"For the mere thought of existence to occur, that which came to mind pre-existed the mind that created them. Therefore, I KNOW there are no gods, and I shall not worship knowledge; only applaud and revel in its ability to add to my existence."
Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind lotteries, dating, and religion. — Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle
The random and violent attack by the knife-wielding Capener, 24, sparked confusion and fear in the Albuquerque Westside church as the choir started singing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.”
According to a criminal complaint released Monday, Capener vaulted over pews and lashed out at choir director Adam Alvarez, who had his back toward him.
…
Capener later told police that he was “99 percent sure Alvarez was a mason” and that he thought Alvarez was involved in a conspiracy.
He told the investigator that Masons are a group involved “in a conspiracy that is far more reaching than I could or would believe.”
A stampede at a railway station in northern India killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims on Sunday, the busiest day of the world’s largest religious festival at which some 30 million had gathered to wash away their sins in the sacred Ganges river.
A new report put out by the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund reveals that in several public school classes on the impact of the Bible on history have found classes teaching from a right-wing, fundamentalist Christian standpoint.A Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Mark Chancey found instances of students learning a literal interpretation of the Bible, that the earth is approximately 6,000 years old and that Judaism is a “flawed and incomplete religion” with materials “designed to evangelize rather than provide an objective study of the Bible’s influence.”TFN also found a lesson explaining “racial origins traced from Noah.”
We can only hope that this is the beginning of the end of the religious right for the remainder of my life time.
Maggie Gallagher isn’t the only religious conservative to be feeling a loss of optimism in the new year. In his January newsletter, the hate group Focus on the Family founder, James Dobson comes out and admits that “Nearly everything I have stood for these past 35 years went down to defeat.” What he fails to understand, or more likely admit to, is why. In his newsletter he proceeds to lay the blame for his failures on the doorstep of President Obama, the Democratic Party and the disappointing Judas Iscariots of the Republican party. There is no acknowledgement that in re-electing this President, the country provided a sound repudiation of Dobson’s brand of extremism. It wasn’t any of the factions he cited in his newsletter that brought about his defeat. It was the electorate, who, among other things, has grown weary of the distortions and ugly tactics employed by social conservatism.
The end of reason … at least in Indiana, man that state needs a few tin foil hats for electing judges like this one …
Indiana is now firmly planted in the heart of the bible belt. Indiana law requires that marriage can only be solemnized by a small group of people that includes clergy.
CFI has sued and wants “Secular Celebrants” to be added to the list. The case has gone to trial and the judge has spewed forth a crap load of dumb ass.
“We conclude that the Solemnization Statute is rationally related to the legitimate purpose of alleviating significant governmental interference with pre-existing religious beliefs about marriage,”
Marriage is not owned by religion. The judge did suggest that Secular Celebrants could qualify under the law if they….
…become a member of the ‘clergy’ by seeking immediate Internet ordination from the Universal Life Church…
So, if you spend $5 for an on-line “clergy” certificate then you qualify. Part of the judges logic is…
…the First Amendment was designed to give the power to churches, not nonbelievers.
Really? This rewriting of American history needs to stop. I worry that we only have a short window of time to push back on this idiocy before an entire generation is raised on this stupidity. Or, is it already too late?
A Year in Jail for Not Believing in God? How Kentucky is Persecuting AtheistsIn Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God–or risk 12 months in prison.November 21, 2012 | In Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God–or risk 12 months in prison.The law and its sponsor, state representative Tom Riner, have been the subject of controversy since the law first surfaced in 2006, yet the Kentucky state Supreme Court has refused to review its constitutionality, despite clearly violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
Savita Halappanavar, who was 17 weeks pregnant, died of septicaemia a week after presenting with back pain on 21 October at University hospital in Galway, where she was found to be miscarrying.
But he said these requests were denied because a foetal heartbeat was still present and they were told at one point: “This is a Catholic country.”
In the future this will become more and more common, due to the effects of global warming more energy is being pumped into our system, energy trapped in ice, energy absorbed by plankton that due to a rise in sea waters will not be able to access the sun efficiently and turn the suns energy into oxygen.
The face of the world is about to change, and we’re here to see it, and feel it. To survive we need to put down our teddy bears and roll up our sleeves …
Religion does no harm they say … Really ? Then can you tell me where this woman got the ideas:
1) Heaven exists and its a great place to go
2) That killing your kids sends them to heaven
Does Romney have the balls to steal the election ?
Does he have the clout to turn this country into a mockery of itself ?
Or does he believe in the mormon religion so much that he doesnt actually have to die to become god of his own planet ????
Will the American people WAKE THE FUCK UP and arrest that conniving lunatic already
Wait, What an honest republican ? Are there actual conservatives out there without an agenda to put the xtian god in the constitution, a republican that is not wanting to over throw the United States for its god ?
The koran specifically says to cause terror to the infidels, the ones that would go against alla ha ha etc etc
By saying “acts of terror” it can be suggested that the pres is referring to the specific verse in the koran that talks about terrror, and by doing so he is going against the koran and if he’s going against the koran he’s going against the alla ha ha god.
If he said terrorists, that would refer just to those that did the acts or planned them, acts of terror goes right to the teachings of the koran.
So if anyone of your friends says he’s a muslim, just say “I dont think sooooooo” and this is a good reason why….
Romney is such a tool, how can anyone buy into his bullshit. I will admit he can sound convincing at times however when listening you have to say, wait a minute, just how are you going to do that ? And you wait and wait and wait, like an evangelical waiting for the coming of christ you keep on waiting for HOW THE HELL IS HE GOING TO DO WHAT HE SAYS HE’S GOING TO DO …. Just like the coming of christ, 2000 yrs later and no RETURNS
I hope you got the tax dodge pun up there too
Now just how does this all fit in an anti theist page, well what kind of person can lie through there teeth like Romney can and sleep at night?
