On Belief

If you are a Christians or claim a religious believer or believer is some power, you believe you have the ultimate truth, the only answer.

What the religious do is issue a proclamation, a statement, they are not able to engage in a conversation, debate or even a real discussion. For simply, they already know the truth. They don't have to look elsewhere. As for Christians, they have been told from their scriptures to not even think about any other religion or else!

The real question is, do you seek the ultimate truth, at all costs or do you simply think you don’t have to seek or think any further.

The religious cleverly made it taboo to criticize religion. They want to keep this taboo alive. We as humans, don’t respect religious beliefs. It’s only the religious who demand respect for their beliefs because of the insane teachings their scriptures propose.

The religious are afraid to criticize other religions because this would now allow their own religion to be open to scrutiny.

If I told you I will win the lottery this week, I know this. It is my truth. Would you respect my belief? Nope. Would you respect my belief that the world is ending tomorrow? I hope not. We don't respect beliefs, only the reasons for beliefs.

The immorality the Bible seems endless. Some examples. Christians and non-Christians. What an immoral teaching. There is no "them", non-Christians. We all share the same humanity.Why does the Bible want to divide people?

In fact, religions are a their core, immoral. They want you to join their club. You are either ni the club or out of the club. If you are in the club, you are good, if you are not in their club, you are bad. Why does not Christianity (or any religion) unite the entire world, whether we are believers or non-believers? Religion is immoral.

Doing good things for bad reasons. You better be good or you'll go to hell. How immoral of a teaching. There are many good reasons to do good things.

Love your enemy. An utterly immoral teaching. You defend yourself against your enemy. How many Christian churches are calling for the US Military to be dismantled? None.

Is this the best a god could provide us? I propose the Bible's immoral teachings are more harmful to society than good.

The religious pronounce their religion is the only real religion and all other religions are rejected. The religious know what it is to reject all other religious belief systems, except their own.

Nontheists simply go one religion further and reject all religious beliefs.

Theory of Evolution

“Christians who doubt the truth of evolution are apt to say things like “Evolution is just a theory, not a fact.” Such statements betray a serious misunderstanding of the way the term “theory” is used in scientific discourse.

In science, facts must be explained with reference to other facts. These larger explanatory models are “theories”. Theories make predictions and can, in principle, be tested.

The phrase, “the theory of evolution” does not in the least suggest that evolution is not a fact. One can speak about the “germ theory of disease” or “the theory of gravitation” without casting doubt upon disease or gravity as facts of nature.

Harris, Sam, (2006). Letter to a Christian Nation. New York: Knopf. Page 69.

I've quoted this several times in my blog but this is something which the general public in America needs ingrained in their head, don't you agree?

Christian’s last ditch attempts are now claiming abuse by those who break the self-made taboo of not allowing anyone to question their faith.

Recently, I've noticed when Christians (and other religious people) are questioned about the validity of their belief, their hair stands up on the back of their neck and proclaim, you MUST respect my belief. Don't tell me I can't believe. Don't be abusive to me! You are disrespectful to me. You make me feel uncomfortable being around you. You are obviously angry and bitter to talk to me in a negative way about my faith.

Really? First, we don't respect people's beliefs, only the reasons behind their beliefs. Of course, for eons, religious people have wallowed in their own taboo which disallows criticism of their belief or faith. They have to have this taboo because their beliefs are simply mythology of old and for some reason, the masses cling onto these beliefs, like a drowning man, grasping at a razor blade to save his life.

If I tell you I have a diamond, the size of a refrigerator, buried in my backyard. Wouldn't you want some proof?

What if I said, I wouldn't want to live in a universe where I did not believe I have a diamond, the size of a refrigerator, buried in my backyard. Or if I said my life would not be meaningful if I did not believe I have a diamond, the size of a refrigerator, buried in my backyard.

Wouldn't you want some proof as to if I had a diamond, the size of a refrigerator, buried in my backyard? Would you respect my belief?

The reason people say they believe in Christianity is the Bible. Okay. Take a look at the Bible... is this the best an all knowing, all wise, all perfect, all powerful god—who knows the past, present and future—could write or inspire?

So many translations, so many interpretations. Why wouldn't a god simply write and publish his own book? This would be child's play for an omnipotent god to write a book filled with timeless morals and ethics and a book which would never be misinterpreted. After creating the Universe, was god tired?

I know when Christians are called on the carpet about this, their brain will be working on uttering some excuse to defend why their god could not write (and publish) an all perfect, all moral, all ethical book which would apply to any culture in any time period in human history and which would also apply to any alien planet in our galaxy or in the universe.

Why isn't there equal rights and human rights in the Bible? Why does God want you to fear and love him at the same time? Fearing and loving the same person are the words you'd expect to hear from a dictator or totalitarian leader.

Why does God want you to do good things for bad reasons? Be good or go to hell! There are many good reasons to do good things. Is doing good things for bad reasons the best a god could come up with?

Why does God want you to love your enemy? A horrible moral. You defend yourself against your enemies. How many Christian churches are recommending we dismantle the entire US military? Yet, Christians preach love your enemy. Are they nuts?

Also, the Bible says that slavery is moral. The Bible says the repression of women's rights is moral. The Bible says discrimination against gays is moral. The Bible says that genocide is moral. The Bible says that human and animal sacrifice is moral. The Bible says that murder is moral. (Examples, if a child curses his parents, it's okay for the parents to kill their child.) The list seems endless.

One of the most horrible teachings of the bible: Christians are taught that demonizing nonbelievers is moral. What a perfect example of how religion divides people. If Christianity was so fantastic, why would anyone need to believe in it? Why doesn't Christianity unite the entire world whether you believe or not? Religious beliefs divide friends, families, marriages, co-workers, partners, communities and nations. For this reason alone, religion is not only immoral but a clear danger to a productive, free thinking, rational, progressive civilization.

And the one of the biggest problems of all, if not the biggest: Is it ethical to believe another person can take on the responsibility for your actions? Christ as a human sacrifice for your sin is an utterly immoral proposition. (Another problem, sin is a man-made concept.) The Christ sacrifice that eliminates personal responsibility is utterly immoral because personal responsibility is what all ethics and good morals depend.

Christianity Celebrates Dividing People Apart.

The mere belief in claiming to know a god divides people. To top if off, Christians demonize those who do not believe.

How incredibly stupid is it that Christians are proud to announce their own religion divides people. I'm a Christian (Psst... they are non-Christians).

Religions are truly sick, sick institutions promoting hatred between people. Is this the best a god could do? To create religious organizations which divide people by their core belief? To have their believers tell non-believers they know their god is the one true god and if you don't believe, you are excluded from their group?

When did perfection need anything?

Religion is fantastic. God is perfect.

Errr... let me get this straight. Religion is fantastic! Right? Then why do I have to believe in it? And another point... why does religion not bring everyone together, believers and nonbelievers?

Let's see... god is perfect. Okay, got it. A perfect being needs nothing. I got it! Great! I'm getting it. Oh, I have a question. If god is perfect and needs nothing, then why does god need me to believe in him? Errr... put it another way, why would a perfect being be offended if I did not believe in him?

Psst..., here's the answer: There is no god. All religions are man-made.

It is Time to End the "Diplomatic Immunity" Which the Vatican Claims Protects the Pope.

Many individuals have wanted the entire Catholic Church brought to justice but individuals typically don't have the knowledge or clout to get this type of action taken.

What religious groups, politicians or governments have taken on the responsibility of bringing the end to the Catholic Church's run on the sexual enslavement of children? None that I know of.

Who would have thought that scientists and scholars would be the ones to be outing the Catholic Church as the criminal organization that it is, by the sexual enslavement of children, and to demand the end (by trial) of the "diplomatic immunity" which the Vatican claims protects the Pope from any responsibility.

Read Sam Harris' article, "Bringing the Vatican to Justice" here.

Do you want to know the truth about religion at all costs?

It's actually quite simple to out religion as the fraud that it is.

Item 1:
If a certain religion was such a great thing, why would anyone have to believe in it?

Item 2:
And if a religion was the true religion, why would it not bring humanity together regardless of anyone's belief or non-belief?

Item 3:
Believers think their god is perfect. Believers even tout that a perfect being needs nothing. But the believer can't put two and two together. If a perfect being needs nothing, then a perfect being does not need anyone to believe in him/her/trans/it or his/her/trans/its religion.

A calling for a National Day of Islamic Prayer.

Isn't it time we all vote and try to pass into law a National Day of Islamic Prayer?

Huh? No? Scoff, scoff? You don't agree?

How would you propose to not allow a National Day of Islamic Prayer becoming law?

Here is the Christian response:

Errr... errr.... errr....

Oh yeah... let's see, let me sort through the U.S. Constitution. Normally, we would dismiss the U.S. Constitution when it comes to passing laws promoting Christianity into US law but we do have our standards.

We don't want other religions made into US law. However, we will fight and scream when Christianity is not made into law. We will not have a National Day of Islamic Prayer. No, NEVER!

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

Errrr.... errrr... that's it. The wall of separation of church and state protects us from the evil of Islam.

We have to make sure there is not a National Day of Islamic Prayer.

