Atheist Billboards, Commitment to Ethics, and Personal Choice

We missed the South Dakota Coalition of Reason's new non-believers billboards in Rapid City and Spearfish on our trip west this week. However, I did hear Southern Baptist theologian (wait: they have those?) Russell Moore promulgate the American Christian persecution complex with the absurd claim that being a Christian is no longer "culturally helpful" in our country.

As a South Dakota atheist, let me say that if Moore's contention were true, there'd be no such billboards, or at least no news reports about them. We also would not see "Christian" in the first sentence of any Senate candidate's bio. (Rhoden waits until paragraph 4 to establish his Baptist cred; Rounds doesn't mention his Catholicism in his current Web bio).

The Coalition of Reason makes a declaration of moral intent that should be culturally helpful for any candidate or citizen of any religious persuasion:

Members of our community and student organizations self identify as atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker, secular, skeptic, non-religious, rationalist, empiricist, and more. Like everyone else, we also benefit from a supportive community of friends and family. South Dakota CoR strives to foster a better understanding of our secular values with our neighbors, and to promote and defend those values in our government. No matter how you self identify, we affirm that all have the ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity [emphasis mine; South Dakota Coalition of Reason, "Welcome," downloaded 2013.08.23].

I can hear my theist friends and even my own skeptical soul asking, "But where does that responsibility come from? Why bother with the 'greater good of humanity' if there is no God?"

I lost little sleep over that question when I was younger; I lose no sleep over that question now. If I didn't behave ethically, my daughter would be sad and my wife would be mad. If no one behaved ethically, life would suck. That response is selfish, sentimental, and sloppily utilitarian, but it works.

Some Christians I know will still declare the Coalition of Reason's commitment to ethical living empty and flimsy: how can we rely on a secularist's professed principles when they are rooted in nothing more than personal choice?

I do not doubt that atheists may make mistakes and fall away from their principles. But in that fallibility, do atheists differ at all from Christians? My Christian friends choose, with the same faculty of free will exercised by me and my secular friends, to follow the teachings of an ancient tribe that caught heck from Pharaoh and walked around the desert a lot, with amendments by a carpenter and convicted criminal from Nazareth. Prominent in those teachings is the idea that all people are fallible. We all suffer weakness. We all make mistakes. Are Christians not by definition as prone to waver and err in their convictions as everyone else we meet in the street?

I'm not big on joining clubs. I've never gotten the sense that joining a Christian club would help me make wiser, more humane, more effective decisions. I don't think joining an atheist club will bolster my decision-making ability.

But I do hope that the South Dakota Coalition of Reason can build on these new billboards to open lengthy conversations between people of all faiths—in God, in Wakan Tanka, in human dignity—that will help us all understand our common abilities and responsibilities to build a better world for all of our relations.

Onward Christian Legislators... Against Usury!

On the off chance that our Republican state legislators get a little too excited about their supermajorities and go all theocratic on us, I hope they'll apply their Christian principles to South Dakota's usury industry.

Perhaps all of our legislators should join Father Timothy Logan Fountain in reading Bishop Paul Peter Jesep's Credit Card Usury and the Christian Failure to Stop It. In an excerpt chosen by Father Tim, the bishop notes that alongside the responsibility we consumers have to use our credit cards wisely, there lies an equal responsibility for credit card executives and bankers not to build business models on the exploitation and serfdomization of credit card users.

In a press release promoting his new book, Bishop Jesep adds a practical economic argument to his moral fight against usury: "Fair profit, not unjust gain from high interest rates, will spur economic recovery by putting money directly into the economy."

Are any of our Republican legislators willing to take up this challenge to Christian values?
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Bonus Ecclesiastica: Father Tim won't get me in the pews, but his post did get me to learn the difference between an autocephalous church and an autonomous church. Cool!

Ayn Rand's Atheism Worse Than Mine

My favorite Anglican fount of wisdom, Father Tim, reminds me indirectly that I don't have to make any excuses to my conservative neighbors about being an atheist... not as long they keep worshipping Ayn Rand:

The Economist's Good Guru Guide says, "Ayn Rand—the heroine of America's libertarian right—described her philosophy as 'the concept of man as a noble being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute'" [Gary Moore, "Ayn Rand: Goddess of the Great Recession," Christianity Today, 2010.08.27].

Sounds like nefarious secular humanism to me.

Like The Economist, most observers see Rand as a political and economic philosopher. I believe she was first and foremost an anti-Christian philosopher. She didn't understand the faith. But she knew that Moses was a lawgiver, that Christ told us to "render unto Caesar," and that Paul told us to pay taxes and to "honor and respect" government leaders (Rom. 13). So she had to get rid of Christianity in order to get rid of government.

Rand once declared, "I want to be known as the greatest champion of reason and the greatest enemy of religion." Randian evangelist Leonard Peikoff preached that "every argument for God and every attribute ascribed to him rests on a false metaphysical principle" [Moore, 2010].

Enemy of religion?! I've never declared myself that. I don't mind religion all that much, at least not when folks do it right... or when they put on good potato suppers.

Moore's article is chock full of sharp observations that make one thing clear: atheist Ayn Rand poses a greater threat to your Christian faith and moral compass (not to mention the healthy, regulated free market Adam Smith envisioned) than I ever will. Rand does not believe in any moral obligation to your fellow man. I do. So did that carpenter from Nazareth.

From Iran to Illinois, Religious Radicals Fail to Grasp Causality, Consequences

Bob Ellis will surely consider this post treason as well.

Among the documents in the latest Wikileaks release is this August 1979 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran to the State Department. Deputy Ambassador Victor Tomseth, who was among the American hostages taken three months later, wrote home with some less than flattering observations on the Persian psyche. Tomseth remarked on the incompatibility of Ayatollah-style fundamentalism and reason:

Coupled with these psychological limitations is a general incomprehension of casuality [sic]. Islam, with its emphasis on the omnipotence of God, appears to account at least in major part for this phenomenon. Somewhat surprisingly, even those Iranians educated in the Western style and perhaps with long experience outside Iran itself frequently have difficulty grasping the inter-relationship of events. Witness A Yazdi resisting the idea that Iranian behavior has consequences on the perception of Iran in the U.S. or that this perception is somehow related to American policies regarding Iran. This same quality also helps explain Persian aversion to accepting responsibility for one's own actions. The deus ex machina is always at work [Victor Tomseth, Deputy Ambassador to Iran, cable to U.S. State Department, 1979.08.13, as published by Wikileaks].

Hmm... fanatic faith clouding grasp of causality and consequences... why does this sound familiar?

The earth will end only when God declares it's time to be over. Man will not destroy this earth. This earth will not be destroyed by a flood. ... I do believe God's word is infallible, unchanging, perfect [Rep. John Shimkus, quoted in David Gibson, "Bible Protects Against Global Warming? Energy Chair Hopeful Tells Us So," Politics Daily, 2010.11.27].

That's Republican Congressman John Shimkus from Illinois, whose Lutheran (?!?) faith apparently tells him human actions don't have earthly consequences. We can emit all the greenhouse gases we want without destroying the world. By the same logic, we could stop using crop rotation and no-till farming, or unleash biological weapons, or just throw a global thermonuclear war and not see crops fail or the world end.

Congressman Shimkus also wants to be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Expect policy based on rejection of the conservation of matter and energy.

Folks who fret that President Obama is related to Muslims are missing the point. Considering what Ambassador Tomseth said about our Iranian friends, it's the fundagelical Republicans who act more like the mullahs.

Bonus Causality Quiz: To restore your ability to recognize cause and effect, connect these dots.

...Shimkus and the Bible-believing skeptics of climate change have powerful allies in the emergent Tea Party movement, which in turn has extensive support for the oil and coal industry [Gibson, 2010].

On the Scene: South Dakota Counter-Protests Westboro Hatemongers

It's a cold and gray November day in Sioux Falls, but dozens of real South Dakotans are on the scene to protest the handful of whackos from Fred Phelps's "church" who've come to tell us we're all going to hell because we're not as pious (or obnoxious) as they are. Thea Miller Ryan submits this photo via Twitpic from outside First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls:

photo credit: Thea Miller Ryan, Sioux Falls, Twitpic, 2010.11.21

Remember, kids: we only win with love. Keep showing the love. Someone bring those good people some hot chocolate... and hey, maybe even offer some to our guests from Kansas.

Update: @jenimc says donations at the "Love Is Bigger Than Hate" counterprotests will benefit the AIDS Walk.

Update 16:24 CST: While KSFY features the tiny handful of Phelps cultists, KDLT gets the focus right. Pay attention to the much larger local contingent of counter-protesters, like these Sioux Falls Lincoln students who showed up to reject the message of hate.


Lincoln High students @ Love is Bigger than Hate "Anti" protest from Jonathan Barnes on Vimeo.

I'd rather go to hell with kids like these than go to a heaven filled with Westboro Baptists.

"God Hates South Dakota"? Westboro Whackos Coming Sunday and Monday

Worse than wingnuts: A Facebook friend alerts me that the Westboro Baptist Church is coming to South Dakota Sunday and Monday scream and holler and make Christians look bad.

I'll direct you to their website, even though their URL demeans homosexuals and God, and even though their icon desecrates the American flag by flying it upside down. You can find there the following picketing schedule for these angry, deluded, inbred Christian fakers:

1. First Congregational Church, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM. "WBC to picket this dog kennel where the big lies are taught." What, is First Congregational doing the blessing of the animals this weekend?
   
2. St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM.
   "WBC will faithfully remind their fellow man in Sioux Falls that priests rape children! Giving your children over to those pedophile rapists is equivilent—" wait. At the point where the Phelps family points at St. Joseph's and squeals "these rapists," that's slander, right? Bring your camcorders and your lawyers.
   
3. Calvary Cathedral, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM... because Bishop Gene Robinson is the greatest threat to humanity in the world.
   
4. Washington High School, Sioux Falls, November 22, 2010, 7:40 AM - 8:10 AM. Great, even more congestion in the Warrior parking lot.
   
5. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, November 22, 2010, 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM. "These institutions of so-called higher learning are pathetic substitutes for reading the Bible and BELIEVING GOD!" Right—try substituting "Read Bible" and "Believe in God" for "Graduated summa cum laude, USD Law" or "MBA" on your next job application. Really.
   

I am at a loss as to recommend the proper response. An angrier atheist than I—or heck, even a good Christian disgusted with such grandstanders puffing themselves up with sensational hate—might get some friends together to organize counter-protests. But some people, like Fred Phelps, are so mentally unbalanced, so incapable of rational discourse, so dedicated to making themselves feel important by drawing attention to their madness through any means available, that it's not worth good people's time to give them any attention. I'm probably helping them "win" here by even mentioning their little protests.

I have an easy out: the Phelps shouters aren't coming to my school or my town. They aren't laying picket lines anywhere that I must cross. But parishioners at three Sioux Falls churches and students at Washington and USD will face a brief test of character Sunday and Monday. How will they respond to crude, aggressive insults offered in a spirit of sheer, selfish hatred? How will parents explain to their children the deception and malevolence that drives these "Christians"? And how will they stop the Westboro infection of hatred from spreading?

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Update 2010.11.20 06:06 CST: Looks like the coming South Dakota appearances of the Phelps fakers may end up going about as well as this Thursday demonstration in front of a mosque in Dearborn, Kansas, where counter-protesters outnumbered Westboro "Baptists" about 10 to 1. Two Sioux Falls copunter-protests have popped up on my Facebook invite list:

1. Love Is Bigger Than Hate: Tove Bormes started this event. Attendees plan to bring signs and music to all three church events. Says Bormes, "[R]ather than addressing our protest at the idiots, address it to those watching, with positive messages about a) God's love, and/or (for you atheist and agnostic pals o' mine!) about your acceptance of ALL people." Thanks for including us secularists, Tove!) People who've clicked "Attending": 379.
   
2. Protesting the Anti-American Westboro Baptist Church: Fellow DSU denizen Scott Richardson has put up this event. They're bringing American flags. Four attendees so far.
   

Communities with Anti-Abortion Clinics See More Violence on Abortion Clinics

Here's an unpleasant correlation: reproductive health clinics in communities with "crisis pregnancy centers," anti-abortion clinics often run by Christians supposedly bound by Scripture to non-violence, are more likely to experience violence:

Just the presence of a CPC in the vicinity of an abortion clinic ups the potential for violence. A recent survey by the Feminist Majority Foundation of women’s reproductive-health clinics nationwide found 32.7 percent of clinics located near a CPC experienced one or more incidents of severe violence, compared to only 11.3 percent of clinics not near a CPC. (Severe violence includes clinic blockades and invasions, bombings, arson, bombing and arson threats, death threats, chemical attacks, stalking, physical violence and gunfire.) [Kathryn Joyce, "Right-Wing Christian Pregnancy Centers Linked to Violence," Ms. Magazine via Alternet, 2010.11.11]

If there are enough passionate Christians in a community to start a crisis pregnancy center, I would like to think there would be enough passionate Christians to strengthen the community's resistance to violence against fellow citizens. Alas, too many Christians appear willing to use un-Christian tactics to achieve their political goals.

