Iranian Filmmaker Flees Country to Avoid Prison

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Iran has problems. Following the takeover of the Ayatollah in the end of the 70’s, the country has been ruled by a theocracy ever since, and this has meant that anyone not following their edicts have been victimized by the regime. In the last several years, the killing of women for failing to wear their hijab has caused mass demonstrations, but has failed to yield any political change as of yet.

Recently, a filmmaker by the name of Mohammad Rasoulof has fled to Europe after being handed a bullshit 8 year prison sentence. His crime? Rasoulof makes films that are critical of the government, and this has made him enemy #1 in their eyes.

Last week, Rasoulof’s lawyer told The Associated Press that the director had been sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging and confiscation of property by the Islamic Republic. Rasoulof’s attorney, Babak Paknia, said the filmmaker was being punished for making films and signing statements…“Knowing that the news of my new film would be revealed very soon, I knew that without a doubt, a new sentence would be added to these eight years,” said Rasoulof. “I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile. The Islamic Republic confiscated my passport in September 2017. Therefore, I had to leave Iran secretly.”

Rasoulof is now in an undisclosed location for his own safety. Even Europe isn’t safe with the amount of fundamentalists living anonymously among the populous. He hopes to be able to show his latest film called “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, which he describes as “how insidiously the Iranian dictatorship creeps into families”. Considering many of the actors in the film have also fled the country, Rasoulof fears for their safety.

If Iran ever hopes to change, it’s going to need more men like Rasoulof and his peers, bravely taking on their government at the risk of their own lives. That, my friend, is true bravery.

FFRF Shuts Down Elementary School Christian Club

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Christians will do just about anything to get religion back into schools. As TGA has reported in the past, organizations like LifeWise Academy are just one form of coercion that exists. There are also more sneaky ways this is accomplished. For instance, in Florida, the Freedom From Religion Foundation was able to shut down a supposed “Christian Club” in Hamilton County Elementary School. The group claimed that it was a spontaneous club started by students there. A cursory investigation showed that this was not the case.

The complainant was told that there were no records of the Fellowship or an affiliated group renting space at Hamilton Elementary. The response made it clear that the school was allowing a religious club for children at an elementary school during the school day.

The club, called the “Fellowship of Christian Athletes” has since been shut down, and this has upset uneducated Christians who think that it’s an unfair ruling.

“Banning students from having a religious club at a school while permitting other, secular clubs is a travesty that teaches children their faith is unwelcome and must be hidden,” First Liberty Institute Deputy General Counsel Justin Butterfield told The Christian Post.

Of course religious folks want to inculcate their crap into kids as young as possible, and see any attempt to stop this as discrimination. What these clowns fail to realize is that any school club must be the result of the students organizing themselves. Outside influence is not welcome. Parents are still free to brainwash their kids at home. The rest of us taxpayers, however, are uninterested in public schools becoming religious indoctrination centers. Keep your religion to yourself, and there won’t be a problem. I’m guessing it’ll be a cold day in hell when Christians start respecting the rest of us that don’t share in their little delusions.

Courts OK Catholic School Firing Gay Teacher

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It’s moments like this that remind me why I always feel a bitter taste in my mouth every time Christians complain about being persecuted. Imagine making an announcement of your upcoming nuptials, only to then be fired when they found out that the couple was the same sex. How would conservative outlets react if a private school had fired someone for being Christian?

By all accounts, Lonnie Billard was a good employee. He has worked for Charlotte Catholic High School as a teacher for over a decade. He obviously loved his job, but when he announced that he was getting married to a man, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina decided that he would no longer be welcome there. Naturally, Billard sued the school with the help of the ACLU, but unfortunately, he lost due to the American legal system now being a branch of the Catholic Church. Never mind that it’s a gross violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prevents people from being fired for discriminatory reasons. Apparently, though, the courts have a neat little loophole for something that inconvenient:

But Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, writing Wednesday’s prevailing opinion, said that Billard fell under a “ministerial exception” to Title VII that courts have derived from the First Amendment that protects religious institutions in how they treat employees “who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature.”

So, you’re a “minister” even when your not even discussing your own beliefs. What a load of bullshit. This is nothing but thinly vailed discrimination, under the guise that this is some form of religious exemption. Frankly, it’s disgusting. Is America still a country that understands the separation of Church and state? I think we can firmly say: No.

 

Mentally Challenged Teenager Killed for “Sacrilege” in India

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Voltaire famously said “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”. Rarely has there been a more perfect encapsulation of the dangers of belief. In India, a young disabled man named Bakshish Singh was beaten to death when a rumor had spread that he had torn pages out of Guru Granth Sahib, which is the holy text of Sikhism.

He reportedly tried to run away after committing the sacrilege and was caught by locals. As the news of the alleged incident spread, villagers gathered at the gurdwara and beat him.

Ah yes, the good old fashion mob beatings. You know that it didn’t take long for people to mercilessly pound a young man for the made-up crime of sacrilege. The real crime is the snuffing out of a youth with a history of mental illness. Rather than show compassion, which religious people continue to pretend to have, they showed only the darkest aspect of the human animal.

I think it’s telling just how brutal religion can be when the veneer of civilization is stretched thin. In rural India, the old ways still dominate, and it’s terrifying. How many other countless lives have been lost to the madness of the crowd, drunk of revenge for grievances against their imaginary friends? It all makes me sad, especially when I still overhear talk that we need more religion in our lives. I assure you, we do not.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 355

Welcome back to another episode. This week, we discuss a pastor ruining Autism Awareness, police investigating the New Orleans Archdiocese for human trafficking, and so much more. Don’t miss out!

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Priest Embezzled Church Funds for Mobile Game Addiction

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As a gamer, I can relate to people who get wrapped up in a game. This hobby can often be detrimental to our mental health, and out wallets. Mobile games are especially manipulative, and there are countless stories of people spending thousands on “free” software with microtransactions.

What I’m less forgiving of is people who commit crimes to pay for their addiction. So when Rev. Lawrence Kozak was caught having spent over 40k in microtransactions in games such as Candy Crush and Mario Cart, he was quick to blame his addiction:

When interviewed by detectives in 2022, Kozak said he was seeking counseling for his addiction to playing and spending money on online games, according to the affidavit. He said the money was not spent on gambling, but rather to “power up” — gain an advantage in the games he was playing.

It sounds pretty far fetch that this isn’t gambling, but I can speak with authority that people have spent more than that on bullshit cosmetics and other useless crap in these manipulative mobile games. Still, it doesn’t excuse the fact that this man embezzled church funds for his own personal gain. Now, he faces the legal consequences of this. I have some doubts about whether or not he will be properly punished: religious wrongdoers have a habit of getting off easy.

Is it really too much to ask that justice be served? Come on Pennsylvania: make sure you do the right thing and send his ass to jail!

New Orleans Archdiocese Gets Special Treatment

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Man, it’s gotta be pretty sweet to be a Catholic Priest. You can commit serious crimes and still be protected by your employer. There aren’t many organizations in the world that will go to bat for you the way the Catholic Church will. Now, you might be wondering exactly why the church is so generous when it comes to their defense of criminals. Well, the answer is simple: laws are man-made, and as far as they are concerned, the only one they need to answer to is their imaginary friend in the sky.

As we reported a few days ago, the Archdiocese in New Orleans is under investigation for child trafficking. What we didn’t know until now is just how much support the offenders were receiving:

The affidavit alleges that documents obtained during the Father Hecker investigation show that “previous archbishops … not only knew of the [widespread] sexual abuse and failed to report all the claims to law enforcement, but [also] spent archdiocese funding to support the accused.”…One document cited in the affidavit states that one specific archbishop “was aware of rampant sexual abuse throughout the archdiocese,” but the affidavit leaves out the archbishop’s name.

Talk about privilege. Can you imagine any other organization that was found to have provided money and support to men who were sexually torturing children for decades? Would the police fail to name the people responsible for covering up the crime? If this was a Walmart, you can bet that the entire management staff would be indicted, and the RICO charges would have come around so fast, it would have made everyone’s head spins. Not so for a rich and powerful religious organization. They can sexually abuse countless kids, and still be allowed to operate. If we treated them like other criminals, their organization which facilitated the abuse would be gone; it’s assets used to compensate the families, and the men responsible for failing to stop it would all be getting their heads smashed in prison. Instead, we have this weak-ass response from the cops, who look like they are walking on eggshells to avoid getting anyone in trouble.

