Separation of Church and State? It is Almost Completely Dead!

Did you know that our government has a Spiritual Ministry Department? This department supposedly (1) Provides spiritual ministry to Clinical Center patients and their families; (2) holds religious services in the Clinical Center; (3) acts as liaison with religious groups not represented by the staff chaplains; and (4) conducts research and training programs in hospital ministry.

It is part of the National Institute of Health whose mission is described on its web site as follows:
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the steward of biomedical and behavioral research for the Nation. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.

Why is this "department" part of the NIH? What does anything "spiritual" have to do with science or the fundamental behavior of living systems? And why is it staffed and funded by our government? Doesn't the first amendment to the US Constitution still read as follows? Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And doesn't this still mean, as Thomas Jefferson explained way back in 1802, that there should be a wall of separation between church and state?

Guess not... and that sucks.

Good Riddance Grandpa!

According to a story in the Chicago Sun-Times: Officers responding to a report of an exorcism on a young girl (age 3) found her grandfather choking her and used stun guns to subdue the man, who later died...

I say, good. It'd be nice if every exorcist were killed. Anyone who harms someone for the patently ridiculous reason that they were trying to get Satan or demons out of that person is of low intelligence and the world would be much improved if the exorcist were eliminated.

And evidently the little girl's mother was in the room, too. The child should be removed from that crazy mother and placed into the custody of child protective services. I don't care what you believe, but allowing a child to be harmed because of it is unacceptable.

Zeus At It Again?

Looks like the almighty Zeus is up to his old tricks again. After burning down a church he is now going after individual folks spreading lies about other gods. Earlier this month a guy selling religious materials door-to-door in Florida was struck by lightning.

When will those christians learn that Zeus , angry ruler of the skies, will not stop until he has smoted them all?!?!?!

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished me to the Second Level of Hell!

Here is how I matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Atheist Blog Roll Added

Just a quick additional blog entry today to let you know that I've added The Atheist Blog Roll to The Serenity of Reason.

I know not all of the reaonable folks around here are atheists, but for those who are you can view the rolling marquee of over 300 athiest blogs out there. So when you get bored of trolling around here you can always check out one of the other atheist blogs out...

And I'm proud, too, that The Serenity of Reason has been added to the Atheist Blog Roll.

Fuck Chuck Norris Up the Ass with a Bible

At WorldNetDaily simian-featured "actor" Chuck Norris wrote what he'd do if he were ever elected president. One of the stupid items on his list was this:

Tattoo an American flag with the words, "In God we trust," on the forehead of every atheist.

Now, I'm reasonably sure he'll never get elected president, but ya know, I'm sure people who saw Ronald Reagan in all those insipid movies would've said the same thing about him.

So fuck Chuck Norris. I hope he chokes and dies.

Fred Thompson: Republican Hope or Hopeless Looney?

Here is an interesting article on Fred Thompson, the lazy former congressman and actor who is threatening to run for the Republican presidential nomination. The article reports that Thompson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, which is claimed to be some sort of ‘shadow government’ organization. The news is supposed to scare the hard core conservatives that are said to be Thompson's best hope of snagging the Rep nomination with a late entry into a crowded field headed up by Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and I guess John McCain would be third.

At any rate, all kinds of crazy claims are made in the article, such as this group wanting to undo the USA and create a sort of North American union with no borders between Canada and Mexico. Yup, that'd scare the right wingers.

I'm against Thompson because he complained that being a Senator was "too much work" when he quit. Shit, if Congress is too much work, how will he react to being president? Maybe he'd take more vacation than W does (and W has taken more vacation days than are reasonable for the commander in chief, especially during a war).

And I wonder what women will think about voting for an old geezer who has a wife 24 years younger than he is?

Rewriting the Pledge

Ran across this comic recently and thought I'd share it here.

Too bad it rings so true even though it is more than 15 years old...