The Republican's response to mass shootings, or terrorist attacks that don't involve Muslims.

Things must be bad if it has driven Donald Trump to prayer.

Source

Let's be clear, Donald Trump is NOT a religious man.

Though he will play the part of one in order to fool the Evangelicals into voting for him.

The story behind this photo is that it was a "laying on of hands" by evangelical leaders invited into the Oval Office.

Now why does this seem so familiar?

Oh yeah, that's right.

I wonder if this will be as big of a fail for Trump as it was for Palin way back in the day?

Thoughts and Prayers App commercial.

You know the sad thing is that if this were a real product there are millions of people who would download it.

Absolutely no question about it.

Satanism comes out of the closet in Alaska.

Baphomet

Courtesy of RT:

The mundanity of a local council meeting in Alaska was astonishingly broken when a decision to open up the forum to all religions resulted in a Satanist presenting the opening prayer – to Lucifer. 

When the local government of Kenai Borough decided to welcome other faiths to their assemblies they probably didn’t envisage opening up their doors to the Lord of Darkness. 

On Tuesday, Iris Fontana – reportedly a member of the Satanic Temple organization that views Satan as a symbol for rebellion and rational inquiry – gave the assembly invocation usually reserved for pastors. 

Meeting attendees were reminded that they did not have to participate in the opening ritual.

And look, there's a video.

You know I was somewhat less than thrilled when the Satanic Temple first came along in 2014.

I thought they might negatively impact Atheism, and just be kind of silly.

However I have to admit that many of their public events have been inspired, and they have done a great job of demonstrating how intrusive certain religious rituals and religious icons are in the public arena.

I know you probably read the title and thought this had something to do with Sarah Palin.

But I think we can all agree that the Satanic Temple is a force for good, while Sarah Palin is an evil sorceress who practices the dark arts, sacrifices children, and feeds on hate and negativity.

Perhaps somebody should erect a statue of Baphomet somewhere near her property.

Jesus take the wheel. Seriously Jesus take it. WTF Jesus?

Darn it, it's so hard to concentrate with everybody screaming "stop" and "look out" at me.

Courtesy of NWF Daily News: 

A 28-year-old woman was taken to the hospital for evaluation after driving into a Mary Esther house Thursday morning. 

The woman told Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies she was praying at the time and had her eyes closed, according to the OCSO. 

The Fort Walton Beach woman was traveling eastbound on Marcia Drive when she failed to stop at a stop sign, went through an intersection and into the yard of a home on Miramar Drive. 

She tried to back out but got stuck in the sand, the OCSO said. 

She was cited for reckless driving with property damage.

Personally I blame God.

I mean if a person is trying to have a talk with him, the least he can do is make sure they do not plow into somebody's yard.

You know it's almost enough to make me stop believing in God.

Yep, that's it, I'm done.

The REAL purpose of prayer.

WTF?

"Be the Bern. Be the Bern. Be the Bern." pic.twitter.com/EIkDU6g8WV

— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) May 14, 2016

Uh....okay.

So is this the "Cult of Bernie" now?

Getting harder and harder to take these people seriously. 

Phil Robertson opens NASCAR race with prayer to his god to put a "Jesus man" in the White House. Because you know, who needs those silly elections?

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

We got here via bibles and guns. I’m fixed to pray to the one who made that possible. Father, thank you for founding our nation. I pray, Father, that we don’t forget who brought us — You. Our faith in the blood of Jesus and his resurrection. 

Help us, Father, to get back to that. Help us, Dear God, understand that the men and women on my right are the U.S. military. On my right, and on my left, our faith in you and the U.S. military is the reason we’re still here. 

I pray, Father, we put a Jesus man in the White House. 

Help us do that, and help us all to repent, to do what’s right to love you more and to love each other. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

So, just reading between the lines here, Robertson wants his god to overrule the will of the people who are showing up to the polls to choose our next leader and simply "put a Jesus man in the White House?" Did I get that right?

I also assume that since he only wants a "man" that Hillary Clinton is a non-starter, and the definition "Jesus man," whatever that is, certainly seems to exclude the Jewish Bernie Sanders as well.

I don't know why he's even trying to be coy since he is already on record as endorsing the super icky Ted Cruz.  Which works out perfectly because according to Cruz's pappy he was chosen by God to win the presidency anyhow.

You know I predict that by the time we get to the 2028 election cycle that there will be so few of these religious zealots left that their opinions, and religious bullshit, will virtually have NO impact on the way anybody votes anymore.

And I can hardly wait for that day to arrive.

I better start taking my vitamins so that I don't miss it.

As it turns out Arkansas Rep. Justin Harris not only sought exorcism for one of his adopted daughters, he himself performed watered down exorcisms on children all of the time.

Courtesy of KNWA:  

One former employee of Growing God's Kingdom says the Harrises didn't just believe their adopted kids were possessed, but they also believed students at the school possessed demons as well. 

The former employee and mother of a student at the school wants to be named only as Amber. She says Justin and Marsha Harris would often try to pray the demons out of misbehaving students at their pre-school, Growing God's Kingdom. 

"If they got in too much trouble they would pray on the kids, do a circle around them, put their hands on their heads, saying, trying to rebuke demons." Said former employee, Amber. 

Amber was an employee at Growing God's Kingdom for about five months in 2013. She says Justin Harris fired her after a difference in opinion on how to discipline students. Though she says she learned a lot about the Harris family during those five months. 

"How did you learn about the fact that they were praying demons out of kids?" Lauren Conley asked Amber. 

"Well, I had another teacher there that had me take a child down to the office and whenever I did, they did it right there in front of me." Said Amber.

Okay the mere fact that these people were allowed to care for children, in any capacity, is incredibly shocking to me. 

Can you even imagine what kind of damage was done to these children by being told that they were possessed by demons?

In my opinion this man and his wife should be locked up for child abuse. And I mean for an extended period of time.

Christian pediatrician refuses to accept infant as patient because parents are lesbians.

Krista and Jami Contreras, and their baby.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

A lesbian couple in Michigan says a pediatrician has refused to care for their infant because of their sexual orientation. 

Krista and Jami Contreras said Dr. Vesna Roi of Eastlake Pediatrics in Roseville, Michigan, had initially agreed to be the pediatrician to their daughter, Bay. But after "much prayer," Roi had a change of heart. 

When the couple brought their 6-day-old baby into the office for a wellness check-up, another doctor told them that Roi would not be seeing them after all, according to the Detroit Free Press. 

"I was completely dumbfounded," Krista, who is the baby's biological mother, told the newspaper. "We just looked at each other and said, 'Did we hear that correctly?'"

The other doctor did offer the couple his services so apparently there are still some doctors who understand what the Hippocratic Oath is all about.

Doctor Roi, by the way, also offered a rather lame explanation for her behavior.

Apparently it was God's fault: 

"After much prayer following your prenatal, I felt that I would not be able to develop the personal patient doctor relationship that I normally do with my patients," wrote Roi, who has an average of three out of five stars at Healthgrades and four out of five on Vitals based on limited reviews. 

Roi apologized for not telling them in person, and said they were welcome in the clinic, but that Bay would have to be seen by the other doctor at the practice. 

"Please know that I believe that God gives us free choice and I would never judge anyone based on what they do with that free choice," Roi wrote. "Again, I am sorry for the hurt and angry feelings that were created by this. I hope you can accept my apology."

So to be clear the doctor prayed about it, received some sort of clarity, and then refused to take this infant on as a patient.

Sounds like she believes God told her to reject this child to me.

Wow, and here I thought that the Christian god was all about love and acceptance. 

You know I'm just never going to understand this.

Worst popcorn ball recipe ever.

Just a note on that last note.

Pornography is bigger than ever and driving much of the innovation in computers, website design, and online purchasing, just like it drove much of the innovation in home video technology in the 1980's.

And so demonstrates the power of prayer.

