The PCTC Blog

Perhaps It's Time to Start Taxing Churches

So, the Roman Catholic Chuch in the United States wants a special exemption in regulations governing health insurance, so that they don't have to "pay for" contraception. Of course, as I pointed out in my previous post, it's not their insurance, it's their employees', and they aren't paying for it. It's part of their compensation package. 

 I'm getting tired of phony religious nuts constantly trying to push their way into the political arena and make us accept their absurd superstitions. I'm not talking about truly religious individuals; those who truly believe what they claim tend to act in a way that makes you want to be like them. I'm talking about the fakes; the people who lack humility, and usually push political positions that actually go against their stated belief systems.

It's funny that the Catholic Church is suddenly finding fault in our health insurance system. Where were they before. In what New Testament does Jesus Christ favor support for a system whereby health insurance companies make obscene profits for NOT providing health care to the sick and injured? I've been combing the New Testament, and I simply cannot find the part where Jesus forbids a public health insurance option to make sure everyone gets health care. Yet, the Catholic Church only NOW has a problem with the health insurance system. 

Cutting the Crap on Intelligent Design or, Why Do Wingnuts Hate Science?

Don't forget! My new novel, "Not Another Savior!" is out and on sale... religion will never be the same. I hope.

A couple of friends of mine recently watched one of the most asinine "documentaries" ever filmed; Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." The film lamely attempts to make a case that Intelligent Design (ID) should be considered alongside other sciences in schools, primarily because the field of scientific research seems to be controlled by "elite" (his word, not mine) groups of scientists.  Essentially, because scientists are "elitists," goes the argument, they should be forced to accept the concept of Intelligent Design as just another scientific theory.

 

First of all, I want you to imagine if scientists made the opposite argument. Imagine that scientists called priests, nuns and preachers "elitists" and demanded that they be forced to teach evolution alongside creationism in a religion class. Can you imagine religionists sitting still for that? People like Ben Stein would be hopping mad, and rightfully so. Religion and science are two different disciplines, and should be treated as such. 

"Good Christians™": Stop Using "the Bible" to Deny Gay Rights.

A while back, I met with an old friend from high school; someone I hadn't seen in at least 30 years. It was mostly fun, until we were about 45 minutes into our lunch.

We were at a local pizza joint, enjoying the best cheese steaks on the East Coast, when a couple of women walked in, holding hands. While they stood in line, one woman must have said something funny, because the other one giggled, leaned over and kissed the funny one squarely on the mouth. It wasn't a tongue kiss, or a long, slow romantic kiss, or any sort of "inappropriate" public display of affection, but the kiss revealed their level of intimacy just the same.

My old friend saw the kiss and immediately said, "Oh, my God!" with shock and surprise, and when he saw that they were holding hands and had no intention of letting go, he apparently felt the need to add, "that's disgusting." As I hadn't seen him in many years, and figured I probably wouldn't see him again anytime soon, I bit my tongue, until he decided to add to the commentary by saying, "But at least it's not two guys! That would be REALLY disgusting!"

I could no longer hold my tongue.

Burning the Koran? They'd Better Hope There's No Such Thing as Karma, Huh?

(You might want to read this whole thing, because there's a great video at the end...)

If you haven’t heard, a so-called Christian “Reverend” named Terry Jones plans to hold a Koran burning this coming Saturday in Gainesville, Florida, to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 3,000 of our fellow Americans. 

Right wingers are either silent or, in a few cases, actually praising this disgusting display, and a number are defending this action as an example of his right to “free expression.”

Also, over the last several weeks, right wingers all over the country have been tied up in knots over the prospect that someone may build an Islamic Cultural Center on a lot not too far from the spot where the World Trade Center once stood. They have characterized such a building as a “slap in the face” and blamed the ENTIRE RELIGION for the actions of the people who hijacked those planes, knocked down those buildings and killed all of those people.

I have a few questions for those on the far right;

Does the United States believe in freedom of religion, or doesn’t it?