Well one can bring up the deal that xtians think that jesus died for their sins, and these sins from lying will be majickaly absorbed by the jesus ether and theyre all good.
Now the problem with this is, the xtians arent reading their buy the bull books very good, in the book of revelation it specifically says that ALL LIARS will spend their time in hell. There are no qualifiers to the statement, there is no repentance mentioned it says ALL LIARS PERIOD
There is no new covenant mentioned, no redemption just hell for those that lie, and Romney and his cohorts do a LOT of lying.
This is hardly the icing on the cake for Romney getting away with his lies, he’s a mormon they have an extra heavy duty layer of bullshit in their beliefs, the mormon belief is that Romney will after he dies become a god of his own planet … Talk about a get out of hell free card …
Many people say that islam is a religion of peace, that to follow islam is to surrender you soul to a god … well surrendering isnt always a good thing, its a hatful thing. Surrender is the giving up due to overwhelming force upon you, its not giving up or changing your mind, its more like do it or else.
Now here’s a story that tells the side of islam that needs to be seen, that people everywhere need to watch, this is part and parcel of the religion. It shows just how a religion can take over the minds of man and warp it allowing our animalistic tendencies to overwhelm our humanitarian nature
Who’s side is this guy on ?
I mean really, he knows the drill, he will get his 501 c3 revoked, then what will he cry about ?
If I didn’t see so many not just ignorant but outrageously conniving theists out there I would say this guy is a POE, and is actually working for the other side to get tax exempt status removed from churches.
Can people be this stupid, yes they can and are as this example shows.
Maybe this will lead to a revamping of the 501 c3 status, in which money gathered ONLY for humanitarian purposes can be tax exempt… in a flood, donations of pumps, sand bags, food, man power can all be claimed, even labor when doing humanitarian work that is directed against immediate MATERIAL danger of person or persons … (did you see what I did there ? )
I would call out that people send anonymous letters to the IRS demanding that these church’s status be revoked and to continue running the gambit.
Spread the word, blow the trumpets, lets see the vatican walls come tumbling down.
catholics everywhere are in such denial of the facts, they ban Atheists from chatrooms just for posting the truth about their church, they speak not to each other, they just post indoctrinational graphics and say things like praise jesus, or mary or gabriel or some other worthless deity .
They are truly clueless of the facts, join the fight against stupidity, the reign of terror, spread the word
BEG BEG you christian bastards, beg on your hands and knees, beg to the almighty god of torture and death … crawl on your hands and knees, kiss the ground, drag your face across the hot sands, pavement, cement, and rocks. Endure the pain of the almighty jesus so that he may look upon you with favor and elect for you mitt the rich man romney so that he can drag your worthless shameful bodies deeper into the pit of filthiness that you so deserve until you meet your god
I think this is what he wanted to say, but just didnt have the VAGINA to say it.
{Why do people say grow a pair a balls so someone would toughen up ?
Balls are soft and sensitive …
Now a VAGINA, now those take a pounding
~ Betty White }
this sounds so familiar … muslim men complain that women that arent covered up properly seduce them into having sex with them … Note I didnt say rape them because in islam its not rape, well unless she has 4 witness’s to the event that take her side that she was raped.
However if she wasnt covered up, SHE SEDUCED the men, just like the young boys and some girls that seduced these priests into having sex with them.
These fuckers have gotten away with making people believe the unbelievable for so long they think they can keep pushing the envelope and get people to buy into this horseshit … well theyre right, people are buying it.
So now you have yet another reason Im a vocal Atheist …
LADIES, this one is just for you, no its not the Chippendale dancers, its Mr Flip Flopper telling you on the air that he is for women’s rights, specifically your right to have an abortion … oh but with limitations … in the cases of rape or incest or if the mothers life is compromised by the fetus.
HOLD THE PRESS’S AND SET DOWN THE CHAMPAGNE GLASS’S, after the interview his aides say NO NO NO, Mr. Rommney misspoke he’s not for abotions … Thats right, I mean wrong … w/e
Now re watch the clip, watch Roms face during the interview, HE’S LYING THROUGH HIS TEETH ! His speech patterns give him away here, he’s lying period, and as Rachael points out, that if this topic needs to be decided by the Supreme Court, HE would get to nominate new judges, and 3 seats are up to be replaced. He cant contain himself in the interview, watch as he grins, his eyes light up, not because of some type of pwnage, but because he thinks he’s outsmarted the interviewer and the public with the idea that its ALL up to the courts, suggesting that he wont have any ties to the decision making process.
FOX NEWS, picking the news that they think will get you to watch them more.
Fox has bee caught bending the news more than once … ok more than a 1000 times. And to PROVE this a guy on YouTube named the liberal viewer points it out when and where , completely unadulterated, well from FOXs point of view at least, then he shows what really happened. Its amazing how they get away with it.
So if you watch FOX news, youre not getting news, youre getting STORIES !
Why do I fight for reality based thinking, well here’s another example of the stupidity that religion can instill in its followers.
Education is badly needed in Pakistan, however is that enough ? Can educating the masses in Pakistan be done in a way that it is available to all class’s, to all regions and within a time frame that is expedient. The education would have to reach 3 generations and withing 5 years.
My thought is that just educating the latest generation isnt enough, they could be banned from the education, the other generations could revolt as you see in this story, we need to educate all generations and class’s together.
First year a comparative religions course designed to defeat islamic apologetic
Second year hands on science class’s in biology, organic chemistry, and genetics 101. These class’s are also to be designed to defeat without question any islamic apologetic that has been offered
Third year, astronomy and cosmology with a healthy dose of what we know of biochemical reactants in space … study of amino acids in space etc
Forth year, history of the region and a comparative religions 201 with respect to the middle and far east.
Fifth year, DEBATE and logic coarse’s designed to debate all religions and to use their holy books as source material, pitting each one against itself and against each other
Im looking at starting ages of 10 to have basically the same curriculum as a 65 year old, what doesnt sink in will be reviewed over the 5 years of study.
