Category Archives: Blog

Wow, this guy really hates gays

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Before my buddy Jeff came out of the closet, he was a homophobe. I never really understood why, but later he explained to me that it had to do with his secret loathing of himself because of his sexual attraction to other men. I’ve never had to deal with such a powerful internal conflict, but when I sat down and really thought about it, it made perfect sense. This kind of phenomenon is well known in the gay community; in fact, they see extreme homophobia as being one of the first signs that someone is secretly in the closet. It’s called “Internalized Homophobia“.

With that in mind, here’s my candidate for closeted homosexual of the month: Steven L. Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church. Steven went on a bit of a tirade against gays recently, and apart from saying homosexuals should be executed for the crime of sodomy (he seems unaware that a significant portion of gay men actually don’t like anal sex), he also believes their sin is spreading like wildfire. I’ll let him tell you how he really feels about the whole thing:

You want to know who the biggest hypocrite in the world is? The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers and not for homosexuals.

He also apparently feels that gay men are multiplying:

How are they multiplying? Do you not see that they’re multiplying? Are you that blind? Have you noticed that there’s more than there were last year and the year before, and the year before that? How are they multiplying? They’re reproducing right? No, here’s a biology lesson: they’re not reproducers, they’re recruiters! And you know who they’re after? Your children. Remember you dropped off your kids last week? That’s who they’re after. You drop them off at some daycare, you drop them off at some school somewhere, you don’t know where they’re at. I’ll tell you where they’re at: they’re being recruited by the sodomites. They’re being molested by the sodomites. I can tell you so many stories about people that I know being molested and recruited by the sodomites.

And here I thought kids were usually just going to school to learn, but Steven believes that gay men are raping and molesting children, who in turn switch over to the other side. Well, if that was true, then every women who’s ever been raped would become a rapist herself, but I guess that doesn’t fit his specific predjudice at all.

They recruit through rape. They recruit through molestation. They recruit through violation. They are infecting our society. They are spreading their disease. It’s not a physical disease, it’s a sin disease, it’s a wicked, filthy sin disease and it’s spreading on a rampage. Can’t you see that it’s spreading on a rampage? I mean, can you not see that? Can you not see that it’s just exploding in growth? Why? Because each sodomite recruits far more than one other sodomite because his whole life is about recruiting other sodomites, his whole life is about violating and hurting people and molesting ‘em.

Now I hate to make pronunciations on people I know very little, but after listening to the recording this was actually transcribed from, I can’t help but feel he’s not showing all his cards. Steven, I know that you think they are trying to recruit you, but your physical attraction to men isn’t because of anything they do (unless they are wearing hot pants I suppose) or a test of faith from God. It’s just your biology, so go out there and go enjoy your new life as a gay man. I’m sure you’ll fucking LOVE it.

No, New Atheism isn’t fundamentalist

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I am sick and tired of every wannabe journalist with nothing interesting to write about making pronunciations on things they don’t really understand. Today’s annoying article comes from Rob Dreher at twincities.com, where his article entitled “You don’t have to be religious to be a fundamentalist” argues that many atheists display characteristics of religious fundamentalism.

As you’ve probably guessed, he brings up Nazis and Communism as proofs atheism can be just as deadly as religion. These tired claims have already been dealt with in some of my other articles, and the only response I have towards these accusations is this: how does a lack of belief in God lead human beings to commit atrocities? It’s fairly obvious people will kill one another if they want REGARDLESS of religious belief. Yes, humans can be savage, cruel, and even monstrous. Does anyone naively think if Stalin had been a Christian, he wouldn’t have been as cruel a despot?

I’m also tired of people claiming science and religion somehow don’t conflict. Science is a way of understanding the natural world, while religion is a way of denying physical reality in favor of mythology and wishful thinking. In the US, we’ve seen the sort of impact belief has on scientific progress; you don’t see a lot of other industrialized countries having debates over evolution.

I obviously realize for some, superstitious belief seems hardwired in our brains, but this idea is easily refuted by the fact a significant portion of the world is composed of non-believers (there are roughly 1 billion of us. Surprising, no?). Sure, when we are uneducated, we are bound to believe in primitive myths, but luckily over the centuries we’ve devised ways of understanding the natural world without the need to rely on supernatural forces. We call this technique science, and the results have so far been amazing. You live twice as long as your ancestors did because of advances in our understanding of the world. Now that we’ve grown accustomed to all the benefits of science, we take it for granted. Therefore, there will always be plenty of morons who feel their specific religion must somehow be greater (since it gives some a “purpose” in their lives), even though the only thing they seem very good at is taking people’s money and shunning, excluding, or sometimes even killing those who don’t believe in the same myths. Yeah, religion sure is awesome…

2012 Doomsday soothsayers are all insane

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Last podcast, Ryan and I talked about the hilarious idea that the Earth will come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012. This day, made famous by the fact that the Mayan calendar essentially resets, is the latest date doomsday enthusiasts have claimed will mark the end of days.  The majority of these soothsayers actually have no idea why the calendar ends, and incorrectly assume Mayans somehow “decided” not to have a calendar that would count higher than that date. In reality, the truth is far more banal. You can read all about it here, or listen to the podcast if you are really curious (you should be listening anyways!)

There will always be a contingent of the population that secretly wishes for death and destruction to rain down and usher the final curtain call for mankind. We generally tend to have a fascination with our own mortality, and for some this manifests itself as a kind of “End of Days” worship. It gives these crackpots something to be excited about I suppose. The majority of them believe they will be spared (usually because they are either very religiously devout, or have made some kind of preparations) and their lives will forever be changed. Usually these poor desperate people just want out of the terrible drudgery of their own lives, and an Apocalyptic future seems preferable to a slow and uneventful death.

If you want to read a hilarious/scary site, check out 2012warning.com, which boasts a prophet by the name of Gianna Sullivan who regularly receives messages from the Virgin Mary (is she Jesus’ secretary now or something?).

Since beginning in July, 1988, Gianna has received the weekly public MESSAGES to the world from Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary; and these MESSAGES have been recorded in all 6 volumes of I am your Jesus of Mercy through January 21, 1999. These public messages were received during apparitions of Our Lady to Gianna at the weekly public Marian prayer group, first at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then from November, 1993, through September 7, 2000, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was during this time that Our Lady referred to herself as “Our Lady of Emmitsburg” and entitled the Emmitsburg area as the “Center of my Immaculate Heart.”

I guess when you are being spoken to by a virgin who never died (see this article if you don’t know what I’m talking about), you’re allowed to give yourself crazy titles. Here is her prediction of what will happen in 3 years:

After awhile, you will see a time when there is another body in orbit around your solar system, coming between Earth and the Sun and leading to tremendous devastation. Approximately 60-70% of the world’s population, as you know it, will cease. Of those who survive, 60% of them could die of disease and starvation.

Oh noes, I better start buying preserves so I don’t starve to death!

Islam doesn’t have a monopoly on crazy

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Because it’s almost literally halfway across the world, we don’t hear a lot of news about all the crazy stuff that happens in India. As far as most westerners are concerned, India is supposed to be a peaceful place, filled with sacred cows, gurus, and outsourced telemarketers. But all is not well in the world’s largest democracy, and they face the same challenge many other developing nations do; the growing power of religious fundamentalism.

Subodh Kerkar didn’t realize he would be receiving death threats for his sketches of Hindu god Ganesh, but it seems as though a fundamentalist group called Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has warned him they would cut off his fingers for his blasphemy (you can visit their website, but I assure you it’s nothing but nonsense).

The group takes a hard core stance regarding modernism and secularism, which they regard as dangerous. It was founded in 2002 after hardliners felt that the fundamentalism of Islam and Christianity needed their Indian counterpart, and like these two denominations, it is xenophobic, racist, and violently opposed to blasphemy.

I don’t find it surprising at all  so many religions are developing fundamentalist tendencies, especially in light of the growing popularity and power of modernism. These religions rightly feel that education, science, and ethics erode superstitious belief. My concern is these dangerous and ignorant fools will continue to threaten individuals who are simply trying to express themselves. It’s why we need to continue to fight for the rights of all individuals to speak their own minds; it’s the only way to beat these assholes.

Compton pastor suspected of embezzling $800,000

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Religious devotees are so much more righteous than us lowly atheists, don’t you agree? How else can you explain the fact they are less likely to commit a crime, have a divorce, or abuse drugs. Oh wait, that’s actually the opposite, but hey, who’s counting?

The latest story of delicious impropriety on the part of the faithful comes from Compton, where Rev. E. Joshua Sims has been arrested after he was suspected of embezzling almost a million dollars from the Double Rock Baptist Church. He also threatened some of the church members who had begun to question his finances, during his sermons (for some suicidal reason).

Hey, don’t be so surprised when your beloved pastor ends up being a con man, people. Has there ever been a sweeter con than religion? Guys like Peter Popoff and Jim Bakker know full well the financial gains one can achieve from tricking the faithful. They would practically sell their kidneys on the black market if they thought they could be closer to God as a result.

Human beings are mostly confused, superstitious idiots who are easily shepherded by individuals that have only their own self interest at heart. I think it’s time people stop blindly trusting those who claim to hold a special place with God; they tend to either scam you out of your money, molest your kids, or both!

Friendly Atheist under attack

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Ok, the title of my article is a little inflammatory, but how else can you describe a concentrated effort on the part of the Illinois Family Institute to get Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta fired from his job as a high school math teacher? Sounds like an attack to me.

IFL director Laurie Higgins is on a crusade to get the school faculty to punish him for writing an atheist blog on his free time, even though it plays no part in his teaching life. I won’t pretend to know all the details (go to his site for that), but I thought it might be fun to put up some choice quotes from the whole affair:

…even if Mr. Mehta does not view his math classes as opportunities to proselytize, there still remains the fact that he is a role model and he regularly engages in very public discourse on very controversial topics. For many parents, views on homosexuality and belief in God are two of life’s most important issues — issues that are critical to both civilized and eternal life.

I personally think the elimination of hunger and suffering in the world are more important issues, but what do I know, I’m just a godless heathen! Also, if that statement wasn’t ignorant enough for you, here is a classic one that should be put on a trophy for “worst analogy ever made by a retarded Christian”

Many parents would recoil at having their children spend a school year under the tutelage of a teacher — particularly a charismatic teacher — who in his or her free time blogs favorably about racism and travels the length and breadth of the country preaching racism. Similarly, some parents may recoil at having their children spend a year under the tutelage of a teacher who spends his free time blogging favorably about atheism and homosexuality and traveling the length and breadth of the country preaching favorably about atheism.

So, let me get this straight: Hemant’s blogging on issues of gay rights and atheism is racist? This from a woman who has compared homosexuals to Nazis? Do these morons ever listen to the delicious irony that sometimes spills out of their ignorant mouths? If it’s any comfort Hemant, she did call you charismatic at least…

Openly Atheist fighter in the UFC

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As some of you may already know, The Good Atheist isn’t the only blog I work on. I’m also pretty deep into the MMA scene, and Ryan and I have a reputation as being the “bad boys” of the mixed Martial Arts world through our site, Fightlinker.com (we also record 2 podcasts a week for that site as well, so if you love the sport, go check out the other podcast). I’m not sure what that means exactly, but we’re the guys who make fun of people for entertainment purposes. Apparently that’s still cutting edge.

One fighter who I’ve always given a hard time is Frank Mir. Frank is one of the cockiest fighters in the UFC, and after watching him on the reality show “The Ultimate Fighter”, I couldn’t help but root for his opponent the whole time (he came off looking like a huge dick the whole show).

Over the past year though, it’s been getting a lot harder to hate the guy, especially after he came out of the atheist closet and admitted to being a huge fan of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. This makes Frank the first openly atheist fighter in a major fight organization. Say what you will about his attitude; it takes fucking guts to say that shit. I hate to say it, but if he keeps doing this kind of thing, I’ll have no choice but call myself a fan. I feel weird saying that…

Bus drivers suspended for over atheist ad

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With atheist bus ads popping up all over the US, there’s bound to be some conflict a-brewin’ (they are kind of intended for that purpose, anyway). The latest controversy comes from Des Moines, Iowa, where bus driver Angela Shiel was suspended after she refused to drive a bus with an atheist banner on the side. She might get fired over this, since the Des Moines Area Regional Transport (or DART) has a policy that drivers are not allowed to choose which buses they drive.

Now before you decide on whether or not she should be allowed to refuse such a simple thing, how would atheists have responded to a non-believer refusing to drive a bus with a Christian ad on it? I don’t know about you, but I would have told that person to suck it up and do their job. We all have to do things we aren’t always comfortable with, but them’s the breaks. At the end of the day, it’s just a stupid ad, and letting people speak their minds isn’t a crime.

This is a tough situation for DART, since firing Angela would only anger theists, and capitulating to her demands would mean that other drivers could follow suit. Their priority is on providing a reliable service, and not having to deal with people’s religious convictions. I think the solution is letting her wear a t-shirt emblazoned with I believe in God while driving the bus if she’s feeling conflicted about the whole thing. Problem solved!

Bahamas divided over Sexual Offenses Act

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You have to wonder what century we’re living in sometimes. The Bahamas is currently a hotbed of controversy as men and women are passionately debating about the amendment of a Bill intended to protect women against marital rape. It seems some don’t believe rape is ever possible once the couple is actually married, and you can guess what ‘historical’ document they are using to prove their claim: yep, it’s the Bible!

The craziest thing about this debate is how many women actually oppose the Bill.

“I disagree with the bill because I disagree that a man can rape his wife. The Bible tells me that a man’s body is his wife’s and her body is his. How could he rape her?”

“If a man wants to have sex with his wife he is supposed to [have sex with her] regardless of what the circumstances [are]. I don’t see why he should be charged with raping his own wife, she is never supposed to say no”

“If I were married and my husband wanted to have sex with me I wouldn’t stop him, [because] I’m not supposed to, even if I was tired or feeling sick, I wouldn’t tell him no”

Ladies, if you don’t think that a husband can ever rape you, then why would this Bill affect you in any way? Since you obviously feel that you are his property, the law doesn’t apply to you. It’s supposed to be used by people who actually don’t like the idea of being forced into sex. I know it’s weird, but not every woman out there feels it’s kosher to be held down and forced into intercourse. Crazy, huh?

Wait, Christians need proof of their religion now?

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You know the word “faith” that religious people keep throwing in your face every time their arguments for the existence of God falls flat? They use the word so often it’s lost almost all meaning. It’s really just a cop out; a word that allows them to avoid having to answer difficult questions.

Whether or not Christians admit it, their beliefs are more than just faith; they are convinced the evidence for the divinity of Jesus is overwhelming, and the Bible is a literal account of the history of the Earth. It’s why people can release these kinds of books and sell thousands of copies to anyone desperate enough to try and reconcile science with religion (a very futile effort).

The Proof that God Exists and the Bible is True doesn’t sound like a book that places much emphasis on faith. Its purpose is to “arm” Christians with enough false or misleading science so they can convince themselves they have examined all the evidence for their belief. It just goes to show that simply having “faith” is not enough. All humans need proof of something, whether they admit it or not. Here’s the pitch for this book:

Scientific proof of a young universe and a young Earth (as the Bible says)

How all proven supernatural occurrences (that is, where the laws of nature are broken) that have been verified by a number of scientists are tied to Christianity, and there are no proven ones outside of Christianity.

Wow. Just wow.

Hitchens laments the appeasement of fundamentalists

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Here’s an article from Christopher Hitchens on Yale University Press and their decision to censor their own book out of fear of Islamic violence.

Yale University Press announced last week that it would go ahead with the publication of the book, but it would remove from it the 12 caricatures that originated the controversy. Not content with this, it is also removing other historic illustrations of the likeness of the Prophet, including one by Gustave Doré of the passage in Dante’s Inferno that shows Mohammed being disemboweled in hell. (These same Dantean stanzas have also been depicted by William Blake, Sandro Botticelli, Salvador Dalí, and Auguste Rodin, so there’s a lot of artistic censorship in our future if this sort of thing is allowed to set a precedent.)

More pandering to religious extremism. When are we going to stop being so gutless when it comes to [updated] threats of violence for expressing our freedom of speech?

Don’t rush to conclusions

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I received a message to check out a story floating around the blogosphere about a huge wedding involving hundreds of child brides in Gaza (I thought it a bit weird that the mainstream media had missed that big story). Naturally I wanted to know more, but as I dug a little deeper, I realized the real story was the deep distrust of Muslims in general, and powerful Islamophobia that exists on the web.

OK, maybe I’m partly to blame here; after all, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the religion. I consider Mohammed a morally reprehensible character, but then again I think the same thing of Moses, David, Noah and all the men of old world religions. These guys are normally genocidal maniacs interested only in their own flock, content to murder the world to make their ideologies the only truth. But Mohammed’s 9 year old wife Aisha is not something you can ignore very easily, and child brides are not isolated incidents.

Still, the “webs” had a gigantic freak out, with rumors of hundreds of little girls being wed simultaneously floating around, all from a bunch of pictures that seem, at least in hindsight, to be fairly innocent (although the moms need to go a little easy on the damn makeup). Everyone is so ready to jump on the hate bandwagon that any amount of impropriety invariably leads people to assume the very worst. There was a wedding and little girls were there? They must have been all sex slaves I tell you!

Can we all calm down and take the time to check our facts people? And this is “The Good Atheist” talking here; I don’t exactly have the most stellar reputation when it comes to fact checking (hey, you try recording funny podcasts without going out on a few limbs), but even I can smell a rat that big. Let’s not look like total bigots, shall we?

Catholic League Freaks out over Penn and Teller

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I love listening to this guy. In case you haven’t heard of Bill Donohue, he’s the president of the Catholic League; an organization devoted to trying to get everyone to stop being mean to Catholics. Bill’s not a big fan of Penn and Teller (especially after getting totally ass-raped during the show they did on Mother Tereasa), and he’s now freaking out about their season finale.

It sounds like P&T made their last show about the Vatican, and I can guarantee there is a scene involving a Darth Vader uniform and a gigantic dildo light saber (that’s all I know as of now). Sounds like a pretty kick ass show, but old Bill is having none of it:

Just recently, Jillette took after me again in his usual foul way. That doesn’t matter, but what matters greatly is his pathological obsession with bashing Catholics and their religion. There is no legitimate place for this kind of frontal assault on any demographic group.

CBS/Showtime needs to send Penn & Teller a message and let them know that they have crossed the line for the last time. This should be their final season. We know that they’ve been told before to drop the Catholic bashing, and yet they persist. By doing so, Penn & Teller have effectively stuck their middle finger right in the eye of CBS.

Well, I think exercising your right to free speech is a lot less frightening than burning people alive for witchcraft, don’t you think? Oh, and if you don’t think that’s something Christians do anymore, you might want to take a trip to Africa. And by that, I mean stay the fuck away from there!

More nonsense in Texas

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In case you were wondering, the answer is yes, Texas is now the craziest state in America. It seems like every day Texans are pushing back on separation of church and state, and now that they are requiring schools to teach the Bible, I have to wonder when they are going to officially declare themselves a theocracy.

It’s your typical reactionary response to modernism. Parents believe their children are immoral and corrupt because they refuse to read or follow the Bible (which is probably a good thing), and so they foolishly believe creating mandatory courses on the “Good Book” will fix everything.

I have to wonder what kind of shit storm this is going to create. The founding fathers specifically called for the Establishment Clause in the Constitution to avoid this kind of pandering to religion; as soon as one becomes the “official” religion of the state, the whole democratic process is threatened. The problem is these Christians are so busy trying to force their religion down everyone’s throat they are forgetting why this separation is so important. As a Christian how they would feel if their children were forced to study and learn the Koran, or the Upanishads?

Ken Ham thinks he knows something

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If you’re not familiar with Ken Ham, then you are officially a fly by night atheist. How could you not know about this crazy Aussie? He’s the man behind the Creation Museum, perhaps the largest and most expensive temple to ignorance ever created. With a 27 million dollar budget, and over half a million visitors since it opened in 2007, the Creation Museum is a snapshot in time, a reminder the human race still has a long way to go before being able to officially call itself “enlightened”.

Ken commissioned a study recently. Turns out young evangelicals are abandoning their faith in droves, and Ken thinks he knows why. He believes Christians are allowing secular values to poison the minds of children, and the only solution is a literal interpretation of the Bible. If kids are rigidly taught the Earth is only 6000 years old, then they are less likely to be negatively influenced by pesky things like science and logic.

Ironically, I think the reasons so many evangelicals are leaving their faith is actually BECAUSE of all the deception on the part of evangelical ministers. Once young adults realize they have been lied to and deceived, why would they stick around? The truth is, Ken, with today’s modern technology people are becoming more and more informed, and it’s almost impossible to keep kids ignorant. Don’t you think they’ll be bitter when they realize your creationist “science” is a bunch of bullshit nonsense?

Thanks for the study though, Ken. You confirmed something I’ve always believed; that evangelism is on it’s way down. The future looks bright, Ken; just not for you and your ilk.