Sep

25

It’s sort of bitter-sweet seeing that there are crazy Christians elsewhere and not just in the United States. In Canada, Calgary Zoo unveiled a statue of Ganesh back in 2006, strategically placed in front of the zoo’s Asian elephant exhibit. But since Ganesh is obviously a Hindu god, some Christians were outraged, OUTRAGED that the zoo would dare place such an offensive object on display.

I’m curious as to whether or not Concerned Christians Canada, the group who most recently lodged a complaint with the zoo, would have lodged a similar complaint if the zoo had erected, say, a large cross on the grounds. Would these “concerned Christians” have written a similar letter telling the zoo how distasteful it is to place such religious iconography in a place that should be a “neutral environment”? I wouldn’t bet on it.



Sep

24

Simon Cowell More Famous Than God

September 24, 2009 by Brandon | 2 Comments

A survey of children under the age of 10 in the UK has asked who the most famous person in the world is. Their answer? Simon Cowell, followed by God.

That’s right. Simon Cowell is more famous than God. Of course, we’ll need another survey to see who is more of a dickhead; Simon comes close I’m sure, but God still can’t escape that pesky Old Testament crap he used to pull several thousand years ago. Mass genocide, rape, and pillage tend to stick with you no matter how many times you sacrifice yourself to yourself.



Sep

17

Pics Or It Didn’t Happen

September 17, 2009 by Brandon | 7 Comments

The Planck Telescope, sent out by the European Space Agency to survey radiation dating back from just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, has returned. And it has pics to prove it. Of course, we’re not really going to get to see very much of for a few years until it’s all analyzed, and it’s not going to be impressive, high resolution images of deep space nebula and all that fancy stuff we love seeing from Hubble. Instead it’ll look more like that colored band in the image to the left.

We are once again presented with undeniable proof of the age of the universe, and further evidence that confirms the Big Bang theory.

Oh wait, what am I thinking? This is only opinion. Please, if you simply disagree with this because it doesn’t conform to your ignorance, just wave your hand and disregard it. I wouldn’t want to offend you.



Sep

13

The Moral Majority

September 13, 2009 by Brandon | 5 Comments

In a recent post, I took aim at the priests and pastors who are unusually silent, and remain so still, regarding something that strikes me as a moral imperative for our country – healthcare reform.

It seemed to me that these men and women in leadership positions in the various Christian faiths should be standing up in support of this proposal, considering that Jesus spoke so highly of healing the sick and caring for the less fortunate at our own expense.

Interestingly enough, I stumbled upon an article from a few days ago discussing one such man of the cloth who did stand up back in July. Bishop William F. Murphy, on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to members of Congress in support of affordable healthcare. Of course, there was the minor caveat regarding abortion, but still. Kudos to Bishop Murphy.

But now I want to turn my attention to the believers themselves. I am a person who thinks that these people have no excuse not to know what they believe and why they believe it; I do not place that blame solely on their religious leadership who, and lets be honest, omit and twist scripture to their favor. But considering I have done my own research and have taken it upon myself to learn what I can, I see no reason anyone else shouldn’t. Yes, you may have a very busy life; I’m sure that being a mother of three, for example, doesn’t afford you much time to dabble in theology and philosophy. Still, we’re talking about something that, ofttimes in this country, encompasses a person’s entire worldview.

These people walk around with their little WWJD wrist bands and have Jesus fish on their bumpers. These people go to church and earnestly believe that some Jew 2000 years ago died on a cross to wash the sin away they were stuck with since the first man and woman committed the first sin against their God.

These people know claim to know what that Jew spoke of and what he stood for. They think he stood for compassion and love, and helping those in need and caring for the sick.

Yet why is it that these people are now going across the country speaking out against that very message?

This image was taken at the Teabagger rally in D.C. yesterday, 9/12. I found this on a Flickr page linked to from Fark. There was a comment by a user that I found to be very insightful:

1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.

Fair enough, but, since your big fear is people taking your money, Solomon says people shouldn’t eat with you, either:

6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.

They don’t even know what they’re angry about, and they do not care to even attempt to inform themselves. I can’t for the life of me understand how these “Christian” people can stand up and actually protest healthcare reform in this country. Well, actually I do. It’s because they’re greedy. Plain and simple.

The conservatives in this country are so afraid that the government is simply going to tax them, that it drives them into a rabid frenzy. Forget the fact that no one is going to be taxed  (it is unfortunately not single-payer, it’s numerous reforms to restrict and reign in current healthcare providers and it’s a public option that you will have to buy if you want it). They’re foaming at the mouth shouting socialism. Forget the fact that it isn’t at all socialized medicine, it’s just a government run healthcare option to compete against other companies to keep costs down. Sort of like that evil, socialist federal mail system we have. Or that evil, socialist public school system we have. Or that evil, socialist public transportation system we have. These are affordable options to give to people. If you want to pay more, by all means FedEx it. If you want to pay more, by all means, go to a private school. If you want to pay more, by all means, buy a car.

So I want to point out to the so-called “moral majority”; the Christian conservatives flailing madly about socialism while shouting “God bless Ahmureeka,” that you are opposing reform that your pal Jesus would have supported. This is not a moral issue for you, it’s a financial issue for you. It’s one that isn’t even based on any fact or reason. It’s a visceral, knee-jerk reaction to the threats of words like fascism, communism, and socialism – words you don’t even know the definition of. And instead of making any effort to pick up a dictionary and read, instead of changing the channel off Glenn Beck and dare I say get another opinion, you are complacent in your goosestepping. You only have yourselves to blame when you end up looking like the idiot pawns you are.



Sep

2

The NEW…New International Version

September 2, 2009 by Brandon | 5 Comments

The unchanging word of almighty God is getting some corrections. I saw this earlier today on Fark, and then a new Facebook atheist friend from the Texas area also posted it.

While at face value I think that it’s pretty funny, ultimately I’m never opposed to a better, more accurate translation of any scripture. The more I know about these things the better. But what’s interesting is that this new translation, apparently slated for release in 2011, is going to drop some gender specific terms, such as replacing “sons of God” with “children of God.”

While the literal translations are in fact “sons of God,” the editors of this new version have decided, on their own, that the writers really meant children.

An earlier attempt at revising with Bible to be more PC failed, when scholars and pastors thought they went too far by changing things like, “God created man” to “God created human beings.”

The whole idea is to keep as true to the translation as possible while making it easier to understand. The problem with that though is that when you dumb things down, subtle choices of words get lost in the translation.

So while I said I’m in favor of a more accurate translation of Biblical texts, I am not in favor of making it a picture book so it’s easier for people to grasp.



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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