Could Be the Most Disgusting Abuse of Christianity By a Celebrity, Ever.

If you've never heard of Stephen Baldwin, you're in good company. He's one of the lesser Baldwins, whose star rose primarily because Alec and Billy have talent, and he shares their name and looks like them, to a degree. Stephen has been able to ride their talent to a far more significant measure of fame than he deserved.

Then, he became a born-again Christian.

Now, he's bankrupt.

Coincidence?

Well, Stephen would like you to think so. According to Stephen Baldwin, his career took a nosedive because he came out as a Christian. Apparently, coming out as either Christian or gay has negative consequences, regardless of how many Christians and gays there are in Hollywood.

PCTC Right Wing Fart Machine Case Study: Who's Pissing on Jesus?

Do you know why so many right wing leaders like to show outrage at the stupidest things? It’s because they know they’ll get the masses inflamed enough to send them a bunch of money.  That's all. It's all about the money. Does anyone believe Sarah Palin was actually offended when David Letterman made fun of her weeks ago? Did she really think Letterman was talking about her younger daughter?

Of course she didn’t.  But the fact of the matter is, the Republican “base” is made up of the stupidest, most gullible morons in the country, and they can always be counted upon tocough up a few dollars to support anything that fires them up. Forget jobs and fixing the economy; it's sex and "dirty" body parts that make for the best money trail.

It is this knowledge that keeps the Right Wing Fart Machine greased and running.  While the Republican “base” has a lot of phony passion and fake moral outrage, they have absolutely no sense of humor.  And I mean none, folks. Have you ever noticed what the right wing laughs at? Everything they find “humorous” involved cruelty and/or death. They just absolutely love death. And they never actually laugh in a way that demonstrates joy, like the rest of us; every right wing laugh is far more sardonic than anything.

Pseudo-Christians Using Jesus' Name to Lie About Health Care Reform

(The original deconstruction of the right wing lies about the health care system is still here. You just have to click on the link at the top right... or you can click here... )

I received this in my e-mail Sunday (of all days). I'm having problems with formatting, so I apologize in advance. Not only is it sacrilegious on some level, and should be seen as an affront to any actual Christian who claims a belief in the words of Jesus Christ, but it also shows once again the lack of an irony gene on the part of the right wing.

Seriously, how can you call yourself “The Pray in Jesus’ Name Project,” and then tell out right lies and swear to God on them? Think I’m exaggerating? Check out the signature at the end. And then be sure to read about the guy who signs this crap "in Jesus' name."

Oh, and by the way, look at what they include at the end of this thing. Faithful readers of this blog will recognize it right away.

My Comments are in dark blue and bold…

Keep God Out of Government, For His Own Protection and Ours

Do you realize what geniuses the Founding Fathers were?

They knew enough to put "God" in the Constitution at the very beginning of this republic, and told the government to keep its hands off. How prophetic were they? It’s as if they knew a bonehead like George W. Bush would come along and muck things up in the name of God. You know; someone dumb as a post, and completely unprepared for responsibility, but who would gleefully use the name of God just to shut off debate, and do whatever the hell he wanted. Because we all know, when someone brings up God in an argument, you can’t counter them, regardless, because they’re entitled to their beliefs, right? I mean, who’s to say God didn’t come to the Chimp in a vision and tell him to bomb the living hell out of 25 million people, destroy their country, and make neighboring country Iran far more powerful?

Of course, there is that possibility. Perhaps God sent us Dubya as a sort of negative reinforcement, to remind us how sacred the separation of church and state actually is. Maybe God sent us a disastrous president, in order to demonstrate that He has no intention of telling us how to run our country. We do seem to have forgotten the whole church-state separation thing lately. The Constitution and the New Testament both demand it, but Americans, who are supposedly 84% Christian, and 100% American, seem to choose to ignore both.

Cutting the Crap! What are Caribou Barbie and the Chimp Faithful TO, Exactly?

Okay, we know she doesn't know anything about the Constitution, because  she demonstrated repeatedly during the campaign that she had no idea what a vice president does.  But isn't it time we started enforcing the separation of church and state that is contained repeatedly in the Constitution?

 

This is from a Monday interview of Caribou Barbie (Sarah Palin, of course) on Fox News:

 

Faith is a very big part of my life. And putting my life in my creator's hands - this is what I always do. I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it's cracked up a little bit, maybe I'll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don't let me miss an open door. And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door.

 

Let me start off by saying, I don't really care about anyone's personal religious beliefs, especially those of politicians. I don't have a problem if they pray silently before every Cabinet meeting, or they ask God for guidance on an issue that vexes them.

 

I just want them to keep it to themselves.It's none of my business, no matter what they do for a living.

 

Religion and faith are very personal activities. Even when you go to church, it's still a personal activity; you just happen to be sharing with like-minded people who are in that church of their own free will. That has nothing in common with running the government. No matter how much they pretend it is, this country is not a church, and the president is not my pastor.

It's personal, and you have to understand that most people don't believe the same way you do when it comes to God. I know; for the last 40 years, the neocons have been trying to lump all "Christians" into one group, and tell you you're in "the majority," but the fact of the matter is, there are hundreds of Christian sects, and every one of them believes something different about God and Jesus Christ. For example, you Catholics and Mormons out there; did you know that quite a few of the other Christian sects refer to you as "cultists"? And you evangelicals and fundamentalists; were you aware that most other Christians think you're loons?

Yay! The World's Not Ending! Jesus Said So!

I have a message for evangelicals:

 

There will be no rapture anytime soon, and if the world ends, it will be because humans destroyed it, not God. We're not even close to the end times, so you can all relax and enjoy life like the rest of us.

 

And I know that, because I received the information from Jesus himself. He really did, I swear. Let me tell you what happened.

 

It was a short time ago. I was sitting on the couch early Saturday morning, eating my Frosted Mini-Wheats and watching baseball playoff highlights (how about those Rockies, eh?), when there was a knock at my door. I peeked out of my front window to see a short black man with a small paunch, a smart-looking Afro, and a short-cropped salt-ad-pepper beard. Even if he hadn't been habitually scratching his palms, I'd have recognized that face anywhere.

 

I swung open the door and greeted my old friend. "Jesus Christ! It's been a long time! How the hell have you been?"

 

"I'm doing well," Jesus Christ replied warmly. "Can I come in? I have something I need to talk to you about."

 

"Of course, old friend," I said, as I waved him inside, and to a seat on my couch. "Want something to eat? Coffee?"

 

"No, thank you," He said. "I could use some water, though. I'm fasting for Ramadan."

 

"Um, sure," I said, and I went to the kitchen and ran a huge glass of water. I handed it to him, and he drank it as if he hadn't had anything to drink in some time.

 

"Thank you, my friend," Jesus responded. "Now, there's something I need to tell you; a message that you must send to everyone you can possibly touch. It's very important."

"Well, I don't know how many people I can reach," I told him. "I'm just one blogger out of a billion."

"Well, I don't expect everyone to get it," Jesus snapped. "In fact, a lot of people will be very mad at you for even passing along this message."

 

"Okay, so what's the message?" I asked.

 

"I want you to tell every so-called evangelical asshole you know or can reach, that the end times are not near, at least not in Earth years, and that every single time they try to create one, they make asses of themselves."

 

Jesus reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a homemade DVD. On the DVD, he had written with a Sharpie, "Why Jesus Freaks are Going to Hell." He held it up and asked me if he could play it.

 

"Well, of course you can," I said. "Want me to put it in for you?"

 

"Well, of course not!" Jesus snapped. "I made the damn thing myself on my laptop, so I'm pretty sure I can use a DVD player."

 

He put the DVD in and played the following:

 

After the video, Jesus wept.

 

He only wept for about a minute, however, and once he'd recovered, he was pissed.

