Home › Archive for Religion › Page 3

Religion

Israel loses the War on Terror

Posted on by

While there is much debate as to the nature or and motivations on the part of Israel and Hezbollah. There is almost no doubt that Israel has lost this war. It may not be the war on the ground, but they have lost it none the less. It’s the same war George Bush is continuing to loose on behalf of the U.S. and that is the war over the moral high ground. Israel has failed to demonstrate that they are correct, or are responding to this ‘event’ in any way other than a fanatically mindless drunk. Striking out at an enemy that they can not beat, with weapons and methods that only serve to strengthen their enemies. Not unlike what the NeoCons of the Bush regime offer every day. It’s no wonder that the only support for in this Israeli madness is the U.S. Government. Even the British are waking up to this insanity leaving Israel and the U.S. standing alone, again.

The reaction of the Israeli government is over the top, unfocused and banal leaving everyone to wonder what the real motivations really are. Certainly not to rescue a few soldiers who were captured, certainly not to prove that they would go to any length to defend their borders. Something else is at work here, and a worst case, the belief that there is something sinister at work defeats Israel every day that they continue this course of action.

Time for a cease fire, and an end to madness. Or Israel will loose everything, not just this war.

Religious Control, an exercise in secular power

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

Not that I didn’t know this before, but if there is Death for Somali Muslims who shirk prayers they must not believe in Islam, or they would not need to enforce prayers. Aren’t we glad that George Bush and his Christian fundamentalists do not incorporate this into the U.S. constitution. Oh, wait that’s why they want Intelligent Design and prayers back into schools. But in reality, prayers of this type are just a secular demonstration of power. Not unlike what kings expected from their followers, a belief that some men are gods. After all, if you control their lives and their death, you are gods. Islamic and Christian clerics alike relish this power on earth. All religion is more or less a power trip to the practitioner. Why should anyone be surprised when religious law is the law of the land, it only substitutes one form of secular control with another.

Don’t you think god could enforce their own religious laws? Why would a cleric need to? Power!

Must be a really weak god.

Religious Pigeon holes and mixed metaphors

Posted on by

If someday we could loose the religious pigeon holes we place the behaviors of others into, we would soon reach a point where individuals could be treated fairly and equally, but I wax utopian here. While polls like The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other will continue to categorize people by their religion, or at least the religion in which they are raised up in, they are missing the mixed metaphor in their report that many Muslims are raised in the ‘West’ and hold different elements of their morality differently. In other words they are simplifying and pigeon holing vast groups of beliefs in an effort to separate people into opposing mindsets. Classifications that while on the surface seem significant and meaningful, merely mask a more complex issue of beliefs and behaviors and does an injustice to everyone, and worse seek to divide people who might otherwise work together to solve the bigger issues of our world. There I go waxing utopian again.

In logic the term is ‘fallacy by bifurcation’ or best illustrated as something must be either “Black or White”, and put into those term, you can see clearly the problem such thinking brings to an issue. “Your either with me or against me.” Such logic it the logic of politics, not of societies, and does nothing to bridge the differences each of us possess as individuals one from another.

“WWIII Started in 1979”, paranoia

Posted on by

I can usually usually judge the level of paranoia flowing through the GOP, NeoCons and the far right, from the propaganda email forwarded from my brother in the central United States. These usually follow some talking point or another that the White House would be proud of, but are cloaked in “personalization’s” like ‘joe’ told me, or a “friend of mine” something, to allude to a personal first person truth. Often, as in the last one, titled “WWIII Started in 1979” it resorts to paranoid delusion and vastly over simplified history and the motivations of the depicted (read spun) events. In this case many unrelated events are painted in a ‘pro-war with the Arabs’ fashion using little more commonality than of race. An enemy easily identified as Muslim, those “vicious anti-west, infidel killing religious fanatics”.

You get the picture anyway.

This brings me back to the point, that this represents another attempt to deflect attention from the GOP corruption, lawbreaking and embezzlement of the public trust. and an attempt to elevate paranoia, and create fear of “The ENEMY them, those people, that sleeper cell down the street that behaves strangely.

