God:

~ Found Here.

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I don’t know who the artist is, but it’s pretty obvious they understand the way indoctrination works.

Here are some other comics and images to amuse you:

Philosophy Airlines:

Any woman who has any kind of modern thinking (women should get to vote, live their own lives, marry who they like or no one at all, have more value than a goat or donkey, etc) is a fool if she willingly follows the bible as her guide. It’s all in there. All the horrid bullshit the biblical authors decreed about females.

Dude, it’s Skater Jesus! LOL!

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Here is a typical argument from a christian.

“Patti: Homosexuality is a sin and it is in black and white in the bible.”

Patti is right. But Lacey shows what else the old testament claims are sins, which we no longer follow in our modern society:

“So is not treating your body like a temple (no more Doritos and bon bons, no more Coke or Pepsi or ice cream or potato chips!). And ladies should have their head covered. And in Deuteronomy, a marriage is only valid if the woman is a virgin, and she should be executed if she is not… and that anyone who commits adultery should be stone to death.

In Mark, divorce is prohibited. I assume for homosexuality you are referring to Leviticus 18A:6 “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.” A similar verse occurs two chapters later, in Leviticus 20:13: “A man who sleeps with another man is an abomination and should be executed.”

Leviticus is a holy code written 3,000 years ago. It also includes prohibitions against round haircuts, tattoos, working on the Sabbath, wearing garments of mixed fabrics (no poly cotton blends), eating pork or shellfish, getting your fortune told, and even playing with the skin of a pig (there goes football!).

I believe in morality, which is doing right regardless of what I am told.. not in religion which is doing what I am told regardless of what is right. You’re welcome to your own interpretation of the bible and of politics, of course, but for me, I need more than “the bible says so” to justify certain things in this world and certainly to judge them.”

I would add that the bible as a code of ethics is just about bankrupt. Even the few good things that Jesus said are not unique or special to the bible. I certainly don’t need to turn to it for anything, never mind my morals and ethics.

How many times have you discussed morals with a christian and they say something like, “If god didn’t exist, I’d rape, murder and steal!” Those people need religion, if that’s the only thing holding them back from their psychopathic and sociopathic drives.

For me, I’m quite happy to be a good person just because it’s the right thing to do. What about you?

Image found here.

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And here’s another one that’s audio only. It’s a sing along!

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So these zookeepers over in Jerusalem are trying to sort of reconstruct the animals from the bible (old testament, of course) in Israel. They aren’t trying to repopulate the area with the biblical predators like bears, but they are trying to bring back vultures, even though Levitucus 11:13 called them detestable. Which makes me wonder why they’d want to nurture and breed them. And why cherry-pick certain animals but not the rest from the bible? But why try to get logical now?

Almost 100 animals were mentioned in the bible, according to the fluffy, credulous HuffPo article where I found this ridiculous story, so of course, I am quite skeptical. I guess that’s how Noah was able to get them all on the ark, then. He only had 100 or so to deal with, not the millions found in the world today.

There are nearly 100 different types of animals mentioned in the Bible, many of them key players in well-known stories: the lions in Daniel’s den; the dove that scouted for dry land from Noah’s ark; the ram that was sacrificed by Abraham to save the life of his son, Isaac.

Today, many of them are gone, hunted to the point of extinction or driven away by ongoing conflict. Of the 10 animals that are listed as acceptable dinner fare in Deuteronomy 14 — ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goat, ibex, antelope and mountain sheep — only two (the gazelle and the ibex) could still be found in the historical boundaries of Israel in 1960. …

“… I want to keep the vultures because they were mentioned in the Bible that it was a common animal and that’s good enough for me.”

Shkedy, [a chief scientist for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority] has spent the past 15 years trying to repopulate Israel with biblical animals. He works with zoo keepers like Yedveb across the country, closely monitoring and coordinating their efforts to return animals like the Griffon vulture to the wild.

While Shkedy would love to bring back lions and hippopotamuses, he focuses on the animals that realistically stand a chance to thrive again, like Persion fallow deer and vultures. “Israel is now too dense to reintroduce predators, large predators,” said Shkedy. “We lost the bear for example, but who would be brave enough to bring back a bear?”

…In the Bible, vultures are only mentioned by name in a few places; some conservationists believe translators confused them with more frequently mentioned eagles. More recently, vultures have been victims of poisoning. “Farmers want to kill wolves and jackals that hunt their chickens and cattle, so they put out bait to poison them, and because vultures eat dead animals, they get poisoned too. Then they die.”

…For Shkedy, the fight to save Israel’s natural wonders is personal. When his parents emigrated from Europe in 1947, they wanted to fulfill the Zionist dreams of their ancestors by working the land with their own hands. The dream has shifted in subsequent generations, he said. …. “We should keep in mind that we didn’t come to this country just because we wanted to see a sea of houses. We came to this country … because of biblical things.”

Now, I’m all for conservation and preservation of wildlife and the environment. In fact, I often prefer the company of animals to that of most people.   But trying to recreate Zion in Jerusalem with biblical animals seems nutty.

Then again, following a 3,000 year old set of dusty books as the inerrant word of a god that doesn’t exist also qualifies as delusional and nutty, especially when, 2,500+ years later you’re still fighting and killing over a small piece of land that your supposed god gave to you.

So, trying to take care of some animals that once lived in an area is a good thing, but the quacky reasoning is not.

And if you read the article, maybe they need to stop poisoning the other animals which lead to the deaths of the vultures in the first place? Maybe it’s just me, but I would guess that would be really helpful. Raising baby vultures then sending them out into the wild just to be poisoned seems pointless. Fix the real problem first, don’t you think?

I thought I’d share this just to remind us that religious quackery is worldwide. I really wonder if humanity will ever give up its childish need for a sky daddy. Somehow I doubt it.

The other day I was talking to my fellow atheist friends about superstitions. We came to the conclusion that people seem to need their superstitions, and if you take one away from someone who feels their life is out of control, they’ll simply replace it with another one. Of course, that’s not scientific, but it would be interesting to see a study where that was done.

I think you can give up superstitions, even though it can be very tough. Look at all of us atheists and skeptics. Most of us were believers at some point. Most of us gave up gods, Santa and the Easter Bunny. Some of us have gone so far to give up superstitions as well. And have learned to be skeptical, critical thinkers. So it can be done.

But I think for the average person it’s not easy or natural or even wanted. They are happy to believe in the supernatural in a myriad of ways. And that’s just how it is.

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“I think that rationality and free thinking should be promoted and religious crimes and excesses and crimes condemned. What we hear and read about the churches is absolutely disgusting. However, if have a close look at the gospels, I find it to be such a rational, incredibly intelligent sum of stories, considering the time and the audience Jesus Christ was talking to. I think he was one of the greatest rationalists ever!”

I agree with him about reason, rationality and critical thinking. I don’t agree about the bible though. It’s so full of justified hate and bad morals.  I think that overrides the precious few rational or intelligent concepts that are scattered infrequently within. The few good things you can find in the bible are not original either. The Golden Rule, for example. Older than Jesus. Confucious had his own version, so did the Greeks. So there’s really no need for the bible at all!

Also, Jesus said some pretty damned hateful things in the gospels. (see below for just a few) He was forever going on about how if you didn’t follow him you’d burn in hell. That’s not very rational or loving. He also said he talked in parables just to confuse people so they would end up in hell. And he said to hate your family. If you take one message of Jesus and hold it up as a shining example for good rational thinking, you really can’t cherry-pick. You have to take all of his hateful stuff too.
Sure, maybe he said some good things (IF he existed, which I doubt), but it wasn’t anything that amazing when put in context with all the awful stuff he said, or when you think about great thinkers who said awesome things more consistently, like Carl Sagan, Thomas Jefferson, Bertrand Russell or even Ricky Gervais!

Here are a few quotes from and about Jesus that the cherry-pickers missed:

Mark 4:11-12 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 12:51-3 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And some quotes from and about his dad:
Psalm 137:9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Jeremiah 19:9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend.
Leviticus 24:16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.
Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
Numbers 17:12-13 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?
Deuteronomy 4:25-26 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
2 Kings 6:28-29 And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.
2 Kings 6:33 Behold, this evil is of the LORD.

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