I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn't it be much worse if life *were* fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?' So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. – M. Cole
As the title says, there is a movement in the RCC to make a “huge beautiful church” to their goddess stand-in Mary for the overthrow of Roe v. Wade. Few things go to show how Catholics have no interest in actually helping children than this. Nothing like wanting to spend millions on pleasing an imaginary character and ignoring real kids and families.
This is literally how disgusting these people are:
“if the templecost anything less than milliondollars i say if people really are arecontritefor their involvement in thismurder on an industrial demonic scalethen we should have at least one dollarper babywhose life was snuffed outby man’s malice
why not spend million dollars on offering practical help to mothers whoare pregnant? a wise man once said to someonethat the poor you will always have withyoubut me you will not always have“
To see the entire transcript (from the auto transcript function on Youtube), i have it here.
The recent decisions of the Supreme Court cheat Moloch of his accustomed cheap comestibles. He’ll have to make do with less. But, as with all natural systems under the orbit of the moon, this is a case of pushing the envelope in one way only to see it bulge out in another. Moloch will be served, adequately, or there’ll be hell to pay, and no pitch hot.
There will be deaths. Not of children in the womb, but of others. Moloch must be fed, by his slaves. Now that he’ll be denied the food of babies from so many “trigger” states, he’ll need to be fed in some other way. His vassals will try to figure out how to immolate some high profile victims, to sate his hunger and avert his wrath. I suspect they’ll offer up some from among their own company.
It can’t work. It can’t suffice. His wrath shall inevitably consume all his worshippers. There are not victims enough to sate his lust. His servants then are doomed.
Reject him! Serve the Lord of Life! Only thereby might you prevent your own ingestion, and dissolution, in the insatiable maw of Moloch.” – a Christian called Kristor
No Moloch, dears, and no Christian god. I do love the lies of Christians, who have no problem with their god killing children at all. The hypocrisy is wonderful. And it’s always good to see an impotent imaginary god that can’t get rid of another imaginary god.
Literally, the only people left who are happy with human sacrifice are Christians. We see this in their myths (a babe born in a manger and Jephtha’s daughter for starters), in unfortunately common actions where Christians think their god will heal a child and let the child die, and now in their need to sacrifice women.
Something I’ve found out recently is that the Catholic Church doesn’t allow baptism for the still-born, nor can a mass be said (more information down in the comments). Why? Because they haven’t taken their first breath and therefore aren’t alive. Now, funny how this isn’t what they claim about abortion at all. Now, Christians other than Catholics might be insisting that they don’t believe in this, but funny how they all read from the same bible, and it also says life begins with the first breath too. As always, the bible and its god is no more than a Rorschach test, showing what the human wants to pretend is true, nothing more.
There has been talk about the protest action “day without women” as being somehow “elitist” because not all women can take a day off work.
If a woman cannot take a day from work without putting her job or family in jeopardy, that is the point of this protest. If a mom losing a day’s pay will cause her children to be without food, clothes, shelter or health care, then she isn’t making a living wage. If an employer will not allow her to be gone without punishing her, then she is being treated as little more than a slave.
Women often take the most low paying, but necessary, jobs e.g. health aides, housekeepers, cooks, cashiers, waitresses, clerks, thanks to various things: limits on education, often caused by having to have children and the resources going to them with nothing else left; having children limiting her to what jobs she can take, be it hours that she must work when she is not caring for them, etc. Single parents of any sex are limited to what resources they can get from friends and family. A soldier may go off to serve, and have to leave her kids with relatives, having no choice. Even those families who do stick together, often find themselves working multiple jobs and hoping they can get child care that will let them work, an awful ouroboros continually eating its tail.
Everyone deserves a decent job at a decent wage. Women suffer disproportionately in this. This why it is important to show how necessary women are to the workplace.
Considering how many of my theists readers are convinced I’m a guy, I wonder how confused they’ll be with this post 🙂
Today there is a “march for life” in Washington, DC. There are a lot of women there, who insist that they are feminists. There may be some men who also would claim this, since being a feminist isn’t limited by sex. They all declare that they are “for life”, aka against abortion and birth control.
These people want to control others, and that is all they want to do. They want to tell women that they can’t. They can’t make their own decisions. They can’t believe what they want. They can’t be trusted to be intelligent enough to know what they want. They aren’t feminists, they are wolves in sheeps clothing. Feminism isn’t about telling a woman “no”. It’s about knowing that a woman can make her own decisions and that supporting women is important.
