Dallas Atheists

"The word God is the product of human weakness" a letter from Albert Einstein

2010-08-18T20:30:00.004-05:00

In January of 1954, just a year before his death, Albert Einstein wrote the following letter to philosopher Eric Gutkind after reading his book, 'Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt'. The letter that was expected to sell for £8,000 was bought at auction in May 2008, for £170,000. Read the very well written and polite response below.

Translated Transcript

Princeton, 3. 1. 1954

Dear Mr Gutkind,

Inspired by Brouwer’s repeated suggestion, I read a great deal in your book, and thank you very much for lending it to me ... With regard to the factual attitude to life and to the human community we have a great deal in common. Your personal ideal with its striving for freedom from ego-oriented desires, for making life beautiful and noble, with an emphasis on the purely human element ... unites us as having an “American Attitude.”

Still, without Brouwer’s suggestion I would never have gotten myself to engage intensively with your book because it is written in a language inaccessible to me. The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. ... For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong ... have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything “chosen” about them.

In general I find it painful that you claim a privileged position and try to defend it by two walls of pride, an external one as a man and an internal one as a Jew. As a man you claim, so to speak, a dispensation from causality otherwise accepted, as a Jew of monotheism. But a limited causality is no longer a causality at all, as our wonderful Spinoza recognized with all incision...

Now that I have quite openly stated our differences in intellectual convictions it is still clear to me that we are quite close to each other in essential things, i.e. in our evaluation of human behavior ... I think that we would understand each other quite well if we talked about concrete things.

With friendly thanks and best wishes,

Yours,

A. Einstein

Mormons Are Normal And Mainstream

2010-08-18T19:36:00.005-05:00

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (I prefer to call them COJCOLDS) has started an advertising program both on commercial radio and television (in selected US markets) and on the Internet to show just how "Normal" and "Mainstream" they are. So, in an effort to help them, based on his many years in the Mormon Church, Flat Lander, the Bishop of the new Moron Church prepared this video of things that the Mormon Church actually do and believe. Decide for yourselves how "normal" and "mainstream" Mormons are.

After watching this informative and funny video I wanted to see if there were any famous exMormons out there; I was surprised and happy at what I found.

Ryan Gosling, he's "religious but nondenominational"

Eliza Dushku

Amy Adams

Westboro Baptist Church North Texas Hate Tour 2010

2010-07-08T09:29:00.005-05:00

The fine folks from Westboro Baptist will be in Dallas and Arlington tomorrow (7/9) and Sunday (7/11). They won't be picketing the funerals of dead soldiers this time but instead they will be picketing the Dallas Holocaust Museum (classy), a few Jewish community centers, a Gay and Lesbian center, Fielder Road Baptist Church in Arlington, and two Catholic Churches. I'm definitely going to their picket at the Gay and Lesbian center to witness this hilarious debacle for myself.

Dallas - 7/9 - 2:15-2:45pm

Dallas Holocaust Museum 211 North Record Street, Suite 100 WBC to picket the Dallas Holocaust Museum to remind the Jews that the Lord their God caused the Holocaust. They broke His Commandments, despised His laws and crucified the Messiah. For these sins, the Lord cast them into the hands of evil men to do with as they pleased. Jeremiah 19:3 And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

Dallas - 7/9 - 3:00-3:30pm

Jewish Community Center of Dallas 7900 Northaven Road WBC will picket the Jewish Community Center of Dallas to remind the Jews that they are cursed for killing Christ, the son of the true and living God. They still refuse to repent of their sins to this day. Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. 25 Then answered all the people(they were Jews!), and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Dallas - 7/9 - 3:35-4:15pm

Texas Jewish Post 7920 Belt Line Road, Suite 680 WBC will picket the Texas Jewish Post of Dallas to remind you Jews that the Lord has confounded your leaders and they have lead you astray. You have served other gods and now the Lord fulfills his promise toward you as such: Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? 18 And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.

Dallas - 7/9 - 4:30-5pm

Yavneh Academy of Dallas 12324 Merit Drive WBC will picket the Yavneh Academy of Dallas to remind this nation that the teachers and parents (in particular, Jewish parents and teachers), of this next generation are lying to these children about God. The parents and teachers are to blame for the sky-high rate of youth fornication, abortion, murder, drug abuse, suicide and demon possession(also called mental illness). They teach the children that it is OK to be gay, that God is a liar and that they can live for the devil himself but still go to heaven without repenting. Deuteronomy 28:41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. Remember the Lord your God, Jews of Dallas, and how He let your ancestors be carried away into captivity by the Assyrians and Babylonians. More and worse is coming at the hand of your God!

Dallas - 7/9 - 6:15-6:45pm

Congregation Beth el Binah at the Gay & Lesbian Center 2701 Reagan Street WBC will picket Congregation Beth el Binah at the John Thomas Gay and Lesbian Center of Dallas to remind them that the Lord, who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for being a bunch of filthy fags, still reigns sovereign. How much worse will it be for this generation of sodomites, having had that example of the Lord's wrath poured out? Luke 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, 11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. The perverts of Dallas have a history of rejecting the true Gospel preaching of WBC. They will soon see a repeat of the Lord's wrath poured out as it was on Sodom first hand.

Dallas - 7/11 - 8:30-9am

Chabad of Dallas 6710 Levelland Road WBC to picket the Jews at Chabad of Dallas where they teach lies and traditions of men that encourage sin instead of teaching the commandments of God. Why will ye die, Jews? Eze 18:31 - Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Why do you continue to provoke your God to wrath with your rebellion? God has promised to restore you -- 144,000 of you, that is -- who will look upon him who you pierced and mourn for your dreadful sins. The majority of you will never repent and will face a destruction that will make the holocaust look like a tea party -- all at the hands of Anti-Christ Beast Obama, and very soon now. Come out from among them, and repent! We will help you, God willing. Hallelujah! Amen!

Arlington - 7/11 - 9-9:30am

Fielder Road Baptist Church 1323 West Pioneer Parkway WBC will picket Fielder Road Baptist Church to remind these so-called Christians that by paying preachers to lie, they are incurring God's wrath. The pay the preaches to tell them that they each have free-will and that their fate is in their own hands rather than God's. Further, the people do not want to OBEY nor do they want to hear the truth about the wages of their sin (hint: death.) They prefer to hear preacher tell them that they control their own destiny and that God is a liar and didn't mean it when He said He would send the unrepentant to Hell. Isaiah 30:9 That this is a rebellious people(i.e. doomed americans), lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Dallas - 7/11 - 9:45-10:30am

Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadelupe 2215 Ross Avenue WBC to picket the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadelupe to remind these people that Priests Rape Boys. Catholics pay the priests to lie on God and tell them that they do not have to obey. God promised he would curse you if you would not obey, hence He sends pedophile priests to rape your children. The parents continue to send their children to this pedophile machine masquerading as a church because they don't want to put away their sin and repent! 2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. Titus 1: 15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Arlington - 7/11 - 10:45-11:30am

Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church 2100 North Davis Drive WBC to picket the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church of Dallas to remind these hard-hearted Catholics that Priests Rape Boys. Catholics pay the priests to lie on God and tell them that they do not have to obey. God promised he would curse you if you would not obey, hence He sends pedophile priests to rape your children. The parents continue to send their children to this pedophile machine masquerading as a church because they don't want to put away their sin and repent! 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Christopher Hitchens Explains Why Even If Christianity Were To Be Proven True, It Would Still Be Immoral...

2010-06-23T19:53:00.005-05:00

...and I totally agree with him.

NASCAR Bible...Dang!

2010-06-21T10:34:00.002-05:00

NASCAR Bible makes me think of this...

"Dear Lord baby Jesus, lyin' there in your ghost manger, just lookin' at your Baby Einstein developmental videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors. I would like to thank you for bringin' me and my mama together, and also that my kids no longer sound like retarded gang-bangers." Ricky Bobby

"I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger." Cal Naughton, Jr

"I had a dream where Jesus was a dirty old bum, and I was about to sock him in the face because, well he's a dirty old bum, but then I thought, there's something special about him.." Cal Naughton, Jr

"I like to think of Jesus as an Ice Dancer, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, and doing an interpretive dance of my life." Cal Naughton, Jr

"I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo T-Shirt because it says I want to be formal, but I'm here to party." Cal Naughton, Jr

"I like to think of Jesus like with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!" Cal Naughton, Jr

"[running around on the track in his underwear] Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Allah! AAAAAHHH! Help me Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise, use your witchcraft on me to get the fire off me!" Ricky Bobby

The Daily Show - Jon Stewart on Obama Praying for Divine Intervention For the Oil Spill

2010-06-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, "God or Government, Who do You Worship"

2010-06-15T13:50:00.006-05:00

This is an excerpt of Gov. Rick Perry's 14 minute speech to the Conservative Texas Eagle Forum where he lays out his idea for a religious crusade to take back the soul of the country. This event was on Thursday just before the kick off of the Texas GOP Convention:

"We will raise our voices in defense of our values and in defiance of the hollow precepts and shameful self-interests that guide our opponents on the left," Perry said to the receptive audience.

He said the November election is bigger than "red states and blue states, conservatives or liberals, stimulus or budget cuts."

"We are in a struggle for the heart and soul of our nation," Perry said.

"That's the question: Who do you worship? Do you believe in the primacy of unrestrained federal government? Or do you worship the God of the universe, placing our trust in him?"

The Dallas Morning News

Texas GOP Convention Prayer Rally:

Catholic Magazine FAIL

2010-06-07T14:33:00.002-05:00

This looks about right...

Richard Dawkins "Pope Nazi" Comment At The GAC

2010-05-26T10:03:00.003-05:00

This is from a Q&A at the 2010 Global Atheist Convention in Australia.

"Mission Accomplished"?

2010-05-01T12:35:00.003-05:00

Seven years ago today President Bush made his "Mission Accomplished" speech on the deck of the U.S.S Abraham regarding the Iraq war. Bush's photo op moment isn't just slightly off...it's 2,555 days, thousands of lives, and billions of dollars off.

Tim Minchin - "Pope Song"

2010-04-29T23:09:00.002-05:00

Here are the lyrics in case you missed something:

Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, he's a fucking motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the fucking fucker
Fuck the motherfucker, he's a total fucking fucker

Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fucking fuck the motherfucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucking pope

Fuck the motherfucker, and fuck you motherfucker

If you think that motherfucker is sacred
If you cover for another motherfucker who's a kiddie fucker
Fuck you, you're no better than the motherfucking rapist

And if you don't like the swearing that this motherfucker forced from me
And reckon it shows moral or intellectual paucity
Then fuck you, motherfucker, this is language one employs
When one is fucking cross about fuckers fucking boys

I don't give a fuck if calling the pope a motherfucker
Means you unthinkingly brand me an unthinking apostate
This has naught to do with other fucking godly motherfuckers
I'm not interested right now in fucking scriptural debate

There are other fucking songs and there are other fucking ways
I'll be a religious apologist on other fucking days
But the fact remains if you protect a single kiddie fucker
Then pope or prince or plumber, you're a fucking motherfucker

You see I don't give a fuck what any other motherfucker
Believes about Jesus and his motherfucking mother
I've no problem with the spiritual beliefs of all these fuckers
While those beliefs don't impact on the happiness of others

But if you build your church on claims of fucking moral authority
At which threats of hell impose it on others in society
Then you, you motherfuckers, can expect some fucking wrath
When it turns out you've been fucking us in our motherfucking asses

So fuck the motherfucker, and fuck you, motherfucker
If you're still a motherfucking papist
If he covered for a single motherfucker who's a kiddie fucker
Fuck the motherfucker, he's as evil as the rapist

And if you look into your motherfucking heart and tell me true
If this motherfucking stupid fucking song offended you
With its filthy fucking language, and its fucking disrespect
If it made you feel angry go ahead and write a letter

But if you find me more offensive than the fucking possibility
The pope protected priests when they were getting fucking fiddly
Then listen to me, motherfucker, this here is a fact:
You are just as morally misguided as that motherfucking, power hungry, self-aggrandized bigot in the stupid fucking hat

Deepak Chopra Gets Humiliated And Humbled In 13 Seconds

2010-04-29T20:55:00.006-05:00

Not that it's really hard to humiliate a new agey pseudoscience pushing hack like Chopra; I mean, this clip is taken from a debate about the existence of the devil after all, and he was on the side of the Catholic Priest.

Muslims Threaten To Kill South Park Creators

2010-04-21T11:32:00.006-05:00

[Muhammad]

Damn, Jesus Really Was Hung On The Cross!

2010-04-19T11:21:00.004-05:00

[click to embiggen, you really don't need to]

Controversy has engorged a Warr Acres, Oklahoma Catholic church over this 10 foot depiction of Jesus on the cross. Some of the church congregation don't see the god sized gland, while many others are anything but flaccid with anger at the sight of a Christ cock. Personally, I can't unsee a giant Jesus johnson!

NewsOk -

Churchgoers are outraged over a crucifix in a Catholic church that they say shows an image of genitalia on Jesus.

The controversial crucifix has caused a deep divide among members of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, where it hangs above the main altar.

"There are a couple people who have left the parish,” said the Rev. Philip Seeton, the church’s pastor. "There are people in the parish who don’t like it and have stayed.”

Critics of the crucifix take issue with what appears to be a large penis covering Jesus’ abdominal area. Seeton said the portion of the crucifix in question is meant to be Jesus’ abdomen "showing distension” — not a penis.

The crucifix is about 10 feet tall. It has been hanging above the altar since Feb. 21.

Monsignor Edward Weisenburger of the Oklahoma City Archdiocese also said he has no problems with the crucifix. He said the archdiocese has received no complaints about it.

We Are All Star Stuff

2010-04-13T14:09:00.004-05:00

"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren't created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today." - Lawrence Krauss (Prof. of Physics Arizona State University)

Mrs. Betty Bowers: Sarah Palin Wins "Worst Mother in America" Award

2010-04-11T18:29:00.004-05:00

"Your tireless determination to carelessly ignore your family, when you aren't carefully exploiting them..."

It's Tough Being the Westboro Baptist Church...

2010-04-10T00:31:00.004-05:00

[click to embiggen]

Creepiest God Damn Thing I've Ever Seen!

2010-04-09T12:13:00.004-05:00

Apparently this artist loves Jesus, and creeping the shit out of little children.

Here's the full size drawing if you want to get full size creeped out.

Nate Phelps, Son of the "God Hates Fags" Preacher Fred Phelps, Speaks Out Against His Father

2010-04-08T22:39:00.005-05:00

From Vancouver B.C. The Times Colonist:

VANCOUVER — Soft-spoken taxi driver Nate Phelps of Cranbrook, B.C., is coming forward on Easter Sunday to speak out in a televised interview against one of America’s most outspoken anti-gay crusaders — his own father.

Phelps, who has been quietly living in B.C. with his wife and four children, is the estranged son of Pastor Fred Phelps, head of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.

Members of the church gained notoriety in Canada in 2008 after announcing plans to picket the funeral of Tim McLean, who was beheaded on a Greyhound bus near Winnipeg by a man who is now in a psychiatric hospital.

Pastor Phelps claimed the grisly murder was divine revenge for Canada’s liberal policies on abortion, gay rights and divorce.

Nate Phelps, who broke away from his father and his beliefs in 1980, first revealed his identity to a customer in his cab in Cranbrook. The fare happened to be University of B.C. journalism student Trevor Melanson.

Melanson went on to write an award-winning feature about Nate Phelps that was published in the Ubyssey, the newspaper at the University of British Columbia, and on thetyee.ca website in 2009.

In his first in-depth television interview, he tells journalist Peter W. Klein about a childhood dominated by a fear of going to hell, and says the Westboro Baptist Church shares some of the same traits as a cult.

Phelps says his father regularly beat his mother and 11 siblings, used racial epithets and blamed the world’s problems on homosexuality.

In recent years the Kansas congregation has outraged many for conducting verbally abusive protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Phelps claims that America’s losses are God’s punishment for increasing social acceptance of homosexuality.

On his “church” website, (godhatesfags.com) Phelps publishes a list of planned protests that he dubs “the love crusades.”

In the interview, Phelps says that his father was once a brilliant and well-respected lawyer who led several anti-segregation cases and was honoured by the NAACP as a civil rights hero.

Nate Phelps now considers himself an atheist.

This is an amazing interview that recently aired on Canada's VisionTV. It sheds light on Nate Phelps "sociopath" father and his tiny but disgustingly vocal church. The interview lasts just over 30 minutes but it is well worth it.

"I'm Sorry I'm a Christian" - A poem by Chris Tse

2010-04-07T12:09:00.003-05:00

If only the average Christian were this honest.

"I'm sorry we stand at the front of abortion clinics screaming at 15 year old girls as they enter, instead of waiting at the back door and hugging them as they leave." I had a momentary choke up when I heard this line.

After Attempted NFL Combine Prayer, Tebow Told To "Shut The Fuck Up"

2010-03-25T11:43:00.000-05:00

The overly pious, and professional crybaby Tim Tebow reportedly requested the room of prospect NFL players to bow their heads in prayer before the Wonderlic, a twelve minute, fifty question NFL pre-draft test. Another player reportedly told Tim to "shut the fuck up" as other players laughed.

According to ESPN Tebow had a below average Wonderlic score of 22 out of 50; which once again proves that preparation beats prayer every time.

Darryl. The kind of friend Jesus would have.

2010-03-18T13:23:00.003-05:00

Click HERE to read a hysterical email exchange between an Australian public school counselor and a concerned parent that started over a permission slip that the school sent out for the kids to attend an Easter play.

"Fair and Balanced", eh Fox News?

2010-03-05T16:43:00.002-06:00

Psst Fox, you're doing it wrong. You're supposed to report on the news...don't be the news!

Here's a Bible Verse You Didn't Hear in Sunday School

2010-02-26T11:13:00.004-06:00

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." Psalms 137-9
Just Gives you that warm fuzzy infanticide feeling doesn't it?

Christian Side Hug

2010-02-20T12:32:00.004-06:00

Because Baby Jesus weeps when two teenagers denim genitals touch! What's funny and scary to me about this real church event is that the kids in the crowd seem to love it and they don't seem to mind that guns are going off the entire time in this christian song. Guns = Good, PDA = Bad.

Glow Sticks N Crucifix

2010-02-20T11:59:00.004-06:00

Strangely, I don't remember the baptist church I went to as a teenager being at all like this.