The real question, do we really question anymore? When do we stop believing in the ‘Bush who cried wolf”. When are we going to require real accountability for improving the security we really desire? When, if ever, are we going believe which “Terror Alerts” are real?

Why would anyone give up their freedoms, liberties and privacy, the very things that have made us great for the illusion of security being offered by the NeoCon GOP. Why would you believe any politician, for that matter.

People must believe in themselves, trust to the good elements of our chosen society, represent them, educate with them, and work to prevent the hate, paranoia and fear from blinding us to the truth that we are all human. And that the rights which we have fought for over the years must be applied to all equally.

Ok I’ll get off the soapbox.

Demonization of the ACLU

Posted on by

I have been reading the blogs of the religiously self-righteous defenders of the U.S constitution. Or, in other words attempting to distorting the definitions of the constitution into religious mumbo-Jumbo. To quote;


The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees:

  • Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.
  • Your right to equal protection under the law – equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
  • Your right to due process – fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
  • Your right to privacy – freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.

But they seem to be under attack because they are managing to get that job done, but are being attacked by the christian wing-nut far right because they

…work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.

In other words everything the fundamentalist are against. and who believe that

if the rights of society’s most vulnerable members are denied

Christianity as NOT embodied in the constitution can be preserved for all Americans.

A Religious reason is a misnomer

Posted on by

I’ve been reading about What did Canadians do to deserve this? And while the article makes a strong argument that Islamic Terrorist believe things like this.

Sayed Qutb, the Marx of Militant Islamism, stated unequivocally: “Truth and falsehood cannot coexist on earth…the liberating struggle of jihad does not cease until all religion belongs to God.” Looking at the world through such eyes, freedom, tolerance and democratic values are not virtues – they are symptoms of weakness and moral decline.

The author Clifford D. May has ask the some of the hard questions

What were these young men taught by the religious leaders in their mosques? Did their neighbors not see where they were heading? Was it sympathy or fear that prevented them from speaking up? If it was fear – fear of whom?

His belief that the Muslim community has any more control of their radical members than any right wing Christian fundamentalist is misplaced. The problem is this; in a secular democracy where “freedom, tolerance and democratic values” are truly valued, religion is the problem. Religion is the antithesis of common sense, of reason, and truth. If you take any religion to extremes you might as well perform a frontal lobotomy. A person so conditioned is beyond reason.

You can’t reason with someone, who didn’t start out that way.

And the only hope for Democracies, who wish to preserve their “freedom, tolerance and democratic values” is education. Teaching reason, freedom and tolerance. And the first step, is practicing what they preach. To hold themselves up as a model, they should be proud to look in a mirror. In a war of ideologies, insure that your’s is the best.

UPDATE: A christian example: Fox News host to guest: ‘You’re going to hell!’

The Phony war on American Christianity

Posted on by

The so called war on American Christianity is GOP propaganda, clear and simple. If you want to stir up the fundamentalist, bring up a war on Christianity. The current email propaganda I have been subjected to goes like this.

There is a war on Christmas

“We can no longer say Merry Christmas” . Now it has to be Season’s Greeting ”

This isn’t true, we are just as free to say Merry Christmas as we ever were. If the greeting card companies are printing more ‘Season Greeting’s’ cards it’s to maximize profits it’s hardy a war on Christmas. However if right wing talk show hosts say it is a war, well surly it must be so? Not likely, just more GOP propaganda. Something to fire the passions of the wingnut fringe.

“In God We Trust”

“In God We Trust” is our national motto. This is not some Christian,
right wing, political slogan.. We adopted this motto because Christian
men and women…….on Christian principles………….
founded this nation….. and this is clearly documented.

Actually It is clearly documented In God We Trust

is the current national motto of the United States of America and of the Great State of Florida. It was so designated by an act of Congress in 1956 and officially supersedes “E Pluribus Unum” (From Many, One) according to section 5114 of title 31, United States Code. President Eisenhower signed the resolution into law on 30 July 1956.

