Outer Lightness » Items by exmoron

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• Heart of Darqueness
• Hello Waffles (105 unread)
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• Kipona
• Kokaubeam voices (7 unread)
• La's Self-Discovery Blog (55 unread)
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• Letters from a broad... (454 unread)
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• MagicCicero's Odyssey (72 unread)
• Main Street Plaza (931 unread)
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• My Faith No More
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• Rebecca...and all that entails (26 unread)
• salubrious malcontent
• Scottish Brain (12 unread)
• Shallow Thoughts, by Trixie Granny (28 unread)
• Sideon's Sanctuary (26 unread)
• Sons of Perdition (120 unread)
• Talking to God (54 unread)
• The Fork in the Road (63 unread)
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• The Peep Stone (25 unread)
• this, that, and the other (192 unread)
• Thought Spot
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Items by exmoron

Main Street Plaza

• 

  name change

  Posted: February 1st, 2008, 11:29am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  It’s not like this hasn’t come up before, but in light of the recent discussion about my online handle (”exmoron”) being offensive (whether that is the intention or not), I thought maybe I should change it. Just so everyone is clear here, I came up with it not specifically to poke fun at Mormons (Mormon/Moron) but because I think of my past self as a moron. Certainly the Mormon/moron similarity did influence my name choice, but it wasn’t the sole rationale. I recognize it is a bit pretentious to claim that I’m not still a moron (I mostly certainly am in many areas; I hope not in the one that is my profession…), but I’m trying.

  Anyway, I’d like to know what people think about this issue and whether or not they think I should change it in light of the fact that most people who see it on here interpret it as a cut at Mormons (even though I don’t honestly think there are any more Mormons who are morons than there are non-Mormons who are morons). So, I created a poll. You can also leave feedback and give suggestions for a “new name” (I couldn’t help myself with the new name wording ).

  One final note, I am trying to maintain some anonymity (if you really want to know who I am, you can email me). The anonymity is for two reasons. (1) I am a college professor and I try not to let my personal views influence my students. So, I try to keep my personal views fairly hard to find online by posting anonymously. (2) My family (not my wife, but just about everyone else) takes anything critical of Mormonism as a personal attack. Family is more important to me than religion (or even criticizing religion), so I also try to keep my comments and thoughts about religion secret from them. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t be necessary, but our world isn’t ideal (thus the need for criticism).

Sons of Perdition

• 

  book review: First Fruits by Paula White

  Posted: January 27th, 2008, 8:44am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Title
  First Fruits: From Promise to Provision
  
  Author:
  Paula White
  
  Publisher:
  Paula White Ministries
  
  Date of Publication:
  2006
  
  ISBN:
  978-0-9792092-0-8
  
  Rating:
  0
  
  Summary:
  The book is a drawn out justification for you why you should give, in addition to your tithing (a full 10%), your first month's salary to Without Walls International Church (or whichever prosperity gospel church or megachurch you belong to).
  
  Review:
  I attended a meeting at Without Walls just to see what all the fuss was about. On my way out someone handed me a copy of this book. It was free. I took it. I didn't want it, but they gave it to me anyway. I took the 20 minutes it requires to skim the book and realize what it says (see my summary above). It probably wasn't worth my 20 minutes (and my additional 20 minutes to write this review) but hey, why not?
  
  Just so people know I'm not making up what the book's message is, I have a few quotes for you. From page 85, “People ask me why my husband and I set January aside as a season of private and corporate fasting, giving, and prayer. God set the Feast of First Fruits as the beginning of things for Israel... We are offering up that first month unto the Lord to establish what happens in the rest of the year... By presenting God the firstfruits: the first part of your day, the first month of the year, the first of your increase, you are saying “I present this as holy, consecrated to the Lord... and I cannot touch it.” It governs everything else that operates in your life.”
  
  So, technically, what Ms. White (not Mrs. anymore) is saying is that you can determine what your “firstfruits” are going to be: one day's salary, one week's, one month's, etc., but you have to give it in order to be in favor with god. If you don't, well, that's when she introduces the guilt complex (just 7 pages later), from p. 92, “I never want to experience the Lord's absence. I cannot imagine trying to do anything without the Lord being with me.” And from page 93, “When we obey, we are blessed; when we do not, we open ourselves to demonic activity...” If you don't give us your fucking “firstfruits,” god will curse you. Give us more, more, more!!!!!
  
