Musical Interlude: "Universal Death Squad" by Epica

Musical Interlude: "Delirium" by Lacuna Coil

News Tidbits

Dallas Observer: An Advocate for the Sexually Abused Demands Answers from Prestonwood Baptist Church

Religion News Service: Wheaton group blasts Christian college’s silence over Hastert abuse confession

Boston Herald: Bill would require colleges to reveal religious exemptions

Gay Star News: Anti-LGBTI groups form coalition to fight UN for protecting same-sex couples and families

Associated Press: Kasich calls for balance on gay rights, religious beliefs

Associated Press: Lead singer of Neon Trees changing tune on Mormon religion 

Washington Blade: Cruz won’t let up on anti-trans ‘bathroom predator’ myth

Pink News: Turns out this anti-gay bakery just can’t back down

Buzzfeed: Australia: A Gay Conversion Advocate Is Speaking At A University And Students Are Mad

Military*com: Redstone Worker Says Sex Assault Program Used to Espouse Christianity   (Hat tip to Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Commentary Tidbits

The Atlantic: Religious-Liberty Laws That Have No Meaning

Great Falls Tribune: Dinosaurs, the Bible and a Glendive museum

Jezebel: King Doofus Kirk Cameron: 'Wives Are to Honor and Respect and Follow Their Husband's Lead'

Feminist Majority Foundation: Is Robert Dear a Lone Wolf? FMF Demands House Select Panel Investigate Anti-Abortion Violence

The Advocate: The Ghost Children of Mormon Country

Washington Post: Prince helped me overcome a religious upbringing that shunned secular music

Gawker: Satanists to Boehner: Please Don't Associate Us With Ted Cruz

Religion News Service: Why Trump’s rise does not spell the end for the Christian right

Huffington Post: How Rape and “Pro-Life” Politics Are Intimately Connected

Rosa Rubicondior: Pope Francis And The Predatory Priest

Think Progress: Anti-Gay Counseling Student Sues University Over His Refusal To Follow Professional Ethics

Musical Interlude: "Dangerous" by Within Temptation

Sorry about the radio silence! I've been busy lately, so I haven't had a lot of spare time for blogging. I'll return to blogging soon, so in the meantime, enjoy "Dangerous" by Within Temptation.

Musical Interlude: "At the Center of All Infinity" by Yuri Gagarin

Kevin Swanson Condemns Victims of Paris Attacks for "Practicing the Works of the Devil"

The Bataclan Theatre, a concert venue, was one of the locations targeted by Islamic extremists during last Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. Terrorists killed eighty-nine people at the Bataclan during an Eagles of Death Metal concert that night, according to the Irish Times.

While most decent people around the globe were horrified by the attack, some fundamentalist Christians were more outraged by the band and their song "Kiss the Devil", accusing the band of Satan worship. Religious Right commentator Kevin Swanson, who gained national attention this month for his homophobic rant at the Freedom 2015 conference, is among the latter. Swanson used his radio show to demonized the victims of the Bataclan attack, unfazed by the murders of dozens of innocent people. (Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.)

During the November 19th edition of Generations Radio, Swanson was devoid of pity for the victims of last week's Paris attacks. Rather, he criticized the victims for dancing to "Kiss the Devil", calling the concert a "worship service" to Satan. At the 10:37 mark, he told listeners that the Devil himself drove the terrorists to attack the club, sneering at the concert-goers for celebrating "the works of the Devil as your friends were being shot up in that concert". By blaming the Bataclan attack on Satan, Swanson absolved the terrorists of responsibility for their actions and made intelligent analysis of the attacks impossible.

"It's a warning, certainly a providential irony here. These are the works of the devil, the mass murder itself are the works of the Devil. In other words, there was a demonstration of the Devil and his works happening at the time that they were singing the song ... At the moment they were singing that, the Devil himself, or at least the Devil influencing these murderers, entered in and showed the concert-goers the works of the Devil.

Now at that point, I think we need to ask the concert-goers, at least those who survived, did you love the Devil and did you love the Devil's works as your friends were being shot up in that massacre? I think we ought to ask the question right now, and I'm very serious. I'm deadly serious asking this question. You were dancing to this worship service to the Devil. The Devil came in, the Devil did what the Devil does best, he killed, he massacred, he destroyed. As the Devil did his works ... did you appreciate the works of the Devil as your friends were being shot up in that concert?"

