Say you could build a Garden of Eden

This is similar to our earlier exercise of building a better heaven, but go for it.

(Mine would have cold Dr Pepper in glass bottles floating down a pristine-clear creek. And avocados. And bananas — but not together as that’s a combination sure to cause gas and I don’t think I want farts in my Garden of Eden but let me think about it a moment and I’ll get back to you on that.)

Another assault on creationism

Scientists recently noted the oldest thing they’ve seen so far — a star that exploded 13 billion years ago.

That’s 200 million years older than the previously noted oldest-thing-we’ve-ever-seen.

To which a highly trained creationist would say (and say it with me): Big whup. God made the star’s explosion look older than it really is. The earth’s still only 6,000 years old. And you’re going to hell for thinking otherwise.

Evangelical Christians heart torture

Or, rather, according to this Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, evangelical Christians are more prone than other religious groups to see torture as justified when practiced on suspected terrorists.

People who identify as unaffiliated are least likely to see torture as justifiable.

Ulp.

Hunky Mormons on parade

They’re in the Men On a Mission calendar. The beefcake review is the brainchild of former Mormon (he was kicked out) Chad Hardy, with the slogan: Open Shirts, Open Minds.

Why didn’t we fundamentalists think of this?

Oh, wait. I know why we didn’t think of this. Never mind.

For all swingers, everywhere

Made you look, perv.

That’s swings, as in swing sets, installed on BART (or is that “the Bart?” I’m so uncool…) in San Francisco.

What do you do in the face of a potential pandemic?

Because that’s what the World Health Organization is telling us swine flu might become.

Do you pray? Stay at home? Boldly go etc.?

More discussion about a truth commission v. prosecution

Here.

And here is a brief description of one kind of Christian forgiveness. I recognize, accept, and embrace that there are other approaches, but this one most mirrors the one I learned growing up.

Getty Images

What your favorite Dead song says about you

Here.

What? You’re not a Grateful Dead fan? I don’t even know how to talk to you.

(In actuality? I’m not a Dead fan, myself. What am I missing, I wonder? It’s like saying you’re not a Bob Dylan fan — which I’m not. What is wrong with me?)

(Don’t answer that. It’s rhetorical, I promise.)

Hollywood’s answer to torture

Insights from “Judgment at Nuremburg.”

No birthday THIS year, Junior

I kid! I kid! That’s just mean.

But Beliefnet has an interesting story on how to talk to your kids about the economy — age-appropriately so.