TN Atheist

For many the 5th of May is for feasting on  sizzling fajitas and chugging discount margaritas.  I know I’ll be at my favorite Mexican restaurant this evening praying to the bartender for him to be generous with the tequila.  Unfortunately this day that is supposed to be a celebration of Mexican heritage has been hijacked by  the religious right with their making it a National Day of Prayer.  Did the religious choose the 5th of May because they are racial bigots that hate Latinos in this country?  Are they trying to take over holidays similar to what Christianity did in the past with Christmas and Easter?  Who knows.

What bothers me is how politicians that pushed the National Day of Prayer to recognized by the government have essentially spit on the constitution.  Only idiots deny the history of this country being founded to be a secular nation as far as the government is concerned.  Sure people have the right to believe in any nonsense they want but the government is supposed to stay out of it.

At the courthouse in the county I live in groups were gathered at the steps praying to their imaginary sky-daddy for all sorts of things.  Some requests were noble like for relief for the tornado victims in the south,  especially the ones in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Although in their delusional minds their intentions are good they would be better off gathering supplies to be shipped to the disaster area or donating to charities to help.  Prayer is a complete waste of time and does not help those in need.  Instead it only makes the person praying feel better and like they are doing something when they are not.

Well I’m off to get some margaritas, happy cinco  mayo.

The TN Atheist politics, prayer, Religion

Bill Summary

This bill prohibits the state board of education and any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or principal or administrator from prohibiting any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught, such as evolution and global warming. This bill also requires such persons and entities to endeavor to:
(1) Create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues; and
(2) Assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies.

If you want to be more educated than the legislators in the video and the general population of TN I encourage you to browse the archive and read all the FAQs on evolution at TalkOrigins.org

The TN Atheist creationism, evolution, indoctrination, politics, Tennessee

Time to celebrate Zombie Jesus Day again.  Since we have managed to go another year without a zombie apocalypse I have decided to resurrect the TN Atheist site and begin to actively post again.

I have been quite busy the last year our so and there’s have been many stories especially here in TN that I’ve been itching to comment on.  Both Tennessee and the rest of the country seems to be leaning dangerously to the right where clearly the religious nut jobs have managed to get a strong base.  Raising a 3 year old with another on the way is scary in the current environment.  I’m looking forward to discussing bringing up rational thinkers here in the bible belt, both what I’ve found that has worked and what hasn’t.

To all the people that have emailed me about feeling isolated here in TN as an atheist, keep your heads up.  Remember you are not a lone.  There are many like you around here and our numbers are growing.  Expect more posts soon.

The TN Atheist Christianity, craziness, irrational fear

The TN Atheist site has not been updated because I have been spending some time reflecting and have decided to turn from my sinful, blasphemous ways and get right with Christ.

Just kidding, I feel a little crazy and out of touch with reality just joking about it. No I haven’t lost my mind and been converted. Nor have I been attacked or silenced by the fundamentalist nut-jobs that live around me. I’ve just been busy.

Thank you all for your emails of encouragement and for letting me know how many people, especially those in Tennessee enjoy it.  Rest assured I have not abandoned the site and plan to respond to your emails as well as get back to posting as I was before. There has been a lot going on especially here in TN and some recent updates to stories I have covered.

Check back for new stuff and thanks again for visiting the site.

The TN Atheist About Me

Due to a wonderful vacation and enjoying the summer with my family it has been a few weeks since I last posted anything.  Rest assured this blog has not been abandoned and I will get back into the swing of things and will post many more in the near future.

Last weekend I found myself at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Flea Market in Nashville browsing the various wares of the merchants there when I came across a booth of Scientologists apparently recruiting.  The first thing I noticed were signs saying “Free Stress Test”.  This normally wouldn’t have aroused my interest but I noticed they had a table full of books all by L. Ron Hubbard.  Then I noticed the two plastic E-Meters there used to do the “stress testing.” 

I took out my phone and snapped a photo when none of them were looking.  Had I not been with my family I would have played dumb and talked to them and taken a stress tests to see what it was all about.  I was a little nervous pushing my kid around in a stroller considering the violent acts people hired by the Nashville Church of Scientology had supposedly commited to peaceful protestors in Nashville. 

Away from them I told my wife about who they were.  She wasn’t convinced they were scientologists  and went back and asked them, “Isn’t Hubbard the Scientologist guy.”  They told her yes and that they were indeed from the Church of Scientology in Nashville.  They had several people taking the tests so that is all my wife asked and left.

I find it interesting and a little troublesome that the Church of Scientology is recruiting people at the flea market, maybe they are hurting for members so bad or this is something they normally do.  Either way its clear that the the church is working to spread scientology here in TN.  If I go back and see them recruiting again I will definitely be sure to take a stress test and inquire about the meter.  As an electrical engineer I’m sure I’ll have several tough questions about this test and the instrument they are using to conduct it especially about how they are detecting stress, quantifying it and what those values mean and are used for.  Also I’d like to know their methodology of calibrating such a sensor.

The TN Atheist craziness, e-meter, flea market, L Ron Hubbard, Scientology, stress test, Tennessee

While taking someone to a local doctor’s office here in Tennessee I was practically floored by seeing the large framed print below hanging in the center of the largest wall.

In the caption of the picture it says “The Difficult Case” and the illustration clearly shows “Jesus” guiding the doctor to try to find the answer to the medical problem he is trying to solve.  Of course the doctor had his bible next to him as well.

First of all I am thankful this is not my doctor flaunting their irrational beliefs in their waiting room.   This is very tacky for any business like the sign on the garage I saw in Alabama to post on it’s walls.  Anyone with sense would be very disturbed that this doctor, instead of relying on his medical education and experience, hopes that some magical entity would help them perform his doctor’s duties.  However here in the bible belt, people with little sense is far to common, and many visitors would like this painting and prefer this doctor for proudly expressing his beliefs.  Perhaps this doctor is not a fool but rather a smart business man,  either way I wouldn’t risk my health.

The TN Atheist bible belt, Christianity, Tennessee

While driving the other night to a casino outside Montgomery, AL to visit friends I drove past a bright sign with a crucifix and words saying “I Love You This Much”.  Tacky Christian displays like this are not uncommon in lower Alabama and the bible belt, even when on the front of  a commercial auto repair shop next to a busy highway as this one was.

While not surprising it did remind me of my favorite joke and provided a good laugh.  I thought it was so great, I stopped by there and snapped some photos of it the next day that can be seen below.

Now many are probably wondering what was the joke that this sign served as a reminder of.  Well here it is:

Why did all the ladies love Jesus?

.

.

.

Because he was hung like this:

The TN Atheist bible belt, Christianity, offensive joke, sign

As I mentioned in a previous article about scientology increasing it presense in Nashville by opening a new centre leading to more crazies here in Tennessee.  Now it appears that during the grand opening of this new Church of Scientology Ideal Celebrity Centre security for the event broke laws when handling protesters for an event that didn’t have the proper permits according to WSMV Channel 4 News in Nashville.

In a home video, a group of protesters walk toward the Church of Scientology on the day of the church’s grand opening and are stopped by security guards, who knock one protester to the ground and have him arrested for criminal trespass.

The altercation happened 400 yards from the church, on the other side of the street.

Public Works pulled all of the permits taken out for the Scientology event. The permits — all of them for sidewalk closing and lane blocking — are for the wrong day. They’re for the day before the event and expire before the scuffle occurred. In addition, three of the five security guards were off-duty Spring Hill police officers working in Nashville, which can only be done if local police are notified and officers are wearing uniforms clearly identifying them as off-duty police officers…………..

The security firm hired by the Church of Scientology was Hayes Security on Gallatin Road. A representative of the firm said that the matter is being turned over to its attorneys.

-Read the full article Laws Broken In Scientology Church Security at WSMV Channel 4

The video of the news story that aired on NBC Nashville affiliate WSMV Channel 4  today about the protest during the opening can be viewed here.

Actual footage of the incident

Below is a video shot by the protesters that according to many show the Church of Scientology breaking several laws and being overly aggressive.

Also there is a prior news clip about this incedent from WSMV from when the story first broke here.

The group protesting the Church of Scientology calls itself Anonymous that has staged protests at Scientology centers all over the world believe the church to be involved in illegal actions, fraudulent activities, and human rights violations as well as being a sinister cult.  A forum providing a detailed account and pictures of the incident with the Nashville Church of Scientology by protesters can be found here.

Apparently the Church of Scientology isn’t bright enough to get the proper permits for the correct day of their event as well as find security that is competent enough to follow the law.  This is sad a peaceful protest had to turn out this way with protesters being openly assaulted by corrupt Spring Hill police officers that apparently will do anything for money including breaking the law and violate people’s constitutional rights.

What is even more troubling is how the Assistant Police Chief of Spring Hill Police Department handled question when asked about what the off-duty officers had done during the incident according to another WSMV Channel 4 story about what happened.

The assistant police chief of the Spring Hill Police Department, Jon Roberts, said from the video it looked like to him that the protestors were looking for trouble. Roberts said he feels that the officers did not do anything wrong, and the home video does not tell the whole story.

This just shows the utter disregard for people’s rights that the Spring Hill Police Department has and it is no wonder the off-duty officers behaved the way they did.

Want to let the Spring Hill Police Department know how you feel about the incident?

What a joke security firm

The security firm Hayes Security in Nashville, TN is just as much to blame for hiring these incompetent police officers to do the dirty work of the Church of Scientology. You know they know they messed up when they immediately refer everything to their lawyers.  They can be contacted by phone or email at the following:

Church of Scientology appears to be bad news for Nashville

This incident only prove my notion that the Church of Scientology growing in TN will lead to problems in Nashville with hired guns violating peoples rights to peacefully assemble and protest.  Protesting is nothing new to the state capitol of TN and normally no issues like the ones mentioned above.  The Church of Scientology needs to recognize that hey are not special here, they have to acquire the proper permits like everyone else for events like these.  Hopefully this seemingly dangerous “religious” institution will go elsewhere and Hayes Security as well as the involved Spring Hill police officers will have better sense in handling similar situations.

I want to thank WSMV Channel 4 Nashville for covering the story and getting to the bottom of the incident when every other news organization didn’t bother or have the courage to cover it.

I am confident the young man arrested will get off and probably compensated by the security firm for the way the off-duty officers handled the situation.  In the future I hope any other protests of the Church of Scientology will be free of such violence.

The TN Atheist Anonymous, craziness, freedom of speech, Scientology, Tennessee

Christians continue to rape young children left in their care here in Tennessee, this time in a preschool at a Methodist church in Hendersonville.

Andrew Glidwell

A Hendersonville man who filled in as a teacher at a local church’s preschool program was arrested over the weekend on charges he raped a four-year-old child at the school.

Hendersonville police received a report of the rape at the First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville’s Children First Preschool program Friday evening.

The substitute, 18-year-old Andrew Glidwell, was located at his home on Southburn Drive and arrested in the early morning hours Saturday.

-Read the full article here.

[News Video Clip]

A month goes by since the last child molester was caught raping children in church here in TN and you think your kids might be safe and there is another case of a christian authority figure is arrested for raping a child.  This time by a teacher at a preschool at a methodist church.  What is going on in these christian churches?  What are they teaching these, in both these cases, young men that they want to have sex with young kids?

Maybe it is the teaching of abstinence only and staying a virgin till married that is messing with these perverts and driving them to abusing kids for their own sick gratification.  Perhaps it is a product of some sort of psychological abuse of being raised in a christian environment, of fearing being damned to hell by god and his son jesus that supposedly loves them.  More likely it’s because these christian perverts are able to rationalize believing in garbage like christianity therefore it’s easier to rationalize raping children, just another insane belief of people with mental problems.

Christianity and child abuse appear to go hand in hand.  Its amazing christians try ride the moral high horse yet they are the ones systematically abusing children left and right like it was a christian tradition.  I must have missed out on being abused as a child growing up in a church and that is why I am an atheist.  I guess I didn’t get the full christian experience.  I was lucky.

What is clear is that this is a widespread problem in christian churches throughout the world.  It’s almost as if these institutions are factories for producing child molesters as well as providing these sick people a base of operation to gain the trust of these children and rape them.  Christians really need to look at why there own members are raping children in such high numbers and doing something about it.  Perhaps the reason christianity is on the decline is people are afraid of being buggered if they attend church.

The TN Atheist child abuse, Christianity, methodist, raising kids, rape, Tennessee

Maybe the christian’s support of torture stems from the belief their beloved Jesus was tortured to death to save their souls.   Maybe it’s that their holy book is full of their god’s support of slavery and cruelty to fellow human or that this god condemns people that do not love him and accept him as master to eternal torture.  Whatever the reason, it is clear that Christians fully support torture so much so they have a hard on for it.

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey.

More than half of people who attend services at least once a week — 54 percent — said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is “often” or “sometimes” justified. Only 42 percent of people who “seldom or never” go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified — more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

-Read the full article here.

It might seem strange that the majority of  christians that claim to be the most moral people who get that morality straight from their all powerful sky-daddy are the people that think it is alright to torture other human beings. However, if one knows anything about these people’s beliefs it is not so surprising they think torture is justified in some cases for  if they didn’t it would put them in conflict with their sadistic god that they believe will torture non-believers for eternity in a fiery place called hell.

History provides further evidence of the christian love of torture with the crusades, the inquisition and witch trials.  Its almost like this people get off on inflicting pain on others that do not conform to their crazy ideas.

Christians therefore clearly support torture because it is necessary part of their irrational beliefs and the dogma of christianity.  Every time they worship and praise their god they are supporting the torture of those that do not believe in the same things as they do.

This is just another example of christian arrogance and hate for other that do not think as they do.  No matter how they try to spin it they support the torture of fellow humans by believing in and worshiping a god that will do that to others.  Their beliefs are an ultimate insult to anyone that does not share their delusional ideas for they support and believe that others should be tortured forever.  What egotistical, arrogant scum.

The TN Atheist Christianity, cruel god, torture