Archive: Bishop Conley sees ‘atheocracy’ as major threat to pro-life cause

Source: Catholic News Agency

This blog post was originally posted elsewhere. I am currently in the process of transferring all my favourite posts here. Apologies if you have already seen these.


Secularism in America is openly hostile to religion?


There is only one openly atheist member of Congress. State Houses have introduced hundreds of Bills that propose religious privilege in abeyance of the Constitution. Ninety two percent of the population believes in God. The good bishop stands in his pulpit preaching to the 24% Catholic population of the US [1] - about 1/3 of the Christian population - claiming religious hostility. A Christian president, in a long line of Christian presidents.

Archive: Bishop Conley article - Reponses to comments

Source: Catholic News Agency / Earlier post

This blog post was originally posted elsewhere. I am currently in the process of transferring all my favourite posts here. Apologies if you have already seen these.

True to generic religious website policy, after having vetted my comment on the above article, and letting three people attack my position, the site disabled my ability to reply to my interlocutors responses. Here follows my response.

Part of the reason I started this blog, was so that I could counter censorship, and continue a debate where others would not allow me to do so. So, without further-a-do...

I have already made a post about this subject here. It is not identical to the comment I made on the CNA site, because here, on my site, I knew I was able to provide links to back up my claims. Far from having to reign in my claims, I found that my original comment was a tad too conservative, so I make no apologies for the slight discrepancies between the two.

For the purpose of clarity, though, I shall post the debate so far, as it appears on the CNA site.

Ignorant and proud of it - Trevor Zwingli opines on the rejection of science.

Source: Western Morning News


We are all used to reading the insane rantings of north American theist's proclamations on wilful ignorance, but it still shocks me when I see evidence of it here in my backyard of the 'Old Country'


Our anonymous writer (he has now revealed his identity as Trevor Zwingli of the Tremough Catholics) appears to be rather bored of learning and understanding the world we live in. Here, for you all to enjoy, is the article in full, complete with my responses. I urge you to comment yourself.

In a forlorn attempt to improve my education, a friend regularly pops round with a pile of back copies of a magazine called New Scientist. They invariably have clever and colourful covers asking things like "Is Time Travel Possible?", "Can we Build a Brontosaurus?" or "Will Man Live Forever?"

Sadly, the answer to all these questions is always an emphatic NO. Sadder still, to reach this conclusion you have to wade through pages of gobbledegook understandable only by the sort of chap who wears sandals and socks and still lives with his mother.

However, it's good to know that people who have difficulty forming relationships have somewhere cosy to discuss quarks, neutrinos and the Higgs Boson Particle. After all, you never see them down the pub.

But this indulgence is rapidly turning to horror as you notice how fascination with the arcane is seeping out from publications like New Scientist into the media as a whole. Coverage of such things as the arts and history – even light entertainment – has been replaced with matters scientific.

Comedy panel shows all must now have a technological bent and every time someone notices something odd happening with a sandwich in the canteen of the Cern large hadron collider it dominates headlines. The schedules are packed and it will be only a matter of time before peak viewing is dominated by Kirstie Allsopp splitting the atom in a folksy, accessible way.

All through, the message comes across clear as "Hey! isn't science interesting? Isn't it fun?" to which the answer again is an definite "No!"

Riding the crest of this assumed wave of interest is a simpering weed called Prof. Brian Cox who obviously took his chair as a result of research into zit cream and having a whining northern accent. He is science's answer to gardening's Alan Titchmarsh and once he has appeared in front of the cameras he is presumably sucked back into the same oily tube from which he was squeezed. On his very debut he joined the Ron Bendell "Don't you want to hit him in the face with a shovel?" hall of fame.

As BBC budgets are trimmed – entailing vast cuts to local radio, regional TV and the rest – Cox is always there, delivering a piece to camera outside an observatory in Chile spouting on about his interest in black holes and the wonders of delving into dark matter.

His preoccupation – and that of the legion of cohorts dragged out from the bowels of laboratories across the world to back him up – always seems to be the origins of us all, the Big Bang and how little gizmos flying around the cosmos affect you, me and the fundamentals of creation.

Once, of course, these things were all left to theologians although that's terribly non-PC these days. Now, exponents of the new beliefs are free to ponder the imponderable and come up with the explanation of life, the universe and everything.

But what, I wonder throughout, has any of this got to do with the price of fish? Yes, bearded men looking at screens may have tracked down the tiny neutrons that enabled the formation of the Crab Nebula but how should that alter my life? Does that knowledge help any of us, at any time, drag ourselves through the day?

All of it, as archbishops, popes and ayatollahs before have found, is irrelevant tosh and does nothing to make the world a better place.

Good science must surely lead to practical good rather that highfalutin conjecture. Do new thoughts about the origins of the Solar System help us provide sewage systems that could save thousands in the slums of India? Do theories about the first few seconds after the creation save millions from malaria?

We already have all the understanding of the basics we need to make a happier, comfier world but instead billions are spent on meaningless research while millions starve – and folk shiver in front of gas fires they can't afford to switch on while their licence fees are spent sending Prof Cox to sit in front of yet another radio telescope. But clearly the nerds have taken over. Our tiny bit of spare cash goes to the new elite and our tiny bit of leisure time is filled by the same people telling us how fascinating it all is. New Scientist should be placed on the top shelf along with other publications of interest to people who need to get a life.

Scientific evidence for the existence of Jesus.

Atheistic vs theistic resilience.

People with faith are happier and rebound from bad situations quicker? Curious claim to one upmanship. This would suggest people of no faith are more upset and disturbed by events around us, and they consider the implications of bad events with greater acuity and empathy.

I would rather be unhappy and disturbed, having full command of the events that left me in such a condition, than happy and oblivious to the same in a deluded and nihilistic world-view where nothing else matters but what happens to me when I die.

Opinion: Pope says Christianity trumps secularism in building good societies

Source; Catholic News Agency

I am not a Christian. I do not want to live in a Christian society. 


I do not recognise the pope as an authority on any matter outside of his own conscience, and I would thank him to respect my rights to my conscience.


Am I asking too much? Apparently. 


I will kill people to defend my right to freedom of conscience and equal treatment in a civil society, and if that means guerilla warfare on the streets of Penzance (a Celtic Spring?) against my Christian oppressors, then so be it. They will have brought it on themselves.


Religion is about love? Sheeze. Give me a break.

For my new theistic partner, lest there be any confusion

My new partner recently asked if I believed in God. 

I had heard word of her involvement with the local diocese and had already pegged her as a theist, but certainly not one of the bible thumping hypocrites I am perhaps more familiar with in my forays into the debate. Indeed, her home bears no obvious witness to either her involvement with the Church of England, or her apparent faith.

Her delightful nine year-old daughter had proudly shared her baby album with me -  replete with her Christening certificate and cards - that I perused with an established atheistic interest in things religious, and not so much as a murmur of disapproval or outward sign that anything was out of the ordinary. The fact is, I neither disapprove, nor do I think anything was out of the ordinary.

Our relationship is in its infancy, and whilst my response to her question on the existence of God was met with a haughtily condescending, 'Oh, you will.', I feel comfortable that I can be open about my lack of faith without having the walls of some archaic middle-eastern city falling down around our fledgling romance.

Still, the resentment and distrust of atheists runs deep in some people, and I must be mindful to establish as open a dialogue on the true nature of the atheist as I can, without offending her and her family's religious sensibilities.

Upon returning from a very enjoyable and relaxing 36-hour informal meet and greet with her daughter, an article by Digital Cuttlefish on the use of 'tropes' came up in my Google Reader feed. I don't know how many - if any - of these misrepresentations of atheism I shall have to field, but the occurrence of this article may well prove to be timely.

Should my partner ever come to read my blog (and she has expressed an interest), perhaps this article will go some way to dealing with the more stubborn myths that we atheists have to contend with on a daily basis.

Dutch Catholic church slammed for thousands of child sexual abuse claims since 1945

Source; BBC News

A report by an independent commission into Catholic child sexual abuse in Holland has revealed that as many as one in five children have been victims whilst under the 'care' of Catholic institutions.

The report, based on a survey of more than 34,000 people, has identified 800 alleged perpetrators, just over 100 of whom are still alive, and church officials failed to adequately address the abuse or help the victims in their schools, seminaries and orphanages.

The commission was set up last year under the leadership of former government minister Wim Deetman to investigate allegations of abuse dating from 1945.

According to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics, 29 percent of the Dutch population of 16 million identified themselves as Catholics in 2008, making it the largest religion in the country.

The Dutch Bishops Conference scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon to respond to the report.

Note: Internet cookie to the first person to find a copy of the report.

Email to LIND Media regarding Mid-Ohio Atheists billboard campaign

Source; Greta Christina's Blog

• 
  
  
  Whether or not the US - or any other country for that matter - is a Christian nation, each of us that live in what we notionally call the West, have decided over numerous generations that intolerance and bigotry is not welcome in a modern and democratic society.

  
  

  In both the UK and the US, majority rule forms our respective parliaments and governments, but explicitly not at the expense of legal representation of the minority's rights.
  
  
  America in particular, despite its predominant Christian base, was founded on secular principles by people that didn't wish to repeat the mistakes as they appeared in the 'old country', but these founding principles appear to have served out their useful function, a new breed of good 'ole American fascism is sweeping the nation.
  
  
  All the more disturbing, then, when perfectly legal organisations like the Mid-Ohio Atheists, raise the funds and spend time and effort putting together a tasteful billboard campaign, only to have it rejected at the last minute by the billboard company for unsubstantiated claims of an  'inflammatory, offensive and obscene' nature.
  
  
  I honestly don't know what good it will do, but I for one have had enough of this overt bullying and repression, and I have decided to let LIND Media Company know about my concerns, and to illicit a response for their actions. And I call on every fair and just-minded individual to do the same.
  
  
  My email lies below the fold.
  

HoR votes on unconstitutional law abandoning habeas corpus

Source: Al Jazeera

A 662bn USD defence bill that includes a controversial proposed legislation that would deny terror suspects, including US citizens, the right to trial and permit authorities to detain them indefinitely, has been passed without presidential opposition by the Republican-lead House of Representatives.

Christopher Anders, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the bill was a "big deal".

"It would authorise the president to order the military to capture civilians and put them in indefinite detention without charge or trial, with no limitation based on either geography or citizenship," he told Al Jazeera.

"The military would have the authority to imprison persons far from any battlefield, including American citizens and including people picked up in the US."

Habeas Corpus, literally in Latin "you have the body" is a term that represents an important right granted to individuals in America. Basically, a writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate requiring that a prisoner be brought before the court to determine whether the government has the right to continue detaining them. The individual being held or their representative can petition the court for such a writ. [1]

Habeas corpus is one the most important rights guaranteed under the Constitution, and was first codified in British law with the Habeas Corpus Act 1679.


It has continued across the world as one of the basic rights afforded a citizen, and now looks certain to be effectively legislated away in the U.S..