Patrician Atheist Here.

Apparently it isn’t as safe to sacrifice your goats as it used to be in the good old days in northern India, because an argument over who was going to have their goats sacrificed first resulted in a stampede that killed 10 people and injured over a dozen others today. When you consider that more than 40,000 Hindus had taken their goats to the Tildiha temple to ritually murder them the odds don’t look so bad. And besides, I bet the ten victims who were trampled to death after the scuffle over whose goats the butcher was going to kill next didn’t even sacrifice their goats yet so that probably accounts for their poor fortune.

There are also reports that many of the Hindus in line to sacrifice their goats were drunk so hopefully the trampled were among the inebriated for their sake. In any event the humans fared far better than the goats today, because it is reported that about 30,000 were butchered. I bet there was no alcohol in their systems and for their sake they better hope they are reincarnated as a cow in the same region, as it appears goats are not so sacred to Hindus – or at least not so sacred that they can’t be killed for a blessing from the goddess Durga.

As for those Hindus who were able to sacrifice their goats, I’m sure they’ll be able live long lives without any misfortunes because they were able to sacrifice their goats. In the end, it is all superstition to me. And ten people had to die for it today.

Patrician Atheist,

Good Day.

Story Source

Patrician Atheist Here.

So I was reading an LA Times article about a new Pew Survey titled the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey and some interesting, though not very surprising results came out of this new survey.

Self-identifying Jews & Momons were the second most knowledgeable about religion – right behind the self-identifying atheists and agnostics who were most likely to answer the survey’s queries properly.

The survey gave some reasons for this:

It cites that many self-identifying atheists and agnostics grew up in a religious environment and consciously gave religion up after considerable reflection and study.

It also cites the fact that self-identifying atheists and agnostics are relatively well educated and knowledgeable and that in the survey they outperformed their religious counterparts with similar educational backgrounds.


The relatively poor performance of many religious participants in the survey was explained by Rev. Adam Hamilton who asserted that religious people tend to accept their faith as the truth, stop examining it and don’t care to examine other people’s faiths. Talk about blind faith.

Some other interesting facts from the survey include:

Self-identifying Mormons were found to have more knowledge of the Bible than even evangelical Christians

A majority of self-identifying Protestants couldn't identify Martin Luther

Four in ten self-identifying Catholics showed they didn’t understand the sacrament of Holy Communion by stating the wine and bread presented to the faithful are only symbolizing the blood and body of Christ – as opposed to actually becoming the blood and body of Christ.

Some faint bright spots for the faithful:
8 in 10 knew Mother Teresa was a Catholic - 8 in 10.
7 in 10 knew Moses lead the Jews out of Egypt and Jesus was born in Bethlehem - 7 in 10.

Patrician Atheist,

Good Day.

PatricianAtheist here with Battery 2 of
You May Be a Religious Zealot IF…

You May Be a Religious Zealot IF…

You are obsessed with the sexual behavior of others and seek to impose your own puritanical restrictions on everyone around you.

You believe a supremely powerful deity must fight with a former subordinate for control over a world he allegedly created.

You are convinced politicians you support are being guided by your god.

You believe your god is a means of revenge by which you can settle scores with those who have personally slighted you.

You oppose abortion but enthusiastically support the death penalty.

You believe capital punishment is an effective penalty and deterrent to violent crime.

You are convinced the death penalty is a wholly appropriate punishment for apostasy.

You embrace the death penalty for those who commit crimes but oppose an individual’s right to die when they are suffering and there is no hope of recovery.

You view prayer as an effective means of helping others and a general means of getting things done.

You cry, bitch and moan when you have been offended but couldn't give a shit if others are offended by you and your beliefs.

You believe burning or otherwise destroying objectionable writing and art is an appropriate way of dealing with ideas you deem to be contrary to your own.

You believe secularism is dangerous but blurring the line between church and state until you can no longer tell the difference between the two is not.

Patrician Atheist,

Good Day.

Patrician Atheist here with Statements of Fact X.

Rule 47 of the NHL Rule Book allows fighting.

A player in the NHL is penalized 5 minutes for fighting with another player. This is a five minute major.

The total penalty minutes for two NHL players who get in a fight is 10 minutes unless there are additional penalties.

A player in the NHL receives a two minute minor penalty for the following fouls: tripping, slashing, interference, goaltender interference, roughing, charging, holding, cross checking, hooking, delay of game, high-sticking, unsportsmanlike conduct, elbowing, and spearing, among other infractions.

Roman Catholic priests are required to remain celibate and are unable to marry.

Father Burt was the name of the priest at my family’s church when I was a young child.

Vatican City has structures with lightning rods on them – you know, just in case they get hit by lightning.

The Pope is driven around in a vehicle which protects him on all sides with bullet proof glass – commonly referred to as the Pope mobile.

The concept of papal infallibility was defined as the dogma it is known as today at the First Vatican Council (1869-70).

On January 19th, 2010 a majority of Massachusetts voters decided that Republican Scott Brown should finish out the term of the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.

Senator Ted Kennedy earned the nickname “The Lion of the Senate” as a result of his long tenure and broad influence in that legislative body.

In his 1935 novel “It Can’t Happen Here” Sinclair Lewis states that, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

The late comedian George Carlin once stated: “I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.”

Apostasy is renunciation of ones religious faith.

In many regions of the world being an apostate is tantamount to a death sentence.

The band Muse released (full) its song “Uprising” in September 2009.

The band Franz Ferdinand released its song “No You Girls” in April 2009.

The band MGMT re-released its song “Time to Pretend” in the UK in March 2009.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

On Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 Haiti was devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

On the Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 broadcast of the 700 Club televangelist Pat Robertson said that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was the result of a pact with the Devil that the Haitians made prior to overthrowing the French and gaining their freedom from bondage in the Haitian Revolution.

The Haitian Revolution began in 1791 and ended in 1803 when France was under the rule of Napoleon I - not Napoleon III.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was given the nickname “Uncle Joe” by American wartime propaganda in World War II.

In response to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th, 1941 the United States declared war on Japan on December 8th, 1941. Germany and Italy then declared war on the United States on December 11th, 1941, and the US returned the favor that same day. Japan never declared war on Russia to support its German ally. Russia declared war on Japan on August 8th, 1945 two days after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and one day before another was dropped on Nagasaki.

Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, did not survive the war in the Pacific and was assassinated on April 18th, 1943 when American P-38s ambushed and shot down the plane he was traveling in.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12th, 1945 of a devastating cerebral hemorrhage. His death occurred before the war was finished in Europe or the Pacific.

Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on April 28th, 1945 after a failed attempt to escape from Northern Italy into Switzerland.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin survived the war as a victor and established the Soviet Union as one of the world’s two superpowers. He died on March 5th, 1953 under less than clear circumstances and of an apparent brain hemorrhage.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill survived the war in Europe as a victor, but his party lost the 1945 general election and he was ousted as government leader just before the war in the Pacific ended. He would be prime minister once more (26 October 1951 – 7 April 1955) prior to death on January 24th, 1965 after suffering a major stroke fifteen days before.

At the end of the Pacific War Japanese Emperor Hirohito, was allowed to remain emperor and reigned essentially as a figurehead until his death on January 7th, 1989.

A person who tithes gives at least ten percent of their income to their church.

Tithing is tax deductible.

The greatest enemy of faith is reason.

Patrician Atheist,

Good Day.

Patrician Atheist here with Statements of Fact IX.

Monotheism is the belief in one god.

Polytheism is the belief in more than one god.

During both World War I and World War II, German soldiers wore belt buckles with the inscription “Gott mit uns.”

The Founders of the United States feared mob rule when they sought out to create the U.S. government and did not want a true democratic government modeled after the Greek city-state of Athens.

No individual who has been directly called out in one of my video responses has ever replied with a video response of their own in self-defense.

The Roman god Jupiter has as much probability of existing as any other deity created by the imagination of man, including that of the Abrahamic religions.

Zeus, Ra, Odin and God are all considered the chief deities of their respective religions.

I reside in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

You are watching Statements of Fact IX.

Slappy Squirrel is a character in the cartoon Animaniacs.

Your Woman is a song by White Town and was released in 1997.

Time is Running Out is a song by Muse and was released in 2003.

You Could Have It So Much Better is a song by Franz Ferdinand and was released in 2005.

Followers of monotheistic religions often times have no problem condemning the followers of other religions for submitting to superstition while being unable to recognize their own beliefs as being inherently superstitious.

According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, the term superstition is defined as: "1 a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition 2 : a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary."

The Roman Emperor Nero was the last of the Julio-Claudian line.

The Roman Emperor Augustus was the first emperor of the Julio-Claudian line.

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called “Good Emperors.”

The Roman Emperor Nerva was the first of the so-called “Good Emperors.”

UAE is an acronym for the United Arab Emirates.

OPEC is an acronym for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

WWF is an acronym for the World Wildlife Federation, but was once also an acronym for the World Wrestling Federation.

WWE is an acronym for World Wrestling Entertainment, which was formerly known as the WWF.

KJV is an acronym for the King James Version of the Bible.

NIV is an acronym for the New International Version of the Bible.

JC is an acronym for Jesus Christ.

WWJD is an acronym for “What Would Jesus Do?”

President Barack Hussein Obama is the current chief executive of the United States.

President George W. Bush insists he will be vindicated by history.

President George W. Bush was born in Connecticut.

Osama bin Laden has still not been held accountable for his numerous attacks on the United States and its people.

Both Christianity and Islam have become the dominant religious of the world and maintained their positions through means of violence and the threat of violence.

The quote unquote word of God is simply the personal opinion of whatever superstitious individual is telling you what god wants.

Atheism is not a religion.

Like evolution, gravity is just a scientific theory.

The greatest enemy of faith is reason.

Patrician Atheist,

Later.

Patrician Atheist here with Statements of Fact VII.

The Sun does not revolve around the Earth.

George Carlin was a self-confessed atheist.

In Greek Mythology, Poseidon is the brother of Zeus.

In Greek Mythology, Hera is the wife of Zeus.

Gabriel is an angel who plays a role in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim mythologies.

Todd Palin, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s husband, was once a registered member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional hockey team that plays in the NHL and was established in 1967.

The Boston Bruins are a professional hockey team that plays in the NHL and was eastablised in 1924.

NHL is an acronym for National Hockey League.

Electioneering is a song that was released in the 1997 album OK COMPUTER by the band Radiohead.

Bad Before Good is a song that was released in the 2007 album Probably Art by the band Day One.

Pepper is a song that was released in the 1996 album Electriclarryland by the band Butthole Surfers.

Senator John McCain routinely used the phrase “my friends” throughout his 2008 presidential campaign.

The Bible does not directly address the issue of abortion.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest.

In Ambrose Bierce’s 1911 publication The Devil’s Dictionary he defines a Saint (n.) as “A dead sinner revised and edited.”

Jon Heder, the actor who played Napoleon Dynamite in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite, is a Mormon.

The real name of the infamous “Joe the Plumber” is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim.

John McCain is not a Muslim.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is a self-professed democratic socialist.

The capital of Vermont is Montpelier.

The capital of New Hampshire is Concord.

Laconia is a city located in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

Reverend Jerry Falwell, a televangelist who founded the Moral Majority in 1979, had the following to say on The 700 Club following the September 11, 2001 attacks: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”

The Reverend Jerry Falwell died on May 15, 2007 in his office at Liberty University.

Liberty University is a fundamentalist Baptist school located in Lynchburg, Virginia and was founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1971 originally as Lynchburg Baptist College.

BJU is an acronym for Bob Jones University, which is a fundamentalist Protestant school and seminary located in Greenville, South Carolina.

Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. are two completely different people.

The Christian sacrament of the Eucharist, whereby the Christian faithful symbolically eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, is symbolic cannibalism.

'Patrician' is a term that is directly related to elitism and can also very often imply arrogance.

The British economist John Maynard Keynes once wrote, "Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking."

The Muslim prophet Muhammad was an illiterate who needed others to record the messages he supposedly received from Allah.

The greatest enemy of faith is reason

Patrician Atheist,

See Ya Around.

Patrician Atheist here with Statements of Fact VI.

Pat Robertson is a televangelist who uses The 700 Club - and his supposed hotline to God - to routinely, and very often incorrectly, predict calamities that will befall mankind.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009.

The formula to make Greek Fire, a burning liquid weapon used by the Byzantines, remains unknown to us today.

Jesus of Suburbia is a song by Green Day and was released in 2005.

Big Bang Baby is a song by Stone Temple Pilots and was released in 1996.

Ava Adore is a song by Smashing Pumpkins and was released in 1998.

LandoverBaptist.org is the website address for the satirical Landover Baptist Church.

GodHatesFags.com is the website address for the all-too-real Westboro Baptist Church, which is based in Topeka, Kansas.

WhiteHouse.org is the website address for a satirical White House and a mockery of former President George W. Bush.

WhiteHouse.gov is the website address to the actual White House.

In 1964, Life Magazine dubbed Madalyn Murray O’Hair “the most hated woman in America.”

Michael Newdow is a physician and lawyer, not to mention the atheist who challenged the constitutionality of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools on the grounds that the words “under God” establish, or at least endorse, a religion.

On June 14th, 2004, the majority of justices on the United States Supreme Court completely ducked the constitutionality issue of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools by ruling that Michael Newdow did not have legal standing to bring a suit on his daughter’s behalf because he was a non-custodial parent.

Jesus Camp is a 2006 documentary that focuses on the lives of children who undergo blatant, unadulterated religious indoctrination as they attend an evangelical Christian summer camp.

Mel Gibson is a Catholic.

The Passion of the Christ is a 2004 film directed by Mel Gibson that depicts the Biblically-based story of the violent torture and murder of Jesus Christ.

The Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine on May 7th, 1915, killing approximately 1200 people.

The Holy Land Experience is a Biblical museum, or exhibit, located in Orlando, Florida that has a daily show where Jesus Christ is beaten, tortured and crucified.

Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl who claimed to be a messenger of God as she lead French troops to a number of victories against the English in the Hundred Years’ War.

The German city of Dresden was devastated by Allied firebombing in February 1945.

Flavius Claudius Julianus, or Julian the Apostate, was the last non-Christian emperor of Rome.

In Greek Mythology, The Fates are three women named Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.

Archbishop emeritus of Boston Bernard Francis Law was never held accountable for his role in the sexual abuse of children by Church officials in his archdiocese.

After visiting Carthage, the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, also known as Cato the Censor, became the leading voice in the Roman Senate calling for the destruction of Carthage and often worked in the slogan “Carthage must be destroyed” into his speeches and other political discussions in the 150sBCE.

The Bible never mentions democracy.

The Republic of Turkey is the product of its founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who pushed a program to secularize the government of a Muslim society.

The Virginia State Motto is “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”

The Rhode Island State Motto is “Hope.”

Rhode Island is the most Catholic state in the United States.

Slavery was never a uniquely American institution.

The Roman Empire utilized slavery on a wide scale.

The Bible does not condemn slavery anywhere in its vast array of pages – in fact, it endorses slavery and gives advice on how to treat slaves.

The greatest enemy of faith is reason.

Patrician Atheist

See Ya Around.