Show Notes::Beyond the Trailer Park 1/18/2016

For those that listened to BTTP Monday night 1/18/2015 we hit some heady stuff.  While as you can see by the following, I did script out what I wanted to speak to, I sometimes don't stay on point very well or we just plain ran out of time.  Below you will find basically what we talk on concerning hermeneutics with the examples I used of such, if you are so interested.

As many are aware, I am a former Bible and theology student.  I spent 3 yrs in college studying for the ministry.  Although I had a precursory interest in the "proper techniques" of studying the Bible, it wasn't until the issue of my being a lesbian, that it took on a new meaning.

Although I left that career path for psychology and did not graduate from 4 yr college I was exposed to some very excellent instructors and speakers.  I know what I am going to say is going to sound odd coming from an atheist, but think of it as "know thine enemies".  They taught me well, or at least I think they did as I still use what I was taught to this day although for opposite reasons.

I am no scholar nor an expert (although some say that after 25+ yrs on one topic, I could claim that title).  Yes, I have had schooling but I am also self "taught" and my "library" would prolly scare most atheists or at least have them scratching their heads - I have more religious themed or theology books and Bibles (74 different versions) than I do books concerning atheism. 

While my personal interest lays with homosexuality and the bile and surrounding subjects, ie Paulianity, the study principles are universal. Actually hermeneutics is a theory and/or methodology of textual interpretation and now-a-days is used primarily in the interpretation of biblical texts.  But it does have a strong foundation in philosophy as a theory of human understanding (Heidegger and Derrida being 2 names some may be familiar with).  BUT that is way beyond the scope of tonight's topic and falls into the Dave Foda realm of discussion

Along with hermeneutics you will some times hear the word exegesis, for some they are used interchangeably but in my day, hermeneutics was taught as a wider discipline which includes written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. Exegesis focuses primarily on texts or in some cases words.  Hermeneutics looks at the whole picture starting with a word or verse and building out to include paragraph, chapter, book, writer audience and genre.  It builds on archaeology, sociology, history etc..  There is a little bit of exegesis in hermeneutics and a little bit of hermeneutics in exegesis.

So y'all may be sitting there scratching your heads wondering WTF is Dune babbling on about now especially since we are an atheist show.  As many know Deb and I are gluttons for punishment, we like to go into these crazy atheist v theist debate groups and test our mettle along with trying to counter the BS.

For me personally I do have an agenda, besides seeing how many religionists I can piss off, and it does surround the alleged biblical condemnation of homosexuality.  Unlike Matthew Vines who is attempting to change the church from within with his "doctrine" of love, tolerance and acceptance.  I on the other hand want to show that what some interpret as condemnation, is not what they think it is.  If I can get people to "see" what they have been taught MAY be in error,,,, wishful thinking, I know.

My second piece of agendadizing is twofold,

1] noting how when a verse or narrative is put into its complete context, a whole different interpretation emerges.  (Usually the polar opposite of what those in the Reich would like you to believe)

• Deborah and Barak - Judges 4
• For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat - 2 Thessalonians 3:10

To me that deceit is intentional and very damaging, while I may not change the mind of the individual I am debating, it is the audience I am going for.

2] While this deceit may be intentional, it highlights what is so very wrong with the Bile and Christianity as a whole.  Two or three people may look at the same verse and come to different conclusions as to its meaning.  In other words, one can make the Bile say what ever you want it to say if you ignore the overall context, the hermeneutics.

A good example for me concerns,  the Nephilim - the Gen 6 giants.  while from an outsiders POV we may dismiss their existence, from a wholly biblical POV their prior existence can be substantiated (and no need to go outside the Bible - ie Book of Enoch - to do so).  One does not have to make up the elaborate mind games that goes with the Nephilim Scripted ideology.

And finally, and with this point I know I have hit my mark when I get the remark "you're an atheist, what do you know" or "you lack the holy spirit".  This sort of piggy-backs off #2.  Deb can attest to this as I know she has heard it as well, "we" have hit a sore spot.  In other words, we know more than them and the fact that we can support our positions drives them insane.  Rather than rethink their positions, they stick fingers in their ears.

That "lalala" attitude tells me one thing, BLIND FAITH.  They do not worship god, they idolize the men that teach to their dogmatic views because THEY do not want to change.  Like I have said before concerning the creation narrative, remove it, and the house of cards come tumbling down.  "They" are no longer "special creations" and "they" don't like that idea.  [ie Kim Davis]

For those of us raised in religion, we have all heard the adage, "the Bible, so easy a child could understand it".  Well guess what, telling me I need the discernment of the HS to study and understand the book tells me it is not as "easy" as you make it out to be.  Telling me "my" understanding of the text is incorrect because it doesn't match what you have been taught, tells me that it is not as "easy" as you make it out to be.  In other words, the Bile is bunk, and "god works in mysterious ways" just don't cut it.  (I have always said the best places to look for a counter argument to contentious passages, is other "christian" websites,,, the in fighting is brutal at times.)

If two people cant even agree on what the message of the Bible is, then why bother even having such a book.  This, dissension tells me that it is no better than Hesiod's Theogeny or Homer's Illiad and Odessy.  Or want to go further back, how about The Instructions of Shuruppak.

Before delving into exactly what hermeneutics is, there is one point I would like to make if it is not obvious.  I abhor cherry-picking!!  And yes, even though I dislike it, I am just as guilty as the next person.  It does have its uses when supported by sound hermeneutics, the best example concerns divination,,, just as many verses support its use as don't, which supports the contention the Bible contradicts itself, because it does.

So, two things,,,, WTH is hermeneutics? And why do you keep citing the KJV of the Bible?

First my overall approach to reading and studying the Bible.  And yes, as I mention on the show this is going to sound bizarre coming from an atheist but old habits die hard.  (The following statements are based on the presupposition that the "mainstream" Christian God exists and the Bible is His inspired, inerrant, infallible word.)

1]  I do not believe that God would embed secret knowledge in the Bible, using obscure techniques is totally foreign to the Bible’s plain teachings and precepts.

Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

John 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2]  All that God wanted us to know, is recorded plainly in the Bible which is to be read and pondered, not manipulated by those claiming to possess secret knowledge.  This goes back to my point of, "so easy a child could read it".

Daniel 2:27:: Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king;

3]  When studying scripture and one comes across an interpretive problem in the biblical text, one must allow the text to speak and must accept the testimony of the text with a presumption of accuracy.

Now add to that two pieces of instruction I hold to this day.  One I mentioned last week

I was taught that there were two prominent, overall thought processes in regards to biblical interpretation.  The "literal view" asserts that a biblical text should be interpreted according to the “plain meaning” conveyed by its grammatical construction and historical context; its meaning is held to correspond to the intention of the authors.  The second process is what my professor referred to as the "letteral view" of interpretation.  In essence it is a strict almost legalistic point of view.  A good example, that illustrates both views, Christ versus the Pharisees.   Within the Bible, the Pharisees are seen as people who place the letter of the law above the spirit (cf. Mark 2:3–28, 3:1–6).

(The reference above can delve in to the whole moral vs civil vs ceremonial law BS.)

A second piece of instruction that I hold fast to, even as an atheist, is a 5-step process espoused by Henry A Virkler, in Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation (1981).  In Virkler's view this is the best method for attaining the Scriptural author's intended meaning(s).

• Lexical-syntactical analysis :: The how and why of the words used focusing on sentence ordering, punctuation, tense of the verse, and other non-grammatical, lexical and syntactical issues. (Example::Elohim is NOT plural)
• Historical/cultural analysis is self-explanatory.  Know your history, understand the culture the text was influenced by.  (Example::Cultic temple prostitution Ahsteroth in the OT /Cybele in the NT)
• Context, context, context. (Example::2 Thessalonians 3:10)
• Theological analysis ::  A single verse usually doesn't make a theology. To take a verse from one book without taking into account other passages that deal with the same topic can cause a poor interpretation.
• Literary Analysis :: There are several literary aspects that must be taken into account with each genre having a different set of rules.  In the Bible, there are: narratives, histories, prophecies, apocalyptic writings, poetry, psalms and letters. In these, there are differing levels of allegory, figurative language, metaphors, similes and literal language.

And remember there is a difference between someone like Steven Anderson and my college professor (who was also ordained).  But there is also a difference between Matt Slick and someone like Bart Erhman or Mike Heiser.

So that's hermeneutics in a nutshell.  If one takes into consideration all 5 points, you can see how the interpretation and meanings of passages do change.  It also showcases why I use it so much, hermeneutics in and of itself is the best means to show that idolatry of the Bile is bunk.  One cannot force Bronze Age or 1st century moral or ethical guidelines on 21st century society.

Using the OT, specifically the Holiness code (18-27) in Leviticus as an example, it relates primarily to the Levites and priests and their services. Also known as the "Law of the Priests" as it contains the system of laws administered by the Levitical priesthood under which the HEBREW nation lived.

What many "letteralist" like Swanson, Klingenschmitt, Anderson, Manning, Rafeal Cruz, Huckabee yada yada are guilty of here biblical hyperliteralism; it is a false way of biblical interpretation which leads to bigoted statements.  The Bible (whether you accept it as the word of God or as I do as a history of the Jewish people with no authority in how I lead my life) must be read in the context in which it was given. All scripture is given in a cultural, doctrinal, historical, linguistic and religious context; to ignore context is disingenuous at best, deceitful and malicious at worst.

Our discussion concerning the KJVOnly movement will be a separate posting as I am still finalizing some notes and resources.

January 3, 2016::End of the day round-up

3 Keys to Progress the Secular Community Needs in 2016

This involves removing yourself from your comfort zones. Displace yourself within circles you don’t normally frequent. Read and intermingle with queer, disabled, black and brown voices who share their thoughts, observations, experiences, and their grasp on the cultural context of their social relegation and erasure.

Books like God Is Not Great, The End of Faith, and The God Delusion are well-known, widely read, and often cited among nonbelievers. But how many have perused Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels, Why I Am Not a Muslim, The Ebony Exodus Project, or Writing God’s Obituary? What about books not geared towards atheism like What Does It Mean To Be White?, Sister Outsider, Critical Race Theory, or Between The World and Me? How many frequent the blogs or social media of transmen or transwomen who openly discuss their lived experiences or ex-Muslims not associated with “the establishment” that tenaciously tackle many manifestations of social inequalities like Kiran Opal, Sadaf Ali, and Heina Dadabhoy?

