Monday, April 27, 2009

God Hates More Than Just Fags

Apparently, he hates Mexicans, too!

It's been deadly in Mexico, but not as yet in the United States. Do we know why that is?

"It's unclear. First of all, there might not have been enough cases in the U.S. yet to reach that point, number one. Number two: There might be other factors at play. The health of the people who have become ill and subsequently died in Mexico might be different than the health of our patients. We're looking at it all very closely."

Google map tacking the swine flu outbreak.

I wonder how long it will take the Fred Phelps nutjobs to say this is God condemning the illegal immigrants? If that's true then this is yet another example of how clumsy God's hand is at killing the people who stray from His Word. I keep saying people will take notice if everyone of a particular hated-by-God group would suddenly die of unexplained brain aneurysms above their left eye, or something very distinct are targeted at just those people. But these clumsy attempts at retribution look an awful lot like random disasters, further fueling the doubters among us and our sarcastic rants against irrational belief!

UPDATE:
As if to make my point more, an earthquake has struck in near Acapulco, Mexico...

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Quiet Rant

I want to rant about something but I don't want to overshadow some good news.

You see, a young boy has cancer and has been going through the awful process of chemo. His mother recently posted that he is "all clear" and all the comments were happy and supportive, but there was one that pissed me off when I saw it.

It seems some church lady thought it necessary to mention they she and her friends had been praying and that "God is really good."

Give me a break, lady. If God is real then it was God who initiated the cancer in the first place. What makes God so good when the cancer goes into remission after blasting the kids body with all sorts of chemo?

OK. I'm done.

Monday, April 20, 2009

This I Used To Believe

I happened to be in the car Sunday when This American Life way playing on my local NPR station. The episode was titled "This I Used To Believe." It was a spin off of the recent series called This I Believe.

The second story was about a woman who was agnostic but reached out to thank the coach of a Christian high school football team for his effort to help an opposing team made up of kids from a correctional facility.

The woman, Trisha Sebastian, mentioned in an email to the coach how she was leaning toward agnosticism and the coach responded by trying to bring her back to faith.

It's a good story, though unresolved, that I think both religious and non-religious might enjoy. You can still download the audio through their podcast or from their web site. Perhaps you should listen to it before reading my commentary. I wouldn't want to poison the well.

You don't get to hear all of the conversation between Trisha and the coach but he comes off like every other southern protestant I've ever met. And when he pulls the Nazi card he just about lost her. Let that be a lesson for you fledgling preachers: If you want to convince an atheist that God is the right path then don't stray into Godwin's Law territory. Even the Jews don't find Darwin as the cause for Hitler's atrocities.

I think we've all heard his other argument before: We live in a fallen world, and this is the reason for all the bad in the world today. He finds comfort in that while we scratch our heads at how completely illogical the whole free-will/original sin arguments are. But this doesn't bother him because his reward is beyond this world. So, he's willing to shrug off all of the suffering in the world because he already has a ticket out of here, or so he thinks. And I imagine his good-will effort with the kids from the juvenile correctional facility were to bring them to God, because that is the only way he thinks their suffering will end.

After seeing how the world according to the bible makes no sense except that we are in the hands of a schizophrenic dictator who demands our worship, I don't know how I could ever go back to believing in him. It just doesn't make any sense.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Our Modern World: Judge Refuses to Annul 8 year-old's Marriage

No, not a marriage that was 8 years old.

An 8 year-old girl was married.

Saudi judge refuses to annul 8-year-old's marriage

(CNN) -- A Saudi judge has refused for a second time to annul a marriage between an 8-year-old girl and a 47-year-old man, a relative of the girl told CNN.

The most recent ruling, in which the judge upheld his original verdict, was handed down Saturday in the Saudi city of Onaiza, where late last year the same judge rejected a petition from the girl's mother, who was seeking a divorce for her daughter.

The relative said the judge, Sheikh Habib Al-Habib, "stuck by his earlier verdict and insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty." The family member, who requested anonymity, added that the mother will continue to pursue a divorce for her daughter.

This kind of shit only happens in the American mid-west and in Islamic states. You SICK FUCKING PEDOPHILES! And anyone who doesn't protest is complicit in the abuse of children.

What's interesting here is that the judge didn't decline the annulment on the grounds that Muhammad, blessings be upon him, also had a young wife. No, it was because the girl's mother had no legal right to petition for her:
The judge ruled the girl's mother -- who is separated from the girl's father -- was not the girl's legal guardian and therefore could not represent her in court, according to Abdullah al-Jutaili, the mother's lawyer.

Women have no rights. Little girls have no rights. DOUBLE WHAMMY! Thank you radical Islam!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Eye of Sauron Turns to Downtown Jacksonville!

Sauron...er...PZ Myers...pointed out something about my town that I didn't know...

We have a nice little corrupt megachurch scandal going on!

His original post is here.

The controvery can be followed here.

Lots of money, lots of power, one can expect a scandal. I'm so excited to get something juicy here!!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Our Modern World: Demon Toddler Beaten By Parent With Bamboo Sticks

Phung and Jackie Tran tried to beat the demon out of their 3-year-old child...WTF?

With a name like Jackie Tran I would expect better. I mean, how close is that to Jackie Chan? Huh? OK, that was a dumb joke, I know. Especially since an innocent little boy was hurt.

I love my son so much I don't understand how any parent can give more than a swat on the butt. It hurts me to see him sad or cry. So when I read about a parent abusing their child I simply can't understand it. The only explanation is that they are sick, mentally ill.

But then I have to ask, how can two people have the same mental illness? I can understand one being delusional, but how does the other one go along with it without being sick themselves?

Prosecutors say the parents, Buddhists and vegetarians, believed demons entered the boy through meat he ate.

Aaahh!!! That explains it! They were VEGETARIANS! No, wait...They were BUDDHISTS! But Buddhism doesn't really talk about demons. Perhaps the culture they were raised in had a lot of demon lore and that contributed to the belief that demons exist in meat.

Most people who read that article will think those people are crazy for thinking demons could possess their child through meat, but how far away is that from other more mainstream beliefs in American society? My own mother's church believes people can be possessed by Satan. Would they go so far as to beat a 3 year-old child? Probably not. But what does it take to make someone cross that line? How easy is it for a stable person to dip into that realm of delusion strong enough to make them do something horrible?