* Jonathan Haidt on Moral Psychology & Religion

"It might seem obvious to you that contractual societies are good, modern, creative and free, whereas beehive societies reek of feudalism, fascism, and patriarchy. And, as a secular liberal I agree that contractual societies such as those of Western Europe offer the best hope for living peacefully together in our increasingly diverse modern nations (although it remains to be seen if Europe can solve its current diversity problems).

MORAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF RELIGION

By Jonathan Haidt, author of
The Happiness Factor: Finding
Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

"I just want to make one point, however, that should give contractualists pause: surveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people." Full article

JONATHAN HAIDT is Associate Professor in the Social Psychology area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia, where he does research on morality and emotion, and how they vary across cultures.

On "Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion" By Jonathaaidt

David Sloan Wilson, Michael Shermer, Sam Harris, PZ Myers

---

DAVID SLOAN WILSON: Alas, even the best minds can fall under the spell of a cherished cause, and so it is with the new atheists. Jonathan Haidt's article has special force because he is a scientist at the forefront of the study of morality and religion. His critique therefore represents the scientific process in action—scientists holding each other accountable for their factual claims. [...more]

MICHAEL SHERMER: Although I have been actively (and emotionally) involved in combating some of these religious intrusions into social life (e.g., the teaching of intelligent design creationism in public school science classes), I find myself in agreement with Haidt in his conclusion that "every longstanding ideology and way of life contains some wisdom, some insights into ways of suppressing selfishness, enhancing cooperation, and ultimately enhancing human flourishing."[...more]

SAM HARRIS: The point is that religion remains the only mode of discourse that encourages grown men and women to pretend to know things they manifestly do not (and cannot) know. If ever there were an attitude at odds with science, this is it. And the faithful are encouraged to keep shouldering this unwieldy burden of falsehood and self-deception by everyone they meet—by their coreligionists, of course, and by people of differing faith, and now, with startling frequency, by scientists who claim to have no faith. [...more]

PZ MYERS: I entirely agree with Haidt that many religious people are good people, that religion has incorporated moral systems that contribute to people's well-being, and that there are kernels of wisdom in religious thought. Where I disagree is that I see the superstition and dogma and error of religion as separable from those desirable elements — that religion is not synonymous with morality and is actually an unfortunate excrescence of the human condition that does not have to be and should not be respected. [...more]

**Thanks to Prof. D. Showley for bringing this article to my attention.

* Sanitize the Bible & Christian Creeds ~ Is Patriarchy Dead?

Christianity (Worldwide)
Androgenous Holy Trinity:

"Religion is one of the main tools, and chronologically the first one of them, fitted to perpetuate the victimage mechanism." ~ Paolo Diego Bubbio, Colloquy, Monash University

Many people think that patriarchy is either dead or dying, some think it is actually staging a comeback. It can go one way or the other, but the perpetuation of patriarchy can be averted by continuous improvement of gender balance in all roles of authority, both secular and religious. This may entail, among other things, editing venerable documents (such as the Christian creed written by the Council of Nicea in 325 C.E.) to reflect a new sensitivity about God being neither male-only nor female-only, but both male and female, and infinitely more than just male and female. Even sacred texts such as the Bible may need to be sanitized of patriarchal language, albeit in such a way that the "signal" of revealed truth is amplified without distortion. ~ Mimetic Violence in Patriarchal Religions

Ironically, a ridiculous solution from Solidarity & Sustainability to violence against women is prayer, "It is fitting to conclude with an urgent appeal for prayer, study, and action." And do we really think that religious androgeny in creeds, bibles, and art will stop violence against women? No. It is religion that has to go--a daunting task that may bear fruit, unfortunately, in a future that can't be foreseen. Meanwhile, billions will suffer and die, including men, in the evil name of religion.

**Religious violence exacerbates, and often directly leads to, social violence. Recently:

Stop Violence Against Women in America
Kenyan schoolgirls raped on march
Women go 'missing' by the millions
More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing
China’s One Child Policy Exacerbates Slavery
Many Faces of Gender Inequality
Patriarchal Violence in the Name of ‘Honour’
More than half of Thai Catholic women abused, survey reveals

Rene Girard's Memetic Theory.

