crazy

English expat ‘rips his own eyes out’ during church service in Italy

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Yeah, that’s not normal… but on religion, it is.

English expat ‘rips his own eyes out’ during church service in Italy

AN English expatriate in Viareggio (northern Italy) has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital after ripping out his own eyes with his naked hands during a church service.

The 46-year-old, a long-term resident in the Tuscan municipality, began screaming and banging his head against the floor during mass, explains his elderly mother, who was with him at the time.

He claimed he heard voices telling him to tear his eyes out.

The man was rushed to nearby Versilia hospital for an emergency operation, but surgeons were unable to save his sight, meaning he will now be blind for life.

Doctor Gino Barbacci, who treated him, said the man did not complain or show any signal of physical pain, and answered correctly when asked his name.

In the 26 years I have been practising, I have never seen anything like it, confessed Dr Barbacci.

Yet he appeared to be a completely normal person.

He would have needed absolutely super-human strength to pull his own eyes out with his hands.

He got up and started banging his head against the floor, he was covered in blood. I did not know what was happening, he didn’t say anything, explained the man’s mother when interviewed.

Medics say he had been in treatment for a psychiatric illness, but had not wanted to take the pills prescribed to him.

TV sends message that “Christians are nutters” – Crazies Claim

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I think I just shed the worlds smallest tear..

TV sends message that “Christians are nutters”

Frequent television portrayals of Christians as absurd make it more difficult for believers to defend themselves, a national journalist has said.

Recent storylines in a number of soaps have sent the clear message that “Christians are nutters”, the Daily Telegraph’s religion correspondent, Jonathan Wynne-Jones, wrote last week on his blog.

Christians should expect robust criticism, Mr Wynne-Jones said, but as faith is made to look more ridiculous “the line between ridicule and persecution becomes even thinner”.

Mr Wynne-Jones wrote on his blog: “Some would argue that Christianity has been undermined for some time on television.”

He continues: “Even some of the BBC’s religious documentaries have tended to challenge traditional beliefs, from claiming Mary was raped by a Roman soldier to arguing that Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus was caused by an epileptic fit.”

Earlier this week it emerged that dozens of viewers complained to the television regulator after an Easter Sunday episode of Coronation Street featured a string of outbursts against Christianity.

The character Ken Barlow described the Christian faith as a “superstition”, accusing churches of targeting “vulnerable people” and “indoctrinating” his grandson.

Mr Wynne-Jones also referred to Hollyoaks, a soap hugely popular with teenagers, where the ‘Christian’ in the show claims to have found an image of Jesus in a potato.

“Outspoken criticism of Christian beliefs should be expected, but the stealthy attempts to make believers look absurd is much more damaging,” Mr Wynne-Jones said.

“Once faith has been made to look ridiculous, the attempts of believers to rebut the criticism will be met with deaf ears. And then the line between ridicule and persecution becomes even thinner.”

It emerged earlier this month that the producers of Coronation Street are planning to portray a ‘born-again Christian’ character embarking on a lesbian affair in a bid to make the soap more reflective of modern Britain.

The BBC received 150 complaints about an episode of Eastenders shown in October last year, in which ‘Christian’ character Dot Cotton was made to look old fashioned and ridiculous in her beliefs on homosexuality.

She was shown getting to grips with an mp3 player before coming across two men kissing on a park bench and asking them to stop. The two male characters sniggered at her efforts to engage with modern technology.

Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, admitted last year that he believes Christianity should be treated with less sensitivity in television programmes than other religions.

‘God said she needed to be taken off road’

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‘God said she needed to be taken off road’

A speeding pickup rear-ended a woman’s sedan on the South Side on Friday morning and sheriff’s officials say the driver said it was Jesus’ will because the other motorist was not “driving like a Christian.”

The bizarre incident that shut down southbound U.S. 281 above the Medina River happened about 7:25 a.m.

“He just said God said she wasn’t driving right, and she needed to be taken off the road,” said Lt. Kyle Coleman of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.

The driver of the pickup was identified in a Sheriff’s Office news release as Michael E. Schwab, 52, of Blooming Grove.

