DeGod-ify your money

Mitchell Kahle explains why and how at Spending Godless Money:

For more than 10 years, I have spent only Godless dollars. Using a red pen or stamp, I mark a circle and slash over the word "God" (as pictured above) on every bill that passes my way. When I make a withdrawal from the bank ATM, I immediately "de-God" each of the crisp new $20s. When I spend the $20s, and receive $1s, $5s, or $10s in change, I "de-God" each bill before passing it along. No merchant or business has ever refused to accept this "godless" money.

Proof that God Hates Republicans

Original is here.

Hmmm... Surely there must be some misunderstanding? After all these conservative fundamentalists said the hurricanes were the wrath of God?

Christian Terrorists - How Far Will They Go?

A while back I wrote a post about how hilariously stupid Islam's afterlife mythology is. Its title contains the words: Eating fruit and shagging virgins. This morning I check my visitor stats and I see someone came upon that post via a search for women shagging fruit, which I thought was pretty funny. But then also in the search results was a link to the forums of the Christian Party, which isn't funny.

I've never seen such amazing anti-semitic white separatist bullshit in my life. If these people were Arab, they'd be classified as a terrorist organization. I don't see what ethnicity has to do with it: these people are terrorists. Christian Terrorists. Never mind they haven't done anything, yet. That wouldn't mean anything if they were Arabs. Nobody would say, "Oh well, they haven't done anything yet."

Jesus would be ashamed of you

Found this great site, jesuswouldbeashamedofyou.com. A theist shows pictures collected from around the web of Christians being anything but, like this:


And the author makes this point:

Does the bible need to be literally true in every word in order to be a testament to the life and death of a remarkable man who changed the world? No! It doesn't.

So why do you hang your hat on that? Of all the really important things that need fixing on Earth, why do you fixate on whether gays can marry, or waste your time saving a woman who really was, it turned out, completely brain-dead? Why do you spend so much time arguing about how God created the universe, when the exact details don't matter? You can pray in school any time you want-- why force it on others? The justice system generally holds the same values as the ten commandments... why do you need it actually spelled out?

Do you think your rabid devotion to insignificant minutia really makes Jesus happy? I think he's probably more interested in you spending that kind of time and energy on helping your fellow man, don't you?

Do you really think God suffers from the same frailties as human beings, and would condemn vast numbers of people to Hell over such tiny details? I think he's much bigger and greater than you give Him credit for. I think He's infinitely more loving than the vengeful monster you hope he is.

It's time to take back Christianity from such insanity.

Now, my conclusion is quite different: it's time to abandon all religions to history and superstition where they belong. But at least this is one person who has done something to combat Christian extremism, and who, unlike most Christians, is not just sitting idly by.

The rise of religious violence in the form of terrorism and the war on terror has driven some further into their insulated caves of exclusivity (all religions are exclusive, which is why calls for peace and cooperation, such as what this site's author is doing, are futile). But it has also sparked the realization in many that religion is the problem. Everything else is merely ineffectual treatment of surface symptoms. If humanity is ever to truly get along peacably with itself, it must abandon religion. All religions.

Of course, that's not likely to happen.

Should Religions Get Special Treatment?

Religions don't deserve special treatment:

It is time to reverse the prevailing notion that religious commitment is intrinsically deserving of respect, and that it should be handled with kid gloves and protected by custom and in some cases law against criticism and ridicule.

It is time to refuse to tip-toe around people who claim respect, consideration, special treatment, or any other kind of immunity, on the grounds that they have a religious faith, as if having faith were a privilege-endowing virtue, as if it were noble to believe in unsupported claims and ancient superstitions. It is neither.

Boo-yah! A well-written piece.

Jesus Camper Speaks Out -- Has PTSD

Wow. Some choice quotes, but go read the whole thing:

There's a reason I write about dominionism--not just on the political threat, but the real threat inherent in these groups by virtue of many of the hardline "spiritual warfare" dominionists being in essence abusive Bible-based cults.

I know all too well about the danger these groups present--not just for the country, but for the kids themselves. I in fact live with it everyday.

You see...I was once one of those kids like in "Jesus Camp" myself.

I'm a survivor of the same "Third Wave" (aka "Joel's Army") dominionist movement that spawned the camp depicted in "Jesus Camp". I even remember in my youth attending a day-camp program run by the dominionist church I escaped--one that was very much like "Jesus Camp", in fact.

To this day I have serious issues trusting people and have had to undergo therapy for complex PTSD (yes, kids who grow up in this stuff go through literal shellshock, in some ways worse than Gulf War or Vietnam veterans--because they never had anything "before the war" to go back to), and have socialisation issues to the point people have wondered if I didn't have Asperger's Syndrome.

