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Randy Cassingham's BlogHistorical Details and Author's Notes from This is True®
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Religion Archives
A Story Subject Responds
For what I think is the first time, I hear an objection from the subject of one of True's stories.
In True's 15 November issue, there was a story about a Catholic newspaper in Canada which seemingly endorsed the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an American doctor who performed abortions.
I got an e-mail from the subject of that story, B.C. Catholic editor Paul Schratz.
Scenes from Last Week, or: Religious Freedom II
Last week I blasted yet another yahoo that railed against me as an "anti-Christian". Before I go on, let me say something: I think people calling someone an "anti-Christian" is just as bad as accusing someone of being anti-Semitic. I think it's a very serious thing to do, since it implies I work against their religious freedoms. In fact, I work for true religious freedom.
But people seem to feel free to make such outrageous accusations and point fingers at the drop of a hat. And why are they accusing me of being anti-Christian? Because I passionately argued for religious freedom in this country -- something our Constitution is supposed to have already guaranteed, something Christians have benefitted from to a great extent, yet some would turn around and deny the very same right to others. I called that hypocritical, and I challenged anyone to read my argument for this incredible Constitutional freedom and let me know if they thought I was "anti" any religion. No surprise: no one did.
Continue reading "Scenes from Last Week, or: Religious Freedom II" »
Religious Freedom: Only for Christians?
Bryant in Kansas, responding to a couple of recent stories that touched on religion, says: "I've grown weary of your newsletter, and your anti-Christian bent. I always wonder why anything 'Christian' gets blasted and not any other religion? Don't tell me that it's because Christians are so narrow minded. I won't buy into that one."
Bryant, Christians, as a whole, aren't narrow-minded, so it must just be you.
Continue reading "Religious Freedom: Only for Christians?" »
Spawn of Satan
I'm "anti-Christian" again (darn it!) according to a few readers. I refer to last week's story about Witchcraft being the fastest-growing religion in an Australian state:
Evangelical = Hatemonger?
A few letters as a denouement on the popularity of the Get Out of Hell Free products (after my essay on the topic, which is still up on the GOOHF site). Pastor John in Oregon: "As a Christian Pastor (Lutheran-ELCA) I too find it interesting how so many who call themselves Christian practice Hate over anything else first. So much so, that when I am asked what I do, for example when riding on a plane, I want to answer something like 'Lawyer'. You made a comment about the 'Christians' that picked a funeral. A friend of mine, who is a Lutheran pastor and lesbian, felt honored enough to have her church picketed by [the minister who led them]. It truly is a sad day when you judge how 'Christian' you are by how many Fundamentalists you piss off."
Happy Politically Correct Holiday
Last week's issue included this story, which naturally brought an incredibly whiny complaint by someone who clearly didn't understand the concept at all:
Peace Sign
In the 3 December 2006 issue I led with this story:
Peace On Earth
Lisa Jensen hung a Christmas wreath on the outside wall of her home in Pagosa Springs, Colo. The pine boughs were arranged into a peace sign because she "wanted to put a message of peace out there," Jensen said. But Bob Kearns, the president of her homeowner's association, ordered her to remove the wreath on the grounds that "signs, billboards or advertising structures of any kind" are banned, and subject to a $25-per-day fine. The HOA's entire architectural control committee resigned in protest, and Jensen refused to remove the wreath. "The peace sign has a lot of negativity associated with it," Kearns claimed. "It's also an anti-Christ sign. That's how it started," he said, calling the peace sign "Satanic". After a local -- and national -- outcry, Kearns backed off. He apologized and said the wreath could stay. (Durango Herald) ...Chalking up another win for that darned peace-loving Satan.
There was, of course, reader reaction, virtually all of it readers finding it hard to believe there are such nutballs out there. But....
Super Bowl vs. Churches -- NFL Loses
This week's lead story brought a fair amount of mail from the Premium subscribers, many of whom were surprised by my take on the story. Here it is:
True Milestone: Issue #666
I started getting notes last month about whether I had "special plans" for issue #666. "Not that the number actually means anything, but it tickles me to have noticed the landmark," noted one, Jordan in S.A., Australia. Indeed, I do consider it as much superstition as being afraid of the number 13. Wikipedia has a good article on the many variations -- it addresses how the number came to be regarded with such disrepute; or should that be 616 that's feared? The irrationality over the number is so great that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pushed through a change of U.S. Highway 666 due to its "infamy brought by the inopportune naming of the road." It's now known as U.S. Highway 491. Americans laugh at "primitive" and "superstitious" people, then tremble in fear over an arbitrary number.
Jerry Falwell, American Taliban
Jerry Falwell died this week. There's quite a bit of traffic coming into my page where I dubbed Falwell one of the American Taliban in disgust over his using the 9/11 terrorist attacks to further his own agenda. I followed some of those links back to the blogs which were quoting me, with titles such as "JERRY FALWELL IS DEAD. Good." and I'm glad he is dead. Indeed there were so many that I Googled the combination of "Cassingham" and "Falwell" ...and got a couple of hundred hits.
Why is a Touch of Equal Time a Problem?
As I put this week's issue to bed, I thought I had done a terrific job of handling what could have been a very controversial story. But let's go to the start -- here's the story from this week's issue:
Continue reading "Why is a Touch of Equal Time a Problem?" »
A Wise Man
I got a thoughtful letter on Thanksgiving Day from Ken in Massachusetts. He writes:
On [your page about religious freedom] you wrote, "Americans tend to think religion is the exact same thing as Christianity. Of course, it isn't." It was years ago that I visited that page and was exposed to that idea for the first time.
They Have a Confession to Make
I just know I'm going to get a lot of comments on this story, so I may as well just post it now, from the start, with comments open so you can do your job. It's from the 8 June 2008 issue and I expect to hear from Christians and atheists alike:
"False, Crude and Offensive!"
An angry Premium subscriber, after reading a story in this week's issue, wrote to proclaim "That is not only false, crude, and offensive, it is an obvious, kneejerk response that would occur to many people looking for a cheap shot." Let's start with the story, from the 6 September 2009 issue:
