Category: Christianity

Richard Dawkins and “Cultural Christianity”

Christianity / Critical Thinking / Faith / MusingsLeave a comment

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Richard Dawkins is no stranger to shaking the cultural tree to see what falls out. In 2024, Dawkins was interviewed by Rachel Johnson on British TV. He noted in that interview that he was a “cultural Christian.” And did that statement ever create a ruckus among both the faithful and nonbelievers. Some even went so far as to claim Dawkins had converted from his lifelong atheism. Piffle.* The Christian Concern website asked “Is ‘Cultural Christianity’ good news?” and said no in response. The site noted that “cultural Christians… want some of the ‘fruit’ of Christianity without the ‘root’.” No “cultural … click below for more ↓

Harold Hill and the Apostle Paul

Christianity / Film & Reviews / MusingsOne Comment

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As I was watching the musical, The Music Man, recently, it struck me that there were obvious parallels between the plot of the musical and the story of the Apostle Paul and the origins of Christianity as Paul grew it from an obscure apocalyptic sect into a widespread religion. Are these similarities deliberate? Or merely coincidental? I don’t know, but the musical sure seemed to me an allegorical and maybe even satirical take on how the apostle Paul (aka Saul) created and spread Christianity. Let me explain.* In the musical, “Professor” Harold Hill (played brilliantly by Robert Preston) is the … click below for more ↓

Pray for a Parking Space

Christianity / Faith / Religious piffleLeave a comment

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Before I started down this rabbit hole, I had imagined that any post or video about praying for a parking space would be a joke, or perhaps a spoof of obsessive Christianity. Maybe a satire, accompanied by a cute meme. That it would be posted by some testy scofflaw who ridicules religion with hyperbole and snark. But I was wrong. It’s not only real, but has sparked lengthy posts both in defence of it and debate about whether it’s the right thing for Christians to do. And there are posts suggesting the “proper” way to go about petitioning your deity … click below for more ↓

Donald Trump and the Art of Victimhood

Christianity / Rightwing claptrap / Talibangelists and pseudo-Christians / US Politics6 Comments

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Persecution. It’s a deeply-ingrained core component of the myth of Christian history, and well-weaponized in modern times by rightwing politicians who depend on the support from both the faithful and the pseudo-Christian Talibangelists. We’re under attack, they claim, justifying their own attacks on other faiths and non-believers. They use the imagined threat of persecution against Christians to justify book banning and book burning, forced prayer in schools, cuts to education, closing libraries, cuts to healthcare, bans on same-sex marriage, and restrictions on women’s reproductive rights. Their legislators implement repressive and oppressive measures to “save” their faith from secularists, liberals, scientists, … click below for more ↓

Musings on the Post-Xmas Days

Atheism & Spirituality / Christianity / Culture / Culture wars / Festivals & EventsLeave a comment

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I am glad to have reached the first week in January of 2024 without telling a lot of people to simply fuck off and leave me alone during the past month. The urge is, I’m afraid, great and growing stronger every year. The Xmas season does that to me, beginning as it does in early September, when Canadian Tire and other box stores start putting Xmas lights and decorations on display for sale. The selling season continues through the late fall when suddenly every radio station, box store, and most retail outlets seem to play the same, endless loops of … click below for more ↓

Why Jesus Won’t Answer Your Prayers

Books about books / Christianity / Language & Grammar / Meaning of words / Words & etymology2 Comments

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Christians pray to Jesus, but get no reply. They pray to Jesus for parking spaces closer to the mall, to win the lottery, to make their boss disappear, to lose weight, to restore Donald Trump to his lost presidency, for their kids to win the little league game, for better business sales, and other really important stuff. And yet nothing ever happens. But would you respond if someone called you by another name? If your name was, say, Bob, or Sara, would you respond if someone called you Dobbie? Or Parat? Because that’s what’s happening when people pray to Jesus.* … click below for more ↓

That Fake War on Xmas

Atheism & Spirituality / Christianity / Cults / Culture / Culture wars / Faith / Pop CultureOne Comment

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In my part of Canada the “war on Xmas” begins in September when some local box stores start putting Xmas ornaments and decorations out, sometimes just after Labour Day. By mid-October there are whole store sections dedicated to pushing gaudy, offshore-made, increasingly tacky lights and displays. Then the canned Xmas music starts infecting shoppers through tinny ceiling speakers. Xmas tree lots spring up in mall parking lots. It’s a cultural virus being spread among us. The Resistance (aka me) comes forward to bravely ignore these increasingly strident blandishments. We refuse to purchase any of their wares until at least Remembrance … click below for more ↓

The Talibangelist Conspiracy to Rule America and the West

Books & Reviews / Christianity / Creationism / Critical Thinking / Cults / Evangelicals / International politics / Politics / Pseudoscience & Quackery / Religious intolerance / Theocracy / US Politics3 Comments

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Talibangelists (aka (aka the pseudo-Christian, far right) would love to force everyone believe in and obey their highly-adulterated pseudo-religion, and to punish those who don’t.  Or won’t. Punishment is big on their agenda: unbelievers, those who stray, followers of a real faith, scientists, intellectuals, people of colour, gays, people with an “R” in their name — they love to punish anyone not among their small circle of authoritarian theocrats  (aka theocons, because their pseudo-religious ideology is conservative-far right) and enablers (cue the theme music from The Handmaid’s Tale). In order to bring their authoritarian ideology into public policy and ramp … click below for more ↓

Trump plays the god card

Christianity / Cults / Evangelicals / Politics / Religion / Religious intolerance / Theocracy / US PoliticsOne Comment

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For a nation that allegedly separates church and state, Americans sure love to splash religion all over everything, their elections especially. So this week, Donald Trump made headlines by accusing the frontrunner, Joe Biden of being “against god.” Cue the angels with trumpets. Americans make big oompah sounds about their politicians having religion — Christian religion specifically and preferably protestant — although curiously, as Trump has proven, the voters don’t seem to give a rat’s ass whether that same politician has any ethics or morality. Trump didn’t say which god, of course. I’m pretty sure it would be accurate to … click below for more ↓

Why are American evangelical Christians so cruel?

Christianity / Evangelicals / Faith / Religious intolerance / Theocracy / US Politics4 Comments

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The article in Forbes’ Magazine, March 11, didn’t ask that question I used in my headline. Instead, the headline simply stated the piece would explain, “Why White Evangelicalism Is So Cruel.” (The author later republished this on his own site under the less pointed title, “Why the Religious Right is so cruel.”) In America, where theocracy is a more powerful political force than free speech and where its president has publicly threatened to muzzle journalists and uncomplimentary media like other tinpot dictators do, such a piece was apparently unwelcome. Forbes removed it – but not in time to prevent it … click below for more ↓

Prayer isn’t stopping the violence

Christianity / Critical Thinking / Faith / New Age Codswallop / Religion2 Comments

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An acerbic piece in Maclean’s Magazine from June had the title “America’s mass delusion.” The subtitle read, “Surprisingly, the strategy of praying to God is not stopping the mass shootings in the U.S.” That piece was recirculated when the news of the latest and largest mass shooting in the USA broke. Fifty nine (so far) people were killed and more than 500 wounded by one homegrown American terrorist with an assault rifle. A terrorist who, police found later, had more than 20 rifles in his hotel room (some reports say “more than 10”). He owned more than 40; 10 of … click below for more ↓

TEOTWAWKI, New Year’s Eve

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Christianity / Conspiracy Theories / Critical Thinking / Faith / New Age CodswallopLeave a comment

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Some religious wingnuts aren’t planning to celebrate the ringing in of the New Year, 2017. Nope: they’re going to await the arrival of their zombie deity who, one can only suppose, will be bringing the champagne to his own party when he returns from the dead. The end of the world party, of course. And another day that, for the rest of us, will pass by with nothing happening, end-of-the-world-deity-arising-wise. According to a story in Christian Today (which judging by the click-bait ad content and non-stop video ads is not all that serious about its religion but sure likes the … click below for more ↓

Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief

Atheism & Spirituality / Christianity / Critical Thinking / Faith / History & Biography / Religious intoleranceOne Comment

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfwuvMpmQJM “Godless – The Truth Beyond Belief” investigates one of the last frontiers in civil liberties and human rights: Atheism. So reads the opening sentence on the website of a new film about atheism and society. It asks, “can you be good without god?” Well, yes, you can. That’s the whole point of secular humanism, philosophy and the entire Buddhist faith. Morality is a choice we make, not a divine command. It also hides another question within its folds: can you be good and still have free will? If you need a god to be good, that suggests you don’t have … click below for more ↓

Fake Ark, Fake Religion

Balderdash & Hoaxes / Christianity / Creationism / Critical Thinking / Cults / Faith / Religious intolerance4 Comments

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Well, it finally opened: the $100 million-dollar Noah’s Ark theme park in Kentucky that features an allegedly life-size model of the mythological boat described in the Bible. It’s 510 feet (155.4m) long, 85 feet (26m) wide, more than three storeys (51 feet) tall, uses 3.1 million board-feet of lumber, steel and other modern materials, on a base of rebar-reinforced concrete.* The only two materials specifically mentioned in the Biblical tale are gopher wood and pitch. But this reconstruction doesn’t use gopher wood or pitch – curiously, both are conspicuous in their absence in this modern remaking. In fact, pitch isn’t even mentioned in the website … click below for more ↓

Type amen, click like and share…

Christianity / Culture / Faith / Memes; Internet & Social / Psychology & Sociology / Social media & cyberbullying / Social Order & Disorder / UncategorizedLeave a comment

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I created what proved an interesting discussion on Facebook recently when I threatened to ‘unfriend’ anyone who continued to out those obnoxious ‘type amen and share’ posts on their timelines. Now if you’re a FB user, you have seen these things endless times. They’re as common as the “50% will get this math question wrong” and “you won’t believe what happened next!” or the “Nine out of ten can’t answer these questions” posts. Most of these are simply trolling posts that lead to pages replete with clickbait, scams and data collection bots. Then there are those dreary click-farming posts. Press K and … click below for more ↓

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