Archbishop tells people “Don’t turn to God for help”

Posted on by

I understand the reasoning behind the Archbishop of Canterbury warning that humans are the ones who need to clean up the environment. It’s logical, and I certainly won’t argue with the logic. What I will argue with, however, is that Christians fundamentally believe the world going to shit is actually a good thing, since it means their Lord will come back, send all the good people to heaven, and fix everything on Earth eventually.

Revelations is one of the main attractions of Christianity. It’s the promised land; it’s the false hope they’ve been selling to ignorant and desperate people for two thousand years. It wasn’t supposed to last this long. Jesus told his apostles he would be back in their lifetime, but after being 20 centuries late, there are still rubes who think he will return before they die.

Half of the voting population of the US believes the Rapture will occur within their lifetime. I’m sure the hard core Christians in England feel the same. How can any of these people be motivated to do anything towards conservation? These are the same guys who think God put all the animals on the earth for us to eat and dominate. It’s not exactly a very environmentally enlightened position.

I appreciate what this guy is trying to do, but it’s going to fall on a lot of deaf ears. You’ve been telling these sheep that God is all good, all powerful and loves mankind, and in the same breath say he won’t lift a finger to help you. No one’s going to believe you. Funny, huh?

**NOTE** Thanks Courtney for pointing out they are Christians, not Catholics (I’m too used to shitting on the Catholics to notice them creeping into my writing).

26 percent of Turks support honor killings

Posted on by

I always knew that a portion of Muslims in the world endorse honor killings, but I never realized until today just how big that number is. A new survey in Turkey shows just how chilling the response is, and how incompatible this cultural attitude is to modern societal values. 26 percent of adults and teenagers are in full support of honor killings. That’s a full quarter of their population.

I find it surprising there was almost no difference between the opinions of the older generation compared to the younger one. It’s a testament to the power religion has in this country, where something as frightening and deplorable as murdering your own daughter is considered a necessity.

According to the population, it’s the media that is mostly responsible for making this practice acceptable. I don’t speak Turkish, so I can’t accurately judge what kind of media coverage they have, but I get the feeling the blame isn’t being put on the right institution. At the end of the day, it’s the mosques and mullahs who have the real power, and I have serious doubts any of them publicly speak out against honor killings. It is, after all, a tradition to murder disobedient female children in this religion. Reformed this barbaric practice, it has not.

Prayer not part of emergency procedure

Posted on by

The last thing you want to hear on a plane that has a fuel gauge malfunction is the pilot praying out loud. It’s a clear sign the guy has lost his marbles. Turns out the pilot and copilot of a ATR turbo-prob aircraft which crashed at sea just off Sicily will have plenty of time to pray in jail, as both have been sentenced to 10 years for failing to follow emergency procedures.

Let this be a lesson to all you pilots out there: you have been trained not to freak out and start loudly praying to God while piloting a delicate aircraft. Otherwise, the only prayer you’ll be saying is the “please God, don’t let this guy rape me in the shower”.

Hitchens not amused at circumcision

Posted on by

Here’s a discussion where a group of theologians (with Hitchens there to provide the atheist perspective) are trying to answer the question: why do bad things happen to good people? Hitchens has a very simple explanation: “religion compels people to do wicked and unforgivable things”.

The best part of the video is the argument between him and Rabbi Harold Kushner about circumcision. Hitchens tries to use it as an example of people doing terrible things out of dogmatic faith, and it’s interesting to watch the quiet outrage of his Jewish adversary who wants to convince him the practice of cutting off the foreskin of an infant without the use of anesthesia is somehow a wonderful and beneficial practice. There are lots of misguided people who think the aesthetic of the penis is somehow augmented by it, but in truth it is a highly irresponsible and dangerous mutilation that puts the lives of babies at risk, and causes a tremendous amount of suffering on their part.

There’s this ridiculous notion the babies in question don’t feel any pain, but that’s usually because they are actually in shock, and are unable to cry. Now, before some of you get your panties in a twist and try to tell me it’s also a health issue (and the evidence is pretty weak on that front), consider the fact the cutting off of the tip of the penis is not a decision left up to the person being mutilated.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 045

his week, Ryan and I discuss recent news that the Texas Board of Education is voting on adding ID to its curriculum, and also explain some of our thoughts on why the ailing economy hasn’t changed religiosity in the US!

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 045
Loading
/

Another senseless honor killing in Jordan

Posted on by

Every time I hear about a girl getting killed by her own family, it sends a chill down my spine. It seems inconceivable that anyone would put their loved ones in danger, and even more so that they would be their killers. Such is the reality of conservative Muslims in Jordan, where an average of 20 women a year are slain in ‘honor killings’. This week, it’s a 19 year old girl who was beaten to death by her father and brothers for simply talking to a stranger.

There’s a long tradition of honor killings that, unsurprisingly, date back to the Bronze Age. In powerful, patriarchal societies, the reputation of a family was its most valuable asset, and anyone who would threaten it was summarily executed. It’s now used as a way of threatening women into subservience. Each death is a cruel reminder there are some parts of the world that reject the idea of human rights.

The father and his sons are facing prosecution, but it isn’t for the reason you might think. The problem was there was no infidelity going on, but if it was, this law would have set them free:

he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty.”

Is your stomach turning yet?

Vatican insiders still frustrated by Pope

Posted on by

I often say the Catholic Church is dangerously out of touch with reality. How could they not be; here is an institution that still clings to most of its doctrinal roots dating back fourteen centuries. They are now stuck with one of the worst Popes in recent history, who seems so isolated from reality he can’t even be bothered to notice what everyone is saying about him.

The biggest threat they face are the mounting deaths in Africa due to AIDS. The Papacy’s stance on condoms hasn’t changed since they were first invented; they believe contraception is wrong and condoms encourage promiscuity. Obviously, these guys never used condoms in their lives. Anyone who has put a rubber sheath on their penis will tell you it’s not generally a pleasant experience. It is one, however, that keeps you alive.

No one in the Vatican knows what to do about Ratzinger, who thanks to modern medicine, will probably live for another decade. Already 4 years in, he is regularly engaged in some kind of controversy. One day it’s forgiving a Holocaust denier, the next it’s making inflammatory remarks about Islam. Still, they voted him in knowing full well he used to be a Nazi youth. It also doesn’t help that he needed to be immunized by President Bush from prosecution in the US following the hundreds of child molestation charges for Catholic priests in the US. Ratzinger was in charge of the committee that was supposed to monitor it, and his solution was simply to bury the evidence, convince the families to shut up, and then to transfer the molesters to other towns where they offended again.

That’s your new Pope, folks. Still think the Church knows what it’s doing?

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 044

This week we talk about a Pastor exposed as a fake atheist troll, atheism in Canada, and we also talk about that awful Josef Fritzl case.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 044
Loading
/

Does it take faith to be an atheist?

Posted on by

I can’t tell you how many times I’m ‘accused’ by a person of faith that my label of atheism somehow implies I must have faith in the idea to the same degree they do. I want to try and clear the air here, and explain why my belief in the non-existence of God is not a position of faith, but is simply the most rational interpretation of the available evidence.

Historically, I can admit atheism is fairly new to the scene. Most human beings who have ever lived have believed in a variety of gods that manifest their presence in the world around us. It’s why many cultures anthropomorphize just about everything they came in contact with. The Greeks had all kinds of stories that tied mythical creatures with every day phenomena. Even in that day and age, however, there were those who preferred natural explanations rather than supernatural ones. One such man, Eratosthenes, calculated the circumference of the Earth by observing shadows were of different lengths in different cities at the same time of day. From that simple observation he realized the earth was round, and his calculation remained the most accurate for another 2000 years.

My belief in the circumference of the Earth is not faith, since I can verify his findings myself quite easily. History has proved his method to be sound. Eratosthenes refused to be satisfied with the facile explanations of religion and set off to discover its secrets using his deductive powers. This is something that occurs naturally through the scientific method. We observe, try and make predictions, and test them to measure their accuracy. Each new discovery adds to our collective understanding of the universe, which has only improved since the Renaissance.

Science is not about faith, since unreasoning belief is the precise opposite of its fundamental principle; everything must be challenged, proven, and measured. A religious person has faith there is a God simply because he is told there is one. He may think the Bible text offers some proof as to his existence, but even these tomes offer nothing in the way of evidence. To the contrary; they often strongly conflict with our modern understanding of the natural world. Jonah living in a fish for 3 days, Joshua stopping the sun to extend an important battle, or Jesus raising the dead are all phenomena we know to be impossible. There is no reason to believe these stories are true, but the faithful see it as proof of the supernatural powers of their deity.

It’s not something I have to trust, since the information itself comes from a highly dubious source. There are no other references to these events anywhere in recorded history. Why would there be? You would be as likely to find evidence of Christian myths as you would ancient Greek ones. They are all simply stories meant to be interpreted as moral homilies. Nothing more.

