Recovering from religion

Recently I have come across many resources loosley grouped under the banner of recovering from religion.  The first is the Recovering from Religion website which offerns an online support community of news, articles and networking.  If your in the religion business, the The Clergy Project is a private invite-only source to help the clergy through their period of enlightment.  For some it is a very difficult process and this online support system offers a great deal of help for people who think often they are the only ones experiencing these difficult times.  As a plug to the Godless Bitches their latest podcast interviews a clergy member who has been through The Clergy Project and documents their experiences with it.  Often societal and familar pressure forces people to remain in the closet.  These resources are eye-opening and offer real support people through a process which can be difficult for many.

Religious "Therapy"

A theme for this week has been religious "therapy". Over the last few nights we watched the excellent documentary on Netflix called "For the bible tells me so" which documents several religious households and how they came to terms with having a gay child. When I say came to terms, what I really mean is how a family which has bigoted views once they become personal. Personally having a gay child would be indifferent to myself other than to worry that they may be harmed in some way. Anyway I digress the documentary was often heartwarming and sometimes sadly tragic.

Today I stumbled across another documentary, Religulous, again, and just read an article on The Guardian: Does the scientific support cited by anti-gay campaigners add up? (http://t.co/Jhdcoajo).

All three articles touch on religious therapy, particularly therapy to turn you straight. It is very sad to see what ought to be rational people peddling this bigoted shite. It is the equivalent of therapy to make you non-Jewish or non-black or non-bald. The oppression of women, homosexuals and the outer-group of religion is tolerated because it falls under the banner of religious freedom and whilst I defend that right I am also using my freedom of speech to call it out as wicked.

Would you give someone therapy for being heterosexual?

No. Didn't think so.

Faith "Healers" acting immorally. As the French would say, "Quel Surprise"

A group of faith healers who claim they have miracle cures for cancer and HIV have been condemned as "irresponsible, even criminal" by a professor of complementary medicine, following a BBC Newsnight investigation.

The group of healers, collectively known as ThetaHealing, claim that their technique - which focuses on thought and prayer - can teach people to use their natural intuition and "brain wave cycle" to "create instantaneous physical and emotional healing."

ThetaHealing have about 600 practitioners in the UK who charge up to £100 per session.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9519657.stm

http://www.atheistmedia.com/2011/06/bbc-newsnight-faith-healers.html?utm_sour...

Atheist Themed Movies for 2011

It looks like there are a few atheist themed movies and documentaries being released in 2011.

 

Film 1 - New documentary about the LaClair case

"A couple of years ago, a student, Matthew LaClair, exposed his teacher, David Paszkiewicz, as an evangelical creationist who was using a public school classroom as a pulpit. He did this by the simple expedient of bringing a hidden voice recorder into the room and catching Paszkiewicz preaching instead of teaching (the recording is on the web)." - Full Story

 

Film 2 - Gawd Bless America

"Gawd Bless America" is a Documentary Comedy coming to theaters this June 2011. The film follows Blake Freeman, who sets out to disprove the notion that aliens, people with psychic abilities and ghosts live among us.

IMDB Link

 

Film 3 - The Ledge

Possibly the most high profile film of the three is The Ledge starring Charlie Hunnam, Patrick Wilson and Liv Tyler.

"A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist escalates into a lethal battle of wills."

IMDB Link