Blame Games ..
Conversion Cons ..
DARVO →
Evangelical Thuggery ..
NO context ..
Cancel-Culture Mob Psychology
DARVO →
Nature/Nurture
Thursday 31 December 2020
Monday 28 December 2020
Authoritarian Personality Dysfunction
Ultra-religionists, no matter the brand of fiction, exhibit higher prevalence of authoritarian personality dysfunction:
Jerusalem rabbi arrested for 'holding women in slavery':
Israeli police have arrested a rabbi who is suspected of holding around 50 women and children in conditions of slavery. The suspect, in his 60s, was detained in an ultra-Orthodox district in central Jerusalem on suspicion of running a "closed community" where women and children "worked under conditions of slavery". He and eight female accomplices are suspected of isolating the women in a residential complex, along with children up to the age of five, it added. The arrest follows a raid on the complex, where the alleged victims are believed to have been kept isolated from their families. The women had been punished in various ways and had money stolen from them, police said.
Jerusalem rabbi arrested for 'holding women in slavery':
Israeli police have arrested a rabbi who is suspected of holding around 50 women and children in conditions of slavery. The suspect, in his 60s, was detained in an ultra-Orthodox district in central Jerusalem on suspicion of running a "closed community" where women and children "worked under conditions of slavery". He and eight female accomplices are suspected of isolating the women in a residential complex, along with children up to the age of five, it added. The arrest follows a raid on the complex, where the alleged victims are believed to have been kept isolated from their families. The women had been punished in various ways and had money stolen from them, police said.
A two-month investigation was launched after police received reports the religious leader had for years committed "severe offences" against those living at the residence, police said.
Predictably, the suspect has denied doing anything wrong.
Predictably, the suspect has denied doing anything wrong.
Wednesday 16 December 2020
Megalomaniacal Sociopathy
Any analyst of geopolitics who ignores the cognitive dysfunction of the "powerful" is doomed to error.
22-3-9 PooTin's Road to War: Julia Ioffe (interview) | PBS Frontline > .
24-4-28 (Realistic) [Ruscian Demographics & Economy Imploding] - Inside R > .
24-3-31 Dark Nature of Online Trolls - Magee > .
24-2-15 Harvard wins Lifetime Censorship Award - FIRE > .
Tuesday 8 December 2020
Wrong Wing Polemic
~ Bari Weiss: Why DEI Must End For Good - Free Press > .
The Turner Diaries is a [despicable] 1978 fiction novel by William Luther Pierce, a neo-Nazi and the founder and chairman of National Alliance, a white nationalist group, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. The Turner Diaries was originally published in a serial form in the National Alliance publication Attack! between 1975 and 1978, with one chapter released per issue during this period. Enthusiastic reactions among racist sympathizers led Pierce to self-publish the story as a paperback in 1978. The main story was originally set in the 1980s; Pierce changed it to the 1990s when the series was compiled to be published as a book in 1978.
The Turner Diaries depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and ultimately a race war which leads to the systematic extermination of non-whites and Jews. All groups opposed by the novel's protagonist, Earl Turner—including Jews, non-white people, "liberal actors," and politicians—are murdered en masse.
The Anti-Defamation League identified The Turner Diaries as "probably the most widely-read book among far-right extremists; many [of them] have cited it as the inspiration behind their terrorist organizing and activities." The Policy on the Classification of Hate Propaganda, Sedition and Treason of the Canada Border Services Agency has classified The Turner Diaries as hate-propaganda literature that cannot be imported to Canada.
The Turner Diaries was described as being "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled the "bible of the racist right" by the FBI. The book was greatly influential in shaping white nationalism and the later development of the white genocide conspiracy theory. It has also inspired numerous hate crimes and acts of terrorism, including the 1984 assassination of Alan Berg, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1999 London nail bombings. It is estimated to have influenced perpetrators in over 200 killings.
The phrase "day of the rope" has also become common in white nationalist and alt-right Internet circles, referring to an event in the novel where all "race traitors" are publicly hanged.
Saturday 5 December 2020
Xina's Bullying Diplomacy
Nations' governments can exhibit personality disorders. 60 Minutes Australia obviously realizes that overblown coverage of controversy will attract viewers. China appears to believe that bullying will induce other nations to cooperate. I rather doubt that Xi's odious notion of Wolf-Warrior diplomacy will prove effective, particularly with Australians.
22-10-27 Xina is "Pretty Much Screwed" - laowhy86 > .
22-10-20 XiXiPee Congress Day 3 - Update > .
