Motherboard: What do you think is wrong with the conversation around atheism today, the conversation that’s already been popularized by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.
I am an atheist, but a gentle one. I don’t feel the need to mock anyone who believes. I really disagree with the hard tone of some atheists who approach religion like a silly fairy tale. I am deeply respectful of religion, but I believe none of its supernatural aspects. So my position is perhaps unusual: I am at once very respectful and completely impious.
The problem of the man without religion is that he forgets. We all know in theory what we should do to be good. The problem is that in practice, we forget. And we forget because the modern secular world always thinks that it is enough to tell someone something once (be good, remember the poor etc.) But all religions disagree here: they insist that if anyone is to stand a chance of remembering anything, they need reminders on a daily, perhaps even hourly basis.

A Christian pastor who converted from Islam is to be put to death for leaving Islam following the ruling of an Iranian trial court, it was reported today.Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, and has now been put to death by an Iranian court for refusing to renounce his Christianty, according to the pastor's legal team.The father-of-two had defied a request by the Gilan provincial court, in Rasht, Iran, to repent, and now faces death by hanging.

Croatia: Forced Conversions and Genocide under the Ustaše
Not many people know about the Ustaše and its leader, Ante Pavelić. Before 1941, the organization was a radical fascist terrorist group. But when Axis powers invaded, it was given control of Croatia by the Nazis. They shared Hitler's goal of ethnic cleansing.
Their plan, which they began enacting in 1941, decreed that one third of the Serbs in Croatia would be killed. They specifically targeted the Intelligentsia, all non-catholic religious leaders, all businessmen, all master tradesmen, all figures of cultural importance such as musicians and authors, and anyone else who might have some importance. Another third of the Serbs were to be expelled to aid in ethnic cleansing. The final third would be converted to Catholicism at gunpoint.
The Ustaše were radically catholic, and their leader had personally received a blessing and audience from Pope Pius in Rome

It sounds like you lost your faith in the process of becoming a minister—or did you go back and forth for some years? How long did you serve as a minister, and how much of this time was spent riven by doubt?
I didn’t lose faith entirely during the ministerial process, although a simmering struggle between faith and doubt was clearly evident. This simmering would boil occasionally throughout my seventeen-year career, but any vacillations I experienced were easily suppressed, and faith would triumph, albeit, for non-religious reasons. Besides the money, time, and energy I had invested during the process, familial responsibilities deterred any decisions to alter course. These faithful triumphs were ephemeral and I found myself living in constant intellectual and emotional turmoil. By not repudiating my career, I could not escape the feeling I was living a lie. I continued to juggle this stressful dichotomy to the point of being totally miserable. Only recently have I succumbed to the doubt that has always undergirded my faith journey.

Shakila, 8 at the time, was drifting off to sleep when a group of men carrying AK-47s barged in through the door. She recalls them complaining, as they dragged her off into the darkness, about how their family had been dishonored and about how they had not been paid.
It turns out that Shakila, who was abducted along with her cousin as part of a traditional Afghan form of justice known as “baad,” was the payment.
Although baad (also known as baadi) is illegal under Afghan and, most religious scholars say, Islamic law, the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the dishonor that had been done to him, who sent his men to abduct her.

#8 Pat Robertson ~

He’s worse than the previous two because he doesn’t even know how to lie convincingly. He swears that “the spirit of God comes mightily upon [him]” and enables him to leg press 2,000 pounds, though he is 79 years old. This claim has been thoroughly debunked by weightlifting experts, and yet he persists in claiming and not proving it.

He has claimed to be able to deflect hurricanes by praying to God, and stated that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for abortion throughout America (not for Mardi Gras, which would be a little more understandable), thus showing that he did not pray for Katrina’s deflection. He believes that 9/11 and Katrina might be divinely connected.

Most recently, he denounced Haiti after the January 12, 2010 earthquake, stating that Haiti deserved what it was getting because it swore a pact with the Devil back in 1791, in order to drive out the French.

Wow, it's another disgusting story of a girl raped by a Muslim who then is blamed and put to death. In a giant bout of blaming the victim, somehow it is this girl's fault for being raped and she needs to be punished. And, her family is now under protection because they are getting others in trouble for carrying out such a heinous act. Where is the sanity?

And, closer to home, we find this charming video. To be honest, I'm not seeing much difference between what the narrator is advocating here and the behavior in Bangladesh. The narrator sounds like a rapist in waiting, and further, he'd be fully prepared to blame the girl/woman for being too provocative.

It's time for these religious [expletive deleted] to grow up and start taking responsibility for their own lives and urges. Yes, you may be attracted to a woman on the street. Deal with it and join the human race.

She was a 12-year-old girl, with fiery green eyes and defiance on her face. Her father had promised her hand to a stranger from Helmand province who didn't speak her language, was more than 30 years her senior, and already had eight children. Her father had borrowed the man's money for his poppy venture. And now it was up to her to repay that debt.
Darya, as she was called in a new book by Fariba Nawa, Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords, and One Woman's Journey Through Afghanistan, represents a growing trend in Afghanistan, a trend in which families marry off their daughters to settle debts originating from the opium trade. "Opium brides," they called them.

Photos of a stadium being built on the site of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - led by convicted paedophile Warren Jeffs - have emerged, raising concerns about its purpose.
The pictures, taken by a local resident in Eldorado, Texas, have sparked fears that the concrete building could be used for a mass suicide, like that led by Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple in 1978.Another theory is that the concrete building - measuring 30 feet high and 289 feet across - will house a large statue of polygamist leader Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence for raping two underage girls.

The issue of free speech versus blasphemy is currently subject to much debate in the atheist community. While attempts by various UK student unions to restrict the free speech of atheist groups demands a serious response, the danger faced by those who question religion in the Western world is mild compared to that faced by individuals living under theocratic governments, and none more so than those living in majority Islamic regimes. The recent arrest of Indonesian atheist Alexander Aan and the nine-month jail sentence served by Palestinian atheist Walid Husayin—both for “insulting Islam”—happened in countries on the liberal end of the Islamic religious spectrum.
In the more conservative Islamic states, things are taken altogether more seriously. It is not even necessary to declare yourself an atheist to bring down the wrath of the righteous—merely posing questions about religion can be sufficient.
One such incident currently hitting the news involves Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgiri, who is a Muslim, but one who made the fatal mistake of not showing enough deference to his religion in some Twitter posts.

The U.S. Air Force has provoked outrage by removing a Latin reference to God on one of its logos after complaints from a military atheist group.The Rapid Capabilities Office patch included a motto until several weeks ago in Latin saying: ‘Doing God’s Work with Other People’s Money’.But this was altered to ‘Doing Miracles with Other People’s Money’ after the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers kicked up a fuss.

Women: The very image of motherly love and yes, the very object of lust which generations upon generations of pious, stupid old priests had ceaselessly reminded us. The images of bikini-clad babes sashaying down the beaches in insipid Baywatch episodes, nude, lewd naked women in porn magazines..... in whatever shape or form, the archaic Judaic-inspired monotheisms love to treat women as some kind of a wicked taboo.

If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.
-Deuteronomy 22:20-21:

Christianity is misogynistic. Misogyny is fundamental to the basic writings of Christianity. In passage after passage, women are encouraged—no, commanded—to accept an inferior role, and to be ashamed of themselves for the simple fact that they are women. Misogynistic biblical passages are so common that it’s difficult to know which to cite. From the New Testament we find "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. . . ." (Ephesians 5:22–23) and "These [redeemed] are they which were not defiled with women; . . ." (Revelation 14:4); and from the Old Testament we find "How then can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4) Other relevant New Testament passages include Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:7; 1 Corinthians 11:3, 11:9, and 14:34; and 1 Timothy 2:11–12 and 5:5–6. Other Old Testament passages include Numbers 5:20–22 and Leviticus 12:2–5 and 15:17–33.

A website with close ties to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has outlined why it would be acceptable to kill all Jews and annihilate Israel.Conservative site Alef has published a doctrine detailing why the destruction of the nation and the slaughter of all its people would be legally and morally justified.It warned that the chance to remove the 'corrupting material' of Israel must not be lost - and that it would only take nine minutes to wipe it out.And it said it was a 'jurisprudential justification' for Iran's Islamic government to then take the helm.The article, written by Khamenei's strategy specialist Alireza Forghani, is now being run on most state-owned conservative sites, indicating it has the regime's support.

Don't read the Quran while on the toilet.
Any verse of the Qur'an, should be removed before entering the toilet. (1)
Don't let anyone see you pee. (No one ever saw Muhammad do it -- except for all those eyewitnesses who provided the glorious details about his peeing technique.)
Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) states that, 'When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would go to relieve himself he would go so far that no-one could see him.' We should make sure that there is complete privacy whilst relieving one's self; this is modesty that every Muslim should have. (1)
A person should be concealed from the sight of others when answering the call of nature. ... How can anybody uncover in front of other people the ‘awrah (private parts) which Allaah has placed between his legs to conceal it and commanded him to cover it? (2)
One should move and hide himself from others, as the prophet SAAWS only relieved himself when he was out of site. (2)

"Church set on fire after carnival," from the UKPA, January 31:
An Orthodox Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set alight in southern Macedonia overnight amid religious tension between Christians and minority Muslims over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran.
Firefighters extinguished the fire on Monday night in the two century-old Sveti Nikola church, near the town of Struga. The church's roof was destroyed but its icons were not damaged, the fire service said.
Hours before the fire, Muslim leaders had appealed for calm among community members.
The January 13 Vevcani festival prompted angry, sometimes violent demonstrations by Muslims, who are nearly all ethnic Albanian and make up 33% of the country's 2.1 million population and accuse the majority of stoking hatred against them.

In his 2010 religion debate with Tony Blair, roughly a year before his untimely death, Christopher Hitchens decided to address what he said was most "twisted and immoral in the faith mentality, its essential fanaticism, its consideration of the human being as a raw material, and its fantasy of purity." The debate extended the hardline he adopted in his 2007 best-seller "God Is Not Great," that religion -- a "malignant force" -- "poisons everything."
With the New York Times Book Review and others calling the polemic "an all-out attack on all aspects of religion," one might assume Hitchens would've been similarly uncompromising about agnosticism as failing to reach his own level of certainty in "antitheism," his preferred self-description. Yet, of the seven brief references to agnosticism that appear in "God Is Not Great," all are unmistakably supportive. What's more, Hitchens's book did something increasingly rare among atheists and critics of religion: whenever possible, it grouped agnostics with atheists and freethinkers, as allies with shared arguments against monotheism, zealotry and fundamentalism.

The Biblical God is NOT pro-life, he advocates child murder, infanticide, child abuse and abortion:

    I see so many  Christians talking about abortion being a crime against God.  It’s not a wonder that they are hard pressed to find a conclusive biblical statement to corroborate their position.  In their determination to control women they have been forced to rely on exceedingly weak sections such as “thou shall not kill”,”I kneweth thou in the womb” and their favorite: “When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon; and he shall pay as the judges determine.  If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth...“--Exodus 21:22-24 The problem here is that the man who injures a pregnant woman in the process, shall repay her according to the degree of injury inflicted on her, not the fetus.  I am often dumbfounded at how Christians can assume that abortion is wrong judging by these feeble verses when the Bible clearly advocates infanticide and many other atrocities against children and pregnant women.  I can no longer allow such ignorance of the Bible and deem it necessary to expose the true agenda.  I am tired of the many young Christians who are brainwashed by their clergy.  They are only taught the “love and mercy” parts of the Bible and never bother to read what is not so openly preached . The Church thrives off of speaking in half truths and concealing their blood soaked robes.  Of course my job as preacher of an Atheist parish is to give a sermon about those things that the Bible TRUTHFULLY commands.  Here they are, god’s views on the unborn, the actions of righteous men” and god’s commands of infanticide and child abuse: (note-There are Torah verses in this list but I will not attack the Jewish faith for being pro-life since they are not rampant advocates of the matter.)

