Uh-oh: this guy is everywhere.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Uh-oh: this guy is everywhere.
Billy Graham has a column in which he answers letters — he’s a kind of evangelical agony aunt, I guess. A recent letter will make you laugh.
DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Why do people get involved in cults? My cousin has gotten involved in one, and no matter what we say to him, he refuses to listen. He says we are the ones who are in the dark, and he alone in our family has found the truth. — S. McM.
That’s a real problem, and I’m sure we all know someone who has gone off the deep end with some weird belief. That’s not the funny part; the good bit is Graham’s oblivious reply.
DEAR S. McM: One characteristic of cults is that they strongly believe they alone are right in their beliefs and everyone else is wrong. Thus they reject the central truths of the Bible that Christians have held in common for almost 2,000 years and substitute their own beliefs for the clear teaching of Scripture.
Shorter Billy Graham: The difference between their cult and mine is that they think they have the absolute truth, when I know that I do.
After all the gasps of outrage at the Catholicchurch’s response to that tragic story of a 9-year old rape victim’s abortion, the church has seen the light of reason and…actually, no. They just made it worse. The Roman Catholic Church of Brazil has excommunicated everyone involved in the abortion, except the child, who was excused on grounds of her age. Old enough to be raped and bear children, but not old enough to be responsible for decisions about her reproductive tract, apparently.
Remember this when anyone tries to tell you about their god of love, their religion of mercy, their source of all moral virtue.
Those involved who have been excommunicated ought to take this opportunity to rethink whether they even want to be associated with such a contemptible organization.
The president of Brazil has now spoken out against the church’s decision.
This is a tragedy, amplifed by the idiocy in the subhead:
Brazil girl, alleged rape victim, aborts twins
The procedure on the 9-year-old girl draws complaints from Catholic church
You don’t really need to say more than that.
That’s the message I get from this horrible little video. The conceit is that someone writes a letter to god, asking why he let violence occur in the schools, and he replies…and gee, god sure sounds like a snide pissant. The omnipotent, omniscient lord of the cosmos couldn’t do a thing because those liberals put a restraining order on him. Right. Crazed madmen run through a public school murdering children, and good ol’ Jehovah channels Cartman and says, “Whoa, let ’em bleed to death — some of the kids don’t pray to me, and the principal doesn’t begin the school day with a public obeisance. Screw you guys, I’m going home.”
Fundamentalist theology sure is an ugly thing, isn’t it?
It’s hard, you try it: it’s the Religion 101 final exam. I sure hope they post the answer key sometime.
Although…if it’s evaluated in the same way religion is, maybe any answer will do, and I’ve actually aced it.
Oh, wait — I answered it the atheist way, which is to leave it blank. That’s probably the one way you’re guaranteed to get stern angry looks from the teacher and expulsion from the whole school.
The UN has passed an absurd resolution that tries to make defamation of religion illegal. No more blasphemy for us!
At least a Canadian spokesman has the right idea.
“Canada rejects the basic premise that religions have rights; human rights belong to human beings,” said Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.
“The focus (here) should not be on protecting religions, but rather on protecting the rights of the adherents of religions, including of people belonging to religious minorities, or people who may choose to change their religion, or not to practice religion at all.”
Christopher Hitchens also makes strong points (you’ll have to listen to the odious Lou Dobbs to hear him, unfortunately).
I confess to some mixed feelings about this one. Several schools in Wisconsin hold their graduation ceremonies in local churches, and Americans United is threatening litigation to block them. One the one hand, I am all for secularizing ‘sacred’ spaces — let’s take them all over and do something useful with them for a change. On the other, I don’t think that’s what this particular situation is all about, since it looks like the schools are using the churches to pollute what should be a secular ceremony with religious smog.
There is a poll, so you can weigh in on the topic…and like all online polls, I’m sure this one will be incredibly influential.
Should public schools be allowed to hold graduation in a church building?
Yes (79%)
No (21%)
There’s an interesting Gallup poll that compares religious fervor between nations. Here’s a quick summary:
Religiosity is correlated with poverty — the poorer you are, the more godly you are. I guess God really does like that poverty thing.
The US is not the most religious nation, not by a long shot — we are well below the median. It is, however, an outlier, as the most religious wealthy nation.
There is wide regional variation within the US. Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina are like poor Middle Eastern or African countries; Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are like middle-of-the-road European nations, in terms of their religiosity.
I suspect there has to be a dangerous cycle imbedded in these relationships. Poverty leads to more religiosity as people reach for desperate hope; and religion does nothing to solve real problems, leading to worsening poverty.
Would you believe that a Swedish politician has suggested that their prime minister should end all of his speeches with “God bless Sweden” (translation)? It’s got to be a joke. She explicitly points to the US as a model — why any country would want to emulate the United States’ greatest flaw, its ignorant religiosity, is a mystery to me.
