Why I wrote "When The Last Tree Dies."

      If you add up all the camping trips, all the hikes, all the walks short and long, I’ve spent most of my life outside. Nature was always the first place I went when the indoor world became too much. The solitude shaped me. Nature was and continues to be my teacher, my healer, my spiritual companion, and most of all, a part of me as vital as all the other parts.
That is why every wound to the planet is a wound to my own body. It is especially distressing when those wounds are caused by greed, by the insatiable need for power, by the futile pursuit of yet more material goods to fill the emptiness inside.
     I know the causes of that emptiness. Some are obvious, such as expecting a thing to replace a need. Others not so much, such as the “begging for prosperity” megachurch religions that teach their congregations how to beg god for material salvation. But the largest void is caused by the move away from nature as an integral part of self, and toward the one that sees it as a commodity, something to conquer, and worse, as an enemy that brings storms, and fires, and floods.
     In the same way that other cultures are demonized in order to exploit them for political and financial gain, so is nature. The media runs continual disaster narratives on a loop of fearmongering. But it never mentions the man-made causes of those disasters. It never mentions that greed is the root cause of most of them.
     The characters in my book suffered from the effects of corporate greed. Their world was already dying from abuse before Preacher Billy’s cult drove them to the mountains. The air was toxic, the water rationed, and the food artificial. Every fire, every storm, made them fear nature more. The more they feared, the farther apart they moved away from nature as a part of themselves.
     By sending them to the mountains, I gave them a chance to reconnect with nature, to fill the void left by those with nothing in their hearts but greed and a hunger for ever more power. I created communities that were vastly different from each other. I made them good and I made them evil.
     I didn’t make it pretty. I didn’t mute what corporate profit motives, religious mind control, and programmed fear does to a human being, because those kind of afflictions aren’t fiction. They are real. They are happening as a I type this.
     But I did make them human, because that means I still have faith in our ability to wake up as a planet. It means I know I’m not the only one who believes we must speak up, we must act, we must make ourselves heard, because if we don’t we, and the planet, are doomed.
     I wanted people to understand what makes people turn to charismatic preachers, politicians, and charlatans. I wanted people to understand what makes someone hate, what makes someone kill, what makes someone dehumanize others for their own gain. And I also wanted them to understand there’s a lot of power in love and we need to draw on it far more and on hate far less.
     If we understand these things, we understand each other. If we learn to fight for peace the same as we fight for war, maybe we will have less wars and more peace. If we start standing up for our planet the same way good people stand up for any abused human being, then maybe, just maybe, we can solve the problems together.
     My book is not a manual. It’s a warning with some suggestions. But more than anything it’s a love story for my relationship with nature. I grew up in a special time when the air was still clean, when I could drink from a river, when storms were natural instead of tragic. I want this world for the children of the future, but that means we have to fight for it now, because we really are running out of time.

                                        Buy "When The Last Tree Dies"

Why I wrote "When The Last Tree Dies."

RIP Christopher Hitchens

He was maddening at times, but I always went back for more because he was a mental drug I needed in a world that oftentimes seemed dominated by the idiocy of  the Palins, Bachmanns, Perrys, Trumps, and other members of the terminally stupid club. I knew that even if I completely disagreed with him, as I did many times, especially over the Iraq War,  the way he presented his side of the story was always a satisfying and  infuriating read. He was able to do something many people who feel passionately about a subject were unable to do: he was able to engage those who thought differently in the conversation. That is what made his intellect so addicting in a world increasingly populated by morons who wouldn't give an inch and expected you to swallow the whole mile.

But one area where we completely agreed was Atheism.  There was no maybe there. There was no taking the side of it with one hand and holding out skepticism with the other. He brilliantly described what I always knew about religion, that it flourished by destroying individual freedom, that it grew by creating followers instead of leaders, that it destroyed the humanity in people because it gave them an excuse to be evil. He saw religion as a wedge to divide people, a tool to control and manipulate them mentally, and a weapon to use on them if they dared to stray too far from conformity.

He took on Mother Teresa,  a woman who horrified my sense of decency when she stood outside the chemical plant in Bhopal and screamed for the world to forgive them for poisoning and killing all those people--while the bodies were still warm. He rightly attacked her for supporting the thieves and thugs in the Keating Scandal, for taking the side of the ugly underbelly of corporate greed over the innocent victims of that greed.

MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. READ MORE

I continue to profoundly respect  his courage in taking on the ultimate sacred cow and exposing her for the self-serving and religion-addled tool that she was. And it gives me great pleasure knowing that he outlived her, that he was able to dig deep into the roots that created her and educated many in the world about the dangers of being a tool for the ultimate wealthy and uncaring corporation: the Catholic Church. And while it is probably true that George Bush's disgusting use of religion to perpetuate his sadism and ignorance on the world created a backlash that converted many people to Atheism, and exposed Christianity as just another political tool, I am profoundly grateful to Christopher Hitchens for giving Atheism a validity it very much needed to counteract the ignorance and danger of that kind of  blind religious fervor.

May the worms nibble gently and may we all learn from the legacy of his maddening, intellectually satisfying assholiness. His life was worth the space it took on the earth. Not many can die with that accomplishment as their legacy.

Weapons of Mass Destruction by godless_heathen
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RIP Christopher Hitchens

Ten Years

Ten years and we're more divided as a nation than we've been in a long time. In ten years we went from a moment of common skin to one where we allowed the politicians and their handlers to erase that precious lapse into temporary humanity. They filled that quickly emptied hole, with our help, yes our stupid and blindly obedient help, with hatred and judgement and division based on the stupidest of reasons: political ideology.

And of course, religion. Let us not forget the last refuge of the damned, their precious and overwhelmingly destructive weapon called religion. Would there even have been a 9/11 without religion? Would there have been the horrible polarization of one people against each other without the evil and wretched pulpit poundings by the holy hatemongers?

When life is turned upside down and humans are at their most vulnerable, there are always the sick and twisted voices in the crowd sensing the perfect moment to inject their hatred into the open wounds. There are always the behind the scenes puppet masters exploiting the moment for personal gain to start a profitable war, a dirty and secret arms deal, a private army paid for with taxpayer blinded-by-ideology dollars. There are always the politicians waiting with their hands out to profit from the corporate greed of the warmongering wealthy who never miss a chance to make a buck from human misery. And worst of all, far worse because they pretend they are doing good instead of the same evil, are the churches who spread fear and terror and obedience so they have a ready crop of willing idiots to do the bidding of the wealthy and morally-deficient.

This is what the other terrorists have accomplished in ten years as they ripped into the horror of raw wounds with the ferocity of savage beasts blinded by their own blood lust:

1. A terrified and beaten down populace whose only source of information comes from turning the remote to "on" and ingesting what comes from the screens and the radios without question, with the same blind and unquestioning obedience they were taught  in church.

2. An increasingly ignorant and brainwashed populace who believe unions that their grandparents were beaten to a bloody pulp forming so their grandchildren could work decent hours for decent pay without being exploited by the corrupt and the wealthy, are somehow the enemy.

3. The elevation of the most bigoted and ignorant mouth breathing knuckledraggers into the face America presents to the world.

4. A completely programmed population who takes to the street to support the right of mega-insurance and pharmaceutical corporate lobbyists to deny them basic health care, and if they lose their homes, their loved ones, their ability to live as a functioning human being, that it's somehow their fault for not being good enough to afford a decent health plan.

5. The horrible and completely religion fed outright hatred of anyone "different." It's a hatred that creates reasons and makes up lies to justify hate. It hatefully interprets bible quotations into an excuse to hate gays, brown people, black people, non-christian people, non-religious people...anyone different. It creates justification to invade women's bodies with theology and misogyny. It invites the bigots to crawl out from under their rocks and think they have the right to dictate what goes on in other people's bedrooms and lives. It allows the racists to walk around without their white sheets because it's open season on anyone different, especially a Black President.

6. The destruction of any functional education system by demonizing teachers, because after all, there is only one real cure for ignorance and that is education. It's why the tyrants always burn the books first but always leave the Bibles intact.

7. A government that doesn't even pretend to work for the people anymore. They know if they're not re-elected, their wealthy donors will give them plush jobs for life as a reward for the millions they made for them while in office. And the corporate lobbyists know they can easily replace the politicians if they don't win their elections because the American people will never hold them accountable, never make them work for their vote.

8. Demonizing anyone and anything that could really make a difference in the average Americans life. Any politician who accidentally slips through the net and tries to work for the people is soon caught up in some exaggerated scandal to discredit him or her until they're no longer effective. Any journalist, any writer, any news anchor who dares to break from the pack is soon reduced to braying jackass for the corporate masters. For every hate mongering gasbag like Rush Limbaugh, there are hundreds of ethically challenged and greedy wannabes waiting for him to mess up so they can replace him as the voice of the terminally stupid.

9. Allowing greed to define every aspect of American life to the point where fraud and outright theft of the country's wealth and resources became acceptable because greed became acceptable. But in order to steal outright, the people had to be convinced by corporate windbags like Limbaugh and the Fox News Presstitutes, that all regulations preventing them from taking whatever they wanted had to be thrown out. No limits on the amount of pollution companies could spew into the air or dump into the drinking water or leave behind in an oily infested mess were promoted as a necessary thing if they, the almighty corporations were to continue to thrive, to thieve at will.

10. And after the outright theft, the busting of the unions, the elimination of health care plans, the theft of what little income was left was taken so the rich wouldn't have to pay any taxes on their stolen gains, those who were desperate enough provided what every desperate society has provided: a volunteer army eager for a miserable paycheck so the wealthy could enrich themselves with endless wars fought over religion.

I'd say in light of these accomplishments, Bin Laden won. He really did destroy America and every day we remain divided, we reward him for doing so.

We The Sheeple by godless_heathen
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Ten Years

Religion as Sheeple Control

Now that the latest crapture scare has been postponed until October so Harold Camping can collect  millions of more dollars, it's time to focus on those he used his fear mongering tactics on to accumulate wealth. They are feeling betrayed, disappointed, scared, and left behind. They want to know why only their bank accounts got raptured. Others see a potential gold mine of fools that still have the potential to be milked even more for jesus.

We're not talking about ordinary people here. These are the dumbest of the dumb, the ones that religion prepared from an early age to be unquestioning, idiotic, cult-leader following morons. They're the first ones stepping up to be used whether it's by a church, a cult, a political party, or anyone with an agenda needing lots of unquestioning obedient bodies to create the illusion of grassroots.

It's about the Republicans, the Koch Brothers, The Chamber of Commerce, and Karl Rove spending millions and millions of dollars to create an illusion the Tea Party is a people movement instead of a backroom deal among rich assholes. It's like Farmville, only you populate it with idiots instead of cows.

None of this would work without a ready supply of less than intelligent sheeple who have already been programmed by their churches to never question authority, to follow each other obediently off a cliff because jesus told them to, and to empty their pockets in the name of salvation to make  saviors like Harold Camping, Dick Cheney,  and Karl Rove even wealthier than they already are.

For those who are shaking their heads as they read this and think religion is not that bad, especially their own,  show me a country that is formed and shaped by its religion and I'll show you a country that is going backwards instead of moving forward toward the next century.

Examine the history of your own church, the politics it promotes, and the money it collects from you to promote that political agenda, and then tell me your church is only about spiritual growth and belongingness. And I'll tell you again that the first thing that tyrants do when they want to control a country is to bring god and religion to the forefront of their politics and get people like you to pay for it all.

"In 1956, the nation was suffering through the height of the cold war, and the McCarthy communist witch hunt. Partly in reaction to these factors, the 84^th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the existing motto with "In God we Trust." The president signed the resolution into law on 1956-JUL-30.  The change was partly motivated by a desire to differentiate between communism, which promotes Atheism, and Western capitalistic democracies, which were at least nominally Christian."

read more here

For those who are unfamiliar with the McCarthy witch hunts (mostly those of you reading dumbed down history books forced on you by religion-infected schoolboards), it was about decent people who committed no crimes other than daring to think for themselves, who were labeled as ATHEIST Communists simply because they didn't belong to the correct church or promote the party line of a particular religion-based political party.

Setting aside the reality that most Atheists in America are not now nor have they ever been a large bloc of Communist Party members (even Atheists like to buy lots of cheap crap at Wal-Mart and eat crappy fast food), the painting of one with the brush of the other is yet another trick employed by those wishing to use religion as a noose around the necks of the idiotocracy.

I'll even go so far as to say it wasn't the fear of Communism that scared the power mongers, but the lack of religion. After all, Communism, like any ism, depends on groups of followers all believing the same thing and marching in unified brain and boot to destroy the unbelievers.

This is no different than religion which demands the same blind obedience, or Fascism which allows no dissenting opinions, or the current Republican party with its teahadist minions wanting to destroy everyone and anything that doesn't buy into their Randroid selfish cruelty and paranoia.

There is no difference between religion and Communism, religion and totalitarianism, religion and mental slavery, religion and Fascism, religion and mind control, religion and lemmings walking blindly off a cliff because their "leader" ordered them to do so.

Religion has been and always will be a tool used by the rich and powerful to control the weak and stupid, and scam artists like Harold Camping will be sipping Pina Coladas on some sunny beach with all the money he raptured from the dumb ass sheep as long as religion is so intertwined with politics they are no longer separate entities.

There's a reason our forefathers were so concerned that churches and government remain separate entities. They knew the potential for abuse and were trying to prevent it from happening to the new United States of America. But they forgot about the all-consuming greed of politicians and the wealthy who saw religion as a very useful tool for controlling the masses and making them do their bidding.

And never in their lives could they have imagined the kind of idiots that religion created in a couple short centuries, the kind of people who forgot the sacrifices made so its people could live in freedom from the oppressive yoke of religion.

If they came back to life and saw what this country has become in the name of imaginary playmates and evil puppet masters caring only about wealth and power, they'd abandon it to its own stupidity and look for more intelligent life elsewhere, because seriously, the lives they gave simply weren't worth the ignorance that grew from those sacrifices. In fact, it's a slap in their faces that will resound for centuries and will eventually destroy what they fought so hard to build.

One Night Stand Jesus by godless_heathen
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Religion as Sheeple Control

The Religion Virus

As I was going through the bizarre offerings on YouTube to find a video to update my Atheist Blog, I once again was struck by the similarity of the religion-infected sheeple. They're all so certain there is only one way to wherever it is they think they're going, and if you aren't along for the ride, well...let's just say things like inquisitions and burnings at the stake seem like reasonable solutions to them.

But through the hilarity, disgust, and mind-boggling astonishment over what some people believe, there was also a sense of familiarity. I've seen that same glow of the true believer sense of rightness, that same fervor of my way or you suck attitude, that same we're going to get your ass for being different threat,  in people who don't believe the fairy tales the sheeple embrace in their pathetic ignorance, but they have adopted the same means to promote their own agendas. They just don't refer to it as "religion."

Let me be clear here. I'm not talking about Fascists or other moronic cults. I'm talking about so-called average people, those who even define themselves as alternative thinkers, as free spirits, as spiritual new age believers in rainbows and pretty ponies dancing with unicorns for the benefit of humankind. The kind of people who are appalled by religious propaganda and hate mongering, yet fail to recognize how it infected them and how they perpetuate their own version of it.

From several decades of interacting with different groups, populations, and classes, I can always tell when someone was raised in a "religious" household, no matter how adeptly they think they've managed to run from it. Throughout my life as an unwavering Atheist, I often explored what else was out there just to make sure I wasn't being just another sheeple embracing another cult called "Atheism." And also because I'm endlessly fascinated by the world I live in and I want to know as much as possible about it.

Due to this insatiable curiosity, I submitted myself to various groups in order to gain a better understanding of my place on the planet. For varying amounts of time and involvement, I was part of groups who embraced Shamanic rituals, New Age woo-hoo-ness,  Arteeste communities,  political movements, The Joy of Hippies, antisocial geekiness, both serious and tragically funny writers, hardcore and wannabe Scientists, spiritual seekers and lost souls who enjoyed not knowing where the hell they were going.

Unlike the religious sheeple, I subjected what I believed to input from other people's beliefs. In my life, I've read the Bible--both old and new testaments, the Book of Mormon, the Koran, and various Buddhist and Zen treatises. I talked to people about what they believed and why. I took part in their circles, their prayers, their dances, their spiritual endeavors. 

And I came through the other side still an Atheist, probably even more of one as a result of those experiences. I also came though the other side vastly disillusioned with these groups because it was rare for any of them to exhibit any curiosity, other than judgement or condemnation for what I believed or didn't believe. I was there to be converted, to embrace what they believed one hundred and ten percent or nothing. It didn't matter if they were Christians or New Age Hippies. The dogma smelled the same.

I also learned that no matter how one tries to run from their religious upbringing, it hangs on them for life. It's a deadly, infective virus nearly impossible to eradicate because most people don't know they are carriers. Here's some examples of how it infected some of the so-called escapees:

They made a religion out of everything. I'm talking about people who formed circles to worship nature and then made a whole list of rules on how to go about it and you didn't dare deviate from that list. They justified it by saying things like "rituals are important" and other things lifted straight from their early religious training. I knew my time around these kinds of  folks were at an end when I found myself moving rocks and sticks around on their altars just to fuck with them.

People who grow up with authority-based religions are easy prey for anyone with an agenda they wish to inflict upon others. All they have to do is frame it in updated terms that make it seem they can help "save" someone or something from an unspeakable--and defined by others, evil. They make someone or something the enemy and then everyone bonds around the idea of destroying the enemy (devil).

I've seen this most often in divorces where sides are formed and you're either for or against one or the other--and you'd better be for or against the 'right' side or you become the enemy, the other, the bad guy. It's religious wars reduced down to the personal. It's people believing the only way they can show loyalty to a friend is by trashing their soon to be ex partner, just like one religion does to the others. Who needs those kind of friends or cultish beliefs? I ran from them the same way I ran from the religious cultists as they felt and behaved the same.

The most frightening and disgusting thing I saw that was a direct result of infectious early religion were the "morality" gangs who were so convinced their point of view was the correct one, they were willing to destroy people, careers, friendships just to inflict it on everyone else.

But they never did the dirty deeds themselves. Priests, Gurus, and Political heroes always make sure their own hands remain clean so they recruit those willing to blindly believe and whisper scary words to them and call it truth. They then send these recruited minions to do the dirty work with disgustingly malicious gossip as their versions of  god's word, just like in the good old inquisition days when gossip was the rule of law used to sentence people to death.

And by assigning it to a whole like "morality," "the greater good," "justice," and other high and mighty sounding terms, they never had to blame their behavior on their own individual biases and issues. They never had to allow a  chance of rebuttal, an opportunity to interject facts and truths into the stream of endless shit coming from the holy center. There was no other side. It was their one way or not at all, just like any other inflexible religious cult.

Over and over again, these groups who thought they had left religion behind, created situations where you were either for or against, or you were ostracized by all sides.

And nothing was too repulsive to the Borg mind. In one situation I had a couple true believers pretend they were interested in my friendship just to gather ammunition against one of my acquaintances for someone else's personal vendetta. No matter what I said, what topic of conversation I brought up, they awkwardly and annoyingly steered the discussion back to that person, just like those crazed bible thumpers who keep quoting bible verses no matter what the subject. They were on a mission and the facts were inconvenient things that got in the way of their beliefs.

I think back on those people and others and I see something else they had in common with religious cultists: nothing was ever their fault and whatever they had to do was justified by the greater mission. They learned that from religion, that no matter what they did, no matter what evil they committed, it was justified by their version of god/deity/mentor/authority figure's teachings on what was good and what was evil. That made it okay to lie, to use, to spread horrible gossip, to destroy the infidels who weren't part of their cultish cliques.

And like good little religious cultists, they excelled at handing out punishment by shunning and ostracizing those who believed differently or who behaved in manners that didn't fit their rigid set of communally defined rules. They did this because at the heart of who they were, at the complete core of their beings was the ultimate truth: they were and are control freaks.

I'm convinced that is what makes people turn to religion and other clannish/cultish behavior. They're control freaks who suddenly find themselves with the ultimate weapon to inflct on others: dogmatic truth with not a speck of breathing room for any variations. And guess who's in charge of defining and handing out the punishment? Why, them of course, the true believers, the religiously tethered, the moralistic punishment squad, the judgement police.

And they never have to take a bit of responsibility for their actions, they never have to apologize, they never even have to consider the pathetic and pitiful excuse for human beings they are, because they always have their version of god/goddess/spirituality/religion to blame it on. Having religion means never having to say you're sorry for being a total asshat dickwad to another human being.

That's the gift of religion that keeps on giving long after most people thought they escaped from it, and that's why I will fight against it until the day I die and become ash on the wind. I consider it my obligation to helping make a healthy planet for future generations.

Cthulhu Died by godless_heathen
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The Religion Virus

What is a Fundamentalist?

Exactly what do these whacked out fundamentalist christian crazies believe? This is a very nice little video that breaks it down quite simply, so nice and simple that even the Christian Taliban won't need Teabonics to understand it.

Holy Orgasm Temple by godless_heathen
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What is a Fundamentalist?

What to do about the Pope and his crimes.

As an Atheist I believe our actions have consequences and no god/religion/easter bunny will remove the stain of those actions if they are wrong and immoral. In nature, the relationship between different parts of it affect the whole and create the future.

In a spiritual sense this can be referred to as Karma, but when you take the mysticism from the idea, then what you have left is the purity of action reacting to something done to it. For example, a drought will kill the vegetation and wildlife, and a flood will do the same. A volcano will erupt and destroy all life within the path of its destruction, but over time the ground will absorb the volcanic debris and create rich, fertile soil. It is a delicate and timeless dance throughout time of balancing the actions with the reactions.

For me, life, as in nature is all about seeking and maintaining that balance, so when asked recently what I, as an Atheist, would do about someone like the Pope, I first measured the enormity of the crimes committed over time by the organization he heads.

This is no different than examining the history of a company like Exxon spilling oil and fouling nature before determining what the punishment would be if they repeated that action. Or a petty criminal whose crimes add up to lifetime criminal status before he or she is locked away for society's protection.

Included in the punishment of both these examples is the concept of retribution such as a fine that might go to the victims, or a requirement that certain amounts of money go to clean up the damage done by neglect fed by long-standing corporate philosophy. The same criteria should apply to the Pope when you consider the crimes committed by the corporation he heads.


Most of us are familiar with the
The Crusades. They are often cited as the dark side of Christianity.

But that was a minor mass murder committed in the name of religion. The crimes go far deeper and cover more people. For example, religion also killed Pagans, those considered Heretics, Atheists, Witches, Jews, and others that don't get nearly the same press, such as many of the 20th Century crimes committed against humanity in the name of religion. Many native people were slaughtered in the name of god. During the second world war, death camps were also run by Catholics. Christianity had its foul little hands in mass murders in both Vietnam and Rwanda. Read more on this.

In light of this criminal history, what should be the punishment for the current CEO of the Catholic Church who looked away, denied, and covered up the abuse of children by his Priests? How about something that restores balance to the planet by taking into account the concept of Karma, the act of natural cleansing, and consequences for committed actions? Here is my proposition:

Find one of those dungeons/catacombs where witches, pagans, heretics and others were tortured and left to die? Strip the Pope naked and let him hang by chains on one of the dank walls like those who were treated this way by his church. Once a day throw some slop at him so he will continue to live. Hose him down and let him drink his own urine to survive. Isolate him so he can't infect others anymore. And pray he lives a long life so the Karmic debt his corporation inflicted on humanity evens out and restores balance to our planet.

Arrest The Molesters by godless_heathen
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What to do about the Pope and his crimes.

Some thoughts on Extremism

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but lately I'm coming to the realization that extremism is synonymous with stupid. You sure as hell won't see an Atheist come knocking on your door demanding you become an Atheist.

But every crazy ass christian thinks they have the right to bother me with their ridiculous fairy tales. They memorize a few phrases that suit their agenda and discard everything that doesn't (Do you hear me, you gay hating shrimp eaters?)

These same so-called Christians have read very little of the Bible and instead rely on some unholy intermediary to mainline them meaty chunks from the pulpit--along with an underlying political agenda cloaked in the dubious morality of religion. Atheists aren't nearly that stupid, and most of them can actually read an entire book all by themselves. And gasp! Think for themselves, which makes them mostly immune to religion.

As an Atheist who prefers to mind my own business, I have no desire to go invading their churches with my ideas and opinions of how the world should work according to me, but their intolerance and fear of anything different regularly sends them to my Godless Heathen store for no purpose other than to inflict their religion on me.

This is what I mean when I say extremists are stupid. Do they really think they can annoy me into giving up my ideas for theirs? Do they really think that by flooding my comments section with stupid crap (usually filled with "creative" spelling), they can convince me of anything?

They have done more to destroy religion with their intolerant and mean shit than any Atheist could have done, and yet they fail to see this. They fail to see when a church gets involved in politics, they are no longer a church. They are a political arm of lobbyists and proponents of agendas that see them as no more than tools to be used to gain wealth and power. No Atheist would allow themselves to be used so stupidly.

They've also pretty much destroyed the whole god is love argument with their use of religion to justify hatred, intolerance, bigotry, and the subjugation of the poor and helpless. Somehow they've convinced themselves that religion means keeping people from having things they don't want.

The idea that if you're against abortions don't have one, or don't marry a gay person if it freaks you out that much, is alien to them. How would they feel if I denied them the right to eat chocolate ice cream ever again because I prefer vanilla? How is it any freaking different than what they're try to inflict on everyone?

But this extremism doesn't stop with religion. Take this idiot for example, who wanders into a store for Child-Free by Choice and calls the store owner a douche bag. Does he think that's going to make those who've made that choice suddenly decide he's right and they should breed like fucking rabbits? Or does it more than likely say, as the response pointed out, that misery loves company and he can't stand that someone else is having fun he can no longer have?

Once again, rather than change anyone's mind, this extremist idiot has only succeeded in pointing out his intolerance, his misery, and his flat out jealousy over not knowing he had a choice until it was too late.

I have a mind and I'm not afraid to use it, nor do I allow anyone to do my thinking for me. That means I'll never succumb to religious dogma or embrace hate as my personal savior. I like having my own mind.

Think Therefore Dangerous by humor_shirts
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I try and not let the extremists get to me because like all phases of existence, they too shall pass. One of these days they'll take that book written by people who believed the earth was flat, and ride off the edge of the planet like strings of lemmings following each other into the abyss. Once there, away from all the nice people in the world, they'll have nothing better to do than turn on each other and leave the rest of us alone.

Some thoughts on Extremism

Message Of The Day

Opiate Religion by godless_heathen
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Message Of The Day

The Bully Culture

As I read about Goposaur Shelby's blanket hold on Obama's nominations (read more), I was reminded of this creepy kid I went to school with when I was about ten or eleven years old.

He was a big, hulking, sullen mass of walking resentment. We all knew he had a shitty home life, but back then, considering the school and the neighborhood we were in, who didn't? He always harassed the youngest and the weakest, terrorized the shyest student, and mocked the most helpless. He lied, cheated and stole to get what he wanted. He got angry if he didn't get his way, and he implied what he believed was the only truth and those who believed differently were idiots, living on another planet, or commies.

Acording to Bully Online, he was a classic bully who fit the following characteristics:

* has never learned to accept responsibility for their behavior

* wants to enjoy the benefits of living in the adult world, but who is unable and unwilling to accept the responsibilities that are a prerequisite for being part of the adult world.

* abdicates and denies responsibility for their behavior and its consequences (abdication and denial are common features of bullying)

* is unable and unwilling to recognize the effect of their behavior on others

* does not want to know of any other way of behaving

* is unwilling to recognize that there could be better ways of behaving."

The shameful bullying engaged in by Shelby and his Republican Party is symptomatic of the cultural illness that has taken hold of this country. We have become a nation of bullies where one person can hold the rest hostage until he or she gets their way. This is not just the seedy realm of GOP political operatives and their ethically challenged enablers, but has infected just about every aspect of our society.

But not all bullying is obvious. The kissing cousin of the Political and Schoolyard Bully is Little Miss Entitlement, who is otherwise known as "I have an opinion and will make your life hell until it becomes your opinion as well." She (or he) has perfected the meme that in other times what was considered rude, nosy, none of your business, or excessive interference in someone's personal life--is now the holy grail of good for you as wielded by Joan of Political Correctness.

Here is a perfect example: A school in Kirkland, Washington has censored parts of Snow White because, as they ironically claim, it encourages bullying and other not so nice behavior. (read more) It's freaking Snow White, not little Miss Sunshine! But in their perfect vanilla world, I'll bet the evil stepmother is merely having a bad day and we should all be more understanding of her shortcomings, because in their world no one ever has to take any responsibility for their own actions. It's ALWAYS someone else's fault.

These people would never in their addled little imaginations ever see their own actions as bullying. They would never understand that by censoring something instead of explaining it, they are raising their children in a world that does not exist. They are sheltering them from truths that will whack them smack upside their poor deprived little heads the minute they have to live in the real world. They will never understand this because the idea they might be wrong, that their ideas might be wrong, that their actions might be wrong, would never occur to them. They are always right, which is what bullies also believe.

And they share this obsession with forcing others to live in a world they made for them, with the ultimate bully cult: religion. What do you want to bet those who made that decision for EVERYONE'S children, also share characteristics with the really whacked out religious loonies who engage in things like shunning, ostracizing, and denigrating anyone who might believe differently? How closely do they fit this description from the Wikipedia page on bullying?

"...social aggression or indirect bullying is characterized by threatening the victim into social isolation. This isolation is achieved through a wide variety of techniques, including spreading gossip, refusing to socialize with the victim, bullying other people who wish to socialize with the victim, and criticizing the victim's manner of dress and other socially-significant markers (including the victim's race, religion, disability, etc)." read more

I think being called stupid by a character invented in the 30's pales in comparison to their method of handling it. I suspect they're just looking for an excuse to control, convert, and manipulate information that already suits what they believe, just like any politician with an agenda, any crazy christian looking to inflict their version of imaginary playmates on everyone else, and any bully looking to intimidate the weaker kids into giving up their lunch money.

But the biggest damage done by bullies is the festering wound religion has opened up in this country. It has become a political tool used to manipulate voters into supporting the agenda of corporate sleaze balls. It has become the ultimate bully that treads on the individual rights of citizens, inflicts its agenda on politics, schools, the media, and people's personal lives.

What especially defines it as a bully is that no matter how much power or influence it has, it always wants more. For a bully nothing is ever enough. There is always more lunch money to steal, more humanity to destroy. A bully will not engage you in discourse but will shout you down, beat you up, and then proclaim him or herself the victim.

I believe this disgusting takeover of our country has come about because of the enablers who are like that Kirkland school. No one wants to stand up to a bully, and they count on that. They shout. They whine. They intimidate. They threaten to sue. They hold meetings where they reinforce each others biases.

Isn't it time to make these people grow up? How about if the next time some whiny ass Christian comes up and claims persecution, instead of walking politely away or being reluctant to attack their "personal belief," why not stand up for your rights to have some beliefs of your own? Why not say fuck you and your bullshit? They sure aren't shy about making what you believe seem evil or wrong or not worthy of the air it takes up to express it. Grow a pair and tell them to go back under their rock where everyone thinks the same as they do, and you will believe what you want, thank you very much.

The next time some corporate whore of a politician decides to throw a temper tantrum to continually fatten his own bank account stuffed from corporate "donations," why not get on the phone to him or her and remind them who they're really working for, and if they don't get it, vote their asses out?

And the next time some Little Miss Entitlement whines to you that rules and standards set by them are for your own good, remind them you also have rules and standards and it's time they really practiced some equality and lived by yours for a change. If not, then replace them. They are not the boss of you, even though they think they are. They're just schoolyard bullies who grew up and got someone to pay them to continue to be schoolyard bullies.

It's time to buy a broom and clean up some messes you helped cause by being too nice, oblivious, or indifferent. If you want to live in a Democracy, you're going to have to build it from the ground up again. It's what happens when you let the crazies take over. You have to clean up the really shitty messes they leave behind. Maybe next time, you'll pay better attention and speak up sooner and louder and you won't have to get on your knees to scrub the shit out of the floorboards.

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The Bully Culture

Special message for Fred with the aol address

You win the award today for the most intolerant, stupid bag of skin that ever walked the earth. These designs were made especially to piss people like you off. Enjoy!

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Are you having fun yet? Good. I'll make some more designs especially for you. Make sure you leave me some nice email again, but keep in mind if you threaten me or any elected official, then the fun times are over and the authorities get to read your badly spelled and insane diatribes. Right now I'm just using them for inspiration much as you use pics of Sarah Palin to inspire yourself...uh, you.

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So many stupid people, so few asteroids

Today has been a veritable bonanza of the lesser human species. Those who read this blog or subscribe to it see only a small portion of the hate that god's less intelligent bastard children like to direct my way. I delete them almost immediately so as not to give them the attention they so desperately crave.

Once in a while I'll actually respond publicly, mostly because my way of fighting is no violence allowed, but I am allowed to use mocking and humiliation to expose how ridiculous some of these wingnut losers are, so ridiculous are they in fact, that I can't possibly take them or their idiotic ideas seriously.

For people like that, all you need to fight them is a good dose of ridicule. They have nothing to fight with but slogans handed to them by others and so they get stumped if they have to think outside the words they were given. Eventually their tiny little minds get confused at having to come up with a thought, so they slink away beaten and bewildered with a mob of other people laughing at them all the way home.

Anything loses its power and mystique when it becomes a joke. And there's nothing as funny as someone who fails to realize they're that stupid and that manipulated until the asteroid lands on their dumb asses.

But you don't get to see the real crazies. They always save the best of their RANTS typed all in caps and filled with the most juvenile of badly spelled words for my private email. I suspect because deep down inside their cheesy little souls even they are embarrassed being them and they don't want too many others knowing how lacking they are in just about everything.

So you didn't get to see the gems that arrived today and had that baked in musty scent of having recently left a Palin teabagging party where they all sucked each others...ideas...until there was nothing left but a dank cesspool left behind by their now drained communally shared brain.

These are the ones who desperately want to believe they are part of some movement that's bigger than the parking lot outside the convenience store, or the church hall they got a discount on because no one got the stench of intolerance out of the walls enough for anyone to pay money for it, or the Palin rallies where a huge crowd is defined as having to take your shoes off to count the rest of the people.

You see, they really do know that they're irrelevent. They suspect the Goposaurs used them to get other Goposaurs elected but weren't really on their side when it came to passing the draconian social restrictions they wanted to inflict on the rest of the planet. They got nothing from their darling little W except used and it must sting like, well...hell.

And they're being used again by their teabagging masters who see they're too dumb to not make the same mistake twice, and so they manipulate them once more to get the new version of Goposaur elected, the real crazies that will be even easier to manipulate than that pathetic fool, Bush. The idiots see Sarah Palin as their savior, and their masters see her as an easily manipulated tool motivated by greed. It's almost too easy.

But what makes it really easy is religion. These people who write me are so fucking stupid that all someone has to do is claim Jeezus and they'll let you abuse them and use them and manipulate them until there's nothing left but an empty sack of used up shit.

It's not that difficult to see how some whacked out christian nut job like Huckabee heard only that the piece of shit wanting a release had found Jeezus, and so let him go without further thought so he could murder four cops in Washington state. To believe the fundamentalist whacko shit Huckabee believes in, you almost have to suspend independent and critical thought. And the moment you do that, you open yourself up to manipulation by others who use their brains for something other than a hat rack.

The kind of people who write me these letters are no better than the goosestepping morons who believed that god wanted them to kill Jews for him. In religious wars, no matter how big or small, all it takes is one fool manipulated for his intolerant ideas wrapped up in religion to convince him to kill. And they don't even have to look for others because he will find them for his masters as long as they feed him the bullshit he craves. Yes, they tell him, this time you will win. This time we will make everyone follow your religion, your hatred, your bigotry, your intolerant world view.

And he believes it because if he had half a brain he wouldn't believe the crazy crap he thinks is religion but is really hate wrapped in a godly body bag. He's the kind of person that allows himself to be used and used and used until he's just another old diseased and burned out whore for the rich and powerful.

He's the one carrying the signs at the health care reform rallies begging the insurance companies to fuck him one more time for Jeezus. He's the one pasting pictures of holocaust dead on a piece of cardboard so he can demonstrate his undying faith in the sanctity of human life--as long as that life is not dead Jews. He's the one drooling over Sarah Palin as President while his own wife still has a black eye from his fist and is only allowed the Bible as reading material. He's the one who bellows against the Taliban for demanding everyone follow their religion and give up all their rights, and yet fails to see how he's demanding the same thing and is therefore no better than the Taliban he condemns.

