Posts Tagged ‘JESUS CHRIST’
.GOSPEL MUSIC, ABC NEWS, ADAM AND EVE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BERNIE SANDERS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DANIEL IN THE LION’S DEN, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, IRRATIONALITY, JESUS CHRIST, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY JR., JONAH, KING OF KINGS (MOVIE), LAZARUS, LOT’S WIFE, MARK ZUCKERBERG, MEDIA MATTERS, MOSES, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIL, NOAH, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QANON, RAW STORY, RESURRECTION, REUTERS, SALON, SAMSON AND DELILAH (MOVIE), SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE BIBLE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PRINCE, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (MOVIE), THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, X
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on November 28, 2024 at 12:18 am
Pray: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled for the sake of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy.
Most voters aren’t moved by appeals to their rationality. Instead, what counts with them is emotions. And nothing conjures up emotions more than appeals to religion.
There is no better example of the power of irrationality than a gathering of QAnon followers in Dallas, Texas, on November 2, 2021.
Hundreds of people from around the country gathered at the grassy knoll in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
The congregation wasn’t there to commemorate the death of the 35th President of the United States. They expected to see the return of the Kennedys.
QAnon logo
CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“Word on the street is Junior—JFK Jr.—will show up and introduce his parents,” one believer told a local news station. “He’ll (JFK Jr.) probably be the vice president with Trump.”
Those who believed in rationality weren’t surprised when the elder former President and his son failed to magically appear.
Most of the gathered crowd went home. But others stayed, waiting for months in Dallas for the Kennedys to return.
According to followers of QAnon, the Kennedys, who once dominated the Democratic Party, had somehow become allies of Donald Trump. In this scenario, the Kennedys and Trump were direct descendants of Jesus Christ—and locked in a conflict between good and evil.
It’s essential to understand how such thoroughly irrational beliefs can dominate the lives of millions. An excellent starting point are those beliefs embraced by Christians—from their first-century origins to the present day.
Among those beliefs:
- God creates Adam from dust. (This absolutely contradicts everything we know about how men and women reproduce. Would-be parents don’t throw dust into the air and see it instantly turn into newborn babies.)
God creates Adam–as painted by Michelangelo
- Adam and Eve meet a talking snake. (Presumably it spoke Hebrew. When was the last time a zoologist had a serious discussion with a serpent?)
- Noah saves the world’s wildlife by stuffing them into an ark. (Sure—untrained wild animals are going to meekly walk, two-by-two, into a huge building. Then they’re going to let themselves be caged. And Noah and his family must store a huge variety of food for each type of animal for an indefinite period of time. And the sheer stench of all that animal urine and feces would have been horrific.)
- Moses parts the Red Sea. (Some scholars believe “Red” has been mistranslated from “Reed,” which is like upgrading “the White Quail” in Moby Dick to “the White Whale.”)
Moses (played by Charlton Heston) parts the Red Sea
- Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt. (A human being can be turned into ashes, but not salt.)
- Samson kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. (Even Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his physical strength couldn’t kill so many men—except with a machinegun.)
- Daniel is thrown into a pit of lions—but survives because an angel closes their jaws. (This sounds inspiring—until you remember that didn’t happen when Christians were thrown to the lions by the Romans.)
- The will of God violates physical laws. (Jesus turns water into wine and raises Lazarus from the dead; Jonah lives inside a fish for three days; Noah dies at 950 years.)
- Jesus rises from the dead. (There have been near-death experiences, but there has never been a documented case of someone being certified as dead who came alive again.)
- Jesus will return more than 2,000 years after he died to wipe all evil from the earth and usher in a paradise for his faithful followers. (There has never been a case in recorded history of anyone returning from the dead decades or hundreds of years later—let alone more than 2,000 years later.)
“The Transfiguration of Jesus” as painted by Carl Bloch
So why do millions of people unquestioningly accept so many stories that totally contradict the most basic truths of common sense?
Like Muzak, these stories—and other Biblical tales—have been absorbed over time through several mediums:
- Countless parents have told them to their children.
- So have countless pastors and priests.
- From the 1940s to the 1960s, audiences reveled in such spectaculars as “Samson and Delilah,” “The Ten Commandments” and “King of Kings.” When people watch Biblical movies, they believe they’re seeing The Truth as it’s laid out in the Bible.
- The gospel music scene has produced mega-hits like: “Shall We Gather at the River?” “Take Me to the King,” “Down By the Riverside.”
It is not necessary to actually be religious to run for and win public office in the United States. But it is essential to claim to be. Donald Trump—totally lacking in humility and spirituality—became the darling of evangelicals in 2016.
As Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince: “For men in general judge more by the eyes than by the hands, for every one can see, but very few have to feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the many.”
ABC NEWS, ALBERT EINSTEIN, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ASTRONOMY, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BLOOMBERG, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DISNEY CHANNEL, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HANNAH MONTANA (TV SHOW), HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JESUS CHRIST, LAWRENCE KRAUSS, MEDIA MATTERS, MILEY CYRUS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SCIENCE, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, X
In Entertainment, History, RELIGION, Social commentary on May 31, 2024 at 12:10 am
Miley Cyrus has been called the “Teen Queen” of the 2000s. She is also one of the few child stars with a successful musical career as an adult.
The daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she became a teen idol at 13 as Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel television series (2006-2011) of that name. As Hannah Montana, she achieved success on the Billboard charts with two number-one soundtracks.
But on March 1, 2012, she outraged the Christian Right by committing the ultimate sin: She believed in science.
She posted a tweet featuring a photo of the physicist Lawrence Krauss: “Beautiful.”
But it wasn’t what then-19-year-old Cyrus wrote that enraged the “kill-for-Christ” types. It was the words—from Krauss—emblazoned against the photo.
Miley Cyrus
EVERY ATOM IN YOUR BODY CAME FROM A STAR THAT EXPLODED. AND, THE ATOMS IN YOUR LEFT HAND PROBABLY CAME FROM A DIFFERENT STAR THAN THE ATOMS IN YOUR RIGHT HAND.
IT REALLY IS THE MOST POETIC THING I KNOW ABOUT THE UNIVERSE.
YOU ARE ALL STARDUST.
YOU COULDN’T BE HERE IF STARS HADN’T EXPLODED, BECAUSE THE ELEMENTS (THE CARBON, NITROGEN, OXYGEN AND ALL THE THINGS THAT MATTER FOR EVOLUTION) WEREN’T CREATED AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME, THEY WERE CREATED IN STARS.
SO FORGET JESUS. STARS DIED SO YOU COULD LIVE.
And it was those three words—“SO FORGET JESUS”—that roused right-wing Christians to deluge Cyrus’ twitter account with insults and death threats. Among these:
“So are you no longer a Christian? Forget Jesus??? Seriously? What has happened to you out there in the famous world? What????”
“You seriously believe that crap? It’s so ridiculously stupid. Go to hell.”
Cyrus quickly made it clear she didn’t intend to meekly accept such aggression. She tweeted: “U have nothing better 2 do than hate? That saddens me. Im surrounded by love Im sorry 4 whatever happened 2 make u so bitter.
“How can people take the love out of science and bring hate into religion so easily?” she asked and then quoted Albert Einstein:
“It makes me sad to think the world is this way. Like Einstein says ‘Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.’”
She demanded that Twitter (now known as “X”) police itself against the cyber-bullies who often use its service.
Twitter said that its users should just block their harassers.
That ignored the question: If you start getting scores—or hundreds—of insulting and threatening tweets, are you supposed to take the time to block each one?
Twitter said that it would investigate violent threats, but then slopped the problem back onto the victim.
According to the Twitter Help Center:
“Contact local Law Enforcement or Trusted Individuals: We will investigate reports of violent threats but please remember we are not the police and we cannot actively work with the police to report incidents that you report to us.
“If something has gone beyond the point of a personal conflict and has turned into actual violent threats that you feel are credible, call the police.”
In short, you’re on your own.
All of which raised the question: Why do so many people who claim to be filled with Christian love instantly resort to insults, threats or violence simply because someone has dared to express a different religious opinion?
Could it be that then-Senator Barack Obama was more insightful than many fundamentalist Christians wanted to admit?
It was at an April 6, 2008 San Francisco fundraising event that the Presidential candidate said:
“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them….
“So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Of course, if Obama had said this about conditions in the Arab world, millions of these same fundamentalist Christians would have wildly applauded.
Obama took a lot of heat from Christian fundamentalists for his comment. But it remains true that the anger so many of these people aimed at Cyrus is out of all proportion to the “damage” inflicted by her single word: “Beautiful.”
She was not:
- Preventing anyone from worshipping as s/he pleased;
- Urging the Federal Government to ban religious worship;
- Promoting some other faith—such as Islam—over that of Christianity.
She was merely agreeing with an observation—and an opinion—of an internationally-renowned physicist.
You can agree with her. Or disagree with her. Or ignore her completely.
But Cyrus has every right to believe as she wishes.
As do fundamentalists—who believe that a man who died 2,000 years ago is going to magically return from the grave to make everything wonderful.
Clearly, many religious people—of all faiths—desperately need to remember the words of the French philosopher Voltaire: “I do not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”
And he warned: “Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, APOCALYPSE, ARMAGEDDON, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOLDNESS, BUZZFEED, CAUTION, CBS NEWS, CHINA, CLIMATE CHANGE, CNN, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DONALD TRUMP, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GAIUS CASSIUS, GAZA, HAMAS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, illegal immigration, IMAGE, ISRAEL, J.P. MORGAN, JESUS CHRIST, JULIUS CAESAR (PLAY), KEVIN MCCARTHY, MAFIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW YEAR'S DAY, NEW YEAR'S EVE, NEW YORK, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REALITY, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOREN KIERKEGAARD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MILLENNIUM, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TITLE 42, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WEALTH, WILLIAM SHAESPEARE, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Medical, Military, RELIGION, Social commentary on January 1, 2024 at 12:49 am
New Year’s Eve, 2023, will soon lie behind us.
And for many people, saying “Goodbye” to 2023 can’t happen soon enough.
New Year’s Eve is traditionally a time for people to reflect on the major events of the previous 12 months. Some of these are highly personal. Others have been shared by the entire country.
Some of these remembrances inevitably bring pleasure. Others bring pain.
And 2023 has been a year of pain for millions.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to violently assault Ukraine. Despite a series of military setbacks, he continued to hurl missiles at Russia’s “brother nation.” Many Ukrainians spent a second Christmas without electricity or running water.
- On October 7, the Hamas terrorist group launched an attack on Israel, slaughtering 1,400 men, women and children and kidnapping at least 250 others. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and ground assault on Gaza, killing upwards of 20,000.
Emblem of Hamas
- In the United States, Donald Trump continued to lie that he had been cheated of victory in the 2020 Presidential election. His lie resonated with millions of Fascistic Americans, including members of Congress.
- And he prepared to run again for President—even as he faced 91 felony counts in four criminal cases. Determined to make himself “President-for-Life,” he posed the single greatest threat to American democracy in its history.
But 2023 also brought reason for hope:
- Republicans remained lethal but divided, ousting Kevin McCarthy, their own Speaker of the House and threatening to cannibalize others in their quest for dictatorial power.
- The COVID-19 pandemic had been largely contained, although the virus posed a lethal threat to those refusing to get vaccinated.
- Conscious of the dangers of climate change, Americans made wind, solar and hydropower more than 20 percent of the power supply.
Every New Year’s Eve celebration brings the fantasy that you get to start fresh in a matter of hours. And with that fantasy comes hope—that, this time, you can put your sorrows and failures behind you.
And each new year comes with lessons to be learned—and applied.
Each year gives us the chance to learn from history—our own and that of others. Try to learn from your mistakes—and especially those of others. With luck, you won’t repeat your past ones—or those of others. But don’t expect to lead a mistake-free life.
There is a time to be bold—and a time to be cautious. As Niccolo Machiavelli put it: “A prince….must imitate the fox and the lion: For the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.” Learn to tell when is the appropriate time to be which—and to play that role to the hilt.
Niccolo Machiavelli
There is image—and there is reality. J.P. Morgan once said: “A man always has two reasons for doing anything: A good reason and the real reason.” This is never truer than when a corporation or politician is asking for your money / vote.