These wannabee theocrats demand that their opinion become law, that no one may choose to disagree with them. They want women to be punished for daring to make their own decisions and not obeying them. They claim that women need their help because of a myth with a talking snake. Most, if not all of them, want their particular version of one religion to be the law of the land, conservative Christianity. Of course, they can’t agree on which version of Christianity they want. They may insist that each other is doing to hell for accepting the Pope, for not accepting the Pope, for being baptized in one way or another, being divorced or not divorced, but they are harnessed in the same yoke for this one reason, in their pure hypocrisy.
They want to claim that they are for life, but they are against anything that would help the children that they wish forced on others to live. They are for punishment and obedience. They support the murder and terrorism of those who believe different than they do. They want no assistance be given to assure that these children have healthy food and a safe home. They want to keep families from having affordable health insurance. They want no assistance given to assure that these children have a good education, no matter if they are wealthy or poor . They want none but their religion taught to these children and they want only the families they approve of to take care of these children. They depend on lying to women to convince them to have children, intentionally misleading women by how they name their services. After the uterus is vacated, they are not interested.
Caring for another isn’t important at all, only forcing a woman to bear a child she cannot support, either financially or emotionally. They pretend that their churches will help these women but every shelter everywhere is desperate for money despite that there are pages upon pages of churches and other religious organizations in the phone book. They haven’t taken care of these families so far, so why should anyone believe that they will now?
These conservative Christians prate that this god would never give a woman more than she could handle, but they turn their heads when these women harm or kill themselves and their children because they could not handle those things, no matter how much they prayed and others prayed for them. They needed real help and that real help requires that people support them through real resources, resources payed by taxes and given to everyone, not just people who agree with the taxpayers or obey the rules of a religion that has no more evidence that it is true than any other religion.
These people want to take over the government, and force their religion on everyone. For all of their false claims of being unable to make their own choices, they do their best to remove the ability to choose from others. For all of their false claims of being pro-life, they do their best to ensure that those lives suffer as much as possible.
Hypocrisy personified, when this woman thinks she is being silenced and she’s walking down streets in the nation’s capital saying exactly what she wants.
We’re deep in it now. The sad little orange man has been inaugurated thanks to the ignorant and fearful and greedy who have sold their honor and responsibility for false promises. Update: The women’s march is doing quite well. Poor Donnie, he doesn’t react well to reality. What will TwitterFuhrer do?
Donald J. Trump, still is trying to spread those lies and spread that fear. Fear and greed is what fascism and totalitarianism grows in. Willful ignorance is what fertilizes it. Trump’s inaugural speech was nothing but lies, intended to spread fear. He claims that the US is in shambles, that “carnage” reigns in our streets and that simply isn’t true. He need people to believe though, because he can’t get his way if people stand strong and say “no”.
The US does have its problems, like any other country. However, we’ve always gone forward and have shed the shackles of our ignorance and fear, albeit slower than I would wish. Now we have to stand up against men and women who would wish to return us to the bad old days. They intentionally lie to us, trying to take away our right to make informed decisions on our own. They want obedience and no one to speak against them. They want the truth hidden, so people will believe them without question.
They can’t stand the truth, so they try to punish those who speak it. A National Park Service employee retweeted true tweets that showed how small the crowd was for the inauguration and this was termed not sympathetic to the president. It was also noted that the new administration stripped the White House website of any LGBT, climate change and health care webpages (snopes has the lowdown here. And it again shows that the transition team for Trump is utterly incompetent since they had nothing to put up). This was also declared not sympathetic to the president. The account was shut down with claims of urgency.
It has been reopened with the understanding that everything depends on the confirmation of Trump’s nominee, Rep. Ryan Zinke, who is of course supports mining, oil, loggin, trophy hunting, etc on public lands, and wants to transfer public lands to states, so the federal laws concerning wildlife, clean water and clean air don’t apply: anything but what his supposed hero, Teddy Roosevelt would have approved of.
The truth doesn’t have to be sympathetic, it is what it is. And it is in everyone’s interest to constantly point out the false claims and lies told by anyone, but especially when its someone in power.
Trump and his team were wrong when they claimed that millions would attend his inauguration (and more shots of the emptiness, and a great timelapse video of the Mall being occupied – scroll down on that link). Trump and his team were wrong when they claimed that there were no more fancy dresses in DC. Trump and his team were wrong when they claimed that hotels were sold out. They lied that he won the popular vote and they lied when they said it was a landslide and that Trump has a “mandate”. This is only a few false claims about petty little things. It’s a problem when the lies keep coming about important things that will affect everyone.
“It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. — Abraham Lincoln, October 15, 1858 Debate at Alton, Illinois
“7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.” – Proverbs 17 (KJV)
One might think that some of those Christians who voted for Trump might consider one of the few admirable things about their bible.
(addendum: unsurprisingly, we have some of those “shocked” people now insisting that Trump is perfectly fine now, including a number of pastors. Thanks folks, nothing like showing the religious right is simply cowards and hypocrites)
“I’m shocked, shocked that gambling is going on in here.”
“Your winnings, sir.”
Just finished watching CBS Sunday Morning, where it had Ben Stein being just as sincere as Captain Renault in his indignation about how bad Donald Trump is. Ben Stein, as a lot of you know, is the same fellow who was involved with the nonsense “Expelled” about creationism in schools.
He’s just the latest in a long line of Republicans who are now condemning Trump, despite having no problem with Trump saying things about women, immigrants, Mexicans, veterans, etc, all disgusting and all lies. We have two choices in what they say here: it’s just hypocrisy, or it is people who made a terrible choice and now have finally come to their senses, and it took Trump touting how great sexual assault is to do it. Neither conclusion reflects well on these people, but if it is the second, at least they did come to their senses, like Captain Renault does in Casablanca.
Of course we still have Republicans who are saying that what Trump says is just fine, including people who self-describe as conservative Christians. They say that their god is using Trump. Well, if this god can’t come up with a better tool than Trump, then it isn’t much of a god, is it?
Trump apologized for something 11 years ago. And never once changed his actions or his words in those intervening 11 years right up to now, consistently treating women, and everyone else, like the bully he is. There is no reason to accept the crocodile’s tears.
Considering the name I’ve taken for this blog, it’s no surprise that I enjoy watching people suffer by their reaping the results of their willfully ignorant choices and claims. I like to watch people who insist that they are so pious that no one can question their actions fail in their claims of divine perfection and divine protection. I like to watch people who claim that their opinions are the objective will of the some magical omnipotent being tear their clothes and wail piteously when their opinions are thrown into the dung heap of history as nothing more than very human ignorance and hate. There is no shame in applauding when willful ignorance and hate fail.
This is why I am happy that the folks in Ireland stood up against the ignorance that has been fostered by religion, especially the Roman Catholic Church, for so many years. They have cast away the fear that religion has tried to shackle them with and embraced their fellow humans. I take pleasure in watching the excuses and complaints flow from those who would insist that anyone but them is less than human. They’ve failed again and I am happy for that.
This is why I am happy that secular law has been used to show the hypocrisy and harm that religion can do by the revelation that the hyperpious Duggar family is anything but good and honest. I am deeply unhappy that humans can be so harmed by religion, in this case all of the Duggar children, because they were told that they and only they were right and “right” means that women are less than human, and believers are above justice and responsibility. These actions and the constant problems that religion has with abuse of other shows that religion makes no one good and religions’ gods do nothing. If only religion was decent and humane, and no one had to be hurt and be an object lesson in how faith fails. That is not the case.
This is why I’m happy that the idea of “reality” TV shows that are no more than a reincarnation of freakshows are under fire. Everyone who watches such shows is complicit in rewarding such behavior.
I do not feel a sense of schadenfreude for those who are hurt through no fault of their own but for those who now are displayed as hypocrites, who caused harm to themselves by their own actions. I do condemn those theists who lend their voices, tacitly or vocally, to the belief that religion and their faith is some holy cow that can never be questioned.
The little good religion does can be also found in other sources. Countering religion may not remove all of the harm in the world, but it can get rid of some of the most pernicious sources of it.
all images thanks to atheistmemebase.com
Incidentally, both instances show that prayer is rather pointless. How many prayers do you think were offered up for God to change the vote or for the abuse to stop?
Wow, Mike Huckabee is a twit, not that you didn’t know this already. One more Republican who has said that somehow Democrats think women are weak and have uncontrollable libidos and *that’s* why Democrats think they have to provide women birth control coverage in health insurance.
Huck has said that Democrats supposedly say “they [women] are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing them for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of government.”
Ah, Mike? This woman, Vel, doesn’t think that Democrats think that. I doubt you can even point to one Democrat that has ever said anything like that. It seems that your accusations are quite amusing though in that Republicans do think that women are weak and have to have government control their actions. We had Governor Ultrasound (McDonnell) who said that women must get medically unnecessary vaginal ultrasounds mandated by the government. We have Governor Corbett saying the same thing, but golly, we can close our eyes if we don’t want to see it. We have Republican legislators constantly trying to get their government up in our vaginas. You all seem to assume that women can’t be responsible on their own and have to mandate government action to tell us what we can and cannot do.
No, Mike, we don’t believe your accusations. Your “concern” about women are just crocodile tears. Women are much stronger and much more intelligent than you seem to think.
This is how they think they can convince women they have our best interests at heart? As George Takei would say “Oh my!”
I’m back from vacation. And what do I find? A great comment to do a blog post on.