So the motto was not the official motto for most of the history of the U.S. and was not because Christians founded the nation. Besides the point that Muslim, Jews and Christians all pray to the same God, does not make this motto Christian. As noted in the case of MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR et al. v. W. MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, et al. (462 F. Supp. 19 — W.D. Tex 1978), the court opined: “Its use is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of religious exercise.”
I personally prefer E Pluribus Unum, From many Nations, one Nation. It’s what America is, the combination of all nations. And this brings about the rest of this propaganda email

American Culture

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don’t care how you did things where you came from.
This is OUR COUNTRY,
our land, and our lifestyle…we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!

The answer here is that Many people are surprised to learn that the United States has no official language. And as for culture, that too has been the aggregate of both it’s immigrant and native populations. The fact that most of the culture reflects western European culture, does not take away from the multicultural nature of our restaurants. The United States has, over the majority of it’s history, been a culture composed of the best features of it’s population. It has never been chained to any particular cultural eddies and back-currents. Mind you learning English will go further to an immigrants integration into the ‘American culture’ but as that culture is always changing you must keep on your toes.

This propaganda is indicative of of the Republican strategy of the old ‘One Two’ punch, Stir up anger, and emotions, then direct the anger at a target. I believe that the next email I receive will be one of ‘It the Democrats that are to blame for the polluting of our culture’. Or it’s the Liberal’s fault, or some named politician that the GOP Neocons are against. The fact that this propaganda is playing on the emotions of the conservative voters tendency to resist change in any form, a belief in ‘the good old days’ and that the ‘radicals’ are destroying America, is just that, propaganda. There is always going to be change, no one can stop it. The GOP only wants to get people to take their eye off the ball so they can continue their practice of corrupt political cronyism. A near royalty of political dynasties, dynasties which we as americans overthrew to become the United States of America.

Update: There does seem to be a move to formalize English as the national language here, but President George W. Bush has long opposed making English the country’s national language probably because he doesn’t speak english 😉

Net Neutrality, and opinions, on Ethics.

Posted on by

David S. Isenberg is worried that for once he has disagreed with Cory,
Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow on Network Neutrality

Disagreeing with Cory should be common. He’s only another person with an opinion.

As for Net Neutrality regulation, you will never know till you try, if it will work or not.

Anytime congress passes a law, someone’s rights get removed. But would you remove the restriction over which side of the road you drive on?

Many of the restrictions we place on ourselves are based on an understanding of our human nature. We know that we are greedy, we place restrictions on our greed.

Since corporations are treated as a ‘corporate body’ and hence treated in the courts as if the corporation were a human. You must treat that person based upon what you believe that persons ethics are founded on. Since Corporations have no moral soul, the observations of it’s ethical behavior are, that it has no ethics. And hence controls placed on the corporate person are greater than that placed on a human person.

Cory’s problem is that that he personalizes the issues from his own point of view. He believes that as an ethical person, he should be allow to control his own actions. And for the most part he can, except for his tendency to run off at the mouth. But he is not a corporation, who’s only ethic is profit. And has no moral compunction to control that motivation. Laws are passed to provide the moral lessons to corporations.

War with Iran, a dead certainty

Posted on by

Lets be entirely clear, I’m not i favor of a war with Iran. I wasn’t in favor of a war with Iraq either. But it happened, and the war will happen with Iran, just a sure as the sun rises in the east if George Bush remains as president of the United States. There is nothing in his past experience that would force him to rethink his ability to make war on anyone he wishes. With the republicans in control of Congress, and the Supreme Court. There is little expectation that he will face any opposition to his madness.

So the real question is this, what are we going to do after

Bush Nuke’s Iran in the name of the American People

hits the front page of the world newspapers?

It will be like watching the elite Iraqis scrambling to leave Iraq, we will see the wealthy and well connected in the U.S. vanish out of the country leaving the poor and middle classes to suffer the wrath of the Muslim/Iranian reaction.

And 9/11 will look like ants at a picnic.

