* In Gods We Trust - Scott Atran

Human Nature Review

From this vantage, religion is not doctrine, or institutions, or even faith. Religion ensues from the ordinary workings of the human mind as it deals with emotionally compelling problems of human existence, such as birth, aging, death, unforeseen calamities, and love.

Open Democracy - free thinking for the world

In Gods We Trust: the evolutionary landscape of religion
by Scott Atran, Anthropologist & Psychologist
University of Michigan
* * *
BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES

Religion’s evolutionary landscape:
Counterintuition, commitment,
compassion, communion
by Scott Atran

Abstract [excerpt]: Religion is not an evolutionary adaptation per se, but a recurring cultural by-product of the complex evolutionary landscape that sets cognitive, emotional, and material conditions for ordinary human interactions. Religion exploits only ordinary cognitive processes to passionately display costly devotion to counterintuitive worlds governed by supernatural agents. The conceptual foundations of religion are intuitively given by task-specific panhuman cognitive domains, including folkmechanics, folkbiology, and folkpsychology. Core religious beliefs minimally violate ordinary notions about how the world is, with all of its inescapable problems, thus enabling people to imagine minimally impossible supernatural worlds that solve existential problems, including death and deception. Here the focus is on folkpsychology and agency.

INTRODUCTION

"In every society there are:

1. Widespread counterfactual and counterintuitive beliefs
in supernatural agents (gods, ghosts, goblins, etc.)

2. Hard-to-fake public expressions of costly material
commitments to supernatural agents, that is, offering and
sacrifice (offerings of goods, property, time, life)

3. Mastering by supernatural agents of people’s existential
anxieties (death, deception, disease, catastrophe, pain,
loneliness, injustice, want, loss)

4. Ritualized, rhythmic sensory coordination of (1), (2),
and (3), that is, communion (congregation, intimate fellowship,
etc.)

In all societies there is an evolutionary canalization and
convergence of (1), (2), (3), and (4) that tends toward what
we shall refer to as “religion”; that is, passionate communal
displays of costly commitments to counterintuitive worlds
governed by supernatural agents. Although these facets of
religion emerge in all known cultures and animate the majority
of individual human beings in the world, there are
considerable individual and cultural differences in the degree
of religious commitment. The question as to the origin
and nature of these intriguing and important differences
we leave open. This theoretical framework drives our program of research."

Articles on Terrorism
Discover Dialogue

* New Rules for Religion - Bill Maher

SOMA: The Society for Mutual Autopsy

"Wait! I didn't say, 'Jesus sez raise your hands.'"

New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer
by Bill Maher

" ... the world of faith has always been nuts. Now, comedian Bill Maher tries to provide some order."

One of Maher's New Rules:

Have it Yahweh

"God is a waffler. Pat Robertson said God told him that Iraq would be a bloody disaster. But the same God told George Bush it wouldn’t, which so surprised Robertson, he almost dropped the pennies he was stealing off a dead woman’s eyes. But why is God talking out of two sides of his mouth? Flip-flop. God told us to beat our swords into plowshares. God: Wrong on defense, wrong for America."

* The Jesus Puzzle: Was There No Historical Jesus? ~ by Earl J. Doherty

Historical Jesus or Jesus Myth: The Jesus Puzzle

Did Christianity begin with an historical Jesus or a Jesus myth? Was the original Jesus a man or a mythical savior god? Solving the Jesus Puzzle through the Christian and ancient-world record, from the Pauline epistles to the Gospels to the second century Christian apologists, from Philo to Josephus to Jewish and Hellenistic philosophy.

Christian faith evolved from a Jesus myth to an historical Jesus. New Testament scholarship needs to uncover that original evolution and rewrite the history of Western religion.
Earl Doherty's Website

American Atheists

"Earl Doherty is a member of the Humanist Association of Canada, with a degree in History and Classical Languages. As a longtime researcher into the subject of Christian origins, he supports the position that no historical Jesus existed. His own contributions to that theory have been embodied in a Web-site that has gained worldwide attention, and in a recent book called The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? published by Canadian Humanist Publications."

Wikipedia ~ Earl Doherty

* The Virus of Religious Moderation

Sam Harris: The Truthdig Interview
by Blair Golson

The most controversial aspect of my book has been this criticism I make of religious moderates. Most people think that while religious extremism is problematic and polarizing, religious tolerance is entirely blameless and is the remedy for all that ails us on this front.

