Its true, Christianity’s views on sex are as divorced from reality as, well, all its other views.
Rob Asghar: Bristol Palin And The Trouble With Christian Sex

Forget the tired notion that Christians are “against” sex. They’re as wildly for it as anyone; that’s what got Bristol into trouble. Christians simply have an idealized notion of sex and relationships, one that’s increasingly divorced from the reality and the direction of the larger society.

Seriously, though.  I love Colbert, but I thought this bit was kind of amusing and indicative of a general attitude.

He started out making a joke about a seder for dogs.  And if there are jewish dogs, then soon there will be christian dogs, and then, 700 years later, there will be muslim dogs.  Of course, thats just 100 years to us.

What I find amusing here is that its the 700 years that gets noted.  However, Judaism started, what, 3500 or 4000 years before Christianity.  I think that most people imagine that the two started around the same time, or within a couple centuries.  But it ain’t so, Joe.

Obviously, nothing was meant by this on Colbert’s end, but, y’know, I think its worth noting.

So, to all you zombie worshippers out there, you are still just new kids.

Its hard enough, I would imagine, to defend religion using intelligent rhetoric and, y’know, logic.  But as bad as your average believer might be, Ray Comfort makes the lot of them look barely bright enough to breath.  Seriously, there are some intelligent (though I believe also deluded) theologians out there, but when Comfort opens his mouth…
Pharyngula: It’s a conspiracy!

“I simply expose atheistic evolution for the unscientific fairy tale that it is, and I do it with common logic. I ask questions about where the female came from for each species. Every male dog, cat, horse, elephant, giraffe, fish and bird had to have coincidentally evolved with a female alongside it (over billions of years) with fully evolved compatible reproductive parts and a desire to mate, otherwise the species couldn’t keep going. Evolution has no explanation for the female for every species in creation,” he said.

(btw, I was recently in a thread where I mentioned Ray’s ‘banana argument’ for creationism. A couple people came out and said ‘he does not really believe that. He is only using it as a metaphor’. No, no people, he isn’t. He really does see that as a serious blow against evolution).

Americans Pick Obama as Personal Hero; Jesus Comes Second| Christianpost.com

Respondents gave multiple reasons for their choice of heroes, including: doing what’s right regardless of personal consequences (89 percent); not giving up until the goal is accomplished (83 percent); doing more than what other people expect of them (82 percent); overcoming adversity (81 percent); and staying level-headed in a crisis (81 percent).

And, of course, being real.

Fruit flies made to de-evolve.

Funny how you can test evolution even though creationists and “intelligent design” people keep saying you can’t.

Evolution: +1  Creationist tripe: -3

Lets summarize first.

1. Rick Warren is anti-gay.
   

   Dr Warren said that homosexuality is not a natural way of life and thus not a human right. “We shall not tolerate this aspect at all,” Dr Warren said.

2. Rick Warren is anti-woman (see #32) I don’t see how you can tell a woman to let a man beat her instead of getting a divorce and be anything but anti-woman
3. Rick Warren is anti-AIDS prevention.  His ‘main man’ in Uganda is named Ssempa:
   

   Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

And this man isn’t run out of town on a rail?  Why?  Because of the most insidious aspect of religion.

It justifies anything and everything.  Once in a blue moon, as in the case of Madeline Kara Neumann, there will be a cry for people to be held accountable for their religions beliefs and the actions that stem from them, but as a rule, anything goes.  If I said the things Rick Warren said, and my only justification was “because”, I’d been called a monster.

This is the twisted result of backwards tolerance.

You see it in some Middle East and African countries where women are treated like property ON A GOOD DAY.  We say to ourselves “Well, thats just their way”.  We can’t question their religion because then, y’know, you might have to apply that to religion here too.  Further, most people don’t fully understand that this isn’t ‘their’ way, its forced upon the women.  The idea that there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE doesn’t fully compute to us, and so we make the assumption that the women want to be treated worse than dogs and that religion can justify this anyhow.

Any other name put on this would make these people devils.

