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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Catholic schools fires teacher. Reason? Saying "I don't believe in God" in Facebook

Have you noticed how long it takes for a priest who has abused children to be brought to justice, but how fast it is when a member of a catholic institution does something “improper” and get speedily punished. Some days ago it was a nun who saved a woman's life. Now, it is a teacher at a catholic school who stated on facebook that she doesn’t believe in God

'No God' comment adds up to no job for fired math teacher

A math teacher fired from a Fort Dodge Catholic school because she joined an atheist website and noted on Facebook that she didn't believe in God said Friday she never imagined it would lead to her losing her job.


Now, there are many dimensions to this news. First of all, what is a person who doesn’t believe in God (a.k.a. atheist) working for a catholic school? Kind of hypocritical, if you ask me. On the other hand, our economy is not letting us to be picky when it comes to choose jobs. Whatever it is, my take is that such opinion is to be left to the person.

Second, isn’t the school overstepping its boundaries by digging on other people’s personal life? This reminds me of rule in my catholic school, “the school is not responsible for action committed out of it, but has the right to judge them”, very convenient. The teacher did not do anything in public, nor was promoting her lack of belief to the students. Is that a reason to punish her? Hell no.

On the other hand, what could the school have done? Do as if it didn’t know? Wouldn’t have been bad. Then wait until she starts proselytizing her views, and then punish her, since those are the rules that school has, rules she accepted when she took the job.

What could be more outrageous is that she is been denied unemployment benefits. Imagine, after her privacy is somehow violated, after she is judged by that in a pretty discriminatory way, she can’t collect unemployment benefits. Damn Catholics.

However, I can’t feel very bad for her. Even though she says she doesn’t want to work for another catholic school, she says that “she isn’t an atheist”, even though she just said she doesn’t believe in God. A little bit more consistency would have been nice

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Quotable Quote XLVIII

“All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance, ferocity; and modern religions are only ancient follies.”

Baron D'Holbach

Friday, May 28, 2010

The Muslim Princess

I should have written this many days ago. Blame it on Lost. But here I am. And here she is:

I present to you Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010

Beautiful, beautiful and delightful 24 years old middle eastern princess. Rima Fakih was born in Lebanon, but moved to the United States when she was still a kid. Before coming to the US, Rima studied in a catholic school; however, she is a Muslim, but also celebrates Christian rites.

Yes, you read it well, a Muslim.



An incredibly hot Muslim. I think this might be why Muslim men might want their women to be all covered. The desert is already too hot.

But if you think that is her hottest picture, think again. Besides winning the Miss USA pageant, she also won a pole dancing contest. The proof is here:







But wait, she is no airhead. Rima Fakih graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with degrees in economics and business management, and plans to attend law school after her year-long reign. Truly amazing girl. Really, who needs 72 virgins? Whoever has love would already be in heaven.

But there is more. She also worries about others; she is an advocate for breast and ovarian cancer awareness. She also supports insurance paid birth control, an idea that many Christians reject. Which leads me to to most important of her characteristics,

Rima Fakih represents a liberal and successful Muslim, a woman who values education, who takes big decisions and who enjoys her sexuality. This is a double win, since, in on side, she sets an example for other Muslim women to break the chains that Muslim traditions have imposed on them; and, on the other hand, if that is not true, if there are many Muslim women just like her, then she makes an awesome job of putting them on the table and telling the world "Hey! We awesome Muslim girls do exist!"

Of course, not everyone likes her winning of the pageant. On one side we have the conservative muslims:

"To say that she is a Muslim is inaccurate. No Muslim woman can call herself a ... Muslim and be on stage with her bikini," Ghazal Omid, a Muslim scholar, posted on her Facebook page.

This is exactly the same attitude that some Christians use when saying that someone who doesn't comply with their points of view (even if they also believe in Christ) are not "Real Christians." According to Omid, Rima Fakih is not a "real Muslim" because of her enjoying of her sexuality, whether it is posing in a (wonderful) bikini or doing the pole dancing. My guess is that to be a "real Muslim" she has to use conservative clothes and do nothing that is related to sexuality. Pure bullshit.

On the other hand, we have the American conservatives, who I bet, see this as a threat to the establishment. So they are going to look for any reason to put the new queen down, even if it is a very stupid reason:

Debbie Schlussel claims (but presents no evidence) that "at least three of Fakih's relatives are currently top officials in Hezbollah and that at least eight Fakih family members were Hezbollah terrorists."

Sure, because fundamentalist terrorist would love to see a Muslim woman be presented in public wearing a bikini. Moreover, what do her relatives have to do with her? Furthermore, the accuser presents no evidence for this claim. Are these people for real?

Anyway, conservative stupidity/bigotry is no news. What is news here is that a young female Muslim might be a very important icon for the portrayal of Muslims in the media. Sayid Jarrah already did something. But now our icon is real. In a time in which Muslims freak out about cartoons and try to separate themselves from the rest of the world for not having the capacity to accept criticism, Rima Fakih shows that a set of beliefs and common sense can coexist in the same person.



A beautiful, beautiful person.

Quotable Quote XLVII

From ongoing violence in the name of Islam, which is the most serious of all modern religious sins, to priestly pedophilia, to the evangelical fixation on gay marriage to the near exclusion of everything else, to Judaism's impotence in purging materialism from its community, mainstream religion is being discredited, becoming increasingly irrelevant to the lives of modern men and women.”

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Lost in Faith: The finale

I just finished Lost.

I had to write here and now, otherwise the feeling would be, well, lost, among reviews and opinions of others. Everyone is a critic, you know.

Oh, yes, this has spoilers. If you plan to watch it and enjoy it, stop reading.

As I said, I just watched the final episode. During the month I've been watching Lost I was very careful in not allowing any spoiler in my sight. Yet, after the airing of the finale, that became more difficult.

One of the spoilers that got filtered was that "the island was the purgatory." That made me lose a little bit of interest, especially after comparing Jacob and The Man in Black with, obviously, God and the Devil, one trying to protect others and doing "everything with a purpose" (an idea that still is disgusting) and the other tempting and tricking. I thought "At the end, this might be a huge apologetic story" that when someone tells you that "something is for a reason" you just follow and believe and everything is right.

Well, it was kind of like that in many ways. However, despite this fact (especially when Jack becomes another "we-are-her-for-a-reason" Locke) the final episodes were moving and worth watching. More than believing blindly, it was about what would you do for others. That hit me when Desmond, the Desmond from the alternative reality, starts trying to reunite all the people. Good old Desmond, who, by the way, is Peruvian.

Jack was the last one to know, or better said, to remember. That reminded me a lot of Evangelion (totally geeky comparison, I know), when Shinji is that last one who needs to "understand" and when he does, everyone receives him and is happy (episode 26 from the series). Jack remembers, helped by his father, and understands how important was his life on the island and the necessity to move on. And when he does, everyone is happy, all of them, all his friends. Jack stole the show, on that last episode, both by remembering and understanding, and for saving the island.

The escape on the plane made me remember of Stephen King's Langoliers, and later made me realize how alike were these two. The plane, the group of strangers, the monster, etc. The emotion that is felt when the plane escape was very alike, yet, greater, since Sawyer, Kate, and the others truly deserved to escape.

These two are great points that made me enjoy the series' finale. However, something that really surprised me how strong was the religious imagery and references at the end. The church, the finding loved ones, the reward for all the suffering, all of that can be compared to Christian mythology. Yet, it was beautifully put and truly enjoyable. Maybe I'm making the mistake of comparing it to Christian mythology for this being the one I best know; maybe there are other sets of beliefs that I can compare the references to. But that doesn't change anything. It was a good way to end everything. Everyone is dead, but happy, there is no more. Kind of like The End of Evangelion.

Finally I just had a dejavu of me writing something similar. As much a skeptic as I am, I conclude that there is no "predicting the future" in dejavus, just the sensation of it. But now, it made me think of another hypothesis: that there is an alternate reality in which I'm doing the same. Of course, this doesn't make much senses, but I have to admit it is the "Lost" effect.

