The War on Porn

Why is it that people actually care enough about what other people do in the privacy of their hotel rooms that they feel the need to block access to pay per view porn? I mean, what the hell?

Several conservative groups, including the American Family Association, are asking Marriott International Inc. to stop giving hotel guests the option of ordering pay-per-view movies with strong sexual content.

AFA, based in Tupelo, said 47 "pro-family leaders" have signed a letter asking chain's chief executive, J.W. Marriott Jr., for a meeting to discuss their concerns.

Marriott was told that stopping "porn movies" would be in keeping with the corporation's position of "promoting the well-being of children and families," AFA said in a news release.

Source: Conservative groups ask Marriott to stop offering hotel guests option of adult movies - International Herald Tribune

These people are going to wake up one day and realize they wasted their entire lives. If the concern is children viewing porn, try this. When you check in at your next hotel  in "please blog the adult content". I've done it when traveling with my children. Problem solved.

I have  a suggestion for Marriott hotels, add "block adult content" as an option on your customer profile database. I doubt fundies will use it. How else can they tell if the movies need to be blocked? Somebody must take one for the team (I write about this stuff all the time, so don't try to deny it!)

Of course, this is just another example of James Dobson trying to legislate our national morality. I've got news for you Dobson - this issue is none of your business. And given the profits involved here, you have no hope.

A funny side note. The last time I stayed in a hotel was last Wednesday night. It happened to be a Marriott. Instead of watching TV in my off hours. I powered up my Mac and updated the obituary posts I keep ready for a few key Christian luminaries. I don't want to go into how anal I am here. Suffice it to say my friends often shake their heads with an odd look on their face when they learn of some of my odd habits. In this case, I read a book on writing that suggested writing obituaries for famous people as a months long exercise in editing. I've been doing it for about a year now. So... my James Dobson obituary post was updated Wednesday night instead of even thinking about watching cheesy hotel porn.

Technorati tags: Porn, Marriott, James Dobson, American Family Association, Theocracy

Bible park is wrong on so many levels

Let's face it, theme parks are risky propositions. It does not matter if the park is bible based or based on the latest cartoon series. Theme parks fall into the "high risk" business category. High risk is rarely in the public interest. Conservative investments serve the public, high risk investments often hurt the very communities who pander to them.

A bible park in Rutherford County (think Ten Commandments) is a Christian political statement funded by the public.

The Industrial Development Board passed without any recommendation a plan to create an economic impact zone around the park allowing property taxes from that area to help fund the $150 million to $200 million development.

Source: Murfreesboro and Rutherford County news from The Daily News Journal - www.dnj.com - Murfreesboro, Tenn.

This simple act allows public money to flow into the proposed bible park development. The Industrial Development Board also passed a plan to forgo $27.9 million dollars in property tax income to help fund the park. So, public money will flow into the park in form of tax dollars, and the public will be denied funds, in the form of tax breaks. All for an openly religious institution. Rutherford County might as well be funding a church. The county hopes to receive $122 million in income from its investment. Of course, they believe the developers growth projections...

Those figures are based on the developers' projection that at least 1.5 million visitors will come to the park annually after it is open for five years, and that the number of visitors will grow to about 2.5 million annually after 20 years

The developers estimates are optimistic, especially given the failure rate of small regional amusement parks, not to mention parks dedicated to a narrow demographic. I wonder if the developer ever heard of Dinosaur Adventure Land.

Technorati tags: bible park, Rutherford County, Christian activism, Separation of Church and State, 1st Amendment

As Waco goes, so go the fundies

I like to watch the happenings in Waco, Texas. One of my best friends live there, and Waco happens to be the ruby in the eye of the rodeo buckle of the bible belt. The last time I was there I counted more Baptist Churches in one place then I have ever seen before. So Waco has become a barometer for fundie activity. Trends start there... so do cults.

This little notice caught my eye.

Wall of Misconception author Peter Lillback will present a lecture titled Does the Separation of Church and State Mean the Separation of God and Government? at 7 tonight in the SBC Theatre at Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex, 1300 S. University-Parks Drive.

It is a book lecture for a new piece of Dominionist Christian propaganda called Wall of Misconception. Look for Peter Lillback's words to issue forth from the ignorant mouths of fundies in your neighborhood soon. 

Technorati tags: Wall of Misconception, Books, Book Reviews, Fundies

Some might find that statement very troubling

A fundie quote from Mike Huckabee on Monday in Michigan:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.

Source: The Raw Story | Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards

Note to Willie Geist, the reporter who was interviewing Huckabee at the time of this statement The correct response to this un-American dominionist turd of an idea is "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

Technorati tags: Mike Huckabee, fundies, 2008 election, politics, religion

Something for Catholics to be proud of

When religion and the state become one, death follows.  

Father Christian von Wernich, 69, was accused of being one of the members of the Church who took sides with the then-ruling military junta, the Buenos Aires Provincial Police Force, from 1976 to 1983. The reverend was found guilty of his involvement in "seven murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings," says the New York Times.

Source: Argentine Priest Sentenced to Life for Crimes Against Humanity

Father Christian von Wernich joins the infamous ranks of those who have committed crimes against humanity. Of course, the Vatican disavows all knowledge of this rouge priest who acted completely on his own.  And... no rational person believes this.

Technorati tags: Christian von Wernich, theocracy, murder, crimes against humanity, Argentina, Catholicism

Dominionism on Wikipedia

Dominionism is the tendency amount conservative politically-active Christians to seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action. Wikipedia's article on Dominionism has grown from a mere entry in January of 2005 to a enlightening summary of one of the most significant threats to our liberty.

The terms Hard Dominionism or Theocratic Dominionism, are used by some to describe forms of Dominionism which evidently envision, and work toward, a future (prior to the Second coming of Christ) in which all the institutions of society will be governed by the principles of their form of Christian faith.

It my black and white world, dominionist are the enemy.

Technorati tags: Dominionism, Wikipedia, Theocracy, Christians

Helping Students to Prepare for Life in the 8th Century

This is an interesting story care of Without Hyphens:

Pulling this from the Register, an Iowa community college Prof. was fired for telling his students to not interpret the story of Adam and Eve as literal. Apparently a bunch of students complained to the school administration that the teacher was “denigrating their religion”, and he was subsequently dismissed.

Choice quote from the teacher? (and one that shows this man is freakin’ badass):

“I just thought there was such a thing as academic freedom here,” Bitterman told the Des Moines Register. “From my point of view, what they’re doing is essentially teaching their students very well to function in the eighth century.”

Freakin’ awesome man, you totally get it. Anyway, if you’d like to complain, here’s a link to his former employer.

[via the Register]

When I first read this story, I though it must be a joke. A community college in America should not be able to fire Steve Bitterman for teaching religion as an academic subject. That's what secular higher education is about. What was the administration thinking?

"I put the Hebrew religion on the same plane as any other religion. Their god wasn't given any more credibility than any other god," Bitterman said. "I told them it was an extremely meaningful story, but you had to see it in a poetic, metaphoric or symbolic sense, that if you took it literally, that you were going to miss a whole lot of meaning there."

Source: DesMoinesReqister.com - Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal by Megan Hawkins (9.22.2007)

Sounds like a politically correct overreaction to me.

Technorati tags: Education, Iowa, Religion, Steve Bitterman

I see dumb people

It's a curse. I see dumb people. Like Jim Naugle, the Mayor of Fort Lauderdale. Besides his asinine attempt to ruin the tourism industry of his city, his fundamentalist views cloud every issue he touches.  His attempt to stop the move of the prestigious Stonewall Library is a case in point. Naugle plays up the issue as exposing children who would use the public to gay pornography. Nothing he says could be farther from the truth. The Stonewall is a research library and although it might contain some erotica, its main focus is social in nature.

Our archives, which currently contain more than 5,000 items, document a century of GLBT cultural and social history with an emphasis on the southeastern United States. The collection has been professionally catalogued and is maintained According to strict conservation standards. It is used by community leaders, writers, scholars, researchers, historians, and members of the general public. Among the many treasures in the archives are our extensive pulp fiction collection; organizational records of local, national and regional LGBT organizations; our large serials collection; personal records of local and national personalities; the Joel Starkey Collection; gay erotica –pictorial works; and LGBT ephemera, film, audio and oral histories.

The Getty has a research library, one needs an appointment and a researchers card to access the materials. My local library has a local history research library, they control access too. The Stonewall is no different. Children will never be able to causally browse library stacks full of gay porn. Children cannot even access the library, one must be 18 to enter. Suggesting that children are at risk is irresponsible. Deliberately misrepresenting facts is lying. Using children as an excuse to hide one's hatred and fear of homosexuals is cowardice. Yet this is exactly what Jim Naugle did -  on Bill O'Reilly no less.

I've posted on Jim Naugle - he's already a nutball.

Technorati tags: Nutballs, Jim Naugle, evangelicals, fundamentalists, gay rights, discrimination, the Stonewall Library

Abuse of the faithful

zI keep waiting for the pious to wake up and realize the have been had. Bill Moyers sums up my thinking in his essay "My Fellow Texan".

Like the proverbial hedgehog, Karl Rove knew one big thing: how to win elections as if they were divine interventions.

You may think God summoned Billy Graham to Florida on the eve of the 2000 election to endorse George W. Bush just in the nick of time, but if it did happen that way, the Good Lord was speaking in a Texas accent.

Read More...

I keep thinking about how long it will take to repair the damage done by Bush, Rove, and the evangelicals. Knowing that the democrats may take the helm does not fill me with confidence. A solid secular republican would be nice, but there are none. My guess is three or four political cycles are required to right Bush's wrongs. I'll be just about ready to retire by then.

Technorati tags: Bill Moyers, George Bush, Karl Rove, Evangelicals, Theocracy

The forces of theocracy never sleep

What the hell? Sonora votes for In God We Trust.

SONORA, Calif.—Local officials have agreed to display the motto "In God We Trust" on a wall at city hall.

Sonora's city council passed the measure unanimously Monday. Twenty-five other U.S. cities have similar displays.

Supporters say it does not violate the Constitution's ban on separation of Church and State. Although courts have allowed use of the motto at public buildings, critics say it favors Christianity over other religions and atheism.

"We're not going to try to interpret 'whose God,'" Mayor Hank Russell said.

We're not going to try to interpret "whose God" - Smells fishy to me. In God We Trust is an endorsement of the Christian God. What if you believe in many gods? What if you don't trust in God at all? How does this statement represent all people? 

Technorati tags: Theocracy, Separation of Church and State, In God We Trust, Sonora, California

Public funding for Bob Jones University

Why is the State of South Carolina giving 2.5 million dollars of the public's money to help low-income students attend Bob Jones University (a.k.a Fundie U)?

Before the legislation was passed, Shannon said, private colleges had to be nonprofit organizations, have a major campus and headquarters in South Carolina and be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Under the new legislation, a private college can meet those criteria or it can simply be a bachelor's level institution chartered before 1962 with a major campus and headquarters in South Carolina, the latter of which allows Bob Jones to qualify.

Senators Michael Fair and Darrell Jackson sponsored the bill. Sounds like a little back channel fundie political pork to me.

Technorati tags: Michael Fair, Darrell Jackson, Bob Jones University, South Carolina, Fundies, Separation of Church and State

It's Enough to Make Me Wanna Drink

Sometimes I write about Atheism, sometimes libertarianism, and sometimes I write about both. Fundie Watch has a great post on religious moral activism. In his case, the local fundies want to ban alcohol sales on Sunday. They managed to piss of The Watcher, and me too.

The Watcher does a great job of rebutting the fundamentalist's moral justification to ban alcohol sales. Our county is a secular democracy. One would hope blue laws would be a thing of the past.

The article, from OneNewsNow's Ed Thomas, illustrates another attempt by fundies to help people lead moral lives--whether they want to or not.

Wichita petition aims for choice on alcohol sales

"Choice?" You mean they don't have a choice now? There is some time when citizens of Wichita have to buy alcohol? I guess it's all those godless liberals trying to force their views down everyone's throats like we keep hearing about.

