Even More Things Atheists Didn’t Do
By Dave Hitt on Aug 19, 2009 in Featured, Things Atheists Didn't Do
Yet another installment in what has become the most commented on feature of Quick Hitts – a list of things done in the name of religion, from the asinine to the atrocious.
A new law in Afghanistan allows men to demand sex from their wives every four days, and to keep them indoors as long as they like.
Combining Islam and Nicotine Nannies can be deadly. A Malaysian couple asked relatives for help. He wanted to quit smoking and she wanted a cure for asthma and a liver disease. Their four loving relatives smashed the couple’s head on a table and beat them with helmets and brooms. Until they were dead. When their 15 year old daughter stumbled on to the carnage they beat her almost to death as well.
In Pakistan Taliban militants are preventing the UN from administering the Polio vaccine to 300,000 children. At last, someone the anti-vaxers can have a beer with. Oh, wait. . .
Kentucky passed a law requiring all Homeland Security operations credit God with protecting them. The law lists the office’s initial duty as “stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth.” They’re also required to install a plaque that states “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”
Turkey has banned Richard Dawkins’ website. Their “science” institute also banned a magazine cover story on Darwin.
In Papua New Guinea a woman was tied to a log and set on fire because she was a witch. She probably turned someone into a newt.
In Boulder Colorado Derik Bonestroo fired a gun into the ceiling of his workplace and told everyone if they weren’t a christian they were going to die. He asked Brian Mahon if he were Christian. Brian said he was catholic. That was the wrong kind of christian, evidently, because Bonestroo shot him in the head.
The Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, California, sent out 15,000 letters to the members of his parish telling them if they voted for Obama they’d have to go to confession before receiving communion.
Pastor Rick Warren, who delivered Obama’s Inaugural Invocation, tells his parishioners that physical abuse is no excuse for divorce.
Headline: Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them. Seems like a reasonable request.
In Saudi Arabia a 75 year old woman was caught with two men in her house. One was a 24 year old man she had wet-nursed, so she considered him a son. The other was delivering bread. In accordance with the loving, peaceful religion of Islam she was sentenced to 100 lashes, four months in jail, and deportation.
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar rented a Jeep Cherokee and ran over students at an NC university. He did it to avenge the death of Muslims world wide. Evidently he missed Mosque the day they gave “how to run over people” lessons, because all his victims survived. Because of his failure when he dies he’s only going to get the really ugly virgins.
In Pakistan Muslims opened fire on people who had gathered in a Christian church.
Now that Turkey has made honor killings illegal, Muslim women are being encouraged to commit suicide. One girl reported her father requested she kill herself for the horrible sin of refusing an arranged marriage.
Roman Catholics are whining because they were offended by the time a Detroit Tigers game started.
In the Middle East the pope urged greater respect for woman. Evidently the part of his brain that detects irony is malfunctioning.
Ayman Udas, a newly married woman who had the audacity to sing on television, was murdered by her Muslim brothers for the crime.
At Queen Mary University in London Muslim students have been physically preventing Hindu students from using a multi-faith center on campus.
A Saudi woman is demanding a divorce because her husband, after 30 years of marriage, peeked under her veil while she was sleeping.
Wow.. yet another disgusting list. I don’t know if you are that good at finding this stuff, or if the Media is that bad at reporting it, but I hadn’t heard of any of these.
John | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
It’s not the sort of thing they report in the mainstream press. It upsets the superstitious, and they hold far to much power.
@Dave
Sorry about that last comment in the other section, he’s just getting to be too much. I’ll restrain myself.
bobby | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
Ok, I’ll back the Christians on the spitting thing. That’s just vile. *shudder*
Heidi | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
@John: The last one’s been around for a while. At least, I’ve found it before.
——
Most of these I’ve never even heard of. But oh my damn, this is absolutely disgusting. Yet another example of religious texts either being interpreted way out of context by zealots, or (worse), being interpreted literally and applied to modern situations. Some of these articles (like the one about that little old woman getting whipped) make me want to puke.
blufindr | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
Also, I love baseball, but lodging complaints about the start times is just a tad ridiculous.
blufindr | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
Something else atheists didn’t do…
Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.
Heidi | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
Yes, and the rest of the world is still pissed off he was elected. Twice.
bobby | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
You mean he was *appointed* twice – once by the Supreme Court, once by Diebold. Anyway, I voted for the other guy twice.
Although as a Massachusetts resident, now that Senator Kennedy’s health is failing, I am selfishly glad that we still have Senator Kerry representing us.
