Five Ways The Devil Is Tricking Atheists!

Every Christian knows that the Devil has laid out quite a few traps that silly atheists have fallen for. These snares are devised to separate God's children from the little baby Jesus. Here are five ways that Satan has tricked atheists into believing that there is no God.

Enjoy.

An Atheist Theme Park About Religion

The family and I are going to Disney World in April, and the upcoming trip got me wondering. What if there was an educational theme park created by atheists about religion? And I'm not talking about a park dedicated to only Christianity either. There would be the Mohammed's Flight to Medina roller coaster as well as the Stations of the Cross mini car racetrack. However, it wouldn't be all fun and games at the Asylum (the tentative name of the park). There would be an educational aspect, just like Epcot. I propose building a Hall of Menstruation where men and women alike can learn God's rules (ahem, the Jewish God) concerning Niddah -- that certain time of the month. Here are a only a few of Yahweh's regulations that visitors can learn.

Hate Mail From A Hindu

This post has some explicit content to it. If you don't like explicit language than you shouldn't read this post.

I received this email from praks_1290@hotmail.com

Is it possible, to sleep with your mum, because i love to unleash my dragon (you know the one between my legs) up your mum's ass to become your half brother half farther. After that, I want to fuck your cousins (female of course) so I can become your half cousin.

This gentleman also left a comment on the Hinduism Still Sucks post that I deleted. I'm guessing praks is a Hindu. In my time reading other people's blogs I haven't seen any hatemail from Hindus, so I think I'm in a very selective club.

Joy.

LiP

Hinduism And Burning Women Alive

India under British rule.

I was sitting at my kids' karate studio the other day and reading through the India Times. I found this article Dowry death: One bride burnt every hour. My jaw dropped as I read the piece. I can't remember the last time an article stunned me so much.

In a crime that is prevalent only in India, greedy husbands and his relatives harass the newly wed bride for getting more dowry, and often kill her in the process. And, very often, she is burnt alive. This horror is therefore called bride-burning or in official terms, dowry death.

Seven Good Reasons Why I'm Converting!

Google GmailYahoo MailHotmailAOL MailAny email    

First off, let me assure you that I am not converting to any religion. But who amongst us haven't personally known or heard of someone who has converted to another faith? I've always been fascinated on what causes a person to go from Catholicism, let's say, to Judaism. So here are seven reasons why people convert.

I'm totally into Yahweh if you are.

7. I'm dating someone (or hoping to date someone) who is religious.

What Do Protestant Pastors Believe?

This is scary. Predictable, but scary. One thousand Protestant ministers were surveyed and here are some of the answers.

You can find the rest of the results here.

LiP

Reading 1 Kings

New definition for the word biblical:
f*cked up sh*t.

As many of you know, I'm currently reading through the "good book". You learn a lot from reading God's word. Please allow me to share the wonders that I have found.

The new king of Israel needed to settle old scores.

The Joy Of Being An Atheist

I found this on LOL God.

The Religion Of Peace Strikes Again!

He's hoping to kill
a lot of Jews.

Do you want to feel better about America's political discourse during this election season? Does Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mittens bring bile to your throat? It's time to feel better!

Why?

It could always be worse -- much, much worse.

Mitt Romney's Success And Mormonism



Do you want to know the secret of how to illuminate how insane religion is?
Just look at the facts.
In our superstitious (ie religious) culture the sanctity of religion conceals the absurdities of faith. The doctrines of fairy tales and immoral behavior are clothed in respect. It is the person which points out that the Emperor has no clothes who is upsetting the applecart, and not the supporters of the regal faith-based fashion who are stigmatized by the herd. The religious often times has an air of arrogance based on this maladaptive societal protection they enjoy.  And that arrogance leads them to reveal how mad the so-called wise men really are.

Behold! A Morning In The Life Of An Atheist Family

What? Atheists have families?
Do they steal children
from Christians? 

Sometimes I wonder what religious folk think about atheist families. Of course, many theists don't think too much about the godless unless they are being spoon fed information from "reliable" sources like AM Hate radio, the Pope, or FOX News. And in those moments we atheists are depicted as out to undermine America (didn't you know we are all commies?), apple pie, and Mom.
So here it is! I am going to blow the lid off the secret life of an atheist family in one of the most godless states in the union: Massachusetts. For the sake of this post, I'm going to use this past Wednesday morning (1/18). Prepare to be shocked with stories of devil worship and baby eating!

