#122870 by John Hanks on 12/27: “Jesus was weaseling out when he said “Render unto Caesar, etc.” He was really saying nothing at all and avoiding getting into trouble with the authorities….”

Go back and review what you have said, John Hanks. Like Benazir Bhutto today, he put his life on the line for what he believed in. As an enlightened person with a mission of teaching Truth, he was equally as unwelcome in the barren dump/puppet dictatorship called “the holy land”. That the authorities (the church and the state) would go out of their way to get rid of them, both Jesus and BB kew only too well…...

RE:#122850 by OzarkMichael on 12/27

“I have no doubt of your earnestness or good intentions, but I didnt think you guys went for that sort of thing.”

**What “sort of thing” would you be speaking of OzarkMichael?

Also you said: “Rather than discuss the precise meaning of a Bible verse, lets just use it to underscore the fact that the New Testament gives only a modicom of nebulous instruction about how Christians should intereact with government. There is no encouragement to run things.’

OzarkMichael, the precise meaning is EXACTLY the point, how it is taught and in turn internalized is pertinent.  The fact that radical and fundamentalist christian groups take biblical verses LITERALLY means it is NOT “a modicum of nebulous instruction”.  Do you not agree?

BTW, your implication that there is “a shadowy figure” and “sort of an antichrist of the left” is laughable.  The “LEFT” isn’t a religion, nor a movement.  In fact, OzarkMichael, what is “THE LEFT” in your opinion?

You two would like for me to be a man.  Your misogyny is showing.  This theater of the absurd has become incredibly boring and I am taking leave of it.  Life beckons.  Au revoir

Shenonymous;

Thank you for being so kind…I appreciate you to, son..

Atheism is a religion…Are you not professing your disbelief in God? And professing your own belief…

Does not a Christian profess their belief in God?

Paganism is also a form religion?

Buddhism is also a form of religion…

Hinduism is also a form of religion…

God does not need to be present in a religion to be called a religion…believing in God is just one religion…There are thousands of different religions throughout the world, that we know of, and more forming each year…Religion is something practiced by it’s followers, a belief in something, they worship their god, their idol whatever it may be…

Again Shenonymous, I would like to commend you on your English, your such a poet…

Where did I receive the word of God? It came to me in a revelation, but you wouldn’t understand that because your a nonbeliever…

Shenonymous, you have no idea how I feel about a real woman because you keep pretending to be a man…A real woman speaks from the heart, not from her behind..And I mean that with love in my heart…

Your words say that you are seeking complete domination…Let me help you relax, I want nothing from this world, I own nothing in this world, I came with nothing and I will leave with nothing…So, it is all yours, enjoy, because it will all burn with fervent heat someday anyway…Congratulations Shenonymous, God Bless!

Too bad you have mud for brain matter, Dougie.  There, there we know how hard it is for you to get beat up by a woman.  Here is your pacifier, now go over to the corner, suck on it, and contemplate your miserable life. 

John Hanks, you are so right…

#122779 by Shenonymous on 12/27: “Non Credo….  You are hopeless and simply will get an F in Buddhism…. “loving kindness” ....is pure unadulterated mind shit….. I have already succeeded by my roshi’s assessment in attaining clarity of mind….”

Well, there you have it, uhh. Shenonymous’ standardized  brain, ha ha.  One’s views are transparent on these forums, you know,  Shenonymous.  Others have judged me and they have indeed already judged you. Too bad that you must depend on someone else’s assessment of you in order to validate your useless existence.

If this is what the Buddhist concept of clear wisdom leads to, no wonder religion earns a bad name. Or, should I say that Western students of Buddhism are continuing to earn a dubious reputation. With the attainment of clear wisdom comes the knowledge of who and what you are in Reality - and regardless of others’ opinions of you or your philosophy.

You obviously haven’t even begun to tread on this path as you haven’t yet been prepared to give up your precious ego. Attachments to wants and desires and mind perceptions will trip you up as easily as a bottle of cabernet sauvignon goes to your head. And even if you did shave that stupid thing, what difference would it make, huh?

So much for your ploy, then,  to drag us all into your own suffering and your own “mind-shit”, Shenonymous. Nothing you can do, then, is of any value in helping to save this nation from its march from the bewilderment of materialism into its own suffering through the delusions of fundamentalist fascist pseudo-religion.

Thus, the great work of the Buddha will remain largely unknown and even misunderstood because of you and your woeful attitude. That is typical of the West which embraces fantasies of its own making while those in the East have successfully embraced the living Buddha and not the “ism” for millenia.

A popular defense of the impotent is a paltry offense; the call for “loving kindness” is a paltry offense.  It is pure unadulterated mind shit.  Interesting you should call me “friend” as a common ploy to drag opponents into one’s own suffering camp.  In fencing it is called a feint.  I have learned, in fencing, to keep one’s distance, else pretense will get you a stab in the back.  I have already succeeded by my roshi’s assessment in attaining clarity of mind.  The yoga I practice is Clear Light Yoga.  In Clear Light Yoga, the student becomes aware of the true nature of mind—which is that of clear light.  The value of dialectic in Tibetan Buddhism is to allow the individual to find their true nature.  If you want to find that Buddhism is atheistic, I direct you to a least one journal, as far back as 1934 article (though there are many, many if you have the stamina to look, and it doesn’t take much stamina, perhaps you have lethargy of the brain, and if you do) try Hideo Kishimoto, The Journal of Religion, vol. 14, No. 1 (Jan., 1934), pp. 77-84, “True-word sect (Shingon-shu) contains a tinge of polytheism.  However, fundamentally, Buddhism remained atheistic.  Buddha’s own doctrine was decidedly atheistic.”  And try the book, “The Silence of God:  The Answer of the Buddha,” author, Raimundo Panikkar, publisher, Orbis Books, 1989.  Stop being so lazy.

My spelling is better than most, Non Credo, though I admit to typos occasionally.

#122776 by Non Credo on 12/27: “Many Buddhists themselves, even many of those who explicitly reject belief in any god or gods, refer to Buddhism as their “religion”....”

Expat and I had a brief conversation about this very subject recently - perhaps it was in another topic. He could add some of his recent experiences in Asia….... but the Western concept of Buddhism as nothing more than a philosophy is rather trite when it comes to the Eastern reality.

As it was, Buddhism grew on a Hindu/Jain base somewhat like Christianity grew on a (supposedly) Judaistic base. In the end, Tantric ritual and so forth re-emerged (if it was ever not present) as there is a strong mystical component in the Mahayana path to Enlightenment.

This is not fantasy but fact and can be verified by the experiences of those who have trod the path successfully. Many have failed as will our friend Shenonymous if she cannot grasp the actuality of loving kindness and self-sacrifice as part of the control and manipulation (for the better) of one’s own karma.

I’m just not going to do either your scholarship or your thinking for you Non Credo.  You are hopeless and simply will get an F in Buddhism.  And yes, I am preposterously honest especially to standard brains.

It is clear that historical ignorance has produced a denial of the gravity of the danger tapped by Mr. Hedges from some Truthdig posters. 

As Noam Chomsky observed, quoting Fritz Stern, a scholar of German history, “Hitler’s…appeal to his ‘divine mission’ as ‘Germany’s savior’ in a ‘pseudoreligious transfiguration of politics’ adapted to ‘traditional Christian forms’...with ‘Christianity as the foundation of…national morality and the family as the basis for national life.’  Hiterl’s hostility toward the ‘liberal secular state,’ shared by much of the Protestant clergy, drove forward ‘a historic process in which resentment against a disenchanted secular world found deliverance in the ecstatic escape of unreason.”

Chomsky notes that “‘pseudoreligious transfiguration’ is a device needed to keep the underlying population, which is suffering under the growing wealth disparity gap, in line and has been manipulated for political gain particularly since the Reagan years.”

Marx was perhaps a bit more succinct.  Religion is the opiate of the masses.

Chalmers your blatherings are veritably bounteous and your opinions of women are found out . You must make a defense since you are wounded but it is sparse of intelligence.  Too bad. My condolences.  One’s views are transparent on these forums.  Others will judge me and they will indeed judge you.

#122747 by Shenonymous on 12/27: “...my motives for goading you all…. on the toilet trying to take a crap….. you deceive yourself if you think women have arrived at any semblance of equality in the small-penis minds of most men…... We do not have to understand the patriarchic world, we have to destroy it….”

Hahahahaha, now that is a funny thing. We have finally arrived at a moment of purposefulness in this woeful conversation. The maliciously manipulative invective that Shenonymous confuses for flirting finally is set aside long enough to see that she is indeed sobering up after the experience of gettling sozzled mid-week, uhh.