Heidi | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
I was skimming some of that stuff on the Unreasonable Faith site. Wow, there are some real loony tune podlings on that one. I guess we’re lucky here. Sort of…
bobby | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
One of my stepddaughters sent me a list of neologisms, really funny stuff. There was a contest to take any word from the dictionary and add one letter to it and come up with a definition.
This one caught my eye and applies to many theists in my opinion:
bozone: the layer of stupidity that surrounds some people and prevents facts and reason from getting to them.
I think we all know who that definitely applies to…
bobby | Aug 19, 2009 | Reply
LOL! Oh dear, bobby. I need to get a car and stick that on a bumper sticker. :P
blufindr | Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
I was skimming some of that stuff on the Unreasonable Faith site. Wow, there are some real loony tune podlings on that one.
Like John C, who speaks much and says nothing? He is their resident proselytizer. He’s not the only one, obviously, but he’s always there.
I’m kind of liking Clergy Guy, though. He’s got actual questions, he’s not condescending, and he’s honest about his feelings. If more religious people were like him, we might actually be able to communicate.
Heidi | Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
I found today’s Word Of The Day somewhat relevant.
perorate \PUR-uh-rayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To conclude or sum up a long discourse.
2. To speak or expound at length; to declaim.
Sound like anyone we know? ;)
blufindr | Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
Yes, I think I recognize that guy. lol.
Here’s an interesting challenge for bible literalists.
To sum it up, Atheist Keith wants to know if literalists condone forcing rape victims to marry their rapist. Because Deuteronomy commands it.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29: If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (NIV)
He then says:
And so, I issue the following challenge to anyone who cares to accept it, but especially to anyone who holds that the Bible is a book of good morals
Challenge you make the following three declarations:
1. I denounce rape (when defined as non-consensual sexual activity involving violence, use of force, or threat of harm) as morally wrong.
2. I denounce as evil the practice of forcing rape victims to marry their rapists or to otherwise punish rape victims.
3. I denounce as evil the inclusion of an injunction or commandment in any law, code of ethics, or any other statement of moral principles, which requires, compels, or encourages a rape victim to marry to her rapist.
Since the Bible does contain such an injunction, accepting this challenge necessarily means that you are denouncing the Bible, declaring it NOT to be a good source of moral guidance. Or, at the very least, you would be declaring that the Bible contains and endorses commandments that you consider to be evil.
And…
Out of all the Christians I have ever discussed this verse with, only one was willing to condemn the practice of forcing rape victims to marry their rapists.
Heidi | Aug 20, 2009 | Reply
@Heidi: This is absolutely disgusting. I’m sorry, I had objections to the Bible before, but now? Oh man. The misogyny behind that statement, makes me want to cry.
blufindr | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Everyone should read The Bible from cover to cover, regardless of your religious beliefs, or lack of them.
It is the most influential book of western civilization. You’ll be amazed at what you learn, how many more idioms you’ll understand, and the source of many of our ideas and institutions.
And, as Blufindr noted, you’ll find some pretty amazing atrocities that are not only allowed by the desert God, but required.
Hittman | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Agreed. The more you know about the bible, the more horrible it becomes. I’m very sure that the majority of its followers haven’t read it cover to cover or even close to it.
Heidi | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
I think you’ll find that very, very few so-called Christians have ever read more than a sentence or two here and there. They rely on what they’re told is in there for their “information”. It would be good if you could get people to actually see what’s in there, but any attempt to do so would be taken over by those with an agenda to get you to see it their way, rather than simply reading it with an open mind, which very few Christians actually possess.
bobby | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
I find it something of an amazement that the Bible is still around. Given how many of its decrees are against what we now consider basal needs — like the ability for women to decline sex at will. I propose that the Bible be investigated by an impartial third party, whose task it will be to find the more atrocious passages and present them to Christian groups.
Seriously though, I’d laugh if it wasn’t so damn not-funny. The Bible condones things we’ve long since acknowledged as inhumane — yet, we allow people to read the Bible and other religious texts, and take them literally, instead of ratifying that it’s most likely a book of fiction, and should not be taken as anything but allegory. It needs to stop.
blufindr | Aug 21, 2009 | Reply
Just found another one to add to the list. Here. Apparently, atheists and pantheists are now inadequate parents.
blufindr | Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
Wow, I wonder how that turned out. :-(
I raised the above rape issue over at Unreasonable Faith, and wouldn’t you know, here comes a Christian defending it. Disgusting.
Heidi | Aug 22, 2009 | Reply
I would reply to that poster, but it’s a waste of breath.
blufindr | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
not to mention bandwidth. which I did.
bobby | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
LOL! I agree, entirely.
blufindr | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
Lol!
Seriously, I think I’m too good at finding silly little anti-theist things online.
blufindr | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
Lol. It of course makes much more sense that we were an arts and crafts project.
Don’t read the comments there. It’s like deja vu. I think we need to have copy/paste answers written somewhere, since theists rehash the same old arguments over and over. Card #1: 20th Century Dictators and Personality Cults. Card #2: Not a Belief System. And so on.
Heidi | Aug 23, 2009 | Reply
Have you guys seen Glenn Moon yet? He’s a batshit crazy guy running for city council in a city in Michigan. He sounds like a conehead.
Heidi | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
Hallelujah!
bobby | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
Leading lost souls to salvation.
Good god.
Good. God.
Did it ever occur to him that I’m merely taking the scenic route to salvation? In the day and age of the GPS, why does he think we need to be lead? :P
Financial blessing from God… So what, God gives them money? Hallelujah! That sounds like a good reason to be a Christian.
Actually, that sounds like bribery to me. “I’ll give you money, you just have to give me absolute power.”
Oh man, I’m rolling, just listening to this guy.
blufindr | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
The comments are really good, too.
I can’t pick a favorite, but I got a good laugh out of this exchange:
Egaeus @ #59: M-o-o-n. That spells batshiat insane.
Bone Oboe @ #217:Laws yes.
Heidi | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
“Laws” indeed.
Seriously, though, did he believe in everything he said? Because um, honestly, there are more arguments for than against abortion.
blufindr | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
You know, I really think he did believe it. But I also think he’s got some kind of mental disorder. And someone in the comments said his speech pattern seems to indicated some kind of aphasia.
Heidi | Aug 24, 2009 | Reply
I did think of that. He seemed a little too enthusiastic.
blufindr | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Might be Asperger’s. As to the abortion thing, they have the unshakable belief that being human begins at conception, so nothing you say will move them. Sad really.
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Given their apparent feelings toward those of us who are already here, I’d also say they think life ends at birth.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Well that’s the paradox isn’t it? life is precious until it enters the world, then it’s status depends very much on who the parents are. But all life is precious before birth. Uh huh. yeah. right.
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
“Life begins at conception”… Funny, though, how they never really call on wifebeaters as murderers. I know at least one woman who’s had a miscarriage because her partner used her as a punching bag. If that’s not murder, then it’s at the very least manslaughter. But no.
Then again, the idea is that one is to stay with one’s abuser anyway. So.
Logic, they do not have it.
blufindr | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
And if we’re talking extremists, the most extreme won’t even allow for abortion in order to save the mother’s life. The hell is that? I suspect these are the same people who let their children die rather than go to the doctor or hospital. (Not to mention the psychos who think it’s ok to shoot the doctor.)
I was reading a blog a week or so ago, where the guy (can’t remember his name) had come back to his senses on medical treatment and realized how lucky it was that his child didn’t need life saving treatment while he was brainwashed. That has to be a scary feeling.
Here’s a thing atheists didn’t do. WARNING: There is a really disturbing graphic on that page. Like you may be happier if you don’t see it. I’ve seen it and I still can’t bring myself to look at it when I’m on the page. Makes it hard to read the article…
The article is called Equality? ‘Real Muslim women in Mali don’t want it – it’s un-Islamic!’ It talks about the opposition to a law giving women equal rights in marriage. It was passed at the beginning of the month, but their president has not yet signed it into law. Women will no longer have to obey their husbands under the law. Currently Malian women are subject to violence, particularly wife beating and genital mutilation. (Which is what is going on in the disturbing photo.)
A spokesperson for the National Union of Muslim Women’s Association told the BBC:
We have to stick to the Koran.A man must protect his wife, a wife must obey her husband. It’s a tiny minority of women here that wants this new law – the intellectuals. The poor and illiterate women of this country – the real Muslims – are against it.
Anybody else read that as true religious people = stupid and/or uneducated people??
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Well that’s what I’ve been saying all along, but that just gets you labelled as a bigot. Welcome to the club!
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
I think I was already guilty by association. And by disagreeing with Mr. Know-it-all.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
No matter. We vanquished the podlings. Bring on the next lot!
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
LOL.
We need to tell them it’s pointless to covert an atheist, though. We can never be forgiven. Which comes as quite a relief to me. It’s like a Get Out of Jail Free card. “Sorry, I’m irredeemable. I am not the drone you are looking for. Move along.”
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Er, that was convert, not covert. Makes more sense with the extra letter.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Oh, c’mon, all atheists are covert. You know it’s true.
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Really wish I’d had this before I checked out of that motel last year.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Oh, c’mon, all atheists are covert. You know it’s true.