22-10-18 XiXiPee Congress Day 2 - Update > .
22-10-17 XiXiPee Congress Day 1 - Update > .
21-12-14 CCP recruiting, training Wumaos - Focus > .
Monday 30 November 2020
∞ Religionism & Superstition
Anti-Science Obduracy Can Kill ..
Bekanstskap med djävulen ..Escaping Mormonism ..Evangelical Thuggery ..
Falun Gong ..
Geopolitical Impact of COVID-19 → Increased Religiosity →
Greedy Proselytizing Pseudo-Christians Unmasked ..
Holy Narcissism ..Greedy Proselytizing Pseudo-Christians Unmasked ..
How Civil Wars Start (2022) ⇼
Warlord Religionists ..How the BuyBull dictates Crook-in-Chief's ME policy ..
RepuGNican Hypocrisy ..Self-delusion Knows No Rational Bounds ..Sociopathic Ambition ..
Unzipping of Hypocritical Conman Jr. ..RepuGNican Hypocrisy ..Self-delusion Knows No Rational Bounds ..Sociopathic Ambition ..
Neo-Puritan Virtue-Signaling Religionism
Saturday 28 November 2020
Friday 27 November 2020
Bekanstskap med djävulen
När man jag är född i en prästgård stifta man snart bekanstskap med djävulen = When one is born in a parsonage, as I was, one soon becomes acquainted with the devil. (Swedish) ~ Ingmar Bergman
Bible Whines
"You didnt [sic] even read The Bible."
That's a short version of typical whines by defeated apologists.
He was incorrect. Most atheists have deconverted from religion and most know more about religion than most theists.
Who Knows What About Religion - Pew's religious knowledge survey. A sample:
"Overall, the three groups that perform best in this survey are atheists and agnostics (who get an average of 20.9 out of 32 questions right), Jews (20.5 questions right on average) and Mormons (20.3 questions right). Looked at another way, 27% of Jews, 22% of atheists and agnostics, and 20% of Mormons score in the top 10% of all respondents in overall number of correct answers to religious knowledge questions, getting at least 26 questions right."
When challenged by atheists who know more about the Bible, theists retreat into a variety of defenses. The commonest are The Hypocritical Cherry-Picking Accusation, and the You Are Unable To Understand (read, agree with what I'm insisting) Because Your Heart Is Not Open to God.
They correctly infer that atheistic hearts are no longer open to god. Why? Application of critical thinking to a reading of the Bible eradicates blind belief in those who value truth and understanding.
I have personally observed (not a random sample, I admit) that atheists typically know more about comparative religion, factual biblical history, factual biblical archaeology, and unbiased biblical scholarship. (Where "unbiased" refers to scholars from reputable academic institutions, not fundamentalist bible colleges.)
Thursday 26 November 2020
con·tra·dic·tion
con·tra·dic·tion
ˌkäntrəˈdikSH(ə)n/
noun
- a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another."the proposed new system suffers from a set of internal contradictions"
- a person, thing, or situation in which inconsistent elements are present."the paradox of using force to overcome force is a real contradiction"
A List of Biblical Contradictions.
Another List of Bible Contradictions.
The short list: 101 Contradictions in the Bible.
For balance:
10 Bible Contradictions that Aren't.
We've got art too:
An interactive chart of Biblical Contradictions and more.
Download of graphic.
That should do for now.
Coronavirus & CONtrol-freaks
[edited to emphasize realities] The Road to Coronavirus Hell Was Paved by Evangelicals CONservative, proselytizing pseudo-Christians: DUHnocchio's response to the pandemic has been haunted by the science denialism of his [odiously] ultraconservative religious religionist allies.
Putin's-Puppet-in-Chief "rose to power with the determined assistance of a movement that denies science, bashes government and prioritized loyalty over professional expertise. In the current crisis, we are all reaping what that movement has sown.
At least since the 19th century, when the proslavery theologian Robert Lewis Dabney attacked the physical sciences as “theories of unbelief,” hostility to science has characterized the more extreme forms ofreligious religionist nationalism in the United States. [Why the antagonism to science? Scientific evidence/explanations FALSIFY unfounded religionist "creation" LIES.] Today, the hard core of climate deniers is concentrated among people who identify as religiously conservative Republicans CONservatively religionist RepuGNicans."
[Why the antagonism to science? Scientific evidence/explanations FALSIFY unfounded religionist "creation" LIES.].
"And some leaders of the [decidedly unpatriotic] "Christian" [white] nationalist movement, like those allied with the Cornwall Alliance for theStewardship Theocratic Promulgation of Creation, Creatardism, which has denounced environmental science as a “Cult of the Green Dragon,” cast environmentalism as an alternative — and false — theology.
[Why? Scientific evidence/explanations not only FALSIFY unfounded religionist "creation" LIES, but threaten the profits of the Fossil Fuel Corporations that purchase politicians and sponsor AGW-denying propaganda.]
"This denial of science and critical thinking among religious ultraconservatives now haunts the American response to the coronavirus crisis. On March 15, Guillermo Maldonado, who calls himself an “apostle” and hosted Idiot-in-Chief earlier this year at a campaign event at his Miami megachurch, urged his congregants to show up for worship services in person. “Do you believe God would bring his people to his house to be contagious with the virus? Of course not,” he said.""
At least since the 19th century, when the proslavery theologian Robert Lewis Dabney attacked the physical sciences as “theories of unbelief,” hostility to science has characterized the more extreme forms of
[Why the antagonism to science? Scientific evidence/explanations FALSIFY unfounded religionist "creation" LIES.].
"And some leaders of the [decidedly unpatriotic] "Christian" [white] nationalist movement, like those allied with the Cornwall Alliance for the
[Why? Scientific evidence/explanations not only FALSIFY unfounded religionist "creation" LIES, but threaten the profits of the Fossil Fuel Corporations that purchase politicians and sponsor AGW-denying propaganda.]
"This denial of science and critical thinking among religious ultraconservatives now haunts the American response to the coronavirus crisis. On March 15, Guillermo Maldonado, who calls himself an “apostle” and hosted Idiot-in-Chief earlier this year at a campaign event at his Miami megachurch, urged his congregants to show up for worship services in person. “Do you believe God would bring his people to his house to be contagious with the virus? Of course not,” he said.""
[Congregate en masse with fellow CONservative, proselytizing pseudo-Christian RepuGNicans because you foolishly believe that a non-existence gives a toss about protecting you from your own deluded stupidity? Go ahead, but don't take ICU beds and ventilators from the more deserving who do NOT have Authoritarian Personality Disorder.]
Wednesday 25 November 2020
Dangerous pseudo-Christian arrogance
Jerry Falwell Jr — a [chip off the old CONservative blockhead and] "staunch ally of UNpresident Ignoramus-in-Chief and an influential voice in the [power-mongering CONservative] evangelical proselytizing pseudo-Christian world — reopened Liberty "University" last week, igniting a firestorm. As of Friday, Dr. Eppes (the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service) said, nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Three were referred to local hospital centers for testing. An additional eight were told to self-isolate.
As of 8 p.m. on March 29, of those three students tested, one was positive, one was negative and one student’s results are still pending, according to Dr. Eppes, who added that the student who tested positive for Covid-19 lives off campus."
"For critical weeks in January and February, the nation’s farright wrong dismissed the seriousness of the pandemic. Falwell derided it as an “overreaction” driven by liberal desires to damage LIAR-in-Chief."
As of 8 p.m. on March 29, of those three students tested, one was positive, one was negative and one student’s results are still pending, according to Dr. Eppes, who added that the student who tested positive for Covid-19 lives off campus."
[Did the brainwashed fool imagine that praying to a non-existent Sky Daddy would protect his profits?]
"For critical weeks in January and February, the nation’s far
...
"The university was founded by Falwell’s INfamous father as a bastion of social CONservatism, one that was unabashedly combative as it trained what it called “Champions for Christ.” If anything, the younger Falwell has made it more so since his father’s death."
...
"Falwell runs Liberty his own way, and his word is law. Professors are not tenured and can be fired at will. The [Falwellian] Badministration controls the student newspaper."
Dogmatic Evolution
.
~ Sam Pascoe
Tuesday 24 November 2020
Evangelical Thuggery
22-5-5 Kristin Du Mez: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith | A&Co > .
24-2-15 Harvard wins Lifetime Censorship Award - FIRE > .
22-5-21 Religious Extremists Mix tRUMP Worship With "Christian" Nationalism > .
The likely demise of Roe v. Wade has galvanized America’s evangelicals. Who exactly are they? And how do they influence politics? Kristin Du Mez is a professor at Calvin University and a historian of American Christianity. Her book "Jesus and John Wayne" takes a look at 75 years of white evangelicalism. Du Mez tells Michel Martin she believes the Christian right wrong is undermining democracy and fracturing the country.
Evangelical Science vs Political Religionism
.Evangelical Scientist Busts Myths on Christianity & Climate Crisis > .
22-5-21 Religious Extremists Mix tRUMP Worship With "Christian" Nationalism > .
Katharine Hayhoe is the co-director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University and the co-founder of Science Moms, an organization formed by climate scientist moms ‘to help mothers who are concerned about their childrens’ planet.’ She’s also an evangelical Christian.
Katharine Hayhoe is the co-director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University and the co-founder of Science Moms, an organization formed by climate scientist moms ‘to help mothers who are concerned about their childrens’ planet.’ She’s also an evangelical Christian.
Hayhoe says she cares about climate change because she’s Christian and that it’s been hard being both a Christian and a vocal climate scientist. But she says that the scientific community has welcomed her with open arms, and some have even told her that they share her faith.
Monday 23 November 2020
Falun Gong
2020 Who are the Falun Gong? | Foreign Correspondent - ABC Aus > .2021 China’s Communist Party Crumbles! Factional Infighting Heats Up - Chap > .
Chinese presitator Xi Jinping has been fighting a hidden enemy since he took power. That enemy, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, left office in 2003, but never really relinquished power. Now factional infighting in China's Communist Party is heating up as Xi and Jiang battle for dominance ahead of a major meeting next year. That meeting will decide whether Xi stays leader for a third term, something Jiang hopes to avoid. Watch this episode of China Uncensored for more on the General Hostilities drama, which leader controls which parts of the country, and what happened with Xi's predecessor.
2017 The Secret Chinese War for Your Opinion! - serpentza > .
Falun Gong or Falun Dafa (literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement. Falun Gong was founded by its leader Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a 400-acre (160 ha) compound around Cuddebackville in Deerpark, New York, near the current residence of Li Hongzhi. Falun Gong's performance arts extension, Shen Yun ("Divine Rhythm") and two closely connected schools, Fei Tian ("Flying Sky-Being") College and Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, also operate in and around Dragon Springs.
Falun Gong emerged toward the end of China's "qigong boom"—a period that saw a proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving energy exercises and regulated breathing. Falun Gong combines meditation and qigong ('Qi/Chi cultivation') exercises with a moral philosophy. The practice emphasizes morality and the cultivation of virtue, and identifies as a practice of the Buddhist school, though its teachings also incorporate elements drawn from Taoist traditions. Through moral rectitude and the practice of meditation, practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to eliminate attachments, and ultimately to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
The practice initially enjoyed support from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, but by the mid-to-late 1990s the government increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence and spiritual teachings. By 1999, government estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million. During that time, negative coverage of Falun Gong began to appear in the state-run media. Practitioners usually responded by picketing the source involved. Most of the time, the practitioners succeeded, but controversy and tension continued to build. The scale of protests grew until April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. This demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the persecution that followed.
On 20 July 1999, the CCP leadership initiated a nationwide crackdown and multifaceted propaganda campaign directed against the practice. It blocked Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a "heretical organization" that threatened social stability. Falun Gong practitioners in China are reportedly subject to a wide range of human rights abuses: hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been imprisoned extrajudicially, and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities. As of 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had died within China as a result of abuse in custody. One writer estimates that tens of thousands may have been killed to supply China's organ transplant industry. Data from within China suggest that millions continued to practice Falun Gong there in spite of the persecution. Outside of China, Falun Gong is practiced in over 70 countries, with as of 2008 estimates on the number adherents ranging from roughly 40,000 to several hundreds of thousands.
Falun Gong administers a variety of extensions in the United States and elsewhere, which have received notable media attention for their political involvement and ideological messaging, particularly since the involvement of these extensions in the 2016 United States presidential election. Falun Gong extensions include The Epoch Times, a politically far-right media entity that has received significant attention for promoting conspiracy theories and producing advertisements for then-U.S. UNpresident tRUMP. Shen Yun has also received significant media coverage for its emphasis on, for example, anti-evolution statements and promotion of Falun Gong doctrine, while presenting itself as founded upon ancient tradition.
Falun Gong emerged toward the end of China's "qigong boom"—a period that saw a proliferation of similar practices of meditation, slow-moving energy exercises and regulated breathing. Falun Gong combines meditation and qigong ('Qi/Chi cultivation') exercises with a moral philosophy. The practice emphasizes morality and the cultivation of virtue, and identifies as a practice of the Buddhist school, though its teachings also incorporate elements drawn from Taoist traditions. Through moral rectitude and the practice of meditation, practitioners of Falun Gong aspire to eliminate attachments, and ultimately to achieve spiritual enlightenment.
The practice initially enjoyed support from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, but by the mid-to-late 1990s the government increasingly viewed Falun Gong as a potential threat due to its size, independence and spiritual teachings. By 1999, government estimates placed the number of Falun Gong practitioners at 70 million. During that time, negative coverage of Falun Gong began to appear in the state-run media. Practitioners usually responded by picketing the source involved. Most of the time, the practitioners succeeded, but controversy and tension continued to build. The scale of protests grew until April 1999, when over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered near the central government compound in Beijing to request legal recognition and freedom from state interference. This demonstration is widely seen as catalyzing the persecution that followed.
On 20 July 1999, the CCP leadership initiated a nationwide crackdown and multifaceted propaganda campaign directed against the practice. It blocked Internet access to websites that mention Falun Gong, and in October 1999 it declared Falun Gong a "heretical organization" that threatened social stability. Falun Gong practitioners in China are reportedly subject to a wide range of human rights abuses: hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been imprisoned extrajudicially, and practitioners in detention are subject to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of thought reform at the hands of Chinese authorities. As of 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had died within China as a result of abuse in custody. One writer estimates that tens of thousands may have been killed to supply China's organ transplant industry. Data from within China suggest that millions continued to practice Falun Gong there in spite of the persecution. Outside of China, Falun Gong is practiced in over 70 countries, with as of 2008 estimates on the number adherents ranging from roughly 40,000 to several hundreds of thousands.
Falun Gong administers a variety of extensions in the United States and elsewhere, which have received notable media attention for their political involvement and ideological messaging, particularly since the involvement of these extensions in the 2016 United States presidential election. Falun Gong extensions include The Epoch Times, a politically far-right media entity that has received significant attention for promoting conspiracy theories and producing advertisements for then-U.S. UNpresident tRUMP. Shen Yun has also received significant media coverage for its emphasis on, for example, anti-evolution statements and promotion of Falun Gong doctrine, while presenting itself as founded upon ancient tradition.
Jiang Zemin (江泽民; Jiāng Zémín; born 17 August 1926) is a Chinese retired politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Chinese Communist Party from 1989 to 2004, and as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003. Jiang represented the "core of the third generation" of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders since 1989.
Jiang came to power unexpectedly as a compromise candidate following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, when he replaced Zhao Ziyang as CCP General Secretary after Zhao was ousted for his support for the student movement. As the involvement of the "Eight Elders" in Chinese politics steadily declined, Jiang consolidated his hold on power to become the "paramount leader" in the country during the 1990s.[note 1] Urged by Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992 to accelerate "opening up and reform", Jiang officially introduced the term "socialist market economy" in his speech during the 14th CCP National Congress held later that year, ending a period of ideological uncertainty and economic stagnation following 1989.
Under Jiang's leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of market reforms, saw the return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Macau from Portugal in 1999 and improved its relations with the outside world, while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the state. However, Jiang was controversially faced criticism over human rights abuses which also led to the crackdown of the Falun Gong movement. His contributions to party doctrine, known as the "Three Represents," were written into the party's constitution in 2002. Jiang vacated the roles of General Secretary and highest-ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee in 2002, but did not relinquish all of his official leadership titles until 2005, and continued to influence affairs until much later. At the age of 95 years, 67+ days, Jiang is the longest-living paramount leader in the history of the PRC, surpassing Deng Xiaoping on 14 February 2019.
Under Jiang's leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of market reforms, saw the return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Macau from Portugal in 1999 and improved its relations with the outside world, while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the state. However, Jiang was controversially faced criticism over human rights abuses which also led to the crackdown of the Falun Gong movement. His contributions to party doctrine, known as the "Three Represents," were written into the party's constitution in 2002. Jiang vacated the roles of General Secretary and highest-ranking member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee in 2002, but did not relinquish all of his official leadership titles until 2005, and continued to influence affairs until much later. At the age of 95 years, 67+ days, Jiang is the longest-living paramount leader in the history of the PRC, surpassing Deng Xiaoping on 14 February 2019.
Fire & Brimstone
Fire and Brimstone: A Giant Space Rock Demolished an Ancient Middle Eastern City and Everyone in It:
About 3,600 years ago [~1,650 BCE] a giant space rock, travelling at about 38,000 mph (61,000 kph), demolished an ancient Middle Eastern city, now called Tall el-Hammam, killing everyone in it. Accounts of the disaster probably generated the Biblical myth of Sodom, which describes the devastation of an urban center near the Dead Sea – stones and fire fell from the sky, more than one city was destroyed, thick smoke rose from the fires and city inhabitants were killed.
The rock exploded in a massive fireball about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) above the ground – a blast around 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Air temperatures would have rapidly risen above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius). Clothing and wood burst into flames. Swords, spears, mudbricks, and pottery melted.
At the site, scientists found finely fractured sand grains called shocked quartz that only form at 725,000 pounds per square inch of pressure (5 gigapascals) – imagine six 68-ton Abrams military tanks stacked on your thumb.
The destruction layer also contains tiny diamonoids, as hard as diamonds, each smaller than a flu virus. Wood and plants were turned into this diamond-like material by the fireball’s high pressures and temperatures.
A Tunguska sized airburst destroyed Tall el-Hammam a Middle Bronze Age city in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea nature .
The rock exploded in a massive fireball about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) above the ground – a blast around 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Air temperatures would have rapidly risen above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius). Clothing and wood burst into flames. Swords, spears, mudbricks, and pottery melted.
Seconds later, a massive shockwave smashed into the city. Moving at about 740 mph (1,200 kph), it was more powerful than the worst tornado ever recorded. The deadly winds ripped through the city, demolishing every building. They sheared off the top 40 feet (12 m) of the 4-story palace and blew the jumbled debris into the next valley. None of the 8,000 people or any animals within the city survived – bodies torn apart and bones blasted into small fragments.
About a minute later, 14 miles (22 km) to the west of Tall el-Hammam, winds from the blast hit the biblical city of Jericho. Jericho’s walls came tumbling down and the city burned to the ground.
About a minute later, 14 miles (22 km) to the west of Tall el-Hammam, winds from the blast hit the biblical city of Jericho. Jericho’s walls came tumbling down and the city burned to the ground.
[Needless to say, religious nutters will attribute this natural phenomenon to "God" – punishment for activities of which they disapprove.]
The destruction layer also contains tiny diamonoids, as hard as diamonds, each smaller than a flu virus. Wood and plants were turned into this diamond-like material by the fireball’s high pressures and temperatures.
Foolish, Wishful Theistic Fantasies
Theists love to troop out the "no atheists in foxholes" falsehood as though it provides an iota of veracity, and—here's the wishful point—as though projecting inculcated fear demonstrates that atheists will revert to a brainwashed childhood state and run 'home' to Sky Daddy at the first sign of threat.
Neither is accurate.
Instead, the purported "truism" makes theists appear both desperate and incapable of logical understanding of the ramifications of seeing past manipulative fantasies and realizing that death is nothingness. The same nothingness of which all humans were unaware—for billions of years—before the consciousness-conferring assembly of personalized neural molecules.
Atheists have no fear of a celestial judgment and consignment to a fiery hell---or, rather worse, an eternity of boredom with sycophants genuflecting to an imaginary Daddy. Yes, a sane person in a foxhole—or a cancer clinic—would have reason to fear enduring a painful ending. But why fear death itself?
Death is nothing. No heaven. No hell. No celestial judgement. Nothing.
Neither is accurate.
Instead, the purported "truism" makes theists appear both desperate and incapable of logical understanding of the ramifications of seeing past manipulative fantasies and realizing that death is nothingness. The same nothingness of which all humans were unaware—for billions of years—before the consciousness-conferring assembly of personalized neural molecules.
Atheists have no fear of a celestial judgment and consignment to a fiery hell---or, rather worse, an eternity of boredom with sycophants genuflecting to an imaginary Daddy. Yes, a sane person in a foxhole—or a cancer clinic—would have reason to fear enduring a painful ending. But why fear death itself?
Death is nothing. No heaven. No hell. No celestial judgement. Nothing.
“Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.” ~ Epicurus
Frying The Catholic Church
Food? Starved-to-death parishioners don't pay up — hence the invention of Purgatory (lucrative funding of chantries) in the 12th century. Gluttons pay up (in the short term), so they were included in the shaming lists.
But regular adult heterosexual sex? Perfect for guilt tripping and shaming. Homosexuality? Even better for firing up male "regulars" among parishioners. Better yet, come be a forbidden-to-marry-adult-women priest and "pray the gay away" with us. Pedophilia? Shhhh. Let's not threaten the recruiting of priests. Rape of women and children? Useful for recruiting soldiers, so encouraged in the Hebrew Bible.
Sunday 22 November 2020
Saturday 21 November 2020
Friday 20 November 2020
In Defence Of Disrespect
Although I agree that, in lacking corroborating evidence, the content of religious claims deserves no respect, I regard philhellenes argument as fatally flawed. After all, provided that they are not deliberately behaving abominably, individuals warrant respectful treatment—regardless of their belief system.
