Revelation 1:9
We suffer because Jesus is our king.

Today, the Open Society Foundation announced its Soros Justice Fellows—a prestigious award with a hefty stipend to do a yearlong project:

The new fellows include Maureen Barden, a former federal prosecutor, who will seize upon the opportunities provided by the Affordable Care Act to ensure that people returning home from prison and jail have meaningful access to health care; Kylee Sunderlin, a graduating law student, who will combat the unconscionable practice of leveling child abuse and neglect charges against pregnant women based on their enrollment in methadone maintenance treatment; and Tyrone Werts, an activist who spent two decades as president of the “lifers” organization at Pennsylvania’s maximum security Graterford Prison, who will work with other formerly incarcerated men to address the problem of crime and violence.

Other 2013 Soros Justice Fellows include Luis Trelles, an investigative journalist, who will explore the dramatic contradictions surrounding Puerto Rico’s emergence as the “death penalty capital of the Caribbean;” and Calvin Duncan, who during nearly 30 years of wrongful incarceration at Louisiana’s notorious Angola Penitentiary became a renowned “jailhouse lawyer,” and who will now help others assert their post-conviction rights.

Among the winners is Dr. Tanya Erzen, who studies American religion's high-pressure points of contact with other aspects of American culture: she started with "ex-gay" conversion therapy and has recently been studying how our nation's prisons are becoming increasingly evangelical Christian institutions. That has all kinds of weird and sometimes deeply screwed-up effects, such as giving preferential treatment to prisoners based on their faith—or how well those prisoners fake their faith to get the benefits. She also wrote an ethnography of female Twilight fans titled Fanpire. (I think it's about how some women look wistfully at Twilight characters as masculine ideals they wish their own partners would embody, but I haven't read it.)

She and I have also had lively conversation about Mars Hill church and the phenomenon of "macho Christianity."

And, of course, she spoke at last year's Smoke Farm Symposium. Details about this summer's Symposium—our fifth so far—are coming soon.

Anyway: Congratulations, Tanya!

I was listening to NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday morning as host Rachel Martin interviewed singer/songwriter Amy Grant about being "unabashedly spiritual." And I know I probably shouldn't have let it bother me, but one brief exchange kinda did:

GRANT: ... But probably underlying all of my intention about making music, because I grew up in a family surrounded by people of faith, I've always seen music as the - it seems like the easiest way for people to bypass their preconceived notions of God, religion - all those things - and it's deeply affected spiritually. And I think that's the one thing that all people on Earth have in common, is our spiritual life. Somehow, just always having that potential to say is it possible in the right song to say something that would make somebody pause and imagine where they fit in the epic plan of God?

MARTIN: You just talked about trying to tap into something universal, something that everyone can relate to, everyone can feel something a little bigger than themselves.

GRANT: Right.

Except, no Amy and Rachel, it's not universal and it's not something we all have in common. Some of us aren't spiritual. At all. We're just not born with the spirituality gene, however we might have been raised. And the notion of having a "spiritual life" is as alien to us as our absolute atheism must seem alien to you.

I don't doubt Grant and Martin's good intentions. But it kinda irks me when people of faith unselfconsciously take on this air of open-mindedness while pretending that people like me just don't exist.

TEXAS: A youth minister at Fifth Street Baptist Church in Levelland is in federal custody for attempted enticement of a minor. Trevor Jacob Fortner, 25, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared before a federal judge on Friday.... According to court documents, a detective with the Lubbock Police Department was working undercover online as a 15-year old female named "Katy". On Tuesday, Fortner encountered "Katy" online and began sending her text messages, including sexually explicit images. Fortner asked "Katy" to send him explicit pictures of herself as well. The affidavit states Fortner and "Katy" spoke about meeting up and he told her he wanted to have sex with her. Fortner told "Katy," "If we were to do something you wouldn't try to get me into trouble for anything would you? I could be labeled as a sex offender and put in jail and what not. I just want to make sure."

Luke 19:23-27
Why didn't you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest."

Then he said to some other servants standing there, "Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much."

But they said, "Sir, he already has ten times as much!"

The king replied, "Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don't have anything. Now bring me the enemies who didn't want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!"

It's maternal care. Frans de Waal, a famous primatologist and author of a new book called The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates:

CNN: How would you say that ethics or morality is separate from religion?

De Waal: Well, I think that morality is older. In the sense that I find it very hard to believe that 100,000 or 200,000
years ago, our ancestors did not believe in right and wrong, and did not punish bad behavior, did not care about fairness. Very long ago our ancestors had moral systems. Our current institutions are only a couple of thousand years old, which is really not old in the eyes of a biologist. So I think religion came after morality. Religion may have become a codification of morality, and it may fortify it, but it's not the origin of it.

Later:

CNN: Tell us more about the origins of empathy.

De Waal: We think that the origin of empathy, in the mammals at least, has to do with maternal care. So a female, whether you're a mouse or an elephant, you need to pay attention to your offspring, you need to react to their emotions when they're cold, or in danger, or hungry, and that's where we think the sensitivity to others' emotions come from.

That also explains why empathy is more developed in females than males, which is true in many animals, and it's true for humans, and it explains the role of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a maternal hormone. If you spray oxytocin into the nostrils of men and women, you get more empathic (empathetic) reactions from them, and so the general thinking about empathy is that it started in the mammals with maternal care, and then from there it spread to other relationships. So men can definitely have empathy, but they on average have a little bit less of it than women.

For some unfathomable reason, we are on the American Life League's press list (I guess we all know it can take a while to get excommunicated), and while I mainly ignore any e-mail that comes with letterhead carrying a logo of a fetus, I thought I'd share this gem with you all.

Apparently, in late March, Pope Francis sent a letter to the bishops in his native Argentina directing them to deny communion to anyone—"legislators, heads of governments, and health professionals"—who acts in contradiction to the church's teachings on abortion. (This is one of the jillion reasons why I don't really give two shits that this wonderful new Jesuit priest doesn't like fancy things. You could have all the palaces and Prada shoes you want if you'll just stay the fuck out of my uterus, thankyouverymuch.) The American Life League has taken it upon itself to send "the following letter to all U.S. Catholic bishops," admonishing them to do the same...

Your Excellency,

We are renewed in our joy over the election of Pope Francis. One of the reasons for our happiness is the Holy Father’s reiteration of Catholic teaching as enunciated in canon 915. The report, published May 4 by LifeSiteNews and Breitbart News, states in part: “Pope Francis has directed the bishops of Argentina, his home country, to govern the Church there following a document that makes clear that Holy Communion should be disallowed for any person who facilitates abortion, including politicians. 'These are the guidelines we need for this time in history,' the pope wrote to the bishops.”

We pray that these words will be an encouragement to you as well because, like Argentina, the United States has her share of Catholics in public life who persist in their support of abortion while, at the same time, receiving Christ in the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.

We write to ask you, in view of this recent news report, to act on Pope Francis’ call and deny the sacrament of Christ’s real presence—body, blood, soul, and divinity—to every pro-abortion Catholic in public life who has not repented of his support for the heinous crime of abortion.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.

You are in our daily prayers and we ask you to remember American Life League in your prayers as well.

Sincerely yours in the Lord who is LIFE!

Judie Brown, President
American Life League

Michael Hichborn, Director
ALL Defend the Faith

The letter notes that "Judie Brown was appointed twice by Pope John Paul II and again by Pope Benedict XVI to the Pontifical Academy for Life."

Maybe if these guys got laid once in a while...

OHIO: A youth minister in Mt. Orab has been accused of having inappropriate relations with a minor of the congregation. Charles Engle, 49, has been the youth minister at the First Baptist Church of Mt. Orab on South High Street for about a year and a half. Charges were filed against Engle Wednesday, May 1, by the parents of a 15-year-old girl who claimed that Engle was inappropriate with her on three separate occasions between November 2012 and April of this year. All three incidents allegedly occurred at the church in its youth ministry house.... Engle turned himself in Thursday, May 2, and was given a $25,000 cash, surety property bond. "He has since been bonded out," Owens said, "but he is to have no contact with the victim or her family." The ruling did not require, however, that Engle have no contact with the rest of the youth group.

Isaiah 34:7
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

But wait, there are people similar to God?

Hear me now, Steve Martin: I shalt not worship false idols.

Here, via Christian Nightmares, is a short animated movie about the Rapture by a (presumably) Christian animator:

Sometimes I like to think about a world where all the devout, evangelical Christians get sucked up to be with Jesus. Earth would be so pleasant! No NOM, no Million Moms, no Michele Bachmann, nobody left from the Bush Administration. It would be heaven down here.

ARIZONA: "A youth pastor has pleaded guilty to a sex offense in connection to buying sex toys for a teenage girl. Robert Eric Warren, a former youth pastor, faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison plus three years probation. Under Warren's plea agreement he is not to have contact with the victim or the victim's family and he's agreed to write a letter of apology to the victim and her family. It all started in September 2012 when the youth pastor was accused of buying sex toys for a 14-year old girl and taking them to her house when her parents were not at home."

VIRGINIA: "A former youth minister at Trinity Assembly of God in Chesterfield County has been indicted on 16 felony counts of sexually abusing two underage female parishioners in the 1990s. Troy A. Mitten, 52, with [charged with] one count of carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 15 years old and 15 counts of taking indecent liberties with two underage girls. One of the girls was allegedly abused five times between July 17, 1993, and July 16, 1996; the second was allegedly abused 11 times between June 1, 1996, and Sept. 13, 1998. Police said the sexual encounters involving one girl occurred at her home and on a church trip."

NORTH CAROLINA: A former Haywood County youth minister is charged with taking indecent liberties with a child. 37-year-old Dallas Surrett was arrested last month for offenses that allegedly took place between March and August of 2005. His arrest warrant says he committed a lewd and lascivious act on a girl under 16 at the time. More recently, Surrett volunteered with children at Cove Creek Baptist Church in Waynesville and served briefly as a youth minister at Beaverdam Baptist Church in Canton. Surrett works for the Department of Transportation.

Revelation 19:17-18
I then saw an angel standing on the sun, and he shouted to all the birds flying in the sky, "Come and join in God's great feast! You can eat the flesh of kings, rulers, leaders, horses, riders, free people, slaves, important people, and everyone else."!

BBC:

The BBC has obtained police video showing officers standing by while Buddhist rioters attacked minority Muslims in the Burmese town of Meiktila.

The footage shows a mob destroying a Muslim gold shop and then setting fire to houses. A man is seen on fire.

It was filmed last month, when at least 43 people were killed in Meiktila.

Meanwhile the EU is expected to decide whether to lift sanctions imposed on Burma, in response to recent reforms.

Deuteronomy 14:18
You must not eat bats.

This morning, I told you that the Westboro Baptist Church announced that they are planning to protest the funerals of people who died in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Now, it looks like Anonymous has seized control of Westboro Baptist Church's Facebook page, (UPDATE: see below) and they're being glorious assholes about it. (The description reads "THE OFFICIAL WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH FACEBOOK PAGE YA'LL," and "Church Leaders" are listed as "Marilyn Manson, Anonymous, and Captain Crunch.") Special guest stars on Anonyboro's revised Facebook page include Martin Luther King Jr. and the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Go check it out.

(Thanks to Slog tipper Clinton.)

UPDATE: It actually looks like Anonymous has held this page for some time. It might even be a decoy page created by Anonymous? In any case, it certainly is fooling a lot of Facebookers who are angry about the Westboro Baptist Church today, which means this is still a very good idea from Anonymous.

TEXAS: "A former North Texas youth pastor has been accused of having an improper contact with a 16-year old girl. Garland police arrested Joshua Earls earlier this week. Investigators confirmed that Earls, 28, had been the youth pastor at Arapaho Baptist Church for about four years.... In an affidavit, police say during a bible study swim party last April or May, Earls was sitting next to the girl in a hot tub when he grabbed her hand and put it in his swim trunks.... In addition to Joshua Earls, detectives are now calling his younger brother, Jordan Earls, a person of interest in the cases. Police say they have some questions for Jordan Earls, 24, about other possible inappropriate contact with children at Arapaho Baptist."

ALABAMA: "An Enterprise youth pastor arrested last month for the alleged second-degree rape of a 14 year old is back in jail today. Timothy Thomas, 25, of Enterprise, was booked into the Coffee County Jail April 11 for breaking conditions of his bond set by District Judge Paul Sherling, March 21. Thomas, a former youth pastor at St. Luke United Methodist Church, was released by the court on a $30,000 bond with the conditions that he wear an ankle monitor and have no contact with the victim or the victim's family. It's alleged that while out on bond Thomas did contact the victim in the case after the judge ordered that he be fitted with an ankle monitor and not have any contact with the victim or victim's family."

Exodus 25:15
Don't ever remove the poles from the rings.

They're having a discussion about early marriage—marrying in college—on KUOW right now and a young woman called in to recommend early marriage because she got married in college and so did all of her college friends and everything worked out totally super for her and all of her friends and no one she knows personally has ever gotten divorced. Because, golly, they're Mormons! And Mormons don't get divorced!

Mormons do get depressed, though—and, golly, they sure do commit suicide a lot.

Golly! Maybe people who don't get divorced find other ways to get out of the early, ill-advised marriages that are making them miserable!