When wacky Robert Morey and his minions say so, of course!

You'll recall last month that Morey—the resume-stretching head of Faith Community Church in Irvine and self-proclaimed Islam expert—responded to a post of my revealing dissension at his church by stating he and his faithful "don’t see any schism or confusion in the church" despite evidence to the contrary. "These poor mentally unbalanced people, whose only meaning in life to tear down other people, will eventually burn themselves out with all their hatred and bitterness," he arrogantly commented.

Hatred and bitterness? That sure didn't seem to be the case last weekend, when more than 100 former FCC members held a picnic last Saturday somewhere in Orange County. Theocentric Living and The Saint Augustinian have more on the picnic, and their general optimism and hilarious cracks at Morey show who's the better Christian in this battle.

Meanwhile, there's been more tinkering over at the Morey-sponsored BiblicalThought blog in addition to what we previously reported. The huge picture of Morey and smaller-by-half shots of his minions are no longer there, and moderators don't tolerate any more Morey criticism. But do they slur Catholicism as the "mother of harlots"? But of course!

David Horowitz descended on UCI last night as part of his nationwide tour condemning a national student group called Muslim Student Association—a group with more than 150 chapters in colleges all over the country.

Horowitz, a famous right-wing nut jobber, is known for taking out provocative full-page ads in campus newspapers that say things like "black people don't deserve reparations for slavery," in advance of his speaking engagements during Black History Month, which would then cause all kinds of static in the school paper. In some cases protesters, or school administrators would admonish the paper for printing the incendiary ad, which would prompt Horowitz to say it is an example of censorship on university campuses.

So Horowitz' appearance at UCI, since he's the master of stirring the pot, was ripe for a good, old-fashioned Muslim Student Union protest. The MSU has been the subject of much scrutiny in the last five years as they've sometimes forgotten to make themselves invisible in a society that is extremely phobic of their multi-continent, multi-faceted, more than one billion person faith. At UCI in particular, things have become heated [see "Against the Wall," Oct. 19 2007].

As I was walking to the Horowitz event I noticed one of the MSU member from the story I wrote last year. I asked him if he was on his way to the Horowitz event and he just laughed.

So no Muslim protesters, damn, this was going to be a lot more boring, I thought. Once in the lecture room at Rowland Hall, the first thing I noticed was it was sparsely populated, mostly with people 50 and over. There were about 40 audience members total, scattered in seats throughout the lecture room. The room was a minimalist theater style setting with white undecorated walls and ceiling, and puke-inducing overhead fluorescent lighting. At the front of the room was an obviously Photoshopped poster of a hijabed Muslim woman holding a sign that says "God Bless Hitler" in English.

Today is the National Day of Prayer, a chance for America's most-oppressed people—Christians—to ignore the Nazarene's advice and insist the world see them pray. Heading the affair is Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family overlord James Dobson. To plug the event, Shirley appeared on the Hour of Power this past Sunday for an interview with Crystal Cathedral head pastor Robert H. Schuller. The wacko-Christian blogosphere is incensed at Dobson for daring to praise Schuller—the man who revolutionized American Christianity—for asking God to "bless you and the good work you’re doing here." Schuller, for them, is an apostate for daring to preach a Gospel of possibility rather than one of fire, brimstone, and fag-bashing. Typical of the criticism are our own local wackos over at BiblicalThought.com, blog of charlatan Robert Morey and his minions. One Drew Kerr calls Schuller "The Heretic" (caps his) for "his false gospel of self-esteem." Hey, Drew: while casting stones at false gospels, you might want to pay closer attention to your guy, no?

In other heretical news, Papist professor Francisco Ayala was profiled in the New York Times two days ago for daring to be a scientist who believes in evolution. The horror!

We've been covering the craziness over at Faith Community Church in Irvine (led by documented truth-stretcher Robert Morey) for the past couple of days, and the funniest thing about the entire episode is how Morey and his minions only insist everything is fine to the point of deleting dissension from their blog. "We who actually attend Faith Community Church don’t see any schism or confusion in the church," Morey wrote on this blog.

