The tornado cometh

Oh, the weather outside is frightful -- stiff wind, pouring rain and the threat of tornadoes. Meh, tornadoes. (That word looks weird, doesn't it? You can spell it tornados or tornadoes. Spell-check likes tornadoes better.)

The thing is, we in the northeast don't believe in tornadoes. We just don't. Until we see one wreck nearby homes, they're just a fanciful notion. Of course, climate change will alter tornado patterns and we may see these devils in the future. But today I'm not worried. I think they call this complacency.

As long as I'm here and talking about devils, did you read about Scalia's belief in the devil? When the interviewer expressed shock, he said:

“You’re looking at me as though I’m weird,” he continued. “My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It’s in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.”

Yes, Antonin, we're looking at you as if you're weird. It's you who "travels in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America." But it goes further than you being weird. You're a true caveman, club and all.

Speaking of the devil, I have some young atheist friends (even though I'm really, really old). One recently told me he was shocked to realize that there are adults -- adults! -- who believe in the devil. I understand his consternation. The devil is as false as angels and gods. But in the US we have a nitwit religious culture that believes in almost anything: ghosts, black magic, witches, demons, whatever. They believe in it all. And why? Because they handed in their brains at church when they were children, and never looked back.

Well, these folks are ready for Halloween, anyway. I always enjoy hearing wingnuts say that Halloween is the devil's holiday and children shouldn't be allowed to trick or treat. Talk about out of touch with America. Twits -- they're everywhere.

Devil image by Conor Cunningham. Ain't it cute?

I love religion -- for the laughs

In an AP article at the NYT about "El Santuario de Chimayo, one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the Americas", I found this:

Some pilgrims will make the 90-mile, three-day walk from Albuquerque to the shrine that houses "el pocito," a small pit of holy adobe-colored soil that some believe possesses curing powers. 

Indeed. I don't understand what's wrong with people's brains that allows them to believe in this sort of nonsense. A pit of soil?

Just two weeks after Pope Francis was elected, around 50,000 are expected to visit the popular northern New Mexico Catholic shrine, and officials say even more may come because of Argentine-born pontiff. 

Because there's such an obvious connection between the new pope and this pit of holy soil. Everyone can see it. Sigh.

They speak in tongues

These are the words of Ken Ham, probably the biggest creationist wingnut in the United States:

Atheistic evolutionists do not want any talk of “critiquing” or “thinking critically” about evolutionary ideas, because evolution is their way of explaining life without God, which is why we call evolution a religion.

Uh...evolution is how atheists explain life without god...and that makes it a religion? Lotsa sense there. Tons. It's easy to see why Ham is so admired by the brainless set.

These people don't make sense but their followers never notice. This is because the common factor shared by all wingnuts is that they don't understand logic, don't even know what it is. We truly live in different worlds.