Carnival of the Godless

TJM is proud to be able to bring all you godless heathen the 80th edition of the Carnival of the Godless. I hope that this post finds you still fat and happy with the spoils of Thanksgiving. For those of you that will be traveling this holiday season, travel safely and enjoy the season responsibly. Now, on to the submissions! Let’s get these posts spread around; Stumble, Digg or Reddit this post so we can help those that have contributed their posts to this issue get even more exposure. They will thank you and you will secure one golden token redeemable for a spot in hell.

Isla Skye shares a story of de-conversion and defection from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in De-bunking God. God is loving, kind and merciful, right? Well, think of this post as a character assassination, carried out with a 50 caliber PSG1.

The Australian Atheist takes on the abortion issue from a different point of view; the fetus’. In his post, “Are Aborted Fetuses Lucky?” he points out that while god and his “chosen people” may not agree with abortion, the fetuses get a quick free pass into heaven while avoiding the pain and tragedy that this world is quickly becoming.

The Black Gay Jew wrecked his car recently…actually, Jesus wrecked his car! Oh yeah, it’s true! Okay, so this is merely a cover story for the real story, which is the alarming pace that super mega-churches are going up. With such a huge percentage of real estate in the U.S. being eaten up with churches and cemeteries (both of which enjoy a tax free ride which serves to further raise YOUR taxes), do we really need more of these massive conformist bee hives?

Is the Christian god a just god? While this begs the question of what “just” is and whether or not we as mortals can even comprehend the nature of god (I can…non-existent), Mathew Wilder tackles this philosophical conundrum in his post, “The Injustice of God.” A great read.

What exactly constitutes a religion? Sacred halls with a sacred book? A mass of followers? How many is a mass? Is simply subscribing to our feed making you part of a religion? These questions and more are bantered about in “Paid to Lack a Sense of Humor,” this week’s submission from Science After Sunclipse. The idea that theologians are actually debating whether or not the FSM movement is a religion is laughable, to say the least.

The underlying question to this exhaustive submission is one that we have all asked. Is religion harmful are beneficial to society? In this post, Greta really lays all the cards on the table. She tells it like it is, and does it with class and style. Yes, it is a lengthy post, but you owe it to yourself to read it. Then read it again. After you have finished processing the information, head over to her next submission, “If You Weren’t an Atheist, What Would You Be?” A little busy this month, huh Greta?

While most theists are quite content to go out on the limb of faith, non-theists and skeptics alike find that evidence should always be presented to support the claim. What is evidence? This is just one of the questions On Fire for Reason throws out to you in “Evidence.”

I loved this next post. Especially reason #3 in the list of America’s Collective Attention Span for Gratitude: 9 Hours! Let’s face it, other than getting together to spend time with the family (which is something that you should make time for regardless of the seasons), Christmas blows. Just ask the over 75 million of us in the US that don’t celebrate it…

At “Life According to Mike White,” Mike resurrects some of the logical problems with the fundamentalists’ (and aren’t they all fundamentally mental?) view of Noah’s Ark. Great read and the comments are already piling up. Add you two cents in the discussion!

Is theism a choice? How about atheism? While this post doesn’t quite delve into the complicated theories of memes and the hardwiring of the brain, C.J. does pose some thought provoking questions in our next submission, “Why Atheism or Theism is Not a Choice.”

I know that not a one of you are exactly pleased with the recent comments from His Royal Dipshit, Pope Ratzinger. This was the first submission that I have recieved so far on the subject though. One of the best rants on the subject that I have read recently. Sur, there are some points that are slightly off (Hitler was a Catholic, not an atheist), but I found that the vast majority was spot on. Head on over and tell him what you think of his post, “Down With Ratzinger.”

Aundi writes that God and Mammon makes strange bedfellows when they get in bed with Money priests and Queer legislators. It matters that at every level and sector of clever there are those living actively and openly queer lifestyles. The fight for equal civil liberties lies less in any change of heart and more in the fight for votes. Those closet-case Republican politicians, those self-loathing legislators who bend so tragically under the weight of their own desires that they have to spend great portions of their careers making sure the thing they are terrified of becoming never becomes socially acceptable. Meanwhile, they fondle kids or funnel the attainable into the public restroom.

The Chaplain writes that independence in thought and independence from persons, contrast starkly with traits that are common among many theists. Consider, for a moment, independence of thought versus indoctrination. Theists, particularly conservative ones, are conditioned to accept what they are taught, via indoctrination (not education), with few questions. Throughout the history of the Christian church, independent thinkers usually were branded as heretics. They were the ones who questioned the status quo, the ones upon whom the indoctrination did not completely take or retain its hold. They were also the ones who, more often than not, were later proven to have been right.

In Awful Disclosures we read about Maria Monk who was the first voice to speak out for North American victims of clergy sexual abuse, and paid the price for it. Titled The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk or The Hidden Secrets of a Nun’s Life in a Convent Exposed, published in 1836, provided lurid descriptions of her life in a Montreal convent and the sexual exploitation that she faced there. According to the book, she and other nuns of the Sisters of Charity of the Hotel-Dieu (also known as “the Black Nuns”), were routinely sexually abused by the priests at a seminary next door. Using a secret tunnel that linked the convent to the seminary, priests would enter to have sex with the nuns on a regular basis. If children resulted from the sexual acts, the babies would be baptized and then “smothered or secretly buried in the cellar”.

Her critics (and there were many), used inconsistencies in her story to discredit her. She was roundly reviled for her efforts. Even if she became a madwoman, pickpocket and a prostitute with several illegitimate children, it does not indicate her story is not true but more likely the opposite, for many victims of abuse come to unfortunate ends, especially if scorned and disbelieved. She was roundly reviled for her efforts. Even if she became a madwoman, pickpocket and a prostitute with several illegitimate children, it does not indicate her story is not true but more likely the opposite, for many victims of abuse come to unfortunate ends, especially if scorned and disbelieved. Read more about her and decide for yourself if she was a victim, or not.

In his Message to Muslims compares Christianity and Islam. He holds their god and beliefs to be as absurd as any Christian’s and states that the Muslim world is probably no less than a century or two behind Christianity in terms of sensibility, which is a strong condemnation when you look at Christianity. Both Christians and Muslims hate to have their beliefs challenged or offended, and demand submission to them through respect or fear. Muslims just seem to have a much stronger belief in the concept that they have the right not to be offended, which is absurd. It is their use of intimidation, violence and fear against opponents of their religion that allows non-Muslims to easily condemn and not respect them.

In a post about the magic influence holy relics are believed to have, Anatoly Venovcev discusses the morality and ethical implications such relics have. Should they by any chance really help or protect the believer, doesn’t it make the believer a cheater by giving him an unfair advantage? The wearer of such relics does not have to do anything more but have it on him or wear it. It does not speak highly of believers or their God.

In From Student To Teacher and Back the Spanish Inquisitor discusses the hazards of being a too much of a teacher and not enough of a student. A good teacher, he presumes, knows that he doesn’t know everything. A good teacher knows that he can learn something, no matter how small or insignificant, from his students. A good teacher doesn’t get smug, feeling that he has reached the pinnacle of knowledge, that there is nothing new that he can learn.As atheists we have to keep an open mind, and accept that our knowledge is provisional, that it can be replaced with new knowledge when appropriate. This is actually one of the tenets of critical thinking – the ability to shed knowledge, or beliefs, when better knowledge shows up. And critical thinking is at the heart of atheism.

No More Mr Nice Guy is fed up with the bogus “war on Christianity” which gets infinitely stupider every year. He is on the warpath and as extreme-right Christians are a black hole of infinitely dense stupidity, arrogance, aggressiveness and utter cluelessness, they should acknowledge their own damn holiday, don’t force other people to do it as well. Let them to church and stay there, and don’t come out until Groundhog Day. They should stop forcing their barbaric bronze-age superstition down everyone else’s throat.

Greg Laden gives a humorous version of the talk John West of the Creationist Discovery Institute gave at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus.

Jared asks: does religion provide man with false desires, or does religion falsely suppress man’s desires? And to that I say, why not both?

Michael Fowke delivers a monologue about the devils and nightmares of Scrutton Street, where he survived survived the horror. He was young and foolish, and had the fearless soul of the natural-born adventurer. He went down into the darkness. He lived in fear. He saw the deranged smiles of the forgotten ones - dead, half-alive, almost living, workers tied to their torture!

The Sexy Secularist writes about his thanksgiving dinner attended by lapsed Catholics, born-again Christians, Jews, a pro-Palestinian, knee-jerk anti-Imperialist uncle; a recipe for a happy family reunion with lots of talk about money and religion.

Then we have the adventures of an American atheist ex-Mormon mum living in France who writes about the Grinch and the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is all about joy of celebrating and sharing traditions from one generation to the next.

The Whited Sepulchre writes about Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy Guilliani and whether loyal viewers of Robertson’s “700 Club” who militantly oppose abortion and recoil at libertine lifestyles are unlikely to switch to the Catholic thrice-married, publicly cross-dressing, pro-abortion rights Giuliani. But conservatives already strongly attracted to the former New York mayor’s toughness and 9/11 allure might put their qualms about abortion aside because of Robertson’s imprimatur.

Francois Tremblay delivers a controversial, humorous blog about religion being the product of faggotry. There are three fundamental characteristics of monotheistic religions like Christianity that clearly fit this model:

1. Constant projection of undesired attributes on one’s opponents.

2. Hatred of the body, sexuality in general, and female sexuality.

3. Even greater hatred of homosexuality.

Sissy men obsess about being the “bridesmaid of Christ” and being a “virgin for God.” Sissy men fall on their knees for worship (total submission to a male figure, symbolizing giving oral sex to a male figure). Real men stand on their own two feet and reject Christianity and its fagot ideology.

How dare you insult Islam by naming a Teddy bear after Mohammed??? Screw that, how dare you insult the living god by naming a snail after Him? I hope for your sake Brian forgives you for this blasphemy…

The “End of an Error” is almost upon us as the primaries draw near. Huckabee seems to be seeing his star “rising in the east” as we get closer. The Iron Chariot brings us some enlightening information on the man and the way that politicians just love to do the two-step when it comes to answering the tough questions.

What if Sir Thomas More had access to PowerPoint? The Skwib gives use a good idea of what the bullet points would be.

Tired of the term “militant atheist” yet? Maybe you are not. Maybe you DO have an AK47 strapped to your side while spreading the seeds of your atheist propaganda. If that is you, don’t bother to read our next submission entitled, “Militant Atheist- Is This a Real Label?” Thanks for the clarification, Breaking Spells.

Back to the political realm… Romney. Did his speech about his Mormon faith taking a back seat to his duty move you? Yeah, me neither. But you can read more about it at Cheerful Iconoclast.

Are the text books skewed to reflect a respect for religion that does not exist amongst atheists? In “What’s the Deal with Philosophy of Religion,” The Uncredible Hallq alludes to this question and you will find yourself asking many others. I found the comments section rather fun to read as well. (28 comments at the time of this post.)

Alonzo, thank you for such a good read. Good story, well thought out and well executed. I do not want to spoil it for the other readers so here goes. Read Alonzo’s story about the Pledge of Allegiance. Just do it.

And finally, if you are an enterprising person with a penchant for for starting new businesses, this post is right up your alley. Personally, I think that TJM will start selling FSM holiday lights. How festive would that be?!?!

TJM would like to thank all those that have submitted their post for the Carnival of the Godless. Remember to submit your posts to TCoG for the 81st edition, which will be held at Defense of Reason on 12/23/07.