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from
mefi
We've discussed fixed gear bicycles
before.
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 1:56 PM on May 25, 2008
(99 comments)
Roy Moore
– the “
Ten Commandments Judge” – has announced his intentions to
run for Governor of Alabama. Moore has followed closely in
George Wallace’s shoes both as a judge (each began court with prayer) and with attention getting
antics. As
The Atlantic noted recently,
“In style if not in substance, Moore's religious populism is a lineal descendant of the race-baiting that propelled Wallace to the statehouse a generation ago.” Here’s hoping level heads prevail in Alabama in ’06.
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 3:47 PM on October 3, 2005
(52 comments)
“I bid you peace…”
Jeff Smith,
The Frugal Gourmet, dead at 65. One of television’s most popular cooking shows throughout the 80s and 90s, The Frugal Gourmet defined the genre. An ordained United Methodist chaplain, Smith lost his PBS show in 1997 after eight men accused him of sexual assault during the 1970s. Denying the allegations, Smith nonetheless settled the cases out of court. Did the Frugal Gourmet do the
ultimate shark jump? Maybe someone should ask Elmo.
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 1:20 PM on July 10, 2004
(28 comments)
Half of young Americans to get STDs
- so say several collected studies by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and others. Can the Bush administration's plan to
double abstinence-only spending solve this problem? Or can the argument be made that keeping condoms out of the classrooms causes more STDs than prevents?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 7:36 PM on February 24, 2004
(45 comments)
Don’t call them terrorist
– call them "Koran Preservationist." Bob Jones III, writing on BJU’s
website, says that his university & Christians in general should move away from the word "fundamentalist" because of it’s negative connotations since the September 11th terrorist attacks.
"Bob Jones University is unashamedly Fundamentalist, but the term is beginning to carry an onerous connotation with the world at large because of the media's penchant for lumping Christian Fundamentalists in the same heap as Islamic Fundamentalists. Instead of "Fundamentalism" defining us as steadfast Bible believers, the term now carries overtones of radicalism and terrorism. "Fundamentalist" evokes fear, suspicion, and other repulsive connotations in its current usage."
Is Bob Jones III right to lay blame solely on the media? Or is the public at large simply fed up with religious
zealots,
young earthers,
fundies,
anti-abortion bombers and
terrorist?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 6:32 AM on March 12, 2002
(25 comments)
"Next week, MPP is suing the government in federal court,
arguing that it is our constitutional right to run a medical marijuana ballot initiative in the District of Columbia. If our lawsuit is successful, MPP will be permitted to circulate petitions on the streets of D.C. this spring, for the purpose of placing our medical marijuana measure on the November 2002 ballot."
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 6:59 PM on December 15, 2001
(6 comments)
If you were expecting the Lord of the Rings movie to receive as much if not more scrutiny from Conservative Christians
as Harry Potter did you’re in for a surprise. Despite LOTR being filled with violence and intense fantasy imagery few churches or religious watch-god groups will be condemning the fantasy epic
like they did the occult heavy, yet kid-friendly Harry Potter flick.
The reason is simple:
Tolkien was a devout Christian.
In fact, Tolkien persuaded C.S. Lewis, who himself later wrote several Christian classics, to become a Christian. The two are credited with paving the way for a new genre of devotional literature, influencing authors like Charles Williams, T.S. Eliot, G.K. Chesteron and Dorothy Sayers.
Fortunately for most Tolkien doesn’t let Christian imagery dribble into his stories
the way C.S. Lewis did. So expect religous LOTR friendly reviews from all with the possible exception of the
ChildCare Action Project. One has to wonder though - if Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling, was more publicly religious would her books be as controversial?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 2:21 PM on December 5, 2001
(38 comments)
Will members of the religious right pass on smallpox vaccines
in the event of an attack? Apparently many of the smallpox vaccines now in use come from work done in 1966 on aborted fetuses – which presents a small dilemma for some anti-abortion conservatives.
"I think this scenario puts pro-lifers in a tough spot, and I'm not sure we need to accept this as the only alternative," Earll said. "We need to call on the government to put more research effort into this before we invest our tax dollars into a vaccine that comes from a tainted source."
Of course these are the same people who oppose potentially life saving research on
stem cells and
cloning. Some think that eventually the religious right will have to make some
hard choices about their stance on fetus research. As scientific research marches on, will potential medical pay offs out weigh moral opposition in the future?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 8:27 PM on November 29, 2001
(14 comments)
Evangelist Franklin Graham, stands by his statements
that Islam is "wicked, violent".
"It wasn't Methodists flying into those buildings, it wasn't Lutherans," Graham told NBC. "It was an attack on this country by people of the Islamic faith."
Is it strange that the son of the popular and eloquent Billy Graham hasn’t come under much fire for his anti-Islamic statements while the goofy duo of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are still being roasted for their own
inflammatory 9.11 statements against liberals and gays?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 4:33 PM on November 19, 2001
(47 comments)
Focus on the Family likes watching bad TV.
Recently they have been howling about a cheesy CBS werewolf show, Wolf Lake. As Focus tells it the show is dripping with titillating lycanthrope partial nudity and guilty of promoting kooky Native American spiritualism.
"They had nudity - or partial nudity, at least - within the first twenty minutes," and, "There is an effort to put spiritualism on par with mainstream religion."
Granted, CBS’ Wolf Lake is no
FOX’s Werewolf - but Focus on the Family doesn’t stop with lycanthropes. They also have problems with other occult-glam fare like
Buffy,
Angel and
Charmed.
Is Focus right? Are these shows damaging to the viewer? Should we just say no to hot werewolf sex? Or should these nutty right-wingers just flip the channel?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 8:18 AM on October 11, 2001
(27 comments)
Focus on the Family
says ABC’s The Drew Carey Show propagandizes "the idea that men enjoy watching lesbian sex."
Instead of showing the kiss, the camera pans slowly around to show the male cast and crew in a voyeuristic trance. "To a lot of people, Drew Carey represents middle America, and what you see here is perversions working their way through the TV and this supposed middle American icon"
Among religious conservatives in general there is a dislike of ABC and parent Disney programming. The conservative American Family Association thinks Christians should
boycott Disney. Are these groups just a bunch of religious fuddy-duddies or do they have a valid gripe?
posted to MetaFilter by wfrgms
at 10:30 AM on October 4, 2001
(45 comments)