I've compared the experience of growing up in these groups to something akin to growing up in a pit filled with zombies--all of which are trying to zombify you, and grab onto you as you try to climb out the slick, jagged walls...and that's assuming you decide to at all, because you're taught all your life that even with the horrors in the pit that Outside is Much, Much, Much Worse.

Most of us who've escaped discovered either people "in the pit" were lying about Outside, or we had a caring person from Outside tell us what it's really like (usually kind of a mix of both); more and more, these kids are being isolated from ever having contact with people from Outside till they're well in their twenties or even beyond that.

...

The problem is that--because dominionism is, at its core, a spiritually abusive movement with political aspirations it isn't that simple at all...because you have to fight the programmed mindset.

I am posting this info in the hope that people--in particular, experts in the psychological field (I know we have at least one on the board!) will be able to give suggestions. I also post this in the hope people realise the difficulty us walkaways have had in getting out--and maybe our success stories will give people hints on how to stop the hijacks from occuring.

One thing that is difficult to explain to people who have never been involved in a coercive religious group is just how people get "stuck in" and refuse to leave.

What people don't tend to realise is that most coercive groups--be they dominionist groups or some other flavour of coercive group (such as Scientology, the Moonies, etc.)--have as part of the coercion in and of itself various "thought stopping" techniques and other forms of coercion that literally prevent the person from questioning the group at all. (In fact, that's how we can define dominionism as a coercive religious movement, especially in its "spiritual warfare" and "premillenarian dispensationalist" flavours.)

Divorce Rates Highest for Christians, Lowest for Atheists. Neener Neener Neener!

Check it out for yourself, but here's some snippets:

George Barna, president and founder of Barna Research Group, commented:

"While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages."

...

Barna's results verified findings of earlier polls: that conservative Protestant Christians, on average, have the highest divorce rate, while mainline Christians have a much lower rate. They found some new information as well: that atheists and agnostics have the lowest divorce rate of all.

...

Ron Barrier, Spokespersonn for American Atheists remarked on these findings with some rather caustic comments against organized religion. He said:

"These findings confirm what I have been saying these last five years. Since Atheist ethics are of a higher caliber than religious morals, it stands to reason that our families would be dedicated more to each other than to some invisible monitor in the sky. With Atheism, women and men are equally responsible for a healthy marriage. There is no room in Atheist ethics for the type of 'submissive' nonsense preached by Baptists and other Christian and/or Jewish groups. Atheists reject, and rightly so, the primitive patriarchal attitudes so prevalent in many religions with respect to marriage."

Yeah, baby!

Dear God...

Brainwashed religious children pray the darnest things!

Video Interview with Richard Dawkins

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Watch Richard Dawkins interview @ YouTube

Dawkins is wonderfully lucid and congenial in this interview related to the publication of his new book, The God Delusion.

The Dangers of Christian Extremism

Rippin' into Rosie

I hate Rosie. She says something that's correct: radical Christians are just as dangerous as radical Muslims, but then she can't explain why in a cogent fashion. She sputters and argues and, by making a fool of herself, she discredits a correctly drawn conclusion based on observing what radical Christians are doing.

Richard Dawkins Has a Posse

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science

There's something really interesting to read in the page on the foundation's mission:

Feminists and homosexuals have taught us the value of consciousness-raising. A phrase like “One man one vote” either causes you to flinch, or is uttered with intent to make you flinch. It is nowadays almost impossible to hear the phrase with its original innocent meaning of “One adult person one vote.” Some atheists and freethinkers try to raise consciousness about, for example, the phrase ‘under God’ in the US Pledge of Allegiance. I am more interested in raising consciousness about something else: the habit, practised not only by religious people, of labelling children by the religion of their parents. This is a Catholic child. That is a Muslim child. I want everybody to flinch when they hear such a phrase, just as they would if they heard, That is a Marxist child. It is immoral to brand young children with the religion of their parents. At present, hardly anybody’s consciousness is raised to this. I would welcome suggestions, perhaps from those with experience of the feminist and gay campaigns, for the most effective ways to raise consciousness. I would like such consciousness-raising to be a particular project of this foundation.

For somebody who claims religion is a thought virus, this seems like an oddly naive hope. The only way to kill a virus is to quarantine it until it has no more carriers. And that, of course, smacks a little too much of a "final solution" and is completely unacceptable. I think we're going to be stuck with religion until the Singularity happens.

Clash of Mentalities Debated on Arab TV

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Watch clash of mentalities @ YouTube

Arab Psychiatrist Wafa Sultan: There is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century. This hard-line Muslim cleric goes off on her, yelling at her and throwing his arms around. Completely medieval, and, ironically, proving her point for her.

So-called Third Awakening is the New Dark Age

I am completely sickened by this from the Washington Post :

President Bush said yesterday that he senses a "Third Awakening" of religious devotion in the United States that has coincided with the nation's struggle with international terrorists, a war that he depicted as "a confrontation between good and evil."

WTF? He senses a "Third Awakening?" Senses it how? Coincided with the nation's struggle? WHAT STRUGGLE? Does he mean the struggle against American citizens who still beleive that America should befree? And how can Bush behave like this and expect to be considered the good guy?

Commentary more to my style from CorrenteWire:

And now we’ve got Bush telling The Base how to frame his campaign: As the Third Awakening.

Enough to make you vomit. The greatest proof for atheism is that a just God hasn’t struck these people down.

The problem with Bush is that it just doesn't matter that he's an idiot. The people who handle him and put words in his mouth are not idiots. Rove is a bloodthirsty master strategist. Over the years I have watched him in awe and disgust. He must be just laughing his cold ass off about this. This is pure evil genius, that's what this is. Third Awakening my ass. New Dark Age is more like it. We will be a nation of technologically advanced delusional dumbasses.

"Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages." ~ Richard Lederer

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis

The Power of Faith

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The Power of Faith

This could be remade with footage from Jesus Camp, now.

An Atheist Reads the Bible: One Big WTF

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One man reads the Bible and has some questions... makes a little film. It's an amusing and informative film. Then makes another one. It's even more amusing than the first one. Here's Part Two:

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The Root of All Evil - all parts, in order - Richard Dawkins

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The above is part 1-1. Because of the hodge-podge way they're broken up, uploaded, and indexed, they never seem to be listed in the right order. Below are links to all the videos in the correct order, so that you can watch the whole online.

Part 1-1: http://www.youtube.com/?v=CPaD6D54L4o
Part 1-2: http://www.youtube.com/?v=TUy-Uq3WuhA
Part 1-3: http://www.youtube.com/?v=8GgD3lgspQE
Part 2-1: http://www.youtube.com/?v=_kcKInudkq4
Part 2-2: http://www.youtube.com/?v=T27Ef_xvYMs
Part 2-3: http://www.youtube.com/?v=qPBdz-TXlaI
Part 2-4: http://www.youtube.com/?v=dTKLM09FeNM
Part 2-5: http://www.youtube.com/?v=RwD9HOrjLRw
Part 2-6: http://www.youtube.com/?v=mGLPViVW5ms

He probably didn't mean it to be this way, but one of the most entertaining aspects of this work is watching Dawkins frown grimly and disapprovingly as he sits and squirms through what must be torturous evangelical services.

Current Dark Sided Poll Results

Over to the right I have a poll running (there are a few days left for it) asking you to say what your major religious affiliation is, if any. I only selected the big ones (my apologies to Jews, wiccans, and satanists). Here's how things stand so far:

Atheist: 60%
Agnostic: 26%
Christian: 13%
Muslim: 0%

I'm really surprised that no Muslims have voted at all. Truthfully, I am also surprised at the number of atheists! You may wonder what I expected - is this not an atheist's blog, after all? Yes, but at less than 6% of the American population (as far as we know, but it's probably a bit more), I didn't know how well I was going to reach atheists with my blog. I guess I'm doing OK.

If you haven't voted, yet, please do, and send your friends here, too. Any ideas on what I should do for my next poll? Comment or email me (address at right) and tell me.

Dark Sided Atheism Links for Tue Sept. 12 2006

God is Imaginary offers a series of proofs (50 of them) and for many of them, the site also offers common Christian rationalizations and rebuttals. Everything on God is Imaginary is written far better than anything I've written here, and there is an excellent forum (which I just joined).

Why I am an Atheist at ministerturnedatheist.org. Many, many atheists are not only former Christians, but former ministers. The reverse occurs infrequently enough to be worth noting. This one man's personal website is touching and, to me, inspiring (almost in a religious sense... heh).

Half Sigma's tag line is: The new politics of common sense. Neither Republican, Democratic, nor Libertarian. Even though it isn't, technically, about atheism or religion specifically, I include it here because of how it includes posts showcasing the religious extremism's detrimental behavior as an issue separate from party affiliation or identifications with conservatism or liberalism. This blog is, as it purports to be, very even-handed. It is also very much worth your time.

Sell Everything You Have and Follow Me

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me. ~ Mat 19:21

One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. ~ Mar 10:21

Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. ~ Luk 18:22

Does God Want Us to be Rich?

Um... no. But I guess that's a little beside the point now, isn't it? I find it extremely curious that none of the verses above appeared at all in the Time article. How is such an oversight possible in an article concerning the Bible's take on wealth? Prosperity Lite seems to me to be proof that religion (and by extension, God) is a creation of people. Funny how this new religion reflects the consumerist culture from which it sprang.

These megachurches preaching Prosperity Lite are, to me, a frightening product. Just as radical Islam takes advantage of our own freedom of religion to plot harm to us, under the guise of the same we are looking at nothing less than the rise of a new powerbase in America. They are using freedom of religion as an avenue to political power. This looks to me like the rise of a new class in America: the religious wealthy. Yes, we have had wealthy religious people before, but I can't help feeling there's something fundamentally (sorry, had to!) different about this new batch of praise-singers.

And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Might makes right. Religious power is political power. These people will soon be running for office across the land, and they will win. Theocracy will have arrived at last. Dominionism will have its day. A new Dark Age will begin, but the majority of the people will not recognize it or even care, because a theocracy is what they wanted. Even if it isn't, moderate Christians will not speak out against it. You think I exaggerate? Time will tell. I would love to be wrong about this.

There is a counter-movement living closer to the ideal expressed in the verses above, but it will change nothing for obvious reasons: they have no money and power on earth. I actually kind of admire the new monastics. If I were a believer, I would be attracted to this ideal. One thing it doesn't do is overtake the government or impose itself on me. But unless they actively fight Prosperity Lite, they will be in the unfortunate position of benefiting from the actions of the evangelicals without having to do any of the work.

The church at the center of this "faith of prosperity" is the Lakewood church, linked above. You can watch what services are like here or below:

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This isn't church—it's a broadway spectacle. Notice how there is no real learning or lessons, only entertainment and empty emotional appeals. The shared groupthink of the audience carries itself along on an emotional high mistaken for a spiritual experience.

What frightens me the most is how everybody holds up their right hand.

Why Be Openly Atheist?

Why be openly atheist? Why not just live my life and not get involved in what may be the world's most insoluble problem? I would prefer not to have to identify myself as an atheist at all, because to me it's self-evident as to why nobody should ever believe in any god or follow any religion.

For many years, I have stayed out of the debate but fumed quietly from the sidelines. I raised my stepkids as godless and with the faculties to think critically, and I felt that was the most important thing I could do to change the world (they are wonderful kids and I'm very proud of them).

Raising my children the way I think best isn't enough, because I have good cause to fear for their future safety and freedom, as well as my own. America is in danger of destroying itself from within. If the fundamentalist right has their way, our destruction is assured, and it will only be a matter of time. Radical Islam will still want to destroy us from within as well as without. Under the oppression of christofascism, America will not even be worth living in (although it would make a great setting for a social science fiction story).

I used to joke that I wasn't an activist... I was a deactivist. That little joke was good for a wry chuckle now and then among my family and friends. But I no longer think that. I perceive that the freedoms we in America hold dear are under threat, not just by Muslim extremism but by dominionist Christian extremism. Exposing this frightening doctrine is one of the reasons why I write this blog.

I suppose I could support the cause of freedom quietly, while outwardly do and say nothing to make theists think I am any different from them, but then I would be living a lie, and I can't do that. I do not believe the ends justify the means: that is the way of the cheater, the liar. That is how people convince themselves to commit atrocities. I believe the means justify the ends, and if I am to speak out against lies then I cannot live a lie. I will not sit by and hope other people do what I could be doing. I can leave my country or I can fight for it. I choose to fight for it (many years ago, I chose to fight for it another way by enlisting in the Marines, but that is a different story I'll tell later), and my first move is to declare myself openly an atheist.

If you have found yourself growing concerned over the the future of this country and the rise of the irrational religious right (both Islam and Christianity), you may have wondered if there is anything you can or should do about it.

There certainly are specific things you can do, but only you can decide if you should openly declare yourself as a person on the side of reason and rationality. There are many places online to begin learning if these ideas are entirely new to you. The links to the right or the book The End of Faith, by Sam Harris are good places to start.

We may be in the minority, but we could stand to have a stronger voice than we currently do. The song will be stronger if you add your voice to the choir (uh oh! church metaphors! look out!). One way to add your voice is to start your own blog. Chronicle your own observations of a world gone mad or your own personal journey into your outlook and philosophy. To show solidarity, to show that you are indeed part of a group that stands for freedom and for reason, you can link to other atheist and secularist blogs and websites. You can post links to social bookmarking sites. You can rejoin ridiculous comments left by ignorant fundies. I'm sure many atheists are wary of appearing to take on the same outward conventions as religion, and I understand that, but humans are social animals after all. We can band together for protection, strength, and friendship.

Somewhere out there, a young teenager may be just starting to think for herself. Who will she find when she types in her query at a search engine? Maybe it will be you, maybe it will be me. The more of us there are, the better, and that is why I am openly atheist. That is why I implore you to become more active if you've been holding back or, if you're unsure, to learn more. Know yourself. Be true to yourself. Being true to yourself can be surprisingly difficult, but it is worth it. For me, being true to myself means being openly atheist.