This week, we discuss orphanages in the US that were regularly abusing kids, an atheist high schooler that lays the smackdown on his schools religious banners, and France shuts down school over threats by Muslim students.
As many of my listeners will remember, I have always been a big fan of the “Church of Satan”. As an institution, its primary purpose is essentially to expose the hypocrisy of Christians, and it does so with gusto, primarily by making afterschool programs to compete against the Unconstitutional religious groups that take up valuable time that should be devoted to actually learning something.
The existence of this church has rattled a few feathers, such as Republican Rep. Josh Schriver of Michigan who is making it his mission to bringing it down:
Schriver announced his intention to target churches that he doesn’t believe deserve equal treatment with Christianity under the law…“I actually am working on a policy right now… to really focus on making a distinction between the the church of Jesus Christ and this, quote unquote, Church of Satan,” Schriver announced. “You really have an issue where they’re seen as equal in the eyes of the state, and that doesn’t seem right to me for many, many legitimate reasons. And so removing tax exempt status from non-theistic churches such as the Church of Satan, I think is very, very well in order.”
This moron believes that he doesn’t work for the people who elected him. No, instead he thinks that he works for God, specifically the Judeo-Christian one that murderously hates masturbation, and it’s his goal to rid the country of those pesky religions that he doesn’t like.
Unfortunately for him, it’s almost impossible to remove the tax exempt status of any faith. That’s because the IRS isn’t in the business of determining what religions are “authentic” and which ones aren’t. In fact, so long as an organization complies with the IRS rules concerning tax exempt status, the actual content of the religion is meaningless. You could be worshiping a dead goat for all they care.
Consider how many religious organizations are already violating some of the terms that allows them tax exempt status to begin with. Here’s one of the rules that I know for a fact that the Church of Satan has never broken, while hundreds of smaller churches have:
Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.
So, who is it that deserves to get their tax exempt status removed then? Did I mention he also wants to ban pornography? Good luck with that, you prude jackass.
In May of 2021, a man named Gareth Train began a correspondence with an American called Donald Day. Day is a premillennialist, a Christian sect that believes that Jesus will physically return to earth, ushering the end time. Day’s correspondence fed Train and his wife Stacey conspiratorial beliefs, including claims that the government is run by Satan and his minions.
When police were called last December the Train property for a routine welfare check on Gareth’s brother Nathan, two of the officers were gunned down in an ambush, with two other officers forced to flee for help. Nathan and Gareth then lit a grass fire in an effort to smoke the officers out, which prompted a neighbor, Alan Dare, to investigate. He was also shot and killed. The two men then posted an online video of themselves, claiming that “devils and demons” had attempted to kill them, but that they had struck first.
What followed was a tense six hour siege which ended with the death of all three suspects. In all, half a dozen people lost their lives, and all because of unhinged conspiracy theories. Now, police in the US have arrested Day for his connection in the shooting.
Premillennialism is mainly an American invention, and ever since the Covid-19, religious groups have been getting more extreme. The toxic combination of Q Anon, MAGA supporters, and the slow decline of religion has created dangerously primed groups of believers that think the end times are just around the corner. When the stakes are risen so high, you can count on things turning violent.
Australia is has enacted strict gun control laws after a massacre that occurred in 1996. When 35 people were slaughtered, the government decided that it was time to enact stricter gun control laws. The results were a dramatic decrease in not only mass shootings, but also in accidental gun deaths as well. The conclusion from this three decades of reform is clear:
Removing large numbers of rapid-firing firearms from civilians may be an effective way of reducing mass shootings, firearm homicides and firearm suicides.
Following this tragedy, there may be more gun reforms on the way. Over 80% of Aussies think that gun laws are still too lenient. It’s almost as though the country wants to do something to stop these kinds of shootings. Isn’t that weird, America?
Day was arrested by the FBI as a result of his involvement in the shootings. How the rest of this plays out remains to be seen.
There is something unique about the nature of priestly abuse. For starters, in some families, “holy men” are often seen in a different light than others. The church paints itself as bridging the gap between mortals and the divine, and for some folks, this represents the most important job anyone can have. Some people are so enamored with the priestly class that they will defend them, even at the cost of their own family.
When a young girl in Miami Oklahoma accused her pastor, Fred McCoy Gammon Jr, her sister and mother turned against her, accusing her of lying. They even testified in court that the abuse was impossible, since “his character is amazing”, as one put it. These poor brainwashed fools threw their family member under the bus rather than admit the man is a panty sniffing pervert.
There is plenty of evidence to convict Gammon, including text messages he sent the teen telling her how “hot” she was. His wife tried to downplay the whole affair, admitting that while her husband showed troubling behavior, he was repentant the whole time, which meant that everything was fine. When he confessed to her that he couldn’t get the girl out of his mind, they fasted. This, according to her, was enough to get a pedophile to stop fantasizing about a young child. It obviously had no effect.
The trial is still ongoing, but I think it’s safe to assume a few things. Firstly, this family is finished. You cannot survive something like this. Having your mother and sister take the side of the abuser is not something a person can really forgive. The father, to his credit, didn’t doubt his daughter, and when the scumbag tried to confess to him, Gammon was repeatedly beaten in retaliation. He faces no charges. How he feels about his wife is unknown.
Secondly, we can reasonably assume that once Gammon is found guilty, there will still be plenty of people who will come to his defense, even when he’s a disgraced priest. This is the power of religion. It can make you turn your back on your child and side with her rapist. There’s not a lot of ideologies that can claim such a powerful degree of control over a human being.
Lastly, I think another tragedy in this story is the fact that the girl, now a young woman, is still interested in missionary work. Somehow, getting assaulted by one of God’s representative wasn’t enough to convince her that religion is an obvious con job. One wonders what it takes to get people to jump ship from such an organization. So long as religions continue to claim that they hold the keys to the afterlife, you can bet that desperate individuals will continue to let these organizations get away with murder.
How much should a good education cost? How much is it worth? Well, in Louisiana, the answer is quite simple: it’ll be 465 dollars, please. That’s how much it costs a person who hasn’t done a day of learning in their life to buy a high school diploma from one of it’s religious unaccredited institutions. They should simply be called diploma mills, where the right price gets you the air of legitimacy.
There’s been a growing home schooling movement in the US ever since the outbreak of Covid-19. Religious organizations have been busy lobbying the state to drop any form of certification process, which means that if you open up a “private school”, which also has no real requirements for size, you can hand out diplomas without a “student” ever having to step into a classroom. All you need is a wallet and a heartbeat.
If that isn’t enough, these fake schools will also lie for you. For instance, you can have the diplomas backdated, so that it looks like you graduated in any year you wish. They will also put false information, like “approved by the Louisiana Board of Education”, even when this is a blatant lie. These schools advertise themselves on being “state-approved”, even when they aren’t.
Now you might be wondering what the state of Louisiana is doing to stop these obvious fraudsters. I’m glad you asked. Since Christians have been lobbying so heavily for the right to lie, the state has no power whatsoever to stop them. Lawmakers occasionally try to repeal laws that allow for this ludicrous insult to education, but as soon as they do, well funded lobby groups will ensure that these efforts are in vain.
At least two unapproved institutions have had abuse scandals, but the state Department of Education says it has no authority to do anything in response.
One of the most infamous is T.M. Landry in Breaux Bridge. A 2018 New York Times investigation found the school abused kids and made up transcripts to get students into Ivy League schools. It was still open as of last school year with 15 children, according to state records. Another unapproved school in Baton Rouge, Second Chance Academy, has come under scrutiny since its head teacher was arrested on charges of sexually abusing students.
Is that all you need to do to get away with abuse these days? Simply make sure that you’re unaccredited, and then you needn’t worry about pesky things like governmental oversight. Talk about perfect for religious organizations! No longer do you need to worry about police involvement when you abuse the children in your care. Who wouldn’t want to keep their flock stupid, uneducated, and primed for abuse?
If you thought that it was only churches that protect their abusers, then allow me to correct this view. The desire of religious organizations to protect sexual misconduct extends not only to priests, but to school administrators as well.
Liberty University is under fire for ignoring all of the allegations against former dean Keith Anderson. For the last decade, Anderson has been accused of a variety of offenses, ranging from inappropriate sexual behavior to full on assault.
Anderson, who was her supervisor, arrived at her home with medication described as “a single, unmarked and unwrapped tablet,” the suit said. She initially refused to take it but relented, she said, to try to get Anderson to leave. She became woozy and fell asleep. She woke up to Anderson’s hands around her neck, the suit says. She then threatened to scream and he finally left.
“While doing so Anderson forcefully kissed her, on the lips, against her will,” the civil suit reads.
Liberty University receives millions of dollars in federal aid, which has prompted the government to get involved once the school failed to properly address the allegations. It’s believed that it will issue a multi-million dollar fine, although the exact amount is not yet known. A dozen women are also separately filed a suit against the school, with two victims settling for an undisclosed amount. It’s believed that more suits will be coming once the federal government is done conducting its investigation.
Is this not all vaguely familiar for those of us that report on churchly abuse? Protecting men in power is their default state of being, so it never surprises me when yet another Christian organization is caught doing something wrong. For them, forgiving sin is more important than protecting innocent people. Why we as a society continue to give these groups money is beyond me. How many more rapists and abusers do they need to keep protecting before we finally learn our lesson?
This week, we discuss the whistleblower who exposed the Mormon Church’s insane financial schemes, a woman who tried to attack Jews but targeted a hate group instead, and a pastor gets away with running over a child.
The term death cult is not often used to describe Christianity, but it should be. I believe it is only because we have become numb to the sinister nature of this religion. It seems that every so often, we need to be reminded that their obsession with the afterlife is a driving force of their ideology.
How about something so terrifying, you would think it the plot of some horror movie: a mentally deranged woman, fed the lie of the afterlife, killed her young son in the hope that doing so would send him to be with “Jesus and God”.
The report said when James Short and the officers went into the bathroom, they discovered the 11-month-old who had been stabbed. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after.
When interviewing April Short following her arrest, the court document said she admitted to hurting the child. Her two children told authorities that she told them she was doing it because then the child could “be with Jesus and God.”
This horror show is courtesy of a lifetime of delusion, and the absolving of personal responsibility by claiming it to be the work of a higher power. God is merely the unleashed ego of people who wish to behave in troubling ways that their own conscience cannot bare.
For how long did people ignore her troubling behavior because it masqueraded as religious devotion? This is how pervasive this death cult has become: even as their adherents tell us openly that they pray for the day we are all destroyed so that they no longer have to live in a world that challenges their beliefs. What else is heaven but a safe-space for Christians, who want to bask in the certainty of their choices. And where else but a make-believe fantasy land could offer them such satisfaction, when even they cannot agree on matters as trivial as the to which part of the triune nature of their god is more important?
I’ve often said that the only way to fight the encroachment of Christianity in public schools is to use their own tactics against them. If you recall a story I covered a few weeks ago about a group called “Lifewise Academy” operating in Ohio, you might remember that these guys regularly bus kids out during school hours to indoctrinate them. I said they were a walking lawsuit, and if the recent ruling from Pennsylvania is any indication, it’s only a matter of time before it happens.
When the Satanic Temple was wrongfully prevented from engaging in after school activities with students in Pennsylvania, they sued the school district, arguing that if Christian organizations were allowed to hold events, they should be as well. A judge agreed, and it cost the Saucon Valley Middle School $200,000.
“Thanks to the court’s order, we were able to hold ASSC meetings at the Saucon Valley Middle School, and the kids who attended were overjoyed. It’s for them that we took on this legal fight in the first place, and we won’t hesitate to do so again if other school districts continue to enact discriminatory policies.”
This is only the beginning. Other school districts who employ these sneaky religious tactics are about to get their asses kicked. Once you open the floodgates for religious indoctrination, then they shouldn’t be surprised when ideologies they are uncomfortable with begin to try and influence their children. We all know the Satanic Temple is a harmless organization that uses the name as shock value, and it works. Christian parents were outraged; a small taste of what it’s like for nonbelievers when their children are targeted with their nonsense.
If other schools want to avoid this kind of expensive lesson, than they have a choice: stop all of these types of curriculum, and if parents wish to brainwash their kids with the idea of god, let them do it on their own dime and in their spare time. The rest of us want kids to learn real stuff in school, not make-believe bullshit. Score one for the good guys.
As faith is slowly dying across the western world, it’s put a fire under the feet of religious political figures, who see themselves as martyrs in a “great cause”. As religious affiliation continues to decline, the dying animal of organized religion refuses to simply crawl into a corner and perish. Instead, it seeks to consolidate its worldly powers in the vain hope that by forcing their faith on people, it might get a glorious comeback.
This explains why so many US politicians are doubling down on faith. Take for example House Speaker Mike Johnson. Possessing the personality of a busted robot, he can’t stop acting as though the secular nature of government is a minor inconvenience that no one understands but him.
“Separation of church and state … is a misnomer. People misunderstand it,” Johnson said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked about him praying on the House floor. “Of course, it comes from a phrase that was in a letter that Jefferson wrote is not in the Constitution.”
“And what he was explaining is they did not want the government to encroach upon the church, not that they didn’t want principles of faith to have influence on our public life. It’s exactly the opposite,” the Speaker added.
This might be true if you ignore the very first phrase in the Constitution, which makes it abundantly clear that religion is not invited to the party when it comes to creating policy.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”
It’s important to understand the context of why the “no law respecting an establishment of religion” was added in the first place. This is because when it came to the separation of powers, the inspiration for the document had come from European Enlightenment thinkers such as David Hume and John Locke, who knew full well that the encroachment of religion could spell disaster for any government. Europe’s nations had been entangled for over 200 years in the Great Wars of Religion, and hard lessons of the involvement of religion in political affairs had been well documented. If America wished to avoid such entanglements, it had to take an official stand on just how much place religion would have in politics. The decision was simple: there should be none.
Of course, what non-thinkers like Mike Johnson, who seems to value piety over service to his fellow American, fail to understand that the “Wall of Separation” that Jefferson wrote about in his letters was to reassure a small congregation of Virginia Baptist who were wary of the abuse they had suffered at the hands of their fellow Christians. They too had faced adversity in Europe, and had no wish to further the conflict in their new home. Jefferson reassured them, as he did the rest of the nation, in guaranteeing that the propensity of religion to take the reigns of power would have no effect there.
It was this decision that allowed America’s various religious traditions to flourish. Unlike Germany or England that had official faiths, Americans were free to experiment with religion to their hearts content. This is why so many different branches of Christianity have flourished; a fact that morons like Johnson are completely ignorant of. These deluded fools think that all forms of Christianity are compatible, despite the hundreds of years of conflict that punctuate their existence.
Is it not enough that these organization pay no taxes, benefit from laws that protect them (even from police prosecution for crimes that anyone else would go to jail for), and have such a vaulted place in society? Already pastors preach politics from their pulpits, a clear violation of the rules that allow them tax exempt status to begin with. Now they want the whole enchilada.
If you want the bit of good news in all of this, it’s that the message of Johnson or his ilk is becoming less and less effective. Sure, their base is usually fired up by this rhetoric, but the rest of the nation remains unimpressed. It’s why Republicans across the country are getting slaughtered in the polls. It turns out that when you double down on religion, the voters that have no great affiliation with any political party quickly jump ship. He’s hoping that this reality check hits these troglodyte where it hurts: at the polls.
In yet another case of a religious leader using his position to perpetuate abuse, a jury of his peers in Richland, Mississippi found Samuel Lamar Taylor guilt of sexual battery, and the antique sounding “gratification of lust” (the state doesn’t like the word “molestation” apparently).
The victim was an 11 year old child that this monster was the legal guardian for. When the boy approached a councilor at his school, to their credit, the school called the police. They acted quickly to arrest the Taylor and have the child was immediately removed from his custody. Had this happened a few decades ago, I’m sure nothing would have become of it. Keep in mind that people were always reluctant to believe children over adults, especially when these people cloak themselves in religious garb. Luckily, we now know better.
It’s impossible to know just how many victims he raped, as at least one person also came forward saying that had been sexually abused as far back as 1990, when Taylor was working an a YMCA councilor.
The good news is that this vile sack of crap will be spending the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole. He’s also in for a a bad time in prison. Typically, child rapists are considered the lowest form of life behind bars, and it’s not uncommon for these people to be regularly beaten, terrorized or sometimes even outright killed. While I’m not usually a fan of vigilante justice, I won’t be losing any sleep over this guy. I doubt anyone else will either.
There’s no denying that cars are dangerous. In the United States alone, vehicles account for roughly 40,000 deaths a year, with the numbers increasing year on year. The problem is particularly bad in states like Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina, which have twice the average road fatalities when compared to other states. One place that tends to have a much lower average is Washington, DC. Perhaps people tend to drive more conservatively there.
