Video footage shows Pope Francis ‘performing exorcism’

… Pope Francis lays his hands on the head of a young man on Sunday, May 19, 2013, after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. Photo: AP

The Vatican was more cautious. In a statement on Tuesday, it said Francis “didn’t intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone who was suffering who was presented to him.”

Fuelling the speculation is Francis’ obsession with Satan, a frequent subject of his homilies, and an apparent surge in demand for exorcisms among the faithful despite the irreverent treatment the rite often receives from Hollywood.

Who can forget the green vomit and the spinning head of the possessed girl in the 1973 cult classic The Exorcist?

In his very first homily as pope on March 14, Francis warned cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel the day after he was elected that “he who doesn’t pray to the Lord prays to the devil.”

He has since mentioned the devil on a handful of occasions, most recently in a May 4 homily when in his morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel he spoke of the need for dialogue – except with Satan.

“With the prince of this world you can’t have dialogue: Let this be clear!” he warned.

Experts said Francis’ frequent invocation of the devil is a reflection both of his Jesuit spirituality and his Latin American roots, as well as a reflection of a Catholic Church weakened by secularisation. …

via Video footage shows Pope Francis ‘performing exorcism’.

Sure, wouldn’t the highest ranking member of the church be the best exorcist?  I have no doubt that this man was not possessed by Satan after the Pope did his thing.  Good job. In fact, anyone who looks at this photo will be similarly not possessed by any demons, Satans, devils, evil spirits or ubermenschers. He’s that good.

Florida parent says “religious zealots” got teen daughter arrested for lesbian relationship

An 18-year-old girl was arrested for statutory rape over a same-sex relationship in Florida because of bigoted parents, according to the mother of the arrested teen.

Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt was arrested February 16 by the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office on two counts of lewd or lascivious battery on child.

Her mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, explained on Facebook that Kaitlyn began a “mutual consenting” relationship with a girl at Sebastian River High School who was about three years younger. The parents of the younger girl were upset by the situation and contacted police, she wrote.

“They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter ‘made’ their daughter gay,” Kaitlyn mother’s said. “They are bigoted, religious zeolites [sic] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter.”

The parents of the younger girl also pressured the Indian River County School Board into expelling Kaitlyn, she added. The teen is now attending an alternative school.

“Those parents have forced the State Attorneys office to go thru [sic] with felony charges and are trying to ruin my daughters life,” Kaitlyn mother’s continued. “This is insane. This should have never been a legal matter, it is a family matter. They are trying to send an innocent young girl to prison because they are full of hate and bigotry. These girls are teenagers in high school, who had ONE mutual consenting sexual experience. My daughter isn’t a criminal, she isn’t a predator.”

Kaitlyn has until Friday to accept or reject a plea deal of two years house arrest and one year probation, according to her mother.

In response to the incident, friends and family setup a “Free Kate” Facebook page and online petition in hopes of having the case dropped. Support for the young girl appeared to be strong. The petition had more than 27,000 supporters on Sunday morning. …

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/19/florida-parent-says-religious-zealots-got-teen-daughter-arrested-for-lesbian-relationship/

 

Free Kate…and her girlfriend.

Odds are the parents of Kate’s girlfriend have unresolved homosexual feelings causing them to be this hateful. That would make sense genetically if they had a gay daughter. Their hate could be self-loathing.

Attackers of gays turn out to be repressed homosexuals who hate themselves because their own closet gay patents spent so much time expressing hate toward gays.

Both gay people and confidently non-gay people (that’s most of us) don’t care if some people are gay.

Kate being terrorized with jail time by these people pisses me off. No one can make a daughter gay except the parents. It’s genetic. Well epigenetic, actually. Kate’s girlfriend’s dad didn’t have enough testosterone at a key time and that can’t be changed now.

The hereditary link of homosexuality has long been established, but scientists knew it was not a strictly genetic link, because there are many pairs of identical twins who have differing sexualities. Scientists from the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis say homosexuality seems to have an epigenetic, not a genetic link.

Long thought to have some sort of hereditary link, a group of scientists suggested Tuesday that homosexuality is linked to epi-marks — extra layers of information that control how certain genes are expressed. These epi-marks are usually, but not always, “erased” between generations. In homosexuals, these epi-marks aren’t erased — they’re passed from father-to-daughter or mother-to-son, explains William Rice, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California Santa Barbara and lead author of the study. …

“There is compelling evidence that epi-marks contribute to both the similarity and dissimilarity of family members, and can therefore feasibly contribute to the observed familial inheritance of homosexuality and its low concordance between [identical] twins,” Rice notes.

