Thursday, December 3, 2009
Back In the Saddle Again
After a short (hiatus/sabbatical/vacation) from posting I found that somehow my account had gotten screwed up and I have had to re-post all of my old posts. I have kept the text of tehse old posts unchanged and re-posted them all today.
White Supremecist Shoots Two People At Holocaust Museum
Today, a white supremacist shot two people at the US Holocaust museum.
When the current administration came out with a report in April that said that right-wing extremist groups were a huge threat in our country, people like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News criticized it. Not one month later we have a dead women's health doctor and now an attack on the Holocaust museum with two people shot by white supremacist.
Are Rush and Fox and company going to change their tune? My guess is that they will continue to "denounce" the violence while still criticizing the apparently accurate and vindicated report. To clarify, the shooter is NOT a Christian and I don't mean to imply that he is. In fact, an online story seems to indicate that he is anti-christian so he may be an Odinist which seems to be, besides Christianity, the other major religion of white supremacists according to Wikipedia.
I only mean to vindicate the report and cast derision on Limbaugh and Fox, etc.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
When the current administration came out with a report in April that said that right-wing extremist groups were a huge threat in our country, people like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News criticized it. Not one month later we have a dead women's health doctor and now an attack on the Holocaust museum with two people shot by white supremacist.
Are Rush and Fox and company going to change their tune? My guess is that they will continue to "denounce" the violence while still criticizing the apparently accurate and vindicated report. To clarify, the shooter is NOT a Christian and I don't mean to imply that he is. In fact, an online story seems to indicate that he is anti-christian so he may be an Odinist which seems to be, besides Christianity, the other major religion of white supremacists according to Wikipedia.
I only mean to vindicate the report and cast derision on Limbaugh and Fox, etc.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
Christians React to Murder of Doctor with Love
As everyone has likely heard by now, a doctor who performed abortions was murdered in his church. My first thought was, "Another example of how religion can make people do horrible things." I then realized that I did not have any evidence that the murderer was a religious person. I briefly scolded myself, but then realized that it speaks volumes in and of itself that my first thought turned to a Christian believer as the murderer.
My next thought, however, was "What do teh Christians" think of this? Well, I visited a few online forums for Christians and alot of the reaction was more horrifying than I imagined it would be. I have posted some likes at the bottom of this post, but here are the highlights:
"I do not support this, but I do understand this."
"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
"Is this a false report? Why would an abortionist go to church?"
"Whatever “church” Tiller attends must be worshipping satan."
"jury (of one) nullification"
"This is what happens when the United States Supreme Court, the legal system, and our elected officials, and even some religious institutions, have all been corrupted to the point that a man can profit so much from killing babies."
"Why is the death of a satanic worshipper tragic?"
"The real tragedy is the number lives he has taken. Not to mention the women who have had to live with what they have done to their babies."
"I hate that somebody shot him to death because it makes us all look like whackos. And for those who would tell me that the lives of others are more important that our image, please spare me. I already know that truth."
"Our cause is not helped by acting like a bunch of 3rd world muzzies. " (Emphasis mine)
"May he rot in hell alongside the mothers who aided him in his “business”."
"He reaped what he had sown: violent death."
"Reichstag Fire." (Implying that, like the famous fire that Hitler used to grab power, this was a conspiracy by the left to create a cause with which to grab more power.)
"Tiller has committed outrage after outrage and not only gotten away with it, he has made a fortune! Sooner or later this had to happen."
"The time for civility is quickly running out IMHO. In 10 years, we may wind up looking back at this moment as the first shot in the second American civil war."
"I’m sorry but I feel no sympathy at all. Absolutely none."
"We all need to be armed. I don’t want to think it, but I am worried that things will become so bad, this nation may be facing another revolution. All the signs point to the Kenyan communist, who is surrounded by America haters, being sent here to destroy this nation."
