Comedian Bill Maher has done what he does best, stirring up controversy with his outspoken point-of-view.

Social media has afforded the HBO star a new platform for his rather wicked sense of humor. If you recall, Maher wasn’t always a feature on the premium cable channel, and spent many years hosting a similar panel-based show on HBO called Politically Incorrect. The scathing comic enjoyed a lengthy late-night run on ABC, until he made some controversial post-9/11 remarks about whether the terrorists that downed the World Trade Center could rightfully be called cowards.

The comments provoked much hand-wringing, and Maher was fired from his ABC gig amid creepy threats from the White House’s at-the-time Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who reminded “all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do” in the post-attack panic.* Maher quickly rebounded, landing the HBO gig, and has been offending sensibilities far more efficiently since the move.

The comedian is also a vocal apatheist, espousing the position not only that religion is pointless, but further maintaining it is a force of chaos and terror in the world. He created a documentary- Religulous- skewering all major religions without prejudice. So it’s no surprise that the “Christ-y” (as Maher would say) Tim Tebow has come in for criticism from the controversial comic.

Maher made the comments Christmas Eve on his Twitter account, after the Denver Broncos lost to the Buffalo Bills. He tweeted:

Wow, Jesus just f*cked #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere in hell Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler “Hey, Buffalo’s killing them”

It was a mouthful even for Maher, but boycott calls seem a bit much given it’s not an entirely out of the ordinary for a man who traveled all over the world to make a documentary about how pointless and dangerous he feels religion is. It should also be noted that Maher’s tweet isn’t even skewering God or religion, but rather the vanity of those who might believe that God has nothing better to do than meddle in a football game.

*[Beyond the grave Hitchslap. As Christopher Hitchens wrote in Slate years ago, the remarks of Fleischer were widely misconstrued, and I apologize for the error in repeating them. You can read more in Hitchens' column.]

Did you find Bill Maher’s Tim Tebow tweet offensive?

Bill Maher’s Controversial Tebow Tweet Sparks HBO Boycott Calls is a post from: The Inquisitr

Last year pastor Terry Jones outraged the global community when he went through with a plan to burn the Koran. But the Muslim holy book isn’t the only holy book that is filled with “immoral” passages. An atheist group in California is holding a demonstration this weekend where they will rip out pages in the bible in order to rid the good book from “immoral” teachings.

Bruce Gleason, director of Backyard Skeptics, said:

“We’re not there to burn the Bible or desecrate. But there are plenty verses in the Bible that if you did any of those things today, you’d be thrown in jail immediately.”

The OC Register notes that one passage that will be removed from the bible is from Deuteronomy 22: 14-31, which says ”if a man finds his wife not to be a virgin, the community can stone her.”

Gleason says that his group will trim down the bible much like Thomas Jefferson did. Jefferson’s Bible, which the Smithsonian National Museum of American History is currently restoring, contained just 86-pages of the spiritual tome.

Gleason said:

“We will have copies of the Jefferson Bible.. Out of 1,100 pages he only kept (86) of them. This is one of our Founding Fathers.

“We want to make this a better world for secular and humanistic values. We don’t believe prayer works. We don’t believe religion adds anything except a sense of false hope.”

Gleason will stream the Backyard Skeptics demonstration on UStream at 2 p.m. 

What do you think of the Backyard Skeptics demonstration? Are Christians wrong to read these “immoral passages?” Are the backyard skeptics wrong to preach their beliefs to other people? Will having Jefferson’s bible on hand confuse Christian fundamentalists? Can’t we all just get along?

Atheist Group To Publicly Destroy ‘Immoral’ Pages of the Bible is a post from: The Inquisitr

Expect a severe backlash against famed physicist Stephen Hawking, who dismissed the existence of an afterlife during an interview with British paper The Guardian.

Hawking, 69, discussed facing death over time and pooh-poohed the notion that human souls go on to something bigger and better after death, and said the beliefs were borne of a desire to avoid a painful reality:

“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first,” he said.

“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark,” he added.

On the meaning of life, Hawking elaborated:

Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

Hawking said humans should seek the “greatest value of [their] action.”

Hawking: Heaven a ‘fairy story’ for people ‘afraid of the dark’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is one thing to believe in The Rapture but since that doesn’t include your pets what are they to do once their owners have ascended to that higher realm?

Well a group of concerned atheists, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, have decided to offer up their services, for a fee of course, to provide care, love and a home for those pets that get left behind. Already active in twenty states they continue to grow with new members being carefully screened all the time.

Our service is plain and simple; our fee structure is reasonable. 
For $110.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved.  Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $15.00 fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged friends.

Unfortunately at this time we are not equipped to accommodate all species and must  limit our services to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and small caged mammals.

I imagine that is a load off of Rapture bound pet owners.

Pet care for a post rapture world is a post from: The Inquisitr

An atheist billboard in Florida has resulted in community protests and a call for the sign to be banned, but wait until you see what’s on (or as is the case isn’t on) the sign.

Unlike campaigns in Europe which included the slogan “there probably isn’t a god,” the Florida campaign says “Being a good person doesn’t require God. Don’t believe in God, you’re not alone.” According to the Christians in the area, saying that non-believers can be good people discriminates against Christians.

Here’s where it gets even weirder: the residents object because (and I’m not making this up) African-Americans live in the area, and a shop owned by a born again Christian is nearby.

Local media reported that Team of Life community activist Essie “Big Mama” Reed brought her students out to protest it Wednesday afternoon.

“Nothing else matters, but that sign needs to come down. In the name of Jesus,” Big Mama chanted, as she led her students in protest.

She said the sign affects something much deeper than business. “I don’t know the reason for putting this sign up,” said Big Mama. “It says ‘Do not believe in God.’ How are we going to make it? Look at our schools, everyday. Everyday there’s something going on. Kids are out here killing each other, kids are here using drugs. Who else are they going to believe in?”

The atheist group behind the sign rightly pointed out the hypocrisy in the protestors, saying that they would like the community to show them the same tolerance they fought for during the civil rights era. “The women and blacks in this neighborhood, they’ve been discriminated before, in the recent past, as early as 30, 40 years ago,” a spokesman said “and yet, they have no problem discriminating against another group, whether it be gays or atheists.”

Atheists = your new African Americans.

Florida Christians protest atheist billboard, wait till you see the sign is a post from: The Inquisitr

A children’s entertainer known as “The Science Guy” was booed and abused when giving a speech in Waco, Texas recently for daring to suggest that the moon reflects the sun.

Bill Nye was in Waco participating in the local college’s “distinguished lecture series,” where he gave two lectures on topics including global warming, Mars exploration and energy consumption.

All was going well for Nye until he mentioned Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” Nye correctly noted that the “lesser light” (the moon), is not a light at all, a fact that is elementary science 101.

According to Think Atheist, several people in the audience stormed out in fury, with one woman screaming “We believe in God!” as she left with her three children.

The one thing that always amazes me with these literal bible believing Christians is how they decide to take some parts literally, and ignore others. Take for example 1 Timothy 2:9 – 15:12 “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” So here we have a woman screaming abuse at a man because she takes Genesis literally, but seemingly ignores Timothy at the same time. I wonder what the bible says about hypocrisy

Christians Boo Speaker For Saying The Moon Reflects The Sun is a post from: The Inquisitr

The thought of atheists ruling the world frightens many Christian fundamentalists, but how much does it frighten them?

If Atheists Ruled the World puts a voice to actual posts left by Christians on Christian fundamentalists sites, sort of like Creature Comforts, but without the cool animation.

If Atheists Ruled the World is a post from: The Inquisitr