You know I could go on and probably will in the days to come because I'm finally fed up with these pathetic excuses for human beings. But for now I'm going to make myself a cup of tea, put some music on, and allow myself a nice break from having to deal with anything more today.

I've said my piece and I will say it again because I can't work for peace, I can't be an activist for the planet earth if I don't expose the dangers that threaten us. There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance because those who are ignorant are the tools of anyone and anything who sees a temporary use for them. I've said it over and over again and I'll say it again--those who hate are easily manipulated and owned by any master who comes along, while those who love are the ones who are truly free.

I prefer to love, but woe to him or her who mistakenly perceives that as a weakness. Unlike you, I don't succumb to phony color-coded terror threats, monsters under the bed, or hate filled preachers spewing intolerance from the pulpit. I am my own woman and that makes me far far stronger than any of you weak and intolerant haters will ever be. And love is MY higher power.

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So many stupid people, so few asteroids

Godless Damned Degenerate for Peace

I'm the first to admit that my inner beast is a stubborn one. It grabs hold of something and doesn't let go until there's some kind of ending, some resolution that doesn't stink of enforced compromise, or that hasn't been steeped until tasteless through the filter of consensus.

Yeah, that's me. But I'm also someone who doesn't waste my time with lost causes. I have no use for people who have given up on themselves, who have turned their brains and hearts over to some master pulling strings they don't even know they have.

It's why religion annoys me. There's nothing democratic about religion. There's some power-hungry asshat behind a pulpit preaching his biases to a crowd of people who are so afraid of their inner selves, they turn themselves over body and brain.

I hate unfair fights and there's nothing more unfair than a power whore abusing those weaker and more desperate than him or herself. The average preacher claims to be a servant or emissary of god, often using the same language as other historical mass indoctrinators of human consciousness  used those words to raise armies in the service of their own special friends.

My main objection to religions is that every one of them has its blood all over wars using some mythical deity as an excuse for the pillaging and slaughter.  One of the many reasons I don't believe in god is that if one existed then he/she/it would have smacked the holy shit out of these morons starting wars and killing people using him/her/it as an excuse. And if I am wrong, then what kind of human being would I  be if I allowed myself to get sucked into these mass murder cults that demand blood and hate as some sort of twisted homage? I couldn't live with myself if I gave up my humanity that easily and for so little. What kind of evil monster would demand such horrid obedience from me that I would literally turn over all that is loving and kind about myself to him/her/it so they could kill and destroy even more?

But every day I see people who do this, people who are so insecure, so afraid of the perceived demons inside themselves that they march sheeplike to the cadence of their masters. This is what war truly is, the strong manipulating the weak and frightened so the powerful may grow richer and more powerful. The only god they're fighting for is money and power. And they use religion to keep people from noticing their hands picking the pockets of the people as they make others die for their own personal enrichment.

This has always been the story of war. It has nothing to do with honor, with glory, with democracy or saving souls. It has everything to do with powermongers who sell weapons to everyone, no matter what their politics or religion. It has everything to do with politicians who are so willing to use the lives of others to score points in some demented game of human chess, they don't even consider the casualities worthy of being referred to as human beings. It has everything to do with land grabs, with historical grievances, with family feuds among the rich and powerful. And religion is the noose they drape around the neck of the sheep so they will die willingly and ask no questions.

But it all doesn't happen so easily. To convince the sheep to enter the slaughterhouse, they use their evil minions, the purveyors of hate and propaganda. They use the lowest of the common denominators to instill hatred and rage because that way they can control the masses. Those who love are beyond the control of evil masters, but those who hate already have one hand on the leash and are ready to hand the other end of it to the first hater who stirs up the venom in their hearts.

As human beings who have the responsibility of passing on a whole and healthy planet to the next generation, we have to understand that love is the only thing that will save us and preserve something worth passing on. Love is the only way we can move forward in a time where hate is a prison waiting to enslave us all. We need to speak up. We need to make some noise. We need to understand if we don't use our own power to create a peaceful world, then it will be taken from us and turned into a weapon of hate that will be used against us. We need to reject hate. We need to reject the cultish behavior that leads to mental imprisonment. We need to stand up and very clearly state: there's a better way of going through life and we are that way.

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Godless Damned Degenerate for Peace

Letter home from the Culture Wars

Dear Friends, Family, Advertisers, and Whacked out Religious Morons:

After a couple years of wallowing in the stinking mud of your propaganda-fueled culture wars, I'm writing to let you know how sick and tired I am of this stupid war. Setting aside the absurdity of the strongest and most well armed sides (Christians) and their pimps and whores in the media claiming victimhood, I want to point out the obvious that has escaped most of your puny little pea-brains--there are other people in this world besides you selfish fucks.

There are Jews who do not go around claiming a war on Hannukah even though many of them have died throughout the centuries as a result of you claiming you had God on your side as you slaughtered them in your Crusades and in your death camps. There are no Hannukah displays in public buildings, in shopping malls, in schools, and on the media. There are no days off to "celebrate" their holidays the way there are multiple ones to celebrate yours. In fact, many Jews throughout the years have kindly offered to work on your holidays so you can spend time with your families. How many Christians have returned the favor by working on Jewish holidays so they can spend time with their families?

How many of you self-righteous smug assholes have even considered that other groups celebrate something other than your holidays? How many of you know anything about Kwanzaa, much less make room for it in your public displays of forced belief? Do you even care that it is about families spending time together as you define which days off others will be forced to accept so you can spend time with your own families? Do you even care that sanctioned and heavily advertised shopping days have overshadowed the reverence of this holiday for African-Americans because you are so selfish you can't see beyond your own religious beliefs and practices?

In the most stunning and horrible example from behind the lines of the culture wars, let me remind you of how you've lumped all of Islam into one convenient terror group you can persecute and punish for the crimes of the few. Do you even know or care that the Muslim New Year occurs in the month of December this year? Would you even allow a reminder or display of this holiday in the crowded mess that you call your own celebration, or are you so brainwashed by your media masters that you don't feel they have a right to what you claim is everyone's right to celebrate their spiritual, religious and cultural beliefs. My guess is that you'd probably raise holy hell if Muslims dared to put their display next to yours.

How typically Christian of you to ignore your history of religious violence because it conveniently interferes with your need to hate. How many Muslims did you kill in your Crusades? How many Jews did you kill in your need to forcefully spread your Christian faith to those who already had a religion but unfortunately it wasn't the one you practiced? How many of your white, Christian killers have you pretended didn't exist because it interfered with your twisted biblical bigotry? How many Timothy McVeighs are hiding in your closets just waiting to bomb another Federal Building to kill more innocent people for Jesus? How many Gays and Lesbians have you persecuted in your need to spread your sick version of Christian love and bigotry all across the globe?

Do you even care in your rampant bulldozing of other's beliefs that there are many Hindus, many Buddhists, many Pantheists, many Pagans, many others whose spiritual beliefs are just as valid as your own and worthy of the same respect you demand? How many of their holidays are you even aware exist? How many of you  are willing to allow them to put their displays next to yours during the month of December?

And finally, how many of you so-called tolerant asshats are willing to allow a large portion of the world to not believe in any deity? How many Atheist displays would you be willing to allow alongside your mangers and Jesus trees? How many Festivus poles do you think belong on the same public property your private religious symbols increasingly occupy now?

Until other religious and non-religious beliefs have equal status in public buildings, paid days off, and other religion-centric celebrations, you need to shut the fuck up about this stupid and non-existent war on Christmas. The only war is the war against ignorance and so far your side is heavily represented on the ignorance front so acting like victims who are in danger of losing something only makes you look even more like the hypocrites you truly are in the eyes of the world. But if History is any example, you'll just go on a killing spree in the hope of wiping out everyone who doesn't interpret a bunch of words in a book through your own hateful filters. That's just so fucking godlike, isn't it? Jesus would be so proud.

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Letter home from the Culture Wars

No, I will NOT tone down my Atheism

 You can always tell who the rational people are; they're the ones politely and silently letting others froth at the mouth over whose imaginary friend reigns supreme. They're quietly fuming and shaking their tolerant little heads as the frothers gear up for their annual whine fest over the stupidly  perceived War On Christmas. This whine fest is not rooted in anything real or reasonable, but because not every television channel is wall to wall Christian crap, and not every mall is playing Christmas music in July, and there are still a whole lot of people in the world who believe something different, or (gasp!) don't believe anything at all. And they won't stop whining until they take over the minds, bodies, schools, media, and countries of those who dare to think for themselves.

Check out how the early warm-up for the holiday whinefest begins in some parts of the country:


"Church leaders deem Good News for Modern Man, the Evidence Bible, the New International Version Bible, the Green Bible and the Message Bible, as well as at least seven other versions of the Bible as "Satan's Bibles," according to the website. Attendees will also set fire to "Satan's popular books" such as the work of "heretics" including the Pope, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Rick Warren."  read more




It's because of them that I refuse to be polite anymore. I'm not ashamed of my Atheism and therefore I refuse to keep silent about it. I will also actively continue to point out the dangers of uni-beliefs and the demand of religious cultists to follow their absurd ideology as the expense of our civil liberties.

Hate From The Pulpit by godless_heathen

I will continue to speak out against Religious Extremism because it tramples on the equal rights of others. If marriage was truly something that took place only in a church, then I'd say fine, work it out among your members. But we all know that marriage becomes legal when you sign that piece of government paper and hand over your check. At that point all marriages become civil unions. By denying one group rights afforded to another, the government discriminates against its own citizens.  And by allowing churches to enforce their specific religoius views on others, it promotes discrimination against its own citizens.


Churches are the primary funders against same-sex marriage. read more 

I will continue to speak out against the violent warmakers hiding behind religion. I've been an active, non-violent Pacifist since the first time I took to the streets in my teens to protest against the Vietnam war. I have studied war as one studies the opposition and what I have found over the years are the bloody hands of churches either funding or manipulating warmaking.



"Many wars that are not religious wars often still include elements of religion, such as priests blessing battleships. Differences in religion can further inflame a war being fought for other reasons. Historically, temples have been destroyed to weaken the morale of the opponent, even when the war itself is not being waged over religious ideals." read more 
  

Atheist Star by godless_heathen

 I am proud of my Atheism. It is proof that I can reason, that I can think independently and that my mind is not owned by anyone except myself. And I will adamantly defend my right to not believe as strongly as others defend their right to believe. If we truly are no different, then why should one of us be shamed into silence? Is it because we are afraid there's not enough of us? If so, then more thought should be given into exactly what FREETHINKER really means because I don't need anyone else to reinforce what I think if it truly comes from me. Atheism is not a belief system, it is not a church, it is not a cult. You can't refuse to believe in something that does not exist. Therefore, it is not that I don't believe in your god. It's that I see nothing there to either believe in or against. 


However, I make the distinction between belief and religion. Religions are cults as they meet all the definitions associated with cults. There's a list of things you must believe or suffer in some way for not believing. There is social and eternal damnation for stepping outside the belief structure. And there is an isolation from forced belief with nothing to challenge or vary that belief that turns religious cults into dangerous entities that threaten not only their own members, but anyone who dares to challenge their authority.


"Parents' involvement in cults can literally destroy a family. Individuals in cults do things willingly under the influence of mind control which they previously may have detested, for the sake of the group's "higher purposes." Reports of members of diverse cults committing illegal and reprehensible activities are widespread. Child abuse in cults is common, and children are often cults' most devastating casualties." read more 

If we learned anything from 9/11 it's that religious extremism is a very bad thing. And yet we failed to notice that we live among religious extremists. We neglected to admit this to ourselves, to educate others about their presence, and to go after our own Christian Talibanists the way we go after anyone who even looks like an Arab. After all, it was a white, racist, Christian extremist who parked a fertilizer truck bomb and blew up the  Alfred P. Murrah Building



"FACTNet has a duty to educate on the dangers of cults in general, mind control and religious fundamentalism wherever there is potential for harm. History has repeatedly and conclusively proven that nowhere is there greater potential for harm then when destructive cultic behavior and religious fundamentalism become part of government behavior. The information and links below are not intended to single out any particular government or political party, but are provided so you may formulate your own opinions about the real and potential dangers being discussed." read more 

It is for these reasons and more that I will continue to be very vocal, very annoying, and continue to turn out designs that promote Science and rational thought.

Science Works Bitches by godless_heathen

 But as much as I feel I have the right to think freely and according to my own set of ethics and education, I will not succumb to the error most religious loonies resort to--the loss of my sense of humor. Yes, I will continue to make designs that mock religious crazies, that educate others to the fact that Atheists are not evil satanists, and that can find humor in just about anything. I will not become dour and I will have enjoy life at the expense of silly beliefs. But I will continue to fight against the ones who threaten others because they believe differently. Those I do not find funny at all.

Holy Orgasm Temple by godless_heathen

No, I will NOT tone down my Atheism

Flies On The Wall #1

Flies On The Wall #1

Sunday Atheists

For most of my life I've lived among those who thrived on the outskirts of civilization. Many of them in my early life did well, especially the musicians, artists and dancers who learned that nothing comes to those who do not work and work and work. My model of success was based on making a go of whatever you call your art. I didn't know there were people in the world who couldn't succeed. I saw no models that told me differently until I was a grown up adult-aged woman. I saw only people who were independent, freethinking, hardworking artistic realists who believed success was within reach if you worked hard enough.

As I grew up and went to college I met those who would devote their lives to Universities and other perilous academic flesh parlors. They managed to make a decent living, influence a few strangers, and not slit their own throats upon realizing the ideal was nowhere close to the reality.

I learned to mourn from those who didn't fit in either group so they floundered and were lost in wars, accidents, bad relationships and diseases that didn't even exist while we were growing up. By the time I reached young adulthood I had a world of new knowledge and painful scars that healed on top of the wounds that came with those lessons.

But it was the immigrants within my own family and in my neighborhood who taught me the most important lesson: those who dare to leap do so alone, against all common sense, and in spite of the bleating herd--but the rewards for doing so are magnificent. If they didn't believe this, I'd be writing this post from Europe because they would not have uprooted their lives to break away from the stockade, the comfortable pasture, the herd of like-minded creatures, the holy institutions of church, school and some twisted biblical version of marriage, to come to a land where they would starve for the first few years, endure ignorance beyond belief, work hours and jobs no one wanted, and still never be completely accepted by anyone except each other.

I took these lessons with me when I moved north for Graduate school. I mistakenly believed, as many foolish youth believe, that my world was the same as everyone else's. I didn't want to be swallowed by the Academic trap that caught my friends and made them safe and sane and far less interesting than they were when words didn't matter so much. I wanted something familiar and yet something different. I didn't want structure and organization. I wanted free form, freethinking, and a minimal amount of rules based on judgements of the few.

These desires led me to gravitate toward the "new age" community because it seemed familiar in the sense that it had the right words when applied to people: artist, musician, rebel, outlaw, different. There was an aura of creative energy that had the familiar smell of childhood much as a loaf of freshly baked bread evokes memories of special times.

I thought I had come home, but I failed to see something I never expected to see in those who smelled so familiar: the stench of dogmatism. I missed it because I wasn't familiar enough with the smell to recognize it. I didn't go to church as a child or as a young adult or as an old adult. I went to nature instead. I camped out in the desert, in the mountains, the hills. But not my community, not the family I thought had adopted me as one of their own. I soon learned the community lived in the attic of a house whose foundation was something far more restrictive and dangerous to me as an individual: religion. And I also learned that because I wasn't trained in churchiness, in mandatory meetings, in standing as a herd, then I was dangerous to them. They could never own me and that meant they could never accept me.

Now you have the understand the situation here. I am a blatant Atheist. Always have been. Always will be. But I'm also someone who doesn't dismiss someone's beliefs or lack of them without having a damn good reason for doing so. That's why I went to their circles, their dances, their suppers, their gatherings, their rituals. I wanted to see how they were different, how they had left behind the past they claimed to have left behind.

I didn't see anything different. I saw the children of middle America being the children of middle America. They had their ritualized Sunday suppers that were only for "family," which was great if you were part of the family and awful if you were not. I was told that the line had to be drawn somewhere, that some people had to be included and others not. But no one told me how the decisions were made, who made them, or why I was included in such an aberration. I quit going to dinners.

They had parties and special events that were invitation only that were private and ritualized. People heard about them and once again were hurt and asked me about some of them and once again I felt bad as if it were my fault that my friends were becoming their parents. Once again it was us and them, once again it was a community of traumatized children reliving their past and inflicting wounds of vengeance on others to lessen the burden on themselves. I quit going to "events" that were closed.

They had meetings with rules and rituals and formalities that were stricter than any religion they escaped from. They had a code of community do's and don'ts that were based on nothing more than the noisiest voice generating the most acquiescence...very much like the loudest tantrum sets the agenda. And they punished, shunned, and discredited anyone who did not believe, who did not attend their churches and meetings, who did not hate and distrust those they hated and distrusted.

My circle of friends I trusted became small enough to count on one hand. And that's the moment they came after me just like the Puritans went after the witches...except they all saw themselves as witches and still do. They came after me because I refused to fight back, because I didn't see any of their issues as serious enough to give it much thought, because I trusted them with the loyalty of one who was raised to trust only her friends.

In the end, I'm proud to have been shunned and shut out by those who did so, just as I am proud of the deep and lasting friendships I have formed within the community with those who were shunned and shut out like me. I deliberately sought them out because I saw the value that the ritualists failed to see in them. And I was raised to believe it's the black sheep of the herd who are the most interesting. I've made a life of finding the blackest sheep to be part of my heart. We don't go to church. We don't go to rituals disguised as church. We don't go to mandatory meetings that exist only to decide who is in or out that week. We don't pretend we have the one and only truth squeezed into our way to tight back pocket ready to whip out and beat non-believers with.

We appreciate each other for being different, for liking and understanding and appreciating Mathematics, Science, Logic, Computers, Art and Literature...and also finding our own truths within new age spirituality. But mostly we appreciate each other because we know that not going to church on Sunday doesn't automatically make one an Atheist. It just makes you someone who can't see your own face in the mirror and therefore can't see your past sneaking up behind you and strangling the life out of you.

(bumpersticker available at: http://www.cafepress.com/ursinelogic.102805214)

Sunday Atheists

Peace IS Patriotic

With the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations, it's time to start reclaiming the meaning of the holiday. In case people have forgotten the meaning in the current swarm of fireworks as simulated bombings and, explosions, the smarmy excuses for hatred wrapped in the flag, and the hijacking of the term "Patriotism" to abuse many of us into submission, it was to celebrate the birth of our country and the leaving behind of religious intolerance, monarchy rule, and unfair taxation on the backs of the poor.

Here's what we need to reclaim in order to get our country back and restore our true independence:

1. Quit glorifying war. It only makes the munitions makers and arms dealers wealthier and does nothing for peace, democracy, and spreading tolerance for one another around the world. You can start by taking back the word "Peace." The right wing warmongers have turned this into a nasty four-letter word to further their own political agenda without taking into account it will be their children and grandchildren who will die in dirty little wars as a result of their ancestor's stupidity. Peace is all that will save us from the Cheneys of the world. Wear Peace. Display Peace. Speak Peace. Live Peace. By doing so you will be doing your part to put the warmongers back under their rocks of hatred where they will stink up only each other's space and not the rest of the world's.

2. Repeat after me. Peace is Patriotic. Those who tell you differently are too blinded by their own hatred to see the truth. They wrap themselves in the flag and think it will protect them from the consequences of their behavior. They have foolishly been led to believe that a piece of cloth can make up for loss of integrity, the endorsement of torture, spying on Americans who have done nothing wrong, wars fought for oil and profit instead of honor and security, and spreading hate as if it were something than shit that will eventually bury them no matter what color the shroud used to wrap around their decaying bodies. It is up to you to get the message out there that Peace is the highest form of Patriotism because it doesn't depend on killing or imprisoning or torturing someone to get them to believe what you do. A nation that tolerates and expects equality and diversity is a peaceful nation.

3. Fight back against the mono-theistic blindness that a small minority in this country is trying to inflict on everyone else. Yes, the Supreme Court has ruled that you can't challenge Bushco's faith-based crap programs. But you can fight back by expanding the meaning of faith to include other belief systems besides wacko fundamentalism that spreads and encourages and funds hatred of anyone who does not belong to that particular cult. If you are a Buddhist, a Wiccan, a Pagan, a flower worshipping cat loving peacemonger, then it is your obligation to get your beliefs defined as faith and eligible for federal dollars. Make this biased Supreme Court stacked with Bush fundies tell millions of you that your beliefs are not valid, not equal, and not part of the religious freedom guaranteed by the laws they are sworn to uphold. Demand that your beliefs are given equal status, equal money, equal respect. Start schools and day cares and after-school sessions that the fundies are using to rake in the dollars and make your beliefs equal to what they are using to get those dollars. Make this hypocritical government go on record trying to prove that what one group believes has more or less validity than another. That's what our ancestors fought and died for. Are you going to sit back and let their deaths and sacrifices become meaningless in the face of religious wackos and their big, greedy hands sucking all the funds for themselves and their political agendas?

4. Bring Democracy to America. This means reining in Cheney and the rest of Bushco. Contact your congressional representatives and make your voice heard. Let them know your vote depends on their actions. Let them know they can no longer let someone like Cheney control the fate of this country. Let them know you are paying attention and will continue to pay attention. Get loud and get heard.

5. This fourth of July, don't cringe from Patriotism. Reclaim it. Clean it up and make it shine again. Make Peace, Tolerance, Diversity, and Democracy a good thing again. Wear a button, a shirt, send a card, make a poster. Do what it takes but do something because your silence implies consent and is that a good thing for your grandchildren to one day believe about you?

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Changing minds one t-shirt at a time. Visit Ursine Logic for more designs.

Peace IS Patriotic