Clipmarks | boniface's 'religion' clips

The pot calls the kettle black - Bush and China

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:22:39 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Bush calls for freedom in China

In what may be his last major address in Asia, Mr Bush said yesterday that the US spoke out for a free press, free assembly and labour rights not to antagonise China's leaders, but because it was the only path the potent US rival could take to reach its full potential.

''America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents and human rights advocates and religious activists,'' Mr Bush said.

''We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs.''

China hit back at the criticism by Mr Bush on religion and human rights, saying it opposed any interference in its internal affairs.

Bruce Fein to House Judiciary on Impeachment

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:32:10 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "The executive branch has destroyed the Constitution’s time-honored checks and balances, taken the nation perilously close to executive despotism. The executive branch rejects the basic philosophical tenets of the United States of America."

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

BRUCE FEIN: If President George W. Bush had knocked to enter the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the presiding officer, President George Washington, would have denied him admission, and thereby hangs an alarming tale.

The executive branch has destroyed the Constitution’s time-honored checks and balances, taken the nation perilously close to executive despotism. The executive branch rejects the basic philosophical tenets of the United States of America. It does not accept that America was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that sovereignty in a republican form of government lies with the people, not with the executive; that there are no vassals or serfs in the Constitution’s landscape; that every man and woman is a king or queen, but no one wears a crown; and that the rule of law is the nation’s civic religion. And the founding fathers fashioned impeachment as a remedy for attacks against the Constitution order.

Tags: impeachment

Pagan Weddings on the Rise

Sun, 04 May 2008 14:00:36 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.modbee.com

Pagan weddings attract more than a cult following

A 2001 survey by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that the number of followers of Wicca, one of the many religions that fall beneath the pagan umbrella, increased from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, making it the fastest-growing religion in America in terms of percentage increase.

Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall University, says the number of followers of pagan religions is even higher now, citing a 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey that put the estimate at 1.2 million.

My suspicion is that the first number was way too low due to people not responding," Laubach said. "The 1990 study was conducted at the height of the 'satanic panic,' which kept many neopagans in the closet."

While some subsets don't believe in gods, others, like Wiccans, worship many gods and goddesses. Women, in fact, are revered as the bearers of life in Wicca.

Starhawk deported from Israel

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:53:10 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.indybay.org

Starhawk, well known American anarchist activist was deported by the Israeli government on Thursday. Altho she practices the Pagan religion, she is very proud of her Jewish heritage.

She was in Palestine to help teach a permaculture course in the northern West Bank as well as working with earth activists to develop a project in the Bethlehem area.

Dr. Joanne Taylor, a British psychologist commented on the deportation "clearly the Israeli authorities are paranoid even about letting people grow crops and conserve rainwater on their own land."

Certainly survival of the Palestinian people depends on being able to feed themselves; whilst even access to water is under threat from the Israeli military occupation, learning ways to recycle and store this is an urgent priority.

The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 03:01:34 GMT

clipped by: boniface
clipper's remarks: The video doesn't seem to clip, so go to the site and see it for yourself.

Clip Source: gawker.com

The Cruise Indoctrination Video Scientology Tried To Suppress

You have to watch this video. It shows Tom Cruise, with all the wide-eyed fervor that he brings to the promotion of a movie, making the argument for Scientology, the bizarre 20th-century religion. Making the argument is an understatement. The Hollywood actor, star of movies such as Mission Impossible, is a complete fanatic. "When you're a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you're the only one who can really help... We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures." There's much much more. Let me put it this way: if Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch was an 8 on the scale of scary, this is a 10.

From Pagan deity to modern sex symbol

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:02:48 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.russiatoday.ru

From pagan deity to modern sex symbol - Snegurochka revealed

The Snow Maiden, or Snegurochka, is a core part of winter celebrations in Russia. She partners Russia's Santa – Father Frost – helping him with his New Year duties. Her image is familiar to everyone across the country. But her origins remain shrouded in mystery, even to Russians.

The character of Snegurochka actually dates back to pagan Slavic religion. She symbolised the change of seasons, the transition from winter to spring.

Theocracy!

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:55:29 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.news-leader.com

Theocrats must answer question

There are a lot of people out there advocating a Christian theocracy for this nation. After all, if it was good enough for our Founding Fathers it should be good enough for us. But the question they refuse to address is, "Which Christian God?"

Are you going to tell me that there is no difference between a Baptist and a Methodist? And I know it's not something simple like one prefers brown-colored seat cushions and the other likes blue. Maybe we should make Catholic brand Christianity the official religion. After all, they do a bang-up job in their school system. And Lord knows, we sure could stand to improve our present one. At least we could pray more in the schools.

Face it, after you've gotten rid of the heathens, Jews, Muslims, etc. you're going to have to decide which Christian sect is the right one. They can't all be right.

Merry Excesses

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:26:24 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.telegram.com

Christmas — pagans, Christians and mammon

Christmas is arriving with its usual sleighful of hype, indulgence and greed. And, as usual, people are deploring the consumerist excesses of the holiday and wishing for a return of the good old days and the old-time religion. They know not what they are yearning for.

Early on, bishops banned the use of evergreens and deplored the drinking, hoodlumism, fighting and looting that went on in many places in the darkness of deep December all over Europe. But the decrees made little difference.

Nobody knows when Jesus was born, but in the 4th century the church decreed it to be Dec. 25, an unlikely time for shepherds to be watching their flocks in the field.

And so, over the centuries, Dec. 25 gradually took on some of the trappings of the Christian religion, although much of the old pagan festivities continued.

Embracing Pagan Heritage

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:14:58 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.charlestoncitypaper.com

Embracing Pagan heritage

Heritage Schmeritage! Like religion, it's whatever you make of it

While happy Pagans observed the cycle of the year and the cycle of life within the armory walls, outside those walls members of Friendship Baptist Church prayed and sang for the souls of the celebrants, according to The Post & Courier.

"What have we come to in our so-called Holy City, where the South's oldest newspaper gives attention to such people ...?" she asked. "I am willing to bet many others found this offensive and unnecessary. It certainly is not newsworthy."

I wish I had been able to meet the angry letter writer and the members of the Friendship Baptist Church who protested outside the National Guard Armory that day.

But, in fact, all people of European heritage are descended from one Pagan tradition or another. Those of African heritage had their own Pagan traditions.

Tags: embracing, pagan, heritage

Einstein on Buddhism

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:35:10 GMT

clipped by: venezolano

Clip Source: ravingatheists.com

"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things as a meaningful unity" - Albert Einstein

Tags: quote

Poor Christians - Thrown to the Lions Again

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:36:16 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: For all the Liberals out there who have fallen in love with Mr. Paul, I suggest they take another look at the real Ron Paul. Sure he's against the war in Iraq but that's not his entire agenda. This quy is more of a nut than most think.

Clip Source: www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com

Ron Paul sees a war on Christianity?

One of Ron Paul’s selling points as a presidential candidate is his willingness to reject Republican orthodoxy.

But what I did not realize is that when it comes to the religious right’s theocratic worldview, Paul is surprisingly in line with TV preachers like Pat Robertson. An alert reader emailed me this Ron Paul commentary from December 2003, in which the Texas Republican laments “the ongoing war against religion” in general, and Christianity in specific.

Through perverse court decisions and years of cultural indoctrination, the elitist, secular Left has managed to convince many in our nation that religion must be driven from public view. The justification is always that someone, somewhere, might possibly be offended or feel uncomfortable living in the midst of a largely Christian society

Tags: politics, ron paul, theocracy, atheism

Bring back the Greek Gods

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:36:53 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Bring back the Greek gods

Mere mortals had a better life when more than one ruler presided from on high.

Prominent secular and atheist commentators have argued lately that religion "poisons" human life and causes endless violence and suffering. But the poison isn't religion; it's monotheism. The polytheistic Greeks didn't advocate killing those who worshiped different gods, and they did not pretend that their religion provided the right answers. Their religion made the ancient Greeks aware of their ignorance and weakness, letting them recognize multiple points of view.

Unlike the monotheistic traditions, Greco-Roman polytheism was multicultural. The Greeks and Romans did not share the narrow view of the ancient Hebrews that a divinity could only be masculine. Like many other ancient peoples in the eastern Mediterranean, the Greeks recognized female divinities, and they attributed to goddesses almost all of the powers held by the male gods.

Tags: bring, back, the, greek, gods

No Fear.

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:56:09 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.news-gazette.com

Don't be scared of Wiccans, Christians are told

ROSSVILLE – Christians and Wiccans gathered in the former Rossville-Alvin High School gymnasium Wednesday night to hear a Lincoln Christian College professor talk about the Wicca religion.

"Our battle is not with people," said Robert Kurka, professor of theology and church in culture at Lincoln Christian College in Lincoln. "We are talking about competing belief systems, not competing people."

Debbe Tompkins, also of Rossville and a Wiccan, said overall the presentation was pretty good, although she disagreed with some of Kurka's interpretations.

Tags: don't, be, scared, of, wiccans, christians, are, told

Leader brings religion to workplace

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:21:05 GMT

clipped by: boniface

Clip Source: www.northjersey.com

Leader brings religion to workplace

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

By TERESA McALEAVY
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD

Marie Phillipson wants all workers to practice their religion at work, every workday.

While she would like the working masses to embrace Christianity, the president of Neptune-based MarketPlace Leaders New Jersey says she isn't trying to convert anyone.

"There's no evangelism in this," says Phillipson, whose for-profit organization has as its motto "Helping You Fulfill God's Calling."

"I understand people are leery because there are very aggressive church groups out there trying to convert everyone,'' she says. "But my goal is equipping Christians to practically implement faith in their work life.''

Some employers are skittish about bringing religion into the workplace. One North Jersey employer who asked not to be identified said he would rather not have religion in the workplace and that workers should practice their religion on their own time.

Tags: leader, brings, religion, to, workplace

“Ave Maria' ban at graduation upheld

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:28:32 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.firstamendmentcenter.org

A federal judge in Seattle recently ruled that a school district did not violate a student’s First Amendment rights by banning the song “Ave Maria” from a 2006 commencement ceremony.

School administrators denied the ensemble’s request to play “Ave Maria,” stating that graduation music was required to be “entirely secular in nature.” Nurre filed a suit against Everett School District Superintendent Carol Whitehead shortly after the ceremony, saying the district violated her free-speech and religious rights.

In a summary judgment issued Sept. 20, U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik ruled in favor of the school district, writing that the school’s “prohibition of the performance of ‘Ave Maria’ was based on the decision to keep religion out of graduation as a whole, not to discriminate against a specific religious sect or creed.”

Tags: religion, school, music, free speech, discrimination