Priest who committed suicide for rebirth cremated

"A three-day "miracle" drama in Chhattisgarh's industrial town of Raigarh ended on Monday afternoon after a Hindu priest, who had committed suicide promising to return to life within 72 hours of his death, was cremated.

Hundreds of people had laid siege around the body of 25-year-old Manoj Baghel, who ended his life on Saturday by consuming poison at a temple in Raigarh, about 200 km northeast of state capital, Raipur. Baghel had claimed that he would come back to life.

"The miracle drama is now over as the people, who had surrounded the body of the dead priest to witness the rebirth, handed over the corpse to the police for post-mortem on Monday afternoon," Superintendent of Police in Raigarh, J K Thorate said."

IBNLive.com, Dec 24, 2007

Back to the drawing board... or not.

Very, very religious

"The gunman believed to have killed four people at a megachurch and a missionary training school had been thrown out of the school a few years ago and had been sending it hate mail, police said in court papers Monday.
The gunman was identified as Matthew Murray, 24, who was home-schooled in what a friend said was a deeply religious Christian household. Murray's father is a neurologist and a leading multiple-sclerosis researcher.

[...]

A neighbor, Cody Askeland, 19, said the brothers were home-schooled, describing the whole family as "very, very religious.""

Yahoo, Associated Press, Dec 10 2007

Sad story of course, but I think anyone can see that the strong religious convictions of his family never did him much good.
There's another thing:

"I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously — by the grace of God — it did not," she told ABC's "Good Morning America."

But "by the grace of God" he killed four people. If God exists, then he allowed this to happen. The religious world view is very sick indeed.

See also: “Christian-Hating” Gunman was Raised ‘Deeply Religious’ at Black Sun Journal

Why do Atheists want to take away the hope from people?

As an Atheist, I'm sometimes asked: "Why do you want to take away the hope from people?" But the fact is, you can't take away hope where there is none.

I found this through this blogpost: GodTube Presents..."A Letter from Hell"

So much hate

"I hate damnable heresies, but I love people. I hate the Jehovah Witnesses' religion with all my heart, but I love lost sinners who are in need of Christ. I hate gambling! I hate abortion! I hate cigarette smoking that put my mother in a wheelchair at age 53 for the rest of her life! I hate the lies of government! I hate the evil Federal Reserve system! I hate the injustice of Enron! I hate the injustice of the Supreme Court! I hate Hollywood! I hate homosexuality! I hate child abuse! I hate divorce! I hate the demonic public school system! I hate the Social Security scam! I hate the stealing of tax-payer's money by the government! I hate the killing of innocent people in Iraq! I hate the New World Order! I hate Skull and Bones, Bohemian Grove and every other Satanic organization on the planet! I hate Wicca and Freemasonry! I hate witchcraft! I hate Harry Potter! I hate horoscopes, astrology, tarot cards, Ouija boards, séances, psychics, palm reading, crystal balls, necromancy, worshipping the dead and the Virgin Mary of the Catholic false Religion. I hate Islam! I hate Buddhism! I hate Scientology! I hate Mormonism! I hate Atheism! I hate rock and roll! I hate soap operas! I hate the devils' music! I hate pornography! I hate sex tourism! I hate the United nations! I hate population control, sterilization and forced abortions. I hate the rigged, corrupt and godless pharmaceutical industry! I hate recited prayers that aren't from the heart! I hate indifference! I hate apathy! I hate the heresy of baptismal regeneration! I hate communism! I hate feminism! I hate sex-changes! I hate false Bibles! I hate the New International Version of the Bible! I hate to watch millions of people starve to death while Americans spend $280,000,000,000 to destroy a sovereign nation in an illegal war against Iraq! I hate the hypocrisy of America! I hate the selfishness of American corporations and the betrayal of our elected officials by allowing America's manufacturing jobs to flee by the tens-of-millions to third-world countries to exploit the poor! Yes, I hate all these things and a whole lot more. By the way, God hates all these things too. I know so because God hates evil and all of the above things I mentioned are EVIL!"

David J. Stewart, Jesus-is-savior.com

That's a lot of hate. If the guy stopped taking the bible seriously he could probably cut down his hate list by a half..

Play a tune on the radio and cure AIDS

"Right now AIDS in Africa could be significantly ameliorated by a simple tune played on the radio across Africa."

peterchappell.com

Is there noe end to the evils of homeopathy?

Anti-gay church vows to take control of Microsoft

"An evangelical Christian pastor has vowed to take over Microsoft, one of the world's largest companies by packing it with shareholders who will vote against their policy of advocating gay rights. The Reverend Ken Hutcherson, a former Dallas Cowboys player is the self proclaimed head of the Antioch Bible Church, based in Redmond, the home of Microsoft's headquarters. Microsoft has a strong diversity policy and LGBT staff enjoy a well-funded employee group. Mr Hutcherson told a shareholders' meeting that he would be the company's "worst nightmare", threatening that he has the support of not only the 3,500 members of his church, but perhaps also millions of evangelical Christians and orthodox Jews."

