For Jim Morrison

Jim Sings "Touch Me" On You Tube

JIM MORRISON~ 1943 - 1971~ In His Words :

"You could say it's an accident that I was ideally suited for the work I am doing. It's the feeling of a bowstring being pulled back for 22 years and suddenly being let go. I am primarily an American, second, a Californian, third, a Los Angeles resident. I've always been attracted to ideas that were about revolt against authority. I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order."

Jim Morrison was the lead singer of the successful band, The Doors. The Doors took their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."

Jim was inspired by poets like William Blake and Arthur Rimbaud, and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. His grave is in Paris in the cemetery Pére Lachaise. Fans from all over the world make the pilgrimage to Jim Morrison's grave just to be close to him. For many, going there seems to be an act of freedom.

Me at Jim Morrison's grave in Paris about 1000 years ago.

LINKS: ~

• The Classic "Light My Fire" on the Ed Sullivan Show where Jim was told not to sing "higher" but to substitute it with a different word. Needless to say he sang "higher" and Ed Sullivan was so furious that he vowed, "You'll never do the Sullivan show again."
  To which Morrison replied, "We just did the Sullivan show."
• The Doors "Love Me Two Times"
• The Doors "Strange Days"
• The Doors "Ghost Song"
• Jim Morrison's Grave Video
• Pere Lachaise Paris Cemetery Pictures Tour 2006
  
  

The Doors - "Love Me Two Times"

The Fine Art of Michael S Angulo

Consider this a free plug for the fine art of Michael S Angulo.

LINKS:

• The Fine Art of Michael S Angulo

What's Your Theme Song

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?

Who would have thought that a group of good old irish catholic boys would be singing "my theme song"? Watch the video of "Beautiful Day" for the perve value at least. (smile)

LINKS:~

• Beautiful Day Lyrics
• Watch U2 - Beautiful Day Video

Some Famous Dead Skeptics

What is it to be a skeptic?

1. One who instinctively or habitually doubts, questions, or disagrees with assertions or generally accepted conclusions.
2. One inclined to skepticism in religious matters.

It wouldn't be accurate to say that all of the people listed here were atheist. Some were atheists, some were deists, but all were skeptical of religion and the claims of religions. Some were excomunicated for speaking their minds, some were incarcerated because of their skepticism and others were villified and executed.

• Anaxagoras (500?-428? BCE)~ “Everything has a natural explanation. The moon is not a god but a great rock and the sun a hot rock."
• Protagoras (481?-411 BCE) “As to gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like."
• 
  Democritus (460?-357 BCE)~ “Now as of old the gods give men all good things, excepting only those that are baneful and injurious and useless. These, now as of old, are not gifts of the gods: men stumble into them themselves because of their own blindness and folly.”
• 
  Epicurus (341-270 BCE)~ "Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."
• 
  Lucretius (96?-55 BCE)~ "So potent was religion in persuading to evil deeds."
• 
  Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4-65)~ "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful."
• 
  Gallus Petronius (1st C)~"It is fear that first brought Gods into the world."
• 
  John of Lackland (1199-1216)~ "You happy beast, never forced to patter prayers nor dragged to Holy Mass."
• 
  Giordano Bruno (1548?-1600)~ “There is no law governing all things.”
• 
  Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)~ "I count religion but a childish toy and hold there is no sin but innocence." Machiavel, in The Jew of Malta, "Prologue."
• 
  Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)~ "Fear of things invisible in the natural seed of that which everyone in himself calleth religion."
• 
  François La Rochefoucauld (1650?-?)~ "The only thing constant in life is change."
• 
  Thomas Otway (1652-1685)~ "These are rogues that pretend to be of a religion now! Well, all I say is, honest atheism for my money."
• 
  Francois Marie Arouet "Voltaire" (1694-1778)~"Every sensible man, every honorable man, must hold the Christian sect in horror."
• "Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world."
• "If we believe absurdities, we shall commit atrocities."
• "Superstition, born of paganism and adopted by Judaism, invested the Christian Church from earliest times. All the fathers of the Church, without exception, believed in the power of magic. The Church always condemned magic, but she always believed in it: she did not excommunicate sorcerers as madmen who were mistaken, but as men who were really in communication with the devil."
• 
  Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)~ "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
• 
  David Hume (1711-1776)~ "The Christian religion not only was at first attended with miracles, but even at this day cannot be believed by any reasonable person without one."
• 
  Frederick the Great (1712-1786)~ .". . . you will certainly grant me that neither antiquity nor whatever nation has devised a more repulsive and blasphemous absurdity than that of eating your God. This is the most disgusting dogma of Christian religion, the greatest insult to the Highest Being, the climax of madness and insanity."
• 
  Thomas Paine (1737-1809) ~ "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel."
• "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopolize power and profit."
• 
  James Madison (1751-1836)~ "During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution."
• "In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people.""Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
• 
  Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) ~"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."
• "All religions have been made by men."
• 
  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) ~"If God has spoken, why is the world not convinced."
• "It is easier to suppose that the universe has existed for all eternity than to conceive a being beyond its limits capable of creating it."

~
Morality is doing what is right no matter what you are told.
Religion is doing what you are told no matter what is right.

Canada rates in top five in sexual satisfaction survey

Survey links equality, sexual satisfaction

Sex is more satisfying in countries where women and men are considered equal, according to an international study of people between the ages of 40 and 80 by researchers at the University of Chicago.

Austria topped the list of 29 nations studied with 71% of those surveyed reported being satisfied with their sex lives. Spain, Canada, Belgium and the United States also reported high rates of satisfaction. The lowest satisfaction rate — 25.7% — was reported in Japan.

"Male-centered cultures where sexual behavior is more oriented toward procreation tend to discount the importance of sexual pleasure for women," Laumann said.

What is a little disconcerting to me is that even after the sexual revolution, we need a survey to tell us that men and women have better sex lives when there is mutual respect and concern for each other's needs and desires. Oh well, maybe they understand: "Ain't nobody happy if momma ain't happy."


LINKS: ~

1. Sex is more satisfying in nations where gender have more equality
2. Sexual Equality May Bring Better Sex
3. The Pfizer Global Study Of Sexual Attitudes And Behaviour
4. Good sex and gender equality

PS: Pfsier makes viagra but I am sure that is just a coincidence. (droll smile)

To Britain's relief, the French are dumber

Richard Lynn

A new European league of IQ scores has ranked the British in eighth place, well above the French, who are 19th. According to Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster, Britons have an average IQ of 100. The French scored 94.

Top of the table were the Germans, with an IQ of 107. The Brits were also beaten by the Dutch, Poles, Swedes, Italians, Austrians and Swiss.

Professor Lynn, who caused controversy last year by claiming that men were more intelligent than women by about five IQ points on average, said that populations in the colder, more challenging environments of northern Europe had developed larger brains than those in warmer climates in the south. The average brain size in northern and central Europe is 1320cc and in southeast Europe it is 1312cc.

"The early human beings in northerly areas had to survive during cold winters when there were no plant foods and they were forced to hunt big game," he said.

"The main environmental influence on IQ is diet, and people in southeast Europe would have had less of the proteins, minerals and vitamins provided by meat that are essential for brain development."

Aaaahhh. I knew there was a good reason for being a carnivore. Not too sure it has done me an incredible amount of good though. Perhaps my living in a hot climate has negated my carnivorous inclinations and my IQ score reflects this? I think there is another book in the offering for Dr. Lynn involving the study of northern european carnivores who migrated to hot climates (Australia), and the resultant effect, if any, upon their descendants' IQs.

LINKS:~

1. To Britain's relief, the French are dumber
2. Richard Lynn
3. IQ and the Wealth of Nations
4. Germans are brainiest (but at least we're smarter than the French)
5. What's missing in this pile of food? Meat, and without it children are damaged, say scientists

What Religion Best Suits You

Take the quiz:
WHAT RELIGION BESTS SUITS YOU?

Category Unknown
You don't fit into any of the above categories, so perhaps before you get angry or confused, check what other religion(s) you scored the highest on. For example, you might be a Christian-Pagan, or a Discordian-Wiccan. Just use a bit of logic. However, according to this test, you're simply 100% YOU. You don't fit into any of the world's boxes.

Quizzes by myYearbook.com -- the World's Biggest Yearbook!

