The boy "who came back from Heaven" files lawsuit, because he never got paid for that lie.

Courtesy of The Christian Post:  

A young man who as a boy became the subject of a bestselling book claiming he had went to Heaven and met Jesus following a car accident while comatose is now suing book publisher Tyndale House for damages. 

Alex Malarkey, now 20, was left as a quadriplegic following the 2004 accident, which was made famous in the 2010 bestseller The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven. 

A lawsuit filed on Monday at DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton, Illinois, claims that Tyndale made millions from his account, which in 2015 Malarkey admitted was a total fabrication made up by his father, Kevin Malarkey, who has since passed away. 

The suit explains that the father made up the story that Malarkey "had gone to Heaven, communicated with God the Father, Jesus, angels and the devil, and then returned," and that he had taken all the profits from the book.

Whenever I think about the innate gullibility of religious people this is one of the examples that springs to mind.

Once people convince themselves that the impossible is possible they are susceptible to any "evidence," no matter how flimsy, which seems to confirm their belief.

This is why televangelists have private planes, live in huge mansions, and wear Italian suits.

It is a cottage industry built around people's ignorance and need to embrace superstitious nonsense.

And in this day and age there is really no excuse for it.

Clips from 2005 talk radio appearances show that EPA administrator Scott Pruitt does not believe in Evolution and wants to amend the Constitution to ban abortion and ban marriage equality.

“There aren’t sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution, and it deals with the origins of man, which is more from a philosophical standpoint than a scientific standpoint,” Pruitt said on an Oklahoma radio program in 2005. https://t.co/20oZv5lOG8 pic.twitter.com/i8QpcYvfkQ

— POLITICO (@politico) March 2, 2018

Courtesy of Politico:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt dismissed evolution as an unproven theory, lamented that “minority religions” were pushing Christianity out of “the public square” and advocated amending the Constitution to ban abortion, prohibit same-sex marriage and protect the Pledge of Allegiance and the Ten Commandments, according to a newly unearthed series of Oklahoma talk radio shows from 2005. 

Pruitt, who at the time was a state senator, also described the Second Amendment as divinely granted and condemned federal judges as a “judicial monarchy” that is “the most grievous threat that we have today." And he did not object when the program’s host described Islam as “not so much a religion as it is a terrorist organization in many instances.”

The views he states, in discussions peppered with references to inalienable rights and the faith of the nation's founders, are in line with those of millions of other conservative, devout Christians. But they also show stances that at times are at odds with the broader American mainstream, and in some cases with accepted scientific findings — an issue that has more recently come up with his skepticism about the science behind climate change. 

“There aren’t sufficient scientific facts to establish the theory of evolution (Actually there are.), and it deals with the origins of man, which is more from a philosophical standpoint than a scientific standpoint,” he said in one part of the series (That is actually untrue as well.), in which Pruitt and the program's hosts discussed issues related to the Constitution. 

Of course Republicans were quick to defend Pruitt and his primitive superstitious views.

Republicans in Congress defended Pruitt, saying his religious beliefs should factor into how he does his job. 

"All of us are people of faith and obviously influenced by our faith and the role it played in our life … and continue[s] to play in our life on a daily basis," said Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees EPA. "It’s a part of who we are."

Actually since protecting the environment is an entirely science based policy, a person's religious beliefs serve only to interfere in their ability to understand the data they see in order to help direct their decision making.

ANY potential cabinet member who espouses such arcane and outdated opinions should NEVER be put in charge of any agency which requires at least some understanding and respect for science.

Period.

Creationist Ken Ham does not think that Bill Nye's show about real facts is appropriate for children. Because you know superstitious fairy tales are so much more palatable.

Courtesy of Science AF: 

Creationist Ken Ham loves to challenge Bill Nye on every scientific issue under the sun, and the release of Bill Nye Saves the World season two was too great an opportunity to miss. 

In a blog post for his website Answers in Genesis, the famous creationist accused the Science Guy's new show of being "inappropriate" for children. 

"Bill Nye is not kid friendly at all (this new show is geared toward millennials), and both seasons of this show's content (which pushes a secular view of origins and morality) are certainly not appropriate for children," Ham wrote, proposing that the show should really be called "Bill Nye Needs to be Saved." 

"He is definitely not Bill Nye the kid-friendly guy! Beware!" 

Apparently, the promotion of basic scientific facts is now considered inappropriate.

Apparently Ham is upset about Nye's descriptive language when discussing STD's and superbugs, and argues that his show is too secular in nature.

Does Ham not realize that science by its very nature is "secular?"

No, I guess he wouldn't.

So in Ken Ham's version of educating children you simply fill their head with superstitious nonsense and then threaten them with eternal torment if they refuse to believe you, and Bill Nye's approach is to present actual fact based information in a fun and entertaining manner.

Got it.

Irish priest claims there is a desperate need for more exorcists due to increase in "demonic activity." Hang on, I have to check what year it is again.

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

An Irish priest has put out an urgent call for backup to help with the growing demand for exorcisms in the country, according to reports. 

“It’s only in recent years that the demand [for exorcisms] has risen exponentially,” Father Pat Collins said, adding that anyone who doesn’t see the need for more exorcists is “out of touch with reality.” Collins wrote an open letter to Irish bishops asking them to begin training more priests to deal with exorcisms, and he cited the International Association of Exorcists’ belief that demonic activity has increased substantially in recent years.

Collins has been speaking out about the activities of what he has called “the evil one” for years. He is widely considered Ireland’s most prominent exorcist, and he has also advocated for the church to take a more active role in demon hunting.

 "Anyone who doesn’t see the need for more exorcists is out of touch with reality.”

Just let that bounce around in your skull a little.

These are the people we are forced to share the planet with. These are the people whose beliefs we are encouraged to respect.

Thank you, but no thank you.

This kind of superstitious nonsense should be called out and refuted every single time we hear about it.

No, people are not talking to an actual god.

No, there are no guardian angels watching over you.

No, there are no spirits which need to be placated with charms or magic spells.

And no, there are no demons.

Yes, there is mental illness, and yes there are scientifically based strategies for supporting those who suffer with them.

And an exorcism is the very last thing that they need.

UN is pulling people out of southeastern Africa due to fear of vampires. That's right, vampires.

Courtesy of The Guardian:

The United Nations has pulled staff out of two districts in southern Malawi where a vampire scare has triggered mob violence in which at least five people have been killed. 

Belief in witchcraft is widespread in rural Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, where many aid agencies and NGOs work. A spate of vigilante violence linked to vampire rumours also erupted in Malawi in 2002.

“These districts have severely been affected by the ongoing stories of blood sucking and possible existence of vampires,” the UN Department on Safety and Security (UNDSS) said in a security report on the Phalombe and Mulanje districts that was seen by Reuters.

Of course this type of superstitious fear does not stop with Vampirism.

You may have read recently about the murder of numerous children in Africa accused of being witches.

It was so widespread that they had to found a relief effort just to rescue children accused of witchcraft.

This is why I bang the drum so hard against religion on this blog.

You may think that modern Christianity has nothing in common with this type of mass hysteria, but if so then you have not attended a fundamentalist church where talk of demonic possession, fights with the devil, and the ongoing battle between good and evil are peppered throughout Sunday sermons as if they are as common as household pets.

When you tell people that perfectly natural phenomena have a supernatural basis you are potentially disconnecting them from a reality based existence and plunging them into a world of terrifying possibilities which could quite easily convince them that their neighbors, friends, and even children, are demons, witches, and yes, vampires.

Number of people that now identify as having no religion is over 50% in Britain.

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

A survey from the National Centre for Social Research, just released today, finds that a record number of British people have no religious affiliation at all. 53% of people said they didn’t belong to any organized religion, which is up 5% from just a year ago. 

Researchers with the British Social Attitudes survey asked participants, “Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion?” If they said yes, they were asked which one. That phrasing makes a difference. If researchers had offered a multiple choice list of religions, with “No religion” as an option, it’s possible many people would have responded with the religion of their youth despite no longer practicing it. But when asked up front if they’re religious, it’s much easier to honestly say no. 

Since 1983, when this survey began, the number has grown pretty steadily with only a few slight dips in between. And the rise of the Nones is commensurate with the decline of the Church of England. 

What is even more exciting is that a full 71% of folks aged 18-24 now identify as non-religious, so the future looks bright indeed.

It is still my firm opinion that religion itself is an outdated and antiquated idea which no longer serves any real purpose except to dumb down the populace and convince them to vote for idiotic things like Donald Trump and Brexit.

My goal is to live long enough to see the majority of the world identify at non-religious before I die.

So what do you think, do I need to live to be a hundred or a hundred and fifty?

As another deadly storm threatens our citizens creationist Ken Ham would like to take a moment to remind you that it's all your fault you unrepentant sinners.

Devastating Hurricanes-reminder we live in a fallen groaning world as a result of our sin against a Holy God-it's our fault not God's fault pic.twitter.com/JwAJWN8oQ0

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) September 6, 2017

World we live is not original world God made. God made a perfect world-we now live in a fallen world cause of sin- look forward to new earth pic.twitter.com/MUQw5eKikn

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) September 6, 2017

For those who reject God & believe evolution, all the bad things in the world are a result of the supposed continuing process of evolution

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) September 6, 2017

For the record people do not "believe" in Evolution, but rather than accept and understand the facts of science.

Facts don't require faith.

Secularists like to mock the Christian God when we see tragedy cause they don't want to acknowledge our sinful state before a Holy God

— Ken Ham (@aigkenham) September 6, 2017

Acknowledge my sinful state, buddy I celebrate my sinful state.

It is so hard to believe that in the 21st Century there are still so many idiots condemned to remain trapped in such primitive thought processes and so willing to embrace superstitious nonsense instead of expanding their minds and gaining release from the prison of their fears.

(H/T to Joe My God.)

That new body slamming Montana Congressman believes that retirement is for pussies because Noah was building that ark at 600 years old.

Hi my name is Greg Gianforte and I believe in fairy tales.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

In a 2015 talk at the Montana Bible College, Gianforte said the idea of retirement doesn’t exactly match his religious beliefs. 

“There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about retirement. And yet it’s been an accepted concept in our culture today,” he said at the time, according to a report in HuffPost. “Nowhere does it say, ‘Well, he was a good and faithful servant, so he went to the beach.’ It doesn’t say that anywhere.”

“How old was Noah when he built the ark? 600,” he said. “He wasn’t like, cashing Social Security checks, he wasn’t hanging out, he was working. So, I think we have an obligation to work. The role we have in work may change over time, but the concept of retirement is not biblical.”

Oh dear god that I don't believe in, what fresh hell, which I also don't believe in, has Montana subjected itself to?

Noah is a character in a children's tale of morality, NOT an actual person whose life should be taken literally!

I swear the next person who tries to convince me that religion does not destroy rational thinking, I am going to body slam.

Why the discussion of religion is so important.

I often get blowback for my "attacks" on religion.

Those attacks of course are often simply a post about the lack of historic evidence or the ignorance of accepting things without a factual basis to support their existence.

However as I often suggest there is probably no more important topic to openly discuss, argue, and examine than the impact of religion in the world today.

For instance the case can be made that much of terrorism is fueled by religious fanaticism.

It also holds true that much of our current prejudices stem from a religious origin.

The same is of course true of sexism, after all patriarchal ideals are pervasive throughout the Old Testament.

And perhaps most currently impactful is that blind faith also opens one up to the kinds of manipulations that served the Russians so well when they interfered in our last presidential election.

Yes, I am suggesting that religious faith is a large part of the reason that we have Donald Trump as our president.

So yes, openly discussing religion is quite, quite important.

The Pope proclaims that priests should be prepared to call in the exorcists if the situation warrants it.

Courtesy of The Guardian: 

Pope Francis has advised priests who hear troubled confessions from parishioners to not hesitate to call on the services of an exorcist. 

A good confessor has to be very discerning, particularly when he has to deal with “real spiritual disorders”, the 80-year-old pontiff told priests at a Vatican training seminar on the art of hearing believers recount their sins. 

