Crazy person Sean Harris, senior pastor of the Berean Baptist Church in North Carolina, delivered a terrifying sermon on Sunday to his congregation suggesting that parents "crack" their fey sons' limp wrists, rein in daughters who appear butch, "punch" them if they act gay, and a slew of other child-abuse recommendations that are sure to horrify anyone with commonsense and a heart. Harris was speaking in support for North Carolina's Amendment One, the state's looming ban on gay marriage and civil union. Care of Good As You, who first reported the story, the transcript of the infamous sermon reads as follows: more ›

A 44-year-old Tenderloin denizen has been sentenced to three years in prison for stalking and harassing a group of French nuns who run a soup kitchen on Turk Street. Dionn Taylor was accused of flashing and generally perving over the nuns, including one incident on the night of his arrest in November when a police officer observed him exposing his pubic area to the nuns through a window into the soup kitchen at 54 Turk Street. more ›

SCOTUS yesterday effectively decided to uphold an earlier decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the use of religious messages and textbooks in classrooms. The two cases — one involving a San Diego area teacher who had hung "In God We Trust" and "God Shed His Grace on Thee" banners in his classroom for three decades and one involving an Idaho charter school that used the Bible as a "cultural" text — were heard together in September. more ›

Once upon a time way back in the late nineties, a light-smearing outfit called the Cubby Creatures would perform the entire score to Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Weber's second best rock opera. Since the band broke up, there's been a lack of public venues in which you can sing selections from JCS while bombed off Sierra Nevada and pot. But now, thanks to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and Bad Flower Productions, you can once croon the tunes to Superstar. Thank God. more ›

Like the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa enjoyed dancing on the dark side via the occasional bout of fame-mongering. But who wouldn't fall prey to the siren song of celebrity and fortune? Unlike the Dali Lama, however, Mother Teresa (née Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhi) defended pedophilic priests. In fact, the Nobel Prize-winning nun — now on the fast track to sainthood from the Vatican — defended a Bay Area priest accused and convicted of sexual molestation back in the 1993. An act that, in addition to reinstating the criminal man of God, resulted in more horrifying sexual abuse. more ›

Speaking of sanity-estranged, plummeting GOP candidate Rick Perry released an anti-gay television ad today, one that lambastes our country's military while claiming that our children cannot celebrate Christmas in school (which is a lie, a balls out fib) or pray in the classroom (which is true, thank god). Perry spews: more ›

Proving that the Occupy SF movement isn't limited to the average and benign San Francisco protester, Bay Area's religious leaders joined the movement today. With denominations as varied as Muslim and Buddhist to Jewish and Christian, an estimated 25 congregations marched today in solidarity with Occupy SF, decrying the disparity in wealth between the rich and the poor. more ›

Citing anti-freedom of religion sentiment, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill over the weekend blocking any and all circumcision bans in the state of California. Assembly bill 768, penned in response to San Francisco's controversial (and, admittedly, somewhat misguided) failed circumcision ban, will bar citizens from impinging upon Jewish and Muslim rituals involving foreskin snipping -- religious acts that some have decried as male genitalia mutilation. more ›

As the list of companies continues to climb, Cupertino-based Apple decided to yank its precious iTunes music service from noted hate group "Christian Values Network" (CVN). It all started after Western Washington University student Ben Crowthe's started a petition on Change.org going after the Stephen Baldwin- and Michael Lohan-backed group for exploiting Christianity for dastardly anti-gay and anti-woman schemes. more ›

Alameda false prophet Harold Camping, who predicted a May 2011 apocalypse that never came to fruition, suffered a stroke on Thursday, June 9. According to reports, the founder of nonprofit Family Radio Church suffered a stroke on his right side. Also, his speech is now a bit slurred. Regional manager for Family Stations Inc.,Charles Menut, posted the following Yahoo group message on Saturday, "Please just pray for him and do not try to contact anyone at his home or Family Radio...He and Shirley have enough family members to handle the situation. I'm sure we'll be able to publicly update everyone on Monday." more ›

Billed as one of the youngest (and refreshingly stylish) megachurch pastors in the country, Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C. sent out the following Twitter message for disgraced Family Radio minister Hardold Camping: more ›

Due to a technical glitch of sorts, Harold Camping has revised his rapture date to October 21, 2011. If you recall, the Family Radio minister's prediction of a ruinous May 21 rapture never happened. During a long-winded 90-minute radio show on Monday night, Camping explained himself thusly: "Were not changing a date at all; we're just learning that we have to be a little more spiritual about this...But on Oct. 21, the world will be destroyed. It won't be five months of destruction. It will come at once." more ›

Outside Harold Camping's Alameda house at 6:01 p.m. on Sunday, very little (save a cloud of shame and regret) hung over the false prophet's abode where he and his family waited for the rapture. Camping had used numerology and The Bible to make a proclamation that he and his Family Radio followers would be beamed to heaven at 6:00 p.m. on May 21. Alas, his forecast never came true. And ever since his prediction turned sour, he's said very little publicly about what happened. more ›

