Youth pastor pulls a gun...

...Youth pastor goes to prison.

COLLIER COUNTY: Christopher Thompson, a youth pastor in Collier County, faces felony charges Sunday morning following a road rage report.

According to Collier County deputies, Thompson pulled out a gun and pointed it at a man and his 20 month old daughter.

The incident happened Saturday night on Logan Boulevard after the victim cut Thompson off.

Thompson admits to having the gun in his van, but denies ever pulling it out and displaying the weapon.

Source: NBC2 News Online - Deputies: Youth Pastor pulls gun on road rage victim

So how would the victim know about the gun unless Thompson pointed at him? I guess Thompson forgot the whole good Samaritan lesson from the bible, and the golden rule, and most of the teachings of Jesus. I wonder where Thompson gets his moral grounding from? Not at church I would wager.

No word yet if Thompson's church is rushing to "stand behind him?.

Technorati tags: Pastors Gone Wild, Christopher Thompson, Florida

Blogroll Update: The Renegade Writings

Our newest Atheist Blogroll Member, The Renegade Writings (#429), comes to us from India.

The Renegade Writings – is a blog that contains a musings of an atheist called Ramesh Subramanian on everything he sees, hears, feels about religion, God, atheism, sports, India and a whole host of other things.

My journey to atheism was pretty interesting, at least to me. I had desperately looked for God in anything and everything in times of joy I have thanked him and at times trouble I have asked him to help. But every time, I did that I felt I was being too puerile. Why was I thanking or pleading to someone whom I haven't seen or heard talking? – The seeds of atheism had been sowed. And it didn't take a long time to become an agnostic from there. The more I thought about the position of agnosticism and atheism, the more I turned towards atheism. That was a long journey.

I decided to pen down my thoughts and let others know it & also know what they think about it, albeit much of my battle for atheism was fought within my head.

Welcome to the team!

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, India

Random 5 from the Atheist Blogroll

As part of my effort to promote the various blogs on the Atheist Blogroll, I will attempt to pick five blogs at random, and then profile them here on Deep Thoughts. I will not get my geek on by describing how I wrote a macro in excel with a random number generator to pick five blogs. Nope, I will not tell the story. I want to tell the story - because figuring out how to do new tech stuff is fun... Maybe some other time.

#1

The law of unintended consequences reared its ugly head on the very first blog,  Serendipity by Lary Crews. Serendipity joined the Atheist Blogroll in April. When I visited his blog this morning I found that Larry is sick with a 24 hour bug, and that he does not display the Atheist blogroll in his sidebar. I left Lay the following message.

Lary - I am sorry to hear that you are under the weather. I hope you return to health soon. I am afraid I have some bad news, I removed your blog from the Atheist blogroll this morning. Our minimum requirement for membership states that you must display one of the various version in your sidebar, or at least link back to the blogroll. I could not find any reference, so I was forced to remove you. If you would like to be reinstated, well... you know what to do.

#2

Our next blog is Nut Watch, a blog after my own heart. Nut Watch did not join the blogroll formally. I found them a few days ago via a link to my blog. I added Nut Watch when I saw they were showing the full Atheist blogroll in their sidebar.

Why do I like Nut Watch? They write about religious nutballs!

• Kenya: Christian Group Moves to Court to Challenge Death of Jesus
• Teacher: I was fired, said bible isn't literal
• The sheer evil of the Catholic Church

Nut Watch is already on my daily reading list, as are  Stappado and the Daily Atheist - all written by Strappado.

#3

The Dorset Humanist Blog joined September 22 so they qualify as a new find. This blog is written by Chris Street and may be one of the better blogs to join our ranks in the last year. I've only had time to read a dozen or so entries, each one has been informative.

Chris is promoting the freethinkers flicker promotion "Calling all Freethinkers" on Flickr. I plan on loading my photo, but first I need to hire a face model.

Since the Dorset Humanist blog is an outstanding new member of our blogroll, I will cut Chris some slack on not displaying the blogroll in his sidebar. Let's hope he puts it up.

#4

Faith in Honest Doubt joined just a few days ago on the 25th.  I find much in common with this blog - like a distaste for the war in Iraq. Several posts highlight the folly of this mismanaged and unjust war. Take The Iran Roll Call for instance:

Here is a listing of how Senators voted on Wednesday's  sense of the Senate" chickenshit back-door declaration of war on Iran. I'm glad to see I am represented by an actual Democrat, Ron Wyden, who voted Nay; I was already aware of that other Senator, Gordon Smith, and already intended to vote for whatever Democrat opposes him in 2008, even if it's a yellow dog, a pink heart, a green clover, a blue diamond, a cartoon leprechaun, or an indeterminately-aged box of Lucky Charms.

What are we going to do if Iran actually fights back?

Oh, I worry too much. They'll greet us as liberators and toss roses at the feet of our troops.

My own Senators split:

• Boxer (D-CA), Nay
• Feinstein (D-CA), Yea

Way to go Feinstein.

#5

My fifth and final blog of the day is Church of Integrity. A proud Atheist Blogroll member since April. I was impressed with this blog because it has a clear founding statement.

In the Church of Integrity we believe that ethics are deeply connected with biology in the sense that we, humans, are preprogrammed with certain ethics that have helped the species to advance and survive for a long time. For example then most people agree on that murder is bad. We are not so naive though to think that the world is black and white. We teach ethics that we believe almost everyone can agree on. Examples are that murder is bad and that you should treat others as you want them to treat you.

Church of Integrity does not post frequently, but when the do post, it is worth a read. Take their post on Atheism for example.

The atheist movement is on a rise. We believe there are many different reasons why people become atheists. Many are frustrated with how religion seems to bash and pervert science as some religious groups have done with the theory of evolution. In the Church of Integrity we of course base our world view on science so you shouldn't end up with any frustrations like that here.

Read More...

That's it for my first survey. I will try to do the same thing every weekend when time allows. Please let me know if you have any suggests for improving the format.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism

When Atheists unite

...great things can happen. Take the 50 Denver children who walked out on the Pledge of Allegiance to voice their opposition to the mandatory time set aside to recite the pledge and the objectionable phrase "one nation under god".

About 50 Boulder High School students walked out of class Thursday to protest the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance and recited their own version, omitting "one nation, under God."

The students say the phrase violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

They also say the daily reading of the pledge over the school public address system at the start of the second class takes away from education time and is ignored or mocked by some students.

A state law passed in 2004 requires schools to offer the opportunity to recite the pledge each day but does not require students to participate.

The protesting students, members of the Student Worker Club, want administrators to hold the pledge reading in the auditorium during each of the school's two lunch periods for any students who want to participate.

Source: The Denver Post - Boulder High students walk out during Pledge, recite own version

I must admit. High School for me was in the 70s. I don't actually remember if we had to recite the pledge of allegiance. We had other motivations - Bob posted a comment linked to the article about that brought it all home for me.

Kids in Boulder worship marijuana. They "pray" to it 5 times a day while facing San Francisco, California.

Sounds about right to me. I could explain much about why high school is not something I remember well.

Technorati tags: Atheism, activism, Pledge of Allegiance, Separation of Church and State, Denver

The trial of Hugh King

Pastor Hugh King is a member in good standing of Mojoey's Pastors Gone Wild club. To qualify one must be a man of the cloth who has committed some un-godlike act, like kicking a dog, punching a cop, or in this case, possessing drugs. It also helps if one is a pontificating hypocrite. King fits the bill.

I'm following the trail of Hugh King because of its tragic content. King was a pillar of his community who was caught with a small quantity of cocaine during a traffic stop. King contents he is innocent, as is his right. His arrest has stirred up some racial tension. As an important leader in the Pensacola African American community, people have made allegations that his arrest was racially motivated. The evidence does not seem to support this allocation. In fact, the case seems simple. King was pulled over because he was riding in a SUV that was similar to one used in an attempted robbery. When the police searched the SUV, they found probable cause to search King. A few minutes later King was arrested for possessing $25 dollars of cocaine.

I would like to offer some advice to other pastors who might like to indulge in some recreational drug use. when the police stop you and request permission to search your vehicle - just say no. In fact, say something like "I do not give you permission to search my vehicle. May I see your warrant please?" Of course, if you leave a knife out in plain view, you qualify as a dumb ass and deserve what comes next.

King's attorney, Barry Beroset attempted to have the traffic stop and subsequent search and discovery of a cocaine coated knife ruled inadmissible. Judge Joel Boles ruled that the officer had "well-founded suspicion" to stop the vehicle King was riding in.

Beroset's challenge focused on the the difference in 911 call's description of the vehicle and the vehicle King was riding in.

On April 27, King was a passenger in a green Ford Explorer pulled over by police searching for suspects in an attempted break-in of a home in the 100 block of D Street in Pensacola.

Police were searching for an SUV described in the tape as a green Chevrolet Blazer when they pulled over the Explorer.

Beroset has argued there was no probable cause for police to stop the Explorer because they were looking for a Blazer.

Source: PNJ.Com - Judge shifts focus to 911 call in King case.

Common sense prevailed - Hell, I can't tell the difference between the two SUVs unless I look at the decals. And green can be gray at night. King is heading for the big house. What I don't understand is why his Christian moral sense does not lead him to taking responsibility for his actions. For a first time $25 dollar drug possession offense, he could cut a deal for drug rehab and never spend a day in prison. Of course, he would become a convicted felon, which might not look too good on his resume.

Technorati tags: Hugh King, Florida, cocaine, pastors gone wild

Blogroll Update: Dark Matter

Dark Matter joined the Atheist Blogroll a few days ago. Its author, Neal Phalanx, has been kind enough to provide an introduction to his site:

I made the final move to atheism about 3 years ago, after years of increasingly skeptical agnosticism. I am a professional, a husband, a parent, and an atheist. I feel that it defines me, as I am in a world of religious fundamentalism and ideology. It is hard to say that believing nothing defines any part of me, but it does, and it motivates me.

I used to scoff at blogging, for no real reason really. I now see that I can join a community of like-minded thinkers, and find a way to vent about what I think. I want to address the issues that atheists and free-thinkers deal with. I want to be a resource for parents who do not wish to force a belief upon their children, yet still give them the skill set and ability to make good decisions in life.

The world is scary, and the good old USA has become a very dark and frightening place. A candidate for president has to pass through rigors for his or her beliefs (or lack thereof). I am not too happy about the condition of reason and secularism in this country. I want to do what I can about it, while having a lot of fun with it.

Thanks for the listing! I look forward to my continued involvement. I have been posting for about a week now, and it is what I look forward to every day. Thanks again!

Please pay Dark Matter a visit and welcome this new Atheist blogger to our team.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, Blogging

Blogroll update: a few ideas

The Neural Gourmet posted The giant list of atheist blogs (Mojoey's Atheist Blogroll) today. A few other bloggers are doing the same thing. I like the idea. It helps build our community rankings in Technorati. Each link counts. I'm rated in the Top 10K. It is a reflection of other people linking back to my blog. As an added bonus, any time somebody links to me, it helps build my blog credibility with search engines. I do the same when I post stories linking to other blogs. Cross posting helps build our community. It is something we should do more often.

I plan to start a regular a new feature tentatively called "the best of the Atheist Blogroll".  I don't know if "the best of" is accurate , it might end up as a "survey of blogs" or "this week on the Atheist blogroll". I'm still working on the concept. The point is, I will review the best posts from a handful of blogroll members each week, along with my normal misspellings and snarky comments of course. I encourage my fellow bloggers to do something like this.

I would also like to suggest we have a 2007 best blog award for blogroll members. You know - 2007 blog of the year, best Atheist photoblogger, best post of the year, that kind of thing. I would like to solicit comments and suggestions. Please send me an email or post here if you have any ideas.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Blogging, Atheism

And now in local news

I had to look up Evansville on Wikipedia. It's the third largest city in Indiana with a population of 121,582. That's a little bigger than the city I live in, although I'm surrounded by 15 million other people. The last time I was in Indiana, I seem to remember a bunch of farmland between "cities". There is one thing for certain, even Evansville has a problem with clergy sexual abuse.

Nathan St. Pierre, a former youth church director accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, appeared in court this morning for an initial hearing in the case.

Vanderburgh Circuit Court Judge Carl Heldt determined during the initial hearing that St. Pierre's bond will remain at $25,000 cash only.

St. Pierre, 25, was arrested Friday and remains lodged at the Vanderburgh County Jail. The former Washington Avenue Baptist Church youth choir director is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship between May and this month with a 15-year-old female member of the church. The first incident reportedly occurred when she was 14.

St. Pierre is the son-in-law of the Rev. Mike Bebout. Bebout previously said St. Pierre was dismissed from the church last week as a result of the allegations.

Wearing jail-issued scrubs, St. Pierre appeared in court this morning with his attorney, Nicholas Hermann. Hermann said St. Pierre has no previous criminal history.

Police say the investigation began after the girl's mother found and read her diary, which reportedly detailed sexual activity with St. Pierre.

He faces a total of four felony charges. St. Pierre is due back in court on Nov. 5.

Source: Evansville Courier Press: Former church youth director's bond remains at $25,000.

Technorati tags: Nathan St. Pierre, clergy sexual abuse, pedophilia

Who is pulling the strings in the evangelical camp?

James Dobson told the evangelical world that Fred Thompson was unacceptable candidate last week. I am sure that a pronouncement of this magnitude 5 years ago would have resulted in Thompson running for cover. Dobson made the call and evangelicals said "so what". A propionate leader even openly questioned James Dobson's reasoning. Here are the words of Gary Bauer, former head of The Family Research Council.

I hope that we can, as a movement, be very wise about this, and not savage candidates that we may very well have to support in 2008 if they're running against Hillary Clinton," he told the OneNewsNow web site.

I think the one thing that almost every conservative Christian agrees about is that we cannot allow Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States," he added.

Source: Lifenews.com - Pro-Life Advocate Responds to James Dobson on Fred Thompson's Bid. By Steven Ertelt, (9.27.2007)

Bauer is a leader in the pro-life movement. A few years ago his words would have been considered heresy. Now they reflect the growing discontent with Dobson's hopeless 2008 election strategy. I feel a change coming.

Technorati tags: James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Jack Thompson, Evangelicals, 2008 Election, politics

Blogroll Update: The Water is Poison

Our newest Atheist Blogroll member is The Water is Poison. A brief introduction has been provided by the blog's Author.

Its a dangerous world we live in today.  Religious fundamentalism is on the rise and atheists are being discriminated against at an alarming rate.  Its up to us to speak out and let our voice be heard! To long has term atheist been a dirty word.  I was born and raised a fundamentalist evangelical christian, I understand where an atheist stands in this world in their eyes.  Its time people understand the simple fact of life.  The water is poison, and we have been drinking it!

Don't drink the water.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, blogging

Blogroll Update: Heathen.TV

As I sit here trying to kill time until the new season of Heroes to start I am faced with two choices. Do some blogging or play Team Fortress 2. since the latter crashes my computer every time I play, light blogging gets my vote.  Our newest member is Heathen.TV. It's chock full of video goodness.

In his own words:

HeathenTV serves up videos relating to atheism, religion, science and quackery from around the web. Dedicated to propagating the idea that superstition isn't that super, it features hand-picked high quality content from the famous and infamous, with a serious skew toward the skeptical. In any given week you could hear Christopher Hitchens debate his Christian brother, see Richard Feynman discussing the scientific beauty of a flower, or marvel in the evolution of the universe (condensed into 10 minutes). You'll also find snippets from investigations into religious practice, psychic charlatans, or new-age crapola. Whatever the case, it will be collected, categorized, and commented on, so you can find it again easily and identify related clips with a click of your mouse. All this, and the price of admission is zilch (or one soul, if you happen to be religious).

In case you're wondering - I'm a demoman on Team Fortress 2.

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, Blogging, demoman, Team Fortress 2

Youth For Christ shuttered

A horrifying case of  clergy sexual abuse out of Florida this morning. The Youth For Christ in Sarasota County will be closed until further notice after it's director, Martin Moore was arrested on sexual batter charges. Moore is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a girl starting when she was just 13.

Moore was arrested after the girl, who is now 17, told a teacher that she had a sexual relationship with him since she was 13.

The girl told detectives she had sex with Moore dozens of times, often at the teen center.

The girl told detectives the relationship recently ended. Authorities said Moore corroborated her story.

Source: HeraldTribune.com: Youth For Christ shuttered by Latisha R. Gray

Moore is 42. He has worked with Youth for Christ since 1988. So far, he has been accused of having an illicit relationship with one young girl. I am sure there are lots of young girls being interviewed by the local police. Let's just hope it was an isolated case.

Technorati tags: Martin Moore, Pedophilia, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Florida, Sarasota, Youth for Christ, Child Molestation

Helping Students to Prepare for Life in the 8th Century

This is an interesting story care of Without Hyphens:

Pulling this from the Register, an Iowa community college Prof. was fired for telling his students to not interpret the story of Adam and Eve as literal. Apparently a bunch of students complained to the school administration that the teacher was “denigrating their religion”, and he was subsequently dismissed.

Choice quote from the teacher? (and one that shows this man is freakin’ badass):

“I just thought there was such a thing as academic freedom here,” Bitterman told the Des Moines Register. “From my point of view, what they’re doing is essentially teaching their students very well to function in the eighth century.”

Freakin’ awesome man, you totally get it. Anyway, if you’d like to complain, here’s a link to his former employer.

[via the Register]

When I first read this story, I though it must be a joke. A community college in America should not be able to fire Steve Bitterman for teaching religion as an academic subject. That's what secular higher education is about. What was the administration thinking?

"I put the Hebrew religion on the same plane as any other religion. Their god wasn't given any more credibility than any other god," Bitterman said. "I told them it was an extremely meaningful story, but you had to see it in a poetic, metaphoric or symbolic sense, that if you took it literally, that you were going to miss a whole lot of meaning there."

Source: DesMoinesReqister.com - Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal by Megan Hawkins (9.22.2007)

Sounds like a politically correct overreaction to me.

Technorati tags: Education, Iowa, Religion, Steve Bitterman

Blogroll Update: The Primate Diaries

The Primate Diaries joined the Atheist Blogroll a few days ago. I think I read the whole thing yesterday. It's good - real good. Eric Michael Johnson has provided a brief introduction:

The Primate Diaries is a daily dose of news and commentary about science, evolution and the forces of unreason.  My graduate research at Duke University is on primatology and neuroendocrinology (the hormones involved in behavior) so my primary interests are on the evolutionary influences of human thought and action.  Intelligent Design creationists are a frequent source of amusement and I enjoy regularly exposing and debunking their insipid arguments.  The Primate Diaries offers commentary and discussion about the latest science illuminating human evolution and the ongoing culture war waged by those who prefer to wallow in ignorance and darkness.

A few sample posts:

Creationist Lunacy in North Carolina
The Feeling of What Happens

My Recommendation:

The Downstream Effects of Biopiracy

Technorati tags: The Atheist Blogroll, Atheism, Science, Blogging

Dobson's Scorched Earth policy

James Dobson seems single minded in his attempts to put forth a Republican candidate from the Christian Right that cannot win an election. His most recent victim - Fred Thompson.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, one of the nation's most politically influential evangelical Christians, says he won't support Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson. In a private e-mail obtained by The Associated Press, Dobson voiced doubts about the former Tennessee senator's position on gay marriage and his support for the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation. A spokesman for Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family says Dobson's comments were made as an individual and not as a representative of the nonprofit organization. A spokeswoman for the Thompson campaign says the campaign believes Thompson is the one conservative in the race who can defeat the Democratic nominee.

Source: MyFox Colorado: Dobson Won't Back Fred Thompson

So the main reason is Dobson pronounce Thompson unfit is that Thompson does not share the same vision on gay marriage. Since when does failing to support prohibitions on gay marriage make you less of a Christian? I don't understand it. What does gay marriage have to do with what Jesus taught or the New Testament or with how "right" one is? Grant gays the rights they deserve as citizens and then lets move on to ending the friggen war.

Dobson with hand the 2008 election to the Democrats. He will not survive the fallout.

Technorati tags: James Dobson, FOTF, Politics, Fred Thompson, 2008 Election, Religion, Evangelicals