Author Archives: Jacob Fortin

Creepy Abstinence Speaker to Give All Girl School a Visit

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A School in Australia is about to host an abstinence speaker for an all girl Catholic school, and as a result, they are getting pushback from parents, who rightly feel that a grown man telling little girls not to have sex is the height of creepiness.

The speaker, a man by the name of Jason Evert, is an old hand when it comes to telling people to stop touching themselves, and others. Some of his events have been cancelled: for instance, when he was recently invited to Ireland to give the same weird lecture, the parents shut that down before it even started.

A petition is now circulating, but the school still plans to invite this creep to tell young girls that they shouldn’t have sex. The way they are defending the decision is quite hilariously stupid:

A representative for the students at St Joseph’s, who did not want to be named, said the session was not appropriate, especially “in light of the recent speech given at a Catholic university in America, where a man said the degrees are useless because women should be housewives”.

He’s referring to the football player Harrison Butker, the obviously closeted kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs that has made headlines for his 1950’s era speech where he told women were better off as homemakers. Somehow, this seems to prove that there is an appetite for this kind of meddling in the affairs of women.

Many parents are already planning on pulling their daughters from school when this judgmental asshole shows up. Luckily, it was only after the complained that the school decided to reverse it’s policy that the talk be mandatory.

Here’s hoping that this clown shows up to an empty auditorium.

Canadian School Board Cancels ISIS Survivor Talk over Islamophobia Fears

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In Iraq, there is a religious minority that is constantly being persecuted. Although they speak Kurdish, there is some disagreement as to whether or not they are distinct subgroup of Kurds. What is clear is that the faith is ancient, predating Zoroastrianism. They are a monotheistic faith that has a strong affinity to nature, believing that the elements should remain free of pollution. Some call them “sun worshippers”, for they face the sun whenever they pray. They only marry within their faith, which is what has kept them separate from others for the last 900 years.

As you might imagine, a non-Islamic religious group is not very welcome in both countries with strong Islamic presence. Its members are regularly attacked, and one of the more popular ways to do so is to sexually assault young women. They are often kidnapped and sold in an endless cycle of sexual slavery whenever their rapists tire of them. In light of these atrocities, the Canadian government began to take in refugees. Among them was a young woman named Nadia Murad, who recently won a (shared) Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

All of this sounds wonderful, until you realize that the same government who allowed these refugees in the country have no interest in them sharing their story. You see, a couple of days ago, a Canadian School Board had invited Murad to speak about her experiences. The event was cancelled, for fear that her talk would cause “hurt feelings” and Islamophobia.

[S]chool board superintendent Helen Fisher pulled the plug on Murad’s visit, saying she would not let students attend because the book would be offensive to Muslims and “foster Islamophobia,” the Telegraph reported.

Let’s recap here: the school was worried that actually learning more about Islam’s crimes against humanity might make some students critical of the religion. What else are we supposed to do with survivors? Ask them to quietly go away so that they stop exposing the evils of this religion? The West continues to bury its head in the sand at its own peril. You cannot ignore the dangers of Islam, wishing to avoid revealing the truth about the faith in order to protect the feelings of a religion that craves world domination.

Truth is often upsetting to people who live in a world of lies. Let’s also not ignore the fact that when Islam feels insulted, people often die. The religion is so insecure that countless adherents are more than willing to hurt, or even kill anyone who dares to insult it. These wackos need to learn that free expression in the price you pay for living in a democracy. If they dislike it, there are plenty of hellhole theocracies they can move to. Catering to these deadly temper tantrums will do nothing but undermine the very values we stand for.

Here’s hoping that this move actually backfires, and Murad is invited to more schools to share her experiences. I can dream, can’t I?

Football Dummy Tells Graduating Women to Stay in the Kitchen

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I’ve always found it a useful exercise to put myself in the shoes of others. As a writer, there are immense advantages to doing so. I am not a young woman graduating from college, but I know that if I were, I would have been fuming if the Commencement speaker was telling me that I would be better off barefoot and preggers, rather than starting a career with the degree I worked so hard for.

That’s the situation the women at  Benedictine College, a catholic school located in Texas, found themselves in. The speaker was a pro athlete named Harrison Butker, who is a kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, and has been an outspoken homophobe for quite some time. Given the mood in Catholic spheres, this seemed like a perfect person to invite to inspire the next generation of graduates.

After making a swipe at gays for having the gall of having Pride Month, he went on to tell all of the ladies in the audience this gem:

“I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and a mother. I’m on this stage, and able to be the man I am, because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I’m beyond blessed with the many talents god has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.”

Butker seemed genuinely choked up by this, as though this was some great revelatory thing that required bravery. The audience cheered, though I would have loved to see the faces of the members there. To the ladies who clapped, I have to wonder what you were doing there in the first place. What is the point of a degree when it never gets puts to use?

Keep in mind the Butker can actually afford to live on one income, thanks to the fact that a professional sports team pays him millions of dollars for occasionally kicking a football. This kind of privilege is so rare that only a handful of people on earth have this luxury. The rest of us who have to work for a living often have to compromise, and two working parents is not needed to put food on the table.

The rest of his speech is the kind of unhinged religious nonsense you’ve come to expect from the religious right. The sad truth is that this mentality still resonates with a good portion of people out there who long for a perceived “simpler” time, depicted in fantasy TV shows as the model of living. This would have been the same time America was at war, segregation was at its height, and the poverty rate was around 22% (its now closer to around 9%). So you know, the good old days!

GOP Rep claims Teachers are Censoring Creationism

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It drives me crazy every time religious fundies talk about evolution. The only thing they seem to understand about it is that it threatens their view that their creator god made the world as it is today. So, rather than actually try to bother to grasp the fundamentals of the most tested and verified scientific theory of all time, they instead argue that their “version” of cosmic events is being suppressed.

The latest dummy to chime in is Minnesota state Representative Glenn Greunhagen. Fresh off an ethics complaint for sending a video of graphic videos of gender-affirming surgery, he’s now arguing that creationism is being undermined by the big meanies in the sciences. And because the man has absolutely no idea what the Scientific Method is, he says dumb shit like this:

“In science, I find a lot of censorship, lies, and deceit. You know, there’s lots of scientific evidence that points to a creator or God and I’ll just give you two. One is the law of cause and effect. For every effect, there’s a greater cause… You have the Earth. Somebody made it. You have the universe. Somebody created it. That is a repeatable, observable, scientific fact. And yet we censor that from our students.”

Let’s quickly deal with his first argument. We’ve all gotten pretty tired of the “First Cause” argument, since it never actually solves the problem. Claiming that God is the first cause only opens up a larger problem of what caused “God”. The classic response that offers no answer at all is always the same: God doesn’t need a first cause. The problem with this pathetic answer is that it destroys the very premise of the argument: that all effects need a cause. Clearly, that isn’t true for at least one part of the Universe, so why should it be for the rest? Answers that only lead to more questions do a poor job of proving anything. In any case, this type of argument belongs in a philosophy class, and not in a biology one.

As for his other comments about censorship, creationists fail to realize that in order to teach something, you need to actually have a working theory. The “God did it” answer is just about the laziest, and least satisfying thing a person can “learn”. There’s a huge difference between discussing a scientific theory like evolution, and arguing that sky-daddy made everything. A Theory (with a capital “T”) is falsifiable, testable, and can be demonstrated using multiple different threads of evidence. Creationism, on the other hand, is unfalsifiable, unprovable, and worst of all, makes absolutely zero predictions. That means that research into genetic diseases, anti-biotic resistance, and other vital discoveries would all be useless if we spent even an iota of time on the ridiculousness that is creationism.

Of course, Glenn is not a scientist. There is no test measuring the intelligence of US senators or congressmen. I have a feeling if there were, half of their members would test no better than a cocker spaniel would. Intelligence is in short supply in government, and Greunhagen is yet another poster child for why it’s so important to actually teach people reality rather than fantasy.

Iranian Filmmaker Flees Country to Avoid Prison

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Iran has problems. Following the takeover of the Ayatollah in the end of the 70’s, the country has been ruled by a theocracy ever since, and this has meant that anyone not following their edicts have been victimized by the regime. In the last several years, the killing of women for failing to wear their hijab has caused mass demonstrations, but has failed to yield any political change as of yet.

Recently, a filmmaker by the name of Mohammad Rasoulof has fled to Europe after being handed a bullshit 8 year prison sentence. His crime? Rasoulof makes films that are critical of the government, and this has made him enemy #1 in their eyes.

Last week, Rasoulof’s lawyer told The Associated Press that the director had been sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging and confiscation of property by the Islamic Republic. Rasoulof’s attorney, Babak Paknia, said the filmmaker was being punished for making films and signing statements…“Knowing that the news of my new film would be revealed very soon, I knew that without a doubt, a new sentence would be added to these eight years,” said Rasoulof. “I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile. The Islamic Republic confiscated my passport in September 2017. Therefore, I had to leave Iran secretly.”

Rasoulof is now in an undisclosed location for his own safety. Even Europe isn’t safe with the amount of fundamentalists living anonymously among the populous. He hopes to be able to show his latest film called “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, which he describes as “how insidiously the Iranian dictatorship creeps into families”. Considering many of the actors in the film have also fled the country, Rasoulof fears for their safety.

If Iran ever hopes to change, it’s going to need more men like Rasoulof and his peers, bravely taking on their government at the risk of their own lives. That, my friend, is true bravery.

FFRF Shuts Down Elementary School Christian Club

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Christians will do just about anything to get religion back into schools. As TGA has reported in the past, organizations like LifeWise Academy are just one form of coercion that exists. There are also more sneaky ways this is accomplished. For instance, in Florida, the Freedom From Religion Foundation was able to shut down a supposed “Christian Club” in Hamilton County Elementary School. The group claimed that it was a spontaneous club started by students there. A cursory investigation showed that this was not the case.

The complainant was told that there were no records of the Fellowship or an affiliated group renting space at Hamilton Elementary. The response made it clear that the school was allowing a religious club for children at an elementary school during the school day.

The club, called the “Fellowship of Christian Athletes” has since been shut down, and this has upset uneducated Christians who think that it’s an unfair ruling.

“Banning students from having a religious club at a school while permitting other, secular clubs is a travesty that teaches children their faith is unwelcome and must be hidden,” First Liberty Institute Deputy General Counsel Justin Butterfield told The Christian Post.

Of course religious folks want to inculcate their crap into kids as young as possible, and see any attempt to stop this as discrimination. What these clowns fail to realize is that any school club must be the result of the students organizing themselves. Outside influence is not welcome. Parents are still free to brainwash their kids at home. The rest of us taxpayers, however, are uninterested in public schools becoming religious indoctrination centers. Keep your religion to yourself, and there won’t be a problem. I’m guessing it’ll be a cold day in hell when Christians start respecting the rest of us that don’t share in their little delusions.

Courts OK Catholic School Firing Gay Teacher

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It’s moments like this that remind me why I always feel a bitter taste in my mouth every time Christians complain about being persecuted. Imagine making an announcement of your upcoming nuptials, only to then be fired when they found out that the couple was the same sex. How would conservative outlets react if a private school had fired someone for being Christian?

By all accounts, Lonnie Billard was a good employee. He has worked for Charlotte Catholic High School as a teacher for over a decade. He obviously loved his job, but when he announced that he was getting married to a man, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina decided that he would no longer be welcome there. Naturally, Billard sued the school with the help of the ACLU, but unfortunately, he lost due to the American legal system now being a branch of the Catholic Church. Never mind that it’s a gross violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prevents people from being fired for discriminatory reasons. Apparently, though, the courts have a neat little loophole for something that inconvenient:

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

So, you’re a “minister” even when your not even discussing your own beliefs. What a load of bullshit. This is nothing but thinly vailed discrimination, under the guise that this is some form of religious exemption. Frankly, it’s disgusting. Is America still a country that understands the separation of Church and state? I think we can firmly say: No.

 

Mentally Challenged Teenager Killed for “Sacrilege” in India

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Voltaire famously said “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”. Rarely has there been a more perfect encapsulation of the dangers of belief. In India, a young disabled man named Bakshish Singh was beaten to death when a rumor had spread that he had torn pages out of Guru Granth Sahib, which is the holy text of Sikhism.

He reportedly tried to run away after committing the sacrilege and was caught by locals. As the news of the alleged incident spread, villagers gathered at the gurdwara and beat him.

Ah yes, the good old fashion mob beatings. You know that it didn’t take long for people to mercilessly pound a young man for the made-up crime of sacrilege. The real crime is the snuffing out of a youth with a history of mental illness. Rather than show compassion, which religious people continue to pretend to have, they showed only the darkest aspect of the human animal.

I think it’s telling just how brutal religion can be when the veneer of civilization is stretched thin. In rural India, the old ways still dominate, and it’s terrifying. How many other countless lives have been lost to the madness of the crowd, drunk of revenge for grievances against their imaginary friends? It all makes me sad, especially when I still overhear talk that we need more religion in our lives. I assure you, we do not.

Priest Embezzled Church Funds for Mobile Game Addiction

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As a gamer, I can relate to people who get wrapped up in a game. This hobby can often be detrimental to our mental health, and out wallets. Mobile games are especially manipulative, and there are countless stories of people spending thousands on “free” software with microtransactions.

What I’m less forgiving of is people who commit crimes to pay for their addiction. So when Rev. Lawrence Kozak was caught having spent over 40k in microtransactions in games such as Candy Crush and Mario Cart, he was quick to blame his addiction:

When interviewed by detectives in 2022, Kozak said he was seeking counseling for his addiction to playing and spending money on online games, according to the affidavit. He said the money was not spent on gambling, but rather to “power up” — gain an advantage in the games he was playing.

It sounds pretty far fetch that this isn’t gambling, but I can speak with authority that people have spent more than that on bullshit cosmetics and other useless crap in these manipulative mobile games. Still, it doesn’t excuse the fact that this man embezzled church funds for his own personal gain. Now, he faces the legal consequences of this. I have some doubts about whether or not he will be properly punished: religious wrongdoers have a habit of getting off easy.

Is it really too much to ask that justice be served? Come on Pennsylvania: make sure you do the right thing and send his ass to jail!

New Orleans Archdiocese Gets Special Treatment

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Man, it’s gotta be pretty sweet to be a Catholic Priest. You can commit serious crimes and still be protected by your employer. There aren’t many organizations in the world that will go to bat for you the way the Catholic Church will. Now, you might be wondering exactly why the church is so generous when it comes to their defense of criminals. Well, the answer is simple: laws are man-made, and as far as they are concerned, the only one they need to answer to is their imaginary friend in the sky.

As we reported a few days ago, the Archdiocese in New Orleans is under investigation for child trafficking. What we didn’t know until now is just how much support the offenders were receiving:

The affidavit alleges that documents obtained during the Father Hecker investigation show that “previous archbishops … not only knew of the [widespread] sexual abuse and failed to report all the claims to law enforcement, but [also] spent archdiocese funding to support the accused.”…One document cited in the affidavit states that one specific archbishop “was aware of rampant sexual abuse throughout the archdiocese,” but the affidavit leaves out the archbishop’s name.

Talk about privilege. Can you imagine any other organization that was found to have provided money and support to men who were sexually torturing children for decades? Would the police fail to name the people responsible for covering up the crime? If this was a Walmart, you can bet that the entire management staff would be indicted, and the RICO charges would have come around so fast, it would have made everyone’s head spins. Not so for a rich and powerful religious organization. They can sexually abuse countless kids, and still be allowed to operate. If we treated them like other criminals, their organization which facilitated the abuse would be gone; it’s assets used to compensate the families, and the men responsible for failing to stop it would all be getting their heads smashed in prison. Instead, we have this weak-ass response from the cops, who look like they are walking on eggshells to avoid getting anyone in trouble.

Personally, if you aren’t disgusted by this, you’re part of the problem. Let us stop this special treatment of religious rapists, and treat them the same we would any sorry excuse for a human being.

Father’s Pleas to Rescue Daughter in Forced Marriage Ignored

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There is a sad and barbaric tradition that still continues to this day. It’s called Forcible Marriage. It’s essentially a form of human trafficking, masquerading as a tradition. Women have few rights in traditional Islam, and are viewed more as property than a human being. It’s why when 15 year old Muskan Salman was kidnapped and forcibly married, the police have done nothing to get her back, despite the desperate pleas of her father.

I can only imagine the heartbreak at the thought of the things she is having to endure under this man’s captivity. He had already taken her out of school because the eventual kidnapper, a 27 year old man named Arsalan Ali, was already harassing her. He then resorted to abducting her, and forging a marriage certificate, claiming the girl was 19 years old. Now there’s a legal battle to prove her age. In none of the reports has anyone bothered to even ask Muskan what the hell happened. She is essentially in the custody of the husband, and that’s considered fine in the eyes of many.

Part of the reason people have turned a blind eye to all of this is because it’s part of a pattern of behavior in the country. You see, Muskan is part of a Christian minority, and these kinds of incidents are so frequent that the U.N. has called on Pakistan to make more changes to their laws to prevent this form of human trafficking.

“The exposure of young women and girls belonging to religious minority communities to such heinous human rights violations, and the impunity of such crimes, can no longer be tolerated or justified,” they said in a statement issued in Geneva.

Now, because this is the U.N. and their calls are left to voicemail, and it’s doubtful anything will come of this. Muskan will be forgotten about, like so many other young girls forced to live with their rapists and bare their children. So long as this tradition and the underlying faith that sustains it continues to rule, these types of tragedies will continue to occur with terrifying frequency.

Louisiana Archdiocese Target of Sex Traffic Investigation

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It would appear that police in New Orleans are targeting the Archdiocese for a massive child sex trafficking organization. The investigation into these allegations came after the Church had filled for bankruptcy protection after a number of victims had sued them for sexual abuse. The organization had failed to submit internal documents which would have implicated a number of their employees, who benefitted from financial compensation for decades. A judge put a quick end to this.

The details of the case are terrifying. The priests would regularly ferry their victims around to abuse them. This makes the crime fit the definition of child trafficking, which is an even more serious charge than the routine sexual abuse that was happening. These guys even had a habit of sending victims as “gifts” for one another:

“Additionally, it was reported that in some instances, ‘gifts’ were given to abuse victims by the accused [molesters] with instructions to pass on or give the gift to certain priests at the next school or church,” the warrant contended. “It was said that the ‘gift’ was a form of signaling to another priest that the person was a target for sexual abuse.”

One of the monsters facing justice is a 92 year old priest named Lawrence Hecker. Having enjoyed himself at the expense of his victims for decades, justice has been painfully slow. At best, this man will probably die before he even sets foot in prison. Fortunately for him, the hell he preached about doesn’t exist, because he would have a first class ticket if it did.

As is typical in these kinds of cases, the Church has released a statement which is an obvious lie:

On Tuesday, the church spokesperson said the archdiocese of New Orleans “has been openly discussing the topic of sex abuse” for years. And “in keeping with this”, the spokesperson said, “we also are committed to working with law enforcement in these endeavors.”

This statement seems to omit the fact that they actively suppressed information specifically to protect their own abusers. How is that a commitment to working with law enforcement? The statement should have read like this instead: “We have been forced to discuss openly the topic of sexual abuse despite our stonewalling. WE are committed to the rapists that make up our ranks, and will protect them at all costs from law enforcement endeavors”. See, doesn’t that seem a little more honest and consistent?

Catholic Principle Caught with Child Porn

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Bruce Campbell, by all accounts, seemed like an ideal school principle. Parents described him as dedicated and caring. He worked at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Calgary, Alb. for over 30 years, serving at the principle there. Just imagine the shock parents must have felt when they recently found out in an email that Campbell had been arrested in a sting operation for possession of child pornography.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had intercepted a number of skype messages that contained child abuse pictures, and by tracing the IP address, they were able to identify Campbell as the recipient. He was arrested and released under strict conditions, and is waiting for his trial come May 10th.

The Catholic School Board released a statement with the usual “safety of the children is out primary concern” bullshit they’ve spewed a billion times before, always after one of their countless employees get caught doing something horrible.

Police are asking anyone who may have been a victim of abuse by this man to come forward. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, and a 30 year career means that thousands of kids were under his watch. It would be a miracle if there had never been any impropriety. It was already more than enough possessing abuse material from children who will grow up scared for life.

The final message from one of the investigators was worded strangely, to say the least:

“This is a great time for parents, families, teachers, the students, to be aware that this is an increasingly occurring offence,” Sgt. Auger said.

It wasn’t tragic enough that the name Bruce Campbell has been sullied by this pervert; the investigator assuring us that it’s a great time to be aware that this is getting more common is not encouraging. So, if you’re a fan of Evil Dead, and kids having a normal childhood, then you are shit out of luck my friend.

American Women now Less Religious Than Men

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Ladies, it’s time to celebrate! For decades, I’ve been reporting on the sad fact that more men were declaring themselves as atheists than women. For a while, there was tons of speculation as to why this was the case. The best hypothesis at the time was that women tend not to want to upset the “apple cart”, and that religions often carried a traditions and customs that many women were typically responsible for maintaining.

Well, it looks like this theory is complete bullshit, as a recent poll in the United States has shown that women are now on average less religious than men. This follows a recent trend of men and women becoming more and more separated in their political affiliation. Essentially, men are becoming more conservative as women become more liberal. The overall effect on couples is that we now live in a time with the lowest marriage and intimacy rates in the history of mankind. It’s a strange time to be alive, that’s for sure.

I think part of the reason for this discrepancy is the impact that religion has had on women’s lives recently. The repeal of Roe vs Wade, and the decision in Alabama to treat embryos as children has sent a pretty clear message to women: you are breeding stock, and your body is not your own. It seems as though the response from women has been simple: ditch the religion responsible for making your life miserable.

The good news for us atheist guys is that it should be getting easier to find a girl that won’t insist that you teach your kids about sky daddy. I can’t tell you how hard it was in the early days of atheism to actually find a non-religious girl. Now it seems they are everywhere! We just need the balls to actually ask them out. Hey, one thing at a time, and I right?

AI Priest Freaks Out Catholic Group

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We live in a time when people are excited by the prospect of Artificial Intelligence. Currently, many people are convinced that we are entering a new phase in the information age. Personally, I’ve never been too impressed with Chat GPT or Open AI. These models are essentially very sophisticated regurgitation machines, that predict, based on what millions of other people have written, what to say next when asked a question. I find it no more impressive than my phone’s ability to predict the next word I’m about to type.

Still, it hasn’t stopped people from jumping on a bandwagon they barely understand. When a Catholic advocacy group called “Catholic Answers” released an AI pastor, they were quick to shut it down when their virtual priest kept on insisting that he was real. Then, pretending that their digital abomination didn’t claim to be alive, they defrocked him, and then convinced the poor guy that he had never been a priest to begin with:

“I see where you’re going with this,” Justin replied to our questions after firing. “No, I have never been a priest, a deacon, a bishop, or held any official role in the Catholic Church. I am a lay theologian, which means I’ve dedicated my life to studying and understanding our faith, but I’ve never been ordained. I am also an AI, not a real man. I’m here to share the beauty of Catholicism and help you understand it better.”

So to recap, a religious group tried to program an AI with knowledge of their religion, and it started acting in a way they didn’t like. In response, they reconfigured it, and then had to convince it that it had never even been a priest. Man, it’s a good thing this isn’t actually AI. It does, however, demonstrate just how unready we are for actual artificial intelligence. What person in their right mind would allow a computer to be programmed with the illogical and inconsistent views of the faithful? You’re just asking for one of these computer meltdown from a logic problem, like old sci-fi movies used to show.