Swanson quoted 1 John 3:8 -- "The one who does what is sinful is of the devil" -- and accused the concert-goers of "practicing the works of the Devil" by dancing to "Kiss the Devil". At the 11:58 mark, he denounced the victims for their sin.

"Those who were sinning, those who were in that concert sinning on the one hand, of course, dancing to the worship service, but also those who were shooting up the concert-goers, these were those who were practicing the works of the Devil."

At the 13:12 mark, Swanson's co-host Steve Vaughn suggested that the Eagles of Death Metal members were spared by Satan so as to continue his work. Vaughn seemed to have forgotten that several employees of the band's record company were killed in the terrorist attack.

"What's interesting too is that none of the band members were harmed. And so the Devil essentially saved his preachers to go out and preach some more."

At the 14:02 mark, Swanson suggested moral equivalency between ISIS and the "demon worshipers" at the concert. Swanson conveniently forgot that the attackers were Islamic extremist murderers and the victims were innocent people.

"It's also interesting that ISIS is at war with the humanist West, and I would say that these ISIS devil worshipers have pitted themselves against humanist devil worshipers. So you see, I'm not on either side here. I'm not taking the side of the devil worshipers performing the concert. I'm not on the side of ISIS, who are slaughtering the demon worshipers in the concert. I'm not on either side. It's interesting [that] the Devil takes both sides, and then shoots each other up. This is exactly what the Devil does best."

Swanson and Vaughn spent the rest of the episode expressing outrage over "Satanic" rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s such as Black Sabbath, Slayer, and Alice Cooper. At a time when decent people are grieving for the Paris victims, Swanson and Vaughn are clutching their pearls over forty year-old rock music.

Swanson and Vaughn's smug self-righteousness disgusted me. Only men with hearts of stone could blame the innocent victims of a terrorist attack for their own deaths. Swanson and Vaughn showed no compassion for the victims, seemingly more enraged by their music tastes than by their deaths. It says volumes that Eagles of Death Metal have shown more compassion and decency in the wake of the Bataclan attack than either of these so-called men of God. 

This is the moral universe that Swanson lives in, a universe in which dancing to "Kiss the Devil" is morally equivalent to terrorism, a universe in which murder victims merit no grief, a world in which evil is blamed on an invisible boogeyman.

You know what, Kevin? I'll take devilish musicians over cold-hearted men like you any day.

Commentary Tidbits

The New Yorker: Unfollow: How a prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church came to question its beliefs

Vox: Rubber Band Experiment Taught Me How Wrong Gay Conversion Therapy Is

Rosa Rubicondior: Mormon Cult Losing Members Over Homophobic Bullying

The New Yorker: Ted Cruz’s Religious Test for Syrian Refugees

Religion Dispatches: War with Islam? Evangelicals ponder Christian response to Paris attacks

Religion Dispatches: As New Poll Finds “Increased Xenophobic Streak,” Republicans Heighten Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

New York Times: Ted Cruz and the Anti-Gay Pastor

The New Civil Rights Movement: Republican Presidential Candidates Align With Anti-Gay Religious Leaders

Huffington Post: Marked for Death: A Homosexual's Rant to His Would Be Executioners

Friendly Atheist: Christian Pastor Criticizes Paris Terror Attack Victims for Attending “Death Metal” Concert

The Inquisitr: Duggar Family Forced to Remove Josh from Illinois Facility

Brane Space: 'Little Sisters of the Poor' Need an Education In Artificial Birth Control

Musical Interlude: "Man of Constant Sorrow" by Asp

Asp, one of my favorite goth metal bands, recently covered the folk song "Man of Constant Sorrow". Fans of the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? will recognize the song immediately.

Commentary Tidbits

SPLC Hatewatch: Anti-LGBT and Anti-Muslim Extremists Dominate 2015 Values Voter Summit Lineup

Mother Jones: The Boy Scouts Are No Longer Welcome at This Anti-Gay Jamboree

Washington Post: Social conservatives cheer Boehner’s resignation: ‘It’s an answered prayer!’