Well, that ends Lost for me. I just read a review (just after finishing the Last paragraph. It wasn't very kind, and was somehow right. But fuck it, I liked it.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Northern Ireland has retards too

So you thought the United States was the only country with a big chunk of its population stupid enough to disregard scientific facts in order to legitimize their beloved myths?

Well, think again:

Northern Ireland minister calls on Ulster Museum to promote creationism

Northern Ireland's born-again Christian culture minister has called on the Ulster Museum to put on exhibits reflecting the view that the world was made by God only several thousand years ago.

Nelson McCausland, who believes that Ulster Protestants are one of the lost tribes of Israel, has written to the museum's board of trustees urging them to reflect creationist and intelligent design theories of the universe's origins.


I come from a very poor South-American country which education is not great, so I may consider that the number in my country might not be different. But here we a re talking about the United States of America, the land of the free and the brave. I guess it doesn't say "of the well educated."

Norther Ireland, being part of the United Kingdom, doesn't sound like a poor country with serious education problems. Yet, it manages to have idiots like McCausland trying to push his myth-based ideas in public. Is this a joke? Is this guy a "culture minister"?

Really, I have no problems with whatever you want to believe. Praise to whoever you want, wear whatever you want (unless it's a matter of public security), put whatever you want around your neck, stop eating whatever you want. Really. But pushing beliefs that have no scientific support in public policy is total stupidity. Are these people THAT willing to believe in their myths so that they can get to compromise public education?


Nice painting. Really. It belongs in a church, or in an art gallery, or maybe in an art museum. But NEVER in am exhibition about natural history, contrasting it to evolution.
Imagine I come to you and tell you that men came out from the Titicaca Lake (located between Peru and Bolivia). That Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (man and woman) came out from the lake and were sent by their father, the Sun God to found an empire. Imagine I tell you I truly believe this, as a fact.

It's exactly the same sensation I get when someone tells me that "God created man in six days, just thousands of years ago". Pure bullshit.

Like a God-given capacity to be an asshole

If there is anything the Catholic Church received from God, it's a capacity to behave like a total asshole. It is as if someone in Rome wakes up and thinks "It's a nice morning, what can we do today to be more of a dick than we were yesterday? Let's see, we did already cover thousands of rapes and abuses by our own priests; we complained that the media was against us when they reported on the issue; and we also blamed everyone around for those crimes. Let's see these reports... oh, here is a great case:

Earlier this month, in something of a surprise, a nun at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix was excommunicated for approving a first-trimester abortion last year at that hospital to save the life of a critically ill patient. “An unborn child is not a disease,” said Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Phoenix diocese. “While medical professionals should certainly try to save a pregnant mother’s life, the means by which they do it can never be by directly killing her unborn child.”

The irony here is thick: it has taken years, sometimes decades, to bring sex-abusing priests to justice, but this observant sister, Margaret McBride, was excommunicated in a matter of months for making a compassionate and impossible decision for one of her parishioners.

Indeed, the irony is thick as a log. Apparently, the Catholic church has done little next to nothing to prevent and punish priests who sexually abuse children. According to many reports, this has been going on for years. And it's just after everything explodes in the Pope's face, that there is an apology regarding the issue.

However, when a nun, probably committing the sin of using some brain and compassion to save a woman's life, approves a first-trimester abortion (not even a third trimester) she gets punished with the highest punishment the Catholic church gives to its sheep followers: excommunication.

Of course I don't give two shits about excommunication (actually I'd love to get one). But this seemed like a good woman who was trying to do good unto others. What is wrong with that? The woman she tried to save had her life at risk, is it too bad to try to save it?

The celerity with which this case was dealt with is also amazing. It takes years to bring a pedophile priest to court, but just weeks to excommunicate a nun for such a trivial thing.

