"Make Your Day Count" To the Extreme

Lindsay Roberts, daughter-in-law of Oral Roberts, and "First Lady" of Oral Roberts University, is the host of "Make Your Day Count"

an uplifting half-hour daily program aimed especially at the needs of women.

She certainly knows how to "uplift" her daily needs:

Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be ''called home.''

Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as ''underage males.''

[snip]

The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by three former professors. They sued ORU and Roberts, alleging they were wrongfully dismissed after reporting the school's involvement in a local political race.

Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign.

The professors also said their dismissals came after they turned over to the board of regents a copy of a report documenting moral and ethical lapses on the part of Roberts and his family. The internal document was prepared by Stephanie Cantese, Richard Roberts' sister-in-law, according to the lawsuit.

An ORU student repairing Cantese's laptop discovered the document and later provided a copy to one of the professors.

It details dozens of alleged instances of misconduct. Among them:

-- A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an underage male friend of Mrs. Roberts could have his position.

-- Mrs. Roberts -- who is a member of the board of regents and is referred to as ORU's ''first lady'' on the university's Web site -- frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to ''underage males who had been provided phones at university expense.''

-- The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, Fla., and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was billed to the ministry as an ''evangelistic function of the president.''

-- Mrs. Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico's clothing store alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and California. She also repeatedly said, ''As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off.'' The document cites inconsistencies in clothing purchases and actual usage on TV.

-- Mrs. Roberts was given a white Lexus SUV and a red Mercedes convertible by ministry donors.

-- University and ministry employees are regularly summoned to the Roberts' home to do the daughters' homework.

-- The university and ministry maintain a stable of horses for exclusive use by the Roberts' children.

-- The Roberts' home has been remodeled 11 times in the past 14 years.

Tim Brooker, one of the professors who sued, said he fears for the university's survival if certain changes aren't made.

''All over that campus, there are signs up that say, `And God said, build me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy Spirit,''' Brooker said. ''Unfortunately, ownership has shifted.''

Texting underage males in the wee hours of the morning. Tens of thousands of dollars for clothing in one year. A Mercedes and Lexus SUV. God's work. Oh yeah.

Seen in Springfield

Didn't have a camera to photograph the bumper on which this appeared, so a replica from the Web will have to do. Takes a brave soul to display this in MegaChurch-field.

But God Created Sex, Didn't She?

A "sex scandal" hits the Creation Museum in Kentucky:

The man who plays Adam in a video aired at a Bible-based creationist museum has led a different life outside the Garden of Eden, flaunting his sexual exploits online and modeling for a clothing line that promotes free love.

[snip]

The actor, Eric Linden, owns a graphic Web site called Bedroom Acrobat, where he has been pictured, smiling alongside a drag queen, in a T-shirt brandishing the site's sexually suggestive logo. The Web site, which has a network of members, allows users to post explicit stories and photos.

He also sells clothing for SFX International, whose initials appear on clothing to spell "SEX" from afar. It promotes "free love,""pleasure" and "thrillz."

Linden, a graphic designer, model and actor who grew up in Columbus, said he is no longer affiliated with the Bedroom Acrobat site, and had handed the domain name off to somebody. Ownership records available through the NetworkSolutions database show Linden registered the site 18 months ago.

He also said he no longer posts to the site.

Linden said he is very proud to play Adam. "But just because I'm Adam on the screen, that doesn't mean I'm Adam off the screen," he said. "What I do shouldn't have anything to do with who they think Adam is."

[snip]

The museum pulled the clip after learning about his online activities from The Associated Press.

Linden, who now lives in Los Angeles, said his modeling work for the clothing line is just one of the many jobs that make up his career. He said he has great respect for the founders of the Creation Museum and their vision.

"For the Creation Museum, I did what I did as an actor. It doesn't necessarily mean I believe in evolution or a believe in creation," Linden said. "I'm hired to get a point across. On the flip side, if I was hired to play a murderer, that doesn't mean I'd go out and kill somebody. It's make-believe."

I'd think all those creationists would be quite happy with this. Heck, it fits right in with the story line of Adam and Eve being driven from Eden. Why are religious fanatics so uptight about sex?

Is This Heaven? No, it's Poland.

And you thought you'd heard the last of Jerry Falwell:

Poland to probe if Teletubbies are gay
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's conservative government took its drive to curb what it sees as homosexual propaganda to the small screen on Monday, taking aim at Tinky Winky and the other Teletubbies.

Ewa Sowinska, government-appointed children rights watchdog, told a local magazine published on Monday she was concerned the popular BBC children's show promoted homosexuality.

She said she would ask psychologists to advise if this was the case.

In comments reminiscent of criticism by the late U.S. evangelist Jerry Falwell, she was quoted as saying: "I noticed (Tinky Winky) has a lady's purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy."

"At first I thought the purse would be a burden for this Teletubby ... Later I learned that this may have a homosexual undertone."

Poland's rightist government has upset human rights groups and drawn criticism within the European Union by apparent discrimination against homosexuals.

Polish Education Minister Roman Giertych has proposed laws sacking teachers who promote "homosexual lifestyle" and banning "homo-agitation" in schools.

But in a sign that the government wants to distance itself from Sowinska's comments, Parliamentary Speaker Ludwig Dorn said he had warned her against making public comments "that may turn her department into a laughing stock."

The 10-year-old Teletubbies, which features four rotund, brightly colored characters loved by children around the world, became a target of religious conservatives after Falwell suggested Tinky Winky could be homosexual.

The hate of bigot Jerry Falwell lives on, even if he doesn't.

Friday Thought

I keep reading statements that creating laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation is evidence of religious persecution. The argument seems to be that adding "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to categories like race and religion is an effort to legally enshrine homosexuality as morally legitimate. Such efforts "stigmatize anti-homosexuality religious principle."

I know plenty of people who've changed their religion but none who've changed their sexual orientation. So either gay-ness is legitimately protectable or religion isn't. Pick one.