The deluded religious belief that any people or nation or church is a "chosen" people is the root of almost all our troubles. So is the lunacy of believing in "Truth" revealed through one special prophet to one special peoples and/or tribe, be they Jews, Muslims or American Evangelical Christians, or conservative Roman Catholics who believe in the special primacy of their popes.
Eliminate willful self-serving tribal religious delusion from the globe and there might be hope for the survival of the human race. Combine tribalism and religious conviction with nukes and the "right" to exploit the earth and disaster looms.
It's no accident that the most dangerous cultures today are also the most religiously observant societies. The ultra-religiously observant USA embraces perpetual war as a way of life. With our notion of "exceptionalism," we fear the "other" who might challenge our notion of having been chosen by God for some special task.
This is a great article and I urge you to spend the time to read all of it. However I will let you know that this next part is my favorite portion.
Someday these "special" and "chosen" countries will cease to exist as will all nation states. Someday they will not even be remembered because all things pass from time into oblivion, nor will their "holy" books and "holy" places exist forever, simple geology will take care of that. What makes them dangerous today is their shared religious delusion that they are somehow essential and eternal.
I know that for religious people this is a very difficult concept to grasp, that their nation, and even their religion, may someday disappear into the mists of time, but anybody who has studied even junior high school history cannot deny the reality of that statement.
I remember once making a born again Christian hopping mad at me for referring to his religion as a mythology.
"No it is not!" he said.
"You're right." I replied. "It's not a mythology, today. But someday it WILL be, unless of course it is not remembered at all."
I was kind of a jerk in those days, and loved to rattle people's cages concerning their sacred cows. I am much more mellow, and less combative, these days but the truth of my prediction is no less valid.
What has to be remembered is that thousands of years ago armies of "chosen" warriors marched to war after giving offerings to,and receiving the blessing from, Gods that you and I have never even heard of. Yet they had complete faith that these long forgotten deities would keep them safe, or provide a place for their spirit to reside if they were felled in battle.
Millions have died under the swords of armies who believed that their gods had given them license to destroy those who dared to worship at "sacrilegious" altars. And that faith allowed them to do so without even a hint of guilt at the wholesale murder of entire civilizations.
Now be honest, from that time to this, has mankind REALLY evolved that much? And if not, why not?
Speaking of signs from God:
ReplyDeletePhoenix (AP): The Phoenix area is dusting itself off Wednesday after a stinging desert storm swept through town, delaying flights and leaving thousands without power, officials said.
The choking dust cloud moved through the Phoenix valley late Tuesday like an enormous wave - reaching nearly 10,000 feet high, meteorologists said.
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sarah, just another sign from God; He's getting mad and wondering when you're going to take the hint.
Confess all your sins now, before it's too late.
Thanks for posting this, it is spot-on. I know many Christians and even some Hindus that practice their religion as more of a cultural tradition that supports what is actually a humanist life philosophy, rather than actually believing in the (cherry-picked) literal word of the Bible or other religious Scriptures. It's the "true-believer" fundamentalists of ANY religion that are the dangerous ones.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!
ReplyDeleteHumankind will never learn. There will always continue to be those who throw themselves into religious zealotry. Unfortunately the weapons they use against others on their holy crusades are no longer arrows. They can now take out millions a minute.
When I see the likes of a Michele Bachmann, who wants to be POTUS, praying that poor people and children can never get health care I almost want to explode. That is hate and there is nothing "christian" and loving about it.
I never regret that I am an atheist.
Just as I don't believe that America is "the one and only truly best country ever ever ever", I also don't accept the premise that there is ONE chosen people.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why there has to be something like that anyway. Why not accept that there are many, many paths to the Divine/Creator/God? What does it matter whether you choose to believe that God exists or not?
What's a right path and set of beliefs for me is just that: for me. Who am I to say what is right for another?
This stuff boggles my teeny tiny mind. Why isn't there room for all beliefs (or no belief)?
No,...it hasn't evolved and probably never will. The reason,...defective gene pool and the destructive need to feel superior to everything and everybody else.
ReplyDeleteMy Answer: Because we are basically weak. We would rather have someone think for us than do the work ourselves. Love this guy and think that he is really doing the work of Jesus--speaking truth and tolerance. I watched him over the last couple of days on various stations and he has so much courage. I read his last book and admire him for standing against his entire life of brainwashing. I wonder what kind of hate mail he must get??? Great post AGAIN, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.
ReplyDeletegood one. thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of Mr. Shaeffer's very thoughtful and important piece. However, I would love to know why he believes in God and how he defines God.
