Bill Maher seems to be following in Michael Moore’s footsteps by putting out a movie called Religulous. This film, which I’m certain will prove to be extremely divisive, makes the case that the most dangerous force on earth is religion.

Maher’s ultimate message is simple: Abandon religion… or we’ll all die.

In the clip that follows, Maher lays out the foundation of this statement. Here are a few choice quotes which I believe pretty much sum things up:

• “If one believes that the world is going to come to an end, does it not drain one’s motivation to improve life while we’re here?”
• “Religion must die for man to live.”
• “Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking.”
• “Those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders.”
• “Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings, who don’t have all the answers, to think they do.”
• “The only attitude for man to have about the big questions is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt.”
• “The solace and comfort that religion brings you, actually comes at a terrible price.”

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Time magazine just put out an article about how a certain type of Pentecostal Evangelism likely put a large number of consumers more or less in harm’s way by preaching that “God will give you a house, if you first give to God (as in… make an offering to the church).”

The religious movement, spearheaded by Godatorium super-star Joel Osteen (who may also be the devil), is called Propserity Gospel – and teaches that, dammit, God wants you to be rich in this lifetime as well as the next!

And quite a few folks are apparently coming around to this idea…

In three of the Gospels, Jesus warns that each of his disciples may have to “deny himself” and even “take up his Cross.” In support of this alarming prediction, he forcefully contrasts the fleeting pleasures of today with the promise of eternity: “For what profit is it to a man,” he asks, “if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” It is one of the New Testament’s hardest teachings, yet generations of churchgoers have understood that being Christian, on some level, means being ready to sacrifice–money, autonomy or even their lives.

But for a growing number of Christians like George Adams, the question is better restated, “Why not gain the whole world plus my soul?“

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Ok. This scares the crap out of me! Sarah Palin’s church, Wasilla Assembly of God, apparently has created the Master’s Commission: Wasilla Alaska which is some kind of… um, I don’t know what to call it… cult? And for the record, she was baptized in this church at age 12 and attended it for most of her adult life. As I understand it, when she was inaugurated as governor, the founding pastor of the church delivered the invocation.

Anyway, no need to guess as to what is being preached, luckily all of the sermons are online so you can spend as much time listening as you please.

According to one anonymous person, you’ll hear the following if you listen to them (heck, I’m not gonna do it):

• “Pastor Kalnins” has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war “contending for your faith;” and said that Jesus “operated from that position of war mode.”
• Kalnins bristled at the treatment President Bush was receiving over the federal government’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. “I hate criticisms towards the President,” he said, “because it’s like criticisms towards the pastor — it’s almost like, it’s not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That’s what it’ll get you.”
• Kalnins has preached that the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq were part of a “world war” over the Christian faith, one in which Jesus Christ had called upon believers to be willing to sacrifice their lives.
• He preaches repeatedly about the “end times” or “last days,” an apocalyptic prophesy held by a small but vocal group of Christian leaders. During his appearance with Palin in June, he declared, “I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them.

Anyway, ignoring all of that, just watch the promotional video for their “intense discipleship training program”:
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By Guest Star: Karen Rhodes

I am agnostic….

Now a lot of people confuse this term and here is my way of clarifying the matter. The way I look at it, I can’t even figure out my taxes, so what chance do I have of figuring out which universal belief system I should subscribe to?

I actually have a theory that accountancy helps people select their religion.

• If you are happy with a more nature centered life and pay taxes in grain/produce or the profit from selling such, then paganism may be the religion for you.
• If you are more in the commodities market and find solace in diversified highly portable wealth then Judaism is just for you.

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All you hear about on the news today is Obama’s racist preacher this… and Obama’s preacher that…

Well, I don’t like to trust the mainstream media to do my interpreting for me. No sir, as Stephen Colbert likes to point out, the mainstream media is way too focused on “truthiness”, and I don’t like to be all weighed down with “facts”. That’s why I like to turn to the Red State Update, to get my news from Jackie and Dunlap!
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The Power of Nightmares, subtitled The Rise of the Politics of Fear, is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. It has a 9.2 rating on IMDB.

There are three one-hour films (embedded below), consisting mostly of archive footage with Curtis’s narration, which were first broadcast in the United Kingdom in late 2004 and have been aired in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals, including the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

This series is as controversial as Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 or Sicko. And it will evoke strong opinions on both sides of the debate about the reality (or lack thereof) of a brewing conflict between Christianity and Islam.
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Ok. I can’t wait to see the comments on this one. Some people are going to laugh at it, some are going to be angry, and some will be preachy. I hope we don’t get into a debate about whether God exists. We’ve already done that here.

I can only guess that some kid’s brother filmed his mom cursing him out after he announced he was an atheist. It’s obvious that the camera was placed on a table and then quickly taken away when it appeared the parents might see it.
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I’ve seen a lot of crazy things on the Internet, but this one just about takes the cake. A Web site called The Blasphemy Challenge has been set up to encourage people to publicly denounce the existence of God. And what do you get in return? A DVD that explains why there is no God.

Wow. That is just amazing. What’s more amazing is that YouTube is now flooded with video responses to this “challenge”. Among them I found the following from an Episcopal Priest, Father Matthew Moretz, from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Yonkers. It has got to be one of the coolest video responses I’ve ever seen to anything on YouTube. Enjoy.
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The following is an open letter from activist atheist Dr. Richard Dawkins written to his daughter Juliet on her tenth birthday and published as the last entry in his book A Devil’s Chaplain.

The topic of this letter is Good and Bad Reasons for Believing, and the short summary would be that Dr. Dawkins advocates that his daughter (and presumably all of us since the letter is public) employ analytical reasoning whenever new information is presented.
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Dr. Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor and author of The God Delusion, reads excerpts and answers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006.

Dr. Dawkins is one of the most divisive figures in the evolution vs creationism debate mainly because his position tends to be offensive to believers. His position is that religion, and people who believe in God, do more harm than good.
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I’ve searched the annals (he, he… he said anal) of the Internet to find the two greatest video arguments I could find, one for the existance of a supreme diety, one against.

In the end, at least to me, it all seems to boil down to a simple philosophical decision. Is it possible that everything known to mankind simply exists? Or is an explanation required as to why?
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How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars?

This map gives a brief history of the world’s most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds?
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