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God Gets Graphic

It is not in praise of the Creator that R. Crumb portrays him — in the splash page that begins his much-anticipated adaptation of Genesis in comic-book form — as Crumb sees his own father. He grew up in helpless terror of Charles Crumb Sr., a former Marine Corps master sergeant who lorded over his family with icy severity. Early in his progress on “The Book of Genesis,” Crumb was asked by Robert Hughes of Time magazine if he was drawing God to look like Mr. Natural (the burlesque cartoon shaman whom he has long employed to poke fun at pop spirituality). Crumb replied: “He has a white beard, but he actually ended up looking more like my father. He has a very masculine face.” Both paternity and masculinity are matters of dubious value to Crumb, a wonderfully unlikely candidate to breathe new life into the founding narrative of masculine privilege and paternal authority in the Judeo-Christian world.

More HERE.

Apostasy is a crime punishable by death in Islamic countries

Catholic Church Emerges as Key Player in Legislative Battle

Man confesses to shooting Kan. abortion provider

Inside the Gunman's Mosque

Christian Billboard Denies Church/State Separation; No One Outraged?

Haggard starting new church at his Springs home

Berlin bans fast-growing neo-Nazi group

DeConversion.org

Catholic League Angered By Larry David Peeing On Jesus

Demonstrate Against Al Muhajiroun

Nightline: Scientology Report - part 1

“No God” #1 trending topic on Twitter

In a classic case of irony, Christians tried to get the statement “No God, No Peace. Know God, Know Peace” to trend today on Twitter.

The result of this effort was the phrase “No God” became the #1 trending topic.

Please understand that atheists have been trying for months to get an atheist related topic to trend and this one was gifted to us.

More HERE.

Nigerian police raid Islamic sect, detain hundreds

Police in the western Nigerian state of Niger have raided an Islamic community and detained hundreds of its members, weeks after an uprising by a radical sect killed almost 800 in the remote northeast.

Gay marriage fight, `kiss-ins' smack Mormon image

The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide

‘Focus on the Family’ faces dire financial straits (maybe not)

Cypriots seeking love potions wear away saints' tomb

Unhappy lovers in Cyprus have been taking so much stone from the tomb of Saint Agapitikos to use in love potions that soon there won't be anything left.

Artist gets death threats for depicting Ganesh naked

An Indian artist has received violent threats from Hindu nationalists for
showing the popular god Ganesh in unusual poses, including naked and as an
Oscar statuette.

Court to rule if man can starve to death

A QUADRIPLEGIC who says his life is "hell" could be granted the right to die in a landmark ruling.

Law requiring ultrasound for abortions struck down

I have been abducted by aliens, says Japan's first lady

Move over Michelle, watch your backs, Carla and Sarah. There's a new kid on the first lady block, and she looks like upstaging the lot of you.

Couples told by Roman Catholic church to PRAY before sex

A new book brought out by the Roman Catholic Church invites couples setting out on their married life to recite a specially composed 'Prayer Before Making Love'.

Bachmann ‘hearing voices’ other than God’s, says top Dem

Suicide Madonnas are a shock too far for Israeli art enthusiasts

At first glance the exhibition which previewed in Tel Aviv this week was a collection of classic and very familiar images of the Madonna and child, with variations on the pious theme executed by Raphael, Botticelli and other Renaissance masters.

Legendary Christian coach canned after student converts

Fordson High School, Dearborn, Mich. A high school hall of fame and Christian wrestling coach in Dearborn, Mich., claims he was muscled out of his long-tenured coaching job by the school's principal, a devout Muslim, because the administrator was furious

Fanatic hijacked Mexican plane after 'revelation'

A Bolivian religious fanatic briefly hijacked a jetliner from the beach resort of Cancun as it landed in Mexico City on Wednesday, police said. All passengers and the crew were released unharmed.

Best-selling Bible to undergo revision

The top-selling Bible in North America will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in the sacred text.

Raw Story » UK lesbian couples get ‘equal rights’ to be named parents

Jaycee Dugard's Abduction Case Highlights Failure of Psychics

Amazingly, a Reno psychic is now claiming the case proves the accuracy of her abilities.

Flap over flag, hijab leads to suspension of Hernando student

A student is suspended for confronting a girl in a hijab for sitting during the pledge. SPRING HILL — Heather Lawrence didn't know the name of the girl with the Muslim head covering, or where she was from.

Jaycee's girls and God's Desire: 'like Little House on the Prairie meets robots'

Shari Arison, Israel's Wealthiest Woman, Says She Can See the Future. Really.

TEL AVIV The office door has a steel vault veneer, and Shari Arison -- controlling stockholder in Israel's largest bank and its largest construction company, heiress to the Carnival Cruise Lines fortune and head of a long list of other undertakings -- has a lot to protect.

After Ted Kennedy's Death, Silence from the Pope

The Vatican has never had the best relations with the Kennedy clan. And church conservatives are not mourning the passing of the U.S. Senator

Man indicted for threatening Boulder abortion doctor Warren Hern

Children sent home for wearing Islam is of the Devil shirts

Its pretty offensive, isnt it? Khan said of the message on the back of the shirt. Particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other

Raw Story » Polls show atheists on the rise in America

Bachmann: Prayer and fasting will help defeat health care reform

Fla. man says Home Depot fired him over God button

Earlier this month, he began bringing a Bible to read during his lunch break at the store in the rural town of Okeechobee, about 140 miles north of Miami. That's when he says The Home Depot management told him he would have to remove the button.

Keezer refused, and he was fired on Oct. 23, he said.

More HERE.

Italy school crucifixes 'barred'

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against the use of crucifixes in classrooms in Italy.

The Vatican said it was shocked by the ruling, calling it "wrong and myopic" to exclude the crucifix from education.

More HERE.

Democrats’ healthcare bill would pay for ‘prayer’ treatment

Three senators have quietly inserted a provision into the Democrats' healthcare overhaul that would allow the Christian Science church to receive remuneration from the federal government for prayer treatments as medical expenses.

Why are liberal Democrats teaming up with a conservative senator for a provision that would normally be the bane of the Senate's liberal elite? Because the headquarters of the Christian Science church is in Boston.

More HERE.

'The Evolution of Confusion' by Dan Dennett, AAI 2009

Harlan Ellison talks about LRH

"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion"

So what does an anti-choice woman do when she experiences an unwanted pregnancy herself? Often, she will grin and bear it, so to speak, but frequently, she opts for the solution she would deny to other women -- abortion.

More HERE.

Jordanian honor killing

A Jordanian man was charged on Sunday with premeditated murder after allegedly stabbing to death his 22-year-old daughter because she became pregnant outside wedlock, police said.

"The father and his brother took the girl on Saturday to a doctor because she suffered stomach pains, and everybody was surprised to learn that she was six months pregnant," a police spokesman said.

"On their way home, the father stabbed the girl with a sword 25 times in her stomach, killing her immediately as well as her unborn baby boy."

More HERE.

How to make 'Stigmata'

Oklahoma abortion law ‘like undressing women in public’

A new Oklahoma law that forces women who have had abortions to post details of the procedure online is being sharply criticized by women's rights groups, and is now being challenged in court by two Oklahoma women.

As of November 1, doctors in Oklahoma will be compelled -- under penalty of criminal prosecution -- to post the details of each abortion they perform online. Among the details to be posted for every abortion is the patient's age, marital status and race; her financial condition; her education; and the total number of her previous pregnancies.

More HERE.

African Children Denounced As "Witches" By Christian Pastors

EKET, Nigeria — The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants, staring blindly at the wall.

His family pastor had accused him of being a witch, and his father then tried to force acid down his throat as an exorcism. It spilled as he struggled, burning away his face and eyes. The emaciated boy barely had strength left to whisper the name of the church that had denounced him – Mount Zion Lighthouse.

A month later, he died.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/african-children-denounce_n_324943.html

Texas man faces execution after jurors consult Bible to decide fate

Amnesty International has appealed to the state to commute the sentence on Khristian Oliver, 32, who is due to die on November 5.

He was sentenced to death in 1999 for murdering a man whose home Oliver was burgling. The victim was shot in the face and beaten with his own rifle.

It later emerged that while deciding whether he should be given the death penalty, jurors consulted the Bible. Four jury members admitted that several copies had been in the jury room and that highlighted passages were passed around.

At one point, a juror reportedly read aloud from a copy, including the passage: "And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death."

More HERE.

Why GOP Leader Opposes Hate Crimes Protections for Gays

In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics."

"He does not support adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes," Smith continued.

Boehner's position, then, appears to be grounded in the notion that immutable characteristics should be protected under hate crimes laws. And while religion is an immutable characteristic, his office suggests, sexual orientation is not.

More HERE.

HUMOR: If God Had Wanted Me To Be Accepting Of Gays, He Would Have Given Me The Warmth And Compassion To Do So

From The Onion:

I don't question God. The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall put none above Him. Which is why I know that if it were part of God's plan for me to stop viciously condemning others based solely on their sexual preference, He would have seen fit—in His infinite wisdom and all—to have given me the tiniest bit of human empathy necessary to do so.

It's a simple matter of logic, really. God made me who I am, and who I am is a cold, anti-gay zealot. Thus, I abhor gay people because God made me that way. Why is that so hard to understand?

More HERE.