Welcome back to another episode of The Good Atheist bonus podcast. This week I have a special guest: a TGA fan from Calgary called Brock Roberts. I invite him to talk about how he became an atheist, why creationism is nonsense, and why young people need to take more control in politics.
I love condoms. They’ve been around since ancient times; Egyptians would make theirs out of ceramic (ribbed for her pleasure I hope), while in the 16th century Europeans made theirs out of sheep intestines. Although their primary use is contraceptive, these useful little devices are used for all kinds of purposes, from makeshift waterproof containers to improvised explosive devices. Apparently, having a rubber tube like structure is convenient for a number of reasons.
Almost everyone loves condoms, except for the Roman Catholic Church, who feels every sexual encounter needs to result in pregnancy. Not only is this view insanely impractical and dangerous (how are we supposed to support a geometrically expanding population?), it puts people’s lives at risk. By telling people condom use is forbidden, how many believers contract deadly diseases? How many women have unwanted pregnancies that put their own lives in jeopardy?
The reason the church hates condom use is almost entirely because of the story of Onan. It goes something like this: God tells Onan to impregnate his brother’s widow, but at the last minute he pulls out, spilling his “seed” on the ground (hey, sometimes you just slip out, you know?). God gets angry and strikes him dead. From this nonsense, the Church has decided God disapproves of contraception. Yep, that’s pretty much the only reason (other than their “be fruitful and multiply passage they like so much).
In the Philippines, ignorant and annoying Catholic leaders are actively killing the government’s plan to encourage its citizens to practice safer sex to prevent the spread of HIV. They incorrectly and deviously proclaim condoms are ineffective, saying the only real way to prevent AIDS is abstinence and forcing fidelity in marriage. Yeah, those values are really realistic, aren’t they?
It’s just another example of how out of touch with reality these assholes are. They would gladly let people die of AIDS and other diseases if it meant following the insane edicts of sexually repressed clergymen. Do yourself a service people; don’t take advice on sex from guys who have never actually HAD it. These are the same fuck-faces who can’t seem to stop molesting little kids. Why is anyone listening to these guys again?
Ever heard of an organization called “Youth for Christ”? It’s an evangelical youth group that seeks to convert people to Jesus, and like any evangelizing organization, it isn’t content to sit by and let people live their own lives. Recently, the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba voted to contribute 2.5 million dollars towards a faith-based recreation center. This hasn’t sat well with some of the locals who are upset that the city, which is broke, is giving money to a private religious organization that sets out to convert people.
The Mayor, Sam Katz, isn’t sure why everyone thinks it’s a big deal:
My understanding is the majority of our youth who attend those facilities are not Christian — anybody can go there.
Luckily, some people actually have their heads screwed on right; local MP Pat Martin has argued that their mandate to convert young people makes “Youth for Christ” ineligible for public monies. How would people react, he argues, if the money been given to a group called “Youth for Allah” instead? Not too well I assume.
These kinds of organizations always bill themselves as open to everyone, and for good reason; they are on a mission to convert fertile young minds to their insane doctrine. The fact that the city is actively helping them accomplish this goal is totally unacceptable, especially in light of the fact that other more worthy organizations have been denied funding. It’s quite obviously religious pandering, and Winnipeggers (I think that’s what they call themselves) should be outraged.
Religious proselytizers have a new buzzword their throwing around to try and justify their renewed efforts to break down the wall separating church and state; they are arguing that their religious freedoms are being threatened. Take this example: Sen. David Schultheis is proposing a new bill that would allow students and faculty members to actively try and recruit on school grounds.
Schultheis, a Republican from Colorado Springs, believes school administrators hamper expressions of faith because the issue can be controversial and they don’t always have a clear picture of a student’s or a teacher’s constitutional rights. “This is designed to make students, parents, teachers and administrators aware that they can’t be denied religious freedom,” he said.
This is the new rhetoric that you’re going to see being used to justify the increased involvement of religion in politics. It hasn’t occurred to any of these clowns that the Separation of Church and State is precisely WHY America is such a diverse religious nation; the promotion of any religion (in particular, Christianity) threatens the religious liberties of other faiths. Look, I’m not a big fan of any religion, but I recognize the fact that everyone has a right to believe what they will, so long as the rest of us aren’t forced to. Religious freedom isn’t threatened by secularism; if it was, there would be no religious diversity in America to begin with.
Expect more of this kind of rhetorical nonsense in the future, if only because it appears to be extremely effective; there’s no better way to scare Christians than to make them believe that their religious freedoms are threatened, even when these fears are totally unjustified.
In case you were unaware, Mormons typically don’t like gays. They hate them so much they devoted a significant portion of their resources to pushing for Prop 8, using all kinds of ridiculous fear mongering and veiled bigotry to convince people that allowing marriages between individuals of the same sex would somehow torpedo their own unions. It didn’t matter to them this was a complete and utter fabrication; remember, these are the same folks who believe Native Americans were actually cursed Jews .
The religious authorities of the Church, known commonly as “Elders”, have been pretty clever with their use of rhetoric to mask their bigotry and disdain for civil rights, but recently one of their old fogies started complaining about Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the court case challenging the legality of Proposition 8. Elder Lance Wickman believes this case will specifically erode the “liberty” religions have in influencing politicians, something he believes is the fundamental right of all crazy conservative religions:
I believe that the greatest challenge faced by the church,” Elder Wickman said, “is the challenge to religious liberty that is growing worldwide. … A battle is looming over the effort to acquire civil social rights at the expense of civil religious rights. This battle, I believe, represents the acceleration of a disturbing slide downward in the law regarding the place of religion in the public square.
Perry seeks a court declaration that, as a matter of law, religious views may not be used to justify the denial of a social civil right.
Wow, I guess that says it all, doesn’t it? The fact this idiot actually BELIEVES religions have a right to impose their twisted and bigoted world view on the rest of us is telling. Finally, a little bit of honesty coming out of the Mormon camp. Luckily, Americans still benefit (for now) from the separation of church and state, which dictates quite plainly religions have absolutely no fucking business in politics, for exactly the reasons outlined by Elder Wickman; they seek to impose their limited view of civil liberties on others, and that simply isn’t acceptable.
Iran is still a mess politically, and even after jailing, torturing and intimidating protesters, it hasn’t stopped young people from wanting a radical change in their government. Now, out of desperation, the government has turned to calling political dissenters “mohareb”, or enemies of God. Because the country is under Sharia law, the greatest crime is apostasy, and since the penalty for this “crime” is death, it’s rarely been used since there is no real defense against it. If the government decides you are an enemy of God, it’s best to make your funeral arrangements.
If you want a clear example why political religions are dangerous, look no further than Iran. The toxic mixture of religious infallibility and political corruption destroys any hope of people being treated fairly and equitably. I’ve come to expect any system of government that relies on religious dogma to be evil and antithetical to human dignity and freedom, and it’s another reason why the efforts of religious conservatives in the US scares me. You know some of them envy other nations that get to use the weight of the government to impose their beliefs on others. Those of us without religious affiliation who enjoy the freedom that separation of church and state affords us need to make sure we aren’t passive in our resistance against their tyranny. Religion and politics don’t mix, and that’s a fact.
It’s sad Jack’s words have since fallen on deaf ears as Christians work tirelessly to erode the wall separating church and state. This one act is the reason why your own country has enjoyed such unprecedented freedom (which isn’t what it used to be, honestly). All religions seek power and control, and are therefore antithetical to freedom, and great men like John F. Kennedy recognized this fact not so long ago. It’s a damn shame that everyone seems to have forgotten it since then.
Apparently the Home Office in Great Britain has money to burn, as they’ve given the Christian Police Association £10,000 (or about $16,000) to help their campaign aimed at getting the public to pray to help prevent crime. They are already claiming the program, which they’ve already initiated, is having some major success:
In one particular area, an officer was investigating an incident but he had not been able to apprehend a suspect. He encouraged a church to pray for him and within days a suspect had been arrested and charged.
In another area, an officer encouraged churches to pray about domestic burglary and over the year it came down by 30 per cent. We do not discount good police work, which is why we call it circumstantial evidence.
You have to love the faithful; any time there’s a study done that proves prayer does exactly jack-shit (and Jack left town), they completely ignore it, no matter what the evidence is. It’s plainly obvious to everyone else talking your invisible friend doesn’t do more than bring a sense of comfort for the delusional, let alone “solve crime”. Could the 30 percent reduction in domestic burglary possibly be related to the crime rate falling in the UK for the past few years (the government reports a simultaneous increase in illicit drug use; am I to assume using their logic that using drugs prevents crime?) Where did these clowns graduate from: Police Academy 5?
Is it too much to ask that governments not spend their taxpayer’s hard-earned money on nonsense?
It’s now official; parents need to stay the fuck out of the educational system. How else are we supposed to react when one of these people gets the expanded version of Anne Frank’s diary banned for containing a short passage making reference to the vagina?
There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can’t imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!
Originally Anne’s father had removed some of her passages from the diary, presumably out of fear that Anne’s frankness (is this considered a tasteless pun?) would be too much for students to handle. I guess he was right, since it took only one complaint for school officials to cave.
Hey, I get it; when you have kids, your brain gets a little bit rattled (in fact, during the late stages of pregnancy, a woman’s brain will temporarily shrink for a little while). It doesn’t help that these defenseless whelps need your constant attention not to die. Eventually, however, you have to accept the fact the wider world is out there for them to explore, and losing your shit every time a sexual organ is being discussed is a serious over-reaction on the part of parents with bigger hearts than brains.
Jim Allen, the director of instruction at Culpeper County public school had this to say about the situation:
“I’m happy when parents get involved with these things because it lets me know that they are really looking and have their kids’ best interest (in mind). And that’s where good parenting and good teaching comes in.”
Does good parenting involve banning books because of innocent references to private parts? How is this good teaching? It’s quite literally the opposite of that, moron.
Hey parents, may I ask you something? Do you ever fear that the degree to which you wish to protect your children from any kind of harm makes you absolutely batshit insane sometimes? The rest of us childless folks have to wonder what kind of effect having offspring has on your brain, because your behavior can often be described as utterly mental. Take this story involving parents banning the 6th edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary at Southern California elementary school because it has a definition for “oral sex”.
The disappointing thing here is it took just one parent to complain before the school board freaked out, and you just know it was the parents of the kid who just needed to know what oral sex was. So rather than have to deal honestly with the question, their response was to have the dictionary banned. Now I realize the idiotic things parents do is usually motivated by the love they have for their children, but it doesn’t absolve them from insanity. Can you all chill the fuck out and relax already? Anyone with kids who thinks banning a dictionary will somehow prevent them from learning about the world outside the boundaries they’ve delineated is both naïve and stupid. Can you all stop banning or burning books you think will “warp” their minds? I assure you the only thing you achieve is looking both insane and out of touch with reality.
If you lie or trick your kids about stupid shit (like sex education), how will they ever believe you about stuff that really matters?
It’s nice to know the American military hasn’t completely lost their minds; they’ve successfully pressured the morons at Trijicon into removing Biblical references on their scopes. I guess the whole “Jesus Rifles” moniker actually caught on, and there was no doubt to everyone with half a brain that this kind of practice would be putting soldier’s lives at risk for no good reason.
Now you just need to remove references of a creator from your fucking money already. Remind me why that’s kosher again?
It’s not enough religious wackos like Pat Robertson claim Haiti is suffering because the country made a pact with the devil; now other morons are coming out and saying similarly insensitive and terrible shit. The latest scumbag is Dr. Wesley Stafford, who had this to say:
Haiti … has been a disaster in almost every way long before this ever struck. And it is a nation, between you and me, I guess, that Satan has had absolutely free reign in that nation. And while the missionary effort and the church effort has been enormous, this is a nation that you can literally feel the evil in it. But then as the church lives out its faith, having come through this deep, deep valley, my great prayer is that there will be a great wave of healing and change in the nation of Haiti … that could only come about through an interruption like this and only happen through the glory of God.
Here’s the thing: Stafford’s organization is apparently on the up and up (receiving a high rating by an independent charity watchdog), and beyond teaching kids their idiotic beliefs, they seem to do good work. That doesn’t mean, however, he can say such hateful shit without consequence. He’s blaming Haitians for being so poor, suggesting the reason that country lost 200,000 people in a tragic natural disaster is because God is punishing them in some way.
This is what I detest about American Christians; they equate prosperity as God’s way of rewarding good people. They can’t seem to fathom that there may be far more complicated geopolitical reasons for poverty; mainly, their own country supported terrible dictatorships that only exacerbated the poverty and desperation of Haiti. Sure, his organization helps desperate people in the third world, but this could also be done without his smug hubris that these same impoverished nations are cursed by his sky deity for not “following the Lord’s words properly”. I feel embarrassed for the human race when such ignorance is so rampant.
ABC News recently broke a pretty big story about Trijion, a company that makes optical sights for firearms, and how they’ve been sneaking secret Bible coded references on their gun sights. One of them is II Corinthians 4:6 (abbreviated as 2COR4:6)
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The company has no plans to change this crazy habit of theirs, and considering they have a long term, 660 million dollar contract with the government to produce these sights, it looks like unless someone steps in to stop these idiots, countless guns used by both American and Iraqi personnel will have these codes embedded on them. Great fucking idea, right?
Here’s a video where Rachel Maddow lambastes the company, saying their decision to include these Bible verses only strengthens arguments from Muslim insurgents that America is on a “Crusade” against Islam. Considering how delicate the situation is right now, it’s about as wise as pouring gasoline on a blazing fire. The problem is Trijicon can’t help themselves; they love Jesus and his Church, and proselytizing is so important to them that they are willing to put the lives of soldiers in danger. For them, the stakes are as high as it gets: they are trying to save souls, and if that means putting the lives of soldiers at risk as a result, it’s a necessary evil. This isn’t the first controversy regarding the dangerous mix of religion in the military, and you can bet it won’t be the last.
Here’s an interesting article calling on President Obama to revise the terms of funding for World Vision, the largest Christian charity in the world, for its failure to abide by the First Amendment (that pesky separation of church and state portion of your Constitution). You see, since they receive approximately 250 million dollars from federal monies, the organization would technically be required to allow non-Christians the opportunity to work for them, especially when they fail to hire qualified persons due to this idiotic religious restriction.
Their first mission is to promote Christianity, and charitable work is only their secondary mandate. I’m not saying they don’t do good work, but a significant portion of their efforts is devoted to teaching people a dead 2000 year old Jew was a God, and the care they provide can often seem like extortion (tell me you love Jesus and I’ll give you fresh water!). If their religion is the only truth, why are they so scared to allow people of other faiths to work with them? Seems pretty cowardly to me.
Imagine for a moment a non-religious organization was only hiring unbelievers, and refused any qualified persons of faith; everyone would fucking lose their minds over that shit. The most frustrating part of this is by limiting their hiring policy, it’s sometimes impossible for them to find qualified individuals to help out, and it’s the people they are trying to help who end up suffering as a result (suffering is a Christian virtue, so I’m sure no one is losing sleep over it). Don’t you just love how religion poisons everything?
I’ve been poor my whole life, and there have definitely been times when I’ve been tempted to steal shit when I was desperate. Luckily, I’ve always had good friends to help me out, and I never made any terrible mistakes. Of course, I also never had this guy as a priest, Father Tim Jones who has recently caused controversy when he told his parishioners that it was OK to shoplift.
Father Jones is very specific when he refers to who you can and cannot steal from; big business is OK, since according to him the cost of the theft would be passed on to other more wealthy customers. I guess to him it doesn’t matter that for many people on a tight budget, ballooning costs from shoplifting might exacerbate their problems. Then again, he’s not exactly the brightest guy in the world:
He said he offered the advice “with a heavy heart”, and wished society would recognize that bureaucratic ineptitude and systemic delay had created an “invitation and incentive to crime for people struggling to cope”.
Now I admit there are some people who are really in dire straights, and perhaps to these poor people the temptation to simply take what they need is overwhelming. My worry is that this douchebag is forgetting shoplifting isn’t without consequence, and this bad advice could lead his flock astray. To you and me, Father Jones is really only an expert in nonsense, but to his parishioners he is a man with a direct line to God, and this weighty position comes with a few responsibilities. One of these should be their protection, but I guess he’s too busy “raging against the man” to worry about that.
Why don’t you entice your wealthier congregants to help out the less fortunate instead, sir? It certainly would be better advice, since no one will need to spend Christmas in jail.
