Miscellanea Agnostica

This story is simultaneously shocking — in its scariness — and unsurprising, given how things are in this country. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on this (WebCite cached article):

A district attorney is telling Juneau County schools to abandon their sex education courses, saying a new curriculum law could lead to criminal charges against teachers for contributing to the delinquency of minors.

Starting in the fall, the new law requires schools that have sex education programs to tell students how to use condoms and other contraceptives. Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said such education encourages sex among children, which is illegal, and could lead to charges against teachers.

The new law “promotes the sexualization – and sexual assault – of our children,” Southworth wrote in a March 24 letter to officials in five school districts. He urged the districts to suspend their sex education programs and transfer their curriculum on anatomy to a science course.

It’s not clear to me how following an explicit state statute can also be a crime that Southworth could prosecute, but I’m not sure that little things like that really matter to him. He’s been brainwashed by the usual Religious Right spew on the matter:

“Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender,” he wrote. “It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks.”

Southworth claims, rather incredibly, that he’s not motivated by religion:

“If I’d wanted to be ideological, I would have said in the letter you shouldn’t have sex before marriage because that’s the Christian perspective. I’m an evangelical,” Southworth said.

Sorry but this isn’t going to fly. Not with me anyway. When you do something that just happens to coincide with your own religious dogma, you can’t argue you weren’t motivated by that dogma, merely because you didn’t throw in something additional which is also derived from your dogma.

If you want to read his ridiculous letter, I’ve got a copy of it for you to read … in all its sanctimonious, hyperreligious baselessness.

OK, residents of Juneau county who elected this guy your district attorney … what have you got to say for yourselves? And when do you plan to start the process of removing him from office? Or are you going to approve of what Southworth has done, by choosing to do nothing about him?

Hat tip: Religion Dispatches.

Tags: abstinence-only, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, evangelical, evangelical christian, juneau county, juneau county WI, mauston WI, public school, public schools, religious right, scott harold southworth, scott southworth, sex education, sexual assault, wisconsin

I’ve blogged before on the “hauntings in the news” trope. I’m amazed that reporters these days can’t seem to find anything better to report on. It’s nothing more than “make-news,” or stuff they crank out in order to take up space in the paper. This morning’s example comes from the venerable Hartford Courant (WebCite cached article):

Odd things are happening at the Deep River Public Library.

Staff member Pam Ziobron was working by herself late one Saturday. She had shut off all the lights except for the one at the circulation desk, where she was standing, when she had a strong sense that she wasn’t alone.

“It was just a feeling. … It was just so light and airy, like a female coming down the stairs. It was very, very real,” Ziobron said.

Oh well. I guess there’s no question about it, then. Whenever you get those “feelings … like a female coming down the stairs,” then it can’t possibly be anything else, now, can it?

The article goes on to cite a couple of “haunting” stories in the Deep River library, none with any better evidence than Ziobron’s. It also goes on to cite a presumed expert on the subject:

Michael Dionne, founder of Full Spectrum Ghost Hunters, said that about 1 percent of the cases he investigates are paranormal.

And of course we know Dionne can’t possibly be wrong about that, because … well … he makes a name for himself going around talking about the paranormal and electromagnetic fields and all. Right?

Wrong. These ad hoc, self-appointed “experts” have no objective, verifiable basis for any claim they make. Yet the Courant — which has the distinction of being Connecticut’s newspaper of record — touts one such person as having indisputable veracity.

Sheesh. What bilge. Get with it, Courant, and report some news, not useless tripe like this.

