There has been a lot going on in the ridiculous theist world this week. I don't understand how believers aren't shamed into seclusion. Off we go...
Conservatives in this country are happy that we haven't had diplomatic relations with Cuba because they're Commie bastards. Strangely, they cite our more than friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia as a beneficial thing and a sign of our willingness to understand those with different cultures. Well, that has blown up in their faces. Let's get this straight. Cuba and Fidel Castro are evil because they are communists BUT Saudi Arabia and their royalty are strong allies and overall good people. Am I the only one who finds the similarities between Muslim fundy "morality" and Christian fundy "morality" extremely alarming?
According to the religion of peace, this 75 year old woman deserves to be beaten because she was in the presence of men that she is not related to. The mentality that created laws against this sort of interaction are the same laws that conservatives from all religions say are necessary to keep people moral. Well, I personally hope this immoral harlot gets more than 40 lashes. How is a society ever going to achieve morality if they can't make examples out of people like this? Clearly, Mohammed would want this grandmother to suffer for her mistake.
That Muslim woman should consider herself lucky that she isn't a lesbian in South Africa. The predominantly Christian nation has decided that "corrective rape" isn't something they oppose enough to do anything about. The only people who seem to give a damn about these women are those pansy liberal human rights and homosexual rights groups. What's even more sad is that none of the churches have come out and vocally opposed this either. The significance of the collective Christian silence on this issue is something that can't be stressed enough. In the U.S., Christians have been denouncing Muslims for not doing enough to denounce the radical Muslim sects that are beheading journalists and whipping grandmothers. According to most holier than though Christians (and non-Christians too), if you aren't out front and extremely vocal in condemning something that "your" people are doing, you're almost as guilty as they are. I wonder if these same people will condemn their Christian brethren as rapists for sitting back and allowing this to happen. I guess dikes and fags deserve what they get. How loving.
Speaking of Christian love, I found a great demonstration of it in the hotbed of piety that is Colorado. This fundy jackass murdered someone because he was a different religion. Sound familiar? Anyone? So the next time your Christian relative, friend (Tim), or significant other rants about the virtues of the more civilized Christianity, remind them that religious lunatics are everywhere. There's no such thing as a "civilized religion."
Now we move on to the Mormons. Those poor Mormons. They're a bit of a paradox. They have endured severe persecution at the hands of the loving Christians in the U.S. since they invented their prophet. Maybe the exposure to religious hatred and persecution they've dealt with is to blame for the hatred and persecution they're now doling out. How's that Prop 8 working out? But that's not the point of this commentary. The Mormons are upset about one of their "sacred" rituals being shown on the show "Big Love." Strangely, I don't remember them protesting the show "24" when they were constantly employing Middle Eastern Muslims as the bad guy terrorists in their show. Now, I hate Muslims just as much as the next theist, but I don't understand the hypocrisy. One might think that, once a group has been oppressed, they would be more sympathetic to the oppression of others. Not religions. What good is a religion if it doesn't allow its members to wrongfully believe they're better than non-members? Hell, the very foundation of religion is exclusivity and persecution of "others." Thankfully for us atheists, believers in these different fairy tales don't play well together. With a little solidarity, theists might be able to actually cause more harm to humanity than they already have. Can you imagine??? It's terrifying.
This blog isn't all bad news and doom and gloom. There is a light at the end of this moronic religious tunnel. This new age of scientific discovery and reason is allowing people to realize that they don't need wives tales and superstition to answer life's great questions. While the 15%ers grow, it opens the door to more thought about just what we do or do not believe in. A glorious byproduct of this is the erosion of religious doomsaying. Unfortunately for the O'Reillys of the world, they lost the culture wars. I'm sure none of us will miss the people mentioned that NY Times column. We can only pray.
Soulless Quote Of The Week:
"I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." -- FORMER President George W. Bush
7 comments:
Have you noticed that your posts have gotten angrier and angrier as the weeks have gone on? What was once well researched and intelligible is starting to become the Falwell sermon for atheists. Watch your tone.
Don't lump me in with the Jesus Camp. What ever have I done to deserve that?
