Saturday Night Live alum Julia Sweeney performs the first 15 minutes of Letting Go of God, a solo act where she explores the rethinking of her faith. The Los Angeles Times called Sweeney’s show a “a gale-force breath of fresh of fresh air into the mostly politic dialogue about religion in our time.” Definitely worth a watch.

February 12th has become a special day for me, but not necessarily for the reasons you might expect.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President was born 200 years ago today. He is perhaps the most remarkable of all of our leaders, presiding over a nation split by the wound of slavery. He was also a tremendous orator, his speeches succinct and written with a rhythm and cadence reminiscent of poetry.

Lincoln was also our first Republican president, helping found the party… but I don’t hold it against him. We need more Republicans in the vein of Lincoln… and Democrats too.

As a kid growing up in Chicago I knew very little about Lincoln, other than always getting the day off from school, which I thought was pretty cool. But lately my interest in Lincoln has grown, thanks in part to our new President, Barack Obama.

While the parallels between Lincoln and Obama have been well documented, the most striking for me is their gift for language, using it to inspire and show a way forward though the most difficult of times.

That is why I celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday today.

Lincoln happens to be in very good company today. Another famous historical figure was also born on February 12th 1809: Charles Darwin, the man behind the theory of evolution.

I’ve taken a keen interest in Darwin of late thanks to my growing disillusionment with organized religion. Though I have long considered myself agnostic, witnessing the hypocrisy, greed, and out-right hate over the last several months has fueled my latent atheism and distrust of all things religious. Its steady and relentless assault on science, placing mankind’s fate in the hands of some invisible omnipotent being instead of repeatable and observable evidence, has put us all at risk. Delays in stemcell research. The growing movement to the teach creationism and Intelligent Design in schools. The delay in our acknowledgment of and response to global warming. These are just a few of the symptoms.

So for me Darwin is a symbol of reason in this sea of mysticism and superstition that threatens to drown all us all. His theory of evolution survives despite being under constant assault. Only 39% of Americans believe in evolution, which to me is both astonishing and scary. But they do believe in a talking snake.

That is why I celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday today.

Our Zoe celebrates her birthday today too… Number four. So who is this Zoe? Well she’s our cat. Four of our years roughly translates to 32 in cat years. Wow. I had no idea she that old until just now. Wow.

A beautiful ragdoll with a diva complex, she has added so much balance and love to our lives. I remember her first day home, lying on the floor next to her until she felt safe enough to cuddle up next to me. And then we both fell asleep. Later I woke up with crook in my neck and Zoe on my belly, purring like a little steam train.

I don’t know if we will ever have children. But for now Zoe is enough. Any latent paternal instinct, and I mean LATENT, seems to be is satisfied. She has brought me and Chad closer together, as someone to care for often does.

That is why I celebrate Zoe’s birthday today.

And oh yeah, I almost forgot… it’s my birthday too… I’m 42. Ack!

Frankly the number 42 makes me a little nervous, as that’s how old my namesake (Elvis Presley) was when he kicked the bucket and shuffled off his mortal coil. I guess as long as I don’t keel over in the john, I should be fine 🙂

So now I am going to celebrate my birthday by taking a few days off… there maybe be a post or two, but it’s not likely. I wish all of you a safe and relaxing President’s day weekend.

No! Of course not. What a ridiculous headline! And I certainly don’t mean to make light of today’s events and sincerely hope everyone made it safely through the tornadoes today, having grown up in Colorado I certainly know the drill.

But follow my line of thought, for just a moment. Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern and those of like mind have been notoriously intolerant, homophobic and generally un-Christian (in the truest sense of the word), as of late. Have their recent words warranted God’s wrath?

I think not. And the notion is totally outrageous. But only as outrageous as the claims below made by Kern and others like her…

Recent deadly fires in Australia caused by slaughtering innocents in the womb – Pastor Danny Nalliah

Gays responsible for hurricane Katrina – Pastor Hagee

Gays and lesbians are to blame for the current economic crisis – Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath

Pro-gay legislation provoked floods in Britain – Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle

Gays caused the collapse of Rome – Sally Kern

and of course…

Gays, lesbians, sinners, abortionists, feminists and the ACLU caused 9/11 – Jerry Fallwell

The list above is only a handful. Gays and lesbians, and more recently the “pro-choicers,” have been blamed for a multitude of disasters and cataclysms since the beginning of time.

So is the shoe now on the other foot? The Christian one?

I’m sure I’ll get hammered for this, but someone had to make the point.

After consulting with the Vatican, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy has decided to intervene in the life of Eluana Englaro, who has been in a vegetative state since a car accident 17 years ago.  

As reported in the U.K. Guardian…

Justifying his campaign to save Englaro’s life, the prime minister added that, physically at least, she was “in the condition to have babies”, a remark described by La Stampa newspaper as “shocking”. Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s president, has refused to sign the decree, but if it is ratified by the Italian parliament doctors may be obliged to resume the feeding of Eluana early this week.

…

The case has deeply divided Italian society and raised concerns over the influence of the Vatican. Yesterday Pope Benedict indirectly referred to Englaro in a message delivered to mark the World Day of the Sick, stating that society had a duty to defend “the absolute and supreme dignity of every human being” even when “weak and shrouded in the mystery of suffering”. But even some of Berlusconi’s political allies, including the president of the lower house of parliament, Gianfranco Fini, have stated that the supreme court ruling should be obeyed and Englaro should be allowed to die.

Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family at the Vatican said back in November…

“Many words have been said and written about Eluana’s case. The most beautiful and persuasive of these are those [spoken] by the nuns (who care for Eluana): ‘If there is someone who considers her dead, let them leave Eluana to continue with us, who feel she is alive … Let us have the freedom to love and to give ourselves to one who is weak.'”

Let me get this right… The nuns are owed the freedom to care for Eluana, while denying Eluana’s family, her own flesh and blood, the freedom to bring her life to a close with some sense of dignity? Really? I thought selfishness was a sin. 

And PM Berlusconi might want to consult elsewhere. The Vatican and the Pope’s track record haven’t been terribly reliable as of late, including  a Holocaust denying bishop  and another bishop calling Hurricane Katrina “God’s punishment.”