Good Reason

It's okay to be wrong. It's not okay to stay wrong.

Category: foolishness (page 14 of 14)

Soy made a man out of me

An article about soy is causing a stir over at Wing Nut Daily:

A devil food is turning our kids into homosexuals

The dangerous food I’m speaking of is soy.

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality.

Well, not that commonly in my case. I’m all over the soy, and

(checks)

haven’t experienced any of what he’s talking about. Evidently he’s concerned that increased soy intake will turn you into this guy:
Dancing shirtless with Dylan. Wooot!

PZ from Pharyngula plows through PubMed and concludes

There doesn’t seem to be any strong evidence that eating tofu will turn your sons into girlie-boys, I’m afraid; there are better grounds to be concerned about known endocrine disruptors like atrazine and PCBs.

But then the WND folks aren’t great on the science. An astute commenter points out that if there’s overwhelming scientific evidence for evolution or global warming, they ignore it, but one poxy article titled ‘Soy Turns Ya Gay’, and they’re all a-twitter. Gayness is the thing they most fear. It strikes at the center of their sense of identity. Have a look at these ads that loaded up when I got the WND page. It’s like a psychological composite of the inner mind of wingnut Christianism.


The gun phallus.


The fear of any sex that doesn’t involve man dominating woman. All that, and a picture of Chuck Norris. There’s a real cocktail of emotions here; a heady blend of sex, fear, machismo, monstrous insecurity, and itchy trigger fingers.

But it seems to me that if we’re trying to avoid the ever-spiraling Gay, we shouldn’t be concerned about the feminising effect of soy. We should be worried about the feminising effects of Christianity.

The founding pastor of a second Colorado church has resigned over gay sex allegations, just weeks after the evangelical community was shaken by the scandal surrounding megachurch leader Ted Haggard.

On Sunday, Paul Barnes, founding pastor of the 2,100-member Grace Chapel in this Denver suburb, told his evangelical congregation in a videotaped message he had had sexual relations with other men and was stepping down.

I expect to see a Colorado witch hunt soon, as evangelicals try to purge teh Ghey in their midst. It’s too bad; more gay pastors are just what evangelical Christianity needs. But this kind of conflict is inevitable in a philosophy that has to keep its intrinsic homo-ness at arm’s length. Christianity, at its core, is a religion that encourages love for a man. For women, being able to say “I love Jesus” is much easier than for straight Christian guys (of which there are a few). I know it was a bit jarring for me.

Can’t say it better than TRex:

Jesus Christ is the Elemental Boyfriend. Sensitive Jewish guy, big brown eyes, rich dad, and he loves you no matter what you do. He would die for you. And there he is, hanging (*cough*) out naked at the front of the church every week. You are encouraged to fasten your eyes upon his lithe, nude body and think about luuurrrrrve. Big lurrrrve. A lurrrrrrve that transcends time and even the bonds of death itself. It’s got to send some pretty confusing messages to those poor men’s limbic brains.

Christianity turns ya gay.

Anyone for soy burgers?

Religion v. Ferret: Smackdown!

It seems that the LDS Church in Australia has joined the interfaith effort to control the weather using religion. PDF

The 116,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are taking a unique approach to the recently declared National Day of Prayer for drought relief in Australia. They are dedicating their monthly fast, next scheduled for this Sunday 3rd December 2006, towards the effort.

Apparently, God, who controls the weather, would like to see people go hungry a bit before he looses the torrents. Quite a guy. The press release does not say whether he would like anyone to do the little dance.

Will it work? Well, if it rains somewhere in the next indefinite period, I’m sure they’ll claim a win. If it doesn’t, I’m equally sure that everyone will realise it, and say, “Well, that was ineffective!” Then they’ll give up on Christianity and become Wiccans and Scientologists. You watch.

There is ample scriptural encouragement for fasting in times of great need says the Australian Area President of the Church, Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky. He also points out references in the Old Testament where God’s people were invited to “humble themselves and pray” so that God may “heal [the] land” and once more bring rain to parched pastures (see 2 Chronicles 7:12-14; 1 Kings 8:35-36; and Leviticus 26:2-4).

Hmm, those Old Testament scriptures are looking crunchy. Let’s have a look at Chronicles:

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

The lesson here: If there’s a drought, it’s because you were bad. You know it’s true. Fess up! I’m sure some Australian has done something wrong.

Of course, since people have always done superstitious things to try and control the weather, it’s nice to see modern-day Christianity keeping up the atavistic tradition. The problem, though, is that it is now the year 2000-freaking-six and people should be a little better informed about things like what causes rain. I say this, knowing that if it had been a couple of years ago, I could have been right there, believing it with the best of the faithful, and not thinking too hard about it.

But now I’ve learned. And I’m doing something constructive about Australia’s drought situation. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce the Magical Wishing Ferret!


Eeep!

He’s not just cute, he’s consolation in a time of sadness. And he grants wishes. Except those relating to Photoshop skills.

And because I like a challenge, I propose an Elijah-style test. For the first week, the Mormons can do their thing: fast, pray, supplicate to their hearts’ content. Then, on the second week, it’s me and the MWF. Any rain that falls after next Sunday, you know who to thank.

UPDATE: Faith-based rain report: Tuesday. Fine and 27. God is not appeased. Keep praying. There’s an early shower due on Friday, but that’s hardly miraculous, is it? Never mind; all rainfall will be dutifully recorded.

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