Watch This Short Irish Film About a Young Atheist Challenging Religious Authorities

Creationism evangelist: God put contradictions in the Bible to ‘weed out’ the atheists

 
Large Group Of Armed Militia Members Take Over Federal Building

Pakistan Censors International New York Times Article About Atheist Bloggers in Bangladesh

Sarah Palin found something else to quit — and it isn’t her asking for money

You May Be Fined in NYC for Calling Someone the “Wrong” Pronoun

America has lost any semblance of biblical thinking, and this is clearly showing up in the laws and regulations that are being established. Sinful behaviors are being applauded and protected in the courts, and those who choose to disagree with sinful lifestyles are being punished for refusing to condone or accommodate these choices. As our culture continues to reject God’s Word and do what’s right in its own eyes, we can only expect things like this to increase.

As Christians, we need to stand firmly and lovingly on God’s Word. In a culture that has utterly rejected our Creator’s words, it’s more important than ever that we stand boldly on God’s unchanging Word and speak truth,,,

What Leaving Religion Has Done for Me

As I approached adulthood, and began to meet people from different backgrounds, with different beliefs, faith faded and gave way to doubt. I’d always been a curious person, but my youthful shyness and anxiety, combined with my insular upbringing, kept me mostly isolated from the world beyond family and church. It wasn’t until I entered the workforce, and then attended junior college, that I discovered the wider world, one of dazzling variety, and found it suited my personality to a T.
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Many religions, including the brand of fundamentalist Catholicism in which I was raised, lead many adherents to restrict the education of their children to a cherry-picked, often distorted or flat-out-wrong, circumscribed array of ideas, scientific theories, and historical accounts that accord with the doctrines of their faith. Many of these children remain ignorant of the wider world of human thought and history until something in their experience or personality compels them to look beyond the teachings of their youth. For example, my own dear grandmother, out of love but misguided by her piety, did a disservice to the education of her grandchildren by attempting, and in some cases succeeding, to restrict our education in this way. Her religious beliefs led to her conviction that a broad, liberal education offered too many temptations to disbelief, so she felt compelled keep us from learning anything other than that which would accord with her fundamentalist Catholic faith. As I later discovered, she was right, not for the reasons she thought. Truth, in my opinion, holds fast in the face of challenges; it does not give way as easily as error does. Each new thing I learned, then, was not a temptation: it was a window of opportunity for growing in understanding, and for replacing bad ideas with better ones. Fortunately, I inherited, and was inspired by, her adventurous side, her love of people. Over time, I encountered and fell in love with the wider world of ideas, through the people I came to meet and the broader education I eventually received.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Publication Explains How to Shun Family Members

Hospital Refuses Pregnancy-Related Care Again Because of Religious Directives

The refusal of hospitals to allow doctors to perform basic health procedures based solely on religious doctrine presents a real threat to a woman’s ability to access health care. Patients seeking medical care from public institutions should not have to worry that religious doctrine rather than medical judgment will dictate what care they receive.

This image is an excellent way to refute the common "Hitler/Stalin/Mao killed because they were atheists" fallacy

The chart breaks down every death in the 20th century, including those caused by ideology.

Communism, fascism, democracy, Ba'athism and even Catholicism all make the ideology breakdown but atheism does not. That's because Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were not motivated by atheism.

If there is an omnipotent god, one that can end disease and cancer, he's got a lot to answer for. Also, this is just a really cool chart. Yes, I am a nerd.

[Source: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/20th-century-death/]

The Eternal Regret of Ananta

I do not how else to preface the following other than to sa just read it.  Thank you to Matthew Facciani for sharing.

This is a piece written by Farid Ahmed, a friend of murdered secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das. Ahmed is the current moderator of Avijit Roy’s Mukto-Mona website. The following is a harrowing account of how dangerous it is to simply write about secular issues in Bangladesh. More people need to learn what life can be like for these brave writers. We need to put pressure on the Bangladeshi government to protect all of their people and end these horrific events. So please consider sharing Ahmed’s article here and especially sharing the petition below to protect Bangladeshi bloggers. This article was translated from Bangla to English by Riasat Ahsan.
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Just a month and a half ago, when the founder of the Mukto-Mona blog, popular science author, and rationalist Avijit Roy was savagely hacked to death with machetes on his way back from a book fair, Ananta Bijoy Das felt grief accompanied by a chill of fear running down his spine. It wasn’t just him; all the Bangladeshi rationalist writers felt uneasiness. Then, just one month later when Washiqur Rahman Babu was also attacked in the middle of the day, in front of scores of people and murdered in the same brutal manner, the fear turned into intense panic. The panic caused many to stop writing or hide behind pseudonyms, and some to lose enthusiasm and only make irregular appearances in the world of writing.

Ananta was no exception. He was also gripped by panic following the murders of Avijit Roy and Washiqur Rahman. He knew that he was unsafe during this turbulent time of hostilities. He maintained a low profile and covered his tracks as best as he could and started living a kind of “life on the run.”  Such a life, however, is not for a normal human being. One cannot remain healthy with the constant anxiety and fear of malicious attacks and an untimely death. Therefore, like many others, Ananta was attempting to go abroad as soon as possible. Doing so would mean leaving behind his beloved country, his dearest parents, and his brothers and sisters. Even so, at least he would be able to heave a sigh of relief, and live his life in freedom.  This was the motivation behind his resolve to leave the country. He wrote to many places and asked several people to write recommendation letters for him to aid his departure. I was one of them.

