The Scottish Atheist

I don’t blog as regularly as I used to.. partly because, well, it’s more for me than for the internet. I have thought a few times about just using wordpress on an internal server, but always swung back to keeping it here. The point being, I don’t post unless something really makes me bristle.

With the news today did, and how.

It’s bad enough that Pope “king of the paedos” Benedict tries to weasel out of a proper apology for the Irish victims by blaming priest child rape on Secularism, but now, in the most misguided attempt to come out fighting in history, he has decided that faith will help him resist “petty gossip”.

Sorry? Petty Gossip?

When your organisation is being investigated by journalists worldwide, and they are producing documents which YOU SIGNED, that is not “gossip”.

And when we are talking about your organisation’s conspiracy to prevent child rapists from being brought to justice, that is anything but “petty”.

When there is clear evidence that your organisation, and you personally, oversaw the relocation of paedophiles, allowing them to abuse fresh victims, then you have blood on your hands – quite literally, as many of these poor people have committed suicide.

I am sickened that this organisation is not being brought to it’s knees by the criminal courts for large scale perversion of justice – and they thought that they feel empowered to make comments about how other people should live their lives?

It’s beyond belief.

In my day job, I’m involved in educational IT – computer systems used in the classroom etc. I was aware of sparklebox.co.uk, although not a user (not being a teacher, I don’t really have a need for their stuff).

the problem is that sparkelbox has just been banned by the government, with educational authorities being advised to block the site until it can be fully checked out… because it is run by a convicted paedophile. That’s unpleasant enough, but when you look at the website itself… there it is, loud and proud in the top left corner – a shiny big glowing ichthus.

So, set up a site full of nice shiny bright things for kids, and proclaim the faith… just don’t mention being a pedo… classy! Where I live just now, there are plenty of businesses who feel the need to plaster an ichthus all over their building/stationary… and it’s actually something that will stop me from buying from them. It’s not that I particularly care about the religion of people I buy stuff and services from.

That’s their business.

On the other hand, when someone goes out of their way to say “buy from me, because I am a christian (or jew, or muslim, or…)” that’s a bit of a turn off right there.

The thing is – even when I was a christian, I didn’t like this – as a believer, this smacks of the money changers in the temple. Reducing your faith to a marketing tool just seems wrong.

or, to put it another way, how can someone get the situation absolutely correct, and yet miss the point completely?

Blair says Politicians sidestep questions on God because…

And what do you know – he’s right on every point.

Normal people don’t talk to voices in their head, or look for fantastical explanations for everything. When I see some murderer on the news, I don’t think “wow, the devil must have made him do that”.  People like Blair who see god in everything ARE weird, and it’s questionable whether someone who suffers such delusions should be in charge of, oh, nuclear weapons for instance?

There is, indeed, an assumption that these people engage in a cultish interaction with their religion before taking a decision. Otherwise what was all that business about demanding a “free” vote over the Human Fertilisation and Embryo bill for catholic MPs? It was precisely to allow them to have a “cultish” interaction with their religion, so that they could be told how to vote by a priest, rather than the labour whip.

Third, they DO want to impose their religion on others. That’s why Blair allowed people like Vardy to get control of Academy schools for a paltry donation, and push their own religious doctrines. If they didn’t want to impose their religion on others, why do the MPs with “faith” insist that I have to suffer a painful death rather than opting to end my own life with dignity? Why does their religion mean that I cannot choose the health care options that I wish to use?

And of course, the religious DO believe that they are better than everyone else!! witness Hypocrite Cardinal O’Brien, lecturing scientists about basic morality (this from an organisation which presided over the sexual abuse of children, and covered it up). These people believe that their belief in the supernatural gives them a straight line to the moral high ground, when frankly nothing could be farther from the truth.

Finally, and most troubling of all… Blair says that the religious politician can “somehow messianically trying to co-opt God to bestow a divine legitimacy on your politics”.

And of course, Tony, when you prayed with George W Bush for guidance before launching an illegal and ill conceived invasion of Iraq, then tried to justify this on UK television by indicating that you answer to God, not the people, that’s now what you were doing, was it?

Bloody Hypocrite.

Ironically, in trying to rally support for the cause, Blair shows us in the clearest possible terms precisely why we do NOT need more faith in public life.

It seems Pope Palpatine has decreed that there are now seven modern “mortal sins”, including environmental pollution, accumulating excessive wealth (from the VATICAN??!?!) and genetic manipulation… although he doesn’t make clear whether that’s only through lab means, or whether crossbreeding animals and plants, like we have been doing for centuries.

What’s odd, but not in the least bit surprising, is that Benedict/Palpatine doesn’t seem to think that sexual abuse of children by someone in authority should be a mortal sin.

I wonder why…

How incredibly amusing – Stephen “Christian Voice” Green has been told, yet again, to sit down and shut up about Jerry Springer – The Opera.

As the BBC reports the house of lords have opted not to touch the case with a crappy stick.

Stephen Green believes “It brings down the judgement of God on us all”.