Category Archives: Blog

Checkmate, atheists!

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If you’re like me, you get a kick out of reading articles by religious people who claim to have the perfectly crafted argument which will finally win us over to the side of superstitious nonsense. Barring the serious amount of head trauma needed for such a conversion, I read these articles because they’re a small window into the tortured logic of believers. Perhaps there’s a part of me still waiting for someone to actually come up with a compelling argument, just for the fun of having to think about it for a few days. So far, it’s nothing but disappointment.

One place where you won’t find any serious arguments whatsoever is News24, a South African online news resource that appears to have a resident Christian troll on the site named Charles Dumbwin. His latest genius musing is called The Deathblow to Atheism, a kind of ‘science can’t explain everything therefore God did it’ argument so poorly crated, it’s hilarious watching this train wreck:

Atheists believe that an unknown mass of approximately 10kg of floating nothing/something, suddenly exploded/expanded rapidly, and that same 10kg of nothing miraculously became the organized universe that we have today. Of course, they have to factor in a guesstimated 13 to 20 billion years in order for this absurd notion to sound plausible.

If you’re wondering where he got this ’10kg’ number from, you aren’t the only one. It would seem our friend here thinks the universe, when still only a singularity, had a mass of 3 human brains and was ‘floating around’ in space. There’s so much wrong here, it’s difficult where to start. The universe weighed 10kg? It was floating around? And this is what this clown thinks we believe. Yeah, I’d hit the science books a little harder if you’re trying to craft an argument, buddy. Of course, you could always try to argue from ignorance:

So okay then, let’s assume the latter, and let’s agree that the laws of science only applied to our universe instantly AFTER the Big Bang occurred. Would it be fair to say then, that no laws of science could ever be used to understand/measure what happened before the Big Bang? That’s fair right? Because we also know that scientists, cosmologists and astrophysicists the world over agree on this point; that trying to understand what happened prior to the Big Bang would just be mere speculation. We all accept that.

The laws of science? Science is a process, not a ‘thing’, man. Scientific ‘laws’ are simplifications of observed phenomenon that apply to specific relationships (like thermodynamics), and not divinely crafted rules for the universe. And while it’s true our current model of the Cosmos breaks down a few nanoseconds after the Big Bang, it certainly doesn’t mean that magic man is the fucking answer.

So if the laws of science cannot be used to measure/test/prove anything prior to the Big Bang, then it’s accurate to say that whatever/Whoever existed before the Big Bang, cannot be measured/found by using manmade physical instrumentation or through any scientific method.

Science isn’t only about making measurements, although that is an aspect of it. This guy seems to think  because our instrumentation is physical that it cannot possible ‘measure’ (whatever that means) the Origin of the Universe. His conclusion, therefore, is to suggest his supernatural entity fits this particular description quite well. God in the gaps, anyone?

So what we are left with? Only more questions about our origins.

The only true moment of insight comes right near the end, although I doubt the author actually has any real questions about our origins. His religious stance informs me that he’s already chosen an answer despite the fact there is no compelling reason, outside of his own shocking ignorance, to believe what he does. Sad.

Ray Comfort is hilarious

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Someone on r/atheism found this Ray Comfort flyer entitled Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin. The ironic title demonstrates the true stupidity at work here. Check out these awesome excerpts:

Try to think of any explosion that has produced order. Does a terrorist bomb create harmony? Big bangs cause chaos. How could a big bang produce a rose, apple tree, fish, sunsets, the seasons, hummingbirds, polar bears – thousands of birds and animals, each with its own eyes, nose, and mouth?

See, a terrorist explosion can’t make a polar bear. Checkmate!

Try this interesting experiment: Empty your garage of every piece of metal, wood, paint, rubber and plastic. Make sure there is nothing there. Nothing. Then wait for ten years and see if a Mercedes evolves. Try it. If it doesn’t appear, leave it for 20 years. It that doesn’t work, try it for 100 years. Then try it for 10,000 years. Admittedly, it is pretty hard to believe that it could appear. However, here’s what will produce the necessary blind faith to make the evolutionary process believable: 250 million years.

I love his stupid, try-this-at-home experiment that no one in their right mind would even attempt. As far as Ray is concerned, evolution is a magic force that assembles inanimate objects together given enough time. While this has nothing to do with the actual science of what he’s trying to denigrate, it does speak to the level of ‘research’ this moron has been conducting.

If you are of the opinion that there is scientific evidence for the theory of evolution, go to our website at www.raycomfort.com. There you will find a link to the website of Dr. Kent Hovind, an authority on evolution. He will give 250,000 to anyone who can present any scientific proof of evolution. If you have some, take him to court. Become famous. Make this another Scopes trial. But you can’t, because there isn’t any evidence.

Kent might have a hard time paying you, since he’s currently serving a jail sentence of failing to pay his taxes (he claims he owed the money only to God, and not the U.S. government). His doctorate, by the way, comes from a shitty diploma farm. You too can be as credible as Hovind for the low price of 100 dollars! This ‘evolutionary expert’, convinced that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, believes dinosaurs lived with Humans and the Earth was surrounded by a gigantic ring of water (his explanation of the fairy tale of Noah’s Flood and why the antediluvian patriarchs lived so long). If you want to waste your time trying to get money from a stone, be my guest.

Evolution is really a religion. The Funk & Wagnall dictionary defines “religion” as “a set of beliefs concerned with explaining the origins and purposes of the Universe.” That sums up the religion of evlution. It even has its own religious language: “We believe, perhaps, maybe, probably, could’ve, possibly.” The founding father of the faith is Charles Darwin. The god of the religion of evolution is ‘nature”, often referred to by the faithful as ‘Mother Nature’.

I’ve never heard of this Funk & Wagnall, although if that is indeed their description for ‘religion’, then I can see why I haven’t used them as a reliable reference. A religion is not really about trying to explain the origins and purpose of the universe. It’s more a collection of ancient stories and superstitions that – while occasionally offering pathetic cosmogonies – are really primarily interested in people (and more importantly, their money). They have implacable dogmas and ‘articles of faith’ which is a nice way to say “no proof for believing in this bullshit”.

Evolution, on the other hand, is interested in the mechanism that drives life to change and adapt to its environment over time. Sexual reproduction, for example, is one such mechanism. To hear Ray talk about this science, you would think that evolutionary biologists wear funny hats trying to get everyone to stop masturbating.

I’ve always found it funny how profoundly ignorant people like Ray, while espousing their own religions, suddenly turn on the concept when it applies to others. Science is a religion, they say. Well, even if that was true (which it most certainly isn’t), don’t they think religion is a good thing? Don’t they praise ‘blind faith’ as being above reproach? It’s funny the kind of schizophrenic relationship they have with their own belief system, isn’t it?

Racism disguised as piety

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When you believe in a dogma without question, odds are you’ve managed to find fertile ground for your racist, sexist, or bigoted ideas. Like this South African man who apparently forgot apartheid wasn’t quite over:

A Muslim police officer in Johannesburg says his religion does not allow him to share a toilet with black colleagues, according to a report on Wednesday.

“I am a Muslim and they need to consider my religion. I have to sit when I urinate and I cannot use a dirty toilet. People are narrow-minded and I am a committed Muslim.”

While I’m not a fan of Islam, there isn’t even a theological justification for what this man is saying. He’s just simply a racist d-bag who happens to think everything Mohammad said was the word of God (except for the times when Satan was talking to him), and he wants validation for his shitty behavior through religion.

Don’t you also find it telling the way he tries to turn it around and accuse everyone else of prejudice? This strategy is pretty common in religious circles. These clowns think their beliefs make them a ‘race’, and it’s therefore racist to speak out against their unverifiable claims about the universe (Jews and Muslims make this accusation so often, it’s lost all meaning anyway). It takes guts to tell someone that they have no true understanding of what the word ‘race’ even means. What do you expect when you believe in things without evidence (or even in direct conflict with it)?

FLDS Church sends ex-member kitten encased in concrete

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If you’re a religious fundie, odds are your level of respect for other living creatures not gifted with ‘a soul’ is not very high. Most fundamentalists see violence and cruelty towards animals as just a normal part of everyday life. God, in their deluded eyes, gave them total dominion over animals, and that means you can treat them like shit if you want.

How else can you explain this bit of cruelty? Ex FLDS member Isaac Wyler – who left cult leader Warren Jeffs’ little coven a number of years ago – woke up to find a kitten encased in concrete in his back yard. Still alive but terrified, the poor creature was buried to its neck, and left inside a metal tube in his back yard. The kitten was intended to be a warning for Isaac to stop speaking out against the church, and Warren Jeffs in particular. Jeffs is currently serving a life sentence for having forced himself on so many underage girls (the man took a page right out of Joseph Smith’s playbook), but he still appears to have enough power and connections in jail he’s even managed to stop all but 15 of his thousands of followers from having sex (well, I doubt the veracity of this claim, but I digress).

I’d like to tell you rescue workers were able to save the poor cat, but the trauma of being both encased and released from a concrete prison was too much for the little guy. The town sheriff, when made aware of this stunning bit of cruelty, simply laughed it off, and suggested ‘throwing dirt’ on the animal to fix the situation. The fact a police officer won’t take animal cruelty seriously (usually a sign of escalating violence) is itself a consequence of the level of religiosity of the town. What else do you expect, folks? Religion poisons everything, including police work!

Scientology wants to fight the Internet

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Man, I never realized Katie Holmes marrying Tom Cruise would be such a blessing in disguise. While I figured she would eventually break away from the cult, I never realized it was going to turn into a Lifetime movie version of Not Without My Daughter. Tom’s carefully crafted public image is crumbling under increased media pressure, curious about Scientology and increasingly unafraid of the consequences of criticism. This is a fairly recent phenomenon. There was a time when their army of lawyers could crush any tiny article or TV report which cast a critical eye on their organization or their messiah, L.Ron Hubbard (don’t be fooled: he is indeed revered in a way usually reserved for gods).

Part of the reason they are so weakened is Scientology has been unable to fully grasp the power of the Internet, and as such they have failed to contain the perpetual tide of information leaks that seem to be escalating. The latest is a series of emails between members effectively freaking out over the split, and attempting to do some damage control. One email, from the ‘Office of Special Affairs’ (they’re in James Bond villain territory with that one) details how church members are to hit the Internet and try to suppress any negative bit of trolling the Internet is shouting. Because most major websites have a Code of Conduct (their version of laws), and because Scientologists love to use rules to squash resistance, it’s a strategy perfectly matched to their M.O.

Of course, the general rule about the Internet is when you try to control it, you flirt with the possibility of becoming the target of some very powerful people who navigate this cyberspace as effortlessly as an eel navigates the currents. Do not awaken the God of the Internet, for they will crush you!

Nice going, New Zealand!

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Well, finally a bit of good news this week. It seems as though a New Zealand Primary school is no longer offering Bible studies, as no one is actually interested in reading the damn thing. Hey, I speak from experience here: I am, after all, writing a book on the Bible, and trust me when I say it’s often a big snooze fest. It’s certainly not the kind of material I would recommend to kids (how can you even tell the story of Lot and not freak them out?).

What’s also relevant about this article is attendance really started to drop once a small group of about 50 kids started to opt out. This caused a snowball effect, and before you could say ‘bullshit’, the school was forced to pull this unpopular program. I figure this is a small microcosm of what we’re going to see in the coming decades. As more people opt-out of all this religious bullshit, they’ll be quickly followed by everyone else who doesn’t want to be bothered with any of this superstitious nonsense. Trust me, that’s a hell of a lot of people.

Raped woman, jailed, denied access to morning-after pill

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There’s no denying the fact as of late, the religious right has been flexing its political muscle, and the result has been a steady erosion of women’s reproductive rights. It’s gotten so bad, in Mississippi a Federal Judge had to get involved when the state effectively declared war on abortion.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan entered a temporary restraining order and set a hearing for July 11 to determine whether it should be extended. “In this case, plaintiffs have offered evidence – including quotes from significant legislative and executive officers – that the act’s purpose is to eliminate abortions in Mississippi,” Jordan found.

While that cluster-fuck is happening, other states are considering similar legislation that would effectively make it impossible for women to terminate their pregnancies.

If it isn’t religious people in government trying to fuck you over, it’s religious citizens ensuring your life is a living hell. Pharmacists, nurses, and other health care professionals are using ‘conscience clauses’ to deny people access to birth control or, in the case of one recent rape victim, a morning-after pill:

In the process of filing a report on the rape, a Tampa police officer discovered that there was an arrest warrant for R.W. She was taken to jail, and everything she had with her was confiscated – including her pill.

OK, I know she had an arrest warrant, but surely a woman who’s just been raped deserves better than a terrifying night in jail, not knowing if she is pregnant with her rapist’s baby. The prison guard who refused to allow her to take the pill, Michele Spinelli, claimed her religious beliefs forbade her from handing over the pill. Spinelli and the prison are now being sued, although “R.W” was luckily not pregnant (close one). Nevertheless, the gross misconduct of the entire prison establishment in allowing this nonsense to happen should not be treated lightly. I hope the financial incentive of not being sued into oblivion is enough to make sure we stop giving the fundies any more inroads.

Indian rationalist fights uphill battle for freedom

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A few months ago, Sanal Edamaruku, who heads the Indian Rationalist Association (you might remember him as the guy who challenged a witch doctor to put a death curse on him) was charged with ‘deliberately hurting the feelings’ of Catholics after he exposed a leaking Jesus statue as the fraud it was. He’s recently been denied anticipatory bail, and as a consequence, he’s currently hiding in Europe while he attempts to convince the Archdiocese of Bombay to pressure local bishops who filed the charges with police to drop them immediately.

There’s currently a petition circulating, and so far almost 7k people have signed. Naturally, we need to do substantially better. Fighting bogus blasphemy laws should be a big priority; how can we ever hope to grow as a movement if our brothers and sisters in rationality are being jailed simply for expressing doubt in false assertions. It just goes to show just how weak religious faith is when they have to silence us using the law, doesn’t it? Good luck Sanal, we’re all rooting for you!

Catholic Bishops in Uganda try to resurrect “Kill the Gays” bill

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When push comes to shove, religion poisons everything. Trouble is in its DNA, in its very structure. My God is the only god. His way is the only Way. That’s why I’m not surprised that Catholic bishops in Uganda – having previously spoken out against the “kill the gays” legislation proposed last year – joined in an ecumenical council of Anglican and Orthodox bishops attempting to resurrect it.

Content in their effort to help in the murder of innocent individuals, they followed up with this ironic statement:

At the same conference, the bishops reiterated their role in politics saying, “the church has a biblical mandate to challenge policies and practices that perpetuate injustice, marginalization or inequality.”

Oh, like the injustice of being killed for having same sex attractions? Only the cognitive dissonance of religion could ever explain such a statement. I feel the blood boiling in my veins as we speak…

It’s OK to lie to women about their pregnancy

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So, it turns out it’s totally OK to give false, misleading information to women seeking to terminate their pregnancies. America has essentially slowly lost its collective mind over the fact women need abortions, regardless of how Jesus lovers feel about it. Mississippi has managed to effectively make it impossible for anyone living in the state to get one (although the Feds had to get involved), and to make matters worse, the Anti-Choice movement has made another inroad recently in Baltimore, thanks to two conservative judges with their heads up their asses.

In an effort to undermine a serious health service, a non-profit organization called the Crisis Pregnancy Center effectively masquerades as Planned Parenthood clinics (often sharing a parking lot with them), giving false information, using scare tactics and and even deceiving ‘patients’ in order to ensure babies are born. The city of Baltimore was having none of that, and passed a law in 2009 that forced these ‘clinics’ to post a disclosure regarding their stance on abortion. These scumbags fought back, and now the Fourth Circuit court has decided to strike down this law, effectively declaring it legal to lie to women. This includes:

1: It’s ok to tell a woman that she isn’t pregnant in order to get her to term without her knowledge
2: It’s kosher to pretend to be a Planned Parenthood and give false information of the risks and emotional impact of abortion, since you’re lying for Jesus.
3. It’s fine to discourage women from using safe and effective forms of birth control using false information.
4. You’re allowed to scare the shit out of women using videos, pictures, and any other kind of propaganda available to you.

Keep in mind that CPCs outnumber Planned Parenthood five to one in most states, and these scumbags receive millions of taxpayer dollars to lie to vulnerable women.

Goat-Man wants you to have lots of babies

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So what do you do if your country is slowly accepting marriage equality, passing health care laws that disallow insurance companies from denying coverage, and even threatening to tax the rich? Why, you segregate yourself from society and form your own theocracy, that’s what!

In case you actually give a shit who this guy is, and why he has such a hideous/hypnotic beard, you should stop by his website, ChristianExodus.org. It’s a site dedicated to whackos seeking to retreat from a society they see as increasingly permissive and sinful. They’re pretty unhappy about the fact the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of The Affordable Health Care Act (colloquially known as ‘Obama Care’), and they’ve decided to secede from a democratic republic and want to form some ill-defined theocratic kingdom.

The initial goal was to move thousands of Christian constitutionalists to South Carolina to accelerate the return to self-government based upon Christian principles at the local and State level. This project continues to this day, with the ultimate goal of forming an independent Christian nation that will survive after the decline and fall of the financially and morally bankrupt American empire.

If this sounds mildly familiar, it’s because every single scary cult in history has tried to do the same thing (I think some of these psychos called themselves Puritans at one point). These particular psychos dislike government, contraception and women who talk back:

The desire that the Woman has for the Man is to usurp his God-given authority. In a similar way
that women seek to supplant male authority, sin seeks to seduce the hearts of men.

Wow ladies, sounds like a swell bunch of guys, eh? If you don’t think that’s enticing enough, you should watch the whole video of ‘goat-man’ and the plans he has for your uterus…

Woman’s punishment for DUI is reading the Bible

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So you fucked up. You drove drunk, smashed into another car, and injured the passengers. Now you’re part of the legal system, and at the mercy of very human, and very flawed human beings who have a very tenuous grasp on the separation of church and state. The result is probation, and an odd book report on the book of Job.

Such is the fate of Cassandra Tolley, who wound up agreeing to this strange request from Judge Michael Nettles (which appears to be the only reason this hasn’t caused more uproar). He wants her to read the book of Job, which has a certain tinge of cruel irony to it. You see, Tolley is apparently a victim of abuse, which would certainly make her feel some sympathy with poor Job, who is tortured by God in order to win a bet with Satan.

The story is said to have a happy ending, but considering his entire family was annihilated, I’m not entirely sure having twice the livestock makes up for it. In any case, I hold to my statement that reading the Bible is the fastest path to atheism. What else are you supposed to conclude from the story other than God considers humanity no better than toys, to be used, abused, and discarded as he deems fit? What a swell guy! Can he have all my money?

Bringing STIs back for God

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So, as it turns out, sex is pretty popular, and over the past few decades, the use of condoms and other forms of contraceptives has helped decrease STI and pregnancy rates in places that actually bother to teach people real sexual education. Unfortunately for Americans, teaching has made way for preaching, and in this topsy turvy world, facts are the enemy.

Enter 1flesh, a website dedicated to preventing confused human beings from properly managing their reproductive organs. These religiously motivated douchbags are on a quest to get every man and woman to toss out their prophylactics and welcome a new age of barebacking. They’ve released t-shirts and other promotional materials in a bid to make giving out bad sex information look hip and cool.

The pseudo-facts on display include pimping out NPH and suggesting birth control has no impact on unplanned pregnancies. If that doesn’t outrage you, the ‘Birth control pills cause breast cancer’ tropes might. They’ve even thrown in some popular Internet memes in the mix in an attempt to make their lies seem hip.

…we got together — a group of college kids — to find the root of this mentality. (aka what the hell happened!?) Well, though any cultural change contains all sorts of contributing factors, we think we’ve narrowed all the wackness down to its primary cause: The widespread use of artificial contraception.

This is a dangerous idea. It’s dangerous because artificial contraception is heavily promoted by big pharmaceutical companies — like Bayer Corp. — and contraception providers — like Planned Parenthood. It’s dangerous because it’s not an idea supported by those in power. But most of all, it’s dangerous because it’s true.

I’ll tell you what’s fucking dangerous; super gonorrhea, herpes, AIDS and all the other nasty realities of what happens when people stop using protection. When your ‘enemy’ is a public health imperative, what does that mean for all the casualties of war who are influenced by these dangerous idiots?

We found, by looking at the best available analysis from sociology, medicine, philosophy and economics, that the widespread use of artificial contraception has failed to decrease STD prevalence, increased the global rate of HIV, seriously harmed the environment, screwed up relationships, and is strongly correlated with increased divorces, abortions, and unplanned pregnancies. We found that hormonal contraception significantly increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, cervical cancer, heart disease, and may very well be lowering her sex drive. We found that the safety and effectiveness artificial contraception is often falsely advertised by pharmaceutical companies, and that the health benefits of hormonal contraception are totally exaggerated.

If by ‘the best analysis’ you mean distorting facts to fit your pre-determined conclusions (like claiming this report is against condoms, when all it says is that it’s not the only solution to the crisis)? What about not knowing the difference between correlation and causation? Eating tofu could be correlated with being good at ping-pong. Doesn’t mean shit. Oral contraception does not lead to cervical cancer; in fact, some studies even suggested the use of oral contraceptives could actually decrease the risk of ovarian cancer. Science must be pretty annoying to these guys.

Secretly I’m hoping the r/atheism reddit people flip out and spam the crap out of these assholes for daring to bogart their iconography. Boys and girls of interwebs, unite!

(Update: The site no longer exists, luckily)

10 pieces of advice young people should ignore

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Are you suffering from confusing relationship issues that can’t be solved with prayer? Don’t worry about a thing: The Gospel Coalition has the answers you’re looking for! Just read these insightful tips to ensure your marriage is a successful testament to the power of Christ, and not your own personal desires!

1. It’s not bad to want to have sex with your significant other. It’d be another sort of worry if you didn’t. The key is to want to glorify Christ more than you want to have sex with each other.

See, your first mistake was assuming your relationship is about you! It isn’t. It’s about a dead Jewish guy.

2. The key to glorifying Christ more than you want to have sex with each other is that it is a decision to be made over and over again.

Translation: bringing a deified virgin into the mix should prevent those lusty thoughts.

3. Persons in a dating or courting relationship are on their best behavior. So however they are now, you can expect, over time, for them to get “worse.” As familiarity grows, people let their guards down. Marriage does not fix bad behavior; it often gives it freer reign. Ladies, this means if your boyfriend is controlling, suspicious, verbally condescending or manipulative, he will get worse, not better the longer your relationship goes on. Whatever you are making excuses for or overlooking now, will get harder to ignore and more prominent the longer your relationship goes on. You can’t fix him, and marriage won’t straighten him out.

Hey, that’s actually good advice right there. Good thing it has nothing to do with religion! Except for this sounds rather sexist. Is it always the dude who needs to be straightened out?

4. Nearly every Christian I know who is married to an unbeliever loves their spouse and does not necessarily regret marrying them, but has experienced deep pain and discontent in their marriage because of this unequal yoking and would now never advise a believer to marry an unbeliever.

That’s cool, I usually tell my readers they should avoid marrying people who have not come to their senses.

5. Assuming you’re special and you’re different and their experiences won’t reflect yours is shortsighted, unwise, and arrogant. The people who love you and are warning/advising you against your relationship might be ignorant fools. Those sorts of people do exist. But odds are better that your parents, your pastor, your older married friends are wiser than you think.

This is pretty strange advice. It seems to suggest the best people to judge your relationship are other people. I assume a sexless priest came up with that brilliant notion.

6. Living together before marriage is a marriage killer.

If it can’t work because living together first was hard, why do couples think not living together first will somehow solve the problem?

7. Premarital sex de-incentivizes a young man to grow up, take responsibility, and lead his home and family.

You know what de-incentivizes me? Having cobwebs on my dick until I can pay for a wedding ceremony, that’s what. And what the hell does ‘lead his family’ mean? Are we building a house together or something?

8. Pre-marital sex wounds a young woman’s heart, perhaps imperceptibly at first but undeniably over time, as she trades in covenant benefits without covenant security. This is not the way God designed sex to fulfill us. Never give your body to a man who has not pledged to God his faithfulness to you in covenant marriage, which presupposes an accountability to a local church. In short, don’t give your heart to a man who is not accountable to anybody who provides godly discipline.

Well, occasionally something soft and pink will get damaged a little, but that’s nothing a little rest and relaxation can’t heal. As for this notion that God has a profound interest in who you’re fucking, it sounds more like the earthly concern of celibate dudes trying to tell everyone else how to live.

9. All of your relationships, including your romantic relationship, is meant to make Jesus look big more than it is meant to provide you personal fulfillment. When we make personal fulfillment our ultimate priority in our relationships, ironically enough, we find ourselves frustratingly unfulfilled.

You hear that? If your relationship doesn’t make JC look like the ‘Big Dog’, then you’re doing it wrong. Don’t you know you’re an insignificant ant compared to his largeness? Isn’t it ironic that when you don’t give your whole relationship to your imaginary friend, you feel unfulfilled? Oh wait, that’s not actually ironic. It’s just sad, really.

10. You are loved by God with abundant grace in Christ’s atoning work, and an embrace of this love by faith in Jesus provides Holy Spiritual power and satisfaction to pursue relationships that honor God and thereby maximize your joy.

I seriously doubt that the same people who are always forcing you to keep it in your pants are actually worried about maximizing your joy. More likely, they want to maximize your tithing, so they can continue to make sure that no one has a satisfying sex life, least of all you.

Still having issues with your significant other? How is that even possible with such life altering advice? It must be you. You’re the problem, sinner.

Mother’s letter to atheist son shows the divisive power of religion

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Here’s a tragic example of what happens when your loved ones are ensnared in the clutches of religious dogma:

My Darling Son David,

You are so very special to me and have always been the love of my life. I used to think when you were little that I would die for you, and live because of you. You meant the world to me and I will always love you very much.

Because of this love I always wanted you to have the happiest, safest life I could provide and tried to bring you up with the strongly held beliefs I lived by, in the hope that this would affect your own life for the good and ultimately you would live forever in Paradise on earth. You know all this be the case.

I personally have always believed in the Truth as presented in the Bible and have always felt the strong presence of Jehovah God and Jesus in my life, even as a child. I have always believed the prophesies in the Bible, and that there will be paradise on earth in which everyone will live in peace and love with no war, sickness and death, and that the dead will be resurrected due to Jehovah’s justice and fairness. I have always lived my life with all this in view, and have never sought a worldly, secular career or pathway. Becoming one of Jehovah’s Witness was the obvious next step for me.

This letter is being written by me with no outside coercion or influence because there are things I want to say to you. Being in the Truth had never been easy but when all is said and done, I am in it because of my belief in Jehovah, and what he has done for us, and will yet do.

I’m always a little suspicious whenever someone says specifically in a letter that they are not being coerced.

People will always let you down, and somehow we have to look above and beyond, at the bigger picture. So to say that some people who profess to be Christians live in ways that show them to be hypocrites is no exaggeration. But I strongly feel that whilst they may fool themselves and others, they can’t fool Jehovah, and “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God”.

I have chosen my path and my way of life and so I must live by the commands and statutes laid down in the Bible by Jehovah himself. One of these commands has been the cause of great stress and grief to me, and I have put it off for too long now. I realize that I would have benefitted [sic] spiritually by doing things Jehovah’s way from the start, and I must emphasize that what I am about to say to you is not influenced by any other living person, but is purely directed by my conscience and a desire to regain my peaceful friendship with God. Nobody can make me do anything I don’t want to do.

I’m always really suspicious whenever someone claims not to have been coerced…multiple times in the same letter.

whilst this is the single most painful thing I have ever had to do in my entire life, I need to move forwards towards the goal of everlasting life, and to this end I deeply regret that I must terminate our relationship whilst you remain disfellowshipped.

I have cried myself dry over this situation, and it has broken my heart , but David you have known that it should have been handled this way from the start. You have chosen your path in life, and I wish you all the best. I want you to know that not only will my love always be there for you, but Jehovah too is waiting with open arms for your return.

Your loving mother, now and forever.

Her last line says it all; confused about her own delusion and her love for her son, she’s created an imaginary opening to have him back in her life: simply return to God and all is forgiven! Hey, it’s what Jesus would have wanted. He did say, after all, that you should abandon your families if they don’t believe in his ownership of all reality. How else are you suppose to manage a cult?