This kind of garbage makes my head throb.

For the record I really love horror movies, and in fact really enjoyed this one.

However I enjoy them in the same way that I enjoy super hero movies, or sword and sorcery movies, or films about alien invasions.

I don't actually expect to see Superman flying above me, a dragon snatching up stray dogs in the neighborhood, or aliens blowing up the White House.

And I also do not expect to see ghosts, goblins, or werewolves.

To be clear there is no such thing as the paranormal, the supernatural, or miracles.

Each of these labels are used to explain phenomena which have fact based explanations, but which some are too ignorant or superstitious to accept.

Take the word "supernatural" for instance.

In ancient times when people believed that the sky above them was an ocean, mental illness was the result of demonic possession, and sickness could be cured with incantations and charms, the idea of the supernatural was somewhat understandable.

After all everything about the world around these people seemed filled with terror and unseen danger.

But the word "supernatural" has no real meaning, because nothing that can be seen, heard, felt, or tasted can actually be categorized as supernatural once it has been perceived by our natural senses.

In other words the only things which can remain in the realm of the supernatural are those things which we only imagine, and which have no substance in reality.

And yes that line of reasoning does take us in a very obvious direction.

But I will leave you to explore that on your own.

As for myself I will continue enjoying these movies confident in the knowledge that I need no sorceress, shaman, or priest to protect me from their influence. And neither do you.

Phoenix woman shoots other woman in the eye for not believing in God. Keeps her body as a shrine for three days.

Courtesy of AZ Central:  

A woman told police she shot another woman because she didn't believe in God and kept her body for three days as a shrine in her Phoenix apartment, according to arrest records. 

Phoenix officers arrested Anitra Braxton, 39, on suspicion of first-degree murder Saturday after finding an unidentified body in her apartment in the 1500 block of West Missouri Avenue. 

Police reported they were called to the scene and discovered the woman covered with a towel on Braxton's couch, dead of a gunshot wound to the head. 

Braxton told investigators that the body was a "shrine from God" and that she had shot the woman in the eye for not believing in God, the records said. The murder weapon has not been recovered.

As you may already have gathered the woman suffers from a fairly debilitating mental illness, but somehow that did not keep her from getting her hands on a gun.

By the way I once read a paper which stated that schizophrenics were often drawn to very fundamentalist religious beliefs.

Which makes sense if you think about it. After all it so much more comforting to believe that the voices in your head are coming from God rather than to accept that you may be clinically insane.

That awkward moment when you condemn passages from the Quran, that are actually from the Bible.

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

A lot of conservative Christians like to argue, as do atheists, that the Qur’an is full of barbarism and misogyny. Unlike the atheists, though, they forget that their own Bible is also full of horrific verses. 

So the Dutch pranksters at Dit Is Normaal ran an experiment. They bought a Bible, but changed the cover to say it’s the Qur’an. Then they asked people to read passages and give their thoughts.

You know as far as pranks go, that was fairly brilliant. 

And of course that is the point that Atheists make over and over again.

These books are FILLED with hateful, violent, misogynistic garbage like that and if you do not live in a relatively progressive society, and instead one that bases its laws and guidelines on the holy book, you are essentially surrounded by barbarism.

Hey ever see people get "Angel readings?" Well now you can say you have.

Seriously what in the hell is wrong with people?

And don't forget these people raise children, and vote in elections.

Texas church members believe baby is possessed by demon, intentionally starve it to death, and then attempt to bring it back to life.

Courtesy of NBC News: A Texas woman has been charged in an investigation of a Dallas-area church involving what police said appeared to be an attempt to raise a 2-year-old child from the dead, according to court documents. 

The woman, Aracely Meza, whom Texas incorporation records list as the secretary of Congregacional Pueblo de Dios in the town of Balch Springs, was charged with injury to a child by omission, police told NBCDFW. The station reported that Meza was not the child's mother. 

According to a request for a search warrant filed March 26, Balch Springs police got an anonymous tip the same day that a child had died at the church on March 21 or 22 without anybody's having reported it. 

A witness described only as someone living at the church building told investigators that a "rising ceremony" was held March 22 "to attempt to resurrect Victim from the dead." When that failed, the child was wrapped in a blanket and "taken back to Mexico," according to the search warrant request.

As troubling as that is it is not the worst part.

This according to Raw Story:  

A woman who knew the boy’s mother said pastors believed the child was possessed by demons, and she said the boy went 25 days without food before he died.

Raw Story also has video of a news report with footage of the attempted resurrection. 

It is highly disturbing and demonstrates the kind of bizarre mindset that comes from a fervent belief in superstitious nonsense.

These people killed this child, and they did because they grew up around and were deeply affected by primitive bullshit.

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.

If skeptics created a calendar of horoscopes. .

My ex-wife used to check her horoscope every morning in the ADN before she would do anything.

It assigned a ratio between one to five stars indicating the kind of day she should expect.

My wife would often make clothing choices, change appointments, and decide what kind of mood she would in be based solely on that imaginary criteria.

For the most part I did not bother to point out the ignorance of basing life decisions on the appearance of stars billions of light years away, or let her in on the fact that many of those points of light are from stars that have burnt out millions if not billions of years ago. It would not have done much good anyway.

You really cannot chip away at a person's superstitions if they have decided that they are an important part of how they perceive the world.

I know, I've tried.

Theoretical Physicist Lawrence Krauss says that the end of religion may be only a generation away.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

People should not assume that religion will always be a part of human society just because it has existed for so long, according to theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. Religion could disappear in the span of a single generation. 

“People say, ‘Well, religion has been around since the dawn of man. You’ll never change that.’ But I point out that… this issue of gay marriage, it is going to go away, because if you have a child, a 13-year-old, they can’t understand what the issue is. It’s gone. One generation is all it takes,” he said at an event called the Victorian Skeptics Cafe 2014. 

“So, I can tell you a generation ago people said there is no way people would allow gay marriage, and slavery — essentially — [gone in] a generation, we got rid of it,” Krauss continued. “Change is always one generation away… so if we can plant the seeds of doubt in our children, religion will go away in a generation, or at least largely go away. And that’s what I think we have an obligation to do.” 

Krauss was addressing whether religion should be taught to children in school. Though, as an atheist, he opposes religious education, he said he does support teaching comparative religion classes instead of completely “shying away” from the topic. 

“What we need to do is present comparative religion as a bunch of interesting historical anecdotes, and show the silly reasons why they did what they did,” he remarked. 

He said educators should force children to confront their own misconceptions. 

“But you don’t shy away from religion any more than you shy away from the claim that Earth is the center of the universe. We laugh at that now, and we get kids to realize why that might be wrong… and so we should take other falsifiable facts, which are at the center of our society, which is religious doctrine, and make just as much fun of that.”

I am not quite as confident that religion can be eradicated in one, or even two, enlightened generations, but I do agree that planting those seeds of doubt and offering classes that compare religions without lending credence to one over another, will surely have a positive effect on the ability of our children break free from the shackles of ignorance and superstition.

Not only that, but I firmly believe that doing so is necessary for the survival of our species.

Ken Ham thinks we need to stop wasting our money exploring space, because there is no life up in space and if there were they'd all be a bunch of sinners anyway.

"Space? There's nothing up there for you to worry your pretty little head about."

Here are a few of Ham's arguments from his Answers in Genesis website: 

I’m shocked at the countless hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent over the years in the desperate and fruitless search for extraterrestrial life. Even Bill Nye “the Science Guy,” in our recent debate, happily gloated about tax dollars being spent toward this effort. And now, secular scientists are at it again. 

Of course, secularists are desperate to find life in outer space, as they believe that would provide evidence that life can evolve in different locations and given the supposed right conditions! The search for extraterrestrial life is really driven by man’s rebellion against God in a desperate attempt to supposedly prove evolution!

Yes we are exploring space just because  scientists hate God and want to prove evolution is real.

Make perfect sense, except that we have ALREADY proven that evolution is real and space exploration is usually not considered to be connected to research in that field.

But wait, Ham has an argument in support of his hypothesis. (A word I am sure he always uses incorrectly.)

You see, according to the secular, evolutionary worldview there must be other habited worlds out there. As the head of NASA, Charles Borden, puts it, “It’s highly improbable in the limitless vastness of the universe that we humans stand alone.” Secularists cannot allow earth to be special or unique—that’s a biblical idea (Isaiah 45:18). If life evolved here, it simply must have evolved elsewhere they believe.

Well yes that would stand to reason, just like primitive earth explorers wondered if there were not others like themselves spread throughout the planet. And there were!

Is that a problem? 

Now the Bible doesn’t say whether there is or is not animal or plant life in outer space. I certainly suspect not. The Earth was created for human life. And the sun and moon were created for signs and our seasons—and to declare the glory of God. And I do believe there can’t be other intelligent beings in outer space because of the meaning of the gospel. 

You see, the Bible makes it clear that Adam’s sin affected the whole universe. This means that any aliens would also be affected by Adam’s sin, but because they are not Adam’s descendants, they can’t have salvation. One day, the whole universe will be judged by fire, and there will be a new heavens and earth. God’s Son stepped into history to be Jesus Christ, the “Godman,” to be our relative, and to be the perfect sacrifice for sin—the Savior of mankind. 

Ohhh, now I get it.

So to be clear there are NO intelligent life forms to be found outside our planet because God specifically made us in his image, and if there WERE intelligent life forms that would really screw up that whole mythology.

Besides if there were, but of course there's not, then they would be a bunch of damn sinners, and who would want to know about them anyway?

Well I would for one.

You see the problem is not that Ham thinks that we are wasting our time exploring space, the problem is that he is afraid that we are not.

And if indeed we were to successfully make contact with intelligent alien lifeforms who had no understanding of religion or the Christian God, that would seriously undermine the idea that everything was made by a single creator who surely would have wanted to care for ALL of his creations, not just the ones on this planet.

And that would make it obvious that statements like this one are horse shit:

The answers to life’s questions will not be found in imaginary aliens but in the revelation of the Creator through the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to die on a Cross to redeem mankind from sin and death that our ancestor, Adam, introduced. 

Science, cock blocking religion since the dawn of time.

Let's try this again.

Okay does this explain the atheist position clearly enough?

Not a religion.

Not a philosophy.

Just a group of people who do not feel the need to accept superstitious explanations for things simply because it comforts them.

Thousands visit miraculous glowing statue of the Madonna. Miracle turns out to be luminous paint.

Courtesy of Catholic Online:  

Thousands had been drawn to a remote Belgian village to see a glowing statue of the Madonna. While mysterious, the reason behind the statue's glow has since been found. A team of scientists from the science faculty at Liege University found that the statue was glowing in the dark because it had been covered with paint containing zinc sulphide. 

"This chemical has a luminous effect and is the reason for the strange light. It's no miracle," Dr. Rudi Cloots, who led the university team said. 

Cloots could not explain why it took 15 years before the glow appeared. The paint was applied to the figure at an unknown date. 

The statue began glowing in mid-January. Police had to control crowds in the village of Jalhay, near Liege who were eager to touch the figure. The statue reportedly began to glow in the kitchen of an elderly couple's home. 

Over 500 people visited the house in one day, eager to pay homage to it. 

" Cloots could not explain why it took 15 years before the glow appeared." I'm guessing that's how long it took the people who owned the house before they stumbled upon the idea of how to take advantage of their superstitious neighbors.

But hey just because it was totally phony does not mean it didn't have miraculous properties.

Four visitors to the statue claimed that they had been cured of physical disabilities after being in the presence of the Madonna.

Hmm, I have to wonder what type of "physical disabilities" are cured by touching a fake, glow in the dark, ceramic statue?

Perhaps the miracle was the vast number of morons living so close to this little village.

Now what does this remind me of?

You know I often get blowback when I refer to religion as superstition.

I have never understood that.

After all this is the definition of superstition:

1: a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation 
b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition 
2: a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary

So how is that definition any different than religion? Or to the definition provided above for myth? 

Reality show snake handler dies from, get this, snake bite. National Geographic plans to air tribute. Seriously?

Courtesy of CNN:  

A Kentucky pastor who starred in a reality show about snake-handling in church has died -- of a snakebite. Jamie Coots died Saturday evening after refusing to be treated, Middleborough police said. 

On "Snake Salvation," the ardent Pentecostal believer said that he believed that a passage in the Bible suggests poisonous snakebites will not harm believers as long as they are anointed by God. The practice is illegal in most states, but still goes on, primarily in the rural South. 

Coots was a third-generation "serpent handler" and aspired to one day pass the practice and his church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, on to his adult son, Little Cody.

It is rare that a belief system is so quickly and clearly demonstrated to be false. However in spite of that National Geographic believes it is in the best interests of the gullible public to pay homage to this superstitious moron: 

National Geographic had no plans for a second season of Snake Salvation, says a network rep, but is now planning a special tribute episode “so people can understand Pastor Jamie and his method of worship and see that he died doing what he believed was his calling.” NatGeo also sent in the following statement on Coots’ passing: 

National Geographic joins his family, friends and community in mourning the loss of Pastor Jamie Coots. In following Pastor Coots for our series Snake Salvation, we were constantly struck by his devout religious convictions despite the health and legal peril he often faced. Those risks were always worth it to him and his congregants as a means to demonstrate their unwavering faith. We were honored to be allowed such unique access to Pastor Jamie and his congregation during the course of our show, and give context to his method of worship. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.

Yes let's celebrate the life of an individual whose belief system cost him his life, the life of several of his parishioners, and continues to put members of his family in danger on a daily basis.

This is dangerous religious zealotry and should NOT be celebrated but rather confronted in the hopes of ending it forever, or ignored in the hopes that it will spread no further. 

National Geographic has every right to report on the primitive cultures around the world, and strange religious practices both here and in other locales, but it should not glamorize one so inherently dangerous by giving these people their own television show and demonstrating to others that the way to fame and fortune is to put yourself, and your family, in danger for the entertainment of the masses.

Rather enlightening discussion about the existence of Satan.

I am struck by the fact that many on the panel did not want to come right out and say that they believed in demons or that the Devil takes a corporeal from and yet, they simply cannot bring themselves to reject the concept of demonic possession or the existence of Satan outright.

Remember kids this is a conversation taking place in 2014.

By the way I love this show and have watched numerous episodes of it, and posted a few videos as well. It is my belief that if we had more open conversations about religion, God, and the Devil, that it would do much to increase the number of non-believers.

P.S. For those who are interested here is part two. 

Woman kills two of her children during botched exorcism attempt.

Courtesy of New York Daily News:  

A 28-year-old mother killed two of her children and severely injured her two others during a botched exorcism attempt, police said Saturday. 

Police described a shocking bloody scene at the Germantown home Friday morning when they found a 1-year-old and 2-year-old dead in a home due to multiple stab wounds. A 5-year-old and 8-year-old were also injured and are receiving medical treatment, Montgomery police said. 

Police announced Saturday the mother, Zakieya Latrice Avery, 28, and another woman, Monifa Denise Sanford, 21, were trying to perform an exorcism on the children. They were both charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

This is an inappropriate time to insert my feelings about religion, so I just want to say that I feel terribly for these children and hope that those who survived received comprehensive counseling and are placed in loving homes.

We are making progress in stamping out superstition, I just wish we could somehow speed it up.

Snake handling preacher, whose father died of snakebite, dies of snakebite. Boy God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?

Courtesy of NBC News:  

West Virginia preacher Mark Randall "Mack" Wolford, who believed Christians should handle snakes to test their faith, died after a rattlesnake bit him over the weekend. 

Wolford was bitten on the thigh about 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, but he didn't come to the hospital until 10:30 p.m., a nursing supervisor at Bluefield Regional Medical Center told the Charleston Daily Mail. The incident occurred during an outdoor service at Panther State Forest, about 80 miles west of Bluefield in southern West Virginia, the paper said. 

Wolford had turned 44 on Saturday. He had seen his father die of a snakebite when he was teenager, the Daily Mail reported. 

The Washington Post Magazine had profiled Wolford in a story in November about the snake-handling faith. The Post said adherents cite Mark 16:17-18: “And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 

Snake-handling is legal in West Virginia, and Wolford was trying to keep it alive there and in neighboring states where it is not, the Post reported. 

The Daily Mail reported that Wolford was bitten Sunday by a yellow timber rattlesnake -- named Sheba -- that he had often handled.

And do you know what? Next Sunday the church will be filled with people handling snakes, speaking in tongues, and blaming Satan for taking away their preacher.

Cause believing all of that is so much easier than facing reality for some people.

Bishop of Malta: Pope was "shocked" by idea of gay adoptions. Guess who was just chosen as Person of the Year by the Advocate.

Courtesy The Independent:  

The Pope is “shocked” by gay adoption, according to the Bishop of Malta. Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta defended his Christmas sermon in which he condemned adoption between same-sex couples by claiming that Pope Francis gave the anti-gay sentiments of the address his blessing. 

The Bishop told the congregation that God’s own son was raised by a man and a woman, and not by two men or two women. 

In an interview with The Sunday Times of Malta, Bishop Scicluna said he met with Pope Francis on 12 December, and the pair discussed “many aspects” of the Bishop’s sermon. 

Bishop Scicluna said The Pope was “shocked” by the Maltese Civil Unions Bill that aims to legalise gay adoption. 

“When I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [gay adoption] he encouraged me to speak out," said Bishop Scicluna. 

Previously, the Bishop said that the sexual activity of heterosexual couples has a “fundamental role in producing future members of society” whereas the sexual activity of same-sex couples does not “as it does not produce offspring”. 

The news comes after Pope Francis was voted person of the year by leading gay rights magazine The Advocate after he said: “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?” 

However, as Argentina’s Cardinal Bergoglio, he condemned gay adoption and marriage, but supported civil partnerships as the lesser of two evils.

I was all ab out giving this Pope the benefit of the doubt, and took a wait and see attitude.

Well I waited, and I've seen. 

In fact I think I've seen enough.

His views on women and gay rights is essentially just as backward and judgmental as those who came before him. No great change, just a slicker package.

Russian parents facing jail time after taking baby to church for a baptism instead of to a hospital after car accident.

Courtesy of Rianvosti:  

A couple in Russia face jail after their religious zeal compelled them to drive their child, injured in a car crash, to church for an urgent baptism rather than to hospital. 

The two-month-old infant was dead by the time it was delivered into the hands of the priest, Fontanka.ru news website said Sunday. 

The boy sustained a brain injury in a minor crash in St. Petersburg on Saturday despite being in a child safety seat, the report said. 

The worried parents sped him up to the church because “otherwise he would be denied the Kingdom of Heaven,” investigators cited them as saying, Fontanka.ru reported. 

Now the two parents, both in their forties, are being investigated for “failure to assist a person in danger,” punishable with up to a year in prison.

This is usually the part where I go off on the ignorance  of these people, but I will let a spokesman for the church do that instead.  

“This is superstition, not religion,” an Orthodox Church spokesman told Fontanka.ru. “They should have gone to the hospital, it’s only human.”

Yeah, no shit!

Sam Harris presents the Witchcraft argument.

The danger of blaming natural things on the supernatural, and of living our lives with our logic clouded by superstitious nonsense, cannot be overstated.

Albuquerque, New Mexico becomes ground zero for the next big abortion battle.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Early voting is underway in Albuquerque for an election Tuesday, which will decide whether to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. 

Although similar bans have been passed by state legislatures, New Mexico's largest city is believed to be the first municipality in the country to place such an initiative on a ballot. 

The "Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance," which needs a majority to pass, would have statewide impact because the only late-term abortion providers in the largely rural state are in Albuquerque. 

Women living out of state also fly to Albuquerque for this type of care, said Micaela Cadena, policy director at Young Women United. The New Mexico-based group is part of the Respect ABQ Women campaign, which is fighting the local measure. 

"Albuquerque voters are voting for the whole state of New Mexico and also for the rest of the country," Cadena said. 

The Supreme Court's ruling in Roe vs. Wade has been interpreted by lower courts as making abortion legal through 24 weeks of pregnancy, but antiabortion activists are pushing to ban the procedure after 20 weeks — a step in chipping away at the 1973 landmark ruling.

There is little doubt that these people will never stop until they have managed to overturn Roe vs Wade, or else have the laws allowing abortion so watered down so as to make them virtually useless.

Our only hope of protecting a woman's right to choose is to elect as many Democrats as possible to office, and to focus on putting secularists into positions of power.

Remember the entire anti-abortion debate is based on a biblical belief that life begins at conception, and that man has no right to interfere with God's wishes.

If we put rational politicians, who are not manipulated by superstition, into office, we can pass laws that strive to protect people instead of embryos, promote education instead of indoctrination, and who place their faith in science instead of the supernatural.

To my mind that is essentially our only hope of protecting our women, our children, and ultimately our planet.