Religious idiots are ruining the world. Christians are all child molestors, Jews believe g-d gave them each land in Israel, and Muslims won't read the funny papers.

Religion is lame.

He had to get the devil out of her!!! Praise be to JESUS!!!

What the hell are terroristic threats and why is someone in a domestic abuse situation being charged with them? That gives me the willies.

Christians really are creeps. Jews simply never do this type of thing. Some religions seem to attract the weirdos and the Christian cult is toxic.
Keep up the good work Dan! Shalom.

Bitch needs to stop falling on door knobs.

#3: It is a Georgia law. Essentially, the word terroristic is used in a more pure sense, rather than the more modern way.

EG: If I said to someone- "I'm gonna beat you to an inch of your life" That would be a terroristic threat

OCGA, 16-11-37: A person commits the offense of a terroristic threat when he or she threatens to commit any crime of violence, to release any hazardous substance, as such term is defined in Code Section 12-8-92, or to burn or damage property with the purpose of terrorizing another or of causing the evacuation of a building, place of assembly, or facility of public transportation or otherwise causing serious public inconvenience or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror or inconvenience. No person shall be convicted under this subsection on the uncorroborated testimony of the party to whom the threat is communicated.

That ain't right.

However, this indoctrination scares me more.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/22/gw.teen.christians/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Thanks Rev. George...

I went to Jewish day school, and other than teaching us to love Israel, there was no indoctrination. What the Christians do in their schools is a crime.

I simply hate Christianinty and all it stands for. The Stranger's pro-Jewish stance helps remind me that even in racist Seattle, there's a voice for my oppressed minority.

she's lucky he wasn't the police chief of tacoma.

man, why does everyone hate christians? i think most of them are actually nice people, some of them are a little weird, but everyone's a little weird. i guess i don't understand why seattle everyone must be so tolerant to everyone but it is ok to hate christians. that sucks for them as much as it sucks for anyone else to hated.

Christians get a bad rap because:
- only an idiot falls for organized religion
- priests continue their legacy of child abuse
- brainwashing of any sort just isn't cool - including Christianity
- many of us have had excrutiating experiences in Christian churches
and this list could go on for a long long time.

Pastor Weeks wouldn’t be in this trouble if his wife Juanita had, you know, joyfully submitted to the authority of her husband like she’s supposed to.

Dan,
I'm a femal pastor and incredibly insulted. As stated in the beginning of this slog, Pastor Bynum is for women's empowerment. Men who say that women should submit are doing a half-assed reading of the Bible, stopping at verse 24. Read the whole thing, you judgmental twit. God bless!

Ephesians 5:22-33

Wives and Husbands
22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[b] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

@11 - I couldn't agree more. I am a Christian who is for accepting everyone. So I love these "liberal" UW professors who in their syllabus/1st day of class go on and on about how they accept everyone - then crack on Christianity anytime they get. They are waaaaaay accepting of any race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, etc. but Christians - hahahahahhaahaha!

and @13 Right on, Marla T.

@11: I"ve got nothing against Christians. I think a lot of them are good natured people that want to do right in the world.

I do have a problem with certain people across a variety of religions that think they should and must impose their ideals upon others. I take issue with those that say that they are there to help others when in fact they indicate their faith includes the active marginalization of others, be it by race, sexual orientation, creed and so on.

Its worst form comes from those in a position of trust and power telling those that are in a less powerful position (especially kids) that they are considered something less than ideal if they don't follow the leader's ideal. We've dealt with those people throughout history- the pastor mentioned in this slog, Hutcherson, Jim Jones, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Bin-Ladin... the list goes on.

A real Christian in my mind would defend those people that are in a less powerful position in life rather than marginalize them. In reality I think that's what a lot of real Christians actually do.

@13: I understand where you're coming from. What I don't see is the mutuality of respect. Taken on its face, respect simply runs from wife to husband, and not the reverse. Loving a wife is something completely different from respecting your husband.

This lack of two-way respect is one of the baseline reasons why I do not subscribe to Christian teachings. I respect other people's wishes however to adopt whatever mantra they want to lead their own lives... just like I do mine.

@ 13
"Dan,
I'm a femal pastor and incredibly insulted. "

Marla T,
I'm a female academic and I believe you are a "judgmental twit."

I consider myself to be one of the most liberal people I've ever known, especially when it comes to matters of religion. The work the religious right does against those who are different, nonconformist, etc., is an appalling bastardization of what it means to be a follower of Christ. It makes me ashamed that I was ever baptized.

Still...

I'm not really sure, Dan, what purpose is served by pointing out the crimes of a few among them. I'm quite certain that a range of good and bad people exist in every population, even ones that get really wrapped up in being "holier than thou."

@16 - Sure, there isn't a ton of details in that passage about love vs respect, which is why it is taken out of contaxt so much. BTW, I respect anyone who lives their lives peacefully, but will defend my faith to the death when under attack.

@17 - female pastor. ah, I have to use spell check even when angry. am I judgmental for sticking up for my faith? No, but your closedmindedness is what makes you (and Dan) the judgmental one(s).

context. sheesh, maybe typing 80WPM isn't a good thing

Mr.Poe that was just so stupid it made me laugh and I should not laugh because I know her.
It is very sad and she did not deserve that. Any man that hits a woman should be boiled alive and fed to the wife : )

Marla,
don´t let Dan or any of his posts get to you. That is his purpose in posting them.
They are offensive and they are meant to rile up every Christian who reads them.
Dan does not care what the Bible says about submitting in the least bit.
If he believes that all Chrisitans think what Juanita´s husband did to her is OK just call him what he is being an IGNORANT IDIOT!
The thing is I don´t think even Dan believes that. I do not know him but I don´t think he does.
He posts this stuff to make a point and get a reaction.
The best thing to do is not give him what he wants.
It is his delight to make Christians upset and I just picture him snickering at any angry response he gets. He loves it!!
I think he is the Devil :)

Marla T: Dan, ironically, is on your side on this point. His whole point in suggesting she should have joyfully submitted to the authority blah blah blah was to point out the absurdity of this idea, which is unfortunately promulgated by far too many Christian believers today. He's making fun of it, because it's stupid.

Dan, like most of us, seems a believer in the idea of equal respect/authority/etc in a relationship, but some of us see it as an ideal regardless of what Ephesians says.

@19
"No, but your closedmindedness is what makes you (and Dan) the judgmental one(s)."

And your calling people closed minded and judgmental twits makes you the fucking second-coming of Jesus then, I suppose?

Jews never make their wives submit to anything. Halakha states that a woman willingly gives herself to her Orthodox husband.

There is never domestic violence reported in Israel because Jewish law is righteous and based on the truth. Christian law is based on lies.

I am a Christian and I thank God, He has given me the wisdom to know that I am not what people say I am but what God says I am.
It is so sad for anyone whether they are Christians are not to be in an abusive relationship or marriage. What if it was your mother or sister, or your closest friend? This nation is in a lot of trouble when situations arise like this and all we can do is make jokes of it. You'd better be very careful about speasking or coming against a child of God.
For the Christian who are reading this (You must understand that God is exposing anything that is not like Him. We should be praying about the things that is going on in the church, not gossiping about it. Non-believers don't understand and we can't expect them to, but it doesn't stop them from having compassion and please ignore negative comments, you don't have to follow it up. Let's be doers of the word and not just hearers!

Oh pluuuuezze! Would you Christian idiots go someplace else, you are not wanted here. The Stranger is the only paper in Seattle really covering the Jewish Community. We hate Christians here, GO AWAY! Shalom.

@27 i'm sorry that you think the stranger is only a platform for you and people who agree with you to vent their opinions and whip each other into a frenzy. i don't think it should be that, it should be a place where people can share their opinions, ridiculous or sane as they may be. no one on a blog is telling you what to believe or taking coverage away from your special interest group. i'm sorry you hate christians, i think you'd be hard pressed to find a real christian who would say that he or she hates you.

Corry Paul Tyler, 29, an Army captain and 1999 West Point graduate from Woodbine, Ga., was among 14 soldiers killed in the crash of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter near Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Wednesday.Tyler, on his third deployment to Iraq, is survived by his wife, Kathy, and three small children in the Tacoma area.
A couple excerpts from Dan Savage\'s \"Say yes to War\" article October 2002:

\"War may be bad for children and other living things, but there are times when peace is worse for children and other living things, and this is one of those times. Saying no to war in Iraq means saying yes to the continued oppression of the Iraqi people.\"

\"In the meantime, invading and rebuilding Iraq will not only free the Iraqi people, it will also make the Saudis aware of the consequences they face if they continue to oppress their own people while exporting terrorism and terrorists. The War on Iraq will make it clear to our friends and enemies in the Middle East (and elsewhere) that we mean business: Free your people, reform your societies, liberalize, and democratize... or we\'re going to come over there, remove you from power, free your people, and reform your societies for ourselves.
\"

What the fuck? Where do Christians get off with their "waaaaaaaaaah everyone is so tolerated except the Christians!!!" Please, that is such BULLSHIT. This is not ancient Rome and you're not being persecuted for your beliefs. You live in America and as of right now everyone still has the right to an opinion. Unfortunately for you a lot of people dislike Christianity, and many dislike all organized religion AND like to talk about it.

The USA, while falling apart at present is still the most powerful country in the world, and happens to be dominated by Christians. Furthermore the greater portion of the western world is also mostly Christian. The lion's share of the wealth & power lie within these countries. So please, shut the fuck up about "tolerance".

Thanks JessB for your gracious demonstration of tolerance. You are so kind!
Blah, Blah, Blah

I bet if God was Gay, this would not be happening.

Is anyone else watching Christina Armapour reporting on Teen Mania right now? Brain washing at its simplest level. Are they altering the brains of young people chemically? Mechanically? Who are those lemmings? they are nothing like the young people i know.

@13: I think you misread the opening of the article, Marla. Juanita is known for her promotion of women's empowerment, not her husband. And I have read beyond verse 24, and it still offends me. I mean yes, it's nice that the husband is supposed to love his wife, but the idea that he has to do it in a way to take care of her while she honors and submits to him seems, well, paternalistic and demeaning.

It would be good for some Christians to remember that the Bible is a big mishmash of religious writings by many authors, from many periods, and doesn't necessarily represent the last word on everything. It's a useful book, and sometimes a truly profound book, but it's still just a book. IT IS NOT THE COMPLETE BLUEPRINT FOR YOUR LIFE.

@34: "Seems"? More like "is". ;)

@27 - thank you. you are showing what Seattle liberalism is all about!