Christian Group Executes Santa

A repost from the "Friendly Atheist"

It seems that the "War on Xmas" has two fronts

"Don't Ask Don't Tell" Repealed - A Victory in the War for Reason!

Seventeen years ago, then-President Bill Clinton had a crazy idea that all of the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces were human beings, regardless of their professed sexual orientation. Clinton was motivated, in part, by a man named Allen Schindler, a radioman in the U.S. Navy who was stomped into unrecognizability and, ultimately, murdered by two of his fellow sailors because Schindler was gay. And so he promised to undertake a massive effort to make it so that gay soldiers could serve in the military without fear or discrimination.

Read more here.

So, What Does the Bible Say About Rape?

Think that the Bible is a source of morality? I beg to differ.

The following is courtesy of the recommended http://www.blaghag.com/

(click on pic for larger image)

A Personal Report from a Christmas Parade

Yesterday, my nuclear family and I attended the Christmas parade in one of the better “to do” suburbs of the smallish city we inhabit.

By mere happenstance we claimed a spot of sidewalk in front of one of the many minor mediocrities of architecture that operate as a church. Early in the proceedings a man who had been handing free hot chocolate gave me the most ridiculous little pamphlet called, “Which Way Are You Going?” published by the Liberty Gospel Tracts; an Orwellian name for an organization whose main goal was to invite you into slavery.

(On their website, they offer an "Ask a Question" section. The section has some helpful advice for female visitors, "If you are married, we must biblically direct you to your husband first. I Corinthians 14:35 deals with women having questions in church, and instructs them to ask their husbands at home. If your husband does not know the answer, you might encourage him to write to us here. The Bible also instructs the older women to teach the younger women, in Titus 2:3,4. If you write to us with a question, we will pass it along to one of our ladies here, who will help you to find the answer from the Bible." For it's awful humor, read previous responses to questions...)

This will teach me to accept free drinks from strange men.

As simple and bald as the little broadside is, it really does encapsulate the entire position of the religious establishment. Specifically, after establishing that there are no other options in life other than subservience to the celestial “capriciously malevolent bully” or to suffer for aninfinite time in a torture shop run by his enemy on page 1, page 2 ensures us that we are unable to help ourselves lead better lives, page 3 says that even if we are successful through talent, education and self-discipline, that such personal victories are without meaning unless we abase ourselves are the non-existent feet of a jealous god.

I was very tempted to refuse his offer of “literature” or at least tell him that I had already decided, at least in general terms, my course of life; thanks but no thanks. My inherent politeness forced me to mumble a thank you and turn away. I had after all taken the drink.


However, the question one is confronted with is what if the roles were reversed?

Would a dedicated Christian accept a free hot chocolate on a cold day in exchange for a pamphlet extolling the virtues of logic, reason and humanistic compassion, during their attendance at a Darwin Day parade?

I am guessing that the whole scenario would be unlikely.

Skeptic Michael Shermer on Atheism, Happiness, and the Free Market

Baptist Pastor Wishes Death on Homosexuals

Yep...Religion sure it just one more way to look at the world...perfectly valid....doesn't lead people to hate or anything...

The Second Coming Sale in Wisconsin

Some things do not require comment, only exposure:

America's Dumbest / Smartest cities

Full list: http://www.portfolio.com/graphics/BrainiestBastions.pdf

As a point of personal interests to friends and family, Charleston WV is smarter than Youngstown, OH.

Christians Boycott Someone with Different Opinions: In other news, Sky Still Blue

Recently, several freethinking and atheist groups have had the courage to express the unpopular fact of their existence by taking out ads and billboard in selective cities. The biggest stink has been raised by the billboard in New Jersey, where it seems that it is ok for the faithful to bombard their neighbors with their beliefs but atheists should just shut up and be glad that all those followers of Christ don't burn or lynch anymore. Well, not usually.

So now, ministers and such of the Ft. Worth area are calling for a boycott of city buses because the public transit authority accepted adds promoting atheism. (They simply declare "Millions of Americans are Good Without God.")

When it was suggested that they could buy counter adds on buses, the "Rev. Kyev Tatum says residents shouldn't ride the buses -- and churches shouldn't buy Christian ads -- because the Fort Worth Transportation Authority has put profit over principle."

What "principle" would that be? That Christians own December? That Christians should never be confronted by opposing opinions?

More here: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7323085.html

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise: Atheist holiday display officially excluded

This is why we have to fight and be so outspoken about who were are and the denial of our rights. Nothing more offensive than a right denied.

WEST CHESTER, PA -- It is now official; Chester County will be putting up the Jesus Creche, the Menorah, a Christmas Tree, Santa and maybe some reindeer and a sleigh, but as predicted not the Tree of Knowledge.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Freethought Society’s continued fight to have their Tree of Knowledge display included on the courthouse lawn. This year the County Commissioners passes Resolution 58-10 which would allow the county to choose which displays to put up on the courthouse lawn. Surprise, surprise, it is all the same displays that were there last year except that the Freethought Society’s Tree of Knowledge which as been purposely and deliberately excluded.

When I first talked about this story many in the greater atheist community thought that this resolution would restrict all holiday displays religious and non-religious alike. This however was not the case and was never even the intention.

The intention from day one of the introduction of this resolution has been to endorse the Judeo-Christian religions and to give Christians and Jews the sole use of public land to advertise their beliefs in the name of the government.

More Here: http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-philadelphia/atheist-holiday-display-officially-excluded

Anne Hathaway Tells Why She Left the Catholic Church

During a recent interview with the excellent Terry Gross of NPR's "Fresh Air" Ms. Hathaway talked about why she could not longer be a member of the Catholic Church:

GROSS: I should mention, this is maybe a good place to talk about it, that your brother is gay, and he got married in Canada. And I read that your family left the Catholic Church when your brother came out because the Catholic Church is so, like, anti-homosexual.

So was it a hard decision or just like a no-brainer to leave the church when your brother came out?

HATHAWAY: Well, it wasn’t really like we had a family discussion about it. We didn’t sit around the dinner table and say, okay, this is the decisive action we’re going to take now. It was more something we realized we’d all done as individuals, and then it became something that we’d done as a family.

And gosh, was it difficult? You know, when it’s family and someone is excluding your family, and someone is not accepting of your family, it does become a bit of a no-brainer, doesn’t it?

GROSS: So was it hard for you to leave the church? Was the church important to you before?

HATHAWAY: Faith is important to me. You know, being raised with one faith and having to go out into the unknown and try to cobble together another, that was hard. But I wasn’t really leaving something because I realized I couldn’t have faith in this religion that would exclude anyone, particularly my brother, for the way he’s born and for loving someone. I mean, how do you exclude someone for love? That seems to be the antithesis of what religion’s about.

And by the way, you know, I [don't] mean to Catholic Church-bash. I do understand that, for a lot of people, the religion provides a lot of peace and direction. But I don’t know… if they could be accepting of women and of gays… I think that the religion gets a lot of things right.

But for me, I couldn’t lose myself in it. I couldn’t look to it for guidance because it’s like I said, I don’t believe in this aspect.

While I will disagree with Ms. Hathaway about her view that "religion gets a lot of things right" I will praise her for doing what too few have the honesty and courage to do: to refuse to be part of an organization that treats their own family members as second-class human beings. It just goes to show that if you are part of an organization that does so, then you really are little more than a coward.

"Good Radiation"

A hip hop ballad to National Public Radio. The last thread of reason on America's airwaves.