Still, it doesn’t mean some people don’t driving recklessly. On October 4th, Reverend Samuel Holloway, drove his car dangerously close to a small family, pinning a 6 year old boy’s foot was under his SUV’s tires after he accelerated past a crosswalk they were using. Following the frightening incident, it appeared that the man was pulling his vehicle over when instructed by a witness, but instead he quickly fled the scene.
Unaware that his accident had been caught on camera, when Holloway finally turned himself in (after 2 weeks of being in what he called a “mental fog”) it turns out that he also had a suspended license. Now, rather than getting jail time, his attorney is requested leniency, claiming that there were extenuating circumstances that led him to both hit the family, and drive away.
Holloway’s motion goes on to say that at the time of the accident, he had not eaten or taken his blood pressure medication. The document states that a “stressful day,” “high blood pressure” and “mental confusion” following the crash, all contributed to Holloway’s “uncharacteristic, unacceptable and unreasonable flight response.”
Holloway is trying to use his status in the community to skirt responsibility and jail. It’s unsurprising. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he wants instead to be given a slap on the wrist. He’s likely to get his wish, as American judges tend to have massive blinders when it comes to the priestly class.
While there hasn’t been an official decision, I’m willing to bet that he walks away scot-free. It’s the great advantage that pious people can still boast. All they need to do is look sad, say they love Jesus, and the rest is forgiven. No wonder they love their religion so much; it’s a goddamn get out of jail free card!
A former student of Bogan High School in Chicago was awarded $150,000 after she sued the school, claiming that she was forced to participate in a Hindu meditation ritual. Outraged that she was obligated to go along with a religion that was not her own, this individual (who has never walked a day in the life of an atheist’s shoes) decided that this egregious act deserved financial compensation, and a dipshit judge agreed.
In the lawsuit, Green alleges the “Transcendental Meditation” program was held during school hours, and students were required to participate in an initiation ceremony called a “Puja” — an “expression of gratitude” to the dead founders of the practice.
During the “Puja,” instructors chanted words in Sanskrit containing “statements recognizing the power possessed by various Hindu deities and invitations to those same Hindu deities to channel their powers” without telling students what they meant, the suit states.
So let me just reiterate this so that you don’t choke to death on your own bile: a school mandated prayer session violated a woman’s core beliefs. Who knew that it was possible to get such a windfall from having a foreign religion shoved down your throat?
Now, because of how precedence works in the legal system, I am strongly encouraging my fellow atheists in Illinois to use this case as a springboard for their own forced religiosity. How many school programs have discriminated against non-believers in similar ways? I agree that this mandated prayer session didn’t belong in school, and that this should apply to all religions. Of course, for that to occur, Christians would have to stop being a bunch of crybaby hypocrites who think the rules don’t apply to them. Fat chance that will ever happen.
This week, we discuss the scam of prosperity gospels, JW’s continue to try and fight courts to deny child life saving treatment, and the new Speaker of the House being a religious nutbag.
Christian Universities are a joke. The notion that an educational institution would have an official religion is against the very idea of learning. Forget being able to challenge the beliefs and ideas of others, which is the bedrock of any liberal education. Instead, if you are a sensitive Christian that despises the idea that you might share real-estate with people who don’t believe in exactly the same this, then the University of Grand Canyon might be for you. All you need to accept is the idea that the amount of money you’ll be spending on your education will be way different than what you were originally quoted.
This is because they were recently fined 37 million dollars for deceiving students pursuing doctoral programs into paying more money than they were originally slated to give. This represents the largest penalty ever issued to an “educational” institution for this kind of activity. They should feel proud.
The University ranks 395th out of 435 in the US, which means that if you were to randomly pick any school in America, the odds of getting a worst one would be quite low. Grand Canyon ranks in the bottom 25% of American Universities, and from the graduation rates, it’s obvious that the school is far more interested in registrations than graduations.
Here are a few reviews that seem to corroborate this
I spent eight years working on a PhD only to have incompetent dissertation chairs. I was put in an extension course after extension course writing my dissertation proposal with no end in sight. Paying out of pocket. They use up all your student loan money and they don’t care to see you graduate. Horrible experience.
I don’t even know where to start. I am in my first class and can already see I made a huge mistake. The interface is awful and half assed. I was given bad in financial info. It is not worth what you pay.
Were you expecting a religious organization to be interested in anything other than money? Where have you been for the last millennium or two?