Disorders could have their roots in all manner of circumstances, including supernatural ones, he suggested. 

In such circumstances the confessor “must not hesitate to refer to exorcists … chosen with great care and prudence”.

First off there is NO situation that would warrant having some blabbering fool standing over a troubled person while reading Bible verses and douching them with holy water. 

All of that should be left behind in the 18th century where it belongs.

Secondly mental illness is not something that a priest is capable of diagnosing without the assistance of a trained psychiatrist.

Trust me, no good psychiatrist is going to write our a prescription for exorcism.

Thirdly I actually once had a client who had suffered through an exorcism, and I can tell you from first hand experience that the trauma created by such an experience can be quite debilitating.

What statements like this tell me is that as progressive as this new Pope seems to be sometimes, he is still stuck in a primitive mindset that makes him erratic and dangerous.

The difference between Trump supporters and Clinton supporters all in one graphic.

Courtesy of Inside Same Grain: 

Trump supporters are more likely to believe in most paranormal phenomena - angels, ghosts, alien visits, conspiracy theories, and Big Foot. Clinton supporters are only more likely to believe in psychics. The biggest difference between Trump and Clinton is with a belief in Big Foot; Trump supporters are 28% more likely to believe in the mythological ape-like creature. Clinton supporters' stronger belief in psychics is likely due to to the fact that women, from whom she enjoys strong support, are more likely to believe in psychics. Note also that Clinton supporters are nearly 40% more likely to have no paranormal beliefs. 

If you get right down to it this is really the thing.

The thing that separates the rational from the irrational.

The less intelligent superstitious are easily convinced to put critical thinking aside in favor of feelings, or intuition, or even faith. All of which are easily manipulated to lead them down the path toward making choices that are harmful to them personally or harmful to all of us as a nation.

These are people that Donald Trump, a rabid consumer of conspiracy theories, understands on a fundamental level. And in turn they also feel a connection to him.

This is why fact checking and in depth reporting has no impact on his support.

They BELIEVE they know him, and no facts to the contrary will shake their faith. 

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Rabbis warn that a university education is "dangerous" for young women.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have banned women from going to university, The Independent has learned. 

The strict Satmar sect issued the decree, seen by The Independent, warning that university education for women is “dangerous”. Written in Yiddish, the decree warns: “It has lately become the new trend that girls and married women are pursuing degrees in special education. Some attend classes and others online. And so we’d like to let their parents know that it is against the Torah. 

“We will be very strict about this. No girls attending our school are allowed to study and get a degree. It is dangerous. Girls who will not abide will be forced to leave our school. Also, we will not give any jobs or teaching position in the school to girls who’ve been to college or have a degree. 

"We have to keep our school safe and we can’t allow any secular influences in our holy environment. It is against the base upon which our Mosed was built.”

The day that becoming more educated threatens your belief system, that is the day that you need to change your belief system.

You know I spend a lot of time going after Christianity here on IM.

But the main reason that I single out that particular religion is because it is the one whose negative effects we feel the most strongly here in America, and that one that negatively impacts our politics and education.

Trust me when I say I have the same disdain for ALL religions which argue against both men and women learning more about the world and universe which surrounds us.

And that certainly includes Judaism Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, and even some forms of Buddhism. (Yes, I realize there are other religions, but I don't have all day to list them all.)

If I have any belief at all it is that as human beings it is our right and our responsibility to learn as much as we can and to help push forward the limits of human understanding.

If any religion interferes with that, then it is undermining who we are as sentient beings.

Kansas Christian school retains the right to expel a student if ANY of their family members are gay.

Courtesy of the Independent:

A Christian school in Kansas is at the centre of mounting controversy after it emerged that it reserved the right to expel students if any of their family members were gay or transgender. 

A so-called Statement of Understanding sent to parents who wish to send their children to the private school located in Wichita, requires them to agree that a student who attends can he asked to leave if their home life promotes anything “counter to the school’s understanding of a biblical lifestyle”. All pupils and parents are required to sign the document. 

“Given the debate and confusion in our society about marriage and human sexuality it is vital that Trinity families agree with and support the school’s traditional, Christian understanding of those issues,” says the document.

“Therefore, when the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home is counter to the school’s understanding of a biblical lifestyle, including the practice or promotion of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) lifestyle or alternative gender identity, the school should have the right, in its sole discretion, to deny the admission of an applicant or discontinue enrollment of a current student.”

Man you really have to hand it to religious fundamentalists, when it comes to deep dark nasty discrimination they have no equal.

Now see to a freethinker like myself the very idea that some school would reject me because they held a prejudice opinion of some member of my family would get their name scratched off my educational wish list so fast I would probably snap my number two pencil in half doing it.

But then again I did not spend my formative years being indoctrinated into a primitive superstitious cult that would make me ignorant enough to even consider attending a school like Trinity Academy.

State board of education in Alabama votes to keep Evolution disclaimer in biology books. You know, because religion.

Courtesy of WKRG:

Last week, state board of education voted to keep the disclaimer in textbooks. 

It has only been a year since Alabama was mandated to teach evolution at all; there had been a prior requirement that included theory and diversity, but the 2015 change solidified the requirement in the list of standards, which states classes must “analyze scientific evidence (e.g., DNA, fossil records, cladograms, biogeography) to support hypotheses of common ancestry and biological evolution.” 

Minimum state standards are are set but local school districts can make their own decisions.

Here is what the disclaimer says in full:

BIOLOGY TEXTBOOK INSERT A MESSAGE FROM THE ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 

The word “theory” has many meanings. Theories are defined as systematically organized knowledge, abstract reasoning, a speculative idea or plan, or a systematic statement of principles. Scientific theories are based on both observations of the natural world and assumptions about the natural world. They are always subject to change in view of new and confirmed observations. 

 Many scientific theories have been developed over time. The value of scientific work is not only the development of theories but also what is learned from the development process. The Alabama Course of Study: Science includes many theories and studies of scientists’ work. The work of Copernicus, Newton, and Einstein, to name a few, has provided a basis of our knowledge of the world today. 

The theory of evolution by natural selection is a controversial theory that is included in this textbook. It is controversial because it states that natural selection provides the basis for the modern scientific explanation for the diversity of living things. Since natural selection has been observed to play a role in influencing small changes in a population, it is assumed that it produces large changes, even though this has not been directly observed. Because of its importance and implications, students should understand the nature of evolutionary theories. They should learn to make distinctions between the multiple meanings of evolution, to distinguish between observations and assumptions used to draw conclusions, and to wrestle with the unanswered questions and unresolved problems still faced by evolutionary theory. 

 There are many unanswered questions about the origin of life. With the explosion of new scientific knowledge in biochemical and molecular biology and exciting new fossil discoveries, Alabama students may be among those who use their understanding and skills to contribute to knowledge and to answer many unanswered questions. Instructional material associated with controversy should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.

Gee if only they encouraged similar skepticism and critical thinking while reading the Bible, or attending church.

By the way there are many unanswered questions and controversies within virtually EVERY scientific discipline. The only reason that Evolution gets singled out all of the time is because it endangers people's ability to embrace the comforting mythologies of religion.

According to End Times talk radio host Justice Antonin Scalia was ritually murdered by President Obama to mark a pagan festival. Say what?

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:  

Yesterday on “Trunews,” End Times radio host Rick Wiles discussed “the possible occult connections” to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, whom he concluded was murdered by President Obama and was a human sacrifice to mark the pagan festival of Lupercalia. 

Wiles explained that the “Luciferian” “devil-worshipers” who control the government are out for blood, noting that Lupercalia is observed between February 13 and 15. Scalia’s body was discovered on the 13th. “There’s always human sacrifice involved,” he said, claiming that Scalia was “killed” to mark the beginning of pagan fascism ruling over the U.S. 

“The 13th was the 44th day of 2016, Obama is the 44th president of the United States,” Wiles said, “so you have this numerology thing taking place.” 

Wiles said that the assassins who killed the conservative justice “deliberately left the pillow on his face as a message to everybody else: ‘Don’t mess with us, we can murder a justice and get away with it.’ And I assure you, there’s a lot of frightened officials in Washington today, deep down they know, the regime murdered a justice…. This is the way a dictatorial, fascist, police state regime takes control of a nation.” 

Okay usually I would mock this as batshit crazy talk, but I seriously do not think that a bat could shit this much crazy.

I would like to seriously ask how somebody like this is not only NOT in a rubber room someplace, but is allowed on the radio to spread this kind of lunacy?

Producer suggests that rash of new TV shows featuring the devil, Antichrist or demonic possession is because people think we are entering the End Times.

Courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter:

So why is the devil suddenly so sexy again for the small screen? 

"The devil has always been very sexy," Mazzara told THR following his time in front of the press Wednesday at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. "There's something in the air that people feel like these are the end times, in some way. There's an anxiety about what's happening all around the world and some of these shows — like Lucifer may take a comic approach — we're taking a hopefully more thoughtful, thematic approach to that material. There has been a lot of post-apocalyptic shows out there now and we're the show that's about the question: "Can you stop it?"

Glen Mazzara is a producer on an A&E show called "Damien" that explores the life of the Antichrist.

Similarly themed programs are also coming from Fox and Cinemax.

Of course stories featuring the devil or Antichrist are nothing new. From Schwarzenegger's "End of Days," Keanu Reeves in "Constatine,"  to Al Pacino's scenery shredding performance in "The Devils' Advocate," these movies have been around essentially since movies have been around.

However these days there really MIGHT be more Americans who believe that the biblical prophesies are about to come true, especially for those one in four Americans who think that President Obama IS the Antichrist.

Yeah, I wonder who we have to blame for that?

All I can say is that I hope I live long enough to see the country move away from these crippling superstitious beliefs into an enlightened age where ghost stories, movies about demonic possession, and music inspired by Satanism are seen as purely entertainment and not some harbinger of terrifying things to come.

Saudi Arabia gives man death sentence for "doubting the existence of God."

Source

Courtesy of Middle East Eye:  

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for renouncing his religious faith, according to documents seen by Human Rights Watch. 

Ashraf Fayadh was handed the sentence on Tuesday on charges of “doubting the existence of God,” according to court documents seen by the group’s Saudi Arabia researcher, Adam Coogle. 

Fayadh, who was born to Palestinian parents but grew up in the Gulf kingdom, was arrested by religious police in late 2013 after a reader complained that one of his books, his 2008 poetry collection Inner Teachings, could encourage people to renounce Islam. 

Fayadh, now 50, was released after a day due to lack of evidence, but was rearrested in January 2014 in the southwestern city of Abha. 

The poet was arrested in a coffee shop after watching a game of football, and was threatened with being deported to Gaza, his father told France24 at the time. 

Fayadh was initially sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes, but an appeal judge this week increased the sentence, handing down the death penalty.

Remember this is a Muslim country with whom WE have a special relationship.

In fact our former President seemed to have a crush on their former leader King Abdullah.

And our current President did not seem to have any problem cozying up to his successor King Salman.

The country has money to burn, and they send their children to some of the best schools in the world, and yet they STILL consider it reasonable to murder a man for using his critical thinking skills.

If America were really a place that respected freedom above all else, it would immediately cut ties with his back water country and tell them not to give them a call until they managed to drag themselves into the 21st century.

Is now a good time to remind everybody that fifteen of the nineteen 9-11 hijackers were Saudi nationalists?

The return of the Graveyard of the Gods at the University of Wisconsin. A Halloween tradition.

Source

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

As they do every year, the Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison put together a fantastic “Graveyard of the Gods,” reminding students of all the deities who were worshiped, believed in, and eventually forgotten. 

The purpose is to get students thinking about when their God will join the ranks of the dead.

I hear there are still plots open for any new additions. 

And then there's this guy.

It is important to remember that amateurs built the Ark and it was the professionals that built the Titanic. @my_ccu pic.twitter.com/6Nqod4sicS

— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) October 29, 2015

Seriously?

For the record the Titanic was an actual ship built by actual people in the real world of the early 1900's, while the Ark is a fictional storytelling device used in a book of fairy tales written thousands of years ago. 

The idea that these stories would be used as examples in 2015 by a man seeking perhaps the important job on the planet should terrify all of us.

And even more terrifying is the fact that he has enough support to have stayed at the top of the polls for several months now.

Nancy French actually attempts to take on the great Richard Dawkins while wearing the facade of Bristol Palin. This would be laughable if it were not so sad.

"Brancy who?"

Anyhow so Richard Dawkins gave an interview to an Irish media outlet during which he said the following: 

“I’m interested in the cases where religion actually moves people to do horrible things … although they themselves might not be horrible people, they might be actually very righteous people,” Dawkins said. “They believe they’re doing right.” 

That’s when he launched into an example surrounding the September 11 attacks to illustrate his point. 

“I think the 9/11 hijackers all sincerely believed that they were doing the right and proper moral, religious thing,” he continued. “They were not in themselves evil. They were following their faith — and faith is pernicious because it can do that to people. It can do that to otherwise decent people.”

Richard Dawkins is a scientist with an analytical mind and the question of how religious faith can drive people to do both incredibly selfless and incredibly terrible things is of course fascinating.

So how could anybody take issue with his attempt to understand how religion both inspires and condemns people to act in certain ways?

Well if you are Nancy French that question is easily answered, you're an idiot who views the world through the eyes of a child.

Here was French getting her granny panties in a twist over Dawkins' remarks: 

Regardless of your religious beliefs or lack thereof, it’s absolutely ludicrous to say that men who chose to train for years with the sole aim to kill as many people as possible are somehow not evil. I would say their actions are the very definition of evil. 

It is an incredibly dangerous thing to downplay the motives of the hijackers or try to normalize them. They were not normal men. They were radicalized jihadists. And, yes, their actions were evil. If their actions are not evil, then one cannot even fathom something that would actually be evil. 

This is the problem with radical atheists like Richard Dawkins. Their agenda is to attack people of all faiths. And Dawkins has to fit even something as obviously evil as the terrorist attacks on 9/11 into his own radical agenda. 

So the radical atheist ends up defending the radical jihadists, because according to his crazy ideas, they aren’t evil – they were just brainwashed.

There's more but I think this gives you the gist of French's argument, which is "I see the world as simply a struggled between the magical forces of good and evil, and if somebody challenges my childish concept of evil it undermines my entire world view. So just stop it, stop it now!"

And this speaks to the real problem with seeing the world through a primitive superstitious prism.

The same fundamentalism which inspires a person to murder and destroy in the name of their god, even at the cost of their own life, is the same sort of fundamentalism that makes it impossible for a person to see the complexities of human emotion beyond the simple unsophisticated characterizations of "good" and "evil."

The truest statement in this ridiculous rant is the following:

"If their actions are not evil, then one cannot even fathom something that would actually be evil."

EXACTLY!

And the reason for that is because while there are terrible things occurring in the world everyday, simply labeling them as "evil" demonstrates a lazy intellect that does not want to get to the real questions as to why they actually happen.

One of the first things you learn while working in the mental health field is that simple labels are rarely appropriate, and that people's actions and behaviors are often driven by complex biological, developmental, and social issues that are not apparent at fist glance.

Richard Dawkins is a man who is fascinated with learning the truth. Ipso facto he became a scientist.

Nancy French is a person who is defined by a deep faith in a primitive superstition who views the world in stark shades of black and white. Therefore she is a hack writer, attacking her intellectual superiors, while hiding behind the facade of others, in return for money grifted from idiots who fail to recognize that they have been taken advantage of by a con artist.

There is no comparison between the two.

P.S. By the way if you think the above interview upset Brancy, just wait until she gets a load of this one:  

During the exchange, Dawkins was asked if he thought religious people were “mentally ill.” 

“It’s hard to use the word ‘mentally ill’ when there are so many of them,” the Briton responded. “If they believed what they did and they were the only one they would undoubtedly be called mentally ill.”
Oh yeah, that is going to drive her, and her fundie buddies, right over the freaking bend.