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Re: F6 post# 229299

Wednesday, 12/10/2014 7:36:51 AM

Wednesday, December 10, 2014 7:36:51 AM

Men Got the Whole Bible, and All Women Got Was This Red Tent

A&E

Lifetime has made the story of Jacob's wives and daughters into a two-part mini-series. Retelling the Old Testament through the eyes of women is noble—but fraught.

Emma Green
Dec 6 2014, 8:15 AM ET

The men of The Bible are many: Adam, Cain, Abel, and Noah; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb; Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Job. There are Jesus's 12 male apostles, and the writers of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—let alone the people on the endless lists of lineages that make the Book of Numbers truly drone on.

But the women, the ones important enough to call by name and have their own stories, they're fewer—much fewer. Beyond a handful of starring roles for matriarchs in the early days of Canaan, the ladies of the Bible are often afterthoughts, supporting characters in the drama of young Judaism.

One of these supporting characters is Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob.

In 1997, the author Anita Diamant published a fictional account of Dinah's story, called The Red Tent. The book was a bestseller; and now, 17 years later, Lifetime has adapted the novel into a two-part mini-series, which airs on December 6 and 7.

In theory, The Red Tent is a noble project, an attempt to give women a voice in the narratives of history from which they have historically been omitted. Art often reimagines the past as a way of saying: Did you really see this for what it was? When you recount the binding of Isaac and the 12 tribes of Jacob and the liberation of the Jews from Egypt,

are you really remembering the story in its full form?

Rewriting Biblical history as a chick flick, though, is more of an insult than a feminist coup. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is exactly what Lifetime has done.

The basic plot of The Red Tent is this: Dinah meets Shalem (who's called Shechem in the Bible), a Hivvite and a prince. As in all true love stories, they become deeply devoted to each other during an bout of shy glances exchanged from several yards apart in a crowded marketplace. After knowing each other for 24 hours, they make sweet love, aided by a score of sweeping orchestral music. They decide to get married, but since Shalem didn't ask Dinah's father, Jacob, for permission before having sex with Dinah, he has to make a deal: Get circumcised, Jacob says, and have all the men in your city circumcised, or you cannot marry my daughter. In a show of what's supposed to be truly romantic sacrifice, Shalem agrees.

Pause there for a moment. In the book of Genesis, all of this actually happens, with one key difference: Shechem rapes Dinah. "And Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivvite, the prince of the land, saw [Dinah], and he took her, lay with her, and violated her," the text says.

It's impossible to know whether this means Dinah was forced to have sex against her will, or whether she was "violated" in the sense of not having her father's blessing. It is silly to ask this question, because it misses the point: In no sense did Dinah have control over her sexuality. She couldn't "give consent," because consent wasn't considered hers to give; her body, and her betrothal, were objects to be haggled over for a bride price. Even in the alter-world scenario of The Red Tent, Jacob and his sons debate with Shalem and his father, Hamor, about the cost of marrying Dinah; how romantic, we're supposed to think, that Shalem is willing to give his flesh to own Dinah as his wife.

As the Hivvite men are recovering from being circumcised, two of Dinah's brothers, Simeon and Levi, go to the city and murder all of them.

Specifically, as it's phrased in the book of Genesis, "they came upon the city with confidence, and they slew every male."

In the Biblical version of this story, Simeon and Levi are defending their sister's honor, so to speak: "Shall he make our sister look like a harlot?" they say to Jacob in response to his rage at their actions. In the Red Tent version, this is portrayed as a machismo rampage, revenge for the audacity of having sex with their sister. "We decided to give them a second cut, a little higher and deeper than the first," one brother sneers.

In this retelling, Dinah is given a voice—one she's never afforded in the Bible, a book in which Dinah gets no lines. She criticizes Jacob for his hypocrisy in not condemning Simeon and Levi.

"What would you have me do?" Jacob asks her. "They're my sons."

"And I am only a daughter, which means I am nothing more than a piece of property," she replies.

Theoretically, this is a solid meta-dig at the patriarchal structure of the society Dinah lived in. It's a right feminist criticism for a fictionalized Biblical woman to make, but the context is all wrong: It's solely motivated by her dedication to a man she just met, and her desire to marry him.

That's not to say that Lifetime's version of the book of Genesis should be all power suits and Sheryl Sandberg haircuts. And strong women can certainly want love and marriage, both now and in Biblical times. But the implicit promise of The Red Tent is to deliver a woman's story, to subvert a narrative told through the eyes of men. Instead, it delivers a bundle of modern stereotypes about femininity, how women act, and love, packaged in cliches.

Just to list a few: Dinah falls madly in love with a man as soon as she sets eyes on him. She and this man have a perfect first kiss and perfect first sex, Biblical norms of marriage and chastity be damned, because love conquers all. Once that man is dead, Dinah is rescued by her Egyptian mother-in-law, who turns out to be the stereotype of an evil mother-in-law who steals Dinah's son and eventually banishes her. Dinah makes one friend, who is basically there to raise her eyebrows suggestively when a muscled woodworker shows interest in pursuing Dinah.

"I'm broken, you don't want this," Dinah says through tears before having sex with this new man, a very Grey's Anatomy [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvyjCj9-4-Y (next below)]

moment.

There are many other plot twists—for example, late in the second segment, Dinah is reunited with Joseph, her seemingly one non-evil brother, and her long-lost son, Ramos. After all this time, Dinah's message to Ramos is: "You are your father, and he was the bravest man I've ever known." It is Shalem, the man Dinah knew for a brief 48 hours nearly two decades earlier, who Ramos should aspire to be like, not Dinah.

This posture is present throughout: The women of The Red Tent live for the men in their lives. The actual red tent, where Dinah and the four wives of Jacob would go during their periods and childbirth, is a place for laughing about the follies of men while still being subjugated to their will; for plotting who among them will lay with Jacob that night when he is agitated; for claiming the one sphere given to women, child birth, something they go through again and again to give sons to Jacob, and which eventually kills Dinah's aunt, Rachel.

This cannot be helped; this is how life was, and still is, for many women in history. But for bearing this pain, the women of the Bible and the women of today deserve—and should want—more than a melodramatic love story and conspiratorial dialogue about the mysteries of womanhood. Patriarchy is almost more painful as a chick flick—if only they had true love, The Red Tent suggests, perhaps women wouldn't notice they were being oppressed.

Copyright © 2014 by The Atlantic Monthly Group

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/men-got-the-whole-bible-and-all-women-got-was-this-red-tent/383334/ [ http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/12/men-got-the-whole-bible-and-all-women-got-was-this-red-tent/383334/?single_page=true ] [with comments] [interjections http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P6SmD6yBF0 (with {over 9,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyFM0_AhIYA (with {over 7,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIwiU7thK54 (with comments)]

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Potty-Mouth Princesses Part 2: Girls F-Bomb Domestic Violence

Published on Nov 24, 2014 by FCKH8 [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Uhn0GOuErIBhOA3T79Mkg / http://www.youtube.com/user/FCKH8 , http://www.youtube.com/user/FCKH8/videos ]

They’re back! An all-new posse of Potty-Mouth Princesses drop F-bombs for feminism to raise awareness, funds and a little bit of hell about the fact that 1 out of 4 women will be a victim of violence against women. Get the “Break the Silence on Domestic Violence” charity tank top and join the campaign at http://FCKH8.com

Watch moms and girls talk about making the video and why they spoke out for the cause: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Jl5KmzvLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNXvduPr4Mw [with comments]

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Swearing Sexist Santa VS. 6 Year-Old Potty-Mouth Princesses

Published on Dec 8, 2014 by FCKH8

F-bomb-dropping little girls ask, "How sh*tty would it be if Santa were as sexist as society?" in this funny video from http://FCKH8.com that takes on gender pay inequality. When Santa gives girls useless toys with 17% sawed off to represent how women are paid less for doing the same work as men, these little feminists are sooooo not having it. Share the cause. http://FCKH8.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLoOVbh0g28 [with comments]

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2014-11-23 Megan Fox audits the Field Museum's "Evolving Earth" exhibit

Published on Nov 17, 2014 by Megan Fox [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9XP_Ax4_vTi1IqSSRD9ORQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/intolerantfox/videos , http://www.youtube.com/user/intolerantfox ]

More info on this series of audits of museums in Chicago to expose their bias and lies: http://facebook.com/MeganFoxWriter

In this episode ("Field Museum"), Megan Fox toured the Chicago Field Museum's "Evolving Earth" exhibit to audit it for bias. She found many examples of inconsistencies and the Field Museum's insistence that people support opinion as fact without proof. The Field Museum pushes certain theories as if they are absolute proven law when that is not how the scientific method works. She found enough bias to show that the people who put this exhibit together at the Field Museum pushed an agenda with quasi-religious overtones: the cult of "science" where the "scientists" are more like high priests pushing a religion instead of using the correct scientific method. Aside from having time machines, there is no way these people can be this certain about things they speculate happened millions of years ago before recorded history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32mxZxv3dYM [comments disabled]

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Special Investigation - Evolution

Uploaded on Jan 10, 2010 by NonStampCollector [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDyWzuw_u0TBnRaoAcVg0jw / http://www.youtube.com/user/NonStampCollector , http://www.youtube.com/user/NonStampCollector/videos ]

One of the most fascinating things for me about the whole religion debate, is the quality of the arguments that come from the religious side in response to the atheist/anti-theist kickback of recent years. Quality? It's too positive a word. The quality of the arguments is dreadful.

It truly fascinates me to see these desperately bad arguments, so easily debunked and deflected, coming back at us time and time again. I dealt with one of them in a recent video called "Atheists Secretly Believe in Yahweh", and this video is a similar thing, about creationism's terrible arguments (if you can call them that).

I know next to nothing about science - really, only what I've learnt by being interested in this debate for the last few years. And what is fascinating for me, is that the anti-science (creationist) side have such amazingly bad arguments. Their arguments are rarely, if ever, any better than utterly wrong. They're either flat out wrong, or make things up, strawman style, and then when their errors are pointed out, - they NEVER admit their mistakes, and seem to go on arguing the same things. It is just too plain to see to be a mistake - it's clear that as long as theyve got a flock of believers to preach it to, they'll keep on going like this, even when they are knowingly lying.

So this is based on a debate I recently heard between Kent Hovind and a christian who accepted evolution. Hovind just bulldozed his way through, spouting things that EVEN I know are wrong, and that, I have no doubt whatsoever, he has been corrected on time after time after time.

Its also based on P.Z. Myers famous debate against Geoffrey Simmonds (early 2008) - a guy with doctoral qualifications who didnt know the scientific meaning of the word "theory", and used it as a pejorative. Quite a few elements of the script came from that exchange (whales, ignorance... etc).

There are so many "arguments" or "tactics" that they use repeatedly that I just couldn't squeeze into 11 minutes.
This video also came about by me realising how easy it is to get educated about evolution. I cannot recommend Dawkins' The Greatest Show On Earth highly enough. It is full of jaw-dropping information. It is an unbelievable privelige to be alive at a time that allows us to know so much about our universe. If I believed in a god, I'd be thanking it for allowing me to be alive at such an incredible stage in history, where so many mysteries are being, or have been, solved. Only a few hundred years ago - people didnt even know what stars were! Let alone dating rocks with atomic precision. Amazing.

Creationists - get educated before you argue about these things. And when you're corrected, try to learn something. Can you imagine if Dr. Finch here refused to be corrected about Moses or Noah, and spouted the same mistakes the rest of his life, like Hovind is SURE to do once he gets out of prison?

Thanks to Waldheri for coming up with the surname of the scientist when I asked for suggestions on Twitter. Charles seemed a reasonable given name to put with it.

I also appealed to AronRa for help with the thing about the monkeys - but Im afraid, Aron, that your explanation went way over my head and I was too embarrassed to ask you to clarify further! I played around with it and am confident it isnt wrong.

The thing about creationists believing in evolution should a monkey give birth to a human is directly from Coughlan666.

"Whales don't live for millions of years" came from a Skype conversation with BornInAsphodelMeadow.

I had my doubts when I listened back to Dr. Finch's initial clarification about evolution not being about sudden random manifestations of complex things - it was re-worked about 20 times and I"m still not 100% comfortable with it, but I let it in rather than go for another take.

website and blog: http://www.nonstampcollector.com
twitter: https://twitter.com/nonstampNSC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBHEsEshhLs [with (over 5,000) comments]

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2014-12-02 TEASER: Brookfield Zoo Audit-Megan Fox

Published on Dec 2, 2014 by Megan Fox

Teaser trailer of Megan Fox's December 2014 audit of the Brookfield Zoo for propaganda, misinformation and bad science. Stay tuned for the full audit video coming soon as Megan Fox exposes lies, untruths, and deception in Chicago's zoological community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB-CSa8zLJY [comments disabled]

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Anti-science homeschool mom goes to the zoo, finds dragons

Dec 3, 2014
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/231988/anti-science-homeschool-mom-goes-to-the-zoo-finds-dragons/ [with embedded YouTubes, and comments]

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Conservative Blogger Rants Against 'Propaganda' At Popular Zoo

12/06/2014
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/06/brookfield-zoo-science-mom-audit_n_6271800.html [with embedded YouTubes, and comments]

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John Cleese on Stupidity

Published on Apr 11, 2014 by Robert Grimsby [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmc2skcJa8IO6U-MO9VD1g , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmc2skcJa8IO6U-MO9VD1g/videos ]

Cleese explains why extremely stupid people do not have the capability to realize how stupid they are (excerpt from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Afv3U_ysc ["people like this" referring to Christine O'Donnell, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as Twit of the Year candidates]).

References research conducted by David Dunning and Justin Kruger ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVPdyYeaQU [with comments]

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Richard Dawkins Teaching Evolution to Religious Students

Published on Nov 16, 2014 by Gabriel Antonio [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SbRtCo8NjeXEsyMxYhrvg , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-SbRtCo8NjeXEsyMxYhrvg/videos ]

Dawkins teaching evolution at Park High School, London. He answered several questions of the students, most of whom doubt evolution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNhtbmXzIaM [with comments]

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Special Investigation - Atheist Alert

Uploaded on Oct 30, 2009 by NonStampCollector

Here are Ray and Kent again with another Special Investigation, using all the available information to draw reasonable conclusions about what it means to not believe in their specific deity.

Months and months ago I read on Pharyngula a letter sent to the editor of a newspaper that read almost verbatim to Ray and Kent's conversation here. It was stunning that even if it's only the hardest-core fundamentalists, that anyone can presume that they know anything about a person simply by their lack of belief in something that is so devoid of supporting evidence. In fact, in making this one I based the early script around that letter and let it build up from there.

I lost the url, but kind user CousinoMacul sent me the link. Here's the inspiration:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/07/11/a-lesson-in-atheist-philosophy/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWKDOikIgIs [with comments]

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The Great Debate

Uploaded on May 5, 2009 by NonStampCollector

The fine-tuning argument is NOT fine-tuned to assist believers of particular religions to argue for the truth of their religion's claims.

References cited below.

Inspiration for this one came from listening to a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Frank Turek, co-author of "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" (Geisler, N and Turek, F. Crossway Books, Wheaton Illinois, 2004).

Turek's first 20 minutes were very much like the first three of this video ie, the arguments from cosmology, teleology (the apparent designed nature of the universe), and morality. Some parts of it are direct quotations, other parts are paraphrased, and others I picked up from other theists' videos/writings. To be fair to Turek, he acknowledged that these arguments did NOT lend credibility to the bible on their own, and invited Hitchens to a debate that would deal with the reliability of the bible. I ask, though if you're going to admit that the cosmological argument doesn't prove what you want to communicate, then why bother using it? Christians arent REALLY interested in making atheists into DEISTS, are they? (That's certainly NOT what they're called upon to do in the bible).