  Oh, and in case there is any question as to who actually gets what you donate, here's her subtle clarification, “But – what happened to all those baskets of fruit afterwards? [the ones donated by the Israelites as firstfruits] They were not consumed by fire. God didn't come down and eat them. So who did? The priests did.” (p. 113) In other words, Give us more, more, more!!!!!
  
  But don't think Paula doesn't give, too, “At the beginning of every year, in the month of January, Randy and I, along with our entire congregation, dedicate ourselves to a holy consecrated fast and the offering of first fruits... We also present our first fruits of the year to the Lord in the form of one day's salary, one week's salary, or even one whole month's salary as each person has the faith and ability to give.” Of course, for Paula, she gives herself her salary, so that's kind of convenient. I wonder how much she sucks out of unwitting victims in a single day?
  
  At the end of the book Ms. White gives examples of people offering their first fruits. Some give tons, others give a little, but not to worry, “God says that all first fruits belong to Him, great or small.” And by “God” Paula means “Paula. She'll take your money if your rich or poor. Doesn't matter to Paula, 'cause it's all about the money.
  
  Usually when I read a book I use a pencil to make very small marks around the paragraphs of interest then indicate where they are with removable post-its. In her book, I used pen and dog-eared the pages. Then I threw it away. You should do the same.
• 

  moved

  Posted: January 24th, 2008, 1:15am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I haven't posted anything here in a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been posting. I've just moved - maybe temporarily, maybe permanently - to a new site: http://latterdaymainstreet.com
  
  I encourage any long time readers to check things out over there. I may come back and post here occasionally, especially if it is on a topic unrelated to Mormonism, which is the focus at the new blog.

Main Street Plaza

• 

  What to do with Mormon missionaries?

  Posted: January 21st, 2008, 9:35pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  So, here’s an intriguing quandary for you. I have a colleague, a full professor who has taught Psychology of Religion for about 30 years. He knows more about what makes religious people tick than just about anyone else in the world (he has, quite literally, written THE BOOK on it). I got to talking with him at a conference lately and my Mormon past came up. We talked about it at length and he was genuinely very interested (having never talked to a Mormon apostate). He emailed a few days ago to let me know that two Mormon missionaries had stopped by. He told them that he was very interested in talking with them, but he was busy at the moment and wanted them to come back in a couple of weeks. They agree to do so. This colleague is an agnostic atheist and is very unlikely (let’s say there is a 99.9999% chance) to convert to Mormonism. He isn’t interested in converting the missionaries to atheism, just in understanding their experiences and maybe helping them to understand the psychology of religion a bit better. He didn’t ask me for advice on how to convert missionaries but rather on how to approach them so he doesn’t offend them. Suggestions?

• 

  Harold Bloom on Mitt’s speech

  Posted: January 20th, 2008, 12:06am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I was just going back over some articles I recently read in an issue of Sunstone and caught this quote from Harold Bloom’s take on modern-day Mormonism, “What he [Joseph Smith] most distinctly was not was another American Protestant revivalist. Mitt Romney would not like my saying this, but if he truly followed Smith, Young, and Taylor, then he could not honestly present himself to the electorate as a Christian. If Joseph Smith was a Protestant, then Muhammad was a Catholic.” (p. 19) (Bloom, Harold. 2007. “Perspectivism and Joseph Smith.” Sunstone March(145):18-19.) Note the date - March 2007… Once again Harold Bloom proves himself particularly prescient.

• 

  even Republican op-ed writers are dissing Romney now

  Posted: January 2nd, 2008, 7:31am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  David Brooks, the token Republican at the NYTimes, tore Romney a new one this morning in an op-ed. I don’t know that his criticisms are all that new (e.g., Romney is a flip-flopper and best friend of the wealthy), but to hear it from a conservative is an intriguing change.

