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.

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?

Remembering Bush

George Dubya Bush, during his illustrious career as head of the most undemocratic administration ever, managed to chalk up at least 950 days avoiding work at the office. Even Ronald Reagan didn't have the guts to indulge himself in that much slacker-time.

Even so, Bush and his cohorts made indelible scars upon democracy almost from the start of their highly questionable acquisition of high office. By January 2001 Vice President Cheney was setting the tone of the nation's energy policy with the secret input of oil executives. Then poor Bush had to cut his month-long vaction short in March to listen to the annoying briefing that Osama bin Laden was determined to attack the US. He snorted that the report was unimportant. But after the September attack Bush feigned indignation at the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, saying, "This crusade, this war on terrorism..." was going to take time. By December, even though the terroists were known to be working out of Afghanistan, the White House was fully immersed in plans for invading oil-rich Iraq!

In January 2002 Bush sneered that Geneva Conventions didn't apply to any war plans that he had, and stated that he was, to quote, "not that concerned with finding bin Laden." Filled with democratic zeal the Bush crowd then asked the NSA to begin warrantless wiretaps. By August Bush's lawyers in the Justice Department had drafted the "torture memo."

In the 2003 State of the Union message, Bush falsely declared that Iraq sought uranium from Niger, which an apologist later shrugged aside with the statement that Bush "is not a fact checker." And by March Bush got his "preemptive war" going by dangling the carrot of "missles of mass destruction" in Iraq before a doubting public, and Vice President Cheney's of company, Halliburton, was made recipient of a five year $7 billion NO BID contract in Iraq. As looting quickly became rampant in Bagdad, Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld shrugged it off with "stuff happens." By May, Bush theatrically declared "Mission Accomplished."

2004: as hundreds of US soldiers died in Bush's extended "mission accomplished" farce, the White House forced the news media to withhold all photos of flag-draped coffins of fallen service men being returned home. In May it was disclosed that the White House had created fake news reports in an attempt to privatize Medicare and link it with the stock market. And in June Dick Cheney was still publicly pretending that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda were in cahoots.

2005 saw administration dealings kept well concealed. Useful in this was such "humane" illusions as Bush's much publicized "pro-life" move to keep Terri Schiavo on life support system. In June the reality of global warming was edited out of all reports by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. November of 2005 found Congress being lied to about all the secret meetings that oil executives continued to have with Cheney.

In January 2006 Bush blatantly lied "I don't know him" in reference to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In February a top climate scientist was, in effect, barred from publicly explaining the dangers of climate chages. In April six retired generals publicly advised that Rumsfeld should resign. As hurricane Katrina roared toward New Orleans in August, the FEMA staff was actually ordered to stand down! Bush later tried to sidestep poor management of the disaster by saying that no one thought the levees protecting New Orleans would give way. However, videos later came to light that the Bush crowd had been warned about the possibility of levee collapse. As 2006 was closing (December), seven US Attorneys were illegally herded into resigning for not being "loyal Bushies."

In February of 2007 the public was shocked to learn that care for wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital included cockroaches, mouse droppings, and outright neglect. March saw the extent of Abramoff's dealings (whom Bush "didn't know") with with Department of Interior's number two man, J. Steven Griles, pleading guilty of related obstruction of justice tactics for Abramoff. In April, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress investigating the circumstances of the seven US Attorneys being illegally forced to resign that "I don't recall" for a total of 64 times. In June, Cheney sought to excuse himself from his covert dealing by claiming he was not part of the executive branch! In August it came to light that the CIA's secret prisons used torture methods that violated national and international law. By December all CIA waterboarding video tapes had been destroyed, and Congressional Democrats were demanding to know why.

March of 2008 found Bush whizzing through Afghanistan where he told the genuine defenders of democracy, "I'm a little envious of you." In May the Special Counsel office, the office supposedly established to protect federal whistleblowers, was raided by the FBI only to find that all files on whistleblowers had been erased. To show his great affinity with US service persons, Bush claimed that he hadn't golfed since August of 2003. He apparently forgot his October '03 golf game. June news revealed the eighty percent of "liberal" applicants considered for hire by the Department of Justice were illegally discriminated against. And in July it was disclosed by an ex-Environmental Protection Agency official that the public report on climate change had been edited by Cheney's office. Meanwhile, Karl Rove, Bush's strategist, thumbed his nose at the subpoena handed down by the House.

The last remaining days of Bush-league politics are sure to hold some more fancy footwork--especially in setting up of elaborate pardons to avoid the responsibility for the countless deceits and profiteering that this administration has spawned. Let us pray that true justice is at last served again once the Bush administration's corruption is swept out.

'Tis the Season

At this time of year, as the hours of daylight grow progressively less in the Northern Hemisphere, western religions (especially Christian) burst forth in lavish displays of belief that a one-time soul-saving event occurred just for them. In truth, that which is being celebrated is the celestial panorama and the season that has set the pace of life on Earth for many thousands of years

Astrological elements are the basis for most scriptural stories. For example, the seasonal change occurring with the winter solstice signals a time of new beginnings. That is the meaning behind the word solstice, which comes from the Latin solstium, from sol, meaning Sun, and sistere, past participle of stit, meaning "to stand." The illusion that the Sun moves periodically southward and northward is caused by the Earth's axial tilt as it orbits the Sun. For life in the Northern Hemisphere the Sun appears to reach its most southern point on December 21, and appears to remain stationary for three day's time, after which it appears to move northward again--on December 25.1 In pre-Christian Rome the 25th of this month was known as Natalis Solis Invict, meaning "birthday of the Sun."

With the approach of winter, the star Mizram (in Canis Major) rises upon the eastern horizon. The name Mizram is said to mean "The Announcer," for it precedes the arrival of the star Sirius, seeming to announce the greater light to come--just like the biblical John the Baptist is portrayed as announcing the coming of Jesus.

The month leading into the solstice carried great significance in ancient cultures, and it is from the Pagan study of astronomical movements that the observance of Advent was incorporated into Catholic formality--which allows four Sundays to make ready for the light (personified as Jesus) to come back in glory.

In Judaism, the festival of Hanukkah, meaning "dedication" (to light), is observed within the same seasonal period of the winter solstice, being celebrated from the 25th of Kislev to the first of Tebet of the Jewish calendar.

On the surface the connection of the Muslim fast of Ramadan to the winter solstice is less obvious--due to Mohammad's (or his scribe's) misunderstanding of Jewish/Christian myths that allowed for ceremonial observances of the winter solstice period. The Muslim celebration of Laylat-al-Qadr, meaning the "Night of Power," is held on the evening of the 27th day of the ninth month of the Muslim year. Although not as obviously related to recognition of the light phenomenon at the winter solstice, the fasting and rites are in reference of the feeble light after which light increases.

1 These points are covered in greater detail in my book The Celestial Scriptures; Keys to the Suppressed Wisdom of the Ancients. ISBN: 0-595-20913-0. Available through Barnes & Noble: Amazon: Borders, etc.

Runaway Fruitfulness

Back in 1942 the world population was calculated to be two billion. Today, in a mere sixty-seven years, the world population is hurtling toward seven billion!

For some head-in-the-sand reason, world overpopulation has been pretty much treated as a taboo subject for too long as a media concern. This avoidance is practiced in spite of the fact that global poverty and possible ecological catastrophe are directly tied to the explosive increase of human lives.

Once upon a time, of course, multiple children were valued as a resource for the parents in their declining years. Technology and science contributed toward healthier offspring and protection from diseases, so runaway fruitfulness was/is no longer necessary as a means of self-insurance.

The so-called sacred books of man's religions catered to this preservation tactic, and in addition almost universally indulged in the idea that exploiting the planet was their "divine right." The instruction for this was supposedly stated by god: Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). At that particular point in the priest-written story, the "man" created in the image of god was something like a hermaphrodite. How "he" was to "replenish the earth and subdue it" hovers like a divine mystery: sexual reproduction could not have been an active issue until after the strategically placed "forbidden fruit" had been nibbled (chapter three of Genesis).

This "revealed wisdom" and instruction, unfortunately, implied that all entities are expected to become breeders for god! Leaders of most religious sects all subscribed to that teaching for the simple reason that it assured an increase in their followers. This is still the mindset of those seeped in the illogicality of religious storytelling and look upon bearing numerous children as an expression of god's love and abundance. This irrationality is so pronounced even today that various national leaders advocate childbirth bounties!

The present world population is ecologically unsustainable. History has shown clearly that in periods when human population increased up to sevenfold there followed disasters of unpresedented food shortages, escalating prices for essentials, followed by rampage and riots--even cannibalism. But still we have religious resistance to contraceptives, sexual information, and taugh aversion of same sex attraction--which well may be Nature's way of keeping resources and life forces in balance for a habitable planet.

"Charitable Choice"

During the drafting of the Welfare Reform Act in 1996, the then-Senator from Missouri, John David Ashcroft (R-MO) advanced the idea of "charitable choice." The reference-label was something of a misnomer, for the covert intention of the program was to provide a wedge for that would permit the government to fund religious groups and ministries.

Within weeks after George W. Bush swore upon two Bibles at his inauguration in 2001 to uphold the Constitution he was leading the charge in support of the "charitable choice" policy. And John Ashcroft was installed as his Attorney General. A self-proclaimed "Born Again Christian," Bush quickly sought to distribute federal tax money to ministries, ostensibly to provide social services that were already provided through secular grantees and government agencies. The policy sought to alter the existing laws in a manner that could utilize the power of the federal government to support Christian conversions--a move that is in direct opposition to the religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Using tax dollars to fund churches and ministries to represent government social welfare is, in itself, unconstitutional. Add to this that "charitable choice," as attempted, intentionally avoided any protective safeguards that would prevent religious coercion and abuses. Incorporating religion into publicly funded programs had always been avoided by the government sometimes contracting separate entities of religious institutions and in that way established safeguards that protected the rights of the disadvantaged, the interests of all tax payers, and insured the integrity of the groups providing welfare.

Although charitable choice became part of the welfare law in 1996, the constitutional concerns caused democracy's representatives to hesitate in implementing the policy. Many saw it as a disguised way of forcing taxpayers to subsidize religion whether they believed in it or not--clearly a means of sabotaging the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.

But Bush like to think of himself as a god-chosen leader, and seemed hell-bent on applying charitable choice to practically every aspect of government funding. The resultant and unending hoopla made democracy tremble, alarming civil rights and civil liberties groups, educational and social communities, and even the more rationally balanced religious communities.

Providing social service can be a noble endeavor for religious groups, but the faith-based initiative as attempted is a policy that is concerned with neither democratic principles nor relgious liberty.

Militant Faith

Disrespect by the US military for the First Amendment rights of soldiers--the rights of free speech as well as the rights of religious freedom, which include the freedom from religion--have been increasingly demonstrated by uniformed Chrisitan evangelical fanatics for decades. Those indulging in religious promotion and discrimination have ranged from Brigadier Generals down throught the ranks to staff sergeants who have actively endorsed and participated in evangelical promotions

A watchdog organization, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) investigated complaints of more than 5,000 active duty and retired soldiers through 2005 to 2007, many that served or were still serving in Iraq that had been pressured by their commanding officers to embrace evangelical Christianity. Complaints of similar holy harassment continue to this day.

As a result of this constitutionally impermissible promotion of a religious belief system throughout branches of the military, a flood of lawsuits were filed against the Pentagon. One example of the religious harassment is the case where an Army Major broke up a meeting of soldiers that shared atheist principles: the Major going so far as to threaten to block the principal organizer's reenlistment in the army if the group continued to meet. Clearly such action is a flagrant violation of the soldier's First Amendment rights under the US Constitution.

Other similar violations involve Department of Defense (DOD) officials who appeared in uniform while on active duty in a 2004 promotional video for a fundamental Christian organization that calls itself the Christian Embassy. This gave the deceitful impression that the officers spoke officially on behalf of the military.

The lame excuse for this unconstitutional promotion was that the Christian Embassy had become a quasi-Federal entity with the DOD endorsing the organization to General Officers for over twenty-five years! Indeed, Christian Embassy, which is affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, have been providing faith-tilted studies used in the Pentagon and which clearly seek influence over Congress, the Executive Branch, and over the diplomatic community.

It is certain that true democratic principles are NOT being served by those attempting an evangelical coup in the military branches and the three branches of national government. We remain free to ponder that if the God they embrace is forced to resort to such a deceitful manner to glorify himself can he truly be called omniscient (all-knowing) or omnipotent (all-powerful)?