Verbal Razors

Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.

— Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever.

— Woody Allen

It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image.

— Ludwig Feuerbach

And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence.

— Bertrand Russell

Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men.

— Voltaire

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

— Mark Twain

I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

— Stephen Roberts

Where Is Sarah Palin’s High School Diploma?

I’m not saying it’s a fact that Sarah Palin never actually graduated from high school, but it does seem pretty strange that I’ve never seen her original high school diploma anywhere. What exactly is she hiding? Why hasn’t she made her original high school diploma available!?

Palin needs to do something to put these rumors to rest. All she has to do is produce her original high school diploma. What’s the big deal? Why can’t she do it? What is she hiding?

It wouldn’t be that bad if she dropped out of high school because it’s pretty clear that even if she did actually go to high school, she wasn’t paying attention in class. The bad part is that she has thus far not set the record straight. People are asking questions!

(source)

It’s obviously a spoof of birthers rhetoric. Funny nontheless.

What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

— Christopher Hitchens

Catholic bishops enjoyed Cory’s presidency

In my obit for the dead former president, I was less than enthused about her legacy. People get carried away with Cory being a “symbol of democracy”, and failing to see that her administration was basically impotent and subservient to the power-grubbing Catholic Church. Even the church admits that they played her like a marionette:

As prayers and Masses were offered elsewhere, people remembered Aquino in different ways.

In Naga City, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recalled the “easy” church-state relations that marked her administration.

Archbishop Leonardo Z. Legaspi, who oversees the six-diocese ecclesiastical province in the Bicol region, was CBCP president when Aquino assumed the presidency in 1986 until the end of her term. He was also the celebrant of the Requiem Mass at the funeral for Aquino’s slain husband, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.

The prelate said that since the former President was accessible to the CBCP, there was “less debate” on issues that involved the government and the Catholic Church.

He said it was the time when the Church was able to review its relations with the State with the convening of the Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP), attended by representatives from religious orders, the clergy, bishops and the laity.

(source)

Yep, the church will indeed miss her as a symbol of secular power bowing to ecclesiastical authority. Like they did in the middle ages.

Mike A beat me to the punch by quoting Bishop John Shelby Spong’s opinion of Cory. Even the good reverend saw that Cory was the epitome of a docile and obedient woman, with no real authority over men (much less the Patriarchal Church).