Colorado state representative Gordon Klingenschmitt claims that people don't need no stinking Obamacare. Not when they have God as their heavenly physician.

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch:

Gordon Klingenschmitt is excited about a recent Fox News poll that claims that 58 percent of Americans want to repeal Obamacare, declaring on his "Pray In Jesus Name" program recently that people ought to be relying on God for their healthcare. 

Citing a passage from Exodus 15, Klingenschmitt asserted that God will protect people from disease so long as they obey His commands and said that Americans "ought to look to the Lord for our healthcare." 

"I personally prefer to look to almighty God as my healer and not to the government as a substitute god or substitute healer," he said, before praying that this nation would "repent of worshiping President Obama as if he is a god." 

Here is the video:

You know it sounds to me that God was only promising not to bring the same plagues upon his people that he unleashed on the Egyptians.

Which include water to blood, a butt load of frogs, gnats or lice, swarms of flies, sick cattle, boils, thunder and hail, locusts, darkness, and death of your firstborn.

Nowhere does it claim that you will be healed of cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, or any of the actual sicknesses that modern man faces today.

So WTF is this guy even talking about?

And don't even get me started on the fact that since the Egyptians never had Jews as slaves in the first place that this entire story is based on pure unadulterated horseshit.

Good job Colorado. 

Good news for secularists in Anchorage, Jerry Prevo's church will no longer host high school wrestling event due to public prayer.

Prevo on the left.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

The Anchorage Baptist Temple’s school will not host this year's state wrestling tournament for small high schools, as it has in the past, after the Alaska School Activities Association asked it to stop its practice of including a public prayer in the event. 

An attendee of the 2013 event had complained to a national church-state separation watchdog group, which told the ASAA that as a public entity it couldn't sanction prayer at a school extracurricular event. 

Removing the prayer "was a show stopper for us,” said Tom Cobaugh, the administrator of the private Anchorage Christian Schools, the Anchorage Baptist Temple's education ministry. “That’s who we are.” 

The prayer issue made its way to the pulpit of the Anchorage Baptist Temple Sunday morning, when pastor Jerry Prevo used it in his sermon as an example of what he described as a “battle against prayer” in public schools. 

For seven years, Anchorage Christian Schools hosted the wrestling championship for small schools in its gymnasiums, Cobaugh said. The school, which shares an East Anchorage campus with the Baptist temple, serves about 650 students from preschool to high school.

This is yet another victory for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. They have been advocating on the side of secularists and Atheists for a number of years now and have managed to achieve some rather impressive wins.

I particularly like this one as Jerry Prevo of the Anchorage Baptist Temple is an especially disruptive and dangerous member of our community. He has almost single-handedly manged to oppress our LGBT community, and has had very unfortunate and pernicious influence on our politics.

Seeing him lose in this way does nothing but fill my heart with joy. And I hope it is only the first of many defeats that are coming his way.

Pat Robertson calls for more firearms in church. Praise Jesus and pass the ammo.

Courtesy of Crooks And Liars:  

After showing a report about how some churches were forming armed "eyes and ears teams" to watch for trouble during services, Robertson suggested an approach slightly more measured than giving the congregation military-style assault rifles. 

"What is the new Beatitude? Blessed are the fully armed for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," the CBN host laughed. "I really believe that if the bad guys understand that the citizenry are able to react against them then they won't be as free to go into a crowded mall or a school or a church and start blowing people out." 

"I do believe that that if people are trained with firearms, and they're able to protect themselves, I don't think it will lead to more violence, it will lead to less," he continued. "The idea of having citizens who are trained or to have off-duty police in your church is not a bad thing." 

"Anyhow, it's something to consider," Robertson concluded. "You don't even think about it. You want to go to church to praise the Lord. You don't want to go to church to shoot people or to get shot."

Okay seriously whatever happened to the idea that all things are possible through Christ, and that prayer will solve any problem?

Now instead of relying on faith, these people are being urged to rely on bullets.

I mean they still advocate fasting and prayer, but apparently only when stopping to reload.

Just another one of those Jewish liberals attacking praying in public again.

Seriously I don't know where this guy gets off.

You would think he felt he had the right to explain Christianity to Christians or something.

The audacity of the man!

God uses Ebola to kill over a thousand Africans. But it's okay, because he cured this one white guy.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Lucky Dr Kent Brantly, the American doctor who has recovered from Ebola, having been given a dose of the experimental antibody serum Zmapp, whizzed home to the US, and given another dose. He is now thanking God for saving his life. Through the medical team and drugs, he admits, but ultimately, it seems, God was in charge. And he chose Brantly, not the other 1,200 mainly west African people who have died horribly, which seems a bit picky.

So it was NOT the experimental treatment created by scientists and administered by trained physicians that saved this man's life? 

It was God?

So using that line of "logic," one would assume that God also made Dr. Brantly sick in the first place, and then cured him so that he could be thanked publicly.

It also must mean that God murdered all of those innocent African people after also cursing them with the disease and then refusing to answer their prayers for a cure.

Apparently God is a racist.

You know you would think that a doctor might know better than to say something so ridiculous and superstitious. But apparently you would think wrong.

Diner stops giving 15% discounts to customers who pray before meals. In other words, there was a diner that gave 15% discounts to people that prayed!

Courtesy of CBS: 

A North Carolina diner has stopped giving discounts to customers who pray in public after an atheist organization threatened to sue. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to Mary Haglund, owner of Mary’s Gourmet Diner, threatening legal action if the diner did not drop the 15 percent discount for praying because it violated the Civil Rights Act. 

The “promotional practice favors religious customers, and denies customers who do not pray and nonbelievers the right to ‘full and equal’ enjoyment of Mary’s Gourmet Diner,” attorney Elizabeth Cavell wrote in the letter. 

Following the letter, Haglund posted a note on the diner door informing customers that the 15 percent discount will no longer be allowed.

Okay look I know that sometimes religious people have a hard time understanding that not everybody sees the world as they do, but seriously how hard wast to realize that this was incredibly discriminatory? 

It would be like a Jewish butcher offering 15% off if their customers would drop trou to prove they were circumcised.

Kind of like 15% off for proving you had 5% off.

It kind of makes me wonder how many Atheists went into Mary's Diner, bowed their heads, and muttered under their breath "Hail Satan, Lord of Darkness, thank you for this meal, and for helping us to get 15% off on the check?"

It's hard to believe that the Simpsons are on the Fox channel sometimes.

Yes before Fox had Cosmos blowing conservative minds with knowledge they simply did not want to learn, there were the Simpsons ridiculing both them and their sacred cows on a weekly basis.

Gitmo detainees cite Hobby Lobby case in new request for religious freedom.

Courtesy Mother Jones:

 In a new court filing, attorneys for two Guantanamo Bay detainees have invoked the Supreme Court's controversial decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which allowed certain corporations to ignore the Obamacare contraception mandate if their owners object to it on religious grounds. The motions, filed with a Washington, DC, district court on behalf of Ahmed Rabbani of Pakistan and Emad Hassan of Yemen, ask the court to bar military officials from preventing Gitmo inmates from participating in communal prayer during Ramadan. 

"Hobby Lobby makes clear that all persons—human and corporate, citizen and foreigner, resident and alien—enjoy the special religious free exercise protections of the [Religious Freedom Restoration Act]," the lawyers argue. 

A spokesman for the Department of Defense told Al Jazeera America on Friday that the "Defense Department is aware of the filing," and that the "government will respond through the legal system."

Gee I wonder if the Justices who were supposedly trying to protect the non-existent religious freedom of corporations recognized the can of worms that they were opening?

I also wonder how all of those Right Wing supporters who touted the decision as a victory for religious freedom will feel if it helps these prisoners get more of their own religious freedoms back?

Yeah I somehow doubt that Chad and Christie Christian will be terribly thrilled with their newly protected religious freedom being extended to people who pray to Mecca five times a day and think that Jesus was a great prophet but no son of God.