The Atheist Blogger » church

I Kidnapped Jesus

Adrian Hayter — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:23:00 +0000

Yesterday I commented on a news story about a student in America who took a wafer from a Catholic Mass, incurring the wrath of quite a number of Catholic organizations in the process. The “crime” was referred to repeatedly as kidnap because of the strange belief of transubstantiation which states that the wafer and wine turn to the body and blood of Jesus Christ once blessed, although our sense still perceive them as food.

In this sense, taking a wafer without eating it is apparently equal to the crime of kidnapping Jesus himself. For atheists, this claim is completely ridiculous and illogical; not so much because there is no way of proving any of this transubstantiating actually happens, but because by their own logic, Catholics (and other denominations which subscribe to the process) are partaking in ritual cannibalism of their Saviour.

The whole debacle got me thinking about churches in England, and I found that my “local” cathedral followed a rare doctrine introduced by one of it’s early bishops to unite both Catholics and Prostestants on the issue of transubstantiation. As such, they adhere to the doctrine that the wafer and wine literally become the body and blood, but can only be “grasped by faith”. I decided to mimic the student in America, go to church for the first time in 10 years, and take Jesus’ body home with me.

When I first announced my plan, some people said it was disrespectful of faith and I would be violating someone else’s freedom of expression in order to fulfil my own. Such an idea was not the case, and it was if I had planned to run up to the alter and grab a handful. In my defense, I will tell you exactly how the morning went.

8:30am – Arrived at Salisbury Cathedral. I had a bit of shopping to do before the service, and I was meeting a friend for a coffee.

9:45am – Met up with friend in Cafe Nero and discussed issues of morality, the U.S elections, gay marriage, and Evolution. My friend is a Christian and we differ on pretty much all of those points.

11:05am – Walked into Salisbury Cathedral and found the Morning Chapel where the service would be held.

11:15am – Service starts. I stayed at the back with the prayer book, and said every word in unison with everyone else.

11:30am – I went up to the front and knelt between two elderly people. The wafer was placed in my cupped hands. I raised them to my mouth, and palmed the wafer. I then drank Jesus’ “blood”.

11:40am – Service ends. On my way out a foreign man who was attending the service turned out to be a Bishop from a Latin American country (I didn’t hear which). He talked to the priest for a few minutes before noticing I was standing there waiting to get out. He let me pass, and on the way I shook the priest’s hand and thanked her for the service.

In my eyes, I was respectful of their traditions and faith. I joined in with the entire process except for one part, and didn’t interrupt or cause a scene. If what I did was “disrespectful” to the people there, then the whole issue of respect has to be rethought.

Anyway, I got home and took a photo of the wafer, another with my thumbnail for scale, and a final one with me holding the wafer. Since I was on my own I didn’t have anyone to take the last picture for me, so it’s probably a bit blurry due to it being on a timer and not set properly. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the first time I’ve put a photo of myself up (not counting the tiny one in the comments). Facebook friends can view all my photos of university life, which includes dressing up, makeup, and general drunken partying.

I’m still thinking of things to do with the wafer but some interesting things have been suggested so far, so keep them coming!

Enjoy!

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Taking The Church Hostage

Adrian Hayter — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 01:59:42 +0000

Pharyngula reports that a student walked into a Catholic Mass and walked out with the small bread wafer that represents Christ. Apparently the Catholic world is outraged, saying he took the poor piece of bread hostage. It’s been called a hate crime, the student has been sent death threats, and Bill Donahue from the Catholic League says the student should be expelled.

So much for freedom of expression, but I tell you what, it’s given me an idea.

I’m ofiicially going to be the first English copycat. I’m going back to church for the first time in 10 years, and I’m going to steal a wafer. To top the American student Webster Cook, I’m going to steal the wafer from one of the most famous cathedrals in England. No, not St Pauls, but Salisbury Cathedral. It’s a medieval cathedral that’s celebrating its 750th year this year, and it has the tallest spire in England. It’s a mega tourist attraction.

The schedule for events can be found at their website.

Regretfully I cannot do this today (Wednesday), but I am in town on Thursday, and I will be attending the late morning Holy Communion at 11:15. I will go to the Morning Chapel, attend the full service, receive communion and pocket it.

I will then drive home and hold the wafer hostage, possibly with a plastic toy gun. Heck, I might as well devise some rudimentary torture rack for it. Assuming the plan goes off without a hitch, I’ll be taking photos of the hostage attempt and upload them here.

