Christian Kool-Aid

There are two quotations from famous Discordians that have always made a lot of sense to me.

Kerry Thornley and Greg Hill wrote Principia Discordia, long long ago. On page 00054, it is written: "Conviction causes convicts."

And Robert Anton Wilson wrote in Cosmic Trigger, "Belief is the death of intelligence."

These ideas have just been (again) proven true to me.

Saturday night I couldn't sleep, so I was online, following up various links to the word "Freemasonry." I saw a link to a Christian forum where Freemasonry was being discussed, so I clicked on over to see what was up.

On Worthy Boards, I found a thread that had just been started by a regular contributor there, obviously a Christian, who had (against the board's rules) copied and pasted a long diatribe against Freemasonry, "proving" that the Masonic "plan of salvation," yadda yadda, was unchristian, Satanic, etc. You've seen it before, or something like it. The poster had included links to the websites for the Ephesians 5:11 and Ex-Masons for Jesus crowd.

For some reason I was "inspired" to register on that forum, and write a nice, polite response to the lies about Masonry that had been posted. Maybe that inspiration was from "the Lord," maybe it was from the goat-headed Baphomet or Pan, or maybe it was just my tired brain seeking some stimulation until I could fall asleep.

The poster had made ten points comparing Masonry to Christianity. Many of her points were just so off the wall I had to respond.

So I did. Politely, I might add.

Satisfied that I had "done my duty" (to the Lord, to Baphomet, or to my sleepy mind, I don't know) for Freemasonry, I skimmed the site and found some poor guy searching for the "truth" about Lucifer being kicked out of heaven after a fight with God and/or the angel Michael.

I posted a few words, sharing my belief that the myth of Lucifer "falling from grace" was a Hebrew re-telling of the Osiris/Ra myth, and that that in turn was simply based on the motions of the planet Venus in relation to the Sun.

Satisfied, I went to bed and fell into the arms of Morpheus.

Today, I checked back on the site, to see if there were any responses. But I couldn't find my posts. Not only had they been deleted, but the entire threads, begun by their regulars, were gone.

I poked around for a few minutes, checking to see if I'd simply not looked into the correct forum areas.

Apparently, one of the site's moderators had been watching my travels about the board, because while I was still on the site, I got an email message:

Widows Son,

Hello my name is Dave and I am a Moderator at Worthy Boards. The reason that I am writing is that I have removed a couple of posts by you.

One read like an apologetic for Free Masonry. Our focus at Worthy is the Glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ's Outrageous Grace.

I also want to ask that you not end your posts with the "burning taper" website as your sig. The reason is that the site reads like an apologetic for Free Masonry. Free Masonry is not compatible with our Statement of Faith. Please read it. It is not our focus at Worthy.

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior Widows Son?

Peace,
Dave

I wrote Dave back the following:

Dave,

I simply told your regular poster there (who obviously lifted her diatribe against Masonry from another website, thus violating your rule about plagiarism) that she was wrong in her statements about Masonry. I didn't start it, and would never even have found your site had it not contained the lies about Masonry.

Don't worry... I won't pollute your board with Masonic stuff. I don't plan to be a regular there, but I will be back to answer any negative stuff your members post about Freemasonry, even if you do delete it soon after I write it. Being a Christian doesn't give anyone the right to publicly lie about paths others have chosen.

So why'd you also delete the post that answered the question by your member
about Lucifer?

Thanks for writing.

--W.S.

I sent the message, and then turned my attention back to their site, having noticed a thread called "Prayer Warriors" (they like that militaristic jingo; there is also a forum devoted to "Spiritual Warfare").

Someone had requested prayer for his aged uncle who had, supposedly, lost his life's savings to an Internet scam. I was amused by one particular response to his plea.

QUOTE(Zadok Rox @ Oct 7 2007, 08:05 PM) *
Lord Father, I pray that you would restore to Shortstop's uncle what was swindled from him in Jesus' name. And, Lord, please save the people who conned him and that they turn themselves in. In Jesus' name, amen.

I figured, hey, this is a good time to ask a question I've always wanted to put out on a Christian-themed forum somewhere, 'cause I'd like to see what kind of responses it would get. So I wrote:

I have questions no one has ever suitably answered for me. Namely, how does prayer work? What are the mechanics of prayer? Is God swayed by a certain number of prayers on a particular subject? Is a group prayer, or you all individually praying for the swindled uncle, more effective than a solitary prayer from one person? Does God grant favors based on the number of prayers, or the quality of a prayer, or what?

Widow's Son

I hit "save" on that one, thinking, hmm, maybe I'll get some thoughtful responses. Maybe I can get a glimpse into how these people's minds work, and find out why they think God is their cosmic Santa Claus, always ready to do a favor if asked. Apparently not too many Christians believe in the Deist God that simply made the Universe and then sat back to let us utilize our free will.

Boy, was I wrong. No answer was to be forthcoming. As I clicked to another post, I got this message:

Your account has been temporarily suspended. This suspension is due to end on Sep 19 2018, 08:24 PM.

Two-thousand eighteen! I've been banned from Worthy Boards for nearly ELEVEN YEARS! For defending Freemasonry and asking some simple questions.

So much for the love of Jesus. So much for Christians reaching out to the "unsaved." So much for Christian compassion.

As a libertarian, I have no problem with them locking me or anyone out of their forums. It's theirs; they can do what they want.

But as a spiritually-minded intellectual, it amazes and amuses me.

Back to the Discordian quotes I mentioned at the beginning of this article....

These people, not unlike the "fundamentalist" Masons who don't like the "harmony" of their forums mucked up with "radical" questions or ideas (like women Masons or black Masons), when confronted with something that doesn't fit into their narrow little worldview, simply cut off the offending idea. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand, or a child putting his fingers in his ears and shouting, "La la la la, I can't hear you."

Their convictions, or beliefs, have imprisoned them. "Out, damn Satan!" they shout at anything that forces them to THINK, to use their god-given brains for something other than hat racks. Their belief, certainly, has killed their intelligence.

The Worthy Boards are filled with thousands of posts, almost all of them a variation on "Woo hoo! Ain't our God good!? If you don't think so, you're going to hell. Praise God!"

Is this what heaven's going to be like? Millions of brain-dead souls bowing in the street, doing nothing but muttering praises and adulating and sucking up to the "loving" yet vengefully wrathful, condemning God of the Bible?

Jesus save me from your followers!

Masons | Fundamentalist Christians | Worthy Boards | Freemasonry | Lucifer | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

The Christian States of America

If belief creates reality, it's no wonder we're living in a Bizarro World.

The First Amendment Center just released its 2007 survey results of Americans' opinions on the U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment.

Sixty-five percent (nearly two-thirds) of the respondents said they believed the nation's founders intended the United States to be a Christian nation, and 55% believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation.

When asked to name the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, 64% knew that freedom of speech was one of them. Only 19% knew that freedom of religion was a right enumerated in the First Amendment. Sixteen percent knew about freedom of the press, and 16% knew about the right to associate and assemble. Only three percent mentioned the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

A full 29% either refused to answer the above questions or flat out admitted they just didn't know!

After having the First Amendment read to them, 25% agreed when asked if the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

Let that sink in for a moment.

One in four Americans believes that we have too much freedom!

Thirty-four percent think the press has too much freedom. Thirty-seven percent do not think the press should be allowed to criticize the U.S. military's strategy and performance.

Twenty-eight percent believe that the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion "was never meant to apply to religious groups that the majority of the people consider extreme or on the fringe."

More from the survey:

• Public schools should be allowed to put on Nativity reenactments with Christian music: 43% agreed.
• Musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics that others might find offensive: 42% disagreed.
• People should be allowed to say things in public that might be offensive to religious groups: 39% disagreed.
• People should be allowed to say things in public that might be offensive to racial groups: 56% disagreed.
• Teachers and other school officials should be allowed to lead prayers in public school: 58% agreed.
• A public school teacher should be allowed to use the Bible as a factual text in a history or social studies class: 50% agreed.

