In his new book, Society Without God, Phil Zuckerman looks at the Danes and the Swedes—probably the most godless people on Earth. They don’t go to church or pray in the privacy of their own homes; they don’t believe in God or heaven or hell. But, by any reasonable standard, they’re nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And—even without belief in a God looming over them—they murder and rape one another significantly less frequently than Americans do.

Denmark and Sweden aren’t exceptions. A 2005 study by Gregory Paul looking at 18 democracies found that the more atheist societies tended to have relatively low murder and suicide rates and relatively low incidence of abortion and teen pregnancy.

The album, after some research, is of sermons delivered by Mark L. and Elizabeth Clare Prophet for The Summit Lighthouse, “an organization encompassing the branches of Church Universal and Triumphant, Summit University, Summit University Press, and Montessori International,” and is commonly listed as an American religious cult. Among their concerns, including UFOs and extraterrestrials and the “international capitalist-communist conspiracy,” was the perversion of rock music.

Proof that prayer works:

Invocation for Judgement Against the Destruction of Rock Music [click to listen]

After twenty years and lots of prayer from evangelical-cult nutjobs, most of these bands are dead in the water.

Proof that evangelist cults suck: Aside from mispronouncing David Bowie’s and Cyndi Lauper’s names, they thought Kenny Loggins, Hall & Oates, and Ghostbusters were important enough to include in this exercise.

Best news coverage ever.

Jesus was way cool.

A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania, sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted the size of the award for compensating damages “far exceeds the net worth of the defendants,” according to financial statements filed with the court.

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.”

Considering the decision far exceeds the Phelps’ family’s net worth, I finally see the silver lining on America’s tighter bankruptcy laws.

Meanwhile, the Phelps family, who largely make up the membership of this “church”, maintain that this is a 1st Amendment issue. Forgive my elementary understanding of constitutional law, expressing one’s political opinion within the letter of the law, whether your opinion is stupid or not, largely depends on whether you protest a public or private event. The funeral of a fallen soldier, although she or he is a public servant, is still a private event in my opinion, and regardless of partisan views, many still believe a funerary event is a socially inappropriate time to protest the politics of the dead and their families.

Which reminds me — I finished Jon Krakauer’s “Under the Banner of Heaven” some weeks ago, a book on the Mormon religion in America, and specifically on some of its violent roots during its founding years. The book’s last chapter took an interesting rhetorical turn relating to the “just following my religious beliefs; how dare you oppress me” line that gets dragged out when religious beliefs tramp on the rights and autonomy of others, as it clearly does in the case of the Phelps family. The last portion of the book covers the trial of a “divinely inspired” murder, and in the legal arguments in defense of the murderers, the legal team could take two tacks: 1) the defendents’ religious beliefs make them legally insane, or 2) the defendent’s religious beliefs, by protection of the constitution, allow them to victimize others. Obviously neither of these defenses worked. Essentially arguing that one’s specific religiosity, especially one in which the individual personally communes with a god, makes one insane [regardless whether that god commands fundamentalist, unpopular and/or violent acts], damn near the entire world’s population fits the definition of insanity.

Which leads us to another interesting reality: because most of the world believes in some kind of higher power, our real beef is whether a religious organization fits a certain social authenticity. The good, authentic Samaritans can safely deny the rights of marriage, bodily autonomy, and privacy to average citizens, and the bad ones are forbidden from funeral protests and outright murder.

[picture by CNN/Getty Images]
[Cross-posted at Unsprung]

A woman who sent her Arab-American boss a threatening note that warned “Remember 9/11″ and “You and your kids will pay” was sentenced Wednesday to eight months in a federal halfway house.

Kia Reid, who described herself as Christian, donned gloves to craft the note from magazine clippings and then left it in Nina Timani’s office, prosecutors said. Timani said during a victim impact statement that she had spent months wondering who sent the anonymous note and fearing that her two young children would be harmed. Timani said she was stunned when an FBI investigation led to the 35-year-old Reid, whom she had mentored and befriended during nine years together at a Philadelphia hotel.

“How could you — when you have written that you want to tie my kids to the fence — play with my daughter at a … picnic?” Timani asked.

Reid said she sent the letter in anger, not in hatred, after she had been unable to get help with a workplace dispute at the airport Sheraton Suites Hotel.

And they will know we our Christians by our love, by our love, because if you’ve been wronged some way in the workplace, clearly the best course of action to rectify your situation is a hate crime! Praise Jesus!

All I hear is a bunch of griping. Yes I am a believer, and no I never complained before we had this plate.

