Aug

18

Not In Mah ‘Murica!

August 18, 2010 by Brandon | 2 Comments

I’ve been silent for quite some time, but I can’t let the story about the infamous Ground Zero Mosque go without weighing in on it.

The sheer amount of bigotry coming from the Right regarding this issue is staggering, so much so that it’s overflowing and forcing some cowardly members of the Left to side with the idiot masses. Like Harry Reid, who had the choice of either siding with the stupid in hopes of saving his seat, or standing up for what’s right.

It should come as no surprise that I’m completely in favor of building this mosque, and I find all of the arguments against it to be nothing more than thinly veiled fear-mongering. The very suggestion that we should not allow any religious group to build a place of worship on private property goes against the foundation of this country and everything it supposedly stands for. Of course, those who claim to so rabidly defend the Constitution are ironically the same group of mouth-breathers who are now rabidly doing their best to shred it.

I may hate religion. I may sometimes find the reasons people believe in invisible sky wizards to be silly, like believing in unicorns. Or faeries. Or anything else a 4 year old might think exists. But that doesn’t mean I think they shouldn’t have the right to believe it, or practice it. Our rights aren’t determined by a popular vote. That’s why we have the Constitution.

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

Guess what? It’s here.



Mar

29

Welcome To The End-Times

March 29, 2010 by Brandon | 4 Comments

I’ve realized that yet another month has slipped away without a post, and let’s face it, it’s been a busy month. I figured I might as well break in my new netbook and write a post as I’m watching Stephen Colbert play with a set of finger puppets representing the ten plagues of Egypt. Which reminds me, happy Passover to my Jewish friends.

So where do I begin?  I suppose the best thing to start with is the obvious. We’ve officially been ushered into the End-Times with the passing of the health care reform bill. And the Republicans are dead-set on making sure that their prediction comes true, with the rounding up of Christian militias and death threats against congressmen. And what does the leader of the Moral Majority have to say about all this? Well, Michael Steele was unavailable for comment, because he was busy spending nearly $2,000 in a lesbian bondage strip club. Not really my cup of tea, but hey.

Seriously though, I really can’t wrap my mind around the right’s objection to health care reform. Not only that, but I’ve actually had to defend Christianity against other Christians, who under the wing of the likes of Glenn Beck, honestly believe that Jesus wouldn’t have supported a bill which extends health care to 32 million uninsured people at the cost of others’ hard earned money. Pure socialism! Jesus never would have supported paying taxes… oh, wait. He did. Ok, well. He never would have supported me giving my money to… oh? He said to give all my money to the poor, too? And feed them? And give them my extra clothing?! Holy shit, Jesus was a communist!

Face it, the message of social justice that many Christian faiths actively promote simply does not jive with the Republican platform, which is a platform of selfishness, plain and simple. You can try to spin this any way you want, but when you boil it down, you just don’t want to give your money up to help people. “It’s mine. Mine, mine, MINE!”

The other big thing that’s been on the news is that da freakin’ pope has had a massive role in covering up all the kiddie diddling in the Church. The late Pope John Paul II is possibly even under scrutiny, which could cost him his canonization. As for Ratzinger, I honestly think that we are going to see him step down. It would be the first time a pope has resigned in almost 600 years, but it isn’t unheard of. In fact, another Pope Benedict, Benedict IX, was kicked out, came back, resigned, came back, and then got kicked out again and was excommunicated.

To me, the only way out of this scandal is for Ratzinger to bow out and to have a new pope elected who will decree that all clergy is accountable to secular laws first, and then to church laws.



Jun

24

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Something annoys me about people who screw things up royally, especially cheating, then try to continue to spew morality and god-talk. Not to mention that this jerk was a rather vocal Republican in denouncing gay marriage, stating it undermines the sanctity of marriage.

This video clip is only a portion of the conference. Sanford referenced God several more times, even stating that he was talking to his mistress in emails, telling her that she should get back together with her husband for the sake of her children and God’s laws.

Epic hypocrite is epic.



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.



Jun

15

Don’t Hate, Don’t Hate!

June 15, 2009 by Brandon | 20 Comments

Leaders in the Christian right are urging that all hate crime laws be repealed in light of a bill that is being proposed that will extend coverage to gays and lesbians.

Their argument? All violent crimes are hate crimes.

The motivation here is clear, they simply don’t want to give protection to gays and lesbians because they admittedly are afraid that church leaders and pastors might be prosecuted for preaching against homosexuality, even though the bill will only cover violent, physical acts, not hateful rhetoric.

[...] [A] number of Christian conservatives have raised fears that pastors would be prosecuted for inciting hate crimes if they had preached against homosexuality, despite assurances that the law only targets physical violence.

“All violent crime is hate crime,” said Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at Family Research Council here in the capital. “What drives an individual to commit a violent crime but hate for their victim?”

Sorry, but not all violent crimes are hate crimes; not every crime that results in the injury of another person is done so out of malice for that person. Sometimes it’s accidental. Hate crimes are always premeditated. There is willful intent to cause unprovoked harm based on a single reason, be it race, gender, or sexual orientation.

I think that the laws should even cover religion. Yeah, that’s right. I can see the same type of Christian people who bomb abortion clinics, who have lynched African Americans in the past, and beat gay people to death turn to kill, say Muslim Americans. Or vice versa. Violent crimes against people based on the individual’s religious affiliations, or lack thereof, should also be considered hate crimes and should be protected.

And let me assure you, there have been instances where atheists have been beaten and even killed for their atheism.

In unrelated news, I might not be able to update the site during the day like I normally have been. I’m currently training at my work for my new position, so I don’t exactly have the ability to surf the internet for religion stories to comment on.



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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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