Bill Maher On Islam and the South Park “Muhammad Bear Suit” Controversy

Posted on June 30, 2011 by admin

This is an issue from last year, but Maher makes some good points about assimilating other cultures into our own:

Bill Maher: “While America likes to think it’s number one, we have to admit that we’re behind the developing work on at least one thing – their religious wackos are a lot more wacko than ours. When Southpark got threatened last week by Islamists incensed at their depiction of Muhammad, it served – or should serve – as a reminder too all of us that our culture isn’t just different than one that make death threats to cartoonists, its better.”

I can only hope that people like Bill Maher, who look at these issues from the lighter side and don’t let political-correctness force them to sweep the issue under the carpet, open our eyes to the way religion forces an “us-vs-them” paradigm on any society in which it permeates. This is the danger of an “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” thought process. And where have we heard that before…?

“Speaking of Muslims, the vast majority are law abiding, loving people who just want to be left alone to subjegate their women in peace. But I gotta tell you, civilized people don’t threatened each other; we sue each other. Threatening? That’s an old school desert shit, and I’m sorry, you can’t bring that to the big city. I’m very glad that Obama is reaching out to the Muslim world, and I know Muslims living in America and Europe want their way of life to be assimilated more. But the Western world needs to make it clear: some things about our culture are not negotiable and can’t change. And one of them is freedom of speech. Separation of church and state is another. Women are allowed to work here and you can’t beat them. Not negotiable. This is how we roll, this is why our system is better…”

After No Rapture, ‘That was awkward’ Billboard Pops Up

Posted on May 25, 2011 by admin

GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – As promised, a user at reddit.com responded to Harold Camping’s billboard campaign proclaiming the Rapture with a billboard campaign of his own in Greensboro, North Carolina.

The digital billboard, which could be seen near Interstate 40 and Gallimore Dairy Road in Guilford County on Sunday, said “That was awkward” and included a verse from Matthew 24:36 stating “No one knows the day or the hour…”

The billboard was the result of a lengthy discussion on reddit.com where Redditor xtcg123 posted a picture titled ‘Thinking of renting a billboard on May 22. Thoughts?’ The picture/thread received over 1,508 comments with suggestions and comments about the billboard.

On Sunday, the billboard went live in Greensboro.

In a thread on reddit.com, the user explained his decision to put up the billboard message.

“The point here…is that if you’re going to use any source (in this case, the Bible) to promote an agenda, you can’t just leave out the part that completely goes against what you have just ‘guaranteed.”

The billboard was funded through an online campaign that encouraged online users to donate money to help pay for the billboard campaign.

According to a post within the original thread, the user said the billboard cost $250 for a one-day campaign in Greensboro.

“Best part is the billboard rep ended the e-mail with “… that is, if we’re still here,” user xtcg123 said in the thread.

Redditor xtcg123, who lives in North Carolina, was not identified.

Vatican says iPhone apps won’t forgive your sins

Posted on February 11, 2011 by admin

VATICAN CITY – Just in case Catholics are wondering if a new iPhone app might be able to forgive their sins, the Vatican has issued a clarification: No.

“One may not speak in any sense of confessing via iPhone,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy’ See Press Office, said in a statement this week.

According to its U.S. producers, “Confession: A Roman Catholic App” is designed to help users prepare for confession through a “personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament.”

The Indiana-based company, Little iApps LLC, says its app is the first to receive an imprimatur, or official permission for publication, from a Catholic bishop – in this case, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

Lombardi said the “Sacrament of Penance necessarily requires the relationship of personal dialogue between the penitent and the confessor and absolution by the confessor present.”

“This cannot be substituted for by any information technology application,” he said.

Atheism – Good enough for these idiots

Posted on January 30, 2011 by admin

You know, it’s really frustrating going up against the “head-in-the-sand” mentality most religious-types have.

In all honesty, I don’t care what beliefs someone has, as long as they don’t infringe on my rights, which being lucky enough to be a citizen of a first world country, should be exactly the same as everyone else.

I think it’s just sad when someone will reject solid science because it doesn’t sit well with their “beliefs”.

It seems obvious to me – if your belief doesn’t gel with the science, then there’s probably something wrong with your belief.

Man 1, God 0 in school chaplains case

Posted on January 28, 2011 by admin

By Jenny Dillon from The Daily Telegraph

A FATHER won the first round in his historic battle yesterday to have government-funded chaplains thrown out of [Australia's] public schools.

Ron Williams journeyed from Toowoomba to Sydney yesterday for a directions hearing in his challenge and was thrilled to hear that his case could be heard in the High Court over three days in May.

“This is a very important moment,” a jubilant Mr Williams said yesterday.

The father of six, who has four children attending Queensland public schools, said his main argument was that the funding for chaplains in schools breached Section 116 of the Australian Constitution, which states that the “Commonwealth not legislate in respect of religion”.

“This is not about getting chaplains out of schools, it’s about the government funding them, which I believe is against the Constitution,” he said.

If Mr Williams wins his challenge, government funding for chaplains would be removed.

The National School Chaplaincy Program was introduced in 2006 by former prime minister John Howard.

The national program won support from Prime Minister Julia Gillard, an atheist who, just before the election last year, pledged $222 million to extend the program for four years.

More than 430 schools in NSW get up to $20,000 each a year for their chaplain services, totalling almost $12 million, and more than 2500 school across Australia now have chaplains at a cost of more than $151 million.

The chaplain program is run in Queensland by that state’s branch of the Scripture Union.

In NSW the program is run by the National School Chaplaincy Association which is based in Western Australia.

A spokesman for the association said yesterday it was not appropriate to comment.

