Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption was a legally recognized church in the
United States established by the comedian and satirist John Oliver
(pictured). Announced on August 16, 2015, in an episode of the
television program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the church's
purpose was to highlight and criticize televangelists, such as Kenneth
Copeland and Robert Tilton, who Oliver argued used television broadcasts
of Christian church services for private gain. Oliver also established
Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption to draw attention to the tax-exempt
status given to churches. During his show on September 13, 2015, Oliver
announced that the church had received "thousands of dollars" and a
variety of other items from viewers, and stated that the Church would be
shutting down. All monetary donations were given to Doctors Without
Borders. Oliver set up spinoffs of the Church in 2018 and 2021. The
segments and later spinoff segments featured the comedian Rachel Dratch
as Oliver's fictional wife, Wanda Jo.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Exemption>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1848:
The Benty Grange helmet, a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet
similar to those mentioned in the contemporary epic poem Beowulf, was
discovered in Derbyshire, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benty_Grange_helmet>
1939:
Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a
faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's
tactics of nonviolence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_India_Forward_Bloc>
1999:
A Doppler on Wheels team measured the fastest winds recorded on
Earth, at 301 ± 20 mph (484 ± 32 km/h), in a tornado near Bridge
Creek, Oklahoma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Bridge_Creek%E2%80%93Moore_tornado>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pen picture:
1. A written description, often biographical.
2. (art, archaic) A picture drawn with a pen.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pen_picture>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
To be my royal bodyguard, go youStraightway into the leafy
places, whereGreenwoods have grown in nature's way and notFrom a man's
sowing.
--Gnaeus Naevius
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Naevius>