Pat Robertson is an opportunistic hatemonger. Anyone who considers himself a Christian should be speaking out against the lies that this man spreads. How do I know he’s lying? Anyone who uses “true story” and “swore a pact to the devil” together in the same thought is off his rocker. Produce evidence to support your vindictive babbling or shut the hell up. Of course, producing evidence has never been religion’s strong suit.
love thy neighbor
Crass Consumerist Christmas
I’ve seen it every year, and this year brought no surprises. People rushing around from one retail locale to the next. Searching for the lowest-priced thing of choice to wrap in thin, cheap paper to give to their loved one so they won’t be thought a scrooge.
I used to work in retail and had a very firsthand view of the mean-spirited search for consumer packaged goods. Whatever delusions of “Christmas spirit” shoppers embody at home or church, they ditch them when they enter the store on a mission for sale-priced goods. I once helped a woman to her vehicle with a large item, and the whole way to her car she did nothing but bitch and complain about how every store was sold out of the things she “needed” (her words). Then right as she was getting into her car, she made sure to say “God bless!” Really? You search frantically for items to give as gifts, and you think that somehow fits in with the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus? I don’t understand how people reconcile all of these hateful, vengeful, and competitive feelings with the peace and mercy that is supposedly at the heart of the holiday.
Like several other atheists and non-believers I know, I celebrate Christmas, but I celebrate it as a secular holiday whose main tenet is togetherness and time with family. Yes, we exchange gifts, but we do so on a very limited scale. The whole point of a peaceful gift exchange is lost if you fight tooth and nail to acquire some last minute item. Besides, Black Friday or not, you can almost always find better deals on the internet than you can in brick-and-mortar stores anyway.
Only 359 days until next Christmas. So that means only about 300 days before the next phony “War on Christmas” begins.
Have a safe and Happy New Year!
Guest Post: A Closer Look at The God Warrior
The following is a guest post from my friend Megan.
As you probably recall, there was an earlier post about the crazy God warrior woman from Trading Spouses. As luck would have it, I was fortunate enough to catch the entirety of this episode earlier today. If you have not had the pleasure of catching this episode, let me fill you in on a couple of things.
First off, let me give you a brief synopsis. The two spouse that switch are Margaret Perrin and Jeanie Flisher. Margaret is an overbearing mother and wife who is pretty much terrified of anything that isn’t Christian. Jeanie is a hypnotherapist who is very much into astrology and other New-Age things. Jeanie has an ok time, and Margaret has a meltdown from all of the horrors she experienced while in the Flisher house.
So what are these horrifying and “dark sided” things that this poor woman Margaret was forced to endure?
- There were Mandala (Tibetan sand paintings) on the walls of the house.
- There was a star (not a pentagram, but a regular old star) on the side of the family’s barn.
- There were Tibetan flags in the house.
- She met a psychic.
- She went to a Solstice party.
Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it?
To me, the most interesting thing about this episode is the clash between two completely different belief systems. Now in my opinion, astrology and Christianity are equally ridiculous systems of belief, and yet it is only the Christian woman who is closed-minded, angry, judgmental and downright crazy. This episode pretty much brings to light everything that is wrong with the Christian faith. Here are some examples to illustrate:
Jeanie told the family that their house was beautiful.
Margaret freaked out about decor like Mandala and stars.
Jeanie met Margaret’s friends, who were cold to her because she wasn’t a Christian, and she still maintained a good attitude.
Margaret panicked because she had to go to a party to celebrate the moon and freaked out when she met a psychic even though he was also Christian.
Jeanie took one of Margaret’s daughters shopping for jewelry because she noticed the daughter was being ignored.
Margaret made Jeanie’s family to go to church and tried to force Jesus upon all of the kids.
When it came time to allocate the money, Jeanie gave the bulk of the money to the gastric bypass surgery that Margaret wanted.
Margaret gave Jeanie’s family a bunch of Bibles.
Margaret’s family missed Jeanie when she left.
Jeanie’s family did not miss Margaret.
What really made me mad about this episode is that Margaret didn’t even try to understand this other family. She immediately assumed they needed to be saved and forced her beliefs on them with zero regard to their interests and beliefs. As one of Jeanie’s kids pointed out, “Margaret kept talking about Jesus but we couldn’t talk about astrology or anything she didn’t believe in so it wasn’t really fair.” Margaret jumped to conclusions about the family without even asking them what they believe. Unfortunately, Margaret is not a unique case. There are many Christians out there who feel and act the same way she does, and that is what is truly horrifying.
If you would like to contact Megan, you can comment on her blog.
War on Christmas: Back in Style!
I received the following email a few days ago. I do not know the person who sent it to me, and I can only assume that we were in contact years ago in an email that I have long since purged from my Gmail account. I get forwarded messages every once in a while; Gmail is pretty good about halting most of them. This one was a little different though. It almost seems that Gmail let this one through, so that I could deliver a retributive bitch slap. It was titled “The Grinch”.
Today, November 12th, 2008, I read in the news that the “American Humanist Association” has launched a “Why Believe in a God?” campaign, starting on buses in Washington DC next week. According to their spokesman, athiests, agnostics and non-theists “feel a little alone during the holidays, because of its association with traditional religion”.
REALLY? People who deny there is a God -they get bummed when other people celebrate God? Why is that? They are totally welcome to believe in God! Nothing stops them but themselves! I believe in God. I’m not sad, nor do I feel left out, when athiests sit around not believing!
We have become a nation of whiners…and apparently, a nation of Godless whiners! Will you please join me in making a phone call to the American Humanist Association? Assure them “Don’t be so sad! We’ll share our God with you!” Cheer them up! It will just take a moment, it will tie up their phone lines, and THEY pay for the toll free call!
They can be reached at (800) 837-3792. Call now!!! Call often!!! And send this email to EVERYONE you know. Maybe we can be the Grinch who stops their $40,000 ad campaign – by sending them a big phone bill!
How Christ-like.
“We don’t agree with you, so instead of responding with a logically-sound argument, we’ll prank call you a bunch of times and run up your phone bill!” What’s next? Having a bunch of pizzas delivered to their headquarters?
This email had 476 recipients, including myself, and they were listed alphabetically and cut off early into the D’s. I don’t even want to guess how many people got this email from this lady. Oh yeah, did I mention that she’s a lady. And that I have her name, address, and phone number? Thanks to my good friend, the internet, I do!
Her name is ***** ********, and she lives near Chicago. I won’t give her full address, but since I was able to find her information easily online I’m sure any interested parties could do the same. I was originally going to post her phone number, but again, I think I am better than that. But… for anyone who wants to do some internet digging, I’ll give you a hint: her area code is 630.
I’d love to say, “Call ***** up and harass her!”, but I’m not going to. In fact, I hope no one calls her. She leads a sheltered existence inside a set of medieval beliefs surrounded by a toddler’s maturity for debate. There is not a single thing any one of of us could offer ***** to change this.
That is the sad reality of the world in which we live. We are outnumbered by people who resort to an appeal to popularity all to often to justify their childish, strong arm techniques.
Edit: I was contacted by the person who was named in this post. They said that the mass email was the result of an email account hijacking, and they asked me to remove identifying information. I did so out of respect for their wishes.