The Eternal Regret of Ananta

Stop the Jihadi Onslaught Against Atheists and Free Thinkers - The Daily Beast

But matters are not restricted to America or Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia has decided that the “crime” of being an atheist is so grave, that—no joke—atheism has been officially declared a terrorism offense. Meanwhile, free-thinking blogger and Nobel Prize nominee Raif Badawi has been accused of atheism and sentenced to 10 years in prison with 1,000 lashes, 50 of which have been executed. To put the boot in, the Saudis decided to convict his lawyer, too, my friend the liberal Muslim Walid Abulkhair.

And Egyptian atheists have it bad too, whether before or after the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood government there in the summer of 2013.
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So beleaguered is this minority that you can be put to death for atheism in no less than 13 countries around the world today. In 39 countries the law mandates a prison sentence for blasphemy, and six of these are Western countries. Iceland maintains a jail sentence for up to three months; in Denmark it is up to four months; in New Zealand it stretches to up to a year; in Poland up to two years; and in Germany and Greece it is up to three years. Some of you may get through this article and still not feel that those who dissent from the religious identity of their birth are among the most discriminated against in most countries of the world today. But that would only prove my point.

Let there be no mistake. There is a bloody war being waged on atheism. And it is time for us all—especially we liberals and Muslims—to show some of that solidarity we rightly expect from others.
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One initiative among others stands out as an attempt to provide the sort of direct support that these modern-day children of Galileo require. Movements.org is a platform that represents a fundamental shift in how human rights work is done today. The old human rights model of writing revelatory reports, and lobbying governments to act on them, rested on the assumption that information about abuse was simply not available. In modern times, the Internet has ensured that the problem is not a lack of information. The need of the day is to cultivate and connect activists with the support and technical skills they need on the ground. By acting as a platform through which dissenters can post their “needs” they can reach supporters, such as lawyers or tech-experts, who may offer their in-kind services. Movements.org, which works in partnership with The Daily Beast, represents a third way to undercut both dictators and Islamists by cultivating genuinely independent, free-thinking voices.

Stop the Jihadi Onslaught Against Atheists and Free Thinkers - The Daily Beast

Bangladesh charges five Islamists over murder of secular blogger - Firstpost

Bangladesh police Tuesday charged five suspected Islamist militants with murder over the killing of an atheist blogger, one of four secular writers hacked to death this year for writing against fundamentalists.

Police brought the charges — the first in any of the four murders this year — in a Dhaka magistrates court, which will now decide whether to open a trial or order further investigations.

"We've submitted a charge sheet against five people for the murder of blogger Washiqur Rahman. The five were charged with murder," Dhaka police spokesman Muntashirul Islam told AFP.

"They include an organiser of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) and four others who are its supporters," he said, referring to a banned local Islamist militant group which police have blamed in all four murders.

 Washiqur Rahman, 27, an atheist blogger who wrote under a pen name on Facebook against religious fundamentalism — especially Islam and Islamist radicals — was killed near his home in Dhaka in March.

Bangladesh charges five Islamists over murder of secular blogger - Firstpost

ADDENDUM::Lawyer Who Advised Churches in China Faces Secretive Detention - The New York Times

A Chinese lawyer who has opposed a government campaign to tear down churches and church crosses faces up to six months in secretive detention after the police detained him and accused him of threatening state security, his colleague said on Tuesday.

The lawyer, Zhang Kai, who is from Beijing, disappeared into custody a week ago while in Wenzhou, a commercial city on the coast of Zhejiang Province, where many members of the large and prosperous Christian community have fought the government’s efforts to reduce the presence of churches.

Mr. Zhang was in Wenzhou advising a church when the police took him away last Tuesday, and they have since issued an order that could place him under secretive detention for six months, said Yang Xingquan, a colleague of Mr. Zhang’s from the Xinqiao Law Firm in Beijing. Mr. Yang, who was in Wenzhou looking for Mr. Zhang, cited information from the police and Christians in the city.

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Mr. Zhang’s case combines two aspects of tightening restrictions on civic life in China under President Xi Jinping that have alarmed human rights advocates: an intense drive against human rights lawyers and restrictions on religion.

Lawyer Who Advised Churches in China Faces Secretive Detention - The New York Times

Extremist killing of atheist bloggers stirs panic in Bangladesh - The Globe and Mail

“My best friend, my husband is gone. How can I survive in a conservative society like this where I am not safe because I am a woman?” she says. “I want to leave. I don’t want to die here.”

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 The day he was hacked to death with a butcher’s blade, Niloy Chatterjee slept in. Muslims in Bangladesh were preparing for Friday morning prayers but Mr. Chatterjee, an outspoken atheist, had no such demands on his time. He rose at 11 a.m. and walked to a nearby vegetable market while his wife of two years, Asa Moni, scrubbed pots at home.

He returned with potatoes and salt, sweaty from the humidity that drenches Dhaka in the final weeks of the rainy season. He showered, then sat down on his bed with his laptop.

Moments later, he was dead.

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Such writings were controversial even among fellow atheists.

“They were a bit irresponsible,” Mr. Alam said. “You cannot change a society that doesn’t trust you, that hates you, that wants to kill you.”

Mr. Alam has sought to bridge religious differences to enable dialogue. He desires a country “where people are more tolerant about each other’s views.”

Still, the blogger deaths have scared him. He recently installed a welded metal gate at the foot of his stairs and two dogs now stand guard outside his room.

“After Niloy was killed in his home, I got a bit paranoid,” he says.

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For Ms. Asa Moni, hope is far from mind. For three nights after Mr. Chatterjee died, she screamed into the darkness, plagued by images of the attack.

The knock on the door came as her husband tapped at his computer. She opened the door to a strange man who said the landlord had sent him to look at the apartment.

The man was perhaps 20 years old, thin and dressed in a black T-shirt and blue jeans. He walked around twice, then stood in front of the kitchen and began mashing buttons on his mobile phone.

Moments later, three people barged into the apartment, brandishing a gleaming chapati, a rectangular cleaver made to splinter bone. They said nothing, instead moving straight toward Mr. Chatterjee, who had come to the bedroom door.

With their first swing, they severed parts of one hand. Chunks of his fingers fell to the floor.

“Who are you guys?” was all Mr. Chatterjee could manage before an attacker brandishing a pistol pushed Ms. Asa Moni onto the apartment’s veranda. “Save us! Save us!” she screamed.

But the attack was viciously efficient. The men left within minutes, Mr. Chatterjee’s head almost completely severed from his body.

Extremist killing of atheist bloggers stirs panic in Bangladesh - The Globe and Mail

UPDATE::Don’t hurt religious sentiment, IGP to bloggers | Dhaka Tribune

Bangladeshi authorities, the local law enforcement officials, have issued a solution to the "problem" of atheist bloggers being hacked to death:

Terming hurting one's religious sentiment as crime, Inspector General of Police (IGP) has advised the free thinkers not to hurt religious sentiment in their writings.

IGP AKM Shahidul Haque said: “According to laws if any one hurts one's feelings, he will be punished by the law.”
Advising the free thinkers, IGP said: “None should cross the limit.”

According to Penal Code and ICT Act, hurting one's religious sentiment is a crime and according to the law one might be punished for 14 years for such offense, said the police chief.

The IGP held a press briefing at Police Headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday afternoon in the wake of criticism against police following the brutal killing of blogger Niladri Chatterjee NIloy.

If only those atheists stopped criticizing religion,,sigh!!

Don’t hurt religious sentiment, IGP to bloggers | Dhaka Tribune

Pat Robertson to grandparents: Take grandkids 'away' from atheist parents and send them to a Christian school

If it wasn't for the fact that this idea of "kidnapping for Christ" wasn't so real, I would ignore what the senile ole windbag had to say.  But sadly, it has happened and probably still continues.

That aside for the moment, let's flip that scenario.  What if an atheist grandparent suggested taking a child out of a religious school and away from his religious parents?  You can bet Robertson and his colleagues would be crying “Christian persecution.”

TV preacher Pat Robertson suggested on Monday that grandparents should find a way to send their grandchildren to a Christian school if atheist parents were teaching them that God and Jesus were not real.

“Pat, I am very concerned because this past weekend my 6-year-old grandson said his dad told him God and Jesus were not real and were just made up to scare people about dying,” a viewer named Elizabeth explained to Robertson in an email.

Elizabeth said that she tried to “explain the truth” to her grandson but he wouldn’t believe her.
“I’m worried for my grandson’s soul,” she wrote.

“You should be,” Robertson agreed. “If there’s any way you can get that child away from that… His father telling him that. I don’t know, but if there’s any way you can get him enrolled in a Christian school or get him into some, you know, they have daily vacation Bible school and things.”

Pat Robertson to grandparents: Take grandkids 'away' from atheist parents and send them to a Christian school

UPDATE::AQIS says its members killed Niloy Neel | Dhaka Tribune

Ansar Al Islam has claimed responsibility for the murder of secular blogger Niladri Chatterjee.

The organisation also known as al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in an email to the media in the evening hailed the murder that took place around 1:30pm in Khilgaon and threatened to destroy the other blasphemers.
The email was sent from ansar.al.islam.bd@gmail.com.

Police suspect that this organisation is none other than recently banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Previously Ansar Al Islam through its Twitter account had claimed responsibilities for the murder of several other secularist activists killed since 2013.

AQIS in May hailed the killing of Ahmed Rajeeb Haider, Ashraful Alam, Prof AKM Shafiul Islam, Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu and Ananta Bijoy Das.

AQIS says its members killed Niloy Neel | Dhaka Tribune

Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner - Statement on the murder of “Niloy Neel”

As my co-host so aptly states, "If your god cannot endure questions, criticism or insults, then he/she/it is psychologically weak."  In other words if your god, your ideology is so weak that you must kill your opposition you may want to re-think your position.

Following the murders of Rajeeb Haider, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahmna, and Ananta Bijoy Das, today, the Mukto-Mona writer, blogger, and activist Niloy Neel has been hacked to death. He wrote in Mutko-Mona as well as in Istishon, and Facebook under the name of “Niloy Neel” (twitter: #NiloyNeel). In addition to writing, Niloy Neel was involved in various social justice movements and was the founder of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalists Association.