These cosmological-type arguments are just so broad and general, that it is a MASSIVE LEAP to go from them, to suddenly arguing for a deity whose name you know, whose values you know (on such things as dietary restrictions and opinions about how you should cut your hair, and, of course, opinions about foreskins), and who apparently has called you into a personal relationship with it. A leap SO MASSIVE, in fact, that no Christian would ever accept it from a Muslim, or vice versa, let alone from a Hindu or a devotee of ancient Egyptian gods.

So this video is not aimed at, or attempting to parody, Frank Turek, but is aimed at those in the youtube Christian community who seem to think that their faith is defended by recourse to the cosmological argument.

Folks, it is NOT.

It never WILL be.

See how ridiculous it seems to you when it comes from someone of another faith? In fact, I found a site that uses ALL of the cosmological arguments that are usually used in defending Christianity, being used to "prove" the accuracy and truth of the Quran.

Here it is, see if these arguments convert you to Islam:
http://www.creationofuniverse.com/

The point of having the atheist remain silent throughout is an attempt to point out two things:

a) that the more theists use these arguments, the more they are simply doing their opponents' work for them, and

b) that we as atheists (or more correctly as anti-theists, as I consider myself) can simply CONCEDE so many arguments and that are intended to stump us. CONCEDE the point, and show the christian that the argument does NOTHING to help them. NOTHING.

What rocks dream of : NOTHING!!!!

So what explains the incredible numbers and precision at the moments following the big bang?

I DON'T KNOW!

But hey, theist:::: neither do you.

And that's OK.

Maybe it was The Goddess...? Maybe it was Great Spirit...? Maybe it was mass consciousness....?

Maybe we'll never know....!

Other sources of information for this video:

The [first, September 2008] Hitchens/Turek debate can be seen on youtube (in pieces [in full (from Turek) at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7WBEJJlYWU (with {over 8,000} comments; next below), also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVZnwZdh-iM (with {over 18,000} comments) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MvQTiWmxWk (with comments), transcript at http://hitchensdebates.blogspot.com/2010/11/hitchens-vs-turek-vcu.html ]) or at:
http://www.vimeo.com/1904911

http://www.indiayogi.com/content/indgods/brahma.aspx [page now dead; see instead e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/deities/brahma.shtml and http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/brahma.asp ]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/amon.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun

The quote about he ratio between the gravitational constant and the electromagnetec constant came from:
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/atheismintro2.htm (accessed April 29, 2009) [the link for that now http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/is_god_real.html ].

I dont know whether it's scientifically accurate but being as the character is quoting a religious website for religious purposes, I dont mind if the information is inaccurate.

Hawking, S. A Brief History Of Time, Bantam Press, London: 1988, p. 121-125

Dawkins, R. 1996 The Blind Watchmaker, Norton & Co, NY p116

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95VTh4FA_gE [with comments]

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What Best Explains Reality: Theism or Atheism? (Frank Turek vs Christopher Hitchens)

Uploaded on Dec 31, 2010 by exposedatheists [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmA6c7NcWYHona6OnRf-dA / http://www.youtube.com/user/exposedatheists , http://www.youtube.com/user/exposedatheists/videos ]

Filmed at The College of New Jersey [in August 2009 ( http://ay-wey.com/videos/?jlid=Fhx83ssvy1w&jltitle )], Frank Turek and Christopher Hitchens meet again in their second debate to give their arguments for what best explains reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlozGOXJNFg [with (over 4,000) comments], http://vimeo.com/6148456 [with comments] [also at (from Turek) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDCDTaKfzXU (with {over 4,000} comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8JQxrKAZY (with comments), and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhx83ssvy1w (with comments)]

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Shitting on Dinesh D'Souza

Published on May 26, 2013 by PolemicContrarian [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf_WJFogpN4_b7f2zdR4vYw / http://www.youtube.com/user/PolemicContrarian , http://www.youtube.com/user/PolemicContrarian/videos ]

This video is a lot longer than I had anticipated it to be. The reason is because Dinesh brought up so much crap, I just couldn't let it all go, and it needed to be addressed. I started making it and then having to refute his utter shit just drained me and I gave it up for a while.

You can see the full [sic - edited/as broadcast on PBS ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VTMs7PSIM4 {with comments})] debate here http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/upcoming-debates/item/728-science-refutes-god [the full debate, held December 5, 2012, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKNd_S3iXfs (with {over 10,000} comments; next below) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xqebJ9Vp4 (with comments)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpMiGlTpDBA [with comments]

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Christianity Debate

Uploaded on Jul 3, 2010 by NonStampCollector

With the flourish, in recent years, of popular and widely accessible debates on this subject, the arguments coming from the theistic side have very quickly become predictable, stale, old, and even less convincing than they may have been the first time they were used.

This debate has to change. Theists - when all of your arguments have been debunked, and you keep spouting them anyway, congratulations - you're not convincing anyone except the credulous and weak minded. Are you proud of that?

I've often thought of opening up a second channel on youtube, on which I could engage in some debates with other users, but every time I ponder the idea I realise that 90% of the time I'd just be bringing people up to speed on what has already been answered a million times in the past. Screw that.

The way I see it, this debate ended a few decades ago. Everything that had been brought to the table then is what we're still seeing being brought to the table now. What we "new" or "affirmative" atheists are doing is trying to knock some nails into the coffin so that this whole thing can be put to rest in what Sam Harris so eloquently calls "the vast graveyard of mythology".

Theists - you simply must educate yourself before you go opening your mouth about all these tired old topics. Evolution. 20th century killers. The U.S. constitution. Atheism and atheists, and what it actually is that they DON'T believe. When you spout them- you get knocked down by the sheer force of facts. When you spout them and then get corrected and shown convincingly that your argument is in fact false, --- and then spout them again - I'm lost for words. Where is the virtue in that? Where? How can you be proud of that? How can you support others whom you see doing that?

I just simply, truly, and sincerely don't understand why christian theists aren't red with embarrassment that in these debates, their side so constantly and obviously relies on misinformation, falsehood and ignorance. How many times does one need to be told that 2 + 2 = 4 before they will stop insisting that it = 7?

I. Just. Do. Not. Understand. This. Situation.

Why. WHY!?!?!?

Of course not all christians are like this. And not even all of the christians who engage in debate are like this. To those sensible christians, I have this to say:

Why not join us in criticizing intellectual dishonesty like this even when it comes from your side? People who knowingly proclaim falsehoods from the podium (or pulpit) are not doing your side any favors in regards to spreading your message or enhancing your side's credibility (which is, you might have noticed, in crisis). People who do it are a liability to you.

One commenter suggested that I should have revealed at the end of the video that the moderator was in fact a christian, concerned with honesty and veracity. I wish I had included that. It would have made the video a hundred times better, but alas - 'tis too late.

'Tis not too late for you, though. Please join us, for everyone's sake, in insisting that debates like this come to be characterized by honesty and intellectual integrity. In what other field of human endeavor or discourse does willful ignorance take center stage so consistently?

And for fuck's sake, right-wing lunatics - get over this paranoia about socialism. And perhaps educate yourself even slightly about what socialism is and means. If you do, you might find that it has not very much at all to do with Democrats and Barack Obama - - - certainly not as much to do with THEM as it has to do with Jesus Christ.

Right-wing paranoia over socialism is an insult to the memory of the people who died in actual socialist societies due to actual socialist policies.

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Positive vibes for the mighty Christopher Hitchens, who this week announced that he has esophageal cancer.

We need your esophagus, Mr. Hitchens, and the rest of you, so good luck with the chemotherapy (what can one say?) and get well soon.

Some people have already kindly pointed out that this is not my best movie to date. No shit, Sherlock. :)

Clear skies, everyone.

NSC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSLkQnCurgs [with (over 6,000) comments]

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Hamilton family left corpse upstairs for six months expecting resurrection

An undated image of the minivan belonging to Peter Wald, found dead in his home Sept. 17, 2013.
Google Maps

Kaling Wald, right, stands with lawyer Peter Boushy outside of court Monday. Wald believed her husband, Peter, would be resurrected.
The Hamilton Spectator, Molly Hayes

GRAPHIC WARNING: Guilty plea in bizarre case

By Molly Hayes
Hamilton Spectator

Peter Wald's family truly believed he would rise from the dead.

