Monday, March 16, 2009

Shame in Colorado



That religious fanatics managed to hijack and nearly destroy the once-esteemed Republican Party became evident after the strange events that led up to and culminated in the US presidential election of 2000. Kept out of public media was any discussion of the undemocratic role played by the US Supreme Court, dominated by staunch Catholics, which overrode the popular vote to install an unstable man (and two-time felon) as President. The nation was then rapidly plunged into an illegal war, attacks on Constitutional rights, priority given to special interests, siphoning tax money into "faith based" schemes, illegal surveillances, and the authorization of a torture policy that sneered at international agreement against such inhumane practices.




Such corruption of government can be laid on the shoulders of religious fanaticism that seeks to gratify material lust by indulging in hate-filled agendas. Such is the case of the Colorado "conservatives" (read religious fanatics), sentators Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs) and Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) braying their ignorance and pompously displaying their lack of compassion for life.




Schultheis' dogmatic politics is underscored in his "Christian" (?) attitude: emergency rooms should allow victims of violence to die if they have not been to church in the past month: and he considers it a waste of money to run public service announcements in Spanish warning possible illegal immigrants to buckle their seatbelts. But most appalling of his self-righteous pronouncements has been his opposition to pregnant women being tested for HIV, a procedure that could catch the infection early enough to prevent it from spreading to the unborn child. Schulteis' judgment is that the mother should pass the deadly virus to the infants so that the suffering would remind society of the negative consequences of sexual promiscuity. Maybe then, he is quoted as saying, that unnecessary misery would show that "...they should adjust their behavior." Of course this shows that his own behavior is impeccable.




And Schultheis' dogmatic contemporary, Scott Renfroe, likes to quote Old Testament hate statements on the Senate floor. His personal obsession is gay life, and he has it from "revealed word" (as edited by 8th century BCE priests) that gays "have committed a detestable act and they shall surely be put to death." (Strange, isn't it, how often the rampaging religionists ignore the Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.) Renfroe then went on, after calling for death for consenting same-sex acts, to compare homosexuality with murder! Renfroe thus openly encourages attitudes of prejudice and supports violence upon life's diversity. But then again, that is what much of the OT is all about.




Sunday, March 8, 2009

Crisis of Faith



Faith, the kind that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence, is pretty much an inherited thing from parents and society, and it habitually lumbers under the mantle of some religion that has evolved while its promoters pursued worldly objectives. Unfortunately, that drive to prove to the world that some institutionalized belief system is the only way to storm an indifferent Heaven signals that the bottomline aimed for by that promotion system rests entirely in this world, not in a higher realm.


Pretending that mystical power aids them in exerting control over this material world becomes questionable when the omnipresent-omnipotent-omniscient deity that is alluded to apparently has to rely on militant actions of mere man to fulfill his wishes. Something just doesn't add up to the deity's claimed divine capabilities.


Reality--which is to say the everyday problems experienced in the material expression we call life--is not well served when believers are assured that natural laws can be set aside if you only believe a certain way--their way. The universe would implode if exceptions to bypass creation's laws were granted. That is wilfull ignorance of holy truth--the truth that each identity stands responsible for itself: the buck cannot be passed to a redeemer or savior, or patched over by rite and ritual. And Paradise cannot be gained by disrespect for other life forms or other life expressions.


In every man-conceived faith system--especially in the western world-- an uncomfortable feeling lurks in the heart of "believers," --a sense of disjunction with that which is presented as the Supreme Being. The claimed closeness to and the simultaneous feeling of alienation from that Being does not make for comfort in the inner self. The result is a confusion of "faith" that too often becomes the trigger that initiates an indulgence in senseless acts of violence and hatred toward others. What that "faith" has blinded them to is the fact that what one does to another leaves crippling scars within the self.


Evil does not lurk in the diverse expressions of life as hard-line bigots may rail, nor is one an "infidel" if their reverence for the Source of all things is expressed from one's heart rather than in programmed posturing. One's faith is in crisis when they are led into a conceit of spirit that leaves the world around them in shambles.




Thursday, March 5, 2009

Fish or Cross



When the movement that was to grow into Christianity was being initiated out of Rome (not Palestine), the earth had only recently, c.60 BCE, entered the Age of Pisces. An "Age" is the period of time during which the Sun rises and traverses over a dominant constellation at the vernal equinox, a period of time that lasts some 2160 years. This slow shifting viewpoint of Earth's relationship with the cosmos is known as precession of the equinoxes.


Earth had just exited from the Age of Aries (c.2220 BCE to c. 60 BCE), during which the ram and lamb had played prominent roles in various religious movements of the world. Prior to that, in the Age of Taurus (c. 4380 BCE to c. 2220 BCE), the bull (and cow) had been focus of much of the world's religious attention.


In the early years of the Christian movement the symbol used by the cult as an indicator to other followers was of two arched lines that suggested a fish form. The arched symbol would be the standard for the struggling society well into the third century CE. (How, where and why this early symbol for the movement was replaced by the cross is given in detail in Time Frames and Taboo Data.) The cross as emblematic of Jesus' death, allegedly for world salvation, was not regarded to be symbolic of the instructive teachings of the master that were held central to the earlier emerging society.


Proof of the importance given to the fish symbol was uncovered not long ago at Megiddo Prison, Israel, where the remains of an early church were discovered under rubble being removed from a planned site of a new prison ward. There was much awe and excitement at finding two mosaics, one of which had as its central focus a depiction of two fishes, each facing opposite directions--acknowledgement of the new Age of Pisces.


Considerable hype was given to the ancient Christian symbol in the mosaic as predating the stark cross, and that the Greek writing used in inscriptions revealed that the money for the church and the mosaics were donated by a Roman officer and a woman named Aketous. The depiction of the two fish forms indicate that the church was active up to the fourth century--or just before Constantine, who recognized the political clout of the fanatical converts, legalized Christian observances across the Byzantine Empire.


After the fourth century CE, altars also began to be used in Christian churches for priestly theatrics, and focus was deliberately altered from the fish symbol to the cross to emphasize Jesus' sacrifice for the believers. With Jesus' death thus installed as the central theme of the movment, ritual and circumstance were made to overshadow all the early teaching that had once offered a means of experiencing inner peace.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Codes of Conduct


As far back in time as c. 2600 BCE a ruler of Sumer named Urukagina found so much immoral activity throughout his empire that it became necessary for him to enact prohibitions against the rampant corruptness. The long inscription erected by this ruler for the people to comply with is regarded as the first-ever record of social reform, and the code of conduct that was expected of the people was anchored on an ideal of freedom, equality and justice.

A few of the many injustices that Urukagina addressed included the unfair use of their powers by supervisors to take the best of collections for themselves; the abuse of one's official position; the practice of monopolistic groups to extort unbearable prices on needed goods--in short, the same practices that still taint the religio-politico in-crowd of today.

By c. 2300 BCE the Assyrian civilization had compounded out of the Babylonian and Hittie cultures, and the Akkadian leader named Sargon I had become the supreme ruler--under the designation as "regent of the god Assur"--his influence being over a broad territory that nonetheless remained dependent upon Babylon. Corruption, as usual, interfered with the ideal of keeping an element of balance in civil affairs. Thus around 2350 BCE laws were determined and recorded on clay tablets, laws that were declared to have been presented to King Urnammu under the authority of the god Nannar.

Approximately eight hundred and fifty years after the Sumerian code of Urukagina, and some five hundred years after the Assyrian laws (or c. 1758 BCE), a Babylonian king named Hammurabi decreed a similar code of justice and set up the means to enforce it. Hammurabi's code was engraved on a block of black diorite that stood nearly eight feet high, and the provisions set forth for the public to read and heed was an effort to protect the weak and the poor against injustices at the hands of the rich and powerful. Interestingly, a bas-relief under the 282 paragraphs of the civil code show King Hammurabi receiving the code from the god Shamash.

It is upon this code of conduct that the authors of the book of Exodus fashioned the abbreviated version of a code of conduct known as the Ten Commandments, and law (anchored in materiality and civil conduct) became enthroned as the soul and backbone of Judaism--as well as the grafted-on spine of Christianity. And of course the priest authors of Exodus writing in Jerusalem c. 800 BCE declared that the Ten Commandments had been written in stone and handed down to Moses by the god Yahweh.
There is a peculiar uncertainty of approach with the opening lines, for omnipotent power should not be anxious about a possibility of being upstaged. But the first three of the ten directives do imply the authority of the priest class. And conspicuously absent from this god-given list is any instruction or requirements on treating everyone fairly in all interactions. Could this possibly be why fundamentalists periodically campaign to have the Ten Commandments posted in all judicial buildings and other public places?

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Embellishing the Inaugural Oath



Unlike many federal oaths of office, the oath taken by the incoming President of the US is not constitutionally required to embellish upon the oath with a public entreaty of "so help me god." Indeed the constitution agreed upon by the founding fathers mandated the exact language to be publicly recited as the oath of public office, which consisted of a mere thirty-five words.


"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."


History revisionists love to insist that the United States was founded as "a Christian nation," but while most of the founding fathers acknowledged a higher power few of them could be termed as even remotely hardcore religionists. In fact the centuries of turmoil throughout Europe's Christian nations made them determined that separation of church and state was absolutely imperative if a fair and just government for all people was to be established.


A favorite ploy of revisionists is to claim that George Washington established the precedent of invoking the phrase "so help me god" into the first inaugural in 1789. But even though the Library of Congress Web site dutifully echoes this claim, such a public statement appealing to a deity would not have been characteristic of Washington. Much more likely, such a phrase would have been judged by him as something that could be mistaken for an endorsement of religious manipulation.


Washington's personal inclination in this regard can be ascertained in one incident. During the two years that New York City served as the national capital (1789-1790) Washington attended Trinity Church (Broadway), always in pew 60. But he always left the church before communion, a situation that irked the church shepherds to the extent that they chastised him for the habit. Because of this obvious attempt to impose upon his personal faith, Washington never again attended church on communion Sunday.1 This action does not inspire the concept that he would have jeopardized the integrity of office with an off the cuff addition "so help me god."


Furthermore, the men who framed the Constitution gave no reference to "god," and asserted that all men were created with the inalienable rights to live their lives in their own way--as long as it did not intrude upon the rights of others.


As an added note, the War of Independence with Britain was not over officially until twenty-one years after 1776 when, in 1797, the document of treaty was signed by both nation's representatives who met in Tripoli. There is bold declaration in that treaty to be found in Article 11--daring and important enough to merit bold type.


"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion."


-------------------------------------------------


1 Around 146 years later (1935) this same church used Washington's words out of context from a 1783 letter addressed to governors of 13 states to forge a prayer attributed to Washington and the plaque was installed at pew 60. Details of this on page 377 in Time Frames and Taboo Data

Monday, February 16, 2009

Planning for Worldly Triumph


An earlier posting (October 2008) mulled over the rise of the faith market in the US after World War II and the utilization of the then-new technological wonder known as television. In the 1950s enterprising soul-savers still clutching their newly minted bible-mill diplomas, and sniffing the gold to be made through the far-reaching media, latched on to electronic ministry with holy lust. In those early days the divinely driven were complaining bitterly that the media ignored them, which was not exactly true for if it had not been for television few persons across the nation would have known that the array of moral champions existed at all. To garner attention one scheming servant of the sacred launched a "Coalition for Better Television," the real purpose of which was to impose upon the public the religious right's particular version of "moral code." Thus religious extremists embarked upon political waters in the name of religious devotion.

In 1961 an attention-grabbing faith-based, politically inspired group were parading under the banner of Moral Majority, which sponsored its first seminar on "Understanding Politics." The training session had nothing to do with making oneself spiritually worthy of god's blessing; rather the ideas being eagerly shared was on how to shove their particular version of religion into the workings of national government.

As is common among the faith-driven, other divinely inspired keepers of god's word were receiving slightly different instructions from heaven. Oddly, the governments of the world--especially the government of the US--seemed to trouble god much more than did the conduct of his strange array of messengers. And stranger still was the emphasis placed on the attainment of materiality for the sake of spiritual advancement! To advance this seemingly contrary means of attaining spiritual worthiness, various rightwing movements showered the faithful with an endless assortment of manuals and pamphlets. Titles of these always implied that only they held the keys of salvation. The advice, however, usually pivoted on take over of national management.

The movers and shakers of the religious right, although not exactly chummy with one another, sought to establish a modus operandi to achieve political power. Topping the list for achieving a power base was the necessity to recognize the givers and takers--meaning go after those who will donate cash. To impliment this they had to have a plan which would include: 1) have a candidate or [invent] issues; 2) be organized and keep it organized; 3) establish a means of keeping money flowing, which meant finding persons who would get personally involved in collecting money for the movement.

To effectively siphon money into the cause, the advice was: 1) project the income necessary for the operation and expansion; 2) define the levels of donations to be aimed for; 3) devise programs for attracting donations; 4) implement the plan. The advice on how to pursue collection of donations stressed the necessity of never emphasizing with a contributor: know all that you can find out about possible donors, but never emphasize with them. The reason for this was the fear that to emphasize with contact might allow the donation-seeker to decide whether a contact would or would not donate.

Always the mantra was think big, and that necessitated keeping the path open for people who might be inclined to give thousands of dollars. How should they pursue this? The most effective way and the least costly way to reach the most people and raise money was determined to be go direct response, which meant use the Postal Service. They then drew upon persons with writing talent to compose fund-raising letters, and the principle thing the authors had to remember was the basic psychological quirk that inspires people to let go of their money. That ignoble idiosyncrasy is that people tend always to be most willing to lend support against something than show willingness in support of something.

And that may be why religion and politics never seem to be capable of touching any semblance of genuine glory.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Sowing Holy Hatred

Noted in an earlier posting here (Secularism and Intellect, Oct. 2008), "In many ways the practice of organized religions is the practice of abuse--a crafted mask of benevolence that covers a paralyzed spirit and the twisted face of emotional/spiritual insecurity."

This personal observation is extended here in acknowledgement of notification from a reader that a new television hate propaganda program has been initiated by the so-called American Family Association (AFA), formerly known as the National Federation for Decency which had been founded by "Rev." Donald Wildmon in 1977 but reinvented a AFA in 1988. By the long and obscene attack list that this "association" has chalked up, they clearly have no concept of the true meaning of decency--and certainly no understanding of the unrestricted diversity of life which proclaims the true Omniscience (all-knowingness) that serves as the Creative Force.

In the AFA's self-defined promotional blurbs it is declared they are "...a Christian organization [non-profit 501(c)(3)] promoting biblical ethic of decency in American society with primary emphasis on TV and other media." With an annual budget of roughly $14 million and ownership (at last count) of some 180 radio stations in 28 states, the business of stirring up hatred is thriving and profitable. And ethics for them also includes heavy fundamentalist lobbying against whatever happens to deny their particular interpretations of "God's" prejudices--such as pro-choice, pornography, same-sex partnering, premarital sex, etc. The AFA remains so bent out of shape by the private concerns of others that it clearlly indicates that they are tantalized with sex thoughts more than they are interested in cultivating compassion, as Jesus suggested. Regardless what tragedies truly wrack the world, AFA profits go on multiplying by smothering humane ethics and charging ahead with business as usual through their wide-flung material empire.

