The World According To Carl

I don’t know if this is a sign of the apocalypse or simply a sign of insanity or stupidity but The Grand Rapids [Michigan] Press is reporting that Bradley LaShawn Fowler has filed multimillion lawsuits against both Zondervan Publishing and Thomas Nelson Publishing. He is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson. Why? Fowler alleges Zondervan’s and Thomas Nelson’s Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have damaged him. As further evidence that he’s lost his ever lovin’ mind, he’s representing himself in both cases even though he has no formal training in law. The Grand Rapids report reads:

CASCADE TOWNSHIP — A Canton man is suing Zondervan Publishing and a Tennessee-based publisher, claiming their versions of the Bible that refer to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and has caused him emotional pain and mental instability.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan, based in Cascade Township, and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in the lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Fowler filed the suit against Zondervan on Monday, the same day U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. refused to appoint an attorney to represent him in his case against Thomas Nelson, a Tennessee publisher. Fowler filed a suit against Thomas Nelson in June. He is representing himself in both claims.

“The Court has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims,” the judge wrote.

Fowler alleges Zondervan’s Bibles referring to homosexuality as a sin have made him an outcast from his family and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of “demoralization, chaos and bewilderment.”

The intent of the publisher was to design a religious, sacred document to reflect an individual opinion or a group’s conclusion to cause “me or anyone who is a homosexual to endure verbal abuse, discrimination, episodes of hate, and physical violence … including murder,” Fowler wrote.

Fowler’s suit claims Zondervan’s text revisions include and then delete the reference to homosexuality without informing the public of the changes.

The other suit, against Thomas Nelson and its New King James Bible, mirrors the allegations made against Zondervan for “manipulating” Scripture.

It’s not surprising that the Grand Rapids Press gave only one side to the story, the liberal side, and didn’t bother to include any other point of view on this. No where in the report does it indicate the Grand Rapids Press even tried to get Zondervan’s or Thomas Nelson’s side. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt to a point but normally if one did try to get the other side and they didn’t want to comment, that would be included somewhere in the report. The lack of any such indication leads me to believe the unsigned report is intentionally one-sided with no pretense of journalistic ethics or professionalism. Now what I also find quite interesting is that the report didn’t bother to do any digging into the story, a cardinal sin of journalism in the old school days. I did a little digging myself and although I am not a formally trained journalist, I managed to find out that Bradley LaShawn Fowler wrote a little book published by PublishAmerica in June of 2007 entitled “Reconcilation with the G.O.A.T.God of All Truth.” Before you get too impressed, let me point out to you that PublishAmerica is what is referred to as a “print-on-demand” publisher or better, a “vanity publisher.” In other words, you pay them to publish your book. They claim to be a “traditional” advance- and royalty-paying publisher but evidence proves otherwise. You can read more about PublishAmerica on Wikipedia as well on this website.

Anyway, according to identical “reviews” appearing on places in which the book is offered for sale online:
“For centuries, theologians have marveled over the scriptures within the Bible, yet none have been permitted to point out the biblical scriptures opposing the worshipping of Jesus.”

That interesting since Bradley has no stated nor implied training in Biblical languages, exegesis, hermeneutics or any form of Biblical studies. If this does go to court, I am certain Bradley’s ignorance of Biblical points, history, etc. will be made well-apparent. A cursory glance at Bradley’s website confirms this. I won’t dignify this nonsense by posting the URL or providing a link. find it yourself. He makes many claims there that are unsubstantiated. And for a self-professed writer, Bradley’s grammar, spelling and punctuation is atrocious (I’m a math major…I HAVE an excuse).

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