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I know, I know. Belief in magic is not really the best way to run anything, but rather than focusing on the silly nature of believing in the Grand Oooga-Booga, lets look at how those in power keep their ‘base’ ignorant and happy to continue to lap up all mendacity that spews forth from the Party of No. Alter.net author CJ Werleman has a nifty article about biblical illiteracy in America, so lets go over the highlights.
“More than 95 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Bible. So how much do Americans know of the book that one-third of the country believes to be literally true? Apparently, very little, according to data from the Barna Research group. Surveys show that 60 percent can’t name more than five of the Ten Commandments; 12 percent of adults think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife; and nearly 50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple. A Gallup poll shows 50 percent of Americans can’t name the first book of the Bible, while roughly 82 percent believe “God helps those who help themselves” is a biblical verse.”
So really, the obedient masses can be fed just about any line of bullshite and they won’t bat an eye.
“The truth, whether Republicans like it or not, is not only that Jesus a meek and mild liberal Jew who spoke softly in parables and metaphors, but conservatives were the ones who had him killed. American conservatives, however, have morphed Jesus into a muscular masculine warrior, in much the same way the Nazis did, as a means of combating what they see as the modernization of society.
Author Thom Hartmann writes, “A significant impetus behind the assault on women and modernity was the feeling that women had encroached upon traditional male spheres like the workplace and colleges. Furthermore, women’s leadership in the churches had harmed Christianity by creating an effeminate clergy and a weak sense of self. All of this was associated with liberalism, feminism, women, and modernity.”
Funny how much of a threat Conservatives see women to the established order. I take it as a sign we are moving in the right direction.
“For instance, when Republicans were justifying their cuts to the food stamp program, they quoted 2 Thessalonians: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” One poll showed that more than 90 percent of Christians believe this New Testament quote is attributed to Jesus. It’s not. This was taken from a letter written by Paul to his church in Thessalonica. Paul wrote to this specific congregation to remind them that if they didn’t help build the church in Thessalonica, they wouldn’t be paid. The letter also happens to be a fraud. Surprise! Biblical scholars agree it’s a forgery written by someone pretending to be Paul.”
Being fact averse seems to be the default setting for much of the Republican party and concomitantly most their followers. The stupid leading the blind is not a winning recipe for running a nation.
“The best argument against a historical Jesus is the fact that none of his disciples left us with a single record or document regarding Jesus or his teachings. So, who were the gospel writers? The short answer is we don’t know. What we do know is that not only had none of them met Jesus, but also they never met the people who had allegedly met Jesus. All we have is a bunch of campfire stories from people who were born generations after Jesus’ supposed crucifixion. In other words, numerous unidentified authors, each with his own theological and ideological motives for writing what they wrote. Thus we have not a single independently verifiable eyewitness account of Jesus—but this doesn’t stop Republicans from speaking on his behalf.”
Not that making stuff up is new for politicians.
“The price this country has paid for biblical illiteracy is measured by how far we’ve moved toward Ayn Rand’s utopia. In the past three decades, we’ve slashed taxes on corporations and the wealthy, destroyed labor unions, deregulated financial markets, eroded public safety nets, and committed to one globalist corporate free-trade agreement after another. Rand would be smiling down from the heaven she didn’t believe in.”
Fantastic. Well we should be applaud the republicans for packaging up self-immolation so nicely – all decked out with rainbows and jesus stickers. It would be cute if it wasn’t underpinning the destruction of a nation.
Religiously deluded, bigoted, right-wingnuts say the darndest things. Just the other day, Manitoban PC leader Brian Pallister wished the very best to “all you infidel atheists out there”.
Say again?
“All you infidel atheists”
He didn’t say that.
He really did. On camera. Check the vid.
Pretty amazing, right? But it gets even better. This video spurred an understandably unfavourable response from the secular community. Pallister did have some defenders though. They suggested that it was a joke, albeit in bad taste. Damn liberal media sheep, they whine that the poor conservatives are too uptight, but as soon as one delivers a little joke, they get all offended. Except that it wasn’t a joke – not that it would actually excuse this if it was.
Later, in a response to the fallout of his holiday greeting, Pallister defended his wording by stating that, according to the dictionary, ‘infidel’ means ‘non-believer’. He was just being inclusive. “I’m always disappointed when people misrepresent the meaning of the words. What I was trying to do there is include everyone in my best wishes over the holidays” Riiiiiiiight. Let’s explore why this is total bullshit.
