Catholic charity gets the right to exclude gays from adopting

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Amidst the heady swirl of controversy surrounding the Catholic Church (with more and more evidence of priestly misconduct and of their highly organized protection of these offenders), a UK judge has allowed a Catholic adoption agency to openly discriminate against gay couples wanting to adopt. They are now allowed exemption from sexual orientation regulations that make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their homosexuality.

The Church had threatened to cut all of their services if they were forced to comply with the law (which essentially amounts to nothing less than blackmail), and it appears that, unlike Washington DC which upheld their right to pass laws the way they see fit, this tactic has succeeded in England (with an atheist faces blasphemy charges).

The Bishop of Leeds had this to say about the victory:

We look forward to producing evidence to the Charity Commission to support the position that we have consistently taken through this process: that without being able to use this exemption children without families would be seriously disadvantaged

So what he’s saying is without the ability to openly discriminate and violate the law, children would be “seriously disadvantaged” by being adopted by loving gay parents. Yeah, he’s a real fucking swell guy, and honest to boot.

I’m sick of this bullshit, and I’m especially tired of the way ignorant bigots like Leeds try to make themselves look like the good guys. They go around pretending they don’t disrespect or hate anyone, when it’s quite clear they do. They treat gays like sub humans, and deny them the ability to invite children in their loving homes, all because of a few Bible passages that claim God hates the idea of gay men and women having sex with one another (why don’t you mind your own fucking business, you overbearing father figure?). If it’s a crime for people to love one another, then your God has no place in this world.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 125

This week, Ryan and I discuss the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict XVI and his involvement in the shuffling of a pedophile priest in the 1980’s, as well as discuss the idea that atheists and secularists in general will be out-bred by our religious counterparts. Also on a side note, we elaborate on how terrible I am at telling time.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 125
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Society needs less strict religious upbringing and more porn

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Remember all those annoying religious wackos who keep trying to convince us watching porn is evil? Well, it turns out their fucked up message and restrictive religious instructions might actually increase the chances of someone becoming a rapist. That’s according to two psychologists, Michael J. Goldstein and Harold Kant (who’s body of work goes back to the 1970′s), who had figured out the link between porn and rape was utterly bogus, even back then.

It doesn’t surprise me a strict religious upbringing can fuck someone up, especially when the religion focuses so strongly on our impulse to breed. Look, you’re an animal, and there’s a part of you that can’t resist the idea of having hot, steamy sex. If you try and repress this urge, odds are it’ll manifest itself in some pretty scary ways, and no one needs that. Religions are like the thought police; they don’t even want you fantasizing for your own pleasure. Instead they try and teach you lustful thoughts are bad, and need to be suppressed. I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of psychological damage that’ll do to a human being…

As far as the benefit of watching porn, the good news seems to be as sexually explicit materials become more widely available, the number of sexual abuse cases don’t increase; in fact, they actually begin to decline. And what about the idea that watching porn makes men misogynistic? Well, that too has been refuted. So if you’re sitting at home so bored out of your tree you’re reading this shitty blog, might I humbly suggest you go do your civic duty and go watch a lot of porn instead?

Pope Benedict XVI shielded priests from prosecution

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It should come as no surprise that any large and powerful organization always “looks out for their own”. The Catholic Church is no different; the whole controversy regarding child abuse is based around the fact that rather than punish their own members who were guilty of destroying the lives of innocent children, they instead kept everything quiet, transferring these offenders to different parishes where they would continue their campaign of sexual molestation.

The Pope keeps finding himself in the uncomfortable position of having to deny any knowledge of protecting church leaders who had a history of abusing children, but it’s now a bit harder to do so. A priest, identified only as “H” (you’ve got to love their transparency) known to have forced a young child into oral sex, was transferred under the watchful eye of one Cardinal Ratzinger in 1980. To no ones surprise, he offended again, and was given an 18-month suspended sentence and fined about 4,000 bucks (apparently, sexually molesting a kid will cost you the equivalent of a used Segway).

The Vatican is obviously trying to distance him from this decision, saying Ratzinger was unaware of the existence of this priest (he’s a shitty boss, I guess), and I’m sure his mindless fans will continue to believe he had no involvement whatsoever, regardless of what evidence is shown. It doesn’t matter how many times this organization is exposed as corrupt and evil; people will continue to believe their religious leaders piss Holy Water. Look, they’re only human, and yet their position allows them an unprecedented amount of power and influence, all based on the ignorant notion these individuals are somehow on “God’s speed-dial”. They are no more special than you and I, and they should not be immune from prosecution and the law. When will victims of the abuse of the Catholic Church finally see justice?

