Author Archives: Jacob Fortin

See the world through a fundie’s glasses

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I’m always on the lookout for cool/hilarious fundie websites, and today I found this guy: Steve Noble sounds like a repressed homosexual who seems to have a big hard-on for God. His website is well designed and obviously has plenty of TLC behind it. Unfortunately, Steve is completely insane, which is immediately obvious from his splash page, where we are invited to see the world through his glasses. Let’s just say it makes Dante’s Inferno look like Disneyland.

Look, I get the whole “I love Jesus” thing most of these religious wackos have, but is it really necessary to paint everything in apocalyptic terms? I guess when you read the Bible, it’s the part of the book that leaves the biggest impression on you: in their eyes, the world is going to come to a fiery end, and they have to do what they can to save everybody. It’s a nice gesture, but these clowns have no idea it’s their religious fervor that threatens to make their vision come true. If they could all just chill the fuck out, then I think the world would be a better place.

I invite you to listen to his podcast just to enjoy the fundie goodness within. Plus, I have to congratulate his graphic designer. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many exclamation marks on one page. I never knew you could have so many.

More exorcisms gone wrong

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ignoramuses to sit and listen to reason. Now it looks like ten people will soon be going to jail over the death of Janet Moses, a New Zealand woman who drowned during one of these stupid curse-lifting ceremonies. The troop includes friends and family members, although their names have been suppressed for now.

Moses died from drowning as they poured water down her throat, presumably to drown the evil spirit or something equally stupid. Now the 22 year old is dead, and everyone is facing serious manslaughter charges. It turns out they had to hold her down while she struggled to live, and that very fact is going to make this an open and shut case. I wonder if the judge will throw the book at them. I hope he does.

We need to make an example out of these people. Superstition has no business in our modern society. If people feel depressed or angry because of the death of a loved one, the solution is not to carry on dangerous and pointless exorcism rituals; it’s to give people time to grieve, and let time heal all wounds. Speaking of time, I bet those  idiots will have lots of it to re-evaluate the wisdom of their actions while trying to prevent evil demons from entering their anuses.

Leading their sheep astray

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The image of sheep is a popular metaphor in Christianity. Jesus is portrayed as a shepherd, leading his flock into paradise. Believers are encouraged to be generous, kind, and meek, all qualities of good sheep. At the time the Bible was written, the profession of shepherd was common, and it’s easy to understand how the romanticism of this job would appeal to the people of that period. But there is something disturbing about this metaphor. The slavish devotion of believers is far too easy to exploit, and few can manage the responsibilities of the shepherd. Take, for example, this article on Prosperity Ministries:

As Pentecostals tend to be the least well-educated group of believers they make a prime target for would-be millionaire pastors…the scammed believers have more faith in their little finger than I will probably ever know in my lifetime. They would give the shirt off their backs if they believed God wanted them to, and many of them have. These people have the purest of Christian hearts, trusting the intentions of their Shepherd as they’re led as lambs to the slaughter.
…few if any Christians have plainly spoken against the Prosperity Gospel, or raised awareness that measures any merit…this prominent and aberrant theology has been allowed to wreak destruction on a mass of people who are grasping at economic straws.
Prosperity Gospel theology is bankrupt. The debate raged for years about how much sense coveting money made in the context of biblical principles, but now the fruit has been borne and the numbers don’t lie: those who attend Prosperity Gospel churches are in fact worse off for it.”

Prosperity ministries are the sweetest scams in the world: pastors are able to rake in millions from poorly educated and desperate people, all without having to pay a penny of it in taxes. It’s the only legal way to scam people out of their money, so it would be stupid for any scammer NOT to try this out.

The article was based on a survey that found members of these kinds of churches have the lowest income of any church. It’s an irony not lost on everyone, though it will simply fall of deaf ears. These churchgoers are sheep, and their shepherds are wolves, slowly bleeding them to death. It is in examples like this we learn the hard truth: we cannot continue to teach any ideology that weakens a person’s capacity to defend themselves from the wolves of this world.