The wall of separation of church and state protects us from a National Day of Buddhist Prayer, also.

And... the wall of separation of church and state protects us from a National Day of Jewish Prayer.

And... the wall of separation of church and state protects us from a National Day of Hindu Prayer.

And, god forbid, the wall of separation of church and state protects us from a National Day of Satanic Prayer.

However, as Christians, we want a National Day of Prayer. It's code for National Day of Christian Prayer. And the movement to try to Christianize America.

People are sick of the religious pushing their immoral dogmas and teachings on others.

People are sick and tired of being pushed around by the religious who claim to know the impossible. How arrogant is it to claim to know a god and to claim to know what he thinks. (Arrogant: offensive display of superiority or self-importance.)

When your god tells you to kill other people, are you going to do it? Oh, I guess, they already have. The human race will not stand for the immorality of ancient religions to hurt civilized society anymore.

Before science, the only thing people had to explain the world around them were religious texts. And the explanations were horrible. It's very odd that people still cling to these immoral and unethical texts in today's world.

For several hundred years, science has been advancing at a rapid rate. Now, the ancient religious texts are being outed for the poorly written texts they are, and are now are being crushed by the billions of science books, journals and studies.

It's only a matter of time and the world will be free from religious oppression and from their insane teachings.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear the Boy Scouts Balboa Park lease case.

(The copy of this blog entry was sent to the San Diego Union-Tribune. I doubt they will publish this as they are weak. I did not send the sections to the San Diego Union Tribune noted with square brackets.)

How could anyone religious claim to be mad or offended by the court concerning the Boy Scouts in Balboa Park? The religious are mad because they claim to know the will of a God. Belief is required for action to occur.

For those who don’t know, in June 2000, the Boy Scouts of America (a private organization) achieved their victory, in the United States Supreme Court, to proudly exclude and discriminate against gay youth (or straight youth with gay parents) and agnostic or atheist youth (or believing youth with nonbelieving parents), and gay, agnostic or atheist adult scout leaders from membership.

[Therefore, in San Diego, a lawsuit (as in many cities) was taken out against the Boy Scouts renting city property in Balboa Park. There is a San Diego City Ordinance which does not allow discrimination based on sexual orientation. §52.9601 Statement of Policy. “Discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity deprives the City of the fullest utilization of its resources and capacity for development and advancement. Such discrimination poses a substantial threat to the health, safety and welfare of the community.”

§52.9606 City Facilities and Services. (a) Unlawful Service Practices. (1) City Facilities: “It shall be an unlawful service practice for any person to deny any individual the full and equal enjoyment of, or to place different terms and conditions on the availability of the use of any City facility on the basis (in whole or in part) of such individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Yet another example of how society's morals have surpassed the the morality of the Bible. Need I remind people that slavery is not moral. Human rights and equal rights were never in the Bible. You don't love your enemy, you defend your against your enemy. You don't do good things for bad reasons, an immoral precept. (You better be good or you'll go to hell forever.) There good reasons to do good things. If I continue with giving examples of the immorality of the Bible, I'd have to write a book. Which, by the way, I am doing.]

Where does the Boy Scouts of America get their impetus to discriminate? Follow the money. The money road leads directly to the steps of the Mormon Church. And the Mormons know their God does not like gay people. And the followers of many other religions feel the same way.

[66.9% of Boy Scout troops are charted by faith-based organizations. See Chartered Organizations and the Boy Scouts of America. And oh how the faith based love to discriminate. Oooooh, the puss of discrimination oozes from the faithful and it is disgusting and insulting to the human race.]

Why is sexual orientation a higher priority to God than the starvation of 5 million children per year? See http://www.bread.org/. God’s highest wisdom? Belief is required for action to occur. The priority of the religious is sex in bed over the starvation of 5 million children annually? That's an immoral conclusion.

Is it God’s will to send a message to American youth that discrimination is an acceptable ethic? Are the followers of a loving God saying they don’t believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and are they saying that all men are not created equal? If this type of thinking the height of their God’s moral wisdom, I want no part of it. More immoral conclusions.

[Why do nonbelievers have to continually point out the immorality of religious dogmas and the immorality of the people for believing in these insulting and insane precepts?]

Christians laugh at others who believe in Zeus, Buddha, Allah or Elvis. And Christians demonize those who do not believe. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” See Psalm 14:1and Psalm 53:1. How dehumanizing is this type of religious teaching? It’s insulting to hear this type of talk aimed at the human race.

The numerous divisions of religious organizations alone points to a major flaw in religious belief. Then take the dividing of friends, families and communities due to religious beliefs, this is immorality at the core. Then to top it off, the religious claiming that killing others for their nonbelief is insane. If religion is so fantastic, why does it not unite everyone worldwide regardless of anyone's belief? Because it's simply not true.

Christians reject the dogmas of all other religions except their own. The religious deeply understand the reasons as to why they reject all other religious teachings.

Christians are atheists to all other religions. Christians will never admit this, but they know exactly what it feels like to be an atheist to all other religions.

Why don’t Christians understand that nontheists reject the non-Christian religious teachings for the same reasons as they do? Nontheists simply go one religion further and reject the religious teachings of Christianity as well.

Is it moral to believe that your sins can be forgiven by the punishment of another person?

“Is it moral to believe that your sins can be forgiven by the punishment of another person? Is it ethical to believe this? I submit that the doctrine of vicarious redemption by human sacrifice is utterly immoral.

A positively immoral doctrine that abolishes the concept of personal responsibility on which all ethics and morality must depend.”

—Christopher Hitchens (debating Alister McGrath)

Link for Hitchens/McGrath debate.

Do the religious know the definition of "respect", "indoctrination" and "cult"?

Do the religious know the definition of "respect", "indoctrination" and "cult"?

I doubt it, they are afraid to know the truth at all costs.

Respect:

3. esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.

4. deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect's right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.

5. the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

Which exactly why the religious' unending request to receive respect is a con and swindle. We don't respect religious beliefs of others, for the same reason why people won't ever respect the belief of an adult who has an invisible friend.

Indoctrination:

1. to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., esp. to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.

Imbue:

1. to impregnate or inspire, as with feelings, opinions, etc.: The new political leader was imbued with the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

Cult:

1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

The first definitions of a cult describe any common religion believed by the masses today. And the religious don't get it when people don't take their religious beliefs seriously.

Conclusion 1:
Believers see all other religions as false, they understand this. They understand the definitions of the words above in the context of all other religions other than their own.

Conclusion 1a:
However, when it comes to their own religion, they tense up, feel offended and don't understand the definitions above and certainly don’t see how the same definitions above apply, to their own religion.

Conclusion 1:
Change the subject to all other religions in the world but their own, and the light goes on again and they understand the meaning of the words above and their definitions and how they apply to all other religions.

Conclusion 1a:
Change the religion back to their own religion and immediately, at the flip of a switch, the light goes off and they don’t understand the definitions of the words above and they certainly don’t see how any of the words above could apply to their own religion.

Conclusion 1:
Change the subject to any religion other than their own, they understand the above words.

Conclusion 1a:
Change the subject to their own religion, and they not only don’t understand the words above and but they don’t understand how they could apply to their own religion.

It's an endless circle.

Is it time to move the Statue of Liberty?

I think it's time we move the Statue of Liberty to the Arizona-Mexico border.

Huffington Post article: The Arizona of 2010 Is the Alabama of 1963

Religious belief and respect.

Why should I respect anyone's religious belief that claims to know the impossible?

I don't and many people don't and you shouldn't either.

Oh, do you respect the belief of religious terrorists? I guarantee you the faith of the religious terrorist is stronger than a religious person who does not terrorize in the name of their god.

For those Christians who are now as mad after hell reading this. Pick up a dictionary and look up the word, "respect." Or is that too much of a challenge for you?

Is God deaf?

Examples.

A selfless prayer for would be for two Christians (Or how about 1,000 Christians or more? Maybe you need more for a big prayer? Not sure the Bible is not clear on this one.) to pray for one amputee to be healed. Of course, no amputee has ever been healed by the power of (thunder and lighting) God.

However, I wonder what excuse Christians will use to explain why their all powerful God can’t do something as simple as restoring a person’s limb? Salamanders can restore their tail without even praying. Obviously, it can’t be that hard of a thing for a god to accomplish if a salamander can do it on it's own.

How about two or more Christians praying that all cancer be healed worldwide over night? This is a selfless prayer. What excuse will Christians use to explain why God won’t answer their prayer.

How about praying to God to spontaneiously heal all people with birth defects? Is this too big of a task for God to handle? What excuse will Christians use to explain why God won’t answer their prayer.

Is God deaf? Not sure of the answer?

God is imaginary.

Church seats empty.

Imagine a religion which stated that all people are equally important, have inherent worth and dignity.

A religion that says it takes all of us to make our planet a good place to live. Gay, straight, lesbian, bi, trans, black, white, red, brown, yellow, etc., Asian, African, Indian, Mexican, European, etc., female, male, intersex, gender neutral, young, old, tall, short, thin, muscular, heavy, handsome and homely.

What if churches did this hundreds of years ago?

Churches, today, would be packed and their bank rolls would be overflowing.

Intelligence does not preclude credulity.