Abortion:

    Hosea 9:11-16 Hosea prays for God’s intervention.  “Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer.  Give them, 0 Lord: what wilt thou give?  Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. . .Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb.”  Clearly Hosea desires that the people of Ephraim can no longer have children.  God of course obeys by making all their unborn children miscarry.  Is not terminating a pregnancy unnaturally “abortion”?

    Numbers 5:11-21 The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery.  This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man’s child.

Numbers 31:17 (Moses) “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him.”  In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.

Hosea 13:16 God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the “their women with child shall be ripped up”.  Once again this god kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.

2 Kings 15:16 God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be “ripped open”. And the Christians have the audacity to say god is pro-life. How and the hell is it that Christians can read passages where God allows pregnant women to be murdered, yet still claim abortion is wrong?

Infanticide:

1 Samuel 15:3 God commands the death of helpless "suckling" infants.  This literally means that the children god killed were still nursing.

Psalms 135:8 & 136:10 Here god is praised for slaughtering little babies.

Psalms 137:9 Here god commands that infants should be “dashed upon the rocks”.

The murdering of children:

Leviticus 20:9 “For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.”

Judges 11:30-40 Jephthah killed his young daughter (his only child) by burning her alive as a burnt sacrifice to the lord for he commanded it.

Psalms 137:8-9 Prayer/song of vengeance “0 daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.  Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”

2 Kings 6:28-29 “And the king said unto her, What aileth thee?  And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.  So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.”

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”

Judges 19:24-29 “Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.  But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man’s house where her lord was, till it was light. And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered.  Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place.  And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel.”  To put it very bluntly this poor, young lady was murdered by her mate for being raped.

Exodus 12:29 God killed, intentionally, every first-born child of every family in Egypt, simply because he was upset at the Pharaoh.  And god caused the Pharaoh’s actions in the first place.  Since when is it appropriate to murder children for their ruler’s forced action?

Exodus 20:9-10 God commands death for cursing out ones parents Joshua 8 God commanded the deaths of 12,000 men, women, and children of Ai.  They were all slain in the ambush that was planned by god.

2 Kings 2:23-24 The prophet Elisha, was being picked on by some young boys from the city because of his bald head.  The prophet turned around and cursed them in the Lords name.  Then, two female bears came out of the woods and killed forty-two of them.  You would think that God could understand that sometimes the youthful make childish jokes.  Calling someone “bald head” is far from being worthy of death.

Leviticus 26:30 “And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.”

1 Samuel 15:11-18 God repents of having made Saul king since Saul refused to carry out God’s commandments (i.e., Saul refused to murder all the innocent women and children.)  At least god realizes what an immoral, murderous pig he is on this one.

I Kings 16:34 Laying the foundation for a city using your firstborn child and using your youngest son to set up the gates.

Isaiah 13:15-18 If God can find you, he will “thrust you through,” smash your children “to pieces” before your eyes, and rape your wife.

Jeremiah 11:22-23 God will kill the young men in war and starve their children to death.

Jeremiah 19:7-9 God will make parents eat their own children, and friends eat each other.

Lamentations 2:20-22 God gets angry and mercilessly torments and kills everyone, young and old.  He even causes women to eat their children.

Child abuse:

Genesis 22:9 & 10 “And they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.”  It matters not that god let Abraham get out of murdering Isaac.  To put a knife up to your son’s throat is child abuse.

I Kings 3:24-25 “And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.  And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."  This test was of course given to see who the real mother of the child was.  Christians view this king as a wise man.  I look upon his suggestion with far more revulsion then I give accredit to Susan Smith.

Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14 & 29:15 God commands repeatedly that you beat your children.

Matthew 19:29 If you really loved Jesus then he insists that you abandon your wife and children for him.  Only that way will he allow you to go to heaven.  (That is if you meet his other hefty requirements, don’t slip through the loopholes, and ignore the contradictions.)

Mark 7:9 Jesus criticizes the Jews for not killing their disobedient children according to Old Testament law.

    In conclusion I shall end this list with a verse that should keep the pro lifers in check.  It is Romans 13: 1-7

 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which god has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by god.  Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what god has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.  For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but those who do wrong.  Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?  Then do what is right and he shall commend you.  For he is god’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing.  He is god’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. There fore it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

    This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are god’s servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes, if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

    Clearly it is the job of Christians to obey the laws, and the laws of this country clearly state that abortion is legal.  So too should Christians respect and honor that law.  God commands them to NOT disobey, which entails attempting to get the law overturned.  If god wanted abortion to be illegal he wouldn’t have appointed authorities to make it legal.

Ripped from the evil bible.com http://www.evilbible.com/god%27s%20not%20pro-life.htm

** All of the essays from "The Church of Theists Suck" were written by Charlotte and most were previously posted in her own "Theists Suck" website which is no longer in existence.  She gave permission to freely copy and distribute her essays, they are not copyrighted. **

A gay teenager who committed suicide earlier this month claimed he had an exorcism performed on him by his Christian parents before they kicked him out of the house.
Eric James Borges, 19, took his own life on January 14 after suffering years of physical and verbal abuse at school and rejection from his 'extremist' family who made him leave home for being gay.A friend read from the suicide note he left at one of several memorial services held for the young man in San Joaquin Valley, California last week. In it, he thanked friends for their love and support and mentioned Lady Gaga for being 'a fearless, relentless, proud LGBT advocate'.

Here’s a bit of unintended humor from our nation’s highest court. Inside the court building, above where the justices sit, is a frieze depicting some great “lawgivers” of history. As The Daily Republican reports,
The 18 lawgivers looking down on the justices are divided into two friezes of ivory-colored, Spanish marble. On the south wall, to the right of incoming visitors, are figures from the pre-Christian era — Menes, Hammurabi, Moses, Solomon, Lycurgus, Solon, Draco, Confucius and Octavian (Caesar Augustus). On the north wall to the left are lawmakers of the Christian era — Napoleon Bonaparte, Marshall, William Blackstone, Hugo Grotius, Louis IX, King John, Charlemagne, Muhammad and Justinian.
Muhammad? Yes, and here’s his figure in the frieze:

Rick Santorum has been condemned after claiming that rape victims who become pregnant should 'make the best of a bad situation'.The Republican presidential candidate - who is currently third in the polls - said that women in such a position should not get an abortion but instead welcome their 'horrible gift from God'.He added that even if his own daughter became pregnant after being raped he would still urge her to have the child.Santorum is ultra conservative and a devout Catholic who has in the past spoken of how he wants to ban abortion with a constitutional amendment.He enjoyed a surge in the Iowa caucus because of support from evangelical Republicans but his stark comments risk alienating swing voters who are undecided on the issue.

When the media and others refer to a “militant atheist,” the object of that slander is usually an atheist who had the nerve to openly question religious authority or vocally express his or her views about the existence of God. Conventional wisdom quickly tells us that such conduct is shameful or, at the very least, distasteful, and therefore the brazen nonbeliever is labeled “militant.”
But this reflects a double standard, because it seems to apply only to atheists. Religious individuals and groups frequently declare, sometimes subtly and sometimes not, that you are a sinner and that you will suffer in hell for eternity if you do not adopt their supernatural beliefs, but they will almost never be labeled “militant” by the media or the public. Instead, such individuals are called “devout” and such churches are called “evangelical.”

But my Church offers a further revelation: We believe that when Jesus Christ returns to earth, He will return, not to Jerusalem, or to Baghdad, but to this great nation—and His first stop will be Jackson County, Missouri. The LDS Church teaches that the Garden of Eden itself was in Missouri! Friends, it is a marvelous vision. Some Christians profess not to like this teaching. But I ask you, where would you rather the Garden of Eden be, in the great state of Missouri or in some hellhole in the Middle East?
In conclusion, I want to assure you all, lest there be any doubt, that I share your vision for this country and for the future of our world. Some say that we should focus on things like energy security, wealth inequality, epidemic disease, global climate change, nuclear proliferation, genocide, and other complex problems for which scientific knowledge, rational discussion, and secular politics are the best remedy. But you and I know that the problem we face is deeper and simpler and far more challenging. Since time immemorial humanity has been misled by Satan, the Father of Lies.

Mitt Romney urged one of his Mormon followers in the 1980s to put her unborn child up for adoption or face excommunication from their church, according to new book.The Republican presidential front runner told Peggie Hayes that because the child had been born out of wedlock she had to hand it over to the Mormon adoption agency.Hayes, 23 at the time, felt 'deeply insulted' and in her mind was being told: 'Give up your son or give up your God.'

Rather, what I find remarkable is the fact that the discoveries of modern particle physics and cosmology over the past half century allow not only a possibility that the Universe arose from nothing, but in fact make this possibility increasingly plausible. Everything we have measured about the universe is not only consistent with a universe that came from nothing (and didn't have to turn out this way!), but in fact, all the new evidence makes this possibility ever more likely. Darwin demonstrated how the remarkable diversity of life on Earth, and the apparent design of life, which had been claimed as evidence for a caring God, could in fact instead be arrived at by natural causes involving purely physical processes of mutation and natural selection. I want to show something similar about the Universe. We may never prove by science that a Creator is impossible, but, as Steven Weinberg has emphasized, science admits (and for many of us, suggests) a universe in which one is not necessary.

According to 2010 Pew research, one in four adults under age 30 are unaffiliated with any religious tradition. They describe their religion as “atheist,” “agnostic” or “nothing in particular.”
Another 2010 Pew survey tested religious knowledge. Atheists and agnostics were among the highest-scoring groups, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics; they scored better on average when asked about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.
Asking more questions would not only help followers of Jesus learn more about religion, but about their own spirituality.
Michael King, dean of Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, Va., says his journey with atheism and agnosticism ultimately strengthened his faith. In the Autumn 2007 issue of Dreamseeker Magazine, he says his questions like “What if there is no God?” eventually “hardened into atheism.”
Through much questioning and biblical study, including the Hebrews 11 vision of faith as “the conviction of things not seen,” King found God and became a Mennonite pastor. “It can be possible to live by faith even when not entirely convinced we can know, based strictly on the evidence, whether or not there is a God,” he wrote.

Islamic spokesmen in the West constantly assure us that Islam respects women -- I was not too long ago in a somewhat riotous debate with the Imam Moustafa Zayed on just that topic. And so it is extremely odd that in Afghanistan, a country where virtually everyone is Muslim, most Afghan men seem to misunderstand this important principle, and treat their women shabbily. Probably they misunderstand this Qur'an passage as providing some justification for wife-beating: "Good women are obedient....As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them" (4:34).

"I'm an Arab Muslim and in an Arab Muslim country," BAM told the court yesterday. "Those infidels are killing Muslims all around the world … there was a Muslim doctor just killed in Germany and when her husband wanted to defend her they attacked him as well."
The judge said he was not concerned with what happened in other countries, and that justice would be served.
He said it was never part of Islamic law, even in an Islamic state, to kill people because of their beliefs, or to take revenge....
All of the Arabian Jews in Medina wholeheartedly agreed. All zero of them.

The schools initially fired Ms Dias, 32, for being single and pregnant, Cincinnati.com reports. 

When the schools discovered that violated several federal and state anti-discrimination laws, they said she was fired because she became pregnant using artificial insemination.

That, the school said, was in direct violation of her contract.

‘She has a right to her opinion, but she doesn’t have a right to violate her (employment) contract,’ Archdiocese of Cincinnati spokesman Dan Andriacco told the website.

The contract Ms Dias signed called for employees to adhere to Catholic social teachings, including the avowal that having a child without a husband and out of wedlock is a ‘grave immoral’ act.Ms Dias is still unemployed and now has a ten-month-old daughter for which to care.
Her case against the schools is on hold in the U.S. District Course in Cincinnati as the Supreme Court rules on a similar case.

"For Somali Women, Pain of Being a Spoil of War," by Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times, December 28 (thanks to Bill):
MOGADISHU, Somalia — The girl’s voice dropped to a hush as she remembered the bright, sunny afternoon when she stepped out of her hut and saw her best friend buried in the sand, up to her neck.
Her friend had made the mistake of refusing to marry a Shabab commander. Now she was about to get her head bashed in, rock by rock.
“You’re next,” the Shabab warned the girl, a frail 17-year-old who was living with her brother in a squalid refugee camp.
Several months later, the men came back. Five militants burst into her hut, pinned her down and gang-raped her, she said. They claimed to be on a jihad, or holy war, and any resistance was considered a crime against Islam, punishable by death.