ReplyDeleteThe fact the mainline church in the US is following in the footsteps of Europe and is in decline is often under reported. This is a significant development in the religious life of the country and cannot be under estimated. The mainline church seems to have become nothing more than a social outlet and stands for little. It has done little to stand up to the tyranny of the fundamentalists allowing them become the face of Christianity.
Bill
And those early armies were high on opiates for the pain and to make them fearless, so God, not so much.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite songs is John Lennon's "Imagine." I join him in longing for a world in peace.
ReplyDeleteThat will only happen when there is "no religion, too."
Think for a moment about all the people on Easter Island who felled every tree to erect the huge heads to their gods. They eradicated themselves in the service of non existent gods. We are doing the same.
ReplyDeleteRead "Republican Gomorrah" for the full story.
ReplyDelete"much more mellow " - yeah 'kay sure. Gosh you make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteHey Gryphen bud, I think if you correct your post title it may carry a bit more weight, not that I share the dire view expressed therein.
ReplyDeleteDestroying the world? Yeesh. If that were possible, it would have happened already!
One of the largest and most powerful nations on earth is avowedly atheist, for one.
Gryphen, as a Christian, I have some reasons to object to your characterization of Christianity as a mythology. There are actually many archaeological discoveries that confirm Biblical figures and stories, for one thing.
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if your pushback against Christianity would be less so if the people who represent Christianity the most conspicuously weren't so often such hateful people. They make me ill the way they have perverted Jesus's teachings.
One final comment...do we really believe that if religion was gone, much of the strife and terrorizing in the world would go away? I personally feel that something else would replace it, most likely a political ideology. You look at some of these rightwing "Christians" for example. If you stripped their religion away, they'd still be hatefully advocating for a heartless economic system of corporatism that crushes workers and real entrepreneurs. In fact, I often think they just use the respectable badge of Christianity to hide behind their true religion: GREED.
The Jews are said to have wandered in the desert for 40 years and yet renown archeologist Israel Finkelstein cannot find any evidence of their presence. One would think the ground would be littered with debris of seven tribes over 40 years. "The Bible Unearthed" clearly dispels all the myths of the Bible. For even further understanding I suggest "Did God Have a Wife?" by William Deever.
ReplyDeleteMy Dog is greater than your Dog!!
ReplyDeleteFalse idols and all...or a cruise ship passenger wanting to take a "piece" of Alaska home with them, or?
ReplyDeleteTheft
• At 7:56 p.m. Sunday, a 36-year-old man reported the theft of a Sarah Palin cut-out from the Alaska Shirt Company in the 400 block of Franklin Street. The cut-out has an estimated value of $1,400.
From the juneau empire police and fire section 7/6/11
The hard, cold facts are that at this very minute, the christian supremacists, and the christian terrorists in the USA are working hard to invade every aspect of our culture, government, law, media, and educational institutions.
ReplyDeleteThey want a theocracy, or some variation on it. They want women
and girls to be "subject" to biblical tenets.
They are absolutely doing whatever they can to change state
and federal laws to repress women's rights, invade our bedrooms with their "morality", and to codify every bit of repressive religious doctrine into the laws of the land regarding abortion, gender issues, marriage, employment, drug use, litigation, and elections.
Want proof? How about facing a life sentence for having a
miscarriage?
http://tinyurl.com/62ht8tm
Same thing in Utah: a woman may have to prove she didn't cause a miscarriage or face a death sentence.
http://tinyurl.com/6a8rk82
Some other "christians" are planning on how to take down the
Obama re-election campaign with dirty tricks, lies, false
candidates, re-districting and worse.
Some of them are planning illegal and disruptive actions
and perhaps even assasinations.
We know for a fact that some are hunting doctors in this country.
Abortion doctors are routinely targeted.
One so called "christian" name Sarah Palin put rifle crosshairs on a widely distributed map of the USA. Gabrielle
Giffords even prophetically called out this shameful behavior in an interview and got one of her headquarters attacked.
Her tragic shooting was not provably related, but who's to say?
That paragon of christian virtue, Sharron Angle actually threatened verbally that if the 2010 elections
didn't go well, that the electorate might have to resort to "2nd amendment remedies"
Just WHAT do you suppose the saintly Sharron could mean by
that, since the 2nd amendment
only references guns and militia..
Was she extending an invitation to a picnic?
Or was it a veiled threat, appealing to the very heart of the Teaparty's idiotic conflation of religion and misguided patriotism.
Let me say emphatically that NOT all christians are fanatics. Some are great people who accept the rest of us as humans, and don't treat us like 3rd class slaves
Bravo Mr Schaeffer for a very compelling, accurate, and
incisive article which lays out a perfectly sound analysis of what's happening with many of the 60 million evangelicals in this country.
hardly anything new here to people with a brain but i guess it cant hurt to read it but remember the people he is talking about can not be reached, so words cant influence them.
