Under state law, God is Kentucky’s first line of defense against terrorism.
Homeland Security is ordered to publicize God’s benevolent protection in its reports, and it must post a plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center with an 88-word statement that begins, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God.”
Such is the provision tucked into a 2006 law organizing Kentucky’s Dept of Homeland Security by a one State Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister.
Under previous Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a lay Baptist preacher, Homeland Security interpreted the law at face value, prominently crediting God in its annual reports to state leaders and posting the required plaque.
There is no reference to God in Homeland Security’s current mission statement or on its Web site, which displeases Riner.
“We certainly expect it to be there, of course,” Riner said.
In case you missed it, earlier this week in Northern Canada a meteorite lit up the night-time skies near Edmonton Alberta, and by happy circumstance a police dash cam was pointing in the right direction at the time. Here is the amazing video.
Why is this on Topic Agnostic? Well, being agnostics, we are naturally skeptics, we require good proof before we accept a claim. That proof is often found in the scientific method, and through testing hypothesises.
During Biblical times, what might an event like this be described as? Perhaps a chariot of fire?
2 Kgs. 2: 11
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
I am not aware of what thoughts modern Biblical scholars have about this passage, but I quote it to demonstrate the difference between modern, scientific, rational though and ancient, religious, irrational, ignorant (as in not knowing the facts) thought.
An event like this meteor may have been given a supernatural explanation by ancient people because they didn’t know the science; that this is a naturally occurring event of a rock that likely came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, pulled in by Earths gravity and burnt up in the atmosphere which would account for the sky lighting up like daytime.
The point is that we have the benefit of modern science to test claims and help us to understand the world as it actually is; and that relying on superstition and words in some old book with outdated knowledge, morals and social commentary is laughable.
From the New York Times: “California officials will investigate accusations that the Mormon Church neglected to report a battery of nonmonetary contributions — including phone banks, a Web site and commercials — on behalf of a ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage.”
Go BHA! The fine atheists responsible for administering October’s atheist bus ad campaign have received 35,000 pounds (about 60 grand!) from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a government equality watchdog. They’re using the dough to stage a series of public conversations about the validity of religion in the public sphere.
Mario Majorski, 48, was blown away yesterday outside the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in LA by Co$ security goons. To be fair, he did burst out of a cherry-red rental car wielding two samurai swords, but who says he didn’t have a reason? He was once “associated with the Church”, so maybe he had his own crazy business to finish. Cops say it was self defence on the part of the goons.
The Onion covers a press conference in which God clarifies the meaning of “Thou shalt not kill”, which, not surprisingly, is not to kill anybody.
Editorial illustration artwork from the horrendous Objective: Ministries, which is a treasure trove of kid’s artwork slash admissible evidence of child abuse featuring a very buff (and practically nude) Jesus riding dinosaurs and unicorns, spurning coffee, and loving everybody. Creationist nonsense, the truth about Santa, and grouchy atheists in goat form help children understand why Christianity is a kindly, loving religion. A poor, polytheistic elephant named Habu labours under great confusion as to which of his many gods he should pray to. “Wouldn’t you rather have just one God who loves you a bunch than a bunch of gods that don’t love you at all?” I’m filin’ this one under ‘intolerance’.
Jesus didn’t end up officially throwing his hat in the presidential ring, but the votes have been tallied and he did get 23 write-in votes! ‘God’ also received multiple recommendations for the top post, though through the power of the holy trinity you automatically get a Herbert Walker/Dubya duality kind of thing going on if either of them were to be elected.
Jesus got more votes than Tiger Woods, Tommy Chong, and Homer Simpson put together. I think had more people known Tommy Chong was an option, he might have given the Good Lord more of a run for his money.
That reminds me of a quote by George Bush the First I recently encountered. Check out this snippet of an interview with Robert I. Sherman at an O’Hare Int’l Airport press conference on August 27, 1987:
Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?
Bush: I guess I’m pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in god is important to me.
Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?
Bush: No, I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?
Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I’m just not very high on atheists.
Trey and Matt have somewhat of a history of lampooning the Mormon faith through various projects such as the classic Orgazmo; in which a missionary starts acting in porn movies to make money in order to have a temple wedding, and the infamous South park episode All About Mormons.
‘All About Mormons’ became somewhat of an expose for people unfamiliar with the history of the church, and especially for members of the church who never knew about some of the non-faith promoting history of the church, such as the fact that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by placing his face in a hat, and didn’t even use the golden plates he purported to be in possession of. Those same golden plates were supposedly later taken back to heaven by the angle Moroni.
No doubt that this upcoming musical will be another entertaining chapter in the satirization of Mormons by Trey and Matt.
The holiday season is fast approaching, and the fine atheists at the American Humanist Association (or AHA, a delightful acronym!) are celebrating their reason-based festivities with a fantastic new ad campaign running on buses in Washington, DC.
Hot on the heels of the British Humanist Association, the Guardian & Richard Dawkin’s god-free bus advertising in London, AHA has created a campaign to counter the common Christian assertion that one needs fearsome Sky Dad in order to behave oneself. In posing the question “Why believe in a god?” as your motive for being good, AHA seeks to stimulate some real discussion of the humanist ideal.
Because you have the conceptual ability to understand cause and effect and long-term consequences
Because you were communicated ethics based on learning experiences from your parent’s society’s collective history
Might I also add that social cooperation is mutually beneficial, that assisting others to survive and thrive will result in the same being done unto you, and that it just feels great?
This isn’t the first time AHA has been involved in social purpose outdoor creative. They’re doing great work. You can donate, and there seems to be a million-dollar matched grant challenge—which would put reason on a whole lot of buses.
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