Republicans will Force you to attend Church, adopt a Religion, and if you don't they will Kill You (Updated)

"Let me be clear: Americans have freedom of religion - not freedom from religion." - Republican Congressman Sam Johnson of Texas.

When Republicans are asked difficult questions about their positions on the EPA, spending for Infrastructure, rebuilding the American Power Grid, or other topics; they like to dodge and proclaim 'I am not a scientist or engineer,' but what they do like to pretend to be knowledgeable about is religion. And it doesn't matter what religion, Republicans consider themselves to be unassailable experts with a direct line to god.

"There would be less cancer, less disease, and aids and diabetes in this country if people would simply pray. God blesses the righteous with good health and curses the immoral with sickness," Republican Senator Rafael 'Ted' Cruz, CPAC 2015.

So, of course Republicans feel perfectly justified trying to force religion down the throats of all Americans yet again! And they will use the Awesome Power of Government to ensure that you adopt religion.

On March 18th, Congressman Johnson introduced H.R. 1425 Preserve and Protect God in Military Oaths Act, which would require a religious test for all Military Servicemen and force all Military Servicemembers to Pledge Allegiance to god. This is mainly in response to the Air Force Academy dropping the 'So help me god' part of the Oath in 2013 due to the tireless work of Mikey Weinstein and his Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

During the 1990s and the early years of the War on Terror, the Air Force Academy became a Christian Cult where roving gangs of Right-Wing Religious Fanatics would descend upon new cadets and force them into Evangelical Christianity, through coercion, intimidation and violence.

Republican are wholly owned by the Rich, but some Republicans are Christian Dominionists.

"I don’t believe in an America where the separation of Church and state is absolute. The idea that the Church can have no influence and no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. This is the First Amendment. The First Amendment says the free exercise of religion." 2016 Republican Wannabe Rick Santorum's interpretation of the 1st Amendment is, of course, the direct opposite of it's stated mandate.

Republicans always try to downplay the conservative religious bigots who form the core of their party. But, while Republicans have thought they were using the religious loons to gain power, over the last 35 years, the Conservative Fanatics have become convinced the Party belongs to them.

And that is the Republican Party today. A party of Unscrupulous Rich Criminals, Bigots, and Religious Fanatics. There is no more moderate Republican. There is only the wild-eyed right-wing maniac.

Update:
Phil Robertson, not some fringe unknown conservative, but the 2015 CPAC Star Speaker and recent recipient of the Sarah Palin Lifetime Right-Wing Grifter Award, stated if Atheists don't adopt his religion he plans to rape their daughters, behead their wives, and slice off their penises, in order to teach them christianity.

Muslim Terrorism Strikes Chapel Hill, North Carolina

"[W]hen you take Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, whatever, their combined killings in the name of religion -- well, that would be zero." - Eric Bolling, Faux News

But, you won't hear about this latest incident of "muslim terrorism" on Faux News because the Muslims are the victims. The murderer is a Southern White Male Gun Nut. While the three murdered muslims were college age students.

Prior to the murders the killer, Craig S. Hicks, allegedly posted photos of his .38 in a holster and wrote, "When it comes to insults, your religion started this, not me. If your religion kept its big mouth shut, so would I" on his facebook account.

So immediately, the white privilege defense mechanisms kick into high gear to absolve a white killer and Whiteness in General of the crime.

Whenever a murderer is white we are treated to an overall media silence coupled with built-in rationalizations, e.g. "The killer was a lone wolf", "The killer is mentally unstable". As always the Conservative Media Apparatus engages in this blatant hypocrisy of downplaying White Mass Murderers because it benefits their narrative and helps them to continue grifting.

Already we've seen conservatives take to their computers to declare, This wasn't terrorism but an argument over a parking spaces, while a reversal of the victims and perpetrators would have had Sean Hannity and the entire Right-Wing Internet Fart Bubble screaming for President Obama to declare this Islamic Extremism while they cross-contaminated their blogs which incestuous amplification of the noisome emissions that President Obama secretly aided the killers.

So, as with Adam Lanza or James Holmes or when a Jimmy Lee Dykes murders a bus driver and kidnaps a 6 year old, holding the boy hostage for 8 days in his underground bunker, this latest mass killings is by definition not an Act of Terror because the shooter is a white male.

And there's a built in defense because Hicks is reportedly an atheist. So once more the right-wing criminals who have hammered the drums that Muslim=Terrorist can wash their hands and proclaim they had nothing to do with a southern white gun nut domestic terrorist murdering 3 young muslim students.

