here is a funny t'internet themed cartoon. enjoy...



from friendly atheist via pearls before swine

me old dear

my very sainted mother (not so) recently went into hospital as she was one of the many people coming down wiv cancer (there's a jade goody joke in there somewhere, but i've yet to get a laugh from it yet, so i'll leave it for now)

she was recovering from one of the many procedures she suffered in a valiant (and, thankfully, successful) attempt to escape the clutches of the horseman we all like least, when she was visited by a well-meaning christian friend (many of my mother's friends are of that persuasion, i've tried telling her, i really have..) who, whilst discussing (for some bizarre reason) the finer theological implications of my mother's suffering, said:
"we don't know why god had this in his plan for you?"
to which my mother (quite innocently) replied:
"somebody thought this was a good idea?"

kinda sums up my entire argument against any kind of theism/deism/paganism really...

informing your atheism

i'm on the atheist blogroll so i suppose i might as well tell you why. most atheists, i'm sure, have good reasons for becoming atheists (aside from being born one, of course). unless they are atheist for the simple reason that everyone around them is, not that i have a problem with that, it worked for religion long enough.

the reason i am an atheist is primarily twofold. reason number one i discovered thanks to a medical condition. now before you all jump down my throat, i'm not angry with my creators for my condition, my parents could not have known it would happen anyway (boom, boom). but, what my diabetes did open my eyes to is what happens to you when you die.

the fact that none of us like the idea of ceasing to exsist is basically religions sole selling point - the old 'it makes you a better person' schtick loses its strength with every holy book-inspired death. i believe i've talked before about experiencing death before, for those who missed it: knock yourself out. suffice to say, it is not as exciting an experience as it is reported to be.

why i am so sure i have no eternal soul is my aforementioned medical condition. for those readers unaccustomed to the ins and outs of type 1 diabetes. i have to replace my insulin by myself (my pancreas having been 'taken out' by my own immune system). this can, on occasion lead me to have less sugar in my blood than is optimal. but wait, here's the rub: when my blood sugar levels drop i become a different person. and i aint just talking mood swing, oh no, i'ma talking diminished responsibility here folks; i change.

how does this inform my atheism? well just stop and think a wee mo, i am supposed to have within me an inviolable soul. a spirit, if you will, that not only makes up who i am, in a very deep and real sense, but also survives death. now, i asks ya, how can something that supposedly survives death not even survive a hypo(glycemic attack)? - i hope to follow this up by looking into diabetes vis-a-vis religious belief surely i'm not the only on to have reached this conclusion?

reason number two is a more ecumenical matter. and it is this: why would an all-powerful creator of the universe, creator of immovable objects and unstoppable forces, need to rely on emotional blackmail? aside from my firm belief that no relationship should be started (or continued) on the basis of emotional blackmail, why resort to it at all? i mean come on, this is the best you can do? hurl empty (and faintly ridiculous) threats and promises about?

what kind of a god worth praying to does that? what kind of a god creates a world full of evidence that contradicts his very own words and then threatens eternal punishment for the crime of disbelief?

it would be a very sick joke if it wasn't so funny and somewhat mirthful if it weren't so very ill.

monkey worship!

bibles at the ready? then we'll begin. gen 1:27: "so god created man in his own image...". i'll repeat that for those at the back (that means you sarah): created man in his own image. funny that, cause when i look in a mirror you know what i see? something that looks very much like an overly upright ape. all the way down to the hair, nails & a-hole. what could possibly be gwan? is it all just an expression of our over developed egos? (surely not!) or is the creator of the universe an old geezer with a beard and a hernia?

thanks to the manga bible for the inspiration!

quote of the day

this one courtesy of atheist haven.

"Gawd hates children: 25,000 dead children everyday.
That's like slamming a hundred 747 Boeings into skyscrapers every single fucking day."

lovely bit of number crunching no?