We infiltrate their church picnics.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
That could be fun. We could put LSD in their Kool Aid and then tell them Armaggedon is happening. Sit back and watch the hilarity ensue.
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
This has to heard to be believed. This virulent scum prays for Obama to die and go to hell every night before he goes to sleep. His job? He’s a preacher. Christians. They’re such good people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq9G44tomKY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Freligionismanmade.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded#t=32
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Yeah, I saw that. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing.
Strangely, when a local DJ made “threatening comments” about the president recently, the secret service showed up. My daughter heard on the radio that he and his close friends and family are going to be watched for some period of time.
So where is the secret service in this situation? The DJ is not the kind of guy anyone takes seriously. But the psycho preacher? Ask Dr. Tiller’s family if people take religious nutjobs seriously.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Last week I read that death threats against Obama are 300% higher than they ever were for Dubya and the secret service can’t keep up. I saw a photo of a protest rally in Arizona with people walking around in the open with semi-automatic weapons and signs saying things like death to obama. America is out of control. The rest of world watches in horror.
bobby | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
Does anybody else correlate that with the sanity level of Republicans? I’m just saying.
Heidi | Aug 25, 2009 | Reply
@Heidi: That photo is horrible! Was that girl a real Muslim, that wanted herself mutilated like that?
And yes, I did. But I pretty much knew that already. ;)
I’ve seen that letter around before. I’ve stuck copies of it in all the copies of the Bible they have in the library (in the ambiguous Reference section).
blufindr | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
I don’t know. Do they actually get a choice as far as having it done?
Heidi | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
They probably don’t have a choice, no, but if they wanted it anyway, the lack of choice doesn’t seem so… bad.
blufindr | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Here’s a followup on the Baltimore woman who starved her 1-year-old son to death because he wouldn’t say “amen.”
According to her lawyer, “she is currently insisting upon a caveat that her [guilty] plea be dismissed if her son is resurrected” … Oh, well ok then.
Heidi | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
I say they make a deal with her. They lock her in a cell and she stays in said cell until her son is resurrected. If it happens, the state supports her and her son in luxury for the rest of their lives. Sounds fair to me. I mean, if she’s a true believer.
bobby | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
That sounds fair. Does she get food and water, or does she get the same conditions her son got?
Heidi | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Oh, well you gotta keep her alive. Unfortunately.
bobby | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Ok, occasional food and water, then.
Heidi | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
Three week old crusts. Ditch water that’s been sitting in the hot sun for days. We don’t want to be unkind you know.
bobby | Aug 26, 2009 | Reply
As long as it qualifies under the very loose definition of “food”, it’ll do.
blufindr | Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
That works.
Heidi | Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
Man, this stuff is sick. I can’t believe some of the ridiculous things people do- and then they try to claim “Oh, well, atrocities are OK because it’s my religion.” Yeah, whatever. If you’re going to be a psychopath, just be one without hiding behind something!
Annie Moose | Aug 27, 2009 | Reply
@Annie Moose: Couple things. First, love the name! Also, you’re right on. It’s not so much religion I have a problem with — until it’s turned into an excuse to be a psychopath, that is. I actually don’t have a huge issue with Christians. If they want to be delusional, that’s great. Long as they don’t try to convince me to become one of them, or try to tell me their religion is all rainbows and puppy dogs, we’re cool.
Also, this may be relevant.
blufindr | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
This seems relevant.
blufindr | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
blufindr and Annie Moose:
How right you are!
proud kuffar | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
@blufindr
Yep, that’s about the size of it. Too bad our pod people aren’t here to read it.
bobby | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
If the cartoon caveman bashes enough people with rocks, he can start saying his society was founded on the Rock God religion.
Heidi | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
Atheists didn’t kidnap Jaycee Dugard either.
Or chain her in their backyard for 18 years so they could rape her and force her to bear children.
According to a criminal psychologist quoted by the BBC site, “He’s using religion as a reason why he should be immune from prosecution, because God has forgiven him.”
Think the podlings can understand that? Christianity in particular promotes not taking responsibility for your own actions (see Jesus the scapegoat).
Nobody says “He’s using his lack of evidence for gods as a reason why he should be immune from prosecution.”
Heidi | Aug 28, 2009 | Reply
I’m thinking of writing a story about a place where they live according to the bible, right down to every detail. It could work. It’d be a horror story I suspect.
bobby | Aug 29, 2009 | Reply
Oh my god. Heidi, please, tell me someone stuffed up badly and this is a joke.
My half-sister is 12, this year.
“I hope she’s been well-treated this entire 18 years.”
