You’ve had enough of two-hand touch…

Submitted without comment:

The iPhone has applications for almost everything, from helping people to choose the best wine for a meal to locating supermarkets in Holland. Now there is one to help them to stay chaste until marriage.

For just 59p, consumers can download an application that allows them to take a purity pledge and then display a silver ring on their phone to prove their commitment to abstinence.

Its creator, Island Wall Entertainment, claims the product will appeal to the younger generation and those people who have not already committed themselves to a life of abstinence and chastity.

The company’s director, Henry Bennett, said: “We’re not charging for the idea. We’re just covering our costs. It’s all about reaching a new market. If you wanted to buy a purity ring, you could spend as much as £100.”

The application has a pre-recorded pledge for both genders that the user must accept before being able to display their ring on a loop.

Bennett believes the digital purity ring will complement, rather than substitute, existing pledges and purity rings as well, as reach out to new demographic.

…

Asked whether the virtual nature of the ring might lead people to forget their vow of abstinence in the heat of the moment, Bennett replied: “If you’ve taken the pledge, you’re likely to follow it through.”

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Tejas freedom…

Submitted without comment from our friends in Texas:

The Texas Board of Education, which recently approved new science standards that made room for creationist critiques of evolution, is revising the state’s social studies curriculum. In early recommendations from outside experts appointed by the board, a divide has opened over how central religious theology should be to the teaching of history.Three reviewers, appointed by social conservatives, have recommended revamping the K-12 curriculum to emphasize the roles of the Bible, the Christian faith and the civic virtue of religion in the study of American history. Two of them want to remove or de-emphasize references to several historical figures who have become liberal icons, such as César Chávez and Thurgood Marshall.

“We’re in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America, and the record of American history is right at the heart of it,” said Rev. Peter Marshall, a Christian minister and one of the reviewers appointed by the conservative camp.

…

The three reviewers appointed by the moderate and liberal board members are all professors of history or education at Texas universities, including Mr. de la Teja, a former state historian. The reviewers appointed by conservatives include two who run conservative Christian organizations: David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, a group that promotes America’s Christian heritage; and Rev. Marshall, who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God’s judgments on the nation’s sexual immorality. The third is Daniel Dreisbach, a professor of public affairs at American University.

The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America’s founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man’s fall and inherent sinfulness, or “radical depravity,” which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances.

The curriculum, they say, should clearly present Christianity as an overall force for good — and a key reason for American exceptionalism, the notion that the country stands above and apart.

“America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children,” said Don McLeroy, a leading conservative on the board. “The foundational principles of our country are very biblical…. That needs to come out in the textbooks.”

But the emphasis on Christianity as a driving force is disputed by some historians, who focus on the economic motivation of many colonists and the fractured views of religion among the Founding Fathers. “There appears to me too much politics in some of this,” said Lybeth Hodges, a professor of history at Texas Woman’s University and another of the curriculum reviewers.

The conservative reviewers say they believe that children must learn that America’s founding principles are biblical. For instance, they say the separation of powers set forth in the Constitution stems from a scriptural understanding of man’s fall and inherent sinfulness, or “radical depravity,” which means he can be governed only by an intricate system of checks and balances.

The curriculum, they say, should clearly present Christianity as an overall force for good — and a key reason for American exceptionalism, the notion that the country stands above and apart.

“America is a special place and we need to be sure we communicate that to our children,” said Don McLeroy, a leading conservative on the board. “The foundational principles of our country are very biblical…. That needs to come out in the textbooks.”

But the emphasis on Christianity as a driving force is disputed by some historians, who focus on the economic motivation of many colonists and the fractured views of religion among the Founding Fathers. “There appears to me too much politics in some of this,” said Lybeth Hodges, a professor of history at Texas Woman’s University and another of the curriculum reviewers.

Love, the kind you clean up with a mop and bucket…

There is so much brilliance here that words can not describe it:

The part about the gay mafia/Gestapo is so priceless that it can virtually save our economy all by itself.

Sometimes I think I understand all of the abovie in an abstract way – but then the pure reality of their bigotry smacks me in the face.

(via)

Walking the walk…

Submitted without comment:

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Oh noes!

It seems that the Church of Latter-Day Saints considers porn to be bad – even if it’s abstinence porn:

Twlight series author Stephenie Meyer broke with horror-novel tradition when she created vampire characters impervious to the sun.

Deseret Book, however, has decided that Meyer’s best-selling vampire romance books will no longer see the light of day — at least on the shelves of its chain stores. Customers may instead request Meyer’s 2005 novel Twilight – or its three companion volumes, New Moon , Eclipse and Breaking Dawn – by special order for either store pick-up or delivery by mail.

“We’re never really given a reason for these things,” said Steve Hartvigsen, manager of the Deseret Book store at Valley Fair Mall. “We just get a return sheet and send books back.”

Owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the bulk of Deseret Book’s business comes from the sale of religious titles. Meyer, who graduated from Brigham Young University after earning a bachelor’s degree in English, is a member of the church.

The Twilight books are not found for sale on the store’s Web site.

So sad.

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Praise GOD! err…

I suppose this is why I have no friends in the religious right…I can’t keep a straight face with this shit. However I realize the hypocrisy on my part. I do embrace individuality and freedom of expression…but they bring this on themselves.

Now I will have no choice but to have a gay marriage…

Submitted without comment:

Still classy…

Submitted without comment:

The Roman Catholic bishop whose diocese includes the University of Notre Dame says he will boycott President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the Catholic school because Obama’s policies on stem cell research and abortion run counter to church teaching.

Bishop John D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend said in a statement Tuesday that Obama’s recent decision to federally fund embryonic stem cell research “has now placed in public policy … his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life sacred.”

“While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life,” D’Arcy said.

Obama has said the decision was aimed at easing human suffering.

Lulz…

Submitted without comment:

Former evangelical pastor Ted Haggard and his wife are planning another TV appearance, this time to talk about their marriage.

The two are in Los Angeles taping an appearance on the syndicated Twentieth Television show “Divorce Court,” to be broadcast nationally April 1.

The show’s presiding judge, Lynn Toler, is interviewing the couple about how their marriage survived after a male prostitute from Denver alleged a cash-for-sex relationship with Ted Haggard in November 2006, executive producer Mark Koberg said.

The scandal prompted Haggard to resign as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

The Haggards say their marriage and Christian faith are stronger than ever, and they want people to know that divorce is not the answer.

“This is part of Ted’s journey,” Gayle Haggard said. “It’s made him a better man. I see what has happened as a divine rescue.”

She said she was helped through her darkest hours by the biblical principles of forgiveness, compassion and steadfastness, along with her husband’s genuine repentance.

The couple will be paid an undisclosed amount for the interview

Pope to World: You go to hell or you die…

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Pope Benedict XVI said on his way to Africa Tuesday that condoms were not the answer in the continent’s fight against HIV, his first explicit statement on an issue that has divided even clergy working with AIDS patients.

Benedict had never directly addressed condom use. He has said that the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. The Vatican encourages sexual abstinence to fight the spread of the disease.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage on the continent. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

About 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, according to UNAIDS. In 2007, three-quarters of all AIDS deaths worldwide were there, as well as two-thirds of all people living with HIV.

Rebecca Hodes with the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said if the pope is serious about preventing new HIV infections, he will focus on promoting wide access to condoms and spreading information on how best to use them.

“Instead, his opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans,” said Hodes, director of policy, communication and research for the action campaign.

While she said the pope is correct that condoms are not the sole solution to Africa’s AIDS epidemic, she said they are one of the very few HIV prevention mechanisms proven to work.

Even some priests and nuns working with those living with HIV/AIDS question the church’s opposition to condoms amid the pandemic ravaging Africa.