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PATH: BS | Religion
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Dan Savage: Who's Next To Hang After Saddam? God
Posted by Pile
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[Beating Dead Horses]
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Who we should hang after we hang Saddam Hussein?
God.
Saddam Hussein found guilty of executing fewer than 200 men and boys after an assassination attempt was made on the dictator’s life near the village where these unfortunate men and boys lived. They weren’t guilty of any wrongdoing—but that didn’t stop Hussein from having these men and boys rounded up, tortured, and executed. Saddam was sending a message to all of Iraq:
“Don’t want f*ck with me, people, because that’s going to make me mad and when I’m mad I f*cking kill people—yes, even people that had nothing to do with whatever it was that made me mad in the first place. So not only should you avoid pissing me off, you need to keep an eye on your friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens to make sure they don’t piss me off. Because if they do, then a bunch of folks are gonna die—and that might include you and your whole family.”
Saddam’s crime was horrific — it’s the same crime that got hundreds of Nazis strung up after WWII. When a despot or an occupying power or a rebel army tortures and kills innocent people to send a message to, say, the population of occupied France or Kosovo or Iraq, that’s what known as reprisal killings, and that’s a war crime. And it mystifies me that American fundamentalists constantly accusing Jesus Christ—the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, the Savior of All Mankind, etc.—of engaging in reprisal killings and summary executions on a scale that would make a genocidal maniac like Hussein blush. Read the bible lately? |
READ MORE | 2 comments since 2007-01-19 14:59:06 | Comment on this Article |
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Sam Harris' Top Ten Myths About Atheism
Posted by Pile
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[Edumakashun] |
 Several polls indicate that the term "atheism" has acquired such an extraordinary stigma in the United States that being an atheist is now a perfect impediment to a career in politics (in a way that being black, Muslim or homosexual is not). According to a recent Newsweek poll, only 37% of Americans would vote for an otherwise qualified atheist for president.
Atheists are often imagined to be intolerant, immoral, depressed, blind to the beauty of nature and dogmatically closed to evidence of the supernatural.
Even John Locke, one of the great patriarchs of the Enlightenment, believed that atheism was "not at all to be tolerated" because, he said, "promises, covenants and oaths, which are the bonds of human societies, can have no hold upon an atheist."
That was more than 300 years ago. But in the United States today, little seems to have changed. A remarkable 87% of the population claims "never to doubt" the existence of God; fewer than 10% identify themselves as atheists — and their reputation appears to be deteriorating.
Given that we know that atheists are often among the most intelligent and scientifically literate people in any society, it seems important to deflate the myths that prevent them from playing a larger role in our national discourse. |
READ MORE | 2 comments since 2007-05-21 11:44:41 | Comment on this Article |
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How Strong Is Your Anti-Faith
Posted by Pile
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[Activists] |
A documentary entitled, "The God who wasn't there" ended with a moment when the filmmaker, having bed fed up with contradictive religious dogma being pounded into him as a child, confesses to the camera that he denies the existence of the holy spirit. What's the big deal? Well according to the Bible, Jesus will forgive you for any transgression, except, yes, you guessed it, dissing the holy ghost.
Now a vigilant group of atheists have started a new Internet meme on YouTube where they've challenged others to make videos of themselves testing the limit of their anti-faith. Several news stations have picked up on this, and you might find this surprising, but the Christians have their own response to the issue. |
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The Christianists And The Christian Embassy
Posted by Pile
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A military watchdog group is asking the Defense Department to investigate whether seven Army and Air Force officers violated regulations by appearing in uniform in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization. In the video, much of which was filmed inside the Pentagon, four generals and three colonels praise the Christian Embassy, a group that evangelizes among military leaders, politicians, and diplomats in Washington. These "Military Christianists" use their uniforms to proselytize, and swear an oath of loyalty, putting loyalty to country third behind God and family.
Some groups are very concerned about whether or not our military leaders can now be trusted to honor their oath of allegiance to the Constitution, which is in direct opposition with the objective of the Christian Embassy and their membership in this "cult."
"We have a systemic problem. You sound like you're too young to remember Robert Redford in "Three Days of the Condor," but the premise of that movie was that there was a CIA within the CIA. We have a virulently dominionist, fundamentalist evangelical Christian element within the Pentagon. They would prefer this to be the "Pentecostalgon," not the Pentagon. That's what they would prefer. They're trying to turn the Pentagon into a frickin' faith-based initiative, and that is not what our military is about." |
READ MORE | 3 comments since 2006-12-16 10:01:36 | Comment on this Article |
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A resolution has recently passed the U.N. Human Rights Council which calls upon member governments to "take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination including through political institutions and organizations of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion..." What that means in U.N.-eze is that people and governments must be nice to proponents of religion and must show respect and tolerance for all people's religious beliefs. But the resolution in the wrong hands could have some pretty unsavory consequences and there's one group on the planet who are just cynical, jaded, and smart enough to see it. They are...
Did you know that a jar of peanut butter holds the key to demonstrating the "fact" that creation is real and evolution is phony? Check out this amusing video from Christian anti-science proponent, Chuck Missler.
An unemployed man from Tooting, a suburb of London, England, has found himself a new niche in life...as an Indian goddess, curer of infertility and patron of eunuchs. Not a bad gig!
The Easter season unveiling of an anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ, dubbed "My Sweet Lord" by its creator, the 485,460-calorie Messiah has infuriated Catholics preparing to observe some of their holiest days of the year.
It has all the ingredients of a wedding. The proud tuxedo-clad father, the frosted white cake, the limousines and an exchange of vows.
We reported on these types of shenanigans in 
As an Equal Opportunity Offender, BSalert is proud to present this homage to the hot, sexy curvaceousness of the Good Book. Because let's face it--nothing says holy like hip-hop and callipygian satire.
So much for the Good Book, it seems...or at least the bloody parts of it.
Police said a motorist beat a former Soviet political prisoner to death with a rock Thursday at a New Jersey highway rest stop after the victim declined to buy his religious CDs.
An 83-year-old retired Jesuit priest living on Gonzaga University's campus has a couple of problems. According to a lawsuit filed against him, the Jesuit order (also named in the suit) knew that Father James Jacobson "repeatedly violated his vow of celibacy." But that's not where it ends for the dirty old man--that's where his problem STARTS.
The Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals ("The NAE Wants YOU--If You're An Old White Guy"), Rev. Richard Cizik, somehow got the stupid idea that when the Bible says that God created the earth and then made us the stewards over [INSERT DIVINE POSSESSIVE PRONOUN HERE] creation, it means that we should actually take CARE of the planet. What a goofball. Some evangelical heavy-hitters, like Dr. James Dobson (Ted Haggard, ex-president of the NAE, was unavailable for comment as he was busy being really, really straight), have written the acting president of the NAE and demanded Cizik's ouster for his "relentless campaign" (their words) against global warming.
The Irish Catholic Bishops Conference (motto: "Ain't No Party Like An Irish Catholic Bishops' Party") has some pretty wacky ideas. No I'm not talking about masturbation as a mortal sin. Nor am I talking about the concept of transubstantiation. I'm not even talking about the idea that a man believed his fiancee when she told him she was pregnant NOT with his baby NOR with another villager's baby but in fact with the child of a loving (and horny) God. This is much wackier.
Hey, did you know that the Earth doesn't revolve around the sun? Yep. According to yet another important-sounding PAC called the "Fair Education Foundation". This group is in the news this week for working with Georgia Republicans to draft a memo that was distributed to lawmakers demanding that a law requiring only "facts" be taught in school and not this idiotic "theory" of evolution. Oh and also, evolution is apparently the invention of some archaic, Jewish sect according to these people.
Deep in the country known as the cradle of mankind, because presumably that's where God first created Adam and his little riblet Eve (plus the dinosaurs, heterosexuality, the Ford Edsel, and all other intelligently designed things), there's trouble abrewin'. Turkana Boy, the most complete and one of the oldest prehistoric human skeletons yet found (by scientists guided by Satan, most like) is soon to be displayed in a museum (notorious showcases of factual things), but he's running into some protest from (come on, guess who) evangelical Christians.
Let's say you're a major American news organization. You bend over backwards to make yourself "the most trusted name in news" or something like that. And maybe, during a news show, you do a story on discrimination against a minority group. This is serious stuff--people being harassed, forced to leave town, their jobs threatened--all because they don't fit into the majority group.
Life Decisions International (LDI), a Washington DC-based group that has attempted to organize boycotts against companies that contribute to Planned Parenthood, has lashed out at the broadcast networks for allowing "programming that blatantly mocks Christianity." The group wasted no time denouncing Wednesday night/Thursday morning's episode of Late Night With Conan O'Brien, in which the host introduced a new character, "the homophobic country-western singer"... oh yea, you have to hear these lyrics...
Owners of the Morton Thrifty Foods in Morton, Texas say this ice formation resembles the Virgin Mary.
The web site says, After Jesus comes, we will make sure your pet is cared for. We are making arrangements with heathen pet food companies, heathen kennels, and heathen pet caretakers around the world to establish a realiable network of pet-caring heathens that will survive the apocalypse with your pet.
Man-made religious decorations are a common sight at this time of year, but the image on a tree in an Arlington man's front yard is natural and some neighbors have begun calling it a holy tree, according to some Florida residents.
Jesus went to the mall and a movie Saturday.
The Supreme Court entered into a free-speech dispute Friday involving a high school student suspended over a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner, displayed off school property, but in view during a school event.
So you're a Roman Catholic and you want to give your priest a Christmas gift? Why not give him what he's always wanted: a calendar of hot young boys from the Vatican!
This has got to be one of the greatest opportunities for anyone who ever wanted to do some good in the world. Right now there are billions (BILLIONS!) of people who have not yet heard the good news about Jesus and His message. These people are setting themselves up for a short trip to a hot, uncomfortable place (come to think of it, many of them DO live in a pretty hot place and are probably not all that comfortable what with starving and being disease-ridden and all). There is only one way to help them. We've got to get that message of love, self-sacrifice, and piety out there. But how? Travelling the world is cramped and difficult; full of crying babies, bad food, and plastic forks. A messenger of the Lord should not have to endure these depredations like some common... common... carpenter or something. WWJD? I'll tell you what J would D- he would buy Benny Hinn a JET!
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has lost his job to his Democratic challenger. Santorum has been an outspoken anti-gay, anti-choice activist in Congress. Santorum was the senator who claimed if we legalize gay marriage, there would be nothing to stop men from marrying dogs, too. Our society should undoubtedly brace itself for this upcoming spate of people-to-pet marriages in the absence of the moral direction of the former Republican senator.
Rev. Ted Haggard, married father of five, resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals on Thursday after being accused of paying a man for sex in monthly trysts over the past three years.
Keith Olbermann reviews the so-called "devastating" book, "Tempting Faith" by conservative Christian, David Kuo which chronicles the "inside story of political seduction" by the republicans to manipulate and control the Christian right.