Jesus for President

Prior to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, a group of evangelical Christians in Pennsylvania started an unusual campaign: Jesus for president. The idea of electing someone who is either fictional or who has been dead for over 2,000 years did not seem to bother them. It was the ultimate third party.

Fast forward to the present day, and we have another effort to elect Jesus. This one seems to have caught on in a way the previous effort did not. I wonder if that might have something to do with the lack of enthusiasm for both of the two main candidates. So far, 1,656,730 people have signed on online pledge to vote for Jesus as a write in candidate in the 2012 election.

As Jobsanger notes, the people behind this latest effort seem to be motivated primarily by their belief that Mormonism is a cult. I may not agree with them, but it is nice to see that at least some evangelical fundamentalist Christians are willing to stand for something. If they truly believe that Mormonism is a dangerous cult, perhaps they should not vote for Romney.

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Are the Boy Scouts Trying to Emulate the Catholic Church?

Back in February, I wrote about the pressure many of us receive in our places of employment to donate to religious charities. I noted that my employer, which happens to be the state government, pushes us to donate to our local United Way chapter. The local United Way chapter then distributes the funds to local chapters of the Salvation Army, Boy Scouts, and a mission that promotes Christian bible study. Needless to say, I do not donate to this agency no matter how much pressure I face to do so. I've also managed to inform a few co-workers about how this works so that they too are refusing to donate.

Now I have yet another reason to offer besides my standard line about not being interested in supporting religiously-motivated bigotry. It appears that the Boy Scouts of America have not been much better than the Catholic Church when it comes to handling matters of child sexual abuse.

I understand that no organization is going to be eager to broadcast something that makes them look bad. At the same time, I would think that a group focused on children would want to do everything it could to show that it was taking child abuse seriously and making the protection of children its highest priority. The Boy Scouts already has an awful record when it comes to discrimination. I sincerely hope that they improve the manner in which they handle child abuse.

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Watch Out For Halloween Evangelicals

There is no shortage of scary stories perfect for Halloween. You have heard all tales about people injecting drugs into the candy they distribute or passing out apples containing razor blades on Halloween. These urban legends have been popular for decades and remain great fodder for scaring parents. You have heard the ancient myths about Halloween being the night when the "world of spirits" is somehow closer to ours and "evil" is close by. This stuff is old news and probably isn't going to scare any self-respecting freethinker. But there is something else going on this year, something even spookier that just might get those hairs on the back of your neck to stand at attention.

It seems that the Campus Crusade for Christ, an evangelical fundamentalist Christian organization, wants to use Halloween as an opportunity to convert you. Yes, you read that correctly. They've decided that Halloween is the perfect opportunity to spread their preferred delusion. Better prepare yourselves, heathens! Your very sanity could be at stake this Halloween.

What are those papers taped to your child's candy? They could be tracts designed to infect your child's mind with superstition. Think that neighbor is just being friendly? Nah, he's asking himself, "Who are your neighbors and why has God placed you among them?" But isn't Halloween a great opportunity for you to socialize with your neighbor's family? Maybe, but not if your neighbor has a Jesus pumpkin on her porch and is dead set on "how best to bring the light of Christ into the season." Um yes, that would be the Halloween season apparently.

Not scared yet? Well, don't look now but there is a dark figure creeping through your neighborhood. What is that in his hand? It looks like a notebook, but why is he desperately trying to conceal it? This person just might be recording the names of your entire family in order to (gasp) pray for you later.

Happy Halloween!

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Disaster Relief: Sandy

In between horror movies, I've been watching the coverage of Sandy from here in Mississippi, and it certainly looks like a bad storm. Lots of people are still without power, and flooding along the coastal areas caused significant damage in many states. The northeast has such a high population density that it does not take a very powerful storm to wreak havoc there.

It occurs to me that one of the big differences between the hurricanes I have experienced here and what the residents of the northeast region are going through now involves the weather. The hurricane that have hit here have taken place in the summer months when high temperatures and humidity make it difficult to be without a air conditioning when the power goes out. Difficult, but not usually fatal. On the other hand, the colder weather associated with Sandy means that some people are in very real danger without heat.

Now that we know what caused the storm, there will be plenty of time to work on preventing the next one later. We'll need to make drastic changes to U.S. foreign policy, expel all the gays from the U.S., ban abortion, and all sorts of other measures to appease the "god" in which Christians claim to believe. But for now, efforts must focus on restoring power and finding safe shelter for those displaced by flood waters.

For those who prefer a more reality-based approach, donations to the Red Cross can be made here.

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