Irene's Weblog

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
–George Carlin

via reddit.

via reddit.

The pope, decorated in his finest glitter, gave his annual Christmas speech, this year decrying said glitter and consumerism. It’s hard to take someone who is the head of the wealthiest church on the planet seriously when he does not practice what he preaches.

“Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season,

The pope certainly needs more help than I do in this matter. I don’t live beyond my means. I don’t pay off anyone who brings criminal charges against me. I don’t own anything lavish. I own one gold ring.

“If we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our ‘enlightened’ reason,” he said.

Uh, no thank you, sir. I’ll keep my enlightened reason. It allows me to think and reason for myself and not blindly follow made up people and made up religions.

“… In this spirit let us celebrate the liturgy of the holy night, let us strip away our fixation on what is material, on what can be measured and grasped.”

I’d rather stick with what can be measured and grasped instead of fixating on imaginary things.

Mark 12:38-44
New International Version (NIV)
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

If Jesus ever existed and walked into Vatican City in 2011, he’d be one very pissed off god.

Farewell, great voice. Great voice of reason, of humanity, of humour. Great voice against cant, against hypocrisy, against obscurantism and pretension, against all tyrants including God. Farewell, great warrior. You were in a foxhole, Hitch, and you did not flinch. Farewell, great example to us all.
Richard

This picture and the quote is from Richard Dawkins’ tribute to his good friend, Christopher Hitchens, who passed away this week. This picture was taken at the Texas Freethought Convention in October 2011. You can watch the video here.

You can also view two great video tributes to Christopher Hitchens at Debunking Christianity.