Where Is Our Fred Rogers?

In 1969, Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications to testify in support of  the Center For Public Broadcasting, which was facing cuts in funding.  President Nixon had proposed cutting the budget by half, in part to allocate more money for the Vietnam War. 

Four decades later, war is threatening to de-fund public broadcasting.  This time, however, it's the culture wars.  While one could argue that the de-funding is simply a matter of frugality in a time of economic uncertainty and record debt, there is no doubt that public broadcasting's perceived hostility towards conservative values is the real reason.  Droves of conservatives began asking for Big Bird's head on a platter immediately after the firing of Juan Williams for comments he made on Fox about Muslims in October of 2010. 

When the heat was on in 1969, Fred Rogers delivered a wonderful and powerful testimonial on the importance of positive, enriching, educational (and commercial-free) programming for children.  I don't know many people who did not grow up with PBS and NPR, nor do I know any who can imagine what that world would have been like.  I also don't know anyone who can watch the below video without getting a lump in their throat.  But where is our Fred Rogers now? 

Why Do Creationists Play The Hitler Card?

Sid Galloway speaking at LSU

Creationists love to play the Hitler card when critiquing the theory of evolution.  Ken Ham, of the Creation Museum, loves to bring up Hitler when discussing Darwin.  It is tirelessly trotted out in court cases deciding whether or not Creationism should be taught in school. The argument essentially is an effort to vilify the teaching of evolution by linking Darwin, and his conception of natural selection, to Nazi eugenics efforts. 

I was reading an article in LSU's Daily Reveille, published on Sunday, about Sid Galloway presenting his "Evidence — Answers Seminar" at the Chapel on the Campus.  In his seminar, Galloway, who is a zookeeper, a biology teacher, and a family counselor, suggested that evolution fuels racism, stating:

"If you read [Charles Darwin's] ‘Descent of Man,' it's obscenely racist," he said. "At the core of Hitler's belief was evolution."


The article continues:

Galloway, who believes the universe is thousands of years old, not billions, said evolution directly contradicts Christianity, because suffering would have existed in the world long before Adam and Eve bit into forbidden fruit.
"They cannot both be in harmony," he maintained. "They are incompatible."
 
The use of the Hitler card, when critiquing evolution, is not unlike the mudslinging in political campaign seasons.  It is a tactic used to distract and to sully by association.  The difference here is that whether or not Darwin's theory of evolution inspired Hitler, it does absolutely nothing to detract from the soundness of the theory. 

Imagine a seminar being given by a figure who denied the germ theory of disease.  Suppose this figure stated that Agostino Bassi's and Girolamo Fracastoro's work on this theory inspired the weaponization of tularemia, anthrax, brucellosis, and botulism toxin.  Sure, this is an ugly, destructive application of the concepts of the theory, but is anyone less likely as a result to believe that the germ theory of disease is sound? 

Is the theory of gravity any less true, or less palatable, because millions of people have put to death by hanging? 

Like the politicians that sling mud during campaign season, the Creationists who use this tactic only draw attention to their own desperation, slinging mud against the wall in hopes that something sticks. 

Rep. Mike Beard on Climate: God Wouldn't Let Us Destroy the World

Earlier this month, Rep. Mike Beard (R-MN) introduced legislation to lift the moratorium on coal-fired power plants. In his defense of the legislation, Beard began spouting what sounded like science to anyone who would listen.  Unfortunately, like many of Beard's peers, Beard's stance on the climate relies very little on science, and very much on anecdotes, denial, and theology.  This brand of climate pseudo-science removes all responsibility from mere mortals, trusting that an all-powerful God has everything under control.

Don Shelby, writing in the MinnPost:

A lot of what Beard knows he learned in church. One Congressman, talking about global warming, recently said that God wouldn't allow man to do anything to destroy the planet. Beard told me, "It is the height of hubris to think we could."  I asked him about nuclear war. He said: "How did Hiroshima and Nagasaki work out? We destroyed that, but here we are, 60 years later and they are tremendously effective and livable cities. Yes, it was pretty horrible," he said, "But, can we recover? Of course we can."

