“I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.”
-Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 25:45

“I’m not concerned about the very poor.”
-Mitt Romney

Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic covers two new ads from the Israeli government that attempt to scare Israelis about what will happen if you (or your children) marry an American Jew:

The idea, communicated in these ads, that America is no place for a proper Jew, and that a Jew who is concerned about the Jewish future should live in Israel… The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for American defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters.

Watch a big pile of GOP candidates try to appease the Religious Right and weasel out of saying that Mormons are Christians:

“I’m not an expert on Mormonism. All I know is that every Mormon I know is a good and decent person, has great moral values,” Santorum said.

But when asked if he believed Romney is “a true Christian,” Santorum spoke somewhat haltingly: “Mitt Romney is a true, he says he’s a Christian.”

Ah, right, Romney says he’s a Christian. That’s different from Santorum saying he thinks Romney is one.

My favorite is Gingrich, who lambasts the preacher who called Mormonism “a cult” but then himself says of Romney that “I think he’s a Mormon and Mormons define themselves as a branch of Christianity.” (emphasis added)

Months after sparking a national wave of protest in the GLBT community, fast food chain Chick-fil-A has underwritten a gold event that benefits an anti-gay group, On Top Magazine reported on July 25.

Last February, the eatery chain sponsored a seminar on heterosexual marriage titled “The Art of Marriage” organized by anti-gay group the Pennsylvania Family Institute, which opposes legal equality for same-sex couples in that state.

…Gay blog Good As You did some sleuthing and found the company was the mainstay behind the WinShape Foundation, which is solely funded by Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy’s family.

“The foundation supports college students who espouse a fundamentalist Christian lifestyle (forget Jews or Muslims; Episcopalians need not apply),” the article added.

Read on.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said in a recent statement:

…we find no evidence of any bigotry on the part of Rep. Michele Bachmann. Indeed, she has condemned anti-Catholicism. Just as President Barack Obama is not responsible for the views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rep. Bachmann must be judged on the basis of her own record.

They’re right, of course, but let us see if the media give the same scrutiny to Bachmann that they gave to Obama regarding his former pastor.

And what’s the context? Why, Rep. Bachmann only last month left the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, whose website says:

We identify the Antichrist as the Papacy. This is an historical judgment based on Scripture.

An interesting article at Time’s Swampland:

The Public Religion Research Institute released a report on Thursday about the Millennial generation (roughly those ages 18 to 29) and where they stand in today’s culture wars, particularly concerning abortion and religion. One finding was that Americans in general, and particularly Millennials, have “decoupled” part of the traditional conservative values agenda, showing more support across the board for same-sex marriage while keeping in tact the preceding generations’ split over abortion.

The article includes these interesting points:

* Having watched MTV’s shows about young unmarried women who are pregnant or have children made people feel more positive about abortion.
[...]
* Excepting white evangelical Protestants, majorities of all major religious groups say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Which is worse: children growing up without a home, or TEH GAYS?

In Illinois, the Catholic Charities of Rockford have their answer:

Catholic Charities of Rockford announced Thursday that the agency will halt its state-funded foster care and adoption services Wednesday — the day civil unions take effect in Illinois.

…In Rockford, the decision could displace about 350 foster children served by Catholic Charities and put 58 employees out of work.

Officials cited a lack of clarity in the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act, which does not specify whether religious child welfare agencies must place children with couples in civil unions.

The news is all a-flutter today with the Pope’s recent statements:

“Health justice should be among the priorities of governments and international institutions,” he added.

The pope said that establishing this goal requires “a true distributive justice that guarantees to all, on the basis of objective needs, adequate care,” and he said “the social doctrine of the Church has always evidenced the importance of distributive justice and of social justice in the different sectors of human relations.”

Oh, also:

Benedict says condom use is acceptable “in certain cases”.

As John Fugelsang pointed out, can you guess which one got all the press?

Now, according to Glenn Beck, whenever anyone says “social justice” they’re a Communist and/or Nazi:

I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!

Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That’s what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: ‘social justice.’ They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy.

You heard it, Catholics. Glenn Beck says you should leave your church, because apparently Pope Benedict is a Marxist. (Now, Nazi, that’s a little more complicated.)

It looks like voters in Oklahoma just ratified the law of unintended consequences.

Lawmakers in the Sooner State put a constitutional amendment banning the application of Islamic law by Oklahoma courts on the ballot for Tuesday’s election.

But the amendment, which also banned the use of international law in judicial decision-making, might force Oklahoma judges to ignore all laws that were conceived on foreign soil, including the 10 Commandments.