One of the TrueChristians from the past has decided to return to the blog. Ostensibly to see if I was behaving myself. You know, us women can’t be trusted. 🙂 Of course Woody was around in February and of course couldn’t actually answer questions put to him. Here’s one outstanding one: “But I’ll play but I need to know when Moses lived. Give me a date. You have one, right?” Alas, Woody seems unable to provide this date.
Woody has taken it upon himself to remark upon my post about costuming. He is completely sure that women need to dress “modestly”. Yes, we have a TrueChristian who is no different from a TrueJew or a TrueMuslim when it comes to telling women to act subservient and to wear only things that won’t make a man all sexually aroused. It’s truly a pity that these people have evidently no self-control. I suppose they must walk around constantly besieged by erections like a boy in junior high school.
Dear Woody has seen fit to mention some great bible verses about this from 1 Peter. He uses this set:
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. (I Peter 3:1-4)”
Unsurprisingly, Woody’s version of TrueChristianity is great for men who are frightened of women. I also love to see that Christians again disagree on what their god means and wants. Poor Woody, he so badly wanted me to ask my husband for his answers to Woody’s nonsense and my husband just laughed at such a pitiful man.
We do have to thank him for mentioning 1 Peter. It’s grand fun to see where it fails again and again. Let’s look:
“7 The end of all things is near.”
Yep, real near than hundreds of years have passed and the “end of all things” is no where to be seen. Let me guess, he’ll claim that “near” really doesn’t mean “near” just like another TrueChristian we’ve seen.
There is much ado in the media and the interwebs lately about saying “This goes no further.” where one challenges the status quo and demands a change and where one gets resistance by those who say “there’s no real problem”.
I’m involved, tangentially or directly, in several aspects of this declaration that essentially says “no matter if there was supposedly “no problem” before, there is the recognition of a problem now”. I’m an atheist (no kidding, eh?), I’m loud about equal rights for everyone, I’m a woman, I’m a gamer and I’m a costumer. That combination will get anyone into trouble with those who want to claim special privileges for themselves, that they have a “right” to harm/control others. What’s sad is that some of the folks who were different, who were bullied in school, who never fit in, haven’t realized that they shouldn’t do such things to others. Many humans act like the worst theists, always declaring what is “pure” and “right”, abusing power and generally acting like jerks.
I’ve done costumes for science fiction conventions before and am looking forward to doing it again which brings this topic up to the forefront of my thoughts and now to my blog. I won’t call myself a cosplayer because that has the connotation to me of someone who is *vastly* more devoted to the art than I am.
Being middle aged, a bit softer than I’d like to be, etc, there are some costumes I’d never consider. I’d love to do Storm from the X=Men in her Mohawk phase, or Wonder Woman in tribute to the awesome Lynda Carter. That ain’t going to happen, because I’m too self-conscious (Inara from Firefly is something I’d be happy doing). But other people have no problem with that and they should be able to dress as whom (or what) they please (same as someone should have no problem with dressing up as a character and *not* knowing the entire history of the character verbatim. If they do, great, if not, so the* fuck* what?). I do occasionally feel sympathy for people who don’t quite hit the mark and who might get ridiculed, sympathy most likely misplaced and unwanted. The fear of being made fun of is still my one big issue left over from being a nerdy girl and I get really uncomfortable when I think of someone else suffering that. But if they are happy, then that’s what is important.
Thank you, John Z.
This also applies to women and men who want to wear sexy costumes, or dress sexy. If they want to show skin and feel comfortable doing it, good for them. Some folks get plastic surgery done to make themselves feel better. Bigger breasts: if you like it, then go for it (and guys, they usually aren’t enlarged *for* you, so you don’t own them). I went the opposite direction, smaller breasts made me like myself better (and in my experience, big natural breasts *hurt*). If they like the attention, that is their prerogative. It is also their prerogative to reject attention if they wish. They are doing this to have fun, it is no one’s “right” to take that fun away from them by assuming that they want to be touched, hit on, treated as a thing, etc. That is selfish, stupid harassment, and makes the aggressor seems like a twit with no self-control. This also applies to gaming, where some idiot thinks that since it’s “just imaginary” this allows for any they want to do. No, it doesn’t. It’s a shared world and it’s not just your little playpen (again also why I counter theocratic nonsense, keep your god fantasies in your head, not on my body). That I’m playing a female character does not mean that this character is yours in anyway. I experienced pure sexist stupidity in my very first D&D game, let’s strip the female thief to see if she’s stealing from the party. Yes, it was from a guy, but another guy stepped in. Guess which one happens to have become my best friend and one true love? And he’s the reason that I still play, not repulsed off by the twits, since no, they aren’t all “like” that.
Club Schadenfreude 