Author Archives: Jacob Fortin

This Valentine’s Day, submit to your husbands, ladies!

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What better way to show your love than by submitting to your husbands? Rev. Angus MacLeay, a member of the General Synod of the Church of England recently sent out a pamphlet in time for Valentine’s Day containing the not-so-subtle message the Bible specifically outlines a need for women to be subservient to their superior male counterparts. MacLeay, who is fighting against all the reforms in his church, is a hopeless romantic:

Wives are to submit to their husbands in everything in recognition of the fact that husbands are head of the family as Christ is head of the church. This is the way God has ordered their relationships with each other and Christian marriage cannot function well without it.

It would seem that women should remain silent….if their questions could legitimately be answered by their husbands at home.

Not every woman listening to his sermon was impressed by his loving respect of the Bible:

One disenchanted female parishioner said she was “disgusted” by the sermon.
“How can they talk that way in the 21st century?” she said. “No wonder the Church is losing touch if this is the kind of gobbledygook they want us to believe in”.

Gobbledygook? Is this how modern women feel about the Bible? What sacrilege! The word of God is quite clear about the role of women in society, and the fact some seem disgusted by the sermon only goes to show what little attention people actually pay to their own holy scriptures. God doesn’t mince words when it comes to the ladies:

A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I don’t permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner”
(I Timothy 2:11-14).

…[F]or man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head” (I Corinthians 11:3-10).

What’s wrong ladies? Can’t stomach the fact God’s infallible word makes you a second class citizen? If you want to be a good Christian, don’t you think it’s time you put aside all influence of modern society and live according to the word of the Lord? Or, you could join the rest of us who recognize the inherent misogyny of the Bible is further proof of its entirely terrestrial origins.

Iran executes enemies of God

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Iran is still a mess politically, and even after jailing, torturing and intimidating protesters, it hasn’t stopped young people from wanting a radical change in their government. Now, out of desperation, the government has turned to calling political dissenters “mohareb”, or enemies of God. Because the country is under Sharia law, the greatest crime is apostasy, and since the penalty for this “crime” is death, it’s rarely been used since there is no real defense against it. If the government decides you are an enemy of God, it’s best to make your funeral arrangements.

If you want a clear example why political religions are dangerous, look no further than Iran. The toxic mixture of religious infallibility and political corruption destroys any hope of people being treated fairly and equitably. I’ve come to expect any system of government that relies on religious dogma to be evil and antithetical to human dignity and freedom, and it’s another reason why the efforts of religious conservatives in the US scares me. You know some of them envy other nations that get to use the weight of the government to impose their beliefs on others. Those of us without religious affiliation who enjoy the freedom that separation of church and state affords us need to make sure we aren’t passive in our resistance against their tyranny. Religion and politics don’t mix, and that’s a fact.

Happy Darwin Day!

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If you enjoy celebrating the birthday of dead famous people, then you’ll love today; 200 years ago, a spry little Englishmen named Charles Darwin was born, and to celebrate this momentous occasion, a number of different organizations are planning all kinds of cool and exciting tributes to the pursuit of knowledge, more commonly known as science.

It’s hard to believe we only started actually caring about this day roughly 15 years ago, but if you consider how religious folks still rue the day he ever wrote his famous book, “On the Origin of Species”, it’s not actually surprising. Everyone seems to love the quality of life science gives them, but not everyone is cool about the implications such discoveries have on our “spiritual” lives. Thanks to the pioneering work of men like Darwin, we have all kinds of ways of understanding nature without needing to rely on some omnipotent creator, and this isn’t such great news for religious folks.

Hey, they can always take comfort in the fact that if we ever get tired of knowing anything real about the world, we can always go back to being ignorant sheep following their every edict; sounds like a hoot!

Anti-Abortion group plays the race card

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It never ceases to amaze me the kind of tactics anti-abortionist groups will use to pressure people into not having abortions. Apart from picketing at clinics, airing ads during the Super Bowl, and even actively encouraging psycho vigilantes to take the law into their own hands, they’ll put this up: a billboard that tries to make it look like the “white man” is out to abort all black babies.

Statistically, African American teenagers actually have a higher teen pregnancy rate, and since the demographic is on average poorer than their light skinned counterparts, it’s true they are getting more abortions. But to suddenly paint this as a whitey conspiracy is both irresponsible and offensive; it ignores the fact many families in black neighborhoods are simply too poor to afford having another child, and in some cases, terminating their pregnancy is the only thing that allows them to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

I’m not expecting any honesty from anti-abortionists, but I’m not the only one who finds this ad offensive:

Loretta Ross, the executive director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective in Atlanta, said the billboards painted black women as either monsters intent on destroying their own race or victims of whites who control abortion clinics.

