Anti-Abortionists Who Advocate Murder?

An article in USA Today shows the darkest side of evangelical Christians: They don't tolerate other points of view, and worse, they think it's OK to threaten those who have other religions, or no religion.

In this case, they're having a disgusting "Burn in Hell" effigy contest, to see who can create the most horrifying video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, being burned.

This is the worst sort of un-American, anti-Democratic rhetoric, and it's shameful that more and more, religious extremists are turning to these types of idiotic and hateful tricks to get publicity.



It's hard believe that any religious person, much less a Christian, would condone this sort of childish political trick. But then, these are the same people who believe all other Christians are going to burn in Hell too, simply for believing the wrong version of Christianity. If you start with that as a premise, I guess you can justify any crime you like – these "sinners" are going to spend eternity being tortured, so a few torments here on Earth shouldn't matter. Right?

Or maybe, just maybe, we could all respect each other. Is that too much to ask?

How to Make a Terrorist Talk

Americans have for centuries been willing to sacrifice our comforts and even our lives for our principles and morals. We believe that freedom, dignity, and human rights are important enough to fight for, and even to die for.

One of the greatest embarrassments of my lifetime is that my country used torture in the name of freedom and safety for Americans. The men (and a few women) who carried this out believed that possibly saving American lives was more important than saving America itself. For what is America, if we've forgotten our principles? Being an American means being willing to take risks and make sacrifices to protect our principles. These torturers are not true American patriots – they're nothing more than cowards who have turned tail at the first sign of danger. Only they're not running from battle, they're running from what it means to be an American.

That's why I was so moved by How to Make a Terrorist Talk in Time Magazine. Normally I write about topics related to religion, irrationality, atheism and related topics, but today I was so impressed by in Time magazine I had to share it.

It turns out that not only is torture un-American, it's also ineffective. Some of the strongest, and now most respected, critics of torture are the CIA and FBI's senior interrogators, the very men who have gotten real, useful information without resorting to torture. The Time article quotes Eric Maddox:

"There is nothing intelligent about torture. If you have to inflict pain, then you've lost control of the situation, the subject and yourself."

And Maddox should know: he is the Army staff sergeant whose interrogations led to the capture of Saddam Hussein himself.

According to the Time article, and many other articles I've read, torture has not led to one documented case of preventing a terrorist attack, whereas traditional interrogation, which employs psychology, not cruelty, has resulted in many, many critical pieces of intelligence that led to the capture of terrorists. It may be that torture worked in a few cases that are still classified; maybe we'll know some day.

But at what price? The use of torture has weakened America itself. We're reviled around the world, and we've lost the very principles that make us Americans. It will take a long time to get that back.

Sarah Palin: Pentacostal yet Supports Cruelty to Animals

I'm a pretty aloof, intellectual guy when I write these blogs, but tonight I was nearly in tears watching a horrifying video of Arctic wolves, writhing in agony after being shot in the gut from by a hunter in a helicopter. This horrifying cruelty is not only condoned by Sarah Palin, she worked hard to exploit and expand a loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act so that more of this barbaric, inhumane, and immoral hunting could take place in Alaska.

Warning: This is not for the feint of heart. This video is real footage of wolves being hunted, shot, and dying a slow, agonizing, bloody and horrifying death. All civilized humans should be shocked by this practice. It doesn't take religion to see that this is inexcusable barbarism.

Take a look at your family dog. Go into the kitchen, grab a twelve-inch butcher knife, and stab your dog through the gut. Now get some really loud frightening machine and chase your family pet with it, out the door and down the street, away from his home and family, leaving a trail of blood. Watch it writhe in pain, as its guts are torn apart, fear and confusion in its eyes, until it finally, mercifully, dies from blood loss.

This is not some sick creation from a horror film. This is reality, people. This is what our Pentacostal candidate, Sarah Palin, stands for. Your dog is no different than the thousands upon thousands of wolves and bears that are shot for sport, with Sarah Palin's blessing and help, every year.

Humans are the most humane carnivores on the planet. Although our livestock industry is often criticized for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, we do one thing right: We kill our animals instantly. Most prey animals suffer an agonizing death in the teeth and claws of their captors. Have you ever stepped on a nail? Gotten a twelve-inch slice with a razor? Had your skull crushed? Your neck broken? That's what carnivores do. By contrast, most livestock raised by humans is killed with little or no pain. Their tiny "souls" are just snuffed out in an instant, before the pain signals can even reach their brains.

There was a time when humans were just another carnivore, albeit one made more efficient by tools and weapons. But as we became civilized, the need to inflict tortuous pain on an animal so that we could eat became a thing of the past. We learned how to raise domestic animals, and how to slaughter them humanely, quickly and painlessly. We also made moral and ethical advances, and recognized that unnecessary suffering by our livestock was wrong. We have laws that are for the most part enforced, to that ensure humane killing methods are followed; when occasionally a slaughterhouse is found violating these laws, and making the animals suffer, there is widespread, justified outrage.



Yet, we still put up with hunting, and helicopter hunting is among the most brutal forms. A hunter on the ground can get a clear shot and a "clean" death, meaning the animal only suffers pain and agony for a short time. A helicopter hunter, in a moving platform, blasts away until he inflicts an agonizing, crippling injury on the animal, then the pilot chases the animal until its collapses from exhaustion, at which point the helicopter lands, and the hunter finally puts and end to the torture by shooting the animal at point-blank range.

It's disgusting. Why does it take an Atheist to point this out?