This is an interesting read.  Surprisingly, Warren appears to be living in a world unrelated to reality.  And since AIDS only kills faggots and whores, why should he care?
I have to say, it is getting harder and harder to figure out exactly why anyone who cares about human beings could possibly like this guy.

Condom Burnings and Anti-Gay Witch Hunts: How Rick Warren Is Undermining AIDs Prevention in Africa | The Smirking Chimp

But since the Warren inauguration controversy erupted, the nature of his work against AIDS in Africa has gone unexamined. Warren has not been particularly forthcoming to those who have attempted to look into it. His Web site contains scant information about the results of his program. However, an investigation into Warren’s involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating AIDS in favor of abstinence-only education. More disturbingly, Warren’s allies have rolled back key elements of one of the continent’s most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Stephen Lewis, the United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told the New York Times their activism is “resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which should never have occurred.”

Warren’s man in Uganda is a charismatic pastor named Martin Ssempa. The head of the Makerere Community Church, a rapidly growing congregation, Ssempa enjoys close ties to his country’s first lady, Janet Museveni, and is a favorite of the Bush White House. In the capitol of Kampala, Ssempa is known for his boisterous crusading. Ssempa’s stunts have included burning condoms in the name of Jesus and arranging the publication of names of homosexuals in cooperative local newspapers while lobbying for criminal penalties to imprison them.

Surprisingly, a religious leader feels OK ignoring the needs of people (and, as usual, its women) in order to satisfy his own bizarre myths.
Film at 11.
Rick Warren: Abuse is no excuse for women to seek divorce : The New Agenda

Having been involved as a pastor in situations of abuse, there’s something in me that wishes there were a Bible verse that says if they abuse you in such kind of way, then you have a right to leave them.
…
It’s not like you can escape the pain… You don’t — you don’t escape the pain. And I’d always rather choose a short term pain and find God’s solution for a long term gain, than try and find a short term solution that’s going to involve a long term pain in life.

(not for nothing, for all those of you who think religion is a good thing, this is how religion almost always goes. Theism is all about submission, regardless as to consequence. Take your beatings now, or God will beat you senseless later.)

And sometimes they make me laugh
THE ANSWER TO YOUR FEAR OF GOOGLING!

If a Christian group bought some ad space on some busses advocating accepting Christ, the Jews of DC would not blink an eye.  If the Jews did something similar, there’d be no outcry from Christians.  But when atheists do it, there’s no end of venom.

Why is that?

At the core of virtually any theistic religion is the belief that ALL other religions are simply wrong.  However, in the U.S., that doesn’t get bandied about much in public.  There’s sort of a wink and a nod agreement that one group doesn’t put up a sign saying another group is wrong.  Further, there’s a bit of rationalization that goes on.  Oh, sure, those guys are wrong, but it is just because they misunderstand, or are naive.

In other words, when someone says “My God is great” the subtext, that everyone else is wrong, stays subtext and everyone is OK with that.

The thing is, with atheism, that subtext is, in fact, the text.  There is no real way to say that there’s no god or, at least, no reason to believe god exists without saying that everyone else is wrong.  There is no way around it, and no way for people to ignore the statement with any kind of respect.  Theists can work around each other, but the nature of the atheist/theist relationship is conflict.

Does that mean that the two can’t communicate reasonably?  No, it does not.  But it does require honesty along with civility.  I am an atheist.  I do not in any way respect the beliefs of theists.  However, I do respect the fact that many people hold those beliefs strongly.  My brother is Christian and when I want to talk religion with him, I go about it with the understanding that, if I insult him for his beliefs, the discussion goes no where.  Its just a fight.

The bus signs in DC were respectful of the fact that many people believe, and still sent a clear message that those beliefs were not shared.  The Olympia sign was not.  The sign could not be seen as anything but a smack across the face (though I believe the sign to be accurate).  Maybe that was the goal.  I’m OK with that.  I think these myths are a disease rotting the U.S. from within.  But it isn’t very productive for me to open a conversation that way.