, the belief that the literal interpretation of the first book of the Bible explains it all. Both were marked correct.

Before long, the quiz was posted on the social news website Reddit, unleashing a firestorm of criticism on Blue Ridge Christian Academy, a tiny private Christian school in northern Greenville County.

In what board chair Joy Hartsell says shows God is at work in the world, the controversy may be what saves the school from closing.

About six weeks ago, parents were told that the school would close May 31 because the founder and major donor would no longer make up the loss in operating expenses, said Diana Baker, the director.

“We may have found the path to get the money,” Hartsell said Friday.

So far, about $10,000 toward the $200,000 needed to stay open next fall has been received and more checks arrive in the mail every day, Baker said.

She said she received a $3,000 check on Thursday.

Cue my grandfather's phrase, the title of this blog post.

Fundies to the rescue! Knuckleheads of the world, unite!

The rest of the article makes it clear that the sheltered and ignorant denizens of Blue Ridge Christian Academy have never even seen Reddit before. Someone obviously unleashed the "DIAF" meme, which made them hyperventilate and call the sheriff's office. Do you believe? If I had called the sheriff every time someone online wished a nasty death on me... well, the Greenville County sheriff would be permanently camped out in my kitchen.

But yes, pick a fight with stupidity and then howl when the world takes you seriously, as I have said numerous times, is the usual fundamentalist technique.

Your thoughts?

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Prayer in Pickens County

Note the specific wording of the following report from the Anderson Independent Mail. There will be a quiz later.

Pickens County school board changes prayer policy

PICKENS COUNTY — The Pickens County Board of Education passed a new policy Monday to allow only nonsectarian prayers at the beginning of school board meetings.

People turned out to the school board meeting Monday night to make final pleas for the school board not to change the policy that had been in place. The school board was strongly divided in its vote, which was 3-2 with one member abstaining.

“Please vote to be right, not safe,” Pickens County resident Vicky Gibson said.

Another resident said, “The point I’m trying to make tonight is we are giving up without a fight.”

School board member Jim Shelton said, “This board has sold your soul to protect themselves.”

Discussion about the new policy began after the Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened to sue the school district regarding the practice of student-led, sectarian prayer.

“Taking a stand like you’re suggesting will be a legal defeat, and it will be costly,” board member Alex Saitta said to those who wanted the district to keep the past policy despite the threat of a lawsuit.

The new policy doesn’t satisfy the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and it still may sue the district.

And now, note the title of this Facebook page, created in direct reaction to this event: I Support the Pickens County School Board Continuing Student-Led Prayer. The page is described as: Let's share to help get the word out. We can make a difference. Let's continue contacting Board members to voice support for the student-led prayers. (1324 'likes' so far.)

Do you see the discrepancy between the news account, and what the Facebook page claims? This deliberate misreading has been going on throughout upstate South Carolina media, since Monday night.

Nobody said they couldn't PRAY, they just have to be NONSECTARIAN prayers. But to some Christians, unless it is Christian prayer, it doesn't even count as prayer. It is rendered utterly invisible. (Or maybe they are illiterate and really do not understand the difference?)

And doncha love that "Please vote to be right, not safe"? If someone gets beat up for not having the same religion as the majority of Pickens County and not bowing their head on cue, oh well. BETTER RIGHT THAN SAFE.

When you are in the majority, you don't have to worry about safety, do you? Let those nonChristian punks worry about safety, galdurnit! This is PICKENS!

Stay tuned, sports fans.

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Atheism and (lack of) morality

Are atheists more moral than those of us who do not classify ourselves that way? I often think they are. Perhaps this is why they aren't unnerved about the long-term effects of atheism; they are doing fine, and they assume everyone else will, too.

The 'new atheists' are basically moral and well-behaved, so they don't realize that some of us are moral and well-behaved simply to keep from burning in hell for all eternity.

If there was no God or no law or no karma, we would SETTLE SOME SCORES.

I started thinking about this after participating on an atheist blog some years ago, when I was still identifying as Christian. I was struck by the fact that one of my serious questions was thought to be a joke, or at the least, a sarcastic rejoinder. It wasn't. I was dead serious. But the atheists didn't think I was serious, and that is what I found alarming: this means they do not understand what a serious matter it is.

Once again, I felt we were trying to communicate across a huge abyss.

I asked, "What about the fact that believing there is a God, keeps lots of people from killing each other?"

HAHAHA, they all responded, virtually as one unit. Well, they sneered back, one can learn not to kill someone without God. They acted like it was a simple decision, not a seductive thought that one consciously wrestles with (as in Woody Allen's great movie Crimes and Misdemeanors); an act that you eventually logically decide is... not nice. And so, you don't do it.

But why not, in that case? I asked what would be the deterrent, if there is no hell-fire? No bad karma and/or no punishment? Again, they sneered and thought I was joking or being a wise-ass. (It is also notable that they apparently assumed I was talking about someone else, i.e. The Bad People, rather than myself and other regular people like me.)

I wasn't. I was being rational. Belief systems (various kinds) have kept a lot of us from going off on people and committing violence. If there is no divine retribution, no holy justice, no guarantee the evil will be punished... do you understand how dangerous such an idea is?

Let me be very clear: Do the privileged understand that if the poor stop believing in God, they will no longer be safe? Are they ready for that world? Because I don't mind telling you, I'm not.

"Are you saying God is the only reason people act morally? What does that say about you and your view of humanity?"

My view of humanity is utterly realistic: humans have enslaved each other, pillaged, raped, and committed mass genocide. There have been Final Solutions, prison camps and Gulags. People have killed each other for insurance policies, parking places, brand-name shoes and having the wrong tattoos. And this has been possible even though the perpetrators DID believe in divine retribution and everlasting hell-fire. What if they stopped? What if all that matters is only what we see right in front of us: what you can get away with?

Will that be a better world? Doesn't it frighten you?

I don't think it frightens the atheists, because they are intrinsically moral people. This is why they can do without Gods, while the rest of us have floundered, made serious moral errors, became addicted or went to jail ... we have messed up again and again. We have had to pray late into the night, to be delivered from soul-devouring anger, envy or desires for revenge. We have suddenly left crowded parties because if we didn't, we were going to grab someone by the hair and throw them into the wall, before they even knew what hit them. We can taste the blood; we want to HURT people. We want to make them PAY.

And then, we tell ourselves, wait, that isn't up to me: Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. (This phrase has the effect of deflating my anger immediately.) Karma, we assure ourselves, will deal with that individual. It isn't up to me. "What goes around comes around"--we remind ourselves and everyone around us. The overriding concept, of course, is that there WILL be justice. Therefore, I do not have to be the one to administer it.

But you atheists are telling me--it IS something I should administer myself, or it won't get done? You tell me justice will not inevitably happen?

This is something I wrote about in an old post, first quoting bell hooks:

[Quote from bell hooks]: my grandfather [was a black] sharecropper, and definitely the white man was on his back, but what I remember about that, when this man would walk through his fields and see his vegetables that he grew, he’d say, “See these vegetables. White men cannot make the sun shine. They cannot control..”

I mean here’s a black man who did not go to school, who did not have an education. But he found a sense of self that transcended the idea of him as a victim. Because he could say “yes white men have power over my life. They exploit and terrorize me, but at the end of the day, there’s a power higher than white men that I can lend my imagination to.”

[my comment]: And I would add, this is one reason why belief in god(s) has such a hold on people. To some, it is a synonym for a higher justice, a higher truth, a higher law--above and beyond unjust earthly authorities that dominate us on a daily basis.

When the atheists sneer at that, it can be experienced by non-privileged believers as endorsing the material world as it is (with oppressive powers intact) and negating the self-preservationist experiences of the oppressed.