Read More...

I have two arguments against banning alcohol sales. One is from the atheist perspective, the other from the libertarian. They both converge on the topic of economics.  Since the sale of alcohol is legal, the citizens of Wichita create demand for alcohol on Sundays through their legitimate purchases. If the fundies were actually influential, they would be able to influence the buying habits of other community members. The result would be fewer people buying alcohol on Sundays, which would cause businesses to question the value of selling on Sundays.

Fundies cannot ever hope to convince  the 354,865 residents who might like to buy a six-pack on Sunday that it is immoral. Especially if it is moral and legal every other day of the week. Their only hope is to try to artificially manipulate the market through passing a law that limits market access. Of course, they cannot win. The demand will just move to different days. They are not actually affecting supply - people will stock up.

The real question comes down to influence. Their approach shows they have little influence in the community, otherwise. they would not try to implement a meaningless blue law. As an Atheist, I would fight any blue law a fundie might try to pass. As a libertarian, I would fight any law that attempts to limit the free market.

I'll have to watch this one. My bet is it goes down in flames.

Technorati tags: Blue laws, economics, Wichita, fundies

Presidential Appointments

"Presidential Appointments" is a term I have come to loath. President Bush wrote the blurb below for the White House website.

"The success of the Bush-Cheney administration will depend on the quality appointees we choose to join us to lead this nation in the years ahead. I will look for people who are willing to work hard to do what is best for America, who examine the facts and do what is right whether or not it is popular. I will look for people from across the country and from every walk of life. I welcome all who are ready for this great challenge to apply."

President George W. Bush

What I have come to realize is that Bush is serious about his "...best for America" statement. Of course, it is best as he see it. His appointments follow either a theocratic or a big business agenda. The big business agenda alarms me, the theocratic agenda terrifies me.

In 2005 Bush nominated fundamentalist Janet Parshall to the UN conference on Women. Parshall is famous for comparing same sex adoptions to child abuse and for telling the world that Matthew Shepard's lifestyle was responsible for his murder.

Let's not forget Randall Tobias, former Deputy Secretary of State. He was working with the UN to Stamp out prostitution while at the same time ordering call girls from the D.C. Madam. Tobias is famous for promoting abstinence over condom use in the fight against Aids.

Or how about Eric Keroack? Bush appointed Keroack to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Keroack is famous for believing contraception is ethical. His mandate was to guide young women towards abstanace.

Alberto Gonzales is famous for turning the Justice Department into a politically aligned foot solder in Bush's culture war. Yet his real crime is only now coming to light. Career lawyers are leaving the Civil Rights department in droves because Gonzales refocused them on The First Freedom Project. What is the important priority in The First Freedom Project? Instead of fighting for the rights of the oppressed, they are using the full might of the government to put prayer back in school and the ten commandments back in our public spaces. And lets not forget the case we just lost - Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation.

I feel it is my Patriotic duty to express my outrage and discontent at George W. Bush's attempt to turn America into a theocracy. Writing about it is the least I can do.

Technorati tags: Blog Against Theocracy, Bush, Presidential Appointment, Fundamentalist

Blog Against Theocracy

I plan on participating this time. If you are interested, visit Blog Against Theocracy for details on joining the blogswarm.

I missed this the last time around. It turned out to be some of the best blogging I've seen in a very long time.

The cause is just, theocracy is the enemy of freedom. Do your part to read, post, and share knowledge.

The value of a handshake

In my first real job, way back in the early 80s, my mentor taught me how to shake hands. I was a causal and undisciplined person in those days. I thought learning the art of the handshake absurd. 25 years later, it remains a valuable life lesson. My mentor was a wise man. he knew that the handshake was an important first step in developing business and personal relationships.

As I traveled abroad, I have learned the customers of other cultures. Many cultures use the western style handshake as a courtesy when doing business with Americans. I have grown used to the "dead fish" handshake of my Asian friends. I no longer offer my usual bone crusher.

