Religion Battles Medicine in Kenya

Achieng is a five-year-old girl who has for the past two weeks been lying in bed suffering from malaria. Her parents and other relatives don’t believe in modern medicine, saying that it opens doors for evil.

Achieng’s condition gets worse and she slips into unconsciousness. Instead of her parents rushing her to hospital, they kneel beside her and pray. By the time they figure out that God also works through people (read doctors), it is a tad too late. Achieng dies.

[From Religion Battles Medicine in Kenya | The Reason Project ]

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-21

Why would this Guy need an advertising agency to pitch his wares? As a person that makes his living in advertising and marketing, I can't help but think that landing the God account is pretty impressive. I wonder what kind of budget he has to work with.

Billboards across the state, often located outside churches, will use colourful photos with captions thanking Jesus for everyday elements of life.

An image of someone feeding seagulls says “Thanks for hot chips. Amen”, while another shows a little girl on a beach with the caption “Hey, thanks for the beach, Jesus”.

Another shows a parrot with the caption: “Thank you, Jesus, for birds that look like they’re wearing pants.”

[From Churches put faith in advertising | The Daily Telegraph ]

I am sometimes met with confused stares and comments by atheists who can't imagine how something that is untrue, often harmful, sometimes brutal and barbaric, could be vital to our evolutionary fitness. Let me make my position very clear: I am NOT taking the position that religion is necessary to our survival as a species. But I am saying that it could be. It is not inconceivable that Islam or some other undreamt religion will be our saving grace, so to speak. Such a world is not one I would wish to live in. The better world we all hope for may well be our undoing, but life will be better for having lived it that way, even if that life comes to an early end.

Maybe religion is the answer claims atheist scientist
The world may have to turn to God to save itself from climate change, claims one of Britain’s most eminent scientists.

Lord May, the president of the British Science Association, said religion may have helped protect human society from itself in the past and it may be needed again.

Speaking on the eve of the association’s annual conference, the committed atheist said he was worried the world was on a “calamitous trajectory” brought on by its failure to co-ordinate measures against global warming.

He said that no country was prepared to take the lead and a “punisher” was needed to make sure the rules of co-operation were not broken...

...“A supernatural punisher maybe part of the solution.”

He said in the past a belief in a god, or gods, that punish the unrighteous may have been part of the mechanism of evolution that maintains co-operation in a dog-eat-dog world.

Having a god as the ultimate punisher was possibly a logical step for a society to take, he added.

"Given that punishment is a useful mechanism, how much more effective it would be if you invested that power not in an individual you don't like, but an all-seeing, all powerful deity that controls the world," he said

"It makes for rigid, doctrinaire societies, but it makes for co-operation."

[From Maybe religion is the answer claims atheist scientist - Telegraph ]

Jesus of Siberia: an ex-traffic cop turned Messiah

By Alissa de Carbonnel
September 1, 2009
Print: AFP

PETROPAVLOVKA, Russia — The crowd shivered in breathless anticipation as dramatic music heralded his approach. “The Teacher is coming!” they whispered.

They parted in a human tunnel to allow the approach of the man they know as “Vissarion, the Teacher.” His long brown hair and white robes flowing and face fixed in a beatific smile, Vissarion outstretched his arms in blessing.

Women sobbed in ecstasy and clung to each other as he passed. “It feels like eternity,” one woman gushed. Close by, one man sighed in wonder: “It’s love on earth! Can’t you feel it?”

For thousands of followers, Vissarion is no less than the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth, reincarnated 2,000 years after his crucifixion, deep in the Siberian wilderness.

His promise of salvation has brought 4,000 followers to eke out a living in this far-flung region of Siberia, in one of the more extraordinary currents in a country known for its eccentric religious sects.

Read the full article

For those, like me, who once took their faith very seriously, losing their religion was often dramatic, even traumatic. Here's a nicely done piece by TheraminTrees for all those who have bothered to read the Instruction Manual for Life.

