http://www.disinterestedparty.com/ SORTING THE GOOD EGGS FROM THE BAD 2007-12-07T23:11:55-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/12/1984_all_over_a.htm We were, of course, never at war with Eastasia.... Politics Stephen 2007-12-07T23:11:55-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/losing_it_1.htm More good news for advocates of abstinence programs: a five-year study cited by the New York Times found that 49% of teenagers who had, er, benefited from abstinence education had never had sex—while 55% hadn’t had sex in the past... Education Stephen 2007-07-19T00:01:41-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/how_to_spot_the.htm As il papa says, there is only one true church. And because its priests abuse kids, that church is now another $600 million or so poorer.... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-07-14T15:54:15-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/welshed.htm If there’s anything Christians truly want to believe, it’s that their hard-earned dollars will miraculously do the loaves-to-fishes thing. Enter British con artist Howard Welsh and his wonderfully named American girlfriend, Lee Hope Thrasher, who managed to take American... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-07-14T00:06:21-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/creating_creati.htm If you were wondering when the religious right would jump on the global-warming bandwagon, meet Joel Hunter, one of America’s “New Guard” evangelicals: Until recently, the national evangelical leadership included those who denied the scientific consensus that global warming exists.... Energy + environment Stephen 2007-07-08T21:21:46-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/regula_sancti_b_1.htm Pope Benedict turns back the Vatican clock another century. Pissing off everyone from liberal Catholics to Jews (“a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations”) in the process.... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-07-07T17:14:09-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/happy_independe.htm But only if you’re a God-fearing, bible-thumping Christian—because, as we all know, today is primarily a religious holiday. At least, according to a full-page ad in today’s New York Times it is (click here or on image to see... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-07-04T14:45:03-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/07/department_of_f.htm Michael Behe represents all that is entertaining about creationist pseudo-intel-lectuals. Even his own faculty, Lehigh University’s Department of Biological Sciences, disowns him, noting on its Web site that Behe is the “sole dissenter” from its “unequivocal” support of evolutionary... Evolution Stephen 2007-07-01T22:49:57-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/losing_focus.htm Although I’ve written about the activities of the Exclusive Brethren sect in Australia and New Zealand, I hadn’t realized how well-established it is in Britain, too. There, as in Australia and New Zealand, the sect is targeting kids: the Brethren’s... Education Stephen 2007-06-28T18:49:55-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/pilgrims_lack_o.htm And in more news from the 12th century, Todd Johnson, director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, estimates that 7% of the world’s Christians—around 150 million people—are “on the move... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-06-25T11:46:50-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/the_devil_doesn.htm So starts a Times (of London) article on demonic possession and exorcism, obviously hot topics in the 21st—or should that be 12th?—century. Let’s hear from Father Gabriele Amorth, Rome’s exorcist-in-chief: Where psychiatry and therapy require a person to look within... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-06-23T20:32:31-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/summer_reading.htm The good news: according to the (subscription-only) Wall Street Journal, Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything is one of this summer’s surprise bestsellers. Seven weeks after being launched with an initial run of 40,000 copies,... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-06-22T13:00:52-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/eurocreationism.htm The Council of Europe—which oversees human rights in the European Union’s member countries—will vote next week on a proposal to defend the teaching of evolution, and keep creationism and intelligent design out of science classes in EU state schools.... Evolution Stephen 2007-06-20T17:51:19-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/lunatics_meet_t.htm Edinburgh’s Fringe festival is discovering that Scientologists are a little thin-skinned when it comes to parody—particularly one as high-profile as Xenu is Loose!, a Fringe play that dares to mock St. Ron’s abysmal “Battlefield Earth.” (The play’s subtitle is... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-06-18T12:14:36-05:00 http://www.disinterestedparty.com/archives/2007/06/second_coming.htm Religious crazies are taking root in Second Life—bad news for those of us who sometimes like to trade theocratic reality for godless virtual reality. Naturally the evangelical megachurches are leading the crusade: Oklahoma-based LifeChurch.tv, for instance, now broadcasts its... Religion + cults Stephen 2007-06-16T18:29:43-05:00