Miscellanea Agnostica

The news that “tea partier” and vehement Religious Rightist Christine O’Donnell won the Delaware Republican primary for Senate has been all over the news for several days. Most of those stories have been punctuated by tales of her Christian-puritanical weirdness, e.g. her hatred of masturbation and assertion that viewing pornography equates with adultery (WebCite cached article). It also turns out that she’s a paranoid conspiracist, having claimed that scientists are cross-breeding humans and animals (locally cached).

But perhaps the strangest thing of all about O’Donnell, is this ABC News report (based on footage released by Bill Maher) that she claimed to have dabbled in witchcraft in the past (cached):

On Friday, Maher released on his new HBO show, “Real Time,” an unaired clip of O’Donnell admitting to a brief dalliance with witchcraft.

“I dabbled into witchcraft — I never joined a coven. But I did, I did. I dabbled into witchcraft. I hung around people who were doing these things. I’m not making this stuff up. I know what they told me they do,” she said.

“One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. I mean, there’s little blood there and stuff like that,” she said. “We went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”

Here’s the Bill Maher show video segment in question, courtesy of ABC News:

Thus the walking freakshow which is Christine O’Donnell became even freakier.

When I read this, I was immediately reminded of another fervent evangelical Christian who likewise had claimed to have dabbled in witchcraft and the occult: Mike Warnke. His story grew more elaborate as he told it; he claimed to have been a Satanic high priest, and that he’d taken part in some hair-raising rituals. Through the late ’70s and the 80s he made a career as a preacher and Christian comedian, telling stories of his action in Vietnam and then his Satanic tenure. He wrote The Satan Seller, a memoir which was a best-seller in avid Christian circles. But in the early ’90s, he was exposed as a fraud by a series of articles in Cornerstone magazine. Immediately after the Cornerstone exposé, Warnke continued to insist he’d been telling the truth. He subsequently conceded having stretched the truth on a few points, but to this day has never admitted his fraud. Nevertheless, despite his attempts to make a comeback, his once-thriving career as a preacher is pretty much dead. (Unreasonable Faith blog has an excellent encapsulation of Warnke and his scandal.)

I can’t help but wonder if O’Donnell is playing the same game that Warnke had. If so, given that she’s been active in evangelical Christianity for several years by the time she said this, I can only assume she’s aware of Warnke and how his career and life unraveled, and am forced to wonder … what the fuck was she thinking?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, christine o'donnell, delaware, gop, mike warnke, occult, political candidate, religious right, repubican, republican party, senate, senate candidate, tea party, witch, witchcraft, witches

On his trip to the UK, Pope Benedict XVI keeps conjuring up idiotic things to say. Yesterday I blogged about his insinuation that atheists and secularists are Nazis. Today, he incorrectly whined that religion — especially Christianity — was being “marginalized.” Voice of America reports on his latest bilge (WebCite cached article):

Pope Benedict XVI voiced his concern Friday at the increasing marginalization of religion, particularly of Christianity, in a major address in Westminister Hall, attended by British politicians, businessmen and cultural leaders. …

Pope Benedict on Friday defended what he called the legitimate role of religion in the public square.

Note, this is pretty much the same mantra that the Religious Right within the US has been spewing endlessly — and erroneously — for decades. The problem is that it’s just not happening! So long as the majority of people in the occidental world are religious — which is the case — then it is logistically impossible to truly “marginalize” religion or eliminate its influence on “the public square.”

It cannot be done.

I do admit that the amount of control religion had, has been reduced. Through the Middle Ages, Christianity ran the show. It dominated people’s hearts and minds, and for a good deal of that time, it was politically dominant, as well as being psychologically dominant. Beginning with the Age of Enlightenment, however, and continuing into the 21st century, this has changed, though, and the Pope — as well as other hyperreligious folk — are not mature enough to handle it.

Just because religion no longer controls the puppet strings of society, does not mean it no longer has any influence. It simply means it’s not quite as commanding as it once was. The Pope needs to grow up, accept that, and then perhaps his Church can move into the modern era.

Photo credit: Catholic Church (England and Wales).