East Bay false prophet Harold Camping, who claims that the rapture will occur on 5/21, has an organization, Family Radio, that has bilked listeners out of $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009 with tales about Saturday's impending doom. Even his very own church employees don't buy Camping's judgement day gobbledygook. CNNMoney reports: more ›

The world might end on Saturday, May 21. Yep. Harold Camping, host of a local radio call-in show and Oakland false prophet, has made a prediction on the day of rapture. CBS reports: "The founder of Family Radio in Oakland - heard in 48 different languages around the globe - is behind the worldwide, multimillion dollar campaign letting people know that judgment day is coming on May 21, 2011." He anticipates an earthquake larger than the Japan quake - as well as all other sorts of doom/gloom. On Saturday, it is believed to be the day in which God beams his flock into heaven, leaving those of us (we're looking at you) to writhe in agony at the Devil's hands. more ›

When noted knee-jerk conservative queer pundit Andrew Sullivan slammed the annual Hunky Jesus contest in Dolores Park as "tired," "lame," and bigoted, heaps of SFist commenters chimed in with their thoughts. That was fun. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who put on the annual Jesus flesh festival, issued a statement in response to Sullivan. Which is also fun. The Rev. Sr. Merry Peter speaketh: more ›

Politically conservative gay columnist Andrew Sullivan recently decried San Francisco's Hunky Jesus Contest, an annual costume competition held every Easter Sunday in Dolores Park. The event, put on by Catholic satire/fundraising group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, showcases a bevy of beauties parodying Jesus Christ in varying forms of dress and sensuality. Sullivan writes: more ›

Robert Klatt, 32, was charged with child molestation on Tuesday. The San Jose minister is accused of "lewd and lascivious acts with a minor for allegedly victimizing two junior-high-age youths." Witnesses and potential victims are urged to call Detective Latendresse of the San Jose Police Department’s sexual assault unit at 408-277-4102. For those who want to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP or visit svcrimestopper.org. [CBS 5] more ›

JoeMyGod has some shocking, yet not so surprising, news on the same-sex marriage front: "Pastor Tom Daniels of Rio Linda, California is being held on $6M bail after being charged with multiple felony counts of sexual assault on a child." Lavender Newswire notes that that the Baptist pastor "twice made donations to Protect Marriage, the backers of Proposition 8." more ›

COMEDY: PianoFight Productions will perform the last production of their One Year AnnivHERsary Show, featuring the best of their past sketches, which include dueling dictator chefs, a liquor cabinet coming to life, air band battling, and fan favorite “Clitoris: The Musical.” more ›

Some last-minute screenings of David Wojnarowicz’s A Fire in My Belly have been scheduled on Friday night as part of a national protest of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery's removal of the video from their Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture exhibit last week because it was declared “hate speech” by Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, incoming House Speaker John Boehner, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. more ›

Warning: This video might act as a buzzkill for many elite San Franciscans who like their idols self-consciously ungodly and ungodly hip. (Shield your eyes and ears, 826 Valencia!) During a 2009 fellowship meeting with Giants teammates, Brian Wilson explains his end-of-game arm-cross salute. (Hint: It's about Jesus.) more ›

Abercrombie & Fitch's unyielding adherence to one kind of beauty has, once again, gotten them in trouble. A Mulsim woman accuses the clothing retailer of not hiring due to her head scarf. Mercury News reports, "Federal civil rights lawyers today sued clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of an 18-year-old Muslim woman who alleges the company's store at the Great Mall in Milpitas refused to hire her for wearing a religious head scarf, the second time the national chain has been hit with a similar discrimination lawsuit." more ›

The God-fearing folks at San Francisco's St. Michael's Korean Catholic Church have more to fear this week: bell thievery. Over the weekend, it seems, someone stole their massive, church bell that weighs between 400 to 600 pounds. How rude. more ›

Treasure Island is in need of a drastic makeover. The little swatch of land between SF and the East Bay is, for lack of a better work, harrowing. Which is why a "master plan for a showplace 21st century neighborhood on Treasure Island" is in the works. But, as with any city saddled with a population that fears getting older and thus loathes growth, not everyone is happy about the plan. It turns out that, according to SFGate, Treasure Island 2.0 won't "include room for a single church, synagogue or place of worship," which has John Elberling, director of the Treasure Island Development Authority, sad. "I don't think it's right," he explained. Read all about it. more ›

Say what you will about LDS members, difficult on the eyes isn't one of them. Why, just take a look at these jarringly Anglo-Saxon beauties here. Gay activist Michael Petrelis who, in his unyielding attempts to earn his Gay Scout Merit badge for Recruiting Mormon Boys, chatted up these two fresh-faced missionaries today. Describing the duo as "Regular Chatty Cathys," Petrelis stuck up a conversation: more ›

On Wednesday, US District Judge Vaughn Walker will announce his decision on Proposition 8, the California gay marriage ban. In a written statement, Walker will rule on the right of same-sex couples to marry. more ›