I don’t know about you, but the following paragraph from an Atlantic Monthly blog post by White House correspondent Marc Ambinder left me amazed, confused and then ticked off:
Planned Parenthood gets stung
In a new video, a Planned Parenthood manager is seen assisting someone who claims he is a pimp involved with the sex trafficking of children as young as 14. She rather cheerfully and eagerly finds way to assist him with information about abortion and medical exams and contraception. When he asks about abortions for underage girls, she gives him the name of another clinic with lower protocols than hers. She warns him off of a nurse who cares more about the rules than she does (calling her an unprintable and horribly misogynistic name). You can watch the released excerpt or the full, unedited video here. It is absolutely horrifying — particularly about midway through — and includes crass language and distasteful subject matter.
More pornstars and the pulpit
On Sunday I complained about how all but the rarest coverage of XXXChurch — and there has been a lot of coverage of its National Porn Sunday, from NPR to TMZ — has failed to take Craig Gross’ anti-porn Christian organization as much more than a novelty.
On seminaries: Time ignores the obvious
A decade or two ago, in a previous ecclesiastical lifetime, I was asked to speak at a national gathering of Episcopalians who had been ordained as permanent deacons. In other words, most of them assisted priests in churches, or played other roles in parish life, after going to seminary. Seminary is the key.
Baptists and the baptism of babies
A Tennessee pastor refused to baptize a couple’s baby in church unless they get married. WMC reports.
'Eat mor chikin' or not?
Seven candles: 'What the Century said' (updated)
Since your GetReligionistas went pretty ga-ga the other day while celebrating post No. 6,000, I think it is wise to try to stay calm while noting that today — Feb. 1 — marks the site’s seventh birthday. I mean, 10 people left comments to celebrate that previous landmark! Nevertheless, we plunged ahead and did a podcast to mark the event, too.
Unexpected ghosts in mosque plot?
Did you hear about the man arrested with a car full of explosives (M80 fireworks) outside a Michigan Islamic center? Here’s the Detroit News lede for “Plot to blow up Dearborn mosque foiled by tip to police”:
Praying with the Coptic people
It is very ironic that one of the only mainstream news-media reports I have read about the plight of Coptic believers in Egypt was in the Baltimore Sun and it centered on the insights of people in — wait for it — Baltimore.
