Unbelievable Popist Insanity

Ok, so, unfortunately this news story is not unbelievable. Last year, somehow this amazingly hateful popist insanity slipped by my radar. Just in case you live under a rock like I do, I thought it was worth sharing.

Pope Ratz said the following last December in his Christmas address:

"In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children."

"It was maintained - even within the realm of Catholic theology - that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than'. Nothing is good or bad in itself."

The abuse revelations in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" which brought "humiliation" on the Church.

Seriously? What world did Ratz live in? I grew up in the 70's and you know what? It was criminal to hurt a child.

How out of touch is this monster? To whine about how the church has been humiliated is reprehensible. Why not be enraged, like normal members of society, that children have been raped and have been scarred for life under his watch?!

Raping a child who is under your protection is abominable. Has it happened throughout history? Yes. Is it more prevalent? There's no evidence that it is. We simply talk about it more now, which is good. Was it ever right? No.

The Harm of Religion

"Hey, let's do something to appease our Lord. We need to rid ourselves of sin."

"I know, let's baptize ourselves. I hear the Lord likes that sort of thing."

"We live in Siberia. It's January, and a bit nippy out."

"Well, then let's chop through the ice, in the shape of a cross of course, then dip our naked children in there. It will take away all of their sins."

"We don't have to take off our coats, do we?"

"No, don't be silly! Just the little children."

"Yes, I hear it's all the rage. I'll get my axe. You get the baby."

And I said, WTF? This is religion at work. In Communist Russia, religion was banned, driven underground. But since the fall of Communism, there has been a resurgence.



All it takes are liberal doses of ignorance and superstition with a dash of confirmation bias, a pinch of cognitive dissonance, and an authoritarian dogma to serve extra portions of indoctrination. And voila! You have people taking their children as young as newborns and dipping them in ice water in January in Siberia.

It's truly barbaric. And it's also dangerous. It can literally shock the heart enough to make it stop, and can cause hypothermia.

There is a popular belief that diving into an ice hole 3 times on Epiphany will erase your sins. But what sins do newborns or small children have? Supposedly, this belief is not endorsed officially by the Orthodox Church.

This has become popular since the 1990's, so it's not an old ritual. Father Yakov Krotov, an Orthodox priest of Moscow said,"This is not going back to our traditions - no, this is just an attempt [by the masses] to create some kind of great past." Whether Father Krotov agrees with it or not, it appears in the video an in other pictures online that there are officials (dressed quite warmly) officiating the abusive treatment.

While my imaginary conversation mentions only children, adults do it too. If they want to freeze their bits off and damage their hearts, that's their business. But it's abusive to make a child do this against their will, or under coercion and indoctrination.

Not to mention, does this give these people license to "sin" throughout the year, knowing all they have to do is get baptized in January to wipe the slate clean? I don't know, but I would think human nature would easily rationalize such behavior.

Epiphany, or Theophany, takes place on January 19 and commemorates Jesus' baptism in the river Jordan. Supposedly the waters are holy on this day.

BBC News

A Cosmos Sequel Hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson!

This is so cool. A sequel to Cosmos is going to be made, and its going to be hosted by the best candidate I can think of, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. If any scientist seems to understand and carry on the legacy of the late, great Carl Sagan, it's Tyson. They both excel at bringing science to the public. People still watch Cosmos, which stands the test of time quite well. But it is a science show, so it will be great to have the latest research (and updated graphics!).

There is one bit of bad news. It's going to be on Fox on prime time. And they are taking their time. It won't be on until 2013.

Ann Druyan (Sagan's widow and Cosmos writer) is going to write and produce it, along with astrophysicist Steven Soter and Seth McFarlane, the creator of The Family Guy. It will be called Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey and will be 13 episodes long. The National Geographic channel will co-produce it, so it will air on their station as a same-night encore later in the evening.

McFarland said, "Never more than at this moment in the modern era have we needed a profound reminder of the colossally important and exciting role that science, space exploration and the human quest for knowledge must continue to play in our development as a species. We should be vigorously exploring the solar system by now, and who better to inspire us to get there than Ann Druyan, Steven Soter, Neil deGrasse Tyson and, of course, Carl Sagan."

According to the producers, the new series will tell "the story of how human beings began to comprehend the laws of nature and find our place in space and time. It will take viewers to other worlds and travel across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale. The most profound scientific concepts will be presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience."

Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was first broadcast in 1980 on PBS and was the most widely watched series in the history of American public television for 10 years. As of 2009, it was still the most widely watched PBS series in the world. It won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and has been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 Million people. There is also an accompanying book.

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Resources:

• Wired


• Deadline


• Wikipedia

 

BS Meter Overload Regarding Rapture

My husband Butch and I were driving at 6pm on Saturday, eagerly waiting for the Rapture. Ok, we weren't waiting for it, but we did joke about it quite a bit. One thing we ruminated over was how the backpedaling would unfold. It took some time but Harold Camping finally crawled out of his hotel where he was hiding and talked to the press and his flock. He said pretty much what was expected.

He forgot to carry the 5 in his calculation, apparently. The Rapture is now rescheduled for October 21. I'm sure you're all relieved.

Here's the other "good news" which is not original to rapture predictors of days past. He said that this past Saturday was "an invisible judgment day" in which a spiritual judgment took place. "May 21 is the day that Christ came and put the world under judgment." I don't know about you, but I didn't see any signs of Jesus on a white horse with a sword. Go figure. In fact, there wasn't even a ripple in the air. It was as if, .... dare I say it? .. as if ... Nothing Happened!*

That's some very clever bullshit, if you ask me. I'm impressed! I'm sure the thousands of people who believed him are quite satisfied with this Fail and will happily wait for October 21. Of course, there were people who donated all of their savings to Camping's ministries and who quit their jobs and stayed home to pray and wait for the glorious end times. They are destitute now.

What will those people do now? They have 5 months to fill. As a friend of mine said, "If they were dumb enough to believe that crazy old kook, they get what they deserved."

I still feel bad for those people, though. Yes, they were gullible, but they are learning a very harsh lesson. The ones I don't feel sorry for are the ones that haven't abandoned Camping now that he's been wrong twice. He predicted the end times back in 1994. And guess what? He was wrong then too, just like every other judgment day predictor in human history.

By the way, in 2009 Camping's nonprofit Family Radio Int'l reported that they received $18.3 million in donations. They had assets of over $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities. Sounds like they were really expecting the end of the world, huh? No word on what they made in 2010 or so far this year as people were preparing for the Rapture. Camping said he didn't tell people what to do with their money, but there are reports that many gave donations to his ministry to help spread the word.

So, will Camping give back those donations to the now destitute, jobless families? I'd be interested if he does or not. Somehow I doubt it.

*There were a lot of Rapture parties, mainly by atheist groups. What a great way to spread the word of Reason! I guess I won't complain that now we have to have another party in October. Our group has great potluck parties. The food is "divine." :P

AP Story

'Scientific Rigor' Regarding Exorcisms

The Telegraph wrote a couple of credulous, one-sided articles regarding exorcism recently. Apparently the interwebs makes it easy for people to find information on satanism, which is leading, of course, to more exorcisms. OMFSM, I just said the word satanism! I'm probably already possessed now! Get me a priest!

So is there a rise in satanism? Let's see what Google Trends can find:

First I looked up satanism by itself. There is no increase in searches for that term since 2004. It's really not that popular, I don't think. Then I did "satanism, exorcism". Exorcism has spikes, either from movies like Last Exorcism or "scary" vatican rumblings about the exorcism "crisis".



So, I guess they lied? Or they have no idea what they're talking about.

Anyway, a few things in this article stood out. First, they were written because the vatican hosted a 6 day conference in Rome regarding the "crisis". It was to give support to families and priests. Apparently "there is a particular risk for young people who are in difficulties or who are emotionally fragile."

Also, the objective of the seminars was to look at the "phenomenon" of satanism with "seriousness and scientific rigour". Uh, really? That's laughable!

Support Nontheistic Festival For Our Troops

An awesome secular event was planned at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on April 2, but now it's been canceled. You can write letters and emails to try to get it going again (see below). Justin Griffith has tirelessly put this event together, so let's help our secular troops out.

