Seems about right to me.

I guess I would call myself a militant atheist. I more than disagree with religion, I am an active enemy of it. I mean look at this blog here. I try to spread truth and open eyes. This doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements. In fact, I like it when even atheists disagree. Not all atheists have to be pro-choice or support gay marriage. Many do, such as myself, but it isn’t a requirement. Atheists are a very diverse group. Agnostics too. Agnosticism is essentially a weak form of atheism and I fully support them as well. They are no longer slaves to the god of Abraham. Here are some things that I think qualify me as a militant atheist:

• I won’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
• I sharpie God off ALL my bills. (I still carry change though….)
• I’m not afraid to tell anybody I am an atheist
• I’m happy to point out you are a dumb ass for believing in (insert crazy theory: creationism, sin, God, etc.)
• I take every chance I can to promote atheism in the public.
• I run a blog about atheism
• I deny the Holy Spirit.

That’s all I can think of right now. Post some other ideas, I’m sure you have more thoughts about this.

Why would He waste his time creating an atheist? Maybe I am a test to their faith. I sure hope so, because their faith is bullshit.

A recent poll(2008), shows that the number of atheists in America is rising. And I don’t mean by a very small margin. The poll, which is called the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), shows the percentages of atheists have nearly doubled.

Many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists. In a nation that has long been mostly Christian, “the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion,” the report concludes.

Other religious groups have suffered a loss in amount. Maybe this is a sign that we aren’t doomed. If you want to look at more statistics, here is a nice interactive link. I realize this is not the most recent news, but I feel it is important for people to know about. The atheism movement is growing momentum. Don’t give up, why not pick today to “come out”? I’ll even help you. Repeat after me. “There is no God. I am an atheist, and I am free. ” Don’t give religion a control over your life, live each day to the fullest as you only get one chance.

I feel this picture does a good job of speaking for itself.

I’m not sure how many of my readers use the social networking site Reddit, but there is some real drama going on over there. Reddit has a large community of about 50,000 atheists. For those of you unfamiliar with the site, you submit links for the community and people vote them up or down. Atheism is one of the largest groups on Reddit, yet we do not appear in the top 10 groups. A member on the site discovered that atheism is being censored just like porn or other 18+ stuff. While actual links submitted under the atheism category will appear, they will not under any circumstances appear on Reddit’s frontpage. That’s censorship in my opinion. Here is what the admin spez had to say in response to all this:

….Given the nature and sometimes polarizing tone of the content on the atheism reddit, it will likely always garner the ire of many other users. Showcasing religious flame-wars only serves to lower the level of discourse on the site as a whole, and unknowingly walking into such a flame-war isn’t the first-time experience we’d like new users to have here, which is why we think it best to leave things the way they are.

There are thousands of communities on reddit covering a wide range of topics. Most are for sharing new and interesting content from around the web, and others are strictly for discussion. We hope there is a place for everyone on reddit, and we also hope you realize not everything found on reddit is appropriate for the front page.

So atheism isn’t appropriate? The thing is, I bet if christianity’s group was large enough to merit them being on the front page there would be no problem. I have been a member for about 6 months, and I had assumed Reddit did not purposefully fuck us. The sad thing is, they did. The creator of the atheism group is also peeved:

A while back, I’m not entirely sure when, though the stats will probably show it, atheism disappeared from the list in the top bar. Knowing reddit’s principles, and what reddit stands for, I did not suspect for a single second that it had actually been censored – I had simply thought other reddits had gotten more popular during that time.

We have now come to find that this is not the case. And I have to say, it’s gut-wrenching.

Many have stated that seeing such a prominent atheist community at reddit prompted them to sign up, and stick around. The same is true of me, even before I had created the subreddit – there’s a great community of atheists here, who engage in lively, and intellectual discussions with fellow atheists, and religious people alike (in their search for the truth).

Of course we get some general bashing, and people being jackasses sometimes – this is people. But I have to say I have read some of the most engaging discussions in this subreddit.

Atheists have enough problems already. We’re censored all over the place (much less so in my country of England). To think that it could happen on reddit, of all places, is almost beyond comprehension.

The shackles of religion will never be broken if atheists are not given a voice; to spread logic and reason. We are pushed back at every turn — we cannot even rely on the educational system to do its job anymore, to teach children the fundamentals of evolution (which is not inherently atheist, but it is inherently logical).

This whole thing makes no sense. If you look around on the politics group or one of many others, you will definitely find topics that would offend some. Yet us atheists are the only ones getting fucked over. One last thing from the atheism subreddit creator:

I’m not going to suggest any kind of action, I think that’s for everyone to decide; but if I may simply suggest that whatever people do, we should remain calm and above all, ethical. I do believe that we’ll get back to the front page, back into the top bar, because it is the voices of reddit that make it what it is.

I’m not sure what action to take either. I submitted a comment in the feedback form on reddit. I ask that any atheists out there who feel this is wrong do the same. Here is a link to the feedback box. The sadest part of this is that I like Reddit. I post almost all my blog posts there for the community. There are great conversations held there, but if those corporate assholes don’t change things I will sadly have to leave the site. Let me know what you think about this. Also if you want more information, here is a great topic(On Reddit) about this problem: http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/9e8x5/so_we_all_know_were_censored_now_and_we_should_be/c0cfl9x

Today’s picture brings up a quote in my mind: “Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.” Imagine how much we could accomplish if all the people pissing away their time in church used that time to actually better humanity.

I’m sure many people know about how sexist Islam is. Women have to walk around in burkas for Christ’s sake. As usual, Christianity is also guilty. First of all, let’s look at a  definition of sexism from Princeton:

discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of the opposite sex

Okay that seems clear enough to me. Now the good book of truth wouldn’t go as far as to make women seem inferior, right? Well actually there are quite a few places I can point to show you that it in fact is.

1 Corinthians 14:34 – 35

34. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but [they are commanded] to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Wait. Women aren’t even allowed to speak in the house of their Lord? Seems atleast somewhat sexist to me. Another thing I have always wondered, is man was created from clay/dust. Women were created from a rib bone. I even heard a Christian tell me this before, “I am not sexist, but the Bible says God used a rib bone. We all know the rib is the cheapest piece of meat available”. No of course not, that isn’t sexist. Bullshit.

God also punished Eve in the third chapter of Genesis. He gave her greatly increased pain during childbirth.

Genesis 3:16

16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

What punishment was Adam given? None. That’s right none. What about this whole fact that God is usually looked at as a male form? Why? There is no female counterpart to Him. Why couldn’t God simply be sexless? It reinforces a patriarchal society allowing women to be abused and mistreated. It also takes away feelings of guilt, I mean it says this is okay in the Bible so it must be ok. I also think it’s a good point to note that these phrases appear throughout both the Old and New Testament. So this is one of those cases where you can’t simply say it doesn’t apply anymore. It really just shocks me how there are so many phrases of evil and discrimination lodged in the Bible. Even more disturbing is the way nearly all Christians are ignorant of these things. Appears to me like Biblical writers were sexist, homophobic bastards who wanted to perpetuate their thinking and hide it behind God. I’ll end with a few more quotes of sexism:

Timothy 2:11-14:
Let the Woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a Woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve and Adam was not deceived, but the Woman being deceived was in transgression.

Corinthians 11:7 – 9

But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the Woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God… For the man is not of the Woman; but the Woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the Woman; but the Woman for the man.

Oh wait. That’s right. A theocracy only fucks things up worse. Guess that’s why its called the um DARK AGES!