Nashville Scene: How a terrible worship song drove me from Christianity   (Hat tip to Bruce Gerenscer)

Buzzfeed: This Is What Happens When You Confront The Former Head Of The Gay “Cure” Movement

The Guardian: Harry Potter was forbidden as a child, but the Bible's bloodshed was fair game

New York Magazine: Pope Francis’s Revolution Has Left Out Women

Huffington Post: Invasion of the Family Snatchers

The Advocate: The High Cost of the Black Church's Homophobia

Musical Interlude: "Supernature" by Inkubus Sukkubus

In honor of tonight's supermoon eclipse, here's "Supernature" by Inkubus Sukkubus. Nature is a beautiful and magnificent thing!

News Tidbits

Associated Press: Kim Davis' husband rallies for religious awakening in Nashville

WRAL: North Carolina bill redefines sex education 'expert'

Q Salt Lake: WCF and Sutherland bringing Prop 8 leader to Salt Lake

Greenville Online: South Carolina conference to equip hundreds to ‘defend their faith’

Gay Star News: Famous rapper says Caitlyn Jenner ‘marketing evil’

Musical Interlude: "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour

In an August 23rd commentary piece at Politico, Ben Schreckinger described Donald Trump's presidential campaign as a cult of personality. "Trump’s rallies magnify the cult of personality of a would-be leader who promises to save the country through personal talent and integrity so great that they transcend any issue or ideology," he wrote. Other commentators have also used the "cult of personality" language in reference to Trump's campaign.

Now I can't get "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour out of my head.

Musical Interlude: "First Orbit" by Yuri Gagarin

While searching for space rock on YouTube, I stumbled on "First Orbit" by Yuri Gagarin (a band named after a famous Russian cosmonaut). The epic guitar solo left me spellbound. Enjoy.

Musical Interlude: "Shudder Before the Beautiful" by Nightwish

Nightwish, one of my favorite symphonic metal bands, recently released a new album. Endless Forms Most Beautiful celebrates the wonders of the natural world with songs such as "Shudder Before the Beautiful", "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", and "The Greatest Show on Earth". The song "Weak Fantasy" criticizes fundamentalism and its life-negating edicts.

Here's a fan video of "Shudder Before the Beautiful". May it fill you with exhilaration at being a child of the universe.

Musical Interlude: "Hinunter bis auf eins" by Unheilig

"We Don't Want to See Men and Women Getting Married" -- The Remix!

During a debate on TV3 Ireland over same-sex marriage, audience member Michael O'Leary accidentally made a slip while defending "family values", according to Pink News. "I say it’s shame on you! We want family values, and we don’t want to see men and women getting married," he told the debate panel.

Now, Irish duo White Boys has incorporated O'Leary's slip into a smooth remix. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas from Republic of Gilead!

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

I hoped that my holiday vacation would give me time to catch up on blogging. Unfortunately, I got the flu for Christmas! I'll resume blogging soon once I'm feeling better,  but in the meantime, enjoy some gothic Christmas cheer.

News Tidbits

New York Times: Megachurch With a Beat Lures a Young Flock 

Huffington Post: Tony Perkins Condemns Smithsonian Institution's Inclusion Of LGBT Artifacts

Military.com: Air Force Restores 'God' to Enlistment Oath

Pink News: Ireland: Bishop files complaint after Christian charity awards grant to LGBT centre

Commentary Tidbits

Overturning Tables: Changing the Homeschool Narrative: Child Advocacy in Richmond

The Cosmic Cathedral: Babel, Pentecost, and the House of Prayer: My Time at IHOP-KC

The Atlantic: The Facebook of Mormon

Towleroad: Christian Rapper Bizzle Records Anti-Gay Version of Macklemore's 'Same Love'

Religion News Service: The church’s role in, and against, homophobia across Africa

Toronto Star: Gays in Africa face rise in state-sponsored homophobia

RH Reality Check: Anti-Choicers Drop the ‘Life’ Pretense, Increasingly Admit They’re Angry About Sex

Slate: What happens when public schools become churches on Sundays?

New York Times: The Polish Church’s Gender Problem

Think Progress: Focus On The Family: Nondiscrimination Protections Discriminate Against Christians