Pat Robertson Responds to Hillary Clinton's Speech

[Trigger warning for homophobia and Christian Supremacy.]

I'm pretty sure if someone had asked me to predict what Pat Robertson's response would be to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's landmark LGBTQI rights speech, I would've guessed pretty much exactly this, minus one Thomas Jefferson (mis)quote, and plus one deeply misguided rendition of Dolly Parton's "Straight Talk."

Isn't it appalling that the United States of America would try to enforce the acceptance of homosexuality on other nations, but at the same time we would not force them to take care of their religious minorities and they would permit discrimination and persecution of Christians? What kind of a country have we got? You know, there is a god in heaven and he is just. Thomas Jefferson: "I tremble when I remember that god is just." He is just; he is not going to allow this kind of thing to go on forever. This country cannot continue to violate god's principles and to make a mockery of his laws and think we're going to get away with it. And when the blow comes, it's going to be horrible.

That's what she said.

[Via.]

Neat!

Sarah Posner: Both Sides Expect Obama to Side with Bishops on Contraception Coverage

Pro-choice advocates... say they expect imminent action from the Obama Administration to broaden the exemption [from birth control coverage for employer-sponsored insurance plans] beyond churches and other houses of worship. That action could come as early as tomorrow.

That's just super.

Sure

Herman Cain, during a National Press Club event earlier today, at which he was asked about sexual assault allegations and reported cash settlements therefore, breaks into the forgiveness hymn "He Looked Beyond My Faults."

And so since it's an opportunity for me to share a little bit of my faith, I will: Amazing Grace / Will always be / My song of praise / For it was grace / That brought me liberty / I'll never know / Why Jesus came / To love me so / He looked beyond / All my faults / And saw my needs. Thank you. [Cheers and applause.]

I haven't heard anything that beautiful since John Ashcroft let loose with "Let the Mighty Eagle Soar." Someone get these two magnificent songsters on a Conservative Croonerz 2012 National Tour—STAT!

During the same press event, Cain was also asked to comment on race relations in the US, and replied, "This many white people can't pretend that they like me." I can't decide if that's hilariously weird, or a genuinely insightful commentary on the state of the conservative electorate.

Well, maybe it doesn't have to be one or the other.

[Via Andy.]

Multidisciplinary Genius

Hey, remember our friend David Barton, whose very smart ideas about education we were just discussing yesterday...? Well, it turns out he's a genius about feminism, too.

On a Believers Voice of Victory episode that aired today, David Barton told televangelist Kenneth Copeland that women are most elevated in a society that has "conformed to the Scriptures." Citing Religious Right activist Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Barton said that the Bible is actually the basis of women's rights, while in "Islam" and secular societies like France and "the Norwegian countries," women have fewer rights and less respect.

Oh, he's also a ninth degree black belt geography master. FYI.

Number of the Day

Zero: The amount of credibility megapastor Joel Osteen has on the subject of gay people's lives—or any subject, for that matter, with the possible exceptions of "How to Gain Notoriety and Wealth by Exploiting Bigotry in the Name of the Lord" and "I Am a Shameless Fartsack."

Quote of the Day

"This book right here, every Bible says, in Proverbs 1:7, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.' … If you want education you better include the fear of God, if you want to be a good scientist you better include the fear of God, if you want to be a good musician—1962, '63, the US Supreme Court in three decisions said no more fear of God in education, we want education to be secular. All right, that's a theological issue. How's that working out? In 1962, '63, America was number one in the world in literacy, we are now number sixty-five in the world in literacy. We don't have the fear of the Lord, because guess what, we don't have knowledge, it goes down."—Solid logic from evangelical minister David Barton, who you also may know as the founder of WallBuilders, an organization dedicated to exposing as a myth the Constitutional basis for the separation of church and state, or as the former co-chair of the Republican Party of Texas.