But religious moderates are giving cover to fundamentalists because of the respect that moderates demand of faith-based talk. Religious moderation doesn’t allow us to say the really critical things we must say about the abject stupidity of religious fundamentalism. And as a result, it keeps fundamentalism in play, and fundamentalists make very cynical and artful use of the cover they’re getting by the political correctness in our discourse.

You also say religious moderation closes the door to more sophisticated approaches to spirituality, ethics and the building of strong communities. What did you mean by that?

Religious moderation is just a cherry-picking of scripture, ultimately. It is just diluted Iron Age philosophy. It isn’t a 21st century approach to talking about the contemplative life, or spiritual experience, or ethical norms, or those features that keep communities strong and healthy.

Religious moderation is a relaxation of the standards of adherence to ancient taboos and superstitions. That’s really all it is. Moderate Christians have agreed not to read the bible literally, and not read certain sections of it at all, and then they come away with a much more progressive, tolerant and ecumenical version of Christianity. They just pay attention to Jesus when he’s sermonizing on the Mount, and claim that is the true Christianity. Well that’s not the true Christianity. It’s a selective reading of certain aspects of Christianity. The other face of Christianity is always waiting in the book to be resurrected. You can find the Jesus of Second Thessalonians who’s going to come back and hurl sinners into the pit. This is the Jesus being celebrated in the Left Behind novels. This is the Jesus that half the American population is expecting to see come down out of the clouds.

truthdig

The Virus of Religious Moderation
London Times (PDF)

Sam Harris' Website

All postings for Sam Harris ...

* Science & Religion ~ Ann Druyan

Skeptical Inquirer Magazine

Ann Druyan Talks About Science, Religion, Wonder, Awe ... and Carl Sagan, her deceased husband.

What I find disappointing about most religious beliefs is that they are a kind of statement of contempt for nature and reality. It's absurdly hubristic. It holds the myths of a few thousand years above nature's many billion-yeared journey. It says reality is inferior and less satisfying than the stories we make up.

Why does the message of science not grab people in their souls and give them the kind of emotional gratification that religion has given to so many?

This is something that I think we have to come to grips with. There's a confusion generally in our society. There is a great wall that separates what we know from what we feel.The Bible says that the Earth is flat. The Bible says that we were created separately from the rest of life. If you look at it honestly, you have to give up these basic ideas, you have to admit that the Bible is not infallible, it's not the gospel truth of the creator of the universe. So what did we do? We made a corrupt treaty that resulted in a troubled peace: We built a wall inside ourselves.


Cosmas Indicopleustes' world picture - flat earth in a Tabernacle.

Lactantius Opposed Round Earth
"Lactantius (245–325), after his conversion to Christianity and rejection of Greek philosophy, called it "folly" because he thought that people under the opposite side of the sphere would not "obey" gravity. He asked,

"Is there any one so senseless as to believe that there are men whose footsteps are higher than their heads? That the crops and trees grow downward? That the rains and snow and hail fall upward toward the earth? I am at a loss what to say of those who, when they have once erred, steadily persevere in their folly and defend one vain thing by another."

Wikipedia

POINT OF INQUIRY
Ann Druyan - Science, Wonder, and Spirituality
September 15th, 2006

In this discussion with DJ Grothe, she stresses the point that people can have a sense of awe and wonder about the universe without having to believe in God or the supernatural, discusses the work of Carl Sagan and his lasting impact, examines the growing need for scientific literacy in our society, and shares why, despite the current cultural war against science, she is optimistic about the future.

The Carl Sagan Foundation

METAXY Cross-reference

* A Country Ruled by Faith - Garry Wills

The New York Review of Books: A Country Ruled by Faith by Garry Wills

"Bush promised his evangelical followers faith-based social services, which he called "compassionate conservatism." He went beyond that to give them a faith-based war, faith-based law enforcement, faith-based education, faith-based medicine, and faith-based science."

Bush's Fringe Government by Garry Wills [Brief Bio]

* Definition of "Atheism"

Atheist - A person to be pitied in that he [she] is unable to believe things for which there is no evidence, and who has thus deprived himself [herself] of a convenient means of feeling superior to others.

~ Chaz Bufe, The American Heretic’s Dictionary

Positive Atheism

* Religion, Stem Cell Research, Politics & Needless Suffering

BBC News

October 25, 2006

Stem cell research is blocked by President Bush, the Catholic Church, and anti-abortionists.