Neowin.net, 18 November 2007

I think that would open up to a new era of Microsoft jokes.

‘Miracle’ fuel that made a mockery of Mugabe

"When Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff, ministers in Robert Mugabe’s Government believed that they might have found the solution to Zimbabwe’s perennial fuel shortage.

[...]

She laid pipes from the bowser to a point at the bottom of the hill. Whenever she assembled an audience, she would strike a rock and an assistant at the top of the hill would open the tap and lo, fuel would pour out. The bowser eventually ran dry but that didn’t stop Ms Tagarira. “They would buy diesel from lorry drivers and keep it in the pipe on the pretext it was coming from a rock,” the docket said."

The Times, October 27, 2007

Master of arts in Diplomacy

Look at the ad at the top. This screenshot from World Nut Daily totally screams diplomacy. What kind of diplomats does Norwich University expect to get from the readers of WND? That's right, Norwich University is a private military college so I guess "diplomacy" means something completely different over there.

Former pope burns in Hell

Silly Catholics have no clue.

Convent closed after nuns in fist-fight

"A CONVENT in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its last three remaining nuns ended in blows.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July that was kept quiet until now.

Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their religious vocation'' and asked the Vatican for permission to close the convent.

Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said.

She suspected Bishop Battista Pichierri of planning to cede the convent to another community.

Liliana had been at the convent since its founding in 1963."

News.com.au, October 01, 2007

Saudi divorces wife for watching male TV host: report

"A Saudi man divorced his wife for watching alone a television programme presented by a male, an act he deemed immoral, the Al Shams newspaper reported on Saturday.

The man, whom the paper did not identify, ended his marriage on the grounds his wife was effectively alone with an unrelated man, which is forbidden under the strict Islamic law enforced in the ultra-conservative kingdom, the paper said.

Men in Saudi Arabia have the authority to divorce their wives without resort to the courts."

Yahoo/AFP, September 29 2007

Kenya: Christian Group Moves to Court to Challenge Death of Jesus

"A group of Kenyans have grabbed media attention here after they filed a suit at the High Court challenging the arrest and sentencing of Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago.

The Friends of Jesus, through Judiciary spokesman Dola Indidis, told the court this week that they want to set the record straight that Jesus was innocent. They alleged that the arrest, torture and punishment of Jesus was unlawful and amounted to violation of his human rights."

allafrica.com, 31 August 2007

From what I read in a Norwegian Christian paper, they now also want to sue Italy, Israel, Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate and King Herod. We're pleased to hear that Judas is left off the hook for now. (There are actually some fishy things regarding his "suicide".... or shall we say he very conveniently fell headlong and bursting asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.)

Well, I hope they examine the biblical evidence thoroughly. They'll probably find that the gospels don't give a correct picture of what happened and that there's a lot of contradictions among the witnesses. Then again, it's a case based on hearsay, so it should not be brought to a trial.

Anyway, if there's a good trial where all the evidence from higher biblical criticism is heard, then I doubt many of them will still be believers when they're finished.

Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

"A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.
Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.
"I'm just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master's degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job," Bitterman said.

[...]

"You don't fire professors for giving you a scientific answer."
Bitterman said Linda Wild, vice president of academic affairs at Southwest, fired him over the telephone."

Des Moines Register, September 22, 2007

Appalling.

The sheer evil of the Catholic Church

"Evil is a religious concept and the Catholic Church loves to bandy it about when commenting on the behaviour of other people. Well, now I want to tell the Catholic Church that the activities of its Archbishop Francisco Chimoio of Maputo, Mozambique are incredibly evil.
This stupid man is putting about the idea that condoms manufactured in Europe are pre-infected with HIV.

[...]

Scientists desperately try to reassure people that the virus cannot live outside the body, and there is no way condoms could have this effect. But clerics hold great sway among the deprived and illiterate people of rural Africa. Their words are heeded, unfortunately."

National Secular Society, 27. September 2007

See also The Guardian: HIV-infected condoms sent to kill Africans, claims archbishop

Vandals egg house of local atheist

"The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.
A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.
The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.
The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled. "

Daily Herald 9/23/2007

See also comment at Atheist revolution:

"The police are convinced that angry teens are the culprits rather than some local Christian terrorist organization. Their evidence? The vandalism closely followed the incident at Sherman's daughter's school, and "Jesus" was misspelled. They may have a point about the proximity of the vandalism to the school incident, but the misspelling sounds like they are assuming Christian adults must have some modicum of intelligence. I'm not sure this is a safe assumption.
Had racist slurs and symbols been used to deface the home of an African American student, I wonder if the police would have the same response that this was simply an innocent prank by teens. Well, maybe in Jena they would."