Here is a story that provides an example of what pisses us off about Xians the most . . . if you let them be to worship their imaginary friends and simply ignore them, they get right out there in your face — in your jobs, knocking on your door, or when you are out for a fun day of holiday shopping (like this dude in the picture dressed in a Jesus costume while having a cappuccino in a Kansas coffee house). This is the sort of things that causes us to have websites like ours. They are so goddam arrogant!

400 dress as Jesus to put Christ back in Christmas

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Dressed in flowing robes and thorny crowns, about 400 churchgoers promised their pastor they’d dress like Jesus as a hard-to-miss reminder of the holiday’s religious roots.

“Religious” roots? These folks ignore the real reason for the season…WINTER SOLSTICE and also the fact that all of their holiday traditions and celebrations involve things from mostly pagan origins. They will not listen when we try to educate them that their Christmas celebrations for the most part are of pagan and other mythological origins. But we have discussed this so many times, and our attempts to educate fall on rock-hard heads.

Members of Praise Chapel Christian Fellowship began showing up that way last week at jobs, shopping malls and restaurants. The demonstration wrapped up Wednesday.

“I know it’s a crazy idea,” said pastor Kelly Lohrke, whose 600 members attend services in Kansas City, Kan., and nearby Lee’s Summit, Mo. “I know it’s a radical idea. Christians can have fun with their faith and sharing their faith.”

It is a crazy idea, so don’t start crying when you are made fun of, folks. (These Xians are such masochists!)

Lohrke said he came up with the idea out of frustration over the removal of crosses, nativity scenes and other religious symbols from public view.

These religious displays are being removed from PUBLIC PROPERTY DIMWIT! You can display all the religious crap you want to on your own property.

Several groups have pushed the issue this year, with the American Humanist Association plastering ads on Washington, D.C., buses that proclaim “Why believe in god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.” That story motivated Lohrke protest.

So, instead of letting the humanists and atheists have their signs, and their fair share of advertising space, the religious folks must treat it like a war, and try to silence those who do not believe how they believe by getting out there right in our faces with ridiculously extreme tactics such as dressing up like Jeebus complete with gory thorn crown to remind everyone of what a “loving” religion Christianity is.

(And I bet they really get off on having people make fun of them so they can feel all persecuted and stuff.)

Things are getting rather crazy in Olympia, Washington where all kinds of people are jumping on the bandwagon to have their various beliefs displayed at the state capitol. Then there are those who come to protest against each others’ displays. Wouldn’t it be easier just to keep church and state separate like it is supposed to be? They have now even approved a Fesitvus pole that was made famous in the television series, “Seinfeld”.

This all seems like an episode from Seinfeld itself. Read on. . .

Coming to Capitol: ‘Festivus’ display

OLYMPIA, Wash. – State officials, besieged by requests for more seasonal displays at the state Capitol, have approved several more – including a “Festivus” display honoring a faux holiday popularized by TV comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

The new display requests come on top of an anti-religion placard, a Christmas tree and a Christian nativity scene erected earlier this week and a pro-religion sign added Friday.

The state General Administration, which runs the state Capitol building, have OK’d four of the requests so far:

- On Saturday, Dec. 6: A balloon nativity shelter from a private citizen.

- On Sunday, Dec. 7: A demonstration by a group called “Private Citizens of Federal Way” against the atheistic sign will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on the front steps.

- On Monday, Dec 8: A display will go up in the capitol from the Washington Values Alliance.

- On Wednesday, Dec 10: A Festivus display from a private citizen.

According to the online reference Wikipedia, Festivus is an annual holiday invented by writer Dan O’Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a scriptwriter for the TV show Seinfeld.

Most people now celebrate the holiday on Dec. 23, as depicted on the December 18, 1997, Seinfeld episode “The Strike.”

The holiday includes novel practices such as the “Airing of Grievances”, in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year.

As Rob Boston from Americans United says, “Rick Warren poses as a moderate, but he’s just another Falwell wannabee.” And vjack from Atheist Revolution reports that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) explains:

Mr. Warren compared same-sex couples to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair.

If he was inviting the Rev. Warren to participate in a forum and to make a speech, that would be a good thing. But being singled out to give the prayer at the inauguration is a high honor. It has traditionally given as a mark of great respect. And, yes, I think it was wrong to single him out for this mark of respect.

And Boston points out that it isn’t just this issue in California that is cause for concern about giving Warren too much respect and recognition:

More recently, Warren has taken to interjecting himself into other political issues, spouting off reckless and ill-informed opinions. Former Americans United employee Steve Benen, who now blogs for Washington Monthly, noted that on Dec. 3, Warren appeared on the Fox News Channel with right-wing loose cannon Sean Hannity, where he invoked the Bible to endorse Hannity’s call for the U.S. government to “take out” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with,” Warren told Hannity. “It has to just be stopped…. In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers.”

Warren’s office later cited Romans 13 as his justification for this statement. There are no fans of Ahmadinejad here, but having the U.S. government assassinate him and then cite Christian scriptures as the justification might inflame things just a little bit in the Middle East, don’t you think?

Warren poses as a moderate, but he’s just another Falwell wannabee. It’s a shame he is appearing at this important event.

Warren defends the invitation for him to participate:

“I have many gay friends. I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church,” he said in a recent interview with BeliefNet. But later in the interview, he compared the “redefinition of marriage” to include gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse, and polygamy.

Obama defended his choosing bigot Rick Warren by saying:

“During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America’s about. That’s part of the magic of this country … we are diverse and noisy and opinionated,” Obama said.

But it’s more than opinion. The “opinions” of Warren and those who believe as he does has trampled on the rights of other citizens.

Of all the high-profile religious leaders, why did Obama have to choose Warren? He justifies it with that he balanced it out by choosing Joseph Lowery, a Methodist minister and civil rights leader who supports same-sex marriage and gay rights, to deliver the benediction. Does this justify having such a divisive personality participate in such a historic and important event? And another question, does it really matter?

(In which I manage to dodge/artfully evade the topic of the oncoming holiday)

I just finished watching the Devil’s Playground. This documentary deals with the Amish custom of Rumspringa, of which the Wiki entry says:

Rumspringa (also Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa, derived from the Deitsch term for “running around or jumping”) generally refers to a period of adolescence for some members of the Amish, a subsect of the Anabaptist Christian movement, that begins around the age of sixteen and ends when a youth chooses baptism within the Amish church or instead leaves the community. The vast majority choose baptism and remain in the church. Not all Amish use this term (it does not occur in Hostetler’s extended discussion of adolescence), but in sects that do, Amish elders generally view this as a time for courtship and finding a spouse.

As a rule, of all the Christian cults, I rather appreciate how these folks tend to stay out of other folks’ affairs. We envision them as religious anachronisms, as they tend to veer away from modern technology, but the film states that they shy away from anything that might endanger the community or family (the example was that a battery charger, not much of an impact, an automobile, a huge impact).

In fact, the doors are pretty much open to the adolescent at any time they want to return to the ‘fold’ – but if they return, and change their minds, to return to the ‘English’ ways? Then they are shunned.

My major issue with this group (as with any other religious nomenclature) is this sense of tribalism. In some ways, tribalism is a social networking tool, a meeting of like minds. The unfortunate side-effect is the exclusion of those deemed other. And when it is done in a religious context, somehow, some way, it just seems to make it that much worse. Basically, a group of human beings is isolating and outcasting another human (or smaller group of humans) over a bunch of superstitious hooey. A perceived non-crime committed by a non-criminal as per rules set by a non-existent judge.

Kafka, anyone?

Michelle Duggar believer who endorses the Quiverfull movement and the teachings of asshat Bill Gothard, just brought her 18th child into the world yesterday, and husband Jim Bob said of the baby “The ultimate Christmas gift from God”, and they are looking forward to having more.

As someone said on an internet forum, there has got to be a pathology to this. Is the pathology her fundamentalism or is it something more? Just because someone can get pregnant doesn’t mean that they should keep doing so. It is unhealthy physically and her children cannot grow up in a mentally normal environment. The older ones are little parents to the younger ones and are slaves to the family “cult” as Michelle keeps spreading her legs for her husband and lays around growing babies inside her and getting lots and lots of media attention. Is that it? Do some women simply love the attention they get from the doctors, friends and family members when they are preggers?

Medical experts warn that a woman’s uterus has to be exhausted and extremely prolapsed from many pregnancies over the years, and that over the years a woman’s uterus loses the elasticity and strength to carry children safely. And with age, a woman also has a higher risk of producing children with birth defects and Down’s syndrome. Does this worry Jim Bob? Is he concerned about his wife’s safety? Nope…“We both would love to have more,” he said.

(A bit about this Bill Gothard from Wikipedia: Gothard was also accused by some of being hypocritical for not practicing what he preaches about conflict resolution,[16] and for his “quiverfull” teachings that married believers should eschew birth control and have as many children as possible, given that Gothard himself is unmarried and childless, even into his 70s)

I could only read a little of Peter Powell’s Proof of Paradise.com. It’s amazing how anyone can be this stupid, but most fundies are indeed this dumb. It’s so easy to take apart his arguments bit by bit, if anyone cares to. Powell writes big in crayon-type writing on his site (first put down that coffee and swallow what you are eating):

[grammar and punctuation errors left intact]
I SUGGEST THAT THE FACT THAT ANIMALS DO NOT SIN AND HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF EVIL, AND PEOPLE DO, IS PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AND SUBSTANTIATES ALL THE HE HAS SAID, INCLUDING THE EXISTENCE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, AND LIFE AFTER DEATH.

There you have it. Animals don’t sin so everything that the Bible says is true, and that proves God exists, and also proves Heaven and Hell exist and that though animals are not believed by Xians to go to heaven, the animals’ lack of knowledge of sin proves we humans will live forever. Arrggghh!

From the Atheist Eve series at Austin Atheists. This is taken from an actual email exchange. I found myself chuckling at this one because I have heard almost these exact words from fundie family members and from others when they attempt to describe their god to me.

And you can count on Faux News to be a bunch of douchebags about it.

Thanks to the inspiration of our friends in Britain, we’ve started our own atheist bus ad campaign in Washington DC

It’s a simple question: “Why not try Jesus?” Equally simple is an opposite: “Why believe in a god?” Yet in the United States the first question is widely viewed as positive, or at least ordinary, while the second can be perceived as offensive and even hate speech.

This difference in reaction can’t result from the structure of the statements. They’re the same. Nor can it be the tone. Nope, it’s just the message. Americans think it’s good to believe in a god and bad not to. Furthermore, it’s good to tell everyone about your belief but bad to be just as open about nonbelief or doubt – especially during the winter holiday season.

Clearly, American nontheists can’t get a break.

The latter question is viewed as hate speech because of that old Xian persecution complex we discussed here.

We could look at this in a positive way though, and thank theists once again for promoting these signs and messages promoting rational thought and reason.

Addition: Dawkins answers the question “Why campaign against religion?” here in this YouTube video.