Looking to block lawsuits that challenge church/state entanglements, the Housepassed a bill yesterday designed to prevent the plaintiffs of "Establishment clause" lawsuits from recovering legal costs. In other words, you can go to court to enforce your constitutional rights, but you'll have to pay for it yourself, while institutions that flaunt the First Amendment will go unpunished financially. In other words, in the unlikely event this monstosity clears the Senate, you better have deep pockets if your City council adopts a "Jesus only" prayer policy, your courthouse slaps up the ten commandemnts, or your child's school starts teaching Genesis in science class. Of course, there's no provision in the bill to prevent institutions from fritering taxpayer money defending Jesus posters, granite idols, and other religious bullying.

Determined

An impending typhoon was no obstacle to fishermen in Japan determined to erect shrines in the sea to comemmorate a Shinto festival.

Silly

A new statue of Confucius commissioned by a Chinese cultural group is causing a minor controversy...the chief complaint of protesters is that there is no way to know if the statue actually resembles the philosopher.

Candomble in Miami

Yesterday's Miami Herald has a very nice profile of a Brazilian Babalorixa who emigrated to Florida to promote Candomble in the US. My one quibble is that it would be nice to see just one article of this sort that does not open with a shell-casting, which is becoming quite the cliche.

On the other hand

This profile of an American "Shamn" left me cold. The writer gives a brief description of Shamanism, and then describes a visit to a new age healer, who, despite claiming to have studied with "a Peruvian medicine woman, American Indian healers and Kabbalistic rabbis," is almost certainly not a "shaman" of any kind.

Here's another disgrace, calling for a "warning label" on Scientology, because like any religion, it makes a poor substitute for proper medical care. These criticisms may be valid, but they are out of proportion. This case is repeatedly flogged while more egregious examples (Many Christian sects teach that mental illnesses are caused by sin or demonic influence) go unmentioned.

Shameful

The one year anniversary of the death of Sargeant Patrick Stewart comes and goes, with not a peep from the Veteran's administration, who are still stonewalling on recognition of Stewart's religion.