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Priest abuse victims' group (SNAP) blacklists 12 cardinals for pope →

Rome (CNN) — A group representing survivors of sexual abuse by priests named a “Dirty Dozen” list of cardinals it said would be the worst candidates for pope based on their handling of child sex abuse claims.

Their presence on the list is based “on their actions and/or public comment about child sex abuse and cover up in the church,” the group said.

The listincludes Roman Catholic cardinals from several countries.

SNAP, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, said as it released the list Wednesday that its accusations were based on media reports, legal filings and victims’ statements.

Atheism: Is There Really A Point?

iaussiekid:

This is an argument that many atheists can shoot back at theists and it can continue into infinity. However I started thinking to myself while I was debating with an atheist earlier this week; “if he doesn’t believe in God and I do…. Who’s right?”. The answer to that was simple (and quite obvious): I was correct. That sounds one-sided and close-minded but think to yourself about what you were taught when you were growing up. Your parents drilled into your brains from a young age what they thought, or knew to be fact. So, naturally, you went along with it and defended your beliefs whenever they came under attack. Just as I did. 

To any christian (like myself) the thought of atheism just cannot inhabit our minds for any length of time. We know that Christ said that if we deny Him in front of our friends, He’d deny us in front of His Father. When we think of atheists we can do nothing much but pray that God has mercy on them because at the final hour, they won’t be able to stand blameless in front of Him. Most atheists are set in their minds so trying to convert them is almost useless. However, what I find most of them have in common is either they’ve sinned so badly they feel that God cannot love them anymore so they turn their backs on Him, or they’ve lost faith. They are weak in the heart. 

Atheists usually take a scientific approach to things so I come at them with the proven scientific fact that religion is proven to help people lead healthy, productive lives. Most of the time they simply don’t answer or will come back with a irrelevant remark about me personally. When it comes to certain things, atheists don’t really know what they’re talking about. They think they know all about religion, but the fact remains, they just don’t. They can’t.

To be fully knowledgeable on religion, you first need to let it into your heart. Let it inhabit you mind, body, and soul.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  

Mormonism: Is There Really A Point?

This is an argument that many Mormons can shoot back at atheists and it can continue into infinity. However I started thinking to myself while I was debating with a Mormon earlier this week; “if he believes in Kolob and I don’t…. Who’s right?”. The answer to that was simple (and quite obvious): I was correct. That sounds one-sided and close-minded but think to yourself about what you were taught when you were growing up. Your knowledge of verifiable historic evidence drilled into your brains from a young age, that holy plates from God were not temporarily loaned to one man, who just happened a 19th century American con man.

To any atheist (like myself) the thought of Mormonism is a humiliatingly obvious grift and always has been. We have no direct knowledge the character Christ in the Bible actually existed, yet the Bible’s authors  prepare for this inevitable realization by lacing the book with vague threats for nonbelievers (a skill Joesph Smith would pick up on and employ himself). The Bible says if we deny its ludacris stories in front of our friends, you’ll get sent to detention for ghosts. When we think of people who fall for this, we can do nothing much but sigh or laugh because at the end of the day, they’ll have wasted a lot of time, money and emotion on a thing that doesn’t exist. Most Mormons are set in their minds. However, what I find most of them have in common is either they’re judgmental enough to think they can talk about other people this way or they’re so full of themselves they can’t see they’re being duped, just like every other religious person.

Mormons usually take a superstitious approach to things so I come at them with the examples of how religion is like superstition, even though it makes them feel better it’s not based on reality. Most of the time they simply don’t answer or will come back with a irrelevant remark about me personally. Like the fact that I say ‘me’ when I mean ‘my.’ When it comes to certain things, Mormons don’t really know what they’re talking about. They think they know all about reality, but the fact remains, they just don’t. They can’t.

To be fully knowledgeable of reality, you first need to stop being such a defensive reactionary.

In the name of the great atheizmo, huzzah!

Source : iaussiekid

My mom listens to Focus on the Family.

thepictureof-rodionraskolnikov:

Found that out today.

Good thing I didn’t plan on coming out tonight or anything.

Never ever coming out.  ever.

This is the kind of thing Christian-right groups do to families. It breaks them.

(via wruce-bane-deactivated20121116)


“This fall, more than 100,000 American public school children, ranging in age from four to 12, are scheduled to receive instruction in the lessons of Saul and the Amalekites in the comfort of their own public school classrooms. The instruction, which features in the second week of a weekly “Bible study” course, will come from the Good News Club, an after-school program sponsored by a group called the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). The aim of the CEF is to convert young children to a fundamentalist form of the Christian faith and recruit their peers to the club…”.* Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur give more details on The Young Turks.

Good News, young Christians, God wants you to kill, Kill, KILL!

Typical violent Evangelical Christian pastor beats the shit out of 15-year-old girl, claims 'spare the rod, spoil the child' defense. →

Georgia megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar, who was arrested last week after his teenage daughter told deputies he had choked her, denied the allegations Sunday from the pulpit.

“The truth is, she was not choked. She was not punched,” Dollar said.

Deputies in Fayette County responded to a call about a domestic disturbance about 1 a.m. Friday. Dollar’s 15-year-old daughter said she argued with her father over attending a party, said investigator Brent Rowan of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office.

The daughter says the argument got physical.

But earlier, he said:

Dollar’s version was that she became disrespectful and he was tried to restrain her, the report said. Only when she started to hit him did he wrestle her to the floor and spank her, the police report said.


BEAVERTON, Ore. - A church pastor is suing a mother and daughter for $500,000 because they gave the church bad reviews online.

The family being sued left the church a few years ago and Julie Anne Smith says she and her family were shunned and couldn’t understand why. So she went online and wrote Google and DEX reviews of the church and then started a blog.

“I thought, I’m just going to post a review,” Smith said. “We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?”

Never did she think Beaverton Grace Bible Church and Pastor Charles O’Neal would slap her with the lawsuit.

“I’m a stay-at-home mom. I teach my kids at home, and this is just not the amount of money that normal moms have.”

When the family left the church, Smith says friends were told to end all contact with her.

“If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way,” she said. “All we did was asked questions. We just raised concerns. There’s no sin in that.”

Dissatisfied, she went online to write reviews. Other church members counteracted them with church praise. So Smith started a blog called “Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors.”

But the pastor claims in the lawsuit he filed that her words, “creepy,” “cult,” “control tactics,” and “spiritual abuse,” are defamation.

“What somebody does in the church is one thing, but when you get out into society we have the right to free speech, and it may not be what people want to hear, but we absolutely have that right,” Smith said.

The lawsuit didn’t just target Smith. Her daughter and three other commenters are also being sued.

“He can say what he wants in the church and say, don’t talk about this or don’t talk about that, or don’t talk to this person, but when you’re out in the civil world, you don’t do that anymore,” Smith said. “And he’s not my pastor anymore. He does not have that right to keep people from talking.”

The Smiths filed a special free speech motion to dismiss the lawsuit. It goes before a judge later this month.

KATU News called the church, went there, went to the pastor’s home and spoke to his wife. KATU News also called the pastor’s attorney. All of them declined to give their side of the story.

Horse God: About as reasonable a belief as Jesus.

Horse God: About as reasonable a belief as Jesus.


Atheists, freethinkers in uniform standing up for themselves in the face of Evangelical oppression.

SEVERSON: In 2010, Colonel Sicinski, at the urging of base chaplains, approved and supported a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event called Rock the Fort to boost morale and, in the colonel’s words, “bolster the faith.”

GRIFFITH: We were “treated” to a just massive festival, and they were actually very successful. They converted hundreds of soldiers onstage.

SEVERSON: And when Sargent Griffith asked for a similar event for atheists and humanists, Colonel Sicinski declined at first. Months later he changed his mind, and that set the stage for this event called Rock Beyond Belief. The keynote speaker was the British biologist and famous atheist author Richard Dawkins.

Daily Kos: Laws Affect People, Not Abstract Concepts →

So, in other words, the  law will require women to give birth to their nonviable fetuses rather  than have the abortion occur internally. [emphasis mine] When I read that post my blood boiled in a way it has not boiled in  weeks. And believe me, I’ve been boiling. Not just as a  liberal/woman/Jew/heathen, but as a woman who recently gave birth to a  dead baby.

You read that right. I birthed a dead baby about 6 weeks ago.

Why all pro-life crusaders are 100% wrong

My mom called to tell me this horrible story about my aunt-

practice-self-love:

So my aunt is a born-again Christian

My brother is an ordained priest in some pagan religion (I’m not sure of the details), and he’s very well-read in all religion

My aunt was spouting something off about religion, about how God hates gays or something

And my mom said, “Well, my son says that it’s proven that blah blah blah”

And my aunt goes: “He is a homosexual. He knows nothing about the word of God. Homosexuals are an abomination of the Bible.”

Forget that he basically studies religion

FUCK YOU. 

We’ve disowned my aunt. 

She’s such a menace. 

I know this is negative, but there is a point - STAND UP FOR WHO YOU LOVE. My mom did not ask for two queer children. My mom did not ask to have her mind opened, her point of view shaken to the core, her idea of normal turned upside down. But she loves us. And she knows in her heart that what my aunt said is WRONG. 

What Christianity does to a family.

Source : practice-self-love