The incident in question was childish, narcissistic, interpersonally-invasive, and could have had negligible or zero effect in saving childish minds from baseless fears of hellfire and damnation. In other words, the video attracted views, but its deliberate offensiveness was more likely to inspire defensiveness, and not a reconsideration of beliefs-devoid-of-logical-support.
⇩
"""A cult is a cult no matter its size. Child molestation, protected priests, brainwashing, thought control, indoctrination, the installation of irrational fear, shame and guilt, homicidal misinformation regarding issues of health; it's ALL there. And I don't respect it. Fuck it. At almost any cost short of violence or the threat of violence. Fuck it, to people or property. CERTAINLY at the expense of a clip taken in a building showing a few anonymous faces none of us will ever see again.
The ONLY people fit to judge if "The 4" were being smug, bratty, arrogant, intrusive, disruptive, rude, etc, were the people IN the church AT the time! And THEY noticed NOTHING. THEY asked Nyk to take the collection plate around, AND HE DID IT!
Some of the reasoning I have heard for the outrage around this is pathetic and hypocritical.
So, to be clear...
If you strongly objected to their video on grounds of privacy, and you have EVER shown or ever will show ONE face without its owner's permission, you're a hypocrite. If you strongly objected to their video on grounds of causing offence, and you have EVER insulted/mocked a believer, you're a hypocrite. Even if you use rationality alone to try to reason with a believer, that CAN hurt and offend their feelings too, and you're a hypocrite. But, luckily there is a way to stop being a hypocrite, and that's to STOP BEING A HYPOCRITE.
We need blasphemy. We need disrespect. We need to cause outrage. How did we get noticed in the first place? You think we "reasoned" our way into the media's attention? We need weak atheists, strong atheists, pussy atheists, militant atheists, funny atheists, old atheists, young atheists, people who weep and people who just don't give a shit. We need ALL the voices...good cop, bad cop.
The changes we're starting to see were only possible because we got noticed, BECAUSE we outrage and offend, sometimes.
When I've spoken on this matter I have been accused of everything from condoning the destruction of churches, alters, priceless paintings and works of art, wanting to film people at home, wanting to spit and laugh at mourners, desecrate graveyards, AND worse. If that doesn't ring your alarm bells as to the standard of counter argument on display your bells are muffled. It's STILL happening in the comments to THIS video: distortions, hyperbole, deflection, evasion, misrepresentation beyond sanity - and most of all, strawmen, EVERYWHERE.
In my opinion.""" ~ philhellenes .
INTOLERANT Puritans
Since religiosity is the handmaiden of authoritarianism, no surprises here ...
The Puritans were NOT tolerant of other religions > .
Thursday 19 November 2020
Monday 16 November 2020
Sunday 15 November 2020
Friday 13 November 2020
Pedophile Protection Agency Rules Against Ordaining Married Men
Papa rules against ordaining married men in Amazon .
At least Ratzinger was honest about being a narrow-minded authoritarian.
Punitive Idiocy of Dogmatic Supernaturalists
90 years later, the descendants of dogmatists such as these voted for Putin's Puppet.
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Rationality vs Яeligionism in US Partisan Divisions
[edited to emphasize realities] In "God" We Divide: The political dimensions of worship delusion have never been greater.
By 2018, membership in traditional denominations had fallen 20 points to 35.5 percent,born-again evangelical doubly-brainwashed CONservative, proselytizing pseudo-Christian church membership had grown by 4.8 points to 41.4 percent, and the share of the nonreligious had tripled to 23.1 percent.
This has been a windfall for the Republican RepuGNican.
As Burge writes: “Almost every predominantly white Protestant denomination — from Southern Baptists and United Methodists to Missouri Synod Lutherans and the Assemblies of God — is solidlyRepublican RepuGNican.”
A steady religious religionist realignment has reshaped the white American electorate, turning religious conviction — or its absence — into a clear signal of where voters stand in the culture wars.
As mainstream Protestant denominations have declined over the past half century, there has been a hollowing out of the center among white Christians of all faiths. New generations of Americans have joined the ranks ofevangelical CONservative, proselytizing pseudo-Christian churches, while others, in larger numbers, have [opened their eyes and] forsaken religion religious delusion altogether.
These two trends have transformed the strategic underpinnings of political campaigning.
The more religiouslyengaged brainwashed a white voter is, the more likely he or she will be a Republican RepuGNican; the less religious religiously brainwashed the voter, the more likely to be a Democrat. But, as we shall see it’s not that simple: The deeper you go, the more complex it gets.
As mainstream Protestant denominations have declined over the past half century, there has been a hollowing out of the center among white Christians of all faiths. New generations of Americans have joined the ranks of
These two trends have transformed the strategic underpinnings of political campaigning.
The more religiously
...
In 1988, 55.7 percent of Americans were members of traditional, mainstream denominations, 36.6 percent were members of evangelical conservative, proselytizing pseudo-Christian and born-again doubly-brainwashed denominations and 7.7 percent said they were not religious.
By 2018, membership in traditional denominations had fallen 20 points to 35.5 percent,
As Burge writes: “Almost every predominantly white Protestant denomination — from Southern Baptists and United Methodists to Missouri Synod Lutherans and the Assemblies of God — is solidly
...
While Republicans RepuGNicans are picking up steam among the faithful deluded, Democrats are making gains among those with little or no propensity for worship selfish self-delusion. [Yes, selfish. Religionism is cloaked in pseudo-virtue, but it's all about imagining that "God" wants for the genuflector exactly what the Buy Bull thumper wants for him/herself.]
...
Among whites without degrees — the polling definition of working class — 39 percent in 2018 said religion was very important, 25 percent said somewhat important, 15 percent not too important, and 20 percent not at all important.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Schaffner found that 76 percent, of those for whom religion is not at all important voted for Democratic House candidates in 2018. At the other end of the spectrum, nearly 4 out of five — 78 percent — of non-college whites who said religion was very important [foolishly] voted for a society-damaging, corporate-favoring, authoritarianRepublican RepuGNican House candidate.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Schaffner found that 76 percent, of those for whom religion is not at all important voted for Democratic House candidates in 2018. At the other end of the spectrum, nearly 4 out of five — 78 percent — of non-college whites who said religion was very important [foolishly] voted for a society-damaging, corporate-favoring, authoritarian
...
Schaffner’s data shows an even larger religious religionist gap among white college graduates. This group is less religious religionist than whites without degrees — 36 percent answered “very important,” 22 percent “somewhat important,” 15 percent “not too important” and 27 percent “not at all important.”
[N.B. Research has repeatedly demonstrated that religiosity is inversely correlated with educational attainment/IQ.]
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Self-delusion Knows No Rational Bounds
Beirut explosion: Video of church altar's survival brings [delusional] hope: St Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church in Achrafieh is less than a kilometre away from where the Beirut explosion took place. Father Youil Nassif rushed to the church to check for damage, finding the nave completely ruined. But the sacred altar space, protected by the "iconostasis" (wall of icons), was almost unscathed - including an oil lamp that had remained lit throughout the blast.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-53696936/beirut-explosion-video-of-church-altar-s-survival-brings-hope .
[More than 150 dead, thousands injured, 300,000 homeless, grain stores destroyed, humanitarian crisis looming, billions in damage, but this delusionist claims that "God" intervened to protect the church's altar. In essence, the priest is declaring that "God" is a bigger sociopathic narcissist than the USA's dimwitted Sociopathic-Narcissist-in-Chief. Just as ridiculous, the BBC considers this nonsense worthy of a news article.
Why did the altar survive? The church's entrance faces away from the blast, and the sturdy structure was protected by surrounding buildings. Not that the BBC journalist would dare to explain the realities of the situation.
Monday 9 November 2020
10 Commandments Regularly Broken by Internet Apologists
Original found here.
1. ad hominem
2. straw man fallacy
3. hasty generalization
4. begging the question
5. post hoc-false cause
6. false dichotomy
7. ad ignorantiam
8. burden of proof reversal
9. non sequitur
10. bandwagon fallacy
There are more than 10 commandments, and apologists break many, if not most, if not all of them.
After all, without incontrovertible evidence, what's a believer to do?
Sunday 8 November 2020
Unzipping of Hypocritical Conman Jr.
The president of one of the world's largest evangelical proselytizing fundamentalist profiteering-"Christian" colleges has agreed to step aside after posting a photo of himself, trousers unzipped.
Jerry Falwell, a vocal supporter of UNpresident Pervert-in-Chief, said he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University in Virginia. The college board did not provide a reason for the move.
Falwell had conceded the Instagram photo was "weird", but defended it as "all in good fun".
Jerry Falwell, a vocal supporter of UNpresident Pervert-in-Chief, said he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University in Virginia. The college board did not provide a reason for the move.
Falwell had conceded the Instagram photo was "weird", but defended it as "all in good fun".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)