Epic, epic facepalm. Being raped and forced to bear children isn’t exactly being “well-treated” in my books. And even in the extremely unlikely event that she wanted to have these kids, for her to have been kept like that from her parents is cruel in itself.
blufindr | Aug 29, 2009 | Reply
Yeah, I wish it had been a sick joke. The BBC article has an aerial photo of the backyard where she was chained. It looks suburban. I don’t get how nobody found her all those years. Or why the guy’s wife was a willing participant from the beginning. WTF??
But hey, he’s got religion and shouldn’t be prosecuted, right? Disgusting.
@bobby: Yeah, that sounds like a horror story.
Heidi | Aug 29, 2009 | Reply
Reason #4,000,000. Religion is evil because…
Armed Man at Obama Event Attended Pastor Steven Anderson’s Sermon
This pastor being the asshole who’s telling his congregation that he’s praying for President Obama’s death. Dude, we lived through eight years of Bush-strocities. We’re done. We’re taking the government back from the right wing psychos for Jesus. STFU and deal.
This pastor is also the same guy who had the YouTube video about the police in Texas abusing him and tazering him. Yeah, I can imagine why he got tazered if he acted like he does in the audio on CNN. He’s a raving lunatic. The police were probably scared.
Heidi | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
Lulz. I still don’t know why they pretend to preach tolerance and respect, when they turn around and do this shiz.
blufindr | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
I think they’re fighting it out with Islam to see who can kill the most people with their religion of peace.
Heidi | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
For the most part they simply have no problem with hypocrisy. It’s the one thing they all have in common.
bobby | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
Hypocrisy, and delusion.
blufindr | Aug 30, 2009 | Reply
Just heard on the radio this morning that Dugard had access to phones, the internet, etc… and did not try to leave at all, or to contact her family to let them know she was okay.
What on earth happened at that house?
blufindr | Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Wow. … I wonder if she had access before she was forced to have kids. Maybe the guy said he’d kill her kids? Or start raping them, too?
Her mind must be such a mess by now.
Heidi | Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
It’s called Stockholm Syndrom, after a hostage situation that happened there, it’s when the victim begins to identify with the abuser and can’t imagine life without them.
bobby | Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
That makes what he did even more sick. Giving her the means to contact her family, but twisting her mind so that she couldn’t do so? It makes me sick to my stomach.
blufindr | Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Well, I haven’t studied up on it, but I believe it just happens, it’s not something the abuser makes happen. It’s something along the lines of most people in such a situation either go mad or they attach to their keeper in order to have some semblance of sanity. Patty Hurst was the most famous case. Don’t know if you know abut her, she is the daughter of the founder of a newspaper dynasty in California. A group called the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped her and held her for several months. She ended up believeing in they’re anarchic philsophy and was photgraphed robbing a bank with them, holding an uzi. It’s a famous image.
Anyway, let’s not forget the wife is apparently every bit as complicit in this as he is. She sexually and physically abused the girl too. Sick stuff.
bobby | Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Did they ever try to get ransom for Patty? I was *really* little when that was going on, so I never saw the news stories at the time. But I always wondered, why kidnap someone from an obscenely rich family and then convert her, not ransom her? I mean, I visited Hearst Castle in CA when I was a kid. Obscenely rich is practically an understatement. Nauseatingly rich, maybe.
I feel like the guy and the wife were more or less the same person twice. She even went with him on the kidnapping, as the step-father described a man and a woman who grabbed her and stuffed her in a car.
Speaking of Stockholm Syndrome, btw, Bill O’Reilly doesn’t believe in it. He thinks the victims enjoy staying with their abusers. Here’s what he had to say back in 2007 about Missouri kidnapping victim Shawn Hornbeck.
Bill O’Reilly stated on his program that Shawn’s “experience in captivity was fun”….and that “he liked it”. According to O’Reilly, Shawn Hornbeck enjoyed being victimized by his captor…. A man who will go down in history as one of the worst child predators of all time.
O’Reilly was asserting that since Hornbeck did not try to get away…. he must have liked it.
That was from mirror on America
You Tube Video of Bill
Heidi | Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
@bobby: Indeed. Absolutely sick, the both of them.
blufindr | Sep 2, 2009 | Reply
Hey, have any of you seen FSTDT? (Fundies Say the Darndest Things)
I love the guy who says there’s no proof of apes because they look just like Halloween costumes. Gotta be a Poe. I hope.
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
Notice all the atrocious spelling errors. The average Christian cant spel any beter then they kin thimk!
bobby | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
Yeah. Fundies seem to all be intellectually… challenged.