5:30 AM    
I wake up at work. I've been working with male survivors of head trauma for the past 17 years, and two of my shifts per week I get to sleep on a crappy couch. Seeing that I work two days a week (yes, I get 40 hours in), I'm able to be with my kids Mon-Thurs.

7:00 AM
After I give out medication to the men, and fill out required paperwork I get to drive home in the 5 year-old Corolla we just bought last year. The Wife is at home, and gets our two kids up, Will and Ali (9 and 6 years-old). Breakfast is served shortly afterwards.

7:45 AM
Will and Ali have already finished breakfast, brushed their teeth, and picked up their rooms (organizing their rooms is a normal chore for them before leaving the house). Ali has also fed our ancient dog, Ruby. Now they start studying their weekly spelling list.

7:45 AM
I pop two Advil (I have minor chronic pain in my back and neck) that I keep in my car as I grab a low-fat muffin at Dunkin' Donuts.

7:50 AM
I get home. I say my good mornings and proceed to wander around the house a bit before figuring out that I really need to brush my teeth. I brush my teeth. Everyone is happy.

8:00 AM
I sit down with Will and review his guitar lesson. He practices for 15 minutes. Afterwards, we talk about the piece he has practiced.

8:15 AM
I sit down with Ali and review her piano pieces she has been practicing. She practices for 15 minutes and we talk about the merits of arching one's fingers while playing (people who play the instrument know what I'm talking about).

8:34 AM
The Wife comments on what a good father I am. I haven't had any caffeine yet so I can't think of a clever response. I am forced to take the compliment. Drats.

8:35 AM
The kids play for the next ten minutes. I wash the dishes (no, we don't have a dishwasher) from breakfast.

8:45 AM
It's go time. The kids get their jackets and backpacks on. The last thing I say to them as they head out the door to the bus stop is Work hard and be good. I say that to them everyday as they leave for school. Really, every school day. (I read in The Social Animal, by David Brooks, that it is more productive to nurture a child's work ethic than telling the child how smart he or she is. Intelligence is seen as an inborn trait, while anyone can work hard. Another piece of information I gleaned from the book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, is that the odds of getting a Nobel prize does not increase if one's IQ is over 120. Success is about having a good work ethic. But I digress.)

8:55 AM
The Wife leaves for work. Although she is a social worker (MSW), most of her job is managing people. The organization she works for provides services for the elderly, children, and troubled families. Oh, she's an atheist (though less militant-y than me), too. Often times she doesn't get back from her job until 9pm. Today will be a bit easier on her since she will be back at 8pm.

9:00 AM
I log onto the internet and figure out that today is the day that many sites are down in protest to the SOPA bill in congress. I find a funny little video, The Day the LOLcats Died, and decide to post it on Purgatory as my bit in the resistance.

9:30 AM
I go to the gym. I hate the gym. I hate working out. I hate it all. However, since I have this crappy body that has low muscle tone (hypotonia) if I don't workout my minor chronic pain becomes not so minor. Joy.

10:00 AM
I decide to avoid the gym for a bit of time and stop off at the coffee shop nearby. I fill my cup with half decafe and half regular. If I drink too much caffeine I get migraines. How did I figure out the connection between my intake of caffeine and getting migraines? Trial and error - painful trial and error. I read chapter five of the Christian Delusion, The Cosmology of the Bible. An interesting note, that while I'm reading the chapter, I'm thinking of ways of spinning the material into jokes for Purgatory.

10:40AM
The pain in my back is telling me I need to get up and get my ass to the gym. I go.

10:50 AM
I'm at the gym and untangling my headphones. Wonder how much of my life is wasted untangling headphones.

10:55 - 12 noon
I work out. I sweat. I hate working out and sweating. Doing cardio has been a bit easier since I have made that Johann Sebastian Bach station on Pandora.

I'm sure you're all intrigued with the rest of my daily activities like: vacuuming, laundry, reading 1 Kings (actually there will be posts about that), bringing the kids to their music lessons, etc., but those fascinating stories will have to wait for another time.
LiP

Coin Laundry And Secular Humanist Judaism

I just found the blog Coin Laundry which is about Secular Humanist Judaism (SHJ), and thought I'd share two videos on the founder of the movement, Rabbi Sherwin Wine.