Rice and his team created a mathematical model that explains why homosexuality is passed through epi-marks, not genetics. Evolutionarily speaking, if homosexuality was solely a genetic trait, scientists would expect the trait to eventually disappear because homosexuals wouldn’t be expected to reproduce. But because these epi-marks provide an evolutionary advantage for the parents of homosexuals: They protect fathers of homosexuals from underexposure to testosterone and mothers of homosexuals from overexposure to testosterone while they are in gestation.

http://mobile.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/11/scientists-may-have-finally-unlocked-puzzle-of-why-people-are-gay

More detail:

… First, evidence shows that homosexuality can run in families. Still, only 20 percent of identical twins are both gay, said Rice. Furthermore, linkage studies looking for a genetic underpinning to sexual orientation have not turned up any “major” homosexual genes, Rice noted. “This made us suspicious that something besides genes produces heritability that isn’t genetic.” Epigenetics fits the bill.

The model focuses on the role of epigenetics in shaping how cells respond to androgen signaling, an important determinant of gonad development. The researchers suggest that androgens are also important factors in molding sexual orientation, and that various genes involved in mediating androgen signaling are regulated by epigenetic modifications. These epigenetic marks, they argue, can be passed on between generations.

As an example of how androgens shape sexuality, the researchers point to girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who produce very high levels of testosterone and often display masculinized genitalia and higher rates of same-sex attraction. But testosterone levels are sometimes the same in normally developing male and female fetuses—without masculinizing the females—suggesting that something else must be playing a role.

The answer, they hypothesized, has to do with sensitivity to androgens. There are a variety of proteins that can modify androgen signaling, and the researchers hypothesize that differences in sensitivity to these signals between male and female fetuses help mediate their sexual differentiation. Rice and his colleagues suggest that such sensitivity may be regulated by the acquisition of epigenetic marks that make girls less sensitive to masculinizing androgens, or make boys more sensitive.

Such epi-marks are typically accrued early in development, as cells are programmed to become specific adult cell types. … they could be inherited from a parent. Most epigenetic modifications are erased during development of germ cells and soon after fertilization so that cell lineages can be programmed with new epigenetic modifications. But if epi-marks that direct sexual development are not erased correctly, a mother could pass down epi-marks that direct female development to her son, resulting in an attraction to men, and vice versa for a father and his daughters …

They also expect that specific epi-marks will regulate sensitivity differently in the brain versus gonads, resulting in same-sex attraction even when normal genital development occurs, said Gavrilets….

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33773/title/Can-Epigenetics-Explain-Homosexuality-/

Further research will tell, but this is the current most plausible biological basis.

Confessions of an atheist Freemason | Religion And More…

Tonight, while reading a thick secret Masonic book left to me by my departed Master Mason grandfather, who reached the 32nd degree (Master of the Royal Secret) on June 16, 1944, I became curious if I might be able to start a Science-Based Masonic lodge. It appears not… but things do change.

At this time in history, an atheistic Freemason must hide his true beliefs according to this:

I’m an atheist Freemason (they’d expel me if they knew)

Is it possible to reconcile being a confirmed atheist with participating in a religious organisation?

People usually think Masons are either a bunch of old farts with their trousers rolled up, or evil genuises bent on world domination. Dan Brown, in his otherwise execrable Lost Symbol, described us fairly and with a sneaking admiration (though in this country we don’t do anything like locking ourselves in cupboards with skulls). It’s a way of meeting people (well, men) on a basis of immediate friendship. It teaches a moral code: integrity, fidelity, benevolence etc. It raises a *lot* of money for charity. It offers a chance to perform ceremonies. Why does it need to be religious?

Every candidate for initiation is asked “Do you believe in a Supreme Being?”. When I was asked this, I replied “Yes”, and meant it – nothing further is ever asked or expected. At the time I was a wishy-washy not-quite-a-Christian, like many other members I’ve met. People from any faith are welcome, and oaths of secrecy and fidelity are taken on a bible, or other holy book if appropriate (requests for Darwin or Dawkins wouldn’t be well received!). Each meeting involves prayers to the generic “Great Architect of the Universe” to look favourably upon the organisation and its members, and to keep us steadfast in our oaths. I question whether any passing God would trouble Himself to shine His rays upon a bunch of men waffling on in coloured aprons, but this low-key interventionism is woven in. The secrets themselves serve no purpose other than identification, aren’t hard to find on google, and really aren’t interesting in their own right.

