Some 95,000 alleged descendants of Mohammed are planning to file a libel lawsuit in Great Britain, concerning the infamous cartoons published in the Danish press.
Good grief. Well, they need to provide ID proving they're related to Mohammed. And first they'll have to prove Mohammed existed in the first place, such that he could even reproduce. And, of course, it will be interesting to see what British courts feel they can do about citizens of another country, i.e., Denmark.
This stealth jihad should put a chill on free speech - as concerns Muslims and Islam, of course. The infidel-hating Koran will continue to enjoy vast sponsorship.
Perhaps the descendants of all those 270 million murdered in the name of Islam should sue the OIC for emotional damages, wrongful death and theft of property? Time for Great Britain to throw out their libel laws! (But, of course, they won't. They will appease the Islamists once again - eventually leading to the total Islamization of Britain.)
UP TO 95,000 descendants of the prophet Muhammad are planning to bring a libel action in Britain over "blasphemous" cartoons of the founder of Islam, even though they were published in the Danish press."
The defamation case is being prepared by Faisal Yamani, a Saudi lawyer acting for the descendants, who live in the Middle East, north Africa and as far afield as Australia.
Mark Stephens, a British lawyer who has seen a "pre-action" letter sent by Yamani to 10 Danish newspapers, said it "specifically says" he will launch proceedings in London.
Yamani is expected to justify the action by claiming that the cartoons, including one of Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban, were accessible in Britain on the internet.
Critics say the case is a political stunt and yet another example of how England has become the leading destination for "libel tourism." The English defamation laws make it easier to bring and win libel cases here than in jurisdictions such as America that place greater emphasis on freedom of speech.
Stephens said the descendants could argue that the cartoons—which first appeared in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005, sparking violent protests around the world—were a direct slur on them...
The issue of whether or not to vaccinate yourself or your children is a scary one, with vaccine advocates constantly raising the terrifying spector of debilitating disease or even death for those who refuse vaccinations. Every parent trembles when hearing such fearful warnings. But are vaccines safe? Should we be putting such cocktails of foreign chemicals into our and our children's bloodstreams?
As concerns vaccines, I once asked a prominent pediatrician who had given me an eloquent speech about breastmilk providing immunities to newborns why I needed to have my baby vaccinated for the illnesses I had already suffered, if I were passing along my immunities through breastmilk. He basically shrugged his shoulders and changed the subject. I also asked him why, if all the other children had been vaccinated already, we should be worried about an unvaccinated child causing an epidemic. Weren't the vaccines used on the other children effective? Shouldn't they stop an epidemic? I never received a reply to that question either.
Now, in addition to the concerns about mercury added to vaccines causing several health problems such as autism in children comes new worries about aluminum adjuvants in vaccines.
Dr. David Ayoub is a radiologist and a physician, and has become a specialist on the additives and preservatives used in vaccines. He was a presenter at the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) Conference in Washington D.C. last year.
Here he discusses the practice of using aluminum as an adjuvant, and why he believes aluminum may be far more toxic than thimerosal in vaccines.
Dr. Ayoub was, as many of you are, very concerned about mercury (thimerosal) in vaccines for a number of years, and attended a number of autism conferences that featured physicians who were highlighting the dangers of mercury.
However, a few personal encounters heightened his interest in another toxic metal frequently used in vaccines, namely aluminum.
Parents of autistic children kept pointing out the fact that their children’s heavy metal toxicity profiles showed high amounts of aluminum, and they wanted to know what that meant....
A fascinating discovery has been uncovered during the construction of a road to a venue for the 2012 Olympics in London: The remains of 51 young men who were beheaded in what appears to be an execution by Anglo-Saxons of foreign invaders from Northern Europe.
Scientific examination indicates these executed individuals were from Sweden or other parts of Scandinavia, and they are being called "Vikings," who apparently landed in England sometime between 890 and 1030 AD/CE.
Some of the grisly remains show multiple injuries as the victims were hacked apart, possibly indicative of extreme anger at previous raids by Vikings who plagued the coasts of Europe in search of plunder, slaughtering all in their path. Indeed, the Vikings are some of the most vicious and ferocious conquerors in history, a fact that is quite astonishingly juxtaposed to the state of civility for which Sweden, Norway and Denmark are known today.
It is also interesting that this violent group of warriors is nevertheless so esteemed that sports teams are named after them, people enjoy wearing horned helmets and slugging back big mugs of brew in emulation of them, and they appear in operas, cartoons, documentaries and other shows idolizing them, among assorted other laudatory activities.
They were 51 young men who met a grisly death far from home, their heads chopped off and their bodies thrown into a mass grave....
"To find out that the young men executed were Vikings is a thrilling development," said David Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, which excavated the remains. "Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from this period of history, is extremely unusual and presents an incredible opportunity to learn more about what is happening in Dorset at this time."
Radiocarbon dating had already placed the remains between A.D. 890 and 1030, before the Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England....
"What we found was all of these guys came from a climate that had to be colder than Britain ... probably Sweden and Norway," Evans said by phone Friday. "One guy had such a signature of such a cold climate that he probably came from above the Arctic Circle."
The isotopes also show the men had eaten a high-protein diet, comparable to known sites in Sweden. It means the men were probably Scandinavian Vikings who were executed by Anglo-Saxons....
"These results are fantastic," Evans said. "This is the best example we have ever seen of a group of individuals that clearly have their origins outside Britain."
Many of the executed men suffered multiple wounds, inflicted by a sharp-bladed weapon, to the skull, jaw and upper spine, all thought to relate to the process of decapitation, the Dorset County Council said.
Some men show evidence of other wounds, including a cut to the pelvis, blows to the chest and stomach, and defensive injuries to the hands, the council said.
The bones still appear cleanly sliced, indicating the men suffered a "sword-based execution," Evans said....
Geesh, I'm a HETEROSEXUAL woman, for criminy's sake. I like men to look like men! But, then again, I've never been the "marrying kind." Maybe going for the JFK, Jr. look isn't so great for that, after all. :)
A country's disease rates influence women's preference for masculine or feminine-looking faces, claim psychologists
Women who live in healthier countries prefer more feminine-looking men, compared with women living in regions where life-threatening diseases are rife, psychologists say. Their research suggests masculine men have the greatest appeal for women who live in areas where a strong genetic make-up is critical for survival.
A study of women in 30 countries found they were more likely to choose a masculine-looking partner if their country scored low on a health index based on World Health Organisation mortality figures. By contrast, in countries where people have a longer lifespan, women favoured more feminine-looking men, even though they might not have the healthiest genes available....
But Saudi Arabia is such a godly place! The home of Islam, favored by Allah - how could there be anything bad going on there?
The fact is that so long as 1.5 billion people believe a man who married a 6-year-old and began having sex with her when she was nine is a "holy prophet," we will continue to see this sort of sociopathology. The Saudis are simply following the lead of Islam's founder. If we do not recognize that fact, many millions of more children will suffer this horrendous fate.
Saudi Arabia has a serious child-marriage problem....
It's emblematic of the nation's struggle between modernity and traditional Islam. But the lives of thousands of little girls are being destroyed as the Saudi government ponderously debates a solution.
Child marriage has been acceptable, even encouraged, in many Islamic states since the religion was born. After all, among the prophet Muhammad's dozen wives was Aisha, who is believed to have been 6 or 7 years old when the two were married....
This "marriage" and subsequent marital rape of Aisha are recorded in several Islamic texts, including:
The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death). -- Bukhari 7.62.88
While many Muslims shriek about "insults" concerning their "holy prophet," those of us who are revolted by child "marriage" (institutionalized rape) will continue to find Mohammed's example itself to be highly insulting to our morality.
Here's a short excerpt from the book I am currently editing and will be publishing relatively soon. Man Made God is by the great mythologist Barbara G. Walker, who thoroughly demonstrates the massive injustice committed against ancient goddess-worshipping peoples by the Abrahamic, male-dominant cultus. Included in this manmade cultural domination is the ongoing attempt at whitewashing the bloody nature of this religious ideation emanating out of desert regions.
One of the revisionist tactics is to reduce significantly the number of people tortured, murdered and robbed in the name of Christianity - watch out for that one, as you will begin seeing it all over the place. First, the faithful cheerleaders merely ignored that this bloody turmoil ever happened, and it was omitted from commentaries over the centuries. When secularists and Christians of conscience began to raise the genocidal nature of the Inquisition and other Christian behavior - leading to an extensive body of literature demonstrating the horrendous crimes of the Church - apparently Church leaders decided to destroy the evidence, so that they could then reduce the appearance of the desolation. Now we have people claiming that "peer-reviewed" scholars are saying there have been far fewer deaths in the name of Judeo-Christianity than has been claimed, just a handful of a few tens of thousands, rather than the hundreds of millions recorded by other sources.
Part of this revisionism is another tactic the faithful are using in order to whitewash the true nature of the Abrahamic cultus: Mistranslating the Bible itself. This tactic has been used in the past, but the following paragraph from Man Made God will demonstrate the degree to which this deception is being taken. Here Barbara is speaking specifically about this modern mistranslation effort:
A modern version of such censorship is called the Living Bible, or more recently The Book, which contains considerable spin-doctoring of traditional texts. For instance, Exodus 34:14, "The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous god," has become "a God who claims absolute loyalty." The "little children" who mocked Elisha's bald head and were slain by God have become "a gang of young men" to make God seem less child-abusive. Jesus's order that a disciple must "hate" his family members (Luk 14:26) has been revised to say that Jesus expects his disciples to love him more than their families. And Jesus's rude remark to his mother, "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" (Jhn 2:4) has been changed to "I can't help you now." The problem of Paul's companions, who heard a voice but saw nothing (Acts 9:7) and also saw the light but heard nothing (Acts 22:9), has been rather unsatisfactorily solved by claiming that they didn't understand what the voice said. Jeremiah's mistake in calling the king of Judah "Jehoiakim" in 27:1 and "Zedekiah" two verses later, has been rectified by simply omitting both names. And Samuel’s mistake in saying that Michal "had no child unto the day of her death" (2 Sa 6:23) and also that Michal had five sons (2 Sa 21:8) has been rectified by arbitrary insertion of the word "adopted" to change the original meaning.
Expect much more of the same critical insights in this fantastic book - written in the nick of time, obviously!
Seriously, the Bible has caused more horror and trauma on this planet than any other text in history. The Koran, obviously, comes in a close second - although it's right up there neck and neck as concerns body count, some 250 million allegedly murdered in the name of Christianity, while some 270 million are claimed to have been killed in the name of Islam. As concerns looking at the Bible as some sort of "moral guide" from the very finger of God, it's time to toss the whole shebang into the circular file, the trash heap, the dustbin of history.
The Bible is little more than one culture's propaganda. It is not the "Word of God" - that's the propaganda. The Bible is a collection of mummified myths, fabulous fairytales and hideous horror stories, with a bit of history mixed in to give it legitimacy. Even this biblical "history" is so slanted that, on the few instances where it has been confirmed by external sources, these sources take the opposite perspective of the Israelite claims.
To illustrate the true value of the Bible, many years ago I was teasing an Israeli acquaintance, Uri, about the lack of culture in ancient Israel.
"But Uri," I said, "The ancient Jews had no real art, no grand architecture, no armies, navies - nada!"
"Aha!" answered he, "But we got the Book!"
The fact is that other than serving as a valuable cultural artifact on its face, the Bible is virtually useless in today's modern society as concerns numerous subjects, including technology, science, medicine and, yes, philosophy and spirituality. Modern society is far ahead of the Stone Age technology and mentality found in the Bible. Trying to live by such an outdated and specious text is only making humanity deranged.
As the great freethinker Robert Ingersoll said:
If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament he would be a criminal. If he would strictly follow the teachings of the New, he would be insane.
The bottom line is that we need no such old scriptures to lead our lives righteously. We can use our innate decency, morality, intelligence and humanity. We can produce new "scriptures" that are not culturally bigoted, displaying their writers as "chosen people" above all others, or sexist, ranting on and on about a male god and his son, while women are continually denigrated purely because of their gender.
As an example of how useless such "moral" writings can be, Bangladeshi natives thought so little of their "holy scriptures" that when a cow ate the banana leaves they were written on, nobody paid much attention.
I have always known that if I didn't belong to the cult, my social life would suffer. Of course, living in a big city for two decades mitigated that problem to some extent. Then and there the snootiness came from the direction of the monied, rather than the religious. Having little money wasn't too hard when I was by myself, as there were plenty of equally poor friends to socialize with. But once I differentiated myself from my friends by bringing a wee one into the world, the social life naturally changed.
Like so many non-religionists, I have struggled to find our "happy place" without having to join the local sanctioned cult. I'm sure the members of those sanctioned cults - e.g., Christianity and Judaism - are perfectly lovely people. But how can I seriously force myself to go sit and listen to fabulous fairytales, horror stories and platitudinous pabulum about non-existent characters of Middle-Eastern descent every Sunday? (Or Saturday.)
For the non-religious, this lack of an organized cult in our lives can be trying for these very social reasons. If something bad happens, no support - no church to turn to if the health slips, the house burns down or some other tragedy strikes. We are left hanging, and even in a progressive area we also must not expose our unbelief for fear that we too will be quarantined, as has happened to so many non-believers - and us in the past as well. This exact concern is expressed by a family in Texas, who wrote a letter to a columnist at "Freakonomics":
We are agnostics living deep in the heart of Texas and our family fakes Christianity for social reasons. It’s not so much for the sake of my husband or myself but for our young children. We found by experience that if we were truthful about not being regular church attenders, the play dates suddenly ended. Thus started the faking of the religious funk.
It seemed silly but it's all very serious business down here. We don't go to church or teach or children one belief is "right" over another. We expose them to every kind of belief and trust that they will one day settle in to their very own spirituality. However, for the sake of friends and neighbors, we pretend we are Christians. We try not to lie but rather not to disclose unnecessary information. As the children are getting older, this isn’t so easy for them and an outing is probably eminent....
I understand their concerns, although I am not in redneck country or the Bible belt, fortunately. I can only imagine what that would be like. Because of these issues, I have spent years online trying to build a community there. My vision has included such a community in the "real world" as well, with our own places for gathering to create friendships; to discuss religious, spiritual and mythological subjects; and to inspire each other. Being a non-believer in itself is not enough for most people - humans tend to be herders, and we need community for a variety of reasons. I continue with my vision... Wish me luck - and join me!
"They said killing an infidel is not a sin, instead it's righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty."
And now we have it from the horse's mouth - again. For years, there have raged all over the internet debates about why Islam is not a "peaceful religion" but, rather, a dangerous ideology. One of the main points against Islam has been the contention that infidel-killing is not only a sport but also a requirement for devout Muslims. This contention has been backed up by numerous scriptures, both koranic and hadithic, etc., as well as the endless stream of violence by Muslim fanatics over the centuries, which includes wholesale genocide in many countries invaded by Muslim warriors.
We have heard an abundance of infidel-hating speeches from "radical" (devout) Muslim clerics, imams, mullahs, etc., but we are always told that the average Muslim - apparently completely unaffected by the non-stop hate speech from these religious leaders - is "moderate" and does not hate infidels, as essentially prescribed by the Koran and other Islamic texts.
In this latest story, we have seemingly "average" Pakistani Muslims basically spilling the beans on one of the fundamentals that define Islam: To wit, killing infidels.
The four older Muslim brothers of a 26-year-old Christian beat him unconscious in Kallur Kot, Pakistan, earlier this month because he refused their enticements to convert to Islam...
"They threatened that it was the breaking point now, and that I must convert right now or face death," Masih said. "They said killing an infidel is not a sin, instead it's righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty."
Masih begged them to give him a few minutes to consider converting and then tried to escape, but they grabbed him and beat him with bamboo clubs, leaving him for dead, he said.
"They vented their fury and left me, thinking that I was dead, but God Almighty resuscitated me to impart His good news of life," he said....
And here is a video of an infamous British-Pakistani Muslim preacher who is so brazen in his expose of longstanding Koranically sanctioned behavior that some claim he is "controlled opposition." In any event, he certainly does spell out Islamic fanaticism like it is and has been for many centuries. Keep in mind that when Muslims claim they are against the killing of "innocents," they often mean only Muslims, usually fanatical or fundamentalist. All other Muslims and all non-Muslims are fair game, no matter the gender, age or state of "innocence."
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An Israeli archaeologist is claiming that an excavated foundation wall in Jerusalem is a remnant of the First Temple Period 3,000 years ago and that it therefore "proves" the Bible. The discovery is being touted as proof of the biblical accounts of King David and his son Solomon, who are raised up as great heroes in the biblical tales, despite abundant misdeeds and signs of poor character in the same accounts.
An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.
If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C.
That's a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible's account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time.
While some Holy Land archaeologists support that version of history — including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar — others posit that David's monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era....
The mention of the theory that "David's monarchy was largely mythical" raises the notion that the king himself would likewise be "largely mythical," i.e., unhistorical. The fact that this find is apparently being used to prove the existence of David and Solomon demonstrates that their existence has been in doubt, especially during the past few decades of serious archaeological and scientific examination and inquiry in biblical lands.
Although I contend that major biblical characters such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua and David are indeed "largely mythical," a main reason I reserve some historicity for certain biblical characters and events is because much of the Temple mount, for example, has not yet been excavated, and the Bible wasn't written in a void. There were people writing it, and they came from somewhere, including a culture that had developed somewhat. It wasn't the supernatural megapower of the OT, but it wasn't quite caveman either, as Israel has been occupied by humans for many thousands of years.
However, before we jump to the conclusion that this discovery indicates the biblical accounts of this period are true, we need to keep in mind several facts, including that the name "David" - among others, including "Saul" - can be found on Canaanite tablets at Ebla, some six centuries prior to the supposed existence of King David. Any king by that name, therefore, could still be a mere petty thane who was styled after a tribal god, rather than the great hero with the vast empire as depicted in the Bible. In other words, the Bible remains "proved" to be some history with much myth, fable and hyperbole thrown in.
Moreover, a "largely mythical" David could not be the progenitor of a "historical" Jesus, as asserted in the New Testament. That seems to be a fact largely overlooked by Bible-minimalists.
Ordinarily, I would take no great glee in the fall of a supposedly democratic government of a country that has proved itself over the past several decades to be one of the most civilized and enlightened societies in all of human history. But this time around, I have to wonder whether or not karma has caught up with this particular government, after it engaged in the absolutely immoral behavior of prosecuting one of its most courageous and prominent citizens merely for speaking the truth about a dangerous ideology.
The Dutch government has apparently fallen apart - ostensibly over Dutch presence in Afghanistan - and not a few people have wondered whether or not the great populist politician Geert Wilders will soon become Prime Minister. This development is stunning, because at the moment that same government is trying Wilders in its kangaroo court for "hate crimes" against Holland's burgeoning Muslim population, whose way of life and special demands are essentially destroying the fabric of Dutch culture.
Wilders has been under fire for years now, especially after releasing his well-done expose of Islamic supremacist mentality as found in the Koran and as practiced by thousands of individuals often described as "terrorists." For his courage, Wilders has been under a constant threat of being murdered by this same contingent, entirely proving his point.
Hopefully, this Dutch implosion will lead to Wilders grabbing the reigns and leading Holland - and, by inspiration, other parts of Europe - in a direction that will save its ancient culture from certain destruction at the hands of Islamists. Said Wilders at the news of the governmental dissolution, "This is a beautiful day. The worst cabinet in Dutch history no longer exists and people can let their voices be heard by voting in a few months' time."
An unconscionable heckler recently tried to argue that the women in the Muslim world want to be enslaved and that we should just mind our own business and leave them alone in their desolation. As we can see, these beautiful Pakistani women do not want to be enslaved under the cult of fundamentalist Islam/Taliban. And they need the help of the Free World, even through fashion, if that's what it takes.
Pakistan's traditional cultural capital of Lahore received a much-needed dose of glamour this week as it played host to the country's second-ever fashion week.
Amid a backdrop of tight security including armed guards, police and airport-style scanning, dozens of models took to the catwalk to showcase the works of Pakistan's top 32 designers at the city's Royal Palm Golf and Country Club.
Over the past year or so, several cultural events, including the annual World Performing Arts festival, have been canceled after receiving bomb threats from vigilante groups sympathetic to the Taliban. Last April, the Sri Lankan cricket team fled the country after coming under machine-gun and bazooka fire from terrorists in an attack that left eight dead.
"We're here to make sure the mullahs don't make plans to attack you," a policeman told the Monitor wryly.
Models sashayed down the aisle with bare arms and, in some cases, legs (at least to mid-thigh level), in stark contrast to the modest Islamic dress worn by most women in the country. As they posed for the cameras and completed their pirouettes, the enthusiastic and fashion-starved audiences responded with roars of approval....
Kiran Malik, a British-Asian model who is also due to appear in London fashion week later this month, shared a similar view. "Security is a major concern and my boss asked me, 'Are you mad? Aren't their bombs going off all the time there?' But we really needed this. People talk about Talibanization but fashion is important and it's playing a big part in bringing change."...
These Muslim women are asking for change - in this case to be allowed to show their beauty, including their hair and skin, not to be encased in burkhas, chadors, niqabs or any other oppressive form of dress. What they want is freedom, and we need to help them.
Here's another one for the "Jesus is all things to all people" department: Pop singer Elton John - a talented and flamboyantly gay man - has gone on record saying, "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems." Just like John himself, perhaps?
A team of archaeologists and researchers on the Greek island of Crete has made a series of startling discoveries that could shake the foundations of archaeological knowledge far beyond the Mediterranean. Some 30 primitive stone axes have been found in several different sites that resemble Paleolithic tools used in Europe some 175,000 years ago by pre-humans. Citing a paper to be published in June in the Journal of the American School of Classical Studiesat Athens, Greece - my alma mater - National Geographic relates:
...Crete has been surrounded by vast stretches of sea for some five million years. The discovery of the hand ax suggests that someone besides technologically modern humans—perhaps Neanderthals, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo erectus, or primitive Homo sapiens—island-hopped across the Mediterranean for tens of millennia....
Maps of the coastal shelves suggest that even when the Mediterranean reached its lowest known point, plummeting some 440 feet (144 meters) below current sea level, people leaving from Turkey or Greece would have had to make three separate water crossings ranging from 12 to 24 miles (19 to 39 kilometers) each to reach Crete. If, on the other hand, the seafarers departed from Africa, they would have voyaged over 125 miles (200 kilometers) of open water....
The picture being developed is that a primitive human ancestor was able to travel by sea over 150,000 years ago - a capacity that has not been suggested before. As Nat Geo further remarks:
It's been thought that the early humans of this time period were not capable of devising boats or even simple rafts—technology considered an expression of modern behavior. Homo sapiens practicing modern behaviors, such as wearing jewelry and making art didn’t begin to appear until around a hundred thousand years ago.
But the new discoveries hint that these human ancestors were capable of much more sophisticated planning, cooperation, and construction—in this case, boatbuilding—than their simple stone tools would suggest.
In addition to this amazing development is the fact stated here by Nat Geo about the Mediterranean Sea having been over 400 feet lower in times when humans could have navigated it. That fact brings up an intriguing question of what could be under the Mediterranean? What archaeological treasures may have been created thousands of years ago, only to be flooded under hundreds of feet of sea?
Indeed, it has been rumored for years that there are submerged ruins ringing the Mediterranean from one or more civilizations long forgotten, perhaps not unlike the evidently manmade remains found off the coast of Okinawa. What is also striking is how much further back paleoanthropologists have pushed the emergence of homo sapiens sapiens over the past several decades, going from some 30,000 years ago to 100,000 to 200,000 and more. What more will be found that reveals the history of mankind on planet Earth is far older and more interesting than we have previously imagined?
As part of an interesting trend in the modern resurrection of Paganism, the first Pagan chaplain has been appointed at New York's Syracuse University. What's also intriguing is that this chaplain is a woman, Mary Hudson, whose appointment is heralded as part of an effort to be "more inclusive of all religions on campus."
It appears that there is a virtual Renaissance of pre-Christian culture, including religion and mythology, in various parts of the Free World. This situation can be found not only in the United States but also in New Zealand, for example, where "paganism is so hot right now." Those were the remarks of an organizer for a recent "Pagan Invasion" conference in Morrisville:
"We have school teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, police officers," says organiser Tracey Royce.
In fact, in the last census there were over 1800 wiccans, spiritualists and druids resident in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, back at Syracuse - which "may be only the second university in the nation to have a pagan chaplain" - perhaps the very small Pagan student body will increase with this encouraging development.
While I personally cannot say what these or any other individuals define as "Paganism" in this modern era, as a scholar of comparative religion and mythology, I can attest that the ancient pre-Christian worship revolved significantly around the sun, moon, stars, constellations, planets, Earth, wind, rain, water, etc. It was, in other words, essentially nature worship or, as concerns the cosmic part in particular, what we are currently calling "astrotheology." In this regard, any shift towards Paganism is a welcome change from the woman-oppressing, Abrahamic desert-warrior cults that led to the destruction of native European culture, to which much Pagan mythos and ritual is attributed.
Thomas Jefferson, questioning the miracles of the New Testament while approving of some of Jesus's moral sentiments, produced a thin volume called The Jefferson Bible, edited literally with a razor and paste. Jefferson removed many of the contradictions, atrocities and absurdities from the Bible and, in the end, there weren't many pages left.
In Evidence that Demands a Verdict, biblical apologist Josh McDowell cites the derivation of "canon" as coming from the root word meaning "reed," coming to mean some sort of standard. With regard to the Bible, a canon is an officially accepted list of books:
This is important is important with regard to the fundamentalist's attitude towards the Bible. If the Word of God is inerrant, or something close to it, then deciding that a book is a member of the canon is to proclaim it infallible. The true believer now regards a canonical book as no mere human creation, but God-breathed and incapable of error. It now has magical powers. It has been observed by some Christians that fundamentalists do not so much worship Jesus as worship a book; thus they are bibliolaters.
--Larry A. Taylor, The Canon of the Bible
Many modern clergy and their "flocks" consider the infallible word of their god to be allegory and not to be taken literally. This excuse is a way of getting around all of the contradictions, rapes, murders, genocide and other nonsense with which the Bible is filled. Large segments of the Christian faithful select only those passages that support the morality they deem worthy. This behavior is called "cherry-picking." The obvious question is, "If you already know which morality stories you wish to accept, then why do you need the Bible at all?"
Cherry-picking can be easily understood when one considers the stories of Moses. The "noble" Moses ascends Mount Sinai and returns with a book of laws. The part of the story that follows is often ignored or considered to not be taken literally. Moses proceeds to read the commandments, one of which is "Thou shalt not kill." Moses notices that his followers have been worshiping a golden calf. In anger he forces his followers to grind up the golden calf and then consume the powder. Next he tells them to draw their swords and kill everyone 'till none are left. Thus the first to break one of the Ten Commandments was Moses.
EX 32:27: And he said unto them, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.
EX 32:28: And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men
Then there is this lovely story from Numbers:
NM 31:7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
NM 31:9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones...
NM 31:10 And they burnt all their cities wherin they dwelt...
Not satisfied with this, Moses continues his depraved rampage as follows:
NM 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
NM 31:18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
That's right, you read correctly. Moses ordered all the male children murdered. He orders all the women who are not virgins murdered. He then gives all the virgin women to his soldiers to do with as they desire. Why don't Christians teach this story in Sunday school?
The average Christian accepts that the Bible is flawed. This point is where they must find a way to rectify their intellect with their desire for an afterlife in heaven. This is the end goal: To not piss off the Almighty Sky-Fairy, in hopes of receiving the most coveted and holiest of all R.S.V.P. invitations - a ticket to heaven. This is where the cherry-picking begins: Acceptance of the "nice stuff" and dismissal of the murders, rapes, incest and even genocide committed by such heroic characters as Moses or Abraham. Certainly God would not be pleased if they were to take note of those little indiscretions.
Many Christians I know don't accept the Adam and Eve story but then accept the resurrection story. Not only is this a contradiction but it is the most ridiculous of all cherry-picks. Without the Adam-and-Eve story there is no need for redemption. Therefore no reason at all for the Christ fable.
Unshaken by this simple reasoning that even a child can understand, the faithful cling even tighter to their book. Intellect reeling, they hold their hands over their ears muttering "I can't hear you." Such explanations fall on willfully deaf ears as the huddled masses quake in fear of the great grab-bag that is eternity. Not realizing their repeated errors, as their knowledge of the real world grows they continue to retreat using even more ridiculous explanations "just in case," they say, "just in case."
This past week Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan, a former child star now known for various excesses, was revealed on a French magazine cover in a pose that suspiciously resembled the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Naturally, Christian organizations such as the Catholic League took the opportunity to gain attention by jumping up and down, and shouting, "I'm offended!" The purported offense occurs not only with the image itself imitating Our Lord's Passion but also with the timing, coinciding with Easter, which is supposed to be a Christian holiday....
In consideration of the fact that the divine figure on a cross or in a cross shape is a common religious and mythical motif long predating the Christian era, perhaps it is the Pagans and other non-Christians who should be "offended" by its use within Christianity! And in further consideration of the fact that this cruciform image of divine protection often represented a female, perhaps Lindsay Lohan is in reality simply resurrecting this long-lost and buried symbol of the goddess.
A Christian clergyman in Great Britain has started a brouhaha by actually teaching Church doctrine to his congregation! Vicar Angus MacLeay cited scripture to tell his female parishioners to be silent and submit to their husbands, while his assistant compounded the furor by essentially blaming high divorce rates on women's failure to be subservient enough.
Although we might get all up in arms over these blatantly sexist remarks and attitudes, the fact will remain that they are firmly entrenched in the Bible and Christianity. Indeed, a close study of Christianity reveals that it and its parent Judaism are largely designed to revolve around the suppression, repression and oppression of women.
These facts are brought to light most handily by the great scholar of women's religion and mythology Barbara G. Walker in her book Man Made God, forthcoming from Stellar House Publishing. Basically, the longstanding tradition of goddess worship was systematically destroyed, her temples and rituals wrecked, and her memory obliterated by the patriarchal warrior cult out of the Middle Eastern desert regions. This annihilation was a deliberate contrivance to shift the balance of power into the hands of men, whose male-dominant cults have subjugated women, keeping them in a subservient and infantile state.
Many scriptures from Judaism, Christianity and Islam can be cited to support this oppression and enslavement of women, as found in my book The Gospel According to Acharya S, where there is also a discussion of the less-than-stellar treatment of women in other organized religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
The sexist, misogynistic, woman-hating and enslaving mentality can be found abundantly in the Old Testament:
"In the older code in [Deuteronomy], women are generally viewed as...a property of their fathers and then of their husbands. This property-character of a woman is spelled out specifically in terms of her sexual qualities... In the [Deuteronomy Sex Texts] women are rarely referred to as persons or agents in their own right." Rev. Dr. J. Harold Ellens, Sex in the Bible (69)
Here are a few examples of the women oppression in the New Testament:
"...the women should keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says." 1 Corinthians 4:34
"Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men; she is to keep silent." 1 Timothy 2:11-12
"Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands." 1 Peter 3:1
And from the Koran:
"Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other... Good women are obedient. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart; and beat them" Q 4:34
Throughout the history of Christ's Church, numerous fathers, saints and so on have made the most obnoxious and hateful remarks about women, including that they are the "devil's gateway," a slander so vicious that it led to hundreds of thousands of women to be systematically murdered by the Catholic Church. This calumny and bigotry continue to this day, and women are regularly attacked merely for questioning Church dogma and doctrine, such as the historicity of patently mythical biblical characters.
With Valentine's Day approaching, parishioners might have expected a more heartwarming message. Instead, they got a sermon urging women to 'submit' to their husbands.
The apparent lack of obedience of 'modern women' was blamed for the high divorce rate. In a sermon entitled 'Marriage and women' last Sunday, curate Mark Oden, told the congregation at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent: 'We know marriage is not working.
'We only need to look at figures – one in four children have divorced parents. Wives, submit to your own husbands.'...
The solution to this institutionalized sexism, misogyny and woman oppression is for women to stop following these manmade, male-dominant cults. Stop going to church, synagogue, temple and mosque! Develop your own female-oriented spirituality and communities, and so on.
A Greek Cypriot public school teacher in Great Britain was fired from his job, allegedly because he made some comments about a Muslim girl's headscarf and the superiority of Christianity over Islam. The teacher himself, however, denies the allegation and claims that he was sacked because he wouldn't "put up with the 'racist' and anti-Semitic' behaviour of his pupils."
Apparently, this morass of appeasing Muslim hate speech is the marvelous result of the great British experiment in tolerating all aspects of "multiculturalism." Rather than following Great Britain and Europe down the road of becoming Islamized under sharia law, Americans - also a multicultural society - must uphold their laws and Constitution, and not accept all manner of sociopathology simply because "God" or "Allah" is invoked.
...Mr Kafouris, a Greek Cypriot, taught for 12 years at Bigland Green Primary School in Tower Hamlets, East London.
He claims he was forced to leave his £30,000-a-year job because he would not put up with the 'racist' and anti-Semitic' behaviour of his pupils.The predominantly Muslim youngsters, some as young as eight, openly praised Islamic extremists in class and described the September 11 terrorists as 'heroes and martyrs'.
One pupil said: 'Don't touch me, you're a Christian' when he brushed against him.
Others said: 'We want to be Islamic bombers when we grow up', and 'The Christians and Jews are our enemies - you too because you're a Christian'.
According to Ofsted 'almost all' the school's 465 pupils are from ethnic minorities and a vast proportion do not speak English as a first language.
Mr Kafouris claims racial discrimination by the school, its headmistress and her assistant head after they failed to take action about the pupils' comments.
He said there was a change in attitude of the pupils after the atrocities of September 11, 2001.
They told him: 'We hate the Christians' and 'We hate the Jews', despite his attempts to stop them.
He said he filled out a Racist Incident Reporting Sheet but claimed headmistress Jill Hankey dismissed his concerns...
I deeply regret to say that on January 23rd, my lovely friend Pamela Leigh Richards, ex-wife of author David Icke, was severely injured after she fell 12 feet off a ladder onto concrete at her home. After being flown via helicopter to a specialist, Pamela endured brain surgery. She has since been released and is recuperating at home. Below is her recently emailed account of the accident, published with her permission and edited for privacy.
Pam is one of the loveliest, kindest, sweetest and most gentle and innocent people I have ever had the delight to know. She is the last person on Earth to deserve any trauma on any scale, much less this nightmare.
Even in revealing this appalling incident, Pamela included beautiful images of hope and empowerment.
My dear Pamela, I wish you a speedy and full recovery - and a long life!
Please post comments of support below!
Hello all, I am now at home after being discharged from hospital ( with a lovely caring lady to help me.) This happened on Saturday 23, Jan.
Yes, I fell from the loft in the garage (12 Feet), slipping off the ladder straight onto the concrete floor fracturing my skull, (subcutaneous hematoma, head trauma with left epidural hematoma, cerebral contusions), fractured my left wrist with rib fractures and bruising all over.
I just blanked out and lost footing and over I went. For some odd reason I somehow walked myself to my bed where I began moaning as blood was pouring out of my nose and thank goodness my landlords came back to the property, otherwise I would surely have died. They tried to get me in the car but would not go. I threw up then had to lay down. Paramedics were called and I was taken to XXXXX Medical Center where they flew me by helicopter North to XXXXX Medical Center for emergency brain surgery was performed draining the blood in my brain. It is so sureal.
I am ony relaying what was told to me because I remember nothing pretty much. I feel as if I died, yet didn't? Broken ribs are no fun nor is a bruised and swollen brain. All moving to recovery though for I have too much to do beore I really fly from here ... thank you all for being so sharing and caring with me.
Love You all much! pammy
And we love you too, Pammy! Big hug and lots of healing light and love!
I've been interested to find today that the word "cunt," which is used in our society most commonly as a degrading insult, is actually an old term that was demonized by medieval clergymen.
As our friend LaciGreen highlights, inspired by the work of Barbara G. Walker, the word is derived from the name for one of the Great Oriental Goddesses: Cunti or Kunda, the "Yoni of the Universe." It was a word that represented beauty, power and the amazing ability of the female body to bring new life into the world.
Yoni (Sanskrit: योनिyoni) means "source or origin of life." The ancient Vedas contain the word yoni in various contexts. The meaning of the word expanded, and got a secondary meaning "Divine Passage." A child was considered to be born from a "yoni of stars" - constellations that prevailed during the child birth.
Yet, as with many other aspects of ancient culture, the word "cunt" was and still is strongly demonized by the culture of Christianity (and monotheism in general, it seems) - which has a well-documented history of making the aspects of the old culture into the demons of its own.
Understanding our past is vitally important. To me, it makes me continually remember how truly human we have been for a long time. The Ancients were far from barbaric buffoons; all too often it seems they were more respectful (especially to women!) than our culture is today.
Atheist comic and social commentator Pat Condell rightly calls to the carpet the Kangaroo Court in Amsterdam. These Dutch court jesters are trying popular populist politician Geert Wilders for telling the truth about Islam. Why isn't this Inquisitorial trampling of free speech, human rights and justice being widely reported in the media?
As Pat says, this man is a hero. Indeed, Geert Wilders is a modern-day Galileo, and upon this trial may hang the fate of much of Europe. We ignore this situation at our own peril.
Yesterday, I had heard the sickening news out of Turkey about a 16-year-old girl named Medine Memi being buried alive in a so-called "honor killing" because she talked to boys. In other words, she was murdered because she's a girl - and that's what happens to girls in classical - not "radical" or "extreme" - Islam.
Islam encourages girl murder, period. According to Islam, girls are worthless sex/household slaves and baby machines. If her "honor" is sullied by any male - except, of course, the 70-year-old men she's "married" to - a young girl needs to be murdered - that's what millions believe all across the Muslim world, whether or not the atrocious practice is pre-Islamic or condemned by certain imams.
Indeed, regardless of all manner of shrieking, "That's not Islam!" the practice of murdering girls and women continues freely in Muslim countries. And that fact is exemplified by this recent act of misogynistic barbarism in Turkey.
This Turkish situation is so appalling that even the lefty liberal Huffington Post had to say something. It seems that the normally Islamoappeasing blog is slowly becoming awakened to the atrocities that fester in Islamic lands - something the rest of us have known for a long time. Although, naturally, the writer still has to make a lame disclaimer that "the brutalization of women and girls cuts across all religious and cultural boundaries..." Yes, yes, of course, we must coddle cuddly Islam wherever we can, even thought the ideology is one of the most awful violators of human rights in history and is certainly the most sexist and misogynistic.
The question is now, will Europeans really open up their borders to allow citizens of Turkey to move freely about, bringing with them these sorts of savage customs?
The murder of girls and women purportedly based on Islamic teachings has been so rampant over the past 1,400 years that we have scarcely scratched the surface. Add to that atrocious fact the shortage of marriable women - and girls, of course, since child marriage is allowed in Islam - because wealthy Muslim males take up to four wives to themselves, and we can understand to some extent why there are a bunch of angry, sexually frustrated Muslim men running around blowing things up. Islam does not encourage romantic love; on the contrary, it takes the rigid and hateful biblical attitude towards sex and women to the most derogatory and repressive extremes.
Classical Islam is, in effect, anti-love. And anti-girl. Islam hates girls unless they are completely enslaved under its oppressive doctrines. Girls who follow their hearts, make up their own minds and become free of external authority are despised by Islamists, who murder them at will.
In Tanzania, you can be arrested for "illegal preaching," as two Christians have been, after they showed up for a supposed interfaith debate and dialogue with Muslims. The fact that it was "Islamists" who essentially had them arrested suggests that "illegal preaching" in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is becoming defined as anything that threatens Islam. This sort of restriction is the rule in Saudi Arabia, where the classical form of Islam, Wahhabism, strangles the people, especially women. Perhaps non-Muslim countries should follow suit and ban Islamic proselytizing as "illegal preaching" - especially since it frequently includes virulent hate speech against other religions, ethnicities, women and nonbelievers. Problem solved!
Of course, we in the civilized world have constitutions and laws that prohibit persecution based on religious belief. These laws in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave extend to freedom not only of religion but also from religion. Violent speech and threats as part of religious "preaching," however, is discouraged, and one can be arrested for that violation. Such as:
"God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers." --Koran/Quran, 2:89-2:90
"Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate." --Q 9:73
Two Christian evangelists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have been arrested after Muslims invited them to debate religion but instead called in security agents who charged the evangelists with illegal preaching.
Anglican evangelists Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, released on bail and facing a hearing on Feb. 11, told Compass that Christian and Muslim groups organized the inter-faith debate that was planned for a neutral venue in October of last year in the Kariakoo area of Dar es Salaam.
Kobelo said no Muslims showed up at the debate until Islamists arrived with government security agents who charged them with "using religious sermons to incite Muslims and Christians into viewing each other with suspicion."
"This continuous intimidation by the Muslims using the police is worrying us," he said....
Pagan warriors for the earth? The recognition by the U.S. military of various Earth-centered, Pagan and Wiccan sects as valid religious and spiritual systems is good news for those of us who value freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religion. The acceptance of a circle of rocks as a sacred site on an Air Force base in Colorado is also great news, because it reflects the earliest religious ideation about which we know: To wit, the most ancient religious concepts revolve around nature, constituting the reverence and worship of the sun, moon, stars, constellations, planets, Earth, wind, water, etc. This nature worship was dominated by what is called "astrotheology," a fascinating body of knowledge dating back many thousands of years and prevalent but largely hidden in our "modern" religions of today.
Wiccan cadets and officers on the Colorado Springs base have been convening for over a decade, but the school will officially dedicate a newly built circle of stones on about March 10, putting the outdoor sanctuary on an equal footing with the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist chapels on the base.
"When I first arrived here, Earth-centered cadets didn't have anywhere to call home," said Sgt. Robert Longcrier, the lay leader of the neo-pagan groups on base....
The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs is establishing a worship area for followers of Earth-centered religions -- Wiccans, Druids, witches, pagans -- on a hill overlooking the campus, the USAFA says.
The chief of the academy has made religious tolerance a priority after 2004 a survey of cadets found instances of harassment, the Air Force Times reports....
Naturally, Christians just could not leave them alone, and someone vandalized the site by putting up a wooden cross, apparently after this story aired.
An Air Force Academy staffer who helped build a worship area for Pagans and other Earth-centered religions says he and others are the victims of a hate crime because someone placed a wooden cross at their site....
Perhaps the Pagan ideals and morals will "trickle up" to members of the more sizeable religions/cults such as Christianity and Islam - these would include being good stewards of Earth as well as peacekeepers.
The beautiful and dignified Ayaan Hirsi Ali overcame severe hardship and rose to prominence by possessing innate morality, kindness and decency. Having come from Somalia - the most dangerous country in the world, where she suffered under a brutal and violent social system that included having her genitals hacked off when she was five - Hirsi Ali has continually displayed grace, intelligence and courage in her sounding of the alarm concerning Islam.
And Hirsi Ali doesn't speak of "radical" or "extreme" Islam - she talks about what is in reality classical Islam, Islam as it was meant to be. and has been She spoke at the University of Wisconsin at Madison recently, where, of course, Muslims were angered by her mere presence, as many of them are by her mere existence (and so much else).
..."Initially it was decided that we didn't want our names associated with her," said Reid Tice, DLS chair.
"Today though, I'm really proud to be a Badger and strike up these insightful critiques of free speech and religion."...
...She referred to examples of flogging and beating as prescribed by the Qur'an and urged feminists and other activists to scrutinize the religion practiced by 1.5 billion people across the globe.
"Islamic doctrine is incompatible with American theory," she said.
It's appalling that anyone would not "want our names associated with" a respectable black woman who has suffered so much, including genital mutilation and mental and physical enslavement. Unfortunately, such a mentality reflects the power of the mob, as coddling brutal Islam is obviously far more important to many than supporting an individual who was harshly abused by it.
Some 95,000 alleged descendants of Mohammed are planning to file a libel lawsuit in Great Britain, concerning the infamous cartoons published in the Danish press.
The issue of whether or not to vaccinate yourself or your children is a scary one, with vaccine advocates constantly raising the terrifying spector of debilitating disease or even death for those who refuse vaccinations. Every parent trembles when hearing such fearful warnings. But are vaccines safe? Should we be putting such cocktails of foreign chemicals into our and our children's bloodstreams?
A fascinating discovery has been uncovered during the construction of a road to a venue for the 2012 Olympics in London: The remains of 51 young men who were beheaded in what appears to be an execution by Anglo-Saxons of foreign invaders from Northern Europe.
Here's one for the "WTF? Department." Have they all been feminized? Too many 
"They said killing an infidel is not a sin, instead it's righteousness in the sight of Allah almighty."
Ordinarily, I would take no great glee in the fall of a supposedly democratic government of a country that has proved itself over the past several decades to be one of the most civilized and enlightened societies in all of human history. But this time around, I have to wonder whether or not karma has caught up with this particular government, after it engaged in the absolutely immoral behavior of prosecuting one of its most courageous and prominent citizens merely for speaking the truth about a dangerous ideology.
A team of archaeologists and researchers on the Greek island of Crete has made a series of startling discoveries that could shake the foundations of archaeological knowledge far beyond the Mediterranean. Some 30 primitive stone axes have been found in several different sites that resemble Paleolithic tools used in Europe some 175,000 years ago by pre-humans. Citing a paper to be published in June in the Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece - my alma mater - 
A Greek Cypriot public school teacher in Great Britain was fired from his job, allegedly because he made some comments about a Muslim girl's headscarf and the superiority of Christianity over Islam. The teacher himself, however, denies the allegation and claims that he was sacked because he wouldn't "put up with the 'racist' and anti-Semitic' behaviour of his pupils."
I deeply regret to say that on January 23rd, my lovely friend Pamela Leigh Richards, 
