Church Soup: Episode 02 (Tom Ascol v Ted Cruz, Un-Tied Methodism, Aliens, and more!)

Hello Internet, I'm Keith Foskey and this is Church Soup, where we serve a bowl full of evangelical news, mixed with a dash of sarcasm, and do it all in 10 minutes or less.

Kicking off the show, Senator Ted Cruz and Pastor Tom Askell sparred on Twitter this week over a law in Uganda that criminalizes homosexuality.

Cruz argued that the law was horrific and wrong, and called on all civilized nations to condemn it as a human rights abuse.

Askell challenged Cruz, asking if God's law condemning homosexuality was also horrific and wrong.

Cruz stated that Askell's analysis of scripture is incorrect, citing several passages, including the woman caught in adultery in John's Gospel.

The president of Uganda was asked his thoughts on the controversy, and he said, I can't believe anyone would try to argue with Tom Askell about the Bible.

As Pride Month continues, the General Commission of Archives and History for the United Methodist Church announced a number of initiatives to celebrate and support the LGBTQ plus community.

Included in these initiatives is a special episode of the podcast Untied Methodism featuring a Reverend Karen, no I did not make that up, and Reverend Bob Ward.

This episode will explore Reverend Karen's being the first clergy person to be put on trial for practices incompatible with Christian teaching, after disclosing that she was a lesbian.

You know, I just can't imagine a better evening than snuggling under a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and binging an entire season of Untied Methodism.

Just sounds delightful.

Speaking of Pride Month, the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel made news this past week by posting an Instagram photo of a rainbow painted rocking chair along with the caption, Everyone is always welcome at our table and our rainbow rocker.

Apparently unaware that Disney, Target, and Bud Light exist, the company seemed somewhat surprised by the groundswell of negative comments on their post, which received over 2,000 responses in less than 24 hours.

In world news, government officials in Ireland are considering a plan to kill hundreds of thousands of cows in an effort to combat climate change.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConnellogue told RTE Morning Ireland he has been looking into various ways to reduce methane emissions, including culling 200,000 cows over the next three years.

Because everyone knows the greatest threat to world safety is bovine flatulence.

I wanted to say cow toots, but it just sounded a little too childish.

In extraterrestrial news, U.S.

intelligence officers now claim that there have been documented cases of the retrieval of crafts of non-human origin.

An article from TheDebrief.org, which was cited by Matt Walsh on his Twitter page, states that a U.S.

government task force was established to investigate actual UFOs.

Matt Walsh says that he is now considering a new documentary, What is an Extraterrestrial? Additionally, the news of extraterrestrial life having made contact comes to no surprise to anyone who has ever spent time on TikTok.

Finally, this coming week begins the 2023 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, where approximately 11,000 messengers from all around the world are set to descend upon New Orleans to ultimately determine whether or not Rick Warren is really a Southern Baptist.

Several messengers interviewed about the convention have said they can't believe the convention was located in New Orleans and it not be scheduled during Mardi Gras.

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