Girard excludes Judaism and Christianity from his mimetic theory. Lefebure [5: 19] states that the God of Israel and Jesus' Abba: ... is not a mimetic rival of humans and does not demand sacrificial victims. Instead, God rather expresses solidarity with victims even to the point of dying on the cross. However, violence is no stranger in Christianity. ~ Religion and Violence: the Suffering of Women by Susan Rakoczy

Rene Girard, Colloquium on Religion and Violence

* Our Mother, Who Art in Heaven ~ Tamas Pataki, "Against Religion" ~ 10 Characteristics of Religion

"The preconditions for belief in God, Tamas Pataki suggests, are set in the first months of life, when the infant feels anxious when separated from the mother. His only wishes are to be free of hunger and pain, and to believe in the mother as infinitely provident and, later, that she knows everything. 'It is remarkable, is it not,' writes Pataki, 'that these attributes—omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence—so necessary in the regulation of infantile narcissism and wellbeing, are precisely the key perfections attributed to God?'" TIME Magazine, May 24, 2007, Andrew Chapman

Neil Godfrey extracts and summarizes Pataki's ten characteristics of religious fundamentalism, as follows, and fleshes them out more fully on his website.

Godfrey writes, "Fundamentalism is a term applied to various Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Judaic groups, and even to some secular (economic and environmental) groups. All different.

"Yet Tamas Pataki in his newly published Against Religion lists what he sees as “criss-crossing similarities — family resemblances — in certain basic beliefs, values, and attitudes” (p.27) that characterize the various religious groups labelled “fundamentalist”.

1. They are counter-modernist.

2. They are “generally assertive, clamorous, and often violent”.

3. They are “the Chosen”, “the Elect”, “the Saved”.

4. Public marks of distinction are needed to maintain their sense of superiority and distinctive identity.

5. There is only one true religion and one correct way of life; and these must be defended against inroads from other religions and secularism.

6. There is an inerrant holy book, prophet or charismatic leader to whom literal obedience is mandatory.

7. Law and authority come from God.

8. Female sexuality must be controlled and clear impassable boundaries must be established between men and women.

9. Sexual behaviour is a major concern of all fundamentalists — Christian, Jewish, Islamic — without exception. Especially the fear of and opposition to homosexuality.

10. Fundamentalism and nationalism converge."

Tamas Pataki is Honorary Senior Fellow and sometime lecturer in the Philosophy Department, University of Melbourne, and Honorary Fellow at Deakin University. He has published extensively on the philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, moral philosophy, and aesthetics, and is co-editor, with Michael Levine, of Racism in Mind (Cornell, 2004).Scribe Publications

*MISSION STATEMENT
Violence is the main obstacle to human development. There is an intrinsic link between violence and religion, patriarchal gender violence being the most pervasive expression of religious violence. Mitigating violence therefore requires overcoming the patriarchal mindset, especially in religious institutions. The mission of this independent newsletter is to provide a digest on current research and emerging issues related to human solidarity, ecological sustainability, and both religious and secular non-violence. The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals are used as a point of reference.

Luis T. Gutierrez, Editor

* God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything ~ by Christopher Hitchens

To be released May 1, 2007

"Not only does religion poison everything, which Hitchens argues by explaining several ways in which religion is immoral, but the world would be better off without religion. Replace religious faith with inquiry, open-mindedness, and the pursuit of ideas, he exhorts. Closely reading major religious texts, Hitchens points to numerous examples of atrocities and mayhem in them. Religious faith, he asserts, is both result and cause of dangerous sexual repression. What's more, it is grounded in nothing more than wish fulfillment. Hence, he believes that religion is man-made, and an ethical life can be lived without its stamp of approval.

"With such chapter titles as "Religion Kills" and "Is Religion Child Abuse?" Hitchens intends to provoke, but he is not mean-spirited and humorless. Indeed, he is effortlessly witty and entertaining as well as utterly rational. Believers will be disturbed and may even charge him with blasphemy (he questions not only the virgin birth but the very existence of Jesus), and he may not change many minds, but he offers the open-minded plenty to think about." ~ June Sawyers, Review

"Christopher Eric Hitchens (born in Portsmouth, England, April 13, 1949) is an author, journalist and literary critic. Currently living in Washington, D.C., he has been a columnist at Vanity Fair, The Nation, Slate and Free Inquiry; additionally, he is an occasional contributor to other publications and has appeared regularly in the Wall Street Journal. His brother is Peter Hitchens.

"Hitchens is known for his iconoclasm, anti-clericalism, atheism, antitheism, anti-fascism and anti-monarchism."

Articles, Video, Audio by Christopher Hitchens

The Big Scary List of George W. Bush Quotes

Image from Arg!

* Mega-Mosque Clash in the UK & Christian Responses

LONDON - Some now call London the “Muslim capital of Europe” since no Western city has more mosques. London could be home to the largest Mosque outside of the Middle East.

The Shadow Cast by a Mega-Mosque

Telegraph.co.UK
by Philip Johnston
September 25, 2006

Plans are for an entire Islamic village, "... this is not any old mosque built to serve the local community. It will be the largest place of worship in Europe, a gigantic three-storey Islamic centre, with schools and other facilities, able to hold at least 40,000 worshippers and up to 70,000 if necessary."

UK: Bad News For Tablighi Mosque Development

Western Resistance
by Giraldus Cambrensis
November 5, 2006

"The Observer reports that the planned mega-mosque at Newham in east London is now encountering opposition from local Muslims. Previously, Christian groups had opposed the development of the mosque ... it has been revealed that the London Olympics [in 2012] will take place at the same time as Ramadan, and this news has upset those who are backing the mosque construction," which is proposed to sit right next door to the Olympic grounds

Plans for Western 'Mega-Mosque' Rouse Concerns

by Jennifer Gold
Christian Post Correspondent
January 10, 2007

"The group behind the development is called Tablighi Jamaat.

"According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Tablighi Jamaat has ties to al-Qaeda. In addition, the shoe bomber Richard Reid was associated with Tablighi Jamaat, as were two of the 7/7 bombers who struck London's public transport system in 2005.

"Tablighi Jamaat has come under scrutiny from western security agencies since 9/11. Two years ago, according to The New York Times, a senior FBI anti-terrorism official claimed it was a recruiting ground for al-Qaeda."

My preference is that all religious structures be reassigned to something useful and needed, e.g., homeless shelters. Not an original idea, just a conviction. ~ BlogHer

Islam
Mega-Mosque Plans Could Make London "Muslim Capital of Europe"

Christian Broadcast News (CBN)
by Dale Hurd
January 2007

Spiritual Warfare News

Comments from Christians on "Worthy Boards":

"Anyway, if it is built, I hope somebody plants about 500 pounds of high explosives under the darn thing."

"Think about what you're saying man!! Supporting hate crimes is NOT the way Christians are supposed to conduct themselves. You don't need to like Islam or see it as a valid faith to show some respect for other people. If you think Islam is false, then pray for those who believe in it ... This is not what Jesus wants for us, this is not the message he sent to those who were misled or had been taught falsehoods."

"Nevertheless, I stand by what I said. I hope they blow it to kingdom come, along with the golden domed mosque in Jerusalem. I long for the day when all mosques will be reduced to rubble. All of them. And I don't respect islam. I have no respect for it whatsoever."

"Jesus didn't exactly show much respect for other ways of thinking, did He? Anyway, the desire for the mosque to be destroyed is more a security concern than a religious concern. Islam has always threatened to take over the world. They have shown no desire to live at peace with other faiths. That mega-mosque is indeed a threat to our existence. Didn't you see that the group behind the building are the same ones responsible for the terrorism in Brittain?"

"Oh, I don't support hate crimes in any sense of the word. I don't say I hate the people themselves (muslims). I just hate the mosques, along with the false teachings that they propagate. I hate islam because it sets itself up against faith in Jesus, and attempts to offer a better path for people. This is evil. I don't apologise for hating something that is in opposite teaching to the only way of salvation."

"Islam is a death cult, bend to thier ways or die; even if one does bend to their ways it would not be good enough because they were not born muslim. They cannot get along with their neighbors other faiths or other muslims. Islam is dangerous to all who value life, to obliterate this ideaology is to protect and preserve life. No different then the attack upon Berlin in WWII, we should be more proactive in this 'holy war' than the current PC mindset or we are all doomed."

"They cannot get along with their neighbors other faiths or other muslims. Islam is dangerous."

"As well as being dangerous to others (those who don't subscribe) to their teachings, they are also primarily a danger to themselves - to anyone who takes on board this false teaching and embraces it. If it is wrong in God's eyes, it is wrong. No question, no doubt about it. It is a danger to those who embrace it's philosophy and false teaching, drawing them away from their only means of salvation, and it is a danger (militarily) to the rest of us.

Death to islam!

And this is not a hate crime.

Death to the enemy of God. Death to the enemy of mankind."

"Worthy" headquarters is based in Jerusalem but:

Mail your tax-deductible donations to:
Worthy Ministries
P.O. Box 47711
Baltimore, MD 21244
USA
.

ISLAM
Originally uploaded by Aamir Hafeez Zaidi.

* Spare the Rod ~ To Spank or Not to Spank is a No-Brainer Towards a Less Violent World ~ Let's End This Despicable Practice

Violence creates more violence.

Read Alice Miller's entire book online: FOR YOUR OWN GOOD: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence

Miller "makes chillingly clear to the many what has been recognized only by the few: the extraordinary pain and psychological suffering inflicted on children under the guise of conventional child-rearing and pedagogy." She writes, "There is no such thing as a harmless slap or spanking. Both are forms of physical violence that involve humiliation and abuse of power."

Alice Miller's Website

The Alice Miller Library

Alice Miller's, Every Smack is a Humiliation and Information for Parents

Miller at Wikipedia

Spanking in the Bible The phrase "spare the rod and spoil the child" is often incorrectly attributed to the Christian Bible. It does not appear there. It was first written in a poem by Samuel Butler in 1664.

"Corporal punishment is strongly recommended in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Most of the biblical quotations advocating corporal punishment of children appear in the book of Proverbs. Christians interpret these passages in different ways." The following quotations come from the King James Version (KJV) of the Hebrew Scriptures:

~ Prov 13:24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (diligently)."
~ Prov 19:18: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."
~ Prov 22:15: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
~ Prov 23:13: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."
~ Prov 23:14: "Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Shoel)."
~ Prov 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

An additional verse from the New Testament is occasionally cited as justification for physical punishment of children:

~ Hebrews 12:6-7: "...the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

Note that this verse says nothing about physical punishment, but "discipline." The bible isn't an authority on anything, anyway.

Probably the most well-known advocate in the US for hitting children is Dr. James Dobson, a Christian.

Sometimes some US states consider outlawing spanking ...

MediaNews Sacramento, CA, Bureau

by Mike Zapler
January 19, 2007

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber is meeting with resistance to her proposed no-spanking bill:

"The issue is pretty simple: Lieber wants to make spanking children age 3 and under a misdemeanor. Offenders could face up to a year in jail or up to a $1,000 fine, though first-time violators would probably only have to attend parenting classes."

Why is age "3" the magic number after which hitting kids is acceptable? The bottom line is: hitting kids is the result of poor parenting skills. Period. Why is it OK to hit kids but is a felony-assault between adults.

Some of the countries with corporal punishment in schools:

¦ Anguilla ¦ Australia ¦ Bermuda ¦ Botswana ¦ Ghana ¦ Guyana ¦ Jamaica ¦ Malaysia ¦ Northern Marianas ¦ Singapore ¦ South Africa ¦ South Korea ¦ Swaziland ¦ Tanzania ¦ Uganda ¦ United States ¦ Zimbabwe ¦

Example: Highland Rim Christian Academy, Tullahoma, TN

"'Anyone caught cheating will be dealt with quickly and firmly. It will result in corporal correction.' So will stealing. Corporal discipline may also be used for lack of respect, vandalism, and multiple lesser offenses. In this event there are now two options. Under Option A, the parent 'is required to come to the school and to spank the child in the presence of the Principal or Administrator, or a staff member of the same sex as the child.' Failure to do this may result in the child's expulsion. If the parent chooses Option B, it is left to the principal to decide to paddle the student, maximum three 'firm' strokes.'"

Staff at schools who spank/hit kids have poor disciplining skills.

Corporal punishment in school is illegal in many western countries; it remains legal in roughly half of the U.S. states, although it is not commonly practiced.

The more civilized countries have laws banning spanking, i.e., spanking within families is illegal in these countries:

¦ Austria ¦ Croatia ¦ Cyprus ¦ Denmark ¦ Finland ¦ Germany ¦ Iceland ¦ Israel ¦ Italy ¦ Latvia ¦ Malta ¦ Norway ¦ Sweden ¦ Switzerland ¦

"New Zealand is currently debating whether or not to outlaw parental spanking, having outlawed corporal punishment within its educational institutions in 1989. Similar initiatives in the U.S. have repeatedly failed."

