GOING... GOING... THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING CATHOLIC CHURCH

An article appeared in the October 26, 2010 edition of the Baltimore Sun lamenting the dwindling number of priests in the archdiocese. Recently, a morning service attended by fifteen worshippers at St. Mary Star of the Sea was led by a nun. The scarcity of priests and declining congregations have prompted Catholic leaders to take proactive measures. Churches are being grouped together under one pastor and church leaders are asking parishes to consider cutting back on Masses and other services. Earlier this year, more than a dozen Catholic schools were closed displacing nearly 2,000 students.
“The problem is approaching critical,” said Mark Gray, senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. In the archdiocese of Baltimore this year only one candidate was ordained and he is in his 60s. Shortages of priests, declining attendance and church closings are  nationwide phenomena. The St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese last week revealed a plan to close at least seven churches and gather others under one pastor.
What precipitated the apparent decline of the Catholic Church? Some scholars trace the regression to the sweeping changes engendered by Vatican II. Many Catholics found the changes difficult to accept and became disenchanted with the church. Also to be considered is the decline in religiosity in general occurring across the USA. As society becomes more informed and sophisticated people begin to doubt the delusional and anachronistic ideology of religion. In addition, the Catholic Church has a very nasty monkey on its back - the shocking allegations of sexual misconduct and subsequent cover-ups. The revolting images of predatory priests serve as a reminder of the many other atrocities perpetrated by Holy Mother Church: the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch trials, pogroms against Jews, complicity with the Nazi regime, the list continues ad nauseum. A sober appraisal of Church history would cause Caligula to retch. The resultant cognitive dissonance is disturbing, and in some cases unbearable. So, a synergy may be working to disillusion all but the most incorrigible Catholics. At the risk of sounding mean-spirited, if, tomorrow, the Catholic Church was to vanish like a fart in a tornado, I would remain unmoved.
The question remains, are we witnessing the beginning of the end of Catholicism? Will its churches and cathedrals soon be as empty as a tomb on Easter Sunday? The disappointing answer is probably not. Events like this run in cycles. But we can be encouraged by a nascent trend; a direction away from irrational, primitive, rigid thinking and toward a more challenging but also a more rewarding destiny.

cogito ergo atheos sum

ATHEIST READING MATERIAL - RECOMENDED BOOKS

"The God Question" has been a fascination for me for many years. Over that time I've assembled a small library of atheism-related books to gratify my obsession. A list of what I consider to be the more significant ones follows.

Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary  by David M. Wulff   -   (a seven hundred page textbook, but well worth the effort for the wealth of information it contains. Published in 1997, so it's relatively current.)

Freethinkers  by Suzan Jacoby

How We Believe  by Michael Shermer

The Portable Atheist  by Christopher Hitchens

Why I am Not a Christian  by Bertrand Russell

Atheism: The Case Against God  by George H. Smith

The Demon-Haunted World  by Carl Sagan

The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy  by C. Dennis McKinsey

The Case Against Christianity  by Michael Martin

The God Delusion  by Richard Dawkins

Atheist Universe  by David Mills

AN IRRREVERENT POEM

THE REVERNED GUNTHER GAWD (with apologies to The Hombres)

He preaches by a sewer sign.
Unshaven 'cause his razor broke.
Wears his britches inside-out.
Says he don't care
but his mind's in doubt.

He came up north from the Bible Belt
with talk of fire and brimstone.
Made Elmer Gantry look like a boy scout.
Pass the plate 'round, now.
Get yer wallets out.

Hangin' from a pine tree by ma knees
I'm baptized by the word of God
spoken from a huckster's lips.
Fundies raise their hands and shout.
But it's too much, man,
I can do without.

Now Gunther's in a terrible way.
He saw Satan eatin' a bible sandwich with sauerkraut.
How'd that mess yer mind up, Rev.?
Did yer brain go numb?
For sure, ain't no doubt.
Sorry about that.
Did yer faith run out?

(humor me) POPE'S BIZZARE BEHAVIOR ALARMS VATICAN

Officials at the highest levels of the Catholic Church are at a loss to explain the shameful and outrageous actions of one of the world's most respected figures, Pope Benedict XVI. In a statement issued from Saint Peter's Square, a clearly shaken Cardinal Bagglio Douche, aide-de-camp to Benedict XVI, described the Pontiff's recent conduct as so grotesque as to "make the Saints in heaven retch." When pressed by reporters for details, an ashen Cardinal Douche confessed that, "If the truth of this matter was to be revealed, the very foundations upon which the Church stands would crumble. Mass hysteria would erupt in religious communities around the world, governments would fall, and the end of days would be upon us." And so, the deranged ecclesiastic misdeeds of Pope Benedict remain a mystery, for now.
But this is not the end of the story. Shortly after Cardinal Douche's conference a doleful monk came forward and spoke. It seems the Pope's anomalous behavior began innocently enough and initially raised few eyebrows. As the monk related, "The strange doings ofa da Pope began ina da monestary when he request we addressa him not as Pope Benedict, but asa Pope 'Bent-dick.' We do not understand. But he isa da Pope so we do like he say. Next day, he think he isa General Douglas McArthur and he try to go to da Philippines. One time we find him ona the highway holding a sign that say 'Philippines.' Da Pope, he look ridiculous doing this. You see, he spell Philippines with an 'F' and the people, they laugh."
Then things quickly got out of hand, and before you could say, "Bless me Father," the Holy Father was in it up to his collar. No one knows how this scenario will eventuate. The Church remains tight-lipped on the affair. Only time will tell if a misunderstood rebel or a pshchopath is acting as God's representative on earth.

CONUNDRUM FOR CHRISTIANS; DID JESUS EVEN EXIST?

Jesus christ has always been a controversial figure. In fact, his very existence is questionable. David M. Wulff, in his tome, Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary, states, "The story of Jesus, as related in the gospels, with all it's unconfirmed miraculous happenings, is more plausibly explained as largely a fiction, written to not only conform to Judaic traditions but also to move Christianity beyond being a tribal religion. The story appealed to Gentiles as well, with the incorporation of many of their God-man myths."
The existence of jesus has not been historically established. Consider these points:
1. There is no contemporary documentation of the event (except for a very brief and superficial mention by the historian Josephus).
2. No archaeological proof (no tomb, no shroud) - the cloth of Turin has been carbon-14 dated to the 13th century C.E.
3. No archives except for a sepulcher invented by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine.

Jesus gave a name to Jewish rejection of Roman domination. He was an epic hero among epic heroes. It is commonplace in the literature of antiquity for these god-like champions to have been born of a virgin mother who was informed of her "immaculate conception" by an angel. Charismatic leaders who attracted passionate followers were also said to "perform miracles." In retrospect, jesus can be seen as a product of creative evolution; an incarnation of all the ideal tendencies in the human race. Again, to reference Wulff, the central events for Christian faith, Christ's death and resurrection, are projections of the intrapsychic processes of transformation, in which lower desires and ends are "put to death" or renounced for higher ones, of which Jesus is the perfect embodiment.
In summation, as put so pithily in the 2001 Israeli hit song, "The messiah is not coming - and he is not even going to call."

cogito ergo atheos sum

QUOTATIONS CONCERNING RELIGION

Fromm:  "Once a doctrine, however irrational, has gained power in a society, millions of people will believe it rather than feel ostracized and isolated."

Bierce:  "Religion - a daughter of hope and fear, explaining to ignorance the nature of the unknowable."

Wm. James:  "Medical materialism finishes up Saint Paul by calling his visions on the road to Damascus a discharging lesion of the occipital cortex, he being an epileptic. It snuffs out Saint Teresa as an hysteric, Saint Francis of Assisi as an hereditary degenerate."

T. Jefferson:  "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man... perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind... a mere contrivance (for the clergy) to filch wealth and power to themselves."

Nietzsche:  "God is a gross answer, an indelicacy against us thinkers - at bottom merely a gross prohibition for us: thou shall not think."

Euripides: " We, holding that the Gods exist, deceive ourselves with insubstantial dreams and lies, while random careless chance and change alone control the world."