NSW Greens MP John Kaye said yesterday’s decision was good news for those who believed in separation of church and state. “The anger felt by many of us at the use of public money will now at least be tested in the court,” he said.

“There will now be an opportunity to hear in court why this program so deeply contradicts the integrity of the Australian Constitution.”

Religion News: Top research findings of 2010

Posted on January 14, 2011 by admin

The Public Religion Research Institute team posted their take on the top religion and politics research findings from 2010. These issues are sure to be with us in the new year and into the 2012 campaigns.

1. Nearly half, or 47 percent, of Americans who identify with the tea party movement also identify with the Christian right.

2. The Pew Research Center found that nearly one in five Americans, or 18 percent, wrongly believe President Obama is a Muslim, and PRRI found a majority of Americans (51 percent) say his religious beliefs are different from their own.

3. In America, 57 percent of the people are opposed to allowing an Islamic center and mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero in New York, but 76 percent say they would support Muslims building a mosque in their local community if they followed the same regulations as other religious groups.

4. Americans are about five times more likely to give an F (24 percent) rather than an A (5 percent) to churches for their handling of homosexuality, and two-thirds see connections between messages coming from America’s churches and higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.

5. In America, 45 percent of people say the values of Islam are at odds with American values and way of life, while a plurality (49 percent) disagree.

6. If another vote similar to Proposition 8 were held now, a majority (51 percent) of Californians say they would vote to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

7. At least seven in 10 Americans say that protecting the dignity of every person (82 percent), keeping families together (80 percent) and the golden rule are important values that should guide immigration reform.

8. In his new book, “American Grace,” Robert Putnam found that between one-third and one-half of all American marriages are in interfaith marriages, and roughly one-third of Americans have switched religions at some point in their lives.

9. Despite high levels of religiosity, Pew Research Center found, on average, that Americans only answered about half of 32 questions correctly on a U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey.

10. The 2010 congressional election revealed relatively stable voting patterns by religion compared with past elections. GOP candidates held an advantage among white Christians, while Democratic candidates held an advantage among minority Christians and the unaffiliated.

And an 11^th, for 2011. Nearly six in 10 Americans affirm American exceptionalism, that God has granted America a special role in human history. Those affirming this view are more likely to support military interventions and to say torture is sometimes justified.

Public Religion Research Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan research and education organization specializing in work at the intersection of religion, values and public life.

1 Timothy 2:11-12

Posted on January 10, 2011 by admin

“¹¹Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. ¹²I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”

Why The Salvation Army Doesn’t Deserve Your Money

Posted on January 1, 2011 by admin

Is your donation to the Salvation Army supporting an evangelical church that hates homosexuals and Harry Potter..?

Everyone knows the Salvation Army. Whether it’s the secondhand goods at their thrift stores or their collection kettles outside department stores, the Salvation Army is ubiquitous to the holiday season.

However, the Salvation Army’s virulent opposition to gay rights both in public and through persistent legislative lobbying raises the question how donations intended for the needy are being spent. Many people forget that the Salvation Army is in fact an Evangelical church, and as such, it tends to have a hard-right social agenda.

In fact, the Salvation Army goes so far as to say gay people shouldn’t be having sex. You can find this nugget on their website: “Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life.”

Read the entire article at Prose Before Hos.

Playschool Revelations Reading

Posted on January 1, 2011 by admin

From an episode of Sleek Geeks on Australia’s ABC, Rhys Muldoon and Benita Collings leave you with a reading from Revelations that will make you re-assess children’s television:

This reading comes at the end of Episode 4 of Season 2, a show entitled “Apocalypse”. The episode dealt with popular apocalyptic predictions, such as the 2012 Mayan prophecy, death stars and super volcanoes.

Now, Sleek Geeks is a science program, but being ABC funded, they are obviously a little cautious upon who’s toes they tread. Biblical apocalyptic visions were not overtly addressed, but thankfully, they got the team from the children’s show Playschool in to read some of Revelations, hopefully opening some eyes to how truly ridiculous this book of the bible is.

I mean, the bible is a ridiculous book from cover to cover, but I think John must have written Revelations whilst going through that hallucinogenic experimentation phase we all go through growing up.

Sad to say, Christianity and Science don’t really mix, so few Christian minds were likely exposed to this piece. However, we can only hope this is another step toward pushing back the boundaries believers put up around their beliefs.

We’ve all heard religious types spout “You must be respectful of my beliefs” in one breath, and then dismiss the beliefs – nay, human rights – of those not a member of their particular club: gays and lesbians, women, atheists, entire populations of third world countries who receive aid on the condition of conversion.

It’s time we pushed back. Religions have been on a power-grab for the hearts and minds of the unenlightened. We need to educate the masses. Religion is no longer the answer, if indeed it ever was. It only causes an endless cycle of pain: guilt, shame, repression, even financial pain.

Let 2011 be the year when enlightenment gathers momentum and ignorance is no longer the norm.

Happy new year everybody.

Narratives of the Birth of Jesus

Posted on September 28, 2010 by admin

From The Secret History of the World by Jonathan Black (aka Mark Booth) (pg 285):

The two Gospels with infancy narratives, Luke and Matthew, give very different, indeed inconsistent, accounts, starting with the different genealogies ascribed to Jesus, the time and place of the births, and the visit by the shepherds in Luke and the Magi in Matthew. This is a distinction rigidly maintained in the art of the Middle Ages that has since been lost. While it may be glossed over in church, academic theologians accept that, where these accounts conflict, at least one must be false – perhaps an uncomfortable conclusion for anyone believing that scripture is divinely inspired.

Religious Criticism

Thoughts on Modern Religion