A Holiday Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I’m An Atheist

Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”

read the complete piece here

Brazos Valley Vuvuzela Atheist Marching Band - News Clip

Also, this is the 300th post on this blog. Huzzah!

Everybody talkin' 'bout heav'n that ain't goin' there
Everybody talkin' 'bout heav'n that ain't goin'
Everybody talkin' 'bout heav'n that ain't goin' there
Oh my Lord

Bah, Hanukkah

The holiday celebrates the triumph of tribal Jewish backwardness.


"...to celebrate Hanukkah is to celebrate not just the triumph of tribal Jewish backwardness but also the accidental birth of Judaism's bastard child in the shape of Christianity. You might think that masochism could do no more. Except that it always can. Without the precedents of Orthodox Judaism and Roman Christianity, on which it is based and from which it is borrowed, there would be no Islam, either. Every Jew who honors the Hanukkah holiday because it gives his child an excuse to mingle the dreidel with the Christmas tree and the sleigh (neither of these absurd symbols having the least thing to do with Palestine two millenniums past) is celebrating the making of a series of rods for his own back. And this is not just a disaster for the Jews. When the fanatics of Palestine won that victory, and when Judaism repudiated Athens for Jerusalem, the development of the whole of humanity was terribly retarded."

Yay Barcelona!

click for biggy

Like a pen is

If it looks like a duck...

church mice

Engineericle!

Blasphemy of the highest order

"Every now and then we get some angry emails here at theChive for one reason or another. Sometimes we post the email exchanges and tonight we had a real live wire on our hands. I'm sure the fact that we're posting this won't help matters but this guy has it comin'..."



Apparently

This photo is seething blasphemy of the highest order

I hope it's 'cos he's all angered up and typing quickly... surely he doesn't actually think that's a photo of Jesus. Everybody knows all the photos of Christ were destroyed in WW2.

check out the response LINK

the glory hole

Best anti-papal visit placard ever!

An Objective Comparison

Papal visit

You may have heard that the Pope is coming over to Merry Olde England, we're just getting ready...

Wii Pray

A family shouldn't have to wait for Sunday to go to church...

The Best Place for God to HIDE OUT!

I Appeal to those People who still have their Right Minds, even as Deceived as they might be by False Religions. Jesus said, "If you Love me, Keep my Commandments, and then I will Love you, and will Come to you, and be with you," which makes Good Sense to any Person who can Think and Remember. After all, would you be the Good Friend of someone who Hated the Truths that you Believe? Of course not! Likewise, we cannot Expect Jesus to Love us, if we do not Love his Commandments, and Love them Enough to OBEY them. Otherwise, our Faith is in Vain: beCause anyone can SAY that they Love God; but, the Person who Loves God Enough to OBEY him is Truly Loving him, even as an Obedient Child Demonstrates his Love for his Parents by Obeying them; whereas the Rebellious Child, who Refuses to Obey his Parents, is Obviously NOT in Love with them. Moreover, if an Employee does not Obey his or her Employer; but, does just the Opposite of what he or she is Asked to Do, is Obviously NOT in Love with his or her Employer or Boss. Therefore, we Employers can MEASURE the Amount of Love that someone has for us by how much they Love and Obey our Commandments, to put it in Biblical Terms. After all, a Hateful Employee, who Refuses to Do what we Ask of him, is NOT a True Friend by any Means, and is likely to get FIRED: beCause no Boss can Tolerate such a Rebellious Person. Therefore, if you Want to be Loved by some Boss, you MUST Obey him, even if you HATE him.

Irish upbringing

Who ARE You?

Scripture I Can Get, erm, BEHIND

I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum.

Gwad, spelt ack-bassward.

Show me one human being conceived, carried and delivered by apes.

Eloquent, rational Creationist talk.

Atheism is a clown and it did not know it

The Christian YouTube video producer shockofgod declared:

“I received another email about someone becoming a Christian and leaving atheism... Now as you guys know, the atheist community on YouTube and also on radio and TV...They are in panic mode. It is obvious. Everyone on YouTube can see that this question that we are asking atheists that they cannot answer is really panicking the atheist community....Here is the question and then we will get to these awesome emails of atheists leaving atheism because the atheists cannot provide proof and evidence that atheism is accurate and correct...The question is: What proof and evidence can you provide that PROVES that atheism is accurate and correct?...You see I left atheism because the lack of proof and evidence that it is accurate and correct. The proof and evidence is for Jesus Christ.”