"Intelligence does not preclude credulity." I'm wondering if I'm the first person to publish these words in this order? Not sure. Mike Hampson

A quote by Blaise Pascal.

“Men (and women) never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” —French mathematician Blaise Pascal

A quote by Physicist Steven Weinberg

“Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.” —American physicist Steven Weinberg

What about magicians? Why would this be important?

Magicians? Hmmm... tricks, smoke and mirrors. So what? Deception, trickery, ruse, sham, fraud, con, cheat, swindle, racket, hoax, deceit, dupe, defraud, bamboozle, take advantage of.

When boys, girls, and trans are young, it's fun to know a secret and fool people. Some continue as an adult either as a hobby, a part-time or full-time job. So what?

For those magicians who study Houdini, it becomes apparent quite early that he wanted to believe in spirits, ghosts and the after life. He and his wife started out with a spiritual act which was all tricks, pretending to be a spiritualist. He knew the tricks.

When his mother died in 1913, his interest in the paranormal increased and he did everything he could do, to find a way to the other side to speak to his mother. He wanted to find the door to the other side but never found it.

However, Houdini found something. Houdini found that all the psychics were using were tricks and ruses. He searched his entire life for one paranormal thing to be true, he never found one paranormal event to be true. Ever.

After Houdini's death, many scientists, intellectuals and magicians have studied the paranormal and world religions and have found none which measure up. None are true. There is no magic. Except for magic tricks, that is magic tricks for magic shows, for entertainment.

Take a lesson from magicians, believe in yourself and your own humanity to solve your problems and to find meaning in your life. Why even consider devaluing your own humanity by thinking an invisible old man is out there, somehow, influencing your life.

Belief is a virtue? No, it is not.

People take pride in blindly believing in religious nonsense and then are offended when you point what utter nonsense religion is.

They scoff at all the other cults and religions for not getting it right. When asked point blank if they see the similarity between their blind belief and other the blind belief of people of other cults and religions, they look at you with a straight face and say, no, I don't see the similarity.

Making water into wine. Alchemy? Walking on water? Wow. A burning bush? Is a light year more incredible with a burning bush?

I wonder if followers wonder if string theory, quantum mechanics and astronomy beat the stories of the Bible. Was the burning bush the best a god could do?

The promise of infinite life or infinite punishment. Was this the best a god could come up with? Do good things for bad reasons. It is immoral to suggest that people do good things for bad reasons. Is that the best way to motivate people? No, it's not.

Where is the justice? Finite sin equals infinite punishment. Really? There is no limit to the punishment for doing finite things? This is absolute justice? No, it's not.

Could these things have been written by a god? No. Could these thing have been written by ancient primitive men trying to explain the world around them in the culture and science of their day? Yes, of course.

Enya.

Some suggest that if everyone would listen to Enya's music, there would be no more wars.

If all uptight religious people would listen to Enya, would they come to the conclusion that we are all equally human?

Would the masses then agree on the universal moral that we need to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person?

We are all atheists. A very appropriate quote.

"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." —Stephen F Roberts

Muslims Threaten To Kill South Park Creators

Anderson Cooper reported on April 20, 2010, on CNN, that Muslims in the United States are threatening to kill the South Park creators. See CNN report here.

Who insists that we respect anyone's religious belief, now?

Note: The last few minutes of this video have excellent words of wisdom from Ms. Aayan Hirsi Ali who has been in hiding in the United States due to Muslim threats on her life.

Sam Harris' quote on challenging a person's religious belief.

“…we are offending people [by challenging their religious beliefs], but we are [also] telling them that they are wrong to be offended.

Physicists aren’t offended when their view of physics is disproved or challenged. This is not the way rational minds operate when they’re really trying to get at what’s true in the world.

And religions purport to be representing reality and yet there's this peevish and tribal and ultimately dangerous reflexive response to having these ideas challenged.

We are pointing to the total liability of that.” - Sam Harris.

We are calling the believers on carpet and they don't like it. Too bad, so sad.

We are calling the believers on carpet and they don't like it. Get used to it.

People are sick of the ridiculous claim that their faith (or belief) in religion demands an exaggerated measure of respect.

And people are sick of those who claim that you know, for sure, that people are damned to hell without religion.

"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -Christopher Hitchens

We don't respect your belief. Period.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

The claim to fame of the faithful is that the stakes are high. Believe or burn in hell. Obviously, a Christian knows that the Islam faith is not real, it's a false religion. The Koran did not get it right. Their belief is wrong. And Muslims feel the same thing about the Christian faith. Christianity is not real, it's false. Their Bible did not get it right. Their belief is wrong.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

Christians have told me time and time again, they respect the faith of others. What a lie. What liars they are. LIARS. They believe, due to their faith, that all other religions are false, fake, zero. Therefore, Christians, Muslims and Jews don't respect other people's faith. They simply don't.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

The only reason why the religious claim they respect other people's faith or belief, is if they did not say this, then it would leave the door of criticism open to their claim that everyone needs to respect their faith. If they say they don't respect another person's faith, then they have taken the first step in pointing out that no one has to respect another person's faith. They would not be able to make the claim that faith demands respect.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

You only respect the people in your own club. What are some other reasons Christians, Muslims and Jews don't want to admit they don't respect other people's faiths? Because this would prove that religion actually divides people, it does not unite the world's population.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

One of religion's major flaws is that no religion unites everyone. To gain members, a religion has to recruit. If the religion is so great, why does it have to recruit in the first place? And religion only unites it's own believers, maybe. In truth, religion does a bad job of uniting their own people. Look at all the different denominations in Christianity. The believers of the same faith aren't even on the same page. It's disgusting.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

Why don't we respect your belief? Because the only way the religious can get respect for their beliefs of insane ideas is to demand respect for it.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

The claim to know the impossible is insane.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

The fact is, no one knows the impossible.

We don't respect your belief. Period.

I should repect your religious belief? Never.

Why should I respect anyone's belief that claims to know the impossible?

To those Christians or other religious people who are shocked that someone dares to call the faithful on the carpet, here's a commandment you can't go wrong with: Look up the word "respect" in the dictionary, now.

Why do the religious hate gay guys?

Why to the religious hate gay guys? We've figured out how to have great sex without women. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.

A quote from the President of Iceland.

A reporter makes a comment to the President of Iceland, “This vast plume of ash has caused so much disruption throughout Europe.”

His response, “Absolutely, absolutely, and I think it is a very important lesson to all of us, that the forces of nature are still at work and they are so formidable, that they can bring to a stand still, the most advanced economies in the world.

And somehow we need to start planning our societies, not just here in Iceland, but all over Europe and other parts of the world, on the premise that things like this are going to happen.

So maybe it is useful to us, to get accustom to every now and then to go back to the days of boats and trains and easy travel and relax a little and take time to reflect on the relationship between man and nature.” –President Olaf Ragnar Grimmson, Iceland.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8629051.stm?lsm

Richard Dawkins reasons for not debating a creationist.

Richard Dawkins (A brilliant British scientist, ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science author) would never debate creationists for the same reason why a geographer would not debate flat earthers. And the same reason why a reproductive scientist would never debate someone who believes in the stork theory.

Need another huge immoral dogma found in the Bible? Easy.

Asking people to do good things for bad reasons. This is immoral. Do good things or you will (thunder and lighting), go to hell, forever! How revolting.

Obviously, knowing that the Bible asks people to do good things for bad reasons is the first step in understanding that society's morals did not come from Christianity.

Where do morals come from? From human beings.

Here again, Christians say that morals come from their Bible. Another way that Christians bash our own humanity. It's disgusting.

There are many good reasons to do good things. Ever since people have been living in communities, humans realize that it's better to be nice to each other and work together, than do the opposite. We get along better as a community when we are nice to each other. This is where morals come from, people.

Saying morals come from an old, fatherly invisible man is quite insane.

It is easy to point out the immorality of the Bible. Case in point, the Iceland volcano.

I wonder how many Christians are happy about the volcano erupting in Iceland? Hoping that it gets bigger? Which Christians are hoping for more major natural disasters or cities being completely blown to bits by nuclear warheads?

This secret death wish, by Christians, for major disasters to occur world-wide is one of the top immoral dogmas of the Bible, hands down, which they embrace without question. This type of thinking shows a complete lack of regard for human life.

Christians will scoff at being called immoral for their secret death wish type of thinking. They will quickly claim to be part of the surely you don't mean me club. Christians denying they have a secret death wish makes sense. How embarressing is it, to acknowledge the mythology you believe in, is false?

Why do Christians allow themselves to enjoy this secret death wish? Christians claim that life will be better after death. This is why this immoral dogma is easily and widely accepted among themselves. Christians claim they know what happens after someone dies.

Is there a problem with this line of thinking? Of course! To say you know for sure, that you know what will happen after you die, is something that is impossible to know, let alone prove. To say your god is real is another impossible claim, ta boot.

"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -Christopher Hitchens

The truth? No one knows what happens after death. Most people are satisfied that we don't know what happens after we die. Sane human beings realize that all plant life, animal life, human beings and even stars will eventually die. This is the order of the cycle of life.

