Nov

15

I’ve Found Religion

November 15, 2009 by Brandon | 8 Comments

That’s right. I’ve come to the conclusion that a higher power does exist through careful observation of the natural world around me. It’s become clear that there must have been a first cause for all of this, and I know who that first cause is now…

Ceiling Cat.

And so, I’ve decided to purchase a domain, www.churchofceilingcat.org, in order to spread the gud lolz of Ceiling Cat. Currently the domain is propagating, but be sure to check back shortly to see what the heck I decide to do with the site.



Nov

2

Ian McKellen, Bible Destroyer

November 2, 2009 by Brandon | 2 Comments

Everyone knows Sir Ian McKellen for his starring roles in movies like The Lord of the Rings and the X-Men, but not many people, much to my surprise, know that he is openly gay.

Being a man who travels a lot and spends a lot of time in hotels while filming on location in other countries, McKellen knows that just about every hotel you can find has made it customary to place a Gideon bible in one of the nightstand drawers in the room.

I don’t stay in hotels much, but I was in one over the summer while at the beach, and sure enough one of these bibles was in the room. To my knowledge, the bibles are there for you to take. So it isn’t considered stealing if you were to do so. Sir McKellen, however, makes a far better statement than simply discarding the bible or removing it. He tears out the section in Leviticus that condemns homosexuality and puts the book back in the drawer.

It’s catching on. McKellen says that numerous people are doing the same thing, and a couple he knows has even torn a total of forty pages that they sent to him.

“They put them on a bit of string so that I could hang it up in the bathroom.”



Oct

14

Which Brings Me To Tonight’s Word

October 14, 2009 by Brandon | 10 Comments

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word – Symbol-Minded
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Michael Moore


Oct

12

Think Or Be Damned

October 12, 2009 by Brandon | 3 Comments

I came across a site that has a bunch of political cartoons dating back to the 1860’s through the turn of the century that discuss evolution.

A specific cartoon amazed me because it seems as though it could have been produced today rather than in 1899.

In the picture, men of science waving a flag reading “THINK OR BE DAMNED” aim a gatling gun titled “Enlightenment” toward a mob of pasters, priests, monks, and other religious folk, who are armed with primitive, dark age weapons and carry a flag reading “BELIEVE OR BE DAMNED.”

The barrels of the gun are individually named “History,” “Archaeology,” “Evolution,” and “Geology,” while the boxes of ammunition lying around are labled “Historical Facts,” “Scientific Facts,” and “Rational Religion.”

The religious mob ignorantly charges forward, but ultimately they’ll be mowed down by scientific progress. They don’t even stand a chance.

Again, this is a cartoon that was made back in 1899 and was depicting a battle between science and religion then, where scientists were killing superstition with the most devastating weapon of the day, yet we have people trying to tell us that this conflict is new.

Anyway, I thought it was amusing so I figured I’d share it.



Jun

20

The Fall Of Iranian Theocracy

June 20, 2009 by Brandon | 9 Comments

Iran has obviously been a very hot subject in the news since the so-called elections took place; many disenfranchised Iranians have taken to the streets in protest, and we are led to believe that they are acting violently. However, the fact of the matter is that the violence is actually being staged by the Basij, a paramilitary organization founded in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They are the ones who were responsible for the shootings and subsequent deaths of 7 protesters on June 15th. Other reports suggest that the Basij are responsible for the various fires and destruction, in an effort to paint the protests as violent so that a stronger crackdown can be taken against them. That appears to have succeeded.

But something that hasn’t really been discussed is the impact this all has on the Iranian theocracy. In an effort to quell the protests, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that the election was legitimate, even going as far as saying it was divine assessment. Make no mistake, what he was saying was that Ahmadinejad’s presidency is sanctioned by Allah. You have to keep in mind that the Supreme Ayatollah isn’t just the ultimate political leader of this country, but also the end-all religious leader; what he says goes, and for a loose and informal comparison, you might say his decrees carry the same weight for Iranians as the Pope’s do for Catholics. In terms of theology, of course.

But the Iranians didn’t buy this “divine assessment.” That really should have been the end of the protests for any Iranian Shia Muslim. Instead, they pressed on are continuing to demand that their elections aren’t legitimized through divine will, but through the will of the people.

When the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a “divine assessment,” he was indicating it was divinely sanctioned. But no one bought it. He was forced to accept the need for an inquiry into the election. The Guardian Council, Iran’s supreme constitutional body, met with the candidates and promised to investigate and perhaps recount some votes. Khamenei has subsequently hardened his position but that is now irrelevant. Something very important has been laid bare in Iran today — legitimacy does not flow from divine authority but from popular support.

via Zakaria: ‘Fatal wound’ inflicted on Iranian regime’s ideology – CNN.com.

The bigger picture to this is that if the people are willing to recognize that the government’s authority doesn’t stem from Allah in this instance, and they are willing to completely reject the claim that it is, why would they continue to think that this government has any sort of divine power over them in the future?

The answer, I hope, is that they won’t, and what we are witnessing is the fall of Islamic theocracy in Iran.



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What is Fractal Wrongness?

The state of being wrong at every conceivable scale of resolution. That is, from a distance, a fractally wrong person's worldview is incorrect; and furthermore, if you zoom in on any small part of that person's worldview, that part is just as wrong as the whole worldview.

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