So I originally sent this to Svet to use in our new Rise and Shine feature…
Svet “That should be a post in itself, we have not had any Cale atheist propaganda in a while.”
Me “I got more I can add too it as well”
Svet “I’m sure you do”
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Here goes. This guy calculated that God has killed, according to the Bible, 2,391,421 people. But that only counted the passages that specically gave a number. Which means that part where God got peeved and flooded the entire earth and killed everything (including babies and puppies) except for a handful of incestuous alcoholic believers, didn’t factor in. So he has tweaked his numbers using some educated guesses, for example:
The Seventh Plague: Hail |
Wikipedia says the Egyptian population to be 3 - 5 million at the time the Exodus supposedly happened. So if maybe 1% of the Egyptians were in the field at the time, that would mean that about 30 - 50 thousand would have been killed by God’s hailstorm. I used 30,000.
Again with the killing of innocent animals. By the way, did you know that if you commit beastiality, according to the bible you should be killed. And… wait for it… the beast too! It’s like, the sheep just got raped by farmer Issac and now you have to add to the sufferring by slaughtering the poor thing? But I digress… so, his final (conservative) number, for the amount of people God has killed:
33 Million
Harsh.
For more: http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.com/2007/01/how-many-has-god-killed-complete-list.html
Next up, Sam Harris needs your help! The author of the bestselling books The End of Faith and Letter To A Christian Nation has started a new organization called The Reason Project. Which is, according to the web site “a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society.”
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The first thing they’ve done, besides have a web site that says that, is inherit Steve Wells’ Skeptic’s Annotated Bible, Qur’an, and Book of Mormon. This crazy fucker has spent a decade highlighting passages notable for their historical inaccuracy, internal contradictions, scientific errors, absurdity, injustice, cruelty, sexism, intolerance, etc. (he also flagged the good parts too). So they’re going to take this and expand on it, renaming it “The Scripture Project”, and getting a bunch of religious scholars, historians, scientists, and other qualified people to continue to annotate these texts on a Wiki. But apparently there were a few technical difficulties in getting everything converted over so they need some people to donate a couple hours over the next few weeks to clean up some of the formatting. You know, do a little copy editing for Satan. |
Instructions and relevant links can be found here:
http://www.reasonproject.org/index_ee.php/scripture_project/
On last thing, before I get off the pulpit of sin.
In order for non-profit houses of worship to keep their tax exempt status, they have to follow a few rules. One of these is that they are not permitted to intervene in electrions by endorsing or opposing candidates for any public office. It’s no joke either, it’s been held up in court and churches have lost. Same with Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and the late Teletubby hating Jerry Falell’s Old Time Gospel Hour, they even had to pay penalties for electioneering.
The Alliance Defense Fund (whose web site is down at the moment… satan?), a big time organization started by a bunch of zealots, is trying to push “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” on Sept 28th. They’re actually encouraging preachers to break federal tax law. When other non-profit organizations can play by the rules, why should these guys get a free ride?
That’s where the non-sectarian, non-partisan, champions of the separation of church and state Americans United comes in, fronted by the Reverend (yes, he’s an actual practicing minister, separation is actually good for churches too) Barry Lynn. Founded in 1947, they’re one of the few religious watchdog groups that actually gets shit done. In response to “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” they’ve started their own little sub-site where you can get more info, report violations, and hopefully donate some cash to the efforts. Yes, they actually take fundamentalists to court and win. The Religious Right HATES these guys almost as much as they hate the gays.
http://www.projectfairplay.org/
Dewy Chafin a preacher in the Church of the Lord Jesus in Jolo, West Virginia holds two fistfuls of rattlesnakes during snake-handling church services in 1991. Dewey has been “bit” by poisonous snakes over 116 times, treating his wounds only with prayer. Photograph by Bill Snead.
Have a good weekend, I’ll see you in hell with all the Jews. And raped sheep.
What? God can do no wrong. Those people must have deserved it.
July 3, 2008 at 1:05 pm“cast” not “casted”. the latter isn’t a real word.
July 3, 2008 at 1:16 pmGod hasn’t even beat Stalin? He better get with it. Stalin’s got about 43 million to his name (please no one repeat the 20mil figure until you’ve done some more research).
July 3, 2008 at 1:34 pmbut on the other hand if God was going to allow Adam and Eve to live forever, and then punished them by capping their lives and saying they’d die eventually, as well as all their children, then God is indirectly responsible for the death of everyone who has ever lived.
But Stalin’s still got him on direct deaths.
July 3, 2008 at 1:35 pmOr since God asked them not to eat that fruit, and they went ahead anyway (i.e.-disobeyed/sinned) wouldn’t sin be the cause of all death???
July 3, 2008 at 2:09 pmRe: Stalin
fair enough, but Stalin didn’t claim to love all those he killed so God’s reign of terror packs a little more punch for me.
Re: sin
God created all, god knows all; god created sin, god knew they would eat the fruit, therefore still his fault. As for after the fact, what about the babies he drowned? Was that sin?
Cale told me to have the crab and corn chowder last night and it was “divine.”
My wife and her family left their church which they had been members of for decades going back to it’s opening as a house of worship for 10 farming households. The reason was the new pastor was insisting that the congregation vote for Bush (the pappy) from the pulpit and wouldn’t stop mixing his politics into the sermons.
Both true stories.
Oh - and my parents are excommunicated from the Catholic church for getting re-married. They have an official letter from the Vatican.
Also true.
July 3, 2008 at 2:29 pmIn the beginning God didn’t love everyone. He pretty much hated everyone but the Israelites. He commanded them to rape women, cut open pregnant ladies, and dash the babies against walls.
If you believe that old fairy tale I mean.
July 3, 2008 at 2:52 pmRight.
Actually, according to some, he didn’t love everyone later either. Jesus’ original message was for the Jews only, to unite them, thy neighbor actually means thy fellow Jew. It wasn’t until Paul, who had been kicked out of Israel, came along that message of Christianity was universalized.
July 3, 2008 at 3:13 pma whopper of cock and bull…whopper of cock and bull.
July 3, 2008 at 5:12 pm“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing God Bless America? No, no, no! Not God bless America. God damn America! It’s in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating its citizens as less than human!”
July 5, 2008 at 10:41 amCale, you said “God created all, god knows all; god created sin, god knew they would eat the fruit, therefore still his fault.”
Through your explanation of things, that would make everything (good or bad) that ever happened (and everything that will happen) God’s fault . . .
Basically, I don’t see how you can blame God just because he knew it would happen. Obviously, people have the ability to think and act how they please and sometimes there are consequences.
July 6, 2008 at 11:53 amEliza, what I was really getting at is this idea that “God works in mysterious ways”, it’s how rational people deal with modernity chipping away at their core religious beliefs. “Jesus died for our sins, God made the ultimate sacrifice” well… no. God didn’t have to send his son to earth and have him tortured. He could have saved our souls in a much less unpleasant way than mutilating his own child. If you believe in a creator of the universe who has a direct personal relationship and loves a few organisms crawling around one planet (of maybe 700 sextillion) who is also omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, you have to finally come to the conclusion that all the cruelty and sadness and dead children is essentially God’s fault. Sure he gave us free will, we do this to each other, but he knew how this little scenario would play out, since he knows all. ….also what’s up with sticking us on a planet that get’s pelted by asteroids every 50 million years killing everything, full of animals that can kill us, and natural disasters that wreak havoc on plenty of innocent children and good Christians. This isn’t sin causing this anguish, God created a death trap and put people he supposedly loves in it.
Ok, I’m rambling, look, I know it’s tough to let go of God. It took me many many years. But I believe in you, I really do, you can live a life without the thought police, and once you do, you realize the very fact that this is the only life you will ever live, makes it all the more precious, and makes it all the more worthwhile to make those around you happy.
This is a good way to start. Look in the mirror. And say this out loud:
“I believe the creator of the universe wrote down a list of moral imperatives on a stone tablet and gave it to a bunch of people in the desert. One of the instructions was this: ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ The creator of the universe felt that that commandment was more important than say, ‘don’t have slaves’”
I bet you’ll feel a little silly afterwards.
July 6, 2008 at 2:22 pmWhat if, and i’m only speculating, the whole universe and what ever created it is running on an infinitely giant and convoluted system of “Trust me, you just wouldn’t understand” and everything that happens has a reason that is utterly inconceivable at the level of intelligence/perception that the average human is on.
It’s like a math buff telling me that that, under specific conditions, 2+2+5. I say clearly that’s wrong because i can only conceive that when i put my two fingers by each other they make four.
He/She, however knows the complicated math that goes into the proof of this.
I know this probably sounds goofy, but i like looking at things from many perspective and, that being said, this may or may not be a personal opinion of mine.
July 20, 2008 at 11:25 pm(sorry, just read this cuz of chuk)
ok, cale. you say what isn’t. then what is?
your answer: no idea
my answer: no idea
incorrect answer: just because
Chuk - The “we’re not smart enough to understand” is a common Christian apologetic excuse. The problems I see with the argument are numerous. First of all that’s not what ancient scripture purports. It’s pretty specific at times in how the world works. A handful of people in the desert 2000 years ago believed they were privy to the secrets of the universe. As the cruel mistress of modernity has chipped away at this dogma revealing it to be woefully ignorant and intellectually confined within a very narrow world view, we fall back on the easy out of “god works in mysterious ways”. It’s a cop out for Christians who feel silly by doing what I suggested above, but have too much guilt or fear to really let go.
Chuk/Eddie - My argument is specifically against the idea that the God of Abraham or Allah or Zeus has ever directly interacted with human beings or altered the laws of physics. It doesn’t exclude the idea of a non-personal God. Do I think one exists? No. But that’s just a personal hunch vs. anything worth arguing about. Speculating on what we cannot know is one thing. Declarations of truth about these matters are another. It’s ok to say “just because” until all the evidence is in. But until then, imagining an afterlife where I get to hang out with dead loved ones and play a harp (that’s actually in the bible) is just wishful thinking, and believing that the creator of the universe prefers certain people over another is just dangerous.
July 21, 2008 at 11:14 ami don’t believe you can make declarations of truth either (ex: there definitely is no higher power/whatever you want to call it) and i’m not backing any specific belief, believe me, but i am saying that you can’t believe that everything just appeared out of nowhere. that’s silly.
p.s. i’d like to think you are agnostic and not atheist because being atheist means plugging your ears and not being open to possiblilties of the existence of shit you have no idea about. that’s silly.
July 21, 2008 at 11:42 am“Agnostics are just atheists without balls.”
-Stephen Colbert
Appearing out of nowhere seems a bit less silly than 7 days and talking snakes no?
July 21, 2008 at 12:06 pmthey are both equally silly.
lol @ colbert - i love that guy
not true, though
That guy was originally casted for Indiana Jones but Steven Speilburg was bummed that he had no fear of the viper so Spielburg gave him the boot and casted Mr. Harrison instead. How awefully sad! I personally would’ve enjoyed seeing this guy run away from a gigantic boulder!!!!
July 3, 2008 at 11:45 am~holstein