President Obama has nominated a moderate to the Supreme court, in an obvious attempt to placate the Right in the face of upcoming elections. She’s not a staunch supporter of church and state, and has said publicly that religious institutions can receive federal funds if they do nonreligious work but their religion bleeds into the work (in other words, they preach at you while giving you food).

This is akin to supporting the Bush Faith-Based Initiatives, and it scares me. She is likely to get confirmed, and I don’t think she’s a good replacement for Stevens on the left. Please stay tuned for more information.

Some people are using this day to beg an invisible man in the sky to do something for them, get them something, or help them achieve a goal. Some politicians are also breaking the law by joining them in an official manner (Obama included). This is religion’s attempt to legitimize their myths by using our government.

But despite what the Religious Right would like, this is not an American holiday (yet).

We at American Atheists are happy to remind everyone that this is also the National Day of Reason. Please use this day to read something new, learn something new, contemplate, evaluate, and cogitate. We should be grateful to the Founding Fathers that we have the Constitutional Right to live without mythologies.

Happy Day of Reason. Begging not required.

I smell a party!

“Devil’s Brew and the Danish Atheist Society have entered into an unholy alliance, and the result is ‘Godless’ – an ale brewed entirely without superstition. [Godless] is an imperial stout with burnt and sweetish impressions, together with notes of licorice. To exercise social responsibility, Devil’s Brew donates one Danish Crown to the Danish Atheist Society for each bottle sold.”

The rough English translation of the society’s mission reads, “Atheist Company working for separation between religion and state in Denmark, so that all people be treated regardless of their religious views, and worldview.”

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Today, the nation’s (and my) favorite shock-jock shocked his team and surely his listeners when he said he was facing some monumental crisis, had tried everything, and was now turning to God. Yep.

He’s going to try Judaism, including donning a yarmulke and speaking in Hebrew, and if that doesn’t work he’s going to try Jesus. He wasn’t kidding. He’s actually not going to say he’s non-theistic anymore because he believes in gods after all. He obviously also believes in intercessory prayer.

Sal (who else) jumped in to support Howard and suggested the whole audience be asked to pray to change whatever is now destined to happen to make Howard more happy. He said group prayer “makes it stronger”.

I had to chuckle when during his next topic, Howard chided someone for being irrational.

So dear Howard, I hope you have a nice time begging your invisible magic man-in-the-sky to change the course of the future to suit you. Don’t forget to bring your checkbook to the synagogue and please, by all means, tell us about the experience. There is nothing like watching falling stars.

Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with “rent boy”
By Penn Bullock, Brandon K. Thorp
published: May 06, 2010

The pictures on the Rentboy.com profile show a shirtless young man with delicate features, guileless eyes, and sun-kissed, hairless skin. The profile touts his “smooth, sweet, tight ass” and “perfectly built 8 inch cock (uncut)” and explains he is “sensual,” “wild,” and “up for anything” — as long you ask first. And as long as you pay.

On April 13, the “rent boy” (whom we’ll call Lucien) arrived at Miami International Airport on Iberian Airlines Flight 6123, after a ten-day, fully subsidized trip to Europe. He was soon followed out of customs by an old man with an atavistic mustache and a desperate blond comb-over, pushing an overburdened baggage cart.

That man was George Alan Rekers, of North Miami — the callboy’s client and, as it happens, one of America’s most prominent anti-gay activists. Rekers, a Baptist minister who is a leading scholar for the Christian right, left the terminal with his gay escort, looking a bit discomfited when a picture of the two was snapped with a hot-pink digital camera.

Reached by New Times before a trip to Bermuda, Rekers said he learned Lucien was a prostitute only midway through their vacation. “I had surgery,” Rekers said, “and I can’t lift luggage. That’s why I hired him.” (Though medical problems didn’t stop him from pushing the tottering baggage cart through MIA.)

Yet Rekers wouldn’t deny he met his slender, blond escort at Rentboy.com — which features homepage images of men in bondage and grainy videos of crotch-rubbing twinks — and Lucien confirmed it.

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The more you think about this guy, the more you HAVE to think Yahweh wants him dead. He had gay sex multiple times (you don’t hire a man-whore and take him to Bermuda to lose your gay-virginity). He lied about it (bearing false witness). He lied in God’s name when he used religion to pass anti-gay legislation in which he did not truly believe for his own personal wealth and power (taking God’s name in vein) . He had non-marital sex. That’s a lot of THOU SHALT NOTS for which the penalty is, in God’s own words, death, death, and more death.

To be sure, I am not saying anyone should harm anyone (quite the contrary, please leave this gay man alone). Being an atheist, I don’t follow the ancient writings of mythologies like Judaism and Christianity, and I believe that Mr. Rekers has really committed no crime. In fact, I would be happy to officiate a marriage between Mr. Rekers and any man (18+) in any state where Rekers’ own lies and immoral political activities have not made it illegal to do so.

I am wondering though, how a believer can read the Bible, believe it to be true, and not think this guy deserves to die. And considering Rekers claims to believe the Bible is the “Infallible Word of God”…

Next stop: “counseling” where Rekers’ homosexuality will be “cured” in about 3 months. Then more money and power. Praise be!