Fr. Tyler: America Oppresses Catholics, History Indicts Protestants

Father Tyler in Rapid City marks Guy Fawkes Night with the provocative contention that the Catholic persecution against which Fawkes was rebelling is on a par with the intolerance American Catholics face today:

The Gunpowder Plot was the attempt of desperate men to be allowed the freedom to practice the faith demanded of them by their conscience.

I do not condone terrorism. I do not think blowing up the British Parliament was a good idea. It is helpful, however, to consider what drives a man to consider such extreme action. England claimed to permit a great deal of "tolerance" towards Catholics in those days. It is a mantra almost identical to the message of tolerance we hear today. By my estimation, this country tolerates faithful Catholics about the same way that England did in 1605 [Fr. Tyler Dennis, "Thumbing My Nose at England," Prairie Father, 2010.11.05].

As a member of the 1.6% minority of declared atheists in this country, I am perhaps insufficiently sensitive to the intolerance experienced by the largest Christian denomination in America and in the world. So let me ask you, pious readers: do you find the practice of your faith (Catholic or otherwise) so oppressed in America that you could be driven to Fawkesian rebellion?

The religious oppression wrought by King James leads Fr. Tyler to declare it "impossible to have a good grasp of history and remain a Protestant." Hmmm... wind the clock back a hundred years from King James, and don't we find the men of the Catholic Church engaged in such earthly corruption as to drive any conscientious historian out of the Catholic faith as well? Demand a history free of fallen men and earthly excess, and no church 'scapes whipping.

I think that was Luther's point (I'll check with my wife: she's studied history... and she's still in Lutheran seminary). None of us well acquit the institutions and faiths we represent. None of us are worth following. The only man for the faithful to follow (cue that preacher from the Old Time Gospel Hour) is a certain carpenter and fisher of men from Nazareth.

Bringing Religion to the Polls: How High Is Your Wall?

As I enjoy the tense hush surrounding a free people somberly performing their sacred democratic duty, I muse over seemingly conflicting views of politics and religion from theologically inclined corners of the South Dakota blogosphere.

First, check out the Gordon Howie/Pastor Scott Craig show at The Right Side Blog. Their mission statement calls for stimulating something called "Christian Conservative thought." In the last week and a half, their posts have portrayed this election as a "wake-up call for Christians." They have portrayed voting as a moral imperative to address the "dive" of the "moral fabric of our country" that is "apparent to every Christian." Under patriotic images of the American flag and Founding Fathers, they have exhorted readers to "take a stand for God and Jesus" (the ending D and S should be pronounced as separate syllables) the way the Founding Fathers did by doing "something." They urge voters to subject candidates to religious litmus tests. They even feature Rep. Mike Verchio (R-30/Hill City) managing to conflate Christian principles with tax and spend policies and his right to defend himself.

Meanwhile, another Christian, Pastor Shel Boese, offers this thought on Election Day:

As we approach another election in the USA I am so thankful our founding fathers understood that the church is best protected by not being co-opted by the state. (Something many Evangelicals who are almost back into the Egypt of Fundamentalism forget) AND the State is healthier when the church can be a prophetic voice and alternative power source in the world/nation – instead of a co-opted branch of the statist machinery [Pastor Shel Boese, "Election Thoughts...1," News, Thoughts, Theology, Teaching..., 2010.11.01].

Tell me if I'm wrong (I know you will!), but I think Pastor Shel is saying something different about church and state than are Pastor Scott and his friends.

Be a prophetic voice... remember that, pastors, next time you benedict the mayor's prayer breakfast. Regardless of who sits in the governor's chair or our seats in Congress, perhaps Christianity calls believers to always be the loyal opposition.

Noem Not Paying Attention at Church, Either

The ringing in Kristi Noem's ears from directing handbell choir must have made it hard for her to hear this statement of belief about civil government from her Foursquare church in Watertown:

We believe that civil government is by divine appointment and that civil laws should be upheld at all times except in things opposed to the will of God (Acts 4: 18-20; Romans 13:1-5).

That Romans passage is particularly compelling.

So when Noem speeds and skips court, is that just her nature, or is it the will of God? Better check with Pastors Steve and Kathryn on that.

Amish Invade South Dakota, Challenge Civic Religion

The South Dakota blogosphere hosts a couple threads of discussion of the Islamic Center developers want to build in an old Burlington Coat Factory rendered "hallowed" by 9/11 landing gear. While some worry about Muslims in our midst, South Dakota is experiencing another religious infiltration that challenges our civic religion: the Amish are coming!

Tom Lawrence discusses this new influx in the Tripp neighborhood in today's Mitchell Daily Republic:

More than 50 Amish people have come to the area this year. So far, six families have bought 720 acres of land and planted crops and roots in southeast South Dakota [Tom Lawrence, "The Amish Arrive in Southeast South Dakota," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2010.09.04].

120 acres per family? What kind of farmers are these folks? How can any farmer support a family on less than a whole section or two? Don't they pray the mantra of Saint Butz, Get big or get out? If these weren't Amish, I'd think they were getting their farm advice from some liberal hippie blog on the Interwebs.*

They are a traditional people who eschew most modern conveniences. They rely on old-fashioned horsepower — horses — for their field work and travel.

...The Amish use traditional farming methods, including putting their corn up in shocks, instead of combining [Lawrence, 2010].

What? These folks won't come in to the blessed showrooms of Jim River Equipment to buy a big combine, or Prostrollo's to buy a big F-350? Blasphemy! South Dakotans have a sacred duty to shop and boost those sales tax revenues! If we let the Amish in, they'll start converting people to their ways and drive this state into deficit and decline.

The Amish don’t believe in confrontation or fights and have declined to serve in the military. Borntreger said his wife’s grandfather was drafted into the military during World War I and when he refused to serve, he was held as a prisoner of war.

They are conscientious objectors, he said, and are now treated that way by the American government [Lawrence, 2010].

The Amish won't serve alongside our best and bravest? They don't even believe in using guns for personal protection. More blasphemy!

Big farms, big business, big technology, big patriotism and guns—these are the central tenets of our culture. The Amish clearly challenge these tenets. Ought not we be alarmed at the presence of this challenge to our civic religion in our midst?
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*Cultural note: The Gracevale Hutterites brought their kids in to the library one day last week. Some of the kids were checking their Facebook pages.

Unitarian Sermon: "Why I Am an Atheist"

Gee, maybe I could get a Sunday gig after all....

A contemplative reader says he heard a good sermon at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Sioux Falls last Sunday. The headliner: Ronald Knapp, minister emeritus of First Unitarian Church of Omaha, who told the congregants why he is an atheist.

My correspondent forwards a 2007 PDF edition of Reverend (?) Knapp's sermon:

If we can - if the human race can - find a way to say “no, no, no" to the conventional faiths, and to the conventional gods, we can then say "yes, yes, yes," in reverence and awe, to a natural world as we now know it, a world where all human beings are members of one family, a world where all living things are interrelated, if we can - if the human race can - say “no, no, no" to the conventional faiths, and the conventional gods, we can say “yes, yes, yes" to an unfolding universe from which we have come and to which we shall return, a universe of oneness [Ronald Knapp, "Why I Am an Atheist," sermon, First Unitarian Church of Sioux City, 2007.09.16].

Curious: Does a pastor get to say things like that and still keep his ordained title?I would think if I regularly published articles about the Democratic Party's divisive and destructive effect on Western civilization, I'd have trouble keeping my post as Lake County Dems treasurer.

I do find the idea of a pastor delivering such a sermon an interesting exercise in intellectual openness and curiosity. I would think at the very least that conversation over coffee afterward was livelier than usual.

But church, as I understand it from my outsider's position, isn't about good conversation. You can certainly have good conversation at church, but church is about getting the Good News, and the Good News is the God News. You go to a church service to acknowledge and worship the Deity. A church can certainly host a speaker or a panel discussion on atheism or Judaism or Islam, but that's not a worship service. That's... something else.

Knapp describes himself as an "evangelical atheist." He separates "evangel" from sacred use and appropriates it for his own calling to spread the "glad tidings" of his naturalist, humanist message. Here Knapp chooses a different path from mine. I'm an atheist, but I don't evangelize. I resolved early on in my adult atheism not to invest much energy in encouraging people to abandon their faith and join me in a universe composed exclusively of atoms and natural forces. I decided I could make more productive use of my finite time and energy exhorting my neighbors to at least exercise their Christian principles consistently rather than trying to pry them away from those principles. (My call to Christian consistency is also much more fun.)

I say this not by way of criticism of the apostate Knapp. I welcome and admire fellow non-believers who are willing to present their non-belief openly and intelligently amidst the great Christian masses of the prairie. But Knapp raises an important question: Do we atheists really have an obligation to convert religionists to our non-faith?

