Earth's Religions - A 5,000 year time lapse map.

Happy New Year

“Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim,” “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.”

Bishop John Spong on the Bible -

Bishop Spong is one of my guides.  This is a great interview.

Brother Sun Sister Moon

In 1972 a movie came out that made an indelible impression on me.  It is a dramatization of events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi from before his conversion experience through his audience with the pope, including his friendship with St. Clare. I don't remember the entire thing but certain parts of it have stayed with me since that time.( 40 years)   The second and third clip of St. Francis before the Pope was very powerful.  When he began to preach the words of Jesus before the princes of the church in their opulent robes and jewels.  Then the crafty Pope sees this as an opportunity for "bringing the poor back to the church" and uses Francisco - just like many of those in power would use anyone in any manner to achieve their aims.  Brother Sun, Sister Moon is a powerful movie.  It deserves to be shown again and again. Here are three clips. Watch 2 and 3 if you don't have time for all three.

Month of Ramadan:

Ramadan

Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.  Every year in the month of Ramadan, all Muslims fast from dawn until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations.

Although the fast is beneficial to health, it is regarded principally as a method of spiritual self-purification.  By cutting oneself off from worldly comforts, even for a short time, a fasting person gains true sympathy with those who go hungry, as well as growth in his or her spiritual life.

Ramadan began this year on August 1.  It lasts 30 days and ends with the holiday Eid ul-Fitr on August 30.

During the Holy Month of Ramadan, believers are expected to follow Sharia law, with fasting from sun up to sun down for 30 days. This fast is intended to help instill patience, self-sacrifice, spiritual cleansing, enlightenment and submissiveness to God. Ramadan is an especially important month in the Islamic calendar as it is believed to be the month when the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed to the prophet Muhammad, thus bestowing the revelations of God on mankind.

I gained a great respect for this religion by having Muslim students in my class.  They were young enough that they did not have to fast but many of them did.  I found it admirable that they chose to participate in this activity.  I wish the best for all true Muslims as they celebrate their religion in this important manner.

