Tag Archives: Religion

11.14.13
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Catholic Bishop Removed (Wait For It…) For Sexual Abuse Of Children

This was back in Sept, so maybe you have heard about it. I’ve had this in my draft file for some time. I have no idea why I haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet. Perhaps I would really like to cling to some sort of hope that humanity isn’t doomed, I don’t know. My original link has gone dead, but I found the same story here:

http://www.vaticancrimes.us/2013/09/another-bishop-fired-for-child-sex.html

Here we go again, another Catholic Priest, excuse me…a Bishop was caught diddling the children. Not a lot of details in the story yet, I don’t know if I want to know how many kids were abused at the hands of this criminal. I just want it to stop.

I am beginning to believe that to become a Catholic priest you must meet a prerequisite of being some kind of pervert. There must be some kind of secret pervert handshake, or wink or something, that gets you an automatic position as a priest.  At least this time the guy was identified, and released from his duties. Reversing the historic trend to sweep it all under the rug and relocate the PoS to some other location to do it all over again. I suppose this is progress, but I fear that for every one of these situations that comes to light, a dozen more go unreported.

A few questions if I may. Where is this supposed high ground that religion holds? I would really like to know. When will people stop making excuses for these lowlife criminals, wake up, and give them razing over the coals and time behind bars they deserve? When will it become not okay to be a child raper? When will people stop pointing fingers at the abused and put the blame where it belongs? When does respect for the perceived authority of religion give way to the reality that so many of their appointed officials are pedophiles?  I say this a lot unfortunately: How many cases will it take? I want the number. How many fucking cases like this must be exposed, for the Catholics, or any religion, it isn’t just the Catholics…when does it get to the point where the people in the pews say..”you know, I think this is where I say enough is enough?”…and walk out to never return. What will it take? What keeps them willfully returning to the trough of abuse, and offering up their children as a sacrifice?

Somebody tell me. Because I honestly can’t figure it out. Wilfull ignorance? A belief that “it could never happen to my children?” The notion that the devil made them do it? Those nasty little kids were asking for it? Is there a plan in place to start the rumor that “it’s just another case of someone wanting to sue the church?”  That way people can just file it away as insignificant, and “it won’t happen to them?”  Is it viewed as some sort of “test of faith?” Is it perhaps possible that people are so dense that it is a combination of all of these things? Of all the things that I just do not understand about how the mind of a creationist works, this is probably the biggest question, with all of the evidence at hand, with a high number of frequency, priests are raping your children. Why do YOU continue to allow it to happen? Is the supposed saving of ones soul and eternal happiness jive, more important than your child being bent over in the back room? Also, in what scenario does your child get to be in a (no pun intended) one on one relationship with the priest?

Too many questions, not enough answers. 

11.13.13
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Quote of the Month

Lets go with George Washington this month. Here is a quote that echoes my sentiments of the state of religion today. Anyone with an ounce of sense, who is paying attention to the goings on in the world today, will see that things really haven’t changed much since 1792.

“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

George Washington – letter to Edward Newenham, 1792

If anything, things appear worse now than they were then. People blowing each other up over what? Religious views. Palestines killing Jews. Jews killing Palestines. Muslims killing just about anyone they see as a threat or symbol against their tyranny. In Africa we have Muslims killing x-ians and vice versa, and x-ians going on good old fashioned witch hunts, where their children and neighbors are being killed (for being witches? really? I thought we had moved past that). You have all kinds of religiously motivated atrocities going on all over the place, why then is this religion thing heralded as something good again? Someone remind me.

I honestly feel like religion is the single largest threat to society… ever. Unless those that practice religion of all stripes can learn to be tolerant of other peoples beliefs, and reconcile old differences of opinion, what we see today will continue to fill 20 second slots on the nightly news, Infinitely. I see nothing to indicate otherwise. An ideal world, in my opinion, would be one free of religion, and the prejudice that comes with it. Can we move out from under this darkness, this machine of evil, this unrelenting opression already? Religion is not the sweet goodness its adherents think it is, they are just blinded, or indifferent, to its true nature.

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

11.08.13
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It Took Science To Prove This?

I can live with that I suppose, but anyone with a knack for spotting bullshit arguments probably didn’t need scientific evidence to show this idea was wrong. What idea is that? That the earth, the sun, our solar system would be the center of the universe of course. That argument fostered by the religious wingnuts who believe everything in their little black book is true despite any good evidence to the contrary. 

