Focus on the fundies: Upper Midwest edition

Courtesy MNSpeak, visits to two different vast megachurches in suburban Minneapolis.

In November, Pulse visited bustling Wooddale Church:

Pastor Tim believes that despite His omniscience and divine power, God does not meet all our needs. People still need people. Using the overhead, he explains his theory using stick figures of Adam and Eve, bold arrows and a list of "needs" shouted out by the audience.

... followed early this month by the Twin Cities' City Pages visiting Grace Church:

Dees speaks of the American flag as the screens burst with images of the nation's banner, including coffin drapes. He unveils a sculpture of a kneeling soldier. When he says, "This memorial was made of the bronze altars, the bronze images, melted down from Saddam Hussein's palace," the congregation -- unprompted by the video monitors -- erupts into a long round of applause. "Is that not a fitting way to honor God, honor our service members?"

Meanwhile, they've been running a series all week long over on Salon about so-called "ex-gay ministries," institutions which try to "cure" homosexuality through various mixtures of prayer, "counseling" and compulsory masculinity. Some are sincere but misguided efforts to help people who are crushed by guilt, some are weird cult-like organizations, others are out-and-out scams. I haven't paid much attention to the series because I just don't need to know the details to know how full of shit these programs are, but it's there if you want it.