of religious depth, superheroes and wombat cubic shit...

God does not exist. But being a Christian or a Muslim can become tax deductible. Being an atheist has no benefit whatsoever. Thus, in morality economics, it’s more profitable to create and run a religious enterprise than being alone, getting brickbats from the fanatical believers — including the Muslim extremists with a bomb-vest.

I have it from high authority, possibly from god Himself (god is a male), but mainly from many of my friends who are Buddhist, that it isn’t a religion. I don't believe them, especially when the Christian call atheism a religion — which it is not. But one can be mistaken and confused about these things of faith, and we, at least one Gus is an atheist:

A controversial painting depicting Buddha as the 1960s Japanese superhero character Ultraman has sparked outrage among Thailand's ultra-conservative Buddhist community, prompting a hard-line group to call on police to prosecute the artist for insulting religion.

Key points:

• The female university student apologised and removed the painting of Buddha as Ultraman
• Buddhist Power of the Land wants the artist to be prosecuted under a Thai law against insulting religion
• Academic says young Thai people are turning away from faith and towards secularism

The four pieces of art painted by a fourth-year student from Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University (NRRU) were displayed last week at a shopping mall in Thailand's north east.

The exhibition sparked an angry outcry from Thailand's majority Buddhist population, which led to the removal of the artwork and an apology from the young female artist.

But the country's minority ultra-conservative group Buddhist Power of the Land was not satisfied and has now filed a complaint with police on the grounds the artwork, comparing Buddha to an action figure, was disrespectful.

The group want police to prosecute the artist and four others involved in the exhibition under section 206, a law against insulting religion, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

The reaction shows the lengths the hardliners are willing go beyond the view of the establishment in combating the perceived threats to their faith.

Buddhism is one of the traditional pillars of Thai society and underpins many aspects of life, but some Thais feel religion is less relevant to their daily lives and the younger generation is increasingly open to the idea of secularism.
Read more:https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-13/calls-for-artist-to-be-prosecuted-over-painting-of-buddha/11508054

Meanwhile, the Christian merchants, firmly implanted between the pillars in the temples, are now selling religious illusions, under the supervision of the son of god who, in His (god is a male) wisdom, had chased the said merchants out of the temples in years past. So — smarter than the average marble statue of Michelangelo’s pet hedgehog — the merchants came back with the concept of selling the idea of god, rather than legumes. You buy “eternity” because you’re afraid of death. Death and taxes — the certainties of life — are thus evaporated by a prayer, because you have become a religious man (person). No more taxes, no more death. What else do you want?… You should say thank you — and ask no question about god’s amazing gift of tax free redemption, nor question His (god is a male) paradisiac real estate local representatives, called Priests, Imams and Gurus.
And some dudes make real cash out of preaching this magic trick: you give us moneys and we promise you eternity when you’re dead. They call this fair trade. BUT (wait!) there’s more! Until the time you cark it, for more cash, we will entertain you with songs, theatrical rituals and magnificent paintings that should stir your mind and heart into believing the value of the transaction which means you buy fictitious hope with cash, convinced that what you eternally bought isn’t fictitious.

As one rich “spiritual" guru once told me: “makes sense, hey?"

It does not, but who cares. We need to soothe our psychological pains with illusions of future improvements, because we’ve been walking in the secular gutter for too long. Some luminaries come up with more ways to tell you how you can delude yourself further:

Conversations with God (CwG) is a sequence of books written by Neale Donald Walsch. It was written as a dialogue in which Walsch asks questions and God answers.[1] The first book of the Conversations with God series, Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, was published in 1995 and became a publishing phenomenon, staying on The New York Times Best Sellers List for 137 weeks. The succeeding volumes in the nine book series also appeared prominently on the List.

In an interview with Larry King, Walsch described the inception of the books as follows: at a low period in his life, Walsch wrote an angry letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?"[2] Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing dialogue became the Conversations with God books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_God

Talk to the voices we hear?… Why not? It's looney tunes but amusing. So we all hear voices… especially: “Don’t forget to take the garbage out!", and other directional invectives such “stop watching mindless cricket! Watch Desperate Housewives here with me!”

But hearing the voice of god? Yes I know, whom that shall be obeyed sounds a bit like god on the war-path. Mike Pence hears the voice of god as well, often telling him to go and punch some Muslim's lights out, with restraint. He’s a restrained quiet sort of guy, like a kid's blue balloon.

Look. I would not write all this, if at the core of this delusional mess, was not lurking a massive hypocrisy the size of a B exoplanet. It's not even hidden. It’s there for all to see but because faith is blind, we don’t look at reality. Yes, reality is boring and made of too many bits embroiled in too much complexity. For example:

Researchers have finally discovered why wombats' faeces is cube shaped, and it is not what they initially thought.

When a group of University of Tasmania researchers sliced open a wombat corpse, they were surprised.

For years, scientists believed the cubes were formed "at the point of exit".

But a more recent discovery reveals the animals' intestines have more to do with the unusual shape of their faeces..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-14/wombat-faeces-cube-shaped-because...

You needed to know.

I love wombats. Making cubic shit is far more clever than it looks.

Exciting isn’t it?

Gus Leonisky
Project manager

By Gus Leonisky at 14 Sep 2019 - 8:07pm
Gus Leonisky's blog
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meanwhile in tasmania...

The Catholic Church says it will not follow new Tasmanian laws that require priests to break the seal of confession to report suspicion of child sex abuse.

The Legislative Council yesterday passed Government legislation making religious ministry and MPs mandatory reporters of child sex abuse, along with teachers, police and health professionals.

The laws also require any Tasmanian with knowledge of child sex abuse to report the crime to police — or face up to 21 years’ imprisonment or fines of up to $3,360.

But Tasmania’s most senior Catholic said the laws would make paedophiles less likely to come forward.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/09/12/catholic-church-tasm...

doomsday came and we did not notice...

Genevieve Brazel, a doomsday preacher - who constantly monitors mysterious events that could signal the end of the world - claims that this Friday may be the last one for the whole planet.

In particular, this Friday promises to stun astronomy enthusiasts around the world. The appearance of a full moon, also known as the Harvest Moon, on the date of Friday the 13th happens only once every 20 years.

While astronomers and astronomy fans will be waiting to witness the phenomenon, some doomsday preachers will be waiting for the world to end, the Daily Star reported.

According to Genevieve Brazel, cited by the UK-based media outlet, “September is a high watch period, as this is the month of Feast of Trumpets/Roshoshanna, and is also the month of the Israeli elections to be held on 17th September [...] The full moon just so happens to be called a full Harvest Moon [...] the Harvest is ready, and we as the bride are about to be gathered unto our Lord and Saviour".

Genevieve Brazel argued and stressed she had been spoken to by God in a dream.

https://sputniknews.com/art_living/201909131076789632-doomsday-preacher-warns-of-imminent-apocalypse-on-friday-the-13th---report/?

Read from top.

Back to the Ouija board, the nightmarish dream and the bible...

By Gus Leonisky at 15 Sep 2019 - 6:39am
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the merchants come back to the temple...

Commissioner Federica Mogherini announced a European program to promote religion in national political debates. The EU will finance trade amounting to 1.5 million euros. French secularism risks being undermined.

The European Union (EU) will disburse almost 1.5 million euros to develop a program dubbed "Erasmus of religion". The newspaper La Croix spotted this initiative after analyzing the press conference on 6 September by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini. It has thus unveiled "with pride" the establishment of a "global platform for EU exchanges on religion and social inclusion".

https://francais.rt.com/france/65755-offensive-contre-laicite-union-euro...

Read from top. Idiots.

By Gus Leonisky at 15 Sep 2019 - 11:42am
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automated synthetic wisdom...

A mechanical ‘priest’ has recently begun conducting Buddhist prayers in Japan. It is not the first attempt to deliver religious teachings and advice through the use of a programmed machine.

In Japan, a country famous for its love of everything robotic, some have taken the integration of mechanical counterparts in our daily lives one step further, as a mechanical ‘priest’ named Mindar has begun conducting prayers in a 400-year old Buddhist temple in Tokyo, the Daily Star reported.

According to the report, the $1,000,000 robot is made of steel and silicon and features a distinctively featureless and androgynous face of synthetic skin. Contrary to its sexless appearance, the robot speaks in a female voice.

Designed by robotics researcher Hiroshi Ishiguro, the automaton ‘priest’ is currently programmed with only a few pre-recorded prayers, but a Kodaji temple representative believes that one day, with the addition of artificial intelligence, Mindar could have “unlimited wisdom.”

https://sputniknews.com/science/201909161076811116-ex-machina-religions-...

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By Gus Leonisky at 16 Sep 2019 - 10:40am
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repeat after me... my name is xi...

Xi Jinping’s Quotes Replace the Ten Commandments in Chinese Churches...

...

According to a believer who asked to remain anonymous, against the will of believers, the Ten Commandments have been removed from nearly every Three-Self church and meeting venue in the county and replaced with quotations from Xi Jinping. Like excerpts from his speech at a Central United Front Work Department working meeting on May 18, 2015: “The core socialist values and Chinese culture will help to immerse various religions of China. Support religious community in interpreting religious thought, doctrines, and teachings in a way that conforms with the needs of the progress of the times. Resolutely guard against the infiltration of Western ideology, and consciously resist the influence of extremist thought.”

https://bitterwinter.org/xi-jinpings-quotes-replace-the-ten-commandments/

"There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us. First, China doesn't export revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches." Xi

Xi is considered one of the most successful members of the Crown Prince Party, a quasi-clique of politicians who are descendants of early Chinese Communist revolutionaries. Former prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, when asked about Xi, said he felt he was "a thoughtful man who has gone through many trials and tribulations".[65] Lee also commented: "I would put him in the Nelson Mandela class of persons. A person with enormous emotional stability who does not allow his personal misfortunes or sufferings affect his judgment. In other words, he is impressive".[66] Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson described Xi as "the kind of guy who knows how to get things over the goal line".[67] Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that Xi "has sufficient reformist, party and military background to be very much his own man".[68]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping

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By Gus Leonisky at 18 Sep 2019 - 3:47pm
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