God speaks - who's pulling the strings?

Living in Texas, one can't avoid the fervor of religiousity in this state. Driving around the DFW area, one can easily spot several billboards that are part of the GodSpeaks movement. These ad-agency style comments are presumably meant to draw people closer to God, a Christian God, of course.

Here's a few of these billboard comments and my rebuttal to them:

"Tell the kids I love them. "
rebuttal - You're God, why can't you tell the kids your damn self?! Are grownups the only people who can be captured under your spell?!

"One nation under me."

rebuttal - which one of you are we talking about. A nation under Allah or even the literal old Testament God would be like living in Hell to most people. Get your act together and give us a clear, non-schizophrenic message before trying to be a "uniter".

"The real Supreme Court meets up here."
rebuttal - this is again part of the religious fanatic's approach that the rule of God supercedes the rule of man. Why don't we stone people to death anymore (at least in civilized societies with secular populations)? Stoning is clearly endorsed in the Bible. It's because we have walked away from the shallow ignorance of the Bible enough to realize that stoning is barbaric and inhumane. For a peek at other injustices from the words of the King James version of the Bible, take a look at the Skeptic's Annotated Bible section on injustice:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/inj/long.html


I could go on and on, but what use is there? I would love to put together a group of Brights/athiests to spearhead an advertising campaign against the dull minded Christians who seem to have enough money to perpetuate their falsehoods and superstitions well into the modern era.

crumbling Middle East

Conflict appears to be an inherent part of life in the Middle East these days. Israel is now reacting with disproportionate force against Hezbollah and Hamas, both groups that are bent on destroying Israel.
While many are proposing various solutions to the current conflict, the one I would offer is that hat the way out of this conflict has to start with secularism. Take away the belief in martyrdom or the divine right for a country to exist, and you are left with a battle over plain real estate, which could easily be solved. But throw in the Koran and Torah, and statements from God/Adonis that this land is divinely gifted to a certain people, and you get horrible conflict and bloodshed. People do crazy things when they feel God is supporting them completely.
The problem with today's conflict is that so many sides have "God" on their side. How can our evangelical President stand up to support secularism as a way out?
Where will we ever have leadership to build libraries rather than Mosques in Iraq - to diffuse Sunni and Shiite sectarian violence by declaring that it's nothing but grownups playing make-believe? Does anyone honestly believe these Sunnis or Shiite are closer to God/Allah based on their 5 prayers a day and crazy religious rituals?
If we keep relying on falsehood, we have only a grim future to face. Falsehood implies anything. When God equals Santa Claus equals the Tooth Fairy becomes the equation accepted by the majority of the world, then we can start honest negotiations for peace, without false Gods spurring conflicting, hateful beliefs.

The Cancer of Faith

We hear the "F" word all too often these days in America - Faith. People seem to be reveling in their faith these days. In these days of megachurches and presidents who profess their faith in supernatural beings openly, one must wonder, how much good, if any does this serve?
I would argue that Faith holds us back - faith divides us, prevents us from relating to others, and detracts from what science and secularism might offer for humanity.
These days, due to radical Christians who view the Bible as literal truth holding to views of single cells holding rights and privileges of human beings, we are being hampered in our study of stem cells and human development. Why? Because these fools believe in souls, and believe that a human embryo is infused with an invisible soul at the moment of conception. Thus, a soul-laden embryo is just like a soul-laden human, entitled to protections from the scientific knife.
The realist view is that souls are a fantasy. Our being, our thoughts, can be reduced to physical and chemical phenomenon. A human embryo is not much different from a chimpanzee or mouse embryo without the concept of a soul.
I cannot stop wondering how so many people on this planet, despite seeing the advances of science, of medicine today, still resort to the fantasy of faith. When a patient survives a car crash, it is a "miracle" - not a product of scientific study and effort on the part of doctors and nurses and ambulance staff. Why can't we see that miracles are a joke, souls don't exist, and no supernatural being exists that cares about us enough to inspire books full of lies and inconsistencies. Shakespeare was a better writer than God. A reality that most people these days don't seem to appreciate.