What do the atheists intend for us losers who use religion and sky-fairies to feel better? (If religion is indeed the opiate of the masses, do atheists think believers will happily greet the people who propose to take away our opiates?) What do they have to put in its place? Will it serve the same purpose(s) and properly spur us to leave the party when we see the person we want to throw headlong into the wall? Or will we think, hey, fuck it, NO GOD, NO MASTERS, and follow them into the restroom where there are no surveillance cameras and dunk their head into the toilet repeatedly, as in LA Confidential?

Why not?

~*~

For some of us, morality has not been easy. We have had to work at it, think about it, study it and dedicate our lives to it. We study theology and religion, because we are obsessed with morals. If you rip the rug of theology/religion/rules/myth out from under us, it would leave us empty, since this is where we initially got our morality from (in a way that we could understand) and how we learned to integrate it into our being. Some of us really do need the rules... because if there aren't any, we will go hog-wild. We know this, since we already have. We have to engage in continuous remedial education about the rules, and the reasons for them, to keep us from breaking them again and again.

I think the 'new atheists' underestimate the importance of God/belief systems in keeping us moral. Is it possible that the atheists are more moral than the rest of us, and do not need rules to govern their behavior? How can we impress upon them, that for some of us, it is in the interests of society that we adhere to these beliefs, or there could be unbridled chaos, Lord of the Flies?

And why have so few believers made this argument? Probably because believers like to think they are moral. This is likely because we think about morality a good deal; I think this is because WE HAVE TO, TO STAY MORAL.

The reason so many religious adherents believe atheists could not be moral, is because WE cannot imagine ourselves moral in the same existential circumstances.

~*~

At the end of Flannery O'Connor's short story, Good Country People, the simple country man posing as an innocent Bible salesman is suddenly uncovered as a freaky, abusive sociopath. The educated, atheist PhD in the story, has accepted him at face value ... right up to the end of the story, when he unexpectedly and cruelly humiliates her. "You ain't so smart," he schools her, "I been believing in nothing ever since I was born!"

The end of this story, and those words, have always chilled me to the bone. Because whenever I read all the highly-educated atheist discussions on the net; whenever I read ultra-smart authors like Steven Pinker; whenever I admire the smart, self-sufficient, rational atheists who know where they are going and how to get there... I suddenly remember the sociopathic Bible salesman. And I worry that the 'new atheism' may be more successful than it should be. It might branch out from the moral, rational, educated people like Steven Pinker and Dan Fincke... to sociopaths-in-training, like O'Connor's Bible salesman... and to morally-struggling (and/or morally-confused) people like me. I think I am a fairly average person in many ways, and I know that the overall message we take away from the New Atheism, may not be the fresh-faced utopian vision of ideological and intellectual freedom, that the new atheists obviously wish for us. The atheists believe that their cleansing experience of rationality would also be ours, but our experience might not be anything remotely like that.

It may be the experience of finally doing those things that we have always held back... because... well, why not?

...


And I wish they would start taking that idea seriously.

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The white South’s last defeat

... is the title of an article by Michael Lind on Salon. Some of it really rings true to me, and I thought I would do some quoting and commentary of my own.

The article is accompanied by a photo of the confederate battle flag in front of the State Capitol here in South Carolina. (sigh) Every time I go to Columbia (I think the last time was for Occupy Columbia), I see someone taking a picture of that damn flag, and it's pretty embarrassing.

Some excerpts from the article:

The white Southern narrative — at least in the dominant Southern conservative version — is one of defeat after defeat. First the attempt of white Southerners to create a new nation in which they can be the majority was defeated by the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Doomed to be a perpetual minority in a continental American nation-state, white Southerners managed for a century to create their own state-within-a-state, in which they could collectively lord it over the other major group in the region, African-Americans. But Southern apartheid was shattered by the second defeat, the Civil Rights revolution, which like the Civil War and Reconstruction was symbolized by the dispatching of federal troops to the South. The American patriotism of the white Southerner is therefore deeply problematic. Some opt for jingoistic hyper-Americanism (the lady protesteth too much, methinks) while a shrinking but significant minority prefer the Stars and Bars to the Stars and Stripes.

The other great national narrative holds that the U.S. is a nation of immigration, a “new nation,” a melting pot made up of immigrants from many lands. While the melting pot story involves a good deal of idealization, it is based on demographic fact in the large areas of the North where old-stock Anglo-Americans are commingled with German-Americans, Polish-Americans and Irish-Americans, along with more recent immigrant diasporas from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

But even before the recent wave of immigration from sources other than Europe, the melting pot never included most of the white South. From the early 19th century until the late 20th, the South attracted relatively few immigrants.

Many, many Americans in the Midwest (where I am from) descend from German and Irish immigrants. This is likely one reason they are more tolerant of immigration in general.

Lind includes THIS FASCINATING MAP (reproduced at left, you can click to enlarge), pointing out that much of the south simply regards its ancestry as "American" (which I guess ought to be spelled "Amurrican"). That truly does speak volumes.

However, I would also point out the huge swaths of purple on that map, which are the majority-African-American counties. That might give you some idea of how old-school white people feel "surrounded" in the South (underscoring the facts in my post about how white-flight brought down the economy). It is my contention that MOST whites would feel that way, and it is notable that there is no such similar swath of purple anywhere else in the country. Although yankee whites feel superior to southerners in race-matters, that is because they are safely in the majority. When African-American populations reach a certain critical mass (my estimate is about 25-30%), then racial animosities manifest in the North as well as the South.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved down South was that there are lots of rural African-Americans here, as well as city-dwellers, something nearly unheard of in the North. In the North, various white threats to "move out to the country" are racist code; dog-whistling for 'escaping' from blacks. In the South, such comments simply mean that you are moving to the country so you can grow tomatoes and raise chickens; no dog-whistling intended. Here in the South, there is no place whites can go (other than the richest enclaves) to 'escape' from black people. Would white yankees be as tolerant, in the same circumstances? Since most currently choose to live in segregated enclaves, far more segregated than the neighborhoods of most southerners .... I hardly think so.

This is the major reason white southerners don't like racial finger-pointing from yankees who live in all-white neighborhoods. I do not live in a white neighborhood, and I understand the sentiment.*

Back to Lind:

As difficult as it may be, outsiders should try to imagine the world as viewed by conservative white Southerners, who think they are the real Americans — that is, old-stock British-Americans — and the adherents of the true religion, evangelical Protestantism. In this perspective, the rest of the country was taken over by invading hordes of Germans, Irish and other European tribes in the first half of the 19th century, leaving the South, largely unaffected by European immigration, as the last besieged pocket of old-stock British-Americans, sharing parts of their territory with subjugated and segregated African-Americans.

This local British-American ethno-racial hegemony in the South was eroded somewhat by the migration of Northeasterners and Midwesterners to the Sun Belt following World War II and the advent of air-conditioning. And now, predominantly nonwhite immigration from Latin America and Asia threatens to make white Southerners of British Protestant descent a minority in their own region. Texas and Florida are already majority-minority states. It is only a matter of time before the same is true of every state in the South. Southern whites will go from being a minority in the nation as a whole to a minority in the South itself.

If Southern culture had a tradition of assimilating immigrants, then cultural “Southernness” could be detached from any particular ethnicity or race. One could be an assimilated Chinese-American good old boy or a Mexican-American redneck. To some degree, that is happening. And Southern whites and Southern blacks have always shared many elements of a common regional culture.

Indeed, one thing I find especially charming is young Asians with deeply-southern accents (little Asian children saying "Hey yall!" is too adorable for words) or young Mexicans at the White Horse Road Flea Market warning their brothers and sisters, "Its fixin to rain!" sounding as thoroughly southern as any other native South Carolinians. After all, they have been born here, and it was inevitable. There is a great deal of intermarriage among young white southerners and the new arrivals, and adorable kids of indeterminate race/ethnicity hollering "yall" has been the result. (And places like the White Horse Road Flea Market and the immensely-popular Anderson Jockey Lot is where we all come together.) I am one of the Midwesterners who moved here (in 1987) after the advent of air-conditioning (even though I often regard myself as a 'repatriated southerner'--since my mother's family was southern).

But the Old South ain't buying. Lind is right about that much:

[It] is difficult, if not impossible, for many white Southerners to disentangle regional culture (Southern) from race (white) and ethnicity (British Protestant). The historical memory of white Southerners is not of ethnic coexistence and melting-pot pluralism but of ethnic homogeneity and racial privilege. Small wonder that going from the status of local Herrenvolk to local minority in only a generation or two is causing much of the white South to freak out.

The demographic demise of the white South is going to be traumatic for the nation as a whole. A century ago, when European immigration made old-stock Yankee Protestants a minority in much of the Northeast and Midwest, one response was hysterical Anglo-American nativism. In a 1921 essay in Good Housekeeping titled “Whose Country Is This?,” then Vice President Calvin Coolidge, an old-stock Yankee from Vermont, explained: “Biological laws tell us that certain divergent people will not mix or blend. The Nordics propagate themselves successfully. With other races, the outcome shows deterioration on both sides.” Patrician Yankees promoted immigration restriction to prevent “inferior” European races from further contaminating America.

And now we come to another fascinating map provided by Lind, also reproduced at left (again, click to enlarge): Evangelical Protestants, rates of adherence per 1000 population. It largely speaks for itself.

I was particularly curious about those bright red hot spots of Evangelical religious activity, which are mostly in rural areas. Snooping around (with the invaluable aid of Google Maps), I discovered some of these bright red spots are on (or near) the home-bases of various influential mega-churches: Morristown First Baptist (Morristown, TN); Heartland Worship (Paducah, KY); Victory Family Life Worship Center (Hugo and Durant, OK), Altus First Baptist (Altus, OK), First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls (Texas), Harrisburg Baptist and The Orchard (both in Tupelo, MS). That bright red square in Montana jumped right out at me also--possibly a Christian militia stronghold? Likewise, the spot in Idaho is very close to Ruby Ridge.

As we see, most of the orange swaths are in the South, and many of these spots also correlate to various mega-churches.

Lind again:

Just as white Southerners today are gerrymandering congressional districts and contemplating gerrymandering the Electoral College to compensate for their dwindling numbers, so the outnumbered Yankees of the North sought to dilute the political influence of European “ethnics” in the early 1900s. When the 1920 census revealed that largely European urbanites outnumbered mostly old-stock Anglo-American rural voters, Congress failed to reapportion itself for a decade, because of the determination of small-town Anglo-Americans to minimize the power of “white ethnics.”

The startling difference at this historical juncture is that they will not admit what they are doing. They will deny that this has anything to do with their whiteness, although they will proudly cop to evangelical religion as a major motivation (deny Christ at your peril!).

I have to admit, this denial of their xenophobia is what I find so confusing, as someone who lives here and argues with these folks rather frequently. The racists and bigots of yore came right out and told you what they were thinking; they were not ashamed. Modern-day southerners categorically deny that their gerrymandering and various attempts to prevent minority voting (etc) has anything at all to do with race or ethnicity ... and they actually appear to believe their own lies. They tell you it is about IDEOLOGY. They refuse to believe that their ideology or politics is backward or racist, and consider such a statement anti-southern.

This is why I continually remind everyone of the purple swaths on that map: whites are not the only southerners. I refuse to let them forget it.

Lind winds up:

By the 1970s, the social divisions among old-stock Anglo-Americans and the “white ethnics” had faded to the point that most white Americans in the North had ancestors from several Western European nationalities. Similarly, the trans-racial melting pot in the U.S. will probably blur or erase many of today’s racial differences by the middle of the 21st century.

But the old-stock Yankees in the Northeast and Midwest did not accept their diminished status in their own regions without decades of hysteria and aggression and political gerrymandering. The third and final defeat of the white South, its demographic defeat, is likely to be equally prolonged and turbulent. Fasten your seat belts.

Yup.

A few days before the 2012 election, I was shopping at the Fresh Market (a gourmet store) and blundered into the men's restroom. (there is only one toilet per restroom) A well-dressed, mellow old southern white man was drying his hands, leisurely, and looked up at me, bemused. He wasn't bothered.

"Ohhhh--" I burbled, embarassed. "I am so sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" He laughed, and then so did I. "You got me, dead to rights!" I held up my hands, as if under arrest. He laughed heartily.

"Welp, in a coupla days," he drawled in his low-country accent (a speech pattern strongly associated with 'old money' in these parts) "somebody else in Washington, Deee Ceee is gonna be held dead to rights too!" he cackled delightedly. In case I didn't know what he meant, he punctuated his comment with, "Benghazi!" --which he pronounced Benn Gozzeh.

I was stunned, but I smiled and nodded politely. I hardly knew what to say, so I said nothing. Mr Low-Country departed the restroom, chuckling happily at Obama's imminent demise.

I was stunned because: 1) He really did believe with his whole heart that Obama was going to lose, like most of the Fox News fans, and 2) he had no doubt that if he was talking to a white woman over 50, that I must agree with him. I mean, I was a reasonable person who apologized for entering the wrong-gender toilet, wasn't I? OF COURSE I was no hooligan, and I must therefore be a Republican.

It did not seem to occur to him that he might be talking to someone who would not agree with him. I think this is because he had met so few people who did not.

This is the South that is currently perishing. Not fast enough for me, but probably too fast for Mr Low-Country.

I have thought of him many times since the election. And I wonder how he dealt with the shock.






~*~

*I was once self-righteously preached at by a prominent blogger, that she made People of Color her role models about racial matters (I had foolishly remarked that I looked up to my mother as a political role model). When I checked the demographics of the Midwestern town this blogger lived in, I was stunned: It was 98.5% white. Who the hell are these role models she is talking about?

I realized then, that she was talking about, you know, Oprah Winfrey and bell hooks and various bloggers at Racialicious, not people she actually lived next to or associated with in real life.

This was a major wake-up call for me, contrasting the political-correctness of what various hip, so-called 'progressive' white bloggers SAY and how they actually live and what they actually do. When I bring these matters up (of neighborhoods and personal associations), it is understood that I am somehow saying something dirty or uncool--the idea that they should practice what they preach seems foreign to them. Am I suggesting they stop living in all-white neighborhoods?

Why yes, I am.

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Pope trashes capitalism for the New Year

At left: I know he is technically Pope Benedict XVI, but to me, he will always be Cardinal Ratzinger, ideological hit-man for the Vatican.

And today, he did some ideological sermonizing that few expected. Now, this is the kind of New Year's Day sermon I can get behind.

Lots of people are surprised, quoting and misquoting right and left (if you'll pardon the expression) and so I went to the Vatican website to get the actual text verbatim:

[The] world is sadly marked by hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor, by the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism, as well as by various forms of terrorism and crime, I am convinced that the many different efforts at peacemaking which abound in our world testify to mankind’s innate vocation to peace. In every person the desire for peace is an essential aspiration which coincides in a certain way with the desire for a full, happy and successful human life. In other words, the desire for peace corresponds to a fundamental moral principle, namely, the duty and right to an integral social and communitarian development, which is part of God’s plan for mankind. Man is made for the peace which is God’s gift. All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Mt 5:9)

...

The splendour of the face of God, shining upon us and granting us peace, is the manifestation of his fatherhood: the Lord turns his face to us, he reveals himself as our Father and grants us peace. Here is the principle of that profound peace – “peace with God” – which is firmly linked to faith and grace, as Saint Paul tells the Christians of Rome (cf. Rom 5:2). Nothing can take this peace from believers, not even the difficulties and sufferings of life. Indeed, sufferings, trials and darkness do not undermine but build up our hope, a hope which does not deceive because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (5:5). May the Virgin Mary, whom today we venerate with the title of Mother of God, help us to contemplate the face of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. May she sustain us and accompany us in this New Year: and may she obtain for us and for the whole world the gift of peace. Amen!

The reviews are coming in fast and furious; some predictably stating that the Pope's New Year's address "left many scratching their heads"... while others approvingly quoted his words and nodded in agreement.

~*~

In other news: Carolina kicked Michigan's ass! (You shoulda heard the whooping and hollering in the Mellow Mushroom today.) And Georgia beat Nebraska, which was welcome news in my household.

It's going to be an interesting year. :)

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White Horse Prophecy revisited

By popular demand, here is the video I played on my radio show (Saturday). It concerns the fabled White Horse Prophecy, which is not official Mormon doctrine, but part of LDS religious-folklore.

On my show, I compared the prophecy to Catholic stuff like the Secrets of Fatima, and fundamentalist stuff like The Rapture. These are not, technically-speaking, "doctrine" either, but are frequently employed as "dog whistles" to alert the people who do believe them. (Actually, I think some Christian sects DO consider the Rapture a matter of doctrine, but I couldn't readily name which ones.) Many devout Mormons do not believe in this prophecy, and they are not required to believe it; ditto the Fatima Secrets and the Rapture.

Nonetheless, these stories do have an appreciable influence on religious adherents.

Examples: If I say "Three Secrets of Fatima"--and you are Catholic, then you have some idea of what I refer to, and might further understand that I am discussing Russia and/or the future of communism and the Catholic Church. If I say "Rapture" --and you have a fundamentalist background or are familiar with these ideas, then you know I mean the endtimes and the emergence of a dangerous world leader who will be called Antichrist. Etc.

If you use the phrase "Hanging by a Thread"--many pious Mormons will know what you refer to, and react accordingly. This phrase contains specific wording in the "White Horse Prophecy"--which I discussed on this blog a couple of years ago. (At that time, I was writing about Glenn Beck's apparent adherence to the prophecy.) Therefore, using such a loaded phrase is a way to communicate something important to those who catch the inside-reference; the chosen media-method of "dog whistling" to citizens attuned to the appropriate frequency.

The following is a video by a Protestant fundamentalist preacher named Carl Gallups, warning the faithful about Mitt Romney and the White Horse Prophecy. (warning: fundie fulminating at the link!) It was first aired on WEBY-AM, "Gulf Coast Talk Radio" in Florida.

I find this very entertaining ... and fascinating.

Whether we believe any of this stuff or not, plenty of people do, and they act on this belief. Even if their beliefs are not "real"--their actions are. And that includes those who oppose them, as the preacher who made this video, certainly does.

As I hope I don't have to say: I do not believe the Christian fundamentalist assertions (and prejudices) stated in this video. FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.
....

ALERT! - THE ROMNEY RISING - The White Horse Prophecy of MORMONISM Being Fulfilled?



~*~

The following video comes via conservative CleanTV. Issued by wacky, hyperkinetic televangelist Bill Keller, it includes fervent anti-Romney warnings, referencing the White Horse Prophecy as proof.

Love the Rod Serling picture that suddenly pops up... as well as the swirling, apocalyptic music that puts one in mind of the movie soundtrack of THE OMEN.

ROMNEY WHITE HORSE PROPHECY



~*~

This one comes from Shawn McCraney, "Born Again Mormon":

The White Horse Prophecy



~*~

And finally, the more-or-less straight media version from MSNBC. This is reporter Tamron Hall interviewing Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere:



Stay tuned, sports fans...and WATCH THE SKIES!

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Letter from Ayn Rand

The following excerpt is from a letter to Sylvia Austin, dated July 9, 1946, in Letters of Ayn Rand, p. 287:

There is a great, basic contradiction in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was one of the first great teachers to proclaim the basic principle of individualism -- the inviolate sanctity of man's soul, and the salvation of one's soul as one's first concern and highest goal; this means -- one's ego and the integrity of one's ego. But when it came to the next question, a code of ethics to observe for the salvation of one's soul -- (this means: what must one do in actual practice in order to save one's soul?) -- Jesus (or perhaps His interpreters) gave men a code of altruism, that is, a code which told them that in order to save one's soul, one must love or help or live for others. This means, the subordination of one's soul (or ego) to the wishes, desires or needs of others, which means the subordination of one's soul to the souls of others.

This is a contradiction that cannot be resolved. This is why men have never succeeded in applying Christianity in practice, while they have preached it in theory for two thousand years. The reason of their failure was not men's natural depravity or hypocrisy, which is the superficial (and vicious) explanation usually given. The reason is that a contradiction cannot be made to work. That is why the history of Christianity has been a continuous civil war -- both literally (between sects and nations), and spiritually (within each man's soul).

From: On Christianity, at the Objectivism Reference Center.

~*~

Graphic at top is from Library Grape.

Other recent, interesting commentary about Rand's strange new popularity:

Jim Miller: Ryan tone deaf to dissonance between Ayn Rand, his faith (Wisconsin State Journal)

Cynthia Tucker: Ayn Rand is odd deity for GOP (Tallahassee.com)

Paul Ryan’s “conversion”: real or expedient? (Ottawa Citizen)

Paul Ryan's faith in Ayn Rand is a political problem for Romney (UK Guardian)

Paul Ryan Denies Ayn Rand Thrice! (Brad DeLong)

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Religion, Warthogs and Republicans...

From LOLCATS, this comic reminded me of this hapless incident I wrote about a couple of months ago. (You can click to enlarge.)


~*~

As far as I know, this has not been reported locally. I'm very glad that we have the internet to inform us of the unpopular news stories. From the Freedom From Religion Foundation:

The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a federal lawsuit May 30 in U.S. District Court in Columbia, S.C., against School District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties over a district policy that sanctions graduation prayer. Matthew “Max” Nielson, 18, who graduated May 30 from Irmo High School, was named as principal plaintiff.

Nielson has received a $1,000 Catherine Fahringer Memorial Student Activist Award from FFRF and will speak at FFRF’s 35th annual convention in Portland, Oregon, October 12-14.

On June 11, FFRF filed an amended complaint adding two new plaintiffs, Jacob Zupon and Dakota McMillan. They will graduate respectively from Irmo High School in 2013 and 2014, keeping the lawsuit ripe. Zupon and McMillan “reasonably anticipate constitutional injury” similar to Nielson’s, due to prayer at their upcoming graduations. All students describe themselves as “religiously unaffiliated,” meaning “they subscribe to no particular organized, institutionalized religion, nor other prescribed set of beliefs.”

A district policy titled “School Ceremonies and Observations” sets guidelines for benedictions and invocations at graduations and athletic events: Use of prayer “will be determined by a majority vote of the graduating senior class with the advice and counsel of the principal.”

Nielson was forced during his senior year to participate in a “vote” by graduating seniors on whether to pray at their 2012 graduation. That vote was organized, distributed and tallied by teachers and other staff. He met with Principal Rob Weinkle and Superintendent Steve Hefner to express his concerns. FFRF formally objected, but the district refused to remove the scheduled prayer. FFRF filed suit on the day of the graduation.