First, no one identifies as an ‘infidel’. Quite a few non-believers don’t even identify as an ‘atheist’. I mean, sure, I’m also a non-stamp-collector, but it has no inherent meaning to me. However, if people were being ostracized, abused, discriminated against, and even killed because they didn’t collect stamps, I’d have to speak up as a non-stamp-collector too. So saying that he was trying to include ‘infidels’ when the only people who think the term means anything are non-infidels, is beyond suspicious. It is a blatant affirmation of the religious ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
Second, whereas ‘atheist’ is purely descriptive – absence of theism, ‘infidel’ is riddled with negative overtones. Sure one of the definitions listed in the dictionary is simply ‘one who doesn’t believe’, but dictionaries aren’t known for deep explorations into connotation or social context. ‘Infidel’ is the name that members of an in-group call members of the out-group. It is a term meant to belittle, demean, and undervalue. An atheist is a non believer, period. An infidel is a non believer, understood as an unworthy subhuman piece of filth. Pallister’s comment is analogous to someone attempting to be “racially inclusive” by using the word ‘nigger’ then defending the slur by saying that it just means ‘people with dark skin’. No, it’s offensive, divisive, and hateful, I don’t care how happy the surrounding message is. And Pallister knows it.
If he really thought ‘atheist’ and ‘infidel’ were as synonymous as he claims, then there would be no reason to use both words. Pallister’s defence is that all he meant to say was ‘non-believing non-believers’. There is no justification for such a redundancy. The negative hateful baggage is jammed right into the word ‘infidel’ and it is the only reason for Pallister to have used it. I am willing to concede that it may not have been a conscious decision, not that it would be a redeeming admission. It would mean that his religious elitism is so ingrained that he automatically demeans the irreligious without thinking about it.
If he was just some guy, Pallister’s words would just make him an asshole in need of good chewing out. But the standards for our elected officials is higher than that. Especially in a country that thankfully separates church and state, such a slur should be met with much harsher repercussions. Manitobans, please see too it he is not re-elected. Manitoban conservatives, get him evicted from your party. If you ever want to be in power in Manitoba again, step 1 would be to distance yourselves from ignorant jackasses like Brian Pallister.
Talk about knocking it out of the park. Robert Green Ingersoll informs us on the true nature of the Bible. Go read the full text and donate to site for hosting such a good text. :)
Ministers wonder how I can be wicked enough to attack the Bible.
I will tell them: This book, the Bible, has persecuted, even unto death, the wisest and the best. This book stayed and stopped the onward movement of the human race. This book poisoned the fountains of learning and misdirected the energies of man.
This book is the enemy of freedom, the support of slavery. This book sowed the seeds of hatred in families and nations, fed the flames of war, and impoverished the world. This book is the breastwork of kings and tyrants — the enslaver of women and children. This book has corrupted parliaments and courts. This book has made colleges and universities the teachers of error and the haters of science. This book has filled Christendom with hateful, cruel, ignorant and warring sects. This book taught men to kill their fellows for religion’s sake.
This book funded the Inquisition, invented the instruments of torture, built the dungeons in which the good and loving languished, forged the chains that rusted in their flesh, erected the scaffolds whereon they died. This book piled fagots about the feet of the just. This book drove reason from the minds of millions and filled the asylums with the insane.
This book has caused fathers and mothers to shed the blood of their babes. This book was the auction block on which the slave- mother stood when she was sold from her child. This book filled the sails of the slave-trader and made merchandise of human flesh. This book lighted the fires that burned “witches” and “wizards.” This book filled the darkness with ghouls and ghosts, and the bodies of men and women with devils. This book polluted the souls of men with the infamous dogma of eternal pain. This book made credulity the greatest of virtues, and investigation the greatest of crimes. This book filled nations with hermits, monks and nuns — with the pious and the useless. This book placed the ignorant and unclean saint above the philosopher and philanthropist. This book taught man to despise the joys of this life, that he might be happy in another — to waste this world for the sake of the next.
I attack this book because it is the enemy of human liberty — the greatest obstruction across the highway of human progress.
Let me ask the ministers one question: How can you be wicked enough to defend this book?
[ed. Trigger Warning for child abuse.]
Christianity doesn’t have a clue what love is. It starts by fucking up the notion beyond all recognition right off the bat. God’s “love” is so great that if you swear eternal obedience and submission, he won’t torture you until the end of time, even though he knows full well you deserve it, you despicable mortal you. This ultimate perversion of love makes it possible for christians to say any atrocious action could be done “out of love”.
At it’s mildest, you have your run-of-the-mill bigots and misogynists, smiling sweetly as vile hatred pours out of their mouths. Middle of the road, we get people like the West Borrow Baptists who don’t bother with the duplicity of smiling or making the vitriol sound nice. They tell people flat out they deserve to burn and suffer endlessly in hell. Out of love, of course. The last step is to go beyond words to express christian “love” and demonstrate it physically, to the point murder if need be.
