Ted Cruz 2016

Anointed by God or Mad as a Hatter?

Or, as some claim... is he just full of gas

The story is that God speaking through Heidi Cruz has endorsed Ted Cruz:

We were on our knees for two hours seeking God's will. At the end of that time, a word came through his wife, Heidi. And the word came, just saying, "Seek God's face, not God's hand." And I'll tell you, it was as if there was a cloud of the holy spirit filling that place. Some of us were weeping, and Ted just looked up and said, "Lord, here am I, use me. I surrender to you, whatever you want." 

Now I know this to be false because just the other night when we were, coincidentally, playing Texas Hold'em with Moses and Abraham, he clearly and distinctly told me he was voting for Gary Johnson. God is after all, a libertarian; you're free to accept him or turn away from him, and in the end you suffer the consequences of your own actions.

Now I normally don't visit the sins of the father upon the son, or the sins of their relatives upon politicians, i.e. Billy Carter.  But having your father go out and stump for you was really a bad decision opening you up for public ridicule.  You're fair game Ted. In the end is there really that much of a difference between Rafael Cruz and Mullah Omar? 

Thoughts on Religion and Government

“When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it’s a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”

~ Benjamin Frankin

“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.

~ Thomas Paine

“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

~ George Washington

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”

~ Thomas Jefferson

DEAR SANTA

American Atheists

The above billboard will appear in Memphis, Nashville, Milwaukee, St. Louis and Fort Smith, Arkansas — right in the middle of a handful of red states. The campaign, according to an American Atheists news release, is “aimed at in-the-closet atheists who are pressured to observe religious traditions during the holidays” and who might want to attend the group’s Memphis conference next year.      MSN

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an Atheist as a "Person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods" and defines an Antitheist as "One opposed to belief in the existence of a god".  I'll leave it up to you to categorize this organization into what you believe to be the appropriate category.

American Atheists said it is bringing the campaign to the South not because of the quantity of atheists there, but because “discrimination and mistrust of atheists is especially pronounced” in the region.

Perhaps that question about atheists and antitheists is one atheists ought to ask about themselves when they question why people feel the way they do about them. In a PEW Survey that asked how Americans feel about different groups on a scale of 0 (Coldest) to 100 (Warmest), Jews, Catholics, and Evangelical Christians ranked 63,62,61 respectively.  Buddhists, Hindus, and Mormons ranked in the middle (53,50,48) while Atheists (41) barely squeaked out ahead of Muslims (40).

I have absolutely no problem with atheists, yet the public face of atheism isn't atheistic, it's antitheist.  I can't shake the feeling that the most vocal antitheists base their actions more on personal animosity than rational thought.  The notion that religion is and has been the root of all evil is misguided and runs contrary to the historical record, one need look no further than to the history of secular states to observe that their track record is no better and often worse than that of religion.  There is no doubt that man has committed great evils and atrocities, often in the name of religion but just as often in the name of the king, state, or party.  More often than not religion is an excuse and not the cause.  As The Shadow used to ask "What evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

Sanctuary

Sanctuary

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy prohibits arrests at religious buildings.  Well that's stupid.

A network of two dozen churches has promised to offer “physical sanctuary” to illegal immigrants facing deportation, saying they want to create a safe haven that federal officials won’t invade as a way of preventing the migrants from being kicked out of the country. WT

Any church aiding and abetting the violation of US law ought to have their tax exempt status immediately revoked. Whether you're Christian, Muslim, or Rastafarian... your religious beliefs don't trump US Law.  The concept of the church as a place of legal or political sanctuary went out in the 17th century.

...And the temples of his Gods

Photo: Tighef

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods

From Lord Macauley the poem Horatius may be familiar to many of you from last years film Oblivion.  I chose it, and the image above of the Large Hadron Collider to illustrate a theme recently discussed, that of the large body of militant atheists who treat atheism for all practical purposes as religious dogma.

High Priests in the Holy of Holies

Photo: Urcomunicacion

From orchestrated objective reduction to quantum electrodynamics most of the gospel is as incomprehensible to the body of the faithful as the Gospel of Thomas would have been to your average 12th century French peasant.  For all intent there is little difference between militant atheism and the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición of yore.

I didn't know what fire and brimstone was until I made a throwaway claim recently during an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. It seemed pretty unaudacious at the time, but by dropping the simple sentence "Atheism is a religion," I opened a biblical floodgate of ridicule, name-calling, and abuse. ~ Kennedy

Religion: an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.

Or: a "system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." Clifford Geertz 

There are probably as many definitions of religion as there are religions, if not more.  This isn't about whether atheism, which is simply a rejection of the belief in deities is a religion, but whether or not atheism itself has become for all intents and purposes a religion to a subset of non-believers, those generally referred to as militant atheists.  Held in faith, defended dogmatically, and proselytized as vehemently as evangelical Christendom.