Enjoy.

Top Ten Things I'd Like To Say To A Minister

A liberal Christian buddy of mine placed this video on his Facebook page and I think it warrants a response.

Ahem, it seems that the video has now become private, so only a special few can see it. I'm not surprised. The video consisted of cutesy Gosh, aren't ministers awesome and they really have to deal with stoopid questions comical(?) bits.


Regardless, here is the Top Ten List Of What I'd Like To Say To A Minister.

The Day The LOLcats Died

The Catholic Church Still Sucks

Today, I have three stories which illustrate The Catholic Church Sucks principle.

The first story I read about on the Friendly Atheist. In 2009, the Polish singer Doda (Darota Rabczewska) had the audacity to voice her opinion about the Bible.

...she believed more in dinosaurs than the Bible because "it is hard to believe in something written by people who drank too much wine and smoked herbal cigarettes." 

Dinosaurs versus the Bible, now that's a movie I would like to see on the Syfy channel. Perhaps a T-rex could go head to head with Moses.

Thankfully Poland is part of modern Europe where basic freedoms are cherished and ignorance is dispelled by the bright shiny light of the Enlightenment.

Rick Santorum's Presidential To Do List

I've been reflecting on how Rick Santorum has been crowned the great Christian hope to fight off the polytheist threat of Mitt Romney. (For those of you not in the know, Mormons believe that if they are very, very good they can become a god and get their own planet after they die. I would actually convert to Mormonism if I could get my own planet sans the dying part.) But what would Rick Santorum do if he ever won the presidency?

Peering into my crystal ball of absurdity I have gleaned Mr Sanrotum's to-do list.

Rick Santorum Is The Official Candidate Of Christocrats!

Friends of pedophiles everywhere agree:
Rick Santorum is our man! 

Moments ago, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins announced on a conference call that social conservatives had officially settled on Rick Santorum as their preferred candidate for the Republican nomination. The decision was made today after three rounds of balloting at a meeting of more than 150 social conservative leaders and political activists held over the last two days in Brenham, Texas. Though the meeting was widely seen as an effort to settle on a candidate to stop Mitt Romney, Romney’s own campaign sent a representative to make an appeal to the group and Perkins said it was “not a bash Romney weekend” and “not a lot of time” was spent discussing him. Jon Huntsman’s campaign was the only campaign not to participate in the meeting. - From Think Progress

For those of you who haven't read my recent post on how wrong Rick Santorum is, click here.

The Tim Tebow Effect or Why You Should Dope-Smack 43.3% Of the People You See

43.3% of Americans polled believe

that God has intervened in

some way with Tim Tebow's success.

Please forgive the melodramatic start to this post, but I didn't want to bury the skull bursting results from the poll administered by Poll Position. Pollsters called 1,076 people on land lines (what, people still have land lines?) and inquired if they knew who Tim Tebow is. Seventy percent of the respondents knew who he was. Those who knew were asked this question: Do believe that any of Tim Tebow’s success can be attributed to Divine Intervention?

43.3% said yes.

Five Ways Ceiling Cat Will Make Your Life Better

OK, you knew this day would come: Here are five ways that the world would be a better place if Ceiling Cat, the feline deity, were in charge.

5. Everyday is Sunday. Ceiling Cat doesn't need to rest, but likes it -- a lot. Orthodox theologians have hypothesized that the universe was created by the purring of the celestial kitty. Heretics charge that the universe was an errant fur ball discharged by the Furry One. Either way people shouldn't waste a good Sunday by fighting about it.

What Not To Tell Children or My Trip To The Guggenheim

I'm currently in NYC for a few days, and I'm about to head over to the Guggenheim and thought I'd re-post a piece about my last visit to the museum. Enjoy.

I've been in NYC for the last day or so. I like going to the City once a year and do do my regular geek-related activities: go to the Strand book store, hit a museum, walk through Central Park (very pretty with all the snow), and see a play.
This is about my visit to the Guggenheim Museum. For those of you not familiar with the Guggenheim, the inside is like being in a barrel of sorts. You walk around the sides on a ramp that gently goes upwards. Art is displayed on the wall of the barrel. To your other side is empty space. It's a beautiful effect kinda like being in one of those domed churches (without the nasty superstition).

Rick Santorum Is Just Wrong.

Rick Santorum doesn't need facts!
He's got faith.

I was reading through Reason.com, the libertarian site, (yes, I read a lot of publications with very different political views), and thought I'd share with you Rick Santorum's Moral Delusions. Most of you are well acquainted with the hollow claims of social conservatives concerning why the country is going to hell, so this will be only a review.

Santorum insists that gay marriage will destroy the family, "the very foundation of our country." Lamenting the scandal of pedophile priests, he wrote in a Catholic publication: "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

Beyond the Bestsellers: An Atheist Reading List for 2011

This is a guest post from a fan of Purgatory, Lauren Baily. I'm going to add a few comments at the end of this post.

Beyond the Bestsellers: An Atheist Reading List for 2011

That many pro-atheist books have become instant bestsellers in the past five years demonstrates that atheism is finally becoming a more accepted position in mainstream culture. Of course, this isn't to say that we don't have a long way to go before we become a respected in group in culture and politics—after all, a new study shows that atheists are trusted about as much as rapists.

Still, we can say quite honestly that there has never been a time in human history in which atheism has been so little marginalized as now. While I found the more well-known books by the so-called New Atheists enlightening and entertaining, I do also think that the time is ripe for atheists to complicate their views, to go beyond the more basic arguments proffered by the likes of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens. In other words, it is time that we create an atheist culture in which we consider all sides. If you are a little tired of the God Delusion and other books of its ilk, if you are interested in venturing beyond the bestsellers, consider adding the following books to your reading list.

My Jihady-Crusade Against the Giving Tree's Sexism

Look,
this tree has two friends.

You read the title correctly: I freakin' hate Shel Siversteins's "classic" (in the same manner that Birth of a Nation is a classic film) children's book. And I don't use hate too often either, but this book has earned my abiding disgust. For those of you who haven't read the book the story is about a codependent relationship between a boy and a tree over the span of decades. At first, the boy simply lounges under the shade of the tree and enjoys an apple or two. As the boy grows so do his demands of the tree, which the tree is only too happy to meet. The tree is ultimately whittled down to only a stump. The boy, now an old man, still wants more, but there is nothing more to take, so he sits and rests on what remains of his "friend".

Haredi Women's Wigs Will Bring Disaster To The Jewish People

Yes, the above short is a newscast from Israel concerning how the Haredim (Jewish religious zealots) view the evil of women who do not wear the proper head covering.

An Excerpt From The Christian Delusion.

The Great Wall of Faith: designed to keep reality
out and ignorance in.

I'm currently reading through The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails which is edited by John Loftus who blogs over at Debunking Christianity. The book is a compilation of essays, and the one I just finished is titled Christian Beliefs through the Lens of Cognitive Science, byValerie Tarico, PhD.

Top Ten Reasons Why I'm Happy To Be An Atheist

Reflecting on the BIG
questions.

I was reading through Blue Collar Atheist's Ten Reasons I'm glad I'm an Atheist, and I thought Wow, what a nice guy. For example, he has for  his number 10 reason I get to have friends who are bright, funny, rational, thoughtful individualists. His number 5 reason is not worrying about going to Hell. And his other reasons were fairly prudent too. He seems to be a nice, responsible person.

My reasons why I'm happy I'm an atheist are not soooo, let's say, noble. Or prudent.
Here they are.

Religious Extremism In Israel

I've written about Jewish extremism on a few occasions (Jewish Taliban Women and Women Need to Sit In The Back Of The Bus), but the video above,well, it just turns the faith-based crazy dial to 11. The captions are a bit difficult to read, but it's clear that the children who are disabled are targeted for abuse by the Haredi (a far right religious group). The reason is that these kids dare to use their motorized wheelchairs on the Sabbath. That is considered work, and we all know what Moses said about working on the Sabbath.

Top Ten List Of What's Going To Happen When Atheists Are In Charge.

Many of you are aware of the recent Huffington Post article: Will 2012 Be the Year of the Atheist? I just want to tell everyone out there what's going to happen when we atheists do become a majority in the USA.

10. We won't be teaching science in your church. Even though science is truly universal (science does work in all environments -- religion just the opposite) atheists will not force the faithful to teach the Origin of the Species or the God Delusion in Sunday school. However, the obvious must be stated: In schools, faith based pseudo-science like the misnamed Intelligent Design may be taught only in a Mythology class.