Bill Maher: 'If you’re a Christian and support killing your enemies and torture, you have to come up with a new name for yourself'

From the May 13 airing of HBO's Real Time:

Pennsylvania Pastor Fabricates Navy SEAL Past

In the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, Newville, PA pastor Rev. Jim Moats told The Patriot News of his days as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War. He had been telling his congregation these stories for five years.

The problem was that Jim Moats was never a Navy SEAL. He had never even set foot in Vietnam.

After the newspaper received several letters claiming Moats was lying about his past.  The Patriot News did some investigation and found that Moats had fabricated his stories.  Moats came to the offices of the paper to come clean on Sunday, stating that he was never offered SEAL training, and was never accepted into the program.

“I never was in a class, I never served as an actual SEAL. It was my dream. ... I don’t even know if I would have met the qualifications. I never knew what the qualifications were."

Don Shipley, an area retired SEAL stated that specific aspects of Moats’ stories were lifted directly from Hollywood blockbusters: A story about being re-assigned to kitchen duty and about being waterboarded were lifted from the Steven Seagal movie “Under Siege,” while his reference to being hit by SEAL instructors was vintage “GI Jane.”

According to Moats, the whole thing started when his sons, who served in Iraq together, had made their father a Navy SEALs plaque, which he hung up. When church members began asking about the plaque, and whether Moats had indeed been a Navy SEAL, he didn't deny it. As the word started spreading around the congregation, Moats took no steps to correct the misconception.

"I have allowed people to assume that, and I have not corrected it. Probably at this church for the last five years do people assume that. It’s an ego-builder, and it’s just simply wrong. In that sense I’ve been living this lie for the past five years," he said. "I bring a shame and a reproach upon the name of Christ, I bring a shame and a reproach upon my church, and I bring a shame and a reproach upon my family."

Shipley, the local retired Navy SEAL stated:

"We deal with these guys all the time, especially the clergy. It’s amazing how many of the clergy are involved in those lies to build that flock up. I don’t lump him in with the worst of the worse. He’s just despicable. Some of these guys are total criminals. I think just having his ass spanked is enough for him that he won’t do it again any longer."

The original piece on Jim Moats, in which he makes the claims to the paper, can be read here.

Top Ten Bible Verses Quoted on Facebook and Twitter Following Bin Laden's Death

OpenBible.info collects realtime data on Bible quotes on shared on Twitter and Facebook. The following are the most popular verses quoted on the two social networks within the first 12 hours after the announcement of Osama Bin Laden's Death.

1. Proverbs 24:17 "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice."

2. Psalm 138:8 "The LORD will make PERFECT the things that concern me"(KJV). (NIV: "The LORD will vindicate me; your love, LORD, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.") (Unrelated tweet by Rev Run.)

3. Proverbs 21:15 "When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." (Rick Warren started this one):

4. Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?"

5. Ezekiel 18:23 "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"

6. Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."

7. Proverbs 11:10 "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy."

8. Proverbs 24:18 " … or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." (The popularity of this verse is due to it finishing the sentence begun by the #1 most popular verse.)

9. Proverbs 24:1 "Do not envy the wicked, do not desire their company;" (probably an effort to quote Proverbs 24:17)

10. Proverbs 28:5 "Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully."

Full list at Christianity Today

Bin Laden's Ritual Burial at Sea Not Good Enough For Anyone

According to U.S. Defense officials, Osama Bin Laden was buried at sea within 24 hours of his death.  Initially, this raised questions on the blogosphere and in the news, as to why the U.S. would toss the world's most wanted man into the sea so quickly.

According to the official, the U.S. was ensuring that the body was handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. "This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore, this is being handled in an appropriate manner," the source stated. In addition, the choice to bury him at sea was due to several factors. There did not appear to be any country willing to accept the body. Secondly, burying him in the U.S. would have been a terrible idea for obvious reasons. Thirdly, any land burial site may have ended up serving as a site of worship for Bin Laden's followers.

The official described the procedure to NBC News as follows:

• The deceased's body was washed and then placed in a white sheet.
• The body was placed in a weighted bag.
• A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker.
• After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body eased into the sea from the USS Vinson.

However, several Muslim clerics and scholars have expressed that the burial was not aligned with Islamic tradition, and that the U.S.'s handling of Bin Laden's body may only exacerbate anti-American sentiment and further incite attacks against U.S. citizens.

"The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don't think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration," said Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon.

"What was done by the Americans is forbidden by Islam and might provoke some Muslims," said another Islamic scholar from Iraq, Abdul-Sattar al-Janabi, who preaches at Baghdad's famous Abu Hanifa mosque. "It is not acceptable and it is almost a crime to throw the body of a Muslim man into the sea. The body of bin Laden should have been handed over to his family to look for a country or land to bury him."

And of course, many American conservatives are not thrilled with the fact that the U.S. followed any Islamic rituals at all when burying Bin Laden. Enter Glenn Beck:

"My problem with this is that we gave this guy a dignified burial at sea, or at least that’s what they said. I really would have put this guy in a meat grinder with a pig, sorry. Oh, you’re not going to get your 72 virgins? Sorry, that sucks to be you. Wrap him up in Hormel, pack him in a can of Spam, man."

The right wing blogs, as well as sites like World Nut Daily and FreeRepublic, seem to echo Beck, in that by taking the high road, the U.S. caved in to Sharia Law.

While we're pointing out the nitpicking from the right:

• Apparently Obama did not gloat enough in his announcement of Bin Laden's death, and is therefore "catering to thugs." 
• And of course Obama only killed Osama to help his reelection.

This is just the beginning. Enjoy the fireworks.