Jack Chick's 'Doom Town'

"It's that time again!", as Jack is fond of saying to the kids in his local park as he wanders through handing out his creepy tracts.  Doom Town is described on Chick's website as "Story of Sodom. Delivers a compassionate plea to repent of homosexuality.", but not only is that a pretty anemic description, it's completely false.  If they wanted to be a little more accurate, here's what it'd read:
"Homosexuals are terrorists who will give you AIDS if you don't let them convert your children.  Instills fear and loathing in the heterosexual, and attempts to scare homosexuals into turning straight."

Why You Should Kiss Hank's Butt:

Here's a nice little dialogue: Allow Me To Introduce Hank...

It certainly makes me want to go around door to door and try and convert people to kissing Hank's butt!  After all, if you do, he'll give you a million dollars - and if you don't, he'll kick the crap out of you!  You have everything to gain and nothing to lose!

Infinitely More Loving Than God

 Yet another comment I made on one of Ray Comfort's blog posts.  It does seem like a bit of a trend as of late, but my motivation to work on this blog is powered by just how incensed I am about any particular topic, and I haven't really had any experiences with a lot of the other things I plan to cover, recently.

Those Tricky Atheists!

Before I begin, let me mention that I've joined the Atheist Blogroll - which should be visible on the side of the page.

Now, a post from our friend Ray - I was 'lucky' enough to stumble across it before anyone else had gotten a chance to comment, so here's my take:

Pornogaphy

Something that I posted on Ray Comfort's blog - not the entirety of my feelings on the matter, but perhaps sufficient.

Solomon posted:

Rock Sprites, you must be of singularly weak mind and constitution if you have seriously been 'hurt' by pornography.

Besides that, this sounds like a great idea to bring to universities in Melbourne - I'll start calling around today!

Porn for Bibles, what a concept! Thanks, Ray!

Rock Sprites posted:

Yes, thank you for that. I'm sorry that members of my own family would get off to it and then feel the need to molest me when I was a child. Thank you. I appreciate your sympathy.

That tends to hurt a kid, don't you think? I was very susceptible to pornography when I was a kid because of this. It's painful that people are so uneducated in this area. You cannot do whatever you want without other people being hurt. I guess this is a separate idea. I don't like to rant in comments, either. This is just a very touchy subject for me.

I don't suppose we can convince people of much over the internet, which is why I usually just refrain from commenting here altogether. I would just like to be an example, I guess. It makes me sad when people claim that pornography doesn't hurt people. There are many people who are addicted to it and need support in order to overcome it. Look it up, please, as I am not allowed to post links here.

I understand that many atrocities have been committed in the name of Chirstianity throughout the ages, and are still being committed today in the name of God. It makes me miserable to see charlatans like Benny Hinn, Todd Bently, and Paula White making millions of dollars off of the unsuspecting public.

But these people are not following the example of Christ. They are only concerned with the things of this world, with having material things and power. And it destroys people. It hurts people.

To encourage young people to trade in their Bibles for porn is so sad and shallow. I'd rather see more gentlemen in the world than have to worry about whether or not my boyfriend is going to be looking at porn when I'm not around. Men and women are not objects. If people think that the Bible is so horrible, why replace it with something like this? It makes no sense.

Solomon posted:

I understand that many atrocities are committed by people who have also viewed pornography - but these people are mentally unbalanced to begin with. Nothing innate in pornography causes you to go out and molest people.

I assumed your admission of harm was talking of your own adult experiences - I'm sorry that you suffered child abuse, but blaming pornography for the depravity of your family members is a dangerous thing - to allow people to say 'I'm not a child molester, I was under the influence of pornography' is allowing them to pass off responsibility onto something that doesn't deserve nearly as much bad press as it gets.

I looked it up as you suggested, and it comes across as something that the jury is very much out on. 'Addiction' to pornography has no chemical basis such as usually characterize an addiction, besides a potential Pavlovian conditioning to the pleasurable aspects.
The evidence for a condition of addiction to pornography has significantly less evidence backing it up than evolution. If you don't think evolution is true or that it lacks sufficient evidence, you can't possibly believe in an addiction to pornography - you might as well be saying "I don't believe that the ground is solid, but I do believe that leprechauns sprinkle magic dust in my eyes to make me sleepy, with the evidence being the gunk in your eyes when you wake up."

So again, your history of child abuse is tragic, but pornography didn't molest you, your parents did.

Jack Chick's 'No Fear?'

Suicide...The subject is common among teens today. But when Lance decides it is the only way out of his troubles, he discovers that hell is not the party place described in popular songs.

Neither I nor my roommate have ever heard any songs describe hell as a 'party place'...maybe we're just not listening to the right songs?
Even if songs did describe hell as a party place, only a complete moron would actually believe that a) The singer had actual knowledge of hell and b) hell is not fictional.  Jack Chick does believe that witches and the like have real powers, though, so maybe he believes musicians really do receive inspiration from Satan.