Oh well,  a woman who loves men must be worth this much. But waiting for her idiotic compatriots in the Jesus topic before soldiering on is another thing. That is no warrior spirit but hailing the arrival of the trouble-makers who degenerate any blog. What a lot of vacuus blather she inculcates in her attempts to pit men against men.

Of course, we want rid of the traditionalist “patriarchic world” because it is as treacherous to good men as to good women. But a woman (? - I use the term advisedly) like poor Shenonymous is entrenched in her vacuous mind when it comes to manipulating the male conservatives and is utterly unable to detach herself from her enjoyment of having power over them for long enough to ever seriously contemplate actually doing anything to make positive change.

Thus the idea that “men and women be equal” and “can stand on the same level and really learn how to love one another” is as unattainable as ever for the Shenonymous’ of our world. They are bound by their own attachments and are still unsure if they really want to be that free - that we are all actually equal. To them , being on their backs (or knees) is good enough if the can control the male of the species by being in control of the presumed target of desire.

I am surprised at your question Non Credo, of course Buddhism is not a religion.  But naive supplicants forced it into a religion.  Do please do your scholarship, don’t make me do it for you.  Authentic Buddhists are atheists.  Yes, it is not a religion and was never intended by Gautama Siddhartha, Shakya Muni, the Buddha to be a religion.  In general, provincials need ceremony to help them remember the dogmas they develop.  Just as you apparently need it or you wouldn’t ask the question.

Having now to take care of three with one blow (taking care of one takes care of all): fattass, no, oh yeah, fattdaddy (even the name expresses one’s own opinion of oneself, it was your choice, right?),  Let’s give you a brief lesson in synonyms (only because synonymous rhymes with Shenonymous and I love rhyming a whole lot more than the drivel that keeps coming our your keyboard).  For the word hate, that is such an overused word, try the words vile, as in vile slut, or how about odious girlie, or execrable ovulator, execrable is a really good one and used hilariously by Walter Miller in “A Canticle for Lebowitz,” Lebowitz by the way is not a Jew, but a Catholic. 

Only an ignoramus would say that atheism is a religion.  A-theism, wherein the A means “without,” without theism, where theism is belief in a god, hence, without belief in god.  Atheism.  Get some ejumacashun wuja paleez.  It is so hard to deal with sexist bird-brains. 

Then here we go with the sex talk.  Why is it these perverts show up on otherwise good blogs and try to make it a sex fest?  Mention the word sex and fattdaddy gets all a twitter, goes off the deep end, poor thing.  Your fatuous argument that anyone who writes the word “sex” must have been sexually abused by their parents is indicative a really sick mind and you should get some psychiatric help—like immediately. You are pathetic.

And where exactly (notice the word ‘exactly’ and see if you can understand the meaning of that).  And exactly where did you receive the word of god Like when did that happen?  I think it must have been when you were on the toilet trying to take a crap.  Which must have been really hard since you are so full of it.

I have no religion and that apparently galls your balls and cannot comprehend that there are beings who just don’t believe in co-dependence on some mythical supernatural.  (Even my father, Zeus, is a myth).  The only thing I celebrate is The Great Unyun in October, oh, and solstices.  And you already know how I define hypocrite. 

Hey, you three have been found out about how you really feel about women, which was one of my motives for goading you all.  Mainly because you go hidden in sheep’s clothing as woman tolerant.  Hahahahaha, you are woman tolerant, now that is a funny thing I just said. 

And yes, Expat, Shenonymous Hyperbole Meticulous is in fact a woman who loves men and all the men who have known her knows how much she appreciates a good mind, and a good male body, which rarely occurs together.  It is so boring to hear over and over how because a woman takes a stand for her femininity that, “she becomes the enemy she fights as must befall all who fall to their beliefs.”  What a lot of vacuus blather.  Your homilies are complete bravado and you deceive yourself if you think women have arrived at any semblance of equality in the small-penis minds of most men.  Your compatriots fattdaddy and Chalmers prove that right here in their last posts.  We do not have to understand the patriarchic world, we have to destroy it.  Then and only then can men and women be equal.  Then men and women can stand on the same level and really learn how to love one another.

#122727 by Douglas Chalmers on 12/27 at 3:47 am
(1572 comments total)

And, which is more - just for Shenonymous - you’ll be a Man, my son! Ha ha, ha ha!

Douglas, you have spoken well.  I don’t want to gang up on Shenonymous, but she has thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak:

If Shenonymous is in fact a woman and that would make sense, then she wants to be a warrior; so much anger, so much hatred, it’s too bad because there is no reasoning with her.  I think she becomes the enemy she fights as must befall all who fall to their beliefs.  We don’t need any more warriors; we need people of level mind, thinking clearly, looking for the way of balance and peace.  I have stated before that I am a recovering feminist; why, because any ism is wrong and feminism is chauvinism as is misogyny (male version).  If we can’t get beyond our differences (and prejudices) and go to our common goals we are doomed.  One cannot say all women are good and one cannot say all men are bad.  (This is why I bemoan the loss of the goddess culture so many thousands of years ago, the evidence suggests it was a truly egalitarian culture).  At some point we have to understand this is a patriarchic world and learn to work around it.  Many women in history have done so; Margaret Mead, Madame Currie, Alexandra David Neal, to name a few.  When the world is collapsing around you, you don’t start with the political shit……you do something!  You act!  Direct action!  This is not happening.  So sad too bad.

#122724 by fattdaddy on 12/27: ”...so much hate in you… Todays woman doesn’t want to be a woman, they want to be everything else…Women have something to prove…. they cannot do nor handle a womans position in life… Shenonymous, you have turned out to be just what you are fighting against…..”

There we have it, fattdaddy. You become what you focus upon. If you have Love at your centre and focus on That, you are always essentially pure no matter what happens to you. Focus on those who hate and you become like them instead - and you inevitably end up seeking the same kind of answers for the trouble they give you, uhh.

”This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
                -Shakespeare-Hamlet

Or, perhaps more to the point -  Rudyard Kipling’s “If” http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm:-

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise….

And, which is more -  just for Shenonymous -  you’ll be a Man, my son! Ha ha, ha ha!

But what is today’s woman really, fattdaddy? Is she not the product of her own making? Trying to control men now at any cost is her not-so-covert agenda since controlling men from behind the scenes became less possible with the advent of her own freedom from bondage.

That, then, is Shenonymous’ dilemma. She is as incapable of truly realizing her own freedom as of permitting men the same space to breathe. It is essentially a compulsion as a result of the age-old quandary of women in a patriarchal society. Love is still not to be found….

Having realized “universal suffrage”, they are yet still unable to practice it themselves. Why? Instead, they want some kind of misogynist matriarchy so that they can rule unopposed. The hand that rocks the cradle now desires the absolute bondage of its male opposite.

It was that women were once caught in their own cleft stick of power over men that they then lost this power for millenia. What they now want is not freedom but to have that power back. The fact that they still have the power to end all wars doesn’t seem to interest them.

Wars were fought by men because women wanted it that way. In the end, men sought total domination - and achieved it. Women will only have their power returned to them in full and be able to realize it when they seek peace in the world. Their influence to this end is essential.

What we have now is the delusion, as you say, that women can rule as men. Having turned away from procreation of the race, once warlike countries such as Japan and the USA and most Westrern countries have felt the demographic vote of women. These dominant races will shrink if not disappear entirely. But that is still not freedom…...

Shenonymous;

Well, I see that you were an English major…

your father zeus is dead and cannot help you, didn’t know if you knew that or not…

Why are you so angry, why do you have so much hate in you?  What is really bothering you?

I also see that you are fasinated with sex, perverted sex…Were you abused by your dad or your mother? (sexually)..

HYPOCRITE: Is a deceiver, a fake, a fraud
In other words, a hypocrite is someone who professes to be something in life, but lives quite the opposite…

For you info: Women were never in bondage, not according to the word of God..

Todays woman doesn’t want to be a woman, they want to be everything else…Women have something to prove, that they can do anything a man can, however, they cannot do nor handle a womans position in life…Women think that they wear the pants in the family…

As you put it so beautifully, parents should be the ones to teach their children about life, not the schools or the teachers, however, to many parents have shed their responsibilities so the children are left to fend for there selfs…

I do not fear what man/woman can do to me, therefore your threats do not intimidate me…

Shenonymous, you have turned out to be just what you are fighting against…

According to what you say;
**All religions are poisonous by their very insular nature.**  Well, I guess that would make your religion poisonous also…

carlbaydala;

Being an atheist is also a form of religion, so does that mean that you also avoid yourself to…Atheist also have there very own holiday…Yeah, it comes around every “April 1st”, because anyone who doesn’t believe that there is a God, they are fool’s…

purplewolf;

Thank you for the comment, and I have no doubt that you have studied many religions…I like what you said about people following their forefathers because it seems the thing to do…They are following traditions blindly because they are lazy and do not care to study and learn about what has been taught to them, now they want to continue what their fathers before them taught and continue this vicious cycle…

God instructed us to study the scriptures, not take mans word for it, that is why so many religions are lost and confused, they take mans word over God’s word…It is a real shame…I myself do not claim to know everything about God, as a matter of fact, any man that claims to know everything about God, you should run as fast as you can, and make sure you hold onto your wallet because they will take your money…

It is because of all these false religions out there, the reason why the rest of the world hates Christians…God told us to beware of false preachers, false teachers, and false prophets, and He was right, they are a dime a dozen…The rest of the world can label me whatever they wish because it does not matter, it does not bother me…

Lucifer was indeed an angel, he was the most beautiful of all angels, however, he wanted to be equal to God, so lucifer and a third of the angels which followed him were kicked out of heaven to earth…God is light, lucifer is darkness…How do I know?  The word of God says so, the word of God is true, there is no other truth in this world or the heavens….

Okay antichristians, you can puke now, it will be okay….

#122654 by Lefty

#122205 by cyrena
“ * * * Man oh man. I don’t know what to think.”
Lefty’s response..
•  BLAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA . . . HELP . . . CRAMP . . . BLAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So, you’re off your meds again, eh Lefty? Which one of your gods let you down this time? This always happens when you get a furlough from your institution. They should know better than to let you out without a chaperone to make sure you stay hooked up to the meds.

What a shame. See how we continually fail to provide for the frail among us. It’ll get better as soon as you get back to the hospital. Trust me.

#122655 by rage

•  “…Follow the money. Most of these mega-ministries utilized by the GOP are funded by some power broker’s non-profit sheltered cash…These power-brokers are usually the corporate antithesis of the religio-fascist mouthpieces distracting us with their extreme Jesus in the news nightly. I promise you, Huckabee and sycophants are taking political orders from somebody with his own political agenda who is neither Jesus nor these zealous dominionist televangelists teaching Christian Reconstructionism. It’s about the money and the power, not the Lord.”…

Well rage,

You’ve said it all right here. EXACTLY my point. Because, it’s never been about anything more.

I’d like to add though, that these ‘power brokers’ aren’t ALWAYS directly connected to the corps. Then again, I should emphasize the ‘direct’ connection part of it.

I discovered this when I spent time ‘tracing the money’ to various hate crime organizations; (frequently disguised as “religious” in nature) specifically churches, so-called ‘charity’ organizations, and..you get the drift. Ultimately, albeit through multiple levels and layers, they ‘connected’ to these wealthy power brokers. Frequently of course, these people would have ties to the major media, (all the better to spread the poison) or the recording/entertainment industry, or yep…Wall Street. (among others).

So indeed, we must always follow the money – and far beyond the bit players, who actually do believe in this bullshit. Because it is through these bit players, that the power brokers can find the opening to operate, and without the funds from the hidden power brokers, they would be totally insignificant in an enlightened society.

#122667 by Outraged on 12/261: ” Clarkson - Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy….”

How convenient, though, for Americans to believe, that garbage, Dominionists or not. The land-grab known as the USA was a process which fundamentally denied and ignored the rights of Native Americans, etc etc, until it itself became a slavery state - all under so-called Christianity.

Neither rooted in Enlightenment nor Christianity, which, then, do you want to return to, uhh?

RE:#122641 by OzarkMichael: “...at least for the Christians, we have to “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”. He did not tell us to take over the government….. Only to the extent that Caesar wants to take God’s place… that is the very extent to which American Christians get involved in politics as Christians per se….”

Yes, the Caesars of this world certainly want to usurp your individual right to your own divinity as a “child of God”, whether you are religious or not. Power and control are their agandas, covert or falsely propounded.

But, is is not clear what you meant in the context of your other comments, OzarkMichael. Jesus NEVER would have said that if he was the enlightened person he was believed to have been. Those who want to control (or be controlled) will have you believe it, though.

#122648 by John Hanks on 12/26: “There are some worthwhile things in organized religion, but you have to find them for yourself.  The last thing you want is to have a religionist teach you.  They are essentially huckster salesmen….. The gospels are not a total loss by the way.  It was Jesus who said he hated blockheads and phonies…”

We all do have some spirituality within us, dormant or otherwise. It is an essential part of us as much as emotion is. It is a higher level of feeling, if I can put it that way. It is THAT which connects us to Truth and Reality, ultimately.

We should all use our reasoning and intellect to realize It, not to deny or to subsume it merely to acknowledge our rather temporary physical materialist existence. We all do have SQ as well as EQ and the common IQ, uhh…...

Faith does NOT need to be blind!

Even before I began reading the comments here, I guessed that the article, which clearly focuses on the threat to American democracy and is not an arguement about faith, would be followed by, indeed, a massive quarrel indicative of many, many blogs over religion.  Leave your faith at the door, wipe the sleep from your eyes, and wake up to the sight of 200 years of good intentions sliding helplessly towards oligarchy.

Clearly some people will gush at anything.  The prattlers are abundant here.  The bible babble is at its highest level.  It is a wonder to behold.  We all are ex nihilo , and shall go into nothing, fools.  Make this life, then, the best you can and stop wasting your time on drivel and fairy tales.  You don’t need breast fed anymore or to hold your daddy’s hand.  Take charge of your own life.  Non Credo is right and so is Lefty.  You ankle biters are both right.

RE:#122641 by OzarkMichael on 12/26

“Furthermore, at least for the Christians, we have to “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”. He did not tell us to take over the government. Those who think otherwise are on the ignored fringe.

Only to the extent that Caesar wants to take God’s place… that is the very extent to which American Christians get involved in politics as Christians per se.”

OzarkMichael,
Your quote above could be taken two ways, one, as a strict separation of “Caesar” and “God” or two, as a meshing of the two whose intrepretation is left entirely up to the Christian group.  I will agree there are Christians who are very nice people.  However, the leaders of the organizations to which these people belong are not so genuine.  They are well aware of truths regarding the bible’s origin, Jesus and Christianity’s pagan roots.  And they are using and abusing their followers by inculcating in them and professing to believe as their followers do when in fact they do not.

Dominionism (radical christian groups) has its claws in mainstream religion and is using “it’s message of commonality” to aquire power and acceptance.  Wikipedia concurs this premise:

 
Dominionism as a broader movement
In the early 1990s, sociologist Sara Diamond[13][14] and journalist Frederick Clarkson[15][16] defined dominionism as a movement that, while including Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right.[17] In his 1992 study of Dominion Theology and its influence on the Christian Right, Bruce Barron writes,

In the context of American evangelical efforts to penetrate and transform public life, the distinguishing mark of a dominionist is a commitment to defining and carrying out an approach to building society that is self-consciously defined as exclusively Christian, and dependent specifically on the work of Christians, rather than based on a broader consensus.[4] (p. 14, emphasis in original)

According to Diamond, the defining concept of dominionism is “that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns”. In 1989, Diamond declared that this concept “has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right”[13] (p.138, emphasis in original). In 1995, she called it “prevalent on the Christian Right.”[18] Journalist Chip Berlet added in 1998 that, although they represent different theological and political ideas, dominionists assert a Christian duty to take “control of a sinful secular society.”[19]

In 2005, Clarkson enumerated the following characteristics shared by all forms of dominionism:[20]

1. Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be, a Christian nation. In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.
2. Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity.
3. Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, insofar as they believe that the Ten Commandments, or “biblical law,” should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing Biblical principles.”

Entire article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominionism

As usual Hedges has the Christian right properly pegged.  I really don’t think it an exaggeration to describe the Dominionists as the real American Taliban.

# 122557 Fatdaddy:

I am certain you are sincere in your offer to teach me about religion.I probably have more experience with religions that you think.My personal library is vast upon many topics including most religions,not just Christianity.One of the most violent,negative, destructive,misogynistic books to start with is the Holy Bible.

People believe because their parents believed, because their parents believed,etc.No questions asked.Well I am a question asker and the churches don’t like that.As with all religious,they should be approached with an open mind of neutrality and not the preconceived notions as many people carry on with them.Any religion that discourages questioning is hiding something.Christianity is no exception.I believe in respecting a persons view,but I find that too many Christians do not respect others,then they complain about Christian bashing the last few years. It has come home to roost,as Christians have bashed others beliefs for a long time.

I have studied many religions.I was raised in a moderate religious environment.During my youth I went not only to my families church,I attended numerous other brands of religions by going to other places of worship with other girls I knew from my neighborhood including:Latter Day Saints,Bahai, Syrian Orthodox,Greek,Synagogue,Catholic,Methodist, Jehovah’s Witness,Presbyterian,Assemblies of God, just to name a few on the Christian side.I have also studied a wide variety of other religions during my life and took theology classes in college.On the nature site of religion-NOT TO BE CONFUSED OR RELATED TO SATANISM- Wicca,and the Native American view of living in harmony with nature and all other living creatures, respecting the earth and taking only what you need and to leave the earth as you find it way of life.

