Religion is Evil

As civilization enters a global “information age,” some things that were not always obvious in the past, are becoming more and more obvious — almost to the point of “crystal clear.” Religion is the root of all evil, and continues to be used for evil purposes by all sides.

Shiite Islam? Guilty. Christians? Guilty. Hindus? Guilty. Monks? Guilty. Jews? Guilty!

Shiite Muslims:

Hassan Nasrallah

Religion: Shiite Islam

Who is he?: Secretary-General of Hezbollah

Country: Lebanon

Quote: “If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak, and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology, and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice I do not say the Israeli.”

Christianity:

Joseph Kony

Religion: Christianity/personality cult

Who is he?: Commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

Country: Uganda

Quote: “[The spirits] speak to me. They load through me. They will tell us what is going to happen. They say ‘You, Mr. Joseph, tell your people that the enemy is planning to come and attack.’ They will come like dreaming; they will tell us everything.”

Hinduism:

Yogi Adityanath

Religion: Hinduism

Who is he?: Religious leader and member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous province

Country: India

Quote: “I want Muslim votes, too. But wash them in Gangajal [Ganges water] first.”

Buddhist Monks:

Athuraliye Rathana

Religion: Theravada Buddhism

Who is he?: Monk and member of parliament

Country: Sri Lanka

Quote: “Peace negotiations simply made the LTTE [Tamil Tigers] stronger. We mustn’t talk to them; we can crush the LTTE. It is like surgery.”

Jews:

Dov Lior

Religion: Hasidic Judaism

Who is he?: Head rabbi of Kiryat Arba settlement

Country: Israel

Quote: “A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew’s fingernail.”

Free Tibet? Free Palestine? Even “thou shalt not kill?” All slogans for the religious zealots to prove to themselves and their peers that they have god-given authority to murder the opposition. Therefore, remove religious authority from this straight-forward equation, and you get just a little bit closer to peace.

Apology NOT Accepted Yet

After being named “Worst Person in the World,” Representative Davis decided to privately apologize to Mr. Sherman, a prominent Chicago atheist.  That is great news for Mr. Sherman, and I’m personally glad that he accepted her apology, however, I am still offended  — and nobody apologized to me (or any other atheist, for that matter).

CHICAGO (WBBM) — State Representative Monique Davis is apologizing a week after she blasted an atheist activist during a hearing over a million dollar grant for a South Side church.

Because of Davis’ rant, she was named Tuesday night as the “worst person in the world” –a dubious award doled out daily by news commentator Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s “Countdown” program.

Rep. Davis told atheist Rob Sherman that, “What you have to spew and spread is dangerous” and that “This is the land of Lincoln where people believe in God.”

But, after being on the receiving end of a week’s worth of public criticism, Davis called Sherman yesterday to apologize.

Sherman says Davis told him she “took out her frustrations and emotions on me and that she shouldn’t have done that.” Sherman says Davis’ explanation was “reasonable” and that he forgives her.

According to Sherman and State Rep. Jack Franks….Davis claims her outburst was triggered by learning shortly beforehand…that there’d been another Chicago Public School student killed.

State Rep. Jack Franks was chairing the hearing that day and says Davis’ outburst was uncharacteristic, adding “she was having a bad day.”

Chicago public school students are going to continue to die needlessly as long as the second amendment continues to be interpreted that all citizens have the right to bear arms.  The authors of the constitution didn’t make many mistakes, but they made a grievous error here.  Innocent kids are dying every day as a result.  Unfortunately, god does not have anything to do with this problem.  Atheists and theists alike, do not want any children dying in the 21st Century.

Representative Davis, you have to speak out against intolerance for all people — not just religious people.   In the land of Lincoln, God has never prevented gun violence, and never will, but the humanist movement could.  Maybe if you can learn something about the people you demonize, you would understand that we hate intolerance and guns, and promote reasonable solutions to many human issues.