Schwab told first responders at the scene that “the other vehicle was not driving like a Christian and it was Jesus’ will for him to punish the car,” according to the release.

The 35-year-old woman was driving her sedan north when the pickup struck her vehicle. Schwab told deputies he was driving faster than 100 mph at the time, Coleman said.

The impact caused both vehicles to spin across a median before they came to a stop along a barrier in the southbound lanes. No other vehicles were involved.

Though both vehicles were badly damaged, the drivers suffered minor injuries.

“God must have been with them, ’cause any other time, the severity of this crash, it would have been a fatal,” Coleman said.

The woman was taken to a hospital as a precaution. Schwab was later charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, motor vehicle. His bond was set at $50,000, according to the news release.

The pickup driver did not specify for authorities how the woman was driving poorly. Investigators determined the female driver “had done nothing wrong,” according to the release.

Palin once blessed to be free from ‘witchcraft’

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Good thing she did, we can’t very well have a vice president flying around on magical brooms, now can we?

Palin once blessed to be free from ‘witchcraft’

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for her protection from “witchcraft” as she prepared to seek higher office.

The video shows Palin standing before Bishop Thomas Muthee in the pulpit of the Wasilla Assembly of God church, holding her hands open as he asked Jesus Christ to keep her safe from “every form of witchcraft.”

“Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan,” Muthee said as two attendants placed their hands on Palin’s shoulders. “Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”

Palin filed campaign papers a few months later, in October 2005, and was elected governor the next year.

Palin does not say anything on the video and keeps her head bowed throughout the blessing. The Republican vice presidential candidate was baptized at the church but stopped attending regularly in 2002.

A spokesman for the McCain campaign declined to comment. A person who answered the phone at the Wasilla church confirmed the video was from May 2005 but declined further comment.

Palin was baptized Roman Catholic as a newborn.

Pentecostals are conservative in their reading of the Bible. Unlike most other Christians — including most evangelicals — Pentecostals believe in “baptism in the Holy Spirit.” That can manifest itself through speaking in tongues, modern-day prophesy and faith healing, which includes the laying on of hands.

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, has said Palin attends different churches and does not consider herself Pentecostal.

On a visit to the church in June 2008, Palin spoke fondly of the Kenyan pastor and told a group of young missionaries that Muthee’s prayers had helped her to become governor.

“Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold,” she said. “And he was praying ‘Lord make a way, Lord make a way’ … He said, ‘Lord make a way and let her do this next step.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

The Rev. Zipporah Ndiritu, who studied under Muthee in the Kiambu, Kenya-based Word of Faith Church, said the bishop is revered among evangelicals there. In a phone interview from Mombasa, Kenya, she said church doctrine focuses on ridding the world of demons — and witches.

“Even in the days of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible there were witches who were manifesting through demonic forces,” she said. “You can seek from the Lord, and if you find demonic forces you cast them out.”

Ndiritu said she did not know Palin.

Islamic Cartoons

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Who doesn’t love making fun of a religion as crazy as Islam?

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Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Islamic Cartoon

Idaho man sees ‘mark of the beast,” cuts off and microwaves hand

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Don’t you forget now, even though this guy is insane, all those creationist out there literally believe that if the mark of the ‘beast’ appears on your forehead or hand, you “will drink the wine of God’s fury”, or whatever that means.

Idaho man sees ‘mark of the beast,” cuts off and microwaves hand

HAYDEN, Idaho — A man who believed he bore the “mark of the beast” amputated one of his hands, put it in a microwave and summoned authorities, Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies say.

The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when deputies arrived at his home in this north Idaho town Saturday afternoon, and neither he nor the severed hand bore any noticeable tattoo or other mark, sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

The man, whose name was withheld, was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d’Alene, where he and the hand were taken by ambulance. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality restrictions.

“He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn’t bleed to death,” Wolfinger said. ” That kind of mental illness is just sad.”

The New Testament Book of Revelation contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying, according to the New International Version of the Bible, “If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury.”

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