7 things @ 11 o’clock (8.12)

Last updated on: August 12, 2013 at 11:01 am by Fred Clark

7 things @ 11 o’clock (8.12) 2013-08-11T22:50:19-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

1. John J. McKay looks at “The first paleontological dig in the Americas” — which took place long before the Mayflower. It’s a fascinating tale and a post that makes me miss Deane Galbraith’s Remnant of Giants blog.

2. Tickets are still available for the Perseid meteor shower, which is peaking tonight and tomorrow night. Best viewing is probably after midnight. As always when you see a shooting star, make a wish. (Shooting stars do not have the power to grant wishes, but making wishes is a good exercise in figuring out what it is you want to wish for, and for pondering whether what you’re wishing for and working for seem to be at all related. Lying on your back, looking up at the stars tends to be a fruitful posture for such pondering.

3. I’m pretty sure Donald Trump is not too bright. In the story linked there, Trump jumps all over interviewer John Karl for saying he is “pretty convinced” that Trump’s birther claims have been disproved. “Pretty! Ah! Pretty! Pretty! No! No! You said, pretty!” Trump says.

Does it seem like Trump misunderstood Karl’s litotical understatement as qualification? Pretty much. It might be possible to penetrate Trump’s thick skull with an explanation of the difference, but that would not be the easiest thing to do.

4. “The Bible is pretty clear,” Hannah Gastonguay said. I’m not entirely sure that’s true, but it is in some parts.

The Bible is pretty clear, for instance, that if you think you’ve got some kind of monopoly on righteousness and spend all your time resentfully obsessing over the wickedness of the Ninevites, then taking to the high seas to escape your obligation to love those Ninevites just isn’t going to work.

But the Lord provided a large Venezuelan fishing vessel to pick up the Gastonguays. And they were in the belly of the fishing vessel for three days and three nights. Then the Lord spoke to a Japanese cargo ship, which took the family to Chile and spewed them out upon dry land.

(Seriously, read the whole story. It’s fascinating, frightening, heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure.)

5. Doktor Zoom’s hilarious (and sneakily thoughtful) “Sundays With the Christianists” series at Wonkette has been looking at American history textbooks from Bob Jones University and A Beka Books, turning yesterday to “American History Textbooks for Children in Peculiar Institutions” — which is to say the books’ treatment of slavery.

As you might expect from books by these Southern, white fundamentalist publishers, they deal with slavery briefly and dismissively: “Where a secular textbook might have a full chapter on slavery, our 11th/12th-grade textbook from Bob Jones … relegates its discussion to a two-page text box.”

That’s appallingly ignorant and misleading. But then it’s ignorant and misleading for those secular American history textbooks to only deal with slavery in a single chapter. That’s like writing a biography of Ariel Castro and only dedicating one chapter to his abduction, imprisonment and abuse of three women.

Lest you think that’s too harsh, remember that everything Castro did was perfectly legal in the United States during the Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan administrations. Perfectly legal and explicitly constitutional.

Related: “If I am wrong in this responsible act, I hope my God may forgive me; for I am not actuated, as I think, from any motive save that of justice and philanthropy.”

6. This is what tribalism looks like:

A Ten Commandments monument was unveiled in front of St. Paul’s AME Church in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, courtesy of the group Thou Shall Not Move. … But the church members — for reasons that have everything to do with a complete lack of understanding about how the law works — thought they were hoisting up a giant middle finger to atheists.

I’ve come to expect this kind of sanctimonious dick-swinging from white evangelicals, but it’s sad to see an AME church sucked into the self-righteous delusion that makes somebody think this constitutes “standing up for Jesus Christ.” It really, really doesn’t.

(And, yeah, it’s a sign of how many wrong turns we’ve taken that some folks are going to be more upset with the phrase “sanctimonious dick-swinging” than with the actual dick-swinging and sanctimony.)

7. Very few people manage to look this good in their mug shot.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 12, 2013

Shouting back at hate speech is a moral obligation

Next Post

August 12, 2013 'Night Vale' needs to sound more like Art Bell

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category class warfare evangelicals Iraq Left Behind Mammon music Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the lesson of the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Never trust a stranger Sow only good seed Water the crops often Judgment will separate good and evil