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Typing "completely wrong" into google image search yields some LULZ

This is how 1950s horror movies start, but it happened this week! 

Dear Abby is on the side of salespeople who say "Have a blessed day."  I've been annoyed by that one too, and no, it's not a secular greeting.  Only religious people use it.

Pakistan's Taliban tries to assassinate a little girl.  Seriously, they are afraid of a teenager who wants to go to school?  If 9/11 couldn't get the attention of the less nutty segments of Islam, perhaps this abomination will.  The backlash is starting already.  Quotable quote: "One human rights activist said that while there was "a great big moderate majority" in Pakistan but "it never speaks up".  Perhaps they're taking a cue from the cowards in the U.S. who are afraid to speak up against the Christian Taliban.

Meanwhile, Pakistan goes after a different kid for "blasphemy."  Seriously?  Kids?  WTF is wrong with that country?

In Canada, students who protest religion in schools have their way. 

Biden & Ryan represent two sides of American Catholicism, and it became an issue in the VP debate.

Even a neurosurgeon can be fooled by his brain.  Sam Harris explains what really happened.  Now if only Newsweek would feature Sam Harris's rebuttal in a cover story.  (Found via Why Evolution is True blog)

Liberty University grad & straight fundy lives life as a gay man for a year, then writes a book about it.

SCOTUS will debate gay marriage this year.  YAY!

Dearborn Michigan is the hub of Islam-Christian tug-of-war on Free Speech, with crazyass Koran-burning pastor the latest combatant.

The Hindu festival of Durga Puja sounds like fun or at least artistic and creative.  It sounds almost as commercial as Christmas, but with more colors.    The downside is that idols get thrown into rivers for um... some religious purpose... but they often contain lead-based paint.

A Baptist church ordained a gay man and other Baptist churches want to excommunicate that church... or something.  When Baptists are coming around you know the culture war is over.  Or... Baptists will have to rethink being Baptist and letting churches select their own clergy.  "The action also goes against the long-known Baptist principle of the autonomy of the local church"  If they want to drop that principle, then they'd be Episcopalians!

In Atlanta, Wal-Mart wants to sell liquor next door to a church.  The church thinks being withint a few hundred feet of liquor will damage their children's minds.  Seriously?  I can think of better reasons not to be near Wal-Mart (see photo)  The church won this battle, but I hope Wal-Mart appeals.  This law seems to me to be a clear violation of the First Amendment, since there is only sensitivity toward Christian establishments.  Why not ban Starbucks near Mormon temples or any store selling Spam near a mosque?  Or any meat-eating establishment near a Hindu temple?

Voting Machine Influence Redux

Here we go again:

Religion Clause: Recent Articles of Interest

Religion Clause: Recent Articles of Interest

I recommend the blog and the links to articles of interest!

This Othe Week (of Links) that Was

Jewish kids in the South face prosletyzing by classmates. (found via The Religious Clause)

Mormonism as a Work of Art, yes, really.  Nevermind the fraud and psychosis of Joseph Smith.  It was just artistic license.

The author/translater who popularized Martin Buber passed away this week.  This obituary is an interesting read.

Animals all over the country were blessed this week in honor of St. Francis.  A priest blogs about how pointless it is for the animals, but a feel-good thing for the two-legged owners.  It's funny how often reglious people openly admit that their supernatural pleas really don't have supernatural power, and they don't even realize how hypocritical they sound.

Pakistan has a human rights council!  The Standing Committee on Human Rights addressed the problem of girls being forced to convert from Hinduism to Islam and other issues.  Why aren't boys being forced to convert?  Oh yeah, a man can marry four women, so mathematically the Muslims should be forcing some of their sons to deconvert (or blow themselves up).

In France, a "sweep" netted nine arrests and one death of potential Islamic terrorists.  It was a big multi-city project and they only found this many? 

Posters supporting Israel and portraying Islamic terrorists as "savages" must be posted in Washington, D.C. Metro stations.  There will be only four stations, though.  I imagine the Pentagon will be one, but what are the other three?

Evangelical Pentacostalism is influencing Brazilian fashion!  If the photos are correct, at least there's still some sense of style in the newly converted.  The Pentacostal nutters around here dress like 19th century farmers.

Oh boo hoo... if Mormons keep reaching out to poor countries they may not rake in as much money.  10% of a pittance is what?  A shittance?

Pat Robertson says America belongs to Jesus at the America for Jesus event, which drew fewer than 10,000 people.  Security handles hecklers by praying for them.  Uhhh yeah, keep that up.  If he had a gun would you pray for him to drop it?

Links of the Week

America for Jesus rally in Philadelphia.  Don't these bullies realize they have to travel to heathen cities to connect with the founders?  Hmmmmm  I wonder if any of them will notice that.  Here's some fun:  "Attendees will be asked to start 40 days of prayer and fasting, through the Nov. 6, election, to help turn the nation toward God"  Well wouldn't that decrease voter turnout just a wee bit?  if they're too weak to show up at the polls?

In Indiana religious bullies are trying to redefine abortion out of existence at one clinic, anyway.  Meanwhile,  Uruguay takes a step toward decriminalizing abortion.  In Kansas, the office of the doctor murdered in his own church by a so-called "Christian" has been bought by an abortion rights group.  Very brave of them.

Okay, not specifically religous (usually) but eunuchs live longer, at least in Korea.  And in other news, male scientists are scrambling to find evidence that counters this finding.

My local newspaper is covering a dramatic dispute over whether the right to be a pastor depends on 1) being the son of the former pastor or 2) knowing something about religion, like maybe having gone to seminary.

The new charter schools in New York are supposedly causing the collapse of parochial, especially Catholic schools.   The many proven allegations of pedophilia within the Catholic church couldn't possibly have contributed, no no no...

Donald Trump waived his speaker's fee to give a convocation speech at Liberty University, with Michele Bachmann on stage.  I thought he was just a loose cannon crackpot, but apparently he's one of them.  That explains a lot.

The fourth Wednesday of September is See You at the Pole Day, when Christian students confuse worship of a dead guy on a tree with worship of a secular symbol.  Well, the flag is prettier, but  peer pressure to worship is still creepy.

An ancient Buddhist statue (with a swastika) stolen by the Nazis is truly otherworldly - it's made from a metorite!

Muslims want everyone else to suppress freedom of speech in rules against "religious hatred."  They don't seem to be interested in laws suppressing the freedom to stage violent murderous riots when their feelings get hurt, though.

Meanwhile, Muslims in India seem to be able to handle a comedy about an atheist who meets God.  The plot sounds convoluted but interesting, even if the moral of the story is hackneyed pro-religious nonsense.

Catholics, however, are "up in arms" over the way they've been portrayed in a movie that's not getting good reviews anyway.  Muslims could learn a lesson from the Catholics here.  "Up in arms" for Catholics means being whiny babies, which is enough to threaten release of a film.  No murder or arson so far reported.

Hindus, in return, are whining about yoga being disallowed in a Catholic church in England.  And in other news, the National Turk gets people to read this boring story by hiring a porn star to pose in a braless yoga getup at the top of the article.

...and since most of my readers are heterosexual males, there's probably no point in posting anything after that.

Skepticism: A Key to Accuracy

I stumbled upon this interesting article about the persistence of untruth.  Much of it was a repeat of information I've read elsewhere, such as the fact that people more readily accept a statement as true if it agrees with their prior worldview and opinion.

As I kept reading I got more and more depressed, having all this evidence for the persistence of false memory but then I saw this section header:  "Skepticism: A Key to Accuracy."  It seems that people who have developed a skeptical approach to information tend not to be as easily fooled.

I remember during the run-up to the Iraq war invasion that I was the only one amongst my friends who saw through the lie about Hussein being connected to Al Qaeda.  I (heatedly) pointed out that Al Qaeda is a fundamentalist movement while Iraq is secular under Hussein.  But... I was living in D.C. and my friends had all been traumatized by 9/11 so they were predisposed to accept any idea if it seemed to mean added protection for themselves.  (I suspect Cheney had PTSD too)  I was living in Texas on 9/11/2001, so I had a little more distance from it.

But... I am also skeptical by nature and then developed my skepticism further after waking up to the ridiculousness of religious claims.  (Of course I believe what they say about skepticism because it agrees with me about skepticism being a good thing, but I have also never seen anything to disabuse me of that, and I have seen many attempts)

The article:
http://psi.sagepub.com/content/13/3/106.full?ijkey=FNCpLYuivUOHE&keytype=ref&siteid=sppsi
(pdf version:  http://psi.sagepub.com/content/13/3/106.full.pdf+html)
in Psychological Science in the Public Interest December 2012 vol. 13 no. 3 106-131

International Hatred Day

Hate someone today because you'll restore the balance of the universe! The more people you hate the more you'll tip the balance toward world peace! (or something)