There are more options than the one, so why complain? People express their views and opinions on their cars all the time, i never see a whole blog devoted to bashing that, do you? Maybe this is a way we express our self. no one said you have to believe it.

By the way, I am going to assume that none of you, that hate this plate, use any currency in the form of the US Dollar. look a little closer, yeah that’s right, IN GOD WE TRUST

Well goddamn. I take back everything I said about the license plate. Nevermind that this ain’t about supporting the national motto, it’s about declaring your faith in God using taxpayer money.

To recap, for those who are beyond not caring and really just don’t get the big deal, when you buy an Indiana specialty plate you pay a $15 administrative fee and a $25 donation to the charity the plate represents. You can choose from over 75 plates ranging from support for breast cancer research to alumni affiliations to environmental protection agencies, a whole slew of options. Last year the state decided to offer an alternative plate, bearing the motto “In God We Trust” pictured next to an American flag. To receive this plate, you don’t have to pay any charity. Great! It’s a plate declaring a religious affiliation, thus tying a donation to this plate is more than problematic, it’s unconstitutional. The rub is that the recipient of this “alternative” plate doesn’t have to pay a $15 administrative fee either, setting this plate apart from (a) the standard plate that all Hoosiers would otherwise receive and (b) any other specialty plate. What makes this even more insulting is that in addition to the $15 loss on the administration fee, the state absorbs $3.69 for each plate ordered that comes out of the Indiana Highway Fund.

If that’s not outrageous, I don’t know what is.

The LA Times reports:

State officials say the plate, introduced in January, has been a hit, chosen by more than 540,000 motorists. That means that had the state charged the $15 fee, it would have an additional $8 million in its coffers.

“The issue isn’t the message. It’s not about religion,” said Ken Falk, legal director for the ACLU of Indiana, which filed the suit in Marion Superior Court on Monday.

“It’s about making sure that nearly every other plate that carries a message has a cost attached to it, and this does not,” Falk said. “In a state that’s as religious as Indiana, the phrase ‘In God We Trust’ is not just about supporting the national motto. It’s about saying you believe in God.”

I suppose the “I like my Christianity equated with American Patriotism” crowd doesn’t mind either that we’re missing out on a cool eight million in the state’s coffers, what with the fight over property taxes, rising utility rates, and a dismal job market, no.

The Indiana ACLU is bringing a lawsuit against these plates and the reactions to this are pretty disenchanting. As much as the lawsuit’s naysayers defend the use of the national motto, they can’t seem to divorce it from religious beliefs or activities like our dear friend up top.

“It’s on our currency. We mention God in the Declaration of Independence,” said Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute. “I think the lawsuit is more than misguided. I think it shows that they’re hostile to any expression of the divine.”

Is it the government’s job to validate one’s divine beliefs?

As Melissa notes, those of us who’d rather not be associated with this kind of church-state loophole trickery don’t necessarily get the option of having the state endorse our feelings:

Meanwhile, in a shocking twist, the dipshit Republican state representative who introduced the legislation that eventually resulted in the existence of this stupid plate, Woody Barton, totally doesn’t get it: “I’m a Christian, but I don’t care if you’re Christian or Jewish or Muslim. Your god may not be my god, but this is still a country that’s based on faith. Why can’t you tout that on your license plate?”

I see your juvenile rhetorical device and raise you one condescending sneer: “Ever heard of atheists, moron?”

See, here’s the thing about ol’ Woody’s bill: Because specialty plates donate money to some organization or other, there was a concern about an “In God We Trust” specialty plate violating the separation of church and state, as donations would logically go to some kind of religious organization. So Woody rewrote it to make the plate a standard alternative plate. No special fee, no donation, no possible separation conflict.

Problem is, if my local branch runs out of non-god standard plates, they can offer me this one, and if I don’t want it, my only option is to pay up for a specialty plate. Which, by the way, is happening across the state, because Indiana changes its license plates every five years and our non-god standard plate is in its fourth year, so they’re just letting them run out: In some places, it’s “the only game in town for the driver who wants a new license plate this year.”

Let’s drive this one home, no pun intended: It’s not the state’s job to express divinity for you. The state’s job is to ensure that you can express your faith. And you can. With your own organizations and your own time and your own money.

If you think your car is an extension of your church I suggest you buy a bumper sticker.

MORE: Chuck kindly points out Indiana’s priorities when it comes to it’s government’s faith and patriotism — and license plates!

I’ve never seen this interpretation before, but the website explains it here, and Bil Browning has more on the Indianapolis area church’s mission.

via Taking Down Words and the Indy Star