Using Religion to Spread Hate, Fear and Racism

This morning I received an Email. You can read it below. The black text is the original email. The red is my response.

I dare you to read this whole thing. Come on, trade the lies for a little truth.

Original email statements in black, my response in red.

This is chilling

The only thing chilling is the author’s twisting of the facts to suit their own fear that somehow America is becoming less Christian.

In1952 President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer."

TRUE. And doing so was bordering on being unconstitutional. It was clearly a Christian/Evangelical Day of Prayer. If America is a nation that prides itself on Religious Freedom, we should not institute a “Christian” or any other religion prayer day.

In 1988, President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.

FALSE. Reagan only made the Truman day a permanent occasion. GW Bush reveled in the day, and made it a grandiose side show for the Evangelicals, attempting to reinforce how important religion influenced Republican life.

In June 2007, (then) Presidential candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA was no longer a Christian nation.

TRUE. When was it ever? The author betrays himself by taking this out of context. I listened to the whole speech. I have to paraphrase because I cannot locate a transcript. I will try to be as verbatim as I can: “The United States is no longer a Christian nation, not just…it is a nation of Christians and Jews, Muslim and Buddhist, and non-believers as well. Even if we could in some way, remove all the non-Christians, whose version of Christianity would we teach? Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical? Should we practice the Old Testament that approves of slavery, or gives rules for stoning your daughter, or that Shellfish is an abomination?” (See the whole speech on YouTube)

This year President Obama, canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House under the rouse of "not wanting to offend anyone"

FALSE. Please read the official Presidential Proclamation instead of the lies against Obama:

Obama's National Day of Prayer Proclamation

Thursday May 7, 2009

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2009

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Throughout our Nation's history, Americans have come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer. In 1775, as the Continental Congress began the task of forging a new Nation, colonists were asked to observe a day of quiet humiliation and prayer. Almost a century later, as the flames of the Civil War burned from north to south, President Lincoln and the Congress once again asked the American people to pray as the fate of their Nation hung in the balance.

It is in that spirit of unity and reflection that we once again designate the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer. Let us remember those who came before us, and let us each give thanks for the courage and compassion shown by so many in this country and around the world.

On this day of unity and prayer, let us also honor the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. We celebrate their commitment to uphold our highest ideals, and we recognize that it is because of them that we continue to live in a Nation where people of all faiths can worship or not worship according to the dictates of their conscience.

Let us also use this day to come together in a moment of peace and goodwill. Our world grows smaller by the day, and our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted; to make peace where there is strife; and to lift up those who have fallen on hard times. As we observe this day of prayer, we remember the one law that binds all great religions together: the Golden Rule, and its call to love one another; to understand one another; and to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-307, as amended, has called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a "National Day of Prayer."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 7, 2009, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon Americans to pray in thanksgiving for our freedoms and blessings and to ask for God's continued guidance, grace, and protection for this land that we love.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

On September 25, 2009 from 4 am until 7 pm, a National Day of Prayer for the Muslim religion was held on Capitol Hill, beside the White House. There were over 50,000 Muslims that day in DC.

TRUE: Americans of all faiths and causes regularly gather on Capitol Hill. It is an American tradition. I went to an anti-abortion rally there as a kid. The gathering of Muslims was a peaceful prayer day that went off without a hitch, disturbance or single arrest.

I guess it doesn't matter if "Christians" are offended by this event - we obviously don't count as "anyone" anymore.

HUH? I feel silly even addressing this one. EVERY PRESIDENT we have had in the last 50-100 years has been a CHRISTIAN of some sort. Even JFK was Catholic.

The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian. Especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted they should be annihilated.

HUH? If you are adhering to Christian concepts do you not also believe that anyone who does not accept Christ is destined for eternal torture in a pit of brimstone, fire, where worms eat your body but you never die!! Not to mention, the bible commands us not to be fearful, but full of faith. Fear is the enemy of faith. And perfect love drives out all fear.

This is not a rumor - Go to the website to confirm this info:
( http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/ )

Pay particular attention to the very bottom of the page: "OUR TIME HAS COME"

TRUE. Is it not time that Muslims can gather and pray peacefully? There are more Muslims in the world than Christians. Many of them are Americans. Would you protest or have fear if 50,000 Jewish Americans gather for a prayer event on Capitol Hill? Oh, that’s right, if they don’t accept Christ they are headed for Hell too. Wow, tough religion.

