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Blasphemy Day!

Blasphemy Day International is a campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of murder, litigation, and reprisal. Blasphemy Day takes place September 30th to commemorate the publishing of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. The purpose of Blasphemy Day is not to promote hate or violence; it is to support free speech, support the right to criticize and satirize religion, and to oppose any resolutions or laws, binding or otherwise, that discourage or inhibit free speech of any kind. While many perceive blasphemy as insulting and offensive, this event is not about getting enjoyment out of ridiculing and insulting others; rather, it was created as a reaction against those who would seek to take away the right to satirize and criticize a particular set of beliefs given a privileged status over other beliefs. Criticism and dissent towards opposing views is the only way in which any nation with any modicum of freedom can exist. Without this essential liberty, those in power are those best able to manipulate others will suppress and silence dissent by labeling it "defamation" or "blasphemy" or whatever other bogey words they can use to stifle opposition by turning popular sentiment against it. Please, do not let them do this.

So if you support free speech, and the rights of those who disagree with religious views to voice their opinions peacefully, support Blasphemy Day and join the cause!

Punx Against Christ

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

(This is an old Blasphemy Friday post from Cody)

I get the impression that the issue was not with the fact that the following image showed defecation. I feel I can safely assume it what who was being defecated on that was the issue.

Now the question is, as it always is with Blasphemy Friday, is the reaction to an exercise in free speech worse than the free speech? Not that it should make a difference anyway, but that is beside the point right now. Should a newspaper editor receive death threats because he allowed a flier depicting Satan defecation on the head of Jesus? The following is an example (It would originally be in Swedish):

"In the morning a man [will be] waiting outside your gate when you go to work. He [will have] one thing in his hand that will teach you the wrath of God!"

The answer is a resounding NO! Well he did and here is his response (Sorry for the shoddy translation).

And with no further ado I present Punx Against Christ:

Crackergate

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

A controversy arose in July 2008 over a Pharyngula blog entry written by Myers expressing amazement at news reports of death threats issued to University of Central Florida Student Senator Webster Cook. On June 29, 2008, Cook attended a Catholic Mass and received the Catholic Eucharist host but did not consume it immediately. He said later that he wanted to take it back to his seat to show a friend, but when stopped he put it in his mouth until back at his seat, then a church leader made forcible attempts to take the host from him. Cook stored the host at his home, then returned it one week later after receiving e-mail threats and pleas. Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, described the student's actions as "beyond hate speech" and said that "All options should be on the table, including expulsion."

In his July 8 blog entry, Myers criticized the reaction to Cook's act. Myers suggested that if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts for him, he would treat the wafers "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web."

A number of Roman Catholics immediately reacted strongly. Donohue's Catholic League accused Myers of anti-catholic bigotry, described his proposal as a threat to desecrate what Catholics hold to be the Body of Christ, and sent a letter asking the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.

In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.”

On July 24, 2008, PZ Myers, in his post, "The Great Desecration," wrote that he had pierced through the "goddamned cracker" with a rusty nail, which he also used to pierce a few ripped-out pages of the Qur'an and The God Delusion, and had simply thrown them all in the trash along with old coffee grounds and a banana peel. He provided a photograph of these items in the garbage, and wrote that nothing must be held sacred, encouraging people to question everything.

(via Wikipedia)

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The newspaper announced that this publication was an attempt to contribute to the debate regarding criticism of Islam and self-censorship.

Danish Muslim organizations, who objected to the depictions, responded by holding public protests attempting to raise awareness of Jyllands-Posten's publication. Further examples of the cartoons were soon reprinted in newspapers in more than fifty other countries, further deepening the controversy.

This led to protests across the Muslim world, some of which escalated into violence with police firing on the crowds (resulting in more than 100 deaths, all together), including setting fire to the Danish Embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, storming European buildings, and desecrating the Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and German flags in Gaza City. While a number of Muslim leaders called for protesters to remain peaceful, other Muslim leaders across the globe, including Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas, issued death threats. Various groups, primarily in the Western world, responded by endorsing the Danish policies, including "Buy Danish" campaigns and other displays of support. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen described the controversy as Denmark's worst international crisis since World War II.

(via Wikipedia)

Iowa Atheist and Freethinkers Bus Ad

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

Atheist advertising signs on Des Moines Area Regional Transit buses that created a storm of controversy when they first went up on Aug. 1 have been taken down.

Officials with DART said the signs were not supposed to be on the buses in the first place.

DART's advertising director said the board never approved the signs and that they were put up by mistake. The Iowa Atheist and Free Thinkers group said the advertising director told them that the signs had been approved.

"When she met with us on May 27, we showed her the ads and asked if this could be controversial and she said she didn't think so," said the group's president, Randy Henderson. "She thought it was a nice ad, a safe ad."

The ads that went up on Saturday read, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

DART said it immediately started to receive complaints.

"Drivers said people weren't getting on buses or getting off the buses because of it," said advertising director Kirstin Baer-Harding. "So with all the calls, it wasn't something we wanted."

(via KCCI)

FUCK JESUS CHRIST

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

The perpetually hated Facebook group, FUCK JESUS CHRIST, constantly finds itself under attack. Facebook has shut the group down in the past, but it continues to resurface.

South Park Mohammad

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

The season 10 episodes "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" feature a plot in which the Fox network plans to air an episode of the animated show Family Guy that contains an uncensored cartoon depiction of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Residents of South Park panic, fearing a terrorist response and a repeat of the real-life violent protests and riots that occurred worldwide after some Muslims regarded the prophet's cartoon depiction in a Danish newspaper as insulting and blasphemous. In the second episode, Kyle persuades a Fox executive to air the Family Guy with the image uncensored, while echoing Parker and Stone's sentiments regarding what should or should not be censored of "[either] it's got to all be OK or none of it is". Within the universe of the episode, the Family Guy episode is aired uncensored, despite a retaliation threat from Al-Qaeda. However, the actual South Park broadcast itself ran a black screen that read "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network" instead of the scene containing Muhammad's depiction, which Parker and Stone say was neutral and not intended to insult Muslims.

(via Wikipedia)

Piss Christ

This is an overview of the blasphemy you can expect to see on Wednesday to celebrate Blasphemy Day.

Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph by photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece caused a scandal when it was exhibited in 1989, with detractors, including United States Senators Al D'Amato and Jesse Helms, outraged that Serrano received $15,000 for the work, part of it from the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts. Supporters argued the Piss Christ is an issue of artistic freedom and freedom of speech. Others alleged that the government funding of Piss Christ violated separation of church and state.

Sister Wendy Beckett, an art critic and Catholic nun, stated in a television interview with Bill Moyers that she regarded the work as not blasphemous but a statement on "what we have done to Christ" - that is, the way contemporary society has come to regard Christ and the values he represents.

During a retrospective of Serrano's work at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1997, the then Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, George Pell, sought an injunction from the Supreme Court of Victoria to restrain the National Gallery of Victoria from publicly displaying Piss Christ, which was not granted. Some days later, one patron attempted to remove the work from the gallery wall, and two teenagers later attacked it with a hammer. The director of the NGV cancelled the show, allegedly out of concern for a Rembrandt exhibition that was also on display at the time.

Piss Christ was included in "Down by Law," a "show within a show" on identity politics and disobedience that formed part of the 2006 Whitney Biennial. The BBC documentary Damned in the USA explored the controversy surrounding Piss Christ.

(via Wikipedia)

Links for the Sabbath

Deuteronomy 25:11-12 "11 If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, 12you shall cut off her hand; show no pity."

"The Angry Evolutionist" (Richard Dawkins for Newsweek)

Complain to hotel staff that there is racist literature in your room if you find a Book of Mormon. 2 Nephi 5:21

The Impotence of Prayer (Northern Iowan)--A bit of shameless self-promoting here...join the comment conversation!

They're not even trolling...

Apologetics Press is a website devoted to rationalizing attacks on scripture. In this article, the author defends the stoning of the man who picked up sticks on the sabbath in Numbers 15. Here are some excerpts:

"Suppose that the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military declared that only black boots are to be worn by the troops. Then suppose that one of the troops rebelliously decides he does not want to wear black boots, and thus dons a pair of bright-red boots. He marches with his fellow troops, and his commanding officers do nothing to punish him. His fellow troops see that his blatant indiscretion goes unpunished, so they decide to rebel and wear red boots. Soon, half the army is wearing red boots, a scenario that does not seem that “harmful.” When they are called to battle, however, the importance of the Commander’s regulations becomes evident. The enemy is dressed exactly like the U.S. military, except the enemy army wears red boots. The only way to distinguish between friend and foe happened to be the boot color, and due to the rebellious disobedience of the one man who was doing something “harmless,” thousands of U.S. troops are killed by friendly fire. A direct command from the Commander in Chief almost always houses an important purpose, about which many of those who are supposed to follow the command know little or nothing. Many times, only the Commander in Chief knows how harmful disobedience to the command can be."

"Suppose this man’s disobedience, if not punished with death, would have resulted in the moral collapse of the entire Israelite nation? Is there anyway Dan Barker could know that such would not be the case. Or suppose that this man’s disobedience to a direct command from God, if not punished by the death penalty, would have caused the Israelites to neglect sanitation laws instituted by God, bringing in a plague that killed thousands. What penalty would be appropriate for a man who was responsible for the death of thousands? In truth, only God could know what would have happened if this man’s disobedience had gone unpunished, and only God could have known what would have happened if that punishment was not the death penalty."

Darwin film picked up by Newmarket

The film "Creation," which tells the tale of Charles Darwin's life, releases tomorrow in Europe, but we Americans (those of us who honorably obey anti-piracy laws) will have to wait until December to watch the film. Apparently, they had a hard time finding a company to produce it until today, when Newmarket announced that it would sponsor the film in the US. Newmarket has produced a few popular films including "Donnie Darko" and, interestingly, Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ." Here is a statement from Chris Ball of Newmarket:

"We at Newmarket pride ourselves in getting behind important films that help open the door for discussion and conversation, as is the case with 'Creation.' While Darwin's name has come to symbolize one side in a debate between the scientific and the theological, 'Creation' personifies the debate, with both sides contending, sometimes violently, within the man. In that sense, we believe that the film will appeal to both people of faith and people of science."

As much as I hope this film doesn't pander to the religious, you can't help but feel that it has to, since only 40% of Americans accept Darwin's theory. Here's a trailer of the movie:

Telegraph reviews Dawkins' newest book

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution was released yesterday. I'm still waiting for my copy to be delivered, I'm really looking forward to reading it. In the meantime, here is a review by Telegraph reviewer Steve Jones:

"To wrestle with a blancmange is, in my experience, a mistake. Pink, sickly and smug, the sugary pudding happily takes any number of blows, absorbs the attack, quivers a bit and comes back – unperturbed – as a blancmange.

Creationists have the same talent. For them, evidence is of no interest. I once told someone who used the enormous gap in the fossil record between the chimp-human ancestor and modern chimpanzees as evidence against evolution that it had been partly filled: an ancestral chimp half a million years old had just been found. His face lit up: “See,” he said. “Now there are two gaps!”

Richard Dawkins’s new book (which he describes as his “missing link”, presenting as it does the complete Darwinian case rather than – as in his earlier works – exploring parts in detail) gives the fact-rejecters their just deserts. He sets out to polish off their flummery. Dawkins compares creationists to Holocaust deniers and spoons, with relish, an acid sauce of mockery onto that absurd confection of half-baked ideas.

In this anniversary year, the polls are depressing. More than two thirds of Egyptians have never heard of evolution and almost half of all Turks think that men and dinosaurs lived at the same time. Even those dastardly Lamarckians the French score slightly higher (at 80 per cent) in the belief that humans evolved from animals than the British do. The early pages of The Greatest Show on Earth exude a certain exasperation that we have to go through this stuff again. Soon, though, the author’s enthusiasm comes to the surface.

The book is full of evidence, some familiar and some new. Its case is presented in a manner succinct, clear and sometimes vivid. A meadow full of flowers – those sexual advertisements – is nature’s Piccadilly Circus. Creationists point out the absence of the “crocoduck” – the transitional form between modern reptile and modern bird supposedly needed if evolution is true – but Dawkins retaliates with the “octopard”: the ancient shared ancestor, not the living intermediate, of octopus and leopard.

The passage from egg to adult played an important part in Darwin’s case, as it does here. Dawkins criticises the simplistic idea of DNA as an instruction manual, and the embryo as a sort of Ikea flat-pack that assembles itself through a set of simple (or not so simple) rules.

Fossils, too, are telling evidence for shared descent, but evolution does not need them to make its case, for we can see it happening before our eyes. I was fascinated to learn that, in 1971, Belgian scientists transferred a group of lizards from one small island off the Yugoslav coast to another, free of native members of that species, nearby. During that same summer, a few miles inland in the wild backwoods of Croatia, I myself was hard at work moving thousands of snails between habitats in the hope of picking up differences in survival. Thirty-seven years later, the descendants of the transferred lizards had changed – evolved – to gain stronger jaws and a modified gut to deal with their new and more vegetarian diet; but, alas, just a year after moving the molluscs I could find almost none of them (which proves not that evolution is wrong but that experiments in the wild usually do not work).

In general the prose of Greatest Show is plain, clear and unadorned, but the book is not afraid to soak in the luxury of the footnote. It is largely free of the atheistical cage-rattling that marked The God Delusion (although the notes do include George W Bush’s death penalty record and a complete Monty Python song that starts “All things dull and ugly/ All creatures short and squat/ All things rude and nasty/ The Lord God made the lot”). Even so, the book stands, as did The Origin of Species, on its facts. Whether those facts will persuade the confectioners of falsehood I rather doubt. I have only ever had one useful interaction with such people.

Years ago I taught an evolution course at the University of Botswana, a devoutly Presbyterian place with a strong creationist tradition. At the end I asked one of the students how he reconciled what I had said about the immense antiquity of mankind with his belief in a universe 6,000 years old. He gave me the perfect answer: “It is very simple, sir; you evolved – but we were created!” This book might, just, change his mind."

Original page here.

Way of the Master to distribute "Origin of Species" books...with a catch

I posted on this before, but I felt like I needed to remind everyone, because the release of Comfort and Cameron's version of Origin of Species (with a 50 page introduction attempting to discredit Darwin and his theory) is coming up relatively soon on November 19. Here is Cameron's new video:



And an awesome video by ZOMGitsCriss (see below video on the Problem of Evil) pwning Cameron:



I'm going to see if we can get a few copies, in the meantime, here is a link to the 50 page intro by Ray Comfort that is the cause of the controversy.

2nd Annual Spaghetti Dinner a Success!

As most of our readers will know, Tuesday evening was our 2nd Annual Flying Spaghetti Monster Dinner! The event was quite a success; we had around 80 people in attendance, which is even more than last year! I just wanted to thank all the volunteers who helped out with the event! You made this possible!

Links for the Sabbath - 9/20/09

•HOLY SHIT, TODAY IS THE FSM (FREE) SPAGHETTI DINNER! MAY YOU BE TOUCHED BY HIS NOODLY APPENDAGE!

•Teen birth rates highest in most religious states | MSNBC.com

"However, the results don't say anything about cause and effect, though study researcher Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: 'We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself.'"

•Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science | Quackwatch
1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation.

Now for some videos....

•Glenn Beck: John Edward and James Randi
(Warning: Before watching please pad the *headdesk* area where you are sitting... and yes you should also be sitting)

•If homeopathy works ... I'll drink my own piss | (Video) Science, Reason, Critical Thinking - Crispian Jago

•Tim Minchin - Good Book


•Frank Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow

•Putting faith in its place

•Noah's Ark And The Dinosaurs | The Amazing Meeting - Neil deGrasse Tyson

"not about the need to separate church and state; it's about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers."

•Beyond Belief '06 - Steven Weinberg (Part 3/3)

"anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done, and may in fact, in the end, be our greatest contribution to civilization."

"Death, the most dreaded of all evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist." -Epicurus

AZ Governor Takes Away State Domestic Partner Benefits: 'God Has Placed Me in This Powerful Position'

"As with past challenges, tragedies or problems that I've had to confront, I first and foremost relied on my faith to guide me through, for I believe in the power of prayer," she said. "And I firmly believe that God has placed me in this powerful position of Arizona's governor to help guide our state through the difficulty that we are currently facing."

Full article here by the Arizona Daily Star concerning Governor Brewer's faith and politics, and another here concerning the rights she is helping to take away from homosexuals. This seemed especially appropriate considering next month's Grab a Brew topic.

What’s Coming Up for UNIFI?

UNIFI is excited to unveil our calendar for the next month. After the success of our brunches, Root Beer Fest, and Grab a Brew, I have no doubt this upcoming month will be just as successful. As always, we'll have weekly brunches at Hy-Vee. Without further ado, here's what UNIFI has planned for you.

September 20^th, 7:00 PM - Flying Spaghetti Monster Dinner - Following the success of last year's FSM dinner, we decided to try it again. Join UNIFI for a free spaghetti dinner with entertainment by UNI's own Half-Masted. We'll be bowling afterwards; I hope you'll join us. You can find the Facebook event here.

September 29^th, 5:00 PM - UNIFI Supper - We've decided to add a monthly supper to our schedule. This event, held at Pizza Hut on University, is going to double as a fundraiser. Pizza Hut is going to give 20% of the total bill back to UNIFI at the end of the night…and it's buffet night. It doesn't get much better than that.

September 30^th - Blasphemy Day - You've seen teaser after teaser for this, but we're finally getting plans together. UNIFI will be hosting a free speech soapbox, inviting anyone and everyone to say whatever they'd like. We're hoping you'll join us by making your Facebook profile pic and statuses blasphemous, as well as photographing the most blasphemous thing you do during the day.

October 9^th - BAR NIGHT - Join UNIFI at The Hub for our first ever Bar Night. Parker House and Theory will be providing the entertainment and the Panther Safe Ride can get you out to Main Street. I have to admit, of all our events, this is the one I'm most excited for. You can also help me celebrate my 21^st at midnight if you're so inclined.

October 13^th - Grab a Brew, Share Your View - This month will be teaming up with the UNI Democrats and (hopefully) the College Republicans to explore faith and politics. Expect some outspoken new faces and the same excitement you've come to expect from GABSYVs in the past.

Week of October 18^th - Movie Night - The plan is to continue the movie night tradition with "Thank You for Smoking." What do you think?

Around October 31^st - Something? - We've discussed a Halloween Party, Haunted Houses, and a handful of other things. What would you like to see?

Mr. Deity and the Skeptic

Skeptic Michael Shermer pleads his case before Jesus and Mr. Deity.

New Jersey teens refuse to stand for "God Bless America"

"TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Three teenagers who say they were tossed from a New Jersey ballpark for sitting through the song "God Bless America" are suing the minor league Newark Bears."

Full article by Beth DeFalco

Bryce Gadye, Nilkumar Patel, and Shaan Mohammad Khan refused to stand for "God Bless America." They were thrown out of the park (which, incidentally, is owned by the county) by security under the order of Thomas Cetnar, co-owner of the minor league Newark Bears. Maybe we should mail Mr. Cetnar a copy of our nation's Constitution?

Problem of Evil

This is a great video I found on youtube by user ZOMGitsCriss dealing with the problem of evil. It's kind of a long one, but the arguments get better and better as it goes on.



Remember, if you would like to post some content on the blog, you can email it to us at unifreethought@gmail.com. See you at brunch tomorrow!!!

Our Calendar is Updated!

Just a heads up for all of our dilligent blog readers, the UNIFI Google Calendar is now back up-to-date! (And it should stay that way). So, if Google Cals are your thing, check out http://calendar.unifreethought.com to check it out and copy some events over.

Indonesian province makes adultery punishable by stoning

This article by the American Free Press (http://www.globalpost.com/breaking-news/indonesia/indonesias-aceh-stone-adulterers-under-islamic-law) reports that the area of indonesia known as Aceh is adopting a new extension to their sharia law:

"'Unmarried people who commit adultery will be caned one hundred times and married persons will be stoned to death,' Raihan Iskandar, a provincial lawmaker from the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party, told AFP."

It appears that the "Prosperous Justice Party" does not concern itself with prosperity or justice as much as with sexual repression. There can be little doubt that Islamic fundamentalists in Indonesia will not be satisfied until their sick idea of morality has been forced onto everyone in the area. To paraphrase a good friend, sometimes I find it hard to call myself a humanist because people are so commited to doing others harm.

Christopher Hitchens and Lou Dobbs in defense of blasphemy

This is why we support blasphemy.

Blasphemous student pardoned in Afghanistan

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh was initially sentenced to death for disseminating information about women's rights in Afghanistan, on the basis that such information "insulted Islam." After an appeal, his sentence was changed to 20 years in prison. However, he was lucky enough to receive a secret pardon from the president of Afghanistan, who was feeling much diplomatic pressure from the West. You can read the full story here from The Independent.

It seems as though the religion that is the biggest threat to freedom is radical Islam. Islam appears to be the driving force behind censorship efforts and blasphemy laws that are steadily creeping westward. With this in mind, I'm curious to what our readers think: should UNIFI be engaging Muslim students, or should we stick to challenging Christians? After all, they do hold the majority viewpoint and thus possess more political power in the US. Let us know what you think!

Oh, speaking of letting us know what you think, congratulations to UNIFI President Trevor Boeckmann on winning the Blasphemy Challenge poll!

A Suspension of Anonymous Posting

I'm making an executive decision. As of today, there will be no more anonymous posting on this blog. This is my decision and if you have thoughts on it, contact me. I'll be talking with the rest of UNIFI to decide if this is permanent or only temporary.

I have a very high tolerance for commenting on this blog. I don't expect you to respect other views, I don't even expect you to respect other people. I expect ad hom attacks and raging lunatics. What I will NOT tolerate is posts like this: " Anonymous said... You are a dick"


You can even make an intelligent post and end it with that and I don't care. But when that's all you contribute to the conversation, GTFO of our blog. We will lose comments with this policy, but if it keeps these trolls out, it's worth it.

And anons, don't kid yourself. The internet stopped being anonymous a long time ago. We know your IPs, we know where you're from, we know who you are, you know screen resolution for god's sake. Get a name on here, you can even get a fake name, I don't care. It'll just make it easier to keep our friends like the anon above out of here.

Root Beerfest

Hello, everyone! I'm not going to make an educational or entertaining or controversial post today. I just wanted to thank everyone in UNIFI who was involved in the planning or execution of Root Beerfest '09, it could not have been done without our officers, but I was particularly impressed by our new members who helped out. You know who you are. Finally, on behalf of UNIFI, thanks to everyone who attended the event! We had fun, I hope you did too, and I hope you will join us for future events!

Pat Robertson credits prayer for surgery success

Pat Robertson recently had a successful heart surgery, after which he released a statement saying, "Only the prayers of thousands of believing people kept me on this earth." His surgeons were thought to have said "You're Welcome." I probably don't have to point this out, but the implication of this is that if they had been praying for him to die (as some are doing for Barack Obama), he would not have survived. This is a testable experiment, let's have him do it again!

Here are the study results Pat Robertson probably hasn't read concerning the effectiveness of prayer.

Glenn Beck...being Glenn Beck

Keep in mind, "the adversary" is the Obama administration. Let's get a look at what he's saying at 2:05: "[If 'the adversary' has his way] we will starve and imprison more people than any power on Earth." A little later he says, "That would be the goal of the adversary: to distort [America's ideals], to wreck the message that freedom is a good thing."

Beck is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (he's a Mormon). Here he is accusing an African American man of slandering the ideal of freedom. Let's think about this: Has the Church oppressed others on the basis of race? Yes, it's initial doctrine was explicitly racist. Additionally, it makes sense that if I identified as an African American, I might value freedom all the more because it was denied to African Americans in the recent past. As usual, Glenn Beck manages to fail not only spectacularly, but ironically. The sad thing is, people actually buy into this crap.

Did they miss that awkward week in middle school?

It appears that the Duggar family of Arkansas (only in Arkansas, right?) are expecting their 19th child. No, that was not a typo: they have 18 kids, a baby on the way, and their own TV show on The Learning Channel. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar head this evangelical Christian family who practices the somewhat obscure "Quiverful" theology, which preaches that God wants you to have LOTS OF BABIES (a quiverfull of babies, actually)! The number of babies that make up a full quiver is still disputed, although I would argue that not even one baby would fit in a quiver. (Is it possible that god is demanding his followers to show restraint in the number of kids they have? That can't be right...)

Apparently the couple suffered a miscarriage, and that led them to make the decision to stop using birth control, and let God decide how many children they have. I think someone needs to explain to them how this works: stories like this make me wonder whether a penis is a gun you should have to pass a licensing test to use.