It’s interesting to see how these kids talk, how they move, and how they express themselves. You get the immediate feeling they are very good imitators and mimickers, saying things without really understanding what they mean. Marjoe is the best example of this, and if you ever want to study the effect it has on children, he’s probably the best resource there is (he made an Oscar winning documentary in the 70′s about it called simply “Marjoe”).
Vatican: abortion is worst than raping kids
It was inevitable the Vatican would say something both offensive and wrong in regards to the debacle in Ireland over the Ryan report, which chronicled decades of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and nuns. Cardinal Antonio Canizares recently said abortion is worst than child abuse. Here is his direct quote:
What happened in some schools cannot be compared with the millions of lives that have been destroyed by abortion. It (abortion) has legally destroyed 40 million human lives.
This is the typical response you can expect from an institution which systematically covered up centuries of abuse by the Catholic church. It is only in the past few decades that we have been able to demonstrate the extend of their evil, but the Catholic Church has known for a long time pedophiles make up a significant percentage of their employees. There is such a strong culture of abuse that I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow felt it was a mere inconvenience rather than an actual problem. Father Bad-touch apparently isn’t the bad guy; the real villain in the story wears a lab coat, folks!
In any case, if they feel abortions are so wrong, they might want to read up on miscarriages. Roughly 1/4 of early pregnancies result in a spontaneous abortion. This makes God the biggest abortionist of all time. I don’t see many people in the church freaking out about all this baby killing, though. I can understand why the Catholic Church is so upset about abortions though. I mean, think about how many nubile young boys and girls aren’t being born? That’s 40 million kids they could have molested!
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 063
Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist Podcast! This week, Ryan and I do our best to lambaste the Catholic Church and their attempts to cover up the systematic abuse of children. We also amuse ourselves with the recent news of Wikipedia clamping down on Scientology.
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Creationist gets PWNED
I love how this guy simply exposes the Discovery Institute with good research and tight editing. The fact these clowns still try and convince everyone that they are “scientific” is insulting, and intellectually dishonest.
Compelling reasons for abandoning Christianity
I never believed in God, nor was I really taught any of the nonsense of the Bible, or any other religious text for that matter. I am ill equipped, therefore, to fully comprehend how difficult it must be to abandon beliefs that were once deeply cherished. Here’s a great article detailing 20 very good reasons to abandon Christianity if you haven’t already done so. Here are a few highlights:
It is absolutely irrational to continue to believe archaic teaching with the amount of knowledge we’ve gained through science and technology. The Bible reads like a book of primitive folklore, not divinely inspired insight into our true reason for existence.
My main reason for not believing in Christianity is a lot simpler; why would God create such a gigantic universe, then populate an insignificant blue planet on the edges of an unremarkable galaxy only to perpetually torment them with floods, destructive ‘swords of the Lord’ and constant plagues? Are we some kind of stinkin’ ant farm or something? Not an impressive explanation as to the origins of the universe, guys.
Coming out of the closet not easy for Black atheists
I’ve read enough articles, editorials and op-ed pieces to realize, at least superficially, that being both and atheist and black is not an easy thing. African Americans have a long history of relying on the church for support. Abandoning religion often means abandoning the culture. As the secular movement gains momentum, however, more and more in the community are speaking out about this, especially in the light of so many black voters voting Proposition 8 in California.
Sikivu Hutchinson is an eloquent and passionate woman who cares about the truth. She’s written an article about how African American women who wish to abandon their beliefs are often stigmatized by others in the community. Women are seen as the protectors and purveyors of black culture, and religion is seen as an inextricable part of it.
Images of black women faithfully shuttling their children to church and socializing them into Christianity are a prominent part of mainstream black culture. If being black and being Christian are synonymous, then being black, female and religious (whatever the denomination) is practically compulsory. Black women with children who don’t fall in line, who raise their children as atheists, may find their race credentials revoked.
I have to wonder how many black men and women secretly reject religion for the sake of political convenience. It’s just another example of why ‘coming out’ as an atheist is still incredibly difficult for some, and even impossible for others. If you think it’s easy being an atheist, you obviously have never been part of a highly religious community.
No really, Islam is a religion of peace…
The Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan is in turmoil. Although there is a German military base there, 600 soldiers have to patrol and defend an area the size of Massachusetts. The Taliban has been gaining ground rapidly, threatening to kill school girls if they try to attend class. School administrators are powerless to do anything about it, and scared parents are capitulating to the treats.
If you recall, the Taliban takes a very literal approach to the Qur’an, which discourages the education of women. The region right now is a mess, and if this trend continues, it is only a matter of time before these guys take over again.
Afghanistan is a complete mess of a country. The place has never (and I mean never) had a stable government for more than 60 years since the 11th century. Because each province is almost a miniature country in itself, small yet organized religious/paramilitary forces can impose their will on the population with little resistance.
All of this violence and conflict is entirely based on religion. Softies like Karen Armstrong might try to tell you that at their core, all religions preach peace, compassion and tolerance, but the true purpose of religion is control; Islam means submission, not compassion. In this case, the ability to control the population of Kunduz with fear, intimidation, and murder. Wow, what a religion of peace, eh?
More efforts by Catholics to keep abuses secret
It’s not only Ireland that is battling the Catholic church and their long list of abuses against children. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Diocese is attempting to keep thousands of pages of court files, numerous lawsuits dating back to 2001, from being released to the public. They attempt to show they have actively been fighting to prevent further abuses, but their obvious need to protect the identities of known offenders only goes to show how protective of their members this organization is.
The whole affair feels surreal. Even the group representing some of the abused sent a letter I can only describe as insanely polite given the fact they are abusing kids:
So we ask that you put the safety of children, the healing of victims and the overall benefit of the church itself (particularly the trusting, generous parishioners) above the short term discomfort of church officials who fear having to face tough questions — in the news media, from parishioners or in open court — about how much they knew and how little they did about these horrific crimes
Discomfort? I know I keep asking this question of “why is no one in jail?”, and maybe some of you are annoyed by it, but nobody seems to be able to give me a straight answer. Imagine that instead of a Church committing these abuses, it was a day care center. Would people be sending carefully worded letters asking them politely to stop their attempts to cover up what happened? No, no, and no.
It looks like the Church won’t be able to keep a lid on it anyway, but I find it personally insulting and telling that the Catholic Church is opposed to justice. They simply have never felt child abuse is a big deal. Are we now supposed to believe that without them, society would simply fall apart? Yeah, not so much.
Joss Whedon talks about Atheism
Cool speech. I like how he calls for people to educate themselves. Although he admits it will not necessarily lead to secularism, it will at least make everyone think for themselves. Now if only he can clean up the mess that is his latest show, Dollhouse, then I’ll be a fan again. Man, that show sucks…
Nun gets away with murder
Let’s play a little game I like to call ‘would an atheist have the same treatment’. In this scenario, you’re driving down the road in your van and accidentally burn through a red light, smashing a small sedan. A young man, barely 16 years old is killed in the crash. In your day in court, however, no one is even allowed to mention the death of the kid, and during the trial you are allowed to wear prejudicial clothing that influences the jury (like a police uniform). Would you be allowed to get away with this if you were and atheist?
Well, this exact same scenario occurred with a nun in Geneva who ran a red light and killed a kid. The judge allowed her to wear her nun’s uniform, and the prosecution was not allowed to talk about the death of Keith Forbes for feat that it would negatively influence the jury. She wasn’t even charged in his death in the first place.
In the picture above you can see her smiling with 20 of her colleagues after her not-guilty verdict. They are undoubtedly happy the world still gives Christians special treatment. The prosecution had eye witness testimony from other drivers that the nun ran the red light, but because the defense had another nun testifying under oath (of God, her boss!), the jury was able to be swayed into believing an obvious lie.
So long as we give preferential treatments to individuals wearing black robes, we will continue to see these kinds of injustices. I mean, why are there still no priests in jail over in Ireland. You have 2,900 pages of reports of abuse! Arrest somebody, you spineless fucking cowards!
(this news article is now impossible to find online)
Scientology is in the news again
Scientology is in the news again, and that’s not usually a good sign. As we speak, the French, who have not recognized Scientology as a religion, are threatening to dissolve the organization due to its campaign of fraud.
The case in question revolves around a woman who was recruited by the church back in 1998. In the span of a few months, her bank account had been tapped by purchasing books, vitamins, and auditing sessions costing well over €20,000. Others have also joined in the lawsuit, citing similar experiences.