Jack Chick's 'Crazy Wolf'

Based on a story of Native Americans, this is a classic head-to-head battle between God and Satan. Guess who wins?
Satan?  Can't be God, that's too cliché.
Welcome, friends, to an evening around the campfire with that master of horror, Jack Chick! From demons to black magic to witches and warlocks, Jack Chick knows it and writes it like only the greatest author-artist can!  Chill in that most sublime of terrors - an omnipotent being that will condemn you eternally for failing to follow an arbitrary and nonsensical rule!  Terrifying!

How Do I Know God Exists?

I wouldn't call it one of the most important questions I'd ever ask, but it is an interesting one.  Brought to you by Ray Comfort, the man renowned for his impassioned speech some time ago about the Atheist's Nightmare: the banana!  Now, that's not the entirety of his speech - and I say this because he got a bit riled up about people missing the first half - where he shows off a soda can and points out how it's got a tab for opening and the like, and how it's proof of a creator.  Well, that's fine and dandy, but if you watch the linked video with a horticulturist, they might have something to say -  that delicious yellow fruit we eat today was, in fact, selected and bred by man to make it more palatable - easier to grip, and the like.  The original banana was a rather distasteful looking thing.
So, what does this mastermind have for us now?  Well, we shall just see.

Regression Toward The Mean

Just a little something regarding a concept a lot of alternative medicine practitioners and their faithful never seem able to grasp.

Human beings are in their natural state, healthy.  You feel good, you work well, nothing is wrong.  Then, you get sick.  Maybe you develop a cough.  After a little while of having the symptoms of a cough, you'll probably do something about it.  Maybe you'll take some conventional medicine (a cough tablet), maybe you'll take a homeopathic remedy, and maybe you'll do nothing.  In all cases, the end result is the same - you get over your illness as the body naturally deals with the problem.  You end up feeling healthy again.  So in those three cases, this is what's happening:

Conventional Medicine: The cough tablet soothes your throat, and perhaps suppresses the cough itself.  You feel okay, and while the cough tablet is working, your body is healing itself.  If you're lucky, by the time the tablet wears off your cough will be done with.  You're grateful for the cough tablet for making you feel better during that time.

Homeopathic Remedy:  You drink a tiny amount of water, which via the placebo effect may trick you into believing your cough is a bit better.  Gradually, your cough gets better on its own.  You're grateful for the remedy 'curing' your cough.

Nothing:  You cough for a while and then it goes away.  You didn't take anything, and so you aren't grateful for the assistance of anything.

Now, try substituting influenza for cough.  It's generally a much more serious deal, with bed rest and lots of water and sleep, and no exertion.  You'll be recommended to take the bed rest and water and not exert yourself no matter who you ask, so that's a constant.  If you take conventional medicine, it'll be something to lower your fever (like aspirin), and otherwise mask your symptoms.  You'll be more comfortable while getting over your flu.  If you take a homeopathic remedy, the placebo effect might make you feel better, but your fever will stay the same, since homeopathic remedies are just water.  You'll feel worse, guaranteed, than if you took something conventional.  Your flu will eventually subside anyway, and you'll thank your homeopathic remedy for 'curing' you.  If you took nothing, you'll keep your fever and eventually the influenza will end.

So the end result is that when you take something at the height of an illness, you'll be thankful for it when the illness subsides, and since naturally taking something at the height of an illness means it will only get lower from there, a homeopathic remedy is guaranteed the same effect as anything else.  The danger comes when, armed with this faith in homeopathic remedies from personal experience curing temporary problems, you use them to combat serious things.   

Homeopathy kills more people than Marijuana.

The statement contained in the title of this entry, "Homeopathy kills more people than Marijuana.", is one of my favourite responses to someone who would both endorse the use of homeopathic products and condemn the use of marijuana products simultaneously.  It's not hard to imagine someone who quite likely thinks in terms of 'bio energy' and 'toxins' to be horrified at the idea of inhaling a mood altering chemical.

Water Diluted in Water: A Short Definition of Homeopathy

You've probably heard of homeopathy. Yet another alternative medicine, promising fast and effective treatment with none of the nasty side effects of conventional medicine. Well, so long as you don't count 'buying water at ridiculous prices' as a nasty side effect, they're half telling the truth.

Things That Are Wrong: The List

Alternative Medicine (see Quackery)

Applied Kinesiology

Astrology

Chiropractic

Colon Cleansing

Creationism

Faith Healing

Fred Phelps

Jack Chick

Magnet Therapy

Intelligent Design

Religious Indoctrination

Scientology

Street Proselytizing 

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Vitalism

Let me know if you can think of any more, and I'll add them.

A Rather Unique Sense of Justice

Here's something I was handed by someone in the city recently. Brought to you by www.operations513.com, this tract has finally brought me over to the light of the lord Jesus Christ. Let's have a look, in the style of a chick tract dissection.

Natural Botox

Ah, Botox.  What a wonder drug!  Miracle of modern science, a triumph of chemical engineering and finely honed procedures, brought to perfection by the best scientists in the world, the ultimate solution to the problem of aging!

The First Post

Things that are wrong begins here.


Wrong:

incorrect: not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth; "the claim that homeopathy is helpful is incorrect"

contrary to conscience or morality or law; "it is wrong for alternative medicine practioners, the religious, and commerical enterprises to take advantage of the ignorant"

This site shall touch on some of these things.