That's not what Morey has been preaching at FCC for over a month, though. Since February 24, Morey has lectured almost weekly about what the New Testament teaches on eldership, a not-so-veiled to convince FCC faithful that blind obedience to him is a biblical mandate. We'd love to post Morey's rambling sermons, but FCC's page of his recordings mysteriously disappeared overnight (the roll call can be found through Google's cache, but not the actual recordings--if someone has them, please post them here). And the lectures continue: last Sunday, Morey talked about eldership yet again, according to an FCC member. Calling the Movementarians...

*Updated, with new information on the bottom...

For the past couple of days, it's been quite the battle royale at Navel Gazing regarding Robert Morey, pastor of Faith Community Church in Irvine, and a guy whose flock is the most aggressively arrogant bunch of religious folks since the Scientologists. Here, we approve all sorts of criticism--but not so much at Morey's blog, BiblicalThought.com

Earlier, I commented about having my comment deleted at Biblical Thought by BT head lemming Stephen Macasil (and I wasn't the only one). Late last night, the site mysteriously went down. When it was back up, it was missing two posts: Morey's "The Need for Biblical Warrant" and Macasil's "The Gates of Hell," both blog posts blasting Faith Community Church defectors except written in the elliptical, evasive, nasty way that is the wont of Morey and his crew. Ah, but thanks to the messianic powers of Google, you can recall those posts from the dead: here is "The Gates of Hell," and a bit of "The Need for Biblical Warrant" here (if anyone can find the rest of that, I'll post it). So, Stephen: what gives?

*UPDATE: About a month ago, Morey told his followers not to read any criticisms. The Leader is good, the Leader is fine...

Our post earlier today about the turmoil at Irvine's Faith Community Church has already sparked discussion on its friend's blog (more below) and a comment from the church's leader, Robert Morey. And it's not just any comment--it's one so pompous and hilarious it deserved its own post. Here it is:

We who actually attend Faith Community Church don’t see any schism or confusion in the church. We are happy and joyful serving the Lord. Our attendance is great and things are moving forward with great joy. To see this is true, just visit some Sunday service (10:30AM at 17601 Fitch, Irvine).
Just for accuracy sake, please note that biblicalthought.com/blog was not set up by or run by the church. I visit it from time to time when I have the time. But it is not my blog.
There are three new books that reveal a new phenomenon is taking place today in the church world.
1. Clergy Killers: Guidance for Pastors and Congregations Under Attack by G. Lloyd Rediger
2. Character Assassins: Dealing with Ecclesiastical Tyrants and Terrorists by Peter Hammond and Brian
3. The Wounded Minister: Healing from and Preventing Personal Attacks by Guy Greenfield

These books document that today when someone leaves a church, they do not go out and make a new life for themselves and get involved in positive works of charity. Instead, they dedicate all their time, money, and energy to destroy the church and pastor they left.
They hang around the church and use the internet to slander the church, send out malicious emails and blogs that contain unsupported accusations. They harass the people who attend the church with personal attacks and foul language. They forget there is freedom of religion in this country and people can attend or not attend whatever they want to attend.
The above authors counsel churches under attack by such terrorists not to react to these childish tirades and temper tantrums. Instead, we should remain positive and go on doing works of charity -while ignoring the terrorists.
These poor mentally unbalanced people, whose only meaning in life to tear down other people, will eventually burn themselves out with all their hatred and bitterness.
We at Faith community Church do not hate them or anyone else. We pray for them that they will grow out of their negativity and finds positive outlets for their energy.

My thoughts--few of them nice--after the jump.

Orange County Christianity has more than its share of charlatans, but few are more offensive than the Reverand Robert Morey, the resume-stretching head of Faith Community Church in Irvine. Every time we discuss him, we get email from former or current members of his congregation alleging all kind of madness. Now, the fight has spilled over to the blogosphere: a former FCC member has slammed Morey, and he's getting grief from Morey's minions. Morey, for his part, is--as usual--bat-shit weird. Be a good person of faith--even you apostate atheists and agnostics--and join the fun!

Few groups have provided a better glimpse into Orange County conservatism's evil, noxious soul like the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which has provided the Weekly with much fodder over the years. CCIR head Barbara Coe and her minions usually go after illegal aliens (read: Mexicans), so it was nice to see Babs also hates Muslims as well--and she makes no distinction between legal and illegal Muslims, terrorist or non-terrorist Muslims. Just Muslims.

Last Thursday, Coe sent out a mass email to her group forwarding this Snopes-worthy list of Islam's sins. "Please read!," she screeched (even in her emails, Coe sounds like a crow). "I have just read "The Haj" by Leon Uris which reveals the pure EVIL instilled (from birth) within those who worship Allah and comply with the teachings of the Koran (torture, maim, murder all 'infidels'). And this is what Pres. Bush calls a 'religion of peace' and urged us to welcome them into our communities? We can only wonder how many mosques are, in reality, 'terrorist cells'?"

We're not really surprised about Coe's feelings: after all, it was CCIR who once hosted a high schooler who said he wanted to kill Muslims for a living upon graduation. That high schooler was Tim Bueler, longtime spokesman for the Minuteman Project. But Babs can no longer claim she's just against illegal aliens--she's also against about one-sixth of humanity. Good luck with that, Babs!

Welcome to the first installment of my weekly church review, where I'll visit houses of worship—Christian, Muslim, Baha'i, even Scientologist—and examine what folks of faith need to know: theology, environment, parking, and the all-important sermon. Suggestions for churches to review in the comments section appreciated!

At Your Service: Main Place Christian Fellowship Church Prayer Booth

Even Jesus needs a lunch break, apparently.

For the past six years, souls in need of a quick prayer have crept toward a converted photo booth in a Tustin parking lot near the wonderful Indian restaurant Dosa Place. Here stands a prayer booth operated by Main Place Christian Fellowship, which stands just across Red Hill Avenue. Its unique experiment in evangelizing—taking Robert Schuller's drive-in church to the next logical step, people park next to the booth while a pastor prays with you for a couple of minutes—has attracted worldwide attention.

But when I visited last Friday at noon, no one was there. I idled for 15 minutes—nothing. No sign indicating when someone would return, no paper slip where I could leave a prayer request, nada. It definitely wasn't abandoned: A half-full water bottle stood inside the booth, and flowers bloomed on the embankment at the church's front and back. And a phone number for a 24-hour prayer line was above each side of the booth. I called the number and left my prayer: that the Lord equip Main Place Christian Fellowship with sturdier bladders and stomachs.

THEOLOGY: Non-denominational, evangelical, born-again. Main Place's website describes the Bible as "God's perfect guidebook for living." Places an emphasis on outreach, which is kinda obvious given their ingenious use of a former photo booth to spread the Word, no? But woe to the people who come buy for freebies: Although a sign advertises free coffee, water, Bibles and pastries, another sign warns the "wonderful kids" who walk by every day there is no such thing as free water: Those who thirst must first provide a Bible verse. Remember Balaam and his ass, brethren!

Tomorrow, those boob tube rubes known as the Parents Television Council will impart its Entertainment Seal of Approval™ (their trademark, not our lame irony) on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. "We commend the TBN Networks for upholding the positive values that families hold dear," states a PTC press release. "Our culture seems to grow ever more resistant to what is best for the family and this includes many broadcast and cable networks. The TBN networks stand out for their excellent programming that the entire family can watch and enjoy together." The release goes on to claim TBN viewers "can be assured they'll be watching programs that are devoid of inappropriate and offensive messages." Guess that means the snake charmers who fill the TBN airwaves and remain the subject of an IRS probe qualify as family programming for the PTC, eh?

Wiley Drake's First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park receives tax-exempt status. One of the conditions of this benefit is that no one use church resources to engage in "electioneering," and yet Drake still used his radio show, run out of the church, and stationary with church letterhead to publicize his endorsement of Mike Huckabee.

So Drake hearts Huckabee. The problem is, Drake clearly doesn't heart U.S. tax law, and especially not the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, who drew Drake's apparent church-resource--aided electioneering to the attention of the IRS. In retaliation for AUSCS's efforts against Drake, he has once again called on his followers to take action - Imprecatory style. Seems he tried this back in August and those damn AUSCS folk are still breathin', their wives unwidowed, their children un-fatherless. His call to action back then:

"In light of the recent attack from the enemies of God I ask the children of God to go into action with Imprecatory Prayer," Drake said in his Tuesday statement. His supporters should recite Psalms 109:1-31 that also includes, “children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.”

Cypress has followed Westminster's lead in officially embracing the occult.

The Cypress City Council voted in a perplexing 2-1 majority to display "In God We Trust" in council chambers. Aww, poor Cypress - only three council members? Iddle biddle widdle council, so cute! Actually two council members abstained, claiming they didn't want to give views on religious matters. And yet they're willing to passively endorse the phrase? Cowards.

The phrase is a reference to the fact that followers of the cult of Jesus Christ, himself a Jew, have faith in a divine and loving God. They apparently don't read their Scripture very well because their god is actually a petty, spiteful, jealous and demanding piece of work. But I digress.

One wonders how many more county cities will prostrate themselves before Christian idols or slogans. Oops, still digressing.

In Mitt Romney's rambling, scary speech announcing he's dropping out of the Republican presidential campaign, the flip-flopper uttered this curious line:

Americans love God, and those who don’t have faith, typically believe in something greater than themselves—a “Purpose Driven Life.”

Wait a minute, Mitt: your deliberate use of the term "Purpose Driven Life" is a specific reference to Saddleback Church's money cow, the multi-million-selling book of head pastor Rick Warren. Last I checked, Rick Warren was Christian, and "those who don't have faith" aren't Christian--hell, they're not even Mormon. Thank God this man won't be your next president, Orange County--thank God and Moroni.

Meanwhile, click here to read Hugh Hewitt's hagiography.

We here in Orange County are so jaded by the Crystal Cathedral's Glory of Christmas spectacular that we frequently forget how stupendous the production is. Leave it to the holy geniuses over at the Wittenburg Door to remind us of our jewel. Under the title, "And They Laid Him in a Manger, Somewhere Out By John Wayne Airport," writer Becky Garrison said The Glory of Christmas can "best be described as a combination Joel Osteen/Andrew Lloyd Weber/Branson, Missouri spectacle of the first two chapters of Luke as they would have been envisioned by Aimee Semple Macpherson if she'd known about special effects." The rest of the piece similarly features bon mots, but the topper is this one:

Since I’ve actually been to Bethlehem, I have photos proving that the place where Jesus was allegedly born aren't actually painted Barney-the-Dinosaur purple, but let's not tell anyone in Orange County, all right?

And lest ustedes think the Wittenburg Door is some snarky rag ala the Weekly, read this.

You know a blog is lame when it begs readers to leave comments, and that's exactly what the bloggers at Irvine's Faith Community Church, the domain of resume-stretching Islam "expert" Robert Morey, are doing.

Earlier this month, one Stephen Macasil sported the holiest of hard-ons for FCC's blog, Biblical Thought Dot Com (yep, that's the name), warning heathens it was coming to "a town near you with fistfuls of Bible, prepared to destroy arguments that are void of biblical basis." But before they could slay any Philistines, Macasil acted as whiny as Joseph's brothers.

Witness wussiness after the jump!

That's the stunning insinuation put forth by Joseph Farrah, editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily. Farrah takes Warren--head of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, author of The Purpose-Driven Life...are you readers really that much of heathens or OC-illiterate that I need to continue?--to task for visiting Syria last year and supposedly trying to lie about statements he made while there.

The revelations are pretty damning, actually, although we disagree with Farrah's contention that Warren's trip "gave aid and comfort to a diabolical enemy of freedom and Christianity." And Warren doesn't do himself any favors by essentially disavowing the Crystal Cathedral's Robert Schuller. Conservative versus conservative versus conservative--love it!

Our friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center just released their latest issue of the muckraking Intelligence Report, which features a doozy of a feature on the Orange County-created Exodus International Ministry, the folks who say they can take the homo out of any homo sapiens. The story follows up on our Janine Kahn's beautiful July piece on the battle between ex-gays and ex-ex-gays by documenting Exodus' connections to extremists, homophobes and plain ol' weirdos. God bless the Intelligence Project: they find a way to mention Orange County in nearly all of their quarterly issues!

For another reason why this paper has been historically softer on the Reverend Robert Schuller than on Orange County's other wacky Christians (though read this article for proof we're not that soft), look no further than the announcement that Schuller will preside over Evel Knievel's funeral in Montana. Earlier this year, Schuller baptized the legendary daredevil at the Crystal Cathedral before millions of viewers on The Hour of Power. Good for Schuller to save one of Earth's most-wretched (more like wrenched!) souls--and shame on him for hawking this intimate moment for $15.

Dearest brethren and sisters of the Internet, God's children all:

Let us all join our hands in prayer and thank the Lord for both the Orange County Weekly and Wiley Drake, the Buena Park-based, homeless-person-feeding, gay-bashing, Southern Baptist Pastor.

Why blesseth we the Weekly and Pastor Drake?

For this, I sayeth: America would certainly have blown up into a million billion little pieces by now if it weren't for them, because God--yeah God, the bearded fella who teaches us that the queers should be killed and you should never worship golden cows or covet your neighbor's wife or other property--loves Israel. And the Bush administration, those whores of Babylon, have earned His wrath by sponsoring so-called peace talks in that sinful land known as Annapolis, Maryland.

Get behind me, Satan!

Now, this so-called peace deal, as told to us by Pastor Drake--praise Jesus!--between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a threat to God's chosen people and their land. Don't ask why! Don't question Pastor Drake on this, for he is a Pastor and he knoweth the Lord! Amen!

In a Nov. 27 email Pastor Drake sent the Weekly, he called on us to join him in his daily prayer vigil on behalf of Israel, warning us that the "Piece [sic] deal in Annapolis will blow America to pieces." Drake, who talks to God on a daily basis, quoted Him as saying that "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."

When we got this email, we prayed, and we prayed hard. Praise Jesus! All hail the Lord!
And so far the world ain't blowed up yet.

Amen!

That's what the Michelle Malkins and Jonathan Constantines of the world will undoubtedly screech once this open letter of apology to Muslims by Christian pastors percolates through the blogosphere. The letter--which appeared Nov. 18 as a full-page ad in the New York Times--is an ecumenical overture to Muslim scholars after 138 of them signed a letter in October urging peace between each others' religions. Among the Christian signers with Orange County ties: Rick "Purpose-Driven Life" Warren and Robert "Crystal Cathedral" Schuller. Notably absent: noted Muslim sympathizer Paul Crouch.

In other Schuller news, Robert A. Schuller, Jr. has earned a couple of profiles recently as Bobby travels the country to promote his new book, Walking in Your Own Shoes: Discover God’s Direction for Your Life. No word yet on when he makes a non-Crystal Cathedral OC appearance or how Bobby keeps that black hair so thick...

That's the opinion of The Wittenburg Door, the online newsletter of the legendary prosperity-preacher exposers the Trinity Foundation.

"Don't let Rick Warren's disheveled Hawaiian shirt and receding hairline fool you," writes one Skippy R. "Although he says his idea of fashion is wearing "clothes that don't itch," Warren is a style-conscious clothes horse in his off hours. He can often be seen dressed to the nines, dazzling the ladies all over Saddleback Valley and on any Thursday night at the Cheesecake Factory in Mission Viejo."

Read here for more breathless details!

Photo via The Wittenburg Door

Tehama County, California, is one of the Golden State's more-backward counties, with a population of about 60,000 and a local economy predicated on tourism and...uh, not much else. The main newspaper in town, the Red Bluff Daily News, is a Dean Singleton-owned rag, and thus we can't expect much of it.

But the Daily News' advance story last week to publicize an appearance by homo-hating Chuck Smith (founder of Santa Ana's Calvary Chapel) goes even below the depths of mainstream journalism. "He has remained a student of the word of God, as well as being gifted by God as a teacher of the word," the unsigned story gushed. "He has been given the ability to teach God's word in a simple, low-key, yet powerful manner that listeners of all ages can easily learn and apply to their daily lives."

Unless the Nazarene is the Daily News editor, the "story" sounds more like a Calvary Chapel press release or an evangelical writer trying to impose their views on Tehama County's yokel populace. No comments yet on the Daily News website--although we can't imagine any complaints considering the paper's most popular story at the moment is about a biting dog.

Pictured: Smith

Sorry for the tardiness of this post--have been on the road...

The New York Times recently published a fascinating piece on how Saddleback Church mega-pastor Rick Warren is teaching Jews how to invigorate their congregations. The story reveals that Warren has lectured before Conservative congregations in Los Angeles and that an observant Jew, Mel Malkoff of the Orange-based Malkoff & Associates, handles most of the land acquisition and property development issues for the Lake Forest-based megachurch. Nevertheless, the seemingly likeable Warren still won't back down on his homophobic views. C'mon, Rick! You're thisclose to being a secular saint in our book!

Not to pick on Irvine Islamic "expert" Robert Morey any further this week, but I was reminded of his idiocies today, as I bide my time in Fort Collins, Colorado, before a book signing hosted by the Rocky Mountain Chronicle. The paper runs a great column called "Tancrazy Train," which monitors Coloradoan Republican presidential candidate (and Orange County darling) Tom Tancredo (R-Know Nothinglandia). Learning that Tancredo has recently announced he's calling its quits, I was reminded that he once called for the United States to bomb the Muslim holy city of Mecca. Tancredo never apologized for the remark, but he should've apologized to Morey for stealing his idea. It was Morey, after all, whom in 2001 told a San Diego church "he had advised the State Department to blow up the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina if they wanted to win the war on terror quickly."

"These cities could be vaporized in minutes, and there is nothing that the Saudis or any other Muslim country could do to stop us,” Morey would go on to write in his 2002 Winning the War Against Radical Islam. “With these surgical strikes, few lives would be lost. And, with three strikes against them, Islam is out!”

We can imagine Morey and Tancredo together: POW! BAM! ALLAH!

Speaking of explosions, check out Tancredo's latest fun. And read "Tancrazy Train" regularly.

Remember Robert Morey, the self-proclaimed Islam expert who runs Faith Community Church in Irvine? Last March, the Weekly examined many of his outrageous claims--that he's on a Hamas death list, that the Los Angeles Police Department consulted with him to make sure local Muslims wouldn't kill cops during raids, that he received a doctorate in Islamic Studies--and found them seriously laughing. After calling him out on the latter matter, Morey admitted he doesn't possess such a degree, telling me at the time, "his doctorate is in theology, with an emphasis on Islam."

Flash forward to today, when I discovered Morey is now a blogger. On his resumé, he still lists that he received a "PhD. from [Louisiana Baptist University] in Islamic Studies." But LBU still doesn't list a doctorate in Islamic Studies as one of its graduate programs. When I asked him about it last year, Morey claimed "he was the first and only student to receive such a degree from the school." Being a PhD. in Theology and a PhD. in Islamic Studies are two very different things--so why is Morey still insisting on the latter? We're all ears, Bob!

Apparently, good Republicans do exist. CBS News is reporting that Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has sent letters to mega-millionaire televangelists Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn asking they turn over all financial records within a month or risk losing their tax-exempt status after fielding complaints about their extravagant lifestyles (read our take on Copeland from 2005). The six appear on the Costa Mesa-based Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest televangelical station and the ones with the luxurious headquarters across the 405 Freeway South Coast Plaza, a delicious (or divine?) statement on the eternal struggle between God and Mammon.

As the Weekly reported a few months ago (see "Scarlet Letters," May 10), a group of students at Chapman University hoping to establish a chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu, a national Jewish fraternity, have become a major pain for the college's administration because of their unwillingness to shut up. Today a group that stands up for people who are told to shut up, the American Civil Liberties Union, announced it's put up time.

At a press conference at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California office in Orange, branch director Hector Villagra said Chapman must "immediately rescind" what it deems freedom of speech restrictions placed on the group.

When Chapman decided not to recognize the frat in 2006, the group, headed by senior Pascal DeMaria, was also forced them to remove its Facebook.com page, banned from wearing T-shirts on campus, and disallowed from recruiting, attending events with other Greek groups and advertising.

Villagra chalks these restrictions up to First Amendment violations and, at the conference, said legal action is being considered if the college does not reverse its position. Villagra did not set a deadline for Chapman.

Both Chapman's Dean of Students Joe Kertes and Greek life adviser Chris Hutchinson have previously declined to speak about Sigma Alpha Mu.

Want to start a jihad against jihadis? You'll get your chance this October, when the David Horowitz Freedom Center plans to organize "the biggest conservative campus protest ever" with something called Islamo-Facism Awareness Week in college campuses across America. It didn't surprise us that UC Irvine is amongst the universities that will host the event, due to the campus' wacky Muslims (read Reut Cohen's fascinating blog for more details), but Cal State Fullerton and Santa Ana College? The only radicals there worth targeting are the Aztlanistas that remain in their Chicano Studies departments. More bizarrely, why hasn't Chapman University--the place where every third building is named after an OC GOP bigwig--signed up?