A study at the University of Tennessee recently studied and categorized six types of atheist:

1. Intellectual Atheist:This type of nonbeliever seeks information and intellectual stimulation about atheism.  They like debating and arguing, particularly on popular Internet sites.  

2.  Activist Atheist: These kinds of atheists and agnostics are not content with just disbelieving in God; they want to tell others why they reject religion and why society would be better off if we all did likewise.

3. Seeker-Agnostic: This group is made up of people who are unsure about the existence of a God but keep an open mind and recognize the limits of human knowledge and experience.

4. Anti-Theist: This group regularly speaks out against religion and religious beliefs, usually by positioning themselves as “diametrically opposed to religious ideology,”  Anti-theists view religion as ignorance and see any individual or institution associated with it as backward and socially detrimental,” the researchers wrote. “The Anti-Theist has a clear and – in their view, superior – understanding of the limitations and danger of religions.”  Anti-theists are outspoken, devoted and – at times – confrontational about their disbelief. They believe that "obvious fallacies in religion and belief should be aggressively addressed in some form or another.”

5. Non-Theist: The smallest group among the six are the non-theists, people who do not involve themselves with either religion or anti-religion.

6. Ritual Atheist: They don't believe in God, they don’t associate with religion, and they tend to believe there is no afterlife, but the sixth type of nonbeliever still finds useful the teachings of some religious traditions.  “They see these as more or less philosophical teachings of how to live life and achieve happiness than a path to transcendental liberation,”

CNN

In depth 

I've included the description of all of Category 4, Anti-Theists, because that is what I believe we are discussing here.  Here is an example of an anti-theist:

 Now don't get me wrong, I kind of like Bill Maher, I think it would be very entertaining to sit down over a beer and discuss neurotheology.  For those not familiar with the term, neurotheology is the scientific concept that our brains are hard-wired for religion.  In other words... the religious among us were born that way.  Hmm, now where have I heard that argument before?

Congress Shall Make No Law...

In the Church-State debate sidebars that have broken out on the fringes of the 2012 culture wars, a common liberal argument recurs:

"You can’t have it both ways. You can’t demand government stay out of religion, and then attempt to insert your religion into debates about government. The Wall of Separation between Church and State applies to church as well as state."

That is wrong for a couple of reasons. First, there is no such thing as “a wall of separation” in the constitution. Here is what the First Amendment says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So, contrary to progressive arguments, it is legitimate and constitutional to bring one’s religious values to the public square. You can even bring them to the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Presidency,  secure in the knowledge that you are a good American acting in accord with the US Constitution.

The second error in this statement is related to the first. The Constitution prohibits the federal government from establishing or prohibiting religion. It places no such strictures on citizens, so it doesn’t go both ways.

Consequently, We the People can have it both ways, freely exercising our religious rights in all public arenas while demanding government stay out of our business.

NY Times - Rick Santorum isn’t Crazy

Devil's Playground

God Bless the USA?

When Rick Santorum preached about the Devil attacking America I was doing a face palm while my wife was standing and cheering.

"It's about time somebody told the truth!"  She was fresh off of seeing her prayers answered as Univision announced God had given Hugo Chavez another tumor, "hopefully fatal, and before the election."

See, I agree with Santorum.  I believe what the bible says, and I know "The God of this World" roams the earth, "patrolling it," looking for souls to devour.  But I also know that religious kookery doesn't get people elected in this country.  We like our presidents to be plain vanilla, no nuts.  This despite our choosing Barocky Road ice cream in 2008, a faithful product of Reverend Wright's Church of God Damn America.

As I expressed my sense of doom at the prospect of an Obama reelection, Mrs Silverfiddle, God bless her, exhorted me to pray.  Pray!  "If we all pray God will save this country just like he saved the Maccabees!"

She got visibly irritated when I told her that the Israelites at the time of Judas Maccabeus were essential to God's plan, while America most likely is not.  Why would The Lord give a damn about the USA?  We've blown it, we've mooned him and spit on his laws.  If I were God, I'd take a giant shit on the United States of America, just for pleasure.  He blessed us with so much, and we flushed it all down the toilet.  We turned this land of milk and honey into a porn palace full of ripoff artists.

Our government is out of control.  It turned simple charity into a multi-trillion dollar money-wasting operation that destroys more lives than it saves.  We never tire of travelling to other lands and killing foreigners.  At one time I expressed contempt for the realists, George Bush the Elder, George Schultz, etc.  But when Bush the Younger kicked over the hornets nest, I realized there may have been some wisdom in leaving well enough alone, or at least proceeding with caution.

We don't know what prudence means anymore, and we scoff at morality and openly mock God, even as we make gods of ourselves and bow down to our idols and golden calves. I think Reverend Wright's wish has come true. Our chickens have come home to roost. Not in the form of terrorists or some external power. We've done it to ourselves. If God still has a purpose for us, it is probably only to serve as a warning to others against arrogance, greed and purposeful stupidity.

God on our side? I doubt it...  As Abraham Lincoln remarked, we should be humbly and fervently praying that we can make it back to God's side.

Christian Jihad

Christians are being burned out of their homes and churches in Egypt, and Christians here in America rightly condemn the murderous Muslim bigotry





We’re so much better here in America. Pure Christians do not do violence against deviant heretics like Mormons and Catholics, but they do strive mightily to keep them on the margins.  And be warned, my Israel-loving friends, wherever anti-Mormonism has a home, anti-Semitism lurks just below the surface.

The “Values Voters,” Tony Perkins and religious bigots like Perry-supporter Pastor Robert Jeffress have every right to espouse their narrow views and host their exclusionary forums.  I just wish GOP candidates would drop the knee-jerk urge to pander to them.  When you take your nomination contest to a circus tent, don’t be surprised when the clowns come out.

Rick Perry’s Very Own Reverend Wright

At a gathering of Christian conservative voters in Washington on Friday, evangelical megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, chosen to introduce Texas Gov. Rick Perry, attacked Romney by telling reporters the Mormon Church is “a cult” and “Mormonism is not Christianity.” (WaPo – Religious Bigotry)

Of course, Perry distanced himself from the remarks, ducking the larger issue of how he could be so politically stupid as to allow an anti-Mormon bigot to introduce him.

I was hoping that with winking dogmatist Mike Huckabee bowing out this go around, the 2012 campaign would be blessedly free of Holy Christian Jihad, but then I really don’t understand politics.

Folks, this bs has no place in presidential politics.  It converts no one to the firebreather's side, and it just turns off secular people who otherwise might make common cause with republicans if not for the unhinged religious nutlogs using their 20 seconds of fame to flame their religious rivals.

Such unseemly displays and unresolvable theological debates have no place in political discourse. I don’t care how you worship. I do care about your morals, your actions, and how your faith (or lack thereof) manifests itself in the public arena and in your view of public policy.

Morality is a proper political subject, but when it descends into denominational chauvinism, the GOP needs to grow a pair and give the sectarian jihadis the bum's rush.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/10/mormon-romney-perry-cult-christian-/1

Sexual Liberty vs. Religious Liberty

America's post-modern fetish with all things gay has culminated in an inevitable absurdity: 

Petitions to Sesame Street demanding the marriage of Ernie and Bert.

Gay mania has gone beyond granting gays their god-given rights, and has now entered the territory of publicly-enforced morality to the point of binding our consciences.




Tim Dalrymple examines the potential consequences of New York's gay marriage law:

The religious liberties and conscience rights of individual professionals and business owners, Nimocks says, are in particular peril. Since they do not fall beneath the "religious umbrella" the law creates, wedding planners or florists or clothiers who decline to offer their services to same-sex couples may face lawsuits or other forms of government pressure. Marriage counselors and adoption attorneys, if they are not employees of a religious group, also could be accused of illegal discrimination if they do not serve gay couples.

Even those beneath the "religious umbrella" may be less protected than they would like to believe. In spite of the conscience provision, there are "huge gaping holes" in the language of the law, says Nimocks. Ultimately, the long-term consequences of the law are unknown. Yet gay couples will take offense if they are not offered the same services traditional couples receive, and the same well-funded activists who pushed the same-sex marriage bill into law will continue to make their case in the courts and in the statehouses. (Tim Dalrymple - Liberty's Loss)

Before anyone seeks recourse in the trite and inapt comparisons to the Civil Rights movement of the 60's, lets recall that this is an issue determined solely by how people have sex, a private act that's nobody's business but the practitioners'.

The state rightly does not enforce Christian morality, but it does declare the moral goodness of being gay and forces the rest of us to pay obeisance to this moral pronouncement upon pain of punishment.

So why was Rick Perry's Christian rally wrong, but government forcing everyone to accept homosexuality is OK?

The Hidden Imam & The Risen Lord

Liberals who reflexively scream and caw like a flock of startled birds at anything uttered by a conservative make the fundamental mistake of conflating Islam itself with the different cultural milieus and practices that spring from it.  We who defend Western culture should not make the same mistake.

Some bloggers in Right Blogistan have really been laying the wood to Islam, some going so far as to call it a satanic cult.  Others struggle to separate the Islamist murderers from the religion itself, while still railing against its malignant influence on Western Christendom.  While I do not criticize religious debate, I am in the latter camp.

I don't think it is any more racist to criticize black panthers or radical islamists than it is to attack white supremacists.

It is not anti-Christian to call Fred Phelps and his followers the anti-American ass-hat dingbats that they are, and it is completely legitimate to criticize Muslim extremists operating in the west who hate our western values. 

Having said that, I think Christians and conservatives do our cause more harm than good when we criticize Islam itself.  I've done it.  Usually while criticizing one of the Muslim world's multifarious abhorrent cultural practices, hydra-headed hatreds, cultural intolerance, or religious bigotry.  We can condemn an abortion clinic bomber without condemning Christianity; can we condemn a Muslim terrorist without casting aspersions upon the religion of Islam?  

How do you like it when smart-ass atheists ridicule your faith?

Sticks and stones, right?  But does it make you have a more favorable or less favorable opinion of them?  Does it make you more willing or less willing to hear what they have to say?  I found Mike Huckabee's winking anti-Mormonism repellent.  He lost my vote, and I'm not even a Mormon.

It is in our own best interests to keep our focus on the anti-Western practices of the few, rather than the religion of the many who go about their daily lives as good Americans.

My God's Better than Your God

I remember awhile back hearing Glenn Beck on the radio mocking the Shia Twelvers, calling the Hidden Imam “the boy in the well.” You’d think he'd be a little more circumspect, seeing as how his religion is based upon God coming into the world as a human baby, dying, and coming back to life after three days in the tomb, and then ascending to heaven.  To the skeptic, that's right up there with Mohammad's flying donkey.

Some Christians believe we’re all saved.  Others believe there is a preordained elect, and the rest of us will burn in hell. Catholics pray to saints, believing they are with God and can therefor plead to him on our behalf.  This leads fundamentalists to condemn the followers of the Whore of Babylon to eternal damnation. And that's just within Christianity!

My point here is not to mock anyone, but to simply point out that our different and varied beliefs are not reconcilable.  We don't have to respect the religion of others, but we must respect each others' constitutional right to freedom of worship.  None of us can scientifically prove our particular sect or belief is the right one, so why argue about it and inflame one another? As Dennis Prager once observed, every religion has elements that look downright ridiculous to outsiders.

Freedom of Conscience - Freedom from Violence

Outside of some witch trials, institutional bigotry against Jews, and a few spasmodic episodes against Catholics and Mormons, we've been blessedly free of sectarian turmoil and bug-eyed religious zealotry here.  I pray we can keep it that way.  Inshallah

Gay New York

New York has approved gay marriage in that state. I don't agree with gay marriage, but they did it the right way. I believe it is a states rights issue and that it should not be decided by mullahs in black robes at the federal level.

My opposition to gay marriage is definitional 

There is no society in the history of mankind where gay marriage ever existed.  This is a post-modern theft of the word.  Advocates counter that gay couplings have been observed in the wild among apes, but simians also throw crap at each other, so I don't think that is a valid example to point to. The term marriage has always had a specific meaning, and it should not be changed. Call a gay relationship whatever you want,  protect gay rights in contract law, but don't call it marriage.

A Victory for Polygamy

Can anyone keep a straight face while telling me Muslim advocacy groups will not bring lawsuits to strike down polygamy bans? Unlike gay marriage, polygamy has a robust history. What makes marrying someone of the same sex more valid than a man marrying two or three or four women? Or a woman marrying multiple men for that matter. We've struck down a standard and now have nothing to take its place, so it's anything goes for the cultural vandals. The next ten years should be exciting.

A Dangerous Blow to Religious Liberty

The New York Legislature, God bless 'em, insisted that churches should not be coerced into doing anything against their beliefs. While I applaud the good intentions, it sets a dangerous precedent, in that the state legislature is granting by law a right to a church that the state has no right to grant.  Freedom of religion is a preexisting right recognized in the First Amendment to the constitution.

According to the Founding Fathers and The Constitution they authored, religious liberties come from God, not a politician. If a legislature can grant rights to a church, it can also take them away, and that is the Trojan Horse. The law should be struck down because it pretends to grant the God-given right of religious liberty that has already been guaranteed by the First Amendment to The US Constitution.

This is another shot over the bow of religious liberty.

To My Atheist Friends

Correction:  Maya Angelou did not write this.  And I have updated the text to reflect the true author's words.  See Snopes for the full story.  Shame on me for not checking my facts, and thanks to Anonymous, whoever you are!

"When I Say I am a Christian" 

By Carol Wimmer


When I say, “I am a Christian”

I’m not shouting, “I’ve been saved!”
I’m whispering, “I get lost!
That’s why I chose this way”

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t speak with human pride
I’m confessing that I stumble -
needing God to be my guide

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
and pray for strength to carry on

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting that I’ve failed
and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I don’t think I know it all
I submit to my confusion
asking humbly to be taught

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I’m not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible
but God believes I’m worth it

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartache
which is why I seek His name

When I say, “I am a Christian”
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I’m loved