Voluminous List of Studies on the Detrimental and Lifelong Effects of Spanking

UNICEF: Convention on the Rights of the Child

Project NoSpank

Illustration from: Gregory Nemec,
"Teachers College Reports," Columbia
University, Vol. 3, No. 1, Winter 2001

* Catholic Church Involved in Another Human Rights Crime ~ Nothing New Here

There are a million examples of human rights abuses around the world. This one involves the Catholic church in Angola where thousands of families are being forced from their homes for the land to be wasted, for all things, a sanctuary, which is sickeningly ironic considering the destruction of the sanctity of real homes to build a sanctuary for some compassionless religious nuts and a god who cannot even be demonstrated to exist. This is so incredible to me that I think I must be misunderstanding something about the story.

Angola: Catholic Church involved in forced evictions

Press Release
January 15, 2007

Amnesty International today released a report revealing the scale and extent of forced evictions in Angola, and expressing particular concern at forced evictions carried out by Angolan authorities, apparently at the request of the Catholic Church in Angola.

The organization said that nearly all of the forced evictions were accompanied by excessive use of force, which sometimes involved police beatings of children and women -- including one pregnant woman -- and indiscriminate shooting at residents attempting to protect their homes.

Full release ...

"Angola is a country in south-central Africa bordering Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, and with a west coast along the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave province Cabinda has a border with Republic of the Congo. A former Portuguese colony, it has considerable natural resources, among which oil and diamonds are the most significant. The country is nominally a democracy and is formally named the 'Republic of Angola.'" Wikipedia

* What's Wrong with This President?

On my mind today is Bush's upcoming speech on his "new" plan for Iraq. I am dreading what he might say, i.e., that more troops are needed. Today's New York Times headline and yesterday's are stealing my hope for a rational and compassionate plan for Iraq from him. The most crucial part of these articles, for me, is that, "Mr. Bush ... plans to send as many as 20,000 additional troops," which isn't really news of late.

There are probably a thousand articles which were written over the past several years about Bush's lack of intelligence, his combination of religious faith and arrogance, but maybe not as many about what I see as his frightening lack of compassion.

I remembered a perhaps under-reported incident in 1999 in a Tucker Carlson interview where Bush mocks death row inmate Karla Faye Tucker pleading for her life. Whether we agree with the death penalty, or not, Bush presented himself as a cold-hearted jerk.

Wikipedia: "In 1999, during the 2000 Republican Presidential primary race, Carlson interviewed then-Governor of Texas George W. Bush for Talk magazine. Carlson reported that Bush mocked soon-to-be-executed Texas death row inmate Karla Faye Tucker and "cursed like a sailor." Bush's communications director Karen Hughes publicly disputed this claim. Carlson did not vote in the 2004 election, citing his disgust with the Iraq war and his disillusionment with the once small-government Republican party."

From "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106, "Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it.

"While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.

"Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?'

'What was her answer?' I wonder.

'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'

"I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush -- because he immediately stops smirking.

'It's tough stuff,' Bush says, suddenly somber, 'but my job is to enforce the law.' As it turns out, the Larry King-Karla Faye Tucker exchange Bush recounted never took place, at least not on television. During her interview with King, however, Tucker did imply that Bush was succumbing to election-year pressure from pro-death penalty voters. Apparently Bush never forgot it. He has a long memory for slights." [Carlson, Talk Magazine, 9/99] Washington Monthly

The whole incident, and much more is recounted here in Death in Texas, including discussion of the "over 152 executions" that Bush presided over as governor:

Death in Texas
The New York Review of Books

January 13, 2005
by Sister Helen Prejean

An excerpt:

"Bush was receiving thousands of messages urging clemency for Tucker, including one from one of his daughters. "Born-again" evangelists such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, normally ardent advocates of execution, urged him to commute Tucker's sentence. When Pope John Paul II urged Bush to grant mercy to Tucker, Bush responded disingenuously in a letter to the Pope, saying, "Ms. Tucker's sentence can only be commuted by the Governor if the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends a commutation of sentence." On several occasions, Bush stated publicly that in deciding Karla Faye Tucker's fate, he was seeking "guidance through prayer," adding that "judgments about the heart and soul of an individual on death row are best left to a higher authority."

"But there was no way Bush could avoid the godlike power thrust on him as governor. When Russian president Vladimir Putin declared that life-or-death judgments should be "left to the Almighty," he meant that such supposed judgments, even if they are believed to be divine, cannot properly be discerned and administered by flawed human agents. This recognition led him to oppose government executions. But while Bush claimed to leave the judgment of Karla Faye Tucker to God, in reality he exercised his own political judgment and authorized her death."

I wonder what glee Bush expressed over Saddam Hussein's death.

