Atheist monument is more American than Ten Commandments

I don’t really have much to add to this very well written article. Let’s see where the comments take us, if this gets any. Please read the full article before posting since I’ve not added anything of my own. Thanks.

Atheist monument is more American than Ten Commandments

Vandalism and Theft: How Very … um … Christian

Would Christians tolerate this from atheists? I doubt it.

Would Christians really resort to breaking a commandment from their God in an effort to put down atheists? Apparently yes.

Would mainstream Christians stand up and condemn the extremists in their ranks for their lawbreaking and commandment-breaking? The silence is deafening.

What about the mainstream media reports of such incidents? (a cricket chirps)

But, the first amendment guarantees our right to free speech, right? Not if police won’t enforce infringements upon those rights.

America’s shameful Christian crime spree

Moderate Christians: Stand up to this sort of thing. Show us some outrage that your Christian brethren would act this way. Prove your Christian values. Or, have you already done so with your silence?

Bible is Clear: A Fetus is NOT a Life

I came across Exodus 21:22-25 while performing research for my rebuttal to a reply by C_Andy_3. I would like to thank C_Andy_3 for the discussion that led to my discovery of this passage.

Old Testament quote, emphasis mine (thanks to Mechon Mamre for the RaMBaM translation):

22 And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

This clearly states that the fetus was not a life. In fact, it indicates that a miscarriage could be caused without causing harm. The loss of the fetus can be compensated by mere money. After that, if there is harm, it is life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, ….

Abstinence is a Sin!

First, let me be clear. I am not joking about this. I am being as serious as an atheist who believes that real sin lies only in harming others can be on the subject. For religious readers, if I have any, I hope this encourages thought and dialog. I welcome all serious responses regardless of whether we agree on the topic.

So, here are my points about why I believe abstinence is sinful from both a biblical standpoint and more importantly to me why abstinence only education and the encouragement of abstinence pledges and the like are inherently sinful.

Kindergartener Suspended For Being An Atheist

Of course, the first day of suspension was for standing up to the bully. Both children got suspended. But, why did only the atheist get the lecture about respecting others? Why did only the atheist get an extra day of suspension? Wouldn’t it have been nice if the principal explained to the Jesus freak preaching child that preaching in school is wrong? Wouldn’t it have been nice if the principal had explained a bit about respecting the choice not to believe? Oh well. At least mom got it right.

Child Gets Suspended For Being An Atheist

Scientists Respond to Creationism

Unfortunately, scientists are still in the position of having to respond to complete and utter bullshit. There are some good responses in here to why this is a real problem. Unfortunately, I bet there will be induhviduals who respond on this thread in defense of creationism. If you are about to do so, please make sure to at least watch the video first.

My favorite response in this particular video is the one regarding the human eye and jaw as they reflect on the incompetency of god and provide better evidence of unintelligent design than the other kind.

A Vote For Obamacare

Obamacare gets my vote: Romney and Ryan’s alternative nearly killed me

Under the influence of the painkiller Dilaudid, and dog-tired after another day of fighting for my life with my private health insurance company, I glimpsed Mitt Romney and his running-mate, Paul Ryan, entering my Los Angeles hospital room dressed in surgical gowns with scalpels in their hands ready to fatally operate on me.

It was a drug-induced hallucination, of course. But the mirage made me sit bolt upright in bed and, fully awake, start to rethink my previous, bitterly dissenting view of Barack Obama.

Repugnican Anti-Choice Asshole is Pro-Choice When It’s His Bastard

Did I get enough shock value in that headline? I certainly hope so.

Scott DesJarlais, Pro-Life Republican Congressman And Doctor, Pressured Mistress Patient To Get Abortion

One could debate the ethics of a doctor having an affair with a patient. The answer is likely that it depends on the case. No one is suggesting that this case was anything but consensual. In this case though, it’s just a start. This shithead then went on to pressure the woman he impregnated to have an abortion. IMNSHO, women should be free to make that choice on their own without undue influence. But, that’s not bad enough. This Republican member of congress claims that abortion is murder. He fights against abortion rights. Well, he does unless it’s his illegitimate fetus.

Can one get any more hypocritical than this? Is it possible?

Impeach Congressman Paul Broun

Congressman Paul Broun has publicly stated that he is deliberately failing to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States of America. As such, he should be forcibly removed from office for the failure to follow his oath of office. Here is a direct quote from this idiot who has proclaimed that the earth is 9,000 years old, and that evolution, the big bang theory, and embryology are lies straight from the pit of hell.

As you congressman, I hold the holy bible as being the major directions to me for how I vote in Washington DC. And, I’ll continue to do that.

Paul Broun’s act of legislating based on his personal religious beliefs is in direct contradiction to this famous quote.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ….

Contraception: Preventing Deaths Since 1850 BCE

Apparently, there are now people making the utterly ludicrous claim that contraception kills.

See: ‘Contraception Kills’

I should note that I am specifically responding to this quote from the FFRF blog post, not the one about the pill and cancer:

Midway through the rally, a glassy-eyed man with an infant came up to me, held up the baby, and solemnly told me: “Contraception would have killed her.”

In some cases, people really do seem to think that not conceiving a child is the same as killing one. Somewhat humorously, they do not seem to make the same claim about abstinence in general, or more specifically about the priests and nuns who disobey God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” (Actually, this may be a mistaken translation. I believe the original quote was “be useful and multiplex.”)

However, pointing out hypocrisies like priests, nuns, and religious murderers who let their own children die rather than use modern medicine to treat obviously treatable conditions like diabetes will only be a sidebar to this discussion.

The real point will of this post is the obvious fact that every person ever born has died or will die. No one gets out alive. Therefore, 100% of all human deaths have as the root cause conception.

Contraception prevents death.

For the purposes of this post, I am going to assume that those who mistakenly claim that contraception rather than conception causes death are the same induhviduals who believe life begins at conception. It seems a fair assumption. So, for those folks, I would point out not only that about 80% of all fertilized eggs “die” without implanting in the womb, but all of the others die as well. Every fertilized egg is a death waiting to happen, some will merely take longer than others.

So, to you religiose wackos who believe that contraception kills, I say this. Contraception has been preventing deaths since 1850 BCE. Contraception is the only means humanity has ever found to prevent death. Fairy tales won’t do it. Prayer won’t do it. Contraception succeeds where prayer fails.

Prevent death. Get a vasectomy or tubal ligation today. Not ready to make a permanent commitment to preventing death? Try contraception. Many types are quite effective at staving off the grim reaper. Ask your doctor which method is right for you.

Christ Speaks Out Against Republican Budget

Well, not actually Christ. But, some who actually read the bible are finding little or no support for the Republican budget created by Paul Ryan. They’re claiming that, while he claims to be a Christian, he is instead a follower of Ayn Rand, a renowned atheist. In fact, Ryan also claims to be a Randroid. So, how can one reconcile his Ayn Randian politics with his stated Christian beliefs? One can’t.

I, for one, am not a Christian. But, as was Jesus Christ, I am a liberal. So, just as Jesus Christ would be, I am appalled by Republican politics. Anyway, here’s a couple of good clips from the Colbert Report about the Ryan budget.

Colbert Report — Paul Ryan Budget, Pt. 1

Colbert Report — Paul Ryan Budget, Pt. 2 (Father Reese)

Antitheists Offend Theists; I Say Good!

I’m hearing a lot from atheist friends who don’t want to be offensive. They are upset by the tactics being used by some atheist organizations today. I have an alternate take on things.

Background:

Here are a couple of ads that show the kinds of things to which many on both sides of the fence seem to object.

This billboard in Pennsylvania is apparently very offensive to believers. It was put up by American Atheists and Pennsylvania Nonbelievers.

Believers Find the Bible Offensive?

To me, it’s obvious that the bible is offensive. I’m surprised that believers would agree. But, there you have it. Way to go Pennsylvania for declaring 2012 to be the Year of the Bible. It seems to be spreading the word about the offensive nature of the Bad Book beautifully, albeit with a bit of help from American Atheists and the Pennsylvania Nonbelievers.

Folks, the only thing on this sign that is not in the Bible is the graphic representation of the literal words in the book. If a simple graphic depicting what slavery means is offensive, then so is the concept and the book that condones it.

Again and again and again, our morals do not come from the Bible.

Thank God I’m an atheist!

West Wing Bible Scene

Here’s a scene from the TV show ‘The West Wing’ explaining why the Bible should not be taken literally. I’ve also received nearly identical text via email. I believe the email came first.

(google break)

Yup, snopes confirms that the email came first. Still, it’s somewhat more powerful to see it in a video, even though some of the great text of the email was missed. Specifically, the bit about whether one in the U.S. may own a Canadian is missing.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/drlaura.asp

Misanthropia: Scott’s Suggestions for a Better America

I’ve titled this post Misanthropia because I believe that I have every bit as much chance of making these improvements as I do of creating a true Utopia, i.e. none.

Still, I’m going to label each suggestion either plausible or implausible. The plausible changes will be the ones I expect never to have implemented because the Koch brothers and other multi-gazillionaires own all of our politicians and control the whole system by which they are put in place. However, I expect that I would be able to convince most of the so-called 99% that these changes would be good. The implausible are the ones I feel strongly enough about to post despite the extreme likelihood that they are so radical that I couldn’t even convince a significant percentage of the so-called 99%.

Each of the following suggestions or cluster of suggestions are meant to be taken individually. I believe each on its own could help make the U.S. a better country. That said, even were all of these suggestions implemented tomorrow, I do not expect that it would fix all of our problems. I’m not that smart.

A Religion of Peace and Love?

Love thy neighbor? Not exactly.
Love thy enemy? Not exactly.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Not exactly.

If you haven’t heard, Jessica Ahlquist, a 16 year old girl in Cranston, RI objected to a prayer banner in a public school. The courts agreed that it was unconstitutional and ordered it taken down. Listen to this woman read the messages of love from her religious schoolmates posted on twitter and facebook.

Pennsylvania’s Year of the Bible, Bring It On!!

I doubt I can do any better to express the atheist opinion of a state declaring this to be the year of the bible than Ernest Perce V has done here. So, I’ll mostly just let this post stand on its own. There’s nothing like actually reading the bible to steer people toward atheism, or at the very least, away from religion.

All Pennsylvania Atheists to Celebrate 2012 As the Year of the Bible

To Breed Or Not To Breed, That Is The Question

When Population Connection posted this on their official Facebook page, they warned of strong language. If 4 shits and a fuck are too much for you, you’ve come to the wrong blog. The cursing is neither particularly offensive nor in high enough quantity to detract from the content, IMNSHO.

We Have Enough Humans, Thanks.

6 Well-Kept Secrets About America In One Graphic

Click for larger image

BTW, for anyone who thinks the founders based our government on Christianity, or any sect of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religion, please read the Ten Commandments. Then read the Bill of Rights. Which one gives more freedom and liberty? Which is the better decalog? I know my answer.

Republicans: Is It Time to Stage a Violent Coup Yet?

Why do repugnicans still bother to pretend that they want to live in a democracy? Why not just violently overthrow the government and make Jesus the king? At least it would be less hypocritical. Of course, Jesus who said “love thy neighbor” and gave health care to the sick without checking for either citizenship or insurance would never have wanted such a thing. And, of course, there would have to be some raving lunatic at the helm claiming to be receiving Jesus’ instructions directly. (Didn’t we have that already for eight years?) But, let’s not quibble about how badly the extremist rethugnicans misinterpret the Bible that they believe to be infallible but have never read.

Let’s just look at the way the party gets whatever they want whether they are in power or not and how they get into power at all.

First take a look at this unconscionable and despicable strategy to take the 2012 presidential election by redistricting a key state. Shockingly, this is actually perfectly legal and constitutional.

The GOP’s Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012