Tag Archives: christianity

Heritage Foundation Lies Like it Breathes

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If there is one thing that is consistent with religious organizations, it is the tendency to lie, and expect their followers to believe in these lies. The reason for this is simple: so long as the lie achieves what they want, it’s seen as acceptable.

Recently, the Heritage Foundation, which is responsible for drafting the famous “2025 Project”, is desperate. They know that there is a good chance that Vice President Kamala Harris will win the presidency, and as a result, they are hoping to use fear to motivate their loyal supporters to go vote for Donald Trump. Their latest lie is that if she wins, she will ban all forms of prayer.

“We’re going to lose our ability to worship, we’re going to lose our religious liberty if the Harris-Walz campaign prevails,” he asserted. He cited the vice president’s suggestion to attendees at one of her recent rallies who shouted phrases including “Christ is King” that they were at the wrong rally as an example of her hostility to religion.

It’s easy for those of us with our heads on screwed tight that this is just a bold face lie. Not only is Kamala religious, she also has no reason to do this. This is just a blatant attempt to sow hatred among their faithful followers, who have been feeling the pressure of no longer being the dominant voice in American Politics.

The Christian Post, which is not an institution known for it’s liberalism, has a divided comment section. Half of the responses are what you would expect: Trumpers who have been fully brainwashed into believing that their God has anointed a convicted felon to be their leader. The other half, however, are not buying it, and there is a strong chance that believers that are sick of these types of lies will use their vote to send a message to the Republican Party: change or die.

If [Christian Post] wants to support Project 2025 and its Christian nationalist agenda, it is certainly entitled to do so. But it should at least be honest enough to make its case forthrightly, without resorting to a devious and misleading framing of the issues.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Church Sues State For Right to Discriminate

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The great state of Maryland is being sued by the 7th Day Adventist church because it’s highest court ruled that religious organizations could no longer hire and fire people based on their religious beliefs.

Previously, they had enjoyed the ability to dictate the conditions of employment, which included not allowing for any religious or sexual preferences outside of their narrow confines. It also meant they could fire anyone they deemed to be immoral, or living in a way they disapprove of. That’s no longer the case.

In an opinion published in August 2023, the state’s high court narrowed a previous exemption allowing religious organizations to discriminate based on religion in employment. A majority of the Maryland Supreme Court justices found religious organizations could consider religion only when hiring employees who “directly further the core mission” of the group.

That’s the key concept here. The Church wants everyone they employ to be on board with their religious views, but realistically, the state of Maryland decided that if it wasn’t related to positions in the church that are of fundamental importance to their religion, a janitor, or landscaper doesn’t exactly fit the description of “core mission”. That means that if they discover that a bricklayer working on their property is gay, they can’t fire him anymore. It must be terrifying to them.

Since the plaintiffs don’t have much of a case, they’ve decided that the ability to discriminate against people who do not believe in the same things you do is a violation of the right to free speech and religious association:

“Application of (Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act) to Plaintiffs’ hiring practices would result in excessive government entanglement with the Church’s internal religious decision-making and would violate the First Amendment,” lawyers for the church wrote.

I guess they forgot that this was still about the right to hire and fire people. I also don’t recall the threat being posed here, unless they belief that a plurality of belief, which is what is the essence of the First Amendment, is a threat to their own. That would seem to imply that they consider these rights only to apply to themselves.

It’s hardly surprising that a church would consider itself above the laws that govern others. Unfortunately for them, this baseless lawsuit doesn’t have a chance in hell to going anywhere, since the Supreme Court ruling was pretty clear about how it defined the rights of churches to still practice there disgraceful practices so long as it was in pursuit of their “core mission”. Knowing how religions operate, I’m sure they will stretch that definition so thin as to be functionally useless.

Colorado Jails Mom, Rewards Rapist Father

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Ok, this story is so messed up that it is likely going to cause you to rage, and have a terrible day. It’s probably one of the most egregious abuse of legal power I’ve seen in a while, and it’s all courtesy of the corruption that is religion.

It begins with a mother trying to save her family from their abusive father. Rachel Hawkins is a mother of four, and she is desperate to protect her two youngest, aged 10 and 13. So much so that when the family courts ordered her to participate (and pay) in “reunification therapy”, she refused, and was sent to jail for it. For those of you unfamiliar with this highly controversial form of therapy, it is an attempt to help reunite families after there have been instances of abuse. This is usually done not for the benefit of the children, but for the parents, who can often suffer from depression due to “parental alienation”. On paper, it’s meant to try and mend broken relationships. In practice, it simply exposes children to their abusers, often with deadly consequences.

