National Day of… Bigotry?

Some people would like you to believe that you are not praying enough. To fine-tune your prayer-ing, the “National Day of Prayer” website, wants you to pray seven days a week.

Here is what they say:

“Are you willing to commit to pray for our country seven days a week? Are you able to set aside time in your car, during your coffee break, or before bedtime? We want to challenge you make this prayer commitment. 7×7 involves praying for seven centers of power seven days a week:
Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family. By remembering these specific prayer points, we can cover all Americans with God’s power. Together, we will see positive change!”

You see, all you have to do is PRAY, and everything will be much better.

Digging a little bit deeper, here’s what’s behind this:

“The heart of the National Day of Prayer are the 40,000 plus volunteers around the country who are planning events every year to unite the body of Christ in prayer. Behind these wonderful prayer warriors are the staff of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, led by Mrs. Shirley Dobson.”

Shirley Dobson, of course, is the wife of Dr. James Dobson, the founder and president of “Focus on the Family,” a right-wing evangelical Christian conservative organization.

In fact, after filtering through all the niceties on the site, here’s what you see:

“Please pray for the family to be preserved as the Lord intended ­ the marital
union of one man and one woman devoted to each other and to raising the children in their home to be responsible, caring adults. Also keep in
mind our elected leaders and the members of our judicial system as they consider proposed legislation and various court cases related to marriage and the family. This is one of the most crucial matters facing our nation, and it’s imperative that God’s people remain diligent in
intercession for these concerns.”

In other words, take the time out of your schedules and fill it with bigotry and discrimination against your neighbors. Repeat every day for seven days — until it really sinks in.

Tags: prayer, god, jesus, religion

Who Heals? Jesus vs. Medicine

I recently came across this disturbing website that implies that Jesus Christ continues to heal people, and that,

“the physical healing aspects of Christianity, i.e. Jesus healing today, are more valuable than all medical therapies.”

In light of another, albeit much MORE disturbing article from a few days ago, where an innocent girl died of perfectly treatable diabetes because her parents PRAYED (for a month) instead of taking her to a doctor, the ideas brought to light on this site move into the realm of dangerous, if not criminal.

The site points to three (3) specific cases where prayer “miraculously” healed the afflicted. In two of the three cases, according to their own testimony, medicine played a pivotal role in the healing process.

Any reasonable person would understand that religion is not a replacement for medicine, but alas, to my dismay, this is not the case. In fact, it is simply appalling and self-centered to come to a conclusion that amongst all the horrible problems in the world, some kind of deity (be it Christ, Allah, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster) has taken the time out of his/her schedule to come to YOUR rescue. Instead of stopping the slaughter of innocent women and children in Darfur, for example, God has focused his/her time on removing the skin cancer from your body, because you went to a church and prayed. The 14 rounds of chemotherapy didn’t have anything to do with your “miraculous” recovery.

I understand the need for hope, particularly during great times of adversity, and I respect people’s beliefs in whatever made-up, ridiculous thing they want. I understand that medicine is not foolproof, and is capable of making errors, as it relies on personal expertise and experience of a particular doctor (of your choosing). I concede the fact that there have been numerous documented cases where truly inexplicable events have occurred. With that being said, however, I am absolutely convinced that the following statement is a complete and utter lie, straight from the JesusHealsToday website:

“Even if it’s the most dreadful diagnosis, Jesus is your Solution. We’ve worked with people suffering with diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes. Time and again we’ve seen that Jesus still heals today!”

Jesus, Allah, Zeus, and every other deity, is simply too busy resolving much more pertinent issues to fix your ailment. Unfortunately, you’ll have to rely on medicine and science to get through your disease — or risk death, just like that little girl in Wisconsin who’s parents killed her with their ignorance.

Tags: Jesus, god, medicine, ignorance

We Make Our Own Heaven

This is so sad! I can’t figure out if the reporting is just inadequate, since the reporter continuously interviews the eight-year-old, or the atheists of Palo Alto are simply confused.

An eight year old, Jane, in this case, can be taught to believe in anything. Just because her parents taught her to say things like “I like free thinking” doesn’t mean anything, well, because she is *eight* years old. She may also believe in Santa, but that doesn’t make Santa real.

Shedding religious baggage is an invitation for atheists to use the time they normally would be spending in a church, mosque, or synagogue to do something really productive for themselves or the community they live in. Simply replacing that baggage with atheist dogma, and surrounding yourself with like-minded “free-thinkers” who “believe in science” is a mistake that makes atheism look and feel like a replacement to religion, which it definitely is not.

Tags: religion, church, atheism, heaven