At TGA, we pride ourselves on delivering you the important news of the day. That does not mean that we are immune from sensationalism, and the occasional juicy bit of gossip. It is with this in mind that I present to you the dramatic life of (now) former pastor Rickey Scott Sr. During one of his services at East St. Peter Baptist Church, his very pregnant mistress showed up, and started attacking the wife.
To make matters worse, when his infidelity was exposed, Rickey refused to step down from his position, claiming that they needed to bring this matter to court. His flock seemed none too pleased, and judging by the video, with people leaving while this idiot tries to quote obscure bylaws, they aren’t having it.
“I’m the pastor for the church and I ain’t done nothin’ to nobody”, he says throughout the video. Well, your pregnant side chick might disagree with you there, bud.
And Christians wonder why people are fleeing organized religion? The hypocrisy on display is the best panacea for religion I’ve ever seen. Hell, do I even need to expose religious wrongdoings when they do it so well themselves? Maybe it’s time for a long vacation!
It’s always refreshing to see first hand what priorities religious people have. Take for instance this Imam in Indonesia. During their ritualistic kneeling, the poor man suffered what appeared to be a heart attack. His flock seems not to care too much, and even continue to pray as he slumps over, obviously distressed. A few seem to notice, but they do nothing.
“In my mind, I was healed so my whole body was healed”
This coming from a man who was tricked into believing that his arthritic leg was healed, and he overexerted it to the point where it had to be amputated. Rather than understand the tragedy that had befallen him, this man doubled down on his belief. He thinks that his “spiritual” leg will be waiting for him in heaven. It this kind of stupidity and gullibility that can only occur with religion.
Lets not also forget about the boy with type 1 diabetes that was rushed to the emergency room. He had been “faith healed” in a similar way, and almost fell into a diabetic coma.
Have you ever wondered just how much money some of these religious organizations have? As a religious contrarian, my current patreon campaign makes about 30 dollars a month. The Mormon church has a little more: an investment fund of 100 billion dollars to be exact. That’s more than some small nations. And what do they do with this money? Why, find ways to make sure they never pay taxes, that’s what!
Luckily for them, they were only fined 5 million dollars for their pattern of financial obfuscation. Talk about worth it! The IRS is bound to do absolutely nothing about this. They are too scared of the bad optics. Keep in mind that the sole reason churches are granted their special tax status is the presumption that the money would be used for charitable purposes. What kind of good could be accomplished with this kind of money? Well, considering that it’s estimated that it would cost about 40 billion to eliminate world hunger, I think we can all comfortably say that there isn’t one church in the world that gives one shit about it. So long as the coffers grow, they are happy.
Here’s a great video demonstrating the kind of pathetic tactic the Discovery Institute uses to try and silence critics. Since they are incapable of actually defending their claims using logic, reasoning, or anything that isn’t the Bible, they have to try and use bogus DMC claims to shoot down videos that expose their pathetic arguments. I’m sure in their eyes, they’re doing all of this for Jesus, so lying, being deceitful and dishonest is OK so long as people stop believing in the “godless” science of evolution. Who needs intellectual integrity when you have God?
Shame on me for not reading my YouTube email account more often. A fan made this awesome video shortly after I began the campaign for the Bible Stories Indigogo pre-sale, and I’ve just now discovered it. Now, I don’t know if I like it simply because I’m in it, but does that really matter? Thanks for the shout out, dazzletag, and my apologies for not posting this up sooner!
If you’re a long-time fan, some of you may recall that Ryan and I used to run a Mixed Martial Arts themed blog called “Fightlinker” back in the day. Our podcast “The Low Blow” had a small but highly dedicated following (in fact, we still get the occasional email years later asking us to do more shows). So, needless to say, MMA was a big part of our lives for a while.
The sport seems to attract an unusually large amount of Christians. That’s not really surprising: the sport tends to attract wrestlers and other athletes that tend to come from relatively poor rural areas. There’s a huge contingent of religionists in the sport, and now they are getting very ambitious. A new movie has just come out called “Fight Church”, and it’s making the rounds at various film festivals. It’s your standard bullshit Christian narrative: life is a battleground, so let’s punch people in the face for Jesus.
The movie has some big names: Jon “Bones” Jones and Benson Henderson are in it (two major champions of the sport), saying the usual tropes like “I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for Jesus”, or “Jesus didn’t tap!” (no, but I think we can all agree that he was TKO’d).
The highlight of the video is when the fighting preacher is pressuring his son into fighting. You can tell from his eyes that he does not want to be there. Hey kid, Jesus wouldn’t have been scared: he would have stood there and taken that beating like a man!
During a scheduled debate between Lawrence Krauss and Muslim apologist Hamza Andreas Tzortzis (he’s the clown I spanked a few days ago over his supposed arguments for God), a fundamentalist group called the “Islamic Education and Research Academy” forced the students to segregate themselves according to their sex. A few students, who had decided not to observe this ridiculous custom, were being ejected for failing to comply with the misogynistic seating arrangements. Single women were being forced to sit in the back (so as not to tempt men who apparently lack any form of self control), despite previous assurances from the organizers that this would not occur.
After his courageous walkout, students were again allowed to sit wherever they wanted, and apart from this disruption, it seems as though the debate went smoothly (despite some objections from culturally backward assholes, that is). Thanks Dr. Krauss for standing up for what you believe in!
An important story about a real american atheist hero, Vashti McCollum, without whom the separation of church and state would not be what it is today. The word brave is often overused, but I can’t imagine a better use of the word when referring to this woman and her family.
This is a MUST SEE for every visitor of the site. No foolin’!
Here’s a video of Benedict XVI’s appointment, except the audio has been replaced with a bunch of hilarious nonsense; something all of these clowns in ridiculous outfits should be well versed in. Just look at all the ridiculous wealth on display here. Kind makes you want to vomit in your mouth a little, doesn’t it?
Here’s an old presentation from Neil some of you may not have seen yet. In the talk, Neil discusses the history of Intelligent Design, and why it still persists in society. While I’ve always liked Neil, and I’m fascinated by his idea that we should carefully study why some scientists are religious, I think at the end of the day, the answer will be quite dull and not very informative: mainly that when you’re convinced from a young age God is real, it’s not easy to let the idea go.
As for the rest of his treatise – that scientific revolutions are stopped dead in their tracks whenever religion comes around – it makes me wonder why he hasn’t taken a stronger stance AGAINST religion. He’s repeatedly refused to identify himself as an atheist, without realizing that coming out of the ‘closet’ would have strong reverberations in the intellectual scene in the country. It’s a shame, especially when he seems to understand just how dangerous religions are to science.
This video, hilariously titled “Dan Barker gets OWNED by Muslim Hamza Tzortzis”, showcases perfectly the kind of pathetic, nonsense arguments you get into when talking to these apologists. Tellingly, the video does not offer a chance for Barker to reply, so I thought I might do him that solid. Let’s take a look at his argument, shall we?
Asinine Assumption #1: We know God exists, so arguments for God isn’t “God in the Gaps”
Buying into a belief system doesn’t make it true. For something to be “proven”, it needs to pass a number of rigorous tests. The first, and most important, is falsifiability: the ability for an idea to be disproved. This is perhaps the most difficult concept for god-pimps like Hamza to understand. In their limited world view, they simply accept, with no real evidence, that their all powerful creator simply exists and his very nature defies all attempts to categorize him. Such a conceit must be rejected immediately without effort: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and a book inspired by an illiterate child rapist fails to impress.
Asinine Assumption #2: The specific wording of your God matters
When this guy starts blabbing on about how the word ‘the’ in ‘the merciful’ must inherently mean that God is superior to human beings, I just have to shake my head in profound disbelief at the childish nature of this kind of thinking. What the fuck does that prove?
Asinine Assumption #3: Islam invites differences of opinions, considers these a ‘mercy’
Either he’s deliberately being deceitful, or he’s decided to ignore the fact that Islam is still fighting its own theology with other variations of the faith. There has been very little ‘mercy’ in the way Sunni treat Shia, or Shia treat Sunni. And let’s not forget the efforts of the Taliban to destroy the cultural heritages of other faiths. Clearly, he’s in the minority opinion that his religion invites diversity.
Asinine Assumption #4: The Qur’an is a scientific book
This is a common trope of all religions: they claim their obscurist, vague book describes in detail real scientific phenomenon that would have been impossible for desert people to know. For instance, did you know that
1. Humans were created out of a clot of blood.
2. The Sun revolves around the Earth.
3. The Moon is further away than the stars.
4. Your sperm is produced in your spine.
5. Bees eat fruit, not pollen!
6. Birds fly because god wills it.
7. Mohammad flew into the heavens on a winged horse called Buraq.
8. Fresh water and salt water cannot mix.
Need I go on?
Asinine Assumption #5: We believe things based on testimony
If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s the fact that human beings are the worst, least trustworthy witnesses around. Not only is memory a total wash: it’s notorious for fabricating things. In science, we actually plan for the human element, doing our best to take ourselves as much out of the equation as possible. The idea that knowledge is based on testimony is a religious idea, not a modern one.
Asinine Assumption #6: Islam has no problem with non-believers or apostates
The classic mistake most of these religious apologists make is that they assume their liberal interpretation of their religion is shared by others. That’s simply untrue. The fact remains the vast majority of Muslims do believe non-believers are doomed to hell, and apostasy is a crime punishable by death. Several Muslim countries have these laws in the books, and only international pressure has allowed the stay of executions for unlucky individuals who dare question the ‘truth’ of Islam.
Sorry, I’m a little confused now…who exactly got OWNED here?
If there’s one thing that seems fairly universal, it’s the fact that going into outer-space changes you forever. Just listen to the testimonials of all these astronauts and tell me that the humbling experience of hovering over the Earth isn’t a life altering experience. Seriously, I think every human being should be given the chance to feel as infinitely small as possible, if only to grasp the true scope of the Universe.
I have an admiration for train wrecks, and I can’t imagine a greater tragedy than this rap video tastefully titled “Jesus is my Nigga”. It’s appropriately sung by a bunch of out-of-touch white dudes with very limited musical skills. Luckily, the whole thing is such a complete mess that it winds up being entertaining in the end. Still, I want to know: was there not some moment where a young person took these grandpas to the side and told them how insanely bad this idea was? Did everyone hope this would lead people towards their sadistic death cult or something?
What do you get when you combine shitty inspirational synth music with a bigoted, ignorant Christian teenage girl? You get the ironically titled “Rated T for Tolerance”, a strange Orwellian name that belies their own contorted views of reality.
Now some of you might think that this video falls under “Poe’s Law”, but as I’ve said in the past, when it’s impossible to tell the difference, what does it matter? She’s representing the views of millions of assholes, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s in their ranks.