Michael J. Fox, trembling with symptoms of Parkinson's Disease: "Fox emphasized the need to face hard facts in the arena of stem cell research, and the opportunity politicians have to save lives with their votes in favor of research."

"Scientists hope embryonic stem cell research could one day yield cures for illnesses like Parkinson's or diabetes.

"Opponents, led by the Catholic Church and anti-abortionists, say it is immoral and could lead to human cloning.

"President George W Bush is also against the research, and vetoed a controversial bill which would have lifted a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in July.

"It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it," he said.

"However, polls suggest the majority of Americans back the research, and it has become a key issue in the mid-term elections, which decide the make-up of Congress, the two houses of the US legislature."

AT&T Worldnet Service

Michael J. Fox's Passionate Political Plea

"In one of her television ads, Rep. Wilson herself says, "The president vetoed the stem cell bill and I voted to override his veto because it was the right thing to do." Those who oppose the research -- on the grounds that they believe destroying embryos destroys human life -- are more targeted in their appeals and use the issue to drive anti-abortion voters to the polls through open letters to churches and radio ads that denounce the Missouri referendum in favor of the research."

* * *
Truthdigger of the Week

Michael J. Fox
Posted on Oct 27, 2006
From CBS News

"Michael J. Fox on the “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,” reacting to Rush Limbaugh’s charge that the actor was faking his Parkinson’s symptoms.

"Truthdig salutes Michael J. Fox, who reacted with grace when right-wing hate-machine Rush Limbaugh accused the actor of faking the symptoms of his Parkinson’s disease in order to curry political favor for stem cell research.

"We find it distasteful even to write about Rush, but when he steps this far over the line, we feel we have no choice but to hold him up to the public humiliation he so richly deserves."

Photo from Wikipedia

* The War of Religion

ReverendFun Website

Rejection of Pascal's Wager:
A Skeptic's Guide to Christianity

THE WAR OF RELIGION
by Paul N. Tobin

"The basic intolerance of the Christian religion is revealed not only in persecutions of heretics, dissenters and witches. Religious wars was another popular outlet for this intolerance. Following the Reformation in the sixteenth century, Europe was the stage for many religious wars, most of them between Catholics and Protestants."

Read full article

* Religious Belief & Societal Health ~ Study Results

SKEPTIC: The Magazine

New Study Reveals that Religion
Does Not Lead to a Healthier Society

Article introduction by Michael Shermer,
editor Skeptic magazine:

In this article, we report the results of a study examining the relationship between a nation’s religiosity and its “moral health.” The received wisdom would lead one to predict a positive correlation between national religiosity and national moral health — as one goes up the other goes up. In fact, that appears not to be the case, and the example of the United States is most striking; Americans are among the most religious people in the Western world, and yet we have among the highest rates of homicide, abortion, and teen pregnancies. To the extent that these measures are related to something that might be called “national moral health,” the intuitive thesis that links religiosity to morality would seem to be gainsaid. For details, read on … and pass along these articles to your friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe to Skeptic and eSkeptic. —Michael Shermer, Editor

RELIGIOUS BELIEF & SOCIETAL HEALTH

by Matthew Provonsha

"What we can be clear about from this study is that highly religious societies can be dysfunctional, whereas by comparison secular societies in which evolution is largely accepted display real social cohesion and societal well-being. As is always the case in science, more data and additional research will help clarify our conclusions."

Full article:
SKEPTIC: The Magazine

* * *
New York Times, UK
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

"RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today."

"According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

"The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society."

Article
* * *
Journal of Religion and Society
Kripke Center, Creighton University
A Jesuit Catholic University

The Study

Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies

A First Look

Gregory S. Paul
Baltimore, Maryland

"In broad terms the hypothesis that popular religiosity is socially beneficial holds that high rates of belief in a creator, as well as worship, prayer and other aspects of religious practice, correlate with lowering rates of lethal violence, suicide, non-monogamous sexual activity, and abortion, as well as improved physical health. Such faith-based, virtuous “cultures of life” are supposedly attainable if people believe that God created them for a special purpose, and follow the strict moral dictates imposed by religion. At one end of the spectrum are those who consider creator belief helpful but not necessarily critical to individuals and societies. At the other end the most ardent advocates consider persons and people inherently unruly and ungovernable unless they are strictly obedient to the creator (as per Barna; Colson and Pearcey; Johnson; Pearcey; Schroeder)."

