Voting for Obama makes baby Jesus cry

29 10 2008

The title of this WorldNetDaily article says it all:

You cannot be a Christian and vote for Obama

Via the comments at Dispatches From the Culture Wars


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Categories : Democracy, Magical Thinking, Morons, Politics, Religion

Michelle Bachmann: Fool for Christ, Liar for Christ

23 10 2008

Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, speaking at the Living Word Christian Centre, October 14, 2006:

God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought “What in the world will that be for?” and my husband said “You need to do this,” and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, “Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?” and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure. And its been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress. Who in their right mind would spend 2 years to run for a job that lasts 2 years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ. (Minnesota Monitor)

Michelle Bachmann, fool for Christ, on MSNBC’s Hardball, October 2008:

Matthews: “You believe Barack Obama may have anti-American views? You’re suspicious he has anti-American views?”Bachmann: “Absolutely. Absolutely. I’m very concerned that he may have anti-American views. That’s what the American people are concerned about. That’s why they want to know what his answers are.”

Michelle Bachmann, a few days later, lying for Christ:

I did not say that Barack Obama was anti-American, nor do I believe Barack Obama is anti-American. He loves his country, just as everyone in this room does.

Michelle Bachmann, fool for Christ:

Matthews: How many congresspeople are in the anti-American crowd you describe?

[. . .]

Bachmann: What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.

Michelle Bachmann, liar for Christ:

Nor did I call for an investigation of members of Congress for their pro-American or anti-American views. That is not what I said.

I don’t get it. Why would a Christian lie?

Via LA Times.


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Categories : Critical thinking, Democracy, Magical Thinking, Morons, Muelhenberg alumni, Religion

“Just look at the bloodlines”

12 10 2008

Times have changed. Time was when an Ann Coulter could spout off a line like “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,” or muse dreamily about what might have been if Timothy McVeigh had bombed the New York Times, and it would barely have raised more than a guffaw among the right-wing chattering classes. It certainly wouldn’t have harmed Bush’s re-election prospects.

In 2008, the ritual brainfarting that ensues each time a drooling authoritarian follower decides to open its mouth is embarrassing the Republican presidential team. Said team, of course, executed the initial shooting of itself in the foot with its desperate attempts to link Obama to terrorism. As this footage of a McCain rally in Ohio demonstrates (and where you’ll hear the “bloodlines” soundbite), where authoritarian leaders lead, authoritarian followers follow, with consequences by turns outrageous, racist and stupid:

There’s even more in this NBC report, in which political analyst Richard Wolffe advises the Republican team to take a leaf out of the Australian conservatives’ playbook and engage in dogwhistle politics rather than foghorn politics which, he suggests, will turn off the swing voters and independents.

As you can see, much has changed since 2004. The fallout from the Obama=terrorist smear campaign now has McCain and Palin at loggerheads.

HT to OK WASSUP and Evolutionary Middleman.


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Categories : Australian Politics, Democracy, Media, Morons, Politics, proto-fascism

Things they’d have difficulty believing in Salt Lake City XXIII

1 08 2008

Two weeks in fundie . . .

  1. This is an old one, but the title of this World Net Daily article says it all: “Soy is making kids ‘gay.’” (Via Fundies Say the Darndest Things)
  2. Nigerian diners see the name of Allah in a piece of gristle. (Via Fundies Say the Darndest Things)
  3. From September, taxpayer-funded “faith schools” in Britain will be able to reserve head-teacher positions for religious teachers and “and voluntary aided schools [will be able to] require some non-teaching staff to follow a religion.” (British Humanist Association)
  4. Remember Council Nedd and his In God We Trust organisation? They’re urging Barack Obama to condemn the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s “Imagine No Religion” billboards. In God We Trust, which is responsible for a billboard campaign asking “Why Do Atheists Hate America?,” describes the “Imagine No Religion” billboards as “hateful.” (CNSNews)
  5. Britain’s Chief Rabbi blames declining religious belief for “the spread of depression, stress, eating disorders and drug and alcohol abuse.” Because religion causes you to do good things, and nonbelief causes you to do bad things. It’s so simple! (Mail)
  6. The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy is Commanding Contrition from PZ Myers for his Communion Cracker Crucifixion. (Pharyngula)
  7. US organisation Pray At The Pump claims that petrol prices have fallen below $4 a gallon because they (*posthoc* . . . sorry, just had to clear my throat) prayed for it to happen. (Norwich Bulletin)
  8. A poll of Muslim students at British universities suggests that almost a third think that killing in the name of religion is justified, a third support a worldwide Islamic caliphate, and about a quarter believe that men and women are not equal in the name of Allah. (Guardian)
  9. Women were excluded from participating in a parliamentary choir at a special sitting of the Israeli Knesset, held in order to welcome British PM Gordon Brown, in order to placate the cherished beliefs of Haredi parliamentarians. ““I am the director-general of all MKs,” said the Director-General of the Knesset, “and I don’t have any wish to cause situations that would make MKs get up and leave.” Because bigots have feelings, too. (Haaretz)
  10. And bigots with delicate sensitivities that must under no circumstances be upset by inadvertent contact with filthy evil menstruating women, also ride buses. That’s why Egged, Israel’s largest bus company, is continuing to maintain sex-segregation on routes that pass through Haredi districts, where women must sit at the back and men sit at the front. This is in spite of a 2006 incident in which a 50-year-old Canadian woman, on her way to pray at the Western Wall, was set upon by the local Taliban “modesty patrol” who punched, kicked, slapped and pushed her when she refused to sit at the rear of an Egged bus. (All well in keeping with the thesis that religious faith is a prerequisite for moral behaviour, as you can see.) (Jerusalem Post)

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Categories : Atheism, ethics, GLBTI, Human rights, Magical Thinking, Morons, Muelhenberg alumni, Politics, proto-fascism, Religion

Will the real Antichrist please stand up?

4 06 2008

It is high time the lunatic fringe of Christianity made up its mind about who the Anti-Christ is supposed to be.

On the one hand, a commenter by the name of “Mister Truthful” this morning made a very sound case for Barack Obama being the Anti-Christ:

IF WE ADD UP THE LETTERS IN HISFIRST, MIDDLE & LAST NAME, WE

WILL GET 666 IF WE USE SOME UNDERSTANDING!

**SO HERE IS THE FORMULA:

HIS FIRST NAME IS BARACK.

HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN.

HIS LAST NAME IS OBAMA.

BARACK HAS—————6 LETTERS

HUSSEIN HAS—————7 LETTERS

OBAMA HAS—————-5 LETTERS

NOW 6 PLUS 7 PLUS 5 EQUALS 18.

AND IF WE BREAK DOWN THE NUMBER 18.

WE WILL GET 6 PLUS 6 PLUS 6.
AND 666 IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST!

And he wrote that in ALLCAPS, so it must be true.

(UPDATE: BTW, nice work, Satan!)

On the other hand, former McCain endorser Pastor John Hagee has advanced the thesis that the Anti-Christ will be a Jewish gay homosexual: Read the rest of this entry »


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National Day of Reason: Is Australia a secular liberal democracy?

1 05 2008

And if it isn’t, should it be?

I’ve been engaged in discussion with Ninglun over these very questions, and it seems to me that the answer lies in how Section 116 of the Australian Constitution is interpreted. The section reads:

Australian Constitution – Section 116 – Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion

The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. [Emphasis added]

Ninglun’s position is that while Australia may officially “neutral” with regard to religion, it cannot be described as “officially secular.” Mine is that Australia cannot possibly be neutral with regard to religion unless it is secular. If an Australian government takes a policy position that is based upon a religious doctrine–a policy position for which no secular, well-reasoned justification is offered–then it is effectively imposing observance of that particular religion. It is privileging one particular religious perspective over the perspectives of other religions as well as the non-religious, and would therefore be neither neutral with regard to religion, nor secular.

Why is it important that governments in liberal democracies, in pluralistic societies like ours, present to the electorate secular, well-reasoned justifications for their policy positions? Because they need to speak to us in a language that we all–not just the majority, but all of us–can understand and engage with. Barack Obama puts it much better than I ever could:

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Anything less is neither liberal nor democratic. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Australian Politics, Critical thinking, Democracy, GLBTI, Human rights, Magical Thinking, Politics, Religion

Things they’d have difficulty believing in Salt Lake City IX

23 02 2008

The week in fundie . . .

  1. Not really “fundie,” I guess, but . . . well . . . there’s no easy way to say this so I’ll just say it. A Bulgarian farmer was treated for rectal damage–an injury he received from sexual intercourse. With a boar. See where all this gay marriage talk leads? (Via PZ Myers, who can see the connection with fundiedom.)
  2. Also via Pharyngula, Ken Ham has written a book arguing that “Although racism did not begin with Darwinism, Darwin did more than any person to popularize it.”
  3. Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars, we learn that Barack Obama is a fascist, a communist, a communist, and the next David Koresh/Jim Jones. And yet he still finds time to pray to Mecca five times a day. (Ninglun on Blogspot)
  4. Gays cause earthquakes, says an Orthodox Jewish member of the Israeli Knesset (via Dispatches From the Culture Wars).
  5. “Morons! Your bus is leaving!” (Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion)
  6. Also on the subject of religious documentaries (and also via Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion): Baby Bible Bashers.

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Categories : Critical thinking, Democracy, History, Magical Thinking, Morons, Politics, Religion

Either Kevin Mark Smith is taking the piss . . .

18 02 2008

. . . or this post and its comments thread are further evidence that the United States is suffering from an oversupply of drooling fucklords.

Via Ninglun.


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