30% of Texans Think the Flintstones was a Documentary

2010-02-19T08:38:00.008-06:00

This is just sad and embarrassing. As if Texas wasn't already the laughingstock of the US (and the developed world) with it's love for bronze aged myths and it's denial of scientific reality. Three in ten Texas voters believe that humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time!

This cartoon just about sums up the willful ignorance that my state wallows in:

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T10:48:00.003-06:00

A first grade girl made this for her Christian friend who told her she was going to hell for not being a Christian. I think it's sweet!

Anne Hathaway Left the Catholic Church Because it's Anti-Gay

2010-02-08T21:00:00.003-06:00

Hathaway told the British GQ:

"The whole family converted to Episcopalianism after my elder brother came out. Why should I support an organisation that has a limited view of my beloved brother? So I'm... nothing (no denomination). Fuck it, I'm forming. I'm a work in progress."

While she hasn't come out and said she's an atheist, "So I'm...nothing" gives me hope that she will. I would love to see Anne knock Angelina Jolie out of the spot of hottest atheist celebrity.

"Me Fail English? That's Unpossible!

2010-02-08T11:16:00.003-06:00

This little beauty was snapped yesterday at the pRick Perry - Sarah Palin rally in Cypress, Texas just outside of Houston. It's a perfect metaphor for the dumbing down of the Texas school children and of America in general that these two imbeciles are so happily taking part in.

Scientologists in Haiti: A Firsthand Account

2010-02-06T14:33:00.004-06:00

They would have helped a lot more if they stayed home. Link to the crazy.

Richard Dawkins: The Tim Tebow Fallacy

2010-02-06T11:20:00.002-06:00

Q: The conservative Christian group Focus on the Family is sponsoring a pro-life ad, featuring football star Tim Tebow, during Sunday's Super Bowl. Should CBS show the ad? Should CBS allow other faith-based groups to buy Super Bowl ads promoting their beliefs on social issues? Is a major sporting event, or a TV ad campaign, an appropriate venue for discussing such vital and divisive culture-war issues like abortion?

I gather that Tim Tebow is extremely good at football. That's just as well, for he certainly isn't very good at thinking. Perhaps the fact that he was home schooled by missionary parents is to blame.

The following is what passes for logic in the Tebow mind. His mother was advised by doctors to abort him, but she refused, which is why Tim is here. So abortion is a bad thing. Masterful conclusion.

It is a version of what, following the great Nobel-Prizewinning biologist Peter Medawar, I have called the Great Beethoven Fallacy.

Versions of the Great Beethoven Fallacy are attributed to various Christian apologists, and the details vary. The following is the version favoured by Norman St John Stevas, a British Conservative Member of Parliament. One doctor to another:

"About the terminating of pregnancy, I want your opinion. The father was syphilitic. The mother tuberculous. Of the four children born, the first was blind, the second died, the third was deaf and dumb, the fourth was also tuberculous. What would you have done?"

"I would have terminated the pregnancy."

"Then you would have murdered Beethoven."

It is amazing how many people are bamboozled by this spectacularly stupid argument. Setting aside the simple falsehood that Ludwig van Beethoven was the fifth child in his family (he was actually the eldest), the falsehood that any of his siblings was born blind, deaf or dumb, and the falsehood that his father was syphilitic, we are left with the 'logic'. As Peter Medawar, writing with his wife, Jean Medawar, said,

"The reasoning behind this odious little argument is breathtakingly fallacious . . . the world is no more likely to be deprived of a Beethoven by abortion than by chaste absence from intercourse."

If you follow the 'pro-life' logic to its conclusion, a fertile woman is guilty of something equivalent to murder every time she refuses an offer of copulation. Incidentally, 'pro life' always means pro human life, never animal life although an adult cow or monkey is obviously far more capable of feeling pain and fear than a human fetus. But the profoundly un-evolutionary nature of this terminology is another story and I'll set it on one side.

The sperm that conceived Tim Tebow was part of an ejaculate of (at an average estimate) 40 million. If any one of them had won the race to Mrs Tebow's ovum instead of the one that did, Tim would not have been born, somebody else would. Probably not such a good quarterback but - we can but hope - a better logician, who might have survived the home schooling and broken free. That is not the point. The point is that every single one of us is lucky to be alive against hyper-astronomical odds. Tim Tebow owes his existence not just to his mother's refusal to have an abortion. He owes his existence to the fact that his parents had intercourse precisely when they did, not a minute sooner or later. Then before that they had to meet and decide to marry. The same is true of all four of his grandparents, all eight of his great grandparents, and so on back.

Religious apologists are unimpressed by this kind of argument because, they say, there is a distinction between snuffing out a life that is already in existence (as in abortion) and failure to bring life into existence in the first place. It's not a distinction that survives analytical thought, however. Look at it from the point of view of Tim's unborn sister (let us say), who would have been conceived two months later if only Tim had been aborted. Admittedly, she is not in a position to complain of her non-existence. But then nor would Tim have been in a position to complain of his non-existence, if he had been aborted. You need a functioning nervous system in order to complain, or regret, or feel wistful, or feel pain, or miss the life that you could have had. Unconceived babies don't have a nervous system. Nor do aborted fetuses. As far as anything that matters is concerned, an aborted fetus has exactly the same mental and moral status as any of the countless trillions of unconceived babies. At least, that is true of early abortions, which means the vast majority.

The fact that the Tim Tebow advertisement is a load of unthought-through nonsense is no reason to ban it. That would infringe our valued principle of free speech. The best that the rest of us can do is point out, to anyone that will listen despite our lack of money to pay for such advertisements, that it is nonsense. As I have just done.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/richard_dawkins/2010/02/the_great_tim_tebow_fallacy.html

Salvation Army Fail

2010-02-06T10:39:00.003-06:00

U.S. Baptist Baby Thieves in Haiti to be Criminally Charged

2010-02-05T11:14:00.006-06:00

Haiti has charged 10 US missionaries with child abduction and criminal conspiracy for allegedly trying to smuggle 33 children out of the country.

“One of the elder girls told us, ‘I’m not an orphan. I still have my parents,’” he added. “She thought she was going on a summer holiday vacation given by friendly people from America and the Dominican Republic.” said Georg Willeit, who runs the SOS Children’s Village outside Port-au-Prince.

"I feel good," the missionary group's leader Laura Silsby told reporters. "I trust in God."... "They are very precious kids that have lost their homes and families and are so deeply in need of, most of all, God's love and his compassion."

Hey Mrs. Silsby, not all of the children lost their families, some of them were taken from their families! Mostly the children are in need of "god's love and compassion"? I disagree, I'd say that food, water, shelter, and medical attention are a bit more dire than your invisible deity's so called "compassion". And according to the bible isn't your god responsible for natural disasters such as this one that has caused so much misery?

The media has done a decent job covering this story, but imagine if the scenario was exactly the same but instead of the group being Baptist Christians they were Muslims or any other non-Christian group that were trying to kidnap these children. The Christian-right's heads would collectively explode!

Ten Signs You Are an Unquestioning Christian

2010-01-28T19:21:00.003-06:00

[click to embiggen]

Richard Pryor: Why Vampires Hate the Crucifix

2010-01-25T13:19:00.005-06:00

Richard Pryor had more useful insight to this world than any pope, priest, rabbi, or imam ever did!

God Tricks 117 Russian 'Sinners' by Poisioning Their 'Holy Water'

2010-01-25T10:54:00.003-06:00

MOSCOW — More than 100 Russian Orthodox believers have been hospitalized after drinking holy water during Epiphany celebrations in the eastern city of Irkutsk, an official said Monday.

A total of 117 people, including 48 children, were in the hospital complaining of acute intestinal pain after drinking water from wells in and around a local church last week, said Vladimir Salovarov, a spokesman for the Irkutsk Investigative Committee.

Salovarov said 204 people required some medical treatment after consuming the water, the source of which was a stagnant lake. He said, however, that it was too early to say what caused the illness.

Many Russians consider any water obtained on Epiphany – which they celebrate on Jan. 19 – to be holy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/25/contaminated-holy-water-s_n_435098.html

Gunsights From God

2010-01-19T16:51:00.005-06:00

Coded references to biblical passages are inscribed on gunsights widely used by the US and British military in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has emerged.

The Trijicon rifle scopes, which are being used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, are inscribed with abbreviations like JN8:12, for John 8:12 -- "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" The Army said this week it is investigating whether Trijicon violated procurement rules.

The inscriptions have been criticized by religious groups and separation of church and state activists. Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation told ABC, "It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles."

"We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals." - Trijicon

Here is Steve Doocy of Fox News trying to justify Trijicon's bible scopes by using the "they started it" defense. I would expect that excuse from a 5 year old after a playground fight...but this is Fox News after all.

Symphony of Science - 'The Unbroken Thread'

2010-01-06T22:35:00.005-06:00

"The Unbroken Thread" is the fourth video in the Symphony of Science series, and it features David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, and Carl Sagan. The clips used in this installment come from Carl Sagan's Cosmos, David Attenborough's Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life, The Life of Mammals, The Living Planet, BBC Life, XVIVO Scientific Animations, IMAX Cosmic Voyage, Jane Goodall's TED Talk, and a clever Guiness Commercial. The themes present in The Unbroken Thread attempt to explore the wild diversity of life on our planet, the intricacy and origin of its mechanisms, and its close relation to all other life forms.

Brit Hume of Fox New Being a Condescending Ass Hat

2010-01-03T12:45:00.002-06:00

Tiger Woods must become a Christian to be forgiven.

