Clearly the thought of an omnipotent omnipresent being watching our every move and judging us is far more offensive than the thought of there not being one, these are sentiments I can relate to.

What I love most about this report other than the figures is the ASA’s ruling on the complaints for the BHA’s advert, they said;

“The ASA ruled that the ad did not make claims about particular religions and had an upbeat rather than hostile or offensive tone. We concluded that the ad was an expression of the advertiser’s opinion and that the claim was not capable of being objectively substantiated.”

Brilliant. Dawkins couldn’t have put it better.

So what inspires this mini rant you ask; well who other than the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church has been in the news today after Pope Benedict wrote an open letter to “help in the process of repentance, healing and renewal.” from the paedophilia revelations. This was done shortly after the head of the Catholic church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady apologised for his role in covering up the abuse allegations. All this comes across as a massive PR stunt by the Catholic Church to attempt to restore the public’s confidence in the archaic institution. If the Pope and his cronies really did regret the actions of its members then they might sack some of the people involved instead of protecting them, as in the case of Cardinal Bernard Law who was given a job in Rome after accusations of child abuse. He is wanted by a grand jury; perhaps the Church thinks it is above secular morality where people are expected to pay for their sins with time in jail. I don’t. 

This aside, the Catholic Church has a fundamental problem when it comes to trust because it is hard to trust an institution that, not only is built on a bed of lies, but that continues to lie in order to protect its perceived religious righteousness. Pope Benedict is well known for his blatant lies about contraception and aids and on the very day the Catholic Church is trying to make amends for raping children and covering it up a Catholic adoption charity wins the right to discriminate against same sex couples.

Sorry about the rape, the homophobia and the aids; Believe in Jesus!

Now whether you agree with same sex couples adopting children or not is not the issue I wish to raise here. Clearly the Catholic Church does not and has fought to support that opinion in court. What I do want to draw attention to is the lies; refusing to allow a couple to adopt on the basis of their sexuality is discrimination simple.

Not according to The Bishop of Leeds, Right Rev Arthur Roche, who said outside the court: “Our case has not been brought on an anti-gay agenda of any sort. We respect, and would not want to diminish, the dignity of any person.” But that’s exactly what they are doing! There is no other way of describing it; they are depriving same sex couples from having children on the basis of their sexuality and for no other reason. That is discrimination; that is an anti-gay agenda. Yet again a member of the church is blatantly lying, something isn’t so just because you say it is, although I realise this is the basis of faith. You can’t say you aren’t being homophobic while at the same time celebrating a victory in court that allows you to discriminate against homosexuals. You don’t get to say you respect the rights of all individuals when you are being prejudicial.

So the Catholic Church has lied about raping children, discriminating against homosexuals and contraception, thus condemning millions to die from aids, and they expect us to take their word for it when they say there is an omnipotent creator watching our every move and sorting us into heaven or hell. They better hope for their own sakes that they’re wrong.

This prompted Lily Coyle of Minneapolis to send this fantastic letter to the Star Tribune on behalf of the devil in response to Pat’s claims.

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher.

The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll.

You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

I understand that Lily Coyle has now terminated her employment with the devil after a disagreement over her pension plan.

Well this little study  conducted by Penguin books suggests that perhaps they aren’t all that bad after all, they are happy to say that family and friends are more important than religion and 59% are insightful enough to suggest that religion “has a negative influence on the world”.

That has brightened up my Tuesday afternoon.

“Does NASA’s photograph of Pulsar B1509 capture the Hand of God or neutron star?”

No, no it doesn’t.

Idiots.