Thou shall not bear false witness”¦unless you’re the Baptist Messenger

I'm no bible expert, but isn't there stuff in it that says things like forgery, lying and general deception are bad?  If so, the people at the Oklahoma-based Baptist Messenger have sinned.  Check out what they did with Sally Kern's infamous "Proclamation for Morality."

Yep.  The Baptist Messenger "” an established weekly newspaper with a paid circulation of over 85,000"”decided to photoshop Governor Henry's signature on the embarrassing and archaic "Proclamation for Morality."   And to try and make the piece of right wing trash look even more legitimate, they placed the text of proclamation onto Executive Department letterhead and forged the signature of Secretary of State M. Susan Savage next to the state seal of Oklahoma.

Yeah, this is scandalous.  And yeah, this is wrong.  But know how it makes me feel?  It makes me wish I was Baptist.  These people can get away with anything!  They can forge our Governor's signature to a document, buy influence key elections and even hijack every Braum's in the state on Wednesday nights.   It's just too much power for one group to have,  and I want a part of it.  Seriously, think of all the fun we could have if we were Southern Baptists.  We'd be unstoppable!

Sadly, though, that's probably a pipe dream.  We like hot chicks, are logical, and believe in equal rights for everyone, so they probably wouldn't have us.

All that being said, I think it would be a good idea for the Baptist Messenger to issue a forgery retraction in their next issue.  Along with it, they should also apologize to Governor Henry for attributing him to a document that was written and endorsed by a right wing religious nut job bigot.  And for fun, forge Sally Kern's signature to it.

(Links: Due to the size of the printed proclomation, we had to scan it in part: Top, Bottom, Full)

UPDATE: The Baptist Messenger has issued an apology on their website.  According to media report, they placed the blame on a graphic artist.  Classy.

UPDATE II: Every local news outlet is now covering this story.  Granted, they are not thanking us for breaking it, but who really cares.