Jesus has issues

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Thank you so much for everything Jesus; cancer, parasites, and genetic diseases that slowly waste people away are fucking awesome. Also, thanks for arbitrarily killing innocent people, especially if they aren’t me

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 124

This episode, Ryan and I discuss death from an atheist perspective. A prom in Mississippi cancelled due to lesbianism, and England’s ridiculous blasphemy laws. We also discuss “The Mist” and “End of the Line”.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 124
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Repent Amarillo, before you get blown to holy bits!

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If you’ve got a giant hard-on for Jesus and the military, you need to check out “Repent Amarillo”, a fundamentalist Christian organization that tries to look like an Army recruitment video, specifically because this image is attractive to them. As far as they are concerned, there’s a spiritual war going on, and they intend to fight it with full army gear. It’s a site that’s not welcoming to everyone. If you’re a pussy moderate Christian, you should know better than to question the word of the Lord!

While some of them support our efforts, and some may not, it is not about us and it is not about them. It is about Jesus Christ.

Not satisfied by just staying home and clutching their Bibles, these guys are taking on extra-curricular activities to help spread the word of the Lord your God (for is ruling over your life with an iron first not the most loving expression a deity can have over his monkey slaves?). Here’s a list of events they have dedicated themselves to crashing for the good of your eternal life:

1. Gay pride events. (Jesus hates gays, even more than he hates Fig trees)
2. Earth worship events such as “Earth Day” (apparently Jesus hates hippies)
3. Pro-abortion events or places such as Planned Parenthood
4. Breast cancer events such as “Race for the Cure” to illuminate the link between abortion and breast cancer. (Their “scientists” must also be wearing a lot of camo in the lab looking for that spurious link)
5. Opening day of public schools to reach out to students.
6. Spring break events.
7. Demonically based concerts. (I don’t know about your music, but how much of it is “demonically based”)
8. Halloween events. (Are they joyless?)
9. Other events that may arise the ministry feels called to confront. (Nothing spells comfort like crazy fundies in full army gear and guns, don’t you agree?)

They want to try and save our souls so we don’t go to hell, but is this accomplished at the end of a bayonet? I guess in their twisted world view, if they can’t save you from Hell, they’ll try their best to send you there pronto.

God, take over the media!

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Take from the unrighteous, and give the media over to the crazy Christian fundies. Oh Lord! don’t you know with your super magic you can simply change things and make it easier for the blatantly ignorant to spread the message we all better love you before you throw us into hellfire. Three cheers for the prince of peace!

Family sees Jesus in Marmite lid

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It’s not enough we have to put up with the fact that Marmite (also known as Vegemite) exists; we now have to deal with some of its fans thinking the face of Jesus has appeared on one of its lid. Look, if there is a god and he’s trying to communicate with you, do you really think he’s going to pop up in what is arguably the most disgusting substance known to man? I know I’ve got a lot of Aussie and British fans who can’t get enough of that yeasty bullshit, but even you have to admit how gross that crap really is (it’s a by-product of beer brewing, and if you’ve ever seen how beer is made, you probably wouldn’t drink it). Marmite reminds me of the goo that accumulates in my sink if I leave the dishes in there for a few days.

I don’t know what’s worse: moronic Christians who think a Marmite Cat Stevens is in fact Jesus, or the sticky black substance actually exists. I’m torn…

Study attempts to explain genetic origin of homosexuality

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Here’s another study that homophobic bigots can casually ignore; Two evolutionary psychologists (yes, these guys are making the news a lot recently) have offered a unique explanation as to the evolutionary value of homosexuality. You see, since gays tend to not breed, the basic question of “why would homosexuality persist if the genes for it would be selected out” hasn’t yet been answered definitively.

I’m not sure if homosexuality is actually a genetic trait. I tend to agree it might actually be caused instead by embryological  development (the best explanation I’ve heard has to do with birth order and how the brain may be masculinized or feminized depending on the level of testosterone exposure in the womb, but I’m no scientist). Either way, I think it’s a pretty interesting study, especially in light of how they conducted it. They studied a relatively small tribe in the Pacific called the Samoa, who don’t seem to share our intense bigotry, openly accepting and identifying their gays. Because of their close kinship, they hoped to examine how our more primitive ancestors lived (we tend to be way too independent in North America). Homosexual men were more likely to help take care of their nieces and nephews, and the consensus is that these “super uncles” helped the fitness of their kin, and therefore could help pass on their genes (albeit a smaller portion of them) by being good helpers.