Unfortunatelytoo many of you Christians decided that those who practice living in harmony with nature are evil and worship your devil,WHICH THEY DON’T AND NEVER DID AND DO NOT BELIEVE IN-should be destroyed because of your misguided views and teachings of bigotry,ignorance and arrogance and total lack of respect of other peoples views and beliefs.Too many who profess Christian values seek and try to destroy those not like them in mindset.It is unfortunate that you think you are the only ones who are right and that all the rest of us will burn in hell for eternity if we do not convert to your ways.What makes you think you are the only ones who are right? According to your own teachings,Christians are the only ones who are right,yet your holy book you claim is never wrong often states that the Devil(actually Lucifer was the fallen angel, the word devil is Yiddish and means evil imp or entity)is very clever and deceitful.How do you know for sure that this God you claim to follow, even committing atrocities in his name is not actually the Devil you claim to despise,after all according to your book he is very clever.Wouldn’t it be ironic to find out on the other side,that you look forward to,that your whole life was a lie and you actually followed that which you claim to be against for your whole life.

I have researched and studied a lot of religions and do not know everything about all of them.A patient of mine once told me,” never plan on anything as it never turns out how you expected it.” I have always found this statement to be accurate.So while you may think the afterlife is paradise,you may have a rude awakening.

Just trying to catch up now that the f**n assholes are out of the pigsty.  fattdaddy why don’t you get off your fat ass and teach your own asshole children about your cooked up god? My father Zeus would eat you and your god and your children alive!  If you are normal, gawd help us all.  You should be date raped by some asshole man, impregnated by some asshole man, or raped by some asshole man and have to bear asshole babies.  If the likes of you taught your asshole children about the birds and bees we would just have more bird and bees, but if you taught them about sex, SEX, S-E-X, especially to those who have that usually too short a thing between their legs and how to keep it locked away, and have the Y-chromosome, we wouldn’t have to worry about unwanted pregnancies nor abortion.  But women are no longer in bondage and we Helots are coming to get the likes of you.  You better watch out!  All religions are poisonous by their very insular nature.  You are deluded to think that Christians are really Christian in their hypocritical pretenses of following the “teachings” of Jesus?  Better that you stick your head in a toilet and read your own scriptures then try, just try to be a Christian.  There aren’t many in existence, buddy.  We can’t wait for you to go to the other side either.  Keep going to the right, maybe you will fall off.  Oh, a hypocrite is someone who farts in his own coffee cup.

cyrena;

I am hurt, you don’t like my name, bummer….

Outraged,

Define religion for me please….

I could explain to you until the cows come home, but being unlearned you wouldn’t understand anyway…
(everything goes, just don’t get caught)

Shenonymous;

Define hypocrite for me please…

What do you get when you cross a moron with an ignoramus?

cyrena;

Define ethics for me please…

I am a Jesus Freak and a bible thumper, religion is a totally different matter…Anyone can be religious, anything we do in life can be a religion or as some put it, a tradition…

Can’t wait to go to the other side as you call it, it will be excellent…

Purplewolf;

I appreciate your imput on the bible, but you really shouldn’t comment on something you evidently know nothing about, however, if you would like to learn, I could show you…Your right, the schools are not able anymore to teach our children the three R’s…Why?  Because our wonderful government has their hands into everything that we do, they want to control what the teachers teach nowadays, And then there’s the problem of the teachers wanting to teach sex ed physically with our kids, not just out of books…

Why should a teacher be treated any different than a mechanic, or an aircraft worker, or a plummer, there all important jobs for the community…

If the parents weren’t caught up in their own selfs, they could teach their kids what they need to know in this life, we cannot lay our responsibility upon the school system that is failing, or our government which is so infested with perverts and they really don’t care about the common people anyway except our tax dollars…

I am to far to the right to understand…

After all, I am just a bozo, a fanatic zealot…

If for what ever reason you people do not believe that there is a real God, well, that’s on you, makes me no difference whether you believe or not..

Makes me wonder though, why unbelievers become so defensive when somebody brings up God, when you do not believe anyway…

Oh, and the only time I get worked up over something, is when somebody calls me late for dinner, Oh Yeah!!

I would like to thank you all for your comments and your imput…

#122531 by Outraged on 12/25 at 10:55 pm
•  Why Cyrena everyone knows that every fishermen or “fisher of men” knows that you need a worm.  Have a great Merry Chrismyth, I am…...........

You’re right Outraged. (and you know I was being facetious anyway). Bet you didn’t think he was gonna get THAT worked up did ya?

Fatdaddy. Of all the names. So typical.

OK Shenonymous, I do get your point. And yeah, Chris does have a tendency to do this, so it could be that he’s not the atheist that I thought. (I honestly don’t know). I do remember that the DID study at a school of Theology, but I also don’t know what his views are on it now.

Generally speaking, I enjoy his pieces. I too see the hero worship, but you’re right, it seems like all of the brainless are hero worshippers, and they pop out on this site all of the time. I can appreciate your suggesting that they aren’t hapless, but wretched. I think they just brought it all on themselves, and you’re right…not so much by being as ‘hapless’ as they are greedy and self-absorbed. More that then hapless. They’ve expected ‘special favors’ from their god, and they have NOT been forthcoming. Now they’re pissed as hell, and ready to wreck it on the world. Then again, maybe they’ve always been. I’d chalked it up to ignorant arrogance.

Anyway, hope you’ve enjoyed the Winter Solstice. I can’t complain anymore than I generally do, at least not for the moment. Too tired I guess. These alleged ‘holidays’ wear my butt out.

RE: #122500 by fattdaddy on 12/25

“Oh, and it’s okay to teach our kids 6 0r 7 years old about the birds and the bee’s when they should be taught how to read, write, and to add & subtract…Kids today hear and learn enough junk from parents that don’t care, from the T.V., from the radio and even our news…

**Actually fattdaddy, AGE APPROPRIATE sexual issues should be taught to children of EVERY age.  However, if the local district where you live isn’t teaching what we commonly refer to as the the “three R’s” definitely ALERT authorities!  My goodness me that really would be an abomination. 

“And let’s not forget, that it is okay to teach another religion in our schools, but not our own beliefs…Our society has taught our children that everything goes, just don’t get caught…”

**I’m confused fattdaddy, what exactly do you mean by “another religion in our schools”?  Please enlighten me as to what OUR beliefs are…...  Also, what do you mean by “everything goes, just don’t get caught”?

It’s problematic, the apocalypse is always in a revolving door that never really stops and will never really happen.  These morons need to be told this over and over again.  Well I haven’t been crazy for the last seven years and so haven’t a lot of people I know.  I think the piece is not a good piece.  So we disagree.  I think a lot of non-thinking is going on and more reacting and blind hero worship going on.  When I hear someone who was in theology school had some sort of epiphany and is now an atheist I have my doubts that a conversion fully happened. I think some hedging is always going on (and pun intended in this case).  Especially when sentences like “represents a seismic shift in the tactics, ideology and direction of…” (Well who else but the radical Christian right?), or this one, “Huckabee represents a new and potent force in American politics…” this is pure bullshit, period.  New? Potent? Give me a living break for having a discerning brain. It is journalistic hogwash in an attempt to sound erudite. 

Of course these hypocrites are dangerous.  But it is not like we don’t know it!  And how would you get the word out to the hoi polloi anyway?  Billboard signs?  We are preaching here to the choir.  And it is a closed and incestuous group.  The word needs to get out, out to the f***ng world.  One needs to learn how to diagram these articles for some constructive criticism.  Hedges ends his article with the blame game against the corporations, Naders’ pet beef.  How the f**k can we do anything about corporations?  I am so sick and tired of hearing about the pariah corporations that nobody does a f**king thing about.  If they are so bad why doesn’t some idiot blow them up?  Go postal? We certainly have enough idiots in the population.  It IS Huckabee’s fault because he knows exactly what he is doing and with a smile on his face it is political pimping of his religion, and it is the “hapless” Christians’ fault.  What the f**k does Hedges mean by hapless?  They aren’t hapless, they are wretched.  They are miserable addle-pated assholes with mental ages between seven and twelve who imagine they know what is good for this world.  You can go ahead and extol what you see as virtuous in this article but for me, it’s a piece of grind journalism that actually glorifies a toad like Huckabee.  Are we so visionless as to be dazzled by this kind of writing?

Why Cyrena everyone knows that every fishermen or “fisher of men” knows that you need a worm.  Have a great Merry Chrismyth, I am…...........

#122517 by Shenonymous

•  The reality is that there is a piddly-assed blip on the political radar screen where the bottom feeder religious fanatics of the conservative right wing Republican party are having their 15 minutes of fame.

