Top 10 Anti-Christian Acts of 2010? Get a Grip...

Jebus H Mice. Some American Christian's are sooo self-obsessed and obsessed with homosexuality. Here is their take on how persecuted they are... about 9 examples of 17-odd supposed examples of 'anti-Christian' acts seem to be about gay sex. Guess what is not on the list? The evisceration of Iraq's Christian community. Yes, Iraq has churches that date from the 7th Century and yet the Christian community being killed and exiled in the waves of violence and fundamentalism unleashed by the botched US-led invasion. An invasion the US Christian Right cheerled for.

Iraq's defence ministry has said that the army will be on high alert this Christmas. It said it had received intelligence indicating Christians could be attacked. On Wednesday, two people were killed when a bomb exploded outside a church in the northern city of Mosul, one of the latest in a series of attacks against Christians there in recent months. According to some estimates, half of Iraq's Christian minority have left their homes since the American-led invasion in 2003.

Should that not be on the list? I'll let them know... see if it makes it.

(Hat-tip to RationalWiki)

Cutting to the Chase of Morality

Lots of loose talk about morality and culture - you see it in politcs of all sorts, so it's great to see somebody cut to the chase - in this case it's John Gray in reviewing 'The Quest for Meaning' by Tariq Ramadan...

Ramadan wants to replace this practice with a high-minded attitude of mutual respect. Each of us, he writes, must accept that "the presence of the other within my own conception of the world is both a fact and a necessity". I am not sure what this means – assuming it means anything and is not just hot air – but if Ramadan is suggesting that in order to tolerate repugnant views one must empathise with those who hold them, he is plainly wrong.There is a conventional view that says we can despise someone's beliefs while respecting them as individuals, but there are plenty of people who deserve contempt. If we tolerate the hateful views of Holocaust deniers, the reason is not that we think such people have any kind of moral worth. It is because free speech is much too important to be compromised for their sake.
...
Mesmerised by this empty dream, he is scornful of talk of civilisation. "The definition of the term 'civilisation', he writes, "is very relative." But stoning women and gay people is an atrocity no matter how many cultures have sanctioned the practice. Torture is abhorrent whether it is inflicted by the Taliban or by Americans in Guantánamo. Civilisation comes in many forms, but barbarism is always the same.

More Climate Creationism

Even more linkages between the voodoo cult of anti-evolution and the bat-shit crazy of climate change denial. Here's the new Texas Republican Party Platform on science teaching:

Realizing that conflict and debate is a proven learning tool in classrooms, we support objective teaching and equal treatment of all sides of scientific theories, including evolution, Intelligent Design, global warming, political philosophies, and others. We believe theories of life origins and environmental theories should be taught as challengeable scientific theory subject to change as new data is produced, not scientific law. Teachers and students should be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these theories openly and without fear of retribution or discrimination of any kind.

Yeah - teach the debate: teach the science debate as to if the earth was formed by cooling gases and space debris or in fact created by the giant Mbombo. No science teacher should be in trouble for teaching the Mbombo theory as fact.

Fucking idiots; yes, teach this stuff in cultural studies, literature, history and/or religion classes but science? Mbombo says no.

In Science a Scientific Law comes from repeated observations that the same thing happens over and over and over. That's why it's a law and not a trend or tendency. If there was new data showing that what we thought happened under a law, did not happen over and over and over - then it ceases to be a law and becomes a a trend or tendency. I think the Texas Republican Party are confusing legal laws with the Scientific laws. Somebody who can't understand the difference between legal laws and Scientific laws should not be writing science policy.

I think the Texas Republican Party are confusing logic with dogma.

But then this is the Texas Republicans - and you don't mess with the Texas Republicans - even if they are bat-shit crazy ('cos they're armed).

They are also a nasty bunch of homophobic pricks too. Climate change deniers; with friends like there...

The Marxist Plot of Science

I have written before about the psychology of climate change deniers and how they operate. Now along comes an excellent article that puts this mindset into a historic framework. It looks at the development of Relativity, the concept most attached to Einstein and how it was opposed, not on the grounds of science - but on the grounds of ideology:

Van Dongen details how Einstein’s theory was met with a wall of disbelief and hostility by some members of the scientific establishment, and was subject to attacks in the popular press and by conservatives.

Indeed during the 1920s they went so far as to establish “think tanks” in opposition and held rallies against Einstein and his theory. “Anti-relativists” established the “Academy of Nations” in 1921, publishing papers refuting Einstein theories and awarding prizes to themselves:

“Anti-relativists… built up networks to act against Einstein’s theory in concert. This led to some success. For instance, the clamour about the theory in Germany contributed to the Nobel Committee’s delay in awarding its 1921 prize to Einstein and to the particular choice of subject for which he finally did receive it: his account of the photo-electric effect, instead of the controversial theory of relativity.”

In fact, Einstein was so concerned by the vitriol of their attacks that he cancelled speaking engagements fearing an assassination attempt.

Initially Einstein and other scientists tried to engage them, but without success:

“Their strong opposition was not due to a lack of understanding, but rather the reaction to a perceived threat… Anti-relativists were convinced of their own ideas, and were really only interested in pushing through their own theories: any explanation of relativity would not likely have changed their minds.”

Sounds familiar?

Climate change denial; meet your older brother.
Creationism; meet another of your children.

EDL Cancel Demo to Oppose New Mosque

The EDL - who seem to portray all Muslims as radical Muslims (see the recent Beeb documentary) have cancelled a demo to oppose the building of the new mosque - when they found out that the majority of people opposing it were.... Muslims...

The controversial English Defence League have called off a planned demonstration against a proposed mosque in Walsall after learning that the biggest single group opposed to the scheme are Muslims. George Makin reports.

The anti-Islamic EDL had announced they would hold a demonstration on June 19 against a scheme to build a new place of worship in Vicarage Close which had previously been denied planning permission by the Walsall council. Proposers of the development have announced their intention to appeal the decision.

The EDL’s proposed demonstration led to a joint statement by the leaders of all three party leaders on Walsall council, fearful of a repeat of violent clashes which have occurred at other EDL events, that the rightwing group was not wanted in the town.

During negotiations with police EDL organiser were surprised to learn the original planning application had been opposed by many Muslims in Walsall who claim there are enough mosques in the borough already.

Note to EDL - Islam; It's a bit more complicated than that.

Election UK: Here Comes the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

The election has come and gone with windbags of pointless speculation (me included) and the great British public has spoken and elected to: not change very much at all, thank you. Poor LibDems, I do feel for them having al that hype and expectation to find out that it's one stop forward and almost one step back. It goes to show that when it comes to political thinking, people are conservative with a small 'c' and don't really go for change very much. The positive to this is that the far-right don't get much traction. The negative to that is anyone looking for rapid social revolution will be disappointed.

So lets pick though the now rotting bones of this election...

-How Danny Kushlick did in Bristol West? Not great. 343 votes or 0.6% - but at least he beat the English Democrats. Tiny yay!

- How the Greens did in vote share in Bristol... Again, not great. Best they did was 2.5% in Bristol South.

- How much we need to be worried by the BNP vote in Bristol? Happily the BNP did not do well. Thy never got about 5% which means in all the Bristol seats they've lost their deposit. Part of the victory here must go to those people campaigning against the far-right across the city - good work people! It's hard to see how the BNP can get a better opportunity - faith the the mainstream parties was at an all time low, scare stories about immigration at an all time high - and yet they still lost their deposit. Still the local election results are not yet and they can expect to do better there compared to the parliamentary elections.

-If the BNP manages to get it's first MP and/or take Barking and Dagenham council? Ha Ha Ha!!! BNP did shit here too! This was their big hope for a breakthrough seat and they only managed a poor third - a looong way off winning. But again, local election results yet to come.

-If the Greens managed to get their first MP in Brighton Pavilion? Can the Greens also make headway in Cambridge? Congratulations to the Greens who won Brighton Pavilion with a solid victory. Note: also standing there was the fab named 'Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality'. In Cambridge the Green's came 4th but kept the deposit.

-How the bonkers proto-Taliban of the Christian Party do? Really badly. Hee hee. 2nd to last in Filton & Bradley Stoke, narrowly beating the Vote Zero None of the Above Party. Rubbish in Bath too with 250 votes (0.5%). Expect the wrath of the Almighty any day for for turning our back on the Taliban The Christian Party.

More news as I get it...

Looking to the Election Results (II)

Updating my previous post about what is of interest to me in the coming general election. So far we have:

- How Danny Kushlick did in Bristol West (Vote Danny!)
- How the Greens did in vote share (Bristol is a pretty Green city and I'm often surprised they do do better here...)
- How much we need to be worried by the BNP vote in Bristol (I'd expect a small rise, given the economic crisis, voter apathy and dissatisfaction with the existing political parties, combined with the drum-beat of anti-Muslim and anti-Immigration scare stories in the tabloids.)
- How well the candidates flagged by Ian Bone (and commentators) do.
- What the real outcome of the reported Lib-Dem swing will actually be (voters are often quite loyal to one party).
- If the BNP manages to get it's first MP and/or take Barking and Dagenham council.
- If the Greens managed to get their first MP in Brighton Pavilion.

Plus also adding:

- Can the Greens also make headway in Cambridge.
- How the bonkers proto-Taliban of the Christian Party do in Wales and in Bath with candidate Stephen Hewett.

Bath Christian Party Candidate "is Idiot" Shocker

So there is this bonkers political party, The Christian Party, who are the local Taliban in that they are looking to have a theocracy rather than a democracy - rule by religion. The party has a mish-mash of crap in it's manifesto; and it includes support for the non-science stance of Creationism.

They have a candidate close to home... Stephen Hewett standing in Bath. Here's his bio:

Steve and Jenny have been married for almost 19 years and have 4 lovely kids aged between 7 and 15. They have lived in Odd Down in Bath for the past 13 years where Steve works in a local boys school as the Head of Science. Steve will be standing as the Bath candidate for the Christian Party in the May elections. Steve Hewett with his wonderful wife Jenny and one of their kids at their home in Odd Down

OMG!!! Fuck me he's a Head of Science???!!!! And he's a creationist. That is like being Head of Geography and a Flat-Earther, or Head of Psychotherapy and a Scientologist. Glad I've got no kids that that school. I'd like to remind Mr Hewett of something:

"Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution"

Taliban Idiot.

Radical Right, Radical Islam... Same Ideas

'Tis often said that the radical right of politics and the militant version of Islam have a lot in common - despite the claims by both groups to be at war with one another over vales. In reality they are quite similar - both hate homosexuality, both like capitalism and both see a strong role for religion in society.

But the links go deeper - and deeper. A radical Muslim group who issued death-threats to the creators of South Park over showing images of Muhammad, have these images on their site:



Note the left-bar - Obama as Hitler. Now the radical right...



Who'd have thunk it... peas in a pod...

Election UK: Christian Party of Wales, What a Laff!

One of the things I love about an election is all the small parties that emerge. It is always fascinating to see what political permutations people will come up with - some interesting and some not - and some are, well a bit batty. So it was with great amusement that I encountered the Christian Party of Wales...

I saw their election broadcast on the telly and it is a bit odd to say the least. It shows a guy with a combat jacket and DMs on marching up a hill with a big pole on his shoulders. It then cuts to a guy who looks like the man from Bargain Hunt (but less orange) who talks about god for a bit then starts banging on about the EU (who'd have thought Jesus was so down on Europe!) while cutting back to the paramilitary march up the hill. Then the guy on the hill unfurls the flag on the pole - the flag of St.David (back flag with a yellow cross) and small bunch of people, led by another bloke in a combat jacket marches up the hill to the flag. Baffling really. Like a UKIP broadcast with more god in it.

So I checked out their manifesto. It's a mix of a few policies that sound ok then layers and layers of nutty god-shit. Including:

- Re-instate the teaching of ‘Classical’ subjects in every school.
- Ensure that proper balanced teaching and debate occurs in schools around the concepts of ‘Evolution’ and ‘Creation/Design in the universe’.

Then it gets really odd. This rich vein of US style freemarket capitalism emerges..

- Sell off state owned hospitals and healthcare facilities to private sector healthcare providers.
- Support radical cuts in the public-sector workforce in order to reduce both the size of government and the size of the government spending.

The immigration policy is pretty far-right (very Christian, not) and they seem to hate the EU. All in, it reads like a transplanting of US Evangelical bat-shit into this green and pleasant land. A twisted mutation of the bile, bible, BNP and UKIP.

I hope they are decimated on voting day. These people are crazier than a box of frogs.

Athiest vs Theist - Brother vs Brother

Bristol is hosing 2 talks as part of the Festival of Ideas; Christopher Hitchens, author of 'God is Not Great' and prominent atheist (amongst other things) and his brother, Peter with a talk entitled 'How Atheism Drove me to Faith' - but on different dates.

Awwwwwwwwww c'mon - put 'em on the same date and lets see the brotherly love turn to blood that is thicker than water...

Come to think of it, are they really brothers - they look similar...

And you never see them in the same room at the same time....like Superman and Clark Kent?

Anyhow a couple of other talks I'd recommend...

- Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better (11th May)
- Do Statues Weep? The Importance of Scepticism (14th May) - one the tin-foil hat brigade should see.
- Ben Goldacre on Drug Company Bullshit (18th May)

Great stuff!

The Grayness Of Life

This is the title of a talk and it makes it sound like its about dull stuff - but the grayness refers to the fact that things in life are not black and white. That life has lots of gray moments. The remarkable thing about this talk is that it is by Nate Phelps - a son of the so-called preacher Fred Phelps and his God Hates Fags churchy thing. What becomes apparent from the talk is that Fred Phelps is not a man of god. Far from it. He's a coward. A bully. A bigot and an all round mega-prick. He sent his kids out to sell sweets so he does not have to work. Uses religion as a control for his abused family. Beats the wife and kids in the most horrific way. This is a shocking story - but it is also a story of survival.

Good on you Nate, my secular blessings go with you for sticking it to the man.

(It's in 6 parts...I recommend all.)



Parts 2,3,4,5 & 6.

Phelps takes religion to the typical cult place; I am right 'cos god says so. But unlike other cult leaders such as Koresh or Hubbard he does not have the charisma to gather more than a smattering of vulnerable followers - so uses his family as the congregation to his wired nationalism-voodoo cult.

What a massive, massive prick.

The Catholic Church's Blame Game

The Catholic Church and it's supporters seem to be engaged in a huge game of pin the tale on the donkey. In this instance, the tail is the blame for the scale and scope of the Church's child abuse scandal and the donkey is who the blame should be attached too. Seemingly blindfolded, the church and it's supporters are pinning that tale all over, having blamed..

- Satan
- Atheists
- The Jews
- The kids themselves (how fucking sick is that!!!)

In fact it seems they are willing blame anyone, except the people who might actually be to blame (i.e. the Pope and his cohorts).

Face it Mr Pope, when you sink to blaming the victims and the Jew, you've lost the argument.

Let's All Get Together - for a Fun Religious War!

Lots of people seem to point to Islam and say how it is a fundamentally violent religion. Yes it has it militancy - waaay too much of it, but if you raise your gaze up you'll soon see that all religious have their own violent, warlike militant nutters looking for nothing more than the spilling of blood in the name of god...but what I'd never considered before is the positive side of religious war;

“God brings a war because he needs to bring the best out of us. When we shine a light, it’s brightest when we come together [in war].”

Awww, religious war is like a huge love-in; provided your down with the right strain of god-murdering rage - this example is Jewish...

A cellphone video is shown depicting dozens of Israeli soldiers just before entering the Gaza Strip. This video was given to Dvir Bar-Chai [a radical Jewish settler] to cheer him up after being injured and hospitalized. The soldiers are seen dancing together and singing a religious Zionist song about getting revenge “just this once” against “the Philistines.”

The Philistines were a people who lived in the southern coast of Canaan, in the middle east back in the day - with whom the Israelites did lots of fighting. It is also a term to refer to the 'other' i.e. people not of your religion/views and who are without merit.

Nice.

Give us Liberty or Give us Death (unless it's too hot)

This post on a blog made me chuckle. It's about a group of fundamentalists preachers getting together..

The National Patriot Pastors’ T.E.A. Party will meet on the Plaza of the Alamo where 180 courageous “Texicans” made the ultimate sacrifice to confront tyranny and to gain their freedom. The Alamo holds profound symbolism for all Pastors and Christians in America. We too, must be willing lay it all on the line for Christ and for revival.

The rally will take place in the morning before heat is a problem...

It's that last bit that made me laugh; bigging-up the Alamo and saying; "We too, must be willing lay it all on the line for Christ and for revival." Which clearly implies that they should be willing to die for god/jesus/whatever and then in the next line looking to the creature comforts of the participants. If you are not willing to get hot, how willing will you be to die, people? Get it together...

The Pope vs Justice

I think we can all agree that rape is an abhorrent and violent act. I think we can then also agree that child rape adds a layer of violation onto this already abhorrent and violent act. So I think we can all agree that we would want to see the perpetrators of such acts brought to justice and stopped from repating such henious crimes.

That is unless you are the Pope, were it seems you answer to a higher authority. One that seems to think that child rape is ... well ... an inconvenience.

Let's start this sordid story with the crime in question:

In 1979, an 11-year-old German boy identified as Wilfried F. was taken on a vacation trip to the mountains by a priest. After that, he was administered alcohol, locked in his bedroom, stripped naked, and forced to suck the penis of his confessor.

So how did the future Pope, guided by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, react to this crime of rape and torture?

The pope didn't report him to the cops. He did move him out of the community 'for a while' then the Holy Church returned him backing into circulation and the raping started again. While the priest was back raping, the future pope set about protecting him from justice...

Very much more serious is the role of Joseph Ratzinger, before the church decided to make him supreme leader, in obstructing justice on a global scale. After his promotion to cardinal, he was put in charge of the so-called "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" (formerly known as the Inquisition). In 2001, Pope John Paul II placed this department in charge of the investigation of child rape and torture by Catholic priests. In May of that year, Ratzinger issued a confidential letter to every bishop. In it, he reminded them of the extreme gravity of a certain crime. But that crime was the reporting of the rape and torture. The accusations, intoned Ratzinger, were only treatable within the church's own exclusive jurisdiction. Any sharing of the evidence with legal authorities or the press was utterly forbidden. Charges were to be investigated "in the most secretive way ... restrained by a perpetual silence ... and everyone ... is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office … under the penalty of excommunication."

That's right - the most serious punishment the Holy Mother Church can impose - was reserved not for child rapists, but for people who might expose child rapists.

Sick; and they claim to be some kind of holy moral guardians? Fucking joke, so again we have to ask is the representative of God on Earth protects child rapists, then; what is the Catholic Church for?

Best thing they could do is disband it.

Avatar: The Work of the Devil

Face facts, Christianity is choc full of nutters. The this guy's three and a half minute rant against the evils of the film Avatar:



What. The. Fuck. Frib-shiterty. It's such an incoherent mishmash of 12th Century ideas wrapped in biblical fuckwittery - delivered via a 21st Century medium. What a massive twat. Apparently feeling connected to nature is a bad thing and he has 2 home cinemas so he must know what he is talking about. The very cool visual effects in Avatar, which I thought stemmed from the lead visual effects company was Weta Digital in Wellington, New Zealand. Turns out it was actually done by Satan. Man, that Satan, he has all the cool shit.

The whole talk is about the devils in your shoe-box and the demons living in trees and that your own skin in rebelling against you. The whole thing says to me: Welcome back to the dark ages of Christ.

Christ, what a prick.

Lemmy Found in Marmite

A family from Ystrad, Rhondda in Wales have found a picture of Jesus Lemmy from the band Motorhead in a jar of Marmite.

Claire Allen, 36, said she was the first to notice the image on the underside of the lid as she was putting the yeast spread on her son's toast.

Her husband Gareth, 37, said he could not believe his eyes when he saw it.

Mr Allen, of Ystrad, Rhondda, said: "The kids are still eating it, but we kept the lid."

He explained: "Claire saw it first and called her dad to come and take a photo of it.

"When I first looked at it I wasn't sure, but when I moved it away from me it started coming out. I thought yeah, she's right - that's the image of Jesus Lemmy. People might think I'm nuts, but I like to think it's Jesus Lemmy looking out for us."


Jesus Lemmy.


Marmite image.

Creationism & Climate Change Denial: Best Mates?

It's would seem so. For some time now there have been strong links between climate change denial and evolution denial(aka creationism). The same right-wing creed that promotes the anti-science ideas of creationism also seems to be at work with evolution. The same legal attempts to force educators to promote creationism, is also being used to promote climate change denial; see here and here. There are also the same people who either sign petitions 'debunking' climate science/evolution or try to 'accomodate' a rancid anti-science ideology into science;

Senator Inhofe
Chris Allen
Roy Spencer
Tim Ball
Edward Blick
David Deming
Guillermo Gonzalez
Robert Smith
James Wanliss
E. Calvin Beisner
Ross McKitrick
Anthony Watts

Why does this matter? Put simply if you are a denier of evolution then you simply don't have the intellectual underpinnings of true scepticism to engage in a debate about what is true above what they would like to be true. Evolution is a true as anything can be in science; if you let ideology blind you to this, then it is going to blind you in other areas. Sorry, but for me all those people are rendered utterly non-credible.

Demons! Devils! Aaargh!

I am not surprised to see that most religions have a very bronze-age view of the world and like to see things in very stark terms; that evil is personified with fiery hooves and brimstone hats! This is US wing-bag Christian witch-doctor Pat Robertson of all other religions and why his one is the best..

He is the God of all Gods. These others are mostly demonic powers. Sure they’re demons. There are many demons in the world.

Ssssssright. Watch out for the Buddha-demon - it's gonna karma you to death. Mmmuhahahah! (By the way, I thought that there was only one god in monotheistic Christianity? How can he be god of gods when there are no other gods? That's like being god of nothings? But then the monotheistic bit evolved from a polytheistic world-view, so Pat is jus' bein true to his roots.



Not only that but fighting those pesky demons is hard work, so in Poland the demonologists are getting together to exchange tips on holy hand-grenades and gospel kung-fu.