Category Archives: Blog

German legislators plan to boycott Pope’s speech

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When abuse allegations started popping up against the Catholic Church, Germany was one of those countries that, like Ireland, had suffered mightily at the hands of the clergy. When they opened up a hotline for victims of sexual abuse, they received 2700 calls after only 3 days. The Vatican, aware that it’s about as popular as mouth herpes, is setting off to Germany in a vain attempt to discuss how Protestants and Catholics can “work together”. While the Chancellor urged Germans to be wary of the growing “trend” of secularism, the ones with their heads still screwed on tight have decided to boycott the Pope’s visit out of protest that it violates the separation of Church and State in the country. Officials speaking on the behalf of the Vatican had this to say:

“The parliamentarians ought to consider how this will look from abroad,” Walter Brandmueller, who is German, told the mass-circulation daily Bild.

“They’ll boost the image of the ‘ugly Germans,’ which sadly still exists,” the cardinal added.

Yeah, pulling out the Nazi card isn’t the greatest idea when you were willing to forge an alliance with them (also, excommunicating Hitler would be a good start). Besides, why do they always seem shocked when some people don’t feel like going to their little parties? Recall that their current “mascot” sheltered known pedophiles from prosecution (as did his predecessor), and has done nothing to purge the organization of pederasts. What a surprise that no one wants to show them any support.

Here’s the core problem folks: the Catholic Church, more than any other religious organization, seems to have a serious pedophile problem within their ranks. Because of their rather disturbed idea of celibacy and sexual repression, Catholic priests don’t properly develop their sexual maturity, often staying in a child-like state. Obviously it’s not the sole reason the Church has such an infestation, since their strict rules about secrecy is an attractive options for pederasts hoping to avoid jail time. And while the Vatican may deny these allegations, you don’t see any other organization going to the same lengths they do to protect child rapists; withholding evidence, paying off families to stay quiet and moving around offending priests when accusations arise is not the kind of behavior we would tolerate from ANY other private or public institutions. Yet when these same assholes make a trip to a foreign country and get the cold shoulder, they act surprised that not everyone welcomes them with open arms.  The funny thing about people is that they tend to get upset when you start fucking their kids. Go figure!

Can we just jail these fuckers and call it a day already?

Reality is enough for me, thanks

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Ever since Conservapedia put up a link to TGA declaring that there was “no such thing as a Good Atheist”, we’ve been getting a lot of great comments in a number of articles. The best one so far has to be from “Bob”, who is convinced that not only do we not exist, but that life on earth wouldn’t be worth living if it wasn’t for his imaginary buddy:

I want to know just one thing, if there is NO God, NO afterlife, No nothing, no point to anything what so ever, why do you continue to even exist? I mean if you could prove to me that there wasn’t a God, which you can’t because there is, I would be the first in line for suicide, NOTHING or NO ONE on this earth is worth putting up with the total bullshit that we put up with on a daily basis.

With a personality like yours, it’s a total mystery why your friends and family don’t offer you enough support and love to justify you “putting” up with existence for more than a minute. You sound like such a positive guy! Surely it must be your love of God that makes you this cheery.

I don’t believe true atheists even exist, just a bunch of snot nosed adults throwing temper tantrums because they can’t get their way and do what they want without repercussion for their actions.

He is aware that we have a justice system, right?

I think I’ve identified where you fucked up in your reasoning, Bobby. You think atheism leads to nihilism which then leads to violent anarchy. If that were the case, prisons would be filled with non-believers. So why are they disproportionately represented in correctional institutions?

The simple answer (the one you can’t seem to grasp) is that belief in God doesn’t actually make a person moral. In fact, it can often do the exact opposite. Just think of how many times someone has murdered their fellow human being because their God commanded them to do so. These psychopaths were the ones who did what they wanted without caring what the repercussions were.

science is so full of shit, takes a lot of faith to believe what you can’t see, right? when was the last time you could 100% prove science, all the way down to its truest form? you can’t you never will, most of what science says is all made up bullshit.

It’s impossible to prove science 100%. The whole process demands uncertainty, in a way. It invites change, because the people who believe in science realize that our picture of the universe is incomplete. That isn’t a weakness, Bobby. That’s a strength. I know it’s hard to grasp when you’ve been humping the Bible for so long, but certainty is not at all desirable. We used to be certain that the world was flat, that the Sun revolved around the Earth, and that diseases were caused by demons. All of these “facts” were written with total certitude in the Bible and all of them are dead wrong.

If you enjoy certainty at the cost of learning anything real about objective reality, that’s your choice. I might suggest, however, that you try and improve your relationships with people that actually exist. They are the ones that make life worth living, not some failed messiah living in “the clouds”.

I got another email

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A fan – who shall remain anonymous for reasons that will be clear in the email – sent me a letter I thought I would share with the rest of you. I’m not the best at giving advice to people in awkward situation like his, but since this is an atheism site, readers are bound to have opinions that they’re only too happy to share.

Hi Jake,

How do I ask my boss for Friday off to attend the Texas Freethought Convention?

The financially-fit, skilled, and competent version of me that I strive to be would be honest. Regretfully, I am not that man, and honesty is not really an option here.

I just started an internship at the end of August following a long stretch of unemployment. As an intern, I am extremely dependent on both my boss and my coworkers to learn on the job.

Even though I’ve only been with the company for a few weeks, I’ve found that my co-workers are vocal about their lives outside of work. Through this I’ve gathered that the three people in my immediate group are Christians. One of them even expressed frustration with being set up on a blind date with an, “atheist.”

A couple of years ago, my Christian parents found out that I had discarded the belief in god that I was raised with. Aside from their initial negative reaction, my lack of belief has not been discussed. They are still expressive of their beliefs around me while I keep my outlook to myself. My immediate family and friends of the family are also un-aware of my lack of belief. I remain silent partially due to respect, but largely due to my poor financial state.

The complicating link between my family and my work is my father; he has been with this particular company for all of his life.

I need my both parents and this internship to survive. I don’t feel comfortable risking either direct or indirect recourse with my co-workers or my parents. I am – for lack of a better word – scared.

The most appealing solution I can discern is to say that I am attending a Leadership Conference. If my co-workers accept this at face value and don’t prod any deeper, then I might be okay, but I wouldn’t know how to answer the, “who is hosting it,” or the, “where is it at,” follow-up questions.

Do you have any suggestions?

Well, I’m not a big fan of lying, but I don’t see you having a lot of choice. It sounds like drawing attention to yourself isn’t a good idea. My long-term suggestion would be to find a way not to have your balls in that kind of vice. Maybe that means moving somewhere else, where you don’t have to hide your beliefs for the sake of your job. I don’t know your family situation (which is what makes this part almost impossible), but living in such a hostile environment to unbelief for the rest of your life doesn’t seem desirable in the slightest.

Your story makes me wonder if there shouldn’t be an “covert” option available for people wanting to attend atheist conventions where the event builds a fake site for people with bosses and colleagues that just wouldn’t “get it”. It’s true that makes us non-believers appear dishonest or “closeted” about our beliefs, but we can’t expect everyone to risk losing their jobs, their friends, or even their family to show up at one of these events. It would be a little like the site “Ashley Madison” which bills your credit card under a pseudonym to ensure your spouse is unaware of your actions. It’s sad that such a service seems necessary, but that’s just the way things have to go until religious people stop having a “problem” with our existence.

Why is Christianity growing in China?

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If you were hoping that China would be immune from faith-pimps because of their long history of non-belief, then I apologize in advance for shattering your delusion. Not only is there a strong tendency for superstition in the country, they appear just as vulnerable as the rest of us to religious nonsense. How else can you explain the rise of Christianity in the East?

It is impossible to say how many Christians there are in China today, but no-one denies the numbers are exploding.

The government says 25 million, 18 million Protestants and six million Catholics. Independent estimates all agree this is a vast underestimate. A conservative figure is 60 million. There are already more Chinese at church on a Sunday than in the whole of Europe.

Keep in mind that everything in China is just ‘larger’ because of their huge population difference, so while 60 million sounds like an impressive figure to us, it represents a tiny fraction of their population. Still, I won’t deny that religion is growing, and this may have more to do with a lost sense of community than anything else. In countries with a lot of corruption, it’s difficult to trust any institution. Religions have always done a good job of providing that assurance and trust where none exists. Why should we be surprised the poor and indigent – increasingly ignored by their government – would turn to the comfort of religious dogma to escape their sorrow and connect with others like them?

What can our rational unbelief offer these people? We need to do more if we’re to win the hearts and minds of people. Merely disproving the tenets of faith doesn’t diminish the feelings of community, hope and certainty that religion offers. If we had to debate which side had the better argument to win over people, then we’d be all set. Unfortunately for us, humans aren’t rational. They don’t make up their minds after careful consideration of all the facts. Instead, they rely on intuition, feelings, and emotions to make their decisions for them, and only later intellectually justify these beliefs (we still want to THINK we’re rational, after all).

Education isn’t enough. We need to stop being gigantic pussies about it and take the ‘institutional’ plunge. We need to develop international support networks of the same complexity and devotion as our religious counterparts. We need to offer more than cold comfort, and we certainly can’t ignore all the roles filled by religion. If we truly want religion gone, then we’ll need to stop ignoring what works well for them, and instead embrace the positive attribute and appropriate them for ourselves (with a rational twist, of course).

Jerry Buell should be fired

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Times are hard in America. Job security is eroding fast, as is the middle class. This puts everyone on edge, which would explain some of the blow-back from fans concerning my opinion that there is something fundamentally broken with the way teachers are unionized in America. Of course, that’s not to imply that I want to destroy all the rights workers have managed to harangue from the clutches of the very wealthy (far from it). I just find it strange that the prevailing attitude of many of my listeners down south concerning freedom of speech is this should not interfere with their ability to be gainfully employed. Trust me, when you aren’t an American, this idea is kind of crazy.

Take the case of Jerry Buell. He’s a teacher at Mount Dora High School in Lake County, Florida who was suspended, and later reinstated after posting a number of homophobic remarks on his Facebook account (which included many student “friends”). After learning that New York was finally allowing gay people to have the same rights as everyone else, he became so overwhelmed with disgust, he claims, that he threw up at the diner table.

The Friendly Atheist first came to his defense as a fellow teacher, but quickly changed his tune when he took a gander at Jerry’s very crazy school bio, where he admitted his intent to “teach God’s truth”. Still, a number of Hemant’s fans continue to support Jerry under the banner of free speech. They make a good point: If a teacher can be fired for holding “controversial” views, might the same not apply to non-belief as well?

Here’s my general problem with that idea. Hemant’s beliefs don’t condemn entire groups of people either privately or publicly. It isn’t predicated on the hatred of anyone who isn’t like him. The only thing “controversial” about atheism is that religious people don’t like it. If it wasn’t for these yahoos, we wouldn’t even give this thing we don’t believe in a name. We’re creating a false equivalency here between religious people being discomforted with our non-belief and gay teens being driven to suicide because of the relentless torture of bigots like Jerry. Undoubtedly he’s had a few gay students pass through his class already. What impression of themselves were they left with in his care? If some stories are to be believed, he’s stated that homosexuals should be killed, as should their “conspirators”. How are these vulnerable children affected by this type of hateful bigotry?

The ACLU came to Jerry’s defense because their greater cause is the belief that a person’s views shouldn’t interfere with them having a job. I’m not sure that should be universally true. He’s not working as a fucking office clerk. He’s a teacher, which means he’s been given the charge of educating the mind of our young, and as such Jerry’s beliefs are of extreme importance, especially when it comes to the mental health of the students. Their priority is spelled out clearly in the code of ethics of the school board:

[A Teacher] Shall not intentionally expose a student to unnecessary embarrassment or disparagement; shall not harass or discriminate against any student on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, handicapping condition, sexual orientation, or social and family background and shall make reasonable effort to assure that each student is protected from harassment or discrimination.

The First Amendment isn’t a defense of people who willfully disregard the codes of conduct they agree to adhere to, and this is especially true for people who educate our young (how tolerant are we if they take other “liberties”?). He’s not being jailed for speaking his mind. He was being suspended for breaking the rules. Just because someone is allowed to say what they want doesn’t suddenly mean that there are no consequences. You can’t have free speech in a world without any fucking accountability.

New fossil discovery makes my day

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The difference between science and other supposed “types” of knowledge that make similar claims about the universe can be illustrated with this cool new discovery: a team of archaeologists working in South Africa have found a fossil of a possible ancestor. The physical attributes of Australopithecus sediba suggests that it may be a direct ancestor rather than an unsuccessful offshoot. This discovery could (and this is the important part here) change our understanding of our own past as a species.

This offers yet another opportunity for science to correct itself, to refine our understanding of the history of life on earth. That’s fucking exciting. That makes my day. It should make all of our days, but it doesn’t. For a significant portion of the American population, this discovery is either irrelevant, unimportant, or a threat. The need for people to feel important and relevant in an uncaring universe has blinded them from a deeper and much more interesting possibility: that our existence, while impressive to ourselves, is the result of the same laws of physics that are universal. If we exist long enough to contemplate the Cosmos, then we cannot be the only ones who have, are, or ever will. How more exciting is this than “Super Ape-in-the-Sky did it”?

Conservapedia thinks I’m a sinner

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I’m truly honored today. Conservapedia, apparently aware that I was poking fun at their ridiculous “Question Evolution!” campaign, decided to inform me that my objection to their fantasy has something to do with the excessive amount of “sinning” going on at my house. I guess all of those orgies finally caught up with me, huh?

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’m going to go snort cocaine off a prostitute’s chest on a satanic altar…or maybe I’ll just have a beer or something. Either works.

Worst Dating Service Ever

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You’re a gay man, unfortunate enough to be born in the insane cult of Orthodox Judaism. One day, you make the mistake of actually telling someone like Rabbi Arele Harel about your sexual orientation and your desire to start a family. His solution, as you might have guessed, is just about the worst idea anyone can have: He sets you up with a lesbian stuck in the same cult:

Potential candidates email Harel, who meets with them to assess if they are emotionally ready to be fixed up. Harel then picks a suitable match and introduces the parties. They are put in touch with therapists who are to assist them in their new life. Once they are married, they each pay around $400 for Harel’s service.

“The main aspiration here is parenthood,” said Harel, 36, from his home in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Shilo. “It allows them to become parents in a way that is permitted by religious Jewish law and prevents a conflict between their religious world and their sexual world.”

Summary: if your sexuality conflicts with your Bronze Age religion, then the problem is you, not your antiquated beliefs. All you need to do sacrifice your happiness and desires in order to fulfill the expectations of your family and friends who can’t accept who you are.

This guy is hilarious

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Every once in a while an old article will spring back to life whenever a religious weirdo randomly lands on a page that sends him or her into a wild, nonsensical tirade that gives you but a glimpse into their “unique” minds. Take some choice passages from “Johnathan” who wants to make sure we don’t burn in hell:

Perhaps you should put a nail down, and watch it miraculously spring to life and start “evolving” lol and you claim we’re ignorant?

Not anymore with that kind of logic, I can promise you that!

Little do you know that Satan is firmly steering you.
You so blind you don’t even realize the you have the mark of the beast on you, do you ?

The tattoo dude promised me no one would know about that smurf on my butt cheek… Does this have anything to do with Satan being in the mix?

You know why you atheists don’t believe their is a God? It’s because you haven’t experienced salvation yet. You NEED to be born in spirit to understand things of the spirit.

I agree: a confusing experience really is the only way to gain knowledge about objective reality.

Perhaps you’re not aware that they’ve found remains of the Ark, when the great flood took place? How about the chariots when God destroyed in the dead sea?

That might be because I don’t get my scientific information from a pamphlet.

You are alive but as dead as a door nail. So lost, and it’s sad. Satan was too an accuser of those in heaven just like you lot are.

I think I sound pretty lively for a dude who’s as dead as a door nail.

You have all the fruits the bible states Satan has yet you’re too ignorant to see it. Do you know that the majority of “Christians” have got it wrong today ?

Yeah, I’m aware. Christians can’t stop telling everyone else that other Christians also have it wrong. You all pretend to like each other for our benefit, but we know you secretly loath each other, and we find that hilarious.

The bible teaches us of predestination. And PRAISE GOD Hallelujah that he saved his sheep…Do you know that I’m sent of God ? Do you know that every single one who is TRULY REBORN in JESUS is SENT of Christ ?

I did not know that, although I do have a pretty good idea about where you should be sent next, dude.

Have you ever wondered why you scoff and mock the saints? Hello? What do you get out of it?

Do I wonder why I make fun of guys who dress up in silly costumes, put on pointless rituals and talk to their imaginary friend? Not really something that keeps me up at night…

You see, it’s because you’re still under the authority of your father Satan, who was a liar from the beginning and the father of all lies and deception.

You’ll notice this guy likes to use the word “father” a lot. I have a dad and that’s enough for me, thanks. If you didn’t have one of your own, I might suggest not trying to overcompensate for it.

We that God chose before the foundation of the world, are sent to testify of the mighty and glorious salvation of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and to testify that the works of the world are evil.

Translation: we’re here to shit on everyone’s good time. Got it.

Are you one of the lost sheep? Call to Jesus! Today is the day of salvation , tomorrow could be too LATE! Some of you say “maybe there is a God”

Are you confused about reality? Are you vulnerable to stupid ideas that have no basis in hard fact? Then grab your phone and give us a call! Operators are standing by, and if you call now, we’ll throw in a lifetime supply of guilt and shame, absolutely free!

Let’s so for yourselves I was wrong, I die and that’s it. But if you’re wrong? God banishes you the eternal fire FOREVER! Where you’ll beg! And plead! And cry for mercy but your soul dear friend WILL be cast into the fire ! You won’t come out there ever! God will no longer have mercy on you because you denied the only begotten Son of God, who died for the lost sheep willingly, and was risen back to life and thus overcame and killed sin out our lives! Amen!

With a God this sadistic and cruel, you need an excessive amount of exclamation marks to make your point!

The bible is not religion, it’s FACT, it’s a history book that accounts for all things, the past, the present and the FUTURE! To things currently taking place today, it’s all in the bible.

I guess with that kind of attitude, you’re pretty much guaranteed never to expand your mind beyond the tiny horizon of faith, aren’t you Johnny? Well, it’s too bad. Who needs to be educated when this book predicts that the world is going to end in a sea of blood? Better to buy a gun and wait for the army of Satan to attack, am I right?

Florida weird cohabitation rules challenged

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Oh Florida, do you always have to ruin everything? Republicans in the state shaped like a diseased penis are fighting to keep a strange, antiquated law from being eliminated since it technically classifies any unmarried persons living together as criminals. “Cohabitation” is a second class misdemeanor, carrying fines and up to 2 months in jail. As you’ve probably guessed by now, this ridiculous law dates back to the 19th century, and in an effort to jump forward 200 years Rep. Ritch Workman (R) is trying to repeal it. He’s meeting some heavy resistance from his own party, as members are hesitant to “…give up on monogamy and a cultural statement that marriage still matters”.

Basically, these Republicans don’t want to make any move that might give gays the impression that they approve of their “lifestyles” (honestly guys, I think they get it). And just when you think calling them out on their bigoted bullshit might be the solution, a new defense is invented: calling someone a bigot, according to former US senator Rick Santorum, is itself an act of bigotry. “Don’t point out the fact that I hold hateful archaic views,” they say, “because it hurts my feelings when you do that”. Wow.

As if that didn’t break the meter off your insanity monitor, another Floridian is busy ensuring a steady supply of crazy. “Pastor Mike“, a self described Internet troll who fancies himself a minister, finally got someone’s attention when he suggested that “open atheists” should be registered in a manner familiar to sex offenders. He started rattling a few cages when he began sending out a bunch of emails asking “real Christians” to help form a kind of registry. Even his fellow believers thought the idea was nuts, and despite his best efforts to try and hide his shame, the Internet rarely forgets. He’s since tried to defend the idea, and wonders why any non-believer would be offended. Try reading a history book instead of just the Bible Mikey, and you might find out why.

Bloomberg is my hero

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September 11th is just around the corner, and this year, Mayor Bloomberg is making sure that no clergymen from any religion are invited to the ceremony. Of course, you have a bunch of cry-baby Christians who are flipping out over this exclusion:

“This is America, and to have a memorial service where there’s no prayer, this appears to be insanity to me,” Rudy Washington tells the Wall Street Journal. “I feel like America has lost its way.”

I agree with you, Rudy. America has lost its way. It used to make provisions to ensure religion didn’t have a special place in government. The founding fathers even made the Establishment Clause the first fucking Amendment in their Constitution. Do you think they felt it was an important thing to mention?

Bloomy’s reasoning is both sound and fair: government is not in the business of picking a religion. In any case, the entire reason this structure collapsed was because of faith, and its non-adherence to reality. Why would you want someone there reminding you of the deadly consequences of blind belief?

Billy Ray Cyrus is afraid of atheists

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I don’t expect celebrities to be beacons of rational and coherent thought, especially when their claim to fame is a terrible song and an equally terrible TV show. Billy Ray Cyrus was recently interviewed by GQ, and he claims Hollywood has destroyed his perfect family life. He believes the root of all of this evil has something to do with a freeway sign they would pass by on their way to the Hannah Montana studio that said:

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY
ATHEISTS UNITED

Just before moving out to Los Angeles, the whole family had been baptized together by their pastor at the People’s Church in Franklin, Tennessee. “It was Tish’s idea,” he remembers. “She said, ‘We’re going to be under attack, and we have to be strong in our faith and we’re all going to be baptized…” And there, driving to work each day in the City of Angels, was this sign. “A physical sign. It could have easily said ‘You will now be attacked by Satan.’ ‘Entering this industry, you are now on the highway to darkness…”

Yes, the evil influence of Satan has finally compelled atheists around the world to pick up trash and to keep their highways clean! Mighty is the Dark Lord!

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but perhaps the reason his life sucks right now has more to do with the fact he cheated on his wife while she was pregnant, and he pimped out his daughter to the Disney corporation. Of course, that would require him to admit his own mistakes, so it’s easier to blame a bunch of trash picking atheists for all your fucking problems.

Anti-Gay State Rep used Craigslist to find male prostitute

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I’m beginning to think there are more closeted gay Republicans than there are open Democrat ones, since it seems as though every other day some anti-gay rights crusader gets caught trying to have sex with someone of the same gender. Today’s totally disgraced hypocrite is Indiana State Rep. Phillip Hinkle, who was caught trying to hire a male prostitute on Craigslist.

I say try, since the entire ordeal was just weird, uncomfortable for everyone, and fraught with crazy drama:

The young man told The Star that they met, but that he tried to leave after the man told him he was a state lawmaker. He said the lawmaker at first told him he could not leave, grabbed him in the rear, exposed himself to the young man and then later gave him an iPad, BlackBerry cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet.

Ok, first lesson is free Phil: if you’ve got a high profile job, don’t cheap out last minute trying to buy someone’s silence. Also, it’s generally a bad idea to give them your fucking cellphone with all your contact information, genius.

Megan Gibson [the sister of the young man] said that on the drive back, she began receiving a series of calls on the BlackBerry, including one from a woman who said she was Hinkle’s wife. “I was like, ‘Your husband is gay,’ ” Megan said.

The wife eventually tried to buy her off for 10 grand (at least someone was thinking straight), but by then the cat was already WAY out of the bag.

So what’s left for this guy? I’d love to believe that perhaps Phil will take this opportunity to embrace his love of cocks and balls and quit living a lie, but by now I think we’re already painfully familiar with how these things turn out: denial followed by admitting to a “moment of weakness” culminating into some kind of “pray the gay away” retreat. Meanwhile, the fact that this hypocrite piece of shit co-sponsored a constitutional amendment to prevent gays from marrying gets conveniently forgotten. Fantastic.

Evangelicals starting to question Adam and Eve

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About 40% of adults in America believe that Adam and Eve existed. This means that almost half of your population is functionally retarded. And you wonder why your economy is tanking…

In an effort not to ignore scientific truth forever, some evangelicals are starting to question the existence of Adam and Eve in order to finally catch up to the rest of us who have embraced the methodology of science. They naively believe -as Francis Collins does- that science and faith are compatible. I’m sure it appears to them this way, but only so long as their cognitive dissonance is in full swing. The twisted logic at work trying to rectify religious believe and the evidence of our evolution is astounding. It’s a step in the right direction, perhaps:

[Brian] Venema is part of a growing cadre of Christian scholars who say they want their faith to come into the 21st century. Another one is John Schneider, who taught theology at Calvin College in Michigan until recently. He says it’s time to face facts: There was no historical Adam and Eve, no serpent, no apple, no fall that toppled man from a state of innocence.

Yeah, if you do that, you have a major problem: without the fall, Jesus’ sacrifice is pointless (well, it was always pointless, but now more so). Original sin is of paramount importance to the faith. Don’t get me wrong; I love the idea of these people starting to accept that our species evolved from other primates. The problem is that they’ve simply refused to accept the conclusion of evolution. Of course, most evangelicals realize that abandoning this dogma would have serious repercussions to their belief:

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, says that rebellious choice infected all of humankind.

“When Adam sinned, he sinned for us,” Mohler says. “And it’s that very sinfulness that sets up our understanding of our need for a savior.”

Humanity “infected” by sin? That’s the Christianity we know and despise. As far as Jesus-lovers are concerned, humanity is a filthy pile of sin that’s barely worthy of God’s love. Only those slavish enough in their devotion to ignore reality can enter super-magic-fun-playland-in-the-clouds when they die. The rest, those unbelievers, will be tortured forever in a lake of fire for denying the divinity of someone who, if they existed today, would be put in a sanatorium. Christianity isn’t really a “people first” doctrine. As far as they are concerned, we’re all pieces of shit that disobeyed God at one time or another and have been punished ever since.

Let me put this another way: if Adam and Eve didn’t exist, then according to a bunch of very sexist Bible-belt assholes, there would be no justification for men ruling over the lives of women. That means that ladies would be able to control not only their own lives, but their reproductive cycles as well. Do you have any idea how terrifying that prospect is for an old white guy?