If there is anything good about this case is that hopefully more women will reconsider wasting their life as nuns, where their will and judgment will be thwarted in order to comply with centuries-old nonsense. Hopefully more women will fully enjoy their lives. And hopefully, the nuns we will see around look more like this:




Finally, a couple of days ago, some idiots thought it would be funny to vandalize a church and stab a Virgin Mary painting in the face. Hopefully they get caught and get their asses thrown in jail. Just like priest who abuse kids should have theirs. This kind of insanity is never a solution.

Yet, I wonder what makes the Virgin Mary angrier: some vandals putting a knife on her image? Or people who say to represent God on Earth to guide His church and, at the same time, abuse and cover such abuses?

UPDATE: Nicholas D. Kristof from the New York Times says:

We finally have a case where the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy is responding forcefully and speedily to allegations of wrongdoing.

But the target isn’t a pedophile priest. Rather, it’s a nun who helped save a woman’s life. Doctors describe her as saintly.

The excommunication of Sister Margaret McBride in Phoenix underscores all that to me feels morally obtuse about the church hierarchy. I hope that a public outcry can rectify this travesty.

I wouldn't be so hopeful. The Catholic Church has had countless opportunities to rectify the many fuck-ups it has had. Only has used some.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Lost in Faith. Faith in Lost

It’s been a while since I haven’t written anything here. Same thing on Facebook, I haven’t been posting news on the kind of stuff you like. The reason is, well, Lost.



I got Netflix so I started watching what everyone was talking about. It was good, I have to admit it. It took me away from delusional christians, abusive priests, raging muslims, idiotic creationists and awesome science. Just a couple of days ago the finale was aired and I still have to watch the last season. Yet, as addicting as Lost there are some things that just don’t get to me and I just dislike.

Oh, yes, it has to be with what this blog is about.




"This is supposed to be written"
Well, first of all, the whole idea that people are “meant to be” or that “it is our destiny”, which repeats itself over and over, especially from John Locke. Since the beginning I didn’t like Locke. His attitude of “let’s do this, I don’t know why, but let’s do this” is just sickening to me. I think it’s in the second season, when he tells Jack that they won’t get along because “You are a man of science, while I’m a man of faith” or something like that. I also hate it when John does stuff without explaining them, and people just follows. Just the main characters will argue with him or follow their own path.

But you know what I dislike the most about that? That John is usually right. I mean, he doesn’t know why he does what he does, he “just knows” and everything is fine.


Jack, on the other hand is, more than a man of science, a practical person. Jack does what he does because there is a reason for that, usually forsaking his own desires and feelings. And when he acts on them, it is under tremendous pressure. Jack is a nice character that I liked from the beginning, which is not surprising, since he is the main character, more or less, at least during the first seasons. Then Locke gets more importance, being key to the development of the story.



Smoke monsters
I just finished watching the fifth season and yet there is no explanation for the existence of the monster. Nor for the dreams that Locke and Eko shared. Nor for the numbers. The time travel thing seems implausible, but at least Faraday tries to explain it somehow. However, all the other stuff doesn’t have an explanation, at least yet. Maybe it will be explained during the 6th season. But how do you get to explain a damn smoke monster? Those are the things that make Lost kind of difficult to wholly enjoy, the feeling that “are you fucking kidding me?” that I get when something like that happens. Still I have hope that everything will be explained during the last season.


Those would be my main complaints with Lost. While Jack has been my favorite character during most of it, when Faraday appeared, that changed. Faraday does not have Jack’s badassery, he even is kind of a momma’s boy, but with all his flaws and fears, he is one of the most logical ones, that tries to do whatever is necessary to make things good. He hesitates a lot, but his doubts are more like “science based” instead of the “I need someone to tell me what to do” from Locke. Locke has “faith” that what he is doing is right.

Now, as much as a non-believer as a I am, I wouldn’t dismiss faith just because. At some moment most of the people who crashed on the island had faith that Jack would save them. Is that a problem? No, because they had seen what Jack was capable of doing, not just being a doctor, but a leader. That is the kind of faith I can have and appreciate, the faith that we have in someone who is trustworthy. Not the kind that just “knows” that this is right.

Coming back to Locke, he was not the only one with the “Destiny” thing. Eko was there too, but he was written off in a kind of disappointing way. Yet his ways also left me with a sensation of "come on! explain that! Don't just give me that "it's destiny" bullshit because, as Sawyer said, “I don’t speak destiny.”

Sawyer is one of the characters that grew the most, from being the “bad guy” to the guy one can admire for being practical and at the same time level headed. After Hurley conned him, Sawyer took responsibility of the camp, especially on Claire, and after on the whole Dharma initiative people. Yet, he seems dull compared to Jack.

I also disliked Kate, but not as much as Locke. Kate usually acted on feelings, screwing everything up. So far, her mayor screw-up, was taking the young Ben Linus to the “others”, which set the chain of events for her, Sawyer and the rest to be banished from the Island. Sun is better to me, even though at first she just submits to he husband, but later she takes control of her own situation and even of her father’s company. She goes from being the submissive wife to a powerful woman who even decides to do some major killing against the one she blames for her husband's death. That is power and determination. Oh, and she is beautiful; blessed be beautiful Asian women.

I know it's not from Lost, but, if it had been, I would have understood why Jin was freaking out.


Sayid was another nice character. First of all, he is a muslim, or at least I’m pretty sure he is. I think I saw him praying to Allah, bowing down, when on the raft with Jin, Michael and Sawyer. Also, he claims the body of one of his friends saying that "a muslim man must be buried." Yet, he is one of the most practical and leading characters on the show. Actually it’s nice to see some good Muslim around. He is the kind of muslim who wouldn't go batshit crazy for a cartoon. he actually is some kind of quest for redemption for all he did in his life, islam or not islam. I think Sayid would be a good role model for middle-ground muslims, instead of the characterization we usually see in movies. Hopefully that will reflect on news soon.

And finally, Claire. Claire is cute, Claire is nice, Claire is 8-months pregnant on a dessert island and doesn't freak out. Claire forgives Charlie after he screws it up so many times. Claire takes care of her kid until her father takes her away, but not against her will. Because Claire knows something. She knows something and she might be key to what is to come. Never underestimate the cute blond girl.

I just didn't know what picture to chose. I thought about this one, but it would have been too distracting.

So, this is my appreciation of Lost. Truly mind-bending, but with some things that just don’t make it for me. I still have to watch the last season so maybe something changes. Until then, this blog won’t have much updates.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

13 de mayo, 13 de vírgenes, 13 de pedófilos

Hoy 13 de mayo se recuerda a la Virgen de Fátima. Si crecieron en Latinoamérica, seguramente conocen la historia de los 3 pastorcitos a quienes la Virgen se apareciera. Una historia más o menos bonita, tan adecuada y tierna para los niños, como la historia de la Virgen de Guadalupe lo fue para evangelizar nativos.


Un "engaña-muchachos" que tuvo demasiada propaganda


No pretendo argumentar cuanto de falso y de mito hay en la historia de la Virgen de Fátima, tan solo haré un rápido recuento:

- La mayor parte de lo que se sabe de la aparición de la Virgen de Fátima proviene de las memorias de Lucía, escritas durante su estadía en el convento donde viviría, entre 1935 y 1941, varios años después de la aparición, la cual tuvo lugar en 1917. Ojo a este detalle.

- La Tercera Memoria es la que contiene los secretos supuestamente revelados por la Virgen. Esta memoria fue escrita en 1941. Ojo a este detalle también.

- El primer misterio se trata de una visión del infierno, visión que, por supuesto, nadie puede constatar. Muy conveniente cuando se trata de atemorizar a la gente crédula.

- El segundo es algo más complicado. Habla sobre el fin de la Primera Guerra Mundial, que aunque esta termine, si los hombres siguen ofendiendo a Dios, una peor se librará durante el pontificado de Pio XI, Papa entre 1922 y 1939. Si esto fue predicho en 1917, habría sido una muy exacta predicción de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Sin embargo, esta "revelación" fue muy convenientemente escrita en 1941. Así que de revelación no tiene nada.

- Volviendo a 1917, está "el milagro del sol", el cual, según varias personas hizo que el sol bailara y sea visto por miles presentes. El solo hecho de creer que el sol pueda moverse de su sitio es una insensatez tremenda y por más que miles lo hayan visto, si en verdad el Sol se hubiese movido, no solo lo habrían visto en todo el mundo, sinó que hubiese sido catastrófico para el planeta.

Y ahora está el Tercer Misterio de Fátima:

Después de las dos partes que ya he expuesto, hemos visto al lado izquierdo de Nuestra Señora un poco más en lo alto a un Ángel con una espada de fuego en la mano izquierda; centelleando emitía llamas que parecía iban a incendiar el mundo; pero se apagaban al contacto con el esplendor que Nuestra Señora irradiaba con su mano derecha dirigida hacia él; el Ángel señalando la tierra con su mano derecha, dijo con fuerte voz: ¡Penitencia, Penitencia, Penitencia! Y vimos en una inmensa luz qué es Dios: « algo semejante a como se ven las personas en un espejo cuando pasan ante él » a un Obispo vestido de Blanco « hemos tenido el presentimiento de que fuera el Santo Padre ». También a otros Obispos, sacerdotes, religiosos y religiosas subir una montaña empinada, en cuya cumbre había una gran Cruz de maderos toscos como si fueran de alcornoque con la corteza; el Santo Padre, antes de llegar a ella, atravesó una gran ciudad medio en ruinas y medio tembloroso con paso vacilante, apesadumbrado de dolor y pena, rezando por las almas de los cadáveres que encontraba por el camino; llegado a la cima del monte, postrado de rodillas a los pies de la gran Cruz fue muerto por un grupo de soldados que le dispararon varios tiros de arma de fuego y flechas; y del mismo modo murieron unos tras otros los Obispos sacerdotes, religiosos y religiosas y diversas personas seglares, hombres y mujeres de diversas clases y posiciones. Bajo los dos brazos de la Cruz había dos Ángeles cada uno de ellos con una jarra de cristal en la mano, en las cuales recogían la sangre de los Mártires y regaban con ella las almas que se acercaban a Dios.

Es así como este secreto fue publicado por el entonces cardinal Ratzinger el 26 de junio del año 2000. Pero fue escrito en 1941. Dado a conocer por la Virgen en 1917. Muy conveniente ¿no? Más aun, se encuentro en un lenguaje tan críptico como lo es el Apocalipsis, lo cual es muy ideal al atribuirle interpretaciones que puedan encajar en distintas situaciones. Qué conveniente y qué fácil es el predecir hechos que ya ocurrieron.

Varios dicen que el "Obispo vestido de blanco", "apesadumbrado de dolor" se trata sobre el intento de asesinato al Papa Juan Pablo II, ocurrido en 1981. ¿Notan lo curioso del asunto? Una profecía publicado en el 2000 predijo un evento ocurrido 19 años antes.

Y ahora viene nuevamente Ratzinger a decirnos qué exactamente significa el Tercer Misterio de Fátima.

El Papa aseguró que el tercer secreto de Fátima reveló escándalo de pedofilia que sacude la Iglesia

Los actuales “sufrimientos” que está pasando la Iglesia a causa de los abusos sexuales sobre menores cometidos por sacerdotes forman parte del tercer secreto de Fátima, revelado por la Virgen a través de varias apariciones a tres niños portugueses en 1917. Lo ha asegurado Benedicto XVI camino de Portugal a los periodistas que le acompañaban en el vuelo papal, informó la corresponsal del diario El Mundo de España.

En otras palabras, además de las acusaciones de abusos sexuales que han involucrado a sacerdotes católicos durante tantos años, además de las acusaciones de que varios superiores sabían de esto, la misma Virgen María "lo predijo". Si esto no es una declaración de "Sí, sabíamos, nuestra Virgen misma nos lo dijo, pero no nos importó", no sé qué sea.

