Shadow Casting

Why Mom & Dad are Christians

25 Questions for Bible Literalists

For those of you who prefer to get your information the old fashioned way, i.e. reading. Here is an excellent post from @Petursey in much the same vein.

When nasty fundies strike….

Oral Roberts Dies

Yep. The fundie with a funny name is dead. In celebration of one less asshole in the world, allow me to post an article on one of Oral’s less lucid moments.

Oral Roberts tells of talking to 900-foot Jesus

You know, the people who wrote that article have no idea how to create a newspaper headline. Mine would have been the following.

“900 Foot Jesus Wants Oral to build a new hospital”

I bet that would have sold more newspapers.

The pope is pissed off and he’s not gonna take it anymore

The pope finally heard about all of the horrible child abuse in Ireland. You know, the abuse that was committed by catholic clergy? The abuse that was covered up for years as the catholic church intimidated families into being silent, interfered with police investigations, and constantly moved pedophile priests to new parishes where they failed to warn the parishioners.

Let me tell you, the pope is REALLY angry about it too. He just promised to write a strongly worded letter about it.

Outraged by Dublin revelations, Pope plans pastoral letter on abuse scandal

Don’t fuck with the pope, people. He is scary mad.

I just commented on the following article at the Bilerico Project A Christmas Eve Call to Catholic Action.

Once again, I will post it here in case it does not get accepted.

The article encourages people to stop supporting the catholic church until it stops discriminating against gay people, women, and, OMG I don’t care, married men. Here is my response.

If you really want to do the world a favor, stop supporting them altogether. Forever.

How many atrocities does the catholic church need to commit before the world demands justice?

Does the church hate gay people? Yes, it always has. Does the church discriminate against women? Once again, yes, it always has.

But suddenly all is forgiven if the church simply lets gay people, women, and married men in the door?

Why?

Just this year, the Irish government published the ‘Ryan Report’ which documents the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of tens of thousands of children.

‘Endemic’ rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care, inquiry finds

The report says the abuse was endemic in church run schools and orphanages. Another report uncovering more abuse was issued in November.

Irish Catholic Church hid sex abuse for decades: official

In both cases, the catholic church protected the abusers, intimidated families into silence, unduly influenced police investigations, and did everything in it’s power to cover it up.

When the Ryan report was issued, the Archbishop of Westminster said that the abusers showed courage in facing the allegations.

All of these scandals are in addition to earlier scandals involving child abuse, and the scandal of the horrible “Magdalene Houses” for girls.

And this is just one country. America has a great many catholic scandals of their own.

The church has barely acknowledged any responsibility in these cases, and the American church has the audacity to sign the Manhattan Declaration. Nice.

But, I guess if they let gay people and women in the door, everything will be okay though.

All is forgiven.

Do the world a favor, and let the church die the death it deserves.

Well, my comment from Warren Throckmorton’s site was actually posted with a response.

I would post his response here, but I am not sure about copyright issues. You can find a link to his site in the Original post

Actually, that’s a logical fallacy.

The truth of the following statement

if religious then hate filled

does not imply the truth of the converse statement

if hate filled then religious

There are other causes for hatred besides religion. Religion is simply the most prevalent. Another cause is having to live with oppression.

Is it really a surprise that people who have been oppressed might develop a hatred for the people oppressing them? To me, that hatred seems much more understandable and human than the hatred which results from the arbitrary dehumanization of an entire group of people.

Do I hate religious people for what they have done to me and people I care about? Well, yes, actually. I have finally reached that point.

If you are a christian, which religious reasons do you have for opposing this bill? Would it be the verses in the old testament which say that homosexuals should be killed? Would it be the writings of St. Paul which also condemn homosexuality?

Or do you simply ignore those passages along with the ones that justify slavery, or the ones that justify misogyny?

I would argue that you support social justice only insofar as you ignore whole parts of the bible, and what gives you the authority to do that? Why do you get to decide which parts to believe in?

Religion has stood in the way of every major social development since the beginning of time. You may not be advocating for this law in Uganda. However, by calling yourself a christian, you provide legitimacy for those who do.

i could understand why someone might want to hang on to this religion if there was even some bit of truth in it, but even that is lacking. People don’t rise from the dead, donkeys don’t talk, manna doesn’t fall from the sky.

The fact that such a book of fables is being used as a basis for a just society is ridiculous beyond imagining. The fact that it contains a brutal stone age morality is even more unimaginable,

It is simply time for religion to be relegated to a blind and ignorant past.

Sorry to break it to you.

Just some music to brighten up your day.

Dear God by XTC

Terrible Lie by Nine Inch Nails

Heresy (live) by Nine Inch Nails

Opiate by Tool

I just wrote the following comment on Warren Throckmorton’s article

Is Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill part of reclaiming the 7 mountains of culture? – Part One.

Not sure that it will be posted, so I am reposting it here.

How many innocent people have to die before the world recognizes the sickness of religion? Religion is sick and twisted, and the situation in Uganda is just one more example.

Concerned about child molestation. How about we make the catholic church illegal?

Concerned about violence? How about Northern Ireland or Serbia? Countries where violence was the direct result of religious differences.

” It is good to fully understand why Uganda hates homosexuality. Study their cultures before rising up to condemn an innocent nation.”

I know what makes them hate: religion. Religion is the greatest evil to ever be created by mankind.

And, you know what, religious people? I really really hate all of you.

While I am at it, allow me to repeat my tweets from earlier this evening.

It all started from reading the text of the nazi anti-gay bill being put forth in Uganda: Uganda Antigay Bil. It is sick, and twisted, and disgusting.

Fuck Uganda. Assholes. “provides for protection, assistance and support for victims of homosexuality”

Fuck christianity. Fuck islam. Fuck judaism. I’ve had it with all of them. Fuck jesus Fuck muhammad and Fuck moses. Assholes all.

I hope every last person who supports “traditional family values” will fucking rot from the inside. And take Uganda with you.

“increasing attempts by homosexuals to raise children in homosexual relationships through adoption, foster care, or otherwise”

“Aggravated homosexuality” What the fuck is that Uganda ? “Procuring homosexuality by threats” You insane fucking assholes.

Fuck you Rick Warren, Fuck your fascist imaginary deity, and Fuck your silly ass religion. You and Uganda can both rot.

I am really too pissed off to even say anything else right now.

Excellent talk by professor Robert Sapolsky on the origin of religion.

Stoning people for allah

In case you miss the good old days of the bible, you can always become a muslim.

If you were to take all of the really nasty parts of the old testament to create a living history museum, you would have islam.

Case in point, this article about a 20 year old woman who was stoned to death for adultery in Somalia.

Somali woman stoned for adultery

Once again, muslims are far ahead of all other religions in the worlds biggest assholes competition.

Another honor killing

Still have some doubts, how about this article about a father who murdered his own son for being gay.

Soul-Searching in Turkey After a Gay Man Is Killed

Lying in the name of allah

And finally, a video. Apparently, it is okay to lie if you do it for the glory of islam.

And now for some crazy

Sure, the bible is full of all kinds of bullshit stories: talking donkeys, the sun standing still in the sky, people rising from the dead, etc. However, christians are not the only inmates in the loony bin.

I just found out that devout muslims actually believe in a “miracle” where the moon was split in two for a few seconds and then put back together.

Check it out.

Splitting of the moon

Now, once again, I stand in awe of the utter lunacy of religion.

So thank you, islam, for all of the insanity, violence, and hatred that only you can bring.

I think I’m going to be sick.

The christian side hug

I know what you’re thinking, most of the things christians do are pretty stupid, and you would be correct. However, some of things they do are so mind numbingly ridiculous as to merit special mention.

As proof of this assertion, I now offer up “the christian side hug“. Apparently, hugging someone from the front can open you up to all sorts of sexual temptations that will lead you straight to hell. Fortunately, a christian rap group has found the answer: side hugging.

Despite the fact that christians are my mortal enemy, this video is so insanely ridiculous that I actually feel a tad bit embarrassed for them.

Update: Here is an interview with one of the creators:
Interview: Christian Side Hug Creator/Rapper

The catholic cross clap

We all know that catholics spend much of their day oppressing gay people, restricting a woman’s right to choose, covering up child abuse, and protecting pedophiles, but even catholics have some free time occasionally.

You may have wondered what a catholic does with their free time now that roasting heretics is no longer allowed.

Well, wonder no more. Apparently, some catholics spend their time doing the “cross clap“. Sure, it sounds like a christian STD, but it’s not.

Other catholics have decided to stand against this exercise in liturgical dance. You can see more at their web site, End the Cross Clap

Whatever your position on this issue, I am sure we can all agree that it is an issue of the utmost importance.

Just watch.

After tweeting about both of these videos on twitter, I received the following response from @ToddMT a most excellent twitterati.

I guess to avoid the Cross Clap you need to do the side hug?

To which I can only reply:

Amen.