Noem Court-Dodging Provokes Awkward Silence from "Values" Crowd

I think Pastor Boese is harder on the hypocrisy of Kristi Noem and her "values" supporters than I am:

If this were Rep. Herseth all the “Patriot-Ayatollah Pastor-Priests of the Civil Religion” would be heating the tar and plucking the chickens…preaching sermons about the slippery slope of running stop signs=a form of abortion. However the shoe is on the other foot: it is Noem is running those stop signs, skipping court, etc. Oh I am sure the Ayatollah-wanna-bes will say it was to go save a life of someone (or get to her hair appt on time). They are silent…This is WHY I AM AN ANABAPTIST! [Shel Boese, "Just Sayin' (Remember This Is Not Official Church Statement Source)," News, Thoughts, Theology, Teaching..., 2010.08.27]

I've heard a lot of "Oh, everyone speeds, it's no big deal" from Noem apologists. Funny: do Christians tell their pastors, "Everyone sins, even you, so quit preaching about it"?

I have yet to hear a good rationalization for Noem's skipping court and getting arrest warrants. The comment section is open....
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Update 15:07 CDT: Pastor Shel catches heck... and sticks by his guns!

SD Poll: Over 40% Deny Reality of Obvious Religious Affiliation

Intrigued by the results of the recent Pew Forum survey that finds a majority of Americans denying the reality of President Obama's obvious Christianity, I threw my own online poll, asking Madville Times readers if they happen to know the religious affiliation of two relatively prominent voices in the South Dakota blogosphere: Bob Ellis and me. A quick review of Mr. Ellis's World Net News recycling site will make clear his professed Christian affiliation. A quick review of my writing (1 2 3 4 5 6) makes clear my atheist identification.

But what do readers think?

Do you happen to know what Cory Allen Heidelberger's religion is?

Christian	10 (7%)
Jewish	1 (1%)
Muslim	5 (3%)
Buddhist	5 (3%)
Hindu	0 (0%)
atheist	83 (57%)
agnostic	26 (18%)
something else	15 (10%)

Votes: 145

Do you happen to know what Bob Ellis's religion is?

Christian	66 (56%)
Jewish	2 (2%)
Muslim	4 (3%)
Buddhist	2 (1%)
Hindu	3 (3%)
atheist	6 (5%)
agnostic	8 (7%)
something else	26 (22%)

Votes: 117

At least a majority gave the right answer on both questions. Yet strong minorities—over 40% on both questions—were willing to give answers that contradict the stated and obvious truth about the religious adherence of two quasi-public figures like Bob Ellis and me.

Now we are certainly entitled to debates about whether a given person's actions fulfill the tenets of that person's declared philosophy. Fellow South Dakotan Bill Fleming offers a not-unreasonable argument for his inclination to label me an "existential Christian Buddhist." But I suspect the handful of folks who labelled me and Bob Ellis Muslim were just being honyockers... as are a number of the folks who like to say Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim.

When it comes to religious faith, I suggest it's easier to simply take people at their word. If a guy says he's Christian, he's probably Christian. When I question Bob Ellis's Christianity, I'm not accusing him of being a secret Muslim or devil-worshipper or adherent of some other alienizable faith. I'm challenging him to be consistent with the beliefs he professes.

The challenges to President Obama's Christianity are of a very different and much more unsavory sort. People who say our President isn't Christian aren't challenging him to walk more righteously in the way of his Lord; they are denying facts to demonize and otherize the President, to equate Islam with anti-Americanism, and to trick inattentive voters to reject President Obama on the basis of kneejerk xenophobia rather than a cogent discussion of policy.

So knock it off, people. President Obama is a Christian. So is Bob Ellis. I'm an atheist. Bill Fleming is a groovy karma-seeker. And we are all Americans.

KELO Editorializes, Says God Exists

Media God-talk of the week: KELO appears comfortable endorsing the existence of God. KELO covers the riveting drama of Peter Gladush's van getting whacked by lightning. Reporter Brian Kushida follows Peter Gladush's statement "God saved me" with Kushida's own religious editorializing: "And reminded them just how precious life can be."

I'm not sure which bugs me more: an objective journalist taking a position on the existence of God, or KELO's persistent use of sentence fragments at the end of their reports. "And" + verb... there's not subject!

It also occurs to me that saying "God saved me!" from a lightning bolt is rather like saying John Hinckley, Jr., saved Ronald Reagan by being a really bad shot.

