Blasphemies and other Forms of Artistic Expression

"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." –Pat Robertson

BBC News - Israel to begin migrant deportation amid flaring violence : What was really surprising - one man notes that Israel should mirror the US stance on Mexican immigrants and 'shoot them at the borders.'  I haven't actually heard this as a sanctioned government policy, but our rhetoric seems to have struck a cord. I guess Israel really is like the US - a country of migrants who push out the indigenous peoples, only to react belligerently to the next wave of immigrants.  Mission Accomplished!! 'via Blog this'

After watching an episode of Intervention, I became curious about a book one of the parents had written about her marriage to the other.  She was  interviewed on the 700 Club , where she lamented on her union.  Her portrayal on the show was a stark difference to the one during the interview. It looks like she turned a bad marriage and bitter separation into a personal crusade against Islam.  On Intervention, she said that she suspected her husband had some vague links to terrorist activities.  Of course, during the show, she sat next to her ex-husband.

Pat Buchanan wrote a new book -  “Suicide Of A Superpower” ! Good thing for us, he really feels the disposition of the people who make up our great country . . . . Those who believe the rise to power of an Obama rainbow coalition of peoples of color means the whites who helped to engineer it will steer it are deluding themselves. The whites may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bus.  . . . Perhaps some of us misremember the past. But the racial, religious, cultural, social, political, and economic divides today seem greater than they seemed even in the segregation cities some of us grew up in. Back then, black and white lived apart, went to different schools and churches, played on different playgrounds, and went to different restaurants, bars, theaters, and soda fountains. But we shared a country and a culture. We were one nation. We were Americans. I love that last sentence - separate, but equal!  Ole Pat's America must have been a glorio...

I think I have officially become sick of people saying negative and thinly-veiled racist attacks on Muslims.  I think the worst part about it is that the people spouting off really should know better.  Xians and Atheists both! It's a bit more disappointing from atheists, because I would assume that if they feel so enlightened as to look beyond what man calls 'god' and look at what really is the inner truth, they would see why man is drawn to religion and why someone seeks to identify with what can't be understood through clinical observation.  Believing someone is less intelligent because of their adherence to some deity is elitist.  On the flip-side, believing that an atheist is being condescending (and thus insulting) because they do not believe in god is exclusionary.  Not many xians seem to be willing to discuss their beliefs with someone who says they do not believe. It seems I've strayed a bit from the point on attacking Muslims - but it is a...

BBC News - Jesus play Golgota Picnic angers Christians in France : " Can someone remind me again why the Xian protests over this play are different than the Muslim protest over the Muhammad cartoons?

This is an old article , but still worth a visit!  Our old buddy Pat never ceases to entertain! This happens to be a Top Ten list of Robertson's greatest batshit crazy moments, as compiled by Time Magazine.  Some are video clips, so you get to see the words fall out of his gob!

"People in general are equally horrified at hearing the Christian religion doubted, and at seeing it practised." ~ Samuel Butler

God exists only when you do not believe there is a God. When you believe in God, that God no longer exists. This is to say that God is to remain a completely abstract concept.  As long as God remains a concept of consciousness, God can exist.  At the point in time where God is personified and given identifiable human aspects, then that God has been given a corporeal existence.  As such, this God can not possibly exist..

Teacher sued for disparaging creationism cleared on appeal This is a bittersweet victory. I'm not one for injecting the sciences into religious thought, mainly because we have to accept that the source is accurate and scientific in itself. Of course, that doesn't work, as anyone who was hiding under their desks on May 21st could tell you. I have to side with the atheists on the area of creationism - it's bunk science. We are to assume that there may have been an 'intelligent designer' who was responsible for life on earth. That in itself is not a scientific question, but rather, a philosophical one. I can say that I believe in God because I do not take up the task of attempting to prove what god is or is not. It's not a scientific view by any means; but I feel that any discussion of God and science is pointless at best, and just plain batshit crazy at worst. If the creationists are willing to accept any source of occurance (including a godless , rand...

October 21, 2011 Judgment Day and End of the World! Tract - eBible Fellowship If you have not been to this site and listened to this podcast, you are really doing yourself a great injustice. 2+2 really can equal 5 if you wish and pray hard enough! New to the site is an explanation as to why we're all not wailing and gnashing our teeth in the eternal flames. Essentially, the earthquakes were more figurative, though everything else related to the rapture is assured to be literal. Please note that the 'final, official' rapture will occur on October 21, 2011 (rain or shine.) I, for one, will be celebrating the second annual Judgement Days (May 21 and Oct 21) by renting some top quality apocalypse movies and a sumptuous Last Meal. All are invited!!

Is the arrogance of an atheist any less great than that of an Xian?  What is the difference between an Xian trying to convert someone to Xianity and an atheist doing the same? Both sides have both created a God in their own image, but for entirely different reasons. 

I have been giving a lot of time and thought these days to my own ego and sense of worth.  It seems that we all strive to strike a balance between who we think we are, who we project ourselves as, and who we actually are.  The closer the first two are to the third idea, the centered our personality becomes. I am, of course, assuming I know what I am talking about.  But as I write this, I can sense the three aspects of my ego (read: personality) working their way into this post. Now - on to religion.  The proper belief and adherence to xianity hinges on the surrender of ego.  This would mean dropping any assumption of what the individual thinks they know of their gtod and meditating on what they cannot comprehend.  God is meant to be beyond good and evil - to assume that 'god is good' to to assume that one knows god, who is by definition unknowable.  So I would assume that praying to god to win a contest or 'give me strength' is a rather heretic view ...

On YouTube, I found an audio reading of Christopher Hitchen's 'God Is Not Great' . It was a reading of chapter two - 'Religion Kills.'  I listened to the reading, and kept an open mind to his point of view, as I tend to disagree with atheists for the same reasons I disagree with xians on the role of religion. Listening to the two of them debate is like listening to a political debate between Democrats and Republicans - pointless and needlessly cutthroat. So, in listening to Hitchens rant on about religion being evil, I could imagine the xian responses to his arguments, and how unconvincing they would be to his.  Hitchens uses religion as the backdrop to all the evils of the world, which isn't correct.  Given the theme of his chapter, I would argue that God, to quote Concrete Blonde, is more like a bullet.  And everyone knows that bullets don't kill people, people kill people!  Just as basing murder on the teachings of the three plus monotheistic religion...

I'm not a religious person, but I have an idea for the Xian concept of the Garden of Eden.  Genesis (Book 3) states that Adam and Eve were cast from the garden of Eden after eating of the Tree of Knowledge.  As most Christians, I was brought up to believe that this is the Original Sin, the core act of disobedience against the word of God that condemns man to death (and Hell, if you were fundamentalist Baptist.) Now, suppose that the Tree of Knowledge has nothing to do with knowing what is good and what is evil.  Rather, it is to know the true nature of God. Then the parable would make more sense: To admit that God exists is to say that God is not real. To say that God does not exist is to admit that God is real. Simply, to say that there is knowledge of God is to confess no knowledge of God.  To confess that there is no God is to acknowledge God.  God cannot exist if we believe He is real, though if we believe He is real, He cannot exist. It's too e...

BBC News - US pastor Terry Jones cancels Koran burning Finally, everyone can shut the fuck up about this! Two things: * Is it really the case that the whole world was up in arms about some idjits in some backwater church? * What carries more weight? The message of the book or the physical pages? The guy had every right to burn those books. They are just objects. Burning them would do no more harm than burning a pile of napkins. The real effect is in the worth everyone puts in the objects and not in the message within. No matter how many Korans this guy might burn, the message remains the same. In America, it (one's own) God given right to be a moron and express it freely. I'm still blaming the press and it's 24 hour feeding frenzy for turning this non-story into a global sensation. No one seems to be calling tem out on that, though . . . .

Sometimes, you just have to take the young ones out and let 'em play in the snow.  Now, if they're out there playin' 'tragic crucifixion disasters' and the neighbors freak out, then, well . . . . .

It's been a while since I've been blogging in my own space. So this is my official re-'kick-off.'

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness. Emo Philips

This is a speech from the author of History of God . She has a very insightful approach on how people of faith, those without, and everyone in between. As an atheist, she speaks very eloquently about faith and what it should mean.