Archive for April, 2008

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Separation of Church and State … but Were Afraid to Ask!

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

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First Freedom First is an activism group dedicated to protecting the precious rights of religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. On March 26 they held a special 2-hour simulcast event that vividly outlined their agenda, and the many threats our “first freedom” faces. The show features thought-provoking and moving interviews, as well as musical and comedy performances and celebrity appearances.

Click here to watch the video of the simulcast.

A Christian Proves Evolution

Monday, April 28th, 2008

YouTuber DonExodus2 is a Christian, and also a biology student who forcefully argues against the ignorance of creationists. In these two videos, he offers four irrefutable proofs of the theory of evolution. (And yes, he acknowledges that “proof” is a mathematical term that, while not applicable to scientific theories, nonetheless carries the vernacular meaning he intends.)

Part 1

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Part 2

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DonExodus on Creationism’s Damage to Christianity, Part 1

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DonExodus on Creationism’s Damage to Christianity, Part 2

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Heretics in Our Government

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

The letter below landed in my inbox yesterday, and I thought it was worth passing on. I looked up the quotes and they’re real.

Freaky!

*** If you are worried about the fate of our nation, please forward this email to everyone you love! ***

Dear Concerned American Citizen,

Our nation is in dire trouble.

The following quotes, as incredible as it may seem, came out of the mouths of some of the most powerful politicians in America.

These words should concern any Christian person, especially if you intend to vote in the November 2008 Presidential election.

It is CLEAR that this nation is heading down a very slippery slope and into the pits of darkness if we, as concerned Christian voters, can stand by and let this level of blasphemy and heretical thought make its way into our government — let alone the White House itself!

Read for yourself:

HERETIC #1
“The Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

*** This so-called “leader” denies our Christian heritage. Get this: He actually goes to church, but according to a printed quote from his own minister, he’s just faking it!

HERETIC #2
“I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. My pastor used to pray for my conversion, but he never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were heard.”

*** This American “leader” claims that Christianity either cannot be understood or is simply not intelligent! THANK GOD he cannot be elected President this year, but he is still thought of as a “hero”!!

HERETIC #3
“As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?…God is an essence that we know nothing of. Until this awful blasphemy is erased, there never will be any liberal science in the world.”

*** “Liberal science”?? This PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE wants liberal science (read: Evolution?) elevated over God, who we “know nothing of.” Can you believe this??

HERETIC #4
“Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. The whole history of the Gospel is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt any enquiry into it…In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.”

*** DUNGHILLS?? This Presidential candidate thinks the Bible is okay in places, and crap in others! That our Bible is “defective” and that its followers have burned and tortured women and children! Do you want THIS MAN running our nation??

HERETIC #5
“For centuries the legal establishment of Christianity had been on trial. What are its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and arrogance in the church, ignorance and an almost slave-like mindset among the masses, and in both camps; superstition, bigotry and persecution.”

*** I bet you can tell this guy was a lawyer before he decided to run for the Senate! He claims that Christianity has been “on trial” for centuries, and according to HIM, it’s been found guilty of making people ignorant and causing violence and bigotry! Can you believe this man wants to be President too?

HERETIC #6
“My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.”

*** Unsound? Of “human origin”? This is utter blasphemy! Who does this man think he is???

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO THESE MEN ARE??

You should! You want to avoid voting for them at all costs!

Scroll down to find out….

 

Heretic 1: George Washington (our first President)
Heretic 2: Benjamin Franklin (inventor, diplomat)
Heretic 3: John Adams (our second President)
Heretic 4: Thomas Jefferson (our third President)
Heretic 5: James Madison (our fourth President)
Heretic 6: Abraham Lincoln (our sixteenth President)

Shocked?

The quotes are real. The only alterations made were to the vernacular. Feel free to Google any of them and verify them for yourself.

Here’s the lesson:

1. Without these men, you would not enjoy the freedoms you have today.

2. Yet, if you are a Christian, YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER VOTED FOR ANY OF THEM.

Let that sink in as you go to the polls this November.

The majority of our Founding Fathers were not Christians. At best, they were Deists, and all these men strongly opposed many if not all aspects of Christianity as we understand it. This is by no means a partial list.

Now, ask yourself this:

“What if Senator Clinton said she found the Bible unintelligible?”

“What if Senator Obama claimed the Gospels were defective and flawed?”

“What if Senator McCain claimed the fruits of the faith were violence and bigotry?”

What would our so-called “liberal” media make of such statements? Front-page headlines! Fodder for mudslinging campaign slogans! Endless debate over whether he or she was a “viable candidate” for the office of the Presidency!

And you? Would you even bother to vote?

Yet only the most naive person would claim any of our present-day candidates could rival our early leaders. From Washington’s fearless leadership to Jefferson’s astonishing intellect, these six “heretics” are in a class all their own. They fathered our Constitution, introduced our Bill of Rights, and established freedom unparalleled in the known world. They literally created democracy, invented the lightening rod, and abolished slavery.

Now, look at the other side:

For eight long years, we have endured a President who would have never appointed one of these “heretics” to his cabinet. A President that has marched us into war against the council of the majority of the leaders in this world and the vast majority of American consensus. A President who has spent over 2 TRILLION dollars in these endeavors, and yet we still have a missing terrorist leader and a faction of Islam that is stronger, not weaker. A President who has, in effect, ordained the death of over 83,000 Iraqi men, women and children.

And yet: A President who openly professes his faith in the Prince of PEACE?

Peace??

What would our Founding Fathers think of such a man, or of the nation who now demands its leaders to be politically correct and of Christian faith?

Ask yourself this: Would you elect a semi-Deist (Washington), a militant Deist (Franklin), a Unitarian (Adams), a man who wrote his own version of the Bible to clarify his Deistic beliefs (Jefferson), an Episcopal back-slider who later converted to Deism (Monroe), or a Deist who later professed his affinity for Free Thought and Agnosticism (Lincoln)?

Think about it.

Then vote.

Expelled Exposed

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Many reality based members of the YouTube community are coming forth with critiques of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and it’s understandable why they have a hard time keeping a straight face even while smashing the movie’s tissue of lies with tons of cold, hard facts. Here’s a great example: the latest two installments of Thunderf00t’s Why Do People Laugh at Creationists? series.

Part 22

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Part 23

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PaulHarrison1976 went to see the film and left this audio review.

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Bonus Links

Scientific American: Six Things in Expelled That Ben Stein Doesn’t Want You to Know…

National Center for Science Education: ExpelledExposed.com

Who Wrote the Bible?

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

An academic theologian examines the historical roots of the Bible text, and ends up questioning his own faith.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2061773048178434620

Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

A hilarious parody of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Which is about all that movie is good for.

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Plus, bonus feature: The Expelled Idiocy Knows No Bounds, via Brian Flemming.

Sam Harris: Liberals are Clueless about Muslim Extremists

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

I’ve also had conversations with liberal believer friends who seem to want to ascribe the terrorism of extremist Muslims to anything but their actual religious beliefs. Quite astonishing.

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Richard Dawkins with Bill Maher

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Not an in-depth interview, but a few clever insights and some interesting twists and turns.

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The Cube becomes KUBUS

Monday, April 21st, 2008

Back in 2006 I wrote a post about discovering the source of one of my childhood nightmares: a remarkable teleplay by Jim Henson called The Cube. If you’re up for having your mind warped, you can watch it here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2112529755533998573

Now a German production company is bringing The Cube to the theatre stage as KUBUS. Sorry, no English translation yet, but it looks quite well done.

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The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

Go shopping at 3Trillion.org.

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$3 trillion? Really? Here’s a panel discussion with economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes regarding their new book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict.

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