GQ Magazine lists the Bible among the "21 Books You Don't Have to Read."

Courtesy of GQ: 

The Holy Bible is rated very highly by all the people who supposedly live by it but who in actuality have not read it. Those who have read it know there are some good parts, but overall it is certainly not the finest thing that man has ever produced. It is repetitive, self-contradictory, sententious, foolish, and even at times ill-intentioned. 

Indeed. I agree wholeheartedly.

As you can imagine that has some Christian leaders all worked up.

Including, of course, Franklin Graham.

Okay somebody needs to tell these idiots that just because somebody BUYS the Bible that does not mean they have READ the Bible.

It is actually rare for anybody to sit down and read the entire book from cover to cover.

I actually HAVE read the Bible, which separates me from the vast majority of people who self identify as Christians.

I was in my teens when I read it the first time, and found it laborious and poorly written.

I quite literally could not imagine how such a piss poor book could have inspired an entire religion.

I attempted to read it again in my twenties, but then one day suddenly stopped with the realization that doing so was a complete waste of my time.

And I stand by that assessment.

Trump brand Christianity.

I swear if these guidelines get any looser I might have to consider going back to church wearing my Black Sabbath t-shit and my Satanic Birkenstocks.

Just kidding, I'm never going back and they can't make me.

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.

Washington has now banned conversion therapy.

Courtesy of the Seattle Times:  

A measure banning licensed therapists from trying to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity was signed into law Wednesday by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. 

Inslee signed the bill joined by lawmakers and other LGTB supporters, including Democratic Sen. Marko Liias, the bill’s sponsor, and Chad Griffin, the president of the D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign.

Inslee called conversion therapy abuse, and said that “we are today prohibiting the abuse of our children.” 

“We have always believed in civil rights in our state,” he said. “We believe in tolerance for all.” 

The new law, which takes effect in June, will deem it “unprofessional conduct” for a licensed health-care provider to perform conversion therapy on a patient under the age of 18. Under the measure, if the provider violates the law, he or she faces sanctions ranging from fines to license revocation or suspension. The measure does not apply to nonlicensed counselors operating as part of a religious organization, religious denomination or church.

While this is very good news I have to admit that I kind of assumed that Washington state, which I consider relatively progressive had banned this practice years ago. 

That led me to check to see just how many states or jurisdictions do indeed have these conversion bans in place.

That is a little disheartening.

This is the 21st Century. We know better. Or at least we should know better.

Study finds that belief in religious fundamentalism partly due to a brain impairment. Tell me something I didn't know.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has shown that religious fundamentalism is, in part, the result of a functional impairment in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and openness—a psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness. 

Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge. On the other hand, religious beliefs are not usually updated in response to new evidence or scientific explanations, and are therefore strongly associated with conservatism. They are fixed and rigid, which helps promote predictability and coherence to the rules of society among individuals within the group. 

Religious fundamentalism refers to an ideology that emphasizes traditional religious texts and rituals and discourages progressive thinking about religion and social issues. Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.

Once again this is one of the those things which seems so blatantly obvious, and which we are supposed to be too polite to say out loud.

If you literally believed in leprechauns, unicorns, or zombies people would legitimately be concerned about your mental health, but if you wrap it in a religious shroud then suddenly your insistence that magical beings are all around us looking out for our well being is taken as a testament to your deep faith.

Remember how Joy Behar was forced to publicly apologize for suggesting that Mike Pence was mentally ill for saying that Jesus Christ talked to him?

Joy Behar of `The View’ apologizes for comments she made about Vice President Mike Pence and Christianityhttps://t.co/KF1sNAcoYJ

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) March 13, 2018

Well obviously she was right.

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.

Anti-LGBTQ preacher suggests that USA Gymnastics doctor's sexual abuse of his patients was due to the immodesty of the sport.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch: 

On his radio program today, extremist anti-LGBTQ pastor Kevin Swanson attributed USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of more than 150 women and girls he treated, in part, to the fact that gymnastics encourages “a fair amount of immodesty.” 

Citing a variety of supposed dangers, such as the use of open showers, Swanson warned Christian parents against allowing their children to participate in sports because “sports tend to focus on the body.” 

“There is an infatuation with the body,” he said, “and, of course, the sexual aspects of the body as well. Some sports encourage immodesty, revealing large portions of the body and this happens in some sports. These are the risky sports. Here they are, what are the risky sports? Gymnastics. Gymnastics and swimming. These are the sports in which there is an added risk.” 

“Why are all of the gymnasts [at] more of a risk than other sports?” Swanson asked. “Do you really want your daughters involved in a sport that involves a fair amount of immodesty in which red-blooded American male coaches are interacting with these girls? Or, worse yet, where the infatuation of the body eventually effects the lesbian coaches?”

Swanson went on to suggest that Nassar was brought to justice because, “God is not going to put up with 20 years of this.”

So what, five, ten, or fifteen years is perfectly acceptable, but not 20?

Is that where "God" draws the line? 

First off the uniforms typically worn by female gymnasts are in no way the most revealing in the Olympics.

Some of the shorts worn by the female track and field competitors are barely even there, and don't get me started about the beach volleyball competitors.

But once again, so what?

The sports these athletes participate in require freedom of movement, and clothing that does not bind or interfere in their sport.

If a man finds that erotic in any way, that is entirely beside the point.

And it in NO WAY excuses a person from sexually assaulting or victimizing ANYONE.

I was a gymnastic coach for over four years, and ran a program that included young college age women working with children ages five to twelve.

I was literally surrounded by some of the most fit and attractive young women in the state. 

And yet every one of my interactions with them was purely professional. And I was very careful to keep in that way.

I was well aware that I was in a position of authority, and conducted myself appropriately at all times.

Because THAT is what you do.

I also once worked, very briefly, as the bouncer at a strip club.

And even in that setting I did not objectify my coworkers or do anything to make them feel uneasy in my presence.

Because once again, THAT is what you do. 

Besides this man was a doctor, so of course he saw these young women without any clothing at all, which renders this entire defense ridiculous.

Not to mention that some of Nassar's victims were children, so how does the "immodesty" of gymnastics excuse that?

No, being a man, unable to control his base impulses, cannot be excused by any claims of "immodesty" or blamed on the victims in any way.

Dr. Nassar is solely responsible for his actions, and he got what he deserved for them.

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.

Televangelist is all smiles as he takes ownership of a brand new 3 million dollar private plane.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:  

Controversial televangelist Kenneth Copeland was all smiles on the tarmac near his Fort Worth, Texas mega church as he took delivery of his new $3million Gulfstream V private jet. 

'This is a big deal, this is a big plane' he says in a video posted on his ministry's website, before grinning into the lens and asking viewers, 'do you see this? do you see this? I hope so, you bought it. You and Jesus.' 

Copeland, who is the head of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries and has his own TV show, bought the jet off Tyler Perry.

Kenneth Copeland isn't the first mega minister to ask his flock to pay for a private plane. 

In 2015, Reverend Creflo Dollar raised funds to buy a $70million G650. At first his request for $300 donation from each follower was met with outrage. Later the church decided that the plane was necessary for Creflo's ministry work. 

And in 2016, Copeland and fellow televangelist Jesse Duplantis defended their use of private planes on Copeland's TV show 'Believer's Voice of Victory'. 

On that show Copeland called flying commercial getting in 'a long tube with a bunch of demons'. 

"Hey, are you looking at this? Do you see this?  I hope so, you bought it. Ha ha ha."

Any rational person would see this asshole giddily making those remarks and think he was mocking his supporters for allowing him to waste their hard earned money on a private plane, but the people who send him money will just keep right on sending him money.

I sometimes get a little blowback for suggesting that faith in religion is what helps people like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump gain influence and power, but right here you have exhibit A.

Here is a guy, at least as full of shit as Donald Trump, and he has convinced low information TV viewers that he talks directly to God, and that God wants him to live a life of luxury on their dime.

You can safely bet any amount money that the people who bought him this plane, also pulled the lever for Donald Trump in 2016, and will eagerly vote for him again in 2020.

The Pope calls the spreading of "fake news" a "very serious sin." Seriously?

Courtesy of the AP:

Pope Francis is criticizing journalists who dredge up old scandals and sensationalize the news, saying it’s a “very serious sin” that hurts all involved. 

Francis, who plans to dedicate his upcoming annual communications message to “fake news,” told Catholic media on Saturday that journalists perform a mission that is among the most “fundamental” to democratic societies. 

But he reminded them to provide precise, complete and correct information and not to provide one-sided reports. 

The pope said: “You shouldn’t fall into the ‘sins of communication:’ disinformation, or giving just one side, calumny that is sensationalized, or defamation, looking for things that are old news and have been dealt with and bringing them to light today.” 

He called those actions a “grave sin that hurts the heart of the journalist and hurts others.” 

Look I totally agree with the Popester here that the spreading of fake news is a bad idea.

However does he really want to talk about "disinformation, or giving just one side, calumny that is sensationalized?"

Because I am pretty sure that his entire religion depends on much of that.

For the record there is very little in the Bible that is backed up by actual facts or secular historical documentation.

The entire religion depends on the continued spreading of disinformation and calumny ( the making of false and defamatory statements in order to damage someone's reputation; slander.) Just ask those who have been tortured and killed for heresy or accused of witchcraft.

Yes fake news is bad.

So how much longer will the Pope and his fellow Christians continue to spread it?

Outspoken Brits don't want Franklin Graham and other American hate mongering Evangelical ministers anywhere near them.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Several British pastors and politicians are voicing concerns about a controversial American evangelist’s plans to preach in the U.K. next year. 

Franklin Graham, a prominent evangelical pastor who has made blatantly homophobic and Islamophobic statements in the past, is scheduled to headline the Lancashire Festival of Hope in Blackpool in September 2018. Graham’s three-day event — similar to the “crusades” once led by his famous father, Billy Graham — is reportedly taking place with the blessing of more than 300 church leaders and members in England. 

But not all residents of the area are enthused about Graham coming to town. Some have urged the U.K.’s home secretary Amber Rudd to ban the preacher from entering the country altogether, the Guardian reports. 

Nina Parker, the pastor of a church in Blackpool, told HuffPost in an email that she’s worried that Graham’s visit could embolden those who are prejudiced toward Muslims and queer people to express that hate. 

“It will give oxygen to those who hate as they will be aware of hatred being expressed by a man of high status in the Church,” Parker wrote to HuffPost. “It will portray a Trump style, hard line, hate filled version of Christianity devoid of understanding of and acceptance of ordinary people. It will destroy the reputation of Christianity in this region as it will be assumed that this man speaks for all. It will bring Christians into disrepute.”

Parker has more than 60,000 signatures on a petition to block Graham and his merry band of trouble makers from poisoning the UK with their hate speech. 

Personally I wish we could start a petition here in America to kick Franklin Graham and his toxic crew of evangelicals the hell out of this country.

But it wouldn't help.

Even if they left they would be quickly replaced by more just like them, some perhaps even worse.

You know it seems these days that all America exports anymore is stupidity, racism, and intolerance.

I guess that's what MAGA really means.

Atheists have adopted Donald Trump's favorite catch phrase, but I do not think he will appreciate how they put it to use.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Nick Fish, a spokesman for American Atheists, claimed the signs aren’t meant to offend, but to spark a dialogue by adding a topical tag line.

“It’s a way of starting a conversation not just with this organization but within a community,” Fish told NBC News on Wednesday. “The choice is often between being provocative or not being heard at all. If we can start that initial conversation, then we’re doing our jobs to get the ball rolling and get our foot in the door.” 

Since the signs were put up on Nov. 30, many atheists in the affected areas have come forward in support of them, Fish said. These atheists claimed that the billboards made them feel as though they weren’t alone in their community. 

American Atheists, which has gone after Christian groups as well as other organized religions since they formed in 1963, specifically targeted areas that they felt were particularly religiously homogeneous. 

“It’s about targeting areas where religious identity is assumed. Albuquerque is not necessarily a conservative place,” Fish said, “but there is a lot of religious expectation there and we want to challenge that.”

There is of course very little in the Bible that is supported by the facts, so defining it as "fake news" seems perfectly reasonable.

Of course if reason was something that the majority of Christians were to embrace there would be a whole lot fewer Christians.

Red states preach family values, but blue states are better at putting that into practice.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

According to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 32 states, those with the highest percentage of high school students who say they have had sex are Mississippi, Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama and Arkansas. All but Delaware voted Republican in the last presidential election. 

Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest proportion of high school students who have had sex were New York, California, Maryland, Nebraska and Connecticut. All but Nebraska voted Democratic. 

When evangelical kids have sex, they’re less likely to use birth control — and that may be a reason (along with lower abortion rates) that red states have high teen birthrates.

Nine of the 10 states with the highest teen birthrates voted Republican in 2016. And nine of the 10 states with the lowest teen birthrates voted Democratic. 

“Red regions of the country have higher teen pregnancy rates, more shotgun marriages and lower average ages at marriage and first birth,” Naomi Cahn and June Carbone wrote in their important 2010 book, “Red Families v. Blue Families.” 

