Defaithed

I'm short of funny stuff for the moment... and so rolled my own. Here's an entry in the famed LOLcat vein, starring Ken Ham of the equally famed (and equally comical) Creation Museum.

Religion-themed LOLcats... what would you call those? "GodLOLs"? "ReLOLgion"? Just "LOLtards"?

A recent thread on Pharyngula discussed the Oscars and, somewhat in passing, disappointments over Bill Maher's movie Religulous. The complaint: Overall it's a great poke at religion, but Maher unfairly used some of the same tactics as the dishonest hacks behind Expelled, unfairly eliciting quotes from his targets without first revealing his agenda.

I saw Religulous too, and will humbly suggest that PZ Meyers and many of the commenters on the page are overlooking a key point of the movie. Readeth thou more

My earlier entry The "atheists discredited" deadline hath come! was picked up by the 800-lb Pharyngula blog on February 17, in the post SOP for prophets. That mention brought a mighty spike of visitors, a nice handful or two of comments, and lots of discussion back on the Pharyngula page.

For whatever reason, though, I was unable to leave a comment myself on that page, despite three attempts. Maybe it was some oddity on my side; on the other hand, that heavily-trafficked site is known to choke on bugs once in a while. In any case, the comments I wanted to leave on that page are as follows: Readeth thou more

Yikes, I hadn't even realized that atheism's most momentous date was upon us!

No, not Darwin Day. That's all very fine and well (happy birthday Chuck; love your Origin book); what I'm talking about is Discreditation Day. You know, February 9th, 2009, the day by which, according to "Professor" John A. Davison,

...Pharyngula, Panda’s Thumb, EvC, RichardDawkins.net and Uncommon Descent will all have so completely degenerated as to become nothing but embarrassing footnotes in the history of internet communication. I also predict that P.Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins will have so embarrassed their home institutions that overt attempts will have been initiated to have their tenures revoked on the grounds of moral turpitude and seeking to overthrow the government... Fortunately for them, by that date, February 9, 2009, the physical destruction of our civilization will have proceeded to such a degree that thinking people will no longer be concerned about intellectual trash like Richard Dawkins and P.Z. Myers.

Finally, the long-awaited Judgement Day has arrived! And by the look of things... uh, nothing's happened. Well, that's not quite true. Atheism is stronger than ever. Richard Dawkins remains in huge demand as a speaker, as he sells his zillionth copy of The God Delusion and other books. PZ Myers continues to rule the blogosphere.

Atheists grow louder and more visible by the day, initiating public campaigns to proclaim their non-faith on billboards and buses. Even the American populace had the smarts to reject Bible Party candidates and, if not yet place a professed atheist in the White House, elect a president who was raised in an atheist household and openly acknowledges the rights of non-believers. (On the other side of the fence, the big, noisy anti-Darwin film Expelled flopped as it brought even more attention to the atheists it misquoted.)

So. The day has come, and it appears that John A. Davison's prognostication had all the accuracy of Biblical prediction. Prominent atheists, far from fading away by this date, grow in fame.

Incidentally, who is this John A. Davison, the man who predicted prominent atheists sinking to the level of unknown nobodies? As of February 9, 2009, I have no idea. 

Readeth thou more

This blurb finds itself attached to email forwards (hello again, cute kittens, awesome videos, and "good ol' days" pastiches!), and supposedly comes via comedian Jay Leno:

With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?

All righty; that's blandly cute as a one-liner. But come on, you just know that American fundies will take the gag as an actual warning against de-godding the Pledge. For the flag-waving, school-prayer-ing crowd of fearful out there, let me note:

Yeah, with hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, having God in the Pledge of Allegiance is working out so well for us.

I like linking to cartoons and other religious humor – but God yuks aren't always funny. Especially when they're attempts at humor by the terminally fundamentalist, a brand not known for its jocular outlook.

Case in point: some soulless inksplots called "Monkey's Cuz". Ready to split a gut?

Get it? Scales and scales! Hoo-haw! Okay, recovered yet from your aching sides? Not so fast; this keen-witted Michaelangelo isn't letting you off so easily! Readeth thou more

Epicurus opines on the problem of God and evil. Smart guy!

Incidentally, the "33 A.D." bit seems to throw people off. It seems clear to me that it's not intended as a date for Epicurus' quote (he lived centuries earlier), but points to the death of Jesus as an atheist "win". Which is a jab that's unnecessarily inflammatory, irrelevant to the quote, and odd too, too, as Jesus' alleged killers weren't atheists.

That aside, Epicurus' fine quote is something I'd call an atheist "win". Gotta memorize that one!

Image via Eat Liver. Source unknown.

See? If you go by number of benefits, prayer wins!

Source: Prayer vs Hard Work, at Wellington Grey's Miscellanea.

Now you know why your atomic flying car is a few hundred years behind schedule.

Image via Eat Liver. Source unknown. 

Sure, the new year should begin around December 21, but the meaninglessly arbitrary January 1 will just have to do. Whatever the date, it's sure exciting to celebrate this celestial milestone that's only happened... what, about 6000 times before, right?

Starting the new solar go-round with some randomly-spotted items of note:

Commit blasphemy on your tabletop!

While there may be even more fun ways to blaspheme atop the dining room table, the Blasphemy board game and "Jesus smack down" by Pinstripe Publishing seems ready to offend any true believer. It's unfortunate that the $99 price tag (presumably a matter of low production runs) will keep the game out of many hands.

Atheists and Anger

One of my pet fundie whines is, "If you don't think God is real, why do you rail against Him?" We don't; we rail against foolish and harmful belief in unproven ideas, a human failing that is real. Along those lines, the article Atheists and Anger is excellent read for anyone, atheist or not. 

Backward evolution?

Blogger The Raving Atheist has decided to become The Raving Theist, according to a Jesus-embracing post that offers no reason for the change of faith. Is this meant to be a real conversion, a la novelist Anne Rice's turn to a different kind of undead? Or is it a big, if not particularly clever, Poe?

I suspect the latter. In any case, while the post doesn't offer anything of substance, the comments debate raged mightily. I enjoyed many of the remarks, such as these:

Bobby Johnson on "personal relationships" with God: "Pray tell, just how does one have a personal  relationship with an invisible, intangible, weightless, soundless, and scentless  critter devoid of any heat signature detectable by NASA?"

Jason Failes on "I see evidence of God in trees and stars": "...and why is it always trees and stars?  Why does no one ever say "malaria, AIDS, genetic disorders, birth defects,cometary impacts, polio, and bot flies"?"