Sell Your Soul

“Life is pain … Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
That’s a quote from the film ‘The Princess Bride’; even though it’s generally a feel-good family film, that line is borne out by reality. The people who tell you that no matter what happens in life, things will turn out alright in the end are nothing more than glorified salespeople. So…
1. Christianity and Catholicism promise you eternal peace and luxury in a perfect heaven.
2. Islam under certain circumstances offers many virgins (comfort for the wife, eh?!).
3. Hinduism and Sikhism grant you reincarnation into a new life and soul.
4. Judaism tries to complicate the afterlife as much as possible so that you’re even too bemused to think about it - seriously, you should check out Jewish views towards the afterlife on Wikipedia, they’re difficult to figure out (almost as if they don’t want you to be logical!).
And, 5. Jehovah’s Witnesses think that death is the price for sinning. What the fuck?!
Like I said, glorified salespeople.

Simple Immorality

The Pope has condemned the UK's proposed Equality Bill for being in violation of natural law and for imposing "unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities", saying that these communities should fight the Bill with "missionary zeal"! He has stated his opinion so strongly because the Bill, in its current form, would take away some of the Church's liberties to deny employment rights for homosexuals. Even though priests and ministers will still be allowed these archaic homophobic rights, no other position of employment within the British Catholic Church will be. Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has stated that the Pope's reasoned voice has been "formed by the treasures of the Christian heritage". So not only are these two highly influential religious voices failing to understand that there's no such thing as 'natural law' - a socially constructed concept with no basis in fact as there are plenty of examples of homosexuality in other animal species - but they are also blatantly proving that Catholicism (and probably Christianity by default!) is discriminatory, prejudiced and wholly incapable of producing a morality that is compatible with modern times.
Staunch Catholic Ann Widdecombe MP has also felt compelled to contribute, saying that this is a debate about religious freedom rather than homosexuality. But what about the freedom of homosexuals to not be repressed in a democratic society? At which point does it become okay for anyone, regardless of their religious viewpoints, to say that a person is not allowed to fill a position of employment based purely on their sexual orientation, which shouldn't even have to be disclosed in the first place?! By a simple application of logic, if anti-discrimination legislation is open to exemptions, then it is still allowing discrimination; and religious freedom cannot be labelled as free if it is repressing others who are trying to be free.
Even though the disappointing opinions were hardly surprising from the decadent pontiff, I hope that most UK politicians will not listen to the simple immorality that has been spouted. Sadly, Gordon Brown has said it would be inappropriate for him to comment ... Coward!

Spawn of Satan?

Dicephalus twins are a rare form of conjoined twins where two heads share one body. A mother-to-be in Portsmouth has decided to go ahead with a pregnancy involving dicephalus twins - against doctors' advice - because she is a staunch Catholic. That's right, she sees this mutated offspring as 'a gift from God'! Babies of this kind rarely survive inside the womb and are stillborn; those which are born successfully are usually given a severely reduced life expectancy; and of those who do manage to live, they receive a much greater chance of contracting other infections. As this mother (and I'm not going to name her and give her any more publicity than she's already had by flagrantly selling her story to The Sun!) believes so much in god, then I presume she also believes in the devil. Perhaps her foetus is actually a gift from Satan. If the children do live they will surely be bullied interminably at school, grow to hate the prejudices of the world which disables them, and maybe one day become the Antichrist. All the best!