Secular Coalition for America sent me this information a bit ago:

Demand Fort Bragg Support Nontheistic Festival
Army Garrison Commander Refused to Provide Event Support

“Rock Beyond Belief,” a festival of nontheistic speakers and musicians that was going to be held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on April 2, has been canceled after Fort Bragg’s garrison commander refused to provide adequate support for the event – even though Fort Bragg officials had made similar arrangements for a religious event just months ago.

Among those scheduled to appear at the festival were author Richard Dawkins; Dan Barker, copresident of the Freedom From Religion Foundation; “Friendly Atheist” blogger Hemant Mehta; Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation; and musicians Spoonboy and Roy Zimmerman.

Rock Beyond Belief’s organizers had asked for lesser or equal amounts of support for their event than the Army and Fort Bragg officials provided for the Billy Graham Evangelical Association’s “Rock the Fort” celebration in 2010. You can see a complete comparison of the more than $100,000 in government funds provided to the Rock the Fort event to the funds asked for by the Rock Beyond Belief organizers here.

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

Pope Ratz Charged With Crimes Against Humanity Again

Last year, Pope Ratz (aka Pope Palpatine) was charged in the UK with crimes against humanity but it didn't go anywhere. This time, because the charges were filed at the International World Court, it has to be investigated. Two lawyers from Ratz' home state of Bavaria filed a 16,500 word indictment which alleged the following:

“three worldwide crimes which until now have not been denounced . . . (as) the traditional reverence toward ‘ecclesiastical authority’ has clouded the sense of right and wrong”.

The Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”.

He is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”.

Tthe Catholic Church “acquires its members through a compulsory act, namely, through the baptism of infants that do not yet have a will of their own”. This act was “irrevocable” and is buttressed by threats of excommunication and the fires of hell.

It was “a grave impairment of the personal freedom of development and of a person’s emotional and mental integrity”. The Pope was “responsible for its preservation and enforcement and, as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his Church, he was jointly responsible” with Pope John Paul II.

Catholics “threatened by HIV-AIDS . . . are faced with a terrible alternative: If they protect themselves with condoms during sexual intercourse, they become grave sinners; if they do not protect themselves out of fear of the punishment of sin threatened by the church, they become candidates for death.”

There was also “strong suspicion that Dr Joseph Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his church and as Pope, has up to the present day systematically covered up the sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators, thereby aiding and abetting further sexual violence toward young people”.

Let's hope it sticks this time.

From: The Examiner

An Open Letter To Christians After The Arizona Shooting

We've all probably heard about the awful shooting in Arizona this past Saturday. My friend Edmund Metheny wrote an open letter to Christians and others in a note on Facebook. I liked it so much I asked him if I could share it with you and he agreed. So here it is, in its entirety:

To my Christian friends - and others

by Edmund Metheny

Since the shootings in Arizona, I have read numerous comments regarding the miraculous nature of the event. It was a "miracle" that Gabrielle Giffords survived, for example. I have read comments such as "God didn't do it, but he can turn a tragedy into a blessing if you just look, and take the time to see." I have even read comments to the effect that this evil only occurred because of a lack of faith in God.

I would like to provide you with an alternate viewpoint.

A miraculous event is not "a bunch of people got shot and some of them died and some of them lived." A miraculous event is "all the shooter's bullets turned into butterflies" or maybe "the shooter was struck dead by a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, just as he pulled the gun out" or "two she-bears appeared from nowhere and ripped the shooter to pieces." If the best that God can manage for a miracle in this case is six dead and fourteen injured, that is a weak-assed, pathetic loser miracle, and He should be ashamed.

What made this event less horrible than it might have been was not God - it was people. Heroic people who prevented the shooter from reloading. Heroic people who provided aid at the scene. Heroic people who worked tirelessly and quickly to give medical care to the injured. And it wasn't prayer that saved the injured. If prayer was going to do it, don't you think maybe someone could have done a bit more for Christina Taylor Green? Perhaps another verse of "Jesus loves the little children" might have done it?

Australia's New Prime Minister is Not Religious!

My friend Kevin lives in Australia and sent me a message this morning about their new prime minister Down Under. Julia Gillard is the first female prime minister of Australia, AND this is what she says about her personal life:

Gillard has never married or had children.  Her partner since 2006, Tim Mathieson, is a hairdresser. Gillard said through a spokeswoman that she was a "non-practising Baptist" and "not religious". She is tolerant of public interest in her personal life, stating that "People want to know who you are, the shape of your life. That is legitimate."