This kind of thing is very common even in public schools here in the Bible belt. Also common: impromptu public prayers given on the spot--usually before standardized tests, sports and field trips. Whoever chooses not to participate in these prayers, is often considered rebellious and/or a troublemaker, simply by fiat.

My daughter also had Bob Jones University students as student teachers in her public high school, believe it or not. (BJU is unaccredited.) In addition, due to budget cuts and lack of space, her school also had instrumental music concerts/recitals in various local churches that were kind enough to volunteer space. Thus, parents and families who wanted to attend their children's recitals were forced to go the churches.

Aside: The aformentioned BJU student teacher (a music teacher), addressed the audience of parents at one such local music recital and informed us he was thankful to his Lord and Savior. This aggravated me, since I went to hear the kids perform, not to listen to a sermon. However, at the time, I did not want to make an issue of these things and put my daughter in a precarious social position.

Therefore, I am pleased these students and FFRF are finally challenging this stuff. Maybe this will make them think twice.

The prayer at the graduation, written by the district but delivered by a student “volunteer,” was addressed to “Father.” The prayer asked for the “Lord’s guidance, protection and mercy,” asked students to be “touched” by “the Lord,” to be led “on the path you intend for their lives to lead,” and thanked a deity for “the teachers, parents and administrators that were here through our 12 years of school.”

... and if this is not your faith, well, they really don't care what you think.

~*~

At left: My daughter took this adorable photo of a warthog mama and baby at the San Antonio Zoo. DEAD FROM CUTENESS!!!

Speaking of warthogs (and how many of you caught that segue?), REST IN PEACE Ron Palillo!

~*~



Other links of note:

Lisa Marie Presley Says "So Long" to Scientology (Village Voice)

POLITICO e-book: Obama campaign roiled by conflict (Politico)

The Conservative Psyche: How Ordinary People Come to Embrace Paul Ryan's Cruelty (AlterNet)

Raising the Ritalin Generation (New York Times)

IN CELEBRATION: Thankful for the Life of Phyllis Diller (GendErratic)

The bizarre, unhealthy, blinding media contempt for Julian Assange (UK Guardian)

Americans ignore the war in Afghanistan, despite 2,000 US casualties (RT.com)

Prayers At Republican National Convention Expected From Cardinal Timothy Dolan And Prominent Mormon Friend Of Mitt Romney (Huffington Post)

Limited Convention Broadcasts Shut Out Ann Romney (New York Times)

And on that happy note (tee hee), we wish you a happy Wednesday evening... don't forget, local peeps, "The Feel-good, Fabulous, Four Hour, Fun-Filled, Festival-like thing we refer to as Dead Air!" (namesake of this blog) is on WNCW-FM tonight, as we speak.

Only a dullard could resist!

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch

At left: We enjoyed sets by The Flashbacks last evening in downtown Greenville. I love me some big brass noise with my old soul music! (You can click to enlarge.)



Our show today had three callers! Woot! Unfortunately, none were (frequently-requested) calls from irate Bob Jones University students, who continue to fulminate on Facebook about Chris Peterman being expelled for watching Glee. They are very upset that he went national with that story, since as everyone around here knows, BJU likes to keep its dirty laundry in-house.

When you ask if you can quote these irate students by name, they immediately flip out. What are they afraid of? Shouldn't they WANT to be quoted and given credit from BJU for their undying loyalty? Hm?

Well, no. Because BJU is a cult, and there is simply no pleasing a cult. These students know, on some level, that they will screw it up. They will say at least one wayward word or use some outlawed phrase that the cult will find displeasing or incorrect, and they KNOW it. So instead of stepping up to preen and get themselves on the air, they shrink and run for the shadows when the spotlight shines on them, and become nearly-hysterical if you suggest you will actually use their names.

They suddenly send a torrent of private messages pleading, pleading, pleading that you will not quote them.

It is patently bizarre, since at the same time, the BJU-student-mouthiness never stops. They do not seem to understand that they draw a lot of attention with their odd behavior, since 1) as products of the BJU-bubble, they don't understand how odd they sound in the first place, and 2) they have not been raised in the glare of the mainstream media, as the rest of us have been. We EXPECT that if we throw a tantrum, people will stare. (By contrast, in the Old South, they would politely look away and pretend they hadn't seen any tantrum. BJU is still steeped in Old South manners and the accompanying paradigm.) The rest of us are aware that if we throw said tantrum in a public place like Facebook, people will inevitably ask for follow-up, they will expect some sort of explanation. They will put the spotlight right on you and gape for several minutes at a time. (And what did you expect?)

These BJU kids seem unaware of this; they are shocked that outsiders like me expect them to answer for their nonsense. And yet, they accuse the world at large of all manner of sins. We just aren't supposed to reply. Instead, they say, they are addressing only Chris Peterman, or other ex-BJU rabble-rousers like Camille Lewis. When somebody like me barges in and asks for clarification, we get the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights expression, and the aforementioned semi-hysterical pleas for anonymity. (Or we can end up simply censored, with no reply at all, as a certain Hidalgo Grain Company person specializes in: endless pissed-off yammerings and then howlings of persecution when those yammerings are taken seriously. This seems to be the general pattern.) Overall: they seem stunned that the outside world exists at ALL.

Well, it does. And we're watching. And we won't stop watching, the way people rarely stop rubbernecking at an especially unpleasant, nasty train-wreck.

We couldn't turn away now if we WANTED to.

I admit: The slow-motion implosion of Bob Jones University is some of the greatest entertainment I have ever witnessed.

~*~

At left: I do not know who this person is, but I knew yall would never believe me (BJU readers excepted) if I didn't take a photo. I saw this Gospel-singing dude on the local Christian TV station late last night, and just check out those flags. (Note: You can see the logo of the Trinity Broadcasting Network in the upper right corner of the screen.)


THIS is what I vainly tried to explain to people in THIS post, and lots of em didn't get it.

As I said in that post, Israel's military well-being is possibly more important to the Christian Right than it is to Jews, and Israel directly benefits from the Christian Right's political power. I would very much like to hear more criticism of this unholy alliance from liberal and anti-militaristic Christians and Jews. But alas... (((crickets))) ... it is not a very popular topic. (Meanwhile, Israel still treats its own Palestinian Christian citizens like shit.)

But take note of that photo, gang... on HIS RIGHT is the Israeli flag. I think the order is supposed to be reversed?

Or maybe not.

~*~

THESE PEOPLE (heavy, heavy warnings) helped me decide that this month would be GAY PRIDE MONTH, on the blog and the radio show. That alarming link takes you to a toddler (!) singing "Ain't no homo gonna make it to heaven" at his church in Indiana. I really wish I was making that up.

Speaking of which, as I reported on my show today, somebody in Texas saw Jesus in their shower mold.

Really.

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Liberty University hypocrisy under spotlight

Graphic from fundamentalist Christian website The Relevant Pen. (you've been warned)






Those of us who have been repeatedly subjected to relentless Baptist proselytizing, already know the official fundamentalist/evangelical line on Mormons: No.

In fact, it has long been understood that even if Catholics are evil pagans at base, at least they believe in the Trinity. This is standard.

I have heard lots and lots of bad-mouthing of Latter Day Saints beliefs from by-the-book Protestants, much of it incorrect. I have my own Book of Mormon (you knew I did), which I hijacked long ago from a Utah motel room, and it has snazzy color pictures of Joseph Smith's tablets in it and everything. Thus, when they start all the "Mormons think this" and "Mormons believe that" business--I have gotten into the pesky habit of looking it up myself. WHERE is it, I ask them, and have even been known to plant the Book of Mormon right in front of their noses and order them to find it, please, so I can verify this information for the blog. (In the past five years, I have learned that blogging provides all kinds of handy-dandy excuses... and the offhand statement, "I'm blogging this!" can strike fear into the hearts of idiots who are blowing smoke up your ass, especially if you ask if you can quote them directly by name.)

Most fundamentalists seem afraid to touch the Book of Mormon, much less actually read it.

I have no great love for the Church of Latter Day Saints, you understand, I simply recognize bigots when I see them. And I see them all over upstate SC, Bob Jones University-land. In fact, that was the whole reason for the fuss during the 2008 election, when Bob Jones III unexpectedly endorsed Mitt Romney, angering both students and alumni. The Mormons, I have been informed many times, are not Christians.

Now of course the fundies say this about LOTS of other Christians, so it is somewhat amusing how their tone changes when it comes to Mormons: "No, REALLY, they aren't Christians!" Like that infamous boy who cried wolf, when you go around announcing nobody but you is a Christian, well... people do stop listening after awhile. If the Mormons are supposedly WORSE, it doesn't matter, does it? If you have trashed other Christian denominations endlessly, and continually give the impression that your strict sect is (they love to say this) THE REMNANT (this is usually a specific reference to Revelation 12:17) then people tune you out and assume your newest babble is simply more of the same. Since in one respect, it is.

And now, we have the fascinating spectacle of Liberty University (founded by Jerry Falwell as Lynchburg Baptist College) welcoming Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (a Mormon in good standing, in case you didn't know) with open arms as the commencement speaker.

Wait, what? A heretic is now all cozy with the school founded by Falwell? It's as surprising as the Jones endorsement was, and just as hypocritical and obvious.

Predictably, this has upset everybody; deja vu all over again. The anger has spilled over onto (where else?) Facebook, as well as spreading like wildfire among the school's online students, who have wasted no time speaking up.

CNN reports:

After last week’s announcement, thousands of comments were registered under the announcement on Liberty’s Facebook page. While some were supportive of the decision to invite Romney, a number of respondents were angered and posted their frustration to Facebook.

As of Monday morning, the announcement was deleted from the page, along with all the comments.

“Complaints died down because they took the ability to complain down from the website,” said Janet Loeffler, a 53-year old freshman at Liberty who takes classes online. Loeffler was a frequent poster to the Facebook page.

If they don't like what you say, they just erase it.

Ah yes, the fundamentalist way.

Loeffler is royally pissed about the censorship and duplicity:

Loeffler provided CNN with a copy of the page in the freshman textbook “The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics” which includes a number of passages on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called Mormons. “Mormon doctrine stands in stark contrast to Jewish and Christian monotheism,” reads the passage, “which teaches that there is only one true God and that every other ‘God’ is a false god.”

Liberty's handling of the situation "has very much altered my thinking of Liberty,” Loeffler said. “I haven’t registered for my fall classes yet because of it. I am offended that they would talk to us like that, telling us that we just don’t understand.”

Many of the anti-Liberty comments, including Loeffler’s, charged that Mormonism goes against the teachings of the school and claimed that the religion is a cult. The charge of Mormonism as a cult is not a new one for the church, however. In a 2011 column, Michael Otterson, head of public affairs for the LDS Church described the word as “a neat, shorthand and rather lazy way of putting a whole group into a box.”

The nation’s largest evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptist Conference, lists the LDS Church as a cult. They specifically cite differences in theology surrounding salvation, baptism, belief in the Trinity, and marriage. A major sticking point between other Christian traditions and Mormons is the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe is divinely inspired scripture and on par with the Bible. Other Christians do not recognize the Book of Mormon as scripture.

And yet, Liberty has invited the most popular Mormon in the country to speak at Liberty's graduation. I guess we see that conservative POLITICS and not religion, are the important thing.

Some of us have always known this, but now, the students are getting it too.

And be advised, there are a parcel of them; they claim to be "the largest evangelical university in the world," with 82,500 students enrolled either on campus or online. Therefore a political lynch-pin of the Religious Right, a crucial whistle-stop for Romney, that he can't ignore.

This debate over Romney’s selection further tests the relationship between Mormons and evangelicals. With Romney as the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, many political commentators are asking whether the evangelical base, an important voting bloc to the GOP, will come out for Romney.

Tony Perkins, a Liberty graduate and the president of the Family Research Council, said he sees the Romney speech as an opportunity.

"As Christians we can disagree strongly but we show respect and I think they will show respect for Mitt Romney," Perkins said on CNN's Starting Point Monday morning.

"They may not warmly applaud him and may continue to express differences and clearly there are differences theologically between Mormons and Christians, but here's an opportunity for Mitt Romney to talk about what he has in common with evangelicals and that is on the value issues," Perkins said.

But if the evangelical vote hinges on how evangelicals see Mormonism, Romney may need further outreach to the evangelical community. A recent Pew Research Center survey finds 47% of white evangelicals say that Mormonism is not a Christian religion, while 66% say Mormonism and their religion are “very or somewhat different.”

(Aside: I like how they stick that qualifier WHITE in there... they certainly understand that black Christians vote differently, but they aren't ready to go THERE just yet.)

66% ain't nothing to sneeze at. Romney has trouble. But with all the "Obama is a Muslim" nonsense, is it possible the two candidate's religious troubles will balance/cancel each other out?

Loeffler isn't having any:

“This is nothing more than a political rally, at a time when graduates are having their lives dedicated to the work they were trained to do at Liberty,” Loeffler said.

I assume it will all reach a fever-pitch right before the election. Then again, maybe they just don't care too awful much about Romney and intend to use him as a sort of GOP sacrifice.

Stay tuned. This election season might yet have a few unforeseen twists and turns.

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Shit happens

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Anne Frank speaks out

This one comes from Laci the Dog. (Full story here) As always, you can click to enlarge.

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Fat Tuesday reflections: When will we fall down?

I can't remember the last time I did not go to Ash Wednesday Mass. Can't remember. Must have been the 80s. Really.

The photo is from last year, when I already didn't believe in what I was doing. Why was I there? Habit. The sublime order of the liturgical year, which is encoded in my DNA somewhere. My body even seems attuned to it. I have often complained (like in comments on this endless thread from 2009) that I find it impossible to leave the Church.

And of course it isn't impossible, but on some other level, of course it is. This is what I have trouble explaining to people.

Someone suggested that I replace the Christian rituals with Buddhist rituals. Alas, one of the things I am trying to expunge is clinging to ritual itself, which is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I have clung to rituals of some kind my whole life; rituals help me make sense of the passage of time, they help mark these passages in an introspective, moral fashion, examining my conscience. What, I would ask, have I done since last year? And the passage of time, these careful yearly markings, would cloak me in feelings of safety.

As one leaves the Church, this feeling evaporates. It is like you are exposed and naked; I get the unwelcome mental image of a naked woman (me) descending the steps of a huge and beautiful cathedral, completely defenseless and at the mercy of the elements. That is how it feels NOT to go to Ash Wednesday Mass, NOT to go to today's Fat Tuesday pancake suppers.

But I have a movie-series to tend to, I have other places I must be tomorrow. It is a lot like an old Twilight Zone episode--I know if I can go the entire 24 hours, I will have it in the bag. But this day, Ash Wednesday, is somehow even more compelling (to me) than Christmas or Easter, since it is about doing penance. Who will forgive me? And why am I so focused on forgiveness to the exclusion of other aspects of Christianity? These are questions it will take me years to answer... and I know the answers are not where I thought they were.

It is my task to answer them.

But first, must resist the hypnotic draw of the ashes.

Ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

~*~

And speaking of falling down, that made me think of Toad the Wet Sprocket, a band name that I immediately spotted as having been named after a Monty Python routine. At the time the song came out (1993), I was riveted by it. Years later, as it became something of an alt-rock staple, I decided it was about my daughter. Now, I realize that it was actually about me, stranded within Christianity (in what I now call my pseudo-Opus Dei period), trying so hard to conform and fit in with secular Carmelites and people like that. Who was I kidding?

And so, it is a perfect song for today, as well as today's blog title.

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Fall Down

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Cee Lo Green Changes ‘Imagine’ Lyrics during New Years Eve show

... and in doing so, has pissed off everybody.

From Yahoo News:

R&B singer Cee Lo Green prompted a rush of anger for his New Year‘s Eve performance of John Lennon’s “Imagine” in which he swapped the lyrics “no religion too” to “all religions true.”

Green performed the famous ballad shortly before the ball dropped in New York’s Times Square. It was broadcast during NBC‘s New Year’s Eve special and CNN carried a portion of it as well.

The full line Green changed was: “Nothing to kill or die for, And all religions true,” prompting a flurry of angry reactions from atheists and Lennon fans alike on Twitter.

According to the Huffington Post, Green himself took to the site to defend his performance and responded to several profanity-laced messages. All of Green’s tweets were deleted from his account Sunday morning.

“Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that’s all,” Green wrote in one now-deleted message.

That didn’t stopped the barrage of outraged tweets, many of which accused Green of committing “blasphemy” by altering Lennon’s song.

More about the incident:

Cee Lo Green changes lyrics to Lennon's Imagine to include pro-religion message enraging fans (UK-Daily Mail)

Fans angry that Cee Lo changed 'Imagine' lyrics (MSNBC)

Cee Lo Green Changes 'Imagine' Lyrics To 'All Religions' From John Lennon's 'No Religion' During New Year's Eve Show (Huffington Post)

Song lyrics are changed all the time and few people seem to care. I am startled (and pleased) that this lyrical-alteration has garnered so much attention.

And I hope everyone else had a Happy New Year!

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Alyssa Clemens explains it all for you

We now turn our attention to one Alyssa Clemens, Bob Jones University graduate and Fox News Carolina photojournalist. Clemens was sent by our local Fox News affiliate, to cover Monday's demonstration at BJU. (Yes, this is what passes for objective journalism in upstate South Carolina: A BJU graduate is sent to cover an anti-BJU demonstration. Do you believe?!?) And since Clemens attended BJU's so-called "journalism school"--she sees nothing wrong with openly broadcasting her bias on Facebook.

Clemens posted the following, gloating and baiting the demonstrators:

Dear bju people: because of your personal vendettas, illogical thoughts and distorted views, I am forced to cover your silent protest. But I'm not going to paint you in the best light. Not exactly the coverage you hoped for? Tough luck. Love your local news photojournalist.

Punctuation hers, not mine. (Remember, she went to Bob Jones, so there is going to be a lack of commas and proper capitalization, etc.)

For those who think I overstate the case, this is what the upstate is like.

As I have said a million times, Bob Jones University is running the joint, and they are proud of it. There is not even the pretense of fairness. I'm sure we could find just as many BJU-grads at the Greenville News and other local news outlets. Young Alyssa, drunk on arrogance and power, simply couldn't HOLD IT IN and had to brag and gloat... but I am sure there are many others who have been able to keep quiet and calmly write their biased news accounts, without anyone knowing where they went to school. Except those of us keeping track of the enormous pro-BJU bias, of course.

Alyssa's bragging got re-posted on an anti-BJU page (question: Is she so profoundly ignorant that she thought it wouldn't be? Or was this her intention all along, as I suspect?) and the shit promptly hit the fan. I called Fox News Carolina myself and asked them what was up. Are you serious?--I asked, amazed.

I got the following reply on Wednesday from Kelly Boan, News Director at Fox News Carolina. It is dated Monday, and was sent to all of the outraged emailers and callers:

The person you contacted us about does work for WHNS, but is not a reporter. She holds an entry-level position and does not have any control over the editorial decision-making. A biased version of the story was never actually in danger of making air.

A reporter could take the footage and create a very balanced story tonight, but because of the circumstances surrounding this, I will not air it in any form tonight. No matter how balanced a reporter can make it, I fully understand that many people will still believe the FOX Carolina version is tainted because of the comments on the employee’s Facebook page. Therefore, in the interest of journalistic integrity, the story will not air tonight. We may re-visit it with a different photographer and a reporter at a later date. But, because of the emotion that the comments have sparked on both sides, tonight does not seem appropriate.

The comments on Facebook do not reflect our staff’s view on unbiased reporting. My reporting and editorial staff know and fully believe that balance and objectivity in stories is required for us to maintain credibility and respect with our audience.

Sincerely,

Kelly Boan
News Director
WHNS-TV, FOX Carolina
Office: 864-213-2200
Fax: 864-987-1219
Email: kelly.boan@foxcarolina.com

Boan, who was very forthcoming, professional and polite on the phone with me, also added this private note addressed to me:

Thank you for calling and asking for a response, rather than making assumptions about our reporting and management staff, who are the ones who actually do the writing and make the editorial decisions. I appreciate that you reached out.

The problem is not simply WHNS, but the fact that anyone would HIRE a graduate of a Dominionist school and expect them to be able to cover news. Even Fox is far too liberal for the Dominionists. The problem is that people seem unaware of exactly what Bob Jones IS. It is not simply a religious school, it is a damaging CULT. These kids are not allowed to watch TV; you know that, right? Why on Earth would you hire them to WORK for TV?

They are not permitted to watch movies or read books of their own choosing. And they are spied on to make SURE they don't. They have no knowledge of popular culture, unbiased world news or political realities. And you hire them to work for a modern news organization? It's like MTV hiring the Amish or something.

What did you EXPECT to happen?

Unbelievable.

Perhaps Alyssa is smarter than we think, and she wrote her little Facebook missive to deliberately get the unflattering news account suspended/censored? If so, it worked.

WHNS, are you happy with that?

Future employees who might Google Alyssa need to know what kind of "journalism" she majored in: Dominionist crackpot cult journalism should not be confused with real journalism.

And I have a little message of my own:

Dear Alyssa, because of your fundamentalist idiocy, confused arrogance and profound ignorance, I am forced to cover the fact that a blundering "journalist" like yourself is allowed to work for a mainstream media outlet, which is an amazing fact all by itself. You shouldn't be anywhere near actual news coverage, as you have made abundantly clear. I am forced to cover you on my radio show tomorrow as an example of what a total disaster BJU-grads are. I'm not going to paint you in the best light. Not exactly the coverage you hoped for? Tough luck. Love, your local lefty blogger.

Note placement of comma in the last sentence.

Hope you will tune in! WFIS radio, 9-10am, tomorrow morning.

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Greenville News brainwashed by Bob Jones University

At left: Ex-faculty member Dr Camille Lewis and others at BJU Alumni Day yesterday, releasing red balloons in solidarity with victims of sexual abuse. Photo by Hannah Goodman.



I nearly titled this "Greenville News blows Bob Jones"--but as Ben Bradlee famously said in a similar situation: This is a family newspaper. Likewise, this is a family blog. Brainwashed is not the best word to describe their ass-kissing 'reportage.' The humorous initials of Bob Jones University popped into my head, and this post narrowly escaped being titled GREENVILLE NEWS GIVE BJ TO BJU.

Pretend that's the title, since that is the disgusting state of affairs we woke up to this morning in upstate South Carolina.

It isn't enough that the Greenville News totally ignored the recent appointment of a rape apologist to the board of BJU. It isn't enough that they ignored a Facebook-protest-page by students, and the threats of discipline against the students who organized it. It isn't enough that they have ignored the backroom deals by Bob Jones, that have cost Greenville County over a million dollars (at least) that we can scarcely afford. It isn't enough that they fawn all over Bob Jones and run their little just-so stories about their (19th century level) drama department, while a sex abuse scandal raged on. It isn't enough that they are too craven to investigate local right-wing politicians associated with Bob Jones University, like David Thomas--that is left to USA Today, to embarrass us nationwide with information that should have been reported on by our local so-called "newspaper." It isn't enough that they have not even covered the fact that Stephen Jones appears to be AWOL from the school he is supposed to be in charge of; much less ask why Bob Jones IV is not in charge, as he was originally intended to be. [see note below] And needless to say, there is NO investigation of the multiple accounts of ongoing psychological abuse that come out of Bob Jones University every year.

In fact, we might say that the Greenville News is busy getting in on the act and piling on the abuse, writing favorable, lovey-dovey editorials about an institution in which the ultimate authority, Bob Jones III, says to one of the faithful (about a 15-year-old girl):

Well, the truth is, she was raped but it was a consensual relationship. This man took advantage of her but she was a partner in all this. It wasn't, it was more than one time and she was a consensual person.

THIS is what Bob Jones III says, to anyone who will listen. He is not ashamed of this view. He allowed this conversation to be TAPE RECORDED, he is PROUD of his opinions. He says it was rape but "she was a partner in all this"--and do we hear any consternation from the Greenville News? Ha! Instead, we hear how great Bob Jones University is!

THESE are the scum they defend and write gushy editorials about, THE DAY AFTER the first student demonstration on record. Instead of writing about the demonstration and the subject (SEXUAL ABUSE) of the demo, they run a gushing editorial about how they are "seeking accreditation"--you know, joining the 20th (not the 21st) century at last? That's what passes for BJU news at their mouthpiece, the official campus newspaper, the Greenville News:

These changes [seeking accreditation and increasing sports opportunities] came during a week that also saw Bob Jones University accept the resignation of a board member who had attracted controversy because of the way he handled an alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl by an adult member of his church in New Hampshire in 1997. The board member, Chuck Phelps, maintains that he handled the incident properly and reported it to police; the victim disputes his account and says she was made to apologize to the church for her actions. Whatever account is most accurate, the controversy surrounding the incident should have given BJU pause in welcoming Phelps back to its board in 2009.

Phelps’ resignation was accepted following an online campaign from students and alumni that was conducted in part on a Facebook group that was called “Do Right BJU.” The university should be commended for responding to students and accepting Phelps’ resignation. This was another appropriate step taken by the university that demonstrates it understands and cares about the community’s perception of its staff, its students and the faith that it represents.

"Whatever account is most accurate????" Why don't they try, you know, REAL JOURNALISM and find out?

The so-called "changes" came this week for a REASON; they are called DEFLECTING ATTENTION and CHANGING THE SUBJECT. And I guess it works on Beth Padgett, aka Mary Elizabeth Padgett, the author and fangirl-in-chief of the Greenville News editorial page. Note that she left out the quote above from Bob Jones III, claiming that Tina Anderson consented. (Certainly, Tina Anderson is of no concern to Beth Padgett.) Padgett leaves out the fact that students were threatened about the Facebook page, instead, she implies that Phelps resignation was voluntary and not forced by circumstances and nationwide humiliation, including the ABC 20/20 story. She omits the forced pregnancy. She makes the "appropriate step" sound like it was BJU's idea--rather than a result of outraged demands by faculty, students and other community members--because they worried that THEIR DAUGHTERS WOULD NOT BE SAFE.

That's the shoddy, ridiculous level of "reporting" that Padgett and her fundamentalist friends and cronies engage in. It should not be confused with real journalism or a real newspaper.

I hope when the place is at last handed over to someone sane, there will be a RELIGIOUS-ABUSE TRIBUNAL, and the Greenville News and their fraudulent "reporters" put on trial for aiding and abetting abuse in all its forms. Thank God for bloggers; now you see why we are so important. Otherwise, the right-wing noise machine would be the only version you'd get, at least in this neck of the woods.

Thankfully, there is Spartanburg, which is close enough to cover the issue but far enough away that they aren't being totally controlled by BJU, as the Greenville News is. WSPA covered yesterday's demonstration by Bob Jones students, ignored by local media, which may be the first ever:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A small, but vocal, group of Bob Jones University students spoke about Monday about what they call a "conspiracy of secrecy" at the school, and within Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. The group of roughly two dozen students and alumni wore red in unity, as they attended the University's Monday chapel service. "We're just here to say we want to listen, we're here for moral support," says alumni Clinton Verley.

Student Chris Peterman, founder of "Do Right BJU", was one of the organizers of the event. Peterman says the effort stemmed from the University's connection to Pastor Chuck Phelps, a member of the school's board of Trustees, until he resigned last week. Phelps was surrounded by controversy after a case at his former church in New Hampshire, where a parishioner was accused of raping a teenage girl. "Do Right BJU" members say even though Phelps resigned from Bob Jones' Trustees, they are still unhappy with how the administration handled the matter. "This is about awareness and support for victims," says Peterman. "We want to say we're here for you and if you want to come talk to us, we'll help you heal."

University spokesperson Brian Scoles told Seven on your Side the school has a "zero tolerance" policy when it comes to abuse, and students are encouraged to file grievances with the University.

Participants gathered at the school's fountain after chapel service to release red balloons in support of victims.

Possibly the first show of discontent in the history of BJU, and the Greenville News uses the occasion to pointedly NOT cover the story, but instead reward them with another hand-job.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a town that had a REAL newspaper. Wouldn't that be nice?

~*~

Note:

According to what I read online (available to anyone who does an extensive internet search), the would-be heir apparent to BJU, Bob Jones IV, lives in one of the most expensive cities in the USA, Miami. As oldest brother and next-in-line, why was he passed over for the job he was being groomed for? What does he live on? After much investigation, I can't locate any visible means of support. The rampant internet rumors are that he lives on the money of the faithful. (Now, why would he be doing that?) Also of interest is the fact that he attended Notre Dame instead of going to his own father's school (not that I blame him for seeking a REAL education, of course). BJU teaches that Catholics are evil and the Pope is the antichrist, and yet, Bob Jones III sent his namesake, Bob Jones IV to the "flagship Catholic university of North America" for a Ph.D.--which by my estimation would cost almost a cool half-million. Notre Dame ain't cheap.

So, Bob Jones III takes the money of the faithful, taught to hate Catholicism, and gives it to the most well-known Catholic college in the country, to EDUCATE his SON. Hello? Why is it okay for BJIV to go to Notre Dame, but the students of Bob Jones University are still taught vicious anti-Catholic propaganda and bigotry?

And that ain't all. As I asked, what does he do for a living? Why was he passed over for Stephen Jones, who is supposedly too sick to show up for work for the last 99 days (but as the link above shows, he sure can go to the movies, a privilege denied to the students)? Does this mean that BJIV will finally take over, since Stephen Jones appears unable to rouse himself to do anything? And why are they so secretive about these matters? Why do Bob-Jones-affiliated people freak out and run like scared rabbits when you ask them about Bob Jones IV? What's the big secret?

I wonder. If we had a REAL investigative newspaper, we might find out these things, you know?

The story is there, if someone is willing to tell it. Just like the story about David Thomas (above), we can't count on our local "newspaper" to be anything but cowardly; they won't dare touch it. I don't have the means to go to Miami or New York and hunt him down, but I hope someone else will.

Because honey, from what I hear, it's a doozy. ;)

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