So, don't expect a rally attended by World Leaders. Don't expect Bill O'Reilly to question his morality. Don't expect NC Troopers to turn their backs on White Male Gun Owners and declare them responsible en masse for these deaths. Mass Murderers, when the perpetrator is a White Male, are coddled in this Nation. And just like Right-Wing Violence it is thus encouraged.

Update:
Crisis Averted!

Hicks isn't a Bundyist Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist like Jerad Miller but is instead a "Looney Liberal" with the small incongruity of being a Gun Humping Fanatic. Talking Points Memo is reporting Hicks is vehemently anti-theist, being especially critical of American Christian Dominonists, and was a fan of Dogs Against Romney facebook page.

So, any twinge of doubt which might have momentarily plagued Conservatives can now be safely jettisoned and the NRA can proclaim what was needed here were more guns especially in the hands of young muslim males. Of course, it will be oddly shameful for Conservatives to villify Hicks for doing on a small scale exactly what Chris Kyle did on a large scale.

It's Atheists not Catholics or Christians who are responsible for Child Abuse and Violent Rhetoric

"No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God." - George H. W. Bush, 41st U.S. President.

Sorry atheist scum the continued and rampant exploitation and abuse of children stems not from catholic priests but from atheism. Even though, Philadelphia prosecutors have brought a case against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to determine how the Church dealt with abusive predatory priests.

Monsignor William Lynn is the first U.S. church official ever charged over his handling of abuse complaints. Prosecutors also allege the Church kept kept secret files dating back to 1948 showing a long-standing conspiracy to cast doubt in the minds of sex abuse victims and protect priests.

How dare the Government infringe upon the rights of the religious! Hey Obama, We have a thing called the 1st Amendment here!

From the AP story,

A Roman Catholic church official conceded that some "pretty sick individuals" were on a 1994 list he compiled of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children in the Philadelphia archdiocese.

Monsignor William Lynn took the stand in his own defense Wednesday in the groundbreaking child-endangerment and conspiracy case. The blistering cross-examination he endured is expected to continue Thursday.

Prosecutors blame Lynn for helping keep the priests on his list and many more in ministry, where they were had access to countless other children.

Lynn testified that the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua wouldn't let parishes announce the real reason an accused priest was being removed. Parishioners were often told their priest had health problems when he left for sex-offender treatment, according to testimony over the past nine weeks.

"The cardinal wouldn't allow us to announce in those days why someone was leaving. But mental health was health," Lynn said.

Lynn also said the head of the archdiocese forbade staff from telling accusers their alleged abuser had other victims.

Bevilacqua died Jan. 31, two months before his longtime secretary for clergy went on trial.

A Brilliant Defense! I was just following orders! I was just a cog in the gears of the Church! Lynn is a scapegoat! With the added bonus of blaming it all upon a Cardinal who is dead!

But never forget that Religious Freedom is paramount. Back when the President announced bigots and religious zealots could not restrict the freedoms of other American's Timothy Dolan speaking for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops proclaimed the President’s plan will require “careful moral analysis” and hoped "our religious freedom are not harmed by these regulations."

"Moral Analysis". What a joke. The same day the Religious Authority of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops was frightened loose women would get contraceptives, this information was released in the Bankruptcy case of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,

Sealed documents filed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy identify at least 8,000 instances of child sexual abuse and 100 alleged offenders - 75 of them priests - who have not previously been named by the archdiocese, a victims' attorney said Thursday.

But Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests speculated that some are likely members of religious orders, such as Capuchins or Franciscans. Order officials do not typically make public the names of their accused members, and the archdiocese claims it is not responsible for them, though they have historically helped to staff its parishes and schools.

One would think that USCCB Cardinal Timothy Dolan would have his hands full dealing with the documented 60 years of cover-up of abuse but instead Dolan has been focused on keeping American Sluts from getting Birth Control. And in his fight to keep Women Oppressed Dolan has brought out the Mafiaoso card of, It'd be an awful shame if I had to hurt some people,

“If these mandates kick in, we’re going to find ourselves faced with a terribly difficult decision as to whether or not we can continue to operate,” Dolan said. “As part of our religion — it’s part of our faith that we feed the hungry, that we educate the kids, that we take care of the sick. We’d have to give it up, because we’re unable to fit the description and the definition of a church given by — guess who — the federal government.”

Oh dear! Do as the Church says, or we will starve children and let sick people die.