I hope that this information will stir your spirit.

YES. Stir my spirit to reject spurious, unfounded claims spread by Obama-haters and others who cannot stand having an effective LEADER in office instead of a White, Republican, nearly illiterate puppet in office. It seems some Americans have forgotten what an actual leader looks and acts like. The author is using religion against you; to lie to you, and to shape a fearful view of our country’s future.

The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Good Verse. Used often in Christian Circles. If the author would consider this verse in context, it is from the Old Testament, written to the JEWS and NOT to Christians. Although we liberally apply the parts of the Old Testament we like, and conveniently leave out the parts we don’t like, as in stoning TO A BRUTAL DEATH your daughter if she is found to not stain the bed sheets with the blood of her hymen on her wedding night, or kill a man who has had an accident and lost his genitals, or never the cut the sides of your beard, nor your locks (hair locks), or command women to cover their heads while in church, and for women to NEVER speak aloud in church, (she should ask her husband questions when they are home), or how about the correct way to keep slaves. Paul told us if you are a slave, and get “saved”, you should stay a slave and be content.

We must pray for our nation, our communities, our families, and especially our children.

Good advice, if you believe in prayer, as many Americans of ALL FAITHS already do. Luckily, you don’t have to believe in it to be an American. That is the beauty of our country, which is NOT a theocracy, as some would contend.

They are the ones that are going to suffer the most if we don't PRAY!

OH THE CHILDREN, THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!!!!! A last-dash effort to excite your emotions because much of the rest of this email is simply insidious lies designed to scare the simple minded and forward the agenda of the purveyors of racism and hate.


May God have mercy...IN GOD WE TRUST.

Which God would that be; Christian God, Allah, Buddha, Jewish God. The term is ambiguous on purpose. Luckily in America, you don’t have to say.

Please pass this on, maybe someone, somehow can figure out a way to put America back on the map as it was when we were growing up, a safe place to live and by the Ten Commandments and Pledge of Allegiance.

Enough said. Sufficiently debunked.

Now, I will rely on that internet technique to guilt you into forwarding THIS email to your friends.

Let me quote of my favorites, (he says with a heaping of sardonic wit): If you don’t forward this email you don’t love Jesus, and you are not a real Christian.

Figaro’s Pizza-TERRIBLE!

Figaro's Pizza just opened in our area, so I decided to give it a try. It is possible the worst excuse for pizza I have ever had. I ordered a large sausage and pepperoni.

It was bland and uninspired.

Although they claim the dough is made fresh each morning, it may as well have been frozen. It was tough and lifeless. The sausage was like little spicy rabbit pellets. The sauce was flavorless.

The cheesy breadsticks were even worse. Again, heavy dough, too little cheese on top, poorly cut. We could not pull them apart without making a ripped up mess.

To add insult, the breadsticks came with a portion control cup of Heinz Marinara Sauce-bleck!

Pizza Hut pan pizza, Subway's new pizza and even little Caesar's are much better than this.

Sad, I was looking forward to a new great pizza place. I guess I will keep looking.

-Ben

Don’t Give Me That Old Timey Religion

There is no god.

The calendar has rolled over to the twenty-first century and god is officially dead.

He has failed to show himself, (or herself), beyond the confines of outdated books written by superstitious men and women, and we must therefore conclude that god is either a machination of the human mind or an illusion altogether, invented to explain the yet to be explained.

The name of god has been used throughout history to subject others to slavery, self-condemnation and all sorts of treachery with impunity. One only needs to consider the Salem witch trials or the murder of thousands during the Spanish Inquisition to understand how mankind has learned to kill, rape, steal and pillage, all in the name of an all-loving deity. The logical mind must see this contradiction.

Some may argue that faith in a god is not logical, or somehow outside or superior to logic. In this case, the argument can end right here. There is no use for logic against a concept that is purported to be outside of logic. This is where many of the "faithful" stop. If it is a matter of faith, supposedly, that is all that they require.

I will concede that if that is enough to bring comfort to them, then so be it. This researcher by no means wishes to diminish anyone's belief system, so long as that system does not deprive others of their basic human rights. Sadly, even in the United States of America, which was founded on the concept of religious freedom, and indeed the freedom from religion, religious beliefs are used to subjugate scores of American citizens that do not subscribe to those ideas.

This must come to an end. The abuses of the theocratic Bush administration, if not over, have at least been stripped of their power. The sun is shining, and Americans are hopeful about the future, even in the face of a looming economic meltdown.

Science has failed to supply us with a definitive explanation on the origins of human life. Try as he has, Darwin has given us only a theoretical framework in which to work. In all our musings and preponderances, we have yet to fully understand how we came about.

The work of Stephen Hawkings and others has proven beyond doubt that the universe is ever expanding. Those same calculations have allowed us to understand that the universe sprang out of a "big bang" that occurred at a certain point in time. Residual microwave radiation proves this theory. This theory has become something of a bastard axiom in our time.

Another bastardized concept is the sugary expression, "I am spiritual, but not religious." This empty statement usually means the individual has no religious or spiritual devotion, but only wish hollowly they had. This appears to be a passing fad, thankfully.

Where does that leave us then? Can we create a world where religion and government are truly separate? Probably not, is the answer I offer up. Can we revisit this concept? Church and state were separated to prevent the government from encroaching on the personal freedom from religion mentioned earlier. In the 21^st century, we see the very opposite happening; religion is encroaching on government to an alarming degree.

Decisions regarding euthanasia, abortion, marriage and civil rights for all Americans are under attack by those who would wish to see their personal belief system forced on the country as a whole. The disgusting antics of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas are a testament that fanaticism is alive and well. "God Hates Fags" is practically their church motto, plastered on picket signs.

The church keeps track and celebrates how many days Matthew Sheppard has been in "hell". Shepard was cruelly beaten with a pistol by two young men in Laramie Wyoming. He was tied, half naked to a fence, in the middle of nowhere, and left to die. It was done because he was gay. His mom and dad, Dennis Shepard and Judy Shepard were devastated. Matthew was 21.

Although the aforementioned examples are from the more extreme end of the spectrum, they are by no means isolated events, even to one country or one religion.

Women and children have been oppressed for centuries by "faiths" that diminish their worth as individuals. In many places under Islamic rule, women are not permitted to attend school, or even show their face or eyes in public.

The Koran opens much like the Old Testament in the Christian bible, (a term disliked by Jews because the implication is that the New Testament replaced their testament), trying to distinguish the chosen from the lost. If you are not one of the chosen, (a believer), your destiny is death, hell fire and torture.

I believe it is safe to say that scaring someone into believing something just to save themselves from death and torture is not faith at all, but a scare tactic up on stilts. Believe in this—or die. What decision would you make?

One may argue that religion is needed to guide our morality. Is it not safe to say that murder, rape and stealing are just bad decisions in their own right? Do you need a religion to tell you that if someone murders a loved one that great damage is done? That your loss is incalculable? Profound?

Some turn to religion for a sense of worth. It is a weak mind that needs to believe his life has significance, or that he will live forever, even though there is not a single shed of proof in thousands of years of millions of humans searching for that very answer.

It is only the human ego that believes he is too important to be turned into dust along with the pigs, cows and every other creature under this gaseous star we call the sun. Religion does pretend to offer other worldly benefits once you die on earth.

Muslim extremists claim to be in possession of many virgins if they die for Allah, but they are not permitted any sex here on earth. Perhaps a little bit of sex and alcohol will take the murderous edge off. One must wonder if the virgins are made to wear burkas, even in sexy virgin heaven.

Is it not apparent that a new model of community must emerge? Accordance must be reached to promote civility and peaceful cohabitation on the earth, regardless of what brand of religious knick-knack is hanging on our wall over the fireplace.

 

 

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh should shut the fuck up. He is irrelevant.

Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney should shut the fuck up. He is nothing now.

DON'T give me that old time religion....

Manic Panic Vampire Red

I cracked open a jar of Manic Panic today for the first time in over 10 years. I could not believe the smell. It was almost like patchooli. I was immeidately transported back to my club/alternative 90's days. Wow. Crack open for a sniff today!