What I’d like are a few ideas for what to do to the hostage. What kinds of pictures should I do? Should I buy a balaclava or reveal my identity? Should I call the church with ransom demands? Dare I send word to the Catholic league? Hemant Mehta sold his soul on eBay, should I sell my hostage?

Seriously, I’m open to any ideas at this point.

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Jesus Is A Gender-tolerant Sexist And A Homophobic Homophilic

Adrian Hayter — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:11:20 +0000

…or so claims the Archbishop of Canterbury. As the Church of England suffers yet another crisis, with the entire system being ripped apart over the issues of homosexuality and women bishops, it seems that Dr Rowan Williams has turned to the infallibility of the completely contradictory Jesus.

As his comments in a recent sermon show, he seems to have lost all sense of logic:

Jesus is going to be with those who feel the waterlessness of their position, with those traditionalists feeling the Church is slipping away from them, the landmarks have shifted….

He will be with those in very different parts of the landscape who feel that things are closing in, that their position is under threat and their liberties are being taken away by those anxious and eager to enforce new ideologies in the name of Christ.

He will be with those who feel that their liberty of questioning is under threat, he will be with gay clergy who wonder what their future is in a Church so anxious and tormented about this issue.

Presenting Jesus Christ, the perfect electoral candidate in any situation! Able to have multiple contradicting opinions on absolutely anything! Homosexuals? Surely an abomination but also a reality. Women clergy? Well, my dad says it’s against the law but I’m fine with it…sort of.

In a recent article I briefly discussed and discredited so called “liberal Christians” and how they are worse than fundamentalists. Here we have a prime example. So blinded is Rowan Williams that he wants to unify two rival factions of the Church that have nothing in common. He puts his faith over evidence, and yet arrogantly ignores his faith when it is discredited. The Bible clearly states that homosexuals are an abomination, and that women clergy should not be allowed. It’s not even a confusing and cryptic passage either like the one interpreted as proof of atoms. The archbishop would much prefer to pick and choose his passages from the Bible as he interprets the changing society. This isn’t the type of behaviour you would expect from people who believe the Bible is the word of God; he is inconsistent to the point of arrogance.

I might turn a few heads when I say that I prefer fundamentalists over liberal theists, but it is true and quite logical. They are the ones who are consistent, never changing their view even if new evidence comes along to discredit them. This fact alone makes them easier to fend off and destroy in debates. You have no hope of winning any debate against a liberal Christian who likes to pick and choose parts of the Bible that when together might make a slight amount of sense, but cannot be taken literally without consideration for the entire source. Liberal Christians don’t play by the rules. They lie, they cheat, they manipulate. If you force them to conceed a point, you can bet all the money in the world that next time they will find a passage in the Bible that supports your point, and claim it was their own all along.

What really gets me going in “secular” England is the presence of members of Parliament at the General Synod meeting taking place today. One of these senior government officials I have met in person, and had I come of age at the last general election would have voted for in my constituency. Robert Key, conservative member of parliament for my home town of Salisbury, and whom, 4 years ago, had my support. Of course times have changed since then and I’m now a proud supporter of the Liberal Democrats even though they have no hope of getting power any time soon.

Nevertheless, Mr. Key will be using his Christian background to sway the vote whichever way he wants. I have no idea whether he is a fundamentalist of a liberal although the latter seems more likely given his quote:

MPs don’t see this as a theological squabble in the Church of England. They see it as something much broader.

The UK is in danger of becoming dangerously close to a Christian nation if we continue MPs to serve on official church matters. They don’t get a say in what Muslims do, nor Jews, so why should Christianity be different?

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7491829.stm

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The Cathedral Of My Lost Faith

Adrian Hayter — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:01:11 +0000

I lost my faith in Christianity (and religion in general) at the age of 11. At the time I had just started attending secondary school (high school) that was located next to the grounds of Salisbury Cathedral. The school was founded by a Bishop of the cathedral, and was an all boys school. It is quite appropriate to say that whilst worshiping at Salisbury Cathedral, I lost my faith.

However, the building itself is remarkable, and nobody could deny the fact that it is beautiful. The medieval architecture, combined with the tower and spire (the tallest in Britain) makes for great tourism and photography. I recently went on a amateur photography course at the cathedral which was great fun. I have been playing around with WordPress image galleries, and I have uploaded the photos for anyone who wishes to have a look.

