Sexual Revolution Cited as Cause of Catholic Abuse Scandals

Via the New York Times:

A five-year study commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to provide a definitive answer to what caused the church’s sexual abuse crisis has concluded that neither the all-male celibate priesthood nor homosexuality were to blame. Instead, the report says, the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s.

What else were these priests to do while everyone else was at Woodstock having sex with children?

Some Important Details on Saturday's Rapture

Some important new details to help you plan for this Saturday's rapture. According to one of Harold Camping's followers, the rapture will begin at approximately 6pm. I know lots of folks are busy on Saturdays with their children's soccer games and dinner plans, but don't worry about missing out on the start of the rapture. There will be a massive earthquake to let you know it's underway.

…"starting in the Pacific Rim at around the 6 p.m. local time hour, in each time zone, there will be a great earthquake, such as has never been in the history of the Earth," he says. The true Christian believers -- he hopes he's one of them -- will be  "raptured": They'll fly upward to heaven. And for the rest?

"It's just the horror of horror stories," he says, "and on top of all that, there's no more salvation at that point. And then the Bible says it will be 153 days later that the entire universe and planet Earth will be destroyed forever."

I suggest that people keep off of Twitter and Facebook to avoid any spoilers.

The Batshit Files: News Roundup | 5.17.11

So much batshit, so little time. Here's your tub o' crazy for the day:

• Michele Bachmann’s Head-Banging, Gay-Bashing BFF: How the Minnesota lawmaker fell in with a controversial hair-metal evangelist (Mother Jones)

• Scott Walker's next battle: The WI governor takes on the state's domestic partnership law (Huffington Post)

• Totally insane rant about "The Homosexual Agenda and the US Military" (Canada Free Press)

• Glenn Beck Announces 'Restoring Courage' Rally In Jerusalem (Huffington Post)

• Jury selection begins for the case of the 15-year-old girl who was raped by a fellow church member and forced to stand before the congregation to apologize for getting pregnant. (MSNBC)

• The Botox beauty pageant girl has been taken into custody. (Daily Mail)

• The American Family Association (emphasis on the Ass) warns that a Harvey Milk Day could include "cross dressing contests" and "mock gay weddings" in our children's schools. (OneNewsNow)

• Malawi President Bingu Mutharika says gays are "worse than dogs." (BNL Times)

• Evolution denier and "free" credit report scammer Ben Stein thinks IMF chief Strauss-Kahn must be innocent, because economists usually don't commit sex crimes. (Wonkette)

Santorum in '12: A frothy mix for America

Finally, a GOP bumper sticker I would put on my car:

 

Get yours here.

(via JoeMyGod)

Bill O'Reilly vs. Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart explains to Bill O'Reilly that there is a difference between denouncing injustice and celebrating murder, and that "It's Raining Men" isn't literally about human precipitation.

Religious Affiliation and Your Earning Potential

According to data collected by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Hindus have the most college graduates, and Reform Jews make the most money.

Jehovah's Witnesses have the least amount of college graduates and Pentecostals make the least amount of money.

Of course, when it comes to our belief systems, money and education are often of little importance. But we would be naive to think that there are no correlations between religious beliefs and education (and earning potential), just as we would be naive to believe that religious affiliations (and their communities) do not play a part in our employment opportunities (or lack thereof).

As David Leonhardt writes in the New York Times:

The relationship between education and income is so strong that you can almost draw a line through the points on this graph. Social science rarely produces results this clean.

He also warns of making too much of the religious aspect, since there are so many factors at work here:

Some of the income differences probably stem from culture. Some faiths place great importance on formal education. But the differences are also self-reinforcing. People who make more money can send their children to better schools, exacerbating the many advantages they have over poorer children. Round and round, the cycle goes. It won’t solve itself.

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, the iconic cosmologist shares his views on life, death, and the afterlife.

"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he added.

Hawking's comments on death and the concept of heaven are sure to provoke further backlash from those who took issue with comments in his 2010 book, The Grand Design, in which he stated that the universe did not require a creator.

Although Hawking has often been quoted by religious figures for his references to God, it has remained quite clear that Hawking's use of the word 'God' is metaphorical (as was Einstein's).

Hawking has said of his use of the word 'God':

"If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed. If you like, you can say the laws are the work of God, but that is more a definition of God than a proof of his existence."

"If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God."

In his brief interview with The Guardian, Hawking had a very simple suggestion for how humans should live their lives:

"We should seek the greatest value of our action."

Read the full interview here.