Comanche:

"mean, vindictive, jealous, insecure God", who according to the believers created the earth (without help from any human hands) but cannot write a "Book" without human help;

Brilliant! I registered just to say thank you for that line which made me laugh out loud! But, while I'm here, I might as well shove my tuppence in. God, and the Devil are human constructs. Somewhere along our evolutionary path human consciousness developed, the ability to think abstractly and to contemplate both our separateness and our inevitable demise. The ego developed to drive us on, it turned us into solipsists leaving us practically incapable of imagining a universe without us at the centre of it. How can I die? I'm so important! That's the ego doing it's job.
So how to deal with the inevitability of our own death? As our brain developed, the frontal lobes, where the higher functions occur, evolved, including one particular frontal lobe where we experience 'religion'. One specific, small part of the brain is where it all takes place, and intriguingly, it is stimulated when exposed to a strong magnetic field, which may explain why certain places on the Earth's surface are considered sacred, because in those places the magnetic field is particularly strong.
Pre current epoch 'religion' was rooted in the reality of our existence, the rivers, the mountains, the trees, the soil, the wind, the clouds, the eagles and the butterflies. The God and the Goddess, the life force swirling all around and through us. Hinduism emerged out of the mists, and although no expert, my understanding of the Hindu pantheon is that each deity is a representation of an aspect of the human condition, it attempts to explain to us what we are. Soon after in China the way of the Tao was perceived, the ineffable, the intangible, the unknowable. The Name that can be named is not the Name. Peaceful, harmonious, spiritual. Oneness.
Where this became corrupted, I believe, was with the invention of monotheism, the concept of one single male God. This is blasphemy. If God is male, then he is a corporeal, sexual, evolved being, no more than some flesh and blood super-man, replete with all of man's weaknesses and failings. In the hands of man, this new non-god (be he Jahweh, God or Allah) has been used to justify every evil act imaginable, sitting happily at the shoulder of every greedy amoral despot, and benignly presiding over every 'holy' slaughter. The god of hate, the god of war, the god of destruction. Not God in other words.
It is a fact, that despite having lived most of my life in a nominally Christian country, I have yet to meet a Christian who has anything to offer spiritually. Some nice, kind people sure, but nothing spiritual, no insight, no profundity, which leads me to the conclusion that one objective of Christianity's fabricators (see various posts above) was to keep people away from the light, to separate, to keep them frightened and ignorant so they can be more easily controlled and manipulated. Contrarily, when in India I met some wonderful, amazing people. Men who in their fifties abandoned the material comforts of home and family to spend their remaining years on pilgrimage, with a dhoti, some sandals and a bowl as their only material possessions, a life devoted to seeking spiritual purity. Love and joy pours forth from such people, just enjoying their company for a while is to bathe in the light. Similarly I've met some Buddhist monks that I wanted to go up to and just hug, such was the palpable beauty of their spirit.
Just a thought to finish. The Judeo-Christian god, we are told, just willed the hundred billion galaxies that we know about into existence. If this is true, how are we supposed to comprehend that? How dare we kid ourselves, that in the space of a few solar orbits, with our twelve pound lump of grey flesh and 1.4% genetic variance from chimpanzees we could possibly even begin to understand that? The biggest thing in the universe is surely the human ego.

Both Koehler and Weinstein are right: the christian taliban is taking over this country, with a subtle, but a ruthless, manipulative effectiveness. Barely anybody dares oppose them, because most people don't want to be considered "godless". For all you christians out there, reading this, please compare what is going on here with what is going on in the muslim world. Same patterns, just a different "holy" book.

I say it is time we discard the believe in god, a god, any god onto the trash heap of history, as yet another failed experiment, together with soviet-style communism. The evolutionary origins of religion have long lost their value for the survival of the human race, now religious people are threatening the survival of men.

If a person hears voices inside his head, that person is taken to a mental hospital and medicated and treated. But if that person claims it is god speaking to him, then all of a sudden most people will take him seriously!