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
Well it’s never been a secret that you have to ignore reason and logic to swallow superstition. Even intelligent people who profess belief will admit that. They simply insist that faith in good. As idiotic as that is.
bobby | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
To me, faith is depressing. It’s like never growing out of the age where you hide under the covers from the monsters and wish really hard for them to go away. Gah, that’s depressing to even think about.
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
That’s a very apt analogy since religion is all about fear. They want you to be afraid that if you don’t believe you’ll go to hell. They want you to believe, in the case of Christianity that you were born a sinner.
It’s good, Ann. Thanks for that.
bobby | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
I was always afraid of some stupid thing or another when I was a believer/kid. My parents were both raised SDA. Religion and church weren’t part of our lives, but the underlying superstitious mindset was. The world was all full of spooky woo for her.
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
Her being my mom. I totally thought I wrote that…
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
My father’s mother was like that. She’d call on Jesus everytime there was any kind of upset going on.
bobby | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
My mom was the type who thought rock music was from the devil. Thank you so much, Tipper Gore.
Actual Example Conversation about music I was listening to:
Mom: What’s he singing about? “We will all go down together?” Are they going down to hell??
Me: No, Mom. It’s Billy Joel. The song is called Goodnight Saigon, and he’s singing about Vietnam.
Mom: Oh.
Heidi | Sep 6, 2009 | Reply
I’m reading that FSTDT page, and I swear I can feel my IQ dropping.
Wasn’t there some study somewhere that showed that intellectuals were less likely to believe in God? ;)
blufindr | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Absolutely. That said, there are, however, some brilliant people who believe. It’s that whole faith thing. I’ve still not found anyone who can tell me any real difference between faith and wishful thinking.
I would love to have someone intelligent try to argue that there is. It would be interesting.
bobby | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Here is an article we may roll our eyes and utter “Duh?” at. It essentially says that while fundamentalism is good at keep societal coherence, it is resistant to change, and thus will damage society later.
blufindr | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
I’ve still not found anyone who can tell me any real difference between faith and wishful thinking.
Disney told us. When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. So that’s different.
Fundiethink: I was reading the comments on Amazon yesterday for a book that calls the extreme religious right Fascists. This one guy (who obviously didn’t read the book)was going on about how it was written with a leftist-christian-hating agenda, blah, blah, blah. Which was pretty funny considering it was written by a Christian who has a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. The guy is also a journalist, and has worked for the Christian Science Monitor, among other publications.
It gives me hope that at least some of the non-fundies will stand up against them. That’s a large part of the problem right there. The moderates don’t denounce them, so these people think everybody is going right along with their crazy.
Heidi | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
You know, one of these days, when a fundie person gets all Pascal’s Wager, I need to ask them something. What if they die, against all logic and evidence, they get up to the Christian heaven, (pearly gates, St. Peter, the whole thing), and god wants to know why they didn’t listen to the Pope. You can use their exact same arguments. “Did you not hear that the Pope was my representative on earth? He said it on TV and everything.” “Um…” “But you didn’t believe him. Even though he told you. And you followed the Protestant rebellion against my Pope.”
I mean, seriously. They’re screwed too, in that scenario. Probably more screwed, since they actually like their god and want to go to his heaven. I’m cool with hanging out with the “you’ll just get knowledge” guy if it comes to that.
Heidi | Sep 7, 2009 | Reply
Found another article you guys might like.
blufindr | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
@Bobby: You might want to ask true_believer your question about wishful thinking over in the other thread. http://www.davehitt.com/blog2/things-atheists-didnt-do/
He’s on about how everyone who doesn’t agree with his nonsensical ramblings is ignorant.
Heidi | Sep 8, 2009 | Reply
I find it funny that there are only 3 of you communicating. Where are the rest of you?
Sirhc | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
We are The Unholy Trinity. What else do you need?
bobby | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
“I’ve still not found anyone who can tell me any real difference between faith and wishful thinking.”
“Disney told us. When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. So that’s different.”
Very good Heidi.
Dave Hitt | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
Thanks, glad you liked it. I figure at least I can see the star, so I know it’s real.
Heidi | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
@Sirhc: There you go. Dave joined the party. Now there are four of us.
@bobby: What does that make us now?
blufindr | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
The four horsemen, or should that be horsepeople?, of the apocolypse I guess. You wanna be death, pestilence, famine or disease?
bobby | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
Ooh, can I be death?!
Heidi | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
Heidi can be death. My father’s a doctor, it’ll make a beautiful irony if I’m disease.
blufindr | Sep 11, 2009 | Reply
@Heidi
Oh, I just knew you were gonna want the white horse. It’s so you. :-)
I guess I’m a pestilence then. I’m sure Ann and pplr would agree.
bobby | Sep 12, 2009 | Reply
WTF?
This reminds me of a Law & Order: SVU episode. Here. My most memorable moment in this is when the father of the boy who got attacked (stabbed in the back and had his spinal cord severed by the 8-year-old girl he was bullying) told Stabler (one of the detectives) that “[he didn't] care if [his] son called her a fag bitch dyke [not verbatim] from hell, [he wanted] her arrested.”
blufindr | Sep 13, 2009 | Reply
I’ve seen that before with the Christians being against anti-bullying rules applying to gay kids. :-( That nutcase Laurie Higgins who was harassing Hemant Mehta and trying to get him fired supports that position. She said something like “it legitimizes” being gay. TFB lady.
Here’s a sad one: Charles Darwin film ‘too controversial for religious America’
The film company can’t find a US distributor because evolution is too controversial. This is how the evangelicals remain uneducated.
Heidi | Sep 13, 2009 | Reply
Yemeni girl, 12, dies in painful childbirth
Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.
“Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening,” said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.
Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.
There goes that peaceful Islam again.
Heidi | Sep 14, 2009 | Reply
Yes, Christianity and Islam are battling it out for supreme assholiness. And the beat goes on.
bobby | Sep 14, 2009 | Reply
::headdesk::
That should put a stop to all the “Ooh! We’re the most discriminated against group!” protests from Christians.
blufindr | Sep 15, 2009 | Reply
@blufindr: I wish.
@Bobby: I’m not sure I can forgive you for making me hear Sonny and Cher in my head. LOL.
Heidi | Sep 15, 2009 | Reply
I got you babe. :-)
bobby | Sep 15, 2009 | Reply
Pharyngula post from today:
What kind of laws do you have over there in Australia?
Like I said over there, Oh My Holy Hell!! Stop this insanity before it gets out of Queensland. Otherwise you’ll end up like us. :-(
@Bobby: If you do that again tomorrow, I hope that doesn’t mean it’s Groundhog Day. :-P
Heidi | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Yeah, I heard about that. The laws in Australia vary from state to state, and apparently, she lived in the wrong state… We’re actually pretty good about it in Victoria, the morning-after pill is freely available, as are abortions (but they do cost up to $600 out of pocket).
blufindr | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
I noticed a lot of people on PZ’s site said Queensland was weird. Are they weird about other stuff, too? Is it because they’re closer to the equator? Like our highest concentrations of crazies are down south…
Heidi | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Queenslanders are weird. Kinda all-round weird. I don’t think it’s their proximity to the equator, northern WA (Western Australia) and NT (Northern Territory) are in about the same region, and they don’t have the same kind of whacky. They’re kind of like our California and Southerners combined. Fundy hippies. If that makes sense?
Oh shi- I just remembered that I applied to university up there. :| Wish me luck surviving the nuts?
blufindr | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Fundy-hippies. I’m trying to picture that.
Good luck. I suspect the area around the school will be lighter on the wacky. Especially if there’s more than one university in the city. You probably don’t need to worry too much about wackos.
Heidi | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Cheers. It’s right on the coast, though (look up Bond University sometime). I’m not banking on being able to avoid the crazies the whole time…
blufindr | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Oh, WOW! That is a gorgeous area! Totally worth putting up with some wackos.
Heidi | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Wackos are everywhere. Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice but to carry on. (with apologies to CSN&Y).
As for the U.S., yes, the south has it’s share but Idaho and eastern Washington is Fruitcake Central, lemme tell ya. It’s another planet up there. Alaska is another hotbed of irrational stupidity. Think Sarah Palin.
Queensland I haven’t noticed to have a lot of them, they’re certainly not on the Gold Coast or the Sunshine Coast, and Byron Bay is not unlike a small town version of San Francisco in the 70′s. Rather quaint and postcard-like.
bobby | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Ok, now I want to go live there. lol.
And yeah. We’ve got pockets of them all over the place. Utah comes to mind. They’re pretty much everywhere here. They’re just more concentrated in some areas.
Heidi | Sep 16, 2009 | Reply
Bitter, bitter irony.
I wonder if some fundies realise just how funny their words are.
blufindr | Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
I’m not even sure they listen to what’s coming out of their own mouths.
I liked the Frank Zappa quote in the second comment. lol.
