A new “megachurch” was built recently down the road from the subdivision in which I live, so whenever I drive up the road now that used to be nice fields of greenery, there is this monstrous mythology temple obnoxiously polluting the visual aesthetics of my once beautiful scenery I loved to see on my way to and from home. In front of this mythology temple is the sign shown in the image in this post. The words annoyed me and I may still write that pastor a letter telling him that this is a wonderful town and ask him why he is trying to convince people here, in this happy village, that they have a problem and are somehow “lost”. The town I live in is full of prosperous people, full of large homes, Blue Ribbon schools, horse ranches, Park District with all kinds of activities for everyone, low crime, wide open spaces all around us, nice trails to walk or bike on, ponds to sit by, streams to fish in, adequate shopping, a brand new cinema, and much, much more. So why is this new church trying to convince everyone they are “lost” and bring us down in spirit? Because they are counting on baiting those who have a victim mentality instead of looking at the good things in their lives. Churches gain members who are negative and love the pity-partying.

How many of us have driven by similar signs that are placed strategically in front of church properties with the same negative messages? Churches try to sell people a line that they are somehow a victim, that despite all that they have — family, good food, good friends, nice cars and homes, good health, a beautiful town in which to live…that they are lacking anyway. Since there are so many who fall for this promotion of “I have a problem”, no wonder there are so many depressed people in the world.

Regretfully, The Old Git has resigned from GifS and has requested that all of his posts be taken down. I thank him for his time and written contributions, though we may no longer have the pleasure of reading them. I would have liked him to leave his posts behind, but we had to respect his wishes to remove them. Please do not ask further questions concerning details which led to his decision as it is not proper to gossip about old friends.

Peace be with you and wishes for the best, Old Git

I just got back from attending a prayer service held in honor of those who died in the Virginia Tech mass killing this past Monday April 16, 2007.

No, I haven’t re-converted to Christianity; the organization I work for here in South Florida is a specifically religious one, and therefore its occasion of showing support and sympathy in the wake of the tragedy is religious as well. As part of the U.S. academic community in general, I wanted to take part in this local ceremony.

Of course, the phrases “Lord of Peace,” “God of Peace,” “pray for peace,” “peace be with you,” and “go in peace” were repeated several times. I share the sentiment expressed in the last two and as an agnostic/atheist don’t believe in the first three. The thought, although not heated or passionate, did keep running through my head that “sure, he’s a god of peace – except for those who died in Blacksburg and continue to kill and die in Iraq.” Believers’ cognitive disconnect continues to baffle and in this case, sadden me.

This horrible event also keeps showing me that all too many Americans still have not learned the lesson that 9/11 could have taught them: that this is a small world, that we are not alone in it, that we cannot continue to ignore those forces that cause violence both on and off our shores, nor can we keep on considering violence as the acceptable response to everything, that human beings suffering in other parts of this globe are just like us, often just like those who suffered and died on Monday. That our oh-so-precious image of the rugged Western hero, once a lone cowboy with his six-shooters and now a vigilante Rambo with far more sophisticated sidearms, is not only tarnished but has covered a core rotten from its first inception.

Because even a Cho Seung-Hui can gird his loins with weapons of war and go on a one-man crusade – but not necessarily against those we consider our enemies. Because in the twisted mind of someone like him, he is that armed-and-dangerous rugged individualist, the only person able to “bring justice” and “do right” in this country.

But now I’m rambling as well as ranting. I don’t have answers at this point. I’m not even angry at this moment, just tired and at sea. Right now there are too many “maybes” and “what ifs” buzzing around for me to make much sense of it all except to utterly reject the Cowboy in the White Hat…Dirty Harry…and Rambo. They’re not real people and they don’t operate in the real world.

In fact, I’m beginning to think they don’t have a place in modern human society at all, except as the remaining ghosts of an unrealistically imagined past.

Rest in peace.

This Modern World, by cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, from Salon.com

For those of you that lived through and experienced Watergate and remember the role played by the once-great Washington Post, you know what this cartoon means.

For those of you that have only read about it, you have no idea how corrupt our media is!

From publisher Katherine Graham, editor Ben Bradlee and reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, with the help of “Deep Throat” (Number Two at FBI, Mark Felt) and a Democratic majority, we actually knew what was going on.

But we can no longer depend on WaPo.

So, we pin our hopes on Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to unravel this Gordian-knot of corruption and prostitution of presidential power.

At times like this, having “prayer” to fall back on would be convenient, wouldn’t it?

Weak, but convenient…

Due to the insane number of crazyass fundy trolls who come by and insist on dropping their turds into the archives of our home-sweet-atheist-home, Naomi and I have done a thorough job of house cleaning and “disinfecting”, and we also have added a little “repellent” feature…we closed all comment threads that are older than two months. This was quite a huge undertaking since we had to close each and every comment thread for each and every post for all the years GifS has existed. But it is well worth the extra work.