This is also why sane humans embrace our humanity and know that life is precious and dear to us. We are abhorrent and disgusted by anyone or any group of people who have a secret death wish for the masses based on the writings of ignorant primitive fearful men who lived thousands of years ago.

Not sure which god to believe in? There are 2,850 gods listed on this site.

Got faith? Got belief? Great! Not sure of which god to believe in? No worries! Here is a god database, just for you! They boast a list of 2,850 gods. Safety in numbers is so comforting, isn't it?

See: http://www.godchecker.com/

Anyone see the folly of believing in a god?

Who wants to replace reason by faith? Not good for you.

"The problem to begin with, the replacement of reason by faith. The discarding of the one thing that makes us important and useful and different from other primates, in favor of something that requires no evidence and just requires incantation. Not good for you." —Christopher Hitchens

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are taking steps to arrest the Pope.

Christopher Hitchens talking to MSNBC's Tamron Hall about arresting The Pope during his Britain visit in September 2010.

"This isn't a test of church doctrine, it's a test of church conduct. The non-immunity of church from law." -Christopher Hitchens

See MSNBC interview with Hitchens here:

Youtube video with Hitchens.

See Center For Inquiry (CFI) article here:

CFI article.

Victory for the Separation of Church and State.

A victory for the separation of church and state. Federal Court Rules (April 15, 2010), National Day of Prayer Unconstitutional. Thank goodness. See article here: See article here.

For those who need a reminder, do you want "In Allah, Buddah, Zeus and Apollo We Trust" on our currency? No, hell no.

What do we want on our currency?

What it used to say, "E Pluribus Unum," out of many, one.

Outrage. The movie.

Outrage is a movie which publicly outs in-the-closet gay politicians who consistently vote against gay rights issues.

Many of these politicians marry women who don’t realize (or they do realize) their partner is a gay man. Some of the in-the-closet politicians are not married. Many of these in-the-closet gay politicians are funded by right-wing Republicans who use their money to persuade these weak gay people to shred every ounce of integrity they have.

If must be a fun game for right-wing sickos who like use money as an incentive to make others lose their integrity, self-worth, self-respect and their own humanity. The funders of these politicians and the in-the-closet gay politicians voting against gay people are the scum of the earth.

The movie is called: Outrage

Official Movie site. http://www.outragethemovie.com/

IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049400/

I might add, that every politician taking bribes from corporations are scum of the earth also. I guess that makes most politicians scum sucking scum suckers. The downfall of our Republic will be the politicians who make U.S. law based corporate wants and not based on its citizen's needs.

The Getty Center - Los Angeles

This is a long blog entry.

After traveling to many cities in Europe and Asia, I've seen many museums. I remember when The Getty Center (near the 405 Freeway) was being built in Los Angeles and when it was finished, most people's comments held The Getty Center in high praise.

After many years, for the first time, I visited The Getty in March (2010) of this year. Big disappointment for me. Here a list.

To get from the parking lot to the museum, you are forced to take a people mover from the parking lot to the museum area. It's a waste of time for the visitors and an obvious waste of money for the upkeep of this small mechanical system. Why not simply build the parking lot next to the museum?

When I first got off the people mover, I needed to find a restroom. There was a hard to locate sign for the bathrooms, which I finally located. I guess the architect never thought that a restroom area close to the dropping off/waiting area of a small mass transit system would be necessary for the convenience of large groups of tourists. What do I know? I’m not an architect, for god’s sake.

However, the bathrooms which I did find and use, have plenty of stalls and have tall ceilings. I do give the architect the credit for building pleasant bathrooms to use.

When I first arrived at this facility, the first thing I wanted to know was the layout of the facility and to find out where the restaurants/cafes were. Of course, there are no guide/maps at the entrance of the people mover or at its exit. You have to somehow, in the middle of many stand alone museum buildings, by osmosis, find the one building with the only information booth which has guide maps of the facility.

When looking at the guide map, the first thing I noticed was the main restaurant’s name which is called, “Restaurant.” As a person who has been in sales, marketing and advertising, for years, I was deeply disappointed in the lack of creativity in the naming their restaurant.

The main restaurant is in a building next to the museum arriving area of the people mover. Of course, there was no signage on the building of the “Restaurant” facing the people mover’s arriving/debarkation area, it is a solid wall with no signage. Without a guide map, the “Restaurant” building looks like another museum building and does not resemble in anyway, shape or form, a restaurant.

In fact, why was the restaurant's building architecture the same as the rest of the museum buildings? Why not make the "Resaurtant" building a unique building? Hasn't the architect ever seen the former Chart House restuartant in Palm Springs? A fantastically gorgeous building for the "Restaurant" and "Cafe" could have been built as a contrast to the museum buildings.

It turns out that the “Restaurant” is on the top floor of the building and a café, called, "Cafe" is in the basement of it’s building. The food in the café, or as they call it, "Cafe" is actually better than average but the tables and chairs in the café leave much to be desired. So it turns out the only sit-down restaurant called, the “Restaurant,” is located in the back (northwest area) of the museum facility.

If one walks past the “Restaurant” and then walks into the entrance of the museum with the information booth, continue walking south and at the end of the facility is an incredible, fantastic view of Los Angeles. From the lookout area, one can see Hollywood, Westwood, downtown Los Angeles, and all the way west, to the coast.

Now while standing on the lookout patio, if one glances back at the museum building, you see a building with almost no windows. What’s the point? Did the architect actually visit the property before designing this facility? The restaurant is in the wrong place. The restaurant was built where there is no view.

Imagine a restaurant (and café) that was built on the southeast end of the property which took advantage of the spectacular view of Los Angeles? It would be an architect's dream to build a fantastic multistoried restaurant with lots of windows for the customers. How about a restaurant where all the walls are glass?

It’s almost as if the architect or the funders deliberately wanted to keep visitors from enjoying this view. They will never tell or admit to their mistake. This, I am sure. But no! There is no restaurant or cafe on the southeast corner of this property.

In fact, the lookout area provided for tourists is a very small patio. How disappointing! However, on the top floor of the most southeast museum building is an almost hidden but beautiful patio with tables and chairs, with a view. This incredible view, at least, allows those in the know, a place where someone or some people can have a nice place for a picnic.

There is at least one place on this museum facility that allows a visitor to relax, enjoy a snack or meal (which they bring on their own) and take advantage of a picnic area with a view of Los Angeles. I'm not sure how this happened. Luck of the draw?

The graphic design of the museum brochure is at best, better than average; however, with that amount of money, the brochure could be much better. Their brochure/map makes it difficult to figure out the names of each museum building, for starters. The brochure does not have the sophisticated look that one would expect with a museum touted as a highly funded “must see” attraction in Los Angeles.

The facility is built on a hillside. So, naturally, the Central Garden is built on a slope. To enter the garden, you begin on a downward sloping sidewalk which zigzags several times over a small stream. At the end of the sidewalk is a large sculpted flowering hedge in the middle of a pond, the dead-end of the garden. Then to get back to the starting point of the garden, a long trek up a steep grade is required. A disappointing garden, at best.

If you are looking for one continuous majestically designed museum building, you won’t find it here. The museum is not one continuous building. There are many smaller separate buildings that make up the museum all connected by outdoor walkways.

The museum buildings are connected with outdoor wide walkways which are very inviting, when walking. These walkways give visitors a refreshing space while walking and tables and chairs have been strategically placed for visitor's use.

I also like the interior of each museum building and the contents of the museum are fun to see and are presented in a proper fashion. A lower café has been designed well for the visitor, with a view to the southwest. At least there is some view from this café.

By the way, did you see their web site? The logo in the upper left hand corner has the words, "The Getty." Okay. Click on the museum tab and it boasts, "J. Paul Getty Museum" and glance over to the right column and see the words, "The Getty Center." It turns out, if I got it right, that the website is for both the "The Getty Center" (just off the 405) and the "The Getty Villa" (in Malibu). Confusing at best.

Now click on the "Contact Us" link at the very bottom of the web site. They list a street address without the name of the facility. Simply go to the United States Post Office website, and they recommend listing the recipient, or company or organizations name first, then the street address and so on and so forth. However, The Getty, is apparently, too lofty to follow United States Post Office's recommendation listing a mailing address.

Actually, since the "The Getty" website is for two of their facilities, why not list both facilities contact information on the Contact Us page? Too difficult or too easy?

The correct way to list a mailing address, per "The Getty" or is it "The Getty Center" or is it the "J. Paul Getty Museum" is to simply list the ADDRESS without the name of the organization or a contact person. Why does any company or organization insist on confusing it's customers and potential customers?

Height bigotry in the straight world.

A straight male friend of mine pointed out to me that with most straight couples, the male is taller than the female, with the exception of short wealthy guys. I thought I'd do a simple experiment. I was shopping at Costco this week and out of all the straight couples I saw, 99% of the time, the guy was taller than the female.

I talked to two Costco female employees at check-out, explaining my new understanding of height bigotry in the straight world. They both said they hated to admit it but said it was true, that women typically only want to be with a guy who is taller than her.

The one Costco female said she is 1/2 inch taller than her husband and she feels very self conscious about this. She said, even though they are happily married, she still worries about it.

The question is, what's the big deal about this? The big deal is that millions of women have probably passed by a better man simply based on his height.

I have one thing to say about height bigotry in the straight world: It's disgusting.

An Appropriate Quote.

"Why is it that people believe it? [Religion.] I think I can make a guess. I think people are afraid of dying and I also think they can be persuaded that an exception can be made in their own case." -Christopher Hitchens

Why not respect my belief? What's so hard about that?

If I told you I know—for sure—that I'm winning the lottery this week, would you respect my belief that I know—for sure—that I'm winning the lottery?

You'd say, I don't believe you. It's just a belief.

If I spent thousands of dollars from my checking account purchasing things for myself because of my belief of winning the lottery this week and I told all my friends I was doing this—when I did *not* win the lottery, what would people think of me?

They would think I was foolish and acted on wishful thinking, at least. Don't you agree? I'm sure other people might think I was insane or at least, temporarily insane.

Do we respect beliefs?

No.

No? Errr...

Hell no.

That's better.

Why would anyone be so easily taken to believing that things must come from the outside, the supernatural?

Why do so many people in the United States and elsewhere look to the outside for answers? Religion, karma, astrology, for example. We are the highest primates on earth with an incredible brain, intuition, reason and instinct, for most of us.

We simply need to look within for good problem solving capability, for answers, hope, creativity, purpose and fortitude. When people look to the outside, to the supernatural, for anything you don't understand or anything you need, all personal responsibility is taken away which all morals and ethics must depend.

Are you certain that your god is real?

"Given the amount of uncertainty that we have, and given how much more we know about how little we know (the definition of education in our civilization), the only people who have to lose in this argument (God is real, I know God, I talk to God, etc.) are those who say they do know, claiming to know things they cannot conceivably know." -Christopher Hitchens.

We don't reward people for wishful thinking.

"We need to cease to reward people for pretending to know things they do not know. And the only area of discourse where we do this is, is on the subject of God." – Sam Harris.

Why is religious moderation dangerous?

Why is religious moderation dangerous? The categories generally accepted of those who are believers are religious moderates, religious fundamentalists and religious extremists.

Starting backwards, most would agree that religious extremists are dangerous for society. Religious moderates and religious fundamentalists always cry out and say, they are not part of *our* groups! False. Religious extremists are faith based groups.

Religious fundamentalists say, our religion is right and all the others are wrong. I'm sure we can agree that the religious right, by my definition, does not like any type of religious organization than their own.

What about religious moderates? Religious moderates spout quite contently that all faiths are okay with them. What the hell? Religious moderation by definition support religious extremists. How many times have you heard religious moderates spout, you can't criticize another person's faith? It's a bullshit statement.

People don't respect beliefs, we only respect reasons. For example, change the subject from God to the lottery. If I told you I believe I will win the lottery, do you respect my belief of winning the lottery?

If I change the subject from God to a diamond. If I said to you that I believe there is a diamond buried in my back yard the size of a refrigerator and this belief gives me meaning to my life. I have found peace in my life by having the belief there is a diamond buried in my backyard the size of a refrigerator. I know this is a truth because I believe and you can have this same belief also and have peace in your life.

If I said this in a job interview, I would not be taken seriously. If I made this statement at a political rally, I'd never be voted into office. Yet publicly claiming a belief in a god is respected, by many, in our society.

Times have changed. There are many secular countries, based on UN studies, who's quality of life indices are much higher those societies with a high population of religious believers.

It is time that religion is outed for what is really is. Religion is mythology. Religion is dangerous for society at large. All religions are man-made. And religion is an insult to our intelligence.

Most of what I have written is paraphrased from after watching a Sam Harris video.

Study Links Religion and Racism

Study Links Religion and Racism, By Carl Marziali on February 10, 2010.

Why There is Religion

This is a transcript of a Youtube video with Sam Harris speaking. The transcript begins at the two minute mark into watching the video:

"I view religions as essentially failed sciences. Religion was the discourse that we had when all causes in the universe was opaque. We didn’t know the basis of anything. We didn’t know why we were here. We didn’t know how diseases spread or what disease was. We didn’t why people died early and why others flourished. We don’t know what causing thunderstorms or what’s causing crops to fail.

We very naturally as a cognitive and behavioral imperative we formed descriptions of the world and we try to figure out what’s going on. We tell ourselves stories about our origins and about where we are going and about causes in the world.

Those stories given our pervasive ignorance and our disposition to see agency in the world, to view ourselves in relationship to the world, these stories entail being in relation to invisible friends and enemies. So we have this parent figure and this guy who is going to take care of things if you live rightly and we have other demonic presences that which we should be really worried about.

Gradually, what you see happening, as rationality and dozens of specific sciences were birthed in the human conversation, you see religion on a hundred fronts losing the argument with science.

On the front of human health and disease, it used to be that you could get a diagnosis of demonic possession, that was a reasonable thing to believe that you had, if you were having seizures. But now we have a science of neurology and we know about epilepsy and so when your kid has seizures you don’t go to the church to get him diagnosed and treated by exorcism. And so that’s a good thing.

I’m saying that religion is losing the argument on every other front, it’s losing the argument ethically, it will lose the argument spiritually, I mean we will understand spiritual experience so well at some point, at the level of the brain, at the level of the way in which using attention in certain ways can change the human experience.

We’ll understand it in a way that makes a mockery of this kind of denominational religion talk about Jesus and grace or about Buddha and magic powers. And that will break down in the same way it’s broken down on medicine. That’s a process we have to be honest about and let it unfold."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lu7OePVglE

Why I like Sam Harris

I like Sam Harris because he is one of the smartest and well spoken people I've ever seen. I know of no religious person who can even come close to Sam, intellectually. The icing on the cake? He's hot.

It's Time to Pass U.S. Health Care Reform

The function of government is responsibility towards it's citizens. Yet, in the U.S. there is still an anti-state political culture.

We don’t like to call a government program using "central". We have a central bank but it’s called the Federal Reserve. We don’t call it the Central Revenue Service, we call it the Internal Revenue Service. Americans talk the anti-socialism talk but don’t walk the walk.

Americans say they don’t want a socialist government but some of the strongest support for socialist programs are Social Security and Medicare. What about the farm subsidies that the government provides? Socialism? No one balks at that?

We have government sponsored libraries, the postal service, public parks, public roads, police departments, fire departments, ambulance service, NASA, the Navy, the Army, the Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard and Homeland Security, to name a few. In fact, which politicians balked at Homeland Security? Practically no one. For that matter, who balks at all the above services that are in place to help U.S. Citizens?

Look at the government intervening recently with the many bank bailouts and the three top car manufacturers in the U.S. Yet, people yell and scream horror at the idea of government intervention for health care reform but did not balk at the banks and car companies being helped. If the U.S. government did not do so many good things for it’s citizens, western civilization would be completely different today.

The function of government is responsibility towards it's citizens. It is "We the People" not "We the Corporations". To help our citizens, we simply shift some funds from promoting war and death and spend the money on life. It is time we start walking the walk and pass health care reform.

Religion (or Faith) is Dangerous for Society at Large

Faith is dangerous simply because you are willing to be brainwashed by a primitive text and contemporary religious leaders. You are proud to allow the hijacking of your mind then expect others to respect your belief.

Here is the process: Check your mind at the (church) door, think poorly of others who encourage you to think, blindly follow the dogma even if it goes against your better judgment, try to get others to check their minds at the door and to think poorly of others who….

A Field Guide to Critical Thinking:

Here is the link to: A Field Guide to Critical Thinking

What's Wrong with Religion?

The problem with most religions, is that people who would normally not have any reason to hate others, now have a reason to. And they'll hate you with a passion. They will tell you they don't hate you to your face and talk to you in a nice way. Isn't that nice?

If you ask them, "Why do you feel justified to hate others?", they will deny they hate. In fact, they will tell you they don't hate anyone! God forbid! How could anyone say this about a loving Christian? Are you nuts?

This is what they say: Those people, those not believing in our god, are sinning against our god. We have seen the light, they have not. They are wrong, we are right. They are bad, we are good. And furthermore, the words, "intolerance, hatred and bigotry" which first spread from our churches, to our families and ultimately into our communities are words which would never have the effect (as you say it would) of dividing people, communities and nations.

In the back of their minds, as they talk to you, they feel proud to hate you (oops, it's call love) since their god hates you. They are justified in hating you. When believers are alone or with their own kind, they will talk about how other humans have fallen by the way side. Of course, they don't call it hate! It is simply the correct way, per their god, to view others.

When talking to Christians point blank, and after saying to them that society has not only moved forward from the immorality of the Bible and in fact, has surpassed the morality of the Bible, they disagree. That society has acknowledged this type of behavior, the hating of others base on their sex, race or sexual orientation, is morally wrong.

Christians are in the "surely you don't mean me" club because they answer in this way: It's God's way! Can't you see this? We are not doing anything wrong. We are not hating anyone. We are blameless. We are clean. Who are you (and I) to question God's way? Our brains can't even begin to comprehend who our god is and how he thinks! Don't you get it? Our god is incredible!! If society moves forward and advances intellectually, morally and ethically, ignore this people! Our god says the older methods of hatred are best!

