The Virgin Mary Appeared last Month At The International Art Expo New York?

I found this story in my email this morning, via the Christian newswire:

/Christian Newswire/ -- A five foot apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared last month at the 2009 International Art Expo New York, inside the Javits Center. She appeared on a ten foot high carpeted wall. Mary's face was very discernible as she stood with her arms in a welcoming fashion. The miraculous vision was witnessed by many visitors including the Staff of Angelnook Publishing. There was no explanation or light source that could have projected such an image. The image could not be blocked out of view by any cast shadow that onlookers could create. The apparition remained for several hours and the Staff of Angelnook Publishing was able to take many photographs.

The exhibitor, Angelnook Publishing, represents artists that are divinely inspired and paint through Jesus, the Arc Angels and Ascended Masters. "We believe that this Art contains dates, timelines, lineages and important messages for mankind," stated Paul Spremulli, President of Angelnook located in Cranston, Rhode Island. "The art has a traditional flair; however, upon closer inspection profound images appear as faces, biblical scenes and written messages" said Spremulli.

The Angelnook Artists are experiencing many miraculous events as they channel through these celestial and divine beings. The message is simple: The World is a dark place at this time and there is an urgency to begin to shine God's light of truth on it. Other inspirational photos and images can be found at the website

I don’t often even give a second thought to stories like this. But when I realized just who had hosted this event, I decide to look a little deeper. I had heard many stories about just how far this publisher was willing to go; in peddling its books and art. But most of what I’d heard where just asinine claims like: their writers and artist all channeled Jesus (its actually the real work's of Jesus that their selling).


But I must say, this is one the best props that I’ve ever heard of being used; in marketing this kind of Christian trash. I just wonder, just how long it took them to form that image in the carpet on the wall.


But what I find most disturbing about this is: just how fast Christians are willing to believe this type of nonsense.

Mass Debaptisms by Secular Britons: A Sign of Things to Come?

With recent events and the spotlight focusing on bad economies and yes, the Pope's visit to Africa, Pope's continued rants against condom use has not only riled the scientific fraternity from the Lancet, secular folks have become incensed with the kind of bullshit being peddled about by the folks from the Vatican.

For all the good that has come out of this predictable publicity stunts, secular folks have bandied together and come up with something which I'd consider an odd novelty of sorts: A de-baptism certificate!!!

100,000 Secular Britons Seek "De-Baptism"



More than 100,000 Britons have recently downloaded "certificates of de-baptism" from the Internet to renounce their Christian faith. The initiative launched by a group called the National Secular Society (NSS) follows atheist campaigns here and elsewhere, including a London bus poster which triggered protests by proclaiming "There's probably no God." "We now produce a certificate on parchment and we have sold 1,500 units at three pounds (4.35 dollars, 3.20 euros) a pop," said NSS president Terry Sanderson, 58. John Hunt, a 58-year-old from London and one of the first to try to be "de-baptised," held that he was too young to make any decision when he was christened at five months old.

Michael Evans, 66, branded baptising children as "a form of child abuse" -- and said that when he complained to the church where he was christened he was told to contact the European Court of Human Rights.

De-baptism organisers say the initiative is a response to what they see as increasing stridency from churches -- the latest last week when Pope Benedict XVI stirred global controversy on a trip to AIDS-ravaged Africa by saying condom use could further spread of the disease.

Why Child Baptism?

As a former Christian myself, I was never baptized in Church: I was somewhat reticent about it; I remembered some of my Sunday School mates being baptized at an early age, probably 8 or 9, but a majority of them had parents who were either very regular and pious church goers or had parents who were pastors of the church. My overtly overbearing Christian aunt did not seem to press the issue, even though she did ask me a couple of times. In that sense, I consider myself to be lucky, since I don't have to spend a couple more bucks to de-baptize my sorry, backsliding ass!

Bad jokes aside, I always thought, even when I was a pious Christian, that child baptism is as weird as they come: Submerging children, or worst, babies, into water, and uttering some mumbo jumbos: What good does that do to a child or baby who hasn't even mustered enough intelligence to mutter a few garbled words?

While the charge of child abuse also seems to be one of frivolity, one has to understand that submerging a baby into water, albeit for a few seconds, may result in asphyxiation or drowning. This, however, applies mainly to submersion baptisms. Sprinkling of "holy" water over a baby's head is generally harmless enough, although I wonder if it is a safe bet to have a priest come within such proximity to a child, if you know what I mean.

While I do view most baptisms with ambivalence, I am most inclined to think that adults should not encroach and shove religions down the throats of kids who really should be left alone to their own devices: Sure, kids will have their fairy tales and cute little bunnies, but at least they aren't half as scary as the God of the Old Testament! Hell, even Freddie from Elm Street isn't half as scary!

De-baptism: A Sign of Things to Come???

Hot on the heels of Atheist Bus Ads, we now have a new spate of de-baptism certificates designed to cater to disgruntled folks who are more than a little livid about their early Christian lives, something which is not of their own choosing.

The more salient point, however, may be this: Atheists are no longer contented with remaining in the closets anymore, and religious leaders are beginning to realize that people are getting more and more disenfranchised with their myopic worldviews which have negative impacts to humanity at large.

-"...it is a telling fact that, the world over, the vast majority of children follow the religion of their parents rather than any of the other available religions."

Richard Dawkins

Homophobic Daniel Strikes Again

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When Praying for Miracles Becomes a Dangerous Game of Life and Death

From time to time, atheists are often reminded, often quite incessantly, about the benefits of prayer and why we atheists should not abandon religion wholesale. In addition, religious folks are quite quick to inform nonbelievers about the perceived frivolity of atheism, that if death comes a-knocking we atheists will start getting scared shitless and go to our kneels and beg for a whole bagful of miracles.

This kind of asinine arguments are quite baseless, especially since there isn't any god to answer your prayers to start with. But generally, prayers are harmless, the ones which border on little else but a bit of a intellectual masturbation: Prayer to win soccer matches, prayer to screw that hot brunette next door, and so on and so forth.

That said, not all prayers are harmless, and some of them can be essentially harmful and deadly, especially when it comes to emergency situations. For example, when the house is on fire, the last thing you want to do is go down on your knees and start praying to some imaginary sky deity who, if he exists, wouldn't have started a fire in the first place and then begin a game of dice to decide whether your body deserves to be barbecued to a fried crisp or save you later for midnight supper.

In a life-and-death situation, every second counts for something, sometimes everything: In the few seconds it takes for you to pray for your incompetent sky deity, a window of opportunity for escape may be lost for good. And if you think that your sky daddy can save your ass from a burning bush then woe to you, I will say.

In sum, prayer doesn't work, and if you'd face a emergency whereby you need to take urgent action to save someone else's life or yours, please, for fuck's sake, do not stop for a wing and a prayer!

Pilot who paused to pray in emergency gets 10 years

A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot.

The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.

A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.

Another five employees of Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair, were sentenced to between eight and nine years in jail by the court, in a verdict handed down yesterday.

The seven accused, who were not in court, will not spend time in jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.

Prayer Can Be Dangerous



"Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish."