Earth Day, April 22, 2008

On Earth Day I contemplated a defense of the consumer.

There once was a cruise ship powered by a nasty dragon. While providing steam to drive the ship, he also demanded a daily sacrifice of a passenger. He preferred young women.

The people on the ship were entirely dependent upon the dragon as he was the engine of their mobility (and he cooked their food), but as they cruised it became obvious that the dragon's antics were a serious impediment to, not only the continued success of the ship, but to their very survival. What to do? Abandoning the ship meant swimming in the shark infested ocean; while killing the dragon meant starving on a useless tub.

That ship is our economy and the dragon is Industry which demands that we look the other way as it extracts a bloody toll for economic growth. As consumers, we need to take responsibility for the consequences of our choices, but too often we are used as scapegoats and sacrifice while Industry gets a wink.

A recent front page Canadian newspaper article was an excellent example: “Are You a Water Waster?” This article failed to point out that Canada has a majority of the world's fresh water, but did admit that water shortages were only “in certain parts of the country.” Therefore, all Canadians need to use less “in small ways to ensure future generations have clean water to drink.”

And that is false. Reducing our personal water consumption is NOT the solution to future CLEAN water. The consumer is not the Water Waster Monster. We are legitimate water users, though perhaps we use too much as compared to the rest of the world. The real Water Waster of clean water is Industry, as industrial practices waste water by, not only destroying the quality, but wasting a much greater quantity than it uses, by polluting.

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It is in one of those parts of the country where there is a real threat of running short that the Tar Sand Industry wastes water by taking 2 barrels for every barrel of oil produced. The water is wasted because the “settling ponds” won't settle for a hundred years and the water cannot be reused by the industry. They have created the world's largest dam to hold back the poisoned water: an environmental disaster waiting to happen with mere sand separating this from the Athabasca River, an important source of Alberta's clean drinking water.

More importantly, water tests done across North America found almost all samples -including well and creek water- to be contaminated with industrial chemicals such as a popular gasoline additive. In fact ALL samples in the US were polluted; there was no unpolluted clean drinking water found in America outside of a bottle. A situation where the dragon has been allowed to defecate his poisonous wastes anywhere on the ship he pleased. The passengers tiptoe around the steaming piles pretending they are not there. No one knows how to clean up.

Likewise ALL blood samples across North America show contamination by fire retardants and plasticizers (that new car smell) and other industrial chemicals. In fact a recent study in Ontario showed that the blood of politicians had higher concentrations of industrial pollutants than did the greater public. Too many rides in too many new limos, perhaps?

Virgin fallen arctic snow is polluted. Our entire environment is polluted to the extent that our bodies are now contaminated and who do we blame? The dragon? The war against cancer is lost because we are treating the passengers' symptoms and not the ever increasing dragon feces. The consumer takes the hit rather than the Industrial source.

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Again, penny wise; pound foolish. We are told to recycle our fluorescent tubes to prevent minute amounts of mercury from contaminating our landfills. Yet Industry dumps massive amounts of mercury into our environment by refusing to clean up their coal-fired generators. Where American coal-fired plants have tried to clean up, our governments have only winked at these Canadian Environmental Monsters.

And please, for the sake of cheap consumer goods, let's forget the massive dirty coal consumption of China, and the growing attractiveness of America's massive coal reserves against oil prices.

In relation, ALL samples of tuna tested from American sushi bars were contaminated with mercury. The oceans are contaminated. The fish are sick. But still, the front line in mercury pollution control will be with the consumer. The passengers are reminded, only one lake-caught fish or serving of tuna per week as the dragon hides his urate in the fish.

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Similarly, we are constantly reminded to throughly cook our ground beef as if the consumer is somehow responsible for E. coli contamination. The industrial process allows fecal matter to contact the meat, and then fails to properly wash and inspect the carcass before it proceeds down the slaughter line. Where government inspectors once used to inspect each animal, they now may show up once a month to inspect only the process.

The meat from one contaminated carcass is mixed in with thousands of animals in the processing. Recently the meat from hundreds of thousands of animals was dumped into landfills because of this Industrial Wastefulness. What was wrong with the economic model of a small local abattoir, where each carcass was individually washed, inspected and processed? It wasn't cheap enough.

So maybe the consumer does bear some responsibility: we want it cheaper (that's why we built the dragon ship); our desire for consumer goods is insatiable; we consume our crappy meat well cooked (and shipped a thousand miles). We admire that new car smell; we are proud of our new air tight house filled with industrial pollutants given off by all that new stuff. Our baby-boom middle class real estate investments and all their trappings are dragon boats destined to be worthless in 25 years.

So a blessing then for the poor who live in a 40-year old drafty house. We are much better off with old flooring, cabinets, cars and furniture that has long stopped giving off those noxious chemicals that pollute our bodies and those of our children.

This Earth Day summoned a Nancy Regan realization. CONSUMPTION: Just Say No! Remember how we used to speak of two-car families? Well now we have 4, 5, or 6 car families. And if we include recreational vehicles, we have 6, 8 and 12 vehicle families, an absurdity of consumption. And an indication that a consumption peak of sorts has been reached in the face of a world economy slowing because of approaching Energy Scarcity.

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In the final tally, whether our concerns are Health, Environmental, Climate Change, or Energy Scarcity, the solution to all these issues is to throttle consumption before Progress Traps (Ronald Wright: “A Short History of Progress”) throttle us. Consumption was last century's economic model; in a post-Modern world we must convert to a Recycling-based economy. Growth will come from New Energy, not consumer goods. Home Depot, like Walmart, is obsolete.

But of course, in a capitalist model where growth in consumption is not only desirable but necessary, sustained consumption reduction is absurd, for it creates a serious economic issue -a depression. So, lacking a revolution in economic thinking (or an Energy Scarcity crisis) and for the sake of the continuation of the last century's economic model, we are effectively addicted to excessive consumption. And thus also to the ongoing wasting of our water, health and environment in order to sustain and encourage economic growth, even as we are addicted to cheap soiled meat.

We cannot live without the dragon even though he will kill us all. A Progress Trap.

Finally, this is where Dr. Feelgood environmentalists such as Bob Stanford of Water for Life Decade essentially become industrial apologists telling consumers that things will get better if we but run the dishwasher less than 3 times a week or do only one load of laundry per week. They, like the newspapers that give Dr. Feelgood front page, are economic false prophets massaging our wallets comfortingly: “It's okay to consume, just cook your hamburger thoroughly, recycle those light bulbs and shower a little less.”

As consumers of the dragon ship, we need to take responsibility, but much too often we and our children are sacrificed while the dragon gets a wink and a nudge.

You are free to distribute this article as long as its writer is properly acknowledged.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/9260

Most near-death experiences report heaven like conditions: love, light, deceased loved ones... while a minority are hell-experiences. Most of these report, not a lake of fire, but a rejection, or a 'casting out' into the pit, or the void of space. An utter absence of god (light, love, loved ones) by impossible distance. The sense of being commanded into the void prevails.

I am familiar with the experience as I had it as a child that almost died several times. Most who hear this story ask: why would god condemn an innocent child? I see it differently. Innocence is NOT a harvestable commodity; life experience is. In the garden of life, fruits and vegetables are harvestable, while those that bear no fruit or rotten fruit are cast into the compost bin. Recycled.

Hell is the recycler of soul stuff.

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Again, the film Constantine portrays both an excellent image of Coyote (Gabriel) as having her own agenda, AND a relevant image of Hell.

I saw the film as depicting Hell as a POSSIBLE FUTURE with the blast furnace of the sun raking over the planet and our constructed world. Or a possible nuclear holocaust future where the very atmosphere and surface of the planet catch fire. E.g: the planets surface is loaded with hydrogen.

Another example: scientists are concerned that the earth's magnetic field seems to be sputtering; failure of this field will expose us to the full fury of the sun as depicted in the film.

There is evidence that our magnetic field has failed and reversed in the past. The passing of our solar system through the center of our galaxy's central plane in 2012 (end of the Mayan Long Count Calender; e.g: end-of-the-world) may affect this, akin to moving from a positive into a negative field.

Remember that the 'missing dark matter' has just been located and seems to be arranged in a grid, or web-like pattern or framework of the universe. As mathematical or GEOMETRIC TRUTHS are the ONLY objective truths that we can discern, it makes sense that the universe's structure itself is a geometric field. Therefore, moving through the central plane of our galaxy should also mean moving through the geometrical field which makes our galaxy a spinning disk of energy and mass.

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I see Hell and Armageddon as CULTURAL WARNING POSTS; a part of the Human Song that warns us to beware that our choices can easily destroy us. I also like the recent depictions in media (such as the TV series Heroes) where evolution or the Human Song will raise up heroes or prophets to warn us of and perhaps save us from such futures.

And to make jesseakers happy, the Bible does indeed tell us that is what will happen in the 'end times:' the rise of dreams, visions and prophets. Of course the problem is that the Bible also tells us that it is hopeless to struggle, that we are all going to die and that the world will most certainly be totally destroyed.

We already know that a 'new earth' will replace the destruction of this biosphere, as it has happened repeatedly in the past. Ten million years after an earth destroying event, it is like nothing has happened, except that everything is different. Are Christians going to sit in a spaceship waiting in suspended animation for several million years for the planet to rebuild, or are we going to pay attention to the warning signs within the Human Song and postpone the inevitable?

HELL IS THE INEVITABLE.

See also:

The Sun is our father in heaven.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/9020

12 page discussion of objective truths:

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/10136

If Arianna wants vigorous discussion, I am sure she goes elsewhere............such as BigThink, as most commentators at her site are trained to echo her POV.

Her site is one of horrific technical problems; excessive censorship; purging of posts that do not reflect her POV; or are deemed off-topic; and where all posts past and present are purged for minor infractions.

Examples:

http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10636

http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/10644

http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10643

http://www.bigthink.com/truth-justice/10646

http://www.bigthink.com/features/455

LOOK, there is a revolution brewing at Huffington as many long time bloggers are being abused and anger is rising. Coyote was there 3 years ago when Huffy first started up:

NoSpinTruthZone See Profile I'm a Fan of NoSpinTruthZone

If your posts get deleted.. send a note here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contact/pop/tech/

include the original post. The main moderator here is Volvobirkenstock. He's, more than likely, the one deleting the posts.. though to be safe.. send the message at different times to ensure that different people receive it and the situation is fully known.

The only way to combat cowards is to call them out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/clinton-says-shes-willing_n_102934.html?page=2

(Volvobirkenstock is a regular commenter)

The argument that Morality is based upon belief in god; that Morality is born of the Christian faith; that NO-GOD = Nihilism: these are falsehoods learned in Christian schools. Morality is codified within the Human Song, the genetic and cultural programming that makes us Human. Some of it is instinct and some we learn at our mother's knee.

The argument that belief in god is the wellspring of Morality actually boils down to Fear-of-god or Fear-of-damnation = Morality, an extension of our approach to criminal justice. But when we look back into the wellspring of history we see Morality has always been coded.

Long before the times of Yahweh Jesus or Mohammad, we find law which codifies human Morality. The oldest writings so far discovered and deciphered contain the moral code that later was appropriated by Yahweh. (The story of Noah is older than the Hebrew people and is in fact repeated by mythologies around the world, including North American Coyote mythology.)

In fact Charity as a part of Morality is so old that it predates our species. The latest in Neanderthal anthropology has revealed that this species did not walk hunched over as previously assumed. The incorrect assumptions were based upon the examination of found skeletons, which were found because they were ritually buried.

The skeletons were bent over from old age, calcium loss, and arthritis. These people had survived because their culture loved them and cared for them so that they could survive to old age. The bodies are often found with the remains of flowers and trinkets indicating, not only love, but a belief in the afterlife.

It is now understood that the Neanderthals did not die off as previously assumed, but were killed off in warfare with our species, Cro-Magnon, as our forefathers spread across the planet. In fact this could be seen as the Original Sin: that a more violent and competitive (and perhaps less moral) human animal arose. And where did this genetic change come from? All our mythology, including the Bible, informs us that 'the sons of god' are to blame. Coyote mythology informs us that Coyote is our father (or mother), and that this is the source for all that ails human morality, but I digress. (It's our mother's fault.)

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So, where it is admitted that Christianity has influenced our Morality, to argue that Christianity is the SOURCE of Morality or Charity, is Christian chauvinism, and false. For example the Pentateuch codifies specific ancient acts of charity which are NOT followed by todays Christian culture.

Morality is codified within the Human Song, the genetic and cultural programming that makes us Human. We have seen that those who feel rejected by their culture often turn to immoral behavior such as crime. What is interesting is that those in positions of power also seem to abandon moral code, as if the holding of power necessitated immoral behavior as per Machiavelli.

So where the Catholic Church for centuries exhibited immoral behavior because of its power, Charity as acts-of-cultural-change did not appear until Christian rebels -Protestants- threw off the mantle of the ancient Church. And where Protestantism rose to power, such as the Bush administration, again we see that Morality and Charity is cast aside as unbecoming to power.

And where Christianity raises up a new Moral Hero, as in Senator Obama, he is castigated for adhering to a Christian minister that radicalizes the issue of moral standards and criticizes the moral behavior of white American culture. Again, I digress.

The idea that Human Morality is codified within humanity's heart is NOT a purely secular idea. In fact the old prophets of the Bible said the same thing: that god admits that a written code based upon the fear-of-god DOES NOT WORK, and that god would 'write his laws upon the hearts of men and women.' Morality comes from within Humanity and not from god; even the Bible tells me so.

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Now lastly, this idea that NO-GOD = Nihilism. The common definition of nihilism is 'the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.' Now where this applies to Islamist terrorists who reject the moral code of their own faith in order to justify murder to gain their place in the next world, this does NOT INDICATE a lack of belief in god. The Islamists are religious fundamentalists, and as our own Evangelicals, they pine for the end-of-this-world (i.e: the belief that life is worthless).