This post contains a slight bit of hypocrisy. You bring up the point about religious sects indoctrinating a superiority complex amongst their members, thus giving them free reign to criticize every other religion. However, isn't that exactly what you do on a regular basis?
The underlying sentiment of a majority of your comments is to point out how stupid/ridiculous religious people are. The very things you vehemently despise (intolerance, clouded judgment, forceful persuasion) you subscribe to as well, without even realizing it.
Dustan, I don't think my posts have actually gotten angrier. The specific stories have just gotten more and more outrageous. As for my tone, I don't really know what your talking about. I've always had this tone. Let me make something very clear, even though I've said it countless times. Unlike the Falwells of the world, I don't condemn every religious person because of what other people do. I do understand that there are more good Christians than "bad" ones. I have just decided to take it upon myself to apply the same rules and logic to each religion that they try to apply to everyone else. Not surprisingly, the individual religions don't stand up well to any scrutiny.
Ganxt, I've never said that tolerance was my goal. In fact, I understand that people will never be tolerant of others. That's not my motivation or concern. I don't care that Christians, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, etc. are intolerant of other groups. The point of my posts is to show the horrible things that Gods children either do, or allow to happen.
I'm an atheist. According to most, I have no morality because I have no God. They, on the other hand, claim to have a monopoly on morality and "correctness." Since each of these groups claim to be under the influence of the one true God, I'd expect them to be WAY more moral and loving than I am.
Despite my jabs and constant ridicule of the religious organizations, there is a very distinct difference between me and them. I wouldn't kill them because they disagree with me. I would never make them second class citizens with fewer rights than I award myself. I wouldn't force them to live by the laws of my God, even though they don't believe in them. I wouldn't beat, or rape, any of them to death because I disapprove of who they have sex with. I wouldn't protect men who violate the trust of the people they're supposed to be caring for by raping their innocent children. I wouldn't cut their heads off because they believe differently. I wouldn't blow up a church, mosque, or abortion clinic. And I wouldn't use my holy book to justify the subjugation of an entire race of people.
I don't think my judgment has been clouded in one single post. Anyone that doesn't find these things repulsive must be a member of the offending group. There's no other excuse for the defense of these individual acts. You know better than to assume that I indict ALL members of a particular faith. Some of my snide comments are made for comedic effect and some are serious. I think you know me well enough to distinguish between the two.
As for lumping you in with the Jesus Camp, you had to know that was coming. You're a Christian sympathizer and I'll remember that once the second final solution begins. We're watching you.
Sympathizer? Not really, just because I'm more outspoken against certain fundamentalists than others, doesn't mean that I'm in bed with a certain theocracies. And like you, I get a kick out extremists justifying their outlandish behavior in the name of God, whoever that may be.
Maybe I'm being naive or too progressive, but I don't think most people of faith act out violently or aggressively towards followers of other religions. Yes, religion is a huge source of global conflict, but I would argue that most people (at least civilized people) could honestly give a shit less about who does what, as long as it doesn't affect their personal space.
The problem I have with all religions/philosophies is with the followers that find it necessary to force feed their beliefs on others. If a person grows in a positive manner because of religion, I think its an absolutely great thing, no matter what religion they practice (although if they're using it for a sole sense of morality, they probably weren't very moral or ethical in the first place but i digress).
Obviously the acts of barbarism that you describe are not forgivable and do cast a bad shadow on religions; however, sociopaths are more common than we think and sometimes religion is just a cop-out for them to be truly sick fucks. It's sad that this can overshadow some of the compassion and great deeds religion can help produce, but I think it's more due to the fact that there are an ever increasing amount of deplorable people that should have never been produced rather than a particular religion advocating rape and murder. But also like you, I do become even more cynical when religious leaders refuse to condemn or even address the horrible things that have occurred in the name of God.
Satan.
I don't mean to interrupt your little brouhaha here, but Randy, if you don't stop using buzz-words like "fundy" and "neo-con", methinks I'm going to punch you in the balls.
Youthinks you're gonna punch my balls, huh? Well, Buster Brown, you've got another thing comin'. And don't think that I will allow you to pull a Jason on my blog and get away with it. Serious topics will be discussed whether it hurts Jason's soft head or yours.
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