Downwind from the Home Skool

Today in hate mail:

Just read your "Abortion is not a sin". You have become your own God. Everything you believe is right is based on your feelings rather than a higher standard. If you feel it's ok to have sex outside of marriage...it must be ok. If you feel it's ok to destroy what you have convinced yourself is not a life until it squirts out the birth canal...then it must be ok...basically you are able to justify anything in your own mind. (I believe the Bible speaks to this.) You will not allow yourself to suffer any guilt due to other people's rules, so then...everything is OK...do whatever you feel, it must be truth for you...How come we hear tolerance pushed down our throats except when it comes to anything about Jesus? The fact is there is a black and white truth. There is a distint right and wrong and if we profess to be a Christian, our only real duty is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ...to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and to Love your neighbor as yourself. Is this what you're doing? I'm sure this will have no bearing on your thoughts or beliefs, but maybe if no one had illicit sex like monkeys whom cannot control their urge to procreate, we would not ever have an abortion discussion...It ain't married couples ending pregnancies! One day every knee shall bow and every tongue CONFESS that Jesus Christ is Lord and will have to answer for every idle word and deed. Maybe YOU need an open mind...? Is it possible YOU'RE wrong...? Nah...whatever you believe is right...right!?

Jesus died for you. Even you...I'd like you see you try this same rhetoric against the Muslim faith...didn't think so.

Bush Edits Jefferson at Monticello

President Bush was't getting much respect as he gave his 4th of July speech at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, but he wasn't giving much respect either. He quoted Jefferson, but edited out a section that complained of "monkish ignorance and superstition." The edited section is in brackets below. Bush spoke:

Thomas Jefferson understood that these rights do not belong to Americans alone. They belong to all mankind. And he looked to the day when all people could secure them. On the 50th anniversary of America’s independence, Thomas Jefferson passed away. But before leaving this world, he explained that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were universal. In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains [under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves], and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

Thanks, JonathanTurley.org

Plot Spoilers at IMDB.com

Plot spoilers: It was Judas. Jesus comes back to life. Communion wafers are people.

Thank you, FriendlyAtheist.com

21% of Atheists Believe in God?

Sam Harris, the author of Letter to a Christian Nation, is over at the Washington Post trying to make sense of a recent Pew survey which found that 21% of US atheists believe in God.

Harris suggests there may be a "schism in the atheist community." First, what atheist community? Second, how can there be a schism when there are no unifying principles?

The Romans considered early Christians to be atheists because they didn't believe in the Roman gods. Atheism can be, therefore, god or doctrine specific. Evangelicals in America don't consider Christians to be true Christians unless they are against the civil rights of women (abortion) and gay people. It shouldn't be surprising that some people find themselves labeled atheists by others even though they do believe in some sort of supernatural entity interested in their well being. It also shouldn't be surprising that believers labeled as atheists might be honest enough to identify themselves as not true believers, or atheists.

Adding to the confusion over atheism are Christians who work hard to position atheism as a faith or religion in the same category as Christianity - a sort of belief that there is no god. This sets up a popular notion that atheism has unifying principles, rather than a lack of them. In other words, how faithful do you have to be, and to what, to remain an atheist? If an atheist prays for a winning lotto ticket are they no longer an atheist? Can you not be a jack atheist? a lapsed or backsliding atheist? If you occasionally question atheism are you not a true atheist?

There are probably as many kinds of atheism as there are atheists. I self identify as atheist, non theist, antitheist, and a growing favorite - apatheist, depending on my mood. But I also consider myself a Christian because it is the faith into which I was born.

Thanks, fark.com.

I Got You, Bible

Copy from the National Bible Week Committee:

The people who make music today read the Bible. It's that kind of book. It can make things work for you. Read the Bible. Find out where all the music's coming from.

And if you don't have a Bible of your own, we'll send you one for only a dollar. Hard cover and everything. Just one should do it. The Bible lasts a long time.

Thank the great goddess Athe that some people don't need a book to tell them to treat one another decently.

National Bible Association: National Bible Week

From Atheists.org: The Dirty Story Behind The Origins Of National Bible Week

Thanks, Conelrad.com

Why Can't We All Just Be Real Men?

Thomas checks out Jesus' mangina

The Church of England is facing the threat of 1,000 clergy threatening to leave because they don't want to "receive pastoral oversight" from a female bishop. The malcontents are bent over the issue of gay priests, as well.

Why, oh why, can't we all just be men? Come on, gals! Why the hold out? And you gay people - take one for the church. If we don't become men, or act like men, we're just going to have to swallow it from the men. If we don't, the men are going to take their football and go back to Rome.

BBC News: Jesus 'would feel Anglican pain'

Wikipedia: The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (Caravaggio)

Adult Christianity: Female Sexual Characteristics in Christ and Christianity, by Miss Poppy Dixon

Obama at AME Conference

Obama was a featured speaker Saturday, July 5, at the African Methodist Episcopal Church General Conference in St. Louis.

I found this excerpt in the Dallas News religion section.

I let Jesus Christ into my life. I learned that my sins could be redeemed and if I placed my trust in Jesus, that he could set me on a path to eternal life. When I submitted myself to his will and I dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works, it was that newfound faith that fortified my commitment to the work I was doing in the community. Because it taught me that I could sit in church and pray all I want but I won't be fulfilling the Lord's will unless I am doing the lord's work.

It is a little disturbing to hear Obama talk so much about Jesus. It is not his fault, however, that there does exist a religious test for candidates, at least for liberal candidates. GOP candidates are assumed to be Christians because they're against abortion and gay rights - the two tenets on which American evangelical Christianity stands. Jesus has been relegated to the back of the bus. Consider this from The Washington Post

Of the two presumptive nominees for president, Obama has been far more outspoken about his religious beliefs than Sen. John McCain. Evangelical Christian leaders have remained skeptical, however, that Obama's faith comports with their own, especially given his support for gay and abortion rights.

It had to happen, too, that once Obama's nomination was assured that he would move from being our candidate to being the people's candidate, and that is as it should be. I don't want a partisan president, even if the part he embraces is mine. I do want a country more united, and if it means listening respectfully while others pray I'll learn to do that without rolling my eyes.

Atheists are prone to the same sort of universalizing that Christians are. Shaking off superstition and experiencing life with eyes wide open can be exhilarating. It seems like something very right, that would benefit others. The problem is that everyone isn't in the same place I am. People are different and I cannot know what others are experiencing. Faith might be the only thing floating some people's boats. Hell, I still catch myself praying when I'm working on a scratcher.

I'd also argue that the black church in American is a completely different institution than the white church. The white church in American was founded on wealth and oppression. The black church rose in fields and illegal late night gatherings where people risked their lives to whisper hymns and pray together.

Let's not assume that what Obama is saying is the same thing that a white Republican candidate is saying when he talks of god, or even that the candidates are speaking of the same god.

John McCain was invited to speak at the convention. The day before the convention McCain was in Mexico City laying a wreath of white roses at the altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe. McCain was then blessed by Monsignor Monroy.

Washington Post: Obama Addresses His Faith,
Senator Describes Spiritual Journey

YouTube: Watch Obama's Speech