The demographics of the respondents: 67% with at least some college; 79% white; 62% having a household income over $40,000 a year; 30% Democrat, 28% Republican, and 26% claiming to be Independent. 49% were men, 51% women. Only 1/3 of the respondents had children under the age of 18.

Seventy-three percent said they were Christians (50% Protestant, 23% Catholic).

Twenty-six percent of all respondents said they were "fundamentalist/evangelical Christians." If I remember high school algebra, that means that .26 / .73 = nearly 36% of the Christians interviewed considered themselves fundamentalists and/or evangelicals.

To me, the most telling of all the statistics is the section asking where the respondents primarily get their news. Sixty-one percent of the respondents said they got most of their news from passive sources, that is, television (52%) and radio (9%).

Twenty-one percent get their news from what I would call, for lack of a better term, active sources (newspapers, 20%; magazines, 1%.) By active, I mean, in comparison to TV and radio, where you don't usually actually think about the news, at least not while you're receiving it. With magazines and newspapers, at least you choose the pace at which you try to absorb a news story, and you have the choice of whether to actually read a story or not. With rapid-fire TV and radio, you're usually just bombarded, and before you can decide if you actually want to know about a story, yet another story is being presented. Often, you're not only given the story, but told, directly or indirectly, what you should think about it.

Fifteen percent said they got their news from the Internet, and four percent said "other," whatever that means. Again, for lack of a better term, I would call news you get from the Internet "interactive." You choose what to read. You can take your time thinking about what you've read, and leisurely form an opinion. In many cases, whether on news organization sites or on personal blogs, you can interact with others by posting your own opinions, conclusions, disagreements or rebuttals.

It's my hypothesis, which of course cannot be proved or disproved without access to the individual survey forms, that the readers (of magazines, newspapers and Internet) in this survey held more liberal or libertarian views, and knew more about, and held in a higher regard (or even higher reverence), the First Amendment, while those who got their news spoon-fed to them by television and radio talking heads and pundits held the more "conservative," anti-freedom viewpoints, and knew less about, and valued less, the freedoms enumerated in the First Amendment.

Agree? Disagree? Come on... be interactive!

You can find the actual survey questions and answer tables in a PDF file provided by the First Amendment Center. You can also find the Center's original press release on their site.

News stories about the 2007 survey can be found here, and here, and here.

First Amendment | Christianity | U.S. Constitution | Founding Fathers | 2007 First Amendment Center Survey | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

The Devil's fossil factory

Lewis Black is one of my favorite comedians. I first discovered him a few years ago on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he does a semi-regular bit.

Here's a short clip of Lewis Black [Website] [Wikipedia] going off on Christian fundamentalists, Creationism museums, and my home state of Georgia.

Warning: Contains four-letter words.

Watch it here or on YouTube.



Lewis Black | Comedy | Video | Creationism | Fossils | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Video says Masons 'ride the goat' to 'conjure up the Babylonian gods of war'

Just when I thought I'd seen all the stupid anti-Masonic videos that whacked-out fundamentalist Christians could create and upload to YouTube, along comes Masonic Pet Goat of Nine-One-One: Presidential Bow Before Bel.

The video is produced by a Christian group calling itself "Protestant Separatist," whose motto seems to be drawn from 2nd Corinthians 6:17, which says, "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."

The group "Protestant Separatist" appears to be the brainchild of Stephen Michael Schroeder, an Indianapolis man with a grudge against Catholics and Freemasons. On the group's home page we learn that the character of Uncle Sam is based on Baphomet. No, really. Superimpose the images and you get, well, you get a superimposed image of Uncle Sam over Baphomet. That's proof enough, isn't it?

Judging from the article on his webpage called "I Stand Alone," we can assume his group is made up of, oh, maybe one person.

Warning — Low blow but I can't help myself: Stephen Michael Schroeder wears his hair in a mullet cut. How can you take anyone seriously who sports a mullet? Even Billy Ray Cyrus had to get rid of his mullet before anyone took him seriously.