Conclusion (in brief)

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies (Figures 1-9). The most theistic prosperous democracy, the U.S., is exceptional, but not in the manner Franklin predicted. The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developed democracies, sometimes spectacularly so, and almost always scores poorly. The view of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill” to the rest of the world is falsified when it comes to basic measures of societal health."

The Study

* My God is the One True God

OVER 315 RELIGIONS AND DENOMINATIONS
IN THE UNITED STATES

"The phrase "under God" can mean something different to members of the approximately 316 religions and denominations in the United States, from monotheists who believe in one God (in the Judeo-Christian, [Islam] and other traditions), to polytheists who believe in many Gods, to others who believe in no God, or a God as represented by animal spirits, alien groups, or psychoactive substances."

In this chart, religion is defined as "any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, a philosophy of life, and a worldview."

Map of leading church bodies in the United States by county.

Under God ProCon.org
Promoting Informed Citizenship
* * *
CATHOLIC ANSWERS
The Rock
Muslims Worship the One True God
Only Their ‘Receiving Apparatus’ Is Defective

By Fr. Brian W. Harrison, O.S.

"In the same way, there is only one supreme and eternal Creator of the universe who is recognized as such by both Muslims and Christians. But because of their defective "receiving apparatus"—i.e., they do not accept Christian revelation—Muslims err grievously by not recognizing God’s trinitarian character."

"When we say that Muslims and Jews worship the one true God (while rejecting the Trinity), this by no means implies that such worship is as acceptable and pleasing to God as Christian worship "in spirit and in truth," whose principles the Incarnate Word has revealed and which the Catholic Church transmits to us in her teaching, liturgy, and sacraments. Satan has many different lies in his armory; he works by obscuring and twisting our understanding of God and his revelation as well as by seducing us to deny God outright."

Full Article

* America's "Broken Government"

CNN's Jack Cafferty

About the Show

"In a year in which American voters will make critical decisions on issues from the war on terror to scandal in Washington to an exploding national debt, CNN’s "Broken Government" examines all branches of government and explores how much of the system may be broken beyond repair. The series premieres Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. ET. A five-part series then airs Oct. 23, 24, 26, 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET."

* The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins

The New York Times: Books

The God Delusion

Reviewed by JIM HOLT
Published: October 22, 2006

"Dawkins’s case against religion follows an outline that goes back to Bertrand Russell’s classic 1927 essay “Why I Am Not a Christian.” First, discredit the traditional reasons for supposing that God exists. (“God” is here taken to denote the Judeo-Christian deity, presumed to be eternal, all-powerful, all-good and the creator of the world.) Second, produce an argument or two supporting the contrary hypothesis, that God does not exist. Third, cast doubt on the transcendent origins of religion by showing that it has a purely natural explanation. Finally, show that we can have happy and meaningful lives without worshiping a deity, and that religion, far from being a necessary prop for morality, actually produces more evil than good. The first three steps are meant to undermine the truth of religion; the last goes to its pragmatic value."

FirstChapter

Also see ...

* Definition of 'Agnosticism'

"Agnosticism is the philosophical view that the truth value of certain claims — particularly theological claims regarding the existence of God, gods, or deities — is unknown or inherently unknowable."

Robert Green Ingersoll sums up the agnostic belief as:

"We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know."
Wikipedia ~ Ingersoll

* The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos

The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos

~ Sam Harris

"If a book like the Bible were the only reliable blueprint for human decency that we had, it would be impossible (both practically and logically) to criticize it in moral terms. But it is extraordinarily easy to criticize the morality one finds in the Bible, as most of it is simply odious and incompatible with a civil society."

Sam Harris' Website

All postings for Sam Harris ...

* Unforgettable--George W. Bush Claims His God Told Him to Invade Iraq

THE FAITH-BASED PRESIDENCY

" ... and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq', and I did.'"

The Washington Times
Inside Politics

By Greg Pierce
October 23, 2006

Fear of God (excerpt)

"Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor, has written in a new book that George W. Bush's frequent references to God in their meetings before the Iraq war had made him wary of Mr. Bush's political decisions. Mr. Schroeder also suggested that America's Christian conservatives are not much different than Islamists who impose their beliefs on entire nations.

"Mr. Schroeder wrote in an advance excerpt of his memoirs that Germany had stood by its vow of "unlimited solidarity" after the September 11 attacks. But Germany stayed out of Iraq, causing a breach in U.S.-Germany ties.

"He wrote in "Decisions: My Life in Politics," excerpted yesterday in Der Spiegel magazine, that he was alarmed by Mr. Bush's talk of God, which made him fear religion influenced decisions.

"What worried me, despite a relaxed atmosphere to our talks, and to a certain degree what made me skeptical was how much it came through that this president saw himself as 'God-fearing' and saw that as the highest authority," Mr. Schroeder wrote.

"Mr. Schroeder, a Social Democrat who left politics after his party lost a 2005 election to end his seven years in power, said he had no qualms with Mr. Bush's Christian faith, but could not escape a fear that religion was a driving force behind his decisions.

"The former chancellor also took aim at America's Christian conservatives, Reuters news agency reports.

"Quite rightly, we criticize that in most Islamic states the role of religion in society and the secular character of the legal system are not clearly separated," he said. "But we haven't taken note as readily of the U.S. Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible that show similar tendencies."
*
The New Yorker FACT
ANNALS OF NATIONAL SECURITY
UP IN THE AIR
Where is the Iraq war headed next?
December 12, 2005

by Seymour M. Hersh

"The President is more determined than ever to stay the course," the former defense official said. "He doesn't feel any pain. Bush is a believer in the adage 'People may suffer and die, but the Church advances.' " He said that the President had become more detached, leaving more issues to Karl Rove and Vice-President Cheney. "They keep him in the gray world of religious idealism, where he wants to be anyway," the former defense official said."
*
New Zealand Herald
Bush: God told me to invade Iraq
August 10, 2005

By Rupert Cornwell, "In the programme, Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former Prime Minister and now Palestinian President, that "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq', and I did.'"And Bush is quoted as telling the two men, "I feel God's words coming to me: 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East'. And by God, I'm gonna do it."
*
BBC Press Office
Press Release
God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers
June 10, 2005

"President George W Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals. "In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBCTWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.

"Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq ." And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'" Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him:"I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."
*
NYTimes.com -- Magazine
Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush
October 17, 2004

by Ron Suskind

"Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, told me recently that ''if Bush wins,there will be a civil war in the Republican Party starting on Nov. 3.'' The nature of that conflict, as Bartlett sees it? Essentially, the same as the one raging across much of the world: a battle between modernists and fundamentalists, pragmatists and true believers, reason and religion.'

"'Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say:''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .'

"'This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts,'' Bartlett went on to say. ''He truly believes he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe things for which there is no empirical evidence.'' Bartlett paused, then said, ''But you can't run the world on faith.''. . .

"The nation's founders, smarting still from the punitive pieties of Europe's state religions, were adamant about erecting a wall between organized religion and political authority. But suddenly, that seems like along time ago. George W. Bush -- both captive and creator of this moment --has steadily, inexorably, changed the office itself. He has created the faith-based presidency." (This article is worth a full read.)

*
Further articles:
HAARETZ.com
UKThe Independent

* War Casualties in Iraq

Continually updated ...

U.S. Military Fatalities in Iraq
October 20, 2006 - Deaths 2,778 and Wounded 44,779





Iraqi Security Forces & Civilian Deaths
October 20, 2006 - Deaths 44,043 (minimum)

*Not counting coalition forces, reporters, and other fatalities and wounded.

"Where is the justice of political power if it...marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?"

~Kahlil Gibran

"Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence."

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent."

~ Mahatma Gandhi

* $ Cost of the Iraq War Continually Rising

On November 5, 2006, the figure was $340,023,263,355.

* "Let me save you from drowning," said the bird as it lifted the fish up out of the water to place it safely in a tree.

~ Author Unknown

* United States Internal & External Debt

ASIA TIMES ONLINE

"As of December [2005], the International Monetary Fund lists Japan's reserves at $847 billion, China's at $819 billion, Taiwan's at $253 billion, South Korea's at $210 billion, Russia's at $194 billion, and India's at $137 billion. These reserves, held overwhelmingly as US dollars, are the potential gasoline just waiting for the match to set alight a huge global economic conflagration."

Japan - $847,000,000,000
China - $819,000,000,000
Taiwan - $253,000,000,000
South Korea - $210,000,000,000
Russia - $194,000,000,000
India - $137,000,000,000
Britain - ?

* Partial list of countries owed.

Visit the U.S. National Debt [Internal & External] Clock : Updated Every Second

Of that figure, the United States, as of October 18, 2006, owes the above countries a total of $3,699,664,376,039.21.



