After a long Summer break, TGA is back, baby! This episode, we have more drama coming out of America, the tragic death of a young woman in a forced marriage, and Iran trying to legalize child brides! It’s an episode you won’t want to miss.
If you have failed to take Evangelicals seriously, then you have made a deadly mistake, my friend. They may paint themselves as the bastion of morality, but in truth they are mindless thugs who place power above all else. It’s why when the Pacific Parkinson’s Research Institute conducted a recent study on Christian Nationalism, they found that the majority of Evangelicals either endorsed, or were sympathetic towards political violence.
It also is the typical rigmarole that you’re seen in the past: they believe that America is in danger of losing it’s identity if they aren’t in charge. They are essentially the American Taliban, and while their numbers may be dwindling, their power base has been gaining strength. That’s because an unholy alliance of Christians are forming. While it’s true that evangelicals had high levels of support for political violence, they weren’t the only ones. Other Protestants and Catholics had high levels of sympathy, though admittedly very few staunchly opposed.
The study goes into quite a bit of depth about the differences between the general public and white evangelicals. What is striking to me is that there is definitely a correlation with violence and Christian Nationalists:
Only 2% of Americans say they have pushed, grabbed, or shoved someone because of a disagreement in the past few years and say it was the right decision, while 5% did this but say it was the wrong decision. Three-quarters of Americans (75%) said they would never do this. Similarly, only 2% say they have hit, kicked, bit, or slapped someone and it was the right decision, and 3% did this but say it was the wrong decision. Eight in ten Americans (80%) say they would never do this. Christian nationalism adherents are nearly twice as likely as rejecters to say they have pushed, grabbed, or shoved someone (9% vs. 5%) or to say they have hit, kicked, bit, or slapped someone (9% vs. 4%) to resolve a disagreement.
That means you almost are twice as likely to be assaulted by a Christian Nationalist that the average American. It should tell you all you need to know about believers: they are thugs hiding behind the veneer of religious piety to exercise their control over others. It’s not enough for them to try and live the life they claim is dictated by God; they need to force the rest of us to do it too. As far as I’m concerned, it just proves what I’ve been saying all along: that these people are the most dangerous group in America today. They are the next generation of fascist, ready to impose their world view onto others, and fearful of the increasing plurality of belief in the world.
With the US election coming up, it’s hard to imagine that an election loss by Donald Trump would spell more violence and chaos in the country. Do you expect people like J.D. Vance or Trump to be the voice of reason in these moments, or will they foment their base in their quest for power?
No one ever wants to look like the bad guy. In Afghanistan, the Taliban rules, which means that women and young girls are living in a distopian hell, where they can’t even leave their house without a male family member having to escort them.
The Taliban’s deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said human rights were protected in Afghanistan and that nobody faces discrimination.
“Unfortunately, an attempt is being made to spread propaganda against Afghanistan through the mouths of several fugitive (Afghan) women and misrepresent the situation,” he said on social media platform X.
“It is absurd to accuse the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan of violating human rights and gender discrimination,” he added.
Yeah, it’s totally ridiculous! Sure, women are being stoned to death for adultery, but that’s in the Koran, so obviously it’s not abuse!
What I find interesting is the endless hypocrisy of religion. The Taliban loves to use the language of peace in their official responses to the media, but we know that behind closed doors, what they have to say is very different. Their contempt for women and girls has been on full display for a thousand years. We need not distrust our own instincts simply because their response to “are you abusing women?” amounts to: not according to this book written countless ages ago.
A mob in the city of Khulna in Bangladesh has attacked and possibly killed a young man over accusations that he “insulted the prophet”. The details are scant, but what we do know is that the man, previously reported as being 15, was barely alive when the army finally stepped in to break up the crowd, which had begun beating him severely.
Originally, he was declared as dead, but this was only done in order to disperse the blood thirsty crowd. They then took to announcing the “good news” on the loudspeakers of a nearby mosques, triumphantly celebrating his supposed demise.
So, the youth is alive. Surely it’s over, right?
The statement issued by ISPR states that after Utsab Mandal is released from hospital, he will be handed over to law enforcement agencies as he is booked in a blasphemy case. Referring to the attempt to lynch him by an Islamist mob, the statement said that the Bangladesh army is always committed to preventing extrajudicial killings and upholding the rule of law.
Of course! They are excellent defenders of their broken and disgusting laws. The only exception is whenever a mob just wants to let loose and have a little bit of medieval fun. They call it “hurting religious sentiments”. Is that not all you need to know about just how pathetic Islam is, when it needs to put to death anyone who dares to say something they don’t like? When will the world be rid of such evil?
The big orange turd is at it again. In an effort to further appeal to a base that has already made up its mind about him, Donald Trump has come out and said that if he is re-elected, he will create a “Christian Task Force” whose goal will be to tackle “anti-Christian bias”.
“[W]hen we win, I will stop the weaponization of our government against Christians,” Trump said during the call, per recordings posted to social media by the watchdog account PatriotTakes. “I’ll protect Christians in our schools, our government, our military, and our public square. And we’ll bring our country back together as one nation under God.”
You might recall that TGA reported on the fact that since 2008, the IRS has taken zero action against churches that break their rules concerning political activity in churches. What Trump really means by “weaponization” is akin to the fact that some organizations are not allowed to openly discriminate against minority groups they do not like. That would change with this little task force.
It reminds me of the morality police in Iran. This group stalks the streets, looking for any women not wearing a head scarf, ready to beat her mercilessly for not following their religious edicts. Basically, these immature and dangerous morons think that not being able to run the country without opposition is being a “second class citizen”
…the Left’s war on Christianity. […] Christians will be reduced to second-class citizens, and that’s what they want.”
Let’s keep it real for a sec. These groups are the same people trying to force the Bible in schools, banning books they don’t like, and trying to force women who have dangerous pregnancies to carry them to term, no matter the personal risk. Do you know what “leftists” want? To be left alone from this creepy blood cult that wants to control every aspect of people’s lives.
We’ve suspected this for a long time. The so called “Jerusalem syndrome” is a commonly known condition, where people with mental illness often believe that they are gods. The name comes from the fact that many of these people show up in the “holy land” ready to lead mankind into whatever crazy future they have in mind. They are quickly rounded up and placed in mental institutions.
It’s not just mental illness that can lead a person to religiosity. It can actually be the result of trauma to the brain. Specifically, a few sections that have notable influence on behavior. A new study has found a link that can predict the kind of fundamentalist you are:
Lesions associated with greater fundamentalism were connected to a specific brain network with nodes in the right orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and inferior parietal lobe…Lesions associated with confabulation and criminal behavior showed a similar connectivity pattern as lesions associated with greater fundamentalism. ..[L]esions associated with poststroke pain showed a similar connectivity pattern as lesions associated with lower fundamentalism.
Of course, there’s a dose of criminality mixed in as well. It doesn’t surprise me. Many of these people will happily murder anyone they dislike, sell drugs to funnel money to their organizations, and even kidnap people from other religious minorities to forcibly marry them. All of this is villainy of the highest order, but because it’s hiding under the cloak of religion, they can justify all of the evil thoughts they have in their head with the will of some higher power. It’s nothing more than the unleashed ego of maniacs, with brains that have stopped functioning properly.
It confirms many of the observations people have made about the sudden change in a person’s behavior. Just a few weeks ago I wrote about a redditor whose wife had a sudden a dramatic change in religiosity, much to his chagrined. A commenter remarked that it could be the result of an infection, which can have similar properties to brain legions.
IT all spells a pretty dark future for mankind. So long as working brain fail, and religious trash litters our culture, it doesn’t look like we’ll ever really lose the fundamentalist streak in us. Are we cursed to be messed up forever, or can we catch the signs of this type of behavior and nip it in the butt before it’s too late? So long as religious institutions exist with their unlimited funds and obedient slaves, I put my money on never.
A mother of four is facing a death sentence, after a judge in Pakistan convicted her of the ridiculous “crime” of blasphemy. The incident occurred after she was allegedly sharing content on WhatsApp that small minded and dangerous weirdos considered blasphemous, and this alone was enough to convict her of the harshest punishment a human can receive: a sentence of death.
TGA has previously reported of another incident in which a man was killed by a mob for similar reasons. It seems the country is on a roll, and has no plans on stopping anytime soon:
Nearly 3,000 persons have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan since 1987, according to the Center for Social Justice (CSJ). The actual scale of abuse of these laws may be three to four times higher, it noted in a report.
It stated that hundreds of accused were incarcerated last year in Pakistan, with 552 detained in prisons in Punjab Province alone. At least 350 persons remained behind bars as of June, according to the report, adding that 103 new persons had been accused of blasphemy this year between January and June.
The news source that published this, a christian rag called Morning Star News, makes it seems as though this problem is uniquely Christian. However, it must be noted that blasphemy accusations also occur among believers, as it is a convenient way to eliminate a rival or a hated neighbor. One needs only agitate the mob, and the rest is easy.
I find it disgusting that we are still killing each other for offending people’s imaginary friend. It is as though we’ve handed a gun to a child, and told him that he can shoot anyone that refuses to play his games. Then, to compound the irony, we are told by these same people that the world would descend into chaos if not for their sinister machinations. Utterly ridiculous.
If you live long enough in the catholic church, you’ll finally be revealed as the villain you are. Take for instance Father Abbe Pierre. Although he died a few years ago, he was so beloved that there had been talk of his sainthood. Those plans are in jeopardy now that a number of women have come forward with credible accusations of abuse.
“We are in a state of shock, very hurt and very angry,” said Christophe Robert, who heads the Abbé Pierre Foundation. “We extend our fullest support to all the victims who have had the courage to speak out.” .. More perplexing to many is growing evidence that colleagues in Emmaus – and in the Catholic Church – were aware of Abbé Pierre’s sexual behaviour, but failed to speak out.
This is “perplexing” to exactly no one familiar with the M.O. of this sinister organization. Need I remind the reader that it was only a few years ago that we learned of a secret memo from the head of the Inquisition (renamed “Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith”) Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, who specified that any priest caught talking with police would be excommunicated from the church.
So, even if someone had wanted to report that despicable behavior of this sex pervert, they would have risked their livelihood, their social circle, and their immortal soul. While I think it’s worth it if it saves anyone from being a future victim, this is not a sentiment held by a institution that claims to be the living avatar for an all powerful creator god…it just makes you want to burst out laughing saying such silly things, doesn’t it?
You have to laugh whenever a believer accuses others of trying to “brainwash” people. It’s not like they are generally opposed to the idea. They just don’t like that it’s not their special brand of crazy that’s being espoused. Hilariously enough, it seems as though even the right of the political spectrum considers Owens to be radioactive. It could have something to do with her raging anti-semitism, but who knows. It’s not like Christians were ever big fans of the Jews.
I am not a cultural relativist. It’s become a bit of a fashion for my friends on the hard left to adopt the idea that all cultures have some inherent value, and that to judge these cultures is to impose our own morality on others, which is another form of colonialism. I call bullshit on this idea. This isn’t to say that there hasn’t been abuse in this sphere, or that people in the West are not guilty of brutalizing the culture of others in order to make them fit into our societies. However, to ignore that there are still aspects of sheer barbarism that still exists in human cultures is simply wrong, and ignores the real suffering of oppressed people.
I propose that there should be a few criteria to judge whether or not a culture tradition is valid or not. The most obvious of these would be how a culture treats women. For thousands of years, the female of our species have been abused in countless societies. It’s a redress that we have yet to full implement here in the West. While things have vastly improved, women are still harassed and abused in our societies. The rates of domestic violence, rape and harassment only demonstrate the fact that as a society, we are still a work in progress.
But progress is not the same in every country. Take India as an example. The world’s largest democracy also happens to be it’s most volatile, with women being treated in much the same way as they were in Europe during the Dark Ages. In particular, single women are often the target of wild accusations of sorcery, usually born out of a desire to steal their land, and their lives.
Battles over land and property are common starts to witch hunts, says Soma Chaudhuri, a sociologist at Michigan State University who studies gender violence in India. Chaudhuri says witch hunts and beatings provide an outlet for men living in poverty to vent frustrations over their own lack of power.
The numbers are terrifying. From what Scientific American has gathered, thousands of women have been accused of witchcraft, being beaten, or even killed by mobs of ignorant and violent men intent on stealing their goods. It’s despicable, and an example of what happens when you hold women in such low regard. It’s wrong, and needs to be discussed without fear of being accused of “colonialism” for standing up for the rights of women.
Has there ever been an organization with less self awareness than the Catholic Church? For starters, it is the wealthiest organization in the world. In terms of real-estate holdings alone, they dwarf the British Royal Family in terms of sheer volume and size. St. Peter’s Basilica is estimated to be worth around 33 billion dollars, but this is merely from the cost of the materials. It does not factor the actual artistry, or the rarity in the skill needed to even try and replicate such a masterpiece. They also own over 5000 other churches and investment properties, and so no one really known the total actual worth of this sinister organization.
It’s why I’ve always found their call for charity to ring hallow. When their pontiff eats, he does so on gold plates, which is all you really need to know whenever this same jackass makes a visit to a poor country stressing the need to help the poor.
It’s not only poverty that these morons like to lecture about. Just the other day, this hypocrite visited New Guinea, where a significant portion of the population is Catholic. Ignoring the methodology in which this conversion happened (it was not a peaceful event, to say the least), the latest stupid comment made by the most overrated human on earth also included a call to end superstition that put women in harm’s way:
Francis urged the church leaders in Papua New Guinea to be particularly close to these people on the margins who had been wounded by “prejudice and superstition.” I think too of the marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives,” Francis said. He urged the church to be particularly close to such people on the peripheries, with “closeness, compassion and tenderness.”
Anyone unfamiliar with history will fail to understand the profound irony in that statement. Let’s not forget that it was the church that burned alive so many women due to accusation of witchcraft. Not only that, but in countries like Nigeria, the toxic mixture of local superstition, and the Bible’s own commandment to destroy witches, has caused the suffering of countless women and children. They bare the responsibility of having introduced these societies to their poison, and yet seem completely oblivious to the harm they cause.