Iraqi militia torturing and killing gays

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It’s bad enough the situation is Iraq is a mess; now we have to deal with the knowledge the Iraqi military is engaging in some sick and twisted tactics to torture and kill homosexuals in the country:

“A prominent Iraqi human rights activist says that Iraqi militia have deployed a painful form of torture against homosexuals by closing their anuses using ‘Iranian gum.’ …Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, ‘Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using a very strong glue that will close their anus.’ According to her, the new substance ‘is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq.’”

Reports are sketchy, but over 60 gay men have been killed since December, and many fear for their lives. The video above is a disturbing report about the state of affairs in Iraq, and the news is not encouraging for their gay population.

This only amplifies the failure of the West to inculcate our values and moral ideals in the Middle East. Islamic countries will always be a deadly place for homosexuals, all because of a religion bent on their annihilation. Just another example of how Islam is a ‘religion of peace’, eh?

Orson Scott Card is poorly informed

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Personally I’m pretty sick and tired of religious individuals commenting on atheism when they have absolutely no idea what it means to dis-believe in God. Let me assure you, religious readers, I am not an atheist because of an abusive or absent father (an idea so insultingly wrong I usually choose not to dignify it with an answer). I am also not an atheist because of some secret hatred or spurning from your religion. I simply believe the world has no need for your services, and I’m tired of your logically unsound accusations atheism is a religion.

If your interested in hearing another baseless attack from a prominent religionist, here is science fiction writer Orson Scott Card making the common claim atheism is a faith based belief, just like Mormonism. What is obviously missing in his tirade is any form of proof concerning his own beliefs. Card claims atheism is somehow faith based, since we have ‘faith’ science will explain everything about the universe. Card’s somehow failed to realize science isn’t so much a belief as it is a process of learning about the natural world (I guess you can write science fiction without really ‘getting’ it). I trust the Earth revolves around the Sun, but this trust is only made possible because of the amount of scrutiny and work that has gone into understanding just how this is possible (see gravity if you’re confused). If I was to ever doubt the truthfulness of this claim, I can study it for myself.

Let me make this as clear as possible to avoid any further confusion: Religion makes claims that are demonstrably false. Human beings are not born of virgins. Horses do not fly up to heaven. Deceased persons cannot be resurrected. And of course, in the case of Mormonism, Native Americans are not descendants of Jews, men do not live on the moon, and do I even need to mention how stupid magic underwear really is?

Card makes the same annoying claim that an atheist cannot disprove God, and yet he has nothing to offer in the way of actual proof his religion has any idea what it’s talking about. At least when a person is making a scientific claim, the burden of proof is always on the person making that claim, not on others to disprove it. This may seem like a simple truth, but to believers, the concept of the burden of proof is reversed. They actually think we need to disprove their childish interpretation of the universe. The tenets of their religions were quite literally plucked from the imagination of their specific prophets, who had little if any regard for such trivial things as evidence. Why should I be surprised there are no requirements in religion to make proof a necessary part of belief?

I hate to rain on everyone’s parade here, but in terms of defensible cosmological positions, there are few as sound and reasonable as atheism. We simply refuse to believe in the personal Gods of religions simply because every single one of them is incapable of providing a single shred of evidence that suggests their claims are real. In fact, their very belief system requires human beings to abandon the natural instinct to demand for proof in favor of faith: believing in something despite evidence to the contrary. This speaks volumes as to the intellectual honesty of believers.

I know that there are many who think their theological positions are researched, intelligent, and logical. They are sadly mistaken. The simple fact is all religions discourage intellectual honesty. At their very core, they demand adherents surrender reason and logic in favor of mystical and supernatural interpretations of natural phenomenon. While some take a literal approach to this (like Christians think deadly storms are the result of an angry God), others have adopted the natural understanding of science while rejecting the inevitable conclusion that the processes of nature and the universe do not require a supernatural guardian to function. Their intellectually lazy conclusion is to include God in the gaps, which is the only way many of them can cope with the fact that as our understanding of the world improves, it becomes all the more obvious religious claims are basically primitive mythologies that are the moral homilies of ancient storytellers. Nothing more.