A Couple of Things

At Child of Illusion Ellie write this post:
And it's the right thing, tooI refer to this:
Catholic Church in Florida Planning to Pray For Osama bin Laden 
And, predictably, people are outraged.
I don't see how they can justify their objections, however. Take a look:
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse(Romans 12:14).
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:17-21).
I'm quoting the Bible, folks.
It is a Christian imperative to love and pray for one's enemies. It just is. I don't care how outraged you are. The love of one's enemies is central to the Christian religion.
~~~

My response to this was that most of these so-called Christians is that they read a redacted Bible where the words she placed in Bold are blacked out.  Now I admit that I, too, redact portions of the Bible.. the parts where God tells us to kill, stone, hate etc.  That is because the God I worship says the lines above and encourages me to "Love one another."  even those who mistreat me.

Part II -

 





The guy who is touting the rapture has dead eyes.  He also has $200 million dollars in the bank.  I wonder what Jesus would do with that kind of money in his bank account?  Oh wait, I don't think he would have had that money in a bank account.  He would have spread it around like manure encouraging young things to grow.

Raptoring

Thanks to Wayne for finding this.  Don't forget to e-mail me your pictures when you are raptured (Just ones of you actually ascending please) so I can post them. Since I am a Church Alumni I will probably still be around.

Madpriest has a Mixtape of music for the Rapture over at Of Course I Could Be Wrong.

Bartholomew

My friend and Brother Kevin sent me the link to this video. I found it very interesting. Orthodox Christianity in Turkey.

New Wedge Issue

NPR has this story up today about Christians not wanting a Mosque in Tennessee.

I read this quote in a story yesterday

I am a liberal, progressive, secularized American Muslim. But when I see that bigotry against my faith — my very identity — has become so commonplace in America that it is shaping into a wedge issue for the midterm elections, I can barely control my anger.

I can't imagine how the next generation of American Muslim youth will react to such provocations. I pray that we never find out.

Reza Aslan is a contributing editor at The Daily Beast. He is the author of No God But God and Beyond Fundamentalism.

Read here.

I have been thinking that perhaps the Republican (Tea) party has decided that so many people no longer care about whether or not gays get married and they need a new wedge issue. They have focused their hatred on Islamic people..

This is indeed a sad thing. Most Muslims just want to peacefully co-exist with all of us, just as most Christians aren't represented by these people. Fundamentalists of any religion really do scare me.

Because they can't love they have to have something to hate.

Addendum.

Dianne over at Forks Off the Moment has this take on the issue...We Need More Practice.

John just sent me this from Frank Rich who asks:

How do you win Muslim hearts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York?

What is Christianity at it's heart?

h/t Mad Hare

From National Public Radio

Click on picture to go to NPR to read and listen to this intriguing story.
and then scroll all the way down to read more.

Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?

Thoughts

I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.

John Selby Spong.

I subscribe to John Selby Spong's Newsletter "A New Christianity for A New World." I find his thoughts to be my thoughts articulated better. I listen to him when he calls Deity the "Ground of his Being" and I rejoice when I find a church such as the Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Canada which is a radical departure from the churches I see around here. They say: "Jesus added our minds to the equation: Love God with all you’re your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind!
Inquiring minds want to know:"

I stopped attending Church and no longer identify with a particular church. I do identify myself as a Christian (but not the Christian of the right wing fundamentalist Churches who practice more hatred than they do Love).

Spong says:

I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that "we love the sinner but hate the sin." That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement.

I feel that God sent (Infused Himself in) Jesus to show us how to act towards one another and therefore I will:

[Try to:]
Respect women
Respect those of different faiths
Treat all people as my brothers and sisters
Try not to Judge others.
Be grateful for all that God has given me over my lifetime
Work to protect the natural world which He has provided for us and our decedents.
Treat his animal creatures with respect.
Ground MY being in Him.
Recognize that in performing a creative act I am joining with God in the act of creation which is ongoing.
Rejecting evil and those who are evil and hate (even though they say they are doing so in the name of Christianity) (I won't hate them I just will try not to argue with their ignorance any longer,)
Continue to study and pray (in my own way) to improve myself and be a better person.
Forgive those who have trespassed against me (and that my friends is one of the hardest things I have to do)
Recognize that I do not have all (or even part) of the answers and just LOVE for that is all there needs to be and by arguing and fussing about those who think that THEY have all of those answers ( - I still feel that this poem is my message for them. ) is counterproductive.

There is more I could say but I am going to quit here. 'nuff said.

Thanks for stopping by. Hugs. j

Many paths

I took a test this morning over at Belief-o-matic. It purports to tell you what church (faith community) you should belong to. I am not currently attending a church. I think that is another story for another time and I may never tell it on this blog. But nevertheless here are my results. And some comments.

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
I attended this church when my friends got married. I went to the service prior to their wedding. It was OK but it really did not reach out and "touch" me. I know I probably think like them but the service just did not make me want to come back.
2. New Thought (94%)
3. Liberal Quakers (89%)
I would really like to know more about the Quakers.
4. New Age (87%)
5. Scientology (86%)
6. Neo-Pagan (85%)
I have friends who are pagans. I know a little about it and support them in their beliefs.
7. Mahayana Buddhism (81%)
8. Reform Judaism (79%)
I love the Jewish Religion but it would have to be reform for me as I love my bacon too much
9. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (76%)
I was a member of this Church for about 30 years. I still do the blog for the local church and frankly it is the only church I would even consider attending regularly. It spoiled me for other churches. I loved the study and probing and understanding of God (as Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, Soul, Divine Principle, and Mind) that I got from there,
10. Hinduism (76%)
11. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (74%)
And I used to be a Methodist.
12. Taoism (70%)
13. Theravada Buddhism (62%)
14. Secular Humanism (60%)
15. Jainism (60%)
16. Sikhism (60%)
17. Baha'i Faith (57%)
18. Orthodox Quaker (40%)
19. Orthodox Judaism (37%)
20. Islam (33%)
21. Nontheist (27%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (17%)
Absolutely no way
23. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (17%)
24. Seventh Day Adventist (12%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (11%)
Again no way.
Now as to the last two. I love their ritualistic ceremonies and the pageantry and richness of the service but no way could I belong to churches that are as "controlling" of their members.
26. Eastern Orthodox (9%)
27. Roman Catholic (9%)

Take the test here.

Confession

Blog Against Theocracy

Click on banner to go to see others.

Theocracy would be a situation where religious leaders would run the government. I think we saw a foretaste of that in the last administration when the Department of Justice became the Department of Injustice with partisan prosecutions and massive cover-up of criminal activities of the greedy.

These people in the name of religion are out for nothing less than control. Control of every aspect of your lives. We saw that when the Islamic Fundamentalists took over control of Iran and everything was subject to the approval of the Supreme Religious Rulers.

Our Founding Fathers did not found a "Christian Nation" - They founded a nation where all could freely worship the God of their choice and Government was to stay out of the government and politics. No matter what the Religious fundamentalists say, they are wrong. If you study history (which they don't want you to do) you will see and understand this. Our Constitution is not just a "Goddamn piece of paper" (G.W. Bush) it is a document which fundamentally keeps this nation from becoming a theocracy. It must be protected. All three branches of government must remain free from religion although the people in them may be religious. There must be "no law establishing" a religion although the religious wingnuts would have you believe that there is something wrong with that. They would also have you believe that it is right and proper to marginalize those in society who are "different" no matter what that difference may be.

To me the worst crime of these (so-called) religious folk is their hypocrisy. They follow a man who loved unconditionally - even those who were outcast by society. Who would not condemn even a woman "taken in adultery" who was supposed to be stoned to death. He showed that God would love even one such as that. The folks who are brainwashing their children with their religious beliefs would not forgive, would not love and would bring a hell on earth to those who do not worship them.

My religion is for me, it is to bring ME into line with what God wants, It is not always easy but in the end it is better to love than to hate. Today is the day to think about what life would be like under these folks and to remember that it is only our ballot box which keeps this from happening. I found this video on the web the other day. It paints a pretty strong picture of the religious fundamentalists and their Twisted Sermons. Don't let them fool you. They want nothing more than complete control over every aspect of your life.

Holy Week

MadPriest showed me this on his Blog:
I want one (or two)

True Words

Bishop Gene

I was over at FranIAm this morning and her post and the post of Madpriest mentioned that Bishop Gene Robinson would be giving the prayer on Sunday's event at the Lincoln Memorial. Fran had this video up. I have seen it before and I loved it the first time I saw it. I still love it and I admire Bishop Robinson. I will still put the TV on mute when Rick Warren prays to his god...but I may decide to listen to what Obama has to say. To my way of thinking he has redeemed himself just a little by inviting this man to pray.

Something to Ponder

God Vs. God
Click to enlarge. j

The Blessing

I found this over at Madpriest's blog.