Torture
This week, VP Cheney admitted that the US uses waterboarding among its "interrogation techniques" for prisoners suspected of terrorism. He justified the use of waterboarding, calling it a "no-brainer."
Cheney is part of the administration Americans elected because of their deep Christian faith and commitment to family values. Can Christians and other people of faith support torture? Unfortunately, burning at the stake does have a prominent place in Christian history. The Inquisition, witch hunts, etc. are all a part of our past. Yet, if Jesus were to come across the scene pictured here, what would he do?
Boy, I'm getting a little opinionated lately, aren't I? (shudder)
Update: I guess Cheney's spokesman now says he wasn't talking about waterboarding at all; he was talking about water dunking. Is the picture at right what he had in mind?
--Pipe the lubber aloft, matey... Speak up you bilge rat, where be the treasure?
--Do not tell him Carlos...No, no no no!
--Pipe him aloft again matey. By gum he'll talk, or do a fine dance at rope's end! Be that clear, Senor?
--Don't tell him, don't be cheecken.
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3 comments:
Hello Danny and all,
The time has arrived for those blinded by religion to open their eyes, see the light, and help me vanquish the sword they have been deceived into supporting and wielding. How can Judeo-Christians blindly support rich and powerful leaders who rule using great wealth, deception, war, destruction, torture, and injustice when the messiah is supposed to deliver truth, wisdom, and justice, vanquish the sword, and dethrone the unjust, rich, and powerful? What is wrong with this picture?
No leader of an empire ever truly believes the religions used to manipulate subjects. That would be like a drug dealer hooked on his product; its bad for business...
Understanding why religion is strong delusion
Christians often quote things like "know them by their fruits," yet after millennia of being duped into abetting blatantly evil scoundrels, many still don't understand the meaning or import of much of what they read. The same canon paradoxically propounds "faith," which means the complete opposite of "know them by their fruits," i.e., to discern the truth by analyzing deeds and results (works) and to weigh actions instead of merely believing what is said.
The deceptive circular logic of posing a fantasy messiah who urges both discernment of the truth and faith (belief without proof) clearly represents a skillful and purposeful effort to impose ignorance and confusion through "strong delusion." Any sage worth his salt could understand the folly of this contradictory so-called wisdom. This and mountains of evidence demonstrate that faith and religion are the opposite of truth and wisdom. It is no wonder charlatans like Rove, Bush, and others have marked Christians as dupes to be milked as long and as hard as possible. Any accomplished con artist easily recognizes religion as the ultimate scam and fervent followers as ready-made marks and dupes.
We now live in an era where science has proven so much about the vastness, rationality, mathematical preciseness, and structural orderliness throughout every level of our 11-dimension universe. Nonetheless, large percentages of people still conclude that these flawed and contradictory religious canons are the unmodified and infallible "word of God." People who can't (or won't) discern the difference between truth and belief are easily misled about the differences between good and evil, wisdom and folly, perfection and error, reason and irrationality, and right and wrong.
The fact that political leaders have always had close relationships with religious leaders while cooperating to manipulate followers to gain wealth and power is overwhelming evidence that the true purpose of religion is deception and delusion. People who are unable to effectively discern basic moral choices or to reason accurately are easily indoctrinated to follow the dictates of national and imperial leaders who wrap themselves in religious pretense. Truth and wisdom are direct threats to the existence and power of empires. That is why imperial leaders always strive to hide so-called secret knowledge and impose deception and ignorance upon their subjects.
What then is the purpose of "faith" but to prevent otherwise good people from seeking to understand truth and wisdom?
Read More...
Peace...
Seven Star Hand...
I'm no blogging superstar, but I believe it's generally bad form to cut & paste an article from one's own blog and present it as a "comment" on someone else's. However, what you have written illustrates my point, which is that there are many "Christians" whose ideas are, in fact, un-Christlike. Unfortunately, they are the ones who have been getting the headlines lately.
We Christians (along with other people of faith) are told to love God with all our heart and all our mind, but many only love with their heart, and leave their minds behind. (I'll be preaching on that very thing Nov. 5.) Not all of us are like that, though. I and many others see many connections between science & religion. Believe it or not, I've read some of your favorite books (as listed on your blogger profile), and am just now finishing Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, which I have found to be very enlightening. I'm wondering if you've seen the movie What the Bleep Do We Know? which deals with the points of similarity between quantum physics & spirituality, or if you've read The Universe in a Single Atom" by the Dalai Lama, which I just finished a few weeks ago...
Feel free to leave comments in the future, but next time, let it be an actual response to what I wrote. And thanks for visiting my blog.
Boy, I'm getting a little opinionated lately, aren't I?
I think it's really important that Christians speak up about the Bush administration and make the point that it does not represent Christian values.
Politicians have so manipulated and distorted Christian values that real Christians almost need a new word for themselves.
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