The Good Atheist

Indonesian Muslims are being told to adjust their prayer antennae to improve transmissions to Mecca:

Indonesian Muslims have been praying in the wrong direction, the country’s highest Islamic authority has said.

The Indonesian Ulema Council told the country’s Muslim populace in March to turn west when they offered their daily prayers. Muslims are supposed to face the Kaaba, the religion’s most sacred site in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

At the time, the council said that the direction of Kaaba from Indonesia laid to the west.

Turns out, it didn’t. Africa did.

So, on Friday, the council issued a new edict: face northwest.

“After the first fatwa (edict) a few months ago that stated that the praying direction is west, we have announced that the correct direction for praying is indeed northwest, and we have issued a new fatwa (edict) to correct it,” said Ma’ruf Amin, the head of fatwa division in the Indonesian Ulema Council.

“This is important because facing west will mean that people were facing Africa when they pray,” he said.

I hear that Sango, the African God of Thunder, is just happy he’s not going to keep getting five calls a day from several million confused Indonesians.

If you’re a regular to the site, you’re bound to have read an article I wrote a while ago called “10 reasons why Superman is better than Jesus”, my tongue-in-cheek comparison of these two fictional characters. This article still receives a lot of traffic, not to mention endless comments about how I’m supposed to believe that there really was a historical Jesus (if you want to read a great article explaining just how weak his historicity is, go here).

The latest bruhaha to come from this article is a facebook page that tries to “break down” my arguments systematically to attempts and prove that Jesus is in fact superior to Superman.I don’t think I need to mention just how hilarious/ridiculous this is, but here are some of the best “quotes”:

3.Jesus may have died for your sins, but Superman died to protect us from an intergalactic killing machine called Doomsday

Refute Argument # 3:

Dying in sin is worst than facing Doomsday. He can kill people but he cannot kill souls which are immortal. Jesus’ mission is to save us all from our sins so that we may also have eternal life and be with God forever in heaven.

I’m curious about this one: how exactly is “dying in sin” worst than facing an unstoppable killing machine intent on destroying all life it sees? Christians love throwing around the story that Jesus got the shit beaten out of him to show the “weightiness” of his sacrafice, but there are tons of people on earth that have more than a “bad weekend”, suffering their whole lives in agony before perishing.

Anyways, the rest of the article is pretty hilarious, and I feel almost honored that some delusional fool spent his time trying to refute a comedy article. It’s fucking hilarious.

You’ve got to love the Westboro Baptist Church. These guys are always putting their hate out there plainly for everyone to see. It doesn’t matter if you’re an honored veteran, a pregnant teen, or a comic book reading 30 year old virgin; in their eyes, everyone except their immediate family is going to burn in the eternal fires of hell, and they want to tell you all about it.

Their latest target, a comicon in San Diego, had me giddy with anticipation of watching what is normally a pretty atheistic group get picketed by these bozos; I’m sure there will be plenty of pretty funny videos coming out in the next few days cataloging the exchanges between church members and comic nerds. There’s no guarantee that the Westboro crazies will actually bother showing up, but if they do, it has the potential for a great showdown. Fingers crossed, people!

Holy shit, could it be true? Could we have finally released this sucker after weeks of putting it off? Not only did we do that, but we made Episode 100 something special, with almost 2 hours of content! We cover a huge range of topics; from copyright laws to the dangers of being open about your lack of faith, to why we lack professionalism, and what some of you have said about the show over the years. It’s a huge introspective episode, so if you’re a first time listener, save this one for later; you might be a little overwhelmed!

Go listen to the show right now, and if you like what we had to say, then think about using this historic moment as an excuse to become a patron of the site. With all the new additions that we’re going to be putting in the bonus show, we’re going to entice you so hard to become a member that you might as well cave in this minute, and become a patron! We only charge 20 bucks a year (although you can give more if you want to). That’s the equivalent of a cup of coffee every month. Surely we’re better at keeping you awake and doing you job more than that!

I want to thank everyone that has been a listener for the 3 years we’ve been doing this. I hope Episode 100 of the Bonus Show will be even more crazy. The future is bright people, and you can help make it even brighter. Below is a preview of one of the bits we included in the show. Enjoy!

 

 Standard Podcast [8:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is just painful…

Have you ever looked up at the sky,
noticed all those glowing lights and wondered why?
Well friend, ponder no more,
Spaceology has the answers you’ve been looking for!

[end terrible poem]

You can always count on religious scumbags to exploit the poor and sick, especially in countries like Kenya where an estimated 2 million people have AIDS. Yeah, you heard right: 2 fucking million people are slowly dying as their bodies are incapable of fighting of even the simplest infections. And with all those desperate family members who love them, it’s doubtful there isn’t a Kenyan out there that wouldn’t give anything for even the chance to heal their loved ones.

Here’s a handy venn diagram to help you identify between zombies, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Son of God.

(via the very awesome Jesus is Love site you should probably visit right now)

The New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign people have evolved past bus signage and are now getting into the billboard bizniz. Here’s my favorite sign of the bunch, but I gotta admit they’re all the cat’s pajamas as far as I’m concerned!

This week, Jeff is back to help me talk about the “sin” of homosexuality, the arrogance of bible thumpers, and the annoyance of faith healing. It’s 45 minutes of bonus show goodness. Remember, this show if for patrons only, so if you love the podcast, think about becoming a member for 20 bucks a year! That’s less than 1.67 a month, and you’ll get access to the back catalog of shows. That’s over 30 hours of bonus material, and your contribution helps us to continue to entertain you. Don’t hesitate and become a patron today!

…{+}

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