Holy cr*p!

So here's a cute little story, some American chap thinks he's had a message from Yahweh, not a burning bush or a bolt of lightening of course but a splat of bird poo on his windscreen that looks like Jesus (how would we know?). The opportunities for making fun of this kind of thing are like the traditional Christian view of their glorious leader, i.e. infinite, which is strange since this Christian at least thinks he's a shit communicator. (phnar phnar)

There were 10 in the bed and the little one said..

I read that Catholic Cardinal Keith O'Brien has quit his post today. O'Brien is someone I've blogged about several times before regarding his seemingly arrogant and antiquated outbursts on social subjects such as same sex marriage, secularism and abortion when such views appeared in the media. I must confess that it's with a smidgen of  schadenfreude that I see accusations regarding his own (alleged) dubious behaviour have forced him to resign his position only weeks away from retirement.

Against the backdrop of the Pope himself stepping down and various birds coming home to roost regarding the sexual and financial in-proprietaries of several of the candidates in the new leadership race any casual observer could and probably should reasonably conclude that the whole damn organisation is rotten to the core and long overdue for a complete overhaul.

Hopefully justice will prevail and hopefully rational and fair-minded people will not loose sight of the fact that it's not same sex marriage that's "grotesque and unnatural" as Mr O'Brien puts it, rather, it's the ludicrous adherence of certain religions to obsessive, outdated and misogynistic ideas about reality, specifically the realities of human Biology. If O'Brien is found guilty and is truly a moral man he will have a fantastic opportunity to help many other people in similar quandaries by simply admitting that he was wrong and by encouraging people to accept the realities of their own Biology and not cling onto unnatural and harmful abstinences.

Homeopathic cartoon

Atheist Church Services

Here's a wacky idea I came across today, Atheist Church. Well more like church with a small "c" I suppose but it does sound a lot like the other kind to me, with someone at the front talking, audience participation and singing songs etc. I'm not convinced this would be for me. I'd be the one sitting at the back thinking of all the things I could be doing with the time, like enjoying the one life I have, but I can certainly appreciate how some people might feel the need for the community and ritual aspects of a regular gathering like this, albeit minus the supernatural parts.

There was one thing I liked, a clever inversion of Pascal's wager which goes like this,

"In the absence of firm evidence for any particular God, why not to live your life as though it is the only one you have? Every moment will be sweeter, every minute more precious. Then, if there is a God, they will doubly reward you for living a good life without the bribe of heaven, or the threat of hell."

Job hunting?

Saw this today, fine Friday (fun) material..

Dumb news

Ever since the Pope resigned yesterday superstitious people have been scrambling around trying to find some omen to tell them if it's a good thing or the signalling of the start of the "end-times", as they do. The mainstream media picked up on a story that a bolt of lightening struck St. Peters Basilica in Rome a few hours after the announcement, this story has been leapt upon by credulous people worldwide. What a natural imbalance of electrical charge in the atmosphere has to do with job vacancies in the Vatican I'm not too sure, but those among us more prone to believing in the power of non sequitur clearly think it's a sign from their big man in the sky.

This kind of thing always amuses me, if these people really think that their God communicates with us via electrical discharges then why put lightening conductors on tall buildings like churches? Surely this is as "contra Deus" as wearing one of those little rubber thingies, you know, those "man-focused" temporary coverings that also prevent unwanted consequences from other kinds of discharges, a theological quandary if ever there was one.

So the search for a replacement Pope begins, much like organised religion itself really a process involving the perpetuation of worldly self interest wrapped up in mystery, ritual and obfuscation in order to elevate it above the mundane affairs of its "flock" and secure their reverence  The Cardinals need not vex themselves too much though, I'm pretty sure I know who should take over. The answer to their prayers was revealed to me in a dream, there exists a perfectly qualified person; a person who lives in Italy, is not a Woman, definitely not gay, used to handling obscene amounts of money, power and arrogance and to cap it all he's currently looking for a job...

All hail Pope Silvio...

Atheists for Jesus

Following on from the Super Bowl post last week I happened across this, it's some kind of advertisement for Atheism. Very nicely made but slightly odd viewed through English eyes, what's it for I ask myself? I imagine that it plays out better in America where Atheists are certainly under a lot more pressure from the various aggressive religious factions there. I suspect that just having something to accompany the overt (and pervasive) public religious messaging stateside makes non-believing people feel better or maybe it's aimed at provoking fence-sitters, who knows, it's a free country as they say.

ex-Popes

In what sounds like the beginnings of a Monty Python sketch I read today that we now have an "ex-pope", Pope Benedict having quit his post as "Vicar of Christ on Earth" via the somewhat mundane act of releasing a resignation press release through international media channels this morning (what no angels?)...

I'm intrigued, does this mean Herr Ratzinger is now fallible again, will he wake up tomorrow morning, stumble down to breakfast bleary-eyed like the rest of us mortals only to stub his toe on the kitchen table leg and swear like a trooper? The world needs to know! I'd love to be at his next job interview too, so Herr Ratzinger, why did you leave your last job, personal development opportunities not good enough? Did you feel like you were in a bit of a dead end, was your boss simply not listening to you?

Seriously though, I can't help thinking there's some massive revelation about some horrible scandal just about to break across the worlds media, I do hope not.

Super-natural Bowl

Here's a scary statistic, 27% of Americans think that "God" (presumably their God) has a hand in determining the outcome of the Super Bowl. Wow, how conceited can some people get? To think that God would take time out from ruthlessly slaughtering African children by the 000s every day in order to preside over a silly game of football, and not even real football at that!

Dem bones etc.

I read with interest that the bones found under a car park in Leicester are indeed those of late King of England Richard III. DNA tests have confirmed royal genealogy and carbon dating has placed the body at the temporal scene of Richards' last battle Bosworth, where he was killed in action and York begat Tudor as the name of the leading crime family in medieval England, the rest is history as they say. (cue lots of infantile scatological jokes about Leicester)