U.S. Debt to the Penny and Who Holds it

TANNER: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
BUYING U.S. DEBT

October 20, 2006

*The federal government will have accumulated a $374 billion deficit in the fiscal year that ended last month, not including additional spending in Iraq, according to estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The nation’s government owes almost $7 trillion, and roughly $1.38 trillion of that is held by other countries, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

"We are increasingly turning to foreign investors to finance our federal budget and the war in Iraq," Tanner said. "To keep up with the unprecedented growth in federal expenditures, we have to borrow billions from other countries."

Mainland China and Hong Kong bought $177 billion of U.S. debt in the first seven months of 2003. Chinese holdings in the U.S. debt have more than doubled since 2001. Other countries holding major investments in the U.S. debt include Japan, the United Kingdom, Caribbean Banking Centers, Germany and Korea."

The Spiraling Costs of Uncle Sam's Deficits
March 17, 2006

~ Peter Morici

* Dr. Lonnie Smith ~ All that Jazz

Just listen to him play!

He's the man and all that jazz.

Master of the Hammond B3 organ.


Lonnie, "The Turbanator," wears
a turban always, not just for
performances. Ask him about his
experiences with profiling at
airports. He's African-American,
born in Buffalo, NY, USA. ~ BlogHer

* A Christian's Interpretation of Road Rage

October 12, 2006

Dear Moxie,

The other day I went up to a local Christian bookstore and saw
a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker.

I was feeling particularly sassy that day, because I had just come
from a thrilling choir practice followed by a powerful prayer
meeting, so I bought the sticker and put it on my bumper.
I was stopped at a red light at a busy intersection just lost in
thought about the Lord and how good He is, and I didn't notice that
the light had changed. It is a good thing someone else loves Jesus;
because if he hadn't honked, I'd never have noticed.

I found that LOTS of people love Jesus. Why, while I was sitting
there, the nice man behind started honking like crazy, and he leaned
out of his window and screamed, "for the love of God, GO! GO!" What an exuberant cheerleader he was for the Lord.

Everyone started honking! I just leaned out of my window and started waving and smiling at all these loving people.

I even honked my horn a few times to share in the love. There must
have been a man from Florida back there, because I heard him yelling something about a sunny beach.

I saw another man waving in a funny way with only his middle finger stuck up in the air. When I asked my teenage grandson in the back seat what that meant, he said that it was an Hawaiian good luck sign or something.

Well, I've never met anyone from Hawaii, so I leaned out the window and gave him the good luck sign back.

My grandson burst out laughing; why even he was enjoying this
religious experience.

A couple of the people were so caught up in the joy of the moment
that they got out of their cars and started walking towards me.

I bet they wanted to pray or ask what church I attended, but this is
when I noticed the light had changed.

So I waved to all my sisters and brothers, smiled at them all, and
drove on through the intersection.

I noticed I was the only car that got through the intersection before
the light changed again, and I felt kind of sad that I had to leave
them after all the love we had shared, so I slowed the car down,
leaned out of the window, and gave them all the Hawaiian good luck
sign one last time as I drove away.

Praise the Lord for such wonderful folks!

Cleva

* Why I Am an Agnostic - Ingersoll & Darrow

Excerpt from:Why I Am an Agnostic
Robert Green Ingersoll
1896

"For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.

"Environment is a sculptor -- a painter.

"If we had been born in Constantinople, the most of us would have said: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet." If our parents had lived on the banks of the Ganges, we would have been worshipers of Siva, longing for the heaven of Nirvana."


Positive Atheism
* * *
Excerpt from:Why I Am an Agnostic
Clarence Darrow
[1857 - 1938]

"An agnostic is a doubter. The word is generally applied to those who doubt the verity of accepted religious creeds of faiths. Everyone is an agnostic as to the beliefs or creeds they do not accept."

Infidels Library
*
Who is Clarence Darrow?
by Prof. Douglas Linder
University of Missouri-Kansas City

Clarence Darrow, Scopes Trial
by Prof. Douglas Linder

* You are the music while the music lasts.
~ T. S. Eliot

* Steve Colbert, Champion of "Truthiness"

Washington, D.C. is not part of the United States. Eleanor Holmes-Norton gets Colbertized.

* Confirmation Bias

"In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions ... errors."

Wikipedia

* As Rodin himself described: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."

Auguste Rodan--The Thinker


“[Rodin was] independent of any religious doctrine. . . .”

-- Auguste Rodin's biographer C. Mauclair, Auguste Rodin (Eng. trans., 1905, p. 26), cited by Joseph McCabe's A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists

* In Praise of Love: A Conversation with Plato's Symposium

~ Professor Emile J. Piscitelli

Editorial Review

Where did our Western ideas of love come from? In Praise of Love is a conversation with Plato’s Dialogue, The Symposium, the most influential literary and philosophical text on the nature of human love. In it Plato offers seven different views on the nature of love. The conversation starts from the question: Why did Plato put the speeches on love in the order we find them? Plato could not have put something this central to the dialogue in it without good reason. Most interpreters do not adequately account for the order of the speeches because they do not explain why it is not Socrates, the philosopher, but Alcibiades, a power politician, who is given the last word on love. The solution makes possible an illuminating and exciting interpretation of this classic work on the nature of human love.

Amazon.com

* "Sudan, Africa's biggest country, spans multiple religious, ethnic and socio-economic divides: between Muslims and Christians, Arab and African, nomad and farmer. Sudan's triple conflicts – the South, Darfur (West) and East – reflects these to varying degrees, exacerbated by struggles over natural resources."

"The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, due to ongoing state-sponsored violence, layers of aid obstruction, the lack of an overall humanitarian strategic plan, and the weakened state of displaced Sudanese."

What We Can Do

* Visit the International Crisis Group

The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, with nearly 120 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict.

Working to Prevent Conflict Worldwide

* Definition of "Spiritual"

Spirituality is a capacity:

"The spirit is intelligent, reasonable, responsible, compassionate, and loving. Most of all loving and therefore free!"

~ Quoted from a Friend

* Favorite Forums

James Randi Educational Foundation
JesusMysteries Forum
Michael Shermer's Skeptic
The End of Faith
Richard Dawkins Forum
Julia Sweeney's List

* Some of Today's Thoughts

~ Religion is judgmental, elitist, divisive, and self-centered.

~ If there is something larger than ourselves it must transcend all cultures.

~ Religion is an addiction to feeling good.

~ If I had been born in Iraq of a Muslim family my faith would be Islamic.

~ Religions are invented by people who need them. Others don't need them.

~ The gods are created in the images of their creators.

~ Religion is a hindrance to Ultimate Mystery.

~ Everyone is a heretic according to someone else.

~ Religion can't fulfill our need for self-actualization.

* The Evolution of Christs and Christianities

~ Jay Raskin

The Evolution of Christs and Christianities examines the development of the concept of the Christ and the development of Christ movements starting precisely two thousnd years ago in 6 CE. It suggests a startling new answer to the question, “Did Jesus Exist?”

The first decade of the 21st century has seen an unprecedented questioning of the origins of Christianity. Dr. Raskin challenges commonly held assumptions about these origins and orthodox premises. It examines the possible reasons for the many contradictions, changes and breaking points in the narratives of the books of the New Testament. It deconstructs these texts to suggest an alternative history behind them.

The book offers evidence for five major hypotheses. Taken together, these hypotheses suggest that Jesus of Nazareth was not a real historical person but, rather, primarily a complex literary creation.

Articles:
Fiction Becomes History: Polly Baker and Jesus Christ
How the Church Changed Water Into Wine

* Win $1,000,000 - Prove the Existence of God

James Randi Educational Foundation

An educational resource on the paranormal,
pseudoscientific, and the supernatural.

"The Foundation is committed to providing reliable information about paranormal claims. It both supports and conducts original research into such claims.

"At JREF, we offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event."

Click for application, FAQs, and the log of applicants.

* Sam Harris Calls for Rational Thinking & Living

Sam Harris' Website

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Faith: The very ideal of religious tolerance—born of the notion that every human being should be free to believe whatever he wants about God—is one of the principal forces driving us toward the abyss, p.15

Religion: ... much of the world's population could be annihilated on account of religious ideas that belong on the same shelf with Batman, p.129

The Future of Reason: Reason is nothing less than the guardian of love, p.19

Sam Harris boldly challenges the influence that faith has on public life in our nation.

"For those of us who feel depressed by this country’s ever increasing unification of church and state, and the ever decreasing support for the sciences that deliver knowledge and reduce ignorance, this little book is a welcome hit of adrenalin."

