…
At the time of Windy’s arrest, prosecutors said he was apparently driven by greed after witnessing the immense profits available from the drug’s sale.
I suppose there isn’t really a commandment that says “Thou Shalt Not Encourage Thy Neighbor To Date Rape.” With such fine, upstanding examples of how the Ten Commandments instills moral integrity in men of the clergy, it’s no wonder the Christian Right wants to plaster the TCs all over every court room, but perhaps they’d be more effective by hanging them in their local churches first.
Hanging the misbehaving members of the clergy sounds like a good idea to me. So does drying out their skins and plastering them inside court rooms.
With concentric rings stragetically applied. And a bucket of darts nearby.
You inspired a rant in me!
And an excellent rant it is too! I’ve been debating hitting the topic of the Ten Commandments in a bigger way here on my blog given the number of lawsuits currently happening around the country over them. A lot of communities are finding their displays being challenged lately, and the courts are ruling that they have to be moved or taken down. I came across an excellent disection of the TCs the other day which focused on their original meanings and not the interpretations most folks use today that I meant to link to, but I’ve since forgotten where I saw them. Hate it when I do that. I’ll have to break down and search for it again soon.
Whenever I think of religion, I can’t help but think of a bunch of frogs in a bowl. When one frog tries to climb out, all the other frogs pull her back in!
As it is with religion- folks who are figuring out what the meaning of certain texts are in our lives and what it meant to people in the time of its conception are two entirely different things.
Case in point: “be fruitful and multiply.” Okay, we’ve multiplied. With over 6 billion people in the world (or is that 600 billion?), we’re now threatening our very existence on the planet and rendering ourselves extinct. However, at the conception of Western religion, they needed people. Many people- just to make ends meet.
I think the thing that angers me the most is that we are a country that is supposed to have freedom of religion, which can also be interpreted to mean freedom from religion, yet the religious right wants so badly for us to be a Christian country. And they’re winning. (For now.) It’s pissing me off.
And they’re also completely missing the point of Christianity. Oh, could I go on about this.
But I won’t…
“This book [speaking of the bible] is the secret of
England’s greatness.” Queen, Victoria Windsor
“My daily advisor and comfort is the impregnable rock
of the Holy Scriptures.” Gladstone, architech of
American law
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of
life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.
These will make you a greater and happier people than
you are. Congress will do every thing they can to
assist you in this intention.” a message to the
Native American Indians, May, 12th, 1779 by, George
Washington, 1st US President
“Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not
only of republicanism and of all free government, but
of social felicity under all governments and in all
the combinations of human society.” John Adams, 2nd
US President
“I have always said, and will always say, that the
studious perusal of the sacred volume will make us
better citizens, better husbands, and better fathers.”
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US President, 1st Washington
D.C. school board president
“Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil
Society, he must be considered as a subject of the
Governor of the Universe… Religion… is the basis
and foundation of government.” James Madison, 4th US
President, chief architect of the Constitution
“The Declaration of Independence first organized the
social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s
mission upon earth and laid the corner stone of human
government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
John Quincy Adams, 6th US President
“The bible is the rock on which our Republic rest.”
Andrew Jackson, 7th US President
“I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take
all of this upon reason that you can, and balance on
faith, and you will live and die a better man.”
Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President
“I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible
daily. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the
strength and the pleasure. I should be afraid to go
forward if I did not believe that there lay at the
foundation of all schooling and all our thought this
imcomparable and unimpeachable Word of God.” Woodrow
Wilson, 28th US President
“Almost every man who has by his life work added to
the sum of human achievements of which the race is
proud – has based his life work largely upon the
teachings of the Bible.” Theodore Roosevelt, 32nd US
President
“Religion is the only solid basis of good morals;
therefore, education should teach the precepts of
religion, and the duties of man towards God.”
Gouveneur Morris, scribe / handwriter of the
Constitution
“Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scuple not to
call him an enemy to this country.” John
Whitherspoon, Continental Congress, Declaration of
Independence
“Providence has given to our people the choice of
their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the
privelege and interest of our Christian Nation to
select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” John
Jay, 1st Supreme Court Justice
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often
that this great nation was founded, not by
religionist, but by Christians, not on religions but
on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this reason
peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum,
prosperity and freedom of worship here.” Patrick
Henry, Continental Congress
“…convincing proofs I see… that God governs in the
affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the
ground without His notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without His aid?” Benjamin Franklin,
Constitutional Convention,
“Of all the dipositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports… . Reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principles.”
Alexander Hamiltion, 1st Secretary of Treasurer
“The moral principles and precepts contained in the
Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil
constitutions and laws… . All the miseries and
evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition,
injustice, opppression, slavery, and war, proceed from
their despising or neglecting the precepts contained
in the Bible.” Noah Webster, American Revolutionist,
Constitutional Convention, Dictionary
“There is not a community which cannot be purified,
redeemed and improved by a better knowledge and larger
application of the Bible to daily life.” W.J. Bryan,
Democratic Orator and statesman, ran three times for
presidency and failed, nicknamed the Commoner
“I suspect that the future progress of the human race
will be determined by the circulation of the Bible.”
Dr. R.A. Millikan, 1923 Nobel prize winner in physics
“Our ways; through a Christian President, finally
outlawed slavery in America with the world soon
following its lead. The great freedoms we enjoy are
the direct result of the Christian faith of our
predecessors. No great civilization or religion from
the world did it; it was our Christian Forefathers and
Foremothers and their open faith in God through the
Jesus Christ that did.”
William M. Cooper
Kingsville, TX
coopr2000@yahoo.com
http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/8857
That’s all very impressive William, some of the quotes are even accurate, but what’s your point?
Oh! Oh! Oh! I know!
His point is, he’s trying to sell his book here. He’s another one of those who can explain life’s greatest mysteries to us (for a price).
Worship his vast intellect and marketing skills or look the fool.