A few years ago when I was working in France. I met a Muslim man from North Africa. We became friends. When I was invited to his home, I met his wife. As I extended my hand in greeting, he stepped between us while politely saying it was improper for a man to touch a woman in his culture. I remember thinking it odd that I was in the cradle of western culture, yet some ancient religious ownership game was taking precedent over a simple gesture of kindness. I thought it absurd then, and even more so now.

Mohammad Khatami, an Iranian Cleric and former president of Iran, was filmed shaking hands with uncovered women in Italy. The uproar and subsequent machinations are astounding. Iranians think the whole thing is a CIA plot.

The Iranian hardline daily “Kayhan”, run by Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, a high-ranking intelligence officer specializing in the interrogation of political and intellectual dissidents who is a senior advisor to Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, suggested Khatami, had allowed himself to fall prey of a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) trap.

Say what? Khatami was simply pressing flesh and kissing babies, just like any other political figure in the western world. CIA? how absurd! My guess is that his sin was calculated to send a message inside Iran.

Laws against touching women, even if only forbidding the shaking of hands, exist  to suppress and marginalize women. When women are kept veiled behind the doors of their homes, they loose their voice in society. Theocracy is to blame. Iran is an Islamic Theocracy. Laws requiring the wearing of the veil and forbidding the touching of women trump human rights, especially when all a cleric need do is thump his Koran to get his way. It is a sad state of affairs made all the more absurd by Iranian conspiracy theories.

Technorati tags: Iran, Theocracy, Islam, Khatami, social norms, handshakes, human rights

Not my porn!

I know this might be old news to some, but another Christian group is trying to invade our privacy with their ineffective vision of morality. This time the focus is on pornography. 

XXXChruch.com (X3) is dedicated to breaking porn addictions, because deep down, we all love to see naked women.

You know, I have this friend....

X3's Mission Statement (pdf) makes for an interesting read. Apparently, porn addiction is not limited to the male of our species.

The problem isn't just for men. From mommies to working women, the ladies are among the top demographic struggling with porn addiction. Perhaps more quiet than the men, but struggling non-the-less. Women are finding it, devouring it, and destroying lives with the dirty little secret. If you are struggling, get help today.

Know you are not alone. Know there are other women who feel and have felt the same way you do right now. Most of all know there are others who have found hope and recovery living pure lives away from porn and sexual sin.

X3 gets Christian hate mail (because they are annoying).

I am sure that your website means well, but what do you think about a young child walking thru a parking lot and seeing a vehicle covered in the words XXX and CHURCH together, you send a mixed message and nobody thinks it is a good plan but you...

Is XXX a word?

In reading their Executive Summary - I found this interesting tidbit. They debate porn star Ron Jeremy.

XXXchurch is on college campuses debating the biggest male porn star in the world, Ron Jeremy. The Ron Jeremy debates are a great way for the message of X3church to hit an audience that embraces porn. In the 2006-2007 school year we anticipate 20 plus dates on different college compuses.

Somebody must have have tapped this. it would be YouTube gold.

They claim 60 million hits - could it be because they are viewed by the typical porn cruiser as the church of sex? I'm willing to bet 60 million hits translates to fewer than 60,000 interested people. The rest hit the back button real fast. Is it just me or does this seem funny in an odd sort of way?

How is it possible that not heard of this before?

Technorati tags: Pornography, XXXChurch, Religion, morality

Christianist and Everson v. Board of Education

Via Rob Boston on Alternet

Why is the far right so eager to discredit Everson? The case is crucial because in it the Supreme Court laid down a concise and wide-ranging definition of the First Amendment's religion provisions that have had a profound effect on church-state law. In addition, a unanimous court strongly endorsed Jefferson's assertion that the American people, through the First Amendment, have "erected a wall of separation between church and state." For anyone seeking to undermine that wall, discrediting Everson is job one.

I run into Christian all the time who look startled when we talk about the Christianist's attempts to redefine American privacy laws. They don't seem to understand that one of the goals of the movement is to allow for a more intrusive government. As it, a government who has the right to monitor what you do in your bed room, or who you choose to do it with. The Keystone case holding up the legal framework for a wall separating religion and government. If the wall comes down, the morality police will be the first ones to scrabble over it.