"She would come to school crying and telling us her dad was crazy," said Lacie Reed, 18. "He wouldn't let her wear certain things. He was always taking her phone away, checking her call history and checking her text messages."
Friends said Nona's father had installed cameras all around the home so he could watch the family's comings and goings. Others said he nailed her bedroom window shut so she could not sneak out at night and see her boyfriend.
"She couldn't date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn't date anyone outside of their race or religion," Reed said.
Yiselle Alvarenga, 18, said Nona's mother and brother seemed to come to her aid when her father punished her.
"He would take her phone away and her mother would give it back to her and her brother would let her use his phone," Alvarenga said. "She was doing good. She was just excited that her life was going to start and she was going to have control of it."...

Hostility towards Christians in Pakistan is rife. Mrs Bibi told in the interview how one of her guards had tried been suspended after trying to strangle her. 

 Mrs Bibi, a farm worker from rural Punjab, was first detained in 2009. She is accused of defiling the name of the prophet Mohammed during an argument with Muslim co-workers. She denies the charge, but was sentenced to death after the case went to trial. She is now waiting for her appeal to be heard at Lahore's High Court

Two of Mrs Bibi's supporters have been assassinated this year, including Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, who was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards

The Pope's Christmas Eve Homily ended by importuning his minions to give up reason, be humble, and be "made simple."
It seems to me that a deeper truth is revealed here, which should touch our hearts on this holy night: if we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our "enlightened" reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God's closeness. We must follow the interior path of Saint Francis—the path leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see. We must bend down, spiritually we must as it were go on foot, in order to pass through the portal of faith and encounter the God who is so different from our prejudices and opinions the God who conceals himself in the humility of a newborn baby.

When God’s law is not observed, the law can become whatever the ruler wants it to be: Ultimately there are no human rights, let alone property rights, as totalitarianism reigns. When religion becomes ascendant, so too does the rule of law. Here lies one of the most hopeful trends in the world today — the rapid rise of religion in a land that until recently was almost as soulless as North Korea: China. This still officially atheistic country now has an estimated 300 million worshippers of all faiths, with Christianity the fastest rising among them. Red Chinese Communism’s replacement — today’s lawless capitalism — leaves the Chinese wanting for more. Through growing religiosity, China has its best chance of reforming to a democratic society that respects human dignity and the rule of law.
“God didn’t invent man; man invented God,” Hitchens said. Perhaps that is true — we have no way of knowing. We do know, however, that if man did invent God, it was a useful invention, and a wondrous gift to mankind.
God is great. Have yourself a Merry Christmas!

Brilliant and beautiful. Hitchens left us with  more in these 7 minutes than others have in a life time.

Christopher Hitchens (1949 - 2011)

"I attack and criticize people myself; I have no right to expect lenience in return." ~ Christopher Hitchens

 

That's good because he didn't get it, especially when he took on the Almighty Himself with his atheist polemic, "God Is Not Great." Many people asked him, he said, whether he was having second thoughts about God and the possibilities of an afterlife after hearing that his own life was about to end. Did he feel, as the old joke goes, like he was all dressed up but with no place to go?

No, he dismissed the possibility that personal emotions might overwhelm his rational side. He remained consistent, working hard and turning out more provocative prose until his end, including some poignantly brilliant insights into such symbolism-rich developments as the loss of his speaking voice. He never lost his spirit, as far as I could tell, as he turned out prose that stands as a lasting gift to those whom he leaves behind. ~

Clarence Page ~ The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111225/OPINION03/112250305/-1/rss29

Is there a constitutional issue here?
Much as one might want to avoid an annual freshet of legalism, it is very hard to argue that there is not. I have no idea how many churches and synagogues there are in the United States (there seem to be quite a number, many of them tax-exempt), but if the "holy days" were only celebrated on these premises, or on boards and signs visible from them, the effect would already be very impressive. The same is true if we limit the effect to the number of believers whose homes display candles, lights, symbols, Scandinavian wildlife and vegetation and whatever else the spirit moves them to exhibit.
But what is all this clutter doing on the White House lawn or in the public rooms of the executive mansion, or on public property and in public schools? Quite apart from the clear stipulations of the First Amendment, this seems to me to violate the Tocquevillian principle that American religion is strictly based on the voluntary principle and neither requires nor deserves any taxpayer-funded endorsement.

Barbaric textbooks handed out in Saudi Arabian schools teach children how to cut off a thief's hands and feet under Sharia law, it has emerged.The shocking books, paid for and printed by the Saudi government, also tell teenagers that Jews need to be exterminated and homosexuals should be 'put to death'.Recent editions were obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C., which says they should raise fears in the West over the use of jihadist language.

LONDON (Reuters) - A baby at risk of becoming the victim of an "honour killing" because she was born as the result of her unmarried Muslim mother's secret affair must be adopted to keep her safe, the Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.
Three senior judges rejected a bid by the one-year-old girl's natural father to have her live with him and his wife.
The child's natural mother is in favour of adoption so that her own family will not find out about the birth.
Lord Justice Munby, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Kitchin said in a joint judgment the case involved "exceptionally difficult adoption proceedings," the Press Association reported.
The judges imposed unusually wide reporting restrictions banning the publication of all names and locations linked to the case because of the continuing dangers faced by mother and child.

With his slash-and-burn style, he described the United States as Israel’s “Shabbos goy… the non-Jew who is paid a trifling fee to turn out the lights or turn on the stove, or whatever else is needful to get around the more annoying regulations of the Sabbath. How the old buzzard must cackle when he sees the gentiles actually volunteering a bribe to do the lowly work! And lowly it is,” wrote Hitchens, “involving the tearing-up of international law and U.N. resolutions and election promises, and the further dispossession and eviction of a people to whom we gave our word…. [We] will most certainly be made to regret it. For now, though, the shame.”
He rhetorically asked Israelis, in Slate: “Without God on your side, what the hell are you doing in the greater Jerusalem area in the first place?”

While the true meaning of Christmas is often lost among the festivities, you’d expect a government tree to bear some relevance to the occasion.But no ornament can be seen with the word ‘Christmas’, ‘Jesus’, his picture or a nativity scene on the 63ft Sierra White Fir outside the U.S. Capitol.However what is easy for people to view standing near the tree's base in Washington D.C. is an ornament with the phrase: ‘I love President Obama’.

Before his illness, it was as an erudite author, essayist and sparkling, devastating speaker that this valiant horseman led the charge against the follies and lies of religion. During his illness he added another weapon to his armoury and ours – perhaps the most formidable and powerful weapon of all: his very character became an outstanding and unmistakable symbol of the honesty and dignity of atheism, as well as of the worth and dignity of the human being when not debased by the infantile babblings of religion.

 

Every day of his declining life he demonstrated the falsehood of that most squalid of Christian lies: that there are no atheists in foxholes. Hitch was in a foxhole, and he dealt with it with a courage, an honesty and a dignity that any of us would be, and should be, proud to be able to muster. And in the process, he showed himself to be even more deserving of our admiration, respect, and love.

 

Farewell, great voice. Great voice of reason, of humanity, of humour. Great voice against cant, against hypocrisy, against obscurantism and pretension, against all tyrants including God.

In the race for the Washington state senate between Republicans and Democrats one contestant is rearing a punch for voters to take notice: marital status.
In an email to supporters Thursday, Republican Senator Michael Baumgartner connected his opponent's marital status as a reason of her not understanding Plan B contraceptives as wrong to underage girls without a prescription.
'You don't need to be married to know that Baumgartner's anti-choice position is out of touch,' a campaign consultant for Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell struck back on the email received by the Seattle Times.

Scandal-hit pizza tycoon Herman Cain may be out of the presidential race but he's wasted no time returning to the spotlight to resuscitate his image - with a warm and cozy Christmas video featuring his wife, Gloria.The former Republican candidate dropped his bid for the White House after several sexual misconduct accusations and claims of a 13-year extra-marital affair surfaced.But the married couple have put on a united display for the holiday clip, sitting in front of a roaring fire as Cain reads an excerpt of the Christmas story from the Bible.

The commanders in South Waziristan rejected any talk of peace. They said they would negotiate with the government only if Islamic law were implemented throughout the country, the army withdraws from the region and all Taliban prisoners are released.
'Despite all their resources and atomic power, America, NATO and Pakistan cannot defeat the Taliban as our suicide bombers will use their bones as bullets, their flesh as gunpowder and their blood as fuel,' Mehsud said. 'They have no way to counter to this spirit.'
Pakistan's spy agency has been accused of aiding other militants, such as the Haqqanis and other factions in the Afghan Taliban who carry out attacks on U.S. troops across the border.

Elizabeth Smart, who was snatched from her bedroom almost a decade ago, revealed to an audience some of the horrific details about her ordeal last night.
Miss Smart was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah when she was 14 years old. She cried as she told members of a Rotary Club about the night Brian David Mitchell took her at knifepoint.
It was the first time Miss Smart, now 24, has spoken in public about the graphic details of her nine months in captivity at the hands of Mitchell and his wife Wanda Barzee.

More details are emerging about a duo of masked Christian 'vigilantes' quickly arrested after a bizarre home invasion at a Mississippi home.Police said Michael Schaffran, 32, and Cody Rogers, 18, are members of a self-formed group known as 'The Saviour Unit' or 'Tactical Support Unit'.Denise Welch was cooking in her Gautier mobile home December 6 when the two men, donning masks and army fatigues, burst in and shouted for everyone to 'get down.'

"Never be afraid of stridency"~ Hitchens
Richard Dawkins: One of my main beefs with religion is the way they label children as a "Catholic child" or a "Muslim child". I've become a bit of a bore about it.
Christopher Hitchens: You must never be afraid of that charge, any more than stridency.

Assistant DA Rhonnie Jaus, head of the child sex abuse division, said 38 individuals had been prosecuted so far with 14 abusers jailed.
Sentences varied from one month to 20 years for crimes including sex abuse, attempted kidnapping and sodomy.However 24 alleged paedophiles were not jailed. In some instances, the case against them collapsed when victims and their families backed out of giving evidence in court following pressure from the religious community, according to the assistant DA.
Authorities have another 47 cases pending.
The Orthodox Jewish organisation Agudath Israel of America, which has its headquarters in Manhattan, rules that anyone who claims to have been sexually abused by another Jew must consult rabbis first.Only then is the decision made whether to go to secular authorities.

A crisp $10 note left by a diner is a welcome sight for any server.
But when one waiter went to pick up one such note left tucked under a customer's plate recently, he was outraged to find it was not cash but instead a 'real tip' on a bogus $10 note.
'Some things are better than money' it said on the back, 'like your eternal salvation that was brought and paid for by Jesus going to the cross.'

Previous studies have demonstrated a much higher degree of religiosity in the US compared with most of Europe and the current survey, perhaps unsurprisingly, supports this finding.
“Half of Americans deem religion very important in their lives; fewer than a quarter in Spain (22%), Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%) share this view.
Moreover, Americans are far more inclined than Western Europeans to say it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values; 53% say this is the case in the U.S., compared with just one-third in Germany, 20% in Britain, 19% in Spain and 15% in France.”
Of particular interest, however, is the demographic breakdown of the US results. For instance the results reveals major differences in US attitudes to religion based on gender (women are much more likely than men , 59% vs 41%, to consider religion as being very important, as are older compared to younger individuals (57% vs 41%).

CAIRO: An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any “sexual thoughts.”
The unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Senousa news, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.
He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.”
He also added carrots and zucchini to the list of forbidden foods for women.
The sheikh was asked how to “control” women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.
Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.

An all-white church in America's rural South has voted to ban interracial couples from joining.Members of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Kentucky voted for the resolution after their Sunday service, which says the church 'does not condone interracial marriage'.The church member who crafted the resolution, Melvin Thompson, claims he is not racist and called the matter an 'internal affair'.

The report warns that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’.Within ten years of the ban being lifted, the report’s authors claim, there would be ‘no more virgins’ in the Islamic kingdom.And it pointed out ‘moral decline’ could already be seen in other Muslim countries where women are allowed to drive.In the report Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state. ‘All the women were looking at me,’ he wrote. ‘One made a gesture that made it clear she was available... this is what happens when women are allowed to drive.’The astonishing report comes after Shaima Jastaniya, a 34-year-old Saudi woman, was sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip after being caught driving in Jeddah.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has been branded 'Governor Grinch' after he defied lawmakers and declared that the state would have a 'holiday tree' instead of a 'Christmas tree'.The governor defended his decision by arguing that it is in keeping with the state’s founding in 1636 by religious dissident Roger Williams as a haven for tolerance – where government and religion were kept separate.
Instead of arguing over the blue spruce displayed in the State House, the governor said lawmakers should focus their energy on feeding the poor.

Police began investigating Daughdrill after receiving a tip off earlier this month that she was involved in an inappropriate relationship with the underage boy.They discovered Daughdrill had met the teenager at a summer Bible school camp where she was one of the adult teachers.Daughdrill was first booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center on four counts of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, eight counts of sexual battery, three counts of 2nd degree kidnapping, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and indecent behaviour with a juvenile.She was released from Calcasieu Parish on $47,000 bond and then booked into Beauregard Parish Jail on 3 counts of 2nd-degree kidnapping and carnal knowledge of a child.

And everyone wants to pretend the imposition of Sharia that is following each revolution won't be a problem, and could even be an improvement. After all, there's promise after promise of "moderate" Islamic governance. One consistent trait that betrays the outwardly friendly face of the revolutions is the antisemitic rhetoric that has accompanied them. "Praise Arab Spring, Except for Anti-Semitism," by Jeffrey Goldberg for Bloomberg, November 29:
The bravery of the youth of Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Libya can’t be denied. It isn’t pepper spray that they’ve been facing. Nor can the idealism of the Arab Spring be denied. The people of the Middle East are finally awakening to the promise of liberty.

There is another truth, however, that shouldn’t be denied. The desire of Arabs to be free of their spiteful and pitiless dictators is sometimes expressed in grotesquely anti-Jewish terms.

Reflecting on this, there seems more grist to it now than there did then. Can anyone imagine a member of the male sex making a bigger hash of a harassment charge that Herman Cain has recently done? Or causing himself to look more like an ignorant fool than did Cain when given—with ample notice—a chance to review and criticize the president’s policy in Libya? And yet there he still, inarguably, is. Moving up the mental scale a bit, it must be a while since the contrast between a candidate and his two positions on an issue were as wildly at odds as those of Newt Gingrich and Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae. Sliding down a snake or two, Michele Bachmann has continued to amaze with every opportunity given her. Mounting a ladder only to get a view of some dismaying serpents, one scans a briefing by “Republican strategist” Alex Castellanos in which he seems to suggest that a Sarah Palin endorsement of Newt Gingrich could be offset only by an immediate declaration of Mike Huckabee for Mitt!

Nothing to see here. Repeat after me: the Muslim Brotherhood is "moderate." The Muslim Brotherhood is "largely secular," because the Obama administration's director of national intelligence said so. This is all a misunderstanding and has been taken out of context, because you don't speak Arabic, and surely there are nuances on the word "kill" to consider.
Nothing to see here. "Cairo rally: One day we'll kill all Jews," by Eldad Beck for YNet News, November 25:
A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo's most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to "one day kill all Jews."
Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the "battle against Jerusalem's Judaization." The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations' partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state.

This new-born baby may not have the easiest life as he grows up.The tot has been given the unfortunate name associated with the Muslim crusade against the west - Jihad.The Islamic term is used in the Koran to describe the religious war all followers are to wage against 'non-believers'.

Father Gabriel Amorth has carried out more than 70,000 exorcisms in his capacity as Chief Exorcist at the Vatican.
The 85-year-old can boast 25 years in the post after being appointed by the late Pope John Paul II.At a conference today, he surprised the delegates by revealing some of his greatest dislikes - yoga and Harry Potter.Father Amorth, a colourful and often outspoken personality, said:'Practising yoga brings evil as does reading Harry Potter. They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil.' He added:'Yoga is the Devil's work. You thing you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism. All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.'

He is usually revered as a gifted and sensitive orator.
But President Obama has caused outrage with his Thanksgiving speech - after neglecting to make reference to God.
The president used the festive radio address to express his gratitude to U.S. service members.

The secular world practices  gender, sexual, and ethnic equality, and stands with its victims without exception. The religious community fights literally against the notion of equality.

The secular world stands in  solidarity,  rejecting  the ownership of human beings, the slavery of men, women and children.

Luke 12:47-48

 ^{47 "}And that slave, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

 ⁴⁸But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." ~ Jesus Christ

The religious community preaches as a matter of doctrine, dominion over everyone and  everything.

^{Genesis 1:27.....}So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male...

 ^{28 ...}replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Which life  is  the religious truly seeking power in?

The secular world supports the use of contraceptives as a means of birth control, and to slow the spread of STD's such as the deadly AIDS virus.

The religious community adamantly forbids the use birth control, even in the case of AIDS, which it views as the "work of the Lord,"  thus  ensuring the poorest people on earth will have the most children and  the shortest lives.

Support for stoning

 In hadith

Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 50: Conditions, Number 885:  A bedouin came to Allah's Apostle and said, "O Allah's apostle! I ask you by Allah to judge My case according to Allah's Laws." His opponent, who was more learned than he, said, "Yes, judge between us according to Allah's Laws, and allow me to speak." Allah's Apostle said, "Speak." He (i .e. the bedouin or the other man) said, "My son was working as a laborer for this (man) and he committed illegal sexual intercourse with his wife. The people told me that it was obligatory that my son should be stoned to death, so in lieu of that I ransomed my son by paying one hundred sheep and a slave girl. Then I asked the religious scholars about it, and they informed me that my son must be lashed one hundred lashes, and be exiled for one year, and the wife of this (man) must be stoned to death." Allah's Apostle said, "By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, I will judge between you according to Allah's Laws. The slave-girl and the sheep are to be returned to you, your son is to receive a hundred lashes and be exiled for one year. You, Unais, go to the wife of this (man) and if she confesses her guilt, stone her to death." Unais went to that woman next morning and she confessed. Allah's Apostle ordered that she be stoned to death.

A survey carried out by the Indonesia Survey Institute found that 43% of Indonesians support Rajam or stoning for adulterers.

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found relatively widespread popular support for stoning as a punishment for adultery in Egypt (82% of respondents in favor of the punishment), Jordan (70% in favor), Indonesia (42% in favor), Pakistan (82% favor) and Nigeria (56% in favor).

As a matter of principal, which is more important, defending gender equality and human rights where needed, or defending the rights of the religious to practice this barbarism?

I find it strange, those who can easily point out  the obvious offensiveness and   absurdity of Fred Phelps' (Westboro  Baptist Church) literal  preaching of the Bible, and by the same token,  view any and all criticism of Islam as equally offensive.

Religious moderates are, in large part, responsible for the religious conflict in our world, because their beliefs provide the context in which scriptural literalism and religious violence can never be adequately opposed. ~ Sam Harris

 There is no middle ground, you must choose  principals or promises.

Is the United States “chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world”? Anybody claiming to have the answer to that question—as George W. Bush once seemed to do—would be a fool. For a start, what would be his sources of information? And how good a historian would he be? In the long view, very few of the survivors of the Roman Empire would have predicted that the inhabitants of the frozen and backward British Isles would be among the next builders of a global system, but so it proved. And there was no question that the British or English, especially the Protestant fundamentalist ones, believed that they had God on their side. In fact, I know of no European state that doesn’t have some kind of national myth to the same effect. The problem, as everybody knows, is that not all these myths can be simultaneously right.

A former teacher in Colorado Springs is facing up to ten years in jail after being charged with having sex with one of her teenage students–with the illegal affair covered up by her father.Terah Allyn Rawlings, 32, is alleged to have first seduced the teen half her age as they sat in her car.They continued to have sex for over a year and the relationship was common knowledge among staff at the Hilltop Baptist Church.

Police said that Ortega had become 'obsessed' with Obama and that God had given him a personal mission to attack the White House.'He hates the president, he hates Washington, he hates society,' another official told the Washington Post.Gunfire was heard between the White House and the Washington Monument on Friday evening. An abandoned car with an assault rifle with a scope and nine spent shell casings were later discovered by police inside.

Didn’t Jesus preach nonviolence and “loving one’s enemies”? The anti-Muslim ideologues use this idea to assault the religion of Islam with. For example, the Catholic apologist Robert Spencer compares Islam to Christianity by juxtaposing carefully selected quotes from Jesus to Islamic texts. In his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), Spencer includes a “Muhammad vs Jesus” section. He cites the following sayings of Jesus in the Bible:
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”
“If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”
“Blessed are the peacemakers”
“Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy”
“But love your enemies, and do good”These “peaceful” verses of the Bible are compared to select violent-sounding Quranic verses. The violent verses of the Bible “don’t count” and are craftily excluded from the comparison (“that’s just the Old Testament!”). To tighten the noose, peaceful verses of the Quran are also excluded from the heavily biased analysis: these “don’t count” since they are supposedly from when Muhammad was still in Mecca.

It's meant to be the season of goodwill.But this year a bitter billboard war over the meaning of Christmas is set to break out across America.American Atheists, the organisation that sparked anger among believers last year with its anti-Christmas message, is doing it again.

Charles Manson's personal executioner, Charles "Tex" Watson, who butchered men, women,  children and the un-born in a religious orgy of death, is up for parole.

From MSN:

Watson married and divorced in prison and has four children from conjugal visits, but his family did not respond to a request for comment that was left through the website that promotes Watson's prison ministry, www.aboundinglove.org.

...Watson has argued that he is a changed man who has been a model prisoner and no longer is a danger to the public.

in 2006  was portrayed in a psychiatric evaluation  as "a very devout fundamentalist Christian ..."

The idea of religious forgiveness is not only absurd and a contemptible one, but also extremely dangerous. Especially  beholden such ideals before an actual crime is committed. Christians then have the nerve  to tell us, "Tex" has been forgiven and will be seated on the right hand of the father, whilst  some of his non Christian and non-baptised victims are now being tortured in hell for eternity, for  submitting not to the "correct" god.

"He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."~ Jesus Christ John 12:25

Jesus was a hypocrite.

He told his followers not to call anyone a fool.

Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22

Yet he often called his critics and disciples fools.

Ye fools and blind. Matthew 23:17, 19

Ye fools. Luke 11:40

O fools, and slow of heart to believe. Luke 24:25

He invented George W. Bush's false dichotomy.

He that is not with me is against me. Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:230

 

He told his followers to hate their families.

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26

He insisted that his followers love him more than anyone else (including their families).

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:37

He criticized the Pharisees for not killing parent-cursing children.

*****No time out, no talking about it, maybe a light spanking? No!!! Jesus demands we slaughter them. Jesus wants parents to put their own children to the sword and kiss his all powerful butt.***

He encouraged his followers to mutilate themselves to avoid hell.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out ... And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Matthew 5:28-30

If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Matthew 18:8-9

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off ... And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off ... And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:43-48

He was a false prophet. *** If you think about it, Harold Camping was better at predicting End of Days ***

Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. Matthew 10:23

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16:28, Mark 9:1, Luke 9:27

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32

Behold, I come quickly. Revelation 3:11, 22:7, 22:11, 22:20

He inspired the Republican Tea Party.

He believed in a God (himself?) who had his enemies slaughtered in front of him.

He talked complete nonsense about the end of the world.

In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. Mark 13:8, 24-25, Matthew 24:3-30, Luke 21:10-11

His friends thought he was insane. His family didn't believe in him. Many that saw him up close and personal thought he was mad and possessed by a devil.

http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2010/11/reasons-to-be-ashamed-and-not-fan-of.html

Dwindling In Unbelief Complete list here

A nurse who threw her hands into the air and begged for Jesus to help as a baby suffered a heart attack has been thrown out of the profession.Omolayo Abayomi 'panicked' when the child, who suffered from a chronic lung disease, turned blue and stopped breathing in his cot at home.The 51-year-old called for divine intervention more than 20 times before the vulnerable boy's mother told her to 'shut up'.'The nurse was constantly saying "Jesus help him" and waving her arms around,' a hearing was told.
The nurse 'provided wholly inadequate care' by leaving the frantic mother to resuscitate her lifeless son, while the father dialled 999.Abayomi was found guilty of a string of charges by the Nursing and Midwifery Council at a hearing in central London.

From Right Wing Watch:
This whole thing is about Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender History Month. So my question again, if this is about homosexual history month, are they going to feature all the homosexuals that had an enormous impact on history?
Are they going to feature John Wayne Gacy? He’s the homosexual pedophile, remember, that killed thirty-three young boys and young teenagers and buried them under the crawlspace in his house. He was a homosexual. Is he going to be a part of their display?
Adolf Hitler had a record as a homosexual prostitute in the streets of Vienna in the 1910s. He was denied promotions in the German military in World War I because of his homosexual behavior. He formed the Nazi Party in a homosexual bar, a gay bar, in Munich. All of his enforcers, almost every one of the Brownshirts; all the officers and almost all the Brownshirts were homosexuals. Is that going to be a part of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender Month? We will wait to see.

The baby boy was born two months early at his grandmother's home and died nine hours later when he had trouble breathing and turned blue.

On Monday, a judge told the couple, who are members of a controversial Oregon faith-healing church, that they could have done more to save their baby.

During the trial, prosecutors explained David was born with a bacterial infection and underdeveloped lungs and had a 99 per cent chance of survival with medical care.

A Christian university is asking its 200 employees to sign a 'Personal Lifestyle Statement' stating they are not gay.Anyone at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia, who does not sign the statement faces being fired.Don Dowless, president of the university, said the statement also requires staffers to reject premarital sex and adultery.

He said: 'I think that anybody who adheres to a lifestyle that is outside of what the biblical mandate is and of what the board has passed, including the president, would not be allowed to continue here.

'Anything outside that is not biblical, we do not accept.

'We have a right to hire only Christians.'

written by Charlotte

I see so many religionists rant and rave about how Atheists are “not tolerant of believers and have no respect for their faith”.  To non believers this claim is absurd.  For intolerance of various religions is the foundation of Judaism, Christianity, Muslim and many other orthodox communities.  Matter of fact, the Bible and Pentateuch commands religious intolerance in MANY verses, even to the point of KILLING people for their beliefs.  Here then, are a few choice verses that show just how intolerant these religionists are of other believers and nonbelievers.  We shall start with the two verses that helped to inflict one of the biggest mass murders in history, the Inquisition.

Woman with “familiar spirits” must be stoned to death.  Leviticus 20:27

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”  Exodus 22:18

Kill those who are not Christian or Jewish:

You must kill those who worship another god.  Exodus 22:20

Kill any friends or family that worship a god that is different than your own.  Deuteronomy 13:6-10

Kill all the inhabitants of any city where you find people that worship differently than you.  Deuteronomy 13:12-16

Kill everyone who has religious views that are different than your own.  Deuteronomy 17:2-7

Kill anyone who refuses to listen to a priest. Deuteronomy 17:12-13

Kill any false prophets. Deuteronomy 18:20

Any city that doesn’t receive the followers of Jesus will be destroyed in a manner even more savage than that of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Mark 6:11

Jude reminds us that God destroys those who don’t believe in him.  Jude 5

Ignorance is bliss.  Christians should not practice free inquiry nor socialize with non Christians:

Don’t associate with non-Christians.  Don’t receive them into your house or even exchange greeting with them.  2 John 1:10

Shun those who disagree with your religious views.  Romans 16:17

Paul, knowing that their faith would crumble if subjected to free and critical inquiry, tells his followers to avoid philosophy. Colossians 2:8

Judge other religions for not following Christ:

Whoever denies “that Jesus is the Christ” is a liar and an anti-Christ. 1 John 2:22

Christians are “of God;” everyone else is wicked. 1 John 5:19

The non-Christian is “a deceiver and an anti-Christ” 2 John 1:7

Anyone who doesn’t share Paul’s beliefs has “an evil heart.” Hebrews 3:12

False Jews are members of “the synagogue of Satan.” Revelations 2:9, 3:9

Here are my two personal favorites:

Everyone will have to worship Jesus -- whether they want to or not. Philippians 2:10

A Christian can not be accused of any wrongdoing. Romans 8:33

All of the essays from "The Church of Theists Suck" were written by Charlotte and most were previously posted in her own "Theists Suck" website which is no longer in existence.  She gave permission to freely copy and distribute her essays, they are not copyrighted

Perhaps I just can't interpret properly or  make any sense  out of the Holy Texts, so consequently I don't  understand why any woman would willingly choose to be religious. This lack of understanding on my part is something I am quite proud of.

written by Charlotte

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. – Susan B. Anthony

 

Sexism is quite rampant in the Torah, considering the Hebrews were once a very chauvinistic society when it was written.  As a feminist, I find it my duty to site the following verses and remind fellow women of the sexist pig they are told to worship.  I can not possibly list all of the injustices that the Torah mentions.  Everything from the story of Lilith (who was booted out of Eden for having dominant sex with Adam) to how women are blamed for the fall from grace.  I had to settle for merely presenting a sample list as of right now and I shall add more verses as I thumb threw the Pentateuch a second time.  In the mean while, please feel free to utilize anything you see here.

Genesis 3:16 Says that all women must suffer great pains during child birth due to Eve eating the fruit of knowledge.  (As if it is somehow just that humans should pay for their ancestor’s sins nor is a woman dying in labor some how befitting of a crime she did not commit.) The verse finishes of by saying a husband shall “rule” over his woman, stripping us off all power in between the sexes.

Genesis 19:8 Tells of a man named Lot who offers his daughters to a crowd of would be angel rapers.  Later, Lot impregnates his own daughters after God kills his wife for simply looking back at the remains of her city.

Genesis 38:16-24 Tells a very interesting story of a man named Judah whom lived with his widowed daughter in law.  His daughter in law was grieving and wearing the veils of mourning which Judah (a rather stupid man) mistook for the clothing of a prostitute. He ended up impregnating his daughter in law and she left the city.  On a later date Judah sees the young woman again and demanded she be burned for being a prostitute (I like how only the woman is punished when THEY BOTH engaged in the sexual act).  It wasn’t until Judah recognized the woman as his daughter in law and she was with his child, that he decided not to kill her.  Basically, Judah can commit incest, use a prostitute (in his mistaken perception), and impregnate a MUCH younger woman, yet he thinks she is the one deserving of death.

Exodus 21:3-4 Says that if a male slave is given a wife by his master (regardless of how long they are wed, how much they love each other or if they have kids) he can not leave servanthood with his wife or children. The woman and children are merely property of the master and their personal happiness or sanctity of family doesn’t matter.

Exodus 21:7 God not only sanctions selling ones daughter into slavery, but he also gives out laws on how it should be done.

Exodus 21:10 God ordains men taking several wives and even sets up laws as to how multiple wives should be handled.

Leviticus 12:1-8 Explains that a woman has to be purified after giving birth because she is “unclean”.  It goes on to say that birthing a male is cleaner then birthing a female, hence a mother must purify TWICE as long when having a daughter.  This is BLATANT sexism from the point of birth.  A woman is dirty simply for being a woman; this is obviously very biased and chauvinistic.

Leviticus 15:19-30 Explains that a woman having her menstruation must be avoided to the point of not even touching what she has touched.  It is quite curious that women are punished for simply having a biological function that “God” claims to have created.  What is so just about vilifying what you created?

Leviticus 18:19 Goes onto say that even LOOKING at a menstruating woman is wrong.

Leviticus 19:20 Says that if a man has sex with a slave or betrothed woman he must then “scourge” her.  Scourging is a term for a severe flogging or whipping.  I find it quite curious that the woman shall be punished to the point of a beating for such an occurrence, yet the man gets to go free for the deed.

Leviticus 21:9 Explains that unchaste daughters of priests must be burnt to death.  What about his unchaste sons?  Of course this isn’t even answered in the Torah, we are to assume yet again that men have the power to do as they wish and a woman must suffer the punishment for BOTH of them.

Leviticus 27:3-7 God places a dollar value on human life; with women worth less than men.

Numbers 1:2 Is the basis for the sexism that remains rampant today.  In this verse Moses takes a poll of all the men who are able to fight in war, women aren’t even counted in the census.  Apparently back then, just like today, us women are considered the weaker species and unable to battle.  (Let’s not forget that during the time the Pentateuch was written women in Pagan cultures were FEARED and revered as the more powerful species.  It is because of this patriarchal religion and it’s offshoots that we have been reduced to cowering sub-humans.)

Numbers 30:3-16  A woman can’t make a vow unless her husband allows it.

Numbers 31: 14-18  Moses tells his men to kill all the males, non-virginal women, elderly and children of the Midianite tribe. Of course, the virgin women are kept for raping. If you read later down in the scripture God states that the Jews can not even marry a Midianite woman (with exception to Moses). Hence these women who were captured were repeatedly raped and impregnated and they weren’t even allowed a marital status in which to protect them.

Deuteronomy 20:13-15  Kill all the men and boys in the cities that God “delivers into your hands,” but keep the women for raping.

Deuteronomy 21:11-14  If you see a pretty woman among the captives then just take her home and “go in unto her.”

Deuteronomy 22:5 Women that wear men’s clothing are an “abomination unto the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 22:13-22 Women, be sure to keep the tokens of your virginity.  Otherwise the men of your city may stone you to death. This does not apply to men though, of course.  What is interesting to note here is the actual wording, it says : “that if a man hateth his wife he may say she did not have the tokens of her virginity”.  Since there is no way a woman can truly prove she had a hymen upon marriage the word rests on the husband and she can be disposed of simply when he tires of her.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24 is one of the most cruel and sexist passages of the Torah. It says that women who are raped and fail to “cry out loud” in a populated area are most likely enjoying the attack should be killed.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 A rapist must buy his victim from her father for 50 shekels.  Is this supposed to be some type of retribution?  What about the victim here, what if she doesn’t want to marry a pig who raped her?  All that matters is her father receives payment for his “property”.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 Says that we must cut off a woman’s hand if she touches the “secrets” of a man who is fighting with her husband…“And thine eye shall not pity her.”  Once again, there is no punishment for the man she touched, only the woman.

It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible.– George W. Foote

Nearly EVERY single advancement towards morality (I.E: ceasing native genocide, freeing the slaves and women’s suffrage) was OPPOSED by the church and Christian organizations.

 All of the essays from "The Church of Theists Suck" were written by Charlotte and most were previously posted in her own "Theists Suck" website which is no longer in existence.  She gave permission to freely copy and distribute her essays, they are not copyrighted.

http://www.evilbible.com/sexism_in_the_torah.htm

A Republican woman running for a state government position in Virginia admitted that she had a lesbian encounter with a minor while working as a high school gym teacher.
Linda Wall, 61, said that she is a completely different person from the time when the relationship occurred, and now she consistently speaks out against legislation that she feels promotes homosexual lifestyles.
'Forty years ago I was a different person. I was a heavy pot smoker with... impaired judgement and made some bad choices,' she told a local Associated Press reporter.

The parents accused of killing their 13-year-old adopted daughter, are being investigated over whether they were inspired by a book that encourages children to be biblically punished.The Washington couple deny homicide and child abuse charges relating to the death of Ethiopian-born Hana Willaims, who apparently lived in a closet and was denied meals for days at a time.But investigators are looking into whether the Christian book, titled 'To Train Up a Child' may have been involved in the death of Hana and will be shown in a CNN documentary.

The Holocaust was caused by Christian fundamentalism:

    History is currently being distorted by the millions of Christians who lie to have us believe that the Holocaust was not a Christian deed.  Through subterfuge and concealment, many of today’s Church leaders and faithful Christians have camouflaged the Christianity of Adolf Hitler and have attempted to mark him an atheist, a pagan cult worshipper, or a false Christian in order to place his misdeeds on those with out Jesus.  However, from the earliest formation of the Nazi party and throughout the period of conquest and growth, Hitler expressed his Christian support to the German citizenry and soldiers. Those who would make Hitler an atheist should turn their eyes to history books before they address their pews and chat rooms.

    Considering that Christianity has thus far been incapable of producing an unbiased, educated follower which speaks the truth, (I haven’t encountered any), I have been forced to dispel the myth by writing this essay.  It is not until I bring up his speeches, my personal info on the Nazi regime and their tactics that a Christian will begin to question what their clergy told them. (I am the offspring of a German soldier.  My Opa served under Hitler in WW2 and my father was raised during the time of the Nazi regime.  This is important information to take into consideration for I am privy to some info that most Americans do not know.  It is common for American media and education institutions to lie to their citizens concerning Nazi Germany.)  So, in presenting this information I must break it into four parts: 1) Facts about Hitler and his involvement with the Church.  2) How the Church was the catalyst for anti- Semitism.  3) Facts concerning how the Nazi regime drilled these beliefs into Germanic society.  4) Quotes Hitler made which prove he had a disdain for atheism/occultism, upheld his Christian faith, and hated Jews due to his Christianity.

Hitler’s involvement with the Church:

a) Hitler was baptized as Roman Catholic during infancy in Austria.

b) As Hitler approached boyhood he attended a monastery school.  (On his way to school young Adolf daily observed a stone arch which was carved with the monastery’s coat of arms bearing a swastika.)

c) Hitler was a communicant and an altar boy in the Catholic Church.

d) As a young man he was confirmed as a “soldier of Christ.”  His most ardent goal at the time was to become a priest.  Hitler writes of his love for the church and clergy: “I had excellent opportunity to intoxicate myself with the solemn splendor of the brilliant church festivals.  As was only natural, the abbot seemed to me, as the village priest had once seemed to my father, the highest and most desirable ideal.”  -Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

e) Hitler was NEVER excommunicated nor condemned by his church.  Matter of fact the Church felt he was JUST and “avenging for God” in attacking the Jews for they deemed the Semites the killers of Jesus.

f) Hitler, Franco and Mussolini were given VETO power over whom the pope could appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain and Italy.  In turn they surtaxed the Catholics and gave the money to the Vatican.  Hitler wrote a speech in which he talks about this alliance, this is an excerpt: “The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the Catholic Church.  This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism [Nazism] is hostile to religion is a lie.”  Adolf Hitler, 22 July 1933, writing to the Nazi Party

g) Hitler worked CLOSELY with Pope Pius in converting Germanic society and supporting the church.  The Church absorbed Nazi ideals and preached them as part of their sermons in turn Hitler placed Catholic teachings in public education.  This photo depicts Hitler with Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, the papal nuncio in Berlin.  It was taken On April 20, 1939, when Orsenigo celebrated Hitler’s birthday.  The celebrations were initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) and became a tradition.

Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send “warmest congratulations to the Fuhrer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany with “fervent prayers which the Catholics of Germany are sending to heaven on their altars.”  (If you would like to know more about the secret dealings of Hitler and the Pope I recommend you get a book titled: Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, by John Cornwell)

h) Due to Hitler’s involvement with the Church he began enacting doctrines of the Church as law.  He outlawed all abortion, raged a death war on all homosexuals, and demanded corporal punishment in schools and home.  Many times Hitler addressed the church and promised that Germany would implement its teachings: “The National Socialist State professes its allegiance to positive Christianity.  It will be its honest endeavor to protect both the great Christian Confessions in their rights, to secure them from interference with their doctrines (Lehren), and in their duties to constitute a harmony with the views and the exigencies of the State of today.”  –Adolf Hitler, on 26 June 1934, to Catholic bishops to assure them that he would take action against the new pagan propaganda “Providence has caused me to be Catholic, and I know therefore how to handle this Church.”  -Adolf Hitler, reportedly to have said in Berlin in 1936 on the enmity of the Catholic Church to National Socialism

How Christianity was the catalyst of the Holocaust:

Hitler’s anti-Semitism grew out of his Christian education.  Austria and Germany were majorly Christian during his time and they held the belief that Jews were an inferior status to Aryan Christians.  The Christians blamed the Jews for the killing of Jesus.  Jewish hatred did not actually spring from Hitler, it came from the preaching of Catholic priests and Protestant ministers throughout Germany for hundreds of years.  The Protestant leader, Martin Luther, himself, held a livid hatred for Jews and their Jewish religion.  In his book, “On the Jews and their Lies,” Luther set the standard for Jewish hatred in Protestant Germany up until World War 2.  Hitler expressed a great admiration for Martin Luther constantly quoting his works and beliefs.

Now, you must remember before Hitler rose to Chancellor of Germany the country was in a deep economic depression due to the Versailles treaty.  The Versailles treaty demanded that Germans made financial reparations for the previous war and Germany simply was not self sufficient enough in order to pay the debt. Hitler was the leader that raised Germany out of the depression and brought them back to a world recognized power.  Due to his annulment of the financial woes of the Germanic people he became their redeemer and they anointed him as the leader of the German Reich Christian Church in 1933.  This placed him in power of the German Christian Socialist movement which legislates their political and religious agendas. It united all denominations, mainly the Protestant/Catholic and Lutheran people to instill faith in a national Christianity.

How the Nazi Regime converted the people:

a) In the 1920s, Hitler’s German Workers’ Party (pre Nazi term) adopted a “Programme” with twenty-five points (the Nazi version of a constitution).  In point twenty-four, their intent clearly demonstrates, from the very beginning, their stand in favor of a “positive” Christianity: “We demand liberty for all religious denominations in the State, so far as they are not a danger to it and do not militate against the morality and moral sense of the German race.  The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not bind itself in the matter of creed to any particular confession...”

b) The Nazi regime started a youth movement which preached its agenda to impressionable children.  Hitler backed up the notion that all people need faith and religious education: “By helping to raise man above the level of bestial vegetation, faith contributes in reality to the securing and safeguarding of his existence.  Take away from present-day mankind its education-based, religious- dogmatic principles-- or, practically speaking, ethical-moral principles-- by abolishing this religious education, but without replacing it by an equivalent, and the result will be a grave shock to the foundations of their existence.”  – Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

c) The Nazi regime began to control schools insisting that Christianity was taught.

d) The Nazi regime included anti-Semitic Christian writings in textbooks and they were not removed from Christian doctrines until 1961.

e) The Nazi regime having full blown power over the people began to forcibly convert all its military.

f) The Nazi regime forced the German soldiers to wear religious symbols such as the swastika and they placed religious sayings on military gear.  An example here is this German army belt buckle (I believe my Opa had one) which reads “Gott Mit Uns”.  For those of you who do not speak German it is translated as “God With Us”.

g) The German troops were often forced to get sprinkled with holy water and listen to a sermon by a Catholic priest before going out on a maneuver.

h) The Nazis created a secret service called the “SS Reich” that would act as spies on the dealings of other citizens.  If anyone was suspected of heresy (Going not only against the Socialist party but CHURCH DOCTRINE) they would be prosecuted.

Quotes from Hitler:

    Hitler’s speeches and proclamations, even more clearly, reveal his faith and feelings toward a Christianized Germany.  Nazism presents an embarrassment to Christianity and demonstrates the danger of their faith So they try to pin him on other theistic views.  The following words from Hitler show his disdain for atheism, and pagan cults, and reveal the strength of his Christian feelings:

    “National Socialism is not a cult-movement-- a movement for worship; it is exclusively a ‘volkic’ political doctrine based upon racial principles.  In its purpose there is no mystic cult, only the care and leadership of a people defined by a common blood-relationship... We will not allow mystically- minded occult folk with a passion for exploring the secrets of the world beyond to steal into our Movement.  Such folk are not National Socialists, but something else-- in any case something which has nothing to do with us.  At the head of our programme there stand no secret surmisings but clear-cut perception and straightforward profession of belief.  But since we set as the central point of this perception and of this profession of belief the maintenance and hence the security for the future of a being formed by God, we thus serve the maintenance of a divine work and fulfill a divine will-- not in the secret twilight of a new house of worship, but openly before the face of the Lord…  Our worship is exclusively the cultivation of the natural, and for that reason, because natural, therefore God-willed.  Our humility is the unconditional submission before the divine laws of existence so far as they are known to us men.”  -Adolf Hitler, in Nuremberg on 6 Sept.1938.  [Christians have always accused Hitler of believing in pagan cult mythology. What is written here clearly expresses his stand against cults.]

    “We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith.  We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.” -Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933 [This statement clearly refutes modern Christians who claim Hitler as favoring atheism.  Hitler wanted to form a society in which ALL people worshipped Jesus and considered any questioning of such to be heresy.  The Holocaust was like a modern inquisition, killing all who did not accept Jesus. Though more Jews were killed then any other it should be noted that MANY ARYAN pagans and atheists were murdered for their non-belief in Christ.]

    Here Hitler uses the Bible and his Christianity in order to attack the Jews and uphold his anti-Semitism:

    "My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter.  It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth!  was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter.  In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders.  How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison.  To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross.  As a Christian I have no duty to allow my self to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice…  And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows . For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people."  –Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed.  The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)

    "Christianity could not content itself with building up its own altar; it was absolutely forced to undertake the destruction of the heathen altars.  Only from this fanatical intolerance could its apodictic faith take form; this intolerance is, in fact, its absolute presupposition." -Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (It is quite obvious here that Hitler is referring to destructing the Judaism alters on which Christianity was founded.)

    "The personification of the devil as the symbol of all evil assumes the living shape of the Jew."  -Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (The idea of the devil and the Jew came out of medieval anti-Jewish beliefs based on interpretations from the Bible. Martin Luther, and teachers after him, continued this “tradition” up until the 20th century.)

    "With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people." -Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (It is common in war for one race to rape another so that they can “defile” the race and assimilate their own.  Hitler speaks about this very tactic here.)     

    “The best characterization is provided by the product of this religious education, the Jew himself.  His life is only of this world, and his spirit is inwardly as alien to true Christianity as his nature two thousand years previous was to the great founder of the new doctrine.  Of course, the latter made no secret of his attitude toward the Jewish people, and when necessary he even took the whip to drive from the temple of the Lord this adversary of all humanity, who then as always saw in religion nothing but an instrument for his business existence.  In return, Christ was nailed to the cross, while our present- day party Christians debase themselves to begging for Jewish votes at elections and later try to arrange political swindles with atheistic Jewish parties-- and this against their own nation.”–Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

    "…the fall of man in paradise has always been followed by his expulsion."  -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (See Genesis Chapter 3 where humankind is cast from Eden for their sins.  Hitler compares this to the need to exterminate the Jews for their sin against Christ.)

    “Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”  –Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

    “The anti-Semitism of the new movement [Christian Social movement] was based on religious ideas instead of racial knowledge.”  –Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (This quote is very interesting for it disperses the idea that Hitler raged war due to being an Aryan supremacist. He states quite clearly that he has a problem with Jews for their belief not race.  That is why many German Jews died in WW2 regardless of their Aryan nationality.)

“Only in the steady and constant application of force lies the very first prerequisite for success.  This persistence, however, can always and only arise from a definite spiritual conviction. Any violence which does not spring from a firm, spiritual base, will be wavering and uncertain.”  –Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf (Here Hitler is admitting that his war against the Jews were so successful because of his strong Christian Spirituality.)

Quotes from Other Nazis about Hitler and Religion:

    "Around 1937, when Hitler heard that at the instigation of the party and the SS vast numbers of his followers had left the church because it was obstinately opposing his plans, he nevertheless ordered his chief associates, above all Goering and Gobbels, to remain members of the church. He too would remain a member of the Catholic Church, he said, although he had no real attachment to it. And in fact he remained in the church until his suicide."  (Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer page 95-96)

This entire article was ripped from: http://www.evilbible.com/hitler_was_christian.htm

All of the essays from "The Church of Theists Suck" were written by Charlotte and most were previously posted in her own "Theists Suck" website which is no longer in existence.  She gave permission to freely copy and distribute her essays, they are not copyrighted.

Even Christians will like this one: I think?

Christians, they love to talk about how loving, dutiful and compassionate they are, yet I have yet to meet ONE who does not practice hypocrisy to the highest degree.  Their willful ignorance of the Bible combined with their two faced idealism to preach it, has made us sick, hasn’t it?  For nearly two thousand years Biblicists have been lecturing people on the importance of adhering to the Bible’s teachings on ethics, manners, and morality.  They quote Jesus and Paul profusely, with a liberal sprinkling of Old Testament moralism.  The problem with their approach lies not only in an oft- noted failure to practice what they preach, but an equally pronounced tendency to ignore what the Bible itself, preaches.  Christians practice what can only be described as “selective morality”.  What they like, they cling to and shove down other’s throats; what they don’t like, they ignore vehemently.  That which is palatable and acceptable is supposedly applicable to all; while that which is obnoxious, inconvenient, or self-denying is only applicable to those addressed 2,000 years ago.  Their hypocrisy is so rampant that even the validity of calling oneself “Christian” is in question. I see so many people enjoy quoting the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and some of Paul’s sermons, but don’t even PRETEND to heed other, equally valid, maxims.  I’ve mentioned pro-life and conservatism in other sermons. This one is going to sum up the rest of my beefs.

         The Christian attempts to put prayer into schools run directly counter to biblical teachings.  Jesus said prayer should be a private affair devoid of public display: "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you they have received their reward.  But when you pray, go into your room (or closet.) and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret..."  (Matthew 6:5-6 RSV).  Biblicists violate this on a regular basis and have no intention of correcting their behavior.  They demand that evolution be taken out of the curriculum. They demand parochial school receive voucher programs so that they may collect public funding.  Christians continuously pray in public, IE: churches, street corners, schools, courts, etc. yet all the while they never stop to think this is in direct violation to the god they pray to.  

   On to another beef:    Christians always use the excuse that the above mentioned verse is some how “metaphorical” yet they take Paul’s maxim that men should pray with their heads uncovered very seriously.  I assume this is generally followed because removing one’s hat isn’t particularly inconvenient.  "Any man who prays or prophecies with his head covered dishonors his head…" (1 Corinthians 11:4 RSV).  On the other hand, Paul’s tenet that women must keep their heads covered with a veil during prayer is quite inconvenient and, for this reason, has either been rationalized away or ignored, although it is no less binding than any other moral law in the New Testament: “…but any woman who prays or prophecies with her head unveiled dishonors her head…  For if a woman will not veil herself, then we should cut off her hair: but if it be disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil…  Judge for yourself; is it proper for a woman to pray to God with head uncovered?”  (1 Corinthians 11:5-13 RSV)  The selectivity in which these verses are followed SCREAMS hypocrisy.

More Commonly Ignored Teachings:

1) "Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?" (l Corinthians 11:14).  How many freaked out long-haired, bible thumping Jesus freaks do you know?  Perhaps this is just my experience, but I can name 12 such individuals off the top of my head.  Surely, you can recall at least ONE LONG-HAIRED CHRISTIAN.  The stereotypical version of CHRIST HIMSELF!  Think of the numerous statues and pictures Christians adore depicting the lord appearing as that which he detests.  One can not stop and wonder at the absurdity of this.

2) Another tenet clearly prohibits women from being ministers or otherwise speaking in church (“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak”-- 1 Corinthians 14:34). It’s difficult to see how Paul could support the current movement to ordain women.  Why, Jesus would @!$%# himself knowing that even I, an ATHEIST WOMAN, has managed to get herself legally ordained.

3) A third tenet prohibits men and women from wearing each other’s clothing (“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God”--Deuteronomy 22:5).  Funny thing, two female Jehovah Witnesses came over this morning, they coffee clutched with my neighbor Jenny, a fellow Christian and ALL THREE of these women were wearing pant suits!

4) Ever watch these Christians on television and notice how their bowed heads uniformly shake amen while some evangelist goes on and on in prayer for a farking hour?  Well, repetitious and monotonous praying is in violation of Matthew 6:7.  “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

5) Christians are not supposed to take their disputes before non-Christian courts or judges.  (“If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?”  -- 1 Corinthians 6:1 NIV) How interesting!  Considering that state is separate from church all courts are supposedly “ungodly”.  Does this stop Christians from tying up the supreme court with law suits concerning school prayer, abortion, or numerous other absurdities?  Hell no it doesn’t, and my taxes are paying the farking bill for their hypocrisy!

6) Christian women are supposed to dress discreetly (“...that women should adorn themselves modestly and sensibly in seemly apparel, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire”--l Timothy 2:9 RSV; and “Let not yours be the outward adorning of braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of fine clothing”-- 1 Peter 3 :3). Violations of these rules are too numerous to mention.  Just visualize Tammy Faye Baker’s mascara laden eyes and gold encrusted wrists.

7) Here is perhaps the mother of verses ignored: “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1) and “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged, condemn not and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37).  I have yet to meet a Christian who has not judged my atheism.  The whole world is chalk full of judges, juries, voters, employers, teachers, etc. which are all constantly judging others.

8) Believers are supposed to hate their parents when they follow Jesus (“If any man come to me, and not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sister, yet, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26).  Well, considering that Christians do not abandon their families but usually attempt to brainwash them they are all guilty of not following this verse. “It’s symbolic”, yeah, I know your lame ass defense to this one already.

9) They are not to oppose evil (“But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”-- Matthew 5:39).  If this were followed one might just as well abolish law enforcement.

10) Biblicists are not allowed to call anyone “father” (“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).  Not only is this rule ignored on a DAILY BASIS, but Catholicism uses “father” as a specific title.

11) Christians are not supposed to plan or prepare.  God will provide (“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or that ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on...  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, not gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedth them.  Are ye not much better than they?”  --Matthew 6:25-34 & Luke 12:22-31 inclusive).  I see Christian conservatives plot on a daily basis how to screw their employees so they can reap more profits.

12) Lastly, Jesus, who clearly is of greater importance than Paul, said the Old Law was to remain in force until heaven and earth passed away and all is accomplished (“For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished.  Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”-Matthew 5:18-19 RSV).  Heaven and earth still exist and many prophecies are not yet fulfilled.  How many times have you heard some lame ass Christian say “the Old testament doesn’t matter, Jesus was the lamb and abolished it”?  Don’t let them get away with this @!$%# for even the bible says that they should still be following the Old Law.

    This verse leads me into an observation of how clear their selective morality can be exposed.  Take for instance how Biblicists approach the Old Testament.  They leap in and out of the Old Law like a porpoise in a ship’s wake.  If they like it, they quote it; if they don’t, they won’t.  Among the scores of verses they enjoy and employ are those which teach the following:

13) Contact with mediums or wizards is forbidden (“Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out to be defiled by them.  I am the Lord your God”-- Leviticus 19:3 1 RSV, see also: Leviticus 20:6 & Deuteronomy 18: 10-12).  Here’s an interesting little stat; Christians more then any other faith consult mystics and self-proclaimed oracles.

14) People should give one-tenth of their income to the Lord, which Biblicists equate with church (“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s...And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord”--Leviticus 27:30-32)

15) Tattoos are anathema: (“You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you.  I am the Lord”--Leviticus 19:28) Despite this teaching I manage to see  Catholics daily with tattoos of the Virgin Mary, Jesus or a set of praying hands on their forearms and shoulder blades.

16) Money cannot be lent at interest to your brother, only to foreigners (Deuteronomy 23: 19-20) Ahhh, I’m recalling all the Christian banking corporations....

17) Eating pork is forbidden (Deuteronomy 14:8).  Hmm, I’ve never met a Christian who DIDN’T enjoy bacon and eggs.

18) A man must marry and have relations with his dead brother’s wife (Deuteronomy 25:5-6).  This goes without explaining of course.

19) A seducer must marry an unengaged virgin whom he seduces (Exodus 22:16-17)

20) A raped, unengaged virgin must marry her rapist and they can never divorce (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).  What justice the “moral majority” advocates!

21) There are several petty and silly little verses in the O.T., but none the less, they are to be followed.  I guess it’s okay to disobey the lord for fashion’s sake.  Beards can’t be rounded (Leviticus 19:27); A garment composed of wool and linen can’t be worn (Deuteronomy 22:11); Note: this explains why you will commonly see orthodox Jews with the long beards and black clothing.  I say Christians should do this too so we can identify their stupidity upon first impression.

22) Bastards can’t enter the Lord’s congregation.  (Deuteronomy 23:2)  Hey, I know this is harsh, but God commands it, hence it must be “just”.

    All of these rules are part of the Old Covenant and of equal import.  Why quote the Ten Commandments and ignore other tenets?  A believer’s obligation to one is no less than his obligation to all.  In fact, if under the New Covenant Christians have stepped into the shoes of the Israelites and become, in effect, the new Chosen People, then they should inherit all the privileges and duties of that office.  They seem to want the former but not the latter.  Biblicists teach, preach, and attempt to reach others with moralism, but are not averse to selectively using that which suits their interests.

    I’d like to close this essay with how to catch a Christian in the act.  When you see them expounding a verse and ignoring another, call them on it.  I know what you’ll hear.  They’ll say, “that’s from the Old Law and we aren’t under the Old Law anymore”.  Trip them with this: “But aren’t the Ten Commandments part of the Old Law?”  “Yes, but we are obligated to follow them because they are reported in the NT” (Matthew 19:16-18, Mark 10:17-19 & Luke 18:18-22).  Immediately point out to them that Jesus omitted half of the Ten Commandments and invented a new one, “though shall not defraud” !  Before they can get a word in edge wise finish them off with: “According to scripture it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of law to fail” (Luke 16:17 & Matthew 5:18-19).  If sin is transgression of the law, as 1 John 3:4 says, then you should be following all of the Old Law.  This, from experience, is the best way to shoot down these idiots and bar them from getting away with their hypocrisy.

Is every single Christian a hypocrite? No, but every single word in this article was  ripped from EvilBible. com http://www.evilbible.com/christians_are_hypocrites.htm

Who in their right mind could defend this stuff? I cringe everytime Christians talk about sexuality in  condemning tones. This from  the very same book Christians draw their morality from. It is quite possible, the religious community can not tell right from wrong without  aid from the bible. This does not seem a point worth bragging about, let alone even  mentioning. Keep in mind, Lot and his two daughters are the only ones, we are told, worthy of saving. God bumps off, for good measure,  Lot's wife, because she needed a sneak peek of the devastation to come....KD

The rest ripped from here: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewun02.htm#CHAP3

That ministers and "messengers of the Lord" have always enjoyed privileges denied to others is a fact, despite the fact that this fact is a paradox. That "holy men," men who know least about what they pretend to know, should take precedence over the rest of mankind is an incongruity. And it is because of two such "holy men" that a father, and incidentally a grand Patriarch of the Bible, offers his daughters upon the alter of lust.

But the Bible can tell its own story best and so I quote Genesis, Chapter 19, Verses 1-7.

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

2. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

3. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

4. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

5. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

6. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

7. And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

Being unable to satisfy the men of Sodom by persuasion, and rather than surrender these two precious " male angels" to them, Lot resorted to a method which very seldom fails with "unreasonable" men. When an appeal to their manhood is of no avail many women seek death rather than suffer the embrace of their attacker, and we admire women with such courage, but that is not according to Biblical standard. This is the method the Bible advises us to pursue.

Genesis, Chapter 19, Verse 8.

8. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

WTF! Here is a father willing to give his two virgin daughters to an angry mob of men to "do ye to them as is good in your eyes," which simply means to rape them, provided they do not harm the two angels of the Lord.

It is important for parents who are so concerned about the moral life of their children and whose interests they have so much at heart -- especially their daughters -- to consider well this story. If parents who are believers in the Bible are concerned about the places of amusement and companions of their children, they should consider this story when they admonish them to read the Bible for guidance.

What father would follow the example of this "man of God" who, when the exigency of the circumstances just related arose, offered his daughters to be so sacrificed? I do not know what you think of a father who would give his two virgin daughters to the lust of an angry mob of men to protect two angels of the Lord, but my love of liberty deters me from telling you what I think of him.

The story continues in the Bible with God having saved Lot and his family and bringing destruction upon the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, for their wickedness. As we are not concerned with that element of the Bible at the present time it is needless to dwell upon the puerility of the narrative chronicling this event. But I do not think I will digress too far when I call your attention for a moment to the justice of God in saving and blessing a man of Lot's unprincipled character, after he had offered his two daughters upon the altar of lust.

After God had rained "fire and brimstone" upon the people of Sodom and Gomorrah and had destroyed all the inhabitants and "all that grew upon the ground," we find Lot with his wife and two daughters safe beyond the limits of destruction. We are all acquainted with what happened to Lot's wife because she desired to see what happened. I am sure we all would have done the same thing under the circumstances. It is a natural impulse, and one of the strongest of our nature. With only Lot and his two daughters left of all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, whom you will remember God destroyed for their wickedness, let us follow closely the action of their lives and see what a beneficent example and legacy of morality they left the world. Let us also weigh in the balance God's judgment in making this selection. We now come to the most important phase of this story, and if you are ready to read the details of an incestuous union between father and daughter, read attentively what is to follow.

I am quoting from the Holy Bible, Genesis, Chapter 19, Verses 30-38.

30. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

32. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

****As told by Lot****

33. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

35. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

36. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

37. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same isthe father of the Moabites unto this day.

38. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same isthe father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

My vocabulary fails me in trying to comment properly upon this story. Just think of it! A father committing the sexual act with his own daughters and so drunk that "he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose!"

Is it possible that people really grasp the significance of this story? Are they aware of its gross debauchery? Can the minute details of this story be read without bringing a blush of shame to the cheeks of the reader?

Just a word to parents about this "Holy Book of God." What would you fathers and mothers say if your daughter should read the Bible and come and tell you, in detail, of this revolting episode? It is needless to ask what you would do if she brought home another book in which a story of this kind appeared. You would admonish her never to pollute her mind with such filth. If that would be your action with a book of any other title than that of "Holy Bible," to what depths of superstition have you sunk that you are so blind to its degrading influence?

Wake up, well-meaning parents, and become conscious of the obscenity to be found in this unwholesome book. A whole volume could be written about this story of Lot and his daughters, but at present we are only concerned with the act of incest.

This story of Lot and his daughters does not even contain a moral. The father to-day who is guilty of such an act is sent to prison. If he were so drunk that "he did not know when she lay down nor when she arose," it would be so much the worse for him.

This story of the Bible is too revolting to dwell upon longer except once more to impress forcibly upon you the "high elevating moral standard of its pages." I ask, is it possible for a person to read such a story, and then tell the innocent children of the race to read the Bible for moral inspiration and guidance? A story in which the very name of father is slandered, and where the pure blossom of womanhood is pictured in this degenerate manner.

Isn't it amazing the religious believe that  not only does the creator of the universe look like a middle aged white man, but also having  the great fortune   bestowed  upon them by this phantom creator,  dominion over every women,  living creature and thing on this Earth?

This has not made for good neighbors. ~ KD

 Christopher Hitchens @  the Village Voice Bookshop, Paris, France. Hitchens delivers another  fierce criticism of religion. Previously un-released video. So it's new to us.

As always your comments and criticisms are welcomed.....and will be challenged!

Today we hear a heartwarming story—a story of love, commitment, trust and faith.

LOL. Yeah right. No. This is actually a story about a guy who tries to kill his son because the voice of God told him to.

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’

‘Here I am,’ He replied.

Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’” —Genesis 22:1&2

I’m not making this up, the Bible—GOD—really says that.

I would like to point out that this section in my Bible has lots of really long study notes to go with it. Everything up until this point has been relatively short and unnecessary, but Christians feel that this story needs a lot of explaining for some reason… I can’t imagine why…

First, notice that God ‘tests’ Abraham. The note in my Bible makes the distinction between ‘test’ and ‘tempt’ very clear. God doesn’t ‘tempt’, He only ‘tests’. Because ‘testing’ is so much better than ‘tempting’. Why would a perfect, all-knowing and merciful god need to ‘test’ anybody? And why would anyone want to worship a God who would test them in this way?

Second, God really stresses how important Isaac is to Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love…” It’s bad enough that God is telling Abraham to sacrifice his son, but also his only son (remember that Ishmael was effectively disowned when he was sent away). And not only is it Abraham’s only son, but he is also his son whom he loves.

And third: “Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering.”—“Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering”—“SACRIFICE HIM there as a BURNT OFFERING”

“Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’” —Genesis 22:3-5

Abraham wouldn’t even beg and plead for his son’s life? What kind of dad is he? Instead, he just gets up the next morning and sets about getting ready for the big bonfire later. Unquestioning obedience to his God, something that Christian’s admire and seek after.

Just a bit of advice: if ‘God’ is telling you to sacrifice your children as a burnt offering, it probably isn’t ‘God’ and you PROBABLY SHOULDN’T DO IT!!! A God who is any kind of God doesn’t need sacrifice and especially not sacrifice of innocent young children. Christians: STOP GLORIFYING THIS!!!

Notice, too, that Abraham says that ‘we will worship and then we will come back to you.’ The note in my Bible says that Abraham was in denial, or he just believed that God would raise his son from the dead (after Abraham brutally murders him, of course). Seems more likely to me that he was lying because if he says ‘I will come back’ then the servants and his son might get suspicious. But his son get’s suspicious anyway:

“Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’

‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied.

‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’

Abraham answered, ‘God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together.” —Genesis 22:6-8

This sickens me. Poor Isaac has full trust in his father and has no reason to think that his father would do him harm. Abraham lies to him and Isaac accepts the explanation without question. This exemplifies how children in the church are raised. They trust their parents and (as I can attest) can’t imagine how their parents could ever be wrong or why their parents would ever lie to them.

“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham’

‘Here I am,’ he replied.” —Genesis 22:9-11

I can’t even imagine what was going through Isaac’s mind. Christian’s like to sugar coat the story by saying that Isaac probably understood Abraham’s need to obey his god—but no. There is no possible way that Isaac, a scared little boy, had any conception of god, and if he did—it was not a nice friendly god, this god wanted to do Isaac harm! This god was NOT just. This god was NOT merciful. This god told Isaac’s father to KILL HIM! Isaac must have been terrified, he must have been screaming and crying and begging for his father to stop. He must have been struggling against the ropes and against the dried and splintered wood. He must have suffered bruises as he attempted to escape from his fathers clutches as he was strapped to the altar. He must have been bleeding from cuts and rope burn as he fought to free himself. Isaac was NOT okay with this, don’t let ANY Christian tell you otherwise—EVER.

Luckily for Isaac, God changed his mind at the last minute. I’m sorry, he didn’t change his mind, after all, he was just testing Abraham anyway. This story makes me physically ill.

“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’” —Genesis 22:12

God’s like, ‘I just needed to be sure you were afraid of me, looks like you are, so we are good!’ What kind of god is this? You have got to be kidding me! God is supposed to be all-knowing, he should have been able to tell that Abraham ‘feared’ him WITHOUT making Abraham almost kill his son.

‘Fearing God’, according to Christians, means to trust absolutely in Him.

“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’” —Genesis 22:13&14

So somehow this bloodbath gets made into a catchy phrase that people say ‘to this day’.

(If you can’t tell, this passage pisses me off)

“The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you obeyed me.’” —Genesis 22:15-18

Great, so what does Abraham get out of almost sacrificing his son? The same @!$%#ing promise that he has been getting since he first left his father’s household!

“Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.” —Genesis 22:19

Still today, parents kill their children because ‘God’ or ‘angels’ or ‘demons’ etc. tell them to. This in NO WAY is justified. We call these people insane. Abraham is not exempt.

I’m just—I’m speechless guys. I really am. Stupidity like this is intolerable.

Totally ripped from http://atheistbiblestudy.tumblr.com/post/3494996882/god-tells-abraham-to-kill-his-son

A Michigan country club has nixed an appearance by outspoken religion critic Richard Dawkins after catching wind of the fact that he’s an atheist.

Mr Dawkins was to speak at the Wyndgate Country Club tonight in an event sponsored by the Center for Inquiry, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a secular society through education, advocacy and research, according to the group’s website.

But when top brass at the club saw Mr Dawkins’ appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last week and learned that he was an atheist, the event was rejected.

A 12-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for eight months in Pakistan by a man who then falsified marriage documents with her, it was claimed today.
The girl was lured on a shopping trip in Lahore by a friend, before she was driven 120 miles to Tandianwalla and raped by the friend's uncle in January this year.
Two days later, she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with the man and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam.

The first thing to say, when reviewing the question of what America should do about those of its citizens who advocate the murder of random numbers of its civilians, is that it is flat-out astonishing to see the debate being conducted at all. Faced with jeering, sniggering, vicious saboteurs who hide from the daylight and pop up on blogs and cheap CDs, calmly awarding religious permission for the capricious taking of life, what do we imagine Vladimir Putin would do? Or the police and security forces of the People’s Republic of China? Or Israel or Saudi Arabia? To ask the question is to answer it.

HOUSTON — Christopher Hitchens, probably the country’s most famous unbeliever, received the Freethinker of the Year Award at the annual convention of the Atheist Alliance of America here on Saturday. Mr. Hitchens was flattered by the honor, he said a few days beforehand, but also a little abashed. “I think being an atheist is something you are, not something you do,” he explained, adding: “I’m not sure we need to be honored. We don’t need positive reinforcement. On the other hand, we do need to stick up for ourselves, especially in a place like Texas, where they have laws, I think, that if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ you can’t run for sheriff.”

Journalist, Best selling Author and Atheist Christopher Hitchens debates the question Does God Exist? with Author & Ph.D  William Lane Craig..Incredibly entertaining and enlightening...

The debate between William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens hosted on 4th April, 2009 from the Christian Biola University.

Christopher Eric Hitchens (born 13 April 1949) is an English-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the Hoover Institution in September 2008. He is a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits and in 2005 he was voted the world's fifth top public intellectual in a Prospect/Foreign Policy poll.

Identified as a champion of the "New Atheism" movement, Hitchens describes himself as an antitheist and a believer in the philosophical values of the Enlightenment. Hitchens says that a person "could be an atheist and wish that belief in god were correct," but that "an antitheist, a term I'm trying to get into circulation, is someone who is relieved that there's no evidence for such an assertion." He argues that the concept of god or a supreme being is a totalitarian belief that destroys individual freedom, and that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as a means of teaching ethics and defining human civilization. He wrote at length on atheism and the nature of religion in his 2007 book God Is Not Great.

William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher and theologian. He is known for his work on the philosophy of time and philosophy of religion, specifically the existence of God and defense of Christian theism. He has made major contributions to the philosophy of religion and his defense of the Kalām cosmological argument is the most widely discussed argument for the existence of God in contemporary Western philosophy. He has authored or edited over 30 books including The KalamCosmological Argument (1979), Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology (co-authored withQuentin Smith) (1993), Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time (2001), and Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity (co-edited withQuentin Smith) (2007).

Craig has debated with prominent intellectuals such as Anthony Flew, A C Grayling, Daniel Dennett, Lawrence Krauss, Victor Stenger, Peter Atkins, and Christopher Hitchens, to name but a few. Craig maintains that science and faith are connected and that the physical sciences are more open to the idea of a creator than they have been in recent history. Sam Harris, a prominent atheist, described Craig as "the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists"