We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~ Jonathan Swift

Divisions in Our World are Not the Result of Religion: Interview With Karen Armstrong

The American Muslim (TAM)
by Andrea Bistirch
Posted Feb 25, 2008

KAREN ARMSTRONG: "The divisions in our world are not the result of religion or of culture, but are politically based. There is an imbalance of power in the world, and the powerless are beginning to challenge the hegemony of the Great Powers, declaring their independence of them-often using religious language to do so. A lot of what we call “fundamentalism” can often be seen as a religious form of nationalism, an assertion of identity. The old 19th-century European nationalist ideal has become tarnished and has always been foreign to the Middle East. In the Muslim world people are redefining themselves according to their religion in an attempt to return to their roots after the great colonialist disruption."

Armstrong's solutions:

"A revised foreign policy. A solution in Israel/Palestine that gives security to the Israelis and justice and autonomy to the Palestinians. No more support of corrupt, dictatorial regimes. A just solution to the unfolding horror in Iraq, which has been a “wonderful” help to groups like Al-Qaeda, playing right into their hands. No more situations like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Money poured into Afghanistan and Palestine. A solution to Kashmir. No more short-term solutions for cheap oil. In Iraq and in Lebanon last summer we saw that our big armies are no longer viable against guerrilla and terror attacks. Diplomacy is essential. But suspicion of the West is now so entrenched that it may be too late." Read full article ...

The Taboo on Islamic Apostasy in the Netherlands:
The Ex-Muslim Committee under attack

By Floris van den Berg

A new act in the tragedy of Islam and the open society is now playing in Europe. In several European countries Ex-Muslim Committees are being or have been founded. There is a lot of resistance from both Muslims and non-Muslim naivists. In Germany, Mina Ahadi (www.minaahadi.com) takes the lead in the Ex-Muslim Committee (www.ex-mulime.de). Because of death threats, she is now in hiding. On September 11, 2007, the Committee of Ex-Muslims will be founded in the Netherlands. Though the Committee has not yet been established officially, a clash has already taken place. Ehsan Jami, a twenty-one-year-old member of the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA), publicly stated that he is an apostate (though not an atheist), and he criticized Islam and Mohammed. “Allah is a cruel and tyrannical god,” says Jami. Since he made these public statements, he has been threatened and recently has been molested by three young Muslims. Now Jami is in hiding under police protection. Jami and the Ex-Muslim Committee are being supported by the same intellectuals who backed Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, foremost apostate Afshin Ellian (Fellow of CFI/Low Countries). And the same public figures oppose this initiative who earlier criticized Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh. They attack Jami with the same argument: it is the tone of the debate that they criticize because, these critics say, the tone of the statements against Islam is what angers Muslims. There is a strong plea for self-censorship not to criticize Islam. It is perfectly accepted by these critics to bash Christianity, but criticizing Islam is taboo. So, these public intellectuals side with the fundamentalists. They should realize that if the fundamentalists were to gain power, these naivists will also be their enemies. If the Netherlands were to become an Islamic theocracy—liberal Muslims, naivists, liberals and humanists all—would be severely restrained in their freedom. While the naivists clearly see the evils of Christianity, they are blind to the dark side of Islam. This reminds me of Sartre who claimed to be a humanist and an advocate of individual freedom and criticized religion and paternalism in France, but was blind for the evils of communism in the Soviet Union and China. The Dutch public intellectuals all know about Sartre, but apparently they have not learned his lesson.

What is much worse than this plea for self-censorship is that some of these relativistic, malicious naivists go so far as to say that Jami himself is to blame. It is a variant of the mini-skirt fallacy: “The woman who was raped was wearing a mini skirt, therefore she asked for it!” The public debate is turbid because, when the media ask (Dutch) Muslims about apostasy, the answer usually is that it is a private and individual choice. No Muslim says in public that apostasy should be punished with capital punishment. The same is said about homosexuality and Islam. Though publicly Muslims do not advocate violence against homosexuals, the number of incidents of homosexuals being molested by Muslims is rising rapidly. However, Jami did receive numerous (death) threats from Muslims because of his public statement of apostasy and his critique on Islam. Islam is a prison: if you happen to be born in it, you cannot escape. Being Muslim is a life-long sentence. Not a well-informed, autonomous, rational choice. Only if you are religiously naïve can you manage to neglect that there is a problem with leaving Islam even in a society as open as the Netherlands. Jami is a new voice in the choir of critics of Islam: Van Gogh was murdered, Hirsi Ali has left for the United States, Jami is in hiding.