The best way to view them is to let the page load completely, and then click on the first image thumbnail. The screen will darken and the image should load. You should then be able to go through the images by clicking on the arrows at the bottom.

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Another Killed By Religion

Adrian Hayter — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:00:52 +0000

Just less than 3 months ago I reported on the arrest and presecution of the parents of Ava Worthington, a 15 month old girl who died because instead of taking their daughter to a doctor, they left her healing up to faith. Quite unsurprisingly, she died from a combination of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection, which were both perfectly treatable by modern medicine.

The family were members of a large fundamentalist church know as “Followers of Christ”, and they have a dark history of child abuse, neglect, and manslaughter. Now Ava Worthington’s own cousin, 16 year old Neil Beagley has died from a heart failure caused by urinary tract blockage. Members of the same church, Beagley’s parents believed that the power of prayer would heal their son, and called on fellow churchgoers to a prayer session last Sunday when Neil’s condition worsened. He died two days later.

A 1999 Oregon state law prevented parents from using a religious based defense in court, and this law was first used to prosecute the parents of Ava Worthington. However, since by Oregon law people over 14 years old are allowed to choose the method of medication they receive, it is doubtful anything will happen to the parents.

What upsets me the most about this ongoing case is the increasing amount of ignorance these people seem to exhibit. How many more deaths will it take the family to realise that faith healing is a total sham and doesn’t work? When will people accept that modern medicine has been proven to beneficial, and that taking it isn’t some kind of “questioning” of god?

Finally, when will the governments realise that these kinds of churches are murderous, scandalous, and pure evil? In my opinion they make the child-molesting Catholic priests look saintly, and that really is saying something.

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Virtual Atheism

Adrian Hayter — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:28:39 +0000

After watching a recent BBC documentary on Artificial Intelligence entitled “Visions of the Future – The Intelligence Revolution” (I’m a Computer Scientist, what else would I watch?) I got into the virtual online world known as Second Life. The documentary noted that the popularity of the game, and our ability to use it to mask our actual personality and create an entirely new one was intriguing.

I tried the game out, created a new character “Tiberius Greggan”, shaped my appearance so I *vaguely* resemble myself in real life (although quite a few people tend not to do this) and set about exploring the virtual world, flying around, walking, running, intereacting with objects and more importantly, the other online people.

One feature in the game allows the character to join certain groups, so I joined a few Linux based ones since I use both Ubuntu and Linux Mint for operating systems (the server is Debian). I then decided to see what would come up if I typed “atheism” into the search box, and low and behold found a group called “The First Church of Atheism”.

The group aren’t new; in fact Hemant Mehta over at Friendly Atheist wrote about them a while back. However the group on Second Life had only just started when I arrived, and they have already bought some land, and constructed a church, which has “pews” for gatherings and talks, and a shrine to Charles Darwin on the second floor. You can ordain yourself as a minister of the Church by either talking to Reverend Baxton on Second Life, or by visiting their website.

More details on Second Life and the group can be found on their blog. So if you want to get a Second Life account (free) then log in and add me as a friend, and make sure to pay the church a visit!

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Rep. Monique Davis Apologizes To Rob Sherman

Adrian Hayter — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:40:00 +0000

What with all the pressure put on her by the blogging community and the media, and the mere fact that her outburst has travelled around the globe in a matter of hours, it was just a matter of time before Illinois State Representative Monique Davis apologized to atheist activist Rob Sherman.

For those who still need a memory refresh, the transcript of the outburst (which happened whilst Rob Sherman was testifying against the Governor for donating public money to fund a church) is here:

Davis: [. . .] I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–

Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?

Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! [. . .] I am fed up! Get out of that seat!

According to Rob Sherman’s website, on the 9th April Davis phoned and apologized for her comments:

Yesterday, State Representative Monique Davis (D-Chicago) called me from the Floor of the Illinois House of Representatives to apologize for what she had said to me at last Wednesday’s hearing of the House State Government Administration Committee. Rep. Davis had said, among other things, that atheism is dangerous to the progression of the State of Illinois, that children should not be allowed to know that my philosophy (atheism) exists, and that I had no right to testify to any Illinois legislative committee because the People of Illinois believe in God. She concluded by ordering me to “Get out of that seat!”

Some bloggers have asked what I said to instigate Rep. Davis’ comments. I was testifying about why the Governor’s proposal to donate one million tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church is unconstitutional. Specifically, I was reading, in a very calm manner, from my laptop computer, the words in the March 4th “Latest Update,” which appear below and which explains why the proposal to give money to the church is unconstitutional.

