If Amerca were to lose all its atheists, about 90% of the National Academy of Science would be eliminated, and our prison population would be reduced by about 2%.
isn't it the aim of the current government to kill off any hint that the research being done isn't fully in support of their reich wing view of science as it now exists.
A close family member of mine went to prison for drug use and told me the only way they would be let out of their cell was to attend “church”. Most will take that opportunity desperate for change of scenery. That’s how they prey on people.
Unfortunately, so is the rehab industry. The 12 Step Program is faith based, which is why it's not my ideal rehab (even though I got sober in a 12 step rehab, I thought the 12 steps were off-putting).
Perhaps, mistaken belief in the flying spaghetti monster clouds the mind when weighing the moral options in deciding whether or not to steal, kill, rape, etc...
I believe you but it wouldn't surprise me that a number of imprisoned atheists say that they are believers both to get on the good side of prison administrators to get better treatment and parole and also to avoid getting grief from other prisoners.
Thanks for the clarification. It's important for us to be accurate when quoting someone. In this case, that specific quote may not be hers, but it certainly reflects her view.
He fails to take into account how adept the rest of us have become at feigning Christianity when necessary. I think it goes back to the days the looneytunes would actually burn you alive for failing to “believe” in an approved manner.
But at the majority-Black church I often attend (for community, and because the concept of Jesus/Sermon on the Mount engages me), at least they try, while seemingly having no intention to harm others.
He also sounds about as rigid as an ingot of adamantium! Which, as far as I'm concerned, would totally disqualify him from ANY government post, never mind governor!
I have long thought it an indictment of faith that believers in one brand of it would endure being burned to death rather than pretend belief in another.
If this fool was either fit or qualified to serve as governor, he would know full-well no governor has the power to do what he says he’s going to. Government cannot choose one religion over another, and cannot use the power of the state to force religion on anyone. He’s also foolish enough to think what he wants to do would actually work.
It never occurs to god-pushers like Che Ahn that the majority of drug users [including alcoholics] and drug pushers are probably christians given that the majority of the population identifies as christian. So are most of the criminals currently incarcerated. IOW, christianity doesn't make people better than they'd otherwise be - regardless of what fairy tales the zealots tell themselves.
Precisely my point, John. IMO, good people are going to be good people regardless of their beliefs. But no amount of religion in the world is going to make a POS anything other than a POS. Again IMO, you're more likely to be good without god.
I recently started paying closer attention to the depictions of Hindu gods and reading explanations of what they are holding. Kali holds a severed head which symbolizes the destruction of the human ego, which must be slain to achieve moksha (liberation), according to Google.
I'd argue the opposite; Religion makes people self-righteous, and self-righteousness prevents self reflection and ethical nuance. For example, my late mother was a heavy follower of New Age woo and even said in her own words that "being self-righteous was a good thing." She was also a trust-fund baby who thought "greed is good" and voted for racists like Romney & Ron Paul so she could get a small tax reduction. When Dad pointed out Romney's racist remarks, Mom seemed more perturbed by Dad's reasonable criticisms (as if Dad was somehow breaking decorum by calling a politician out). She also didn't respect privacy rights because in her own words "why hide anything if your doing anything wrong" (clearly she was ignorant of the FBI spying on the civil rights movement and other dissidents).
Self-righteousness is bad regardless if comes from right-wing theocrats or tankies who defend autocrats to "own da libs" (fuck David Sirota BTW. I'm pissed he's still accepted in progressive circles even after simping for Hugo Chavez).
I would think that you want to judge a person by their character not their religion or lack of it. There are plenty of scammers who pretend to be religious to take advantage of the credulity of some religious believers. There are plenty of religious people who are just fooling themselves into thinking they're good people when you look at how they live their lives.
Che Ahn unfortunately hasn't realized the most obvious cause of the drug and alcohol problem plaguing modern society - cognitive dissonance. Trying to find a balance between Bronze Age mysticism and modern day reality is enough to drive many people to use mind altering drugs or mind numbing alcoholic beverages. Che Ahn's solution would be to ignore reality and submit one's self to the interpretations of desert goat herder fever dreams. Somehow I doubt that is a recipe for success for anyone other than those that get paid for spreading their bullshit.
This is what Chump wishes he could do to Democrats- raid opposition party offices and rough up the staff, just to show them who's boss, and shoo the pesky journalists away so they can't catch the regime's thugs a-crime-ing.
Don't give up hope, Turkey- if Hungary could shitcan Orban, you can do the same to Erdogan (just as we, hopefully, can give the spike-toed boot to 𝘰𝘶𝘳 asshole-in-chief).
Look, at some point, even if you're a Christian profit or whatever, you have to recognize that Jesus has had centuries to fix issues like drug addiction, and it hasn't happened.
No amount of government or church bludgeoning is going to change that, and attempting to force people into a Christian rehab isn't going to help. Best I've ever been able to tell, those in treatment at such facilities learn very fast what to say to convince their providers that they've been 'cured by Jesus' so they can get more services or stay longer, then they leave and backslide quickly. If anything, it's just a system so a specific group of people can be more socially acceptable to a wider audience.
Come to me when there is actual, verifiable, empirical evidence that Christian drug treatment facilities do a better job and have a higher success rate than their non-Christian counterparts. Until then, shut up about your Jesus, it's not helping anyone and it's making you look like a troll.
So, he's at least aware of the First Amendment. He doesn't like it, even though it's the thing that has allowed religion to thrive in the US for centuries.
Either these theocrats never examine the history of theocratic regimes to see how bad they are or they know the history and are desperate to repeat it.
Even if this yahoo somehow got himself elected (ha!), and was able to push this nakedly unconstitutional bullshit through the legislature (oh wait, you're serious- let me laugh even harder!), I betcha FFRF's legal department would have him drowning in lawsuits before the ink dried on his signature.
The US prison population is already dominated by Christians. By contrast, imprisoned atheists barely register as a blip.
Hmm...
If Amerca were to lose all its atheists, about 90% of the National Academy of Science would be eliminated, and our prison population would be reduced by about 2%.
isn't it the aim of the current government to kill off any hint that the research being done isn't fully in support of their reich wing view of science as it now exists.
I know a recent inductee to the National academy -- and he is an atheist. He told me so years ago, without provocation.
"If Amerca" god bless Murica! 🤔
If you adjust for the atheists lying about belief in god to get better treatment, you might get it up to 1.5 blips.
A close family member of mine went to prison for drug use and told me the only way they would be let out of their cell was to attend “church”. Most will take that opportunity desperate for change of scenery. That’s how they prey on people.
Why am I not surprised? This is US, the land of the free.
Unfortunately, so is the rehab industry. The 12 Step Program is faith based, which is why it's not my ideal rehab (even though I got sober in a 12 step rehab, I thought the 12 steps were off-putting).
The Satanic Temple has a non-faith-based 12 step program that has been approved in a lot of legal jurisdictions so atheists don’t have to pretend.
Probably not many Satanic Temple based rehabs in North Carolina back in the 90s. 😁
But does anyone attend?
Apparently. There was a presentation on it at the Satanic Revival in Baltimore a few weeks ago.
https://thesatanictemple.com/pages/sober-faction
I wonder if the Church of the SubGenius has a 12-step program.
Perhaps, mistaken belief in the flying spaghetti monster clouds the mind when weighing the moral options in deciding whether or not to steal, kill, rape, etc...
I believe you but it wouldn't surprise me that a number of imprisoned atheists say that they are believers both to get on the good side of prison administrators to get better treatment and parole and also to avoid getting grief from other prisoners.
Well established fact
Che Ahn could stand to learn the following:
"There is no freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse."
-- Ursula K. Le Guin
And Che has about as much chance of gaining the governorship as I do. Then again, I ain't running!
Bonus points for the Le Guin reference.
Thanks, though I had a conversation with Gemini about that quote, and it turns out, she didn't say it! Here's part of what I got from Gemini:
𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝐿𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑐𝑖-𝑓𝑖 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡.
𝐼𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 1974 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚. 𝐴 𝑚𝑎𝑗𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚. 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑𝑠, 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔: "𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑒 𝐺𝑢𝑖𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒."
Thanks for the clarification. It's important for us to be accurate when quoting someone. In this case, that specific quote may not be hers, but it certainly reflects her view.
Entirely my pleasure! 😁
Indeed... just read her Wikipedia article. Thanks!
If he gets more than a single digit percent of votes, I’ll be amazed.
