God is Hate

From Living the Scientific Life:

Even if I was stupid enough to be religious, this one letter to the editor would challenge everything I held dear because it openly advocates hatred of anyone who doesn't believe in gawd -- in the name of gawd. I was always raught that "god is love" but after reading this letter, I realize I am not ready for this sort of love, nor for the other sorts of love that all you so-called "religious people" embrace, including pedophilia, female genital mutilation and genocide, just to name a few of the aacts you have engaged in. Even though I don't believe in gawd or any of the cruel and hateful actions that a "supreme being" represents, I will say this: I hope all you so-called religious wingnuts burn in hellfire for all eternity.

Creation Museum Claims Big Crowds

From LiveScience:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The museum exhibits are taken from the Old Testament, but the special effects are pure Hollywood: a state-of-the-art planetarium, animatronics and a massive model of Noah's Ark, all intended to explain the origins of the universe from a biblical viewpoint.

The Creation Museum, which teaches life's beginnings through a literal interpretation of the Bible, is claiming attendance figures that would make it an unexpectedly strong draw less than a year and a half after it debuted. More than a half-million people have toured the Kentucky attraction since its May 2007 opening, museum officials said.

For creationists — Christians who believe the Bible's first chapter of Genesis is the literal telling of the universe's start — the museum is a godsend. Many have returned with family and friends, some from faraway states arguing it's one of the few with a Christian worldview.

(read full article)

This is a profoundly disturbing trend. The effect on this country's global political influence, economic viability, and national security is threatened by the collective dumbing-down effect of such self-delusionary belief systems. External threats notwithstanding, our greatest challenge most probably comes from the inside, from institutionalized promotion of ignorance, intellectual terrorists that threaten the very fabric of American life.

Ben Stein's Expelled Exposed

From Scientific American: (cross-posted on Å)

“Should I be worried about the Crips and the Bloods up here?” These were the first words out of the mouth of Ben Stein as he entered my office at Skeptic magazine, located in the racially mixed neighborhood of Altadena, Calif. I cringed and hoped that the two African-American women in my employ were out of earshot of what was perhaps merely Stein’s ham-handed attempt at humor before he began interviewing me for what I was told was a film on the intersection of science and religion entitled Crossroads.

That is not what the interview was about. And neither is the film, now called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The subtitle exposes its motif—intelligent design has been expelled from classrooms and culture, and Ben Stein sees a sinister conspiracy at work. This supercilious financial columnist and ersatz actor and game show host proceeded to grill me on whether or not I think someone should be fired for expressing dissenting views. My answer: it depends. Who is being fired for what, when and where? People are usually fired for reasons having to do with budgetary constraints, incompetence or failure to fulfill the terms of a contract. If you are hired to teach biology according to the curriculum standards of your school district but instead spend the semester telling students that science has no definitive explanation for DNA, wings, eyes, brains and that mystery of mysteries—bacteria flagella—then, yes, you should be fired posthaste. But I know of no instance in which this has happened, and the film’s examples of such alleged abuses have reasonable explanations detailed at www.expelledexposed.com, where Eugenie Scott and her tireless crew at the National Center for Science Education have tracked down the specifics of each case.

(read full article)

Former Romanian Priest Jailed for Exorcism Murder of Nun

From CNN.COM:

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- A former priest began a seven-year jail term Wednesday for murdering a young nun during an exorcism ritual when she was bound, chained to a cross and denied food and water for days.

Irina Cornici, 23, died from dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation during an ordeal that stunned Romania and prompted the Orthodox Church to promise reforms and psychological tests to screen potential clergy.

(more)

Kansas-based Religious Hate Group to Protest Heath Ledger Memorial Service

From Sky News:

A controversial church described as a "hate group" has said it will protest at Heath Ledger's memorial service because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain.


The Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church - which has previously said they wished a million people had been killed in the London terror attacks in 2005 - issued a statement saying the Australian actor was "now in hell".

(I have no wish to propagate any more of this vicious group's venomous blather but if you must read the rest, click here)

This group has been in the news before, angrily protesting all manner of things in the name of their supposedly omnipotent god, apparently oblivious that any such god wouldn't need their "help" to enforce its will upon us mere mortals.

Man Faces Charges over Nooses on Truck at Jena March

From cnn.com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A man has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly displaying hangman's nooses from the back of a pickup truck during a civil rights march last year in Jena, Louisiana.