Rep. Davis said that she had been upset, earlier in the day, to learn that a twenty-second and twenty-third Chicago Public School student this school year had been shot to death that morning. She said that it was wrong for her to take out her anger, frustrations and emotions on me, and that she apologized to me.

I told her that her explanation was reasonable and that I forgave her. I also suggested that if she really was concerned about public school students dying needlessly, she should look into helping me to get passed legislation to get lap and shoulder seat belts on school busses that is pending in the House and in the Senate.

She thanked me for forgiving her and said that she would look into those two pieces of legislation.

Rep. Davis’ apology was a direct result of the pressure put on her by the thousands of bloggers from around the globe who commented on the various news sites and the hundreds of people from around the world who contacted her office by telephone or e-mail. Each and every one of you really did make a difference. Your comments didn’t just go out into thin air and get forgotten about and ignored. By each one of you taking the time to carefully craft your intelligent message, pressure built up on Rep. Davis. Meanwhile, more pressure built as additional news outlets picked up the story, including the Countdown show with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, which gave Rep. Davis the Worst Person in the World award; the Capitol Fax in Springfield, Illinois; and a half-hour appearance on WTDY radio in Madison, Wisconsin. Blogs and direct contact with the offending party really do make a difference. They may not get read everywhere, but they are read by people who matter, so I thank each one of you for your efforts.

A big thank you, also, to Eric Zorn and the Chicago Tribune. If Eric hadn’t chosen to do the story, it may never have gotten off the ground. Eric’s latest column is entitled Davis’ anti-atheist tirade goes national. Thanks, Eric.

Her reasons for the apology have made some a little uneasy. Hemant Mehta commented:

The reasoning as to why she made her remarks seems very shaky to me (what do shootings have to do with atheism being a “dangerous philosophy” unless she wants to equate the two… which would be an even bigger mistake)… But it took a lot for her to apologize, and it was the right thing to do. Kudos to Rep. Davis for making the call to Sherman, even if it was about a week overdue.

Personally, I think her apology explains a lot. She had a go at Sherman for arguing against the donation of public money to fund churches and questioned why he wasn’t against keeping guns from children. If her claim that she was upset over the shootings is accurate and true, then it might account for this otherwise strange and bemusing statement.

However, I am in agreement that she had no right to take out her anger on anyone, let alone a person who is fighting for upholding the constitution. The whole thing was drawn out way too long, but as the saying goes…better late than never.

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Blown Wide Open – Praying For The Sick Part 2

Adrian Hayter — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:23:18 +0000

Well it was inevitable that the wide media coverage of this story would blow a hole wide open and reveal similar stories that have been covered up in the past. Debunking Christianity found just a few of these stories, the most recent reporting that the accused parental murderers will be facing prosecution for the manslaughter of their 15 month old daughter who died in March this year.

This report uncovered the fundamentalis church “Followers of Christ”, which has a long history of toturing and murdering children. The church practices faith healing, but goes further than most churches by shunning those who go against church doctrine, a crime which includes seeking medical help. It’s a simple but deadly scare tactic: Go to a doctor…go to hell.

What really sickens me about these people is this part of the article:

During the latter part of the twentieth century, the church began to attract attention from authorities in the state of Oregon due to an unusally-high mortality rate among its children. Larry Lewman, a former medical examiner in the state alleges that during a ten-year period, twenty-five children perished due to lack of medical intervention–a death rate 26 times higher than the general population; an investigation by The Oregonian claimed that 21 out of 78 minors found to be buried in the church cemetary died of preventable causes, including simple infections which would be easily treated with routine antibiotics.

25 children and indeed more over the history of the church have been routinely tortured and executed by loving ignorant parents who are so deluded they think 1 out of 1000 miraculous healings is evidence of divine intervention. Then again, this is the same thinking from the people who visit Lourdes seeking a miracle which has only appeared just over 60 times in the entire long history of the place.

Luckily, this time it seems Oregon have placed measurements in the law to make sure these people cannot get away with it. They will be charged and go to prison for their crimes, and hopefully America might be on the verge to waking up.

I’d like to finish by echoing a statement made by Evan over at Debunking Christianity:

Please, someone, tell me how prayer for the sick is good and righteous. Please, I can’t understand how that can be when I keep seeing all these dead kids.