• 

  intriguing story on conservative persecution complexes

  Posted: December 28th, 2007, 4:53am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  A friend of mine (who works at Yale) sent me this story about a Yale student who staged several incidents to make it seem as though he was being persecuted for his conservative views. While I am always amazed at the lengths people will go to in order to make a point or try to bolster their argument, what this really made me think of was the push-polling in New Hampshire that was attacking Mormonism. McCain is still pushing for this to be investigated but Romney doesn’t seem interested. I’m leaning toward it having been Mitt Romney’s supporters who did it. Thoughts?

• 

  Steve Benson lays into Romney

  Posted: December 20th, 2007, 12:46pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Here is a not widely circulated interview with Steve Benson talking about Romney’s conflict of interest. Intriguing read.

• 

  on the verge of becoming a denomination

  Posted: December 20th, 2007, 10:19pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I originally wrote this essay with the idea of submitting it to Sunstone. Thanks to an email exchange with some of the people at Sunstone I’ve come to realize that I don’t belong there… nor does any of my writing (they have quietly become very pro-Mormon over the last few years). As this essay doesn’t really have a good home elsewhere I figured I’d share it with the people on here.

  On the Verge of Becoming a Denomination…: Resolving the Cult/Sect/Denomination Issue Once and For All

• 

  finally, someone tells it like it is with Romney

  Posted: December 16th, 2007, 1:17pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  There’s a good NYTimes article up today talking about Lawrence O’Donnell’s comments on Romney’s religion. O’Donnell finally came out and said what those of us in Outer Blogness have been thinking all along, “Why hasn’t anyone mentioned that Romney’s religion was officially racist until 1978 (and is still unofficially racist in theology but not in practice)?)” and “Romney is no JFK; his speech was all about pandering to the religious right while alienating religious minorities.” O’Donnell is being attacked for telling the truth. Add to that Romney’s claim that he felt Huckabee was attacking his religion when he asked a legitimate question (Is it true Mormons believe Jesus and Lucifer are brothers?) and I have to think that all of this is a sad commentary on the media today. Neither Huckabee nor O’Donnell have done anything wrong and neither should be apologizing.

• 

  According to logicians, I can prove a negative

  Posted: December 10th, 2007, 10:20pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I caught this post on the eSkeptic newsletter by a logician arguing that you can prove a negative based on induction (great reading for anyone interested). As that is the case, here are a few negatives I’m ready to prove:

  Modern Horses in America:
  1. If horses had existed in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus and the Spanish, then there is evidence in the fossil record.
  2. There is no evidence of horses in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus and the Spanish.
  3. Therefore, horses did not exist in the Americas prior to the arrival of Columbus.

• 

  BYU editorial on word change

  Posted: December 8th, 2007, 7:31am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  In case you missed it, the BYU newspaper came out with an editorial on the word change in the BofM. The logic employed in this editorial is a brilliant representation of the flawed logic that I usually see in apologetics (though there are a few regular commenters on here who seem to do better than this - shout out to Seth and dp). Let me dissect a few of the points made…

  Here’s the first argument, “This is nothing new to the Church. The same attack has reared its head in the form of horses and elephants being on North America during Book of Mormon times. Such attack-minded reasoning is more agenda driven than truth driven.” The last sentence is the kicker - of course it is agenda driven. People who point out the lack of horse fossil evidence do have an agenda - making other people aware of the truth that there were no horses. Now, people may have other agendas to go with that (e.g., non-Mormon Christians trying to convert Mormons or Mormon critics just lambasting Mormons or scientists just telling the truth), but does it really matter whether there is an agenda or not when the truth is the truth? I don’t think so. That’s a non sequitur.

• 

  NYTimes dissects Romney speech…

  Posted: December 6th, 2007, 4:28am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  … before the speech even occurs. There’s a great op-ed in the Times today on Romney’s upcoming “Mormon” speech. I think this is the best commentary I’ve seen about its potential impact (which is to say, it won’t have an impact). Romney is not JFK and Mormonism is not mid-20th Century Catholicism. Some choice quotes:

  • If Mr. Romney wants to counter issues and false assumptions, he will have to bring them up himself.
  • Paradoxically, Kennedy was an indifferent Catholic, which is why there really was no reason to fear that he would take orders from the pope. Mr. Romney, on the other hand, has been a Mormon pastor and the equivalent of a Catholic bishop. Moreover, he is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination at a time when candidates from both parties are expected to detail how their religion informs their politics — and answer to the news media if they refuse. Kennedy was spared having to explain Catholic doctrines that never mattered much to him. Mr. Romney’s challenge is to avoid talking about controversial Mormon doctrines that to him matter very much indeed.
  • But there is still one other difference between the two speeches. Kennedy engaged a live audience of doubters and bearded lions in their own den. It was high noon drama. Mr. Romney will speak in protected Republican surroundings, unable to engage a pair of adversarial eyes or read a single hostile face.

