Outsourcing Morality

My God is just and wrathful;
I fear the day we meet.
He’ll judge my sins and trespasses
From his almighty seat
I’d try to beat the system
But His system can’t be beat—
So while sometimes I am tempted
I will never, ever cheat.

My god is kind and loving
And forgiving of our sins;
In our quest to find salvation
He knows everybody wins
In school, when tests are handed out
He knows my head just spins
So my eyes are on my neighbor’s test
As soon as it begins.

Sciencey stuff, after the jump: [Read more…]

Unconstitutional Chaplains

If you haven’t yet, watch this video, courtesy of Chris Rodda. Then, forgive me for re-posting this verse. It’s just that it’s all too appropriate, once again.

The chaplains are ready to answer the call
In the guise of supporting our fitness
To breach and dismantle the church-and-state wall
And to act as a born-again witness

And the Head of the chaplains will smile and nod,
For God and for country (but mostly for God) [Read more…]

30 Months In Prison For Indonesian Atheist

Well, fuck.

Via the Jakarta Globe…

An Indonesian man arrested after writing “God doesn’t exist” on his Facebook page was jailed for 30 months Thursday for sharing explicit material about the Prophet Mohammed online.

Alexander Aan, 30, was found guilty of “deliberately spreading information inciting religious hatred and animosity,” presiding judge Eka Prasetya Budi Dharma told the Muaro Sijunjung district court in western Sumatra.

Aan posted comic strips. Comic strips. Ok, and a few articles. And for this…

“Under the Electronic Information and Transactions law, we sentence him to prison for a length of two years and six months,” Dharma said.

“What he did has caused anxiety to the community and tarnished Islam.”

Aan was beaten by an angry mob and arrested by police in his hometown of Pulau Punjung in western Sumatra in January after posting the material online and declaring himself an atheist.

The court had earlier indicted Aan with two other charges — persuading others to embrace atheism and blasphemy — and prosecutors had sought a three-and-a-half-year jail term for him.

But the court convicted him of the most serious charge and dropped the other two.

Ah… leniency.

This is freedom of religion without freedom from religion.

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, guarantees freedom of religion in its constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but only recognizes six faiths: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism.

Its courts have in recent years given light sentences to perpetrators of violent attacks on Christians and Islamic minority Ahmadis, some of which have been fatal.

(wow, even this news story omits atheists in this last sentence.) This is, I think, the model that the Tea Party wants for the US.

BINGO!

So I fired up my search deally, that look through the sites I don’t normally traffic, to find me something to read that I probably wouldn’t have come across all by myself. Sometimes I will find something interesting; sometimes I can find something old and cliched, something I can’t believe has survived the information age (like seeing a horsefly, outdoors, in mid-January, you wonder how it survived). Today, I filled my BINGO card on the very first site. [Read more…]

“They Will Take Up Serpents…”

It’s plain to see—for goodness’ sakes—
That showing faith by handling snakes
Shows God you’ve got the will it takes
To follow and obey.

The bible says to show the “signs”—
No need to read between the lines—
Just show your faith as God defines;
There is no other way.

You’ve read the book; in Mark 16
A test of faith is clearly seen—
No doubt to what the verses mean;
You simply must believe.

Your faith is strong; these are your rites,
You have salvation in your sights,
And if by chance the serpent bites…
We all shall surely grieve.

[Read more…]

Place Yer Bets…

My little search deally thingie (particularly attentive readers might remember that I use a search deally thingie to find stuff for me, so I don’t fall into the rut of looking at the same places all the time) found me a site called “Christian Activist Pro-Life News”. It seems they cut and pasted an essay (labeled “just for catholics.org”, so it’s quite possible they stole it) titled “The Cruelty of Atheism“. Don’t feel you have to visit–unless you are the very odd reader here, you have seen every bit of their argument before–but I had to place a bet with myself, whether they even had comments allowed.

I lost. They have comments.

I couldn’t help but comment.

Alas, comments are moderated. So you, too, get to place yer bets. Will my comment get through? Just in case, here it is in its entirety: [Read more…]

I Guess I’m Just Too Offensive

Near as I can tell, the good people at Christianpost.com deleted a comment because they didn’t like my verse.

Not my comment, mind you, so I can’t be certain. But I was following links, and have my suspicions. After the jump:

See, this story tells of a terrible tragedy miracle, in which four people died, but one survived.

Hannah Luce, daughter of Teen Mania founder Ron Luce, is continuing to improve as she recovers from a plane crash last Friday. She was the sole survivor among the five on board.

“The fact that Hannah is here with us is a miracle, and while I am overjoyed and so thankful to God that she’s here, I am also deeply saddened at the loss of Austin, Stephen, Garrett and Luke,” Ron Luce wrote Tuesday on his blog. “I can’t even begin to understand the pain their parents are feeling right now.”

It’s a terrible thing. At this point, I would be overjoyed to have my daughter survive, but I can’t quite wrap my head around people other than the parents calling it a miracle, claiming that God had a hand in saving one, without taking any blame for killing the other four. I have no qualms with the parents calling this a miracle–any port in a storm–but the commenters don’t have a stake, and if they are going to claim miracle, they can be expected to have that claim questioned.

And it seems they can and will delete posts that do question this miracle. Including, apparently, one that quoted one of my verses. The verse was about a previous miracle, a case in which a man survived a fall from a skyscraper, with only 10 broken bones (both legs, right arm, multiple ribs, vertebrae). His brother was killed in the accident. Come to think of it, it seems a very similar situation to this current tragedy miracle.

I always found it rather odd
When people think to credit God;
The doctors helped, at least a bit,
The rescue workers didn’t quit,
The strangers there, who saw him fall
And made the first responder call
So many people did so much
But still we see His Holy Touch–
You see, it seems the signs are there
That show this man has seen God’s care:
The shattered ankle, broken shin
The shards of bone that pierce through skin
The massive bleeding in his gut–
Yes, every fracture, every cut–
This is the way that God Above
Displays His omnipresent Love.
And just in case He’s still denied
Remember, this man’s brother died.
Such agony makes Man aware
Of just how precious is God’s care
And when Humanity forgets,
God has a way to hedge His bets:
He’ll find a patsy, just some guy,
Like this Moreno, way up high–
When disbelievers start to scoff
God simply pushes this guy off;
With bleeding, pain, and broken bone,
God shows us that we’re not alone,
With just a little Godly shove,
He gets a chance to prove His Love.

National Day Of Prayer (No Thanks)

It’s time to raise our voice in prayer,
And pray to–well, there’s no one there.
No god to urge to do our bidding;
Go on and pray–just know you’re kidding.

It’s time to all sit on our asses,
And pray forgiveness for trespasses
(Or is that to forgive our debtor?
Who cares, as long as we feel better.)

It’s time we all embrace god fully,
Feel all righteous, good, and holy–
Or be some atheistic jerk,
Roll up your god-damned sleeves, and work!

It’s time to say “I do not care
To join you in this day of prayer.”
Sure, a day off looks like fun,
But there is work that must be done.

Our problems will not fix themselves
There is no god to send in elves
To do the work of human ranks
So… join, today, in prayer? No thanks.

First posted 4 years ago! My goodness, how time crawls!

The Voice Of God

Some people hear the voice of god
Whenever thunder booms—
(They might have missed a science class,
One cautiously presumes.)
A summer storm impresses them,
And leaves them filled with wonder—
They hear the mighty voice of god…
I only hear the thunder. [Read more…]