So You Want To Know What's Wrong With Religion? (6)

The other night we had a horrific event occur in Las Vegas.  You don't need me to go into any details, they are being covered in the news.  At last count 58 dead and over 500 injured.  So what does this have to do with religion?

Immediately after the news broke, several of the more right-wing Conservatives groups had already decided that Muslim Extremists did it.

"Conservative media personality Wayne Allyn Root tweeted to his nearly 110,000 followers that there were shots fired at multiple hotels in a "coordinated Muslim terror attack."

Twitter has exploded with all sorts of hoaxes concerning the shooting, including posting photos of a soccer player, porn star, and comedian as the culprits.  The right started pointing at the left, the left started pointing at the right, White Supremacists cheered for some reason, while the rest of the Nation wept and NRA supporters started huddling on how to mitigate new calls for any form of gum control.  But what does this have to do with religion?

Well, once again people like Pat Robertson saw the news, you know he couldn't let the opportunity to get his face in front of a camera. "Pat Robertson Blames Vegas Shooting on Lack of Respect for Donald Trump and God".  Of course you have to ask yourself what about all the mass shootings before a certain hamster-haired serial lying and misogynist got him self elected, but that would be like asking for Robertson to provide facts, and we know how little he likes facts.

Remember when he 'warned' residents of Dover PA:

"that disaster may strike there because they 'voted God out of your city' by removing school board members who favored teaching intelligent design. (Fox News, 2005)

Or how about when he and Jerry Falwell said that

"liberal civil liberties groups, feminists, pagans, homosexuals, and abortion rights supporters bear partial responsibility for the terrorist attacks on the USA because their actions have turned God’s anger against America." (I couldn't find the original link, but this link works: Snopes confirmed this story is True)

From little kennie ham's Facebook page:

"Tragic massacre in Las Vegas, extended adolescence, churches affected by hurricanes banned from receiving Federal Aid, and more in this week's episode of Answers News hosted at the Creation Museum in front of a live audience." (Facebook video)

Yes, they are using this, and other tragedies, for a pseudo-news.  I have no plan to watch or listen, but how much would you like to wager that it's all the fault of people who refuse to buy into his spiel?  Any takers?

This isn't limited to Pat Robertson or little kennie -- other religious mouthpieces are, or soon will be, blaming the declining church attendance, support for marriage equality, abortion and/or any other thing narrow-minded theists whine about for the shooting in Las Vegas, hurricanes, floods, wildfires -- or any other natural or man-made disaster that strikes their fancy.  It's just another platform for them to try and build support, get more followers, and take in more donations so they can continue to live in a lifestyle denied to the majority of their followers.

And you wonder what's wrong with religion? These are pretty bad, but here is the one that I agree with The Friendly Atheist, is the worst . . . yes, even worse than Robertson.

"This Mormon Wrote the Worst Response (So Far) to the Las Vegas Shooting"

The response was posted on the Facebook page of a practicing Mormon, shared only with his friends, but screenshots of the comment were posted on other pages. Check this one out:

Yes, blame the victims for not believe in the exact same way you do!  How incredibly pathetic is that?  So does anyone believe that if the concert had been scheduled for a different day of the week, the shooter wouldn't have attacked?  Neither do I!  We don't even know if the concert on that particular day was his deliberate target, or simply just one of opportunity.  You know, now that I think about it, I would have been very wary tweeting something like this, it means that the shooter was a member of your particular religion -- is that a connection you want? 

I think we need to let the investigation go forward and reserve blame judgments until we have an idea of what drove this attack.  In the meantime, offer your thoughts to the victims and their families, and if you can, offer other forms of support.  I donated platelets and plasma today.  I don't know if they will help anyone in Vegas, but I do know if a Las Vegas hospital called, my local community blood center will respond.  They have in the past!

So, my final message is ignore these religious nut-jobs and go do something concrete, like donating blood!

Science Teachers Under Fire for Saying Creationists Are “Trying to Mislead” Students

A blog I had read a few times had an interesting post.  It's from the Friendly Atheist:  "Science Teachers Under Fire for Saying Creationists Are “Trying to Mislead” Students".  A middle school in Florida sent home a reading assignment that included this paragraph:

"Next time someone tries to tell you that evolution is just a theory, as a way of dismissing it, as if it’s just something someone guessed at, remember that they’re using the non-scientific meaning of the word.  If that person is a teacher, or minister, or some other figure of authority, they should know better.  In fact, they probably do, and are trying to mislead you."

Apparently some folks got uptight about the last line, angry at the implication that ministers and parents were purposely deceiving kids:

When parents such as Jennifer Flinchum first read those lines, “the hair on the back of my neck stood up,” she said.
“It’s not so much the evolution aspect of it, it’s just the way they phrased those few sentences how they were kind of taking the rights away from the parents,” said parent, Lisa McNeil.

 Three thingsome to my mind:

• Isn't that exactly what they are doing?  Deceiving children!  While some may be doing it out of ignorance, the reality is they are in fact deceiving children. 
• Do parents and ministers have the right to deceive children? I don't think so!  I guess pointing that out isn't very politically correct, regardless of how accurate it is.
• So instead of putting it in a reading assignment, parents will be up in arms when a student asks the teacher about it in class and the teacher gets to inform the child that parents and ministers who say 'evolution is only a theory' are lying.  No, the teacher won't use those words, but that is the lesson kids will pick up.  Can't you see it?  "Teacher says this, Mom says this, Teacher says that's not factual.  Mom isn't telling me the truth!"  Oh yea, that won't get anyone uptight, now would it?

The principal did send home a letter of apology and I guess they plan on re-wording the statement.  I would be curious to see the newly worded reading assignment.