Passover Easter Springtime

A god sent down the-one-who-was-known-by-his-working-name, the Angel of Death, to kill all those particular innocent tots who possessed foreskins, and of course their baby sisters, because these innocents' parents were enslaving the ones he liked best. Pretty basic misdirection of wrath, your honor.

Quite a few episodes later this particular god sends his son down to earth, knowing of course that he'd get killed, the goal being something called redemption, which would somehow enable this god to stop killing enslavers babies in the future.
Lucky for Thomas Jefferson's offspring.

And, as happens only in make-believe, the son beats death and soon after disappears, never to be seen again, except in office furniture, musical numbers, and mostly in that special un-checked inner dialog called faith.

Superstition, social pressure, and spring in the air, is why this time of year is different from other times.

 

As to the election of a new new Pope: if "Napoleon" at Bellevue Hospital had that number of believers he'd be emperor of France.

 

A god who is . . .

A god who is all-knowing would certainly know what it would take for me to believe in it.

A god who is omnipotent could certainly make that thing happen.

And a god that is truly loving would do so ~ forsaking those I-hide/you-seek games.

"Holy Conversations" by AleXander Hirka (paper/glue montage, 1980s)

Click on image to enlarge

"The old paranoia ~ belief in a transcendent god who imposed order on a formless universe ~ has given way to a rainbow of new paranoias, new orders (often merely revived and updated old myths).
Any crazy Plot (far-fetching is encouraged) has room to Thrive. The more unmeasurable the numbers it tries to sneak in as "science", the more blurry or photoshop'd the visual "evidence", the more sinister (apocalyptic even) its premises which stir up the (exciting) fears, the more it is found to give Meaning, to be Comforting in it's own twisted way, and thus to be conveniently accepted as "True".
Any "order" at all rather than look Señor Randomness in the eye.
Me, I wake up every day and give thanks to Lady Luck, and ask her again to blow upon my dice."
~ Roz Koan


"If there is something comforting - religious, if you want - about paranoia, there is still also anti-paranoia, where nothing is connected to anything, a condition not many of us can bear for long." - Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

Atheism isn't a religion, it is a personal relationship with reality.

Evolution

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer gods than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen Henry Roberts, Historian (1901-71)

" Let's say that the consensus is that our species, being the higher primates, Homo Sapiens, has been on the planet for at least 100,000 years, maybe more. Francis Collins says maybe 100,000. Richard Dawkins thinks maybe a quarter-of-a-million. I'll take 100,000. In order to be a Christian, you have to believe that for 98,000 years, our species suffered and died, most of its children dying in childbirth, most other people having a life expectancy of about 25 years, dying of their teeth. Famine, struggle, bitterness, war, suffering, misery, all of that for 98,000 years. Heaven watches this with complete indifference. And then 2000 years ago, thinks "That's enough of that. It's time to intervene," and the best way to do this would be by condemning someone to a human sacrifice somewhere in the less literate parts of the Middle East. Don't lets appeal to the Chinese, for example, where people can read and study evidence and have a civilization. Let's go to the desert and have another revelation there. This is nonsense. It can't be believed by a thinking person. " - Christopher Hitchens

We are here to unlearn . . .

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”  --  Charles Bukowski

Got a title, got a cover - working on content!

Existential Stew For The Soulless

The Out Campaign.

Greta Christina on "Not Religious, But Spiritual".

Beware any Shepherds, lest ye become sheep.

Unplug your television.
There is nothing on it that cannot be gotten better elsewhere - most of it with friends in life.
Better laughs, more excitement, real tragedy.

When I sneeze, please do not say "bless you."
Being soulless, blessings pass through me quicker than a cheap burrito.

Instead of cleric's beards their fat faces are clean shaven, but the leaders of the religious right in this country are not much different than the Taliban. It's all just matters of degrees - they may not keep women away from education (though they would if they could - this is the same mentality that made women struggle and fight for almost a century to be even able to vote) - but they do what they can to keep their power, and women in a controlled place, through their "family values" scam.