Tags: benedict xvi, catholic church, christian, Christianity, christians, great britain, holy see, pope, pope benedict, pope benedict xvi, Religion, religion and society, religion in society, roman catholic, roman catholic church, society, uk, vatican, vatican city, westminster hall

The tactic of using a reductio ad Hitlerum — or an appeal to Hitler or the Nazis — to condemn one’s opponents and ostensibly “prove” they’re bad or wrong, is decades old. It’s not logical, of course, since comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis are rarely based on facts. I’ve caught people at this particular fallacious game before. I assumed back then, that I would again.

And I did.

This time the perpetrator was none other than Pope Benedict XVI, on a state visit in the UK. As the BBC reports, he attempted to link atheism and secularism with Nazism (WebCite cached article):

A speech in which the Pope appeared to associate atheism with the Nazis has prompted criticism from humanist organizations.

However, the Catholic Church has moved to play down the controversy, saying the Pope knew “rather well what the Nazi ideology is about”. …

In his address, the Pope spoke of “a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society”.

He went on to urge the UK to guard against “aggressive forms of secularism”. …

He said: “Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live.

“As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny.”

First, let’s get this right out of the way, up front: The Nazis were not atheists; their movement was not an atheist one; and they did nothing whatever to abolish religion. The religion of members of the Nazi party was, as far as can be told, similar to, if not the same as, that of the population of Germany as a whole; the majority of them were Christians (with Lutherans and other Protestant churches dominating, and a large minority of Catholics). Whatever the individual religious beliefs of Hitler and Goebbels and Göring and Himmler and the rest of that crew may have been, the majority of the Germans who (initially at least) obeyed and supported them, were Christians.

Far from trying to eradicate religion from the lives of Germans, the Nazis actually got themselves involved in Christianity at its most basic level. They welded Germany’s Protestant churches into a federated entity under their own control, the Reichskirche. Hitler’s party also negotiated a formal accord with the Roman Catholic Church (i.e. the Reichskonkordat). There is no logical way that either of these acts could possibly be viewed as the product of an inherently anti-religious or anti-theistic regime.

Next, the Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, grew up in Germany during the Third Reich. He knows what Nazism was, and who the Nazis were, at least as well as anyone on the planet. Thus, he knows full well what I just said — that the Nazi regime was not an atheistic one — and therefore has zero excuse for having made this comparison.

Third, as I pointed out in my earlier post on this matter, details matter. You can’t call people Nazis — or imply somehow that they’re Nazis — unless you can point to some details of their actions or policies that match those of the Nazis. I’m not aware of any atheist militias (similar to the Sturmabteilung or “brownshirts”); I’m not aware that atheists are locking people away in concentration camps (emulating the Nazis’ policy of rounding up “enemies” and keeping them out of the way). I’m not aware that atheists have outlawed labor unions or rival political parties (both of which the Nazis did). I’m not aware that atheists have ever done anything even remotely close to what the Nazis did.

Fourth, in addition to being honest about the Nazis’ religious motivations, we also need to be honest about the anti-Semitism that drove them: If not for centuries of Christian hatred for and vilification of Jews, the Nazis would never even have dreamed up the Holocaust, much less carried it out. While Christianity may view Judaism as a “rival contender” religion, and the mere existence of Jews as an insult to its teaching that Jesus was the “Messiah,” atheism has no particular motive to despise Jews so especially. None.

I get that the Pope dislikes atheists. It’s OK, this is a free world and he’s entitled to hate anyone he wants, for any reason he wants. He is not, however, entitled to lie about those he hates … especially when he, personally, knows his claims about them to be untrue.

Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Tags: appeal to hitler, atheism, atheist, atheists, benedict xvi, catholic church, fallacious, fallacy, germany, hitler, holy see, humanism, humanist, humanists, illogic, logic, nazi, nazi germany, nazis, nazism, pope, pope benedict, pope benedict xvi, reductio ad hitlerum, roman catholic, roman catholic church, secular, secularism, third reich, uk, vatican, vatican city

The Seattle cartoonist who proposed “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” earlier this year, has been forced to change her name and go into hiding, because of death threats — at least one serious and credible enough that it’s the FBI which suggested she do so. According to USA Today‘s On Deadline blog (WebCite cached article):

At the urging of the FBI, the Seattle cartoonist behind “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” is “going ghost” — leaving town, changing her name, creating a new identity because of the death threat issued in July [cached] by an Islamic cleric linked to the failed Times Square bombing, the Seattle Weekly says [cached] of its former contributor.

The reaction to this proposal, in the worldwide Muslim community, was horrific, and included such measures as Facebook and Youtube being blocked inside of Pakistan, as I blogged at the time.

Ain’t childishness wonderful? Especially when it’s religiously-fueled childishness?

USA Today adds the following note, which is somehow supposed to sound nice:

Norris had made friends with local Islamic leaders, and the head of the Seattle chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the group “has a no tolerance policy for threats of violence.”

I guess it’s all well and good, and maybe heartwarming, that she “made friends” with members of CAIR, and that CAIR has a “no tolerance policy.” But that doesn’t appear to have helped. You would think that true “friends” would have at least tried to do something, and prevent her from having to go into hiding … no?

Tags: CAIR, cartoon, council on american-islamic relations, death threat, death threats, drawings, everybody draw, everybody draw muhammad day, Islam, molly norris, muhammad, muslim, muslims, seattle, seattle WA, seattle weekly

My home state of Connecticut, over the course of the 20th century, tended to be areligious and progressive. That changed, however, as the 21st century dawned. This state has become increasingly religious, and increasingly militant about it. Connecticut’s Roman Catholic dioceses, for instance, have decided to wield their political power like a club — very likely as an exercise in pushback, due to the reporting over various abuse scandals, such as that of Fr Stephen Foley (cached) and Dr George Reardon (cached). And the state’s right-wing — once of the gentlemanly, socially-moderate “country-club Republican” variety — has become more ardent and much more religious than it had been.

Toward that end, WTIC-AM 1080 in Hartford — which has reflected this increasing militancy and religiosity in its talk-radio offerings — will now have a daily 3-hour show co-hosted by John G. Rowland — once governor of Connecticut, who was disgraced out of office and pled guilty to corruption charges — and his “friend” and erstwhile political operative, the Rev. Will Marotti, as reported in the Hartford Courant‘s Java blog (WebCite cached article):

Tune in …Former CT guv, John Rowland, is on the air beginning Thursday.

Rowland, the come-back kid when it comes to being an arrested public official who did jailtime but landed a plum job in his hometown of Waterbury, has a new gig… radio show host on WTIC-AM.

He and his religious inspiration, Rev. Will Marotti are launching a new program titled “Church and State.” The show runs daily from 3 to 6 p.m. replacing the “Total News” block.

I’ve already blogged about Rowland’s appeal to religiosity as a way of recovering from his own shame. It appears that Connecticut’s right wing has fallen for this swindle, and the venerable (and once-respectable) WTIC-AM has bent over for him and for the militant Religious Right.

Well, WTIC can put on its religious radio show — and make no mistake, it absolutely will be religious in nature, no matter what Rowland, Marotti, or WTIC say about it — but I’m not fooled by the criminal Rowland or his willing enablers in the church or in the media. And I don’t plan to surrender to the Religious Right who are trying to conquer the Nutmeg State. If they want me to obey the strictures of their religion, they’re just going to have to make me do so.

Tags: 1080, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, connecticut, hartford ct, john g rowland, john rowland, meriden CT, new life church, religious right, right, talk radio, waterbury CT, will marotti, WTIC, wtic 1080, wtic-am

The lunatic clerics who run the theocracy of Iran finally weighed in on the Qur’an-desecration controversy. As one would expect, they issued a fatwa against anyone who dares deface a Qur’an, as Agence France-Presse via Google News reports (WebCite cached article):

Two top Iranian clerics said anyone desecrating the Koran must be killed, Fars news agency reported, as hundreds of people protested on Monday outside the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

“From the point of view of Islamic jurisprudence, strong objection to such thoughts is mandatory and necessary and killing the people who have committed this act is compulsory,” Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani was quoted as saying by Fars.

His view was echoed by Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi who added that such a response must be taken after consulting a “religious judge.”

Because, of course, no one in his right mind would ever dream of doing anything without first consulting a “religious judge”! Right?

The Iranian government — also predictably — found it necessary to throw in one of their irrational, conspiratorial anti-Semitic zingers:

Top Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have issued harsh criticism over the issue, with the hardliner even saying that a bid to burn the Muslim holy book was a “Zionist plot” that would lead to the speedy “annihilation” of Israel.

Adding to the ridiculousness of it all, a crowd formed that was so delusionally enraged over Qur’an desecration that they didn’t even realize they were going after the wrong target:

Meanwhile up to 500 people demonstrated outside the Swiss embassy in northern Tehran in protest against the United States over the Koran-burning issue.

An AFP photographer said the crowd, chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans, pelted stones at the embassy and tried to get into the building, but the guards prevented them from entering the premises.

Note that this is similar to when a similarly-deranged Afghan rabble attacked a German base in their country over Qur’ans which, at that time, hadn’t even been defaced yet.

Yes, folks, the worldwide collective temper-tantrum continues. Two of the world’s great religions continue to try to show which can be more irrational and immature than the other. It would be hilarious, if not for the destruction and the lives that have been lost over it.

Tags: childish, fatwa, hossein nouri hamedani, immature, immaturity, iran, Islam, juvenile, koran, koran desecration, muslim, muslims, naser makarem shirazi, qur'an, qur'an desecration, tehran

I blogged a few days ago about the Hartford City Council and its plan to protest the Religious Right’s Neocrusade against Islam in the US by opening their next meeting with prayers by local imams. I also mentioned, then, that they’d been inundated with venomous complaints. Well, it turns out they lost their nerve, and have canceled their plans. The Hartford Courant reports on their cowardly and abject surrender to the country’s Neocrusaders (WebCite cached article):

The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Connecticut said Friday that the city council has called off its pre-meeting prayer Monday, which was to be an Islamic invocation.

Mongi Dhaouadi said he received a call from Council President rJo Winch Friday saying that there would be no prayer, but that the council would instead hold an “interfaith moment of silence.” …

The council was inundated with phone calls and e-mails from angry residents after announcing this week that it had invited an imam to give the opening prayer. At a press conference Wednesday, Winch said she was saddened by the responses, some of which she characterized as “racist views of hatred.”

Let me be clear on this: The Religious Right’s chief weapon — in everything they’ve done over the past 30 or so years — has been intimidation. They demonize, they vilify, they harangue, they lie, they bully, they threaten, and they (verbally) pummel their opponents into submission. For the most part — and quite unfortunately — their opponents have usually obliged by giving into the intimidation. The Hartford City Council, it seems, is no exception.

Photo credit: narek781.

Tags: christian, christian right, hartford, hartford city council, hartford ct, imam, Islam, mongi dhaouadi, neocrusade, neocrusaders, neocrusades, prayer, religious right, rjo winch, surrender

I’ve already blogged on the Muslim world’s immature response to the raging immaturity of Qur’an desecration that various elements of the Religious Right, including Randall Terry, have engaged in. The sanctimonious outrage has actually ramped up and spread, this time to the Kashmir province of India, as Voice of American reports (WebCite cached article):

In Indian Kashmir 14 people have been killed and 45 injured in some of the deadliest violence witnessed in the region since mass demonstrations against Indian rule erupted three months ago.

Officials say several people were killed when police fired on hundreds of Muslim protesters who set fire to a Christian missionary school and some government buildings in Tangmarg and Budgam districts in Indian Kashmir.

Officials say the protests were partly fueled by reports on an Iranian state-run channel that a Quran had been damaged in the United States during the weekend.

Obviously, 14 people needed to die for al-Lah, because the Qur’an was desecrated! It goes without saying that lives must be destroyed because of that. Al-Lah demands nothing less!

(All right, so the preceding paragraph was sarcastic. Of course lives should not be lost due to any kind of metaphysical event!)

Yes, folks, the Muslim world continues to try to prove the Religious Right when it condemns Islam as a violent religion. Trust me, this will only feed the flames of Neocrusade here in the US. And in response the militant Christians in the US will surge forward in their Neocrusade against Islam here.

Note to religious believers, especially Christians and Muslims: By all means, keep up the mayhem. Go ahead, keep going with the schoolyard objection that “It’s not our fault, they started it!” All it does is prove that the whole bunch of you are just a bunch of self-righteous crybabies, engaged in a massive worldwide pissing contest over whose god is bigger than whose. At the same time that theists like yourselves claim that your religious beliefs make you morally superior, you are — ironically — demonstrating yourselves (rather conclusively) to be, instead, morally inferior. Just grow the fuck up and get over it already!

Tags: budgam, christian, christian right, Christianity, christians, desecration, india, Islam, kashmir, koran, koran desecration, muslim, muslims, neocrusade, neocrusaders, neocrusades, qur'an, qur'an desecration, religious right, tangmarg