Our New World

From the Anchorage Daily News: 

Alaskan Gov. Sean Parnell's appointee for the panel that nominates state judges testified Wednesday that he would like to see Alaskans prosecuted for having sex outside of marriage.

Don Haase of Valdez, also admitted under questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that his official resume failed to disclose his leadership role in Eagle Forum Alaska, which advocates for social conservative issues. He most recently was president of the organization, but resigned when he learned of his nomination, he said.

Haase, picked by Parnell for one of three public seats on the Alaska Judicial Council, said that he wouldn't let his personal beliefs influence which candidates he'd approve for judgeships.

Haase was asked on an Eagle Forum web forum if he thought extramarital sex should be a felony in Alaska.

"I don't see that that would rise to the level of a felony," Haase said.

Paskvan: "Do you believe it should be a crime?"

Haase: "Yeah, I think it's very harmful to have extramarital affairs. It's harmful to children, it's harmful to the spouse who entered a legally binding agreement to marry the person that's cheating on them."

Paskvan: "What about premarital affairs -- should that be a crime?"

Haase: "I think that would be up to the voters certainly. If it came before (the state) as a vote, I probably would vote for it ... I can see where it would be a matter for the state to be involved with because of the spread of disease and the likelihood that it would cause violence. I can see legitimate reasons to push that as a crime."

Governor Parnell is the same guy that said he didn't know if the earth was older than 4000 years during an election debate. You're an imbecile. I've said it. Are rational human beings required to hold their nose and pretend that the earth is flat so as not to offend their fellow citizens?

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The Vatican wants just a bit more tolerance for the intolerant. The Vatican condemned a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution in support of gay rights last tuesday. The resolution was sponsored by 85 countries including the United States.

Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Vatican's representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva explained their opposition:

“People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behavior between people of the same sex. When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature … they are stigmatised, and worse – they are vilified, and prosecuted.”    "States can and must regulate behaviors, including various sexual behaviors. Certain kinds of sexual behaviors must be forbidden by law. Pedophilia and incest are two examples.” 

There is something strangely ironic about this church talking about pedophilia and homosexuality for that matter, with their own record of late. Like something out of Alice. But there are many similar recent refrains in conservative America today that echo the Vatican's in regards to having more sympathy for the intolerant views of some of our citizenry.

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One of the problems we have when we elevate myth and religion to the fore and into our laws is that religious doctrine is a shifting sand. No one can agree on which myth or theological understanding is sacrosanct. In Kentucky, the head of the Creation Museum is in hot water with his fellow arkologists over conflicting views on creation. 

From the Kentucky Courier Press:

A homeschool convention in Cincinnati has dropped the founder of the Creation Museum in Kentucky as a speaker for “ungodly and mean-spirited” comments about another invited speaker.

The organizers of Great Homeschool Conventions also banned Answers In Genesis founder Ken Ham from future conventions. They say Ham was critical of Peter Enns of the BioLogos Foundation, a Christian group that seeks to find common ground with scientific findings, like evolution. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that Ham said in a recent blog post that Enns’ teachings undermine “the authority of the Word of God.”

Ham founded the Creation Museum, which includes exhibits based on Old Testament stories. He is also leading an effort to build an amusement park based on the story of Noah’s Ark, called the Ark Encounter.

Ham is sore because the apostates are "not just compromising Genesis with evolution, it is outright liberal theology that totally undermines the authority of the Word of God."

The Great Homeschooling Conventions organization says in a statement that it agrees "100 percent" with Ham on "young earth" creationism — that the literal interpretation of the Bible means that God created the universe within the last several thousands years and all types of life in basically their present form. The scientific consensus is that both are billions of years old and that humans evolved from other species.


Peter Enns is a senior fellow at the Biologos Foundation. This is a Christian group interested in issues concerning science and religion. Apparently he suggested the story of Adam and Eve may be misinterpreted by Christians, and suggests it could instead symbolize the creation of Israel.

Ham said that Enns' position and curriculum was the sort of "outright liberal theology that totally undermines the authority of the Word of God," even going so far as to say it's an attack on Christ.

The Creation Museum has drawn a million visitors since it opened in 2007 and enjoys a lot of tax perks from the state of Kentucky. Recently they refused to allow a gay couple to enter the museum. Have to tolerate their intolerance, I suppose.

It would be nice if the religious conservatives in this country could at least agree on their theological canon before they shove it down the rest of our throats.

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