Many of the organizations that offer this form of therapy are merely religious organizations in disguise. Since these groups are uninterested in the scientific method, or evidence, they have made all kinds of claims of the benefits of such programs. So much so that family courts are now using these programs to force families broken by abuse to mend themselves forcefully together.

In the case of the Hawkins, the father, a retired police officer by the name of Michael, was credibly accused of sexual abuse by his adopted 17 year old daughter starting at 6 years of age. When one of his sons confronted Michael about the abuse, he attempted to drown him. Michael is under house arrest, with an ankle monitor while he awaits trial. Meanwhile, a Colorado court has determined that poor Mikey is suffering from parental alienation as the result of his actions, and his two remaining children have been ordered to attend the Reunification therapy in order to fix this relationship, and are forcing the mother to pay for it.

The mother said she lost legal representation in the custody dispute after accruing $85,000 in legal bills, which she couldn’t afford. She was sentenced to jail without any representation from a lawyer.

Now, it needs to be stated plainly that the person offering this junk counseling, Christine Bassett, operates out of Lighthouse Christian Counseling”, which advertises itself as “integrating faith into the counseling process”. This means that the court has essentially forced the mother to comply with ineffective and dangerous therapy courtesy of religious nutbags.

Rachel has started a GoFundMe in order to hire a lawyer. Given the facts of the case, she has a good chance of winning, if she is able to raise the 100k she needs. She is already halfway there. If anyone wants to help her fight the good fight, I invite you to help her.

NC Former Church Youth Minister accused of assaulting multiple teens

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Has there ever been a more abused position than “youth pastor”? The amount of times I’ve had to write the phrase “youth pastor rapes children” are too many to count. This job title should just be renamed to “molester-in-chief” since it seems as though it’s the only thing these guys are good for.

The latest sack of crap is a man named James Robert Murphey. The 44 year old man was arrested a few days ago, and is accused of 30 counts of sexual battery. The victims, who’s age range from 16-19, was suspended by the Oak View Baptist Church, where he served from 24 years.

The safety director of Oak View Baptist Church, Chris Martin, said the allegations came to light earlier in the year. The church was told about the claims back in January and Murphey was suspended. One week later, he resigned. Martin said, “Any kind of incident involving any of our members, especially our youth, is going to be taken very seriously.”

Anyone who believes that any church gives a damn about the abuse of children is delusional. How many kids have to be abused before people realize that these institutions actually ATTRACT abusers. How can they take this seriously when they are part of the problem?

With him gone, the Church has found and appointed a new youth minister. How long will it take the new guy to also do something inappropriate and illegal? Only time will tell.

Church Tricks Dying Woman into Changing Will

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It’s the kind of story that makes you sick: an aging woman, with a serious medical condition that effected her thinking was manipulated by the pastor of a California church named North Avenue Baptist Church into changing her will. Her son, Michael, is now trying to fight this fraud. For those of you interested in helping him out, Charles has a GoFundMe set up to fight it.

Gay Exorcisms on the Rise in Scotland

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What is it with religious people and their obsession with other people’s sex lives? It’s so damn creepy! This sick behavior has been going on for so long that they think they are the normal ones for trying to use any means to disrupt, or destroy the gay community. Religions are nothing more than the human ego masquerading as diving providence. These sexually repressed weirdos have deep seeded homophobia that is so out of control that they demand that the rest of the world conform to their obsessions.

The toxic mixture of Christianity (specifically Pentecostalism), Islam and tribal beliefs has ravaged countries like Zimbabwe. Progress is impossible as each group distrusts the other, and have different political aims. The Christian faction, heavily influenced by the Americans, have inherited their hatred of gays, and are now exporting their barbaric practices to the nations they seek refuge in. Refuge, I should remind you, from their own countries corrupted by faith.

The latest nightmare importation now includes gay exorcisms becoming increasingly frequent in Scotland. The church in question that practices this dangerous nonsense has a ridiculous name: the “Forward In Faith Church International Incorporated”, which sounds like an organization created by the movie character Borat. This tax exempt organization which claims to be engaged in charitable services, is in fact, simply able to make this claim because “advancement of religion” is considered charity. This so-called “advancement” just happens to include gay conversion therapy, which has yet to be outlawed in Scotland.