This is a massive undertaking I realize however the only other way that has worked to reduce indoctrination of a peoples gives mankind a black eye in the modern educated world … war to Annihilate the opposition. This is not acceptable to rational people, however the abrahamic religions all call for it.
I really dont like the whole “me thinketh he protest too much” arguement, however for some reason “Me thinketh he protest too much”
Sen. Larry Craig said he “overreacted and made a poor decision” in pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after his June arrest following an incident in a Minneapolis, Minnesota, airport bathroom.
Tuesday, in his first public statement on the arrest, the Idaho Republican said he did nothing “inappropriate.”
“Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been,” said Craig, who has aligned himself with conservative groups who oppose gay rights.
Filed Aug 10 2012 by Atheist At Large in Religion > Islam
I can hear it now … Oh he wasnt a real muslim yada yada yada
A cruel religious sect kept 27 children locked away in dark and unheated underground cells – some for a decade.
The youngsters, aged from one to 17, have never seen daylight and have now been rescued from their living hell in Russia.
They were kept in an eight-level warren of cramped rooms underneath a three-storey house, without ventilation or electricity in a suburb of the city of Kazan, in the eastern region of Tartarstan.
Oh and whats that whole repentance thing all about ? Lets see:
If someone kills acouple dozen people in a crowded theater all they need to do is to believe jesus is god and repent to him and ask forgiveness and youre forgiven …
wow
The mega-church pastor of the Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, took to Twitter on Friday to express his thought about the recent shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater. Warren blamed the shooting on the teaching of evolution in public science classes:
“When students are taught they are no different from animals, they act like it.”
Warren who gave the invocation at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 joins company with Republican Rep. Louis Gohmert. Congressman Gohmert blamed the shooting on secularism stating:
“People say… where was God in all of this? We’ve threatened high school graduation participations, if they use God’s name, they’re going to be jailed… I mean that kind of stuff. Where was God? What have we done with God? We don’t want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present.”
Gohmert’s reasoning actually reflects quite poorly on the character of his deity. According to him, God let those people die apparently because he didn’t like the U.S. Constitution. As a point of clarification, the First Amendment prevents government led prayer forced on to the people. It does not restrict high school students from praying privately at their graduation.
This clown is such a phony and people fall for it, I guess just like every other religio fascist out there has their brain dead minions
He wants to tax people that dont go to church for health reasons …
Ok so he dont like National health care so he equates that to some stat somewhere that theists live longer than Atheists. So for your health you have to go to church or get taxed … Does he really want us in his church lol What a buffoon .
All he’s doing is trying to mock or make a barb at the health care idea, nothing more, he’s not serious about us going to church.
He’s also worried about church’s getting taxed, you can hear it in his voice. Its a classic case of projection and deferment. Its really too bad his audience isnt educated enough to see this.
Basically just more of a fox news sensationalistic propaganda piece, using buzz words to indoctrinate the drones that might agree with him.
Kinda funny how his jesus creature never charged anyone for healing them and the book told that you should take care of one another … I have a feeling that if this jesus character actually lived and came back, this ferret would be the first in line for damnation.
There is a huge shift from liberal church ideologies. Many will turn Atheist, others will just turn away from religion and just become “believers”. The most heinous will become evangelical and deny the facts around them that explain the world around us.
The church over the eons has survived due to mostly killing off the opposition, or the threat there of.
Today we still find that happening in 3rd world countries however the church has realized that it cant promote these things in an outwardly fashion. It would be a declaration of war and they would be destroyed.
So the church is changing the rules, making some things a little easier to swallow. The cover ups continue however with a hint of the allowance of justice, mans justice that is …
One of the things the pope has decree’d is that once youre a cath o lick, youre always a cath o lick, apostasy is not accepted. No immediate death sentence has been tacked on, (YET) but the flames of hell’s damnation are sure to frighten many of those within the church from apostasy.
Another thing that delights the KKK to no end is that the pope has reinstated a holocaust denier bishop, the jews are like WTF ?
The church even indoctrinates the dead, they say since they dont know what god is going to do, theyll treat the dead as good cath o licks and thats that, its up to god to decide. The phrase “kill em all let god sort them out” comes to mind …
Deceitful at its core, manipulating control freaks that are feeding off of the wantingly ignorant mass’s.
Ask any cath o lick, have you actually read your bible ?
The church actually teaches that a lot of what the bible has in it is hogwash, just stories, but even after a cath o lick has been taught this they just forget it and believe the voodoo nature of the bible and whats to become of them after they die.
This is quite interesting.
Ive been told many times by theists that there is an increase in cancer and other diseases and it shows an end of days, this shows the opposite.
Please save this and use it next time some theist tries pulling out the end of days tune.
Wow this is really good stuff
Ive got the story of the 9yr archived, but these guys wrote a great article depicting several of the heinous ideological memes of the christianity in general
This case is known as the “jesus pencil” case or the “candy cane” case
This is probably the most complete source for this that I could find
Go figure it happens in Texas
Now we need the NESSIE clause …
“In order to receive vouchers for ciriculum a school must deminstrate its willingess and adhearents to common textbooks of scientific value, not distortion”
The time to do something is now…
Speak up, speak out, speak about that what drives you, that which incense you, that which will cause mankind to become more humain .
The Salvation Army is more about saving immoral christian doctrine than the saving of people.
If they wanted to save people theyd become lifeguards, cause they sure arent saving anyone in my estimation
Beckey Fischer is at it again.
MORE CHILD ABUSE.
In one link that led me to her page noted here, she’s promoting INDOCTRINATING kids into the supernatural.
When you look to her store, not much there yet, but you find a book about healing. Picture of a kid with a stethescope and the laying on of hands.
So Becky which is it ? Use a doctor or voodoo ? Why are you confusing kids ?
This woman promotes going to 18 different countries in Africa and spreading her filth in 19 different languages.
How do we stop the heinous woman from spreading lies to the ignorant mass’s ?
This one is for you folks. Im not sure where to go with this actually, so make your comments and lets see where it goes.
Is this guy a twit ? Should he be fired ? Or should he be praised for standing up for free speech ?
ScienceDaily (June 13, 2012) — In a project led by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, an international team of scientists has completed the sequencing and analysis of the genome of the last great ape, the bonobo. Bonobos, which together with chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans, are known for their peaceful, playful and sexual behaviour that contrasts with the more aggressive behaviour of chimpanzees. The genome sequence provides insights into the evolutionary relationships between the great apes and may help us to understand the genetic basis of these traits.
Ok are these fools this stupid or are they pandering for votes ?
What kind of waters will flow from opening these flood gates ? (For you Atheists and literalists, thats a liberal retorical use of the english language to show annologies)
There needs to be an amendment that anyone suggesting laws or referendums like this are fired on the spot.
No more use of public paid labor for religious activities, yes senators and representives are public paid labor, just like the guys cutting the grass on the white house lawn … Persective seems to be lost in the public domain
A cleric in Pakistan’s Punjab province has warned that a jihad would be launched against polio vaccination teams at a time when the World Health Organisation has expressed concern at the emergence of new cases of the disease across the country.Maulvi Ibrahim Chisti of Muzaffargarh district declared the anti-polio campaign as “un-Islamic” and announced at the local mosque that jihad holy war should be carried out against the polio vaccination team.Chisti made the remarks after finding out that a vaccination team had entered Khan Pur Bagga Sher area of Muzaffargarh and asked families to cooperate with the campaign.The cleric went to the largest mosque in the area and declared that polio drops were “poison” and against Islam, The Express Tribune reported.He warned that if the vaccination team forced anyone to participate in the campaign, then jihad was “the only option”.
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — ZI Publications will file a series of judicial reviews over the arrest of its owner Ezra Zaid and the ban and seizure of a book written by a lesbian author who professes to be a Muslim.The Selangor Islamic Religious Affairs Department Jais yesterday raided the publisher, which has courted controversy by publishing Canadian author Irshad Manji’s book “Allah, Liberty and Love” in Malay, seizing 180 books, according to ZI.ZI said in a statement today this was the second such seizure by religious authorities after the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department Jawi also seized the books, which were banned by the Home Ministry, last week.
Well here we have a snowball in hell scenario …
An vocal ATHEIST running for government office in GEORGIA !
How does that man stay alive ?
There are about 25 or so Atheists in government offices at the federal level, not many but growing.
Ive been trying to keep track of the numbers and it seems this is a sudden jump from the 5 that were taughted a year ago, so it seems a few people came out of the shadows of faith to enlighten the country.
Im not sure how much of a chance this guy has, perhaps all the Atheists will get together in Ga. and just vote this guy in. I know that in Illinois its extremely difficult to get an Atheist in office. Rob Sherman has been trying for decades and gets very few votes.
He does more for the state than any other man Ive met, he’s a one man watch dog for not just the separation of church and state, but for things like over-site on where taxpayer money is going, whats it being spent on, crocked politicians etc
So I hope all you Atheists in Georgia can sneak your vote in for man that would face the gauntlet of theists and help make a difference in the government.
Lets get educated, lets educate, and lets celebrate the victory that knowledge trumps faith one more time …
Keep it up Jessica! You’re talking sense. I’ve got all kinds of respect for you.
Jessica Ahlquist, the 16-year-old behind the prayer mural ban at Cranston High School West in Cranston, Rhode Island, just can’t seem to keep her name out of the news.
Months after she won her ACLU-led battle, the teenager continues to receive both attention — and threats. While she’s been quiet over the past few weeks regarding her take on atheist demands that a WWI and WWII monument in front of a Woonsocket, Rhode Island, firehouse, be removed, she’s finally speaking out.
Ahlquist, who was initially accused by some of having involvement in her state’s latest battle between atheists, believers and pro-military families, has consistently denied playing a role in the spat. But on Tuesday, she posted a message on her Twitter account that, at the least, clears up her views on the Christ-inspired memorial.
An Oregon mother of seven is being sued for defamation by her former church over critical comments she made online.
Julie Anne Smith, a stay-at-home mom who home-schools her children, said church members began shunning her and her family after they left Beaverton Grace Bible Church almost four years ago.
She took to the Web in October 2009 to air her concerns about the church’s practices on Google reviews, but said her comments kept being pushed down by other church members’ more recent reviews. So in February of this year, Smith launched a blog called Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors to counteract what she called the “cat and mouse game” on Google.
“My primary issue was to discuss spiritual abuse in the church,” Smith told msnbc.com. “In essence, the legal suit is [O'Neal's] attempt of continuing that spiritual abuse.”
The article, “Religious factors and hippocampal atrophy in late life,” by Amy Owen and colleagues at Duke University represents an important advance in our growing understanding of the relationship between the brain and religion. The study, published March 30 in PLoS One, showed greater atrophy in the hippocampus in individuals who identify with specific religious groups as well as those with no religious affiliation. It is a surprising result, given that many prior studies have shown religion to have potentially beneficial effects on brain function, anxiety, and depression.
Secular Americans’ worst fears have come true: there is now scientific evidence that evangelical churches brainwash believers. They don’t merely teach that Adam and Eve actually existed and that gay marriage is an abomination. They change the way their members’ brains work. But T. M. Luhrmann, a psychological anthropologist at Stanford, argues that this is not as insidious as it sounds. On the contrary, mental conditioning has a noble lineage in the history of religion, and even or especially in this modern age, it can help humans flourish. “When God Talks Back” explains how rational people living in the 21st century can believe that God speaks to them — and why the rest of us should take them seriously
Where do we come from ? I hear that a lot, well I guess Neil has found the source of where we come from, watch and learn about the fundamentals of our existance
31-year-old Alexander Aan faces a maximum prison sentence of five years for posting “God does not exist” on Facebook. The civil servant was attacked and beaten by an angry mob of dozens who entered his government office at the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board on Wednesday. The Indonesian man was taken into protective police custody Friday since he was afraid of further physical assault.
The posting was made on a Facebook Page titled Ateis Minang (Minang Atheist), which Aan created. At the time of writing, it had over 1,700 Likes. Aan’s posting has been removed, but supporters on the Page are urging police to release him.
Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz said the district branch of the council and other Islamic organizations believed Aan had defiled Islam by using passages from the Koran to denounce the existence of God and highlight his atheist views. “So it meets the criteria of tainting religion, in this case Islam,” Chairul told The Jakarta Globe.
Dan Savage, creator of the It Gets Better Project, was invited to speak as a keynote speaker at NSPA/ JEA’s annual High School Journalism convention, Journalism on the Edge.
Martin McVeigh, the Northern Irish priest who accidentally displayed pictures of pornography on his memory stick to a group of parents, has taken a sabbatical from priesthood.
According to CNN, McVeigh asked his parish for a leave of absence after last month’s incident in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. McVeigh released a statement Sunday, describing that he destroyed the memory stick.
“After the images were inadvertently shown, I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop,” McVeigh said. “In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening.”
“In the hope of bringing resolution and healing to the division and pain within the parish, I have taken the decision to ask Cardinal Brady to allow me to leave the parish of Pomeroy and to take sabbatical leave. The memory of this awful episode will remain with me for the rest of my life.”
A new report from the University of Chicago has shed light on the growth of atheism in Europe.
The report from the university’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC) also found that belief in God is stronger among older people than younger generations.
The findings were based on an analysis of surveys conducted in 30 countries in 1991, 1998 and 2008.
Countries with the largest atheist populations tended to be in north-west Europe or former communist states while countries with fewer atheists tended to be in the developing world, with the exception of the US, Israel and Cyprus.
Sweden, Latvia, Denmark, Britain and Norway had some of the highest proportions of atheists.
MUSLIM CONVERSATION WITH AN ATHEIST, EVIDENCE FOR GOD:
Muslim:
Whereas the religionist comprehends that in order for there to be a car in the street, both infrastructures required a cognizant planner to design and construct them. While even to make a computer, a thinking machine, there required that same cognizant planner, the human being.[] How be it now when we consider the human being, a complex thinking machine, does he not also require a planner and designer to have designed him and the infrastructure around him, in similitude to the human designing the street and the car?
Atheist:
A better debunk of the above claim.
Living things are so perfectly adapted to their environments and have such intricately amazing inner workings, they must have been purposefully designed. That designer was God. How else can you explain the beauty of a flower or the power of a jaguar? Those things could not have arisen by accident.
Objections: This argument also makes two assumptions, both of which are wrong. The first is that living organisms are perfectly formed. Unfortunately for the argument, and for living creatures, this just isn’t so. Our bodies have many design flaws that no engineer would have allowed. For example, the mammalian laryngeal nerve, which connects the brain to the larynx, does so via a detour around the aorta. In giraffes, it takes over fifteen feet of nerve length to cover the few inches from brain to larynx. Would you choose to loop an extension cord through the middle of your kitchen and back to a plug six inches from the end of your toaster?
Besides, arguing that creatures are perfectly designed for their environments points to a lack of imagination in my opinion. If dolphins were really perfectly designed for their watery environment, wouldn’t they have gills? Or extendable snorkels?
The second assumption is that even if the design is poor, it’s still the only explanation for how living things came to look the way they do. Wrong again. There’s a much better explanation for the diversity of life, and that is evolution. It’s thanks to our common ancestry with fish that our laryngeal nerves shoot off in the wrong direction and have to make a u-turn. In fish, this nerve goes to the last of the gills at the back of the head. As mammals evolved, the gills moved around and became other organs (such as the larynx) but the laryngeal nerve still had to start out in its original direction toward the bottom of the neck.
In a victory for secular America, and American women, the Obama administration has ruled that religious institutions must follow a new federal mandate and offer employees free birth control through their health insurance coverage.
On Friday, the Obama administration reaffirmed their commitment to new regulations mandating all health plans offer free contraception. In so doing, the Obama administration rejected an argument being made by Catholics and other conservative religious groups that mandating free access to contraception infringed on their religious freedom.
Under the Affordable Care Act employers must provide co-pay free coverage for contraception in their health insurance plans. Churches and other houses of worship have always been exempt from the requirement. However, some conservative religious groups had been pressuring the Obama administration for a religious exemption for institutions like hospitals and universities, arguing that the rule infringed on their religious freedom.
“We were there to deliver the materials that she was assured would be “made available” in the same way the Gideon material was, right before the winter break. No surprise to find that, in consultation with the system’s superintendent Dr. Baldwin, the principal Jackie Byerly and asst principal Danny Fusco couldn’t do that at all because the central office was reviewing its policy regarding religious materials in schools. They suggested that they would “hold onto” the books, in case the school system needed to review them for appropriate content, once the policy was vetted.”
“Buncombe County investigators are looking into a threatening phone call made to a local woman who made headlines when she criticized a county school for making Bibles available to students. [...] Strivelli believes that the threat is related to her speaking out. “It’s definitely related. He (the caller) said he saw me on the news,” she said. “I’m hoping it’s just some idiot trying to scare me into shutting up.” The man called Thursday night, claiming he was calling from Moscow, according to Strivelli. He told Strivelli that he had 20 or 30 people working in this area, and “I was done for. I was dead,” Strivelli said Friday.”
Speak out in support of separation of church & state in comments sections of media sites carrying news and editorials about this issue.