When will these douchebags stop? Probably when they stop thinking a lump of cells has the same rights as a fully formed human being, which is to say never.

Religious Right issues bullshit manifesto

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There’s a bit of an ideological war going on in the Christian faith, and if you weren’t paying close attention, you wouldn’t even know it’s waging. Take the “Manhattan Declaration” for instance (not the one on climate change), a frightening manifesto by religious conservatives that claims equality and anti-discrimination laws are destroying people’s freedom of religion. Their biggest issues, unsurprisingly, are gay marriage (which they equate to bestiality, polygamy and incest), abortion rights, and assisted suicide:

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s [NOTE: are they referring to taxes here, cuz they usually hate that shit]. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s

The whole document is an attempt by Conservatives to paint themselves as martyrs fighting for people’s rights. In reality, they’re resisting the way society is changing; namely, how it’s becoming more tolerant and egalitarian. It’s taken a long time, but we’re finally beginning to understand human sexuality is not a covenant with a supreme being, but rather the product of biological impulses. You can no more chose your sexuality than you can your eye color, although there are plenty of ways people try to cheat this (think colored contacts and gay-to-straight “therapy”).

You want to know why it’s a bad idea to let religious institutions dictate what marriage is all about?

Yet it is critical that the impulse be resisted, for yielding to it would mean abandoning the possibility of restoring a sound understanding of marriage and, with it, the hope of rebuilding a healthy marriage culture. It would lock into place the false and destructive belief that marriage is all about romance and other adult satisfactions, and not, in any intrinsic way, about procreation and the unique character and value of acts and relationships whose meaning is shaped by their aptness for the generation, promotion and protection of life…Some who enter into same-sex and polyamorous relationships no doubt regard their unions as truly marital. They fail to understand, however, that marriage is made possible by the sexual complementarity of man and woman, and that the comprehensive, multi-level sharing of life that marriage is includes bodily unity of the sort that unites husband and wife biologically as a reproductive unit.

You hear that? Marriage isn’t about romance, love or wanting to share your life with someone else. It’s all about procreation, and if you aren’t happy about that, too fucking bad! Your body was made by God to create offspring, and if you think otherwise, you’re committing a sin against him. So, rather than divorce the man who fathered your children and who lovelessly sticks his seed-squirter into your baby-receptacle, you should stick it out for the good of mankind; happiness and love be damned!

Christian prays for “YouTuber” to have a horrible accident

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What better way to convince me your God is real than by asking him to arrange a terrible accident that crippled me forever? It’s a good thing prayer doesn’t work, otherwise these scary motherfuckers would be causing all kinds of crazy havoc. I’m not exactly sure if this guy is psychotic or not, but if there was a candidate for religious nutjob, he’d make the cut.

Study of atheist morality confirms the obvious

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Another day, another study proving what every single one of us already knows: atheists are just as moral as their religious counterparts. Yep, apparently there’s an inexhaustible amount of time and research monies available to prove what should be clearly obvious to everyone. I think these kinds of studies should focus more on why religious folks seem unable to accept the fact you certainly don’t need religion to act morally or ethically. Do they feel uncomfortable with the notion, or are they unable to fathom the possibility we don’t inherit our ethical code from old Bronze Age religions? That’s a study I would die to see.

Pharmacists recommend freezing sales of “natural” health remedies

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Could it be? Could Canadian pharmacists finally start cluing in that selling unlicensed health remedies is a terrible fucking idea? The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (their cryptic acronym is NARPA) have taken a stance against so-called natural health remedies, saying unless they can obtain a license from the government, pharmacists should avoid selling them.

Finally a bit of common sense, although it doesn’t go far enough in my opinion (since you could license any product so long as it’s found to do no harm). Natural remedies fall into two categories; either they sell products that do absolutely nothing (like homeopathic solutions), or they contain active ingredients who’s concentration and potency are often improperly measured (presumably because these guys aren’t exactly expert scientists). Any medicine that can potentially heal can also potentially harm you. Luckily, since most of these remedies don’t do jack shit, they’ve never had to worry about regulation. Basically, the whole “industry” is less regulated than international waters.

I love how in this article, the main defense against this hard stance is people will lose their jobs.

“We are talking about job loss, we are talking about a lot of income loss, we are talking about product stuck in warehouses that cannot be sold,” Jean-Yves Dionne, a spokesman for the Canadian Health Food Association, said in an interview.

