Atlantis on Pad 39A

Click on image to enlargeImage Credit: NASA, Kim Shiflett

Explanation: An intricate network of lighting plays across the 130 foot high Rotating Service Structure (RSS) in this dramatic night view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39A. Seen here after rolling back before Thursday's shuttle launch, the RSS provides pre-launch access to the orbiter and its payload. For this mission, STS-122, to the International Space Station, Atlantis' payload is the European Space Agency's Columbus science laboratory. During the mission, three space walks are planned to attach the Columbus lab. Atlantis is expected to dock with the space station today.

Important find for evolutionists

Brazil finds fossil of "missing link" to crocodile

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian paleontologists said on Thursday they had found the fossil of a new species of prehistoric predator that represented a "missing link" to modern-day crocodiles. The well-preserved fossil of Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, a medium-sized lizard-like predator measuring about 5 1/2 feet (1.7 meters) from head to tail, dates back about 80 million years to the Late Cretaceous period.

"This is scientifically important because the specimen literally is the link between more primitive crocodiles that lived in the era of the dinosaurs 80-85 million years ago and modern species," said paleontologist Ismar de Souza Carvalho of Rio de Janeiro Federal University.

Montealtosuchus arrudacamposi, an agile terrestrial predator of the Peirosauridae family, had different habits from today's crocodiles but it was similar in form and structure despite having longer limbs, scientists said.

The fossil was found near the town of Monte Alto in Sao Paulo state and is named after the place and the local scientist who dug up the fossil in 2004 -- Arruda Campos.

The new species is one of a number of important finds by paleontologists in Brazil and Argentina over the past few years.

God of the gaps

I don’t normally make a habit of commenting on fundie blogs, but beaj (The Atheist Jew) lured me over to Apparently So. Here is Craig H’s "Seven Arguments for Intelligent Design". Craig and his fundie friends provide an excellent example of how to use the God of the gaps. When they don’t know something, or can’t explain something, they simply say “God did it”.

God of the gaps means:
* There is a gap in scientific knowledge.
* The gap is filled with acts of a god (and therefore also proves, or helps to prove, the existence of said god).

I will leave this here for you to pick over.

Craig writes:

1. The Big Bang has been proven by astronomers. The five proofs spell the word SURGE: S – The Second Law of Thermodynamics proves energy had to have a beginning because there is not an infinite supply. U – The universe is expanding. If so, it had to begin somewhere (and at some point in time). R – Radiation from the Big Bang itself can be observed. This was discovered in 1965. G – Great galaxy seeds. Think of ripples on a pond, radiating out from a stone’s splash. Scientists can measure this in our universe. E – Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. Einstein proved that time, space and matter are co-relative. In other words, you can’t have one without the others. From this, the mathematical equation shows a beginning point. The Big Bang proves God exists because the universe had to have a cause. God is that cause. God, on the other hand, is uncaused. (He is outside the time, matter and space of the universe.) That is difficult to grasp, but it means God is eternal. Our choices are either an uncaused universe (which is impossible), or an uncaused creator outside of it. (Which is difficult to understand, but not an impossibility.) God spoke the cosmos into existence and we call that the Big Bang.

2. There are fossils that demonstrate transitional features, but there is not one undisputed fossil in the record that proves macro-evolution. There should be thousands if Darwinian Evolution is true and Darwin himself said so.

3. A mouse trap will not work if you take any of its parts away. Cells function the same way. Someone took a mouse trap and modified it to work without one of its parts to prove this wrong, but it only worked because of intelligent intervention, which is exactly what I believe in the first place. The point here is that lesser parts could not have joined together to form cells. Therefore, cells were designed.

4. Darwin knew nothing of the DNA code when he wrote his theory. We now know that every one of the trillion cells in our bodies has a DNA strand containing a code more complex than an encyclopedia. Never has a complex computer code ever written itself. Only intelligence can write complex code. To me, this is an open and shut case for an intelligent designer.

5. Darwinian Evolutionists basically believe lightning struck the mud and made life. Scientist tried to duplicate this empirically in a lab, but they had to manipulate the atmosphere to the point that life could have never begun to get any results. You don’t hear much about this anymore. Now, some actually say aliens must have brought life here, because they simply have no natural explanation for how life began.

6. Life is so incredibly diverse and complex, the only logical explanation is a remarkable creator. The fine-tuning of the cosmos, the symbiotic relationship of all living things – it boggles the mind to think it is all a freak of nature, or even that natural selection caused it all.

7. Only humans can write songs, books, blogs, stories, and fairy tales. Some monkeys and elephants can express themselves in art, but it pales next to my ability to write this column. Only humans can express their questions about the meaning of life. Only humans can invent complex machinery and technology. Our self-awareness cannot be explained by natural selection or any other natural cause. Clearly, we were created and designed to seek our maker.

So, which designer? Because of the evidences for the resurrection of Jesus, the God of the Bible is the clear choice. We can have a faith that is supported by the evidence, not only of the scripture, but also the world around us.

As maggie, a seemingly more educated and open-minded Christian at Craig’s site wrote:

“I will say that I think intelligent design is philosophy masquerading as science”

ID is a belief, a theological philosophy not a science. The lack of scientific knowledge about an unexplained phenomenon does not mean that it is an act of God, but rather that scientific research has not yet found an answer.

And for your amusement, here is episode #7 of The Atheist Experience - Tina on Evolution

Interesting stats on Christianity

click on image to enlarge.

One of the arguments we often hear for belief in a god and Christianity is "Millions of people believe in Christianity" and "How could so many people be wrong?" Yet god believers do not apply that reasoning when considering other religions that have billions of followers. There are literally thousands of religions in this world.

Link to LIST OF WORLD RELIGIONS

Christianity makes up only 33% of the world's religions and there are approximately 300 branches of Christianity and approximately 38,000 Christian denominations. Then, each of those denominations can be divided into sub-denominations and so on, and so forth. Each denomination believing that they alone hold the "true" beliefs. Supposedly they all worship the same god, but this god isn't doing anything to help them all come to a common understanding of what it is they are supposed to believe.

Christians cannot even agree amongst themselves on their own god beliefs and Bible interpretation.

Here is a LIST OF CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS and you will also find under each denomination links to the sub-denominations of each branch.

So, hopefully any fundies who are still lurking here will actually read all that and try to understand what I am talking about when I say they need to work things out amongst themselves before going out and spreading their versions of the "good news".

We've come a long way in a short time

The First Explorer

Credit: Courtesy of Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA

Explanation: Fifty years ago (on January 31, 1958) [I was 4-years-old] the First Explorer, was launched into Earth orbit by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the United States, Explorer I was a thirty pound satellite that carried instruments to measure temperatures, and micrometeorite impacts, along with an experiment designed by James A. Van Allen to measure the density of electrons and ions in space. The measurements made by Van Allen's experiment led to an unexpected and startling discovery -- an earth-encircling belt of high energy electrons and ions trapped in the magnetosphere now known as the Van Allen Radiation Belt. Explorer I ceased transmitting on February 28, 1958, but remained in orbit until March of 1970. Pioneering space scientist James Van Allen died on August 9th, 2006 at the age of 91.

Too late for what?

This cartoon caught my eye because of all the drive by comments I have deleted in the past couple years of blogging telling me I must accept Jesus and god because the "end is near" and soon it will be "too late". I have also had this discussion with Christians in person:
"Too late for what?" I ask.
"Too late to repent!" they answer.
"What do I have to repent for?"
"Repent and ask forgiveness of your sins!"
"What sins do I need to be forgiven for?"
(pause while they think of a response)
"Only you and god knows what you need to be forgiven for, but you need to accept Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior."
"To save me from what?"
"Eternal damnation."
"Why would a god damn me eternally? I am a good and kind person."
"Because being good isn't enough. You have to say the magic words before it's too late!"
(they don't really say it that way, but it's what they mean.)

Many fundamentalists of various religions are so obsessed with an imagined end of times that they forget to live in the here and now and have an unnecessary pessimistic view of life and this world. There are those god-believing people who do try to help make the world a better place, but at the same time they are doing this they are preaching to people that this world is a bad place and that we all need to be "saved" from something. They say their god is good, but their Bible illustrates that this god is anything but good, and his wrath is only curtailed by killing someone...like his own earthly son. And all over a simple thing like humans using free will that they are given. This mythology is as bizarre as any other from the ancient past.

As this cartoon illustrates, fundies don't see how absolutely ridiculous they are when they go around preaching that the "end is near" using texts from an ancient books as their "evidence." Also, I think it is amusing when one religious group thinks they hold the "truth" while scoffing at another who believes something else when it is ALL equally absurd.

One of Hubble’s Latest Photographs of the Crab Nebula

Click on image to enlarge.From SPACE.COM: The Crab Nebula is a six-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star's supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. This is one of the largest and most detailed view taken by Hubble, and in addition, the highest resolution image ever made of the entire Crab Nebula.

Neil deGrasse Tyson's argument against "intelligent design"

And this is the continuation on cosmic perspective and the impact of science.

Religion: A Convenient Lie (The Reason Why Religion Exists)

Humans are afraid of death and cannot accept the fact that they one day will no longer exist (like all living things, even the stars and everything in the universe has a life span.) This video below says everything that I and other atheists have been saying. Religion is a false security blanket based on fear of death, and created because humans cannot accept what they cannot change or natural events they have no control over. Organized religion bolsters a community belief that might not be there if everyone else didn’t believe it, too. Despite the coming together as one, each individual still creates this image of god in their own minds, according to their own experiences, needs and desires. In other words, god exists only in the minds and imaginations of human beings. There is no evidence at all for the existence of a god any more than there is existence of a child’s imaginary friend.

Whether humans flock together in one big herd of belief, or whether we have individual faith in a supernatural being in a supernatural world, it does not prevent the inevitable. We all eventually die. Hopeless? No. New babies are born, the cycle of life continues. There is enough comfort for me in knowing that somehow the world will go on for as long as the Sun lasts, and it too will one day burn out and die and new stars will be born from its remnants.

I have a potentially life-threatening illness. (Lupus SLE) Am I angry? Sad? Will I run to find some comforting delusional beliefs to cling to delude myself that I will live forever in some imagined afterlife? No. I look to science to help me live for as long as I can, as comfortably and as healthy as I possibly can. But when the day comes when medicine no longer will help, will I whimper and turn to a false hope? No…I will look back upon my life with gladness. I am very glad to have been born, and to have lived to see all the wondrous things I have seen, and and glad for all my human experiences whether good or bad. How you live your life brings meaning, as the quote by Joseph Campbell at the top of my blog states.

Now, here is the video. The music is “divine”.

Bush 2.0

I always read Internet Weekly. This one hit me as especially funny today! LOL!

Winter Night at Pic du Midi

click on image to enlargeCredit & Copyright: Alain Sallez (picdumidi.org), David Romeuf (Université Lyon 1)

Explanation: This dreamlike view looking south from the historic mountain top Pic du Midi Observatory combines moonlit domes, a winter night sky, and the snowy peaks of the French Pyrenees. Encroaching on the night, lights from the La Mongie ski resort illuminate the mountain slopes nearby while the glow along the distant horizon is from urban areas in southern France and Spain. The night sky features stars of the constellations Orion and Gemini with a bright planet Mars very near the top edge, left of center. The three prominent domes visible (from left to right) house a 0.6 meter telescope reserved for amateur astronomers, a 1 meter telescope that was used to support the Apollo lunar landing missions, and the new, Sun-watching CLIMSO.

Martin Sheen burns a hypo-christian

Thanks to my friend ChuckA for this one! This YouTube clip from an episode of West Wing was sent to him via an email from a member of Illinois Atheists. Chuck writes “The actual letter to Dr. Laura, featuring the insane stuff from Leviticus (Levisciousness?) that supposedly ‘inspired’ the scene…it’s claimed…is in the subsequent IL Atheist email (below).”

Here is the text of the real letter here:

Dear Dr. Laura,
Thank you so much for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law I have learned a great deal from your show and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18: 22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to best follow them.

A) When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Leviticus 1: 9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

B) I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21: 7. In this day & age, what would be a fair market price for her?

C) I know I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev 15: 19-24). The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

D) Leviticus 25: 44 states that I may own slaves, both male & female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims this applies to Mexicans but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?

E) I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35: 2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?

F) A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree, can you settle this?

G) Leviticus 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20 or is there some wiggle room here?

H) Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27. How should they die?

I) I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

J) My uncle has a farm. He violates Leviticus 19:19 by planting two crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton & polyester blend). He tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? (Lev. 24: 10-16). Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev. 20: 14)?

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.”

I’m going to keep this one handy in case any fundies bring up the Leviticus bullshit as a reason to discriminate against gays.

Lewis Black - The Devil’s Handiwork

Here is a clip from Lewis’ stand-up comedy act on HBO. I watched the whole show last night and laughed the entire time! He does a great job making fun of religious crap, such as the idea of creationism, creation museums, and how Xians say the devil is trying to trick us with fossils, etc. If you have a chance, try to watch this whole act, if not, YouTube has plenty of clips of highlights from the whole show on subjects of Dubya, Cheney and hunting, and more.

Skeptic Bible Study: Jesus Loves Slavery

Thanks to Bernarda for pointing to this video by JohnLArmstrong



Like John says, if you show this to a Christian, their common response is "that was the Old Testament, Jesus changed things with the New Testament". John does a good job of showing how Jesus condoned the practice of slavery, using the New Testament. And this is what people like Huckabee want to use as the "bedrock" of our society and to revise the Constitution to incorporate in the year 2008.

Yet another separation of church and state battle

Moore Baloney: Alabama ‘Commandments’ Judge Gives Two Thumbs Up To Evangelistic Film At Public School

Roy Moore, Alabama’s infamous “Ten Commandments judge,” has a penchant for misconstruing church-state law, and now he’s giving bad advice to school officials in Tuscaloosa.

and here is the trailer of the disputed film, “Facing the Giants“:

Officials at Paul W. Bryant High School have indicated that they will stop showing the film “until the merits of the complaint could be addressed.”

Moore wants school officials to reconsider. In a Jan. 18 letter, he claims that “the simple fact” is that school promotion of the “Giants” film does not violate the separation of church and state. The missive applauds the school for “showing their students an inspiring, family-friendly movie such as Facing the Giants” and again promotes Moore’s cramped understanding of the First Amendment. (He tags Americans United as a group bent on muzzling Christianity in the public schools.)

If school officials are serious about upholding constitutional principles, they will not take Moore’s legal ramblings seriously. The courts have long held that it is not within the purview of the public schools to evangelize students. Teaching about religion in an objective and academically sound manner is permissible, but showing students a film meant to convert them to a specific religion is not.

As Americans United Communications Director Joe Conn told The Tuscaloosa News, Moore’s “legal advice is certainly on the fringe. The school board should look to objective legal advice, not to Judge Moore.”

Religious Right Watch

Found this at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Will this lunatic ever shut up and just retire already?

Citizen Cain: TV Preacher Robertson May Buy Local Newspaper – And Kill Its Critical Coverage

If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em out. That seems to be Pat Robertson’s policy for press criticism.

After decades of operating a faux-news operation from his “700 Club” perch at the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson is now expressing interest in purchasing The Virginian-Pilot, a real news organ that has offered critical coverage of the TV evangelist.

*snip*

“Although the price for The Weather Channel is a little rich for my blood, I am considering a potential bid for the Pilot and have asked my attorneys to look into it,” Robertson said in an e-mail sent by his assistant, G.G. Conklin. “It would be particularly helpful to provide internships for Regent University journalism students.”

I’ll bet it would be! Regent University’s motto is “Christian Leadership to Change the World”. A world dominated by Xian theocracy . . .scary!

Thor's Emerald Helmet

Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler

Explanation: This helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages is popularly called Thor's Helmet. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is actually more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center sweeps through a surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. Cataloged as NGC 2359, the nebula is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. The sharp image captures striking details of the nebula's filamentary structures and also records an almost emerald color from strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas.

Countdown: Theo-Con

Keith Olbermann talks with David Shuster, featuring Upchuckabee's dream of theocratic rule.

I hate clowns . . . and I am not alone

Don't send in the clowns

LONDON (Reuters) - Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.

The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

Clowns are scary as hell. All three of my kids hated clowns. They are bizarre, creepy, hiding behind their make-up. There is nothing cute about them. The scariest clown for me is Wizzo from Bozo Circus. When I was a Brownie Leader, we took my daughter's troop to the Bozo Show at WGN studios in Chicago, I worried all the way there that Wizzo would be there. Lucky for me, it was just Bozo and Cooky, and that was it. If I would have had to walk past Wizzo during the Grande March, I would have cut ahead of everyone and run out the door.

“We the People of God, in order to form a more perfect theocracy”

Thanks to Spirula for pointing to this one:

Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in ‘God’s standards’
David Edwards and Muriel Kane

I know we are all sick of hearing about Upchuckabee, but it’s important to keep making fun of him and making sure that he is as far from the nomination as possible because as we have seen with Dubya, we can’t take it for granted that people won’t vote for him.

From The Raw Story:

The United States Constitution never uses the word “God” or makes mention of any religion, drawing its sole authority from “We the People.” However, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks it’s time to put an end to that.

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution,” Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. “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 that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

When Willie Geist reported Huckabee’s opinion on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski was almost speechless, and even Joe Scarborough couldn’t immediately find much to say beyond calling it “interesting,”

Scarborough finally suggested that while he believes “evangelicals should be able to talk politics … some might find that statement very troubling, that we’re going to change the Constitution to be in line with the Bible. And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Geist further noted of Huckabee that if “someone without his charm,” said that, “he’d be dismissed as a crackpot, but he’s Mike Huckabee and he’s basically the front-runner.”

Your help is needed

As posted at PZ Myer's Pharyngula, Possummomma (aka, Atheist in a mini van) is not doing well right now, and is struggling with lupus. Her lupus affects her skin. She is relegated to one or two rooms in her home that have cardboard-covered windows. Her kids call it the batcave. If you go to her blog she has information about it there and an email if you have any questions for her.

Berlzebub is organizing donations to help her get UV protectorant for her windows so she can move through her house, so if you've got a little bit to spare, please do contribute to a member of our godless community.

I, too have Lupus (and RA) and I hope I never have to go through what Possummomma is having to deal with. My heart goes out to her.

Polaris Dust Nebula

Click on image to enlargeImage Credit & Copyright: Steve Mandel (Hidden Valley Observatory)

Research Collaboration: Adolf Witt (University of Toledo) et al.

Explanation: Centered on North Star Polaris, this 4 degree wide field of view covers part of a complex of relatively unfamiliar, diffuse dust clouds soaring high above the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. The combined light of the Milky Way stars are reflected by the dusty, galactic cirrus, the reflected starlight having the same blue tint characteristic of better known reflection nebulae. But this deep color image also records a faint reddish luminescence from the dust grains as they convert invisible stellar ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Dubbed extended red emission, the dim cosmic glow is thought to be caused by complex organic molecules known as PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), common constituents interstellar dust. On planet Earth, PAHs are widely encountered as the sooty products of combustion.

Now this is REALLY crazy for God!

link:A young man cuts off his hand, and microwaves it! Why? Well, for starters, he is most likely schizophrenic. Combine schizo with religion and you get some really crazyass things happening. He believes he has the "mark of the beast" as described in his god's holy scriptures.

Most people, including Christians can agree that this was an insane act. But while Christians are calling him crazy, many of them consider the Bible to be the LITERAL WORD OF GOD. And this "literal word of God, in the Book of Revelations states:

"If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."

AND

The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

This story reminds me of the book I am reading "I Know This Much Is True" by Wally Lamb, about twin brothers and one of them is suffering with schizophrenia. At the beginning of the novel, the sick, Bible- obsessed twin cuts his own hand off at the public library. I don't think the guy in Idaho got his idea from Lamb's book. He got the idea from his "divine" word of his god. He believes in the Bible...literally.

Good thing most Bible literalists don't take all of the Bible literally.

A prominent evangelical writes about his change of heart

I just put this book on my reading list: Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back by Frank Schaeffer.

For those who don’t know who Frank Schaeffer is, he is the son of theologian and Presbyterian pastor Francis Schaeffer, “who was pivotal in the creation of the Religious Right.”

As John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute wrote recently, “In fact, without the influence of Francis Schaeffer, who often was prodded into action by Frank, the so-called Christian Right of today would not exist.”

Frank Schaeffer once shared most of his father’s opinions and, as an adult he worked alongside him so he has had an ” insider’s view of the rise of the Religious Right.”

But Frank Schaeffer had a change of heart and a change in thinking. What does he think of the Religious Right now? Rob Boston, writer for Americans for the Separation of Church and State, in his article Appealing Apostate: Prodigal Son Frank Schaeffer Roasts Religious Right states,

Let’s just say he’s not a fan. He refers to Robertson as “a lunatic” and says Dobson is “a power-crazed political manipulator cynically abusing his followers.” He calls the late Jerry Falwell an “unreconstructed bigot.”

Here are some choice quotes selected by Boston:

* “What I slowly realized was that the religious-right leaders we were helping to gain power were not ‘conservatives’ at all, in the old sense of the world. They were anti-American religious revolutionaries.”

* “Pat Robertson…would have had a hard time finding work in any job where hearing voices is not a requirement.”

* “Dad could hardly have imagined how they would help facilitate the instantly corrupted power-crazy new generation of evangelical public figures like Ralph Reed, who took money from the casino industry while allegedly playing both sides against the middle in events related to the Abramoff Washington lobbyist scandal.”

* “Long before Ralph Reed and his ilk came on the scene, Dad got sick of ‘these idiots’ as he often called people like Dobson in private. They were ‘plastic,’ Dad said, and ‘power-hungry.’”

* “There were three kinds of evangelical leaders: The dumb or idealistic ones who really believed. The out-and-out charlatans. And the smart ones who still believed – sort of – but knew that the evangelical world was sh*t, but who couldn’t figure out any way to earn as good a living anywhere else.”

* “Dad seemed lost in a depressed daze. He had recently been saying privately that the evangelical world was more or less being led by lunatics, psychopaths, and extremists, and agreeing with me that if ‘our side’ ever won, America would be in deep trouble.”

In a recent interview with John W.Whitehead at oldSpeak, Schaeffer discussed his break with the Religious Right, remarking,

“I personally came to believe that a lot of the issues that were being latched onto by the Christian Right, whether it was the gay issue or abortion or other things, were actually being used for negative political purposes. They were used to structure a power base for people who then threw their weight around.”

And in that last comment, Schaeffer sums up the truth of what the Religious Right is honestly all about. I hope you have time to read the whole interview. It’s quite interesting.

As Boston says, “It’s always interesting when a high-profile Religious Right activist has a change of heart.”

Tornados in January

Click on cartoon to enlarge

"Grandma a tornado is coming, what are we going to do?!"

"Don't worry dear, if we just sit here and pray, God will protect us from harm."

The new year has just begun and the midwest has already been hit with several devastating tornados. When tornados and other natural disasters happen and wipe out whole neighborhoods, it's irritating how some people think they are specially saved by an imaginary friend while many of their other god believing neighbors homes are destroyed. Do they really believe a god is sitting on a cloud somewhere and is controlling wild storms, diseases, wars, etc and protecting or not protecting the lives of billions of people, on all sides of the planet . . . in addition to taking care of the entire universe. It makes it seem as if this supernatural friend is up there playing some sort of cosmic video game.

It's 2008 and so many still have such dark age thinking. It's taking humans a long time to evolve.

Wooing the undecided

Creepy Catholics!

I can’t imagine growing up Catholic, much less growing up in a Catholic parish that displayed and worshiped a dead body!

In today’s news there is a little battle going on in Rome concerning the plans to dig up long-dead Padre Pio to put on display for all the “faithful” to wish on like some gory magic troll doll. According to the Yahoo news story, “Padre Pio’s popularity is hard to overestimate. A Catholic magazine once found far more Italian Catholics pray to him than any other icon of the faith, including the Virgin Mary or Jesus.”

Read more. . .

Plan to exhume Italian saint draws protest

Here is a clip I found on YouTube. I knew about “Incorrupt Bodies of the Saints” but had no idea there are so many of them. And most don’t look very “incorrupt” to me. Most are obviously ROTTED. Just bury them and make a statue to wish on if you must. But displaying a dead person in a glass case and making wishes on him/her is insane as you can get.

Macabre and morbid!

Questions need to be asked and answered

As we have seen in Iowa, evangelical sheeple blindly flock to the polls, voting for a candidate simply because he is charismatic and who they think is the most "godly". Few stop to ask questions about where these wolves in sheep’s clothing stand on issues that will affect their everyday lives in many areas. A new ad campaign is being launched to remind people to ask difficult questions and to really analyze and scrutinize the candidates before making their choice. It is not a choice to be taken lightly. No candidate is a “savior”, no god is designating “the one” to lead us. WE THE PEOPLE are making the choice.

Here is an article from Americans United for Separation of Church and State:

On Eve Of New Hampshire And South Carolina Primaries, New Ads Press Presidential Candidates On Role Of Religion and Government

For the first time in a presidential election and on the eve of the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries a new series of television and newspaper ads is being launched to urge presidential candidates to protect religious freedom.

At a time when presidential candidates in both political parties are injecting religion into their campaigns at unprecedented levels, the new ads are designed to help provide a clearer understanding of where candidates stand on key issues at the intersection of religion and politics. The ads are scheduled to lead up to the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries later this month.

First Freedom First, a joint project of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, is launching the new print and TV ads to encourage voters to ask presidential candidates their positions on a wide range of issues, from end-of-life options to protecting the right of all Americans to worship…or not.

LINK TO FULL STORY

LINK TO ALL FIVE VIDEOS HERE

James Whitmore appears in a television commercial on behalf of FirstFreedomFirst.



Also, an article from Yahoo today: ” US doomed if creationist president elected: scientists"

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A day after ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee finished first in the opening round to choose a Republican candidate for the White House, scientists warned Americans against electing a leader who doubts evolution.

The Milky Way at 5000 Meters

Click on image to enlarge
Credit & Copyright: Serge Brunier

Explanation: Climb up to 5000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level, near Cerro Chajnantor in the northern Chilean Andes, and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista. Recorded from that high and dry locale, the spectacular fish-eye image features the myriad stars and sprawling dust clouds of our Milky Way Galaxy. The direction toward the center of the Galaxy is near the zenith and center of the picture, but the Galactic Center itself is hidden from view, located far behind the obscuring dust. Brilliant Jupiter rules this scene just above the Milky Way's central bulge with the noticeably fainter, yellowish, giant star Antares to its right. Small and faint, near the right edge of the picture is one of the Milky Way's many satellite galaxies, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

De-evolution of science education