Exchristian.net is a great site if you haven’t checked it out.

Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson ruled that laws protecting people from discrimination because of their sexual orientation “should take precedence” over the right not to be discriminated against on religious grounds.

They’re damn right!  It is very clear what the Abrahamic religions dictate as punishments for human sexuality and what their rules are for disciplining children, women and unbelievers.  Therefore, it is crystal clear why these “religious grounds” cannot take precedence over rational thought and basic human rights in a court of law.  Sorry ’bout that, Abrahamists, but sane members of society are on to you.  Most unbelievers have already been where you are, subscribing to a delusion.

The Pentecostal Christian couple, who have fostered children in the past, said more people of faith need to stand firm against laws that infringe their right to follow their religious beliefs.

Nobody has stopped these people from following their religious beliefs.  They are practicing their beliefs right now, believing that certain people are ‘sinful’.  Absolutely nobody has stopped them from doing this.  Nobody has stopped them from going to church or praying to Jesus or any other lawful thing they wish to do with their religion.  As nice as these folks probably are — but fuck, who knows? they could be a couple of Stephen Greens — like all religionists, they’re full of shit.

Anyway, I left a comment after the Voice Online article:

Should adoption be allowed to a religious couple, say, like Fred Phelps? He has a whole family severely abused and damaged by his religious beliefs.  Or should adoption be allowed to a couple who believes in faith healing and believes medical intervention is sinful? (Followers of Christ Church in Oregon, for example, who have a graveyard full of children.) Or to a couple who takes the Bible’s beating of kids with rods literally?  (added for this post: Examples: famous Christian wife-beater and child-abuser Stephen Green of the UK, and the Caminiti brothers, who put the ‘sin’ in Wisconsin.)

How far do we allow religious beliefs to go? ‘Religious’ is NOT a synonym for ‘good’. It is NOT a free ticket to do anything one can justify by one’s personal interpretation of a very bad book.

A lot of religious people do some really terrible things to children. It’s documented.And, even if a kid does not turn out gay, religious indoctrination can sear persons’ minds with horrible, unnecessary guilt that often drives them to self-destructive behavior.

I have no doubts Mr and Mrs Jones are nice people, but they say they follow the Bible — who knows what the hell that means? Given the above, what *will* their “Biblical beliefs” do to kids they foster?
And now I’m being sarcastic with the following: They follow the Bible, so, are they going to stone to death an unruly child, *just like the Bible commands* in Leviticus?If they had a female child who grew up and then had sex before marriage, thus ‘defiling’ herself for her future husband, would they allow her to be taken and stoned to death *just like the Bible says*?

The Ten Commandments, for example. Christians love to talk about the Ten Commandments and I bet if you asked Mr/Mrs Jones, they would say “oh yes, we follow the Ten Commandments!” Well, the penalty for most of them is *death*. – working on the sabbath? Death! sassing your parents? Death! believing in another god or gods? Death!This is why the argument over displaying the 10 C’s amuses me. They are a good thing? Really?

Says Mrs Jones, “We’re not old fashioned, instead we are Bible-believing Christians that believe everything that the Bible says, and I’m going to stand and follow what it says.”
Face it, there are plenty of reasons to scrutinize religious beliefs because they are just downright ^crazy^, and it’s time that religious people get used to the reality that when someone touts their “deeply held religious beliefs”, it is a cause for concern.

Except that he doesn’t.

Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe

From Zimbabwe NewsDay (emphasis added):

[...]

Apostolic and Pentecostal churches with their origins in West African countries now based in Zimbabwe have been cited as the major culprits.

This sad story came to the fore during the recent burial of Tambudzai Mazvihwa (not real name) of Banga Village in Shurugwi.

According to speakers during her burial, she had stopped taking her anti-retroviral medication and developed complications, which later caused her premature death.

“Parents and relatives, I think you are all aware that our daughter here was taking anti-retroviral drugs, but for the past five months she had stopped her medication on instructions from her church elders who had prescribed holy water instead of the pills. It is the holy water that has caused her death. Had she continued with her treatment, she would be living up to this day,” said an elderly headman during her burial.

Only a few villagers attended the burial and members of her church did not attend for fear of being beaten up for having caused her demise.

As men shovelled red gravel onto her grave, some spoke in low tones condemning the acts of her church.

[...]

There was no cross, no flowers and no name on her grave. Tambudzai is yet another victim of the doctrinaire religious sects that are taking Zimbabwe by storm; she is among hundreds of other worshippers who met a similar fate.

[,,,]

There are also many versions of Christianity, with some churches overtly borrowing from traditional religious practices such as divination, witch hunting and “spiritual” healing.

HIV and Aids counsellors said Tambudzai’s situation is common among people who practise the type of Christianity propounded by the new churches as they always complained that their churches discouraged them from taking medication and instructed them to drink holy water or milk only.

[...]

However, the churches offer alternative healing services through “faith healing” which comprises of “laying on of hands”, “holy water”, “prophecy and divination”.

These churches stand accused of dissuading members from taking any form of conventional medicine, including life-prolonging HIV drugs.

Pentecostal churches under the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe said their Christianity is based on a close reading of the Bible and expectations that members would try to base their lifestyle on Bible teachings as closely as possible.

Biblical teachings that include the pastor sticking his dick in you:

Many people who are sick and desperate end up at these churches in search of a cure or some respite as they encourage having faith and using “holy water” and other such items that are given by the leader.

Some use unprotected sex as a form of internal cleansing thereby increasing the risk of spreading HIV and Aids.

Cases of well-known apostolic sect leaders raping women under the guise of treating them are also very common, and have made headlines in local newspapers.

Church elders who spoke on condition that they were not named said it was true that some churches cured the pandemic through the Holy Spirit and it was only those worshippers who did not have faith that were not healed.

[...]

Read the whole article, it goes on about “miracles” done right on the television.  =0

Accepting Jesus sounds like a really fucked up thing to do.

Oh, but wait! – there’s some more of his gems of patriotic Christian wisdom and goodness, and are good reminders of why religion is a mental illness:

"Jesus loves you, you disgusting piece of shit!"

"Yeah! Fuck them dyke unions!"

Matthew 5:22, beeotch!

As my Lord and Savior says: "Go screw yourself!"

Yea, verily, Jesus said, "Go suck your brother's dick, you whore!"

-

Fuck yeah, Jesus! w00t w00t!!1

Oregon is getting ready to end legal protection to parents who abandon modern medicine in favor of faith healing when treating their children’s illness. House Bill 2721 would eliminate faith healing as a legal defense for parents who rely only on faith healing or other spiritual practices to heal sick children.

The change in law can be understood as a direct response to the Oregon City church, The Followers of Christ. The church is notorious for allowing sick children to suffer and even die rather than seeking medical attention. The church preaches a religion based in faith-healing, a religion that rejects modern medicine in favor of prayer and the anointing of the sick with oil.

[,,,]

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Religion: Oregon to eliminate faith healing as legal defense – Portland Humanist | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/humanist-in-portland/religion-oregon-to-eliminate-faith-healing-as-legal-defense#ixzz1EzmOLq3Y

There is currently no opposition to this bill from any side.

Christian child abusers Herbert and Catherine Schaible

A Pennsylvania fundamentalist Christian couple, Herbert and Catherine Schaible, are spared prison after being found guilty for murdering their child with prayer and they are allowed to keep their seven remaining children to abuse for Jesus.  (That’s what you call “irresponsible procreation”.)  Cases like this make a good argument for regulating and prohibiting certain religious beliefs and practices that are just fucking dangerous.  The law already prohibits some religious practices, such as polygamy and slavery, yet allows parents to murder their children as long as they believe in magic powers.  Hopefully, however, that may be changing — prompted by the long history of child abuse and neglect by the Followers of Christ Church cult, the state of Oregon has just introduced a bill that will ban faith-healing as a defense for killing your kids.

Churches like these overstep the generous bounds of religious freedom granted to them.  Forcing kids, who cannot consent, to suffer needlessly through these ‘faith-healing’ rituals and to die horrible, painful deaths because their brainwashed, idiot parents are told to believe they have magic powers.

Why are these parents spared prison and allowed to keep their other children to experiment on?  They are clearly insane (emphasis mine):

Following the guilty verdict Clark [the father] said: ‘The legal community is trying to force our church group to put them in the hands of this flawed medical system, when they have chosen to put them in the hands of a perfect God, who does not make mistakes.’

About a dozen US children die in faith-healing cases each year, a handful of which spawn criminal charges, according to experts.

It is not the first time the First Century Gospel Church of Philadelphia’s teachings has clashed with the authorities.

And, the authorities admit that it’s going to take a lot of supervision to make sure that these monsters don’t harm their other kids, as they are still under the influence of the cult First Century Gospel Church.

Sick.

via [link] Philly.com and [link] DailyMail UK

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