Heidi | Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
Great stuff. Here’s one you should see. I love the irony of a devout Christian talking about how fundies are nut jobs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPwGV1h4lW8&feature=player_embedded#t=385
By the way, I’m getting on a plane tonight for Dubai, I’ll be travelling for a month. Talk to you guys when I get back. If anymore podlings show up give them grief for me!
bobby | Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
Yikes! Stay safe! *hugs*
Here’s one I don’t get. A marine’s widow and son are being denied immigration from Japan. He proposed while he was in Japan. They were married by proxy after he shipped out to Iraq, once they found out they were pregnant. But he was killed in action and they never saw each other after the wedding. Apparently the US doesn’t recognize their marriage as consummated, son or not.
The article says this is “because it is inconsistent with Western Christian ideas of how marriage takes place.” But when I posted it on my Facebook wall, the two most right-wing religious people I know both commented that it was a horrible thing. So who the hell is supporting this crap law?? And if we all agree it’s not ok, then why is it even there?
Heidi | Sep 17, 2009 | Reply
Woo! Take pictures!
@Heidi: The laws are protecting “tradition” — whether the rest of us like it or not.
blufindr | Sep 18, 2009 | Reply
Hey, blufindr? I don’t know if you’re following the posts over at Hemant’s site (Friendly Atheist), but there’s an 8th grade kid over there who asked for advice on coming out as a atheist. If you have anything helpful for someone that age, the post is here. The kid wrote to Richard Wade’s Ask Richard column and signed as “Alone.”
I didn’t even know I was an atheist at that age, so I’ve really got nothing on the dealing with it front.
Heidi | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
Currently, I’m undergoing some stress at the moment, what with exams coming up and my boyfriend and I having a recent break-up. Raincheck on that?
blufindr | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
Aw, I’m sorry to hear that. *hugs* If there’s anything I can do from way over here, let me know, ok?
Heidi | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
Do you have AIM or something? It’s easier to discuss things over that than this.
My AIM: blufindr
MSN: blucatchr92@hotmail.com
blufindr | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
You know, I actually don’t have any IM installed anymore. I’m on Facebook, though, if you want to send me a message or chat there.
Heidi | Sep 24, 2009 | Reply
I am so disgusted with humans right now that I can barely form a coherent sentence. How and when did people decide that being so hateful was okay? Telling women and girls to kill themselves cause they dishonored the family, running people down in cars, preventing your husband from seeing your face, family killing family? It’s atrocious! It goes against all reason, sense, and logic. I am truly appalled.
mandysimo | Oct 6, 2009 | Reply
Just wanted to share some things atheists have to deal with on a daily basis that I ran across at Hemant’s site. What happened to that guy who said we don’t face discrimination, anyway?
Albuquerque City Councilor Don Harris Attacks Opponent for Being an Atheist
Ex-Muslim Gets Death Threats for Speaking Out in Tulsa
Ask Richard: Should I “Come Out” as an Atheist in my College Application Essay?
Heidi | Oct 6, 2009 | Reply
(In Boulder Colorado Derik Bonestroo fired a gun…) gun to my head: I’m and Catholic, a Jew, a Christian, Muslims, whatever. Atheism is about logic, and dieing over imaginary friends goes ageist that. so you living for your belief.
benny | Oct 14, 2009 | Reply
This religion thing is absolutely amazing. Don’t forget the immense masses that have it in a lower dosage (as in France or most of Europe).
They don’t do weird things but they also do not realize they have a thinking problem with a half-forgotten, half conscious childish propaganda that blocks them. In Nietzsche’s lingo I would say they’ve unconsciously traded nobility for folk dancing.
jim | Nov 15, 2009 | Reply
Or snake oil for wolf tickets.
bobby | Nov 15, 2009 | Reply
I’d suggest feed her whatever she feels would be appropriate for a Muslim guest of Camp Delta, Guantanamo.
EvilGod | Nov 30, 2009 | Reply
Mmm? My previous comment was supposed to be a reply to another comment but apparently it doesn’t work that way. Oh well, just ignore it.
EvilGod | Nov 30, 2009 | Reply
Yes, spitting is vile, but considering that the Christians tortured and murder Jews from the 5th century up until the second world war . . . well, is spitting that bad in light of what happened to the Jews from Christian hatred. Let them spit.
Dana | Jul 30, 2010 | Reply
I wasn’t saying that I’m a fan of Christianity. LOL. I’d be quite happy to see it and every other religion disappear from the planet. I was just saying that spitting makes my gorge rise. Normally I don’t back the Christians on anything, which is why I thought it worth remarking.
Heidi | Jul 30, 2010 | Reply
Now Heidi, you know not all christians are morons. Some of them are imbeciles!
bobby | Jul 30, 2010 | Reply
Some are flat out insane, too.
Heidi | Jul 30, 2010 | Reply