“Cancer Fears Jesus”: The ultimate example of religious ignorance and obscenity

How sad and pathetic this is. The meme above was posted by a religious fanatic on her facebook page. It seems posting crazy religious memes are her life’s work. Check it out if you have the stomach for it.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herty-Borngreat-Music/372138476157121?fref=photo

 
I’m still trying to figure out the meme’s message. What…if they don't believe in Jesus a child is more likely to succumb to cancer?  That chemo, radiation, all that modern medical science has done to extend and save lives means nothing if that child doesn’t have Jesus in her corner facing down this disease like some imaginary superhero? That cancer has a thought process, is sentient, and can be intimidated into remission / eradication by the mythical Christian man-god?    

I posed these questions to the devout readers of this religious nutter’s page. Amongst the  “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs” of agreement with the nutter’s meme, there were these responses:

”Ok. You Don't Believe In God/Jesus. Why rant about the ones who do? Your interpretation wasn't correct.” Barbara Latty

Needless to say, no “correct” interpretation for the meme was offered. I imagine Barbara tried her  hardest to make up some off the wall interpretation for this embarrassingly absurd “Cancer Fears Jesus” non-think, but came up dry.

 “I think the message is no child should have to live with cancer so pray for them or do whatever you can for them. But then some people just have to jump on the Dumb wagon because they have nothing else to do…” Patricia Henderson

Lest it be lost in translation, I’m the one driving the “Dumb wagon.”
If they truly believed prayer was effective and their god was real why even bother with modern medical science?  Why not go one step further and pray to end ALL cancer everywhere?

OH NO, that wouldn't do would it? Because cancer isn’t going to suddenly disappear, they know that, it’s just too big a challenge for their imaginary friend; where as this young girl COULD go into medically induced remission thus permitting the religionists to claim “God answered our prayers!” Convenient.

”I wonder how many people die in the hands of our mighty doctors? They can kill an unborn child but not heal em off cancer? Wow science is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us.”  Mahase Mosoloane

Says the halfwit who likely runs to the doctor to reconstruct his face when he falls off his trailer head first into his wood chipper; or saves his wife from hemorrhaging, or cures his infection with antibiotics so he can save his limb, or corrects his cholesterol, or treats his kid’s appendicitis,  or exorcises his anal wart. Funny how they bad mouth doctors when their god’s healing power is challenged, while only a miniscule minority of fringe Christians actually refuse medical treatment favoring prayer only.

”Well Bart u obviously lack several things 1. A brain 2. Compassion 3. Faith and most important self worth! U poor ignorant man we'll pray for u!” Conni Gent

Ah...now there’s an in depth analysis!  Yes, the lack of a brain and my utter ignorance owing to my accepting reality and rejecting ancient superstition and religious mind masturbation is quite a burden. 

But it’s a burden I  share with 93% of the National Academy of Science fellows, and 96% of the Royal Society (UK's counter part) the best scientists in both nations, who reject supernaturalism - those very people who have extended the lives of humans, who found the treatments for childhood diseases (the ones their god thing seems to keep creating). Yep I, just like all of them, are missing a brain and self worth, and because we reject ignorance in favor of medical science, we are lacking in compassion to boot!  Brilliant.

Note the passive aggressive “We’ll pray for you.” …Strangely, it didn’t make my head explode as Conni no doubt expected. 

 
Mindless kowtowing to myth and fable is one thing, but implying a child's cancer will be healed by indoctrination into Christian delusion is another entirely. That they don't see the grotesque stupidity of it is simply a result of total immersion into the religious affliction. They are the Christian answer to the Bushman shaman chanting, shaking a rattle and throwing ashes over a sick child.   People who embrace this kind of non-think disgust me. It is obscene... simpleminded obscenity.

Hey, Black Clergy - "Civil Rights" ... It Ain't for Blacks Only!

The article in the Huffington Post declares:  African-American Vs. Gay Civil Rights Is A False Choice

Evidently it is perceived to be insensitive or demeaning to the historical Black struggle for civil rights to equate the gay rights movement with the African-American fight for equality. Leading this indignant opposition to gay rights as a civil rights issue are the Black pastors.  The African-American community is among the least accepting of gays, the most homophobic group, thanks to hard-core Christian indoctrination and the fire and brimstone rantings of many of their religious leaders.

Whole pathetic story here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/african-american-gay-civil-rights_b_5353878.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

But "Choice"?  What's choice have to do with anything?  The fight for civil rights, for equality and equal protection under the law whether black, feminist, or gay doesn't require a "choice". Since when is civil rights an "either or" situation?

The fact that African-Americans were subjected to the abomination of slavery doesn't give them more right to equality, more right to respect, more right to the sole ownership of the term  "civil rights", or the benefits thereof.  The Jewish community came to the aid of the Black civil rights movement in the 60's.  Some of those Jewish activists were beaten and hosed,  torn by police dogs, and killed by racist southern scum.  Those Jews felt a kinship with the black activists because they had borne the injustice of antisemitism.  I don't recall rabbis coming forward to declare: "Well, yes, you're put upon, but you haven't suffered a Holocaust; so your demand for and expectation of equal rights is less than ours. Besides, the Torah doesn't say anything about Black people deserving equality." 

The shame of Black Christian clergy  is and always will be the fact that they stood against and barred the door to equality of another oppressed group that is desperately trying to throw off  second class citizenship. Their opposition reminds me of Gov. Wallace and his ilk, and the crowds of ranting jeering whites, who barred the door to school  integration by black children.

Can they be so blinded by the religious dogma inherited from their white slave masters,  and their obedience to a book of fables?  Can they be so callous as to NOT see the correlation to their own struggle for equality?
Interesting how, in such a short time, the persecuted easily becomes the persecutor.

Steven Weinberg's observation has never been more true: “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
Jesus wept.

Racist scum Robert Copeland makes me ashamed to be a New Hampshirite

The photo above is Robert Copeland.  An eighty-two year old elected member of the Police Commission of Wolfboro, New Hampshire; a bigot; a man with zero social grace; a person of questionable integrity; possessing no dignity or sense of  shame.  He has now become the face of New Hampshire to over 300 million Americans. Although I don't live in that town, I am never the less ashamed to be associated with his home state.

Copeland was overheard calling President Obama a "fucking nigger."  Not only  was he unapologetic when challenged,  he was actually indignant that his assessment of the President was being questioned. It seems the President "meets [his] criteria"  for the epithet. When questioned by the press, he became enraged that reporters would dared question him on his use of the term much less make an issue of it, calling one local TV reporter  "a skunk" for doing precisely what reporters do. I imagine it would be fair to proffer that had  the reporter  been black he'd have been called "a fucking nigger skunk." 

Details here:  http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/11973699-95/wolfeboro-police-commissioner-under-scrutiny-for-racist-comments-about-obama

This would be reason enough to be ashamed to be a resident of a state that would elect this racist old  fool to local office; but one of his fellow police commissioners, Joseph Balboni, went so far as to seemingly defend Copeland's  right to free speech, condemning the town's and state's citizenry's expression of outrage,and offering how generous and fair Mr. Copeland has always been to the town - as though he is due a pass for his obscenity based on past financial contributions; or that the outrage against his comment was somehow an attempt to deny him his 1st amendment rights. This simply served to heap more disgrace upon an already disgraceful situation.

Yes, Mr. Copeland has the right to say what he pleases.  This isn't in question. But so too do the public that he was elected to represent, and the people of the state in which he lives, have the right to condemn him for his backwardness, archaic incivility, lack of decency and gross behavior which casts us all in a bad light. The fact that New Hampshire has one of the nation's smallest  populations of minorities should raise sensitivities to any bigotry and racism displayed by an elected official. Indeed, how can an African-American, or Hispanic, or Jew, or Muslim, or atheist,  or any minority that Mr. Copeland may also harbor hatred toward, ever feel that their interests are being fairly represented by an admitted racist and bigot who goes so far as to take pride in his bigotry?

The jury is still out as to whether this piece of human flotsam can be recalled, and what pressure can be put on him or the town to unseat him.  It's entirely possible that nothing can be done and that he will serve out  his three year term which ends in 2017 - unless he dies before that by natural causes. If so, I harbor a hope for the latter.

Mr. Copeland's political party hasn't been specifically divulged as yet.  However, his documented derogatory references to "liberals" eliminates a lot of the guess work. As a moderate and undeclared / independent voter I'm no admirer of  either end of the political spectrum's fringe.  But the mentality displayed by Copeland, and the many like thinking Republicans country wide - local, state and federal- who openly or covertly "hate that fucking nigger in the White House", make me glad to have left the "Party of God, Racism, Homophobia, Misogyny and Anti-Science" far behind years ago. 

I can at least be proud of that.

Why?

You know why.

Let’s all Observe Holy Week – and all the usual obscenities that come with it.

Well, it’s that time of year again when the mythical man-god of the Christians who committed suicide by cop to save the world from his own retribution, is credited with rising from his tomb, seeing his shadow and thus condemning the planet to a few millennia of superstition, lies, rejection of science, and assorted mystical stupidity.

Yes… It’s Holy Week, the week before Easter – which of course we all know was co-opted from the pagan celebration of the goddess Ishtar AKA Eostre  by the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E.,  almost three-hundred years after the alleged death of the alleged Jesus.

So besides the usual egg rolling, egg hunts, egg dying, Cadbury crème egg eating, Peep sucking, Jelly-Belly sugar highs, weirdos in bunny costumes terrifying children, and a nice smoked spiral ham, exactly what else do Xtians do during this most religious of Christian holidays?  For a majority of Xtians that about does it. For the most religiously afflicted, they’ll go to their local church and pretend to believe they are drinking man-god blood and eating man-god flesh, and feel oh so holy. 

But to a select group of Christians they’ll go above and beyond and really give it their all.  Here’s a short list of how some Christians are honoring their zombie man-god this Holy Week.

If you live in the insanely Catholic Philippines you could volunteer to be crucified with genuine nails and hung up for a few minutes to demonstrate your devoutness.
   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/filipino-devotees-reenact_0_n_2978190.html

Or, if crucifixion isn’t your “thang” you can don a hood and flagellate yourself into a bloody pulp thus absolving yourself of your sins.
 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/maundy-thursday-philippines-whippings_n_5166875.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Or, maybe you can get some Brazilian kids whose undeveloped toddler brains have been washed and dried by their Christian folks to splatter a child in fake blood and pretend to crucify him in honor of the holiday. [Photo above]  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/04/17/toddlers-and-blood-sacrifice-you-cant-start-em-too-young/

 
Or, if you’re into foot fetish, maybe you can get away with it publicly by emulating the pope, washing strangers’ feet and French kissing some toes just like Jesus was said to have done to show his humanness and “humility” (I so hate that word these days). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/pope-francis-foot-washing

Or, you can exercise your crazy like the Rev. John  “I support John McCain; and by the way, Hitler was a God send for the Jews” Hagee by declaring the recent lunar eclipse / ”blood moon” an omen of big happening for Israel and the foretelling of  the End Times….again.   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/14/pastor-john-hagee-tuesdays-blood-moon-eclipse-signals-the-end-of-the-world/

Or, [now follow this closely] if you’re an ethnic Russian and of the Russian Orthodox Church living in Eastern Ukraine - while accusing the ethnic Ukrainians of fascism and neo-Nazism - you can illegally occupy a government building and issue a written demand that all Jewish residents (those damn Christ Killers!) of the town you’re illegally occupying register their Jewishness on pain of sever penalty.   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/04/17/jews-ordered-to-register-in-east-ukraine/7816951/

Yep, that famous Christian ethic and its accompanying dignity and reason rise to a crescendo of grotesqueness during Holy Week.  But then why not?  For unlike the Passover question of “What makes this night different from all other nights?” when it comes to Easter week and the nuttiness and incivility of Christianity … the answer is “absolutely nothing.”    

The Mormon Apostles ‘Splain Gawd’s Position on Gay Marriage: Whew !!! Glad someone got the message direct from His drooling maw.

"While many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not," 
So says  Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve, the high level board that controls the Mormon church’s doctrine and thus the thinking of its cult members.  Whole story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/05/mormon-gay-marriage_n_5097821.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Really?  Well let’s see: the Lard defined marriage as one man and as many women as he wanted (witness King David, among others), 1 Kings 11.  The Lard defined marriage between one man and the woman he raped (if he pays 50 shekels), Deut. 22. The Lard defined marriage between a man and a captured virgin girl of a tribe that was slaughtered, Numbers 31.  How is it that the Lard didn’t reverse any of these policies, but they are nevertheless not adhered to today?

Oh yes…the Lard has defined lots of kinds of marriages; in fact concubines [translation: sex slaves] mixed into the marriage was endorsed by god. Heck, seems it didn't bother the Lard if incest (a game the whole family can play) ran rampant - witness Lot's daughters, Adam and Eves children, Noah's grandchildren, et al.  I guess as long as the Lard could watch he was okay with it.

So now, according to the great and powerful board of the Twelve Mormon misogynists, the Lard has defined marriage as ONLY between one man and one woman? Hmmm … that’s funny, in neither of my bibles (the KJV and NIV) does the Lord define marriage as between "one man and one woman".  You won’t find it in your copies either.
But hey… it’s the Mormons, the same people who said God told them he wanted them to be polygamists.  Well, that is until they were going to be refused entry into the Union because of it, and then suddenly God changed his mind. Coincidental no doubt.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Christianity.  Cultish self-serving interpretation of the bible to support institutionalized homophobia -  thy name is Mormon. I despise those nutters.

“The Death Penalty Honors God!”: Screw God…sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.

Fundamentalist Christians, and a significant portion of mainstream Christianity, are largely death penalty advocates.  The Bible, mostly the Old Testament, gives countless examples of God demanding the death penalty for various trespasses.  While more difficult to uncover, even a verse or two in the New Testament implies capital punishment is justified. At worst, it doesn’t speak directly against it.

Here’s a link that spells out the biblical justifications for the death penalty: http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/punish.html

I’ve had people ask how it is I can possibly side with the death cultists of Christianity and Islam (Jews being too mixed on the subject to easily cubbyhole).  For surely, if the blood thirsty hallelujah and jihad bunch see the death penalty as God’s will it must be inherently wrong.  They go on to insist that in the very least, being a free thinker, a modernist, a man of reason, that surely I must  be more progressive and morally advanced than those who’d take a fellow human’s life irrespective of how heinous his crime may be.  Yeah, well … No.

The fact that the majority of the most religiously afflicted and I agree on this issue doesn’t trouble me in the least, because while we are in some level of agreement, we reach the same conclusion for totally different reasons. 

I imagine that at this moment my more genteel, socially evolved and progressive readers are horrified and champing at the bit [yes...it’s “champing” not “chomping”] ready to post a comment declaring me a troglodyte and throwback.  But, before you lambaste me let me be more specific as to my position so you can lambaste me for the right reasons and with full understanding.  

First:  I do not applaud Texass [not a misspelling] for holding the country’s title for most executions of any state. I condemn them.  In 2006 Texass accounted for 60% of the nation’s executions. They currently represent somewhere about 35% of annual US executions. It is obscene, wanton. It is disturbingly applied more often to minorities, and is virtually necessitated by certain laws and by certain politics not the least of which is the unique way appellate judges find themselves in office in that state. Here’s the whole ugly story about why Texass is the capital punishment capitol of the nation, if you’re interested:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/readings/texas.html

 
I do not endorse capital punishment for every murderer, or even most murderers.  Shooting your spouse or neighbor during an argument; killing someone during an armed robbery; a gang banger or drug dealer blowing away an opposing gang member, or competitor drug dealer; and others, are all run of the mill examples of murder.  Life behind bars, with or without the possibility of parole works fine for me. Maybe they can be rehabilitated, and the likelihood of their committing additional murders while in prison is low or moderate.  As far as I’m concerned candidates for execution by the state must be exceptional by virtue of their depravity.   

What’s depraved enough in my opinion to justify the death penalty? Here are a few examples, not necessarily a complete list:
-Home invasions where the victim or victims are raped and/or tortured and killed.  -Wanton intentional mass murder of innocent people by arson or any method.

-Acts of terrorism where WMDs indiscriminately kill innocents.

-Murder in the course of a kidnapping, or to cover up a rape, or child molestation.
-Serial murderers and serial child rapists.

And in all cases the fact of the defendant’s guilt must be totally beyond reproach ... that is, the trial is on the level of a formality. Examples: the Aurora, CO movie theater murderer. Or the Boston marathon bomber.  Or the confessed Connecticut  home invasion perpetrators a few years back, who tortured, raped, burned alive and murdered an entire family … save the father who survived.

You see, to me these people have no reasonable chance for “redemption.” I have zero interest in pursuing their rehabilitation.  Am I seeking revenge for their crimes?  Yep…guilty!  Revenge is a normal human emotion, I feel no need to suppress nor deny it.  The death of society’s most horrific fiends is cathartic. 

Am I devaluing human life? On the contrary. The proper application of the death penalty reinforces the value of those human lives that abide by societies mores, who respected the right of others to live ones life well and to its full term / natural conclusion.  It only devalues the lives of those to whom societies mores and the societal convention of living a good life means less than nothing and worthy only of their contempt, or just utter disregard. Thus those criminal’s lives ARE of less value. People who oppose the death penalty for these uniquely grotesque deviants are the ones devaluing the lives of their innocent victims, in my opinion of course.    

I don’t care that capital punishment is more expensive than incarceration. It’s only more expensive because we let it be more expensive.  I do not hold the lives of such people to be special by virtue of their specie. They deserve no more consideration than would a rabid dog terrorizing your neighborhood; indeed, perhaps less so, since the dog isn’t acting out of malice or for its gratification or a political or religious agenda.

Yes, I understand that among many atheists this position - while not truly unique - is harsh &  unpopular, considered something of an anomaly. But atheist means “having no belief in God/gods” period.  So, I respectfully invite you to lambaste away – I’m good with it.