It is time to call a religious "experience" what it really is: a deluded fantasy. Just like my fantasy of winning the lottery or being seduced by Scarlett Johansson will make me feel good for a few minutes, but after that it is back to reality.

We all got over realizing that Santa isn't real, he is only an elaborate fantasy sustained by custom and culture. Let's get over the fact that the same applies to god: it is nothing more than an elaborate fantasy.

The irony is the original Crusaders with their Sunni allies were driven out of the Holy Land by the Shiites. Those who can't remember history are doomed...etc.

Hard to say. Arguably religion's main impetus (when connected to past kings, past and current despots and modern autocrats) been a ruse in North America. Mainly just a mechanism to pave the way, grease the wheels, for new economic markets.

Wiccans in the armed forces can now get a pentangle on their grave stones. How'd that get by the Christian taliban in the DoD?

It isn't just the DOD, but the mercenaries as well. Eric Prince, the founder of Blackwater, is a Christian fundamentalist, as are many members of his private army. There is nothing like the irrational emotionalism and zealotry that comes from identifying with cosmic forces to really ignite the warrior spirit!
If Jesus had known what people would be doing in his name, I think he would have stuck to carpentry.

Coming to your neighborhood soon. Tomas de Torquemada

Koehler, like almost all progressive commentators, misinterprets Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations". Huntington's point was that, after the Cold War ended, contention among the world's nine civilizations became the best conceptual framework for understanding geopolitical developments. The "clash of civilizations" does not refer to wars, but to the inevitable contention between different cultures. Within this context, wars may nor may not occur, depending on our understanding and mutual tolerance.

In the late 80's I observed how the government of El Salvador used religion to justify the wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians, the rape of Nuns, the castration of Priests and widespread torture. The point I want to make is that this so called 'religious' movement of right wing nuts is nothing new. It is all part of the Fascist agenda, an agenda that has been on the table for decades. Religion is just one tool they use to maintain control using fear and intimidation.

The most disheartening aspect of USA's present dilemma is the fact that most people seem unaware of the US government fascist history. If our society does not learn the lessons of it's own history than all the efforts of progressives will amount to nothing. We must stop calling this Iraq debacle a mistake. It is a crime against humanity and the Constitution.

Isn't hearing voices a sign of schizophrenia and a possible psychotic break? Bush isn't mentally competent to lead this nation.

It's the KKK, folks. Aryan Nation, American Nazi Party. All the same. White supremacists who missed the chance to be civilized in a post Magna Carta fashion. We should direct them all to Blackwater, then have our real army attack them, and then we won't have all the extant problems of slavery and the Kennedy-Lennon killing bush family ever again.

For those who think Bro Winstein is a paranoid zionist appologist, read Chris Hedges new book,"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America".

In it he talks about how the Chrtistian Fascinsts isolate themselves and their followers from their surrounding community EXCEPT for an inordinate affection for first responders (like fire and police) and the military whom they seek to seduce with every flattery they can concoct.

I am also reminded of Sinclair Lewis' famous quote from his book,"It Can't Happen Here",. Lewis says, "When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."

For any who doubt weinstein, read Chris Hedges book, "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America". Hedges spent two years among these people and nnotes that one of the first things they do is isolate their followers from their surrounding comunities (inb cult like fashion)EXCEPT for law enforcement and the military whom theyu go out of their way to court and seduce with all manner of flattery.

Sinclair Lewis said in "It Can't Happen here", that when fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. Religion,law enforcement and the military all have legitimate roles in our society but this marriage is illegitimate according to the constitution,

Once you start believing lies you get lost in them.

These people really live their lies!

Robert Koehler – Great article! But don't forget the Militant Christian Madrassas of Pat Robertson, Falwell et al, and the ranks from which Pope Bush recruits his crusaders.

Allow me to weave a brief history.