Even though it is true their god is an intolerant hateful bigot towards part of humanity, for Christians, this is okay. Of course it's okay. Their god approves it! It's not intolerance, hate or bigotry for Christians because this is their god's morality! It's his way. It's okay. It's all good!

Their god does not hate in our contemporary society. Their god used to hate in the Old Testament but in the New Testament, he changed his mind. Now he's a god of love and peace. Hatred is not in his vocabulary. So, when their perfect Bible which was inspired by their all perfect, all wise god says it's okay to hate others, Christians say great! It's okay! It's not a problem! Don't you see? God is telling us to do this! We are allowed to hate, errr, oops, I mean we are allowed to love others in the way our god wants us to love you, it's god's will!

So, even though our society has passed laws against discriminating against race, sex and sexual orientation, god secretly-to this day-doesn't approve of acknowledging that every person on earth, are all part of the human race. We all bleed the same color. This is not god's way. I can accept the way of my hateful god because he knows more than I do! Which is why I'm so happy to be a Christian. It's fun to judge others and hate others and then pretend we don't! God, I love this religion!

On top of this, Christians are proud they were the lucky ones who were discovered by their (thunder and lighting) god! I am so lucky! I am one of a chosen few who know (thunder and lighting) a god! Wow! I'm one of the few people who know this is really true! This is really cool!

You can't see him, you can't touch him, he's invisible! Wow. But I know for sure, I am certain, he exists. And you must not say that I'm crazy because I believe in an invisible god because there are millions of other people who believe the same way I do. So, if the masses believe in an invisible god, we are not crazy! Who are you calling crazy? Not me!

I'm better than those who don't believe this! I certainly don't admit to others that I think this way, but nevertheless, since I really do believe I do know a god, and that he will give me a life after death, it's pretty hard to not feel better than other people who don't belives this. Hmmm, it's basically impossible to not feel better than others. Which is exactly why it's impossible for people to deal with me. I have seen the light! I am told by my god to view you this way. So, it's okay for me to be intolerant, hateful and bigoted toward others!

Of course, it's funny how before the U.S., before our Civil War, many Bible thumping preachers and believers believed that slavery was okay per their god. For those who don't read the Bible, the Old and New Testament do teach us that slavery is okay, as long as we are fairly nice to our slaves. Today, you don't see Bible thumping preachers and their followers touting the benefits of slavery. Wait! Christians now take their morals from society and not the Word of their perfect god? What's wrong with this picture?

And after the Civil War, segregation was popular in the U.S. There were signs which said "white only" and "colored" for water fountains, bathrooms and places of business. Of course, this was okay by Bible thumping preachers and followers. Segregation was a relief for believers. They could at least, be for segregation and rationalize that this was almost a good of thing as slavery was, in the Bible. It was not exactly slavery but it at least segregation was a good way to divide people. Us versus them.

In 1967, Loving vs Virginia was the "landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, by a 9-0 vote, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States." -Wikipedia.

Hold it! Loving vs Virginia overturned what court ruling? Which court ruling did it overturn? Hello out there? Which one did it over turn?

Pace v. Alabama (1883).

Who has heard of Pace v. Alabama (1883)?

What was Pace v. Alabama (1883)?

In Pace vs. Alabama (1883) "The court argued that it was the duty of the state to protect marriage as a public institution. The state needed to protect married couples "against disturbances from without." By such "disturbances" the court meant interracial relationships. Intimate relationships between whites and blacks, "elements so heterogeneous that they must naturally cause discord, shame, disruption of family circles , and estrangement," were incompatible with the white family life that the state needed to protect, the court argued. Therefore such relationships had to be prohibited, and interracial couples had to be broken up." -Pace v. Alabama (1883), Wikipedia

Well, now I know. I know who has heard of Pace vs Alabama. The religious right homophobic intolerant, hateful bigots! That's who. The religious right nutcases of today use the very words from the Pace vs Alabama court ruling.

Back to Christians being impossible to deal with, this is why. If a god gave you a brain, he'd want you to use it. People of faith say you have to ignore reason to believe in their god. Why would any god want you to ignore reason and critical thinking skills when your "god" gave you a brain. However, this is exactly why it's next to impossible to deal with Christians, because they believe they don't have to use their brain and they are urged not to think for themselves and use their own judgment to make good decisions on an every day basis. They prefer being told what to do.

Also, it makes no sense to say you don't have to use your brain, when thinking about whether your religion is true or not. Would a god want people to blindly follow him? Would he want people that gullible to follow him?

This notion of following a god or worshiping a god is nuts. A perfect god needs nothing. A perfect god does not need to be believed in, or followed or worshiped. Think about it. If a perfect god would reveal itself to the masses, why would it do this? It's perfect, it needs nothing. If a perfect god felt he had to give a scripture for his people, it would be the most perfect timeless book of morals and ethics the world has ever seen and would apply to all cultures and time periods in human history. This would be child's play for a perfect all knowing god.

What's wrong with religion? All regions are man-made. Sin is a man-made concept. The Bible was written by ancient primitive men who were simply trying to explain the world around them in the culture and science of their day. And, they did not do a very good job of it.

Do You Believe the Bible is the Inspired Word of God?

Do You Believe the Bible is the Inspired Word of God? Yes? Great.

Do you believe society's morals come from the Bible? Yes? Great.

Do you believe homosexuality is wrong? Yes? Great.

Do you read the Bible? No? Then, why did you answer yes to all the previous questions?

If God wrote a book, don't you want see what He has to say?

For those who read the Bible, read on:

If God is all powerful, all perfect, all wise, omnipotent, and knows past, present and future, why did He not write a perfect, timeless book filled with high morals and wisdom that would apply to any culture in any time period of human history on earth?

If you read the Bible and claim it to still be perfect, why do you ignore the hundreds of nutzo verses? I know why. You are desperate to believe you have found the key to everlasting life and don't want to miss the chance of living forever in "heaven".

The fear of not knowing what happens to you when you die drives you to believe the absurd notion that somehow a God can extend your life beyond death. It's funny how the masses so easily accept the delusional thinking that if science doesn't know the answer then you simply say God did it.

Why are we here? Science does not know. God put us here!

What happens to us when we die? Science does not know. God determines where we go after we die!

In the 1400s, 1500s, etc., people would say, why did we have a drought? Science did not know. God must be mad at us! Wrong!

Now science does know. We have droughts because we are on a living planet and it's called Earth Science. Now the masses can't say that God causes natural disasters. The masses know better, there is Earth plate tectonics which cause earth quakes, storms which cause flooding, cold weather and hot weather due to the tilt and distance earth is from the sun.

Now, any question that you or science can't answer does not make it necessary to believe in any god to help you find an answer that leaves you satisfied. If you don't know the answer to a question about earth or life, we simply say, we don't know.

Maybe science will find the answer some day, maybe it won't. But it's okay, as we are simply human beings and we will probably never know all the answers. I don't have to believe in any form of mythology just because I don't an answer.

Ted Olson - Straight, Conservative, Republican, 42nd United States Solicitor General, Attorney and the Right is Mad.

For those who don't know, some gay activists prefer to wait until the majority of public opinion is in favor of gay equality before gays march into the courtroom. At the outset, it makes sense, why throw money at a bad case, then lose the case and then lose the money spent on the case.

Gays know that equal rights is equal rights is equal rights. Pious Christians of course, are proud their God hates those who they hate and feel their hatred should by rights, be made into law.

(Pious: practiced or used in the name of real or pretended religious motives, or for some ostensibly good object; falsely earnest or sincere)

Of course, since their God hates gays, pious Christians are not really hating anyone, are they? They are simply following in the foot steps of their (thunder and lighting) God.

And pious Christians who believe their religious beliefs should be made into law, never, ever, acknowledge that a free country allowing the worship of any religion or god without restriction, would have to by rights, make all religious laws from all religions into government law because fair is fair.

However, pious Christians, since they are the only ones with the true God and true religion, would never want non-Christian religious dogmas made into U.S. law. They would be outraged!

Here is what we know. Pious Christians believe that hatred of other Americans based on their religious beliefs is sanctioned by their God. Hatred of America as a melting pot is un-American. Pious Christians don't believe in equal rights. This is un-American. Pious Christians don't believe in the separation of church and state. This is un-American.

We have many people in the United States who don't believe in American ideals, yet they think they are upstanding Americans! It's very gross and I wish they'd leave our country and live somewhere else, don't you?

Then there is the voice of reason. Ted Olson. When it comes to Gay Marriage (actually, it's Marriage Equality) Mr. Olson calls a spade a spade. He hits the nail on the head.

And Mr. Olson knows that it does not matter what public opinion is, when it's concerning protecting the rights of U.S. citizens. Equal rights is equal rights is equal rights. Mr. Olson knows that if someone is not being afforded equal rights by U.S. law, the time to change the law is now and not later.

Mr. Olson has some gay clients who want to have the equal rights to marry each other. So, Mr. Olson and David Boies are taking California to task and demanding the equal rights of it's citizens be recognized.

Mr. Olson also has a nice article in Newsweek concerning this entire affair. The first line of the Newsweek article starts out like this:

"Together with my good friend and occasional courtroom adversary David Boies, I am attempting to persuade a federal court to invalidate California's Proposition 8—the voter-approved measure that overturned California's constitutional right to marry a person of the same sex."

The first sentence of the article cuts to the chase and the article never loses momentum. The Newsweek article is found here: Newsweek article.

It's All Good

When people say, "It's all good" my question is, "How do they know it's all good?"

A Quote From Carl Sagan

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought!" The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?

Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths." -Carl Sagan

Why do I call people (of faith or mysticism) on the carpet?

Why do I call people (of faith or mysticism) on the carpet? It's like telling a child they are doing something wrong.

All mythological beliefs of old and new (including but not limited to: all religions, psychics, astrology, superstitions, Post hoc ergo propter hoc [thinking], reincarnation, cults, chain letters, karma, trying to use a cosmic explaination for terrestrial events, astral projection, ESP, telekinesis, witchcraft, clairvoyance, too many to list here) shows people's failure at logical reasoning and critical thinking.

Child, two and two is four. Two and two does not equal what you feel is right.

Sherlock Holmes 2009 Movie Quote

Sherlock Holmes: [To Watson] Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

"Post hoc ergo propter hoc, Latin for "after this, therefore because (on account) of this", is a logical fallacy (of the questionable cause variety) which states, "Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one." It is often shortened to simply post hoc and is also sometimes referred to as false cause, coincidental correlation or correlation not causation. It is subtly different from the fallacy cum hoc ergo propter hoc, in which the chronological ordering of a correlation is insignificant.

Post hoc is a particularly tempting error because temporal sequence appears to be integral to causality. The fallacy lies in coming to a conclusion based solely on the order of events, rather than taking into account other factors that might rule out the connection. Most familiarly, many superstitious religious beliefs and magical thinking arise from this fallacy.

The form of the post hoc fallacy can be expressed as follows:

* A occurred, then B occurred.
* Therefore, A caused B.

When B is undesirable, this pattern is often extended in reverse: Avoiding A will prevent B.

A class of examples is sometimes called the "Rooster syndrome", for "giving credit to the rooster crowing for the rising of the sun"."

--All text above from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc

"While I was at the zoo, I had a headache. When I saw zebras, my headache went away. Therefore, my headaches go away when I see zebras. Now when I have a headache, I drive to the zoo, go to the zebras and my headaches go away. Isn't this an amazing discovery I have found?"

"I prayed for God to heal me of the flu. The flu is now over. God healed me! Prayer works." Problem. Christians pray to God when they have a self-limiting disease. A self-limiting disease is one which will heal naturally without medical aid. Therefore, Christian's logic, pray to God for flu to heal. I'm healed. God healed me. Hell, prayer really works! Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Now is my Post Hoc hypothesis that Christians love logical fallacies, correct?

If Christians truly believe that God heals their medical diseases, why do Christians bother to schedule surgery? Why not just pray to their all powerful God to heal them? In a car wreck? Hell, don't accept the ambulance service, just pray to God to heal you. You broke your leg, simply pray to God. You are coughing up blood, just pray! Oh, God won't heal you? Is there something wrong with your faith? Excuse. Your God doesn't heal those things? Excuse. God only answers certain prayers? Excuse.

Start with the premise there is a God, then start tap dancing and make hundreds of excuses why God won't heal what only a surgeon can fix. Or start with the premise there is no God and be happy we have science and modern medicine.

Why are people of faith afraid to admit they simply believe in mythology of old? The operative word is fear. Fear of dying without knowing what happens. Christians and other people with mythological faiths wrap up death with a bow and say death is only a transition to a better life. Bullshit.

Death is a horrible thing because our life ends. It is final. No heaven or hell. Death is not the beginning. Death is the end. Atheists enjoy living, the beauty of life and the beauty of the world more than any Christian (or people of faith) can ever do because non-theists know there is only one life to live.

Why do nontheists distrust people of faith?

Why do nontheists have a difficult time trusting Christians and other people of faith? Simply because if a person is willing to compromise their logic and believe in ancient or newer mythology then what else will this person be willing to compromise?

Christian lackeys are quick to approve of institutionalized homophobia, bigotry, sexism and intolerance. Or as Anne Lammott put it, "You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

How to make the world a better place.

If all religions ceased to exist, the world would instantly become a better place.

Death alone reveals there is no God.

Death alone reveals there is no God. What God would create something so beautiful and allow it to die? It would be child's play for a God to create an immortal being. What God would allow hardships to constantly face his creatures?

If you were a God, would you have done it this way? Probably not. Wouldn't you make humans beautiful people with body's that would remain as the age of a twenty something year old?

Sin created death? Blah. Gross. What God would create such a nasty thing as sin? Sin is man-made. Sin makes no sense. There will always be good and bad people, whether you believe in sin or not. If you were a God and you had to create sin, they why not just forgive everyone? You are either a loving God or you are not.

If you were a God, why create sin? It makes no sense. Finite sin requires infinite punishment. In our modern society, we know this truth, that the punishment has to fit the crime for justice to exist.

Finite sin requires infinite punishment per God. Where is the justice?

There are only two options. God is real. Which means lots of head tilting and excuses why there is no justice for finite sin requiring infinite punishment. Or God is not real. When we say God is not real, everything makes sense.

Sin, religion, God, heaven, hell, angels, Satan where all man-made by ancient primitive mean who created religions to explain the world around them based on the culture and science of their day.

God of the gaps. If I can't explain it, then God did it. Where did I come from? I can't explain it, God did it. Why are we here? I can't explain it, God did it. What happens when we die? I can't explain it, God did it.

Why was my surgery a success? A trained surgeon worked on me. Why was there an earthquake? (Am I so egotistical that I think something that I personally do or not do in bed causes the earth to shake?) No, we live on a living planet, with a molten core and there is plate tectonics which is constantly shifting all the continents of the earth.

God did not create an earthquake, hurricane, tsunami or flood based on what people on earth are or are not doing? My walking down a road does not affect if it will rain or not.

When we can explain things around us, we don't say God did it. When we can't explain things, why do people cop out and say that God did it? Why can't you admit to not knowing something?

If I can't explain things, I simply say I can't explain it. Science can't explain it. I don't create a religion simply because I don't understand the world around me. Also, I don't simply turn to mythology to explain things in the world that I don't understand.

On prayer.

Christians will claim God heals self-limiting illnesses. If a Christian needs surgery, the Christian knows that God will not heal what only surgery can fix. The Bible clearly states in many places that if you pray in Christ's name, he will answer your prayers. God certainly has never healed an amputee. Why can't God find some charity and heal an amputee once in a while?

There are only three answers to prayer: Yes, no and later. These answers are certainly not supernatural. You can pray to a tree and you will get the same answers.

Christ says if two or more people pray in my name, I'll answer their prayer. Why not pray for cancer to be healed worldwide, overnight? Why not pray to end hunger worldwide, overnight? Why not pray that all amputees in the world be healed overnight? Why not pray that all blind people be healed, worldwide, overnight? Why not pray that all deaf people, be healed, worldwide, overnight?

Let's be honest here: Christ supposedly healed the blind and deaf, why won't he do it now? Is He out of touch with reality? Did he lose some of His powers? Did Christ lose compassion? Why can't He now find any mercy, love and caring for His creatures today, right now?

Since no Christian knows the answer to his, the fake excuse always touted as God's highest wisdom is, "That's the mystery of God." If God's highest wisdom is to do nothing, then why would anyone want to be part of this scam?

Remember, Christians will claim that prayers work. But when you call them on the carpet on specific compassionate prayer requests which never work, they quickly back peddle and use any excuse to explain why their ALL POWERFUL GOD (make thunder and lighting noises here) can't do something as simple as heal all amputees, heal all blind people overnight, or heal all deaf people, overnight.

When you take the premise that Christianity is mythology, then it's easy to see why that amputees, blindness, deafness, world hungry is never supernaturally addressed, overnight, worldwide, by a god.

I know what Christians are saying, prayer does not work like this. Yet another excuse for your ALL POWERFUL GOD! Don't you read your own scriptures? Why do I have to repeat YOUR SCRIPTURE, Christ said that if two or more people pray in my name, I will answer their prayers.

When you say that prayer does not work like this, you are saying you know more about prayer than Jesus Christ. Really? I take Christ's word at face value. If prayer does not work when two people pray a selfless prayer, for example, that all blind people are healed and when it does not happen, then obviously there is only one reason for this. Christ was not a god. Christianity is simply mythology.

Salamanders heal themselves everyday without prayer. However, with a small, selfless prayer, God won't even heal one amputee.

Do you believe in a supernatural being?

It's amazing that people are gutsy enough to claim to know a supernatural being. An invisible being that no one has ever seen. Uh huh.

If I told you I talk to an invisible friend and this invisible friend helps to guide my life and in my heart, I know he is real, I know in my heart, I really do know in my heart that my invisible friend is real and my invisible friend reveals universal truths to me--you'd tell me to get psychological help.

But if someone claims they know (make thunder and lighting sounds) God, that is socially acceptable. Uh huh.

Bake Sale

Wouldn't it be wonderful if education in the U.S. was fully funded and the military had to hold bake sales when they needed to purchase new war machines?

A quote.

"Where knowledge ends, religion begins." -Benjamin Disraeli

If Jesus was really a god...

"If I had the power that the New Testament Narrative says that Jesus had,
I would not cure one person of blindness, I would make blindness impossible;
I would not cure one person of leprosy, I would abolish leprosy."

Joseph Lewis, Answer to Preacher Jack Coe, Miami, 1956

Is God Fair?

"Is God fair? The Christians say that God damns forever anyone who is skeptical
about truth of bunkistic religion as revealed unto the holy haranguers. What
this means is that a God, if any, punishes a man for using his reason.

If there is a God in existence, reasons should be available for his
existence. Assuming that such a precious thing as a man's eternal future
depends on his belief in a God, then the materials for that belief
should be overwhelming and not at all doubtful.

Yet here is a man whose reason makes it impossible for him to believe in
a God. He sees no evidence of such an entity. He finds all the arguments
weak and worthless. He doubts and he denies.

Then is a God fair in visiting upon such a skeptic the penalty for his
inevitable intellectual attitude? The intelligent man refuses to believe
fairy tales. Can a God blame him? If so, then a God is not as fair as an
ordinarily decent man. And fairness, we think, is more important than piety."

E. Haldeman-Julius, "The Meaning Of Atheism"

Egotistical

Egotistical – 2. an exaggerated sense of self-importance. -from www.webster.com, July 11, 2009.

The word "egotistical" is how I describe any person who claims they know, talk and get direction from any god.

Another vision. Eliminate as much plastic as possible.

Eliminate all plastic ware and plastic straws. Plastic takes a long time to decompose. Use wooden chopsticks and paper straws. Plastics straws are harmful to animals. For years, the San Diego Zoo has refused to give plastic straws with their drinks. Good for the San Diego Zoo.

"I can't use chop sticks." That is hog wash. There are more people in the world who use chop sticks than those who don't. If the majority of people in the world use chop sticks, then we can lean to use them also.

Let's eliminate all plastic food storage containers. What can we use? Glassware. It's time to eliminate as much plastic as possible.

We need to outlaw all plastic that cannot be recycled. It would be easier for all countries if we made only one type of plastic. The number 1 plastic. If we only allowed the number 1 plastic to be manufactured then everyone would know that all plastic can be recycled.

Farming. A vision for America and the world.

It is my vision that we start building farms between every township (or communities). It's funny how people remember the old stories of farmers selling their land to shopping malls, schools and housing developments and making a fortune from their land.

It is time to start tearing down some of the neighborhood and regain that land with small independent farms. Imagine. A farm where people could shop for fresh vegatables, fruit, eggs and meat. Maybe some farms would have a country restaurant on their property.

Some farms would allow field trips to a farm and the children could learn about farming and even do some weeding or planting a garden or field. Hay rides would be available to city kids and organizations. Houses, farm, shopping center, farm, houses, farm, hospital, farm, restaurants, farm, houses, farm.

Faith demands respect? I think not.

"The religious touting that faith is a virtue and finally demanding respect for all spiritual beliefs gives shelter to extremists of all faiths." -paraphrased from "Letter to a Christian Nation", Sam Harris, page ix.

Most people ARE athiests in some form, they just don't know it.

It's funny how religious people are worried about 2012. Aren't religious people atheists to the Mayan faith? Oh wait... aren't all religious people atheists to all faiths except their own?

"Where does it say that in the Bible?" This is the typical response from Christians, isn't it funny how I have to read the Bible but Christians don't?

Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.

Yes, Christians are atheists to all other faiths. The New Testament teachers require Christians to NOT believe in any other gods. You can't even purchase a Buddha statue if you travel to Asia and keep it as a souvenir, it's against the teachings of the Bible. Look it up.

Christians are proud to not believe to all other faiths (which mean they are atheists to all other faiths) because all other religions are mythology of old and honest inquiry of other religions show their scriptures are flawed which means their gods are false.

I'm simply an atheist to all religions because I don't close my eyes at the numberous flawed verses of the Bible and the mythology of Christianity.

The Danger of Religion.

The danger of religion is that liberalism allows fundamentalism which allows extremism. Extremism comes directly from religion and from religious followers touting that faith as a virtue.

What many people of faith don’t know (because they either don’t read their own scriptures or they simply ignore the many horrible immoral and unethical verses of their scripture) is that most scriptures have verses which allow the murder and rape of people with God’s blessing (and have other immoral teachings) which is what allows extremists to kill and murder people.

And because other immoral verses exists in scriptures, concerning the poor treatment of people (Slaves, women, children, gay people--typically people who are not middle eastern straight men.), allow people to ignore their own instinctive moral conscience.

Fundamentalist (and some liberal) believers permit themselves to allow the bad cultural morals of ancient Biblical societies to override our high standards and morals of our modern society. Christians today, unfortunately, claim interpreting the Bible in this way allows themselves to be justified to be bigoted and intolerant towards other human beings.

How could a God, who should have the highest of morals and ethics, allow horrible texts in his/her scripture? Here is the reason why these texts are in scripture. Because the Bible was not inspired by God or a god. The Bible (and the scriptures of all religions) were written by ancient primitive who wrote recorded their own cultural morals and science into their scriptures which is why the Bible (and other scriptures) are subject to misinterpretation.

Christians claim that certain followers (or people who claim to follow God) don’t interpret the Bible correctly. An all powerful God who knows the past, present and future would know interpretation of his scriptures would be a huge issue.

If you truly believe your God was creative enough to make the entire incredibly vast, beautiful, wondrous, fantastic, mind-boggling and almost beyond measure Universe, it would be child’s play for a God to write a scripture that could not be misinterpreted.

If you were a God, would you want your people to misinterpret your scripture? No. If you were a God, you would certainly be clever enough to write a scripture which would allow no misinterpretation. No tolerance for misintrepretation. If you were a perfect being for that matter, you would not need worshiped. Anyone in their right mind knows this to be true.

Even if all religions had no bad scriptures, to be intellectually honest with yourself, scriptures do not prove there is actually a God. It just means that some people sat down and wrote a book.

If there were scriptures, from thousands of years ago, filled with impeccable morals and ethics, advanced science, first aid and medical knowledge and food preparation then one could certainly make the case that there is probably was a supernatural being (or an advanced alien civilization) who was trying to talk with human beings.

The simple truth is, there is no reason why a god would have to hide himself/herself/itself. Which is why pretending to believe in any god unseen is sheer make-believe.

The danger of religion is the lack of rationality which allows a pretend belief that can lead to extremism. Extremism does include the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, abortion doctors being killed by Christians and suicide bombers.

Blind faith also robs people of facing reality and living life in the wonder of it all. I’ve talked to Christians who say the world is not a wondrous place because heaven will be better. These are sad, sad people.

2012

I want to hold a party in 2014 for those who believe something bad will happen in 2012/13 based on Mayan "prophecy." Then I would laugh at them all and ask the question, "Don't you realize the technique for prophecy is to place the date after the death of the oracle so that when nothing happens at the appointed time, the oracle doesn't have to explain why."

"Well, I don't understand gay people."

When straight people say something like this, "Well, I simply don't understand gay people. It's beyond me." is precisely why our society are having problems such as homophobia, hatred, intolerance, bigtory and equal rights issues.

On counseling kids.

I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico vacationing, several years ago, and my boyfriend and I were sharing a table with a straight married couple (with kids back home) at my favorite Santa Fe restaurant, Cafe Pasqual's. We had a great conversation and were simply enjoying the moment of eating excellent food with good stimulting conversation.

When the conversation turned to the challenges gay kids face growing up, I made several suggestions to the parents. They told me I really should become a counselor for High School age kids. They told me I said things they never thought about. They were glad to meet me and told me they will take the hints I suggested to them back to Chicago.

Another Richard Dawkins quote.

"Faith is an evil precisely because it requires no justification and brooks no argument. Teaching children that unquestioned faith is a virtue primes them—given certain other ingredients that are not hard to come by—to grow up into potentially lethal weapons for future jihads or crusades." -Dawkins, Richard, 2006, "The God Delusion", Houghton Mifflin Company, page 308

A Richard Dawkins quote.

“Even if religion did no other harm in itself, its wanton and carefully nurtured divisiveness—its deliberate and cultivated pandering to humanity’s natural tendency to favor in-groups and shun out-groups—would be enough to make it a significant force for evil in the world.” –Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion, Houghton Mifflin Company, page 262

On parenting.

Most parents encourage their sons and daughters to find a mate. "Son, have you found a nice girl?" "Daughter, have you found a nice guy?" If you know your son is gay, do you say, "Son, have you found a nice guy?" And if you daughter is a lesbian, do you say, "Daughter, have you found a nice girl?" I hope the answer is yes. Sexual bigotry is unbecoming, don't you agree?

Are you uncomfortable around gay people?

Are you a homophobic straight person (or a slightly homophobic straight person) and you feel uncomfortable around gay people? Then you can imagine how gay people feel around straight people.

Witty saying.

You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do.

An analogy.

Here is a nice analogy of the definition of a wall or the definition of an impasse.

1) My parents didn't want a gay child.
2) I didn't want homophobic parents.
3) I have no interest in homophobic parents.