Religion, Tolerance, and Respect

Blogger PZ Myers has been getting a lot of flak lately from the religious and religious apologists for stating that he wants to "disrespect a cracker".

I'll repeat what he said: "IT'S A FRACKING CRACKER!!!"

Yes catholics, it's really just a cracker. It's not REALLY the body of your savior. How can it be? Do you really eat Jesus everytime you have communion? And that grape juice you're drinking, no it's not his blood either. If you really, really, REALLY believe it's Jesus flesh and blood you're eating and drinking, then DAMN, you're a cannibalistic vampire!

PZ's mailbox has gotten overloaded with hate mail from christians, some just wanting to pray for him, but most want him fired, or worse, want him dead! Some are even threatening harm to his family! WOW! How's that for a religion that supposedly teaches peace, love, and harmony? The Islamic Fundies don't sound that bad after all!

If you want your beliefs to be tolerated and respected, then first, you yourself must learn to tolerate others' beliefs (or non-beliefs). Second, you must show that your religion is actually worthy of that respect you demand.

The problem is, most religious sermons are highly intolerant and outright disrespectful of others who do not believe the same. Is saying "those who do not believe in our god are going to burn in hell!" or "There can be no morality without god" more tolerant and respectful than someone taking home a cracker? If you're willing to criticize others for their non-belief, then be prepared to accept criticism of yours.

The problem is poverty, not population???

Say again Mr. Pabillo? Population is not the problem? How do you propose to eradicate poverty if the population keeps rising at the current rate? Where will you get the jobs? How will you provide education? Has it ever occurred to you that MAYBE, too many children, especially those that are not planned for, can be a burden, both financially and emotionally?

Of course, for a priest who cannot have children (yeah right), you don't really know what it's like. Your pope is being hailed as the "Green Pope", someone who says that good catholics should try their best to preserve the Earth. How are you helping by shifting the blame away from overpopulation?

How about asking your big bosses to release the massive amount of money they have to REALLY help the poor, instead of lavishing it on themselves? How about building homes for these people instead of building grand churches? How about giving them jobs instead of throwing pennies at them?

Instead of yapping about your dogma, why not propose REAL solutions? I think the most glaring fact here is that the Church is part of the problem. Please Mr. Pabillo, stop embarassing yourself and your business associates.

Catholic Church Blackmailing Politicians

Here we go again, this time, they're getting bolder. Recently, the Catholic Church has threatened to forbid giving the holy communion to politicians who will support the reproductive health bill. Some are even going so far as to say that refusing communion to them would be an act of love. Yes, just like baptizing the Aztecs before killing them was an act of love. right?

If any of you are concerned at all about the welfare of our country and it's people, please, write your local representative and tell them they NEED to support this bill, regardless of what some men in goofy robes tell them. They have no other argument except for their particular interpretation of a cherry-picked statement from their holy book. These men are NOT their god.

Religulous

Any chance they'll show this movie here?



I'm not holding my breath, but I hope they do. :)

The System

Here's an excellent show by Derren Brown showing us how we can easily be fooled into thinking that the impossible is possible.

He shows us that seeing is not always believing, and that personal experience is severely limited and cannot be extrapolated over a large number of people.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

The importance of critical thinking

Yesterday I got a text message and it reads like this:

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY PREDICTS A 6.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE WILL HIT PHILIPPINE PLATES TONIGHT. PLEASE BE CALM AND ALERT. This text message comes from Hawaii State Emergency Preparedness Office. Pls pass (no harm in being prepared). pls pray

Now I'm pretty sure many people were scared (and rightly so) and passed it onto family and friends. But is there really any merit to it? This is where critical thinking helps. Here's are some of the red flags raised by this bogus message:

1.) There's no such thing as U.S. Geological Society. There's the U.S. Geological Survey, and they certainly don't make any specific predictions.

2.) There's no such thing as the Hawaii State Emergency Preparedness Office.

3.) There is no technology that accurately predicts earthquakes. The fact that this states a specific time (last night) and a specific magnitude (6.8) should also raise a red flag.

It irks me that there are people who are willing to create a panic and spread fear for a cheap laugh. True, there is no harm in being prepared, but there is plenty of potential harm in creating a panic.

It takes religion

I am stunned at this. What does it take to be able to do something so horrific?

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,' he said with no trace of remorse.

Wow! And what crime did his daughter commit?

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British soldier in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant.

For an INFATUATION with a British soldier???? What's even worse, the brothers helped kill their sister! Having a daughter myself, I cannot imagine wanting to kill my own. Even if god was real, I would rather defy him than kill my own daughter just because he says so, because any god that imposes such barbaric rules is evil himself, and deserves to be rejected.

What's worse is that even though he was arrested, he was released after two hours, and the police actually CONGRATULATED him! Is this the kind of sick and twisted society that a "religion of peace" brings?

One thing's for sure, there won't be any Muslims rioting in the streets in protest of this horrendous and evil act. If a child dies because of ridiculous beliefs happens to a Christian family, you'd certainly see the backlash from other Christians...

...or would you?