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Comment by doone yesterday

Jesus Montero has played 29 games at catcher this season for the Mariners. He’s batting .208/.264/.327 — that’s not very good! — and struggling big-time as a catcher in the majors.

Image by Gene J. Puskar / AP

Jesus Sucre has played 14 games this season for the AAA Tacoma Rainiers. He’s batting .302/.373/.321 — that’s not bad! — and is known to be a solid defensive catcher.

Image by Charlie Riedel / AP

And, according to The Tacoma News Tribune’s Ryan Divish, Montero is being sent down to Tacoma, while Sucre is being called up. It’s a Jesus-for-Jesus swap. There have probably been, like, Bill-for-Bill swaps, but there was never a Bill at the center of the world’s largest religion. So, this seems more significant.

Comment by Neal yesterday

Well, so sorry, but all you atheists are still going to hell no matter what the pope says:

Vatican Representative: Just to Be Clear, Atheists Are Still Going to Hell
May 24, 2013 By Hemant Mehta Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I posted about something interesting Pope Francis said in a recent homily — namely, that even atheists could be “redeemed” if they were good people:

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

Many atheists thought it was pretty damn nice of the Pope to say that… even if the idea of being “saved” or “redeemed” thanks to Christ’s death is all made up.

We all knew that sense of one-ness and actions-speak-louder-than-prayers wasn’t going to last very long. As the Pope’s words made their way around the world, a Vatican spokesman had to do some damage control and remind everybody that atheists, in fact, are going to hell unless they accept Jesus:

On Thursday, the Vatican issued an “explanatory note on the meaning to ‘salvation.’”

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said that people who know about the Catholic church “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.”

Comment by Neal yesterday

Oklahoma atheist gets support from the community.

After a vicious tornado ripped through her Moore, Okla. home on Tuesday, Rebecca Vitsmun was lucky to be alive. After graciously handling an awkward moment while discussing the aftermath on national television, more good fortune is headed her way.

In a Tuesday interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Vitsmun was asked if she was thanking "the Lord" for deciding to escape home with her 19-month-old son. She hesitated for a moment, before telling Blitzer that she was actually an atheist.

"You are. All right. But you made the right call," Blitzer said, prompting Vitsmun to add: "We are here, and I don't blame anyone for thanking the Lord."

An Indiegogo community called Atheists Unite has responded resoundingly in support of Vitsmun's poise. Over just a few hours from late Thursday into early Friday, 250-plus funders had raised more than $7,000 for her. According to the page, a fundraising goal of $50,000 in assistance has been set.

"It's important that our community shows that we have your back when you come out publicly as an atheist," the campaign page wrote. "Let's show the world that you dont need to believe in a god to have human compassion nor does all charity fall under the banner of religion. Let's get this courageous woman and her family back in their own home."

HuffPost

Comment by Chris yesterday

The following obviously includes religious charities, including the Boy Scouts.

Comment by Persephone yesterday

Wow now that is what we need someone to stand up, Arizona has such political numpties it's good to see this. Wonder if his ancestors were illegals of wait that's us.

Comment by Chris yesterday

Lawmaker Comes Out as Atheist During House Prayer

ARIZONA REP. JUAN MENDEZ ENCOURAGES COLLEAGUES NOT TO BOW HEADS

(NEWSER) – The Arizona House and Senate typically convene with a prayer, which members take turns delivering. But Democratic Rep. Juan Mendez did something unusual yesterday: He took the opportunity to announce that he's an atheist (he referenced his "secular humanist tradition") and encourage other members not to bow their heads in prayer, but rather to look at each other and "celebrate our shared humanness," the Arizona Republic reports.

"This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration,” he told the House. "But this is also a room where, as my secular humanist tradition stresses, by the very fact of being human we have much more in common than we have differences." He also quoted Carl Sagan, adds the Phoenix New Times, and afterward said he was just one of 1.3 million Arizonans who are not religiously affiliated.

Comment by Onyango Makagutu on Thursday

Pope Francis rocked some religious and atheist minds today when he declared that everyone was redeemed through Jesus, including atheists.

During his homily at Wednesday Mass in Rome, Francis emphasized the importance of "doing good" as a principle that unites all humanity, and a "culture of encounter"to support peace.

Pope Francis Says Atheists Who Do Good Are Redeemed, Not Just Catho...

Comment by doone on Thursday

All religions or no religions

by digby

I have long thought that a necessary approach to dealing with the insistence on the part of certain Christians that their "religious liberty" is impinged if the government requires something their creed does not agree with is to have competing religions demand the same "freedom." You'd think we could avoid this nonsense after 500 years of bloody European history but apparently not.

Anyway, it's at least a good way to illustrate why the state should justinsist that everyone play by the same rules in the public sector while letting the church do its thing in the private sphere: 

The governor of Georgia has ordered that Bibles recently removed from lodges at government parks throughout the state be returned, reports state.

Republican Governor Nathan Deal issued the order after the Georgia Department of Natural Resources removed the Bibles following an atheist complaint about their presence.

Ed Buchner, 67, the former leader of the organization American Atheists, expressed his disapproval last month after finding a Gideon’s Bible in a cabin at one of the state parks. He said that he believed the Bibles violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, which says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“Out of an abundance of caution to avoid potential litigation, the commissioner removed the Bibles from the rooms – though they were still available on site – after a complaint from a visitor,” explained Deal.

However, the governor states that both he and the state Attorney General, Sam Olems, believe that the Bibles stand on “firm legal footing.”

“These Bibles are donated by outside groups, not paid for by the state, and I do not believe that a Bible in a bedside table drawer constitutes a state establishment of religion,” he said. “In fact, any group is free to donate literature.”

Well, now. I'll just let Wonkette take it from here:

Oh? said some sharp kids at American Atheists. Did you say any group? Hey, guys, as it happens, we are a group, and we would just love to donate some literature to be placed in bedside table drawers in Georgia state parks! And so they will be sending the Georgia Department of Natural Resources “enough popular atheist books to place one in every state park cabin in the state.”

In a press release, the group acknowledged that it would really prefer that state-owned facilities be oppressively neutral on matters of religion, but if Georgia wants to play this way, sure!

“American Atheists does not believe the State of Georgia should be placing Bibles or atheist books in state park cabins; however, if the state is going to allow such distribution, we will happily provide our materials,” said President David Silverman.

I'm fairly sure this literature will never make it to those cabins. And frankly, I think it would be better if it were a Muslim group or a b'hai or something fairly exotic that nonetheless these people understand to be a religion. But still, the point has been made.

Comment by doone on Wednesday

The Pope And Atheists

MAY 22 2013 @ 1:51PM

Francis is living up to his promise.

Comment by Neal on Wednesday

Excellent video. Blitzer set himself up there, probably figured out he was safe with that crap in Oklahoma.

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