Compelled by devotion and their innate desire for expediting the return of their savior, the Balfour Declaration, was propelled in part by British/American Christian fanaticism and zealotry that breathed into existence the current and new creature.

It is the Roman fabrication, riding on the back of Israeli/Egyptian history that is greatly to blame. The roots of which are xenophobic in both cases.

(Please Read Ahmed Osman - The House of Messiah)

To put Ahmed Osman's work into better current perspective, please also read:
(Michael Baigent's 'The Inquisition'.)

Many out of print, new and used titles can be found at: abeBooks.com

On April 20th 1233, Pope Gregory IX issued a Bull that conferred on the Dominicans the specific task of eradicating heresy, in the form of Gnosticism, which was taking root in southern France, threatening to undermine the authority of the Papal throne. Thus was the Office of Inquisition effectively inaugurated.

By virtue of the Pope's edict, Dominican Inquisitors were given legal authority to convict suspected heretics without any possibility of appeal – and thus, in effect, to pronounce summary death sentences. With the Pope's blessing the machinery for mass extermination was established on an official legal basis.

In 1540, under Pope Paul III, the old Papal or Roman Inquisition was reconstituted, and modeled specifically on its Spanish counterpart; its chief priority was no longer to be supposed 'purity' of the faith, but the stability and welfare of Papacy and Church. Its official title became the 'Sacred Roman Congregation and Universal Inquisition, or Holy Office'.

In attempt to purge its sinister foundations from the mind, in 1965, the Inquisition was once more renamed as the 'Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith'. It operates under that appellation today, a direct lineal descendant of the original Inquisition created in 1234.

The last member of this 'Holy Office' is the current Pope Ratzinger, as former Cardinal, the Grand Inquisitor, was the right arm to Pope John Paul II.

Although the throne has been stripped of its secular authority and its ability to roast any of those that might stand in its way, it nevertheless maintains a wide network, founded upon dogmatic psychological terror, the scion of Constantine's original fabrication, today incites the flames of Christian Fundamentalist fervor that currently ravages the Middle East. Historically, Protestants became equally enthused in displaying they're pyro-roasting skills. It is evidently clear that the Holly Office was never concerned about saving souls as much as it was about maintaining its seat of authority through confiscation of property under the guise of sinning against dogma. Its sinful opponents were thus dispensed with by severing the errant soul from the body by flame, with their property transferred appropriately into the hands of god.

The Catholic Church began fanning the flames of Anti-Semitism, long before the culpable malleability of Hitler arrived on the scene, whose ideology became easily subsumed by the aspirations of the Roman throne.
In 1920, under the protection of Merry del Val, cardinal Benigni began to produce a bulletin in French called 'Antisemite'. Despite the title, the cardinal insisted that he was not really anti-Semitic. He was merely opposed to the alleged international Judaic conspiracy that dominated banking, freemasonry and Bolshevism but also referred to the Jewish people as the 'Elect of the Antichrist'.

In 1923, in order to join ERDS (Entente romaine de defense sociale) reformed from Benigni's – Sodalitium pianum – members were required to be 'aryan or aryanised nation' and embrace the motto 'Religion, Family, Homeland', primary spokesman for ERDS was a certain Abbe Boulin, who wrote belligerently of the 'assault' on Europe by international Jewish banking.

In earlier times, the Church had similarly lusted after the land, wealth and banking networks of the Templar's, until charges of heresy were able to confiscate those resources and appropriately place them into gods coffers, relegating the sinful heretics to the rotisserie of the flame.

It must be remembered that militant Islam arose as reactionary to the predations of Constantine's Christianized Rome and its Popes – Blow Back.

In light of the current Fundamentalist zealots at the helm of U.S. policy – Pope Bush – the above should send a resonant chill through the attentive soul. Ironically, in the end, it might very well be Israel upon which we call to rescue us from the current ill Roman wind which blows. But, as long as Israel wears the same myopia, cloaked in the equally xenophobic fabrication Rome has spun for it, it too remains blind. Let us hope Israel's reconciliation with its Egyptian roots, will remove those blinders for everyone's sake.

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often the most tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

-H.L. Mencken

Mankind has proven itself incapable and untrustworthy in the pulling down of spiritual abstractions, concretizing them into religious and political dominions, without perverting those abstractions in the hands of human nature.

As the Alchemists said, "It is like casting the pearls to the swine".

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

If you think this article is scary, just go to Weinstein's website: http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/ and check out the audio and video on the media page. This is REALLY SCARY! These dominionist nutjobs are WORSE than Osama, and they are in control of OUR NUKES!

Don't forget the billions of dollars which was robbed from the taxpayers at the "faith based" initiatives and was given to Liberty Colege and folks like Haggart, the preacher at the White House who was using drugs and male partners while railing against homophobia.

What has every one of you done today to get the impeachment started against the leaders? Have you called capitol switchboard 202-225-3121 and have you sent a letter to americanvoices@mail.bouse.gov to support impeachment? It has nothing to do with party politics and everything to do with what is patriotic and must be done: Lets ROLL as they say in the flight 97 call your elected representatives and as Donald Trump says: you are fired" that would send a message to the president.

Do these lice really believe that their Saviour is coming back to save the likes of them? This is the poorest sample of religio-political humankind yet to crawl out from under a rock. George Carlin was right: They are killing us in a pissing contest over who has the best imaginary friend.

Every time they have a crusade to kill Muslims a lot of Jews get killed while the army heads to Jerusalem.

Sure some folks (above) think a "crusade" is a Christian/Jewish antiArab plot, but to this this Jew a "crusade" is what Christians do to Jews and Arabs and anyone else who gets in their way.

Of course, Bush's use of the term is just ignorant. He's just an ignorant user of words and ideas that he barely understands and has not historical knowledge to comprehend. His followers on the other hand are both intelligent, and genuine Christo-fascists.

Oh, and ""Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."" obviously (to the unitary executive theorists) does not apply to the actions of the executive or its administration of military academies... since these are administrative and executive actions... not "laws" made by "Congress."

But think about it.... in the 18th and 19th century the executive was small and weak... it's authority MAY arguably have been great, but its functional power was limited by size and budget. Post 1930s, the expansion of that government without the corresponding adjustment in the constitutional structures governing its operation create the opportunity for an overbearing fascist central authority.

I have to applaud Cheney and company for grasping the opportunities that the constitution presents them with for action unencumbered by law. They've even got an argument that the Vice Presidency is a "fourth branch of government." These fascists are nothing if not genuine American fascists... constitutionally aware fascists... working in the spaces that a creaky 18th century document left wide open for their exploitation.

While it is more likely that we will degenerate into a fascist dictatorship... what we really need is a constitutional convention that creates a sovereign parliament (Congress) and essentially demotes the Presidency to the status of errand boy for the Congress.

The very idea of an independent executive Presidency with a fixed four year term is an invitation to fascism.... and the Christian fascists have figured this out. Smart puppies, these.

We're going to need a new Constitutional Convention. How likely is that? Not very.

"It is time to call a religious "experience" what it really is: a deluded fantasy"

This common criticism of religion is too west-centric. Two major religions, Buddhism and Hinduism, have no literal gods as a westerner would recognise them. They are either "godless" or they understand that their gods and demigods are to be understood as metaphors for truths that otherwise are dificult to put into language.

But I agree that the rise of infantile monothiestic religions that take the idea of a nasty-tempered being in the sky literally, instead of a metaphor for human foibles like the greek and roman gods were, is a rather nasty historical development.

observer-
Thanks for your interpolated observation!

