That's fucking stupid

Posts Tagged ‘christian voice’

Stephen Green, leader of militant fuckwit religious extremists ‘Christian Voice’*:

“The Bible calls for the ultimate penalty for sodomy (Lev 20:13) and for rape (Deut 22:25), and our Lord upheld the death penalty when He called for the accusers of the woman caught in adultery to cast the first stone (John 8:7) – if, that is, they were not implicated in adultery themselves.

“The contrast between our politicians and those of Uganda could not be more stark. A Parliamentarian in Uganda is trying to protect his nation’s children. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is trying to corrupt ours. Which country is the more civilised, I wonder, in the eyes of Almighty God?”

Well then, my dear boy, to bring out an old cliché: if you like it so much why don’t you go live there?

*not to be confused with militant fuckwit religious extremists the ‘Christian Institute’

After seeing this I thought I would run it by the ASA in case it was a statement that should be substantiated. Carlsberg can’t say that their beer is definitely the best beer in the world because they can’t prove it so why should the bible thumpers be able to state as fact something that nobody can prove?

Turns out that the Christian Party, as a political party, is exempt from rule which prevent lying. The letter I got from the ASA said that their code prevents them from interfering with the political process.

12.1 Any advertisement or direct marketing communication, whenever published or distributed, whose principal function is to influence voters in local, regional, national or international elections or referendums is exempt from the Code.

I would, of course, argue that the advertisement in question was aimed at recruiting members to the party rather than influence voters in an election. Either way the toothless ASA won’t get involved.

From the ASA code:

3.4 Obvious untruths or exaggerations that are unlikely to mislead and incidental minor errors and unorthodox spellings are all allowed provided they do not affect the accuracy or perception of the marketing communication in any material way.

Well i guess that’s how they are going to justify this:

New Scientist has published an excellent article concerning research by Scott Wiltermuth of Stanford University in California that suggests that “activities performed in unison, such as marching or dancing, increase loyalty to the group”. The article discusses proposals by psychologist Jonathan Haidt at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville that “this research helps explain why fascist leaders, amongst others, use organised marching and chanting to whip crowds into a frenzy of devotion to their cause”.

The article very carefully skirts around the similarity between the chanting and singing, encouraged by facist leaders, and the hymns and prayers which form the bedrock of religious observance.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, is an odious little man. I can forgive him his welshness because he knows no better and I can forgive him his faith because faith in itself is a harmless thing. I could even forgive him his stupidity because religion is a tool designed to lure the stupid into subservience but I will not forgive him his hypocrisy.

Vanity, one of the seven deadly sins, is plastered all over Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, and his quaint little bitchfest website. The whole exercise appears to be a vanity page designed to make Christian Voice look like a large organisation with Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, at the helm when in fact the only individual named within the pages of the site is that of Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice. Everything he does is self promoting and attention grabbing. Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, issues press releases like postits and each one is filled with quotes from none other than Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice. It was Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, who spearheaded the complaint to the ASA about the Atheist Bus campaign which failed so spectacularly and it is Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, who got his face in front of as many cameras as possible.

So,  Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, who’s your buddies? Comments section is below if you can list names and job titles of anyone other than  Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice,  who actually works (either paid or voluntary) for Christian Voice.

In the mean time here’s a little nugget on the subject of Christian Voice, the ASA and the Athiest Bus Campaign. Not only did Christian Voice lose their arguement that the bus campaign needed substantiation (despite the fact that they had no substantiation for a counter claim), they have also recently had a complaint against them upheld on almost exactly the same grounds.

I was considering a 2 for 2 graph, maybe a bar chart with compaints made by Christian Voice versus complaints against them; but I settled for this…