Oddly, neither Kushida nor Gladush editorialize on God's opinion of the Toyota Sienna.

More Americans See Less Religion in Politics, Like It That Way

I wrote yesterday about Americans' willingness to deny plain facts about President Obama's Christianity. Scroll down past the marquee data on Obama in the Pew Forum survey on Religion, Politics, and the President, and you'll find some even more interesting data on Americans' attitudes toward religion.

First, even if more people get a kick out of saying President Obama is Muslim (the numbers saying he's Christian or Muslim flip depending on whether the respondents approve or disapprove of Obama's job performance), Americans in general seem to think that that religious persuasion or any other is having less influence on government policies. The percentage of Americans saying religion is losing its influence on government leaders has jumped 17 points since 2006, to 62%. That perception has increased among every group sampled: Independent, Republican, and even to a smaller degree Democrats; Protestant, Catholic, and unaffiliated.

If religion's influence on elected leaders is waning, an increasing number of Americans are saying, "Good riddance." People who say churches should stay out of political affairs have been a majority since 2008, 52%. Only 43% say churches should express views on social and political questions. Plus, 70% of all respondents and majorities of every major religious group say churches should not endorse political candidates. (Compare that with my poll results and Pastor Hickey's on similar questions.) I'm not saying the majority makes it right... but I will suggest this explains why Gordon Howie's pulpit grandstanding never caught fire with the South Dakota electorate.

The numbers saying churches should express views on social and political issues have decreased since 2006 among every subgroup identified in the survey. As you might expect, conservatives are more inclined to see a role for churches in politics than are indies and libs. Interestingly, college educated folks are more likely to support a political role for churches than are folks with grade-12 education or less. So here is an example of higher education correlating with a greater appreciation of an active role for religion in society. And I thought all of us evil secular humanist university conspirators were supposed to be beating religion out of the kids....

The conservative Christian political movement doesn't appear to have much steam. 14% of Americans say they agree with that movement; 17% say they disagree. 27% claim no opinion, and 42% say they haven't even heard of it (seriously? Jim Dobson? Sarah Palin? stop playing Farmville and read, people!) The progressive religious movement isn't cutting into those numbers too much; the Jim Wallis types draw only 4% agreement, 11% disagreement, and a whole lot of shrugging.

New Poll: What's My Religion? What's Bob Ellis's?

I find the Pew Forum survey results about Americans' perceptions of President Obama's faith fascinating. I want to see what happens if we ask a similar question about two South Dakotans with reasonably well-known (if not known to be reasonable) religious views.

Thus, the newest Madville Times poll, a "pew poll" of our own! Two questions:

1. Do you happen to know what Cory Allen Heidelberger's religion is?
2. Do you happen to know what Bob Ellis's religion is?

The options available mirror the options presented in the Pew Forum poll. Click your answers in the right sidebar here. If you'd like to explain your answer, do so in the comment section beneath this very post.

Poll runs until Tuesday breakfast time. Tell your friends, and vote now!

Is Anyone You Know Really a Christian?

A new Pew Forum poll on the President's religion finds subjectivism and willful ignorance of facts running rampant among a majority of Americans. Pew asked, "Do you happen to know what Barack Obama's religion is? Is he Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or something else?" The responses are alarming. 18% assert that President Obama is Muslim. 43% assert that they don't know.

A majority thus deny the reality supported by the statements and public actions of President Obama himself. Barack Hussein Obama is a Christian. He has said, "Jesus is the only way [to salvation] for me." He swore his Presidential oath on Abraham Lincoln's Bible. As I have stated previously, "Obama is not a Muslim... not that there's anything wrong with that. For those of you who groove to Jesus, Obama has more clearly and consistently articulated a vision of how his Christian faith motivates his practical social action."

Even Fox News says Obama is a Christian.

I really don't know what else a man can do to prove to the people around him that he follows a particular faith... not that a man should have to prove his faith to anyone, with perhaps the exception of the god(s) in whom he believes. If you can't believe that Barack Hussein Obama is a Christian, then how can you believe that the folks making their dutiful Sunday appearances in the pews behind you are Christians? How do you know Dennis Daugaard, Scott Heidepriem, Kristi Noem, or Stephanie Herseth Sandlin are Christians?

And how do you know I'm not?

There's an interesting question. Perhaps a poll is in order. Heck, maybe two polls....

Happy 4th of July, Babylon!

