...the amount of wealth a person might acquire over their lifetime was already written by the hand of god before birth.So if you are a citizen of Zimbabwe, fighting hunger and 14,841% inflation, take comfort in the fact there is nothing you can do about it and that Robert Mugabe was sent by Allah to keep you poor.
Today I hit my hand on a lamppost.
A banal and innocuous event and I’m glad to say that my finger quickly felt a lot better as soon as I stopped thinking about it.
As it happens I was talking with a classmate who believes passionately in God. As it happens, I was pulling his leg for something completely unrelated to religion and as it happens, as I hit my hand he retorted “Ah, that’s God punishing you for being such an idiot.”
I could not resist the temptation to strike back with chaos.
“Which one?”
He looked puzzled.
“Well, God.”
“OK, fine, so it was a divine punishment, but by whom? Zeus?”
“Dude, you know I’m a Christian who -”
“No, it must have been Thor, the God of lightning who moved my hand into a post of electrical dark magic. Although it could have also been Shiva, the destructor, who wished to inflict pain unto my pinky.”
via flickr/AprilM2107
“God has a plan for you, Adrian, so it must have been God.”
“There are many Gods you could believe in. What makes you think it was yours who was looking at me, a heathen, at this particular moment and judged that the punishment for teasing you for your football club was to strike my pinky with a lamppost?”
“OK, fine, it was all of them.”
“Hm, no, rather, the punishment was to strike the lamppost with my pinky. Has the lamppost been immoral?”
“Lampposts are inanimate objects.”
“Apparently not immune to divine punishment. You know what? OK, fine, God, your God, the Christian God, the father of Jesus of Nazareth, looked at me teasing you for your football club and decided that he would punish me, and assuming he thinks like you do that atheists are fools, then for my heathenness as well. He looked at the opportunities around him. He could have steered my path into a traffic collision. He could have dropped a 10-pound flower pot onto my head. He could have even interfered with meteorology to strike me with lightning, hail, blizzards or fish. But no, he sees a lamppost and my pinky and says ‘Hupa, Hupa, Hupa PinkyLamppost’. It didn’t even hurt. He didn’t even leave a couple of wires to electrocute me to death – that would have been admirably subtle”
“God exists whether you don’t believe in him or not.”
“If God’s plan to punish me for a banal terrestrial matter really was to strike a lamppost with my pinky ever so lightly then I contend to you that God is an incoherent, disorganised slacker and a complete idiot.”
We spent the rest of the walk home arguing about football.
Tony Blair has sparked controversy by claiming that religious people who speak about their faith are viewed by society as "nutters".
The former prime minister’s comments came as he admitted for the first time that his faith was "hugely important" in influencing his decisions during his decade in power at No. 10, including going to war with Iraq in 2003.
Andrew Bolt stands up for those persecuted Christians in the West:
The one faith about which politicians mustn’t be open is Christianity...This is certainly the case in Australia where our new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has failed to mention his Christianity over many years. The recent election was also devoid of politicians being open about their faith or openly appealing to Christians.
Here’s a particularly foul example of that anti-Christian bigotry. From the BBC, of course.
And if you dare follow the link you find this "particularly foul" exchange:
JEREMY PAXMAN: Does the fact that George Bush and you are both Christians make it easier for you to view these conflicts in terms of good and evil?
TONY BLAIR: I don't think so, no, I think that whether you're a Christian or you're not a Christian you can try perceive what is good and what is, is evil.
JEREMY PAXMAN: You don't pray together for example?
TONY BLAIR: No, we don't pray together Jeremy, no.
JEREMY PAXMAN: Why do you smile?
TONY BLAIR: Because - why do you ask me the question?
JEREMY PAXMAN: Because I'm trying to find out how you feel about it.
TONY BLAIR: Possibly.
JEREMY PAXMAN: Right, would anyone else like to have a question?
That's right, Blair was questioned about his praying habits.
Declaring oneself an atheist is, by itself, a purely negative statement. Being atheists means that, in the absence of some proof that a god(s) rules the universe, we don’t believe in any such god(s). We of course feel forced to define ourselves this way in a country where roughly 85% of the population believes literally in heaven and miracles.