Sons of Perdition

• 

  the cat's out of the bag

  Posted: December 1st, 2007, 1:32am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  The New York Times today has a great article on the failed fundamentalist Islamic revolution in Nigeria. Apparently the primary advocates of Shariah law were money-grubbing politicians who were using the fundamentalist push to enrich themselves. Hmmm... Where have I seen that before? That sounds an awful lot like just about every television evangelist in the U.S., e.g., James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Paula White, etc. Religion's true nature - enrich preachers and impoverish followers!

Main Street Plaza

• 

  Those damn Mormon drunks?!?

  Posted: November 30th, 2007, 6:10am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  More ironic than anything, I caught this odd story on rabble rousing in a Mormon Church parking lot in Reno. The crazy thing is that the story implies the kids doing the partying, drinking, and even shooting are Mormons. I’m not sure what they are teaching those kids in church in Reno, but my Sunday School lessons didn’t include target practice

Sons of Perdition

• 

  WWIC co-founder Paula White changes the question

  Posted: November 30th, 2007, 1:00am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Paula White was recently on Larry King's show talking about the investigation into her former church's finances. But, as any good fraud will do, she changed the focus from her and her husband spending millions of dollars on themselves to the old religious standby - this is an attack on faith, our faith in particular.
  
  When asked directly about the finances, she spun like a good little fraud,
  

  King asked whether the church had paid for White's plastic surgery. "We're
  going back to those questions," said White, who said she paid for the plastic
  surgery herself.

  
  I'm sure she did pay for it herself, out of the salary she got from her church! It's not like she has other sources of income.
• 

  Pope Benedict insists people need god...

  Posted: November 30th, 2007, 12:55am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Now there's a shocker! Here's a direct quote from his new encyclical, "Let us put it very simply: man needs God, otherwise he remains without hope." This leads me to wonder, "Does Pope Benedict stand to benefit at all by insisting that man needs god?" As Daniel Dennett so compellingly argued in his latest book, you can learn a lot by asking the simple question, "cui bono" (or "who benefits"). If people stop "needing" god, Pope Benedict is out of a cush job. Of course he's going to say the world needs god. And of course he is going to rail against atheism. His cush lifestyle depends on it!

Main Street Plaza

• 

  As if the BofM word change wasn’t enough…

  Posted: November 28th, 2007, 9:15am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Now there is pretty clear evidence that the Native Americans came across in a single migration around 12,000 years ago. A recent article in PLoS found that the genetic evidence among Native Americans in South, Central, and North America indicates a single migration. Mormon apologists are going to have to completely concede any claims to a Hemispheric Model at this point and push their “interpretation” of the BofM completely into the realm of the non-falsifiable…

  Impending apologetic rhetoric (you saw it hear first folks), “Pshaw, Nephi and his band of merry followers immediately started inter-breeding with the natives. There were millions of Native Americans and only 40 or so Jews. And, well, we all know Jewish DNA isn’t as good at being passed on as Native American DNA (explanation #1), so that clearly explains why there is no evidence of a second migration. Oh, and all of Lehi’s followers were singled out for destruction at the battle at Cumorah - it was divine intervention. The Lamanites who survived were all descendants of the people who were already here (explanation #2). So, couple the “weak” Jewish DNA with divine intervention and it’s perfectly clear why there is absolutely no evidence of Jewish DNA in the Americas. That also explains why there is only evidence of a single migration. Look, let me make this simple for you - if the BofM says something happened, it happened. We just have to find a way to justify not finding evidence to support the claims of the BofM. That’s easy. Here’s one more - when god cursed the Lamanites, changing their skin to the cursed black state, he also changed their DNA from Jewish (i.e., white and delightsome) to black (cursed and abhorrent), and we all know that blacks are, well, like Native Americans, with their “less than faithful” DNA and all that is not of the “chosen” Jewish lineage (explanation #3). So, there you have it, three reasons why we can’t find any DNA evidence of Jews among Native Americans. The BofM is true, amen!”

