Religious News/Quotes of the Day

[Doug]

How can you believe in God with absolute certainty?

DOUG
Well, you can see a crucified Jesus in vines growing on a telephone pole:

See here.

A man interviewed about it says that it could be Jesus' way of showing that he is looking out for us and that he will answer prayers.

I know a better way: answer prayers! Until Jesus can show that he does that, he's just a clump of vines on a telephone pole.

[Donna Jean]

Get a load of my Facebook Fare for the day:

Facebook Friend: Yesterday, Nancy ran over a dangerous curb on a 5 lane road. It punctured two tires and ruined a front wheel. She is o.k. Tires are easy to find but finding wheels for an 18 year old car is difficult. I called many places who all said they don't have wheels that old. I prayed about it and headed to a salvage yard near the house. Sitting 10 feet from the door was my rim.

5 people like this

Facebook Friend: When I mentioned it to the guy he was not aware it was there. He charged me $10 for the rim and it cost $5 to have the tire mounted. It was a good day!

#1 - I bet that scared her to death! Glad she is ok and I've had those little prayers answered like that too. Funny how HE works sometimes, huh?!

#2 - So happy to hear it all turned out so well. I think we all must have angels watching over us, bc I am not a good driver at all and have come so close so many times.

#3 - All we need do is ask. Thanks for sharing. Glad everything is alright. Hedge of protection.

#4 - Prayer ALWAYS works Sometimes the answer is NO but it still works

#5 - I am so glad Nancy is okay!! God was watching after her and handled it all for you!! We are truly blessed to have his love and protection!! "NO" is his loving answer sometimes to be sure we receive what is truly good for us. Have a good day!

Needless to say, I was not one of those who "liked" this thread! I get this kind of crap on an almost daily basis! Ugh.

[Dardedar]

Wish I had driven by a billboard when I was 16 that said "Don't believe in God? YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!!" I think it would have had a profound effect on me.

DAR
We had a report of a couple that were so amazed they drove to the next exit, drove back to Springdale and got back on the bypass because they couldn't quite believe they read what they thought they had read.

[Doug]

Facebook Friend: Yesterday, Nancy ran over a dangerous curb on a 5 lane road. It punctured two tires and ruined a front wheel. She is o.k. Tires are easy to find but finding wheels for an 18 year old car is difficult. I called many places who all said they don't have wheels that old. I prayed about it and headed to a salvage yard near the house. Sitting 10 feet from the door was my rim.

DOUG
9/11 attacks--No divine help.
Rebuilding at the 9/11 site--No divine help.
BP oil spill--No divine help.
Katrina--No divine help.

But if you need some used car parts...

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]

"Some christians in America burn a Quran and muslims in Afghanistan threaten to kill soldiers in protest. A war general has to get on television to ask the christians not to go forward with the burning and the christian pastor says he'll pray on it and see what god says. Muslims want to build a community center near ground zero that will include a prayer room and christians in Tennessee set fire to a Mosque that was under construction.

A cartoonist draws a picture of Mohammed and gets beheaded by muslims for his efforts. Meanwhile, the Vatican is complicit in shielding pedophile priests from the law, women are being stoned to death, albino children in Africa have to go in to hiding because they are considered 'witches', abortion doctors are being killed, there are still honor killings and female genital mutilation and in America you have tens of thousands of people attend an event to hear a xenophobic, racist, shock jock tell them that in order to "restore honor' to America, America must first 'turn to god'.

The next time someone asks me why, as an atheist, am I so interested in religion and what religious people do, well, this is why. And these are just a few examples of how religion continues to dominate the social and political landscape of America and the rest of the world. My god is better than your god, your religion is evil and mine is not, blah, blah, blah, blech!! I don't believe in ANY of those religions and their fairytales and yet I am forced to have to deal with whatever consequences come from their insanity because I live in a world where there are more people who believe in magic flying horses and virgin births and magic underwear than there are people who believe in science and reason and logic. We, as a civilazation, are so screwed."

As seen on Facebook

[Dardedar]

More Lynchian than David Lynch? Video clip:

Does this excite you?

This is the real deal.

Read the comment thread too. Good stuff.

And another:

The Burning Hell by Estus Pirkle. How in the hell have I not heard of these before?

[Donna Jean]

This is the real deal.

Darrel, this is EXACTLY like the church I was brought up in, right down to the choir singing "Just as I am."
What a flashback! And Hell is just as I remember it, too.

[Dardedar]

Well here's a bright spot:

Religious populations are down all across America

1.5 minute CNN clip.

[Dardedar]

JW's say Atheists are on the march:



"A NEW group of atheists has arisen in society. Called the new atheists, they are not content to keep their views to themselves. Rather, they are on a crusade…"

Free PDF copy here.

This is an especially nauseating issue filled with blatant howlers and distortions of science and scientists.

[Dardedar]

As I just put on my Face Book:

"At least no one is threatening to burn phone books. Whew! Those have our names in them. Imagine having your name, printed on a piece of paper, and then burned! The pain, the horror!"

I wish people would buy copies of my book and burn it. The more the better.

I used to read Mad magazine as a kid. I didn't know that when I grew up it would be like living in a Mad magazine.

[Dardedar]

Is this true?

The Holy Gospel of the Easter Bunny

[Dardedar]

‎"People think that epilepsy is divine simply because they don't have any idea what causes epilepsy. But I believe that someday we will understand what causes epilepsy, and at that moment, we will cease to believe that it's divine. And so it is with everything in the universe." --Hippocrates

[Dardedar]

Atheism Statistics 2008

1. (USA) 1990 those that identified themselves as non-religious was 7.5%. In 2001 it doubled to 13.2%. And in the past eight years that number has increased another 25% to 16.2%. (Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)

2. (USA) Among Americans aged 18-24 the number of Americans that define themselves atheist/agnostic is 25% (Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)

3. High levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. (Source: The Cambridge Companion to Atheism)

4. Of 43 studies carried out since 1927 on the relationship between one’s religious belief and intelligence/education level, all but 4 showed an inverse correlation. That is, the higher the education/intelligence level, the less one is likely to be religious or ‘hold’ any beliefs of any kind. (Source: Paul Bell, Mensa 2008)

LINK

Also:

High IQ turns academics into atheists

Excerpt:

"In a forthcoming paper for the journal Intelligence, Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, will argue that there is a strong correlation between high IQ and lack of religious belief and that average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 countries...

The paper... cites studies including a 1990s survey that found that only 7 per cent of members of the American National Academy of Sciences believed in God. A survey of fellows of the Royal Society found that only 3.3 per cent believed in God at a time when a poll reported that 68.5 per cent of the general UK population were believers.

Professor Lynn told Times Higher Education: "Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God."

He said that most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many began to have doubts and became agnostics.

He added that most Western countries had seen a decline of religious belief in the 20th century at the same time as their populations had become more intelligent." --LINK

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]

Christianity Scares the Crap out of Captain Picard

Short clip here

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]

Pope Benedict's Visit to the U.K. May Be a Flop

Politics Daily

On the eve of the first papal visit to the U.K. in nearly three decades, His Holiness will be greeted by protests, empty pews and a nation of non-believers.

[Dardedar]

[Dardedar]