Sally Ann loses the plot

I have, for a long time, had a sneaking regard for the Salvation Army. Yes, they’re religious, but they do tend to get off their backsides and really help those in need. They habitually go into pubs and clubs to collect donations, even though they have an antipathy to alcohol consumption, so one would expect them to be equally grateful for the proceeds of a song, no matter that it was written and sung by an atheist. One of Tim Minchin‘s songs has already appeared on this blog, but this time there will be no need to warn anyone that it isn’t safe for work. Minchin doesn’t grovel to religion, but this song is fairly innocuous, and the ingratitude shown by the Salvation Army when they said ‘we do not in any way support the statements made in this song.’ is staggering. Why could they not say they were grateful for the donation whoever gives it? Anyway, Tim has reacted to their disdain by switching the donation elsewhere and you can click here to buy his version in aid of a secular charity.

In the meantime, I can only hope that the stupidity is confined to Australia’s Sally Ann. It would be a shame if their good work elsewhere was contaminated by such intolerance.

Here’s the song in question – as usual, if you like it please click through and tell him so.

Westboro Bastards Raise Stakes

When members of the Kansas based Westboro Baptist Coven “protested” at a military funeral in Oklahoma last week, it seems somebody slashed the tyres of their van, and none of the local traders felt inclined to help them with repairs as they made their slow exit from the city of McAlester. As they had already been prevented from harassing mourners by several citizens exercising their own right to free speech, and drowning out the venomous chants of the Phelps family, it would not surprise me in the least to discover that they had slashed their own tyres in a vain attempt to garner sympathy.

Whoever slashed the tyres, the coven clearly don’t like being out-protested and wanted revenge for their cool reception. Their emotionally stunted brains have therefore hit on an even more outrageous stunt than protesting at the funerals of America’s honoured war dead – protesting at the funerals of children.

Just to be clear, for anyone who isn’t yet aware of these dregs of humanity, they are not  protesting against the deaths, they are rejoicing in them, and taunting the friends and families of the deceased with the idea that God is punishing America (or anyone else they take a disliking to) for allowing homosexuals to enjoy human rights.

So far, if the reports I’ve seen are correct, they haven’t actually followed up their threat, to protest at the funerals of two Oklahoma girls. Both events seem to have passed without incident, so perhaps the announcement they made on their website (to which I won’t provide a link; visiting that place may give them some of their revenue) was just a juvenile tantrum. I can just imagine Shirley Phelps-Roper, the current spokestrollop of the WBC, stamping her feet in rage after effectively being run out of McAlester!

I hope that’s all it was, and they never follow through with the threat, because if they did I cannot see how violence could be avoided. Sooner or later some parent would, in their distress, lash out at the scum mocking their dead child, and a grieving parent really doesn’t need the extra stress of a court case.

(Click the above image to enlarge it, and see just what heartless bastards the WBC are.)

Oh, and if anyone would like a tasteless and offensive picture with which to annoy the Phelps clan, feel free to use this one:

Bishop Jim Swilley

For many atheists the words “gay pastor”, “megachurch, “evangelist” and “scandal” in the same sentence bring forth a mixture of humour and disgust at the inherent hypocrisy. Ted Haggard‘s indiscretions leap to mind.

When news of Bishop Jim Swilley’s “confession” that he is gay broke recently, I assumed it was more of the same. Very quickly, however, I realised that whatever argument I might make about the intellectual dishonesty of the religious, this man has displayed an admirable personal integrity.

This integrity goes far beyond this one issue, as you will see if you read his blog.  In a March, 2008 entry he talks movingly about one of his sons, Jared Swilley, with not a trace of the dismay (to put it mildly) that Fred Phelps, for example, showed his son who “strayed” from the “ideals” he espouses.

When Bishop Swilley came out to his congregation, many of them showed a similar integrity, as you can hear if you watch the video here. The applause is enthusiastic, rather than merely polite, and they too should be applauded.  (It really is worth watching the whole thing, even though it’s quite long!)

I still despise religion, and there’s a lot in that video with which I profoundly disagree, but as I’ve said before, I don’t therefore automatically despise people who are religious. Sometimes I like and respect them. Religion can make good people do bad things, but more often than we usually notice, good people do good things, against the societal flow, which makes them all the more remarkable.