Oh Shenonymous,

You always make me laugh. And ya know what, even my sister said this, just this evening. Although, she put it differently than you or I would. All she said was that she thought Huckabee was about to self-destruct with all of the religious stuff.

But, I have to disagree with you on the article not being a good piece of journalism, (at least in bringing this to our attention) and you said the reason why yourself, right here.

•  First of all everyone who has a brain knows there is no god, and it is really really stupid to keep invoking a fictional object that is called ‘god,’ and second of all, this crappy kind of wasteful journalism is beating a dead horse past the rotten maggot stage.

That’s just it!!! Everybody with a BRAIN knows this, and so does Hedges. (I think, I couldn’t swear to it, since I’ve never seen it written) that Hedges is an atheist himself, though he didn’t start out that way. He actually attended theology school.

But, I only said that to say that he’s honestly NOT KIDDING about these crazy fundamentalists. Now, if they’re using their religion to ‘hide’ the true agenda, (racist power/domination) then that’s a different deal. We know that’s the case with RP, and it may be with Huckabee as well.

STILL, these guys DO play to a relatively full house, and if all of these BRAINLESS people weren’t out there, we wouldn’t have been stuck with Dick Bush for over 7 years now.

So, as offensive as it is, I honestly think this is more of a frightening reality than people WITH a brain, might want to consider. The tendency is to blow them off as the obvious crazies and/or frauds that they are. But, there really ARE that many stupid people in the country today.

So, that’s what I was able to appreciate from the piece. It’s crazy yes, but what hasn’t been for the past 7 years? There are something like 40 million of these ‘near enders’ who apparently don’t wanna wait for the apocalypse to ‘arrive’ on it’s own, so they’re trying to hasten it along.

And, it’s far WORSE now, than it ever was before, which is the only reason so many of the religios have been bold enough to run. There really ARE enough brainless people out there, to keep him on the radar, and the whole psychotic batch of them has grown – A LOT!!

I mean think about it. Instead of blaming the right people for all of their woes, (which would be their own ignorance and arrogance for letting themselves be fooled to begin with) they just go looking for more of the same, wrapped up in a different paper. For RP, it’s his alleged ‘libertarianism’  (which is just a ‘new flavor’) and for Huckabee, it’s all this evangelical stuff.

And, while they never come right out and say it in so many words, it’s ALL ABOUT controlling the entire society, and they are now more determined than ever, to do exactly that.

So, it’s not to be ignored. (at least I don’t think so).

Still, I love the part about him being a piddly-assed blip for 15 minutes.

The great irony in all this is that it may lead to the undoing of faith-based communities.  Church-controlled state today will lead to state-controlled church tomorrow, something which the Constitution was originally designed to avoid.

This article is bull shit!  The only seismic shift that has happened is in Hedges’ corpus callosum. Huckabee is not a new and potent force. It is the same shit from the deranged Christian right idiots who are on a roller coaster.  What is with Hedges these days?  The journalism is really going down hill.  This is not calling reality for what it really is?  The reality is that there is a piddly-assed blip on the political radar screen where the bottom feeder religious fanatics of the conservative right wing Republican party are having their 15 minutes of fame.  They are really grabbing at straw news since all there is is the same crap day after day after day.  First of all everyone who has a brain knows there is no god, and it is really really stupid to keep invoking a fictional object that is called ‘god,’ and second of all, this crappy kind of wasteful journalism is beating a dead horse past the rotten maggot stage.  How many times do we have to hear about the putrid corporate world continuing to excrete on us po’folk?  When is someone who has any power going to do something about it?  It is cowplops, guano, mental manure.  And Huckabee is a total tundra who has bastardized his god for his own selfish purposes.  Do you think a real god would be involved in the petty business of petty human beings?

#122362 by Outraged

•  fattdaddy,
I find your comment somewhat at odds with itself, can you elaborate as to why or how you came to this conclusion?
Outraged,

Now why did you have to go and do that? These people don’t need any ENCOURANGEMENT!

It’s the same old stuff with these people over and over again. They blame EVERYTHING on the lack of ‘prayer in schools”, and yet claim that ‘other’ religions are taught in schools. Bozo’s don’t know what the hell their talking about.

It never ceases to annoy me when people need to reference the Bible to claim to know the difference between right and wrong, which is exactly what makes organized religion so dangerous. (or, that’s ONE of the reasons).

Yes, fatddaddy, it IS important for children to learn the difference between right and wrong, and one needn’t get that information from the bible. Moreover, that’s something that kids should start learning from day one, NOT waiting until they get to school.

Additionally, one can be as ethical/moral as the planets are certain, and not ever have even HEARD of the Bible. Matter of fact, the chances are far greater that a person will be far more ethical/moral if they STAY AWAY from that stuff, especially the Old Testament filled with fire and brimstone. It’s enough to scare the living bejesus out of a kid, before the real Jesus even shows up in the New Testament.

You wanna know about the Bible, do it on your own time. Religion is NOT the same as ethics, or knowing the difference between right and wrong. And, you’re not ‘religious’, your a fanatic zealot.

We do MAN’S law here, because there’s no proof of any God, or certainly not God’s “law”. If you think there’s a god’s law, then hurry your ass over to the ‘other side’, and you’ll get to practice it there.

#122391 Fatdaddy:

“That is why God wrote the bible.”

Wrong. God did not write the bible. Men wrote and or recorded stories that were passed down by word of mouth, often inaccurate and altered, for hundreds of years after the fact/myth story first was started. All the books of the bible were written by unknown authors. The names: John, Mark, Luke, etc. were not written by those people, those books were given names randomly.

As for prayer in school. They cannot even teach children to read now-a-days. Also much of the language in the bible is antiquated, so it will again be updated, thus making more changes and adding yet another persons view or interpretation to this already too much changed book. So how could this altered numerous times tome be called the true word of God? It is a book of hear say.

Schools do not need to teach prayer or bible studies. That is the job of the church, most churches meet 2 times on Sunday and again on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights as well. There is also all the time a student is not in school when they can pray and study the bible all they want. So why do you think we need to add this as it will not change the world the way you think it will. We will still have roughly the same amount of crimes. The reason it might seem to be on the increase can be attributed to the fact we have better communication than in the past about these crimes and criminals, making the public more aware. We also have better means of detecting who is the criminal thanks to forensics and improved means of record keeping thanks to computers. When we had limited news or information the crimes were still committed but we were unaware of them since you probably never heard of them, but as all communication outlets increased, so did the information-good or bad, you think crime has increased and to a degree it has, but it is still about the same percentage of the people committing crime, but as our population continues to increase the numbers go up, the percentage is about the same. We cam thank this communication system for making the public aware of the pedophilic priests that took place for decades but were never exposed until recently. Just because you didn’t hear about it when it happened doesn’t mean we had less crime in the past. Naturally when there were 3 billion people on the planet we had a certain percent criminal element, now with over 6 billion people on the planet we would expect twice as many criminals but the percent of the criminal population will be about the same, so even though there are more criminals in a sense, not really.

Some of the most religious leaders do the most horrific crimes against humanity in the name of your God.

Outraged;

Okay, you say prayer is forcing religion onto our children, and perhaps in your point of view it is…

I would rather my child learn about God than to be taught that it is okay to be a homosexual that it is a normal relationship, or to be taught that it’s okay to kill your unborn baby, I mean, they don’t feel nothing, Right?  They don’t know nothing, Right?

Oh, and it’s okay to teach our kids 6 0r 7 years old about the birds and the bee’s when they should be taught how to read, write, and to add & subtract…Kids today hear and learn enough junk from parents that don’t care, from the T.V., from the radio and even our news…

And let’s not forget, that it is okay to teach another religion in our schools, but not our own beliefs…Our society has taught our children that everything goes, just don’t get caught…

Yeah, we wouldn’t want to teach our kids right from wrong…Our children are looking for leadership in there lives, for direction, and if we do not teach them, somebody else will…Like I said, I am not here to force anyone to live for God, that is your choice whether you do or not, not mine…

If we do not teach our kids some morels and values, I cannot even imagine what the next generation will be like…We had all better enjoy the life that we have now, because this country is emploding and we will be taken over by another country or countries, and we will be forced to live under their laws, religion or not…

We as a nation have been ignorant, we did not keep our foundation strong

#122405 by John Hanks on 12/25 at 9:32 am
Here I agree with you.

And #122163 by Outraged on 12/24 at 12:41 am.
With only a small sample of this sort of thing up here,I nevertheless feel that you, Outraged, and of course, Chris Hedges have an accurate analysis of this. As Scrooge is shown by the Spirit of Christmas Present, Ignorance is the most dangerous child.

Another poster referred to the Scopes trial. Mind you this was almost 80 years ago but what a failure of education, or at least intelligent inquiry.

These people are the other bookend from the Islamists.

My travels took me to the Middle East in the ‘50’s when the Muslims represented great pools of biased ignorance. Other travels not much later took me to Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Same thing. Ignorant bigoted folks in large numbers.  Little seems to have changed.

RE: #122391 by fattdaddy on 12/25

Prayer in PUBLIC SCHOOLS WOULD BE FORCING your religion on someone else.  In private religious schools this would amount to forcing your religion upon only your OWN children.

You might say, ocjim, that organized religion is tired of being merely an arm of the State; that it wants to *be* the State proper. I’m a Christian believer but not an evangelical or an enthusiast for the State.

“In the end, however, I do not blame Huckabee or the tens of millions of hapless Christians-40 percent of the Republican electorate-who hear his words and rejoice. I blame the corporate state, those who thought they could disempower and abuse the working class, rape the country, build a rapacious oligarchy and never pay a political price.”

Hedges makes the corporate state sound like an organized, unified malevolent force, pulling the cultural strings that govern our society.

The neocon movement is actually based on philosophical (Strauss for one) and a somewhat elitist concept. But I don’t see the corporate state as a calculated pervasive force. Somehow it is intermixed and the financial force behind the neocon ideology.

I don’t see a conscious single-minded movement toward the corporate state but since the money is there the neocons cynically carry that goal and message.

Religion has always been exploited throughout history. It is one of the most potent forces used by man through the ages. But Huckabee is a user as well. In spite of the lofty ethics, he professes and many think he has, he has revealed his hypocrisy already in connecting Romney with the devil and then apoligizing.

He has been corrupted like any other politician regardless of his so-called purity of purpose. If he succeeds, rejection and exclusion will be part of his

Outraged;

(1) Because we live under grace today, that does not mean that we should throw away the laws of the Old Testament, grace enforces the laws,(not cermonial laws, like sacrificing of animals)...We are to obey God’s word, not disobey, and with that said, are we perfect, “No”, we are human and are bound to make mistakes, but God gave us a way out…

(2) I am not here to force my beliefs upon no one, however, I will speak my piece, I will adhere to the word of God, not what man claims is right…

(3) I also said that since prayer was taken out of schools, and the world is doing it’s dead level best to take God out of everything that we do, our society has been eroding every since…That is why there are so many juvenile deliquents today, why we have such a problem with gang activity, murders, rape, youth going on shooting rampages…

Of course not everybody sees it that way, not everyone agrees on what the problems are today…That’s why there are so many interpretations of the bible today, that’s why that there are so many religions today, because each man sees it differently..That is why God wrote the bible, to give us direction and guidance in our lives, to give us hope in a hopeless world…

God also gave us free will to do as we please because the Lord will not force us to live for Him…The people in this world are looking for direction, they are looking for something real to grab onto, the world cannot do that for man, man cannot do that for man…It is only going to get worse, it is not going to get better…

In a world that is so corrupt, man feels he has no hope..But, then again, them are just my thoughts…

Re#122383 by PAUL_GA on 12/25 at 7:01 am:

Can’t argue with that!  And it sure as heck seems to be one beefy arm, eh?

Merry Christmyth!

If organized religion is the “biggest threat to humanity (the whole planet and every living thing in it)”, it’s because organized religion is another arm of the Almighty State, the real villain.

RE: #122339 by fattdaddy on 12/24

“But, that doesn’t mean that we can live an disobedient life because we live under grace…I guess by now you have figured I am a little religious…I stand up for the gospel of Christ, not mans doctrine…I am not here to push my beliefs upon anyone here, but to simply tell you that since they have taken God out of our schools and just about everything else, this country has been downward spiral to where we are at today… “

fattdaddy,
I find your comment somewhat at odds with itself, can you elaborate as to why or how you came to this conclusion?

RE#122319 by Purplewolf on 12/24 at 5:29 pm:

“The biggest threat to humanity (the whole planet and every living thing in it) is organized religion.

Yeow!  Thanks! 

Nice to catch a whiff of knowledge around here once in a while.

Merry Christmyth!

Hey;

Religion like everything else in this world is corrupted…The Union for instance, was a good thing for the people when it was first organized, however, man from the very beginning was money and power hungry, to these kind of people, their money and their power is their god…

Religion is not about God anymore, it’s about fear and confusion…Religion has been perverted with mans own thoughts side by side with the word of God…Like the Roman Catholics, their traditions out weigh the word of God,(not picking on Catholics, just stating a fact)...

As of right now, there is nobody running worth voting for, Why? Because like religion, politics is about money and power, they don’t give two hoots about the American people, they only care about lining their pockets, and that goes for Republicans and Democrats…

Our government has allowed this once great country to be sold right out from under us, with that said, I still believe that this is the best country in the world….So, I am not interested in moving to another country, but to stand and fight what’s wrong in this country…

With any organization, you have extremists, and you have the people that want to make a difference…And religion is no different, I would venture to say that about 95% of religion is corrupt, whereas, the government is 100% corrupt…

I would like to also say that, we are not living in the Old Testament days when it was nothing for God to wipe out an entire civilization because of their disobedience, their perversion, there homosexuality, fornication and adultery, ect., in other words, mans own lusts…We were living under the law then, however, we live under grace today…

But, that doesn’t mean that we can live an disobedient life because we live under grace…I guess by now you have figured I am a little religious…I stand up for the gospel of Christ, not mans doctrine…I am not here to push my beliefs upon anyone here, but to simply tell you that since they have taken God out of our schools and just about everything else, this country has been downward spiral to where we are at today…

Our wonderful government has made this country a laughing stock to the rest of the world…What are the most powerful organizations in the world, Oil & religion…They are what is running this world, it is not we the people as it was originally meant to be, like why the Constitution Of The United States was written for…

However, the bible warns us of these days coming, right before the Lord comes for His children…Of course, I realize, you may or may not believe, that is your choice…You speak of evil as not believing there is, but evil has been here since the beginning…This country has no morels anymore, they have dissipated like God has out of our lives…

Like I said, todays religion is not about God, it’s about money, greed, and power over other peoples lives…For me and my house, we will follow Jesus Christ to the end….

#122261 by Non Credo on 12/24 at 10:01 am

If the intended beneficiaries of our neocon foreign policy are the oil-rich gulf states, why did these nations recently issue a statement condemning US/Israeli plans to bomb Iran? Very obviously it is Tel Aviv and not Dubai whose welfare is dearest to the hearts of the neocons.

If Israel is not yet nirvana, well, the neocons aren’t finished with their project (and anyway, they may never make a silk purse of that sow’s ear, though they may destroy the earth in attempting to do so).

———————

Why do you always have to pull this “Israel shit” on us time and time again? Huh?

Perhaps, stop and consider, gulf states condemning US/Israeli plans to bomb Iran just might just be because they just don’t want any more fucking wars in their neighborhood?

Any “intended beneficiaries of our neocon foreign policy” are corporations and the power structure of the U.S., you know, the military industrial complex. Because, ultimately, it’s all about national security, and that means control of natural resources, like oil, and if we have to screw over a dictator that we used to support, well, we will do that, won’t we? And we need are bombs and guns and planes and ships to do it.

Add into that scenario of a foreign policy based on control of resources, meaning we get as much as we can and we prevent others from getting to much, this “fight over resources,” the same basic “fight over ideology.” There has always been this secondary fight, but it has always been secondary—the U.S. generally never cared about ideology or “human rights” etc. as long as we got what we wanted. That is why we support some dictators, condemn others, and will turn on them at any time (Noriega and Hussein are the obvious examples).

But throw into this mix, the people at the top, who are running the foreign policy, suddenly all being Christians, Dominionists and others, who believe in the second coming of Jesus. Guess what?

You think Christians United For Israel do what they do because the believe in fostering religious freedom in the Middle East? Believe in furthing democracy there?

One can understand, and almost support, fighting for the control of the world’s resources—arguing over how often military intervention should be used, etc.—arguing over if and when to restrict other countries from certain resources or technologies.

But what is going on in Israel, not entirely but substantially, of late, is a powerful Israel lobby, and too many Religious Nuts who believe that land in Israel is where Jesus is going to arrive to save them all!

That is the “project nirvana” that you alude to. These religious nuts are making current events in the Middle East “fit” their twisted interpretation of the Bible—a war with Iran means Biblical fulfillment and the hastening of Jesus’ arrival on land in the Middle East—turf that they want control of.

# 122212 Frank:
The biggest threat to humanity(the whole planet and every living thing in it)is organized religion.

Children do need to be taught to think for themselves, along with the brainwashed or brain dead adults. The dumbing down of America needs to be reversed. Unfortunately to many people are embracing this religious state of non-thinking, leave it to God to do everything for them or give them what they need. Well, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. There are those people who claim religious values or beliefs who do nothing for themselves and yes they get what they need, but it is not God who does it for them, it is their families, friends or others who feel sorry for them and therefore do it, yet they still credit God for it.

