You can always count on religious scumbags to exploit the poor and sick, especially in countries like Kenya where an estimated 2 million people have AIDS. Yeah, you heard right: 2 fucking million people are slowly dying as their bodies are incapable of fighting of even the simplest infections. And with all those desperate family members who love them, it’s doubtful there isn’t a Kenyan out there who wouldn’t give anything for even the chance to heal their loved ones.
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 146
Ryan is still in Tennessee, so until he gets back, we’re putting episode 100 on ice. This week, Jeff joins me to talk about a woman being executed for the crime of adultery, and why Christian video games are complete garbage.
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The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 145
This week, Jeff is back to help me talk about the ‘sin’ of homosexuality, the arrogance of Bible thumpers, and the annoyance of faith healing. It’s 45 minutes of bonus show goodness.
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Christians are scary
If you don’t like the violent rhetoric of modern day Christians, then you don’t know the Bible, baby! He hasn’t called you to debate. If this guy had his way, everyone would be equipped with breastplates and swords, fighting the unbelievers. If the Bible had been written today, would that be replaced with bulletproof vests and holy grenades? Hey, thanks for being uncompromisingly insane, Rod Parsley. You remind us all of the violent nature of religion.
Snap out of your delusion, gay dude
Are you seriously going on camera, with that scarf, and think we’re going to be fooled into thinking you’ve successfully “turned straight”? The way I see it, you can either learn to deal with your love for pole and recognize the Bible is just a bunch of nonsensical fairy tales, or you can continue to be miserable and feel like a sinful piece of shit for the rest of your life. Which one sounds the most fun, honestly?
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 144
This week, Ryan and I take your questions for a very special mailbag episode. We cover everything from abortion to evolution, to why we hate Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull. If you love the show, this one is a monster at over 1:30 minutes, so you might even need to break it up if you can’t take that much content
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What kind of God would destroy His Styrofoam son?
The San Francisco Chronicle’s website has a hilarious column detailing 19 reasons why God allowed Touchdown Jesus to burn last week. Here’s some of my favorites:
6) The real Jesus of historical record, being a grizzled, husky, musky, dark-skinned Jew with short, curly black hair who rarely showered and smelled of goat droppings and dried sweat, and who had a thing for screaming random prophesies in the streets and talking about doom, fire and the unbearable hotness of Mary Magdalene, well, the real Jesus’ spirit has been quite displeased with being eternally depicted as a pale, soft-focus blond European hippie in bleached-out robes who likes to give lots of there-there-now hugs while watching professional sports. Basta.
10) Word has it the Hustler Hollywood sign sitting atop the adult bookstore across the street from the torched Touchdown Jesus was left unscathed, thus proving (once again) that God really does like porn. And irony. Or just needs a new contact lens prescription.
12) Really, who doesn’t like to watch fundamentalists scurry about in a baffled frenzy, unsure what it all might mean, vowing to rebuild the tacky roadside hellbeast in honor of, well, of not really understanding much about divinity, or art, or how nature works? Not God, that’s who.
13) Thor had had just about enough.
14) Correction: Zeus.
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 143
This week, Jeff is back, and we talk about what latest pitch Jehovah’s Witnesses are using to convince desperate people to join their deranged cult, and we also discuss why there are so many who fake being religious.
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Pakistan authorities want Facebook founder’s head
You may not like some of the things Mark Zuckerberg has done to Facebook (especially their fucked up lack of privacy), but I doubt most of you are seriously considering hurting this dude. Then again, you aren’t the government of Pakistan, which seems intent on trying to prosecute the goofy CEO for his involvement in hosting the “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” Facebook page.
It’s become pretty clear the West’s concept of free speech is in direct opposition to Islam’s powerful insecurities about itself. The whole point of the exercise was to show exactly how intolerant, stupid, and violent this religion is. So far, it’s succeeded brilliantly.
If you think I’m making this shit up, just check out Pakistan’s Section 295-C of their penal code:
Use of derogatory remark etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet, whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable for fine.
Wait, they kill you AND fine you for disparaging their prophet? Are they going to come and collect the money posthumously, or are you expected to pay for your own execution? That’s cold, man!
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 142
This week, we make fun of Michael Crichton’s belief in auras, we explore the new pro-Islamic ad campaign around the world, and we try to predict how silly the next new religion is going to be!
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Touchdown Jesus hit by lightning, burns to the ground
It’s a miracle! The One True God has finally revealed himself to us, and has decided to show his complete disapproval of idolatry by burning the effigy of some 2000 year old Jewish hippie with his Zeus lightning. It’s clear from this random disaster that “He” would much prefer his proper form to be represented by a thin, partially charred stick figure. Truly his form is both magnificent and thankfully easy to draw!
Oh shit, apparently they’re rebuilding that Jesus monstrosity this summer. Do they not see the writing on the wall? If I believed that natural disasters were the result of an anthropomorphic deity’s anxieties, would it not be normal to conclude that perhaps remaking this gaudy eye-sore isn’t entirely wise? Hey, here’s an idea: make the next version fireproof!
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 141
This episode, Ryan and I discuss an article on Conservapedia about Pat Tillman that claims he was religious, and a bed and breakfast in Vancouver that is in trouble for refusing to serve a gay couple.
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The Perils of Lesbianity
A quick video detailing how evil lesbians spread their ways.
People need alternatives to shitty religions
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has written a new book out called Nomad, which picks up where Infidel left off and covers Hirshi Ali’s move to the United States from Europe. She’s been on a book tour for the past few weeks, and I recently caught her on Real Time with Bill Maher and the Colbert Report. She didn’t get to say much on Real Time but she did mention something on Colbert about offering up more moderate religions as a cure for Islamic fundamentalism.
Obviously when you’re dealing with Stephen Colbert you don’t get many opportunities to explain ideas past their surface, but the above video goes into her argument again that many people are going to believe in a higher power regardless of what the evidence says, and it’s important to have options for these people that don’t skew heavily towards the psychopathic. She says Christianity is a good alternative because basically most Christians are pretty lax about their religion’s specifics and just believe in a nebulous lovey-dovey God / Jesus entity who just wants us to be good. I don’t know if I agree with that, but I figure after spending half your life getting subjugated and the other half terrorized by Islam, Christianity would indeed seem lightyears more moderate and less problematic.
Bed & breakfast uses God to discriminate against gays
Another day, another case where people are trying to use their religious beliefs as a legal shield for their bigotry:
The owners of a B.C. bed and breakfast will argue at a B.C. Human Rights Tribunal hearing in Kelowna on Wednesday that their right to freedom of religion permitted them to turn away a homosexual couple.
According to the complaint filed with the tribunal, the gay couple, Shaun Eadie and Brian Thomas, booked a room in June 2009 at the Riverbend Bed and Breakfast in Grand Forks. Owner Susan Molnar received the call and immediately told her husband and co-owner, Les Molnar, that the man making the booking had asked for just one bed, the complaint said. Moments later, Les Molnar called Eadie back and asked if he and Thomas were a gay couple. Eadie said they were. The complaint said that Molnar then cancelled the booking.
Eadie and Thomas later filed their complaint with the tribunal.
In an application to have the complaint dismissed, Les Molnar said “to allow a gay couple to share a bed in my Christian home would violate my Christian beliefs and would cause me and my wife great distress.” He said that to have allowed the booking would be “encouraging something which I believe to be wrong according to my religious beliefs and my understanding of scripture.”
The Molnars also argued in their response that their charter rights to freedom of religion and association protected their decision not to do business with the gay couple.
Just to prove America and the Middle East don’t corner the market on anti-gay sentiment, this story is from my country of Canada. And while we’re lucky enough to have a Human Rights commission that will deal with this issue properly, it doesn’t mean our citizenry is very enlightened … if you want to lose faith in humanity, the comments sections of articles like this are always great for that.