In fact Nietzsche's definition is different and he saw belief in god as leading to nihilism. And this is where Christians pick and choose among the multiple meanings that best suits their accusations against atheists. Most words have multiple meanings and it is dishonest for Christians to ignore Nietzsche's while suggesting that what he meant was NO-GOD = Nihilism.

NO-GOD = no-Platonist-ideas-of-the-IDEAL. Where Plato argued that we could never have a proper 'chair' in this world, because the ideal of 'chair' could never be realized, so as with Morality. The Ideal-of-Morality was god; if you remove god, then morality supposedly ceases to exist.

In the same way, if we kill Plato, then NO OBJECTIVE TRUTHS could exist. This does not mean that Truth ceases, but that all truths are subjective to human experience culture and instincts (genetic). Nietzsche did not say that if we kill god and Plato that humanity would abandon Morality; what he said was that those that cling to Plato would DESPAIR of this world, even as we see in Islamist terrorism. Nietzsche despaired that humanity would fall because we are addicted to god-belief and that we would never be able to rise to the next level of awareness.

Proof that Objective Truths DO NOT exist and that the Subjective is more REAL is in the Placebo experiment. A patient receives pain relief from a saline injection believing that he was receiving pain medication. It does not matter so much what is REAL, as what we believe to be real.

So the Christian argument boils down to: we don't need a REAL GOD, we just need to BELIEVE in a god to be moral human beings. And that is what cerenziam was arguing as a Christian wanna-be, and that is proved false.

Pete Peterson: Be a good, helpful human being.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/350

I think it is important to realize that making-the-world-a-better-place has a specific meaning. It means human-centric, as in making the human experience in this world better.

Eco-terrorism, for example, could see excessive human activity on this planet as detrimental to the environments and creatures of 'this world,' and seek to make this world better by attacking human civilization.

So then, the purpose is not to improve this planet (this world), but to improve the human experience on this planet. Thus 'this world' is a specific term which refers exclusively our experience of and the evolution of human culture.

Unfortunately for that philosophy, human culture is subject to many diverse influences. For example Christian Evangelicals could work towards realizing Armageddon, as a final mutually destructive confrontation between Islam, Judah and Christianity, which will hasten the second coming of their Lord. Obviously when Jesus is here, the world will be a much better place.

So what are we left with then? What are the parameters for making-the-world-a-better-place?

Perhaps we could focus on the individual and improving the individual's experience. But isn't that kind of like the American Dream, where the individual has free reign to rape and plunder the earth in whatever way they can get away with? That brings us right back to the eco-terrorist who seeks to eliminate mindless individualism.

I think that we need to focus exclusively on the Human Song: where we can from, where are we going, and what are we doing. Do we really need to be a 5-car family? Do we really need Jesus that badly? Do we really need to believe that death will be better than life?

I think that the-world-will be-a-better-place only when we sing a better Song. The Human Song is the genetic and cultural coding through which humanity is expressed: the Human Logos.

For a long while I have wondered where the far-left goes to get their fill-up of false anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda. And look: today I found some in Mr. Chomsky's sad little video.

I understand that Chomsky has a reputation as an intellectual, but if his reasoning is based upon manufactured false facts then his opinions are as equally worthless as those his sycophants publish in blogs daily.

First false fact:

Chomsky: 'The Palestinians are (a nation).. the nation is being destroyed. Its a rare event in history for a nation to face destruction, but it's happening.'

There is no nation of Palestine. Never was. A territory, a province, a name to identify an area, but never a state. In fact the purpose of current talks are to create such a state. In fact Chomsky himself promotes such a two-state solution, or the creation of a NEW STATE called Palestine, or Hamasistan, whatever its people choose.

The Palestinian peoples are former citizens of Egypt and Trans Jordan; territory that was ceded to Israel by those nations while suing for peace. While not perfectly accurate, this statement is a much more accurate view of history than Chomsky's pipe-dreams of a nation-state of Palestine being slowing devoured by big bad Israel.

Second false fact:

Chomsky: 'The United States and Israel, are internationally isolated in their refusal to accept a diplomatic settlement. In accord with what has been an overwhelming international consensus, some kind of two-state settlement with some modification of borders, and they still are rejecting it.'

Was it the United States and Israel that walked away from the table and choose the path of INTIFADA instead of negotiation? No. Of course what Chomsky wants when he says 'diplomatic settlement,' is a settlement that is forced upon Israel by those who are NOT her friends.

Chomsky adds nothing to the debate and needs to do some basic research before he comments further. Try:

The Library of Congress:

A Country Study: Israel

http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/iltoc.html#il0023

Everything from Historical Setting, Events in Palestine 1908-48, Problems of the New State 1948-67 , Minority Groups, and The Peace Process.

The Middle East contains most of the world's oil reserves in a time of Energy Scarcity (end of cheap energy and Peak Oil).

No more SuperGiant oil fields have been discovered since the second World War, and they are mostly found in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran. The oil fields of Iraq have an extra decade of supply following 15 years of embargo and war. Iran's field's are similarly underdeveloped after 20 years pariah state status. Saudi Arabia's reserves may be showing signs of decline.

The Oil-Men-White-House completely flubbed their attempt to democratize and secure the Iraqi resources. Saudi Arabia is the home and financial father of the worst of Islamic activists who reject an American presence on their soil. Iran is still considered pariah.

America is the largest energy consumer in the world. This energy drives the largest economy and largest customer in the world. Nuff said.

There is only one western-like democracy that is considered so close to the USA as to be criticized by many as too close; there is only one friend in the Middle East that is also energy dependent upon others and who will fight with us, if we ask, to keep the taps on. The oil suppliers in the Middle East are not Israel's friends and are our potential enemies.

In this time of emerging Energy Scarcity and the emerging instability expected from Climate Change, American interests in the Middle East can only grow. Of course, if we are willing as citizens of energy-pig-America, to scrap our SUV's and accept a decade long depression, I am sure we could learn to live without Middle East oil and cut Israel adrift.

http://www.bigthink.com/the-world/the-middle-east/8943

Azar Nafisi Professor, Johns Hopkins Univ.; AuthorUploaded on 03/18/2008

Azar Nafisi posted:

'Calling them the Muslim world – why don’t we call France, England, Germany, and United States the Christian world?'

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--------WE DO --------

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-why don’t we call France, England, Germany, and United States the Western world?'

WE DO.

-why don’t we call France, England, Germany, and United States the Modern world?'

WE DO.

-why don’t we call France, England, Germany, and United States the Free world?'

WE DID.

...........

Islamism

(Arabic: al-'islāmiyya) is a term that denotes a set of political ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system, the teachings of which should be preeminent in all facets of society. Islamism holds that Muslims must return to earlier models of Islam by introducing sharia, or Islamic law, into modern society. Islamism often espouses pan-Islamic political unity.

Islamism also often asserts that western military, economic, political, social, or cultural influences in the Muslim world are un-Islamic and should be replaced by purely Islamic influences.

An Islamist is a person who holds a set of political ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/6856

So, if I understand this correctly, the place of Religion in a Modern World, according to Jim Wallis, is the importance of balancing reflection and social activism. That religious-based social movements are first priority, but that they need to be balanced with contemplation.

He argues that the Place-of-Religion in a modern world is the movement of Service to Social Movements to Politics balanced with some contemplation. But too much contemplation without activism is narcissistic, suggesting that perhaps narcissism is the reason for the failure of mainstream Christianity.

Yet he ignores that the narcissistic (excessive contemplation) Evangelicals went from too much contemplation to Politics completely skipping the Service and Social Movement stages, unless one counts political activism as a social movement.

Uhmmmm....this sounds again like someone who has more education than is useful: that Mr. Wallis cannot draw back far enough from a micro-focused perspective (a disease of excessive education which demands ever more tighter focuses) to actually make an argument supporting the Purpose-of-Religion in a modern world.

Or are we to accept that Mr. Wallis assumes that social activism is the only Purpose-of-Religion in a modern world?

Mr. Wallis: I thought that the question was The Place (or purpose) of Religion in a Modern World, so please enlighten us: what is The Place of Religion in our, now post-Modern, world?

See:

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/8160

Re: What is your definition of God? 100 words or less.

Bard63 posted;

'God is the name we give to the ideas we create to make our ignorance more bearable'

Coyote's response:

God is the name we give to the ideas we create to inspire us to raise our eyes up from the mud, to stand tall and reach out to ideas larger than our minds can hold.

The problem begins when our ideas of god become too small for our 21'st century understanding; when Dark Age and Middle Age ideas constrict restrict and censure our gods' abilities.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/9103

SO:

Here a layman is able to enunciate a clear purpose for RELIGION and FAITH ( to raise our eyes up from the mud), yet a Harvard professor is unclear and muddy?

Mitt RomneyFmr. Governor, Massachusetts (R)

http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/1386

Who really has the power in Washington?

Mr. Romney, everyone knows where the real power is. It is not with the government, for if it was, Congress would not be so fearful and powerless, nor express such worship of a lame-duck President. If the government held the power in Washington, 9/11 would not have been such a convenient 'surprise attack,' Jack Kennedy would not have been assassinated and Iraq would not be such a fiasco.

We could argue that the people hold the power, but that would be a trite and cynical proposition. It is acknowledged that the people in Washington care more about fattening their portfolios than they do for the American people. In fact the American Dream seems to have created a lot of 'me firsts' who care nothing for the common good of America, nor her citizens. And that is acknowledged by Americans; and that is the motivation behind America raising up a Hero in Obama to defeat the Establishment's choices: you and Ms. Clinton.

It is obvious that there is a Shadow Government or a DEEP STATE that runs the show in Washington and that VP Cheney may be one of the puppet masters. I, like many American Liberals deeply fear for Mr. Obama's life, for, in America, they only assassinate liberals.

Re: What is your definition of God? 100 words or less.

Bard63 posted;

'God is the name we give to the ideas we create to make our ignorance more bearable'

Response:

God is the name we give to the ideas we create to inspire us to raise our eyes up from the mud, to stand tall and reach out to ideas larger than our minds can hold.

The problem begins when our ideas of god become too small for our 21'st century understanding; when Dark Age and Middle Age ideas constrict restrict and censure our gods' abilities.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD?
-A god who walks this planet and lives among her people?

-A god that lives in a grand temple?
-A mountain god?

-A god who is the planet?
-A sky god?

-A moon god?
-A sun god?
-A god that overreaches us and forms the shell within which contains the sky, solar system and the stars?
-A god that lives in space around our solar system?
-A god that exists within our universe and floats around in the massive empty spaces between the stars?
-A god that exists somewhere within the multidimensional possibilities of the universe?
-A god that overreaches our universe and forms the shell or fabric that comprises our universe?
-A god that existed before the Big Bang and who is expressed by the fabric and creation of the dreamworld we call the universe?
-A god that exists outside of and independent of our universe?

,,,,,,,,,

Drawn from mythological research:

Coyote is the god who walks this planet and lives among her people. She is our mother and created us from her own body. Mythology suggests that Coyote in turn was created by Old Creator from the material of this planet. Old creator was furious at Coyote for 'stealing' the knowledge of creation, and attempted to destroy humankind. Coyote saved a few of us and drove Old Creator off.

Coyote rebuilt this planet for us after the massive flooding, earthquakes and destruction of the melting of the last Ice Age (Old Creator's attack), but is condemned to remain here with us. She has been influencing our development and has gained a reputation as a trickster because her ways are not ours: she has her own agenda.

Old Creator will come back to reclaim his property and we may be encouraged by Coyote to fight, or, if you follow the Raelian religion: A change of government has occurred with Old Creator and we have until 2030 to prove that we are worthy of membership in the celestial hierarchy.

The story of Coyote is strikingly similar throughout diverse cultures around the world and is known by many names. As Coyote is as American as Mom and Apple Pie, I have chosen that name.

Re: How should the Bible be interpreted?

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/1560

The following is a synopsis of the argument Richard Cizik VP Government Affairs, National. Assembly of Evangelicals posted. It is a typical Christian fundamentalist argument that also unfortunately contains a hole big enough to drive a truckload of hypocrites through.

Mr. Cizik attempts to convince a liberal thinking-person's blog that the Bible is a nice green document. That it commands Christians to be good stewards of Mother Earth. Therefore it follows, he suggests, that all Biblical commandments are just as relevant. Before we offer criticism, first allow a summery of Cizik's argument, which is necessary as his post was incomprehensible:

..............

Cizik posted: 'Well I think that the Bible is authoritative. I believe it’s infallible and inerrant in the original (Hebrew Latin and Greek). It is my basis for life and conduct.

'So that means that since the Bible says that we’re to be stewards of the earth, then we are to be stewards of the earth. Either His Word says this or it doesn’t, and it does.'

'Therefore we will be held accountable for the shape we give the earth back to Him . . . we have no right either to plunder, or pillage, or destroy it, or allow others to do that in our name.'

'We will be held accountable by God’s word for all our actions. Because at the end of time, we’ll either be found to be a good Christian steward – “Well done my good and faithful servant,” the Lord will say – or not: “Why didn’t you do that which I commanded you to do?'

end

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Now if it is true that god commands Christians to be green, and that those who act in the Evangelical Christian name do not 'plunder, or pillage, or destroy,' then Evangelicals have utterly failed.

The Evangelical movement supported and (still supports) the selection of President G.W. Bush, an administration that in the name of god Christianity and Evangelicalism has wrongfully attacked another nation and caused great suffering of its people and damaged the environment with depleted uranium weapons.

The Christian Bush administration with the full and cheering support of America's Evangelicals has promoted unfettered capitalism which has raped the earth and her people. Over 20,000 children still die every day from dirty drinking water.  Most folks on this planet attempt to survive on less than $1/day.

Approaching Climate Change is proof that the conservative approach to business in America -a business philosophy exported around the world- has caused and will cause exceeding destruction upon the earth, yet this same conservative approach prefers DENIAL to STEWARDSHIP.

Blood and water tests across North America showed ALL SAMPLES to be contaminated with gasoline additives, fire retardants and plasticizers (that new car smell). All recent American sushi samples (tuna) were contaminated with excessive amounts of mercury. Virgin snow falling in the arctic is contaminated with industrial pollutants. Poisoned rain falls from our skys.

The entire earth is poisoned with our consumption habits and unfettered capitalistic approaches to 'exercise dominion over all living things' with the full philosophical and political support and greed of Evangelical Christian America.

Again, Evangelicals argue that wealth and prosperity is a reward from god for self-righteousness, yet the Bible is clear that wealth and Christianity don't mix: 'It is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a rope to thread a needle.' Jesus was recorded THREE TIMES commanding believers to 'sell all they own and give the money to the poor;' obviously a social gospel, and not a capitalist one.

And yet, after being reminded THRICE by their holy prophet, the one they call the Son-of-God, Evangelicals reject these commandments of poverty instead choosing below-the-waist issues that Jesus never spoke about: abortion, sex education, birth control, stem cells, etc.

If 'God will judge those who destroy the earth,' do you honestly think that Evangelical America will be found innocent and 'good stewards'?

I think not, hypocrite.

Avant garde pastor teaches a new Christianity where the-way-you-live is more important than beliefs.

..............

'With or Without God: Why the Way We Live is More Important than What We Believe.'

(Published this week by Rev. Gretta Vosper, Toronto's West Hill United Church's minister for the past 10 years.)

Rev. Vosper argues that the Christian church -in the form in which it exists today- has outlived its viability, and either it sheds its no-longer-credible-myths, doctrines and dogmas, or Christianity is toast.

Vosper is considered one of the bright, if unconventional, minds within the United Church, Canada's largest Protestant Christian denomination, holding a Master of Divinity degree from Queen's University. She founded and chairs the Toronto-based Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity.

A number of leading theologians in Britain - where the decline in adherents is more dramatic than in Canada - are on the same path, people like Richard Holloway, former bishop of Edinburgh and primate of the Scottish Episcopal (Anglican) Church, who has likened the Christian church to a self-service cafeteria stacked with messy trays of leftover food urgently in need of being thrown out.

Vosper says there's been virtually a consensus among scholars for the past 30 years that the Bible is not some DIVINE EMANATION; it is not The Authoritative Word of God For All Time.

It is a HUMAN PROJECT filled with contradictions and the conflicting world-views and respective political perspectives of its authors.

And yet, she says, the liberal Christian churches, including her own, won't acknowledge to the congregation that it is a human project, that it's wrong in parts and that -in the 21st century- it's no more useful as a spiritual and religious guide than a number of other books.

She says now that the work of biblical scholars has become publicly accessible, the churches and their clergy are caught living a lie that few people will buy much longer.

Like Bishop Holloway, Rev. Vosper does not want to dress up the theological detritus of the past two millennia with new language in the hope of making it more palatable. She wants to get rid of it, and build on its ashes a new spiritual movement that will have relevance in a tight-knit global world under threat of human destruction.

Posted By: MICHAEL VALPY

March 22, 2008

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080322.CHURCH22/TPStory/?query=mICHael+Valpy

Most of the comments I have seen here on this topic seem to come from folks who embrace mumbo-jumbo and insist upon blending science with mumbo-jumbo. For example commenter roakes argues that 'Faith and Reason are interdependent,' as if the last 500 years of western history was not Reason struggling to break free from religion.

Yet, even as most commenters (as of this posting) seem to be of this persuasion, most of the voting indicates that the silent readers disagree. Faith and Reason are separate approaches to truth.

.............

--Reason is defined as Logic; the capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; intelligence. In Philosophy, reason is the faculty or power of acquiring intellectual knowledge, either by direct understanding of first principles or by argument.

Logic is the science that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference. The study of the principles of reasoning, especially of the structure of propositions as distinguished from their content and of method and validity in deductive reasoning.

--Faith is defined as a set of beliefs not based on logical proof nor material evidence; a system of religious belief. Such as a confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of one's belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.

Not only is faith the body of dogma of a religion, but also the theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.

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So reason is careful analysis to uncover truth, while faith is the acquiescence to belief without

evidence of truth. Faith assumes truth, while reason assumes that truth necessitates evidence.

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Now to those who say that Faith can illuminate Reason, I point to our history of struggle with Reason being attacked by Faith. Any such argument must rationalize this reality. Reason can illuminate Faith, and I have posted such an example:

The Sun is our father in heaven.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/9020

But to those who argue that Reason alone is all we need, I refer you to John Ralston Saul, Canada's preeminent philosopher and spouse of Canada's former Governor General who has published much to criticize a purely Rational approach.

So, if Faith and Reason are indeed compatible within Saul's parameter's, I leave that to you to prove.

Our father, who art in heaven;
our mother, the earth:
we are your children...

In this twenty first century scientifically understood world we need a god that MEASURES OUR UNDERSTANDING rather than insulting our knowledge.

And in the 21'st century we don't need mumbo-jumbo; we need a faith that will spur us to escape these 'Progress Traps' (Ronald Wright) that we have created for ourselves: Energy Scarcity and Climate Change.

Neither Middle Age, Bronze Age nor New Age beliefs fit within these parameters.

First, be clear that my spiritual arguments are based upon our understanding of how the universe works. Of course our scientific knowledge is limited, but it is the only calculator we have with which to measure god.

This is our first great understanding: that all life's energy comes from the Sun. We are completely surrounded by the life-energy of the sun. The immense overwhelming mass of this blast furnace gives rise to life and sustains it. As this energy is necessary for life; can energy be life, or the wellspring of life? Cannot the Sun be seen as the father of this creation?

The Sun is our father in heaven and the earth is our mother. Life exists because of this relationship. The giver of life on this planet is the Sun, with the kind of life that exists here governed by this relationship.

The Sun is our father in heaven.

http://www.bigthink.com/faith-beliefs/9020

Our father, who art in heaven;
our mother, the earth:
we are your children...

All life in our biosphere begins as energy from the Sun, a monstrous seething mass of fusion blasting the earth, yet coddling the planet within her embrace as she barrels through space. In comparison the earth is like a marble that is trapped close within the Sun's influence following the sun in her endless journey through time and space. The planet resists the angry buffeting of the Sun's blast furnace with our magnetic field and atmosphere. Approximately 100 watts per square foot of energy bathes the planet's surface. At the equator in midday that can rise to 1100 watts. Enough energy reaches us in one day to supply all human needs for a year. (And if humanity is so clever how come we cannot drink life directly from the sun?)

Essentially there is two kinds of life on earth. First, the green things which use chlorophyll and carbon dioxide to capture and convert sunlight into (food) carbon chains of sugars. Secondly, all other life is akin to parasites that consume the green things, or the animals that eat those that consume the green things, or those that eat the leftovers. So the quickening that stirs life comes directly from the sun, either by soaking it up directly, or by eating life. There is nothing else. And this is the first thing you need to comprehend if you are to comprehend god.

(Of course that is over-simplified. There is rare life that derives chemical energy from deep sea vents, but we could also argue that, since the planet is a leftover from the creation of the sun, and that the earth's core is molten because of its proximity to and interaction with the sun, thus deep sea life indirectly derives from the sun.)

So to review, plants convert the Sun's energy into food from which all other life forms draw their life energy:
--a bug eats plant material; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--beetle eats that poop; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--worm eats that poop; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--bird eats worm; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--cat eats that bird; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--bacteria eats that poop; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
--worm eats that poop; absorbs a little energy and poops the rest out.
And on and on it goes, the same energy is constantly recycled throughout the system. A little of the Sun's energy is released at each step as heat and life. The greater is defecated and feeds life down the chain. The leftovers are buried in time and become crude oil, or stored sunlight and carbon

So this is our first great understanding: that all life's energy comes from the Sun. We are completely surrounded by the life-energy of the sun. Now further: energy gives rise to life and sustains it; energy is necessary for life; can energy be life, or the wellspring of life? Can we not see this immense overwhelming mass of energy as the source of life on this planet? Can the Sun be the father of this creation?

The Sun is our father in heaven and the earth is our mother. Life exists because of this relationship. The giver of life on this planet is the Sun, with the kind of life that exists governed by this relationship. You may have theories about the origins of life, but until you incorporate this god-sized energy source that blasts and buffets the earth with god-sized amounts of energy into your theory, you are failing to see the forest for the trees. The Sun is not incidental.

After all, quantum physics reveals that we are not so much made from matter, as we are of energy. And if consciousness is the defining element of human life, then can not we see the sun as not only the source of the energy that gives us life, but possibly the source of consciousness? Can the sun be a god, the father of this creation? Mystics and prophets describe god and her angels as beings of light and fire; of being so bright that one cannot look at them; of pillars of fire and burning bushes; and of returning to the source of light upon death. Near-death 'Hell' experiences are often described as being isolated from the light and being cast out into the void of deep space.

If we can understand life provided by the Sun then it would follow that, like illustrated in a Dr. Who episode, the sun is alive; that life and consciousness may flow from the sun. If we are to allow our scientific knowledge of the universe to intrude into our spirituality, then this may be the first lesson in understanding god with our twenty first century minds

If there are any gods that we can point to, as in saying that god is over there or here, or if there is a nearby physically manifested god that can be held responsible for this creation, that should be the Sun. Sure, one can speak of many imaginary gods, or gods that exist because of your faith, but in this twenty first century scientific world we need a god that measures our understanding rather than insulting our knowledge with obsolete Bronze Age fantasizes.