Social Media, the Conservative Bible & Health Care Homework
More Popular than Porn?
Yes, social media is now more popular than pornography on the internet. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, and this very blog you are reading now are all part of connecting you to other people, letting you share your ideas, create your own content, and interact on many levels through social networks online.
Need convincing about the power of social media? Check out this video.
There are Tweets and Then There are Tweet’s
It is with great sadness that I’m finally learning to accept that the Queen of Twitter has fallen silent. She promised us that less “politically correct” tweets would “fly from [her] fingertips”… but it was all a lie. (dabbing my eyes)
So, like a heroin junkie that has to make due with methadone, those of us who followed Sarah Palin’s tweets with breathless anticipation must now settle for…. Glenn Beck. He’s a far cry from the master, but since she is unable to fulfill her duties, we’re stuck with Mr. Congeniality.
Reading books on American hero’s. S.Adams, GWash, Frd. Douglas, Ben Franklin. Also, “Miracles of the American Revolution.”
If he’s reading books about hero’s today…can books on punctuation be far behind?
That Bible is Just Too Dang Librul
I’ve often wondered how the religious right reconciles things like “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “What you do to the least among you, you do to me,” “You cannot serve both God and money,” “Do not judge lest ye be judged,” “Thou shalt not kill,” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” You know….all that bleeding heart liberal propoganda.
Well now, all that can be solved thanks to the Conservative Bible Project. They’re on a mission to rewrite the Bible by
“providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias.” And while they’re at it, they’ll go about ”avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity.” And lets stop playing down all the talk about Satan, and just embrace it.
Hmm.
All that “immutable word of God” stuff? Pfft.
Homework, Anyone?
Wondering what to do of a Monday evening? You know all those people who want to argue about health care, and death panels, and free market cancer treatments? Feel like reading the Senate Finance Committee bill? Feast your eyes HERE. It’s 262 pages. (Gives you a snappy salute) Good luck!
Follow Along!
All these little nuggets come to you courtesy of my latest romp through the land of Twitter. (Just to prove that first point about social media) Do you want to follow Mudflats on Twitter? Click HERE!
As a retired English teacher, I it difficult to confine myself to the limits of Twitter. I’ll leave that media to others– too bad the Queen Twit has stopped tweeting. Her posts were always good for a laugh.
One of the best comments I read about the reworking of the Bible was “I can’t wait to read the 7 commandments”
What are they going to do – lop off the entire New Testament? Make the Sermon on the Mount into the “Sermon on the molehill” – ?
I thought I’d seen it all when the Readers’ Digest condensed the Bible (yes, they did), but this one really takes the cake.
I went to the conservative bible site to see what they’ve done.
Nothing on the old testament.
Likewise they haven’t touched Matthew, Luke, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians or Revelations.
But they are all over Paul like white on rice. This is no surprise to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if the misogynistic, racist capitalists managed to leave Jesus completely out since Paul is he most quoted among the Talibangelicals.
Anyone what to take a crack at rewriting the 10 commandments Xian-style.
Oh, and you know who’s behind this? Phyllis Schlafly’s son. Big surprise.
I wonder if they’ll invite Prevo, Osteen, Warren, Dobson and Schuller to help re-write passages to reflect the prosperity gospel of capitalism.
Social media is indeed making an impact. With cable news 24/7 and all venues of social media, things will never be the same. This past election year was a product of that and the post election discourse has been extremely impacted by it.
Homework: Thanks for the link. If I’m not mistaken, Keith is dedicating his entire program on Wednesday to this subject.
Wingnut Bible: Whatever! Can’t wait to see what happens with that. Hannity, Rush, Beck and all the rest will be doing some major spin with this. Popcorn time! Looking forward to the new version of Jesus and the new commandments.
Last, but not least….Tweets: Where have they gone? Silence is golden, yet deafening. Beck’s unhinging tweets are almost as amusing if not better than Quitter’s.
I have long thought that the so-called Christians of the right wing were not following Christ. By revising the Bible to suit themselves, they are proving it.