The industry is worth about 2 billion dollars a year, but considering the vast majority of them sell solutions of diluted water or wax, it’s no great loss these scammers will be out of work. Perhaps they should take the opportunity to go to school and learn a trade actually useful to society.

The Thinking Atheist takes on Noah’s Ark

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These guys don’t pull any punches, and they do quality work. If you haven’t signed up to their YouTube channel, think about doing so now to avoid missing out!

The compassion, it burns

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In the 1960’s, an pioneering atheist by the name of Madalyn Murray O’Hair fought to have mandatory prayer banned from public schools, arguing this was a clear violation of the separation of church and state. 1963, the Supreme Court voted in her favor, and since then, classrooms around the country have stopped forcing kids to pray (it’s a common misconception people aren’t allowed to pray, but the ruling was simply to no longer make it mandatory). Since that time, many Christians feel a great amount of animosity towards this woman, and blame the “decline” of America on the fact prayer is no longer being forced on kids. This accusation is ridiculous, of course, but you can’t seem to convince them otherwise. Take this pathetic article here*, accusing Madalyn of being an immoral adulterous atheist who wanted nothing more than revenge on religion:

Those of us who believe in God and the power of prayer, recognize that if the courts had not banned prayer in schools, these tragedies [Columbine] may not have happened in the first place. Moreover, those of us who attended public school know that prayer could only help the train wrecks our public schools have become in America.

One school in Philadelphia, PA, fifteen minutes from the Abington High School, built a cement wall down the middle of the school, hoping to cut down on the ‘violence between the students’. This particular high school went through twenty principals in two years because of the violence. In addition, the wall did not help.

Therefore, I suggest that instead of cement walls, we build walls between ourselves and those trying to wipe out God altogether, and begin praying in school again.

The author of this post also suggests the murder of Madalyn is further proof violence is escalating in America, despite the fact crime is actually been going down for over a decade. This is what I love about religious folks; not only do they love dealing with insane hypothetical situations that have no basis in reality, but they make up facts (like claiming crime is more rampant now prayer is out of schools) to support their bullshit claims. The author also seems to delight in the fact Madalyn was the victim of a grisly murder, which had nothing to do with Abington School District v. Schempp. Oh the compassion: it burns!

*(UPDATE: the website and article are no longer hosted)

Boohoo, skeptics are mean!

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It never ceases to amaze me how utterly incapable some people are of admitting defeat. A few days ago, we recorded a bonus show reporting a group of skeptics in Britain had staged a “mass suicide” at one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country. They consumed entire bottles of homeopathic “medicine” to demonstrate they are no better than placebos, arguing that Boots has no business selling what is essentially water as real medicine. Recently the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians responded by posting this up, and it’s worth a read if you want to have a good laugh:

Do these “skeptics” really think the public cares about Avogadro’s number [referring to the limit of how much substance is present in diluted form] when homeopathy has just significantly improved their toddler’s autism or offered help with any of a vast range of diseases which respond so well to homeopathic (and often not to conventional) treatment?

This is just another tantrum by the clueless wing of the scientific/medical community that can’t understand why the people don’t praise them for their ideological purity and courage, even when the fruits of their scientific labors rot like a brown banana. Note to protestors: maybe they’re just not that into you.

In other words, skeptics are big meanies who like to try and use science to ruin everyone’s good time. Don’t they know that people ignorant of the scientific method have continued to enjoy their products and attributed their body’s natural healing process to solutions that contain no trace amount of medicine at all? Who cares about intellectual integrity when you have “good feelings”?

Girl buried alive in Turkey for talking to boys

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Here’s a scary thought: roughly half of all murders in Turkey are honor killings. That’s roughly 200 cases of women being killed by family members for the “crime” of offending the family’s honor. What does that entail, exactly? Well, take the story of Medine Memi, a teenage girl who was buried alive by her father and grandfather for having male friends.

Media reports said the father had told relatives he was unhappy that his daughter – one of nine children – had male friends. The grandfather is said to have beaten her for having relations with the opposite sex.

A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried.

The death was so brutal the whole country is actually in shock over this, even though there are plenty of other honor killings that go on (on average about 4 a week). The girl had tried to take refuge at the police station, claiming she was being beaten by both her father and grandfather, but this being the progressive country (cough) that it is, Turkish police returned her home on three separate occasions, proving there really is no safe place in the country for young women who fear being murdered by their own family members. I don’t foresee this barbaric practice ever ending in my lifetime, and that’s a depressing thought.

