First up from the God machine this week is a story about a website about TV preacher [tag]Jerry Falwell[/tag] and a website that isn’t going anywhere, despite his best efforts.
Evangelist Jerry Falwell on Monday lost a Supreme Court appeal of a case that sought to shut down a Web site with a similar name but opposite views on gays.
Falwell claims that a gay New York City man improperly draws people to a site by using a common misspelling of the reverend’s name as the site’s domain name.
A federal judge sided with Falwell, who runs a Virginia-based ministries, on grounds that Christopher Lamparello’s domain name was nearly identical to the trademark bearing Falwell’s name and could confuse Web surfers.
But last year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and said that Lamparello was free to operate his ”gripe site” about Falwell’s views on gays at www.fallwell.com. Lamparello ”clearly created his Web site intending only to provide a forum to criticize ideas, not to steal customers,” the court said.
[tag]Fallwell[/tag].com (notice the extra “l” in the middle) makes clear that the site doesn’t belong to the evangelist, and includes a huge disclaimer. As the appeals court said, “After even a quick glance at the content of the Web site at www.fallwell.com, no one seeking Reverend Falwell’s guidance would be misled by the domain name…into believing Reverend Falwell authorized the content of that Web site. No one would believe that Reverend Falwell sponsored a site criticizing himself, his positions and his interpretations of the Bible.”
This week, the Supreme Court said it will not hear Falwell’s appeal, officially ending the case.
Next up is a new book about religion from a well-known theologian named [tag]Ann Coulter[/tag].
It’s called “Godless: The Church of Liberalism.” What’s it about? Take a wild guess. August J. Pollak found a description of the book on Human Events.
Ann ups the ante once again. In [tag]Godless[/tag]: The Church of Liberalism, she shows how liberal hostility to traditional religion stems from the fact that liberalism is itself a religion — a godless one. And, she reveals, thanks to the liberals who dominate our courts, our government bureaucracies, our schools, and our media, liberalism is now the established religion of our country. The doors to this church are thrown wide open and its sacraments, martyrs and clergy are exposed.
But, in Godless, Coulter goes one step further — by daring to attack the one dogma against which the high priests of liberalism will brook no dissent: Darwinism. If you thought Muslims reacted badly to cartoons of Muhammed, wait till you see how liberals react to Coulter’s treatment of their “prophet” Charles Darwin!
Just to be extra cheeky, Coulter’s book will be released on June 6 — or, put another way, 6.6.06. What a shrewd wit!
I’m particularly struck by the idea that Coulter is breaking new ground by attacking modern biology. It’s almost as if Coulter — or, at a minimum, her publicist — believes this is a bold move for a conservative that few have dared to try before.
I have to admit, there are some days I’m completely convinced that Coulter is a liberal who plays the role of a conservative to make the right look foolish. It’s just so hard to believe one person could be so genuinely ridiculous.