Sleeper Cell

Posted on by

I have been watching the advertising for ‘Sleeper Cell’ a television program about Islamic terrorists in a western country, trained to hide, and poised to strike on command. This is a standard, ‘spy vs spy’ plot line used in many novels, so the plot element is well known. It’s great when used to produce paranoia in your reader. It’s an even better subject when you use it to control the public. If you point to the possibility, or the probability that there are ‘Sleeper Cells’. ready to strike the public at anytime. You can pretty much do anything you want to that population, their induced paranoia will allow you vast powers to subvert their freedoms and liberties.

What isn’t well known is the concept of a sleep cell is another way to describe an oppressed minority group, any group. As the the description of a cell as a small group of angry people so frustrated, that they are willing to lash out at the majority in a culture. Calling any minority group, a sleeper cell, allows you to suppress that group even more. And, better yet, conditions the majority population to assist you in that suppression. The only difference between the dreaded sleeper cell, and a group of frustrated teenagers is the myth of control. The sleeper cell takes orders from a leader, or a cause from outside, control is from a mythological and mysterious external source. The teens lash out, either from external peer pressure, or from their perceptions of the environments, or from just plain anger.

So the concept is, more or less, a Spin name for a frustrated disenfranchised minority. Again, ANY MINORITY, and that applies to vegetarians, immigrants, old age pensioners, atheists, christians or Muslims. Whom ever you want to suppress, call them a ‘sleeper cell’ and suppress away. They are now the enemy, and you no longer have to deal with their frustrations, or their needs. You no longer have to deal with mythological and mysterious causes for that frustration.

Sound familiar?

Religious Indoctrination

Posted on by

There has to be someone, some where, laughing his head off at this article. And I don’t think it was God.

Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority

but I really love some of the quotes

sharing their vision of American society.

This tends to suggest that the study is less than reliable, this kind of survey has bias written all over it.

Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

Did anyone one have to translate what Atheism was to these subjects?

atheism |ˈāθēˌizəm| noun the theory or belief that God does not exist.

Maybe they thought that…, Shite, I don’t know what they were thinking.

Religion vs Morality

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

I have been struggling with the concepts of Religion as the source of morality. Each religion I have encountered believes it is the sole source of morality. That to be anti-religion is to be the same as amoralism. I always find that I am very much anti-religion, as it seems to make most people blind and dumb to the world. I think of myself as a scientist, looking at the world as a reasoned individual, but I believe that I am also very moral. Perhaps due to my brushes with a religious upbringing, but I believe that I have, at this stage in life, created my own moral compass removed from any religious aspects. And while I remain spiritual, I am not a religious person. The term ‘Religion is an anathema to reason’ or ‘religion is the opiate of the masses’ has strong meaning for me.

This has been brought to the forefront by the ranting of Radical Islamic Clerics, and Fundamentalist Christians ministers who both believe that they are locked into a war of beliefs. And all I see is two factions fighting over political control of an ignorant public.

I believe that if education was allowed to teach the facts, and that people could realize that there is morality without religious foundations. Most of the public would choose the secular morality. And that clerics and minsters who interpret their respective texts, are using these works as a control for their own purposes. That under the appearance of being a moral tool, they are deliberately distorting the message to strike out at opposing religions in a desperate attempt to prevent a secular approach to morality.

Both religions (in fact all religions) are fighting for control, in a vain attempt to preserve their institutes. And that real education, and real truth are the enemy. This appears to manifest in the so called Republican war on Science, and the secular religious schools of Islam. The truth, and perhaps the rational view of facts is being subverted to prevent a more just view of the facts and a clearer view of the truth.

We did not walk out of the jungle, or climb out of the evolutionary ladder just because God Placed us there, we got there, by way of our reasoning minds, and rational thought, corroboration, cooperation and trust.

Update: I heard about this when I posted this article, but I’ll link it now as another confirmation that religion is more concerned with ‘turf’ and not the spiritual nature of the human condition. It also reflects a ‘Burnt Earth’ policy. If we can’t have him, no one will!


Abdul Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and could face the death sentence under Sharia law unless he recants.

Afghan Faces Death Penalty for Converting to Christianity