How To Suck At Your Religion

This is a truly excellent take on religion.

Click on image to view whole info-graphic over at TheOatmeal.com a site that most ‘net users should be very familiar with.

Chinese whisper

An excellent strip from the much loved web-comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zack Weiner.

Giving the Vatican a bit of a touch up.

Who doesn’t like to take swipes at the Catholic church?  They are an easy target, for the evil they do is obvious to anyone who looks and thankfully they regularly update the list of reasons to revile them. Sticking to the old classic of pederast priests though here is a wonderful bit of lampooning courtesy of Australia’s ABC Television Network show Hungry Beast. One of my favourite shows.

Just a few wallpapers for a bit of fun.

I am in the mood for making a few wallpapers. Here’s a couple I’ve made recently.

Click on the images for full size versions (1600 x 1200).

And here are a few I made years ago.

I quit.

I can no longer tolerate dealing with the voluntarily mentally disabled. It is virtually impossible to have a remotely rational conversation with those who believe faith has some sort of inherent value.

There are thousands of Atheist sites out there and many do a much better job than I so I’m out of here.

Thanks to my few regular readers.

Short Break

Hi folks. I will be taking a break from blogging as my life leaves too little time to keep up with it. This may be temporary or permanent, I haven’t decided yet.

To my regular readers I do apologise.

Kind regards, EvilGod

Inexplicable does not equal miraculous.

What is it about the religious persons psyche that requires anything unexplainable be relabelled miraculous? It seems to me that believers abhor anything they can’t explain or understand, that ‘god’ is the default answer if a rational one eludes us. What is so wrong with saying that something is currently beyond our understanding but that one day we may be able to know all there is to know about it?

Scientists regularly discover things that are beyond our comprehension and that drives them to do research, experiment and postulate hypotheses until there is a theory explaining whatever it was we didn’t understand. I am quite sure that any beliefs regarding ‘the afterlife’ are just another example. Why does the unknown scare people so much?

There was recently an opinion piece in New Scientist titled “Do you believe in miracles?” and as with all articles on the topic of religion the comments section degraded into the usual slanging match between atheists and believers concerning what does or doesn’t constitute a miracle and whether to be a miracle, in the caused-by-god sense, something must defy the Laws of Nature.

For the rational amongst us the fact that anyone would argue that miracles exist and that god causes them is just as ludicrous as people believing the Jonah or Noah tales.

Here’s my take on it. Anything labelled a “miracle” is either simply an occurrence that the observer can not explain or perhaps something intentionally lied about for gain, or just something as yet inexplicable by current scientific knowledge. There seems to be a prevalent feeling in society today that to not know something, or more importantly to be seen not knowing something, somehow implies stupidity. This is very wrong. Being unable to explain something only shows one does not possess the required information, irrespective of whether that is because the information doesn’t currently exist or because one has never learned it. Ignorance isn’t a sin, choosing to remain ignorant certainly should be.

There  must have been many things previously thought of as miracles that have since been debunked. Most would be nothing more than coincidences. How miraculous would a solar eclipse have seemed to people in millennia past?

Does David Copperfield perform miracles or illusions? If his act was performed a few hundred years ago it would be called miraculous and/or he would be burnt at the stake. Millions watched as he made the Statue of Liberty disappear that doesn’t make it a miracle.

How does one recognise a miracle as they are indistinguishable from any unexplained phenomenon.

A true miracle would be undeniable. Perhaps a multiple amputee that had been examined and certified as such by several skeptical scientists with no agenda suddenly growing new limbs in a matter of seconds in front of an audience of scientists and doctors that could examine the person again afterward and verify there was no hoax involved. That might qualify as a miracle.

If tomorrow you went to the toilet and excreted the young of ten different species of mammals, fish, birds and insects. That would be a miracle, but only if it was verified beforehand that you hadn’t put them there.

The famous line “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” is true.

There is a reason there have never been any verified miracles. There aren’t any. A miracle would require something with the power of a god and as there are no gods there are no miracles.

It would be fair to say. A miracle is in the mind of the deluded beholder.

Please note all references to the word miracle in this article are made based on the current use of the word when concerning religion and supernatural belief not the original meaning of  ‘wonderful’ or ‘to wonder at’.

Another post by EvilGod, one of the Unindoctrinated.

What Would Jesus Drive?

I don’t know about you but when I’m looking for spiritual guidance or perhaps seeking a saviour I know that the best place to find enlightenment is obviously the back of the car in front of me.

Of course! silly me. If I pick Jesus can I flick it at him?

Truly professional sign-writing and a classic font always sucks me in.

When you’re not sure what to say, say everything.

Maybe gaudiness is next to godliness.

Not exactly sure whether this is advertising or vandalism.

It’s been a while since I watched Wheel Of Fortune. Can I buy a space? Yea though I drive through the valley of California I will fear nothing behind me because I can’t see it. Jesus is apparently ambivalent about road safety.

Less than sixty bible thumper bumper stickers on the back, obviously not a Real Christian. Maybe they are cheaper by the dozen. What do you reckon? Has he made his point? You’ve got to love the “Spank your inner child” one.

This Xmas themed ride is so tastefully done. I sure didn’t know Tweety-Bird was a Jesus freak and I presume the cross on the gas-tank flap helps get this beautiful ride blessed gas mileage.

At least seven stickers for the same radio station, what a fan. Apparently he likes Jesus too.

I’m at a loss for words. There is so much wrong with this I don’t know where to start.

Well sign me up right away, I’m sure the kids would love it. Who doesn’t appreciate a good eternity in hell threat?

King of the road? I think last time he was here he only had one donkey power at his disposal. Nothing says love thy neighbour like the glorious pedestrian impalers, oops, bonnet emblems.
Reminds me of the wonderful story of the Floridian who told friends and family he didn’t wear a seatbelt because the St. Christopher statue on the dash would protect him.  Someone rear-ended him. Oops. The five inch high statue ended up buried right into his brain via his right eye socket. When the police officer attending the scene pushed his body back in the seat of his low-rider and looked at him the first thing he saw was a shiny gold sticker that said “Made in Taiwan” where his eye should have been. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it?

Another pedestrian killer.

And here it is. The pièce de résistance.

After seeing this eyesore I’m sure many people have turned to the lord if only to say “What The?”   Classy I’m sure you’ll agree.

Perhaps I should have said “Would Jesus Be Seen Driving That?”

And to finish up probably the most overtly racist display short of wearing a white pointy hood and he probably has one of those too.

You'll probably have to click through to read.

Should I be surprised by the Kentucky Plate? I’m sure not all Kentucky residents agree with this sort of attitude but I’m also sure more than a few do. What a disgrace to the human race. I’ll assume the owner is a wounded veteran but obviously the main injury was inter-cranial.

Don’t worry I’ll go ahead and presume 99% of Americans think the same of him that I do.

Another post by EvilGod, one of the Unindoctrinated.

A Little Justice for a Horrendous Crime.

A follow up to a post I wrote back in January regarding the Neumann family “Criminal Stupidity or Killed by belief” and the death of their eleven year old daughter due to the parent’s ridiculous belief that prayer alone would save her from what was later determined to be Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

The father, Dale Neumann was found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide on 1st of August in the death of his daughter Kara. The mother, Leilani had previously been convicted on 22nd of May on the same charge.  The maximum sentence allowed for a charge of second-degree reckless homicide under Wisconsin law is twenty-five years in prison but it is highly unlikely they will get that. I hope that the judge at sentencing on the 6th of October makes an example of them and that the expected appeal is fruitless.

I want to say I hope this will make others think twice before praying their children to death but I’m not that optimistic. The deluded believers will keep on doing such inexplicable things as long as the preachers keep telling them it works.

One must focus on the fact a child died here. This is not about religious freedoms. This is about parental responsibility.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. To believe that prayer works one must first believe that god’s plan is of such little importance that he’d be willing to change it just for you.

Another post by EvilGod, one of the Unindoctrinated.

Another quick pointer to a great post.

I don’t want to make too much of a habit out of just putting up a link to stuff I’ve read elsewhere but occasionally if I read something different, preferably something not said a hundred times before, I’ll post a quick link to it. I hope this doesn’t bother my regulars.

I have read many well thought out disproofs of god before but few as eloquently written as this How You Can Know There Is No God at The American Chronicle by Wayne Adkins.

Here’s a funny picture from an art exhibit to make up for it.

Thanks to ‘mats’ for supplying a link to this artist and his work.

Another post by EvilGod, one of the Unindoctrinated.