What if there IS a God? What if God is testing us? What if He is a cosmic prankster and has directed the creation of many differing religions to confuse us? What if God intentionally created the bible with its contradictions, inaccuracies, absurdities, mistakes, unbelievable occurrences and prejudices as a test? What if the test is to see if we fall for it? What if atheists are the ONLY ones going to heaven?
Bill Maher presents a basic advice aimed at those people who follow the lead of desert Gods:
I attended Catholic Church for many years as a child. I don't remember even once hearing any priest feature the story of Lot, the angels, and Lot's wife and daughters at Mass. Now I know why, of course. It's just so much easier to pretend that this story doesn't even exist in the Bible. It's much easier to cherry pick in order to maintain that every word in "the Bible" is the inspired literal teaching of God. Question: Do any of readers remember ever hearing any sort of priest, preacher or minister presenting the details of the story of Lot during any worship service? Here's the animated version of the story: Now maybe you're not into kinky sex. But maybe the Bible still has something for you. For instance, are you pro-slavery? So is God:
Obama gave a terrific speech (here's the video). In the first ten minutes, he detailed the many connections between Islam and the United States (yes, Rep. Keith Ellison did take his oath of office using a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson). The first condition for progress of any type is to plainly state where we are, and Obama's speech did a great job of this. Yes, our many misunderstandings, driven by irresponsible media frenzy, occlude plain facts, several of them highly embarrassing to the U.S. For instance,
For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government.
That, then, is how we can repair the damage: by establishing trust by stating the facts. Only after speaking frankly can tone matter. Obama's tone was impressive, based on the many applause interruptions. But good tone is nothing without admitting undeniable facts. Only then can we move forward. By traveling to Cairo to make his speech, Obama has made a dramatic statement that America is no longer framing its diplomatic strategies through the use of crude stereotypes. I don't know whether the audience entirely trusts America, but this was a huge step in the right direction.The Rev. Alberto Cutié, a popular Miami Catholic priest, gave up on celibacy. The Catholic Church busted him, though and threw him out. This move by the Church was probably because the U.S. branch of the Roman Catholic Church already has lots of young popular priests. You know, supply and demand.
A popular Miami priest and media personality known as "Father Oprah" has left the Catholic Church to become an Anglican after he was photographed cavorting on the beach with his girlfriend . . . He was received into the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, in a ceremony Thursday at Trinity Cathedral and may later announce he will marry his girlfriend, which is allowed in that denomination.I can think of a few extremely good reasons why the Catholic Church should prefer to have sexually satisfied priests instead of sexually frustrated priests. But the Church doesn't agree with me. And I suppose that God has clearly spoken that priests can't have sex. I understand that this prohibition is somewhere in the Bible . . . The Roman Catholic Church is that same church that still can't admit that a significant chunk of its clergy should be sitting in prisons for raping children. It's the same Church that disparages all efficient forms of family planning. It's the same Church that disparages women by barring them from being priests because they are . . . WOMEN. I know that a lot of us who were raised Catholic are privileged to enjoy sex extra-intensely because the Church taught us that sex is naughty. That extra enjoyment (if one can really call it that) is the silver lining of a huge dark cloud. It is hard to believe that an organization could be any more screwed up about sex than the Catholic Church. I don't understand why more U.S. Catholics don't simply walk away from Rome and form their own locally controlled churches. Here are a few founding principles I humbly offer to any U.S. Catholics who want to found their own churches: A) Don't disparage women, B) Don't be idiots about sex, C) Don't hire sexually frustrated priests.