How is it that a few is being allowed to change the bible? They can change their bible but I do believe that they want change quite of few of the less extremist. They some how been allowed to change the history books to suit them without much protest. I think that they are really being allowed too much rope. They can tell their children not to go to school if the President is telling them to stay in school. Here in AZ, they have loosen the laws on allowing guns at bars and schools?..Enough is Enough.
Lord have mercy on us all. Christianity without following Jesus (sigh). I guess that’s what the old (xmas) ‘taking Christ out of Christmas’ means, a commercial consumerism for dead peasants (Capitalism: America’s Love Affair) to further enrich the wealthy.
Sounds like the “conservatives” are really the “radicals”! :-\
Unbelievable, what next? Rewrite the Constitution and Declaration of Independence? They go way too far. I feel like we’re in a civil war of Ignorance verses Intelligence. I wish we could put them all on a space ship and relocate them on the moon. Absolutely arrogant idiots! I wonder if GOD spoke to them or perhaps it was SATAN. They are getting beyond nutty. We need more mental health care providers for these people.
“…they’ll go about ”avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity.” ”
So they’ll be going back to the untainted, original Hebrew and Greek versions, huh? Two languages with grammatical (and so often meaningless) gender….
Elohim is a masculine word, so God is “he” when it is used.
Ruach Elohim is a feminine noun, so the Spirit of God is female in usage.
Good luck with that, guys.
I thought I’d share another audacious Bible translation project. perhaps the Conservative Bible project found inspiration in this, the LOLCat Bible.
http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
No disrespect meant to any Mudflatters or their spiritual kin (faithful or no).
When Ted Kennedy died Tom Oliphant on the News Hour told about traveling with Ted Kennedy (in Minnesota, I think) during a campaign, and having to go to Mass with him every day, when there were often only 3 people present – Ted Kennedy, Tom Oliphant, and the priest. After listening to Ted at campaign stops Tom said to Ted at one point ["I know about your interest in religion and the influence your mother had on you, but where did this passion for the poor come from?'] And Ted said to him “Have you every read the New Testament?”
Comment I saw re: the conservative bible :
*** the effort is no more than an attempt to pen a Bible that both the Church Lady and Gordon Gecko would love.***
I suggest Flyinureye help them out by coming up with a nice cover for their new bible.
Re: social media – Every time I hear a news anchor reference some politicians “tweet” , I cringe! I see twitter being used in some really interesting and useful ways but pleeeeeeeze! Do not use it as relevant news. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite referencing twitter tweets? Or JFK sending them?? ” Cuban missile sitch 2 tough 2 call yet. Bobbie keeping r spirits up. Does a good Castro. LOL”
Morning all !
Conservatives are attempting to change, and/or eliminate any and all Liberal words and passages in the bible. That got me thinking. Consider the miracle of the loaves and fishes: That’s gotta go. I can’t for the life of me recall reading anywhere in the sermon on the mount where Jesus checked the income level of the attendees. That means He fed everybody. Now all Conservatives know some there did not need to be fed, as they had incomes that allowed them to buy their own food. That flies in the face of stated Conservative values. So the Miracle of the loaves and fishes is strictly Liberal, and has to be expunged from the bible.
The we come to the money changers in the temple. That has to go as well, or be radically changed. Making money off other peoples money is the Conservative way. My guess is instead of throwing the money changers out, it should read Jesus bought stocks in the money changers business. Can’t have a Liberal Jesus condemning a valuable Conservative business.
And He cured the sick! And he didn’t even ask if they had insurance! Didn’t ask about pre-existing conditions, how many children, co-pay or deductibles. Didn’t He know that goes against everything Conservative? He didn’t even ask them to pay for His services. Another Liberal quality that has to go.
And last, but certainly not least, He ask God to forgive the ones who crucified Him. He didn’t ask God to hang, electrocute, or shoot them. Another Liberal quality, so that passage has to go. Darn, by the time they’re through with rewriting the bible to reflect nothing but Conservative values, it’ll be down to pamphlet size. Conservatives will be able to carry it around in their pocket protectors.
