True sometimes covers “difficult” subjects, such as this week’s Predatory Pair of Pastors, which stories appear below. This post is about why I think it’s important to cover them, but maybe not for the reasons you think.
Religion
Behind Great Men
I suddenly realized that a story I was writing this week both stood alone in its breathtaking wonderfulness, and stood out in the context of recent headlines in an unexpected way.
Florida Book Censorship
There needed to be a place to comment on, and get more info on, a truly moronic Florida story from this week’s issue. This is the place.
Who Knows Religion Best?
This post was triggered by a story this week by True contributor Alexander Cohen, who properly wrote the slug (story title) in the form of a question:
Sainthood Pending
The lead story in last week’s issue, about a dead nun (no, really), brought an interesting reaction, so I thought I’d put it here for discussion. Let’s start with the story:
Father Tom Carten, CSC
A Special Honorary Unsubscribe
Over the years I’ve been accused of being “anti-Christian” so much that what gets lost is what I really am: anti-hypocrite.
062: “Why Should I Have to Develop a Sense of Humor?”
In This Episode: After This is True stories on religion, it’s fairly typical for a reader or two to complain. This time the complaint was, ‘Why should I have to develop a sense of humor’ (about his religion)? This episode is my response to that question; it of course comes down to …a matter of Uncommon Sense.
Alert the Media.
There Was a Protest Unsubscribe after I ran the plug (below) for Get Out of Hell Free cards in Friday’s edition.
Freedom of Religion, Alabama Style
I Have a Few Comments on Mike Straw’s story this week. Let’s start with the story, from the 18 January 2015 issue:
A Hex on ABC News
This week several readers sent a story suggestion, and it’s a pretty outrageous story: a school accused a 15-year-old student of “putting a hex” on a teacher, making him ill. The assistant principal brought the girl in for “aggressive interrogation” and then suspended her for 15 days. No, this wasn’t in Salem in the late 1600s, but rather “modern” Oklahoma. The link was to a page on ABC News, and it was the same link from each reader.
Merry Secularmas, Then?
This weekend, while watching the “War on Christmas” fights going back and forth on Facebook, I decided to research a specific line that I remembered using as a tagline …sometime awhile back. I couldn’t remember when, so I looked for it — and was quite amused to find that it had been 10 years ago exactly.
Keep the X in Xmas
This week on Facebook, I’ve posted several provocative graphics — funny visual puns that lead up to …what? Today was the Big Reveal: the point.
Let’s start with the visual puns.
“Gay-Baiting”
I’ve made no secret that I’m pretty much 100 percent egalitarian. I’ve defended the religious, the non-religous, the “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians,” and many others in True’s stories. I’m interested in whether people walk their talk, not whether they’re religious, gay, atheist, pagan, Muslim, employed, educated — whatever.
The End of the World: 2011 Edition
I can’t just title this page “The End of the World” because that has been predicted before. And before that. And before that, and — well, you get the idea.
“False, Crude and Offensive!”
An angry Premium subscriber, after reading a story in this week’s issue, wrote to proclaim “That is not only false, crude, and offensive, it is an obvious, kneejerk response that would occur to many people looking for a cheap shot.”
Weird News Video #21 — Prophetic Words
Episode #21: “Prophetic Words”, from True’s 26 October 2008 issue.
Weird News Video #7 — Comic Genius
Episode #7: “Comical County Commissioner”, from True’s 20 July 2008 issue.
Weird News Video #6 — Vatican Rag
Episode #6: “If At First You Don’t Succeed”, from True’s 13 July 2008 issue.
Weird News Video #5 — Enlightenment
Episode #5: “Welcome To The 21st Century — Another in a Continuing Series”, from True’s 6 July 2008 issue.
They Have a Confession to Make
I just know I’m going to get a lot of comments on this story, so I may as well just post it now, from the start, with comments open so you can do your job. It’s from the 8 June 2008 issue and I expect to hear from Christians and atheists alike: