The Nonsense of Prophecy Fulfillment: Why Can’t Christians Get It?

Likely all of us have heard Christians declare that there are some 300 prophesies in the Tanakh / Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament) that were fulfilled by Jesus ... as "documented" in the New Testament. This is a foundational element of their belief in the supernatural Jesus as God/Messiah.

I have always tried to explain to these credulous folks that the New Testament is simply a sequel to the OT. That is, if the OT "prophesies” were KNOWN, by the authors of the New testament, how hard would it be to write the mythical account of the life of one Jesus to match and thus fulfill those early prophesies? I mean, how difficult can that be to understand…at least mull it over!

But they dismiss it at face. It’s just too obvious, too simple, and too worldly to be comprehended. It's much easier for them to accept a mystical magical complex supernaturalism for which there is zero evidence, and no corroborating / repeatable examples, than to consider the simplest and most logical explanation. They cannot even understand the concept, it actually confuses them. Remarkably peculiar, and incredibly frustrating.

I just finished reading "Constantine's Sword", by James Carroll; ex Catholic priest, biblical scholar, Catholic Church historian, Christ follower. An excellent read, it was on the NY Times Best Seller List. I highly recommend it.

He explains the New Testament prophesy fulfillment bugaboo this way: it’s not "history prophesized", but simply multiple examples of "prophesy Historicized". In other words, exactly what I have been explaining to the faithful sheep all along. The NT writers took OT prophesy, known by every Jew, and applied it to Jesus 50-70 years after his death, as though it was a historical fact, to imbue him with the mythic Jewish messiah status. In so doing, the ancient Hebrew Bible would be “proof “, “witness”, to Jesus’ messiahship … a great selling point if the intent was to recruit Jews to your new cult. And indeed, Christ worship was originally an exclusively Jewish focused cult.

He goes on to explain that Jesus' contemporary followers would never have ever conceived of this messiah status; indeed, it would have come as a complete shock to Jesus himself who would have likely considered it blasphemous.

"Prophesy Historicized" is the phrase I've been trying to describe to the sheeple for years. It took a liberal, thinking Catholic scholar to help me name it. Go figure.

An Atheist in a Foxhole: Hump’s First Exposure to “Christian Love” in the Military

A friend in a message group posted this recent article: Army Base Cannot Coerce Soldier Trainees To Attend Church Services, Says Americans United

The full story here: http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=9965&JServSessionIdr009=yjpre6wuw2.app13a

In short, soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood are being pressured to attend Baptist religious services, under the guise of it being an Army directed event / off day. Anyone not submitting to the proselytizing “field day” is restricted to base and made to train.

It’s not an isolated occurrence. The military is rife with Christian fanatics throughout the chain of command. Recent stories in the news about the Air Force Academy’s anti-Semitic activity and Christian proselytizing caused a major investigation. An atheist soldier in Iraq is suing the Army for discriminating against his non-belief.

But this isn’t a new phenomenon. I was personally on the receiving end of this kind of un-American, fanatical Christian mentality when I joined the Army in 1968.
And I paid a price.

I’ll skip over the details of what prompted a reasonably intelligent, suburban New Yorker from an upper middle-class family to leave college and set himself up to go to Vietnam. But, the bottom line is I volunteered for the draft in the spring of ’67 and by September I was in basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

The initial introduction and indoctrination into the military is disorienting to say the least. You’re perpetually being yelled at, verbally punished, and physically pushed to the limit. You don’t know shit, and they make sure you’re told that hourly. By the end of the first week the thought of having a day of rest was very appealing.

In formation outside the barracks that Saturday after the first week of basic, the drill sergeant, a Southern white trash “lifer” (career soldier) with the IQ of a sandbag, announced to the platoon that he expected “100% attendance at church” the next morning. The directive was roundly answered with a loud “YES SERGEANT!” by my fellow trainees. My non-responsiveness caught his eye. Charging over to me, he pushed his skinny pock marked sweating face as close as he could to mine. The exchange went something like this:

SGT. Cracker: “What’s your PROBLEM, Trainee?”
Me: “No problem Sergeant. I just won’t be attending church tomorrow.”
SGT. Cracker: “What the fuck you talking about, BOY?”
Me: “Well, Sergeant, I don’t believe in God. It would be against my “beliefs” to go to religious services.”
SGT. Cracker: “You a fuckin ATHEIST, BOY?” (The ‘F’ anointing my face with his spit)
Me: “Yes, Sergeant, I guess I am.”
SGT. Cracker: “Well, ain’t that something special!? Tell ya what, if I don’t have 100% attendance at church tomorrow, including your Godless New York shit ass, then the whole platoon will be confined to barracks for the day. Is that clear, PRIVATE?”
Me: “Sergeant, I thought one of the things we are fighting for is to preserve our freedoms. Don’t I have the right, the freedom, not to go to church without penalizing everyone else?”
SGT. Cracker: “Right???!! Maybe your fellow soldiers can help convince you of what your RIGHTS are. IS THAT CLEAR TRAINEES?”

In unison the platoon shouted back “YES SERGEANT!”, and we were dismissed.

The dehumanization of the trainee experience tends to make fellow sufferers closer ... it's part of the whole point of the process … oneness. So, I thought I had made some new and close comrades. I felt they would understand my position, even back me up against a bully and this injustice.

But, as we sat in the barracks, all that comradeship evaporated in the face of the sergeant’s threat. This was the Army, and these were Christians, and I was, after all, “the other”. There was one Jew, but he had been singled out on his first day. Nicknamed "CK" (Christ Killer) by the drill sergeants, and so abused by them, his religion so vilely defamed and insulted, that he demurred and opted to attend church with the Christians. He’d had his fill of Christian love … it was my turn.

Over the next hour I was subjected to some serious peer pressure, verbal abuse, and threats. I understood their frustration, but it seems my perspective was totally lost on them. Finally, two guys jumped me and a fist fight ensued. One of them was my “buddy”.

The fight lasted about three minutes, a veritable eternity to me. After it was done, with fat lips, and a bloody noses all around, things calmed down. I reiterated my unchanged position. Everyone was resigned to our communal fate. I didn't sleep that night.

The next morning the platoon went to church, I went to KP, and everyone but me had the rest of the day off base. The bluff of the threat was called, the Sergeant opted not to pursue it further, or again. I went onto AIT (Advanced Infantry Training) at Ft. Polk, Louisiana; eventually ended up in Nam in April ‘68, as expected; and was assigned as a replacement to the 82nd Airborne as a rifleman “11Bravo”, where I was an “atheist in a foxhole”.

Three things I learned from that early experience:
1) The military expects everyone to be Christian; to be other is to be less.
2) Standing up to the injustice of religious coercion makes you feel more like an American.
3) Christians are hypocrites to whom protecting Freedom and Rights means their Freedom and their Rights, not everyone’s.

And so it continues.

Support The Military Religious Freedom Foundation. http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

Christianity: A Cult of Death

Ever notice how so much of the doctrine and focus of Christianity revolves around their obsession with death? It is the driving force behind their entire belief system. It pervades their thinking and is endemic to their dogma. What is my evidence for this statement? Let’s examine the facts:

- They fully endorse the acts of genocide, infanticide, and mass killing of humans and animals depicted in the Old Testament as God directed or inspired, thus it’s justified and good.

- From there it centers on their man-god’s death by crucifixion and zombie like reanimation: Jesus as willing human-deity sacrifice, the “Lamb of God”, as a substitute for an animal burnt offering to the Godhead. Jesus worship centers more around his violent bloody and willing death than his life or alleged teachings.

Indeed, they flock to the theaters to watch Mel Gibson’s slasher film “The Passion of The Christ” to vicariously drench themselves in the gallons of fake blood, flayed skin, and grotesque over the top reenactment of what thousands of Jews went through during Rome’s occupation of Israel. Just as Easter passion plays do, the blood bath makes them feel refreshed and renewed; it has a cathartic effect, like mythical vampires satiated after feeding.

- They practice symbolic cannibalism drinking their man-god’s blood, eating his body. (Again, the vampire theme)

- The cross, an instrument of violent death is their symbol … one sub-cult likes it best with a bloody corpse hanging from it. This same sub-cult also reveres imitation death shrouds, and the severed body parts, “relics”, of dead martyrs.

- Some withhold medical technology and pharmaceuticals from their children and placidly accept their death because it’s “God’s will”. Others handle poisonous snakes in a bizarre dance of death, re-enacting a scriptural passage which promises them they won’t die from the bite. Many do.

- They call the imaginary place where their dead go “a better place”. Thus better to be dead than alive.

- They obsess about a life after death: Will they beam up in the Rapture, when graves will open and the dead will rise? Will they be left behind to suffer a hideous existence on Earth? Will they be good enough to “live for ever” in Candy Land with Jesus? Will they be sent to Hell, tormented and tortured for an eternity by a hideous demon without hope of the relief of death?

- Not being satisfied with their own obsession, they threaten non-believers with their imaginary Hell after death, as though our minds are of the same Play-Doh consistency as theirs. Indeed, in Revelations it says the saved in heaven will get to watch the hideous torments of those in Hell, like a bizarre sadistic spectator sport. Charming.

- They put to death Jews, Muslims, fellow Christians, “witches”, heretics, indigenous pagan peoples, gynecologists, and homosexuals in hideous ways, in the name of Jesus, and in monumental numbers over centuries, for their God willed it, or condoned it.

- They endorse war in greater numbers than non believers, or any other belief system save perhaps Muslims, as though it’s some sort of sacrament, always justifying it with “God is on their side”.

- While they despise Jews in private, and have been the root cause of Jewish persecution and misery for almost 2000 years, in public they support the Jews of Israel, praying for them to vanquish the Arabs in the hopes of their rebuilding The Temple. In so doing it will fulfill their death wish “End Times prophesy” … bring about Armageddon, the end of life on Earth as we know it … which they welcome with open arms.

Death, pain, death, eternal torture, death, destruction, death, reanimation, death, life after death; all at once they worship it, welcome it, embrace it, praise it, instigate it, and fear it. It pervades their scripture. Their shamans use it to instill fear and compliance in their children. Death obsession represents the foundation of their belief, without it their religion would have little meaning, and much less appeal to its adherents. Christianity is little more than a cult of death worship. Moloch would be envious of these followers’ death fixation.

A more grotesque and pitiful mind disease is hard for a thinking person to imagine.

Hump the Charming Atheist: A Little Good PR Can’t Hurt.

Ask a church going Christian what their perception of an atheist is and you’d likely get a list of attributes that would just as well describe Joe Stalin, Pol Pot, or Jason the hockey masked fiend from the “Halloween” movies. So I feel it my duty when interacting with theists, and when compelled to divulge my non-belief, to put my best hump forward.

For instance, April of last year (I missed them this April, but they left their calling card) I had my annual visit from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I was on the patio working on my tan, reading Hitchen’s “god is not GREAT”, when they came down my driveway. I greet them, and go into my usual routine. I intro them to the dogs, offer them a cold drink and the use of the bathroom.

I let them do their spiel for a few minutes then , after turning down their pamphlet, declared my atheism, showed them my current reading material, and told them they are always welcome to stop by. They were naturally shocked, probably as much by my friendliness and hospitality as by the fact that I didn’t have horns and didn't try to kill and eat them. They smiled a nervous smile, thanked me, piled into the car and left. I waved was they went down the driveway. Each year it’s a new group.It's always fun.

Today I went to the supermarket with a short list. Outside the entrance there was a card table staffed by two women selling raffle tickets for their church. I ask what the money goes toward. Turns out the church is trying to raise money to buy fuel oil for less fortunate families. With the price of oil twice what it was last year, and the harsh NH winters, it’s a very good cause. The top three raffle prizes are gasoline cards for $100, $75 and $50. I buy six tickets for $5.00.

I fill out the stubs, and on the back of each I write that should my ticket/s be drawn the winnings should go back into the fuel oil fund, and I sign my name. When they saw this they were overwhelmed and thanked me profusely. That’s when they asked to what church I belonged. Uh-oh!

Now that kind of comment, obviously born of the belief that only a Jebus worshipping mind slave could possibly make a charitable gesture, might have pissed me off. I fought back the instinct to chastise them for their erroneous assumption and instead smiled and offered: “No church, ladies … I’m an atheist. I trust my contribution is still acceptable?” Without even a hint of disgust, nor the telltale crossing of themselves, nor even an attempt to throw holy water on me, they smiled back and assured me it was very much accepted and greatly appreciated.

The moral of this post is this: Given the opportunity to demonstrate that atheists are as moral, ethical, charitable, hospitable and decent as any of them…likely even more so … take it. Eventually there will be more of us than there are of them. Until then, a little good PR couldn’t hurt.

My State Declared Least Religious, Among Our Other Excellent Attributes!

The latest Pew Poll reports that New Hampshire, my state, is tied with Vermont for the least religious state in the Union. Only 54% of New Hampshirites have certainty that God exists. Compare that to the most religious state, Mississippi, where 91% are certain there is a God.

On the question of the importance of religion in ones life, only 36% of New Hampshire residents feel it’s important. On the other end of the spectrum, 82% of Missippians rate religion important. Here’s an extract of the whole report: http://vyoma108.blogspot.com/2008/06/religion-in-america-massachusetts-among.html

That’s a very significant difference in the number of believers. I would imagine that many Christians would think that given the disparity between these two states Mississippi would have certain positive characteristics that are reflective of a God fearing populace. Certainly, with their claims of a higher morality they might suspect that NH is a den of iniquity, a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah compared to the heavily Jesus freaked state of Mississippi.

But not surprisingly the complete opposite is true. Let’s examine the facts:

While New Hampshire had the 4th lowest violent crime rate in the country, Mississippi is the 21st highest in violent crime. http://www.morganquitno.com/dang06.htm

When it comes to poverty NH is ranked as the state with the least number of people below the poverty level. Mississippi has the second highest number of people in poverty in the country. http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank34.html

The average calculated IQ of the populace of the state of NH is 104.2, the second highest IQ of all states (Massachusetts was first with 104.3). Compare this to Mississippi’s IQ of 94.2 … the LOWEST IQ average of any State in the Union!!! http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mamcdani/Publications/McDaniel%20(2006)%20Estimating%20state%20IQ.pdf

Divorce rate for NH is 3.3 per 1,000 people, below the national average of 3.6. For Mississippi it’s 4.5 per 1,000 people, 36% higher than NH and higher than the national average. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923080.html

Teen pregnancy in NH is second lowest in the country. Mississippi, ranked third highest. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf


So what does this all mean? Well, the differences are certainly intriguing, and should cause the religiously infected to rethink their misconceptions about the impact religion has on the quality of life, morality, family values, et al.

To be fair, there could be any number of factors other than/in addition to religiosity that could influence these results. Thus, as thinking people, and adherents to the scientific method, we cannot simply assume a direct correlation exists between high religiosity and higher crime, higher poverty, lower intelligence levels, etc., etc. Not with certainty.

But I’ll tell you this; given the circumstantial evidence, if I were going on a canoe trip in the back country; wanted an intelligent conversation with a random person; wanted my children to receive a good education; or expected to feel safe walking the streets or in my home, Mississippi wouldn’t be among my top 47 choices. I’d pick a state where the vast majority of people don’t believe in angels and devils, or talk in tongues, or handle snakes, or symbolically consume their Man-god, or walk around praising the Lard, or wave their hands and fall down in spasms of hyper-religious ecstasy every Sunday. In other, words the less religious the better.

I am going to suggest NH change its state motto from “Live Free or Die”, to “Land of the Godless, and Loving it.”

You Don't Have to be a Mindless Scumbag to be Recognized as Top Clergy in the USA. But it Helps.

It’s almost as though being a mindless blithering dirtbag is a prerequisite to enter the upper echelons of Clergy in this country.

The latest idiocy uttered by the “Reverend” Jesse “Mumbles” Jackson, defaming Obama, and causing Jesse’s own Congressman son to dismiss him as a veritable jerk wad, isn’t Mumbles’ first gaff. Years ago he showed his true colors referring to New York City as “Hymie town”, among other anti-Semitic slurs. The fact that this sanctimonious buffoon also fathered children via a mistress, and had some questionable financial transactions involving his “Rainbow Coalition” boondoggle all pretty much point to an inarticulate loose cannon with little class, few scruples, and even less intellect. But this kind of behavior isn’t unique to Jesse. It’s epidemic among men of the cloth in the public eye.

Let’s put aside the obvious charlatans, the snake oil salesmen who's tent revivals and fake healings are geared to mentally impaired sucker believers. As far as I am concerned, these are entrepreneurs who see a business opportunity and maximize its potential by separating the most superstitious and gullible Christians from their welfare checks. They prove the old maxim that “a fool and his money are soon parted”. It’s free market capitalism.

And I won’t dredge up the hundreds and hundreds of priests, pastors, youth ministers, deacons, and assorted church officials, who, cloaked in godliness, use their position of authority and trust to rape and molest children. That’s a whole different level of sub-human theists.

No, I’m talking about the theist “leaders”, political shamans, the master shearers of the sheep who have risen to the top of the steaming pile of theist misanthropes. Those who declare God’s political preferences, and who rely on guile, bad theology, and a bombastic presence to transfix their followers, while sacrificing intellect, integrity, humility, honesty, dignity, and humanity. These are the darlings of the masses of bleating theist sheep, and a media circus unto themselves. They are the antithesis of the Jesus they claim to worship and represent.

The list reads like a rogue’s gallery of low life, in bred hypocrites and 13th century Inquisitors. Here, along with Jesse, is my Top Ten List of Clergy Scumbags:

“Reverend” Al Sharpton: He of the “Jewish interloper” comment, the Tawana Brawley fake race incident, the trumped up accusations of racism against anyone who opposes his demagoguery, and instigation of countless inflammatory and unnecessary confrontations. A rabble rousing publicity hound who’s IQ is exceeded by his waist size and the number of ounces of grease he slathers into his hair..

“Reverend” Jeremiah Wright: Obama’s ex-Pastor, anti-white racist, irrational conspiracy theorist, anti-American, self promoting raging nut case and beloved minister of the hallelujah crowd.

“Reverend” Jerry Falwell: Rabid homophobe; promoter of the concept that AIDS is God’s punishment on society for tolerating homosexuality; the guy who blamed 911 on America’s Sodom and Gomorrah ways. Happily he’s dead now, albeit, not soon enough nor painful enough for my liking.

“Reverend” Pat Robertson: Where to start? … How about this quote?: “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.” There are 100’s more of Pat’s quotes, many even worse. A true man of peace, Pat has called openly for the assassination of foreign leaders. A homophobe par excellence, he blamed hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans’ on the city’s evil ways, the wrath of God.. He’ll also sell you his God given recipe for an enery drink that will give you the strength of Samson. Perhaps the most unstable of the lot, Robertson is dangerous, and a living shit bag.

“Reverend” Jimmy Swaggart: Pentecostal TV hypocrite who was influential in exposing TV competitor Jim Bakker’s sexual indiscretions …two years later he himself was caught with a hooker…TWICE. His brilliant thought processes are marked by comments like this: "Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest."

“Reverend” Jim Bakker: Another defrocked TV minister, sex addict, and embezzler of his own evangelical church funds and “love offerings” of his zombie flock. Having done hard time in prison, he is still broadcasting TV shows to his God fearing and unshakable followers; while he tries to pay down the $6 million he owes the IRS.

“Reverend” Ted Haggard: Raging anti-homosexual and disgraced Evangelical leader, he was caught buying crystal meth and boffing a male prostitute. After entering “homo rehab” for two weeks he claimed to have been “cured” of his “illness”. The Evangelical leadership didn’t buy it. Many of his least intelligent Xtian sheep do.

“Reverend" Billy Graham: This fire and brimstone tent preacher rose to prominence as Minister to Presidents. Presenting himself as the paragon of tolerance and inclusion, he was accused of anti-Semitic statements made in conversation with President Nixon. He vehemently denied it as a total fabrication. Unfortunately for him it was all on Oval Office audio tape, which was released to the media. Busted as a Jew hater and liar, he prefers to continue to deny any memory of the conversation.

“Reverend” John Hagee: Endorsed McCain for President, who happily accepted this Evangelical big wig’s support, until he found out Hagee refers to the Catholic Church as “The Great Whore”, and to the Holocaust as a “good thing” for the Jewish people. Ooops!!!

The list goes on. Now, I’m not suggesting all clergy are like this. Many, perhaps even most of them, are fine people who do some good, in spite of their religious illness. But the facts are plain: The higher a Man of the Cloth rises in the public arena, the more likely he is to be exposed for the fraud and hateful hypocrite he is. If being a moron, hypocrite or scumbag is not a prerequisite, it’s certainly an acquired trait among God’s self appointed agents.

The Stupidest Christian Statement on Record.

"If you don't believe in God and salvation, what do you have to live for? Why don't you just kill yourself now?"

This is what passes for intellect and reason among the theistically impaired. It’s a favored Fundie Christian retort when they find themselves angered by their unsuccessful attempts to recruit heathens, or when frustrated by their ineffective defense of their childlike fable against the onslaught of logic and science. One can almost see their faces contorted in anger, their spittle forming foamy masses in the corner of their mouths.

Where is the logic behind that bizarre statement? I mean, why would anyone who savors this short life as the only life one has want to kill himself?

What I have to live for is "life" itself! AKA: the love of my wife and family, the camaraderie of my friends, my dogs, my favorite hobbies, reading, eating good food in copious amounts, parties, celebrating births, mourning deaths, participating in community service, warm days in the sun, cool evenings around the fire, trips to Home Depot, an occasional Whopper from Burger King, life’s daily trials / tribulations / challenges etc., etc., etc. All of it is what contributes to making life enjoyable, meaningful and worth living for as long as is comfortable and reasonably possible.

No. The appropriate logic is quite the reverse of fundie Christian illogic:

Since Christians see this life as only a brief training ground for their eternity in Candy Land, imagining themselves as smiling zombies, groveling on their knees, performing Dog knows what acts of servitude and humiliation upon their imaginary Slave Master Super Being, aren’t THEY the ones who would benefit by hurrying the termination of their evidently burdensome, and less than satisfactory life? Why would they stick around in this imperfect material world when there is something better than this life awaiting them when they croak?

I for one encourage them to seek their reward, sooner rather than later.

On Consideration of a Possible God

My Christian pen pal suggests that great scientists can be theists, and that famous contemporary activist atheists are too “fundamentalist” to leave room for the possibility of God. My reply:

Yes, Christians like F.S. Collins, the head of the gnome project, are a rarity. That he is able to compartmentalize his belief, so that it is kept distinct and separate from his scientific side, is an accommodation that is unusual and commendable.But, no doubt you are aware that upwards of 93-96% of the most respected scientists in the world, in the “hard disciplines”, the members of the UK's Royal Society of Science, and its American counterpart, the National Academy of Science ... claim no belief in God/s. Collins falls in the remaining 4 - 7%. It makes him an anomaly among his peers.

As for room for belief in God/s among atheists: I think you are wrong in dismissing Dawkins or Hitchens as having zero ability to accept the possibility of God, along with all the traditional supernatural accoutrements (i.e. heaven, hell, angels, demons, Satan, witches...et al). I am, and I’m very sure that they are, willing to reserve the exact same amount of credulity for such things as you are in accepting the existence of "Russell's Teapot".

Refreshing your memory, allow me to paraphrase and embellish the Teapot concept a tad: it proposes that a teapot, fine porcelain I believe, is in orbit around a distant star... Alpha Centauri lets say. It’s white, with a Wedgewood blue lid. It may be half full with steaming Earl Grey, I'm not sure on this point. That this teapot can't be seen, or detected in anyway; that there is no verifiable evidence of its existence; that the mechanism for its existence is unknown, does not dismiss it's possible existence. The fact that we can imagine its existence, write it down, and declare its possibility is good enough to attribute some degree of likelihood, however small or remote.

The percentage of likelihood that you are willing to attribute to Russell's Teapot actually existing, is very close to (albeit, probably higher than) the percentage of likelihood that Dawkins and Hitchens, and Harris, I and many other “strong atheists” are willing to attribute to the possibility of the existence of a supernatural being and Its/His/Her complimentary supernatural accoutrements. However, I'm quite sure that you'd require some very extraordinary, hard, objective, and compelling evidence to convince you to believe that tea pot actually exists. So would I. That’s because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Yet strangely, while I (and Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris, et al.) need the exact same level of hard and compelling objective evidence to convince us of God/gods/supernaturalism, as we need for believing in Russell’s teapot, YOU accept supernaturalism with no more hard and objective evidence than you have for that teapot. That’s an inconsistency, a breakdown in reasoning that Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens, millions of free thinkers, including me, do not suffer from. That inconsistency, prevalent among theists, defies logic, albeit we know that "faith" in God/s (like faith in cosmic teapots) defies logic.

Those alien advocates, conspiracy theorists, Young Earthers, Flat Earthers, witch believers, ESP advocates, etc, who need no hard evidence to justify their beliefs, pretty much places them in the same realm as Christians and theists in general, as far I am concerned. I'd guess that 93-96% of the best scientific minds on the planet would agree.

Ok, This is Just Weird

I have nothing much to add to this. It’s just that the phrase “… livestock whose lives he [sic/ He] touched” conjured up some really creepy imagery of Jesus that best be left unexplained.

If you hurry, you may be able to buy a copy of this book. In fact, in so doing you may be the sole owner of one, besides the copies the Christian author had printed for his friends.

http://www.amazon.com/Clean-Camel-Happy-Livestock-Touched/dp/1846940362/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214182695&sr=1-1

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!