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I heard this on Free Thought Radio and thought I’d find the text and post it.  Enjoy.

Christ, according to the faith, is the second person in the Trinity, the Father being the first and the Holy Ghost the third. Each of these persons is God. Christ is his own father and his own son. The Holy Ghost is neither father nor son, but both. The son was begotten by the father, but existed before he was begotten – just the same before as after.

So, it is declared that the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Ghost God, and that these three Gods make one God.

According to the celestial multiplication table, once one is three, and three times one is one, and according to heavenly subtraction, if we take two from three, three are left. The addition is equally peculiar, if we add two to one, we have but one …

How is it possible to prove the existence of the Trinity? Is it possible for a human being, who has been born but once, to comprehend, or to imagine the existence of three beings, each of whom is equal to the three?

Think of one of these beings as the father of one, and think of that one as half human and all God, and think of the third as having proceeded from the other two, and then think of the three as one.

Think that after the father begot the son, the father was still alone, and after the Holy Ghost proceeded from the father and the son, the father was still alone - because there never was and never will be but one God. At this point, absurdity having reached its limit, nothing more can be said except: ‘Let us pray.’

-Robert G. Ingersoll

Here’s David Mills on WAJR Radio in West Virgina (both his and my home state).  As usual David makes a logical and compelling argument and the locals tear into him like a pack of rabid wolves-as usual.  I’d expect no less from either of them.  When we can’t open the topic of religion up for analysis and debate then we’re heading down a dangerous path.  There was a point in our history where society executed people for that sort of thing.

I also find it somewhat humorous how predictable, ill-informed, knee-jerk, and just plain stupid the counterarguments were.  I can’t say I’m surprised.

Anyway, it’s an interesting appearance and it shows just how pervasive and reason-suppressing religion can actually be.

Listen to David on WAJR

If these won’t get you in the pews then nothing will!

With such a deluge of stupidity and hate coming from fundamentalist groups and religious zealots, it’s easy to get caught up in all that and begin to generalize.  I just listened to a wonderful interview on Free Thought Radio with Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, concerning Bill Donohue and his reactionary group The Catholic League.

It was particularly insightful because O’Brien was very progressive and tremedously logical, reasonable, and smart.  His stance on religion and the protection of secular society was refreshing and thoughtful, and it reminded me that not all religious people are insane or stupid.  I’ve been so innundated with the barrage of fundamentalist idiocy that rules the airwaves and drives …read more »

One of the thing that scares me the most about religious fundamentalism is that ignorance is not only tolerated but encouraged.  The message is to stop thinking and just believe.  Reason, logic, and critical thinking are discouraged, even considered a sin in some cases.

Never is this “tune in and turn off” message more clearly stated than on the back of a t-shirt I saw some teenager wearing about a year or so ago:

The Simple Life: eat, sleep, pray.

Now this is actually considered virtuous by these people.  In this equation there is no thinking, no discovering the world around us, no attempt to learn how the world really works.  There is no attempt to realize our place on the planet, the solar system, and the galaxy.

This mantra is isolationist, disassociating the adherent …read more »

Who says prayer doesn’t work?

Actually there’s not much to post about the final chapters of Genesis; it comes in strong but it really goes out with a whimper.  There’s a great story in chapter 34 about Dinah, daughter of Jacob, being “violated” and her brothers end up revenge killing every male in the city, but only after they trick them into being circumcised and are all then in too much pain to defend themselves.  Seriously, that’s the story.  Anyway, they take all the women and children and plunder the city.  Awesome.

In chapter 37 Joseph, son of Jacob, is sold by his brothers into slavery.  Then in chapter 38 a guy named Judah …read more »

Psalms 14:1

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

This is the basis for this little montage below.  I’ve already mentioned this before but I thought this video expanded on it a bit.  Get ready for a bit of enlightenment.

I didn’t follow Jesse Helms much, probably because he was a bit before my time and already half-dead, but it appears he’s finally ready to take his dirt nap.  I’d like to reference a few of the more meaningful “advances” Helms made before he decided to call it a day.

• In 1950, Helms became an unofficial researcher for United States Senate candidate Willis Smith. Smith was a conservative Democratic lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. While working on the primary campaign against Frank Porter Graham, Helms helped create an ad that read, “White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors

…read more »

So, for ye of little faith, I’m back with another installment of my Bible Study Project.  I’d wanted to get all the way through Genesis and then post but I’ve been running low on spare time so I figured I’d post what I’ve read and then get back to the rest later.  It might be a while before I get back into it; this book is just so damn boring.

That said, here we go back into the bad old days.

First, in 10:8, we read about Nimrod.  I found it ironic that the name of a “mighty hunter” such as Nimrod would eventually become associated with idiocy.  I also like the Forrest Gumpish sound of this line in 10:9:

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”

Genius.

In 11:1-8 we learn of the tower of Babel.  In this story man all speaks the same language and decides to build a tower to God.  God doesn’t want this because working together man can do anything.  So he makes them all speak different languages and transplants them all over the world.  I guess I’m supposed to believe this actually happened.  Why would God be afraid of man?  Aren’t we his creations?  Can’t he just snap is fingers and just make us stop?

In 12:10-20 we have more pimping.  Abram pimps his wife Sarai …read more »