I can’t tell you how excited I am. In just one more day, I get to shave this disgusting mustache I’ve been growing for a whole month to raise money to fight prostate cancer. So far we’ve been able to raise a few bucks, but if you don’t want all this effort to go in vain, I strongly urge you to head over to my Movember page and show some generosity. This money goes directly to sequencing the genome of this fucker, and not some wishy-washy “awareness” campaign. I support serious science. The rest, I leave to big hearted hippies.

Check out this video from the hot chick in Watchmen. If she says it’s cool, surely it must be!

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Hey Carisa fans, your favorite sexy atheist is holding a live podcasting event in Calgary tomorrow, and you’re all invited! There’s a huge variety of different speakers, from performing to politics, it’s sure to be a great time. For those of you on the “maybe” side, there will also be booze there, so you can always just get wasted.

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A man who dresses in red robes and calls himself by a special name believes that individuals who reject the notion of unsupported supernatural claims are irrational. Walter Brandmuller may never have played Dungeons & Dragons, but if he did, he might realize that there is nothing particularly special about his title; definitely not enough to pretend to know anything about objective reality. When, however, has that stopped these clowns from pretending they do?

He’s written a book, presumably based on his expertise in fucking nonsense, and claims that belief is rational. Why? Because miracles happen of course!

The cardinal addressed the topic of miracles, recalling what happened in Calanda, a small town not far from Saragossa, Spain, where there was a youth named Miguel Pellicer whose leg was amputated. Two years later and despite the difficulty in walking, the youth undertook the journey to the Marian shrine of Santa Maria del Pilar in Saragossa.

Wow, what an incredible event. It must have been documented by some pretty serious scientists, right? Oh, it happened almost 400 years ago, way before the invention of modern medicine… Well, that’s pretty convenient, isn’t it?

“In reality, the target of the atheists is not so much God but the Church, the Pope and the Vatican,” said the prelate. He added that the Church has been attacked since the beginning of the Christian era, the Pope for 2000 years and the Vatican since its existence.

To be fair, how can atheists “attack” something that doesn’t exist? You don’t see me running around with a baseball bat trying to fight evil leprechauns, so I’ve had to set my sights on something that actually is real, and that’s the history of abuse, murder, torture, moral bankruptcy and child rape of the Catholic Church. I’m so sorry that my disdain for your evil organization makes you feel so upset, Wally. Tell you what: hand over all the pedophiles you’re still harboring, abandon your dangerous rejection of condoms in Africa, and fight for women’s rights instead of making them reproductive slaves and maybe I’ll leave you alone.

On second thought, fuck it.

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A few podcasts ago, Ryan and I discussed the case of the world famous “blasphemer”, Asia Bibi of Pakistan, who faces the death penalty for insulting Islam. She’s recently been trying to get a Presidential pardon, which was just rejected by a Pakistani “court” yesterday. The high court barred the President from even attempting to let her off the hook for having supposedly said some hurtful things about a man who’s been dead for over 14 centuries.

There you have it, people: justice is served! It looks like they really want this woman to pay severely for hurting the feelings of those poor defenseless Muslims. Sure, you could argue that she has a family, and that all of this boils down to over-sensitive religious ass-hats who care more about their imaginary friend than the misery of this poor woman, but if they don’t do something radical now, none of them will get to enjoy all those delicious virgins up in heaven!

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I’m sure most of you have heard Christians trying in vain to defend themselves regarding the tenants of their faith, arguing that just because they believe in the supernatural, doesn’t mean that they are idiots. It’s true that stupid beliefs don’t automatically make you dumb, but to be fair, it doesn’t exactly make you look like a genius, does it?

The “War on Christmas” as Christians like to call it, is starting to heat up. American Atheists put up this billboard in New Jersey, and already you can hear the whimpers of religious sheep who feel as though non-believers are unfairly attacking their faith.

Mary Elizabeth Willaims from Salon.com feels as though the big meany message of “you know it’s a myth” is unnecessarily targeting Christians and labeling them as idiots:

How about acknowledging that traditions and rituals can be a means of honoring ideologies that are far more subtle and complex than a chorus of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”?

Or to put it another way, how about considering that faith and reason are not always in direct opposition, or that anyone who believes in anything is not automatically a myth-embracing moron?

To be fair, I don’t see the billboard accusing anyone of actually being a moron; that’s just you projecting, Mary. And no, faith and reason aren’t compatible at all, since one is the rejection of evidence in favor of a pre-determined conviction while the other is fact-based.

Sorry that we have to be the “bad guys” and point out that Christianity didn’t invent the practice of celebrating the winter solstice. If believers feel that being honest about what we believe is offensive, then perhaps they should subscribe to ideas that have at least some basis in objective reality. We’re sick and tired of their bullshit myths, and we’re not going to take it anymore!

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Every once in a while, I manage to find articles written by religious leaders that I find refreshingly honest. It doesn’t happen very often, mind you, but when it does, it gives me hope that these deluded fools will eventually realize that their religion is on a serious death spiral.

The latest bastion of honesty comes courtesy of a retired Baptist Minister, Rev. Howard Bess who confesses that the reasons young people are leaving churches has a lot to do with how poorly religious institutions are doing when it comes to attracting young folks.

He’s outlined 3 main reasons for this, and I can’t say I seriously disagree with any of them:

• Churches are no longer intellectually challenging. More and more of our young people are college-educated and in the future even more must and will accept the challenge of post-high school education. They are thinking people who are expanding the limits of their curiosity and knowledge.
• Churches are no longer leaders in moral and ethical discussions. Young people have grown weary of churches that cannot get past issues such as homosexuality and abortion.
• Churches are no longer visionary. They have remained focused on saving souls for the next life and offering rituals tied to perpetuating theologies that no longer seem relevant to many young people. Churches are no longer significant players in shaping the life of our communities.

He offers a few solutions to these problems, but it’s likely to fall of deaf ears. How can churches resolve issues of intellectual difficiency, moral bankrupcy and outdated ritualism when these are the very foundations of religion? Let’s grow out of this childish religious phase in our history, shall we?

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