Americans United has won a settlement against the Veterans Administration involving religious bias against Wiccan military members who desired the symbol of their faith, a pentacle, on their tombstones.

Mark Morford is the sometimes hyperbolic, but never boring Cultural editor of SF Gate. He publishes his own op-ed about the pulse of the culture from a decidedly liberal West Coast point of view. His thwacks at the Christian Right are the stuff of legend.

Well, he's been to our site. And- he's read the series of articles about that "Left Behind" game.

Go and read what he has to say. Here's a sample:

Are you a true believer? Do you just know deep down in your black Wal-Mart socks that every word of the Bible is the absolute literal truth and nothing dare be doubted and anyone who thinks that God is merely an ambisexual omniblissful bloom of moist divine nondenominational honeydew melon should be strung up by their small intestine and beaten with sticks sharpened by Mel Gibson's teeth?

Do you feel, furthermore, that human cretins like, say, gays and Jews and Wiccans and all those hippie weirdos with their iPods and low-cut jeans and easy laughter are a plague upon this fine and holy land?

Do you think that contemptible books like "The Da Vinci Code" are not only blasphemy, but that you should probably go out into the street right now and behead a few lambs and perhaps mow down some Taoists with a Gatling gun just to deflect its horrible notions of the sacredness of the feminine divine? You do?

Praise Jesus! Your video game has arrived.

Behold, blessed children, the new and upcoming "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game, based on the freakishly best-selling series of apocalyptic trash-lit books. It's an ultraviolent, hilariously inept, wondrously accurate portrayal of what every true right-wing Christian fundamentalist really fantasizes about after they've had one too many pink wine spritzers and have logged a few hours in the gay chat rooms and have sufficiently indoctrinated their happily numb kids with tales of vile homos and scary "progressive" liberals who want to buy them candy and tattoo their sacrums and feed them organic hot dogs.

Like I said, lots of hyberbole, but it does nail it.

Just FYI, the Sunday State of Belief program is now available for download here.

Christian spiritual warfare has always been a component of certain Christian sects. Girding up to battle Satan is one thing, but what happens when the line between spirituality and reality becomes blurred or even absent? And what happens when this religious ideology percolates into our Armed Forces?

Many people thought that the Kitzmiller Vs. Dover decision spelled the end of the ongoing attempt to get intelligent design taught in public schools.

They were wrong. The battle continues, and teachers are still having a difficult time teaching basic scientific facts about this subject to students.

Science fiction ia a genre well-known for its cutting edge thought, speculation on far flung civilizations, and incredible technology that takes us to the stars.

But science fiction also has 'close to home' elements, too- alternative history, day-after-tomorrow scenarios, and all sorts of 'what if?' elements.

So, it should not be a surprise when an author as well known and respected as the late Robert A. Heinlein peers into the future of America- and does not like what he sees.

The director of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives is resigning, according to this article.

"I would be shook up if I were part of a shakeup, but the reality is, this has been in the works for months," Towey said. "My career goal remains to get to Heaven."

Looks like things are getting interesting in the Chaplains Corps of the US military:

Chaplains Group Opposes Prayer Order

(Registration needed)

An association that represents more than 70 percent of the chaplains in the U.S. military, including many evangelical Christians, is opposing a demand by conservatives in Congress for a presidential order guaranteeing the right of chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus.

The rising calls for an executive order are based on "confusion and misinformation," because Christian chaplains routinely pray in the name of Jesus, in public, thousands of times a week in military chapels around the world, said the Rev. Herman Keizer Jr., chairman of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces.

"This has been portrayed as though chaplains are not allowed to pray in Jesus's name, without any distinction between what they do all the time in worship services and what they do occasionally, in ceremonial settings where attendance is mandatory," Keizer said.

Known by the initials NCMAF, Keizer's group is a private, 40-year-old association of more than 60 Christian, Jewish and Muslim denominations. It says it represents 5,430 of the 7,620 chaplains in the armed forces.

It is good to know that the wool can't be pulled over everyone's eyes.

Here's a Salon article by Michelle Goldman:

Sinners in the hands of an angry GOP

You'll need a day pass to read it, but make sure you read the Editors Choice letters about this article, too.

Everywhere you turn, certain Christians are claiming that there is a war being fought against them. Are Christians really that embattled? Who or what are they at war against? Why does this war-mindedness persist in spite of plentiful evidence to the contrary?