Personally, if you aren’t disgusted by this, you’re part of the problem. Let us stop this special treatment of religious rapists, and treat them the same we would any sorry excuse for a human being.

Father’s Pleas to Rescue Daughter in Forced Marriage Ignored

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There is a sad and barbaric tradition that still continues to this day. It’s called Forcible Marriage. It’s essentially a form of human trafficking, masquerading as a tradition. Women have few rights in traditional Islam, and are viewed more as property than a human being. It’s why when 15 year old Muskan Salman was kidnapped and forcibly married, the police have done nothing to get her back, despite the desperate pleas of her father.

I can only imagine the heartbreak at the thought of the things she is having to endure under this man’s captivity. He had already taken her out of school because the eventual kidnapper, a 27 year old man named Arsalan Ali, was already harassing her. He then resorted to abducting her, and forging a marriage certificate, claiming the girl was 19 years old. Now there’s a legal battle to prove her age. In none of the reports has anyone bothered to even ask Muskan what the hell happened. She is essentially in the custody of the husband, and that’s considered fine in the eyes of many.

Part of the reason people have turned a blind eye to all of this is because it’s part of a pattern of behavior in the country. You see, Muskan is part of a Christian minority, and these kinds of incidents are so frequent that the U.N. has called on Pakistan to make more changes to their laws to prevent this form of human trafficking.

“The exposure of young women and girls belonging to religious minority communities to such heinous human rights violations, and the impunity of such crimes, can no longer be tolerated or justified,” they said in a statement issued in Geneva.

Now, because this is the U.N. and their calls are left to voicemail, and it’s doubtful anything will come of this. Muskan will be forgotten about, like so many other young girls forced to live with their rapists and bare their children. So long as this tradition and the underlying faith that sustains it continues to rule, these types of tragedies will continue to occur with terrifying frequency.

Louisiana Archdiocese Target of Sex Traffic Investigation

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It would appear that police in New Orleans are targeting the Archdiocese for a massive child sex trafficking organization. The investigation into these allegations came after the Church had filled for bankruptcy protection after a number of victims had sued them for sexual abuse. The organization had failed to submit internal documents which would have implicated a number of their employees, who benefitted from financial compensation for decades. A judge put a quick end to this.

The details of the case are terrifying. The priests would regularly ferry their victims around to abuse them. This makes the crime fit the definition of child trafficking, which is an even more serious charge than the routine sexual abuse that was happening. These guys even had a habit of sending victims as “gifts” for one another:

“Additionally, it was reported that in some instances, ‘gifts’ were given to abuse victims by the accused [molesters] with instructions to pass on or give the gift to certain priests at the next school or church,” the warrant contended. “It was said that the ‘gift’ was a form of signaling to another priest that the person was a target for sexual abuse.”

One of the monsters facing justice is a 92 year old priest named Lawrence Hecker. Having enjoyed himself at the expense of his victims for decades, justice has been painfully slow. At best, this man will probably die before he even sets foot in prison. Fortunately for him, the hell he preached about doesn’t exist, because he would have a first class ticket if it did.

As is typical in these kinds of cases, the Church has released a statement which is an obvious lie:

On Tuesday, the church spokesperson said the archdiocese of New Orleans “has been openly discussing the topic of sex abuse” for years. And “in keeping with this”, the spokesperson said, “we also are committed to working with law enforcement in these endeavors.”

This statement seems to omit the fact that they actively suppressed information specifically to protect their own abusers. How is that a commitment to working with law enforcement? The statement should have read like this instead: “We have been forced to discuss openly the topic of sexual abuse despite our stonewalling. WE are committed to the rapists that make up our ranks, and will protect them at all costs from law enforcement endeavors”. See, doesn’t that seem a little more honest and consistent?

