Family values
September 28, 2003 by Bill
I am smiling as I write this column. Why am I smiling? Well, the Christian and political right have just about smothered us with an avalanche of hyperbolic rhetoric about the fantasy they call “family values”.
Now, are you ready for this? Get another cup of coffee, come back, and read slowly.
The Christian Bible Belt has a divorce rate, per capita, twice that of atheists and agnostics . The divorce rate in the Bible Belt states is also 50 percent above the national average. This was revealed in a recent press conference in Oklahoma City by Governor Frank Keating. Since Oklahoma has one of the highest Bible Belt divorce rates the Governor felt obligated to confirm the statistics and ask for help in solving the problem.
Answers that are being offered are centered around the fact that the very nature of Bible Belt fundamentalism contributes heavily to the problem. Why? Because they have that whole dogma of “this is right” and “this is wrong” and there is nothing in between.
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Deleting God
September 21, 2003 by Bill
Blessed are the Atheists…Agnostics…Deists…Mystics…Humanists…Free Thinkers…Taoist…Buddhist…and all others who do not have an archaic, primitive God in their mind/brain.
Blessed are they for they do not believe that a God is on their side.
Blesses are they for they do not participate in holy wars, Jihads or Crusades.
Blessed are they for they would never be martyrs for the “glory of God”
Blessed are they for they do not condemn others as heretics or infidels.
Blessed are they for they do not conduct inquisitions nor slaughter millions of women as “witches”
Blessed are they for they do not participate in sectarian violence, or harass little Catholic school girls walking through their neighborhood.
Blessed are they who do not twist biblical words to condemn homosexuality as a sin, nor to condemn a woman’s right to choose.
Blessed are they who would never say that a terrorist act is God’s punishment against those who do not believe or think as they do.
Blessed are they who know that the only hell that exists is right here on earth created by man. And that it is in man’s hands alone to create a heaven here on earth through intelligence, empathy and love.
Blessed are they who do not trust a fantasy “God” to save humanity from its follies.
Blessed are they who realize that the United States is NOT a religious state, but a secular state that allows all belief systems, including freedom from any religious beliefs .
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Biblical contradictions
September 14, 2003 by Bill
Two weeks ago I asked this question: “How, in the year 2000, can people still believe that the bible is ‘reliable’, ‘infallible’ and without ‘contradictions’”? Questions have come to me asking”what contradictions?” To go through the thousands of contradictions in the Old and New Testament would take more space than is available in this entire newspaper. So, only a few to get your brain working. Which of the following contradictions is the one “without error”, “infallible”? It cannot be both.
At what time in the morning did the women visit the tomb? At the rising of the sun (Mark 16:2)or when it was yet dark (John 20:l) Was the tomb open or closed when they arrived? Open (Luke 24:2) ..Closed (Matt. 28:l)
Who came? Mary Magdalene alone (John 20:1) or Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Matt.28:1) or Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome (Mark 16:1) .or Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women (Luke 24:10)
Did Mary Magdalene know Jesus when he first appeared to her? Yes, she did (Matt: 28:9) .or No, she did not. (John 20:14) The “Annunciation” took place after Mary was pregnant (Matt 1:18-21) or the “Annunciation” took place before Mary was pregnant (Luke 1: 26-31)
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