As for the religious nutjobs taking control of this country, expect the stupidity level to raise drastically. After all God forbid Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, according to a book of hearsay written hundreds of years after the so called event took place, handed down like gossip thur the ages. Would anyone who has been taught to think trust this worn out gossip as absolute truth and the Word of God.  Then you have to ask yourself why would God want his creations to be stupid and ignorant, remain like a baby their whole life time. True it is easier to control the uneducated and afraid, but after awhile to continue to maintain this ruse is insanity.

I have had Jehovah’s Witness followers come to my house and they believe that the only book that should be taught in the schools is the bible, nothing else. A little to radical. They also have no tolerance of non members and shun family members or friends who in their view of Jehovah teachings have committed a sin. If the bible were the only book taught in the schools, the death toll in those schools will rise higher than Columbine, as the bible teaches it is okay to kill others who do not believe as you do, or if you come from another place, or is they decide you are a sinner, or a child makes fun of someone, or you are an adulterer or homosexual, or a number of other things God decides is to be eliminated.

I find it strange that the God these people believe in is perfect and can do no wrong and never makes a mistake and that he creates everything on the planet, then how do they explain all the undesirable things their made now God wants destroyed by using humans, animals, natural disasters to destroy his mistakes which he doesn’t make. And don’t give us the devil or evil line, it has been used to much and worn thin a long time ago.

Remember Germany was a Christian nation when Hitler was doing his thing. In fact the people at first embraced him. They woke up to late.

The history channel had a show: Night of the Long Knives, about Hitlers beginnings and it is starting to look a lot like the groundwork that Hitler did that America is now starting to see. But then what did we expect with Bush- both of them, in the white house. The patriarch of the Bush family was a Hitler supporter. Now that’s scary.

Mike Huckabee sold out his base amongst ordinary people by advocating the replacement of the progressive income tax with a regressive consumption tax.

Well, as frightening as this political/religious ideology is, it does bring good news: the evangelical right is split, which weakens their voting power. Also, it gives much more credibility and context to Ron Paul’s recent comment on Sinclair Lewis’ take on fascism. The fact that the f-word has even been brought into the political discourse is very important for its defeat. I believe we are at a critical point in this nation where the political structure is weak and could go in any direction that there is a large enough movement to take it. Let’s just hope it’s not this one.

” Where is the Neo Con Nirvana promised by Bush?”

  I think it is Dubai, where the oligarchs will relocate to when the time is right.

Where is the Neo Con Nirvana promised by Bush?

Dubai.

Another lesson from my experience as a union officer, that may be of some cheer to Cyrean and other (it’s the season for this sort of thing, after all).  My union’s (the National Union of Journalists, if you really want to know) General Secretary gave me great personal support, and said a couple of things I’ve never forgotten. He advised me that it might be best for me to give the loonies a chance to do themselves what I had been refusing to do, as he said to me: “Sometimes you’ve just got to stand aside and watch them f*** it up.”

The other piece of advice was: never to promise your members something you couldn’t deliver.

So, yes, the Republicans have used the uneducated Christian fundamentalists as voting booth fodder, perhaps not so much promising to deliver things as keeping them angry over abortion, gay rights, etc. - isues on which they could never deliver what their supporters wanted. Now those chickens are coming home to roost big time. But then again, the fundamentalists can stand on their platform, and maybe they can get their man into the White House. But can their man deliver? That is the question I think you should ponder.

Great Article on so many levels…

“He wrote that Huckabee’s candidacy “broadly repudiates core Republican policies such as free trade, low taxes, the essential legitimacy of America’s corporate entities and the market system allocating wealth and opportunity.” National Review’s Rich Lowry wrote that “like [Howard] Dean, his nomination would represent an act of suicide by his party.” Let’s hope he gets the nominiation, because America would be much better off without the republican party.

Mr. Hedges, gets it, and isn’t afraid to speak the truth.

We have been gutted by the plutocracy, and American’s are facing an economic disaster the likes of which our country has never faced.

Where is the Neo Con Nirvana promised by Bush?

I am a liberal-minded Arkansawyer who has lived under Mike Huckabee’s governorship since he took over from Jim Guy Tucker. I have little doubt that Huckabee is cowtowing to the evangelical right. Heck, it’s primary season. Candidates always play to the wings in the primaries then to the middle in the general election fight. Huckabee is desperate for money and I’d imagine he is having lunch with all sorts of folks who’ll have trouble in a few months getting him to call them back.

What is interesting on the Arkansas scene is Huckabee has identified with the more secular, business-Republican side of the party. He persuaded John Paul Hammerschmidt, a retired longtime Congressman, to head up the party at one point to keep it out of the hands of Christian wingnuts. On a state level, Huckabee has been far preferable to crazies like Jim Holt (ran for U.S. Senate in 2004) and Jim Bob Duggar. I suspect that a President Huckabee (still a scary idea to me) will be far different from candidate Huckabee. By that I mean he will serve the corporations, too, while spouting populist religiosity as a smokescreen.

Joe R is correct about the ultimate nature of the problem. One part of the solution is so obvious, yet frustratingly difficult to implement due to the politics of education. Any solution has to start with education of children at the elementary level.

I’m not just talking about science classes either, i.e. memorization of scientific principles and theories, which a parent can refute at home with a religious argument that may sound simpler and more convincing to a young child. I am talking about teaching children how to think.

We need to take the classes in logic, reason, and critical thinking that are currently found in college and high school level education and adapt them for elementary level education. This should be part of a mandatory federal curriculum. Arming children with critical thinking skills at an early age can help to insulate them from all kinds of bad ideas later in life, ranging from the anti-science of religious fundamentalism to the equally-bankrupt postmodern relativism that is rampant in many college English departments. Once children learn how to recognize the flawed arguments of those that would indoctrinate them into irrational belief systems, they will be better equipped to resist, and can rely more on their own reasoning,  instead of deferring to others.

So what can you do? For starters, vote for a Presidential candidate and politicians at all levels who will strengthen education, science in particular, and not someone who wants to abolish the Department of Education, weaken Federal education standards, or cut education spending. Lobby your local school boards to implement changes to curriculum that will include critical thinking skills for younger children. If you have kids, buy books or DVD courses on these topics and teach them at home.  These may be the most important lessons you ever give them.

#Chris Hedges: “They are taking the party into new, uncharted territory. And they presage, especially with looming economic turmoil, the rise of a mass movement that could demolish what is left of American democracy and set the stage for a Christian fascism….”

Is this not exactly what happened to IRAN a few decades back? The legitimate government was usurped and a puppet dictatorship installed (the imperialist ‘Neocon’ Shah). It was subsequently overthrown by a determined and furious religious fundamentalist upsurge.

Just transpose GWB for Shah Reza and Dominionist Christians for Moslems and you have the very Transylvanian transvestite devil in person - Camelot become Bran Castle (Dracula!) - see video http://www.infotravelromania.ro/en/castle.html and scroll for pics.

#Chris Hedges: “Huckabee is different. He has tapped into the rage and fury of the working class, dispossessed and abandoned by the mainstream Democrats and Republicans. And he refuses to make the ideology of the Christian right, with its dark contempt for democratic traditions and intolerance of nonbelievers, a handmaiden of the corporate establishment….

Thus, Huckabee may become the American equivalent of the Iranian Islamic (not Islamist) Ayatolla Khomenei. Ironically, the very person the USA wanted to ‘nuke’ back in 1980 when the last oil crisis was inconveniencing motorists. How much worse it all is now…..

#Chris Hedges: “It signals the rise of a truly radical, even revolutionary force in American politics, of which Huckabee may be one of the tamer and less frightening examples…... Under Christian dominion, America will no longer be a sinful and fallen nation but one in which the Ten Commandments form the basis of our legal system, in which creationism and “Christian values” form the basis of our educational system….. Women will be removed from the work force to stay at home, and all those deemed insufficiently Christian will be denied citizenship…

If Hedges’ statements are correct, how is that any different from radical and fundamentalist versions of Islam and its educational indoctrination in madrassas and veiled society, etc etc ? In all, the politicians who do succeed won’t care very much as long as thye are in power, uhh…...

•  #122172 by 13 Martyrs
I wonder what the consequences will be of the radical Christian Right gaining political currency, occupying the White House, and taking over the “war on terror.”
13 Martyrs,
I was wondering exactly the same thing myself, when I was reading it. Specifically what Douglas Chalmers has reiterated…
•  “…..who understands a theological nature of this war as we’re fighting a radical religion in Islam.”