The video is a rambling, convoluted and ultimately ridiculous 10 minute montage of video and graphics, narrated by a man (Schroeder, I'm guessing) who sounds like he scarfed down a barbiturate cocktail before he began.

No facts, no information, no references... just idle chatter telling us that "the secret Masonic ritual of riding the goat" is how the "Masonic-controlled Skull & Bones" group controls the world.

It begins, accompanied by The Listening Wind by Talking Heads, by pointing out that when President George W. Bush was told about the first plane that hit the World Trade Center tower, he was in an elementary school, reading a story called The Pet Goat (not My Pet Goat, as the video says) to children.

I agree that's a pretty nifty "coincidence," and given a few minutes to think about it, I could probably write a darn good "those Satanic Masons done it" conspiracy screenplay or short story beginning with this premise. I mean, the authors of the story, which is a part of a much larger collection of children's tales designed to help kids learn to read, have conspiratorial, Bavarian-sounding names, like Siegfried and Bruner.

The video uses images of Glinda the Good Witch of the North and Popeye the Sailor to let us know, somehow, that stars and goats are the way to "conjure up the Babylonian gods of war to continue to destroy the earth, and finally to make war in heaven, until all acknowledge the goat as god."

This guy falls flat on his face with this one. I have to give this video Four (Inverted) Stars for utter stupidity.

Watch it here or on YouTube.



Masons | Riding the Goat | Baphomet | Freemasonry | Protestant Separatist | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

'Darwin made me do it!': Fundamentalist Muslim blames terrorism, world's evils on Charles Darwin

Controversial Muslim author Adnan Oktar, also known by his pen-name Harun Yahya, held a press conference aboard a luxury yacht in the Black Sea today to proclaim the evils of the world were a direct result of Darwinism, according to Reuters News Service.

"Communism, fascism, and Freemasons stand on the tenets of Darwinism, and the world power of capitalism stands on the same.... Hitler and Mao were both Darwinists," said Oktar.

Oktar, every bit as fundamentalist in his Islamic beliefs as American fundamentalist Christians are in theirs, believes in the creationist theory that Yahweh/God/Allah created the universe in six days, as described in the Bible and the Koran. He says he has no formal ties with Christian fundamentalists other than the "exchange of information."

"We will not deceive ourselves that scientists have a monopoly on truth," he said.

Oktar's group mass-mailed copies of his lavishly illustrated Atlas of Creation, which argues that Darwin's theory of evolution is at the root of global terrorism,to libraries and educators throughout France recently. Echoing Christian fundamentalist Kent Hovind, known as Dr. Dino, the book carries over 700 pages of images comparing fossils with present-day animals, arguing that Allah created all life as it is and that evolution never took place.

Oktar said one million of his books and movies were being downloaded from Internet sites every month, and that copies of his books and movies had been distributed in 170 countries.

No one knows who is financing Oktar's publishing efforts. Some believe it is Islamic fundamentalists, while others think it is U.S. Christian fundamentalists. Ah, sweet conspiracy....

Masons | Adnan Oktar | Harun Yahya | Freemasonry | Darwinism | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

'Fundamentalists Say the Darnedest Things!'

Warning: This article contains the F-word.

I found a website yesterday that is not only amazingly amusing, but downright frightening in what it showcases.

Called Fundies Say the Darnedest Things!, this site monitors fundamentalist Christian websites, blogs and forums and re-posts the most absurd things jackasses for Jesus write. The site bills itself as "an archive of the most hilarious, bizarre, ignorant, bigoted, and terrifying quotes from fundies all over the internet!"

These are excerpts from Christian forums, liked Teens-4-Christ.org, Usenet's alt.christnet.christianlife, ChristianForums.com, and countless others. Expect lots of homophobia, racism directed at blacks and Muslims, and thousands of other non-Christlike rantings. The site currently indexes over 14,000 quotes.

To make it easier on you (and your stomach, because you can't read too much of this stuff without getting ill), the webmaster lists the "best" of the quotes each month. Nominate your favorite quotes for awards.