Tags: deep river CT, deep river public library, full spectrum ghost hunters, ghost, ghost hunter, ghost hunters, ghosts, haunting, haunting as news, hauntings, hauntings as news, hauntings in the news, journalism, journalism fail, michael dionne, pam ziobron, paranormal

Since his inauguration, President Obama has begun making strides … often very small and fitful ones … away from being the nation’s evangelical-preacher-in-chief — a role his predecessor, George W. Bush, loved more than anything. Religionists are not happy about this, as one may expect. They’re going positively berserk, however, over Obama’s cancellation of a White House religious service on National Prayer Day, as reported by the Top of the Ticket blog at the Los Angeles Times (WebCite cached article):

On the first Thursday of May, dedicated as the National Day of Prayer, President George W. Bush hosted an ecumenical service in the East Room, a big public endorsement of evangelical Christians. (This event is different from the National Prayer Breakfast, held outside the White House gates every year on the first Thursday of February.)

President Obama opted not to have a service in the White House this year.

“Prayer is something that the president does every day,” explained White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, adding that Obama will sign a proclamation to recognize the day. “I think the president understands, in his own life and in his family’s life, the role that prayer plays.”

As I said, folks have gone nuts over this. Outraged claims range from “Obama canceled National Prayer Day!” to “Obama is going to outlaw prayer!” to “Obama won’t let Christians pray that day, but he WILL be praying with his fellow MUSLIMS!” The sheer amount of dishonest sanctimony and outrage has forced the usual debunkers, such as Snopes (cached article), to have to post pages explaining that most of the claims are not true.

To be clear, Obama has not canceled National Prayer Day. He will still proclaim it! In fact, he’s defying a court decision stating it’s unconstitutional (cached article), and one may assume his administration will appeal that ruling. All Obama has done, is simply to cancel the religious service that the Younger Bush led annually.

That’s all.

Maybe next year, Obama will simply not observe or proclaim National Prayer Day at all … but I’m not hopeful. Obama still likes to make overtures to religiosity and religionists.

Photo credit: JMC Photos.

Tags: barack obama, christian right, george w bush, national day of prayer, national prayer day, national prayer day service, obama, pray, prayer, prays, president, proclamation, religionism, religionist, religionists, religious right, urban legend, white house

Unless you happen to live in or near Connecticut, you probably don’t know about our former governor John G. Rowland. He was dogged by corruption allegations for a couple of years in the early ’00s; in 2004 he finally resigned, and despite having spent months insisting he did nothing wrong, pled guilty to a federal felony corruption charge. He served his time and has been out of prison for a few years, mostly trying to make a name for himself as a motivational speaker. Yes, that’s right, a corrupt former politician actually thinks he knows how you should live your life!

The newspaper in his hometown (Waterbury CT), the Republican-American, has never really gotten over Rowland’s shameful departure from office. Every once in a while they try to rewrite history and make it seem that a man who admitted — in court — to having been corrupt, was actually railroaded out of office by false allegations and the vicious, fictional reporting of rival newspaper the Hartford Courant. Their latest effort at doing so is this Rep-Am article in which they make Rowland seem like he’s ready to take vows or something (WebCite cached article):

He is, after all, John G. Rowland, whose spectacular rise as governor of Connecticut was followed by an even more spectacular fall. And he is — and eager to tell you so — in the midst of his own revival; a renewal of faith that began with a handwritten fax to the governor’s office, that saw him through his darkest days in prison and on one recent Sunday led him to clap his hands to a rousing gospel song at a church service which resembled, not altogether coincidentally, a revival. …

“John Rowland today is not the same guy he was in 2003,” says the Rev. Will Marotti, pastor of New Life Church. “He’s very much in tune with his weakness, more sensitive and more humble.”

New Life Church isn’t the same church, either. As Rowland grew in his faith, Marotti’s congregation grew from a few people meeting in his living room to the hundreds packing the Oakdale venue and companion site on Bee Street in Meriden.

Rowland’s spiritual journey began before his famous troubles. In March 2003, New Life Church planned a Sunday rally for the troops in Afghanistan. On a whim, a hunch or, he’ll say, something greater, Marotti faxed a handwritten note about the event to the governor’s office.

Rowland never attended events on Sunday, which he considered a family day. But, on a whim, a hunch or, he’ll say, something greater, he decided to go.

But, as Rowland’s media nemesis Colin McEnroe (a talk-radio host on WTIC-AM during Rowland’s term) points out, this little scenario might not be true. The Rev. Marotti was much more connected to Rowland — the politician — prior to his corruption crisis, than is conveyed by this Rep-Am article. Here’s Colin’s observation (cached version):

But it’s worth nothing that, back in those bad old days, Marotti was already a theo-political operative for Rowland. He had been appointed by the governor to a council overseeing “faith-based” uses of government funds in the fall of 2003, and he repaid that kindness by going on the warpath for Rowland in the heat of the crisis [locally cached]. Marotti openly pressured the media (including me) to lay off Rowland and pressured the legislature to hold off on impeaching him.

What we have here, folks, is another version of a phenomenon I’ve noticed being used elsewhere in Connecticut … which is for public people to visibly espouse religiosity in order to evade criticism or increase their appeal. I suspect that Rowland, who’s currently Waterbury’s economic development director, is angling for some other, more-public job. He might be considering another run for office somewhere, or maybe something else: There are rumors he may become a talk-radio host on the same WTIC-AM which had once been home to McEnroe (locally cached version). At any rate, I don’t buy this “spiritual transformation” crap, not from a guy like Rowland anyway. You don’t spend close to 10 years in high office, contriving ways to profit personally — and illegally — from it, then suddenly decide to “get right with God.” Nope, I don’t believe it. If you live in Connecticut or anywhere that Rowland might someday go to, you shouldn’t, either.

Unfortunately, this tactic frequently works in the United States, because the country’s religious majority is too credulous about such claims. I have no doubt that Rowland and the Rep-Am‘s rewrite of his history will work.

P.S. The reason there’s a talk-radio vacancy at WTIC is because late-morning host Jim Vicevich … a sanctimonious, hyperreligious whiner I blogged about once before … was let go a week or two ago. Gosh, I can’t tell you how broken up I am over that. (Not!)

Hat tip: Colin McEnroe “To Wit”

Photo Credit: Notable Names Database.

Tags: colin mcenroe, connecticut, corrupt, corruption, deflect, deflection, governor of connecticut, john g rowland, john rowland, new life church, religiosity, rev will marotti, revival, waterbury, waterbury CT, will marotti

About 9 years ago, on a lark, I wrote what I consider to be a humorous essay on Christian theology, for the AntiBible Project forum on Delphi forums. I’d been a frequent contributor there for some time, back then, and remain one even all these years later. My goal had been to illustrate a few things about Christian theology which are difficult, if not impossible, to convey directly.

This essay has been posted there ever since, but right about then was the zenith of Delphi Forums’ popularity. People tend to venture to other Internet venues now. So I thought it was time to extract this essay from the forum archives and post it here for a larger audience to read.

At any rate, I hope you will read and enjoy the essay, which I call “Divine Psychotherapy” … even though it might seem long and rambling. Thank you.

Photo credit: therapyme.

Tags: beliefs, blog business, christian, christian theology, Christianity, christians, divine, divine psychotherapy, essay, god, humor, humorous, new page, psychotherapy, theology, therapy

Everything that’s come out of the Vatican over the last couple months, only confirms what I’ve been saying for a while now (first here, then more recently here), which is that the Roman Catholic Church views the clerical child-abuse scandal as a merely-spiritual attack upon their righteous institution by the Forces of Darkness, rather than as a true criminal problem they need to address as such. Recently the Vatican alluded to the scandal, but in the process claimed that the scandal itself was an “attack,” thus confirming — once again — my assumption that this is how the Holy See views it. CBS News reports on this statement (WebCite cached article):

Pope Benedict XVI spoke Thursday about “attacks” on the church and the need for Catholics to repent for sins and recognize their mistakes, in an apparent reference to the clerical abuse scandal.

Benedict made the comments during a homily at a Mass inside the Vatican for members of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. …

“I must say, we Christians, even in recent times, have often avoided the word ‘repent’, which seemed too tough. But now under attack from the world, which has been telling us about our sins … we realize that it’s necessary to repent, in other words, recognize what is wrong in our lives,” Benedict said.

To the Pope, then, “telling the Church about its sins” is equivalent to an “attack” on the Church.

In addition to this little snippet of evasiveness, I note that the Pope referred to “we Christians” and mentioned “Christians” throughout this homily. He did not refer to “the Church” or to “the clergy” in his comments … but to all “Christians.” Thus, he attempts to generalize the problem — as if to suggest the laity and non-Catholic Christians, who are “Christians” just as much as the R.C. clergy are — were somehow involved, and had something to “repent” that they were refusing to. Some of the laity have, to be sure, aided, abetted, and advocated for the criminal clergy and the hierarchy which enabled them (lay Catholics like Bill Donohue of the Catholic League leap immediately to mind in this regard*), but for the most part, lay Catholics as well as non-Catholics were not responsible for the decades or centuries of child abuse that the Roman Catholic Church allowed to happen. The Pope is wrong to include them in his comments about “repentance.” He is not admitting that it’s largely only the abusive priests, and the Catholic hierarchy — who covered up their activities, going as far as shuffling them around to different parishes, dioceses, and even countries in order to evade prosecution (cached article) — are the ones who have anything to “repent.”

Thus, the Pope implicates all of the world’s Christians in the criminality of this relative few. He’s doing this, of course, to make his own clergy and hierarchy appear less guilty than they truly are.

* To see some reasons why I say this, check out the Media Matters archive of Donohue material, among other sources.

Photo credit: AP Photo / Pier Paolo Cito via CBS News.

Tags: benedict xvi, catholic church, catholic clerical abuse scandal, child abuse, clergy abuse, clerical child abuse, holy see, pope benedict, pope benedict xvi, priestly pedophile, priestly pedophilia, priestly pedophilia scandal, repent, repentance, roman catholic, roman catholic church, scandal as a spiritual attack, vatican, vatican city

Here in Connecticut, legislators are mulling over a proposed bill that would extend the statute of limitations on child-abuse lawsuits. The archdiocese of Hartford, however, interprets this as a direct attack upon them, and they’re fighting back. The Hartford Courant reports on an attempt by Connecticut’s three Roman Catholic hierarchs to get the laity to lobby the legislature on their behalf (WebCite cached article):

A proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases could have a “devastating financial effect” on the state’s Catholic dioceses, Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell wrote to pastors this week, urging them to include a letter opposing the bill in parish bulletins this weekend.

The letter says the bill, now pending in the legislature, would put “all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk,” and warns that it could lead to bankruptcy, threaten the assets of parishes even without a history of abuse, and “would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut.”

“The bottom line is that this is terrible public policy, discriminatory by its nature, and a huge threat to us all,” says the letter, signed by Mansell, Bishop William E. Lori of the Bridgeport diocese, and Bishop Michael R. Cote of Norwich.

The bishops are especially concerned because House bill 5473 — if enacted — would open the door to lawsuits based on the notorious, late Dr George Reardon, who had practiced at the archdiocese-owned St Francis Hospital in Hartford. Although Dr Reardon is long dead, a few years ago a cache of child pornography had been found in a West Hartford home he’d lived in (cached article); the slides and movies had been of children he’d seen in the course of his practice at the hospital, mostly taken on hospital premises. The cache was enormous … 50,000 slides and 100 movies … and Reardon had taken them over the course of a few decades. What makes the hospital — and the archdiocese that runs it — vulnerable to lawsuits is not just that these had been filmed there and during the course of Reardon’s practice, but that they had been put on notice about Reardon’s activities long ago: The Hartford Courant published a comprehensive story of one family’s attempt to get justice done where Reardon was concerned, and that happened in 1970 (cached article). The Hartford County Medical Association also demonstrably knew about Reardon’s predilections, as early as 1970 (see this Courant blog entry, with cached version). But Dr Reardon was not disciplined — either by the hospital or by state authorities — until 1995 … 25 years later! St Francis and the archdiocese clearly bear the burden of having allowed Reardon to prey on his child-patients for those 25 years at the very least (maybe more, if he’d been reported to them prior to 1970).