‘To Train Up a Child’ is a horrendously vile book, authored by a loathsome duo of wretches that the world would be better off without. That bears demands repeating. Michael and Debi Pearl, the repugnant writers of this appalling book, should not exist; the utter obliteration of their influence on our society would be an immeasurable boon. The teachings in their book, which include such deplorable tidbits like telling parents to starve and beat their children to break them into obedience, has resulted in yet another child’s murder.
In a story that caused a nauseating sense of deja-vu, another set of parents have been convicted of murder. The parents, looking to their faith for guidance on how to raise their children, took to heart the teachings of Michael and Debi Pearl and their ‘No Greater Joy’ ministry. As a result, 13 year old Hana Williams died after three years of abuse.
Malnutrition, hypothermia, severe beatings, all part of the program that has lead to at least three cases of parents killing a child while adhering to the advice from the Pearls. I say ‘at least’ as that’s how many I’ve read about. I can only imagine the actual number of horror stories that have resulted from the malicious filth spread by these “loving” christians.
Is it a fringe element, just a few nutcases following a pair of backyard loons? Nope. The Pearls run a very successful ministry, bringing in an estimated $1.7 million a year. They are also the tip of the iceberg. Evangelicals adopting foreign children in order to ‘save their souls’ are an infestation of child abuse and neglect. The christian ‘spare the rod’ doctrine is as mainstream as it can get and it’s killing kids.
Christianity is vile, its idea of love is deplorable, and its witless followers are a threat to the innocent. Because monstrous brutality for your tyrannical “god” isn’t just old testament stuff, as many apologists would have you believe. It is born-again and murdering children for the glory of jebus!
Fuck.
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Religion inspires hatred.
Anyone proclaiming they are chosen ones, or are better than someone else because of pious qualities x,y,z are almost always horribly unethical people. Case in point the recent frenzy in the United States featuring devout followers of Christ insulting wait staff with homophobic slurs and not tipping them because it ‘goes against god’. But it is always best to let the bigots speak for themselves. First an incident in New Jersey:
When Morales introduced herself to the couple and their two children, the mother was allegedly shocked by Morales’ short hair.
“Oh I thought you were gonna say your name is Dan,” she allegedly said. “You sure surprised us!”
At the end of the meal, Morales was left with no tip on the $93.55 bill. Instead, she found a note on the receipt, reading: “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I don’t agree with your lifestyle & how you live your life.”
Wow. I’ll let Morales speak for herself in reply to this discrimination.
“I am THOROUGHLY offended mad pissed off and hurt that THIS is what her kids will grow up learning and that I served in the Marines to keep ignorant people like them free. Sorry lady but I don’t agree with YOUR lifestyle and the way you’re raising your kids but you didn’t see me throwing that in your face and giving you shitty service. Keep your damn mouth shut and pray we never cross paths again.”
Let’s get this out of way now – the sexual preferences and orientation of your server has exactly zero to do with the quality of service they provide for you. The problem as illustrated lies entirely within the framework of the person being the asshat. Oh, and are you seeing the love that christians constantly knacker on about any here.
No?
I only see prejudice, fear and bigotry’ the usual unholy trifecta “ethical religious behaviour”.
A popular Italian eatery in Kansas where a server received this charming note on the bill:
“Thank you for your service, it was excellent. That being said, we cannot in good conscience tip you, for your homosexual lifestyle is an affront to GOD. Queers do not share in the wealth of GOD, and you will not share in ours. We hope you will see the tip your fag choices made you lose out on, and plan accordingly. It is never too late for GOD’S love, but none shall be spared for fags. May GOD have mercy on you.”
Thank you religion for keeping one of the strongest sources of ingroup/outgroup trauma alive and well in the 21st century. This is the kind of repugnant thinking that grows out of following bronze-age mythology. The sanctimonious hatred and fear that would prompt someone to write this to their server speaks volumes on how the ethics of religion stack up to modern moral interpretation.
As in, not at fracking all.
Oh sure, I’m generalizing but generalizing correctly. There is no need to look farther than the Republican Party of the United States and the piously-twisted shit that they (the christian right) are proposing on almost a daily basis in the US Congress. Hatred of women, the poor, people who are not white, and not straight are regular targets the christian hate machine.
This undulating wave of vicious hatred spews forth from the same people who like to say “god is love” and if we just let christ into our hearts we can find salvation.
Fuck your god, fuck your christ and a double fuck to your “salvation”.
Sideways.
The treatment of the innocent service staff in restaurants makes me angry you feeble-minded, bigoted, christian fucks. Anyone with the smallest shred of ethical fiber can see the grievous harm your ass-clam of a religion brings into the world and would rightly condemn it for being an insidious, retrograde movement, that is making the world a shittier place to live in.
Well duh? I mean if we couldn’t stop the 25/8 festival of sin centered fun that all atheists share, why would be atheists?
Darkmatter2525 has a rather poignant reply to some of the horsepucky thrown at gentle unbelievers.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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