Currently, there are 19 comments up for "awards." Go to this page for the actual links.

• "Choose Life or I'll Kill You" Award: Paul displays the "Life begins at conception and ends after birth" mentality.


• "I Define Homophobia" Award: Tiffany09 hates MySpace because it asks which team you're on.


• "I Love My Cult!" Award: Evangelist is proud to be a member of a cult. Could you please pass the punch?


• "Projecting Much?" Award: Mosheh_Thezion describes his, er, men's, desires to fuck anything that they can get his, er, their, dick in.


• "Proud to be a Doormat!" Award: Juanita is oh so very proud of sacrificing all independent thought for God and her husband!


• "YELLING MAKES ME RIGHT!" Award: HoLy Knight is right, BECAUSE HE CAN YELL!


• Argumentum ad Populum Award: Jacob1983 thinks that 2 billion people can't be wrong, yet still disagrees with those 12 trillion flies that think stool is delicious.


• Dim Bulb of the Month: Elizabeth Maxwell's failure to comprehend what a logical fallacy is shows just how dim some bulbs really are.


• Evil Mother Fucker of the Month: Dr. Jack Hyles explains how and why beating your child is the sign of a True Man of God.


• Exclamations for Jesus Award: OMG!!! Ashley Brianne talks about the DECAY of MORALITY very EMPHATICALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


• Fundie Debate Tactics Award: Cdevidal tells us all we need to know when it comes to debate.


• History Revisionist of the Month Award: Mrs. Debbie reveals that Baptists predate all other sects of Christinaity, despite historical proof showing otherwise.


• Pot and Kettle Award, Bro. Randy tells the Kettle just how black it really is. And describes himself in a nutshell at the same time.


• Profound Arguement of the Month: BAFRIEND eloquently tells us what he thinks of homosexuality.


• Prude of the Month Award: TJ finds any sexual act aside from the missionary position to be perversion.


• Rambo Jesus Award: Jesus is coming back, and this time, he's out for blood!


• Sigmund "Fraud" Award: Thom319 thinks he's the next Sigmund Freud, too bad his theories make even less sense than Freud's.


• Teflon Coated Slope Award: The author of Gather.com has coated the slope of gay marriage with a microfilm of teflon.


• Unintentional Innuendo Overload of the Month: OnMyKnees is in love with Jesus!

The site also has secondary projects called Conspiracists Say the Darnedest Things! and Racists Say the Darnedest Things!

Fundamentalists | Fundies | Christians | Conspiracy Nuts | Racists | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Onward Christian Lawyers: Pat Robertson's law school grads fill Dept. of Justice

More than 150 attorneys hired by the federal government during the Bush administration have been graduates of Regent University School of Law, founded by televangelist Pat Robertson to provide "Christian leadership to change the world," the Boston Globe is reporting.

The story opens with this chilling paragraph:

The title of the course was Constitutional Law, but the subject was sin. Before any casebooks were opened, a student led his classmates in a 10-minute devotional talk, completed with "amens," about the need to preserve their Christian values.

Monica Goodling, a Regent graduate and until last week top aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, recently resigned. She was one of a handful of officials who oversaw the firings of U.S. attorneys in what has become another Bush scandal.

She recently refused to testify to Congress, citing the Fifth Amendment.

Regent University's 21-year history is that of a school that has turned out a high number of graduates unable to pass the bar exam. It was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1996.

"It used to be that high-level DOJ jobs were generally reserved for the best of the legal profession," wrote a contributor to The New Republic website. "...[T]hat a recent graduate of one of the very worst (and sketchiest) law schools with virtually no relevant experience could ascend to this position is a sure sign that there is something seriously wrong at the DOJ."

Monica Goodling's undergraduate work was done at Messiah College, a Christian school "committed to an embracing evangelical spirit." Her entire higher education has been steeped in evangelical tradition and beliefs.

Shortly after Bush became president, he picked the dean of Regent's government school, Kay Coles James, to be the director of the Office of Personnel Management, and she has since packed the upper echelons of the Dept. of Justice with attorneys with Regent degrees.