Give the article a read. Knowing your history is important to protecting our future. Remember:

""Everson did not create the concept of separation of church and state in American constitutional law; the First Amendment did," said Erwin Chemerinsky...

(Posted while listing to Incubus - Under My Umbrella - off Morning View)

Technorati tags: Religion, First Amendment

Christianists on the March

Chris Hedges writes Christianist on the March at Truthout.  

Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, told his students that when we were his age - he was then close to 80 - we would all be fighting the "Christian fascists."

    The warning, given 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and television evangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts toward taking control of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a global Christian empire. This call for fundamentalists and evangelicals to take political power was a radical and ominous mutation of traditional Christianity. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for fascism in the pages of the Bible.

Source: Chris Hedges | Christianists on the March

 

Technorati tags: Chris Hedges, fascism, christianists

The New Christian Right Leadership Network

Chip Berlet writes about the Christian Right and their hopes for regaining political power in 07 and 08.

Who will be setting the agenda for the Christian Right in 2007? Several groups would like to assume that role, although they will have to figure out exactly what happened in the 2006 midterm elections and how to ensure that White Christian evangelicals vote the Christian Right party line in 2008.

Berlet profiles the actions of Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, James Dobson and Focus on the Family, and Gary Bauer and the Americans United to Preserve Marriage. Make no mistake, these groups understand their loss of political power and are focused on regaining influence in 2008. All are in my news filter under the tag "bad religion".

 

Technorati tags: Christianism, Dominionism, James Dobson, Gary Bauer, Tony Perkins

This is what we are up against

My friends laugh at me when I say we are fighting for the survival of our Constitution. That our American way of life is under attack by religions fundamentalist who want to re-write the Constitution to establish a theocracy for Christianity in America.  We are fighting this battle right now, and losing.

We lose freedoms one bill at a time. We lost one other other day; the freedom to play online poker. Of course, all this means is that I will again become a criminal. But why should I be compelled to become a criminal just because I do not share the moral outlook of a fundamentalist Christian? My choice to play poker, smoke whatever I choose, have sex before marriage, or send emails to friends in North Africa, should not land me in jail. The next step will be telling me I can't burn the flag in protest or speak my mind on Deep Thoughts. Under the thumb of a religious theocracy, our freedoms will die.

Who is fighting to take our rights away? Asshats and nutballs like "John Doe" from Richard Dawkins website.

Dawkins, you and your atheist friends cannot win. America WILL become a Christian Republic even if we have to write a whole new constitution. Millions of us are dedicated to this righteous cause. We will succeed. And then we will invade godless countries like "Great" Britain and kill all of your heathens. First we need to take care of things at home and in the Middle East but we will get around to Europe. You Godless freaks will die but then you will roast in hell for infinite time. Goodbye you loser.

Source: RichardDawkins.net - The Good · The Bad · The Ugly

As an Atheist, I feel the heat. My inbox overflows with messages from John and Jane Doe.  I get one every Sunday night telling me my time will come. That, when Christians are in charge, I will be on the same moral footing as a murderer. In a theocracy, atheism is not tolerated.

I watch the attacks on gay rights and shutter. It could just as easily be an attack on atheist rights. One I've heard before is that Atheists are bad parents - how long before it becomes something more sinister?

Eugene Volokh wrote a law article (pdf here) that cited 70 recent cases in which atheistic parents faced tougher obstacles in child custody cases...

Source: Quoted in Two or Three.net from Andrew Sullivan's Anti-Atheist Discrimination

...I would hold that children who have the opportunity to nuture and grow the spiritual part of their nature would be more wholly educated. Countless studies show how much happier, healthier, etc. devout people are compared with the general population and the irreligious.

Ignoring one aspect of a person, be it their physical, mental, emotional or spiritual side, will hinder the overall growth of that person. It is better to encourage the entire person.

Source: Two or Three.net: Atheist are bad parents

Fundamentalist Christians are making the argument today that will take way our rights tomorrow. Atheist as bad parents, even unsubstantiated drivel like that which is quoted above, will be taken as fact by fundamentalist who believe what they are told. The only real answer is organizing, writing, and activism.