Do You Really Know Your Bible?

I’m not 100% sure about the ultimate provenance of these statistics, but if true, they’re pretty interesting:

* About 92 percent of American own at least one copy of the Bible.
* The average household has 3 copies.
* About 67 percent of Americans say that the Bible holds the answers to the basic questions of life.
* The Bible is the world’s all-time best seller.
* At least 20 million copies are sold each year.
* Gideon International annually distributes more than 45 million copies.

Biblical knowledge (Biblical illiteracy is rampant):

* Perhaps 15 percent of Americans participate in Bible studies.
* The number of people who read the Bible, at least occasionally is 59 percent.
* Less than 50 percent of Americans can name the first book of the Bible (Genesis).
* Only 1/3 of Americans know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount (more people identified Billy Graham than Jesus).
* Twenty-five percent of Americans don’t know what is celebrated on Easter (the Resurrection of Christ).
* Twelve percent of Christians think that Noah’s wife is Joan of Arc.
* Eighty percent of born-again Christians (including George W. Bush) think it is the Bible that says “God helps them that help themselves.” (Actually it was said by Benjamin Franklin.)

Tabloids Hurt America!

I don’t know who was stupid enough to take or release those “Saddam in his underwear” photos, but it’s bad for America. Saddam may not have had many friends in the Middle East, but I suspect plenty of people are going to be pissed off by those photos anyway.

About the only good thing that I see coming from this whole mess is at least it’s driving the whole Newsweek Koran/flushing thing off the radar screen.

Friday Cat Blogging: More Cute Kitten Goodness!

As promised, more kitten photos. Gimi has been a big help in socializing the shyer of our two fosters, Marcy. She purrs like crazy every time she lays eyes on him. We’ve been using this to help her get more comfortable with being around humans. So here the two of the are together in a socializing session:

Ann Coulter and “The Protocols”

No More Mister Nice Guy decided it was more fun to slag off on Ann Coulter for being a dumb lying shill than to call attention to that fact that there’s a disconcering trend behind Coulter’s lies.

She’s a liar. That’s not news. Shouldn’t it ring some alarm bells that over the past three years, two different Arab TV networks have broadcast a dramatized version of an antisemitic book that is widely recognized as a forgery?

Who Do These People Think They Are?

The AP reports:

Last month, animal rights extremists followed the wife of a pharmaceutical company executive to her job, rifled through her car and stole a credit card. They used it buy $20,000 in travelers checks, which they then donated to four charities.

It should be pretty obvious from my blog that the welfare of animals is important to me. But I have no idea in what twisted mindset it’s OK to commit felonies against people in order to “protect” animals. The ALF likes to say that they have no intention of hurting people, but I wonder how long it will be before some sick freak decides to start killing Forest Pharmecutical executives.

Think that’s too extreme? Tell that to the families of the doctors who have been murdered for providing abortions.