I wonder how they will defend this?

Bush and his policies really make it hard for me to go forward. Obama ain't no liberal savior and it should be no surprise that he will not keep all his promises. Government transparency for one.

"The Obama administration launched a criminal investigation Monday into harsh questioning of detainees during President George W. Bush's war o/n terrorism, revealing CIA interrogators' threats to kill one suspect's children and to force another to watch his mother sexually assaulted."

I wonder just how will Bush-Nationalists defend this?

Wait... we already know.


(Source)

Great. But now what to do with it?

In science class, you learn all sorts of wonderful things.

"The recent high school graduate told The Grand Rapids Press he knew the tooth exposed by recent rains was from an extinct elephant because he paid attention in his science classes."

Groundskeeper Patrick Walker discovered a 10K year-old mammoth tooth on a golf course where he is employed at just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

If Walker is a typical American, he's probably heard of evolution in the very same science class where he was taught about mammoths. Walker may have studied evolution in some detail, too. But this doesn't give me great hope, considering that the science of evolution, is held in such little regard in the United States. Walker may probably prefer to believe that an invisible, magic grandfather in the sky created all humans -- as well as animals -- from dirt, on a very special day out of his busy, tiring schedule.

If that's the case, then what about all those animals who went extinct like Walker's wholly mammoth, now exposed by geologic means which are far older than any mammoth? Does Walker buy the creationist lie that extinct animals are extinct because "sin entered the world?"

And the bite is that now that the discovery has been made, now what to do with it?

Harmonize the facts with fantasy? After all, this is the United States.

(Source)

Fundamentalism is ugly. Catholics. Hindus. All of them.

We at the Hypatian Shore have been in a bit of a creative lull as well as over our heads in paying work lately, but when you read a story like this – you can not help but to want to comment.

"I have been receiving phone calls which threaten me with dire consequences. They told me that they will chop off my fingers for indulging in such acts," Subodh Kerkar told AFP from his home in the resort state of Goa."

The big offense to Hindu fundamentalists?

Subodh Kerkar is an artist from Panaji, India, a devotee of the god Ganesha, who painted Ganesha to mirror the iconic Rodin sculpture, the "Thinker" and as "walking naked carrying a garden rake."

That is Kerkar's great offense. And the reaction from Indian officials? Will they protect Kerkar and warn these fundamentalists?

Goa state police, which confirmed receiving two complaints, have told Kerkar to "desist from any activity which will hurt religious feelings."

This goes to show that the fundamentalist, whether they are whiners like Bill Donohue of the "Catholic Defense League howling over Penn and Teller, or the Catholic church in Poland pissin' and moanin' about Madonna, hate -- just hate -- freedom of speech and expression.

If art, the timing of a concert, or mockery on television, hurts religious feelings, the religion gainsays itself as false since its believers, by their words and actions, demonstrates just how susceptible it is to different forms of scrutiny.

Fundamentalists are ugly and pathetic.

(Source)

Big news! According to the Bible, atheism doesn't exist.

This is big news to the Denver Christian apologetics examiner. It seems he has just discovered that the Bible doesn't believe in atheists. Instead of resorting to the ever popular Psalm 14:1 in his attack against the atheist, the examiner takes the much scarier approach.

"Atheism is defined as that group of beliefs that deny the existence of God (or gods). In similar manner, Christians do not believe in the existence of atheism--at least not in principle. Romans 1:18-19 explains that the truth of God is revealed to all creation, to all mankind."

Although the examiner does not explain to us what are the constellation of beliefs that atheism is predicated upon, it doesn't stop him from appealing to the Bible's as an authority on the matter, specifically Paul.

Paul, a man who never met Jesus, is not invoking god's vengeance against the atheist in these passages, rather he's on the invective against pagans and philosophers who have rejected the new religion as it struggled to gain a foothold amongst the myriad of religious beliefs of the time. In the gap between Jesus' alleged life and before the gospels were penned, philosophers and pagans like Flavius Claudius Julianus (Julian the Apostate ) wrote against the absurd beliefs of the Christians and rejected Christianity. While not contemporaries, Paul is responding to critics like Julian (although Julian was writing after the gospels were penned), and not to atheists.

You gotta love the bible. You can twist any passage into anything you want. Apologists really never study the bible, they study apologetics.

The Denver apologist resorts to scare tactics, informing the reader outright that all people know of the "coming judgment." The examiner seems to think that the atheist lives in denial, so he alludes to the holocaust of Revelation.

I think it's telling why an apologist would resort to Romans 18-19 and 20 and characterize it as psychological malfeasance in their attacks against the atheist today. If you can not reason with the atheist, or present convincing evidence for their beliefs, just cajole the atheist into believing.

Such is vacuity of faith.


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No that's okay. I really don't need another reason to hate you. But if you insist...

Like many Americans, I have some concerns over Obama's health insurance proposal in providing a public option for uninsured Americans. To make an informed decision, I need the best possible information to either confirm my concerns, or dismiss them. Serious criticism can also further help to inform my decisions as well.

Republicans, you are not helping.

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel'...

Such a system is downright evil...."

Yes, thank you Sarah Palin for your hyperbole. Thank you for your distortions. Thank you so much for not adding a single fact to the debate.

No that's okay. I really do not need another reason to hate you. But if you insist...

(Source)

If you legislate it, will they believe?

What's the best way to ensure a shared value? Well, enforce it by law obviously.

"Collective worship has been branded as something that young people grow out of by the age of 16..."

I am concerned that this is the thin end of the wedge and could be just the start of a process that devalues and ultimately marginalises the provision of collective worship in schools..."

That's the Archbishop Barry Morgan of Wales. He doesn't want the law to exempt sixteen year-olds from compulsory school prayer because he feels that if you do, you've removed "a shared spiritual experience." Unlike the United States where compulsory school prayer was banned from the schools (not personal, voluntary prayer), all schools "are required to offer a daily act of worship" according to the article.

Really?

If teens and younger children did indeed share this spiritual experience, why would you compel them to parrot these prayers in the first place? They would just volunteer. Any law that mandates prayer removes the assertion that it is a "shared value." If it is so "shared" then a law would be superfluous -- everyone would do it out of desire and not of obligation. The 2006 Education and Inspections Act does not go far enough in removing this obligation -- it should ban it for all ages and grades.

Let's call a spade a spade here. The Bishop wants slavish obedience to his faith. He doesn't give a damn about the welfare of these students.

Anyway, I have to agree with the bish. I am all for marginalizing collective worship in public school, right out of the schools in fact. Go ahead an pray if you want to if that's your desire, but on the behest of a law that says you must?

Sorry no.

(Source)

Careful for what you pray for?

I find this story humorous.

"Villagers from deeply Roman Catholic south Switzerland have for centuries offered a sacred vow to God to protect them from the advancing ice mass of the Great Aletsch glacier.

Global warming is making them want to reverse their prayers, and the Alpine faithful are seeking the permission of the pope."

Apparently, these villagers struck a deal with God in 1678 that they would "lead virtuous lives" and God would "spare their homes and livelihoods from being swallowed by Europe's largest glacier." But they have to ask the pope for his permission? Can't they just pray to God and have him give the permission they seek? Aren't they putting man before God? Better yet, they could stop leading virtuous lives and the deal will be broken. Everybody wins!

The glacier is shrinking and this will affect their fresh water supply, but at least they got what they prayed for -- a retreating glacier. Ever see the movie Ghost Rider? I am somehow reminded of the deal that Johnny Blaze made to the devil to cure his father's cancer.

Here's another good chuckle.

"Rev. Pascal Venetz said in his sermon to 100 people at the chapel, where until modern times pious women were prohibited from wearing colored underwear for fear of provoking the glacier."

Maybe, the woman of the alps should consider a different strategy and attempt to embarrass god like the villagers of Patna, India.

Forget colored underwear and clothes for that matter -- go nekked.

(Source)

The Neumann Farewell tour?

Both parents of Kara Neumann, Dale and Leilani, who were convicted of second-degree reckless manslaughter in the prayer death of their daughter, will now be allowed to leave the state on what appears to be some kind of farewell goodbye tour before sentencing. They could face up to 25 years in prison.

Marathon County Circuit Judge Vincent Howard changed conditions of their bail on Wednesday to allow them to make a monthlong visit to see family members in California, including Leilani Neumann's ailing grandmother.

Lucky them. They get to say goodbye to family members, whereas Kara did not.

Anyone doubt that each will be sentenced to more than 5 years of prison?

(Source)

Christians: Faith in god is all lip service

So the atheist bus ads in Iowa have been yanked.

"DART said it immediately started to receive complaints."Drivers said people weren't getting on buses or getting off the buses because of it," said advertising director Kirstin Baer-Harding. "So with all the calls, it wasn't something we wanted."

Proof that Christians have the right to censor channels of communication that other groups enjoy in this country.

It is also proof that Christians can't take criticism over their religion, or beliefs, no matter how small, or insignificant. These ads are clearly not criticizing their religion, yet these thin-skinned Christians who complained take it as criticism.

To those that complained about the ads in Iowa and Indiana and elsewhere, you absolutely have no faith in your god, much less the courage of your convictions.

Lip service all of it.


(Source)

No more Neumanns. End Wisconsin's privileges for prayer death

If you've been following the case, by now you've read that after some lengthy deliberations, the jury has made the decision that Dale Neumann, (like his wife Leilani) committed second degree reckless manslaughter when they opted out of medical care for prayer.

While justice prevailed in this case, technically in Wisconsin, religious parents have the privilege to abuse, maim, and kill their children. (Christian Scientists wanted these exemptions in the past.) This means, as a parent, if you believe that sickness is caused by sin and that your child's illness is a test of your faith, or by seeking medical care you are being disobedient to god, no legal action can be taken against you.

Imagine for a moment that as a component of someone's faith that first degree, ritual murder is a requirement. As a society, we do not give you this privilege to murder just because that is your belief. Legally, you are under no obligation to surrender that belief, however, other laws hold you under obligation to not commit murder.

Forget religion, if you are a parent or guardian and you allow your child to suffer and die by malnutrition or physical abuse and you do not have religious reasons for doing so, the full child abuse laws apply against you. However, if this form of child abuse is done as a consequence of the parent's religion, these parents are exempt from any criminal responsibility.

Fortunately, in Kara Neumann's case, jurors saw through this inequity.

Currently under draft, State Representative, Terese Berceau, will introduce legislation, LRB-2190, to remove these privileges by repealing, amending, or eliminating these privileges altogether.

In short, LRB-2190 aims to repeal state statue 948.03 (6). Presently, if a parent or legal guardian treats a minor only through prayer (or other spiritual means) and bodily harm, or death should result, there are no penalties or liabilities. With its repeal, this exception will be eliminated. The bill will also amend 448.03 (6) defining that only an adult who practices Christian Science may treat themselves with faith healing or prayer, and not just a "person." Furthermore, the bill will eliminate two other exceptions, by amending 48.981 (3) and 938.505 (2) (a) thereby ending these privileges altogether.

If you live in Wisconsin and you want to end this type of religiously motivated-abuse and restore access to health care for these children whose parents are unfortunately sincere in their beliefs like the Neumanns, please contact your state legislator and ask them to support LRB-2190.

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For more information:
1. Proposed faith-healing bills under scrutiny
2. Police: Girl died as parents prayed instead of seeking help
3. Parents turn grief into a mission: Change the laws
4. Daniel Hauser in parents' custody; begins chemo tomorrow
5. Trial Begins In Faith-Healing Death Case