Jonthenet May 3rd, 2007 4:12 pm-
Yes grandma - For lack of a better term, God, does exist, but you wont find this in the institutions of men where the Ego has been elevated to the throne, seat of the senses, tethers to the material world, blinders to the wisdom and understanding of the inner higher-self. The Wisdom of science is to know the self, therein lays the key in Understanding the relationship of self to the Universe, through all of its varied, subliminal levels, what ever they may be, from matter on up, seen or unseen. From this knowledge comes discernment against being misled.

The forces in the universe are neither good nor evil, but misappropriated, in the hands of those who perceive those forces as weapons of power then do they manifest as evil.

When a great light is turned into darkness, the darkness can be very dark indeed.

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

Zeitgeist:
Yours is very good history presentation. Physicist distinguish long, medium and near distance actions or interactions. For example, in a crystal long distance interaction is almost the same as near on. That is why it is crystal. In the water long distance interaction is way too small comparative with the near distance one. That is why water is liquid but under high pressure jet of water is as strong as steel and can cut through the rock.

The lore of yesterday may have much less influence for everyday life for people busy to have their ends meet simply do not know much beyond their direct needs, least of all they let old story to affect their to-day decisions. This why huntingtons of Clash of Civilization infamy are so wrong. But they are paid to be wrong and create delusions in order to manipulate people.
Christianity, singlehandedly created by Constantine, is but one example. If I say that the whole history is moving about economics, which to-day is measured by money, I would say nothing new; Wall Street Journal would agree with me whole heartedly. But so would Marx.
After coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon Bonaparte sucked his old fiends Jacobins, so did Hitler in 1934 and so did Stalin in 1937. Napoleon did not need any pretext, Hitler used some bogus explanations, and Stalin vehemently fought heresy within ranks of his church, which he created by the same methods Constantine used.

Continue:
Emperor Bush goes along the same path with only difference that he massacres foreign people to show Americans what is in store for them. None of those people, who helped Napoleon, Hitler or Stalin to became, Hitler or Stalin, ever thought about their future fate. Yet, the fate was exactly the same, with or without religion, clash of civilizations or any other nonsense.

If we, discussing this article, had $2 Trillion between us, what all of us would do in the first place? We would hire Pope, Huntington and legion of other barking dogs and psychologists to penetrate people subconscious to convince the that the order they live under is divine order, divinity being Christ, Mohamed, Market, whatever. Ford did it to avoid rabble-rousers.

Then we would train military to operate automates, animated and not, to avoid mutinies. We are almost there.
But it would not work and we all know it; we learn it from history – fates of Napoleon, Hitler or Stalin and multitudes of other tyrants. Alas, emperor bush does not read books and his junta is doomed.

One of Napoleon's generals is reported to have said "God is on our side" to cheer N. up at a bad time. But N., a practical cynic, answered that "God is on the side with the heaviest artillery." Our current bunch seems to have it backward - we certainly have the heaviest artillery, and that proves that God is on our side.

I'm no believer in any gods (read Dawkins' book "The God Delusion") and find it terrifying that our so-called "leaders" really do.

Sociopaths:
1-Contemptuous of those who seek to understand them
2-Does not perceive that anything is wrong with them
3-Authoritarian
4-Secretive
5-Paranoid
6-Only rarely in difficulty with the law, but seeks out situations where their tyrannical behavior will be tolerated, condoned, or admired
7-Conventional appearance
8-Goal of enslavement of their victim(s)
9-Exercises despotic control over every aspect of the victim's life
10-Has an emotional need to justify their crimes and therefore needs their victim's affirmation (respect, gratitude and love)
11-Ultimate goal is the creation of a willing victim
12-Incapable of real human attachment to another
13-Unable to feel remorse or guilt
14-Extreme narcissism and grandiose
15-May state readily that their goal is to rule the world

Sound like anyone you know???.......

