The Hazards of Belief

GLaDOS

koth wrote: »

So that wasn't an usual way for a news segment to go for Fox??:eek:

I'm not familiar with Fox so that clip was just weird to me.

Haha, I wasn't sure if you were serious, that explains it. Basically Fox tend to bias everything towards a conservative Christian/republican point of view. Very much Christianity = Patriotism type stuff.

Btw you're right, paganism isn't remotely like secularism, even mentioning them in the same sentence is odd. I'd say they know damn well what they're doing though.

ColmDawson

I'm just going to pretend they're all actors.

Delirium

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Haha, I wasn't sure if you were serious, that explains it. Basically Fox tend to bias everything towards a conservative Christian/republican point of view. Very much Christianity = Patriotism type stuff.

Btw you're right, paganism isn't remotely like secularism, even mentioning them in the same sentence is odd. I'd say they know damn well what they're doing though.

appreciate the explanation about Fox. the segment doesn't seem as weird now, still weird though

Galvasean

Not sure if this has been posted already, but if you want that much needed fertility treatment, then you had better get convertin'!

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0415/1224268372829.html

strobe

koth wrote: »

I'm not familiar with Fox so that clip was just weird to me.

Wow it's true what they say, ignorance is bliss. If I could only go back to the giddy carefree days before I became familiar with Fox News, perhaps my face and palm might not be so hideously misshapen.

MrPudding

Was either here or humour... Feel free to move.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8631775.stm

MrP

Blank_

"One of his friends, and his uncle (they did not know each other) both told me that Jesse called them hours before he took his life and that he had lost all hope because he was convinced that God did not exist, and this book was the cause,"

...

sonicthebadger*

From that website... ^^^^

"If Evolution is true, then we are just highly evolved animals.
We are a result of millions of years of evolutionary misfits and mistakes.
There is no meaning, and no purpose to life.
Your life is to live anyway you want it. There is no one to answer to.
If you are unhappy with your life, you can end it at any time."


Exactly. My life is mine. Simples.

cavedave

Brain shuts off in response to healer's prayer

WHEN we fall under the spell of a charismatic figure, areas of the brain responsible for scepticism and vigilance become less active

hiorta

Many Healers do not vocalise or attempt to influence the outcome, content to let things take their course. It is doubtful whether they could do so in any case.

mehfesto

Blank_ wrote: »

"One of his friends, and his uncle (they did not know each other) both told me that Jesse called them hours before he took his life and that he had lost all hope because he was convinced that God did not exist, and this book was the cause,"

...

Weird read, that!

It suggests that it wasn't atheism that killed him, but his inability to accept "irrefutable evidence" given what he had been forced to believe for so many years. And yet it tries to demonise atheism.

It also clarifies that people WANT to believe - saying that at least in a world with god there is meaning and understanding. Without him it's scary. Really thought that bit was interesting.

Ickle Magoo

Jesse Kilgore committed suicide in October by walking into the woods near his New York home and shooting himself.

Ah, rii-iight. It was the atheism...not the gun laws or the people that indoctrinated him with something so easily challenged in the first place...it was them bad auld rational arguments laid out by an atheist. :rolleyes:

It's such a shame anyone would set their kid up to place everything on such a shaky house of cards.

GLaDOS

Christian barber beaten and sodomised by Muslims for shaving one of their brothers beards

http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/04/30/barber-sodomised-for-beard-abuse/

Religion of peace, not true Muslims etc etc

Dades

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Christian barber beaten and sodomised by Muslims for shaving one of their brothers beards

http://freethinker.co.uk/2010/04/30/barber-sodomised-for-beard-abuse/

"He also started beating my head with his shoes..."

WTF

MikeC101

Dades wrote: »

"He also started beating my head with his shoes..."

WTF

Sign of disrespect thing?

I'm assuming the rapists will be stoned to death, or sentenced to prison for committing an act of homosexuality?

No? Oh, what a surprise.

robindch

Dades wrote: »

"He also started beating my head with his shoes..."

It's a cultural thing -- shoes are associated with dirt and therefore, with ritual impurity, hence taking them off when you get to the mosque or somebody else's house.

Clobbering somebody over the head with a shoe is seen not only as an act of violence, but an attempt to defile one's opponent (cue those pics of the rent-a-crowd who swarmed over Saddam's toppled statue in Baghdad, swiping it with their sandals; and indeed, that Iraqi reporter who chucked his shoe at Bush the Younger).

Dades

I must remember that the next time I am offended by an infidel.

The shoe bit. Not the rest. :pac:

sonicthebadger*

Dades wrote: »

"He also started beating my head with his shoes..."

WTF

I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shopkeeper and his son that's a different story altogether.....I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business, really, but sure enough I got the M&Ms, and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.

Galvasean

I think their fury is directed at the wrong prson TBH. (not that I'm condoning attacking people for having a shave)

GLaDOS

Personally I found the sodomising the most puzzling

sonicthebadger*

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Personally I found the sodomising the most puzzling

Exactly! Were they angry with him or loving him?

Anyway, I'm sure this guy would have something to say about it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCcaMIcwz30

Galvasean

What the..............

iUseVi

This is not brainwashing. Yeah right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVySoQhCOg

jimmyendless

I thought the following paragraph very interesting.

"Such cards have no spiritual value. They falsify the significance of the eucharist and trade on the faith and goodwill of people. It is a commercial operation with profit as its motive. Those who engage or facilitate this practice, including the shops that offer them for sale, seriously exploit the eucharist and its sacred character," the letter to shopkeepers states.

Pot calling the kettle black anyone?

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/missionaries-warn-retailers-over-pre-signed-mass-cards-119512.html#ixzz0ncYDUrUQ

Dades

^^ Moved to Hazards of Belief thread due to the hazard of being ripped off. :pac:

Ciaran500

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history

Rewriting history books to put a Catholic and Republican spin on things.

Galvasean

Ciaran500 wrote: »

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/16/texas-schools-rewrites-us-history

Rewriting history books to put a Catholic and Republican spin on things.

I think it's more pro Christian than pro Catholic. Reading it made me feel somewhat ill TBH. How the heck are kids meant to stand a chance when tehy are force fed such crap?

While I'm in "Think of the children!" mode, an Irish bishop wants kids to hand over a portion of their confo money so they can rebuild a cathederal.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bishop-asks-confirmation-children-to-give-cathedral-cash-2182574.html

robindch

Galvasean wrote: »

While I'm in "Think of the children!" mode, an Irish bishop wants kids to hand over a portion of their confo money so they can rebuild a cathederal

Seems some guy "who had travelled to see his nephew confirmed last weekend" suddenly got worried about how impressionable young kids are:

Some Guy wrote:

"Children are very vulnerable at that age," he said. "The whole thing seemed to be prepared in advance and reiterated in the confirmation ceremony. [...]

A bit late for that, I'd have said.

Wacker

A schoolboy died after refusing a blood transfusion following a car crash because he was a Jehovah’s Witness.

Joshua McAuley, 15, suffered life-threatening injuries to his legs and abdomen after being pinned against a shop front by an out-of-control car as he went to buy sweets.

He survived the crash in Smethwick, West Midlands, and remained conscious, but lost a massive amount of blood and was airlifted to hospital for a transfusion.

But Joshua died six hours later, after he refused to consent to the operation because of his faith, church representatives said.

Under medical law, doctors are required to decide whether a child under 16 is
competent enough to consent to or refuse medical treatment without the need for parental permission or knowledge.

Sources at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust suggested doctors followed this law, known as the Gillick competence test, before deciding Joshua was able to make his own decision.

It is unclear whether either of the boys’ parents were at the hospital at the time.

Last night members of his congregation described how he told doctors ‘no blood, no
blood, no blood’ after he was flown to Selly Oak Hospital, in Birmingham.

As a Jehovah’s Witness from a devout family, Joshua followed the belief that blood is sacred and transfusions are prohibited by the Bible.

Hospital staff are thought to have begged the teenager to change his mind, but he refused.

Clive Parker, an elder at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses where Joshua and his family worshipped, said: ‘I believe he was conscious enough after the accident and he made a stand on the blood issue. He made the choice personally.’

Joshua, who was about to start his GCSEs at the local Shireland Academy, went to
buy sweets while out preaching to residents at 11.15am on Saturday, when the accident happened, friends said.

Firemen battled to free Joshua, as others trapped inside the shop feared the building would collapse.

Paramedics gave him pain relief and emergency treatment at the roadside, before
flying him to hospital. Four other pedestrians were hurt in the crash – one seriously.

The 28-year-old male driver, from Birmingham, has been bailed pending further
inquiries, West Midlands Police said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279252/Jehovahs-Witness-15-dies-refusing-blood-following-crash.html

Galvasean

It's very sad the amount of JW's who needlessly die due to their anti blood transfusion BS.

legspin

Galvasean wrote: »

It's very sad the amount of JW's who needlessly die due to their anti blood transfusion BS.

Whatever about the adults (who can kill themselves in any way they want imo), it is nothing short of child abuse when it's a minor and should be dealt severely

mehfesto

It's amazing that JW's can deny themselves blood, but anyone who doesn't believe in fairytales can't sign up for euthanasia. The mind boggles

Galvasean

I was actually think that myself, surely the JW's denial of blood policy is a form of euthanasia?

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

While I'm in "Think of the children!" mode, an Irish bishop wants kids to hand over a portion of their confo money so they can rebuild a cathederal.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bishop-asks-confirmation-children-to-give-cathedral-cash-2182574.html

It get's better. Now they want the schools they control to pay the (instead of y'know funding the schools):
http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/83642m-church-bill-sparks-call-for-schools-reform-2188531.html

robindch

Galvasean wrote: »

Now they want the schools they control to pay [...]

Yeah, saw that and I was wondering what value the church is adding these days to the whole process. And while I'm sure they do plenty of thing -- like preventing the kids of atheists from getting to school in the first place -- all I could really think of is them doing is creating and implementing the country's child protection guidelines.

Which kind of suggested that the church was getting people to pay to protect them from the church's employees.

It's an old strategy.

Galvasean

When you think about it, isn't all religion a protection racket? Give us money and we'll make sure you don't go to hell.

The Mad Hatter

mehfesto wrote: »

It's amazing that JW's can deny themselves blood, but anyone who doesn't believe in fairytales can't sign up for euthanasia. The mind boggles

Fuck, I'd never thought of it like that.

mehfesto

We get these through the door all the time:


Love the line: Our family offering to God... and the parish
The good lord will provide, me arse.


I've been tempted for ages to print this out and put it in it:

kiffer

mehfesto wrote: »

We get these through the door all the time:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/conroys2/offering.jpg?t=1274467442

Love the line: Our family offering to God... and the parish
The good lord will provide, me arse.


I've been tempted for ages to print this out and put it in it:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/conroys2/NOTHING.jpg?t=1274467441

My mom gets Christmas and Easter dues envelopes every year... addressed to her from the local Catholic Church... She's Lutheran.

Dear Kiffer's Mom... You owe us money, please pay your Dues.

I asked her what she does with them... she said they've been coming since she moved into the house in the late '90s, she just bins them... we think they just pulled names from the electoral register or something, with no regard for peoples actual religious affiliations...

Galvasean

mehfesto wrote: »

We get these through the door all the time:

The key to heaven?

The Mad Hatter

The daughter of the President of the Church of Scientology in Australia speaks out about child abuse in the church.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a73nNYiDzQY

liamw

About this talk
Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy takes on a terrifying question: How does the Taliban convince children to become suicide bombers? Propaganda footage from a training camp is intercut with her interviews of young camp graduates. A shocking vision

http://www.ted.com/talks/sharmeen_obaid_chinoy_inside_a_school_for_suicide_bombers.html

5uspect

I got a magazine from this crowd through the letter box:
http://www.4you.ie/

Offering a free Bible etc. There was an application form attached with details for availing of this wonderful offer and a subtle reminder that "WE ARE NOT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES". Somehow that makes a difference.

It tries to be appear as a hip and colourful magazine that almost tries to hide the fact that it's just another religious pamphlet. They've a great section quote mining Dawkins followed by devastating bible quotes.

Coriolanus

5uspect wrote: »

I got a magazine from this crowd through the letter box:
http://www.4you.ie/

Offering a free Bible etc. There was an application form attached with details for availing of this wonderful offer and a subtle reminder that "WE ARE NOT JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES". Somehow that makes a difference.

It tries to be appear as a hip and colourful magazine that almost tries to hide the fact that it's just another religious pamphlet. They've a great section quote mining Dawkins followed by devastating bible quotes.

Photocopy it and open the phonebook at "A". Post back the filled forms with a big FREEPOST at the top, An Post will contact them asking them to pay the stamp duty if they want the stuff delivered. They will. Hopefully they'll then send out the free bibles to everyone, bankrupting themselves and pissing off thousands of people, all in one fell blow. :pac:

Or so it plays out in my evil little daydreams.

mehfesto

5uspect wrote: »

I got a magazine from this crowd through the letter box:
http://www.4you.ie/

That is one fancy lookin' website.
Seriously though, what's the deal with religious crowds and ****e websites?

ColmDawson

mehfesto wrote: »

Seriously though, what's the deal with religious crowds and ****e websites?

Yeah, you'd expect more intelligent web design.

5uspect

mehfesto wrote: »

That is one fancy lookin' website.
Seriously though, what's the deal with religious crowds and ****e websites?

Can't be as bad as ****e sigs...

mehfesto

Oh. You got me. Ow. That hurt.

5uspect

meh

Rev Hellfire

Don't try this at work