Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history

By Dinesh D'Souza

RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. – In recent months, a spate of atheist books have argued that religion represents, as "End of Faith" author Sam Harris puts it, "the most potent source of human conflict, past and present."

Source: Christian Science Monitor

By way of reddit.

Well, there go the bona fides for the CSM. This paper must change its name if it can not live up to the principles that Christian Science implies, i.e, that submission to a literal and condemning form of social control in the name of a religion is not what the first teacher had in mind. Science is a process that results in reproducible outcomes. Christian Science originated in ideas that the practice of an inner positive morality, reflected in ones worldly activities and is capable of being shared with others of like mind. This was in fact, the whole basis for a new social interaction in the years between the death of the original teacher and the ascendancy of the Roman state church to monotheism in the name and nature of a nonentity, Christ. Christ is a condition, not a person. Jesus was a teacher not a god. In that capacity and legacy, He is far superior to the qualities and superstitious constructs that have been created in the name of religion or hierarchical statist social control.

Theism is a superstition wrapped in a method of social control. Atheism is not without a concept of a greater power. It is that the power in question is not an elderly, robed and bearded fellow sitting on high and calling shots. The Greater Power is the accumulation of all the bits of power that are manifest in a mysteriously intelligent and seemingly intentional cosmos. Secondarily, that which is human is an artifact or perhaps even a precondition of something even more mysterious and wonderful. It is all up to the intentions, actions and outcomes of the former, the current and the future manifestations of man or something better. Man is a speck of possibility or more generously a component of that which will come.

Dinesh is a priest of superstition. CSM has either generously allowed his comments as a Zen like lesson or they have abandoned the prime directive of Christian Science. The result of which is that they may no longer be publishing in truth but rather in superstition.

Morality is a peculiar human trait and condition. Everyone is moral in either a negative, life taking or positive. life affirming way.

Dinesh may mean well, but his method is couched in certitude and arrogance not worthy of his intention. Dinesh and his way is the end of faith. The end of faith is certitude. The beginning of faith is doubt and reflection.

I must vote this up so as to expose it to the rigors of truth that will prevail.

Otherwise, I would not be a good . . .

Lantern Bearer

Please, be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible.

You have no business to believe me.

I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself. . .

If you have not a critical mind, your visit here is useless.

G.I. Gurdjieff

Taliban in Control of 54% of Afganistan

---

Quote:

Afghanistan 'falling into hands of Taliban' · Frontline getting closer to Kabul, says thinktank · Aid not going to those who need it most, warns Oxfam Graphic: Taliban presence in Afghanistan Richard Norton-Taylor Thursday November 22, 2007 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanista...214994,00.html The Taliban has a permanent presence in 54% of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into Taliban hands, according to a report by an independent thinktank with long experience in the area. Despite tens of thousands of Nato-led troops and billions of dollars in aid poured into the country, the insurgents, driven out by the American invasion in 2001, now control "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas, some district centres, and important road arteries", the Senlis Council says in a report released yesterday.

How can this possibly be? Was all that has gone before a charade? Did we not shoot or bomb enough mud huts, cave entrances, or did we not kill enough innocent people.

Was it something I said? Was it the Democrats not caving in to the W_administration sufficiently? Did the troops in the field not perform to their utmost ability?

In the face of the best the west had in its armament and tactical locker to bring to force against the political entity called Taliban, Taliban has survived, flourished and is occupying the heartland of Afghanistan unopposed. I do not believe that evil is the cause for their success from inside their ranks. The evil is outside in the way and means of forces opposing such a paternalistic and vulnerable martial group. Errors are being made every day by the west. The guard is down because the political prosecution of this war is being directed by a narrow minded and corporate mentality that has allowed corrupt business practices to become the rule. They will have their wealth at no cost to themselves. As long as the little people stand about with their remotes in their hands nothing but evil will come about.

The world will continue to turn. The seasons will change. Dancing with the stars will continue to play to the proles. As a nation the US will no longer have a place in the world of honest interaction outside arms and destruction of others by surrogates.

Many of you who now give lip service to this sad period in our lives will perhaps in the final moments of your conscious existence ask in pain, "What was I thinking?"

I AM

__________________
The Old Dog

Quote:

Today in Iraq

Please, be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible.

You have no business to believe me.

I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself. . .

If you have not a critical mind, your visit here is useless.

G.I. Gurdjieff

The World Turned Upside Down

Scott McClellan is about to come clean about the political intrigues of the W_administration. It would not be, could not be without the clandestine backing of thinking Republicans. Of course the deadenders will go down waving the bloody shirt but the die is cast.

I heard the news from my wife moments ago. I believe that I heard the strains of music that were played when Cornwallis presented his sword to Washington's insurgent, militia, and regular forces at Yorktown. That would be

"The World Turned Upside Down."

If buttercups buzzed after the bee,
If boats were on land,
Churches on sea,
If ponies rode men,
And if grass ate the corn,
And if cats should be chased
Into holes by the mouse,
If the mammas sold their babies
To the Gypsies for half a crown,
If summer were spring,
And the other way 'round,
Then all the world would be upside down.

Melody - old British nursery tune sequenced by Karl P. age 5


I believe thinking Republicans are over this mess. The longer the dead enders hang on the worse it will be for an eventual recovery. they are guaranteed the loss of the White House for eight years, maybe twelve, and maybe even sixteen. The House and Senate will see a turn out of the Republicans and the Senate will perhaps go as well. Of course the corrosive effects of winner take all will come to rest with the Democrats too. Which! In truth and fact is NOT an organized political party. We are the blind hog that finds the occasional truffle.

We can not now just sit on our hands and play "ain't it awful. It is now time to stand up. It is not too late or a grave misfortune to bring this den of thieves and miscreants to justice.

Lantern Bearer

Please, be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible.

You have no business to believe me. I ask you to believe nothing that you cannot verify for yourself. . . If you have not a critical mind, your visit here is useless.

G.I. Gurdjieff

No Fan of Law Enforcement

One of my web friends sent me this news piece. She supports liberal access to firearms and a liberal interpretation of home protection. So do I.

What is your opinion concerning the self defense law. Does it give citizens the
right to shoot burglars when they are not on your property? Was this mans life in
danger as he was trying to be a good neighbor. What would you have done? Just get
a description and then report the break-in or take matters into your own hands?
Should the laws be changed?

Protecting Neighbor's Home Self-Defense?Testing "Castle Doctrine," Grand Jury To Decide If Texas Man Was Right To Kill Burglars

HOUSTON (CBS) -- It will be up to a Texas grand jury to decide whether a man who fatally shot two men he thought were robbing his neighbor's home acted within the state's self-defense laws.

Tough call.

For all the wind that has passed through either end of NRA supporters and their leadership, there have been few incidences of "castle defense" that have not received a rigorous, abrasive and sometimes costly first responses leading to the death or arrest and then court appearances for the castle defender.

The horror stories of no-knock entry by law enforcement into the wrong address have lead to some ugly outcomes for innocent residents and for armed residents who have shot the intruders whether LE or real bad guys.

I don't know about where you live, but here by me, in a metropolitan area of near 50 municipalities both large and tiny, there are ugly and questionable incidences of both plainly criminal and innocent protection shootings everyday or so. Nationally, the number would be astounding to some if they were all reported equally. Gun trauma and death are very common.

There are levels of defense and levels of thwarting crime that demand a firearm depending on remoteness of the victim from LE and neighbors. Individual protection within the confines of the walls of the home are different from that of the edge of the physical setting on which ones castle sits and the proximity of ones dwelling from ones neighbor.

I live in a neighborhood that has large lots, 6-0 foot wooden, wire or masonry fences. My lot backs on a railroad and utility easement. The street is a U-shaped street that has a north and a south entry. I know everyone on this street. We have no formal neighborhood association but we do have a mutual heads up agreement that would allow me or any other on this street to intervene in some way to protect the property of another.

Some of my neighbors have firearms, some don't. I have one antique, 1912 Springfield double-barrel, twelve gauge shotgun that is broken down and stored in a locked drawer along with fresh shells.

Most of my neighbors have electronic alarm systems. I have chosen other passive methods of thwarting intruders. I maintain a strong defense line in my fences. The fences are backed by rank growing Bougainvillea (crown of thorn canes). I am prepared for just about any eventuality of human intrusion. If some Joe Crack-head is looking for something easy, he is going to pass me by. If some semi-pro burglar is looking to steal my rare book collection he is going to work for it. It is LE that I fear that will enter with flash-bang grenades. We would to subjected to rough handling and an assumption of guilt by LE until better minds came to straighten things out. An elderly, ill grandmother in some Chicago hell hole would probably get one round of her 38 off before she was riddled with bullets. Would the NRA mount a defense in her case? I don't think so.

My short answer is that to be prepared for home defense, a form of deadly force may be just the thing. Any LE agency that conducts no knock entries must accept the possibility that they may lose a team member to constitutionally permissible firearm defense by the intruded-upon. A neighbor has every right to call LE to alert then to an intrusion into a neighbors house. His deadly response to intrusion is limited to the walls of his own abode. A person who goes into his yard and make an innocent , aggressive flourish of a firearm may be treated harshly by LE no matter the circumstances Some are even shot in their own doorways when spouting the NRA catch phrases of rights. LE doesn't like guns in the hands of those not in their ranks, on the scene of an incident. If you have a firearm in your hands in their presence, you are subject to the use of deadly force by them. (thus the title of this piece)

It may not be in the law books, court rulings or the constitution but it is drilled into the heads of recruits and old time cops, the NRA be damned. If you shoot someone or harm them with any form of weapon, you will be treated as a common criminal until there is a ruling from your States Attorney's office and their agencies of the courts in your local community. If you shoot an intruder in your home, there is still a rigorous investigation of the circumstances. It makes no difference what the Constitution says, what the general opinion of the local community is, LE has a penchant for treating gun incidents as if they were atomic attacks.

I will soon have a story to tell about a recent experience I had with an ill trained and steroid ingesting police officer. Aside from providing me with a new set of experiences and a first hand view of the process to write about, it left me with a less than confident view of the capabilities of the field components of LE.

The man in Texas will have a long, difficult time having his situation untangled. He will be subjected to closer observation by LE for the rest of his life. He is marked. The NRA be damned (by LE). Being smart, prepared and courteous and unarmed, around LE is a lot more effective than being well armed.