Religion = opium

I see Buddhism mentioned here in combination with major religions. Buddhism is not a religion. Buddha was a human being that strove to understand the endless cycle of suffering and a way out of it. Which leads us to the science of suffering. Suffering is connected to the principle of temporariness a principle that is offensive to religion which tries to sell the people a way out of their temporary existence with their temporary achievements. Temporariness is to Christianity as is Garlic to Vampires.
For Buddha the only way out of the cage of addiction to fight temporariness was love, compassion and understanding.
Having said that it becomes clear why our kkkristian wannabe crusaders fight like 'hell' to give them the illusion of being above temporariness by killing others. That's why the bushling has such a joy in executing others.
Under the law of Karma the loss of life reflects a perpetual motion forward to love, compassion and understanding.
Any activity in the opposite direction e.g. for personal gain will only result in a corrective reaction on behalf of Karma.
As for Karma is a principle and does not answer to any religion, religion has its own Karma.

I emailed Mr. Koehler thusly: "Please ask yourself is the conclusion reached in the subtitle of your column: "The Christian Taliban Is Running the Department of Defense" adequately supported by mentioning as proof just the etheral hallucinations of the Dear Leader and two "Dominionist" officers spewing forth? (I fully understand given tons of information and misinformation spewed out by the MSM and the Internet 24/7, etc, that rule number one could be seen as: First get the Reader's attention; so much else is flying about!) But fanning the fear factor to wake up those not paying enough attention also demands responsible followup and more columns with many more facts. My immediate reaction to your mesmerizing essay:

Get Michael Weinstein to talk to Chris Hedges. Ask both authors to appear as speakers at the earliest National Press Club luncheon in Wash., DC. Ask C-Span and the mainstream press to cover it.
Religious zealotry now appears to undergird a crucial component of the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex ....that not only dominates our economy, but totally determines our national culture. (paraphrasing Pres. candidate Sen. Mike Gravel on last week's MSNBC presidential debate among Democratic Party candidates)
This is a story that will "have legs" for the next 10 years at the least, if the investigative press is not throttled en route. Best Wishes"

Good work WernerS.

Here is an excellent book review of Chris Hedges book - Christian Fascism:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=72&ItemID=12671

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

The Christian Right has been on a holy crusade - - a kind of jihad - - to seize control of many basic power centers: the military academies, Congress, the miltary chaplaincy. They are making serious inroads into military units in Iraq and elsewhere. I don't want to start a pogram, but somehow we must publicize this serious threat and begin to weaken the Christian Right's hold. They are up to no good. They believe firmly that this country has been ruined by "liberals", and only theocratic control by Christians and conformity with their theological and ethical principles can save the country. I shudder when I read of the growing religiosity on campuses and in the military: it bodes ill for religious freedom in our diverse society.

Organized religion is the root of all evil. Organized religion requires anti-intellectualism - if you believe one miracle (lie) then you can doubt any and all truth (science) in the name of faith.

Religion does not separate right from wrong, it divides "us" from "them". People who need supreme beings to tell them not to steal cars under penalty of eternal damnation are not moral, and are just living in fear. People living in fear can be motivated by more fear (Saddam = mushroom cloud, eg) to support their manipulators' wishes. I give you the everyday American - a scared little sheep who believes only he and those who believe as he does can be saved. And this salvation comes without any exercise of mental acuity, analysis, free will, or basis in reality - just faith alone.

While I don't normally agree with Hitchens (somewhat of a fascist himself, whose views on "the war on terror" are right-wing in the extreme) his new book seems like a worthwhile analysis. Not that it will make any difference in a world whose major conflicts are based on strict interpretations of ancient manuscripts of uncertain provenance...

jonthenet - That's easy. I recommend Michael Schermer's book 'The Science of Good and Evil.' He gets close to it but I think he doesn't go far enough. To augment his view -

Notice that every species that lives in a social group has various rules of behavior that all obey - if they don't, they're shunned or kicked out of the group entirely. Since humans are primates, look at other primate bands - they all have rules for social behavior that are enforced by shunning, food deprivation, or refusal to mate. These measures are usually temporary, and rarely lead to death, something that can't be said about our own group rules. But it would be impossible for a species to become social in the first place without some rules of behavior that let them get along with each other - and those rules evolve right along with the group.