The money quote from the article:  “Dartmouth researchers found that this model* can’t hold up to other observational tests. The sky glows with light left over from the Big Bang, also known as the Cosmic Microwave Background, so they calculated how that glow would be affected. Their findings show that the model’s prediction is completely contrary to the glow that has been measured.”  The article goes on with:  “Essentially, we held a mirror up to the universe and asked if the reflection was special,” says Robert Caldwell, a professor of physics and astronomy who co-wrote the article with undergraduate physics major Nina Maksimova. “The reflection shows that we do not appear to live in a special location, and decisively excludes this** explanation for the universe’s accelerating expansion. It would be a great relief to be able to understand a basic problem of cosmology within the known laws of physics, but our research is an important step in explaining the physics responsible for the cosmic acceleration.” (and an unfortunate side effect being this result)

Well how about that? Another biblical literalist statement of fact slain with the sword of science. Those damn scientists with their damn facts just keep on dismantling the delusion one myth at a time. I predict the professional creationist spin doctors to begin with the howling in 3…2…1…and go!

*,** The “we are the center of the universe theory”, until this morning I just thought that was a wacky idea held by creationists, I did not know it was actually postulated as a cough, cough…theory.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/dc-drs110613.php

10.12.13
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Quote of The Month

I let October sneak up on me, it is the 12th already? Let’s see what we can find…

How about Thomas Paine? Paine wasn’t actually one of the founding fathers, which this Quote of the Month series is based upon, but he was an influential writer at the time and was at least on good terms with our founding fathers. Paine’s writings helped to stir the fire in preparation for the revolution to come, and he was inspirational to many of the day. I believe his position still stands upon solid ground. Without further ado:

“Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God.  It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.”

Indeed, anyone who has ever read the bible would be hard pressed not to see what Paine is referencing here. Brutal killings, genocides, the trampling upon women’s rights, the dashing of thine enemies childrens heads upon the rocks, the flud that never happened but claimed to murder the entire population of the earth save but a few. (never mind that at the estimated time of the flud, the many advanced cultures all over the globe never appeared to notice) The bible is filled to the brim with these incidents that would be rightfully labeled atrocities today. Atrocities at the order of this supposed loving god.

I can do without that kind of love…thanks.

The site where I get these quotes: http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html

EDIT: I woke up this morning, and over a cup of coffee decided Paine was worth a little more investigation, as usual Wiki was helpful. It turns out while Paine was a very influential thinker of the day, later in life he wound up being ostracized from society because of his views of religion, and a tirade against G. Washington, after his imprisonment in France that he suspected Washington of being complicit. He died a lonely man apparently, but you have to give him credit for staying with his ideals, right to the end. The Wiki page is very enlightening. I posit the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine  It is always nice to learn something you did not know yesterday, and I find it odd this guy was never really mentioned in my youth at school. This guy should be right up there with Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, indeed without Paine the colonists may never had risen to the challenge of the revolution, food for thought. I found another quote there by Paine well worth reading, I leave it as a tribute to Paine, an unknown American hero.

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the, Jewish church by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.”

09.21.13
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Aljazeera America

Really? I have been seeing ads all over TV, now I’m seeing them here and there on the internet, they are marketing this thing up heavily. While I am all for the free market and open competition, I have to wonder…do we really need a conservative, religiously/politically motivated, fundamentalist slant on our news? Don’t we already have Fox News?

I have about as much interest in watching this as I would for signing up for free shock therapy, which is less than zero. In fact, what I see from regular Fox News viewers, is that stupefied deer in the headlights look, that people should not value as a personality trait. Reminds me of those old “this is your brain on drugs” commercials. This is you before Faux News, This is you after…

Didn’t Aljazeera just get banned from the air somewhere? In a country of their own religious view? http://www.dc4mf.org/en/content/al-jazeera-mubasher-misr-and-four-other-channels-forced-air

Just what we need, a bunch of shit stirring, emotion manipulating, riot inducing, “news”. If Faux News is bad, this is probably something much, much worse. I will not be watching, I would prefer my brain on drugs…I really hope they shrivel up and die due to lack of paid commercials, or funding in general, before they become the problem here, they have proven to be elsewhere.