Moral teachings are a central part of the ceremonies, in which the “candidate” (new member) is taught various lessons about how to be a better man. There are some wonderful moments in these ceremonies, which are genuine once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and I can honestly say that they’ve had a very real and positive effect on my conduct in everyday life. One key point they hold that I utterly reject is that God is the moral compass and fount of all goodness.

I derive a lot of enjoyment from performing the ceremonies. They involve learning large tracts of dignified, old-fashioned dialogue and monologue, and performing them in such a way as to give the candidate a memorable and impressive experience. Any frustrated actor would revel in this. Amateur pageantry is also an important part, and for anyone who enjoys watching the pomp and circumstance of a royal wedding, military parade, or a high church service, this is good fun to take part in. Some of the buildings are nothing short of magnificent and it’s a privilege to use them. Alas, those small parts of the ceremony which reflect the religious underpinning engender in me feelings of hypocrisy; I’ve filled various offices which involve leading short prayers. It feels dirty – perhaps more so than mumbling the Lord’s Prayer at a wedding, though there is no logical reason for this to be the case. Is it any different from being in a church and not agreeing with the letter of everything being said? Maybe it’s the difference between being an atheist church-goer and an atheist priest.

Why do I do this? It’s fun. It fills a gap which I think church fills in the lives of the religious – community, morality, ceremony etc. I agree strongly with the intent of its teachings, even though I reject the jump from “being nice to people is good” to “God is good and He wants you to be nice to people”. Given the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy after the initial interview (religion and politics are taboo subjects on account of being too divisive), all that’s required is a certain amount of finger-crossing and keeping my mouth shut. It’s a price to pay, but the benefits (strictly non-pecuniary!) of membership far outweigh this price.

There’s no secular equivalent, alas – society is still to emerge fully from the assumption that all good people are religious, and all religious people are good, and Freemasonry is lagging far behind. In my opinion, the religion could be removed from Freemasonry to no loss, but I’m probably in the minority.

You may call me a hyprocrite, and you may very well be right. So be it. I’ve made a significant positive contribution to a number of lodges over a number of years, and they to me. I have every hope this will continue.

http://religionandmore.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/im-an-atheist-freemason/

Of course, if I had successfully formed an Non-Religious Masonic lodge bent on proving that moral behavior is a human right, a human creation, and a universally human struggle, I couldn’t tell you about it.

My grandfather only said one thing about the Masons to me… Ever. It seemed totally random to me at the time because I didn’t know he was one. He said that if anyone ever tells you the Masons asked him to join, they were lying. You have to go to them.

- Xeno

Louisiana Teachers Can Continue To Teach Creationism

Creationism will be staying in the classrooms of Louisiana, for now at least. An attempt to repeal legislation that permits teachers to bring creationist textbooks into the classroom was defeated by a 3-2 vote.

The effort to eliminate the Louisiana Science Education Act was started by teenage activist Zack Kopplin. Sen. Karen Carter Peterson was also involved in the attempted repeal. Kopplin previously launched legal bids to repeal the Science Education Act in 2011 and 2012.

Kopplin is not giving up.

“For the past few months we’ve been organizing relentlessly and having people contact their elected officials to ask them to vote to repeal Louisiana’s creationism law,” Kopplin said.

“We lost again this year, but we’re making progress. We gained a second vote. And on top of this, it was clear that we will eventually win and repeal this vote. It’s up to the legislators to choose which side of history they want to stand on.”

Sen. Elbert Guillory had reservations about repealing the act. He said that eliminating it could “lock the door on being able to view ideas from many places, concepts from many cultures.” Part of the reason he opposed repealing the law was because of an experience he had with a spiritual healer, the Inquisitr reported.

“Yet if I closed my mind when I saw this man – in the dust, throwing some bones on the ground, semi-clothed – if I had closed him off and just said, “That’s not science. I’m not going to see this doctor,” I would have shut off a very good experience for myself,” Guillory said.

The Louisiana Science Education Act certainly has its fair share of detractors, though.

“The LSE Act is a bad law, not because of its spirit, but because of its failure to provide the necessary restrictions, standards, and guidelines required in order for the original intent to be successfully realized,” said Tammy Wood, a teacher who won the 1991 Louisiana Presidential Award for science education.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/louisiana-teachers-can-continue-teach-creationism

I’m disgusted that superstitious politicians can require that children in an entire state be taught ideas contrary to factual evidence.