Very interesting! Australia has voted in a woman who is Not Religious! How did that happen? That's wonderful! She is the first person in high politics I've ever heard of who has said that.

Let's hope she does a great job and that other "non-religious" politicians follow suit and run for high offices and succeed. I wonder if we could ever get that far here in America? Wow, I'm really reaching for the stars now!

Good luck, Julia. I hope you do great things in your run as prime minister.

Touchdown Jesus Struck By Lightning

And Jesus said, "WTF, Dad!? Goddammit!"

The pose of the huge statue looked like a ref calling a touchdown, hence the name.

Here is the AP story:

MONROE, Ohio — Police say a six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a southwest Ohio highway has been struck by lightning in a thunderstorm and has burned to the ground.

The "King of Kings" statue had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

Monroe police dispatchers say the lightning strike set the statue ablaze late Monday night.

The sculpture showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way his arms were raised. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remains.

Police Chief Mark Neu (noo) says the fire spread to an amphitheater next to the statue but was confined to the attic area. He says no one was injured.

So is this  proof of a god that didn't like the statue because it was hideous? Or is it proof there is no god at all? Nah, it's just a hilarious coincidence, of course. :P

Here's a video:

Justice Late Is Better Than None At All

The AP has an article titled Britain bans doctor who linked autism to vaccine.

This is great news! My first question is why it took Britain so long to make such a move. My second concern is that he will just come back over here where he is worshiped by idiots like McCarthy and her ilk. And my third concern is people will still worship him and continue to avoid getting their children properly vaccinated, causing suffering and even death for innocent kids everywhere.

LONDON — The doctor whose research linking autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella influenced millions of parents to refuse the shot for their children was banned Monday from practicing medicine in his native Britain.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield's 1998 study was discredited — but vaccination rates have never fully recovered and he continues to enjoy a vocal following, helped in the U.S. by endorsements from celebrities like Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy.

"That is Andrew Wakefield's legacy," said Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "The hospitalizations and deaths of children from measles who could have easily avoided the disease."

Wakefield's discredited theories had a tremendous impact in the U.S., Offit said, adding: "He gave heft to the notion that vaccines in general cause autism."

In Britain, Wakefield's research led to a huge decline in the number of children receiving the MMR vaccine: from 95 percent in 1995 — enough to prevent measles outbreaks — to 50 percent in parts of London in the early 2000s. Rates have begun to recover, though not enough to prevent outbreaks. In 2006, a 13-year-old boy became the first person to die from measles in Britain in 14 years.

"The false suggestion of a link between autism and the MMR vaccine has done untold damage to the UK vaccination program," said Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. "Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that it is safe."

Dan Barker on Faux News Explains the National Day of Prayer

Dan Barker from the Freedom From Religion Foundation explains the unconstitutionality of the National Day of Prayer and how we are not a christian nation. And for once, Faux News has an intelligent conversation instead of trying to have a pissing match. (~ 5 minutes)



Obama still proclaimed the National Day of Prayer this year, even though the ruling said it was unconstitutional. The government is wasting good tax dollars appealing. Of course. Power hungry sycophants!

I guess we'll still keep holding the National Day of Reason until reason and the constitution prevail.

Cross-posted from Morgantown Atheists

Jerusalem is Populating a Biblical Zoo

And I said, WTF? Then I remembered, people in Jerusalem are there because they believe its the promised land, given by God to the Jews. They are just as nutty as the christians, the muslims and all the other religions.

So these zookeepers over in Jerusalem are trying to sort of reconstruct the animals from the bible (old testament, of course) in Israel. They aren't trying to repopulate the area with the biblical predators like bears, but they are trying to bring back vultures, even though Levitucus 11:13 called them detestable. Which makes me wonder why they'd want to nurture and breed them. And why cherry-pick certain animals but not the rest from the bible? But why try to get logical now?

Almost 100 animals were mentioned in the bible, according to the fluffy, credulous HuffPo article where I found this ridiculous story, so of course, I am quite skeptical. I guess that's how Noah was able to get them all on the ark, then. He only had 100 or so to deal with, not the millions found in the world today.

There are nearly 100 different types of animals mentioned in the Bible, many of them key players in well-known stories: the lions in Daniel's den; the dove that scouted for dry land from Noah's ark; the ram that was sacrificed by Abraham to save the life of his son, Isaac.

Today, many of them are gone, hunted to the point of extinction or driven away by ongoing conflict. Of the 10 animals that are listed as acceptable dinner fare in Deuteronomy 14 -- ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goat, ibex, antelope and mountain sheep -- only two (the gazelle and the ibex) could still be found in the historical boundaries of Israel in 1960. ...

"... I want to keep the vultures because they were mentioned in the Bible that it was a common animal and that's good enough for me."

Boobquake: Dress Immodestly For Science April 26

Update! Boobquake results are in: Our immodest hair and cleavage did not cause any earthquakes. In fact, the mean magnitude of quakes actually went down during the experiment. Read the full results over at Blag Hag.

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Some ideas strike me as terribly clever. Jennifer over at Blag Hag decided to start something by asking women to dress immodestly to show that it doesn't cause earthquakes. It was spurred on by some little Iranian man who said:

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran's acting Friday prayer leader.

Women in the Islamic Republic are required by law to cover from head to toe, but many, especially the young, ignore some of the more strict codes and wear tight coats and scarves pulled back that show much of the hair.

"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon Friday. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."

"A divine authority told me to tell the people to make a general repentance. Why? Because calamities threaten us," Sedighi said.

Minister of Welfare and Social Security Sadeq Mahsooli said prayers and pleas for forgiveness were the best "formulas to repel earthquakes."

"We cannot invent a system that prevents earthquakes, but God has created this system and that is to avoid sins, to pray, to seek forgiveness, pay alms and self-sacrifice," Mahsooli said.

So on April 26, I will show my cleavage for science. I dress for comfort, not looks, so I'm a perfect person to "tip the scales" towards total devastating earthquake on Monday April 26. This is a scientific experiment.

No More AA For Nonbelievers!

In California a Sacramento federal court judge ruled that an atheist parolee should not be forced to participate in a religious drug program, due to his constitutional rights. Hopefully this will spread throughout the country!

Here is what American Atheists said:

ATHEISTS HAIL DECISION -- NONBELIEVERS CANNOT BE SENTENCED TO FAITH-BASED REHAB PROGRAMS AS PAROLE CONDITION

An Atheist public policy group praised a U.S. District Court Judge in California for defending the constitutional rights of a prison inmate who was compelled to attend religion-based drug and alcohol rehab sessions in order to qualify for parole.

Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. ruled that California officials erred when they forced 41-year-old Barry A. Hazel Jr. to enroll in Alcoholics Anonymous after serving a one-year sentence for drug possession. Hazel, a computer programmer, demanded that he be given access to an alternative secular program instead, and was mistakenly informed that one was not available. After refusing to participate in the faith-based 12-step regimen, Mr. Hazel was re-arrested and had to serve another three months in jail.

Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists, praised the court for its finding in this case. "It is outrageous that any citizen be coerced into attending religious services or programs that 'push' religion in any form."

Buckner noted that just weeks after Mr. Hazel protested the violation of his rights, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued an order to all parole agents pointing out that they "cannot compel" a parolee to participate in any religion-themed program.

Dave Silverman, Vice President and Communications Director for American Atheists said that "While Atheists and other non-believers make up a very small percentage of prison populations -- by some studies far less than one percent -- violating someone's religious liberty and freedom from religion is not some kind of a numbers game."

"There are secular programs for drug and alcohol rehabilitation that are available, and the government has an obligation to respect the rights of any incarcerated individual to refuse religious 'treatment'."

Atheists in Prison - 1997 Statistics:

Last Mr Deity Of Season Three and A Bit About the Vatican and Pope Ratz

Mr. Deity and the Quitter
Jesus gets upset when he realizes that there's no reason for his sacrifice.



I can't believe Jesse quit! He'll be back, don't you think?

Now onto more serious issues that have been weighing on my mind lately, and yours as well, most likely.

Johnny posted something on Facebook the other day that I have been meaning to share with you.

Add Us To The Map!

Here in West Virginia, it seems like everyone must be traditionally religious. People wear crosses around their necks and churches seem to be on every corner. But there are godless people scattered about. When I first moved here I felt like I had to hide my lack of faith in the closet. It was oppressive, and still can be at gatherings or over the holidays.

Then I met Tim. He's a friend of mine who is also an atheist and he encouraged Butch and I to come to a Morgantown Atheist meeting. Earlier this year we did and it was awesome! Here were people who were like us, who had similar views of the world in matters of religion as us. The next month we joined the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club too.

One thing we wanted to do at Morgantown Atheists was to get a billboard like other cities across the country and around the world. We started getting a bit more organized, then found the United Coalition of Reason. They believe that local organizations who don't even know about each other should work together, pool our resources, and reach out together to people who don't even know the little groups exist.

Before you know it, we formed the Morgantown Coalition of Reason! That's the Morgantown Atheists, the Morgantown Brights, the Freethinkers Morgantown Book Club* and the Morgantown Thomas Paine Society*. Now together we can do projects together and all kinds of good stuff. Since we got together, I've met a lot of other people from the other groups and they're great!

So the UnitedCoR helped us get our billboard! For a month we're going to be calling out to the godless of our area, letting them know where to find us, and that they are not alone. People of Reason, unite!

If you're in West Virginia, you can contact the MorgantownCoR to see about joining. In fact, you can contact me, because I'm the Coordinator.

If you're in another part of the country, think about contacting UnitedCoR to help you get organized too. United we stand. And together we can make a positive difference in our communities and around the country. :)

Crazy Flores, The Evangelical Hijacker

I just can't make this stuff up. Another religious wacko gets the media's attention.

On 09-09-09 a bible-clutching hijacker tried to take over a plane headed to Cancun, Mexico. His name is Jose Mar Flores Pereira of Bolivia. His friends call him Crazy Flores. He wanted to talk to Mexico's president because god told him of an impending earthquake.  He said he chose the date of the attack because it's the inverse of 6-6-6, and that the holy spirit accompanied him on his mission.

His wife said he just wanted to be listened to, to get the media's attention to tell them about a dangerous earthquake he claims will hit soon. (seems rather vague to me)

He used to be addicted to cocaine and has served jail time. When he got to Mexico a decade ago from Bolivia, he set about begging and thieving until a man took him to an evangelical church where he became a preacher. He's also recorded christian music on cd, in case you're interested.

As of yesterday he had yet to be charged with anything.

Seriously, WTF? god surely works in mysterious ways, huh?

News Daily from Sept 09, from Sept 10

Barbaric Law In Afghanistan Passed Reducing Women's Rights

Another abhorrent law has passed in Afghanistan, showing the barbarism of islam.

• It is now legal for shia men to deny food and sustenance to their wives if they refuse to obey their husband's sexual demands.


• Fathers and grandfathers have full guardianship over the children


• Women must ask permission from their husbands to work.


• A rapist can avoid prosecution by paying 'blood money' to a girl who was injured when he raped her.


• "Tamkeen is the readiness of the wife to submit to her husband's reasonable sexual enjoyment, and her prohibition from going out of the house, except in extreme circumstances, without her husband's permission. If any of the above provisions are not followed by the wife she is considered disobedient."

Apparently in a bid for votes in the upcoming election, Hamid Karzai has basically sold the rights of women to gain power. The election is Thursday, August 20. But from what I can see, women will lose as long as the country is islamic.

Religious Murderers Get Off Easy

Janet Moses was 22, a mother of two, and was surrounded by people who "loved" her when she died a horrible torturous death. Her family was trying to exorcise the demon they thought she had. 5 of her family were convicted of manslaughter. Their sentence was for community service, and 4 of them have to take a Maori culture course.

That's right, they tortured and killed their relative and received community service.

Justice France acknowledged some might not see the sentences as adequate but his reasons included:

• They were trying to save, not harm, her.


• Sleep deprivation greatly affected rational judgment.


• High level of co-operation with police afterwards.


• No-one suffered more from the death than the offenders and their family.

So, if you suffer when you're drowning your sister for two days, make sure you don't get any sleep, and proclaim that you're trying to save her. That makes it A-OK. How does that make any logical sense?