Andrew Warner

Paula Zahn hosted a panel to discuss discrimination against atheists and this is what it looked like:

An angry black woman telling atheists to shut up, a blonde woman (who I swear I thought was that chick from Saturday Night Live) who parroted the first angry woman, and ESPN's Stephen A. Smith who was at least trying to make sense.

What they discussed was how atheists attack Christianity, America is a Christian nation, and that prayer should be in school (for no other reason than "it is what I believe"),

What the debate lacked was an atheist or any coherent thought. Surprisingly, the SNL-looking woman blamed atheist parents for forcing their beliefs on to children again – didn't we cover this with Jesus Camp?

I can't even do the idiocy justice. Just watch it yourself:

Labels: atheism, media, religion

Posted by Andrew Warner at 8:14 AM | Permalink

And that place is Britain.

While Americans awkwardly cozy up to the strangers we call family in honor of America's favorite literary character (Jesus), Britons have said that religion does more harm than it does good.

Too bad we won't follow the old country's lead.

Anywhere but I here I guess.

Labels: religion

Posted by Andrew Warner at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

Out of all the things that happened this year, watching Bill O'Reilly get intellectually bitch-slapped by an eight year old, scripted or not, was one of the funniest moments of the year.

If you've never seen the infamous video, in which a young girl accuses the Republican party of killing more people than rap music and video games (a true fact), calls God fictitious (if that's not true, prove it), and claims children should learn empathy in place of divisive religious beliefs; watch every second of it:



Bill O'Reilly decried the video as an act of child abuse. I guess because she used the word "ass" and told the truth about religion's bloody history? In the spirit of fair and objective journalism, I will put O'Reilly's stupid-ass side of the argument up as well:



Did you catch that? This is what the "child advocate" said:

"Using a child as a tool to promote propaganda, political propaganda, about which the child understands nothing... is the ultimate inhumane treatment of a child."

So teaching a child empathy, logic, and the use of scientific and statistical knowledge to critique the theories of half-cocked pundits like Bill O'Reilly; tops child rape, child beating, and child pornography on the list of ways to inhumanely treat a child. That's rich. Not to mention the child was "acting."

And since the lady in the magenta jacket brought up using children for political propaganda, something came to my mind:



In the film Jesus Camp (trailer above), the filmmakers documented incidents in which children were brought to the steps of Congress to demonstrate their parents' pro-life political beliefs. How dare they use children to get a political point across – these kids clearly don't have the mental capacity to determine where they stand on the most highly debated political issues of the day. They also pull kids from public schools so they can spend their time teaching children bum science to refute the theory of evolution and global warming – breeding a generation of idiots to serve political goals sounds like child abuse to me. Get after 'em O'Reilly.

Oh you can't. They're your future audience.

More and more I am convinced that our country is truly being run by crazy people with the kind of smarts that make you pray for the next round of natural selection. When promoting atheism and intelligent thought is child abuse, and using kids to start armies of supernatural Gods is heralded, we've got problems. When an 8 year old makes more sense, and displays more logic, than one of TV's leading pundits, the country's just plain in the tank.

Watch these videos and watch them close. These are the videos that are going to be laughed at by historians for years to come.


(cross-posted at the mother-ship)

Labels: National Politics, religion, Social Justice

Posted by Andrew Warner at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments

CNN has declared Romney's likeliest backers think his religion is a cult.

From the article:

The Book of Mormon, which church founder Joseph Smith Jr. said he translated from golden plates he discovered through an angel in the 1820s, says that Israelites migrated to the New World and were the ancestors of American Indians. Latter-day Saints also believe that Smith restored authentic Christianity and rewrote parts of the Bible to correct it.

Another Mormon rule that frequently raises eyebrows is the bar on access to their temples by anyone except members of the faith who donate 10 percent of their earnings to the church, who uphold its teachings and who fulfill other duties. Mormons who meet the criteria are given ID cards that they must display to gain admittance.

Where would they get that idea?

Labels: mormons, National Politics, religion

Posted by Andrew Warner at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

My family calls me the Contrarian because I do everything the exact opposite of them. They eat prime rib, I eat Rice Dream. They drive Lincolns and SUVs, I dream of one day putting around on a Vespa.

And of course, I do my best to abstain from Christmas – everyone hates me for that one.

Jonathan Chait makes my case for me.

Labels: National Politics, religion

Posted by Andrew Warner at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

I remember a time when Rock Star Video games was in Senator Clinton's crosshairs for promoting violent video games like the infamous Grand Theft Auto. You'll still see reports of Clinton and Lieberman's crusade against video games trickling into the news to this very day.

I'm just curious when they are going to get on their soap box about the controversial Left Behind series – a video game where believers are taught to slay non-believers in the form of fictional rock stars and Muslims.

Even Wal-Mart is catching a little heat for peddling this exercise in discrimation:

Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.

But it's okay, the game doesn't teach try to teach the practice of killing non-believers. You lose a few "spirit points" if you decide to take down non-believers instead of putting them on to the Bible:

Left Behind Games' president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is pacifist because players lose "spirit points" every time they gun down nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by having their character pray.

"You are fighting a defensive battle in the game," Frichner, whose previous company produced Bible software, said of combatting the Antichrist. "You are a sort of a freedom fighter."

Whatever happened to the days of indiscriminately killing people for their car, recklessly driving it around town, and then using it to bang prositutes in the back seat?

Those extreme Christians had to go and make deranged video games personal and divisive. Let's see if Ms. Clinton will risk some Christian votes and call foul on the apocalypse training game.

Labels: Democrats, National Politics, religion

Posted by Andrew Warner at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments