The Pope's evil heart

Speaking or Republican Hypocrisy...

Members of the religious right continue to amaze me - their hypocrisy and capacity for evil knows no bounds. But think about it - a mind simple enough to believe that it has an imaginary, invisible friend in the sky (somewhere way beyond earth's atmosphere) which they can talk to and get responses from - is certainly open to other ill-advised thoughts.

From Acerbic Politics

This is from Fark...

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

A man who gained notoriety for stopping a gay man from adopting a girl under his foster care was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison for molesting her.

Earl Kimmerling, pleaded guilty in January to four counts of molesting his foster daughter, now 9. He and his wife, Saundra, fought in 1998 to keep the girl from being adopted by Craig Peterson, a homosexual who had adopted the girl's three brothers.

At sentencing, Kimmerling tearfully apologized and pleaded for leniency. But Judge Frederick Spencer called Kimmerling's crime a betrayal of trust and ordered him to serve 40 years.

"It's hypocrisy at its highest level. He holds himself out to be a person of God, as a representative of the Christian community, and at the same time engaging in outrageous behavior," said Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings.

During the adoption fight, the Kimmerlings gained support from political figures including Anderson Mayor Mark Lawler and Republican state Reps. Jack Lutz of Anderson and Woody Burton of Greenwood, whose proposal to ban gay adoptions failed in the Legislature.

The Kimmerlings eventually succeeded in adopting the girl, but in May 1998 Kimmerling was charged with 10 counts of sexual molestation after Saundra Kimmerling notified police.

Did You Know - Abandoning Religion

I suppose there are a few people who stop by to read this blog. A few for the cartoons, a few more for the photoshopped images I find around the 'Net. I doubt many read the news summaries I post, with limited commentary, but perhaps someone does.

And he/she (the person who reads this stuff) probably gets a little perturbed by my religious postings - sort of off topic. But not really, what with the right-wing religious nuts having such an influence on politics and government these days.

I was a religious child - bought into the whole thing. But as I reached the age of consent, I began to see a lot of nonsense associated with religion and the church - I began to realize how hypocritical and warped the whole "religion" thing was/is. Today I make no presumptions about the existence of a superior being living in some alternative universe. Who the hell could know.

But I do know - the Gods of the Bible, or the Koran, or even the
Romans are all myths. He couldn't be both good and evil, both caring and uncaring, both listening and non-reactive. I'm not the only one who has discovered this in his/her life - others have too.

Nine years ago, William Lobdell was assigned to cover religion for the LA Times. He was a born-again Christian when he got the gig. In 2001 he started studying to convert to his wife's religion, Catholicism.

That was when the trouble began for Lobdell.

He began reporting on the molestation scandals in the Catholic church: I discovered that the term "sexual abuse" is a euphemism. Most of these children were raped and sodomized by someone they and their family believed was Christ's representative on Earth. That's not something an 8-year-old's mind can process; it forever warps a person's sexuality and spirituality.

Read the whole thing on Boing Boing.

Did You Know - Email Abuse

Just one more example of the abuses that the Bush administration heaps onto the pile of disrespect they hold for the nation.

White House aides made extensive use of political e-mail accounts for official government business, despite rules requiring that they conduct such business through official communications channels, according to evidence disclosed Monday by congressional investigators.

From the Chicago Tribune.

Another Religious Scandal

Those who wear their religion on their sleeves often do so to cover their trail as the worst sinners of all.

A church whose former pastor was president of the Southern Baptist Convention has been rocked by allegations of child abuse, PageOneQ has learned.

Pastor Paul Williams, who directs prayer programs and special projects at the Bellevue Baptist Church outside of Memphis, has been forced to take a leave while a church committee investigates charges that Williams sexually molested a family member 17 years ago.

Read more at Page One Q