Well, how would you react if you were an engaged homeless virgin who just found out she was pregnant?
Vicar Glynn Cardy says the irreverent ad has a serious Christmas message:
"It's real. Christmas is real. It's about a real pregnancy, a real mother and a real child. It's about real anxiety, courage and hope. This billboard portrays Mary, Jesus' mother, looking at a home pregnancy test kit revealing that she is pregnant. Regardless of any premonition, that discovery would have been shocking. Mary was unmarried, young, and poor. This pregnancy would shape her future. She was certainly not the first woman in this situation or the last."
Jezebel writes that American home-improvement chain Lowes has pulled its advertising from TLC's reality show All-American Muslim after complaints from the Florida Family Association.
"All-American Muslim follows the daily lives of five American Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, one of the most established and largest concentrations of American Muslims in the country. Each episode offers an intimate look at customs and celebrations, as well as misconceptions, conflicts, and differences these families face outside and within their own community."
In other words, it is offering a peek beyond the xenophobia, to portray the diverse people behind the faith.
This infuriates the Florida Family Association, who sent out an alert to all their members to e-mail TLC with complaints:
"The Learning Channel's new show All-American Muslim is propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law. The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish."
My. Oh. My. Can't you just feel the love of Jesus Christ throbbing in their veins? The FFA's mission statement is to "educate people on what they can do to defend, protect and promote traditional, biblical values." (Apparently, "love thy neighbour" ain't one of these.)
Lowe's gave the lamest excuse ever for giving in to fundamentalist pressure:
"Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views. As a result we did pull our advertising on this program. We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance."
Way to go, asshats. Spineless and callous is no way for a brand to go through life.
Predictably, some public figures are calling for a boycott of the cowardly brand, including Democratic Senator Ted Lieu, who is calling for a Christmas boycott of Lowe's. He says, "The show is about what it's like to be a Muslim in America, and it touches on the discrimination they sometimes face. And that kind of discrimination is exactly what's happening here with Lowe's."
19th century Pope Leo XIII was such a big fan of Mariani wine (a patent medicine made of Bordeaux and coca leaves) that he awarded a Vatican gold medal to the wine, and also appeared on a poster endorsing it.
What a strange strategy. American Humanist is launching this Christmas campaign in Kearny, NJ, Washington, DC, Cranston, RI, Bastrop, LA, Oregon City, OR, Bryan/College Station, TX and Rochester Hill, MI, this month.
The odd assortment of target markets is based on AH's list of places where self-identified atheists have experienced discrimination in their communities.
Here's the example from Cranston:
Jessica Ahlquist, a student at Cranston High School West, filed a federal lawsuit asking that a prayer banner be removed from the public school. The banner, which violates the First and Fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, includes the phrases “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.” Local authorities are asking that the banner remain.
According to a story in The Providence Journal, “students and adults have called [Ahlquist] a ‘stupid atheist,’ an ACLU tool, a witch and a ‘media whore.’ They’ve also threatened her through e-mails or at school, she says. A former classmate told her that, if she knew what he really thought of her, she would kill herself, she says.”
These bullying incidents, by peers and institutions, shouldn't be tolerated in any case. The implication is that in very "Christian" areas of the US, Atheist-bashing is tolerated by the public.
But is this any way to address the issue? I don't think so. Because various atheist causes have been running anti-belief campaigns like the one below, they continue to brand themselves as "anti-God" instead of just free-thinkers. While the message that there are other atheists out there is not specifically anti-religion, it will be taken as such by the very people who hate them. And so on. And so on. It's a very American "us versus them" approach.
My solution? Lose the whole "atheism" label. It makes the lack of religion sound like a religion itself. If you want to get through to people, don't attack a deeply-entrenched belief that they have not come upon through rational discovery. You cannot argue them out of it.
You need to show them that you are really so "good without God" that you feel no need for comparison. Just be the individual thinker who you say you are. Lead by example in showing the true Christian values of compassion, humility and charity — as opposed to the false Christian vices of xenophobia, pride and social coercion.
We are used to seeing all kinds of nudity in the West. But in the Muslim world, it is much different. Even fairly secular countries censor nudes in art as well as advertising.
20-year-old Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy wants to change that. Last month, she started a new Google blog, called "Nude Art" which features full-frontal nudes of herself and an unidentified male, as well as a cat and some artsy underwear and embrace shots.
They're not great art shots. They look like 1940s amateur pornography. But like that, what they do have is a certain authentic and defiant naïveté from someone who wants to own her own body in a culture than denies that freedom. The most political of the pictures features self-censorship: “The yellow rectangles on my eyes, mouth and sex organ resemble the censoring of our knowledge, expression and sexuality,” she explained.
“I have the right to live freely in any place… I feel happy and self satisfied when I feel that I’m really free,” she said.
Nothing particularly shocking to jaded Western internet eyes. But in Egypt, where the post-Tahir atmosphere is one of increasingly conservative religious influence, this is practically treason.
The responses on the blog on Twitter (#nudephotorevolutionary) are in both English and Arabic. One negative comment is translated as “a desperate act of social political suicide by a young woman”. And another: “We are defending secularism from innuendos & then we get this #NudePhotoRevolutionary Stop shocking people to the point of repulsion.”
But the comments also show that there is a new generation, globally informed, who want more than an end to political oppression. They want total freedom. Said one English commenter:
"I'm very impressed and inspired by your courage. The revolution in Egypt needs to be a catalyst for greater freedom of expression. If somebody wants to wear a hijab they should be free to do so without facing discrimination but you must also be able to express yourself any way you choose without fear. It's your body and it's entirely up to you how you choose to express yourself."
“Do you really want someone representing you who swears an oath on a Quran? A book that undermines our Constitution and says you should be killed?”
These are the words of Gary Boisclair, who is running against U.S. Representative Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th congressional district. Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to the United States Congress.
Boisclair allies himself with the Tea Party and the anti-abortion movements, and calls himself a Christian.
“It is common knowledge that Ellison is proud to publicize his devotion to the writings contained in the Koran.
This TV ad references several verses in the Koran which call for violence against Jews and Christians.
The call to violent acts against Christians and Jews within this ‘holy’ book should alarm every American. The fact that a U.S. Congressman swore an oath on a book that calls for most of us to be persecuted is an outrage.
The Koran is a pillar in Islam’s ‘Sharia Law,’ which is a comprehensive code of ethics governing both the private and the public behaviors of all ‘good’ Muslims. Sharia law— as seen in dozens of Muslims nations—leads to the oppression of its non-Muslim citizens, and the loss of fundamental human rights for all.
The fact that Ellison swore an oath to uphold the Constitution on a book that would destroy the Constitution is as ludicrous as it is absurd.
We did not pick this fight; Islam’s war against Christianity and human liberty has raged against us for 1400 years. We are merely responding with the truth."
The truth... hmmmm.
Wikipedia has Ellison saying, "The district I represent is the kind of district where you can have a Member of Congress stand up for religious tolerance and against religious bigotry, against anyone, but also stand up for the rights of gays too." Not exactly out to kill, is he?
On the other hand, if we're going to accuse people of blindly following every policy in their religion's holy books, let's accuse Boisclair of supporting things like this:
"And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."
Not quite as outrageous as Sinead's attack, but still newsworthy.
According to their Livejournal (via Google Translate):
"Alexandra Shevchenko, past the police and security services, made her way into the center of the Vatican in St. Peter's Square and staged topless just share during Sunday Mass under the balcony of the Pope, deploying a banner reading 'Freedom for women.'
In this way, activists protested the papal patriarchal propaganda manipulated by the medieval idea of a woman's social and cultural mission. Condemnation of the use of contraceptives, the international ban on the abortion lobby, the correction of clothing and appearance of women, the ban on women in the ordained - a fetid belch a witch hunt. Sexist policies Vatican has its downside in the form of a wave of sexual crimes committed by clergy against children and women. The women's movement FEMEN favor of a free woman, devoid of prejudice, despising all forms of patriarchal slavery, blatant of which was and remains a church!
FEMEN caused panic among Vatican intelligence. Journalists were brutally dispersed, the Italian journalists dutifully adopted a ban on shooting, and were not only arrested the activist movement FEMEN, but also a journalist from Australia. The promoters of the movement had more than four hours in the Roman police, and only under pressure from the media escaped deportation."
Originally from Ukraine, FEMEN are on a tour of Europe to promote women's rights and stick it to the man.
A YouTube user calling himself "GodGunsGutsGlory4KJV" has taken it on himself to expose Walmart's secret plot to turn America's children over to witchcraft, satanism, and possibly even liberalism with morals-destroying books DISPLAYED IN PLAIN VIEW while the Bibles are on the bottom shelf.
In case you aren't sufficiently impressed by his righteousness, he liberally (sorry, "conservatively") peppers Bible verse art cards throughout the video.
The other issues he tackles in his online video series are "chem trail" conspiracies, vaccination (he's against), television the literal truth of the King James Bible and "those who are giving their child over to the filthy lucre of modeling or hollywood!"
It's really good to see this guy doing so much work to protect our children. (Except for his, who he seems to keep ignoring and losing track of at Walmart.)
Jezebel shared this irritating ad from Ohio ProLife Action about the State's controversial Heart Beat Bill :
It's not just the low production values, awful script, and nasally voiceover that I find irksome. It's the missed opportunity.
If you want people to visualize a "busload of children" being killed every day the anti-abortion bill (which bans termination at about about 6 weeks from conception) is delayed, you need to do more than show a bunch of home movie shots. You need to move people.
After all, just getting people to see a 6-week-old human embryo as a child can be a bit of a stretch:
Especially since up to a third of conceptions miscarry—80% of them within the first 12 weeks. So even Mother Nature isn't onboard with your mission to "protect all innocent human life".
No, if we're going to get people to back this bill we need to give them something to get their hearts and fists pumping. Don't just show the busload of kids. Show them at the mercy of a psychopath bent on their destruction. And don't just promote a bill, give the thing some personality and have it kick psycho ass and literally save the day.
You know what I'm getting at here? This story has been told before. You know who else saved a whole busload of embryos — I mean, children — in a single day?
Dirty Goddamn Harry, that's who.
Here (new window) is how that PSA should have gone down.
You can call it the "Dirty Harry Bill". Or the "Do you feel a heartbeat, punk?" ... umm, Bill.
It's got everything the religious right likes:
Clear-cut good and evil (okay, Harry's a racist and sexist who wants all criminals dead, but those are virtues in some circles).
Guns. They love their guns.
Awesome funky soundtrack. (Just tell them it's a new kind of "Baptist Gospel")
I really think they should consider buying up this footage. Either that, or mitigate high abortion rates by providing youth with harm reduction based sex education and really easy access to contraceptives, as well as by addressing the fundamental socioeconomic problems behind unwanted pregnancy.
It's Halloween, sure, but The Bay put up their Christmas decorations in September. And when I was out for a walk near my office, I saw this banner on the side of Dominion-Chalmers United Church:
I belong to the United Church of Canada, even though I no longer attend. And I had never heard of anyone being afraid of calling "Christmas" by name.
Sure, there are places where name-checking a religious holiday is considered inconsiderate to those who do not follow the same gods and/or prophets. But I would have thought a Christian church, even a very liberal one, would be okay with putting the "Christ" in the whole thing.
Even stranger is the use of "Yule". I like the term, but it's a religious holiday too. It just happens to be a pagan German one that few today observe.
I'm not at all offended that a church I sort-of belong to (and Canada's largest Protestant denomination) decided to go this way. All I can figure is that they are trying to be welcoming to the diverse community of Centretown Ottawa. The UCC, after all, is the affirming church that welcomes people of all sexual orientations, and often holds religious weddings for people from other churches and religions that are no longer accepted in their own places of worship. It is also the church responsible for this ad:
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.
"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.
According to 154 Media, this series of ads sparked controversy in Malaysia when non-Muslim minorities complained about the racism depicted by the Chinese tourist speaking accented English.
Using insensitive cultural stereotypes to promote cultural sensitivity. Jesus! (Oh, wait! Wrong prophet.) Let's just say it's both disturbing to see the global nature of xenophobia and comforting that some people won't stand for it.
Every year, the world and its system have a day set aside (October 31st) to celebrate ungodly images and evil characters while Christians all over the world participate, hide or just stay quiet on Halloween day. Being a day that is widely acceptable to solicit and knock on doors, God inspired us to encourage Christians to use this day as an opportunity to spread the gospel. The days of hiding are over and we choose to take a stand for Jesus. “Evil prevails when good people do nothing”. JesusWeen is expected to become the most effective Christian outreach day ever and that is why we also call it” World Evangelism Day”.
In the case of JesusWeen, participants are encouraged to dress all in white and distribute bibles and tracts. And the movement has spread into Canada.
Metro reports that a 40-year-old Calgary pastor named Paul Ade, who says "I don’t believe Halloween represents anything close to God or close to Christianity". They are currently recruiting through direct outreach to likeminded congregations, as well as through Twitter and Facebook.
Again from the JesusWeen site:
"While we hope to impact more nations from next year, our focus for this year is to make major impact in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton in Canada; focus on Maryland, Houston and Dallas in the USA; and London in the UK. In reality JesusWeen will be held by small groups, individuals or by churches in thousands of public locations and from home, therefore it’s not restricted to any particular city. The goal is to have JesusWeen groups (Jesus Winners) in every city and every nation spreading the love of Christ on October 31st."
They point out that "The dictionary meaning of Ween is to expect, believe or think."
Unfortunately, that is not what "ween" means in the parlance of our times. (Warning: Urban Dictionary is mostly written by teenage boys, and therefore highly offensive to everyone else.)
Now, here's where they lose me. The apple, I thought, was the symbol of sin. (The sin of knowing too much, that is.) So if eating meat is a sin, why is she trying to tempt me into sinning? Or is she trying to tempt me into eating fruits and vegetables instead? But isn't vegetarianism, in that context, the sin?
Furthermore, the punishment for giving in to temptation was being kicked out of the garden, being ashamed of our nudity, and having to kill animals to survive (and to appease Yaweh). If you've ever actually read the damn Bible, you'd know that the OT God hates veggies—only blood will slake his thirst. And Adam and Eve only covered up with leaves after they felt shame.
I am so confused by this ad. And I only went to Sunday School. Imagine how confusing this must have been for poor Angela, who PETA describes as a "devout Christian".
Ah, there. They got rid of the confusing leaves. That's a little better. At least it puts us in a pre-sin context where there is nothing shameful about being as God made us (give or take a few hair extensions). But that apple is still confusing me. Are you trying to tempt me to sin? (I mean, beyond the hazard of committing Onanism.) Or is she trying to tempt me away from sin... with sin? And is the apple meaty sin, or fruity salvation? Help!
Nice, isn't it? A very Christian message of inclusivity and unconditional love. But it didn't sit well with the entire Christian community in Toledo, particularly with Rev. Tony Scott of the Church on Strayer. He was moved by some unknown force to respond with another billboard:
Rev. Scott has some very strong feelings about Biblical orthodoxy. He told the Toledo Blade:
"I love everyone. There's nothing on that billboard about hate. I'm getting hate mail from lesbian and gay people, but my point is that I love them too much to let someone believe a lie. I love this city too much to let a lie be sown." [...] "What the gay organizations have done is they have misused the biblical passages, according to the experts."
He then gives his own interpretation of the Genesis creation myth:
"God's definition of marriage is that he plumbed [Adam] and he plumbed [Eve] so that the two of them could procreate. Anything relationally between the sexes that does not have that potential, and that opportunity, does not come from God."
"Not only are they telling us that god doesn’t exist (in a large font, no less), they’re also telling us to be skeptical of what we hear! I couldn’t have said it better myself :)"