From day one, this war against an imaginary (or .000001%) of Islam, has been billed as this ‘war on terror’, as if ‘radical Islamists’ even made up anywhere CLOSE to the radical element of Christianity. That’s why 9/11 had to be blamed on ‘radical Islamic’ terrorists, when in fact I’m sure it wasn’t carried out by them. Even if it was, it still represents such a minute fraction of the community of Islam.
So, what the thugs have created is a war OF terror, against an imaginary enemy, (as well as the rest of us) and it’s already grown beyond dangerous, which we see from the statements these people make. They’ve declared war against 1.3 billion people, world wide, and so what should we EXPECT to be the repercussions?
Man oh man. I don’t know what to think.

There is a non-profit organization with a proven track record of opposing Christian Dominionism in America for over 60 years:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

http://www.au.org/

We need them more than ever. Please give them a visit and consider joining or supporting the cause.

•  #122180 by secretarybird on 12/24 at 3:47 am
(Unregistered commenter)
Secretarybird
Thanks for commiserating with me. (us)

At least we know what to expect, and hopefully, I can warn the rest.  But, I’ll tell ya, none of them were paying much attention to me when all of this was going down. Now, all of these years down the road, some of joined the Evangelicals, (or at least they’re moving closer that way) and the rest still haven’t connected the dots. Or, if they have, they feel helpless to do much about it at this point.

The thing of it is, you made such a good point, in that we are 90% of the people. (or, I don’t know..by now, here…it’s probably down to around 75% - it’s pretty amazing how so many have become swept up in the madness of the Religious movement) . Another poster made a comment recently that when times start getting as bad as they are, it seems like so many more folks tune in to the religiosity. They don’t necessarily start out with the real hard core stuff, but I’ve watched so many move closer and closer to it.

At any rate, we DO become the collateral damage. I became part of it during the very beginning, so to be honest, it’s not affecting me as badly now, as I see for so many others, if only because…well, I’m over the shock and I’m still surviving. Kind of like a flu shot I guess. Or, maybe just such a really bad case of it, that there isn’t a whole lot more to lose, and so I’ve ‘adapted’. When ya hit the bottom, everything else is up. So, I’ve had time to sort of struggle along.

I do worry about the others though. So far, I’ve avoided the “I told you so”, since that surely won’t help anything. Then again, for those who STILL haven’t figured it out, a couple of swift kicks might be in order.  But, if they haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not sure anything is going to help.

Meantime, I’m probably safe for a while, if only because I made my way back home to California there at the start of the real coup d’état. It’s marginally safer here, at least in my spot. Still, it’s only a matter of time, so I’m keeping my passport handy. Hope I don’t have to start wearing it around my neck. Not sure that would even do any good anyway, unless I wrap myself in a cross. I’m definitely not ready for that.  I admit there wouldn’t be any sincerity to it, since these folks have really started to piss me off.

#122168 by Outraged
Outraged,

I agree. This is not to be ignored. Like you, I’ve watched it transform, and it’s been frightening. I’ve been able to actually SEE the manipulation in people that I’ve known for years, to be moderates. Like me. And, while I can’t say that I’ve become a rabid atheist, (after a lifetime as a Catholic lite) it has forced me to pay more attention to how this has all come about, and the political connections have been there from the start of course. But, it’s like TAKEN OVER the corporate world that I once knew, and that just continues to blow my mind.

So no, this is not to be ignored. If anything, it’s already been ignored too long.
And, I agree. It’s a great piece by Chris. I’m hoping it will force some folks to pay attention.

#122172 by 13 Martyrs on 12/24: “I wonder what the consequences will be of the radical Christian Right gaining political currency, occupying the White House, and taking over the “war on terror.”...”

“Reclaiming America for Christ” will be the new slogan for the 21st century CRUSADES and the 1,000 year Reich!

Quote Hedges: The Dominionist movement, which seeks to cloak itself in the mantle of the Christian faith and American patriotism….. departs from traditional evangelicalism. It seeks to redefine traditional democratic and Christian terms and concepts to fit an ideology that calls on the radical church to take political power….

#122170 by cyrena on 12/24: “THEY empowered this gang of thugs, and now that they finally realize they’ve been had, we ALL have to pay their revenge, except the ones that have wrecked all of the havoc….”

No, they most probably won’t realize it, sadly, cyrena….....

Quote Vander Plaats, Huckabee’s Iowa campaign manager: “...Here’s a guy, a former pastor, who understands a theological nature of this war as we’re fighting a radical religion in Islam.”

True fascism is a bourgeois phenomenon, and the legal foundation is already in place. There is a historical basis for the rise of fundamentalism combined with nationalism in this country. The dumbing down of Americans and the cynical stoking of Evangelicism may be largely responsible for creating this monster but it must be defeated before it attains power. Most Americans aren’t fundamentalists but given the inability to have legitimate elections, the precarious state of the economy and the reality that these folks have taken over much of the military as well as having Blackwater blackshirts adds up to a frightening scenario.

I wonder what the consequences will be of the radical Christian Right gaining political currency, occupying the White House, and taking over the “war on terror.”

http://13martyrs.blogspot.com/

Excellent piece, and scary as hell. (no pun intended). Chris finishes up with this, and for the atheists and agnostic among us, if the rest of the article didn’t scare the shit out of you, this should…

•  In the end, however, I do not blame Huckabee or the tens of millions of hapless Christians—40 percent of the Republican electorate—who hear his words and rejoice. I blame the corporate state, those who thought they could disempower and abuse the working class, rape the country, build a rapacious oligarchy and never pay a political price.

The tens of millions of hapless Christians are not the ONLY ones among the working class who’ve been abused, disempowered, and raped by the oligarchy. The rest of us, (who knew better) and had to watch them as they haplessly and stupidly put these people in power, (and refused to act to get rid of them, and still basically refuse to act to get rid of them) will be taking out their revenge on all the rest of us, who’ve been equally abused.

THEY empowered this gang of thugs, and now that they finally realize they’ve been had, we ALL have to pay their revenge, except the ones that have wrecked all of the havoc.

So yeah Chris, blame the corporate state, but what about the rest of us? Talk about getting it from both sides. First the corps screw us, and now the Raving Mad Christies are gonna finish us off. Somehow, this doesn’t seem quite fair.

Death be to all of us if ANY rethug gets back in the WH. Ron Paul is just as anxious to do this very same thing. Shut down the courts, demolish civil rights, public education, and all of the rest.

HELLO….is anybody out there? We can’t let the repugs get back in the WH. I keep telling ya’ll, I’m not ready for the ‘after life’ yet.

RE: #122167 by JC1989 on 12/24

While I can’t comment on Chris Hedges book, I can tell you that he is talking about RADICAL RELIGIONS as opposed to Christians in general.  There is a considerable difference.  Most people have experienced “moderate” religions which is I guess a matter of perspective.  However, radical religious groups and fundamentalists are very different and this situation is extremely volitile considering the current state of our government.  It’s not that we’ve not had them before, it’s just that now they are being manipulated and used.  If this isn’t addressed in a reasonable way it could become an extremely toxic situation.

THANK YOU CHRIS.  This is one of, if not the best reports I’ve EVER read on this topic.  I watched this issue as it grew and transformed. This is exactly where I saw it leading.  I don’t consider that I could have put it so concise and exacting as you have however I arrived at the same eventuality as one supposed the outcome of enciting these dangerous elements.

Having had much experience with a fundamentalist religion I understand exactly how they internalize these issues and exactly why and how far they’ll go to attain “righteousness”.  For them this isn’t about reason, sympathy, love or any of those things.  It is about doing God’s will.  To them, if God want’s you to destroy those that are “wicked” they will do it.  Not necessarily because they want to, but because they must.  It is God’s will and it is right.  You do not question God.

Radical religion and all fundamentalists are profoundly facist.  But followers are blinded to that because they are POSITIVE they are NOT doing man’s will but God’s.  Corporations use and abuse them precisely because they are so easily manipulated by the mere mention of right and wrong.  Remember, it is not for them to question authority because authority is God given.

They are TRAINED to reject ANY dissenting viewpoint as evil no matter how logical it is or how confidident they are in the messenger.  They KNOW that the devil is out there embodied in otherwise “nice” people and is dangerous.  They are extremely afraid of those who are not afraid of God as they see this as a personification of the devil himself.

The most alarming thing is these are otherwise (at least many of them) “nice” people.  It was the same with the Nazi’s.  They didn’t beat THEIR children or THEIR wives.  They fed them, they lived in very decent if not upper class homes.  They collected art, they dined out, they did all the things any “normal” person does, until they got to work.  Even in this regard they usually GAVE the orders as opposed to carrying those orders out.

My guess is that the “followers” in the lower ranks are the ones with which we need to “connect”. As it stands to reason that these will be the ones instucted to carry out any atrocities.