Depending on the judgment of the court, Scientology could lose the right to recruit new members, and its bookstore could be shut down. This has led to protest on the part of the Church. Their lawyer, Patrick Maisonneuve, had this to say:
The discovery of a pedophile priest does not allow us to question the entire Catholic Church
Actually Patrick, you make a good point. Fraud is a serious crime, but pedophilia is far worst, and Ireland hasn’t made Christianity illegal. It’s clearly a form of favoritism, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Patrick: life isn’t fair, and the Catholic church should be dissolved, but won’t be. In the meantime, we ask that you take your bullshit pyramid scheme somewhere else; presumably, on one of Xenu’s distant planets.
Below is a separate news report from MSNBC. It’s a pretty innocuous piece, and I’m not impressed they never mention the huge volume of ex-members whose lives and bank accounts have been ruined by the church’. Scientology is nothing more than a money making scheme designed to look like a religion. Their spokesperson / automaton, Tom Cruise, is a self deluded, undereducated cretin who thinks mental illness can be cured with vitamins. Truly, the man, and his organization, is a fucking menace.
Bush and his insane beliefs
Now that former President Bush is no longer in the White House, his ability to control public opinion has waned, and frightening new facts are being revealed that demonstrate the kind of fanatical, dangerous ideas George believed in. When trying to form his coalition shortly before the war, Bush spoke to French president Jacques Chirac, informing him the forces of Apocalypse were amassing in the Middle East. He said that:
“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”
The story has now been confirmed by Chirac, who was disturbed by Bush’s view. He wondered how anyone could have such a naïve and disturbing world view. This was the most powerful man in the world, literally believing Gog and Magog were gathering their armies in preparation of the Second Coming of Christ. It’s absolutely insane. Bush isn’t the only president to believe so strongly in God. Reagan had similar views, believing that within his presidency a mushroom cloud would engulf Israel. He was often noted as being giddy when thinking about the possibility of the Rapture.
The most important position in the world is being arbitrarily given to men of little intellect, who literally believe in the fairy tales of religion. In fact, the ability to become president is contingent on the fact the candidate must believe in Jesus, and all the baggage that belief comes with. Men of reason, moral fiber and free thought are not welcome here. Instead, they want candidates who believe the world will end in a fiery war that will consume all of mankind. How fucking insane is that?
More from bigot Cardinal O’Connor
f you don’t remember this jackass, he was the guy who said atheists were not ‘fully human’, and his tirade against the godless hasn’t slowed down. During his ‘retirement’ speech, O’Connor stated atheism was the greatest of evils, and atheism was responsible for war and destruction. Apparently, according to him, no wars have ever taken place between two religious neighbors.
This is in light of the recent controversy brought on by the Irish Child Abuse Commission that found rampant sexual, physical and emotional abuse going on at a Catholic run reform school. In his speech, the Cardinal also praised the members of the clergy that had the courage to face up to their past. The only problem being that not one individual was named in the report; in fact, the identities of even the deceased remain hidden. Yes, it must indeed be atheism is the root of all evil.
I normally don’t give a shit whenever some old fogie priest tries to bash atheism, but this guy has been on a bit of a tear recently. Why a man in a disgraced institution thinks he has the moral ground to criticize atheism is beyond me. He is literally defending child rapists while accusing non believers of being responsible for all the evil in the world. Seriously guy?
Butthole Jesus!
With Jesus apparently busy appearing in all sorts of foods and stained glass buildings, it was inevitable he would try and find new ways to impress us. Lo and behold, the King of Kings has outdone himself yet again, this time appearing on a dog’s anus. No, I’m not making this up as a way of disparaging Christianity. Angus, a terrier, was apparently engaged in his morning ritual in 2006 when his owners took a serious gander at his ass, only to find a striking resemblance to their savior: Jesus Christ.
They set up a website to help spread the word about this obviously blessed canine. Who wouldn’t want to have a holy image in their backside? I hate to seem crass and what have you, but before taking that picture, did they wipe him down or something? A dog’s star fish anus isn’t exactly the cleanest thing in the world, and taking a picture of it just has to feel awkward and weird. Can we all just go back to making fun of pancakes, cheese toast and old tree stumps? This dog anus thing is most unsettling…
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 062
This week, Ryan and I discuss the offensive words of Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor regarding atheists, the Ryan report, and we ask “How many more reports on abuse do Catholics need to hear before they jump off this bandwagon?”
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