If Jesus or his followers hoped to put an end to any future claims of messiahship, they di
If Jesus or his followers hoped to put an end to any future claims of messiahship, they didn't foresee (how could they, God works in "mysterious ways" after all) how "impostors" viz. Wayne Bent, David Koresh, or Satya Say Baba would sycophant Jesus' words of "wisdom" (common to lower Asia) to either impersonate him or to claim he has returned in their "humble" or "sinless" tabernacle. To all of those keeping tabs, allow me to add (with the help of ABC news, thanks!) one "Vissarion" otherwise known by Sergey Torop. He is the leader and "teacher" of an isolated coterie in the Minusinsk Depression of the Siberian taiga. Among many common threads, religious leadership such as he, especially demonstrated in "cults," use Christian, and Hindu before it, ideology to gain membership:
-Prophetic utterance only found with one man or one group who lead the people to a self-sustaining, communal, and safe place. For whatever reason this isolation will allow the members to better follow the leader's admonitions and maintain purity.
-The end of days rallying call in which the leader with his counselors or the leader alone or the whole organization will either die or transform so as to leave this wretched state and unify with something else more grand or mysterious.
Bent, Koresh, Hawkins and this man use a variation on these passe and worn themes. As I alluded before, this ought not to be a new concept to anyone who adheres to most religious followings. Primitive Mormons, Westboro Baptists, and Sun Myung Moon followers (called "moonies" by evangelicals) establish alarmingly similar if not identical, I suggest here, Orwellian techniques to maintain membership.
It seems that once the spectacle and pomp of cultish dictum have all disappeared and been tossed by forced infusion of reason, we get something like the incapacitated Catholic church. I submit that the Mormonism is in the middle of such a transformation. One doesn't hear much about other gods and world "organization" any more within their CES (Church Education System). Most lessons center on more "moderate" themes found in something like the Catholic curriculum. No longer does the president of the church wear a black uniform with a long beard, but he might even opt for a cream double-breasted business suit and a more familiar shaven visage. As Gregory Prince points out, David McKay (the ninth president of the LDS church) can largely be compared to Atatürk or Trikoupis in that David has attempted to modernize his cultish group into a truly mainstream organization thus shadowing the trend of Catholicism's Vatican II and Anglicanism's Lambeth Conference.
Acceptance of modernity means conformity and change. All atheists require is a further use of said reason. Atheists have considered the current claims held and rejected them with all available tools of reason, not a portion of them. There are many truths atheists cannot and ought not dispute. These include the equal dignity of men and women, the sanctity (in the nonclassical sense) of life, the right of man to not be a slave. These ideas, nevertheless, are not from "cut-flower" acquisition as Shmuley Boteach would have us belief. No, they come from an innate sense of right and wrong that was so eloquently discovered in an ancient conversation between Euthyphro and Socrates. Let us not toss their scholarship for the burning bush and the 10 loaves. Let us speak and live honestly in all venues and epochs.
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Sad But Funny Church Moments of False Prophets Deceiving
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Added: 3 months ago
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We have some new forums up for debating @ http://www.mindusion.com/forums
In this July
We have some new forums up for debating @ http://www.mindusion.com/forums
In this July 21st, 2008 interview, Richard Dawkins appears on Al Jazeera English for a discussion with Riz Khan
Update: Al Jazeera uploads a higher-quality version, watch it here!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WB4BWPeyMpQ
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Debate it here @ http://www.mindusion.com/forums
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Army Spc. Jeremy H
Debate it here @ http://www.mindusion.com/forums
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist but is now an atheist
- His sudden lack of faith cost him his military career and put his life at risk, he says
- Hall sued the Defense Department; claims military is a Christian organization
- Pentagon official: Complaints about evangelizing are "relatively rare"
jeremyKANSAS CITY, Kansas (CNN) -- Army Spc. Jeremy Hall was raised Baptist.
Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.
He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.
Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.
His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.
In March, Hall filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, among others. In the suit, Hall claims his rights to religious freedom under the First Amendment were violated and suggests that the United States military has become a Christian organization.
"I think it's utterly and totally wrong. Unconstitutional," Hall said.
Hall said there is a pattern of discrimination against non-Christians in the military.
Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, "Do you believe in Jesus now?"
Hall isn't seeking compensation in his lawsuit -- just the guarantee of religious freedom in the military. Eventually, Hall was sent home early from Iraq and later returned to Fort Riley in Junction City, Kansas, to complete his tour of duty.
He also said he missed out on promotions because he is an atheist.
"I was told because I can't put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn't make a good leader," Hall said.
Michael Weinstein, a retired senior Air Force officer and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is suing along with Hall. Weinstein said he's been contacted by more than 8,000 members of the military, almost all of them complaining of pressure to embrace evangelical Christianity.
"Our Pentagon, our Pentacostalgon, is refusing to realize that when you put the uniform on, there's only one religious faith: patriotism," Weinstein said.
Religious discrimination is a violation of the First Amendment and is also against military policy. The Pentagon refused to discuss specifics of Hall's case -- citing the litigation. But Deputy Undersecretary Bill Carr said complaints of evangelizing are "relatively rare." He also said the Pentagon is not pushing one faith among troops.
"If an atheist chose to follow their convictions, absolutely that's acceptable," said Carr. "And that's a point of religious accommodation in department policy, one may hold whatever faith, or may hold no faith."
Weinstein said he doesn't buy it and points to a promotional video by a group called Christian Embassy. The video, which shows U.S. generals in uniform, was shot inside the Pentagon. The generals were subsequently reprimanded.
Another group, the Officers' Christian Fellowship, has representatives on nearly all military bases worldwide. Its vision, which is spelled out on the organization's Web site, reads, "A spiritually transformed military, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform empowered by the Holy Spirit."
Weinstein has a different interpretation.
"Their purpose is to have Christian officers exercise Biblical leadership to raise up a godly army," he says.
But Carr said the military's position is clear.
"Proselytizing or advancing a religious conviction is not what the nation would have us do and it's not what the military does," Carr said.
The U.S. Justice Department is expected to respond to Hall's lawsuit this week. In the meantime, he continues to work in the military police unit at Fort Riley and plans to leave as soon as his tour of duty expires next year.
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Added: 2 weeks ago
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Evan Solomon, a McGill University graduate with a masters in religious studies, goes head
Evan Solomon, a McGill University graduate with a masters in religious studies, goes head to head with Richard Dawkins with cookie cutter Atheism interview questions and reveals a deep misunderstanding of evolutionary biology along with a lack of journalistic research.
Soloman's co-host Carole MacNeil, in response to Dawkins' calm reasonable responses, reacts with frustration and an inclination toward violence.
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Added: 7 months ago
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Richard Dawkins - Science and the New Atheism
December 7, 2007
Richard Dawkins, consid
Richard Dawkins - Science and the New Atheism
December 7, 2007
Richard Dawkins, considered one of the world's most influential scientists, is the first holder of the Charles Simonyi professorship of the public understanding of science at Oxford University and the recipient of a number of awards for his writings and for his science, including the International Cosmos Prize, the Kistler Prize, and the Shakespeare Prize. He is the author of a number of critically acclaimed books, such as The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Unweaving the Rainbow, The Devil's Chaplain, and The Ancestor's Tale. His most recent title is the best selling The God Delusion which is now out in paperback.
Check out Point of Inquiry:
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/
Richard Dawkins:
http://richarddawkins.net/
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Added: 4 weeks ago
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