religion
pharyngula | April 25, 2010I thought the whole Affair of the Mocking Memo was grossly overblown and absurd, but I had no idea how pretentious the Vatican could be. Now, because of an internal memo that made some mild jests about confronting the Pope on his British visit with the consequences of his policies, the silly men in dresses are threatening to stick their noses in the air, sniff, and refuse to come.
One highly-placed source in the Vatican said: "This could have very severe repercussions and is embarrassing for the British government - one has to question whether the action taken is enough.
"It is disgusting.…
grrlscientist | April 25, 2010tags: What Would Jesus Do?, Axis of Awesome, music video, religion, cults, mind control, offbeat, beliefs, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Yesterday, I ran a video that featured the Australian comedy music group, Axis of Awesome and their take on the science of popular music. Today, just in time for Sunday sacrilege, I am sharing another of their music videos; "What Would Jesus Do?", performed live, during Good News Week.
grrlscientist | April 24, 2010tags: Zeitgeist: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, documentary, television, religion, cults, mind control, offbeat, beliefs, history, mythology, streaming video
These multi-part videos are from a television exploration into the story of religion: the greatest story ever sold to the public by the power elites, who shamelessly use religion as a way to control the masses (includes Spanish subtitles).
Part 2 (the relationship between ancient myths and christianity and judaism; the relationship between astrology and christianity, etc.):
Part 3 (origin of the symbol of the cross, the meaning of the…
pharyngula | April 24, 2010Some wag in the British government made a half-joking tentative itinerary for the Pope's visit to England…and it got spread around and made some stuffed shirts very angry.
The Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham, was astonished and angered by the proposals.
He said: "This is appalling. You don't invite someone to your country and then disrespect them in this way.
"It's outlandish and outrageous to assume that any of the ideas are in any way suitable for the Pope."
The fellow who made the list has been chastised and transferred. Representatives of the…
pharyngula | April 24, 2010The intersection of sex and religion can get very disturbing. But if you want really disturbing, forget Catholicism — that's just old school abuse of power and guilt and ugliness, given strength by sheer numbers. The really freaky stuff is in cults, like The Family International. Don't click on that link unless you want to get sucked into a vortex of insanity — it's about a sex cult that used what they called "Flirty Fishing", more commonly known as prostitution, to recruit followers to Jesus and to make money, among other things.
I got that from a link to a blog by a phone sex worker, which…
pharyngula | April 24, 2010The Reverend Barry Lynn was on Fox News with Megyn Kelly, and I am unsurprised that Kelly was astonishingly awful: talking over Lynn, pushing lies, etc. There are multiple face-palm moments here: Kelly telling a reverend that he "wants god out of everything," for instance, or when Lynn points out that the national day of prayer is not neutral on religion, but promotes it, she offers a 'secular' alternative: instead of praying, let people meditate and acknowledge the role that god has played in the founding of this country and its laws.
Lynn is good, though, and shows how to gracefully cope…
pharyngula | April 23, 2010The stories just get worse and worse. The Catholic priesthood hasn't just been abusing children in various places, but also has a history of abuse of women, especially in Africa and India.
The crisis of religious abuse in Africa and India was brought to Rome's attention in 1998 when a four-page paper titled "The Problem of the Sexual Abuse of African Religious in Africa and Rome" was presented by Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa. A March 2001 National Catholic Reporter article detailed McDonald's claims, which included accounts of sexual abuse…
pharyngula | April 23, 2010The bishop of Bruges,Roger Vangheluwe, has suddenly resigned over sexual abuse — he has confessed to abusing and harming a young man years ago. I'd be more impressed with his contrition if it hadn't arisen after the media started making a lot of noise about the issue.
It seems there is a small wave of resignations sweeping through the high ranks of Catholicism.
The bishop's resignation came just one day after church authorities in Germany said that Bishop Walter Mixa, one of the country's most prominent and outspoken conservative clerics, had tendered his resignation to the pope after being…
pharyngula | April 23, 2010I'll be going to the Atheist Alliance International 2010 Copenhagen Convention to listen to a fine group of godless speakers, but there's one who won't be there — there was going to be a surprise speaker, not mentioned for security reasons, and now he has decided it would be too dangerous. The meeting is being held in Denmark, so of course they were going to have Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist who infuriated so many Muslims, speak about his experience.
But not now. The threats and the risk are too great, and he has withdrawn.
That is genuinely disgraceful, that the idiots of Islam can rely…
pharyngula | April 21, 2010They're considering a new law to keep women ignorant and ashamed.
The governor of Oklahoma is considering tough new abortion bills that would allow doctors to withhold test results showing foetal defects and require women to answer intrusive questions.
The results of the questionnaires would be posted online.
Women would also be required to have a vaginal ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the embryo or foetus in a third bill passed by the legislature on Monday.
So let me get this straight. If a woman in Oklahoma thinks she is pregnant, she can go in for "testing"…but she…
gregladen | April 21, 2010C.E. Cupp is Ann Coulter before the bottle-blond crap is poured on her head, but maybe slightly less vile.1 She just came out with a new book: Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity, which explains everything you had wrong if you were a progressive liberal in the education business. The book even comes with forward by Mike Huckabee.
Well, Steve Levingston of Political Bookworm on the Washington Post web site has reviewed the book, and seeing as how he does not have a lot of background in the Creationism vs Reality struggle, he interviewed Joshua Rosenau of the NCSE…
pharyngula | April 21, 2010It would be only fair, after all. They frustrate me with their ridiculous beliefs all the time, and with their bigoted intrusions into national politics. A few Mormons are planning a youtube challenge, coordinated on FaceBook: on 3 May, they intend to all visit one particular pro-Mormon video, comment on it, uprate it, etc., and attempt to turn it into a notable event that will bring wonderful, uplifting exposure of the Mormon Church to the public.
That ain't gonna happen.
Here is their complete plan. We're going to start working against it already.
Dear friends,
On May 3, 2010 (perhaps as…
pharyngula | April 21, 2010I learned something odd this morning. Three US states have laws on the books, created by Republican legislators, making it illegal to insert microchips into people. Virginia has even declared them to be the mark of the beast from Revelation.
And now Georgia is hoping to join the ranks of the crazy states. There is a bill pending, SB 235, the "Microchip Consent Act of 2009; prohibit requiring a person to be implanted with a microchip", which is symptomatic of the problem. This nice opinion piece summarizes why it is nuts.
In Gov. Roy Barnes' stump speech, the bill has become a routine example…
gregladen | April 20, 2010... crazies ask for death to South Park authors ...
Oh, here's a picture of Muhammad I found on the Internet.
Ooops. Was I not supposed to do that?
gregladen | April 20, 2010A FORMER vicar-general in the archdiocese of Munich has claimed that he was pressurised last month into taking the blame for a mistake made 30 years ago by the then Archbishop of Munich, Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict), concerning the case of a paedophile priest.
Fr Gerhard Gruber has now said he did so only after coming under huge pressure from unnamed Catholic Church sources to take responsibility, so as to "take the pope out of the firing line".
Story here
I'd like to comment more, but I've been told to shut up in matters of the Pope.
Well, not really. The truth is that I've not…
mikethemadbiologist | April 20, 2010Last week, The AP described what living the life of Palin is like:
Among the perks laid out in the contract, the former Alaska governor will fly first class from Anchorage to California - if she flies commercial. If not, "the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger ...," the contract specifies.
Palin also must be provided with a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel near the campus in Turlock in the Central Valley. During her speech, her lectern must be stocked with two water bottles and bendable straws.
I like bendy straws too! People seem shocked that she's earning so much…
pharyngula | April 20, 2010Apparently, German Catholics are a bit irate over the cover to a satirical magazine. I don't understand why. This one just shows a reverent priest, titled "The church today".
And this one actually offers a practical use for Christian icons ("Does Jesus play a role?").
This cover is a little more serious, befitting a more serious magazine. It says, "The Hypocrites: the Catholic Church and Sex" — this is a little more accusatory.
Maybe the church does have good reason to be a bit touchy about it all.
pharyngula | April 19, 2010I'm feeling a bit light-headed, and wondering if I'm still asleep. Or if it's April Fools' Day. Ruse actually concedes some ground to Dawkins in the religion wars. Of course, it's in the HuffPo, so it could be some perverse nonsense, anyway.
Recently, the New Atheists' most prominent representative, Richard Dawkins, wrote a highly emotive piece for the Washington Post, in which he derided the present pope and expressed glee and satisfaction that such a person was now leading the Catholic Church. In Dawkins's judgment, not only was this no less than the Church deserved, but such leadership…
oracknows | April 18, 2010After having a great time at NECSS participating in a panel about science-based medicine (although I hate to have to say that I was disappointed that the science-based medicine panel was cut short to get the conference back on schedule, which meant that we didn't get to answer nearly as many questions as we would have liked), I'm on my way to Washington, DC in order to attend the annual AACR meeting to learn about (hopefully) the latest and greatest cancer science and therapies. In the meantime, I just discovered Stephen Lynch and couldn't resist posting this to amuse everyone (hopefully)…
grrlscientist | April 18, 2010tags: The Un-Funny TRUTH about Scientology, scientology, religion, cults, beliefs, L Ron Hubbard, television, Smoothmedia, streaming video
This astonishingly disturbing video is by Smooth media and is about cult of Scientology.