• 

  Utah, bastion of depravity and sin ;)

  Posted: November 11th, 2007, 6:50pm EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  My wife was searching for videos on sexually transmitted diseases to show her Biology class when she came across this one:

Sons of Perdition

• 

  WWIC - still fleecing the sheep

  Posted: November 11th, 2007, 12:24am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Here's a good MSNB article on Without Walls International Church. I particularly love this line, "But then, he [Randy White] can't walk away from his calling - or his sheep." Brilliant! No sense hiding what you're doing - the members are sheep, straight up! The church is all about money, and fleecing it from those sheep...
  
  In a really ironic twist, Randy's has recently started a "fundraising campaign." This while they drive around in luxury sports cars and own multi-million dollar homes. Maybe the shrinking attendance is a good sign that the church is foundering... and will eventually whither away and die... And maybe the investigation will result in criminal suits as well... Here's to hoping.
  
  Oh, and in a real twist, two scam artists and devotees of the religion are quoted as supporters - Nga and Anthony Robles run an illegitimate travel operation out of Tampa that is currently under investigation by the Florida State Government for illegal business practices. I guess birds of a feather flock together.
• 

  a little Catholic hypocrisy never tasted so good

  Posted: November 11th, 2007, 12:17am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Philip Pullman, author of "His Dark Materials" trilogy, has been continuously under fire now that his book series is being turned into a movie (the book series is really good, by the way). What I love about the criticism is that it is coming almost exclusively from the Catholic League. Of course, it's being carried by the mainstream media as well (always a bit pro-religion). But here's they hypocrisy - Did the Catholic League step up to the plate when "The Massacre of the Jew by Nefarious and Evil Jews" (a.k.a. The Passion) was released? As Mel Gibson, a follower of an obscure, ultra-conservative Catholic group, flouted his anti-semitism, the Catholic League remained silent. So, an atheist who wrote a compelling children's book that includes hints of atheism should be attacked in the press, but a Catholic who produced an openly anti-semitic, violent, ultra-gory movie about the killing of a Jew should be praised? Hmmm.... Seems to me the Catholic League is worried about their relevancy in the modern world.

Main Street Plaza

• 

  major LDS concession

  Posted: November 10th, 2007, 6:20am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  What a delight! The LDS religion has now conceded (IMO) that there is NO, repeat NO, evidence supporting the Book of Mormon as a historical work by changing the introduction to the Book of Mormon - see this story. The beginning of the end?

• 

  splitting souls

  Posted: November 8th, 2007, 10:22am EST by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I recently attended an academic conference where one of the presenters made a point about Catholic doctrine I found particularly humorous. The speaker mentioned that Catholicism teaches that the “soul” enters the “body” at conception (I knew that, of course, but he went on…). Technically, at that point, it’s just a single cell (zygote - once the sperm has been co-opted by the egg cell). Sure, okay, let’s say that is true. What, then, are the implications?

  • I have brothers-in-law who are identical twins. Who knew they shared a soul? The original zygote, which was imbued with a soul on conception, ultimately split during a later stage, meaning they share a soul. (the speaker mentioned this one)
  • Chimeras, people who have two sets of DNA as a result of one embryo basically consuming another one, technically have two souls. Cool!
  • Siamese twins have conjoined souls.
  • And, apparently spontaneously aborted embryos/fetuses just get shitty souls. Sucks to be you.

• 

  Brant Gardner - software consultant and DNA expert

  Posted: October 25th, 2007, 12:34am EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Check out this Deseret Morning News story about Brant Gardner’s recent claim that DNA evidence is not damning of the Book of Mormon. A lot could be said about this idiocy, but I think the third to last paragraph says all that needs to be said,

Sons of Perdition

• 

  Paula White - formerly of Without Walls - is now of Alpha Centauri

  Posted: October 16th, 2007, 2:29pm EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I couldn't help myself - I saw a few too many pictures of Paula White and began to think what she would look like without her makeup.

Main Street Plaza

• 

  Who knew the spirit is so smart?

  Posted: October 8th, 2007, 7:55am EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I caught this Daily Herald summary of General Conference and one point stood out to me: Apparently Richard G. Scott is of the opinion that the “spirit” can reveal “absolute truths.” Here’s the quote from the news report:

  Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles discussed methods for discovering truth, including the scientific method and personal prayer. It is folly, he said, to arrive at a decision based on whether it is socially acceptable or politically correct. While the scientific method has proven remarkable at uncovering many of earth’s mysteries, Scott said the only sure way for a person to arrive at an absolute truth is through the power of the prayer and witness of the Holy Ghost. “Knowledge of truth is of little value unless we apply it in making a correct decision,” he said.

Sons of Perdition

• 

  God is in my hat...

  Posted: October 8th, 2007, 3:20am EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  I caught this Scientific American article on Slashdot and thought it worthy reading for all my atheist friends. The article talks about how "spiritual" experiences are basically replicable by stimulating areas of the brain. Big shocker ;) (pun intended)

Main Street Plaza

• 

  absolute obedience - it’s Satan’s plan with prettier packaging

  Posted: October 6th, 2007, 1:27pm EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  Robert Kirby, everyone’s favorite Jack-Mormon writer for the SLTrib, wrote an intriguing column this morning. This got me to thinking about the claims of obedience to the prophet and I had to respond (I post under the name SofP). Here’s my response:

• 

  LDS Inc. and BSA change names to “Pedophiles Are Us”

  Posted: October 4th, 2007, 6:53am EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  The Oregonian is detailing a new lawsuit against LDS Inc. and the BSA by a group of men who are alleging repeated, drawn out sex abuse. While sex abuse lawsuits against LDS Inc. have been picking up steam as of late, what makes this story stand out is that the lawyer representing the men is claiming he has information that will reveal just how extensive sex abuse is in LDS Inc. and the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) and that they knew about it and did nothing but cover it up. Should be interesting to see what happens with this case. As a returned missionary and Eagle Scout, it seems as though I should feel bad about this… But I don’t… If victims of sex abuse were able to sue both organizations out of existence, I’d consider it justice

Sons of Perdition

• 

  James Dobson whimpers for a little attention

  Posted: October 4th, 2007, 1:36am EDT by exmoron

  Tags:    [edit]

  The NYTimes let little Jimmy Dobson stand up on his soapbox for a few minutes today with an op-ed piece. Jimmy tried to turn his soapbox into a bully pulpit; he threatened to not support either the Democrats or the Republicans if they don't do exactly as he wants. And what, exactly, does little Jimmy want? Here's the short list:
  
  

  • abortion should be banned, so we can have more botched, illegal abortions like the one in this photograph (that is Gerri Santoro, who bled death as the result of a "back-alley" abortion in 1964, when abortion was illegal in the U.S.)
  • the candidate must support the archaic familism of conservative Christians, which according to Brad Wilcox's recent book (Soft Patriarchs, New Men), means: traditionalistic gender-roles, higher frequency of corporal punishment (spanking and hitting) compared to unaffiliated fathers in the U.S., and a slightly higher incidence of yelling at one's kids (again, compared to unaffiliated fathers)
  • a return to "fault-only" divorce; women, if you find your husband to be abusive, you better get pictures before you try to leave - no walking out as soon as the abuse starts; no maam, that just won't do
  • oh, and whatever else Jimmy decides is "pro-family", which probably includes: banning atheism and secular humanism and making everyone a Christian

  Newsflash for Jimmy Dobson: Yeah, Republican politicians are fidgeting with trying to appease you and your chronies, but they don't have a prayer in the upcoming election. Eight years under the current administration, which worked hard to appease religious extremists like yourself, has illustrated to the rest of the country that we aren't interested in what you have to say. Thanks for your thoughts, Jimmy, now hop off that soapbox and go play with the rest of your conservative friends... Somewhere far, far away.