RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Greetings friends, hope you all had a good weekend. I did.

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Eastern Wisdom.....

THE CHOICES WE MAKE IN THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS, WILL

INEVITABLY RETURN IN KIND.

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In my last blog I discussed an article written by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald. It was entitled "Christian terrorism is here". (Check my archive)

The jist of the story was, that we are sort of trained by the media to think of the Islamic state as the home of terrorism and of course we are familiar with this history, and I think they have earned the reputation since Islam religion teaches of the white infidels and the need to destroy them for the good of their world.

However, Pitts sites a series of cases of white terrorism (previous blog), the most recent was the report of an outfit named Hutaree, a self-styled Christian militia in Michigan, 9 members of which were arrested and accused of plotting to kill police officers in hopes of sparking an anti-government uprising. Hmph, as if our present admin weren't already giving us reasons to uprise. But certainly not a violent one.

Anyway, midway through the article Pitts suggests that it would seem that there is still a hard immutable line between Us And Them.

To go on, Pitts writes, that, consider Hutaree and its alleged plan to kill in the name of God, and that this similarity to those bearded ones is proof enough that we have been led to believe erroneously about Islamic terrorists, so we could sleep better at night. Well, I don't know about that. He points out our worst "terror act" was done by Tim McVeigh who destroyed a federal building, killing 168 people. That is a far cry from the nearly 3000 in the 9/11 attack. But I suppose one could say terrorism is terrorism no matter the destruction and deaths. What do YOU think?

To proceed in Pitts reference to the Hutaree, who said on their Web site, quote, "Preparing for the end time battles to, "keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive".

He suggests that it makes you wonder: who is this Jesus they worship, and in what Bible is he found?

Why does he not resemble the Jesus others find in their Bibles? The Jesus who said when someone hits you on your right cheek, offer him your left. Or if someone forces you to walk one mile with him, go two. Or who said "love your enemies"?

And, why do Hutarees think their Jesus needs the help of men in camo fatigues with guns and bombs? So, is this not just like the Allah for whom certain Muslims blow up marketplaces and crowded buses?

Pitts finally reasons that the only thing that keeps us from becoming, say, like Afghanistan, is a strong central goverment and a diverse population with a robust tradition of Free speech.

The thinking that there is something more is at present enhanced by a sense of cultural dislocation and economic uncertainty. That combination unfailingly moves people out to the fringes where they seek out scapegoats and embrace that feeble God that seems to need the fanatics help.

Pitts is not really siding in, asking to overlook Islam since we have the rabids too, but does suggest this fine line is "thinner that you think".

So what do YOU think? Come on, get in the game and bring your thoughts and words to the table. I'll keep pushing buttons until some body responds. Cheers, CJ

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More Eastern Wisdom....."What would your current frustrations look like from the vantage point of the final days of your life?????

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RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Greetings friends,

I trust everyone has had a good week. I did.

I had a check-up group of tests done a few weeks ago, and yesterday went in to get a report. After looking through the numbers etc., Doc turned and said "these are like for a man 35", congratulations! Needless to say, I was surprised, happy, and grateful. I will add to you, reader, only that I am much, much older than 35.

My last blog was on politics, and I, as is in my premise, am trying to mix these blogs up between religions and politics so we can have interesting and a variety of discussions on both, as the tide of news dictates. A carry over, do listen and get acquainted with Glenn Beck, if you haven't already. The more I listen to his TV program 5 p.m. EDT, the more I admire his talents, his knowledge, and his leadership toward saving America from its present trend to Marxism and Socialism. He, in my opinion, will go down in history as the biggest factor in awakening the country to its present dangers, and getting America back in line with what the founders of this country had in mind when they formed its Constitution, a guide which led to our greatness..

Anyway, today, I am reverting back to religion, for as readers know or will know, that it is my opinion that "religions are our weakest link", the subject matter of which I want to throw up for discussion from time to time.

Now, to go on, I was piqued by an article by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, the title of which was; "Christian terrorism" is here.

This rather jarring head line would stir most people, like me, who pretty much believe that religious terrorism is of Islamic origin. He calls this a self-deluding fallacy, and that it should have been apparent to anyone who is paying attention.

He went on to point out the record of Christian terrorism.

Like, Eric Rudolph bombing the Atlantic Olympics, a gay night club and two abortion clinics.

Then to Phineas Priests who bombed banks, a newspaper and a Planned Parenthood Office in Spokane.

Then from, Matt Hale soliciting the murder of a federal judge in Chicago, to Scott Roeder's assas-ination of abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller.

From brothers Matthew and Tyler Williams murdering a gay couple near Redding, CA., to Timothy McVeigh destroying a federal building and 168 lives in Oklahoma City, and that we have seen no shortage of "Christians" who believe Jesus requires--or at least allows--them to commit murder.

One more. If federal officials are correct, there is Hutaree, a self-styled Christian militia in Michi-gan, nine members of which have been arrested and accused of plotting to kill police officers in hope is sparking an inti-government uprising.

It is suggested that many of us would probably resist referring to plots like these as Christian terrorism, feeling it is unfair to tar the great body of Christendom with the actions of its fringe radicals. Well, how about the Muslims who might raise their on eyebrows in protest.

Right here Pitts suggests that there is a larger moral to this story that it has to do less with ter-minologies than similarities.

You see, we are conditioned to think of terror wrought by Islamic fundamentalists as strange and alien. It is the violence of men with long beards who jabber in weird languages and kill for mysterious reasons, while worshipping God in ways that seem outlandish to middle America sensibilities.

That this strange way of practicing such a religion, leads us to believe there is a hard. immutable line between us and Them.

Now, readers, my time is up for now, so please hang in there with me and I will complete this interesting take in my next blog. I so appreciate you, you and YOU, so do come back and please feel free to express your opinions too. Or comments. Debate and dialogue is good for those who like to think and believe there is always two sides to a discussion. Cheers CJ

RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Greetings friends,

Well, I just want to complete the Model Separation Agreement I started a couple days ago. It is so well written by a college Law student and very appropo.

And it was addressed to American Liberals, Leftists, Social Progressives, Socialists, Marxists, and Obama Supporters et al:


You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the Peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life is under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values... you are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We''ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a Right. We'll keep the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute Imagine, I'd like to Teach the World to Sing, and Kum Ba Ya or We are the World.

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our History, our Name and Flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not Agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you which one of us will need help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

P.S.S. And we won't have to press 1 for English.


So now, my friends, since this Divorce Agreement will never get to the courts, we can only emphasize that we must stay alert and active in the political arena, because Obama's whole life has been in the company of Marxist thinkers from childhood, and even now, his main advisers in government, the most recent being Jim Wallace, are hard Marxists. On top of that his whole religous connections have been as a member of Marxist churches, like in Rev. Wright.

Even in Obama's speeches and his actions as President have been in support of Fundamentally Transforming America to one we neither recognize nor want. Again folks, like him or not, you would do well to listen to Glenn Beck and his TV program at 5 p.m. each afternoon, 5 days a week. He not only makes his claims emphatically, but he backs each one with proof.

Anyway for those with any sense, and who have an interest in religion and/or politics and like controversy, stay tuned. In my very first blog, I gave a bit of my background and why I dabble here in these topics. I am going to give specific background shortly and you'll understand why I have long thought that "Religions are our Weakest Link".

I welcome responses and opposite opinions and thoughts. Bring 'em to the table folds and let's kick 'em around. Cheers CJ

RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Hello friends,

I am sorry, but yesterday I blogged out an article written by a college Law Student, which was terrific if you are an up-right American citizen, who loves this country of ours, and I left out an important paragraph from right in the beginning so please give it a look.

You will remember it started out addressed to:

AMERICAN LIBERALS, LEFTISTS, SOCIAL PROGRESSIVES, SOCIALISTS, MARXISTS, and OBAMA LOVERS, et al:

(This is the paragraph I left out)

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce......

I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right, so let's just end it on friendly terms. WE can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilabable differences and go our own way.


And the article went on from there by presenting the writer's MODEL SEPERATION AGREEMENT. If this is your first visit check my blog for 4/6/10 yesterday and get in on the rest of it. For the right thinking people, it is not to be missed, so check it out.

Oh, and I apologize for not finishing the whole article yesterday, and will later on today or early tomorrow. Cheers CJ

RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Happy new week, everyone...........

My blog today is back in the realm of politics and it is a dinger, especially if you happen to be a conservative, a dissatisfied Democrat or Republican, and/or just plain fed up to your nose with this administration. I know there is a big move to stop what is going on, that will surely impact the next election so, keep the faith. Now, if you are too dumb to listen to Glenn Beck, you will wake up one day and find this country is gone, as it was designed to be, a Republic, and as such built itself into the greatest country in the world. AMERICANS like it that way, so WAKE UP!!

I cannot even begin to fathom what sort of person, born into this country, who now wants to wreck it. Why????????? It is JUST plain NUTS. Hey if the shoe fits, wear it and use it to take a hike to Europe, China or wherever you think is better.



Here we go! This article was sent to me a couple days ago, and the guy who wrote it, difinitely "HIT A HOME RUN". The only bad thing is we can only wish it were possible. The chap who wrote it, is a young Law student and destined to be politician of note in the future, or a damned good lawyer.

Anyway, he wants a divorce from everyone in Congress and the administration, and here is his DIVORCE AGREEMENT.




This is to: AMERICAN LIBERALS, LEFTISTS, SOCIAL PROGRESSIVES, SOCIALISTS,
MARXISTS, and OBAMA SUPPORTERS, et al:


HERE IS THE MODEL SEPARTION AGREEMENT

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such a distinct and disparate tastes.


We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and War, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. "YOU can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, respon-sible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them".



We'll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart, and Wall Street. .......... YOU can have your beloved Homeless, homeboys, hippies, and illegal aliens. We keep the hot Alaska hocky moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.



My friend, this is not the end of this article, but I will finish it in my next blog. Please copy this part so you tie it all together so you can spread it around. We need to keep up the heat.

Cheerio, be back within 48 hours. You will love the final paragraphs CJ

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RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Happy Saturday y'all.

A couple days ago, I started my blog, but didn't finish, so will do so today. To recap, if you had happened on to my blog, you will remember the title of it as "When religious zeal displaces the truth from history books". This was initiated by a comment from a caller on a conservative radio show, hosted that day by a Mark Davis. The caller, of course, was a listener responding to a comment by a previous caller. It was the latter who stated that Buddhism was older than Christianity.

The second caller was offended, and stated that Christianity was the oldest. Then despite the fact that Davis tried to explain that Buddhism dates between the 4th and 6th century, B.C. (before Christ), still the offended caller insisted that the Creator was a "Christian God" from the very beginning of the world, and thus, Christianity had been in existence since creation, therefore, absolutely no religion is older.

As a matter of fact, Buddhism is, I think, the 3rd oldest behind Confucious and Hinduism, though I am not completely sure about the first two, but Christianity is not in the grouping.

Anyway, you get the picture and so we go on. The writer of the article arrived home still puzzled by what had brought on such an tense discussion. He turned on his computer and his TV almost simultaneously, and came upon the Tiger Woods confession of his adultery. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, Tiger also had to mention his Buddhist faith. Well, those who were already jumping on Tiger for his adulteress escapades, questioned, how, on top of that, could Tiger believe in any religion other than Christianity. Hmmmph! Let's hang him!!!

It was the writer, a Christian, who wondered "what makes religious people, especially Christians, so arrogant, and frankly, so bigoted. That is the sort of thing that led me to think and say, in my opinion, religions are our weakest link. I suppose it is a human thing, to be a Presbyterian, say, and believe that they are better than a Methodist or Baptist. In any case, it is a type of separation that remains constant, and leads to bad feelings and biased judgements.

As Sanders, the writer said " Even within the faith, depending on one's denomination, there are those who are ready to proclaim your place in hell", and if you don't believe what I believe, Christian or not, hell is definitely reserved for you.

Yeah, religion and politics don't mix, but if you think of the politicians and the fact that those we have in office right now, who think they know better what is good and best for you, which doesn't sound much different than the separation in religions. But no matter how you twist it, separation is not good and with so much of it, the chance for peace and happiness with the populace is out the window. And that, my friends, is what the politicians want, keep the citizenry split, and we can control them.

Getting back to religion, why is it so hard for so many to find it impossible to respect other people's beliefs. Do you think it is because there is so much distrust today in about every field of human endeavor. Even neighbors don't speak to each other. I live in a small community of, mainly seniors, and many whom you meet in a walk around won't speak or give any indication of friendliness. Today, people are really afraid of the future. And if. as a Buddhist, I dare ask, where are the ministry leaders of the variety of religions on sunday, where they ought to collectively be aware of this separation and try to convince people this condition is not Christianity and get the religions to blend their memberships into accepting differences as a means of easing this "separation". They could try the many principles of Buddhism like,--seeking wisdom, respecting others, and leading a moral life.

I believe as does Sanders the writer, that so-called Christians act like feuding children, bragging about whose God is the biggest, oldest, boldest, with each denomination's own religious teachings more divine, and whose faith will get them to heaven. It is almost like they think each have their own private heaven, like a country club, maybe. Do YOU think, if you are a Christian, that your God would be pleased with this kind of childish bickering?

I close this blog now, with this thought. When I was a Christian, I often wondered, since one tends to think this way, that this God, who looks like Jesus or you or me, a human figure anyway, how can any one person or figure hear me, you, and millions of others all at the same time, and then have time to think, I'll help this person, but not that person. Or I think I will let this person live to a ripe age, but I let these kids die. Or, the only time this persons seeks my help does he/she come to me in prayer. Oh well, guess I'll help them anyway, or not.

To me, that leads people-worshipers to be dependent on this God figure way out there somewhere, and it is taught that way So, like, if HE doesn't help me I can't do it. And then you ask "Why me".

I leave a lot of room for dialogue and differences of opinion, and so I leave for just a short this segment of "Religions Or Politics"? Will continue shortly. so come on, comment.

RELIGION or POLITICS - Can we talk??

Hello friends.

For today just a little change of pace. As my title indicates, my first two posts were on politics, so now a bit of religion. Don't let that scare you off if you are not religious, because almost everyone is aware of their spirituality, so I think you will find it interesting and worth while, especially if you disagree. I enjoy controversy in honest and friendly dialogue.

Anyway, I was reading an article commentary by Bob Ray Sanders. I don't know him. The title of his article was "When religious zeal displaces the truth from history books".

On his way to work one day Sanders was listening to his car radio to a local conservative talk show. There was a caller who called to correct the Host of the show Mark Davis, who had offended the listener by implying or saying that Buddhism was older than Christianity. During the pursuing dailogue the caller continued to insist--as the Host attempted to interrupt--there was no religion older than Christianity.

The writer thought as he listened, "Surely he doesn't believe this".

Davis went on to delicately explain that Buddhism dates to between the 4th and 6th century B.C., as in before Christ and obviously a religion that preceded Christianity.

As the writer turned into his garage the last words he heard were from the caller, who vigorously explained, that the Creator was a "Christian God" from the very beginning of the world, and thus, Christianity had been in existence since creation, therefore, no other religion was older. As Davis headed into his office, he said he had to wonder what brought on such an intense conversation.

Being a Buddhist, I of course, knew all this about who was truly the oldest of the two, and I too wondered how the caller could be so misinformed. But, it is a good example of why I think religions actually cause separation between members. There are always fanatics in all of them and some can get pretty over wrought on the subject.

Now my friend I have to go somewhere shortly, so I will have to close for today. However, there is more to the commentary and it gets even better, so I will finish the story my next blog..

My email is: cjbnammyoho@gmail.com . Comments welcome. CJ