Considering the church boasts coffers of over 150 million dollars, it’s no surprise that these churches have been popping all over Scotland, as many people from Zimbabwe come there for work. There is an organization trying to fight to have their charitable status revoked, but I can’t ever recall in the nearly 20 years I’ve been covering religious abuse a single organization that ever lost it.

[National Secular Society] human right lead Alejandro Sanchez said: “This organization promotes vicious homophobia and misogyny, and may well be endangering lives with reckless allegations of witchcraft. “Any suggestion it is acting in the public benefit and worthy of charitable status is absurd… It is now time legislators urgently review ‘the advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose. It must not be used as a back door for religious groups to promote conversion therapy and the subjugation of women.”

The laws are just too beneficial to religions. They have had centuries to imbed themselves into the fabric on society, and their first mandate was to make sure they would never have to pay their fair share to society, regardless of just how evil and sinister their organizations are. Not only that, but politicians, afraid that they will appear anti-religious and lose their jobs, refuse to act in the public interest on matters like this when it involves any faith. It’s sad, pathetic, and it can only change when the people who make policy decisions grow spines. Since this has never really occurred, Scotland will continue to have its cities sullied by the stench of religious zealotry. If there was ever something the world needed less of, it’s certainly this.

Indiana Pastor Arrested for Child Porn

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I’ve said it before, but it bares repeating: how many pastors need to get caught abusing kids before the faithful realize that there is something deeply wrong with their institutions? Can you imagine the outrage in the news if countless child abusers were found operating in any other institution? First, it would be immediately dissolved, and their assets would be divvied up among the survivors. However, because of the special status that we give religions, they can get away with literal murder, and nothing ever changes.

In Indiana, a former pastor and teacher by the name of Claud Greenlee was arrested after police discovered child pornography on his phone. Greenlee was arrested at his place of work, Liberty Christian School. Some of the images were of children as young as 3 years of age. There was also some bestiality in the mix as well.

We are aware of the situation with Mr. Greenlee and saddened by the course of events. We are fully cooperating with authorities and their investigation. Mr. Greenlee was immediately put on leave when the situation was first brought to our attention. He is no longer employed at Liberty Christian School,” Liberty Christian School reportedly said in a statement shared with Fox 59.

If you’re a parent, I find it hard to fathom why you would place your trust in religious institution. These groups are always brimming with sexual predators. It seems they have a knack for attracting these kinds of people. No doubt the culture of secrecy, and its appeal to authority is a potent combination that is a siren song for the worst kind of folks in our society. So long as this remains the case, these kinds of incidents will continue to occur with disturbing frequency.

I’m tired of writing about all these abusive pastors who have gotten away with abuse for way too long. I have to wonder at what point believers will be just as exhausted by this as I am. I won’t hold my breath, that’s for sure.

10% of Christians Left due to Sexual Assaults

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In a rare move of honest, a recent study conducted by the Lifeway Academy found that nearly 10% of protestants had left the church due to sexual abuse. The survey did not ask, however, if anyone had actually been abused. You don’t have to overthink why they wouldn’t do that. They just wouldn’t like the answer.

It’s not just kids that are getting abused. It appears that plenty of other unsavory things happens to adult church goers too.

Just under half of all Protestant churchgoers surveyed said they were victims of unwanted sexual joking, unsolicited sexual messages, unwanted compliments, and inappropriate glances. Twelve percent of such respondents said they endured those unwanted things while at church.

Sounds like a gas going to these churches. Who needs a subway groper when you can just get molested or harassed in god’s house of worship? What I find very telling from the survey is that only 1/3 of respondents felt that police needed to get involved whenever a case of sexual abuse happened. What the hell is that about? What percentage of people would want police involvement if it were any other institution other than a religious one? There’s even a significant portion that want these kinds of cases handled quietly. No wonder abuse continues to happen. Who wouldn’t want to work for an organization with these kinds of brainwashed idiots?

NOTE: The survey was conducted by Lifeway, which should not to be confused with Lifewise Academy, that delightful institution constantly indoctrinating kids without the parent’s approval. What is with all of these guys and the word “Life” in their title? Is it to make everyone forget that they are essentially a death cult obsessed with blood?

Aussie Christians Threatens Violence Over Artwork

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If you thought that only Muslims react with threats of violence over the depiction of their religion, you would be mistaken. In Sydney, Australia, an artist by the name of Philjames was harassed after he painted a picture of Jesus and Mary with cartoon faces. The city council chose to act after it received over 60 calls from protesters, deciding that for the safety of everyone involved, the artwork would be taken down.

Liverpool mayor Ned Mannoun called for the removal of the painting in the face of what he called “many complaints from numerous residents who were disgusted and offended that Liverpool Council was displaying this artwork”.

They were so disgusted, that they felt that death threats and other extreme reactions were fine. So fine, in fact, that one Christian leader congratulated everyone on a job well done:

Charlie Bakhos, the founder of conservative Catholic group, Christian Lives Matter, told supporters…“This is another attack on Christianity we have managed to put a stop to thanks to everyone’s support. Let’s keep defending our faith respectfully and we will get results as Jesus is on our side.”

Respectfully? These morons literally threatened violence over a cartoonish depiction of their messiah, and they consider this just another Sunday. Not only that, but they managed to pressure the city council into stifling free speech, simply with a few threatening phone calls.

My hope is that this will result in more unwanted attention for these assholes, who think that the best way to articulate their faith in their so-called loving god is to act like a bunch of violent thugs. It seems that the lessons they have learned from their Muslim counterparts is finally paying off. If you can’t justify your religion in the modern world, then just scream as loud as you can, and make sure to use any means necessary to stop people from making fun of you. If a few people have to get hurt or killed, that’s just the price of doing business. What a bunch of disgusting losers.

Christians Face Political Division and Abandonment

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It always fascinates me the way that religious people try and justify the reasons for why their sales pitch isn’t landing anymore. Some say that it’s trust in institutions in general that has eroded people’s faith. Others point to the fact that the increasingly worrisome behavior of Christians Nationalists have turned people off to their religion.

Still, you can’t expect a person who’s livelihood is dependent on the continued existence of these man made religions to have much insight as to why people are leaving in droves. Keep in mind that religious organizations are some of the richest groups on earth, and they have a near unlimited amount of funds that they could use to set an example, and to attract people due to their good works. Instead, they all behave similarly: their greed and avarice is obvious to all. The Mormon church has a financial portfolio of over 100 billion dollars. They could literally end world hunger tomorrow. Imagine how many new converts they would have with such a move.

IT also seems telling that no one has answered that the decline of religion occurred at the same time that the Internet began to have more influence in our lives. This means that people were able to learn more about their religion, and in almost every case, this tends to make people less religious.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 358

This episode, TGA exposes the Southern Baptist Church’s stalling on their promise to expose abusers, the Catholic Church pathetic apology to Natives, and the Taliban murdering a gay man and sending the video to his family. All that and more!

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The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 358
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Israel Wants Churches to Pay Property Taxes

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It’s hilarious the way that Christians overreact to everything. Take this recent story out of Israel. The small country is getting rather tired of all of these local Churches taking up valuable real-estate and paying nothing back in taxes. Well, that’s something they are planning on changing, and this threat to the Church’s pocketbook is sending all of their hucksters in a tiff.

“We believe these efforts represent a coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land,” wrote the heads of the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches. “In this time, when the whole world, and the Christian world in particular, are constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves, once again, dealing with an attempt by authorities to drive the Christian presence out of the Holy Land.”

First of all, I think we can all agree that it would take a lot more than paying for your fair share to drive Christians out of the “Holy Land”. The church claims that the money they save goes to pay for a number of different charitable services. I call bullshit. Like most faiths, they might devote a paltry sum to helping others, but it’s clear to everyone where the money is going: in giant coffers that continue to enrich religious weirdos. In fact, these churches never even bothered to properly register as charities, and instead just benefited from the blanket tax immunity that religions benefit by default.