Declaring oneself an atheist is, by itself, a purely negative statement. Being atheists means that, in the absence of some proof that a god(s) rules the universe, we don’t believe in any such god(s). We of course feel forced to define ourselves this way in a country where roughly 85% of the population believes literally in heaven and miracles.
Demonstrating an astounding lack of faith in the motivating effects of an eternity in heaven, the
The bonuses, which will apply to the 3,000 people who work in the Vatican, from the highest cardinal to the humblest cleaner, will be awarded on the basis of “dedication, correctness, professionalism and productivity”.
There is no word yet on how the productivity of those charged with communicating with God will be measured. Number of prayers answered perhaps.
this is no time for that man [John Howard] to be defeated. Well he’s not going to be. Amen. He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He is Lord over Australia! It has been announced! Amen.And god has also spoken to Danny Nalliah:
The Lord told me to spend some personal time with Prime Minister John Howard and to prophetically prepare Federal Treasurer Peter Costello as the future Prime Minister of Australia.And Nalliah isn't some crackpot cult leader. In August he had private meetings with the Prime Minister and Peter Costello. (Which may explain why the Coalition has been campaigning so badly - they know they've already won so what's the point in trying.)
... Prime Minister John Howard will be re-elected in the November election (if the Body of Christ unites in prayer and action) and pass the leadership onto Peter Costello sometime after.
Jim Belshaw argues:
that
How do we know?
The first official buildings built in new settlements after police stations and pubs were churches.
So
So, the French are striking. Old news, huh?
It so happens that I’m personally affected. I may or may not be able to travel in two days time to see someone in France depending on whether the strikes are still disrupting rail service. Hence I disclose that:
I am personally affected by the strikes disrupting the rail network in France.
Having said that, and beyond a selfish reason to hate the strikes (many don’t need another reason, and with good, well, reason), there are plenty of points with which to poke the railway strikers!
1.- They’re not fighting for civil liberties, their jobs, or their rights. They’re fighting for a privilege.
Current French legislation gives workers in difficult or hazardous professions the privilege to retire after 37,5 years rather than 40 years of service, allowing some workers to retire at 50 with a full state supported pension, costing the State some 7 billion Euros a year.
Not good.
Even worse: Rail unions have just organised the biggest strike in a decade over this privilege. Imagine if they had something real to complain about!
Bottom line: The strikers are fighting not for their jobs, not for their rights, both of which are noble causes which I would fully support, but for a privilege. They’re fighting for two years and a half of pensions. Given that to be applicable they would have had to have spent 37,5 years in the industry, their life expectancy as a rail worker would have decreased considerably with respect to the average, so there are two years and a half they’re just not going to be able to profit from anyway. Bitter. Fucking. Truth. Now smoke it.
Aristocracies fight for privileges. Nobles and clergymen fight for privileges. Workers don’t fight for privileges. These strikes are characterised by a very distinct bourgeois feel of “We want cake, but the State, she gives us bread!”.
I stress: Not Good.
French rail worker: “We want cake, but the State, she gives us bread!”
2.- They’re unjustly holding the nation hostage.
They’ve taken the liberty to choose for 62 million people. They’ve taken the liberty to remove the right to freedom of movement and to get to their bloody jobs from a whole nation, all over a damned privilege.
Bottom line: In the self-appointed importance and arrogance of the rail workers, they’ve managed to detonate public support (I suppose they never expected any) and be generally hated.
Emotionally defused message to the rail workers of France: You’ve hijacked the trust the public had laid onto you by giving you such astounding union freedom and turned it into nothing more than a cheap, bourgeois dictatorship which is widely hated by everyone.
Emotionally charged message to the rail workers of France: I fucking hate you, you fascist bastards. You’re the reason I haven’t slept a wink in over 8 days and I hope you get replaced by robots within the next few months. So fuck you.
Planet Atheism buttons
FAQ (includes joining info)
RSS feed
Email subscription
