Atheist Converted to Islam Through Logic

Laughing my fucking ass off!

Some folks have a very different definition of "logic" from what I've read in my dictionary.

Added to the Atheist Blogroll

This blog, Confessions of an Atheist in Hiding, has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts for more information.

Hahahahahahaha!

This speaks for itself. Enjoy!

ps: As hilarious as this may be, this type of bigotry is potentially deadly. That should not stop us from laughing at the guy who thinks we have to prove god does not exist but he does not have to prove god does. In fact, he goes so far as to say you cannot prove god's existence until after you believe in "him" (I'm going to call it "it" from now on because that just makes more sense to me). Well ain't that a bitch?

Getting Suckered

People keep letting themselves get suckered by con artists and snake oil salesmen:

The FBI and police were left red-faced today after launching a massive hunt for 30 dead children following a tip from a 'mentally unstable' psychic.

Texas Rangers and the FBI joined 15 car loads of local police officers, sniffer dogs and a helicopter last night to scour the area in Liberty County after blood and a 'foul odour' were found at a house the 'psychic' claimed contained the dismembered remains of dozens of children.

You mean to tell me the psychic doesn't actually have psychic abilities? No way! I would respond, but this guy does it perfectly for me:

Morality

We often hear religious folks make the argument that without religion society would have no basis for knowing what is morally right and wrong. What always irks me about these arguments is the glaring omission of so many moral teachings we think of as commonplace today. Angie the Anti-Theist, one of my favorite sources for atheist commentary, lays out pretty clearly how flawed this argument is:

I understand that you think this is a good guide for how to lead a moral life. But the toxic elements are there, and until you liberal Christians change your name and compile a new Bible that doesn't give rules for slavery, that doesn't tell the rapist how many shekels to pay the girl's father in order to marry her after he's raped her, then I think you're part of the problem. As long as the book says a woman is not permitted to teach a man, then it doesn't matter how many progressive churches employ female pastors - these things go in cycles.

What's got this on my mind today? This story from CNN on George Rekers and the "Sissy Boy Experiment":

The article received less attention than our other Rekers stories, but we thought it was more important. Entitled "Before Hiring a Rentboy, Rekers Tried To Spank The Gay Away," it explained how Rekers had attempted to cure a 5-year-old boy of exaggerated feminine behavior with an increasingly aggressive regimen of psychological and physical rewards and punishment, first in a lab, and then in the boy's home...

-snip-

it became foundational research for those who think gay people can become "ex-gay" -- taught or counseled to become straight...

-snip-

Even after his suicide, Kirk Murphy's case was still being used as a success story for a movement to treat "unwanted sexual attraction" -- a movement Kirk Murphy never elected to join, and whose use of his childhood story, Maris Murphy was sure, he would have abhorred.

If religious folks are going to run around claiming some authority on the teachings of morality, they are going to have to explain these types of things. Nothing in Christianity strictly forbids beating the gay out of a child. Nothing in Christianity forbids teaching a child that there is something wrong with him. In fact, beating religious "principles" into children's minds, something many of us would call brainwashing and/or torture, has long been an accepted form of "teaching" in the Christian community. Which explains why they treat attempts to stop the beatings of gays as an affront on their rights, because you can't really hate without beating!

You can almost feel the morality, although that might be someone beating you with a stick, it can be hard to tell sometimes. The truth is, when you base your morals on a book it becomes easy to justify anything that isn't strictly forbidden by that book. Our world, society, and morality, are not things that are static or set in stone. They are fluid and present us with new challenges and opportunities every day. Meeting those challenges requires a certain amount of logic and humility, the latter most likely being more important. That humility is crucial to learning new ideas of morality, and it is hard to come by when you are positive that your teachings are the infallible word of god.

There is no manual on morality but even if there were, the Bible certainly would not be it. That is, unless you think slavery and child abuse are morally right and rape is just expensive.

Jim Gilliam at PDF - "The Internet is my religion"

This video comes to us from the Personal Democracy Forum.

Watch live streaming video from pdf2011 at livestream.com

Ha-ha!

About the blog...

My name is Jay and I am an atheist in hiding. My work is politically related and it is not exactly breaking news that the world of politics is tightly controlled by the fuck-jesus-tenderly lobby (and they are well funded!). Sure, it is a free country and I have the choice to be more open about by atheism, but we all know that would greatly limit my potential from the start. It is actually less that I am an atheist, and more that I choose to criticize organized religion. My criticism of the numerous faults of organized religion could negatively impact my ability to find work in this business. I am simply not willing to do that at the moment, so instead I will use this blog as my outlet. I hope my thoughts can shed some light on the intersection of religion and government, specifically as it pertains to infringing on the rights of atheists.