Creationists, now they’re coming for your children

Richard Dawkins: the truth dogs reveal about evolution

Richard is quick to point out that

I hope I don't need to remind people that newspaper headlines are written by sub-editors, and the author never has any say over it. [From RichardDawkins.net ]

I wonder which will end up being the greatest show — the book itself, or the mischaracterizations, distortions, and demonization that are sure to follow. Still, Dawkins has come into the ring fighting:

You find your precious time continually preyed upon...by a baying pack of ignoramuses...

...Evolution is a fact, and [my] book will demonstrate it. No reputable scientist disputes it, and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it.

[From Creationists, now they’re coming for your children - Times Online ]

But the policy infuriates Magno and others such as the Rev. George Szal of Revere’s Immaculate Conception Parish. Szal said he has urged the 2,100 families that attend his church to sign the ballot petition.

“I think it’s a big mistake,’’ said Szal. “The problem is they’re saying go ahead and do what you want, just don’t make trouble for us by getting a disease or getting pregnant. And the fact of the matter is condoms don’t always work; they leak. And kids discover you lose half the pleasure when you’re using an instrument like that.

“Contraceptives are dangerous, especially for girls who are still developing, and the morning-after pill is a euphemism for an abortive action.’’

[From Birth control battle in Revere - The Boston Globe ]

It's sure good to know that the celibate priests have our kids' backs. Come on, only half the pleasure? The church wants better for its young sinners than that!

The half-hour show libeled the Catholic Church with impunity, blaming the Church for, as [Bill] Donohue put it, "every evil in history." Show host Jillette said the "intolerance, greed, paranoia, hypocrisy and callous disregard for human suffering" was the hallmark of the Catholic Church. Others on the show branded the Church as an "amoral" and "power hungry" institution that is just worried about its "cash flow." LifeSiteNews.com

Not surprisingly, the Catholic League claims the show was full of errors and lies:

Jillette lied about the Vatican’s reaction to Sabina Guzzanti, an Italian foul-mouthed comedian who staged an assault on the pope in 2008: the pope never sought to throw “her sexy ass in jail” and never once sought any punitive measure against her—it’s all a bald face lie! Jillette lied about a 1962 Vatican document—it was a statement about penalties for priests who used the confessional to solicit sex: it was not a cover-up for sexual misconduct! He lied about Pope Benedict XVI—he had absolutely nothing to do with overseeing cases of priestly sexual misconduct in the United States! And so on.

Spokesmen for Catholics for Choice, SNAP and Dignity—three anti-Catholic groups that lie about their Catholic status—twisted, distorted and ridiculed Church teachings on sexuality.

CBS/SHOWTIME AIRS NAZI-LIKE ASSAULT

The National Secular Society reports that:

Keith Porteous Wood, one of the interviewees in the show, was unrepentant, saying he was proud to have to been a part of the programme. “Penn & Teller said something that was long overdue – that the Vatican has a lot of answering to do for its corruption, greed and disgraceful attempts to cover up child abuse by its priests. Even worse than that is the damage through its irrational and dishonest opposition to contraception. This is playing a major role in the population explosion that the planet simply cannot support, in unnecessary deaths from AIDS and in massively increasing poverty” he said. “What is truly shocking is that governments and international organisations are unwilling to take on the Vatican, which uses its position as a half church half nation state to maximise its power while minimising its accountability”.

[From NSS supports Penn & Teller’s right to attack the Vatican on TV | National Secular Society ]

You can view the entire show at Catholic League   or LiveLeak

  Drake said June 2 on "The Alan Colmes Show" that unless Obama repents, he is praying that God will kill the president.

Where does Drake derive his view that God will bring "death and misfortune on his enemies"?

  "It is in the Bible, and we are proud to say as Southern Baptists that we believe the Book," he said. "You’ve got to believe the whole Book, brother, or you don’t believe any of it."

  Read the Assocated Baptist Press Article

  Tip to Austin Cline

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