METAXY War Casualties in Iraq,
US and Iraqi and,

$ Cost of War

* Pat Robertson & George W. Bush Say "God" Talks to Them

Pat Robertson: God told me of 'mass killing' in 2007
January 2, 2007

Evangelist Pat Robertson has made a prediction for 2007. Unpleasant, as always, but his Armageddonist following is delighted. There will be a massive terrorist attack with massive killing in the US this year. Robertson's god gave him this information but neglected to mention the method, "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that." Is there "something like" nuclear? Millions of people in major cities will be affected, sometime after September, said Robertson. "I have a relatively good track record," he said. "Sometimes I miss," meaning that sometimes his god is incorrect. Doesn't Robertson realize that he makes his god look bad when he misses? It only takes an ever so slight bit of thought to conclude that his god is wrong or lying.

We may very well suffer an attack. But I am going to trust that US intelligence has better methods of prediction than hearing a fallible god speak. But since Bush has a "faith-based" approach in his administration maybe I should just say "hope."

Can our beloved country sink, in general, any lower than it has to this point in the eyes of its citizens and the world? I predict that a healthy sign that it will sink lower is pending what the new Congress will do about Bush's proposal for sending a "surge" of US troops to Iraq. Is that anything like "escalation" and for how long?

Video, CBS.com

* * *
Bush: God told me to invade Iraq

President 'revealed reasons for war in private meeting'

by Rupert Cornwell in Washington
October 2005

"President George Bush has claimed he was told by God to invade Iraq and attack Osama bin Laden's stronghold of Afghanistan as part of a divine mission to bring peace to the Middle East, security for Israel, and a state for the Palestinians.

"The President made the assertion during his first meeting with Palestinian leaders in June 2003, according to a BBC series which will be broadcast this month."

More at The Independent and The New York Times

METAXY More on Bush...

* Santa, Jesus, and the Symbolism of White Supremecy ~ by Tim Wise

by Tim Wise
University of Dayton

" ...it was pure racial resentment and nothing else leading the white woman, child in tow, to say to her friend, "don't you think it's silly to have these Black Santas? Everybody's trying to be so P.C. I mean, come on, a Black Santa? Everyone knows Santa is white."

" ...the earliest representations of Jesus, Mary, and Christ's disciples appear in the catacombs of Rome, where the first Christians, known as Essenes buried their dead. All of these portrayals picture a dark-skinned Messiah. In addition, during the time of Roman Emperor Justinian II, the Empire minted a gold coin that pictured Jesus. This coin, which today can be viewed in the British Museum, shows a man with clearly non-white facial features and tightly curled hair, consistent with the description of Christ offered in the Book of Revelations, wherein it is noted that Jesus had hair like wool, feet the color of burnt brass, and resembled jasper and sardine stones: both of which were brown in color."

Ancient Catacomb Painting and Coin, Black Jesus

Blacked Out Through Whitewash by SuZar

Christ, " ...according to the Bible itself, called the "Lamb of God" with kinky hair compared with lamb's wool, feet the color of burnt brass (Rev. 1:14,15), and a likeness resembling jasper and sardine stone (Rev. 4:3) ..."

* * *
Hating in the Name of God (Racism and Violence)

by Benjamin Radford
Writer and Managing Editor
Skeptical Inquirer Magazine

* United States Ranks Next to Turkey on Public Acceptance of Evolution

Chart: the US ranks 33 out of 34, next to the bottom on citizen acceptance of evolution; Turkey ranks 34.

U.S. Lags World in Grasp of Genetics and Acceptance of Evolution

by Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
10 August 2006

"A comparison of peoples' views in 34 countries finds that the United States ranks near the bottom when it comes to public acceptance of evolution. Only Turkey ranked lower.

"Among the factors contributing to America's low score are poor understanding of biology, especially genetics, the politicization of science and the literal interpretation of the Bible by a small but vocal group of American Christians, the researchers say.

"American Protestantism is more fundamentalist than anybody except perhaps the Islamic fundamentalist, which is why Turkey and we are so close," said study co-author Jon Miller of Michigan State University.

"The researchers combined data from public surveys on evolution collected from 32 European countries, the United States and Japan between 1985 and 2005. Adults in each country were asked whether they thought the statement “Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals,” was true, false, or if they were unsure.

The study found that over the past 20 years:

"The percentage of U.S. adults who accept evolution declined from 45 to 40 percent.

"The percentage overtly rejecting evolution declined from 48 to 39 percent, however.

"And the percentage of adults who were unsure increased, from 7 to 21 percent.

"Of the other countries surveyed, only Turkey ranked lower, with about 25 percent of the population accepting evolution and 75 percent rejecting it. In Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and France, 80 percent or more of adults accepted evolution; in Japan, 78 percent of adults did.

"The findings are detailed in the August 11, 2006 issue of the journal Science."
* * *
Creation vs. Darwin takes Muslim twist in Turkey

by Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
Reuters

Nov 22, 2006 — ISTANBUL (Reuters) - "A lavishly illustrated 'Atlas of Creation' is mysteriously turning up at schools and libraries in Turkey, proclaiming that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the real root of terrorism.

"Arriving unsolicited by post, the large-format tome offers 768 glossy pages of photographs and easy-to-read text to prove that God created the world with all its species.

"At first sight, it looks like it could be the work of United States creationists, the Christian fundamentalists who believe the world was created in six days as told in the Bible.

"But the author's name, Harun Yahya, reveals the surprise inside. This is Islamic creationism, a richly funded movement based in predominantly Muslim Turkey which has an influence U.S. creationists could only dream of.

"Creationism is so widely accepted here that Turkey placed last in a recent survey of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries — just behind the United States.

"Darwinism is dead," said Kerim Balci of the Fethullah Gulen network, a moderate Islamic movement with many publications and schools but no link to the creationists who produced the atlas.

"Scientists say pious Muslims in the government, which has its roots in political Islam, are trying to push Turkish education away from its traditionally secular approach.

"Aykut Kence, biology professor at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, said time for discussing evolution had been cut out of class schedules for the eighth grade this year.

"The students will just learn there is a theory called evolution defended by Darwin back in the 19th century," he said. "However, views of Islamic thinkers from the Middle Ages about evolution and creation have been included."

A DOSE OF RELIGION

"Like the Bible, the Koran says God made the world in six days and fashioned the first man, Adam, from dust. Other details vary but the idea is roughly the same.

"But unlike in the West, evolution theory has not undermined the traditional creation story for many Muslims ..."

"Then comes a book-length essay arguing that Darwinism, by stressing the survival of the fittest," has inspired racism, Nazism, communism and terrorism.

"The root of the terrorism that plagues our planet is not any of the divine religions, but atheism, and the expression of atheism in our times (is) Darwinism and materialism," it says."

More from ABC News

All very scarey stuff. See METAXY: Religious Belief and Societal Health. Religion does not lead to a healthier society, rather the opposite. Morality and ethics are apart from religion, i.e., religion is not the source of morality and ethics.

* Christians Intend to Violate Military Funeral

North Dakota Tribe Barring Church Protesters

Published: December 2, 2006

"BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- A church group that protests at military funerals around the country will be barred from services for an American Indian soldier on a reservation, tribal officials say.

... Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, known on the reservation as Young Eagle, was killed Thanksgiving Day in Afghanistan when a grenade struck his vehicle while he was on patrol. He was a member of the 1st Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.

... Church members say the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the country's tolerance of homosexuals."

Full Story


GoComics.com

* The Privatization of God ~ Jorge Majfud & Blaise Pascal

The Privatization of God
by Jorge Majfud

Custom-made for the consumer

In the 17th century, the mathematics genius Blaise Pascal wrote that men never do evil with greater pleasure than when they do it with religious conviction. This idea – from a deeply religious man – has taken a variety of different forms since. During the last century, the greatest crimes against humanity were promoted, with pride and passion, in the name of Progress, of Justice and of Freedom. In the name of Love, Puritans and moralists organized hatred, oppression and humiliation; in the name of Life, leaders and prophets spilled death over vast regions of the planet. Presently, God has come to be the main excuse for exercises in hate and death, hiding political ambitions, earthly and infernal interests behind sacred invocations. In this way, by reducing each tragedy on the planet to the millenarian and simplified tradition of the struggle between Good and Evil, of God against the Devil, hatred, violence and death are legitimated. There is no other way to explain how men and women are inclined to pray with fanatical pride and hypocritical humility, as if they were pure angels, models of morality, all the while hiding gunpowder in their clothing, or a check made out to death. And if the leaders are aware of the fraud, their subjects are no less responsible for being stupid, no less culpable for their criminal metaphysical convictions, in the name of God and Morality – when not in the name of a race, of a culture - and from a long tradition, recently on exhibit, custom-fit to the latest in hatred and ambition.

The analysis of the “origin of violence” would be useless if it were produced and consumed only within a university. It should be a problem for the headlines, a problem to be discussed dispassionately in the bars and in the streets. At the same time, we will have to recognize, once again, that we need a genuine dialogue. Not a return to the diplomatic farce, but a dialogue between peoples who have begun dangerously to see one another as enemies, as threats – a disagreement, really, based on a profound and crushing ignorance of the other and of oneself. What is urgent is a painful but courageous dialogue, where each one of us might recognize our prejudice and our self-centeredness. A dialogue that dispenses with the religious fanaticism – both Muslim and Christian – so in vogue these days, with its messianic and moralizing pretensions. A dialogue, in short, to spite the deaf who refuse to hear.

Resource Center of the Americas: Working for Human Rights in the Global Community

Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) was by no means allowed to rest in peace. He was considered a heretic and, hence, his grave was violated several times by his Catholic adversaries. An account of this can be found ...

The Conversion of Blaise Pascal: A Baroque Novel [Excerpt, PDF]


D. M. Ludwin
Fragment 65

Blaise Pascal ~ Wikipedia
* * *Pascal was a Catholic in his earlier life but I'm not so sure about later. Dan Barker deconverted to atheism and wrote the following in his book, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist.

Pascal's Wager

God can't be proved. But if God exists, the believer gains everything (heaven) and the unbeliever loses everything (hell). If God doesn't exist, the believer loses nothing and the unbeliever gains nothing. There is therefore everything to gain and nothing to lose by believing in God. ~ Blaise Pascal

"This argument, first formulated by French philosopher Blaise Pascal, is sheer intimidation. It is not a case for a god's existence: it is an argument for belief, based on irrational fear. With this kind of reasoning we should simply pick the religion with the worst hell.

"It is not true that the believer loses nothing. We diminish this life by preferring the myth of an afterlife, and we sacrifice honesty to the maintenance of a lie. Religion demands time, energy and money, draining valuable human resources from the improvement of this world. Religious conformity, a tool of tyrants, is a threat to freedom.

"Nor is it true that the unbeliever gains nothing. Rejecting religion can be a positive liberating experience, gaining perspective and freedom of inquiry. Freethinkers have always been in the forefront of social and moral progress.

"What kind of person would eternally torment an honest doubter? If their god is so unjust, then theists are in as much danger as atheists. Perhaps god will get a perverted thrill from changing his mind and damning everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. Or, inverting the gamble, perhaps god will only save those who have enough courage not to believe!

"Pascal was a Catholic and assumed that the existence of god meant the Christian God. However, the Islamic Allah might be the true god, which turns Pascal's wager into a riskier gamble than intended.

"In any case, a belief in a deity based on fear is not a belief that produces admiration. It does not follow that such a being deserves to be worshipped.

"(See Chapter 12, "What If You're Wrong?" in Losing Faith In Faith: From Preacher To Atheist for a more comprehensive response to Pascal's Wager.)"

Freedom From Religion Foundation

* Thanksgiving, No Thanks

1916 Panoramic view of California Indians
~ BlogHer: Thanksgiving day is traditionally a Christian holiday with adherents of other religions giving thanks to their particular brands of gods. But millions of people celebrate without images of supernatural beings giving thanks for and to other people instead. For America's Indians, however, it is a day of mourning the massacre of countless people by Christians "founding" the country and the continuing discrimination that they suffer. And so ...

Text of Plaque on Cole's Hill

Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole's Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US Thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture. Participants in a National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience.

Photos from Wikipedia

* Studies Conclude More Incarcerated "Faithful" than "Faithless"

Morality cannot be equated with religion ~ just the opposite.

"The 2001 ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey) found that 13% of the US population was non-religious. One holding your assumption might expect that 13% or more of the population of US prisons would also be non-religious. Yet the opposite is true. For example, in The New Criminology," Max D. Schlapp and Edward E. Smith state that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about 1/10th of 1%. Another example is the work by W.T. Root, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, who found that in a survey of 1,916 prisoners, Unitarians, Agnostics, Atheists and Free-Thinkers were absent from penitentiaries, or nearly so. A third example, during a 10 year examination of inmates at Sing-Sing, it was found that of those executed for murder, 65% were Catholic, 26% were Protestants, 6% were Jewish, 2% were Pagan and less than 1/3 of 1% were non-religious. Being non-religious would appear to have an inverse relationship with being a criminal."

* 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

* 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

* 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