Category: Religion

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I'll Pray for You

From Rosa Rubicondior:

What the Pious really mean.

I'll pray for you because:

  • If I tell the truth and say I hate you people won't think I'm a kind, caring person.
  • I want you to think I have some power over you that you can't do anything about.
  • I like to think I have some power over you that you can't do anything about.
  • I like to think I have an invisible friend who gets those who won't agree with me about everything.
  • I can't be bothered to learn stuff but I want people to think I'm better than you in some way.
  • I want you to feel guilty about beating me in an argument because I should be allowed to win every time even though I can't be bothered to learn stuff.
  • You won't agree with me so I'll try threatening you with my really powerful imaginary friend.
  • I want people to think I'm religious because I'm hoping to get away with people thinking I'm a person they can trust.
  • I can't counter your argument so I want to threaten you whilst making other people think I'm your morally superior.
  • I want my friends to be impressed with my smugly self-satisfied piety.
  • I want people to think I'm so special I have a close personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe who makes my wishes come true.
  • It costs me nothing and is much easier than doing something practical to help.
  • Pretending to be other peoples' moral superior makes me feel good about myself.
  • If there really is a god I'm hoping to impress it with my piety so I show it off at every opportunity.
  • What use is religion if you can't use it as a weapon when you need to?
  • What use is religion if you can't use it to try to elevate yourself above other people?
  • I'd really like to abuse you physically but I can only use words and make-believe.

Isn't it great the way religion can be used against other people is so many different ways? Has mankind ever devised any better source of excuses for the morally bankrupt than religion?

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"Go Ahead, Touch It."

"Mary B. Moron, of Sarnia, OH was indicted today for multiple counts of child abuse and willful neglect. Her 5 year old son was recently photographed in the company of at least three known pedophiles, and no parent or guardian was present.

In the indictment, the state claims that Ms. Moron deliberately took her son to a den of pedophilia and criminal activity. Shockingly, she also left a large sum of her own money with the leaders of the criminal organization."

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10 Questions to Help Determine if Your Religious Liberty Is Being Threatened

From a great little post over at Alternet:

This simple quiz will let you know if you're being oppressed.

1. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to go to a religious service of my own choosing.
B) Others are allowed to go to religious services of their own choosing.

2. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to marry the person I love legally, even though my religious community blesses my marriage.
B) Some states refuse to enforce my own particular religious beliefs on marriage on those two guys in line down at the courthouse.

3. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am being forced to use birth control.
B) I am unable to force others to not use birth control.

4. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to pray privately.
B) I am not allowed to force others to pray the prayers of my faith publicly.

5. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) Being a member of my faith means that I can be bullied without legal recourse.
B) I am no longer allowed to use my faith to bully gay kids with impunity.

6. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to purchase, read or possess religious books or material.
B) Others are allowed to have access books, movies and websites that I do not like.

7. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) My religious group is not allowed equal protection under the establishment clause.
B) My religious group is not allowed to use public funds, buildings and resources as we would like, for whatever purposes we might like.

8. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) Another religious group has been declared the official faith of my country.
B) My own religious group is not given status as the official faith of my country.

9. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) My religious community is not allowed to build a house of worship in my community.
B) A religious community I do not like wants to build a house of worship in my community.

10. My religious liberty is at risk because:

A) I am not allowed to teach my children the creation stories of our faith at home.
B) Public school science classes are teaching science.

Scoring key:

If you answered "A" to any question, then perhaps your religious liberty is indeed at stake. You and your faith group have every right to now advocate for equal protection under the law. But just remember this one little, constitutional, concept: this means you can fight for your equality—not your superiority.

If you answered "B" to any question, then not only is your religious liberty not at stake, but there is a strong chance that you are oppressing the religious liberties of others. This is the point where I would invite you to refer back to the tenets of your faith, especially the ones about your neighbors.

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Here Comes the Whaaaaaambulance!

The billboards are being called "incendiary" by all the usual suspects, but personally I feel the time is long overdue for all bigoted, hateful religions to get a major public smackdown.

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A Little Yoke

Q: What does the pope like best about twenty eight year-olds?

A: There are twenty of them.

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week!

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Some Thoughts on the Colorado Springs Fire and the Hypocrisy of Religion

Let me start by saying that the wildfires burning south of Denver are a horrible tragedy. Thankfully—as I understand it at this point in time—there has only been property damage and no loss of human life.

I still remember vividly the Oakland Hills fire in 1991 and the devastation left in its wake. While I was not personally affected by that fire, being a resident of the Bay Area I still felt an enormous sadness in seeing my neighbors across the bay lose so much.

However, as I watch the news and see the homes and businesses going up in flames in Colorado Springs, I feel none of that empathy this time.

And that brings me to the subject of religious—particularly Christian—hypocrisy.

Colorado Springs is home to Focus on the Family, one of the most well-funded, virulently anti-gay hate groups in the country. And as I've noted in previous posts, that pious, holier-than-thou, rah-rah-USA-we're-number-one, church-on-every-corner ostentatious display of wealth that permeates the city makes my skin crawl whenever I have to travel there to service our satellite office.

Let's be honest: if this tragedy struck San Francisco, or Los Angeles, or New York, or basically any location that supports acceptance of the gay community, the hate groups nationwide would be jumping up and down with glee, trumpeting it as "God's righteous judgment against the heathen sodomites." But since this tragedy has affected God's own supposedly chosen people, you won't hear a peep. If anything, they will say that "God is testing their faith."

Uh huh.

The same goes for hurricanes, tornadoes and a host of other natural disasters that strike the deep south and the so-called "Bible Belt." You'll never hear God's Gentle People even considering the possibility that their Magic Sky Fairy isn't testing their faith—that he's pissed as hell and raining down judgement on them for the amount of unmitigated hate they spew at their fellow human beings.

So while my lack of empathy this time is based in part because I'm not emotionally invested in this community the way I was in San Francisco, the majority of it stems from the fact that I—even though it probably labels me a heartless bastard and no better than the people I've just written about—can't help feeling some smug satisfaction in seeing karma in action and that indeed, she is a bitch.

So yeah, what's happening in Colorado Springs is a tragedy for the people who live there and I'm sorry for the tremendous material losses. But if AFA Headquarters, and even the Air Force Academy itself—another breeding ground for anti-gay Xtianist propaganda—happens to burn to the ground, you won't find me shedding a single tear.

 

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Quote of the Day

"Why don't I believe in God?  No, no, no…why do you believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, 'Why don't you believe I can fly?' you'd say, 'Why would I?' I'd reply, 'Because it's a matter of faith.' If I then said, 'Prove I can't fly. Prove I can't fly. See? See? You can't prove it, can you?' You'd probably either walk away, call security, or throw me out the window and shout, 'Fucking fly then, you lunatic!'" ~ Ricky Gervais

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Douchebag of the Day

So Porno Pete LaBarbera (the guy who trawls the Folsom Street Fair and other gay gatherings to capture photos for his "research" and self-proclaimed leader of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality) is flapping his jowls again—in between going down on rent boys—this time at a Hate conference in Spain:

"Simply put, we as a movement must conquer whatever timidity, fear and political correctness we have in NOT wanting to debate the morality of homosexuality–because our fanatically driven LGBT opponents will never relent in their audacious campaign 'sell' homosexuality to the public. Notice that while many conservatives shrink from the homosexuality debate, self-described 'queer' activists never back-track in their misguided, indeed, pathological quest to compel society to approve of their aberrant 'lifestyles.'"

Hey Petey Boy…lets try putting that sequined pump on the other foot:

"Simply put, we as a movement must conquer whatever timidity, fear and political correctness we have in NOT wanting to debate the morality of Christianism –because our fanatically driven 'Christian' opponents will never relent in their audacious campaign 'sell' Christianity to the public. Notice that while many progressives shrink from the Christianity debate, self-described 'pro-family' activists never back-track in their misguided, indeed, pathological quest to compel society to approve of their aberrant 'religious freedom.'"

How does that feel going down, Petey Boy? Probably not as good as those Spanish rent boys…

(That you're totally doing for research purposes, of course.)

Dude, we get it. You hate us. You really, really hate us. So stop wrapping your hate in the trappings of Christian Love® and just say it. At least then you'd be telling the truth.

In case you haven't noticed, this isn't the 1950s, where Negros moved to the back of the bus, a woman's place was barefoot and pregnant, and filthy homos were beaten with impunity, extorted, and made to cower in the darkness. The Millennial Generation doesn't care who loves who, and they see your bald-faced bigotry for what it is: psychological projection of your own inner desires that you can't reconcile with your all-consuming self-hatred. Every time you open your mouth and start spouting off about sin and the impending destruction of Western Civilization because of the acceptance of homosexuality, you're moving one step closer to total irrelevance and announcing to the world that you are, in fact, one big self-hating homo.

You and your little band of "culture warriors" have already lost the war. Give up and surrender.