Author Archives: Jacob Fortin

Arizona Lawmaker wants 10 Commandments in Classrooms

Posted on by

It will never stop. Religious morons will always insist that their sectarian messaging has to be in everyone’s faces, in every institution. It isn’t enough that they added their God in the pledge of allegiance, or display it on their currency. If their Christian God isn’t being constantly worshipped, then in their tiny minds, it means that their country is falling apart.

In Arizona, yet another lawmaker is attempting to bring the 10 Commandments into classrooms across the state. Sen Anthony Kern is not a particularly educated man. He has a bachelor in business administration, from one of the lowest ranked university in the country. When he was fired from his job as a certified peace officer for being a liar, he was put on the “Bradey List”, which is a record of misconduct and dishonesty for former officers.

Not content with doing a bad job in the public sector, he doubled down by becoming elected in Arizona’s senate. He’s tried to pass a series of stupid laws, including trying to make it a misdemeanor to travel as a passenger in a car without an ID. Sounds like some Nazi Germany shit.

While on the subject of fascism, Kern has recently tried to pass a bill that would force the 10 commandments to be displayed in schools, and for teachers to be compelled to include it in their curriculum. In his tiny mind, he believes that Christianity is the only reason that religious liberty exists in the first place:

And because America is such a diverse nation, it is because of the Christian religion that we have allowed their religions to come in and be known,’’ Kern said. “Because of the Christian religion and its foundation in this nation is the reason why we have other religions in this nation.’’

As you may recall, the people who left Europe to settle into what is now America had done so precisely because the ruling faith of their respective countries would not allow other forms of Christianity from existing. These were called “The European Wars of Religion”, and the whole affair lasted a few hundred years and cost millions of lives. Kern doesn’t know this because the only book he’s ever read is the Bible.

The thing about these kinds of idiot laws is that they are always shot down at some point by the fact that the highest law of the land, The Constitution, makes it very clear that government cannot be in the business of promoting any religion. It’s the fucking first sentence of the thing, and still American lawmakers act like it’s just a minor inconvenience.

So far, the only thing this waste of a human is capable of doing is spreading false information, and turning his country ever so slowly towards a fascist hellhole. Don’t you just love religion?

Bible Museum Closes Due to Lack of Interest

Posted on by

Do you ever get tired of religious conservatives telling you that the Bible is the most popular book in the world? Sure, it’s the most “sold” book in history, but considering how illiterate most Christians are about the “good book”, it seems as though religious people are not really big fans of the Bible. I Speak from experience here on this matter: no one gives a shit about it. Sure, people say they do, but in the same way someone might say that if someone was having car troubles on the road, they would stop to help. The stats on that don’t lie: must of us wouldn’t. We just like to think we would.

This would explain why in Philadelphia, the American Bible Society’s “Faith and Liberty Discovery Center” is closing after only 3 years of operation. The “museum”, if we can generously call it that, costs roughly 60 million dollars to build. The ABS was convinced that they would attract a flood of tourists, but predictably, no one showed up. It might have something to do with the pathetic attempt at scholarship, or the boring attractions. In any case, this monument to failure is on its way out, and no one in Philly gives a shit. It’s beautiful.

You can judge for yourself if their sales pitch has any mustard to it:

“We’ve created a massive digital platform, disguised as a museum,” said Pat Murdock, the center’s former executive director. “It feels like a museum — we’ve got artifacts and all that, but really it’s a digital platform that is ripe for the way people are learning today. They want to learn from the media. They want to learn from a story. And they also want to collect things, and they want to create. That’s why we created the maker space.”

Wow, I’m convinced.

Anyone with a head on their shoulders could have told them it was a bad idea. Would they have even listened? When you build your whole life and identify on a lie, it’s hard to know what the truth is. These clowns thought huge crowds of people would rush to a museum where they are told that they are sinners, because that’s what they were told by people trying to be polite, or nice. In reality, they received 2% of their projected visitors. They didn’t even come close to meeting any of their projections, no matter how many times they prayed to their sky daddy.

If you’re worried that the 60 million dollar price tag of this monstrosity was paid for by taxpayers, I can at least confirm that this ode to the worst book in history was actually paid for by the ABS, who had sold their New York building for a cool 300 million, and moved to Philly because it was cheaper there. So cheap, in fact, that no one had the money to go visit this bloated establishment. If these morons want to keep wasting money building exhibits no one wants to see, I’m all for it. Just don’t expect anyone to give a shit, that’s all.

Americans Think Religion is Losing Influence

Posted on by

They say that a cornered animal is at its most dangerous. When desperation sets in, and the stakes are raised to the point of a fight for existence, then there is no telling what a creature can do to ensure its own survival. One thing is for certain: extreme caution is advised.

I say this, not to be hyperbolic (though I am already guilty of this), but as a warning to those of us that have become complacent, and convinced that religion is on it’s dying breath. It’s true that the steady decline of faith overall has been progressing well among the population. It’s been so rapid that a recent Pew poll found that 81% of Americans think that religion is losing influence in public life.

It’s important to note here that a full 69% of those respondents considered that a BAD thing, and believe that religion should have more influence. What they don’t realize is that influence has actually increased in public life. For instance, thanks to gerrymandering efforts in many states, courts are now packed with religiously minded judges. The same is true for school boards, where Dominionists have been busy sneaking religious education back into schools. This is only going to get worse.

72% of religiously unaffiliated adults – those who identify, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – say conservative Christians have gone too far in trying to control religion in the government and public schools; 63% of Christians say the same about secular liberals.

The people I want to address in this study are the 47% of non religious liberals adults who don’t think that religious conservatives have gone too far. What the hell are you smoking? Did the recent events in Alabama not convince you that this is only the beginning? I wonder what other kinds of religious encroachment it’ll take for nearly HALF of the non-religious community being totally fine with that Christian nationalists are doing to their country.

This is how you lose: by keeping your head in the sand while your opponents, convinced that your side has gone too far, is busy taking away every progressive thing your ancestors fought tooth and nail for. I know it’s cliché to say this now, but we are officially the worst generation now: a bunch of feckless idiots that gave up at the finish line and let the world slip into a theocratic nightmare. Enjoy your distopia, morons.

Pakistan Sentences Blasphemer to Death for Insulting Mohammed

Posted on by

Do religious people know what persecution is? Apart from doing the persecuting, most faiths are of the opinion that not believing in their bullshit is an insult, punishable in some instance with death. They value their little idea so much, that anyone who thinks differently is an apostate, and that the crime of thinking for yourself is the most serious offense.

In Pakistan, a young man is facing the death penalty after he was accused of sending texts critical of the prophet Mohammed. Because his fellow countrymen and all dangerous faith zombies that place their feelings over everything else, his life, and that of his family, are effectively over.

Aslam Gujar, a lawyer who represented student Junaid Munir told The Associated Press that the judge in the city of Gujranwala in Punjab province announced the death penalty for his client last week. The trial stemmed from charges brought in 2022 that Munir shared blasphemous content via WhatsApp.

As you probably guessed, it’s impossible to find out exactly what this young man actually wrote, since no news organization has the stones to actually report anything that might offend the most dangerously insecure religion in the world. We just have to take them at their word that a few lines of text between friends merits a young man’s life being snuffed out. Must have been one hell of a joke, I tells ya!

Munir’s father also faces life in jail, presumably for raising the blasphemer. This will no doubt spell disaster for the rest of the family. Boy, you can just feel the love of their fellow man, can’t you? This is the same group of folks that claim that theirs is a religion of peace, and that once the whole world believes in the same crap they do, the world will know unimaginable prosperity… this is also the same group of morons who think that a horse can fly. So, take their violent and repressive religion at your own risk, people.

 

Abuse Victims of Nuns Seek Justice

Posted on by

We pay so much attention to all the catholic priests that abuse young children that we often forget that they aren’t the only creepy group of religious weirdos. More and more, stories of abuse at the hands of nuns are coming out, encouraged by all of the outpouring of support that others had received due to the #MeToo movement.

For a long time, even the support group that had sprung up to support victims, SNAP, which stood for “Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, only mentions the male abusers. Women often being considered caregivers, and of their  stature in society is a perfect double act for those wishing to escape scrutiny.

Stories of abuse by priests are gruesome, but there is something particularly twisted about the way female abusers try to create “love” narratives that I have not heard before. It adds a whole other dimension. Not only are these victims sexual lives ruined, but that foundational element of loving a partner is also tainted.

“It was abuse. I interpreted it as love,” she said of the sexual relationship she had as a student with a Catholic school teacher, who later joined a religious order.
As a teenager, she spent much of her free time with her teacher. Their bond was so noticeable that a yearbook entry from a friend called her the woman’s “companion.”
“The nun brainwashed me into thinking we were head over heels in love,” she said. “God’s love, that’s why no one else could know about it — it was so special.”

Now I’d like to tell you that the perpetrators have all been punished and that the victims were financially compensated. Well, I’d like to, but I can’t. I’m sure by now you’re familiar with how this kind of thing goes. The statues of limitation had all experienced, thanks to the tireless work of religious organizations that pushed for these laws in the first place.

The only good news in all of this is that the public has begun to recognize female perpetrators of sexual abuse, and given enough time, enough awareness could be raised that it won’t only be priests that have a sullied name. Let’s just take the time to acknowledge that regardless of gender, when anyone works for a religious organization, leaving your kids with them is like asking Hannibal Lecter to babysit your kids.

Christian Boarding School accused of Kidnapping

Posted on by

It’s always in those often ignored corners of America that some of the worst behavior imaginable is tolerated. Civilization is slow to reach some parts, and in these places, religion is still calling all the shots. Generally speaking, city folks think that the rest of the world has the same attitude about how to properly raise children. The notion of nurturing creativity, self expression and above all, their physical wellbeing, is a foreign concept to the harsh taskmasters of religion. Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child has been the attitude of many a Christian, and it’s not very surprising when the news identifies yet another story of abuse at their hands.

Religious schools benefit from little oversight. In the case of Lighthouse Christian Academy in Missouri,

ABM Ministries owners Larry Musgraves Jr., 57, and his wife, Carmen Musgraves, 64, were charged over the weekend with first-degree kidnapping for allegedly locking a student in a small room. The allegations are the latest against people associated with Christian boarding schools in Missouri.

The 15 year old boy was allegedly punch multiple times in the face, breaking his nose, as a supposed “preparation” for an upcoming boxing match. He was also apparently locked in a small room as punishment. The kid claims that it was because of comments he had made previously about one of the school administrators wife.

The school used to accept female students, until a lawsuit in 2009 that claimed a former principle had sexually abused a female students, and the Musgraves had been aware of the abuse and had done nothing. They settled for almost 1 million dollars. The offender walked away scot-free, and simply headed to another religiously run school called Agape Boarding School to cause more pain and hurt:

A former student at Agape said he was constantly raped and called “seizure boy” because of epilepsy from which he suffered, while other students have said they suffered permanent injuries after facing disciplinary action or being forced to work long hours of manual labour, it was reported.

There was also another nearby religious school, called Circle of Hope Girl’s Ranch, that had at least 5 employees charged with abuse, with their doctor, David Smock, being accused of over 100 separate counts of child abuse.

It’s beginning to be difficult keeping track of all these abusers. They all have one thing in common: because of Missouri’s lax laws when it comes to oversights, religious organizations are free to do pretty much anything that comes to mind, which tends to be some pretty unsavory shit.

 

Greek Orthodox Church Threaten Excommunication over Gay Marriage

Posted on by

You might have heard the news that Greece has joined the growing list of countries that recognize gay marriage. What you probably didn’t hear was all of the back lash the politicians who passed this legislation have received. It seems the Orthodox Church is not very happy with their representatives, and they have threatened them with excommunication from their little club.

Clerics have called for “immoral lawmakers” to be ostracized from the church, and ecclesiastical authorities on Corfu have announced that two local MPs would be banned from participating in any religious rites.

Aww, isn’t that a shame? Getting disinvited from this little gang of thugs actually sounds like a badge of honor to me. Keep in mind that we’re talking about an organization that has deep ties with organized crime. Just a few years ago, their leader was facing serious charges of aiding and abetting a known criminal.

It seems that the Church’s memory is a little fuzzy. Not long ago, there was a huge scandal involving the Archbishop Christodoulos, who had been caught helping a convicted drug smuggler. He was asked to resign. He refused, and died of cancer a few years later. His colleagues were having just a few legal problems of their own as well:

“The scandal began last month, when Bishop Theoklitos of Thessaliotis resigned after being accused of running a trial-fixing ring; four high-court judges and several politicians were allegedly paid large sums of money to clear the bishop and his associates of charges that included drug dealing and homosexuality (which is illegal in the church)… The scandal quickly spread to the highest levels of the church. Another bishop resigned after he was accused of have secretly laundered $17-million (U.S.), believed to have been earned by selling church property, and banking the money in U.S. accounts. A third resigned over stories of wild sex escapades involving prostitutes. Newspapers ran photos of a 91-year-old bishop naked in bed with a young woman. He has refused to resign… A further eight bishops are under investigation for crimes including smuggling, bribery, money laundering, drug dealing, pedophilia, prostitution and sexual harassment.

So these are the guys telling everyone else that they should be punished for allowing same sex couples to be able to officially be recognized as a couple. A bunch of pedos, thugs, and criminals think they are in a position to judge others. All they demonstrate is how out of touch they are with the rest of society. I hope the people they threatened enjoy a long and storied career in politics. There’s nothing like being despised by the bad guys to remind you that you’re doing the right thing.

I wonder if any of these clowns know they are on the wrong side of history…

Chicago’s Catholics Church is protecting child abusers

Posted on by

These kinds of headlines have long ago lost their shock value, haven’t they? Of course we know that Catholic organizations have been openly impeding investigations into child abuse. We’re so numb to the fact that one of the richest organizations in the world is routinely aiding and abetting known rapists that when someone calls them out for it, it no longer phases us. We must not forget that each victim deserves the same attention, and that we must not allow ourselves to become complacent.

In Chicago, a Catholic order known as the Order of Friar Servants of Mary, or “Servites” as they often call themselves, operate under a powerful cloak of secrecy. They own and operated several educational institutions, one of which is the center of a lawsuit. One of their employees, Rev. Kevin Fitzpatrick, has been accused by 9 people of molestation, and they are suing the order for failing to report him to the police. Fitzpatrick was allowed to operate for over a decade, and so it’s not difficult to imagine that this group is only a small sample of the harm him, and others in his organization have caused. Here’s what part of the lawsuit states:

“Defendants knew or had reason to know, or were otherwise on notice, that perpetrator had engaged in unlawful sexual-related conduct with minors in the past, and/or was continuing to engage in such conduct with plaintiff and failed to take reasonable steps and to implement reasonable safeguards to avoid acts of unlawful sexual conduct in the future by perpetrator.”

The Servite order is ancient; it traces its roots back to the 13th century, and like all sinister and secretive cults, it isn’t in the habits of divulging anything to the outside world. Their edicts are the familiar repressive themes that seem to create, or perhaps attract, perverse humans who like to prey on the innocent: chastity, obedience, and poverty. The only one this order seems to value is obedience. As the pressure of the lawsuit mounts, the order is considering bankruptcy protection. If they do, it would echo the same responses from churches all over the US who have used bankruptcy laws intended for corporations to great benefit. It allows them to avoid any form of legal discovery, and forces victims to settle for a pittance of what they wanted.

Is it too much to expect some form of retribution? Why should any organization be allowed to exist when it knowingly shielded child abusers from the law? Would any non-religious order be allowed to operate if they had records of abuse but had failed to share them? These people should all be in jail, their organization dissolved, and the money distributed to the victims. It’s that easy.

Christian Nationalists Now 1/3 of American Voters

Posted on by

If you want to be terrified, than look no further than this report by the Public Religion Research Institute, also known as PRRI, that demonstrates that roughly 1/3 of American voters identify or support the agenda of Christian Nationalists.

The findings of just who these people are should surprise no one. They are populated by a significant portion of old, white, evangelical Christians, although there seems to also be quite a few black and hispanic religious groups in the mix as well. In total, when you add up people who identify as Christian Nationalists, or who have sympathy for their cause, it amounts to over 30% of the voting population.

The reason that this should terrify people is that this number is an almost perfect parallel to what occurred in Weimar Germany before it was taken over by the Nazi party:

[T]he July 1932 elections brought the Nazi party 37.3 percent of the popular vote, making it the largest political party in Germany… In the ensuing elections in November 1932, the Nazis lost ground, winning 33.1 percent of the vote. The Communists, however gained votes, winning 16.9 percent. As a result, the small circle around President Hindenburg came to believe, by the end of 1932, that the Nazi party was Germany’s only hope to forestall political chaos ending in a Communist takeover.

The fragile democracy of Germany was broken by the time the Nazi party had a significant share of government power. It didn’t take a majority for them to simply take over. All they needed to do was ensure that everyone was more scared of their opponents, and when the moment was right, they literally executed their rivals, and declared themselves the only power. The destruction of Germany, and the deaths of hundreds of millions of people, was the result.

Now, the only main difference between 1930’s Germany and America in 2024, is that the economy has not (yet) collapse, or have a crisis. If it did, no doubt the number of people identifying as this frightening new minority would surely grow. The growing instability around the globe, and the renewed conflict of old enemies can be a catalyst for these religious psychos to try and grab more power.

The only solution to this disaster is for the “None”, the religiously unaffiliated, to take the mantel of power, and to act like a cohesive political group. Instead of just sitting by the sidelines and watching their country dissolve into a theocracy, the Nones will need to create political alliances with other groups that are fearful of this new development.

The alternative is to allow the most powerful military in the world to be controlled by people who pray every night for their God to destroy the world so that only their little pathetic religion can dominate.

 

Rome Protects Clergyman Accused of Raping Inuit Kids

Posted on by

Do you have a dark and insatiable desire to abuse innocent young children, but fear the possibility of retribution? Have you considered the Catholic Church? The Vatican is running out of members, which means that when one of them is credibly accused of rape, they will benefit from the protection of a trillion dollar organization run by weird and sinister men.

When the Catholic Church isn’t too busy making sure that people are not wearing protection in countries ravaged by the AIDS virus, they are busy refusing to punish their monsters that have hidden in their evil lair to avoid prosecution. Look no further than the case of Rev. Johannes Rivoire for proof. He’s been charged with sexual crimes in Canada, but because he’s living in France, the quest for justice is essentially stalled. This seems to suit the Catholic Church just fine, and they’ve decided that the best way to proceed is to ensure the guy is still on the payroll.

A French clergyman dubbed the “devil priest” who stands accused of sexually abusing Inuit children in Canada’s north will not be dismissed from his congregation after senior church officials in Rome declined to act, citing the nonagenarian’s declining health.

Any excuse to avoid the embarrassment of having one of your own exposed as a pedophile is a good one, it seems. The reason this individual is called “The Devil Priest” is because he operated unfettered for over 30 years with the most vulnerable members of society. The police had evidence for years, but even when people approached them with credible evidence, they did nothing, allowing Rivoire to move back to his home country to avoid prosecution. He’s a part of Canada’s shameful past, where Inuit children were forced to attend “residential schools”, which were more like gulags than schools. Unfortunately, thanks to the Church and the government of France, this monster will be allowed to get away with his disgusting crime.

Will the day come when the institutions who protect these people will be held to account? For all our sakes, I hope so.

Ghana Makes More Restrictive Laws Against LGBT Groups

Posted on by

Religions long march towards repression continues, this time in the African country of Ghana. When an LGBT group tried to open up a center in their capital city of Accra, religious leaders, working in tandem with politicians, sprung into action. While it is already illegal to have same sex sexual relationships, it seems as though even this restrictive and inhumane law was not enough: now they want to jail anyone who dares to help these kinds of groups in any way.

This gay panic is brought to you by Christianity, which seems to believe that the worst thing on earth isn’t the sexual rape and torture of children, but consenting adults having intimate relations they don’t approve of. Forget about the near constant abuse of underage girls and boys, that’s something the public has no interest in uncovering, despite the fact that it’s a serious problem. How bad is it? Here’s a sample of the kind of incidents that happen with disturbing frequency:

Assistant Commissioner of Police, [name anonymised] … made it known to the press [at name of place anonymised] that… Pastor [name anonymised] admitted having sexual intercourse with the girl without her consent, during police interrogations. […] The victim, a member of the church, who was sick went to the pastor (in his house) for healing prayers. In the course of the prayers the pastor touched the mouth of the girl and all of a sudden, she fell floppy […] The victim woke up after about 15 minutes and saw that her pant was loose, and her private parts soaked with semen, an indication that the pastor had had sexual intercourse with her.

Keep in mind that the study that is being quoted could only rely on reported incidents from newspapers. There’s really no telling just how prominent these kinds of crimes are occurring, but if I know my religious organizations (which I certainly do), then I know that abuse is the norm in and Christian church. In order to get people to either ignore or forget about their perpetual and baffling abuse of their own congregants, religious leaders will often chose a scapegoat to rally their victims towards a common cause. The LGBT community is easy pickings, and so long as their population despises them, they have something that will forever distract their flock from ever uncovering the fact that their sheppards are wolves in disguise.

Alabama Supreme Court is now the American Taliban

Posted on by

If you haven’t heard of the name Tom Parker, odds are you soon will. The Chief Justice is making news after declaring that embryos are children, in a landmark case that is bound to send shockwaves through the state, if not the country.

It all began with a lawsuit. A couple that was using Invitro fertilization wanted to sue the clinic in Alabama for accidentally destroying a few of their frozen embryos. The Center for Reproductive Medicine, located in Mobile, Alabama, had an accident during the transfer of the embryos, and they were lost as a result. The couple, rather than move on with their lives, decided that they wanted to sue them for wrongful death. The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which ruled an overwhelming majority of 8-1 that these embryos were indeed children. The court, which sounds more like a branch of the Vatican, quoted the Bible multiple times, and the name “God” is invoked over a dozen times.

“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God,” he wrote in a concurring opinion that invoked the Book of Genesis and the prophet Jeremiah and quoted at length from the writings of 16th- and 17th-century theologians.

“Even before birth,” he added, “all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”

Parker further claims that all governments are created by God, this despite the fact that the Constitution he swore to uphold makes it abundantly clear that government is to stay out of the business of mandating religion. He doesn’t see it this way. He’s part of a clandestine Christian movement called “The Seven Mountains”, which aims to inject their religious tyranny in all aspects of government. This plan has been in motion for decades, and because everyone around them was asleep at the wheel, they’ve effectively turned the state into their version of a theocracy, complete with religiously mandated laws.

As a consequence of this decision, fertility clinics across the state have suspended all services. This means that couples wishing to have assistance in having children are incapable of doing so until this insane mess is sorted. Considering how stacked with Christian nationalists the courts are, it’s doubtful that this will be repealed. Even Republican lawmakers seem confused about the decision. They claim to be “pro families”, but had no idea that declaring a frozen clump of cells a “human child” would have terrifying consequences for IFV clinics. Since the Supreme Court decision was literally made to allow a couple to sue over a few of their embryos being destroyed, this means that it’s doubtful that any medical organization would even dare operate in a state where they are always one mistake away from financial oblivion. This has spelled disaster for thousands of Alabamans struggling with fertility.

Again and again voters were sold a pack of lies, courtesy of religiously minded politicians that place their faith above their duty to their fellow countrymen. Many of them entered politics not with a desire to help, but with the ambition of turning their country into an unrecognizable religiously repressive place, where freedom is a thing of the past, and subjugation to their imaginary friends and his conflicting rulebook. It is time to weed out these religion elements and expose them for what they are: the American Taliban.

Threesome Obsessed Priest Protected by Vatican

Posted on by

Those Christians sure do love their trinity. Because they believe that their deity exists in three parts, this often means that anything that comes in threes is often considered to be divine, regardless of what it is. For example, when Father Marko Rupnik was trying to satisfy his sexual urges, he pressured his female colleagues into having a threesome with him, because it would bring him closer to the trinity. If he wasn’t a creep who abused of his power, you’d almost have to admire the set of brass balls to pretend there was anything sacred to his nasty little habit.

“He said that I would not grow spiritually if I did not meet his sexual needs. We had another nun have sex with us because he said it was like the Trinity,” said Ms Branciani, referring to the Holy Trinity, a central tenet of Christianity.

This isn’t his first rodeo either. Rupnik started his “spiritual growth” sessions back in the early nineties. Over 20 former nuns have come forwards with claims of abuse, all of which would have surfaced sooner were it not for the fact that the Vatican was quick to cover things up. When he had used up all the victims in his native Slovenia, he was whisked away to Rome where he continued unabated for another 30 years. It helped that Rupnik is a talented artist, which is a rare commodity for a community that is rapidly shrinking.

Why was this guy even a priest? With his bohemian tastes, he should have been making wacky art in a hippie commune somewhere near San Francisco, not the stuffy halls of St. Peter’s Basilica. If you’re into threesomes, there are plenty of places for you to go, but none of them have a big ugly cross in the front.

Just remember kids: if you’re sexual preferences are a little outside the norm, just find like minded people instead of illegally coercing them just to get your rocks off. Why does everything sexual always get all twisted and fucked up when religion is involved?

 

The Good Atheist Returns

Posted on by

Before I tell you about the beginning of a new era, I’d like to tell you about the end of one. The year was 2017. After spending a few years working my way out of the financial oblivion I had accidentally created for myself, I began to experiment with a comeback. I felt my “break” from podcasting was over, and I wanted to embark on a new journey. I sent out a number of emails to my most loyal listeners, saying that I was bringing the show back. Reactions were mixed. Many of their criticisms spoke of my inconsistency, and in my past failed promises of going back to podcasting. I appreciated their honesty, but it was somewhat of a deflating experience to say the least.

Alas, this was the least of my problems. Unbeknownst to me, the credit card that I had used to renew my domain had expired, and as a result, so had my ownership of the domain thegoodatheist.net. A web company had purchased it from under me (no doubt paying a pretty penny for it), and had created a fake version of my site. They had stolen my intellectual property, and were pretending to be me, albeit with a strange religious twist. Their slogan was “leave God alone”, which made absolutely no sense. I suspected them to be a religious group, but I had no proof of it. When I contacted them, they demanded an exorbitant amount of money to regain control. I told them to fuck off, and if they kept on mimicking my site, I would sue them. They agreed to take this mutated version of my site down, but kept the domain name. We were at a stalemate.

There were two options: a) either I would have to pay money to what I considered a group of scumbags, or b) I would have to create a brand new site, and start over from scratch. I chose option c): I gave up.

As time went on, I also became very disillusioned with the internet, and podcasting in general. The medium had never been more popular, but this popularity had created a massive glut. Everyone and their dog (sometimes literally) had a show, and as YouTube grew in popularity, so too did the variety of content. A whole new generation of voices were being heard, and honestly, what they had to say annoyed me more than inspired me.

In the mid to late 2000’s, it was practically impossible to make a living podcasting. Back when I first started, competition was thin. It took a certain level of expertise to set up, such as knowing how to create RSS feeds and manage websites; things that were generally out of the realm of the average person. Today, it’s as basic as turning on your phone and just flapping your gums, and people make millions doing it. You would think that this would inspire me to suddenly want to get back into it. It did exactly the opposite.

At first, I wasn’t sure why. I just felt a general sense of disdain for most content on the web. Hell, I even hated the word “content”. It’s only recently that I came to realize that what I despised about the state of modern podcasting is the carelessness of those involved. There is such a pressure to produce that people are often speaking on matters that they have very little understanding in. It’s similar what happened to news when it became a 24 hour broadcast. Rather than have proper journalists take the time to understand a story they report on, shows are nothing more than talking heads speculating and gossiping about events as they happen.

My view began to change, however. About a little over a year ago, a coworker had searched me on the internet, and found an old podcast I had put up on YouTube that spoke talked about child witchcraft accusations in his native Nigeria. At work, he said he has listen to the whole episode, and was surprised that he had never known about these types of tragedies happening in his own country. This made me see that there was more to my show than I had first realized.

Choosing option “B” was not simple. I had no official database backup of the site, which meant that I would have to manually re-create the whole thing, one article, and one podcast at a time. With over 340 shows and 1,300 articles, this was no easy task. In fact, it took a year just to get everything done. A big part of the reason was because over 60% of all my links and other references were dead. This forced me to find either new sources, or search the internet wayback machine to find them. If you know anything about me, you know how much importance I put on being able to cite my sources. There were quite a few articles I had to unpublish specifically because all sources had disappeared, and I could not in good conscience post anything that I couldn’t back up. Information loss is real, and it should terrify people.

The whole process made me see the fragility of information. We think that the internet is forever; it is anything but. Over half of all atheist blogs that I regularly linked to are gone, either due to lack of maintenance or for perhaps similar reasons to my own. It was a reminder that one must always fight entropy, and that in this world, if you aren’t growing, you’re dying.

And so it was time to start over. But where to begin? When I first started my podcasting journey, I was a 26 year old man, with lofty ambitions and close friends equally hungry for success. Atheism was on the rise, and it felt fresh to speak out on this issue. Times have changed. I’m in my 40’s now, and my friends have their own lives. Some are even reluctant to speak out against religion, as the Internet has a way of interfering with a person’s living. I know first hand that employers are not very understanding when it comes to speaking out.

I began by registering a new domain, thenewgoodatheist.com. I built a new website, and slowly, article by article, I reposted them all, making sure that the dates, topics, and categories were all done in such a way to make it easy to find. I sent out a few messages to those that had never given up hope in me. It was a small group. Over the span of over a year, I testing out a variety of different formats. I dabbled with trying to find a new cohost, and while the shows were fine, I realized that if I was to start the project anew, I needed to simplify how I produced them, lest I be stuck in a similar situation down the road. I also didn’t want the show to be an imitation of itself. It takes a long time to develop the kind of chemistry I had with friends I knew all my life.

I used to categorize the podcast as a comedy. This was done out of pragmatism, since there is no category for atheism. To classify the show as “religion and spirituality” also felt wrong. I’ve now placed it under the category of “News”, as it reflects the new direction the podcast is aiming for. It’s also done in a way that closely resembles an audiobook. Since I can’t really make you laugh in the same way, I’d like instead to focus on making enjoyable, easy to listen to shows that keep you informed on the important events happening around the world. The shows will also contain all the writings and links in the meta, meaning that you’ll be able to read all the same source material I quote. It was a feature I often did in the past, and I’m sticking with it.

Now comes my PBS style pitch. You might be familiar with this drill. Heck, TGA practically invented the idea of patronage. In the early days online payments, we sometimes used to have people mail in checks to pay for their membership. It was a chaotic mess back in those days. It seems while I was away, the rest of the world caught up to these ideas, and made it easy.

If you’re reading this rather than listening to it, it means that you were sent a Newsletter from the old contacts I had when my old website still worked. To you, this will be the first and only forced message you receive. You’ll need to confirm to subscribe, so that I won’t be constantly bombarding you if you have no interest, or if you’ve lost faith in me. Those of you that decide to stay, I’d like for you all to consider becoming a patron, starting at a buck a month. If I reach my goal patron goals, then the show will become weekly, with more to come. The specifics are on the Patreon page. For more information, simply search for “The Good Atheist” on the site.

At the time of releasing this, 3 months worth of shows will also be instantly available. I felt it was necessary to have this many months of consistent, daily production before I could even justify asking for your hard earned money to support this endeavor. Plus, with today’s streaming services, it’s become expected to have a good amount of content to bite into in order to have a proper taste of a show before committing financially.

Lastly, I’d like for you to consider the following: The Good Atheist, both the website and the podcast, represents an important catalog of religious wrongdoing. It’s a resource for myself and others to fight back against the stupid notion that religion does no harm. If you agree with me that it’s important to support these kinds of resources, then I would be honored if you were to join me on this quest.

Religious Nationalists are Annoying

Posted on by

If you thought only America was having problems with religious nutbags making normal life unpleasant, than you can take some comfort that you’re not the only one suffering. In India, Hindu Nationalists are becoming emboldened, and like their Christian counterparts, they are always clutching their pearls at anything that offends them, which is just about everything.

In West Bengal, a local zoo is being harassed for daring to give one of their tigers a name that Hindu extremists do not like. Worse still, the zookeepers had the temerity to put this beast in an enclave with another tiger with the name of a 16th century Muslim ruler named Akbar. There you have it: religious people are dangerous babies who want the whole world to bow down to their little temper tantrums.

If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, Akbar had been renamed after their original had been criticized by other Hindu extremists. And now, to avoid harassment, the two tigers are being kept in separate enclaves.

When is the world going to stop kowtowing to these idiots? I can’t imagine anything more stupid than protesting the names of these majestic animals. I mean what’s next? Are the Zoroastrians going to demand that the car company Mazda to abandon their brand?