They believed it because they had prayed for it, every single day, while his corpse lay rotting for six months in an upstairs bedroom of their Hamilton home.

When neighbours asked about her husband, curious about the 52-year-old man's seeming disappearance, Kaling Wald would tell them he was "in God's hands now."

On Monday, Kaling, 50, pleaded guilty to failing to notify police or the coroner that her husband had died due to a sickness that was not being treated by a doctor. It's the first known case of its kind (involving the resurrection belief) in Canada.

The criminal charges originally laid in the case – neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body – were withdrawn and replaced with that single charge under the Coroner's Act.

Kaling had no ill intent, all agreed. As assistant crown attorney Janet Booy put it, the devout Christian woman's faith had "tainted and warped her better judgment."

"We were trusting God…we thought, 'OK Lord, you know better," Kaling told the Spectator after court Monday, with lawyer Peter Boushy by her side.

Peter Wald, 52, died "probably around March 20th" last year, according to the agreed statement of facts read out in court Monday. He'd suffered from diabetes and his left foot had become infected. But he had refused to go to the hospital and believed God would cure him.

He went into a coma, she says, and days later she noticed his stomach bloating and signs of rigor mortis on his forehead.

She then left him – his body covered with two blankets, his head with a toque – in the bed and padlocked the bedroom door.

Kaling sealed in the door and the vents with duct tape to protect her family from the smell of the cadaver. And then for six months, life went on and they prayed for their dead husband and father in the bed upstairs as they awaited his return.

It was Sept. 17, 2013 when the body was finally discovered. The sheriff had arrived to evict the family from the St. Matthews Avenue, near Barton Street East and Wentworth Street North, house after they had defaulted on the mortgage.

Expecting the eviction, the family packed the dead man's belongings and had his shoes and bags ready to go.

"That was how strong our faith was," Kaling says.

But when she unlocked the bedroom door his body, which had attracted rodents, was so decomposed it was impossible to identify by photograph.

His feet were sticking out from under the blankets with gauze still wrapped around the left foot.

"He (the sheriff) said 'OK that's enough, close the door," Wald remembers.

Police and the coroner were called, but because of the mummified state of his body, toxicology tests could not be conducted and a cause of death was not confirmed—though it is "likely due to natural causes," the pathologist's report says.

The Children's Aid Society was called in too but they found no concerns for the well-being of the couple's children and the case was closed.

Everyone living in the home – Kaling, five of her six children age 11 to 22, and seven other adult friends – were interviewed by police. Each provided a consistent account of his death and their religious belief that he could be resurrected.

In court Monday, the crown acknowledged that had they gone to trial their chance at a conviction would be slim. There was no criminal intent—as Wald said afterwards, she wasn't even aware there was a law against this.

"It's an extremely sad case…she truly believed her husband was going to be resurrected from the dead, even after six months," said assistant crown attorney Janet Booy.

Booy says she researched the law extensively and could not find another case like this.

Kaling – who has no past criminal record – had her sentence suspended and was put on 18 months of probation and ordered to seek counseling around the "public health concerns" of the incident.

"Your belief that your husband would resurrect is not an issue," Superiour Court Justice Marjoh Agro said at her plea Monday.

"This is not about your religious beliefs. It is about your safety, the safety of your children and the safety of the community at large."

The Walds were known around their neighbourhood for their blue Astro van that was covered in messages of love for God and had crosses carved into the headlights so they would project the religious symbol.

They were regularly spreading the gospel and handing out food for homeless people in the winter through their street ministry, she says.

She insists "we lived a normal life. We were clean people."

She disputes references in the media that the family was seen chanting in the backyard and says they were simply putting on religious skits for homeless people in the neighbourhood.

The family has since moved to Fort Erie. With the criminal case behind her, she says she can finally grieve the loss of her husband and move past the attention the strange case received.

"It was unusual, yes. It was certainly not normal. And we won't do that again…laws exist and we know that now."

But she still believes strongly in resurrection, and says there have been many "documented" cases of it around the world. Her faith was not shaken by the legal consequences, she says.

"In fact it has cast me more at the mercy of God, because He is the ultimate judge."

MORE ON PETER WALD

Family lived in Hamilton house with man dead since March
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4085865-family-lived-in-hamilton-house-with-man-dead-since-march/

How does a man lie dead in a house for months on end?
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4115885-how-does-a-man-lie-dead-in-a-house-for-months-on-end-/

Crown to determine charges in case of decomposing body
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4171473-crown-to-determine-charges-in-case-of-decomposing-body/

Wife charged after husband's corpse left in house
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4322000-wife-charged-after-husband-s-corpse-left-in-house/

PETA plans billboard playing on corpse story

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5181017-peta-s-hamilton-billboard-pitch-plays-on-father-s-corpse-story/

© Copyright Metroland 2014

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5165939-hamilton-family-left-corpse-upstairs-for-six-months-expecting-resurrection/

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Death Is Not Final

Published on May 8, 2014 by IntelligenceSquared Debates [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCenxjWEkb0Sv67vejOgZ3Tg / http://www.youtube.com/user/IntelligenceSquared , http://www.youtube.com/user/IntelligenceSquared/videos ]

If consciousness is just the workings of neurons and synapses, how do we explain the phenomenon of near-death experience? By some accounts, about 3% of the U.S. population has had one: an out-of-body experience often characterized by remarkable visions and feelings of peace and joy, all while the physical body is close to death. To skeptics, there are more plausible, natural explanations, like oxygen deprivation. Is the prospect of an existence after death "real" and provable by science, or a construct of wishful thinking about our own mortality?
http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/1020-death-is-not-final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0YtL5eiBYw [with comments]

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What Would Jesus NOT Do?

Uploaded on Apr 17, 2009 by NonStampCollector

We always hear about the many amazing things that Jesus of Nazareth apparently did, but nobody ever asks about the things that Jesus supposedly COULD have done, being omnipotent, but either didn't bother to do or didn't think were all that important. You know, things like... reducing human misery and suffering... that kind of thing.

It occurs to me that if indeed the miracles recorded in the bible were in fact true, and really did happen... then that only shows Yahweh/Jesus to be an even MORE malevolent and cruel being than we see in the old testament, and that's saying something. If the miracles somehow prove that Jesus WAS in fact a god in human form, but all he could be bothered to do was turn water into wine and heal only a few hundred, or even a few thousand people with his magic saliva, then really - what is the use or good of such a god? Think of what a visiting, omnipotent deity COULD have done - but in this case, apparently, chose not to!!!!!

And this is meant to be that god's main advertisement of its existence! Walking on water in front of a few of his mates, for the benefit of billions and billions of people who, if they don't believe in his divinity and surrender control of their souls to him, will be sent to burn in agony for eternity.

People - DOES THIS RELIGION MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL?????

**** VIRGIN BIRTHS****

There appears to be some disagreement about which of the virgin births I listed are in fact accurate records of religious traditions, especially Krishna, Horus and Mithra.

My main source for that list was : "Shaken Creeds: The Virgin Birth Doctrine, a study of its origin" (2003) by Jocelyn Rhys (Kessinger Publishing). Other sources were "God is not Great" (2007) by Christopher Hitchens (Published by Twelve), and Wikipedia.

I have rechecked these sources in light of the disputes that have come up. I admit to the error of listing Krishna on the basis of the Rhys book- I misread the passage dealing with Krishna. A genuine mistake... However, Hitchens DOES list Krishna as having been recognised as being born of a virgin.

Whilst I admit to the research error on the matter of Krishna and will take greater care next time, I put it to you that it still stands, that by NO MEANS WHATSOEVER was Jesus' birth to the 'virgin' Mary the first ever such miraculous conception ever recorded in a religious tradition. By the time the Jesus story was first written down, the idea of virgin deity-births was OLD, and had been done many, many times, and an omniscient Yahweh would have known this. Even if 50% of my list was put there in error, the point would still stand.

*******************

Inspiration for this one came from a link I was sent, to a website called Ebon Musings. Check this link. A couple of things on this page stood out as so wonderfully and scathingly accurate, and got me thinking.
http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/guestessays/religion101.html [current link/redirects to http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/religion-101-final-exam/ ]

I'd like to say here that the first comment which included the word "evolution" came only 12 hours after the video was uploaded. Thanks for that, that's a new record. Let's see if we can get it quicker next time though, shall we?

PLEASE go and look up that incredible rant in Deuteronomy that I quoted at the beginning of the video. It didn't really relate to the theme of the vid but it is a fucking classic passage, of Yahweh the bitter, wretched, old arsehole in the sky, spewing his violent hatred of mankind into the faces of his dearly beloved "chosen" people. Deuteronomy 28 [ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+28 ]. One of my new favorite bible passages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOfjkl-3SNE [with (over 8,000) comments]

--

Christian Justice

Uploaded on Aug 5, 2009 by DarkMatter2525 [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhtZqdkjshgq8TqwIjMdCQ / http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkMatter2525 , http://www.youtube.com/user/DarkMatter2525/videos ]

What would the American Justice System be like if we implemented New Testament rules?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWAUhadJzTk [with (over 9,000) comments]

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Jesus: the cover-up

Published on Jan 12, 2014 by NonStampCollector

No broadcast, no festivities, no coverage whatsoever...

Instead, it happens in the dead of night when nobody's around...?

Why? Isn't this meant to be the turning point of the history of creation?

Sounds like someone's covering something up, or trying to get away with something. But why? What? And guess who screwed it up?

It suddenly occurred to me a few months back: the 40+ years-later accounts we have of the morning of Jesus's resurrection sound exactly like the way things would have played out if Jesus had wanted NOBODY to know about it. Curious. Why would THAT be? But then when you think about the insane theology behind it - it's actually no wonder. I think I know what happened. Here's my theory.

------------------------

At times in the past few weeks, especially the last two weekends, I've actually sympathized with those who ask me why the hell I would spend so much time and energy on doing something like this. This video, especially the pictures, was a bloody marathon.There are lots of reasons for doing it all, though, and somewhere amongst them are things like simply the pleasure of creating something as close to as I'd imagined it as possible. Another has to do with simply the fact that this stuff is important to me- this insane religion really can control people's lives, and I find meaning in sharing the good news: it's a bunch of crazy bullshit that you are free to relieve yourself of at any time.

I'm thinking of this as a "concept-piece". It was quite fun and challenging to write and turn into a coherent narrative. It ended up longer than I'd wanted, and I may have bitten off too much to chew through, with all the "But you don't have a basis for objective morality" stuff,... but whatever. I just wanted to bring the idea to fruition. Doing so has reminded me of how much I enjoy it, but also of what an incredibly time-consuming pursuit it can be. Wow, I'm spent. See you again in 2015. No- 16.

------------------------

Whoops: at 1:31 I invented a new book of the bible called 12 John. Please just subtract 11 from it [ http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/kjv/kjv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=5357535 ].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gvv_UM7CYg [with comments]

--

Is Christianity Moral?

Published on May 16, 2014 by DarkMatter2525

The ultimate irony: the religion that so often claims to have a monopoly on morality is based on appealing to people's desire to have a get-out-of-jail-free card for literally everything immoral they've ever done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35_JHx_OzA4 [with (nearly 6,000) comments]

--

Conversation with Yahweh

Uploaded on Jul 9, 2008 by NonStampCollector

A non-believer comes face to face with the God of the Bible.

This was my first video. Actually - I was half finished when I saw Edward Current's very similar one [next item below] - I tip my hat to him - and his has had over a million views for YEARS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QecUUnLNSiY [with comments]

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An Atheist Meets God

Uploaded on Jul 7, 2008 by EdwardCurrent [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC20U2rjFhakOCOlvJn0MAGg / http://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent , http://www.youtube.com/user/EdwardCurrent/videos ]

It's the moment of judgment for one fool who says there is no God. Christians, get ready to laugh as he learns his eternal fate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urlTBBKTO68 [with (over 148,000) comments]

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Debate: Atheist vs Christian (David Silverman vs Frank Turek)

Published on Dec 29, 2013 by TheVeganAtheist [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQNu9uWJ1e-8WLNo5hz5hvw / http://www.youtube.com/user/VeganTruth , http://www.youtube.com/user/VeganTruth/videos ]

Debate Topic: Which Offers a Better Explanation for Reality: Atheism or Theism?

Broadmoor Baptist Church, Shreveport, LA, April 18, 2013
[ http://www.realitydebate.com/ , http://www.apologetics315.com/2013/04/frank-turek-vs-david-silverman-debate.html ]

Opening Statements:
11:00 Frank Turek
34:15 David Silverman

Rebuttals
57:38 Frank Turek
1:11:08 David Silverman

Cross Examination
1:20:41 Frank Turek
1:25:32 David Silverman
1:36:10 Frank Turek

Questions and Answer Period
1:46:30

Closing Remarks
2:08:34 Frank Turek
2:13:59 David Silverman

WEBSITE: http://theveganatheist.com
FORUM: http://theveganatheist.com/forum/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VeganOnYoutube
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVeganAtheist
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+VeganTruth/posts

Other Playlists to Check Out:
ATHEIST DEBATES + VIDEOS:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWPVWmmzyayzQkA_JpU1VtBOBdce80MKz
STUPID MUSLIM Comments:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWPVWmmzyayxKJAOEFI_f-DXqjYJuO2_w
STUPID CHRISTIAN Comments:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWPVWmmzyayz-GW79IDWd4xUttiD0DQ2j

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRIXAEogLY [with comments], http://vimeo.com/64415351 [with comments] [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LOMV75wFWI (with comments), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81nYU22pG5g (with comments), and, less the introductory remarks/introductions, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85J86NhK33M (with comments)]

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If Man Obeyed God

Published on Dec 21, 2012 by DarkMatter2525

What if original sin had never occurred? I think you'll find that the fantasy concept known as "sin" is actually quite integral to our physical structure and success as a species. So, whether you take Genesis literally or not - if you believe we were designed by God - who is truly to blame for our "nature"?

After Pat Robertson explained that the earth is more than 6000 years old, using dinosaur bones as evidence, Ian Juby responded by explaining how that can't be true because death didn't exist before Adam.
"So, Mr. Robertson, was there death before Adam or not? Is the bible true or not? Jesus was supposed to bear the consequences of our sins, which is why he died on the cross; it was a consequence of sin. You have just nullified the reason for Christ's death." ~ Ian Juby
This exchange occurs [begins] at 8:20 [the quoted statement at 9:40] in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URP2WJ6st-E [next below]

The premise of this video was suggested to me by DaithiDublin and his wonderful video:
"Re-Imagining Paradise (Poem)" Check it out and send him my best!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82RDXjIcysg [next below]

This topic was also addressed beautifully by the great NonStampCollector in these two videos:
Genesis (take #1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY6Dn0_hBOY [next below]

Genesis (take #2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MsZxZPtpjE [next below]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_a6RjR_AHY [with (over 56,000) comments]

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Forgiveness, Grace, and God's Death Sentence

Uploaded on Jul 27, 2008 by NonStampCollector

There are a few elements of this video that I ought to change, a few word choices, that kind of thing. I get a bit of flack from christians about the finer details of this, and they're probably justified to some extent.

The thing is, though, the corrections that they say I ought to have included originally DON'T MAKE THE THEOLOGY ANY MORE SENSIBLE! If I had the time, I'd be more than happy to re-make this movie, with whatever corrections christians would have me include. I could do it as true to christian theology as any christians would like me to (that is, if more than a handful of christians could agree on elements of the theology enough to give me a good consensus).

I'd be happy to, because the whole story of vicarious redemption comes out looking just as frigging ridiculous as the 'chocolate/punishing the other siblings until they apologize' scenario.

If Jesus died to save us from the wrath of his Father, angry that humanity is less than perfect, then that only shows what a selfish, vengeful, unjust and malevolent being he must be. Thank goodness it's all just a myth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGkgmU9vG_o [with (over 7,000) comments]

===

Exorcists warn against buying Ouija boards as gifts

Not everyone considers the Ouija board to be family entertainment
Image Credit: PD
[ http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/275518/exorcists-issue-warning-about-ouija-boards ]

Spiritualistic seance by candlelight
(stock photo)

Olivia Cooke stars in the film Ouija - which has led to a surge in popularity in Ouija boards

By Allison Bray
Sunday Independent
Published 30/11/2014 | 02:30

Exorcists and paranormal investigators are urging people not to buy the occult board game Ouija as gifts unless they want to invite demonic forces into their homes this Christmas.

The warning comes as Google predicted that the modern version of the Victorian-era 'spirit boards' will be a sell-out this Christmas.

The search engine company has confirmed the game, purportedly used to contact the dead through spelled-out messages, is one of the top trending gifts on its price comparison list this year following the release of the Ouija horror film last month.

While critics largely panned the film as cliched and horror-free, a Catholic priest based in Dublin who specialises in the occult, warned that messing around with the real thing can be horrifying,

"It's easy to open up evil spirits but it's very hard to get rid of them," the Vincentian priest and exorcist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Sunday Independent.

"People, especially young people and teenagers who are likely to experiment with Ouija boards on a whim, can be very naive in thinking that they are only contacting the departed souls of loved-ones when they attempt to communicate with the dead using the boards.

"It's like going to some parts of Africa and saying I'm personally immune to Ebola. But it does leave people open to all kinds of spiritual dangers. People don't intend any spiritual harm by it, but we live in a spiritual realm and you have no way to control what may impinge on you."

The exorcist said evil spirits, and even demons, will masquerade as departed loved ones as a means of gaining possession and, as a result, "people don't realise they can get infected".

Darren Ansell, one of the three-member team of paranormal investigators based in the North known as Paranormal Study and Investigation (PSI), said he personally "wouldn't touch an Ouija board with a barge pole". He told the Sunday Independent: "I've had too many scares over the years."

Ansell's team, which featured on BBC's Greatest Haunts, employs scientific methods and state-of-the-art technology to determine the natural or paranormal causes of unexplained phenomena.

Some of PSI's controlled experiments on groups using Ouija boards confirmed subconscious muscular movement responsible for answering questions put to the board. But he has also interviewed many board users - all of whom have reported very negative experiences during or after the sessions.

They include hearing demonic voices; unexplained feelings of anxiety and depression in otherwise mentally healthy people; relationship breakdowns; hearing noises; and seeing objects flung around or moved.

"I've witnessed tables walking down the hall on their own with just fingertips touching them," he said.

Related Content

?This year's Black Friday buying frenzy? Google says Ouija boards are so popular they could sell out
http://www.independent.ie/business/world/this-years-black-friday-buying-frenzy-google-says-ouija-boards-are-so-popular-they-could-sell-out-30772369.html

?Spiritualistic séance - what exactly is a Ouija Board?
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/spiritualistic-sance-what-exactly-is-a-ouija-board-30785510.html

© Independent.ie

http://www.independent.ie/life/christmas/exorcists-warn-against-buying-ouija-boards-as-gifts-30785052.html

--

Quiz Show (Bible Contradictions)

Uploaded on Apr 26, 2010 by NonStampCollector

This is a video response to all those people who claim that the bible is free of contradictions. Ummm - it isn't. I've looked.

How NOT to respond to this movie:

a) By assuming that I have not looked into these contradictions with any level of depth and accusing me of not having tried to understand any kind of "deeper meaning". Wherever possible, I consulted christians' explanations of what they like to refer to as "so-called contradictions" and errors. I've looked at the explanations. I've given them a good go. They're just shit.

b) By saying that these aren't errors at all, rather, that they are simply copyist's errors. Uh- derr. A copyist's error is an error. I don't care what kind of error it is, just don't make the claim that the bible is completely free of errors, except for the cases in which there are errors, which are only copyist's errors only, which aren't really errors. Knock it off. I'm talking about the actual words on the actual page of the bible. When they don't add up, - that's called a contradiction or an error.

c) If you agree with me that English translations of the bible contain errors, but you think that the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts are pure and therefore true - DON'T tell me this and then go on to criticise me and other skeptics for pointing out that the English translations contain errors! You've just said that you agree with me, that there are errors on the pages of the bibles that your god saw fit to let get corrupted in the first place, just in time for the arrival on the planet of more people than ever before - who all apparently need to be saved by coming to trust the bible and heeding the message contained within it!

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That which can be asserted without evidence can be discarded without evidence.

I know, and actually find to have some weight, the New Testament apologists' conundrum - namely that if all of the gospel accounts really did match exactly, then critics of the bible would instantly accuse the authors of having conspired together. So, if there are inconsistencies it counts against the bible, and if there were no inconsistencies, it would still count against the bible.

Well - tough. The creator of the universe could have done a lot better. The only reasonable conclusion to come to is that the creative force that arranged the constants of the universe, gave birth to galaxy clusters, quantum physics and DNA, invented love, knowledge and truth, and is capable of any miracle he could ever come up with- had fuck all to do with this raggedy old contradictory book of bullshit.

Whenever I make a movie about what the bible says, I'm talking about the actual words that are printed on the pages of the bible. Funny how I always get criticised for doing so, by people who agree that modern translations or English translations are inadequate and erroneous.

------------------------

I was very selective when deciding whether to include each contradiction in the script. Many that were listed on the lists and websites appeared to me to be either non-contradictory, easily explained, or simply too petty to really count significantly against the claim of biblical inerrancy. I drew heavily on skepticsannotatedbible.com , which actually has links to christian responses to each of the contradictions it lists, where one has been put forward. I read almost all of them and if the explanation sounded like a bunch of bollocks to me, then I dismissed the explanation and included the contradiction in the script. One of the criteria I used to ascertain whether I thought the explanation was good enough, was whether I thought a christian would accept a similar explanation for a contradiction in any other religions holy book, such as the Qaran or Book of Mormon.

For example:

LookingUntoJesus.net [ http://www.lookinguntojesus.net/ ] has this pathetic explanation for one of the contradictions:

"The text which is called into question is Luke 2:2 [ https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Luke%202:2 ]. If Jesus was born in the days of Herod (who presumably died in 4 BC), then how could Quirinius be governing Syria (who presumably began his reign in 6 AD)?

The trouble is in the English translation of the text, not in the text itself. Keep in mind that the New Testament was written in Greek, not English. Since the translators were not inspired, there is the potential for erroneous translations". (LookingUntoJesus.net ["Answering The Atheist", http://www.lookinguntojesus.net/20080106.htm ])

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB3g6mXLEKk [with (over 23,000) comments]

--

Man Who Stabbed 4 Said He Saw Demon On Train: Police

Michael Darnell Williams
[ http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2014/12/police_release_identity_of_man.html ]

Posted: 12/08/2014 6:33 pm EST Updated: 12/08/2014 6:59 pm EST

NILES, Mich. (AP) -- A passenger accused of stabbing four people on an Amtrak train in southwest Michigan told police he began the attack after seeing another man turn into a demon, according to court documents released Monday.

Michael D. Williams pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges and was returned to the Berrien County jail on $1 million bond. He requested a court-appointed attorney.

The 44-year-old Saginaw native is accused of stabbing a conductor and three fellow passengers Friday night when the train stopped in Niles, about 10 miles north of South Bend, Indiana. Police rushed to the train and subdued Williams with a stun gun.

He later told detectives that the "guy he was talking to on the train turned into a demon and he had to fight" him, according to court documents.

Police said the victims were in stable condition. The train with 172 passengers was traveling from Chicago to Port Huron, which is 60 miles northeast of Detroit.

A sister, Tracy Williams, told The Saginaw News that she spoke to her brother last week. She said her brother seemed to be hallucinating and feared for his life as he tried to get to Saginaw.

"We were having conversations back and forth, and I said, `You know, Mike, this doesn't make any sense. Why are they after you?'" Tracy Williams said. "Whatever he believed in his head was real to him. Nothing I could have said could make him think any different."

She said her brother is a military veteran who moved to Atlanta last summer to get a commercial driver's license and work as a cross-country trucker.

"My heart goes out to the victims because they were innocent," Tracy Williams said. "He wasn't specifically targeting them. They did absolutely nothing to deserve this."

Williams returns to court Friday.

© 2014 Associated Press

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/08/4-stabbed-train-demon_n_6291290.html [with comments]

===

Man charged with murder for allegedly charging teen with SUV outside Kansas City mosque

Ahmed Aden has been charged with murder in the death of a 15-year-old outside a Kansas City mosque Thursday night.

Abdullahi Mohamud (center), father of Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein, was consoled after prayers on Friday at the Somali Center of Kansas City.
Keith Myers / The Kansas City Star

Men gathered for prayers Friday at the Somali Center of Kansas City, the day after a teenager was hit with a car outside the center.
Keith Myers / The Kansas City Star

By MARK MORRIS, ERIC ADLER and TONY RIZZO -
The Kansas City Star
12/05/2014 4:21 PM | Updated: 12/05/2014 11:02 PM

Before suffering gruesome and fatal injuries Thursday, Abdisamad Sheikh-Hussein helped lead the evening Muslim prayers at his mosque near downtown.

“He asked for mercy for humankind and asked for humans to follow the righteous path,” remembered Ali Abdi, the assistant director of the Somali Center of Kansas City and its mosque.

But Abdisamad, 15, received no mercy minutes later as he stepped off the curb at 1340 Admiral Boulevard and headed toward a car. A Chevrolet Blazer speeding eastbound sideswiped the car and struck Abdisamad, nearly severing his legs.

The Staley High School sophomore died later at a hospital.

The driver of the SUV, Ahmed H. Aden, a 34-year-old Kansas City truck driver, told police after his arrest that he had been searching for men who’d threatened him nine days earlier. And he said he planned to kill those men if he found them, according to court records.

Aden told police that he intentionally struck Abdisamad, but he had mistaken the teen for one of the men who had threatened him.

Jackson County prosecutors charged Aden with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, leaving the scene of an accident and unlawful use of a weapon.

Abdisamad’s uncle, Abdinajib Dirir, said the family, who had emigrated from war-torn Somalia, was devastated.

“There are no words to describe,” he said. “This is a community that fled a violent situation. Now we’re facing violence in the United States. … We are American like everyone else. And this is a tragedy for us.”

Aden, whom sources described as a Somali Christian, now is the target of both a state murder investigation and a federal hate-crimes probe, authorities said.

Members of the Somali community said that Aden long was known to have made frequent and violent threats against Muslims and the mosque, occasionally even threatening the mass slaughter of worshipers.

Abdi said the man had been reported to authorities repeatedly and that Abdisamad even was interviewed by police about threats he had heard Aden make before.

“He said he will kill a number of people,” Abdi said. “Ultimately, he killed one. Allah did not allow him to kill more.”

Moussa Elbayoumy, chairman of the Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said a member of the mosque has a photo of Aden’s SUV, taken about two months ago, showing anti-Muslim graffiti, reading, “Quran is a virus disease (worse) than Ebola.”

“He made verbal threats to them that he intended to kill several people,” Elbayoumy said.

Ahmed Abdi, 13, and other boys at the mosque on Friday confirmed they had seen the graffiti scrawled across the SUV as it cruised around the mosque recently.

“He said bad things about our religion,” Ahmed said. “He came around with his car and had signs saying, ‘Islam is a disease.’”

Also Friday, Kansas City police released a report of a telephone interview of Aden, conducted Oct. 25 by an officer investigating an assault at a Somali market on Independence Avenue.

“The (suspect) stated to me that several people from … Islam (were) going to kill him,” the officer wrote. “I then asked the (suspect) why they want to kill him, and he stated that he was only practicing his freedom of press/expression.”

No charges were filed in the assault case, police said, because the victim declined to pursue prosecution.

Court records indicated that Aden previously lived in Dodge City, Kan., and Minnesota.

He appeared to have a minimal criminal record. He was ticketed by the Missouri Highway Patrol earlier this year for driving a vehicle exceeding the allowable weight. A court in Rice County, Minn., convicted him in 2008 for driving under the influence of alcohol.

He served a 90-day sentence in the county jail and was on probation for one year.

In mourning

“It is heartbreaking, I tell you that,” Mohamed Abdikafi, 34, said standing over the ovens at Jabaland, the Somali grill he owns on Independence Avenue.

Abdikafi, a Somali who has been in Kansas City for about five years, said he knew both Abdisamad and Aden.

He said Aden was well-known in the community as a disturbed and angry man.

“That guy, he had an issue with the whole community,” Abdikafi said.

Aden, he said, would frequently spout hatred and at times was known to be threatening.

“You could tell he was looking for trouble,” Abdifaki said of Aden, whom he served beef stew at 10 a.m. on the morning of the killing.

He said most people in the community tended to wave off Aden’s opinions as hateful, but meaningless, rantings.

“Nobody took him seriously. Everybody would walk away,” Abdifaki said. Yet now, he added, “I wish we took him seriously.”

Abdisamad also was well known in the Somali community, but as a kind, happy and decent boy from a good family.

His father, Adullahi Mohamud, is the assistant to the imam at the mosque and also teaches there. He and his wife, Hawa, have three other children, a son and two daughters, Abdi said.

At the mosque on Friday morning, Bashir Alew, 42, a Somali who is a pharmacist now living in Lee’s Summit, broke into tears as he talked about the death. Alew has four children.

“This is where my children come on the weekend,” he said of the mosque. They attended weekend religious school there on Saturdays and Sundays.

Alew said his 13-year-old used to play basketball with Abdisamad, whom Alew had known for 10 years.

Abdi said Abdisamad spent most of his weekends at the mosque, arriving at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and leaving about 8 p.m. He would distribute food to the needy and help Somali community members with their English.

Abdisamad also looked out for the drunken homeless men who occasionally staggered by the mosque. Abdi remembered that recently Abdisamad helped one such man to his feet after he’d fallen.

Abdi remembered teasing the boy, telling him not to bother unless he also had a home for the man.

“I said, ‘Leave him alone,’” Abdi recalled.

“But he needs help,” Abdisamad replied.

Abdi paused to compose himself.

“He was one of the best boys at the center,” he said.

Friday prayers

Later Friday afternoon, more than 200 men, women and children packed the Somali Center mosque for Friday prayers. Afterward, many gathered around the boy’s family to offer comfort.

A group of teenage boys stood in a group across the room, some almost in a daze, trying to figure out how to cope with the loss of their friend.

Mohamed Ahmed, 13, said on Thursday, Abdisamad “was leading our prayer, and then after that, he just went outside. He was going to the gym to meet his friends and play basketball. And then, he got hit.”

Ahmed Abdurahan, 15, described his friend as “a nice guy, very easy to talk to.”

“He was like a regular kid,” he said. “He was smart in school, and he knew about the religion. It’s really shocking to see him gone now.”

He said he had just seen his friend at the prayer service on Thursday afternoon.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I still can’t believe he’s gone. My mind can’t wrap around it.”

Ahmed Mohamed, a close friend of the boy’s family, described him as “that friend you could go to and talk to.”

“Everybody in this community knew him,” he said. “There was no person that he would exempt, nobody who didn’t like him. He was the kind of person who everybody loved.”

Alew and others dismissed the notion that Abdisamad’s death was an outgrowth of some sort of larger religious differences between Somalis who are Muslim and those who are Christian.

“It is a small community,” he said of Somalis in the Kansas City area.

The most recent U.S. census puts the number at just short of 600 inside the Kansas City limits, but it does not include the outlying suburbs.

