Churchgoers, strippers protest one another in Coshocton County

WARSAW, Ohio -- Strip-club owner Tommy George rolled up to the church in his grabber-orange Dodge Challenger, drinking a Mountain Dew at 9 in the morning and smoking a cigarette he had just rolled himself.

Pastor Bill Dunfee stepped out of a tan Nissan Murano, clutching a Bible in one hand and his sermon in the other, a touch of spray holding his perfectly coiffed 'do in place.

Inside the New Beginnings Ministries church, Dunfee's worshippers wore polyester and pearls.

Outside, George's strippers wore bikinis and belly rings.

Both men agree it is classic sinners vs. saints. But George says it is up to America to decide which is which and who is who.

Dunfee says God already has chosen.

"Tom George is a parasite, a man without judgment," Dunfee said. "The word of Jesus Christ says you cannot share territory with the devil."

The battle that has heretofore played out in the parking lot of George's strip club - the Foxhole, a run-down, garage-like building at a Coshocton County crossroads called Newcastle - has shifted 7 miles east to Church Street.

Every weekend for the last four years, Dunfee and members of his ministry have stood watch over George's joint, taking up residence in the right of way with signs, video cameras and bullhorns in hand. They videotape customers' license plates and post them online, and they try to save the souls of anyone who comes and goes.

Now, the dancers have turned the tables, so to speak. Fed up with the tactics of Dunfee and his flock, they say they have finally accepted his constant invitation to come to church.

It's just that they've come wearing see-through shorts and toting Super Soakers.

Alleluia

Read the Article

New Threats to Freedom

Back in 2005, Chris Lee, a student at Washington State University, set out to make a comedy musical that, in the tradition of South Park, offended as broad a spectrum of people as possible. Unfortunately for him, he succeeded. His musical--a very loose parody of Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ--earned him protests, death threats, and even an organized attempt among administrators and students to disrupt the play.

Today, my organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, unveils a new video about Chris' strange journey:

You can see all the documentation about this case yourself here, including the e-mail in which the Washington State University administrator admits that they counseled students to stand up and yell during the play. While the university did not advise the students to shout threats of physical violence and even death threats during the play, that's what the protesters did. Meanwhile, the campus police told Chris they would not protect the actors if the angry protesters decided to rush the stage. Amazingly, the president of WSU actually praised the university-funded, threat-shouting, play-disrupting students, saying they "exercised their rights of free speech in a very responsible manner."

Read the Article

This is how Muslims should protest

A great article from Michael Peck of True Slant website was posted today that got me thinking.

No bombs. No murders. No screaming fanatics shouting “Allah Akbar” as they attempt to remove someone’s head for daring to draw the Prophet Muhammad.

When the Atheists, Humanists and Agnostics association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to defend the right of free speech by drawing stick figures of the Prophet Muhammed on campus sidewalks, the campus Muslim Students Association quickly responded. They followed the atheists on their blasphemous journey, and whenever a drawing of the Prophet Muhammed appeared, the Muslim students drew boxing gloves on the figure, and changed the name to Muhammed Ali.

That’s it. No fights. No hatred. Now the atheists are sparring with the college administration over the right to draw Muhammed, but that’s a different matter. Confronted with satire, the Muslim students responded with humor (yes, you could say they desecrated the atheists’ grafitti, but grafitti artists are in no position to complain). Some of their co-religionists will denounce them for not being more zealous (as in violent) in defending their faith. But I think the students gained more respect for Islam by using chalk rather than guns.

Make cartoons, not war.

I couldn't agree more with Mr Peck, and to be honest although I made my own picture of Mohammad, I do believe that some people have taken things too far. Not by the grotesque nature of the drawings, but because some people used the demonstration as an excuse to front their hatred for the Islamic religion.

Anyone who tries to blaspheme against any particular religion because they don't agree or understand it, or even worse because its different to their own religion is really being very hypocritical.

The whole purpose of Draw Mohammad Day is to demonstrate that we cannot be intimidated by fear mongers trying to protect their own interests.

If a group of devout Rolling Stones fans threatened to kill anyone who drew a picture of Keith Richards, then it would make sense that everyone show them that they are not intimidated by their idiotic threats.

Read the Article

Draw Muhammad Day (First Annual)

Cartoonist attacked by muslims in Sweden 2010

Read that title again, CARTOONIST attacked by Muslims! What for? Drawing a picture they didn't like.

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who sparked controversy by drawing Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, was on Tuesday attacked while giving a lecture at a university, police said.

"The man was sat in the first row and suddenly he rushed at me. He punched me in the head and I lost my glasses," said Vilks, adding that at the very most he was "a little bruised".

Police said around 250 people were present at the time of the attack at the university of Uppsala, north of the Stockholm.

Advertisement: Story continues below

"When Lars Vilks arrived, five persons started to protest against him with screaming. They calmed down and the lecture continued.

"When Lars Vilks talked about religion and showed a film, 20 persons tried to attack him, probably offended by the film."

Police evacuated the lecture hall but some demonstrators resisted, forcing officers to use tear gas. Two people were arrested.

In 2007, Swedish regional daily Nerikes Allehanda published Vilks' satirical cartoon to illustrate an editorial on the importance of freedom of expression.

The cartoon prompted protests by Muslims in the town of Oerebro, west of Stockholm, where the newspaper is based, while Egypt, Iran and Pakistan made formal complaints.

An al-Qaeda front organisation then offered $US100,000 ($A110,730) to anyone who murdered Vilks - with an extra $US50,000 ($A55,365) if his throat was slit - and $US50,000 ($A55,365) for the death of Nerikes Allehanda editor-in-chief Ulf Johansson.

Anyone who thinks that a Religious world is a better world, or that religious guidance makes us better people, is fucking insane.

Read the Article