"The extent to which he can recover seems to me depends on his faith," said Hume. "He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of redemption and forgiveness offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger is, 'Tiger turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Hey Brit, that's some pretty ironic logic given the many recent sex scandals of prominent right wing conservative Christian politicians.

Religion 101: Final Exam

2010-01-02T12:44:00.005-06:00

Click HERE to take the 2010 Religion Exam

2009: A Collection Of Kooky Quotes From The Texas State Board of Education

2009-12-30T22:05:00.004-06:00

With the new year approaching, it’s worthwhile to remember what we’ve heard from the religious right in 2009. We will start today where we began the year: with the religious right’s efforts to undermine science education by watering down instruction on evolution in public school science classrooms.

“Jeffrey Dahmer Believed in Evolution.’”

– The subject line of a widely circulated e-mail attacking the teaching of evolution in Texas public schools and suggesting that learning about evolution led Dahmer, an infamous serial murderer, to kill and cannibalize 17 boys, TFN Insider, February 2, 2009

“I disagree with these experts. Somebody’s gotta stand up to experts that are… I don’t know why they’re doing it.”

– Texas State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-College Station, in a rambling defense of the creationist arguments he used to attack evolutionary theory during the final debate over new public school science curriculum standards, TFN Insider, March 27, 2009

“I pray for my three friends, Pat Hardy of Ft. Worth, Bob Craig of Lubbock, and Geraldine ‘Tincy’ Miller of Dallas. They voted against the Republican Party platform and allowed themselves to be constantly lobbied by prominent atheists and secular humanists. These three Republicans will now have to stand accountable before their constituents.”

– Texas State Board of Education Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio, criticizing fellow Republicans on the state board who didn’t support watering down instruction on evolution in public school science classrooms, San Antonio Express-News, February 9, 2009

“Evolution has been jammed down our throats our whole lives. I’m glad of the opportunity to look at the other side of the coin.”

– Tim Smith, an Abilene resident who attended a church seminar designed to show how scientific evidence supports creationism, not the theory of evolution, Abilene Reporter-News, January 10, 2009

“While state legislatures haggle over the words science, theory, and weaknesses, American schoolchildren continue to rank poorly in science education among the nations of the world. Pouring more money into the status quo of evolution-based science education isn’t the answer. Teaching the truth is.”

– Henry Morris III, a prominent evolution denier and CEO of the Dallas- based Institute for Creation Research, which has sued the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for refusing to grant the organization approval to offer master’s of science education degrees in the state, U.S. News and world Report, February 2, 2009

“Personally, I don’t believe in evolution. I don’t believe I came from a salamander that came out of a pond.”

– State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, discussing his proposed legislation that would have exempted the Institute for Creation Research from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s rules, Austin American-Statesman, March 16, 2009

“When the Universe was smaller, the gravitational effect was huge and the time on Earth would have been a billion times slower.”

– Robert Carr, a retired chief executive and contributor to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, offering his thoughts about how God created the earth in six days, AFP, February 5, 2009

“The obvious problem here is that it is simply not possible to be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word, and at the same time, embrace the tenets of atheistic evolution.”

“What kind of monster parents teach their children that they’re descended from rodents and reptiles?”

“What do these apostate morons celebrate at their Sunday services, the lies about humanity’s origins told by Moses, Jesus, and Paul?”

– Robert Bowie Johnson Jr., writing in his book Sowing Atheism: The National Academy of Sciences’ Sinister Scheme to Teach Our Children They’re Descended from Reptiles, which Texas State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy heartily endorsed. TFN Insider, March 18, 2009

“The culture war over science education, the teaching of evolution, is going to be there, no matter what. Education is too important not to politicize.”

– State Board of Education member Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, finally being honest about turning public schools into political battlegrounds, Texas Tribune, November 3, 2009

“Am I a religious fanatic? Absolutely. You’d have to be to do what I do.”

– State Board of Education member Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, Texas Tribune, November 5, 2009

“It must have slipped these people’s minds that God created the heavens and the earth and has control over what’s going on. (Dear Lord Jesus … did I just open a new pandora’s box?) Yeah, I said it. Do you honestly believe God would allow humans to destroy the earth He created? Of course, if you don’t believe in God and creationism then I can see why you would easily buy into the whole global warming fanfare.”

– Chris Allen, a Kentucky TV weatherman who holds no college degree, listed in a report by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., as a member of a list of 700 “prominent scientists” who object to the statement that the scientific community has reached a consensus about the effects of human activities on global warming, EthicsDaily, April 20, 2009

The Unconsidered Life - A.C. Grayling

2009-12-26T14:27:00.001-06:00

Philosopher and author AC Grayling on thinking critically and being a well-informed citizen of the world.

The Anaesthetic of Familiarity

2009-12-26T14:12:00.003-06:00

Richard Dawkins reading from the first chapter of his amazing book Unweaving the Rainbow : Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder

To live at all is miracle enough.
- Mervyn Peake

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.

The entire first chapter of Unweaving the Rainbow can be read here.

It's Christmas Eve, Is Your Heathen Tree Decked?

2009-12-24T13:34:00.007-06:00

The Prophet Jeremiah condemned as Pagan the ancient Middle Eastern practice of cutting down trees, bringing them into the home and decorating them. Of course, these were not really Christmas trees, because Jesus was not born until centuries later, and the use of Christmas trees was not introduced for many centuries after his birth. Apparently, in Jeremiah's time the "heathen" would cut down trees, carve or decorate them in the form of a god or goddess, and overlay it with precious metals. Some Christians feel that this Pagan practice was similar enough to our present use of Christmas trees that this passage from Jeremiah can be used to condemn both:

Jeremiah 10:2-4: "Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." (KJV).

The English Puritans condemned a number of customs associated with Christmas, such as the use of the Yule log, holly, mistletoe, etc. Oliver Cromwell preached against "the heathen traditions" of Christmas carols, decorated trees and any joyful expression that desecrated "that sacred event."

In America, the Pilgrim's second governor, William Bradford, a Puritan, tried hard to stamp out all "pagan mockery" at Christmas time. Christmas trees were not used by Puritans in colonial times. However, if they were, they would certainly have been forbidden.

In 1851, Pastor Henry Schwan of Cleveland OH appears to have been the person responsible for decorating the first Christmas tree in an American church. His parishioners condemned the idea as a Pagan practice; some even threatened the pastor with harm. But objections soon dissipated.

Sarah Palin Has Moose Manure For Brains

2009-12-23T10:57:00.005-06:00

Twitter forces users to express thoughts in 140 characters or less. Some people are good at this, and some...not so much. These are actual posts that the almost Vice President made on her Twitter account from this past Saturday:

It gives me a warm cozy feeling to know that millions of my fellow countrymen want her to become our next president.

New Atheist Holiday Traditions

2009-12-22T15:46:00.003-06:00

[click to embiggen]

I especially like the Phylogenetic Tree and the Hominidae Nativity Scene. I'll have to check with the wife and see if we can incorporate them into our annual celebration.

Atheism and Christmas with Rickey Gervais

2009-12-22T12:55:00.001-06:00

The Universe Doesn't Care What You Believe

2009-12-08T12:32:00.004-06:00

[click to embiggen]

Even God is Annoyed by Twilight

2009-12-05T22:27:00.011-06:00

"My heart falters, fear makes me tremble; the Twilight I longed for has become a horror to me." - Isaiah 21:4

"Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them." - Isaiah 1:14

These passages are definately in reference to the movie Twilight; the story of a young woman's choice to practice either bestiality or necrophilia. Yahweh is in no way talking about squashing all Pagan religions and rituals in the book of Isaiah.

Sarah Palin Unknowingly Endorses Cannibalism in "Going Rogue"

2009-12-01T22:21:00.006-06:00

“If any vegans came over for dinner, I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore: If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?”

You know our country is in a very sad state when quotes from a vice president candidate could be mistaken for quotes from Homer Simpson.

17 Seconds of Unbearable Cuteness

2009-12-01T20:38:00.004-06:00

With so many depressing news stories out right now involving war, murder, pedophilia..., I really need something to brighten up my day!

Doctors should write out a prescription for "Suprised Kitty" as an anti-depressant.

Aggressive Atheism

2009-11-30T09:38:00.002-06:00

The rest of Pat Condell's videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/patcondell

Irish Police and Clergy Protected Pedophile Priests, Even One Priest who Admits to Abusing 100 Children.

2009-11-28T10:15:00.009-06:00

Following a three-year investigation in the Dublin Archdiocese, the country’s largest, the report concluded that four archbishops routinely protected abusers and failed to inform police of the allegations. One priest admitted to sexually abusing over 100 children, while another confessed that he had abused on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.

“The volume of revelations of child sexual abuse by clergy over the past 35 years or so has been described by a Church source as a ‘tsunami’ of sexual abuse,” said the report….

The judicial probe discovered that the archbishops did not report abuse to police until the 1990s as part of a culture of secrecy and to try and avoid damaging the reputation of the Church.

The report said: “All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities”.

It found children who complained “were often met with denial, arrogance and cover-up and with incompetence and incomprehension in some cases. Suspicions were rarely acted on”.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/irish-priest-admits-abusing-100-kids/story-e6frf7lf-1225804606586

Nell McCafferty rips into representatives of the Catholic church, asking, "What's holy about the Vatican?" and insisting that they ought to set aside the titles of "Father" and "Grace" and so forth, because they've betrayed them.

Temple Tantrum!, Jesus Style

2009-11-24T13:14:00.017-06:00

In Sunday school I remember learing the story from the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) where Jesus goes into the temple to "drive out the moneylenders", and he "overturned their tables" because he was furious that people were using the "House of God" as a place to make money. From these three Synoptic Gospels I remember getting the idea that Jesus was just making a calm, but forceful point. But how does the less taught non-Synoptic Gospel of John differ?

John 2:12-15
"After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;"

"Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple" by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1626

Wiki: A scourge (from Italian scoriada, from Latin excoriare = "to flay" and corium = "skin") is a whip or lash, especially a multi-thong type used to inflict severe corporal punishment or self-mortification on the back.

So jesus took the time to make a special whip that is intended to be used on humans, not animals, and it's purpose is to inflict as much pain as possible (remember the scene where Jesus took a serious beating in "The Passion of the Christ...that was a scourge). He didn't just slap some money changers in the heat of the moment, he actually made a weapon, then took it to the temple like the verse says. And this is the "prince of peace"?

This doesn't seem like the rational actions that an "all knowing, all powerful, all loving" god would take. Jesus should rethink his tactics before a madman follower, hellbent on world domination uses this passage to his advantage. Shit! To late, Hitler is a fan of Jesus' 1,189 chapter book, especially this passage where Jesus is using violence to run out the moneylenders (Jews).

"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people."
- Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered April 12, 1922, Published in "My New Order"

Author Sam Harris on the Credibility of Miracle Stories

2009-11-19T22:11:00.004-06:00

Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and the author of the international bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. This clip of his debate is taken from the Re-Evolution Festival 2009 in Mexico that took place Nov. 8th 2009.

Sorry about the bad audio

To The Biblical God, Bats Are Just Unclean Birds

2009-11-15T10:32:00.005-06:00

"You may eat any clean bird. But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat." Deuteronomy 14:11-18

Why Do Atheists Care About Religion?

2009-11-15T10:27:00.002-06:00

How does religion impinge upon each American's rights? This video shows the ridiculous, backwards and utterly nonsensical laws that control our lives because of someone's religious beliefs.

Westboro Baptist Church to Protest Fort Hood Memorial Service Today

2009-11-10T09:15:00.008-06:00

As if protesting Sasha and Malia Obama's elementary school yesterday wasn't bad enough, Westboro plans to protest the Memorial Service for the victims of the shooting rampage that took place last week at Fort Hood. Here is the schedule for the protest on the Westboro GodHatesFags.com site. I don't need to comment on it, this insane rambling speaks for itself:

11/10/2009, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM, Killeen, TX
Ft. Hood Rebel Memorial - God hates your solemn assemblies! S. Fort Hood St. & US 190 W WBC members came and spoke words of peace to these brutish, demon-possessed brute military mutts. The Beast will come and speak smooth lies to you. He will tell you that if you will just listen to him and ignore God's servants, and serve him and his policy that he will bring you peace, and no more of these great dramatic, traumatic slaughterings will happen. And you are so arrogant, evil, rebellious and stupid - you will believe and follow him. You believe because you have a lot of numbers, that makes you mighty. And you believe, stupidly, that if you have might, that makes you right. Those concepts are the exact opposite of the truth of God. You silly rebels! God looked upon your solemn assemblies and chose the exact right tool to deal with you raging, good-for-nothing criminals. He chose one of your own, a General, a Psychiatrist, and a Muslim. How absolutely appropriate! He chose that vessel to punish you all, including the demon-possessed fool with the guns. Now, God is mocking you. Who else is going to tell you these words of truth at your time of extreme trauma? Only your friends at WBC: God Sent the Shooter. Thank God for the Killer, and repent of your evil. However, we know (from God's own words) that you will NOT repent. That fact does not change one thing about our duty to you, or your duty to your neighbours. Revelation 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. DOOMED america is not receiving blessings, any more from God. Only curses, all day, every day. Praise that God all ye people. AMEN!

http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html

Westboro Baptist Church Protests Outside Obama Girls' School

2009-11-10T08:39:00.004-06:00

Westboro Baptist Church, the fringe-of-the-fringe anti-gay group famous for protesting at military funerals and claiming that God is punishing the country for its tolerance of homosexuality, was spotted yesterday morning protesting outside Sidwell Friends, the school attended by Sasha and Malia Obama.

Protesters were carrying signs with anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-Obama slogans, slowing down traffic all along Wisconsin Avenue yesterday morning.

This is the actual protest schedule that is posted on the Westboro GodHatesFags.com site:

11/10/2009, 1:55 PM - 2:30 PM, Bethesda, MD
Sidwell Friends Lower School - Littles, run from liars, NOW! 5100 Edgemoor Ln More for the little nasty God-hating Quakers. You will NOT be able to get away from these words by that bloody-handed Antichrist Obama. They will hang around your hypocritical necks for all of eternity. You had a duty to know God's standard. You had a duty to keep that standard. You had a duty to know what manner of creature(s) you are taking money from. You had a duty to know all about these same things that WBC has told you and will tell you. "Look, I've got two daughters. Nine years old and six years old. I'm gonna teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. . ." - The Beast Antichrist Barack Hussein Obama. Those words will burn you all, for all eternity. Shame on you all. Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. Praise God! AMEN!
http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html

Stay classy Westboro!

The Upside of a Religous Upbringing

2009-11-08T15:29:00.001-06:00

Sex columnist Dan Savage explains the benefits of having a religious upbringing.

Jack White's Record Label Releasing Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking Remix

2009-11-07T16:06:00.004-06:00

Jack White's label, Third Man Records, has just announced plans to release 'A Glorious Dawn,' composer John Boswell's "musical tribute to two great men of science" -- astronomer Carl Sagan and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking -- on vinyl.

The Auto-Tuned remix takes Sagan's dialogue from his 'Cosmos' TV series with a special appearance by Hawking that will surely make every science nerd jump with glee. According to Third Man Records, "'A Glorious Dawn' is a moving arrangement of Carl Sagan's sagacious words culled from his magnificent 'Cosmos' series. The piece initially gained recognition when composer John Boswell uploaded to YouTube his remixed Sagan dialogue edited, Auto-Tuned and put to a beat and coupled with a guest appearance by Stephen Hawking. At well over one million views, this is a project that goes far-beyond the buzz of 'Internet phenomenon.'"
http://www.spinner.com/2009/11/04/jack-whites-label-releasing-carl-sagan-and-stephen-hawking-remi/

I like this one better. "We Are All Connected" featuring Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Feynman, and Bill Nye. All four are heroes of science and reason.

Happy Carl Sagan Day!

2009-11-07T10:06:00.005-06:00

Today is Carl Sagan Day — I think that means you are officially expected to be filled with awe of the cosmos all day long, while also being thoroughly skeptical of the supernatural. Sagan Day should be every day, not just today! Take a few minutes out of your day and watch these two short Sagan videos. Both are Sagan reading from his amazing book "The Pale Blue Dot".

"Miracles": Then and Now

2009-11-04T09:50:00.000-06:00

Iraqi-American Woman Run Over By Her Father For Being “Westernized” Dies

2009-11-03T11:17:00.003-06:00

PHOENIX - A young Iraqi woman whose father allegedly hit her with his car because she had become too Westernized died from her injuries Monday after laying in a coma for nearly two weeks.

Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, underwent spinal surgery and had been in a hospital since Oct. 20, when police say her father ran down her and her boyfriend's mother with his Jeep as the women were walking across a parking lot in the west Phoenix suburb of Peoria.

The other woman, Amal Khalaf, is expected to survive.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, fled after the attack but was arrested Thursday when he arrived at Atlanta's airport, where he was sent from the United Kingdom after authorities denied him entrance.

Peoria police interviewed him and brought him back to Arizona over the weekend, but have declined to release what Almaleki said to them.

At a court hearing over the weekend in Phoenix, county prosecutor Stephanie Low told a judge that Almaleki admitted to committing the crime.

"By his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family," Low said. "This was an attempt at an honor killing."

Family members had told police that Almaleki attacked his daughter because he believed she had become too Westernized and was not living according to his traditional Iraqi values.

Almaleki, wearing a jail uniform, said only his name and birth date during the hearing. He has declined requests to be interviewed.

Almaleki had faced charges of aggravated assault, but Peoria police spokesman Mike Tellef said the charges will be upgraded in light of Noor Faleh Almaleki's death.

Police said the Almalekis moved to Peoria from Iraq in the mid-1990s.

Almaleki needs to be charged with murder, not aggravated assault. He moved his family to America then killed his daughter for acting like a typical young American woman.

The physicist Steven Weinberg said that regardless of religion you will have "good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things." However, "for good people to do evil things, it takes religion." I think that quote sums up stories like this very well.

Hotel Bibles Beware of Sir Ian McKellen!

2009-11-02T21:10:00.009-06:00

In an interview with Details magazine the openly gay Lord of the Rings star says he tears out a section of Leviticus, which condemns homosexuality, whenever he finds the good book in hotel suites - and his small-scale vandalism has inspired others to do the same.

Details: Is it true that when you stay at hotels you tear out the Bible page that condemns homosexuality?

Ian McKellen: I do, absolutely. I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible. And I'm not really the first: I got delivered a package of 40 of those pages—Leviticus 18:22—that had been torn out by a married couple I know. They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.

