Florida is a strange place. Maybe it’s the heat down there, but it seems like every other day, someone in the sunshine state is doing something weird. Yesterday, a Largo, man crashed his car into The Faith United Methodist Church in an attempt to take his own life to be “closer to Jesus”.

It turns out that if you keep telling someone who is obviously depressed and suicidal that Jesus is his best friend that they’ll get to hang out together all the time in Heaven, the guy might get a little tired of waiting and take matters into his own hands. Phillip Warner, 54, REALLY wanted to be with Jesus, and I guess he figured that if you’re going to die anywhere, it might as well be at his house!

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I never thought I’d see the day where the Pope isn’t welcome in Ireland. But hey, a 2,900 page report detailing the sexual, physical and emotional abuse of children by the Catholic Church is enough to make even the strongest believer feel overwhelmed. A new survey reports that until the current Pope does more to compensate the victims, the majority of Ireland doesn’t want him visiting.

I got news for you: even if the Pope does appologize, it doesn’t change the fact that Benedict XVI, prior to holding the position of Pope, was the main guy in charge of investigating child abuses in the clergy, and his report suggested that the Church keep quiet about it. In all likelihood, he would have probably heard about what was going on in Ireland, but did nothing to stop the abuses there and elsewere.

It’s an encouraging sign that religious belief isn’t what it used to be in Ireland. Perhaps in a couple more decades, it’ll be as secular as the rest of Europe. We can only hope…

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I received this letter from a fan of the show, and I thought I might post it up. If you haven’t listen to Episode 53 of the podcast, please do so before reading (if you’ve never listened before, you should know that it’s actually the crown jewel of the site).

Hey Jake and Ryan,

I am writing you this email to give you a personal perspective of one of the topics you discussed in episode 53 about mental illness. A short description of my self: I am a 24 year old male atheist, and I happen to live in Denmark which is luckily one of the most secular country’s in the world(43% are atheists and at least 80% are agnostic according to this site) but I find my self in a difficult situation. A long time friend of mine has a mental illness. He is diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. But medication usually keeps it at bay and he is actually a pretty cool guy, but on top of the schizophrenic part, he has a rare physical disease that has scared his body which has caused him to have serious issues with dating, sex and girls and stuff like that which is pretty understandable considering those medical issues. The problem is that during the last 6-7 months or so, he has become extremely religious(he decided to become a catholic) and he practically cut all ties to me and our common friends because he is constantly offended by our “immoral actions”, like talking about sex, have science magazines in the house…You get the picture…..

The friendship ended permanently last week when a group of 5-6 friends sat and enjoyed the sunshine one afternoon. We were both present. We talked about all things of topics like friends usually do and i can’t remember what the topic was but I mention something i passing about evolution and my friend started getting upset and saying that darwins theory didn’t make sense, and saying creationist bullshit like “Where is the half human-half ape then” which just proves that they don’t study anything but the bible….Which they actually don’t study that close anyway. At some point the discution he claimed that I could’t understand because i was never touched by the holy spirit and it kinda slipped my lips that such a feeling was make belief and he ofcourse stormed out and we haven’t seen him sinse.

But the really worrying part about all this religion bullshit is that he has stopped taking his medicine, and has declared himself to be healthy and that religion cured him.

This leaves me with a mix of emotions ranging from sadness because of the loss of a friend, anger towards his church for encouraging him even though its very obious that he is deeply unstable and at times psychotic, and lastly a fear of what he might do.

I’m not writing you guys in hope of a solution because there is not much to be done, but simply to tell you about how religion combined with mental illness made me lose a dear friend.

It’s a painful reminder that religion can often mask mental illness. These poor deluded people actually think that their respective religions can cure them of their mental disorder, and because the subject of religion is often too tabboo to talk about, many people aren’t given the treatment they need.

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I visit the US fairly regularily, but there are definitely places where I wouldn’t dare go. It’s not that I’m afraid of Americans; I’m just afraid of some of your scary habits. Take, for instance, this church in Louisville, where congregants bring their guns to celebrate the fact that these devices can be used to kill people. It’s not a place a liberal pinko atheist like me should visit. Here are some choice quotes form the service:

This country started by people gathering together in churches and complaining about taxation and about their current government, King George III, taking armaments that they had.

But for a deep-seated belief in God and firearms, this country would not be here today

I don’t suspect that anyone living in the deep south will stop loving guns, and as far as I’m concerned, you can do whatever you want in your own home (including accidentally shooting your own family members if you want to). It’s when people bring them out in public places that I get nervous. We don’t live in a society that requires pistols to “defend ourselves”. The truth is that the high homicide rate in the US (latest estimates puts that number at 17,000 a year, 88% of which are by firearms) could probably be reduced if everyone didn’t go for their gun at the first sign of trouble. In other countries, we try talking first.

If you really love guns, you should go check out Russia. There, almost every farmer has an AK-47, but they actually need theirs. That’s because some places are so remote and corrupt that you have to police yourself. It’s a miserable place, made all the more miserable by the huge proliferation of small arms.

I actually don’t want to see guns banned. In Canada, our gun registry is a billion dollar waste of taxpayer money. It forced already legal gun owners to register, and has done nothing to reduce firearm deaths (criminals don’t need to register theirs). I do get nervous, however, when people start actively merging guns and religious services. No, it’s not a good idea, and there are enough wackos out there that think that God “invented” guns in order for them to shoot anyone they don’t like.

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