"Can you believe that so-called 'Christians' like this idiot actually think they're closer to getting to heaven by propagating and selling this bullshit?" Jesus shouted. "These assholes have to get the message that God doesn't work that way; he's not going to save idiots like this fat, bloated, rich moron, and kill everyone else. I said 'Blessed are the meek' a long time ago for a reason! And if God was going to end the world, he sure as shit isn't going to do it on cue from those idiots! These people are actually agitating wars all over the world, because they're trying to set up Armageddon! They always refer to Islamic fundamentalists as evil, but why is it more evil for them to commit violent acts because they claim God told them to, than so-called Christians starting a war based on hearsay about what God or I said?"

"I'm just curious," I said. "Why are you coming to me to send out this message? Why didn't you go straight to some of their leaders?"

Jesus laughed out loud at that. "You know the answer to that! Most of them live in gated communities that would never allow someone of my, um, complexion, to set foot inside without an engraved invitation. And when I have tried to visit some of the ones who live in regular neighborhoods, some called the cops on me, and one of them sic'd his specially trained dog on me. I still have a scar on my ass from that one. Before I came here, I went to see a couple of these guys; one of them threatened to shoot me if I didn't get off his porch. And get this; out of the corner of my eye, I saw that guy had one of those pictures of me as a white guy from Sweden or some shit, with the long straight hair and beard. Do these people have a clue where I even came from? Do they think I just dropped out of the sky after being shot from Scandinavia or some shit? Oh, and the other one -- the one who had his security guards escort me to the county line -- that guy had a plastic idol of me and my mother on the dashboards of both of his SUVs."

"Why don't you just tell them who you are?" I asked.

"I do that!" Jesus shouted. "What, do you think I'm stupid? I tell them who I am, and they think I'm just some nut case. They don't listen to anything I have to say, because they don't believe I am who I say I am. That's why I'm here talking to you today. I want you to tell everyone that the world will not end anytime soon, unless someone besides God ends it. All of these assholes who are telling everyone that I'm about to come again and that the world is just about to end are spouting fairy tales. I even said when I was here before that the end would be totally unexpected, and that no one would ever know before it happened. Why don't they ever listen to what I said, instead of listening to all of these morons who read a lot more into Revelations than should be read. God will decide if and when he will end the world, and He's not even close to ready yet. So I want you to write something and post it on your blog and everywhere you can, especially places where Jesus freaks hang out, and let them know all of this, and if they don't quit bullshitting normal people, they'll have a lot more to fear from God than anyone else, because nothing pisses Him off more than false prophets and charlatans."

"Okay, Jesus," I said. "I promise, I'll write something."

"And make sure the jackass in that video gets it, too," Jesus pleaded. "That guy and the one who keeps claiming that God's giving him weather forecasts are going to get a big surprise when they finally meet their doom."

"Well, I'll make sure they see whatever I write up."

After another glass of water, Jesus hugged me, shook my hand, and walked to the bus stop. He had a stop to make at a local homeless shelter. It's funny, but they always recognize Him.

And I am keeping my promise. I always do what Jesus tells me.

<video courtesy of Rack Jite-- http://rackjite.com

 

China says No Reincarnation Without Permission

Yes, the following is an absurd example, but this type of thing is why we should keep church and state absolutely separate.

This is extreme, but how is it different in principle from making everyone say "under God" in the pledge of allegiance, or by doing what the fundies want to do, and return forced organized prayer to public school, thus indoctrinating non-Christian kids into a faith their parents may not approve of?

Link: China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation - Newsweek Beliefs - MSNBC.com.

In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation." But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

And Bush has populated his Administration with incompetents, who just happen to believe the same things he does. How is that better?

I don't want a president forcing his religious dogma on the rest of us, and the religious folks wouldn't appreciate it if Hillary Clinton chose the president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

We should get back to the way the Constitution mandated things, in which "a religious test" was prohibited. Otherwise, we will end up like China; it's just a matter of time...