Brainstormy
Brainstormy's JournalGoose-Steppers in the G.O.P.
This NYT article by Timothy Egan offers the best explanation for the Trump eruption I've seen yet. As Egan says, Trump has given "marginalized Americans permission to hate."
Well worth the read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/opinion/campaign-stops/goose-steppers-in-the-gop.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-4&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
What's Behind Facebook's Censoring Of Atheists In India
"A few days ago a petition popped up on the website Change.org urging Mark Zuckerberg to “support freedom of expression in India” by unblocking an atheist Facebook group there with over 13,000 members.
Facebook, the petition said, had not given any reason for the blockade. One day users in India who tried to visit the site were simply hit with a message that the content was “unavailable.” This was not the first time a Facebook page for atheists had been censored in the secular state. In June, another atheist Facebook group was reportedly labeled “unsafe” and its members were unable to share its content.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/facebook-censorship-atheists-india_564975a3e4b045bf3defc4c1?cps=gravity_5020_-3059047122942945902
Ted Cruz: An Atheist 'Isn't Fit To Be' President
Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Friday that he believes anyone who wants to be president must fear God and pray daily.
Speaking at the National Religious Liberties Conference in Iowa, Cruz joined other GOP presidential candidates for a discussion about the persecution of Christians in the U.S. and around the world. After some very extreme, very weird comments about homosexuality, right-wing pastor Kevin Swanson introduced Cruz to the stage to ask him how important it was for candidates to submit to Jesus Christ as "the king of the President of the United States."
"Any president who doesn't begin every day on his knees isn't fit to be commander-in-chief of this country," responded Cruz.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-atheists_5640b613e4b0411d30719f52?cps=gravity_5040_7573409619254440940
Conservatives Are Mad Because Ben Carson's Been Questioned About His Religion
Interesting article by David Corn. We saw a little of what a faith-based presidency might be like in Bush. (Although, truthfully Bush's problems were much more an issue of smallness of brain than greatness of faith.) Still, it terrifies me to think how crackpot religious ideas could inform global policies. I fantasize about the day when affirming that you have NO religious superstitions becomes the test for office.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/11/ben-carson-faith-seventh-day-adventism
Tennessee County May Ask God To Spare Them And Smite Someone Else
Some days the news is too surreal not to share:
"A Tennessee county plans to take up a resolution begging God for mercy and asking that the deity not smite their community "like Sodom and Gomorrah" because of the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage.
The "resolution condemning judicial tyranny and petitioning God’s mercy" was written by Blount County commissioner Karen Miller and will come up for consideration at Tuesday night's meeting.
Miller's resolution claims the "so help me God" part of the oath taken by lawmakers means they are committed not only to upholding the U.S. Constitution but also "higher Natural Law."
As such, the resolution calls on lawmakers throughout the state "to protect Natural Marriage, from lawless court opinions, AND THE financial schemes of the enemies of righteousness wherever the source AND defend the Moral Standards of Tennessee."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/blount-county-tennessee_5612059fe4b0dd85030c72a9
So quiet on the Pope's visit
from this group. I get the idea that I'm the only one trying to quell the nausea.
These religious clowns should scare you
delicious article from Salon about the lunatic faithful in the GOP debate. Well worth reading in its entirety.
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/16/these_religious_clowns_should_scare_you_gop_candidates_gullible_lunatic_faith_is_a_massive_character_flaw/
I love you anyway
I've been a conscious atheist for many years now. I've been through lots of stages, including the closeted, timorous mouse stage, the mostly just uncomfortable what-do-I-do-with myself in X situations ? newbie, the knowledge-acquiring growth stage, the militant in-your-face let's-fight-about-it stage, and most recently the what are you gonna' do, life is too short, you can't wake up folks who don't know they're sleeping stage. I've been ostracized and mocked, but luckily I haven't suffered terribly since coming out. Members of my family, while mostly believers, are generally well-educated, tolerant folks. What DOES happen sometimes--it happened today -- is that someone I really like discovers I'm not a believer and says to me, with tenderness and pity in their eyes, that they "love me anyway."
It just stops me in my tracks. My immediate reaction is hostility. Belligerence. FURY! (I know, I know. ) It's like I want to punch out this person who "loves me anyway" because I'm rational.
Does this happen to anyone else? Is this Freud, Jung, Carl Sagan, George Carlin? Somebody PLEASE tell me you've had the experience of practically wanting to KILL someone who loves you anyway. And then tell me how you handle it. I'm feeling crummy. small. petty. Not very rational.
The religious have gone insane: The separation of church and state — and Scalia from his mind
From Salon
The headline on the News Nerd was almost too good to be true: “American Psychological Association to Classify Belief in God As a Mental Illness.” A study, the story beneath it read, had led the APA to conclude that “a strong and passionate belief in a deity or higher power, to the point where it impairs one’s ability to make conscientious decisions about common sense matters, will now be classified as a mental illness.”
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/26/the_religious_have_gone_insane_the_separation_of_church_and_state_and_scalia_from_his_mind/
GREAT article. worth the full read.
God Hates Pigeon Genitals
You can't make this stuff up:
ISIS bans pigeon breeding - punishable by public flogging - because seeing birds' genitals overhead offends Islam
Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq have banned citizens breeding pigeons, claiming the sight of uncovered pigeons flying overhead is offensive to God, also saying that raising the birds wastes time that should be spent praying.
Those who break the rules will face flogging, fines and even imprisonment
Earlier this year ISIS executed three boys they found breeding pigeons.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3107027/ISIS-bans-pigeon-breeding-punishable-public-flogging-seeing-birds-genitals-overhead-offends-Islam.html
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