He fails to take into account how adept the rest of us have become at feigning Christianity when necessary. I think it goes back to the days the looneytunes would actually burn you alive for failing to “believe” in an approved manner.
Living in the rural deep south, I can confirm that those BEST at faking Christianity are most white evangelicals.
You know what they say:
Jews don’t recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
Protestants don’t recognize the Pope as the head of the Church.
Southern Baptists don’t recognize each other at the liquor stores and strip clubs.
Of course, they've been doing it for about 60 years so far.....
"Southern strategy'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy
The behind-the-scenes, Lee Atwater types are still as dangerous (and smart) as they ever were.
The opposite of a fake Christian would be a true Christian. Should I get my bagpipes out?
In my life I've known one. (I'm not quite 70.)
But at the majority-Black church I often attend (for community, and because the concept of Jesus/Sermon on the Mount engages me), at least they try, while seemingly having no intention to harm others.
He also sounds about as rigid as an ingot of adamantium! Which, as far as I'm concerned, would totally disqualify him from ANY government post, never mind governor!
It still won’t stop ICE from deporting him.
I have long thought it an indictment of faith that believers in one brand of it would endure being burned to death rather than pretend belief in another.
If this fool was either fit or qualified to serve as governor, he would know full-well no governor has the power to do what he says he’s going to. Government cannot choose one religion over another, and cannot use the power of the state to force religion on anyone. He’s also foolish enough to think what he wants to do would actually work.
If he had a brain, he would know that he would have to get the legislature to approve it first.
𝐻𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑠𝑜 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦.
Indoctrination is one hell of a drug.
If he thinks that it should be Christian only rehab or Christian prison to treat addiction, what is he going to do for Christianity addiction?
He's just one more indoctrinated fool who deserves our disdain and very little else.
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
You mean he’s a tool…yes, you’re right 🤣
It never occurs to god-pushers like Che Ahn that the majority of drug users [including alcoholics] and drug pushers are probably christians given that the majority of the population identifies as christian. So are most of the criminals currently incarcerated. IOW, christianity doesn't make people better than they'd otherwise be - regardless of what fairy tales the zealots tell themselves.
Precisely my point, John. IMO, good people are going to be good people regardless of their beliefs. But no amount of religion in the world is going to make a POS anything other than a POS. Again IMO, you're more likely to be good without god.
"without god" I like some of the Hindu Gods, they are wild looking.
In Vishnu We Trust! 😆
I recently started paying closer attention to the depictions of Hindu gods and reading explanations of what they are holding. Kali holds a severed head which symbolizes the destruction of the human ego, which must be slain to achieve moksha (liberation), according to Google.
Agreed, IMO Hindu Gods are the best when it comes to make believe and theist entertainment.
Got to love the Warrior Goddess Durga.🤪
https://hindugod99.blogspot.com/2014/07/goddess-durga-mother-goddess-her.html
One Nation Under Ganesh.
They are pretty wild!
No doubt about some of the best looking Gods.
https://www.alamy.com/picture-of-hindu-goddess-durga-image69896880.html
Same here!
I'd argue the opposite; Religion makes people self-righteous, and self-righteousness prevents self reflection and ethical nuance. For example, my late mother was a heavy follower of New Age woo and even said in her own words that "being self-righteous was a good thing." She was also a trust-fund baby who thought "greed is good" and voted for racists like Romney & Ron Paul so she could get a small tax reduction. When Dad pointed out Romney's racist remarks, Mom seemed more perturbed by Dad's reasonable criticisms (as if Dad was somehow breaking decorum by calling a politician out). She also didn't respect privacy rights because in her own words "why hide anything if your doing anything wrong" (clearly she was ignorant of the FBI spying on the civil rights movement and other dissidents).
Self-righteousness is bad regardless if comes from right-wing theocrats or tankies who defend autocrats to "own da libs" (fuck David Sirota BTW. I'm pissed he's still accepted in progressive circles even after simping for Hugo Chavez).
I would think that you want to judge a person by their character not their religion or lack of it. There are plenty of scammers who pretend to be religious to take advantage of the credulity of some religious believers. There are plenty of religious people who are just fooling themselves into thinking they're good people when you look at how they live their lives.
Nowadays, if someone makes a big deal about being a Christian that puts me on my guard around them.
Che Ahn unfortunately hasn't realized the most obvious cause of the drug and alcohol problem plaguing modern society - cognitive dissonance. Trying to find a balance between Bronze Age mysticism and modern day reality is enough to drive many people to use mind altering drugs or mind numbing alcoholic beverages. Che Ahn's solution would be to ignore reality and submit one's self to the interpretations of desert goat herder fever dreams. Somehow I doubt that is a recipe for success for anyone other than those that get paid for spreading their bullshit.
Why does being godly almost always involve power over other people, money from other people, and an inability to show any actual real world results?
A god that has so much trouble showing that it exists is no different than a god that doesn’t exist.
And they’re almost always assholes even if they don’t exist.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fr0rh2ixknop21.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dbf12e804fd432a460503741e3a3f07c9db7987c4&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=64d2b7a3f43f8970c0859807ce172b2fe38bc0c390ecc4a0608feafdc80f00b6
OT- Bad news for democracy in Turkey: https://apnews.com/article/turkey-opposition-chp-standoff-2eee5ef016ff6ac1eeda368aff7588e0
This is what Chump wishes he could do to Democrats- raid opposition party offices and rough up the staff, just to show them who's boss, and shoo the pesky journalists away so they can't catch the regime's thugs a-crime-ing.
Don't give up hope, Turkey- if Hungary could shitcan Orban, you can do the same to Erdogan (just as we, hopefully, can give the spike-toed boot to 𝘰𝘶𝘳 asshole-in-chief).
Not from lack of trying. Trump’s Gestapo will be in every voting center making sure the citizens vote the correct party.
I so fucking hate this timeline.....
"raid opposition party offices...."
Watergate established precedent for that much, at least in Murka.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7f87697719d2af00a56382193754613a5907c7f23b9f403d31de8aa53fbae83f.jpg
Oopsies! Somebody's brain done got broke.
That "brain" has been busted since 1946.
Brain and brain! What is brain?
Goldfish have longer attention spans.
As always, Donnie Dumb-Ass can't keep his lies straight. Then again, he never COULD!
He don' need no steenking facts.
274 agents?
Wasn’t that about the size of the complete crowd?
😂
Look, at some point, even if you're a Christian profit or whatever, you have to recognize that Jesus has had centuries to fix issues like drug addiction, and it hasn't happened.
No amount of government or church bludgeoning is going to change that, and attempting to force people into a Christian rehab isn't going to help. Best I've ever been able to tell, those in treatment at such facilities learn very fast what to say to convince their providers that they've been 'cured by Jesus' so they can get more services or stay longer, then they leave and backslide quickly. If anything, it's just a system so a specific group of people can be more socially acceptable to a wider audience.
Come to me when there is actual, verifiable, empirical evidence that Christian drug treatment facilities do a better job and have a higher success rate than their non-Christian counterparts. Until then, shut up about your Jesus, it's not helping anyone and it's making you look like a troll.
"[𝐴]𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ… 𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒!"
So, he's at least aware of the First Amendment. He doesn't like it, even though it's the thing that has allowed religion to thrive in the US for centuries.
Either these theocrats never examine the history of theocratic regimes to see how bad they are or they know the history and are desperate to repeat it.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2560f9de7fb5310b7c7e424fb3cbb771249c6f10309ebf8932b3ef8dec2dd85a.png
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d864fae762ac6a7a93f61c88a9d5cf83ad4832fbf503c08b0c3bf2520822ead7.png
Mine both like toes.
They're pretty careful with their teeth. Less so with their claws- but they're still kids; they'll learn.
...or the human will start wearing thicker socks around the house. One or the other.
I had one kitty a few years ago who was fond of nipping at my ankles whenever I walked past her. She grew out of it.
Richard. Where are you going, Richard?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a3651bd5760862f7be4ec56c236586063cc546c40eb369d4feccb591f405cf4c.jpg
I suspect the land of submarines....Ringo sang of it, as you may recall. 🌊
Could be on a ferry.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5227974c354c4a82c77b9418a2b850a3d19c3b97676fe25ad1e7c745fbf565ad.jpg
Even if this yahoo somehow got himself elected (ha!), and was able to push this nakedly unconstitutional bullshit through the legislature (oh wait, you're serious- let me laugh even harder!), I betcha FFRF's legal department would have him drowning in lawsuits before the ink dried on his signature.
I would certainly hope so — hopefully aided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State (au.org), and the ACLU.