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)

You scored as atheism. You are... an atheist, though you probably already knew this. Also, you probably have several people praying daily for your soul. Instead of simply being "nonreligious," atheists strongly believe in the lack of existence of a higher being, or God.

atheism 88%

buddhism 83%

agnosticism 83%

Paganism 79%

Satanism 75%

Judaism 54%

Islam 50%

Hinduism 38%

Christianity 33%

I don't find it too amazing that I scored fairly highly as a potential buddhist. I do try to be a peaceful type. It is my lot for having been born in an era of "love and peace man". But I am perplexed as to how I scored 75% in "satanism". lol (I think I will call it "stanism". It sounds less icky that way.)

Obviously out of the questions they designated as being atheist, I scored 88% in those and so on down the list. Frankly, being a pagan wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to eat anything yucky, or sleep outside my own species, but I am not sure of any of the rules associated with paganism; so I will happily remain an atheist.

The universe is a wonderful mystery.

The Classical IQ Test

My Result

My score = 130

Wow! A score above 130 means that your performance on this test was way above average. Actually, according to this test, you are absolutely brilliant. Only a very small percentage of people score this high.

I thought this test was pretty hard actually, but then I hate these sorts of tests and don't know why I torture myself by doing them. Perhaps it is the desire to achieve or the hope that I won't be found to be totally stupid.

I did notice that there wasn't one question about the sorts of things of which women claim superior knowledge. For example: ~

" If shoe shopping plus credit card gives husband nervous breakdown, what does jewellery shopping plus chequebook do?"

(a) He develops a facial tic.
(b) He develops tourettes.
(c) He has an apoplectic fit.
(d) All of the above
(e) None of the above, all of the money and worldly goods are in your name anyway.

(Please, if you are a man, don't even TRY and answer that question. The correct answer is secret women's business and none of us are telling. )

Take the test!

Fundies Cross Roads?

WARNING: Contains adult themes. Censor yourself.

Why Did The Fundie Cross The Road?

1. She was going to meet her preacher at a motel across the road and audition for a missionary position.
2. He wasn't sure why, so he stopped to pray about it and was hit by a church bus.
3. Because, there were two blacks and a jew walking on her side of the road.
4. She was on her way to partake in one of fundieism's most holy of rituals at the "The Big Hair Beauty Shop".
5. To lay hands on that dead possum and heal it, if not, he had take home for supper.
6. To find a better spot for his " I Hate Fags" sign.
7. He was trying to walk off a boner that had arose while watching "The Passion of the Christ" for the fourth time.
8. Because his dick was stuck in the chicken.
9. Because he finally admitted to himself that he preferred the sexual company of men, and realized he'd have to either cross that road or live out the rest of his life in the closet.
10. Because his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him his Fundie father before him and his fundie father before him and his fundie father before him ... always crossed the road.

(Please add your suggestions to why the fundie crossed the road. )

• Because the North Star was on the other side of the road. (Thanks to The Atheist Jew)

PS: Remember, there are three religious truths:

1. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

2. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian church.

3. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store or at Hooters

LINKS: ~

1. Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
2. Religious Satire and Humor
3. Why Did The Fundie Cross The Road?

Neil Young urges Bush impeachment on protest album

"Let's Impeach the President"

Listen to Neil Young being interviewed about his latest album and the song "Let's Impeach the President" here.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran rocker Neil Young has recorded a protest album featuring an anti- Iraq war track with "a holy vow to
never kill again" and a song titled "Let's Impeach the President," the singer said on Monday.

"Living with War" is hardly the first work by Young to take on the political establishment. As part of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, in 1970, Young wrote and recorded the song "Ohio," a song about the four Kent State University students killed by National Guard troops during an anti-Vietnam war rally.

LINKS:~

1. DownWithTyranny!
2. Neil Young to the rescue
3. Neil Young: New Song 'Impeach the President'
4. Living With War
5. Neil Young
6. Listen To "Living With War"

Happy Holiday

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR BELIEF

If You Don't Want To Question Your Beliefs, Censor Yourself Now

• How would you define God, and why are you so convinced that there is one?
• If everything needs a creator, then who or what created God?
• How can something that cannot be described be said to exist?
• Since there are countless religions in the world today claiming to be the one true religion, why do you think yours is truer than theirs?
• Can more than one of these religions be right?
• If you feel in your heart that your religion is the right one, how do you answer those of other faiths who claim the same thing?
• How do you settle the debate and find out which of these religions, if any, is the right one?
• Why does God allow all these false religions to exist?
• Is the bloody history of Christianity consistent with what is supposed to be a religion of love, or does it simply illustrate the consequences of abandoning reason for faith?
• If everything is the product of a grand design by an omniscient, benevolent designer, why is the history of life a record of horrible suffering, blundering waste, and miserable failures? Why does this God go through billions of years of such carnage without yet arriving at His goal?
• Why did God intervene so many times in human affairs during antiquity (according to the Bible) and yet not do anything during the Holocaust of the Second World War?
• Why should ones inner convictions about the existence of God indicate that He/She/They/It exists outside of that persons mind?
• Can a God who would abandon His children when they needed him the most still be considered all good?
• If something is not rational, should it be believed anyway?
• If the God of the Bible is all good, why does He himself say that He created evil? (Isaiah 45:7)
• Is there a better way than reason to acquire knowledge and truth?
• If you would answer "with faith", then why are there so many contradictory faiths in the world?

For more of these questions go to: SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR BELIEF

LINKS:~ Atheists United

A Pagan Easter Poem

A Pagan Easter Poem

The sacred day of Easter comes,
When every Christian household hums.
Baskets with eggs and bunnies too,
and kiddies get some clothes, all new.

Just everyone is seen in church.
The preacher sits upon his perch.
Tells of your son whose blood dripped down
to save the sinners of the town.

I squirm each time I have to hear
that torture tale of death and fear.
They put your son then in a tomb,
a big one with a lot of room.

He wouldn’t stay; three days wentby,

and he was as alive as I.
I find that yarn real hard to take.
God, didn’t you make a big mistake?

If you’re powerful like they say,
couldn’t you find a better way?
All sungods seem to be connected,
Cause all were killed and resurrected.

reprinted from The Willamette Freethinker,

newsletter for the Corvallis Secular Society, 1999

Easter Sunrise Service: This custom can be traced back to the ancient Pagan custom of welcoming the sun God at the vernal equinox - when daytime is about to exceed the length of the nighttime. It was a time to "celebrate the return of life and reproduction to animal and plant life as well."

Easter Candles: These are sometimes lit in churches on the eve of Easter Sunday. Some commentators believe that these can be directly linked to the Pagan customs of lighting bonfires at this time of year to welcome the rebirth/resurrection of the sun God.

LINKS:

• The Pagan Origins Of Easter
• Easter: It's Origin, Meaning and Practice
• Jesus Christ, Sun Of God
• Easter

Christians and BDSM

Christians and BDSM

WARNING: ~ Contains adult themes. Censor yourself.

~

Who would have thought that there would be a website that alligns christianity with BDSM? What is BDSM? BDSM is a term which describes a number of related patterns of human sexual behaviour.

• Bondage (B)
• Bondage & Discipline (B&D)
• Domination & Submission (D&S)
• Sadism & Masochism (or Sadomasochism) (S&M, SM)

When does BDSM become religious?

In the Roman Empire, flagellation was often used as a prelude to crucifixion, and in this context is sometimes referred to as scourging. Whips with small pieces of metal or bone at the tips were commonly used. Such a device was easily able to cause disfigurement and serious trauma, such as ripping pieces of flesh from the body or loss of an eye. In addition to causing severe pain, the victim would be made to approach a state of hypovolemic shock, due to loss of blood.

Flagellation is the act of whipping (Latin flagellum, "whip") the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, and the cat-o-nine-tails.

Flagellantism was a 13th and 14th century Christian movement. It began as a militant pilgrimage. The followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals.

Flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments.

The practice of mortification of the flesh for religious purposes includes the Christian Flagellant movements of the 13th century, and the present-day members of Opus Dei.

Mortification of the flesh literally means "putting the flesh to death". The term is primarily used in religious contexts, and is practiced in a variety of ways. The institutional and traditional terminology of this practice in Catholicism is corporal mortification.

Frankly I am not surprised about the sexual nature of religious devotion. I think neurologists would testify that there is a "fine line between pleasure and pain." (Which is quite a long time before Christina Amphlett and The Divinyls sang about it.)

Christina Amphlett

One only has to look back at some of the christian worshippers in the previous centuries who beat themselves with cat of nine tails to show their supplication to the lord to realise that they were seeking pleasure through pain. In fact, flagellation or mortification of the flesh, was seen to be "pain which was to be loved relative to the positive end."

Through pain came redemption, therefore pain was to be embraced and to be enjoyed. Certainly that seems like sado-masochistic tendencies to me. For example, a contemporary saint, Josemaria Escriva said, while consoling a dying lady who was suffering in the hospital, "Blessed be pain! Glorified be pain! Sanctified be pain!"