— Marc Hauser, Professor of Psychology, Biology, and Biological Anthropology at Harvard University, author of Moral Minds

Wikipedia

All postings for Sam Harris ...

* A Once Flat Earth Became Round in the Wonder of a Solitary Figure

The Bible says that the Earth is flat. The Bible says that we were created separately from the rest of life. If you look at it honestly, you have to give up these basic ideas, you have to admit that the Bible is not infallible, it's not the gospel truth of the creator of the universe. So what did we do? We made a corrupt treaty that resulted in a troubled peace: We built a wall inside ourselves.

Ann Druyan - Skeptical Inquirer Magazine

* * *The Flat-Earth Bible
by Robert J. Schadewald

The Shape of the Earth

"Disregarding the dome, the essential flatness of the earth's surface is required by verses like Daniel 4:10-11. In Daniel, the king "saw a tree of great height at the centre of the earth ... reaching with its top to the sky and visible to the earth's farthest bounds." If the earth were flat, a sufficiently tall tree would be visible to "the earth's farthest bounds," but this is impossible on a spherical earth. Likewise, in describing the temptation of Jesus by Satan, Matthew 4:8 says, "Once again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world (cosmos) in their glory." Obviously, this would be possible only if the earth were flat. The same is true of Revelation 1:7: "Behold, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye shall see him..."

Positive Atheism

METAXY Cross-reference

* A Reason for Atheism & Agnosticism

A 'something larger than ourselves,' i.e., ultimate mystery, is given hateful content in religion. ~ BlogHer


St. Thomas Aquinas

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

"I answer that, Nothing should be denied the blessed that belongs to the perfection of their beatitude. Now everything is known the more for being compared with its contrary, because when contraries are placed beside one another they become more conspicuous. Wherefore in order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned."

St. Thomas Aquinas [Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino] (c. 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis. He is the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the primary philosophical approach of the Catholic Church. One of the thirty-three Doctors of the Church, he is considered by many Catholics to be the Church's greatest theologian.
*
The Eternity of Hell's Torments

"Fourth,the sight of hell's torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. It will not only make them more sensible of the greatness and freeness of the grace of God in their happiness, but it will really make their happiness the greater, as it will make them more sensible of their own happiness. It will give them a more lively relish of it: it will make them prize it more. When they see others, who were of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, O it will make them sensible how happy they are. A sense of the opposite misery, in all cases, greatly increases the relish of any joy or pleasure."

Edwards, Jonathan (1703-1758) Protestant American philosopher and theologian who studied at Yale and received his bachelor's degree before his 17th birthday.

On Doctrine.com

* Laughs in Hell

Visit ReverendFun Website

* Charlie Brown is Not a Christian, Nor is Snoopy

Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia.
~ Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip

"There is often great wisdom in comic strips. In 1976, Charles Schultz had Snoopy write a book on theology called: Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong? In 1980, he had Linus ask his Sunday School teacher the exact same question.

"Schulz touched on religious themes in his work, including the classic television cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible (Luke 2:8-14) to explain "what Christmas is all about."

"Though his philosophical views evolved over the years--The term that best describes me now is 'secular humanist,'" Schultz explained--his characters continued to quote biblical passages, occasionally musing about the darker inconsistencies of religion.

"In personal interviews Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side. Schulz, reared in the Lutheran faith, had been active in the Church of God (Anderson) as a young adult and then later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church. By the late 1980s he told one of his biographers (Rheta Grimsley Johnson, 1989) that he identified with Secular Humanism.

"In the Sixties, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as being consistent with parts of Christian theology, as he (Short) explained in his bestselling paperback book, The Gospel According to Peanuts. Schulz did not endorse Short's specific interpretations and often said that the only theology is no theology, yet Schulz gave permission to use many of his strips in the book, and his newspaper comics continued to have enough theological themes to fill many Sunday School lessons.

"Schulz seemed concerned about having his strip narrowly viewed as a religious themed comic, and believed it had many more simple insights into life that went beyond a specifically defined theology."

Charles M. Schultz, Wikipedia & Answers.com

Robert L. Short's, The Gospel According to Peanuts

The Official Peanuts Website

* The Christian religion, as organized in its churches,
has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress
in the world.
~ Bertrand Russell

* "Insights are a dime a dozen. Many are false, partial, incomplete, open to revision, and need to come before the judgment of rationality."
Insight: A Study of Human Understanding ~ Bernard Lonergan