But, lest you think it's only the Catholics, two Pastors out of North Carolina, have recently justified Christians beating and killing off Homosexuals.

Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C. told his congregation he found "a way out" of the gay problem.

"I figured a way out, a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers but I couldn’t get it past the Congress: Build a great big large fence, 50 or a hundred miles long. Put all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have that fence electrified till they can’t get out. Feed ’em. And you know what? In a few years they will die out. You know why? They can’t reproduce."

At least Pastor Worley found a use for all those Obama Stimulus FEMA-camps which are lying fallow!

Meanwhile, it's not just enough to round up the current gays and stick them in concentration camps to die, it's imperative we interdict and quash any new gays from being created. In steps North Carolina pastor Sean Harris with a plan.

“So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, “Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,” you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.

Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male. And when your daughter starts acting to Butch you reign her in. And you say, “Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.”

You say, “Can I take charge like that as a parent?”

Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that.”

Much of this was brought on by the rhetorical stylings of Stan, the owner of Atheism-Analyzed, from whom I learned:

"In fact, the biggest hazard to gays is other gays, from their violence and their diseases, and from themselves through suicide..."

"The reason that Atheists are placed alongside rapists and child molesters in recent polls is a mystery to them. Trust requires that a fixed moral system exist and that behaviors match the moral theory, not the other way around. That Atheists do not understand this requirement makes them even more suspect to those around them."

Of Richard Dawkins Stan wrote, "Then he absolutely berates anyone who is not Atheist, wishing to eradicate them from society."

And "Theists are more easily evaluated for trustworthiness because they have a defined standard against which to compare their behaviors and to develop a predictor for future behaviors."

So, yes we know the Lion by it's Claw and we know the Christians by their deeds and actions. So, I'll just retreat to No True Scotsman Christian could be guilty of these allegations, it's probable that these priests and pastors were actually atheists.

Tim Tebow throws Christopher Hitchens into the Lake of Fire

But! He overthrows him and Hitchens runs free and clear. "In whatever kind of 'race' life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist," Hitchens remarked last year upon learning he had cancer.

Christopher Hitchens passed away after a year and a half long battle with cancer. I read several of his works but, it's not like I knew him, so I can not say I'm sad. I enjoyed Hitchens passionate speaking and he struck me as what an erudite human can be given the access to and encouragement of higher education. I didn't like his Iraq War stance but I did love that he caused rabid American religious fascists mental consternation as they couldn't figure out how to reconcile his hatred of Islam with his hatred Christian Fascism.

However, it wouldn't be christian fascism if religious asses didn't use Hitchens' death as an opportunity to make smug statements about heaven and god.

Now, I shouldn't being making fun of Tim Tebow, for as much as I don't like his overt displays of piety at least he didn't use Hitchens' passing to make insulting comments about how Christopher is face-to-face with the almighty. Bill Bennett, supposedly a friend of Hitchens, didn't make a genteel statement or use the opportunity to say a short kind word. Nope Bennett, said, "And I hope as the big atheist that he was, he's in for a big surprise."

Classy. It's a standard move by right-wingers when someone they hate dies. It's a time for conservatives to level the most vicious insults at those who can no longer defend themselves. When Howard Zinn passed away in Jan 2010, NPR used the opportunity to get the raving flabby-assed, David Horowitz a reactionary chicken hawk anti-human punk ass bitch conservative who hates the poor and oppressed and loves war on to insult and slander Zinn preceisely because Howard Zinn fought for those crushed under the iron heel of anti-human conservatives.

However, Hitchens' passing highlight's one of the biggest problems I'm going to have when I prove there's no afterlife. Once I make it there and it doesn't exist there won't be anyone around for me to gloat over and Hitch won't be there to share a martini.

As an Atheist I support the Ground Zero Cross at the WTC Memorial

"This cross was found in the rubble..." - Faux News Blonde, Martha MacCallum.

And what better Monument to illustrate either god's non-existence or utter lack of ability to avert a monstrous act of evil. Or even worse than god's impotence or non-existence for the christians, is the possibility that god did, in fact, intervene on 911... for the muslims...

And 2300 years later Epicurus' conundrum remains unanswered;

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”

Why christians hate Harry Potter

Christians hate Harry Potter because his books are far better crafted, far better written and are a far more internally consistent fairy tale than the collection of nonsense contained in their books of the bible.

Why do conservatives love Ayn Rand?