The liberal impulse may be to gloat: Those conservatives thunder about “family values” but don’t practice them. But there’s also perhaps a measure of hypocrisy in the blue states. As Cahn and Carbone put it: “Blue family values bristle at restrictions on sexuality, insistence on marriage or the stigmatization of single parents. Their secret, however, is that they encourage their children to simultaneously combine public tolerance with private discipline, and their children then overwhelmingly choose to raise their own children within two-parent families.

”Liberals, in other words, may be wary of strict moral codes, but they want to make damn sure that their own kids don’t have babies while in high school. It helps that they believe in comprehensive sex education and reliable birth control.

If this surprises anybody then you simply have not been paying attention. 

These same conclusions have been reached by a variety of studies over the years.

Preaching at kids that sex is wrong and that they should never partake of the forbidden fruit, did not work in the Garden of Eden and it does not work in modern times.

And demonstrating the family values of love, respect for others, and personal responsibility, is far more effective than calling somebody a sinner for engaging in normal human interactions.

Progressive states are just better, that is why I am working to turn mine into one.

The Jehovah Witnesses would rather pay a fine of $4,000 a day rather than turn over documents about sexual abuse within the church.

Courtesy of The Week:

The Jehovah's Witnesses have refused to turn over secret documents regarding alleged child sex abuse. And it's getting very, very costly. 

A new report from Reveal details how the religion has been mandated to pay $4,000 for every day it doesn't release the documents. So far, the tab has reached $2 million. 

It all stems from a court case in which a former Jehovah's Witness and sexual abuse victim sued the religion for not warning congregants they were practicing alongside a confessed child sexual abuser. The accused, Gonzalo Campos, has admitted to abusing children. But the religion's headquarters knew of his conviction and didn't tell the congregation, court documents show. 

Reveal has obtained internal Jehovah's Witness documents that suggest this case is part of a much larger cover-up. One of the documents, for example, claims religious elders have been told to keep child abuse allegations a secret since at least 1989.

Okay if you are willing to pay over 2 million dollars in fines rather than reveal documents about sexual abuse that clearly means that there is rampant sexual abuse in this church. 

I have long heard that there is an epidemic of sexual abuse within the Jehovah's Witnesses and this certainly lends credibility to those claims.

New book reveals Vatican intrigue, Mother Teresa's vast wealth, and rampant pedophilia.

The book is called "Original Sin" by author Gianluigi Nuzzi, and it paints a rather disgusting picture of the Holy See as a den of iniquity, depravity, and base immorality.

Here are some excerpts courtesy of the Daily Beast:

The book is filled with salacious scoops, backed up by copies of documents printed in an exhaustive index. He shines a light on the disappearance of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee who went missing 30 years ago after a music lesson and whose body has never been found. Conspiracy theorists waffle between theories that she was kept as a sex slave for priests for years or that she was murdered by a local Roman gang of criminals as a threat to her father, who may have witnessed a crime. 

Nuzzi provides interview transcripts, sealed court documents and secret video from when police opened a mobster’s tomb in Rome to search for her body to support the theory that she was murdered by an “international group” that Pope Francis has been made aware of. He asks if justice has or will ever be served in the case.

On Mother Teresa:   

Nuzzi also sullies the legend of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, made a saint by Francis in 2016. He has uncovered accounting slips from secret bank accounts, in dollars and Italian lire, that the austere nun kept in her charity’s name in the troubled Vatican bank during the time when American archbishop Paul Marcinkus led the institution. 

Nuzzi said her accounts were so flush that if she had withdrawn the money or transferred to a more legitimate institution, the bank “risked default.” The nun, whose net worth is thought to be in the billions in the name of her charity, was such a valued client that she was ushered in through a secret door so no one suspected she was the bank’s wealthiest patron at a time when most women were prohibited from having accounts in their own names.

On the almost institutionalized pedophilia:   

But the most troubling revelation in the book is one that Nuzzi himself admits he only scratched the surface of. He provides horrific proof of widespread sexual abuse inside San Pio X, the pre-seminary boarding school where middle school and high school age boys who express interest in joining the priesthood are still sent today. 

The boys of the institute, housed in the same majestic building where former Vatican secretary of State has a controversial penthouse apartment which was recently renovated with funds from the Vatican’s children’s hospital, officially serve as altar boys at Vatican masses and choir boys for St. Peter’s basilica. But the author also alleges they are actually nothing short of play things for the Vatican priests who like sex with young boys. 

Nuzzi interviewed a former seminarian thought to be a victim and published disturbing phone transcripts in which priests discuss playing with the boys, how ejaculate was referred to as “milk” and that oral sex was described as “a game” that should only be played once every two days. 

He also amplifies the accusations of a Polish man named Kamil Tadeusz Jarzembowski, who was a student at the pre-seminary when he was 13 years old and who has sent a number of complaints about what he saw to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which acts as gatekeeper for such accusations to determine their legitimacy. Despite saying he witnessed at least 140 sexual acts by an older priest who was “favored by various monsignors in the Church” on his underage roommate, he was eventually expelled from the seminary.

By all rights this book should launch an investigation that would essentially destroy the Catholic religion, and see the Vatican disassembled brick by brick.

But of course that will not happen, and the church has actually survived two previous books by Nuzzi which also contained astonishing revelations.

It is certainly no secret that I do not have much use for ANY religion, but Catholicism in particular seems to be incredibly toxic.

In my opinion no parent worth a damn would ever consider sending their child to be an alter boy in the Vatican, or ANY Catholic church for that matter.

The Satanic Temple masterfully trolls Christians in Texas.

Courtesy of Dead State:   

The Satanic Temple is known for their masterful trolling of Christians. This time they’re going after “sadists” in Three Rivers, Texas. Why? Because last summer, the city’s public school district voted to allow paddling as a form of punishment for children. 

Now Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves says that school administrators who think hitting kids is okay need to be replaced, and that sentiment was reflected in a billboard put up by the Temple in Three Rivers. 

The billboard reads: “Our Religion Doesn’t Believe in Hitting Children.” 

“Hopefully, our billboard will give pause to passersby who will be forced to confront the fact that the school district is being operated by depraved and ignorant sadists who have no business being in education,” Greaves said, according to Patheos. “The billboard should be a wakeup call that the school district trustees, who voted 6 – 0 for corporal punishment, need to be replaced by competent and humane members of the community who have children’s best interests at heart.”

One of the Satanic Temple's tenets is that no one is allowed to cause bodily harm to another, which would already make them morally superior to fundamentalist Christians. 

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.

The Pope wants to take on fake news. And there goes the irony meter again.

I have chosen this theme for World Communications Day 2018: “The truth will set you free” (Jn 8:32). Fake news and journalism for peace.

— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) September 29, 2017

Courtesy of Time Magazine:  

In a statement on the theme, the Vatican said it "relates to so-called 'fake news', namely baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarisation of opinions. It involves an often misleading distortion of facts, with possible repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour." 

The 52nd World Day of Social Communications will be on May 13, 2018, and Pope Francis's message will be published on Jan. 24, 2018.

"The Church too wishes to offer a contribution," to the discussion of fake news, the Vatican wrote, "proposing a reflection on the causes, the logic and the consequences of disinformation in the media, and helping to promote professional journalism, which always seeks the truth, and therefore a journalism of peace that promotes understanding between people."

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what the Pope is trying to do, but how can he be taken seriously on this topic?

When it comes to fake news there are probably very few books that can really compete with this one.

People are STILL constantly turned against actual facts, and new scientific discovers, based solely on the mythology contained in these pages.

So yes your holiness, fake news is indeed bad.

But that pertains to ALL fake news.

Roy Moore wins the Alabama in runoff election. Donald Trump deletes tweets promoting his opponent.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Roy Moore, a former State Supreme Court chief justice, defeated Senator Luther Strange on Tuesday in the Republican runoff to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. Mr. Moore will face the Democratic nominee, Doug Jones, a former United States attorney, in the general election on Dec. 12.

Odds are that Moore is going to easily defeat Jones, since this is super red state Alabama we are talking about. 

By the way in case you missed it Moore's acceptance speech was like listening to an old time tent revival, where he talked about God, and country, and God, and the Senate, and God, and then just to break the monotony, talked about God some more.

This guy is going to make Jeff Sessions look like some liberal, Richard Dawkins quoting, atheist.

The Senate is about to get an injection of that old time religion, whether they are ready for it or not.

For his part Donald Trump seemed embarrassed that he was supporting the relatively sane candidate.

So he performed a little revisionist Twistory.

(Image of deleted tweets courtesy of Mediaite.)

Oh Donald, if it were this easy to change history don't you think we would have gone back and changed the outcome of that last election by now? Silly rabbit.