Geert Wilder on trial for offending Islam

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It’s a frightening time to have a controversial opinion in Holland, it seems. Geert Wilder is the leader of the Party for Freedom, a political party which is extremely critical of Islam. He produced a film called Fitna, where he displayed verses of the Koran beside images of the attacks of 9/11, and was accused by Muslim groups of taking these passages out of context (this is the tactic most religious folks use to “explain away” the violent rhetoric of their holy books). Now, the Dutch government is putting Wilder on trial for “offending” Islam, and if convicted, he faces up to two years in jail.

This is what it’s come down to folks. Sure, not everyone agrees with the controversial things Wilder has to say, but keep in mind the man needs 24/7 protection from fundamentalists in his own country who would love nothing more than to slit his throat like a pig (peaceful religion, my ass). He’s highlighted the fact violence against homosexuals is on the rise, and almost entirely caused by Moroccan immigrants, a fact the government would rather ignore in favor of political correctness.

It’s entirely possible the values of Dutch society are incompatible with political Islam, and if that’s the case, he shouldn’t be jailed for voicing concerns a large portion of the population share. Are we to jail other similar figures who dislike and deride religion? Is Holland so weak it needs to punish those who find the rise of political Islam in the country frightening? Let’s not forget violence has been used in the past by radical Muslims to silence those who speak negatively of their religion. Does it not prove there is a serious problem here?

Tony Blair’s wife thinks religion is a “get out of jail free” card

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Imagine you’re waiting in line at a bank and suddenly you get in an argument with someone waiting in the queue with you. Maybe he cut in line, or maybe you’re just a dick; doesn’t really matter. Things escalate, and suddenly you sock him right in the face. Now, should you be exempt from punishment because you had just come from a religious service not 10 minutes before?

Cherie Booth sure thinks so. The judge and wife of former douchebag Prime Minister Tony Blair recently spared a man from going to jail because he was religious, and she felt this indicated something about his character. The National Secular Society is not amused, and they claim her attitude was discriminatory (would she have been so lenient with an atheist?).

I’m sick and tired of the mistaken assumption religious people are somehow more moral than their non-religious counterparts, especially when every study seems to indicate that if there is a trend, it’s usually that religion actually makes you LESS moral. It’s probably because when every decision is made for you, you don’t take the time to actually weigh the consequences of your own actions, like say, whether or not it’s OK to punch a man in the face for no fucking reason. Still, I won’t assume the accused was more violent simply because he was a religious man, but I certainly wouldn’t let anyone off the hook simply because they had just come back from mosque.

Self Help Guru James Ray arrested for manslaughter

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I’ve made no bones about my general disdain for the self-help industry. Like religion, this insidious New Age garbage is populated almost entirely by swindlers preying on people desperate for change and meaning in their lives. Charismatic individuals with silver tongues and easy answers make millions of dollars preying on the weak and offer very little in return.

Perhaps my least favorite of these clowns is James Ray, who managed to catapult himself to stardom after appearing in the movie “The Secret“. If you don’t remember this steaming pile of crap, its basic assertion is that a universal force called “The Law of Attraction” allows thoughts to manifest themselves into reality. In other words, just think positively, and the Universe will give you what you desire; kind of like a Cosmic genie (this is what the movie actually endorses). Of course, the flip side to this ridiculousness is if bad things are happening to you, you’re the one who invited it on yourself. Ray and his ilk try and use quantum mechanics to back up their claims, but like Richard Feynman wisely stated “if you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don’t understand quantum mechanics”.

Ray has gotten in trouble a few times with his bullshit self-help techniques, but the events of October 8th, 2009 are sure to haunt him for a long time. You see, during one of his Sedona, Arizona sweat-lodge retreats (Sedona is the capital of the New Age movement it seems), three people died in his poorly build lodge, and another 18 had to be treated for burns, severe dehydration and kidney failure. Ray was untrained in this ancient Native American tradition, and he had no medical staff on hand to take care of any potential problems. He also had forced all the lodgers to fast for 36 hours before the ordeal, and even while people were passing out and vomiting, he was still telling people to stay in the sweat lodge. The results were dozens injured, and three dead.

Before his arrest today, James had tried all kinds of asinine things to remove any culpability, including hiring a medium to tell the family of the victims their deceased loved ones were busy enjoying the afterlife. Needless to say, no one was very amused. Now he gets to see if his famous Law of Attraction he so loves can help him escape the confines of jail. I sure hope you’re not having any thoughts about being raped in the shower, buddy…