Separation of Church and State is a critical principle in the US Constitution, and therefore, using public funds to rebuild a church is illegal.  Mr. Sherman, who just happens to be atheist, brought this to your attention, and you lashed out at him and all atheists.  You owe us a public apology.

I’m including my original email here, as well, for your reference.

Atheists are simply not religious people (lack belief of a God, or
deity), and are not a threat to communities.  It is generally a
misconception to equate atheists with “evil.”

Strict gun control, an issue that I personally wholeheartedly support,
is in no way related to atheism or the general beliefs of atheists.

Personally, until a few days ago, I was an outspoken supporter of your
policies and proposed legislation, as my personal views align with
yours on many different fronts.  However, the separation of church and
state is one of the most important concepts in the US constitution,
and your recent attack towards atheists was misguided.  Therefore, I
will not be able to support you any further, unless you issue a public
apology to Chicago atheists that you obviously offended.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or would like to meet to
discuss this further.

Thank you,
Rational Russian
Chicago Resident, Supporter, and Liberal Democrat

Best Quote Ever

“Almost everyone would concede, for example, that a presidential candidate who wanted to outlaw interest on loans and revert to a barter system would be an absurd steward for our troubled economy. So why isn’t there a similar consensus that someone who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old and that Noah’s Ark is an event in zoological history would be an absurd leader on issues such as stem-cell research, climate change and renewable resources?”

— John Allen Paulos, author and mathematician

Tags: religion, atheism, politics

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

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

Jehova’s Last Visit

Let me tell you something, people…

I would like to know if everyone in the corporate world is experiencing this, but here, we are cutting back on costs of everything. When I first started working here, we used to have breakfast served to us during morning meetings. Then, in 2001, they cut that down to just juice, coffee, and bagels. Then in 2002, we got nothing at all. “But Alex,” you say — “it’s only breakfast; at least you still have your job.” Okay, fine — that’s just breakfast, but where does it end?

Our old CEO just received his golden parachute valued around $30M. I say we cut back THERE! Instead of giving these crazy amounts of money to ONE person, we divide it all and buy me breakfast at my morning meetings! 😀 That’s just my idea… Nobody else’s. Oh yeah, along the same lines, I suggest giving ME a golden parachute. I like that idea because I’m ready for retirement.

Speaking of retirement, these gas prices are costing me a fortune. The A6 (apparently) works just fine on REGULAR octane gasoline, despite the high octane recommendation by the Audi dealership. If it’s running just the same on regular gas, why in the world would I spend an extra $5 for high octane gas? I just don’t understand… The A6, by the way, is NOT a performance automobile. It’s a luxury (read: “old-people”) sedan. No old person ever drove that thing past 65 mph. There is NO need to put high octane gas in this car. So now, I’m going to save a total of $15 per month. WOOO!!! Early retirement is just THAT much closer. Freakin’ CRAP!

And another thing… A Jahova’s witness guy “dropped by” my house the other day. Not knowing that he was CRAZY, I let him in the house — to chat about this and that. We discussed lots of interesting topics such as:

* Why it is so important to read (and live by) the bible.

* Why atheists — such as myself — are going to hell.

* Why atheists — such as myself — are slowly destroying the world.

* How I have nothing to “look forward to” after death.

* And other incredibly-interesting topics.

In response, I politely told him that I didn’t come to his house to discredit his beliefs, so he shouldn’t come to mine to discredit mine, and asked him to go away. He did not. I suggested that he read “Homer’s Iliad” because he might find striking similarities between the stories he believes in and the stories he will read in that book, and he said that “it’s on the list of books he is prevented from reading by his faith.” I find that to be really interesting — a faith that *prevents* you from reading materials that might contain controversial material. Anyway, he left when I told him I had to get back to watching Simpsons.

Lessons learned: Simply referencing “The Simpsons” can get you out of sticky situations. Oh, and the A6 doesn’t need high octane gas. And most importantly, I want a golden parachute so I can finally retire… Or bagels for breakfast.