Maddow: This Week in God, 4.5.14

[OmahaBlueDog]

Complete article at: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-4514

The third grader at Carolina Academy in Lake City wrote a letter to her state lawmakers – Rep. Robert Ridgeway and Sen. Kevin Johnson, both D-Clarendon – asking them to sponsor a bill to make the wooly mammoth the official state fossil...The girl’s representatives liked the idea and introduced bills on her behalf. All seemed to be going well – the effort passed the state House 94 to 3 – right up until state Sen. Kevin Bryant (R) said the bill needed to be amended. As he saw it, before South Carolina could have a state fossil, the legislation must also include language from the Book of Genesis, crediting “the creator” for having created woolly mammoths and everything else.

... “Televangelists have a choice when they deal with the IRS. Some … register as religious organizations. They’re exempt from most taxes but still must file disclosure reports showing how they make and spend their money. Daystar and dozens of others call themselves churches, which enjoy the greatest protection and privacy of all nonprofit organizations in America. Churches avoid not only taxes, but any requirement to disclose their finances. And, as NPR has learned, for the past five years churches have avoided virtually any scrutiny whatsoever from the federal government’s tax authority” (thanks to reader R.P. for the tip).

Pay particular attention to the next one, as the film is making heaps of money. The success of this film, as well as "Noah" will likely mean that you'll need to brush up on your Bible prior to the next visit to the multiplex

A provocative new faith-based film opened domestically two weeks ago called, “God’s Not Dead,” about a Christian college student challenging an atheist philosopher professor (thanks to my colleague Kent Jones for the heads-up). It’s causing a stir in evangelical circles.

[Galileo126]

1. By Steve Benen...

Benen writes "This Week in God" on the Maddow Blog.

FYI

[OmahaBlueDog]

3. The source is the MaddowBlog from the Rachel Maddow portion of the MSNBC site.

There was no intent to insult Mr. Benen.

[csziggy]

2. Most states have state fossils and some have state dinosaurs

Quite a few with both are in the Bible belt.

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Lists/fossils_bones.html

I thought South Carolina had the giant ground sloth as their fossil since if I remember correctly, the first specimen in North America was found in South Carolina very early along.