Those with interfaith and/or law enforcement contacts in North Carolina interested in working with Lady Liberty League in providing support to the family and this situation should contact: liberty@circlesanctuary.org as soon as possible.
Share this email & support page link with others – by email, through social networking sites, on blogs & websites.
CFI sent this to me, I kinda chuckle at them, they sure look for opportunities to grab some face time. When I asked them for help with establishing a cable TV spot in town, they just looked at me funny. But here they are promoting Jessica Alquist like she’s their poster child. I get it, promote Atheism; however, I just find them hard to swallow. Now FFRF, that group seems like a bunch of committed individuals.
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Benedict XVI says Roman Catholics in the U.S. need to understand the “grave threats” to their faith posed by what he calls radical secularism in the political and cultural arenas.
He addressed visiting U.S. bishops Thursday and used the same language in warning that attempts are being made to erode their religious freedom.
Benedict did not explicitly mention it, but the bishops have complained their religious freedom is eroding in the face of growing acceptance of gay marriage and attempts to marginalize faith. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has recently formed a committee on protecting religious liberty and hired attorneys and a lobbyist to work on the issue.
The pope said many of the bishops have complained about attempts to deny conscientious objection with regard to cooperation in “intrinsically evil practices.” U.S. church leaders have been pressing for a broader religious exception to part of President Obama ’s health care overhaul that mandates private insurers pay for contraception. The Obama administration has not yet made a decision on the policy and the timing is uncertain.
Bishops also are pressing for broader religious exemptions in U.S. states that have legalized same-gender civil unions or marriage. The vast network of Catholic social services in the United States includes adoption and foster-care placement. Bishops in some states have either shut down adoption programs or have lost their government contracts after refusing to place children with same-gender couples.
Benedict also expressed appreciation that bishops have been more outspoken about American Catholic politicians who don’t follow church teaching on abortion and other issues.
The pope said Catholics in political life have a “personal responsibility to offer public witness to their faith, especially with regard to the great moral issues of our time.”
American Catholics have bitterly debated the obligations of Catholic lawmakers to oppose government policies that go against core Catholic teaching. In recent years, a small but growing number of local bishops have publicly told Catholic lawmakers who support abortion rights not to present themselves for Holy Communion because of their stance on the issue.
The White House had no response to the pope’s remarks.
Officials of Catholic-affiliated institutions that have asked for a broader conscience exception to the birth control coverage requirement are frustrated that the administration has yet to make its ruling.
Leading scientists and naturalists, including Professor Richard Dawkinsand Sir David Attenborough, are claiming a victory over the creationist movement after the government ratified measures that will bar anti-evolution groups from teaching creationism in science classes.
The Department for Education has revised its model funding agreement, allowing the education secretary to withdraw cash from schools that fail to meet strict criteria relating to what they teach. Under the new agreement, funding will be withdrawn for any free school that teaches what it claims are “evidence-based views or theories” that run “contrary to established scientific and/or historical evidence and explanations”.
The British Humanist Association (BHA), which has led a campaign against creationism – the movement that denies Darwinian evolution and claims that the Earth and all its life was created by God – described the move as “highly significant” and predicted that it would have implications for other faith groups looking to run schools.
Dawkins, who was one of the leading lights in the campaign, welcomed confirmation that creationists would not receive funding to run free schools if they sought to portray their views as science. “I welcome all moves to ensure that creationism is not taught as fact in schools,” he said. “Government rules on this are extremely welcome, but they need to be properly enforced.”
Free schools, which are state-funded and run by local people or organisations, do not need to follow the national curriculum. Scientific groups have expressed concerns that their spread will see a reduction in the teaching of evolution in the classroom.
Several creationist groups have expressed an interest in opening schools in towns and cities across England, including Bedford, Barnsley, Sheffield and Nottingham. Critics say they seek to promote creationism, or the doctrine of “intelligent design”, as a scientific theory rather than as a myth or metaphor.
One creationist organisation, Truth in Science, which encourages teachers to incorporate intelligent design into their science teaching, has sent free resources to all secondary schools and sixth-form colleges.
A BHA campaign, called “Teach evolution, not creationism”, saw 30 leading scientists and educators call on the government to introduce statutory guidance against the teaching of creationism. The group said if the government would not support the call, an explicit amendment to the wording of the funding agreement could have the same effect. Last week the Department for Education confirmed it had amended the agreement, although a spokesman denied it was the result of pressure from scientists. He said the revision made good on a pledge regarding the teaching of creationism given when the education secretary, Michael Gove, was in opposition. “We will not accept any academy or free school proposal which plans to teach creationism in the science curriculum or as an alternative to accepted scientific theories,” the spokesman said, adding that “all free school proposals will be subject to due diligence checks by the department’s specialist team”.
The revised funding agreement has been seized upon by anti-creationists who are pressing for wider concessions from the government.
“It is clear that some faith schools are ignoring the regulations and are continuing to teach myth as though it were science,” Dawkins said. “Evolution is fact, supported by evidence from a host of scientific disciplines, and we do a great disservice to our young people if we fail to teach it properly. ”
A spokeswoman for the BHA said: “The government’s new wording is quite wide and in practice could prevent those who promote extreme religious or particular spiritual or pseudoscientific approaches from including them as part of the school curriculum as science or as evidence-based.”
Last week, we went through a familiar ritual: Hand-wringing and alarm over Republican politicians denying scientific reality. This time around, the main focus was Rick Santorum, the anti-evolutionist and climate change denier who is one of the worst of the worst in this area (and who promptly obliged by making a new and fresh anti-science statement).
But hey, it’s always something.
We’ve been repeating this pattern at least since the early George W. Bush years. A Republican makes a dubious scientific claim, a Republican officeholder or appointee suppresses a scientific report, a scientist in a Republican administration gets muzzled…the names change, but the story does not. I chronicled it all in a book that is now seven years old–The Republican War on Science–and I wasn’t the first.