Louisiana counts the cost of teaching creationism – in reputation and dollars

… GOP Governor Bobby Jindal defends anti-evolution education policy, but it costs his state millions in science-based business

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal endorsed teaching creationism in public schools, by way of the state’s creationism law, a misnamed and misguided piece of legislation called the Louisiana Science Education Act. In a recent interview with NBC News, Jindal said:

“Let’s teach them about intelligent design … What are we scared of?”

Governor Jindal, we are scared of the harm to Louisiana students and to our state. The Louisiana Science Education Act has already hurt our economy.

The chairman of Louisiana’s senate education committee, Conrad Appel, has called for high schools and colleges to graduate more students in Stem fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), because “the amount of income [students] can earn in these related fields is best.” Teaching students that creationism is science will confuse them about the scientific method and the nature of science, which, in turn, will hold them back from getting jobs in any cutting-edge scientific field.

We can’t teach students misleading lessons that blur the lines between rigorous fact and religious belief.

If the law stays in place, we will not graduate more students into careers in science unless we teach them evolution, which is vital to fields like agriculture and medicine. We need our students to understand the concept to get jobs in places such as Baton Rouge’s top-notch Pennington Biomedical Research Center or New Orleans’ BioDistrict.

Claude Bouchard, a former executive director of the Pennington Research Center, told me that because of the Louisiana Science Education Act:

“[Students] will continue to believe that the laws of chemistry, physics and biology are optional when addressing the big issues of our time. Unfortunately, this is also not without economic consequences.

“If you are an employer in a high-tech industry, in the biotechnology sector or in a business that depends heavily on science, would you prefer to hire a graduate from a state where the legislature has in a sense declared that the laws of chemistry, physics or biology can be suspended at times or someone from a state with a rigorous science curriculum for its sons and daughters?”

Peter Kulakowsky, a biotech entrepreneur in Louisiana, recently published a letter in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, saying that:

“As the director of a biological laboratory in Louisiana, I need enlightened staff. Distracting the state’s students in their formative training [through the Louisiana Science Education Act] only cripples them.”

The Louisiana Science Education Act does more than harm the potential of Louisiana’s students. It is already directly impacting the state’s economy. Louisiana State University’s former graduate dean of science, Kevin Carman, testified before the state legislature in 2012 that top scientists had left the university citing the Louisiana Science Education Act as a reason. Other scientists chose to accept jobs elsewhere, because they didn’t want to come to a state with a creationism law. Carman said: “teaching pseudo-science drives scientists away.”

Louisiana’s third largest industry is tourism, and the state generates millions of dollars each year from conventions. After the Louisiana Science Education Act was passed, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology cancelled a scheduled convention in New Orleans in 2011, costing the city an estimated $2.9m. …

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/01/louisiana-cost-teaching-creationism

Loserisiana is a sinking laughingstock thanks to Governor Bobby Jindal and the misleadingly named “Louisiana Science Education Act”. If you are a scientist in that state, what do you recommend?

Jesus of Siberia

Why Is An Orthodox Jew Flying In A Huge Plastic Bag?

A picture of an Orthodox Jew encased in a giant plastic bag is causing some debate on the Internet this week, as commenters attempt to explain the man’s unusual traveling garb.

Redditor “FinalSay” posted the picture of the man early Thursday morning to the r/atheism subreddit, with the caption, “An Orthodox Jew in an airplane with women – so he covers himself with a plastic bag…“

Ultra-Orthodox Jews adhere to a strict set of guidelines that include gender segregation in public. In fact, Haaretz reports that Israeli airline El Al has noticed an increase in the number of ultra-Orthodox menasking to switch seats to avoid sitting next to women. (One woman even sued the airlines for allegedly moving her to the back of a plane after ultra-Orthodox men refused to sit next to her.)

However, netizens were quick to point out that the “flying with women” explanation may not be entirely accurate.

“This has nothing to do with women,” user “thenewyorkgod” wrote. “He is a cohen,’ descendant from the high holy priests of the temple and they are not allowed to walk into or fly over a cemetery, which would render them impure.”

Indeed, there seems to be some precedent for holy men (alternately known as a Kohen or Cohen) attempting to travel in plastic bags to and from Israel.