“I would like to see Oklahoma politicians explain if this means that the courts can no longer consider the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that a precept of another culture and another nation?” said a University of Oklahoma law professor.

Read on.

Coons said private and parochial schools are free to teach creationism but that “religious doctrine doesn’t belong in our public schools.”

“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him.

When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”

Read on.

Tea Party darling and GOP candidate for Senate, Christine O’Donnell, said a few things on Politically Incorrect back in 1999 that might not endear her to the values crowd.

“I dabbled into witchcraft. I never joined a coven,” she said. ” … I hung around people who were doing these things. I’m not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do,” she said.

“… One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. I mean, there’s little blood there and stuff like that,” she said. “We went to a movie and then had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”

Dems in the Bay State go to the polls tomorrow for the primary. One of the contested races is for State Auditor.

Guy Glodis has been campaigning all over. Here’s why you shouldn’t vote for him:

And Glodis is generating controversy over his decision to distribute what Muslim activists charge was a racist flier to his 39 Senate colleagues. On June 25, the pol sent out an e-mail with the message, “Thought this might be of interest to you.” To it, he attached a leaflet purporting to tell the story of General “Black Jack” Pershing, a US military man stationed in the Philippines. In 1913, so the story goes, Pershing was combating his own brand of terrorism: “Muslim extremists.” He executed 49 of them with bullets soaked in pig’s blood because Muslims believe, the flier states, “touching a pig … is to be instantly barred from paradise (and those virgins) and doomed to hell.” Then, he buried their bodies in pig entrails — an act that supposedly deterred terrorism for 42 years. The flier closes with this final sentiment: “Maybe it is time for this segment of history to repeat itself, maybe in Iraq? The question, where do we find another Black Jack Pershing?”

The Phoenix endorses Suzanne Bump instead.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal explains it all.

Today, the United States put an end to a group of religiously-motivated violent extremists who planned murderous attacks on Americans and planned to kill them with weapons of mass destruction as part of their religious war. They claimed their prophet “wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword”.

I look forward to seeing the right-wing talking heads criticizing this faith as a “religion of hate” and condemning its followers.

With marriage equality now taking place in D.C., employers in D.C. will of course have to extend the same benefits to same-sex spouses as they do opposite-sex spouses.

The Archdiocese of Washington found this untenable. Health benefits? To the gays? What’s a Catholic employer to do?

Catholic Charities will continue to honor the health plan coverage that current employees have as of March 1, 2010. As of March 2, a new plan will be in effect that will cover new employees and requests for benefit changes by current employees. The new plan will provide the same level of coverage for employees and their dependents that you now have, with one exception: spouses not in the plan as of March 1, will not be eligible for coverage in the future.

That’s right — straight or gay, if your spouse wasn’t on the plan as of March 1, s/he can never, ever get health care coverage. See? Now they don’t have to give benefits to the gays — and it’s legal!

Yeah, that’s pretty much the embodiment of Christian charity right there.

Read on.

NO SERIOUSLY

Check out the results from this poll.

I… I am speechless. I can’t even summarize it.

Okay, let me try. 2000 Republicans surveyed, and the results include

Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
Yes 31
No 56
Not Sure 13

THIRTY ONE PERCENT
SOMEWHERE, MARGARET ATWOOD IS PULLING OUT HER HAIR

Levicitus 18:22:

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Same book, 11:10-11:

And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

I look forward to the Catholic church spending $394,000 to ban finless, scaleless seafood in Maine. To do otherwise would be hypocritical.

I have been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service.

So writes President Jimmy Carter.

Newsweek editor Jon Meacham writes in this week’s issue:

The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.

Read on.

…or so a bunch of wingnuts would have you believe. Why?

Krispy Kreme, being the genial purveyor of glazed goodness that it is, decided to get in on the Obama inauguration craze and is offering one free doughnut to every costumer on January 20, Inauguration day, and released this seemingly innocuous press release:

“Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American’s sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies — just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet ‘free’ can be.”

Well, The American Life League noticed the liberal use of the word choice and decided to blast the chain bakery for producing abortion doughnuts.

“The unfortunate reality of a post-Roe v. Wade America is that ‘choice’ is synonymous with abortion access, and celebration of ‘freedom of choice’ is a tacit endorsement of abortion rights on demand,” the group’s president, Judie Brown said in a statement.

Yes, that’s right. Use the word “choice” in a PR statement, and you’re an abortionist.

Read on and let your mind boggle. Then go buy some Krispy Kremes.