Vision of Humanity Cerebral Outpourings at 5am « saintdavetheathiest Why is this world so fucked up? Why do people have to be such constant pricks about everything? From the Muslims who think it is acceptable to kill people for something so petty as drawing a fucking cartoon of their prophet, despite the fact that its apparently OK for them to regularly mock Jews in their publications, to companies like Apple who treat their workers in China so badly they have the highest rate of suicides in ANY of the major corporations factories. Today I read about big companies like Barclays who put wagers on what the price of food will be in certain third world countries at the end of, for example, the financial year. The act of betting on this particular outcome affects the price of the foods in question. We are talking here about countries where approx 90% of a households wages are spent on food alone and rising prices can mean the difference between life and death for most families. Then we get to the current trend in America for creationism to be taken seriously.
moodinmotion The serious consequences of childhood religious indoctrination « miranda celeste hale The concept of “Catholic guilt” has become a cliche, a joke, a truism. But it’s real. For many of us who experienced Catholic childhood religious indoctrination, Catholic guilt is a pernicious and inescapable burden with serious lifelong repercussions. It clings to us, a dark spectre of our pasts, a cruel and vicious voice whispering to us, reminding us of the lessons of our childhood: that we are unworthy, that we cannot do anything right, that we do not deserve to be happy, that we are dirty tainted sinners who must constantly punish ourselves and atone for our sins, and that we are nothing. And this voice cannot be reasoned with. From a psychological standpoint, Catholic guilt makes a great deal of sense. Despite this, few people, psychologists or otherwise, take it seriously. I think that we need to take it seriously. I don’t really know how to make this happen, though. Like this: Like Loading...
mancunian green: Boon - or Bobbins? As the banking crisis continues, alternative or complementary currencies are back on the agenda, as evidenced by George Monbiot's last piece in the Guardian , and a feature on Lewes Pounds on BBC's radio 4 in the last couple of days. The idea of an alternative currency is not new, and back around 15-20 years ago, LETS schems (Local Exchange Trading Systems)were seen as a key part of the move to a sustainable society and there were close links between Green party activists and LETS schemes in various places around the country. The scheme in Manchester used a currency called 'bobbins' after the cotton industry and for a while local Green Party membership could be paid for in bobbins, though hardly anybody ever did. Unfortunately in recent years I have heard much less about them, and even their co-ordinating body, Letslink, reports a likely drop in membership since the early days. I can think of two reasons why this might be.
Invisible Pink Unicorn The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is the goddess of a parody religion used to satirize theistic beliefs, taking the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically both invisible and pink.[1] She is a rhetorical illustration used by atheists and other religious skeptics as a contemporary version of Russell's teapot, sometimes mentioned in conjunction with the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[2] The IPU is used to argue that supernatural beliefs are arbitrary by, for example, replacing the word God in any theistic statement with Invisible Pink Unicorn.[3] The mutually exclusive attributes of pinkness and invisibility, coupled with the inability to disprove the IPU's existence, satirize properties that some theists attribute to a theistic deity.[4] History[edit] The Invisible Pink Unicorn logo used to depict atheism The concept was further developed by a group of college students from 1994 to 1995 on the ISCA Telnet-based BBS. Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. Concepts[edit]
Philosophy Bro Brainwashing: Children and Religion « Todd\’s Hammer Posted by Todd in Christianity, Democratic Theory, Documentary Film, Teaching. trackback After watching the documentary Jesus Camp this afternoon, I was thinking about my strong emotional reaction to what I saw. Given what I’d read about the film and friends’ reactions, I had expected to be offended and disgusted. And indeed, I was actually embarassed by the weirdness of some of these people (the older woman with the cutout of Pres. There’s a scene early in the movie with a young girl, around 7 or 8 years old, who is bowling with friends and family. The teachers used likely techniques to indoctrinate the children and to get them to believe: emotional activities designed to excite feelings, music and dancing, object lessons, rhythmic chanting, telling the kids that they are chosen and important, encouraging the children to profess their faith (not to mention to speak in tongues and heal), showing the kids models (inaccurate ones) of fetuses. Like this: Like Loading...