Blasphemy: Many Christians have an imaginary friend.

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and he was lamenting the fact that his 6 year old daughter still had an imaginary friend.  

He was concerned about the fact that she could often times be heard talking to her imaginary friend, that she would regularly ask her imaginary friend what choices to make, and she would ask her imaginary friend for help on occasion.  

My friend was concerned that his daughter was being labeled as "strange" by her friends.  Or that his daughter might have some emotional problems.

I told him "fear not".  Her affliction is quite common and some people never recover from it.  

He was baffled and asked what the hell I was talking about.  I simply told him that today there are literally billions of people on earth who regularly talk to their imaginary friend.

They confide in that friend.  They ask their friend for guidance.  And they ask for help all the time.  

But even though there is no proof - not one shred in 2000 years of their imaginary friend's existence - it was socially acceptable to have this friend and to be very vocal about it.

Perhaps children should organize a religion around their imaginary friends.  No one would question them again.  And they could even get some serious cash out of it!

Don

This friend, of course, is referred to as God in many societies.  But there are strong similarities to a child's imaginary friend . . . But no one seems to question the existence of the adult's imaginary friend.

Rightardia wasn't talking about that imaginary friend. We were talking about the other one: your soul. 

Shaman and priests learned centuries ago that they could not prevent a beloved one from dying or a wrongly accused person like Jesus from being executed. But they had a Catch 22, the soul. 

In fact, the apostles were flabbergasted that the Romans dispatched Jesus so easily. Of course, Jesus' soul, the Holy Ghost survived intact. 

Today, if you are willing to contribute money to a church and perhaps your estate when you die, you too can be guaranteed entrance into heaven, just like Jesus.

Yes, you have been "saved." 

source: http://web.me.com/quasimojomedia/The_Propane_Daisies/Blog/Entries/2008/8/1_Imaginary_Friends__.html

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TIme: Hebrew Female goddess written out of the bible

Asherah statuette

There are many ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in an ancient Canaanite coastal city now in Syria about Jaweh's better half, Asherah.

Inscriptions on pottery found in the Sinai desert also show Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped as a pair, and a passage in the Book of Kings mentions the goddess as being housed in the temple of Yahweh.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter is suggesting the theory that God had a wife who was edited out of the Bible.  She is hardly the first academic to write about this.

J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, backs Stavrakopoulou's findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah."

Stavrakopoulou notes that "the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem" is significant.

In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her

Most biblical historians contend that Elohim was the creator of both Jahweh and Asherah. It was also Elohim who created Adam, not Jahweh. Elohim also created Liilith, the first woman. Are you starting to get confused?

Some historians suggest Elohim was a hermaphrodite God that was both male and female and this is why the Hebrew word is often considered a plural form.

 Asherah pole or shrine being destroyed

Asherah was mi\ore popular than Jaweh who was a spiteful god and Asherah pole shrines lined the roads in ancient Israel. Jewish women also had statutes of their godess in their kitchens.

Around 600 BCE King Joesph or Josiah decided to get rid of Asherrah and just wanted a single male god, Yahweh. No doubt the Jewish priests were delighted  to help the king rid the kingdom of the female goddess.

In 622 the high priest Hilkiah persuaded King Josiah that a "hidden" text in the temple revealed the "true faith" of the "Yahweh only" movement. This is arguably the point where 'no other gods before me' became strict monotheism - no other gods at all!

Well, Asherah was a goddess, not a god, wasn't she? 

However, many of the Asherah traditions are still maintained today in the Kabbalah. 

Much of the Old Testament has been subsequently recomposed to portray the earlier history as monotheistic.

Poof, Judaism was now a monotheistic religion.

But what about Elohim? Rightardia believes Elohim was actually the Flying Spaghetti monster (FSM). The FSM is, in fact, the one true god.

Yes, Virginia, Judaism as did almost all other religions started out polytheistic.

sources

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/125891/20110323/asherah-asherah-edited-bible-asherah-edited-from-bible-fertility-asherah-god-s-wife-god-s-wife-asher.htm

http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html

source: http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/asherah.htm

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The conservative Christian Madrasas

The Nazis were well aware that if you could indoctrinate children to accept Nazi values at a young age into the Hitler Jugend. The communists also had their Pioneers program for kids for the same purpose.

Religion is forced onto American children at an early age by the Christian right.  Unthinking patriotism is part of this program often referred to as "God and country.

Many Christians will say their priorities are God first, nation second and family third.

Most non-believers would says family first, nation second and God--not at all.

Rightardia would prefer to see parents keep their kids away from religion until they are teens. Then the Young adult could make up their own mind about religion.

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Dangerous Intersection: The rise of churchless believers

Erich Vieth | October 17, 2010

Large numbers of people now leaving churches nonetheless continue to believe in a god. This article in the L.A. Times indicates that the marriage of conservative politics and religion is driving many away from church:

The most rapidly growing religious category today is composed of those Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. While middle-aged and older Americans continue to embrace organized religion, rapidly increasing numbers of young people are rejecting it.

As recently as 1990, all but 7% of Americans claimed a religious affiliation, a figure that had held constant for decades.

Today, 17% of Americans say they have no religion, and these new “nones” are very heavily concentrated among Americans who have come of age since 1990. Between 25% and 30% of twentysomethings today say they have no religious affiliation. This is roughly four times higher than in any previous generation.

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Glen Beck invokes God to solve America's problems

God has been used by churches for 2,000 years to control the flock and install conventional values that kings, princes and dictators have enjoyed.

Don't worry about the lousy economy because you will get your rewards in heaven when you die! that is the fundamental belief or religious conservatives.

There is a word for a person like Beck. it is called a demagogue. 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Demagogy or demagoguery (Ancient Greek: δημαγωγία, from δῆμος dēmos "people" and ἄγειν agein "to lead") is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes.

Rightardia was hoping Glen would get red faced and start talking in tongues.

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Rightardia invokes the one true God, the FSM, to fix the Gulf Oil Leak

Rightardia has sent urgent emails to both NASA and SETI to use all avlaiable communications channels to contact the flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), the one true god.

The FSM created the universe with a 'big bang" with another FSM. The earth was created when the FSM landed on it and relieved itself creating the oceans, the firmament and life itself.

Rightardia believes the FSM is more powerful than the Evangelical God that Sarah Palin has invoked. Our God is based on science not religious authoritarianism and books written by Bronze Age savages.

Rightardia also prays that the FSM returns to the Earth in December when Obama repeals the Estate Tax. We are praying for a rapture in which the FSM liberates America from 144,000 billionaires and millionaires. This will make trickle down economics works as the federal government harvests billions in Estate Taxes from the bloated assets of America's most affluent people.

 Amen. 

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Three different creation stories

by Secular Human

Nightline (ABC) marked the first "Nightline Face-Off," in which, according to a press release, "hot topics get discussed among prominent voices in their field."

This inaugural segment also came billed as the first network-news debate about the existence of God. If he or she does exist and is just, it will be the last. Representing the Supreme Being were evangelical minister Ray Comfort and actor Kirk Cameron—Mike Seaver on 123 episodes of the sitcom Growing Pains and, more recently, Buck Williams in three films adapted from the apocalyptic Left Behind novels.

Together, Comfort and Cameron host The Way of the Master, a syndicated show most notable for discovering distasteful ways to combine street preaching and getting belligerent. Nightline dug up some footage of Comfort and Cameron trying to save the soul of an overtanned transvestite.

Comfort and Cameron came up with an interesting analogy about God. They view the Earth as a painting and therefore there must be a painter: God. Of course, anyone who understands basic logic knows that although an analogy may be useful in making a point, analogies aren't necessarily logical and there are many false analogies.

Let's take a deeper look. If the painter, God, painted, the Earth, who painted the painter? This argument eventually leads to the conclusion that either the painter or the painting evolved spontaneously. If you are religious, you would prefer the former as the solution. If you believe science offers a better explanation, you would prefer the explanation that evolution offers; life evolved on the Earth slowly over billions of years.

Of course, the clerics suggest God has always been there, but that is a matter of faith. At one time scientists believed the universe had always been here, too, but red shifts in stars made it clear all of the stars are moving away from each other that supported a 'big bang' theory.

The third explanation is the one that Secular Human prefers. Men invented God. Think about it!

source: Democratic Underground

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Eric Veith: Humorous proofs for the existence of God

By Erich Vieth on September 05th, 2006

I know that many of you are philosophically running on empty. You’ve already dabbled with all of the traditional so-called proofs for the existence of God. You crave more proofs and it’s got you down.

Well, cheer up! I have the site for you!

Exchristian.net has 300 (did someone say 300?) “Over Three Hundred Proofs of God’s Existence”! So get ready to dig in. Here are some of my favorites:

COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
(1) Everything must have a cause
(2) The universe must have a cause.
(3) Therefore, the universe has a cause.
(4) Therefore, God exists. This is essentially the Intelligent Design argument.

MORAL ARGUMENT (I)
(1) Person X, a well-known atheist, was morally inferior to the rest of us.
(2) Therefore, God exists.

MORAL ARGUMENT (II)
(1) In my younger days I was a cursing, drinking, smoking, gambling, child-molesting, thieving, murdering, bed-wetting bastard.
(2) That all changed once I became reborn.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

ARGUMENT FROM FEAR
(1) If there is no God then we’re all going to die.
(2) Therefore, God exists. Of course, if you don't beleive in God, you will Go to Hell anyway when you die.

ARGUMENT FROM FALLIBILITY
(1) Human reasoning is inherently flawed.
(2) Therefore, there is no reasonable way to challenge a proposition.
(3) I propose that God exists.
(4) Therefore, God exists.

ARGUMENT FROM POSSIBLE WORLDS
(1) If things had been different, then things would be different.
(2) That would be bad.
(3) Therefore, God exists.

ARGUMENT FROM EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL
(1) God loves you.
(2) How could you be so heartless to not believe in him?
(3) Therefore, God exists.

ARGUMENT FROM BIBLICAL HISTORY
(1) Many modern historians think agree Jesus was a real person. He was the Son of God.
(2) Therefore, God exists. This argument is specious because many of the early Christians did not believe that Jesus was the son of God. if fact the Greek Orthodox Church considers that belief to be heresy.

The first Bible that was written was in Greek and the King James version is not true to it. Orthodox Christians believe Jesus became divine because of his good deeds.

source: http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/09/05/humorous-proofs-for-the-existence-of-god/

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Republican Historical Revisionist Lie Number 1

Republicans have tried to portray their fascists brothers and sisters in Nazi Germany as godless socialists. Let's start with the godless part first.

Evidence of the alleged pro-Nazi sympathies of wartime pope, Pius XII is in the church's official annals,

For many scholars, though, he is at worst the Devil incarnate, "Hitler's Pope", and at best a coward who refused to speak out against the extermination of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals in gas chambers, even when he had compelling evidence that it was happening, lest his words attract Nazi aggression.

The Vatican's response to all such accusations is to issue a blanket denial, insisting that it was neutral throughout the conflict.

In the late 1990s, the Vatican allowed the British writer, John Cornwell, limited access to its papers about Pius XII. A cradle Catholic, ex-seminarian and the author of a book which conclusively refuted allegations that Pope John Paul I had been murdered, the church believed Cornwell could be trusted.

When Cornwell's book, Hitler's Pope, was published in 1999, it alleged that Pius was seemingly prepared to put up with any Nazi atrocity because he saw Hitler as a bulwark against the advance across Europe of godless communism from Russia. To paraphrase more recent politicians, the deaths of 6 million Jews was a price worth paying to protect the Catholic church.

Do you want more proof that the Nazis were fuelled by religion? This is the symbol they painted on their war planes:

What was the highest homor of the Nazis? that would be the Iron Cross they pinned on their soldier's chests.

Religion has always been associated with the right wing. This is why the association with C Streeters, evangelicals and fundamentalists with the GOP is alarming. It is not a coincidence either that evangelical church leaders sanctioned the Iraq War while mainstream churches including the Catholic Church refused to declare the Iraq War 'a just war.'

source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/religion-rome-and-the-reich-the-vaticans-other-dirty-secret-479043.html

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How God sorts them out

graphic coutesy of LTSaloon.com

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The Republican vison for America: a neo-fascist Christian nation

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National Academy of Sciences determines God is an Abstract Concept

Today the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) determined after studying religious texts from all over the world that God is an abstract concept and none of the major religions have any clue who God really is.

The National Academies consist of four organizations: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. It was created in 1863 by a congressional charter approved by President Abraham Lincoln.

According to Wikipedia conceptions of God vary widely. Theologians and philosophers have studied God since the dawn of civilization. The Abrahamic conceptions of God include the trinitarian view of Christians, the Kabbalistic definition of Jewish mysticism, and the Islamic concept of God.

“Most people of the Jewish faith believe in a God who was somewhat of an arse,” said Doctor Aloysius DeJardin, one of the Senior Fellows at the NAS. Christians believe in a more compassionate God.

The Asian religions differ in their view of the divine: views of God in Hinduism vary by region, sect, and caste, ranging from monotheistic to polytheistic to atheistic; the view of God in Buddhism is almost non-theist.

Views of God held by individual believers vary so widely that there is no clear consensus on the nature of God. The contemporaneous French philosopher Michel Henry proposed a phenomenological approach and definition of God as the essence of Life.

Dr. DeJardin, one of the senior scientists, indicated they used SI Haykawa's abstraction ladder described in Language in Thought and Action to determine if God was concrete or abstract. After 5 minutes we determined that God was at the very top of the abstraction ladder.

In philosophical terminology, abstraction is the thought process wherein ideas are distanced from objects.

Abstraction uses a strategy of simplification, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus effective communication about things in the abstract requires an intuitive or common experience between the communicator and the communication recipient.

The National Academy of Sciences chastised both theologians and politicians for being evasively abstract on a variety of religious and political issues. Terms like God, the Trinity, immaculate conception, and family values are abstract and mean different things to different people.

“Theologians and some politicians, primarily the conservative ones, need to talk in more concrete terms,” Dr. DeJardin said. “theologians and politicians need to stop weasel wording and get to the point.“

Science is starting to make breakthroughs on God. The Spitzer telescope recently discovered a God Blob 12.9 billion light years from Earth, nearly at the time of creation. He also noted that CERN was looking for the God particle of Higgs's boson that stirred up a hornet's nest in the Vatican. The Vatican is opposed to the idea that God is made up of particles and believe the CERN testing could open up a black hole that will unleash the Anti-Christ on Earth.
“All I want to say at this time about the Vatican view is 'wow, '” laughed DeJardin.

Dr. DeJardin also wondered how people have been able to pray to an abstract object for all of these years.

Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition (Paperback) by S.I. Hayakawa

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God

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