#439 How Does Chopping Off One's Nuts Get One Closer to God Again?

They are giving him thumbs up because they don't have balls to chop off.

India: 400 men cut off their testicles to 'get closer to God' following advice from 'guru' Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Okay, I've gotta mention his first name is Gurmeet, I'm pronouncing it, Grrrrr-meat, like he hates meat including testicles so why not tell his followers to get rid of theirs?

Got that out of the way and now we can get to the amazingly stupid command this religious leader said to his flock of foolish followers. Granted, he has something like 50 million followers and "only" 400 chopped off their balls like he said to and that's a terrible hit rate.

But he told people to cut off their balls and some of them actually did. Think about that. Think about the power this clearly insane person has over others. Why would anyone give their own free will away? Why would you allow anyone to make decisions about your body for you?

I am simply amazed at how dumb people. Did any of them ask just how, by what mechanism, cutting off one's balls gets one closer to God? Because I'm not really seeing it but that's because I don't believe in God and would laugh in the face of some asshole for saying "Hey, cut off your balls and God will be happy!".

Any religion worth mutilating over is no religion I have any interest in having any association with.

But let's get to the real story here, this guy made a religious movie that has him performing miracles and so people thought he was like a God or somesuch. Oddly enough, his star power has waned since he started telling his followers to chop off their nuts.

And at least one of this dumb followers has retained a lawyer to seek recompense for not being smart enough to not chop off his own testicles because someone told him to.

Rule #439 is How Does Chopping Off One's Nuts Get One Closer to God Again?

#406 Judge Not, You Homophobic Asshat

The smiling homophobic deacon and the "too gay" student.

Principal Shuts Down Cosmetology Class Because One of the Students ‘Looked’ Gay

 The principal, one Principal Thomas Amons is also, quell surprise, a deacon in the local brainwashing cult, I mean, church.

He told the teacher to bar the student entry into the class but the teacher, because she isn't a bigot, refused even knowing she would likely lose her job. Her personal principles were far more important to her than the bigoted and hate-based principles of the principal.

So yeah, in Texas, you can be deemed gay and hated on just because some asshole decides your clothes mark you as gay. Which is to say, you couldn't PAY me to go to Texas.

I think Thomas Amons needs to spend more time reading his Bible, especially that part about not judging others.

I am so very, very sick and fucking tired of so-called "Men of God" behaving like such colossal shitbags to others and rationalizing it by their twisted interpretation of a book of myths that actually contains counsels tolerance and acceptance, not division and hate.

On the positive side, the student has gotten an extra-curricular lesson in what kind of assholes he may be facing as he grows up. He may or may not be gay and I don't care one way or the other but he's learning a shitty lesson about asshole adults judging you without even bothering to learn a bit of your character and merely looking and judging based solely on appearances. Pathetic.

 Rule #406 is Judge Not, You Homophobic Asshat

#399 Yoga is about as Religious as Kung Fu

Christian parents group to sue school over yoga classes because they fear that "exposure" to eastern religions will undermine their children's faith in their chosen religion. Which is basically like saying, "Our religion can't compete on a level playing field with the others despite our from birth indoctrination so we have to remove any possible competing religions from our impressionable children's realities for as long as possible to allow our chosen religion as much time to take firm root." Basically, they want a religious on-competition clause. But yoga isn't about spirituality, at least not in the Christian sense (and no, not the ironic Christian spirituality of some pedophile priest saying "Oh God" while he buggers an altar boy). Yoga is about becoming more in tune with your body and strengthening it through movement and held poses. Any religious group that is scared of yoga for turning their darling little brainwashed disciples away from Christianity is actually demonstrating a pretty weak belief in their own religion. Rule #399 is Yoga is about as Religious as Kung Fu

#381 Don't Fake Kidnapping Teenagers

Church Members Kidnap and Terrify Teenagers in a Fake Raid and Face Felony Charges

County prosecutors are investigating a "fake raid' conducted by the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church in Lower Swatara Township. Church leaders burst into teenagers' homes, blindfolded or placed pillowcases over the teens' heads, bound them and took them by van to the pastor's home, where it was finally revealed that the raids were fake. 

Glad Tidings Assembly of God? Really? Glad Tidings? No irony here, nope, none whatsoever. Hey, here's a thought, let's NOT use an unloaded but real gun to scare the fucking shit out of some teenage kids (some of whom are experiencing serious real effects from the fake ordeal). The reasoning? They wanted to let the kids know what it's like to be persecuted for their beliefs.

Call me crazy but I don't recall any atheists doing anything remotely as idiotic, injurious and illegal.

 The "kidnappers" are facing potential second degree felony charges for false imprisonment of a child. I can't put myself back in the head of a 14 year old anymore since it was a long time ago now but I do know it would have been pretty damned scary. And I don't see how doing it would, in any way, make me be like, "Oh yeah, these people of God are exactly who I want to spend my Sundays with."

 Rule #381 is Don't Fake Kidnapping Teenagers

#311 Do Not Aid With a Side of Conversion

Morocco defends expulsion of Christian workers

I've long had an issue with religiously based assistance, that is, aid workers from religious groups that give aid only so long as the helped attend services and are basically indoctrinated into that religion. The people generally are not seeking spiritual salvation, they are hungry, they need a place to sleep, they need wounds dressed. And putting religious hoops up for them to jump through to get help is rude at best and downright coerced conversion in the middle and downright torture at worst.

If you require someone to give up their belief system to receive aid then are you really doing your God's work or are you merely blackmailing people in dire straits? I'm strongly leaning towards the latter and it feels quite predatory for aid workers to put requirements on the aid they give.

Rule #311 is Do Not Aid With a Side of Conversion

#232 Do Not Conflate Spiritual Guidance with Politics

Calif. priest tells Obama supporters to confess because any supporter of Obama is a supporter of abortion and abortion is wrong, wrong, wrong if you attend Reverend Joseph Illo's Church of the Intolerant and Overbearing Faith. He appears to have no issue with the war in Iraq or fertility clinics which kill hundreds or thousands of embryos in the process of inseminating wannabe mothers.

Last I checked there was supposed to be a clear distinction between church and state in this nation. Rev. Illo is unabashedly using his position as spiritual leader to try and dictate political beliefs and actions.

Notwithstanding the fact that single issue voting is a disservice to the process of democracy and a gross over-simplification of the issues facing the nation, what Rev. Illo has done is just plain wrong.

Rule #232 is Do Not Conflate Spiritual Guidance with Politics