Religion

"...the alliance between fundamentalists or evangelical religion and right wing politics is a very troubling phenomenon and this is certainly one of the most potent reasons for it. What's really scary is that a lot of them seem to think that the second coming is around the corner -- the idea that we're going to have Armageddon anyway so it doesn't make much difference. I find that to be socially irresponsible on the highest order. It's scary." Daniel Dennett interview in Der Speigel

The Gospels are radical pacifist material, if you take a look at them. When the Roman emperor Constantine adopted Christianity, he shifted it from a radical pacifist religion to the religion of the Roman Empire. So the cross, which was the symbol of the suffering of the poor, was put on the shield of the Roman soldiers. Since that time, the Church has been pretty much the church of the rich and the powerful—the opposite of the message of the Gospels. Liberation theology, in Brazil particularly, brought the actual Gospels to peasants. They said, let’s read what the Gospels say, and try to act on the principles they describe. That was the major crime that set off the Reagan wars of terror and Vatican repression. The United States was virtually at war with the Catholic Church in the 1980s. It was a clash of civilizations, if you like: the United States versus the Gospels." Noam Chomsky: What We Say Goes.

John J. DiIulio Jr., the former head of president Bush's faith-based initiatives, says "What you got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

America's Holy Warriors
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
The radical Christian Right is coming dangerously close to its goal of taking over the country's military and law enforcement. Read more »

http://www.edge.org/

Any attempt to hold ideologies accountable for the crimes committed by their followers must be approached with a great deal of caution. It is too easy to assert that those with whom we disagree are not just wrong but tyrannical, fascist, genocidal. But it is also true that certain ideologies are a danger to the public and need to be identified as such. These are the closed, fundamentalist doctrines that cannot coexist with other belief systems; their followers deplore diversity and demand an absolute free hand to implement their perfect system. The world as it is must be erased to make way for their purist invention. Rooted in biblical fantasies of great floods and great fires, it is a logic that leads ineluctably toward violence. The ideologies that long for that impossible clean slate, which can be reached only through some kind of cataclysm, are the dangerous ones. Naomi Klein "Shock Doctrine"

My American friends tell me that you are slipping towards a theocratic Dark Age. Which is very disagreeable for the very large number of educated, intelligent and right-thinking people in America. Unfortunately, at present, it's slightly outnumbered by the ignorant, uneducated people who voted Bush in. But the broad direction of history is toward enlightenment, and so I think that what America is going through at the moment will prove to be a temporary reverse. I think there is great hope for the future. My advice would be, Don't despair, these things pass. Richard Dawkins (See his home page.)

One of the greatest challenges facing civilization in the twenty first century is for human beings to learn to speak about their deepest personal concerns - about ethics, spiritual experience, and the inevitability of human suffering - in ways that are not flagrantly irrational. We desperately need a public discourse that encourages critical thinking and intellectual honesty. Nothing stands in the way of this project more than the respect we accord religious faith. Letter to a Christian Nation. Sam Harris

The Sarah Palin Christian Theocracy

The Christian Right Killed the Republican Party

Bush confusing religion and science.

News of the Religiously insane

Texas Supreme Court: Beat a Teen for Jesus

The Right's America Hating Preacher (May 2, 2008).

Catholic role in Nazi Germany

Emma Goldman on Puritanism

Religion has always been politically useful.

It indoctrinates and imprints children when they are very young so that they will absorb propaganda that is beyond reason. A thorough indoctrination makes them much less able to do serious scientific work. A country which is a theocracy is probably incapable of serious technological development or sensible policy.

It keeps people in their place, promising a glorious next life in spite of misery they may be experiencing in this one. Thus it allows economic elites to ignore the poverty stricken even though biblical texts favor the poor. (About the Inquisitiion.)

It provides a sense of exceptionalism. After all, religion promises to convey the ultimate truth and those who know it will be the chosen ones or the saved ones. It motivates the strong man dictator to megalomania and it enables the spread of empire. Non believers are heathens and can, without guilt, be abused or slaughtered. This righteousness accompanied the genocides of the American Indians, the Jews in Germany, and, currently, the Palestinians. Muslims have a long history of genocide also.

It confers legitimacy to rulers who are cloaked in it. George W Bush, for true believers, was chosen by God, and it was his right to declare war on his own initiative. Hitler also made such claims. Many empires have used it as justification for bloody expansion. (About the Donatists.)

As population pressure causes resource problems, the church simply ignores the situation until catastrophe occurs. Then it is regarded as the will of God. The unintended consequence may appear to be Armageddon. True conservatives would be very careful of this planet because we now know that it is the only one in sight that can support humanity. Because they think the end is near, they are oblivious to the condition of the environment.

People persuaded to believe based on faith will believe anything...even if it is apocalyptic.

See also the F word. The rise of Christian Fascism and the threat to American democracy.

Falwell

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me...It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride and superiority. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside of you and every other person too." They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee simply replied..."The one I feed."

What’s striking about journalists and intellectuals today, liberal and conservative alike, is not their mythic Voltairian skepticism but their deference to belief and utter failure to criticize, much less satirize, America’s romance with God. With very few exceptions (like the incisive Katha Pollitt) social critics have abandoned the tradition of caustic secularism that once provided refuge for the faithless: People “are all insane’ Mark Twain remarked in Letters from the Earth. “Man is a marvelous curiosity. . . he thinks he is the Creator’s pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn’t it a quaint idea’ from Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: Wendy Kaminer

Poll finds more Americans believe in devil than Darwin
Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:56pm EST

Imagine no religion. display put up by the Connecticut Valley Atheists.

The Greatest Story ever Told

Religious Fundamentalism, Imperialism, and the War on Terror.