When trying to decide whether to commit yourself to either, ask yourself: Who benefits? For example: When studying a proposed law that claims to aid the environment, find out who supports it. That will usually tell you what you need to know.
Learn how to evaluate others. Once again, Niccolo Machiavelli supplies the answer: “The first impression that one gets of a ruler and his brains is from seeing the men that he has about him. When they are competent and loyal one can always consider him wise, as he has been able to recognize their ability and keep them faithful.
“But when they are the reverse, one can always form an unfavorable opinion of him, because the first mistake that he makes is in making this choice.”
Don’t confuse wealth with virtue. Too many Americans believe that God bestows wealth on the worthy. If this were true, every Mafia boss would be a candidate for sainthood.
Each year is a journey unto itself—filled with countless joys and sorrows. Many of these joys can’t be predicted. And many of these tragedies can’t be prevented.
Learn to tell real dangers from imaginary ones. Computers are real—and sometimes they crash. Men who died 2,000 years ago do not leap out of graveyards, no matter what their disciples predict.
Don’t expect any particular year to usher in the Apocalypse. In any given year there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, riots, floods and a host of other disasters. These have always been with us—and always will be. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
Don’t expect some Great Leader to lead you to success. As Gaius Cassius says in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”: “Men at some time are masters of their fate. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.”
Don’t expect any particular year or event to usher in your happiness. To again quote Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
If your life seems to make no sense to you, consider this: The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once noted: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
.GOSPEL MUSIC, ABC NEWS, ADAM AND EVE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BERNIE SANDERS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CLONING, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOS, DANIEL IN THE LION’S DEN, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, IRRATIONALITY, JESUS CHRIST, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY JR., JONAH, KING OF KINGS (MOVIE), LAZARUS, LOT’S WIFE, MARK ZUCKERBERG, MEDIA MATTERS, MOSES, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NOAH, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QANON, RAW STORY, RESURRECTION, REUTERS, SALON, SAMSON AND DELILAH (MOVIE), SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SUPERSTITION, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE BIBLE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (MOVIE), THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRANSGENDERS, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on December 25, 2023 at 10:26 am
You can’t understand how irrational people can be until you examine their religious beliefs.
Consider many of those beliefs embraced by Christians—from their first-century origins to the present day.
Among those beliefs:
- God creates Adam from dust. This is biologically impossible. Would-be parents don’t throw dust into the air and see it instantly turn into newborn babies.
- God creates Eve from Adam’s rib. This is also biologically impossible. In 1885, German biologist Hans Driesch showed that blastomeres of two-cell sea urchin embryos could be physically separated and two entire embryos formed from each blastomere. But you don’t get a female cell from a male one. If this had happened, God would have created the first transgender woman.
- Humankind originated with Adam and Eve. A naked man and woman live in a forest, eat only fruit, and believe they are in Paradise. Then a talking snake deceives the woman into eating from “the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” They suddenly realize they are naked—and are then banished by God from Eden. Taken to its logical conclusion, this story warns: You will be punished if you become educated.
God creates Adam–as painted by Michelangelo
- Noah saves the world’s wildlife by stuffing them into an ark. Sure—untrained wild animals are going to meekly walk, two-by-two, into a huge building. Then they’re going to let themselves be caged. And Noah and his family must store a huge variety of food for each type of animal for an indefinite period of time. Transporting large numbers of animals poses a Herculean challenge for circuses even today. And the sheer stench of all that animal urine and feces in a closed Ark would have been horrific.
- Moses parts the Red Sea. Some scholars believe “Red” has been mistranslated from “Reed,” which is like upgrading “the White Quail” to “the White Whale” in Moby Dick.
Moses (played by Charlton Heston) parts the Red Sea
- Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt. A human being can be turned into ashes, but not salt.
- Samson kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his physical strength couldn’t kill so many men—except with a machinegun.
- Daniel is thrown into a pit of lions—but survives because an angel closes their jaws. This sounds inspiring—until you remember that didn’t happen when Christians were thrown to the lions by the Romans.
- The will of God violates physical laws. Jesus turns water into wine and raises Lazarus from the dead; Jonah lives inside a fish for three days; Noah dies at 950 years.
- Jesus redeems mankind from sin. Adam and Eve brought “sin” into the world—not by murder, rape or incest, but by gaining knowledge in the Garden of Eden. To redeem billions of future men, women and children from a “crime” they didn’t commit, God impregnates a teenager without her consent to sire a son so he can be tortured and murdered.
- Jesus rises from the dead. There have been near-death experiences, but there has never been a documented case of someone being certified as dead who came alive again—especially more than 2,000 years later.
- Jesus will return more than 2,000 years after he died to wipe all evil from the earth and usher in a paradise for his faithful followers. This is the ultimate “Get-Out-of-Death-Free” card. Everyone fears death. Science says it’s final—but Christianity promises you can live forever if you just follow the teachings of Jesus—as interpreted by any number of would-be clergy.
“The Transfiguration of Jesus” as painted by Carl Bloch
- “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). Wrong. According to astronomers, in about 7.5 billion years, the Sun will become a red giant, expand beyond the Earth’s current orbit, and vaporize the planet. Which raises the question: If God is all-wise, why did he create a self-destructing universe?
So why do millions of people unquestioningly accept so many stories that totally contradict the most basic truths of common sense?
- Countless parents have told them to their children.
- So have countless pastors and priests.
- From the 1940s to the 1960s, audiences reveled in such spectaculars as “Samson and Delilah,” “The Ten Commandments” and “King of Kings.” When people watch Biblical movies, they believe they’re seeing The Truth as it’s laid out in the Bible.
- Gospel music has produced mega-hits like: “Shall We Gather at the River?” “Take Me to the King,” “Down By the Riverside.”
- Fear of death—and the hope to live forever—as Jesus allegedly cheated death through his resurrection.
- To bring a sense of purpose to their lives by “enlisting” in a Heavenly (if imaginary) community.
It is not necessary to actually be religious to run for and win public office in the United States. But it is essential to claim to be.
Donald Trump—a lifelong criminal totally lacking in humility and spirituality—became the darling of evangelicals in 2016 by claiming to love Jesus.
