JERUSALEM — It’s the latest prescription for extreme ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who shun contact with the opposite sex: Glasses that blur their vision, so they don’t have to see women they consider to be immodestly dressed. (via Ultra-Orthodox Jews Blur Women With Modesty Glasses)

It’s the perfect metaphor for religion. Put it on your face to obscure the beauty of the real world.

9 months ago | 26 notes | Reblog |
judaism, jewish, women's rights, misongyist, feminism, feminist, humanity, humanism, atheism, atheists, orthodox, religion, prayer, god, belief, spirituality, agnostic, agnosticism,

the-girl-from-hyrule:

I missed the part where running a Christian movie review site, giving advice on everything from parenting to helping friends with depression/cutting/suicide, offering counselling for struggling couples/teens/etc., and selling Christian books….

was funding hate.

Whoops my bad.

Oh, I’m so glad you posted this because it provides me the perfect platform to both explain why it’s hate and point out how willfully ignorant people like you are.

Here’s ten reasons Focus on the Family, the shady tax exempt arm of the Family Research Council, is a hate group.

1. Despite the best scientific evidence from every credible sociological and psychological research group, these stubborn bastards insist there is a link between homosexuality and child predators.

2. They use their money to support discrimination in the workplace against homosexuals.

3. They promote insane conspiracy theories (in order to demonize) asserting that anti-bullying efforts are a secret gay plot to make kids gay or some shit.

4. They instruct their followers to marginalize their own children should those children come out as homosexual by telling them they’re immoral and engaging in risky behavior.

5. While continuing to refer to gay teens as “simply confused” (more marginalization) they have taken steps to assure that foster parents can continue to reject or abuse them and they have the fucking gall to reframe the issue as one of “liberal sensitivity.”

6. Oh, among those Christian books you’re so proud to see them promoting, is one that lead to the deaths of at least three children and the horrific abuses of countless others.

7.In a bizarre double whammy of homophobic bigotry, one of FotF’s leaders showed that he both a) believes ex-gay therapy is a thing, even though it’s been shown again and again and again to be abusive and false and that b) ex-gays should have a pride day, the way “gays have a pride day.” I call that the ol’ “white pride” or “kid’s day” fallacy.

8. They lied to the government, wasting your time and money, to promote lies about homosexuality and parenting.

9. James Dobson, FotF’s de-facto head dickhead, said of the 9/11 that while unruly women and dirty words on TV didn’t actually cause 9/11, they did prevent god from stopping it.

“Christians have made arguments on both sides of this question. I certainly believe that God is displeased with America for its pride and arrogance, for killing 40 million unborn babies, for the universality of profanity and for other forms of immorality. However, rather than trying to forge a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the terrorist attacks and America’s abandonment of biblical principles, which I think is wrong, we need to accept the truth that this nation will suffer in many ways for departing from the principles of righteousness. “The wages of sin is death,” as it says in Romans 6, both for individuals and for entire cultures.”

10. Among the most successful methods of arousing hate is to confuse people into thinking they’re being personally assaulted. For instance, telling someone that a gay marriage in New Mexico will have any impact on your marriage in Maryland. See, in order to make people believe everyday people are, in fact, villains, you have to confuse them and make them feel defensive. So when a group asserts, using insane silliness, that any gay marriage is a step toward fascism, well, you know they’re a hate group.

So, you see, you stupid asshat, you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s not even just because you’re too fucking dense to understand it, which you are, but that’s not the reason. The reason is you refuse to understand it. Willfully ignorant. Best option for you is to delete your entire internet presence at this point because the crushing weight of my followers is about to just shit straight down your throat. “Whoops,” indeed. Bon appetit, bigot!

Source : manhattanmidnights

ok religious discrimination rant time

beautyragdoll:

It is never ok to say that God is santa clause for adults. Just do not even go there.

It is OK to say that. The only thing that’s not OK, is your support of censorship and oppression. You can’t tell me what to say and what I’m allowed to say. Santa Claus is a superstitious belief that issues rewards or denial of rewards in response to good behavior. It’s a superstition taught to children. How is that not exactly like God?

I completely understand and respect that not everyone has the same religious beliefs or any at all, but why would you phrase it in that way.

To show you that your belief system is based on a series of logical flaws and environmental conditioning.

That is what you call religious discrimination whether you think it or not.

No, discrimination prevents an individual from equality in either society or the law. If I said Christians couldn’t eat at my restaurant or black people can’t play on the playground or homosexuality should be a crime, that’s discrimination. Telling you your ideas are wrong isn’t discrimination. If it were, there would be no truth. I bet you call your math teacher discriminatory for disagreeing when your answers are wrong. There is an objective truth and I assert your belief about god isn’t part of it. That’s not about discrimination. That’s about challenging indoctrination.

If something similar was said about any other religion then there would be uproars, but because it’s about christianity it’s fine to say what you please.

Bullshit! I say the same thing about the phoney baloney religions of Islam, Scientology, Mormonism, New Age weirdos, people who believe in karma, ancient greek, ancient egyptian mythology, gozer worshipers, Orthodox Jews, Voodoo and other island religions, witch-burning snake-juggling faith healers, living gods, etc, etc, etc. What do you think makes your ancient, unjustified belief more accurate than any other religious belief? What makes it more real than Zeus or Allah or Santa Claus?

I’m proud to call myself a Catholic and a believer in God, so i don’t really value it when people are offensive towards my religion.

You don’t value it? Does this sentence have meaning?

But something about that comment really really annoyed me.

Maybe it’s how accurate it is?

Source : metwithagoodbyekiss

9 months ago | 146 notes | Reblog |
religion, prayer, god, santa, belief, spirituality, Christianity, atheist, atheists, atheism, agnostic, agnosticism, christ,

A black couple in Crystal Springs, Mississippi says that a predominantly white Baptist church refused to let them get married because of their race.

Charles and Te’Andrea Wilson told WLBT that the day before they were to be married, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs informed them the ceremony would have to be moved due to the reaction of some white church members — even though the couple had attended the church regularly.

“The church congregation had decided no black could be married at that church, and that if [the pastor] went on to marry her, then they would vote him out the church,” Charles Wilson explained.

When the pastor was asked why he didn’t perform the wedding, the typical Christian cleric coward said:

“I didn’t want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn’t want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te’ Andrea. I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day.”

9 months ago | 11 notes | Reblog |
Christ, Christianity, Religion, Ron Paul, agnostic, agnosticism, atheism, atheist, atheists, baptist, bible, church, conservative, faith, god, gop, jesus, left wing, liberal, libertarian, marriage, prayer, racism, racist, republican, right wing, spirituality, traditional marriage, bigotry,

Good Reason News: liberalchristian: goodreasonnews: legalizeforeskin:... →

liberalchristian:

liberalchristian:

goodreasonnews:

legalizeforeskin:

withlovethelavendermenace:

Oh hey, non-Jews everywhere! Please do me a favor: if you are adamantly opposed to circumcision, please do not comment on how “barbaric” or whatever it is that Jewish law dictates that…

goodreasonnews:

What? What did I say? I simply pointed out the history of Jewish and Christian practices of circumcision is rooted in a story where a man loads a zoo onto a boat. If there’s anything that’s nonsense or crap, it’s the Bible.

Well, I don’t know why I bother, but… even if you really, truly believe that that’s the literal origin of circumcision,

Oh, I’m so sorry, Liberal Christian, I forgot that in your view, you get to be the arbiter of what parts of the Bible are literal and what parts are not.

THAT’S NOT A LOGICAL REASON TO BE OPPOSED TO IT.

Who said anything about opposition? Not supporting a thing isn’t opposing it. Just like not having a belief in a thing isn’t asserting it isn’t real.

It’s an ad-hominem fallacy.

Actually, it’s not. But in a stunning Shyamalanian twist, you’re going to commit this very fallacy at the end of this post.

If someone told me that we brush our teeth because a magical fairy will pull them out if they’re not clean enough, that does indeed qualify as ‘silly’, but it doesn’t imply that brushing my teeth is a bad decision.

A…..HA! So, you admit that the ends justify the means? Your implication is that people are stupid and incapable of rational behavior and need a myth to guide them. You’re also implying that it’s OK to teach proper social, moral, hygienic, or any other behavior through fear, even if the manifestation of that fear isn’t really there to begin with. This comment really exposes a fundamental flaw with the way you’ve been taught to think, LC.

What you’re really saying is, ‘I think Christianity/Judaism is stupid and therefore circumcision is bad.’ That’s. called. illogical.

And there’s your ad hom.

There are actual issues and questions about circumcision that could be addressed.

The conversation started out with some insolent ninny insisting that any of your “actual questions about circumcision that could be addressed” were to be precluded by a discussion of the claimant being an anti-Semite for even broaching the subject.

If you can’t address them, then you’re every bit as ignorant and irrational as people who claim it must be done because the bible says so. (I.E. It must NOT be done because the bible says so)

Uh, why should I have to defend why manipulating an infant’s genitalia is stupid? Shouldn’t the people who do it (and sometimes suck the blood out with their filthy, bacteria trap mouths (that’s not anti-Semitic, by the way, every living creatures mouth is a filthy, bacteria trap I wouldn’t put on an open wound).

And then there’s the fact that you’re misrepresenting the story of the ark, and the covenant with God, etc etc… but that’s really too obvious to even debate.

I’m sorry, it’s true that Noah promised the all powerful creator of all things that he would chop off part of his wingdangdoodle before the all powerful creator of all things found no other way to correct what he perceived as naughty behavior by the people he created besides drowning most of them.

I guess he had a moral beef with a bunch of other animals too, because most of them got wiped out, not that there’s even a shred of evidence for a flood that matches that description or any logical way a 600-year-old man (pfft) living in his region of the world could possibly amass every other living animal on a ship, but it’s all vital we just accept the wonder and the magic of it because if we don’t we might get cavities. Right?

Source : withlovethelavendermenace

9 months ago | 40 notes | Reblog |
religion, prayer, god, faith, jesus, christ, Christian, Christianity, atheist, atheists, atheism, agnostic, agnosticism,

Tony Robbins event leaves 21 burned after they walk on hot coals

San Jose firefighters treated 21 people for burns when they walked across hot coals at an event by motivational speaker Tony Robbins.

The incident occurred Thursday, with some of those suffering second- and third-degree burns.

Robbins’ organization released a statement saying it will look into ways to make the coal-walking event safer if possible.

The Associated Press reported that the coals had temperatures of between 1,200 to 2,000 degrees.

9 months ago | 5 notes | Reblog |
skepticism, faith, god, spirituality, religion, belief, prayer, atheist, atheism, atheists, agnostic, agnosticism, new age, ghosts, mysticism, tony robbins, crime, news, media, christ, anti-christ,

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: How The Mormons Make Money

Some interesting segments:

the church’s holdings are vast. First among its for-profit enterprises is DMC, which reaps estimated annual revenue of $1.2 billion from six subsidiaries, according to the business information and analysis firm Hoover’s Company Records (DNB). Those subsidiaries run a newspaper, 11 radio stations, a TV station, a publishing and distribution company, a digital media company, a hospitality business, and an insurance business with assets worth $3.3 billion.

AgReserves, another for-profit Mormon umbrella company, together with other church-run agricultural affiliates, reportedly owns about 1 million acres in the continental U.S., on which the church has farms, hunting preserves, orchards, and ranches. These include the $1 billion, 290,000-acre Deseret Ranches in Florida, which, in addition to keeping 44,000 cows and 1,300 bulls, also has citrus, sod, and timber operations. Outside the U.S., AgReserves operates in Britain, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Its Australian property, valued at $61 million in 1997, has estimated annual sales of $276 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

The church also runs several for-profit real estate arms that own, develop, and manage malls, parking lots, office parks, residential buildings, and more. Hawaii Reserves, for example, owns or manages more than 7,000 acres on Oahu, where it maintains commercial and residential buildings, parks, water and sewage infrastructure, and two cemeteries. Utah Property Management Associates, a real estate arm of the church, manages portions of City Creek Center. According to Spencer P. Eccles from the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, the mall cost the church an estimated $2 billion. It is only one part of a $5 billion church-funded revamping of downtown Salt Lake City, according to the Mormon-owned news site KSL. “They run their businesses like businesses, no bones about it,” says Eccles.

n addition, the church owns several nonprofit organizations, some of which appear to be lucrative. Take, for example, the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC), a 42-acre tropical theme park on Oahu’s north shore that hosts luaus, canoe rides, and tours through seven simulated Polynesian villages. General-admission adult tickets cost $49.95; VIP tickets cost up to $228.95. In 2010 the PCC had net assets worth $70 million and collected $23 million in ticket sales alone, as well as $36 million in tax-free donations. The PCC’s president, meanwhile, received a salary of $296,000. At the local level, the PCC, opened in 1963, began paying commercial property taxes in 1992, when the Land and Tax Appeal Court of Hawaii ruled that the theme park “is not for charitable purposes” and is, in fact, a “commercial enterprise and business undertaking.” Nevertheless, the tourist destination remains exempt from federal taxes because the PCC claims to be a “living museum” and an education-oriented charity that employs students who work at the center to pay their way through church-run Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

“There are religious groups that own radio stations, but they don’t also own cattle ranches. There are religious groups that own retreats, but they don’t also own insurance companies,” says Ryan Cragun, a sociology professor at the University of Tampa and co-author of the recently published book Could I Vote for a Mormon for President? “Given their array of corporate interests, it would probably make more sense to refer to them as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Holdings Inc.”

Mitt Romney and others at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded in 1984, gave the Mormon Church millions’ worth of stock holdings obtained through Bain deals, according to Reuters. Between 1997 and 2009, these included $2 million in Burger King (BKW) and $1 million in Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) shares.

According to an official church Welfare Services fact sheet, the church gave $1.3 billion in humanitarian aid in more than 178 countries and territories during the 25 years between 1985 and 2010. A fact sheet from the previous year indicates that less than one-third of the sum was monetary assistance, while the rest was in the form of “material assistance.” All in all, if one were to evenly distribute that $1.3 billion over a quarter-century, it would mean that the church gave $52 million annually. A study co-written by Cragun and recently published in Free Inquiry estimates that the Mormon Church donates only about 0.7 percent of its annual income to charity; the United Methodist Church gives about 29 percent.

itsjustsummer:

More dispatches from my uber-christian mother.

By the by what the hell does this even mean? According to my christian up bringing, we can’t know what god’s plan is for us; you just have to live according to the bible and god will revile your path to you as you get to where you’re supposed to be. So with that logic, this makes no sense. Since once again, according to christians- You DO NOT have any control over your own life or actions. Magic Sky Daddy does all of that for you.

So, there’s a god and he has a plan and Joyce Meyer knows the plan, but I don’t and so there’s no way for me to be in on the plan unless I listen to Joyce Meyer, who seems to be some kind of a conduit. I don’t know, folks, do I risk not listening to her and going to hell? I better just give her all my money, you know, just in case I CAN’T PROVE SHE DOESN’T KNOW GOD’S PLAN!

Source : sumskills

10 months ago | 5 notes | Reblog |
god, religion, faith, jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, prayer, belief, bible, spirituality, atheist, atheism, atheists, agnostic, agnosticism, preacher, church, theif, allah, evangelical,

10 months ago | 39 notes | Reblog |
religion, funerals, futurama, death, prayer, heaven, god, faith, atheist, atheists, atheism, agnostic, agnosticism, christ, Afterlife, Christianity, clergy, priest, preacher, there is no god, Pastor,

Liberals and the Holy Bible.

joshua-garcia:

Liberals are always mocking Christians

Hyperbolic straw-man, I already take nothing you say seriously.

and calling us fake Christians

Non-sequitur: use of the word “us” has no reference point.

because we allegedly don’t care about the poor.

Combination non-sequitur (still don’t know who the “we” is) and straw-man (because we don’t know who the allegation is being made by.)

Liberals believes a true Christian should believe in socialism

Setting up a straw-man.

because in their eyes Jesus was a socialist.

Begging the question.

Now, what I find funny is: Liberals appeal to Christians principles

poor grammar

like giving to the poor when they want to push their liberal agenda,

poisoning the well

but they become enraged when Christians try to push other Christian principles like pro-life and traditional marriage laws.

“…principals like pro-life.” Son, can you read? Do you know the difference between an adjective and a noun? Because if you can’t clearly articulate your point, why should I think you clearly thought it through?

Furthermore, Christian principals like hetero-normative marriage only applies to Christians.

They say, “helping the poor is a public matter, abortion and marriage are private matters”.

So many grammatical errors!

What liberals fail to realize is:

:?

Christianity is about surrendering your entire life to Jesus, public and private matters included.

Yeah, well, you know it isn’t the government’s fucking job to push Christianity on people, right? Our laws are founded on principals of reason and enlightenment, not on some backward bronze-aged childish superstition about magic ghosts who live in the clouds.

The way you talk, behave and think.

This is not a sentence. Why should I take you seriously?

Liberals claim that Christians pick and choose, but liberals don’t realize they do it themselves.

Pick and choose what? Morality? First off, this is just another in a never-ending stream of straw-man arguments you’ve made. Second, there’s nothing wrong with picking and choosing your morality. Somethings are obviously morally objective, but other things aren’t.

Before you point the finger, make sure your hands are clean.

This is not a saying and it doesn’t make sense.

This reminds me of the time when Obama was at the prayer breakfast and used holy scriptures to support his ideals.

Right, how opportunistic of a president to do that. Only Obama has ever done that, right? And how inappropriate of the president to talk about his view of the Bible at a prayer breakfast, right?

Liberals loved the Bible then and didn’t complain. However if Bush used scripture to support his ideals, Liberals would be crying in the streets that Bush was forcing religion down their throats.

Uh, good thing Bush never did that? Dumbass.

I love poking fun at liberal hypocrisy.

Well, you’re really shitty at it, maybe you need some practice. Here’s some advice for you.

Source : joshua-garcia