God May or May Not Forgive Your Thieving Ways...Hopefully

Judging by the overwhelming religious identification of the American prison population, we can give this guy credit for at least aiming his message to the appropriate audience.

Nonsense on the Rocks, With a Vitriol Chaser

Legal Victory Raises Profile of an Atheist Group

By DIRK JOHNSON

Published: April 23, 2010

MADISON, Wis. — Annie Laurie Gaylor clicked through a flurry of e-mail messages warning her to repent or she would burn in hell.

“Herod,” one messenger called her.

Ms. Gaylor leaned back and sipped from a cup of tea, unfazed and even a bit surprised at the relative tameness of the attacks. Fresh from her latest godless triumph, she had expected more vitriol.

“It used to be a lot worse,” said Ms. Gaylor, 54, an atheist whose organization, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, recently won a suit in federal court here that declared the National Day of Prayer to be a violation of the First Amendment. “Things are changing. Society is becoming more secularized. It’s becoming acceptable to be atheist and agnostic. And there are more of us.”

The nation’s population continues to show signs of becoming less religious, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. The number of people in 2008 calling themselves atheist or agnostic, or stating no religious preference, is an estimated 15 percent, nearly double the percentage in the early 1990s. Around the country, nonbeliever clubs are springing up on college campuses.

Headquartered in a former Episcopal rectory in the shadow of the State Capitol, Freedom From Religion was founded in 1976 by Ms. Gaylor — then a student at the University of Wisconsin — and her mother, Anne Nicol Gaylor, who remains a fierce advocate for “free thought” at age 83. The co-president of the group is Annie Laurie Gaylor’s husband, Dan Barker, a former evangelical minister.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation claims a membership of more than 14,000, the largest group in the country advocating for atheists and agnostics. It has doubled its staff to eight in the last year, publishes a newspaper 10 times a year, Freethought Today, and has a weekly radio show. The group counts among its members and vocal supporters Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Hitchens and Ron Reagan.

Over the years, the group has won a suit to stop Bible instruction in a Tennessee school district, overturned a Madison law ordering businesses to close for hours on Good Friday and stopped a Colorado public school from requiring students to do volunteer work at churches.

The group’s biggest victory to date came last week when Judge Barbara B. Crabb of Federal District Court ruled that the federal government could not enact a law in support of prayer any more than it could “encourage citizens to fast during the month of Ramadan, attend a synagogue, purify themselves in a sweat lodge or practice rune magic.” The law, signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1952, calls on the president to sign a proclamation annually in observance of a National Day of Prayer.

The judge said the ruling would be stayed for 60 days to give the Obama administration, whose lawyers defended the prayer day in court, the chance to file an appeal. On Thursday, the White House said it would appeal and that, in the meantime, the president would sign this year’s prayer proclamation, as scheduled, on May 6.

The court ruling drew fire from the private National Day of Prayer Task Force. Michael Calhoun, a spokesman, described it as “an attack upon the religious heritage” of the nation. He criticized the Madison organization.

“It is a sad day in America when an atheist in Wisconsin,” he said, “can undermine this tradition for millions of others.”

It is still not easy being an atheist in public. No corporate group gives money to the foundation. Ms. Gaylor said she typically avoids making her views on political candidates public, calling it “the kiss of death” to be endorsed by an organization of nonbelievers.

She acknowledged voting for Mr. Obama, and expressed disappointment that his administration has defended the prayer day law. “I don’t give him a pass,” she said. “He’s a constitutional scholar. He knows we’re right.”

As a middle school student, young Annie Laurie would travel around the state with her mother, who barnstormed for feminist causes like legal abortion and access to contraceptives.

Children at school would sometimes look askance when they learned that she and her siblings were growing up without religion. “But there was a little envy, too,” she said. “It was like, ‘You mean you don’t have to get up in the morning and go to church?’ ”

The elder Ms. Gaylor, who wrote a book titled, “Abortion is a Blessing,” regarded religion as the enemy of equal rights for women. “I never liked fairy tales,” she said. “And I didn’t like people passing them off as truths.”

For his part, Mr. Barker, 60, grew up in Southern California and began evangelizing as a teenager. He left the ministry in his early 30s after coming to realize that he did not believe the Bible.

“I just had to fess up and say, ‘This is nonsense,’ ” Mr. Barker said.

He travels the country spreading the word of another sort — doing what his wife calls “reverse penance” — engaging in debates, delivering talks and offering musical performances in the name of godlessness. He plays the piano and sings atheist songs. One of his favorite numbers: “You Can’t Win Original Sin.”

Original source here

...Which Is, I Suppose, What They Want.

