Let me ask you: as a rational Christian, does that whole thing about being "washed in the blood of the lamb" creep you out as much as it does me? What is it with these people and their love of gore? They sing about being covered in blood, they go into orgasmic raptures when they think about Jesus being beaten into a bloody pulp. It's just so...UGH. Gross and disgusting and, honestly, psychotic. Imagine anyone going on about all that without any mention of religion, just how great it is to be washed in blood and how his soul is made happy by another man's screams and torn flesh. Woudn't that ring some serious alarm bells? Wouldn't you want to lock him up as a potential serial killer?

But we give such people constitutional protection because their obsessions are clothed in the veneer of religion. And then they have the gall to run around telling others that they're the only ones who are moral and righteous and good. To quote Woody Allen, "If Jesus were to come back today and see what's being done in his name, he'd never stop throwing up."

Well, the actual historical reason for the Anglican schism was that Rome wouldn't give Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He threw a hissy fit and declared himself the Pontiff in England. But it certainly snowballed after that, and Rome's views on a lot of things added fuel to their fire. Henry's tantrum gave the nobility in England a great excuse to loot the monasteries, stealing all the valuable gold and silver, and seizing the monks' lands (thus throwing all those hard-working peasants into the streets and creating a new beggar class). Just goes to show how much trouble a ruler can stir up when he decides to have his way No Matter What. A lesson we're certainly reliving now!

And oh, James, James, James. None of this surprises me. The guy's made some good action flicks, but the sharpest tack in the box, he ain't. I look forward to the Geraldo Rivera comparisons, myself.