Rand's Atheism was a key component of her metaphysical outlook and she had no qualms about declaring religious believers or anyone who spoke of Faith to be without Reason or utterly irrational.

Rand was also pro-abortion all the way up until delivery day. "Observe that by ascribing rights to the unborn, i.e., the nonliving, the anti-abortionists obliterate the rights of the living: the right of young people to set the course of their own lives." And "Rights do not pertain to a potential, only to an actual being. A child cannot acquire any rights until it is born. The living take precedence over the not-yet-living (or the unborn)."

Rand had no problem with non-traditional marriage and extra-marital relations between people, indulging in an open affair herself. Conservatives are often seen with signs; Marriage = 1 Man +1 Woman and conservatives rail that this is traditional marriage. "The plea to preserve “tradition” as such, can appeal only to those who have given up or to those who never intended to achieve anything in life. It is a plea that appeals to the worst elements in men and rejects the best: it appeals to fear, sloth, cowardice, conformity, self-doubt—and rejects creativeness, originality, courage, independence, self-reliance."

Additionally, conservatives have been clamoring for a Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as 1 man and 1 woman and have succeeded in getting laws brought forth in 31 states. But, while Rand was personally offended by homosexuality she clearly was opposed to government determining what two adults did with their own bodies, "I do not approve of such practices or regard them as necessarily moral, but it is improper for the law to interfere with a relationship between consenting adults."

I have a hard time understanding why so many Tea Party members want to Go Galt as they would no doubt be the ones left to die on the train tracks or left outside the Invisible Gulch...

So, why exactly do conservatives claim to love Ayn Rand?

Freedom OF not FROM Religion

jesus christ protect me from your christians...

The christians in this nation do not believe in Freedom. They love to parse words and highlight, in ALL CAPS, it's Freedom OF Religion not Freedom FROM Religion.

What they really mean though is you have freedom to be christian, however only if your a white christian. The christian Bigots in this country are the Vanguard of the Punk Ass Bitch Republicans. The Right's Religious Bigots are the first to limit people's rights, the first to trample on the Constitution, the first to use the power of Government to restrict and oppress Americans.

And as America changes they are the first to cry I Want My Country Back!!!

Take a drive into the city (Chicago that is) other than on the Ike, Kennedy or Edens (along Roosevelt Ave for instance) and as you go you'll see a church or congregation on every corner. From the smallest meanest run down bible thumpers to the huge mega structures.

Christianity was long ago stolen from it's roots as a communal peaceful doctrine for the poor and subverted to the will of the powerful and the blood thirsty, christ long ago succumbed to Mars. For centuries it's been used to keep the poor from rising up and throwing off the chains of their oppressors and too coat the immorality of the powerful under a patina of righteousness.

That's exactly why the Republicans love christianity, it allows them revel in their debauchery, steal and murder without compunction while knowing as long as they hold aloft the cross and kill minorities the poor white christian males will succor and defend them.



Related:
North Carolina Politicians Seek to Unseat Councilman Because He's an Atheist

Liberals and Atheists now bringing twice the Smarts

I'm feeling happy so Highly Evolved ~ Highly Evolved, The Vines

According to a long and detailed study by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has concluded that if you are a Liberal or Atheist you are more intelligent than other humans.

Kanazawa's theory is that intelligence—particularly our ability for on-the-spot problem solving and reasoning—arose as an adaptation to deal with the unusual and unexpected, such as a sudden forest fire.

Since disasters like that are rare in daily life, responding to them wouldn't likely be something our ancestors were hard-wired to "know" how to do. Surviving the fire required both the ability to think up a new behavior, and the willingness to try it out.

Passed down via genetics, those two traits are still the calling cards of an intelligent brain—expressed as a tendency toward adopting nontraditional social values and preferences, Kanazawa says in his new study, published in the March 2010 issue of Social Psychology Quarterly.

As a result of their iconoclastic ancestry, he suggests, people with higher levels of intelligence are more likely to adopt social values and behaviors that are relatively new to human life—liberalism, atheism, staying up late, and (for men) monogamy, for example.

This tendency toward iconoclasm stems from smart people's brains being better adapted to dealing with new situations, according to Kanazawa.

So, if you are compassionate to fellow humans or if you are able to understand natural forces, like earthquakes or thunder, are not the result of 'your' god's displeasure you have a higher level of intelligence.

