Much of the gay community and many others are upset by Barack Obama’s choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation (prayer) at Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, but perhaps this is the wrong issue to complain about?

Not only is there to be a prayer by a controversial pastor, but there will also be a benediction (blessing) by Joseph Lowery, a less divisive choice, but still a Christian reverend who will bring little diversity. If we do include religious activities, why not Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims or others?

Some religious zealots feel that not only is it unquestionably right to have their (supposedly America’s) religion exclusively represented in government events, but that the only question we should be asking is whether or not what we’re doing will be good enough for God.

It is unlikely that anything short of a Christian theocracy would be enough for people like these, and for others nothing but a Muslim theocracy would do. Neither of these views is worthy of consideration for our explicitly secular government, and attempting to appease these people by including their religions in official government events can do nothing but encourage them to push forward with their theocratic ideas and to widen the gulfs in our already divided country.

Given the secular nature of our government, prayers, blessings and oaths to gods are out of place. Religion is extremely important to many people, and if they wish to pray for their president and their country then they are and should be allowed to do so, but an official government ceremony is not the place for it.

Not to trivialize the feelings that many people have about their faith, but to many people something else such as football can be almost a religion too. Would it be appropriate or useful for Lovie Smith, coach of the Chicago Bears, to speak at Obama’s inauguration? It might make Bears fans cheer, it might make the fans of other teams angry, but it would add nothing of relevance to this secular government event.

In the end the most questionable action here is not choosing a controversial pastor to pray at the presidential inauguration, it is choosing to have a prayer at the inauguration at all.

The Nontheist Nexus has released their twelfth and final issue of the Nexus Zine in its current format. Fortunately, they are not going away, and will be releasing content more frequently rather than saving it up and for a monthly zine.

This month largely focuses on Christmas, with several pieces by 19th century political leader, orator and free thinker Robert Ingersoll, along with an amusing account of a Christmas pageant performance and a somewhat disturbing interview with Santa.

Octavia also brings us a little dose of reality in the form of an article entitled Plant Talk: Seeding the Future.

As much as many of us would like to lose ourselves in our own happy little worlds for the holiday season, we must not forget that the world continues around us, and the problems we had in November are still with us, as urgently in need of attention this month as any other.

Some of you (okay, probably none of you) have been tempted to go to Kentucky to visit Ken Ham’s Creation “Museum”, but now there’s no need to subject yourself to this monument to willful ignorance.

The Secular Alliance of Indiana University has taken one for the team and brought back some amusing video for us. Their video reveals a museum full of hilarious exhibits of mind boggling nonsense, all carefully designed to show us why we can’t possibly take the whole Bible as literally true.

Wait…this can’t be right. I’m being told that the museum is not trying to make that point? Apparently they actually believe this stuff. Wow. Just…wow.

At least the SAIU got to hear some funny conversations, including probably the funniest creationist quote I’ve heard in a long time:

Little girl: “Pappy, if Noah took all them dinosaurs on the ark, why aren’t there no dinosaurs now?”

Old Man: “That’s ’cause Jesus killed ‘em all.”

If you happen to run a mortuary in the Phoenix area, and you see a group of people who look a little too happy to be there, you might want to find out what they want before you let them in.

Earlier this year, people from “Extreme Prophetic Ministries” had the brilliant idea of starting a “mortuary outreach program”. This is not to go offer comfort to grieving families or anything else half sane, their intention is to actually raise the dead.

Basically what this consists of is going to random mortuaries and asking to come in and pray over the dead bodies in an attempt to resurrect them. Unsurprisingly, even when they have been let in to pray, they have had no success.

As crazy as this sounds, and as much as non-Christians and even most other Christians laugh at them, are they crazy or are they just following what they believe to be Christianity?

While the verses they use to support their ideas are sometimes based on questionable interpretations (such as using Matthew 10:8 to say they are commanded to raise the dead), the same is true of many other common Christian doctrines. Since the Bible requires so much interpretation by anyone who reads it, who are we to say that their interpretation is wrong?

Here are a couple of other verses they didn’t use to support their idea, but that more clearly seems to support it:

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

- John 14:12 (NIV)

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

- Mark 16:17-18 (NIV)

So, if the Bible is accurate, Christians actually should be able to perform miracles such as raising the dead, walking on water, etc. Although I don’t think that even the Bible’s authors believed in werewolf spirits…

That said, I don’t believe that these people are actually receiving prophecies or performing miracles. Both my personal experiences with them and the unbelievable claims I’ve heard them make have convinced me that they are nothing but second rate charlatans.

They even claim now to have even raised the dead (although it does not appear to be part of their “mortuary outreach program”), and they say they have verifiable evidence of this. So far, we have been unable to find any of it, even on their own web site. If anyone has real evidence of any of these “miracles”, please send it to us and we’ll be happy to post it, but I’m not holding my breath.

As long as they stick to fleecing their own flock, the rest of us should probably not be more concerned about them than any other strange religious sect, but they do have an element much more in keeping with what most religious people view as cults than with more mainstream religion. This element is the idea that they and their followers have some kind of special, and as yet unrevealed, mission from God. That is a disturbing thought.

Attempting to raise the dead, walk on water or cast out werewolf spirits (all of which they claim to have done now) is relatively harmless, but the fact that they are not laughed out of their own churches shows the stunning credulity of their followers. Given that mindset and the idea that at least some of them receive prophecies from God, there is no limit to the damage that could be done to themselves and others if these “prophets” give the word.

Our friends over at the Nontheist Nexus have put out their ninth Nexus Zine, which is the first to contain contributions from our members.

We love what they’re doing and we hope to be regular contributors to the zine in the future. Please check them out, and if you have good material for the next issue, submit it!

In this issue they have everything from a poem by our friend smeggo to an ice cream sandwich recipe!

Here are just a few of the other pieces you might be interested in:

• Historical Reading: from “The Basis of Morality” by Annie Besant
• Interview with Steve Wells from the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible
• Flash Fiction: “Red Cross’d Bones” (by our own Kyt Dotson)
• Book Review: “Genesis” by Bernard Beckett
• Photos: Angkor Wat
• Book Review: “Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution” by Richard Fortey
• How Did We Get Here? The Emergence of Life (Leviticus)

Before you read the last one, you may want to go back and read the first two articles in this ongoing series, How Did We Get Here? (Genesis) and How Did We get Here? The Dawn of Life (Exodus).

If you appreciate the zine and other things that the Nontheist Nexus is doing, please let them know.