So maybe instead of calling it The Conservative Bible, they should call it “Bible for Dummies.”
Once they figure out Jesus was a liberal, it will make the Conservative Bible Project a lot shorter. They can drop the whole New Testament.
The BEST translation is the LOL Cat Bible:
Phyllis Schlafly’s son is gay. How does that fit into the usual xtian drivel from these anti-Christians?
This isn’t Bible for dummies …. it is truly anti-Christian ….
I bet they changed their grades too at Bible School.
I suspect we’ll be seeing Ronnie Raygun and Sister Sarah showing up as Saints, in that spanking new edition of their Bible. And certainly global warming will be debunked by Jesus himself so the petro concern can drill Baby, drill.
The comments on Twitter concerning the Conservative Bible have been hysterical – and sad. As a former theology student, I was very interested in how the Conservative Bible Project squares with the evangelical point of view that the bible is the infallible word of God. And I asked Dr. Martin E. Marty for his opinion: he sent back his chuckle: “It would be an assault on their own view of “inerrancy” etc. Quaint and paradoxical!”
I’ve also asked some other prominent theologians for their p.o.v. It will be interesting to see how they respond. As for me, a non-theologian, my response will be to have lots of fun asking fundamentalists to point me to the real Bible – heheheh
The comments on Twitter concerning the Conservative Bible have been hysterical – and sad. As a former theology student, I was very interested in how the Conservative Bible Project squares with the evangelical point of view that the bible is the infallible word of God. And I asked Dr. Martin E. Marty for his opinion: he sent back his chuckle: “It would be an assault on their own view of “inerrancy” etc. Quaint and paradoxical!”
I’ve also asked some other prominent theologians for their p.o.v. It will be interesting to see how they respond. As for me, a non-theologian, my response will be to have lots of fun asking fundamentalists to point me to the real Bible – hehehe
Rewriting the Bible is an act of blasphemy which is likely to not only make the conservitards happy but also provides atheists with yet another reason to yap about xtians.
Will they be taking out Leviticus? Will there no longer be an eye-for-an eye? Whatever will happen to the stoning of wives? Oh my gosh… the world will be so much different.
Yes, the world of electron/techno social media is here to stay. But is this really surprising, we are social creatures after all.
Yesterday while I was shopping for a card for my swap mate, I found myself buying lots of cards. Looking at all the beautiful, funny, and interesting cards, I decided to send out a card a day until I get tired of it. Email is fun (except for the spam) and getting a card via email is very nice, but not quite the same as one you can hold in your hand without having to print it out.
Then I thought about all the times I had received a card or yes, even a letter. Checking the return address to make sure it wasn’t from a business, bill collector, or my real estate agent and seeing the address of an old friend, I would smile. I smiled before I even opened up the missive and read what it had to say. Actually, it didn’t really matter much what it said, just the thought that someone thought of me and took the time to mail me something made me feel happy.
If I can send an email to every US Representative and Senator regarding health care, surely I can the time each day to send off a small card or even postcard to the people in my life.
Ok – I dropped the ball on this one because I started browser jumping too quickly and lost my way back to the original piece of info but! Sarah may be back and twittering.
I had followed a news link about Palin taking Letterman to task and saying that the blackmailer should be commended and not jailed. The article mentions that Sarah made this statement on her Facebook AND via Twitter.
I jumped over to Twitter to check the two accounts that had been set up in the past months and possibly tied to being hers but, nada. Googled news stories but again, nothing. I’m positive that’s what I read and I THINK it was an AP story.
So, not confirmed but … maaaaybeee.
I’ve mentioned before that I live in a very conservative area in KY where the religiousity own and/or run everything in the county. The two christian schools have grown by leaps and bounds and enrollment is coming close to that of the public schools.
There are few activities for anyone, particularly teens, that are not religious-oriented. And it continues to escalate along this line. The city/county recreation dept. recently fired and replaced the director with one of their own.