Well, as nice it is to think I have excellent reasoning skills and am therefore smarter than others, the ability to adapt old knowledge to new situations is one component to Intelligence. I find I am more in agreement with Stephen Jay Gould and Howard Garndner that there is no "general intelligence factor" (g) and that there are multiple intelligences which are a mishmash of many different fields and kinds. As a reference how many times have your heard the old cliche, 'So and So is book smart but doesn't have street smarts'. This is an unacknowledged reference to the 'multiple intelligences' theory.

Additionally, traditional intelligence tests, Standford-Binet IQ, were often biased and stemmed from earlier times when those biases weren't recognized as prejudicial to reliable test results. However, I'd like to set aside some time and read Satoshi Kanazawa's paper, in order to confirm his conclusion, and thus stick out my chin and puff up my chest and lord my superior intelligence over the mouth breathing jackanapes.

Cuneo Estates (Vernon Hills, IL) donated to The Church

'Cause now when christians sit with Pagans, only pumpkin pies are burning - Dar Williams, The Christians and The Pagans

The War on Christmas Continues...

In 2009, christianity suffered so much that even Rick Warren had to beg for money, most likely because jesus was going to descend and kill him if he didn't get a quick influx of cash. However, with everyone caught in Rick Warren's shameless use of Religion to make himself wealthy an under reported story from Vernon Hills, IL (just North of the City) finds the poor poor church being persecuted. From the Chicago Tribune:

When the Rev. Michael Garanzini, Loyola University Chicago's president, needed $15 million for a new classroom building, he turned to John Cuneo Jr., the Lake County businessman whose prominent family had a history of supporting the Catholic university.

Cuneo had something grander in mind. He suggested giving the university the historic Cuneo Museum and Gardens in Vernon Hills, including the mansion's art and furnishings, an adjacent 50 acres, and funds for upkeep of the property. The gift from Cuneo, his wife, Herta, and the Cuneo Foundation, estimated at about $50 million, is the largest in the school's history.

The Church wanted $15 million but got an estate deeded to them worth $50 million. But, the christians in this land have convinced themselves they are under attack and suffering biblical (ha ha) persecution.

Anyone recall when a Secular Humanist Organization was granted an estate worth millions?

But, christianity in America is under siege. Many false christians in this country use the less skeptical piety of their fellow believers to advance themselves and their personal beliefs. Trumpeting the way by lying and peals of false piety is Fox News with nightly segments designed to hijack religion for their use.

The Punk Ass Bitch Republicans and their Fox News cheerleaders co-opted christianity to use it as a wedge. Because the entire REMFpublican platform is to convince their vegetative supporters that even though the Republican Party hates America, wants to destroy the Constitution, prays for successful Terrorist Attacks and uses the deaths of Americans to advance and enrich themselves all Fox has to say is so and so Republican is a christian.

Militarized Religion or Religionized Military

O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rages and hunger and thirst... ~ Mark Twain, The War Prayer

Fault Lines: Religion in the military



After completing MCT (Marine Combat Training) in early 2001, the SOI Bn CO LtCol regaled the young marines (and me since I wasn't so young) with tales of life in the Corps and the brotherhood we had joined and were taking our nascent steps towards. We had spent (most of) the last 17 days in the field learning the absolute basics of military tactics, just enough to understand we knew nothing. After which we had the opportunity to take a shower for the first time in 2 weeks and clean the grime and mud off.

Getting back to the LtCol, at the end of his speech he informed the Marines they now had the duty to clean the showers we had just used because a good Marine always leaves equipment and quarters in as good a condition as the way he found them. However, an offer was made. If the Marines wanted to stay and listen to the LtCol he would tell them the truth of Creationism and debunk the lies of Evolution using a treatise he had written and self-published and of which he had available copies for the Marines to take with them.

I was stunned. I left with the group assigned to clean the mud coated showers and befouled shitters. My reasons were partially because I don't shirk duty but mainly because I was upset over rank ignorance being forced down the mouths of tired and impressionable young men by a Marine in a position of Authority.

Thinking about the situation later I realized I should have stayed and grabbed a copy.

bible

Can you feel it, see it, hear it today?
If you can't, then it doesn't matter anyway ~ Epic, Faith No More

2010 has been proposed, by Representative Paul Broun (Yes That Paul Broun of the Obama is exactly like Hitler and exactly like the Soviet Union) to be the Year of the bible.

Of course, fortunately this means mankind can claim the next 5+ Billion years of our Sun's life span for reality.

