Radical Atheist

What’s the harm in religious belief?

It’s puts insane thoughts like this into your head.

A US cage fighter ripped out the heart of his training partner while he was still alive after becoming convinced he was possessed by the devil.

Jarrod Wyatt also cut out his friend’s tongue and ripped off most of his face in a brutal assault that police said looked like a scene from a horror film.
They found the 26 year old standing naked over his friend’s body with body parts, including an eyeball, strewn around the blood splattered room.

Wyatt told police he had drunk a cup of tea spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms and became convinced his close friend Taylor Powell was possessed.

According to an autopsy Powell,21, bled to death after his heart was ripped out.
The coroner said Powell had been alive when the organ was ripped out after his chest had been sliced open with a knife.
Wyatt told the police he thrown the heart into a fire along with other organs that he had removed from the body.
He told investigators he cooked the body parts because he was fearful Powell was still alive and he “needed to stop the Devil.”

Police had been called to the grisly scene after a third friend had witnessed a sudden mood change in Wyatt after they had all ingested wild mushroom tea.
Justin Davis told police he returned to the flat in Klamath, California, to find Wyatt naked and covered from head to toe in blood.
He noticed an eyeball lying in the middle of the floor and saw Powell’s mutilated body.

A lawyer representing Wyatt has claimed the wild mushrooms caused him to act in such a violent way and had not control over his actions “My client was trying to silence the devil,” said James Fallman.
“I think he was having a psychotic fit based on the mushrooms he had.”

Wyatt has been charged with first degree murder and torture.
Prosecutors added the torture charge as Powell was still alive when his heart was removed.

(Source-The Telegraph)

I agree he was psychotic, but not because of the mushrooms. I’ve taken mushrooms, and they didn’t make me want to do this. They only acted on the bizarre thoughts that religious belief had already placed in his mind.

And people still ask why so many of us object to religious belief.

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• Cage fighter ‘ripped out heart of training partner’ (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cage fighting, Cultural observation. (warintel.blogspot.com)

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Which gods and in what way?

One consistent characteristic of the vast majority of gods that humans have worshiped throughout history is that they are not us, they are portrayed as having attributes we humans can only dream about (which is precisely why we project them onto gods and comic book heroes, and other fictional characters).

Humans can’t become gods, we create the gods. Our belief is the only thing that keeps them alive in the collective imagination. To become a god would be a step down for a human. And the gods can’t become human because we won’t let them. They can’t perform the functions we created them to perform as humans. To be gods they must be better than us, more powerful than we can ever hope to be, not be subject to our common dependencies, our weaknesses and mistakes. They are the “us” we want to be but can’t because those expectations are unrealistic. Perfection is a fantastical state, a never-fulfilled aspiration.

Notice the gods never have attributes, abilities or super powers beyond what we can imagine. That’s not because we have a limited imagination but because gods only exist in our imaginations. They cannot extend beyond the boundaries our imaginations place on their existence. They exist in a subset of the superset humans. We are in turn a subset of the universe.

The only way humans are becoming like gods is that we are starting to understand things about reality that our ancient religious beliefs reserve for the gods. When we discovered the mechanics of lightning, belief in Jupiter was pretty much finished. We can create lightning. Have we become like Jupiter? No, Jupiter is simply no longer relevant. We’ve evolved beyond needing a placeholder for our lack of understanding about lightning.

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From the massive irony file:

A prominent Buffalo area businessman who founded the BridgesTV network to improve the image of Muslims in the U.S. has been arrested and charged with murdering his estranged wife – by beheading her at his company’s office in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Thursday.

Police have charged the husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder in the death of Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37.

In its logo, BridgesTV boasts of “connecting people through understanding” via its dish network available in several states. Its Web site quotes comments about the company by Jay Leno, Brian Williams and others, plus a screen shot of a CNBC interview with Hassan conducted by Maria Bartiromo.

Programs include kids shows, “American Muslim Teen Talk,” Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now” and an interview show with James Zogby. Its news program “brings you balanced coverage from around the world. News you can trust.”

Police say the wife had an order of protection from the man. A murder weapon has not yet been recovered. The couple had two children, ages 4 and 6.

Khalid J. Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York, said, “There is no place for domestic violence in our religion — none. Islam would 100 percent condemn it.” (Source-Editor & Publisher)

“Islam would 100 percent condemn it”? How about “Islam does 100 percent condemn it”? Why the timid response?