For years and years, the rec. dept. ran a fine teen center with the kids having Saturday night hang-outs for dancing and music. There were always adequate chaperones and rarely any problems requiring parent or police intervention. With the new director, the rules have been totally changed – strict dress codes, a prayer session, more parents standing around eye-balling all the kids, kids aren’t allowed to choose their own music, on and on. Needless to say, since the change-over at the beginning of the schoolyear, there have been more groups of teens roaming the streets looking for something to do and getting into fights, and the police have been picking them up right and left. The juvenile judge is another who throws the book at the kids and sends them off to juvenile hall for such minor infractions. These are usually kids of poorer families who cannot afford an attorney and the court-appointed ones are ineffective at getting the kids freed from ridiculous charges that stay with them for life.
The annual haunted house has been a fixture for years, a big money-maker with people coming from many miles away because it was so well done and very scary. Guess what? There will not be one this year, but there will be a christian program relating to the RAPTURE! I’ve written several polite letters to the editor of our local paper on many topics over the last year, including on this topic. None are printed because they go against the direction the power-that-be are heading. I’ve also written to several county and city officials with no responses.
Hubby and I are too old to consider moving, but one daughter and hubby recently bought a home several counties away near a bigger city, and the other daughter and family are considering doing the same as this county is getting unreal……….guess what the name of this county is???? CHRISTIAN – ’nuff said?
Ha!! I’m an idiot! Disregard my posting @18. No twittering Sarah, yet.
Sarah’s opinion on Letterman is less meaningful than her ability to speak on world finance issues in Hong Kong.
Who cares what she thinks? She is vindictive and would love to see him fall. That said, ratings were up 38% on Friday!
HA!
Damn that Liberal Constantine! HIs committee of commies on the 4th century made the most hippie liberal decisions on what was official scripture!
They were so liberal in those days.
Blessed are the peacemakers?
That nonsense was disproved ages ago (eons before the neo-cons).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiDmMBIyfsU
Glenn Beck will soon denounce Jesus Christ as a commie infleunce on Obama.
Beckie has jurt started a smear campaign against Deepak Barghava, someone I have never heard of, because he (along with maybe 250,000 others) was at Harvard at the same time as Obama.
To those who lived through, or studied the tactics of Joseph McCarthy, this type of crazed, disjointed guilt by barely-association is a trademark right wing tactic that ultimately discredited McCarthy. Except then we had Edgar R Murrow in the main stream media, instead of a bunch of pants-pissing
cowards too lazy to even fact check, much less to challenge this idiot.
The Ten:
1. I am the Lord they God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Greed is second in line.
2. Thou shalt not make any graven image. (unless you copyright it and make a profit)
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. (unless cursing a liberal)
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. (applies only to middle management and above)
5. Honor thy father and respect thy mother. (unless thy father has no respect for her.)
6. Thou shalt not murder. (without written orders.)
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. (without clearing it with the deacons of the Family.)
8. Thou shalt not steal. (without covering thy tracks.)
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (unless there is something in it for you)
10. Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor’s wife nor covet his possessions. (unless she is a fox or his ox or ass are better than yours.)
11. Thou shalt not mis-use the ‘.
Tantef, hee hee! Love #10!
On Sarah’s twitter replacement-I didn’t know Glenn Beck could read.
On the Conservative’s “New and Improved Bible”-yet another way to separate a fool from his money? Wonder what it will say about things like health care for the poor, hmm…..
Am trying to figure out the bible project’s authors motives.
They want to keep their guns, so they need to water down any kind of forgiveness verses.
They want to hoard all the world’s resources for themselves, for profit; so they need to hide verses that explain that we are stewards of the earth.
They like war, bullying other nations, so they need to feel justified, so they go back to Old Testament verses to justify their lust for power, even though Old Testament was about a covenant between God and Israel. Even though it also says, “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword”.
They hate charity, because it means taking out more of their earning dollar to help the underpriviledged. So they water down verses that encourage compassion in helping the poor.
Pure motive? They want to be in power in 2012. Twisting scripture for their ends is the only thing they think can bring them the votes. Are these people out of their minds? Lust for power at the willingness to change a Book that many believe is the inspired Word of God is pretty insane……what’s next? Claim that they are God themselves?
Great video! Thanks for postin’ it!
Amazing…the same people who swear that the Bible is absolutely sacred as written and to be taken literally, and who believe that our entire country’s laws should align with it, are now rewriting it.
I understand why they would want to remove that pesky stuff about helping those less fortunate, and enough already with that whole ‘love one another’ garbage (unless they look just like you and belong to the same church, of course) but now WHICH bible will they use as reference when they rewrite all the school textbooks????? Sheesh!!!!
The right wing Bible thumpers have never been able to get their tiny little heads around the fact that Jesus Christ was not just liberal, but possibly the most liberalist of all liberals in the history of liberalism. All that “bind their wounds,” “feed the poor” and “give your money away” stuff has never sat too well with them. Nowhere in the whole damn New Testament does it say anything about bombing civilians or launching preemptive unprovoked war. What kind of a übergay liberal is Jesus portrayed as anyway? It has to be a liberal plot to wussify Jesus. Jesus should be packin’ heat and blowin’ all the unbelievers away? So, all they have to do is to de-liberalize the Bible, and presto! Jesus is no longer a thorny problem.
They would transform Jesus into a gun totin’, redneck, racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, money grubbin’ capitalist, xenophobic, jingoistic, all-war-all-the-time American conservative patriot so as not to offend their own delicate sensibilities. However, by doing so, they wholly cease laying any and all claims of being Christians.
I guess they are now KKKhristians.
This actually fits in quite nicely with Ensign, Coburn, Sanford, and “The Family” and their anti-Christian cult. Let’s dispense with all of the inconvenient truths and simply make Christianity what we want it to be. Conservative fundagelicals have been doing this for years covertly anyway. They might as well come right out and admit to their heresy. This dovetails quite nicely with their affected ignorance and phony pseudo-science of “intelligent design” and their inability to accept evolution as the scientific fact that it is. Simply ignore facts, recast everything in a way that agrees with your worldview and you are always right.
Jesus was a theological conservative and a social liberal. These buffoons are the polar opposite of Jesus: they are theological liberals and social conservatives. It is the very height of theological liberalism to expunge inconvenient bits from the Bible simply because they do not conform to your imbecilic views.
No more dyin’ on the cross like a wimp. The new and improved Jeezus is locked and loaded baby! Onward KKKhristian soldiers!
S.Adams, GWash, Frd. Douglas and Ben Franklin would all HATE G. Beck.
That Bible is Just Too Dang Librul
—-
Re: the Conservative Bible.
I always thought that the Bible was written by people who had an agenda at the time they wrote it.
Now it appears that the people that want to edit the Bible also have quite another agenda altogether. Talk about narrowing one’s world view.
The conservative Bible could just narrow it down to one rule: “Thou shalt kill anyone who does not look like you or think like you…” That would about cover it.
http://godsownparty.com/blog/2009/10/imprecatory-prayer-is-a-weapon-and-mikey-doesnt-like-it/#idc-container
I posted this on the open thread, but worth repeating. Leah Burton is doing some great articles exposing these “creatures of God”. This particular article deals with how the dominionists have infiltrated so many aspects of the military.
GreatGranny28@ #38 – I agree! I linked Leah’s post on Democratic Underground, and it is gaining lots of “recs.” I have spoken to Leah several times, and she IS doing great work. Hope this one goes viral. Also sent it to Rachael Maddow – Rachael has shown interest in this subject via exposing “C” Street.
Course he is now known a Glen VapoRub Beck.
“Oh, it cryin’ time again…
…it won’t be long before its crying time
No, it won’t be long before its crying time.”
Go LynnRockets, fill in the blanks.
Marnie Beck to this audience: “it’s crying time again you’re gonna leave me…I can see that far away look in your eyes… Now they say you’ve found someone you like better, that’s the way it happened every time before, and by now you know I really should know better, crying time begins when you walk out the door…”
If the lyrics to that 50 year old classic weren’t stuck in my brain, I could have cured cancer by now…
The Pseuo-Bible-Translators are going to have a tough time with the Sermon on the Mount.
Not to mention the parable of the Good Samaritan, who medically and financially helped a victim, who had no money, and paid for his care.
The Good Samaritan was a pinko commie.
I don’t know why we haven’t been saying this all along, but I read an article that pointed out that Jesus was a healer, and he healed the poor and…
Shhhhhhh
andhediditforfreeeee. Jesuswasacomunisticsocalistjewishfaithhealer.
‘Course he also was an intellectual, he was called Rabbi by his followers, and he discoursed with Rabbis, indicating that he had the same level of education and literacy as the Rabbis.
And….
turn the lights out and pull the blinds – its dangerous if the brown shirts overhear this.
andhewasacommunityorganizer.
CrucifyhimCrucifyhimCrucifyhim.
What a disgusting, schizoid, mangle or hatreds the RepoTaliban have embraced and nurtured.
For anyone who lived through the late 60′s and early 70′s, this era feels awfully familiar, but the hatred did not have so many targets before. The RepoTaliban wants to make sure they don’t exclude any hate group in their recruiting scheme.
They have produced the perfect blend of Traitor-patriots and Gospels-of-the-New-Testament hating Christians.
41 Bystander Says:
October 6th, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Marnie Beck to this audience
Thanks for the new last name. But I decline your nomination.
I have had conversations with some of my conservative bible-thumping friends about how they manage to avoid that whole “love your enemies/turn the other cheek” thing that Jesus says. My favorite response so far has been “Jesus was speaking hyperbolically.” Apparently Jesus is prone to exaggeration.
Let’s face it, if Jesus was alive today, the right-wing would tell him to cut his hair, to get a job, and they would probably manage to crucify him all over again.
Can anyone imagine what the “Christian” teabaggers signs would say to “protest” Jesus?
Jesus said, give away everything and follow me.
Teabagger signs: Jesus is communist/socialist with a little mustache drawn on the face of Jesus.
******************GASMAN!!!******************* preach honey, preach!!
Marnie #43 Sorry, I mucked up my post. No one wants to be associated with GB. Someone interrupted my play time with work at the crucial moment….
I’m glad I know the Bible. Otherwise, I guess I would have to be cleansed by the Witch-doctor….
So are the denizens of Conservapedia doing an actual translation? It seems to me that they’re simply editing an English transliteration to be more friendly to the contemporary right wing…. Anyways, for more good laughs at the expense of Andrew Schlafly and Conservapedia, I recommend looking up the Richard Lenski affair. Dr. Richard Lenski is a PhD microbiologist who has published the results of long-term research on E. coli in PNAS (http://myxo.css.msu.edu/lenski/pdf/2008,%20PNAS,%20Blount%20et%20al.pdf) and this paper came to the attention of out nutty right wing friends. (I use “friend” liberally.) Schlafly, et al, accused the good Dr. Lenski of faking his results over a series of emails, and ended up demanding samples of E. coli used in the research.
I believe that Conservapedia was backed into a corner and forced to keep the correspondence in its entirety, but biologist and blogger PZ Myers wrote about it first here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/06/hubris_gall_arroganceinanity.php
and then here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/06/lenski_gives_conservapdia_a_le.php
I keep these links bookmarked because I work in the math and astronomy departments of a community college, where I routinely get a number of rudimentary questions from lay people. I’m often asked about evolution–despite not having taken a biology class since high school–by people who’ve received seemingly hostile replies from working biologists and bio majors. I often use this to explain the hounding that we get from creationists and the importance of motivation when you ask your questions, that is the difference between good faith and bad faith. (Mr. Schlafly is clearly an example of the later.)