Christian Church Losing Female Worshippers,Tries to Imitate Wicca

This is not a joke nor an overstatement. In all truth and seriousness, leaders of the Episcopal Church USA are promoting pagan rites to pagan deities.

Well, I thought it was pretty funny

And not just any new pagan deities: The Episcopal Church USA, though its Office of Women's Ministries, is actually promoting the worship of idols specifically condemned in Scripture.

The pagan idol in question appears to be Brighid ….whom the Christians stole and transformed into Saint Brigid. Or wait-could it be Ashteroth , once referred to as the Queen of Heaven in the Fertile Crescent, she who gave the early Hebrew leaders fits of apoplexy when they discovered that their captive flock was more inclined to worship her than their newly-minted War God, Jehovah. Shame. Either way, this eating of rasin cakes has just got to stop. Now. Or who knows what those darned women will get up to next? (edited to fix nonexistant link 28/10/04)

Broken Irony Meter

I am already long-convinced Bush is blind to the truth and reality, dangerously irrational and may be suffering from serious mental illness.I know I'm a layperson with no medical credential to make that judgment, but trust me, I had a dream and God told me Bush is crazy.

I would have sworn this piece was written by an atheist. But no

George W. Bush's faith -- devoid of fact -- and his regular chats with God are profoundly disturbing. My Catholic faith teaches me to think and reflect and to do what Bishop Gumbleton suggests.

I quit. They’re all fucking crazy.

Cheiromancy Scientifically Proven!

The ratio of one's fingers may indicate a predeliction for scientific research.

The survey compared the length of people's index (first) fingers with their ring (third) fingers. This comparison is thought to indicate prenatal sex hormone exposure, probably because some developmental genes control the formation of both the reproductive system and the digits.

Get down to your local palm reader now

In the general population, men have a “digit ratio” of 0.98 on average - the index finger being slightly shorter than the ring finger. Women have a digit ratio of 1.0 on average, meaning the two fingers are the same length.

I can just see you all studiously measuring your finger lengths .

Staff in the departments of chemistry, computer science, mathematics and physics all had average ratios of over 0.995 - close to the female average - despite 81% of those subjects being male.

You sure?

"Oh My Gods!"

God Gene? Or, "Oh No, Not Again?"

Every so often, some one comes along and suggests that religion is hard-wired into the human race, which pisses me off, ruins my day and makes me consider killing off the planet again. There's an interesting synopsis of this book over here by Robert Paul Reyes

If Hammer is correct then it follows that it isn't the Holy Ghost that draws a sinner to Christ, but a gene that has a thirst for myth, magic and malarkey.

Arrgh.And here I was hoping it was more of the ..well...lack of ability to think that was responsible. In a mood to grasp at straws now, I find that in Scientific American,Carl Zimmer allows me to give a big sigh of relief

Is the God gene real? The only evidence we have to go on at the moment is what Hamer presents in his book. He and his colleagues are still preparing to submit their results to a scientific journal. It would be nice to know whether these results can withstand the rigors of peer review. It would be nicer still to know whether any other scientists can replicate them. The field of behavioral genetics is littered with failed links between particular genes and personality traits. These alleged associations at first seemed very strong. But as other researchers tried to replicate them, they faded away into statistical noise. In 1993, for example, a scientist reported a genetic link to male homosexuality in a region of the X chromosome. The report brought a huge media fanfare, but other scientists who tried to replicate the study failed. The scientist's name was Dean Hamer.

(Spiteful emphases are mine)

Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

Note: FSTDT has a new owner, since WinAce decided to get a life.

LeVay is Turning in his Grave

I think it’s time Satanist started calling themselves something else, so as not to be confused with nutjobs like this on the other hand, perhaps some of them secretly enjoy the notoriety. I wonder if what covertly pleases Christians are the insane Creationists. Or Muslims, the Martyrs Brigade?

The outcome is clear

The outcome is clear. We are now convinced of the quite strong risk due to the use of mobile phones. say some Swedes and Danes Perhaps we can persuade Mimi that a cell phone is the latest accessory, without which a virus won’t be seen dead. We seem to be good at conning life forms into harming themselves in some way, and hey two birds with one stone, so to speak. Free tumour research and the demise of another unwanted cohabitor on this planet. The rest of us: don’t forget yourtinfoil hat

Physics Prof Lets Go

I wonder which class he was teaching? If they were anything like your average Joe, or more accurately, your average Med. student looking for credits in sciences, then I can relate.

"Then he told us if we got out of our seats he's gonna kill us. He went on the black board and wrote "911 now", so we were really in fear for our lives,"

I can definitely relate.

Earth's Atheist Resistance To Holy Wars And Religious Devastation

EARTHWARD is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonmembership public-benefit charity organization that provides humanitarian relief aid to civilian victims of religiously motivated violence ranging from acts of violence by individual extremists or terrorist organizations that claim religious justification for their actions to full-scale holy wars waged by religiously dominated governments.

Aussies Urged to Cast Spells

"Spot Satan's strongholds in the areas you are living in (brothels, gambling places, bottle shops, mosque, temples-Freemason/Buddhist/ Hindu etc, witchcraft)," the leaflet says. He urged followers to circle the place on a map. "If you are ready to pray against it, do so. If not, bring it to your church and ask your intercessors, through the pastor, to pull these strongholds down," the document says.

I dunno-sounds a lot like Wicca 101 to me.

Friday Cheap Laughs-IgNobel Prizes

The Annual IgNoble Prizes

A disturbing study showing that the suicide rates for whites in US metropolitan areas is higher in cities where more country music is played on the radio earned the Ig Nobel prize in Medicine for Steven Stack of Wayne State in Detroit and James Gundlach of Auburn University in Alabama