Because some great people were born because of rape!

Arkansas is 1 of over 30 states that allow rapists to establish a relationship with their rape induced offspring. This is not just a social issue, but a religious one as well. I'm still an atheist, still living in a state that imposes religious 'rules' on residents. The very idea of a state not only preventing you from aborting a rapist's baby but on top of that forcing you to take the child to see him at the pen is beyond infuriating. And yes, I still have kids. Kids that weren't the result of rape or duress. Still love them, although they drive me nuts part of my waking hours. My point is, the religious 'right' (such an oxymoron!) can't have it both ways. No abortion, no contraception, no food stamps, no social safety net. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? I know what is is, & I guarantee you're not gonna like it. It is, simply put, about control. If you make your own choices about your life, the churches lose their control over you. If there's no food stamps, you have to seek out another source of food for you & yours when things are bad. Oh, goody! The church has a food pantry. The bad part is, you have to be a member to get anything from it. And in rural Arkansas, the requirements can be kinda high. 4 long years ago, when I was still trying to believe, a church I attended refused to help a young couple with food because they were not married. They were neighbors of mine & I knew they just had their baby 2 months premature. When I was told in no uncertain terms they would not be helped, that was basically the end for me. I had reached my bullshit capacity. Knew I was wasting my time & money. And it all fell into place. Why would an all knowing, omniscient being need money, food, etc., if that being was real? Easy. It's all made up. It's all bullshit. So when I can help somebody, I do. I don't send them to a church to get the hard sell on why they need a fictional character in their lives, making their decisions. In closing, let me be the heavy hand of reason & beg you to vote! Vote out these assholes who seek to impose their religious beliefs on you & any genitalia you may own. You may think your vote doesn't count, but I know their's a lot of Nader voters still kicking themselves in the ass to this day.

A timely reminder that December is a good time to begin your free thinking!

In our house, we celebrate Giftmas. Christian mythology celebrates a cobbled together version of 1 of their main characters in their long running soap opera. This video explains things better. To the running footage!

Christopher Hitchens Owns the 10 Commandments...

Hello, my awesome friends & audience! Time does fly, as it were. Okay, on with a new entry. I'm still trapped in Bumfuck, Egypt & surrounded by people espousing their christian mythology. As stated previously, I generally allow people to believe what they want as long as that belief system doesn't involve me & mine. And as usual, these people perceive kindness for a weak cranium & pounce on my lack of a 'church home' as a gaping spiritual void they need to fill. Under penalty of execution would be the only way I could ever be compelled to hear another sermon on the sins of 'men craving strange flesh', gay marriage &/or adoption, or being all their 'gawd' wants you to be. It is sad & frankly, more than a little disturbing, that seemingly reasonable & articulate folk perpetuate myths & superstition on those of us who do not wish to partake of the Koolaid.

Living in Podunk means that I must interact with these people, but the constant religious talk is making me even more antisocial than usual. My outcast status really doesn't bother me. But it's the continuous intrusion into why my Sundays aren't filled with constant adoration for a mythical figure that have me questioning the sanity of those I encounter. One of my philosophies is 'adults with imaginary friends are mentally unstable'. Does this mean everyone in this backwoods town is a mentally unstable hillbilly? Maybe I should rephrase... Let's scrap the question, because I still have to live here, for now. To a degree I can excuse some people as just repeating what their families have beaten, sometimes literally, into them. But when people tell me to 'walk on faith', that's usually when I question verbally or internally what kind of brain damage they have. As in, did it come from excessive drug abuse or constant head trauma from child abuse?

The bullshit assertion that their mythical deity has a 'plan' & they quit jobs, lend others money, or a whole host of other bad decisions is just that. Complete & utter bullshit. So, for now, I have Twitter friends & Facebook friends that respect my atheism. But no friends here in B.F.E. that respect my lack of religion. It's a sad reality that I do feel superior to most residents of this bastion of redneck backwardness. How could one not feel superior to a population of people who are doomed by their desire to not only cling to their guns & bibles, but also racist & homophobic views that are often inflamed directly from a pulpit? Those of you that read my post about Terry 'let's burn some books' Jones know how I feel about religions. They are all basically lies. End of story.

But I do get so tired of people in Podunk insisting that 'dirty mooslums' are hunting down & murdering 'innocent' christians who are only doing 'gawd's' work in the Middle east. It is one of the most frustrating aspects of living in such an uneducated place, to see people getting their information from Fox. And from their local pastor. And then of all things, sweet geezus, they spread these fallacies as truth. It's like intellectual STD's. Racism is the STD equivalent of herpes. Their is no cure. You can treat it, but it does spread. People around here hate anyone different. Like any thriving republican backwater, & by thriving I only mean in the attitudes & beliefs, not monetarily, they would rather see a child die than to be adopted by a gay couple. They would actually prefer that a child be raped at the hands of a christian adoptive parent than to be adopted by an atheist. And don't even get me started about how they feel about an unmarried couple procreating. I was threatened by a supposed CASA representative that my kids would be taken away from me if I allowed an unmarried couple to stay at my home while they were attempting to find a place to rent.

I could go on & on & on AND ON about how people here engage in bold discrimination of anyone who isn't white, heterosexual, or belongs to their Skydaddy cult. It's hard to say whether hating people of the muslim 'faith' is favorable here because of the color of their skin or because of religious competitiveness. Let me expound further upon this notion, while it's still fresh in your mind. I use the word competitiveness because people here fear what they can't understand. Of course, you must exclude the author, because I'm not from here! These hillbillies would lose their minds if they were compelled by Federal law, of all things, to allow students of another 'faith' to worship as such. I'm losing you, I can tell. But wait, I'm getting to the point. In the grand scheme of things, I'm still right & the religious of any religion are still wrong. In my vindictiveness, I would love to see some people from other countries come here & spread their views. I know it sounds strange to hear an Atheist espouse such radical thoughts.

In my own defense, I'll rattle off some more. Living here has shown me you have to fight fire with fire. Human beings seem to be, in general, a superstitious lot. Most would completely lose their fucking minds at the thought we're on a sick planet, hurtling through space. And nobody cares. There is nobody to 'pray' to that is gonna pull our flaming shit out of the proverbial fire. If what these people understand has to have a religious connotation, let it come from just as primitive a place as where there Skydaddy was created. Maybe the residents of this town can find common ground with others & be more tolerant. The sad truth is there's not a ton of reasons for immigrants to come to a county of less than 10,000 people. It's not as though there's thriving commercial industries or even a stellar school system to send one's kids to. And hopefully, I will be long removed from Podunk when the first Turkish or Arab family actually buys a home here.

When Will It End?

As loathe as I am to delve into this subject, I must do it now. I think I've already established through my blog entries, art chosen for said blog, & Twitterfeed I am an atheist. So the millenia old pissing contest of "My GOD is bigger than your GOD" is something of little interest to me. But it is current events at the moment. The current hatred du jour is Islamophobia. I can't get away from it on the Internet. Teabaggers & the "religious right", whom have never been right, are screeching & moaning about the evils & ills of Islam. Funny that it has taken 8 years for this witch's brew of racism to come bubbling to the top of their agenda.

Not funny "ha, ha". Odd that this didn't occur when the worst president in the history of our nation was in charge. It's so clear to me that this is a transparent power play by Teabaggers & the GOP to malign Obama. To discredit him. To encourage the unstable people who believe Obama is not a citizen of our country to foment their idiocy. To scare white people who cling to guns & religion, some of which currently populate Arkansas.

Now as I have previously stated, I don't care who you worship, because all gods are bunk. Luckily, I live in America, where I don't have to pick a religion. I am free to have no religion at all. Although I'm still not sure how to get "In GOD we trust" off our money, avoid using a bible in a court trial, or how to get "Under GOD" out of the Pledge which was only added in the 1950's. But I give, or rather The Constitution gives you the right to worship anybody you want to. It would be a lie to say Bin Laden or Ahmadinejad do not have well publicized desires to see our country bow down to "Allah", because they do perceive our country to be Christian. And that is a lie, because more Atheists are coming out & making themselves known. But the "religious right" has an agenda too. It is their firm & well publicized desire (Crusades being only 1 example) to make the Middle East a hotbed of Christian activity. Oh, AND their overwhelming desire to fulfill bizarre biblical prophecy so they can be "raptured" out of the Hell they make of our planet.

