Category Archives: Blog

Taliban kidnapping boys in Pakistan to recruit suicide bombers

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How long does it take to brainwash a human being into becoming a suicide bomber? About a month, apparently. If you want to know how messed up the Taliban is, you need to head over to the Independent and learn more about how they kidnap young boys at gunpoint and indoctrinate the shit out of them in their training camps.

The boys are taught your predictable “Pakistan is a tool of Western Oppression”, and shown videos of atrocities to entice them into a fervor of hatred and disgust. Even though many of these boys were returned home, many parents describe their children as horribly twisted and corrupt, a shadow of their former selves. Part of their brainwashing techniques involved instructing them that their own parents should be killed if they get in the way of their “glorious mission”.

I guess when life is pretty shitty, it’s fairly easy to twist their pain into hatred and eventually murder. Even though the Taliban is getting crushed by the army, many residents fear this victory is short lived, and they will be back in even greater numbers.

I won’t pretend I have the right answer as to the best way to deal with these psychos, but combating indoctrination requires a lengthy process of education and empathy building, something I doubt the Pakistani government is capable of doing. The Taliban is effectively creating a sleeper army to awaken when everyone think they are defeated. They are like a virus; just when you think it’s dead, the bastard mutates and takes out your entire family.

Mother Teresa’s spiritual advisor accused of molesting boys

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I think most of you know I’m not a big fan of Mother Teresa. I think she gives atheism a bad name, but that’s a whole other story altogether. I found her corrupt, nasty, and evil just like the institution she represents. What a surprise to find someone close to her was also a steaming pile of shit: Father Donald Maguire, a frequent spiritual advisor to Mother Teresa is facing charges of child molestation. Again.

You can read about the guy in this detailed article. I’ve written enough about why this kind of thing isn’t really surprising anymore, and why we need to look at all of these travesties with fresh eyes. It’s obvious people within his own organization knew something was up, since they kept on rotating him around (it’s the common practice to deal with these guys: send them to a new parish to enjoy fresh meat).

I had someone comment a little while ago who herself had been a victim of child molestation. In her case, it wasn’t by a priest, and she found a great deal of solace from the Church. She even tried to apologize for their behavior:

As a person who was molested myself, (not by a priest) I understand the psychological, emotional and physical trauma. Nothing will truly make those experiences go away, and the pain changes a person forever. I apologize to all who have been hurt by the wrong doings of Catholic Priests. I know that my apology is insignificant compared to the damage and the pain. Still. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the pain you or your loved ones are going through. It is not what the Catholic church – it’s people as well as its leaders- hope to ever happen. If offense, hurt and disappointment is all that you have found in the church I am really, really sorry. I can tell you that the only way I’ve been able to cope with the trauma of what I went through is through the Catholic Church. The priests, deacons, and community at large have listened to me through my tears and have helped me begin my healing. And I am a better person for it today. Healing. Compassion. Forgiveness. This is what the Catholic church aims for. Please, forgive us when we fall short of our goal.

Jessica, I can appreciate the fact these guys helped you through a rough time. And of course most of the people involved are good, decent and caring; they are human for God’s sake. The point, however, is it’s not YOUR job to apologize, it’s THEIRS. And they need to do more than say “we’re sorry”. The entire organization is infested with these monsters, and all the church does is hide their indiscretions. There is nothing you can do to erase the pain and suffering countless children have suffered at the hands of these guys save one: stop supporting them. It won’t stop until you do, this I can promise you.

More Mail!

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I received this email from friend of the site, April, who informed me of this brand of atheist centered clothing:

Hi Jacob,

A friend recently forwarded me this link [www.thearrogantatheist.com], I thought it might be loosely related to your recent topics of more atheists being open in public about their lack of belief. I’m not too keen on the use of the word “arrogant,” but if you are going to be smarmy why not go the whole way I suppose. I own an Atheist shirt or two, and I can’t help but think that I’m as obnoxious as those clad in garb covered with that fucking Jesus fish when I wear it, so I usually wear it only among friends, or around the house…but feel conflicted at hiding something so important and personal to me.

