Because I am an atheist…

I was better able to deal with having cancer.

In May 2010, I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called follicular lymphoma.  It was in stage 3, and it only goes to stage 4.  I learned from my oncologist that the form of cancer I have is not curable, but it responds well to treatment.

From the first mention of lymphoma to knowing exactly what I had and what my treatment options were and the likely outcome was about two months.  During that time, many questions crossed my mind.  But I realized that being an atheist for more than two decades gave me a big advantage mentally and emotionally.  I never asked “Why me?” or wondered how this fit into God’s plan.  I spent that time looking into the details of my medical coverage, making plans for various  possible outcomes, etc.  But I didn’t waste one nano-second praying.

When I knew the full details of the diagnosis and the planned course of treatment, I told my family and friends.  Everyone told me they were sorry to hear about the cancer.  But I noticed an interesting difference in the response of atheists and christians.  The atheists offered real help.  I received offers to help with yard work, house work, pool cleaning, transportation to treatments, etc.  From the christians, with few exceptions, all that was offered was prayers.  One christian, who knows I am an atheist, told me he was going to pray for me whether I wanted him to or not.  I responded that it would not hurt me, and if it made him feel better to go ahead and pray.

I have been in remission since November 2010, thanks to my oncologist and his caring staff, as well as all of those scientists and doctors doing research on cancer over the decades.

Consider submitting your own statement, by e-mail or as a comment!

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P.S. I want to extend my personal thanks to all those who have responded with their deeply personal stories. I am humbled and grateful to see such an outpouring of raw honesty and personal disclosure. If you’ve been enjoying this series so far, please consider submitting something yourself, either by e-mail or as a comment.

The CEMB calls on all to join in the various meetings, rallies and actions to be held on 26 May in order to defend Shahin’s right to free expression and his right to be free from threats and intimidation. A criticism of religion is key to the basic right to free expression.

To support Shahin and to stand up for freedom of expression, please join the Facebook page and visit his website.

For more information, contact:
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919
London WC1N 3XX
telephone: +44(0)7719166731
e-mail: ex-muslimcouncil@googlemail.com
website: www.ex-muslim.org.uk

From: E-Mail Address Withheld
Subject: nuke all muslems
Date: May 13, 2012 11:08:00 PM MDT
To: Information Weinstein

we known many things about you mikey. we know you love the arab muslem sand niggers and hate Lord Jesus and Christians. We know you are a kike jew lawyer with a big mouth and uppity attitude. we know the commie pinko reporters write whatever you tell them to write because you are a doomed jew prick. and we know where you live and travel and everything. and we know you hate America which is a nation founded up on Jesus our Savior PERIOD. Poor Kikey Whineshit now you scream and howl about our brave Army teaching the only answer to islam sand niggery. Which is to drop nukes on muslems cities and the terorists living there which is all the populations weather they be islam children or grown ups its all the same. all muslems are terorists its in there blood. just like jewblood loves only money and betraying trechery as you framed and murdered Jesus. you just can’t help yourself jewboy Kikey. Any more than the muslems can. blood does as blood does. Nuke All The a-rabs Now should be our Army’s battle cry and no. 1 order of there day. Which it was fine and dandy until you shoved your big jew nose into there war business. The Army has it right and now you try to stop it? you don’t have long and you won’t. It is always comforting to know as a patriotic American Christian that you will burn forever in the fire ovens of hell in unending torture with your muslem scum pals and your Military Religous Foundation fools and your ugly Whineshit kike wife and jew piglet children.

That person has the right to vote. And their vote counts the same as yours and mine.

Speaking to the Nation in Mombasa, Council of Imams and Preachers Organising Secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa accused President Obama of playing god by legalizing what “God Himself objects”.

“Simply because he has risen to be the President of a super power does not mean he can now start acting as God. He is nothing in the eyes of God and his plans will not succeed just like those who preceded him in such plans,” said Sheikh Khalifa.

He further accused the Kenya Human Rights Commission of propagating western values at the expense of religion by propagating for same sex marriages and abortion.

“God created man and woman so that we can procreate. How come we now want to behave worse than dogs who do not go for their own gender but know the difference between the two?” asked Sheikh Khalifa.

Wait, Kenyan Muslims don’t like same-sex marriage? But Obama IS a Kenyan Muslim. Does not compute, does not compute…

A properly-created research question is money in the bank. So, as an act of magnanimity, I am offering up this fruitful research question for free, to be researched by anyone who wants to tackle it. “What is it about having kids that turns people into stupid assholes?“:

Anti-gay parents and religious groups told the standing committee for social policy at Queen’s Park on May 7 that gay-straight alliances (GSAs) “promote the gay lifestyle” and that Bill 13 is tantamount to “slavery.”

More than 20 people spoke against Bill 13, the Liberals’ Accepting Schools Act, during the first of four committee hearings. The committee is also looking at Bill 14, the Progressive Conservative anti-bullying legislation. Education Minister Laurel Broten says the best elements of Bill 14 will be incorporated into Bill 13.

I know some people who are parents. Most of them are perfectly decent people who are entirely sensible and intelligent people. It is certainly unfair of me to draw conclusions about all parents, but for whatever reason whenever I hear a news story that involves ‘parents groups’ or ‘concerned parents’ or ‘parents rights advocates’, I know that I am about to read a story about panicky morons who think that whelping spawn gives them some kind of magical super-powered insight into reality.

This story perhaps takes the cake:

Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, was the first to speak and said Bill 13 “embraces a radical sex education agenda” and children will be taught “about oral and anal sex.” “My daughter is a precious little 14-year-old girl. I beg you not to do this to my daughter,” he said. “This bill goes against the Bible. The Bible is a very important document.”

Chuck… buddy. Your daughter’s 14. She knows about oral sex. I’m not saying she’s done it (although who knows?), I’m saying she knows it exists. Also, there’s oral sex in the Bible, along with genocide and daughter-fucking. If you’re really worried about your daughter learning about some warped shit, keep her as far away from the fucking Bible as possible. The only thing that’s “radical” about teaching kids about oral sex is that they’ll learn that getting head is fucking RAD, and she’s going to figure that out whether or not you like it.

Next to mount the soapbox of inanity:

Ekron Malcolm, director at the Institute for Canadian Values, called Bill 13 “a form of slavery” because students will be exposed to positive messages about being gay. “You are forcing your ideas on my family values, my black family values… How dare you take away my right to teach my children my heritage.”

Hey… Ekron. You think that anti-gay assholery is a ‘black family value’? Well, from my black family to yours:

Nobody is telling you that you’re not allowed to raise your kids to be little bigoted pricks like you are. They’re just trying to make sure that schools are safe places for gay kids who won’t have to put up with your little douchebag progeny kicking the shit out of them. For someone whose history likely includes slavery, the fact that you compare ‘not being allowed to bully gay kids’ to goddamn slavery means you deserve another animated .gif:

Also, a retrograde piece of shit like Mr. Malcolm working for a group called ‘The Institute for Canadian Values’ is particularly Orwellian. Most Canadians think you’re a dick, Mr. Ekron, and that your beliefs have very little value.

Here’s my favourite part:

At several points committee members challenged the speakers, asking them to point to any section of the legislation that mentions sex education. “So, the GSA component in the bill is the sex education you’re referring to? When you talk about sex education, you mean the word gay?” NDP MPP Peter Tabuns asked. “Gay means sex?” To this, presenter Jim Kwan, from the Markham Voice website, replied, “Yes.” Liberal MPP Kevin Flynn asked if Kwan had actually read Bill 13. Kwan said he had not [emphasis mine], adding, “GSAs promote the gay lifestyle.”

They hadn’t read the fucking bill! They showed up to protest a bill that they hadn’t bothered to even get a summary of first! Seriously, there’s no faster way to undermine your position (which wasn’t all that strong to begin with) than to get all hot and bothered about sex ed classes when the bill isn’t about sex ed! It’s like the people who protest late-term abortions and are stupefied to learn that more than 90% happen before the second trimester.

