Religion
Its Wednesday May 8th! Do you know where your Podcast is? On this day in history back in 1858 John Brown held a secret anti-slavery convention in Canada where he and around 50 like-minded individuals adopted an anti slavery constitution. Brown is one of the most polarizing figures of the chaotic period leading up to the civil war. Hated by supporters of the southern way of exploiting human beings for their own personal gain and glory - I mean advocates of states’ rights; revered by the growing population of civil rights warriors who believed that change would not come without a fight; shunned and shamed by peace loving, meek abolitionists who preferred to sing songs, publish articles, and peacefully assemble to end slavery. Read more
Its Sunday April 28th! Do you know where your podcast is? On this day in history back in 1967, Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. military. The self-proclaimed "Greatest Fighter of All Time" cited religious reasons for staging his most important fight; a fight against institutionalized, senseless killing. Take a moment to process these statements - yes, a fighter by profession and religious person (Ali converted to Islam in 1964) refused to go to war! Ali was fined $10,000, sentenced to 5 years in prison, and was stripped of the world title he had won by beating Sonny Liston. He avoided prison while appealing all the way to the highest court, and lost his heavyweight title the first time the same year he won his case in 1971. Muhammad Ali is the only three-time boxing world champion, and is still one of the most intriguing figures in American history. His reason for refusing conscription was because "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong." Amazing that the government of a "Christian nation" would seek to take everything from a person who was acting exactly in the manner that Jesus would have prescribed. Read more
It seem like the media is too busy building a narrative that these terrorist are Muslim than searching for the truth. Currently there's no evidence that either man is Muslim but for some reason the media keep trying to tie this terrorist attack to Islam. Why? There are other explanations for their horrifying actions. Maybe they fell the U.S. hasn't been tough enough against Russian aggression. Chechen (where they was born) has been fighting against Russia for over 300 years.
Now, it may be true that these terrorist were radicalize by Muslim extremist, but a good reporter should look at all angles and not just the one they think is obvious. For example, one reporter mentioned on air; incorrectly mind you that the bombers sister's husband who lives in NJ is Muslim. Why would he even mentioned that. Does he think her husband radicalize them from NJ. Should we go visit that man and integrate him? Read more
Losing an election can be a very bitter pill to swallow. Some Republicans are refusing to accept their loss and instead have begun beating the war drums of vengeance, promising to fight against not only the election results, but against democracy itself and the will of the People.
Donald Trump is a good example, he tweeted a few incendiary comments after the election results gave Obama a clear win. Here is a list of those tweets Yahoo! News provided for us: Read more
It’s Sunday October 28th! Do you know where your podcast is? On this day in history back in 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act providing the enforcement of Prohibition which became the law of the land with the 18th Amendment to The U.S. Constitution. If you’re not sure why Prohibition didn’t work, open a history book and take your pick from the myriad of reasons. We’re looking at you, organized crime. And speaking of reason, it’s never a good reason to legislate religious beliefs. If you’re not sure why legislating religious beliefs doesn’t work, open a history book and take your pick from the myriad of options. We’re looking at you, Prohibition. And speaking of options, it’s nice to have them. Who wouldn’t want to have choices when it comes to life’s big decisions? If you’re not sure why limiting choice doesn’t work, open a history book and take your pick from the myriad of examples. We’re looking at you, back-alley abortions. In this country (and by extension this world), one size certainly does not fit all. Read more
Though we are religious or not, most of us understand that using religion as a tool to commit violent acts against innocent people, such as young Malala Yousufzai, a brave young intelligent girl from Pakistan, is not godly at all, in any since of the word. It does not matter if you are Christian, Muslim or Jewish; committing violent acts is only evil, nothing more and especially nothing close to godliness.
Malala was recently shot on a bus with two other girls, her being the target. Because she championed Pakistani girls’ rights to an education, she now lies in a hospital bed, trying to recover after being shot in the head and neck. My last update I heard was that she was recovering well and for that, we can give thanks to God.
There are hundreds of millions of religious people and there are many who are fervent about their beliefs. There is nothing wrong with someone being fervent about his or her beliefs; I certainly am. However, there is a very small minority of religious zealots or fanatics, you might say, that use their religion as a tool for evil. Read more
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at an Eid ul-Fitr reception marking the end of Ramadan, spoke clearly of what many Americans, especially Christians feel about the video at the center of the attacks on the embassy in Benghazi. The attack killed four U.S. Embassy staff, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Read more
This is a continuation from Part 1
As a boy preacher, I expected everyone to believe like me and if they chose not to, they would suffer the fires of Hell. That is how I was taught to think.
I well remember a time that I watched a Catholic priest smoking a pipe of tobacco. It was at a local Diary Queen and he sat in his car, smoking his pipe. As a minister– even a boy minister– it was my duty to inform him of the consequences of smoking that pipe so I went up to his car window and told him that it was a sin to smoke and he would go to Hell. He gave me a curious look but didn’t give me much thought. Read more
Many years ago when I was but eleven years of age, I became a preacher. As a Pentecostal, I had a very strict belief system, which also affected my sermons. I believed many things were sin, even if the Bible never mentioned them, such as smoking for example; smoking was a sin to me, or at least that was what I was taught.
Like so many Christians nowadays, I really didn’t know the Bible that well. I could quote a few scriptures but those were scriptures that supported my particular belief system, even if they were taken out of context. Read more
When Boston Mayor Thomas Menino came out against Chick-Fil-A after its CEO expressed opposition to gay marriage, numerous grassroots campaigns throughout the nation followed suit encouraging people to take their business elsewhere. If your Facebook is anything like mine, it’s probably full of statuses standing with, or against, the Boston Mayor. Read more
There is a rather disconcerting idea touted by so-called progressives on the order of: Islamophobia is on the rise in the West: most particularly in Europe and the United Sates. The idea itself presupposes that there is such a phenomenon as Islamophobia and that it is some nefarious and specious contaminant in our cultures and, that if left unchecked, would see the unrelenting evisceration of the dignity of Muslim peoples. Read more
Ave Maria University campus
Yup.
"White House Leading Attack on Religious Liberty" was the title of an article by Jim Towey, President of Ave Maria University, a Catholic liberal arts college located just south of Immokalee, Florida. The article appeared in the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) last Saturday.
http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/white-house-leading-attack-on-re...
A bit of information is in order. Read more
In the course of a generally favorable review of Among the Creationists over at The Panda’s Thumb blog, Matt Young wrote the following: Read more
Vigo County Poor Farm - Terre Haute, Indiana
Those Socialists were wrong
Poverty is not a social condition. People do not become criminals as a product of social and economic conditions.
They are born that way.
People are poor and/or criminal because they are genetically inferior.
This ideology, social darwinism, was adopted by America’s wealthy at the turn of the 20th century as befitting those who believed they were more fit, indeed had a right to rule. Read more
