Bill Gates is a Christian Blessing
Even though I was never a big fan of Microsoft, I have loved the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for years. Bill’s explicit atheism has been a great influence on the Gates Foundation. Showing what secular charity can do to help the world when it is not hindered by religious dogma or non-scientific woo is the greatest way to help the most people. Once Warren Buffet – another exceedingly rich atheist – pledged 85% of his wealth to the foundation for betterment of the world, the foundation has been able to take on massive projects like immunizing entire countries in Africa. That’s why when I see an article at Christian News Today titled: BILL GATES IS AN ANSWER TO PRAYER FOR CHRISTIANS SAYS CAMPAIGN BOSS, I just have to laugh since they seem so quick to claim Bill as one of their own when it serves their purpose.
Joel Edwards is the International Director for Micah Challenge which began in the year 2000. The Micah Challenge has the noble but unreachable and very undefined goal of halving the world poverty by 2015. When Joel ran into Bill Gates at BBC Radio 4, Bill decided to donate £478million to expressly (from what I’ve found) Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Running into one of the richest men in the world who happens to have a foundation devoted to the betterment of the world is indeed a lucky coincidence for Joel. Nothing more. It bugs me that out of the four articles I’ve read on this – granted all are religious – not one mention that Bill, Melinda, and Warren Buffet for that matter, are atheists. I know it’s not my place to be upset in their place. It just saddens me to know that most of those religious groups will be happy to denounce The Gates Foundation when they advocate birth control.
Illegals Update
In December, I posted a short bit about the Catholic hierarchy in California trying to stop deportation of illegal immigrants. My main thought was that the church bishops wanted to stop the people from getting sent to their homes south of the border because the illegals are mostly catholic. It seems Ira Mehlman of the Federation for Immigration Reform agrees with me saying:
It helps replenish members of the congregations around the country. The Catholic Church sees this as a way of keeping the pews full. One of the things they consistently forget is you can’t be charitable with someone else’s resources
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco is trying to reintroduce a bill that never made it into the books last year after tweaking the bill a bit. Tom is getting a typically odd bedfellow on his side with Archbishop George Niederauer. Together they are trying to give cities the ability to opt out of the California Secure Communities agreement. The Secure Communities lets jails share data like fingerprints with the Immigration Department which makes it easier to deport people that are not here legally.
I honestly think the Catholics want to help… their followers without taking responsibility for them. Reminds me of their abortion policy. Have all the babies you want – we support that. You want help taking care of all these mouths to feed once the kids are born? Not our problem. They should go to heaven when they die.
Update to Another Post
An update to my recent post regarding the Roman Catholic priest only named Andreas L. He was charged with hundreds of counts of child abuse against three boys. After confessing his guilt to the court, Andreas was convicted in Berlin a couple days ago. He was sentenced to six years in prison – not nearly long enough. The other thing that kills me – he is still a priest as far as I can find.
(Anti?)Religious Tattoos!
I’ve got a few that are turning into a sleeve. Do any of you have pictures of your own that you would share with me? I need more ink soon and I’m looking for inspiration. I’ll post some pictures of mine after the next round in a week or so. Please send anything to my email below.
I hope to see each and every one of you at the Northwest Freethought Convention close to Seattle, Washington in a couple months!
~Wesley