From the songwriter’s own words:

I wrote a song called GOD SAID after watching Pat Robertson declare that the earthquake in Haiti was because of a curse from God. After hearing A man named Rev Wiley say that he was praying for President Obama’s death during the election (the prayer didn’t work BTW). After hearing people fiddle around with the idea of a curse on Japan after their recent disaster. After hearing about Koran burnings and battles that seem to have peoples interpretations of religious texts at the foundation of them all.

I’m not one of those who claims that religion is the ONLY thing that causes all of the wars and bloodshed, but it has caused many. But not necessarily even the religion but the interpretetation of a few dangerous minds put into the wrong position of power or influence. I figured it was time to have a conversation with extremists like this, and put that kind of thinking in it’s proper perspective.

I’m sure there will be some disagreements. I put some of my more radical ideas in there, and there will probably be some disagreement about a few things here and there. That’s ok with me, I’m all for civil discussion and people having their own ideas. I don’t mean any harm, but they’re my ideas (and the directors- we all pitched in). There will be places to have these discussions, but mostly, I tried to stick to the unifying point, which is anti extremism and fundamentalism. I mean well by it. I encourage THOUGHT, REASON, LOVE, and RESPECT. I hope that comes across at the very least.

It’s a great song with a powerful message. I don’t think we could ask for anything better.

Spread the outrage

Remember a few months ago, when people still cared about the plight of Haiti (you know, before the world lost interest and turned their attention to something else), and a group of missionaries were facing charges of child kidnapping? Well, it looks like despite breaking the law, they’ve been sentence to time served (which amounts to roughly 3 months and 8 days), and they’ve been released.

Despite strong evidence that she knew the children she took all had at least one parent, and despite repeated warnings she received concerning the legality of what she was about to do, it seems as though the fact that she was motivated by religious charity has somehow absolved her and her group of this serious crime. Personally, I think they should have spent a lot more time in jail for it, but I’m sure the country just wants to move on and put this whole thing behind them (they are also probably still busy trying to rebuilt their shattered capital).

In a predictable fashion, Laura Silsby, the “brains” of the group praised God for the ruling. Was this the same God who commanded you to go down to a foreign country and kidnap children to whisk them away to “white people land” to save them from the evils of Haiti (who according to Pat Robertson made a pact with the devil)?

You have to wonder what kind of message the Haitian government sent with this weaksause ruling. For a country that has a serious problem with children being kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery, this doesn’t make them look very strong on the issue of child endangerment. You also have to wonder: if the people that had done this weren’t religious missionaries, would the court have been so lenient?

Spread the outrage

It must be nice to not have to answer to any authority whatsoever when you’ve committed a series of heinous crimes. While the secular world tries to grow enough balls to bring Pope Benedict XVI to justice (I really wouldn’t hold my breath, people), the pontiff is still free to try and play down the seriousness of the allegations against him and other senior officials in the Vatican. Recently, the Pope sent out a broadcast on Vatican radio praying for the victims of earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and for “all the victims of child abuse”.

Isn’t just like a Christian to do something wrong and then ask for forgiveness? It’s a lot easier than actually bothering to do the right thing or actually bothering to pay for your crimes. Hey, don’t they believe that a 2000 year old dead Jewish guy has already paid for their past and future sins? Must be nice to not have to deal with anything and instead beg some invisible sky-daddy to be absolved.

During his address, he sated that “From God comes the courage not to be intimidated by petty gossip”. Yes, I’m sure it takes a lot of courage for you to simply ignore your role in furthering the abuse of priests, and harboring them from prosecution. You’re so brave! All that “petty gossip” about hundreds and thousands of kids being abused must really bother you when you’re enjoying all the luxuries afforded by your position.

Every time this sack of shit opens his mouth, he’s sending a big “fuck you” to the rest of the world that doesn’t believe in his fairytale bullshit. We’re too damn gutless here in the West to do anything about it, lest it offend people of “religious faith”. Yep, because he’s a religious leader, we’ll kick up some dust and condemn his actions, but it’s doubtful we’ll have the balls to do much more. If we could finally start standing up to these religious loonies, we would live in a much different world, that’s for damn sure.

Spread the outrage

Ignorance of the law is not an adequate defense. If you don’t believe me, try debating a parking ticket in Montreal (which has possibly the most convoluted and confusing parking laws in the world). This important lesson appears to be lost on the 10 Baptists that were jailed a few days ago for allegedly trying to sneak 33 kids across the Haitian border over to the Dominican Republic. Now, trapped in jail and feeling abandoned by their government, they’ve started complaining that the Obama Administration should be fighting to have them released.

The first and most obvious question would be: why the fuck should they? These idiots broke the law, and it doesn’t matter if they wanted to try to do the right thing; they didn’t and now they have to be ready to face the consequences of their actions. Haiti is a sovereign nation, and as such, it has the right to prosecute any foreign visitor that violates their laws.

The prisoners are complaining that the only help they’ve received has been from NGO’s. What were they expecting? They weren’t caught with a bag of weed at a tropical resort here; Haiti is a fucking mess, and the priority isn’t on getting a bunch of crybaby religious missionaries back home. It turns out that when you travel to disaster ravaged countries, you don’t get 5 star treatment at the local prison. Hey, just be grateful that you aren’t sleeping out in the muddy streets, like some people. There are plenty of desperate folks that would literally KILL to have the food and medicine you’re enjoying.

Spread the outrage

A group of 10 missionaries with little experience and few braincells have been arrested in Haiti for suspected child trafficking after they attempted to sneak 33 kids out of the country. The 5 women and 5 men are all members of a small Baptist church in Idaho, and claim they were merely trying to help all these poor kids find new homes and new parents. The problem with their plan is that not only did they have no documentation; a significant portion of the children they were attempting to sneak to the Dominican Republic were not actually orphans.

This whole business has caused a huge stir, and the government is worried that more children might be taken away from their homes and loved ones and sold as sex workers (it was already a problem BEFORE the earthquake). The president has declared that he must personally approve every adoption to avoid any more potential child trafficking while the dust settles.

Now I’m going to give these idiots the benefit of the doubt; I’m sure they thought they were rescuing all of these children from a life of both poverty, and more specifically, evil voodoo magic. Unfortunately, since so many aid services are run by similarly well meaning religionists with brains two sizes two small, many locals are distraught that the priority is often on conversion, and not the actual welfare of Haitians.

“There are many who come here with religious ideas that belong more in the time of the inquisition,” said Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti’s Voodoo Priest’s Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses. “These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves. We need compassion, not proselytizing now, and we need aid — not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.”

The government hasn’t decided if they are going to prosecute these morons, but this whole affair could have some serious consequences for other religious groups hoping to offer aid. I would put it plainly: we’ll take your money, but you can keep your fucking religion to yourself.

(props James and Jeff for the link)

Spread the outrage

Looks like John Travolta is a man of his word; a few days ago he was talking about flying a bunch of his weirdos in yellow shirts to the devastated country, and a news report has come out stating that a “private donor” has sent 80 volunteer (along with 50 real doctors) down there.

The problem right now is that the huge influx of volunteers in the country has actually slowed down aid relief. Some are just showing up without a plan, and simply end up having to leech off aid that would otherwise be going to Haitians. They need fucking money, not volunteers (especially not the proselytizing kind).

Right now the only thing they’ve done is gone around “touching” people, claiming this has healing properties. This bullshit practice is so ludicrisly stupid, I’ll have to let one of their zombies describe it for me:

“We’re trained as volunteer ministers, we use a process called ‘assist’ to follow the nervous system to reconnect the main points, to bring back communication,” she said.

“When you get a sudden shock to a part of your body the energy gets stuck, so we re-establish communication within the body by touching people through their clothes, and asking people to feel the touch.”

You know, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world; the last thing they need is a “religion” that charges exorbitant amount of monies to become “clear” of thetans. The 400,000 it costs to send these clowns down there could have been better spent on food and water, honestly. When are people going to learn that sometimes, the best way to help is to get the fuck out of the way?

(props to James for the find)

Spread the outrage

It’s not enough that religious wackos like Pat Robertson claim that Haiti is suffering because the country made a pact with the devil; now other morons are coming out and saying similarly insensitive and terrible shit. The latest scumbag is Dr. Wesley Stafford, who had this to say:

Haiti … has been a disaster in almost every way long before this ever struck. And it is a nation, between you and me, I guess, that Satan has had absolutely free reign in that nation. And while the missionary effort and the church effort has been enormous, this is a nation that you can literally feel the evil in it. But then as the church lives out its faith, having come through this deep, deep valley, my great prayer is that there will be a great wave of healing and change in the nation of Haiti … that could only come about through an interruption like this and only happen through the glory of God.

Here’s the thing: Stafford’s organization is apparently on the up and up (receiving a high rating by an independent Charity watchdog), and beyond teaching kids their idiotic beliefs, they seem to do good work. That doesn’t mean, however, that he can say such hateful shit without consequence. He’s blaming Haitians for being so poor, suggesting that the reason the country lost 200,000 people in a tragic natural disaster is because God is punishing them in some way.

This is what I detest about American Christians; they equate prosperity as God’s way of rewarding good people. They can’t seem to fathom that there may be far more complicated geopolitical reasons for poverty; mainly, that their own country supported terrible dictatorships that only exacerbated the poverty and desperation of Haiti. Sure, his organization helps desperate people in the third world, but this could also be done without his smug hubris that these same impoverished nations are cursed by his Sky deity for not “following the Lord words properly”. I feel embarrassed for the human race when such ignorance is so rampant.

Spread the outrage

Haiti is still suffering  from the aftermath of a devastating earthquake, and by all reports, there still isn’t enough food, water, and medicine to go around. Luckily, an organization called “Faith Comes By Hearing” has a solution for these desperate people; they are sending them 600 audio Bibles. The Proclaimer, as it’s called, is a solar powered / crank operated device that can blast out 15 hours of the New Testament for everyone to hear.

Peoples’ houses are crumbled, their families are shattered and they are living in ruins. Haitians will need that long-term hope and comfort that comes from knowing God has not forgotten them through this tragedy,” said Wilke

If you feel sick to your stomach from the fact that this organization is effectively using this tragedy to proselytize their stupid religion, you aren’t the only one. Aid delivery is by all accounts painfully slow, so these morons are taking up people’s valuable time delivering radios to people who need blankets, food and medicine rather than “the good word”.

There will be plenty of time for them to try and convince a population devastated by continual earthquakes that an invisible  deity did this for some fucking  reason (“He” works in some pretty mysterious ways, don’t you know), but now is not the fucking time. Stay the hell out of the way and let the organizations that are actually helping people do their jobs properly. If you still think they need your stupid radios, this quote might help you gain some perspective on the situation down there:

“We were forced to buy a saw in the market to continue amputations,” the group’s Loris de Filippi told the Reuters news agency in Cite Soleil.

Does your fucking radio play loud enough to drown out the sound of screaming?

Spread the outrage

I complain about Christian charity organizations all the time, but since most of the population in Haiti actually believes in the same religion (with a few added voodoo rituals), I’m not really that worried about their incessant need to proselytize. What I AM concerned about, however, is John Travolta and his marry band of Scientologists making a surprise flight to the devastated country. I guess Haiti is in desperate need of e-meters or something, and the yellow shirted weirdos will be going around giving vitamins and “touch assists” to people in need.

Why don’t you stay out of everyone’s way John? The last thing they need is another religious organization trying to peddle their ridiculous beliefs; they need water, food, and most importantly, money. Instead of spending all that dough to send your thetan peddling zombies to the country, why don’t you write the Red Cross a big fat check and stay the fuck out of dodge. Of course, I’m forgetting the possibility that perhaps his plane might crash into the Ocean on the way there…a man can dream, can’t he?

(via Pharyngula)

Spread the outrage