Religious Oppression and Ridiculous Actions

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6 Most Absurd Things Right-Wing Christians Have Blamed on Gays

“We have displeased the Lord and the earth is going to answer,” so-called prophet Cindy Jacobs warned in advance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act last summer. If this warning sounds familiar, it should: right wingers have a long history of blaming everything from earthquakes to recession to climate change on the advance of gay marriage, and they’re only getting more ridiculous. [Read more]

Psychics and Mediums: Where’s the Harm?

A lot of people think professional “psychics” are harmless. (Please henceforth assume that any time I use the word “psychic” it is in quotes.) Especially if you are sophisticated enough to understand the learnable skill of cold reading, you may simply chuckle at the gullibility of an audience gasping in awe as a celebrity psychic seems to “know things she couldn’t possibly know” about some stranger’s dead mother or grandfather or dog. [Read more]

‘Bible Tells Us to Bear One Another’s Burdens… Any Volunteers?’:
Cameron turns to God after Miller’s expenses resignation

After the week he has had, it is no surprise that David Cameron was looking for divine inspiration. Hours after the Prime Minister was forced to defend Maria Miller’s resignation over her expenses, he told religious leaders at an Easter reception in Downing Street: ‘The Bible tells us to bear one another’s burdens.’ The stressed-out Premier was also seen leaning against a pillar with his eyes shut as a soprano sang the – rather appropriate –  hymn ‘Ave Maria’. [Read more]

Priest Charged with Raping and Torturing Schoolteachers During ‘Exorcisms’

An unnamed priest affiliated with the breakaway Catholic sect The Society of St. Pius X has been charged with the 2010 rape and torture of three French schoolteachers during an “exorcism”. Authorities will not name the priest’s name for fear that doing so may identify the victims. The Society of St. Pius X is a radical traditionalist Catholic splinter group and is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Its members, in turn, reject the authority of the Pope. [Read more]

What The Bible Really Says About Gay People

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) told a crowd in Iowa on Tuesday that he’s just “on the right side of the Bible” in opposing gay marriage, “not homophobic.” Delivering the keynote address to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, Huckabee said he didn’t “care what people do personally in their individual lives,” according to CNN…* What does The Bible say about lesbians? Steve Oh (TYT COO), comedian Jimmy Dore, Malcolm Fleschner (producer, The Point), and Jackie Koppell break it down on The Young Turks.

[Read more]

Child Bride Poisons Wedding Feast, Kills Groom, Other Wedding Guests

In Nigeria a child bride unhappy to be forced into a loveless marriage prepared a poisoned meal that killed the groom and three of his friends. 14-year-old Wasila Umaru says she used rat poison in the food because she was forced to marry a man she did not love, according to police. Wasila admitted to putting the poison in a rice dish which killed her husband and three of his friends. [Read more]

Florida Man Attacks Roommate with a Butter Knife, Thinks He’s Jesus

To add to the ever-growing list of weird news out of the Sunshine State, we now have Orlando-based man Gustav Potthoff–who attacked his roommate with a butter knife because he mistook him for Jesus.  The butter-knife wielder has now also asked a judge to furnish him with a defense attorney who is a fellow atheist. “It’s just my human rights and everything else,” Potthoff, 51, said (against the advice of a public defender). “I’m allowed to be with someone of my own kind.” The bad news is Potthoff is also broke, so he  may have to settle for a God-fearing attorney instead. [Read more]

Secularism as Philosophy: Secularism as a Humanistic, Atheistic Philosophy

Although secularism can certainly be understood as simply the absence of religion, it is also often treated as a philosophical system with personal, political, cultural, and social implications. Secularism as a philosophy must be treated a bit differently than secularism as a mere idea, but just what sort of philosophy can secularism be? [Read more]

5 Theocrats in Congress Who Care More About the Bible Than the Constitution

The Secular Coalition for America has released its  congressional report card for the 2013 year. Each year the Secular Coalition grades both house and senate members from a scale from A to F based on their voting records, not their personal religious beliefs, on the issues that involve the separation of church and state. Not surprising to many that all seven A grades are awarded to democrats, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT), Sen. Mazie Hirono (HI), Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sen. Al Franken (MN), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (NJ), and Sen. Robert Menendez (NJ), Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Rep. Rush Holt (NJ), and Rep. Louise Slaughter (NY). [Read more]

Church of Uganda Explains Support for Controversial Anti-Homosexuality Law

As Uganda continues to face international outrage over its Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed into law earlier this year, The Christian Post sought to get a better understanding of not only the bill but also how the churches in the East African country came to support it. Read U.S. Evangelicals’ opposition to the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act here and here. A spokesperson with the Church of Uganda (part of the Anglican Communion) answered questions from CP regarding the church’s position on the law, its opinion of the law, and regarding American opposition. [Read more]

Joel Osteen Cites ‘Distractions’ as Reason Why Millennials’ Are Becoming Less Religious

Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen has offered that the many distractions Millennials face in life is one of the main reasons why the younger generation seems to be growing less and less religious. Osteen said in a Fox News interview on Thursday that it was “disappointing” to read the latest State of the Bible survey from the American Bible Society which shows a decline of faith in young adults. “I do think there are more influences today, distractions, and it’s a different day than we grew up in,” said the pastor of America’s largest church, with more than 52,000 weekly worshipers. [Read more]

Pastor Blocked From Feeding The Homeless Because He Doesn’t Have A $500 Permit

A pastor determined to live out the Bible’s dictate that we feed the poor was shut down by local police because he didn’t have a permit to serve food. Twice a month, Rick Wood, a pastor at The Lord’s House of Prayer in Oneonta, Alabama, gets in his truck and drives around Birmingham with more than a hundred hot dogs and bottles of water, handing them out to the homeless. Wood has been serving those in need for the past six years because he wants to put Matthew 25:35-40 — “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,” a scripture verse he has plastered on the side of his truck — into action. [Read more]

Facts vs. Faith – How do Believers Separate Facts from Faith?

Debates about the nature and value of faith occupy a great deal of time in conversations between Christians and atheists — and it’s a frequent subject for believers as well. It’s not a concept that has been given an especially coherent and straightforward definition, unfortunately, and that’s especially serious given just how central “faith” is to so many religions. How can they insist on the importance of “faith” unless they can reliably distinguish between faith and non-faith? [Read more]