Update: View a slideshow of images from Open-Mosque Day here.

Too much is still unknown, speculated about and misunderstood when it comes to Muslims abroad and in the U.S. To counter this in their own small way, a dozen or so mosques throughout L.A. and Orange counties flung their doors open this past weekend for “Open Mosque Day.” I stopped by the large Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim for the occasion, and there I was greeted by a table-full of smiling older women in hijab who offered pamphlets and chocolate.

Locals at this and other mosques were invited to stop by and munch on falafel, tahini and other treats while listening to a lecture about Islam, talking to members of the mosque and asking anything they'd ever wanted to ask about Islam.

The main room was lined with science-fair type booths with information about Spain (where Muslims ruled peacefully for 750 years), women and Mecca. At the women's booth I asked about handshakes between men and women (note to women: don't shoot your hand out). During the lecture an older man asked the young and erudite Imam, Mohammed Faqih, what his thoughts were on the formation of an Islamic state in the U.S. (I think religious pluralism works for the American people, he said. It's what they have chosen).

Yep, Adam Gadahn has made another ranting tape.

Note the new glasses, the leaner face, longer beard and continued flowery rhetoric.

After that, read Nick Schou's excellent piece on Saraah Olson, who remembers Gadahn when he was nothing but a twerp.

Interesting how some things never change, eh?

Noted evangelical windbag Jerry Falwell was raptured today, and we're sure God strained his back from carrying that hefty sack into the sky. In honor of his death, we submit some of Falwell's brushes with our sordid county:

• Back in the early 1990s, Orange County-based Citizens for Honest government paid individuals upward of $200,000 to come out with lurid accusations against then-President Bill Clinton. A Salon.com exclusive tied the group to Falwell; the group denied they took orders from Falwell.

• In 2003, Falwell introduced Saddleback Church's Rick Warren at his Moonie-funded Liberty University. The website states, "Warren credits Falwell with encouraging him in the ministry when the California pastor was struggling as a teenager with his call to ministry." Both Warren and Falwell were Southern Baptists but couldn't be more different: While Warren has made it his mission to fight AIDS, Falwell once said of the ravaging disease, "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

• Falwell joined Orange County holy men Wiley Drake, Robert Schuller and Paul Crouch in a 2001 luncheon honoring the Reverand Sun Myung Moon.

That's all for now—in the meanwhile, check out Rotten.com's entry on Falwell. Off to Houston!

Has it only been a year since TV news went All Dead Pope, All The Time? Apparently so– April 8 marks the first anniversary of Pope John Paul II's funeral. Interestingly enough, April 8 is also when many in East Asia (particularly in Japan) celebrate the birthday of the Buddha, who, of course, had a rather different view on birth, death and what happens in between than the pope. Given this coincidence, which piles even more otherworldly significance onto the generally looming holiness of the season (Passover, Easter, Hilaria, etc.), as a public service I direct the reader's attention to an online shop featuring hard to find religious items: Jesus Christ Superstore (motto: Putting the fun back into fundamentalism and laughter into sectarian slaughter).

At the superstore, those nostalgic for a more dynamic pope can find a pope action figure that's more dynamic than any pope since the bloodthirsty Julius II. 7.5 cm tall, poseable , His Holiness comes complete with Holy Cross Kali sticks, a "Meek and Mild" Walther PPK handgun and is wearing his blood red Vatican Assault uniform. And despite its name, Jesus Christ Superstore is truly ecumenical, so if you're looking for a Buddha's birthday gift with a lot of firepower, look no further. There's a Buddha action figure featuring a Fighting Staff of Meditation, a Magnum 66 automatic Nirvana pistol, and an Invincible Holy Orange Cape of Enlightenment.

Unfortunately, it's been years since the superstore site has been updated, and according to the site's FAQ, the creators of the merchandise were at that time still trying to find a manufacturer to mass produce the items. Fortunately, that shouldn't discourage the devout– after all, the religious are used to waiting endlessly to have the promise of a long ago offer fulfilled.