This would be great if it really caught on! Just think if these groups of people staying at hotels ripped out the parts of the bible that said that they were an abomination or that they just weren't as good as everyone else. The hotel bibles would end up looking like the coupon section in a penny pinchers newspaper.

The Blind, Handicapped, and Midgets - It wasn't their fault but they cannot approach the altar of god. Leviticus 21:17-23

The Fashion Concious - Don't wear wool/linen blend clothing. Deuteronomy 22:11

Glam Rock Bands with their Long Hair and the lineup at Lilith Fair with their Short Hair - 1 Corinthians 11:14-15

Anyone Working on a Second Marriage - Luke 16:18

Menstruating Women - Leviticus 15:19:30 and Leviticus 20:18

Rich People Staying at Swanky Hotels - Matthew 19:23-24 and Mark 10:23-25

Fans of Red Lobster - Leviticus 11:9-12 and Deuteronomy 14:9-10

Women Who Don't Like Being Subservient Pushovers to their Husbands - 1 Corinthians 11:3 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network Warns Americans Of ‘Demonic’ Halloween Candy

2009-10-31T12:28:00.009-05:00

Keep an eye out for 'demonic' Sponge Bobs munching on 'cursed' kit-kats tonight!

“Most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches,” Daniels wrote. “I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.”

Daniels goes on to say...

“Halloween is much more than a holiday filled with fun and tricks or treats,” she wrote. “It is a time for the gathering of evil that masquerades behind the fictitious characters of Dracula, werewolves, mummies and witches on brooms. The truth is that these demons that have been presented as scary cartoons actually exist. I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon.”

How Much Coin is Your Child Worth?

2009-10-30T11:45:00.006-05:00

God defines the value of human life in dollars and cents. Of course, to God, females are worth considerably less than males (50 - 60%) - but neither are worth much.

Males (20 - 60 years old) are worth 50 shekels.

Females are worth 30.

Males (5 - 20 years old) are worth 20 shekels.

Females are worth 10.

Males (one month - 5 years old) are worth 5 shekels.

Females are worth 3.

And babies (or fetuses) less than one month old are worth nothing at all.

Leviticus 27:3-7

"And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels."

I can't wait for my baby daughter to turn one month old in a few weeks so she can finally be worth something, even if it is only a fraction of what her little nephews are worth.

8: The Mormon Proposition (Trailer)

2009-10-24T14:11:00.004-05:00

This documentary is about Proposition 8 and the banning of gay marriage in California. Even more, it's about the Mormons and the Mormon church that dumped millions of dollars into taking away peoples' rights.

Official Website - http://www.mormonproposition.com/

Godless Comedy from That Mitchell and Webb Look - Abraham and Isaac

2009-10-24T13:37:00.000-05:00

Philip Spooner Speaks Out for Gay Marriage "what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?"

2009-10-22T22:06:00.002-05:00

The Marriage Equality Bill that was voted on in Maine happened in early May of this year, and it passed 89-58 in favor to approve marriage equality and allow same sex marriage. The passing of this bill made Maine the fifth state to allow gay marriage...but not without a fight from the Catholic church. Even though this is a story that is five months old and one that was won by the rational side I had to post this video:

Philip Spooner, spoke from his heart to the state legislature in Maine to stand up for gay marriage and equality for all under the law.

If you have a heart, get a tissue.

2009-10-22T15:12:00.007-05:00

Are you a creepy elderly virgin who enjoys the company of little boys? -----> You Should be a Catholic Priest

Oprah Visits Denmark and Speaks to Some Happy Female Atheists

2009-10-22T14:43:00.003-05:00

The atheists were Danish women in Copenhagen. They talked about the system of government, economy, social services, and so on. And at one point Oprah said "I heard you claim to be happier because you are not involved in religion" or words to that effect.

Oprah was displaying for her viewing audience, and herself, how things work in a country that is far, far more "civilized" than the US.

I guess the point of the show was to examine "the happiest people in the world" ... The Danes... And it turns out that they are less materialistic, more family- and children-focused, have a full range of fully funded public services, minimal difference in wealth between the richest and poorest, a progressive tax system that rewards following a career that suits you rather than one that makes more money, and atheism.

Prophecy Fail

2009-10-21T23:28:00.002-05:00

That's a bit like a "psychic" getting hit by a bus.

State Constitutions That Discriminate Against Atheists

2009-10-21T21:26:00.012-05:00

The United States Constitution

Article VI.
Clause 3
"... but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

Amendment I
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

Texas Article 1 Section 4:

“No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.”

North Carolina Article 6 Section 8:

"Disqualifications of office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God."

Arkansas Article 19 Section 1:

“No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.”

It's not just the South...

Maryland Article 37:

"That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God;"

Pennsylvania Article 1 Section 4:

"No person who acknowledges the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments shall, on account of his religious sentiments, be disqualified to hold any office or place of trust or profit under this Commonwealth."

According to these states backwards and bigoted constitutions, the following godless Americans could not hold public office if they ran today:

George Washington

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Paine

Thomas Jefferson

James Madison

John Adams

Abraham Lincoln

Here is a list of godless quotes from our Founding Fathers

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

ABC News Interviews David Cross About His Godless Comedy

2009-10-17T01:36:00.007-05:00

Click Here for the chucklefest.

N.C. Baptist Church to Celebrate Halloween by Burning “Heretical” Bibles, Books, and Music

2009-10-17T00:03:00.011-05:00

I think Pastor Grizzard's hooded robe must be at the dry cleaners, that probably explains the classy overalls.

CANTON, N.C. (October 13, 2009)—The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C. will celebrate Halloween by burning Bibles that aren’t the King James Version, as well as music and books and anything else Pastor Marc Grizzard says is a satanic influence.
Among the authors whose books Grizzard plans to burn are well known ministers Rick Warren and Billy Graham because he says they have occasionally used Bibles other than the King James Version, which is the sole biblical source he considers infallible.
According to the church’s Web site, members will also burn “Satan's music such as country, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel, contemporary Christian, jazz, soul (and) oldies.
“We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham, Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, The Pope, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning (and) William Young.
During the book burning, according to the Web site, barbecued chicken fried chicken and “all the sides” will be served.
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/64164232.html

"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings."
~Heinrich Heine, Almansor, 1823

God Just Doesn't Make Us Like He Used To!

2009-10-16T16:15:00.011-05:00

And the son of god only made it to 33...what a looser!

Before the Flood


Biblical Patriarch	Life Span
Adam	930
Seth	912
Enosh	905
Cainan	910
Mahalealel	895
Jared	962
Enoch	365
Methuselah	969
Lamech	777
Noah	950

After the Flood


Biblical Patriarch	Life Span
Shem	600
Arphaxad	498
Salah	433
Eber	464
Peleg	239
Reu	239
Serug	230
Nahor	148
Terah	205

This Kid Is More Perceptive Than The Average Christian

2009-10-16T14:48:00.003-05:00

A post from the Delagar blog:

Bible Lessons

So we're hanging out in the waiting room at our doctor's office this afternoon, the kid and me, and there's not much to read, basic Good Housekeeping journals and Hunting magazines, Dr. Phil is jabbing away on the TV, we're bored stiff. I pick up a bright primary-colored kiddy Bible and we begin reading it together solemnly.

We get to the Noah's Ark page and the kid's eyes widen.

The Kid: Mom...

Me: What?

The Kid: I just...it just occurred to me...

Me: What?

The Kid: If there were only two animals of each kind on the boat? And only Noah's family?

Me: Yeah?

The Kid: God killed kittens?

Me: Yep. And puppies.

The Kid: And babies? Toddlers?

Me: (Trying not to laugh): Well, yes. But see, they were evil babies.

The Kid: Evil toddlers?

http://delagar.blogspot.com/2009/10/bible-lessons.html

Anti-Gay NYC 'Beatdown' Wasn't A Hate Crime, Says Friend With Homophobic Leviticus Tattoo

2009-10-15T20:35:00.007-05:00

"Thou shalt not lie with male, as with woman: it is abomination." Leviticus 18:22

If this violent thug feels the need to get this forever tattooed on his arm he is clearly in gay denial! I guess he didn't read the next chapter of Leviticus where it says that tattoos are an abomination.

QUEENS (WABC)

U.S. Marshals and Norfolk police took 21-year-old Daniel Rodriguez into custody at a relatives home.

Charges are pending and NYPD detectives are in the process of returning him to New York.

The other suspect, Daniel Aleman, in the beating was arrested on Sunday.

Aleman, 26, was arraigned on a charge of assault as a hate crimes. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Investigators say the two Queens men taunted Jack Price and yelled anti-gay slurs before punching and kicking him last Thursday after he left a 24-hour deli near his home in Queens.

Price suffered a fractured jaw and ribs, the collapse of both of his lungs, and a lacerated spleen. All the punches and kicks the victim suffered through were captured on the cameras of a nearby business.

Last Thursday at 4:30 in the morning the victim's nightmare began. Price, who is openly gay, had been to a nearby bodega for cigarettes. The confrontation began outside the store.

Police say the suspect's yelled anti-gay slurs, and then the 5-foot-6, 130 pound man was punched and kicked over and over again. It was three minutes of horror.

In the video, the suspects are seen stopping and walking away, but they then quickly turn back. It looks like they steal something from the victim. Finally, with Price on his knees, they gave him one last punch.