Pain was seen as an integral part of human nature. And pain united the worhipper to Jesus through the pain that Jesus also suffered. So pain was to be embraced and enjoyed, the more pain, the closer one was to the Christ. (I can't begin to tell you how freaky this sounds to me though I know to a lot of believers this seems so wonderful.)

Deliberate pain inflicted for religious reasons which is seen as pleasurable will remain in the "oh, how weird basket" for me. Though these historical accounts do begin to explain the confusion people have had between what is painful and what is pleasurable. But to seek pain and call it pleasure and to believe that that pain will in some way make the person more worthy of the love of a god, still seems quite psychologically disturbing to me.

It also makes me wonder that if we didn't live in a culture which accepted pain as somehow being "good/holy", whether or not we would be more conducive to the concept of euthenasia or assisted suicide. If a person has the belief that a supernatural being owns their body/mind (and consequently everyone elses as well); and that you must suffer for that deity to show how much you love them, then we as human beings are a long way from trying to eliminate suffering. In fact, the religious amongst us might be actively encouraging it.

~

The link which motivated this blog article: ~ Christians and BDSM

Divinyls - Pleasure & Pain (1985)

The Moon Is BRIGHT, And The Winds Are Laid, And The River Is Roaring By

What Is A Bright?

"Bright" is a nice word because of the connection to the Enlightenment --

• A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview
• A bright's worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements
• The ethics and actions of a bright are based on a naturalistic worldview

Persons who have a naturalistic worldview should not be culturally stifled or civically marginalized due to society’s extensive supernaturalism. Rather, they ought to be accepted as fellow citizens and full participants in the cultural and political landscape.

What sort of people are BRIGHTS?

1. Anyone who does not have a supernatural worldview can be a BRIGHT.
2. They might self-identify as atheist, humanist, secular humanist, freethinker, rationalist, naturalist, agnostic, or skeptic.
3. There are individuals who go by their preferred affiliations, such as Ethical Culturalist, Pantheist, Buddhist, Yogi, Wiccan, Transhumanist, or Unitarian.
4. Some are Jews, Catholics, Quakers, Episcopalians, and those who may personally maintain their religion’s cultural or aesthetic aspects, but not its supernaturalism.

Some well known BRIGHTS: ~

• Richard Dawkins
• James 'The Amazing' Randi
• Daniel Dennett
• Margaret Downey
• Steven Pinker
• Richard Roberts
• Bobbie Kirkhart

Read some more information about: ~

• "The Brights"
• Creationism’s Trojan Horse: the Wedge of Intelligent Design

Three Cheers For This Bishop

Defiant bishop backs use of condoms against Aids

I am no great fan of organised religion which would be quite obvious to those who read my blog, but I will give credit where it is due. A Catholic bishop working in Papua New Guinea trying to combat the pread of HIV is questioning the Catholic Church's position on the use of condoms.

The Catholic church has repeatedly declined to endorse the use of condoms to fight Aids. Bishop Gilles Cote, a French Canadian, said he was in favour of governments providing condoms to communities where extramarital sex and multiple partners were common.

It is time the Catholic Church used its missionary zeal and its wealth to save and improve the lives of poor people in other countries instead of trying to impose a "western sexual code of morality." By denying condoms to these people, they are in my opinion, negligent in their duty. They have a duty of care which should include as their first duty ~~ TO DO NO HARM.

By denying the use of condoms to inhibit the transfer of HIV, they are in effect resigning these people to a death sentence and any other person they sleep with to the same fate. It is a death sentence which could be avoided if they had allowed them the use of condoms in the first place. The Catholic Church needs to wake up.

This is a health issue, not a religious one.

LINKS: ~

• Vatican: condoms don't stop Aids
• Catholic Church in Spain shifts policy on condoms
• Catholic Church told to 'get real' over condoms

Study, in a First, Explains Evolution's Molecular Advance

Dr. Thornton said the experiments showed how evolution could and did innovate functions over time. "I think this is likely to be a very common theme in how complex molecular systems evolved," he said.

Dr. Thornton said the key-and-lock mechanism of a hormone-receptor pair was "an elegant exemplar of a system that has been called irreducibly complex." "Of course," he added, "our findings show that it is not irreducibly complex."

LINKS: ~

• Study, in a First, Explains Evolution's Molecular Advance
• The evolution of complex systems
• Irreducible Complexity proven to evolve
• Refuting Michael Behe's "Irreducible Complexity" with Roman Arches

Do Pastors Dream Of Nazi Sheep?

(with apologies to Philip K. Dick and his novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep." on which the movie "Bladerunner" is based)

In Philip K. Dick's book, those who couldn't afford a real sheep could have an artifical one made for them. These electric sheep though for all intents and purposes looked and behaved like real sheep, could never be real. The Rosen corporation or the Tyrell Corporation in the movie also made androids. These androids called replicants make us question what it is to be human. For though they looked and behaved like real people, unlike real people, the replicants could never think for themselves. They were programmed to serve their masters. They were programmed to be led as sheep are led to the slaughter.

Does listening to a christian fundamental church service remind you of a Nuremberg Rally? Does listening to islamic fundamentalists also remind you of a Nuremberg Rally? If you answered yes to one of the questions the chances are you recognise the power of religious persuasion. If you answered yes to both of the questions, you just might be an atheist or at least a skeptic.

Religions like to programme/control their followers, or for want of a better descriptor, their sheep. The more fundamental the religion or belief, the more desire there is for absolute control. How do religions control people? A variety of psychological methods are used. This is a short list of some of the more obvious.

• They control through generating fear.
• They control through manufacturing guilt.
• They control through the promise of rewards.
• They control by creating a sense of elitism in their followers. (eg. Ours is the only "true religion." etc)

Fundamentalists excel at using these tactics in order to control their followers, but who is a fundamentalist?

FUNDAMENTALISM:~

• A usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism.
• An organized, militant Evangelical movement originating in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century in opposition to Protestant Liberalism and secularism, insisting on the inerrancy of Scripture.

So a religious fundamentalist opposes secularism. He/she opposes protestant liberalism and insists on the infallibility of scripture. Religious fundamentalists whether they be christian, muslim or hindu all oppose secularism and liberal religiousity and have a preference for theocracy. Religious fundamentalists parallel the tactics of those used by the nazi ideology. So how do religious fundamentalists act like nazis?

• The nazis glorified the state. The individual was to be totally subordinate to the state. Religious fundamentalists glorify the state and subordinate their individuality to the state or the church. In many cases the state and the church are as one.
• The nazis supported aggressive militarism. Religious fundamentalists also condone violence and militarism in order to spread their religious beliefs.
• The nazis were elitist. Hitler was idolised as a hero or a "superman." The nazis believed in Führerprinzip or the Leader Principle. That is an adoration of the leader or the belief in the infallibility of the leader and what the leader stands for. Religious fundamentalists worship and idolise their religious leaders.
• The nazis were racist. They believed in the superiority of the White, Germanic, Aryan or Nordic races. The fundamentalist ideology of the Ku Klux Klan is also an example. Religious fundamentalists, though they cannot always be considered explicitly racist, do exemplify the same fervour for "culture". That is, the belief in the supremacy of culture, and or the superiority of blood.
• The nazis believed in "Blut und Boden" or the defence of blood and soil. This defence could be in the form of pre-emptive military attacks. Religious fundamentalists have a long history of religious wars. The word crusade means literally a "holy war" as does the word jihad. (You say "potato" and I say "potarto"; you say "jihad" and I say "crusade".)

So, are you a follower or a freethinker? Are you a religious fundamentalist or secularist? Are you are willing to subordinate individuality and freedom of thought to either a political party or a fundamentalist religion? If you answer in the affirmative, I have a nice woolly jumper with a swastika on it waiting for you and a cool new hand signal with which to greet your fellow sheep. Check out the "sheeples" in the link below, you might find your face staring back at you from one of the cartoons.

LINKS:~

• The Sheeples
• Propaganda
• How People Became Sheeple
• Urban Dictionary

Kissing Hank's Ass

WARNING:~ This is satire. So if you can't take some jokes about religions, don't read further. Censor yourself.

You Tube Video Clip: ~ So Who Is This Hank?

With thanks again to ATHEIST JEW for this hilarious clip Kissing Hank's Ass. I recommend you visit his blog on a regular basis, I know I do.

Notable Quotes from Kissing Hank's Ass:~

1. Mary: "No one sees Hank, no one talks to Hank."
   Me: "Then how do you kiss His ass?"
   John: "Sometimes we just blow Him a kiss, and think of His ass. Other times we kiss Karl's ass, and he passes it on."
2. Me: "You're saying Hank's always right because the list says so, the list is right because Hank dictated it, and we know that Hank dictated it because the list says so. That's circular logic, no different than saying 'Hank's right because He says He's right.'"
   John: "Now you're getting it! It's so rewarding to see someone come around to Hank's way of thinking."
3. Me: "But...oh, never mind. What's the deal with wieners?"
   Mary: She blushes.
   John: "Wieners, in buns, no condiments. It's Hank's way. Anything else is wrong."
4. Me: "So a big pile of sauerkraut with some wieners chopped up in it would be out of the question?"
   Mary: Sticks her fingers in her ears."I am not listening to this. La la la, la la, la la la."

LINKS:~

• This list of HANKISMS by John Cooper and inspired by Rev. Jim Huber is worth a look.
• Welcome One and All to the Church of Hank

Christian Fundamentalism At It's Hilarious Best

The "God Warrior"

You remember the christian fundamentalist from "Trading Spouses"? Well, here she is in all her donut eating glory. Can someone explain to me why I shouldn't be as frightened of her as I am of any other religious fundamentalists?

Don't bother replying with" She won't chop your head off with a sword!" because after viewing the clip a few times, I figure she is crazy enough to do anything.

The sad thing about watching the clip was to see how frightened the youngest daughter was and how the oldest daughter has been convinced to wear mom's guilt. A pretty sad display all round.

LINKS: ~

• God Warrior Bobblehead
• Religious Freaks

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough

The Boab tree is self-sustaining;

it draws on its own resources.

Upside down, it flourishes against the grain.

What? People Don't Trust Atheists?

Bible Morality

Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

I can't say I am terribly surprised by the results of this survey primarily because large percentages of people equate atheism with immorality. If your worldview is that there is an absolute morality which is handed down to mankind by a supernatural being, then there is a tendency to believe that morality cannot exist WITHOUT god belief.

As a secular humanist, I believe that mankind formulates its own ethics and morality. In fact, that morality evolves through time, cultures and geographies. What constitutes morality is always in a state of flux. Afterall, it was quite moral, albeit not ethical, to have slaves at certain periods in history, and in various cultures. In fact the bible has quite a few pages condoning slavery. This is but one of them:

"Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts. Teach these truths, Timothy, and encourage everyone to obey them." (1 Timothy 6:1-2 NLT)

It is pretty obvious to most people who live in western democracies that slavery is NOT condoned today. So what happened? Do christians/muslims/jews cherry-pick the parts of their religious books which they find morally acceptable to their present culture and try and ignore the "yucky bits"? I certainly think so. And if they do, what does this suggest?

It suggests to me that the so called morality and ethics of the bible have been tempered by a couple of thousand years of human experience. In other words, human morality has EVOLVED through time and space. Some of the morality of the bible is only pertinent to the chronology and geography from whence it came.

If we look at Leviticus 20 Punishments for Sin, we can see a list of punishments for sin/immorality, that would be comparable with some of the harsh punishments required by sharia law.

Leviticus 20/10 " If a man commits adultery with another man's wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death."

Obviously the majority of the western world has moved on from "stoning adulteresses" to death. But fundamentalists would still consider this to be required by god/allah. That is, they believe that these rules are ABSOLUTE and god given. Hands up the christians out there who think a good stoning on a Sunday is a fine idea if you get caught shagging the nextdoor neighbour? Stop lying! (Admit it. You only think a good stoning is a great idea if you have rights to the syndication :))

I guess what I am saying is that at least some of the morality of religious books is anachronistic. An anachronism is something that happens out of its proper or chronological order, especially a practice that belongs to an earlier time. And that is why the punishments for sin in Leviticus 20 are NOT part of the law in modern western democracies. We have, thankfully, evolved; and so have our systems of laws and our codes of morality.

Well, some of us have evolved.

Are you one of them?

~

PS: I guess it is fortunate that I don't collect sticks on the "sabbath".

"While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day ... And The Lord said to Moses, "The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." (Numbers 15:32,35 RSV)

As a secular humanist, who is also an atheist, I don't feel compelled to stone anyone to death. I think I have made the right choice; the ethical choice.

~