At any rate, the bishops’ appeal letter reveals their true concern in this case: Money. They are not interested in being held accountable for what they have done, they are not interested in admitting fault, they are not interested in anything, except holding onto as much of their money and assets as they can. Of course, this means they aren’t paying attention to Jesus’ own teachings; Jesus ordered his followers not to be concerned with wealth or possessions, e.g. in the following:

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? (Matthew 16:26a)

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20b)

And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:24-25)

Connecticut’s Catholic bishops, then, are being un-Christian by worrying about money and assets. If they were true Christians they would be willing to give it up — all of it — if needed, and not whine and cry about it.

In any event, this law would not apply only to the Reardon case, but broadly to other similar cases of child abuse, too. So it is not “targeted” solely at the archdiocese of Hartford. The bishops are dishonest when they claim the law “targets” them … because it doesn’t.

Hat tip: Creedible blog.

Tags: 5473, archdiocese of hartford, catholic church, child abuse, connecticut, diocese of bridgeport, diocese of norwich, dr george reardon, george reardon, hartford, hartford ct, hb 5473, henry mansell, house bill 5473, michael cote, raised bill 5473, rb 5473, roman catholic, roman catholic church, st francis hospital, west hartford CT, william lori

In a slightly New Agey variation on the old excuse “the Devil made me do it,” a man being tried for murder insists “ghosts made him do it.” The Hartford Courant reports on this so-called “defense” (WebCite cached article):

A man who claimed ghosts made him shoot and kill his girlfriend inside their Hartford apartment last year waived his right to a jury trial in Superior Court Thursday.

Calwyn Fearon instead decided to be tried before a panel of three judges. He is charged with murder and is in custody with bail set at $1 million.

Fearon was arrested March 21, 2009, a couple of days after the shooting. He told police ghosts were taunting and making fun of him, according to a police report. His girlfriend, 52-year-old Sharon Tyrell-Barnaby, was the “Head Ghost,” and he had had enough, police said he told them.

At the outset, let me say that, if Fearon is genuine in his claim to have been compelled to kill by “ghosts,” he might very well be mentally ill. However, I assume that — by this point — the courts have evaluated his mental health, and if the trial is proceeding, they must be sure he’s at least competent to stand trial. And if mental illness is the reason he killed his girlfriend (again, I concede this is very possible), a more valid defense would be that he’s mentally ill, not that ghosts made him do it.

Connecticut, unfortunately, has a history of appeals to the supernatural in murder trials. Nearly 30 years ago, Arne Johnson — a young man accused of murder — tried to plead “not guilty by reason of demonic possession” in court (cached article). This plea was disallowed by Connecticut law, and a defense of “demonic possession” was not permitted at trial, despite the defense attorney’s desperate attempts to shoehorn it in. This case had some notoriety back in the early 80s, to the point where even now, it has its own Wikipedia page, under the moniker “Demon Murder Trial.” Since that time some of the members of the family involved in that incident have spoken out against the paranormal investigators who’d led them to believe that Johnson had been “possessed” by demons — the locally-famous Ed & Lorraine Warren — and are suing over the matter (cached); the Warrens had sold the family’s story to author Gerald Brittle but the family had gotten almost no compensation for it, and they also claim the Warrens and Brittle had made false claims about them.

It looks like history is repeating itself in Connecticut courts. How nice.

Photo credit: jimmywayne.

Tags: arne johnson, bench trial, calwyn fearon, david glatzel, ed & lorraine warren, ed and lorraine warren, ed warren, gerald brittle, ghost, ghost in the news, ghosts, ghosts in the news, hartford, hartford ct, hartford superior court, lorraine warren, murder, murder defense, murder trial, not guilty, not guilty by reason of demonic possession, paranormal, possession, sharon tyrell-barnaby, supernatural