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<DIV><FONT face=Verdana>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Paul writes:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2>"Isn't it frightening how many
similarities there are between radical fundamentalists of Islam and
Christianity? If love and kindness won't work for us, then what was Jesus
blathering on about?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=2>Bingo!!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The material that Paul responds to posted by the Cultmaster's
attack mouse is another example of egomaniacs, megalomaniacs, delusionals, etc.
hijacking the original teachings of Christ for their own purposes and
agendas.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>As a nonbeliever, I am painfully amused by some of those that
allege they fervently believe in Jesus failing to understand the place of Christ
in his/their religious tradition -- love replacing the culture of Old Testament
driven hate and alienation, help/compassion replacing the culture of Old
Testament scorn and cruelty. But Christ's message was corrupted even
before those who lived in his time were long dead. Just contrast the later
books of the New Testament with the simple, direct words of Christ found in the
synoptic gospels (the first three books of the New Testament).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Human religious folly is a source of painful amusement because
it generally leads to more cruelty, greed, corruption, and loss of civil
liberties. This is not necessarily true of all religious groups, but it
certainly is true of fundamentalists in Christianity and Islam. We have a
laboratory specimen in our local midst of this classic phenomenon, the <FONT
color=#0000ff><FONT face="Olde English"><STRONG><FONT size=2><FONT
color=#000000>Wilson & Family's Christless Cult &</FONT> <FONT
color=#00bb88>Cash Machine</STRONG></FONT> -- </FONT></FONT><FONT
size=2><STRONG>(</STRONG><STRONG>You must tolerate us since we do not tolerate
anyone else)</STRONG>.</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Cultmaster Wilson has hijacked/transformed the
simple love/compassion/be careful to judge others messages of Christ to one
completely counter to Christ's original teachings. And his gain of wealth,
influence, and power does not lead to the spiritual elevation of his
flock by their helping the unfortuantes and/or their gaining
credibility by goods works and exhibiting agape. Instead they are exhorted
to smite their detractors and to waste their money building the Cultmaster's
empire rather than helping the unfortunate and their helping practically to
solve the problems of humankind. Worse yet, his brand of virulent,
unverifiable, charisma, authority-driven superstition is of the kind that
prevents humankind from attempting to solve the huge problems of deadly human
conflict, gross, worldwide environmental damage, and part of its main cause,
overpopulation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>When you deal in unverifiable superstition, you can sell any
crackpot theory if you are charismatic and well organized enough, especially
since you are not subject to the plodding detailed work of demonstrating your
assertions by observation and experimentation subject to the observation and
verification by others. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Dealing in unverifiable superstition is simpler than
dealing in truth for another reason clearly stated by P. T. Barnum:
"There's one [fool/sucker] born every minute." </FONT><FONT
size=2>Religious con artistry and secular con artistry prey on the same human
emotion -- the desire of the fool/sucker to get something free or at a greatly
reduced price, or to get something that has an extremely low probability of
being attainable.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>W.</FONT></DIV></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>From: "Paul Rumelhart" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:godshatter@yahoo.com"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>godshatter@yahoo.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>To: <</FONT><A
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 6:44
PM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: Fantasy vs.
Reality Fourth Installment</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><BR><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>> </FONT><A href="mailto:heirdoug@netscape.net"><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>heirdoug@netscape.net</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=2>
wrote:<BR>> <BR>>>Imprecatory Prayer: The Intercessor’s Elephant
Gun<BR>>>By Doug Giles<BR>>> <BR>>><BR>> <BR>>
Don't know if this is you or not, but thought I'd answer anyway...<BR>>
<BR>>>One: Back President Bush and his aggressive armed attitude against
<BR>>>terrorists and terror supporting nations. <BR>>>
<BR>>><BR>> <BR>> Can't do that. If he was trying to use the
power of the law to track <BR>> these guys down instead of trying to clean up
a mess in Iraq that had <BR>> little to do with 9/11, maybe I'd go for
it. If I thought it was an <BR>> honest mistake and we weren't
torturing suspects without trials and <BR>> using "extraordinary rendition",
maybe I could get behind him to do what <BR>> we can to clean up our
mess. I can back this man on Afghanistan, as <BR>> long as he's not
doing things unilaterally, but not Iraq. Just remember <BR>> that it
could be argued that we are a "terror supporting" nation. We <BR>> sold
arms to Iran. Our CIA trained Bin Laden. Who knows how many other
<BR>> dirty secrets we have hidden somewhere?<BR>> <BR>>>Two: Push
for cinching our borders tighter than a fat guy's belt after <BR>>>an
‘All-You-Can-Eat’ beef rib blow out at Tony Roma’s.<BR>>>
<BR>>><BR>> <BR>> I'm afraid I can't do this one, either. Our
polyglot of cultures and <BR>> attitudes and beliefs is our crowning
strength, not a weakness. Sure, <BR>> tighten security to help stop
further terror attacks (while respecting <BR>> people's rights in the
process), but don't turn us insular. The world <BR>> is an
interconnected global system. we turn our backs on it at our own <BR>>
risk.<BR>> <BR>>>Three: Aggressively support the rooting out of the
multitudinous <BR>>>terrorist cells that are concocting their villainous
crap in our very <BR>>>own cul de sacs.<BR>>>
<BR>>><BR>> <BR>> I can get behind this one. We already have
systems in place to handle <BR>> this. No new scary rights-removing
laws needed. Let the system work.<BR>> <BR>>>Four: Make it
ridiculously impossible for a pro-radical Islamic <BR>>>professor to pee
in one of our university’s bathrooms, much less teach <BR>>>in one of our
classrooms. <BR>>> <BR>>><BR>> <BR>> Freedom of
religion. If you can't live with it, get the fuck out. If <BR>>
said professor commits a crime, throw him or her in prison. Otherwise
<BR>> ignore their religion. Is there some kind of a flood of radical
Islamic <BR>> professors applying for teaching jobs I haven't heard
about?<BR>> <BR>>>Five: As people of faith, dust off and use what’s
afforded to the <BR>>>believer within the Old and New Testaments, namely
the imprecatory <BR>>>prayers.<BR>>> <BR>>><BR>>
<BR>> Can't do this one, either. For one, I'm not Christian. For
another, I <BR>> believe that if you have a beef with someone, you should
tell them to <BR>> their face, not try to implore some possibly-real
(probably-imaginary) <BR>> phantom to do your dirty work for you.<BR>>
<BR>> Since I haven't seen anything on the news about radical Muslims, local
<BR>> philosophy professors, or "intoleristas" being inexplicably burned to a
<BR>> crisp by bolts of lightning, I'm assuming your God is thinking along
the <BR>> same lines I am.<BR>> <BR>> Paul<BR>> <BR>> P.S.
Isn't it frightening how many similarities there are between <BR>> radical
fundamentalists of Islam and Christianity? If love and kindness <BR>>
won't work for us, then what was Jesus blathering on about?<BR>>
<BR></FONT>>
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