Unlike Christianity, which is supported by a large body of sound evidence (see: Christian apologetics), atheism has no proof and evidence supporting its ideology.

Sounds like a plan!

That which unites (most of) us all

tap tap tap

Is this thing on?

Anne Rice Re-Deconverts

Anne Rice, best-selling author of Interview With A Vampire and many other novels, announced she was quitting Christianity on Facebook:

For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten ...years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense

click for biggness

Always with You

By now we all know that Jesus is constantly involved in the minutia of our lives*, whether we are french-kissing a child,



or even trying to uncover the location of the gold we hid before escaping the Allied invasion of the Fatherland.




But guess what? According to the latest issue of Playboy in Portugal, we now know that He is even there for us as we display our proud, firm breasts to passing motorists in some broken-down Medieval Mediterranean hellhole.





*We know no such thing.

well I'm all outta ideas

click for biggerness - it's a real treat...




http://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/16622429904

If your solution to massive industrial accidents is prayer, and furthermore you believe "man's efforts" are "futile" I cordially suggest that you don't get to have an opinion. Shush now, the grown ups are talking.

Wait a minute... wasn't she pushing the whole 'drill drill drill!' policy in Alaska? What were their plans in the event of some terrible accident, asking a passing thunderstorm to help out? Relying on Zeus coming back to his people in the form of a giant Red Adair?

Baby Dies After Mother Chokes Her With Bible Pages

While it would be a mistake to ascribe the tragedy to religion rather than mental illness, it's interesting that authorities are applying special scrutiny to the intersection of mental illness and religious fervor: in combination, these things can indeed be a red flag.

According to the Daily Telegraph, when social workers initially met with David Lovemore for assessment in 2009, "when he was asked what he would do if Faith or her sister got into difficulty he said he would pray first. He never said yes or no to calling a doctor." Additionally, Julia's aunt told authorities that her niece's "religious fervor" had distanced her from her family, whom she denounced as "heathens." In combination, these things cannot be dismissed as "the practice of religious beliefs" - at least not where children's welfare is concerned.

Wrath of God FTW!

Touchdown Jesus, Touch-Me Jesus, whatevs: game over.

Oilpocalypse Now

A growing conversation among Christian fundamentalists asks the question that may have been inevitable: is the oil spill in the gulf a sign of the coming apocalypse?

About 60 million white evangelicals live in America, and about one third of them believe that the world will end in their lifetime, according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Broadly speaking, these Christians subscribe to a theology called "premillennial dispensationalism." In this world view, they are warriors on the side of God: a cosmic battle—culminating in apocalypse, judgment, and, finally, the reign of Jesus in “a new heaven and a new earth”—will come soon. The most determined of these believers mine the Book of Revelation for signs that the end is near. A text of terrifying and mysterious prophesy, Revelation forecasts the apocalypse in coded language; Christians have spent lifetimes trying to break that code by correlating its verses to current events. (A New York minister named William Miller used Revelation and other sources to predict that the world would end on Oct. 22, 1844. He had previously predicted—wrongly, obviously—that the date would be March 21, 1843. The Millerites, once a powerful and fast-growing sect, quickly became extinct.)

RSA Animate - Smile or Die

check out their other videos... lovely stuff

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti

I've always been intrigued by the fact that given a universe of possibilities and a mind that is spinning rapidly in the roiling waters of psychosis... why do so many mentally ill people share very similar delusions?

Perhaps it's reflection of that old saw that there are only seven types of joke or something along those lines - there are only a few 'core' delusions, I dunno I'm not a psychiatrist. It kinda disappoints me that if you're gonna go through the terrible experience of suffering from a mental illness, mind careening from one free association to the next in an unfettered pinball game, what a shame that your visions and revelations are just so... hack.

A popular delusion is that the patient believes they're Jesus. In the late fifties psychologist Milton Rokeach had a plan. One assumes that in the good old days you didn't need to bother with such distractions as ethics. He got three patients, each with the delusion that they were Jesus Christ, to live together for two years in Ypsilanti State Hospital to see what happened.

The early meetings were stormy. "You oughta worship me, I'll tell you that!" one of the Christs yelled. "I will not worship you! You're a creature! You better live your own life and wake up to the facts!" another snapped back. "No two men are Jesus Christs. … I am the Good Lord!" the third interjected, barely concealing his anger.

How Do Christians Become Conservative?

Judeo-Christian scripture is a rich and complicated work of literature. Written over the course of (at least) several hundred years by dozens of different authors, there are a variety of perspectives and many times outright contradictions in the theology and the politics of the writing (if it's all inspired word for word by God, He seems to have changed his mind a lot). But one thing is extremely certain: the poor seem to be who God is most concerned about. Yes, there are a few quotations (four, if I remember right) trashing gay people, along with quite a few more about the right way to do animal sacrifice and to be careful about eating shellfish and hanging out with women who are menstruating. But mercy, kindness, and concern for the poor and the weak and the outcast seems to matter a lot more, with literally several hundred verses referencing those agenda items. If you are a progressive, that is a pretty good ratio.

500+ Atheism vs. Theism Debates

For those who enjoy atheism vs. theism debates, here's the most complete list you'll find on the web (528 of them and counting).

Lord Jesus Christ suffers minor injuries in downtown Northampton crosswalk mishap

NORTHAMPTON - A 20-year-old Pittsfield driver was cited by police Tuesday after she ran down Lord Jesus Christ in a marked crosswalk at Main Street and Strong Avenue, police said.

Brittany E. Cantarella was cited for a crosswalk violation, said Northampton police Capt. Scott Savino.

Christ, 50, of Belchertown, was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital for treatment of minor injuries following the 3:30 p.m. accident. He was treated at the hospital and then released.

Cantarella was making a left turn from Strong Avenue onto Main Street when her car, a 2005 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, struck Christ.

Christ was in a marked crosswalk at the time of the accident, Savino said.

Savino said officers checked Christ’s identification at the scene and confirmed it was his legal name.

Christoga

contains swears

I'm-a let you graduate in a minute...

WTF, JC?

...In Heaven

When you put it like that

it makes perfect sense. Oh no wait... nope its insane.


www.passiveaggressivenotes.com

Jesus Christ in the Name of the Gun

The artwork reminds me of a young Jamie Hewlett at times.
Check it out

I hope those are abs

Via Jesus of the Week

Short and sweet

In Which Two Jerks Needle Each-Other To Little Effect

From: David Thorne
Date: Wednesday 10 March 2010 7.12pm
To: Darryl Robinson
Subject: Permission Slip

Dear Darryl,
I have received your permission slip featuring what I can only assume is a levitating rabbit about to drop an egg on Jesus.
Thank you for pre-ticking the permission box as this has saved me not only from having to make a choice, but also from having to make my own forty five degree downward stroke followed by a twenty percent longer forty five degree upward stroke. Without your guidance, I may have drawn a picture of a cactus wearing a hat by mistake.
As I trust my offspring's ability to separate fact from fantasy, I am happy for him to participate in your indoctrination process on the proviso that all references to 'Jesus' are replaced with the term 'Purportedly Magic Jew.'
Regards, David.



And then "hilarity" ensues.

Not so plastic Bertrand

Stumbled upon (in the way that one does these days - this is the internet) a quote by Bertrand Russell. His is a name I'm ashamed to say that is familiar to me but I have no real idea about who he was, just a general impression that he was a philosopher.

I found some other quotes of his and was bowled over, he was clearly a very impressive thinker indeed and a cursory glance at wikipedia shows him to be a very impressive person too.

I'd be proud of a single one of those quotes if it had been an original thought of mine but what endears me the most is the number of them where he expresses doubt. What if I'm wrong? Perhaps I misunderstand... I must accomodate my own fallibility... in this regard I'm overjoyed to hear of a serious thinker that allows for such possibility.

One of the things that depresses me about the contemporary comment culture is the requirement to take a side. Hard. Are you a Climate Change Denier? Pro Choice? You want the terrorists to win? We're being served up life as binary and falling for the idea that we need to take a side and start firing salvoes. This is not a debate this is a way to calcify and entrench thought.

On pretty much any subject I'm a roiling mixture of half-formed ideas and supposition and the sooner I can admit it the better - lets face it I know jack shit and what's more the absolute conviction of the true believer is abhorrent whatever the fuck they believe in.

Bertrand Russell doesn't have a seminal novel or a greatest hits CD so if anybody can recommend me a good way to get to know more about his work please let me know.

When Christianity Is UnAmerican

There is a growing chasm between the values of America’s founders and the values of the theocratic Christian right, who claim that their version of authoritarianism is a more authentic interpretation of American values than the Enlightenment values so cherished by our nation’s forebears. But their values are irreconcilable with those of America’s past. Hence they are not giving a more authentic interpretation of American values but replacing those values with an entirely different doctrine, while attempting to transfer the prestige of the label American to their own antithetical doctrines. This prestige is not theirs to own, however, as it comes from the very principles they reject. As with all of the debates they have undertaken to win their culture war the Christian right’s pundits control the cultural conversation by controlling the discourse -- shifting the meanings of words to reflect an agenda alien to the referents that once gave those words their meaning. The best way to stop this abuse of language is to refuse to accept their terms, and to demand that they define them before deploying them in new contexts with new referents.

Holy crap

Cherie Booth faces an official complaint after allowing a criminal to escape prison because of his religious beliefs.

The wife of former prime minister Tony Blair was sitting as a judge at Inner London crown court when Shamso Miah, a 25-year-old man from Redbridge, came up before her.

He had broken a man's jaw after getting involved in a fight over queue-jumping in a high street bank. Ms Booth told Miah his prison sentence would be suspended because he was a religious person and had no previous convictions.

More: http://www.politics.co.uk/news/legal-and-constitutional/cherie-blair-faces-discrimination-claim-$1357733.htm

The British Humanist Association's chief executive Andrew Copson commented: "Cherie Booth's remarks show a default assumption still made by too many in society that you are a good person if you are religious – that there is something intrinsically and self-evidently good about being religious and, conversely, that if you are non-religious you are somehow less moral."

"This is an assumption that persists despite there being no evidence whatsoever to support it."

Jesus Fan Emulates Christ

Johnson claimed that other people had told him that the instructor is "a true sinner, fornicator, (adulterer), he defiles married women and is a peeking Tom."

Johnson said he was going to scare the instructor "and tell him to leave the women alone." To do that, he said, he would go to a lesson and "take the electric thing and go zap and scare him."

He bought the stun gun on the Internet, he said, and brought the sledgehammer to the lesson with him inside his pants.

The instructor told police that Johnson phoned for private dance lesson, and when he opened the door to his home, Johnson began to shock him repeatedly in the neck with the stun gun.

RFID 666

Actually, I might just go with the Bible on this one.

There's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times...Some people think these computer chips might be that mark.

Have Faith in Love

My own faith has eroded over the years, though my father’s belief in the supremacy of love still guides me. And so I can’t help but wonder, how can Christians not recognize and honor love that binds two people, any two people, together unto themselves? And if a priest has fulfilled her sacred duties with the distinction that persuades those to whom she would minister to elect her their bishop, and has led an open life of committed love that honors the essence of their God, why should her choice of a partner matter?

full OpEd piece here

Pickle Christ Shock-Clamp Harness Play

Grandpa John tortures brined cuke for Jesus. Worth watching the whole four minutes, really.

Fresh Prince vs. Televangalism

Same meme as below.

Ginger God

Concerns over Bible References on Gunsights

The Pentagon is moving to address concerns raised about hundreds of thousands of gunsights it has purchased, which officials found out this week have biblical references engraved on them.

A photograph of one gunsight engraving published by London's Guardian newspaper is, JN8:12, which stands for the Book of John, chapter eight, verse 12. The verse quotes Jesus as saying he provides the light of life to his followers. Britain has also purchased several hundred of the gunsights.

U.S. officials say no one in the military leadership noticed the references, which are on plates that also contain serial numbers and other information.

Christian Group to Save Haitians With Solar-Powered Bibles

They claim that "the Proclaimer is self-powered and can play the Bible in the jungle, desert or... even on the moon!"

Gingers Do Have Souls!!

superficial and fanatical

Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him:

“Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East.... The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled.... This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

a good estimate with well-defined error