What do you think? Where is the line drawn between being open with your atheism and being arrogant with it?

I’ll be honest, April. It’s a bit tough for me to judge, since I’ve seriously been considering selling my own atheist t-shirts in an effort to pay the bills. It’s nice to be able to advertise your atheism to others, but it’s true that most of the time, that shit will just make people get in your face for no damn reason. I will admit, however, that I found these guy’s About Page to be a little bit ridiculous:

First, you speak with your money, and money runs the world. If we can show that there’s a viable atheist market, instantly politicians will work for the atheist vote (affecting policies), media won’t be so obscenely biased against atheists (affecting mindsets), more products will be created to suit atheists (affecting industry), and so on.

I won’t deny money is important, but I’m not entirely sure this line of reasoning makes much sense. It kind of feels like a bit of a hard sell here. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all the years I’ve been doing this atheism thing, is even with loads of fans, it’s really difficult to make any serious waves out there. Just because you sell a few hundred t-shirts doesn’t mean shit in the grand scheme of things. If you want to sell shirts and make money, who am I to stop you? Just don’t pretend you are saving the world here. It’s a fucking t-shirt, after all.

The “Holy Shit” moment

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Ok, I want you to pretend that you just woke up from a coma, and you’ve developed near total amnesia. Not only do you not remember anything about yourself, but you’re also unfamiliar with any recent news or events. You do, however, maintain your own moral code of conduct, which still allows you to judge what is right and wrong (in other words, you aren’t a drooling invalid here).

Curious about the outside world, you begin to peruse the web in search of information, and happen to fall upon this little article (which has since been removed, please read the follow-up here). It details the fact that one of the head officials of the Catholic Church in Chicago was aware of over 25 priests who had been abusing young children, but had stayed silent about the abuse.

You certainly would be more than a little disappointed by the Catholic church; you’d be jumping up and down, furious with rage that 25 (try just counting to 25 to see how many that is!) priests in the Chicago region alone were abusing kids. You would be consumed by anger at the fact that even in this paltry article, there seem to be no names or arrests. “What the hell is going on here?”, you would wonder. Why is no one in jail? Basically you’d have a” Holy Shit” moment, one the rest of us desperately need to have.

Your next move would be to keep digging. You’d naturally wonder “are there other instances of priestly abuse out there?”. A simple search on Google would probably make you want to vomit with rage at how many kids around the world have been, or still are, abused by these robed monsters.

You’d probably be very confused as to why no one seems to be freaking out about this. Well, truth be told, we’re all so accustomed to it that it hardly surprises us anymore. We’ve become almost shell shocked, and because so many people still revere this crooked and disgusting institution, it’s not a big deal anymore.

Now I don’t want everyone to suddenly develop amnesia, but I did wish we could look these abuses with fresh eyes. This piece of shit bastard needs to rot in jail, along with all his molester buddies. I don’t care if he was not involved in the abuse; his silence was his crime, for it allowed these monsters to ruin the lives of so many countless children.

On a related note, I think I figured out how the Catholic Church can completely cut down on all child abuse: just enforce castration for priests. I mean, you’re not using it anyways, so why not get rid of it and we can stop worrying you’re going to keep forcing little kids to play with it.

Who watches over us?

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Lea Guilbeaut had a life many would envy. She had a good job, and by all accounts her marriage to her husband, Hani Beitinjaneh, was a very happy one. On her birthday the couple decided to go eat sushi at a small trendy restaurant on Peel St. They chose their own table outside so they could enjoy the sun (since it had been such a rainy summer). Meanwhile, a huge slab of concrete 18 floors above at the Marriot Hotel buckled, and plummeted to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the slab crashed through the glass ceiling and  landed squarely on top of Lea, killing her instantly.

