Catholicism is just fine...

Father Ricardo Seppia, yet another priest sent up for child abuse.

Pictured: Proof Religion is good.

I'm really not sure how much more of this shit will be put up with. It outrages everyone who hears it, it hurts and scars countless children, it destroys lives, minds and bodies. And that's just from the outside perspective. What must the church be doing to counteract this? It keeps happening over and over, it's been highly publicized and yet these cretinous monsters continue in their abuse. They claim to be a guiding light and then act like horrible human beings. It's almost like there is no real weight to any of their claims of supernatural guidance and power....

Here's an excerpt:

 Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. "I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues," he allegedly said.

 Now, I wouldn't presume to be so general as to say all Catholics are evil or all priests are child molesters, but clearly there are a lot of them and they continue getting away with it. It would be naive to assume that this was the last one and now it's all stopped and everything is fixed.

Ironically, the Vatican picked the very week of this story to send a letter to all bishops with advice on reducing child molestation among clergy. They sent a letter. That's the huge fucking child saving step they are taking. A sternly worded memo. How about background checks to start? Maybe follow that up with another level of authority that monitors Priests day to day activities? A little check and balance, you know? If the abuse primarily happens in the church, then how about removing all the doors from the buildings. Make rules that prohibit unsupervised contact between a Priest and anyone. Are these too extreme for you? Maybe infringing too much on the rights of the innocent priest's who have done nothing? Maybe we should just continue to wait for the bad ones to get caught before we put extreme measures into effect at their location. These may not stop it all, but at least make it harder for these sons of bitches.

What about closing down a church where an offender worked. Oh no, how could the locals possible get by without their weekly dose of myth?

Can you think of any other organization at the world that would be allowed to continue with business as usual after even just one count of paedophilia? Why is the Catholic church given immunity from outside interference?

Florida Fails Humanity

So Florida got a little out of hand today.

They tried to pass a law against bestiality and wound up banning the fucking lot of us from fucking even a little within their state borders.

Yes, it's stupid and yes I know that they aren't referring to humans as being the same as animals because we don't like to think of ourselves that way, but tough shit. We are animals. Just because we have bigger brains and the capacity for abstract thought doesn't mean we don't all have the same great great great great great (times a googolplex) grandparents.

It's ignorance like this that frustrates me to no end. If the people running the goddamned government don't understand basic principles such as this enough to incorporate it into the language of the Fucking Laws they are making, then what else are they going to screw up.

Why must intelligence be such a scarcity in the general public?

Osama and other drugs

Pictured: Official terrorist greeting.

On September 11, 2001 I worked at Blockbuster video on the west coast. We'd had some sort of inventory morning which meant I was working from 4 or 5 am. I finished by 6ish and got to go home earlier than all the other losers/friends/coworkers. I remember that as I entered the house, the phone was already ringing. It was one of my high school friends (I'd just graduated) telling me to turn on the news because it was World War 3.

The second plane hadn't hit yet. Smoke pouring from the building. Replaying the footage over and over. Home video, people screaming, crying. Was it Saddam? Was it an accident? Who was responsible? By the end of that first day we had our name: Osama.

All of our anger, our hatred, our indignation was directed toward that man. He would not have the last laugh. He had no idea the can of worms he'd just opened. Then he became impossible to find. He made some videos, we thought he was dead once a couple months later, but we were wrong, he just slipped off the grid. Living in caves, they said. Needle in a haystack.

Now two invaded countries and ten years later, we got him. A violent end for a violent man. And I'm glad.

Ironically, I was at work when I found out. I was at work for a unusually late night, as opposed to an unusually early morning. I immediately raced home to catch the speech, to get the details, to learn everything I could. I was excited, I was overjoyed. Finally, a face had been brought to justice, even if his machine continues working without him, at least we got the bastard.

My coworkers however seemed less than enthused. Like I was telling them about who won the Best Screenplay Oscar or something. Mild surprise ("Oh, really?") then back to work, back to life. Over it before it began.

This is shocking to me, but I guess all the hubbub, violence and disappointments over the years have desensitized some of us to the original momentum. It's hard to see the value of more violence when we've been waste deep in it, psychologically anyway, for nearly as long as we've been hunting his ass down.

Maybe that's his final victory. Maybe terrorists only need be patient enough to wear us down so that we lose interest in defeating them. At any rate, at least we can stamp one more figure on the side of our cockpit.

I leave you with this:

There Never Was No God

Discovered this pretty little ditty the other day.

I feel that this really sums up where I feel that the world should be, or rather could be if it weren't for the destructive influence of religion on our societies.

I think that religious people of all faith's often feel like they're given a get out of jail free card for life. They answer to someone that cannot be controlled or even verified and they say he's capable of allowing or condemning just about anything they want.

If only we humans could realize that all the things we want changed, controlled, or different is up to us to make happen. We are our own revolution and the world is what we make it. As Frank says, "We're all in this together". What a beautiful thought that is. We are all in the same exact position in this world, nobody higher or greater than another, and the best way to deal with our existence, our society, our community is to work together, to support each other, to help each other along. Because know amount of prayer is going to accomplish a single thing. Let's put our efforts and positivity in a direction that actually makes a difference.

The religious undoubtedly would take offense to the implication that their belief system is a degradation to an intelligent society, but the distinction is that religion exists in the void between what is knowable and what is imaginable. It is by such a definition, not intelligent.

When intelligent analysis is applied, all religion is found wanting. It may defend itself for a time, but eventually it comes down to believing in spite of itself. As Michael Shermer said, "Smart people are very good at rationalizing things they came to believe for non-smart reasons".

If there Never Was No God, then there are a hell of a lot of things in this world that need to be done away with. Think of the destruction caused by religious intolerance, dogmatic adherence to ancient stories, violent suppression of dissenting ideas. Just think where the world would be today without Hitlers. How would the world be different if an additional 6 million people had been allowed to carry on their lives, procreate, contribute to the world, and make a difference. What if there had been more Copernicuses and Galileos and Keplers. What if they were not only permitted but encouraged with no religious opposition? What might we know by now?

If there Never Was No God then we might life in a world where people were less afraid to be themselves, where there were less complexes, repression and abuse of various kinds. Maybe something would have taken religions place, but maybe not. What is certain is that innumerable counts of harm have been done in the name of the various gods, and all without a single shred of fucking evidence to back up their claim.

Really, religion was inevitable. We don't have these beliefs because they manifested and made themselves known, but because humans seem to desperately want to believe in things bigger than themselves, beyond their own feeble, weak existence. How much bigger we all feel when we think there is an infinite being who is interested in us.

I, for one, see society headed in a gods-free direction and am quite happy to say that There Never Was No God. Let's hope that idea spreads even more rapidly than it has so we might move away from all the chaos, fear and unintelligent ideas that govern our lives.

Debate

One of the more frustrating aspect of debating someone about something is when they only address things easy to defend and leave the really tough important stuff by the wayside. In my opinion, this is largely down to being either human or a christian.

It's fine if you don't want to analyze your own beliefs, as ludicrous as they may be. If you enjoy the comfort of your prescription blinders and see little need to enter into the realm of provable theories like the rest of us, then that's up to you, but if you decided to take the risky first steps known as "rational thought" and enter into a debate, then the very least you could do is be honest with yourself.

Accept the fact, flat out, that you have no evidence. You can't prove a damn thing. You guess a lot, you have to read into things and search for something you can point to as evidence. You've already made up your mind, you're not starting from zero and allowing the evidence to lead you where it will, you're trying to prove your theory AFTER reaching your conclusion.

Can't you see how idiotic that is? Yes, you're an idiot. (ad hominem)

There are plenty of philosophical debates to be had, plenty of "what if" discussions. That's all fine, but do not pretend that your belief is anything but a guess. It's called a BELIEF for notChrist's sake, not a FACT. It's something that you feel is true without being able to show it.

I would be happy if just one young earth creationist, or just one christian, or just one of you idiots would provide me with something tangible, something quantifiable, something measurable, testable and if you don't have it, then feel free to admit that you can't prove anything but choose to believe anyway. Don't pretend it's logical, because it isn't.

I'm sorry I called you all idiots. (makes it OK).

Sorry for the Delay

Life has me by the proverbial balls and I've not had much time or inspiration for the blog this month, but rest assured I have not abandoned her.

More to come this week...

Irrational Rationale

I was reading a Christian blog recently and one of the posts was titled "When we run out of rational explanations, time to call on God!"

Which ironically applies to either side, depending on the arguer.

The Christian ideal is such a pleasant and comforting one. At least, in a perfect world free of extremists it is. There is an all powerful being who routinely intervenes in the world and stirs things up. His touch breaks the rules of physics and logic and this is how we know him, when he is outside of reason, of rational thought.

He can step into any situation and fix it, in spite of how bad the situation really is. It doesn't matter, he can do anything, even change peoples minds, hearts, attitudes, etc. He picks sides, but somehow he makes everything work out so everyone is happy. Or, if they're not happy, then they are in rebellion anyway so it's their problem.

This being answers to nobody and does whatever he wants, whenever he wants and it's always the right thing. He has a master plan that cannot be thrown off course because he already knew how it could go wrong and corrected for it before it even got there.

He is incredibly concerned with the intimate details of your life and will not hesitate to get involved should you step out of line or need to learn some lesson. He loves those who have no love, holds those who are not held and guides those without direction. He is perfect in every way and wants to be your friend!

What an amazing idea! It's almost like he made us in such a precise imperfection that he would compliment us in just the exact ways that we needed. He just happens to be all the things we wish we could be, but aren't. Or he designed it to work that way. Either way. Cool.

You could also look at it another way...

There is no being, only you and biology. You exist because life exists and eventually turned into you. The world follows certain rules and laws that govern everything by the same standard, but judge nothing. These rules and laws have NEVER actually been broken, in spite of the many claims that never seem to be claimed the same way twice.

Your problems are your own. You can enlist the help of your friends, or you can deal with them yourself. Other's attitudes must be tolerated, ignored or forcibly changed, but only in as much as they will allow. Wishful thinking gets you little more than disappointment. If people don't like the outcome of an event, they can accept it or fight to change it, but their opinion is just as valid as yours.

You define your own life's course and plan. You do what you want to do and you alone are responsible for the consequences of your actions. Nobody judges your thoughts, or your motives in a way that holds you accountable. You get to be you and no one has the authority to tell you otherwise.

The world is full of trillions of variables that affect every individual. Some are born to shit parents, others amazing parents. Some are born poor, others rich. Some people have charming personalities, others are socially awkward. All these variables lead to different outcomes that are impossible to predict. Some have no love, others have no one to hold them, while more still wander aimlessly through life just hoping to maintain the status quo.

We are imperfect and incapable of attaining perfection. We bumble through life until we die and we make the most out of it. Relationships come and go, loved ones are born and die, some genes pass on, some never fully mature. Humans project what they want for themselves onto others, they imagine superbeings that compliment them perfectly without ever actually observing them with any natural method.

The point is this. Rational answers never run out, so there is no need to call on a god. Not understanding is not that same as missing an answer. And since God is not included under "rational answers" then at what point is it ok to pick an irrational answer to a problem? What sort of thinking is that?

Why not instead accept that some questions don't have answers. You shouldn't fill in the blank with whatever you feel is right when you can't know the right answer. It's better to follow what you do know until you reach a conclusion than try to jump ahead and make one up that suits you.