Oldest Known Paintings of Catholic Saints Include Naked Boys!

This one is too funny to let pass.

ROME – Twenty-first century laser technology has opened a window into the early days of the Catholic Church ... the first known icons of the apostles Peter and Paul. Vatican officials unveiled the paintings Tuesday, discovered along with the earliest known images of the apostles John and Andrew in an underground burial chamber ... The images, which date from the second half of the 4th century, were uncovered using a new laser technique that allows restorers to burn off centuries of thick white calcium carbonate deposits without damaging the brilliant dark colors of the paintings underneath. ... [The] gem is on the ceiling, where the four apostles [Paul, Peter, John and Andrew] are painted inside gold-rimmed circles against a red-ochre backdrop.

The ceiling is also decorated with geometric designs, and the cornices feature images of naked youths.

Gosh, it seems like modern Roman Catholic pedophile priests are just following a long and honorable tradition, started by St. Paul himself!

Ok, I know that ideas about nudity and the human body were much more natural back in Roman times,

Best Christian Headline Ever: "Sarah Palin's Breasts are Real"

This may be the best Christian headline in history: Sarah Palin's Breasts are Real; Not So With Growing Number of Faithful.

How can you top that! Last week the web was abuzz with rumors that Palin had a boob job, which would have been quite a disaster for her political image.

Most Christians view boob jobs with a wink and a smile. As Dolly Parton said, "Why not?" Dolly was wonderful for her no-nonsense philosophy: if it makes a woman feel better and more self confident, what's wrong with that?

I have got little feet because nothing grows in the shade.
– Dolly Parton

But some of Sarah's hard-core supporters (no, not that kind of support!) don't share Dolly Parton's humorous and kind philosophy.

Jon Stewart Skewers YOU AND ME for Oil Spill

The BP oil spill catastrophe isn't my usual topic, but yesterday Jon Stewart took on America – YOU AND ME – about our dependence on oil. Everyone in America, including you, should watch this video. It's funny, but really, really scary.

What have we been doing for all these decades? Watch at least the first four minutes of this. If this doesn't wake you up ... well, maybe that's the problem!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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State Department Angers Baptists by Recognizing Transgendered Choice

Our friends over at Liberty Council ("Restoring the Culture by Advancing Religious Freedom...", or so they say) are severely annoyed. It seems the U.S. State Department has decided to recognize transgendered individuals by changing their passport to reflect the reality of their gender change.

It makes sense to me. A guy walks up to some customs inspector in a third-world country, and his passport says he's a woman? Or vice versa? That makes no sense, and only invites problems, discrimination and persecution.

But Matt Barber at Liberty Council feels the passport change reflects support for a 'gay' agenda! Not only that, Matt has the right solution: cure these homosexuals of their gender confusion.

"What these people need is to be steered to counseling where they can be counseled in such a way that their false gender identity comes into line with their gender reality."

In other words, these people are sick and need to be cured, brought back to the gender that God gave them. Of course, if one follows that argument,

Would you rather be happy or know the truth?

Far too much of religious faith is based on this scary fact: People believe what makes them happy, not what's true. Worse, they even admit it proudly.

There was a great discussion yesterday over at Unreasonable Faith called Thoughts of a Dying Atheist. One exchange summarized one of my favorite topics:

John C [a Christian]: So sad, such utter darkness and despair. “Nothingness” is not the truth, is not the offer that the Truth (Himself) makes you, its far better and its…true.

Ty: No despair. And nothing is sadder than delusion masquerading as hope. You’ll wind up in exactly the same place all the rest of us will, you’ll just have wasted the one life you had first. What could be sadder than that?

Ty hits the nail on the head. I'd rather live the truth, however sad, than to live a lie. Darwin himself said it best:

A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affections, a mere heart of stone.

In other words, what we want to believe doesn't matter. We have to seek truth, no matter how unpleasant. In my mind, this is the single most important sentence that Darwin ever wrote. It is the very foundation of the scientific method, the very thing that made all of Darwin's other discoveries possible.

Religion works in the exact opposite direction from Darwin's advice.

No Forgiveness From Christian School

Is Southland Christian School trying to encourage lying and abortions? It sure seems like it.

The Christian school in St. Cloud, Florida fired teacher Jarretta Hamilton because she became pregnant three weeks before her wedding date. When she asked for maternity benefits, someone at the school asked her when she'd become pregnant and she told the truth. They promptly fired her for "fornication" – sex outside of marriage.

Now I may not be a Christian, but I grew up in Christian society and have studied it extensively. Their concept of confession and forgiveness always struck me as peculiar, but it's their way. If you make a mistake and are sorry, you make amends, you're forgiven and it's over and done. Right? So you'd think if Mrs. Hamilton was honest about her mistake, the Southland Christian School would applaud her honesty. If she confessed her sins to Christ and asked for forgiveness, He would forgive her, so you'd think the school would do the same.

Apparently not.

And consider the fact that Mrs. Hamilton didn't get an abortion to cover up her fornication.

Africa's Vicious CHRISTIAN Terrorist Army

Americans like to vilify radical Islam, to blame Islam for all of the war, terrorism and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. How often have you heard about how much better Christians are than Muslims? How many times have listened to Muslims defending Islam as a religion of peace after Christians called it a terrorist front?

But did you know that one of the most evil organizations in Africa is a Christian terrorist army? The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), founded on the Ten Commandments and Christian principles, is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, for conscripting thousands of underage girls as prostitutes for their soldiers, for abducting thousands of young boys and forcing them to fight, and for the massacre of thousands of civilians in a series of senseless attacks on villages, usually by hacking them to death with machetes.

Any Christian who knows the history of the LRA will immediately jump up and say, "They're not real Christians!"