Dutch freethought association De Vrije Gedachte has publicly backed the Ex-Muslim Committee. Even the less outspoken Humanistisch Verbond has welcomed the Ex-Muslim Committee. We humanists should hope that ex-Muslims will find their way to the freethinkers and humanists.

*Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and Executive Director of CFI Low Countries. He can be e-mailed at florisvandenberg@dds.nl.

The Bombing of Nagasaki August 9, 1945: The Untold Story

By Gary G. Kohls

08/09/07 "Lew Rockwell" --- 62 years ago, on August 9th, 1945, the second of the only two atomic bombs (a plutonium bomb) ever used as instruments of aggressive war (against essentially defenseless civilian populations) was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by an all-Christian bomb crew. The well-trained American soldiers were only "doing their job," and they did it efficiently.

...

A large portion of the responsibility for the prevention of military atrocities like Nagasaki lies within the organized Christian churches and whether or not they soon start teaching and living what the radical nonviolent Jesus taught and lived.

The next Nagasaki can be prevented if the churches finally heed Jesus’ call to nonviolence and refuse their government’s call for the bodies and souls of their sons and daughters.

Full article ...



My question is: would atheists/agnostics have created this horror?

FUNDAMENTALISM, FATHER AND SON, AND VERTICAL DESIRE

By Ruth Stein

INTRODUCTION

In this paper I describe a certain state of mind which, conjoined with cultural and group processes, leads to fundamentalism, and with further developments, to coercive and violent fundamentalism. Hallmarks of this state are a sense of utter certainty, a feeling of being in the right, hermetic consistency, and highly rhetorical reiterations of Truths. I describe how the simplification of complexities into binary oppositions (basically of good and bad) not only creates order out of chaos and vagueness, but also constitutes a "vertical" homoerotic quest for God's love. These processes of ordering and desire are supported by the need to sacrifice, by masochism and coercion, and are enacted by increasingly severe purification processes. It is usually assumed that the religious quest is a search for meaning, but, as will hopefully become clear, this quest is at the same time a series of transformations of fear. In this latter sense, the fundamentalist state of mind originates from what may be likened to an extreme and long-extended form of what we experience at those moments and hours when anxiety and fear, or shame, overwhelm us and reduce us to helplessness, a painful sense of smallness, and the feeling of being at the mercy of greater powers than ourselves. Full paper ...

* 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

* "The Origins of Religious Violence" by Nick Gier ~ Which Religion has Killed the Most Human Beings?

By Nick Gier, New West Unfiltered 6-06-07

RELATIVE VIOLENCE IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY

Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho

"I'm writing a book on the origins of religious violence and my thesis is that there has been far more religiously motivated violence in the Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—than the Asian religions.

"... Short of Osama bin Laden getting several nukes and using them, militant Muslims have a long way to go to match the historical Christian kill rate."

Gier: The connection between strong belief and religiously motivated violence can be well documented, and the early results of my research on the origins of religious violence can be found here.

Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. See his columns as the Palouse Pundit.

Gier's Website

* 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

* Hamas TV Kills off Mickey Mouse Double

Remember the story back in May about the new Hamas TV children's program where Mickey Mouse teaches children to fight the "Zionist Occupation" and dream of a world dominated by Islam? Well, now the children have seen Mickey beaten to death by an Israeli official in the last program. Religion is evil.

Fri Jun 29, 2:48 PM ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode Friday.

In the final skit, "Farfour" was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour's land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist."

"Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.

The weekly show, featuring a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice, had attracted worldwide attention because the character urged Palestinian children to fight Israel. It was broadcast on Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV.

Station officials said Friday that Farfour was taken off the air to make room for new programs. Station manager Mohammed Bilal said he did not know what would be shown instead.

Israeli officials have denounced the program, "Tomorrow's Pioneers," as incendiary and outrageous. The program was also opposed by the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Fatah, Hamas' rival. Yahoo News

* Let's build an international secular movement! ~ by Azar Majedi

Azar Majedi is a veteran women’s rights activist from Iran. Victim of political Islam and president of the Organisation for Women's Liberation, Azar Majedi calls for international support and solidarity in the battle for freedom and equality.

Majedi writes: Religion is not only an oppressive institution, suppressing freedom of thought, speech and criticism and oppressing women. It is also the machinery for terrorizing societies. In the history of mankind, more people have died under the name of the God, than any other ideology or cause. In fact religion is a mafia-liken institution.

And the Lord your God said ...

* American Women Lose 34 Years of Progress ~ Back to Alleys and Coathangers

Top court upholds ban on abortion procedure

'Partial birth' law at issue; first time for justices to ban a specific procedure

April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court's conservative majority upheld a nationwide ban Wednesday on a controversial abortion procedure in a decision that sets the stage for additional restrictions on a woman's right to choose.

For the first time since the court established a woman's right to an abortion in 1973, the justices said the Constitution permits a nationwide prohibition on a specific abortion method. The court's liberal justices, in dissent, said the ruling chips away at abortion rights.

* The new law, in the works for a long time, was effected by five old duffers, all men, two of whom were appointed by Bush, i.e., Roberts and Alito. The ruling includes two years in federal prison for doctors who violate the law even if the woman's health is at stake.

The preservation of the sanctity of human life is critical for everyone but so is the human right to self-determination. A law forbidding vasectomies can be slightly likened to this new law.

Bush 'pleased'

Reacting to the ruling, Bush said that it affirms the progress his administration has made to defend the "sanctity of life."

"I am pleased that the Supreme Court has upheld a law that prohibits the abhorrent procedure of partial birth abortion," he said. "Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America."

It was the first time the court banned a specific procedure in a case over how - not whether - to perform an abortion.

* Oh, please! "The compassion and humanity of America"? So why not end the Iraq war, Mr. President!

blogHillary

* Who's Who on the Religious Right?

AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

"Religious Right leaders often claim that they offer a mainstream vision for America. Their own words, however, demonstrate a radical worldview far removed from the values of most Americans. Over the past two decades, their rhetoric and agenda have been shrill, divisive and extreme."

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the Religious Right TOP 10, PDF

Read all about 'em ...

* Christian Terrorists Attack New Jersey School ~ Take Hostages in Mock Drill

American Center for Law & Justice

New Jersey School Drill Portrays Killers as Christians

April 3, 2007
by WorldNetDaily.com

"School officials in Burlington, N.J., who wanted to stage a "hostage situation" drill have portrayed the attackers as Christians, including one who was upset that his daughter was expelled for praying before class.

"Supt. Chris Manno praised the exercise to test the response of the school and police, explaining, "You perform as you practice. We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

"Lifesite News reported that the Christian students in the school were offended when the student body was told the alleged gunmen were "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state."

"The Burlington County Times said the mock gunmen pretended to shoot several students in the hallways before taking 10 students hostage in the district's media center."

Certainly this drill drew irrate reactions. In defense, Public Safety Director Walter Corter said the scenario was created to represent “anybody who was an extremist and not dealing with reality,” and never specified “Christian terrorists” or other religious or ethnic groups.

However, it is not a so far out scenario that absolutely could not happen. Just as there are Islamic and other religious hate groups, Christianity is not without potential.

Christian Terrorism

Purported hate groups of all ilk . . ., and see Wikipedia

Christian Identity

* John Lennon ~ Imagined no Religion but "God is Something in People"

John Lennon
October 8, 1940 – December 8, 1980
Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
"Imagine" was John Lennon's second major release apart from the Beatles. Released on Sept. 9, 1971 (US) and Oct. 8, 1971 (UK), it has remained John's most commercially successful album. It was recorded primarily in John's home studio which turned out to be the last time he would ever record in England.

In a 1966 Interview, Lennon talked about his faithlessness in Christianity:

'Christianity will go,' he said. 'It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first-rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.'

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong."

Of course, USA Bible-belters responded by publically burning Beatles albums and memorabilia. Yet Lennon had said, "God is something in all of us." Imagine that ...

The UK Telegraph
Official Website

* Artist's Work Destroyed by Russian Orthodox Churchgoers

Russian-born artist, Alexander Kosolapov, has lived and worked in New York City since 1975 where he has been influenced by Andy Warhol's work. These three pieces are among some of Kosolapov's work that indignant Russian Orthodox churchgoers either damaged, destroyed, or removed from exhibits.



Russian lawsuit testing limits of free expression

by Erika Niedowski,
Sun Foreign Reporter

March 23, 2007

MOSCOW: "Oleg Kassin objected to them all: the portrait of a robed Jesus Christ, his face replaced by a Mickey Mouse head, among his disciples; an icon of a halo-adorned Virgin Mary done in dots made to look like caviar; the photo of a crouched woman in a brassiere, thong and high-heeled boots with her rear to the camera [at the Andrei Sakharov Museum].

"So he and the Russian Orthodox church group to which he belongs went to court this week, claiming not just questionable artistic taste, but an outright crime.

"For the second time in recent years, an exhibit at the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center has become the object of a legal fight here and a touchstone for debate on the right to - and limits of - free expression in Russia, which, as it turns out, often comes at a cost."
...

"The problem is, they don't want to discuss it," he [the museum's curator, Yerofeyev] said of the Tretyakov's leadership. "They simply say it's forbidden. Maybe they are right; some things should be forbidden. But there should be arguments, professional ones."

The Russian Orthodox church group charges the museum with inciting religious and ethnic hatred. The first time this happened was in March 2005:

Beware of Religion: a Rebirth of Militant Atheism in Moscow

Russian Orthodox Church
by Dmitry Ageev
March 23, 2005

"The exhibition «Beware of religion!» opened in the exhibition hall of the Andrei Sakharov museum in Moscow on January 14, 2003, where a group of artists presented works that were meant to «draw attention to the hypocritical role of religion in the contemporary world». Among these works were: an imitation of a large icon of Christ with a road sign instead of a face; an imitation of an icon of Christ with openings for the face and hands, through which visitors were invited to place their corresponding body parts and be photographed; a billboard with a Coca-Cola logo, depiction of Christ and the inscription «This is My Blood»; a cross covered with garlands of sausages; ... " Read more

While some people may have found the "Caution! Religion" exhibition offensive, Amnesty International does not believe that any of the exhibits portrayed on the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre's website amounted to an incitement to violence. Moreover, the use in this case of Article 282 of the Russian Criminal Code – which is in the section of the criminal code listing crimes against the state – is wholly disproportionate.

Dr. Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов) (May 21, 1921 – December 14, 1989) was an eminent Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist. Sakharov was an advocate of civil liberties and reforms in the Soviet Union and was the first Russian to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2005 the Russian Orthodox church wrote, "The exhibition’s organizers who shamed the name of A. Sakharov, himself the grandson of an Orthodox priest, should be severely punished."

The real shame is that we are not surprised at the destruction of an artist's work by Christians.

As to how Dr. Sakharov might respond, "... religion did not play an important role in his life, though he did believe that a non-scientific "guiding principle" governed the universe and human life."* As a champion for human rights and civil liberties I think that Dr. Sakharov would agree with Amnesty International.

* Drell, Sidney D., and Sergei P. Kapitsa (eds.), Sakharov Remembered, pp. 3, 92. New York: Springer, 1991.

* George Washington ~ "Christianity Endangers the Peace of Society"

George Washington, Deist, February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799

Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiment in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy which has marked the present age would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination, so far that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.

~ George Washington, letter to Sir Edward Newenham, Oct. 20, 1792.

Freedom From Religion Foundation

In 1796, Gilbert Stuart
painted this famous portrait
of Washington from life, and then
used the unfinished painting to
create numerous others, including
the image used on the U.S.
one-dollar bill.

More on Washington

* Another Religious Horror Story ~ Authored by the New Testament this Time

The following was posted to the JesusMysteries discussion forum today:

Marcion was the first to realize that the Jewish Scriptures (OT) have nothing to do with Christianity. Even without his belief in 2 biblical gods, one must use twisted, tenuous arguments to make the OT predict Jesus. It is too bad that Marcionites did not win the Church struggle. Marcionites accepted that Judaism was true - on its own terms. We would not have had 2 millennia of nasty Jewish-Christians relations, for Judaism was just another totally different religion.

It's true, no Jew accepted that the messiah would suffer and be executed. If somehow, Jesus had truly been alive again, such that anybody could see him, probably many more Jews would have accepted him; and, if he led an army of angels to destroy the hated Kittim, all Jews would have accepted him. Didn't happen.

Check out Price's The Pre-Nicene New Testament for a great discussion of this.

Best,
Prof. D. Showley

Newest Release by Robert M. Price

The Pre-Nicene New Testament
Fifty-four Formative Texts

The Word of the Aion! Not just a new translation, but a new canon, The Pre-Nicene New Testament supplements the usual twenty-seven writings with another twenty-seven that might have been included long ago but were not. Here is an inclusive, truly representative portrait of early Christianity in all its amazing theological diversity. Familiar works are rendered new again by the first translation to embody generations worth of scholarly proposals, as well as by introductions featuring ultra-radical yet sound biblical scholarship.

Another of Dr. Price's books not to be missed is his The Reason Driven Life, Foreword by Julia Sweeney.

"[The Reason Driven Life] is a deeply thought out, theologically accurate, heartfelt dismantling of Rick Warren’s (and all Evangelicals’) worldview. Even the ideas that seem, on the surface, to be unassailable (like Warren’s call to a life of service to others) Price takes apart, reveals each for the sham it is, with elegance and charm and disturbing accuracy."

~ Julia Sweeney formally of Saturday Night Live, from the foreword.

Cross-reference METAXY Robert M. Price and Julia Sweeney

* Ku Klux Klan Resurgence ~ Religious and Political

The burning cross is a symbol used by the Klan to create terror. Cross burning is said to have been introduced by William J. Simmons, the founder of the second Klan in 1915: Wikipedia The Klan considers that they are "lighting" the cross as a symbol of their faith: Wikipedia See also Cornell Law School, Supreme Court Collection, for discussion on the significance of the cross for the KKK.

The Ku Klux Klan, which just a few years ago seemed static or even moribund compared to other white supremacist movements such as neo-Nazis, has experienced a surprising and troubling resurgence due to the successful exploitation of hot-button issues including immigration, gay marriage and urban crime. Klan groups have witnessed a surprising and troubling resurgence by exploiting fears of an immigration explosion, and the debate over immigration has in turned helped to fuel an increase in Klan activity, with new groups sprouting in parts of the country that have not seen much activity."

CNN, February 7, 2007 ~ Klan growing, fed by anti-immigrant feelings, report says

CS Monitor, February 09, 2007 ~ Anti-immigrant sentiments fuel Ku Klux Klan resurgence

All Headline News, February 9, 2007 ~ White Supremacists Groups Active And Growing In The U.S

KKK Ideology: "Though Ku Klux Klan groups are generally extremely anti-Semitic, a number of them, especially in the South, tend to spend more of their energy in activities opposing African-Americans and non-white immigrants, who are often seen as the more immediate enemies.

"Another difference involves religion. Whereas many neo-Nazis and racist skinheads may be atheists or pagan, Klan groups tend to be overwhelmingly Christian (often adhering to the racist and anti-Semitic Christian Identity sect), reflecting the Klan’s more traditional origins. However, even this may be changing to a certain degree ... as part of an effort to attract new members from the white supremacist subculture, that it would now accept certain non-Christians."

* Jesus Loves Osama ~ "Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Persecute You," Jesus Said

Maddy Sauer
ABC News
February 01, 2007

"'Jesus Loves Osama,' at least according to signs posted outside some churches in Australia.

"While many are upset about the message, a pastor from the church insists that it adheres to Christian beliefs.

"'Jesus came to save all mankind and that includes you...me...and Osama bin Laden,' said the pastor from Central Baptist Church.

"The Australian Prime Minister, however, wishes the church had focused on others in need of well wishes.

"'The prayer priority of the church on this occasion could have been elsewhere,' John Howard said.

"But another church spokesperson insisted that the al Qaeda leader is just as worthy of prayers as anyone else.

"Hy Lam told The Daily Telegraph, 'Osama is the head of terrorism. We are saying that Jesus Christ loves everyone in the world, even this man.' He continued, 'The Bible says God loves everyone -- even Osama bin Laden is included in that. All we are doing is sharing the gospel.'"

flickr image

* February is Black History Month ~ From Slavery to Freedom

Celebrating Black History Month
Black History Month ~ History.com

SLAVERY: From Biblical Times to Today's World
The Christian church's main justification of the concept of slavery was based on the "curse of Ham" which appears in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) in Genesis 9:25-27. "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. Christians at the time believed that Canaan had settled in Africa and that his descendents had become black.

Although slavery was widespread in Palestine during Jesus' ministry, the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) does not record his opinion of it. Slavery was casually mentioned without criticism in the various books of the Bible. It was accepted as a natural part of life by almost all Christians until the 19th century CE.

Anabaptists started to criticize slavery in the late 17th century. They were joined by Quakers and Mennonites. It was only when John Wesley (1703-1791), founder of the Methodist movement, became concerned about slavery that the small protest became a mass movement for the abolition of slavery.

Slavery is still advocated in North America by some Reconstructionist Christians and a few racist fringe groups within the Christian Identity movement.
Source for above ...

The History of Slavery in the US