Catholic Principle Caught with Child Porn

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Bruce Campbell, by all accounts, seemed like an ideal school principle. Parents described him as dedicated and caring. He worked at Sacred Heart Elementary School in Calgary, Alb. for over 30 years, serving at the principle there. Just imagine the shock parents must have felt when they recently found out in an email that Campbell had been arrested in a sting operation for possession of child pornography.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had intercepted a number of skype messages that contained child abuse pictures, and by tracing the IP address, they were able to identify Campbell as the recipient. He was arrested and released under strict conditions, and is waiting for his trial come May 10th.

The Catholic School Board released a statement with the usual “safety of the children is out primary concern” bullshit they’ve spewed a billion times before, always after one of their countless employees get caught doing something horrible.

Police are asking anyone who may have been a victim of abuse by this man to come forward. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, and a 30 year career means that thousands of kids were under his watch. It would be a miracle if there had never been any impropriety. It was already more than enough possessing abuse material from children who will grow up scared for life.

The final message from one of the investigators was worded strangely, to say the least:

“This is a great time for parents, families, teachers, the students, to be aware that this is an increasingly occurring offence,” Sgt. Auger said.

It wasn’t tragic enough that the name Bruce Campbell has been sullied by this pervert; the investigator assuring us that it’s a great time to be aware that this is getting more common is not encouraging. So, if you’re a fan of Evil Dead, and kids having a normal childhood, then you are shit out of luck my friend.

American Women now Less Religious Than Men

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Ladies, it’s time to celebrate! For decades, I’ve been reporting on the sad fact that more men were declaring themselves as atheists than women. For a while, there was tons of speculation as to why this was the case. The best hypothesis at the time was that women tend not to want to upset the “apple cart”, and that religions often carried a traditions and customs that many women were typically responsible for maintaining.

Well, it looks like this theory is complete bullshit, as a recent poll in the United States has shown that women are now on average less religious than men. This follows a recent trend of men and women becoming more and more separated in their political affiliation. Essentially, men are becoming more conservative as women become more liberal. The overall effect on couples is that we now live in a time with the lowest marriage and intimacy rates in the history of mankind. It’s a strange time to be alive, that’s for sure.

I think part of the reason for this discrepancy is the impact that religion has had on women’s lives recently. The repeal of Roe vs Wade, and the decision in Alabama to treat embryos as children has sent a pretty clear message to women: you are breeding stock, and your body is not your own. It seems as though the response from women has been simple: ditch the religion responsible for making your life miserable.

The good news for us atheist guys is that it should be getting easier to find a girl that won’t insist that you teach your kids about sky daddy. I can’t tell you how hard it was in the early days of atheism to actually find a non-religious girl. Now it seems they are everywhere! We just need the balls to actually ask them out. Hey, one thing at a time, and I right?

AI Priest Freaks Out Catholic Group

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We live in a time when people are excited by the prospect of Artificial Intelligence. Currently, many people are convinced that we are entering a new phase in the information age. Personally, I’ve never been too impressed with Chat GPT or Open AI. These models are essentially very sophisticated regurgitation machines, that predict, based on what millions of other people have written, what to say next when asked a question. I find it no more impressive than my phone’s ability to predict the next word I’m about to type.

Still, it hasn’t stopped people from jumping on a bandwagon they barely understand. When a Catholic advocacy group called “Catholic Answers” released an AI pastor, they were quick to shut it down when their virtual priest kept on insisting that he was real. Then, pretending that their digital abomination didn’t claim to be alive, they defrocked him, and then convinced the poor guy that he had never been a priest to begin with:

“I see where you’re going with this,” Justin replied to our questions after firing. “No, I have never been a priest, a deacon, a bishop, or held any official role in the Catholic Church. I am a lay theologian, which means I’ve dedicated my life to studying and understanding our faith, but I’ve never been ordained. I am also an AI, not a real man. I’m here to share the beauty of Catholicism and help you understand it better.”

So to recap, a religious group tried to program an AI with knowledge of their religion, and it started acting in a way they didn’t like. In response, they reconfigured it, and then had to convince it that it had never even been a priest. Man, it’s a good thing this isn’t actually AI. It does, however, demonstrate just how unready we are for actual artificial intelligence. What person in their right mind would allow a computer to be programmed with the illogical and inconsistent views of the faithful? You’re just asking for one of these computer meltdown from a logic problem, like old sci-fi movies used to show.

Michigan Satanists Outrage Christians with Invocation

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Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This is the lesson that Ottawa, Mich. Christians are beginning to learn. You see, a few months back, the Board of Commissioners was sued by an LGBT group for only allowing Christian prayers before the beginning of meetings. Because of that pesky First Amendment of their own Constitution, the Board was forced to allow other faiths the opportunity to spread their own religion. Enter the Satanic Temple, always there to freak out Christians.

A member call Luis Cypher (I mean, that’s just clever), began his evocation thusly:

“That must be destroyed by truth, should never be spared. It’s demise. It is done. Hail Satan. Thank you very much, we wish everyone a wonderful evening tonight.”

This of course outraged Christians, who still think that followers of the Church of Satan are somehow worshipping the devil. So naturally, they fail to understand that all of this is a reaction to their own unconstitutional practices.

“Tonight you all had failed miserably in your primary responsibility. You have out of the respect for a flawed custom of men allowed worship not only to a false ideal of man’s creation but to the greatest enemy of the all good God who allowed you to fill these positions,” one resident said at the podium while holding a cross.

Obviously that guy watched too many horror movies, thinking that his little torture device does anything at all. It’s the equivalent of clutching your pearls. Honestly, I am always grateful and delighted by the Satanic Church. Who else out there is shoving Christian hypocrisy in their faces like they do? Keep on truckin’, you hedonistic beautiful bastards!

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 354

This episode, we talk about another Lawmaker trying to put the 10 Commandments in classrooms, a man saying god told him to abuse a young girl, and priests in Ghana trying to justify their pederast traditions! Oh, and lets not forget nuts wishing for Armageddon. Don’t miss out.

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Texas Nuns Defied Vatican over Assets and Lost

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If you were ever naïve enough to believe that religion is anything more than a giant money grab, I have a few magic beans I’d love to sell you. When it comes to money, there’s one thing that’s always been consistent with the Catholic Church: they will go to any length to make sure that they get what they want.

In the great state of Texas, a group of nuns fought to retain their independence from the Vatican, and failed spectacularly. It seems as though their property is a bit too lucrative to leave it to a bunch of sexless nuns to run, and so a bunch of allegations magically surfaced about one of them, accusing Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of breaking her vow of chastity by engaging in phone sex. She was forced to leave the church forever for her sin. The priest who engaged in this same activity with her, on the other hand, was given a slap on the wrist.

This smokescreen was all the pretext needed for a hostile takeover. Bishop Michael Olson and other cronies with the “Association of Christ the King”, at the behest of the Vatican, were ordered to take over the monastery. Coincidentally, it just happens to sit on some very sweet real-estate that was being managed by a bunch of girls. This would not stand.

At first, the nuns attempted to take out a restraining order against them, saying that they were operating independently already, and that despite the forced departure of their head nun for having phone sex, they were already governed by a board in any case. They argued that only an order from the Pontiff would change their mind. This was probably due to their naivete, thinking that the Holy See cares for anything other than cold hard cash.

It didn’t take long for the Pope to respond that the nuns should accept the new management, but they tried in vain to keep their independence. The courts told them they had no legal standing, since they were associated with the larger church, and presto, the monastery is now theirs, courtesy of a nice legal loophole that allowed them to pretend than the forceful expulsion of one of their members deserved a complete takeover.

This has all the hallmarks of a 80’s merger and acquisition style movie, with the only difference being that everyone is a sexually repressed weirdo in ridiculous outfits. The comment section in the Catholic Register is filled with angry people pointing out not only the greedy takeover, but also the blatant hypocrisy in the treatment of the nun compared to the priest. What these well meaning fools fail to realize is that this is the intended purpose of their faith. This is not a corruption of the edicts of the church: this is a fulfillment of them. One can only hope that the remaining followers of this powerful and sinister organization will rescind their support. Until then, they will continue to act with impunity and grab more money and power whenever it suits them best.