To compound their little scam, these religious organizations open up cafes and other businesses, still claiming thax exemption for these for profit enterprises. This grift is one of the favorite tactic for American religious groups like Mormonism, which now boasts riches in excess of 100 billion as a result of these financial shenanigan’s. Israel is obviously looking for money to pay for their little war, and I’m sure they are tired of seeing these Christian organization benefit from their largess. I personally welcome the move. There is no universal law that demands that all religious organizations benefit from not paying their fair share. Considering how much money flows through some of these groups, it’s actuall perverse to continue to allow them operate with such impunity.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. Israel’s government had already proposed this, but backed down after pushback. Now, things are different. They are engaged in a conflict with no end in sight, and I’m sure money is getting real tight. That alone means there will be more pressure to make churches financially accountable, like the rest of us.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-christians-taxes-church-palestinians-ac106bb1d49dd3d0d96613af53d4fcf7

Megachurch Pastor admits to Child Abuse

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If you want to truly understand the horrors of child abuse at the hands of “men of faith”, I believe you should familiarize yourself with the case of Cindy Clemishire. When she was a 12 year old girl, she was sexually molested for years by a trusted family friend named Robert Morris. Morris was a young travelling preacher at the time, and would often stay with his family in the Clemishire home. For a while, it all seemed so innocent, until Christmas night in 1982, when Morris asked Cindy to join him in his room. It was there that he began to molest her, all the while warning her that if she told anyone, it would “ruin everything”.

This sick behavior continued for years, until in 1987 when Cindy told a friend of the abuse. This friend suggested that she speak to her parents about the abuse. Her father was livid, demanding that the Shady Grove Church report him, or that he would go to police. Instead, Morris chose to voluntarily take a long leave of absence from ministering. He blamed Cindy for being seductive, which explains why his wife, Debbie, later called Cindy and said that she “forgave her”. Here’s his pathetic response:

“When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years… In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented of. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady’s father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area,” Morris said in his statement, adding he and his wife met with the survivor and her family in 1989.

Well, give the man a prize for not having intercourse with a child. What idiot would believe for even a second that this guy is reformed? A man who accuses a little girl of “seducing him”, you know that there’s something not right going on in that guy’s head. What he needs is to be held accountable for his actions. Are Christians so desperate for pastors that they are willing to forgive the unforgivable? If Cindy’s family did forgive him, what effect did their pathetic excuse for parenting do to her sense of self?

Here’s the thing: you don’t need to forgive your rapist. Some acts are beyond forgiveness. You would think that someone molesting your child would be one of those. For some religious folks, I guess it’s just another Monday.

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 357

In this weeks episode, we discuss a wild murder plot from Mormon Fundamentalists, Louisiana and Texas trying to force religion in schools, and the new grift of Russel Brand. You don’t want to miss this news!

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 357
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Southern Baptist Church Can’t Be Trusted

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Religions are always protecting their own. There is an unspoken rule in sectarian circles (or in the case of some churches, actual memos): you don’t rat out your fellow Christian, no matter the crime. You see, to hard-core believers, it is the outside secular world that is to be feared. The fact that there are countless wolves in sheep’s clothing amongst their ranks is less terrifying to them than the prospect of the secular world interfering with their affairs.

Still, news often leaks of the countless instances of child rapes, and other horrid crimes. In order to try and pretend that they are doing something about it, The Southern Baptist Church had pledge a few years ago to create a website meant to track individual abusers within the church. With hundreds of cases, it should have been a breeze. Instead, they’ve been stalling so bad that not one single name is on their pathetic excuse for a website.

To date, no names appear on the Ministry Check website designed to track abusive pastors, despite a mandate from Southern Baptists to create the database. The committee has also found no permanent home or funding for abuse reforms, meaning that two of the task force’s chief tasks remain unfinished…Instead, she said, SBC leaders do just enough to make it look like they care, without any real progress.

Do you mean to say that a religious organization, which had previously done everything in it’s power to either ignore abuse or protect abusers, would only offer empty platitudes instead of solutions? What a shocker! Next thing you’ll try and tell me is that water is wet, and that fire burns. So, what’s behind the veil of secrecy, you may wonder? Why, it’s the most important thing to any church of course: money!

SBC leaders have long sought to shield the denomination and especially the hundreds of millions of dollars given to Southern Baptist mission boards and other entities from liability for sexual abuse. The 12.9 million-member denomination has no direct oversight of its churches or entities, which are governed by trustees, making it a billion-dollar institution that, for all intents and purposes, does not exist outside of a few days in June when the SBC annual meeting is in session.

There’s more employee oversight for Uber than there is for Southern Baptists pastors. Pathetic. The SBC even tried to stop an independent couple from posting their own list, sending them a threatening email. Luckily, because the names they publish are for convicted felons, they are immune from being sued for essentially telling the truth.

Anyone who still thinks that billion dollar evil organizations give an iota of care for their flock, beyond the ability to fleece them, is officially a moron. Thanks for helping these clowns make the world a worst and less safe place to live!