Religion is constant enemy of progress

Fleeing Islamist extremists torched a library containing historic manuscripts in Timbuktu, the mayor said Monday, as French and Malian forces closed in on Mali's fabled desert city.

"It's truly alarming that this has happened," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Mali's capital, Bamako, on Monday. "They torched all the important ancient manuscripts. The ancient books of geography and science. It is the history of Timbuktu, of its people." 

This is similar to events that occurred in the Dark Ages. Then, Christians took science books, bleached the writing from their pages, and painted prayers on them. Out with productive science, in with useless religion. We lost nearly 1,000 years of human progress then. Will we lose all of science today, as religion rears its ugly head all over the world?

I worry that, given a cataclysm such as a world-wide epidemic that reduced the human world population by half or more, religious lunatics would take over the world and disavow all scientific knowledge. It's very possible. This is one reason (among many) why we must rid the world of religion. It is and always has been humanity's enemy.

Latest religious insanity: Apple can't use logo

Via Ed Brayton:

A group of Christians in Russia says the ubiquitous bitten apple is too symbolic of the idea of original sin and should be replaced with the symbol of Jesus Christ. And they may have the law on their side.

Technology website xbitlabs.com says Apple “may run into problems” if Russian parliament passes a set of laws designed to protect citizens’ religious and spiritual values from “blasphemy and insult.”

Blasphemy laws are a huge problem. They always signal the end of democracy and freedom. Haven't these people ever heard of the Inquisition?

Christians the same as Muslims

Meanwhile, hundreds of riot policemen were deployed on Wednesday in front of an art exhibition in Belgrade organized by gay activists which the extremists had threatened to disrupt. The reason? They claim the paintings desecrate the image of Jesus Christ

What's the difference between this and Muslims raging over pictures of Muhammad? There is none. 

Another Christian leader hides child abuse

This time the news is out of Chattanooga. But it's the same old thing: a Christian in a position of power tried to hide an employee's child abuse.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — The head of a Tennessee college has apologized for trying to suppress a student newspaper story about a professor arrested on child sex charges. 

Yup, that was the action taken by Bryan College President Stephen Livesay. Bryan College is, of course, a Christian school. When a Christian leader hears about an employee abusing children, he does what they all do: tries to sweep the issue under the rug. After all, it was only children who were harmed. But a student at Bryan College wouldn't go along with the president's edict.

Editor Alex Green decided to distribute the story himself, placing flyers across campus Monday. It reported the resignation of Biblical studies professor David Morgan after he was arrested during an FBI child molestation sting in Georgia.

Livesay said that in hindsight, killing the newspaper story "might have been a mistake." He said he had originally hoped to protect the professor's privacy. 

That's always the excuse. They were just trying to protect the adult predator because of "privacy" issues. Didn't work out too well for Livesay. His school is now the object of national derision. And that tepid excuse is all he can come up with, even now! That perhaps "in hindsight" it "might have been a mistake." He still doesn't know that he did something that was immoral. Sounds just like Christians to me.

Morality and Christianity have nothing in common. Morals exist out here in the world. You won't find them in some dusty old book.

Blasphemy as art

Der Spiegel, which I've taken to reading lately, has an interesting article about a drawing used as an advertisement for a show in the city's caricature museum. Christians are not pleased by the imagery. I have to agree it's a bit over the top, but it's also funny. I'm sure Germany's version of Bill Donohue is having a great time denouncing it.

Der Spiegel has an appealing cosmopolitan flair. I enjoy it. And they have no silly compunctions about nudity. There was a delightful photo of nude Spanish firemen there the other day. (They were protesting in the nude.) You never see anything like that in our prudish country. But to Germans (and most Europeans) nudity isn't a big deal. I've heard they think Americans are childish about sexual matters. Sounds right to me.

Oy, the people

Thar she blows! Impressive, huh?

I've been hesitating to write about the Christian fools flocking to a tree in New Jersey. They think a mark on the tree is a visitation from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Indeed. That's it on the left. I'm sure you agree that it looks like some seriously miraculous stuff.

Okay, people do this all the time, right? I shouldn't be so repulsed; I should be used to it by now. But there's been so much coverage of this "sighting" on the local news. And every time I watched one of the news clips, I was newly sickened by the words of the "faithful".

People were interviewed about their "experiences" at the tree. They said things like, "I could feel it all over my body, a miraculous tingling!" And "I saw her aura! This is truly from god!" And "She came to me! It is the mother of god! I know this in my heart!" The people talk of seeing colors and lights and feeling goosebumps -- and some literally faint at the foot of the tree. Clearly, this absolutely normal-looking mark on a tree is actually the mother o'Jeebus. There can be no doubt. Hallelujah!

The gullibility of these people makes me ill. It's no wonder they believe in god. They'd believe in intelligent dust clouds if you told them such things existed. They are rubes, suckers, dimwits, stooges. How can you hope to reach a person like that with, you know, knowledge? You can't. It's hopeless. And people like this comprise most of the US population.

That's why I didn't write about it immediately: the nausea overwhelmed me.

The march of the moral twits

I keep seeing these appalling stories written by Christianists. They seem to have two themes:

1. America is 90% Christian (their figure) and therefore the country should be governed by Christian morals and rules; and

2. Only Christians understand morality because the only morals humans can know are the rules set down by god on stone tablets and burnt toast and whatnot. No one else knows a thing about morality. In fact, it is literally impossible for a non-Christian to be moral. Without god's Special Rules and Decoder Ring, we would be killing, raping and stealing 24/7.

Let us adore the virgin Mary's sacred belt

BVM with hand-beams but no belt.

Maybe you're having a difficult day, burdened by all the things you have to do for Thanksgiving -- cooking, traveling, dealing with dreadful relatives, etc. Some of you are probably feeling overwhelmed about now. Well, take heart -- at least you aren't doing something colossally stupid and meaningless today, like these people are:

MOSCOW (AP) — Braving freezing cold temperatures and ice-covered sidewalks, tens of thousands of Russians stood in line Wednesday to see and kiss a newly arrived relic of the Virgin Mary in Russia's largest Orthodox cathedral.

It gets worse:

The Virgin Mary's Cincture, a belt that Christians believe was worn by Jesus' mother, was brought to Russia last month from Mount Athos, a monastic community in Greece.

Kissing the relic, which is encased in an ornamental box, is believed to help barren women conceive and heal other ailments.

The line of people, mostly women, waiting to enter the golden-domed Christ the Savior Cathedral stretched for 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) along the Moscow River despite temperatures that dropped to below minus 5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit).

Police officers announced through bullhorns that it will take worshippers 24 hours to get to the relic as the line swelled to tens of thousands.

So be happy today. At least you're not an imbecile waiting in the cold for 24 hours to kiss a goddamn belt that somebody probably made a couple of years ago. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and remember -- the thing to be most thankful for is that you're not burdened by mindless religious beliefs. Woot!

Trashing Ash Wednesday

I was going to write something vicious, but why bother? PZ has it covered. I won't ruin the fun by telling you what he said but if smudges on foreheads are ticking you off today, by all means, visit the link.

Pope delusions

Associated Press reports today that the Pope says Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. I'm sure the Shiites in Iraq had a good chuckle over this remark. And they need a good chuckle.