In Latvia, pledge your soul as loan collateral

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RIGA (Reuters) - Ready to give your soul for a loan in these difficult economic times? In Latvia, where the crisis has raged more than in the rest of the European Union, you can.

Such a deal is being offered by the Kontora loan company, whose public face is Viktor Mirosiichenko, 34.

Clients have to sign a contract, with the words "Agreement" in bold letters at the top. The client agrees to the collateral, "that is, my immortal soul."

South Carolina school offers academic credit for Jesus class

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Spartanburg School District 7 is named as the defendant in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday regarding religious course offerings for high school credit.

In the suit, the plaintiffs, Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and two District 7 parents, Robert Moss and Ellen Tillett, argue that a religious education course offered to Spartanburg High School students for the past two years is unconstitutional.

The elective course is held at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, which is adjacent to SHS, and offered by Spartanburg County Bible Education in School Time. According to the SCBEST Web site, its high school curriculum entails Bible study on "historical background, archaeology, original languages, and other major scholarly discussions." A second part to the course aids students in examining how to live as Christians.

Thankfully they’re being sued by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.  According to reports, this is not some secular course, but rather a course which has explicitly stated its intent as being to bring children “to Jesus”.  The class itself is reported to be devotional rather than educational.

It’s amazing to see the comments to these articles.  The ignorance is profound; you’ll see countless examples of people stating, for example, that “separation of church and state” is not in the U.S. Constitution!  I’m not sure why people still make that argument.  Neither is the phrase “fair trial”.  Other comments are even worse, simply accusing the plaintiffs of hating Christians.

Lost your job? Turn to God.

…because we all know how well prayer works.

Apparent Gay Exorcism in Conn. Church Causes Outrage

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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WPIX) -- A video which shows an exorcism of a teen to drive out apparent "homosexual demons" has sparked outrage among several gay rights activists.
The video, which was posted on YouTube, features church elders from the Manifested Glory Ministries Church in Bridgeport performing the exorcism on the boy who is said to be 16-years-old.

"Right now I command you to leave!" screamed one of the church leaders involved with the exorcism in the video.

Mom Credits Paranormal World on Daughter’s Recovery

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MINNEAPOLIS - A South Saint Paul family believes the world's paranormal community helped heal their little girl through the power of prayer.

…

Last Sunday, Mathis was riding her bike down the alley to her grandfather's house when she was hit by a car.

By the time Mathis got to the hospital, she was bleeding in her brain and doctor's didn't know if she would ever wake up.

That's when Dave Schrader, who hosts a local radio show about the paranormal, heard about the accident and asked his listeners to pray for Mathis both on the air and on his Myspace page.

By Tuesday, Mathis was awake and acting like nothing was wrong, much to her doctors’ surprise.

…

Backwards Texas town designates “heaven-o” as the official greeting, since “hello” contains a word dare not spoken

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KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- In this friendly little ranching town, "hello" is wearing out its welcome. And Leonso Canales Jr. is happy as heck.

At his urging, the Kleberg County commissioners on Monday unanimously designated "heaven-o" as the county's official greeting. The reason: "hello" contains the word "hell."

"When you go to school and church, they tell you 'hell' is negative and 'heaven' is positive,'" said the 56-year-old Canales, who owns the Kingsville Flea Market. "I think it's time that we set a new precedent, to tell our kids that we are positive adults."

I still don’t understand how any American town can be so backwards to think that blatant insertion of superstition into public policy is acceptable, no matter how well intentioned it may be.

Some religious wacko praying for Obama’s death

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NEW YORK (ABP) -- A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who on June 2 called the death of abortion provider George Tiller an answer to prayer said later in the day he is also praying "imprecatory prayer" against President Obama.

Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and former running mate of American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes, said June 2 on Fox News Radio he didn't understand why people were upset with his comments quoted by Associated Baptist Press from a webcast of his daily radio talk show.