I find it incredible that even that famous cesspit of immorality, Catholicism, willingly buys into this obscenity:

Transubstantiation:  The belief that the bread and wine in a religious ceremony are actually transformed into the 'living' flesh and blood of Christ, for the followers to eat and drink.

How revolting. Why is this vampire cannibal cult allowed in our society?

Cannabalism is illegal in most countries, so they should be reporting themselves to the nearest police station.

Load of muppets.

We are told to "Have faith in god."

For what possible reason would a god want us to have faith in itself?

Why not just show us a face?  No, images of Mohammed on cheesecake really don't count.

Why hide?

Imagine parents creating a baby, then disappearing after leaving a book for it to read one day, explaining "We love you but you cannot ask to see us, just believe in us. Have faith. Oh, you had better worship us too, or there will be trouble."

What?!

An all-powerful god would surely be above the need to be worshipped too. What possible ego trip could a billion praising fools offer to a being that already has unlimited power?
If it really did desire that, the easiest way to make that happen would simply be to appear and reveal the truth.

This holy hide-and-seek is just plain silly.
People have been counting with their eyes shut for 2000 years and still no "Ready! Come find me!"

Let us imagine some people in the far future, unearthing a copy of 'The Lord Of The Rings' and deciding it is the one and only gospel truth from god.

They would go round retelling the anecdotes of Gandalf The Wise Wizard, twisting his tales to explain any situation:

"When Gandalf blew all the Orcs to pieces , he was actually telling us to love our enemies by destroying the dark side within ourselves!"

They'd terrify children with stories of the evil one.

Believers would show true devotion by wearing little replicas of The One Ring around their necks, representing how the hero, a humble hobbit, was (almost) sacrificed for the good of us all.

They would proclaim, "It must be all true because it's written in a book and lots of others believe it, so it must be true."

As its numbers increase, those that disagree might be persecuted or even killed. Fanatical followers would teach the unbelievers a lesson by crashing aeroplanes into their buildings, or forcing them to sing really dreadful hymns.

When cynics ask where the Hobbit is now, they will be answered with smug comments like "Duh, read The Book, his Ring makes him invisible. And he is watching you sinners!"

Members of the one true new religion would go on to be spiritual advisors, form governments and become teachers. They would make decisions about everyones lives and control their money. They would instruct children in what is true and what is deception from the evil one.

Again.

Isn't it about time we stopped giving religion recognition, money and power?

Isn't it about time we stopped granting it special status with its nonsensical traditions, secondhand stories and reinvented holidays?

Isn't it about time we stopped humoring people that believe they have invisible friends, that in any other situation would warrant psychiatric treatment?

Claiming "Oh, but it's about belief" doesn't excuse it or add any value to it.
It's the same as believing Zeus is in my underpants, Kermit the Frog is real, or that I must kill you with a spoon because an alien in my in head tells me to.

Religion needs to be relegated to the embarrassing pages of human error it, before it wipes us off the face of the Earth.
How long until some religious lunatic in charge, who believes the world will end shortly anyway, decides to help it along with an extra-large portion of mushrooms?



And the book tells us that Hobbits really love mushrooms.....

A lot is said about the ten commandments that Moses received on stone blocks from god.  What is not often mentioned is the ludicrous punishments for violating these rules that go hand in hand with them.

(Incidentally, I would've expected god to make use of technology a little more advanced than a chisel and a block of stone.  Receiving them on an iPad would've been far better proof of the divine origin of the words. But no, oddly enough, god used only the primitive techniques available to people in that area at that time....hmmm.)


1.Thou shalt have no other gods
The punishment is to be stoned to death.
Out with the notion of respecting your neighbours beliefs, in with the big rocks.

2. Do not make images of anything in heaven
The punishment is a curse.
So all those crucifixes people wear with men on sticks are violating this rule.
Curiously, it also forbids making images of things under the earth and in the water. So you had better stop painting that picture of a halibut right now.

4. Remember the Holy Sabbath
The punishment is to be stoned to death.
My local McDonalds opens on Sundays so I am compelled to go there with a brick and inflict some holy justice on those heathen burger-friers.

5. Honour your parents
Seems a nice rule. But wait, what's the punishment?
Yes, you guessed it, death. Yey!

6. Do not murder
Does anyone seriously need to be told not to kill people?
What kind of psychopathic retards actually need this spelling out.
How the hell would they have even got that 'far' if they had thought it was fine.
Did the masses, on hearing this gem of wisdom, all suddenly stop their daily drunken murderous rampages and ask "What?! This is bad now?"
The penalty is death, obviously.

7. Do not commit adultery
Are the guilty couple to be imprisoned or shamed?
No! Death, death and more death!

8. Do not steal
Perfectly good and sensible advice. But what's this? The punishment is...is....drum roll.....death.
No messing about. You took that bread to feed your starving family, now you must die.
I admit to stealing my unused napkin from a restaurant yesterday. Perhaps I should now commit suicide by repeatedly bashing my head on the pavement.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbour
Punishment by death. Saw that coming.

10. Do not covet
Thought crime. You can't even think bad thoughts. How did those birdbrains know if someone was breaking this rule?
"Excuse me Jacob, are you coveting my ox?"
"No, absolutely not. I was just thinking it's lunchtime soon. I was thinking about a juicy steak. Err, no, not steak...I mean soup, oxtail soup, err, no no no, I mean tomato soup!"
"That's ok then."

Do I even need to write the punishment?


But surely there should be more? Where are things like 'Thou shall not commit incest, rape or support slavery.' No, they are all fine, thanks.

So, there we have it.  How to live your life according to the views of a load of backward goat herders from the ancient middle east.

As a side-note to any Christians saying 'These punishments don't count anymore because it was all in the old testament', stop kidding yourself, because the new testament says the old rules are still to be obeyed.
As to why your god is such a bumbler he has to change the rules at half-time is another matter.
The point is, either way, your alleged god wrote these rules, so what kind of psychotic does that make him? At best, a psychotic with amnesia.

The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1563).

The story goes that people wanted to reach heaven, so they built the Tower of Babel.  God was angered, just for a change, because the tower was getting dangerously close to his home patch.

This is, of course, a dead-giveaway about the ignorance of the ancients as to what exactly is above the clouds, a view apparently shared by god. Doh.

Funny also that god has turned a blind eye to the thousands of much taller structures built since. Perhaps he's just winched heaven up a bit.

At some point it occurred to these wise people that since almost everyone had lovingly been exterminated by god's epic flood at some point before, then people should all be speaking the same language, the language of the few survivors....

The bible comes to our rescue by telling us god was so threatened by the cooperation of the tower builders that it was he himself that split man's speech into hundreds of varieties.
That'll teach the bastards to work together when they should be using their time more productively to kill each other and sacrifice pigs.

Now this god says we have to follow his word or be doomed. And he thinks the best way to ensure this is by making sure there are thousands of different languages, only a few of which can read the holy scriptures.

What a bungling buffoon.

Later that day.....

---

What a glowing example Lot is to us all. His daughters were equally impressive, when they decided the best way to continue the family line was to get him drunk and become impregnated by him.

Remember kids, the holy bible is a source of great morality for us all. Especially if your father is also your grandfather.

Consider a country in which nobody had ever heard of a particular religion.
As far as they were concerned it didn't exist, until someone told them about it...

Before that 'happy' event there there no wars over it, no brain-washing by it no segregation enforced by it.
Sounds blissful doesn't it?


Let's look at the dilemma of missionary preacher Mr. Frederick Arse, in a far away land, trying to convert some local villagers.

Friendly Villager "What about our people that already died without hearing about god? Will they go to hell?"

Frederick Arse "No! God doesn't punish those who had no chance to hear His Word !"

Angry Villager "So, why did you tell us about it then? Now you might have damned us!"

Frederick Arse "Um, well, God told me to."

Suspicious Villager "Why couldn't he tell us himself, if it's so important?"

Frederick Arse "Look, he's got other stuff to do, Ok?"

Wise Villager "You told us he was all-powerful."

Frederick Arse "It's God's will and cannot be questioned."

Sometime later...

Frederick Arse in a cooking pot "You can't do this, I am a man of God!"

Hungry mob "So are we, even before you came. And our god Muhahatiti tells us to eat non-believers."

Frederick Arse in hot water "Get me out, see reason!"

Salivating Mob "It's God's will and cannot be questioned."


Unfortunately, we can't wish religion away after it becomes known, just as Frederick Arse found to his peril, but we can damn well try and make people see just how dangerous,stupid  and totally unnecessary it is.

Don't be an Arse.