Victim of abuse files lawsuit against Pope Benedict XVI

One of the many victims of Fr. Lawrence Murphy (the guy who molested over 200 deaf kids) has filed a lawsuit against the Pope in the hopes to uncover how much the Vatican did know about the abuse, and how they went about covering it up. The plaintiff, whose identity has been concealed, doesn’t want any money; he just wants justice for his life having been ruined by the sexual torture he had to endure.

I’m curious to see how the Vatican is going to react to this lawsuit. My guess is the standard “deny everything and hope everything blows over” response they’ve been so forthcoming with recently. If that fails, they’ll probably try to blame gays, or better yet, the secularization of society for creating an environment of depravity or something (even their mindless attacks don’t always make much sense). What a bunch of swell guys!

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 132

Another week, another TGA bonus show! My special guest Jeff Jones is back, and this week, we’ll be talking more about the controversy surrounding the South Park creators being censored by Comedy Central, and why old people don’t like video games. Oh, and I also get the show number completely wrong!

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 132
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Preaching to the converted

I’ve often been accused of “preaching to the converted”, and this video on YouTube explains my position on the matter perfectly; I’ve received countless personal correspondences from people who told me they grew more confident and self-assured about their non-belief simply because of the work I do, and I believe them. There’s a lot to be said for generating discussion and for putting the facts out there for people to simply reflect on. If it really was true people can never change their minds, why would we bother talking about anything at all? Better to shut down all other forms of discussion, from the political to the artistic if that were true, no?

Skepticism shuts off during sermons

If you ever wondered why some of your friends or family members seem to lack a certain degree of skepticism concerning their own beliefs, you might be interested in a study conducted by the Aarhus University of Denmark. Using magnetic resonance imaging, they studied 20 Pentecostals and found when they listened to prayers recited by someone they were told was a Christian, the part of the brain normally associated with skepticism and vigilance (yes, there are parts of the brain responsible for this) shuts down.

The study found the most important factor wasn’t what the prayer was about, but rather the perceived authority of the person reading the sermons. In other words, they’ve identified the mechanism that allows charismatic religious leaders to gain influence over other people, and all that’s required is for a part of their followers brain to shut down.

This is exactly WHY I’m so fearful of religion; perfectly logical and rational people can be convinced of any absurdity once they surrender their skepticism to some silver tongued preacher. It’s scary when you think about how easy it is for some people to just shut off a part of their brain with such ease. Could there also be other parts of the brain that are affected as well? This could go a long way to explain why generally peaceful individuals can be convinced to kill in the name of their religious beliefs. The more we understand about religious belief, the more it scares the shit out of me.

Oklahoma continues fight against pregnant women

The abortion issue simply will not go away in the US. Every fucking day there’s some piece of legislation intended to severely limit the availability of abortions, or perhaps just make the process so humiliating and disheartening that women chose to keep their pregnancies. Take Oklahoma, where a proposed bill would withhold tests showing fetal defects, and would require women to answer private questions about their sexuality that would then be posted online. In other words, the intent of this bill is to prevent women from realizing their babies might have serious birth defects (which would encourage them to potentially terminate the pregnancy), and to make the process humiliating by threatening to expose their sexual history to the public. Let it be said the public flogging has not gone out of style!

These obviously unconstitutional and grossly irresponsible bills are popping up everywhere. Since the religious right can’t seem to accept the fact the law has decreed a woman has the right to control her body, they’ve been working diligently to make the process as painful, horrible, or difficult as possible. This kind of nonsense will only subside when religions stop trying to be involved in the political process, something I can’t foresee happening in the US within my lifetime. To my American fans, might I suggest moving to a country that doesn’t treat pregnant women like criminals?

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 131

Another week, and another TGA podcast! With Ryan still in Tennessee visiting his folks, I’ve asked friend of the show Jeff Jones to help host the show. We discuss more allegations of pedophilia in the Catholic church and their pathetic response to it, how the South Park creators are being threatened by a radical Muslim group, and why earthquakes are caused by women in revealing clothes.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 131
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More priestly abuse surfaces in Brazil

Slowly but surely, it looks as though the real scope of abuse by Catholic priests around the world is only slowly surfacing. Every other day, it seems as though a new pedophile is being exposed. The latest scandal comes from Brazil, which has more Roman Catholics than any other country in the world. The man in question, Luiz Marques Barbosa, was exposed when a TV station showed a sex tape of him with a 19 year old boy who has been under his employ for over 4 years, and he’s just one of many Latin American religious leaders currently under investigation.

Barbosa (who sounds like a villain in a cheesy Mario Van Peebles action romp) and two other priests are accused of abusing boys as young as 12 years of age. Barbosa continues to deny the fact he’s a pederast, although his only “defense” so far is a confusing jumble of inconsistencies; first, he claimed no abuse is going on, then he isn’t gay, followed immediately by accusing homosexuals of being the real cause of pedophilia, and finally ending by saying he would talk about this in confession only. Fuck I hate that garbage; this has become their hateful de-facto statement the Church makes every time someone mentions the fact that people who work for them are raping children. Even if there was a link between homosexuality and pedophilia (and trust me, there isn’t), the real question on everyone’s mind right now is why the head of the organization systematically sheltered known child rapists from prosecution, and why no one is doing anything about it. This whole business of blaming gays for the problem is nothing more than the typical Church M.O.: blame a scapegoat. If this was the 16th century, they would have just blamed the Jews for casting evil spells on them, and ordered a good old fashion massacre to get everyone’s mind off the real offenders.

It’s nice to see these pedophiles being exposed in religiously orthodox countries; it shows the power of the Church to silence these acts is seriously waning. It’s too early to tell how many more of these pieces of shit are going to be exposed, but it’s encouraging to think perhaps some measure of justice can be had here. To date, no one has actually been arrested, but my hope is the Brazilian government will grow some fucking balls and put abusers where they belong: behind heavy metal bars.

South Park creators threatened over depiction of Mohammed

There are few certainties in life, but you can always count on: 1) death is inevitable, 2) you will always have to pay taxes, and 3) Muslims will always flip the fuck out if you depict their prophet, no matter how innocent it is. Case in point: Matt Stone and Trey Parker are again the subject of controversy for their 200th episode, which featured Mohammed in a Bear suit to hide his identity. As you might have guessed, Muslim groups are up in arms over the depiction, and have issued (as is customary) threats of violence against the animators.

We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.

Actually, that sounds like a pretty serious threat, especially when the site entices people to actually show up at their house to “voice” their displeasure (or featuring audio clips of a mullah advocating the killing of blasphemers). How about you chill the fuck out instead, assholes? So sorry you can’t stand the idea of people making fun of your religion, but unfortunately for you, no one has the right to not be offended. If you don’t like it, might I suggest moving back to a country where blasphemy is punished as barbarically as it was 300 years ago (perhaps Saudi Arabia is more to your liking)?

Religion of peace my ass.

Islamic cleric says women are to blame for earthquakes

Don’t you just love it when religious morons try and explain geological events under the umbrella of their religious beliefs? As far as men like Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi are concerned, women in tight, revealing “coats” (I’m getting all hot just talking about it) are causing all kinds of natural disasters with their “sinning”. By tempting men with their shape, which apparently no normal Muslim is able to resist, the world has become more unstable as God tries to lay down his displeasure.

Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes

Really, how is this different than thinking the Earth quakes because ancient Titans are trapped deep underground, or believing lightning is produced when Zeus is angry? Are these idiots not aware we know why earthquakes occur, and it has nothing to do with the displeasure of an anthropomorphic bearded deity? I feel embarrassed for the human race every time one of these religious douchebags has the audacity to blame disasters on their cause celebre’ (in this case, a masochistic mullah wants women to remain enslaved by social decorum).

Here’s a surprising fact; no, women revealing their shape doesn’t cause earthquakes, and rain isn’t God crying either. Stop trying to blame women for every little problem you have, Islam, and stop treating them like property or cattle.

Spanish Bishop says children at fault for seducing priests

Looks like some priests aren’t content to just blame homosexuality for the rampant abuse of children; Bernardo Álvarez, the Bishop of Tenerife in Spain, had this to say about the recent scandals:

There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you

I think this is called the “Lolita” defense, and it sounds about as convincing as you might imagine. All those kids who were sodomized against their will were really just asking for it, shaking their prepubescent little booties around, wearing tight t-shirts with the Transformer logo, and smelling of bubble gum and candy. The whores! How dare they tempt these poor Holy men of the cloth with their sexy, completely underdeveloped bodies?

So to recap, the people to blame are homosexuals (for spreading their sin around town) and overly sexed kids, who continually tempt priests with their erotic use of the word “dude”. You wouldn’t want to place the blame on pederast pieces of shit who have ruined the lives of thousands of innocent children; why, that would just be wrong and an insult to the memory those poor, downtrodden priests who did nothing more than “give” those horny kids what they were begging for!

Hitchens on Genocide

It’s not a good week unless you’re listening to the delightful Christopher Hitchens talking about genocide, and religious intolerance.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 130

Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist. Even though we’re separated by hundreds of kilometers (learn the metric system, people), Ryan and I have used Skype to make the show possible, and just in time to keep talking about the Catholic church and how the scandal keeps growing day by day. We also talk about working out again, and why it’s hard to be the only person on the dance floor.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 130
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Jesus penis abs causes controversy

It’s hard to draw the human body; take it from me, I should know. If you’re not completely familiar with all the muscles and what they look like, your design might end up looking a little bit off. Take this crucifix, for instance: The artist is clearly drawing on older versions of depictions of Jesus, and at first glance, it would appear rather than having normal abdominal muscles, this skinny Jesus is sporting a massive hard-on. Hey, I’m not the only one who sees an erect penis; lots of people in this Oklahoma church have left the parish because of the design.

Sure, the Bible says not to worship false idols, but where is the fun in that? Surely if there was a God, he would be cool with being depicted as having a massive shlong, am I right?

Christ-like Cruisin’

I generally dislike most hip-hop and R&B (except for my man Greydon Square), but this has to be the worst Christian music I’ve heard in a long while. Like most Jesus-junk, this testament to terrible is a reminder of the general skill level of believing musicians. Feel like making money writing music but lack the raw talent to make it big? Try Christian music instead! No one will tire of your off-key poorly produced record so long as you jerk off your music to lyrics that inspire acid redux in non-believers.

What exactly is “Christ-like cruising” anyways? Does it involve driving around in an overpriced neon monstrosity, while blaring terrible music that shakes people’s houses like they’re on the San Andreas Fault Line?  I guess that’s what cruising around like Jesus is all about; annoying the shit out of nonbelievers who simply want to enjoy their breakfast in peace on a sunny Saturday morning.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Pedobear greeting

Two things about Pope Benedict’s planned visit to Malta have me smiling a bit; (1) the mayor of a small town has asked that a statue which looks like a dick be removed at the local airport for fear of offending the pontiff, and (2) a graffiti artist stenciled a few “pedobears” on the billboard marking his arrival, and the local news people have no idea what it implies. In case you’re hopelessly out of the loop, it’s a classic internet meme that was birthed in the often vile and twisted world of 4chan, and it’s a comedic reference to pedophilia (sometimes you have to laugh in order not to cry). The artist has succeeded in both confusing mainstream news sources while delighting us “hip” internet folks with his civil disobedience.