Scientology is messed up. What else do you expect from a “religion” created by a poor science-fiction writer with delusions of grandeur? There’s so much wrong with it, it’s hard to know exactly where to start the list of fucked up shit they do. Convince people with mental disabilities or brain imbalances that drugs are bad, vitamins are the answer and psychiatry is evil? Check. Find a way to take more and more money from your members from bogus auditing that costs more and more cash? Check. Have “work-camps” where people essentially do slave labor in exchange for more stupid auditing, and refuse to release people who want to leave? Oh, you better believe that’s a check.

A former Church of Scientology member has claimed she was held against her will aboard the Church’s cruise ship, The Freewinds, for 12 years.

Valeska Paris, an Australian resident, said she was forced onto the ship by the Church’s leader, David Miscavige, when she was 17 after her mother tried to dissociate her from the organisation.

Yeah, totally not creepy at all: They effectively hold a young woman captive for a decade, and then claim she was there of her own free will. Too bad some of her fellow members actually have the guts to back up her story, or that there are loads of similar complaints. I’m beginning to wonder if any prosecutor with a set of balls is going to bother to try and bring this evil organization to justice. Here is a clear group of deranged psychos with a shit-ton of money doing anything they want with impunity since given the magical status of religion. Why is it we’re always willing to suffer the worst offenses against people if it’s done by an organized body of nonsense?

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For those of you that still naively believe that believing in nonsense can’t harm you, I present to you reason #1,697,456 why religion is fucking evil: a church called the Synagogue Church of All Nations has apparently been telling some of their parishioners that they don’t need to take their AIDS medication in favor of prayer. As you can guess, a number of premature deaths have occurred, and while officials inside the Church deny having told people to stop taking medication, the organization still claims to have cured a number of cancers in parishioners on its own website. This fact alone should be enough to warrant an investigation, and in anticipation of this, an undercover journalist decided to see just what kinds of claims were being made in this dangerous nuthouse.

The video above is from one of the branches in Southwark, and posing as someone with full blown AIDS, this journalist gets a preview of the kind of dangerous, irresponsible and deadly advice these charlatans are giving sick and desperate people. AIDS medication is extremely effective when taken properly, but these bastards trying to make a quick buck have robbed them of existence. I can see of no greater crime that to steal away a person’s life for one’s personal gain. It absolutely makes me sick.

These fucks also try to sell a whole slew of bullshit products, including anointed water, DVD’s and “Partner Training” programs for anyone interested in starting their own deadly franchise. Remember folks: god is all powerful, but he has an insatiable lust for your material possessions. He used to want your best baby goats and lambs; now he just wants all your fucking money.

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You’ve probably noticed the new tactic from bigoted religionists claiming that their rights (specifically the right to discriminate against people for their sexual orientation) are being infringed. Well, this strategy has now morphed into a baseless accusation of fascism by a right wing nutjob named Alan Craig. He’s determined that the threat of wider acceptance of same-sex marriage as a sign of Fascism. The authors clever word for this sheer nonsense is “Gaystopo”.

the hidden hegemonic ambitions of the Gaystapo have been exposed recently by their plans to annex and redefine ‘marriage’. They already have achieved equal rights through civil partnerships, so to covet the word and undermine a foundation-stone of our civilisation – and nurturing place for our children – betrays other more ominous intentions. They want to change our language, manipulate our culture and thereby impose their world-view on us all. Cultural domination is their aim and fascist-type intolerance of politically-incorrect dissent is their weapon. The eradication of marriage as “the life-long union between a man and a woman” is a huge next step along their way.

It’s funny how, when this “cultural hegemony” isn’t specifically Christian, the right suddenly decides that any changes to our attitudes as a culture must inherently be tyrannical in nature. He doesn’t even comprehend the fact that his religion’s main goal is to force THEIR beliefs on others. This is why unconstitutional and grossly homophobic laws like Prop 8 and DOMA make his argument so ironic. Here is an obvious example of a right leaning ideology (the same spectrum that fascism finds itself under) that imposes its set of values on others who don’t share their limited world view. He even has the audacity to call the gay rights movement, and liberalism in general, as “liberal fascism”. The combination of these two words make about as much sense as “Christian thinker”.

When readers started complaining about the author’s use of Nazi imagery, he first tried to claim that he didn’t really believe that the two were comparable, and that he really has a “live and let live attitude”. This brings up the pertinent question: “Why the fuck did you write your article, jackass?”.

I cannot be clearer that I am not, repeat not, saying all gay people are Nazis any more than I’d say all Muslims are Islamists or all Germans were fascists. It would be self-evident nonsense….Obviously they aren’t military or violent, but they are militant, intolerant, hypocritical and vindictive…It’s their way or no way – the totalitarian mind-set.

Yeah, he’s not saying ALL of them are: just enough that their “pink jackboots” footprints can be seen on the necks of poor, hardworking Christians who just want to disapprove of their lifestyle in peace. The problem is that this complete distortion of reality ignores the constant attempts by Christians to impose THEIR values and morals on others. Christians have never really feared totalitarianism; the Catholic Church singed the Reichskonkordat with the Nazis specifically to ensure that their interests would coincide with those of Hitler’s Germany. I find it quite illuminating that when they attempt to use the state to PREVENT gays from marrying, they casually ignore the fact that they themselves have used their power to put their “Jesus jackboots” on the throats of people who simply want to devote their lives to one another, and have the same legal rights as others.

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The New Tithe from Justin Wilson on Vimeo.

Man, there are days when I feel like I’m in the wrong profession. My religious counterparts swim in money while I continue to struggle for my existence. Are religious people more generous? Do they think their causes are more important than ours? When will we start seriously supporting secular organizations the way religious people support theirs? Not being a religion, I have to file my taxes and pay the government what little I have while these rich pastors enjoy tax free monies.

There are a few TGA fans that occasionally give more than the minimum. It’s because of these people that TGA still exists (the amount I charge for shows will not become profitable until the podcast grows to roughly 3 times its current size). So, thanks all of you that have helped keep this operation afloat. If this video makes you feel generous, you are aware that there is a donate button, right?

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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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Untitled from Giant Midget on Vimeo.

Yes, I realize that “religion” and”scam” are synonymous, but these kinds of evangelical preachers are a special breed. Maybe it’s the way they relish in luxury while the poor continue to dump their money into his giant garbage-bins. Either way, when this bullshit gets exported to Nigeria, it takes on a whole life of it’s own. Check out scumbag “Dr.” Sign Fireman and his little racket.

(via Atheist Media Blog)

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Every so often, I hear someone claim that honor killings have nothing to do with Islam. While it’s true that the practice is actually older than the religion (it is, after all, the “new kid on the block” compared to the other two Abrahamic Religions), it seems as though this barbaric ritual has found fertile ground in this religion. While the practice has it’s roots in much older Arab patriarchal societies that tried desperately to control women’s reproductive rights, it’s now become a kind of punishment for any perceived infraction of their twisted morality.

Take the story of 17 year old Rand Abdel-Qader as an example: this young omen had the misfortune of falling in love with a British soldier stationed in Basra, and when the family found out about the infatuation (the innocence of which cannot be overstated), they teamed up to strangle her to death and left her body in an unmarked shallow grave. Her father’s only regret now is that he did not murder his daughter while she was still an innocent child:

‘Death was the least she deserved,’ said Abdel-Qader. ‘I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,’ he said.
‘I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I know God is blessing me for what I did,’ he said, his voice swelling with pride. ‘My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.’

If you’re hoping for some kind of happy ending to this story (like this shitty father being incarcerated for murder), then I’m sorry to inform you that the cops were congratulating him for having the balls to kill his own child. The worse they’ve done is fire him from his job, although the local government official did give him money to lay low in Jordan for a while. Isn’t it nice to know you have the support of your community when you’re an infantacidal, religious douchebag?

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Fan of the show William is beaming with pride, and with good reason: he’s a member of the Reno Coalition of Reason, and they’re celebrating the erection of this billboard, asking: “are you good without God? Millions are!”. It’s great to see how effective atheists have gotten at organizing and spreading the word that non-believers aren’t a fringe group. We’re much larger than anyone imagines, and we’re getting pretty sick and tired of religious people shoving their religion (among other things) down our throats.

Congratulations on getting the job done, boys and girls!

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I’m digging this new satirical, lampooning Thunderfoot. I’ve read some chatter about how this Youtube giant should stick with his old bag of tricks, but I think the science stuff was getting a little stale by now. We don’t have a lot of arguments left to win against Religion (today’s challenge: try and name one). The best solution so far is to spoof their crazy bullshit right in their faces. I say if you’re going to believe in nonsense, I’m going to make fun of you for it. I’m a dick, and I’m loving it (as is the Religious Antagonist).

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