Crazy Christians Will Blame This On Atheists

Oregon shooter said to have singled out Christians for killing in ‘horrific act of cowardice’:

Investigators including cyber experts and hate crime specialists peered Friday into the life of a 26-year-old gunman whose massacre across an Oregon campus may have been driven by religious rage and a fascination with the twisted notoriety of high-profile killers.

What is known so far about the attacker — identified by a U.S. law enforcement official as Chris Harper Mercer — appear only as loose strands that suggested an interest in firearms and the infamy gained by mass shooters.

Witnesses also said he seemed to seek specific revenge against Christians, and police examined Web posts that hinted of wider antipathy toward organized faith.

Crazy Christians will also mention Joeseph Stalin and use this as an example of religious persecution.

Two Sides To Every Story

Kim Davis Recounts Secret Meeting With Pope Francis:

Davis says Pope Francis left her and her husband with a rosary.

“He told me before he left, he said, ‘stay strong.’ That was a great encouragement. Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we're doing, it kind of validates everything to have someone of that stature,” Davis said.

Vatican: Pope's encounter with Davis not a form of support:

The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the focal point in the gay marriage debate in the U.S., saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted as he left Washington and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

Crazy Christians. One of them is lying.

A Matter Of Trust

I don't trust police who place their trust in something that is non-existent.

Contemptuous responses to “In God We Trust” letters show how far atheists have to go:

In the past couple months, FFRF has sent dozens of letters around the country to sheriffs’ and police departments that are decorating their patrol cars with “In God We Trust” stickers.

FFRF’s entreaties for law enforcement officials to take into account their communities’ nonreligious and polytheistic residents have largely fallen on deaf ears. And the few formal responses that have trickled in are breathtakingly disrespectful.

If not for legal reasons, law enforcement agencies should still not be so hasty to plaster such an exclusionary statement across government property. What is an atheist, agnostic, or polytheist supposed to think when the law enforcement officers sworn to protect them are so blatantly dismissive of their concerns? How would the supporters of the “In God We Trust” stickers feel if they instead read “We Trust In No Gods,” or “In Allah We Trust?” You don’t have to answer that—I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from here.

My translation of "In God We Trust" is "In Nothing We Trust".

The Importance Of Banned Books Week

Celebrating Banned Books Week:

For decades, the Religious Right has used public school students as pawns in the "culture wars," fighting to impose a political agenda on textbooks and curricula in school districts across the country. This has included battles over sex education, school-led prayer, publicly funded vouchers for religious institutions, and shaping what children learn by controlling the content of textbooks and access to books in school libraries and classrooms. People For the American Way Foundation has a long record of resisting censorship and defending the freedom to learn.

People For the American Way Foundation is a sponsor of Banned Books Week, an annual celebration of the freedom to read -- and an opportunity for readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, and First Amendment advocates to call for continued vigilance against efforts to restrict that freedom. This year’s Banned Books Week has a focus on Young Adult boos, which are challenged more frequently than any others.

Platt describes the importance of Banned Books Week at the Reading Rainbow blog:

Banned Books Week is celebrated each year because efforts are underway in many parts of this country to remove “offensive” materials from public libraries, school libraries, and classroom reading lists. Arguments can be made for involving parents in the education of their children, and giving them an opportunity to voice objections when some reading material runs counter to their own values, but problems arise when that parent wants to dictate what all children can or cannot read. In the Coda to Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury said: “There’s more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

I see a world with Crazy Christians running around with flamethrowers.

Crazy Christians Think Discrimination Is A Right

Some North Carolina Republicans Want to Protect Anti-Gay Christians—And Outlaw Islam:

for all that North Carolina Republicans ranted and raved about the urgent necessity of broad protections for religious liberty, 40 percent of Republicans in the state think the practice of Islam should be outlawed.

It should come as no surprise to close observers of the “religious liberty” debate that most conservatives were only ever supporting religious liberty for anti-gay Christians. Portions of the GOP remain startlingly Islamophobic; one in three Iowa Republicans, for instance, also believes Islam should be criminalized.

American Muslims seem to understand that the GOP only considers them useful as political football. Over the last 15 years, Muslims have scampered swiftly away from the Republican party: In 2000, 78 percent of Muslims supported Republicans; by 2011, 70 percent identified as Democrats, and only 11 percent leaned Republican. Muslims are leaving the GOP en masse, and the party’s base seems as intolerant of Islam as it is of gay rights. For many of them, “religious liberty” means little more than the freedom to kick a gay couple out of your store.

It is nice to see bigoted behaviour backfiring.

Crazy Christians Kill People Too

Tony Perkins: No Religious Liberty For Muslims; Islam 'Incompatible With Constitution':

On his “Washington Watch” radio program yesterday, Perkins repeated his claim that Islam is not protected under the U.S. Constitution.

Perkins said that the country is under no obligation to provide legal protections for people “who want to blow — I mean, when was the last time you saw a Baptist trying to blow something up?”

Don't know about Baptists, but I wonder what Perkins thinks about Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols?

Timothy McVeigh Religious Beliefs:

McVeigh was raised Roman Catholic. During his childhood, he and his father attended Mass regularly. McVeigh was confirmed at the Good Shepherd Church in Pendleton, New York, in 1985. In a 1996 interview, McVeigh professed belief in "a God", although he said he had "sort of lost touch with" Catholicism and "I never really picked it up, however I do maintain core beliefs." In McVeigh's biography American Terrorist, released in 2002, he stated that he did not believe in a hell and that science is his religion. In June 2001, a day before the execution, McVeigh wrote a letter to the Buffalo News identifying himself as agnostic. Before his execution, McVeigh took the Catholic sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.

Terry Nichols Religious Beliefs:

And one most certainly does insult Muslims by tying their religion to movements such as terrorism or fascism. Muslims perceive a double standard in this regard: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols would never be called “Christian terrorists” even though they were in close contact with the Christian Identity Movement.

Also, does shooting abortion doctors count? Christians, not Muslims are the ones doing that in the United States. Crazy Christians have been incredibly violent all around the world:

Anti-abortion violence is violence committed against individuals and organizations that provide abortion. Incidents of violence have included destruction of property, in the form of vandalism; crimes against people, including kidnapping, stalking, assault, attempted murder, and murder; and crimes affecting both people and property, including arson and bombings.

Anti-abortion violence is considered to be a form of terrorism by the US Department of Justice and is most frequently committed in the United States, though it has also occurred in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. G. Davidson Smith of Canadian Security Intelligence Service defined anti-abortion violence as "single issue terrorism". A study of 1982–87 violence considered the incidents "limited political" or "subrevolutionary" terrorism.

What would Jesus do? He would join the Army of God, of course.

Army of God (AOG) is a Christian terrorist anti-abortion organization that sanctions the use of force to combat abortion in the United States.

Perkins is a hypocrite and a bigot.

Crazy Christian Religious Right Founding Fathers

I don't understand why the crazy Christian religious right think that the founding of the United States as a Christian nation is a good thing.

Prayer Power Play

Taxpayers fund Christian-focused Congressional prayer caucus:

When Pope Francis left the Capitol last week, prayer did not leave with him.

One night a week, the taxpayer-funded congressional Prayer Caucus meets in an ornate room in the U.S. Capitol to defend the role of (mostly) Christian faith and prayer in the U.S. government.

The caucus was created by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., in 2005, and now includes about 90 members of the House, nearly all Republicans, one U.S. senator and one paid staff member.

“In addition to their commitment to putting aside political differences and uniting in prayer for our nation, members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus work together engaging the legislative process to protect free exercise for Americans of every faith or no faith,” Forbes said in a statement. “Some recent issues Prayer Caucus Members have engaged on include reinforcing religious freedom for all faiths in the military, supporting and protecting the autonomy of churches and faith based organizations, and working to ensure every American is free to live according to their beliefs without fear of punishment by the government.”

Because tax-exempt status is not enough.

Once again, I would prefer fact-based initiatives from our representatives in the government.

The crazy christians will always be afraid of "punishment by the government". Martyrdom sells. Could we please have more journalists standing up to the false meme of religious persecution in the United States?