I don’t believe in God because there is no compelling reason. Although it is true there are many things we have not discovered, believing in something because of a lack of evidence is not a rational position to have. Like every human being, there are certain things I have come to believe without fully studying the question myself. I know the pyramids exist, but I trust the information because I have multiple sources which confirm their authenticity. If I was ever to doubt these myself, I have the opportunity to find out. Science is the same: if you want to know why the sky is blue, you can find it out for yourself. No need to just trust that it’s true.

Faith is a type of trust, but for religious individuals, they place that trust in the hands of individuals who have highly sophisticated interpretations of mythology, not reality. These ‘experts’ are still trying to answer the question of whether or not God can make a rock so large even he can’t lift it. Rocket science, this ain’t.

This is why I find the label so insulting. I refuse to be put in the same mold as they are specifically because the information I trust is more than plucked from the imagination of some theologian’s head. I trust in science because it’s a trustworthy method of uncovering facts about the world around you. More importantly, I recognize our understanding of the natural world continues to improve, and yesterday’s discovery may be different from that of tomorrow. The picture of the universe is still incomplete, but what a picture it is!

If you wonder whether or not it takes faith to be an atheist, ask yourself if it takes faith to turn on the heating in your home, or to take antibiotics. If you can provide strong evidence proving the existence of your god beyond the pathetic examples you already have, then I’ll change my mind . Until then, I’ll stick with atheism. It’s just more sensible.

Canadian Science Minister fail

Posted on by

As some of you may have heard, the Canadian Science Minister, Gary Goodyear, is an idiot. I mean this of course in the most literal sense. He was asked a few days ago whether or not he believed in evolution. At first, he refused to answer the question, but after being pressured by the PM’s office, he came back with “of course I believe in evolution”. Well, here’s what his interpretation of it is:

I do believe that just because you can’t see it under a microscope doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It could mean we don’t have a powerful enough microscope yet. So I’m not fussy on this business that we already know everything. … I think we need to recognize that we don’t know…

We are evolving every year, every decade. That’s a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment.

Mr. Goodyear seems to be under the impression human beings are physically adapting to their environment in some crazy Lamarckian way. It’s like thinking in cold weather, you’ll grow long and luxurious fur to stay alive and pass it on to your offspring. It’s not how evolution works at all. Also, I have no idea how he thinks we observe it, but the power of your microscope doesn’t give you a better idea of what is going on. Might as well have said “I don’t know how many beakers you need to do science, but hopefully we have enough”.

This is why I hate when conservatives get in power. They put retarded sycophants in charge of science departments who have no understanding and appreciation of science beyond the types of technology it can produce. You can also see what a liar this man is, as he obviously does not believe in evolution, but considers his position far too luxurious to leave. He’ll lie through his teeth, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe him.

Someone of his extremely limited intelligence doesn’t belong in such an important position. He needs to be fired immediately. He was asked an important question about science, and he couldn’t even get it right. In my opinion, that should be reason enough to lose it.

Pope thinks condoms will make AIDS epidemic worse

Posted on by

In the Western world, we are mostly isolated from the deadly effect of the AIDS virus. Those who have it usually don’t make much publicity for themselves, and some hide it completely. In Africa, however, the disease is a plague that is slowly killing off their population. It makes orphans of children who then starve to death; it cripples food production as farmers are too sick to properly harvest the land.

From his ivory tower, the Pope has continued to push his ‘no condoms’ agenda in Africa. He dares to call it an epidemic, but refuses to allow his Catholic followers to use condoms as a way of preventing millions of deaths on the false idea that his beloved God hates it when sperm is wasted. In case you were unaware of just why Catholics hate contraception, it’s mainly due to the Sin of Onan:

Onan was the son of Judah, and when his brother Er was killed by God (who smote him down because he was “wicked”, although there’s zero mention of his crimes), his father asked him to have sex with Er’s widow, Tamar. Well, Onan, like any healthy male, accepted, but before ejaculating he pulled out and spilled his man-seed on the ground. For that, God killed him, and the story now serves as the strongest evidence that God hates contraception.

Er and Onan are the only two guys that God kills directly without using intermediaries. It’s why Catholics take the story so fucking seriously. So, the epidemic, which could be controlled with the simple use of a rubber sheath over a man’s penis is rejected due to a crappy myth. That’s religion for you.

I’ve already talked about how corrupt and evil the Catholic Church is. All they seem to want to do recently is prove me right.

NHS tries to deal with female circumcision

Posted on by

Human beings are capable of some gruesome acts, and one of the more disturbing practices that is still commonly done is ‘female circumcision’. In case you’ve never heard of it, it’s basically the mutilation of the vagina in an effort to permanently scar a woman’s genitalia in order to prevent her from having any sexual desires.

There are some cultures that cut off the clitoris thinking it grows into a gigantic tail (read the book Infidel if you really want the gruesome details of how it feels). Most of these procedures are done without anesthesia, antiseptic and even without proper tools. Sometimes just a sharp miscellaneous object is used.

It’s a huge problem in Britain too, where they estimate over 500 young women get circumcised every year. Add that to the already 66,000 previously circumcised women who live in Britain, and you have a health crisis on your hands. It’s why the National Health Service has offered free operations to reverse the damage.

It’s part of a new campaign to help these women, since no one has ever been prosecuted for the procedure, which is illegal in the UK. The truth is the African communities are tight lipped about the practice, and as such, it would appear the battle to curb female circumcision is not going well. It’s why I fully support what they are doing, and hope that my own country offers the same. This is a seriously disturbed practice, and it must be stopped. Young women go their entire lives with painful scar tissue which makes sex not only unpleasant, but excruciatingly painful as well. When will we stop treating women so poorly around the world?

eHarmony has an agenda

Posted on by

I used to be a huge online dater. Let’s just say it was insane enough that in the span of 2 years, I went on over 150 dates. So when I say I’m an online dating expert, I’m not joking.

I tried out every major dating site, but the one I purposely avoided was eHarmony. I generally found their philosophy of being able to ‘pair’ people up was deeply flawed, and at the heart of it, they have extremely conservative attitudes about relationships in general. They were sued a few months ago for actively discriminating against homosexuals, and were hilariously forced to provide that service. Why any self respecting gay man would try and use eHarmony is beyond me, but I digress.

The latest bullshit coming out of that website is an article about why people cheat. Apparently, if you aren’t religious you lack the morality not to cheat on your partner. That’s according to ‘Dr. Gian Gonzaga’, who like all eHarmony employees toes the religious line. I personally find it unsurprising that the good doctor provides absolutely no references, and includes the ubiquitous phrase ‘studies have shown’. Yeah, I’m sure they did, Doc. Forget the fact divorce rates are actually lower for atheists and agnostics; these guys think religion is some kind of marriage panacea. It isn’t. Get over it.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 043

Welcome back TGA fans. This week, we talk about prohibition’s latest victim, Derek Copp, as well as discuss the declining influence of the religious right in today’s economic crisis.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 043
Loading
/

On the controversy of atheism

Posted on by

In my own life, I have always sought out issues that are controversial. It’s no secret I’m a highly opinionated individual; I’ve chosen to take a stand on issues I consider to be of fundamental importance. I know there are many out there, even some of my fans, who consider the issue of a person’s religion to be a private affair. One fan accused me of being insensitive by ‘outing’ my sister on my radio show, believing her marriage was now in trouble for me doing so (it isn’t, so everyone can relax).

It’s reminded me that there are many who feel the issue of a person’s belief should remain entirely private, specifically because of the turmoil it can cause. This, in my opinion, is exactly WHY it cannot remain only personal. Religion does not exist in a bubble. It infects every part of a person’s life. It makes them hate gays, distrust evolution, demand stem cell research be halted, and worst of all, tries to infect the minds of other human beings. If religion were a drug, the warning label would read as follows:

WARNING: when ingested, religion may cause feelings of euphoria, delusion, hallucinations, irritability, intolerance, violent behavior, inflexibility, oppression, irrationality, and will impair your ability to formulate logical thought.

It’s important to try and look at the bigger picture when considering what it means to actually be an atheist. I’m aware most people would love nothing more than the opportunity to be left alone about this issue, but in truth this is impossible so long as religion still plays a role in dictating the lives of other human beings who in turn affect our lives. Perhaps some of you who are non-believers have taken a passive attitude towards the whole affair. But religion is a slow poison infecting everything it touches, and passivity is not the way to fight it.

Atheism is controversial, and I can see why so many people are covert about it. I find this to be a shame; if you don’t believe in the afterlife, than why spend your only life living in fear and hiding your true feelings and beliefs from others, merely for the convenience? Perhaps some of you think admitting your godlessness would only create a rift in your relationship with your family and loved ones. But ask yourself this question: who would be the one creating that rift? What does that tell you about the danger or religion?

There are places in the world where atheism is a death sentence. I think about this every time I talk about it. As I contribute to the dialog about living life without God, I feel in some way I am helping pave the way for others to ‘come out godless‘ and to finally have the chance to talk about their non-belief. I cannot sit idly by and watch religion destroy the lives of those who chose not to buy into the hype. I hope that as these issues grow in visibility and importance, more people will feel compelled to take part in that dialog rather than retreat to the safety of having no opinion on the subject.

Tweet