Remarkably the victim was able to stumble away from the scene.

The victim's family says Price is awake and alert, but he's still on a respirator. He has a long road to recovery ahead.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=7062514

Little Known Bible Fact of the Day: Piercings and Tattoos are a SIN!

2009-10-15T10:13:00.007-05:00

"Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19:28

According to the Old Testament it doesn't matter if you have a cute fairy tattoo on your ankle or your entire face tatted and pierced. Tattoos and Piercings = Sin!

Sinner!

Sinner!

Sinner!

I've heard Christians say "well, tattoos are only forbidden in the Old Testament, not the New, so it doesn't apply to me and my sweet Jesus fish tatt." Well, by that logic Christians should be cool with homosexuality since it's only directly referenced as being forbidden in the same book (Leviticus) of the Old Testament.

Sarah Silverman - Sell The Vatican, Feed The World

2009-10-12T08:42:00.002-05:00

Monkey Moms Act Like Human Moms

2009-10-09T22:36:00.013-05:00

Look at these pictures and tell me we're not connected!

[click image to embiggen]

[the handsome fella in the top picture, upper right corner is about to be me]

Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience
The intense, special exchanges that human mothers share with their newborn infants might have deep roots all the way back in monkeys.
Rhesus macaques and their offspring interact in the first month of life in ways much like what humans often do, scientists now suggest.
"What does a mother or father do when looking at their own baby?" asked researcher Pier Francesco Ferrari, a behavioral biologist and neuroscientist at the University of Parma in Italy. "They smile at them and exaggerate their gestures, modify their voice pitch — so-called 'motherese' — and kiss them. What we found in mother macaques is very similar — they exaggerate their gestures, 'kiss' their baby, and have sustained mutual gaze."
Past research has shown these emotional interactions go both ways in humans — newborns are sensitive to their mother's expressions, movements, and voice, and engage their parents in much the same way. For years, these capacities were basically considered unique to humans, although perhaps shared to some extent with chimpanzees.
Now Ferrari and his colleagues extend these skills to macaques, "suggesting the origins of these behaviors actually goes way back," he told LiveScience. (Rhesus monkey ancestors diverged from those of humans roughly 25 million years ago, while chimpanzees diverged from our lineage 6 million years ago.)
The scientists closely observed 14 mother-infant pairs for the first two months of the babies' lives. Mother macaques and their infants spent more time gazing at each other than at other monkeys. The researches also found that mothers more often smacked their lips at their infants, a gesture that the infants often imitated back to their mothers, suggesting that infant monkeys may have a rich internal world that we are only now beginning to see.
Moreover, Ferrari and his colleagues saw mothers actively searching for the infant's gaze, sometimes holding the infant's head and gently pulling it towards her face. In other instances, when the babies were physically separated from their mothers, the parent moved her face very close to that of the offspring, sometimes lowering her head and bouncing it in front of the youngster.
Intriguingly, these exchanges virtually disappeared when infants turned about one month old.
"It's quite puzzling," Ferrari said, "but we should consider that macaque development is much faster that of humans. Motor competences of a two-week-old macaque could be compared to an eight- to twelve-month-old human infant. Thus, independence from the mother occurs very early. What happens next in the first and second month of life is that infants become more interested in interacting with their same-age peers."
This discovery suggests that by studying monkeys, scientists might get insights into the evolution of parental care and infant development in humans.
"These types of interactions are the way we learn to be sensitive to others' needs," Ferrari said.

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091008-monkey-mamas.html

This humbling and heart warming article is not at all surprising...unless you're an evolution denying, fundagelical, creationist trying to figure out a way to spin this in favor of your Jebus.

ACLU: Bibles Used As Weapons At North Texas Schools

2009-10-09T13:35:00.010-05:00

PLANO (CBS 11 / TXA 21) A report issued Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas claims that Gideon Bibles which were passed out in schools were used to harass and hurt several students in Plano and Frisco.

The ACLU says its investigation was launched in May after numerous complaints. The report focuses on ten school districts throughout the state where Bibles were handed out to students by the Gideons International. According to the ACLU, students at Vines High School in Plano were given so many Bibles that they threw them at one another, sold them, tore them up and used the pages to roll a marijuana joint. The report alleges that students at Frankford Middle School in Plano harassed a Jewish classmate with the Bibles before tossing them at the boy.

Scene from "Saved" - The Gospel is not a weapon

The ACLU is pressing to end the distribution of Bibles in Texas public schools. "If the literature is handed out in such a way to make the students believe that school has endorsed or is blessing the material," said the ACLU's Anne Shuttee, "it raises questions of the establishment clause of the separation of church and state."

Advocates for religious freedom argue that the practice of passing out religius material in public places is protected by the Constitution. "My concern is that the ACLU used to stand for free speech," said Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Legal Institute, "but now they're standing for censorship and they're trying to add the bible to their banned-books list."

http://cbs11tv.com/local/bibles.aclu.gideons.2.1237242.html

"Advocates for religious freedom argue that the practice of passing out religius material in public places is protected by the Constitution". This is complete nonsense! Courts have almost unanimously agreed that distribution of bibles in public schools, either actively or passively, is unconstitutional because children and teenagers are considered too impressionable to make the distinction between private religious speech and school sponsored speech. School is for learning, not for creepy organizations to try to "save souls". I can only imagine what these "advocates of religious freedom" people would do if a group of Muslims were to show up at their kids school to hand out stacks of Qur'ans. And if a Christian student was assaulted with a Qur'an like the Jewish student who was assaulted with a bible!...every right-wing Christians head would head collectively explode.

The is Pope Heckled by Protestant Spider in Prague

2009-09-25T17:48:00.006-05:00

Just kidding, it's not a Protestant spider, that's silly. This is what I think is really going on here. Underneath the Popes white robe and inside his red Prada loafers are hundreds of thousands of spiders and their eggs, and every time a priest buggers a little altar boy an egg hatches into a spider. Now that so many little boys have been buggered by priests all over the world for so long all of the eggs have hatched into spiders and this spider is actually a result of "priest-spider bugger overflow". That's my theory and it's just as plausible as the virgin birth story that this gruesome elderly virgin clings to.

The Pope is actually in the Prague for three days to try to reclaim the Czech Republic from it's mostly skeptical and atheist citizens.

PRAGUE — As Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the Czech Republic on Saturday on a three-day pilgrimage aimed at battling against the forces of secularism, religious leaders warned that he faced a daunting challenge in a nation of mostly natural-born skeptics.

When the pope comes to town, a city usually pulls out all the stops. Not so here in the Czech capital, where banners heralding the pope’s visit and large crowds were conspicuously absent. The local newspapers that highlighted the trip seemed more preoccupied with the pope’s penchant for bright red loafers than with the substance of his religious mission.

“If the pope wants to create a religious revival in Europe, there is no worse place he could come to than the Czech Republic, where no one believes in anything,” said Jaroslav Plesl, a self-confessed lapsed Catholic who is deputy editor of Lidove Noviny, a leading daily newspaper here. “Add to that the fact that the pope is German and socially conservative and he might as well be an alien here.”

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution that overthrew Communism in Czechoslovakia, the pope is visiting what many religious observers, unfairly or not, consider the ground zero of religious apathy in Europe. Vatican officials said that he had chosen the Czech Republic for a mission central to his papacy: fomenting a continentwide spiritual revolt against what Benedict labeled Saturday as “atheistideology,” “hedonistic consumerism” and “a growing drift toward ethical and cultural relativism.”

“A majority of people have no interest in the pope’s visit and are more concerned about traffic congestion,” Rev. Tomas Halik said.

Father Halik argued that Benedict’s fierce intelligence and moral resolve made him a worthy opponent of pervasive secularism. But he was philosophical about the chances of his success. “The reanimation of the Catholic Church is a long-term goal,” he said. “And even the pope can’t work miracles that quickly.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/world/europe/27pope.html?_r=1

15% Of Americans Now Claim No Religious Faith

2009-09-22T11:53:00.007-05:00

The results of yet another poll are out, showing that the godless are rising and promise to rise for years to come. In 1990, we made up 8% of the population; now in 2009, we're 15%. They're extrapolating forward and estimating that we will make up 25% of the country in 20 years. I'll put this news of the 15% atheist, agnostic, or just non religious into perspective.

Major religious traditions in the US:
Protestant Christian - 51.3%
Catholic - 23.9%

"Nones" - 15%
Jews - 2.1%
Muslims - 0.6%
Mormons - 1.7%
Buddhist - 0.7%
Hindu - 0.4%

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today

Americans who don't identify with any religion are now 15% of the USA, but trends in a new study shows they could one day surpass the nation's largest denominations — including Catholics, now 24% of the nation.

American Nones: Profile of the No Religion Population, to be released today by Trinity College, finds this faith-free group already includes nearly 19% of U.S. men and 12% of women. Of these, 35% say they were Catholic at age 12.

"Will a day come when the Nones are on top? We can't predict for sure," says lead researcher Barry Kosmin.

But if Nones, now 22% of all adults ages 18 to 29, continue to gain among young adults, to draw more people "switching out" from denominations and to replace more religious older people, researchers forecast one in five Americans will be Nones in 20 years.

"Trends clearly favor this," Kosmin says. But he also notes, "There could be a Great Awakening (massive Protestant revival) or immigration may bring in more Catholic believers."