I love the Fourth of July. Even as I criticize the various injustices and foibles of our polticial and economic system, I can celebrate the constitutional guarantees of my right to criticize my country. As an atheist, I can also embrace this wholly secular holiday more whole-heartedly than any of the church holidays that dominate our Western calendar.

If I were a Christian, I might have to change my fife-and-drum tune. Pastor Shel Boese warns his fellow believers to watch what the worship this Sunday. Pastor Shel refers us to Pastor Bob Wyatt of Oregon, who questions the compatibility of national patriotism and Christianity:

Tony Campolo puts it this way: “America may be the best Babylon the world has, but it is still Babylon nonetheless.”

We are exiles living in Babylon, folks. Our corner may be called “America,” or “Canada,” or “France,” but it’s still all a part of the same thing: a world system that transcends borders, is dominated by materialistic consumerism and exploitation, and is fundamentally opposed to the Kingdom of God. And while love and affection for the people living in that system is entirely necessary, and while we should certainly pray for the peace and well-being of the place where God has set us, we need to avoid the mistake we see over and over in Scripture: becoming so enamored with our temporary dwelling—whether that’s called Egypt, Babylon, or even America—that we lose sight of what Hebrews calls “a better place” [Pastor Bob Wyatt, "Be Careful What You Worship on July 4," Out of Ur, 2010.07.01]

Lest you revert to conflating piety and patriotism, take a couple more swigs of that Campolo quote:

1. "America is the best Babylon in the world. But Babylon is a whore. Whores seduce. Babylon consumes all the resources on the earth, and eats up the souls of men (Rev 18)."
2. “As the system was collapsing, as Babylon was going down the tubes, this other group of people was saying, 'hallelujah, Babylon is no more! The great whore is dying'.... Don’t get me wrong, I love the United States of America. It’s the best Babylon on the face of the earth, but it’s still Babylon and it’s not the kingdom of God.”

Whew—I'm glad I don't have to reconcile that on Sunday morning. And hey, what is that flag doing up on the Christian altar, anyway?

As some of my more enlightened Christian friends would say, God Bless America... and the rest of the world, too!

Theocratic Sound and Fury Draws Paltry Rapid City Crowd

Gordon Howie just can't stop making speeches. Howie got 75 people—about 2% of the Black Hills voters who helped him place fourth in the five-man gubernatorial primary—to waste a nice Father's Day afternoon sitting inside the Ramkota listening to Howie, Pastor H. Wayne Williams, and struggling novice talk radio host Shad Olson play more Glenn Beck karaoke.

Now I suppose I can't trust the Rapid City Journal's account of the event, since RCJ is just another tentacle of the godless liberal media. Fortunately, instead of having to go to the trouble of attending one of Gord's self-aggrandizing "On the Right Side" rallies, I can simply download his screeds from his website. The content is predictable:

• Pastor H. Wayne Williams wallows in his persecution complex. He portrays Americans United for Separation of Church and State as an "assault dog" for reporting him to the IRS for endorsing Howie from his church pulpit. Indeed, how vile, that any citizen should report violations of the law to the authorities.... H. Wayne also notes that his church hasn't filed for 501(c)3 status, which I assume means they are thus obliged to pay regular taxes on all income received. Better call the accountant....
  
• Kermit Staggers chimes in with lines weaker than I would expect from a political science professor, rehashing the tired old "Constitution doesn't mention separation of church and state" argument... but ignoring the fact that the whole concept of church-state separation comes from Jesus of Nazareth himself (render unto Caesar... oh, wait, don't remind Gordon of that one).
• Gordon Howie has trouble finding material to fill four pages, so he includes the same Thomas jefferson quote twice. He also includes the Ten Commandments, as if anyone bothering to pick up his little paper doesn't already know them.
  
• Shad Olson uses many big words (and you think I'm bad?).

Kevin Woster wonders if the Howie-Olson-Williams-Staggers show could represent a political force to be reckoned with. If they actually promised to do something for the polis, I might say yes. But Howie and his bloviating pals aren't doing anything. They aren't proposing any practical action. They're just blogging out loud, enjoying the sound of their own voices. They don't say anything about education, the economy, energy, the environment, or any other practical policy issues that South Dakota needs to deal with. Their little puppet shows are all about them, about what wonderful, pious, manly Christian warriors Gord and Shad and H. and Kermit are.

A movement driven by personality and persecution complex is not a sustainable political movement. It's marketing for egomaniacs who can't accept the electoral ruling that they are wrong for South Dakota.