Why I believe organized religion is dying out May 27, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: homophobia, religion, Roman Catholic Church
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So I just read this on HuffPo. It posits that the enemies of gay people are the Church, Patriarchy, and Heterosexism.
The piece that really grabbed me is how the Roman Catholic Church has embraced the National Organization for Marriage. It’s a sure sign that they’re sliding down the hill. The church will grasp out at anything to stave off what they surely by now see as their decline.
They could have stopped it. They could have embraced the reforms of Vatican II, could have come clean about the molesting priests. But they decided that the mother church was to be protected and so lost all credibility as a result.
Then of course there is the fact that their congregations are singing a different tune than their hierarchy. A lot of Catholics support equality, support abortion rights, birth control rights, etc. The Church hierarchy – comprised of what is essentially a bunch of old, white men holds a different view.
And it isn’t just the Catholic church, even the Episcopal, and other churches are feeling the loss.
Makes me happy because not having to waste time being a god botherer has it’s issues. And maybe, just maybe those thought cycles wasted on religion might push society ahead!
On How Facebook triggers posts about religion April 18, 2013
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: Catholicism, christianity, morality, religion
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So a friend on Facebook posted the following:
I can say stupid things about Catholic people, but I’m not gonna do it. I could say all Irish people are drunks, or all Polish people are dumb, or all Italian people are in the mafia. Everyone has a different ethnic group or religion they belong to. Prejudice is stupid.
Now I chimed in that I thought it was ok to discriminate against Catholics, after all people CHOSE to be Catholic. Therefore we can make fun of their choice. I didn’t choose to be gay.
I also brought up the ‘other people’ in the Bible. It’s right there in Genesis right after Cain slays his brother. He’s cast out of the Garden of Eden and goes East of Eden into Nod where he finds a wife. So in essence there were all these OTHER people in Nod when God decided to do his little Garden experiment.
Pisses Christians off when you tell them that. Because it tells them their entire belief system is based on a falsehood. Produces massive amounts of cognitive dissonance.
If you don’t want to read the whole book like I once did I suggest you at least read the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Old Testament. Tells you everything you need to know about the current crop of Catholics and Christians.
And if you’re feeling adventurous – keep reading. And then come back to me and say that you still believe. Because when you get to the New Testament and start reading the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about Jesus death and resurrection you see that each gets the story slightly differently. And even the first three books – the share a lot of commonalities but also a lot of contradictions between them. It’s quite fascinating to do a forensic walk through the Bible too.
As a society I think we’d all be better off if we cared more about our neighbor than about our church. Might actually make some progress if that were the case.
And more to the point, one can be highly moral without religion. So the argument that we need religion to form morality is patently false too!
You can now see – I’m no fan of organized religion.
Religious wing-nuttery over marriage equality December 6, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: bigotry, homophobia, human-rights, National Organization for Marriage, NOM, politics, religion, society, Wing Nuttery
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So I was reading this post on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters and this paragraph grabbed my attention:
He went on to maintain that same-sex unions are a “narcissistic parody” of opposite-sex relationships as “homosexual relationships do not represent an authentic intimacy, but rather involve mutual exploitation for the sake of satisfying an unnatural lust” and lead to suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, violence along with other “destructive consequences.” “Homosexuals themselves, who are the greatest victims of the ‘gay lifestyle,’ and are in desperate need of the truth,” he writes.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
“Do not represent authentic intimacy” – the definition:
Of undisputed origin; genuine: “authentic 14th-century furniture”.
Made or done in the traditional or original way: “authentic Italian meals”.
So they’re trying to say because they dispute it our relationships aren’t authentic? Try again! He’s trying to make the wrong-parts argument and failing miserably because we all know better.
“…but rather involve mutual exploitation for the sake of satisfying an unnatural lust…“
But lust in itself is an immoral thing. Or so says the church. The unnatural part comes from nature being a code word for God. The thing is, in the Bible the prohibitions of a man lying with a man aren’t the word of God per se, but part of the Levitical code of conduct. In other words, written by primitive tribal societies who saw non-reproduction as un-natural.
“…lead to suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, violence along with other “destructive consequences.”
Funny, I can only speak from my perspective here. First of all I’ve never contemplated suicide, only drink moderate amounts of alcohol, never abused drugs, and never suffered any violence. Then of course the writer completely gives a pass with “destructive consequences”. This is code speak for “The wages of sin are death.”
This is not to say that alot of gay and bisexual people and even straight people haven’t succumbed to diseases like HIV/AIDS, Herpes, etc. But that’s just it, Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, of the three names doesn’t understand the nature of disease, it’s not so much due to actions per se, but because of bacteria and viruses. Modern science has figured that part out for at least a century now.
And the only reason I’m the ‘greatest victim’ of my ‘gay lifestyle’ is only because religious bigots like Hoffman keep railing on, all up in the Kool Aid, and don’t know the flavor.
Christianity is fighting a losing battle November 19, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: christianity, Decline, human-rights, politics, religion, science
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Take a look at this (You may click to enlarge):
Yes indeed – Christianity is sliding down that slippery slope. A friend of mine says that what we are witnessing is the dying gasps of organize religion.
But granted, it’s going to take a long time for it to completely fade away.
Why else would the likes of the Pope, and leaders of the Southern Baptists, and evangelicals keep saying such ridiculous things? Because they know they’re losing the battle.
Part of it is a function that traces back to the invention of the printing press. Of course we’ve taken that to an extreme, I can publish this without anything more than a swype or press of keys on my phone or computer.
So it’s really a function of education, which is why you’re seeing attacks on things like evolution because the religious know they cannot legitimately argue against it. So they came up with creation ‘science’.
And of course there’s the deliberate dumbing down of our educational system in general. I was at the forum for potential school board candidates and I said, I want every student in the Providence school system to get the education I got, and mine wasn’t in public schools.
But even with those attacks we’re still making progress. It is because we have this thing that I alluded to earlier, the internet. A multitude of search engines, Web 2.0 sites, etc. It heterodynes the message that directly disputes the claims of the religious.
When Christians and Muslims take offense to what is taught in public schools September 11, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: bullshit detector, human-rights, religion, religious dogma, source texts
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Apparently it’s taking place in Canada. But still, I want to remind them of one thing. If you don’t want your kids learning about homosexuality, the environment etc. then don’t send them to public schools and expect them to cater to your religious whims.
Instead send them to private schools, or Catholic schools, or even Muslim schools. Home school them. But keep them out of the public system if you’re so afraid they might learn something that challenges your religious beliefs.
One warning though – be careful on the Catholic schools. I’m the product of 12 years of Catholic schools. As such, they helped my hone my bullshit detector which ultimately lead to my rejecting organized religion, in fact any religion. This was much to the consternation of my father the God Botherer II. I call him that because my grandfather, we called him Saint Anthony.
And that finely tuned bovine effluent detector, I imagine my aunt isn’t liking it much either, as evidenced by my last post.
The thing is I know how to research things. I don’t have a B.Sc. in Information Science for nothing you know.
I imagine I’d be a nightmare for the likes of the parents in Canada. Someone who went through all that religious dogma and came out as an atheist. Because it is precisely what these parents who want to be notified fear, they fear their kids will learn too much and challenge religious belief.
Good, religious belief needs to be challenged. It’s all based on writings from well over a thousand years ago. And when the source texts suffer from both copy error and translation error, you’re really not getting the WHOLE story.
Dignity in Death: Choosing to Die by Terry Pratchett July 29, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: assisted suicide, death, religion, self determination
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Go and watch this video.
Talk about dignity. Dignity in choosing to go out of clear mind but broken body. Dignity to take ones own life when they feel they’ve had enough, that they won’t succumb to the ravages of disease.
The reason I believe assisted suicide is illegal in the United States and in the Westernized world has to do with religion. If you delve into Christianity, Islam and even Judaism to some degree there is that destiny, that submission to a deity. It is why suicide itself is so abhorrent to people of a religious bent. It is because they see it as a circumvention of said deity’s will. In other words, how dare you take the life given to you by god.
But I look at it this way – I would much prefer to end my own life if I know that the ravages of disease are going to make me suffer for a period of months, or even years. I would much prefer to take myself out, with the assistance if necessary of a medical professional. Just slip the needle in and it’s over.
Here’s to hoping that someday our governments will see their way clear to allow assisted suicide.
Nones/Atheists now count 19% of the U.S. July 20, 2012
Posted by truthspew in Uncategorized.Tags: atheism, disbelief, nones, religion
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None aka atheists now number a full 19% of the United States.
There is a line in the linked article about the downward pressure on atheism that says “…disproportionately young, often single, and highly educated..”
Of the more significant parts of that is the highly educated people. The more educated you are, the less likely you are to believe in a higher being or power.
And here in the northeast I’d say we number closer to 25%. All your well known and significant institutes of higher learning are in the Northeast and on the West coast.
Imagine – one in four who do not believe in a god. That’s fantastic.
I’ve long been an atheist – since I was a teenager. I went to the best schools in the local area, so it’s no wonder I don’t believe.
And in my career, which is in the I.T. field – the last place I worked had six people in my unit, 3 of us atheists. So in that case 50%.
I’m glad that religious belief is fading away. It’s nothing but a waste of time to be honest.
My rights trump your religion July 13, 2011
Posted by truthspew in puritanical, religion.Tags: Civil Rights, justice, Michele Bachmann, religion, reparativet therapy
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That is correct. My rights mean I do not have to be subject to your religious dogma or edicts.
This all started when I read the post titled “Phony victimization ruining American Christianity” on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.
This whole thing with Michele Bachmann and her husband’s sham psych practice are really starting to irritate the shit out of me.
Why? Because the more I hear about it the more I come to the conclusion that the phrase “Religion is a force for good.” is completely and totally incorrect. Religion is a force against good is more accurate, or religion is a force against rights, I like that one better.
We’re being bludgeoned to death because of fundamentalist religionistas who think that their world view is to be imposed on the rest of us.
No it is NOT! You can practice your religion, but when it infringes upon my civil rights I start getting angry. And right now I’m really angry. From the murder of a four year old perceived to be gay, to the 13% increase in crimes against the LGBT community in 2010, I’m sick and tired of it.
Those acts I quote in the prior paragraph, they’re more than just infringements. They are an affront to the person, be they young or old.
How dare people act on their twisted interpretations of biblical texts. I encourage people to read the ENTIRE Bible. Because once you do so you start to see several inconsistencies. If you’d like I can highly recommend the Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, or perhaps a couple of YouTube channels that highlight the contradictions in the Bible.
Videos by DarkMatter2525 are pretty good at pointing out the contradictions.
And TaylorX04 does a good job too.
So read, watch and come back and tell me if it doesn’t shake your faith a bit. It shouldn’t just shake it but tear it to pieces.
As I often say, Keep your God out of my Government and I will keep my Government out of your God.
They Should Have Known May 5, 2010
Posted by truthspew in religion.Tags: atheism, portents, religion, signs
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I was thinking back to my elementary and high school years. The signs were there early on that I struggled with the whole faith thing until the moment of clarity hit when I was about 15 years old and doing the confirmation classes.
That was when I point blank told the priest that I didn’t believe any of it. I was confirmed Catholic regardless.
Part of that had come from studying the Bible in a high school religion class. Yes, 12 years of Catholic schools. During the class I continually brought up the numerous inconsistencies and the fact that St. Paul aka Saul of Tarsus was a misogynistic and homophobic bigot. Also played the part of contrarian a number of times because by this point I knew that not just a chapter or verse was pure bovine effluvia, but the entire book. Everything. It’s all a fairytale.
I could do the whole sit/stand/kneel/make the sign of the cross by rote memorization. Basically an automaton. Even now I still recall the prayers and all the gobbledygook required in a Catholic mass.
Another one, they should have known that something was up when I rarely went to confession. I especially never went to confession when you could do it face to face with the priest. Probably a good thing too, known what we know now I probably would have been abused if I mentioned to the priest that a neighbor boy and I were getting it on.
It got to the point where later in life when I’d be at a wedding or funeral, when the Eucharist would be trotted out I’d step up. My little point of rebellion even back then. Then of course they switched to where the priest would lay the host in your palm. A few times I dropped the fucker on purpose. Caused all sorts of commotion, they altar boy would sweep up the dropped host and I’d get a new one.
Didn’t matter if I’d sinned or not. I knew that it was a cracker and that it didn’t magically turn into the flesh and blood of Jesus H. Christ once it hit my mouth. Actually I knew it turned to a sugar since the amylase in our saliva has that effect on certain carbohydrates.
Once I’d moved out of the parent house I never set foot in a church again other than for weddings or funerals. Then again even when I lived with the parents after 16 I never went to church. They tried dragging me to Christmas eve ceremonies but I did it once and that was enough.
I just don’t have a religious bone in my body. They should have known. All the signs and portents were there clear as day.
My father figured it out though. I recall one conversation during a car trip when he point blank said “You never believed in God anyway.” Yep, right on the nose.
As I like to tell people the mistake was sending me to Catholic schools starting in the period just after the approval of the Vatican II accords. It’s when the church got highly liberalized, priests and nuns doffed their garments and habits for secular clothing, the theology wasn’t as strict.
Another thing, being that the high school I attended was a college preparatory institution they taught logic and critical thinking skills. As I’ve said many a time, a dangerous combination is religion and logic/critical thinking.
A Catholic Priest that supports equality? You’re kidding me, right? November 9, 2009
Posted by truthspew in marriage equality, religion.Tags: catholic, marriage equality, religion
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The following appeared in the Letters to the Editor section of the Providence Journal on 11/09/2009:
Gay-marriage ping-pong
Now that Maine has joined California in voting down legalized marriage for homosexual persons, I wish to state my concerns and pledge my prayers for those children, men and women affected. No matter where one stands with regard to this issue the ping-ponging of persons’ lives by signing into law and then voting out same-sex marriage is unconscionable. It is not a “good thing.”
The resulting “now you’re married, now you’re not; now you’re equal, now you’re not” is beginning to have an abusive and harassing feel to it. As protection under the law for married homosexual persons is once again taken up in Rhode Island, I ask the judicial and legislative branches of government here to please pay attention. For some this crusade is like wheeling and dealing with their lives; this see-sawing and legal-not-legal game has the look of a kind of sexual abuse (the damaging of a person with regard to his or her sexual life).
This also has an adverse effect on the children of same-sex parents who can use as much emotional and economic protection these days as anyone else. This is unless one of their parents happens to be an investment banker who has or will receive a multi-million-dollar severance bonus from the federal government.
The attempt by those labeled lawless, immoral and licentious to connect with laws and licenses to assume a more responsible and accountable place in their various societies should be looked at very carefully. And if Governor and Mrs. Carcieri as well as other officials exhibited the same passion for our economic climate and double-digit unemployment as they do for preaching against illegal immigrants, single-parent families and same-sex marriages, we might make some good progress here in Rhode Island.
The Rev. Michael J. Menna
Providence
The writer is pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church.
I’m a little taken aback. The only priests I’ve heard from in recent past were anti-gay bigots for the most part though there’s one who I think is sliding toward our side.
But Rev. Menna writes a great letter. I have to wonder how long our bigoted Mr. Tobin (aka Bishop) will take to write a response that both condemns and forgives both the Rev. Menna and gay people in general.
Maybe we can get this guy to join us at the next round of hearings. That would be fun. Seeing a Catholic priest get up and testify in support of marriage equality.