BEYOND FUNDAMENTALISM

I just came across a Web site that puts the "mental" in fundamentalism, ApologeticsPress.org. Apologetic can be defined as "serving as or containing a formal justification or defense." In this instance, in defending or proving the truth of the most primitive, anti-intellectual, hyperbolic christian doctrine. It appears that the writing staff lived past lives during the Inquisition, so resolute and truculent is the tone of AP's "principles of truth."
On first perusal, I found the material so outlandish I took it as a tongue-in-cheek attempt at humor. Then I reasoned that the gang at AP had probably been eating mushrooms or licking toads and were harmlessly having a good time tripping. Nooooo, these people are serious!: more's the pity.
At any rate, check it out for yourselves. I think you'll find it the very distillation of delusional thinking.

HOW TO DEBATE A CREATIONIST

The next time you hear some drooling bible-thumper rant about the merits of creationism, resist the urge to vomit, grab him by the lapels, and try to talk some sense into him. But restrain thee thy wrath. And lash out not in intellectual righteousness, for thine adversary is to be pitied more than scorned.
Returning to the point of this post, Skeptic Magazine offers an antidote to contemporary christian creation mythology. How to Debate a Creationist features 25 creationists' arguments and 25 evolutionists' responses. The booklet, moderately priced at $5.00, also contains essays on "The Relationship of Science and Religion," "Evolution Denial and Holocaust Denial," "Debates and Truth," and "What is Evolution," as well as an interview with Stephen Jay Gould. Anyone interested in evolution, creationism, unintelligent design, or polemics should include it in their library.

JESUS CHRIST!

There it is gentle creatures of the blogosphere. The most popular exclamation ( I was going to type "ejaculation" instead but didn't want to set the psychopathia sexualis dilettantes spinning into a self-abusive frenzy ) used in the modern world. I admit I sometimes find myself spitting it out in response to sudden anger, astonishment, annoyance, disgust, etc. As an atheist, verbalizing the moniker of the offspring of a very well-known deity can be unnerving. I prefer the old pirate outburst, "Blood and Thunder!," but "Jesus Christ!" explodes out of my mouth at times of sudden stress. This particular expletive is ubiquitous in our society, and having heard it proclaimed so frequently it has, unfortunately, become deeply grooved into my neural network.
The "comments situation" at Blogger has precipitated my use of many inappropriate exclamations lately. Many bloggers ( this one included ) utilizing this host are frustrated by this glitch. Viewer comments simply don't register on the blogs. We are doing monologues rather than discussions. And my investigations at Blogger and various forums have not uncovered a solution. The old adage, "Ya get what ya pay for," has never been more fitting. I'm trying to find a way of linking my e-mail address to my blog rather than mentioning it off-handedly in a post (by the way it's jbkehl@comcast.net ) so viewers who love (or hate) The Madness of the Masses can send their praise or vitriol to the responsible party, me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

cogito ergo atheos sum

FREUD ON RELIGION

In retrospect, it's commonly accepted that the founder of psychoanalysis was occasionally off the mark regarding some of his interpretations of human behavior. But far more often than not. he was dead on in his diagnoses of the human condition. I find his authoritative opinions on religion perceptive, pithy, and persuasive. Here are some of Freud's convictions regarding man and religion drawn from David M. Wulff's exhaustive study, The Psychology of Religion: Classic and Contemporary.

The personal roots of religiousness lie in the infantile past of the individual, in the periods of terrifying helplessness that were relieved by the mother, the first love object, and later by the.protective love of the stronger father. The discovery that this helplessness does not end with childhood; that one is endangered throughout life by the powers of nature, by other human beings, and even by forces within oneself; and that death will finally upset life's precarious balance brings back the old anxieties and the desperate longing for the care of the powerful father. In such a manner is born the idea of a benevolent providence, omniscient and omnipotent, who protects human beings from the awesome forces of nature, rewards and punishes evil, and promises perfection in life after death.
Freud related religious belief to a kind of mental or emotional disorder involving insecurity, anxiety, depression, irrational fears and, especially, obsessive behavior. He believed that assuming a spiritual neurosis immunized one against typical neurological kinds. He said, "Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing the personal one."
To replace religion Freud felt that science, not intuition, is the only way we may come to know reality outside ourselves. What science and reason cannot tell us we may have to do without. Persons who have been "sensibly brought up" and educated to reality will leave behind the warm and comfortable home of childhood, facing with courage and resignation the helplessness and insignificance that is their lot. With time, life will become tolerable for everyone and at long last civilization will no longer be oppressive.

THE ULTIMATE CHRISTIAN ICON

"What, after all, is the cross of Jesus Christ? It is nothing but the sum total of a sadomasochistic glorification of pain."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

FAHRENHEIT 451 COURTESY OF REV.JONES

As an atheist, whenever I read about the latest clash between sectarian pretenders-to-the-only-true- orthodoxy, I sit back, shake my head, and laugh. The latest manifestation of human stupidity, the proposed buring of Qurans by the Rev. Terry Jones and the truculent response by Muslims, reveals the fantasy world many human beings inhabit. What rational person is at all concerned with the destruction of books composed of the rantings of a rapacious megalomaniac? This condemnation, with some differences, applies as well to the fatuous texts of the other "book religions," Christianity and Judaism.
Evolution worked to create in human beings an intense natural inclination to form themselves into groups; us against them. Religion, disingenuous and self-serving by nature, is the vessel within which social forces act to engender and potentiate suspicion, fear and hatred among spiritual coalitions. If all "holy books" disappeared tomorrow the world would be a more enlightened and civilized place for it.

cogito ergo atheos sum

THE FUTILITY OF PRAYER

Do you remember, as a child, wanting something very badly? Maybe it was a new baseball glove, a trip to Disney World, or a dog your mother wouldn't allow. And how, after repeated attempts to secure your prize, you finally realized that it wasn't going to happen. Perhaps at that point a well-meaning but naive person suggested that you pray for it. You know, ask God for it. Excited by the prospect, you got down on your knees every night at bedtime and sent your request heavenward.
Alas, unless some kindhearted relative surreptitiously intervened, you were disappointed. What went wrong? Didn't God hear you or were you simply deemed unworthy of His attention?
Adult prayers often assume a more expedient, serious, or even crucial character. Do you remember a tragic accident which occurred in Sago, West Virginia a few years ago? A cave-in occurred in a coal mine and about a dozen men were trapped. Do you suppose those miners were praying for their lives? Do you think the families, friends, co-workers, and many of the people who saw the report on the news were appealing to their God in a most profound way to save the lives of the miners?
A few days later the men were found dead. They had survived long enough to write goodbyes to loved ones with whatever was available.
If God doesn't answer prayers that are that desperate and sincere then one must assume that: either He was not aware of the tragedy, or he was aware of it but was helpless to stop it, or he was aware of the event, had the power to stop it but chose not to. The only alternative is, there is no God.      PKV8PUWQWSUZ

cogito ergo atheos sum

(humor me) CATLICKS RELEASE DETAILS OF HOLIDAY BASH

NEW YORK - Yesterday the Archdiocese of New York disclosed the lurid details of its annual New Year's Eve party. One of the biggest celebrations in the world, and known for its salacious revelry, the event is predicted to draw a crowd of one hundred thousand or more at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The city's police department is in the process of swearing in hundreds of new officers in preparation of the anticipated drunken brawls which have marked past events.
Live music will be provided by Sammy and The Sodomites. The menu boasts such delicacies as cream of sum yung guy soup, mountain oysters on the half-shell, tube steak smothered in underwear, spermaceti with hot sauce, and a wide variety of intoxicating beverages. As usual, many valuable prizes will be awarded to lucky partygoers. This year's grand prize is rumored to be a weekend trip for two at the fabulous Liberace museum and public baths in exciting Semen City, Florida. Door prizes include: a pair of empty wine bottles and a clay crack pipe said to have been used at the Last Supper, the remnants of a pair of swimming trunks worn by Jesus Christ while on vacation at the Sea of Galilee, a get-out-of-hell-free card, and a sliver of the True Cross.
Many exorcisms are planned and a reenactment of an Inquisition torture session will be performed. A surprise guest appearance by  none other than the big cheese himself, God's sidekick, Pope Benedict XVI and his newly tricked-out popemobile is breathlessly anticipated.
A member of the organizing committee, Rev. Damien DeDildo, was quoted as saying, "This is gonna be a bash that would've made Caligula blush!" Tickets are limited, so make your plans early. And, as before, free admission to anyone bringing a cute altar boy.
I don't know about you, my friends, but ol' johnnybk plans on getting his rocks off in NYC come Dec. 31.

Philosophia Absurdus - being a critical analysis of human behavior

#1 IN A SERIES

DON'T SMOKE, EAT WELL, STAY FIT AND DIE ANYWAY.

QUOTATIONS REGARDING RELIGION

Religion is the opium of the masses.    - Marx         
Religion is not merely the opium of the masses, it's the cyanide.    - Robbins

The way to see by faith is to shut the eyes to reason.    - B. Franklin

My own mind is my own church.    - T. Paine

Doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of God was the end of wisdom.    -  C. Darrow

Modern morality is derived from Greek and Roman sources, not from Christianity.    - Mill

Priests: fatuous anachronisms.    - johnnybk

(humor me) MORE TROUBLE FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH

Rocked repeatedly in recent years by allegations of psychopathia sexualis embracing many of its clergy, the Catholic Church is confronted with yet another horrific scandal. Church authorities, still reeling from the ruinous consequences of widespread sexual assaults perpetrated by priests upon innocent young boys, and occasionally, unsuspecting farm animals, now face a far more sinister threat.
It has been reported that in many American cities, gangs of psychotic nuns roam the streets in search of victims on which to inflict their sexual sadism. Reported attacks, always involving men or boys, are marked by savage johnson amputation. The bloodshed is accompanied by frenzied lesbian orgies and the scenes of the violence are left littered with severed trouser snakes, some still twitching, blood, feces, vomit and various bodily secretions.
In Rome the Holy Father responded to the disturbing revelations by exclaiming, "Holy f*&#ing Christ!" The pontiff then promptly soiled his vestments.

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL

According to the Tribune Newspapers there has been a surge of wounded troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. At the largest American-run medical facility outside the U.S., Germany's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, surgeons report that the severity of wounds is also increasing. It is said that many of the wounded wonder how a good and merciful God could allow such pain and death to occur. One of the chaplains at the hospital, Navy Cmdr. Joseph Sheldon responds with the trite and feckless, "I don't know the answer."
Well of course you don't shaman Sheldon. Has anyone ever been able to explain this conundrum. One can only come to the conclusion that if a so-called "deity" exists, it doesn't intercede in human affairs. This is likely due to the fact that, if extant, it lacks one of these qualities: omniscience, omnipotence, or omnibenevolence. In this case, it is not God as defined by religions.

IS AMERICA ISLAMOPHOBIC?

And speaking about the print media, the Aug. 30, 2010 issue of Time magazine posed the question, "Is America Islamophobic?" My response to Time follows.

Religion has been a great divisive force in civilization since the fatuous concept of "God" and it's adjunct "religion" were invented. As the philosopher said, "God did not make us. We made God." The sectarian clash over the mosque in New York is just the latest manifestation of enmity actuated by the disingenuous and malignant influence of orthodoxy.
Evolution worked to create in human beings an intense natural inclination to form ourselves into groups; us against them. Religion is the vessel within which social forces act to engender and potentiate suspicion, fear, and hatred among rival spiritual coalitions.
Until humanity develops the courage and honesty to admit that all religions are false, misanthropic behavior in the name of an illusory deity will continue. Without the enfeebling crutch of religion people will be free to bond together and create a world based on human values, not affected worship of a creature whose existence is speculative at best. Zola got it right when he said, "Civilization will not attain to it's perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest."

GOD DIDN'T MAKE THE UNIVERSE, HAWKING SAYS

Fellow travelers:

Here's the text of an article which appeared in the Sept 3, 2010 edition of the Baltimore Sun.

LONDON - God did not create the universe and the "big bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicst Stephen Hawling argues in a new book.
     In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper, which published excerpts Thursday.
     "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.
     "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

Well said Steve-o. Sorry about the ALS and all. Hang in there