The moon and resurrection
March 30, 2003 by Bill
If you ask, what phenomenon played a vital part in developing the human imagination to believe in a life after death, it was, quite simply, observing the moon. The part that the moon has played in resurrection beliefs is one of the most fascinating subjects in the history of religions.
The sun is always the same. The moon, on the other hand is born new, grows to maturity, dies and is resurrected. The period of the new moon, the resurrection of the moon, became one of the most important religious celebrations in all primitive cultures.
As late as 600 B.C. in the Hebrew culture of the Old Testament, the new moon demanded special and generous offering and sacrifices. The Hebrew Sabbath was originally a new moon celebration. As the moon is reborn at the end of the third day, so shall the dead be reborn to a new life…
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The pathology of respect for ignorance
March 23, 2003 by Bill
The ABC evening news with Peter Jennings is outstanding. This is not just my opinion but also that of many distinguished journalists. He often picks a subject and spends a substantial amount of time in an examination of the material. One such recently was on the failure of the military policy of “Don’t ask…don’t tell…”.for gays and lesbians.
They illustrated with the story of a sensitive, gay young sailor on the verge of suicide. He was being horribly harassed. In desperation he went to the chaplain of the ship for help and relief. And this is what the fundamentalist chaplain told him.
You had better sit down and get some Kleenex for your tears. The chaplain said this to the young lad:
“You are a sick human being and if you do not stop being gay you are going to die from a horrible case of AIDS, and worse yet, you are going to burn in hell forever.”
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Respecting religions
March 16, 2003 by Bill
H.L. Mencken was one of the most respected scholars, writers and nationally syndicated columnists in American journalism. He wrote for the Baltimore Sun. His observations on “religious opinions” should be on everyone’s fridge door. He wrote:
“The most unbelievable social convention of the age in which we live is the one to the effect that all religious opinions should be respected, (no matter how ignorant)”.
The insidious and seductive cliche that seems to saturate our society is “you should not be critical of another persons religious belief, they all deserve respect.” No matter how ignorant, how bigoted, how ugly, how destructive, how false, how superstitious, how false, how cruel…they all deserve “respect”.
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