Islam, like Christianity, is an ancient religion that has no place in modern societies. It’s rules of conduct and moral code are suited for 1st century goat-herders, not people living in the 21st century. In the civilized world, women are not property.

If Hassan wanted to change the Western concept of Islamic barbarism, he certainly went about it the wrong way. At least he committed this atrocity in the U.S. where he’ll be held accountable for his behavior and not in the Middle East where his actions would have been excused and accepted.

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Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

In all, 66 of the U.N.’s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution.

Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign, indicating that some parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.

According to some of the declaration’s backers, U.S. officials expressed concern in private talks that some parts of the declaration might be problematic in committing the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In numerous states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.

Carolyn Vadino, a spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., stressed that the United States — despite its unwillingness to sign — condemned any human rights violations related to sexual orientation.

More than 50 countries opposed to the declaration, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a joint statement Thursday criticizing the initiative as an unwarranted attempt to give special prominence to gays and lesbians. The statement suggested that protecting sexual orientation could lead to “the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts” such as pedophilia and incest.

The declaration also has been opposed by the Vatican, a stance which prompted a protest in Rome earlier this month.

The European nations backing the declaration waged their campaign in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Dutch foreign affairs minister, Maxime Verhagen, said countries which endorsed that 1948 document had no right to carve out exceptions based on religion or culture that allowed discrimination against gays.

“Human rights apply to all people in all places at all times,” he said. “I will not accept any excuse.”

(Source-Chicago Tribune)

<sarcasm>Now that we’ve found common ground with Muslims, our common intolerance and bigotry, perhaps relations between us will improve.</sarcasm>

Actions like this only serve to further remove us from our former role as the sole world superpower representing freedom and democracy. Our government seems determined to undermine our image in the world and put us in league with those whom we denounce as totalitarian and theocratic.

By refusing to sign non-binding resolutions like this, we put ourselves on the wrong side of this issue. We are siding with hatred and injustice. Is this what we want our country to stand for?

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THE Vatican has extended its list of mortal sins to include 21st-century problems and issues such as genetic experimentation, pollution, drug abuse and excessive wealth.

Published in the Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, the revised list was revealed at the end of a week-long refresher course for priests on the sacrament of confession. Traditionally, mortal sins are those which are a breach of the Ten Commandments – murder, adultery, theft and lying, to name a few.

But now to this list has been added genetic experimentation, tampering with the order of nature, pollution, social injustice, causing poverty, accumulating excessive wealth, and drug abuse. (Source)

Finally, some good news for the religious right. There’s still a place where they can go to find those who share their philosophies and world view. The only downside is they’ll all have to become Roman Catholic.

That should pose no problem. As long as you get to be religious and right, the rest is just dressing.

Next week, Falwell declares excessive text-messaging a result of Satanic possession.

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Federal authorities conducting a child-porn investigation raided the headquarters Saturday of a ministry run by a convicted tax evader once labelled by prosecutors as a polygamist who preys on girls and women.

Social workers interviewed children who live at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries complex, which critics call a cult, to find out whether they were abused. The two-year investigation involves a law that prohibits the transportation of children across state lines for criminal activity, said Tom Browne, who runs the FBI office in Little Rock.

“Children living at the facility may have been sexually and physically abused,” Mr. Browne said.

No one was arrested, but U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe said before the raid that he expected an arrest warrant for Mr. Alamo to be issued later. The federal investigation centred on the production of child pornography, while state police were looking into allegations of other child abuse, he said.

In a phone call to The Associated Press from a friend’s house in the Los Angeles area, Tony Alamo – who was also once accused of child abuse – denied involvement in pornography.

Tony could have easily deflected the charges by opening his buildings and computers for the feds to examine. Instead he takes a defensive posture, making the sort of defense we’ve come to expect from criminal theotards.

“We don’t go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that,” Mr. Alamo said. “Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don’t like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity.”

Damn those Catholics, breaking into Alamo’s compound and loading incriminating evidence on his computers. Or maybe it was the government’s secret agents.

Mr. Alamo told the AP on Saturday that he believed the raid was part of a push by the federal government to make same-sex marriage legal while outlawing polygamy.

Mr. Alamo said he thought polygamy was allowed in the Bible but said he did not practise it himself. He also said that “consent is puberty” when it comes to sex.

If that’s the best this roaring jackass can come up with as a defense he must think we’re all as stupid as those he’s hoodwinked into following him.

(Story source-globeandmail.com)

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Steel Cross Erected Near Flight 93 Site

Hundreds of New York City firefighters, bearing a gift of remembrance for another place affected by the events of September 11th, made a special dedication ceremony today in Somerset County.

More than 400 firemen came thundering into Shanksville’s fire station to give a gift, and show September 11 solidarity.

They brought a piece of steel from the North Tower of the World Trade Center that is shaped like a cross.

This morning in front of that cross, firefighters read the names of those lost, when Flight 93 crashed, not far from the fire station.

New York City firefighter Dominic Esposito was on-hand.

He came for the family he lost in the towers.

“My brother, firefighter Frankie Esposito and cousin, Capt. Michael Esposito,” said Esposito.

For Esposito, this was not a ride, but a pilgrimage, to where other heroes fell.

“Oh, that’s sacred ground,” said Esposito. “That’s so sacred ground.”

“My brother was killed in the South Tower,” said New York Fireman John McAllese. “Had four kids, all under 5 years-old. I lost 8 guys in my fire house.”

For McAllese, the steel cross means his brother, Esposito’s brother’s spirits and all the others will forever be in Shanksville, as well.

“It brings a part of it together,” said McAllese. “All three, that day. It brings it all together. It’s special, being here.”

9/11/01 Memorial

“With this memorial, here in Shanksville, every time we go to a call, there won’t be a time I don’t think of those people,” said Shanksville Fire Chief Terry Shaffer.

Retired New York City Firefighter Lt. Paddy Concannon was one of a few who decided Shanksville and its firefighters deserved this particular monument.

“It is a monument a testament that life goes on,” said Concannon. “We’re going to do our things as Americans, and we’re not going to be deterred.”  (Source)

Memorials have value as reminders of events or people that have had an impact on the lives of those who erect them.  But in this case, there’s a presumption that a religious icon, a particularly Christian icon, represents everyone that died in that flight on September 11th, 2001.  It’s a memorial that is a slap in the face to anyone who died not believing in Jesus as their savior.

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A U.S. Marine in Iraq has been removed from duty amid complaints that he was handing out coins with Bible verses at an American checkpoint, the military said Thursday.

A military spokesman said Iraqis in Falluja complained that the Marine was giving the coins, which were printed in Arabic, to people at an entry control point in Falluja.

U.S. military regulations prohibit religious proselytizing.

“This has our full attention,” said Col. James L. Welsh, chief of staff of Multi-National Force, West. “We deeply value our relationship with the local citizens and share their concerns over this serious incident.”

At least one of the coins is stamped with the words “Where will you spend eternity?” according to a report published Thursday by McClatchy Newspapers.

The other side of the coin reportedly contains a verse from John 3:16 that reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Several Falluja residents said they were given the coins over a two-day period and complained that U.S. troops, whom they consider foreign occupiers, were acting as Christian missionaries.

“Regulations prohibit members of the coalition force from proselytizing any religion, faith or practices,” said Col. Bill Buckner, a coalition spokesman. “Our troops are trained on those guidelines before they deploy.”

A military statement said “appropriate action” will be taken if the reports are substantiated.

The reports stoked religious concerns in Iraq just weeks after Iraqi police discovered that a U.S. soldier had used the Quran, Islam’s holy book, for target practice.  (Source)

It would appear that one way or another the war in Iraq is destined to become a holy war.  First Bush suggested that his incursion into Iraq was a result of consultations with his god.  Now our soldiers are disrespecting the religion of the land they occupy as well as pushing their own.  By injecting religion into this conflict these soldiers are making a bad situation worse.

I don’t generally object to disrespecting religions.  But in a war zone expressions of religious belief can lead to greater conflict or muddy the motivations for the fighting.  If we as Americans allow Bush or a couple of none-too-bright soldiers to turn the conflict in the Middle East into a religious war, we are heading down a path that history teaches us never ends well for anyone.

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The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation’s largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.

The justices’ 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s monthlong same-sex wedding march.

The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

With the ruling, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gay and lesbian residents can marry.

“What happens in California, either way, will have a huge impact around the nation. It will set the tone,” said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California.

California already offers same-sex couples who register as domestic partners the same legal rights and responsibilities as married spouses, including the right to divorce and to sue for child support. It’s therefore unclear what additional relief state lawmakers could offer short of marriage if the court renders the existing ban unconstitutional.

Finally, some good news from a Supreme Court.  Perhaps religious morality can be kept in check with logic and reason after all.

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