We're so smart that we invent our own rules, rather than rely entirely on instinct, as 'lower' species do. But no band of animals could become a band at all without some rules of behavior, either instinctive or in reaction to necessity.

These rules define what's good or not-good in the group, and if they want to get along with the others the members of the group pretty much follow the rules. Conflicts arise when two groups of the same species but with different rules meet each other - thus, fighting between bands or, in human terms, war.

It is not necessary to postulate a supernatural being 'in charge' somewhere invisible to get good and evil. Understood rules of behavior are necessary for all social animal groups to form at all, including humans.

Everybody, read Mark Twain's, "The War Prayer", described in wiki, "... a short story or prose poem by Mark Twain, is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind patriotic and religious fervor as motivations for war."
Read for free:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
But, hey, it's not just the military- these militant Christians are EVERYWHERE. The peer pressure at schools for Christian conversion is just intense.
I raised my own sons without following any organized religion. They think for themselves, are caring, loving human beings, repsect others, are accountable for their own actions, discern between right and wrong and yet still consider themeselves spiritual beings, because they have such reverance for LIFE.
Seperation of Church and State- FOREVER!

grandma-

The religion of Darwinism is absolute BS, and has been archaeologically disproved many times over. Anomalies are simply swept under the carpet in order to maintain the consensus establishments preexisting, false assumptions of Darwinism. To begin with, the physical sciences are strictly limited to that of the senses, which paint a consensus reality that is strictly monitored. It has simply grown into another form of dogma.

Please read Michael A. Cremo's Forbidden Archeology

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

The Christian Taliban is Running the Dept of Defense? I thought it was Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Feith. Are they Christian? I agree that something has gone terribly wrong with Christianity in America, and its adherents seem to be predominantly pro-war and pro-rich but I don't think the problems in DoD are entirely attributable to Christians.

I was opposed to the war in Iraq before reading this article but now I see what a great thing this war is. Their crazies are fighting our crazies. May the war intensify so that the true believers on both sides can fall more frequently and in greater and greater numbers.
BTW, karma is just the law of cause and effect, familiar to us all. It is like the law of gravity - it always works, it never takes a break, and there is no mind behind it, no god deciding who gets rewarded and who gets punished. Good actions bring happiness, bad actions bring grief. The Christian fools and the Muslem fools just don't get it. That's why they are fighting each other, and the rest of us should just enjoy the show as they kill each other in honor of their respective imaginary friends.

Reaper is on to something. The evangilical movement has largely merged, at least politically, with the Zionist movement. Both have significant influence over American policies, local and foreign. This alliance exposes that neither movement is only about theology, since their theologies are indeed incompatible. They share several common practical goals, the most sinister of which seems to be to use American resources to kill Arabs whenever they can justify it.

I'm angry that both of these movements have been so successful at using my tax dollars for their sick agendas, but more importantly I'm angry about the endless wars they help cause. This alliance has done one good thing, however. It has opened the door to criticism of Zionism and (some) frank discussion about its influence over American policy. Before, when Zionism was only Jewish, it was an untouchable topic, lest anyone complaining be an "anti-semite." This allowed the Zionists to run afoul of the values we as Americans hold dear, while imposing a collective gag order imposed on the entire nation (although not on other nations where discussion has always been more frank). Now with cruel-intentioned Christians merging openly with the the cruel-intentioned Jews, we can discuss it more frankly, since Christians do not share the same P.C. protection.

Being anti-Zionist and anti-Crusador means being anti-imperialist, anti-cruelty, pro-secular democracy, and pro-peace.

Presently?

