Tag Archives: politics

Global Warming denier claims God will protect us

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With the GOP back in power in the House, religious fundies are free to get appointed to important committees they are completely unqualified to run. Here we see Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) as he argues in 2009 humans have nothing to fear from climate change, as God has promised in the Bible not to destroy mankind again (except of course when he comes back down to earth to kill most of us). So what job does this idiot want? To chair the House Energy and Commerce committee, or course!

I can’t imagine a person more suited to help move America into the future with renewable energy than someone who thinks an invisible man in the sky pinky-swore not to kill us all, and will somehow fix all of our problems in the distant future. You fucking voted this idiot into office, America. Congrats!

James Dobson is a crazy old man

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When you think of today’s Republican party, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Some might say “less government regulation”, or “opposition to homosexuality”. One thing is for sure: few will deny the powerful collusion of the religious right in the policies and decisions the party makes. They know how important that base is, and they cater to it. In fact, if you want a perfect example of this, look no further than John McCain, who went from principled and decent to Christian lapdog in just a few short years.

So you would think everything is hunky-dory over at the major headquarters of Right Wingers, but apparently the GOP isn’t doing enough for some. Enter James Dobson, who for the last few days has dedicated his radio show to various speeches he’s written over the years criticizing Republicans for ignoring basic “moral principles” in order to become elected. Here’s the final portion of his speech:

It’s a lack of conviction that there is a boss to the universe and that there are moral standards that we are held to and we need officials who will stand up and represent them. What that conveys to the constituency I’m talking about is that principle does not matter, it’s party over principle. That there are some things that you stand for whether it is popular or politically astute to do so or not. That’s what that pro-moral community stands for.

And yet it seemed to me that what I heard from the Republicans in Indian Wells was we cannot have power if we stand on principle – please don’t take away our power. What good is it to have power if you don’t use it for good?

The Republican Party was born in the crucible of conviction and courage and moral righteousness, that’s where the Republican Party started. It took a stand against slavery in a day that cost six hundred thousand lives in the Civil War. But they knew is was wrong and they took a stand on it, whether win, lose, or draw, that’s God’s business. They took a stand on what was right.

If the party has left that and it is now going to mouth these two things every two years and then go on to something else, I think we need to look for another. And it would be tragic if that happened. I don’t want that to happen. There are many state houses of government where Republicans will suffer if that happens. It will be a disaster for the country, but somebody said “if you do that, you have no voice at all.” I don’t think we have a voice now. I can’t hear the voice.

Ah yes, the old “The Republican Party fought to end slavery” line. Too bad that the party has since done a complete 180 in terms of its political ideology, otherwise he might actually have a point. In any case, it only brings up the fact that as we speak, Republicans are on the wrong side of history concerning gay marriage and civil rights in general. This, I suspect, is due primarily to the GOP courting the most racist, bigoted segment of American society. Being in bed with these people has fundamentally altered the party, and because of this, Republicans run the risk of alienating future voters as they will continue to be seen as the political party for our embarrassingly out of touch grandparents.

Thank you James, for reminding us who really pulls the strings of the Republican party now.

Louisiana dummies shocked that kids are learning Evolution

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Ah, creationism; no matter how you dress it up, it’s still a steaming pile of horse shit. Every year it’s the same thing: a group of ignorant and highly religious parents become upset their children are actually receiving an education as to how life adapts and changes over time, and their reaction is to try and insert their creationist materials (which they hilariously call “intelligent design”) into classrooms. Once they start doing that, it becomes necessary to get the courts involved, and school boards with small budgets spend huge sums of money in the ensuing legal battles (remember the Dover trial? It cost 2 million bucks, and I’m sure lots of schools would be dying for that kind of money).

Now while big states like Texas get all the attention, Louisiana has decided it too wants to join in on all the fun. A number of citizens, backed by the Louisiana Family Forum (hey look, another conservative org with the word “family” in it), are attacking the state’s biology textbooks because they are teaching “too much evolution”.

Darrell White also told the Advocate that the textbooks don’t comply with the anti-evolution law known as the “Louisiana Science Education Act,” which the Family Forum helped write and successfully lobbied for in 2008. The LSEA instructs educators to promote “critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories being studied including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.” It also allows teachers and school districts to use “supplemental textbooks,” which are just code words for creationist and pro-intelligent design materials.

The losers in this whole thing are the kids, who as a consequence of all this nonsense end up having a shitty education. While Americans continue to wrestle with the incompatibility of their religion and objective reality, the rest of the world is passing them by at the speed of light. It’s hard to imagine what influence all of this “debate” will have on these students as they enter the global marketplace, but it’s not likely to be very good. How can you survive in a knowledge-based economy when your citizens keep filling their heads with superstitious bullshit?

Australia’s Education Minister bows to Christian lobby

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Now I know a number of you Aussies are still gloating over the fact that your Prime Minister is a non-believer, but I’m sorry to announce to some of you this lack of belief doesn’t seem to be having much of an influence on policy. A few weeks ago, controversy erupted when it was suggested a new “humanism” course should be included in schools as an alternative to religious education. Christians freaked out naturally, and started accusing humanists of being no better than Satanists (I wish I was kidding about that one).

Despite the course being designed and ready to be implemented, Minister Bronwyn Pike rejected the proposal in an obvious attempt to placate powerful Christian lobbies.

There you have it folks: it’s as easy as that to kill secular programs. All you need is an army of rabid, uneducated zombies who insist a secular alternative to their nonsense is unacceptable. So students who “opt out” of the classes will still be stuck with their thumbs up their ass, waiting for their fellow students to be done being taught that an invisible man in the sky created the world for them.

Children who do not attend these sessions are not allowed to be taught anything their classmates might miss out on during this time, so they are often put in another room where they read or play on computers.

That sure sounds like religion’s handy work, right? They prefer students do nothing rather than learn about “…the art of living, the environment, philosophy, science and world citizenship.” With their powerful and influential vote, they’ve managed to shut down this program until someone with fucking balls tells them to keep their retarded, uneducated opinions to themselves. This is a pretty big fail moment, my Aussie friends…

The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 167

This week Ryan and I talk about the history of Halloween, and the hysteria of Satanic Ritual Abuse in the 80’s and 90’s (and how crazy evangelicals were behind most of it). We also talk about the coming election, and finally we discuss my nasty mustache for Movember.

The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist
The Good Atheist Podcast: EP 167
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French Muslims demand state schools make changes

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France has a problem; it seems as though Muslims are not integrating well in their country, and many are making unrealistic demands of secular schools, including adding halal to the cafeteria menus, sizing down courses that teach about other world religions, and an opt-out option for classes about the evolution, the Holocaust, or France’s war in Algeria. In other words, they want an education that matches their anti-Semitic, revisionist, and creationist point of view.

Anti-Semitism … surfaces during courses about the Holocaust, such as inappropriate jokes and refusals to watch films” about Nazi concentration camps, it said. “Tensions often come from pupils who identify themselves as Muslims.”…Teachers found they could discuss the transatlantic slave trade but met criticism from pupils when they brought up the history of slavery within Africa or in the Middle East. Reflecting the promotion of anti-Darwinist thinking in Muslim countries, “evolution is challenged by pupils who posit divine or creationist action without any argument for it.

The country is desperate to figure out how to integrate Muslims which now number over 5 million. This problem isn’t limited to France; other countries are also feeling frustrated over the fact even second generation Muslims are refusing to properly integrate into the culture. The backlash, of course, is all Muslims are seen as potentially subversive and viewed with suspicion, something that’s likely to be returned in kind. So what’s to be done?

I’d suggest any student who has a problem with secular curriculum can simply stay home and remain ignorant; there’s no reason to allow the kind of inappropriate distraction to continue, and students who are there to actually learn and benefit from a free education are the ones really losing out. Attempting to humor the ridiculous demands of religionists only makes them want more power and control. Despite the fact moderates are convinced their specific religion is only interested in helping people with spiritual issues, the real M.O. of organized religion has always been to dominate the lives of everyone here on Earth. We live in a historically unique time where we’ve managed to marginalize their political influence here in the West (mostly), but there’s no reason to assume it’ll be like that in the future, especially if we humor their ludicrous demands. If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile.

Sarah Palin uses Pat Tillman story to glorify war

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If there’s one thing Republicans like to boast about, it’s their “support” of the troops. We’ll ignore for a moment the fact that under their administrations, benefits to veterans have continually been slashed; if you really want to show your love for the troops, how about you DON’T send them into unnecessary combat?

A few days ago, Sarah Palin was on tour, and stopped by San Jose to give a speech about how much she loves soldiers, and in particular, how she felt Pat Tillman (who is from San Jose) should be God-thanked for his contribution:

“Remember to thank God every day for Pat, for his family and the thousands like him”.

Would that be his super atheist family who lambasted aging dinosaur John McCain and creepy giant-face Maria Shriver for doing exactly the same thing at his funeral? His brother Richard was particularly not amused by their comments Pat was “with God”, and said “He’s not with God, he’s fucking dead”.

It seems as though the religious right still can’t put it in their thick skulls the Tillman story was a cautionary tale of war, not a call to arms. Pat didn’t die defending his country; he died in a spray of friendly fire. Even the circumstances surrounding his death are deeply mysterious, and his family has been fighting for years (without success) to get the truth from the military that tried to use his death to sell their shitty war. They have been stonewalled ever since, a reminder like any institution, the military’s chief concern is maintaining their own power and influence.

Defiant priests think their freedoms are being curtailed

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Religions have it pretty sweet in America. Not only do they enjoy a special status in society; they also get to benefit from generous tax exemptions. This privileged status comes at a price however; churches are not allowed by law to interfere with the political process. It’s a rule that’s never been strongly enforced in my opinion, with plenty of  instances where religious institutions have openly or secretly participated in the political process (like the Mormon church paying millions of dollars to get Prop 8 passed, or preachers telling their congregation they had to vote for Bush). Still, it hasn’t stopped a bunch of pastors from feeling as though their right to free speech is being unfairly censored.

The pastors, along with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based nonprofit Alliance Defense Fund, are reacting to a law stating that churches are not allowed to support politicians from the pulpit…”We believe that a pastor has a right to speak whatever he believes without fearing the government will somehow censor what he says or threaten to take away his tax exemption,” ADF spokesman Erik Stanley said.

But are their rights really being infringed? A pastor has every right to express his political opinion in public; it’s merely the rules of the game state that he is expressly forbidden to do so from his pulpit. In other words, a church leader isn’t allowed to use his considerable priestly power to influence the political choice of his “flock”. This is precisely why the separation of church and state exists; religions exert so much control and influence they can interfere with the way a government works. We all recognize the dangers of sectarianism in subverting democracy, and we shouldn’t be too surprised when religious leaders try and usurp power to further their own ends. In this case, these pastors who evidently wish to endorse conservative candidates cannot continue to be allowed special privileges if they refuse to play by the rules.

If they want to preach from their pulpit, they should submit to the same duties all citizens share: the need to pay taxes. I’d have no problem with them pressuring their own already conservative sheep into voting Republican if it meant state coffers were being filled with millions of dollars of tax revenue. Of course because they’ve been enjoying their tax exempt status for so long, it’s doubtful any of them would accept this compromise, so they’ll continue to have their cake and eat it too so long as we’re too chicken-shit to do anything about it.

Irony, thy name is religion

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So let me get this straight: this movie is claiming secular institutions are “indoctrinating” young people through the process of NOT forcing them to participate in mandatory religious service…Yeah, sounds like the proper definition there. Also according to some of these nutjobs, the “Fear of God” is what leads ultimately to wisdom. In other words, if you fear burning in Hell for eternity, you’re supposedly going to be a better person for constantly worrying about the threat of eternal damnation. Oh religion, will you ever stop being so fucking wacky?

UNCG Atheists fight to remove prayer in city council

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The UNCG Atheists/Agnostics/Skeptics are still fighting the good fight and trying to get the city council of Greensboro to remove their official prayer during meetings.

Greensboro mayor adds prayer to council meetings

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It seems as though the concept of the separation of church and state, made abundantly clear by the Establishment Clause of the constitution, is still something some Christians just can’t seem to wrap their head around. The latest bonehead is Mayor Bill Knight of the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. If that city sounds a little familiar to you, it’s because only a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being invited by the UNCG Atheist/Agnostic/Skeptic group to give a lecture at their school. Imagine my surprise to find them in the news trying to push back against the inclusion of prayer during city council meetings.

As is typical with this kind of story, a lot of ignorant, right wing conservatives are “angry” secularists are trying to prevent this kind of activity (just read the comments in the article I linked if you want to pull your hair out). They naively think this is some kind of attempt to prevent them from praying to their sky-daddy. In truth, all we want is for government to get out of the business of telling people when to pray. This very separation is what allows religious folks to have the freedom to pursue their superstitious rituals without fear or reprisal. The Establishment Clause is specifically designed to prevent religion and government from becoming intertwined. Why is this so fucking hard for some people to understand? If you want to pray, do it on your own damn time, and leave the business of religion to the private lives of citizens. It has no business in government, period.

Sarah Palin makes my head hurt

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By now I’m sure you’ve seen this video, or at the very least heard others talk about the fact Sarah Palin seems to think the Bible (and in particular the 10 commandments) is an excellent resource for the crafting of modern laws. It’s what her religious zombies want her to say, even though there isn’t one person alive who can tell you exactly HOW you’re supposed to use this ancient, primitive text to prescribe laws in this complex and modern world. What are you supposed to do about issues of slavery, genocide, infanticide, murder, and animal sacrifices, all of which are condoned in this supposed “holy” text.

So which Commandment does Sarah Palin want laws made from? Would she try and make adultery a crime? Presumably you’d probably need to jail close to half of the adult male population if extra-marital sex was suddenly against the law. What about a law against making false idols, or working on a Sunday? Are you doubly screwed if you worked one weekend at a chocolate bunny factory? These “crimes”  are all punishable by death; does that mean we would need to issue the death penalty for single mothers who need to work 7 days a week to provide food for their families? The “big guy” also doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about the whole “coveting your neighbor’s ass” thing also, so I wonder how a modern capitalist society is going to enforce that one…

Luckily, all of these questions can be answered by turning to the Bible for guidance in this matter. Let us turn to First Timothy, chapter 2 verse 11:

A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet

Phew, and here I thought we’d have to keep listening to this crazy bitch!

Ontario teachers desperate for work “fake” being Catholic

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In the province of Ontario, it seems like teachers are having a hard time finding work. Some are so desperate they’ve started “faking” religious belief in order to find work. The Globe and Mail is reporting a number of out of work teachers have been pretending to be Catholic in order to teach in private Catholic Schools. In Ontario, there is actually a law which allows these private schools to discriminate against employees who are not of the same faith, and to get in, you need a pastoral letter confirming the fact you believe in zombie Jesus.

Hey, I don’t blame these teachers for lying, especially considering the fact thousands of educators can’t seem to find work in the province. Still, it does seem pretty shitty that otherwise qualified individuals have to pass a religious “purity” test just to have a fucking job. How would you like having to lick the boots of religion just to make ends meet?

Oklahoma continues fight against pregnant women

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

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

City council fails to change Good Friday to “Spring Holiday”

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“Good Friday” is creepy. As a holiday, I’d say it ranks pretty high up on the weirdo-meter (the biggest one in my book is the cryptic and disturbing celebration of Passover, where Jews celebrate God killing the first born children of Egyptians and “passing over” their own kids). For starters, millions of Catholics celebrate the crucifixion of their messiah, as though his supposed torture and eventual death is something to celebrate. The big joke, of course, is that Easter is nothing more than a pagan holiday, but you can’t seem to convince the faithful that their precious celebration is nothing more than a copyright infringement.

In an effort to try and show some degree of neutrality towards religion, the city council of Davenport, Iowa tried to change “Good Friday” on their municipal calendar to simply “Spring Holiday”. As you can guess, religious folks totally lost their shit, and forced city officials to change it back. They now say that the name change was “an error”.

Just another example of tantrum religious people have whenever they aren’t shown any special treatment. They might frame it as a religious rights issue, but I don’t exactly see a lot of Christians fighting for the rights of other religious denominations to have their holidays officially recognized by the government. Bunch of crybabies.