God didn’t kill Christopher Hitchens
 

The Internet decides death is evidence against atheism

[snip] Within hours of the news of Hitchens’s passing at the age of 62, the Internet was hotter than an inner circle of hell with the God squad thundering its own version of vindication.  Along with plenty of hope that he “made his peace with God,” there was blowhard-for-Jesus Rick Warren tweeting that “My friend Christopher Hitchens has died. I loved & prayed for him constantly & grieve his loss. He knows the Truth now,” while creepy creationist Ray Comfort declared that the now dead “Christopher Hitchens is no longer an atheist.” LifeWay’s Ed Stetzer, meanwhile, blogged that “When Christopher Hitchens died, he entered into eternity as every man does: as a beggar at the gates of the kingdom,” and Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler tweeted that “The death tonight of Christopher Hitchens is an excruciating reminder of the consequences of unbelief. We can only pray others will believe.” I’m not a brilliant debater like Hitchens, but let me field this one. Death is not a consequence of disbelief. It’s a consequence of living, you moron.

I’m a Christian. A skeptical, questioning, frequently disappointed one who makes no pretense of having all the answers, but a Christian nonetheless. I pray every day. But my tacit deal with the universe is that I don’t need anyone I pray for to believe in God, any more than I take offense if someone who has a different belief system (or lack thereof) says he’ll set an intention or cast a spell or simply keep me in his thoughts. ... So if you’re the praying type, pray. But don’t take those prayers as irrefutable proof of the existence of a deity, or an opportunity to do some Twitter bragging. ...

Regarding God, I don’t consider the death of an author as evidence of anything other than what a vicious bitch cancer is. I don’t think it’s cause for a group affirmation of how this proves anything. I just think it’s a cruel loss and the silencing of a great voice. Maybe I’m wrong. But that’s all right, because as Hitchens himself once succinctly stated, “My own opinion is quite enough for me.”

Unbelievable!

I don't know, but what seems really important is to die before you die...

According to Mulla Nasrudin.

1. Out on A Limb

Once, Nastradin Odzha went out to cut wood. He propped his ladder up on a branch, climbed it and began sawing away on that branch. Just then, Clever Peter happened by. "Nastradin Odzha, what are you doing? You'll fall when you cut that branch!"

Nastradin Odzha just sniffed, Do you think I have never sawed a branch before? I know what I'm doing!

So Clever Peter kept walking.

Nastradin Odzha sawed, sawed, and sure enough, when he cut that branch, the ladder fell. He said to himself, "That man predicted that I would fall. He must be a real sage. Surely such a wise man can tell me how many more years I'll live."

He ran to catch up with Clever Peter. "You, there! Since you knew that I was going to fall, maybe you can tell me how many years I'll live?"

Clever Peter gave a slow smile at this ridiculous question, "Well, now. You have nine donkeys. Load them up, take them to the top of a hill, and count how many times they fart, that's how many years you'll live."

Nastradin Odzha did just what the man suggested. He took his donkeys up the hill. He listened carefully, counting each fart: four, five, six, seven. Thus he knew how long he would live. When seven years passed, he knew he would die, according to the donkey farts. He dug himself a grave, lay down in it, and waited for his soul to die.

At about this time, a camel driver went by, bells clanking. When Nastradin Odzha heard the bells, he stood up to see what the noise was. On seeing him, the camels were so scared they turned over their burdens. The camel driver grabbed him, whacked him hard, reloaded his camels and went on his way. Nastradin Odzha picked himself up and went back to the village. When he got there, his friends asked him, "Did you die? What's it like in that world?"

He answered, "There's everything in that world, everything beautiful, but one bad thing, the camel drivers hit really hard!"

http://www.spiritoftrees.org/folktales/howe/nasrudin_trees.html

From America’s most popular talk show host:

Hmnnnn ........

"....Jesus said, “You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: ‘You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court.’ But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

Rush, on the other hand, breezily dismissed the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib saying, “This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation … I’m talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release?”

Yeah, all I want for Christmas is a bath... some water and a board.

Isn't there something a little bit, a teensy weensy bit, wrong with this kind of Christianity?

John,

I suggest that we move this over here from the war forum.

* * *

Another theory:

What is wrong with this?

January 27, 2012

[snip]A federal judge ruled this month that the prayer’s presence at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional, concluding that it violated the principle of government neutrality in religion. In the weeks since, residents have crowded school board meetings to demand an appeal, Jessica has received online threats and the police have escorted her at school, and Cranston, a dense city of 80,000 just south of Providence, has throbbed with raw emotion...."

 Student Faces Town’s Wrath in Protest Against a Prayer

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/us/rhode-island-city-enraged-over-school-prayer-lawsuit.html?src=me&ref=us