Alew said that on any given Saturday or Sunday, some 600 to 700 Somalis will flow in and out of the mosque. Christian and Muslim Somalis, he said, get along well in Kansas City.

“I don’t think this is a Christian, Muslim issue,” he said. “I think this is a mental issue.”

Abdirizak Mohamed, 34, who came to Kansas City from Somalia about 12 years ago, said the same.

“Everybody gets along here,” he said. “Everyone’s at peace.”

Judy L. Thomas, Matt Campbell and Robert A. Cronkleton contributed to this report.

Related

Updated: FBI investigating possible hate crime in fatal hit-and-run of Muslim boy in KC
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article4285553.html

Hundreds gather in Kansas City to mourn slain Somali teen
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article4316413.html

Copyright 2014 The Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article4299890.html [with comments]

--

Context!!!!!!

Uploaded on Feb 22, 2010 by NonStampCollector

Here are a few kernels of truth, wrapped liberally in extreme exaggeration. I know. It's pretty over the top. But so is the assertion that the bible is a holy book. That's a massive exaggeration. Most of it isn't even "pleasant".

The bible is revolting. It is sickening. It is nowhere NEAR as nice a book as what an ethical human could come up with, so why on earth does it have this reputation as having been written by the very author of love itself? It wasn't. It was written by human men - and pretty horrible men by the sounds of things.

And why is it that it only ever seems to be the ugly bits of the bible that are ever taken out of context? Why don't we ever hear christians complaining of John 3:16 [ https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3%3A16 ] being taken out of context?

Look, I know it's possible for things to be taken out of context. Creationists do it all the time, and it bugs the hell out of scientists and rationalists. Even I've been quoted out of context. Sure, it's annoying. But no context is large enough to write off some of the horrors of the bible. I mean - is September 11, for example, completely justified by recourse to a larger "context"? No, and neither are some of the horrors mentioned in the video.

I had a conversation recently (on youtube) and we talked about stoning. It occurred to me, that as an atheist, I will never, ever be called upon to defend the appalling practice of stoning. However, a christian who believes that their heavenly father mandated stoning, does have some kind of obligation to EXCUSE those who practiced stoning, and to even implicitly, DEFEND the practice, seeing, as it was, Yahweh's favored punishment.

THIS is what's wrong with christianity. And yes, I know that there is more to it than that. But how warped are your morals, compared to those of an atheist, if the atheist can outright condemn practices such as stoning and burning alive, but you can't, due to your apparent deep personal relationship with the supreme moral law giver of the universe? You know, that supreme moral law giver who said burning people alive was OK? Something is seriously wrong there.

Or, come out and say that the old testament laws were absolutely hideous! Come and join the rest of us. It's far clearer over here. No double-think. Come and live an ethical life based on what you TRULY believe about how best to live among others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK7P7uZFf5o [with (over 9,000) comments]

--

Is Religious Extremism or Secular Extremism the Problem? Robert Spencer vs. Dinesh D'Souza

Published on Jan 20, 2014 by ThomisticTheist [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpxwoR-wBYhYursr6in2rPg / http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomisticTheist , http://www.youtube.com/user/ThomisticTheist/videos ]

Date: March 1, 2007
Location: CPAC Convention 2007 held in Washington D.C.

Catholic Christian debater/anti-Islam debater: Robert B. Spencer
Christian/somewhat less anti-Islam debater: Dinesh D'Souza

For Robert Spencer: http://www.jihadwatch.org/
For Dinesh D'Souza: http://www.dineshdsouza.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOarBUbL-Rs [with comments] [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag3Iphogktg (with comment)]

--

Christian VS Muslim

Published on Sep 26, 2014 by DarkMatter2525

What could possibly go wrong?

This bird has two right wings. Basically, it ain't gonna fly.

This video is mainly addressed to people I would define as ultra right wing radical Christians in America. Some people tell me that Islam is worse, because at least the Christians aren't beheading people who don't respect their religion. The whole point of this video is "beware what you wish for". The reason certain Christians don't do such things is simply because they live in a secular society that won't allow such things, but they want that to change. They want the theocracy. They want people like me to be punished. They are the Taliban that is not allowed to act like the Taliban. This video is a cautionary comparison, and it is absolutely valid. Furthermore, far more Muslims have been killed by Christians, than the other way around, today and throughout history. It's just that we tend to label it differently.

I've often been told by Christians, "Hey, if you were in a Muslim country, making fun of religion, you'd be dead by now," (John Lennox has said stuff like this). Basically, that means "At least we Christians let you live." Um...thanks. Those are some mighty low standards you have there. I don't trust radicals on either side. I'm alive because the secular government won't allow you to kill me - not because there's a shortage of Christians who would be ready, willing, and able to do it. Of that, I have no doubt.

Royalty-free music used:
"Get It Off" by Devyn Rose
https://www.jamendo.com/en/track/897544/tanya-t6-get-it-off-feat.-jae-millz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYV7KWQ-fY4 [with (over 4,000) comments]

===

ATHEIST!!!!!!!

Uploaded on Dec 21, 2008 by NonStampCollector

It's one thing to not believe in deities, but... an ATHEIST!?!?!?!?!?!

There is a kind of sequel here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC91GYEumyA [next item below]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0A4_bwCaX0 [with (over 15,000) comments]

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Offensive!!!!!!!

Uploaded on Dec 16, 2009 by NonStampCollector

Get over it.

-

This is a "sequel" to "ATHEIST!!!!!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0A4_bwCaX0 [just above]

I suggest that christians just fucking get over it when we use words like fuck, shit, fucking, fucker, and all that. Please also realise that your religious beliefs are extremely offensive to some people, too, and that your religion has caused more trouble in the world than a million people screaming CUNT at the top of their lungs all day could ever cause.

Cheers, NSC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC91GYEumyA [with comments]

--

The Ten Commandments - the basis of our laws and morals

Uploaded on Jan 22, 2012 by NonStampCollector

Are the biblical Ten Commandments REALLY responsible for our laws and morality, as many Christians claim? Do we owe anything to them at all?

Should they be considered significant? Displayed in public buildings such as schools and courts?

Yahweh, the old testament god, looked into the future and discovered that the mighty western civilization was getting by without paying all that much attention to his commandments, so he thought about changing them a bit in order for them to be reflective of the actual laws and values we hold to.

Some may argue that my claim of "three out of ten" is inaccurate, and that from a certain viewpoint it more be more like four. I can live with that. I did cross reference a number of articles on the net of people claiming it's three, others four. Either way - the purpose of the video is to show that it's closer ZERO than it is to TEN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz3EEqtcJME [with (over 5,000) comments]

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Christopher Hitchens Revises the Ten Commandments

Published on Jun 8, 2012 by bdw5000 [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbayqGzflTXyBTMvnSe6a4A / http://www.youtube.com/user/bdw5000 , http://www.youtube.com/user/bdw5000/videos ]

"The Ten Commandments were set in stone, but it may be time for a re-chisel. With all due humility, the author takes on the job, pruning the ethically dubious, challenging the impossible, and rectifying some serious omissions."

Hitch's article on the subject: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/04/hitchens-201004

My personal favorite set of 10 commandments: http://www.ebonmusings.org/atheism/new10c.html [current link/redirects to http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/essays/the-new-ten-commandments/ ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9weXGtCk7c [with (over 5,000) comments] [the Vanity Fair original at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-63cTYJDCA (with comments)]

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Dinesh D'Souza Gets Ragdolled by Susan Jacoby in this debate

Published on Nov 8, 2014 by Yon Choi [ http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUcnGk0fQi0IVbZUcMaoZlw , http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUcnGk0fQi0IVbZUcMaoZlw/videos ]

This debate, Is Christianity Good For American Politics?, took place at The Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, MI on April 26, 2012.

Once again, Dinesh D'Souza gets destroyed in this debate about Christianity in the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p59fyE06hoM [with comments] [also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZSiD7_Jfbg (with comments)]

--

Atheists SECRETLY believe in Yahweh

Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07

"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790

F6

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