ABC NEWS, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, AYATOLLAH RUHOLLAH KHOMEINI, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BBC, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIAN RIGHT, CNN, COLD WAR, CROOKS AND LIARS, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, DAILY KOS, EGYPT, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GLOBAL WARMING, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, HUNGARIAN UPRISING, HUNGARY, IRAN, IRAQ, ISLAM, ISRAEL, JESUS CHRIST, MEDIA MATTERS, MIDDLE EAST, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NPR, Oil, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, SALON, SAND CURTAIN, SEATTLE TIMES, SECOND COMING, SHAH OF IRAN, SHIITE MUSLIMS, SLATE, SOVIET UNION, SUNNI MUSLIMS, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TERRORISM, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE INTERCEPT, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UNITED STATES, UPI, USA TODAY
In Bureaucracy, History, Military, Politics, Social commentary on October 24, 2023 at 12:10 am
There can be peace—for the United States—in the Middle East.
But to achieve this, Western Europe and the United States need to make radical changes in their approach to that part of the world.
First, the United States must embark on a crash program to develop alternatives to oil.
The Islamic world offers only one reason for American concern: oil.
Yet its consumption threatens the future of the world through global warming. And it keeps America tethered to regimes that are fundamentally unstable and hostile to the West.
Second, once the United States weans itself from its dependency on fossil fuels, it can safely end its relationship with such regimes.
That means putting an end to spending billions of dollars every year to prop up regimes like those in Iraq and Egypt. And it also means stopping the supply of big-ticket military hardware (like fighter planes and missiles) to Islamic regimes.
When the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, he was probably the best-armed Islamic leader in the Middle East. His army and air force bristled with sophisticated American weaponry he had bought with billions of dollars in oil revenues.
Shah of Iran
But he had thoroughly alienated his people. Liberals thought him a tyrant, and conservatives thought him a traitor to Islam. So when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini flew to Iran from his self-exile in Paris, no one in the Shah’s army and air force raised a hand in his defense.
Third, the United States should end its “Permanent Bodyguard” relationship with Israel.
Every nation—including Israel—has the absolute right to defend itself from aggression. But no nation—including Israel—has the right to expect another nation to act as its permanent bodyguard.
Millions of Americans believe they are morally obligated to defend Israel owing to the barbarism of the Holocaust. But America was never a party to this, and has nothing to atone for.
But there is another reason many Americans feel committed to Israel. And it has nothing to do with concern for the fates of Israelis.
It lies in the mythology of the Christian Right: Many fundamentalist Christians believe that, for Jesus Christ to awaken from his 2,000-year slumber, Israel must first re-conquer every inch of territory it supposedly held during the reign of Kings David and Solomon.
Right-wing Christian fantasy: Dead man hovering
After Christ returns, they believe, the Jews will face a choice: Become Christians or go to hell.
For evangelical Christians, Jews remain the eternal “Christ killers.”
And if Jews must assume temporary control of the Middle East to bring about the return of a man who died 2,000 years ago, so be it.
This is the view of many Right-wing members of the House of Representatives and Senate. Obviously, people holding such totally irrational views shouldn’t be allowed to hold public office.
Unfortunately, such unbalanced views are shared by millions of equally irrational evangelical Christians.
Fourth, the United States and its European allies should erect a “Sand Curtain” around the Middle East.
For 44 years—1947 to 1991—the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a Cold War. Essentially, the United States drew a ring around the Soviet Union—including those nations its armies had seized following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
The United States said, in effect: “We can’t liberate the countries you’re now occupying”—because trying to do so would have triggered a nuclear World War III. “But we won’t allow you to occupy and enslave any other countries. And if you try to do so, it will mean total war.”
Thus, the United States should erect a “sand curtain” around the Middle East. This could be attained by withdrawing all of its forces but keeping a good portion stationed in Europe.
It would then publicly announce: “From now on, you are the masters of your own destinies—so long as what you do affects only those of you living in the Middle East.
“We recognize that barbarism and violence have always been a part of life in the Middle East. And we don’t expect this to change.
“So go ahead and destroy as many of your own citizens as you wish—either because they’re Jewish or Christians, or because Sunni Muslims hate Shiite Muslims and Shiite Muslims hate Sunni Muslims.
“Just don’t do anything that poses a threat to those living outside your barbaric lands. In short: Europe and the United States are strictly off-limits to you.
“And if you aim your aggression at either, we will consider this an act of war and use all the weapons at our disposal—including nuclear ones—to wipe you from the face of the Earth.“
The United States cannot enforce peace between Islamics and Israelis. Nor between Christians and Islamics. Nor between Islamics and Islamics.
But it can impose an embargo to confine such barbarism to only the Middle East.
.GOSPEL MUSIC, ABC NEWS, ADAM AND EVE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BERNIE SANDERS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DANIEL IN THE LION’S DEN, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, IRRATIONALITY, JESUS CHRIST, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY JR., JONAH, KING OF KINGS (MOVIE), LAZARUS, LOT’S WIFE, MARK ZUCKERBERG, MEDIA MATTERS, MOSES, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIL, NOAH, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QANON, RAW STORY, RESURRECTION, REUTERS, SALON, SAMSON AND DELILAH (MOVIE), SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE BIBLE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PRINCE, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (MOVIE), THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on September 26, 2023 at 12:22 am
Republicans learned long ago that most voters aren’t moved by appeals to their rationality. Instead, what counts with them is emotions. Especially the dark ones—Hate, Greed, Fear.
This is a lesson that liberal Democrats have refused to learn. And that is why Republicans won most Presidential elections of the 20th century.
There is no better example of the power of irrationality than a gathering of QAnon followers in Dallas, Texas, on November 2, 2021.
Hundreds of people from around the country gathered at the grassy knoll in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
The congregation wasn’t there to commemorate the death of the 35th President of the United States. They expected to see the return of the Kennedys.
QAnon logo
CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“Word on the street is Junior—JFK Jr.—will show up and introduce his parents,” one believer told a local news station. “He’ll (JFK Jr.) probably be the vice president with Trump.”
Those who believed in rationality weren’t surprised when the elder former President and his son failed to magically appear.
Most of the gathered crowd went home. But others stayed, waiting for months in Dallas for the Kennedys to return.
According to followers of QAnon, the Kennedys, who once dominated the Democratic Party, had somehow become allies of Donald Trump. In this scenario, the Kennedys and Trump were direct descendants of Jesus Christ—and locked in a conflict between good and evil.
It’s essential to understand how such thoroughly irrational beliefs can dominate the lives of millions. An excellent starting point are those beliefs embraced by Christians—from their first-century origins to the present day.
Among those beliefs:
- God creates Adam from dust. (This absolutely contradicts everything we know about how men and women reproduce. Would-be parents don’t throw dust into the air and see it instantly turn into newborn babies.)
God creates Adam–as painted by Michelangelo
- Adam and Eve meet a talking snake. (Presumably it spoke Hebrew. When was the last time a zoologist had a serious discussion with a serpent?)
- Noah saves the world’s wildlife by stuffing them into an ark. (Sure—untrained wild animals are going to meekly walk, two-by-two, into a huge building. Then they’re going to let themselves be caged. And Noah and his family must store a huge variety of food for each type of animal for an indefinite period of time. And the sheer stench of all that animal urine and feces would have been horrific.)
- Moses parts the Red Sea. (Some scholars believe “Red” has been mistranslated from “Reed,” which is like upgrading “the White Quail” in Moby Dick to “the White Whale.”)
Moses (played by Charlton Heston) parts the Red Sea
- Lot’s wife becomes a pillar of salt. (A human being can be turned into ashes, but not salt.)
- Samson kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. (Even Arnold Schwarzenegger at the height of his physical strength couldn’t kill so many men—except with a machinegun.)
- Daniel is thrown into a pit of lions—but survives because an angel closes their jaws. (This sounds inspiring—until you remember that didn’t happen when Christians were thrown to the lions by the Romans.)
- The will of God violates physical laws. (Jesus turns water into wine and raises Lazarus from the dead; Jonah lives inside a fish for three days; Noah dies at 950 years.)
- Jesus rises from the dead. (There have been near-death experiences, but there has never been a documented case of someone being certified as dead who came alive again.)
- Jesus will return more than 2,000 years after he died to wipe all evil from the earth and usher in a paradise for his faithful followers. (There has never been a case in recorded history of anyone returning from the dead decades or hundreds of years later—let alone more than 2,000 years later.)
“The Transfiguration of Jesus” as painted by Carl Bloch
So why do millions of people unquestioningly accept so many stories that totally contradict the most basic truths of common sense?
Like Muzak, these stories—and other Biblical tales—have been absorbed over time through several mediums:
- Countless parents have told them to their children.
- So have countless pastors and priests.
- From the 1940s to the 1960s, audiences reveled in such spectaculars as “Samson and Delilah,” “The Ten Commandments” and “King of Kings.” When people watch Biblical movies, they believe they’re seeing The Truth as it’s laid out in the Bible.
- The gospel music scene has produced mega-hits like: “Shall We Gather at the River?” “Take Me to the King,” “Down By the Riverside.”
It is not necessary to actually be religious to run for and win public office in the United States. But it is essential to claim to be. Donald Trump—totally lacking in humility and spirituality—became the darling of evangelicals in 2016.
As Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince: “For men in general judge more by the eyes than by the hands, for every one can see, but very few have to feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the many.”
2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, APOCALYPSE, ARMAGEDDON, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BOLDNESS, BUZZFEED, CAUTION, CBS NEWS, CHINA, CNN, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DONALD TRUMP, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GAIUS CASSIUS, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, illegal immigration, IMAGE, J.P. MORGAN, JESUS CHRIST, JULIUS CAESAR (PLAY), MAFIA, MEDIA MATTERS, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW YEAR'S DAY, NEW YEAR'S EVE, NEW YORK, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REALITY, REUTERS, RUSSIA, SALON, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOREN KIERKEGAARD, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MILLENNIUM, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TITLE 42, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UKRAINE, UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, UPI, USA TODAY, VLADIMIR PUTIN, WEALTH, WILLIAM SHAESPEARE, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Medical, RELIGION, Social commentary on December 30, 2022 at 1:01 am
New Year’s Eve, 2022, will soon lie behind us.
And for many people, saying “Goodbye” to 2022 can’t happen soon enough.
New Year’s Eve is traditionally a time for people to reflect on the major events of the previous 12 months. Some of these are highly personal. Others have been shared by the entire country.
Some of these remembrances inevitably bring pleasure. Others bring pain.
And 2022 has been a year of pain for millions.
Starting on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a violent assault on Ukraine. Even after his forces were battered by Ukrainian armies, he continued to hurl missiles at Russia’s “brother nation.” As a result, many Ukrainians spent Christmas without electricity or running water.
The invasion was accompanied by Putin’s threats of nuclear war if the West didn’t stop supplying Ukraine with weaponry to repulse his unprovoked attack.
COVID-19 continued to sweep across the globe. Although largely under control in the United States, it remained a mortal threat. In China, that threat surged as the government dropped restrictions that had largely kept it at bay since 2020.
COVID-19
But, as the year ended, hope suddenly dawned: During mid-term elections, millions of Americans rejected Donald Trump’s continuing lies that he had been cheated of victory in 2020. As a result, Republicans won only the House, whereas they had been expected to win the Senate as well.
And as the United States braced itself for an onslaught of tens of thousands—if not millions—of illegal aliens, the Supreme Court upheld—at least temporarily—Title 42.
This policy, begun in 2020, during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, has allowed immigration agents to expel 2.4.million illegal aliens from the southern border.
At the heart of every New Year’s Eve celebration is the fantasy that you get to start fresh in a matter of hours. And with that fantasy comes hope—that, this time, you can put your sorrows and failures behind you.
And each new year comes with lessons to be learned—and applied.
Each year gives us the chance to learn from history—our own and that of others. Try to learn from your mistakes—and especially those of others. With luck, you won’t repeat your past ones—or those of others. But don’t expect to lead a mistake-free life.
There is a time to be bold—and a time to be cautious. As Niccolo Machiavelli put it: “A prince….must imitate the fox and the lion: For the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.” Learn to tell when is the appropriate time to be which—and to play that role to the hilt.
Niccolo Machiavelli
There is image—and there is reality. J.P. Morgan once said: “A man always has two reasons for doing anything: A good reason and the real reason.” This is never truer than when a corporation or politician is asking for your money / vote. When trying to decide whether to commit yourself to either, ask yourself: Who benefits? For example: When studying a proposed law that claims to aid the environment, find out who supports it. That will usually tell you what you need to know.
Learn how to evaluate others. Once again, Niccolo Machiavelli supplies the answer: “The first impression that one gets of a ruler and his brains is from seeing the men that he has about him. When they are competent and loyal one can always consider him wise, as he has been able to recognize their ability and keep them faithful. But when they are the reverse, one can always form an unfavorable opinion of him, because the first mistake that he makes is in making this choice.”
Don’t confuse wealth with virtue. Too many Americans believe that wealth is a gift that God bestows on the worthy. If this were true, every Mafia boss would be a candidate for sainthood.
Each year is a journey unto itself—filled with countless joys and sorrows. Many of these joys can’t be predicted. And many of these tragedies can’t be prevented.
Learn to tell real dangers from imaginary ones. Computers are real—and sometimes they crash. Men who died 2,000 years ago do not leap out of graveyards, no matter what their disciples predict.
Don’t expect any particular year to usher in the Apocalypse. In any given year there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, riots, floods and a host of other disasters. These have always been with us—and always will be. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
Don’t expect some Great Leader to lead you to success. As Gaius Cassius says in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”: “Men at some time are masters of their fate. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.”
Don’t expect any particular year or event to usher in your happiness. To again quote Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
If your life seems to make no sense to you, consider this: The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once noted: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
1999 (YEAR), 2000 (YEAR), 2020, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ABC NEWS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, APOCALYPSE, ARMAGEDDON, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BLOOMBERG, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHINA, CNN, COLD WAR, COMPUTERS, COVID-19, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE REPORT, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, GAIUS CASSIUS, GERMANY, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HUFFINGTON POST, JAPAN, JESUS CHRIST, JOSEPH BIDEN, JULIUS CAESAR (PLAY), MEDIA MATTERS, MILLENNIUM, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEW YEAR'S DAY, NEW YEAR'S EVE, NEW YORK, NEWSWEEK, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, REUTERS, RIOTS, SALON, SAN FRANCISCO, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOREN KIERKEGAARD, SOVIET UNION, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE MILLENNIUM, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TIMES SQUARE, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WILLIAM SHAESPEARE, WONKETTE, Y2K
In Entertainment, History, Medical, Social commentary on December 31, 2021 at 12:23 am
New Year’s Eve, 2021, will soon lie behind us.
And for most people, saying “Goodbye” to 2021 can’t happen soon enough.
New Year’s Eve is traditionally a time for people to reflect on the major events of the previous 12 months. Some of these are highly personal. Others have been shared by the entire country.
Some of these remembrances inevitably bring pleasure. Others bring pain.
And 2021 has been a year of pain for millions.
Starting on January 6, then-President Donald Trump incited thousands of his fanatical disciples to attack the United States Capitol Building.
The reason: To halt the counting of Electoral College votes to certify the legitimate Presidential victory of Joe Biden in 2020—thus leaving Trump in office as “President-for-Life.”
Donald Trump
Fortunately, democracy was saved—for the moment.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 continued to sweep across the globe. To date, it’s infected 285 million worldwide—and killed 5.42 million. In the United States, it’s infected 153.8 million and killed 822,000.
But by March, three new vaccines were being rolled out—and thus saving the lives of untold numbers of potential COVID victims.
COVID-19
At the heart of every New Year’s Eve celebration is the fantasy that you get to start fresh in a matter of hours. And with that fantasy comes hope—that, this time, you can put your sorrows and failures behind you.
And for millions in 2022, life will look brighter—because Donald Trump, whose Presidency was marked by unprecedented criminality and treason, no longer holds office.
True, Trump has refused to admit that he was defeated in a legitimate election. And his lust to become America’s Dictator-in-chief remains as lethal as ever.
But democracies are always threatened by would-be tyrants. And Americans can take heart in the knowledge that, in 1945, they helped defeat two of the worst—in Germany and Japan.
And, for 50 years during the Cold War, they stood firm against dictators in China and the Soviet Union.
The last New Year’s Eve to be marked by worldwide fears was that of 1999:
- Fear of Y2K—that our highly computerized, globally-interconnected world would crash when the “19″ at the start of every year was replaced with a “20″.
- Fear of Armageddon—that Jesus, after dying 2,000 years ago, would magically return to destroy mankind (except for those 144,000 righteous souls He deemed worthy of salvation).
- Fear of the Millennium itself—of ending not simply another decade and century but an entire thousand-year period of history, and thus losing our historical ties to the familiar highlights of our own (and America’s) past.
And, especially where Y2K was concerned, news commentators were quick to stoke our anxieties.
Long before New Year’s Eve, TV newscasters repeatedly warned that, when midnight struck on January 1, 2000, the three places you did not want to be were:
- In an airplane.
- In an elevator.
- In a hospital.
Countless numbers of people in America and around the world stocked up on food, water, batteries and other essentials for surviving an emergency.
Merchants and police feared widespread rioting and violence. If Y2K didn’t set it off, then fears of a heaven-sent Apocalypse might.
In San Francisco, along Powell Street—a major center of tourism and commerce—store owners boarded up their doors and windows as New Year’s Eve approached. Many closed earlier than usual that day.
Fortunately, when midnight struck on January 1, 2000, the predictors of the coming Apocalypse were proven wrong.
- Computers kept working—and civilization didn’t crash along with them.
- Jesus didn’t miraculously return from the dead—just as he hadn’t during any previous year.
- And those who feared that the Millennium would usher in a strange and frightening new world soon found that 2000 was not all that different from previous years.
New Year’s Eve 1999 is now 22 years distant. But some lessons may still be learned from it:
Each year is a journey unto itself—filled with countless joys and sorrows. Many of these joys can’t be predicted. And many of these tragedies can’t be prevented.
Learn to tell real dangers from imaginary ones. Computers are real—and sometimes they crash. Men who died 2,000 years ago do not leap out of graveyards, no matter what their disciples predict.
Don’t expect any particular year to usher in the Apocalypse. In any given year there will be wars, famines, earthquakes, riots, floods and a host of other disasters. These have always been with us—and always will be. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”
BumFluff2009, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Don’t expect some Great Leader to lead you to success. As Gaius Cassius says in William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”: “Men at some time are masters of their fate. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.”
Don’t expect any particular year or event to usher in your happiness. To again quote Lincoln: “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
If your life seems to make no sense to you, consider this: The philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once noted: “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, ABC NEWS, ADULTERY, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BIBLE, BILL MAHER, BIRTH CONTROL, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CATHOLICS, CBS NEWS, CIVIL LIBERTIES, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANKLIN GRAHAM, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HOMOSEXUALITY, HOMOSEXUALS, HUFFINGTON POST, ISLAM, JERRY FALWELL JR., JESUS CHRIST, JEWS, LESBIANS, LIBERALS, MEDIA MATTERS, MIKE PENCE, MITT ROMNEY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUSLIMS, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NON-CHRISTIANS, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, RELIGION, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REUTERS, RICHARD FEYNMAN, RICK SANTORUM, SALON, SAUDI ARABIA, SCIENCE, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SLAVERY, SPANISH INQUISITION, STORMY DANIELS, SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TEA PARTY, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEOLOGY, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TOMAS DE TORQUEMADA, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WAR, WOMEN, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on November 11, 2021 at 12:07 am
On February 18, 2012, Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum warned about the “phony theology” of President Barack Obama.
“It’s not about you,” Santorum told supporters of the Right-wing Tea Party in Columbus, Ohio. “It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your jobs.
“It’s about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology.”
What would a Bible-based agenda mean for the country?
The death penalty would be vastly expanded to cover such “crimes” as:
- Sabbath-breaking: Because the Lord considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death. (Exodus 31:12-15)
- Adultery: If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10)
- Fornication: A priest’s daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus 21:9)
- Nonbelievers: They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13)
- Homosexuality: If a man also lies with mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus 20-13)
A modern-day stoning–in Somalia
The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution—which forbids slavery—would be repealed.
The Bible not only permits slavery but lays out rules for its practice—such as:
- However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. (Leviticus 25:44-45)
- When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are. (Exodus 21-7)
- Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. (1 Peter 2:18)
Almost all scientific progress would be discarded, since most of its findings conflict with the Bible:
- One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:4).
- This claim is totally contradicted by what astronomers now know about the eventual fate of the Earth: In about 7.6 billion years, the sun will exhaust its nuclear fuels. This will vastly increase its heat and gravitational pull, and at least Mercury, Earth and Venus will be vaporized.
The sun
- The Bible speaks of a world where physical laws are often violated by the will of God. Thus, Jesus turns water into wine and raises Lazarus from the dead; Jonah lives inside a fish for three days; Noah dies at 950 years; and demons are exorcised.
- In Biblical times, mental illness was seen as a manifestation of demonic possession. Today we know that mental illness has nothing to do with evil spirits.
Laws guaranteeing equal rights for women would be repealed:
- I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent. (1 Timothy 12:10)
- Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)
- A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. (1 Timothy 2:11)
- But if…and evidence of the girl’s virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father’s house and there her townsman shall stone her to death. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)
Military conflicts would be fought without regard to the Geneva Convention—as the Israelites did:
- “You are my battle-ax and sword,” says the Lord. “With you I will shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies, destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and rulers.” (Jeremiah 51:20-23)
Depiction of the taking of Jericho by the Israelites
- Samuel said to Saul, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” (1 Samuel 15, 1-3)
* * * * *
Yes, a nation governed by “a theology based on the Bible” would be one far different from the United States we know today.
Since a number of Old Testament practices might lend themselves to easy abuse, this is not a matter to be taken lightly.
2012 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE, ABC NEWS, ADULTERY, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BARACK OBAMA, BBC, BIBLE, BILL MAHER, BIRTH CONTROL, BLOOMBERG NEWS, BUZZFEED, CATHOLICS, CBS NEWS, CIVIL LIBERTIES, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DONALD TRUMP, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, FACEBOOK, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FRANKLIN GRAHAM, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HOMOSEXUALITY, HOMOSEXUALS, HUFFINGTON POST, ISLAM, JERRY FALWELL JR., JESUS CHRIST, JEWS, LESBIANS, LIBERALS, MEDIA MATTERS, MIKE PENCE, MITT ROMNEY, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, MUSLIMS, NBC NEWS, NEW REPUBLIC, NEWSDAY, NEWSWEEK, NEWT GINGRICH, NON-CHRISTIANS, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, RELIGION, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT, REPUBLICAN PARTY, REUTERS, RICHARD FEYNMAN, RICK SANTORUM, SALON, SAUDI ARABIA, SCIENCE, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SLAVERY, SPANISH INQUISITION, STORMY DANIELS, SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TEA PARTY, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE NEW YORKER, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE WASHINGTON POST, THEOLOGY, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TOMAS DE TORQUEMADA, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WAR, WOMEN, WONKETTE
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on September 9, 2021 at 12:06 am
Bernardo Gui was the chief inquisitor of the Dominican Order during the Medieval Inquisition (1184 – 1230s).
Gui closely studied the best methods for interrogating “heretics.” He set forth his findings in his most important and famous work, Practica Inquisitionis Heretice Pravitatis. or “Conduct of the Inquisition into Heretical Wickedness.”
Here’s how such an interrogation might go:
When a heretic is first brought up for examination, he assumes a confident air, as though secure in his innocence. I ask him why he has been brought before me. He replies, smiling and courteous, “Sir, I would be glad to learn the cause from you.”
Interrogator: You are accused as a heretic, and that you believe and teach otherwise than Holy Church believes.
Accused Heretic: (Raising his eyes to heaven, with an air of the greatest faith) Lord, thou knowest that I am innocent of this, and that I never held any faith other than that of true Christianity.
Interrogator: You call your faith Christian, for you consider ours as false and heretical. But I ask whether you have ever believed as true another faith than that which the Roman Church holds to be true?
Accused Heretic: I believe the true faith which the Roman Church believes, and which you openly preach to us.
Interrogator: Perhaps you have some of your sect at Rome whom you call the Roman Church. I, when I preach, say many things, some of which are common to us both, as that God liveth, and you believe some of what I preach. Nevertheless you may be a heretic in not believing other matters which are to be believed.
Accused Heretic: I believe all things that a Christian should believe.
Interrogator: I know your tricks….But we waste time in this fencing. Say simply, Do you believe in one God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost?
Accused Heretic: I believe.
Interrogator: Do you believe in Christ born of the Virgin, suffered, risen, and ascended to heaven?
Accused Heretic: (Briskly) I believe.
Interrogator: Do you believe the bread and wine in the mass performed by the priests to be changed into the body and blood of Christ by divine virtue?
Accused Heretic: Ought I not to believe this?
Interrogator: I don’t ask if you ought to believe, but if you do believe.
Accused Heretic: I believe whatever you and other good doctors order me to believe.
Inquisitor: Those good doctors are the masters of your sect; if I accord with them you believe with me; if not, not.
Accused Heretic: I willingly believe with you if you teach what is good to me.
Inquisitor: You consider it good to you if I teach what your other masters teach. Say, then, do you believe the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ to be in the altar?
Accused Heretic: (Promptly) I believe that a body is there, and that all bodies are of our Lord.
Interrogator: I ask whether the body there is of the Lord who was born of the Virgin, hung on the cross, arose from the dead, ascended, etc.
Accused Heretic: And you, sir, do you not believe it?
Interrogator: I believe it wholly.
Accused Heretic: I believe likewise.
Men like Bernard Gui—and Franklin Graham—do not seek a golden future. They crave to return to a “golden” past—which includes the power Christians once held to forcibly impose their religious beliefs on others.
Among those slated for forced conversions by the Religious Right:
- Atheists
- Jews
- Women
- Homosexuals
- Lesbians
- Non-Christians
- Liberals
To gain absolute secular power over the lives of their fellow Americans, the Religious Right will support any candidate, no matter how morally despicable.
During the 2016 Presidential race, evangelicals—and their leaders such as Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr.—fervently supported Donald Trump, despite:
- His being twice divorced;
- His multiple affairs (including one with porn star Stormy Daniels);
- His documented ties to Russian oligarchs and Mafia chieftains;
- His viciousness, greed, lying and egomania.
Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell, Jr., at Liberty University
And they continue to fervently support him.
They expect Trump to sponsor legislation that will—-by force of law—make their brand of Christianity supreme above all other religions.
Legislation such as The Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
This was signed into law on March 26, 2015, by Mike Pence, then Governor of Indiana.
This allows any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party.
Officially, its intent is to prevent the government from forcing business owners to violate their religious beliefs.
Unofficially, its intent is to appease the hatred of gays and lesbians by the religious Right, a key constituency of the Republican party.
Thus, a bakery that doesn’t want to make a cake for a gay wedding or a restaurant that doesn’t want to serve lesbian patrons now has the legal right to refuse to do so.
And a hospital can legally turn away a gay patient if it wants to.
Islamic countries are notorious for their persecution of non-Muslims. Now the Religious Right wants to impose its own version of sharia law on American citizens.
Bureaucracybuster's Blog 
.GOSPEL MUSIC, ABC NEWS, ADAM AND EVE, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AP, ATHEISTS, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BERNIE SANDERS, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CHRISTIANITY, CNN, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DANIEL IN THE LION’S DEN, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HILLARY CLINTON, IRRATIONALITY, JESUS CHRIST, JOHN F. KENNEDY, JOHN F. KENNEDY JR., JONAH, KING OF KINGS (MOVIE), LAZARUS, LOT’S WIFE, MARK ZUCKERBERG, MEDIA MATTERS, MOSES, MOTHER JONES, MOVEON, MSNBC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLIL, NOAH, NPR, PBS NEWSHOUR, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, QANON, RAW STORY, RESURRECTION, REUTERS, SALON, SAMSON AND DELILAH (MOVIE), SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, TALKING POINTS MEMO, THE ATLANTIC, THE BIBLE, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE PRINCE, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (MOVIE), THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, X
SUPERSTITION IS US
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, RELIGION, Social commentary on November 28, 2024 at 12:18 amPray: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled for the sake of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy.
Most voters aren’t moved by appeals to their rationality. Instead, what counts with them is emotions. And nothing conjures up emotions more than appeals to religion.
There is no better example of the power of irrationality than a gathering of QAnon followers in Dallas, Texas, on November 2, 2021.
Hundreds of people from around the country gathered at the grassy knoll in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
The congregation wasn’t there to commemorate the death of the 35th President of the United States. They expected to see the return of the Kennedys.
QAnon logo
CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
“Word on the street is Junior—JFK Jr.—will show up and introduce his parents,” one believer told a local news station. “He’ll (JFK Jr.) probably be the vice president with Trump.”
Those who believed in rationality weren’t surprised when the elder former President and his son failed to magically appear.
Most of the gathered crowd went home. But others stayed, waiting for months in Dallas for the Kennedys to return.
According to followers of QAnon, the Kennedys, who once dominated the Democratic Party, had somehow become allies of Donald Trump. In this scenario, the Kennedys and Trump were direct descendants of Jesus Christ—and locked in a conflict between good and evil.
It’s essential to understand how such thoroughly irrational beliefs can dominate the lives of millions. An excellent starting point are those beliefs embraced by Christians—from their first-century origins to the present day.
Among those beliefs:
God creates Adam–as painted by Michelangelo
Moses (played by Charlton Heston) parts the Red Sea
“The Transfiguration of Jesus” as painted by Carl Bloch
So why do millions of people unquestioningly accept so many stories that totally contradict the most basic truths of common sense?
Like Muzak, these stories—and other Biblical tales—have been absorbed over time through several mediums:
It is not necessary to actually be religious to run for and win public office in the United States. But it is essential to claim to be. Donald Trump—totally lacking in humility and spirituality—became the darling of evangelicals in 2016.
As Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince: “For men in general judge more by the eyes than by the hands, for every one can see, but very few have to feel. Everyone sees what you appear to be, few feel what you are, and those few will not dare to oppose themselves to the many.”
Share this: