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Since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have been patiently waiting for any religious person I know to excuse god for the disaster and blame 
“mother nature”. I didn’t have to wait very long. Haiti’s misfortune brings up the blaring inconsistency in religion, especially the monotheistic religions: the problem of good and evil.
Pat Robertson, Christian TV evangelist was so disabled by this conundrum that he publicly claimed the reason Haiti suffered such great misfortune was because they had “made a pact with the devil”. For Pat, this was a sufficient explanation for the recent Tsunami, Hurricane and now Earthquake that has brought this country to its most desperate hour.
Haiti serves as a prime example of the problem of “good and evil”.
Naturalists point out that if a god who is claimed to be omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing) controls the universe, by definition such a god must take credit for EVERYTHING that happens, not just the good stuff. Such a god would know that an earthquake was about to happen and have the power to prevent it from happening. With this information about the omnipotent, omniscient god, we must conclude at least one of the following:
1. Such a god is intrinsically evil by allowing the disaster to hit
2. Such a god does not exist (omnipotent, omniscient)
A theist will disagree here and say that god does not control the evils in the world because Adam and Eve sinned and the rest of humanity must suffer because of their sin. This leads us to conclude that the omnipotent, omniscient god has no sense of what constitutes a “just” punishment for the “sin” of two humans. We must also consider that if the theist’s argument that “evils like Tsunami’s are not god’s fault” rests on the existence of two storybook characters in Genesis the argument falls apart. We begin to doubt the historical accuracy of the Adam and Eve story because it is embedded in a creation myth that sets the earth at 10,000 years old, having been fashioned in 7 days by a sky-god.
But most importantly, the counter argument to those who say “evil is the devil’s doing, not god’s” places the omni-god in a position of NOT being omnipotent. If the omni-god is not in control of nature, this by definition deems him not omnipotent. This leaves us to conclude that the omni-god is either:
1. Not actually omnipotent or
2. Unjust in dealing out his punishments and hence, if he be doing the punishing for Adam’s sin, he IS responsible for earthquakes and natural disasters (omnipotent)
This past weekend I listened to a Catholic homily by a deacon who was trying to help his congregation understand how to reconcile god with the Haiti earthquake. His best shot was to tell a little story about a mother in Haiti who dug her children out of the rubble of her home and saved their lives. All three of her children lived (after extensive medical surgury and the science of medicine). She told reporters that “now she knew that god loved her”. The deacon pointed out that good can come of such atrocities like this women who finally knew that god loved her. He failed to bring up all the other thousands who perished or the other mothers whose children were crushed and killed. Did ‘god’ love them? It was perhaps the weakest argument of the century. What a fickle god Christians daily defend.
Don’t pray or wish that Haiti be helped, do something to help. Donate to a non-theistic charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti.
Remember how worked up Glenn Beck and the Fox News network stars like Bill O’Reilly were when the tapes of ACORN workers giving prostitution advice on hidden camera came out? And recall how angry O’Reilly gets when he interviews atheist spokesman Richard Dawkins, furious that a person could be so against organized religion. Then we have Mormon follower Glenn Beck who advocates a religious fanaticism towards “God and Country”.
These guys love juicy stories with dirt and a cover up story. Well, here’s one that seems to have slipped under their selective hearing. The Catholic Church is a mulit million dollar 
supporter of ACORN.
“While Obama has strong ties to ACORN, they were originally established through the U.S. Catholic Church, which has also funded ACORN and similar organizations to the tune of millions of dollars. This is another taboo topic for most of the media. Even conservative news organizations are afraid of raising the issue, apparently fearing being tagged with the “anti-Catholic” label.” From AIM
Did someone say “separation of church and state”? Oh, right I forgot that the religious only like to bring that up when the state tries to influence and meddle in religious affairs, not visa versa. When it comes to influencing the state, the Catholic Church wears the schoolyard bully shoes with a smerk.
Today the Washington Post reported that the Catholic Church has threatened that it will 
not continue offering social service programs in DC if the state passes a same-sex marriage law. Here we go with the Catholic Church, always obsessed with SEX. They sound more obessed with SEX these days than a 12 year old boy! Abstiance only education, celebacy and the Fr. Cutie sex scandal, lying to Africans saying that condoms increase one’s risk of HIV infection, covering up the rape and sexual child abuse of 5% of their clergy, and now they are insessantly trying to intefer with what goes on in the bedrooms of homosexual men and women! Really?! Can we drop the sex obsession already, Catholic Church?
Christopher Hitchens creams the catholic church in this debate.
A Fellow blogger in Arizona has subjected herself to the theatre of the Catholic Mass and wrote a blog about how the experience compares to watching a boxing arena or an army unit doing drills.
Most of the church stood in a very long line to receive the Eucharist. This is the moment where I felt a little better, because I saw that there were other people not going up to get the piece of bread. I doubt they were atheist hanging out in a Catholic Church like I was, but it was nice not being the only person that wasn’t following along with everyone else for a change. Individualism seems to be a little lost in a Catholic Church. read more
In the past year I can recall 3 conversations with Catholics where a debate about religion has resulted in them saying “well, how can you be an atheist when you have miracles like the Shroud of Turin?” This happens when I succeed in asking a series of questions that blows down their reasons for believing. It usually happens after the “well I just have Faith” excuse when logic fails them.
Previously Scientists have carbon dated the Shroud to 1260-1390 A.D. Despite the unknown origin of the cloth and the scientific evidence dating it to the time period when it was “discovered”.
Italian scientist Garlaschelli successfully replicated the Shroud using materials that would have been available the middle ages. Yet Garlaschelli doubts such evidence will convince Shroud advocates that the cloth is a hoax.
“If they don’t want to believe carbon dating done by some of the world’s best laboratories they certainly won’t believe me,” he said.1
Despite the Catholic Church’s stance that the Shroud of Turin is not authentic, many followers treat it as evidence of the god Jesus.
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