Oral Roberts is Dead

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091215/oru-founder-hospitalized-after-fall/

In January 1987, during a fundraising drive, Roberts announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home" (a euphemism for death).^[12][13] Some were fearful that he was referring to suicide given the passionate pleas and tears that accompanied his statement. He raised $9.1 million.^[14]

[Source: Wikipedia]

Arlo Guthrie responded: "I firmly believe we shouldn't negotiate with any terrorist on any level."

Good riddance to bad rubbish.  If only there was a Hell in which con-men and charlatans like Roberts could suffer for preying on the weak-minded, desperate, and gullible. 

I used to think *I* was cynical.  If he actually believed in hell, he wouldn't have fleeced so damned many people.

My New Hero: Anne Druyan

If you like, you can skip up to Anne's response to the remarks of a person of faith on "the unknown" at 3m55s

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Religion in Schools

New York Times

December 21, 2006

To the Editor:

People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that Noah's ark carried dinosaurs.

This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it's about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.

Neil deGrasse Tyson

New York, Dec. 19, 2006

http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/tyson/category/opus/commentary?page=2