After all the gasps of outrage at the Catholicchurch’s response to that tragic story of a 9-year old rape victim’s abortion, the church has seen the light of reason and…actually, no. They just made it worse. The Roman Catholic Church of Brazil has excommunicated everyone involved in the abortion, except the child, who was excused on grounds of her age. Old enough to be raped and bear children, but not old enough to be responsible for decisions about her reproductive tract, apparently.

Remember this when anyone tries to tell you about their god of love, their religion of mercy, their source of all moral virtue.

Those involved who have been excommunicated ought to take this opportunity to rethink whether they even want to be associated with such a contemptible organization.

The president of Brazil has now spoken out against the church’s decision.

This is a tragedy, amplifed by the idiocy in the subhead:

Brazil girl, alleged rape victim, aborts twins
The procedure on the 9-year-old girl draws complaints from Catholic church

You don’t really need to say more than that.

That’s the message I get from this horrible little video. The conceit is that someone writes a letter to god, asking why he let violence occur in the schools, and he replies…and gee, god sure sounds like a snide pissant. The omnipotent, omniscient lord of the cosmos couldn’t do a thing because those liberals put a restraining order on him. Right. Crazed madmen run through a public school murdering children, and good ol’ Jehovah channels Cartman and says, “Whoa, let ’em bleed to death — some of the kids don’t pray to me, and the principal doesn’t begin the school day with a public obeisance. Screw you guys, I’m going home.”

Fundamentalist theology sure is an ugly thing, isn’t it?

The UN has passed an absurd resolution that tries to make defamation of religion illegal. No more blasphemy for us!

At least a Canadian spokesman has the right idea.

“Canada rejects the basic premise that religions have rights; human rights belong to human beings,” said Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

“The focus (here) should not be on protecting religions, but rather on protecting the rights of the adherents of religions, including of people belonging to religious minorities, or people who may choose to change their religion, or not to practice religion at all.”

Christopher Hitchens also makes strong points (you’ll have to listen to the odious Lou Dobbs to hear him, unfortunately).

There’s an interesting Gallup poll that compares religious fervor between nations. Here’s a quick summary:

• Religiosity is correlated with poverty — the poorer you are, the more godly you are. I guess God really does like that poverty thing.

• The US is not the most religious nation, not by a long shot — we are well below the median. It is, however, an outlier, as the most religious wealthy nation.

• There is wide regional variation within the US. Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina are like poor Middle Eastern or African countries; Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are like middle-of-the-road European nations, in terms of their religiosity.

I suspect there has to be a dangerous cycle imbedded in these relationships. Poverty leads to more religiosity as people reach for desperate hope; and religion does nothing to solve real problems, leading to worsening poverty.

Would you believe that indulgences are back? Do a little dance, say a little mumbo-jumbo, and the Catholic church will declare that you will get time off from your sentence in purgatory after death.

How do they know?

And what if they’re wrong?

I’d be very annoyed if I juggled beads for hours and hours and then found out that the High Supreme Cosmic Jailer only gave time off for life minutes spent smelling flowers or something.

Oh, well, at least they aren’t selling get-out-of-purgatory-free cards just yet. When that happens, we’ll have to go through another 30 Years War, and once was enough.