The Pope is thinking seriously of abolishing limbo. You know, the place in between Heaven and Hell where the souls of dead babies go to be punished lightly, or rewarded a little, or to feel warm and safe, or cold and alone, or maybe nothing at all happens. That place. The Pope thinks he wants to do away with it because "it has always been only a theological hypothesis."
This is an interesting situation since, lacking proof for ANY aspect of faith, someone can still single out one notion as only "hypothesis." Every single word of revealed religions, whether written or verbal, is a theological hypothesis. Without a shred of evidence, one can never say that any part of their faith is a concrete truth. Naturally, that doesn't stop the Pope.
Until the 13th century, there was no limbo. Newborn babies who died went straight to Hell. Neat, huh? Catholics became increasingly uncomfortable with the notion of an omni-everything, compassionate, gentle, loving God sending newborns to Hell, so the idea of limbo was created. Strange; 13th century Catholics were OK with murdering heretics, spreading Christ's word at swordpoint, and carrying out all other bloody manifestations of their heinous cult - why lose sleep over a few babies sent to Hell?
Limbo has long been resisted and protested in the Church. After Catholics made God stop sending babies to Hell, and He started sending them to Limbo, they decided that wasn't so great either. Newborns, because they hadvn't been baptized yet, can't go to Heaven. That's a tried and true rule. This still seemed harsh to a lot of Catholics, and many millions the world over have scrubbed it completely from their daily worship and thoughts.
These same Catholics continue to be more or less cool with discrimination against homosexuals; the criminalization of abortion and excommunication of women who have them and doctors who perform them; the rigid prohibition on any birth control, including the wearing of condoms between married couples, one of whom has AIDS; and generally deferring to the Vatican so as to be kept in a philosophical Stone Age.
I understand, though. Everything I mentioned in the previous paragraph is part of what the Pope refers to as "definitive truth of the faith." "Definitive" because old, white men have gotten together several times since Christ's death to decide what would become doctrine and what wouldn't. "Truth" because they said so, and, after 2000 years people are still more inclined to believe these ridiculous fairy tales than to jettison all religious ideas for the good of mankind.
Goodbye, Limbo. I'll wait with bated breath til the Pope tells me where dead babies go now (I hope it's not my house). In the meantime, I'm gonna go knock up my wife. When I'm done with that, I'm taking her to have an abortion.
Wake up and resist.
Friday, October 06, 2006
No More, Daddy
No father, judged sane by a jury, would be forgiven for murdering his eight children with the argument "They were ignoring and disobeying me. They were bad children. They were headed for a bad end." Why then, is God tolerated? In the Old Testament, the Heavenly Father slaughtered every human on the planet save for a select handful. It's right there in the book. God has erased the entire population, killed first-born sons, ripped fetuses from wombs, mandated the stoning deaths of alduterers, obstreperous children, heretics and homosexuals; He's turned wives into salt, burned cities to the ground, allowed his chosen people to be enslaved and decimated for centuries, and, in the case of Job, tortured an innocent man who did nothing but show him dedication and reverence.
Folks who believe the Bible is the most superior authority on morality and ethics need to actually read that motherfucker. Other than the Qu'ran, the Bible is peerless in its depravity and perversion. And I'm just talking about GOD; let's not even worry what the PEOPLE in that book do.
I will never understand how folks who read the Bible don't just shudder, put it down, and look for something better, like Fox News. I mean, let's take a look at God's Ten Commandments. These are the promulgations that were given to the people of Abraham straight from the hand of the Lord Himself:
1. You shall have no gods before me.
2. You shall make no graven images.
3. You shall not take my name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
These have absolutely nothing at all to do with morality or ethics. These are specifically related to Judeo-Christian mythology. When people talk about how the Ten Commandments aren't actually religious, just a uniform list of non-denominational goodness, remind them that the first FORTY PERCENT do not pertain to anything but Yahweh. These have no place in our courthouses, schools or any other public building.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Don't murder.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't lie.
These are good ones. And, unlike the first four, they have nothing at all to do with God. These are core values, and have existed since primates could walk on two legs. They haven't always been followed in the strictest sense, but we can certainly agree that they are almost universally accepted around the world, regardless of a society's place in history, location, population, religiosity, or lack thereof. No religion can take credit for these ideas. No spirituality came to the conclusion, in a void, that these were prized attributes. These ideals, if they were generated, have been generated by almost every culture on earth, totally independent of each other, and, in the main, ignorant of the Abrahamic God
10. Don't covet anything that your neighbor has.
This is common sense. The more you lust over your neighbor's twenty foot, jet-black, pimped-out, rim-spinnin, forty-yards-to-the-gallon, dick wagon, Hummer H9, the unhappier you'll be. This goes double for his sweet-ass wife bent over in the garden planting marijuana while listening to her 60 G iPod and knocking back glasses of Louis XV. Worry about yourself.
The only Commandments that can be truly credited to the Bible are the first four, and, as we've seen, they're totally pointless if one hasn't been brainwashed by the hypocrisy to begin with.
The Ten Commandments had no place in the founding of our country, either. God is never once mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, or our Constitution. The men who tore America away from Britain were deists at the most, and, perhaps, agnostics and athiests in actuality.
This country has no formal allegiance to God. His appearance on our money and in our Pledge of Allegiance did not occur until the nineteen-forties and -fifties. The phrase on the back of a dollar bill "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means "New Secular Order." Our founders had high hopes of a country whose politics and public life were uncorrupted by the vicious taint of any religion. I have to believe they'd be crushingly disappointed with where we've ended up.
This is a Christian nation today, October 6th, 2006. It was a Christian nation yesterday, and last week, and the past decade. But it hasn't always been like this. Once, we were contumelious upstarts, putting our country together with the dregs and descendants of Victorian Europe. Toms Jefferson and Paine had nothing but outright, public contempt for Christianity. Many of their contemporaries were in total agreement. And yet, here we are.
God is useless. He is a vindictive, mind-altering monster twisting the thoughts of folks who could otherwise be well-adjusted, helpful citizens of our global community. Christians like to comment on the love and tolerance that Jesus preached. I'd like to point out that the only hate that is still condoned is the hatred masquerading as religion. All one has to do to defend an irrational prejudice these days is contend that one's spiritual teachings predicate discrimination against Jews, homosexuals, blacks, women who have abortions, athiests, Democrats, Asians, Hispanics or any other group desired. These viewpoints will be protected as long as religions are allowed to to create unsubstantiated claims predicated on the mandates of invisible rulers that are constantly in contention with one another.
Religion is stupid. The only reason Americans are predominately Christian is because they were born here. The only reason Muslims are Muslims is because they were born in Islamic countries. Jews inherit their Judaism. The Abrahamic faiths make no sense whatsoever; they are products of geography, family and superstition. Politics, sexuality, psychology, economics, sociology - all these things are open to informed debate. Why is religion such a heavily guarded, closed-off arena of public life? Because it is ludicrous. Religion cannot be defended because it generates no testable data.
Religion has no place in our lives. It makes no positive contribution that couldn't be made without the mention of God. Morality and ethics are completely divorced from mainstream religion. Every place on earth, from the most posh, hillside mansions to the most forsaken, poverty-stricken shitholes imaginable share common ideals. These have existed since time out of mind. There is no God. There is only life.
Stop worshipping the asshole who would have seen you drowned in New Orleans, raped by a priest, blown up in Iraq, chewed to pieces by cancer or crucified next to his son; all without a single reason or validation for your suffering.
Wake up and resist.
Folks who believe the Bible is the most superior authority on morality and ethics need to actually read that motherfucker. Other than the Qu'ran, the Bible is peerless in its depravity and perversion. And I'm just talking about GOD; let's not even worry what the PEOPLE in that book do.
I will never understand how folks who read the Bible don't just shudder, put it down, and look for something better, like Fox News. I mean, let's take a look at God's Ten Commandments. These are the promulgations that were given to the people of Abraham straight from the hand of the Lord Himself:
1. You shall have no gods before me.
2. You shall make no graven images.
3. You shall not take my name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
These have absolutely nothing at all to do with morality or ethics. These are specifically related to Judeo-Christian mythology. When people talk about how the Ten Commandments aren't actually religious, just a uniform list of non-denominational goodness, remind them that the first FORTY PERCENT do not pertain to anything but Yahweh. These have no place in our courthouses, schools or any other public building.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Don't murder.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't lie.
These are good ones. And, unlike the first four, they have nothing at all to do with God. These are core values, and have existed since primates could walk on two legs. They haven't always been followed in the strictest sense, but we can certainly agree that they are almost universally accepted around the world, regardless of a society's place in history, location, population, religiosity, or lack thereof. No religion can take credit for these ideas. No spirituality came to the conclusion, in a void, that these were prized attributes. These ideals, if they were generated, have been generated by almost every culture on earth, totally independent of each other, and, in the main, ignorant of the Abrahamic God
10. Don't covet anything that your neighbor has.
This is common sense. The more you lust over your neighbor's twenty foot, jet-black, pimped-out, rim-spinnin, forty-yards-to-the-gallon, dick wagon, Hummer H9, the unhappier you'll be. This goes double for his sweet-ass wife bent over in the garden planting marijuana while listening to her 60 G iPod and knocking back glasses of Louis XV. Worry about yourself.
The only Commandments that can be truly credited to the Bible are the first four, and, as we've seen, they're totally pointless if one hasn't been brainwashed by the hypocrisy to begin with.
The Ten Commandments had no place in the founding of our country, either. God is never once mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, or our Constitution. The men who tore America away from Britain were deists at the most, and, perhaps, agnostics and athiests in actuality.
This country has no formal allegiance to God. His appearance on our money and in our Pledge of Allegiance did not occur until the nineteen-forties and -fifties. The phrase on the back of a dollar bill "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means "New Secular Order." Our founders had high hopes of a country whose politics and public life were uncorrupted by the vicious taint of any religion. I have to believe they'd be crushingly disappointed with where we've ended up.
This is a Christian nation today, October 6th, 2006. It was a Christian nation yesterday, and last week, and the past decade. But it hasn't always been like this. Once, we were contumelious upstarts, putting our country together with the dregs and descendants of Victorian Europe. Toms Jefferson and Paine had nothing but outright, public contempt for Christianity. Many of their contemporaries were in total agreement. And yet, here we are.
God is useless. He is a vindictive, mind-altering monster twisting the thoughts of folks who could otherwise be well-adjusted, helpful citizens of our global community. Christians like to comment on the love and tolerance that Jesus preached. I'd like to point out that the only hate that is still condoned is the hatred masquerading as religion. All one has to do to defend an irrational prejudice these days is contend that one's spiritual teachings predicate discrimination against Jews, homosexuals, blacks, women who have abortions, athiests, Democrats, Asians, Hispanics or any other group desired. These viewpoints will be protected as long as religions are allowed to to create unsubstantiated claims predicated on the mandates of invisible rulers that are constantly in contention with one another.
Religion is stupid. The only reason Americans are predominately Christian is because they were born here. The only reason Muslims are Muslims is because they were born in Islamic countries. Jews inherit their Judaism. The Abrahamic faiths make no sense whatsoever; they are products of geography, family and superstition. Politics, sexuality, psychology, economics, sociology - all these things are open to informed debate. Why is religion such a heavily guarded, closed-off arena of public life? Because it is ludicrous. Religion cannot be defended because it generates no testable data.
Religion has no place in our lives. It makes no positive contribution that couldn't be made without the mention of God. Morality and ethics are completely divorced from mainstream religion. Every place on earth, from the most posh, hillside mansions to the most forsaken, poverty-stricken shitholes imaginable share common ideals. These have existed since time out of mind. There is no God. There is only life.
Stop worshipping the asshole who would have seen you drowned in New Orleans, raped by a priest, blown up in Iraq, chewed to pieces by cancer or crucified next to his son; all without a single reason or validation for your suffering.
Wake up and resist.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Icing On the Cake
To top of fthe Muslim response to the Pope's remarks, the guy who's in jail for shooting Pope John Paul II has added his two cents.
Mehmet Ali Agca, still in jail for his 1981 assault, has told the current Pope not to come to Turkey on his planned November visit because his life will be in danger.
See? To prove the Pope wrong, they're willing to kill him. That should finally put to rest all the pesky controversy about the peace and love of Islam.
Case closed!
Wake up and resist.
Mehmet Ali Agca, still in jail for his 1981 assault, has told the current Pope not to come to Turkey on his planned November visit because his life will be in danger.
See? To prove the Pope wrong, they're willing to kill him. That should finally put to rest all the pesky controversy about the peace and love of Islam.
Case closed!
Wake up and resist.
See! We're Not ALL Terrorists!
Two Muslim men hijacked a jet from Tirana to Istanbul, Turkey today, to protest the Pope's recent inflammatory speech that suggested a link between violence and Islam. That was good thinking.
The jet was forced to turn and head for Italy, where it landed. This, apparently, was the extent of their protest. Angry about the Pope's speech, and angrier still about a proposed papal visit to Turkey, these two guys made an Istanbul-bound flight land in Italy instead. According to the BBC, the terrorists are in a peaceful negotiation right now.
Despite these men being pretty laid-back for hijackers (the BBC reports that none of the 107 passengers were threatened or saw a weapon, and the two men admitted they would surrender as soon as the hihacking began), can anyone think of a worse way to protest allegations of violence than this? Obviously, these two men didn't set out to hurt anyone, and, equally obviously, the passengers were more confused than frightened, but, for fuck's sake, it's ridiculous. In our current age of trepidation regarding air travel, what kind of idiot would hijack a plane to send some kind of muddled message?
This is like my wife accusing me of being a violent man, and, to show her I'm not, I punch her in the gut instead of the face.
Terrorism Lite, to protest accusations of Full-Flavor Terrorism, is just the sort of retarded shit I've come to expect from Islam. Hell, you can see for yourself. Pay more attention to news from around the world; absorb as much as you can. You'll start to see folks making negative comments about Islam. Not a lot, because it's currently taboo to really criticize this hideous religion, lest we offend the crazy fuckers who practice it, but there are still people out there willing to point out the truth. When you find a critical remark about Islam, write it down. Keep it somewhere you'll see it every day. I guarantee, within a week, some dumb cunt will have done exactly what the critique was lamenting. The Pope says we're violent? We'll hijack a plane - that'll show him! The Danes have published cartoons that (barely) poke fun at Muhammad? We'll goddamn riot all over the world and start killing people! It's like Muslims are powerless to stop themselves from living up to all the negative aspects of their religion. Muslims the world over are upset about racial profiling in airports, but, what did all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists have in common? They were all fucking Muslims! Why should we ignore the one unifying piece of evidence we have? It's regrettable that those who peacefully practice Islam are subject to racial profiling, because it's certain that all Muslims are not terrorists. However, it's equally certain that the terrorists who mean us the most harm are all Muslims.
There are lots of arguments against racial profiling, many of them valid. I'm not arguing in favor of it, merely pointing out that if it walks like a Muslim, shoots like a Muslim, and delivers crazy rants about martying oneself in the cause of Muslims, perhaps being on the lookout for Muslims isn't a silly idea.
I imagine the two gentlemen who hijacked this flight will soon be receiving pretty stout punishments, their lack of malevolence aside. I hope they receive extra time in jail for being morons.
Wake up and resist.
The jet was forced to turn and head for Italy, where it landed. This, apparently, was the extent of their protest. Angry about the Pope's speech, and angrier still about a proposed papal visit to Turkey, these two guys made an Istanbul-bound flight land in Italy instead. According to the BBC, the terrorists are in a peaceful negotiation right now.
Despite these men being pretty laid-back for hijackers (the BBC reports that none of the 107 passengers were threatened or saw a weapon, and the two men admitted they would surrender as soon as the hihacking began), can anyone think of a worse way to protest allegations of violence than this? Obviously, these two men didn't set out to hurt anyone, and, equally obviously, the passengers were more confused than frightened, but, for fuck's sake, it's ridiculous. In our current age of trepidation regarding air travel, what kind of idiot would hijack a plane to send some kind of muddled message?
This is like my wife accusing me of being a violent man, and, to show her I'm not, I punch her in the gut instead of the face.
Terrorism Lite, to protest accusations of Full-Flavor Terrorism, is just the sort of retarded shit I've come to expect from Islam. Hell, you can see for yourself. Pay more attention to news from around the world; absorb as much as you can. You'll start to see folks making negative comments about Islam. Not a lot, because it's currently taboo to really criticize this hideous religion, lest we offend the crazy fuckers who practice it, but there are still people out there willing to point out the truth. When you find a critical remark about Islam, write it down. Keep it somewhere you'll see it every day. I guarantee, within a week, some dumb cunt will have done exactly what the critique was lamenting. The Pope says we're violent? We'll hijack a plane - that'll show him! The Danes have published cartoons that (barely) poke fun at Muhammad? We'll goddamn riot all over the world and start killing people! It's like Muslims are powerless to stop themselves from living up to all the negative aspects of their religion. Muslims the world over are upset about racial profiling in airports, but, what did all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists have in common? They were all fucking Muslims! Why should we ignore the one unifying piece of evidence we have? It's regrettable that those who peacefully practice Islam are subject to racial profiling, because it's certain that all Muslims are not terrorists. However, it's equally certain that the terrorists who mean us the most harm are all Muslims.
There are lots of arguments against racial profiling, many of them valid. I'm not arguing in favor of it, merely pointing out that if it walks like a Muslim, shoots like a Muslim, and delivers crazy rants about martying oneself in the cause of Muslims, perhaps being on the lookout for Muslims isn't a silly idea.
I imagine the two gentlemen who hijacked this flight will soon be receiving pretty stout punishments, their lack of malevolence aside. I hope they receive extra time in jail for being morons.
Wake up and resist.
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