Ansar Al Islam, the Bangladesh branch of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for murdering Niloy Neel in his own home, in front of his family, because of his writing. The fundamentalists continue in their tradition of responding to the pen with machetes; the government of Bangladesh continues to supply the fundamentalists with all that is necessary to keep their machetes honed. One by one the enlightened, the freethinking writers, and activists of Bangladesh, are being brutally murdered. Their only crime is taking a stand against injustice, and superstitions prevalent in society. A machete may kill, in a cowardly manner, a human being of flesh and bone; it cannot kill their ideology. Our fight will continue. With all our strength we will continue to speak our minds, our dreams. For as long as there is even a single member of the freethinking community alive; for as long as a single sentence written by freethinking writers survives.
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Mutkto-Mona strongly condemns the continuing murders of writers, bloggers, and humanists. We call to the government of Bangladesh: Do not pander to fundamentalism anymore. Because no state has been spared by compromising with fundamentalists. Take immediate and effective steps to quell fundamentalism, and to create public awareness against it.

Mukto-Mona Writers' Corner - Statement on the murder of “Niloy Neel”

How Atheists (and Satanists) are Flipping Right-Wing Christian Bigotry on Its Head | Alternet

With a bit more strength in numbers, non-believers are more boldly challenging conservative Christianity’s encroachment on U.S. law. And organized religion has handed them a weapon: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, recently made infamous by Indiana and Arkansas. The acts are intended to protect Christians from serving gay couples and other potential nightmares, but conservative lawmakers may have overplayed their hand, passing laws that enshrine access to atheists, Satanists, Wiccans and others.
 
As one Wiccan leader recently said, “I think these bills are horrible, but if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.” Atheists (and Satanists and Wiccans) across the country are doing just that.

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Newdow’s strategy depends on whether atheism is defined as a religion for the purposes of pluralism, or whether by opposing religion it sits beyond religion’s constitutionally enumerated protections. Whether atheism in fact counts as a religion is less than clear, and is being adjudicated on a case-by-case basis at the local level. Two recent conflicts—both, coincidentally, from the upper Midwest—have indicated a lean toward yes. 

[,,,]

The Satanic Temple’s theory that it could use Hobby Lobby decision to boot the government out of women’s healthcare decisions sounded half like trolling when it was first made last summer. But,,, 

Mary (a pseudonym) told her doctor upon her first visit that the waiting period violates her beliefs. “I regard a waiting period as a state sanctioned attempt to discourage abortion by instilling an unnecessary burden as part of the process to obtain this legal medical procedure,” Mary’s statement read, per an interview with the Riverfront Times. “The waiting period interferes with the inviolability of my body and thereby imposes an unwanted and substantial burden on my sincerely held religious beliefs.” When the doctor denied the procedure, the Satanic Temple filed suit against the state.

How Atheists (and Satanists) are Flipping Right-Wing Christian Bigotry on Its Head | Alternet

Judge Says Prisoner Can’t Represent Fellow Atheist Inmates in Class-Action Lawsuit Over Religious Treatment Programs

As one comment pointed out, "It shouldn't matter if he was the only atheist in prison. If he were a Christian and the program was run by a Muslim organization, you can bet your ass there'd be an uproar and a change of law. But he's an atheist."

From what I could gather, there was nothing in the ruling denouncing the religious program itself, only that Jackson should have been given a similar secular option. (I’m not sure why a taxpayer-funded religious program should be allowed in the first place.) Still, for his sake, this was the right call.

Last November, on the advice of his attorney, Jackson resubmitted his case as a class-action lawsuit. Basically, he was saying that the earlier legal victory applied only to him… but it should apply to all atheists in his situation:

The proposed class is “all prisoners under the current or future control of the Missouri Department of Corrections who do not believe in a god.” The proposed subclass is “all prisoners under the current or future control of the Missouri Department of Corrections who do not believe in a god who are eligible for substance abuse treatment programs.”

In order to sue on behalf of an entire class, though, there are some legal hurdles you must overcome. For example, you have to prove there really are other people out there just like you.
And that’s where Jackson lost the court.
The same judge who first ruled against Jackson in 2012 has now stopped him from filing a class-action claim. In short, says the judge, there’s just no proof that there are lots of atheists in Missouri prisons who may have to go through religious treatment programs:

[,,,]
Dan Margolies of KCUR points out that there may be a silver lining:

[U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan Jr.] didn’t slam the door entirely on Jackson, however. He said if Jackson were able to develop evidence supporting numerosity, “the Court may reconsider its position.”

So this ruling is actually a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the ruling in Jackson’s favor doesn’t apply to other atheists in his situation. The reason for that, however, is that there may not be other atheists in his situation.

Judge Says Prisoner Can’t Represent Fellow Atheist Inmates in Class-Action Lawsuit Over Religious Treatment Programs

Atheism isn't bad for your well being - Business Insider

"The impaired mental health stigma against secular [individuals] is, at the very least, an exaggeration,” write Jon T. Moore of the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Palo Alto, California, and Mark Leach of the University of Louisville. Their research is published in the journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.
,,,

For both believers and non-believers, the researchers found the effect of certainty on mental health was noticeable but small, accounting for perhaps one to two percent of the variance in mental health. This suggests that while belief may act as a “protective factor of an individual’s mental health,” its ability to serve in that capacity appears to be overrated.

What’s more, throwing up your hands and declaring the issue of God’s existence to be unanswerable also has its mental-health advantages: Self-declared agnostics “showed greater mental health values than participants who were only somewhat certain about God’s existence or non-existence.”

That finding affirms the results of a 2011 study that concluded only strongly felt religiosity offers the emotional benefits often attributed to belief in general. As far as our mental health is concerned, it appears wavering beliefs are more problematic than a lack of belief.

