MP leads group to clarify religious discrimination.

"Following a series of high-profile court cases, Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon, is to head the inquiry by Christians in Parliament, an all-party parliamentary group, to "clarify" the legal position for members of the faith, and examine whether their freedoms are being "eroded"."

He voted against the ban on hunting with dogs and against gay marriage. I must also enquire who is paying for this little shindig.

This is my email to him;

Re Inquiry on religious rights.
About time. My rights are being eroded all the time. I want a return to biblical values and I want them enforced. Let's make Christianity the religion of the UK and stop trying to give other 'faiths' an equal voice. Mohammed was a paedophile and it's a disgrace that I can't wear my cross for fear of upsetting someone. Live and let live is what I say.

Ten things I would need to deny to begin to accept that the bible was written by God.

That it is clearly written by people of that time.

That there is no corroborating evidence for the House of David.

That it contradicts itself frequently.

That it promotes murder, misogyny and slavery.

That it contains a virgin birth like so many other myths.

That the Adam and Eve thing is totally absurd and without Eve and the snake there is no reason for Jesus’ death.

That God is needy, demands my attention and if I don’t do things his way, he will torture me for eternity.

That God lets the devil do his work for him.

That according to the bible, heaven is a cube where dragons live and where angels fight.

That the best way an all-powerful god (who had already drowned everything on earth to rectify a previous mistake) could redeem his creation was by impregnating a virgin so that his son could be tortured and killed to save my soul.

Me

Hello. Missed it.

10 hidden things God could do to make a better world

1. Gradually raise the age at which women can become pregnant to 18
2. Correlate mens’ sperm count with their IQ and compassion levels
3. Phase out some of the nastier diseases
4. Cause a few dictators and despots to come to a violent and messy death
5. Reduce the climate extremes we are experiencing
6. Make a bit more water available in the places that really need it
7. Drop a viable concept or two for clean transport into the heads of a few
scientists
8. Ensure said scientists have access to research funds
9. Gradually build an aversion in people to nicotine
10. Enable better logical reasoning skills in people

He could do all of these things without having to ‘give himself away’ by demonstrating his existence. It seems he has a problem with publicity. He likes to be worshipped but doesn’t like to put in the personal appearances these days. It’s understandable. He is getting old.

These simple measures would ensure a better quality of life for millions. Of course some of you may be looking at the list and thinking that God is already 'On the case'. What would you add to the list?

My pitch for a Reality TV Show

Ok, we have 'pastors' looking for noteriety by burning books held as holy doctrine by other faiths and the religious stupid keep banging on about how important the Bible is in telling us how to live our lives.

Even my locval Jehovanhs Witness Kingdom Hall is getting in on the act with a talk on; " Bible Principles, can they help us with todays problems?" I am willing to bet that they think they can.

I so want to turn up to that meeting (after all I am invited) with my male slave dressed in leather and on a lead. After all God doesn't have a problem with his people owning slaves. But he does have a problem with man-on-man love, namely anal sex. It is forbidden in Leviticus (twice) along with round haircuts, eating shellfish and the wearing of mixed fibres.

Perhaps I should turn up with a female slave, after all, womern are seen pretty much as property in the good book. Eve got us in to this mess in the first place and since then, women have had to know their place. They can be killed, raped and tortured under biblical law. If a woman is raped, she has to marry her rapist;

"If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her."

I could go on but here's the pitch. Find a bible-belt nutjob religious community something like Westboro and give them amnesty from the law of the land. Let them take their holy book into their own 'gated' community and get on with it. The men will be on a power trip, the women even more abused, the children damaged for life.

Drop a few weirdos in there as well, perhaps some people wanting redemption and if you want it to get really interesting have some other faiths in the mix. If there is some conflict, put it out to a public vote as to who gets stoned to death or has their hand cut off. We could even have a panel of 'Scholars' on TV each week to provide spiritual guidance (God seems to have lost interest lately). Would Anjam Choudray be the new Simon Cowell?

Some good must come from it. Religious people will surely wake up to the contradictory, sadistic, nasty piece of work for what the Abrahamic holy books are. Or will they continue to live the lie so they can look forward to eternal life?

"Dancing on Ice" could become "Dicing with Death". What do you think?

Jesus and the third temptation

"Had Jesus been able to look into the future when he stood in the wilderness, might he also have been tempted to extend his influence over the 'kingdoms of the world' in a more than political sense? Might he have felt the temptation to 'convert' Paul, to send dissention into the synagogues of Ephesus, Athens, Corinth, Rome; to establish a new 'world religion' which would one day become the religion of the empire? Would he have been tempted to found a church, or several churches each accusing the other of heresy and denouncing their fellow believers by the means of councils, papal bulls, inquisitions and wars until the capital of the empire stood thick with temples devoted to the worship of Jesus and alters where gentile priests could, by repeating certain words, call down the very presence of Jesus into their midst?

If he had forseen such a thing , it is actually hard to suppose that the Jesus of the New Testament would have found it tempting, since it would have seemed to him so obviously like the work of the devil."

A.N. Wilson - from his book "Jesus"

Does belief in God influence outcomes?

I follow a few people on Twitter who have religious delusions. They praise the lord, tell him how wonderful he is and how they follow him and thank him for lighting their lives. You know the kind of thing.

These people really do believe they have a deep and profound relationship with god. With some, like @MissRaissa @alexandrasmif the language is about feeling God inside her and being overwhelmed with his presence. It reads to me like they are really in love with Jesus and want him to fuck them. While they love Jesus and follow his doctrine, they aren't going to be getting any jiggy from any men. Let's hope the sex side is not a disappointment after they do get around to being married (for eternity).

Anyway I got to thinking that the people walking with god 'shining a light' on their fortune could be compared to people of a different faith or people of no faith. A study of groups of similar demographics or however statisticians do this stuff.

There could be information gathered on;

• The number of people
• becoming seriously ill and how many went on to a full recovery
• having a relative, friend, pet die
• experiencing promotion or a pay-rise if working.
• getting good grades in an exam
• able to give up smoking
• being adversely affected by quakes, floods, tempests etc.

I am sure you get the idea. I am trying to think of things that wouldn't be too subjective or be biased due to the person's perception of the situation. Now we know what the research would show, that good and bad things happen to people irrespective of what they do or don't believe in.

So that kind of scuppers the prayer thing as well. No evidence there. In fact the only clinical study I know showed prayer made people worse.

So God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are present in peoples' lives but there is no measurable difference in significant events happening to to them that don't happen to godless people. Does that then mean that these poor deluded people are in it for the eternal life thing? Or do they really believe that God is giving them a better deal that every non-xtian?

I really do wonder if they have a proper understanding of eternity. If someone was giving me the chance of eternal life without a body and in the company of a god that takes an unhealthy interest in my sex life, I would be bloody terrified.