Two nights ago, I was riding a bicycle past a midtown St. Louis landmark, Saint Francis Xavier Church, better known as "College Church," due to its location on the Jesuit campus of St. Louis University. I know this campus well, in that I am a graduate of the SLU School of Law. I've often enjoyed this architecture--I decided to stop to take this photo.
Yesterday, Joe the Plumber was featured at a book-signing at Borders in Washington D.C. As reported by Alternet, business was not brisk.
The NYT just published an article ("Scandanavian Nonbelievers, Which Is Not to Say Atheists") describing new research examining religious attitudes in Sweden and Denmark. Most of the people interviewed had been baptized and don't consider themselves to be "atheists." On the other hand, they aren't religious--they've simply moved on from religion:
[Researcher Phil] Zuckerman found what he terms “benign indifference” and even “utter obliviousness.” The key word in his description of their benign indifference is “nice.” Religion, in their view, is “nice.” Jesus “was a nice man who taught some nice things.” The Bible “is full of nice stories and good morals, isn’t it?”
Beyond niceness came utter obliviousness . . . “In Denmark,” a pastor told Mr. Zuckerman, “the word ‘God’ is one of the most embarrassing words you can say. You would rather go naked through the city than talk about God.”
An artist named Dru Blair drew (not photographed) this photo. "She" is stunningly realistic. To see how Blair drew "her," go visit his site.
What does it do to your appearance to use meth? As you can see from this collection of photos on Dilidoo, it's not a pretty sight.