The Reason Rally

As mass media perpetuates the idea that it would be impossible for an atheist to be elected President, many of us non-believers are ... well, skeptical. There's at least one out of the closet atheist politician in DC who participated in the Reason Rally this past Saturday ... plus the visibility of books like The God Delusion, Letter to a Christian Nation and God is Not Great leads me to think that atheism has gone mainstream.

We are becoming more like Canada and Europe where secularism is the majority view and where Jesus' virgin birth and resurrection are generally considered as ridiculous and irrelevant as the birth of Athenea form Zeus' forehead. 18 % of the population of the United States is either atheist, agnostic or non-religious. That is one fifth of the population. It's also the fastest growing religious demographic, bigger than Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Blacks, Gays ... and MUCH bigger than the Tea Party.

Atheists are no longer the most hated group in the country. According to a recent poll, that medal goes to the Tea Party. Were it for mass media, one would not even imagine that to be the case. Corporate media has a love affair with the Tea Party. It constantly exagerates the importance, prevalence and relevance of their absurd and extremist causes and ideals. The poll cited by the NY Times accentuates the huge gap that exists between actual popular sentiment and the collective discourse, identities and movements that corporate media tries to normalize.

In this video you will find atheist statistics which radically contradict many of the biased ideas that people entertain about the atheist minority. Crime statistics, as well as those related to education, human rights and violence in different societies, as well as between the different states of the US, also echo this data.

For all these reasons, atheists held the Reason Rally, which took place last Saturday, with the purpose of creating more visibility and awareness about the civil rights of atheists, encouraging atheists to come out, and reminding politicians in DC that there is a secular movement and that atheists also vote.

Video: Richard Dawkins at the Reason Rally
Atheists hope to build unity, raise awareness at 'Reason Rally'
Reason Rally: Nonbelievers To Rally For Unbelief In Washington
Unbelievable! Atheists to Rally in Record Numbers

Kony 2012 and the Lord's Resistance Army: Christian Terrorism in Africa

First, an introductory video on the attrocities, what's being done, what the plan is, etc.



But as we dig deeper into who Kony is, we usually hear of the LRA, his organization, where the acronym is always used and thus far, media has failed to shed light on what LRA stands for. It's really embarassing. Kony takes children, abducts them and turns boys into war criminals and girls into sexual slaves. His only purpose is self preservation and ultimately, he wants to create a sovereign state in central Africa that is governed by the 10 Commandments. He claims to be a prophet who derives his authority from God.

WHO IS THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY?

Uganda's piety was widely made visible when, a couple of years back, Uganda tried to pass the 'Kill the Gays Bill'.

Then child sacrifice problems emerged and media again covered it, but with care not to mention the prevalence of Bible-based beliefs among what media made out to look like the so-called 'witches' who were making these child sacrifices, who INVARIABLY, ALWAYS cited the Bible to justify their acts: there was frequent mention of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac when these 'witches' were questioned. We also know that Jephthah sacrificed his daughter in the Bible as a way of thanking God for his victory in war against another tribe. These so called Ugandan 'witches' were Bible-believing murderers just like Kony.

My goal, having learned of Kony's attrocities, is not so much to make him visible and be in solidarity with the Kony 2012 movement but instead to generate awareness of the strain of BIBLE-BASED faith that runs through his crimes and through Uganda's culture of religious savagery and to ensure that the true beliefs of Kony's followers aren't sugar coated by mass media as he gains more visibility.

Please join me in making Kony famous and please do not use the acronym but the full name of his organization: LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY!!!

Uganda: Lord's Resistance Army

Please enjoy this preview of Shift Change - Putting Democracy to Work.

At a time when many are disillusioned with big banks and big business, and growing inequity in our country, employee ownership offers a real solution for workers and communities. Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work is a new documentary (to be released in July, 2012) that highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and in Mondragon, Spain. The film couldn’t be more timely, as 2012 has been declared by the U.N. as the “International Year of the Cooperative.”
- Mark Dworkin

Worker coops are democratically-run businesses where the workers are also the owners of the means of production. Decisions are made collectively, and the risk as well as the revenue is also spread between all worker-owners.