Religions are finally starting to understand that the scientific revolution, and the information Age is eroding the power of their institution. It turns out that material explanations for natural processes is much more satisfying than a bunch of outdated superstitious ideas and vague promises of life eternal. A formerly religious fan wrote to me recently put it better than I ever could:

I’ve always rebelled against those ideas [religion] but have never considered atheism nor have I ever done any kind of research on the origins of life, our planet, and the universe. Since becoming an atheist I’ve learned so much about these things. It’s really amazing how rejecting fairy tales really opens your mind to some really fucking amazing things.

Confused and afraid, the Church has only one “solution” for the problem: bringing it back to the love of Jesus, and making people understand that only their institution can properly hand out tickets to magical playland in the sky.They worry about an increasingly secularized world, combined with a weak-sauce form of spirituality that lacks the important tithing they cherish so much. As membership continues to slid, no doubt they see the writing on the wall.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York seems to understand that there’s a serious problem:

They [churchgoers] drift from her, get mad at the Church, grow lax, join another, or just give it all up,” he said, according to a text of his remarks posted on the Conference’s website (www.usccb.org).If this does not cause us pastors to shudder, I do not know what will. The reasons are multiple and well-rehearsed — and we need to take them seriously. The Church we passionately love is hardly some cumbersome, outmoded club of sticklers, with a medieval bureaucracy, silly human rules on fancy letterhead, one more movement rife with squabbles, opinions, and disagreement.

I totally agree. The Church is so much more than cumbersome, outmoded, silly and filled with squabbles and disagreement. It’s also a criminal organization that’s sheltered pedophiles and child rapists since its inception, been responsible for some of the most brutal genocides and massacres in our species history (Just ask the Cathari how they feel about the Church. Oh wait, you can’t, since they slaughtered them all), and still to this day continues to spread death and misery over their stupid objection to contraception.

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If you don’t remember the Dover Trials, then this documentary should refresh your memory. I’m not sure how long this video will be up (since i assume it’s probably breaking some annoying copyright law), so you better watch it before it’s gone. Recommend that you play it in the background. This puppy clocks in at almost two hours. Enjoy!

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Once in a while some confused religious person will venture on the site and express their dismay at the “hate” and intolerance on display. One such visitor felt that the real problem in the world is that folks just don’t do enough to try and respect one another:

a lot of hateful comments from the atheist camp here, why cant people just tolerate each other why are people always finding reasons to hate each other. i know atheists consider themselves better and more intelligent human beings than religious ones, well then if your so much better then why cant you be the ones to lead by example and show some respect and tolerance to others?

I don’t even know what the fuck he’s talking about this “atheists think they are better” nonsense. We just don’t cling to Bronze Age myths and pretend that the “revealed” words of lunatics is anything more than sheer fantasy. In a perfect world where superstitious bullshit didn’t cause wars, genocide, broken families, discourage the use of condoms to fight AIDS or undermine science education, maybe we would be more tolerant. But that’s not the world we lie in, and while it’s easy to pretend that you want everyone to get along, it’s only because you haven’t considered the consequences your own beliefs have on society.What we think about the nature of reality has a direct influence in the real world, and until you stop poisoning our minds with complete garbage, we’ll continue to mock your sincerely held beliefs and not apologize for it.

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While I hate their fucking commercials, I am rather pleased at the news that the Axe Deodorant spray (which smells a lot like hair spray from the 90′s) is causing something of a stir with Christians in South Africa. Apparently they don’t find the thought of an angel renouncing immortality in order to have a gang-bang amusing. Who would have thought?

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Not only does his name sound like a bad-ass metal band, but he is also the “Co-prophet of the End Times”. That’s nutjob for “I think Jesus chose me to deliver you the good news about his planned mass slaughter”. He’s so crazy that one scary sounding name fantasizing about the death of countless human beings was not enough.

Priceless moments include:
- Referring to “withdrawal” as a planned parenthood form of birth control.
- Objection to having the Pope tell us what to do is the devil talking.
- God invented the “Game of Sex”
- God punishes you with STD’s in this life and eternal torture in the next.
- Dude admits to own lack of popularity due to harshness of message

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There are lots of schools in the US that seemed to have missed the memo that any public educational institution is a secular institution, and that any form of religious prostelizing is strickly forbidden. An employee in North Carolina recently discovered that her elementary school has decided that a Christmas gift basket is the perfect opportunity to try and indoctrinate kids. While packing boxes for needy families in other countries, the school has asked the kids to sign form that ask them:

My Name is ______
I Live in _______
I love Jesus because ________”

It’s more of that annoying “charity at a price” we’ve come to expect from Christians. Their first job is always to try and spread their worthless gospel, and helping others is seen as a secondary goal. These people are too ignorant to realize that not everyone wants to hear crazy religious bullshit, especially if the only way to accept their charity is by listening to their pointless proselytisation. How about you just do nice things because people need help? Why do you need to bring your imaginary friend into everything?

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I think I’m a little jealous of this guy’s rant. I doubt the issue of gay rights can be summed up so succinctly than that, and the fact that someone else is being very funny feels extremely threatening to me.

Nah, I’m just fucking around. I like this guy. Here’s hoping i can find more interesting videos of this dude.

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You’re probably familiar with the Vatican claim that they are not to be blamed for abusive priests that sexually assaulted any children (which allows them to claim zero responsibility for the things people do while in their employ). What you may not be aware of, however, in that in July of this year, they attempted to use this defense legally, and it seems to have backfired. When the Church attempted to use this “We didn’t do nothing” defense in court against a woman who had been abused by Father Wilfred Baldwin in the 1970′s, the judge would have none of it.

The judge said although there had been no formal contract between the church and the priest, the late Father Baldwin, there were “crucial features” that should be recognised.

It is the first time a court has ruled that the relationship between a Catholic priest and his bishop is akin to an employment relationship. It sets a precedent for similar cases, by providing further guidance for such trials in the future, while also putting the church in uncharted territory

The landmark case has just rejected this argument, paving the way for other victims of abuse to start holding the Holy See responsible for their complicity in the abuse. In other words, it means that the rich coffers of the Vatican are up for grabs for their many victims who cannot seek any other form of justice (Father Baldwin had been dead for many years by the time the trial happened). The war isn’t over yet, folks, since they can appeal the decision. Still, I feel as though we’ve won this battle.

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Fans of the show have been asking me what TGA host Jeff has been up to, and so I’ll allow this comic to give you a little preview. This comic is in response to parents attempting to give their children chicken pox through contaminated candy. Yep, these morons want to “avoid” giving their children autism (which has no link to vaccination) by giving their children a virulent form of a disease rather than a weakened one. What are you supposed to say to someone who is that fundamentally ignorant?

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Yet another quality video from Youtube sensation QualiSoup, and this time, he focuses on some of William Lane Craig’s arguments that only a God can allow for objective morality. I haven’t had time to read Sam Harris’ new book, so I can’t pretend to know what his arguments are, but I’ve always been suspicious of the idea that objective morality exists. That’s not to suggest that we should all throw our hands in the air and call it a day. It just means that we have to refine our moral muscle to ensure that we achieve, as Jeremy Bentham would have said, the “greatest happiness principle”.

Besides, the idea that only a supernatural entity can decide what is objectively moral and what is not would mean that any decision taken by that entity which we disagreed with (like God commanding the killing of all Midianites, including babies) would automatically be immoral. Does that sound like an attractive solution when trying to determine what moral choices we should make?

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