God sucks!

[dan foster]

From one of my deluded Facebook friends.

The God myth is thanked for stopping the wind but is given no credit for allowing the wind that caused the damage. 

You should suggest they didn't pray hard enough with the hurricanes that hit in 2005.  God will save us from the next one, if they go to the beaches in large numbers and pray together, until the storm has been redirected to some other area to kill "those people" instead.

[Locutus]

Hey I live in Fort Lauderdale.  I'll tell all those sheep up there at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church to do just that. 

[Locutus]

Speaking of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, seems ole' Billy Graham's grandson doesn't like payin' for the electricity for his own Christmas lights. 



Neighbors to pastor's family: Thou shalt not steal our electricity for your Christmas lights

By Lisa J. Huriash, Sun Sentinel

December 24, 2009

Angry neighbors have accused The Rev. Tullian Tchividjian's family of coveting their electricity.

Jose and Ester Duprey told police the pastor's family plugged their white Christmas lights into the outlet outside of the Dupreys' Coconut Creek house.

Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and senior pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, could not be reached for comment despite three messages left at his home and church Wednesday and Thursday.

According to the Dupreys' daughter, Elizabeth, her father found the lights plugged into his outlet on Sunday and immediately unplugged it. About 25 minutes later, he found it plugged back in, so the family called police.

The Tchividjians agreed not to use the outlet anymore, according to police records.

"The very next day, Kim, the pastor's wife, apologized profusely," Elizabeth Duprey said. "She said she was embarrassed, it won't happen again." The Dupreys declined to file charges.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/coconut-creek/fl-reverend-christmas-lights-20091224,0,689714.story

[Locutus]

Now let's just have a look at the sheeple defending this asshole.

My, my the atheism by those before my post and since I'm feeling poetic...Did they ask for permission is the question that should be asked, rather that pose than Christian bash. Have yourselves a Merry Christmas, dirtbags...

Does this sheep really think law enforcement would have been called had the pastor had permission to use the outlet?  Notice how this Xtian tosses out a Christmas eve insult to the atheists who are taking the reverend to task for his thievery?  Dirtbags.  Nice! 

[Locutus]

nstead of jumping to conclusions and leaping to attack when the details are still quite sketchy, let's all just wait and watch the story develop. When the pastor responds, we will all get an answer. The Sentinel isn't going to just let this one go. What we do know is that it was plugged in, and the wife apologized. Seems like an innocent mistake to me. They don't own the house they are in currently, perhaps there is an outdoor outlet between their house and their neighbors. An innocent mistake. Seeing as they don't own the house, they are most likely unfamiliar with the electrical layout. This is also their first Christmas in this house, so it's their first time doing lights for this particular house. Let us all wait and see what happens.

Innocent mistake?   

This asshole plugs the lights BACK in after having them disconnected by his neighbor and it's an innocent mistake?  How dumb and blind can these sheep possibly be??

[Locutus]

Right - just blame the pastor when it most likely was SOMEONE ELSE at his house that plugged the things in to the outlet.

Bunch of low-life devil-worshippers in S Florida. I'll bet you a kick in your nuts you're WAY more guilty of bigger schit than this non-story.

The devil-worshippers in South Florida dare to blame the pastor when "it most likely was SOMEONE ELSE at his house" that did the dirty deed.  See why I can't stand these kind of people and the shit they pull??

[dan foster]

The devil-worshippers in South Florida dare to blame the pastor when "it most likely was SOMEONE ELSE at his house" that did the dirty deed.  See why I can't stand these kind of people and the shit they pull??

Part of their training to believe.  They throw out reality and make up their own, based on what they are told from the "good book".  And the HAVE to defend one of the herd as anything that might tarnish their image can't be true, either.  Christians are not allowed to be human; they have to be christ-like and jesus would never steal anything (other than being a horse thief);   

Matthew 21

1And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,

2Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.

3And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

[Locutus]

Hey Dan!  Love that FSM avatar you've got for the New Year!   

[Locutus]

(CNN) -- Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab wouldn't have to go to an al Qaeda training camp in Yemen to learn how to hate.

He had plenty of examples in his own country.

AbdulMutallab is the 23-year-old Nigerian being held for allegedly trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. While much attention has focused on his privileged background, less has been said about the religious conflict in his homeland.

Christians and Muslims have been killing each other in Nigeria for much of AbdulMutallab's lifetime. At least 10,000 Nigerians have died during Christian-Muslim riots and ethnic violence during the past decade.

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. It has become the focal point of Christian and Muslim groups -- in Nigeria and abroad, says Eliza Griswold, who has spent the last five years traveling to Nigeria to examine the causes of religious violence.

"Nigeria has become a battleground state for Christians and Muslims around the world who see themselves involved in a numbers game," says Griswold, author of "The Tenth Parallel," an upcoming book that explores the tension between Christians and Muslims just north of the equator in Africa and Asia.

"Any Christian or Muslim who has the point of view that numbers matter has a stake in Nigeria," she says.

The divisions between Christianity and Islam are more than symbolic in Nigeria. There's a geographic boundary: Nigerian Muslims tend to live in north, while Christians live in the south, Griswold says.

Many Nigerian Muslims see themselves as standing at the southern tip of the Islamic world, Griswold says. To the immediate south lie many African nations that tend to embrace Christianity.

"There is this attitude that Islam is under siege by the Christian West and, by proxy, Nigerian Christians," Griswold says. "There is this sense among some devoted Muslims in the north that we need to be part of the larger Islamic community, and we need to prove that we belong."

Nigeria's bloody religious history

That tension can cut both ways. Talk to some Nigerian Christians and one can hear the same concern as Nigerian Muslims: We are under attack; we have to preserve our autonomy.

Gbenga Akinbola, rector of the Mount Zion Anglican Church in Chicago, Illinois, has experienced religious tension in Nigeria. He led a congregation there only four years ago as a priest in the Nigerian Anglican Church.

He says Nigerian Muslims once tried to officially declare Nigeria a Muslim state and force some Christians in the north to adopt Islamic customs.

Both Christians and Muslims feel that they represent the one true God and are obligated to convert others, Akinbola says.

"They are doing what the leaders of both of these groups tell them to," he says. "Christians preach to Muslims, and Muslims try to do the same. For Christians, Jesus Christ has told us to go out and preach."

Sometimes, people don't want to be converted. And at a time when many young Nigerians are unemployed and looking for scapegoats, violence can easily follow, some Nigerians say.

In November 2008, at least 700 Nigerians died in Christian-Muslim riots that followed a disputed local election, Human Rights Watch reported. Two years earlier, the Nigerian army was mobilized to halt similar rioting after a Danish newspaper published a cartoon that depicted Mohammed, the founder of Islam, in a caricature, according to CNN reports.

The event that arguably attracted the most attention in the West took place in 2002 when the Miss World Pageant was relocated from Nigeria after Christian-Muslim riots killed 200 people.

Violence begets more violence, Akinbola says.

"When they kill Christians in the north, Christians in the south will retaliate against Muslims," he says.

He adds that the tensions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria date back to British colonial rule. He says the British traditionally awarded political leadership positions to members of the Muslim majority in the north.

British colonial rule ended with Nigeria's independence in 1960. But some Nigerian Muslims still feel as if they are entitled to rule Nigeria, he says.

"If you see a license plate in one of the northern states, you'll often see an inscription that reads 'Born to rule,' '' Akinbola says.

Another side of Nigeria's religious story

The ferocity of religious disagreement is also fanned by unscrupulous political leaders, says Mohammed Ladan, a Nigerian Muslim who now works as a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Some of the politicians engineer this violence for their own political end," Ladan says. "If they can play Christians against Muslims, it can take attention away from the real problems of society."

Ladan says he never felt persecuted by Christians while growing up in northern Nigeria. Like several other Nigerians interviewed, he says it would be simplistic to say most Nigerian Christians and Muslims are engaged in a permanent civil war.

Several Nigerians told stories of having friends and even siblings of another faith.

"My wife is a Christian. Some of my best friendsare Christians," he says. "I can sing Christian hymns because I've been to church with my wife and friends, and theycome to my Muslim celebrations."

Other Muslims say the religious violence is a symptom of a deeper problem in Nigeria: widespread poverty and corruption.

Saratu Abiola is a Nigerian who shares some of the same background with AbdulMutallab, the suspected terrorist. She is also 23 and a Muslim who left Nigeria to attend an international boarding school.

Abiola, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says many Nigerians turn to religion because they don't think they can rely on the state. Though the country is rich with oil wealth, the cities are full of beggars and prostitutes -- it's common to see police officers brazenly demanding money at checkpoints, she says.

"People here get shocked by scandal," Abiola says of America. In Nigeria, "we just shrug our shoulders and drink our coffee. We expect the worst conduct from our high officials."

The corruption and poverty are so embedded that it even disturbs those few Nigerians who can avoid the problems, Abiola says.

"There's a real sense of despair, even among the ones who are better off," Abiola says. "They see what is going on, and they wonder: What on earth can you do to fix this?"

Faith becomes the fix for many Nigerians, she says.

"They feel wronged," says Abiola, who now lives in Washington. "They feel like the country has passed them by. When people don't have much, religion becomes more important."

Despite the country's history of religious violence, Abiola says she's still surprised that a young Nigerian Muslim would be accused of trying to commit mass murder against American citizens.

Many Nigerian youths love pop culture in America and adopt Western ways and watch Western movies, she says.

"We have MTV in Africa," she says. "Every year, we get at least five to 15 U.S. pop stars who come to Nigeria."

She says many young Nigerians learn to blend their Nigerian identity and their religious values with their love of pop culture in the West.

"For a lot of us, it doesn't present a burden -- we don't feel as if we have to choose between the West and the East," she says.

Griswold, the author who just spent five years in Nigeria, says events in Nigeria prove how small the world has become.

"When we, a thousand miles away, debate over whether we should be in Afghanistan or draw a cartoon, the people in Nigeria take up arms and fight it out," she says.

"They end up bearing the brunt of our religious debates in a very visceral way."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/12/30/Nigeria.violence/index.html

[Locutus]

Here are two key points from the article above:

Point 1:

"Nigeria has become a battleground state for Christians and Muslims around the world who see themselves involved in a numbers game," says Griswold, author of "The Tenth Parallel," an upcoming book that explores the tension between Christians and Muslims just north of the equator in Africa and Asia.

"Any Christian or Muslim who has the point of view that numbers matter has a stake in Nigeria," she says.

Point 2:

Both Christians and Muslims feel that they represent the one true God and are obligated to convert others, Akinbola says.

"They are doing what the leaders of both of these groups tell them to," he says. "Christians preach to Muslims, and Muslims try to do the same. For Christians, Jesus Christ has told us to go out and preach."




These people are involved in a numbers game.  It's us versus them.  They all believe, "Our god is better than your god," but not one of them is smart enough to trace the history of their own religion enough to figure out that the Jehovah worshiped by the Christians is the same deity as the Allah worshiped by the Muslims.  Dumb, and stupid people fighting about things they know nothing about.

The second point is they're trying to convert each other and if that doesn't work, they just kill 'em.  The Christians try to do their duty under the Great Commission and the Muslims think that all should be converted to their religion. 

I have to hold out hope that at some point in the future, Darwin will take care of the dumbest among us and humanity can move forward without people who need to believe in the fairy tales that religion is, let alone fight and kill because of it.

[Locutus]

Irish atheists use Bjork, Mark Twain to challenge blasphemy law


(CNN) -- An Irish atheist group has published a series of quotations on religion in an attempt to challenge a blasphemy law that went into effect on New Year's Day.

The 25 "blasphemous" quotations include the words of Jesus, Mohammed, Mark Twain, Salman Rushdie and Bjork.

Atheist Ireland published the list on its Web site Friday. It says it aims to challenge the law, which makes blasphemy a crime punishable by a &euro25,000-($35,800) fine.

"Despite these quotes being abusive and insulting in relation to matters held sacred by various religions, we unreservedly support the right of these people to have published or uttered them," the group said on the site.

"We unreservedly support the right of any Irish citizen to make comparable statements about matters held sacred by any religion without fear of being criminalized, and without having to prove to a court that a reasonable person would find any particular value in the statement."

Lawmakers in staunchly Catholic Ireland passed the law in July, but it came into force January 1.

A person breaks the law by saying or publishing anything "grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion."

Those found guilty of breaking the blasphemy law may try to defend themselves by proving that a reasonable person would find literary, artistic, political, scientific or academic value in what they said or published, the law says.

Atheist Ireland called the law "silly and dangerous," because it provides an incentive for religious outrage.

"We believe in the golden rule: that we have a right to be treated justly, and that we have a responsibility to treat other people justly," the group said.

"Blasphemy laws are unjust: They silence people in order to protect ideas. In a civilized society, people have a right to to express and to hear ideas about religion even if other people find those ideas to be outrageous."

The group urged the Irish government to repeal the law. It also asked lawmakers for a referendum on removing all references to God from the Irish constitution.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/02/ireland.blasphemy.law/index.html

[Locutus]

Seriously!  A blasphemy law??

[Palehorse]

Seriously!  A blasphemy law??

Just a matter of time before the zealots try to push one through over here!

[dan foster]

Here are two key points from the article above:

Point 1:

"Nigeria has become a battleground state for Christians and Muslims around the world who see themselves involved in a numbers game," says Griswold, author of "The Tenth Parallel," an upcoming book that explores the tension between Christians and Muslims just north of the equator in Africa and Asia.

"Any Christian or Muslim who has the point of view that numbers matter has a stake in Nigeria," she says.

Point 2:

Both Christians and Muslims feel that they represent the one true God and are obligated to convert others, Akinbola says.

"They are doing what the leaders of both of these groups tell them to," he says. "Christians preach to Muslims, and Muslims try to do the same. For Christians, Jesus Christ has told us to go out and preach."




These people are involved in a numbers game.  It's us versus them.  They all believe, "Our god is better than your god," but not one of them is smart enough to trace the history of their own religion enough to figure out that the Jehovah worshiped by the Christians is the same deity as the Allah worshiped by the Muslims.  Dumb, and stupid people fighting about things they know nothing about.

The second point is they're trying to convert each other and if that doesn't work, they just kill 'em.  The Christians try to do their duty under the Great Commission and the Muslims think that all should be converted to their religion. 

I have to hold out hope that at some point in the future, Darwin will take care of the dumbest among us and humanity can move forward without people who need to believe in the fairy tales that religion is, let alone fight and kill because of it.

Yes.  All good muslims and christians should heed the call to go to Nigeria and kill each other, THERE.  If enough of the evangelical/radicalized (morons) go there and "die for their cause", then the rest of the world can live in peace.

[Locutus]

NYT: U.S. link to Uganda 'death for gays' bill?
Three Christian evangelicals try to distance themselves from proposed law
By Jeffrey Gettleman
The New York Times
updated 6:21 a.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 4, 2010

KAMPALA, Uganda - Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about "curing" homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda's capital to give a series of talks.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was "the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda" — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how "the gay movement is an evil institution" whose goal is "to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity."

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

Donor countries, including the United States, are demanding that Uganda's government drop the proposed law, saying it violates human rights, though Uganda's minister of ethics and integrity (who previously tried to ban miniskirts) recently said, "Homosexuals can forget about human rights."

Foreign aid
The Ugandan government, facing the prospect of losing millions in foreign aid, is now indicating that it will back down, slightly, and change the death penalty provision to life in prison for some homosexuals. But the battle is far from over.

Instead, Uganda seems to have become a far-flung front line in the American culture wars, with American groups on both sides, the Christian right and gay activists, pouring in support and money as they get involved in the broader debate over homosexuality in Africa.

"It's a fight for their lives," said Mai Kiang, a director at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a New York-based group that has channeled nearly $75,000 to Ugandan gay rights activists and expects that amount to grow.

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including "7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child"; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads "healing seminars"; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is "mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality" — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

'Horrible'
"I feel duped," Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on "parenting skills" for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

"That's horrible, absolutely horrible," he said. "Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people."

Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to "a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda." Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.

Human rights advocates in Uganda say the visit by the three Americans helped set in motion what could be a very dangerous cycle. Gay Ugandans already describe a world of beatings, blackmail, death threats like "Die Sodomite!" scrawled on their homes, constant harassment and even so-called correctional rape.

"Now we really have to go undercover," said Stosh Mugisha, a gay rights activist who said she was pinned down in a guava orchard and raped by a farmhand who wanted to cure her of her attraction to girls. She said that she was impregnated and infected with H.I.V., but that her grandmother's reaction was simply, " 'You are too stubborn.' "

Mob violence
Despite such attacks, many gay men and lesbians here said things had been getting better for them before the bill, at least enough to hold news conferences and publicly advocate for their rights. Now they worry that the bill could encourage lynchings. Already, mobs beat people to death for infractions as minor as stealing shoes.

"What these people have done is set the fire they can't quench," said the Rev. Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian who went undercover for six months to chronicle the relationship between the African anti-homosexual movement and American evangelicals.

Mr. Kaoma was at the conference and said that the three Americans "underestimated the homophobia in Uganda" and "what it means to Africans when you speak about a certain group trying to destroy their children and their families."

"When you speak like that," he said, "Africans will fight to the death."

Uganda is an exceptionally lush, mostly rural country where conservative Christian groups wield enormous influence. This is, after all, the land of proposed virginity scholarships, songs about Jesus playing in the airport, "Uganda is Blessed" bumper stickers on Parliament office doors and a suggestion by the president's wife that a virginity census could be a way to fight AIDS.

During the Bush administration, American officials praised Uganda's family-values policies and steered millions of dollars into abstinence programs.

Uganda has also become a magnet for American evangelical groups. Some of the best known Christian personalities have recently passed through here, often bringing with them anti-homosexuality messages, including the Rev. Rick Warren, who visited in 2008 and has compared homosexuality to pedophilia. (Mr. Warren recently condemned the anti-homosexuality bill, seeking to correct what he called "lies and errors and false reports" that he played a role in it.)

Many Africans view homosexuality as an immoral Western import, and the continent is full of harsh homophobic laws. In northern Nigeria, gay men can face death by stoning. Beyond Africa, a handful of Muslim countries, like Iran and Yemen, also have the death penalty for homosexuals. But many Ugandans said they thought that was going too far. A few even spoke out in support of gay people.

"I can defend them," said Haj Medih, a Muslim taxi driver with many homosexual customers. "But I fear the what? The police, the government. They can arrest you and put you in the safe house, and for me, I don't have any lawyer who can help me."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34684945/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/