Kosmin and Ariela Keysar of Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., directed three editions of the American Religious Identification Survey over 18 years. The 2008 ARIS (pdf), based on a sampling of 54,000 U.S. adults, also burrowed in for a closer look at 1,106 Nones, who answered extra questions about their beliefs and behaviors and views on God.

ARIS: Most religious groups have lost ground in USA
'NONES': Now 15% of population

The report finds:

•Not all Nones are alike. Half (51%) still believe in God or a higher power.

•Nones also are the only major U. S. faith group that's majority male. Even when girls grow up with unbelieving parents, they're more likely to find a faith as adults than their brothers.

"Women are also less skeptical than men and less drawn to irreligious and anti-religious views. They are more likely to reject a secular upbringing," Kosmin says.

"There is a lot of 'churning' going on but Nones gain much more from switching (people leaving religion) than from natural growth (children emulating unbelieving parents)," he says.

•The percentage of atheist Nones — who say there's no such thing as God — hasn't budged in years.

"It's not as though dozens of people at the Methodist Church read (atheist Richard) Dawkins and suddenly decided God doesn't exist," says Kosmin.

"There are so many misconceptions about who the Nones are. They're not New Age searchers or spiritual or even hardened atheists," says Kosmin.

"They're a stew of agnostics, deists and rationalists. They sound more like Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine. Their very interesting enlightenment approach is like the Founding Fathers' kind: Skeptical about organized religion and clerics while still holding to an idea of God."

One quirky fact: 33% of Nones claim Irish ancestry, although the U.S. Census says only 10% of the USA does.

"We have no idea why," he says. "Maybe you could ask (Fox newscaster) Bill O'Reilly.

In some way, researchers found Nones are very much like the overall, largely religious, U.S. population. There's no statistical difference on education, or income or marital status. They are just as likely to be divorced as anybody else.

"Nones are not a fringe group anymore and are now part of Middle America. They're present in every socio-demographic group, Keysar concludes in their report.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-09-22-no-religion_N.htm?csp=34

Evangelical Cock Rings?

2009-09-21T18:56:00.005-05:00

Oh, now I get it.

Frank Schaeffer on the Rachael Maddow Show Talking About Crazy Christians

2009-09-17T08:40:00.002-05:00

"We Have a Village Idiot In this Country, It's Called Fundamentalist Christianity"

Pastor Steven L. Anderson: "Killing the President, Abortionists and Gay People is Not Murder"

2009-09-14T18:36:00.003-05:00

There is no need for me to comment on this.

Pastor Anderson

Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'

2009-09-12T13:21:00.005-05:00

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Published: 4:53PM BST 11 Sep 2009
Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people."

Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin's deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie's Box, by Darwin's great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West.

Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: "It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise."

Mr Thomas, whose previous films include The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, said he hoped the reviews would help to secure a distributor. In the UK, special screenings have been set up for Christian groups.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6173399/Charles-Darwin-film-too-controversial-for-religious-America.html

The tired old argument that creationists and Movieguide.org use to try and smear Darwin as having a "legacy of mass murder", "influenced Hitler", and "led to atrocities and crimes against humanity" are completely false, and have been shown to be false over and over again. In Hitler's book "Mein Kampf", Darwin is never mentioned, not even once. A person Hitler does refrence numerous times though is Martin Luther, the German priest and the founder of the Protestant Reformation. Hitler used parts of Luthers book "On The Jews and Their Lies" to justify the killing of 6million Jews. But there is something that does support crimes against humanity, racism, bigotry, and genocide...the Holy Bible. This movie is supposed to be amazing so hopefully a distributor will pick it up.

Swine Flu Prevents Saint's Bloody Kiss

2009-09-09T17:07:00.003-05:00

Swine flu fears stop kisses for two viles of blood of Italian Saint Januarius...he died 1,704 years ago in the year 305...Gross!

ROME — The archbishop of Naples has stopped pilgrims kissing two vials said to contain the blood of Saint Januarius because of growing fears over the spread of swine flu.
The decision came only days after a 51-year-old man from Naples became Italy's first swine flu fatality.
Each year thousands of Roman Catholic faithful go to special services at Naples Cathedral where the dried blood of the fourth century bishop is said to turn to liquid, though the church does not officially recognise it as a miracle.
"For health reasons, it will not be possible to kiss the relic," a spokesman for the Saint Januarius chapel told AFP. "However it will be possible to touch it with the forehead."
Saint Januarius is one of the most popular Napolitan saints. Three services a year are held when the vials are displayed. Some people say the blood turns liquid and even increases in mass during the displays.
Faithful believe that if the blood liquifies quickly, Naples will be blessed with good luck and if it changes slowly, the southern city faces a disaster.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6zwhbDoOdrp4O5WyieKMg7vkGww

It never ceases to amaze (or disgust) me how obsessed the Catholic church is with blood, death, and old guys in funny outfits. Aparently H1N1 is more powerful that Jesus!

CA “Family Values” State Senator Caught Bragging About Affairs On Tape

2009-09-09T15:18:00.005-05:00

Here are some of the hard to hear quotes from the anti-gay, Proposition 8 supporting, married with two children, republican hypocrite:

"She wears little eye-patch underwear," said Duvall. "So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And  so, we had made love Wednesday--a lot! And so she'll, she's all, 'I am going  up and down the stairs, and you're dripping out of me!' So messy!"

EWWWW!

"So, I am getting into spanking her. Yeah, I like it. I like spanking her. She goes, 'I know you like spanking me.' I said, 'Yeah! Because you're such a bad girl!"

Duvall announced his immediate resignation from the Assembly this afternoon. “I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state,” he said in a statement. “I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work.”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/9/9/779248/-GOP-lawmaker-boasts-of-torrid-affair-with-lobbyist

The Vestigial Grasp in Infants

2009-09-09T11:19:00.006-05:00

Vestigial traits are characters of organisms which have seemingly lost all or most of their original function in a species through evolution. Some examples are wings on flightless birds, hind leg bones in whales, wisdom teeth in humans, the appendix in humans, hind leg bone "spurs" in some python species...The list goes on and on. The following is taken from biologist and author of "Why Evolution is True", Jerry Coyne:

But behaviors can be vestigial, too. One such behavior is the “grasping reflex” of human infants. When you put your finger into the palm of an infant, it will immediately and securely grasp it. The grasp is so tight that it’s sometimes hard to make the kid let go! It is said — though I have never seen this demonstrated — that up to a couple months of age a baby can hang suspended from a horizontal stick for several minutes.

The grasping reflex is evident in the feet, too. If you put your finger along a baby’s toes from the sole side, it will grasp with those toes. And when a baby is sitting down, its “prehensile” feet assume a curled-in posture, much like what we see in an infant or an adult chimp.

Why do infants show this grasping reflex, but then lose it after several months? A very plausible suggestion is that the behavior is a remnant of the grasping reflex seen in other infant primates, which they use to hold on to the hair of their mothers as they’re being carried about.

Bible in the Classroom: Noah's Ark And The Dinosaurs

2009-09-08T13:18:00.004-05:00

Neil deGrasse Tyson at The Amazing Meeting 6.

Dr. Tyson is an astrophysicist ,author, director of The Hayden Planetarium, and host of NOVA scienceNOW on PBS.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins

2009-09-04T00:15:00.008-05:00

The Highly-anticipated new book from the bestselling author of The God Delusion!
US release: Tuesday, September 22nd

Charles Darwin's masterpiece, "On the Origin of Species", shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century and a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists and indeed theologians, yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In "The Greatest Show on Earth", Richard Dawkins takes on creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts and disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds and insects; the 'time clocks' of trees and radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record and the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology and genetics. All of this, and much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution. "The Greatest Show on Earth" comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before, especially in America. In Britain and elsewhere in the world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly and comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world and the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and totally convincing.

The Dark Ages...

2009-09-03T23:29:00.006-05:00

"There once was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time was called the Dark Ages". - Richard Lederer

Ben Stein, Professional Bigoted Douche Keeps the Stupid Flowing

2009-09-03T22:02:00.007-05:00

He's an actor, creationist, gay basher, and all around annoying dick and he has a new peice on the right-wing website, The American Spectator.

"We have … an entire party, the Democrats, whose primary constituency, besides the teachers' unions, is homosexual men and lesbian women. I hope it won't come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys."

I think Stein is confusing "homosexual" with "Catholic Priests". To make himself look even more rediculous, here is the very first sentence in the very next paragraph of his article.

"Don't get me wrong. My very best friend is gay."

Well Mr. Stein, your "best friend" keeps shitty company, and I doubt he'd appreciate you calling him a pedophile.

Here's Stein, last year, on the christian tv channel Trinity Broadcast System promoting his anti-evolution, anti-science, pro-creationism "documentary" Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.

Crouch: That’s right.

Stein: …Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.

Crouch: Good word, good word.

Religious fRight

2009-09-03T12:26:00.002-05:00

Keith Olbermann talks to Dan Savage about how dangerous the GOP's strategy for the last thirty years of pandering to the religious right has been, and how they're now left with the bat-shit crazy like Michelle Bachmann, Glen Beck, and Rush Limbaugh speaking for them.

Seinfeld - Puddy is a CHRISTian

2009-09-01T00:09:00.000-05:00

Christopher Hitchens: Why Fight Religion?

2009-08-31T23:57:00.002-05:00

Christopher Hitchens last words in the debate with Turek, answering a question from the audience.