Linkskrieg (Final pass)

(She says that now, but who knows…)

1. Is this the face of God in a mixing bowl?

Ruth Davis walked into her kitchen and noticed the image on the side of the bowl after her son Paul had used it for cleaning the windows.

It appears that after mixing in the bowl for the last 40 years the image of a face has developed in the scratches and she believes it is not a half-baked tale.

I think it looks far more like the Joker.

2. Church softball team can’t play in its league because it’s run by a bisexual minister.

The minster of St. John United Church of Christ says he doesn’t even play for the church softball team, but his team felt pressured to drop out of the league, because other churches didn’t want to associate with them.

The sign outside St. John United Church of Christ says “All are welcome. No exceptions,” and it’s making a statement.

This is the first year of ministry for Rev. James Semmelroth Darnell. In October he became the pastor of St. John U.C.C.

“It’s been a bit of a difficult transition,” said Rev. Darnell.

Christian acceptance only extended if you’re the “right” kind of Christian, I guess. No surprise there.

3. School bans Dirty Cowboy book

“This is right on the edge of what our law in Pennsylvania considers obscenity, absolute obscenity,” said Carl Jarboe, who was at the meeting with his wife Abigail.

Thomas Tshudy, president of the Annville-Cleona School Board, said “reasonable minds can differ” regarding the controversy over the banning of the book.

No vote to reconsider the ban was taken. Tshudy was the only board member to speak on the matter.

The school board voted 8-0 in April to remove the book after parents of a kindergarten student lodged a complaint about it.

Saskatoon Public Library is the only public library in the province with a copy of this book. No idea if any schools have bought it but if you want your own copy, go get one. It’s been up for awards:

2004 Nominated Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Book Awards
2003 Won Golden Kite Awards
2004 Nominated Spur Awards
2007 Nominated Georgia Children’s Picture StoryBook Award

Boo to the Annville-Cleona School Board.

4. Iheartchaos links a livejournal link to Wayback Machine’s archived copy of When Same-Sex Marriage was a Christian Rite.

Contrary to myth, Christianity’s concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual.

Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the “Office of Same-Sex Union” (10th and 11th century), and the “Order for Uniting Two Men” (11th and 12th century).

These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted w ith their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

Worth a read. Reminder also: Tonight Nate Phelps will be at Frances Morrison library talking about the abuse he went through growing up in the Westboro Baptist Church and other challenges he faced on account of being gay. It starts at 7pm, costs only $10 and is worth coming early for. I’m sure it’ll be quite the talk.

5. Phoenix high school baseball team balks over having to face team with a girl in title game

Sultzbach is a freshman at Mesa Preparatory Academy, which had been scheduled to play Our Lady of Sorrows Academy in tonight’s Arizona Charter Athletic Association state championship at Phoenix College.

But Our Lady of Sorrows, a fundamentalist Catholic school in Phoenix that lost twice to Mesa Prep during the regular season, chose to forfeit the championship game rather than play a team fielding a female player.

During Mesa Prep’s two previous games with Our Lady of Sorrows, Paige didn’t play out of respect for the opposing team’s beliefs, but that wasn’t going to be an option this time, Pamela said.

“We respected their school rule … but she took it hard,” Pamela said. “She didn’t like it and neither did her teammates. They went out and played the best they could because they wanted to prove a point.”

It would have been a much better point if her team had said “Fuck you guys. She plays and you learn to deal with the 21st century and equality for women.” OLS had done similar shit with a football team that had girl players, too.

6. Controversial nude statue in Tempe vandalized

On Friday morning, Tonnesen discovered someone had vandalized the statue with green paint.

This was the second incident involving the statue this week. Tonnesen said two days ago someone put a crude burlap apron on the statue to cover it up.

Tonnesen said he received permission from the city to display the statue, but the work of art has rubbed some people the wrong way because it is across the street from a preschool and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church.

In order to please critics, Tonnesen put $1 bills on the “private parts” in somewhat of a bikini shape. On Friday, those areas had been painted green.

Tonnesen said he is glad the statue wasn’t damaged further.

Sigh.

7. Orthodox Jewish spiritual adviser on trial for sex abuse

The rallying around Weberman, who goes on trial this month, and ostracizing of his accuser and her family reflects long-held beliefs in this insular community that problems should be dealt with from within and that elders have far more authority than the young. It also brought to light allegations that the district attorney was too cozy with powerful rabbis, a charge he vehemently denies.

“There are other people that claim misconduct and they can’t come out because they’re going to be re-victimized and ostracized by the community,” said Judy Genut, a friend of the accuser’s family who counsels troubled girls.

But, within the community, Weberman is seen as a good man doing good things and has a lot more support than this girl and her family are getting. I don’t care if they want to have their own secretive organized communities but when it comes to accusations of abuse, secular institutions should get involved and deal with it justly. It’s invasive but still better than covering things up, I’d say.