I don’t want or need my news flavored with a point of view. I want my news presented as the facts, I am perfectly capable of forming my own views. Thank you. “Just the facts ma’am.” Joe Friday, Dragnet. Yeah, probably giving away my age with that one  🙂

09.19.13
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Good Luck With That… (Pope Warns Church on Divisive Rules on Abortion, Gays)

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-warns-church-find-balance-fail-20305398

If ever there was a sign that religion is losing its grip on society, I’d take this as one. Effectively this article admits the faults of the church over the years, being heavy handed and showing no signs of empathy for fellow man. Regarding all of our social differences, sexual orientations or personal necessities based on cultural or circumstantial situations… and maintaining rule with an ironclad cross as the expected way to run its business.

So this Pope is calling for them to tone it down a notch, for fear of losing more of its hold on its followers. From what I understand, from my travels in internet land, it is no well hidden secret that x-ian sects have been on a steady decline for some time. I see this as a band aid, trying to patch up a foot long gash. Or in other words, too little, too late. 

I strongly doubt that this new line of thought will take hold anytime soon. Those in the church, with their supposed authority, aren’t likely to give in to this newfangled way of thinking, it just goes against the trend they have already set for themselves. It would be like asking an old style executioner to stop sharpening his axe, they are moving to a new mode of killing, with butterflies instead. I just don’t see it happening, without first there being a change in the status quo. 

Too much blood on the ground, too many millions dead at the hands of religion. Too many raped children. Too many abused. Too many scandals. Too much denying of inconvenient facts that contradict their beliefs. Too many lies and cover ups. Too much of all of it and more, for this little band aid to make much of a difference, even if they could get this kind of change to take place within their ranks.

The best change we can all hope for, is for religion'(s), all of them, is to die the slow painful death they deserve. Sooner, better than later. 

 

 

 

06.25.13
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Talk About Missing The Point

Judge in Montana rules that a Jesus statue can remain on federal land. Apparently this statue has been there for 60 years, and that is basically the reason this judge allowed it to stay despite the best efforts of the FFRF. (Freedom From Religion Foundation)

Here is the money quote from this judge :”The statue’s secular and irreverent uses far outweigh the few religious uses it has served. The statue is most frequently used as a meeting point for skiers or hikers and a site for photo opportunities, rather than a solemn place for religious reflection,”

…what about the fact that is obviously a religious idol, representing the Catholic group, The Knights of Columbus? On FEDERAL land? Did that little trinket of information go in one ear and out the other? There is this thing in our constitution that the religious right, representing whatever particular cult they happen to belong to, love to trample on. It is called the Establishment Clause, which clearly proclaims that no government institution can or should endorse any religion in or on public land.

Flathead National Forest, is a fine example of government land. A god damned Jesus statue is obviously representative of several religious cults. The way I see it, the math comes out quite differently from this judge. Anyone with a functioning rational mind, should be able to see this is flat out wrong. According to the article the FFRF is planning to appeal.  I do hope common sense wins out. Given the amount of religious extremism infested in politics these days, I won’t be holding my breath.

…article here:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-jesus-statue-stay-montana-mountain-19482570#.Ucnc7flOM4c

06.20.13
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CHRISTIAN GROUP APOLOGIZES TO GAY COMMUNITY

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/christian-group-apologizes-gay-community

Well, how about that…? After 37 years of, and I quote: “undue suffering and judgment at the hands of the organization and the church as a whole.” The leader of Exodus International (an apparent religious reconditioning facility) has declared they are shutting the operation down.

Well you sure as hell don’t see that often, a X-ian group publicly apologizing for whatever atrocities they have committed and shutting down their concentration camps? I wonder what brought that on? I really kinda doubt it was a result of rational introspection and a desire to try and correct some terrible injustice. Because history tells us that just doesn’t happen, and people with religion stuffed up their orifices don’t seem to know what rational introspection even means…

I would really like to know what is behind this radical change of behavior. Dollar to a doughnut says, as history does tend to show us, that someone or someones high up in the churchy administration got caught with their pants down, and not with a member of the opposite sex. Perhaps on a mind boggling scale. I do hope further details soon emerge from this, there is just something odd about the whole thing. Maybe I am overly suspicious, maybe it is what it appears to be on the surface. I fear however, that there is much to this story that we just don’t know yet.