Orson also believes in the popular claim that histories greatest monsters have all been atheists, and the non belief in God must somehow make people evil. Although I won’t deny Stalin, Mao, and even Hitler had little respect for religion, believing in God does not make someone righteous, just as not believing in God does not make a person evil. There is no philosophy in the world that guarantees proper moral behavior, though there are some ideologies that are more susceptible to corruption than others. It is why, as a society, we have continued to refine our ethical and moral understanding far beyond the crude teachings of religion. We no longer tolerate stoning, slavery, rape, genocide, and cruelty; something that would be impossible if the texts of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are ever taken literally (which in some countries are). Our modern morality actually requires believers to create a practical, 21st century approach to their belief. It isn’t the other way around for obvious reasons.

Since I know I have quite a few believers that sometimes visit the site, I want to state the unpopular reality that the basic reason why all Western countries have separation of church and state is because of how scary religious people are. Seriously. When even a few of you get in power, you create frighteningly unjust laws; your followers would gladly incarcerate people who simply defame their religion in some way. Do you think that is an adequate response to something as basic as freedom of speech? For a long time now, we have understood the simple truth that, so long as societies were dictated by religiously motivated individuals, we would never be free to discuss radical ideas that would change the very fabric of society. We live in a world made possible only by wrestling power out of your hands.

The civilized and reasonable chose to do it in a bloodless way; the Declaration of Independence is so unique and wonderful specifically because it managed to lay out the creation of a state without making religion a crime, and where no persecution of those once in power is possible. They effectively managed to remove the ability of religions to interfere with government operations. The evidence for just how shitty the world is when you guys take control can be found in all theocratic countries. Would Orson like to live in a place where religion is mandatory and invasive? I highly doubt it.

You might still think religion is something valuable to human development, but there is no indication human beings are any more or less moral without it. What atheism says that scares you to your very core is not only do we not need your services to understand the natural world (which most of us have abandoned a while ago) or to govern our politics; we also don’t need you to raise functional, moral citizens. Can someone please explain to me what’s left?

Tired Christian claim #2: without God, morality is impossible

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Most of you are probably familiar with this argument. It’s inevitable that at some point in the conversation, a genuinely confused Christian may ask you how you can have a definitive moral system without the benefit of a higher power telling you what is right and wrong. As far as many Christians are concerned, the denial of God also means the denial of an absolute system of ethics.

I can understand their confusion. They have been led to believe the Bible is the absolute authority when it comes to ethical behavior, and our society is the product of Christian teachings and values. However, unbeknownst to them, western society has been influenced more by contemporary philosophers and thinkers than theologians. The reason is simple: as a moral treatise, the Bible is far too inconsistent, cruel, and incomplete to serve our needs. What are we supposed to do with the Book of Numbers, which says:

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. Numbers 31:15-18

You don’t exactly see a lot of foreign policy being dictated by Biblical scholars, do you. Or how about this passage on how to properly raise your child from Deuteronomy:

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him . . . and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die. Deut. 21:18-21

I’m not trying to suggest all parts of the Bible are vicious or incompatible with how we live our lives today. The ‘Golden Rule’ of treating others how you would like to be treated is something all human beings can agree on. It’s also why this rule appears in many other religious texts which predate the New Testament. The idea that people should live peacefully and love thy neighbor is not a new concept, and it certainly isn’t limited to Christianity.

The Golden Rule, however, does not necessitate the existence of a God in order for it to work. It’s a rule that deals only with how human beings interact with one another, and there is no need to invite a supernatural element to it. Treat me kindly and I’ll do the same; that’s it.

In fact, you’ll find our entire society is built on the premise that human beings have a responsibility to act in the best interest of their fellow man. When you harm, steal, or kill someone else, you will be punished by people, not by a sky God. For a long time we have realized the only way to have an orderly society is by taking matters in our own hands. We’re not waiting for God to punish the guilty. We handle that ourselves.

All laws are man-made. They are designed by humans, for humans. When drafting any new law, we look at the impact it will have on people; not how a mysterious sky God will react. Long ago, before there was any real orderly structure of society, religion was one of the few ways to keep people lawful. But because clergymen are above reproach, abuses were inevitable (can you say Inquisition?). Western society only became modern when we wrestled these responsibilities away from individuals who could not be held accountable, or who claimed divine providence.

I would rather place my trust in other human beings than in a God who answers to no one. If ‘He’ decreed all Canaanites must die, there isn’t a lot of room for debate, and that in itself is fairly frightening. Christians may wonder how we can be moral without God, but I ask you this: how can you be moral when you can’t even understand how he operates (don’t you always say he works in mysterious ways)? Let me put this another way for anyone who claims the Bible is the infallible word of God: since you obviously pick and choose what you think God wants you to do (see above quotes), how can you be sure you picked the right rules to follow?

I’d rather trust in the inherent goodness of people than some tome of highly dubious origins. Why should we entrust our morality to a book that was written during a time when genocide, war, murder, and slavery wasn’t a big deal?

The real dangers of racism, bigotry and hatred

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I’ve been a little obsessed with the media lately. I really can’t help myself in the light of Dr. George Tiller’s death. It was only after his murder I had an opportunity to see the full scope of the religious right’s campaign against him. The carefully worded press releases all publicly condemn the act, but it’s no surprise the majority of them are in fact quite pleased at Tiller’s death.

I’ve begun to realize the seriousness of their rhetoric, and the unsubtle messages that many religious leaders are implanting in their congregation. Take Pastor Wiley Drake as a perfect example: he recently stated unless Obama reverses his policy on abortion, he is actively praying for God to kill him. He also has this to say on Tiller’s murder:

I’ve been a Baptist pastor for a long time, been in the pro-life fight, been face-to-face with Tiller, told him about Jesus, and I’ve seen many, many others tell him about Jesus over and over and over again. And I’ve seen horrific things that go on in those death “abortuaries” — and that’s what they are — and so my initial response to those people, they said, ‘Well what was your response,’ and I said, ‘Well, in all honesty I have to just respond directly and say I am glad that he’s dead.

Drake shows his true colors by calling Obama a ‘secret Muslim’, accusing him of being a usurper, and not a real American. Drake is sending a message: if someone kills him, they will be doing God’s work. How else can you explain his reaction to Tiller’s murder. Yep, like all good Christians, Drake prays for those he hates to be sent to hell, hopefully sooner than later.

In most other countries, this type of hate speech would not be swept under the carpet. Enticing others to violence is not free speech issue, especially when the people doing this have such a high profile. This man has a large following who listen to everything he says. Drake and his ilk are extremely dangerous, and if you underestimate the risk of allowing this kind of hate speech to continue, you may realize too late what the consequences are.

Alberta is run by morons

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I can’t beat around the bush when it comes to Alberta and their education policy: moronic is too kind a word, but I’m working on toning down my swearing. Their government is proposing a new bill allowing parents to pull their children from discussions of evolution or homosexuality in public schools, and it’s expected to pass. Parents who want their children to be sheltered from evolutionary fact, or from sexual identity issues will now have the freedom to restrict their education. Alberta has taken a giant step towards becoming Arkansas.

Despite what some very polite Christians may be telling you, this is quite clearly the result of the war on science and homosexuality their precious religion is bent on fighting. I don’t find it at all surprising religious conservatives are using their political power to force their beliefs on us. What I find surprising is how easily they are getting away with this garbage. Do we have no one with the balls to tell these morons to take a hike? Are we going to let them pull their ‘be tolerant of our views’ bullshit while they simultaneously preach intolerance of others?

Shocker: atheists are despised!

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Austin Cline over at About.com put together this comprehensive list of surveys showing just how despised atheists are as a minority. When Americans were asked who they would vote for, the atheist candidate was always the most hated one. For people like you and me, this kind of attitude seems pretty puzzling. Sure, we can be a bunch of killjoys at parties, but statistically, we are less likely to commit violent or petty crimes. We’re a pretty moral bunch, all things being equal. So why are we so despised?

Finally, other studies and surveys indicate that prejudice against atheists is going back up. A March, 2007 survey done by Newsweek shows that 62% of people would refuse to vote for any candidate admitting to being an atheist. Republicans were, predictably, the most bigoted at 78%, followed by Democrats at 60% and independents at 45%. Among those surveyed, 47% claimed that America is more accepting of atheists than in the past. I wonder where they got that idea? The only positive results from this survey were that 68% of the people felt that atheists could be moral — but this begs the question of why people won’t vote for atheists.

Believing in God is like being part of a club; although there might be a large variety of them, the fact there are so many others who believe in a relatively similar intangible being is comforting; it reinforces their belief that he does, in fact, exist. Atheists completely reject this notion, and their adamant objections and arguments break up their comforting world view.

The idea that anyone can live peaceful and fulfilled lives without God is a huge threat to their belief system. After all, religions use human ignorance and fear as recruitment tools. Worried about whether or not you’re living morally? Worried about what will happen to you when you die? Try religion! Of course, the fact an ever increasing proportion of the population reject the facile answers of theocracy threatens their monopoly over our culture. It’s no surprise, then, that pastors in church teach their parishioners to despise and distrust atheists.

Is it possible to change this prejudice attitude towards us? It’s doubtful it’s going to change anytime soon. Despite the rhetoric that Christianity is somehow a peaceful and tolerant religion, the simple truth is ‘good’ Christians were the ones pushing for segregation as much as they were fighting for civil rights. Today, a great number of them fight both for and against gay marriage. The only way to predict the behavior of Christians is to examine their degree of religiosity. The more they believe, the more they hate others who don’t mimic their beliefs.

Madonna of Orgasm Church gets the shaft

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Remember these guys? Last time they were in the news, the government of Sweden had given it the right to register as a faith community. Since then, however, they’ve had a change of heart, saying the name is purposefully offensive to the Christian faith, and it has therefore been bitch slapped back to ‘weirdo’ status.

Personally, I find it hilarious that the only reason they deny these guys the title and privileges of religion is because of their general prudishness. For some reason, all world governments are intimidated by orgasms. Does it really seem that far fetched someone would end up worshiping pleasure? I’m not a religious man, but I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: if there’s one religion I could get behind, it’s this one!

If you live in Sweden, you need to support these guys. Why? Well, I believe major religions have way too much sway in people’s lives. Why does Christianity get to be a religion but Madonna of Orgasm doesn’t? I say we let those smaller religions to get a bit of face time. The more alternatives there are, the less people end up believing in any one of them. Let’s water down this concept they call ‘religion’, shall we?

Can we trust religions to stay moderate?

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Do you know why the fish is the ancient symbol of Christianity? Odds are you’ve never really thought about it, or considered it another oddity in the religion. However there was a time when the cross was not the official symbol of the Church. Instead, it was the fish (now often referred to as the “Jesus fish”). While they suffered prosecution at the hands of the Romans, many would use it as a symbol to demarcate their secret meeting places. The use of the cross as a symbol did not start until 312 AD, when in October of that year Constantine, who was fighting to become the Emperor of Rome, adopted the cross as a sign of his impending victory over the forces of Maxentius. Some say that he had a dream the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge that prophesied his victory over his rival, who’s forces nearly doubled his. In his vision, he was said to have seen the cross and heard the words: “Conquer By This”.

His victory left him with few rivals, and as he continued to consolidate his power, he managed to convince the other emperors (by then, the Roman Empire had been divided) to make all religions legal, giving special privileges to Christianity. By 320, his rival Licinius has reneged, and once again persecuted Christians. Constantine took the opportunity to rally his allies, and they defeated the pagan emperor of the East. Licinius’ defeat made Constantine the only emperor, and he was to be unopposed until his death.

Constantine was a pragmatist, and at first he gave no special favor to Christianity, despite the fact his victories were largely contingent on their strong support. However, he later decided orthodoxy would prevent religious conflict, and so he established the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD to remove the schism which had formed in the Church due mostly to the Easter controversy, as well as the growing Arian movement (which taught Jesus was not part of the Trinity).

The adoption of Christianity as the official religion of Rome drastically changed the Church. The symbol of the fish, which had long represented life, was replaced by the darker and more ominous cross. The previously passive and peaceful religion of Christianity had become a violent, repressive organization using its political power to effectively enforce their rule and edicts on others. By ‘Romanizing’ Christianity, Constantine had essentially made it a religion of war, not of peace.

As they consolidated their power, the Church began to systematically destroy any evidence of other pagan religions. Any works that violated the Nicene Creed were either suppressed or completely destroyed. What followed was a thousand years of brutal tyranny, prosecution, and religiously motivated wars. We call this time the ‘Dark Ages’.

Although the modern face of Christianity now more closely resembles its earlier form, the documents that eventually formed the Bible were brought together to create a political religion to control the masses and provide unprecedented power to the Church. Only during the Enlightenment did we succeed in breaking their stranglehold. The result was the modernization of our civilization.

Can we trust Christianity, or any other political religion (such as Islam or Hinduism) not to revert back to their combative and primitive selves? The answer is an emphatic no. Although it may be mild and nonthreatening now, moderate Christianity is only possible because it has adapted itself to our modern ethical understanding. There is no reason to believe this will continue to be true. As religion becomes more marginalized in our society, its more primitive and violent elements resurface; one only needs to listen to the utterances of religious conservatives to realize how tentative their modernity is.

Moral high ground my ass

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According to this survey, church goers are more likely to support torture. Evangelicals were the group that support it the most, and considering that because of them, we had to endure 8 years of W. Bush, then yeah, that makes sense to me (also, The Passion of the Christ is probably the longest snuff movie in history).

Are you not as tired as I am with all the moral righteousness of Christians? There isn’t a day that goes by where they don’t attack atheists and accuse us of having no morality. The fact that they can turn around and support torturing other human beings is beyond me.

I have an idea; next time some religious jerkoff gets in your face and starts telling you there is no morality in atheism, ask them why 6 in 10 of them find it’s not a big deal to inflict pain on other human beings.

Freaky and Fascinating letter

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Superfan Kate forwarded me an email she received when attempting to contact the maker of the film Return of Christ. Rather than a simple “hi, thanks for contacting me”, Kate got a long diatribe about this man’s own personal world view. What I found most intriguing is how Josiah has mentally justified his beliefs. Here is the first part of the letter:

My Hope is the first thing that distinguishes me from this world. While far secondary to LOVE, HOPE is just as important, if not more important than FAITH.

Unlike many faiths, my HOPE is full of humility and love, not arrogance and contention. I do not arrogantly proclaim to know that I am right. For all I know, there is no GOD. Never-the-less, I continue to Hope. I believe that my Hope is the same hope that Noah had when he built the ark. The same Hope that Abraham had when he left his country to find the promised land. The same Hope that Moses dreamed of as he journeyed through the desert to find a promised land, and the same hope that Jesus promised to fulfill.

In the end, I believe that all those who ask to be changed shall be changed (physically and spiritually). In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, the corrupt shall be made incorrupt. Until then, do not let anyone tell you that you have Victory.

Until then, Hope for LOVE. Love is far above anything else. Most religions focus on faith and/or works, but both faith and works are dead without Love. Terrorists are the epitome of undoubting faith. Anything can be justified when you know that you are right… when you know that you are God’s chosen.

The religious leaders of this planet (earth) have changed the meaning of the word “faith” into a adverb that defines how strongly they believe. I say again, there is no virtue in undoubting faith. Biblical Faith is a noun. It is simply your beliefs, and can best be understood in a question like; “What is your faith?” or… “Of what faith are you?”

I will not proclaim that I know that I am going to heaven (or to a new world). I hope that there will be a new world and I hope that I will be a part of it, but I know nothing.

If my faith is wrong, and such a perfect heavenly world does not exist??? If the ways of this “survival of the fittest” planet are the ways of the whole Universe, then I am certainly hopeless.

If I am wrong, and the survival of the fittest way is the way of the the entire Universe, then Satan has won whether he really exists or not (in other words, from my perspective, he has won symbolically even if not literally). In which case, the strong will continue to dominate the weak, and the rich will continue to oppress the poor.

Christ clearly stated that He is not a part of this world. Sadly, as it is written, Satan is the God of this world. A third of the angels of heaven chose to follow Satan’s survival of the fittest ideas, so they were cast down to earth. Satan is not the stereotypical creature that most people perceive him to be. He is righteous in his own eyes. He believes this earth is a beautiful and righteous place.

As you can see, Josiah seems to focus entirely on hope, a feeling he believes is impossible without his specific worldview. Although I can admire his ability to see the destructive power of faith, his inability to see just how irrational and paranoid his own beliefs are is scary to say the least. His conclusions about evolution also sound very misguided. Natural selection is neither good nor evil; though it can sometimes appear that way to us. Yes, nature is often cruel, but it is not a directed process. If you try and combine science with theology, this is the kind of predictable reaction you can expect.

The rest of his letter is the literal interpretation of The Book of Revelation, complete with plagues, famine, death and destruction. This bleak world view makes his whole speech about hope seem utterly pointless, if not a tad bit ironic. For if the prophecies were revealed to him to be false, no doubt he would feel a sense of loss at the idea humanity was not about to embark in a epic and bloody conflict between Satan and Jesus.

Considering how nutty this guy seems to be, I’m all the more intrigued to see his movie now!

Blasphemy bill proposed in Ireland

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Alright, you guys in Ireland need to get your shit together. When reading this article on a proposed “Defamation Bill“, I had failed to realize it was already a crime to defame religion in your Republic. The problem is, of course, the very concept of ‘freedom of speech’ conflicts with any special provisions meant to protect religion. Apparently, having +90% of your population actual believers isn’t enough. These religious institutions need to be protected from slander too! Here’s part of article 40 of their Constitution:

“(6.1) The State guarantees liberty for the exercise of the following rights, subject to public order and morality:–
(i) The right of the citizens to express freely their convictions and opinions.
The education of public opinion being, however, a matter of such grave import to the common good, the State shall endeavor to ensure that organs of public opinion, such as the radio, the press, the cinema, while preserving their rightful liberty of expression, including criticism of Government policy, shall not be used to undermine public order or morality or the authority of the State. The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.

I guess the problem is that no one uses this law, since their own Supreme Court can’t seem to decide what constitutes as blasphemy under the umbrella of free speech. What a surprise! Who knew curbing free speech could be so difficult? Well, now the government wants to move to plan B, which is to make offending religion a crime you have to pay money for if you get caught. It’s usually a lot easier to get convictions, and I’m sure those religious nut jobs love the idea of blasphemers becoming financially bankrupt for daring to say Catholicism sucks ass. The wording of the bill lays it out to make everything crystal clear:

Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”

Where a person is convicted of an offence under this section, the court may issue a warrant authorizing the Garda Síochána [their police force] to enter, if necessary using reasonable force, a premises where the member of the force has reasonable grounds for believing there are copies of the blasphemous statements in order to seize them.

Great. That’s not scary at all! Would that make my fans in Ireland (I think I have 2 or three over there) get fined for downloading my show? Guys, you gotta get your asses and gear and defeat this horrible bill, please!