Posts can still be read and linked to, but the little buggers will no longer be able to sneak around pooping up the old comment threads. Moderators were also getting fed up with having to keep up with editing, and asshatting and posting warning messages, etc. This new policy saves us lots of time and hassle. In addition, it will be very frustrating and disappointing for those god botherers when the can’t earn brownie points for Jeebus anymore my driving by the big bad atheist blog and spewing out their delusional pre-programmed shitballs. If they feel so compelled to comment, they will have to do it front and center where we all can read and respond to them (or give a group asshatting to).

The air smells fresher already!

Thanks to David W from Atheist Self for creating this great BLACK FLAG image!

Ready.?

Set.

Engage rage!

Atheism isn’t the final word

Oh, for the days when one could safely stroll into a bookstore without tripping over the latest atheist title. Ironically, by writing their tracts, in the long run atheists might boost belief.

My local Barnes & Noble has the following titles on display -Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam ; The Quotable Atheist; Letter To A Christian Nation; God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist; and The God Delusion, which is a New York Times best-seller.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., has become the first member of Congress to announce that he doesn’t believe in God. He’s probably just looking for a book deal.

Ewww, what’s that smell? Is that red-hot snark! Smells like desperation to me!

Why the sudden outpouring of atheist advocacy? Perhaps it’s a way for the cultural left to assert itself in the face of the religious right. Or maybe it’s meant to show that the anti-God argument can be framed more intelligently than in a Bill Maher monologue. Whatever the impetus, as a believer, I welcome the phenomenon. After all, the great enemy of belief isn’t disbelief but indifference…

Oh, just read the rest! I’m tired of having to read the text to see which parts to cut, while leaving the ouevre d’illusion intact.

In between the above and the following quote, he trots out every tired, old canard and strawman in his lame arsenal, allows that “mistakes have been made but…”, throws a couple sops our way, cites quotes out of context, praises gordliness’ and gord’s followers’ astounding contribution to the founding of our country. All with that patient condescension that sets our teeth on edge…

Atheists are free to disbelieve and to try to propagate their disbelief in books and other intellectual forums. But saying the debate is over doesn’t make it so. A bit of humility might make their case more convincing. Then again, humility is itself a religious concept.

He’s lucky he even knows how to spell humility. The irony is delicious!

* * * * * * *

The image is from his own website, under the “About Me” tab. I quote:

I’m to the right of Sharon on Zionism, to the right of Pat Buchanan on immigration and Americanism, to the right of Mother Angelica on abortion, to the right of Chuck Heston on Second-Amendment rights, and generally make the legendary Atilla look like a limousine liberal.

If any of this appeals to you, read on. If not, look elsewhere.

A right Manly Man, dontcha think? (*snort*)

I really can’t stand this bitch.

Protesters burn effigies after Gere kisses Shilpa
Apparently it’s ok for truck drivers to go all through India picking up whores and spreading the AIDS virus (even bringing it home to their wives), but for two stars who were merely performing in a little fun onstage while promoting AIDS awareness in New Delhi, their play-acting triggered violent protests and even some to call out for the actors’ deaths!

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Richard Gere’s repeated kisses on the cheeks of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in an event to promote AIDS awareness sparked protests in India on Monday with demonstrators burning effigies of the actors.

Footage of the Hollywood star sweeping Shetty backwards in a dramatic embrace at the Sunday night event in New Delhi was repeatedly aired on news channels on Monday.

Many saw the act as an outrage against Shetty’s modesty and Indian culture, though Shetty herself angrily dismissed the protests as an “over-reaction” that made India look silly.

Groups of men burned and kicked effigies of the actors in protests across India, including in the northern Indian cities of New Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi as well as in the central city of Indore.

Some called for the actors’ deaths. Others wanted public apologies.

But Shetty, the winner of the “Celebrity Big Brother” reality TV show in Britain this year, said the reaction to the kiss made India look “regressive.”

“I admit it went a little overboard but that was not the intention,” she said to a crowd of journalists and protesters that had besieged her film set in Mumbai on Monday evening.

“He did not do anything obscene,” she said of Gere, adding that they had since spoken on the phone. “He apologized to me and told me to tell the media that he apologized.”

She said Gere was only re-enacting his moves from the film “Shall We Dance” to entertain the audience and communicate in a Bollywood style as he did not speak Hindi.

The clinch between the two stars had originally gone down well when it happened onstage at an event on Sunday night to encourage truckers — seen as a high-risk group in India’s fight against AIDS — to wear condoms during sex.

They whooped with delight and whistled loudly as Gere swooped down on a visibly delighted Shetty to kiss her on her hand and a number of times on one side of her face.

“No condom, no sex,” an ebullient 58-year-old Gere shouted in Hindi to thousands of truck drivers who roared his words back in unison at a dusty fairground in New Delhi.

Indian authorities have been focusing on high-risk groups such as truckers, who have helped spread the virus across the country as many of them have sex with prostitutes during their journeys and infect their wives back home.

(Additional reporting by Onkar Pandey and Krittivas Mukherjee)