Jonthenet - I am Buddhist and haven't the slightest fear of the Muslems or the Christians even though both of them kill non-believers. The Christians are very busy killing non-believers so your defense of them is weak. Try reading the above article. They are just as crazy as the people they are fighting. And the Islamic crazies hit the twin towers to protest the Christian/Jewish alliance arrayed against them. Your argument that the Islamic crazies want to kill all non-believers indicates you have bought into the arguments of the far right. Again I say wars where nuts kill nuts may not be all bad...karma is just operating, as always. Yawn.

Me thinks jonthenet is a troll.

Anyway - Of course the war on terror is a religious war. It was waged by a religious fanatic to fight religious fanatics. Armageddon is the goal, these guy's are a bunch of religious crazies.

The right wing "Christian" fascists have been plotting the take over of the USA for many many years, its all about power and if you control the military you have the power. Look at what's happening in Turkey.

Religion is the perversion of the spiritual for the purpose of controlling the masses. The heritage of the children of Abraham is one of mass murder and genocide for the sake of power. The god of the old testament is one sick puppy, Jesus is a myth, and Mohamed was a megalomaniac.

The battle between Christianity an Islam has been going on for a long time and...........

It only get worse from here.

Ron - The majority of the people being killed in this holly war are innocent. Innocent civilians in Iraq innocent the men and women in the US military. Innocent Palestinian and Israeli children. So I guess as a good Buddhist you advocate the killing of innocents for the sake of the powerful and the seekers of that power. Hmmm I think you should check again on those Buddhist teachings, the Buddhist I know would not even squash an innocent beetle when it is killing the vegetables in their garden.

imagine Daddy little boy could rite (I know it's a stretch, but go along with me here) Evertry listeneing to president say somehting important to all the queer welfare queens at Americaland. He probably write like Jonthenet.

Jonthenet -

It is Hebrew/Egyptian history that was hijacked by Rome, in which Constantine plucked out only those elements suited best to his aspirations of empire, and to his epithet, Sol In Victus, seating the Roman Pontiff upon a throne of fabrication. As the Templar's were to later discover, to their own detriment and demise, it was upon the character of 'John the Baptist' which the Roman fabrication was woven onto. The trail of blood this creature of Rome has left in its wake spills rivers from the pages of history books.

Please read: Michael Baigent's - The Inquisition.

The biblical story is a Roman fabrication, a mythologized version of an event, the people of Israel (Semitic Egyptians) wished to distance themselves from, the slaying of their 18th Dynasty anointed King, Tuthankhmen, a tragic event that left an enormous psychological scar.

Please read: Ahmed Osman - The House of the Messiah.

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

The religious farce is upon us as a dry drunk could only tell it to us. Its too bad all the country wants to believe it could save us, by sending us all to hell. Its a religious brainwashing, of the people, to say, "us upper religious folk know better than you who need saving".
New bumper sticker, "In case of rapture this vehicle will be armed."

Jonthenet -

In 325 CE Constantine, at the Council of Nicaea, married Church and State, whose child was to become the dark ages as Christianity became the state religion as it began to exterminate the Pagans and other heretics.

In 326 the new Christian emperor ordered the execution of his first wife, his son, and his nephew.

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

What did you expect from a nation steeped in the mythology of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism?

I'm with Grandma, "God is on the side with the heaviest artillery" That about sums it up. Oh, and evolution is a massively, incontrovertibly, brilliantly confirmed FACT.

Jonthenet-
God as necessary for morality? Come on. This is Common Dreams, not some dunce site. You shouldn't run red lights because it's DANGEROUS! You don't need God to tell you...do you?
And zeitgeist -- et tu? I expected more.

Christians are dumbed-down individuals, and have no sense of history - apart from the limited events that are included in the Bibble.

Me thinks the USA and the planet will have to endure some sort of Inquisition for a few decades until Democracy makes its own slow comeback against the idiocy of religion, and suppresses the notion, again, that the only truth comes from religious faith and religious-based governments are the best capable of humanity.