The Freethinker - The voice of atheism since 1881

The Pope wears white robes … and so does the Ku Klux Klan

December 13, 2018 By Barry Duke

In attacking Pope Francis’s homophobia, US comedian Jenny Hagel said: This dude may seem harmless because he’s shuffling around in a white robe, but remember: White robes are the official uniform of people with bad ideas,. This, says Life Site News’ Doug Mainwaring was: An obvious reference to the Klu Klux Klan (KKK). For the record, Mainwaring is a gay man. The anti-gay marriage writer is married to a woman but is apparently celibate. Hagel’s remarks were made on Late… Read more

Turkish celebrity chef at the centre of a blasphemy row in Jordan

December 13, 2018 By Barry Duke

4 Comments

Jordanian authorities leapt into action this week after a website published a Photoshopped image of renowned Turkish chef Nusret Gökce, best known as Salt Bae, showing him with Jesus at The Last Supper. They arrested journalist and media personality Mohammad Al Wakeel – owner of Al Wakeel News – for “ridiculing Jesus”. The journalist remains under investigation and was questioned by a Cybercrime Unit for for allegedly inciting “sectarian strife.” The image was deemed as “offensive to Christians and Muslims… Read more

Deadpool ‘Jesus’ poster needs to be replaced, say Mormons

December 12, 2018 By Barry Duke

15 Comments

The Mormons are deeply upset by a poster for the latest in the Deadpool series – Once Upon a Deadpool – because the main character featured looks too much like the ‘real’ Jesus – and declares ‘Yule believe in Miracles’. A petition, which has garnered almost 30,000 signatures, insists that the poster is a doctored version that plays fast and loose with a “sacred” image of ‘The Second Coming’. In the original painting Jesus Christ is at the center surrounded… Read more

Prominent Vatican official, Cardinal Pell, is found guilty of sex abuse

December 12, 2018 By Barry Duke

28 Comments

At the end of a trial believed to have cost him millions, the Vatican’s third most powerful official – George Pell – was convicted yesterday (Tuesday) in Australia of all charges relating to the abuse of two choir boys in the late 1990s. A unanimous jury returned its verdict after more than three days of deliberations His trial was trial conducted under a gag order by the judge that prevented any details of the case being made public. Pell, the… Read more

‘Jesus would have bought American’ says critic of pastor’s Lamborghini

December 11, 2018 By Barry Duke

3 Comments

Commenting on a news report that Pastor John Gray, of Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina, had spent around $200,000 to buy his wife a Lamborghini Urus for their 8th wedding anniversary, Christian Post reader James Demello called on the congregation to ‘fire his ass’. Demello was one a number of people who expressed outrage over the lavish gift, and the $8000.00 Rolex Gray received in return from his wife Aventer. He wrote: At least Jesus would have bought American…. Read more

‘Pain in the ass’ secular group scuppers planned Ark Encounter visit

December 11, 2018 By Barry Duke

32 Comments

Creationist Ken Ham yesterday overcame his prissiness to post a picture on Facebook of an ‘obnoxious’ sign visible in photo of members of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. Ham warned: Normally I wouldn’t post a photo with the obnoxious sign and the language used but I want you to understand who this group of atheists really are. What prompted his angry post is that the FFRF successfully killed off a planned visit to Ham Ark Encounter and Creation Museum… Read more

‘Demonic’ show in a cathedral signals the ‘death of a feeble church’

December 10, 2018 By Barry Duke

12 Comments

Dancers in tights wearing devil’s horns, and a ‘pro-homosexual’ actor, have sparked a row in Vienna for appearing World AIDS Day charity concert in a cathedral. This was all too much for Austrian priest Father Johannes Maria Schwarz, who complained: I am ashamed of my Church in this and in other questions. We do not fear the Almighty anymore! Nothing is anymore holy for us! We trample upon the souls that are entrusted to us! Moreover, Schwarz noted that bare-chested… Read more

Crackpot Christian conference expelled from the Museum of the Bible

December 9, 2018 By Barry Duke

11 Comments

The poster above, created by Lamplighter Ministries for a conference at the troubled Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, had to be altered after the museum pulled the plug on the Revolution 2018 event. The conference was hurriedly shifted to the nearby Trump International Hotel. It was an appropriate move, given that Lamplighter Ministries is part of a larger movement of independent charismatic groups that see President Trump as fulfilling God’s plan to “bring heaven to earth” by placing… Read more

Renowned Brazilian healer accused of sexually abusing women

December 9, 2018 By Barry Duke

5 Comments

Joao Teixeira de Faria, who claims that the spirits of more than 30 doctors work through him to achieve ‘miracle’ cures, has been accused of raping a Dutch woman and sexually assaulting nine others. The 76-year old “spiritual healer” – known as “John of God” – was accused of abuse on Friday in a report broadcast by the widely-viewed Global Television network. A Dutch choreographer identified as Zahira Leeneke Maus and nine Brazilian women, who remained anonymous, accused Faria of… Read more

Pray to God to help UK Prime Minister out of her Brexit black hole

December 8, 2018 By Barry Duke

17 Comments

On Tuesday, amidst the sound and fury engulfing the UK as it prepares to scuttle away from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May will be putting her exit strategy to parliament. Her plan is widely expected to be rejected by MPs of all parties , opening the door to further chaos, division and uncertainty, which is why the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, thinks that God alone can sort out unholy mess that is Brexit. So he’s written a prayer:… Read more