Be forewarned: the video is both heart-breaking and rage-inducing. Apparently, child sacrifice is the latest trend in Uganda. And truly, what other reason besides religious ritualism could be behind it?

And as if that wasn’t enough horrific news, there happens to be a major trend in the Congo:

Crisis in DR Congo

12 year-old, Henri, which is not his real name, points at a large fresh looking scar on his midriff.

"People accused me of sorcery and my mother believed them," he says.
"Look, here on my stomach. She tried to kill me with a knife. It really hurt and I cannot understand why my mother did it."
Henri, who is now being given help by a children’s charity, had been playing outside his home in Goma, eastern Congo, when the accusations began.
His eyes begin to water as he remembers pleading with his mother, telling her that the claims were completely untrue. Not that this made any difference.
"She threw me out of the house and told me to go away," he says.
Henri was then forced to live on the streets until charity workers convinced his mother that the allegations were untrue.

Apparently, nobody’s passing out condoms in this country either. Because obviously Henri’s mother isn’t fit to take care of her own child.

Growing problem
His is just one of a fast growing number of children accused of sorcery to come to the attention of Unicef’s head of child protection in Congo, Alessandra Dentice.
"Children accused of witchcraft is unfortunately one of the major increasing child protection issues in the country," she says.

Well, anyone accusing anyone of witchcraft in this day and age means that the hugest issue of all is education. Because obviously, witchcraft is bullshit.

Unicef’s latest available statistics show that around one hundred cases of child sorcery allegations were referred to them in 2008 in the North Kivu province of Eastern Congo alone.
That number increased nearly fivefold to 450 in the same area last year.

Hard to believe in the 21st century, isn’t it?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but this sort of horse manure makes me grim with rage. It is yet another of millions of indictments against the bastions of belief, the spuriousness of superstition, the rottenness of religion. It signifies those predators upon the weak, the witch doctor, the shaman, the priest, the minister. It shows us that shadows have far too much grip upon feeble psyches, a fear passed down from ancient dead men with heads up their asses. It instructs us that the road to reason is an uphill battle of near Sisyphean proportions. It teaches us that others overvalue the afterlife far too highly above this one, an empty valueless existence then, for there is no life other than here.

It is to clench the fists whitely, gnash the teeth in snarls, and growl in rage and disappointment – for all that any religion teaches is to increase suffering in a life already complicated with enough of it.

Till the next post, then.

Most of you probably have read about this girl. She claims to represent Beverly Hills in the Miss California Beauty Pagaent. Beverly Hills officials have spoken up about it and say that NO there is no such affiliation with their city. Yet according to the Pagaent officials a contestant can choose the city they represent even if they do not live in that city.

Where she really shines though is in her “beliefs”. She is a fan of Leviticus and states what it says about homosexuals.

“The Bible says that marriage is between a man and a woman,” Ashley told Fox News pop tarts gossip column. “In Leviticus it says, ‘If man lies with mankind as he would lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death and their blood shall be upon them.’ The Bible is pretty black and white.”

She claims this is because god loves us and knows whats best for us. In one of the interviews she says she has friends that are homosexual but they just disagree about it and are still friends. You can read more here:
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272630583.shtml

So what I am curious about is how many other sins are worthy of death/stoning? And how could you be friends with someone who would kill you if given the chance?

When it comes right down to it. I am happy that the christers have in fact stopped killing people. Progress is slow but I’m hopeful that soon they may abandon their delusions altogether. Note the outrage over Miss Ashley’s comments.

I’ll work on getting pics next time. Also the link function is not working on my end.

Hi alll
I’m back and getting used to this.
I’ve been gone awhile and have missed you all.
So Ive decided that I’d inform you all of my next day plan.
That is Ashley Lauren. You may know her from the blogosphere. What I would like to see is all of you who have bible skills to prepare a short rebut. She says that homosexuals should be stoned to death.
Who else should be stoned to death? Beauty queens?

Oh yeah by the way this little dumb ass says she represents Beverly Hills. Yet Beverly Hills does NOT have any reps in the beauty pageants. HMMMM???? What do you think ? Another Christer gone wrong? Lying?? How about that, wasn’t lying punishable by stoning???
Exact quotes are best. But if you must make it up at least let us know about it.

We all know how fucked up the state of Utah is on many things:

Utah is not a state known for its legislative sanity. This, after all, is a state that recently made headlines for proposing to honor gun manufacturers on Martin Luther King Day and for considering the elimination of 12th grade to cut back on education spending.

Well, things just keep on getting worse:

In Utah, Miscarriage = Criminal Homicide

Utah just became the first state in the U.S. to criminalize miscarriage and punish women for having or seeking an illegal abortion. Utah’s “Criminal Miscarriage” law:

* expands the definition of illegal abortion to include miscarriages
* removes immunity protections for women who have or seek illegal abortions
* treats women as presumptive criminals and leaves them open to criminal prosecution

But even among states that punish illegal abortions, this “Criminal Miscarriage” law is unique. It not only punishes individuals who perform illegal procedures; it punishes women.

How Utah defined miscarriage as criminal homicide?

Utah’s “Criminal Miscarriage” law (H.B.12) makes simple changes to the state’s definition of “abortion” and the section of the Utah Criminal Code governing “criminal homicide.”

This law:

* defines legal abortion as a procedure “carried out by a physician or through a substance used under the direction of a physician.” Anything else that terminates a pregnancy is now defined as illegal abortion – including miscarriages.

* states that “The killing or attempted killing of a live unborn child in a manner that is not abortion shall be punished as…criminal homicide.” (emphasis mine)

* removes existing immunity from criminal prosecution for women “who seek to have or obtain an abortion” or “upon whom a partial birth abortion is performed.”

* applies the legal standard of an “intentional, knowing or reckless act of the woman” as punishable as criminal homicide.

Translation: If a woman has a miscarriage but didn’t know that she was pregnant, she cannot be charged with criminal homicide. So while this law does not criminalize all miscarriages, anything that could be defined as “knowing” or “reckless” would leave a woman at risk for criminal prosecution.

Could it really be that bad?

Yes, it could. . . It’s Utah!

Practically speaking however, this bill changes the presumption that abortions obtained in this state are legal. If this bill is signed into law, women in this state will essentially be in the uncomfortable and unfortunate position of having to prove that abortions they obtain (or miscarriages that they suffer) are not unlawful.

*snip*

A woman who fails to wear a seatbelt and is in a car accident could be charged with reckless homicide, should she miscarry. Likewise, a woman who has a substance abuse problem is likely to forego necessary prenatal care out of fear that she could be prosecuted for “knowing” or “reckless” homicide by continuing to use illegal substances while pregnant.

What can we do about it?

It’s time for everyone to hear about Utah’s “Criminal Miscarriage” law. The media must to cover it. We must to start conversations all across the country about what this means for women and girls in Utah – and what this precedent means if (or, more likely, when) other states follow suit. (A similar case in Iowa should be all the warning we need.)

So post this on Facebook. Tweet it. Forward it to five friends. And ask them all to do the same.

This is an update to an ongoing story about 1-year-old Javon Thompson who was starved to death by his mother after she was told by an older woman she lived with that it was “God’s will” to withhold food because the child “didn’t say ‘Amen’ during a mealtime prayer” when he had before. What is really crazy is that this mother believes, despite her son suffering in front of her and dying, that he is going to come back to life again.

Mother of starved child believes he’ll live again

Ramkissoon told the tale of her son’s excruciating death from the witness stand Wednesday, at the trial of the woman she says told her not to feed the boy. Queen Antoinette was the leader of a small religious cult, according to police and prosecutors, and she faces murder charges alongside her daughter, Trevia Williams, and another follower, Marcus A. Cobbs.

*snip*

Javon died in either December 2006 or January 2007; Ramkissoon isn’t sure of the exact date. His body was hidden in a suitcase for more than a year and has since been buried. But even now, she maintains her faith in his resurrection.

“I still believe that my son is coming back,” Ramkissoon said. “I have no problem saying what really happened because I believe he’s coming back.

“Queen said God told her he would come back. I believe it. I choose to believe it,” she said. “Even now, despite everything, I choose to believe it for my reasons.”

Later, she acknowledged that her faith makes her sound crazy. “I don’t have a problem sounding crazy in court,” she said.

It doesn’t just make you “sound” crazy, it only proves to the rational world that you ARE crazy! Deadly crazy.

I saw this story and it pisses me off how the reporter linked atheist books and books on demons when both types of literature were found in the home of an arson suspect in the burning of eastern Texas churches. I can just hear my fundie relatives now. Never mind what the religion and its followers who he was really angry with may have done to him, or whatever guilt it instilled affected him psychologically. He had an evil atheist book.

Atheism book found in home linked to fire suspect

DALLAS – Court records say books on demons and atheism as well as rifles and knives were found in a home linked to one of the suspects in a string of church fires in eastern Texas.

The items were listed in an affidavit filed after a residence in Grand Saline linked to 19-year-old Jason Robert Bourque was searched on Sunday.

Bourque and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllister were arrested and charged that day with a single felony arson charge.

Eleven area churches have been torched this year in what authorities believe was an arson spree.

The affidavit seeking the search says Bourque left graffiti linking him to one of the blazes in the bathroom of a Tyler store.

Attorneys for the two men are not commenting publicly because of a gag order.

This is just the latest in the long line of nonsense we hear from one of the monolithic Big Three: Malaysia canes three women over extramarital sex

Three Malaysian women have been caned by the authorities for having extra-marital sex, say officials.

They are the first women to receive such a sentence under Islamic law in the country.

The punishments come as another Malaysian woman waits to hear whether her caning – for drinking beer – is carried out.

Yes, because women are cattle, dontcha know, how dare they even consider doing anything without consulting the menfolk first? (That is, of course, sarcasm.)

Malaysia’s majority Malays are subject to Islamic laws, while the large Chinese and Indian minorities are not.

Like we don’t have enough divisions in any society, again, religion creates even more.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the punishments had been carried out in a prison outside the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on 9 February.

The women were each hit up to six times. One is reported to have since been released from prison.

Prison? Really? Really. Seriously.

Officials did not say how the canings were carried out, but analysts said such punishments were usually light for women, intended to be largely symbolic.

Regardless of whether it was ‘light’ or not, it shouldn’t have happened at all. Also, note the conspicuous absence of the men who had sex with them. More unnecessary divisions, only this time it’s about gender discrimination.

"Even though the caning did not injure them, they said it caused pain within them," the Reuters news agency quoted Mr Hishammuddin as saying.

He told state media he hoped the punishments would not be "misunderstood so much that it defiles the purity of Islam".

An irrational religion pushing an unrealistic standard? Forcing people to live by an anachronistic code that originated only from men? Obeisance to a Bronze Age standard that’s laughable by today’s views and knowledge? Would that this were a surprise. Sadly, it’s not.

This is something I know I’ve said before: the true yardstick by which we measure civilization, is how a society (any society) treats its women and children.  Sharia law is a throwback, which modern peoples should throw away.

Till the next post, then.

I had to re-read this a few times to make sure it wasn’t satire, but it’s for real.

The Virginia House of Delegates has just passed a bill that supporters hope will keep the Antichrist at bay.

You hear a loud whirring noise, you say? That would be Thomas Jefferson and James Madison spinning like tops in their Virginia graves.

Yes, it’s true. Yesterday House members approved a measure that would prohibit employers and insurance companies from requiring people to implant microchips in their bodies.

*snip*

. . . according to The Washington Post, there are some fundamentalist Christians out there whose analysis of end-times biblical prophecy leads them to believe that the Antichrist will appear soon and force everyone to accept the “mark of the Beast” in their persons. That “mark,” they think, could easily be the microchip.

The Post reports that Del. Mark L. Cole (R –Fredericksburg), the bill’s sponsor, has both privacy and religious concerns. He thinks the microchips could someday be used as the “mark of the beast” described in the Book of Revelation.

I was LMAO at this paragraph:

So let me get this straight: the Antichrist – the personification of Evil itself – is going to show up in America and start imposing the mark of Beast. He rolls through states such California, Kansas and Delaware, but when he gets to the Virginia line, he and his legions of demons just have to stop dead in their sulfurous tracks.

“Sorry, boys,” he’ll say. “Virginia’s got a law that says we can’t mess with the good folks there.”

While this sort of thing isn’t very important since it’s concerning something imaginary that is never going to happen anyway, it is taking time away from important REAL issues like unemployment, education and state budgets.

And as Joseph Conn states:

And most importantly, it does enormous harm when legislators get the idea that it’s perfectly okay for them to enact laws based on religion.