* Islamophobia ~ A Brillant Term

Why "Islamophobia" Is a Brilliant Term

by Dennis Prager
July 31, 2007

"Whoever coined the term "Islamophobia" was quite shrewd. Notice the intellectual sleight of hand here. The term is not "Muslim-phobia" or "anti-Muslimist," it is Islam-ophobia -- fear of Islam -- yet fear of Islam is in no way the same as hatred of all Muslims. One can rightly or wrongly fear Islam, or more usually, aspects of Islam, and have absolutely no bias against all Muslims, let alone be a racist." Full article ...

* Another God has been Created and Her Name is "Google"

Nine proofs that Google is God ...
JOIN

* Reach Out in Faith ~ Voodoo Edition

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Fatal end to exorcism attempt: man dies after struggle with police checking on girl's welfare

by Elias C. Arnold
July 29, 2007

"A 48-year-old Phoenix man whom authorities say was choking his 3-year-old granddaughter during an exorcism early Saturday died after struggling with police officers who went into the home to investigate, Phoenix police said.

"Police reportedly found Ronald Marquez, of Phoenix, shirtless and choking his granddaughter as her 19-year-old mother, naked and bloody, looked on. The bloodied girl was gasping and screaming as her mother chanted and held a religious picture of some kind, police said.

"It's very bizarre, (a) very unusual and pretty horrific situation this young child was involved in," said Sgt. Joel Tranter, a Phoenix police spokesman."

...

"The man held the girl in a headlock with one arm as he was squeezing her torso with his other arm, causing her to gasp and scream, police said.

"Investigators later learned the man was trying to "squeeze the demons out of the young girl," Tranter said."

See also: Chicago Sun-Times, CBS News, Washington Post

~ BlogHer: Exorcism is a silly and apparently deadly religious ritual. Accounts of fatalities can be found here

Faiths opposing exorcism

In Sikhism, exorcism is not permitted and is seen as a violation of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (Code of Conduct), since Sikhs do not believe in demons, ghosts, or the sort. If a Sikh person were to be found practising exorcism, an ordained Ghiyanhi (priest) would have the power to strip that individual of any ties to the Sikh faith. This anti-exorcism stance separates Sikhism from what are viewed as the exorcism rituals of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Taoism, and Shintoism.

Also, Jainism does not believe in exorcism.

Begin research ...
A Bit of Exorcist History

flickr photo

* Rich Moral Atheists ~ Buffett & Gates

Follow-up: METAXY Many Christians draw on John 10:10 - "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" as a proof text that their God wants them to be wealthy. Questions: Why don't we hear that some of the largest philanthropic efforts in the world are being conducted without religion? Atheists are often accused of lacking a moral code and so how is it that some are the greatest philanthropists?

THE RICHEST ARE THE ATHEISTS

by Charles Sabillon

April 10, 2007

"If you want to be rich, do not believe in God."

...

"At present, Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffet continue to hold on to the first and second position in the world rankings of the richest.

"The Christian religion, as well as all the other creeds, has always claimed that those who believe in God will get rewarded. Priests not only assure that there will be a reward after death, consisting of a ticket to Heaven. They also claim that there are several gratifications in this life and one of them is material wealth.

"It turns out that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are atheists. Those two men are totally indifferent to what religions preach. They could not care less about Jesus Christ, Mohammed or Buddha and lead their lives without ever thinking if their acts are consistent with religious beliefs.

"Such a situation ineluctably leads to the question: Why would God reward people who disrespect Him? Why would He give the largest pile of gold to those who deny his existence? More still: Why would God send the wrong message to His followers?

"It is obvious that such a situation is not good publicity for the Almighty. When one considers how strongly people covet money, it is evident that by allowing that atheists become the richest, a terrible message is being sent to the world.

"The funny thing is that those two men are not the only atheists enjoying a good life. They are not the exception to the rule, but the rule. In the U.S., in the rest of the American continent, in Europe and in Asia, the people with the highest incomes, are on average those who least show their respects to God.

"That is only inevitable considering that education is the surest way to attain wealth and when people attain high levels of education, the belief in God wanes.

"Education teaches science and science debunks the bulk of what creeds assert. As a result, the more years of education a person acquires, the higher the chances that such a person will develop atheist or secularist tendencies.

"Confronted with those facts, one is inevitably driven to ask again: why would God reward with material wealth the people who most despise Him?

"The only logical answer that can come from those facts is that there is no God. If there would be one, He or It would make sure that those who spend the whole day defending His cause would get the most out of life. Since there is no God, things flow according to the rules of logic and those with the largest brain capacities end up amassing the largest amount of capital."

Warren Buffett gives away his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

FORTUNE Magazine
by Carol Loomis

Website: Bill & Linda Gates Foundation

World’s Largest Philanthropers Atheists?

Celebrity Atheist List: Bill Gates & Warren Buffett

Wikipedia: Bill Gates & Warren Buffet

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 ...