It sounds like an old story, but the Wrongologist and Ms. Oh So Right are again headed to a wedding in Vermont, so there will be no new posts until Monday. Therefore, cartoons!
We canât ignore the visit of Pope Francis. Yesterday, he spoke to the Congress, and the usual spin ensued. Like the Liberty U folks when Bernie spoke there, the defining political issue for 90+% of Republicans is abortion. As long as the Pope remains with them on that issue, there’s no contradiction between their faith and political affiliation.
They will no more listen to this Pope on other issues than they did to John Paul II’s anti-war messages.
Liberals, including liberal Catholics, appreciate Francis because he says some things that they’ve believed for a long time. Itâs always nice when an authority figure affirms one’s beliefs. But the three Catholic POTUS candidates, Christie, Jeb, and Santorum, have already rejected anything Francis has to say on climate change and income inequality. As have all the GOP members of Congress regardless of their religious affiliation.
The Popeâs big job:
Brian Williams returned from banishment to anchor coverage of the Pope:
We may see a government shutdown this fall. One thing to keep in mind about the Republican debate over whether or not to risk a government shutdown for the âdefund Planned Parenthoodâ movement is that this isnât a fight over goals or principles. There isnât a single Republican presidential candidate who does not favor âdefunding Planned Parenthood:
The GOP is moving on to Carly:
Volkswagenâs CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned on Wednesday over the emissions cheating scandal, saying âIâm not aware of any wrongdoing on my part.â Strange choice of words, probably written by his PR team. This is a rogue company that undertook anti-social activities for profit. Anyone can see that this is the outcome we should expect if Mr. Market is allowed to run free:
The same seems true with evolution. Here is a snippet of an article by James Krupa, Professor of Evolution at the University of Kentucky:
…one of the most misused words today is…theory. Many incorrectly see theory as the opposite of fact. The National Academy of Sciences provides concise definitions of these critical words: A fact is a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it; a theory is a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence generating testable and falsifiable predictions.
So âtheoriesâ and âfactsâ co-exist by definition. Krupa quotes the late Stephen Jay Gould:
Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the worldâs data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.
The public acceptance of evolution in the US is the 2nd lowest of 34 developed countries, just ahead of Turkey. Half of Americans reject some aspect of evolution, so it must be a steep uphill climb in states like Kentucky to fight against the power of fundamentalism.
Why does this have to be a battle of faith(s)? Among the religious groups that support the teaching of evolution are the Episcopal Church, Lutheran World Federation, United Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, United Unitarian Universalists, Roman Catholic Church, and the American Jewish Congress.
In fact, 77% of all American Christians belong to a denomination that supports the teaching of evolution. The question that should be asked is: âWhy canât evolution and faith in God co-existâ? Why canât the physical body spring from one source of life, and the soul from another?
So, wake up deniers! Today is Eric Claptonâs 70th birthday. This wake up is from the movie, âThe Last Waltzâ, celebrating the career of The Band, directed by Martin Scorsese. You must see this movie. Here is “Further On Up The Road“, first recorded by Bobby “Blue” Bland. Thatâs Levon Helm on drums and Robbie Robertson on guitar along with EC:
Today is Sunday, the day when Christians worship their God. So, itâs appropriate that we focus on the reaction of certain right-wing Christians to Mr. Obamaâs talk at the National Prayer Breakfast last Thursday. He spoke for about thirty minutes but the part of the speech that the right wing are focusing on is when he brought up the Crusades: (brackets by the Wrongologist)
Humanity has been grappling with these questions [violence in the name of religion] throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.
The righties are complaining that Obama is saying that Christianity is equivalent to ISIS. Which of course, isnât what he said. He was saying that Islam was not ISIS, and demonizing Islam for the sins of ISIS is hypocritical, because, among other reasons, Christians have plenty to answer for, given their historical actions in the name of religion. So, conservatives are slamming Obama for not equating terrorism with Islam. For example, Jim Gilmore, former Republican governor of Virginia said:
He has offended every believing Christian in the United States…Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.
Barack Obama, leftwing community organizer and closet theologian, used the National Prayer Breakfast to throw a tu quoque at anyone critical of Islam while continuing to fancy himself as the Pope of Islam
When did the clearly dominant religion in the US develop a glass jaw?
Mr. Obama has attended this prayer breakfast each year to speak about his faith. And the things he said this time were things that Christians agree with: that at times, the religion has been perverted, that we have to walk humbly before God, that Godâs purposes are mysterious to us. These thoughts are accepted by every Christian. And so what he said was normal, a recognition of historical fact, and an urge towards some level of perspective and humility.
But what Obama says is never enough for these crypto-Christians. And as for Americanâs Christian conservatives, they love, love, love violent retribution. One example is their love affair with torture. Do you need the reminder that Sarah Palin said about waterboarding:
that’s how we baptize terrorists
Here is your OTHER approved form of Sunday worship:
But today, we have as many deniers as believers:
Mr. Christie, a denier, needs a different vaccine:
Mr. Romney’s exit creates a stampede:
Bibi gets to address Congress, but teleprompter has ideas:
