Part 3 of an ongoing series by M.E. Anders. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Religious stupidity
Cult post from M.E. Anders (Part 2)
Click here to read part 2 of M.E. Anders post on a cult survivor’s experience.
Cult post from M.E. Anders
Click HERE to read the first part of a tale of cult survival from a fellow Michigander.
So…where the fuck was “God”?
In reading about the account of an autistic boy who went missing (and was found 6 days later) in Virgina, I came across this little gem of a quote from Hanover County Sheriff David Hines:
There were sometimes that you just had to reach down and find that faith that you were going to find him. Whether it’s appropriate or not for everyone, there is a God. He listens to prayers, and prayers were answered,” he said.
Nice. What eats the lining out of my stomach is that time and again, reporters let people get away with this without offering the slightest challenge. If someone makes an “on the record” comment to a reporter, that comment is fair game to be scrutinized and questioned. Isn’t that what is supposed to happen? Isn’t that what reporters are supposed to do?
When the circumstances were such that the boy could have been lost, where was the miraculous intervention to prevent it from happening in the first place? Where the fuck was “God” THEN?! Taking a nap? Getting laid? Playing poker?
Toys from the depths of hell…
The whole ban on unicorn dolls seems a bit asinine as unicorns are in the Bible.
9-11…a message lost
By now, you have all been inundated with endless television and radio specials on the legacy of 9-11 and how America was changed forever. While America may have been changed, did the American people actually learn anything from that tragic day? Did WE in fact, change? Judging by the fact that numerous hate mongering religious extremists such as Perry and Bachmann exert such influence over the political and cultural landscape, it appears not. We are no different a people than we were before 9-11 and that is not a good thing.
Through the endless babbling of news commentators, pseudo-experts in terrorism, political hacks and responses from the man on the street, a still, small voice could be heard. A voice that called for reason to prevail and for a return to our roots as a nation; a nation that was founded on secular principles and the wisdom of the Enlightenment. That voice was soon squelched; smothered by paranoia, hate and ignorance.
We were all given a choice and we chose wrong as a nation. 9-11 could have been the beginning of an American Spring, a chance to throw off superstition and bigotry and embrace rational thought and humanist values. Instead, we collectively chose a path of darkness. Our descendents will look at the events of 9-11 as an opportunity wasted.
A message lost.
Facts? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Facts!!!
This completely supports what I’ve said all along…the faithful cannot be bothered with facts and even if they KNOW something would discredit their beliefs, they’ll still cling on to their superstition. It’s never about the truth when it comes to religious belief.
Might Makes Right…or so Mr. Deity says
Who or what really determines what is good? Mr. Deity has his opinion…
I love a good Christian snob…
I was on another blog and read a few comments from a Christian apologist that just ate the lining out of my stomach. It’s the height of arrogance to claim that you and a select few have the one and true understanding of holy scripture or the intent of the almighty. My response to this kind of idiocy:
I find it fascinating that one must study and study and then study some more in order to understand what your deity really meant or if indeed the scribblings of some barbaric Bronze Age nomads were really inspired by said deity.
Let’s be real. What kind of well-intentioned god would put forth such a collection of literature that is so confusing as to cause well over a thousand years of agonizing disagreement and dissension amongst even the most intelligent and lettered of men? What kind of loving being would mind-fuck generations of humankind in such a manner? When one considers the numbers of innocents that have been barbarically murdered over the centuries over differing interpretations of this book, the seriousness of the situation cannot be lightly dismissed.
If your god was intent on even the most lowly and uneducated amongst us being able to find a path to their creator, this god would have ensured that it was a path that is clear to ALL of his creation and not open to countless interpretations or manipulation. If you believe otherwise, you are (by default), stating that your deity is, in fact in favor of a special and elevated group of individuals (such as yourself and your favorite authors)who can and should control others faith by virtue of their special understanding of this god and his “inspired” word. Certainly, a clear and unambiguous understanding of this being should not be the purview of a few intellectual elites.
A “holy” and “god inspired” book that requires countless other books and self-appointed experts to explain what should be a simple, concise and clear message is not the work of a beneficent and all-knowing/powerful deity. It is the work of an incompetent entity, an evil entity or of humans. My money’s on humans.
Video: Behind Crude Lies
Creatard Nephilimfree
The video I’ve posted below one of the more hilarious YouTube videos to have sprung from the never-ending evolution vs. creation battle.
For those who don’t recognize who is being spoofed…look at the photo above, click on it and check out his channel. It’s Nephilimfree, a young earth creationist who is known for his outrageous lies, bizarre behavior, litigious posturing and overall asshattery.
Courtesy of TruthSurge
The Dinner Party from The Thinking Atheist
Can you imagine a world in which ALL the religious behaved as if they believed all the crazy shit they claim to?
The Thinking Atheist gives us a small taste of what that might be like.
Morality 2: Not-so-good books by QualiaSoup
To date, one of the best atheist videos on morality I have seen on Youtube.
Pat Condell on the massacre in Norway
One of the best commentaries I’ve heard to date from any atheist on the massacre in Norway.
to be or not to be…an atheist
A post on Atheist Revolution touches on the subject of choice and atheism. Specifically, vjack asserts (correctly) that atheism is not a choice.
Still, choice is an important factor in the process that leads to atheism. At some point in the lives of those who are free-thinkers, we made a choice – a choice to follow where the evidence takes us and not where emotion may lead. A choice was made to embrace reality as we interpreted it or understood it through evidence. Once we committed to reality, atheism was inevitable. At that point, it cannot be a choice. It just IS.
The religious faced the same dilemma we did and took another path. The easy path, the path of least resistance and good intentions. But, as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux wrote, “L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs” (hell is full of good wishes and desires).
To make a conscious decision to forgo reality is to knowingly squander the good fortune that has been bestowed on each and every one of us. That we are alive at all is testament to the fact that we have won the genetic lottery and are the benefactors of billions of years of evolution. Each and every one of us are the end result of the living, struggling, suffering and dying of an untold number of organisms. By denying reality, the religious deny the contributions of our ancestors, and through the commission of that misdeed they contribute to the unnecessary emotional and intellectual crippling of their descendants.
If for no other reason than this, there is a stench of evil about religion, even at its most benign.
*Video* a god of life by Pat Condell
Another crotch kick to organized religion from my favorite YouTube atheist, Pat Condell.
One question he poses to the religious is this: “Why choose a god of death?”
*video*reverend bray fart?
This is the Reverend “Dr.” Terry Jones aka Braveheart. He’s the star of “The Braveheart Show” and yes, you read that correctly at the top of the screen…”Obama is President because he is black”. And no, I’m not making this shit up.
I first caught on to this guy because of a post on The Friendly Atheist in which a burning of Qurans by “Dr.” Jones’ church was being discussed.
Seriously, though, that’s not the half of it. In fact, if you look at the rest of this guy’s site, the book burning comes off as pretty tame.
As you’ve no doubt guessed, my favorite part of his site is his video series called “The Braveheart Show”.
They make it so easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Are Creatards a National Security Risk?
A kind reader on reddit posed a question based on my assertion that lack of belief in evolution poses a risk to national security. Here’s the exchange:
Q: Please explain how someone not believing in evolution is a national security risk.
A: Please explain how having a scientifically illiterate population that is unable to compete on the world market is not a national security risk. Are you seriously implying that the United States gained its technological supremacy via prayer and Disney cartoons? Evolution is not the sole issue here, it is scientific literacy. If you don’t believe in evolution, then by default, you must find fault in all of the other branches of science that support evolution, either directly or indirectly. You cannot have it both ways. You are either for all of science (including evolution) or you are against it.
So, now I ask my readership:
Am I taking this argument too far? What are your thoughts? I want to know.
Hillbilly “science” scores big in USA
DISCLAIMER: Okay, reddit is going nuts over this posting’s title. Listen, I’m not out to get anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, unless you’re a creationist. The term “Hillbilly Science” is in no way intended to reflect poorly on inhabitants of the American South. If you take the title as a specific attack against Caucasians originating from Appalachia, you are seriously mistaken.
A July 16th 2010 article on the NCSE website discusses the findings of a recent Angus Reid Poll on evolution and creationism.
Respondents were from the United States, Great Britain and Canada. The results of the poll are predictable:
“Acceptance of evolution in the United States was lowest in the South (27%, as opposed to 51% accepting creationism) and highest in the Northeast (43%, as opposed to 38% accepting creationism). In Canada, acceptance of creationism was highest in Manitoba/Saskatchewan (39%, as opposed to 50% accepting evolution) and Alberta (31%, as opposed to 51% accepting evolution). In Great Britain, acceptance of creationism was highest in London (25%, as opposed to 58% accepting evolution).”
Nearly 3/4ths of the population in the southern United States rejects evolution. We shouldn’t be concerned about numbers like this, we should be alarmed.