These AFA masters of hate-mongering have misled their naive followers for over three decades, using the lowest of tactics and outright lies. In 2005, for example, they were heavily promoting a homophobic work by a "psychologist" that was discredited by the professional psychologist organizations and the author so admired by the AFA, Paul Cameron, was thrown out of the profession. Homophobia in one the AFA's pet means of self-gratification, which brings us to the reader who alerted the "Monkeywrench guy" about the AFA's most recent self-indulgence scam. The new AFA venture is a one hour national special television program aimed at stirring up hatred for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) persons. (Forget Jesus' rebuke about casting the first stone.)

The great irony in this expensive televised attack-exercise in radical propaganda rests in the assertion that there is "a radical homosexual agenda" being imposed upon America! The hateful program declaring this absurdity is "Speechless--Silencing the Christians." Satan must be double over in laughter. His buddies at AFA use the ancient scam tactic: accuse those who oppose you with the evil techniques that the scammers themselves routinely employ.


see earlier postings: Fear of Diversity; Sex, a Holy Mystery; God Forgot to Say

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Allegiance to Democracy



The United States Constitution defines the crime of treason in somewhat broad terms in Article III Section 3, the main focus being on levying war against the U.S. or adhering to enemies of the U.S. by giving the nation's enemies aid or comfort. Even these charges had to be substantiated by the testimony of two witnesses or by the accused's confession in open court. The power to declare punishment for treason was invested in Congress.


Since this original definition of treason by the nation's fathers, Congress found it crucial at different times to add to the list of offenses that contribute to undermining of the national government or in regard to actions that threatened national security. Examples of passed statutes were the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, and in 1917 the Espionage Act. Neither of these revisions requires the testimonly of two witnesses, and acts of treason are defined more explictly than in Article III of the Constitution.


Democracy--equality for all--was the founding fathers' ideal, and in that intention the Constitution does not create the offense, choosing instead a loose definition of treason and authorizing Congress the duty of establishing the offenses to be prohibited through legislation by Congress.


There have been less than forty federal prosecutions for treason in the nation's two-hundred-thirty-years-plus history, and of those brought to trial for the charge only a small number were ever convicted. Even the 1807 treason trial of Aaron Burr, for example, resulted in acquittal. After the Civil War, although numerous Confederate leaders such as Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were indicted for treason they were granted amnesty in 1869 by out-going President Andrew Johnson to strengthen the relationship within the family of states. So treason has always carried a narrow characterization with national concern focusing primarily on acts of espionage. Thus has the United States sought to avoid the abuses of treason laws that those in power in other nations (most of them church dominated) used through the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.


Still the term "treason" suggests any serious act of disloyalty to one's sovereign or nation. Within Oran's Dictionary of the Law (1983), part of the definition of treason includes the intention to "...seriously injure (one's parent nation)." With this in mind, how should we interpret the movements operating for decades in the United States under the banner of religion that loudly bray that they stand for "moral values" while openly seeking to dismantle the U.S. Constitution in hopes of establishing what they term "a government based on timeless biblical values"?


In other words, their holy mission is to undermine the existing democratic form of government by indulging in inappropriate actions in an attempt to establish a theocratic regime.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Design ex nihilo

If we are to believe those who claim to be divinely inspired, everything that we know as some part of Creation has been the result of some purposeful design that is being carved out of perpetual chaos--or out of nothingness. The fundamental desire underneath this perception of design is anchored in human ego that fears the unknown and seeks to find exception to the obvious impersonal "laws" that have governed creation for multi-billions of years.
"Design," of course, implies intellect capable of abstract thought and which also possesses emotional concern for that which it seeks to create. The manner in which Creation seems to have unfolded and evolved seems to indicate that there are actions that we think of as "laws" that prevail over the creation process. Unfortunately for those who champion the "design" theory, the "laws" through which creation activity occurs have always functioned in a totally impersonal manner. To set aside any natural "law" for some specific-effect purpose, as the notion of "miracles" suggest, would instantly thrust all Creation into oblivion.
The circumstances that are interpreted as due to "design" and credited to a being addressed as God or Allah or some other title implies a being that is itself a defined entity that stands responsible for all that makes up existence. The problem with that assertion is that anything that is even vaguely definable is rendered identifiable by a condition of limitations! The extended problems that then arise with the theory of an identifiable creator are the tendencies to theologically assess all that is accepted as reality in negative probabilities or outright absurdities.
Among the many questions in regard to an intelligent designer is the problem of an obvious lack of benevolence toward any dimension of conscious life. Much of life dies in agony, too much life perishes after only a brief chance, droughts and floods destroy capriciously, the constant violence induged in by man indicates that mental deragement is widespread, diseases run rampant, enslavement, ethnic murder--the list could go on too long to suggest that there is an omniscient, benevolent "designer" of all that has manifested as energy-matter and life. Even the bulk of the so-called "good book" pivots upon wars and violence and greed and treacheries that do not exactly support a notion that a benevolent being or personal creator regards all of creation's catastrophes as a beautiful design.
If there is any benevolence or moral potential in creation it has to issue out of the evolving qualities of life, not directly out of the impersonal energy-forces that provide only the substance for intelligent life to evolve. Everyone will gain in moral quality and personal contentment only when they learn that the labyrinth known as religion is made to gratify man's ego, and man himself is not made for religion.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Secrets of Enoch

Among the many books not included as the accepted "word of God" by Christian councils that chose their self-serving Gospels, was the book known as The Secrets of Enoch. Even though the book of Enoch was passed over as being unworthy of inclusion as "gospel," it nonetheless exerted unquestionable influence upon the numerous writers of the New Testament collection. In fact, many dark passages of the N.T. are virtually inexplicable without its edifying aid.


There are peculiarities of speech in the book of Enoch that the church fathers probably could not comprehend, and that was enough to convince them that such verses would lead the curious minds away from the church fathers' concept of what constituted "true faith." One such peculiar reference that pops up is in regard to the flood account; in the book of Enoch it states that Noah was "...born a bull and became a man." Elsewhere that account goes on to say "...and one of those four went to the white bull (referring to Noah) and instructed him in secret."


The Secrets of Enoch did indeed refer to knowledge that had been "lost," or more likely it had been deliberately concealed from the masses--knowledge that had once been given freely by using astronomical configurations (constellations) as focal points on lessons regarding the developmental processes of energy into matter forms (creation, cosmology).


In the Secrets of Enoch, Noah served to represent the Life Principle (which became personified as "God) at the fourth stage or energy dimension of development. This teaching had once been given with the constellation of Taurus as its focus, and therefore it was not confusing to say that Noah, personifying the Life Principle moving into energy-matter form, was riding the flood of life toward physical form, and could be said to have been "born a bull" or that he was the "bull...(that) became a man."


The ancient lessons that had been alluded to in the Secrets of Enoch were based on startlingly accurate scientific principles, and without the scientific/astronomical knowledge referred to in Enoch which could clarify the imagery used in that book, the Christian fathers preferred to embrace the speculative upon which to fashion a business machine.


It should be noted that the ancient lessons of creation processes given with Taurus--regarding the fourth stage or dimension of energy forming into matter form--also accounts for the four rivers said to have issued out of Eden in the book of Genesis. Thus in The Secrets of Enoch which says "...one of those four instructed Noah," i.e. the energies that are carried into matter-form.




Explainations of all prehistory Zodiac lessons can be found in the books: The Shiny Herd; Ancient Secrets Hidden in the Sky, ISBN: 1-56167-164-9, and in The Celestial Scriptures; Keys to the Suppressed Wisdom of the Ancients, ISBN: 0-595-20913-0.




Friday, January 30, 2009

Faith-Based Danger in Government

Generations of religions' pie-in-the-sky approach to everyday problems began to seriously swamp over the democratic form of government in the United States with the rise of television in the early 1950s. Those holy evangelicals found the blossoming technology to be a miraculous manner of profitably merchandising their interpretation of what god wants for the material world. By the mid-1980s the institution of religion became the single largest business group in the US, and under the guise of "spirit" and "divine guidance" these institutions that shamelessly peddled other-world advice became one of the greatest land holders in the nation, not to mention the nation's largest stock and bond owners.


By the 1990s the television Bible thumpers were eagerly lusting to take over control of a major political party and in that way planned to thrust upon the vast diversity of people a single mode--their man-invented way--of honoring a higher principle. Brutally enforced theocracy to which they aspired is, apparently, dearly loved by god if the holy discriptions of his Heaven are to be believed, for certainly democratic principles are not permitted there.


Along the way to capturing earthy power by using "faith" as its most powerful psychological conditioning tool, the god-inspired group pulled off some truly awesome and sinister con jobs on the citizen's representatives who were elected with the intention of keeping a level playing field for all citizens. Over the years as the religionists wormed their way into various political positions across the nation, the US was plunged--each time--into a staggering national debt and billions of dollars in trade deficitis.


In the 1990s into the early 2000s, with the religious right in control of the once secular Republican party, the nation was treated with the fundamentalists' continuing assault on such things as public education, women's rights, personal privacy, etc. The banner of religion led the way because that happens to be where the most money is being hoarded.


Such fanaticism is always a murderous indulgence. If we pay attention to genuine history, whenever religion ran rampant over all earthly activities the result was anything but delightful. The Middle Ages in Europe are commonly referred to as the Dark Ages for under merciless Church dominance with its homicidal "Inquisition" the general populace languished in despair for centuries. More recent history saw the resurgence of fundamentalism in the Muslim nation of Iran, and the injustices and horror that engulfed that nation cannot be said to be divinely inspired.


The frightening thing about holding blind certainty of what God or Allah decrees is that such pronouncements are issued out of the ego of self-proclaimed messengers, not from any provable divinity. To base a political ideology upon such grossly anti-intellectual propaganda is to destroy all gains in human potential that have been won. There are indeed unseen powers as work throughout the universe, but those powers indulge in no favoritism for mankind's politics or for those who imagine that some super being is managing everything.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Myth of "Race"

The social definition of "race," from a scientific standpoint, is actually little more than a reference to an optical illusion. The habit of assigning groups of persons bearing various physical features such as skin color, facial features, texture of hair, and even skeletal build into categories came into use in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Unfortunately this method of classification brought with it the erroneous implication that such physical differences indicated that there could be no unifying factor
Not surprisingly, categorizing the human species in this manner became the standard by which self-absorbed people could indulge themselves with concepts of purity strains which allowed them to exclude those who did not mirror their imagined superiority. This, of course, stoked the fires of hatred, prejudice, discrimination, intolerance--i.e. all the ignoble practices that diminish the innate dignity of man.
Although convenient in various forms of study--forensic anthropology for example--the category method of study of the human species does not alter the fact that there is absolutely no genetic basis for racial classification. Indeed, public interest in tracing their personal ancestry has revealed through DNA research that race as a scientific view does not compute! Through DNA analysis scores of persons who had believed themselves to be one unblemished "race" were startled to discover that they embodied considerably more than appearance seemed to present.
DNA research has shown from samples obtained from indigenous groups worldwide that all peoples are, regardless of appearances, actually interrelated. In other words, ancestry is much more than perceptible biological indicators, for biological traits are amenable and adaptive. Everyone's background includes ancestors who at one time or another had to adapt to their environment and extreme climatic changes--all of which would have influenced gene modification.
There is much to left to learn about DNA and how genetics of a biological attribute may have evolved. There is such a miniscule portion of DNA that has produced all the morphological differences that account for our species' diversity that we speak of as the "races," and yet we all share within us a common active denominator.
Is it the quantity of quantum energy that reflects itself as diverse energy manifestations which people personifiy as some humanlike personality they address as "God"? If so, isn't science "his" messenger bearing genuine revealed wisdom?