Jeremiah Munsen, 18, of Grant Parish, repeatedly drove slowly past a group of marchers gathered at a bus depot in Alexandria, which is near Jena, as they awaited buses to return them to Tennessee, federal authorities said Thursday.

As many as 20,000 marchers had taken part in the huge protests in Jena. Authorities there had been accused of injustice in the handling of racially charged cases, including the hanging of nooses in a tree after a group of black high school students sat in an area where traditionally only white students sat.

The noose incident at Jena was the beginning of months of racial tension that included the beating of a white student, allegedly by six black classmates. The black students were prosecuted [WTF? For sitting in an area where white students usually sat?], but the three white students responsible for the nooses in the tree were not.

Munsen and an unnamed conspirator had attached nooses to their pickup on September 20 and driven to Alexandria specifically to threaten and intimidate the marchers, the authorities said.

(more)

What the hell is the matter with people down there? This is 2008. Have they been hiding under a rock all these years?

The Enemy Within

This Man Has No Business Being President

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And thats what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”
--Mike Huckabee

Hello so-called mainstream media? Are you listening? Why is the coverage of this story so sparse on the major networks? Granted, this guy will not likely be elected and granted changing the constitution is very difficult indeed - this is a good example of the reasons for that - but this is an indication of this guy's mindset.

Reactions:

Keith Olberman on MSNBC:

• CBSNews.com: Anybody Up For Matthew 6:1?
• MSNBC: HUCK, THE CONSTITUTION AND 'GOD'S STANDARDS'
• The Huffington Post: Huckabee: Amend Constitution To Be In 'God's Standards'
  
• Crooks and Liars: Huckabee Wants A “Faith-based” Constitution
• Daily Kos: Huckabee's Stealth Theocracy
• AlterNet: Huckabee Wants to Rewrite Constitution, Says It's Easier to Change Than "Word of Living God"
• NJDC Blog: NJDC CONDEMNS MIKE HUCKABEE FOR SAYING CONSTITUTION SHOULD BE AMMENDED TO REFLECT GOD'S STANDARDS
• The Carpetbagger Report: Huckabee wants the Constitution to match ‘God’s standards’
  
• NoGodBlog: Anti-American Huckabee wants to Change the Constitution
• God is for Suckers: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• RichardDawkins.net: Huckabee Wants A 'Faith-based' Constitution
• Deep Thoughts: Some might find that statement very troubling
• Stardust: “We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”
• Gentoo Forums: Lord save me from your followers...
• LeftWord: Huckabee Wants A Faith-based Constitution
• Think Progress: Huckabee: ‘amend the Constitution’ to ‘God’s standards.
• The Raw Story: Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'
• Free Market News Network: Huckabee: Amend Constitution for God
• Perrspective: Huckabee Calls for Faith-Based Constitution
• Hot Air: Huckabee: Let’s amend the Constitution to bring it in line with “God’s standards”
  

Related:

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the movement known as the Religious Right. Organizations and leaders representing this religio-political crusade seek to impose a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint on all Americans through government action.
--Americans United for Separation of Church and State

The goal of undermining this foundational principle of our nation poses nothing less than an existential threat to our most basic rights and freedoms, and to the United States of America itself. Does this constitute treason?

The United States of America was founded for the very specific purpose of protecting its citizens at large from the religious leanings of a subset of society. To weaken or eliminate such separation quite literally destroys the very freedoms the United States stands for and the purpose for and meaning of its existence as a nation.

Mother charged in grisly deaths of her four children says dead kids had demons

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A mother who is suspected of killing her four children, whose decomposing bodies were found in her home, appeared in court Thursday.

Banita Jacks, 33, is charged with three counts of felony murder and one count of first-degree murder while armed.

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Jacks told police that her daughters were possessed by demons and that each died in her sleep during a seven- to 10-day period, court documents said.

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[Jacks] also said she had not fed her daughters food "for a substantial period of time prior to their deaths."

(full article)

Man Blames God for Cooked Friend

Cop: Suspect says God made him kill, cook girlfriend

From AP via CNN.COM::

Friends and family of a 21-year-old who police say was killed and mutilated by her boyfriend struggle to put aside the grisly details of her death.

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Smith County Sheriff Lt. Larry Wiginton told the Tyler Morning Telegraph that McCuin told investigators that God made him kill Shearer. "When he said God told him to do it, one of the investigators looked at him and just said, 'What did you say?"' according to Wiginton.

(full article)

No Business Being President

Like George W. Bush, this man has no business being president...