"We've had great placement," said Jay Sekulow, who heads a non profit law firm based at Regent that files lawsuits aimed at lowering barriers between church and state. "We've had a lot of people in key positions," the Globe reports.

Regent University is ranked a "tier four" school by US News & World Report, the lowest score and essentially a tie for 136th place.

Sixty percent of the graduates in Goodling's 1999 class failed the bar exam on the first attempt. It has improved, according to the Princeton Review, to a 67% pass rate today.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft is the university's newest instructor. He co-teaches a course called "Human Rights, Civil Liberties, and National Security."

Creeping theocracy, or just typical of Washington politics?

UPDATE, Wed., April 25: The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday 32-6 to authorize a grant of immunity for former Justice Department official Monica Goodling.

Image: Karl Rove and Monica Goodling

Theocracy | Politics | Evangelical | Regent University | Monica Goodling | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

List of blogs that participated in the Blogswarm Against Theocracy

If it accomplished nothing else, this past weekend's Blogswarm Against Theocracy has given me quite a few new blogs to read. Here's the latest list, as of this morning, of blogs that participated in the swarm by posting one or more articles. I understand there are at least 200 more blogs to be added.

In this list you'll find liberals and conservatives, Christians, Jews, Pagans and atheists. So far I've even found one by a Christian minister.

I hope you find some new and interesting reading material among them.

From Kristim (at MPS)
The Aristocrats
Montag at Stumplane
life's journey
Chip Berlet (at T2A)
Frederick Clarkson (at DKos)
A poetic justice (several poems)
Driftglass
The Quaker Agitator
Balls and Walnuts
Zaius Nation
Birmingham Blues
Lihan161051
Brian
Chaotic Good
Dangerously Subversive Atheist Penguin
Northgate Science
Austin Atheist
The Greenbelt
Essential Saltes
Knight of Pan
Evil Bender
I doubt it
Xark
Abnormal Interests
Tengrain (at MPS)
Omnipotent Poobah
Orcinus
A Whore in the Temple of Reason
The Cylinder
Austin Cline
Thorne's World
WMD Actual
Witches and Scientists
Explicit Atheist
Yikes!
Flatbush Gardener
The Truffle
I am the Lizard Queen
Neal Rauhauser (at dKos)
Lost in the Underground
Atheist Experience
Indignant Ahole
So Queer
Sanguine in Seattle
Sepherim
The Burning Taper
Wishing for wisdom
Independent Bloggers Alliance
One North Dakota Woman
Derek Timothy
Deep Subject
Paul Hutchinson's Blog
Diario de bordo (Portugal)
Lord J-Bar
Big Daddy Malcontent
Brahmin Colorado (at dKos)
Brainshrub.com
The Front Page (Canada)
Chris Rodda (at T2A)
April Reign (Canada)
Immoral Logic
Pambolita
Rational Revolution
Deleted Items
Bratfink
Religious Right Watch
IseBrand
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub
Timeline of Theocracy (at T2A)
Hypnocrites
ProgressiveU
The Skeptical Alchemist
Dark Christianity
The Rational Christian
Another Ravan Perch
Unrepentant Old Hippie
Cycle
AP Lawrence, Blogger
Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes
God is for Suckers!
There are no Barking Sparrows
Beep Beep It's Me
Cause for Concern
The Jaded Skeptic
Cassandra Waites (at T2A)
Hot Cup of Joe
Big Brass Blog
Dawne Gee at Clean Cut Kid
xcsharpshadowx
Cross Left
Ten Percent
Killing time, making noise
Phillip Allen
Live and times of an ex(2)-pat Yank
Darwin's Dagger
Les Enrages
Laelaps
David 2's Brutally Honest Random Thoughts
Runesmith's Canadian Content
Nonsensical Ravings of Finely Tuned Insanity
Barefoot Bum
No More Mister Nice Guy!
do not read this blog
Pandagon
commander others otherwhirled
Journeys with Jood
Fitness for the Occasion
after the bridge
Reconstitution
Hard-boiled Dreams of the World
The Daily Pulse
Midget Queen
The Jewish Atheist
Fetch Me My Axe
North of Center
Doing My Part for the Left (podcast)
Liberal Street Fighter
Blue Wren
Laughing Goo
Robert Colgan (at MPS)
Flatus the Elder
Progressive Historians
Virus Head
Club Lefty
Blue Gal
Recovering Liberal
Blast Off!
Ordinary Girl
The Neo-Skeptic
Not Soccer Mom
Hullabaloo
Mock Paper Scissors
A Blog Around the Clock
An American in Melbourne
Everything and more
Atheist Revolution
About Kitty
Half Nixon
I Speak of Dreams
Feminists Don't Bake Bread
Americans United Blog
Dog Emperor
At Center Network
God Vs. Darwin
Action Skeptics
Creekside
Rascality
Frank L. Cocozzelli (at T2A)
Biblioblography
The Largest Minority
Facilitate Wonder
Reconsititution
From Sorghum Crow (at MPS)
Mauigirl's Meanderings
Chris Rodda (at T2A - Bible Curriculum Series)
The Spiritual Humanist Blog
The Stormy Days of March
The Springy Goddess
The Shikon Jewel
Clyde the f-ed up cousin of Jimmy Dean (at MPS)
Vagabond Scholar
Ron's Blog
Journeys with Jood
The Learning Curve
Pissed in NYC (at MPS)
This *is* it.
Tangled up in Blue Guy
A Stitch in Haste
One Act in the Eternal Play of Ideas
commander other (at MPS)
Thoughts in a Haystack
We Are All Giant Nuclear Fireball Now Party
Coffee Messiah
RadRobin
Fitness for the Occasion
Peace, order and good government, eh? (Canada)


Image: The Grand Lake theater in Oakland, California, which regularly makes political statements on its marquee. Photographer unknown.

Blog Against Theocracy | Blogswarm Against Theocracy | Blogs | Christianity | Fundamentalist | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Blogs against theocracy: 'We're not gonna take it!'

Bro. Don Tansey of the blog Movable Jewel has already said it better than I could. He said it politely. I'm more prone to ranting when it comes to this subject.

I stand with him and other bloggers this weekend in putting Christian fundamentalists on notice: We're not gonna take it!

Keep your hypocritical, overzealous, ultra-conservative, paranoid religious hands off the U.S. Constitution, the judiciary, federal, state and local governments, our schools, our kids, our bedrooms, our lodge rooms, and every other aspect of our lives you would like to control. Your twisted theological views do not represent the views of the majority of Christians or Americans, and your actions certainly aren't what Jesus would do.

The United States of America is not a theocracy. It will never be one.

Keep your church separated — stand way back! — from our state.

• Jesus is not a Republican. Or a Democrat. Or even an American.
• The Bible ain't science. Don't try forcing teachers to teach creationism in public schools. Take your own kids to that silly dinosaur park Kent Hovind created to teach that dinosaurs roamed the earth a couple of thousand years ago, but leave my kids out of it.
• Decisions about health and the use of medicines, alcohol and plants, abortion, and how to end your own life are personal decisions, not decisions to be made by your groups.
• All people are God's children... "red and yellow, black and white," as the Sunday School song goes. "Love one another," as Jesus said. "All you need is love," sang the Beatles. Stop being racists, sexists and homophobic. You're not any more special than the rest of us.
• God didn't tell George W. Bush to invade Iraq, and He damn sure doesn't support the war.
• God doesn't "hate fags," no matter how many signs you wave at soldiers' funerals.
• All families should be respected, no matter what form they take. It's none of your business who someone marries, or what someone does behind closed doors.
• Art is art. If you don't like it, don't watch it, read it, or look at it. Quit trying to keep the rest of us from watching it, reading it or going to museums to see it. (I thought the Chocolate Jesus was a minor masterpiece.)

Inside the dome of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., is a quotation by Thomas Jefferson: "I swear upon the altar of God eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Let his words be a warning to those who would replace American democracy with a Calvinist theocracy. Millions of us agree with Jefferson.

I have one suggestion for the fundamentalist Christians who want to rule America using eye-for-an-eye, hateful, vindictive, archaic Old Testament rules and practices and Paulian propaganda: Rip every page out of your Bible and burn them, except for one verse.

1 John 4:8 — Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Related websites: Blog Against Theocracy, First Freedom First, Journeys with Jood, Center for Inquiry, American Humanist Association, and many more.

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Little Johnny goes to Hell

What is it about Christianity that makes some people act not only stupid, but cruel? Why, in their zeal to do God's bidding, do they forget their Lord and Savior's greatest commandments, given in the book of Matthew, which are to love God, and to love your neighbor? Why do they hate those who don't think like they do?

Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church is a prime example. They travel the country, attending funerals of gays and soldiers shouting and holding signs saying "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for IED's" (improvised explosive devices).

Zealous whacked-out fundamentalist Christians hate the Catholic Church. A recent forum thread on a Catholic website shows that it's not just Masons that are the targets of fundie hatred. Protestant hate-mongers "prove" the Pope's Satanic ties by pointing out that the staff he carries has a crook in it, instead of being straight up and down, or that some of the crosses in the Vatican appear upside-down.

Today I found a website called Ex-Masons for Jesus. Affiliated with the anti-Mason website Ephesians 5:11 (they share a heavily-trafficked forum), this site is particularly disturbing, in that it purports to be run by ex-Masons turned Christian.

They've posted the usual claptrap about how Masons worship Satan, etc. They've even posted a full description of the Master Mason's raising ritual, calling it "baptism" into Freemasonry. How's that for being good Christians, breaking their word by publishing Masonic secrets?

But what I especially found disgusting and disturbing was their page "Where is Little Johnny now?" They tell a fictional story of a boy born with medical problems, who as he grew was unable to walk.

The parents were Christians, and were offered hope by their pastor.

But oh-no! The pastor was also a Mason, and preached only about "good works," but never spoke about being "saved."

The minister takes Little Johnny to a Shriners' hospital, and through surgery and therapy, the child is able to walk and function normally.

Young Johnny, the story goes, grows to manhood and, because he'd been helped by the Shriners, wants to become a Mason and a Shriner. He doesn't realize it was God, not Shriners, who healed him.

Flash forward to Johnny's death. Even though as a teenager Johnny had "professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" and attended church regularly, because he had become a Mason and a member of the Scottish Rite and Shrine, and had a Masonic funeral... Little Johnny goes to Hell.

What kind of sick minds come up with this crap?

Image: Page from a Jack Chick tract. Copyright 1991, Jack T. Chick.

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Wisconsin brother refutes anti-Masonic statements leveled by Lutherans

Are you tired of hearing fundamentalist and evangelical Christians repeatedly making the same dumb accusations against Freemasonry?

W. Bro. Joshua M. Armstrong, the current Master of Excelsior Lodge No. 175 F & AM, in Excelsior, Wisconsin, is. He has created an excellent web page for his lodge that refutes five common oppositions to Freemasonry leveled by evangelical groups. Specifically, he is responding to statements made by Missouri and Wisconsin Lutheran Evangelical Synods.

Read W. Bro. Armstrong's responses to these charges:

• Freemasonry is a religion.
• Freemasonry holds the belief that all faiths are equally valid pathways to salvation (or that Freemasonry is "unionistic").
• Freemasonry requires that men of different faiths pray together.
• Masonry promotes good works and personal betterment as a means of salvation.
• Masons swear blood oaths.
• Masons swear to protect other Masons from punishment for their crimes.

W. Bro. Armstrong has done a great job, not only with this article, but with the entire website he has created for Excelsior Lodge. His site has a nice mix of local news for brethren of his lodge, plus articles of general, universal interest. The site also includes an aggregator that stays up to the minute with new articles from all your favorite Masonic blogs, including The Burning Taper. Well done, Brother!

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