Conservative Christians STILL Believe Obama Is A Muslim

Following is a sad and scary testament.  I received this message from my conservative Christian relatives.  It was sent to them by their equally biased friends.

Check out this latest picture from yesterday, Veterans Day 11/11/09  at the Ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. I don’t know whether the National Anthem is being played, or the Flag is going by, or WHAT, but EVERYBODY in the picture is either saluting or has his hand over the HEART.  All except ONE…….Guess who.?

The previous sender wrote:

I guess a Muslim’s sign of respect is folded hands over your crotch.  How in the hell did the American people elect this guy to the highest office after only 150 days in the Senate, never having run anything except maybe a rally and having lived so many years overseas.  Are we really that stupid?  This had better be a one term deal and the Senate and the House damn well better turn Republican or at least Conservative in 2010.

To which I replied:

True, you don’t know what’s going on in the picture and seeing at the President isn’t a Muslim and knowing what I know about them, I highly doubt that ‘the Muslim sign of respect is hands folded over your crotch.’  Politics in this country has no place for the radical conservative Christians who want to force their limited, bigoted,  racially stereotyped views on the rest of the country. Unfortunately for them, Christianity is NOT the only religion so get over it!

Never underestimate the narrow-mindedness of the human race

These sad little people are just an example of a dangerous aspect of American life:  Christian conservatives.  They actually BELIEVE that President Obama is a Muslim!  DUH!  Mr. Obama was BORN in the UNITED STATES of AMERICA and HE IS A CHRISTIAN! His father may have been from another country and Mr. Obama could never have run for this nation’s highest office if he were not an American citizen. Even if he was a Muslim by faith – what would that matter? Ooohhhh noooo…, to THESE people, that would have meant he was a terrorist!

These people are horrifically narrow-minded, biased, brainwashed and terribly uninformed.  From what I’ve heard, thousands of people still believe in that old rumor started during the campaign that Obama is a Muslim….. that he has a secret agenda to allow the terrorists to come in and take over the government and kill all the conservative Christians.

These same people voted for John McCain probably because of Sarah Palin’s conservative Christian blubberings, figuring she she, as VP, would liberate this country and establish a Christian-based conservative government.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SEPARATION OF CHURCH and STATE?

Why do some factions of our population believe that their limited, racially biased,  dangerous fundamentalist views  should be imposed on this entire country?  Are we not a nation of many cultures?  Are not some of these cultures non-Christian?

These people follow a religion based on a game of Biblical “Post Office”,  read their Bibles, quote scripture,  and blindly take    e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g     literally as if God said it in the New York Times yesterday.

They are dangerous.  Their limiting agenda is dangerous to the freedom of all the citizens in this country.  Their supposed ‘values’ which embrace religious persecution and racism,  threaten the entire democracy on which this nation stands.

They are as dangerous as any other fundamentalist group bent on forcing their will on anybody else who does not agree with them or share their religious beliefs.

Texting for Jesus

As if spam on our e-mails isn’t bad enough, or telemarketers, now I’ve got the JESUS FREAKS sending me text messages!

Why don’t these people leave everybody alone?  Why do they think that it IS God’s will that they convert every last human to believe in something that supposedly happened two thousand years ago.  I say ‘supposedly’ not because I don’t doubt that Jesus did exist, rather I question what has been written about him for it’s accuracy.  As explained in my previous post, “WHAT’S IN YOUR BIBLE?” it’s all hearsay!  How do we know something actually occurred?

Well, it pissed me off to the extent that I called my cell carrier.  I am not a text person – see no reason in it…,  and don’t do it.  I put a block on all text msgs to my phone.  I have told all my friends not to text me, so they don’t.  Why should I have to PAY for text messages from someone else;  someone I don’t even know?

Yeah…, Jesus died for MY sins?  Oh, ‘cmon!  He didn’t die for anybody’s sins, you fools!  That’s just the guilt trip the church has cooked up to scare everybody and keep them in line.  That goes with the ‘devil’ stuff, too.  The ‘devil’ is only the ‘darkness’ in man; lower tendencies.  No, you blithering brainwashed idiots – Jesus did not DIE for ‘YOUR’ sins or those of anybody  else.  He was an example, just like other teachers:  Buddha, Mohammad and on down the line. He wanted to show the possibilities of man, not his own superiority!

Don’t try to show this stuff down my throat.  Believe what you want to believe but keep it to yourself.  I have no use nor patience for those who think it’s their job to ‘save’ others.

I don’t need saving from anything, thank you!

Spiritual Self-Righteousness Part 3

This is where it all began:  the first attack by a Jesus Freak.

It was directed at my husband, a Jew.

It was 1971.  Mitch was attending the University of Georgia in Athens.  That day we were visting the house in which our friend, Jeff, rented a room.  The owner of the house was named Clint.  He was a Jesus Freak.

I remember this like it happened yesterday.  Mitch and I were standing talking to Clint while waiting for Jeff.  All of a sudden Clint says,

“You’re going to hell because you’re a Jew.”

Wrong thing to do, buddy, especially at MY husband!

“Well, answer me this, then.  If your loving God is going to send him to hell because he’s a Jew, then what’s He going to do with the REST of the people?”  I asked.

Before he could answer, I hit him with another query,

“What about the MILLIONS (make that billions now) of people who are of different religions who are totally devout in their beliefs?  Is your God going to condemn them, too?  Is He going to send Rabbis, Buddhist monks and nuns, Native American shamans, Hindus, Muslims and other devout people TO HELL, TOO, just BECAUSE THEY AREN’T CHRISTIAN?

Clint didn’t have an answer.  He stood there and didn’t say a word.  He never did come up with any answer.

I hope I rocked his boat that day, making him think about the whole God thing.

Everyone should think about the ‘God thing.’

NOBODY is right because God is too big for just one religion.  God isn’t owned by one faith.  No doctrine has the patent on God.  No faith – not ONE, has the exclusive rights to God.  I don’t care who you are or how holy you think you are.  If you think your faith does have the answer, then why are all the rest of the people on the planet still here? Why haven’t they been annihilated for their sins – especially the sin of not being the faith that you think is right?

There are a thousand names for God uttered in hundreds of languages in every second of every day on this planet. Cries of joy to Allah are the same spoken in the heartbreak of grief to Yahweh,  Bhagavan,  Shen, Shiva, Govinda, Ahura Mazda and Brahman and Wankantanka.

You might believe that judgment day is yet to come, that the ‘end times’ are just around the corner.  The ‘end times’ are here, folks, because this is the time that we have to totally rethink who we are, how we relate to each other and to stop all this petty fighting.  We need to do this for every single living thing on this planet;  cut the shit, folks. This arguing about who is wrong and who is right no longer serves us. This IS the ‘end’ of the ‘times’ that have been. New times must be initiated.

We must realize that we are a HUMAN FAMILY and begin to live that way. We are more similar than different.  Oh we may look different:  our skins may be a array of colors, but so what?  Underneath WE ARE ALL THE SAME.  Our cultures and practices may differ, but we are all human beings.  Be you black, white, red, yellow or any combination – IT DOES NOT MATTER.

We have to end the perceived separations or this WILL be the end of Earth time.  We will ultimately kill everything on this planet with one final war.

Then there will be nobody left to be… right.

What’s in Your Bible?

Some of my relatives are/were very religious. I’ve been around the ‘holy rollers’ all my life and at times, it hasn’t been pleasant.  One thing NOT to do around me is start spouting off that, unless I believe as YOU DO, I am condemned to someplace called ‘hell.’  Another thing NOT to do is assume that I need or want to read any Christian literature.  I don’t.

I live in the south.  This is the Bible belt.  I am very careful not to get into conversations with the Jesus people because they    just    don’t    get    that   their way  ISN’T the only way!

Over the years I have studied many different faiths.  There is beauty in all of them.  Most of these religions pre-date Christianity so I get a kick out if it when Christians say that their religion is THE ONE.  It isn’t.

Because so many Christians take the Bible literally as written, to me, it’s a big game of ‘post office.’  Why?  Well, first off, it is hearsay, passed down through recollections of human beings whose memories can be selective. It is also again subject to human interpretation.

Doesn’t anyone wonder WHY God is endowed with human emotions such as vengeance and rage? That’s because HUMANS interpreted this into the ancient writings from their own feelings and rules.  If God truly has these characteristics, then why aren’t we all dead?  WHY hasn’t the world been annihilated?   This makes no sense to me…. but it obviously does to millions of people worldwide!

Then there’s the ‘saved’ part.  The erroneous belief that we have to be ‘saved’ from something.  Saved from WHAT?  The ‘devil’?  That’s another human concoction;  another way to keep us in line.  WATCH OUT!  The ‘devil’ is lurking in the shadows ready to make you DO something which will send you to hell.  The ‘devil’ is the evil tendencies in us;  our darker side. It is too easy, however, for devout Christians to blame everything different or threatening on the oft used phrase…, “It MUST be the DEVIL.”

The belief is, if we don’t put our trust into the hands of one man, Jesus, then we cannot be saved. Back to the literal interpretation of ‘I am the life, the way’ or whatever. No, it was never his intent TO be made into a man to be worshiped but only to set an example. In modern theology and translations or Aramaic text, there are many examples of this… but still millions of people put their faith in him, instead of the divine nature of themselves.

This is balderdash  b e c a u s e   there have been many other enlightened ones:  Buddha, Mohammad and others:  Mother Teresa and down to the common person, who all receive guidance and are teachers. We can be teachers to one another but in the Christian world, few believe that God speaks to man;  that God only did that 2000 years ago and has since gotten laryngitis.

Many don’t know that Jesus’ native tongue was Aramaic, an ancient language still spoken in the Middle East. The speech was filled with metaphors, parables and meanings which did not stand up in translation.  The difference in the language from which it originated to various translations into Latin and on down makes for many questionable mis-translations.  The real meanings behind it, as spoken, are misconstrued.

Add to this, the early church leaders rewrote and omitted parts to their liking. It is well documented that popes, kings and other church leaders added & subtracted at will to serve their agendas. Take for example the quote:  “Thou  shalt not suffer a witch to live. ” Doesn’t that sound just a little too much 12th century when witches were being burned and tormented?  Isn’t that justification enough to kill witches because the Bible’ said so?

I will add, however, that The Bible does contain much beautiful wisdom and tenets on living a good, just life. All religions have wonderful teachings.

Many interesting points have been brought forth in recent years.  One of the best – and I can hear all of you groaning – is Neale Donald Walsh’s series,  “Conversations With God.” For years I put off reading it saying, ‘Yeah riiiiiight – this guy talked to God.”

Whether or not you actually believe he did - just reading what is written – the questions it poses to Christian beliefs, certainly punch holes in them.  Of course, I know that when this text is read by ‘Bible thumpers’, they’ll immediately go to the Bible and point out text (again misconstrued and mistranslated) saying the devil made him do it!

Recommendations:   “Friendship With God”  “New Revelations”  and “What God Wants”

There are many other publications out there which give pause to the whole ‘vengeful God’ thing. The above books are a fascinating read, that is, if you JFs are brave enough to do it. Now, go on to the post below:  “Why Can’t We Get Along” for other questions of what God wants.

Why Can’t We Just Get Along?

War has always mystified me.  Why do we have to kill other human beings because they have a different religion, different cultural practices, look different or happen to live in an area that we think is ours?

Some say it is their right under God. I would term that a ‘wrong under God’ because if I were to believe everything that has been written about the lovingness OF God, then why would God tell people to kill each other?

We are all spiritual beings connected to God.  No matter what our belief is, God does not play favorites.  Of course, you couldn’t tell that by the conflict in the Middle East.  Both sides say that small patch of land is theirs, because ‘God’ said so.  Oh really?

It also was supposedly ‘God’s will’ that sent crusaders to the Holy Land to slaughter non-believers in the Middle Ages.

Hmmmm…., interesting because this makes God like an angry parent who tells you to go kill people just because they are not like you.

This doesn’t sound like the God I know.

War has been fought for centuries over the following:

“This is MY LAND, not yours.” (because God said so)

“MY RELIGION is THE religion”  (because God said so)

“MY RACE is THE race” (again, because God said so)

Oh, I get it – YOUR God said so which makes it OK.

We have Muslim fundamentalists (terrorists) who have twisted the Koran to justify killing innocent people. Christians have killed witches, both in this country and  in Europe.  The Israelis are killing Arabs,( and vice versa) who BTW, are the same race as the Jews – but heaven forbid you tell them that!  White people have killed Blacks and other nationalities because of perceived superiority.  Hitler slaughtered 6 million Jews because he believed in the ‘superiority’ of the Aryan race.

To me, I’d just like to take their collective heads and do a 3 Stooges head bonk  to GET THEIR ATTENTION and say:  “LISTEN – GROW UP !  Killing doesn’t solve anything.  Violence begets violence.  ENOUGH with the fighting back and forth.  ENOUGH!”

It is accomplishing absolutely nothing but destroying cities and killing people who just want to live in peace. Wars are fought by a very few at the expense of many.  One side hits the other and that side gets pissed off and hits back.  It’s like two little kids in a fight.  Mohammad hits Schlomo and hurts him;  Schlomo punches back and hurts Mohammad who hits Schlomo again!  It will never end until both sides realize they are caught in a vicious circle.

WILL we ever learn?

Do what you can, every day, for peace.

Spiritual Self-Righteousness, Part 2

Another friend – by now, former friend, is a ‘self-proclaimed healer and psychic’.  To hear her talk, you’d almost expect to have seen her on Oprah!  Personally, I don’t see what’s so great.  She claims to be able to do everything from house clearings, past lives and everything a clairvoyant should.  She says that her ‘guides’ have told her that, she is a ‘Kick butt psychic and no one else does what you do and YOU do it the BEST.’

Puuhhh leeeeze!  (gag!)

Oh really?  All I see is some woman twirling around her keys as a pendulum and saying ‘I’m getting…..’ in a whining nasal tone.

She, too, likes to be the center of attention.  Because she has no car, I  fell into a brief period of being used as a taxi.  That didn’t last long.  After one afternoon of watching her hold court  on a couch with a screaming baby in the background, and   e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g   was about her – THAT was IT.  I was done.  No more.  She tried to con me into other ‘business lunches’ .., but the “Yellow Cab” company wasn’t gonna roll!

Jesus freaks are another rant for another day…..

Spiritual Self-righteousness

Some of my ‘acquaintances’ -rather than say ‘friends’, are into self improvement or the realization of their true divine selves.  This is a fine, worthwhile activity.  I was into it for awhile but I gave up chasing the dog’s tail.

I know a spiritual path is a journey but I got tired of walking.

I walk, then I sit it out for awhile.

One person comes to mind as being so ‘spiritually self-righteous’ it is disgusting.  She is a sham, a fake, disguising herself as ‘healed’ and a ‘healer’, she has done some of the most reprehensible things to her own family and  longtime friends. She will deny that there’s anything wrong with what she’s done, despite the fact that many around her can verify her vicious acts and totally condemn them.

It’s been a few years since the departure of the ‘Queen‘ of spiritual self-righteousness’, my former friend whom I will simply refer to as ‘C’.  She jumped on the New Age bandwagon early in the 80′s.  She became a Reiki master and then was made a ‘minister’ of some ‘Pyramid of Light’ or something like that, church.

As she became more ‘enlightened’, she also became more critical of her family and friends. Instead of accepting them for being on their own path, she  cast them out. Any activity or lifestyle which wasn’t acceptable to her she condemned vehemently:  smoking cigarettes, pot, drinking and the list goes on.  If they weren’t tossed out of her circle on their asses, many of them just walked away after witnessing her actions toward her own family and others.

I believe that in some respects, people are drawn to religion for a sense of superiority  and belonging because of psychological problems.

This woman, C, surely was a candidate.  She always had to be in the spotlight.  The more she ‘healed’ herself, the more vicious her unprovoked attacks on others became. What didn’t come to light until years later:  she had a coke habit, which probably had a lot to do with her erratic behavior.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

She  always hated her step-son.  When he graduated from college she refused to let him come home to live.  The kid  had no job and no place else to go.  My sister took him in.  That’s where things started to get ugly.

My sister was a recipient of a   ‘You’re not my friend anymore because of what you’ve done’   attack.  Totally unfounded was C’s belief that my sister was trying to steal her family.  Absurd claims against my sister regarding C’s son and step children championed her fight against my sister, who, stood dumbfounded asking, “WHAT did I DO?“

C literally walked away from her best friend of 20 years.

Her only son was sent to Iraq where he died in the fall of 2003.  Afterward she accused her step-son, who is gay,  of raping her son years before on the sole basis of a ‘channeling’ she’d received!   This added more fuel to the fires of C’s self-created hell.  Without actually confronting her step-son and asking if this was true, she launched full blast into him via other family members and to my sister.  Justice came around when her whole ‘step family’ barred her from ever seeing the grand kids again, or having anything to do with the family.  Serves the bitch right!

This isn’t just a case of ‘spiritual self-righteousness’ but one of cruelty and mental illness. This woman has used her blanket of ‘spirituality’ to spew hatred toward her family.  She is a sad, sad case.

Isn’t spirituality supposed to be acceptance?  Not everyone can be on the same path as you are.  We all have different beliefs, lives and situations and lessons to learn. To insist that you’ve done a lot of healing, then to turn around and be a hypocrite isn’t healed.

Have fun in your own private hell, girl!