In 2001, El Al Airlines decided not to allow ultra-Orthodox Jews of priestly descent to “hermetically seal themselves in plastic bags when flying over the Holon cemetery in order to avoid ritual impurity.”

El Al stated “flight safety considerations do not allow for passengers to board while covered in sealed plastic bags.”

Still, the paper reported that in 2002 a flight crew got into a heated dispute with an ultra-Orthodox passenger who attempted to fly wrapped in plastic, according to Haaretz. The confrontation eventually led the pilot to turn the plane around.

… Read more

I’d just assume he had a flu and was being polite. Remind the kids that people can die from suffocating in big plastic bags. Don’t try this at home without having your trust holy knife there in the bag with you.

Woman Says She Could See, Smell God

A woman who said she saw, heard, spoke with and even smelled God during a near-death experience in 2009 recounted her experiences on an episode of Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday.

Crystal McVea, an Oklahoma native, said she spent time in heaven when she went into full respiratory arrest after a medical procedure on Dec. 10, 2009. She said the experience renewed her faith in Christianity.

Speaking with Fox’s Gretchen Carlson, McVea said the moment she closed her eyes in the hospital,she opened them in heaven.

“I had angels, I had God, and I fell to my knees in front of him,” she said.

After Carlson asked her to describe God, McVea answered that while “human words” failed to describe what heaven looked like, she could describe God as “an immense brightness –- a brightness I could feel, taste, touch, hear, smell –- that infused me. Not like I had five senses, but maybe like I had 500 senses.”

Twice, McVea said God asked her if she wanted to return back to Earth, and twice McVea said she chose to stay.

“All my life, I was a doubter,” McVea said. She had heard the stories and gone to church, but wasn’t completely convinced. “And so, to close my eyes and open them and be standing in front of the creator of not only the universe, but of me, i never wanted to leave that.”

Despite her objections, McVea said God sent her back to her body after “freeing” her from her shame and guilt.

McVea has written about her experience in a book titled Waking Up In Heaven. …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/crystal-mcvea-smelled-god-near-death-experience_n_3007864.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News

What do you suppose God smells like? I’d guess apple pie with a chocolate vanilla mint topping. I really want to smell you Lord, but it takes so long I know. Hallelujah.

The Pagan Origin Of Easter

Easter is a day that is honered by nearly all of contemporary Christianity and is used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The holiday often involves a church service at sunrise, a feast which includes an “Easter Ham”, decorated eggs and stories about rabbits.

Those who love truth learn to ask questions, and many questions must be asked regarding the holiday of Easter.

Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead? Where did all of the strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of [Jesus]? …

The first thing we must understand is that professing Christians were not the only ones who celebrated a festival called “Easter.”

“Ishtar”, which is pronounced “Easter” was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called “Tammuz”, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god.

Pope Francis washes youths’ feet at detention center

Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen prisoners, including young women, at a youth detention center in Rome as part of a Holy Thursday Mass ahead of Easter.

The pontiff poured water over the young offenders’ feet, wiped them with a white towel and kissed them.

The act of foot-washing at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is part of the Christian tradition that mirrors Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet.

Francis’ decision to celebrate the Mass with young offenders at the Casal del Marmo center represents a break with tradition but is in step with his record in embracing simplicity and humility.

The service has in past years been held at the grand Basilica of St. John Lateran, the official seat of the bishop of Rome.

This time, the Mass “will be, by his express desire, very simple,” the Vatican said before the service.

The young offenders were expected to give the pope a wooden crucifix and kneeler, which they made themselves in the detention center’s workshop.

In return, Francis was to bring Easter eggs and colomba, traditional Italian Easter cake in the shape of a dove, for all, the Vatican had said.

The Casal del Marmo center houses close to 50 inmates, who range in age from 14 to 21. The young people who had their feet washed were chosen from different nationalities and diverse religious backgrounds. Two young women and two Muslims were included in the rite, according to the Vatican.

Why is the pope washing prisoners’ feet?

More than 2,000 cardinals, archbishops, bishops and priests, as well as more than 10,000 of the Roman Catholic faithful, joined the pope in celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Ba

Francis urged the priests to be close to their congregations and listen to their everyday concerns, even if those concerns sometimes appear material or mundane.

The priests should be “shepherds who have the smell of their sheep,” he said. …

via Pope Francis washes youths’ feet at detention center – CNN.com.

He actually has a foot fetish. Just kidding. He’s going to eat the sheep that smell the best. Just kidding. It baffles me that people would like to be called sheep.