These types of events are rare, and yet, they seem to sear their way into our brains. Of particular interest is the fact Lea herself had tragically chosen her seat. It’s a powerful reminder that even though we may feel in control over our lives, that feeling is itself merely an illusion. It’s also a frightening reminder of the randomness of life. Such tragedies make us feel vulnerable and afraid. That fear, however, is irrational. This type of incident is incredibly rare. Although I may be tempted to look up in the sky for other falling objects, the truth is it’s very unlikely any one of us will die in this manner. For the most part, the vast majority of us will perish of ‘natural causes’. In other words, we’ll probably die of heart failure, cancer, or the myriad of other ailments that predictably kill the vast majority of us. The fact Lea’s death is so rare demonstrates that although natural disasters are unpredictable and deadly, they are luckily quite infrequent.

The fact life is so random is not something we are very comfortable with. With no omnibenevolent force watching over and protecting us, we can often feel powerless and weak in the face of such disaster. Yes, life can sometimes be breathtakingly cruel (as in Lea’s case), but in general we benefit from the fact that we are surrounded by a huge support network of fellow humans who care deeply about our safety. Some are paid to protect us, but the vast majority are simply strangers who are willing to lend a hand. I didn’t know Lea, but like most people who heard her story, I couldn’t help but feel saddened by her death. Freak accidents may be statistical inevitabilities, but it doesn’t reduce their emotional impact on us one bit.

Our security is dependent almost entirely on the hard work and dedication of our fellow citizens. If your house is on fire, if you’re drowning in a lake or if you fall down a well, odds are good someone will try to save you. You’re surrounded by thousands of potential heroes, many of them willing to risk their own lives to save yours. So although some may wonder “just who is watching over me if there is no God”, you are far safer putting your trust in other human beings than in some mysterious cosmic entity. Life may seem random and cruel sometimes, but one thing is for sure: we don’t have to be.

I Love Kiwis!

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Apart from the amazing fact there are more women than men in this tiny country (this fact in itself should encourage you to visit, guys), the country’s atheist population is surging. According to this article, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, is essentially non-religious (his predecessor was also agnostic), and his whole country is becoming more and more secular. It’s estimated if the current irreligious trend continues, Atheism will overtake Christianity is about 10 years.

Now before everyone pats themselves on the back for making such inroads into godlessness, there are a few caveats which prevent me from declaring New Zealand the mecca of atheism. The biggest shame is their blasphemy law, which makes it illegal to publish materials that vilify, ridicule, or offend Christians.

We have the same cowardly laws here in Canada as well, although because of our perceived “cultural diversity”, it can be twisted to incorporate just about any religion. The only way to defend yourself against this terrible law is to have expressed yourself in “good faith and decent language”. In other words, I’m not allowed to say “fuck you, Christianity, and shove your false self righteousness so far up your ass that even your pathetic man-god can’t find it”. (note, our laws have since been changed!)

Fight back against this kind of bullshit, Kiwis! Don’t let yourselves be bullied by insecure, overly litigious Christians who hate it when they are told their beliefs are wrong. 10 years isn’t really too far away, so it’s time to make plans for what happens after you dethrone these religious zealots. May I suggest eliminating that stupid law first?

Senators propose coverage for alternative medicine

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Your back hurts, and you’ve tried a number of painkillers to relieve the pain. A friend suggests you try an alternative form of medicine to cure your ailment. Like everyone else, you are skeptical of the medical industry and the collusion of big pharma and doctors. You head over to an acupuncturist, who pokes you in various places in your body, and a few days later the pain disappears. Naturally, you incorrectly infer the reason you got better was due to the alternative therapy you tried.

It isn’t your fault you made such a rookie mistake. Our bodies naturally heal themselves, so we’re likely to credit whatever we’re doing at the time as being the panacea. Like most people, you don’t really understand how medicines are developed. You just assume that evil pharmaceutical companies and their enslaved doctors are trying to force dangerous drugs down your throat (I won’t deny feeling that way sometimes). Meanwhile, your homeopath is gentle, kind, and takes the time to really listen to your concerns. It kind of makes them seem like the good guys. It’s just too bad the stuff they do is complete nonsense.

