“When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

– Sir Stephen H. Roberts, Australian Academic, Author, Historian, 1901-1971

Time to get the scissors

“Without freewill, if we ultimately had no control over our goals and choices, if all of our actions were simply the inevitable operation of forces outside of ourselves (god’s will) , then to many of us life would seem bleak indeed.” — Peter Voss – Entrepreneur, Inventor, Engineer, Scientist.

There are those who think that life is nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive.
“The stars aren’t aligned
Or the gods are malign”-
Blame is better to give than receive.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that’s clear-
I will choose Free Will.
There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them- they weren’t born in lotus-land.

All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can’t pray for a place
In heaven’s unearthly estate.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that’s clear-
I will choose Free Will.

Each of us-
A cell of awareness-
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that’s far too fleet.

- Free Will – Lyrics by Rush drummer and lyricist, Neil Peart, one of the most intelligent and gifted drummers in the history of percussion.
Neil plays with machine-like precision and technical prowess. Plus, it kicks ass.

Rush YYZ – Live in Brazil

Hypocrite of the year. Source: quickmeme.com

The title of this post is a direct quote from Bill Keller (actually it’s from 2007, but Keller hasn’t changed his mind). Keller is supposedly “the world’s leading Internet Evangelist” and founder of LivePrayer.com, with over 2.4 million subscribers. Bill Keller describes Mormonism as a “cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith.”

Some of the Mormon requirements and beliefs are really, really odd and just serve to increase its status in the eyes of Christians as a “cult”. For example: young, unmarried Mormon men are required to do two years of door-to-door proselytizing. I’m sure you’ve seen them; creepy guys in white shirts and ties wearing backpacks, always traveling in pairs. During this time of “service”, they are allowed on the internet for only 20 minutes a day and only allowed to visit ONE website: mormon.org. They’re taught that god is a flesh and blood person of substance, living on a planet near a star they call Kolob (sound a little like Scientology?) with his wives. Yes, apparently god himself is a polygamist. They also believe that Jesus and Satan were once brothers and that Jesus was also a polygamist. And let us not forget the magic underwear.

For more Mormon ridiculousness, see one of my earlier posts.

It might be hard for a prospective Mormon to believe in all this shit, so they are encouraged to pray to god to ask if the book of Mormon is true. They are told that the answer will come to them by means of a “burning sensation in their bosom”. A little Taco Bell before prayer apparently helps.

You can see how Christians have issues with all this. In a Public Religion Research Institute poll released in November, 49% of evangelical voters surveyed said they do not regard the Mormon faith as a Christian religion. Craig Berman, who did a short stint as Newt Gingrich’s Iowa State Political Director said that nominating a Mormon would result in “President Obama’s re-election… as a punishment from God.”

So, this is a call to all self-proclaimed right-wing Christians who would vote Republican in November. Unless you are a complete hypocrite, you simply cannot vote for Romney. Surely, the supposed 2.4 million subscribers to Bill Keller’s website certainly cannot in good conscience vote for that heathen, hell-bound Mormon. Since it now appears inevitable that Romney will indeed receive the nomination from the Republican party, it stands to reason that any true Christian Republican has two only choices: Vote for Obama or do not vote at all.

Christopher Hitchens : Champion of reason

Due to the Roman Catholic origins of “Rest in Peace”, I feel it’s inappropriate here.
So, I’ll just say this: Thank you, Mr. Hitchens. It’s unfortunate that you couldn’t have been here a little longer.

A couple of my favorite Hitchens quotes:

“[George W Bush] is unusually incurious, abnormally unintelligent, amazingly inarticulate, fantastically uncultured, extraordinarily uneducated, and apparently quite proud of all these things.” – On Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC, 2000

“The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more.”

“It’s just impossible for me to picture life without wine.”

Hitchen’s revised commandments:

1. Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or color.
2. Do not ever use people as private property.
3. Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.
4. Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.
5. Do not condemn people for their inborn nature.
6. Be aware that you too are an animal and dependent on the web of nature, and think and act accordingly.
7. Do not imagine that you can escape judgment if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife.
8. Turn off that fucking cell phone—you have no idea how unimportant your call is to us.
9. Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions.
10. Be willing to renounce any god or any religion if any holy commandments should contradict any of the above.

In short: Do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.

About Mr. Hitchens

Thou shalt displayeth spectacle, pagentry and drama. And all the sheep shall sayeth their "oooo's and ahhhh's".

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” — Jesus, as quoted in Mark 10:25

If you believe in Jesus’ own words, then televangelist Robert Schuller is going to the deepest, warmest depths of hell. Which is ironic, because he probably believes he’s got a solid reservation in heaven, seated at the left hand of god. (right hand is already reserved) Schuller is filthy rich. He got rich selling spiritual snake-oil to the gullible masses for cash. And he was very, very good at it. One only has to look at the Crystal Cathedral to see how good of a salesman he was.  Alas, all good things must end. When the church was filing for bankruptcy in 2010, Schuller’s compensation was about $447,000, according to the creditors.

“…a foole and his money is soone parted.” — John Bridges, 1587

Where did all this money come from? The poor congregant’s donations and dutifully paid tithes. What’s a tithe? Oh, it’s a great deal. You give the church 10% of your income (gross preferred) to ensure yourself a nice, comfy, seat on the heavenly cloud of your choice.

After many years of spending tons of cash on a bunch of hugely expensive productions, paying ridiculously high salaries for his staff (filled with family members and relatives) and living a lavish lifestyle that would make Donald Trump blush, poor Bobby told his creditors (whom he owed between $50 million and $100 million) he couldn’t pay his bills. Even Schuller’s own son, whom Schuller essentially kicked out of the church, is claiming that he’s owed $1.4 million.  What did he have to say to his congregants one week after filing for bankruptcy? Did he say that he was donating his salary and selling his house to save the Crystal Cathedral? Hell no. He asked for MORE money of course: “If you are a tither, become a double-tither. If you are not a tither, become a tither.”  If that’s not quite enough avarice for you, Schuller is saying that he’s still entitled to $300,000 a year for the rest of his life.

“[The Schullers] completely depleted the church’s funds, but they have shown that they have absolutely no remorse for what they’ve done. They’re still being chauffeured around in limos. We, the congregants, have nothing.” — Crystal Cathedral Church Member (most likely EX-member at this point) , Bob Canfield.

The icing on the cake is that they actually sold it to the Catholics. To a Catholic, the protestants are heretics. To the evangelicals, Catholics are the devil incarnate.
How delightful.

Article

I’m only posting this because I know that it really pisses the “Rat” off…

The infamous "crazy eyes" Newsweek cover.

“The Lord says: Be submissive, wives. You are to be submissive to your husbands.”  - Michelle Bachmann, 2006

At the recent GOP debate, Washington Examiner reporter Byron York reminded Bachmann about her 2006 statement and about her only taking a tax job because her husband asked her to.  Byron then asked a perfectly legitimate question, based on Bachmann’s own statements, her past behavior and her biblical beliefs:  ”As president, would you be submissive to your husband?”

Incredibly, in a building full of right-wing “christian”  bible-following Iowans – this question elicited a cacophony of boos from the audience.  Boos?!?  This submissiveness of wives to husbands is a biblical command for Christ sakes!  My guess is that the “christian” crowd temporarily forgot this fact. Should Bachmann’s statement and her belief of wives being completely submissive to their husbands anger any wife with half a brain and an ounce of self-respect?  Of course, but Bachman was just reiterating what the bible states over and over:

• “get married, bear children, keep house” 1 Timothy 5:14  (My favorite – but they forgot “and keep your mouth shut”)
• “…Women will be preserved through….self-restraint.” 1 Timothy 2:15
• “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.”  1 Timothy 2:11-12
• “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak but they are to be submissive….And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for women to speak in church.”  1 Corinthians 14:34
  
• “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man…Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.”  1 Corinthians 11:3-9
  
• “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  Genesis 2:18

“The greatest crime in the history of Christianity is to THINK”  - Brian Flemming, creator of “The God Who Wasn’t There”