The church would like you to also forget the misery they continue to perpetuate by misinforming people on the benefits of condom use. So, whenever you hear one of these sanctimonious assholes who love the smell of their own farts, you should politely tell them to fix the problems in their own house before going to other places to lecture them,
Now, if only the rest of the world would kindly catch up…
One of the greatest inventions of the 20th century was the condom. This little device, used correctly, has prevented the spread of STI, and other deadly infections. In countries ravaged by HIV, it is one of the only known methods to stop the spread of this deadly disease. Condoms can be mass produced, distributed for almost nothing, and they save lives.
Now, why would anyone oppose the use of this life saving device? If you’re the Catholic Church, it’s because of two passages in the Bible that you’ve decided to interpret rather generously. The first passage is from Genesis, when after genociding his own creation, God tells Moses to “be fruitful and multiply”. When there’s only a tiny family left from your murderous temper, that’s understandable. The other passage involves a man called Onan, who pulls out at the last minute rather than impregnate his recently widowed sister-in-law. God kills him for this act of contraception, and ever since then, Catholics are convinced that their chosen deity is totally against any form of birth control.
Since the very beginning of it’s creation, they have been busy convincing the world that condom use is wrong. Like all religions, they are willing to lie in order to achieve their goals; after all, it’s not a sin to lie if it’s for Jesus, remember? In 2002, over 64% of all premature deaths in the continent of Africa were caused by complications due to the HIV virus. Thankfully, that number has dropped, but there are still over 400,000 that die every year due to the disease. This reduction is transmission is directly attributable to the use of condoms, which again, the church is adamant is wrong.
In Paraguay, they are trying to teach the same nonsense in their “Sex Ed” class. The country has the highest rate of teen pregnancy, thanks to the Catholic church having tight control over education there. The country is trying to reform their education, but they’ve doubled down on the religious aspect:
The curriculum, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, promotes abstinence, explains sex as “God’s invention for married people,” warns about the inefficacy of condoms and says nothing of sexual orientation or identity.
Oh, and lets not forget how much they hate it when people touch themselves:
Masturbation, it says, causes “frustration and isolation.” Marital love lasts forever. Girls should beware of “how their way of dressing makes men behave.” Female puberty is “the body preparing to become a wife and mother.”
Marital love lasts forever? What planet are they from? One where abortion is illegal, and where divorce is nearly impossible, presumably. I feel bad for the people of Paraguay. They are still under the yoke of religion, which intends to make them more fearful and ignorant. That’s just how the Catholic Church like’s em!
I realize that I might be showing my age by using young people jargon, but you’ll need to forgive my excitement. You see, Polish youths are thoroughly rejecting religious education classes, and I couldn’t be happier.
In 2010, 93% of students attended religion classes, but by 2022, this figure had dropped to 54%, according to a survey by pollster CBOS and the Polish fact-checking portal Demagog.org.
It’s a kind of double-wammy for Polish Catholics. Not only are the youth refusing to take religious education, there’s actually a shortage of people teaching these classes too. Of course, since religious people lie through their teeth at every opportunity, the church denies that there is a shortage, despite the fact that the rest of the world is in the same boat. In an effort to still offer the classes, students from different grades are being combined, and this is pissing those poor Catholics:
The petitioners accuse the Ministry of Education of failing to consult with Church representatives as required by law when issuing the decree on religious education.
The education minister stated that consultations with the Church had taken place, some feedback was incorporated, and the claims of insufficient consultation were incorrect.
Are these organizations chronically allergic to the truth? I’d say it’s an overwhelming “yes”. In any case, given how quick the decline is, the church should be worried. While it might be a little early to declare victory, things are definitely looking up.
Alright, this one is a bit out there, but you’ll need to hear me out. I spend quite a bit of time on the atheism subreddit, and came across a rather interesting find. An anonymous older gentlemen had posted that his wife had a very sudden political transformation. She had gone from a liberal to quite the little Trump supporter, threatening her husband with her vote if he did not accompany her to church. Naturally, he was distressed at the drastic change in her behavior. The responses were unusual, but may hold a very interesting insight into the nature of the human mind.
It turns out there a number of other responders had similar experiences with their loved ones, and that in many of these cases, the reason for the change was because of an undiagnosed Urinary Track Infection. Amazingly, something as seemingly benign can have some profound effects on the human psyche. Here’s a sample from the Alzheimer Society
If the person has a sudden and unexplained change in their behaviour, such as increased confusion, agitation, or withdrawal, this may be because of a UTI.
Could this explain why people would suddenly become racist bigots that think that Donald Trump is the second coming of Christ? Could all of this be the result of bacterial infections? Man, nature sure is weird!
