A pathologist in Ontario made some dreadful, stupid, sloppy mistakes, the kinds of errors that can destroy people’s lives.
The mistakes Smith made in conducting autopsies or giving second opinions on autopsies prompted the province to call the inquiry. His work contributed to some parents or caregivers coming under suspicion or being convicted for the deaths of their children.
It took years and many cases for this guy’s incompetence to be caught out. How could that be?
But of course fanatical Catholic Bill Donohue is furious about the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass, and is ranting and raving about it. Pullman offers a universally useful and sensible response.
“To regard it as this Donohue man has said — that I’m a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people — how the hell does he know that? Why don’t we trust readers? Why don’t we trust filmgoers?” Pullman said. “Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world.”
It’s just a book and a movie, and it doesn’t compel the reader to like it — and we could say that about any of the overtly atheist books that have been published lately. Maybe Donohue should save the outrage for the day we have tax-exempt Pullman reading rooms, or when Pullman is required reading in science classes, or when politicians are elected on the basis of their attractiveness to Kingmaker Philip Pullman and his lobbying group, Fantasy for the Family.
Yet another example of religious insanity:
A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed, her school said on Monday.
Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, aged 54 from Liverpool, told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where she was being held.
I don’t know why they’re blaming the teacher. Clearly, all of those 7-year-olds need to be hauled out of their homes and stoned to death.
If there actually were a god, Cyclone Sidr would have spun through Bangladesh, selectively eliminating all the two-faced scumbag missionaries who exploit the poor in the name of their deity. Chris Mooney cites an example from the Baptist Press:
In the hours before Cyclone Sidr reached the coastal areas of Bangladesh, Southern Baptists and other Christians began praying — aware that the Category 4 storm potentially could usher hundreds of thousands into an eternity without Jesus.
…
“Last night a lot of people died and entered an eternity of suffering,” Neely said. “Almost none of them has heard a Christian testimony or biblical explanation of who Christ really is. They have never heard the truth about who God really is, who they are in His sight or what God’s plan is to save us from our sin through Christ.”
The title of the source article is also offensive: “Their prayer: that faith in Christ follows cyclone “. That’s looking on the bright side, I guess — all the destruction, the desperation, and the displacement represent marvelous opportunities for the scoundrels and scalawags of religion to move in and harvest souls for Jesus.
I sometimes hear people claim that religion provides consolation to the bereaved. This is a perfect example of the opposite: a manipulative religion used to incite anguish and fear and misery in the minds of survivors.
It sure seems that way. Yet another tawdry series of escapades by Christianists:
The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother’s wife and fathered a child by her.
The story has some cheering news, though.
At its peak in the early 1990s, it claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member’s income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.
Today, though, membership is down to about 1,500, the church has 18 pastors, most of them volunteers, and the Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered — a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of the elder Paulks.
Ah, I love to see a church imploding.
Today’s Freethinker Sunday Sermonette first tells the tale of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which is utterly wacky by intent…and then has a most amusing cartoon retelling of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is even more insane. Who needs the FSM when you can discredit religion more effectively with its own words?
Salma, Salma, Salma…you heard about my thread to name the feeblest reason for believing in Christianity, and you couldn’t just leave a comment like everyone else? You had to go running to the press to submit your entry?
Mexican actress SALMA HAYEK was so upset by childhood jibes about her flat-chest, she would pray to God for larger breasts. The Ugly Betty star reveals she was bullied for having small breasts as a youngster – and decided to turn to her Catholic religion for help. She says, “My mom and I stopped at a church during a road trip we were making from our home in Mexico. “When we went inside, I prayed for the miracle I wanted to happen. I put my hands in holy water and said: ‘Please God, give me some breasts’. “And he gave me them! Within a few months, I developed a growing spurt, as teenagers do, and I was very pleased with the way I grew outwards.”
They are very nice, Salma, but you should really give credit where credit is due: genes, steroid hormone receptors, steroid hormones, diet, and a million years of chance and selection.
That’s a poll on Christianity Today — and I’m afraid “none” wasn’t one of the options. Instead, readers got to pick from insipid nonsense like “the reliability of the Scriptures,” “The exquisiteness of the physical world,” and the winner, “The life and character of Jesus.” As Ophelia notes, those aren’t even arguments. Isn’t it rather pathetic that this is all they can dredge up for their readers, platitudes and errors?
I’ve been ignoring this rain prayer nonsense from Georgia lately, despite the fact that every day I’m getting email about it. It was just too ridiculous to believe—no one, especially not the governor of an American state in the 21st century, could be that loony.
And then I watched this video.
Good grief. I watched that blithering idiot babbling about god listening to their prayers to relieve the drought, and I heard the onlookers muttering “Yeah!” and “Amen!” and all I could think was …
An announcement from Minnesota Atheists:
Mother Teresa: Closet Atheist or Teflon Saint?
Sponsored by Minnesota Atheists
Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007
1:30-2:30 p.m.
Bedlam Theatre, MinneapolisAround the world Mother Teresa has become an unassailable icon of charity, love and endless toil for the benefit of the “poorest of the poor.” Her image as the savior of the poor people of Calcutta earned untold millions in donations, multitudes of awards, including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, and a fast track to sainthood.
Persons who have questioned her mode of operation and publicized the true nature of her contributions have been widely and vehemently vilified. Now, with the release of some of her private writings, some are calling her a “closet atheist.”
Minnesota Atheists’ associate president Cynthia Egli will speak on the controversies surrounding Mother Teresa’s life and work and answer the question, “Should the Catholic Church canonize Mother Teresa?”
Complete schedule (everything is free and open to the public):
Noon – 12:30 p.m. – Social time.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Presentation.
1:30 – 1:50 p.m. – Break.
1:50 – 2:00 p.m. – Brief business.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. – Open discussions.Bedlam Theatre,
1501 6th St. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55454This venue is exactly at the Cedar-Riverside light rail station in the West Bank area of Minneapolis. There is a huge FREE parking lot behind Bedlam Theatre.
