Running Errands

It’s kind of a hectic Tuesday, with some holiday errands further delaying an already late Tribulation Force post (it’s coming). But here’s a few brief items in the meantime …

Rick Perry’s ad rated “False” by PolitiFact

So, can kids pray and openly celebrate Christmas in school? Absolutely, we conclude, though public school officials are barred from advancing a religion or making children pray or celebrate solely the Christian aspects of Christmas.

The Supreme Court has not held that students can’t pray; Perry’s home state even has laws protecting that right. The highest court also hasn’t held that kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas at school.

His statement shakes out as False.

The Houston Chronicle’s Peggy Fikac notes that “Perry’s appeal to evangelicals catches flak over ad“:

“However much it may have helped him with a certain segment of evangelicals, it’s really irritated a lot of people,” said Dennis Goldford, professor of political science at Drake University, of Perry’s overt evangelical appeal. He called the ad “a desperation pander to religious conservatives in the Iowa caucuses.”

Speaking in an Iowa church over the weekend, Perry reiterated the ad’s theme of the impossibility of pluralism and the necessity for Christians to fight, and win, in the ongoing sectarian struggle for hegemony:

“Our laws and the things that we are engaged in as a country are going to be impacted by somebody’s values. And the question’s going to be, whose values?”

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People for the American Way to Lowe’s: “Catering to Hate Is Bad for Business, Bad for America“:

Let’s be very clear about what happened.

TLC launched a popular reality show called All-American Muslim about everyday Americans, who happen to be Muslim, going about their lives. They play sports, they go school, they go to work and pay their taxes. This was too much for the anti-Muslim fear mongers at the Florida Family Association, who were outraged that the show was depicting “Muslims as ordinary folks just like you and me.” An article on the organization’s website suggests that the show instead depict “one of its secular, attractive nominal Muslims as he decided to get more serious about his faith, and ended up participating in jihad activity or Islamic supremacist efforts.”

The controversy should have ended there. Lowe’s should have ignored the canned emails and gone about its business. Instead it caved to a group of fanatics who want to make everyone live in accordance with their narrow and rigid religious beliefs.

Running errands