You see, whenever they try to develop a new medical treatment, a number of studies have to be performed to determine if the drug has any effects. Scientists use the double blind test in order to avoid interfering with their own results. In the scientific world, the double blind test is the gold standard of reliability, and it actually works.

Alternative therapies are alternative specifically because they are incapable of even passing the most basic double blind test. Study after study has revealed there is no discernible effect from these therapies apart from the placebo effect. It’s why things like acupuncture, homeopathy, Reiki and others have not become ‘traditional medicine’. In science, we keep what works and discard what doesn’t.

Of course, there are still plenty of people who rely on these therapies to make a living. That’s why they must be ecstatic a number of US Senators are pushing to have these alternative therapies included in health plans. Heading this unthinking mob is Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who thinks it’s high time the ‘discrimination against alternative healthcare practices’ ends. If he has his way, anyone licensed by the state to practice their ‘therapies’ could be fully included in people’s health care plans. If this goes through, it’ll be a good day for flim-flam.

Let’s stop thinking that the word ‘discriminate’ is a bad thing. To discriminate is simply to ‘to recognize the difference between; distinguish‘. Modern science has determined that alternative medicines have no basis in reality. Worst still, they continue to erode people’s confidence in modern medicine. Every year, poorly informed individuals choose alternative treatments for serious medical conditions, with the results often being dangerous or sometimes fatal.

If you want your stupid alternative treatment to be mainstream, all you have to do is prove it works using a double blind study. That’s it. If you can show that your medicine works, then it’s no longer alternative. See how simple that is?

Madonna still the queen of controversy

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Back before the atheist movement was picking up steam, and way before anyone in the mainstream even dared to denounce their belief in God, one paragon of controversy was always making the religious right flip out. You might think pissing off Catholics is no big deal, but in the 80s Madonna was all about that shit. I still remember her video for Like a Prayer, which featured all kinds of delicious blasphemy, including her having stigmata, singing with burning crosses in the background, and having sex with a black Jesus (who was actually Saint Martin de Porres).

Yeah, you had to give her credit back then for really getting under the Catholic’s skin. But those days are gone, right? Well, not really. It turns out her name still annoys the shit out of them, and it doesn’t help things when she planned her Warsaw concert on the real holy day for the ‘actual’ Madonna, called the Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Mary.

As for the rest of the controversy Madonna still manages to stir up, it’s your standard fanfare of provocative and fleshy outfits, something I cared about a lot more when she was in her prime (she’s 50 now, and it’s starting to get creepy now). Still, the cherry on top of all of this is the fact that her latest boy toy, a 22 year old Brazilian model, is named Jesús. You can guess what kind of buzz that generated!

Don’t ever change, Madonna.

Faith-healing couple acquitted

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Well, it looks like we’ve just lost some ground in the whole ‘faith-healing’ debate. Remember the Worthingtons? Their 15 month old baby died because they refused to bring her to a doctor when she developed pneumonia. Today, a jury has now found the couple not-guilty of manslaughter, although they did find them guilty of the lesser charge of criminal mistreatment, which carries a rather anemic maximum sentence of a year.

The jury was instructed to judge whether a ‘reasonable person’ would have asked for help, but they ultimately decided everyone has a different opinion of what ‘reasonable’ is, and that the Worthingtons acted reasonably within their own belief structure. It’s more of this relativistic bullshit that’s begun to infect our minds. We all know it’s unreasonable to think prayer alone can cure anybody (it’s why we have hospitals, folks). It’s also very unreasonable for parents to fail at their job of protecting their own child from death.

The real reason they got off is because the jury was afraid convicting the couple would intrude on people’s ability to practice their religion as they see fit. We’ve allowed two neglectful parents to walk simply because they ensconced themselves in the protective blanket of religion.

The Worthingtons aren’t done showing up in court, however. It turns out 4 months after little Ava died, her 16 year old uncle also croaked in their custody from an untreated urinary tract blockage. Clearly, these idiots need to be put behind bars before someone else fucking dies.

I wouldn’t have cared if either of these two morons had died of medical complications themselves. After all, I do still agree individuals should be free to do what they want with their own bodies. What I strongly disagree with is the idea that their beliefs should carry over to others. Their responsibility was towards the welfare of their child, one they were unable to perform because of their idiotic religious convictions.

I would hope that the next trial will finally see them brought to justice, but I doubt it. It seems juries are more swayed by religious freedom than they are by the preventable deaths of children.

Saudi Arabia sucks

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If you’re a feminist and care deeply for the plight of women, you need to take a look at Saudi Arabia and the painstakingly slow and awkward way they are modernizing. In the news today, a group of 26 women were given special training to allow them to sell lingerie.

The government isn’t too happy about allowing these women to work, but because only men are currently selling underwear, this impropriety takes precedence over the fact women aren’t allowed to do much else beyond stay home barefoot and ‘preggers’.

Personally I find Saudi Arabia to be the most backwards place in the world. Here is one of the wealthiest countries on earth, but because all of its money comes from oil, they have never been required to modernize like other industrialized nations. It’s almost as though an empire from the 12th century is still in existence, and has the financial power of a 21st century country.

You’ll recall this is the same dusty shithole where women aren’t allowed to leave their homes unless they are dressed in suffocating burqas, and are accompanied by a man (that they have to walk behind, of course). When will this world stop treating women like second class citizens?

Jimmy Carter makes the right move

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I’ve always liked Jimmy Carter. Maybe it’s his ‘Habitat for Humanity’ project which I find refreshing and practical. Maybe it’s his commitment to his own code of ethics. It could also be the fact he was one of the few presidents who actually thought weed should not be illegal. We may not agree on the subject of religion, but one thing is for sure: Jimmy is nobody’s bitch.

Recently, he’s left the Southern Baptist Church, an organization he’d been a part of for over 60 years. The reason? Well, old Jimmy here felt the rampant sexism and misogyny of the church was simply too much:

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

I hope this will encourage others to leave institutions which they find morally reprehensible. I don’t care how nice the individuals within the organization are; if they believe in things which run contrary to your own ethical code of conduct, it’s time to leave. Case closed.

Now, if we can all convince Jimmy this sexism is itself an integral part of Christianity (after all, the Baptists have plenty of Biblical passages to support their conclusions), maybe Jimmy and I can finally see eye to eye on the topic of God…

Abstinence teaching is insanity

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According to a report by the Center for Disease Control, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases rose during the Bush years, a direct consequence of their policy of ‘abstinence teaching’. Anyone who has seriously studied the issue of teen sex knows abstinence is about as effective as cold showers. And yet, I’m sure that as we speak, the religious right thinks the increase is actually proof MORE abstinence teaching is needed. This is the definition of insanity; doing the same thing and expecting different results.

What is sad about all this are the adults who were in charge of protecting American teens have utterly failed to do so. They were so busy trying to push their religious agenda that they perpetually refused to accept the reality of the situation: if you want to lower pregnancy and STI rates, you need to teach kids about sex. This is the same group of people who want to make abortions illegal. The irony here is if they simply gave young people better information on protection rather than rely on Biblical literalism, there would be fewer teen pregnancies, and therefore fewer abortions. It really is that simple.

More evil in the name of religion

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Remember the old saying that for people to do evil things, you need religion [note: ok, the quote is actually from Steven Weinberg and is “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.”, but I wanted to save the space! Sue me!]? Well, here’s another great example of why this is true. You’ll find our usual moral compass can often be hijacked when following the code of ethics of now extinct civilizations.

Case in point: It is against Iranian law to execute a girl if she is a virgin. That’s why any young woman facing execution in Iran are typically ‘married’ to the prison guards who are then instructed to rape them. This is how the Ayatollahs want things to be run, and because they have religious infallibility on their side, they get their way.

I won’t even get into the details of why these women are killed in the first place; it could be from accidentally killing her male attacker (this is a fairly popular one, as it seems these are not the types of women you want to be messing with), or being a political dissident. The disturbing thing here is the guard being interviewed in this article doesn’t even sound like he wanted to do this at all. In fact, if anything, he seems most disturbed by his actions. How could he not be?

I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their ‘wedding’ night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning. And they would always fight back, so we would have to put sleeping pills in their food. By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die.

“I remember hearing them cry and scream after [the rape] was over,” he said. “I will never forget how this one girl clawed at her own face and neck with her finger nails afterwards. She had deep scratches all over her.”

Instinctually, there are bound to be certain religious doctrines we find morally repulsive, but the unfortunate thing here is our cultural and religious traditions discourage us from abandoning these terrible and dehumanizing practices.

It’s not my law; it’s God’s!

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I think what upsets me the most about many Christians is their incessant need to remind non-believers we are going to burn in eternal fire for not subscribing to their religion. Personally, I find it a most repulsive idea, and the tragedy is most of these individuals are convinced that by reminding us our ‘souls’ are facing eternal torture, they are actually doing us a big favor.

The problem here is not their proselytizing; I actually don’t mind when people try to change my opinion about a subject. It allows me to ‘preach’ my atheism back to them, so at least there’s an implicit understanding there. My problem is how easily these people seem to gloss over the fact fundamentally, they have no moral objection to seeing me eternally tortured. They believe since the rulebook wasn’t written by them, it isn’t their responsibility as to what happens when non-believers die; that’s all God’s doing.

There are plenty of terrible examples of the kind of horror humans inflict on one another when they are simply ‘following orders’. The Millgram experiments in the 60s showed so long as human beings are told by a person of authority what to do, over half of the test subjects were willing to kill someone if ultimately the responsibility wasn’t theirs. It was a chilling reminder that even the nicest people can do evil things given the right circumstances.

My message to Christians is fairly straightforward; you shouldn’t accept the poisonous idea non-believers are condemned to hell. If your God really is all loving, there’s no reason to punish those who simply fail to accept his existence. Besides, there are so many religions out there the odds are stacked AGAINST anyone actually getting the right one, so it’s likely that we’d all end up in Hell anyways. What a terrible thing to think, is it not?

So, please stop trying to pass the buck and claim it isn’t your choice that I go to Hell. If you are a good person, how could you accept that your Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, or Jewish friend will be burning in brimstone and ash while you enjoy the comforts of paradise? Could you eat a great meal if you had to consume it in front of a bunch of starving African children? If you could, then shame on you.

Helen Ukpabio is a monster

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I’ve written many times on the issue of child witches in Africa. Every year, thousands of kids are abandoned, beaten or killed because their parents or family members suspect them of being witches. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that in Nigeria alone, over 930,000 children are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and often their remaining family members believe these children were responsible for their parents’ death.

One name keeps popping up I can no longer ignore: Helen Ukpabio. Helen has been producing movies capitalizing on the fear of witchcraft for some time. The Nigerian film board has repeatedly tried to censor her dangerous and violent rhetoric, but because of their corruption and general ineptitude, these videos are allowed to circulate to the surrounding populace, creating fear, violence and hatred as a result.

Helen has done quite well for herself fanning the flames of fear. She boasts over 50,000 members in her church, and the future seems bright for her. The proliferation of her movies and her massive church attendance has made Helen a rich and powerful woman in Nigeria. With her obsession with child witches growing, it’s difficult to imagine how this practice can be stopped.

If you want to know what the face of evil is, then look no further than this woman, who profits from the death and torture of little children. Nigeria is the most dangerous place to be a child, and it’s because of people like Ukpabio and her ilk. This is the true danger of superstition: it makes otherwise peaceful humans into fearful monsters who would murder their own children. Women like Helen Ukpabio are shielded from responsibility for their crime by a bubble of religious delusion. No doubt she must think WE are the ones who are monsters for allowing witches to run free. What a sad and ignorant world we live in.