Brain shuts off in response to healer's prayer - 21 April 2010 - New Scientist

21 April 2010 by Andy Coghlan

Magazine issue 2757.

WHEN we fall under the spell of a charismatic figure, areas of the brain responsible for scepticism and vigilance become less active. That's the finding of a study which looked at people's response to prayers spoken by someone purportedly possessing divine healing powers.

To identify the brain processes underlying the influence of charismatic individuals, Uffe Schjødt of Aarhus University in Denmark and colleagues turned to Pentecostal Christians, who believe that some people have divinely inspired powers of healing, wisdom and prophecy.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Schjødt and his colleagues scanned the brains of 20 Pentecostalists and 20 non-believers while playing them recorded prayers. The volunteers were told that six of the prayers were read by a non-Christian, six by an ordinary Christian and six by a healer. In fact, all were read by ordinary Christians.

Only in the devout volunteers did the brain activity monitored by the researchers change in response to the prayers. Parts of the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, which play key roles in vigilance and scepticism when judging the truth and importance of what people say, were deactivated when the subjects listened to a supposed healer. Activity diminished to a lesser extent when the speaker was supposedly a normal Christian (Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsq023).

Schjødt says that this explains why certain individuals can gain influence over others, and concludes that their ability to do so depends heavily on preconceived notions of their authority and trustworthiness.

It's not clear whether the results extend beyond religious leaders, but Schjødt speculates that brain regions may be deactivated in a similar way in response to doctors, parents and politicians.

Now if they Could Only Obliterate All the Memories...

12-Year-Old Saudi Girl Wins Divorce From 80-Year-Old Husband - AOL News

Threats from Islam: South Park Creators Under Terrorist Death Call

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the creators and writers of the popular South Park cartoon, currently enjoying its 14th series.

Neither Parker nor Stone are Muslim.  Yet for some reason they are being held accountable by Islamic extremists for having the temerity to poke fun at the prophet Mohammed.

When the only action you can take is to threaten someone with death or violence on your god's behalf, then your god is impotent and useless.  Let your god do his own dirty work.

Threats from Islam annoy me immensely.  Like Parker and Stone I am not a Muslim. Therefore why should I or any other non Muslim be held accountable to their barbaric myths?  I don't give a shit about your Mohammed or whether you believe images of your prophet should not be drawn.  I don't believe this and am not subject to your restrictions.  Stone, Parker or anyone else who does not subscribe to Islam are not accountable to your religious bullshit.

Islam needs to grow up and get itself a spine.  Let your Allah and prophet fight their own battles if they are so upset at this.  Allah is apparently busy causing earthquakes because women are dressed provocatively.  Why can't your impotent desert dwelling god do something by his own actions to Parker and Stone?

Tonight in the US part two of the show airs, and personally I hope that they include a graphic image of Mohammed being taken from behind by Big Gay Al.

I don't give a flying fuck what Islam says about what I can and cannot do, and if you are not a Muslim, neither should you.

"Religion is not the only way to address substance abuse problems."

Judge Backs Redding Atheist Who Balked at Religious Anti-Drug Program

Edit by Paul: Oops we had to remove this post as we noticed a copyright infringement (sorry). Link to the original article as published by the author can be found here.

Once Again, Women Responsible For Their Own Rapes

Blame the victim: Religious leaflet claims ‘ungodly’ dressed women provoke rape

By Claire Galofaro
| Police Beat Reporter - Bristol Herald Courier

Published: February 28, 2010

Updated: March 1, 2010

BRISTOL, Va. – Nineteen-year-old Keshia Canter handed three burgers, fries and milkshakes to a car-load of Tuesday afternoon customers at the Hi-Lo Burger’s drive-though window. A lady sitting in the backseat leaned forward, between the two men in front, and handed her a leaflet: “Women & Girls” it said across the top.

“Even though nothing is showing, you’re being ungodly,” Canter recalled the woman telling her. “You make men want to be sinful.”

Canter was wearing boots pulled up over jeans, a pink zebra-print shirt with a black jacket zipped up over it. She has blond hair, dark eye make-up and a little red lip ring. “I just asked if she needed any salt, pepper or ketchup,” Canter said. “I mean, how do I respond to that?”

Minutes later, Canter’s mother, Pam Yates, who owns the restaurant, returned from the bank. Canter handed her “Women & Girls” and Yates started reading.

“You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed,” it begins. “Have you thought about standing before the true and living God to be judged?”

It continues with one essential theme: The sins of men are, in part, the fault of women, specifically women in tight-fitting clothing. Yates was annoyed. Then she got to a section on page two:

“Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts a men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin,” the leaflet states. “By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?”

The hand-out is signed “anonymous.”

Yates was angry.

“What if my daughter had been a rape victim?” she said. “I hope that they never handed this to anyone, especially a young person, who’s been through that and struggles with that daily. And then they get handed something that says they are at fault. I cannot believe that a Christian, someone who walks in God’s shoes, would have made this.”

Leaflet in hand, Yates locked eyes with the old man driving the old white car, still parked in the lot, and stormed outside. The car quickly drove away.

Sandra G. Rasnake, the sexual assault program director at Bristol’s Crisis Center, had one eyebrow cocked as she read through the leaflet Thursday morning.

She cocked the other as she read aloud: “some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly.”

“Wow,” she said. “This idea that men don’t have enough self control – and evidently they shouldn’t have to – plays into all the old myths that we’ve tried for years to overcome: Rape happens to 2-year-olds and 92-year-olds, not just attractive young women. How about we hold the person doing the action accountable, whoever it is going against the will and consent of somebody else?”

Rasnake said she confronts similar ideas, although not generally printed and distributed in mass, from the women she talks with daily. Victim blaming, she said, is the most prominent reason rapes are so rarely reported and even more rarely taken to trial. Sexual assaults, she said, come in second for the country’s worst conviction rates.

Victims blaming themselves often comes from a religious place, but not always, Rasnake said. It’s become a societal defense mechanism for dealing with issues of sexual assault.

“Blaming victims is the way we who have not been victimized feel safer,” Rasnake said. “If it’s their fault then I’m safer because I wouldn’t do that. If someone steals your purse, can you imagine someone asking why you had a purse? If you are sexually assaulted, it is not because you come with breasts.”

The Rev. Bill Houck, pastor of Northstar Christian Church, shared Rasnake’s concerns about the leaflet.

“It is this type of thinking that would cause a woman not to report being raped and to somehow think it is her fault,” Houck wrote in an e-mail. “As a Christian, a father and a husband, that is a horrific statement. The rapist is wrong period.”

Houck also questioned the leaflet’s interpretation of its occasionally cited Bible passages.

“You must look at the cultural context,” he wrote. “I was surprised the article did not reference Peter 3. Many of the same ideas are put forth. Here, it gets to the crux of the issue where the Bible says that a lady’s lifestyle should be focused more on the inner person than the outward clothing. This is why, while I agree with ‘modest’ dress, there is so much more to this issue.”

Houck said his 19-year-old daughter, a student at King College, asked why the leaflet doesn’t mention how men should dress.

“If I choose to sin, that’s my choice,” Houck wrote.

Rasnake was similarly perplexed by the leaflet’s little faith in mankind.

“It’s insulting to men,” she said. “The men that I know and associate with are not so lust-driven that they cannot control their urges. By this person’s argument, everyone working at Hooters deserves to be raped.”

cgalofaro@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531

Source here.

Making the Earth Move, One Fuck at a Time

Extramarital sex fuels earthquakes, warns Iran cleric

From correspondents in Tehran From: AFP April 17, 2010 4:13PM

A SENIOR Iranian cleric has claimed that dolled-up women incite extramarital sex, causing more earthquakes in Iran, a country that straddles several fault lines, newspapers reported today.
"Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes," Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi told worshippers at overnight prayers in Tehran.

"Calamities are the result of people's deeds," he was quoted as saying by reformist Aftab-e Yazd newspaper.

"We have no way but conform to Islam to ward off dangers."

The Islamic dress code is mandatory in Iran, which has been under clerical rule for more than three decades.

Every post-pubescent woman regardless of her religion or nationality must cover her hair and bodily contours in public. Offenders face punishment and fine.
But this has not stopped urban women from appearing in the streets wearing tight coats and flimsy headscarves and layers of skilfully applied makeup.

Iran is prone to frequent quakes, many of which have been devastating.

The worst in recent times hit the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people - about a quarter of the population - and destroying its ancient mud-built citadel.

From here: Source

Oh Noes, Iceland Is Under The Wrath of A God, But Which One?

A volcano is currently spewing ash and causing air traffic chaos of biblical proportions with thousand's of flights canceled for the foreseeable future.

I was wondering what Iceland has done to deserve the anger of a deity and in particular which deity this seemingly innocuous country had annoyed?  However, after an embarrassingly scant piece of research I discovered that the country is extremely liberal (i.e. not bigoted) with regards to its equality laws relating to the LGBT community.  See this wiki article for more information.  They also believe in the existence of elves and the "hidden people" known as Álfaskólinn, and even have a school to educate the inhabitants of the country of fire and ice about their "other citizens".  I can imagine that this alone would piss off the Abrahamic god of the Bible big time, and especially so if the elves were gay too.  I saw no mention of the rights of gay elves in the Icelandic legislation so maybe this is a none issue.

So that seems to solve the problem of which god is pissed off at Iceland, it must be YHWH as he (she/it?) has a seriously dubious track record of bringing wrath and much smitingness to countries that piss him off.

On a more serious note, a buddy of mine is trapped in the UK due to the flight cancellations, and  he has my replacement supply of English marmalade's with him, so I'm going to have to ration the small amount that I currently have left in my pantry.  Damn you YHWH, thanks for nothing!

HitchensTalks To MSNBC's Tamron Hall About Arresting The Pope

"Justice is coming!" Christopher Hitchens talking to MSNBC's Tamron Hall about arresting The Pope during his Britain visit in September 2010. For more videos, updates and info on Christopher Hitchens, visit http://www.dailyhitchens.com

I Will Arrest the Pope - Dawkins Clarifies What He Actually Said

Dawkins chimes in on his website @ richarddawkins.net

Dawkins clarifies on what actually happened saying, "Needless to say, I did NOT say "I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI" or anything so personally grandiloquent. You have to remember that The Sunday Times is a Murdoch newspaper, and that all newspapers follow the odd custom of entrusting headlines to a sub-editor, not the author of the article itself.

What I DID say to Marc Horne when he telephoned me out of the blue, and I repeat it here, is that I am whole-heartedly behind the initiative by Geoffrey Robertson and Mark Stephens to mount a legal challenge to the Pope's proposed visit to Britain. Beyond that, I declined to comment to Marc Horme, other than to refer him to my 'Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope' article."

The original article referenced by Dawkins can be found here.

Richard Dawkins: I will arrest Pope Benedict XVI

From the Sunday Times writer Marc Horne RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”. Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998. The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases. Benedict will be in Britain between September 16 and 19, visiting London, Glasgow and Coventry, where he will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, the 19th-century theologian.

Dad Wants Textbook Banned For Dismissing Creationism As ‘Biblical Myth’

Creationism: the biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days.

Kurt Zimmerman is complaining that a science textbook used to educate children in his home state of Tennessee (wait, TN is populated with religious nuts, who knew?) contains the above quoted text.  I guess that it is the word "myth" that's got him all riled up.  I wonder if Mr. Zimmerman would be concerned if a similar science textbook described the Norse account of creation as a myth?  Get over yourself Mr. Zimmerman, or present some solid evidential support that you are not deluded by myth. This is a science class, not Sunday School. According to this source :Zimmerman asked in December that the school immediately quit using the book 'Asking About Life' in his son's class and all classes.  He said it could "mislead, belittle and discourage students in believing in creationism and pointedly calls the Bible a myth." Anything that belittles or discourages students from believing in creationism is to be applauded.  Zimmerman is not even wrong.

 

 

 

Damn Those Sexy Children...

It gets worse by the minute, these Catholics have absolutely no shame and no sense of morality, whatsoever!!!

Bishop of Tenerife, Bernando Álvarez has said on the record that "There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you."

No honestly, he did say that. I know it's hard to believe, but see his full comments here.

So if it wasn't for those damn sexy kids, these priests would not be putting their penises into their private places after all.  If it wasn't for those damn kids...

Vatican blasts anti-Catholic 'hate' campaign (and misses the point)

Yet more diatribe from our favorite child rapists (did you spot my clever editorial?  It was subtle so keep alert.)

Our lovable child molesters  have kindly pointed out to the rest of us that we are simply engaged in a campaign of "hate" against the virtuous Catholic church and the Vatican.

I'm trying to think of just one good reason why I should "hate" the Catholic church.  Wait, I've got one!  They support the institutionalized rape of children in their care and then cover-up their tracks and lie about the crimes committed.  Excuse me if I'll just go ahead and "hate" them for that.

As stated in the linked article, the campaign of hate is against Pope Benedict XVI for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.  I saw no mention of child rape there at all.  I guess such a minor point must have slipped their minds.

Deflection anyone, anyone?

Petty Gossip & Child Rape - The Evil Empire

Well I never knew that the institutionalized and sustained rape of children over the course of a few decades was simply "petty gossip".  I rarely indulge in idle gossip, but I'm thinking I might make an exception in this instance.  It's almost (but not quite) like the old lady who lives on your street peeking at the goings on from behind her net curtains, noting that Mrs Cartwright has had yet another strange male visitor today.

Having attended a number of Catholic retreats as a small boy myself, I have no memories of abuse, but I do recall that the lunches were fantastic.  Especially the Cornish pasties, it was almost worth all the praying and cow towing to the godhead just for the pasties.  That was some 35 years ago now, and perhaps I should feel a little insulted that I was not raped by a kindly priest.  Maybe I was just an ugly child and none of the priests fancied me.