Washington D.C. Does Well!

(Via Grapefeed)

Universal Respect.

A friend and I used to always go head-to-head over an issue that was very important to him: universal respect. He claimed that every belief is to be respected, no matter the absurdity. He believed in some hodge-podge stew pot of unconditional love, where everyone revered a belief simply on the axiom that it was a belief.

Today, I read the most brilliant summary of why I loathe this type of thinking. It was a response to a comment made by a Catholic named Isaac regarding the Eucharist. Isaac said precisely the same thing my friend had said: "I respect every belief equally". The response:

Ah, what a beautiful illustration of the complete open mind — utterly undiscriminating, lacking any criteria for acceptance, simply blissfully and uncritically according every idea his full respect. Although, of course, it's also a lie: Isaac does not regard every idea as equally deserving, since he clearly considers the atheist idea that the sacraments of his faith are empty foolishness to be an outrage. Rather, what he loves is the idea that everyone else must respect his beliefs, no matter what they are, and that any disagreement is an insult. This is exactly the kind of uncritical, unskeptical, nonjudgmental idiocy all religions seek to promulgate, because they all know that if we tore off the blinders of tradition and artificiality and mindless etiquette, we'd see right through their lies. Respect every idea! Especially mine! And if you find the idea that this cracker is a god stupid, why, you must be disrespectful and no gentleman!

In all of my years I could never write a paragraph that direct, that powerful and that revealing. I'll muster an effort, but don't expect much.

I received a lot of flack over my support for PZ Myer's desecration of a the Eucharist. I was told I was intolerant, that I was terrible person, that I was hateful and wrong. I had a few friends call me up and even a family member tried to intervene! They all told me the same thing: "Why does it matter if it's just a cracker?"

It matters because that cracker has more significance and respect than human life. It matters because that damned cracker continues to promulgate the willful stupidity of the human race. It matters because these vile priests dress themselves in elaborate jeweled robes, live in ornate palaces and then have the shameless audacity to preach that poverty is an exemplary virtue. It matters because this atrocious form of thinking continues to spread rampantly; a disgusting example of a thought-process void of thought. There is not a single shred of intelligence among a religion that forces you to believe that a frackin' cracker literally turns into the flesh and blood of a god. I will not back down nor will I apologize--that belief is stupid.

It's as stupid as saying Noah literally lived to be 900, stupid as saying Makkah literally split the moon in half, stupid as saying Horus literally protected the Sun and stupid as saying the Earth literally sits on the back of a turtle. I'm certainly not being selective here--any idea that requires one to abandon reason and in its place uphold lunacy is not a belief that I can nor will respect. Under that tenant, anything goes. Under that tenant, there is no right or wrong.

Instead, it comes down to Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative, which states:

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Question everything. Learn for yourself. Never subscribe to any idea simply because it comes from a man with a robe. Where a question forms, seek out an answer. Never throw up your hands and say, "Well I guess it comes down to faith".

If that frame of thinking were applied as the above imperative--if the mere process of assiduous evaluation were to become a ubiquitous quality rampant among humanity--what would happen? Would the result be catastrophic? Would we continue to have wars over mere pieces of land? Would we continue to bomb cities in hopes of receiving 72 virgins? Would we continue to kill gays, lesbians and transgenders in the name of god? Would millions of children continue to be molested by the men in jeweled robes?

The answer should be inconveniently apparent.

The Pope was found--he was lost in 1970!

What would a church service be without turning a profit? The Pope, in his infallible ways, has decided to upgrade the technology of the church to attract more attendees (and thus more hands putting dough into the collection plate!).

The method to which he'll be dishing out these tickets to his appearance? Fax machines! That's right--Catholics are going high-tech! Soon they'll be using those nifty things called "cell phones" (but only after adapting to beepers).

Oh, and also...The Pope is on twitter. That's just weird.

(This news via Friendly Atheist)

Lying for Jesus!

Why does the irony burn so much when Christians have to lie in order to get their point across?


Do you see this photo? Before I get any further, let's talk about how there are five people at this banning of McDonald's. I mean, that's all they could muster up? A measly five people? They're claiming that 200,000 people signed the McDonald's ban...yet just a mere five people showed up at the first official protest? For getting national acclaim, I'm surprised their numbers are so...unsatisfying.

But, look at the photo. Look at the font used. Look at the sign on the far right that has the "x" on sex crossing over the border of the sign. Look at the pixelized "i'm NOT lovin' it" sign. All of it looks rather...amateur. Oh, and it doesn't look real, either.

Are you following me here? The group of Christians who are banning McDonald's photoshopped this photo (and quite terribly, might I add) to look like it was a same-sex marriage protest. Actually, with how bad the quality of the photo-editing, I doubt they even used photoshop; looks more like Microsoft Paint!

I have seen this so many times. I have seen so many Christians lie in order to prove their point; which, in turn, disproves their point. It's actually rather sad. Their point and their position are both are so weak they have to lie in order to be heard.

Lying for Jesus does not make your family values look any more appealing; in fact, it makes me worry what other values you'd easily compromise.

Caption This.