X-ians, persecuting, oppressing, and generally abusing people with no remorse for 2000 years…well maybe that is changing, the Catholic church did apologize for their treatment of Galileo a while back. But one incident and a maybe, does not a trend make.

Just for the record, I’d like to announce that I am not gay. I do however support any persons desire to pursue whatever sexual orientation they prefer, or to pursue mixed race relationships, or to just be themselves, and it is none of my business, or anyone else’s as to what goes on between consenting adults, in bedrooms or motels or in the backseats of cars anywhere*…well unless it is my driveway, then we would have to talk. You gotta be smarter than that…I know the back roads and out of the way place around here as well as anyone, I am sure I can direct you to a better spot.

* Unless you are some bible thumping jackass, or  politician, or self inflated smug sort of hypocrite, that can’t keep his pecker from getting caught somewhere it shouldn’t be. Then it’s open season.

06.15.13
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Lesbian Student Expelled in Omaha

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/14/grace-university-omaha-christian-college-lesbian/2425467/

It’s a X-ian school by the way, nuff said, except the part where they are demanding six thousand dollars for not completing her courses. I would like to think if you kick someone out and then charge them with not completing the course, that the responsibility would fall upon the school for kicking her out. But my logic surely conflicts with any religious ‘logic’ on every level.

What really struck me sideways is this quote “Grace University’s code of conduct for its students is strict: No kissing, no prolonged hugs and certainly no premarital sex. The school even monitors students’ television habits, forbidding HBO, MTV, Comedy Central and several other channels “because of the values they promote.”  That is just a stones throw away from the god-damned Taliban. Make no mistake, if the religious right had the power to do so, this is the kind of ‘policy’ we would all be living under. 

Also note, they made her partake in what I can only think of as some religious re-conditioning, with,  and I quote: “months of church attendance and meetings with Christian mentors, spiritual advisers and other groups.”  This was a condition that had to be met before they would allow her to continue with school, after the lesbian affair came to light. Then they turned right around, expelled her, and charged her for not completing the course.

X-ians, persecuting people for 2000 years.

…I have got to stop reading the damn news, every day it seems there is another story about religious fuckwits doing religious fuckwittery, or cover ups concerning kiddie diddling priests, or faith healers killing their kids, or some school board infiltrated by right wing asshats trying to get religion taught in public schools, or religiously motivated bombings, killings, stonings, beheadings, etc etc etc. 

 

06.10.13
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Cruising the Blogosphere

I haven’t been overly inspired lately with news items or local events, tripping my desire to write trigger. Sure there are floods and murder and mayhem on the loose, but nothing that begs me to respond. So I have been perusing blogs here at Word Press and some of my responses to some articles were IMO darn near blog worthy in their own right. The following are my responses to some blogs, each response will have the appropriate blog site link posted. It would take up a lot of space and time to try and chronicle it all here, and doubtful anyone would want to read through it all, if you are that bored hit the links for the full perspective..first up:

Here’s my take, I read blah, blah blah, “Science does not provide meaning” We live in a universe without meaning. This is a cold uncaring place that will  kill you dead, with no concerns about your beliefs, your family, your aspirations, or your desire to continue living. The universe, this world, does not care. We humans have emotions, we want to survive, we want to be with our kids, we want to experience life to its fullest, and we have ascribed meaning to a world devoid of it. Religion today is no better than the bone tossing shamans of centuries past. Simply an institution developed to take advantage of the human desire to live…and a half assed attempt to explain away the scary things. A security blanket for those afraid of the dark.

Then…blah blah blah “science is BAD” Then “science is both good and bad, therefore on equal ground with religion” Science has brought us many unique ways to kill, but is it science that uses these methods? Or is it someone with an axe to grind, or a vendetta to settle, or a war to win that uses them? Often as not religion is used as a justification to use the machines of science as a means of destruction. Science is an investigation for knowledge, where that leads can be good or bad, but it rarely starts off with bad intent. I am sure a few examples can be provided that show bad intent from the get go, such as the development of arms, but most scientific endeavors are a simple quest for knowledge, and you can’t lump them all in the same category.

Then blah blah, something about a debate with a perceived winner by the author, yay! I think?

Then blah blah blah specific scientific fields cannot “perceive the whole picture at any one point.” No, but now take all of the many branches of science, with many facts from each branch, lining up with facts from other fields, each validating the other, all leading to a consensus. Soon the big picture develops, with a much more meaningful definition of the reality we live in. “Evidence Based Reality”. This is the beauty of science.

Then, the one thing I agree with “Religions have always evolved, arisen out of other religions, and required responses to changing understandings and social realities.” Slow but sure, it takes centuries for religion to change, but it does. Many cannot see this simple truth, even religion evolves over time. Modern xianity is nothing like its beginnings. People seem to like the fact that they don’t need to offer bloody sacrifices anymore, but you never hear them talking about it. Heck, even the Catholic church, dogmatic as it is, has conceded evolution (though a tad misguided attribution to a god guided process). It is a shame Islam, appears to be entrenched in the dark ages. I hope at some point that one matures, but I see no hope of that in the near future, it would be nice if it could evolve a bit. Sooner the better but I am straying off topic. Yes, religion evolves, but at a snails pace, and never in a proactive way, but reactionary to changing times and only in an effort to save itself from declining membership, or to save face. Such a moral high ground eh?

http://mysteryjourney.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/religion-and-or-is-it-versus-science/comment-page-1/

next: 

I’m sorry, but that is one of the dumbest arguments I’ve ever heard.

Aging: I don’t recall anyone saying science could stop aging.
Getting Sick: can you say immunization?
Not Dying: can you say CPR?
Reproduction: can you say condom, or “the pill”?
Moral issues: really? can your dog stop these things?
Weather/Earthquakes: isn’t your dog responsible for these?
Look Into the Past: can you say telescope?
Abiogenesis: you are right, cant say for sure when or where, but can say it happened.

Most of your arguments are common fallacies. Mostly, “Argument from Ignorance”, “False Equivalencies” , and lets not omit outright lies. This argument is riddled with holes. You have achieved nothing here worth noting. Except a big patting yourself on the back for thinking you have all of the answers. The answers you claim do not exist, are out there, it is up to you to become more educated on the matter. I strongly doubt you have the capacity to do it. It would require reading some actual fact based sciency stuff, and not the babble.

Faith, believing that which has no evidence whatsoever to support it. Kinda like this blog post.

http://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/what-science-cannot-do/

next: 

Great Post. I agree with your perspective entirely.

The comments that suggest science requires faith, is to me a bit misinformed. Science does expand into areas of unobservable probabilities (black holes, string theory), but this requires not faith, but a deep understanding of physics and math, that is way over my head. I trust those with the knowledge do do the physics and math, to come to a reasonable conclusion that may well be testable in the future. Those guys and gals can work it out, and I trust in their abilities. Is that faith? I think not. That is an assumption that people way more educated than I have the faculties to do their job adequately. Indeed we know now that black holes DO exist, they were once theoretical, but no more, and we can now see how matter interacts with them. I’d call that a scientific success. Faith is more a belief in something, despite the fact that there is no evidence to support it.

What about all the sciences such as geology, astronomy, genetics, biology, and all the rest of the “ologies”? Do they require faith? I think not. Science is a conclusion, based on observable, repeatable, verifiable, falsifiable, facts. Same can be said for atheism. Faith is for those without the reasoning skills or the desire to grasp the reality of science.

Any attempt to reconcile one with the other, is futile. Science is grounded in reality, science has the “E” word (evidence) to back it up, and not just a little evidence, tons of it. Faith as I said before, is a belief in something despite the fact there is no evidence to support it. They are polar opposites and not compatible…unless you want to discuss cognitive dissonance and compartmentalization.

http://ryan59479.wordpress.com/2013/06/08/science-and-religion/   I like this guy’s stuff.

and lastly:

The entire history of all religions is done by graduates of the well known institution MSU. Better known as Making Stuff UP. You don’t expect them to stop now, or start using well researched arguments do you?

It’s a house of cards based on out dated mythologies and made up stuff, that requires constant rationalizations to keep itself afloat. This is the only kind of science they are capable of. No facts necessary.

http://eyeonicr.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/not-so-giant/

That concludes my recent journey’s in the blog ether world. I do regret the apparent necessity to constantly define faith, but it is so often used as a positive aspect of someones else’s perspective, or as an attribute of science, that it demands pointing it out from a rationalists perspective.