Several brave Democrats at this week’s convention stood up against Christian-, Israel-apologist bullies by loudly voting against putting unconstitutional, religiously-charged language into the platform.

I see this as a huge step. 20 years ago a reaction like this would have made the party look like the party of Satan. 12 years ago it would have been a scandal at least. 4 years ago it would have been discussed as a problem within the party and this year, the only ones who give a shit are Fox News. Who knows? Maybe in another 8 years, they really will stop talking about there sky daddy and start getting down to business.

As his wife slept, he fumbled through the darkness for his laptop. After a few quick searches with the terms “pastor” and “atheist,” he discovered that a cottage industry of atheist outreach groups had grown up in the past few years. Within days, he joined an online network called the Clergy Project, created for clerics who no longer believe in God and want to communicate anonymously through a secure Web site.
DeWitt began e-mailing with dozens of fellow apostates every day and eventually joined another new network called Recovering From Religion, intended to help people extricate themselves from evangelical Christianity. Atheists, he discovered, were starting to reach out to one another not just in the urban North but also in states across the South and West, in the kinds of places DeWitt had spent much of his career as a traveling preacher. After a few months he took to the road again, this time as the newest of a new breed of celebrity, the atheist convert. They have their own apostles (Bertrand Russell, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens) and their own language, a glossary borrowed from Alcoholics Anonymous, the Bible and gay liberation (you always “come out” of the atheist closet).

Clergy Project is getting some mainstream press.

As his wife slept, he fumbled through the darkness for his laptop. After a few quick searches with the terms “pastor” and “atheist,” he discovered that a cottage industry of atheist outreach groups had grown up in the past few years. Within days, he joined an online network called the Clergy Project, created for clerics who no longer believe in God and want to communicate anonymously through a secure Web site.

DeWitt began e-mailing with dozens of fellow apostates every day and eventually joined another new network called Recovering From Religion, intended to help people extricate themselves from evangelical Christianity. Atheists, he discovered, were starting to reach out to one another not just in the urban North but also in states across the South and West, in the kinds of places DeWitt had spent much of his career as a traveling preacher. After a few months he took to the road again, this time as the newest of a new breed of celebrity, the atheist convert. They have their own apostles (Bertrand Russell, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens) and their own language, a glossary borrowed from Alcoholics Anonymous, the Bible and gay liberation (you always “come out” of the atheist closet).

Clergy Project is getting some mainstream press.

8 months ago | 16 notes | Reblog |
atheist, pastor, preacher, priest, prayer, god, church, bible, belief, atheism, agnostic, agnosticism, Christ, Christianity,

foreverliberal:

stfuhypocrisy:

theoppressedlittlefetus:

christiannightmares:

Mike Huckabee defends Todd Akin: Forcible rapes have created some extraordinary people (To read the story, click image or here; Found at Friendly Atheist)

Jesus, Huckabee is one vile mother fucker.

[TW FOR RAPE, MIKE HUCKABEE ASSHOLERY]

Says the man who will never be pregnant, let alone be carrying his rapist’s baby. This is just unbelievable.

— Brittany

Evangelical Christianity.

(via foreverliberal23-deactivated201)

Source : christiannightmares

9 months ago | 318 notes | Reblog |
Christian, Christianity, faith, God, spirituality, prayer, atheist, atheists, atheism, jesus, religion, agnostic, evangelical, bible, church, huckabee, right wing, left wing, liberal, progressive, conservative, democrats, gop, republican, sexist, sexism, bigotry, feminism, feminist, rape,

nonplussedbyreligion:

Robertson: Gay Rights Advocates Should “Shut Their Mouth”

Pat Robertson says he won’t back gay rights as homosexuality is one of “the reasons why land will vomit out its inhabitants”

I’m not even going to address his ludicrous gays can’t have babies rant. I’m going to talk about his use, or rather mis-use of Scripture to support his bullshit.

I’ve absolutely had it with people who tell me that the Bible does not support homophobia… or that people are misinterpreting it… or that the original texts did not recognize homosexuality as a thing… or any of the other mumbo-jumbo like that I’ve had thrown at me.

The Bible is used as a weapon by those who are spreading hate and intolerance in the name of their god. Every single time I hear one of these asshats quote the book of Leviticus I want to scream!

Here are some vital statistics for Leviticus:

PURPOSE: A handbook for the priests and Levites outlining their duties in worship, and a guidebook of holy living for the Hebrews.

Not a guidebook for the nations or the world, but specifically for the Hebrews.

AUTHOR: Moses

ORIGINAL AUDIENCE: The people of Israel

Get that, the people of Israel.

SETTING: At the foot of Mount Sinai. God is teaching the Israelites how to live as holy people.

Again, teaching the Israelites.

Rules for daily living, family responsibility, sexual conduct, relationships, and dealing with the world are covered in Leviticus chapters 18-20. God does an effective job of making no mistakes who his audience was for these laws:

Leviticus 18:1-2 ¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:1-2 ¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 20:12 The LORD said to Moses, ² “Say to the Israelites…

Am I the only one missing where God instructed Moses to speak to all nations and let them know about the never ending universal applications of these laws? I’ve also searched the New Testament line by line, and I have not found the verse that specifies which of these sins were nullified with the new covenant and which were not. There is no clear “Thou shalt hate the gays but eat shellfish” verse; believe me, I’ve looked. Newsflash Pat Robertson and company, Leviticus is not the law of THIS land, unless I missed a major part of world history and geography.

It infuriates me that “liberal” or “inclusive” Christians pretend that just because people use the Bible out of context, the hurt they cause is invalidated. I know Robertson is full of shit. Lots of Christians know so as well, but what he and many of our politicians and lawmakers are doing, are referencing the Bible in support of their actions. The fact that they’re using it out of context or misinterpreting it doesn’t make their words and actions any less harmful. The fact that they use it as a weapon to promote intolerance does not make me want to say, “Oh shucks, their just ignorant of theology, I’ll forgive them.” Robertson has a large audience; one that funds him and his station. Regardless of his misrepresentation of scripture, people out there are soaking it up.

I’ve had about as much as I can take of those who attack me for talking against the Bible. The Bible is a book, and like all books it is open for interpretation. However, unlike other books, people are willing to mold it into whatever they see fit and use it to govern and rule; even if it causes harm to others.

One of the major issues I have with Christianity, and had even when I was a Christian, is that if you think your church is too conservative, you can just go down the road to the local inclusive church and they’ll give you their explanation to why people like Robertson are wrong about the laws in Leviticus, and why homosexuality is not a sin. Same book, different spin. Yet for some reason I’m the one in the wrong. Interesting.

Evangelical Christianity.

(via nonplussedbyreligion-deactivate)

9 months ago | 20 notes | Reblog |
evangelical, Christianity, Christian, faith, god, atheist, atheists, atheism, agnostic, agnosticism, jesus, prayer, Bible, conservative, liberal, left wing, right wing, gop, republican, gay, gay rights, marriage equality, marriage,

This is what Christian groups like Focus on the Family, and the more liberal Christians who tolerate them, do to families.

(via Father’s Letter Disowning Gay Son James After Coming Out Goes Viral)

Source : The Huffington Post

DON’T TAKE MT. OLYMPIA OUT OF THE OLYMPICS!

9 months ago | 206 notes | Reblog |
Zeus, gods, god, religion, Christianity, faith, jesus, christmas, war on christmas, comedy, conservative, liberal, left wing, holiday,

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,

Robertson: Gay Rights Advocates Should “Shut Their Mouth”

ok religious discrimination rant time

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