However, in light of the recent important fossil find of Ida (go here for list of media/blog coverage), erroneously trumped up as the "missing link" and the outrage Google caused by it's Ida-inspired fossil logo which dishonored and angered god and brought man one step closer to righteous destruction, I am loathe to admit that the bible hath been proven true.

Here is the proof from Mr. Andy Schlafly. Italics to accentuate the logic.

James, you've been misled in your education. The Bible is the most logical book written. People have a free will to reject logic, and reject that 2 and 2 are 4, but that doesn't change the logical truth of it.--Andy Schlafly 22:03, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

Andy Schlafly, would you do me the honor of explaining why the Bible is the most logical book written? ShmuelB 22:58, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

God created the world, and then man. Man incurred the ultimate offense against God, and that required the ultimate sacrifice to redeem it. God intervenes with miracles from time to time as He likes. This is completely logical. Now everyone has free will to reject this and conjure up any alternative theory they like, but Christianity is the most logical religion and the Bible is the most logical book.--Andy Schlafly 23:30, 7 April 2009 (EDT)

I placed this under my Argument from Authority label but really what do you call this? Argument from the Neener Neener? Argument from god, bible and logic are in the same paragraph? Presto?

This lovely bon mot of wisdom comes from the egregious Conservapedia Liberal Page. I guarantee hours of stupefying enjoyment from perusing the site. The Liberal and Evolution pages are especially gratifying since they prove all liberals equal socialist atheists who, in turn, equal Hitler.

And as Paul Broun proved in 2008 Obama is exactly like Hitler.

If You Come Upon the Buddha in the Roadway...

A standard avenue of attack on an atheist is the "What are you going to do when you die and find yourself face to face with god". It's a nonsensical question which holds no sway and causes no consternation in the atheist's mind.

But, as a gamer and avid thinker I have an active and fertile mind, as a result of evolution and my own cultivation. So here's a response (adapted from The Shawshank Redemption).

A door of perception opens and I find myself face to face, as it were, with the Holy Trinity.

Grunge it says here you have served a 109 years of a life sentence are you ready to face judgement and God?

God? Well, now let me see. You know, I have no idea what that word means.

Well it means Me. The Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Alpha and Omega...

I know what you think it means sonny. God is just a made up word. A politicians word. So little weak men can wear funny costumes and have a job stealing from and controlling people. What you really want to know is if I'm sorry I didn't believe in you while I was alive.

Well are you?

There's not a day goes by that I did not try and use my reason. And I'm not sorry the use of my mind and the evidence of the world led me to know you don't exist.

God? God is just a bullshit word. So go ahead and stamp your form and quit wasting my fucking time. Cause I don't give a damn.

I've said, when the spirit moves me, that god knows the reasons I have for why he does not exist.

This life is the real life this world is the only world and it is one's paramount duty to live life to the fullest, to cherish one's friends and loves, to soak in the glories of the world and in other words; To Be.

Addendum:
Suddenly, a bright light shines from above; with my eyes heavy and mouth dry I manage a sandpaper like croak, What is happening?

It's okay Mr. Grunge. The effects will wear off shortly. Your stem cell regeneration procedure was a complete success.

I'm hazy. I'm not sure I understand.

Of course allow me to explain. Since the mid 21st century due to medical and scientific advances mankind is capable of regenerating all the cells and organs of your physical self while the true self your mind remains and advances throughout the ages. Thus providing all of humanity a real Immortality instead of the fable once bandied about by insane brain washing fanatics and psychotic witch-doctors.

I had this dream I was brought before the holy trinity.

That's a common enough occurrence. While resting the mind moves throughout the REM cycle and further and vivid dreams and hallucinations are known to occur. People often dream about meeting imaginary beings.

Thus when the fog lifted I recalled what I knew. All the gods are imaginary. They are stuff of delusions, dreams and hallucinations.

Things aren't always bigger in Texas

Barbara Cargill spearheads the way to an 11-3 vote which proves the Universe is not billions of years old. Texas Secede Already! Go Galt, rejoin Mexico, just go away... So Long and thanks for all the Wars.

The Republican party wonders why Americans believe they are the party of anti-science. The answer is because they are.

Onward and Upward with Prayer

We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world. ...and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world. Senator Albert J. Beveridge, In Support of an American Empire

The video of the Army chaplain evangelizing has caused a stir. It's showing Americans and the world that the US military has been taken over by evangelical fanatics who want to follow the words of She Who Shall Not Be Named, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to christianity."

