Monday, August 13, 2007

Top ten religious idiots #6

(Previous List)

  1. High Point Church: This non-denominational Texas megachurch canceled the funeral of Navy Veteran Cecil Howard Sinclair 24 hours before its scheduled start, because the deceased was gay. Their decision was "not based on hatred, not based on discrimination, but based on principle."
    (Yahoo News; h/t digby; 13 Aug 07)

  2. David Shayler: This "former spy" has declared himself the Messiah, claiming "there is an anagram of "David Shayler, Righteous King" on the rod of Aaron, a staff carried by Moses' brother in the Old Testament." He asks, "Do I sound mentally ill?" Um... yeah, just a little.
    (Daily Mail; h/t to No Double Standards; 10 Aug 07)

  3. U.S. Rep. Bill Sali of Idaho (R-eligious idiot): Unable to comprehend the document he has sworn to protect and defend (e.g. Article VI), this congressman said, "We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers."
    (One News Now; h/t to Orcinus; 10 Aug 07)

  4. Debbie Riddle: This Texas state representative passed a bill adding "one state under God" to the state pledge of allegiance. A state pledge? WTF? Is Texas expecting to go to war against California!? (Oh right, Bush. Never mind.)
    (Houston Chronicle; h/t to Fark.com; 3 Aug 07)

  5. Scott Adams: The Dilbert cartoonist falls for the Worst. Apologetic. Ever. Adams' love for half-baked barely warmed-over woo-woo bullshit makes Deepak Chopra look like James Randi.
    (The Atheist Who Thought He Was God; h/t to 20 gram Soul; 30 Jul 07)

  6. Qatar princesses: Three spoiled brats earned their "princess" title when for three hours they and their owners male guardians held up a packed commercial flight from Milan to London because they refused to sit next to unrelated men. The pilot deserves a Fark.com "hero" tag for kicking the lot of them off the plane.
    (Daily Mail; h/t to banniNation.com; 29 Jul 07)

  7. Washington State Pharmacists: These Christian Pharmacists are suing to overturn regulations that forbid them to punish dirty sluts require them to sell emergency contraception contrary to their religious convictions.
    (Yahoo News; h/t to Fark.com; 28 Jul 07)

  8. The Australian Government: The Immigration Department will include questions on Australia's Christian heritage on its test for new citizens. It seems unlikely that they will also include questions about Rainbow Serpent, Baiame, and Bunjil.
    (The Sydney Morning Herald; h/t to Fark.com; 24 Jul 07)

  9. Creationist Paleontologists: These top-notch scientists have discovered a dinosaur saddle that "provides irrefutable proof that man and dinosaurs lived simultaneously, as predicted by most creationist or 'intelligent design' doctrines." [see comments]
    (what's the crack?; h/t to Fark.com; 11 Jul 07)

  10. Woodcreek Pediatrics: The nursing managers at this Washington State clinic reportedly subjected nurses to religious harassment, calling one nurse "Satan himself". Medical trifecta now in play!
    (Seattle Post-Intelligencer; h/t to Fark.com; 10 Jul 07)

  11. Dr Joyce Pratt, MD: Science marches boldly into the Twelfth Century as this London physician told a Muslim patient the she was possessed by evil spirits and should seek out a (presumably) Catholic priest for an exorcism.
    (BBC News; h/t to nullifidian via Planet Atheism, 9 Jul 07)

Statistics:
This list: Religion 10, Nontheism 0
Previous List: Religion 10, Nontheism 0
Total: Religion 60, Nontheism 1

16 comments:

  1. I'm glad someone is keeping score. You must have a stronger stomach than me!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I know it's a parody. It was just too cute to pass up.

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  3. Pratt by name and prat by nature.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Re number five: Everybody knows that there was no heritage in Australia pre-European settlement. Only whites have heritage.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I quite agree, we religious people are a nutty bunch. Of course, we are all obviously the same: illogical, science-defying, totem-waving, lunatics. "Look at the funny religious men, children. See how silly they are."

    I only mean that half sarcastically. Causes often seem to inspire a curious form of irrationality in people. As religion is one of the strongest causes, it has the potential to create the greatest level of irrationality.

    Not all religious people are illogical. By the same token, I've met many an atheist who wields their non-belief in a god as vigorously and as irrationally as the most devout preacher.

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  6. I've met many an atheist who wields their non-belief in a god as vigorously and as irrationally as the most devout preacher.

    Many? Atheism is no panacea for stupidity, but most of the atheists I know are pretty sensible folk.

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  7. David Shayler is not primarily a religious nutter

    http://www.newstatesman.com/200609110028

    And why the scare quotes around former spy? He used to work for MI5.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Ms. P: I've missed you; glad to see you again.

    Anyone who declares himself the messiah has put at least a toe in the religious arena.

    And those weren't scare quotes around "former spy"; I was quoting the phrase from the article.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just want to know how the "dinosaur saddle scientists" only rated Number 8!?

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  10. Been on holiday (lots of relatives and other people's in-laws, screechy kids, torrential rain, mmm bliss, actually it wasn't bad).

    No, my thought about DS was whether one was excepted from being a religious idiot by actually having a condition described in DSM-IV, which I suspect may be the case here even it is undiagnosed. Ditto the doctor, if you read the GMC disciplinary hearing.

    Also I wondered about the DM article being a pisstake because of the weird bit about chavs.

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  11. John: They're listed in the order that I discover/publish them.

    Potentilla: It's always a judgment call; if I took off everyone with any kind of mental illness, I wouldn't have a list at all—religion is itself a mental illness.

    The list is a goof anyway; I don't take it too seriously.

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  12. BTW, Ms. P, I've come around completely to your point of view regarding D. S. Wilson: his science is shoddy.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I suspect he has become too invested in his own theory, which is a shame.

    religion is itself a mental illness

    Hah! In what sense of the word illness? You need a whole post to defend that one. (But first you need to read Justin Barrett.)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, it's at least an illness in the sense that other people's religion often causes me pain. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  15. Religions are Fairy Tales for fools.
    Any one who looks at the universe,and thinks it was created by an invisible entity,needs to get there head examined.
    There have been trillions and trillions of Prayers said by these ignorant people, with not one answered and yet they keep doing it.

    ReplyDelete

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