ReplyDeleteSchaeffer didn't pull any punches when explaining that Michele Bachmann's radical right-wing religious beliefs are too far to the right even for most evangelical Christians and that the more voters get to know about her, the less likely the chances of her winning the nomination. I'd say I agree with him, but of course that relies on our corporate media doing their jobs, which we know they won't unless we see a whole lot more interviews like this one. Schaeffer also did a great job of explaining how none of them actually care about the social issues other than to use them to dupe religious voters into supporting them so they can go serve their real masters after they get in office.
ReplyDeletehttp://videocafe.crooksand
liars.com/heather/frank-
schaeffer-bachmanns-christianity-rad
Jim DeMint is Allowed to Pretend that the 'Tea Party' is Not Just the Extreme Right Wing of the Republican Party
ReplyDelete.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was allowed to come on MSNBC's Morning Joe and pretend like the Republican astroturf rebranding effort called the "tea party" which is primarily made up of the extreme right wing of their party is not a "Republican movement". When pressed on whether or not on whether the "tea party" is primarily made up of Republicans, DeMint insisted that if they don't do what the voters want, you'll see a third party form down the road, like that's ever going to happen.
What little there was that anyone called the tea party that anyone might have considered grass roots has long ago been highjacked by a bunch of corporate lobbyists and Republican insiders and big monied interests like the Koch brothers and the chances of them forming a third party probably ranges from about slim to none. What's pitiful is that they've been allowed to take over the Republican Party and push them even further to the right.
About the only good thing about this little lie-fest that DeMint was allowed...
http://videocafe.crooksand
liars.com/heather/jim-demint-allowed-pretend--tea-party
-not-ju
Frank Shaeffer knows of what he speaks. He and his father were among the founders of the modern Christian fundamentalist movement. He personally knows all of the players. Ralph Reed had been to planning sessions in their house.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the event was that led to Shaeffer's epiphany, but he is now possibly THE most forceful voice speaking out against the fundies.
He also does not shy away from acknowledging his role in the movement he now seeks to expose. He also strikes me as being a genuinely nice guy.
The thing that amazes me about the fundies, the dominionists in particular, is that while loudly and arrogantly proclaiming their sanctity and virtue, they do so in the most mendacious and deceptive ways possible. For example, take their "stealth" tactics they use to try and undermine abortion. They have largely abandoned their overt head-on attacks in favor of opposing individual procedures, or the timing, or forcing onerous conditions upon women - sonograms, counseling, etc.
If they are so goddamned virtuous, then why do they have to lie to advance their causes? If they really WERE so virtuous, couldn't they simply push their arguments openly and honestly on their merits?
They lie because they feel no compunction in using any tactic when confronting the forces of Satan - i.e., ANYBODY who does not agree with their bullshit theology. These people are simply ignorant, arrogant assholes that have created a special and consecrated role for themselves in their fucked up narcissistic theology. They have appointed themselves the gatekeepers to God's throne. THEY get to decide who is and who is not Christian. If you disagree with them on ANYTHING, you obviously are going to hell, fuck you very much.
The good news is they are very fractious. This is a movement driven by individual cults of personality that revolve around single persons who have claimed some sort of unique insight into the mind of God. They are generally just as suspicious of others outside their smaller subset as they are of us more "worldly" sinners.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant when dealing with this scourge. Most mainstream Christians would be offended if they understood just how wacky these folks are. So, let's keep shining a big ol' spotlight on these cockroaches.
All anyyone has to do is look back in history. Most all wars and bloodshed had to do with religion. Either you went along with that religion or you were killed. That is why our country is supposed to have separation of state and religion. You have the right not to beieve in a religion. Now religion wants to control again every aspect of our lives and relligion has become another big business. and they pay no tax. I want ppl to be able if they want to have a religion but not in schools . It's good to know what the bible says but these nuts use only parts they want and ignore the rest. It's not alright to drag us back to the dark ages.
ReplyDeleteReligion has long been the excuse to pursecute others and to control populations.
ReplyDeleteI just read Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. I'm not a Pratchett fan, only read this because someone else recommended it....but his little parable nails all the bases in as light-handed a manner as is possible, considering the subject matter.
ReplyDeleteCan a god be as small as a tortoise? And then what happens?
If you believe you speak to God or an angel, perhaps, then seek help because you're sick in the head.
ReplyDeleteIf you believe the leader (or leaders) of your faith speak to God or know what God wants - then seek help - you're sick in the head.
If you think it's more important to observe the rituals of your faith, rather than to be kind to your fellow man, then your faith is empty.
There is no rule other than Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.
You don't need to believe in an invisible wizard in the sky to treat others as you would prefer to be treated.
You don't have to be delusional to be a good person.
Perhaps a point to ponder on:
ReplyDeleteIf 'Gawd' is the creator of all - who is to say that He did or did not appear to others in a different form (& called by different name)? Such as the Angel to Joseph Smith.
If 'Gawd' is telling people like $arah Palin / Michele Bachmann / etc. to become President & lead this country - then doesn't it also makes sense that 'Gawd' told a foreign leader to be against America because of attitude that we are better due to our 'exceptionalism'?
If those who believe Gawd is actually telling them what to do - they MUST also believe HE speaks to others & tells them what they are to do.... right?
$Sarah? Care to answer that one?
Yup, it's not enough to care about, love and help others, they have to "control" and "make decisions" for them, and take their money, where is the freedom in that? no thanks
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Celdar Bonehead said...
ReplyDeleteMy Dog is greater than your Dog!!
5:37 AM
OMD!
As a former fundie, i always applaud Frank Schaeffer. My old chruch friends think I'm one with the devil in many ways now. Its very, very hard to overcome all the things you've listened to in church for years and years. I can say some of the people had genuineling good hearts, but many are deceived and deluded and could be come very dangerous, the domonionist types. They scare me, wanting to take their country back and their absolutely blindness at how they are used by the right wing politicos for their agenda. They truly abaonded Christ's real agenda of love, peace and helping others. I don't know how they live with themselves in their selfishness. I really don't know how they can be so stupid. The blind following the blind really. I still believe in Christ, just don't believe in the people. They really scare me. I have advanced kidney disease and there were those from the church that told me I didn't deserve to have the health care and insurance they did even if I was paying a fee for it. I can't get it and I will die sooner, but these people are supposed to be Christians and they say things like that. Its an upside down world in the fundamentalist churches anymore.
ReplyDeleteRandall,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of this quote:
“Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.” -- André Gide
Oh, and my Sky Wizard just phoned and told me that He was going to smite you for your blasphemy.
Consider yourself warned and repent.
silvermoondog, I'm so sorry to hear about your situation! My experience dovetails with yours re: the appalling lack of compassion in many evangelical Christian churches.
ReplyDeleteFar too many of them are far more concerned about being right than about being loving, and they support this with very selective readings and interpretations of the Bible. Some of them ignore Jesus' teachings altogether. I managed to drag myself through one of the "Left Behind" books (painful on SO many levels), and I don't think it even mentioned Jesus. There was certainly no concept of loving enemies, forgiving others, or showing compassion.
An excellent book (and one that's causing a huge furor among evangelicals right now) is "Love Wins" by Rob Bell. He starts out by asking why so many churches emphasize hell so much and why hell is so central to their theology. Then he points out that everyone who talks about hell is convinced they're not going there but know exactly who is. :)
Gasman, you said "The good news is they are very fractious." This is absolutely true. In my Calvinist school, we were very suspicious not only of mainline Christians but also of Pentecostals, Catholics, and Baptists. Some of these groups have joined together now politically, but I don't think the suspicion and infighting--and the strong sense of being more right than everyone else--will allow them to cooperate indefinitely.
From the dawn of time, man has relied on his mythological "gods" to explain everything he could not otherwise understand.
ReplyDeleteWith science as far advanced as it is today, I find it ludicrous that man still relies on said mythology (yes, that's what it ALL is) to explain things to himself. Just as Grimm's Fairy Tales were written as a cautionary tales for adventurous children, IMO, the bible was written to tell us how to live good lives (and possibly to chronicle ancient history). Period.
BTW, I read all of the Left Behind books and enjoyed them for what they are - a good story.
Religion even gets The Golden Rule wrong. Clearly, it should read "Do unto others as THEY want to be done unto". (the poetry needs some work but you get the idea...)
ReplyDeleteI believe it was Richard Dawkins, the leading atheist (or possibly Richard Dawson, former Family Feud host) that every true believer is an atheist with respect to countless thousands of "the other" past and present religions. The true atheist distinguishes his/herself by simply extending that disbelief to include all religions. I pray to Zeus (and possibly Thor) every day that more thinking people will see the light and accept that moral, satisfying, meaningful lives can be lived without organized (or disorganized) religion. (but surprisingly, it turns out we should ALL believe in astrology and tarot cards... Who knew?)
But I'm a little confused, Gryphen, as to why you seem to praise the military when given the chance.
ReplyDelete