Beard believes that "God is not capricious. He's given us a creation that is dynamically stable. We are not going to run out of anything."  Full Story Here

Playboy Mansion Illness Outbreak Linked to Jenny McCarthy

The universe has a sick sense of humor.

Actress, model, author, and former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy has been tirelessly promoting anti-vaccination rhetoric since 2007.  Jenny McCarthy's irresponsible pseudo-science has been spewed on numerous television appearances and through numerous books and articles urging parents not to vaccinate their kids. It is not hyperbolic to state that Jenny McCarthy may have indirectly led to the deaths of hundreds of children (see Jenny McCarthy Body Count).

Fast-forward to February 3rd at the Playboy Mansion, where as many as 200 people fell victim to Legionellosis at a party for Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue Autism Foundation. Legionellosis can take two distinct forms: Legionnaires' disease (the more severe form of the infection) and Pontiac fever. Although authorities have not pinpointed the source of the outbreak, it is believed it could have been spread by the Playboy Mansion's hot tub, or by a fog machine at the party.

The difference here is that any dummy knows that vaccines don't cause Legionellosis.  That and the fact that nobody has died from this outbreak.

Ted Haggard: Why Can't I Be Restored Like Tiger Woods and Mike Vick?

In an interview with The Christian Post, fallen megachurch pastor Ted Haggard wonders why sports figures like Tiger Woods can rehabilitate their images when he and other evangelists can't:

"The NFL's doing a better job at [restoring]. CBS is doing a better job at it. KMART is doing a better job at it,” he continues in his tirade. "Virtually every institution on earth is demonstrating that they are doing a better job at restoring people than the Church. And we're the only ones who market that we know how to do it. We are idiots. We are hypocrites."

Ted, I believe you nailed it.  Hypocrisy is precisely the problem.  Tiger Woods does not make his living telling others not to have extra-marital affairs.  Mick Vick does not earn a living pushing anti-dogfighting legislation.  However, you made a living, in part, by teaching that homosexuality is an abomination and actively lobbying against gay rights.

If there is a lesson to learn here, it's that perhaps the church should reconsider its rhetoric as it relates to LGBT issues and stop actively pushing legislation that is rooted in religious dogma.  Also, as a man of faith, Ted, you might want to become reacquainted with Matthew 7:1.

Billy Ray Cyrus: Athiest 'Adopt-a-Highway' Sign Foretold Miley's Hell Spiral

If there's one thing that's clear from Billy Ray Cyrus's highly publicized GQ interview, it's that Mr. Soulpatch takes no responsibility whatsoever for Miley's troubles. He's blaming everything from Mickey Mouse to Hollywood for his failed marriage and poor parenting.

But this nugget, from page 5 of the interview, really lays it on thick:

"Somewhere along this journey," he says, "both mine and Miley's faith has been shaken. That saddens me the most." When they first came to Hollywood for Hannah Montana, the two of them would drive down the freeway together to the studio each morning, and every day Miley would point out the sign that said

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
ATHEISTS UNITED

Just before moving out to Los Angeles, the whole family had been baptized together by their pastor at the People's Church in Franklin, Tennessee. "It was Tish's idea," he remembers. "She said, 'We're going to be under attack, and we have to be strong in our faith and we're all going to be baptized...'" And there, driving to work each day in the City of Angels, was this sign. "A physical sign. It could have easily said 'You will now be attacked by Satan.' 'Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness...'"

Do you really see it in such clearly spiritual terms—that your family was under attack by Satan?

"I think we are right now. No doubt. There's no doubt about it."

And why is that happening?

"It's the way it is. There has always been a battle between good and evil. Always will be. You think, 'This is a chance to make family entertainment, bring families together...' and look what it's turned into."

Perhaps Mr. Cyrus could have prevented some of his problems by focusing more on being together as a family.  Perhaps doing something that allowed his family to bond while doing something positive, like, say, adopting a highway.

Iowa Grandmother Speaks in Favor of Gay Marriage