"But thanks for the admonishment to be polite, that's the main thing. Everyone knows their roles, don't rock the boat."
"Tiller Shot & Killed? Thousands of unborn children claim self defense."
"This is wrong if it was done by a pro-lifer. However, I find it very suspicious that one week after polling data shows Americans are more pro-life than ever before, this murder occurs." (wow)
"Was it one of BO’s storm troopers who pulled the trigger?" (I assume BO = Barrack Obama)
"If he had found Christ he would have retired."
"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.—Matthew 26:52, King James Version"
"Could this be called ‘a very late term abortion’?"
And this was just within the first 100 posts out of over 1500 posts so far!
Sad.
Source:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261656/posts?q=1&;page=1#1
Another forum:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7371408/
UPDATE: Another forum with similar comments from Christian teens http://www.christianteenforums.com/Dr-George-Tiller-Murdere-t59554.html
ANOTHER UPDATE: http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=605434
NOTE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
My next thought, however, was "What do teh Christians" think of this? Well, I visited a few online forums for Christians and alot of the reaction was more horrifying than I imagined it would be. I have posted some likes at the bottom of this post, but here are the highlights:
"I do not support this, but I do understand this."
"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
"Is this a false report? Why would an abortionist go to church?"
"Whatever “church” Tiller attends must be worshipping satan."
"jury (of one) nullification"
"This is what happens when the United States Supreme Court, the legal system, and our elected officials, and even some religious institutions, have all been corrupted to the point that a man can profit so much from killing babies."
"Why is the death of a satanic worshipper tragic?"
"The real tragedy is the number lives he has taken. Not to mention the women who have had to live with what they have done to their babies."
"I hate that somebody shot him to death because it makes us all look like whackos. And for those who would tell me that the lives of others are more important that our image, please spare me. I already know that truth."
"bush2 failed miserably with his "friendly tone" and I'm beginning to think we MUST bring a gun to a gun fight if we have any chance to win this battle against satan and his minions. ""Two thoughts beyond the ‘what right-wing nut thought that this was a good idea?’
1. Consider a leftwing assassin, along the lines of the black college student who defaces her own dorm or car with nooses so she can cry ‘racism.’
2. The theme of today’s Psalm was
R. Alleluia.
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth.Was this just some form of house/earth-cleaning?"
"Our cause is not helped by acting like a bunch of 3rd world muzzies. " (Emphasis mine)
"May he rot in hell alongside the mothers who aided him in his “business”."
"He reaped what he had sown: violent death."
"Reichstag Fire." (Implying that, like the famous fire that Hitler used to grab power, this was a conspiracy by the left to create a cause with which to grab more power.)
"Tiller has committed outrage after outrage and not only gotten away with it, he has made a fortune! Sooner or later this had to happen."
"The time for civility is quickly running out IMHO. In 10 years, we may wind up looking back at this moment as the first shot in the second American civil war."
"I’m sorry but I feel no sympathy at all. Absolutely none."
"We all need to be armed. I don’t want to think it, but I am worried that things will become so bad, this nation may be facing another revolution. All the signs point to the Kenyan communist, who is surrounded by America haters, being sent here to destroy this nation."
"But thanks for the admonishment to be polite, that's the main thing. Everyone knows their roles, don't rock the boat."
"Tiller Shot & Killed? Thousands of unborn children claim self defense."
"This is wrong if it was done by a pro-lifer. However, I find it very suspicious that one week after polling data shows Americans are more pro-life than ever before, this murder occurs." (wow)
"Was it one of BO’s storm troopers who pulled the trigger?" (I assume BO = Barrack Obama)
"If he had found Christ he would have retired."
"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.—Matthew 26:52, King James Version"
"Could this be called ‘a very late term abortion’?"
And this was just within the first 100 posts out of over 1500 posts so far!
Sad.
Source:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2261656/posts?q=1&;page=1#1
Another forum:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7371408/
UPDATE: Another forum with similar comments from Christian teens http://www.christianteenforums.com/Dr-George-Tiller-Murdere-t59554.html
ANOTHER UPDATE: http://www.stormfront.org/forum/showthread.php?t=605434
NOTE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
Child Abuse, Torture, and Rape: All part of Faith-Based Initiatives
In a story reported widely today, the conclusions of Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse were released. As could be expected, the level of child abuse, torture, and rape in Christian schools in Ireland was found to be astronomically high. The 2,600 page report found that,
As is typical, the religious institutions are in damage control mode. They are denying the reports and, at the same time, saying that the people who were responsible are long dead:
It is time that the concept of "faith-based initiatives" are attached to the negative connotation that they so obviously deserve.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
The report found that molestation and rape were "endemic" in boys' facilities, chiefly run by the Christian Brothers order, and supervisors pursued policies that increased the danger. Girls supervised by orders of nuns, chiefly the Sisters of Mercy, suffered much less sexual abuse but frequent assaults and humiliation designed to make them feel worthless.
"In some schools a high level of ritualized beating was routine. ... Girls were struck with implements designed to maximize pain and were struck on all parts of the body," the report said. "Personal and family denigration was widespread."
As is typical, the religious institutions are in damage control mode. They are denying the reports and, at the same time, saying that the people who were responsible are long dead:
"But most leaders of religious orders have rejected the allegations as exaggerations and lies, and testified to the commission that any abuses were the responsibility of often long-dead individuals."However, the 2,600 pages hits like a professional boxer. The conclusion is a firm rebuke of the Christians claims:
"A climate of fear, created by pervasive, excessive and arbitrary punishment, permeated most of the institutions and all those run for boys. Children lived with the daily terror of not knowing where the next beating was coming from," the report concluded.I have said it before and I will say it again now. Religious institutions are continually given undeserved benefit of the doubt. From deference to religious schools to the concept of "faith-based initiatives" that politicians push upon us, they use their hypnotic spell that they have oh so many people under to grab power and money.
It is time that the concept of "faith-based initiatives" are attached to the negative connotation that they so obviously deserve.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
U.S, Military Infiltrated by Fundamentalists: Part II
In my previous story about Jeff Sharlet's piece for Harper's, I discussed how the fundies have stepped up their infiltration of the U.S. Military. Today, I saw a story on Gawker that showed the cover pages from Donald Rumsfeld's defense briefing presentations. You MUST take a look at these. Notice a pattern? Every one of them has a Bible quote on the cover. Samples include:
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
- Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. Isaiah 26:2
- For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 1 Peter 2:15
- Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung; their horses' hoofs seem like flint, their chariot wheels like a whirlwind. Isaiah 5:28
- Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
All Praise God's Plan and Free Will
WARNING: This story is about very disturbing events. Anyone who does not handle stories about children being abused by their parents well should avoid this! Scroll down for story.
In a story today, a local Bakersfield news station is reporting on a father who got high on PCP and ate the eyeballs out of his four year old son's eye sockets. Both eyes are reported to be damaged beyond repair. The son was found naked and bleeding by neighbors and could only say "Daddy ate my eyes."
I wept out loud upon reading this story. The absolute horror of this event is not in the physical attack itself, but the fact that it was a four-year-old's own father who did this. I was shaken to the core and it took me a long time to recover to the point that I could think about it. The first reaction I had when I could analyze it dispassionately was, "This type of thing happens all the time all over the world. Why do people still think 1) there is a god, and 2) she is worthy of worship?"
The inevitable answer from the Christians I speak with is "free will." This is, of course, total bullshit. For one thing, what happened to the boy's free will? I would assume that he wanted to avoid this. But more to the point, as I wrote yesterday, the pat answer of "free will" doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Also as I discussed earlier, Nancy Grace was the first person to yell "There is a GOD" when a 4 year old girl was found soon after being abducted. Why doesn't she yell "Praise the Lord! More proof of God" when a boy has his eyeballs eaten out of his head by his own father? Even if she knows that this is evil behavior, she should still say "See? Look at the glory of free will that God chose to give us." As Rick Warren wrote in his best-selling The Purpose Driven Life:
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
In a story today, a local Bakersfield news station is reporting on a father who got high on PCP and ate the eyeballs out of his four year old son's eye sockets. Both eyes are reported to be damaged beyond repair. The son was found naked and bleeding by neighbors and could only say "Daddy ate my eyes."
I wept out loud upon reading this story. The absolute horror of this event is not in the physical attack itself, but the fact that it was a four-year-old's own father who did this. I was shaken to the core and it took me a long time to recover to the point that I could think about it. The first reaction I had when I could analyze it dispassionately was, "This type of thing happens all the time all over the world. Why do people still think 1) there is a god, and 2) she is worthy of worship?"
The inevitable answer from the Christians I speak with is "free will." This is, of course, total bullshit. For one thing, what happened to the boy's free will? I would assume that he wanted to avoid this. But more to the point, as I wrote yesterday, the pat answer of "free will" doesn't hold up to scrutiny.
Also as I discussed earlier, Nancy Grace was the first person to yell "There is a GOD" when a 4 year old girl was found soon after being abducted. Why doesn't she yell "Praise the Lord! More proof of God" when a boy has his eyeballs eaten out of his head by his own father? Even if she knows that this is evil behavior, she should still say "See? Look at the glory of free will that God chose to give us." As Rick Warren wrote in his best-selling The Purpose Driven Life:
Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death. The Bible says, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" [Psalm 139:16]Does Rick hear of this boy and think, "Praise the Lord. His plan for this boy is glorious?" No. of course not. Nobody sane does. People who hear or see things like this and think that they are good are insane.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
"Free Will" And Other Pat Answers
The language of the totalist environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliche. The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed. These become the start and finish of any ideological analysis. In thought reform, for instance, the phrase "bourgeois mentality" is used to encompass and critically dismiss ordinarily troublesome concerns like the quest for individual expression, the exploration of alternative ideas, and the search of perspective and balance ... (loaded language is) the "language of non-thought."
-- Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, by Robert Jay Lifton
This is so absolutely true. Orwell's 1984 dramatizes this issue very, very well. It got me thinking. Once I was talking to a theist friend and I mentioned to her that I was reading up on some theodicy issues and had found of of Bert Ehrman's books about the variety of ways that the bible attempts to explain suffering. After a brief discussion of the problem (e.g. Why is there evil? If God can stop it but won't then he is evil. If he would but can't then he is not worth worshiping.) After my 3 minute description of the PROBLEM of theodicy, he reply was "Original sin. Duh!"
Bam. Like that a 3,000 year old philisophical dillema is solved. I was truly amazed at the ability of such a short, pat answer to shut down my firend's critical thinking. (Note that when you tease out the logic of original sin, it doesn't even answer the question posed!)
How many of these simple phrase responses does the Christian faith use to continue the "language of non-thought" as Lifton puts it?
Here is a sock-puppet conversation I wrote to show what I mean. (T = Theist and A = Atheist).
T: I claim that there is an all loving and all knowing and all powerful God and he created the universe and designed it for his wonderful creation, humans.
A: If God loves humans so much why do all these bad things happen?
T: Free will.
A: Huh?
T: To make humans perfect, God had to give them free will. Otherwise they would just be robots. Since people have free will, they can choose to do evil.
A: So God is all powerful? He can do the impossible?
T: Yup!
A: Then why couldn't he create a universe and a set of logical rules so that people had free will but evil things couldn't or just didn't happen?
T: That's impossible. If humans have free will, then they can choose to do evil.
A: But you said god is all powerful. If he invented logic, couldn't he change logic so that free will and evil-free behavior was not impossible?
T: Uh.... He *could* do that since he can do anything, but he *chose* to give humans free will because free will is such a good thing.
A: So he could have given us BOTH free will and NO evil, but he chose to give us free will AND evil because that is better?
T: Uhm.... yeah.
A: How is that better?
T: ....
T: God works in mysterious ways.
A: Another question. Does God know what will happen in the future?
T: Yes, God is infinite. He knows everything that will ever happen. Ever. He is outside of time. Isn't that awesome?
A: So when he snapped his figurative fingers and made the universe, he knew EVERYTHING that would happen? He knows when everyone would be born, what they would do, and when and how they would die?
T: Yup. God has a plan for us all! Doesn't that make you feel all warm, safe, and snugly.
A: Maybe. Let me ask you this... If God knows everything I am going to do, doesn't that mean I *don't* have free will?
T: No. You have free will.
A: But if God knows what I am going to do, that means that when I come up to a decision point and I could do one out of a million things, God knows I will pick choice number 673, right?
T: Yup.
A: And there is no way I could do anything else other than pick choice 673, right? Because God is perfect and if he knew I would pick 673, then I can't NOT pick it, right?
T: Yeah.
A: So I do not have the free will to pick anything other than 673. That choice has already been made by future me. It is not something waiting to be done. Present me and pre-choice me has no free will.
T: No no no. You have free will. You can choose anything you want. God just knows what you will choose.
A: Well, seems logically unsound, but let's move on. Another question. We already said that God knew everything that was going to happen in all of time before he created the universe, right?
T: Yeah.
A: So when he created me, he knew that I would be atheistic. He knew I would use the senses he gave me and the rational mind he gave me and require the appropriate level of evidence before I would choose to believe certain claims. That was his plan for me.
T: Yup.
A: And yet he refuses to show me the evidence I require.
T: God can't reveal himself, because...
A: Yeah yeah. But this means that I won't accept Jesus as my personal savior and, as a result, I will go to hell for all eternity.
T: That's what I am trying to warn you about. I don't want you to go to hell!
A: So God KNEW that I would go to hell when he created me and he created me none the less? In fact, it was his "plan" that I should go to hell. He made billions of people knowing that he was dooming them to an eternity of suffering. How is that good and not utterly evil?
T: No, you have free will. You can choose to accept Jesus any time. You will go to hell because of YOUR choice, not because God choses to send you there.
A: But God knew I would go to hell even before he made me. He could have 1) chose not to make me, or 2) to make me in a way so that I wouldn't go to hell. But instead, he made me this way and I have no way to escape hell because he already knows that I am going there. I have no free will to do otherwise.
T: Uhm... God works in mysterious ways?
A: One final question. When I first asked about the existence of evil in the world, you responded "free will."
T: Yup. People must be allowed to choose to evil things to other people if they are to have free will.
A: Well, as I said, God could have made it not work that way, but we already went over that. What I want to know is: What about natural disasters?
T: What about them?
A: What about situations where the bad actor is not a person but a force of nature? For example, in 2004 a Tsunami in Southeast Asia killed 225,000 people. There was no free will involved with the Tsunami. The Tsunami didn't choose anything. Why did God let the tectonic plates shift and create an undersea quake that resulted in a wave that killed 225,000 people. And don't try and say that all of those people deserved to drown horrible deaths because they all had sinned because they all had the free will to choose to sin. Even if I were to agree with such a concept, tens of thousands of newly born infants drowned or slowly died of exposure or disease as a reusult of the devastation. Those newborns couldn't have had committed any sin yet! Why do those evil things happen? And you can't say free will!
T: ....
T: Original sin?
A: Sigh.
T: God is love?
A: Goodbye.
UPDATE: After a technical issue and an absence, I have had to re-post all of my old posts. As a result there will be many posts listed as published today, Dec 3, 2009, that were posted sometime earlier in the year, but I do not know the exact date. this post is one of them.
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