The benefits of belonging were clearly supported by this study. “A person’s available social support” was “by far the strongest predictor of mental health in the current analysis,” the researchers write.

Atheism isn't bad for your well being - Business Insider

Jessa Duggar And Husband Ben Prove Atheists Don't Exist But Creationism Does (Video) - The New Civil Rights Movement

Big derp alert!!

Ben interviewed Dr. Lisle, the Director of Research in Astronomy, Apologetics, Physics at the Institute for Creation Research.

For some reason, Jessa Duggar, who is now Jessa Seewald, was not part of the interview, but she posted her husband's video to her Facebook page, writing, "'How can you prove to me that God exists?' Ben poses this question and Dr. Jason Lisle gives a profound answer!"

And what was that answer?

"The evidence of God is ubiquitous. It is everywhere,” Dr. Lisle tells Seewald in the video below. "In fact, Roman 1 tells us that God has revealed himself to everyone, and what that means is, there is really no such thing as an atheist."

Despite being a researcher, he says that he has no need to even prove it.

"I don’t really have to give new evidence to a professing atheist," Lisle explains. "All I have to do is expose his suppressed knowledge of God, because you see, in Romans I again, it tells us that the reason that unbelievers profess, you know, they say there’s no God, et cetera et cetera, it’s not because they don’t know Him, it’s because they’re suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. The Bible says."

God, turns out, exists merely because Dr. Lisle and the Bible say so. And atheists, it turns out, do not exist.

Jessa Duggar And Husband Ben Prove Atheists Don't Exist But Creationism Does (Video) - The New Civil Rights Movement

“You’re a 10-foot-tall crybaby”: Bill O’Reilly destroyed by another Fox host over “War on Christianity” claims - Salon.com

Here's the deal, if religionist want my respect, then treat me with respect.  Quit calling for my (daily) execution because of who I love.  Quit ostracizing me for my beliefs while forcing your theocracy down my throat.  Quit with the platitude of "my church isn't like THAT."  Your silence speaks louder.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” last night, Bill O’Reilly tried to browbeat Fox Business host John Stossel for claiming that Christianity is not under attack in America today — needless to say, it did not go as O’Reilly planned.

Stossel came out swinging, acknowledging that while there are some issues that Christians can legitimately complain about, when it comes to O’Reilly’s “War on Christianity,” the Fox host is “just a 10-foot-tall crybaby.” After noting that Christians are not being killed on the streets of America for professing their faith, O’Reilly could only reply, “No, not yet.”

Not ever, according to Stossel, but O’Reilly was having none of it, insisting that Christians “are being verbally killed.”

“So what?” an exasperated Stossel shot back. “Eighty-three percent of the country identifies as Christian,” he continued, before adding that if there’s any truth to their being “a War on Christianity,” the Christians have clearly won.

“It’s not a matter of winning,” O’Reilly replied, “it’s a matter of respect.” After listing some of the battles he’s led in this war — against department stores that asked employees to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” for example — he railed against the “secularists” who claim “religion is bad” because it stands in the way of “unfettered abortion,” gay marriage, and legalized marijuana.

Stossel, who identifies as a secularist, replied that he doesn’t think access to “unfettered abortions” is really a plank in the secular agenda. O’Reilly countered that if that’s true, then secularists need to stop being mean to religious people, especially when it comes to one particular word.

“You’re a 10-foot-tall crybaby”: Bill O’Reilly destroyed by another Fox host over “War on Christianity” claims - Salon.com

UPDATE::Ex-Seventh-day Adventist pastor takes a yearlong timeout from God - LA Times

No matter what "side of the coin" Ryan chooses, I believe the world will be better because of it. A man of great compassion who will soon discover that the journey never really ends.
__
"Not so long ago I was pastoring a church, and here I am, surrounded by all these atheists singing for shock value about how terrible God is," he said. "It doesn't feel like these are my people. Then again, most of this year, it's been hard to say who exactly my people are."

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This new version of Pastor Bell focused less on individual salvation than social justice. It wasn't long before he was speaking out against Bank of America for what he considered predatory lending practices. Or demonstrating during the Occupy takeover of the lawns at City Hall. Or advocating for gay rights and marriage equality.

All along, his doubts grew. The more he prayed, the more prayer felt useless. The more he tried to reconcile the Bible with science, the more it seemed he was putting together a puzzle with parts that didn't fit. The more he thought about the unceasing suffering in the world, the more he doubted God's existence.

[,,,]
Without a church, living alone, Bell felt dazed.

Recalled Randall Frederick, a close friend and theology student at Fuller Seminary: "He'd just lost so much faith, he did not know what to believe in."

On a rain-swept afternoon at a Pasadena restaurant, Bell and Frederick met for lunch. They joked about a popular book by an evangelical author who had vowed to live biblically for 12 months. An idea came. Maybe, to give his life focus again, Bell should take his doubts to their full conclusion, at least for a while.

Ex-Seventh-day Adventist pastor takes a yearlong timeout from God - LA Times

ADDENDUM::Back to this needing therapy stuff

So, when I initially posted this article, I had a few things running in the back of my mind. Especially in regards to Donahue's statement that his forthcoming book would have the stats to back up his claims. That aside, these two studies came to mind, both of which caused quite a stir among those in the religious right:

Religiosity and Intelligence: A Century of Research

"Despite the ample statistical analysis, the study hits a few stumbling blocks. Firstly it only takes into account analytical intelligence, disregarding creative and emotional intelligence.,,,"

Children exposed to religion have difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction: researchers

Furthermore, this post exposes such prejudice by examining that study. Secular prejudice is exposed by such examples of twisting research. In fact, the research showed that nonreligious children had to be taught to be anti-religious and anti-God to not believe in God. The fact that so many secularists are jumping on to this story shows their gullible bias against God and Christians.

So yea we are going to be a bit fucked off when people tell us we are insane and need therapy.

Bill Donohue: Non-Religious People Need Therapy Since They Die Prematurely And Are Disproportionately Insane | Right Wing Watch

I really like Hemant Mehta's break-down of Donohue's bullshit. Although, I am curious as to the book he says is in the works.

In all of these cases, though, Donohue purposely ignores the elephant in the room: None of these things happen because people are atheists. It has everything to do with the social aspects of it.

Atheism correlates with all those awful things because religious people tend to have things like stronger communities and more hope (albeit false hope) and people to turn to when they’re depressed. Atheists have to essentially fend for themselves or create alternatives that are nowhere near the scope or size of what religions provide.

Similarly, when atheists speak about their beliefs publicly, it’s usually in response to events that make us upset or angry — so we come off as more defensive (i.e. unhappy). Christians, on the other hand, tend to talk about their relationship with God when they’re writing blog posts or books. (These are huge generalizations, of course, but you get the idea.)

So back to the point: Donohue is doing what he does best: Lying to make himself look better. He takes general pieces of information, siphons off all the necessary nuance, and pretends that the evidence suggests atheists are inherently immoral, unhappy, and insane.

Bill Donohue: Non-Religious People Need Therapy Since They Die Prematurely And Are Disproportionately Insane | Right Wing Watch

Religion in China: Cracks in the atheist edifice | The Economist

THE coastal city of Wenzhou is sometimes called China’s Jerusalem. Ringed by mountains and far from the capital, Beijing, it has long been a haven for a religion that China’s Communist leaders view with deep unease: Christianity. Most cities of its size, with about 9m people, have no more than a dozen or so visibly Christian buildings. Until recently, in Wenzhou, hundreds of crosses decorated church roofs.

This year, however, more than 230 have been classed as “illegal structures” and removed. Videos posted on the internet show crowds of parishioners trying to form a human shield around their churches. Dozens have been injured. Other films show weeping believers defiantly singing hymns as huge red crosses are hoisted off the buildings. In April one of Wenzhou’s largest churches was completely demolished. Officials are untroubled by the clash between the city’s famously freewheeling capitalism and the Communist Party’s ideology, yet still see religion and its symbols as affronts to the party’s atheism.

Christians in China have long suffered persecutiont. Under Mao Zedong, freedom of belief was enshrined in the new Communist constitution (largely to accommodate Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists in the west of the country). Yet perhaps as many as half a million Christians were harried to death, and tens of thousands more were sent to labour camps. Since the death of Mao in 1976, the party has slowly allowed more religious freedom. Most of the churches in Wenzhou are so-called “Three Self” churches, of which there are about 57,000 round the country. These, in the official jargon, are self-supporting, self-governed and self-propagating (therefore closed to foreign influence). They profess loyalty to China, and are registered with the government. But many of those in Wenzhou had obviously incurred official displeasure all the same; and most of the Christians who survived Maoist persecution, along with many new believers, refuse to join such churches anyway, continuing to meet in unregistered “house churches”, which the party for a long time tried to suppress.

Christianity is hard to control in China, and getting harder all the time. It is spreading rapidly, and infiltrating the party’s own ranks. The line is blurring between house churches and official ones, and Christians are starting to emerge from hiding to play a more active part in society. The Communist Party has to find a new way to deal with all this. There is even talk that the party, the world’s largest explicitly atheist organisation, might follow its sister parties in Vietnam and Cuba and allow members to embrace a dogma other than—even higher than—that of Marx.

Any shift in official thinking on religion could have big ramifications for the way China handles a host of domestic challenges, from separatist unrest among Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs in the country’s west to the growth of NGOs and “civil society”—grassroots organisations, often with a religious colouring, which the party treats with suspicion, but which are also spreading fast.

The upsurge in religion in China, especially among the ethnic Han who make up more than 90% of the population, is a general one. From the bullet trains that sweep across the Chinese countryside, passengers can see new churches and temples springing up everywhere. Buddhism, much longer established in China than Christianity, is surging too, as is folk religion; many more Han are making pilgrimages to Buddhist shrines in search of spiritual comfort. All this worries many officials, for whom religion is not only Marx’s “opium of the people” but also, they believe, a dangerous perverter of loyalty away from the party and the state. Christianity, in particular, is associated with 19th-century Western imperial encroachment; and thus the party’s treatment of Christians offers a sharp insight into the way its attitudes are changing.

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In recent years the party’s concerns have shifted from people beliefs to the maintenance of stability and the party’s monopoly of power. If working with churches helps achieve these aims, it will do so, even though it still frets about encouraging an alternative source of authority. In 2000 Jiang Zemin, then party chief, and himself a painter of calligraphy for his local Buddhist temples, said in an official speech that religion would probably still be around when concepts of class and state had vanished.

Religion in China: Cracks in the atheist edifice | The Economist