Then again, this is a group of people who say shit like this:

“Bill 13 provides too much sexually focused information,” [Kim Galvao] said. “Our children don’t need more sex education. They need less.”

Congratulations Ms. Galvao – you’ve managed to say the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard from a parent ever. Your kids need to be less educated? I feel like just saying that shit out loud should immediately trigger someone from Social Services to be sent to your home to make sure you’re a fit parent.

Luckily, this particularly slice of ‘humanity’ represents a very angry but very small proportion of troublemakers who would rather see gay kids (other people’s of course) disproportionately suicidal than have to explain to their little angels that mommy and daddy live their moral lives in the rapidly shrinking horizon of yesterday.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today expressed grave concern over the Kuwaiti Parliament’s approval last week of severe new penalties for blasphemy. The Emir of Kuwait has 30 days to approve these penalties before they would become law. The new provisions would impose the death penalty on Muslims who refuse to repent after being found to have insulted God, the Prophet Mohammad, his wives, or the Qur’an. For non-Muslims, the punishment would be up to 10 years in prison; for Muslims who repent, the punishment would be up to five years or a fine.

“These penalties are alarming and contrary to international human rights standards. It is particularly regrettable that a strong ally of the United States and a member of the UN Human Rights Council has taken these steps,” said Leonard Leo, USCIRF Chair. “The Kuwaiti parliament’s approval is especially unfortunate in light of the new consensus resolutions at the Human Rights Council – adopted in both 2011 and 2012 — that focus on fighting religious intolerance, discrimination, and violence without restricting speech.”

USCIRF urges the United States to work with Kuwait to address concerns about intolerant speech through counter-speech and positive measures, including education and outreach, as provided for in Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18. The U.S. government also should urge the Emir of Kuwait to reject the pending blasphemy law amendments and focus instead on criminalizing only incitement to imminent violence. Such a reform would make Kuwaiti law consistent with international human rights standards and the intolerance resolutions that Kuwait supported at the UN.

“These draconian provisions should be rejected because they would place individuals’ lives in jeopardy for exercising their internationally-guaranteed freedoms of religion and expression,” said Leo. “As has been evident during the years USCIRF has monitored religious freedom violations around the world, blasphemy laws do not promote religious harmony as their proponents assert; rather, they exacerbate religious intolerance, extremism, and violence.”

Yes, a nation on the UN Human Rights Council is proposing to kill people for blasphemy. Of course, we have our own problems in that regard given our flagrant violation of human rights over the last decade. Okay, over the last two centuries, but you get my point. Still, this law is barbaric and disgusting and the USCIRF is right to speak out against it.

Pontiac’s former state-appointed financial manager Fred Leeb is part of a coalition seeking a constitutional amendment to expand casino gambling in eight locations across Michigan, including the Silverdome in Pontiac, the public relations firm representing the coalition says.

Leeb was Pontiac’s state-appointed emergency manager from March 2009 until June 2010. The Silverdome was sold to Andreas Apostolopoulos in November 2009 for $583,000, a sum that drew wide criticism for being so low for the former home of the Detroit Lions…

But Emily Gerkin Palsrok of Lambert Edwards & Associates, the public relations company handling information about the ballot initiative and the coalition behind it, said Leeb, along with Apostolopolous, are part of the coalition seeking to put the initiative on the November ballot.

“He (Andreas Apostolopoulos), Steve Apostolopoulos and Fred Leeb are part of Jobs First,” Emily Gerkin Palsrok of Lambert Edwards & Associates said Monday. “As such, this is land that they’re targeting to use.”

So as Pontiac’s emergency manager he helped engineer the sale of the Silverdome at a fire sale price and now he’s working with the guy who bought it to make what will inevitably end up being a huge amount of money on the use of that property. Anyone wanna bet that Leeb will end up as a partner in the casino there if and when it’s approved? I’m all for this initiative, though I think it doesn’t go far enough. I think gambling should simply be legalized in all forms, everywhere. But this deal stinks to high heaven.

I too am incensed—but not surprised—when the TSA manhandles four-year old girls, children with cerebral palsy, pretty women, theelderly, and wheelchair users for humiliation, abuse, and sometimes theft. Any bureaucracy that processes 630 million people per year will generate stories like this. When people propose profiling, they are really asking for a security system that can apply judgment. Unfortunately, that’s really hard. Rules are easier to explain and train. Zero tolerance is easier to justify and defend. Judgment requires better-educated, more expert, and much-higher-paid screeners. And the personal career risks to a TSA agent of being wrong when exercising judgment far outweigh any benefits from being sensible.

The proper reaction to screening horror stories isn’t to subject only “those people” to it; it’s to subject no one to it. (Can anyone even explain what hypothetical terrorist plot could successfully evade normal security, but would be discovered during secondary screening?) Invasive TSA screening is nothing more than security theater. It doesn’t make us safer, and it’s not worth the cost.

In other words, Harris is right to think we shouldn’t be putting old women in wheelchairs through secondary screening–Schneier just ends up going further and saying we shouldn’t be putting anyone through secondary screening. I strongly suspect Schneier is right about that, and if he is I’d like to see that message broadcast. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t seem interested in the question of whether or the various “security” procedures that have sprung up after Sept. 11th do any good. They just want to make sure we aren’t doing the un-PC thing of “profiling.”

It’s worth pointing out, for example, that Schneier’s first point stops making sense if you think we should go on doing secondary screenings at random. Once you commit to secondary screenings, you’re screening an awful lot of non-terrorists regardless of whether you profile.

It is well known that in recent times through the Internet many serious family-related problems have been created, and it all happens because of it, and something must be done so they won’t be hurt. And since this touches almost everyone, we must assemble together to protect and be protected, and we hope that through this gathering in search of ideas we will be helped from Heaven to save the many, and may it be that we will be successful in encouraging the public not to stumble over this obstacle, and the Lord will guide us in a truthful path. And note that sometimes the suspension of Torah is the very way in which it must be kept.

I am not sure what this business about the ‘suspension of the Torah’ is about. No doubt having such a rally is breaking one or more of the seemingly infinite number of prohibitions that Judaism decrees.

This event is not a surprise since religious people tend to view the free flow of information, especially about sex, with alarm. Also not surprising is that women are not allowed to attend. But not to worry! The Wall Street Journal reports that “A live video-feed will be streamed to six locations around the metropolitan area for women to watch.” So that’s ok, no discrimination at all here, so women should stop whining about being excluded. If they insist on going, they can try the strategy shown in The Life of Brian when women were excluded from other fun religious events like the stoning of blasphemers.

What is surprising is that the event to be held in a 42,000-seat stadium is supposedly sold out. The reason may not be due entirely to wild enthusiasm. Reports suggest that male students in some Jewish schools were being pressured to buy tickets for themselves and their fathers.

The antipathy towards the internet seems pretty strong. Apparently some Jewish schools require the signing of contracts forbidding children from having internet access in their homes.

Nice going, Ultra-Orthodox Jews! Like the Catholic Church, you seem to be going out of your way to reject modernity and alienate women and young people. That is undoubtedly an excellent strategy to grow your community in the 21st century.

Rick Santorum is urging Mitt Romney to “step up” and weaponize the issue of same-sex marriage.

“This is a very potent weapon, if you will, for Governor Romney if he’s willing to step up and take advantage of a president who is very much out of touch with the values of America,” Santorum said in an eye-opening live interview with Arkansas TV station KARK, a CNN affiliate…

“Hopefully Governor Romney will continue to stand tall for his position on this issue and understand how detrimental it would be for society for it to have this changed,” Santorum also told the Arkansas station.

Yes, you should do what Santorum did. Because it worked so well for him. In related news, the New England Patriots say the New York Giants would be better off playing like they did in the Super Bowl that they lost.