Nor will I be the last. The very fact that Jon Huntsman (who just nabbed third place in New Hampshire) has been able to successfully frame himself as the “pro-science” Republican candidate itself speaks to the misalignment of his competitors with reality.
Some of the conservative denial of science may well be cynical in nature. But there’s no doubt from polls that large numbers of conservatives really believe this stuff–that global warming isn’t real, nor is evolution. And indeed, the denial of reality extends well beyond science and into other fields likeeconomics and history.
When you have a phenomenon this recurrent, it seems to me that at some point, it is reasonable to stop and ponder deeper causes. And are there any?
Recently, I posted a list of seven recent scientific studies showing that liberals and conservatives differ in ways that go far beyond their philosophies or views on politics. We’re talking about things like physiological responses when shown different kinds of words or images, and performance in neuroscience tests. Take just one recent example: Conservatives show stronger responses to negative and threatening stimuli (words like “vomit” and “disgust”). Could this also prompt more knee jerk reactions to scientific information that is perceived as threatening (or words like “evolution”)?
The point is not necessarily that the answer is yes, but rather that it is reasonable to ask questions like these. The root causes of our political differences are now under intensive exploration by multiple different research groups, which are churning out quite a lot of published, peer reviewed science. And while this work is surely not complete (science never is), it is also unlikely to be just plain wrong. Indeed, after having spent the past year reading this research and interviewing the scientists producing it, I can confidently say that those seven studies are just the tip of the iceberg.
Here’s the bottom line: An increasing body of science suggests that we disagree about politics not for intellectual or philosophical reasons, but because we have fundamentally different ways of responding to the basic information presented to us by the world. These are often ways of which we are not even aware–automatic, subconscious–but that color all of our perceptions, and that effectively drive us apart politically.
What’s more, what is true for how we come to our opinions about politics is also, assuredly, true for how we approach “facts” that are perceived to have some bearing on the validity of our political opinions–whether those facts are scientific, economic, historical or even theological in nature.
Thus far–and not surprisingly–conservatives don’t seem so fond of the emerging science of our politics. They seem to consider it demeaning–yet another slight aimed at them by “liberal” academia.
And it’s partly true: the research in question is–like all scholarly work–largely conducted by scientists and academic liberals who want to achieve a better understanding of the nature of our political dysfunction, and also of why we are divided over things like scientific reality. But ironically, when considered in all of its complexity and nuance, much of the research actually makes Republicans look very good (decisive, resolute, loyal) relative to liberals or Democrats–and certainly a lot more politically effective.
Frankly, it seems to me that this approach ought to prompt more tolerance and understanding across our political divides, rather than less. After all, if we are reaching many of our political and even our factual opinions for reasons that we’re not even conscious of–if we’re effectively being pushed to accept some views rather than others, because they resonate at a deep psychological level and just “feel right”–then the only appropriate response, it seems to me, is a deeply liberal one: Tolerance. Understanding. Acceptance. Empathy.
In other words, the next time a Republican denies global warming, liberals ought to be better able to check the impulse to say “what an idiot!” and instead say something like, “I can understand why they have that kind of a response.”
But then again, the next time a liberal or Democrat does something typically and predictably liberal, Republicans ought to do the same. And now the paradox: What if liberals are more open to (and simply curious about) the science of liberals than conservatives are regarding the science of conservatives?
If so, then we’ll still probably have a factually polarized political arena–but at least we’ll know a little bit more about why.
“When I was given a DVD of a protest rally in the small town of King, near where I live, I was shocked by the sight of five thousand people waving Christian Flags and cheering one of the speakers when he said that everyone there should “encourage” those who weren’t Christian in the area to move somewhere else.
My first reaction was anger and I told my wife, Susan, we were going to put our house up for sale the next day and move somewhere more tolerant. But the next morning, I decided that I would do something else first. I took my video camera down to the Veteran’s Memorial in King’s Public Park and started interviewing people.
I learned that the rally had been ignited by a returning Afghanistan Veteran who threatened to sue the town if they didn’t remove the Christian Flag from the public Veteran’s Memorial.
I was surprised that most residents believed that Separation of Church and State is a myth and that the Founders intended this to be an officially Christian Nation. They quoted so many historical facts from a man named David Barton to back up their claims, that I really wondered if what I’d taken for granted might be incorrect.
And thus began a year-and-a-half journey in my spare time to find out the truth and source of the idea of Separation of Church and State, as well as interviews with half a dozen different religious groups in the area about what and why they believed what they do. The story quickly became as much about what we believe about God as what we believe about the Founders of the United States — and how we evaluate truth itself.
Although I started the project out of anger, I ended up truly liking the people I interviewed on all sides of the issue and it helped to diffuse my own negative emotions to the point where I felt a responsibility to honestly represent the viewpoints of even those I disagreed with the most. To that end, I have not done any narration, but have simply let the people themselves give their opinions in their own words. I will leave it up to you to decide who you agree with.
This was just me with a camera on my own, so it is definitely not a professionally produced documentary, but I hope some will find it as interesting a subject and as much an education as I did in making it.”
Sec. 4.6. (a) In order that each student recognize the importance of spiritual development in establishing character and becoming a good citizen, the governing body of a school corporation or the equivalent authority of a charter school may require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each school day. The prayer may be recited by a teacher, a student, or the class of students.
(b) If the governing body or equivalent authority requires the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer under subsection (a), the governing body or equivalent authority shall determine the version of the Lord’s Prayer that will be recited in the school corporation or charter school.
(c) A student is exempt from participation in the prayer if:
(1) the student chooses not to participate; or
(2) the student’s parent chooses to have the student not
In order that each student recognize the importance of spiritual development in establishing character and becoming a good citizen, the governing body of a school corporation or the equivalent authority of a charter school may require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer at the beginning of each school day. The prayer may be recited by a teacher, a student, or the class of students.
Since when is “spiritual development” important in becoming a good citizen?! Being an ethical person doesn’t result from believe in bullshit. It comes from a variety of sources, including good parenting, strong role models, and the ability to think reasonably and rationally through situations.
The legislation was introduced by Senator Jim Tomes and co-authored by Senators Dennis Kruse and Travis Holdman.
Apparently it’s that time of year when every Republican controlled legislature introduces bills designed to force Christianity upon us. As I reported earlier on Thursday, the Indiana Senate introduced a bill that allows school boards to force teachers to teach creationism as science. Now I’m disappointed to report that my home state of Missouri is considering a similar bill, except this one is far worse.
On January 10, 2012, the Missouri House of Representatives introduced a bill that would force educators to teach creationism in schools as an accepted science, despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of the scientific community rejects creationism as science. But this bill is worse than the Indiana bill. House bill 1227 or the Missouri Standard Science Act skips school boards and directly forces teachers to teach creationism. The bill goes even further than that, however. It not only requires that creationism be taught in elementary and high school, but also in introductory college science courses as well. It also requires textbooks to include creationism.
This bill seeks to violate religious freedom and is an attempt by Republicans to indoctrinate our kids. It forces teachers to drill an unfounded Biblical belief into the minds of students, even if it goes against their own religious beliefs. It also forces college professors, who have spent their academic careers in the science community, to teach an entirely rejected theory that has no factual basis in science as an accepted theory to impressionable college students. This can easily be construed as a church effort to convert non-believers and those of different faiths to Christianity.
The bill is wrong on so many levels it’s pitiful. For decades, religious fundamentalists have attempted to force the Bible on school children and their number one target has been evolution. They hate it because it is supported with facts and evidence. So they have tried to re-introduce creationism as “intelligent design” or “biological intelligent design” as this bill refers to it as. The fact is, creationism has zero evidence to support it. Proponents of creationism can only use Biblical text as a source. Real scientists rely on evidence to prove theories and evolution is an evidence supported scientific fact. That is why evolution, NOT creationism, is taught is schools. Teaching a religious theory only opens the doors to division among students. If one religious theory has to bed taught, then ALL the theories of other religions must be taught as well. That takes students away from actual learning, which will only cause our national science scores to drop. How can our kids learn about real sciences if most of the class time is wasted presenting all the various religious theories that have no evidence to back themselves up? In short, they can’t. Schools have a limited amount of time as it is to cram as much of the curriculum they can into the developing minds of the kids they teach. Adding a bogus religious theory to the curriculum only makes their jobs more difficult. And that would be disastrous to our education system which I suspect is also part of the reason why conservatives are pushing these bills.
Text from image: “This is an actual logo designed in 1973 for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission. It even won an award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.”
Last year, Robertson claimed God told him that America’s future will be bleak because of debt and divisions, and today on The 700 Club said that God again communicated to him that financial problems and partisan politics are going to bring America into decline.
This is a great story of how evolution works. You need to go back in time a couple hundred years and travel to England for its beginnings.
During the Black Plague there was one village alone in the world that seemed to be virtually unaffected by the Plague and no one knew why until modern medicine came about. Genetics was the key, and what was observed was a genetic mutation in humans that allowed them to be virtually immune to the Plague. A gene labeled the Delta 32 gene was discovered and proved to cause resilience to the Plague. This find was partially due to something seemingly totally unrelated, 13 people in Australia seemed to be immune to the aids virus … The research lead to the Delta 32 gene and its beginnings in England.
When the gene is expressed from one parent the offspring have a huge resistance to the Plague, when its represented by both parents the offspring are resistant to aids.
Over the last say 30 years there have been many questions arising because the human body does seem to have the ability to filter out or destroy the aids virus. A virus usually isnt destroyed in the human body, it lingers but is impudent and cant lock on cells to insert its destructive genes.
Well mankind can now insert its own destructive force to aids and it comes from others that have the ability to fight the virus one on one, here’s one mans story and a legacy not just to mans invention but to evolution …
Human rights groups in Bangladesh have demanded a severe punishment for the husband of a young wife who allegedly cut off most of her right hand. Police say Rafiqul Islam, 30, attacked her because she pursued higher education without his permission.
They say Mr Islam, a migrant worker, admitted to the crime shortly after returning home from the Gulf.
However there has been no independent confirmation from the suspect that he carried out the attack. The incident is one of a number of acts of domestic violence targeting educated women in recent months.
On most days, relentless rivers of clouds wash over Alaska, obscuring most of the state's 6,640 miles (10,690 kilometers) of coastline and 586,000 square miles (1,518,000 square kilometers) of land. The south coast of Alaska even has the dubious distinction of being the cloudiest region of the United States, with some locations averaging more than 340 cloudy days per year. That was certainly not the case on June 17, 2013, the date that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite acquired this rare, nearly cloud-free view of the state. The absence of clouds exposed a striking tapestry of water, ice, land, forests, and even wildfires. Snow-covered mountains such as the Alaska Range and Chugach Mountains were visible in southern Alaska, while the arc of mountains that make up the Brooks Range dominated the northern part of the state. The Yukon River -- the longest in Alaska and the third longest in the United States -- wound its way through the green boreal forests that inhabit the interior of the state. Plumes of sediment and glacial dust poured into the Gulf of Alaska from the Copper River. And Iliamna Lake, the largest in Alaska, was ice free. The same ridge of high pressure that cleared Alaska's skies also brought stifling temperatures to many areas accustomed to chilly June days. Talkeetna, a town about 100 miles north of Anchorage, saw temperatures reach 96°F (36°C) on June 17. Other towns in southern Alaska set all-time record highs, including Cordova, Valez, and Seward. The high temperatures also helped fuel wildfires and hastened the breakup of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFCCaption: Adam Voiland Read More
