More religious dimwittery

There's an AP story today about the guy who died while handling snakes for jeebus. I linked to Jerry Coyne's dry summary of the event in the post below. In the AP story, there's this gem from a witness:

"I don't think anyone necessarily expected it," she told the newspaper, "but they've dealt with it before so it's not such a huge shock, maybe." 

It's just a normal day at the office for these folks. Dimwits, one and all. Here's a quote from the guy who died:

"I know it's real; it is the power of God," Wolford told The Washington Post Magazine last year. If he hadn't started handling snakes after returning to his church, he said, "it'd be the same as denying the power and saying it was not real." 

Indeed. And now you're dead. That's what's real.

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Religious fool dies

Jerry Coyne has the story.

Mr. Baseball - 2012

Bryce Harper.

So far it's been a mega-year for baseball fans. You might not see it this way if you're a Cubs fan, but a ton of other teams have been playing really, really well.

It's the pitching. It's so damn good lately. I've never watched so many good pitcher-duels. My guy, Gio Gonzalez is doing splendidly, as is R.A. Dickie, my favorite pitcher. It's come down to the Nats and the Mets for me. They're my teams this year. The Mets were always my team but the Nats finally got good enough to be exciting.

And it's not just the pitchers who make the Nats great. If you're not a baseball fan, you probably don't even know who Bryce Harper is. He's a kid who just came up for the Nats and instantly became a baseball star. This kid is baseball personified. It's always fun to watch him play.

The best game so far was the one between the Nats and the Phillies where asshole Cole Hamels, trying to look like a guy, purposely hit Bryce Harper in the back with a pitch. He admitted it later: he tried to hit this 19-year-old kid who'd just come up and had never done anything to him in his life. What a cowardly move. Cole Hamels, you will always suck, in my eyes. Always.

But Bryce got on base because Cole hit him, and then he stole not one but two bases, including home. He got back at Hamels, big-time. You gotta love a kid like that. And this is the way he plays every night. Baseball got a lot better the day Bryce Harper joined the game.

Sorry if you're not a baseball fan and are bored by these posts. I read a few bloggers regularly who like other sports, and I'm totally uninterested in their posts (because they're about football, for instance). What can I say? If you're not into baseball, skip these posts.

Anyone else out there enthused by the current baseball season? It's a great year.

Okay, it's ripe now

I wanted to wait until the latest scandal at the Vatican ripened before I dug in. Okay, it's ripe. The following are the unbelievably tone-deaf words of the Vatican's undersecretary of state, Archbishop Angelo Becciu. 

"I consider the publication of stolen letters to be an unprecedentedly grave immoral act," Becciu told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. "It's not just that the pope's papers were stolen, but that people who turned to him as the vicar of Christ have had their consciences violated." 

Can you believe this? He considers the leaking of Vatican letters to be "an unprecedentedly grave immoral act." Wow.

They pay little or no attention to the horrid things priests have done to innocent children all over the world, but they think this "scandal" is heaven-shaking. Here's more from AP:

The Vatican on Tuesday sought to put the widening scandal over leaked documents into a very different light, saying the stolen papers didn't just concern matters of internal church governance but represented the thoughts of people who in writing to the pope believed they were essentially speaking before God. 

Oh, well, now you're talking about truly important stuff: confidences divulged before the sky god. To the church, that's what's important, not raped kids. Never forget this.

The Roman Catholic church constantly reveals that it has no understanding of any moral issue. Absolutely none. Craven -- that's what they are, every one of them.

Not to steal anyone's thunder

I tried hard not to post this video after Chris in Paris posted it on Americablog this morning. That's kinda like stealing. But it's too nice. I couldn't help myself. Hat tips all the way. Here's Willy and his son, Lukas. Pretty song.

 

How to recognize a "real" virgin Mary apparition

That's the title of a post by Ed Brayton this morning. It lists the church's rules for evaluating potential miracles. My favorite is this:

The subject (i.e., the person closest to the "miracle") must show "habitual docility towards Ecclesiastical Authority". That is so funny. This church is run by mad power queens.

Speaking of which . . .

Hat tip to Ed Brayton for supplying a written version of something I'd only seen in video:

Members of Providence Road Baptist Church are standing behind Pastor Charles Worley and the sermon he delivered earlier this month calling for the elimination of the gay population.

Geneva Sims said she’s been listening to Worley preach the Gospel since the 1970s. She wasn’t surprised by the 71-year-old pastor’s now infamous sermon. In fact, she supports him and his message.

“He had every right to say what he said about putting them in a pen and giving them food,” said Sims. “The Bible says they are worthy of death. He is preaching God’s word.

Providence Road Baptist Church member Stacey Pritchard agreed.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be scared straight,” she explained. “He is trying to save those people from Hell.”

Pritchard said Worley’s message isn’t one of hate. Instead, she interpreted it as tough love guided by Good Book.

Christians are just brimming with love, aren't they? I'll say it again: gay people are the world's Roma.

Gays are the Roma of the world

Gay activists tried to stage two demonstrations in Moscow on Sunday to demand the right to hold a gay pride parade in the Russian capital, but they were blocked first by Orthodox Christian opponents and then by police, who detained a total of about 40 people from both sides.

Gays (and women) are the least secure people in this world. In most countries, they can be attacked and killed with impunity. And it's the year 2012. When will things change?

"Sophisticated" theology

Click for bigger.

I always crack up when someone refers to "sophisticated" theology. This is supposedly different from your typical corner-church theology. Religious apologists tell atheists that if we haven't studied the "serious" theologians, the "sophisticated" religious thinkers, then we know nothing about god.

This reminds me of people who try to improve the quality of a photograph by increasing its dpi in PhotoShop. They figure if they change a 72 dpi image to 300 dpi, they'll see more. But all it does is make a larger blur with more dots.

This is similar to the arguments of theologians. Adding "sophistication" (i.e., increasing the dpi) adds nothing. Why? Because there's nothing there in the center of the argument. No matter how much attention you focus on the god concept, no matter how "deep" your thinking, you're still focusing on nothing.

There is no god. (See how clear that statement is? And I didn't have to use any big words.)

Popey guy says absolutely nothing

The evil one.

Here's what the popey guy said to his capos (bishops) recently about gay marriage:

"Particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage... Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike."

That doesn't even mean anything. It's just a bunch of words. It's ultimately a "question of justice"? Well, yes it is: justice for gay people who want to marry and should be able to. But what is the popey guy talking about? "[S]afeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike"? How? 

The church has been viciously attacking gay people for many, many years yet they have never been able to state one rational reason for their actions. Why do they attack gays? It's a question sorely in need of an answer.

But of course, the answer is a reason "that cannot speak its name". They do this because they're a bunch of closet cases. Because they're gay, and they've stupidly chosen to live within a church that condemns them for what they are, they lash out ever more furiously at...themselves. That's what closet cases do. They're the original one-trick ponies.

If I'm wrong about the church's motives, then pray tell, what is the real reason for this virulence? The popey guy's words are empty. They tell us nothing. It's an amazing travesty and I can't believe that anyone who's Catholic -- and awake -- will remain with this church much longer. And that, in case you're not keeping track, is a good thing.