Y siguen bastos. hoy Ratzinger arremetió contra... ¿La pedofilia? ¿El encubrimiento de esta? No, claro que no:

El Papa afirma que el aborto y el matrimonio homosexual son contrarios al bien común


Benedicto XVI asegura que la tercera parte de la profecía de Fátima no ha acabado y sigue siendo válida

El Papa ha dicho hoy que el aborto y los matrimonios entre personas del mismo sexo son contrarios al "bien común" y ha defendido las iniciativas para proteger la vida desde la concepción y la familia, "basada en el matrimonio indisoluble entre un hombre y una mujer".


"Las iniciativas que tienen el objetivo de tutelar los valores esenciales y primarios de la vida, desde su concepción, y de la familia, basada en el matrimonio indisoluble entre un hombre y una mujer, ayudan a responder a algunos de los más insidiosos y peligrosos desafíos que hoy se oponen al bien común", ha dicho el Papa. Y ha agregado que esas iniciativas constituyen "elementos esenciales para la construcción de la civilización del amor".


Insidioso y peligroso, ¿no? ¿Y qué cosa es el abuso sexual a niños por parte de los sacerdotes? ¿Qué cosa es el encubrir tales delitos por tanto tiempo y pedir disculpas solo cuando los trapos sucios salen al aire? En verdad, es imposible el no estar indignado con toda la sarta de estupideces que Ratzinger habla. A estas alturas Ratzinger no tiene autoridad moral para condenar nada, tiene la moral de un gusano que se arrastra tratando de esconder toda la mugre que ha ido llevando a través del tiempo. Para condenar abortos y matrimonios homosexuales, ahí si se llena la boca, pero cuando se trata de condenar las propias faltas, apenas suelta un murmullo y se lo celebran por ser lo "más fuerte" que ha dicho. Qué tipo tan despreciable.

Particularmente veo lo de los misterios de Fátima es un asunto tan irracional que me parece inverosímil, nada más que un mito nacido de un grupo de gente con muchas ganas de creer en algo y alimentado por una institución que se beneficia de tal creencia ciega. De por sí eso ya es indignante. Pero más indignante aun es el que se quiera perpetuar el mito de una forma tan burda y pretendiendo hacer mea culpa tan solo después de que alguien más haya apuntado el dedo hacia los delitos encubiertos.

Y si queremos ir más allá, habría que preguntarse ¿es esta la iglesia que Jesucristo fundó? ¿Una iglesia que prefiere mantener una careta de moral y excelencia así tenga que ignorar el sufrimiento de tantos niños? ¿Esa es la iglesia que la Señora de Fátima quiere ver respetada? Qué patraña.



He ahí el sello papal.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Pray, for goddamn's sake...

Yeah, today is supposedly "National Day of prayer."



And it's not just something people feel like doing for the sake of it. It's kind of an official holiday in which even the White House is involved.

Ruling won't stop National Day of Prayer this year

A federal judge declared the law unconstitutional last month, but the Justice Department is appealing the case on behalf of the White House.

U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb in Wisconsin ruled on April 15 that the 1952 law creating the National Day of Prayer violates the ban on government-backed religion.

"[I]ts sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function," Crabb wrote in the ruling. "In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."


Obama and his friends are totally free to pray whenever they want, but to do it in a ceremony involving other federal institutions is the government overstepping its boundaries.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...

Remember that? It doesn't say "or prohibiting the free exercise using our tax money"

But that won't matter when the objective is to pander to the religious majority.

Oh, and by the way, even if it is not stated that we are only talking about just one religion, some are not going to be happy when it comes to beliefs other than Christianity




Every person has the right to pray whenever and to whoever. Every person has the right to get together and do it together. But while doing it, remember that...

“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).
It's just 9 in the morning and I have already seen a couple of people with t shirts regarding the issue. Good thing I don't see scripture as infallible, otherwise, I should be telling them what a hypocrites they are.

Finally, one of the ads that Freedom From Religion Foundation plans to put on some buses:

"Que esté permitido a cada uno pensar como quiera; pero que nunca le esté permitido perjudicar por su manera de pensar" Barón D'Holbach
"Let everyone be permitted to think as he pleases; but never let him be permitted to injure others for their manner of thinking" Barón D'Holbach