Atheist faces serious jail time for offending religious people

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If religionists offend us by calling atheists “immoral”, “scummy” or just plain “evil”, we do what any rational and confident person of sound judgement does: we ignore them (or if you’re like me, you write steamy vitriol in your pathetic blog). That’s usually the extent of our outrage, but for religious folks, who benefit from the tyranny of their majority, the inverse reaction to being offended is not so muted.

Take the example of Harry Taylor, who left sexually explicit images of religious figures in the prayer room of John Lennon Airport (the irony, it burns!). He’s been  recently convicted of “aggravated intentional harassment” (is there any other kind of harassment other than intentional?). Although it might sound like a pretty mild charge, it carries with it a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Yes, you heard right, Mr. Taylor could go to jail for almost a decade for offending a priest in an airport named after a guy who’s most popular song extols the joys of living in a world without religion. My head is officially about to explode.

The Crown Prosecution is trying to defend this draconian law, saying it looks at each case based on its own merits. What fucking merit is there in convicting a man for offending someone? No one has a right to “not be offended”. You live in a world where people have different opinions and ideas, and it’s inevitable some of those will offend you. Fucking deal with it.

The British government is cowardly for allowing such a law to exist, and it’s citizens should be ashamed such a case was even prosecuted. For a so-called “secular” country, you have a lot of house cleaning to do.

Hitchens’ Ten Commandments

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Here our old friend Christopher Hitchens breaks down the 10 commandments and issues 10 of his own. Which ones do you prefer?

Catholic School kicks out student for having gay parents

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It still amazes me gays and lesbians can still cling to their bigoted religion, even when these institutions have made it quite clear they aren’t welcomed. In Boulder, Colorado, a preschooler was booted from a private Catholic school because his/her parents were lesbians, and this violates the Church’s firm belief homosexuality is an abomination.

Now, due to the fact they are a private school, they can pretty much do whatever they like, and that means there are no reprisals for what essentially amounts to some pretty serious discrimination. If you think that’s acceptable, how would people react if the kid was kicked out of the school because her parents were black? We surely wouldn’t take it as lightly, and we’d be calling them on their racist shit. But because it’s just homos here, we barely skip a beat. It’s just sad how quick people are to defend the rights of a private institution and so slow to defend the rights of individuals not to be discriminated against. Sad, just sad…

America: land of the free, unless you’re pregnant

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A few days ago, Carisa and I recorded a podcast about a rather disturbing law being proposed in Utah that would make “recklessness” during pregnancy a criminal offense, with a possibility of life imprisonment for feticide. Imagine my surprise to find these kinds of laws actually exist in 35 different states in the US.

Recently, a woman named Christine Taylor was arrested in Iowa for falling down a flight of stairs in her own home, and during her hospital visit, she confiding with her doctor that she had serious reservations about keeping the child. This sent alarm bells for the medical staff, who contacted the authorities.

Prosecutors chose not to go to trial because the fetus was still in the second trimester, and the draconian feticide law applies only in the final stages of pregnancy. If you don’t think this is outrageous, I don’t know what to tell you.

You can thank religious wackos for enacting these kinds of insane laws. The recognition of a fetus as a living entity entitled to the same rights as a sentient human being is a pretty spurious idea; how can an abortion be legal, but an illegal one be considered murder? These laws were originally intended to prosecute offenders (typically men who had no desire to become fathers) who would attempt to terminate pregnancies by assaulting women, but it’s now being used against women themselves. The religious right is working diligently to make all abortion illegal, but in the meantime, overzealous religious prosecutors (for these people are always motivated by their ridiculous religious convictions) with a distaste for abortion are using feticide laws to punish women who wish to terminate their pregnancies or have serious reservations about78jm being pregnant. This whole thing feels a lot like 1984, and any American even slightly interested in their personal freedom should be concerned.

(Update: Luckily the state did not pursue legal action)

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 123

Welcome back to The Good Atheist podcast. This week, Carisa Hendrix is back to co-host the show, and we cover a bunch of topics from why death sucks to why atheists have to feel so smart all the time.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 123
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