The reason I'm delving into all of this now is the news of all this asshattery has finally reached Afghanistan. The scene of the crime as it were. The place that was a haven for the Taliban & Al Qaeda prior to 9/11. The country that our troops are still engaged in ACTIVE WARFARE. The place where a woman had no rights before 2001 & have very few now. Also, the launching pad for Bush Jr to escalate the insanity & invade Iraq, which had nothing to do with Bin Laden & had everything to do with destabilizing the entire region. Thanks, JACKASS! People are engaging in suicide bombings there. How many will be specifically because someone thought it would be an awesome idea to burn some devil books? The Koran may be a rip off of the Bible. But, it's their book. Just because people use it to justify all kinds of things totally unrelated to religion doesn't mean it's any it's any better or worse than the Christian Bible. In fact, the Bible has been used to justify wiping out civilizations, hate crimes, homophobia, the subjugation of women for eons, need I say more?

I guess what I want you to take away from my ramblings is this is a war without winners. Newt Gingrich & other trolls of his ilk may think they are in a position to push their arcane agenda, but they are just killing more troops in Afghanistan & other places. The blood of troops killed by religious fanatics responding to religious fanaticism displayed in our own country. And it all is so without reward. Both sides believe there is an afterlife waiting for them as a reward for doing their "GOD'S" bidding. I can't even call it stupid, because stupid is too mild a word. I don't know that their is one word in the English language that covers the futility & senselessness I'm confronted with on a daily basis. If you're a Christian, you're probably not still reading. But here me out. There are just as many ignorant & conflicting passages in your "BOOK" as there are in someone else's "BOOK". How about you worry more about the tree limb protruding from your eye than the speck in your neighbor's?

irreligulous: Banned Mormon Cartoon

irreligulous: Banned Mormon Cartoon

An unlikely triumverate of ignorance

What does Pakistan, Iran, & Rison have in common? They all have primitive people living there who still attribute natural disasters to a fictional god. We all remember when the Iranian imams stated that seismic activity was related to immodest women. That's obviously bunk. Otherwise, malls across America would have spontaneously imploded ages ago.

Pakistan has had a crappy summer, but when the populace has been polled (I have no idea how or why this was done) they believe that "god" is angry & only returning to strict observance of the Koran & becoming closer to "god" will shield them from more turmoil.

Now I'm pretty sure if you've been following me on Twitter, you know how I feel about Rison, AR. It's a backwoods bastion of religious wingnuttery, obvious ignorance, & the pendulum swings wildly between the haves & haves not. I was having a discussion a few days ago with an interesting woman about the school here. We seemed to have a lot of the same opinions about how unqualified some of the teachers are, the rampant inbreeding of residents, & how corrupt the school board is.

That being said, she then expressed something that shouldn't have surprised me for the area, but did for her obvious intelligence. She said "People have to get closer to "god" then things like 9/11 won't happen anymore". Huh? Ya lost me there. It seems that people's religious indoctrination will quite literally raise it's ugly head at any point & time. I am continuously disappointed by people that can't make a rational conclusion using logic. Does it really make people panic stricken that nobody's steering the bus? Yes. People seem to crave the notion that childhood cancer, senseless murders, war, even becoming impregnated by your rapist is all part of a nebulous plan that some higher "power" has concocted.

It's still mind boggling to me that this kind of mythology is still perpetuated today. That so many people refuse to accept that we are on an insignificant planet, hurtling through space, orbiting a minor star. If our planet vaporized in the next hour, nobody would notice or care. There is no higher "power" that will rapture you out in any event beyond your ability to survive. And the bullshit people spew about how "god" won't impose burdens on you that you're not strong enough to handle is just that. Complete & utter bullshit. You can put it in a fancy vessel, adorn it with ribbons & flowers. But it's still mythology & folklore, no better than an aboriginal witchdoctor who uses hallucinogens to enter an altered state to interpret an eviscerated bird's organs, thereby deciding on a chief.

I can only conclude from this experience that no matter how smart or stupid someone looks here, a conversation can lead to potholes large enough to hide a Hummer in. It's my estimation that although I can't avoiding conversing with people in this town, with careful maneuvering, I can steer the conversation away from religion.