Of course, the zealots have reared their heads and reacted. Rawwwr the Beast shouts! This endangers the Troops! Al Qaida Television selectively edited the video! Christian Fight Pilot specifically makes these points at his blog in defending the actions of the chaplain.

Christian Fight Pilot, however, like the chaplain is arguing in bad faith. And as opposed to being vindicating as he believes I think the unedited version is actually more damning. It shows the unbroken flow of conversation it shows the chaplain teaching the soldiers how to break the spirit of the general order while not breaking the letter of the order. It's proselytizing by stealth.

Listen to the words of not only the chaplain but the SSG to wit:

"Be careful how you do it", "There are ways to win people to christ", "You can not proselytize but you can give gifts", "You share the word in a smart manner", "Be smart about it", "If you make it a gift and walk away from it..."

But CFP gets puffed up with righteous holy zeal. His main point is soldiers can express their belief. This is a protected right in the military!

Missing, of course, the whole issue. This isn't some academic debate, this isn't occurring in the vacuum of a classroom where the dialectic is turned to the subtleties of the immaculate conception and how many angels bellow forth from the muzzle of a Ma Deuce. This talk of bringing people to the christ is coming from the mouths of those who are ubiquitous through out the land holding guns and controlling the streets.

Anyone who has been in the military can attest that religion is crammed down the gullets of the every member. You can't attend a large formation (a welcome home, a sendoff, or a promotion) without having a chaplain issue the call to prayer.

Admittedly it's not as bad as the Lt Colonel Hensley, the chief of the U.S. military chaplains in Afghanistan, declaring:

"The special forces guys -- they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.

The spreading the faith from the barrel of a gun. Which is how the faith was spread anyway, through violence, force, rape, murder and destruction.

This whole incident could be passed off as a rogue chaplain if it wasn't for the large amount of evidence which indicates this is not "a few bad apples" but part of a pattern; disgusting Air Force Cadets confronting non-evangelicals with Cult-esque Shame Circles to browbeat them into accepting the "true" faith, the comments I've highlighted and the unacceptable boot camp religious brain-washing 'God's Basic Training'! The First Strategic Objective of which is to: Evangelize and Disciple All Enlisted Members of the US Military. And the last: Change Continents for Christ. Transform nations of world through the militaries of world.

"Well you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."

"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"

The Scottish Police Force are strong with the, ahem, Force... This must explain the lack of crime in the Northern UK. Frighteningly, that means the Criminal Mastermind of Scotland must be the Most Powerful Sith Lord ever and some new recruit to the Force named Annie will destroy them!

I wish I had been smart or brave enough to demand Jedi on my dog tags when I was in MCRSD. Lamentably, I asked for Atheist (for which I earned some extra PT time!) and was told no, so I settled for No Religious Preference. When I made the FMF and MOL came on line I changed my "religion" to Atheist*.

*- If I recall correctly No Religious Preference was Code 13 and Atheist was Code 75, under the religion tab.

Atheists are trying to Undermine Civility and Undermine Peace

So says She Who Shall Not Be Named 2.

While Gretchen Carlson is Outraged, she has "christmas Wars fatigue" although she is upset because atheists are Internet trolls. She can't even admit theft is wrong though she does advise the faithful not to steal. She even resorts to the "Some of My Best Friends are..." before blaming atheists for destroying America.

Rawstory has pulled the video with Carlson and She Who Shall Not Be Named 2.

Interestingly, She Who Shall Not Be Named 2 admits she doesn't blog about Atheists on her website because she doesn't want to give them attention. I think it's because she doesn't want to get her site swamped with the rabid wing of republican party which has thrown reason out the door to embrace the Sarah Palin loving Young Earther Evolution denying non-critical thinking christian dominionist sect.

The Thanatos is strong with this one

2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the Tragedy at Jonestown. MSNBC has a three part series, Witness to Jonestown. I won't equate the Jonestown tragedy with all religions but if one places no or little value on This Life while praying for the Final Judgement which will reward(?) them in the next one, you're worshiping at the altar of death.

"Life!" I turned on him fiercely, "You have chosen death, all of you..."
"No, not death. We have chosen life eternal, the resurrection of the..."
"That is a story to tell children. The truth is for thousands of years we looked to what was living. Now you look to what is dead, you worship a dead man and tell one another that this world is not for us, while the next is all that matters. Only there is no next world..." - Julian, Gore Vidal

I think the stultification of religious thought in dominating mankind has lead to a violent reaction from those who hate. Right now powerful segments in islamic thinking are focused on killing and death. Fortunately, I think christianity has finally passed through it's last trials of death and pain in the 16th and 17th century and is no longer a death cult. But, some members clearly don't care about mankind. For instance if your believe the world isn't worth saving like god's chosen congresswoman Uber-American Michelle Bachmann who pointed out jesus saved it 2000 years ago. Or the mere fact you are born means you deserve death;

We have all rejected God (although some have repented of that and accepted Him), so we all deserve the death sentence. Even Noah and his family. But God chose to not give Noah and his family what they deserved (choosing them because Noah was, humanly speaking, "righteous"), and didn't impose the deserved death penalty on Noah and his family. He even had Noah preach to the people, in order to save them from their destruction, but to no avail. So instead of (implicitly) criticising God for giving the people what they deserved, we should be thanking Him for saving the ones willing to be saved. Philip J. Rayment 21:26, 24 April 2007 (EDT), an Administrator (sysop) over at Conservapedia.

Those who would hold to such a statement are indeed a worshipper of death. Why waste money on things like fruit fly research in Paris, France? When all you have to do to remove suffering from the world is believe? Research into the causes of disease becomes rather pointless if you think adam's sin is the cause of death.

This world and this life are all we get. I've tried in a small way to make it better for my fellow man, following my own moral compass. I've tried to be a good son, brother, friend colleague and professional and I think that's all you can ask of someone.

Finding mary in a pane of glass...

OR allah in a mango.

I guess I have to change my position on miracles because these are so obvious and there can't be any other explanation than the eternal spirit of the virgin mary didn't use windex on the hospital glass. And allah wants all good muslims to eat mangos and in doing so consume him. Oh wait it's the other guy who wants you to eat him...

Baseball proves God exists and

HE. HATES. THE. CUBS.

Pour Your Misery Down
Pour Your Misery Down on Me
Pour Your Misery Down
Pour Your Misery Down on Me ~ Only Happy When It Rains, Garbage

The Cubs resoundingly lost both home games to the Dodgers (7-2 and 10-3) and find themselves down 2 games to none in a best of 5 series. Technically, it's not over but...

It's been tough being a Cubs fan for the last 25 years. If prayer were real then, I believe the Cubs should probably have won the World Series in 1969, 1984, and 2003. What is the explanation for those losses and the 100 years of Cubs misery?

The sinful nature of Chicago Cubs fans? (Quick somebody go and sacrifice that damn Billy Goat!)
Can't we find at least One Good Man in Chicago?
Predestination? Lack of Unconditional Election for Cubs supporters?

And what should believers take from the success of the Yankees in the past 85 years? Are their fans and players more righteous or praying harder? What explains the recent salvation of Red Sox Nation? New found piety? A return to the graces of god? War in Heaven?

Unlike many of the absolutely devastated Cubs fans over the 2 resounding defeats in Wrigley Field at the hands of the LA Dodgers, I will not decry and lambaste the Cubs players personally. With the exception of Aramis Ramierz alleged involvement in cockfighting over the previous winter I can't think of any criminal actions perpetrated by the players. Derek Lee had only an okay baseball season but it is my understanding he is a good and dutiful father who has set up a charity (to which he devotes a large amount of time and money) to curing macular degeneration.

No, sadly the Cubs as a team are not playing winning baseball during the Division Series. And with only 3 games needed to win, the Cubs 2 losses almost certainly doom their fans to lament and declare yet again "Wait till Next Year".

I think the Baseball playoff system is deeply flawed. But because this is tied into millions and millions of dollars it's not going to change except for the possible addition of more games. It makes little sense to play 162 (or 163 if you happen to be White Sox) and then find that 3 losses abrogate the entire last 6 months. It needs to change.

But, even if the playoff system does change, the probability of a Cubs World Series victory is just below that of the Mayan End of the World Prophecy in 2012.

Update:
After a discussion of the miserable Cubs with friends last night I offered up my suggestion for a changes to the Playoff System.
Idea 1: Reduce the Regular season to 150 or 154 games (play more double headers) and have a 9 game LDS and 9 game LCS and retain the 7 game WS.
Idea 2: Again reduce the Regular season to 150 or 154 games and have 3 Division winner and 3 Wildcards. Top 2 division winners get the first round 5 game series off, resting up for the winners of the wildcard worst division for Round 2.
Idea 3: The wildcard team and the worst division winner get ZERO or Only ONE home playoff game in the first round.

Update 2:
It's over. Dream crushingly over.